explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

589: Designated Drivers

2021-04-23T01:55:44Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */ It is very clear the name of the person with the goat

{{comic
| number = 589
| date = May 27, 2009
| title = Designated Drivers
| image = designated_drivers.png
| titletext = Calling a cab means cutting into beer money.
}}

==Explanation==
When a group of people go together to any kind of event where they expect to drink alcohol, and would like to drive to and from the event, it is usual to select one who has to be the '''{{w|designated driver}}'''.{{Citation needed}} This person will then stay sober during the event, and can thus safely drive the other people home afterwards disregarding how drunk the other people become.

However, as this comic points out, if it's not a simple task of going from A to B and back, all together at the same time, then it becomes a complex problem that requires an intricate kind of strategy and logical thinking to solve. And may need more than one driver.

In this comic [[Cueball]] addresses his friends, regarding this problem right before they enter a bar. It seems they have already decided that one of the friends will be the designated driver. But then Cueball mentions that they will have to leave in two groups. And for some reason one of these groups will need at least two drivers (this is hard to explain - see below under [[#Number of drivers|number of drivers]].) So now they already need three designated drivers. Furthermore, someone has to go and pick up another friend. And also two of them have to leave earlier than the rest by 10:00.

In the third panel the situation seems to be illustrated. Three people are drawn outside the bar with three lines going to the bar, so the number of lines leaving and entering each destination seems to represent a person each. Since the number of people leaving and entering each destination is the same, this makes it seem like the diagram is intended to be accurate. There are four people entering and exiting the bar and six people entering and exiting both the party and the dinner. The confusing part of the diagram is that there are only three people at the bar to begin with, not the four shown in the first panel. It also seems strange that someone will go back to the bar and especially that another goes back to the dinner from the party. It is thus not easy to make the diagram fit the description. See below for a possible take on [[#The chart|the chart]].

But the general concept would be that some people meet at a bar before joining the rest of a group at dinner, then later most of these move on to a party. After the party (or bar/dinner) people are going to head home in different groups.

The enormous complexities of planning who {{w|car pool}}s with whom, from where to where, and when, make an excellent logic puzzle. And what is worse, anyone who has to drive needs to stay sober. So it is important to solve the puzzle before the drinking starts, or else there will be too few that can drive, or too many who never get to drink.

To make matters worse Tom complicates this already complicated {{w|logical puzzle}}, by involving the classic logic puzzle of the {{w|Wolf, goat and cabbage puzzle|wolf, goat and cabbage}} (sometimes also known as {{tvtropes|FoxChickenGrainPuzzle|Fox-chicken-grain puzzle}}). In the last panel, the guy is shown standing with a goat on a tether, saying he can't be in the car with the wolf. Cueball is then brought to swearing over this. (The goat puzzle was also the subject of [[1134: Logic Boat]] and [[2348: Boat Puzzle]]). And this may go some way of explaining why there needs to be a [[#Number of drivers|number of drivers]].

The title text makes it clear why ordering a taxi is out of the question as it would take money out of the beer budget. Of course it also cost money to use your own car for gas etc. But when you already have a car, it is always cheaper to use that than pay for a taxi.

===The chart===
It's possible to match the chart up with the events in the comic if we assume two things: first, that everyone's initial position in the chart is at home, and second, that the party takes place at Cueball's house.
Whether or not [[Randall]] intended it this way isn't certain.

For clarity, I'll be referring to the first cueball as Cueball, the second as David, Megan as Emily, and the third cueball as Tom.
*Cueball leaves his house to meet Tom, David, and Emily at the bar.
**When leaving the bar, Cueball returns home before dinner, possibly to set up for the party.
**Emily leaves with either Tom or David to go to dinner while the other goes to pick up Paul.
*At dinner Julia arrives from her house, Cueball arrives from his house, Emily arrives with either Tom or David from the bar, and Paul arrives with the person that didn't drive for Emily.
**When leaving dinner, David has to be the one going home by himself as Emily and Julia will leave together, Tom has agreed to be a designated driver, Paul does not have a car, and Cueball is the host of the party.
**The remaining five take three cars to Cueball's for the party. (Julia's car, Cueball's car, and Tom's car)
*At 10:00 Julie will leave with Emily, and Tom will take Paul home once the party is over.

===Number of drivers===
Unless a more efficient solution exists, the minimum number of people that have to remain sober is three: Tom, David, and either Julia or Emily. Emily is able to begin drinking the earliest, starting at the bar and continuing the rest of the night. If the place everyone is having dinner at serves alcohol, Paul can begin drinking at dinner. If Emily elected to stay sober, Julia can start drinking when Paul does. Cueball is the last to be able to drink, only getting to start once everyone is at the party.

Interestingly enough, if the goat and wolf cannot drive, then they only make a difference if Paul has the wolf, in which case David would have to pick Paul up and take him home, and Tom and his goat would leave after dinner.

If either the wolf or the goat can drive, then a sober human driver is not needed for the vehicle in which that animal travels.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is addressing three people outside a bar, indicated by a sign (two Cueball-like guys and Megan).]
:Cueball: Wait, who's driving?
:First Cueball-like guy: Why?
:First Cueball-like guy: Tom, right?

:[Zoom in on Cueball.]
:Cueball: Yes, but we have to leave in two groups. One of which will need at least two drivers.

:[There is text both above and below a flowchart with arrows between a group of the three people Cueball is talking to, and three houses that are labeled 'bar', 'dinner', and 'party'. Three lines point from the group of people to the bar and a fourth arrives from the party. Four lines points away from the bar. Two goes to the dinner one to the party and one away to the left. There are six arrows arriving at the dinner. Apart from the two lines coming from the bar, there is one long arrow pointing to the dinner from the left and two coming in from above. One more comes from the party below. Six arrows points away. One arrow goes away to the top right, the other five arrows points straight down to the party. There are also six arrows coming and leaving the party. Apart from the five from the dinner there was the one coming in from the bar. The six arrows leaving are the one arrow that went to the bar and the one to the dinner. The other four leaves in two groups of two, on straight down and two curving to the left.]
:Cueball (off-panel): Someone has to get Paul, and Julia and Emily have to leave by 10:00.
:Labels: Bar
:Labels: Dinner
:Labels: Party
:Cueball (off-panel): The logistics of who can get drunk are nontrivial.

:[The second Cueball-like guy to the right has an goat on a string behind him, which was not visible in the first panel, as he was at that time only partly inside the frame.]
:Second Cueball-like guy: Yeah, and I can't ride in a car with the wolf because he'll eat my goat.
:Cueball: Dammit, guys.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Flowcharts]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2447: Hammer Incident

2021-04-09T13:51:33Z

172.69.170.56: Undo revision 210057 by Bischoff (talk) The gold isn't a significant factor in the cost, but the beryllium is, so the part about the berylliium should stay.

{{comic
| number = 2447
| date = April 7, 2021
| title = Hammer Incident
| image = hammer incident small.png
| titletext = I still think the Cold Stone Creamery partnership was a good idea, but I should have asked before doing the first market trials during the cryogenic mirror tests.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by: a WAFFLE CONE MIRROR. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST) is a {{w|space telescope}} created to be the successor of the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}} under construction at time of publishing and expected to launch in October 2021, though in [[2014: JWST Delays]], xkcd predicted its launch would actually occur during late 2026.

It's implied that Cueball dropped a hammer on the mirror of the JWST and broke it. In superstition, breaking a mirror causes seven years of bad luck. The cost estimate for the JWST is currently US$10 billion, and Cueball is on trial by NASA for breaking this very expensive piece of equipment, no doubt costing NASA (and thus the nation) hundreds of millions of dollars more for repair work. However, Cueball is more concerned about personally experiencing seven years of bad luck.

In actuality the mirror panel is not made of glass, so it's likely that a dropped hammer would dent and distort the panel rather than shattering it. Presumably Cueball's hammer drop would damage or destroy only one mirror panel out of the JWST's eighteen panels. (If he had destroyed the entire telescope, he would have been facing 7×18=126 years of bad luck.) Even breaking a single panel would likely be very expensive because it would require extremely accurate machinery and extensive calibration tests to make and install a replacement panel, especially because the back of JWST's mirrors are made of beryllium. Beryllium is expensive to purchase, since it is relatively scarce, and is very hard and abrasive, so making things out of it is difficult (and expensive due to the specialized machinery required and the precautions necessary to prevent inhalation). Breaking a beryllium mirror would lead to dust formation; single exposures to beryllium dust [http://who.int/ipcs/publications/cicad/en/cicad32.pdf can cause] acute beryllium poisoning and massively increase the risk of lung cancer. In addition to the property damage, Cueball is probably liable for injuring his coworkers, which is probably the main reason why the NASA workers are so angry at him because humans lives are more valuable than mere money.{{Citation needed}}

The title text refers to the {{w|Cold Stone Creamery}}, a chain that mixes ice cream with various other ingredients, such as fruit or candy, in front of the customer before serving it. The usual surface for mixing is a piece of granite which is kept cold (about -10°C). It's implied that Cueball had tried mixing his ice cream and flavorings in the style of Cold Stone Creamery on the JWST mirror, which is also kept cold -- in fact much colder, as it's cooled to as low as 7 K (-266°C, or -447°F). If Cueball had mixed ice cream this way on the JWST, he would likely have scratched and/or stained the surfaces on the telescope and perhaps have gotten gunk into the instrumentation, and possibly, due to the localized temperature differential from ice cream hundreds of degrees ''warmer'' than the material, promoted damaging distortions or fractures -- hardly the 'good idea' mentioned in the title text. (It also would not have worked: at sufficiently low temperatures, ice cream hardens and cannot be mixed.)

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball stands before a seated panel of four people (Ponytail, Hairy, a second Cueball and Hairbun).]
:Cueball: Yes, I know you're mad that I dropped that hammer.
:Cueball: But think about me—
:Cueball: '''''Seven years of bad luck!'''''
:[Caption below the panel]:
:Man, NASA is really on my case about the James Webb Space Telescope.

==Trivia==
*The JWST has previously been mentioned in [[2014: JWST Delays]], [[1730: Starshade]], and [[1461: Payloads]].
*For some reason, the original version of this comic was very large (4332×4838px), well overflowing the boundaries of the page [https://archive.is/yJXTS]. This was probably a mistake, as the current version [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/hammer_incident.png] is significantly smaller at 289 × 323px.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]

2103: Midcontinent Rift System

2021-04-03T15:04:31Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */ Mentioned how this could be a wedge issue

{{comic
| number = 2103
| date = January 25, 2019
| title = Midcontinent Rift System
| image = midcontinent_rift_system.png
| titletext = The best wedge issue is an actual wedge.
}}

==Explanation==
Recently, USA politics has caused polarization of the public.<ref>[https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/215210/partisan-differences-growing-number-issues.aspx Partisan Differences Growing on a Number of Issues]</ref> It is said to be “split” in two camps (liberal, mostly loyal to the Democratic Party and conservative, mostly loyal to the Republican Party). Here [[Black Hat]] is trying to get elected to some sort of federal office in the {{w|2020 United States elections|at the time upcoming 2020 elections}} by promising he will actually split America in two. His presentation illustrates, using a giant crowbar, the completion of the {{w|Midcontinent Rift System|Midcontinent Rift}}, which is a large crack that started to form about 1.1 billion years ago, but failed to completely sever the continent. Around the same time, the rift was also mentioned in "How To", Chapter 9: How to build a lava moat.

It is unclear why anyone would vote for such a thing, but people directly affected (the Midwest) are likely to vote against [[Black Hat]]. While Black Hat and his campaign advisor [[Ponytail]] speak of weakness in the Midwest, they are talking about two different things: Black Hat refers to the physical weakness of the North American Plate in the Midwest due to the geological rift which he thinks could be exploited by a large enough crowbar, while Ponytail is referring to a political weakness for Black Hat’s campaign in the Midwest due to the likely-unpopular proposal (different regions of the US have different voters and populations who have different priorities and stances, so candidates and their campaigns’ platforms will likely be more popular in some regions and less popular in others). In this case a successful or attempted completion of the rift would likely result in the destruction of millions of houses, buildings, and other man-made structures, not to mention the deaths of many humans (if proper evacuation were not fully implemented and enforced) as well as millions of animals that could not be evacuated. The proposal would also cause huge economic impacts; the Midwest produces a significant proportion of America’s food supplies and hosts important economic centres, such as Chicago and Cleveland. So the popularity among those directly or even indirectly affected is likely quite low. The successful passing of a highly destructive measure such as this would generally involve more direct and overwhelming compensation of the many interests that would otherwise be harmed, to incentivize them to vote against their present livelihood.

The title text is a pun. A {{w|wedge issue}} is a controversial issue which splits apart a demographic group. It is often introduced to create controversy within an opponent’s base so that if the opponent takes any position on the issue, half the voters will desert the opponent. Here the joke is that the “wedge issue” is an actual wedge to split apart the United States. It could potentially be a wedge issue, as while most people would oppose such a measure, some people could be convinced that it would benefit certain Midwestern cities by making them port cities, which would result in an economic boom and make trade easier if those cities weren't destroyed. Also, some die-hard liberals living outside the Midwest might favor the destruction of the Midwest because it tends to vote conservative. Ponytail seems to state that Black Hat's proposal is only unpopular in the Midwest.

==Transcript==
:[A map of North America shows the Midcontinent Rift System as a red line curving through the Great Lakes and down through the midwestern United States.]
:1.1 billion years ago, the North American continent began to split in half.

:[Black Hat stands at a lectern with a "Vote 2020" sign on it. He gestures to an image of the globe with a giant crowbar inserted in the rift with an arrow indicating applying pressure to widen the rift.]
:Black Hat: We don’t know why it stopped. If elected, I vow to ''finish'' the job. Thank you.

:[Ponytail, Black Hat, Megan, and Cueball walk to the right away from a set of stairs. Cueball is looking at a phone and Ponytail is looking at a device or paper with writing on it.]
:Ponytail: Great job up there.
:Black Hat: Thanks! How are my polling numbers?
:Ponytail: Well, I’m seeing some weakness in the Midwest.
:Black Hat: So am I. So am I.

==References==
<references />

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Maps]]

Talk:941: Depth Perception

2021-04-01T22:26:26Z

172.69.170.56:

Somebody needs to try this. Couldn't be that hard.
[[Special:Contributions/71.178.11.180|71.178.11.180]] 21:27, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Those must have been some tall goalposts if his point of view is above the clouds! -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 13:16, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

Also, the cameras should be mounted on servos so that when the phone is moved or tilted the cameras can follow, so your viewpoint isn't fixed in one direction. -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 13:18, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

:That wouldn't work. The entire football field would have to swivel, or else he'd get some wicked image shearing... [[Special:Contributions/108.28.72.186|108.28.72.186]] 01:42, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

::actually, it might be possible to correct for that, using bipolar geometry. Essentially, you can derive a 3d model from 2 images from different view points. [http://danielwedge.com/fmatrix/ Here] is a (very geeky) demontration of what can be done. Watch the end, where they construct a fly-around video from two images of the opera house in sidney. -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.22|141.101.104.22]] 21:10, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

::: Interesting link, thanks, but I don't think the video was generated from only 2 images, there isn't enough information. If you select "Download the Opera House sequence" you can download the original 43 photographs used. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.9|141.101.99.9]] 14:05, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

:::: You're right. But of course you wouldn't need a 90-degree flyby for this. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.43|141.101.104.43]] 16:56, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

An updated solution would be to put the two stabilised cameras on quadracopters which are coded to remain a set distance apart. When you want to look left/right it would take a while for the pair of drones to rotate around their centre point but not too long..... Then you could also get a perspective from the height of a giant (up to 400ft https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=22615) and with their degree of parallax (from whatever value of height and eye spacing you choose). {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.225}}
:This is a very cool project indeed! Some hardcore image stabilizing software would be required too, since you would get nauseous if the two images weren't perfectly aligned at all times. But this setup is the only one I could think of that would enable you to perceive the view from the last frame. [[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 08:44, 17 December 2014 (UTC)
::That idea would probably work but at one point, the quadcoptors would have issues flying any higher which would limit the view.
Look at this in stereo mode: http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Solar and cross your eyes so you see three images, then hold your hands up so you only see the one, then...
I forget...

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 12:44, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

I used to do that all the time at one time ... until I got a l...ot of things different to do..

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 12:44, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Stereo aerial pairs of clouds do exist see the Google search: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=stereoscopic+aerial+photos+clouds [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.206|141.101.98.206]] 07:33, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

Or you could ride in an airplane. Or stand on a mountain. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.174|173.245.50.174]] 19:58, 5 September 2015 (UTC)

:That would defeat the point entirely. The distance between the two viewpoints is what provides the increased perspective, not the height of the observer. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.84|141.101.80.84]] 21:55, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
: using a plane isn't a substitute for this, but there's no reason adding the element of flight has to defeat it ''entirely'': you could put one cam on each wing tip & get maybe the coolest effect of all..

Likely the reason the right image is shown on the left and vise versa is that there are two ways to fuse stereo images. Either Walleyed, right-to-rght, or Crosseyed, right-to-left. Doing it the wrong way may result in concave faces and other aberrations. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.125|162.158.255.125]] 15:20, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

Clouds are fractal, small ones up close look the same as big ones far away. So I don't think this would look as spectacular as imagined. {{unsigned ip|162.158.39.209}}

The thing is that our brains only associate the binocular/3D effect with items that are relatively close, and tend to judge sizes accordingly. If something appears 3D to us, we judge it to be a certain distance away (a key function of binocular vision) and from that we also get a rough estimate of its size. That's why if you see something like a star destroyer in 3D in the movie theater, it looks like something the size of a bus hanging up in the general vicinity of the screen. It doesn't look like something miles long, because big things look flat when they look that size. I believe this way of looking at clouds would give a similar effect. The clouds might look 3D, but they'd also just seem closer and smaller, rather than giving you a real sense of their size. {{unsigned ip|162.158.78.10}}

:One way to impress with size is to make sure there's something on the "back wall" to contrast with the foreground. [https://i.redd.it/3watd55xafq31.jpg Here's a crosseye cloud picture] I made from several pictures out an airplane window. The distance in time between these was one second, according to the EXIF data. Because the foreground cloud is so large, the faraway cloud at the center looks like Randall's "mountains" should. I should note this is a zoom/crop of a much larger pair of pictures. [[User:DuplexFields|DuplexFields]] ([[User talk:DuplexFields|talk]]) 01:26, 4 October 2019 (UTC)

::I put the above photo on my phone and put it in my google cardboard and it worked super well. Totally amazing.

