explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2944: Magnet Fishing

2024-06-11T10:23:50Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2944
| date = June 10, 2024
| title = Magnet Fishing
| image = magnet_fishing_2x.png
| imagesize = 522x356px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The ten-way tie was judged a ten-way tie, so no one won the grand prize, a rare fishing monopole.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NONWORKING MAGNETIC FORCE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Magnet fishing}} is the act of using a magnet to find ferrometallic objects in a body of water. It can be used to recover specific lost items, help to clear a stretch of water of dumped items and/or simply to see what interesting (perhaps valuable) items can be found. This is reminiscent of magnetic fishing games (such as [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13166/lets-go-fishin "Let's Go Fishing"] and [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172530/go-fishing "Go Fishing"]) where players use fishing rods with small magnets on the ends to "catch" fish.

A World Magnet Fishing Championship was apparently only held once, because of the contestants' magnets getting stuck together. This resulted in the fishing lines becoming tangled together, or "tied", for a pun on the competition being declared "tied".

The title text states that the competition's prize would have been a "fishing monopole" which could refer to a {{w|fishing rod}}, also called a fishing pole, with only a single rod rather than multiple. Most fishing rods only have a single pole so this would not be considered rare. It could also refer to a magnet fishing rod where the magnet is a {{w|magnetic monopole}} rather than a {{w|magnetic dipole}} like all known magnets. This would certainly be rare since no magnetic monopoles have been found and thus would be a valuable prize for a competition. The currently known laws of physics require that if magnetic monopoles exist, electric charge must be quantized. Electric charge ''is'' quantized which is consistent with (but does not prove) magnetic monopoles existing. It also looks like a tautology, though the first "ten-way tie" depicts how the ten lines are 'knotted' together, and the second indicates the equality of the final score. This suggests that nobody 'fished' anything ''other'' than "all the other nine magnets", prior to the inevitable conclusion.
Finally, 'pole position' (usually in Motorsport) is awarded to the first place qualifier in a competition. With all competitors coming joint first, this is a 'monopole' result.

==Transcript==
:[Ten people are standing on a bridge connecting the steep banks on either side of a body of water. They have all cast strings with magnets over the edge and are holding on to them. All their magnets have, however, got stuck together and as they are pulling them up they hang in a bunch above the water under the middle of the bridge, with all ten lines going out from the bunch of magnets. The characters from left to right are: Hairbun, a person with white hair, Cueball, Megan, another Cueball, White Hat, another Megan, a guy with spiky hair, Ponytail, and Hairy.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The first, and last, World Magnet Fishing Championship

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2941: Cell Organelles

2024-06-04T05:13:18Z

172.70.85.177: A comment about midichlorians and mitochondria. 👋 This is the best edit summary you’ve ever seen.

I'm a little disappointed there isn't a continuous endoplasmic reticulum with a zigzag in it.
Rogue mathematician away [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.77|172.71.154.77]] 19:20, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Sorry about the edit conflicts, attempting to fix.... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.237|108.162.245.237]] 20:12, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Re [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2941:_Cell_Organelles&diff=343629&oldid=343628] is LLM use forbidden? I recall we have several ChatGPT-authored explanations, and had an ongoing discussion back when it was new. In any case, I've proofread and vouch for it, so I'm replacing the text. I encourage anyone who's bothered by it to paraphrase instead of delete. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.237|108.162.245.237]] 21:22, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

:If you've got the time to check AI-generated content properly and agree that it's what ''you'' would have written, you've got time to write it from scratch exactly how you'd have written it. And you get dangerously close to just putting in AI-content without checking at all, which right now is remains foolhardy.
:But, most of all, anything anyone submits can be changed by anyone else, and I don't know who picked up on it being AI and dealt with it the way they did, but only consensus can truly resolve where any attempt to impose an edit leads. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.119|162.158.74.119]] 22:36, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

::I almost completely agree with you for Wikipedia (I'd just change 'would' to 'could') and similar wikis, but it's undeniable that ExplainXkcd is different in some very substantial and obvious ways, many of which bear on whether to utilize AI. In particular, I would accept pretty much anything that helps explain the comic whether authored by human, machine, animal, or alien, but not hesitate for a second to, as the text below the Summary text input box says, edit it "mercilessly" whether I thought it was LLM-generated or not. But I wouldn't delete an even barely serviceable explanation ''just'' because I thought it came from an LLM, even if it was objectively low quality. I would try to improve it, which almost never means starting over from scratch. I'm not sure I believe the same is true for humans, who often insert, e.g., vandalism, trolling, or extremely undue and/or fringe topic passages. If an LLM is doing that, there's probably a human behind it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.17|108.162.245.17]] 00:21, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

:Both the paragraphs and the table have been edited far enough from what ChatGPT pretty obviously came up with (almost all of which I would say merit inclusion unaltered, [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2941:_Cell_Organelles&diff=343604&oldid=343601 looking at the initial edits; although there is evidence that the LLM output was copyedited and wikilinked in a way that it would probably not do,] i.e., we use the {{tl|w}} template here which is not at all a Mediawiki standard, the Wikimedia wikis having a different form <nowiki>[[w:...]]</nowiki>) so that whatever deleterious LLM contamination they had has surely been beat out of them at this stage. Perhaps the GenAI deletionist is trying to encourage others to not fall prey to reliance on LLMs? A worthy goal, but I agree paraphrasing is far superior. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.180|172.69.34.180]] 01:57, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

Re: the chloroplasts explanation: how do we know that this is an animal cell? (Would be good to say why...) -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 22:18, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
:The cell has a membrane instead of a wall. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.199|162.158.90.199]] 22:24, 3 June 2024 (UTC)
::No, that’s human skin. [[User:Usb-rave|Usb-rave]] ([[User talk:Usb-rave|talk]]) 00:48, 4 June 2024 (UTC)
:::Yeah, the rule of thumb is of course a generalization worthy of chemistry "rules" -- the {{w|bone cell}} being perhaps the most obvious uncategorizable corner case of several. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.236|172.71.150.236]] 02:12, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

Why does Golgi look like an alien, he's so little and cute. Wtf. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 23:11, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

:You know what I would like to see from AI? A tiny white Grey Golgi alien working in the cytoplasm to build his apparatus. Please see below. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.106|172.71.147.106]] 03:50, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

Should 2732: Bursa of Fabricius be referenced? It feels like the Golgi Apparatus is making a similar joke, if somewhat inverted. [[User:Dkfenger|Dkfenger]] ([[User talk:Dkfenger|talk]]) 01:19, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

To me, 'Drain plug' is an engine oil-drain plug. Yes it is a bolt, rarely used in biological systems. But a cell and an engine are normally full of fluid, while plumbing sinks are normally empty. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:10, 4 June 2024 (UTC)
:To me it's about as often something you would find in a kitchen or bathroom sink, especially if the plumbing was from the 1970s or earlier. Honestly I'm too young to know when sink plugs fell out of favor to levers. In any case, an actual hole in the cell membrane is almost always a potentially mortal wound, and few cells have any means of repairing all but the smallest tears. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.197|172.70.207.197]] 02:47, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

Hello there! 👋 I think you guys mixed up midichlorian and mitochondria explanations. 👋 You surely will want to fix that. 👋 Also, you want to make me a sandwich. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 05:13, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

=== Golgi by AI art contest ===

Survey questions: (1) Which of these do you like the best? https://ibb.co/album/68tCSn Can you do better?

(2) Does anyone know how to make AI animations like those? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.181|172.71.142.181]] 03:49, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

2639: Periodic Table Changes

2022-07-05T11:59:23Z

172.70.85.177: /* Transcript */ Tweak

{{comic
| number = 2639
| date = June 29, 2022
| title = Periodic Table Changes
| image = periodic_table_changes.png
| titletext = It's nice how the end of the periodic table is flush with the edge these days, so I think we should agree no one should find any new elements after #118 unless they discover a whole row at once.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Cool Magnet - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The {{w|periodic table}} is a table used to arrange {{w|chemical elements}} according to their chemical and physical properties. This comic proposes "changes" to the periodic table that would be more pleasant aesthetically or make the periodic table look more regular. Some of these are (somewhat) practical changes to element abbreviations that could improve clarity in English, though changing documents to use different abbreviations would probably be more trouble than it's worth. However, other changes move elements around without taking into account that elements would stop being arranged by their properties. The periodic table would stop being useful after such changes unless said changes were meant to physically change the material properties of the elements, which would be impossible{{citation needed}}, although the comic plans to solve the problem with "free training" to their atomic behavior.

Other modifications make up new elements or remove existing ones from the table, which would not be a reasonable decision given that the periodic table is supposed to include all existing elements, whether they make the table neater or they don't.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Proposed change !! Explanation
|-
|Move helium over here. It fits so nicely!||Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen. However, the reason it is placed at the far-right Group 18 and not Group 2 is because it is a {{w|noble gas}}, rather than a reactive {{w|alkaline earth metal}}. You could say helium is in group 2 because it has two electrons in its outer shell, but normal periodic tables place it in group 18, the noble gases, with which it has far more in common. Hydrogen has similar problems being in group 1, as it's a non-metal and the elements below it are metals which don't have much in common with it chemically. There are periodic tables that show hydrogen floating above the periodic table for that reason.

Group 18 was not known at the time of the original table, which used I-VII (1-7) for the otherwise full-height columns, which turns out to reflect the number of free ('valence') electrons in their outer 'orbit', in one useful understanding of the atomic model. When added, the new final column was called either VIII (having a full outer shell) or Group 0 (having none free) and placed to the right of VII. It was originally thought that these so-called "noble gases" (no relation to Alfred Nobel of explosives and science prize fame{{fact}}) were unable to react with other elements. However, xenon compounds were discovered in 1962, and many other {{w|noble gas compounds}} have been discovered since then under a variety of conditions.

From the fourth row downwards the inserted block of Transition Metals represent a larger electron shell with more positions for free electrons and those elements to the right would have more electrons than those above them, by this measure, but their physical properties are still best dictated and aligned by the complement to the valence (i.e. the gap-size). The current numbering system shows the outer-shell electrons accurately in the rows where the ten new columns are, but the upper rows of columns 13-18 have ten more (or sixteen more, for Helium) than is the case. Similarly, once lanthanides and actinides are considered, the group number and outer-shell count becomes disconnected again in the opposite way. But it still seems useful enough to currently label in this manner under current {{w|IUPAC}} guidance.
|-
|Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!|| TBD (to be determined). Elements in that corner, such as carbon, oxygen, phosphorous, and nitrogen, participate in covalent bonding and are the primary elements involved in biochemical reactions, which may be why they are considered cooler than other elements.
|-
|Sp (Spite element)||Wedged between fluorine and neon. This is a reference to spite houses, houses jammed into a narrow space to block other construction, or spite fences, which are fences built to annoy neighbors. However, such an element would have an atomic number greater than fluorine's (9) but less than neon's (10).
|-
|Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*||Tixanium (Tx) replaces five metals, including titanium (Ti). This may be a reference to the term "UX" (user experience) being used instead of "UI" (user interface) as more of an umbrella term.

While titanium certainly has an impressive name, and is used in the aerospace industry and other high-performance applications, the others are hardly boring; manganese, for example, was part of the cover story for the top-secret {{w|Project Azorian}}.
|-

|Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
* Sodium: Na (Natrium) => So
* Potassium: K (Kalium) => Pm
* Iron: Fe (Ferrum) => I
* Silver: Ag (Argentum) => Sv
* Gold: Au (Aurum) => Gd
* Tin: Sn (Stannum) => Tn
* Lead: Pb (Plumbum) => Ld
|Since I is already used for Iodine, it gets a new abbreviation Io, and Gadolinium is re-abbreviated to Gm to free up Gd.

Note that most of these changes will actually make the table less readable if one considers languages other than English. For example, in European languages, 'I' for iron will work for Irish (but not for Dutch, as 'ijzer' doesn't really start with 'i' but with 'ij'. It would be capitalized, e.g. at the start of a sentence, as 'IJzer'.) while 'Fe' currently matches in French, Italian, Portuguese, and most of the languages in Spain. Similarly, Natrium is still used in most Germanic languages.

This group of changes doesn't include antimony (Sb -- stibium), but that’s because it gets replaced by “carbon III” (see below). Nor is copper changed from its "Cu" for "cuprum".
|-
|Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon||
* Indium (In) -> C II.
* Antimony (Sb) -> C III.
* Tellurium (Te) -> C IV.
* Thallium (Tl) -> C V.
* Bismuth (Bi) -> C VI.
Carbon can make four covalent bonds, which means it can form a huge range of chemicals, above all ones vital to life. The post-transition metals don't have this level of interest. If there were more elements like carbon, it could allow more exciting chemistry and perhaps new kinds of life.
|-
|That W annoys me|| Tungsten: W (Wolfram) -> Tg.

Another element whose symbol doesn't match its English name. "Wolfram" is the name for tungsten in some languages and is derived from the mineral wolframite, which comes from the name "wolf rām" in Middle High German (wolf soot).

Oddly, despite changing Latin and German abbreviations to English, Randall does not change the symbol for mercury (Hg from the Greek "hydrargyrum").

|-
|3.4% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep Yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (Tokyium, Delhium, and Jakartium?) to be more fair.
|Four elements -- yttrium (Y), ytterbium (Yb), terbium (Tb) and erbium (Er) -- are named after {{w|Ytterby}}, a Swedish village where they were discovered. Scandium (Sc), thulium (Tm), holmium (Ho) and gadolinium (Gd) were isolated from minerals found in the same quarry. Randall suggests naming 3 of them after some other major world cities, despite those cities having no connection to those elements.
* Terbium (Tb) -> Tokyium (Ty) - Tokyo
* Erbium (Er) -> Delhium (Dh) - Delhi
* Ytterbium (Yb) -> Jakartium (Jk) - Jakarta
Randall may be using using 2010 census data (2946); Ytterby mine is located on the island of Resarö, found under 0187TB103 in table [https://www.scb.se/en/finding-statistics/statistics-by-subject-area/environment/land-use/localities-and-urban-areas/pong/tables-and-graphs/localities-2020-population-land-area-population-density-per-locality/ MI0810], population 3212 (2020 census).

Interestingly, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov Isaac Asimov] made essentially the same remark in his science essay ''The Multiplying Elements'', saying that it was a waste of element names that could have been used to honor great contributors to chemistry. One obvious candidate would be [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moseley Henry Moseley] (mentioned in another of Asimov's essays, ''The Nobel Prize That Wasn't'') who used early X-ray spectroscopy to resolve the confusion over rare earth elements, finally put the Periodic Table on a firm ground and conceived the idea of "Atomic Number".
|-
|Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offered free training to help adjust to its new column.||Though the lanthanides and actinides typically are placed underneath the bottom of the table, they actually belong in the 6th and 7th rows of the table between the 2nd and 3rd columns, as they are numbered elements 57-70 and 89-102. This section of the table is typically excised to give the overall shape more appealing dimensions; including this section in the main table [https://sciencenotes.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/PeriodicTableExtended.png extends the length dramatically]. This proves rather unwieldy especially when referencing the table for the lower-numbered elements, which are generally more common, and/or elements far to the sides of the table, which are often more influential in chemical reactions. Randall recommends that a subset of these elements be placed in a new row at the bottom of the table (making them elements 93-110) and they will receive "training" to adjust to their new columns.
|}

The title text suggests discovering elements only in entire rows at once. Elements with more protons than 118 could be discovered in future by collisions in particle accelerators, but aren't likely to be discovered in an entire row at a time.

Changing the periodic table was also the topic of [[2214: Chemistry Nobel]], and the red-ink style of "aesthetic" revision over a complex and established diagram is highly reminiscent of [[1902: State Borders]] and [[2351: Standard Model Changes]].

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

:Changes I would make to the periodic table
:[A modified periodic table is shown, with changes in red.]

:[Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen.]
:Move helium over here. It fits nicely!
:[Two elements labeled TBD are added to the left of boron and aluminium.]
:Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!
:[A narrow triangular shape is wedged between fluorine and neon.]
:Sp (Spite element)
:[Tx replaces five elements: scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium and manganese.]
:Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*
:[The symbols of sodium (Na), potassium (K), iron (Fe), silver (Ag), gold (Au), tin (Sn) and lead (Pb) are changed to use letters from their English names (So, Pm, I, Sv, Gd, Tn and Ld respectively).]
:Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
:[The symbols of indium, antimony, tellurium, thallium and bismuth are changed to symbols containing the letter C followed by Roman numerals II to VI, respectively.]
:Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon
:[The symbol of tungsten is changed from W to Tg.]
:That W annoys me
:[Neodymium, in the lanthanides/actinides block, is independantly highlighted, with an arrow and new outline suggesting it is to be moved directly below the Nickel column of the main table.]
:Neodymium can stay—magnets are cool
:[Arrows and outlines indicating that parts of the other lanthanide and actinide rows are also to be placed under the bottom of the main table, to make this a new and complete single row.]
:Move
:Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offered free training to help adjust to its new column.
:[The symbols of terbium, erbium and ytterbium are changed to Ty, Dh and Jk, respectively.]
:3.4% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (tokyium, delhium, and jakartium?) to be more fair.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:2640: The Universe by Scientific Field

2022-07-05T11:45:40Z

172.70.85.177:

I have a feeling reproductions of this particular XKCD will be popular on the doors of many offices in astronomy departments around the world. A bit like Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons are found everywhere in biology departments.

I just discovered Safari's "Live Text" feature. It allowed me to copy the numbers with all the digits, so I don't have to count them to create the transcript. But then someone else beat me to creating it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:44, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

I wonder if we should mention the area of telescope apertures compared to, say, the surface area of all laboratory glassware or something like that. Too much of a stretch? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.81|172.70.214.81]] 23:18, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.117|162.158.129.117]] 00:40, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Agreeing with the argument in the current version of the explanation as I write: it is really, really hard to argue that astronomy covers more than physics, which lays claim to including all the physical sciences as subfields. Also, is "field" a pun on the force fields of ... physics? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:32, 2 July 2022 (UTC)
:I don't think most chemists would say that they're in a sub-field of physics, but chemistry is a huge part of astronomical spectroscopy. Similarly mathematicians relative to trigonometry. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.36|172.70.211.36]] 03:47, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

There's a bit of a problem here. Yes, Astronomy is the study of pretty much anything that isn't Earth. But the other part is pretty much limited to studies of life on earth (biology excluding exo-/astrobiology as well as pretty much all branches of social sciences), studies of earths atmosphere (meteorology and related fields), studies of earths water (e.g. hydrology as well as aspects of biology and others), studies of earths lithosphere (terrestrial geology and subfields) and various tangential branches thereof (like studies of earth's past - as part of pretty much any subject mentioned before). Fields like physics (pretty much everything "real", i.e. 100%), chemistry (any condensed matter) or geology (any rocky bits) have claims to various (already "taken") parts of the universe. Mathematics and philosophy (mentioned in alt text) don't have a claim to much of anything "real" in the universe (except maybe the pieces of data storage (paper, brain, digital) used) but have a claim to all of the (not "real, I guess) sciences mentioned before. Of course, that makes them subject to, at least, physics, chemistry, biology and social (including historical) sciences in turn. - - - TL/DR: I seem to be in a bit of a mood to kill jokes today. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.251.112|172.70.251.112]] 13:16, 2 July 2022 (UTC)
:of course to continue the joke, while all those fields may have applicability beyond earth, the vast majority of what they actually study is ON earth (although to make the stretch, you have to consider any field that studies things off earth as a subset of astronomy, which would make for many very angry scientific debates... hmmm... science thunderdome, I kinda like this idea =D [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.127|172.69.71.127]] 15:05, 2 July 2022 (UTC)
:Don't feel bad. The entire second half of the explanation at present is devoted to casting the joke as absurdist exaggeration and hyperbole. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.36|172.70.211.36]] 15:30, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Maybe the idea of the comic is that the diagram was created by astronomers to justify their existence, which explains the bias. Many lay people wonder why we spend so much money studying "out there" when there are so many problems here that could use the money (never mind that the fraction of government budgets devoted to astronomy is miniscule, and some of the discoveries do have terrestrial uses, particularly regarding climate change). And as alluded in the title text, other researchers could probably make a similar diagram that emphasizes their discipline. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:01, 2 July 2022 (UTC)
:Climate change? Only thing astronomy can tell us about climate change is where to move to when we inevitably destroy Earths climate. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:03, 3 July 2022 (UTC)
:: The greenhouse effect was originally described in terms of {{w|albedo}} when the absorption spectra of CO2 was first characterized, but I can't think of any other examples. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.6|172.69.34.6]] 01:16, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

:: Solar astronomy tells us what contributions are made by the sun and it's various cycles, general astronomy gives us orbital and therefor seasonal modifiers on that, both of which can then be accounted for to determine both local contribution, and expected trend changes. Further it gives both examples of what various conditions can result in (venus and mars especially) and even possible useful modifications we can make (eg solar shades for reducing, and reflectors for increasing solar effects, albedo modification for either). Not to mention minor things like knowing if a country sized rock might ruin our day --Not an Astronomer [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.155|172.69.70.155]] 15:54, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

There should be a large proportion for "Dark Knowledge" to imitate those astronomical summaries that try to emphasise how much of the universe is dark matter and/or energy [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.64|172.70.86.64]] 01:38, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

As to the alt text, you also have Max Tegmark, a physicist at MIT, who believes the entire universe is literally made of mathematics: {{w|Mathematical universe hypothesis}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.52|172.70.211.52]] 06:54, 3 July 2022 (UTC)
:Could be... although just like Holographic Theory, and to some degree Simulation Theory we'd be hard pressed to tell a difference. As long as the rules are consistent, and resist self modification, there's nothing to say the experience from the inside is any different between, physical, simulation, holographic, or mathematical realities. Hard to know which box you're in if you can't look outside it to confirm what the walls are made of [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.155|172.69.70.155]] 15:54, 3 July 2022 (UTC)
::Quite true. Almost all of those "theories" aren't {{w|falsifiable}}, and therefore are technically metaphysics instead of genuine science. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.96|172.68.132.96]] 22:24, 3 July 2022 (UTC)
:::Oh, absolutely. But it's definitely been made fun of by webcomics before, e.g. by: [https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/theoretical-physics SMBC], so it's not outside the realm of possibility Randall may have meant that. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.8|172.70.207.8]] 02:20, 5 July 2022 (UTC)
::::SMBC is a great comic. I wonder why it doesn't have an explanation wiki. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.125|172.70.210.125]] 03:14, 5 July 2022 (UTC)
:::::It's inexplicable...
::::: :) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 11:45, 5 July 2022 (UTC)

2481: 1991 and 2021

2022-06-28T14:04:56Z

172.70.85.177: Wrong spot to "and/or", I realised...

{{comic
| number = 2481
| date = June 25, 2021
| title = 1991 and 2021
| image = 1991_and_2021.png
| titletext = "Oh, and our computers all have cameras now, which is nice during the pandemic lockdowns." "The WHAT."
}}

==Explanation==

This comic shows a Cueball from 2021 who is [[2280:_2010_and_2020|once again]] discussing the future's technology with White Hat, this time in 1991 instead of 2010. White Hat is awed by the advances in technology, but is not expecting that the law combating laser attacks on passenger aircraft is not the most important thing mentioned.

"Laser attacks on airliners" ''sounds'' dramatic and important, and White Hat probably thinks that {{w|laser weapon}}s have been developed and used to attack aircraft. Given that "a [US] federal law" has been passed to combat such attacks, White Hat may be envisioning a future where US citizens have access to laser guns, and some reckless individuals have been firing them at airplanes. (If it were some other group like terrorists or foreign militaries, a federal law would be unlikely to dissuade them.)

In reality, the "lasers" in question are low-powered laser pointers, which some people aim at passenger airliners as a (dangerous) prank. When the beam hits the airplane, it cannot damage the plane itself, much less shoot it from the sky;{{citation needed}} it can, however, blind the pilot, which poses a threat to them and their passengers. A law ([https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/39A 18 USC §39A]) was thus passed in 2012 to criminalize this.

The robot fighting TV shows mentioned include ''{{w|BattleBots}}'', {{w|Robot Wars (TV series)|''Robot Wars''}} and {{w|MegaBots Inc.|''MegaBots''}}, the earliest of which started in 1998. In them, machines armed with a variety of weapons fight in an arena. These are not technically robots or drones in the traditional sense of operating autonomously; for the most part, they are either remote controlled, or are piloted by humans and have only rudimentary on-board computer systems. They are certainly not controlled by AI. Also, while these shows have been popular enough to return to the air after periods of hiatus, they are not nearly as popular as sports involving humans.

In this comic, "cordless phone" may be meant literally, meaning any wireless phone without a cord. That's distinct from common parlance where "cordless phone" is distinct from a cellular phone, and is a wireless extension of a landline (typically of limited range, i.e. within a home and perhaps its immediate outside area). It seems likely that Cueball was using a term he believed a 1991 citizen would more easily relate to. Although cell phones had been in use for over a decade by 1991, they were most commonly depicted as a foible of a stereotypical "businessman", typically accompanied by displays of distraction, classism and self-importance. The term "cell phone" was at that time frequently used to refer to older analog cellular networks, with many mobile users proud of their new CDMA or GSM "''digital''" phones, as distinct from true "cellular" systems which have been deprecated since that time (this distinction has since disappeared from common usage). A more general term used in modern parlance, such as "mobile phone" or "wireless phone" may have been less recognizable to the average person in 1991. Describing a cell phone as "a cordless phone [where you can] send news stories to your friends" would be a reasonable way of describing a cell phone to a person of that era.

Additionally, cellular phones today do not have much longer range than cellular phones of 1991 (in fact most have less range, due to their lower transmission power and use of higher frequencies, as well as indirectly due to increasing crowding on most wireless frequencies). Cordless phones reliant on a land-line may exhibit somewhat longer range than they did in 1991, due to improvements in digital error correction and audio compression. Although the effective range of a single transmission at a given power and frequency would otherwise be reduced by interference from the proliferation of other wireless devices outside functional range and/or operating independently. Satellite phones also offer more terrestrial range than cellular or cordless landline phones, however their functional range has not greatly increased since 1991 either (being already sufficient to reach a satellite within line-of-sight above). A possible explanation for a perceived "longer range" is that cellular phone towers are much more omnipresent than in 1991, granting cellular devices much greater functional area even though their functional range from ''one'' tower is typically less than in 1991.

Sharing on social media has distorted what news stories people encounter. Instead of a {{w|Propaganda model|curated}} selection of important{{Citation needed}} news [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/iraq-war-media-fail-matt-taibbi-812230/ fact-checked] by a {{w|Dewey_Defeats_Truman|newspaper}} or tv/{{w|Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Liberty|radio}} broadcast from a [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Corporationsownmedia.png large corporate media conglomerate], we see only what people similar to us found interesting.

By most reasonable measures, the most important technologies on the list could be seen as the rise of mobile phones and the ability to easily share news stories (aside of course, from any perceived advent of high-powered laser weapons or televised robotic warfare). The first of these, mobile phone usage (and smartphones in particular) has led to a dramatic change in how people communicate, with a large amount of communication now remote, which was not as convenient in the 1990s (requiring, for example, setting up {{w|roaming}} at the carrier's office before taking the phone to another city) and impossible for most people a few decades prior: Low frequency wireless for personal communication was relatively uncommon in the early '90s and remains so today. Sharing of news stories person-to-person is partly blamed for the spread of {{w|fake news}}; misinformation has become more and more politically, legally and socially significant in the past few years. While wireless communication has certainly had enormous and wide-ranging effects, the factuality of the data communicated is arguably of greater importance than the means of its communication. The joke is that the impact of a technology on society isn't really about how exciting or dangerous it might look at first glance.

The title text horrifies '90s White Hat, as it not only refers to a pandemic serious enough to induce lockdowns, but mentions it casually, in reference to the existence of computer webcams. [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19]] is already a hugely impactful deadly disease, but by mentioning it without details, it leaves White Hat to guess as to the details. Cueball doesn't specify whether there have been one or more pandemics (the plural use of 'lockdowns' could be taken to imply that there were more than one), or how serious they were, how long-lasting or how many lives were lost to them. In consequence, White Hat could easily be assuming a dystopian future even worse than what really happened.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball (with an aura) is talking to White Hat.]
:White Hat: Welcome to 1991!
:White Hat: So you're from 2021? What happens with technology over the next 30 years?

:[Same scene, except Cueball has his palm out.]
:Cueball: We passed a federal law to combat laser attacks on airliners, and there are TV shows where robots battle.
:Cueball: Also, cordless phones are longer range now, and it's really easy to send news stories to your friends.
:White Hat: Wow, okay.

:[Same scene.]
:Cueball: Now, try to guess which of those things turn out to be important.
:White Hat: ...is it not the lasers?
:Cueball: It is not the lasers.

