explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3038: Uncanceled Units

2025-01-15T14:39:15Z

172.70.163.46:

DUDE I'M STILL IN SCHOOL RN, WHAT?
(also, the joke is that energy is power*time, so kWh is kJ/s... in an hour [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:27, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

I guess not every comic can be a winner. Talking about an appliance using a certain amount of kWH per day is clear and normal. Power gets billed by the kWh, not the Joule. While technically not wrong, wanting "cancel" a sub-part of the commonly-used energy unit kWh and leaving it in deliberately-obscured units most people are less familiar with is the sort of insanity I'd more expect from White Hat than Cueball. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.171|172.70.35.171]] 13:39, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:Maybe that is a meta-joke? To frame kWh/day as something crazy by giving that line to whitehat --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:52, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:There's a difference between instantaneous power draw, and the total "volume"(/area, really) of power over time. Though a fridge is "always on", it is still only irregularly at full-draw. But, to the power company (or to the gas company, who will generally give a kWh measure of 'energy taken from the network'), they don't (generally) care whether you used twice as many kW over half the time or half as many over twice the time, within any given total billing period. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.46|172.70.163.46]] 14:39, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

This is especially funny with US units. My car needs about 5l/100km, or 0.05mm². Now I am wondering how many ft^(-2) my car does... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:49, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

fridge [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.147|172.70.126.147]] 14:22, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

The late [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._C._MacKay Sir David MacKay] wrote an excellent book, [http://www.withouthotair.com/ Sustainable Energy – without the hot air] (which is available free online).
On [http://www.withouthotair.com/c2/page_24.shtml this page] he talks about the units he uses in the book: kWh for energy ("one unit") and kWh/day for power - becuase it's simple for lay-people to understand - how many units does this appliance use per day.
It's a good book if any of you are interested in sustainable energy (although it was written in 2008, so some bits might be out of date by now)

Talk:3019: Advent Calendar Advent Calendar

2024-12-08T15:26:53Z

172.70.163.46:

Would this basically be triangle numbers? So on Christmas Eve you would open 300 windows?[[User:Tommyds|Tommyds]] ([[User talk:Tommyds|talk]]) 16:01, 2 December 2024 (UTC)
:Yes and no. It's not 12 days of Christmas (as mentioned in the title text), so only the overall number of gifts are a triangle number; you open 30 windows on Christmas Day. The 12 days ref is key as the song generates more gifts if taken literally even in 12 days -- 78 on the last day, 66 on the previous day, etc, for a total of 364. [[User:Mneme|Mneme]] ([[User talk:Mneme|talk]]) 16:35, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Notice that this year The Advent calendars are correct. Normally, Advent calendars start at the 1st of December even if the Advent starts at a different day. But this year the Advent also starts at the 1st of December. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.172.40|162.158.172.40]] 16:55, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Donald Knuth wrote a paper for April 1984 Communications of the ACM that included an analysis of the complexity of 12 Days of Christmas. It's in the CACM archive https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/358027.358042. {{unsigned ip|172.70.211.144|16:58, 2 December 2024 (UTC)}}

The explanation currently says "each day, he gets another advent calendar, which each contains 24-25 different items". I don't think that's correct; look at the picture: each day's calendar has one fewer item than the previous one. For example, the 24th only has 2 boxes and the 25th only has one. --[[User:Itub|Itub]] ([[User talk:Itub|talk]]) 17:25, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Perhaps each smaller advent calendar might also contain a smaller advent calendar and so on ...? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.199|172.70.90.199]] 17:51, 2 December 2024 (UTC)
:Since the 1st has a calendar with a 1st, that would mean an infinite number of calendars just on the first day, so probably not. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.225|172.71.154.225]] 18:03, 2 December 2024 (UTC)
::It could work out if you don't open the first window of a new advent calendar on the day that it is revealed. So on day 1, you open the first window revealing an advent calendar that starts on day 2. Then on day 2 you open the second window, revealing a second advent calendar and the first window of the day 1 advent calendar, revealing a third advent calendar. ... and so on. If my mental math on that is right, it's doubling every day, so 2^24 =~ 16M calendars in total? (I could be off by a day) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.69|172.71.147.69]] 19:38, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Can we just take a moment to appreciate whoever named the bot for this page? They wrote as follows: Created by 4 ENVELOPE BACKS 3 NERDS A-EDITING, 2 TURTLE BOTS, AND A FUNNY NEW XKCD. [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 23:26, 2 December 2024 (UTC)
:That note is hand-edited on the first couple of edits. Not sure why that rule exists, though. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 00:50, 3 December 2024 (UTC)
::Honestly, about half the time the "note" is funnier than the comic itself. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 19:31, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
The title text says 'may' twice, "per day may may [sic] seem absurd" --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.236.163|198.41.236.163]] 00:01, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