Talk:2440: Epistemic Uncertainty

2021-03-23T02:03:24Z

172.69.170.56:

I definitely thought "adulterer" referred to someone who commits adultery, as in cheating on one's spouse. I thought it was a secondary joke, introducing another person referred to as "[name] the [undesirable action]er".
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.56|172.69.170.56]] 02:03, 23 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:590: Papyrus

2021-03-18T22:39:57Z

172.69.170.56: /* Have a "joke" version of this page that's all in Papyrus? */ new section

For reasons that should be obvious, I've put the whole page in a certain much-hated font. *Cackles maniacally.* [[User:PinkAmpersand|PinkAmpersand]] ([[User talk:PinkAmpersand|talk]]) 11:15, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

:I rather doubt whether this is really helpful. In my opinion, the purpose of this wiki is to deliver background information about the comics, not to ruminate its jokes. Besides, the page uses some Serif font for me (as I do not have Papyrus installed) which is stylistically inconsistent. If we should reach consent that this page MUST absolutely be in Papyrus, we should at least provide some appropriate fallback font. [[User:LotharW|LotharW]] ([[User talk:LotharW|talk]]) 12:46, 14 May 2013 (UTC)
::[[1167: Star Trek into Darkness]] '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:04, 14 May 2013 (UTC)
:::I must say I do not particularly like that page either. I think it looks childish and nonserious. Also, a second example does not necessarily justify the first. But as you see, I did not revert or change anything. If it be so, we should at least do it correctly. In the current state, the page looks simply strange to anyone who does not have the font. (As far as I know, it was included only in some versions of Microsoft Office.) Does anybody know whether the license allows web embedding? [[User:LotharW|LotharW]] ([[User talk:LotharW|talk]]) 13:54, 14 May 2013 (UTC)
Over the years I have grown a hatred towards Papyrus because it's so overused, so this comic resonated with me well. But then this week I watched Firefly and Serenity which are now both my favorite TV show and movie, and they use Papyrus. I know Randall also loves them. But now I have no idea how I should feel about the font, as I would be rather hypocritical to hate the font used so heavily in my favorite show and movie. [[User:Keavon|Keavon]] ([[User talk:Keavon|talk]]) 01:48, 1 December 2014 (UTC)

I feel the same way about the "Algerian" font. The most over used business sign font ever. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.195}}

NYEH HEH HEH! -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 04:06, 4 December 2015 (UTC)
::This was expected, and it is great (''incidental music from sans''), though this comic came before Undertale. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.215|108.162.237.215]] 15:46, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

My Favorite font is Comic Sans :) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.8}}

I have zero respect for any typeface whose capital I is nothing more than a rectangle. I resent Helvetica in particular for making precisely that mistake while being so overly popular.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.221|172.68.142.221]] 01:26, 8 October 2019 (UTC)

== Have a "joke" version of this page that's all in Papyrus? ==

Provide a link to it right at the top of the explanation? Many of us would like to see this just for funzies (since it seems poetically appropriate), but I understand the desire to keep things readable for people who actually do need the explanation.
Hopefully it would result in less temptation for people to make edits that mods keep having to revert. Idk, thoughts? MeZimm[[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.56|172.69.170.56]] 22:39, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2432: Manage Your Preferences

2021-03-04T20:24:10Z

172.69.170.56: /* Holy long winded explanation, Batman! */ MeZimm once again, editing my own comment

It's Atrus, not Atrius!
: There's also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Neverending_Story_characters#Atreyu '''Atreyu'''] from the NeverEnding Story who was trapped inside a book...
: Mind you, there actually was an Atrius in the game's lore: Atrus' Grandfather. (''His'' son (Gehn), also ended up trapped in a book. Twice!) But yeah, it probably should be Atrus in the mouse-over text. - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 15:20, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.63|172.68.142.63]] 00:29, 4 March 2021 (UTC)TH

To quote Wikipedia, "Myst is a graphic adventure puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released for the Macintosh personal computer platform in 1993. In the game, players travel via a special book to the island of Myst. There, players solve puzzles, and by doing so, travel to four other worlds, known as Ages, which reveal the backstory of the game's characters." Just some background on what Myst is. [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 00:40, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

I am going to put this on all my future game apps instead of an "auto" or "accept recommended settings" button [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.183|162.158.187.183]] 02:36, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

In my view this explanation is entirely wrong. In many web sites and apps "Manage Your Preferences" is deliberately confusing or non-functional because the real purpose of the site or app is to install spyware (or other malware) or otherwise compromise users privacy or personal information.
The explanation makes this vile behavior appear accidental or even benign. It is not. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.87|173.245.54.87]] 03:30, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
:You want to say, there are pages out there trying to install malware on my computer, but I can stop them by saying "I do not agree"? I am pretty sure it is just about cookies. Do you consider cookies to be malware? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:18, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
:The only thing the current explanation is getting wrong is that you have to opt out each tracking cookie separately. According to EU law the default option has to be that all non-essential cookies are deactivated (unless, ofc, you click "Accept all"). So if you want to opt out all you need to do is: 1. Find the option to change your preferences (well hidden, as stated in the explanation, in many cases) and 2. find the option to save these preferences (also sometimes very well hidden). If the function is indeed non-functioning and the page is trying to install malware with this then you should consider to never ever visit that page again... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:12, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
::I've got bad news for you: some sites don't comply with EU law.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.128|141.101.76.128]] 15:50, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
: You guys are being so badly trolled by whoever vandalised the article. Websites can't use their preferences to disable cookies, because websites store preferences with session identifying cookies. If a website (rather than the browser itself) is showing you its own preferences dialogue to disable cookies, it is trying to trick you into installing malware. This situation that we are actively living in this article, is a good demonstration of the topic of the joke the comic is about. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.72|162.158.63.72]] 16:31, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
:: On rereading I see that this may have been about only cookies _not_ involved in functioning of the site, which would mean they could indeed store a cookie regarding disabling cookies. I may have vandalised the site myself trying to fix it, unsure. I use the browser preferences for these things, myself. There are a lot of toggle switches in there. 16:45, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

I'm not sure why the button is specifically referred to as green in the explanation. They can be any color to my knowledge, and the one in the comic is grey. [[User:DrPumpkinz|DrPumpkinz]] ([[User talk:DrPumpkinz|talk]]) 08:55, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

== Holy long winded explanation, Batman! ==

The following is ONE SENTENCE:

:''Often things need to be changed inside a browser to view certain websites correctly or safely: clearing or changing or disabling some cookies, changing scripts settings, installing and correctly configuring a plugin for an overlay network, running or configuring a proxy, enabling experimental features, restarting the browser with special flags passed, installing a fork of the browser such as with the tor browser bundle to access onion sites or the beaker browser to access dat sites, or installing and configuring a secondary gateway app such as with freenet, ipfs, or i2p.''

Why do we need this doorstopper of a sentence taking up three quarters of the first paragraph alone? Relatedly, why is there so much discussion about cookies in the following paragraphs? (EDITED: I get it, the title text happens to mention cookies as an example of a website preference that a user might be asked to give permissions on. I still don't think that calls for an explanation of the motivators that resulted in the development and implementation of cookies and a comprehensive summary the current legal regulations governing them.)

Meanwhile, if anyone comes to this explanation to find out what Myst is, all they'll learn (if they manage to wade through two and a half dense paragraphs of mostly technical jargon) is that it's some sort of puzzle game. The current explanation doesn't do anything to convey what makes Myst stand out as a uniquely apt analogy. ([[2008: Irony Definition|Ironically,]] the explanation here seems to be manifesting the very phenomenon that Randall parodies in the comic!)

I'm not trying to rag on the (no doubt very knowledgeable and well-intended) person or people who wrote the explanation originally. But I feel like it's in need of someone who knows how to trim the fat, focus on what's relevant, and make it concise enough to communicate effectively. (Given how long my Discussion post here turned out to be, I'm probably not up to the job [[541: TED Talk|;) )]]
MeZimm [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.56|172.69.170.56]] 20:07, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2432: Manage Your Preferences

2021-03-04T20:07:58Z

172.69.170.56: /* Holy long winded explanation, Batman! */ new section

It's Atrus, not Atrius!
: There's also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Neverending_Story_characters#Atreyu '''Atreyu'''] from the NeverEnding Story who was trapped inside a book...
: Mind you, there actually was an Atrius in the game's lore: Atrus' Grandfather. (''His'' son (Gehn), also ended up trapped in a book. Twice!) But yeah, it probably should be Atrus in the mouse-over text. - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 15:20, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.63|172.68.142.63]] 00:29, 4 March 2021 (UTC)TH

To quote Wikipedia, "Myst is a graphic adventure puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released for the Macintosh personal computer platform in 1993. In the game, players travel via a special book to the island of Myst. There, players solve puzzles, and by doing so, travel to four other worlds, known as Ages, which reveal the backstory of the game's characters." Just some background on what Myst is. [[User:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)]] ([[User talk:Sarah the Pie(yes, the food)|talk]]) 00:40, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

I am going to put this on all my future game apps instead of an "auto" or "accept recommended settings" button [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.183|162.158.187.183]] 02:36, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

In my view this explanation is entirely wrong. In many web sites and apps "Manage Your Preferences" is deliberately confusing or non-functional because the real purpose of the site or app is to install spyware (or other malware) or otherwise compromise users privacy or personal information.
The explanation makes this vile behavior appear accidental or even benign. It is not. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.87|173.245.54.87]] 03:30, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
:You want to say, there are pages out there trying to install malware on my computer, but I can stop them by saying "I do not agree"? I am pretty sure it is just about cookies. Do you consider cookies to be malware? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:18, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
:The only thing the current explanation is getting wrong is that you have to opt out each tracking cookie separately. According to EU law the default option has to be that all non-essential cookies are deactivated (unless, ofc, you click "Accept all"). So if you want to opt out all you need to do is: 1. Find the option to change your preferences (well hidden, as stated in the explanation, in many cases) and 2. find the option to save these preferences (also sometimes very well hidden). If the function is indeed non-functioning and the page is trying to install malware with this then you should consider to never ever visit that page again... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:12, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
::I've got bad news for you: some sites don't comply with EU law.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.128|141.101.76.128]] 15:50, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
: You guys are being so badly trolled by whoever vandalised the article. Websites can't use their preferences to disable cookies, because websites store preferences with session identifying cookies. If a website (rather than the browser itself) is showing you its own preferences dialogue to disable cookies, it is trying to trick you into installing malware. This situation that we are actively living in this article, is a good demonstration of the topic of the joke the comic is about. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.72|162.158.63.72]] 16:31, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
:: On rereading I see that this may have been about only cookies _not_ involved in functioning of the site, which would mean they could indeed store a cookie regarding disabling cookies. I may have vandalised the site myself trying to fix it, unsure. I use the browser preferences for these things, myself. There are a lot of toggle switches in there. 16:45, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

I'm not sure why the button is specifically referred to as green in the explanation. They can be any color to my knowledge, and the one in the comic is grey. [[User:DrPumpkinz|DrPumpkinz]] ([[User talk:DrPumpkinz|talk]]) 08:55, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

== Holy long winded explanation, Batman! ==

The following is ONE SENTENCE:

:''Often things need to be changed inside a browser to view certain websites correctly or safely: clearing or changing or disabling some cookies, changing scripts settings, installing and correctly configuring a plugin for an overlay network, running or configuring a proxy, enabling experimental features, restarting the browser with special flags passed, installing a fork of the browser such as with the tor browser bundle to access onion sites or the beaker browser to access dat sites, or installing and configuring a secondary gateway app such as with freenet, ipfs, or i2p.''

Why do we need this doorstopper of a sentence taking up three quarters of the first paragraph alone?

Relatedly, why is there so much discussion about cookies in the following paragraphs? I get it, the author knows a lot about cookies and cookie-related concepts. I don't think that means the explanation needs to explain what a cookie is, or what resulted in them being invented, or the current legal regulations governing them; the comic itself doesn't even mention cookies! (And that's just ''one of many things'' that could be governed by "website preferences" - are we going to give the history of tor browser bundles too?)

Meanwhile, if anyone comes to this explanation to find out what Myst is, all they'll learn (if they manage to wade through two and a half dense paragraphs of mostly technical jargon) is that it's some sort of puzzle game. The current explanation doesn't do anything to convey what makes Myst stand out as a uniquely apt analogy. ([[2008: Irony Definition|Ironically,]] the explanation here seems to be manifesting the very phenomenon that Randall parodies in the comic!)

I'm not trying to rag on the (no doubt very knowledgeable and well-intended) person or people who wrote the explanation originally. But I feel like it's in need of someone who knows how to trim the fat, focus on what's relevant, and make it concise enough to communicate effectively. (Given how long my Discussion post here turned out to be, I'm probably not up to the job [[541: TED Talk|;))]]
MeZimm [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.56|172.69.170.56]] 20:07, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2432: Manage Your Preferences

2021-03-04T20:03:24Z

172.69.170.56: should've added it as a new topic, my bad

2431: Leap Year 2021

2021-03-04T05:58:52Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */ Mentioned a real-life example

{{comic
| number = 2431
| date = March 1, 2021
| title = Leap Year 2021
| image = leap_year_2021.png
| titletext = I've lived in the present for my whole life and I'm not about to move now.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]], checking his phone, comments on how fast time goes, saying it is already March. (This comic was posted on March 1, 2021.) Black Hat overhears him and says that it's actually February 29.

February 29 exists in the {{w|Gregorian calendar}} and its predecessor, the {{w|Julian calendar}}, as a {{w|Intercalation (timekeeping)|correction mechanism}} for the fact that one {{w|tropical year}} on Earth is not exactly 365 days long. It's closer to 365.2422, and to prevent the dates from precessing relative to the seasons, an extra day is added once every fourth year, also called a leap year. This is still not enough to completely match Earth's orbital period, and for that reason the Gregorian calendar changed the leap year rules to be as follows: Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. This makes the average year 365.2425 days long, which approximates the 365.2422 days in the tropical year.

[[Black Hat]] wants ''every'' year to have a February 29, for no clear reason. Cueball acknowledges that he could accomplish this, if he could convince enough people to go along with it. Calendar systems are all invented, and whatever date systems are commonly acknowledged become the "correct" date. Cueball initially considers the change minor, assuming that they would simply change March 1st to February 29th on non-leap years, which would merely rename a single day and skip "March 1st" by going directly from February 29th to March 2nd. Black Hat clarifies that he actually wants to add another day, and the day AFTER that will be March 1. This could still be a minor change, if March were changed to a 30 day month on non-leap years, but Black Hat apparently wants the changes to propagate throughout the year. This would result in a 366-day year, causing the months to drift out of alignment with the seasons over the course of years, needlessly complicating time-keeping. Black Hat is unconcerned with the effect this will have on the "people of the future", and, as in [[1883: Supervillain Plan|the past]], people around him are much more concerned about the time problems he's creating than he is. This once happened in ancient Egypt, where the priests had leap years every three years instead of every four years, so ancient Egypt had to have no leap years for several decades afterwards in order to fix the calendar.

In the last frame, Black Hat states that if the those people cared about the problems he's causing, "they shouldn't have decided to live in the future." Of course, it is as present impossible to choose the time period in which you live,{{Citation needed}} yet Black Hat intends on penalizing them for it. Any number of positions could be proposed as a motive for his actions (for example, he may envy them for having the technology or benefits of the future, and wants to counteract that), but it is most likely that he is simply honing his sociopathic tendencies on a defenseless target.

In the title text, Cueball responds that this change would also cause issues for him, who is "living in the present", and he should not be forced to "move into the future". Alternatively, viewing the quote as a continuation of Black Hat's text at the end of the comic, he could mean that the effect of his new calendar is placed mostly on future people, and since he literally lives in the present and doesn't intend on travelling to the future, he can do what he wants without many repercussions.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball checking his phone in a narrow panel.]
:Cueball: Can't believe it's already March.
:Black Hat (off-screen): Nah, it's February 29th.

:[Cueball has put his phone away and is standing next to Black Hat.]
:Cueball: It's not a leap year.
:Black Hat: I decided to make it one. Every year deserves to leap.
:Cueball: Can you do that?
:Black Hat: Can anyone stop me?

:[Zoom in on Cueball.]
:Cueball: I guess if you just encourage people to call March 1st "February 29th", they can go along with it if they want. Just a one-day renaming.
:Black Hat (off-screen): No, tomorrow will be March 1st.

:[Cueball standing to Black Hat, who is walking off screen to the right, with his finger raised.]
:Cueball: So you're causing calendar drift for future generations.
:Black Hat: If they didn't want to experience consequences, they shouldn't have decided to live in the future.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Calendar]]

2429: Exposure Models

2021-02-25T15:02:49Z

172.69.170.56: Explained the joke(I think?)

{{comic
| number = 2429
| date = February 24, 2021
| title = Exposure Models
| image = exposure_models.png
| titletext = "Cumulative number of coronavirus spreadsheets created over time" is a spreadsheet I am coming dangerously close to creating.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF COVID SPREADSHEETS CREATED OVER TIME. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is another comic in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series]] related to the {{w|2019-20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}.

[[Cueball]] created another COVID exposure model to help lower his risk of catching COVID-19 in the pandemic. [[Megan]] inquires about the model's result, to which Cueball admits that he's been sitting at his computer continuously debugging models, and draws the conclusion that debugging COVID-19 models lessens close contact with other people. This is similar to the premise of [[1708: Dehydration]], except with the situation reversed — instead of researching something as a preventive action resulting in a beneficial effect, that gave a detrimental effect.

Cueball is too busy making models to figure out how to actually lower his risk other than sitting around doing effectively nothing. He has also created a meta-model, reporting the number of models Cueball has to create to wait the pandemic out. The title text further expands on recursive graphs by charting charts about COVID-19.

Cueball is also too busy to notice the back of his chair vanished in the 3rd panel.

The joke is that Cueball is so obsessed with creating spreadsheets to calculate the time it takes the pandemic to end, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at a desk with a laptop. Megan walks in.]
:Cueball: I built another COVID exposure model to help me limit my risk.

:[Megan is now standing behind Cueball, who has turned in his chair to face her.]
:Megan: Any new insights?
:Cueball: Yeah: "If you spend all day debugging models, you don't have close contact with a lot of people."

:[Cueball turns back to his laptop. The back of his chair has disappeared.]
:Megan: Well, I guess it worked.
:Cueball: According to my meta-model, the end of the pandemic is only four more models away.
:Megan: ''So close!''

==Trivia==
Cueball's chair is missing its back in the last panel. Given the fact that most chair backs do not disappear when someone stops leaning on them,{{Citation needed}} [[Randall]] probably just forgot to draw it.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Recursion]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]

310: Commitment

2021-02-22T05:27:56Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */ Elaborated on the title text, including mentioning a potential Biblical reference

{{comic
| number = 310
| date = August 31, 2007
| title = Commitment
| image = commitment.png
| titletext = Could be worse. The last guy in that situation fell for one of the transient trumpeting angels.
}}
==Explanation==
In the first panel, [[Cueball]] proposes to a woman. While he does this, a narrator (most likely the man's inner voice) explains why he wants to marry her. It's implied that he had doubts about their relationship. He'd never experienced a moment of overwhelming love and certainty, especially when they met, which he describes as "a choir of trumpeting angels when you meet the right girl." He's come to believe that such a scenario is actually implausible, and a serious relationship is about "realizing that what you have is what you want."

In the second panel, they get married. And in the third panel, after they are married, [[Megan]] comes in saying 'Hi.' His wife appears to still be wearing her wedding veil, implying that he meets Megan immediately after the scenario. Cueball has the full 'love at first sight'-experience, with a literal choir of trumpeting angels, suggesting that Megan is actually the one he's supposed to be with. That this realization strikes him immediately after he married someone else puts him in a very difficult situation. This is expressed by him thinking 'Well, shit.'

The title text notes that the previous guy who had a similar experience fell in love with one of the angels instead, not realizing that it was the girl he just met that was the love of his life. Which is of course much worse, especially because the angels are transient, and the only way to see them again is by meeting the perfect 'girl' and he has just ignored her! Alternatively, it could mean that that person was actually the last person to have such an experience, possibly because the persons succeeded in marrying and having children with the angel, resulting in offspring that were too powerful or otherwise undesirable. Something similar happens in Genesis 6:1–4, so this may be a reference to the Bible.

The humor of this comic plays upon a common anxiety in trying to build relationships. A person may be dating someone who they enjoy being with, but expect a moment of supernatural clarity announcing that they've found the right person to spend their life with. Most people never have such a moment, and have to build their relationships slowly, based on more prosaic considerations, like compatibility, commitment, and shared life goals. Frequently, people will build such a relationship, but worry that a magic and transcendent love is still out there, and if they 'settle' for the person they're with, they may find that love later and be unable to act on it.

The comic [[584: Unsatisfied]] could be seen as a continuation of this - with the blond girl being depicted as [[Ponytail]]. It can also be seen as a deconstruction: in the subsequent comic, no matter which partner he chooses, he spends the rest of his life thinking about the other, apparently never being totally satisfied with the relationship he has.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball proposing on his knee holding a box with a ring in it up to a girl with long blond hair. The text is written above them in a frame with yellow background.]
:I understand now. There's no choir of angels when you meet the right person. It's about growing out of your fears to realize what you have is what you want.

:[Cueball and the woman are getting married. They stand under a gate of honor with a priest in front of them.]
:Girl: I do.
:Cueball: I do.

:[Cueball walks hand in hand with blond girl when a cloud with trumpeting angels appears over Megan.]
:Megan: Hi.

:[Same picture but without the cloud and angels. Cueball's thought is written in a frame with yellow background.]
:Well, shit.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Wedding]]

2422: Vaccine Ordering

2021-02-09T00:58:34Z

172.69.170.56: the image as displayed on xkcd.com is the same resolution as before; it just now has anti-aliasing; also remove unnecessary speculation about who fixed it

{{comic
| number = 2422
| date = February 9, 2021
| title = Vaccine Ordering
| image = vaccine_ordering.png
| titletext = You know what they say: mRNA-1273 before tozinameran, you'll have to slay a banshee in a catamaran.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the RULER OF SMYRNA. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Megan is reading an article on her phone to Cueball. A report from the {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC}} says that it's possible to get effective immunity against {{w|COVID-19}} when taking two-dose {{w|RNA vaccine|mRNA vaccine shots}} successively from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, but that this practice should not be the norm. The report in question can be viewed [https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/clinical-considerations.html here]; it stresses that mixing the vaccines is acceptable only in exceptional circumstances, such as "when the first-dose vaccine product cannot be determined."