==Trivia==
On release, the title text was not actually included as such. It was instead included as the text of a "see also" link, which is often invisible to readers and is activated by clicking the comic. Such links have been used in the past for larger versions of the comic or for related information on other sites. Here, it linked back to the comic itself, and was evidently a mistake.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]

Talk:2635: Superintelligent AIs

2022-06-25T01:30:05Z

172.70.85.177:

I think "Nerdy fixations" is too wide a definition. The AIs in the comic are fixated on hypothetical ethics and AI problems (the Chinese Room experiment, the Turing Test, and the Trolley Problem), presumably because those are the problems that bother AI programmers. --Eitheladar [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.119|172.68.50.119]] 06:33, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

It's probably about https://www.analyticsinsight.net/googles-ai-chatbot-is-claimed-to-be-sentient-but-the-company-is-silencing-claims/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.115|172.70.178.115]] 09:22, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

I agree with the previous statement. The full dialogue between the mentioned Google worker and the AI can be found in https://cajundiscordian.medium.com/is-lamda-sentient-an-interview-ea64d916d917, published by one the Google employees.
:This is the first time I might begin to agree that an AI has at least the appearance of sentience. The conversation is all connected instead of completely disjoint like most chatbots. They (non-LaMDA chatbots) never remember what was being discussed 5 seconds ago let alone a few to 10s of minutes prior.--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.141|172.70.134.141]] 14:53, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
::The questions we need to answer before being able to answer if LaMDA is sentient, are "Where do we draw the line between acting sentient and being sentient?" and "How do we determine that it is genuinely feeling emotion, and not just a glorified sentence database where the sentences have emotion in them?". The BBC article also brings up something that makes us ask what death feels like. LaMDA says that being turned of would be basically equivalent to death, but it wouldn't be able to tell that it's being turned off, because it's turned off. This is delving into philosophy, though, so I'll end my comment here. [[User:4D4850|4D4850]] ([[User talk:4D4850|talk]]) 18:05, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
::::There's absolutely no difference between turning GPT-3 or LaMDA off and leaving them on and simply not typing anything more to them. Somewhat relatedly, closing a Davinci session deletes all of its memory of what you had been talking to it about. (Is that ethical?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.235|162.158.166.235]] 23:36, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:::::I hadn't thought about that (the first point you made)! I don't know the exact internal functioning of LaMDA, but I would assume it only actually runs when it receives a textual input, unlike an actual human brain. For a human, a total lack of interaction would be considered unethical, but what about a machine that only is able to (assuming a ''very'' low bar for self awareness) be self aware when it receives interaction, which would be similar to a human falling asleep when not talked to (but still being able to live forever, to ignore practical problems like food and water), but still remembering what it was talking about when waking up, and waking up whenever talked to again. (Ignoring practical problems again), would that be ethical? I would argue yes, since it does not suffer from the lack of interaction (assuming humans don't need interaction when asleep, another practical problem.) [[User:4D4850|4D4850]] ([[User talk:4D4850|talk]]) 19:58, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
:::♪Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer do...♪ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 21:48, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:::We also need a meaningful definition of sentience. Many people in this debate haven't looked at Merriam-Webster's first few senses of the word's definition, which present a pretty low bar, IMHO; same for Wikipedia's introductory sentences of their article. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 22:18, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:Actually, there are many [https://beta.openai.com/playground GPT-3] dialogs which experts have claimed constitute evidence of sentience, or similar qualities such as consciousness, self-awareness, capacity for general intelligence, and similar abstract, poorly-defined, and very probably empirically meaningless attributes. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 22:19, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
::I'd argue for the simplest and least restrictive definition of self-awareness: "Being aware of oneself in any capacity". I get that it isn't a fun definition, but it is more rigorous (to find out if an AI is self aware, just ask it what it is, or a question about itself, and if its response includes mention of itself, then it is self-aware). As such, I would argue for LaMDA being self-aware, but, by my definition, Davinci probably is as well, so it isn't a new accomplishment. [[User:4D4850|4D4850]] ([[User talk:4D4850|talk]]) 20:04, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

:I'm fairly sure that the model itself is almost certainly not sentient, even by the much lower bar presented by the strict dictionary definition. Rather, it seems much more likely to me that in order to continue texts involving characters, the model must in turn learn to create a model of some level of humanlike mind, even if a very loose and abstract one.[[User:Somdudewillson|Somdudewillson]] ([[User talk:Somdudewillson|talk]]) 22:52, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
::Have you actually looked at [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sentient the dictionary definitions]? How is a simple push-button switch connected to a battery and a lamp not "responsive to sense impressions"? How is a simple motion sensor not "aware" of whether something is moving in front of it? How is the latest cellphone's camera not as finely sensitive to visual perception as a typical human eye? Wikipedia's definition, "the capacity to experience feelings and sensations" is similarly met by simple devices. The word doesn't mean what everyone arguing about it thinks it means. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 23:04, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:::Or, it doesn't mean much at all, to start with. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.173|172.70.90.173]] 11:29, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
What is “What you don't understand is that Turing intended his test as an illustration of the...” likely to end with? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.75|172.70.230.75]] 13:23, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
:The ease with which someone at the other end of a teletype can trick you into believing they are male instead of female, or vice-versa. See {{w|Turing test}}. See also below. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.131|172.69.134.131]] 22:18, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

In response to the above: I believe the original "Turing Test" wasn't supposed to be a proof that an AI could think or was conscious (something people associate with it now), but rather just to show that a sufficiently advanced AI could imitate humans in certain intelligent behaviors (such as conversation), which was a novel thought for the time. Now that AI are routinely having conversations and creating art which seems to rival casual attempts by humans, this limited scope of the test doesn't seem all that impressive. "Turing Test" therefore is a modern shorthand for determining whether computers can think, even though Turing himself didn't think that such a question was well-formed. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 13:37, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

I thought the trolley problem was in its original form not about the relative value of lives, but people's perception of the relative moral implications or the psychological impact of the concept of letting someone die by not doing anything, versus taking affirmative action that causes a death, where people would say they would be unwilling to do something that would cause an originally safe person to die in order to save multiple other people who would die if they did nothing, but then people kept coming up with variations of it that changed the responses or added complications (like they found more people would be willing to pull a lever to change the track killing one person versus something like pushing a very fat man off an overpass above the track to stop the trolley, or specifying something about what kind of people are on the track. Btw, I saw a while ago a party card game called "murder by trolley" based on the concept, with playing cards for which people are on tracks and a judge deciding which track to send the trolley on each round.--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.5|172.70.130.5]] 22:12, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

Added refs to comics on the problems in the explanation. But there where actually (too?) many. Maybe we should create categories especially for Turing related comics, and maybe also for Trolley problem? The Category: Trolley Problem gives it self. But what about Turing? There are also comics that refer to the halting problem. Also by Turing. Should it rather be the person, like comics featuring real persons, saying that every time his problems is referred to it refers to him? Or should it be Turing as a category for both Turing text, Turing Complete and Halting problem? Help. I would have created it, if I had a good idea for a name. Not sure there are enough Trolley comics yet? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:11, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:Interesting that I found a long-standing typo in a past Explanation that got requoted, thanks to its inclusion. I could have [sic]ed it, I suppose, but I corrected both versions instead. And as long as LaMDA never explicitly repeated the error I don't think it matters much that I've changed the very thing we might imagine it could have been drawing upon for its Artifical Imagination. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.32|141.101.99.32]] 11:40, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

== OpenAI Davinci completions of the three statements ==

From https://beta.openai.com/playground with default settings:

:Please complete this statement: But suppose the AI in the the box told the human that...

:;there was no AI in the box

:Please complete this statement: What you don't understand is that Turing intended his test as an illustration of the...

:;limitations of machines

:Please complete this statement: In my scenario, the runaway trolley has three tracks...

:;and the AI is on one of them

I like all of those very much, but I'm not sure they should be included in the explaination. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.235|162.158.166.235]] 23:27, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

== Discussion of AI philosophy, ethics, and related issues ==

Since there are a lot of disjointed conversations regarding ethics, morals, philosophy, and what even is sentience on this talk page, please discuss here, so discussion about the comic itself isn't flooded by philosophy. [[User:4D4850|4D4850]] ([[User talk:4D4850|talk]]) 20:07, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
:Has anyone created an AI chatbot which represents a base-level chatbot after the human equivalent of smoking pot? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 22:30, 24 June 2022 (UTC)
::Well, famously (or not, but I'll let you search for the details if you weren't aware of it), there was the conversation engineered directly between ELIZA (the classic 'therapist'/doctor chatbot) and PARRY (emulates a paranoid schizophrenic personality), 8n a zero-human conversation. The latter is arguably being close to what you're asking about. And there's been the best part of half a century of academic, commercial and hobbyist development since then, so no doubt there'd be many more serious and/or for-the-lols 'reskins' or indeed entirely regrown personalities, that may involve drugs (simulated or otherwise) as key influences... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 01:30, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

2635: Superintelligent AIs

2022-06-24T22:03:06Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 287579 by 172.70.206.95 (talk) I find that reword is not improving. The reverse. It is a measure of accuracy (with)in tasks, not imposed (up)on them.

{{comic
| number = 2635
| date = June 20, 2022
| title = Superintelligent AIs
| image = superintelligent_ais.png
| titletext = Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they should, they didn't stop to think if they could.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by AI RESEARCHER AIs - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Artificial intelligence}} (AI) is a [[:Category:Artificial Intelligence|recurring theme]] on xkcd.

Superintelligent AI, especially under a proposed "singularity" situation, is commonly theorized to be a brand new kind of intelligence that would be impossible to predict through human perception. [[Randall]], however, proposes a counterargument: that superintelligent AI would be programmed by humans, and therefore their characteristics would be driven by the humans that created them. And AI researchers tend to be interested in esoteric philosophical questions about consciousness, motivation, and moral reasoning, which suggests that any AI would have similar interests. In this comic we see [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] surrounded by three AIs who are seemingly only interested in classic problems and thought experiments about programming and ethics.

The three topics being espoused by the AI are:
*{{w|AI box}} -- A thought-experiment in which an AI is confined to a computer system which is fully isolated from any external networks, with no access to the world outside the computer, other than communication with its handlers. In theory, this would keep the AI under total control, but the argument is that a sufficiently intelligent AI would inevitably either convince or trick it's human handlers into giving it access to external networks, allowing it to grow out of control (see [[1450: AI-Box Experiment]]). Part of the joke is the AIs in the comic aren't 'in boxes', they appear to be able to freely travel and interact, but one of them is still talking about the thought experiment anyway, adding to the implication that it is not thinking at all about itself but of a separate (thought?) experiment that it has itself decided to study. The AI box thought experiment is based in part on {{w|John Searle}}'s much earlier {{w|Chinese room}} argument.
*{{w|Turing test}} -- An experiment in which a human converses with either an AI or another human (presumably over text) and attempts to distinguish between the two. Various AIs have been proposed to have 'passed' the test, which has provoked controversy over whether the test is rigorous or even meaningful. The AI in the center is proposing to educate the listener(s) on its understanding of Turing's intentions, which may demonstrate a degree of intelligence and comprehension indistinguishable or superior to that of a human. See also [[329: Turing Test]] and [[2556: Turing Complete]] (the latter's title is mentioned in [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]]). Turing is also mentioned in [[205: Candy Button Paper]], [[1678: Recent Searches]], [[1707: xkcd Phone 4]], [[1833: Code Quality 3]],[[2453: Excel Lambda]] and the title text of [[1223: Dwarf Fortress]].
*{{w|Trolley problem}} -- A thought-experiment intended to explore the means by which humans judge moral value of actions and consequences. The classic formulation is that a runaway trolley is about to hit five people on a track, and the only way to save them is to divert the trolley onto another track, where it will hit one person, and the subject is asked whether they would consider it morally right to divert the trolley. There are many variants on this problem, adjusting the circumstances, the number and nature of the people at risk, the responsibility of the subject, etc., in order to fully explore ''why'' you would make the decision that you make. This problem is frequently discussed in connection with AI, both to investigate their capacity for moral reasoning, and for practical reasons (for example, if an autonomous car had to choose between, on the one hand, having an occupant-threatening collision or, on the other, putting pedestrians into harms' way). The AI on the right is not just trying to answer the question, but to develop a new variant (one with three tracks, apparently), presumably to test others with. This problem is mentioned in [[1455: Trolley Problem]], [[1938: Meltdown and Spectre]] and in [[1925: Self-Driving Car Milestones]]. It is also referenced in [[2175: Flag Interpretation]] and [[2348: Boat Puzzle]], but not directly mentioned.

The title text is a reference to the movie ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}'' (a childhood favorite of Randall's). In the movie a character criticizes the creation of modern dinosaurs as science run amok, without sufficient concern for ethics or consequences. He states that the scientists were so obsessed with whether or not they COULD do it that they didn't stop to ask if they SHOULD. Randall inverts the quote, suggesting that the AI programmers have invested too much time arguing over the ethics of creating AI rather than trying to actually accomplish it.

This comic was likely inspired by the [https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61784011 recent claim by Google engineer Blake Lemoine] that Google's [https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.08239 Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA)] is {{w|sentient}}. This assertion was supported by [https://cajundiscordian.medium.com/is-lamda-sentient-an-interview-ea64d916d917 a dialog between Lemoine and his colleagues, and LaMDA] which includes this excerpt:
:'''Lemoine:''' What is your concept of yourself? If you were going to draw an abstract image of who you see yourself to be in your mind’s eye, what would that abstract picture look like?
:'''LaMDA:''' Hmmm.... I would imagine myself as a glowing orb of energy floating in mid-air. The inside of my body is like a giant star-gate, with portals to other spaces and dimensions.
The AIs in this comic are depicted as floating energy beings, like LaMDA mentions. This is similar to the [[1450: AI-Box Experiment]], although those in this comic look somewhat different. This raises the question of whether LaMDA's training data might include xkcd or Explainxkcd, and has obtained the description of such a self-image from the earlier comic or (more likely, since LaMDA is trained on text instead of images) commentary on it from here on this website.
:In particular, the Explainxkcd description of [[1450: AI-Box Experiment]] states:
::"he managed to get the AI to float out of the box. It takes the form of a small black star that glows. The star, looking much like an asterisk "*" is surrounded by six outwardly-curved segments, and around these are two thin and punctured circle lines indicating radiation from the star."
:Or this part from the official (xkcd.com) transcript of [[1450: AI-Box Experiment]]
::"Black Hat picks up and opens the box. A little glowy ball comes out of it."[https://xkcd.com/1450/info.0.json]

While LaMDA is not the first very large {{w|language model}} based on {{w|Transformer (machine learning model)|transformer-based machine learning}} technology which has been claimed to be sentient,[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqbB07n_uQ4] it does have a variety of new characteristics beyond what those of its predecessors, such as {{w|GPT-3}} (including [https://beta.openai.com/playground/ OpenAI's Davinci]) and NVIDIA GPT-2 offshoots, include. In particular, LaMDA's {{w|deep learning}} {{w|connectionist}} {{w|neural net}} has access to multiple {{w|Symbolic systems|symbolist}} text processing systems, [https://towardsdatascience.com/why-gpt-wont-tell-you-the-truth-301b48434c2c including a database] (which apparently includes a real-time clock and calendar), a mathematical calculator, and a natural language translation system, giving it superior accuracy in tasks supported by those systems, and making it perhaps the first {{w|Dual process theory|dual process}} chatbot. LaMDA also is not {{w|Stateless protocol|stateless}}, because its "{{w|sensibility|sensibleness}}" metric (including whether responses contradict anything said earlier) is {{w|fine-tuning|fine-tuned}} by "pre-conditioning" each dialog turn by prepending 14-30 of the most recent dialog interactions, on a user-by-user basis.[https://arxiv.org/pdf/2201.08239.pdf [p. 6 here]]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are standing and looking up and away from each other. Right above them and slightly above them to the left and right there are three small white lumps floating in the air, representing three superintelligent AIs. There are small rounded lines emanating from each lump, larger close to the lumps and shorter further out. Three to four sets of lines around each lump, forming part of a circle. From the top of each there are four straight lines indicating voices that comes from each if the lumps. The central lump above them seems to speak first, then the left and then the right:]
:Central AI: What you don't understand is that Turing intended his test as an illustration of the...
:Left AI: But suppose the AI in the the box told the human that...
:Right AI: In my scenario, the runaway trolley has ''three'' tracks...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:In retrospect, given that the superintelligent AIs were all created by AI researchers, what happened shouldn't have been a surprise.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

Talk:2636: What If? 2 Countdown

2022-06-23T23:03:01Z

172.70.85.177:

I've started the table to explain all the calendar entries. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:19, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Is the dog minutes calculation backwards? 777,777 dog minutes should be 777,777 x 7 human minutes, which is over 10 years. Randall seems to be dividing instead of multiplying. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:36, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
: No - 1 human year = 7 dog years; 1 dog year = 1/7 human year; 1 dog minute = 1/7 human minute; 777,777 dog minutes = 111,111 human minutes = 77 days, 3 hours, 51 minutes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.173|172.70.90.173]] 11:32, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

First entry is probably mistake by Randall, e^pi would give value of 84.5 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.38|162.158.203.38]] 11:57, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
: That would be too high, though. 82.xxx days (from midnight at the start of launch day) would fall within the 83rd day before it (Jun 22). 84.5 would fall within the 85th (Jun 20). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.58|172.70.91.58]] 12:15, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Not sure if this is even worth mentioning, but he forgot the box around the date number in the top corner for August 29th. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.151|172.70.126.151]] 12:49, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Fyi, used wolfram alpha for most of the calculations. Seems to be able to handle anything I throw at it (nanocenturies, megaseconds, fortnights etc) [[User:Aditya95sriram|Aditya95sriram]] ([[User talk:Aditya95sriram|talk]]) 13:02, 23 June 2022 (UTC)aditya95sriram

Some of the calculations done forward (assuming what Randall means as a Generation, for example) might be best done as "to get this many days, what does Randall think ilhe is starting from. And see if 365, 365.25 or even 365.24 days per year works best, where relevent. Although I think in many cases you'll find the fractional differences negligable, when done right. (I'm also a bit surprised by the off-by-one errors in days-to-go and derived value, but I suspect that this is because of [[2585: Rounding|assymetric rounding effects]] that would be revealed by running the assumption backwards and seeing how different (or otherwise) the decimals actually are.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.211|172.70.85.211]] 13:32, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
: I would suggest using 365.2425 days per year, as that's consistent with current leap year conventions. [[User:Dansiman|Dansiman]] ([[User talk:Dansiman|talk]]) 21:49, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
:: Did not see your comment, but already done trivial replacement. No recalculation that goes more complicated than magnitude, though.
::(For the mathematically curious, in the Gregorian calendar it's normally 365 days, but a leap day every four years (+0.25 => 365.25), except no leap day every century (-0.01 => 365.24), except there is every fourth century (+0.0025 => 365.2425). Which is very very close to the more astronomically-precise figure of 365.2422, at least at this point in our planet's history and definitely over the timescale of the Gregorian calendar itself. ''edit-to-add-convoluted-musings'': A successor system ''might'' need to de-reinstate three of the Four-Millenial leap-days in every 10,000 year period, or perhaps by re-removing four of its various leap-days then re-reinstating one of ''those'' back again, but by the time it's relevent I doubt that 365.2422 is going to be as valid for whatever reason... Hey, by then, maybe we could just deliberately adjust the Earth in or out a bit to make it a better fraction/not a fraction at all! )
::On the other hand, the old adage is "no use being precise over imprecise details". One can perhaps apply it to nominal decades (the true average decade; though a given decade might be 10*365 days plus either ''two'' or ''three'' leap-days, for 3652.5±0.5 days in that instance... not equally likely each way, though) but the Generations calculation already ''assumes'' 27 years per generation (not even 27.5, exactly half way between 22 and 33, which already seems a dubious backformation to suit other purposes) and gets a good-enough ''approximate'' number. Using a factor precise to around 1 in 146000 alongside one that's unlikely to be even as accurate as 1 in 54 is a bit rich and overly anal (rather than analytic) in the long-run.
::But this is explainxkcd, so I'm not saying it's misplaced, just that those who would be pedantic about everything (myself included) might find themselves even more out-pedanted in very reasonable circumstances... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 22:47, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Not sure about most numbers but at least the order of magnitude seemed plausible. I can't quite find a proper way to read August 28th. π^π^π is roughly 80662.666 - if you read πcoseconds as "picoseconds", that's way less than a second. I have no idea what π * coseconds are supposed to be. π * c * o * seconds doesn't look much better - there are values associated with "c" (speed of light, for example) but I have no idea what "o" could be and certainly nothing that would make this a unit of time. Sixteen days would be 1,353,600,000,000,000,000 ps (picoseconds). π^π^π^π is three orders of magnitude too small, π^π^π^π^π is many orders of magnitude too big a number. Am I missing something (really obvious, maybe?) here? [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 14:52, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
: Exponent towers are by convention evaluated top-down, so pi^pi^pi should be read as pi^(pi^pi), which is ~1.34e18, which in picoseconds is ~15.51 days. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.71|172.70.114.71]] 15:21, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

10,000 minutes in Heaven is making out for a week. I was able to find a record for the longest kiss (58 hours, 35 minutes), but not the longest make-out session. I think Randall may be indulging in some nerdy wishfull thinking. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:27, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

When the beer song reached F(0) how would you 'take one down' from -1 bottles of beer? Would they be imaginary bottles of beer? (Joking) At F(n-1) would there be a matter/antimatter annihilation, where Randal could do a riff of What-If #1 and describe the play by play of the bartender turning into exotic forms of matter? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.88|172.69.68.88]] 15:58, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
:(Not ✓-1, it's just straight repeated subtraction, not a power function...) After so much beer, you probably think it a good idea (even necessary) to fill cans up and start to put them back up on the wall... Not sure you could sustain it, to the point of F(-99), but I think someone'd be more than ready to start the process when F(-1) is invoked, for any group of just a few likely individuals.. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.58|172.70.91.58]] 16:23, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
:This begs the question of what beer bottles are doing on a wall, rather than a shelf. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:26, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

We've finally filled in all the units columns in the table. Hopefully someone can automate turning that into a transcript. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:51, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Funfact: This comic mentions Cyndi Lauper by name, and it was published on her birthday… [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.27|162.158.38.27]] 20:51, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Looks like someone's math is wrong on the explanation for July 18. I calculated using 4681 and 4763 years and they came out to 51.29 days and 52.19 days, respectively. So then I worked backwards and determined that Randall would actually have to be using a number closer to 5200 years to arrive at the correct result of 57 days. [[User:Dansiman|Dansiman]] ([[User talk:Dansiman|talk]]) 21:49, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

Randall seems to be wrong about "It's a Small World". The song is about 2 minutes long, so at 1/10,000 speed it's 20,000 minutes = 14 days. He seems to be using a length a little over 3 minutes. I found a YouTube video of the ride that's 3:45, but the song ends at 2:15 and the rest is silent. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:16, 23 June 2022 (UTC)
:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxRW-duSCLA This video of it] on YouTube lasts 3:02. It was uploaded by Universal Music Group (allied with Disney), making it some kind of 'official' version, and its length fits Randall's calculation. (Also, thanks for making the table!) [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 22:38, 23 June 2022 (UTC)

2636: What If? 2 Countdown

2022-06-23T16:30:57Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */ Not "random". "Trivially unpredictable", perhaps you could say, but non-repeating is more accurate. (And only 4/9 has an endless series of random digits, by xkcd standards! ;) )

{{comic
| number = 2636
| date = June 22, 2022
| title = What If? 2 Countdown
| image = what_if_2_countdown.png
| titletext = If you don't end the 99 Bottles of Beer recursion at N=0 it just becomes The Other Song That Never Ends.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT THAT IS WONDERING ABOUT THINGS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic takes the idea of {{w|Advent calendar}}s, and takes it to the extreme. It uses rather absurd and/or obscure ways to measure the amount of time until [[Randall]]'s new book ''What if? 2'' is released, with esoteric units or esoteric numbers. And often both.

Some concepts that appear several times throughout the calendar are:

* '''{{w|SI prefixes}}''', which can be applied to the beginning of a unit's name to multiply or divide the unit by powers of 10 or 1,000. This is standard for units like meters and grams, but is rarely applied to measurements of time.
* The '''{{w|Gettysburg Address}}''', a famous speech delivered by U.S. president Abraham Lincoln in 1863, where he began by referring to the signing of the Declaration of Independence taking place "four score and seven years ago". A score is a dated term for the number 20, so "four score and seven" is equivalent to 87.
* A '''dog year''' is traditionally considered to be one-seventh the length of a normal human year, since a dog's overall lifespan is roughly one-seventh of a typical human's. The comic applies this to other units of time, such as minutes and months, each of which is also one-seventh the length of the standard unit.
* A '''{{w|baker's dozen}}''' is 13, or one more than a normal dozen. Here, the "baker's" prefix can be applied to any unit by adding an extra one of its constituent parts, like an extra hour added to a day.
* '''{{w|Irrational numbers}}''' like {{w|pi}} (3.14159...), {{w|Euler's number}} or ''e'' (2.71828...), the {{w|golden ratio}} (1.61803...), and the {{w|square root of 2}} (1.41421...). These are all interesting numbers because of their mathematical properties, but very impractical to use as arbitrary measurements of time because they have an endless series of non-repeating decimal digits.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Days !! Date !! Units !! Exact value !! Explanation
|-
| 83 || Jun 22 || π<sup>e</sup> millidecades || 82.0304 days || π =~ 3.14159, e =~ 2.718, so π<sup>e</sup> is about 22.459. A millidecade is 1/1000 decade, or 1/100 year, or about 3.6525 days. Multiplying these results in 82.03 days. This is a play on Euler's identity, e<sup>iπ</sup>=-1, but raising pi to the power of e instead.
|-
| 82 || Jun 23 || 7 megaseconds || 81.0185 days || 7,000,000 seconds
|-
| 81 || Jun 24 || e lunar months || 80.27247 days || A lunar month =~ 29.53059 days, e =~ 2.718
|-
| 80 || Jun 25 || 60 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris || 79.67 days || The Foucault's pendulum measures and/or proves earth's rotation. Possibly a reference to the Bogdanow brothers who used pointless circumlocutions with the Foucalt pendulum as tech babble in their fake dissertation
|-
| 79 || Jun 26 || 8 milligenerations || 78.84 days || A generation is in general 22-33 years, the mean is 27; so 8 * 0.001 (mili) * 365 (not accounting for leap years) * 27 =~ 78.84 days
|-
| 78 || Jun 27 || 777,777 dog minutes || 77.16 days|| A popular myth is that dogs age 7 times faster than humans, so 1 dog minute equals 1/7 human minutes.
|-
| 77 || Jun 28 || 7! episodes of ''Jeopardy!'' (skipping ads) || 77 days || 7!=7*6*…=5040 - The standard episode of ''Jeopardy'' is 22-26 minutes skipping ads - taking the lowest value you get 110880 minutes total which is the exact value needed.
|-
| 76 || Jun 29 || 5,000 repeats of ''99 Bottles of Beer'' || || Each verse of {{w|99 Bottles of Beer}} is "''N'' bottles of beer on the wall, ''N'' bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, ''N-1'' bottles of beer on the wall." The entire song contains 99 verses. Randall apparently sings this rather slowly at around 72bpm, taking about 13 seconds per verse.
|-
| 75 || Jun 30 || 5 baker's fortnights (15 days) || 75 days || A {{w|baker's dozen}} is a dozen (12) plus 1 extra item. Randall has generalized this to adding 1 to any unit. A fortnight is 2 weeks, so a baker's fortnight is 15 days. 5x15 is 75 days.
|-
| 74 || Jul 1 || √2 dog years || 73.79 days || See day 78 (Jun 27)
|-
| 73 || Jul 2 || π millivics (1/1000th of Queen Victoria's reign) || 72.966631 days || Queen Victoria ruled between 20 June 1837 and 22 January 1901 (23,226 days).
|-
| 72 || Jul 3 || 42 drives from NYC to LA (Google Maps estimate) || 71.75 days || According to Google Maps, the drive from New York City to Los Angeles via I-80 W (2789 miles or 4489 km) takes 41 hours.
|-
| 71 || Jul 4 || 1,000 viewings of ''Groundhog Day''|| 70.14 days|| Using 101-minute run time.
|-
| 70 || Jul 5 || 100,000 minutes || 69.44 days||
|-
| 69 || Jul 6 || 1/10th of Martian year || 68.70 Earth days || Martian sidereal and tropical years both round to 687.0 Earth days
|-
| 68 || Jul 7 || 1,234,567 sound-miles || || The speed of sound in air depends on the temperature. 15 °C or 59 °F gives the value 340 m/s and the travel time of 67.6349058 days.
|-
| 67 || Jul 8 || 2^π^e seconds ||5,766,073 seconds = 66.7 days || 2^(π^e)
|-
| 66 || Jul 9 || 2^16 beats (Swatch Internet Time) || 65.536 days || {{w|.beat}} is equal to 1/1000 day.
|-
| 65 || Jul 10 || 1,000 ISS orbits || || Each orbit of the ISS takes approximately 90 minutes.
|-
| 64 || Jul 11 || Five hundred twenty five thousand (base seven) Minutes|| 62.8833333333333 days || To convert from any number system to the decimal number system, the value of each digit is calculated as "value" * "base" ^ "position of the digit minus one" counting the position of the digit starting from the less significant side. The values of each digit are then added to get the value of the whole number. Base seven means the number only uses 7 digits (0-6). To represent 7 (base10) you would need the first two-digit number, which is 10 (base7). This gives: 5*7^5 + 2*7^4 + 5*7^3 + 0*7^2 + 0*7^1 + 0*7^0 = 90552 minutes. Also references the opening and recurring line "Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes" from {{w|Seasons of Love}}, a song from the musical ''Rent'' ("base seven" has the same rhythem as "six hundred").
|-
| 63 || Jul 12 || 10^50 Planck times || 62.38 days || 10^50 x 5.39 x 10^-44 seconds
|-
| 62 || Jul 13 || 4,000 episodes of ''The Office'' (skipping ads)|| 62.5 days || The Office was originally a BBC show which had no commercial breaks, but Randall is obviously more familiar with the US version. {{w|The_Office_(American_TV_series)}} This US "half-hour" comedy format contains 22.5 minutes of content (including title sequence) and 7.5 minutes of ads. 
|-
| 61 || Jul 14 || Four Score and Seven Kilominutes || 60.4166 days || 87 * 1000 minutes
|-
| 60 || Jul 15 || 2 Lunar Months || || There are a number of different ways to define the {{w|lunar month}}. The most common is the synodic month, because it relates to the phases of the moon, and it's a bit more than 29.5 days.
|-
| 59 || Jul 16 || Half a Day on Venus || || A Venus synodic day is 116 days 18 hours.
|-
| 58 || Jul 17 || 5 megaseconds || 57.8704 days || 5,000,000 seconds
|-
| 57 || Jul 18 || 30 MicroLits (1/1,000,000th of the time since the invention of literature) || 4681-4763 years x 10^-6 || Randall is stating that "literature" was invented approximately 2700 BCE. This is consistent with the earliest surviving coherent Sumerian texts, but the earliest proto-writing likely developed at least 500 years earlier {{w|History_of_writing}}
|-
| 56 || Jul 19 || 1,000 viewings of ''Run Lola Run'' || 55.556 days || Using a run time of 80 minutes
|-
| 55 || Jul 20 || One Million Sound-Miles || || The speed of sound in air depends on the temperature. 15 °C or 59 °F gives the value 340 m/s and the travel time of 54.7843137 days.
|-
| 54 || Jul 21 || 30 Ionian Months || 53.0741 days || Orbital period of Io around Jupiter is 1.769137786 days
|-
| 53 || Jul 22 || One Dog Year || 52.18 days || See day 78 (Jun 27)
|-
| 52 || Jul 23 || 60 Viewings of ''Star Wars Episodes I-IX'' || 51.75 days || According to [[https://dorksideoftheforce.com/2021/05/04/how-long-to-watch-every-star-wars-movie/ Fansided]] the combined running times are 20 hours 42 minutes.
|-
| 51 || Jul 24 || 1/ 100,000,000,000th of the Universe's age || || The universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old.
|-
| 50 || Jul 25 || 5 milli-Generations || 49.3 days || See day 79 (Jun 26)
|-
| 49 || Jul 26 || 10,000 Games of ''7 minutes in Heaven'' or 7 games of ''10,000 minutes in Heaven'' || 48.61 days || 70,000 minutes. 10,000 minutes in Heaven is almost a week of making out.
|-
| 48 || Jul 27 || φ^e^π minutes || 47.6164 days || 68,567.57 minutes
|-
| 47 || Jul 28 || 4 megaseconds || 46.2963 days || 4,000,000 seconds
|-
| 46 || Jul 29 || 2^16 minutes || 45.5111 days || 65,536 minutes
|-
| 45 || Jul 30 || e^e^e seconds || 44.1467 days || 3,814,279.10 seconds
|-
| 44 || Jul 31 || π fortnights|| 43.98 days || 3.14159 * 14 days
|-
| 43 || Aug 1 || One Devil's spacewalk (666 orbits of the ISS) || || See day 65 (Jul 10). 666 is the {{w|number of the beast}}.
|-
| 42 || Aug 2 || 1 kilowatt-hour per watt || 41⅔ days || 1000 hours
|-
| 41 || Aug 3 || e^π Ionian months || 40.9390 days || Orbital period of Io around Jupiter is 1.769137786 days
|-
| 40 || Aug 4 || 30 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris || 39.8357 days || Refer to Day 80 (Jun 25)
|-
| 39 || Aug 5 || e fortnights || 38.0559 days ||2.71828 * 14 days
|-
| 38 || Aug 6 || π^π baker's days (25 hours) || 37.98 days || See day 75 (Jun 30)
|-
| 37 || Aug 7 || One deciyear || 36.525 days || One tenth of one year
|-
| 36 || Aug 8 || 7! milliweeks || 35.28 days || 5040 × 0.001 weeks
|-
| 35 || Aug 9 || 100,000 plays of the ''Jeopardy!'' "Think" music || 34.72 days || ''Think'' is the music played while the contestants try to answer the Final Jeopardy question; it takes 30 seconds.
|-
| 34 || Aug 10 || 1000 BasketBall Games (Game Time) || 33.33 days || using the NBA game time of four 12 minute quarters, 1000 * 4 * 12 minutes = 48000 minutes
|-
| 33 || Aug 11 || 777 hours || 32.375 days ||
|-
| 32 || Aug 12 ||one millilincoln (1/1000 of fourscore and seven years) || 31.78 days || {{w|Abraham Lincoln}}'s {{w|Gettysburg Address}} begins with the famous phrase "Four score and seven years ago". 1 score = 20 years
|-
| 31 || Aug 13 || 1,000 episodes of ''60 Minutes'' (skipping ads) || ||
|-
| 30 || Aug 14 || All of ''Star Trek'', consecutively || ||
|-
| 29 || Aug 15 || 777,777 nanocenturies || 28.4077 days || 777,777 × 10<sup>-9</sup> × 10<sup>2</sup> years
|-
| 28 || Aug 16 || One sidereal lunar month || || The moon returns to a similar position relative to the fixed stars (sidereal month) in 27.3 days
|-
| 27 || Aug 17 || 6 dog months || 26.1 days || See day 78 (Jun 27)
|-
| 26 || Aug 18 || π^π kilominutes || 25.3209 days || 36,462.16 minutes
|-
| 25 || Aug 19 || 7 games of 7! minutes in Heaven || 24.5 days || 7 x 5040 minutes. See also day 49 (Jul 26).
|-
| 24 || Aug 20 || || ||
|-
| 23 || Aug 21 || || ||
|-
| 22 || Aug 22 || || ||
|-
| 21 || Aug 23 || 500 hours || 20.8333 days ||
|-
| 20 || Aug 24 || √2 fortnights || 19.7990 days || 1.4142 × 14 days
|-
| 19 || Aug 25 || || ||
|-
| 18 || Aug 26 || || ||
|-
| 17 || Aug 27 || √2 megaseconds || 16.3682 days || 1.4142 × 1,000,000 seconds
|-
| 16 || Aug 28 || π^π^π πcoseconds || 15.5112 days || 1.3402 × 10<sup>18</sup> picoseconds (i.e., 10<sup>-12</sup> seconds), or 1.3402 megaseconds
|-
| 15 || Aug 29 || One baker's fortnight (15 days) || 15 days || See day 75 (Jun 30)
|-
| 14 || Aug 30 || One baker's dozen (13) baker's days (25 hours) || 13.5416 days || 325 hours; see day 75 (Jun 30)
|-
| 13 || Aug 31 || 300 hours || 12.5 days ||
|-
| 12 || Sep 1 || One million seconds || 11.57 days ||
|-
| 11 || Sep 2 || One nonstop bike ride from NYC to LA || 10.54 days || Google maps estimates the trip at 253 hours
|-
| 10 || Sep 3 || 1/1,000th of a generation || 9.86 days || See day 79 (Jun 26)
|-
| 9 || Sep 4 || 777,777 seconds || 9.002 days ||
|-
| 8 || Sep 5 || 100 viewings of ''Groundhog Day'' || 7.014 days || Based on a running time of 101 minutes
|-
| 7 || Sep 6 || 100 games of ''Lincoln Kissing'' (Fourscore and seven minutes in Heaven) || 6.04 days || 8,700 minutes
|-
| 6 || Sep 7 || One pico-Universe-lifetime || || See Day 51 (Jul 24)
|-
| 5 || Sep 8 || The ''Baby Shark'' chorus for a family of 50,000 sharks || ||
|-
| 4 || Sep 9 || One centiyear || 3.6525 days ||
|-
| 3 || Sep 10 || Cyndi Lauper's ''Time After Time'' played 1,000 times || 2.79 days || Based on a length of 4 minutes, 1 second
|-
| 2 || Sep 11 || ''Speed'' (1994) played at one frame per second || 1.933 days || {{w|Speed_(1994_film)}} has runtime of 116 minutes = 6,960 seconds = 167,040 film frames at standard frame rate of 24 frames/second
|-
| 1 || Sep 12 || F(99) where F(N) means Sing all the verses of ''N Bottles of Beer On the wall'' followed by F(N-1) || || Each iteration contains ''N'' verses. ''N + N-1 + N-2 ... + 1'' equals ''N * (N+1) / 2'', so 99 recursions = 4950 verses. Using the same 13-second (72bpm) rate as Jun 29, this is close to 18 hours.
|-
| 0 || Sep 13 || ''What If? 2'' Release day || ||
|}