The German YouTube channel "Malternativ" has actually done this a couple years: Opening one advent calendar every day. He went more and more insane as December went on… [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 00:50, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

Noting that the calendar is entirely correct for the day of publication. Too much to hope for that it is ''kept'' correct for each further day of Advent until (or, rather, 'until and including', as noted at least once above) Christmas Day? Maybe worth checking to see if (at an appropriate time, Randall-time, later today on the 3rd) it hasn't been updated. Or some special sub-page appeared with a revised (Time-like) update. Just in case. And, if Randall doesn't, I'm sure it's not beyond our own wit to make adjustments/animate as a fan-copy. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.214|172.70.91.214]] 01:57, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg Yo Dawg], I herd you like advent calendars, so I put an advent calendar in your advent calendar so you can count down while you count down. [[User:Solomon|Solomon]] ([[User talk:Solomon|talk]]) 03:31, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

Wonder how many chocolates you would get if you did this with the life expectancy advent calendar. [[User:N-eh|N-eh]] ([[User talk:N-eh|talk]]) 04:40, 3 December 2024 (UTC)
:At some point, most people would reach the point at which that many chocolates would be a lethal (or at least LD50) quantity, so would be a self-shortening process. For those who reach the end of their LEAC ''without'' it actually being the cause of death, there should be a compensatory (or 'condolances') supply hidden on the back, for entirely guilt-free eating. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.200|172.70.162.200]] 06:01, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

Nobody tell Stuart and Dan about this one... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.183.11|172.71.183.11]] 06:56, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

I still don't understand it. Does he not open the first and second door of the second calendar on the second day? If not, does he open the first or the second door of the second calendar. Do the other items stay in the calendar? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.245.162|162.158.245.162]] 07:36, 3 December 2024 (UTC)
:Each next calendar has one fewer doors. So the second calendar starts with door number 2. On 1 December he opens the number 1 door revealing the first subcalendar, where he opens the number 1 door. On 2 December he opens the number 2 door of the first subcalendar and then the second door of the big calendar, revealing the second subcalendar, where he opens the first door, which is the number 2 door, since it has no number 1 door. [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 08:12, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