Cueball wonders whether the order in which you receive the vaccines matters. Megan then attempts to create {{w|Mnemonic|mnemonic devices}} to help them remember which mix-and-match strategy is best for the mRNA vaccines (e.g., "Beer before wine and you'll feel fine; wine before beer and you'll feel queer"). Megan succeeds by rhyming "Pfizer" and "wiser", but struggles with finding a rhyme for "Moderna", settling for {{w|Smyrna}}, an ancient city located in what is now {{w|Izmir}}, Turkey.

A {{w|side effect}} of a drug is an effect incidental to the intended purpose of the drug. Side effects can be positive or negative, though in vaccine trials the greater concern is usually about negative side effects. Becoming ruler of an ancient city that is now only a historical ruin would certainly be an odd side effect.

The title text continues the theme of difficult rhymes, using the full names of both the Moderna vaccine drug ({{w|Moderna COVID-19 vaccine|mRNA-1273}}) and the Pfizer one ({{w|Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine|tozinameran}}).

Note: Studies have shown that the order that you have alcoholic drinks doesn't affect the severity of the hangover. The efficacy of mixing vaccines is presently unknown, an important reason why mixing them is discouraged.

==Trivia==

This comic image was originally published with no {{w|Spatial anti-aliasing|anti-aliasing}}. All of its pixels were either fully black or fully white, with no shades of gray, giving the smooth lines a jagged appearance. This was fixed later in the day.

==Transcript==
Megan and Cueball are talking. Megan is referring to a news story on her phone.

Megan: The CDC says it's okay to mix and match the mRNA vaccines for doses 1 and 2, but only in exceptional circumstances.

Cueball: I wonder which order works better, if either.

Megan: Well you know what they say — Moderna before Pfizer, you'll be none the wiser. Pfizer before Moderna then you'll... rule ancient Smyrna.

Cueball: Weird side effect.

Megan: A lot of hard-to-rhyme drugs have those.

{{comic discussion}}

2416: Trash Compactor Party

2021-01-26T00:58:19Z

172.69.170.56: I don't think the idea is literal death

{{comic
| number = 2416
| date = January 26, 2021
| title = Trash Compactor Party
| image = trash_compactor_party.png
| titletext = What an incredible smell you've discovered.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FORMER SOCIAL-DISTANCER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Randall has gotten tired of social distancing and wants to do the exact opposite when he can. The exact opposite of social distancing would be being crushed together by some sort of compactor.

Cueball and Megan are trying to push the walls of the trash compactor back in order to prevent it from pushing them closer to other people.

It should be noted that even after the majority of the population has been vaccinated against COVID-19, other potentially fatal respiratory illnesses, such as influenza, will still be circulating, so social distancing will still be a good idea, just not as imperative.

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

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]

2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T17:20:05Z

172.69.170.56:

{{comic
| number = 2410
| date = January 12, 2021
| title = Apple Growers
| image = apple_growers.png
| titletext = Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.
}}

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

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|2021 storming of the United States Capitol|stormed the United States Capitol}} while Congress was in session to certify the results of the {{w|2020 United_States_presidential_election|2020 election}}, which President Trump lost. The attack resulted in an evacuation of Congress from the building, a disruption of the operations of the legislature, and the deaths of several people, including one Capitol Police officer. For months prior to this day, the President had consistently refused to recognize the outcome of the election while promoting debunked conspiracy theories about rigged votes, insisting that he was the rightful winner, and calling upon his followers to contest the results and keep him in office. The assault took place during a rally that the President had encouraged and promoted, and his response afterward was widely viewed as being far too mild, even offering tacit approval of the attack. This event has been variously described as treason, insurrection, domestic terrorism, or a coup attempt. Nothing in modern American history resembles this; the {{w|Burning of Washington}}, by the British in {{w|the War of 1812}}, is sometimes raised in comparison. It is hard to overstate the significance of this event—it was a blatant attempt to overturn, by violence, the results of a US presidential election and prevent the orderly transition of power, and an unprecedented attack on American democracy.

Most national leaders, regardless of party, have condemned the incident, and a large number of them have called for the President's resignation or removal from office (either through impeachment or under the {{w|Twenty-fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution|25th Amendment}}. Moreover, many other organizations, including those that are not explicitly political in nature, have joined in condemning the attack and those involved. Both {{w|Twitter}} and {{w|Facebook}} have permanently banned Donald Trump from their sites, which is significant, because Donald Trump famously uses social media to communicate with and rally his supporters. {{w|Deutsche Bank}}, which is President Trump's primary lender, has announced that they'll no longer do business with him. Many less prominent companies and organizations have made statements of condemnation.

Normal American life, already strained under the [[:Category:COVID-19|coronavirus pandemic]], was dealt another blow by the insurrection. Normally planned events continue to be held, but the shadow of current events impacts everything. This comic depicts one such event, a news conference hosted by the State Apple Growers (of an unspecified state). This group apparently had a scheduled meeting to discuss apple variety standards, but their meeting was instead dominated by discussions of events in government, resulting in them issuing a formal statement calling upon President Trump to resign. This statement obviously has nothing to do with apples, and when pressed, the spokesperson makes generic statements in favor of apples, but points out that they're too distracted by more urgent matters to focus on their normal jobs.

{{w|Cosmic Crisp}}, mentioned in title text, is a variety of apples developed in the Washington State University that has been on sale since 2019, amid a large marketing campaign. The implication of the title text is that the people involve ''are'' in fact, very interested in and concerned with details of apple cultivation and marketing, and hope to return to a state in which they they can focus on those. But the more immediate draw of events makes it difficult to focus on what they usually like to talk about.

This is one of very few comics with [[Beret Guy]] where he is not really doing anything, although his presence in food related comics have often been seen, and this is also a weird turn of event that the Apple Growers discuss Trump. However, usually Beret Guy is not interested in real life problems.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball stand on either side of Megan with her hair unkempt. They stand behind a lectern with an image of an apple on the front of it. Unreadable text is written on both side of the apple in two rows.]
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: The state apple-growers' association has decided to formally call on President Donald Trump to resign.

:[A wider shot shows Beret Guy, Megan, and Cueball on a podium behind the lectern. The visible audience consist of a Cueball-like guy, Hairy and Ponytail holding a microphone to her mouth as she addresses those on the podium.]
:Ponytail: Weren't you meeting to update the standards for new apple varieties?
:Megan: Yes, but we talked it over and this is what we decided.
:Megan: We feel strongly that this is important.

:[There is a narrow shot with a zoom in on Megan.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Did you discuss anything on your actual agenda?
:Megan: Thanks for the question! We did not.

:[Beret Guy, Cueball and Megan is again seen from the front behind the lectern, Megan's hair even more unkempt.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Do you have any apple-related announcements at all?
:Megan: Uh, apples are great. Best fruit. Everyone should buy 1,000 of them.
:Megan: '''''We're a little distracted right now, okay??'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T17:15:10Z

172.69.170.56:

{{comic
| number = 2410
| date = January 12, 2021
| title = Apple Growers
| image = apple_growers.png
| titletext = Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.
}}

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

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|2021 storming of the United States Capitol|stormed the United States Capitol}} while Congress was in session to certify the results of the {{w|2020 United_States_presidential_election|2020 election}}, which President Trump lost. The attack resulted in an evacuation of Congress from the building, a disruption of the operations of the legislature, and the deaths of several people, including one Capitol Police officer. For months prior to this day, the President had consistently refused to recognize the outcome of the election while promoting debunked conspiracy theories about rigged votes, insisting that he was the rightful winner, and calling upon his followers to contest the results and keep him in office. The assault took place during a rally that the President had encouraged and promoted, and his response afterward was widely viewed as being far too mild, even offering tacit approval of the attack. This event has been variously described as treason, insurrection, domestic terrorism, or a coup attempt. Nothing in modern American history resembles this; the {{w|Burning of Washington}}, by the British in {{w|the War of 1812}}, is sometimes raised in comparison. It is hard to overstate the significance of this event—it was a blatant attempt to overturn, by violence, the results of a US presidential election and prevent the orderly transition of power, and an unprecedented attack on American democracy.

In the aftermath, many Democratic and Republican politicians have condemned the incident. Moreover, many other organizations, including those that are not explicitly political in nature, have joined in condemning the attack and those involved. Both {{w|Twitter}} and {{w|Facebook}} have permanently banned Donald Trump from their sites, which is significant, because Donald Trump uses social media to communicate with and rally his supporters, to an unprecedented degree. {{w|Deutsche Bank}}, which is President Trump's primary lender, has announced that they'll no longer do business with him. Many less prominent companies and organizations have made statements of condemnation.

Normal American life, already strained under the [[:Category:COVID-19|coronavirus pandemic]], was dealt another blow by the insurrection. Normally planned events continue to be held, but the shadow of current events impact everything. This comic depicts one such event, a news conference hosted by the State Apple Growers (of an unspecified state). This group apparently had a scheduled meeting to discuss apple variety standards, but their discussion was instead dominated by discussions of events in government, resulting in them issuing a formal statement calling upon President Trump to resign. This statement obviously has nothing to do with apples, and when pressed, the spokesperson makes generic statements in favor of apples, but points out that they're too distracted by more urgent matters to focus on their normal jobs.

{{w|Cosmic Crisp}}, mentioned in title text, is a variety of apples developed in the Washington State University that has been on sale since 2019, amid a large marketing campaign. The implication of the title text is that the people involve ''are'' in fact, very interested in and concerned with details of apple cultivation and marketing, and hope to return to a state in which they they can focus on those. But the more immediate draw of events makes it difficult to focus on what they usually like to talk about.

This is one of very few comics with [[Beret Guy]] where he is not really doing anything, although his presence in food related comics have often been seen, and this is also a weird turn of event that the Apple Growers discuss Trump. However, usually Beret Guy is not interested in real life problems.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball stand on either side of Megan with her hair unkempt. They stand behind a lectern with an image of an apple on the front of it. Unreadable text is written on both side of the apple in two rows.]
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: The state apple-growers' association has decided to formally call on President Donald Trump to resign.

:[A wider shot shows Beret Guy, Megan, and Cueball on a podium behind the lectern. The visible audience consist of a Cueball-like guy, Hairy and Ponytail holding a microphone to her mouth as she addresses those on the podium.]
:Ponytail: Weren't you meeting to update the standards for new apple varieties?
:Megan: Yes, but we talked it over and this is what we decided.
:Megan: We feel strongly that this is important.

:[There is a narrow shot with a zoom in on Megan.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Did you discuss anything on your actual agenda?
:Megan: Thanks for the question! We did not.

:[Beret Guy, Cueball and Megan is again seen from the front behind the lectern, Megan's hair even more unkempt.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Do you have any apple-related announcements at all?
:Megan: Uh, apples are great. Best fruit. Everyone should buy 1,000 of them.
:Megan: '''''We're a little distracted right now, okay??'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

2410: Apple Growers

2021-01-12T17:14:28Z

172.69.170.56:

{{comic
| number = 2410
| date = January 12, 2021
| title = Apple Growers
| image = apple_growers.png
| titletext = Hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be able to resume our apple-focused updates, because we have SO MUCH to say about Cosmic Crisp.
}}

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

On January 6, 2021, supporters of President {{w|Donald Trump}} {{w|2021 storming of the United States Capitol|stormed the United States Capitol}} while Congress was in session to certify the results of the {{w|2020 United_States_presidential_election|2020 election}}, which President Trump lost. The attack resulted in an evacuation of Congress from the building, a disruption of the operations of the legislature, and the deaths of several people, including one Capitol Police officer. For months prior to this day, the President had consistently refused to recognize the outcome of the election while promoting debunked conspiracy theories about rigged votes, insisting that he was the rightful winner, and calling upon his followers to contest the results and keep him in office. The assault took place during a rally that the President had encouraged and promoted, and his response afterward was widely viewed as being far too mild, even offering tacit approval of the attack. This event has been variously described as treason, insurrection, domestic terrorism, or a coup attempt. Nothing in modern American history resembles this; the {{w|Burning of Washington}}, by the British in {{w|the War of 1812}}, is sometimes raised in comparison. It is hard to overstate the significance of this event—it was a blatant attempt to overturn, by violence, the results of a US presidential election and prevent the orderly transition of power, and an unprecedented attack on American democracy.

In its wake, many Democratic and Republican politicians have condemned the incident. Moreover, many other organizations, including those that are not explicitly political in nature, have joined in condemning the attack and those involved. Both {{w|Twitter}} and {{w|Facebook}} have permanently banned Donald Trump from their sites, which is significant, because Donald Trump uses social media to communicate with and rally his supporters, to an unprecedented degree. {{w|Deutsche Bank}}, which is President Trump's primary lender, has announced that they'll no longer do business with him. Many less prominent companies and organizations have made statements of condemnation.

Normal American life, already strained under the [[:Category:COVID-19|coronavirus pandemic]], was dealt another blow by the insurrection. Normally planned events continue to be held, but the shadow of current events impact everything. This comic depicts one such event, a news conference hosted by the State Apple Growers (of an unspecified state). This group apparently had a scheduled meeting to discuss apple variety standards, but their discussion was instead dominated by discussions of events in government, resulting in them issuing a formal statement calling upon President Trump to resign. This statement obviously has nothing to do with apples, and when pressed, the spokesperson makes generic statements in favor of apples, but points out that they're too distracted by more urgent matters to focus on their normal jobs.

{{w|Cosmic Crisp}}, mentioned in title text, is a variety of apples developed in the Washington State University that has been on sale since 2019, amid a large marketing campaign. The implication of the title text is that the people involve ''are'' in fact, very interested in and concerned with details of apple cultivation and marketing, and hope to return to a state in which they they can focus on those. But the more immediate draw of events makes it difficult to focus on what they usually like to talk about.

This is one of very few comics with [[Beret Guy]] where he is not really doing anything, although his presence in food related comics have often been seen, and this is also a weird turn of event that the Apple Growers discuss Trump. However, usually Beret Guy is not interested in real life problems.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Cueball stand on either side of Megan with her hair unkempt. They stand behind a lectern with an image of an apple on the front of it. Unreadable text is written on both side of the apple in two rows.]
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: The state apple-growers' association has decided to formally call on President Donald Trump to resign.

:[A wider shot shows Beret Guy, Megan, and Cueball on a podium behind the lectern. The visible audience consist of a Cueball-like guy, Hairy and Ponytail holding a microphone to her mouth as she addresses those on the podium.]
:Ponytail: Weren't you meeting to update the standards for new apple varieties?
:Megan: Yes, but we talked it over and this is what we decided.
:Megan: We feel strongly that this is important.

:[There is a narrow shot with a zoom in on Megan.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Did you discuss anything on your actual agenda?
:Megan: Thanks for the question! We did not.

:[Beret Guy, Cueball and Megan is again seen from the front behind the lectern, Megan's hair even more unkempt.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): Do you have any apple-related announcements at all?
:Megan: Uh, apples are great. Best fruit. Everyone should buy 1,000 of them.
:Megan: '''''We're a little distracted right now, okay??'''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

2408: Egg Strategies

2021-01-12T03:36:21Z

172.69.170.56:

{{comic
| number = 2408
| date = January 6, 2021
| title = Egg Strategies
| image = egg_strategies.png
| titletext = Neutral Evil is for people who like keeping the weight nicely centered in the carton, but also hate everyone else who wants that.
}}

==Eggsplanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EGG LISTENING ANXIOUSLY TO THE RADIO. Please mention here why this eggsplanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows nine egg cartons, each of which contains between five and eight eggs. The cartons are presented in the format of a ''{{W|Dungeons & Dragons}}'' {{w|Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)|alignment chart}}. Originally created as a way of categorizing game characters' motivations, the chart has three possibilities on each axis: lawful/neutral/chaotic on the X axis and good/neutral/evil on the Y axis. Used outside its original purpose, the chart has become a meme for categorizing things it has no real applicability to. This comic is such a meme. The rationale for deciding how good or evil an arrangement is is based on how the eggs are balanced in the carton.

Eggs in America are traditionally sold by the dozen, with egg cartons consisting of 12 cups to hold them in place. A consumer is unlikely to consume all 12 eggs at once (unless feeding a great many people, or perhaps making a traditional {{w|pound cake}}), which means that the carton will be gradually emptied. Different people have different tendencies as to the order in which they remove eggs. This comic depicts various possible storage schemes for the unused eggs and assigns them D&D alignments.

By the standards of this comic, "good" attributes appear to include targeting having symmetry, with a center of gravity near the center of the carton. Presumably this is considered to make the carton easier to handle and less likely to cause problems for anyone else who uses the carton. The "evil" alignments appear to go out of their way to make the carton eggs harder to use, with the ultimate example of simply smashing all the eggs.

{| class="wikitable"
!Alignment
!Description of alignment
!Description of eggs
!Explanation
|-
|Lawful Good
|A character who believes in altruism, discipline, and the stability of order, authority, and responsibility. Paladins are traditionally Lawful Good.
|Eggs are picked from the edges, with the eggs in the center remaining
|Taking eggs away from the edges of the carton first keeps the center of gravity of the carton in the middle, reducing the likelihood of accidents due to unexpected center of gravity when picking up the carton. It also minimizes the moment of inertia, making it easy to rotate the carton to change its orientation. The patterns of eggs and spaces have twofold rotational symmetry around the vertical axis through the center of the carton. This strategy is, literally, ''centralized''; and according to Randall, good. The idea is this person believes in keeping the carton easy to handle, and that following a strict pattern will help.
|-
|Neutral Good
|A character who believes in spreading goodness and benevolence, and fighting evil; they have either no strong feelings toward laws and authority, or are conflicted on the matter.
|Eggs are picked from the center of the carton, leaving the eggs on the edges.
|For an odd number of eggs, as shown, this leaves the center of gravity slightly towards the left, while the center of gravity is at the center of the carton when the number of eggs is even; but the carton has a relatively high moment of inertia. It is neither centralized nor random; Randall interprets this as “Neutral Good.” The idea is this person believes in keeping the carton easy to handle, and that a general, flexible pattern will help.
|-
|Chaotic Good
|A character who believes in goodness, with an emphasis on free will in particular, and strives to fight oppression. Heroic Rogues are the traditional examples of Chaotic Good (e.g., {{w|Robin Hood}}).
|Eggs are picked randomly, while preserving reflective symmetry between eggs and empty spaces, as well as roughly balancing eggs between the sides of the carton.
|The idea is this person believes in keeping the carton easy to handle, and clearly pays at least some attention to how the next user will be impacted. The fact that the person put that much thought into symmetry and usability, but still made selections quasi-randomly suggests a deliberate rebellion against the a set pattern.
|-
|Lawful Neutral
|A character who places highest emphasis on laws and traditions, who does not generally have malicious intent, but is also not driven by altruism. Such a character tends to define their morality primarily in terms of what their rules dictate. They favor strict hierarchies.
|Eggs are picked from the top row first, then the bottom, starting on one side.
|This is a very organized method of picking eggs from a carton, but the center of mass shifts to one side. The idea is that this person has a very specific pattern for removing eggs from the carton, and holds to it without regard to whether it's actually the best way.
|-
|True Neutral
|A character who primarily acts on what seems like a good idea, who has both a lack of bias but also a lack of conviction. Druids are traditionally True Neutral, though this is commonly stereotyped as the alignment of non-player characters such as innocent bystanders and wild animals.
|Eggs are picked from one side, with both rows being roughly equal.
|The idea is a character who does not put much thought into optimizing the carton, and simply takes eggs out of one side, which is common, intuitive, and works well enough.
|-
|Chaotic Neutral
|A character who believes in independence and free will, shirks at traditions or oaths that might tie him down, and has no strong feelings for morality toward or sadism against those around them.
|Eggs are picked in a chessboard pattern.
|The center of mass is kept central, but this is a very unusual way of picking eggs from a carton. The idea is a person who isn't out to make things harder for others, but cares more about breaking from traditional rules (by making a fun pattern) than about optimizing things for others.
|-
|Lawful Evil
|A character who believes in a strict set of rules, be it a set of laws, code of honor, or body of tradition, but is nonetheless a dangerous and violent or greedy figure who abuses others for his own ends. Dictators and zealots are often Lawful Evil.
|Eggs are kept in the middle of the carton, stacked atop each other in a pyramid shape.
|This keeps the weight nicely centered, but makes it impossible to close the lid of the carton. The idea is a character who wants to frustrate everyone around them, while ''technically'' holding to a systematic set of rules about the best way to store eggs.
|-
|Neutral Evil
|A character who cares only for self-interest, often with a tint of bloodthirstiness or sadism, with no strong feelings for discipline or allegiance beyond what is beneficial to themselves. Sometimes referred to as the "asshole alignment". Villainous rogues, such as assassins, are traditionally Neutral Evil.
|Eggs are stacked in the exact middle of the open carton, in the top row and on the open lid.
|This keeps the weight centered in the carton only when the lid is open. Since the connection between the lid and the carton is flexible, someone picking up the carton would have to hold the lid and carton separately so that the eggs don't fall off. As explained in the Title Text, Randall interprets Neutral Evil as a character who would put some thought into what other people might want, and go out of their way to deliberately make things more inconvenient for them.
|-
|Chaotic Evil
|A character who cares only for destruction, hedonism, and personal gain, who actively seeks to thwart or harm others, and who actively resists any kind of permanent allegiance and structured planning. Monsters and demons are traditionally Chaotic Evil.
|Eggs are smashed in the center of the carton.
|Smashing the eggs makes it impossible for anyone to have them, and creates a terrible mess. It takes little or no planning or forethought, just malice and a willingness to destroy. This is likely the action of a character who enjoys destroying things for the sake of destruction.
|}