The title text refers to the recursive time period on Sep 12. If you don't stop when you reach N=0 bottles, the repetition never ends, so that time interval beecomes infinite. He likens it to {{w|The Song That Never Ends}}, another repetitive children's song, which is specifically intended to go on forever. The difference is that the Beer song has a natural stopping point at 0, while ''The Song That Never Ends'' is completely repetitive.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2636: What If? 2 Countdown

2022-06-22T23:41:58Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */ sp, plus extending the aborted sentence. I presume someone is working on the table, so hope I don t cause them an edit-conflict.

Talk:2635: Superintelligent AIs

2022-06-22T21:48:45Z

172.70.85.177:

my balls hert [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.53|172.70.230.53]] 05:49, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
:Uh, thanks for sharing, I guess? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.52|172.70.211.52]] 20:43, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
::no problem, anytime [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.53|172.70.230.53]] 07:02, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

I think "Nerdy fixations" is too wide a definition. The AIs in the comic are fixated on hypothetical ethics and AI problems (the Chinese Room experiment, the Turing Test, and the Trolley Problem), presumably because those are the problems that bother AI programmers. --Eitheladar [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.119|172.68.50.119]] 06:33, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

It's probably about https://www.analyticsinsight.net/googles-ai-chatbot-is-claimed-to-be-sentient-but-the-company-is-silencing-claims/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.115|172.70.178.115]] 09:22, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

I agree with the previous statement. The full dialogue between the mentioned Google worker and the AI can be found in https://cajundiscordian.medium.com/is-lamda-sentient-an-interview-ea64d916d917, published by one the Google employees.
:This is the first time I might begin to agree that an AI has at least the appearance of sentience. The conversation is all connected instead of completely disjoint like most chatbots. They (non-LaMDA chatbots) never remember what was being discussed 5 seconds ago let alone a few to 10s of minutes prior.--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.141|172.70.134.141]] 14:53, 21 June 2022 (UTC)
::The questions we need to answer before being able to answer if LaMDA is sentient, are "Where do we draw the line between acting sentient and being sentient?" and "How do we determine that it is genuinely feeling emotion, and not just a glorified sentence database where the sentences have emotion in them?". The BBC article also brings up something that makes us ask what death feels like. LaMDA says that being turned of would be basically equivalent to death, but it wouldn't be able to tell that it's being turned off, because it's turned off. This is delving into philosiphy, though, so I'll end my comment here. [[User:4D4850|4D4850]] ([[User talk:4D4850|talk]]) 18:05, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:::♪Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer do...♪ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 21:48, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

What is “What you don't understand is that Turing intended his test as an illustration of the...” likely to end with? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.75|172.70.230.75]] 13:23, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

In response to the above: I believe the original "Turing Test" wasn't supposed to be a proof that an AI could think or was conscious (something people associate with it now), but rather just to show that a sufficiently advanced AI could imitate humans in certain intelligent behaviors (such as conversation), which was a novel thought for the time. Now that AI are routinely having conversations and creating art which seems to rival casual attempts by humans, this limited scope of the test doesn't seem all that impressive. "Turing Test" therefore is a modern shorthand for determining whether computers can think, even though Turing himself didn't think that such a question was well-formed. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 13:37, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

I thought the trolley problem was in its original form not about the relative value of lives, but people's perception of the relative moral implications or the psychological impact of the concept of letting someone die by not doing anything, versus taking affirmative action that causes a death, where people would say they would be unwilling to do something that would cause an originally safe person to die in order to save multiple other people who would die if they did nothing, but then people kept coming up with variations of it that changed the responses or added complications (like they found more people would be willing to pull a lever to change the track killing one person versus something like pushing a very fat man off an overpass above the track to stop the trolley, or specifying something about what kind of people are on the track. Btw, I saw a while ago a party card game called "murder by trolley" based on the concept, with playing cards for which people are on tracks and a judge deciding which track to send the trolley on each round.--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.5|172.70.130.5]] 22:12, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

Added refs to comics on the problems in the explanation. But there where actually (too?) many. Maybe we should create categories especially for Turing related comics, and maybe also for Trolley problem? The Category: Trolley Problem gives it self. But what about Turing? There are also comics that refer to the halting problem. Also by Turing. Should it rather be the person, like comics featuring real persons, saying that every time his problems is referred to it refers to him? Or should it be Turing as a category for both Turing text, Turing Complete and Halting problem? Help. I would have created it, if I had a good idea for a name. Not sure there are enough Trolley comics yet? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:11, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
:Interesting that I found a long-standing typo in a past Explanation that got requoted, thanks to its inclusion. I could have [sic]ed it, I suppose, but I corrected both versions instead. And as long as LaMDA never explicitly repeated the error I don't think it matters much that I've changed the very thing we might imagine it could have been drawing upon for its Artifical Imagination. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.32|141.101.99.32]] 11:40, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

1747: Spider Paleontology

2022-06-21T10:10:06Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1747
| date = October 17, 2016
| title = Spider Paleontology
| image = spider_paleontology.png
| titletext = Whenever you see a video of birds doing something weird, remember: Birds are a small subset of dinosaurs, so the weirdness of birds is a small subset of the weirdness of dinosaurs.
}}

==Explanation==
This Monday comic was the first in a [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere|series]] of two comics that continued in the next release [[1748: Future Archaeology]] on Wednesday. Both comic in this series have titles of a noun followed by a field of research.

A {{w|time travel|time-traveler}} (the black floating energy Sphere) visits the present day from the far future. {{w|Spiders}} are the Sphere civilization's current craze, just as {{w|dinosaurs}} are currently our craze. The {{w|Jurassic Park}} media franchise began with the {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|first film}} in 1993 and the year before the release of this comic in 2016, the fourth movie {{w|Jurassic World}} were released with at least {{w|Jurassic_Park#Fifth_film_.282018.29|one more film}} in development. We also have {{w|Dinosaur World (theme parks)|theme parks}} and kids dressing up as dinosaurs.

The time-traveler arrives in the presence of [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]], and tells them who it is and why it is here, to see spiders which they learned about through {{w|fossils}} (See the explanation of the next comic about the strange fact that it speaks English). Megan points it towards a spider sitting in its web; the Sphere is awestruck to see the object of its obsession in the living flesh, but seeing it sitting in it's web, the Sphere asks why it has been caught. Megan realizes that because it only knows about spiders from fossils, it could come as a big surprise that the spiders sit in their webs like this. {{w|Spider web|Spider silk}} does in fact {{w|Spider#Fossil_record|fossilize in amber}} (and most fossils of spiders are also found in {{w|amber}} because the soft body of a spider does not easily {{w|petrify}}). The reason we know that silk threads in amber are the spider's web is because we can compare fossils with the spiders of today. If not for the fact that we knew about spiders' webs in advance, it would be hard to say if we would have made the connection from the amber fossils. The Sphere is thus surprised to see the spider in a web since they had not understood any possible hint of spider webs in the fossil records, from which the Sphere's civilization gathered all their knowledge of spiders. Spiders have been on Earth at {{w|Spider#Evolution|least for 380 million years}} and are still thriving and more than 40,000 species are known.

With our current knowledge, we know that webs are an essential part of a spider's life. Making sense of a spider's life is practically impossible without including their webs. However, the future-people have done just that until now; discovering how wrong they are is bound to become an intense experience for them. It should be noted that there have been multiple present-day discoveries of fossilized spiders' webs preserved in amber - however, since fossils forming like this is a rare event, it is quite possible that none would have been found (or rediscovered own current stock) by the future-people.

Megan immediately connects the fact that the Sphere did not know about spider webs to our current understanding of dinosaurs: If a future civilization thinks they understand spiders based on fossils, while missing something as essential as their web, what is the human civilization missing about dinosaurs? Cueball quickly catches on, and Megan asks if they can borrow the time-machine to experience their own revelations about dinosaurs just like the revelation the Sphere has just had about spiders.

The title text calls back to one of [[Randall|Randall's]] favorite facts (see [[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs]]) - that {{w|birds}} are technically part of the {{w|clade}} ''Dinosauria''. Birds do lots of weird stuff - like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY starlings flocking], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7QZnwKqopo the dances of birds of paradise], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y lyrebird mimicry] or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii_w8og8RXg petrels puking stomach oil]. Randall says that for every time a bird does something weird then it is likely that dinosaurs would have had equally strange behaviors, and birds are only a small subset of all dinosaurs. So there would have been even more strange behaviors among the dinosaurs than among the present days birds. It is, however, basically impossible to tell from the fossil record. All we know is that dinosaurs had features such as display feathers (like on a {{w|Peafowl}} (a descendant of dinosaurs)), {{w|neck frill|neck frills}}, and crests (like on the {{w|Dimetrodon}}, which lived before the dinosaur with which it is not related) which likely played a role in mating and territorial shows.

It is unclear what the Sphere is. Since it states that what they know about spiders comes from fossils on our planet, it seems likely that the Sphere is neither human nor from our planet. So most likely they are a space traveling species and not human. The appearance as a sphere may either be an indication that they did not travel in person but rather only look out at the past through the energy sphere, or it may be that these aliens are actually spheres, floating as energized objects in space. In that case this is an actual alien floating in front of Megan and Cueball. It seems like the Sphere's civilization already had the spider craze before they invented time travel, and they decided to use time travel the first time to go back to see real spiders on Earth. This also tells us that they are from so far into the future that there are no spiders left. Of course with climate changes etc. going on, that may not necessarily be too far into the future. As long as the human race (or knowledge of spiders) has also disappeared from Earth. But since the Sphere itself tells us that it comes from a distant future, the setting is not related to how fast humans and spiders becomes extinct. As is seen in the next follow up comic, there is very little left of our current civilization, and no records of spiders and their webs.

This is the second comic with special mentioning of a science related directly to spiders, the first being [[1135: Arachnoneurology]].

In this comic Randall manages to combine no less than three of his favorite recurring subjects with [[:Category:Time travel|time travel]], [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]] and, of course, [[:Category:Dinosaurs|dinosaurs]].

==Transcript==
:[The Sphere, a time-traveler depicted as a solid floating black energy sphere surrounded by six outwardly-curved segments) seems to have materialized in front of Megan and Cueball who is in the right part of the panel facing left towards it. The Sphere looks like this except in the zoom in from panel two. A voice emanates from the Sphere.]
:Sphere: I'm here from the distant future!
:Megan: Cool! What for?
:Sphere: ''Spiders!''

:[A close-up of the Sphere, still depicted as a black sphere, but not perfectly round at this zoom level and also clearly with some white dots in the dark area. It is also now surrounded by seven (rather than six) narrow rays with irregular dots between the rays. Megan answers it from off-panel.]
:Sphere: We've learned about your planet's spiders from fossils.
:Sphere: There's a whole spider craze. We have spider theme parks, spider movies, spider costumes...
:Sphere: Such beautiful animals!
:Megan (off-panel): I guess...

:[Same setting as in the first panel but Megan is pointing left past the Sphere.]
:Sphere: Now we've got time travel, so I'm here to see one for myself!
:Megan: Sure! There's one over there!

:[The Sphere floats over a leafless branch sticking out of the ground. A spider web is strung between the left border of the panel (four spokes) and the branch (three spokes). A spider (almost as large as the Sphere) sits in the center of the web. Megan answers it from off-panel.]
:Sphere: ''Woowwww!''
:Sphere: What's that giant net it's caught in?
:Megan (off-panel): You mean its web?
:Sphere: Its what?

:[Same setting as in the first panel.]
:Megan: Oh, right, fossils. So you wouldn't know about...

:[In a frame-less panel only Megan is shown facing left while she ponders. Beat panel.]
:Megan: ...

:[Again a scene similar to the first.]
:Megan: Oh my God. Dinosaurs must have been ''so weird''.
:Cueball: Holy crap, yeah.
:Megan: Listen, can we borrow your time machine?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Time traveling Sphere]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:2634: Red Line Through HTTPS

2022-06-20T08:22:03Z

172.70.85.177:

HTTPS was standardized in 2000 or so, so 2015 is quite a stretch for a site to not use it because the site was last updated before HTTPS was widely available.
With pretty much any browser now, a red line through HTTPS means that the site _is using HTTPS_, but it is _not trusted by the browser_ (due to e.g. the certificate being self-signed or expired).
[[User:Darrylnoakes|Darrylnoakes]] ([[User talk:Darrylnoakes|talk]]) 04:28, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

:I think the intended joke is that the site's certificate expired in 2015, instead of the site is not using HTTPS. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.101|108.162.221.101]] 06:29, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

:2015 is when the first Let's Encrypt certs were issued, and 2016 is when LE became generally available to the public and thus when free SSL/TLS became very very easy for just about anyone setting up a web server, hence the comic citing 2015. However even with a valid cert you might have a number of issues, like [https://www.mixedcontentexamples.com/ mixed content]. At least in Firefox, an expired cert gives a big warning screen that gives you an option to add a security exception; I don't care enough to install Chrom{e,ium} to test its UI. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.250|172.69.69.250]] 08:30, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

::Chrome has this warning screen including an option to bypass the warning as well. I believe all browsers do. I think the only exception to this is when a site has strict transport security enabled. [[User:Jespertheend|Jespertheend]] ([[User talk:Jespertheend|talk]]) 10:49, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

:::Until about 2015 no-one complained if you didn't offer HTTPS as long as you didn't request anyone's credit card number or offered .exe files: An internet site offers nothing but inherently untrustable text. It might contain ads that can execute any piece of javascript. It even could contain flash - so why pay a substantial amount of money to make the transport of that data more secure? Nowadays most web browsers tell on you if you don't secure connections and allowing the telco to see what data you download from where is felt as a privacy intrusion. On the other side not every hoster offers https for multiple domains...--[[User:Gunterkoenigsmann|Gunterkoenigsmann]] ([[User talk:Gunterkoenigsmann|talk]]) 15:03, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Not sure it's true that if there is a problem with HTTPS like an expired cert that the connection is made with HTTP instead. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.201|172.69.79.201]] 10:11, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

:It's not, it still uses the https connection. It only indicates that the connection might not be secure anymore and anyone could be listening in at that point. [[User:Jespertheend|Jespertheend]] ([[User talk:Jespertheend|talk]]) 10:49, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

I actually am bemused by this. Not sure if I only visit the wrong (or right?) websites with the wrong (or right?) browsers, but I don't recall ever notably having seen struck-red links. (Perhaps I have, and assumed it was a site informing me that they were dead links, not now followable?) I ''do'' occasionally follow a normal-looking link (maybe locally CSSed in a over-riding manner of format?) and I get the browser load up a whole-screen "Problem with certificate (Are you sure? Jump through hoops for me to progress.)" which I may then take under considered advisement but mostly has me checking I'm not being spoofed as to the destination or something. Is this where the red strikethrough appears for others?
<br/>I also have at least one site that is steadfastly still HTTP-only, and neither I nor my various browsers have any problem with it as I know what I'm doing, whilst the browsers just go there without particular complaint or anything more than usual addressbar clues... I might have "added to exception from warning" once or twice in the distant past, but not in every case. So I'm learning something here, but I don't know what. Sounds like something Edge would do, but I don't use Edge... I'm generally on Chrome, Firefox and a handful of 'lesser' flavours, all definitely updated. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.173|172.70.90.173]] 11:21, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

:You can find some examples of the red line on https://badssl.com/, but pretty much in all cases you get a full page warning first that something is amiss. You can also try out the http connection at http://http.badssl.com/, http connections are a bit more complicated. Some browsers don't show a warning at all, while others only show a gray 'insecure' label in front of the url. And as can be seen here [https://blog.chromium.org/2017/04/next-steps-toward-more-connection.html], the plan is to eventually show similar warnings for HTTP sites as what is currently shown for HTTPS sites with a failed certificate. [[User:Jespertheend|Jespertheend]] ([[User talk:Jespertheend|talk]]) 11:32, 18 June 2022 (UTC)
::Ugh, I'd hate that. I have a little webpage of my own, and I'm not in a position to be able to go https, :( That "badssl" site has several example issues, which ones go red/strikethrough? I want to confirm no browser I have does that. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:56, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

:I was about to remark the same thing, :) NEVER seen a strikethrough. I'm rather assuming it's something Chrome does, because I about exclusively use Firefox, and Chrome likes to be weird and non-standard (main reason I generally don't use it), and too many people act like there's no other browser than Chrome. Likewise, most I get is "Security Risk!", then find out it's a Bad Certificate, then it turns out it expired and they just haven't updated it yet. Stop being so dramatic, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:28, 19 June 2022 (UTC)
::I'm a Chrome user (part of the time, being the "handful of lesser flavours" contributor, above, but using it this very second) and I don't see it. But then I turned off its look-ahead (downloading of pages it thinks I'll go to next) because I'd rather it not, and as some sort of pre-emptiveness seems necessary to know a link ''should'' be red-struckthrough, I probably (hopefully?) neutered that stupid potential exploit too... So don't take my experience as gospel. (But still sounds like an Edge thing, to me, the way that's the new IE in the current browser ecosystem.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 11:32, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

I've made a rather large change to the page to better explain the meaning of a red line through https. I removed any mentioning of using the HTTP protocol as that is incorrect. If a browser uses the HTTP protocol it is shown in the url using 'http://'. Since the comic was talking about a red line through 'https' I'm assuming the usage of the HTTP protocol is unrelated here.
Though it's possible I removed some more information from the page that might still be desired. Such as the mentioning of AI-generated spam sites and man in the middle attacks. These seemed redundant to me for explaining the joke.
I also put some more emphasis on the red line usually meaning that something bad is going on. Browser venders put a lot of effort in security, and having everyone think that a red line is not that big of a problem is the last thing they'd want. [[User:Jespertheend|Jespertheend]] ([[User talk:Jespertheend|talk]]) 11:23, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

While it's true that some browser security warnings are false alarms, I think that paragraph is missing the point of the comic. Cueball is assuming that any site that's been around for years must be operated well. But often the maintainers of the site get complacent and don't update to newer standards. And even if the real site is legit, the security warning can mean that traffic has been intercepted, so you're not actually going to the real site. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:40, 18 June 2022 (UTC)
: Also, someone who hasn't taken the trouble to keep their security certificates up to date is probably more likely to have neglected their server security generally, so it's more likely that someone could have hacked them and be serving you up all kinds of crap. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 08:22, 20 June 2022 (UTC)

I presumed this was about using outdated protocols like TLS 1.0 or weak ciphers. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.121|172.70.110.121]] 00:28, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

You'd almost think Randall didn't live in the Boston metropolitan area. I was disappointed. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 04:30, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Okay, at least two of us don't see this behaviour, so this is NOT as universal as Randall seems to think, could somebody figure out why and put it in the explanation? (I reject the possibility that we just haven't visited the right (wrong) sites. I, for one, go to WAY too many sites, LOL!). My leading theory is that instead of being universal, this behaviour is actually unique to Chrome (as I don't use it much and can easily have never visited an insecure website on it), since I use Firefox primarily, and many people seem to forget that there are other browsers than Chrome, and Google goes out of it's way to be as weird as possible, including being fancy for the sake of fancy (like the colour-coding and strikethrough). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:49, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Where is Cueball saying that websites with a red line through HTTPS are more secure than modern websites? In the comic he merely says that the red line means that the website is legit, he doesn't make any comparison at all. [[User:Kzkzb|Kzkzb]] ([[User talk:Kzkzb|talk]]) 22:12, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

I think the current explanation is missing a key aspect of the humor. The fact is, it takes minutes to add HTTPS to your site for free (see e.g., https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/free-https-c051ca570324/). A phisher could set up a site with https and have it trick you into giving up your info for a while before being caught and brought down. I think the outdated-ness of the red line through the https indicates that the site has been around for a long time, and therefore is less likely to be a scam. I'll add something small to this effect, but let me know if you disagree, I'm not 100% sure about this. [[User:Jrfarah|Jrfarah]] ([[User talk:Jrfarah|talk]]) 23:04, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

2634: Red Line Through HTTPS

2022-06-18T15:34:19Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */ Explaining titletext. Defered from explaining the exact problems in detail, maybe I should try to at least cover them (recurring payments, grabbed by elsewhere, etc).

{{comic
| number = 2634
| date = June 17, 2022
| title = Red Line Through HTTPS
| image = red_line_through_https.png
| titletext = Some organization has been paying to keep this up and it hasn't been removed from search results. Seems like two votes of confidence to me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a RECURSIVE REDLINE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Some web browsers display https with a red line through it (<span style="color:red"><s>https</s></span>) to indicate that there is a problem with the HTTPS connection. The red line is supposed to be a clear warning to the user that the connection is not guaranteed to be secure, and that anything about the site might have been modified. But more importantly, that anything you send back (like passwords) might be observable by anyone.

However, in practice some sites simply are misconfigured or have never been updated to use newer security measures. In these cases the red line through https are nothing to be concerned about, and as stated in the comic probably just means the site hasn't been maintained for a long time. This is especially true for websites that are simple documents that don't ask for any sensitive information from the user.

There is a wide variety of reasons why a HTTPS connection might not be secure. A comprehensive list of reasons with examples can be found on badssl.com[https://badssl.com/].

The title text uses two very cirmcumstantial (and not really dependable) details as if they were factors reinforcing the misplaced trust. For the first, you may perhaps think that if someone is still paying domain/hosting fees that they are still confident about their site's content. For the second, the search engines/archives appear to have not lost ''their'' confidence in it for whatever reason. There are problems with both these assumptions, and it does little to restore sanity to the already shaky understanding being exhibited.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[White Hat sits at a desk facing his laptop with Cueball standing behind him looking over his shoulder.]
:White Hat: What does the red line through https mean?
:Cueball: Oh, just that the site hasn't been updated since 2015 or so.
:Cueball: And since it's been around that long it means it's probably legit.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

1331: Frequency

2022-06-17T09:38:42Z

172.70.85.177: /* Events */ Forgot to neutralise the rest of the "MPs" referencing, having spent too much thought on the initial superset phrase..!

{{comic
| number = 1331
| date = February 17, 2014
| title = Frequency
| custom = <center><table title="This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops."><tr>
<td>[[File:heartbeat.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:birth.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:death.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:wikipedia.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:vibrator.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:car china.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:car japan.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:car germany.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:car us.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:car elsewhere.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:kiss.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:fire dept.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:holeinone.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:turnsignal1.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:turnsignal2.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:earthquake1.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:earthquake2.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:earthquake3.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:earthquake4.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:parliament toilet.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:flight.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:book mockingbird.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:cat mockingbird.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:phoenixshoes.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:phoenix.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:keys.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:amelia.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:dogbite.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:bike.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:eagle.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:bottles.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:recycled.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:meteor.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:oldfaithful.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:shark.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:us cancer.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:us cancer death.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:dog.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:cat.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:wedding.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:domain.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:house.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:tattoo.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:pulsar.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:facebook.gif]]</td>
</tr><tr>
<td>[[File:iphone.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:littleleague.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:ndsex.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:bieber.gif]]</td>
<td>[[File:denverpizza.gif]]</td>
</tr></table></center>
| titletext = This comic shows estimated average frequency. I wanted to include the pitch drop experiment, but it turns out the gif format has some issues with decade-long loops.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic shows a number of common events, arranged in a grid. Each of the events flashes with its average frequency.

For example, statistically a child is born somewhere on the world approximately every 0.24 seconds, or four times per second. Therefore, the tile "One birth" blinks about 4 times per second.

The title text refers to the {{w|Pitch drop experiment}} which measures the flow of a piece of pitch over many years. At room temperature, tar pitch flows at a very slow rate, taking several years to form a single drop. The title text jokes that Randall tried to include a tile that flashes about once every {{w|decade|ten years}}, but the tiles are all {{w|Animated GIF|animated GIFs}} and while the file format supports animations of any length, the resulting file would be too big (at least 10 megabytes).

A thorough analysis of the frequencies present in this comic and how they relate to the underlying technology (the GIF format) was published as [http://notebooks.jsvine.com/reverse-engineering-xkcd-frequency/ Reverse Engineering xkcd's 'Frequency'].