Is the title correct, from a formal language point of view? I would have expected it to be Advent Advent Calendar. OTOH I'm not American and not overtly familiar with this tradition. {{unsigned ip|172.69.194.19|08:49, 3 December 2024}}
:A "<Foo> Advent Calendar" is an Advent Calendar that is themed for <Foo>. A "Dogs Advent Calendar" is probably themed with dog pictures (a "Dogs' Advent Calendar" might be themed ''for'' dogs, perhaps with dog-treats/-toys, and the "Dog's Advent Calendar" might be a regular (human) AC that you've gifted to your dog... hopefully one without chocolates!). A "Fine Whiskey Advent Calendar" might have sampler bottles of various fine malts (or just pictures of them... booo!).
:An "Advent Advent Calendar" would be just Advent-themed. Which is just a Advent Calendar (i.e. traditional, not particularly rethemed; or even rather pointedly traditionally-themed as a poke back against the commercialist subversion of Advent Calendering). "Advent" is not a modifier to "Calendar" that gives one of them little doors and pictures (and/or gifts), but is a thing for which an object ("Calendar") has been created as an accessory.
:This is an Advent Calendar whose schtick is Advent Calendars, thus is an Advent Calendar Advent Calendar. Which seems at least as good as any other theme I've seen. And it's the first time I've seen this. But, if there are at least 24 other examples, then obviously there's now a possibility of an Advent Calendar Advent Calendar Advent Calendar. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.185|172.69.194.185]] 13:57, 3 December 2024 (UTC)
::Thank you, it's very clear. I was indeed wrongly interpreting Advent as a modifier to Calendar. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.204|172.69.194.204]] 14:04, 3 December 2024 (UTC)
:::(That was clear? I really should have cut back on everything else once I realised it might just have been the modifier-misunderstanding...)
:::Slight correction: An AC³ would not require 25 different but functionally identical AC²s. As well as the pictured AC², you'd need an AC² that started with the 2nd day (which holds a 2nd-day-starting AC¹, just as the AC² contains in ''its'' 2nd day), one that starts with the 3rd day... etc. Given that there are already a limited number of not-25-(or -24)-day ACs, for the AC to hold, I don't know how many would have to be specially created to fit (we do [[2550: Webb|know of one]] that covers just 18 days, but otherwise one ''might'' sabotage a 'more windows' one by taping over and/or pre-emptying too-early windows ...seems wrong to do that, though), but it's then 8ncreasingly likely the non-primary AC²s would just need to be created just for the purpose of being appropriately installed within the 2nd+ slots of the AC³. Which is probably far simpler. FCVO 'simpler'. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.98|172.69.194.98]] 14:57, 3 December 2024 (UTC)
::Except that every one after the first one isn't a proper advent calendar, because it starts too late.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.198|172.70.90.198]] 09:54, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Randall clearly thinks that "starting late" doesn't disqualify a pretruncated Advent Calendar from being an Advent Calendar in an Advent Calendar Advent Calendar. Or, perhaps that an Advent Calendar Advent Calendar's requirement is the inclusion of just the ''one'' 'true' Advent Calendar (''whatever'' you call all the others, behind flaps beyond the first). If you're not complaining about Randall's interpretation, then this also applies to the AC<sup>3</sup> suggestion given above, and over-explained, that it seems you're replying about. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.118.144|172.71.118.144]] 01:57, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Nope - wasn't replying about that. I was replying about the reply. It was a reply reply, not just a reply.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.107|141.101.98.107]] 09:18, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

The singer in The Twelve Days of Christmas receives two gifts on the first day, not one - a partridge, and a pear tree. (Then four on the second day, seven on the third, and so on.) That one item is presented within the other doesn't make them a single gift. Otherwise they would only receive 12 gifts total, with the final day's gift being twelve drummers drumming and eleven pipers piping and ten lords a leaping... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.199|172.70.90.199]] 09:59, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
:Wouldn't that mean twelve drummers drumming would give them at least 36 gifts? Twelve drummers, at least 12 drums, and and least 12 drumsticks? (unless it's twelve drummers around one large drum? ... ) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.50|172.68.186.50]] 14:43, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
::Not necessarily - all you need for drumming [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_percussion is you]. Pipers piping might be another matter though...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.184|172.69.194.184]] 15:07, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
:::The geese-a-laying would complicate matters too. Are these just geese of a laying age and condition (in which case, count 1 each), or are they actually in the act of laying? If the latter, at what stage in the laying process are they at the point of gifting, and are any eggs that have already been laid at that point included in the gift? It would be very difficult to get them to synchronise to lay at exactly the same moment.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.237|172.70.90.237]] 15:15, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

Wait, isn't it similar to the comic Alignment Chart Alignment Chart? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.119|172.70.110.119]] 05:06, 7 December 2024 (UTC)

Is anyone going to point out that proper advent calendars only have 24 doors? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.90|172.68.150.90]] 07:13, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
:All of mine have 25 doors? Is the traditional one only have 24? Cause the commercial ones are most 25 [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 14:49, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
::It is (or was, maybe it got lost in further mass-edits, but I remember it being there and should really have checked before replying...) mentioned that some calendars have 1..25 (to finish with 'big reveal' on Christms Day), others may go 1..24 (given that there's more than enough gifts and distractions expected on the 25th, though that could also be said of the 24th in some cultural traditions).
::What wasn't really expounded upon, but hi ted at, was that if you go ''really'' traditional, it starts on the 4th Sunday before Christmas Day, which is only on the 1st when the 1st is a Sunday. Regardless of the inclusion of the 25th, a 'proper' one for any given year might have doors all around the mid-20s in number. But chocolate/etc ones probably just settle on starting at the 1st (or cheaper 'fortnight', 'final week' ones, perhaps, as discount gifts for tardy uncles' and aunts' benefits?), whichever day they finish at. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.46|172.70.163.46]] 15:26, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

132: Music Knowledge

2024-11-26T14:18:36Z

172.70.163.46: /* Explanation */ Actually, removing this, as it's already a standing mention in Trivia (and fits there better).