An alignment chart was also featured in [[2251: Alignment Chart Alignment Chart]], which was published exactly one year earlier.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[3x3 grid of egg cartons, each containing between 5-8 eggs in an arrangement matching a description of lawful/neutral/chaotic paired with good/neutral/evil]

[each egg carton is depicted from a top-down view, with the lid open and the eggs and their places visible]

'''Top Left - Lawful Good'''

[6 eggs centered

3 in the top row, shifted to the right

3 in the bottom row, shifted to the left]

'''Top Center - Neutral Good'''

[7 eggs

4 in the left side

3 in the right side, with one in the top row and two in the bottom row]

'''Top Right - Chaotic Good'''

[6 eggs spread randomly, while preserving reflective symmetry between eggs and non-eggs]

'''Middle Left - Lawful Neutral'''

[5 eggs all on the bottom row, starting on the left side]

'''Middle Center - True Neutral'''

[7 eggs all to the left side

4 in the top row

3 in the bottom row]

'''Middle Right - Chaotic Neutral'''

[6 eggs staggered in every other space so that each egg is diagonal from the two nearest

no two eggs are directly next to each other side-to-side or up-and-down

3 in the top row, starting in the left most position

3 in the bottom row; starting position second from the left side]

'''Bottom Left - Lawful Evil'''

[8 eggs

6 in the egg carton, centered but offset one place to the left; 3 eggs each on the top and bottom

2 eggs are on top of the 6 that are placed in the carton]

'''Bottom Center - Neutral Evil'''

[8 eggs

3 on the bottom edge of the lid

2 in the top center positions in the egg carton

3 centered on the edge and on top of/between the eggs on the lid and the eggs in the proper positions]

'''Bottom Right - Chaotic Evil'''

[broken eggs in the center of the carton and spilling/splattering over the rest of the carton and onto the lid

6 or 7 yellow-orange yolks are visible

the spilled egg whites are colored light yellow-greenish

several pieces of egg shells, varying in size from approximately one-half to very small chips are mixed in with the yolks and whites]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:1332: Slippery Slope

2021-01-04T18:47:23Z

172.69.170.56:

Wow, and I used to think White Hat was well-meaning but stupid; the inverse of Black Hat. I never knew he was such an asshole...
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.65|199.27.128.65]] 09:11, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
::My own first thought was "That's a Black Hat Voice...". Then I started wondering what White Beret would have said, in his stead, and that sufficiently distracted me... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 13:49, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
::Maybe he's being sarcastic?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.111|108.162.249.111]] 23:19, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

::I read that as more of an introverted perspective (though to an extreme) than him being an asshole.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.57|173.245.54.57]] 16:20, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

::Yeah, I don't really understand what Randall's trying to say by making him a White Hat.--[[User:Ricketybridge|Ricketybridge]] ([[User talk:Ricketybridge|talk]]) 23:43, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

:: I always assume Randal made a mistake and forget to color in the hat, because this is obviously a BlackHat argument.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.66|162.158.83.66]] 18:25, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

::Remember that it is this page that has put Cueball and White Hat tags on these persons. Randall does not follow this page... Hence he can change them at will, and especially the Cueball character behaves quite different from comic to comic - sometimes there are more than one Cueball in the same comic. On the other hand, I do believe that Randall uses White Hat as "the same person" every time. However, where White Hat may not wish to go out of his way to be nice - this has nothing in comparison to Black Hat who will go out of his way (a long way) to be mean to everyone. So this is not a typical Black Hat discussion in the comic. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:54, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

::I also wonder what the deal is here with White Hat. I usually think of him as the proponent of "conventional wisdom," which is often misguided,smug, and self-righteous... but not usually malicious. Black Hat obviously has that one cornered. And yes, I do understand that Randall "doesn't read this site," but that doesn't mean that he isn't saying something by using White Hat here. He's obviously put a sign out there. It's up to us to decode the signifier. [[User:Orazor|Orazor]] ([[User talk:Orazor|talk]]) 06:50, 6 October 2014 (UTC)
::: Malice is active and/or deliberate harmful behavior, not the absence of kindness. So his attitude isn't malicious, it's selfish because he's putting his time far ahead of the wellbeing of others. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 06:07, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

"Where does it end"? - Marriage, obviously. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:29, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

;Reminds me of a scene in 3:10 to Yuma (2007) with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale

Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) speaking to Dan Evans (Christian Bale):
"Yeah, that's why I don't mess around with doing anything good, Dan. You do one good deed for somebody... I imagine it's habit-forming. Something decent. See that grateful look in their eyes, imagine it makes you feel like Christ Hisself."

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.30|108.162.216.30]] 20:24, 19 February 2014 (UTC)CAM

In the U.S., the satellite company DirectTV has a series of humorous commercials using the Slippery Slope argument as part of their "Get Rid of Cable" campaign. They all start with a person using cable tv, having problems of some sort, and then ending up in a dire situation such as waking up in a roadside ditch, selling your hair to a wig shop, etc. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.67|199.27.128.67]] 22:43, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

Am I the only one thinking maybe we might take the literal meaning out of this, too? Seems like every day someone else gets fed up with being a douche.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.111|108.162.249.111]] 23:19, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

The classical "slippery slope" argument against cannabis legalization is that if we legalize cannabis, we must also legalize other drugs, eventually leading to legalizing heroin. This also mirrors the slippery slope argument in the comic. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.127|173.245.53.127]] 11:44, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

Updated and expanded explanation. Is it sufficient now?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.152|173.245.56.152]] 23:49, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

;I perceive a problem.:
Both examples of "slippery slope" arguments provided in the explanation are stereotypically bad arguments taken from a more conservative perspective, and the explanation goes on to criticize these bad arguments for being "largely made out of baseless fear and prejudice."

For one thing, this comic has nothing whatsoever to do with "arguments that are largely made out of baseless fear and prejudice" - furthermore, the criticism is a ''leftist's interpretation'' of the grounds for these perspectives (alleged fear and prejudice) rather than acknowledging whatever legitimacy there may be to actual conservative beliefs on these issues. Certainly, a thinking conservative who encountered this depiction of their beliefs would object strongly that their beliefs are quite warranted, and are not grounded in "baseless fear and prejudice" at all.

One possible solution would be to remove one of the examples and instead present an example of a bad "slippery slope" argument made from a left-leaning perspective: for example, arguing that "outlawing same-sex marriage will inevitably lead to outlawing interracial marriage as well" or "tightening up controls on illegal immigration will result in more onerous restrictions on legal immigration as well."

I am more inclined, however, to simply find a single example that isn't nearly as politically-charged and that anyone can agree to.
I'm thinking of drafting such an example and then making the change at a later date, unless someone finds a reason for me not to? Discussion is welcome. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.50|172.69.170.50]] 18:54, 22 December 2020 (UTC)MeZimm
:: Changes made. Let me know if I overstepped or if something needs to be reworked, thanks! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.56|172.69.170.56]] 18:47, 4 January 2021 (UTC)MeZimm

1332: Slippery Slope

2021-01-04T18:43:58Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */ The earlier examples were too politically-charged and one-sided, and the limitations of the SS fallacy were not mentioned. And, despite the name, I think the point of the comic has more to do with White Hat being a jerk. See discussion.

{{comic
| number = 1332
| date = February 19, 2014
| title = Slippery Slope
| image = slippery_slope.png
| titletext = Sure, taking a few seconds to be respectful toward someone about something they care about doesn't sound hard. But if you talk to hundreds of people every day and they all start expecting that same consideration, it could potentially add up to MINUTES wasted. And for WHAT?
}}

==Explanation==
"{{w|Slippery slope}}" argumentation is an informal fallacy that takes the form of "if A happens, then B will follow as a minor but expected consequence. B will lead on to C, C leads onto D, and so on. Each consequence gets progressively worse until an undesirable situation is reached." A slippery slope argument proposes that A should not be allowed, because if it is, then the resulting chain of consequences will inevitably lead to the undesirable situation.

For example, someone who is trying to avoid washing the dishes might try to justify themselves as follows: "if I wash the dishes tonight, then tomorrow night, I might be asked to do the dishes and also to wipe down the kitchen counters. If I do that, then pretty soon I'll also be asked to mop the kitchen floor. If I have to mop the kitchen floor, eventually I'll be asked to mop ALL the floors of the house, and eventually this will extend to washing the windows and taking out the trash and doing laundry, and I'll be doing EVERYTHING around here and NEVER get any time to myself. Therefore, I will not wash the dishes tonight, so I can still have enough time for myself."

What makes the chain of reasoning fallacious is that there is nothing about the task of "washing the dishes" that in any way implies the additional responsibilities that this person imagines (such as wiping down counters or mopping floors). The slippery slope fallacy manifests when there is no cogent basis for believing that the proposed chain of events is likely to follow, especially when the proposed course of action has a clear extent and limitation which would adequately prevent the "slope" from being "slipped down." In the above example: there is an implied extent and limitation to the defined task of "washing the dishes" - namely, the task would be complete when the household dishes have been washed. Additional household chores, like wiping down counters, would be negotiated seperately with other members of the household.

(It is worth noting that a fallacy has NOT been committed if there is a reasonable basis for the concern. For example, the reluctant dishwasher might live with an abuser who will foreseeably intimidate them into taking on an unreasonable share of household chores, on the faulty basis that "if you're willing to do the dishes, surely you must also be willing to wipe down the counters..." In such a scenario, "wash the dishes" may carry an encoded message of "do what you're told," in a form that appears reasonable on its surface. Thus, in assessing whether or not a slippery slope fallacy has been committed, it is important to take ALL the relevant factors into consideration, and not merely the explicitly articulated ones.)

In the comic, [[White Hat]] uses a slippery slope argument to [[Cueball]] to justify being inconsiderate to people. He argues that if he expends minor effort being considerate to one person, he will be expected to be considerate to everyone he meets, which - he wishes to argue - is an undesirable situation. Thus, he justifies being inconsiderate as a form of avoiding the slippery slope.

This idea is extended in the title text, where he continues extrapolating the train of thought to conclude that minutes of time would be "wasted". Rather than condemning the slippery slope fallacy per se, [[Randall]]'s point here seems to be more that White Hat's priorities are callous to the point of sociopathy. All people desire to be treated with consideration and respect, and taking a few seconds to acknowledge another's feelings is (for most well-meaning people) a small price to pay for improving that person's day, or at least not making it any worse than it needs to be. As such, these seconds would not be "wasted" at all, but would be actively making the world a friendlier place. White Hat's hyperfixation on not wasting time appears ludicrous given how much good feeling he could contribute to the world for so little of his own time. (White Hat also appears to be discounting the possibility that being considerate towards others will encourage reciprocity, which could result in SAVING him time since they will be more willing to help him out should he ever find himself in need.)

==Transcript==
:[White Hat talking to Cueball.]
:White Hat: Yeah, but if I'm considerate toward one person about one thing, what's next?
:White Hat: Being nice to ''other'' people about ''other'' things?
:White Hat: Where does it ''end?''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

Talk:861: Wisdom Teeth

2020-12-11T18:44:38Z

172.69.170.56:

Why should all three parts of the anesthetic have to wear off? It seems like Randall would probably not write "Everything ok" if he could feel the procedure. [[Special:Contributions/75.69.96.225|75.69.96.225]] 02:10, 5 March 2013 (UTC)

^ Agreed, it is most likely the anæsthetic and paralytic wore off, leaving the analgesic. So, he was awake, but "Everything [was] ok", because he was not feeling pain. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.14|108.162.216.14]] 15:39, 14 September 2014 (UTC)

I Gotta get my wisdom teeth removed asap! ~~JFreund

Could this be a reference to superflat mode?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.84|108.162.216.84]] 22:31, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

^ No, this was during beta 1.2 when there were no modes. ~iFinity

Related? http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=846 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.176|108.162.238.176]] 21:22, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

I think that the guy was crazy but if this was before super flat, it could have possibly have been a model used in the mode. {{unsigned|Otis}}

The phrase "Due to the inhibitory effects of painkillers" is flat-out wrong (pun intended). Opioids don't cause that kind of behaviour, and even if they did in some people, this wouldn't be due to their inhibitory effects on pain (they in fact exert a stimulatory effect on the mu-opioid receptor and more or less an happy and easy-going, while sleepy, state of mind). This is more a reflection of the personality of Cueball being exposed by his drunken-like state, if anything. I edited the sentence by replacing this with "While intoxicated with painkillers" ~~ A concerned M.D.

Could the title text be a reference to ''Memento''? --[[User:Nick818|Nick818]] ([[User talk:Nick818|talk]]) 21:59, 13 December 2016 (UTC)

In Minecraft: Playstation 4 version, there is a option to do a flat world like that in comic. {{unsigned ip|141.101.96.209 }}

In actuality, no Minecraft map is infinite- just obscenely big. This probably could not be done in the appropriate time span given, but it could eventually be done. {Sauron, the Dark Lord}

We're just gonna ignore the thing about being a hologram, huh? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.56|172.69.170.56]] 18:44, 11 December 2020 (UTC)mezimm

1210: I'm So Random

2020-11-20T23:37:55Z

172.69.170.56:

{{comic
| number = 1210
| date = May 10, 2013
| title = I'm So Random
| image = im so random.png
| titletext = In retrospect, it's weird that as a kid I thought completely random outbursts made me seem interesting, given that from an information theory point of view, lexical white noise is just about the opposite of interesting by definition.
}}

==Explanation==
A child [[Hairy]] walks up to [[Black Hat]], utters a nonsense phrase, and them proclaims that he is "so random". This is a fairly common modern phenomenon in which people (especially children) make "random" statements, and somehow imagine themselves to be funny and interesting because of this. Black Hat, never one to hesitate over bringing someone down, replies that he is also random. He then proves this by pouring forth a torrential stream of numbers that overcomes poor Hairy. Black Hat then resumes his posture at the computer, as if nothing has happened.

It is true that when brilliant and creative people speak passionately about a subject, they can make mental leaps and changes of context that might seem bewildering to an outsider. The conversation may even seem to be "random". However, simply vocalizing nonsense is not analogous, or even desirable; it is more likely a character trait of someone who is immature or has difficulty in following or adding to a normal human conversation.

Black Hat's "random" numbers are actually quoted from [http://oeis.org/A002205 the first lines] of ''{{w|A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates}}'' making it both "officially random", but also essentially not. This book is also referenced in [[1751: Movie Folder]]. See also: [[221: Random Number]].

A side note is that "Monkey tacos" is a phrase which contains two trochees. A {{w|trochee}} is a {{w|Foot_(prosody)|metric foot}} with one stressed beat and one unstressed beat; it may be a reference to or an unconscious allusion to [[856: Trochee Fixation]].

The title text deals with the connotations of the word "interesting" in different contexts. On one hand, children may be easily amused by behavior that lies outside of conventional social norms and defies expectations. Children may attempt to add whimsy to a situation they perceive as dull by interjecting words that have no significant meaning or relationship whatsoever to anything around them, merely to make things seem different and therefore "interesting" (at least to them.) There is some merit to this perspective: human social norms developed largely as a way to make social interaction more predictable and manageable and correspondingly LESS interesting, to free up our attention for other, more pressing matters. Someone who is indeed behaving "randomly" often DOES command interest and attention, if only because their unpredictability makes them potentially dangerous. However, to a child, social conventions may seem arbitrary and needlessly inhibitive, and they will often test the limits of such conventions by deliberately acting in violation of them and seeing what happens. "Random outbursts" of nonsense phrases are a fairly harmless way of doing this, and often do not incur sharply negative responses beyond annoyance (Harry's experience being an exception), so children (including Randall in his youth) might do this very frequently until they mature out of it.

However, "interesting" in information theory is quite a different matter. {{w|Information theory}} is "[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767006082 the mathematical treatment of the concepts, parameters and rules governing the transmission of messages through communication systems.]" It is therefore very concerned with the meanings of the words and phrases people use to convey information, and it would regard something as "interesting" if it exhibited a notably consistent and predictable pattern that pointed towards greater significance. As such, "the opposite of interesting" would be expressions that hold no meaning, convey no information, and do not indicate any recognizable patterns or significance - such as the "random outbursts" that Randall once believed made him seem interesting as a child.

He characterizes these interjections of random words as "lexical white noise," "lexical" meaning "[https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/lexical relating to words or vocabulary of a language.]" {{w|White noise}} is essentially random sound waves which, taken en masse, blend into audio static that takes on a macroscopically uniform sound experience despite their random nature. This can be used in some sleep or relaxation therapies, which foils well with the random assault experienced in the comic. There are also other {{w|colors of noise}}, and yes, [[915: Connoisseur|people have strong opinions as to which one is better]].

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is sitting in an office chair at a desk when Hairy runs up behind him with his arms raised up.]
:Hairy: ''Monkey tacos!''
:Hairy: I'm so random.

:[A frame-less panel pans to Black Hat and his desk, showing there is a computer on his desk and that he is actually typing on a keyboard in front of him on a lowered shelf.]
:Black Hat: Yeah, me too.

:[Black Hat swivels his chair around (as shown with a gray curved line beneath the chair at his feet) to face Hairy. He then emits from his mouth a massive speech bubble filled with random numbers in gray. This torrent of random numbers knocks Hairy to the ground as he shields his face with one arm while the other grasps for the floor to cushion his fall (it is notable that speech bubbles are not normally used in xkcd.) The numbers themselves are written deliberately haphazardly and in varying sizes, which makes it difficult to read them in any consistent manner; however, for reasons explained above, there is actually some order, and using that order they would appear like this:]
:Black Hat:

:::: 100973253376520135863467354
:::: 876809590911739292749453754
:::: 204805648947429624805240372
:::: 063610402002291665084226895
:::: 319645093032320902560159533
:::: 476435080336069901902529093


:[With Hairy gone, Black Hat has turned back and resumed working at his computer.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

Talk:962: The Corliss Resolution

2020-11-13T18:22:17Z

172.69.170.56:

But technological development is eventually going to make wingsuit flight safe, so how are we going to explain our continued survival after that? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:28, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Rocket-Sneakers(TM) [[Special:Contributions/178.105.151.131|178.105.151.131]] 06:59, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

When wingsuits become safe, they will become common, and will therefore not be as much fun. In the mean time, someone will have invented something else which is both fun and dangerous (like the aforementioned Rocket-Sneakers(TM)) [[User:Drmouse|Drmouse]] ([[User talk:Drmouse|talk]]) 13:19, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

"before they can develop space travel and the like, civilizations will inevitably invent an "activity more fun than survival." That is, something fun that's also very dangerous, such as flying off a cliff in a wing-suit."