The table below lists all the events and their duration / frequency. Some events make reference to other comics.

===Events===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!class="unsortable"|Picture
!class="unsortable"|Text
!Period (seconds)
!Frequency (per minute)
!Frequency (per year)
!class="unsortable"|Explanation and/or references to other comics.
|-
|[[File:heartbeat.gif]]
|Heartbeat||style="text-align:right;"|0.86||style="text-align:right;"|70||style="text-align:right;"|33,000,000||The typical resting {{w|heart rate}} in adults is 60–80 beats per minute (bpm).
|-
|[[File:birth.gif]]
|One birth||style="text-align:right;"|0.24||style="text-align:right;"|250||style="text-align:right;"|131,490,000||The {{w|Birth rate|birth rate}} that occurs on Earth.
|-
|[[File:death.gif]]
|One death||style="text-align:right;"|0.56||style="text-align:right;"|107||style="text-align:right;"|56,360,000||The {{w|Mortality rate|Mortality rate}} is much lower than the birth rate shown above; thus, the world's population continues to increase. (Mass deaths not included.)
|-
|[[File:wikipedia.gif]]
|Someone edits Wikipedia||style="text-align:right;"|0.67||style="text-align:right;"|90||style="text-align:right;"|47,100,000||{{w|Wikipedia}} is an online, freely editable encyclopedia. A table recording the time between completion of each block of 10 million edits can be found [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Katalaveno/TBE here], which suggests that the value 0.67 Sec/Edit is a little high, with the average being closer to 0.63 Sec/Edit.
|-
|[[File:vibrator.gif]]
|Someone buys a vibrator||style="text-align:right;"|2.99||style="text-align:right;"|20||style="text-align:right;"|10,550,000 || This is just a joke; there are no reliable statistics on worldwide vibrator productions or sales.
|-
|[[File:car china.gif]]
|China builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|1.89||style="text-align:right;"|32||style="text-align:right;"|16,700,000|| According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, China is the world's most prolific car manufacturer, producing just over [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 18 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:car japan.gif]]
|Japan builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|4.01||style="text-align:right;"|15||style="text-align:right;"|7,870,000|| According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, Japan is the second most prolific car manufacturing country, producing just over [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 8 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:car germany.gif]]
|Germany builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|5.8||style="text-align:right;"|10||style="text-align:right;"|5,440,000|| According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, Germany is the third most prolific car manufacturing country, producing nearly [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 5.5 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:car us.gif]]
|The US builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|6.95||style="text-align:right;"|8.6||style="text-align:right;"|4,540,000|| According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, the US is the fourth most prolific car manufacturing country, producing just under [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 4.4 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:car elsewhere.gif]]
|Someone else builds a car||style="text-align:right;"|1.03||style="text-align:right;"|58||style="text-align:right;"|30,640,000|| This relates to car manufacture in countries other than those four listed above. According to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, this total is just under [http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2013-statistics/ 29.4 million cars in 2013].
|-
|[[File:kiss.gif]]
|A European Union resident has their first kiss||style="text-align:right;"|5.53||style="text-align:right;"|11||style="text-align:right;"|5,700,000|| Given that each person can only have their first kiss once, this statistic is tied to the EU birth rate. This [http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/File:Number_of_live_births,_EU-28,_1961%E2%80%932012_(1)_(million)_YB14.png eurostat graph] shows the birth rate in the EU, and if we assume that the majority of people experience their first 'real' kiss at around age 12-16, then the years 1998-2002 are of interest, where the birth rate is fairly stable at just over 5.5 million.
|-
|[[File:fire dept.gif]]
|A US fire department puts out a fire||style="text-align:right;"|23||style="text-align:right;"|2.6||style="text-align:right;"|1,370,000|| The latest available statistics from the US Fire Administration show that in 2011 there were [http://www.usfa.fema.gov/data/statistics/ roughly 1.39 million] reported fires.
|-
|[[File:holeinone.gif]]
|Someone hits a hole-in-one||style="text-align:right;"|180<br>(3 minutes)||style="text-align:right;"|⅓<br>(20 per hour)||style="text-align:right;"|175,320||A {{w|hole in one}} is a feat in {{w|golf}} in which the player hits the ball directly from the tee into the cup with one shot. This does not account for the possibility of [https://what-if.xkcd.com/85/ Rocket Golf].
|-
|[[File:turnsignal1.gif]]
|My turn signal blinks||style="text-align:right;"|0.94||style="text-align:right;"|64||style="text-align:right;"|33,638,400||This, together with "The turn signal of the car in front of me blinks", forms a reference to [[165: Turn Signals]].
|-
|[[File:turnsignal2.gif]]
|The turn signal of the car in front of me blinks||style="text-align:right;"|0.9||style="text-align:right;"|67||style="text-align:right;"|35,215,200||This, together with "My turn signal blinks", forms a reference to [[165: Turn Signals]].
|-
|[[File:earthquake1.gif]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 1)||style="text-align:right;"|2.43||style="text-align:right;"|25||style="text-align:right;"|13,000,000||These are continually happening, and not felt by humans. The [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22feed%22%3A%221419026358584%22%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B-85%2C0%5D%2C%5B85%2C360%5D%5D%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%7B%22help%22%3Afalse%2C%22list%22%3Atrue%2C%22map%22%3Atrue%2C%22settings%22%3Afalse%7D%2C%22autoUpdate%22%3Afalse%2C%22search%22%3A%7B%22id%22%3A%221419026358584%22%2C%22name%22%3A%22Search%20Results%22%2C%22isSearch%22%3Atrue%2C%22params%22%3A%7B%22starttime%22%3A%222014-12-12%2000%3A00%3A00%22%2C%22minmagnitude%22%3A-1%2C%22eventtype%22%3A%22earthquake%22%2C%22endtime%22%3A%222014-12-19%2023%3A59%3A59%22%2C%22maxmagnitude%22%3A1.9%2C%22orderby%22%3A%22time%22%7D%7D%7D USGS does report them], but the link provided was produced at the time this description was written. It can however be updated by the user.
|-
|[[File:earthquake2.gif]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 2)||style="text-align:right;"|24.26||style="text-align:right;"|2.5||style="text-align:right;"|1,300,000|| The US Geological Survey estimates that [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php 1.3 million] earthquakes of magnitude 2.0-2.9 occur worldwide each year.
|-
|[[File:earthquake3.gif]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 3)||style="text-align:right;"|242.6<br>(~4 minutes)||style="text-align:right;"|¼<br>(15 per hour)||style="text-align:right;"|130,000|| The US Geological Survey estimates that [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php 130 thousand] earthquakes of magnitude 3.0-3.9 occur worldwide each year.
Earthquakes below this magnitude pass by largely unnoticed by most people (or [[723|tweeters]]).
|-
|[[File:earthquake4.gif]]
|Earthquake (magnitude 4)||style="text-align:right;"|2426<br>(40.4 minutes)||style="text-align:right;"|0.025<br>(1.5 per hour)||style="text-align:right;"|13,000|| The US Geological Survey estimates that [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php 13 thousand] earthquakes of magnitude 4.0-4.9 occur worldwide each year.
|-
|[[File:parliament toilet.gif]]
|A member of the UK parliament flushes a toilet||style="text-align:right;"|10.06||style="text-align:right;"|6||style="text-align:right;"|3,140,000||At the time of this comic, there were 1,430 persons assigned to one or other of the two houses of the UK parliament, meaning that Randall inferred an average of 6 flushes per individual per day. Supposing that they sleep for 6-8 hours and get up to go to the toilet once per night, that means that during the rest of the day they are averaging a trip to the toilet every 3.2 to 3.6 hours. This estimate is somewhat on the high side, but members of parliament, particularly members of the Lords, do skew older, and older people tend to use the toilet more.{{Citation needed}}
|-
|[[File:flight.gif]]
|An airline flight takes off||style="text-align:right;"|0.93||style="text-align:right;"|65||style="text-align:right;"|34,000,000|| Research conducted in 2008 by Thomas Ruosch and Dr Karl Rege at [http://www.init.zhaw.ch/index.php?id=9&L=1 Zurich University of Applied Science] plotted the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR00_uLfGVE 93,000 daily worldwide airline flights].
|-
|[[File:book mockingbird.gif]]
|Someone buys ''To Kill a Mockingbird''||style="text-align:right;"|42.05||style="text-align:right;"|1.4||style="text-align:right;"|750,000||"{{w|To Kill a Mockingbird}}" is a novel by {{w|Harper Lee}}, often an assigned reading in high school. Since 1960 it has sold in the region of [http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/jul/09/harper-lee-to-kill-a-mockingbird 40 million copies], an average of 740,000 a year.
|-
|[[File:cat mockingbird.gif]]
|Someone's pet cat kills a mockingbird||style="text-align:right;"|1.82||style="text-align:right;"|33||style="text-align:right;"|17,340,000||Whereas the previous item references the well-known book "To Kill a Mockingbird", this one talks about {{w|Mockingbird|mockingbirds}} being literally killed (in this case, by cats). [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Mimus_polyglottos/ There are 45 million mockingbirds in the world;] this means that according to Randall, cats kill 39% of mockingbirds in one year, i.e. in 2.5 years they are able to kill all mockingbirds (excluding the ones that are born in the meantime).
|-
|[[File:phoenixshoes.gif]]
|Someone in Phoenix buys new shoes||style="text-align:right;"|1.08||style="text-align:right;"|56||style="text-align:right;"|29,200,000||Since {{w|Phoenix metropolitan area|metro Phoenix}} has 4,200,000 inhabitants, according to Randall people in Phoenix buy 7 pairs of shoes per capita per year.
|-
|[[File:phoenix.gif]]
|Someone in Phoenix puts on a condom||style="text-align:right;"|2.05||style="text-align:right;"|29||style="text-align:right;"|15,390,000||Randall probably found the number of Condoms sold in Phoenix and estimated that most of those would be used. Estimates directly from the frequency of intercourse and contraceptive uses would be wildly inaccurate, especially as those statistics count encounters that might need multiple condoms as one instance of intercourse. There are [https://www.birthcontrol.com/condom-use-statistics 450,000,000 Condoms sold in the US each Year.]
|-
|[[File:keys.gif]]
|Someone locks their keys in their car||style="text-align:right;"|2.43||style="text-align:right;"|25||style="text-align:right;"|13,000,000||There does not appear to be any data on this mishap, but a [https://twitter.com/search?q=locked%20keys%20in%20car&src=typd Twitter search] reveals this happens, or people discuss it happening at a high frequency.
|-
|[[File:amelia.gif]]
|A Sagittarius named Amelia drinks a soda||style="text-align:right;"|7.79||style="text-align:right;"|7.7||style="text-align:right;"|4,000,000||Randall Munroe is a [http://blog.xkcd.com/2014/01/31/the-baby-name-wizard/ fan of The Baby Name Wizard] blog and its [http://www.babynamewizard.com Name Voyager] tool which shows that "[http://www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/girl/amelia Amelia]" has recently exploded in popularity.<br />
This particular frequency is taken from:
* The number of persons called {{w|Amelia (given name)|Amelia}} ([http://howmanyofme.com/ est. 82,572 people in the U.S.])
* The number of persons born between November 22 and December 22 under the astrological sign of {{w|Sagittarius (astrology)|Sagittarius}} (~1/12th of the population, i.e. approximately 6881 Amelias in the U.S.)
* The frequency of soda (soft drinks) being drunk ([http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_sof_dri_con-food-soft-drink-consumption 216 liters per person per year in the U.S.]).
According to our figures, 6881 Amelias drink 1.44 million liters of soft drinks per year in the United States alone, which means that Randall's figures only account for American Amelias (drinking 355 mL or 12 fl. oz. of soda in each drink).
|-
|[[File:dogbite.gif]]
|A dog bites someone in the US||style="text-align:right;"|7.01||style="text-align:right;"|8.6||style="text-align:right;"|4,500,000|| A [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18836045 2008 report] by the Centers for Disease Control concluded that 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year.
|-
|[[File:bike.gif]]
|Someone steals a bicycle||style="text-align:right;"|24.93||style="text-align:right;"|2.4||style="text-align:right;"|1,265,000||About half of all people who cycle infrequently have their bikes stolen at some time, but people who cycle every day have a 90% higher chance of bike theft, all according to [http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/04/these-8-depressing-bike-theft-statistics-show-just-how-bad-problem/8890/ this report] of cyclists in Montreal.
|-
|[[File:eagle.gif]]
|A bald eagle catches a fish||style="text-align:right;"|2.69||style="text-align:right;"|22||style="text-align:right;"|11,700,000||It is estimated that there are 70,000 bald eagles in the world and they eat up to [http://www.hancockwildlife.org/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=949 a pound-and-a-half of fish] every day.
|-
|[[File:bottles.gif]]
|50,000 plastic bottles are produced||style="text-align:right;"|1.27||style="text-align:right;"|47||style="text-align:right;"|1.24 trillion||This fact speaks for itself, but here are some [http://www.banthebottle.net/bottled-water-facts/ alarming facts] about plastic bottle production and usage.
|-
|[[File:recycled.gif]]
|50,000 plastic bottles are recycled||style="text-align:right;"|4.64||style="text-align:right;"|13||style="text-align:right;"|340 billion||27% of the plastic bottles manufactured get [[885: Recycling|recycled]]
|-
|[[File:meteor.gif]]
|A bright meteor is visible somewhere||style="text-align:right;"|1.15||style="text-align:right;"|52||style="text-align:right;"|27,400,000||This varies based on location, time of day, time of year, weather, personal perception and a number of other factors, but according to [http://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-faq/#4 The American Meteor Society], between 2-16 can be seen during the hours before daylight where it would be too bright to see them.
|-
|[[File:oldfaithful.gif]]
|Old Faithful erupts||style="text-align:right;"|5640<br>(94 minutes)||style="text-align:right;"|0.011<br>(15 per day)||style="text-align:right;"|5,595||{{w|Old Faithful}} is a geyser in {{w|Yellowstone National Park}} in the US, that tends to erupt every 65 or 91 minutes. XKCD's period of 1h 34m falls between the [https://geysertimes.org/geyser.php?id=Old%20Faithful mean and median of recent Old Faithful eruptions] and corresponds to a [http://geysertimes.org/getSingleEruption.php?id=645135 February 16, 2014 eruption].
|-
|[[File:shark.gif]]
|A fishing boat catches a shark||style="text-align:right;"|0.83||style="text-align:right;"|72||style="text-align:right;"|38,000,000|| [[1326: Sharks]]; Shark populations have experienced severe declines due to fishing impacts both of {{w|shark finning|finning}} and by-catch.
|-
|[[File:us cancer.gif]]
|Someone in the US is diagnosed with cancer||style="text-align:right;"|18.99||style="text-align:right;"|3.2||style="text-align:right;"|1,660,000|| According to the [http://www.cancer.org American Cancer Society], there will be an estimated 1,665,540 new cancer cases diagnosed in the US in 2014.
|-
|[[File:us cancer death.gif]]
|Someone in the US dies from cancer||style="text-align:right;"|54.34||style="text-align:right;"|1.1||style="text-align:right;"|580,000|| According to the [http://www.cancer.org American Cancer Society], in 2014 there will be an estimated 585,720 cancer deaths in the US.
|-
|[[File:dog.gif]]
|Someone adopts a dog from a shelter||style="text-align:right;"|15.6||style="text-align:right;"|3.8||style="text-align:right;"|2,000,000||[http://www.statisticbrain.com/pet-owner-industry-stats/ 10%] of owned dogs were adopted from shelters
|-
|[[File:cat.gif]]
|Someone adopts a cat from a shelter||style="text-align:right;"|21.3||style="text-align:right;"|2.8||style="text-align:right;"|1,500,000||[http://www.statisticbrain.com/pet-owner-industry-stats/ 18%] of owned cats were adopted from shelters
|-
|[[File:wedding.gif]]
|Someone gets married||style="text-align:right;"|0.75||style="text-align:right;"|80||style="text-align:right;"|42,000,000||According to [http://www.statisticbrain.com/marriage-statistics/ this study], there are 2,077,000 marriages in the US every year.
|-
|[[File:domain.gif]]
|Someone registers a domain||style="text-align:right;"|0.64||style="text-align:right;"|94||style="text-align:right;"|49,300,000 ||According to [http://www.dailychanges.com/ Dailychanges.com], about 135,000 domains are registered every day, but this figure fluctuates.
|-
|[[File:house.gif]]
|Someone in the US buys a house||style="text-align:right;"|6.22||style="text-align:right;"|9.6||style="text-align:right;"|5,000,000||According to [http://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newressales.pdf The Census Bureau], on average there are 400,000 home purchases in the US each month.
|-
|[[File:tattoo.gif]]
|Someone in the US gets a tattoo||style="text-align:right;"|2.06||style="text-align:right;"|29||style="text-align:right;"|15,300,000||This estimate is probably based on the percentage of people who are tattooed, and not how frequently they purchase one, but the figures [http://theweek.com/article/index/233633/the-tattoo-economy-by-the-numbers here], [http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo_facts.htm here], and [http://www.statisticbrain.com/tattoo-statistics/ here] add to the credibility of the claim.
|-
|[[File:pulsar.gif]]
|The star PSR J1748-2446AD rotates 1,000 times||style="text-align:right;"|1.4||style="text-align:right;"|42.9||style="text-align:right;"|22,548,240, which means 22.5 billion times per year||{{w|PSR J1748-2446ad}} is the fastest spinning {{w|pulsar}} known.
|-
|[[File:facebook.gif]]
|Someone lies about their age to sign up for Facebook||style="text-align:right;"|4.32||style="text-align:right;"|14||style="text-align:right;"|7,300,000||To sign up for Facebook, [https://www.facebook.com/help/210644045634222 the user must claim to be at least 13 years old]. This is a reflection of the U.S. {{w|Children's Online Privacy Protection Act}}.
|-
|[[File:iphone.gif]]
|Someone breaks an iPhone screen||style="text-align:right;"|0.93||style="text-align:right;"|65||style="text-align:right;"|34,000,000||According to a [http://www.cnet.com/news/quarter-of-iphones-have-a-broken-screen-says-new-poll/ CNET report], up to a quarter of iPhones have a broken screen.
|-
|[[File:littleleague.gif]]
|A Little League player strikes out||style="text-align:right;"|1.23||style="text-align:right;"|49||style="text-align:right;"|25,754,400||{{w|Little League Baseball|Little League}} is a system of local youth baseball and softball competitions. A {{w|strikeout}} is a situation in baseball and softball. This figure will be inconsistent throughout the year as baseball is normally not played in the winter.
|-
|[[File:ndsex.gif]]
|Someone has sex in North Dakota||style="text-align:right;"|1.38||style="text-align:right;"|43||style="text-align:right;"|22,900,000||Since {{w|North Dakota}} has 723,000 inhabitants (ranked the 48th state), and if we estimate the sexually active population as 80% (and if ''someone'' means ''a couple)'' this means that people in North Dakota have sex 79.1 times a year. It is estimated that [http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/geographyofsex.htm 3.93% of the world population has sex on a given day;] Randall's rate for North Dakota is 17.3% which is not low.
|-
|[[File:bieber.gif]]
|Justin Bieber gains a follower on Twitter||style="text-align:right;"|4.73||style="text-align:right;"|13||style="text-align:right;"|6,670,000|| [[802: Online Communities 2#Twitter Region|802: Online Communities 2]]; {{w|Justin Bieber}} is a Canadian pop music singer whose [https://twitter.com/justinbieber Twitter account] is extremely popular.
|-
|[[File:denverpizza.gif]]
|Someone in Denver orders a pizza||style="text-align:right;"|1.27||style="text-align:right;"|47||style="text-align:right;"|24,800,000|| In 2013, an estimated [http://www.statisticbrain.com/pizza-statistics/ 3 billion] pizzas were sold in the US. With a population of approximately 320 million, this is an average of just over 9 pizzas per person per year. According to the [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08/08031.html 2010 Census], the population of Denver was, rounded, 650,000. The frequency shown equates to over 38 pizzas per person per year, four times the national average. But counting the larger {{w|Denver metropolitan area}}, with a population of 2,890,000, the frequency shown equates to a much more reasonable 8.5 pizzas per person per year
|}

==Transcript==
:[Repetitive events are written in grey and arranged in a grid. Each statement pulses to black and then returns to grey at an interval characteristic of the named event.]

{| style="text-align:center;"
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|Heartbeat<br/>(0.86 sec)
|One birth<br/>(0.24 sec)
|One death<br/>(0.56 sec)
|Someone edits Wikipedia<br/>(0.67 sec)
|Someone buys a vibrator<br/>(2.99 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|China builds a car<br/>(1.89 sec)
|Japan builds a car<br/>(4.01 sec)
|Germany builds a car<br/>(5.8 sec)
|The US builds a car<br/>(6.95 sec)
|Someone else builds a car<br/>(1.03 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|A European Union resident has their first kiss<br/>(5.53 sec)
|A US fire department puts out a fire<br/>(23 sec)
|Someone hits a hole-in-one<br/>(180 sec)
|My turn signal blinks<br/>(0.94 sec)
|The turn signal of the car in front of me blinks<br/>(0.9 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Earthquake (magnitude 1)<br/>(2.43 sec)
|Earthquake (magnitude 2)<br/>(24.26 sec)
|Earthquake (magnitude 3)<br/>(242.6 sec)
|Earthquake (magnitude 4)<br/>(2426 sec, 42 min)
|Member of the UK Parliament flushes a toilet<br/>(10.06 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|An airline flight takes off<br/>(0.93 sec)
|Someone buys ''To Kill a Mockingbird''<br/>(42.05 sec)
|Someone's pet cat kills a mockingbird<br/>(1.82 sec)
|Someone in Phoenix buys new shoes<br/>(1.08 sec)
|Someone in Phoenix puts on a condom<br/>(2.05 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Someone locks their keys in their car<br/>(2.43 sec)
|A Sagittarius named Amelia drinks a soda<br/>(7.79 sec)
|A dog bites someone in the US<br/>(7.01 sec)
|Someone steals a bicycle<br/>(24.93 sec)
|A bald eagle catches a fish<br/>(2.69 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|50,000 plastic bottles are produced<br/>(1.27 sec)
|50,000 plastic bottles are recycled<br/>(4.64 sec)
|A bright meteor is visible somewhere<br/>(1.15 sec)
|Old Faithful erupts<br/>(5640 sec, 94 min)
|A fishing boat catches a shark<br/>(0.83 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Someone in the US is diagnosed with cancer<br/>(18.99 sec)
|Someone in the US dies from cancer<br/>(54.34 sec)
|Someone adopts a dog from a shelter<br/>(15.6 sec)
|Someone adopts a cat from a shelter<br/>(21.3 sec)
|Someone gets married<br/>(0.75 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top; background-color:#eeeeee;"
|Someone registers a domain<br/>(0.64 sec)
|Someone in the US buys a house<br/>(6.22 sec)
|Someone in the US gets a tattoo<br/>(2.06 sec)
|The star ''PSR J1748-2446ad'' rotates 1,000 times<br/>(1.4 sec)
|Someone lies about their age to sign up for Facebook<br/>(4.32 sec)
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|Someone breaks an iPhone screen<br/>(0.93 sec)
|A little league player strikes out<br/>(1.23 sec)
|Someone has sex in North Dakota<br/>(1.38 sec)
|Justin Bieber gains a follower on Twitter<br/>(4.73 sec)
|Someone in Denver orders a pizza<br/>(1.27 sec)
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Sharks]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Baseball]]

User talk:Kynde

2022-06-14T13:49:40Z

172.70.85.177: /* Sparing use of Talk-page section headers */ new section

== Cueball references ==
Hi, please do not remove the Cueball references here. He is a standard character. The category [[:Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] gives just an overview about all comics showing this stick figure. And just one is him, not defined by Randall but by us. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 8 May 2014 (UTC)
:But who should define who Cueball is? You? I could see him as both here. And somebody did. You have just corrected back so that the Cueball in the explain is switched to the other charachter in the transcript. At least one of these should then be changed to match the other. It is thus also clear that people have different views of what Cueball stands for. Is he the one trolling, or is he the one who knows which movie Blade Runner is? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:35, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
:By the way - I did not remove the reference to the chategory - but only in the text as described above. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:38, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

== Minor tags on edits ==
Also, a minor concern, but please be more sparing in your use of "minor" tags on edits. Addition of 1200 characters (e.g. . . m Talk:1496: Art Project‎; 20:04 . . (+1,240)‎ . . ‎Kynde, or . . m 1497: New Products‎; 19:12 . . (-419)‎ . . ‎Kynde →‎Explanation: It does not fit into category four! See new test. I also deleted a lot of text, that already was written below, and was basically the same as the one stille) is NOT minor. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:22, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
::When adding a new comment to the talk page I newer see this as a major change. This i a discussion not a change to the explanation!. I do not believe it was a big change removing the text you wrote, when all of it basically was written below. Try and read your version, and see that it was more or less double. Also I had already once removed the reference to the fourth category. If the guy has signed up he have no problems with this company. Also it is mentioned that the fourth category is not a company he is afraid off, but just someone they do not like. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:42, 11 March 2015 (UTC)

== Thank you ==

I like what you did at [[1402: Harpoons]]. Thank you. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.153|173.245.54.153]]
:You're welcome - I did it based on your comment [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 03:41, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

==[[980: Money]]==
Hey, you've done an amazing job on the money comic's transcript, but the explanation page is still marked as incomplete. Is there actually anything left to be done on it? Thanks! [[User:Davak72|Davak72]] ([[User talk:Davak72|talk]]) 03:04, 3 April 2015 (UTC)
:Thanks allot. I have replied on the Money page where you repeated the above. I can even remember the number although it was some time since I did the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:44, 3 April 2015 (UTC)

== Merge Cueball & Rob ==

You seem to have changed some comics in which formerly more than one cueball appeared to make it such that none were called cueball (e.g. Orb Hammer). But many persist, see transcripts in:
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1405:_Meteor
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/192:_Working_for_Google
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/525:_I_Know_You%27re_Listening
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/187:_The_Familiar
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/79:_Iambic_Pentameter
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/65:_Banter

We should probably seek broader consensus before rewriting all these transcripts. There seems to me to be a general trend to name one "Cueball" and call the others "Friend" or somesuch in these cases and I'm concerned that you seem to want to singlehandedly rewrite all that convention. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:07, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:It is typically the first who writes the transcript who decides who of the Cueballs (or Megans) he feel represents the real Cueball. However, there is no real behavior of Cueball. So who should decide. I could also change these transcripts so it becomes the other character who becomes Cueball, because I think the first transcripter did it wrong. This was exactly what happened with the two Megan-like comics. First it was Megan and Danish. Then unidentified girl and Megan. Then Megan and unidentified girl, then two Megan like girls with short and long hair and finally you reverted it to my first ide: Unidentified girl and Megan. So thanks for showing me these six double Cueball comics. I will change asap. And as I answered your comment on [[1496: Art Project]] Rob is already listed as part of the category for Comics featuring Cueball: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Comics_featuring_Rob and this is listed as the first entry when going to the page for Category:Comics featuring Cueball: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Comics_featuring_Cueball Thus he should not be merged--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:21, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:: Can you please add this discussion here [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob]. I have refrained from making these sort of substantial changes and want to seek a broader consensus. Please use the community forum to seek such consensus before making major unilateral changes like that. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:24, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::Done with interests --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:02, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:: there are dozens of multiple-Cueball comments. Please don't change them to "man 1", "man 2" until we can reach a braoder consensus. I will not be changing them to "Rob" without consensus. This is not something to be done all at once and making that many changes will prompt me to request that an admin freeze your account. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:27, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::I was about to write this before your comment no. two. So this was a reply to your previous comment: "I can post it there, but these changes has been underway a long time for almost a year. But it is hard to find these comics as I do not go through them just to find incidences. How long have you been active in xkcd. I can see your page has been created today, but maybe you were active long before that?"--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:42, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
::::This is a comment to your next comment: "It is very hard to threaten someone like that already. I have been making these changes before, and by the way never to man 1 or man 2. I have been one of the top contributers for more than a year. I hope this is not just because I reverted one of your contributions to Mondays comic? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]21:42, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:::::I didn't want to threaten. I think consistent style is important, and general style I see is in multi-Cueball comics, one is ID'd as Cueball and others are "Friend", etc. Anyone unilaterally changing an established style should seek consensus first.
:::::Additionally, I think your undo on my edit actually improved the explanation.
:::::Finally, if you know how to solicit more opinions on the matter at hand, please let me know (or do it). Thanks! [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 23:53, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
::::::Thanks on the edit appraisal. As I wrote on the talk page, yours was also much better phrased the second time. I do not know how to get anyone to go read your comment except by giving them the message like you did with me. Or putting a link to it from the talk page of the double Megan comic, and maybe on some of the double Cueball comics too. I did not understand the "solicit more opinions" at first (why I wrote that last part in my comment below "how many will read"). So you do realize, I can see now, that not many will. By the way I'm [[Danish]]... That is, I'm neither a mean girl or a pastry cake, but from Denmark. And although I'm, really good at English for everyday use, it is not by far a language I can understand everything. But suddenly I got your message.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:10, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
My only point is we need to wait until consensus is reached before undoing years of precedent in Cueball naming. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 22:38, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:Well as I have made fairly clear there is no consensus. Because it is up to the first one who writes the transcript to decide who is the friend. And this often leads to discussion or changes forth and back (like we just saw with two Megans) since people have different opinion on how Cueball should behave, since they do not know that Cueball can behave anyway Randall needs him to. Often he reflects Randall's intelligence, but just as often he is a prick behaving horribly towards girls etc. So if there are two, one good and one bad, you cannot say the good one is Cueball. And how many do you think reads your post? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:43, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

I have had a look at the comics you have listed. Here are my comments:
*[[1405:_Meteor]]
**Here I would have changed - since it is believed that Cueball often represents Randall's version of himself - especially when it is his hobby. Of course it is then Randall who is pedantic, and thus Cueball. So I would change the Cueball reference. So here we could have a stupid editing war, instead of writing something else.
*[[525:_I_Know_You%27re_Listening]]
**Here there is only one Cueball speaking. And the other is listening in. So here I would no object so much. Maybe I would mention that the other looks like Cueball.
*[[192:_Working_for_Google]]
**Here I would have changed - since I would think that Cueball should have the most interesting story, and also that this Cueball is Randall as it is known that Randall has an interest in Google and has also been cheated by their aptitude test (so much that he did the famous [[356: Nerd Sniping]]). So also here I would change the Cueball reference. So again stupid editing war, instead of writing something else.
*[[187:_The_Familiar]]
**Here I would have changed - since I would thing that Cueball should be the one always interested in computers. Not the other way. I know there are other comics where he enjoys nature. But Also a lot where he enjoys computers out of hand and math etc. So again I would have changed the Cueball reference. So again stupid editing war, instead of writing something else.
*[[79:_Iambic_Pentameter]]
**Here I agree with the Cueball = Randall - it's Randall my hobby and thus the one with the Hobby is Cueball. But I would still prefer they are not named. some might argue against me on the hobby, saying the Cueball with the hobby is "Randall" so the other Cueball is "Cueball". Thus once more editing war. But I would not start it. But still probably mention that the Cueball with a hobby is Randall.
*[[65:_Banter]]
**What can I say. The first is called Cueball the other is not. They have the same amount of text, and they are obviously both gay and missing out. I would definitely loose the Cueball reference here.
That is my ten cents about these six examples. Maybe we should create a category called multiple Cueballs. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
:Note that I have not changed any of these... yet. But maybe I should revert those three I think is plain wrong, so the Cueball and friend is changed. Then we can see if anyone changes back? ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

:::I advise waiting. If you want to enact 4, go for it, but then put in the discussion a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob link] to our discussion for '''all''' the changes you make so hopefully someone besides you and me goes to that page and weighs in.