{{comic
| number = 132
| date = July 24, 2006
| title = Music Knowledge
| image = music_knowledge.png
| titletext = When Guitar Hero 2 comes out I'll have fresh conversational material for MONTHS.
}}

==Explanation==
The punchline of this comic is that just by naming bands from the game ''{{w|Guitar Hero}}'', you can sound pretty knowledgeable about music without actually knowing anything about the bands you are naming. This is further emphasized when [[Megan]] mentions {{w|Metallica}}, a very famous band that mostly everyone can be assumed to have heard of, and [[Cueball]] has no clue who they are, because Metallica is not featured in ''Guitar Hero'' (at the time of this comic writing). A similar premise was demonstrated in [[1859: Sports Knowledge]].

''{{w|Guitar Hero}}'' is a music rhythm video game developed by Harmonix and published by RedOctane for the {{w|Playstation 2}}.

In the title text, Cueball (or possibly Randall) is just hoping for a sequel to ''Guitar Hero'' to get more, and newer, conversational material. By 2015, there had been 6 main sequels to ''Guitar Hero'', with numerous other spinoffs and expansions to the {{w|Guitar Hero|''Guitar Hero'' series}}.

===List of bands mentioned===

'''Classic Rock'''
*{{w|Boston (band)|Boston}} is an American rock band from Boston, who had their most success in the 1970s and 1980s. Their song "{{w|More Than a Feeling}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*{{w|Queen (band)|Queen}} is a British rock band from London, formed in 1970, with many major hits. Their song "{{w|Killer Queen}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*"Bowie" ({{w|David Bowie}}) was an English singer and songwriter. His song "{{w|Ziggy Stardust (song)|Ziggy Stardust}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*{{w|Joan Jett}} is an American rock singer. She is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. Their version of the song "{{w|I Love Rock 'n' Roll}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.

'''Newer stuff'''
*{{w|Franz Ferdinand (band)|Franz Ferdinand}} are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 2002. Their song "{{w|Take Me Out (song)|Take Me Out}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*{{w|The Donnas}} were an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California in 1993. Their song "{{w|Spend the Night (The Donnas album)|Take it Off}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.
*{{w|Audioslave}} was an American rock supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 2001. Their song "{{w|Cochise (song)|Cochise}}" is featured in ''Guitar Hero''.

'''Other stuff'''
*{{w|Arcade Fire}} is a Canadian indie rock band founded in 2000.
*{{w|The Postal Service|Postal Service}} was an American indie rock band founded in 2001.
*{{w|Freezepop}} is an American electronic band from Boston. Their song "Get Ready 2 Rokk" is featured in ''Guitar Hero'', as a bonus song. This is the first giveaway of Cueball's source for his music knowledge; Freezepop is a fairly obscure indie band best known for their placement in ''Guitar Hero'' and other rhythm games.
*{{w|Metallica}} is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. Metallica has won 9 Grammy awards and received 23 Grammy nominations. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.

Interestingly, neither {{w|Arcade Fire}} nor {{w|The Postal Service|Postal Service}} (mentioned by Megan) are featured in ''Guitar Hero'', so Cueball should not have any knowledge of these bands. Perhaps he brought up Freezepop as a distraction, since Megan mentioned that The Postal Service also has electronic music.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball converse.]
:Megan: What kind of music do you listen to?
:Cueball: Oh, a mix of things. Some classic rock like Boston, but then of course Queen and Bowie, Joan Jett...
:Megan: Definitely, we need more of those sounds.
:Cueball: But there's some great newer stuff too, like Franz Ferdinand, The Donnas, and Audioslave.
:Megan: Sometimes they're a little much for me. I go more for things like The Arcade Fire, sometimes mixing some electronic sounds like Postal Service.
:Cueball: Oh yeah—have you ever checked out Freezepop?
:Megan: Mhm! Synth pop can be fun, but at the same time, I agree that sometimes you just need to blast some Metallica.
:Cueball: Who?
:Megan: ...Metallica.
:Cueball: Are they new?
:I sound pretty knowledgeable about music until people figure out that I'm just naming bands from Guitar Hero.