Before they can develop space travel and the like, civilizations will have to invent an activity more fun than jumping off a cliff in a wing-suit and the like. Space travel is boring. Engineering space travel is boring with maths and work in it too.
[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 22:22, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

"As said in the title text, a being that can already fly (hence "avian society") would probably prefer flying around outside over developing the tools needed for space colonization."

I don't think that's accurate (the logic of avian sentients choosing to not develop space travel due to the enjoyment of flying; the title text interpretation being this is fine) because that is from a non-avian sentient perspective. To a sentient avian, flying would be normal, and thus as boring as walking is to us. And if you think walking is fun, YOU are boring. -- [[User:OriginalName|OriginalName]] ([[User talk:OriginalName|talk]]) 02:00, 26 April 2017 (UTC) ''(please sign your comments with <nowiki>~~</nowiki>~~)''
:For one, that's the joke. For two, I would strongly encourage you to read {{w|Jonathan Livingston Seagull}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.56|172.69.170.56]] 18:22, 13 November 2020 (UTC)mezimm

Talk:110: Clark Gable

2020-11-13T17:49:12Z

172.69.170.56:

[[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]]) The issue date is definately off, as the file doesn't have an issue date. Can anyone fix?

- Listed as 2006-06-02 as per https://xkcd.com/archive/ [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.28|172.68.141.28]] 09:18, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Gable did not have Tourette’s syndrome

Talk:2383: Electoral Precedent 2020

2020-11-11T04:20:29Z

172.69.170.56: /* What's up with the checkmark and X? */ new section

Can anyone identify the faded background text in the 2016 panel?

Is there some shadow text behind the main text in the 2016 square? I can barely make it out.
It looks like "No nominee whose first name contains a "k" has lost", which would be the same from the 1122 comic.
[[User:ChunyangD|ChunyangD]] ([[User talk:ChunyangD|talk]]) 00:54, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

It's the alternative text from the 2016 one: "No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.235.143|172.69.235.143]] 00:58, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

I'm quite sure that Obama did in fact have a campaign website in 2008 when he was a challenger. See http://www.4president.us/websites/2008/barackobama2008website.htm [[User:Bobjr|Bobjr]] ([[User talk:Bobjr|talk]]) 01:15, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:I think "challenger" means that they're going against the incumbent. Obama was up against McCain, who wasn't an incumbent. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:31, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

How much do we want the explanation for this one to repeat what is in that of 1122?--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 01:19, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:We shouldn't. If the explanation of 1122 is missing something it should be added there. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:21, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Didn't Clinton win after being impeached? [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 01:21, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:Yes, he was impeached during his first term. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:31, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:: No, this is not true, Clinton was impeached during his 2nd term, in 1998, and he was not eligible for a 3rd term. George W. Bush won the following presidential election in 2000. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.42|172.69.34.42]] 01:35, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

You could also say Joe was the first President with a rescue dog [[User:Squire80513|Squire80513]] ([[User talk:Squire80513|talk]]) 01:57, 10 November 2020 (UTC)Squire80513
:Does not Lyndon B Johnson's dog, Yuki, count? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.128|162.158.159.128]] 02:30, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::LBJ's Yuki was a "rescue" (found wandering aimlessly around a gas station) but not a "shelter" dog. Joe's dog is the first first canine from a shelter. It's subtle distinction that many repeating the statistic miss [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 03:08, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Point of order, why is Biden being referred to as president elect? I was under the impression that the term shouldn't be used until the dispute is resolved. With several pending legal cases and the votes uncertified by the states. -172.69.170.142 3:45 11/10/20 {{template:unsigned IP|172.69.170.142|03:45, 10 November 2020}}
: All major media sources have called the race for Biden as of Saturday, November 8th. XKCD, and this wiki, will follow the lead of the Associated Press or New York Times, both of whom say the race has concluded and Joe Biden is the president elect. -162.158.62.93 4:38 11/10/20 {{template:unsigned IP|162.158.62.93|04:38, 10 November 2020}}
:: Except for one of the most trusted- RealClearPolitics.com still has Pennsylvania up for grabs due to lawsuits and is about to move Michigan back into play after a poll worker claimed that a delivery of Biden-only votes came into a Detroit counting room at 3:30 am on November 4.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:26, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::: Your assertion of trust without reason comes across as fake news; however, I checked the web.archive.org history for realclearpolitics.com, and it has over a decade of history. I also visited the site and at a cursor glance it might have rational articles from both political sides, which seems commendable. If it is actually trustworthy, why didn't you explain that it is and why it is, given the current news environment? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.77|162.158.62.77]] 14:53, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:::: My bad, I had assumed that the trio of sites covering the electoral college, 270toWin, RealClearPolitics, and 538 were all well known and respected sites by now, after having played a big role in the last 4 elections. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 15:25, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:: Not only that, but A) while "the votes uncertified by the states" may influence the exact total, they can't make Trump win, B) a Trump victory would require that ALL legal cases are resolved in Trump's favor (depending on uncertified votes) and C) the Republican party asked to Trump to concede victory, meaning that nobody with political experience believes those legal cases have a chance of success. The only unknown point is the result of the EC election, but it is naturally assumed they will vote for the elected candidate.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.104|172.69.55.104]] 08:29, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
: "Presumptive president elect" would be more accurate (and I say this as someone that voted for Biden). --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.72|108.162.219.72]] 10:06, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

I don't understand how the statement for 1876 could have been true: if J.Q. Adams won in 1824 without a popular majority, then his opponent won the majority and still lost, so Tilden couldn't have been the first in 1876 to win the majority and lose?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.38|141.101.98.38]] 08:54, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
: Simple: there were more than two candidates. In 1824, there were four candidates who each got over 10% of the vote. That's how Adams could win without the majority, without one of his opponents then having the majority. (In fact, Jackson had the plurality of the votes, but not the majority, but Adams was elected by the House.) --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.74|141.101.98.74]] 11:30, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::Thanks![[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.96|162.158.159.96]] 16:57, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:::More details: {{w|1824 United States presidential election}}. Jackson only got about 41% of the popular vote (in states that had one -- not all did back then), and 99 out of 261 electoral votes (~38%). Nobody got enough votes in enough states for an electoral majority, so the election went to Congress. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 00:41, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

Bad with formatting here, but I updated the bit about precedent to include that Trump's raw vote total (approx 71.5 million, also not yet certified) is ''also'' breaking the precedent set by Obama in 2008. Love them or hate them, in this high-turnout election, both major party candidates had record numbers for their raw vote totals. Trump doesn't make it to first place above Obama because Biden makes it to first place above Trump. I didn't look into whether the percentage of eligible population numbers are different, but higher turnout combined with higher population makes breaking that barrier a little easier.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.5|108.162.238.5]] 13:02, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:Especially since poll workers were caught on camera in Wisconsin putting Trump Votes upside-down into the scanner, but scanning Biden votes correctly.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:26, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::How was this discovered? How can we hunt down more occurrences? Did the machine reject the ballots and the people fix the error? (and what are the ramifications of a camera recording vote ballots?) There is no reason to not suspect the opposite happens too: that anybody's votes could be put in upside down. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.77|162.158.62.77]] 14:55, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
:::It's part of the lawsuit based on a complaint from an observer. But there is an easy way to track down and correct this problem on both sides- hold a recount.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 15:25, 10 November 2020 (UTC)
::::I have not found a reference to any current Wisconsin lawsuit. Seems like you should either document the claims or delete them.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.126|172.68.174.126]] 23:13, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

Honestly, the outcome's still not 100%, so, if, by some stroke of (bad?) luck, Trump becomes president again, then the precedents might change.- another user

Is it just me, or is Randall using this comic as an excuse to throw some shade on Trump? The two squares about Trump are "he has no military experience or political experience" and "he got impeached and then lost." He could've picked more neutral things (his age perhaps, or his appearance on WWE or something) so these choices seem pretty deliberate and, pointed, shall we say? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.183|172.69.63.183]] 00:13, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
:It's still in keeping with the other 'serious' precedents in prior elections, like not winning without a specific state, or having/not having certain experience. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 00:41, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
::By Randall's standards, this "shade" is fairly mild. We already know that Randall is not a fan of Trump. The fact that Trump had no government or military experience, unlike all previous presidents, was well-known. And if Randall ever updates this strip after a future election, the item about Trump having been impeached wouldn't even be mentioned because that precedent ''wasn't'' broken. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.22|172.68.65.22]] 02:40, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

== Table ==

If you really feel the need to explain every item in a table then please do so in comic 1122 as this is the original. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 18:25, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

I removed the redundant options, sorry - user who made table (...Unsigned)
: When I changed the word from "Redundant" (I know what you meant, just that's not quite right) I was hoping to #anchor the link to the prior comic exactly upon the new(?) section someone set up with the previously-relevent lines of table. But it turns out there's only two href="#..."s on that page, and no section titles are given that honour (unlike, say, wikipedia's Table Of Contents entries) I don't want to try to mess with the expkcd wiki at that level of things, but I think it'd be slightly more useful to set that up than it would cost in effort (i.e. a slightly larger version of 'barely'). That's my suggestion, anyway. Just putting it out there. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.216|141.101.98.216]] 23:52, 10 November 2020 (UTC)

== Is there some joke to trump being impeached? ==

I thought he was acquitted, I checked wikipedia and they say he was acquitted. I'm not American if this is some in joke in America you guys may need to explain it.
Thank you :)
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.87|108.162.250.87]] 00:30, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
:He was impeached, which is an equivalent to being indicted (i.e. being formally charged with a crime, but in a way necessary to deal with statutory protections and obligations of elected officials), but at the next stage was (almost inevitably) acquitted. Because politics. (For some the impeachment was politics, for some the acquittal was politics. There'll be overlap, but also a very partisan split between those that definitely consider just the one of them to be politics, but not the same one.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.7|162.158.158.7]] 00:57, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
::Or to put it another way, "impeached" in U.S. law doesn't mean "removed from office". The House of Representatives impeached Trump, but he was not convicted by the Senate; had he been convicted, he would have been removed from office. In fact, none of the three presidents who were impeached (Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Trump) were convicted by the Senate. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.22|172.68.65.22]] 02:40, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

== What's up with the checkmark and X? ==

Shouldn't they be reversed? Biden won, so the panel about the website should be added to the comic. Doesn't that mean that panel should have the checkmark on it?

[[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.56|172.69.170.56]] 04:20, 11 November 2020 (UTC)

2108: Carbonated Beverage Language Map

2020-11-05T17:03:34Z

172.69.170.56:

{{comic
| number = 2108
| date = February 6, 2019
| title = Carbonated Beverage Language Map
| image = carbonated_beverage_language_map.png
| titletext = There's one person in Missouri who says "carbo bev" who the entire rest of the country HATES.
}}

==Explanation==
In the US, people in various parts of the country refer to carbonated beverages by {{w|Names for soft drinks in the United States|different names}} such as "soda", "pop", "coke", and others. Generally, the West Coast and Northeast say "soda", the South says "coke" and the rest of the country says "pop".

There are various maps of where these different names are used, including [http://popvssoda.com/ popvssoda.com] and [https://laughingsquid.com/soda-pop-or-coke-maps-of-regional-dialect-variation-in-the-united-states/ this map on Laughing Squid]. Such maps were trending and popular in 2013.

xkcd's map is a satire of those maps – these regional terms are fake. Not only are there far more terms than are actually used by Americans, many are terms for other beverages (mead), unrelated liquids (quicksilver), or trademarked beverage names less popular than {{w|Coca Cola|Coke}}/{{w|Coca Cola}} ({{w|Mountain Dew|Code Red}}) – and in one case, something that's not even tangible ({{w|cryptocurrency|"Crypto"}}).

{| class="wikitable"
|+Map terms (from left to right, approximately)
|-
|{{w|Fanta}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage line, manufactured by Coca-Cola.
|-
|Söde
|Presumably pronounced "soda" but spelled oddly (might be reference to ''{{w|Monty_Python_and_the_Holy_Grail|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}'' subtitles - "Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër?"). Or it could be a {{tvtropes|HeavyMetalUmlaut|Heavy Metal Umlaut}}.
|-
|True Water
|Possibly a reference to Tru Blood, a fictional artificial blood substitute for vampires in ''{{w|The Southern Vampire Mysteries}}'' book series by Charlaine Harris, and the television series ''{{w|True Blood}}''. Also could be a reference to "purified" mineral waters such as {{w|Glaceau Smartwater|Smartwater}}.
|-
|Crypto
|Popularized as a slang term in the late '80s and early '90s to refer to anything involving the act of encryption/decryption through the application of ciphers, a practice which has become practically ubiquitous in the digital age. Given the highlighted region is the Silicon Valley, this is almost certainly a reference to {{w|cryptography}} and/or {{w|cryptocurrency}}. None of these concepts are liquid and therefore not drinkable. Possibly a joke that the residents of Silicon Valley are actually computers that "drink" crypto (i.e. data). Might also reference the fact that it creates bubbles.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|Yum
|Refers to {{w|Yum! Brands}}, parent company of several fast food restaurants, which was spun off from PepsiCo, maker of a carbonated beverage, in 1997, and has a lifetime contract to serve their beverages.
|-
|Sparkle Fluid
|Roughly analogously to how "sparkling wine" and "sparkling cider" are carbonated varieties of wine and cider, "sparkling fluid" or "sparkle fluid" would presumably be any carbonated fluid
|-
|King Cola
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|{{w|Pepsi}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|{{w|Crystal Pepsi}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|Ichor
|Several definitions: blood of a god, or demon, or, in some dialects, any insect; or watery discharge from a wound. None of them carbonated. None of them recommended as a drinkable beverage. (Well, not by someone with your best interests at heart.){{Citation needed}}
|-
|You-Know-What
|A phrase typically employed when a more specific term is considered {{tvtropes|TheScottishTrope|unspeakable or taboo}}. Possibly a reference to {{w|Harry Potter}} and You-Know-Who (Voldemort).
|-
|{{w|Tab (drink)|Tab}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage, manufactured by Coca-Cola.
|-
|Spicewater
|Thought to be a reference to the spice in "Dune."
|-
|Softie
|Short for soft drink. On the map, it looks like the region for Softie is being punched by the region labeled Punch.
|-
|Ohio Tea
|The area in question covers much of Arizona, the namesake of {{w|Arizona Beverage Company|Arizona Iced Tea}}, itself a non-carbonated beverage. This implies that residents of Arizona view carbonated beverages as something that comes from Ohio, and thus they place Ohio's name before the word "Tea" to indicate its carbonated state.

Could also refer to [https://youtu.be/0_XAPku7SgE?t=30 "...bubbling crude. Oil that is, black gold, '''Texas tea'''.]
|-
|Boat Drink
|A reference to the song "{{w|Boat Drinks|Boat Drinks}}" by {{w|Jimmy Buffett}}.
|-
|Melt
|Usually used to describe a kind of sandwich where cheese is melted in the center, usually on a griddle. Possibly a play on {{w|malt drink}}. Or maybe just a way to say "no, the *melted* ice".
|-
|Fizz Ooze
|Fizz is the sound made when opening a sealed carbonated beverage. Ooze means a slow trickle out of a liquid.
|-
|{{w|Punch (drink)|Punch}}
|A beverage typically found in the juice aisle. Only sometimes carbonated. It's also a pun on the word punch, meaning to hit something, and on the map it looks like the region for Punch is literally punching the region for Softie.
|-
|Fun Wine
|Implies that normal wine is not "fun". Might be an allusion to {{w|Cheerwine}}, a carbonated beverage from the Southeast.
|-
|Diet
|Sometimes refers to a carbonated beverage. A common request in restaurants, as they often only have a single "{{w|Diet drink|diet soda}}" option for customers to pick.
|-
|{{w|Refill}}
|A subsequent glass of whatever you drank previously. Works for any drinkable liquid. Some restaurants do not require extra payment for one.
|-
|Tickle Juice
|Name of a Boston-based jazz band. Perhaps a slang term for alcohol, as it "tickles" the tastebuds.
|-
|Bubble Honey
| A honey-based drink with bubbles?
|-
|Sugar Oil
|Some sodas do contain oils such as palm oil. The areas of Oklahoma and north Texas that are shaded produce a significant amount of {{w|petroleum|crude oil}}.
|-
|The Wet Drink
|Technically true of all beverages, unless one is attempting to drink sand (or anhydrous fluids - of which the least harmful may be clarified butter). It may also refer to the fact that many advertisements for carbonated beverages attempt to make the product look more appetizing by photographing or filming a beverage container covered with water droplets.
|-
|{{w|Mountain Dew|Code Red}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage. The cherry flavored version of Mountain Dew.
|-
|{{w|Mead}}
|An alcoholic beverage. Traditionally not carbonated. Often associated with Vikings, and these areas did have many Scandinavian immigrants.
|-
|Canadian Ale
|Probably a reference to the {{w|Canada Dry}} brand of {{w|Ginger Ale}}, a non-alcoholic carbonated beverage.
|-
|Aether
|In antiquity, "Aether" was {{w|Aether_(classical_element)|a hypothetical liquid}} believed to carry light waves, before electromagnetism was better understood, and also used as a term to refer to {{w|Aether_(mythology)|the sky or heavens}}; "Aether" could refer to {{w|diethyl ether}}, a highly flammable industrial solvent, also used as an anesthetic. Neither is carbonated in its liquid form, and neither would be safe to drink as a beverage.
|-
|Carbonated Beverage
|Technically correct, but a bit of an awkward term due to its unnecessary length. Carbonated water with no sweeteners or other additives is labeled as {{w|seltzer}}.
|-
|Mouthwater
|A play on the term "mouth watering" to describe delicious foods and beverages. Alternatively may refer to spit, water from the mouth, or that it is a liquid one puts in their mouth.
|-
|{{w|Capri Sun|Capri}}
|Capri Sun is a brand of beverages flavored with fruit juice, typically sold uncarbonated in pouches.
|-
|Skim Shake
|A shortened name of the beverage "Skim Milkshake".
|-
|Kid's Coffee
|Somewhat accurate. Coffee is typically drunk by adults for its caffeine. Carbonated beverages often have caffeine and are often consumed by children. Possibly a reference to the song "Kids" from the 1960 musical ''{{w|Bye Bye Birdie}}''.
|-
|Regular
|Refers to regular soda containing sugars (as opposed to diet), implying that your only choice of beverages is between regular or diet soda. In the past, "Regular" sometimes referred to gasoline containing lead, as opposed to "Unleaded" gasoline. It was not carbonated, nor safe as a beverage, and is now outlawed. Could also refer to regular coffee (in some places referring to caffeinated coffee having one milk and one sugar added, or as opposed to decaffeinated coffee), which is a beverage that is not carbonated.
|-
|{{w|Tang (drink)|Tang}}
|An orange-flavored beverage containing less than 2% juice extract. Normally sold in powdered form, and not carbonated.
|-
|{{w|Infant formula|Formula}}
|Typically refers to an artificial replacement for mother's milk. Not carbonated.
|-
|Medicine
|The syrups used to flavor colas were originally produced and sold for their (allegedly) medicinal properties - indeed, the very word "Pepsi" was derived from it being touted as an effective remedy against {{w|dyspepsia}} (now more commonly called indigestion). Likewise, {{w|tonic water}}, a carbonated quinine solution, was originally used to treat malaria. (This may have led to "tonic" becoming the traditional Bostonian word for soft drinks - although [https://www3.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/03/24/boston-word-tonic-gives-way-soda/QpbSyMXlJvvESSVERxb6iP/story.html this is changing.)] It could also refer to modern uses of Ginger Ale as a folk remedy for an upset stomach, or to the practice of chugging a carbonated beverage to [https://www.healthline.com/health/digestive-health/how-to-make-yourself-burp relieve bloating by inducing burping.]
|-
|{{w|Broth}}
|Liquid in which bones, meat, fish, or vegetables have simmered. Often used as a soup base. Not carbonated.
|-
|Fool's Champagne
|Carbonated beverage is to champagne what fool's gold (pyrite) is to gold.
|-
|Sugar Milk
|Possibly a reference to sap extracted from the stems & trunks of plants, which is sometimes called "milk", such as "[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_rubber#Dandelion dandelion milk]"; Under this convention, a beverage made from the extract of sugar cane stems could be termed "sugar milk". Also, food-grade liquids that superficially resemble mammalian milk are often labeled as "[X] milk" after their source, such as "soy milk" and "almond milk"; Sugar being a major component of milk & milk substitutes, it may make sense to call soda "sugar milk." Possibly related{{how?}}: In this region of the US, people drink a popular carbonated beverage called {{w|Moxie}} that may be less familiar to people elsewhere.
|-
|No word for them
|This region of the US does not have a word for carbonated beverages (according to Randall). Probably a play on "In [language] there is no word for [concept]." Possibly they do not drink them at all.
|-
|Hydro
|A word for water. Carbonated water does exist, but this word means all forms of water. Possibly a reference to the film {{w|Waterworld}}, in which "hydro" is the common term for (scarce and valuable) drinkable water.
|-
|Harvard Tea
|The region shaded this way includes {{w|Cambridge, Massachusetts}}, which is home to {{w|Harvard University}}.
|-
|{{w|Drinking fountain|Bubbler}}
|A nod to another popular map of the same type, exploring the regional dialects used to describe drinking fountains. Rhode Island and the eastern portion of Wisconsin are the only two locations where 'Bubbler' is commonly used to refer to drinking fountains, but the word is commonly used in surrounding areas to depict the strong variety of {{w|Rhoticity_in_English|rhoticity}} present, some saying 'bubblah' in for example Boston, and others saying 'water fountain'.
|-
|Mouthbuzz
|Perhaps referring to the feeling of drinking a carbonated beverage, where the releasing carbonation almost 'buzzes' in the mouth.
|-
|Brad's Elixir
|Possibly a reference to "Brad's Drink", the original name for {{w|Pepsi}} when it was invented by Caleb Bradham in 1893. The word "elixir" is defined as "a sweetened liquid usually containing alcohol that is used in medication either for its medicinal ingredients or as a flavoring". "Elixir" was misspelled in the original version of this comic as "elixer".
|-
|Hot Water
|Not carbonated. Not even in Jacuzzi and hot tubs. May reference how boiled water forms bubbles before it actually comes to a boil.
|-
|Fluid
|A word that means nearly any liquid or gas in existence. Not specific to carbonated beverages.
|-
|{{w|Coke Zero}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|Carbo
|Sodas sweetened with corn syrup or cane sugar are high in carbohydrates. Could also refer to carbonation.
|-
|Quicksilver
|An old term for the element {{w|Mercury (element)|mercury}}, a metallic liquid in its pure form at room temperature. It should also be noted that mercury is a toxin and in most cases it is medically contraindicated against drinking mercury as a beverage.
|-
|Glug
|Onomatopoeia, referring to the sound of swallowing a large amount of liquid. Or possibly referring to {{w|Glögi|glögg}} (pronounced "glug"), a Swedish beverage similar to mulled wine.
|-
|Water Plus
|Technically the name of {{w|Water Plus|a British water retail services provider}}, this likely refers to the prevalence of "plus" as a preposition in branding nomenclature (e.g.: {{w|Google+}}, {{w|iPhone 8 Plus}}, {{w|7 Up Plus}}, etc.). Also reminiscent of "Milk Plus," the drugged milk from the movie A Clockwork Orange.
|}

The title text may be a wry comment in light of the pocket of "soda" in the St. Louis, MO area.