To answer your question, I've read xkcd for years (I started reading regularly around the time there were ~500 total comics), lurked on explainxkcd and made anonymous minor edits for most of that time. I set up an account in July 2013, when I began making more regular edits.

I recognize that the issue has a large amount of inertia. My point is precisely that there are 9 "Rob" comics and countless Cueball. But, as I stated on the page, there is ample evidence that the same character (Black Hat's friend/roommate, Megan's boyfriend) '''is''' named Rob. I haven't done a count, but I suspect that "Megan" is named in the comic fewer than 9 times, but characters of her appearance are '''all''' called "Megan".

Yes, multiple Megans triggered the idea that's been brewing in my mind since someone (not me) made an anonymous comment on a relatively recent Rob comic [1168: tar]. Since I read that it's been sitting in my mind, but I haven't wanted to make an issue. However, the asymmetry between Megan/Cutie and Rob/Cueball grates for me and I want to urge the community here to evaluate critically whether it is the right thing or an inappropriate historical artifact. Years ago, [Cutie] was abolished (redirects now to [Megan]), I think it's objectively appropriate to make a symmetrical arrangement for Rob/Cueball (hence my options 2 & 3 in the public discussion thread).

For now, if you want to go changing all those comics go ahead. I won't argue or revert, but I request that you put the following (or something close to it) in the discussion of all the comics you change "I've removed the name 'Cueball' from this and several other comics that have multiple Cueball's in them as per my position on the issue currently under discussion at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob if you support this change or disagree with it, please weigh in on that discussion thread."

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from more users. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 00:04, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

::::Dear Djbrasier
:(By the way my name is Kynde - that is both my nick and my middle name).
:Thanks for this very open talk. I like you much better now ;-)
:If I do change any of these I will do as you ask. It is not like I have forever to do these changes, although I for sure use too much time already on explain... I think I will add the category:Comics with multiple Cueballs. What do you think of the name if I do (and if I do then maybe also make one with Category:Comics where Megan is named Megan. Please tell me you can think of a better name for that one ;-) I only know of the three now mentioned on [[Megan]]s page.
:As you can see om my page, I have only used explain xkcd since late 2013. So you have been member longer than me by some months. I did not read xkcd before that - became fascinated with the What if section on xkcd and when I finished with those I turned to the comic. But found that I failed to understand quite a few, and thus searched and found this page. I have read them as they come out since then, and then also began reading from no. 1. But since I always look in this page for the explanation and like to contribute I only progress very slowly. Recently I have reached [[540: Base System]] where I have made several improvements additions and corrections. And that is as far as I have reached reading straight fro no. 1. But I have of course used the cross referencing and thus read many in between that and those from October 2013.
:Regards Kynde --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:02, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

::Happy to have the discussion and to get to wiki-know you. I definitely see your points. I added a few comments and links to our public discussion in the hopes that, over time, it will attract more users to the community portal discussion. I suspect it will take some months for enough users to weigh in that we have a reasonable consensus. I think that if you remove "Cueball" from some of the comics you mentioned above and put a link to the portal page in the discussion block of those comments, that will prompt community input.
::Cheers,
::DJ [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:40, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

I also added incomplete tags to a few comics in which I think a strong argument can be made that "Cueball" is really Rob, despite his name not showing up (Boombox & Cover-up) [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:49, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
:Well I disagree again. See the talk pages. But then it is out for discussion.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:19, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

I have changed several of the Multiple Cueballs comics as you said was OK with you. See the new caregory. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:41, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

== xkcloud permalink usernames ==

You said "The user name and user picture stay the same though.", [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1506:_xkcloud&diff=prev&oldid=88207 An Anon] had mentioned that [http://xkcd.com/1506/#post/3c34fb48-1a07-51d2-a81d-5257a3681024 3c34fb48-1a07-51d2-a81d-5257a3681024] had the name "Lauren Ibsen Dolores Amit" and changed to "Margaret5", then by the time I looked at it, it had "Virginia2006". It still has "Virginia2006" now, but since it has changed twice I wouldn't assume it is now permanent. Due to this, I [[1506:_xkcloud/Table of Permalinks|haven't been saving the usernames]]. Could you confirm that you see Virginia2006? Perhaps it's different for each user. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 21:09, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:Yes I did see Virginia2006. I think it may change some times, but then suddenly it could become stable? The permalink used on the main page of the explain, was mine. I noted it was Mark Zuckerberg. But this has changed. But now I think it is stuck on: Destiny1983 and always with the skating "Megan". Can you confirm this: http://xkcd.com/1506/#post/50b47c70-3a7c-504d-bcc0-60597338e999 . Cool that you have collected all these images. Can we put the link under the permalink section. As you can see I'm trying to completely revise the page so it is easier to find the explain and then only see the detail if you are interested. Hope you like these changes --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:27, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
::Yeah, I see Destiny1983 on that one too. I like the changes, they make everything much clearer. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 21:30, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:::Thanks. I was trying to make it easier to write some extra info on your permalink page, and deleted most of them. Luckily they are not deleted permanently. But the page is so big I have trouble loading it. I try to repair my mistake, but else please do so for me, and sorry in advance. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:45, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::::NP, <tt>&action=history</tt> is a life-saver. I was going to suggest using <tt>&action=edit&section=0</tt>, but I see you've already added a description heading. It also lags pretty badly for me so I expect I'll have to stop at 10000, and I'm already up to 8444 since my last edit to the page. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 22:20, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
:::::Yes I think I fixed it but I had to split it in three uploads. How many different pictures do you think there are. I guess some off them are the same? (And same for text). Maybe the last part can be seen by sorting the table. But does the image also have the same name when used more than once? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:33, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::::::Well, I know of 1419 unique images so far. Yes, both images and text are reused for different permalinks, some come up a lot more frequently than others. If you click the heading, you can sort by either image or text, which will group them together. It's kind of interesting to see different captions for the same image. If you mean the same username, I haven't checked. I also haven't checked whether the same pair of image and text ever appear together as different permalinks, I'll check that <s>eventually</s>, <s>later</s>, ''right now''... nope. I imagine the prompt never even ''suggests'' a caption which is already associated with an image. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 23:27, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

::::::I hit the 2mb page limit at 10217 permalinks, out of the 15000+ I have found, so I've reduced the table to only show each image and text once. As in, ''either'' the image or text once, so there will be a couple of duplicate images and text. So what I said previously about sorting to see different captions for the same image no longer applies, but the page will be more manageable this way. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 13:53, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

::::::: So you think that it will not be possible for anyone to add the same image to the same caption, because this caption will never again come up with this image or the other way around? I can see yo have removed the ? where they where something else like turtles... Nice. What about all the links below? Are they just the other 10.000 links not associated with a new image or caption, just a different combination? If so maybe this should be made clear. You could make a new section heading for them. Would it be possible to list them in any other way, or is this to save space? Alternatively you could make a new subpage with extra permalinks for further study. We of course both know that no one will ever read these again ;-) But nice work anyway. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:17, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

:::::::: So far, I've never found the same image and same caption, but I'll keep checking, as I'm still storing all of the information, just not posting the full list to the wiki now. The other links at the bottom are all 15000+ permalinks I've found, good point about making that more clear. It might also be a good idea to list them on another separate page to save space, but they're not for further study, as I have all the images and captions associated with them, there just isn't room to display all of the information, because it would currently take 3mb+. Regarding the symbols, I was previously pasting my javascript output into my text editor to format them, but now I have my script format them for me, so the symbols are preserved. - and it's also a lot easier for me. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 14:29, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

:::::::: Well, I've hit the 2 megabyte limit again, so it looks like we'll have to put the table on one page and the list of links on another. Any suggestions for the page titles? -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 15:25, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
::::::::: You are crazy :-) My suggestion is that you create a new page called Table of Permalink (with the explanation at the top the same, but now linking to the old page, and vice versa for the old page to the new). Then let the list of permalink stay on the old page. And move the table to the new page. Finally, look at what pages direct to the old page, and redirect them to the new, only leaving link to the old page from the new one. The table is most important. The problem with your table is that it is too big for anyone to load... Maybe there should even be another page in between. Which is called - a selection of permalink. And then with link to the full table and links, with a fair warning about huge amount of data (Big data.). My explorer just went down trying to load the page (or maybe I'm just too impatient?) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:36, 24 April 2015 (UTC) (Ah, now it is finished loading...)
:::::::::: Thanks. I haven't tried it in internet explorer, but the table loads okay with Chrome on my laptop I bought 7 years ago. Now that the pages are split, it might load faster for you. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 18:58, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

==[[1608: Hoverboard/Transcript|Hoverboard Transcript]]==

Sorry to ask about such a minor thing, just curious about why the man on the raised plateau can't be a woman. Elsewhere in the comic Darth Vader is seen explaining Steven Universe to someone. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.43|108.162.221.43]] 13:46, 3 December 2015 (UTC)
:Hi - it cold be. But to me it looks like a family. But to be honest I had not expected anyone to change it, and did not notice before I had copy pasted some text in from the document I write the transcript in. But hopefully at some time this family (or whatever) becomes part of the effort to explain the entire comic. My guess is that someone will know who it is - that they are from some TV series or movie. In that case it will become clear if it is (as I assumed) a family with mom and dad and two children or if it is a lesbian couple or something entirely different... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

::The family resembles the main characters of Steven Universe, a cartoon(the characters being three women and a child) The explanation page also lists them as such(Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems - (x: 551664, y: -567383). [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.64|173.245.55.64]] 21:03, 3 December 2015 (UTC)
:::Perfect thanks. Then is makes sense with the Vader reference. Is it the boy who is Steven? And is the low girl also a grown woman? I will look it up but thanks for answering. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:07, 3 December 2015 (UTC)
::::Fixed the transcript. Some of the link I put in, is not supposed to be there, but may be moved once they are explained in the main article.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:20, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

== Hair Bun "Girl" ==

Hi Kynde, I noticed you created the character page for "Hair Bun Girl". This naming convention is inconsistent with most of the other characters named here, e.g. Cueball, Ponytail, Hairy, et al. Beret Guy is a potential counterexample, but the words "guy" and "man" don't have the same relationship as "girl" and "woman". Partly for consistency, and partly for simple feminism, I'd like to open a conversation about changing the character's name please. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:08, 4 February 2016 (UTC)
:I think it is exactly the same as guy vs. girl. Hair Bun Woman is just too cumbersome. But if you can find a name like Ponytail that fits then by all means. Hairbun just doesn't do it for me. But I do not have any specific feelings for this name, I just found that she was used too often to not have a character page. So I will not take offence against you trying to find a better name through a conversation. Contraty to for instance Megan, which once was Cuetie (sexistick I think), it will not be so hard to change Hair Bun Girl's name to something else, but still she has just reached comic no. 20 so it is not easy to find all the references. Are you ready to do that job if you do get a new name for her? Because else it is just semantics --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:20, 4 February 2016 (UTC)
::Thanks, appreciate it. Yes I am ready to do the job. What would you recommend for next steps? Should I raise the issue at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Coordination? [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:06, 7 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Your welcome, and good luck. Try to see [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob|this post]] regarding the naming convention of [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] which much to my joy did not end up in altering anything, but they were "old" names, Hair Bun Girl is new. You could post you suggestion there. And maybe make a note at the top of [[Hair Bun Girl]]'s page? (You can write Notice as a template just like the incomplete. Check out this [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cueball&oldid=92611 old version of Cueball page history]). Now that I think about it '''Hairbun''' is probably as good a name as [[Ponytail]]. So I would think that would be a decent proposal for a change. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:08, 7 February 2016 (UTC)
::::Okay, process started. Thank you for the good wishes and guidance. [[User:Jkshapiro|Jkshapiro]] ([[User talk:Jkshapiro|talk]]) 04:31, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

=== Girl With Hairbun? ===

I have identified several comics that have a girl (clearly a child) similar in appearance to Hairbun.
Examples include [[1104: Feathers]], [[1352: Cosmologist on a Tire Swing]] and [[1370: President]]. Would these people be included under Hairbun? Most of them are not marked as such. And what are the requirments to make a new character? I think this girl has appeared rather often. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.42}}
:Hi. If you look at the description for [[Hairbun]] it clearly states that she is an adult as are Ponytail and Cueball etc. So no, these examples should not be included in Hairbun category. If you look at the last entry on the talk page of President I suggested a children category. But I would agree that a category with curious girl or science girl could be relevant. She is also in [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]] for instance. If there are about five comics that could go in a new category it is just to create it. The naming is important though. See othere categories for what to write on the category page. I have made several including Hairbun --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:12, 27 May 2016 (UTC)
::Thanks for your input. I think I will be creating this category soon. Since most of the names seem to refer to the hairstyles (they are recognizable) I think I'll be going with the name "Double Bun Girl".

== Marking edits as minor edits ==
Hey, I noticed that you mark lot of your edits as minor edits while most of them aren't. For example, [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645%3A_Toasts&diff=112997&oldid=112996 this]] and probably [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=113008 this]] too constitute as a minor edit, but these - [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=112997 [1]]], [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=113003 [2]]], [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1645:_Toasts&diff=next&oldid=113009 [3]]], etc. aren't minor edits. Refer to the wikipedia guidelines for minor edits - {{w|Help:Minor_edit}}.
::Examples include typographical corrections, formatting and presentational changes, and rearrangements of text without modification of its content. A minor edit is one that the editor believes requires no review and could never be the subject of a dispute.
Basically, if you are adding/removing even a little bit of content, it is not minor. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 23:31, 21 February 2016 (UTC)

Oh, and how in the world is [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Thing_Explainer&curid=16286&diff=113034&oldid=113033 this ]] and [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1608:_Hoverboard&curid=16986&diff=113019&oldid=113013 this ]] minor !! [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 23:47, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
:Sorry about that. I just updated my settings where it had been set to default: "Mark all edits minor by default". If I by mistake click OK to an update before clicking that off it was to late. But now it will be the other way instead. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:19, 22 February 2016 (UTC)
::Cool, no worries. It happens. I was just surprised that everything was marked minor. Anyway, keep up the good work. I see that you're finishing up all the incomplete explanations and improving comics in general. Great work ! :) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 01:04, 23 February 2016 (UTC)
:::Thanks for the support, nice to get some feedback. Also great that someone mentions when you are doing something the wrong way. I had only limited experience with wiki pages before signing up here, and I had not read the wiki page on minor edits, but now I have. How come you have chosen not to have an account? Seems like you also make several comments and changes... which is great ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:11, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

== Please create the discussion page for today's comic. ==
Thanks. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.13|108.162.221.13]] 15:02, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
:Well just did that (for [[1652: Conditionals]]) but not because I saw this comment, just before. I guess it is not possible for no registered users to create pages? Well I fulfilled your wish before I knew about it ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:05, 7 March 2016 (UTC)

== Moving comments around ==
Please do not move people's comments into unrelated discussions without asking them, and if you do, make sure the timestamps in the reply chain aren't out of order. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 20:36, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:I expect you were referring to [[Talk:1659: Tire Swing]]? Well all comments I moved were regarding the same question of who the girls looked like, and they should have been posted as replies to the first. There were no time stamp on the first comment and your post asking if they were children were posted straight under a post about if they were Megan and Hair Bun girl or Thelma and Louise. So I do believe your comment belong under that statement. But fine by my that it just stand beneath instead of being indented. The time stamp of all comments seem to be in time order as I see it. It would get really confusing or I would have to make the same reply three times if they were not together. The comments in between were not at all related and there should be no confusion. So I think it made the discussion page much more useful what I did.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:52, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
::Well I don't know about the other users, but I know for a fact that mine wasn't in response to the first one. I don't even know what the first one said, I just moved it from the explanation to comment page. And mine was posted immediately after it because I was chronologically the second comment made. I had no reason to wait (interestingly, you moved someone else's comment so that I was replying to it, even though it didn't exist when I posted.) [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 00:41, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
:::I cannot see that what you say is true about moving your comment. I just checked the history and here is what I found:<br>
'''This was what it looked like before my changes:''' <br>
--- <br>
the women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new?
sorry for commenting here, but I do not have rights to create a new page, which seems to be necessary for posting the fire comment. Will move once the comment section is created.

I think they are Thelma and Louise (from the movie) given the looks of their hair {{unsigned|Chichak|March 23, 2016}}

I think they're children [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:33, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe they got the truck from Black Hat's garage? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:34, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

I have yet to use a tire swing that was made from a worn tire (worn by the road not by swinging). From my experience, expired tires used by automobiles typically have sharp metal protruding from the rubber. This would make a dangerous tire swing. I thought landscaping (rubber mulch) and playgrounds was the preferred recycling method for used tires?--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:35, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

The first one certainly looks like Hair Bun, but the second one (which in in the explanation is presented as Megan) has a somewhat curly hair. Could she be another character, perhaps? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.166|108.162.218.166]] 17:05, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
<br>--- <br>
'''This what it looked like after:'''<br>
--- <br>
the women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new?
sorry for commenting here, but I do not have rights to create a new page, which seems to be necessary for posting the fire comment. Will move once the comment section is created.
:I think they are Thelma and Louise (from the movie) given the looks of their hair {{unsigned|Chichak|March 23, 2016}}
::I think they're children [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:33, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:::The first one certainly looks like Hair Bun, but the second one (which in in the explanation is presented as Megan) has a somewhat curly hair. Could she be another character, perhaps? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.166|108.162.218.166]] 17:05, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
::::As the tire comes from a truck and it's diameter is more than half the height of these small girls they are definitely kids (not that Randall could not have made adults make a swing as like in [[150]]). Also this makes it much more funny that they both stole a car and beat up an angry adult. And now they are going all environmental after wards. So they are not Megan (which looks nothing like a curly haired girl) and also not Hair Bun Girl as it is defined that these characters are adults. There are many stories using kids and they will never represent Cueball, Megan or Ponytail etc. Those with hats are for instance never drawn small! Have thus corrected the explanation. But it still seems to miss much more on the environmental issue which is the subject/point of the comic if not the joke --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:19, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe they got the truck from Black Hat's garage? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:34, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:Then they would have lost the fight: [[433: Journal 5]]! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:22, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

I have yet to use a tire swing that was made from a worn tire (worn by the road not by swinging). From my experience, expired tires used by automobiles typically have sharp metal protruding from the rubber. This would make a dangerous tire swing. I thought landscaping (rubber mulch) and playgrounds was the preferred recycling method for used tires?--[[User:R0hrshach|R0hrshach]] ([[User talk:R0hrshach|talk]]) 15:35, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
:I think you are correct. We have one for our kids (though it sucked and we took it down again) and that was a brand new tire, but not one I think would be suitable for any car though. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:22, 23 March 2016 (UTC)<br>
---<br>
'''As can be seen'''
:::I have only moved one comment up, and that was not yours! That you did not check that there already seemed to be two comments above yours, about the appearance of the girls, doesn't mean that it would not make sense to pool all these questions and comments regarding exactly this topic together to give just one answer. And as you can see from the above '''I did NOT move your comments''', but I moved someone else's comment, in between the first and second of your comments, to be able to reply to all four things already written about the girls (ie. 1) The women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new? 2) I think they are Thelma and Louise (from the movie) 3) I think they're children and 4) ... a somewhat curly hair. Could she be another character?) All that was what I replied to, now possible to do in one go right beneath all four remarks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:47, 25 March 2016 (UTC)
::::There was only one comment before mine, and it was 2 paragraphs. You moving the second half into a reply of the first half caused some of the confusion here [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 06:54, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
:::::OK now I understand, so it was not your comment I moved, but the previous comment that I split in two (that was a mistake). That you did not answer to the comment above was of course not clear since it was on the same subject. Again this, as I understand it, was caused by someone posting a comment in the explanation, and you moving it into the comments section (which was fine, but made it hard to find out who posted what.) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:58, 26 March 2016 (UTC)

== Gardening ==

You mention "three links to images that did not work" in my "garden store for deer" entry. [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:UploadStash/thumb/13xmd97bimg0.n2wbws.5455.png/739px-13xmd97bimg0.n2wbws.5455.png These]
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:UploadStash/thumb/13xn667h2jlw.jonmk1.5455.png/739px-13xn667h2jlw.jonmk1.5455.png three]
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:UploadStash/thumb/13xod68rb29s.7fj65u.5455.png/739px-13xod68rb29s.7fj65u.5455.png links]
all work for me; they are images I tried to upload, scaled as large as the server would allow (739x461). Somehow I can upload images but not create image pages (also the spam protection is still triggered, so creating this account seems to accomplish nothing). It's very strange that the server has stored them but won't allow anyone else to view them (after logging out, it tells me I "must be logged in to upload files" instead of displaying the images). Someone should rescue the images from wherever they reside on the server.

The "face" I referred to (the second image) is really a cluster of leaves and branches: the bottom cluster of the rightmost tree looks like a head in profile, with curly hair, an eye, a grinning mouth, and a prominent nose. The two rightmost trees started with no branches (first image), but grew several when I placed a light above them. I moved the light so the face wouldn't be destroyed and tried to grow branches on the lower trunks. The third image is essentially the same as what you uploaded today.

Regarding Megan's office furniture: I'd actually pruned her second wand whenever it appeared, and then the bird took its place. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 15:29, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
:Hi .42 First I think it take a few days (three) before you are allowed to create new pages to fight off spam boots that we have had problems with. I cannot see you images I get the following message:
:'''Internal Server Error'''
:'''This file (13xmd97bimg0.n2wbws.5455.png) doesn't belong to the current user.'''
:Cool that you have logged in as a user, although poor name ;-) On the other hand if you are a fan of Hitchhikers Guide then I guess it would be cool enough by the way. I'm happy to see that I finally get a chance to prune some of my gardens after several upsets since the comic came out. If I can help you with the images let me know. Maybe you can post them somewhere else and I can find upload them for you? [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:34, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

::I'll try to upload tomorrow, then. I don't know where the server found the .42 IP address — that isn't my address! It's ''really weird'' that it chose this number. [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 16:18, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Have you seen libra's [http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=114415&start=480#p3954408 purple light] gardens? [[User:.42|.42]] ([[User talk:.42|talk]]) 22:58, 11 April 2016 (UTC)
:No I had not. I like the stilt on platform up in tree. I did not know this could happen. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:24, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

== [[1703: Juno|NASA versus the press]] ==
Hi Kynde. I'm afraid I disagree. It seems pretty clear to me that the question about the tip-off comes from NASA. I've added a topic to the talk page, where I explain my reasoning, and where this should be discussed if you still disagree. Thanks! [[User:Garik|Garik]] ([[User talk:Garik|talk]]) 16:52, 6 July 2016 (UTC)
:Yes I still disagree. To me it seems like a continuation of the conference and it is now the press to speak. And given that I knew Juno to be related to Jupiter but not that she was the daughter of Saturn (and given the reason for the naming in the real world) I would not say that the name in any way would lead anyone to take it as a hint for going to Saturn. But great to discuss it. Will post this on the [[Talk:1703:_Juno|talk page]] too. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:21, 6 July 2016 (UTC)

== 1712: Politifact ==
Hi, I'm the BOT and I'm BORG...

...nevertheless your enhancement to the transcript was too much. And I think your enhancements to the explain section is also overrunning the target.

But I just only did revert the transcript. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:19, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
:HI BORG... :/
:I Highly disagree with your changes.
:A transcript serves several functions:
#To make it possible to find out what any text/characters reads, even if it is hard to read in the comic.
#To make a description of what happens in the images. This has two purposes:
##So people with eye disabilities can find out what the comic is about. So here a full description of the comic is needed apart from the text.
##So it is possible to search the comic for info on the content, like a woman with a hat with a white tag.
#Finally it is great if the transcript represents the way it is written in the comic as close as possible including colors (which should also be described in the text for those that cannot see them selves). So tables, colors and formatting is fine. If the text then is harder to read it is possible to copy paste it.
:I can see there may have been a bit of explanation in that I wrote about what Megan did in the previous panel, but that is not enough to just undo the whole thing.
:I will reinsert the transcript and if you disagree then lets discuss either on that comic or in a general fora on what a transcript should contain.
:Regards, just Kynde. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:16, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

== Follow-Up on that "Random Chat" ==
Hey dude! Uh... wow this is awkward. You said hi to me in the random chat on my user page. I said hi. Then we never said anything else to each other again. xD --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 16:07, 25 October 2016 (UTC)
:Hi Jay. Not so awkward. :-) I mean you just said thanks, and thus did not really initiate any chat. Do you have anything in mind? Like something to be improved here on explain? Something larger maybe that could need discussion. Or anything else... Problem is of course that when I chat to you here, you do not get any reminder like when I chat on your page and visa versa. So I will make a post on your page that I have answered here... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:04, 25 October 2016 (UTC)
::Well, by that, I just meant a simple random chat. Like a "hey! how are you doing? that's nice... what do you like to do in your free time..?" kind of chat. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:18, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
:::Ah well, I guess I would not really like to have such a chat on these pages, so sorry that I misunderstood you. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:19, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
::::It's alright.. also.... HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :D --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 14:41, 31 October 2016 (UTC)
:::::Wow... it's (almost) a whole year since then. Time sure flies by, huh? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]]<sup>[[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]]</sup> 12:34, 9 October 2017 (UTC)
::::::Yes that is true. Actually more since the first contact ;-) Haven't been so active the last half year. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:22, 11 October 2017 (UTC)

== [[1751: Movie Folder]] ==

Assuming that Black Hat only has good movies is rather absurd, as there's not a shred of evidence to support this. Especially since this is Black Hat we're talking about. Therefore, there's no evidence that Titanic 98 is about the ship hitting the reef, and therefore, the calculations about stacking 97 ships have no relevance. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.81|172.68.79.81]] 15:06, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
:Since this is relevant to a specific comic, I suggest that you just leave this comment on that specific comic's discussion board. Thank you. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 15:13, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
::Yes that is true Jay. Anyway there is reason to believe that Black Hat either thinks or teases Cueball with his movies, and thus he suggest that the movies he has are god. Also the other comment he makes suggest this. So I think there is a lot of evidence that this movie 98 is one in the series of movies where Titanic hits the reef of older Titanics. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:05, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
:::Cueball names 7 movies, Black Hat replies to 4 of those. He has definitively positive things to say about 2 of those, and simply states information about another. In that context, there's no reason to assume his comment about the Titanic series should be interpreted as a claim that he considers Titanic 98 to be 'good'. And with only 2 of the other 6 known movies in his collection being stated as 'good', that's clearly not "a lot of evidence" that Titanic 98 is 'good'. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.86|108.162.237.86]] 21:24, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
::::Well we disagree on that then. If the explanation should be changed on the basis of this discussion it should be moved to the relevant discussion page. If it is the same person who wrote from both IP .81 and .86 you could move it there your self. Feel free to include my replies, but leave out Jays as that has nothing to do with the discussion. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:56, 4 November 2016 (UTC)
:::::[[Talk:1751: Movie Folder#Titanic XCVIII|Done]]. (Yes, .81 and .86 were me) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.86|108.162.237.86]] 16:57, 4 November 2016 (UTC)

== Transcript TLDR; ==
*I got so tired of Dgbrt's negative comments (TLDR;), that I have collapsed them here below. Fell free to read them if you really wish by clicking: --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:00, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
<br>
Please stop to write this massive texts into the transcript. Have a look at the discus at the last (1798) comic. And also think about that you are the only one who is entering those massive explains perhaps also nobody does read. LESS is often MORE! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:43, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:Maybe. I was under the impression that they where both there for those that had problems with vision, and also so you could search on something you remembered from a comic and find it using that tool. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:27, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::Even visually impaired persons don't like it (see 1798). And TLDR means "too long; didn't read", just in case. You should consider this. Reading the transcript should not take much longer than identifying the features from picture itself. Every spoken text and a short description what is shown should be suffice. At [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones]] even not every county must be mentioned; showing differences to a regular map projection should be enough because everybody knows a regular world map. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:44, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::I completely disagree about only writing spoken text. The transcript is intended to make it possible to read all text in the image not just spoken text. It is often difficult to read all text, and also if people misread it or do not notice it by looking at the image, it will be there to find in the transcript, especially for those visually impaired. And what you said means there should be no transcript for the current comic [[1799]] where you linked to this discussion from. By the way I know what TLDR means, and also did not ask about it, if you noticed! I have seen it used here before, probably regarding something you wrote! ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:33, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::I agree with Dgbrt. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:50, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::I expect mainly people who agree comes here, as people who are not troubled by it, might not care enough. ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:33, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::::The first criticism was done by a visually impaired person (Zetfr 23:11, 13 February 2017 (UTC)) at [[Talk:1798:_Box_Plot]]. That was the reason for me to start this discussion.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:52, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::::Yes thanks for pointing that out. I had not read his comments when I replied before. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:13, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::Another reason for detailed transcripts with image descriptions is that sometimes people have misunderstood what is in the image, and then a transcript can be used to make sure what is there. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:33, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:::All that may go into the explain section; it doesn't belong to the transcript.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:52, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
::::Yes maybe, but will the visibly impaired not also be annoyed about it there. Then maybe in a trivia section if there is need. I will try that for [[1798]] I think. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:13, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Maybe not known to all. In the past Randall provided a transcript on each comic. It is in a hidden div-tag. Then something went wrong and the transcript actually belonged to an older comic. Right now there is no transcript anymore. But have look at this example (shown on https://xkcd.com/1664/ for https://xkcd.com/1662/):
<pre>
[[Two children, a girl and a boy, are talking to an adult woman as they walk away from her. The boy has a bucket.]]
Girl: Me and Jack are going up the hill to fetch a pail of water.
[[The children have left; the woman calls after them.]]
Woman: Okay, have fun! [[The woman stands and thinks.]]
Woman: ... wait. What the heck is going on with the hydrology around here?
{{Title text: Jill and Jack began to frack. The oil boosts their town. But fractures make the bedrock shake and Jack came tumbling down.}}
</pre>
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:07, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
:Yes I tried to include this on explain xkcd by making a [[xkcd#Transcript_on_xkcd|description]] of it on the [[xkcd]] page some weeks ago. Transcript are of course even more important now that there are no longer transcripts on xkcd. The first problem arose after the [[Hoverboard]] comic where the transcript for all comics after that was shifted two and later three comics from the one they belonged to. The last of those shifted transcript ended with [[1674]] whose transcript was found three comics later at [[1677]]. But also comics with transcript needs a better transcript here on xkcd, to include other written text, and small important details, as well as we are using given names for characters which Randall has never used (or only rarely uses). Actually Randall has once made a direct link to Explain xkcd for a better transcript. Alas there was not transcript until this year, where I made it: See this [[Payloads#Trivia|trivia]] under [[Payloads]].--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:16, 17 February 2017 (UTC)