==Trivia==
*In his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=42m20s Google-speech] in late 2007, [[Randall]] expressed some form of dissatisfaction with ''Guitar Hero III'' (coincidentally the first edition in the series to include a Metallica song).
*In 2009, three years after this comic was released, ''Metallica'' eventually got a game {{w|Guitar Hero: Metallica}}.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Rhythm Games]]
[[Category:Guitar Hero]]

1101: Sketchiness

2024-11-11T11:48:00Z

172.70.163.46: Undo revision 356394 by 162.158.114.234 (talk) No sketches in the xkcd sense. (No more than almost every other normal xkcd, regardless of title and text.)

{{comic
| number = 1101
| date = August 29, 2012
| title = Sketchiness
| image = sketchiness.png
| titletext = factory --- spire --- onslaught --- extractor --- judge
}}

==Explanation==
Sketchy is an adjective meaning not thorough or detailed, but which in modern slang is often used to connote creepiness, or a general feeling that something is not quite right. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sketchy Urban Dictionary] provides a good definition of "someone or something that gives off a bad feeling".

In this comic, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] rates words by how sketchy they make the sentence "Hey baby, wanna come back to my sex ____?" when inserted into the blank. As noted from the scale (which already starts at "sketchy" and goes up to "very sketchy"), the sentence itself is already inherently sketchy, in that it sounds like it would be a pickup line delivered by a person attempting to solicit sex from a stranger.

The sketchiness is increased by the various words which run from the ''relatively'' common or understood to the obscure and unusual.

The first few are actual terminology: A sex party or sex {{w|orgy}} are basically group sex parties at which multiple parties engage in sexual activity. A {{w|sex dungeon}} is a location where {{w|BDSM}} (bondage/submission — think leather and handcuffs) activity is engaged in. "Sex House" is the name of an {{w|Onion_News_Network|Onion News Network}} parody of reality shows like Big Brother.

As the scale increases, the words become simply locations where sex might take place, which increase from comfortable to unusual and creepy (i.e. sex crate, sex ravine, sex tarp). It is particularly sketchy because of the phrasing of the sentence which implies the speaker has a specific [insert word] used for sex. It might be sketchy enough to walk up to someone and suggest "let's go down in the ravine and have sex", but it is made sketchier when the phrasing suggests going to "my sex ravine".

The title text continues the thought process with further possible sketchy words, beginning with more odd locations and moving on to "onslaught", an abundant wave of attack or overwhelming amount of something — in this case sex; "extractor" suggests some sort of device that might force someone to have sex; and finally "judge", suggesting the speaker has someone in mind to judge sex. Very sketchy indeed.

==Transcript==
:[A timeline style graph.]
:'''WORDS'''
:Arranged by how sketchy they make the sentence
:'''´´HEY BABY, WANNA COME BACK TO MY SEX ________?``'''
:sketchy <--------> very sketchy
:party --- orgy --- dungeon --- palace --- house --- shrine --- room --- basement --- truck --- platform --- van --- area --- crate --- chute --- ravine --- tarp

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

2869: Puzzles

2024-11-11T11:43:56Z

172.70.163.46: Undo revision 356393 by Jkshapiro (talk) Rolled-back re-edit, reworking, revealing relevant reality reasonably rationalising reinstatement?

{{comic
| number = 2869
| date = December 18, 2023
| title = Puzzles
| image = puzzles_2x.png
| imagesize = 328x455px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Why couldn't the amulet have been hidden by Aunt Alice, who understands modern key exchange algorithms?
}}

==Explanation==

Many children's books, especially those read by Randall's generation, feature in-story puzzles. Some of these hold up pretty well decades later, like the ones in {{w|Ellen Raskin}}'s award-winning mystery books for kids. Others, however, are…a lot less impressive. Randall doesn't specify which children's books have "terrible" puzzles, but the ''{{w|Hardy Boys}}'' series by Franklin W. Dixon, the ''{{w|Boxcar Children}}'' series by Gertrude Chandler Warner, and the ''{{w|Encyclopedia Brown}}'' series by Donald J. Sobol are all strong possibilities. (The Riddler in the 1960s ''{{w|Batman (TV series)|Batman}}'' TV series famously played the trope for laughs.)