==Trivia==
In the original version of this comic "elixir" was misspelled as "elixer", however this was later corrected.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|First draft complete. Needs proofreading by someone with better knowledge of American geography. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A map of the United States divided into purple, red, green, blue, and yellow colored regions.]

:[A purple area in North West Washington.]
:Fanta

:[A blue area spanning the Western border of Washington and Oregon.]
:Söde

:[A yellow area spanning the remainder of Washington, North Western Oregon, Northern Idaho and the North Western corner of Montana.]
:Ichor

:[A green area spanning the North Eastern corner of Oregon, central Idaho and the majority of Montana.]
:Spicewater

:[A blue area spanning Eastern Montana, the North Eastern corner of Wyoming and the majority of North and South Dakota.]
:Refill

:[A red area spanning Eastern North and South Dakota, the majority of Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin and Michigan North of the lakes.]
:Mead

:[A green area spanning the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin.]
:Canadian Ale

:[A yellow area spanning the South Eastern corner of Minnesota, the North Eastern corner of Iowa and the majority of Wisconsin.]
:Aether

:[A green area in North East Wisconsin.]
:Mouthwater

:[A purple area covering most of Michigan south of the lakes.]
:Kid's coffee

:[A red area covering Northeast & central New York.]
:Hydro

:[A green area covering Vermont and spanning the border with New York.]
:[No word for them]

:[A yellow area covering Maine and the majority of New Hampshire.]
:Sugar milk

:[A red area spanning Eastern Massachusetts and the border with New Hampshire.]
:Harvard tea

:[A blue area covering Rhode Island and spanning Eastern Connecticut, central Massachusetts and the South West corner of New Hampshire.]
:Bubbler

:[A yellow area spanning the South Eastern corner of New York, the South Western corner of Massachusetts, Western Connecticut and Northern New Jersey.]
:Mouth Buzz

:[A red area spanning North Eastern California, Southern Oregon, the South Western corner of Idaho and the majority of Nevada.]
:You-know-what

:[A blue area spanning South Western Idaho, Eastern Nevada, the majority of Utah and the border of Utah and Arizona.]
:Softie

:[A green area spanning Northern Utah and the majority of Colorado.]
:Punch

:[A yellow area covering the majority of Wyoming.]
:Fizz ooze

:[A purple area spanning the South Eastern corner of Wyoming, the North Eastern corner of Colorado, the North Western corner of Kansas, Southern South Dakota, the majority of Nebraska and Iowa, and Northern Missouri.]
:Tickle juice

:[A blue area spanning Eastern Iowa, Southern Wisconsin, the majority of Illinois and Indiana, the Southern border of Michigan, the Western border of Ohio and North Western Kentucky.]
:Capri

:[A green area spanning South Eastern Michigan, the majority of Ohio and Pennsylvania, South Western New York, Northern West Virginia and Western Maryland.]
:Medicine

:[A purple area spanning Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey.]
:Brad's Elixir

:[A red area spanning the South Eastern corner of Pennsylvania, Eastern Maryland, Delaware and Northern Virginia.]
:Hot Water

:[A yellow area spanning Eastern Kentucky, the Southern border of Ohio, Southern West Virginia, the majority of Virginia and Northern North Carolina.]
:Broth

:[A blue area in Western California, North of San Francisco.]
:True water

:[A yellow area in Western California, South of San Francisco.]
:Crypto

:[A green area in South Western California, North of Los Angeles.]
:Yum

:[A blue area in South Western California, close to Los Angeles.]
:Sparkle fluid

:[A purple area in South Western California, close to San Diego.]
:King cola

:[A yellow area spanning South Eastern California, Southern Nevada and the North Western corner of Arizona.]
:Tab

:[A green area spanning the South Eastern corner of California and the majority of Arizona.]
:Ohio tea

:[A red area spanning Eastern Arizona, the majority of New Mexico, Southern Colorado and the border between New Mexico and Texas.]
:Fun wine

:[A blue area spanning Northern Texas, South Western Kansas and the majority of Oklahoma.]
:Sugar oil

:[A red area spanning Central and Eastern Kansas, Southern Nebraska, Central Missouri and South Western Illinois.]
:Bubble Honey

:[A yellow area spanning Southern New Mexico and Western Texas.]
:Diet

:[A blue area in Southern Texas.]
:Code red

:[A green area spanning the majority of Texas and the Southern border of Oklahoma.]
:The wet drink

:[A purple area spanning Eastern Texas, the South Eastern corner of Oklahoma, the majority of Arkansas, Southern Missouri and Western Louisiana.]
:Carbonated beverage

:[A yellow area spanning Eastern Louisiana, Eastern Arkansas, Southern Missouri, the South Western corner of Tennessee, the majority of Mississippi and the South Western corner of Alabama.]
:Skim shake

:[A green area spanning the majority of Tennessee, Southern Kentucky, Northern Alabama, Northern Georgia and Western North Carolina.]
:Regular

:[A purple area covering the majority of North Carolina.]
:Fluid

:[A red area spanning Eastern Mississippi, Central Alabama, Northern Georgia and the South Western border of South Carolina.]
:Tang

:[A yellow area covering the majority of South Carolina.]
:Coke zero

:[A blue area in Central Georgia.]
:Fool's Champagne

:[A purple ares spanning Southern Alabama, Southern Georgia and Northern Florida.]
:Formula

:[A yellow area in Eastern Florida, near Orlando.]
:Carbo

:[A blue area in Western Florida, near Tampa.]
:Quicksilver

:[A red area in Southern Florida, South of Tampa and Orlando.]
:Glug

:[A green area in Southern Florida, near Miami.]
:Water plus

:[A yellow area corresponding to Hawaii except for the island of O'ahu.]
:Pepsi

:[A red area corresponding to the Hawaiian island of O'ahu.]
:Crystal Pepsi

:[A blue area covering the majority of Alaska.]
:Boat drink

:[A red area in Southern Alaska, near Anchorage.]
:Melt

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]

2108: Carbonated Beverage Language Map

2020-11-05T17:00:41Z

172.69.170.56: Medicine entry needed some love

{{comic
| number = 2108
| date = February 6, 2019
| title = Carbonated Beverage Language Map
| image = carbonated_beverage_language_map.png
| titletext = There's one person in Missouri who says "carbo bev" who the entire rest of the country HATES.
}}

==Explanation==
In the US, people in various parts of the country refer to carbonated beverages by {{w|Names for soft drinks in the United States|different names}} such as "soda", "pop", "coke", and others. Generally, the West Coast and Northeast say "soda", the South says "coke" and the rest of the country says "pop".

There are various maps of where these different names are used, including [http://popvssoda.com/ popvssoda.com] and [https://laughingsquid.com/soda-pop-or-coke-maps-of-regional-dialect-variation-in-the-united-states/ this map on Laughing Squid]. Such maps were trending and popular in 2013.

xkcd's map is a satire of those maps – these regional terms are fake. Not only are there far more terms than are actually used by Americans, many are terms for other beverages (mead), unrelated liquids (quicksilver), or trademarked beverage names less popular than {{w|Coca Cola|Coke}}/{{w|Coca Cola}} ({{w|Mountain Dew|Code Red}}) – and in one case, something that's not even tangible ({{w|cryptocurrency|"Crypto"}}).

{| class="wikitable"
|+Map terms (from left to right, approximately)
|-
|{{w|Fanta}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage line, manufactured by Coca-Cola.
|-
|Söde
|Presumably pronounced "soda" but spelled oddly (might be reference to ''{{w|Monty_Python_and_the_Holy_Grail|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}'' subtitles - "Wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër?"). Or it could be a {{tvtropes|HeavyMetalUmlaut|Heavy Metal Umlaut}}.
|-
|True Water
|Possibly a reference to Tru Blood, a fictional artificial blood substitute for vampires in ''{{w|The Southern Vampire Mysteries}}'' book series by Charlaine Harris, and the television series ''{{w|True Blood}}''. Also could be a reference to "purified" mineral waters such as {{w|Glaceau Smartwater|Smartwater}}.
|-
|Crypto
|Popularized as a slang term in the late '80s and early '90s to refer to anything involving the act of encryption/decryption through the application of ciphers, a practice which has become practically ubiquitous in the digital age. Given the highlighted region is the Silicon Valley, this is almost certainly a reference to {{w|cryptography}} and/or {{w|cryptocurrency}}. None of these concepts are liquid and therefore not drinkable. Possibly a joke that the residents of Silicon Valley are actually computers that "drink" crypto (i.e. data). Might also reference the fact that it creates bubbles.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|Yum
|Refers to {{w|Yum! Brands}}, parent company of several fast food restaurants, which was spun off from PepsiCo, maker of a carbonated beverage, in 1997, and has a lifetime contract to serve their beverages.
|-
|Sparkle Fluid
|Roughly analogously to how "sparkling wine" and "sparkling cider" are carbonated varieties of wine and cider, "sparkling fluid" or "sparkle fluid" would presumably be any carbonated fluid
|-
|King Cola
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|{{w|Pepsi}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|{{w|Crystal Pepsi}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|Ichor
|Several definitions: blood of a god, or demon, or, in some dialects, any insect; or watery discharge from a wound. None of them carbonated. None of them recommended as a drinkable beverage. (Well, not by someone with your best interests at heart.){{Citation needed}}
|-
|You-Know-What
|A phrase typically employed when a more specific term is considered {{tvtropes|TheScottishTrope|unspeakable or taboo}}. Possibly a reference to {{w|Harry Potter}} and You-Know-Who (Voldemort).
|-
|{{w|Tab (drink)|Tab}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage, manufactured by Coca-Cola.
|-
|Spicewater
|Thought to be a reference to the spice in "Dune."
|-
|Softie
|Short for soft drink. On the map, it looks like the region for Softie is being punched by the region labeled Punch.
|-
|Ohio Tea
|The area in question covers much of Arizona, the namesake of {{w|Arizona Beverage Company|Arizona Iced Tea}}, itself a non-carbonated beverage. This implies that residents of Arizona view carbonated beverages as something that comes from Ohio, and thus they place Ohio's name before the word "Tea" to indicate its carbonated state.

Could also refer to [https://youtu.be/0_XAPku7SgE?t=30 "...bubbling crude. Oil that is, black gold, '''Texas tea'''.]
|-
|Boat Drink
|A reference to the song "{{w|Boat Drinks|Boat Drinks}}" by {{w|Jimmy Buffett}}.
|-
|Melt
|Usually used to describe a kind of sandwich where cheese is melted in the center, usually on a griddle. Possibly a play on {{w|malt drink}}. Or maybe just a way to say "no, the *melted* ice".
|-
|Fizz Ooze
|Fizz is the sound made when opening a sealed carbonated beverage. Ooze means a slow trickle out of a liquid.
|-
|{{w|Punch (drink)|Punch}}
|A beverage typically found in the juice aisle. Only sometimes carbonated. It's also a pun on the word punch, meaning to hit something, and on the map it looks like the region for Punch is literally punching the region for Softie.
|-
|Fun Wine
|Implies that normal wine is not "fun". Might be an allusion to {{w|Cheerwine}}, a carbonated beverage from the Southeast.
|-
|Diet
|Sometimes refers to a carbonated beverage. A common request in restaurants, as they often only have a single "{{w|Diet drink|diet soda}}" option for customers to pick.
|-
|{{w|Refill}}
|A subsequent glass of whatever you drank previously. Works for any drinkable liquid. Some restaurants do not require extra payment for one.
|-
|Tickle Juice
|Name of a Boston-based jazz band. Perhaps a slang term for alcohol, as it "tickles" the tastebuds.
|-
|Bubble Honey
| A honey-based drink with bubbles?
|-
|Sugar Oil
|Some sodas do contain oils such as palm oil. The areas of Oklahoma and north Texas that are shaded produce a significant amount of {{w|petroleum|crude oil}}.
|-
|The Wet Drink
|Technically true of all beverages, unless one is attempting to drink sand (or anhydrous fluids - of which the least harmful may be clarified butter). It may also refer to the fact that many advertisements for carbonated beverages attempt to make the product look more appetizing by photographing or filming a beverage container covered with water droplets.
|-
|{{w|Mountain Dew|Code Red}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage. The cherry flavored version of Mountain Dew.
|-
|{{w|Mead}}
|An alcoholic beverage. Traditionally not carbonated. Often associated with Vikings, and these areas did have many Scandinavian immigrants.
|-
|Canadian Ale
|Probably a reference to the {{w|Canada Dry}} brand of {{w|Ginger Ale}}, a non-alcoholic carbonated beverage.
|-
|Aether
|In antiquity, "Aether" was {{w|Aether_(classical_element)|a hypothetical liquid}} believed to carry light waves, before electromagnetism was better understood, and also used as a term to refer to {{w|Aether_(mythology)|the sky or heavens}}; "Aether" could refer to {{w|diethyl ether}}, a highly flammable industrial solvent, also used as an anesthetic. Neither is carbonated in its liquid form, and neither would be safe to drink as a beverage.
|-
|Carbonated Beverage
|Technically correct, but a bit of an awkward term due to its unnecessary length. Carbonated water with no sweeteners or other additives is labeled as {{w|seltzer}}.
|-
|Mouthwater
|A play on the term "mouth watering" to describe delicious foods and beverages. Alternatively may refer to spit, water from the mouth, or that it is a liquid one puts in their mouth.
|-
|{{w|Capri Sun|Capri}}
|Capri Sun is a brand of beverages flavored with fruit juice, typically sold uncarbonated in pouches.
|-
|Skim Shake
|A shortened name of the beverage "Skim Milkshake".
|-
|Kid's Coffee
|Somewhat accurate. Coffee is typically drunk by adults for its caffeine. Carbonated beverages often have caffeine and are often consumed by children. Possibly a reference to the song "Kids" from the 1960 musical ''{{w|Bye Bye Birdie}}''.
|-
|Regular
|Refers to regular soda containing sugars (as opposed to diet), implying that your only choice of beverages is between regular or diet soda. In the past, "Regular" sometimes referred to gasoline containing lead, as opposed to "Unleaded" gasoline. It was not carbonated, nor safe as a beverage, and is now outlawed. Could also refer to regular coffee (in some places referring to caffeinated coffee having one milk and one sugar added, or as opposed to decaffeinated coffee), which is a beverage that is not carbonated.
|-
|{{w|Tang (drink)|Tang}}
|An orange-flavored beverage containing less than 2% juice extract. Normally sold in powdered form, and not carbonated.
|-
|{{w|Infant formula|Formula}}
|Typically refers to an artificial replacement for mother's milk. Not carbonated.
|-
|Medicine
|The syrups used to flavor colas were originally produced and sold for their (allegedly) medicinal properties - indeed, the very word "Pepsi" was derived from it being touted as an effective remedy against {{w|dyspepsia}} (now more commonly called indigestion). Likewise, {{w|tonic water}}, a carbonated quinine solution, was originally used to treat malaria. (This may have led to "tonic" being the traditional Bostonian word for soft drinks - although [https://www3.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/03/24/boston-word-tonic-gives-way-soda/QpbSyMXlJvvESSVERxb6iP/story.html this is changing.]) It could also refer to to modern use of Ginger Ale as a folk remedy for an upset stomach, or to the practice of [https://www.healthline.com/health/digestive-health/how-to-make-yourself-burp chugging a carbonated beverage to relieve bloating by inducing burping.]
|-
|{{w|Broth}}
|Liquid in which bones, meat, fish, or vegetables have simmered. Often used as a soup base. Not carbonated.
|-
|Fool's Champagne
|Carbonated beverage is to champagne what fool's gold (pyrite) is to gold.
|-
|Sugar Milk
|Possibly a reference to sap extracted from the stems & trunks of plants, which is sometimes called "milk", such as "[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_rubber#Dandelion dandelion milk]"; Under this convention, a beverage made from the extract of sugar cane stems could be termed "sugar milk". Also, food-grade liquids that superficially resemble mammalian milk are often labeled as "[X] milk" after their source, such as "soy milk" and "almond milk"; Sugar being a major component of milk & milk substitutes, it may make sense to call soda "sugar milk." Possibly related{{how?}}: In this region of the US, people drink a popular carbonated beverage called {{w|Moxie}} that may be less familiar to people elsewhere.
|-
|No word for them
|This region of the US does not have a word for carbonated beverages (according to Randall). Probably a play on "In [language] there is no word for [concept]." Possibly they do not drink them at all.
|-
|Hydro
|A word for water. Carbonated water does exist, but this word means all forms of water. Possibly a reference to the film {{w|Waterworld}}, in which "hydro" is the common term for (scarce and valuable) drinkable water.
|-
|Harvard Tea
|The region shaded this way includes {{w|Cambridge, Massachusetts}}, which is home to {{w|Harvard University}}.
|-
|{{w|Drinking fountain|Bubbler}}
|A nod to another popular map of the same type, exploring the regional dialects used to describe drinking fountains. Rhode Island and the eastern portion of Wisconsin are the only two locations where 'Bubbler' is commonly used to refer to drinking fountains, but the word is commonly used in surrounding areas to depict the strong variety of {{w|Rhoticity_in_English|rhoticity}} present, some saying 'bubblah' in for example Boston, and others saying 'water fountain'.
|-
|Mouthbuzz
|Perhaps referring to the feeling of drinking a carbonated beverage, where the releasing carbonation almost 'buzzes' in the mouth.
|-
|Brad's Elixir
|Possibly a reference to "Brad's Drink", the original name for {{w|Pepsi}} when it was invented by Caleb Bradham in 1893. The word "elixir" is defined as "a sweetened liquid usually containing alcohol that is used in medication either for its medicinal ingredients or as a flavoring". "Elixir" was misspelled in the original version of this comic as "elixer".
|-
|Hot Water
|Not carbonated. Not even in Jacuzzi and hot tubs. May reference how boiled water forms bubbles before it actually comes to a boil.
|-
|Fluid
|A word that means nearly any liquid or gas in existence. Not specific to carbonated beverages.
|-
|{{w|Coke Zero}}
|Name of a carbonated beverage.
|-
|Carbo
|Sodas sweetened with corn syrup or cane sugar are high in carbohydrates. Could also refer to carbonation.
|-
|Quicksilver
|An old term for the element {{w|Mercury (element)|mercury}}, a metallic liquid in its pure form at room temperature. It should also be noted that mercury is a toxin and in most cases it is medically contraindicated against drinking mercury as a beverage.
|-
|Glug
|Onomatopoeia, referring to the sound of swallowing a large amount of liquid. Or possibly referring to {{w|Glögi|glögg}} (pronounced "glug"), a Swedish beverage similar to mulled wine.
|-
|Water Plus
|Technically the name of {{w|Water Plus|a British water retail services provider}}, this likely refers to the prevalence of "plus" as a preposition in branding nomenclature (e.g.: {{w|Google+}}, {{w|iPhone 8 Plus}}, {{w|7 Up Plus}}, etc.). Also reminiscent of "Milk Plus," the drugged milk from the movie A Clockwork Orange.
|}

The title text may be a wry comment in light of the pocket of "soda" in the St. Louis, MO area.