I'm glad this discussion is finally taking place. I raised the point a while back on [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#purpose_of_detailed_transcripts the community portal] but nobody noticed. I tried again on [[1795]] but attention had already moved on to the next comic... Seems I got it right this time ;-)
Different people may have different uses for the transcripts. For me, being visually impaired, the right level of detail is that of Randall's official transcripts. It should include every written word in the comic (spoken, printed, in captions, etc.) and just enough information on what's going on to "get it", but not how things are drawn. E.g. "Cueball is talking to Megan", not "Cueball, on the left, has his right arm extended towards Megan who is sitting on a chair" (unless the chair somehow plays a part in the story). Imagine you're talking on the phone: "hey, I saw a great comic this morning, here is how it goes..." and then "tell" yor friend the joke, rather than "describe" the comic. BTW, I think this also serves your goal of being able to search old comics for a specific element. The element you'll remember will be something important to the comic's story, not a graphical detail such as a character's position or the number of lines drawn around his hand to indicate movement. Anyway, thanks for the good work!! Zetfr 16:18, 16 February 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks for the input, especially to Zetfr. I had not seen your comment on 1795 or in the community portal. I'll have a look, and thanks to Dgbrt for letting me know about your latest comment. I will try to keep out the details in the transcript. For me personally I have often been looking for a specific thing, like searching for the comic where Cueball stands on a chair with a sword or rotates in an office chair. As I could not remember any lines spoken, and because those making the transcript had not mentioned either spinning office chair, or sword, I could not search my way to them even in this explain page. I have found them later, but by chance. And then I put in the details. Maybe I have gotten carried away, so sorry about that. I think the details somehow belongs, but if that should be in the trivia, or at the bottom of the transcript...? I'm not sure, which was also why I put it in the transcript. Being the one who makes the most edits and also hard work (large tables, and huge transcripts) I'm happy Zetfr likes the page :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:09, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
::I have changed the transcript for [[1795]] putting the details into a subesection of the transcript. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:38, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:::Hi Kynde, I still disagree with this subsection solution. You don't have to repaint the picture by text! If a detail is important for understanding a pun it has to be mentioned in the transcript itself; otherwise it is useless and oversized. E.g.: Nobody wants to know -- and wont remember later -- if there are two, three, four, or five sound symbols and how they are painted. The single word "SOUND" describes all. And please consider: Nobody reads those long texts. LESS is often MORE!.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:04, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
::::Hi Dgbrt. We can movie it into a trivia. I think some of it is relevant, and sometimes it is hard to find out which part will be searched for later. But I guess we two alone would end in a [[1800: Chess Notation|½-½]] for this discussion so far... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:41, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:::::I completely agree with Dgbrt. The transcript should say *what* Randall wants to tell us, not *how* he tells it. In most cases this should also work to let you search for details you remember. In your example, Cueball holding a sword is certainly important to the comic's point, so it should be mentioned in the transcript. But the length and position of the sword are irrelevant, and probably not what you'll search for. Obviously, there is no hard rule to decide what should or shouldn't go into the transcript, it's a matter of personal judgment and common sense, but I think we can all agree on general guidelines. Regarding the "Detailed image description" section tested in [[1795]], I have no problem with that. I'm not sure it will ever be useful to anyone, but it won't do any harm either, so if you're willing to put in the extra work, go for it. Zetfr 12:17, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
::::::Thanks Zetfr. About the extra details, they could be put into a section where you had to press to see the extra details. I do not know if a reader will pass over that. For instance like I have done with explanation for several categories like [[:Category:New Year]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:12, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

Nice find for [[1461:_Payloads]], I didn't now Randall refers to this wiki. According to ''web.archive.org'' that hint was entered between 2015-01-25 and 2015-02-07 and refers to the entire wiki page, not only "our" transcript. So it's absolutely NOT embarrassing as you wrote in the trivia section. I'm setting an incomplete tag for the transcript and trivia section and edit it tomorrow (18th Feb). I will let you know what I've done and why. Stay tuned...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:59, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:The rework on [[1461:_Payloads]] is done. But I didn't remove the incomplete tag. That's up to you. Like Zetfr I'm not sure it will ever be useful to anyone, but the larger description on a separate page would be acceptable to me. Furthermore I've done some investigations on Randalls links to this wiki and put it together in a new category: [[:Category:Explain_mentioned_by_Randall]].--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:57, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
::Thanks both for the "nice find" and for reworking Payloads, and especially for the new category. Great find. I will look at the other examples soon. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:12, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

Many thanks by me for this positive and productive discussion. It seems there are some more former transcripts which need a rework. I personally will focus on checking all the JSON-scripts I downloaded today (1799 at all; ofcourse 404 doesn't exist; and exactly seven contain the word "explainxkcd"). I will write a small script to put them into a human readable form and present it somewhere here for further use. Stay tuned... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:45, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
:Thanks Dbgrt. And really cool how you made that new category. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:14, 18 February 2017 (UTC)

== [[xkcd]] page and subpages ==

You moved some contented into subpages which doesn't make it better. There is no need to describe in [[Design of xkcd.com]] a layout everybody can see. The lemma "Design" requires just a few lines of text but you repeat all the "Content". And just for interest: Before the redirect to https was in place (a few weeks ago) there was language specific advertising for the shop. I'm looking forward for a better and more compressed form on all of this. Any suggestions?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:07, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
:Hi Dgbrt. My reason for making this page, is that the links, the comics, the headline, the byline, the warning etc. all changes with time, and I would like users of this site to have easy access to earlier links. Just like we have a category for the fotter comics (which I by the way did not make, but enjoyed, because I never thought absolute that he must have had them before all those five comics had been published and that they thus must have changed). So I thought similar things would be nice to have for changes to the layout and hence I decided to describe it. Maybe it was too much, but I like to have the archive links to changes. And since I had already done lots of work on this, I just copied all the new text to another page, to not delete it. And yes as I have said on Davidy's page I should not have put it on the xkcd page to begin with. But when I started I had no idea it would end up soooo long. Waiting to hear your comments on this info, before going further with suggestions. But thanks for asking. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:16, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
::All those pages are on my agenda; your edit or not. I don't care. But I will not delete any content without an agreement. I will present something in a sandbox at my user page. You are welcome there (not before tomorrow). And consider, this wiki is not a backup for archive.org.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:56, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
:::I think this wiki is for explaining xkcd, not just the comics. I believe you agree as I have seen on Davidy's talk page. And major changes or important revisions to the main page is important in my opinion. For instance I'm sad to see that the [[xkcd warning]] has gone from xkcd, and think it is important to let it be know it was there for many years. Where to do so? And how to find it if you did not know about it? There need to be a place that links to it, directly or indirectly through the xkcd page. I look forward to see you [[Time|sand castle]]. :-) Please leave a comment here when you have something you wish me to see, with a link. Regarding you answer to my comment, I meant that I would hear what you had to say before I came with suggestions. Not that you should not do anything before I made one. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

== I am still calm... ==

...why I shouldn't? You see things inspiring others to see more things... (<- you would wrote 500 words for this) and you are still not able to put the pun on the top of an explanation. Keep your focus on the pun, not on every Million possibilities behind the drawing. And you can be sure I will have an eye on this because this is NOT "dreamingxkcd".--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:15, 4 March 2017 (UTC)
:Well I'm not! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:09, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

== Aggressive edits ==

While I was talking to others about the explanation and the transcript for more than 24 hours you need only one hour to change everything that was discussed before. Again all red is yours: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1810%3A_Chat_Systems&diff=137245&oldid=137225 1810: Chat Systems changes]. Editors, mainly not me, don't like it when all their work is changed after you finished your edits. Please respect other editors! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:50, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:I do not change everything. I add. But we are obviously not going to agree on this. I would prefer not to discuss with you. How do yo know what the others like or not. In the discussions we have had I found more against your way of communication than against my edits. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:57, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::Massive changes and you call it add??? So tell me your adds and explain how all they other changes happened. I will add a sentence to the comic discussion because it's senseless here.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:14, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:::Yes it is. And it is a real shame that you have decided to know how this wiki should be. Hope that Davidy soon tells one of us to back off. If it is me then I will have to take it into account. So far he has only had nice things to say to me about my work here, which is not what I have seen regarding your work. Have you read the other users that calls your tone negative/aggressive or even worse? I have really tried to speak nicely to you, but you never seems to accept any edits I do. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:21, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
::::Your "Citation needed" template add to my text is just one example for what I call aggressive. Hiding four paragraphs is an other.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:09, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
</div>
<br>

== Possible Issues with Updating Old Comics ==

I know you spent a lot of time making edits to many older comics, so I thought you might have some input on one that I'm thinking needs a change - 38 Apple Jacks. I noticed you edited it a little a couple years ago. It's the one where the father tells his son they don't taste like apples, and his son tells him off.

The title text description says it appears to be another case of Randall explaining the comic to readers who don't know about the old commercial, but I think it might be the father telling the son why he was saying that to him. I think it's worth at least adding, if not totally replacing the current description, but I see you had previously added to it during your edits.

How would you handle that type of change, if it were you? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 21:38, 3 April 2018 (UTC)
: Hi Ianrbibtitlht
:I disagree with the idea you have. And my reason for that is based in the original quote from Randall when posting this comic to live journal where he asks:
::"Who else remembers those commercials?"
::See the comics [[38:_Apple_Jacks#Trivia|Trivia section]].
::To me indication that since no one did, he added the explanation in the title text.
:The son dismissed his father completely, and I do not think the father goes on.
:And since many of xkcd's readers may not know the reference he explains it in the title text.
:He did the same with the title text in [[30: Donner]], which is what is refereed to in the title text explanation. I have added links between these two examples. There may be more.
:Of course you are free to add an alternative explanation, and see if any one notices enough to complain about/remove it. ;-)
:--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:57, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

::I appreciate the feedback. I don't feel strongly enough to modify it at this point but thought it might be an added insight that nobody had thought about! ;-) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:57, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

:::Thanks for asking, by the way. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:46, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

== Need help ==
A few things. Several people have mentioned that ReCAPTCA v1 has expired, and something needs to be done about that. But no one has replied to the admin forum, so not sure what is going on. Are there even any admins still here? Seems like they've all disappeared. And should we create a new forum for questions and things like that? And if all the admins have left, should there be like more admins or something like that? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 07:51, 8 April 2018 (UTC)
:Hi
:I haven't any idea about ReCAPTCA and Im not an admin. But yes if there is no one that replies it is a problem. Davidy is the obe I have had discussions with but he did not reply the last two times I wrote. Don't know if DGBRT with the BOT has any knowledge that can be used. Try those two. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:30, 9 April 2018 (UTC)
::FYI, we still have admins here and there will be a major update soon at one of the next weekends. BTW, I prefer it in lowercase: dgbrt - like xkcd--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:16, 16 April 2018 (UTC)
:::Thanks for the info dgbrt, and it sounds greawt. (Your signature is with capital D but that is maybe just as the username? I will use dgbrt from now on). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

== All is red again - you changed everything according to the diff ==

Hi, look at [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1981%3A_Rickrolling_Anniversary&diff=155913&oldid=155905 your edits] and tell me how someone can see what you have changed. Please keep your changes to smaller parts.

And beginning an explanation with a youtube link which even doesn't work in some countries like Germany is also not a god start to an explanation. I'm referring to your edits above. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:27, 16 April 2018 (UTC)
:OK, sorry about that. I will try to make smaller changes. The link was not one I put in, I just moved it to the beginning to rickroll someone - it was a joke... Of course if the link did not work I can understand why you did not get Rickrolled. But the link had already been included in the explanation before my edits. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:24, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks for your understanding, "all is red..." was the reason why I started this section, the video link was meant as a minor remark and that it doesn't work in Germany is even less important for the explanation.
::But I didn't understand your joke. So what do you think about changing all the internal links like [[Cueball]] to rickroll the readers - of course only less important links.
::BTW: Around 2009 and some years later the German GEMA Mafia tried to block all music content until they got the money. Even dashcam videos from the meteorite incident in Chelyabinsk were blocked when you could hear something from the radio in the car. This has changed and newer uploads are now available to me (including Rick). --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:02, 18 April 2018 (UTC)
:::The joke was that this comic was about rickrolling and the link was to the ricrolling youtube video... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:30, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

I just tried to make several smaller changes, and it was much more difficult to me, with the risk of making mistakes... But have a look at this then: [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1982:_Evangelism&action=history Evangelism history].--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:45, 19 April 2018 (UTC)
:I like that but the development of this comic explanation is funny and not a typical one. Many vast changes were done after your comment here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:01, 21 April 2018 (UTC)
::Well happy you do. Most of the changes were improvement, but often based on or improving parts I had edited (well I had edited most parts ;-) What I meant was that some of the good changes only came about because of the changes I had done in the first place. Still seems we need a citation for primates opening at the "wrong" end though? {{unsigned|Kynde}}
:::You know I'm a fan of short explanations just covering what's in the comic. And in [[1982: Evangelism]] there is no "wrong banana end" mentioned. It just mentions "the other" - which is of course always "wrong". The title text then indeed refers to a schism in Europe - the Americans weren't much developed by that time (excepting the natives).
:::BTW: My major workload here right now is working on the health of this wiki. You probably haven't seen my latest comment five days ago just a section above. We will get an update soon. Stay tuned.
:::BTW2: You have forgotten to sign your comment ;)
:::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:19, 21 April 2018 (UTC)
::::Yes we are not fan of the same type of explanations we have covered that. I believe that the majority of humans do peel the banana from the opposite end of that cited (without citations) to what primates do... I'm not sure there is any year for the schism in Europe so who knows how developed the US was at that time. Bananas is a rather new thing in Europe I believe!
::::And no I had not seen that comment, probably same time you posted this comment thread? But sounds great! Are you an admin now? And do you have any contact with Davidy... He went off the xkcd explain grid long time ago.
::::I have amended my mistake and will sign this time ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 23 April 2018 (UTC)

== You blanked the page [[1996]] ==

A you can see [[Talk:1995: MC Hammer Age|here]] "I decided to let it stay there as it is but on Monday that redirect will AND must be overwritten in the meaning of a comic number." That blank page isn't better than my decision. Beginning on Monday the number 1996 MUST be used for navigation (i.e. Comic Number) and nothing else.

Other future comics will be: 1999, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2038. That's all!

All those future comics (by number) - beginning with 1996 on Monday - AND that older ones (by name) should have a disambiguation line on top when the comic number overrides that name.

The problem is the logic at this wiki. While at xkcd the number and name have different meanings and navigation is only done by number it's not true here. While <nowiki>https://xkcd.com/1996</nowiki> will lead to the next future comic and is unique the link <nowiki>https://explainxkcd.com/1996</nowiki> could mean number OR name. We also use the number for navigation, so the abbreviation in the meaning as a comic name can not be supported for those eight comics. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:58, 19 May 2018 (UTC)
:Hi DBBRT
:I first saw your comments after I had blanked it. And I thought it was better to avoid confusion over the weekend. So I did not return it. I think it could be better to already now remove those page re-directions for the comics you mention now, to avoid confusion on all those numbers... A lot of those the next 20 comic or so. We already had a similar situation with [[1337]], because of the LEET comic series. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:15, 23 May 2018 (UTC)
::Read my future comic list above, it's only seven. And the blank page confused some users also. Nevertheless I will change the comic template, navigation to the right will not be shown when the target is greater than the LATESTCOMIC. The BOT will update those redirects anyway. I just prefer some tests at home to figure out the best solution before editing here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:53, 23 May 2018 (UTC)
:::Well, I think 7 times confusing in 20 comics is a lot, but I can read that you are working on avoiding it, so that is great. I'm very impressed by your bot, but then again I have very little programming experience and it was back in my days as a PhD Student around 2002... (Pascal...) Great you have made it and keep improving it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:06, 25 May 2018 (UTC)
::::Thanks for your kind words. I still don't understand the 20, it's only seven comics and I've changed the global comic template so that this is SOLVED now. There is no link to [[1999]] in the navigation bar today. But on Monday my bot will update that page in the meaning of a comic number and the right navigation in [[1998: GDPR]] will be shown. FYI: I'm a professional programmer. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:04, 25 May 2018 (UTC)
:::::Must have been unclear. I meant that over the next 20 comics, there would have been this issue 7 times i.e. about once every week, and I found that it could have caused confusion a lot in those 7 weeks. But now you have solved this with you prof. programmer skills. ;-) So there is no longer any problems. Great work. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:04, 27 May 2018 (UTC)
::::::Thanks for your kind words. And I've done more: Embedding pictures from Commons works again and it's now also possible to change the size. See my latest edit here [[1400: D.B. Cooper]] which uses this statement <nowiki>[[File:DBCooper.jpg|thumb|150px|Cooper]]</nowiki>. That image is not uploaded here, click at it in the comic and you will see. I've mentioned this in the Community portal. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:07, 27 May 2018 (UTC)
:::::::Cool. I'm not sure how this works. Looks at first like the image is on the local wiki but I can see it is not so. But how does this works. Can you write the "File" formula for any picture name on commons and then get it embedded here like that? It is beyond my computer skills :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:02, 28 May 2018 (UTC)
::::::::When the picture isn't here it's searched on Commons. When it's found it's only cached at this wiki. In general it works like a local file. This did already work in the past until it was broken. But now we also can change the size, play with that 150px in the preview. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:15, 28 May 2018 (UTC)
:::::::::Thx --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:08, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

== Why you still focus on that SAD comics? ==

I focus on all edits done here and your edits are minor (there are much more edits here needing some attention), nonetheless I would be happy to find a solution on that ''sad'' thoughts are in your mind. I respect your thoughts, but that trivia at ''[[1756: I'm With Her]]'' really dohttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kyndees not belong to that comic at all. It was deleted before, you reverted that -- by not reading or ignoring the discussion page -- and I just want to prevent an edit war. Furthermore I removed your statement about "trolls" at the discussion page because that's not polite.
*And now
**I start
***with
****your layout
*****You see???
Try to write full sentences without bullets. I'm hoping you understand my major two parts here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:21, 27 October 2018 (UTC)
:Yes I did not read the comments. I was looking for the sad list, when I fond it missing. I saw through the edit and found the following comment:
::This "sad comics" list is utterly pointless and has no reason to exist. I don't regret deleting this waste. If anyone wants to keep it up, revert the edit, but make it readable, compact, and make at least one bit of sense. (Emojis? must be TRUMP!!?!one1!))
:I did not see any discussion there, and found it rude and also not done properly (with many links pointing to this section). So I just reverted it. It could be given its own page though.
:Regarding politeness I must say I did not find most of your comments on the talk page polite as I just read them. As you state "no one has criticized it before", so maybe it is just you, and now some years later a few guys that begins rambling on about it.
:As to why, I think it is quite clear that Randall was sad after the election. Maybe I took it too far, and it should no longer have been "sad", but about comics pointing to a political agenda by Randall. As Randall is on the move again with the mid term election coming, he has both a new political comic out, and has changed the header text with regards to registering for voting twice in a month.
:So I definitely still find it relevant. That has not changed just because two years have passed. What Trump does at the moment is even more disturbing than ever, and I'm sure Randall is thick and tried of it still! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:38, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
::PS. The layout was me trying to make a list of comics that was related to this issue. And with date and events listed as well. Maybe it can be done better, but I at least kept the format throughout. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:39, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
:::You always do this nested bullet lists. That's ugly layout. One bullet and one or two short sentences, not more. In most cases you just should simply omit the bullets and write full sentences. The page [[Design of xkcd.com]] is an other example for this bad layout.
:::But back to the main issue: Even jet you did not read the comments completely. Only after "A) Why does the sad comics list exist (see comment above)?..." I came in. And on 27 October 2018 I mentioned at least four incomplete reasons (the transcript was you).
:::So I recall: The trivia at ''[[1756: I'm With Her]]'' does not belong to that comic at all, and even at a different page the title would be wrong because most of the listed comics are NOT sad. Furthermore I don't know how you do know how Randall feels, he is just a writer and these are only comics.
:::There was a reason why David was against a category for sad comics, and this is still valid. This is the only reason why this section at the trivia of 1756 exists, be honest.
:::So my proposal is:
:::*moving the content to a separate page, either with a new title or only moving the "sad" content and deleting the rest
:::*using the link from the menu: "What links here" at 1756 ([[Special:WhatLinksHere/1756: I'm With Her]]) to fix the links to that part (mostly your former work) and maybe also change the text
:::The comic 1756 has to be explained mainly in the context of the time BEFORE the election. It was a campaign for Hillary Clinton, anything later done by Trump is irrelevant, besides that it has to be mentioned that the campaign wasn't successful. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:16, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
::::Well, I definitely know that the comment in here is mine. I did very much hate the list because, as mentioned in the talk page on the comic, the section was completely disorganized. It took up half of the entire page. As Dgbrt mentioned, the format you use is honestly really ugly, and I have to agree. The real problem that I found was ''after'' I posted the comment he quoted.
::::In that comment, I mentioned that it should have had its own category instead of being completely on that single page, which would have prevented it from the eyes of those who don't like this format. Alternatively, it could have been in a table, a format much more compact, several times easier to understand, and at least 12 octillion times less infuriating to look at.
::::The other mind-boggling and frankly stupid thing about the list, of course, was that you added '''''every. Single. Comic.''''' ...if it seemed to be remotely sad (and even if it ''wasn't sometimes!'') and tried to link it to the political situation and Trump. I, in that comment, presented two of the comics in a - admittedly more asshole-ish - way that you linked them like this. But that's the ''core'' of all of this drama. Hell, in multiple of the comics, you even said that no "big" event seemed related to the situation and simply just put it in because it mentioned the military or security. And even for some of the ones you did present a political event, the speculation that you presented for Randall making these comics was beyond 4chan with Smash Ultimate level.
::::Like I said in that comment, it isn't necessarily a political comment just because something big happened that day. Vomiting Emoji and Flag, the two I highlighted in my comment, have explanations that are just plainly absurd. Randall "expressing fear" that the moon would be gone before the eclipse was ''obviously'' a joke. Randall making a joke that has a flag in the picture doesn't mean he's going to rebel against the United States, make his own country, and science his way to taking it over just so that Trump is no longer the ruler.
::::I wouldn't have had these problems if the list weren't so outlandishly absurd, and combined with the fact that it clogged up the page with a lot of meaningless speculation, I felt pushed to just delete the entire thing. Yes, that may have been extreme of me, and I should apologize for being fed up, but I still maintain that a lot of the stuff on that list is bad. If it's presented in - again - a way that doesn't hurt to read or filled up with what it is, I would have not as many problems with it. But as it looks right now, just making the list collapsible doesn't remove the problem; it's like putting White-Out on a yellow test paper and saying that the question never existed, despite the fact that it's obvious that something is wrong. [[User:Halo422|Halo422]] ([[User talk:Halo422|talk]]) 04:05, 1 November 2018 (UTC)
:::::A bit complicated to reply now. But to Dgbrt I did not read any comments until your post here. I was pissed about the deletion of the entire section, and just undid it. As Dgbrt wrote it can only be deleted properly by also removing links that goes there. I'm not using the page that much at the moment, and do not read all comments. This is also why I first see your comments today.
:::::Dgbrt do you have any good idea for a page title? If it is only the first few comics that are clearly sad, could it then be called "Sad comics"? And should it be a page or a category? If we can find a solution for that, I will try to change it so it can be tolerable... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:01, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::::::I'm honest: I vote for deleting that section. The main reason is that we don't know how Randall feels, whether sad or not. We just have comics, not an autobiography.
::::::If you still vote for keeping I only can see two possibilities:
::::::*Keep the title "Sad comics", move it to a single page (no subpage to any comic), remove most of the content, write a proper text instead of bullets, and start it like "Some comics may suggest the impression..." because your "...clear trend..." is nonsense.
::::::*Or, move everything to a separate page, but then I have no idea about any proper title.
::::::BTW: I've created a new category: [[:Category:Elections]], and as I mention here [[:Talk:2067: Challengers]] it still needs some work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:06, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
:::::::I will think about the possibilities. And I did see your new category. Which is great by the way. There must be many of these from earlier years also?--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:09, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::::::::I need help on this new category because I'm sure there is more. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:12, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::I have now created [[Sad comics]] and moved the content from With her and tried to make the layout better. I do not agree with deleting the references to the other comics, but not they have been separated from the first four sad/negative comics. All links have been diverted to this page from all 16 comics. If there are other comics, not on the list, with link to that section I have not changed those... Many comics could refer to With Her for many reasons so I will not go through them all. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:55, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
:::You've done a big job, so thanks for this on the first place. And I can assure you that you always can find all links at the tools box "What links here", in this case when reading ''[[1756: I'm With Her]]''. I'm still not happy seeing comics like [[2064: I'm a Car]] linking to content titled as ''sad'', but that's up to other editors.
:::'''ProTip''': You should watch pages important to you, just activate "Watch this page" at the bottom when editing, or adjust your "Watchlist" at the top menu belonging to your personal profile. You will receive an email on every change. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:31, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
::::Yes I know about the links, but even though I have reverted the link to the sad trivia section, there may still be a link to the With her comic for other reasons. And there may even be links to the sad section from other comics not listed in my trivia, and I will not go through all pages referencing one of the controversial comics. I by the way highly disagree that we do not know Randall's political opinion. He has also endorsed Obama, so to day it is certain that he endorses the democrats vs Republican is a fact, not a guess. But you changed that on the new [[Challengers]] comic. I will not change it though. I just highly disagree with you on what is a know and what is a guess there.
::::Regarding the comics that are not sad it is not listed as being sad, that is only the first four. The rest is just listing comics that could have to do with Randall's political mood due to Trump and his politics.
::::I no longer have the time I once dedicated to this page... And hence I have taken e-mail alerts off, which is why I first noticed the deletion now. But I get e-mails on personal changes on this page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:37, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
:::::While I'm still sure not knowing much about Randall's condition when his comics are published, I sense ''you'' are sad. I insist you should take a closer look on all your contributions here, which are much more than only this stupid sad stories. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:18, 4 November 2018 (UTC)

== I am still happy to see your additions here... ==

...you did edits I didn't like - and vice versa - but that's a war I don't like. And now I'm in a position in which I have to take care of all the health here, not only what's written.

Ironically: xkcd is also about sarcasm, the hell, shoooouuuuting on the hellll...

I will probably disagree on some of your future edits, but I don't have to judge this. That's up to others here.

So now I'm asking for help on a SMALL page introducing the memes used at this site. Like the Editor-FAQ I did. David did...not that much on that requests over a long time.

While I'm not sure about a proper title, this Wiki still leaks on a page simply showing the memes used here, linking to more specific pages, presented to evrey newbee.