In the panel, characters from one such book (presumably a made-up example) are contemplating a puzzle involving somebody's Aunt Gertrude. The characters guess Gertrude's amulet must be hidden in the Ground, because that starts with a G, like Gertrude, and that they should diG a hole. These guesses are not very practical; it seems unlikely that Aunt Gertrude either (A) chose to be known indefinitely by a G-name purely as a clue about where she hid an amulet, or (B) was inspired by her own name to choose a vaguely relevant hiding place. Even if she ''did'', there are many other words that begin with G, such as Gulf, or Gull, or Get-a-Glider-and-Go-to-Greenland, or Get-a-nuke-and-bomb-the-USA, and any of these would be just as plausible "clues."

Moreover, once deciding, even more implausibly, that this "clue" is telling them to dig a hole in the ground, because 'dig' ends with a G, the search is not significantly narrowed as the world is a big place and "underground, somewhere" leaves a huge range of possible locations. As for the comic, perhaps it could be a Garden, which the characters don't figure out. If you're still lost, you may need {{tvtropes|XMarksTheSpot|at least one more letter}} to narrow the options down. All this leads us to Randall's point — that these connections made by the characters are tenuous at best and are unreasonable to make, especially as part of a riddle.

Aunt Gertrude is probably named after a supporting character in the ''Hardy Boys'' series; the Aunt Gertrude in that series didn't set puzzles, but main characters Frank and Joe Hardy frequently had to decipher clues to find hidden objects. The name may also be a nod to Gertrude Chandler Warner, whose Boxcar Children are an adventurous group of mystery-solving kids like those in the comic.

The title text references {{w|Alice and Bob|Alice}}, a fictional character commonly used in discussions about cryptography. In those discussions, Alice is often sending and receiving encrypted messages, and she would be expected to be able to make a better puzzle than the one shown in the comic. The title text may also be referring to {{w|Advanced Encryption Standard|AES}}, a common modern algorithm used for encryption that begins with A and advances the alliteratively assisted approach to advancing an acquirable answer (and, accordingly, automatically attested as absolutely 'accurate'). In context, finding a key to decrypt a phrase with AES would be a reasonable puzzle. Alice and Bob and other characters from the same set are the reverse of case of Aunt Gertrude, in that they have been given their names to reflect a convenient A, B, C, ... pattern. They have been mentioned previously in xkcd, like in [[177: Alice and Bob]]. Using modern cryptography in lieu of riddles in children's stories was also mentioned in [[370: Redwall]].

==Transcript==
:[Possibly teenage versions of Hairy, Jill, Ponytail, and Cueball, listed from left to right, are standing in a line. Hairy is in a thinking pose, Jill faces Hairy, and Ponytail and Cueball are walking to the right; Cueball is pointing off-panel.]
:Hairy: Aunt Gertrude must have left a clue to the amulet's location.
:Jill: Hmm. Wait a minute.
:Jill: '''G'''ertrude. '''G'''.
:Hairy: As in "'''G'''round!"
:Jill: And "di'''G''' a hole!"
:Ponytail: I'll get a shovel!
:Cueball: To the yard!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Some of the authors of books I read as a kid were '''''terrible''''' at designing puzzles.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Kids]]

Talk:431: Delivery

2024-10-31T18:12:32Z

172.70.163.46: Vote Vermin Supreme!

Yeah, I got the image to show this time!!! Now to get rid of that "Jump to:"...--[[User:7OO Tnega Terces|7OO Tnega Terces]] ([[User talk:7OO Tnega Terces|talk]]) 08:22, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

I added a reference to Punxsutawney Phil in the explanation.[[User:Nsimonetti|NikoNarf]] ([[User talk:Nsimonetti|talk]]) 15:07, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

I don't think this was necessarily a Groundhog Day joke. I interpreted it as "the baby didn't want to come out yet" (nothing about a coming winter), and "6 more weeks of winter" meant "6 more weeks of pregnancy." I think the doctor was just comically jesting; half-laughing, confused but maintaining his stature. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.126|108.162.216.126]] 17:38, 24 January 2020 (UTC)
:Try Googling "6 more weeks of winter" and see what you come up with. It's definitely a Groundhog Day joke. {{unsigned ip|172.69.23.118|17:56, 31 October 2024}}