==Trivia==
In the original version of this comic "elixir" was misspelled as "elixer", however this was later corrected.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|First draft complete. Needs proofreading by someone with better knowledge of American geography. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A map of the United States divided into purple, red, green, blue, and yellow colored regions.]

:[A purple area in North West Washington.]
:Fanta

:[A blue area spanning the Western border of Washington and Oregon.]
:Söde

:[A yellow area spanning the remainder of Washington, North Western Oregon, Northern Idaho and the North Western corner of Montana.]
:Ichor

:[A green area spanning the North Eastern corner of Oregon, central Idaho and the majority of Montana.]
:Spicewater

:[A blue area spanning Eastern Montana, the North Eastern corner of Wyoming and the majority of North and South Dakota.]
:Refill

:[A red area spanning Eastern North and South Dakota, the majority of Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin and Michigan North of the lakes.]
:Mead

:[A green area spanning the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin.]
:Canadian Ale

:[A yellow area spanning the South Eastern corner of Minnesota, the North Eastern corner of Iowa and the majority of Wisconsin.]
:Aether

:[A green area in North East Wisconsin.]
:Mouthwater

:[A purple area covering most of Michigan south of the lakes.]
:Kid's coffee

:[A red area covering Northeast & central New York.]
:Hydro

:[A green area covering Vermont and spanning the border with New York.]
:[No word for them]

:[A yellow area covering Maine and the majority of New Hampshire.]
:Sugar milk

:[A red area spanning Eastern Massachusetts and the border with New Hampshire.]
:Harvard tea

:[A blue area covering Rhode Island and spanning Eastern Connecticut, central Massachusetts and the South West corner of New Hampshire.]
:Bubbler

:[A yellow area spanning the South Eastern corner of New York, the South Western corner of Massachusetts, Western Connecticut and Northern New Jersey.]
:Mouth Buzz

:[A red area spanning North Eastern California, Southern Oregon, the South Western corner of Idaho and the majority of Nevada.]
:You-know-what

:[A blue area spanning South Western Idaho, Eastern Nevada, the majority of Utah and the border of Utah and Arizona.]
:Softie

:[A green area spanning Northern Utah and the majority of Colorado.]
:Punch

:[A yellow area covering the majority of Wyoming.]
:Fizz ooze

:[A purple area spanning the South Eastern corner of Wyoming, the North Eastern corner of Colorado, the North Western corner of Kansas, Southern South Dakota, the majority of Nebraska and Iowa, and Northern Missouri.]
:Tickle juice

:[A blue area spanning Eastern Iowa, Southern Wisconsin, the majority of Illinois and Indiana, the Southern border of Michigan, the Western border of Ohio and North Western Kentucky.]
:Capri

:[A green area spanning South Eastern Michigan, the majority of Ohio and Pennsylvania, South Western New York, Northern West Virginia and Western Maryland.]
:Medicine

:[A purple area spanning Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey.]
:Brad's Elixir

:[A red area spanning the South Eastern corner of Pennsylvania, Eastern Maryland, Delaware and Northern Virginia.]
:Hot Water

:[A yellow area spanning Eastern Kentucky, the Southern border of Ohio, Southern West Virginia, the majority of Virginia and Northern North Carolina.]
:Broth

:[A blue area in Western California, North of San Francisco.]
:True water

:[A yellow area in Western California, South of San Francisco.]
:Crypto

:[A green area in South Western California, North of Los Angeles.]
:Yum

:[A blue area in South Western California, close to Los Angeles.]
:Sparkle fluid

:[A purple area in South Western California, close to San Diego.]
:King cola

:[A yellow area spanning South Eastern California, Southern Nevada and the North Western corner of Arizona.]
:Tab

:[A green area spanning the South Eastern corner of California and the majority of Arizona.]
:Ohio tea

:[A red area spanning Eastern Arizona, the majority of New Mexico, Southern Colorado and the border between New Mexico and Texas.]
:Fun wine

:[A blue area spanning Northern Texas, South Western Kansas and the majority of Oklahoma.]
:Sugar oil

:[A red area spanning Central and Eastern Kansas, Southern Nebraska, Central Missouri and South Western Illinois.]
:Bubble Honey

:[A yellow area spanning Southern New Mexico and Western Texas.]
:Diet

:[A blue area in Southern Texas.]
:Code red

:[A green area spanning the majority of Texas and the Southern border of Oklahoma.]
:The wet drink

:[A purple area spanning Eastern Texas, the South Eastern corner of Oklahoma, the majority of Arkansas, Southern Missouri and Western Louisiana.]
:Carbonated beverage

:[A yellow area spanning Eastern Louisiana, Eastern Arkansas, Southern Missouri, the South Western corner of Tennessee, the majority of Mississippi and the South Western corner of Alabama.]
:Skim shake

:[A green area spanning the majority of Tennessee, Southern Kentucky, Northern Alabama, Northern Georgia and Western North Carolina.]
:Regular

:[A purple area covering the majority of North Carolina.]
:Fluid

:[A red area spanning Eastern Mississippi, Central Alabama, Northern Georgia and the South Western border of South Carolina.]
:Tang

:[A yellow area covering the majority of South Carolina.]
:Coke zero

:[A blue area in Central Georgia.]
:Fool's Champagne

:[A purple ares spanning Southern Alabama, Southern Georgia and Northern Florida.]
:Formula

:[A yellow area in Eastern Florida, near Orlando.]
:Carbo

:[A blue area in Western Florida, near Tampa.]
:Quicksilver

:[A red area in Southern Florida, South of Tampa and Orlando.]
:Glug

:[A green area in Southern Florida, near Miami.]
:Water plus

:[A yellow area corresponding to Hawaii except for the island of O'ahu.]
:Pepsi

:[A red area corresponding to the Hawaiian island of O'ahu.]
:Crystal Pepsi

:[A blue area covering the majority of Alaska.]
:Boat drink

:[A red area in Southern Alaska, near Anchorage.]
:Melt

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]

2375: Worst Ladder

2020-10-23T15:48:45Z

172.69.170.56: /* Trivia */ indefinite referent

{{comic
| number = 2375
| date = October 21, 2020
| title = Worst Ladder
| image = worst_ladder.png
| titletext = [Six months later] "Well, our 'worst ladder' subscription series was a surprisingly lucrative success, but was completely canceled out by the losses from the disastrous Home Depot merchandising tie-in."
}}

==Explanation==

An always present concern of media industries is consumers shifting tastes or indeed abandoning a medium altogether (such as print newspapers or in-person theaters). This strip depicts one such scenario prompting a meeting to discuss the problem. The other attendees suspect the consumers are simply shifting to an online platform, but Megan reveals they are instead shifting towards image search results.

Of course, during the age of the internet, there are many sources of free entertainment. {{w|YouTube}} and {{w|TikTok}} provide examples of these services, as practically anyone can choose from a tremendous variety of content. Therefore, this abundance of free content hurts services that require money to see their content, particularly when this content does not have any factors that make it inherently more appealing than the free services. The {{w|Quibi}} paid service shut down, just 6 months after it opened, on the same day that this comic appeared.

The joke here is that instead of YouTube or TikTok, possible customers are going to the Google Image search page for "worst ladder". Even the meeting participants are entranced by it, so the meeting devolves into everyone showing their favorites to each other.

Searching for images is an unorthodox source of entertainment, frequently only seen when searching for memes (this, in fact, is how {{w|Know Your Meme}} gauges interest in a meme). While this may be entertaining for a short period of time, the page's content remains roughly stagnant from day to day (contrasted with other services that contain new posts nearly every second), and the quality of any Google Images page will decline with scrolling. Therefore, an image search results page is not a sustainable source of entertainment{{Citation needed}}, and would be unlikely to compete with the service in this comic.

Search results currently tend to vary widely from person to person, as Google uses the user's search history, IP address, and location to try to find the most relevant result for each person, even if they are not logged in. This provides social opportunities around searching, sometimes exploited by social media posts (which may be how Megan originally found out).

The title text explains that the company actually decided to use the idea, and created a subscription service for these images. The idea was a success and was indeed very lucrative. They then tried selling actual "worst ladders" at a hardware store, thinking that people who enjoy looking at others mistakes would also enjoy making that mistake themselves, but this tie-in ended up costing them as much money as they made from the subscriptions (if the word "disastrous" is meant literally, there may have been injuries and liability lawsuits involved).

==Transcript==

:[Ponytail, Cueball, Hairy and Hairbun are sitting around a boardroom table. Megan is giving a presentation and pointing to a chart behind her.]
:Megan: Our entertainment division is failing. We can't compete with free content.

:[A frameless panel. Only Megan is shown, with her pointer to her side.]
:Off-panel voice: Where are they going? YouTube? TikTok?
:Megan: No.

:[Zoomed in on Megan.]
:Megan: The Google Images search results for '''''worst ladder'''''.
:Off-panel voice: Huh?
:Off-panel voice: Let me see ...

:[Ponytail and Cueball are looking at one laptop, and Hairy and Hairbun are looking at a second. Megan has her arms out in front of her, frustrated.]
:Ponytail: Yikes, look at this one! The stepladder is balanced on --
:Hairy: Wow, they ''tied'' a ladder to --
:Hairbun: Ooh, check out the --
:Megan: ''No!''

==Trivia==
Searching for "worst ladder" at the time the comic was posted allows observing ladders that are comically unsafe or poorly designed (see [https://drive.google.com/file/d/10xQ63VpvSBmz9e1rmKyUbHDKa5jIYPLK/view?usp=sharing sample results from shortly after the comic was posted]). It is worth noting that, while normally it does not undergo much change, the "worst ladder" page will likely now contain a barrage of results related to this xkcd comic, as happened with [[369: Dangers]]. This influence is similar to the {{w|Slashdot effect}}. For reference, at the time of posting (0:00 UTC), the comic was the 30th Google image result. From about 0:20 to 1:15 UTC, it was the 18th result; by 1:30 UTC, it had become the third result.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2375: Worst Ladder

2020-10-23T15:45:45Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */ indefinite referent

{{comic
| number = 2375
| date = October 21, 2020
| title = Worst Ladder
| image = worst_ladder.png
| titletext = [Six months later] "Well, our 'worst ladder' subscription series was a surprisingly lucrative success, but was completely canceled out by the losses from the disastrous Home Depot merchandising tie-in."
}}

==Explanation==

An always present concern of media industries is consumers shifting tastes or indeed abandoning a medium altogether (such as print newspapers or in-person theaters). This strip depicts one such scenario prompting a meeting to discuss the problem. The other attendees suspect the consumers are simply shifting to an online platform, but Megan reveals they are instead shifting towards image search results.

Of course, during the age of the internet, there are many sources of free entertainment. {{w|YouTube}} and {{w|TikTok}} provide examples of these services, as practically anyone can choose from a tremendous variety of content. Therefore, this abundance of free content hurts services that require money to see their content, particularly when this content does not have any factors that make it inherently more appealing than the free services. The {{w|Quibi}} paid service shut down, just 6 months after it opened, on the same day that this comic appeared.

The joke here is that instead of YouTube or TikTok, possible customers are going to the Google Image search page for "worst ladder". Even the meeting participants are entranced by it, so the meeting devolves into everyone showing their favorites to each other.

Searching for images is an unorthodox source of entertainment, frequently only seen when searching for memes (this, in fact, is how {{w|Know Your Meme}} gauges interest in a meme). While this may be entertaining for a short period of time, the page's content remains roughly stagnant from day to day (contrasted with other services that contain new posts nearly every second), and the quality of any Google Images page will decline with scrolling. Therefore, an image search results page is not a sustainable source of entertainment{{Citation needed}}, and would be unlikely to compete with the service in this comic.

Search results currently tend to vary widely from person to person, as Google uses the user's search history, IP address, and location to try to find the most relevant result for each person, even if they are not logged in. This provides social opportunities around searching, sometimes exploited by social media posts (which may be how Megan originally found out).

The title text explains that the company actually decided to use the idea, and created a subscription service for these images. The idea was a success and was indeed very lucrative. They then tried selling actual "worst ladders" at a hardware store, thinking that people who enjoy looking at others mistakes would also enjoy making that mistake themselves, but this tie-in ended up costing them as much money as they made from the subscriptions (if the word "disastrous" is meant literally, there may have been injuries and liability lawsuits involved).

==Transcript==

:[Ponytail, Cueball, Hairy and Hairbun are sitting around a boardroom table. Megan is giving a presentation and pointing to a chart behind her.]
:Megan: Our entertainment division is failing. We can't compete with free content.

:[A frameless panel. Only Megan is shown, with her pointer to her side.]
:Off-panel voice: Where are they going? YouTube? TikTok?
:Megan: No.

:[Zoomed in on Megan.]
:Megan: The Google Images search results for '''''worst ladder'''''.
:Off-panel voice: Huh?
:Off-panel voice: Let me see ...

:[Ponytail and Cueball are looking at one laptop, and Hairy and Hairbun are looking at a second. Megan has her arms out in front of her, frustrated.]
:Ponytail: Yikes, look at this one! The stepladder is balanced on --
:Hairy: Wow, they ''tied'' a ladder to --
:Hairbun: Ooh, check out the --
:Megan: ''No!''

==Trivia==
Searching for "worst ladder" at the time the comic was posted allows observing ladders that are comically unsafe or poorly designed (see [https://drive.google.com/file/d/10xQ63VpvSBmz9e1rmKyUbHDKa5jIYPLK/view?usp=sharing sample results from shortly after the comic was posted]). It is worth noting that, while normally it does not undergo much change, the "worst ladder" page will likely now contain a barrage of results related to this xkcd comic, as happened with [[369: Dangers]]. This is similar to the {{w|Slashdot effect}}. For reference, at the time of posting (0:00 UTC), the comic was the 30th Google image result. From about 0:20 to 1:15 UTC, it was the 18th result; by 1:30 UTC, it had become the third result.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2375: Worst Ladder

2020-10-23T15:43:17Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */ indefinite referent

{{comic
| number = 2375
| date = October 21, 2020
| title = Worst Ladder
| image = worst_ladder.png
| titletext = [Six months later] "Well, our 'worst ladder' subscription series was a surprisingly lucrative success, but was completely canceled out by the losses from the disastrous Home Depot merchandising tie-in."
}}

==Explanation==

An always present concern of media industries is consumers shifting tastes or indeed abandoning a medium altogether (such as print newspapers or in-person theaters). This strip depicts one such scenario prompting a meeting to discuss the problem. The other attendees suspect the consumers are simply shifting to an online platform, but Megan reveals they are instead shifting towards image search results.

Of course, during the age of the internet, there are many sources of free entertainment. {{w|YouTube}} and {{w|TikTok}} provide examples of these services, as practically anyone can choose from a tremendous variety of content. Therefore, this abundance of free content hurts services that require money to see their content, particularly when this content does not have any factors that make it inherently more appealing than the free services. The {{w|Quibi}} paid service shut down, just 6 months after it opened, on the same day that this comic appeared.

The joke here is that instead of YouTube or TikTok, possible customers are going to the Google Image search page for "worst ladder". Even the meeting participants are entranced by it, so the meeting devolves into everyone showing their favorites to each other.

Searching for images is an unorthodox source of entertainment, frequently only seen when searching for memes (this, in fact, is how {{w|Know Your Meme}} gauges interest in a meme). While this may be entertaining for a short period of time, the page's content remains roughly stagnant from day to day (contrasted with other services that contain new posts nearly every second), and the quality of any Google Images page will decline with scrolling. Therefore, this is not a sustainable source of entertainment{{Citation needed}}, and would be unlikely to compete with the service in this comic.

Search results currently tend to vary widely from person to person, as Google uses the user's search history, IP address, and location to try to find the most relevant result for each person, even if they are not logged in. This provides social opportunities around searching, sometimes exploited by social media posts (which may be how Megan originally found out).

The title text explains that the company actually decided to use the idea, and created a subscription service for these images. The idea was a success and was indeed very lucrative. They then tried selling actual "worst ladders" at a hardware store, thinking that people who enjoy looking at others mistakes would also enjoy making that mistake themselves, but this ended up costing them as much money as they made from the subscriptions (if the word "disastrous" is meant literally, there may have been injuries and liability lawsuits involved).

==Transcript==

:[Ponytail, Cueball, Hairy and Hairbun are sitting around a boardroom table. Megan is giving a presentation and pointing to a chart behind her.]
:Megan: Our entertainment division is failing. We can't compete with free content.

:[A frameless panel. Only Megan is shown, with her pointer to her side.]
:Off-panel voice: Where are they going? YouTube? TikTok?
:Megan: No.

:[Zoomed in on Megan.]
:Megan: The Google Images search results for '''''worst ladder'''''.
:Off-panel voice: Huh?
:Off-panel voice: Let me see ...

:[Ponytail and Cueball are looking at one laptop, and Hairy and Hairbun are looking at a second. Megan has her arms out in front of her, frustrated.]
:Ponytail: Yikes, look at this one! The stepladder is balanced on --
:Hairy: Wow, they ''tied'' a ladder to --
:Hairbun: Ooh, check out the --
:Megan: ''No!''

==Trivia==
Searching for "worst ladder" at the time the comic was posted allows observing ladders that are comically unsafe or poorly designed (see [https://drive.google.com/file/d/10xQ63VpvSBmz9e1rmKyUbHDKa5jIYPLK/view?usp=sharing sample results from shortly after the comic was posted]). It is worth noting that, while normally it does not undergo much change, the "worst ladder" page will likely now contain a barrage of results related to this xkcd comic, as happened with [[369: Dangers]]. This is similar to the {{w|Slashdot effect}}. For reference, at the time of posting (0:00 UTC), the comic was the 30th Google image result. From about 0:20 to 1:15 UTC, it was the 18th result; by 1:30 UTC, it had become the third result.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2375: Worst Ladder

2020-10-23T15:42:01Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */ indefinite referent

{{comic
| number = 2375
| date = October 21, 2020
| title = Worst Ladder
| image = worst_ladder.png
| titletext = [Six months later] "Well, our 'worst ladder' subscription series was a surprisingly lucrative success, but was completely canceled out by the losses from the disastrous Home Depot merchandising tie-in."
}}

==Explanation==

An always present concern of media industries is consumers shifting tastes or indeed abandoning a medium altogether (such as print newspapers or in-person theaters). This strip depicts one such scenario prompting a meeting to discuss the problem. The other attendees suspect the consumers are simply shifting to an online platform, but Megan reveals they are instead shifting towards image search results.

Of course, during the age of the internet, there are many sources of free entertainment. {{w|YouTube}} and {{w|TikTok}} provide examples of these services, as practically anyone can choose from a tremendous variety of content. Therefore, this hurts services that require money to see their content, particularly when this content does not have any factors that make it inherently more appealing than the free services. The {{w|Quibi}} paid service shut down, just 6 months after it opened, on the same day that this comic appeared.