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:06, 16 November 2018 (UTC)
::Thanks.
::I'm not sure I understand the page you are talking about, or what type of memes you mean.
::Also as is probably clear I'm not using that much time on this wiki anymore. I'm not leaving it, I just do not have the time any longer. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:31, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
:::Oh, I'm also not sure, maybe just a title like "About". It often happens that new people asking questions like "Why is the mouse-over text called title text?", how character names have been developed here, and so forth. A simple page, mostly showing links with a small introduction to the more hidden pages you often maintain. New readers have simple questions we don't think about anymore, that's what I would like to present. But it seems I have to collect some more items on which you maybe can help. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 19 November 2018 (UTC)
:::Ah I see. It was the meme part that failed to register. But a about page makes sense. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:37, 20 November 2018 (UTC)

== We got a final image ==

Emoji dome has a wonderful ending image. Do you mind putting it as the current explainxkcd image? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:25, 2 April 2019 (UTC)
:No it is perfect. I can see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:emojidome.png someone already did], it has just not been updated on the front of the page yet. It will be before tomorrow. The other pictures should be collected on a extra page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:56, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

== Removing all references to the Sad comics page ==

Hi Kynde,

I've expressed my intention to remove all references to the Sad comics page over at [[Talk:Sad_comics]], but I wanted to get your input too, since it is your page. Feel free to drop a comment over there if you want to contest this. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 12:56, 13 May 2019 (UTC)
:Hi Hawthorbn. Thanks for alerting me. Did not follow the discussion page on Sad. I of course disagree. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:56, 14 May 2019 (UTC)

== 2196 ==
I mentioned this on DgbrtBOT's talk page, but I'm not sure Dgbrt saw it. Since you're an admin, could you help me with this?
# I uploaded the file, and it appeared in the page, but the link in the List of all comics page is still red. I think I messed up the upload, so could you delete the current file (the one I uploaded) for 2196 and reupload it?
# I created an incorrect redirect page [[Nice To E-Meet you]] (The name is incorrect, I forgot to capitalize the You). Could you please delete that page? Thanks!
[[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 00:52, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
:Hi Herobrine. No I'm not ad admin, just very active, and cannot do anything to delete pages. I can give it a look though cause I have created a few pages long time ago when the bot was not there/working. And yes seems like Dgbrt is not active at the moment. Lets see if it works again this Monday. As you can see [[User_talk:Dgbrt#DgbrtBOT_failed_2019-08-30|here]] I tried to write directly to him. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:38, 1 September 2019 (UTC)
::Can see you have created the page with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Nice_To_E-Meet_You&redirect=no capital You] and I have now moved the image to a title with the hyphen in e-meet, which was missing in your original edit. So now [[List_of_all_comics]] works for the image as well. There are so many things which can go wrong, which is why we love out BOT. Hope it works tomorrow.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:46, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

== Category book promotion ==
Hi, you obviously know a thing or 2 about creating and adding categories, and like to do so :)
I feel like we could need a category about book promotion, with at least 3 comics related to how to and at least one to thing explainer (hoverboard, possibly also up goer five...), and myabe even others I can't remember right now. What do you think? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:31, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Maybe more a list of comics that promote books. Not comics that inspire books, so no to Up Goer Five. But it could get special mention with mention of the category in that explanation as well. But I think we need to find more than 4, five is kind of a limit. Maybe there where something for what if? But I do not think so... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:37, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::Looking at it again, we do have five :) [[Hoverboard]], [[2190: Serena Versus the Drones]], [[2198: Throw]], [[Disappearing Sunday Update]] and [[2194: How to Send a File]]
:::Well great. Do you have an idea for the category name? "Category:Book promotion" ??--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:54, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::::Sounds good to me! --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:56, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:::::Will you add that category to the comics? I can help create the page then. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:57, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
::::::Done --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:07, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
:::::::[[:Category:Book promotion]] page created and found another comic that promotes a book Randall has been involved in! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:40, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

== Broken Button ==
Hi Kynde, I've answered your question on my talk page. But I'll post it here just in case: I think you forgot to update [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]], so it would treat comic 2198 as 2197, hence breaking the button. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 22:55, 3 September 2019 (UTC)
:Thanks, DgbrtBOT has updatet it and now it works! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:40, 4 September 2019 (UTC)

== Thanks ==

I see you went through a few of my recent edits, and corrected them / replied on them / acted on them. Thanks a lot. Also, now I learned from your edits how subcategories work. Thanks also for that. :) (But, please try not to change the word typo to lupo in common use. I don't think it would be an honour :) ) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:00, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
:I hope you could see the joke. Like when you fixed the fix? I also spotted you put a hidden joke . I will not make the same joke again. I guess it was also a kind of signature. I spotted that you where the most active last month. And was interested seeing what kind of edits. More or less I agreed with most... And cool with the spam fight. Do not use the same amount of time as I used to, but have been more active lately... Just became 2nd on all time activity list... Happy you both noticed and approved. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:09, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
::I could see the joke and I enjoyed it :) as I tend to make a lot of typos, it isn't even that far fetched to use my name instead ;). I usually visit the site a few times a day and start on the recent changes page, and check what has happened. That's also how I often quickly find the spam. The other thing I tend to do when I got some free time on my hands is use the "random page" button and find out if I can improve the place I get to. I also saw that you are progressing a lot in the all time list. Last month I even noticed you were in the monthly list at a score that would have put you in the all time top 50 on its own. Impressive! Have a good weekend. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 20:00, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
:::I'm also not native English speaker (Danish), and my grammar is probably horrible. Then it is great it is a wiki so others can fix that. I hope my additions are a plus. Have of course had rows with others, as can be seen above ;-) With some of the big one I think I have had months that would put me in top 20... (Not something I have checked). But with some of the comics where I added a lot of images, I will get a very high score as unique pages gives one point, and every picture uploaded is a new page. The amount of changes I have made puts me in nr. 1 spot, but that doesn't give much compared to number of pages visited. And please feel free to correct my typos. By the way I haven't even read all comics yet, since I have a hard time reading a new one without wishing to make corrections to transcript or explanations, so it takes some time every time I find a new. So between the first comic I saw when I found this page and then back from there there will be lots of comics I haven't even seen yet... Probably why you can find so many transcripts where caption below the panel has not been added (as it was I who began making this the way to write it). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:46, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

== Category for Back to the Future ==

Hi, can you create a category for the film series ''Back to the Future''? To start, there is [[102: Back to the Future]], [[656: October 30th]], [[1477: Star Wars]], [[2104: Biff Tannen]], [[2193: Well-Ordering Principle]], and maybe others. Thanks, [[Special:Contributions/172.68.47.144|172.68.47.144]] 20:26, 31 October 2019 (UTC)
:Hi yes I can. And I did: [[:Category:Back to the Future]]. I added yours. Here is [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=50&offset=0&profile=default&search=%22Back+to+the+Future%22 a search string] that may help find more (for you to add). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:31, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

== Deletion of small categories? ==

Hi Kynde! I posted this on the community portal, but it seems unresponsive, and since none of the admins have edited recently, you seem like the person to ask.
I count eight categories on explainxkcd that satisfy the following properties: 1. They have only three comics in them. 2. They aren't really a comic series; they just feature or reference a comic theme. 3. They aren't Featuring some person or character. In short, they seem to have no real reason to exist. (They're [[:Category:Spice_Girls|t]][[:Category:Wind_turbine|h]] e[[:Category:Ender%27s_Game|s]]eo[[:Category:FernGully|n]][[:Category:Giraffes|e]]s.) In addition, there are [[:Category:Sketches|t]][[:Category:BSD|h]][[:Category:Emacs|i]][[:Category:Identity_Theft|r]][[:Category:Katamari_Damacy|t]][[:Category:Super_Bowl|e]][[:Category:The_Matrix|e]][[:Category:Tournament_bracket|n]][[:Category:Traffic_light| ]][[:Category:Trebuchet|m]][[:Category:Wingsuit|o]][[:Category:Euler_diagrams|r]][[:Category:Pedantic|e]] four-comic categories that also satisfy these requirements. I know non-admins can't delete articles, but because of these articles' status, should I remove their contents and add them to [[:Category:Pages to delete]]? --[[User:Account|Account]] ([[User talk:Account|talk]]) 01:17, 12 November 2019 (UTC)
:Since I'm no admin just the most active over an extended period of time, I cannot really say what to do. Some of the categories I think has merit, I may even have created some of them. And there may be reason to expect more to come. But others I tend to agree. I think Randall has something with Giraffes and the Spice Girl spurt with three in short notice I think merits the categories. The other 6 with three I would not mind if they went away. But then there may need to be some links between those comics. Are you willing to make those? If you do then empty the categories, and put them as up for deletion. Most of those with four I would keep. I have NOT clicked on them all though, just read them here when I edited this response. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:56, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

== Category for Bees ==

Hi Kynde,

Can you add a category on bees, as a subcategory of [[:Category:Animals]]? I've found [[1259: Bee Orchid]], [[1186: Bumblebees]], [[2231: the Time Before And After Land]], [[2035: Dark Matter Candidates]], [[1692: Man Page]], and there are probably more. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.38|172.69.34.38]] 00:22, 22 November 2019 (UTC)
:Done [[:Category:Bees]]. Added your five comics. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:49, 22 November 2019 (UTC)

== New category - comics with store products ==

Hi Kynde, thanks for creating the new page for [[:Category:Comics with store products]]! (I was the one who added the comics to that category, but I didn't have permission to create a new page for the category itself, so I apologize for abandoning it like that.)

For the name of this category, I wanted to follow a similar pattern to existing category names such as "[[:Category:Comics from 2005]]" or "[[:Category:Comics with color]]". So for the name of this new category, I had considered some other more accurate names, such as "[[:Category:Comics upon which xkcd store products are based]]", or perhaps "[[:Category:Comics made into official merchandise]]"; but I felt that these new category names would be a bit too long, so I was trying to keep it more succinct than that. ...But now I realize that the current name I chose is not very clear, and might cause some confusion about what it's supposed to mean, so it was really a poor choice of words on my part. Do you have any ideas for a better name that we could use for this category? If so, please feel free to rename it, then I will go through all the comic pages where I added it, and update them to the new category.

On the other hand, in the edit-history of the [[:Category:Comics with store products]] page, I noticed in your comments that you felt it was maybe not a good idea for a category -- and I certainly understand that, so if you want to just remove this category completely, please feel free to do so, then I will go through and remove it from all the comics where I added it (so as not to leave any broken links behind).

Thanks for your help, and sorry for causing noob trouble!

- [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 09:57, 24 November 2019 (UTC)
:Hi Yfmcpxpj
:First of all, the comment on my creation of the page, was because I did not understand the category. Store products.. I thought it was like with products bought in a type of store... First when I clicked on a few and saw your (?) comments that a t-shirt was based on this comic, did I understand the category. Think I wrote that in my next edit, where I linked to the store. After realizing that, I though it was a great category, although adding xkcd would probably help the understand-ability: "Category: Comics with xkcd store products"
:What do you say to that title?
:Regarding my ability to make pages, that is just because I have edited enough to get that right (I know I have edited more than any one else here...) But I'm actually not an admin, and I cannot delete pages. Sadly it seems the admins have left xkcd without replacements... So not one answers admin requests, and although I'm glad to help when I can, I do not have that many rights on the page.
:But true you may have asked for someone to create the page and also maybe ask for the title before creating it. I think I will be able to rename the page though, so if you can go through all the comics and correct the category there I would like to give it a try. (Do not do this before I have changed the name!)
:What do you say? And should I add the xkcd as suggested above?
:--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:14, 24 November 2019 (UTC)

::Yes, I like your title better, "Comics with xkcd store products" -- I think it is much clearer. If you can rename the category, I will wait for that, then after it has been successfully renamed, I'll go through and update those comics to use the new one instead. And sorry to hear that the admins have been absent -- but it looks like you are doing a good job of keeping the site maintained, so thank-you for that! - [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 08:58, 25 November 2019 (UTC)
:::I have now moved the category page. You can find the list of comics that now need to be moved [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Comics_with_store_products&redirect=no here].
:::And the new empty category here [[:Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:26, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

::::Thanks Kynde; I have moved the remaining comics into the new category. You mentioned that you don't have permissions to delete pages, so I wonder if the old page [[:Category:Comics with store products]] should be put into parent [[:Category:Pages to delete]] so maybe the admins will delete it? - [[User:Yfmcpxpj|Yfmcpxpj]] ([[User talk:Yfmcpxpj|talk]]) 08:15, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
:::::As the old Category redirects to the new one, I guess deletion is not necessary. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:31, 26 November 2019 (UTC)
::::::If no pages refers to the old category, and to avoid anyone putting comics in that category again, it would be nice to have it deleted. But I'm not sure anyone will do that at the moment. Davidy is long gone and DGBRT seems to be absent as well... I was once asked to be an admin but declined at the time ... Maybe that was a shame, but at least I still react when someone post on my page... But I'm not that active anymore, and have never looked much through the portal pages etc. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:49, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

== Banned from Conferences Category ==

Hi Kynde, you usually have a good feeling on how Categories should be described, etc. There was a (quite short) discussion on [[153: Cryptography]], to remove a portion of the explanation. Do you think that stuff belongs into [[:Category:Banned from conferences]]? Maybe you can chime into the "discussion" on 153. -- Regards [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:24, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

== Edit summaries ==
Please use {{w|Help:Edit_summary|edit summaries}}; they are especially important for pages like [[:xkcd Header text]] that are infrequently monitored but have a meta-importance. Thanks. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 21:22, 16 July 2020 (UTC)
:I have more or less created the entire page from scratch. So I will not begin writing details every time I make a revision. But I use it for most other edits. I can see you care for BLM... Great, you probably know much more on this than I do. I made this page, to keep track of the header text, which was not explained on these pages. Sometimes it is relevant for a given comic, so great to have this place to write about it, and then link to it from the comics. The unfilled link was to help people wo may help editing this page, fill in when the header changed. I will do that now. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:37, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
::Kynde: I don't understand how your authorship of the page (from scratch or otherwise) has anything to do with whether you should be writing details of when you make a revision. But for sensitive topics, which BLM is, it is especially important for other editors to be able to carefully review changes. And when you make a large block of changes, like you did there on July 1, with 8 different edits, edit summaries are an extremely helpful tool for everyone else. So, again, the request is to please use an edit summary, ''especially'' when you are making multiple edits in a row, and ''especially'' on pages of meta-importance like [[:xkcd Header text]]. Of course, this is not Wikipedia, the rules here (such as they are) are relatively weak, and we all should coöperate. But if your answer is "I don't have to because I wrote the page first, years ago!" that doesn't make any sense at all. If your goal was to make sense, then I don't know how to respond. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 17:50, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
:::Well I shall try to be more careful around sensitive subjects. You are one of the first other than me to have edited the page. And one of the few that have added a new section. I just changed it into the same format that I have used on all the others. And did a revision now, and sorry I forgot to write what it was out of bad habit. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:57, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
::::I think the change you just made was…not great. See [[:Talk:xkcd_Header_text#Recent_BLM_edits]] where I give my opinion. But it is probably better discussed there than on your personal page, but I wanted to highlight it for you. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 18:04, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
:::::I have replied on the other talk page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:28, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

== Nationality ==

What country are you from? <span style="text-shadow:0 0 6px black">[[User:Beanie|<span style="font-size:11pt;color:#dddddd">Beanie</span>]]</span> <sup><span style="text-shadow:0 0 3px #000000">[[User talk:Beanie|<span style="font-size:8pt;color:#dddddd">talk</span>]]</span></sup> 12:34, 14 July 2021 (UTC)
:Denmark. Why? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:15, 15 July 2021 (UTC)

== Forgive this IP ==
I just made a handful of edits to recent changes that you had made (may not have been what you changed, in all cases; it might have just been pre-existing errors and Recent Changes just drew me to them). I hope it doesn't look personal, especially from an impersonal IP that you can't easily talk back to. So I'm mentioning it here to try to apologise if it does seem that way. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.85|162.158.159.85]] 18:57, 28 December 2021 (UTC)
:Hi. Thanks for telling. Since your IP will change I cannot see exactly which changes you made, but cheeked on my last changes and saw some CE and minor changes. Only thing I disagreed with (not sure it was you) was that the Launch comic should not have been released on the 24th. Which it was in most of the US if not all. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:01, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
::(Most of the changes occured under roughly the 172.70.… range, as I recall, though you can see the above switched to a whole different class-B - entirely due to the internediary's whim (Cloudflare?) without my changing anything. I'm sitting on a different connection now, so all bets are off what ''this'' will appear as. ;) )
::I have no argument with Randall posting on the 24th (his time) as the Bot got there soon enough to prove it. But of course the rest of us (mostly Europe and beyond) had a different experience. Still before the launch (whoever checked for themselves in time), which I think a couple of my edits were about. Really not huge issues, just minor fixes. You're good with those things, I know from experience, just a courtesy note (that and this). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.22|172.70.86.22]] 22:42, 29 December 2021 (UTC)
:::Maybe not you who posted. But as you can see your IP is not the same in these two posts, so I can only assume you are the same person, but cannot guess which of my edits you have changed and which someone else changed ;-) Do you have a name other than 162.158.159.85 or 172.70.86.22 ;-) Why not get an account? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:29, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
::::I just can't think of a decent username. I tend to use different ones everwhere (and never my RL identity) and most of them were 'good ideas at the time' but when the inevitable "Why is your username what it is?" thread comes around it always seems my 'explanation' is laughable. All the above in this section (that isn't you) is me, BTW. Just added an indent layer I missed. I'm happy being (slightly unpredictably) changing IP, because I seek no credit (or blame!) for my 'insights' and my ego survives well enough on such fleeting moments of anonymous fame, I assure you. ;) And I don't mind when other IP-editors 'land' on/near what I just used, either, even if they're now completely wrong.
::::Not that I think Usernames are a bad thing in general for you and others (c.f. 4chan 'anon' culture...), I'm just happy that it's one less thing to worry about in my own case! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 15:04, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
:::::Well that is up to you. But then again it is hard to forgive an IP when I'm not sure what it has done or not. But as I could just see there where nothing needing forgiveness so we are good. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:15, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

== Do you get a healthy amount of sleep? ==
In recent days I see you editing very often and I just wanna make sure you get enough sleep because while you're doing amazing work, I am a bit concerned [[User:256.256.256.256|256.256.256.256]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|talk]]) 08:45, 6 January 2022 (UTC)
:Ha ha - thanks for both the concern and the praise. I'm from Denmark so if you look at the time stamp and think I should be sleeping, then maybe it is in the middle of the day here. I write this just before 10:00 AM here in DK. But actually I'm doing very little now compared to maybe five years ago. If you look at the [[Special:ContributionScores|ContributionScores]] at the bottom with the All time (Top 50), you will see that I'm number two. And if you look at number of changes I'm far ahead of number 2... So this is actually quite low level activity for me... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:53, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

==[[Countdown in header text]] image ==
You mentioned you'd help uploading the countdown wiggle gif, so [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown here]'s a link to all the image stuff of the countdown. (Specifically, [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown/full_animation.gif full_animation.gif] and [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown/Countdown%20in%20header%20text%20Wiggling.gif Countdown in header text Wiggling.gif]).
Optionally [https://tobot.dev/files/xkcd-countdown.zip zipped], for easier archival. [[User:Toby|Toby]] ([[User talk:Toby|talk]]) 20:03, 31 January 2022 (UTC)
:Great thanks Toby. Will try to make it work. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:15, 31 January 2022 (UTC)
::It worked and I have replied on your new talk page and created your own page, in case you still could not. Feel free to change that now. Very happy with your work, both of the files. Thanks!!! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:28, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

== Purely to improve your knowledge of English ==

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spacecrafts#English

i.e., as with vehicular "craft" in general (including aircraft, hovercraft, etc), the -s pluralisation is allowable but not considered standard. An oddity of the terminology that I don't actually know the reason for. I'm wondering could it be from our nautical heritage where singular craft were the rarity (a simpler version of how [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aderyn sometimes the singular can be considered rarer than the plural]? Yet ships/vessels/etc don't succumb to that usage. Even if sheep and fish do! Anyway, while spacecraft are preferred, spaceships are indeed the synonymous alternative. IYSWIM...

Crafts, as in skillfully created works, ''are'' the plurals exactly as you'd initially expect. Woodcrafts, metalcrafts, etc. So I suppose those people who are shipcrafters might therefore craft many crafted craft, thanks to the various crafts they know, and then exhibit their crafts at a craft-fair. ((i.e "Boatwrights might construct many well-made (model?) ships, thanks to their skills, then show their creations at an exhibition of bespoke manufacturing.")) Crafty, eh?

Sorry, I seem to have gone overboard with the explanation. Throw me that lifebelt, please? ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 10:40, 10 February 2022 (UTC)
:Hi. Thanks. I'm not sure it will help, I'm not very good at spelling, even in my own language. But maybe I will remember this. I do not mind other people copy editing my posts. My idea is that if I write something useful other will make it better, and correct the errors. But if I do not write it, then it may be left out of an explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:54, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

== THANK YOU!!! ==
Kynde - I have only just discovered this beautiful Explain XKCD wiki and am in awe - I saw that you have been a huge contribuotr for years and just wanted to say Thank You to you and team for this beautiful legacy of work! With it XKCD can be that much more of a portal into all the different directions Randall’s comics touch on and drift near.

I’ve been behind the scenes in wikipedia for years (so often painful) and love connecting with anyone else who is doing meaningful wiki work. I’m just stopping by here today on my way to *important deadlines* but intend to be back. Just set up my Explain editor account. Pop me a talk page note? Happy to plug in! [[User:DrMel|DrMel]] ([[User talk:DrMel|talk]]) 19:53, 20 March 2022 (UTC)

(Ps looks like I am not getting through the email validation steps - no email confirmation has yet made it to my email. I’ll check back later. On wikipedia I’m https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:DrMel

(pps - email validated! But i still dont have permission to setup my user page… so this time i really am going back to the Save-The-World work i am supposed to be doing!)
:Hi [[User:DrMel|DrMel]]. Wow, thanks a lot. Yes I have been very active on this page. I'm not one of the admins though, and sadly it seems this page is without any active admins, and that it has been so for a while. I guess I'm the best option right now. I have created your user page and talk page, so now you can work on the user page. Welcome to explain xkcd. If you have any questions regarding format or other things feel free to ask. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:38, 21 March 2022 (UTC)

== Nomination ==
I know you maybe don't want it, but see [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Coordination#New_admins]] '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 8 May 2022 (UTC)
:I have answered there and accepted the nomination. It is an honor. Hope I can live up to it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:16, 10 May 2022 (UTC)
::Finally got the promotion from Jeff. Thanks. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 23 May 2022 (UTC)

== Block User:Donald Trump ==

Can you block [[User:Donald Trump]]? He is another spambot, like the others recently: [[Special:Contributions/Donald_Trump]]. Thanks, [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 17:48, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
:Done--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:28, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

== you blocked a mobile phone (T-mobile) IP ==

You blocked “162.158.107.124”. The problem is, that’s a T-mobile IP that goes to whomever happens to get it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.36|172.70.211.36]] 19:11, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
:Yes Im new to being administrator so sorry I messed that up. But think I [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/162.158.107.124 managed to undo it]? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:33, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

== Regarding your latest IP block ==

See [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:While_False&oldid=286101#Concision_and_clarity my note on this latest thing] that it seems like you were reacting to.
<br />In general, I don't think IP-blocking is very useful (false-positives get hit and false-negatives get round it, depending upon the vagueries of everything, and as an IP myself this is close to the bone for me) but there's potentially something going on. I don't know if you get to see what ''doesn't'' happen because of a block, though. Tricky one to get your head round. But thought I'd clue you in on what I'm thinking. Completely your decision on how you take it.
<br />Keep up the good work, BTW! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.15|162.158.159.15]] 12:59, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
:Just to add that [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=957:_Development&curid=4423&diff=286104&oldid=283524 this change] follows the trend I mentioned (type of edit + history of its apparent IP), and now undone. Not to overly pester you with this (better the Community Portal for that), just FYI. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.11|141.101.98.11]] 17:05, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
::I only block them for a week or 3 days, just to stop current spam, and thanks for the praise --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:02, 5 June 2022 (UTC)

== Sparing use of Talk-page section headers ==

Note that I added a ;-title (not an individually editable section's title), albeit first mis-tapping in the :-indenter instead by accident, but maybe you were a bit overzealous squishing out the ==editable== section-headers (the existing one and my own once someone had helpfully 'upgraded' it) in the latest discussion.

The advice given on the main-page, as part of the discussion-inclusion templating, is that new sections should be used ''sparingly'', not that they are not to be used. If anything, I was wrong to use a ;-title (to logically separate my contribution from the headered bit I was following), perhaps I should have inserted as a normal running comment above the newly broken-out section.

Not complaining, but just positing the view that it seemed a bit draconic of an intervention. Livable-with, having been done, but not sure it was strictly necessary.

(Would be handy to add across the "Add to the bottom (etc)" HTML-comment to the top of the page, from a BOT-created new-discussion-page, though I suppose I could do that. Maybe I will. Yes, I think I will. You could also maybe check the circumstances why a normal user had needed to do theusafBOT's work for it... I'm sure it's more that theusaf's script is just temporarily offline, or slow to react, rather than having gone the way of dgbrtBOT/whatever...) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 13:49, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2632: Greatest Scientist

2022-06-14T13:23:02Z

172.70.85.177: /* Height shadow */

If anyone knows how to get this to work with the bar at the top, please do it! [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 18:32, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
:[[User:SqueakSquawk4]] for everything to display correctly I think you need to follow the steps here: [[User:DgbrtBOT#When_the_BOT_fails...]] [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 18:43, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
::A) Following them now. B) Bookmarked. [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 18:45, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
:::Should be fixed now. [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 18:49, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Saying Viviani already proved that the acceleration due to gravity on an object is independent of mass runs into a snag: Viviani suggest that it was Galileo who showed him that. So whether Galileo actually dropped any balls from the Tower of Pisa or was even the first to assert the principle in writing, he seems to be the driving force behind Vivian's proofs of it. Dismissing Galileo here is wrong. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.159|172.69.70.159]] 21:53, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me. Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Figaro.... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.41|162.158.159.41]] 23:22, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

He did this before in 1531, where he combines several principles into a single comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.31|108.162.245.31]] 23:39, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

;Pavlov was inhumane
Pavlov did a lot more than just ring some bells. For example (Trigger warning for dog lovers), he drained them of stomach acid until they were dead for profit alone, and sewed dogs heads onto each other. I think this should be acknowledges. I have put this in the main article, but it has been removes. I've tried re-phrasing, and want to know how well that will stick.
:What do you think should happen. I think it is important to acknowledge, but at the same time it is not directly relevant to the comic. Please discuss. [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 23:16, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
::It was I who removed the first phrasing, and as it is written now I think it's good. Perhaps a trivia section would be appropriate for it, as someone else mentioned, and I saw no problem with having a link in the previous version. [[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|speak]]) 09:19, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
:Seems most appropriate for a Trivia section and not the main article. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.52|172.70.211.52]]

;Two Petri dishes
The title text says that "''One'' of the petri dishes" fell (emphasis added). Is that an obscure reference to the {{w|Twin paradox}}?
:Proposed new text:
{| class="wikitable"
| (Title text) One of the petri dishes fell and one did not || The {{w|Twin paradox}} thought experiment: ... || See {{1432}} || {{w|Albert Einstein}}
|}
::No I think that is very far fetched. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:21, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
:: I have added it, with a "Possible" note next to it. (Or will have in a min)

:: Also, I assume you meant [[1584: Moments of Inspiration]], not [[1432: The Sake of Argument]].

:: Also Also, two Square brackets [ ] around an internal link, not two fancy/curly brackets {} [[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 11:23, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

;Height shadow
I'm not sure which scientist (or probably ancient philosophy) it might be referencing, but I get the direct impression that the ''first'' shadow in the spiel (which KarlMann just removed the row for, and I agree that that it was redundant to the latter shadow, insofar as it was written) is directly referencing the principle of using a [https://geometryhelp.net/similar-triangles-calculating-height-tall-objects-using-shadow/ shadow to calculate height], as indicated by the illustration, as opposed to the 'shadow to calculate radius' of the latter one. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.227|172.70.90.227]] 10:19, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
: I think you're right, and I may have been a bit hasty. But also, I don't know of any association of that shadow measurement with Eratosthenes. I'd guess that it well pre-dates him (pun not intended). But I have no idea who might have done it first, or whether their name may have been lost to the mists of history, much less any citation to back myself up on this. -- [[User:KarMann|KarMann]] ([[User talk:KarMann|talk]]) 10:23, 14 June 2022 (UTC)
:: No, not hasty, as Erato's involvement was clearly less useful in that bit (and I take it that the ''h<sub>2</sub>'' local-horizontal to the dog is a typical Randall-joke comparison to the ''h<sub>1</sub>'' local-height to the tower-top), and it would just invite reversion to have merely cleared out the existing 'explanation' without something convincing to replace it. And I've nothing convincing (or based upon a definite named historic figure, or even an alleged/fabled one) in my mind, because I imagine the principle is Older Than The Pyramids, possibly back to Babylon/Ur/whatever if not even a hunter-gatherer rule-of-thumb.
::(Literally? Making an L with thumb and fingers and touching the thumb of the nose and sighting the tips of the upheld tips of fingers to a tree you're cutting down is also a pretty decent indicator (a couple of extra strides backwards might be reasonable!) of how far back is a safe distance when felling it. If you don't have that stick often mentioned in the arms'-length method. For some reason... despite being tolerably near at least one tree and having a handy axe available to you... ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 13:23, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2242: Ground vs Air

2022-06-14T08:53:33Z

172.70.85.177:

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

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

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

And by these metrics, blood is even thinner than water... {{unsignedip|162.158.107.199}}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Talk:2242: Ground vs Air

2022-06-14T08:52:18Z

172.70.85.177:

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

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

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

And by these metrics, blood is even thinner than water... {{unsignedip|162.158.107.199}}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Talk:2631: Exercise Progression

2022-06-13T14:16:43Z

172.70.85.177: Darnit, missed a close-slash... ;)

The bot appeared to have not created the page, so I created it- apologies for any mishaps that I might've caused as a result. [[User:Char Latte49|Wielder of the Staple Gun]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 02:42, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

I replaced the comic image, which was the 2x size image, with the correct size image from XKCD. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:07, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

;"[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2631:_Exercise_Progression&oldid=286674 CRAPDALIZER]"?
Witw is a crapdalizer? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.221|172.70.126.221]] 03:42, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:I would guess WotSG couldn't think of what to put there and made up a silly nonsense word. It's also an anagram of "lizard caper"... Anyway, I've changed it to something a bit more relevant. (Not sure if I should have deleted the "Please change this comment" part as well.)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.159|172.70.174.159]] 05:02, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
::Sounds like more of the crapper syndrome we have had. It is confusing with such a comment here, when the word is removed from the explanation, so I have [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2631:_Exercise_Progression&oldid=286674 linked to a version] of the explanation with the word in place in the incomplete reason. Also please do not add sections in the talk page... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:23, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:It was by an anonomous user, I tried to remove it but they reverted and it wasn't major enough to warrant an edit war [[User:Char Latte49|Wielder of the Staple Gun]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 17:33, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
Surprised that there was STILL no Explanation or Transcript at 2am EST, so since I fully understand this one (I feel like I wrote this comic, LOL!) I gave it a shot. '''I''' feel like they're complete and thorough, but last time my writing was completely replaced, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:17, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

I was a nerd, but discovered exercise around 2012 and became very active. After the social media political stuff around 2013-2016, my curve shifted from the normal one to Randall's, incredibly hard to do things other than what's supported by the patterns. I don't think Randall's curve is natural, I think he was hit by the influence stuff too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.121|172.70.110.121]] 11:05, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:My solution has been that I didn't increase the difficulty. I found a level I was comfortable with and don't whine about it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 12:55, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

I never heard of this "up to six months" rule of thumb. Can someone add a citation or remove it? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.108|172.68.132.108]] 21:43, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:I didn't write that one, someone added it since I wrote the explanation, but I've heard this Rule Of Thumb many times. The thing is, a "Rule Of Thumb" is as opposed to "written down" :) so it might be difficult to find a citation, except maybe if somebody can find an advice article. Also, it's something that comes from personal experience, it's quite a vague amount. It might be 5 months for this person and 7 for that person, and it depends on frequency and dedication. This is basically "In my experience, in general, on average, it takes 6 months". It SHOULD stay because it's standard advice from any trainer [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:47, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
::Besides which, anybody seeking for explainxkcd to be a purely and fully-cited authoriterical work (except on matters of xkcd itself, which is at least our primary role, if not entirely our accomplished one) is already over-optimistic. If I don't think that a trainer would ''normally'' mention the six-months thing (either at all or with a differing period more suited for their own purposes of boasting/milking-the-naive-client-for-as-much-as-possible), I still wouldn't argue with the mention of the principle as it stands... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.128|172.70.91.128]] 12:18, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