The joke here is that instead of YouTube or TikTok, possible customers are going to the Google Image search page for "worst ladder". Even the meeting participants are entranced by it, so the meeting devolves into everyone showing their favorites to each other.

Searching for images is an unorthodox source of entertainment, frequently only seen when searching for memes (this, in fact, is how {{w|Know Your Meme}} gauges interest in a meme). While this may be entertaining for a short period of time, the page's content remains roughly stagnant from day to day (contrasted with other services that contain new posts nearly every second), and the quality of any Google Images page will decline with scrolling. Therefore, this is not a sustainable source of entertainment{{Citation needed}}, and would be unlikely to compete with the service in this comic.

Search results currently tend to vary widely from person to person, as Google uses the user's search history, IP address, and location to try to find the most relevant result for each person, even if they are not logged in. This provides social opportunities around searching, sometimes exploited by social media posts (which may be how Megan originally found out).

The title text explains that the company actually decided to use the idea, and created a subscription service for these images. The idea was a success and was indeed very lucrative. They then tried selling actual "worst ladders" at a hardware store, thinking that people who enjoy looking at others mistakes would also enjoy making that mistake themselves, but this ended up costing them as much money as they made from the subscriptions (if the word "disastrous" is meant literally, there may have been injuries and liability lawsuits involved).

==Transcript==

:[Ponytail, Cueball, Hairy and Hairbun are sitting around a boardroom table. Megan is giving a presentation and pointing to a chart behind her.]
:Megan: Our entertainment division is failing. We can't compete with free content.

:[A frameless panel. Only Megan is shown, with her pointer to her side.]
:Off-panel voice: Where are they going? YouTube? TikTok?
:Megan: No.

:[Zoomed in on Megan.]
:Megan: The Google Images search results for '''''worst ladder'''''.
:Off-panel voice: Huh?
:Off-panel voice: Let me see ...

:[Ponytail and Cueball are looking at one laptop, and Hairy and Hairbun are looking at a second. Megan has her arms out in front of her, frustrated.]
:Ponytail: Yikes, look at this one! The stepladder is balanced on --
:Hairy: Wow, they ''tied'' a ladder to --
:Hairbun: Ooh, check out the --
:Megan: ''No!''

==Trivia==
Searching for "worst ladder" at the time the comic was posted allows observing ladders that are comically unsafe or poorly designed (see [https://drive.google.com/file/d/10xQ63VpvSBmz9e1rmKyUbHDKa5jIYPLK/view?usp=sharing sample results from shortly after the comic was posted]). It is worth noting that, while normally it does not undergo much change, the "worst ladder" page will likely now contain a barrage of results related to this xkcd comic, as happened with [[369: Dangers]]. This is similar to the {{w|Slashdot effect}}. For reference, at the time of posting (0:00 UTC), the comic was the 30th Google image result. From about 0:20 to 1:15 UTC, it was the 18th result; by 1:30 UTC, it had become the third result.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

32: Pillar

2020-10-13T15:41:11Z

172.69.170.56: Did the person who mentioned Simeon Stylites do any research whatsoever? Or did they just make assumptions?

{{comic
| number = 32
| date = November 19, 2005
| title = Pillar
| image = pillar.jpg
| titletext = A comic by my brother Doug, redrawn and rewritten by me
}}

==Explanation==
Two [[Cueball]]-like guys ponder the unanswerable philosophical question of whether all people observe the universe the same, or whether, for example, what one person sees as "red" might be what another see as "green". They muse that no one really knows how anyone else sees the world.

The misdirection and punchline of the comic come when the pole-guy asks if his friend can help him down from this pole where he's been standing the entire comic. The friend's reply indicates that he does not see a pole, proving that one person does observe the world differently than another, in this case, in a far more extreme and unexpected way than color differences.

Another interpretation of the punchline is that the friend doesn't like pole-guy's idea of questioning all of human existence and mocks that philosophy by pretending not to see that he is standing on a pole.

In any case, it is not possible to indicate which of [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|these two Cueballs]] is the protagonist, so neither can be designated as "The Cueball" for this comic.

The concept of a philosopher on a pole is likely a reference to many "{{w|stylites}}" or "pillar-saints" of the late antiquity period, perhaps the first and most famous them being {{w|Simeon Stylites}}.

Unlike most other ''[[xkcd]]'' comics, the "panels" of this comic are not divided and are drawn within a single frame.

As noted at the title text, this comic is based on a comic drawn by [[Randall]]'s brother Doug, although Randall apparently redrew and rewrote it.

==Transcript==
:[At the top of the panel is a black frame with the following text:]
:This one is mostly by my little brother, Doug.

:[A Cueball-like guy stands on a the top of a tall pole and talks to his Cueball-like friend on the ground. The drawing is repeated three time in the same panel, once for each comment by the two guys.]
:Pole-guy: The sky is so blue, and all the leaves are green.
:Friend: Haven't you ever wondered if we really see the same colors as everyone else? It's all perception.

:Pole-guy: Well, you might as well call into question all of human experience. Who really knows what world someone else sees?
:Friend: Yeah, I guess.

:Pole-guy: Anyway, can you help me down from this pole?
:Friend: What pole?

==Trivia==
*This was the 34th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[31: Barrel - Part 5]].
**The next was [[33: Self-reference]].
*Original title: "Friday's Drawing - Pillar"
*Original [[Randall]] quote:
::"Oops, I totally forgot to update yesterday afternoon. Well, I haven't slept, so I say it's still Friday. It's been a weird couple days and I was just thinking it was the weekend. Anyway, the first version of this strip was drawn by me and then written by Doug. I redrew/wrote it and now you are reading it! Cool, huh?
::Also, all the barrel strips are now [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html here] for easy linkage to people you think might like them."
:*The link (now here above directing to a webarchive) used to direct to a collection of all six [[:Category:Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel]] comics.
:*It seems Randall had a long Friday back then. So long that he forgot to post this Friday comic before midnight.
:*And although he still had not slept when he posted it, the time-stamp reads 7:55 AM on Saturday.
:*This thus became the first comic to be released on a Saturday.
:*This also happened to him the next Friday/Saturday. And then two times more before he closed LiveJournal. Since then it has not happened.
*This comic was posted on [[xkcd]] when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
**It was posted along [[:Category:First day on xkcd|with all 41 comics]] posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
**The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
*One of the original drawings drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].

{{Comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 34]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

2347: Dependency

2020-08-21T19:35:11Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2347
| date = August 17, 2020
| title = Dependency
| image = dependency.png
| titletext = Someday ImageMagick will finally break for good and we'll have a long period of scrambling as we try to reassemble civilization from the rubble.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A PROJECT [[User:Dgbrt|SOME RANDOM PERSON]] HAS BEEN THANKLESSLY MAINTAINING SINCE 2013. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Taking code re-usability and modularization to its logical extreme has been a long-time tenet for programmers; programming began as a slow task on very memory-constrained systems, utilizing punch cards and days of delay waiting to discover a bug, such that reuse made things possible that otherwise wouldn't be. Once systems became small, fast, and able to hold a lot of data, the ability to provide higher and higher degrees of automation made reusable libraries a huge engine behind the development of technology. By outsourcing what would seem like basic functions, such as string manipulation, to other libraries, developers waste less time reinventing the wheel, so the philosophy goes, and thus many tiny packages, many of which contained only one function, became popular dependencies. This was especially true in Unix and Linux, where an entire program is commonly used for one small task, and programs exist to tie others together into powerful shell scripts.

Node.js (a breed of JavaScript) and Python are two modern ecosystems providing huge stashes of centralized libraries where developers of the world can come together to stand on the shoulders of all the small useful libraries they make for each other, to make new ones that are more and more powerful, and also more and more prone to sudden new unexpected bugs somewhere in the dependency chain. JavaScript was designed to be an easy to use front end scripting language, not a basic and core backend language as users of node.js's {{w|npm (software)|NPM}} package manager have made it be. While in theory, such a system may sound good for developers who would need to write and maintain fewer lines of code, systems which are highly optimized are also highly susceptible to rapid changes. For example, the famous left-pad incident in the NPM package manager left many major and minor web services which depended on it unable to build. A disgruntled developer unpublishing 11 lines of code was able to break everybody's build, because everyone was using it. [https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/]

In 2014, the {{w|Heartbleed|Heartbleed bug}} revealed a significant portion of the internet was vulnerable to attack due to a bug in OpenSSL, a free and open-source library facilitating secure communication. One headline at the time demonstrated this comic in real life: "The Internet is Being Protected by Two Guys Named Steve" [https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisstokelwalker/the-internet-is-being-protected-by-two-guys-named-st]. The aforementioned Steves were overworked, underfunded, and largely unknown volunteers whose efforts nevertheless underpinned the security of major websites throughout the world. Randall provided a concise, helpful explanation of the bug in [[1354: Heartbleed Explanation]].

The current model of libraries and open-source development (topics which Randall has addressed extensively in the past) relies heavily on the free and continued dedication of unpaid hobbyists. Though some major projects such as Linux may be able to garner enough attention to build an organization, many smaller projects, which are in turn reused by larger projects, may only be maintained by one person, either the founder or another who has taken the torch. Maintaining libraries requires both extensive knowledge of the library itself as well as any use cases and the broader community around it, which usually is suited for maintainers who have spent years at the task, and thus cannot be easily replaced. Thus, there are many abandoned projects on the internet as people move on to greener pastures. Far from the days of backwards compatibility, that's usually not a problem, unless a project happens to be far up the dependency chain, as illustrated, in which case there may be a crisis down the road for both the developers and the users down the chain.

Technology architecture is often illustrated by a stack diagram [https://www.guru99.com/images/1/102219_1135_TCPIPvsOSIM1.png], in which higher levels of rectangles indicate components that are dependent on components in lower levels. This is analogous to a physical tower of blocks, in which higher blocks rest on lower blocks. The stack in this cartoon bears a striking resemblance to a physical block tower, suggesting the danger that the tower will lose its balance when a critical piece is removed. The concept of balance is not intended to be communicated by a stack diagram, making this a humorously absurd extension of a well-known diagram style.

{{w|ImageMagick}}, mentioned in the title text, is a popular, standalone utility released in 1990 that is used for performing transformations between various graphics file formats, and various other transformations. While there are also numerous libraries and API's for performing these tasks within larger programs, ImageMagick is so popular and easy to use that many programs use its API or just find it easier to {{w|Shell (computing)#Other uses|shell out}} to ImageMagick to perform a necessary transformation. They therefore {{w|Dependency hell|depend}} on ImageMagick, and would break if ImageMagick were to disappear.

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

[A tower of blocks is shown. The upper half consists of many tiny blocks balanced on top of one another to form smaller towers, labeled:]

All modern digital infrastructure

[The blocks rest on larger blocks lower down in the image, finally on a single large block. This is balanced on top of a set of blocks on the left, and on the right, a single tiny block placed on its side. This one is labeled:]

A project some random person in Nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining since 2003

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Programming]]

2347: Dependency

2020-08-21T19:33:48Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2347
| date = August 17, 2020
| title = Dependency
| image = dependency.png
| titletext = Someday ImageMagick will finally break for good and we'll have a long period of scrambling as we try to reassemble civilization from the rubble.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A PROJECT [[User:Dgbrt|SOME RANDOM PERSON]] HAS BEEN THANKLESSLY MAINTAINING SINCE 2013. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Taking code re-usability and modularization to its logical extreme has been a long-time tenet for programmers; programming began as a slow task on very memory-constrained systems, utilizing punch cards and days of delay waiting to discover a bug, such that reuse made things possible that otherwise wouldn't be. Once systems became small, fast, and able to hold a lot of data, the ability to provide higher and higher degrees of automation made reusable libraries a huge engine behind the development of technology. By outsourcing what would seem like basic functions, such as string manipulation, to other libraries, developers waste less time reinventing the wheel, so the philosophy goes, and thus many tiny packages, many of which contained only one function, became popular dependencies. This was especially true in Unix and Linux, where an entire program is commonly used for one small task, and programs exist to tie others together into powerful shell scripts.

Node.js (a breed of JavaScript) and Python are two modern ecosystems providing huge stashes of centralized libraries where developers of the world can come together to stand on the shoulders of all the small useful libraries they make for each other, to make new ones that are more and more powerful, and also more and more prone to sudden new unexpected bugs somewhere in the dependency chain. JavaScript was designed to be an easy to use front end scripting language, not a basic and core backend language as users of node.js's {{w|npm (software)|NPM}} package manager have made it be. While in theory, such a system may sound good for developers who would need to write and maintain fewer lines of code, systems which are highly optimized are also highly susceptible to rapid changes. For example, the famous left-pad incident in the NPM package manager left many major and minor web services which depended on it unable to build. A disgruntled developer unpublishing 11 lines of code was able to break everybody's build, because everyone was using it. [https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/]

In 2014, the {{w|Heartbleed|Heartbleed bug}} revealed a significant portion of the internet was vulnerable to attack due to a bug in OpenSSL, a free and open-source library facilitating secure communication. One headline at the time demonstrated this comic in real life: "The Internet is Being Protected by Two Guys Named Steve" [https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisstokelwalker/the-internet-is-being-protected-by-two-guys-named-st]. The aforementioned Steves were overworked, underfunded, and largely unknown volunteers whose efforts nevertheless underpinned the security of major websites throughout the world. Randall provided a concise, helpful explanation of the bug in [[1353: Heartbleed]].

The current model of libraries and open-source development (topics which Randall has addressed extensively in the past) relies heavily on the free and continued dedication of unpaid hobbyists. Though some major projects such as Linux may be able to garner enough attention to build an organization, many smaller projects, which are in turn reused by larger projects, may only be maintained by one person, either the founder or another who has taken the torch. Maintaining libraries requires both extensive knowledge of the library itself as well as any use cases and the broader community around it, which usually is suited for maintainers who have spent years at the task, and thus cannot be easily replaced. Thus, there are many abandoned projects on the internet as people move on to greener pastures. Far from the days of backwards compatibility, that's usually not a problem, unless a project happens to be far up the dependency chain, as illustrated, in which case there may be a crisis down the road for both the developers and the users down the chain.

Technology architecture is often illustrated by a stack diagram [https://www.guru99.com/images/1/102219_1135_TCPIPvsOSIM1.png], in which higher levels of rectangles indicate components that are dependent on components in lower levels. This is analogous to a physical tower of blocks, in which higher blocks rest on lower blocks. The stack in this cartoon bears a striking resemblance to a physical block tower, suggesting the danger that the tower will lose its balance when a critical piece is removed. The concept of balance is not intended to be communicated by a stack diagram, making this a humorously absurd extension of a well-known diagram style.

{{w|ImageMagick}}, mentioned in the title text, is a popular, standalone utility released in 1990 that is used for performing transformations between various graphics file formats, and various other transformations. While there are also numerous libraries and API's for performing these tasks within larger programs, ImageMagick is so popular and easy to use that many programs use its API or just find it easier to {{w|Shell (computing)#Other uses|shell out}} to ImageMagick to perform a necessary transformation. They therefore {{w|Dependency hell|depend}} on ImageMagick, and would break if ImageMagick were to disappear.

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

[A tower of blocks is shown. The upper half consists of many tiny blocks balanced on top of one another to form smaller towers, labeled:]

All modern digital infrastructure

[The blocks rest on larger blocks lower down in the image, finally on a single large block. This is balanced on top of a set of blocks on the left, and on the right, a single tiny block placed on its side. This one is labeled:]

A project some random person in Nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining since 2003

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Programming]]

2347: Dependency

2020-08-21T19:32:55Z

172.69.170.56: /* Explanation */ added description of Heartbleed bug

{{comic
| number = 2347
| date = August 17, 2020
| title = Dependency
| image = dependency.png
| titletext = Someday ImageMagick will finally break for good and we'll have a long period of scrambling as we try to reassemble civilization from the rubble.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A PROJECT [[User:Dgbrt|SOME RANDOM PERSON]] HAS BEEN THANKLESSLY MAINTAINING SINCE 2013. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Taking code re-usability and modularization to its logical extreme has been a long-time tenet for programmers; programming began as a slow task on very memory-constrained systems, utilizing punch cards and days of delay waiting to discover a bug, such that reuse made things possible that otherwise wouldn't be. Once systems became small, fast, and able to hold a lot of data, the ability to provide higher and higher degrees of automation made reusable libraries a huge engine behind the development of technology. By outsourcing what would seem like basic functions, such as string manipulation, to other libraries, developers waste less time reinventing the wheel, so the philosophy goes, and thus many tiny packages, many of which contained only one function, became popular dependencies. This was especially true in Unix and Linux, where an entire program is commonly used for one small task, and programs exist to tie others together into powerful shell scripts.

Node.js (a breed of JavaScript) and Python are two modern ecosystems providing huge stashes of centralized libraries where developers of the world can come together to stand on the shoulders of all the small useful libraries they make for each other, to make new ones that are more and more powerful, and also more and more prone to sudden new unexpected bugs somewhere in the dependency chain. JavaScript was designed to be an easy to use front end scripting language, not a basic and core backend language as users of node.js's {{w|npm (software)|NPM}} package manager have made it be. While in theory, such a system may sound good for developers who would need to write and maintain fewer lines of code, systems which are highly optimized are also highly susceptible to rapid changes. For example, the famous left-pad incident in the NPM package manager left many major and minor web services which depended on it unable to build. A disgruntled developer unpublishing 11 lines of code was able to break everybody's build, because everyone was using it. [https://www.theregister.com/2016/03/23/npm_left_pad_chaos/]

In 2014, the {{w|Heartbleed|Heartbleed bug}} revealed a significant portion of the internet was vulnerable to attack due to a bug in OpenSSL, a free and open-source library facilitating secure communication. One headline at the time demonstrated this comic in real life: "The Internet is Being Protected by Two Guys Named Steve" [https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisstokelwalker/the-internet-is-being-protected-by-two-guys-named-st]. The aforementioned Steves were overworked, underfunded, and largely unknown volunteers whose efforts nevertheless underpinned the security of major websites throughout the world. Randall provided a concise, helpful explanation of the bug in [[1354: Heartbleed]].

The current model of libraries and open-source development (topics which Randall has addressed extensively in the past) relies heavily on the free and continued dedication of unpaid hobbyists. Though some major projects such as Linux may be able to garner enough attention to build an organization, many smaller projects, which are in turn reused by larger projects, may only be maintained by one person, either the founder or another who has taken the torch. Maintaining libraries requires both extensive knowledge of the library itself as well as any use cases and the broader community around it, which usually is suited for maintainers who have spent years at the task, and thus cannot be easily replaced. Thus, there are many abandoned projects on the internet as people move on to greener pastures. Far from the days of backwards compatibility, that's usually not a problem, unless a project happens to be far up the dependency chain, as illustrated, in which case there may be a crisis down the road for both the developers and the users down the chain.

Technology architecture is often illustrated by a stack diagram [https://www.guru99.com/images/1/102219_1135_TCPIPvsOSIM1.png], in which higher levels of rectangles indicate components that are dependent on components in lower levels. This is analogous to a physical tower of blocks, in which higher blocks rest on lower blocks. The stack in this cartoon bears a striking resemblance to a physical block tower, suggesting the danger that the tower will lose its balance when a critical piece is removed. The concept of balance is not intended to be communicated by a stack diagram, making this a humorously absurd extension of a well-known diagram style.

{{w|ImageMagick}}, mentioned in the title text, is a popular, standalone utility released in 1990 that is used for performing transformations between various graphics file formats, and various other transformations. While there are also numerous libraries and API's for performing these tasks within larger programs, ImageMagick is so popular and easy to use that many programs use its API or just find it easier to {{w|Shell (computing)#Other uses|shell out}} to ImageMagick to perform a necessary transformation. They therefore {{w|Dependency hell|depend}} on ImageMagick, and would break if ImageMagick were to disappear.

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

[A tower of blocks is shown. The upper half consists of many tiny blocks balanced on top of one another to form smaller towers, labeled:]

All modern digital infrastructure

[The blocks rest on larger blocks lower down in the image, finally on a single large block. This is balanced on top of a set of blocks on the left, and on the right, a single tiny block placed on its side. This one is labeled:]

A project some random person in Nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining since 2003

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Programming]]