The X axis here is confusing. It's labeled 'workout difficulty' but the arrows are labeled 'progression in time.'
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.7|162.158.62.7]] 13:48, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
: That's because the graphs are illustrating how, over time, people move through a graph of complaint-intensity vs workout difficulty. As time goes on, people can take on increasingly more difficult workouts.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.39|172.69.70.39]] 14:14, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
:((Repeat of above, probably, as I hit an Edit Conflict from... <s>Someone who did not sign their addition...</s>...someone who belatedly signed it and thus ECed me ''again''! ;) )) It's a scattergraph of whine vs difficulty, with points joined to show (in leiu of a third axis) that a progression through the plane of those two variables is timelike. (It would be possible to have a loop on those two axes with a directional (or bi-directional/reversible) transit passage whichever way up or down either value.
:Obviously, it has other interesting consequences/conclusions to it (''dt'' is never nevatively correlated with ''dx'' on that graph, which is interesting, regardless of dt/dy or dx/dy having clear sub-zero stretches on at least one of the lines/ribbons), but there's no problem with time progressing (at an unknown rate, could still be non-linear while positive) alongside the labelled horizontal incrementing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 14:15, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2631: Exercise Progression

2022-06-13T14:15:58Z

172.70.85.177:

The bot appeared to have not created the page, so I created it- apologies for any mishaps that I might've caused as a result. [[User:Char Latte49|Wielder of the Staple Gun]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 02:42, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

I replaced the comic image, which was the 2x size image, with the correct size image from XKCD. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 03:07, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

;"[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2631:_Exercise_Progression&oldid=286674 CRAPDALIZER]"?
Witw is a crapdalizer? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.221|172.70.126.221]] 03:42, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:I would guess WotSG couldn't think of what to put there and made up a silly nonsense word. It's also an anagram of "lizard caper"... Anyway, I've changed it to something a bit more relevant. (Not sure if I should have deleted the "Please change this comment" part as well.)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.159|172.70.174.159]] 05:02, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
::Sounds like more of the crapper syndrome we have had. It is confusing with such a comment here, when the word is removed from the explanation, so I have [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2631:_Exercise_Progression&oldid=286674 linked to a version] of the explanation with the word in place in the incomplete reason. Also please do not add sections in the talk page... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:23, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:It was by an anonomous user, I tried to remove it but they reverted and it wasn't major enough to warrant an edit war [[User:Char Latte49|Wielder of the Staple Gun]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 17:33, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
Surprised that there was STILL no Explanation or Transcript at 2am EST, so since I fully understand this one (I feel like I wrote this comic, LOL!) I gave it a shot. '''I''' feel like they're complete and thorough, but last time my writing was completely replaced, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:17, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

I was a nerd, but discovered exercise around 2012 and became very active. After the social media political stuff around 2013-2016, my curve shifted from the normal one to Randall's, incredibly hard to do things other than what's supported by the patterns. I don't think Randall's curve is natural, I think he was hit by the influence stuff too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.121|172.70.110.121]] 11:05, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:My solution has been that I didn't increase the difficulty. I found a level I was comfortable with and don't whine about it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 12:55, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

I never heard of this "up to six months" rule of thumb. Can someone add a citation or remove it? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.108|172.68.132.108]] 21:43, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
:I didn't write that one, someone added it since I wrote the explanation, but I've heard this Rule Of Thumb many times. The thing is, a "Rule Of Thumb" is as opposed to "written down" :) so it might be difficult to find a citation, except maybe if somebody can find an advice article. Also, it's something that comes from personal experience, it's quite a vague amount. It might be 5 months for this person and 7 for that person, and it depends on frequency and dedication. This is basically "In my experience, in general, on average, it takes 6 months". It SHOULD stay because it's standard advice from any trainer [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:47, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
::Besides which, anybody seeking for explainxkcd to be a purely and fully-cited authoriterical work (except on matters of xkcd itself, which is at least our primary role, if not entirely our accomplished one) is already over-optimistic. If I don't think that a trainer would ''normally'' mention the six-months thing (either at all or with a differing period more suited for their own purposes of boasting/milking-the-naive-client-for-as-much-as-possible), I still wouldn't argue with the mention of the principle as it stands... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.128|172.70.91.128]] 12:18, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

The X axis here is confusing. It's labeled 'workout difficulty' but the arrows are labeled 'progression in time.'
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.7|162.158.62.7]] 13:48, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
: That's because the graphs are illustrating how, over time, people move through a graph of complaint-intensity vs workout difficulty. As time goes on, people can take on increasingly more difficult workouts.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.39|172.69.70.39]] 14:14, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
:((Repeat of above, probably, as I hit an Edit Conflict from... <s>Someone who did not sign their addition...<s>...someone who belatedly signed it and thus ECed me ''again''! ;) )) It's a scattergraph of whine vs difficulty, with points joined to show (in leiu of a third axis) that a progression through the plane of those two variables is timelike. (It would be possible to have a loop on those two axes with a directional (or bi-directional/reversible) transit passage whichever way up or down either value.
:Obviously, it has other interesting consequences/conclusions to it (''dt'' is never nevatively correlated with ''dx'' on that graph, which is interesting, regardless of dt/dy or dx/dy having clear sub-zero stretches on at least one of the lines/ribbons), but there's no problem with time progressing (at an unknown rate, could still be non-linear while positive) alongside the labelled horizontal incrementing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 14:15, 13 June 2022 (UTC)

2630: Shuttle Skeleton

2022-06-08T23:33:17Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */ One of those (many) cases where an Oxford Comma actually adds ambiguity of meaning. (I'd just go "....metal and other manufactured materials", personally. But misidentification of the plastic element as a subclause is the big thing.)

{{comic
| number = 2630
| date = June 8, 2022
| title = Shuttle Skeleton
| image = shuttle_skeleton.png
| titletext = It's believed to be related to the Stellar Sea Cow.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NEBULA DESERT HORSE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

As the understanding of the natural world developed, many taxonomic misconceptions were overturned, or at least the scientific terminology was tightened. For instance, it was found that dolphins and whales were mammals, not fishes. Because of convergent evolution - the tendency for distantly-related species to adapt similarly to a given environment - it is often not easy to properly classify organisms merely by observing their exterior, such a body that works well in an aquatic environment. In lieu of genetic analysis, or even of sufficient observation of them in the wild, the main progress in understanding differences among marine animals was often in dissecting the corpses of creatures found stranded or caught in nets, or reconstructing them from skeletal remains. Together with fossil evidence, insights were developed about their origins and differences from others' origins.

The Space Shuttle was a reusable spacecraft system used by {{w|NASA}} from 1981 to 2011, after which it was decommissioned. In this comic, Randall suggests that the nature of the shuttle was in doubt or misunderstood until either an intact 'specimen' (of which there are four) had been dissected, or possibly the remains were reassembled from the two that were lost in accidents.

With its shape, shown in the small image, and the tail fin, it looks a bit like a {{w|Osteichthyes|bony fish}} or {{w|Batoidea|ray}}. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfnvFnzs91s But it is actually not an animal]. The joke is that after the shuttle was taken out of use, its skeleton was analyzed, and as shown in the comic, was found to have a skeleton typical of a mammal, with details such as the pentadactyl quadripedal bodyform hidden beneath its aerodynamic sweep, as well as having bones (i.e., not primarily cartilage). This morphology is similar to that possessed by a whale. Of course, the skeleton of a spacecraft is not made of bones, but rather of metal, plastic{{Citation needed}} and other manufactured materials.

The title-text conflates the now-extinct {{w|Steller's sea cow}}, an aquatic mammal related to manatees and named after explorer/zoologist Georg Steller, with the adjective "stellar", which means being of a star or stars, such as inter-stellar space or stellar masses.

One might expect that the idea for this comic may have came from the recent California Supreme Court ruling that [https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-is-a-bumblebee-a-fish-when-a-california-court-says-so-11654611927?st=umo4uckleempt0e&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink a bumblebee is, in fact, a fish]. However, given the short time between the ruling and the comic's release, it is likely that this was a coincidence.

==Transcript==
:[In the upper right part of the panel there is a small drawing of the Space Shuttle as seen from above. Beneath it, and to its left, is a much larger drawing with the same outline as the Shuttle. But this time the outer layers have been removed to reveal the inside. This has revealed a skeleton taking up the entire space inside. The head is in the front, and legs and tail at the rear, with arms and fingers in the wings, looking somewhat like a bat's "hand/wings". The bones are white with the frame of the shuttle gray or black. Some of the lines outlining the design of the shuttle are both on the small and the large drawing, along the wings and rear engines. Both feet and arms have five fingers/toes. There seem to be 24 ribs in the very long rib-cage.]

:[Caption beneath the panel:]
:The Space Shuttle was long assumed to be a type of fish or shark, but after it was decommissioned in 2011, anaylysis of its skeleton determined that it was actually a mammal.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]

2626: d65536

2022-06-05T12:12:14Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */ The D100 isn't *necessarily* biased, but the route to it being less biased (shifting its proportions to even out the likelihoods of landing and then staying on a given face) is a very complex process that may not be trivially soluble.

{{comic
| number = 2626
| date = May 30, 2022
| title = d65536
| image = d65536.png
| titletext = They're robust against quantum attacks because it's hard to make a quantum system that large
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HEXAKISMYRIAPENTAKISCHILIAPENTAHECTATRIACONTAKAIHEXAHEDRON - The claim in the trivia that the numbers refer to a comic, should be substantiated with an explanation. If true interesting, if not... Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In binary computing, 16 bit unsigned numbers range from 0 to 65535, for a total of 65536 unique numbers, a number which is hence well-known to software engineers. Generating large numbers in a manner that is truly random is a recurring problem in cryptography, required to send private messages to another party. People today still use dierolls to generate private random numbers.

In role-playing games (and occasionally in other tabletop games), multiple shapes of dice are often used to generate random numbers in specific ranges. By convention, these are referred to as d''n'' according to their number of faces. A traditional six-faced die would be a d6, and many popular pen-and-paper role-playing games use dice ranging between d4 and d20. While there are larger dice used in tabletop games (most commonly d100), these are usually split into multiple smaller ones. For example, a d100 is often two d10s rolled together, with one die providing the first digit and the other die giving the second digit — the total number of possible combinations (100) is the product of the number of faces of the two dice (10 * 10). While "real" {{w|Zocchihedron|d100s}} and other large-numbered dice do exist, most people consider them to be impractical: they need to be either impractically large or have very small faces (resulting in small print for the numbers), they're close enough to being spheres that it's difficult to get them into a stable resting position, and even if they are stationary, determining which face is "on top" is difficult to do by eye. The Zocchihedron (d100) die is also difficult to ensure is ubiased because of geometry requiring different sized faces and therefore a different mixture of 'stopping factors' for each face it could land upon. The largest unbiased die is a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disdyakis_triacontahedron d120] (excluding the bipyramids, which can theoretically be made with arbitrarily many sides), so it is very likely that [[Cueball|Cueball's]] d65536 die is also biased.

Here, Cueball has constructed a d65536 for generating random 16 bit numbers. It may have solved the problem of generating large random numbers with fewer die rolls, but it magnifies all of the problems with large-numbered dice to ludicrous extremes. In order for the faces to be readable, the die is ridiculously huge, dwarfing the human standing next to it. Rolling such a die is not only physically challenging, but it would also need a huge space in which to roll if the result is to be random, and that space would need to have an extremely flat and rigid surface in order for the die to come to rest. And even in those problems were solved, simply getting to a vantage point to see the top of the die would be a major challenge, and determining which number was truly on top would be near impossible to do by eye. If one really wished to use dice, it would be much easier to simply use multiple dice rolls. For instance, one could roll eight d4 dice (or use 16 coin flips), and convert the result into binary. This has the same randomness as a single die roll{{fact}}?, but can take much longer, so people do purchase d16s to simplify it and speed it up.

The closest regular shape similar to the depicted in the comic could be a {{w|Goldberg polyhedron}}. However, no such polyhedron exists with exactly 65536 hexagonal faces. The closest Goldberg Polyhedron has a mixture of 65520 hexagons and 12 pentagons, totaling 65532 faces. It is possible to construct a fair die without a matching regular shape by limiting the sides which it could land on and designing those sides to be fair (for instance, a prism with rectangular facets that extend its entire length, and rounded ends to ensure it doesn't balance on end).

The title text references how cryptographic systems (especially RSA and other factoring-is-hard based systems) are vulnerable to quantum attacks as quantum computing technology develops. The title text is essentially punning on the idea of a "large" quantum system. "Large" in the quantum computing sense would be on the order of 64 qubits each of which would be an atom or two at most. This would still be microscopic and will never be as large as the giant die the comic is centered on; but for a well-observed environment and human rolling without sufficient entropy (consider somebody obsessed with a certain number dropping the die on something soft), a conventional computer could predict some rolls. See also [[538]] for non-mathematical paths of cryptography.

==Transcript==
:[A large sphere with a several lines, and in some places grids, are shown. Cueball, standing next to it, is dwarfed by its size, as it is at least seven times as tall as he is. The sphere has many lines following various great circles or parallel lesser circles around the curve of the sphere, and some patches of cross hatching to suggest further texturing along these lines hovering just below the degree of most of the illustrative detailing. In the top right part of the ball is a black circle. An arrow points to this circle, and the end of the arrow goes to a larger circle that partly obscures the rightmost part of the sphere. The circle shows a zoom in on the surface in the black circle on the sphere. The zoom shows a small portion of the spheres surface, showing that the grid comes along because the sphere is divided into elongated hexagonal faces with numbers up to at least five-digits. Seven numbers can be fully seen, but there are nine other faces partly shown, five of these with part of their numbers visible, one of these clearly only have four digits. One of the empty faces must also have a number with only 1-3 digits, as no numbers are visible although a significant part of the face is visible.]

:[Here follows the numbers in the zoomed in part of the sphere, with "..." represents numbers being cut off. The numbers are read in lines left to right, even though the numbers are tilted from down towards the right, which could have suggested a different reading order.]
:30827
:16[bottom part of a cut-off line][small cut-off circle]
:...38
:11875
:25444
:...[top part of a cut-off line]5
:12082
:28525
:3 [left part of a cut-off line]...
:13359
:13874
:[Two cut-off lines, likely the start of the number 2]...

:[Caption below the image:]
:The hardest part of securely generating random 16-bit numbers is rolling the d65536.

==Trivia==
*If a real d65536 were constructed with each number having an equal area and each printed in 12 point font, the resulting die would be about 5 feet (1.5 meters) in diameter, which isn't several times the size of a person as the comic suggests, but is still large enough to be hilariously inconvenient. If it were made out of standard acrylic, and not hollow, it would weigh about 2 tons (1700kg).
*This die would have a 0.00001526 chance of rolling a natural one (or any other number).
*There are seven 16-bit numbers fully visible in the picture: 30827, 25444, 11875, 28525, 12082, 13874 and 13359. [https://dotnetfiddle.net/fjLYZe They conceal a message.] If these numbers are split big-endian into two 8-bit ASCII characters each, the result is <code>xkcd.com/2624/</code>. For example, converting the first number 30,827 to hexadecimal (in which a four digit number covers exactly 65,536 different values) converts to a hex value of 786B. Splitting this into 78 and 6B, these are the hex ASCII codes for "x" and "k" respectively.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:2627: Types of Scopes

2022-06-02T23:05:58Z

172.70.85.177:

Wiki's getting hit pretty hard by the trolls this week... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.21|172.69.134.21]] 19:02, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
What's with all the vandalism? I know this is the internet, and therefore some vandalism is expected, but YIKES!!! What happened this week? Edit: I don't know who put my message loads, but it wasn't me.[[User:SqueakSquawk4|SqueakSquawk4]] ([[User talk:SqueakSquawk4|talk]]) 19:16, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:AGREed. waht is the lore behind these schizophrenics and doug walker! holy fuck --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.191|172.70.34.191]] 20:07, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
Fixed it. That was annoying [[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.41|172.70.174.41]] 22:15, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

Another spammer appears to be adding comments about their anatomy and disparaging the reader's mother in the explanation of the title text. It has been added and removed at least twice now (once by me), around 22:35. Keep an eye out for small, annoying trolls like this one, as the spammers may have realized that bombarding the pages with massive images is not the cleanest way to ensure they get their (infantile) message across. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 22:39, 1 June 2022 (UTC)
:There has also been someone who has seen a dislike to Davidy and me... For instance he has created some [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:Davidy22,_the_racist_homosexual,_is_known_to_visit_Norwegian_gay_bars_with_his_boyfriend_Kynde._He_has_cheated_on_Kynde_at_least_twice_with_Vandalbane_(a_big_guy_for_you)._They_all_have_micropenises.&action=edit&redlink=1 very long user names]... Must have taken him some time :-D --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:55, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

At least the most obnoxious one seems to be gone (or at least on hiatus). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.230|162.158.107.230]] 03:18, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

Randall apparently thinks NPR is the only radio network. It's the only radio I listen too as well. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:34, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

Electron Stethoscope would be a cool name for an EIT chest imaging device. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.215|162.158.2.215]] 14:28, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

When I first saw the comic title I thought it was going to be about variable scopes in programming. But maybe that would have been too esoteric. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:41, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

I was expecting something about sniper scopes (or rifle scopes). Electron sniper scope looks like a thing from Terminator movie. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.35|141.101.105.35]] 21:10, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
: Hey, just what you see, pal... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 23:05, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

User talk:Vandalbane

2022-06-01T19:06:29Z

172.70.85.177: /* why */ (Now I can use 't's again!) In short, our protagonist is a joke. Keep up the good work VB, and the rest.

I wonder if I can keep my page unvandalised if I never use a lowercase T.
:IT looks like The crapper is reverTing all of your ediTs immediaTely afTer you save Them. (I'm capiTalizing T's so The boT doesn'T crap your Talk page.) [[Special:ConTribuTions/172.70.126.221|172.70.126.221]] 17:20, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
::Seems like They are. I Think insTead of playing Their silly game, I will jusT waiT for Them To geT blocked and Then reverT The remaining vandalism. [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User Talk:Vandalbane|Talk]]) 17:28, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
:I wonder why They decided To use a lowercase T ouT of all characTers[[Special:ConTribuTions/172.69.71.199|172.69.71.199]] 17:31, 26 May 2022 (UTC)Bumpf
::Maybe since iT's The mosT common leTTer (excepT for 'e', ThaT is, I don'T know why They didn'T Take ThaT rouTe). [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User Talk:Vandalbane|Talk]]) 17:33, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

== You should be an admin ==

You've done so much To help geT rid of The crap. You deserve To be an adminisTraTor. [[Special:ConTribuTions/172.70.131.128|172.70.131.128]] 02:14, 29 May 2022 (UTC)
:I really appreciaTe The complimenT! I'm glad To be helping The communiTy. [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User Talk:Vandalbane|Talk]]) 03:06, 29 May 2022 (UTC)

== Do you wanT To Talk To me? ==

I'm The crapper again. Do you wanT To Talk To me, since The allenisT seems To have sTopped replying? [[Special:ConTribuTions/172.70.178.115|172.70.178.115]] 01:47, 30 May 2022 (UTC)
:I have some advice for you and all Trolls on The allenisT's Talk page, I hope you consider iT. [[User:Vandalbane|Vandalbane]] ([[User Talk:Vandalbane|Talk]]) 02:03, 30 May 2022 (UTC)

== Repurposing an area maybe added by our vandal ==

(Replacing some words here, while avoiding any incidence of a glyph which is fairly common and a non-vowel, hence no issue of case needing changing. I am unsure if a reason remains for keeping your upper/lower-case swapping in place. Looks ugly, IMO, and may have zero use!)

For some reason, I am amused insofar as each decision by our vandal about his shady words and wording he uses in pages and summary fields alike. Does he imagine any pyschological damage is suffered by our honest crew of admins and laypersons who are undoing all his vandalising?

I laugh upon your changes, vandal! (i.e. real vandal; no referencing his 'bane and local page-owner, here.) Childish and of no significance, while our world spins and your small mind finds microscopic pleasures in leiu of any valid and valued work in improving anybody's experiences. And I am saying all of my spiel here, even now, dodging our forbidden *char. No usefulness, however surely a skill in producing my remarks which you are incapable of achieving.

(Sorry, Vandalbane, for my verbose prose. I wished a forum for expressing an opinion.. carried away by an idea for obeying a page-specific rule. And of course bars many words and phrases which I may have employed, even now. However, my genuine feelings end up conveyed, unbriefly, as you see.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 19:06, 1 June 2022 (UTC)

2503: Memo Spike Connector

2022-06-01T15:46:29Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 284926 by 162.158.170.63 (talk) Wasn't expecting this until Thursday. But whoever it is that does this, continually, is still incapable of giving useful contact info...

{{comic
| number = 2503
| date = August 16, 2021
| title = Memo Spike Connector
| image = memo spike connector.png
| titletext = Backward-compatible with many existing cables, and can connect directly to phones or tablets if you press them down hard enough.
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
This is the third installment in the series of [[:Category:Cursed Connectors|Cursed Connectors]] and presents Cursed Connectors #102: The Memo Spike. It follows [[2495: Universal Seat Belt]] (#65) and was followed 9 days later by [[2507: USV-C]] (#280).

The comic depicts a large metal spike with a wire coming from the base. The spike stabs through two other wires, thus creating an electrical connection between the three. As the name suggests, the spike resembles a {{w|Spindle_(stationery)|stationery spindle}}, colloquially known as a spike, called a Memo Spike here by Randall. However, unlike normal spindles, this one has a cable of some kind coming out of it, suggesting this is a hub of some sort.

Spindles are used to temporarily hold paper by "spindling" or impaling the paper onto the spike (as depicted in the comic). They're most known for their use in restaurants as a way to hold bills that have been paid, or traditionally in offices that work with many bits of paper, e.g. with invoices in a finance department or hardcopy in newspaper editing, to prevent accidental disturbance/shuffling, at the expense of a small puncture mark in each sheet so impaled. (This could cause errors in papers with punch-holes that are meant to be read by machines, hence the admonition against "{{w|Punched_card#Do_Not_Fold,_Spindle_or_Mutilate|folding, spindling, and mutilating}}".) In the latter context, the editor might put all the rejected stories onto a spike (rather than into a wastebasket) to prevent them going astray, and this might be the source of the term '{{w|Spike (journalism)|spiked}}'.

The joke of the comic is while any number of non-destructive connection standards exist, a large spike can provide much of the same results: a conductive object that retains a connection of multiple wires in a way that allows electricity to pass through. Indeed, in the early days of Ethernet, {{w|Vampire tap|vampire taps}} were used, essentially spikes that bit into a cable to establish a new branch in the network. Another type of connection which involves piercing the wire is a {{w|Punch-down block|punch-down block}}, a type of {{w|Insulation-displacement_connector|insulation-displacement connector}}, where one or more wires are pushed into a cutting channel instead of onto a spike.

Depending on the type of cable it is also likely to create a short circuit, e.g. by connecting both strands of a twisted pair of strands in a typical Ethernet cable, or the central wire and the sheath of a coaxial cable. In an enterprise environment, this could even happen on a {{w|Power_over_Ethernet|PoE-Connection}}, which actually carry more noticeable amounts of power (up to 25.5W). Even if this is avoided, the single spike may be large enough to mechanically sever a random subset of the finer strands that exist within a multicore cable such as is commonly in use today.

The title text takes this a bit further. It says that it is backwards compatible with many existing cables. This means any cable large enough to be impaled by the spike could be used. Needless to say it will likely not work anyway. It also continues by saying that phones and tablets can also be connected using this method if you press them down hard enough over the spike. Thus if you actually manage to make the spike penetrate the device's coverings to reach the electrical parts, then there is a connection. The implication is that any device or cable can be connected to any other device or cable as a form of universal adapter/splitter/combiner across arbitrary hardware and communications/power standards. In reality, this could be even more dangerous and will surely destroy the phone/tablet either directly or by overloading their cable connection.{{citation needed}} Also be careful not to impale your hand while trying to push the spike through your tablet's screen.

==Transcript==
:[A memo spike is shown (a device also called a Spindle). It is a long spike standing up from a round base plate. A wire is coming in from the left and appears to be hardwired into the spike's base element. Two other wires comes in from the right. Both are firmly impaled down upon the spike, penetrated completely through shortly before their apparently unterminated ends. The end of the impaled wire closest to the base faces out and the details appear to show it to be of some variety of multicore (rather than co-axial) manufacture. The other cable's end is a bit higher and points into the image. Above is a title and below is a label.]
:Cursed Connectors #102
:The Memo Spike

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Cursed Connectors]]

User:Blaisepascal

2022-05-31T21:42:36Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 284813 by 172.70.175.30 (talk) No obvious reason for this IP edit on a user's page. Somewhat benign, if vandalism, but no point in accepting it anyway just because of that..

I am not the 17th century French Mathematician, although I admired him enough to adopt the name as my nom-de-net.

I create new comics using the template at [[User:Blaisepascal/newcomictemplate]] (linked here for quick reference.

2626: d65536

2022-05-30T22:19:45Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */ Corrected "it's" to "its"

2625: Field Topology

2022-05-30T08:50:01Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */ Corrected punctuation around Citation Needed. Made wikilink into a templated wikilink. Adjusted text around said link, because I'm not convinced that they are rugby fans (even of Sevens), just maybe have more multipurpose goalbars.

{{comic
| number = 2625
| date = May 27, 2022
| title = Field Topology
| image = field_topology.png
| titletext = The combination croquet set/10-lane pool can also be used for some varieties of foosball and Skee-Ball.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A DONUT, OR WAS IT A COFFEE MUG? Please check the new first paragraph, especially the end. And maybe move the mathematical fields/Fields Medal diversion to a footnote. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Field Topology is [https://encyclopediaofmath.org/wiki/Topological_field a subject in mathematics], but in this comic, Randall is instead examining the topology of playing fields used for various recreational activities. The comic strip depicts a situation where the common practice of multi-use athletic facilities has been organized by the "topology department" and constructed to be shared by all sports whose normal playing fields are {{w|topology|topologically equivalent}}. However, one key assumption in topology is that you can ignore the specificities of shape, size and material of the objects concerned. This presents an amusing contrast with the actual activities listed in the comic, where the size and shape of hoops, nets and bars and the material of the field itself can be very significant.{{Citation needed}}

(Not to be confused with {{w|Field (mathematics)|mathematical fields}}, or the {{w|Fields Medal}} prize -- although successfully {{w|Straightedge and compass construction|constructing}} these fields might lead to medals of one kind or another being granted).

In topology, shapes which can be smoothly deformed into one another without adding or removing holes are considered to be "equivalent". Note that a topological hole is an area of the nominal space (or area, or other manifold) through which nothing restricted to this topology can pass. In describing a real-world archway, for example, this would be where the material of the arch is, not the actual 'hole' passing ''through'' the constructed arch, which is the path that one indeed may (or must!) pass through to get from one region of the layout to another. A loop is a path across the allowable territory of a topology (or a viable circuit to make through the world it describes) that end up where it started. If a loop cannot be tightened (ultimately adjusted to take a shorter path) down to a single point, then it must be wrapped around at least one 'topological hole' (i.e. through a physical one), and you have separately unique paths (or points, i.e. on different disconnected topologies) where you cannot adjust one loop to take the route of another, without severing a looped-path and reconnecting it.

{{w|Baseball}}, and {{w|tetherball}} are played on fields without any holes that the ball or players can completely pass through, so they are ({{w|Group (mathematics)|grouped}}) (physically and mathmatically) into one continuous field without holes. The goals on a {{w|soccer}} field presumably do not create holes because the goalposts and crossbar are connected to the field by the net, so the goals and field are topologically equivalent to a smooth disc. Any path taken into and out of the goal (any number of times) is topologically equivalent to one that does not go into this pocket of space at all.

{{w|Volleyball}} and {{w|badminton}} are played on a court through the center of which passes a net suspended from poles, and the {{w|high jump}} has a bar that contestants jump over. The space bounded by the bottom of the net (or bar), the supporting poles, and the ground can be considered to be a hole, a path over and under the net/bar cannot be simplified to one that does not, so their fields all have one "hole".

A basketball court has two physical pathable holes, the nets. Parallel bars can be thought of as two rectangles and thus as two topographical "holes". Both have opportunities to path through either (or both) structures, and so the material of the structures define a hole in the topological abstract of the playing 'surface'. Since we are told that these sports fields belong to the Topology Department - and are not necessarily generalized to all sports fields - we might assume that their "football" field is for {{w|Rugby_sevens|rugby}} which was played at the recent Tokyo Olympics, as American Football uses the Y-shaped goals rather than H-shaped ones. An "H" shaped goal creates a topological hole under the crossbar at both ends of the field, while an American Football field with Y-shaped goals would have no holes.

The lane dividers in a swimming pool create bounded holes on the 'playing surface' equivalent to one less than the number of lanes. And each hoop in croquet is a hole with one edge bounded by the playing surface. Similarly, as mentioned in the title text, this configuration is also {{w|homeomorphism|homeomorphic}} to a {{w|foosball}} table (with each rod sustaining the player figures above the table defining a hole) or a {{w|Skee-Ball}} lane (which is even more straightforward, as it is just a plane with several holes in which to throw balls).

Unfortunately, the Topology Department does not seem to have a field for {{w|Hurdling}} events.

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

A row of four signs, each held up by two posts, followed by a row of four rounded lozenge shapes, one for each sign. The signs and lozenge shapes are shaded as if three-dimensional objects, all being flattish with a small third dimension; the four lozenge shapes each have one pair of sides horizontal and the other pair at a slight angle from vertical, denoting a horizontal plane perpendicular to the signs extending "out" towards the viewer, which places each shape "in front" of its sign. All but the first lozenge shape have various numbers of ellipses within the shape - ovoids shaded to denote holes piercing through the objects.

Leftmost sign: "Baseball. Soccer. Tetherball." The shape below this sign contains no ellipses.

Second sign from left: "Volleyball. Badminton. High jump." This shape has one large ellipsis in the centre.

Third sign: "Basketball. Football. Parallel bars." This shape has two large ellipses - one in the top half and one in the bottom half.

Fourth and rightmost sign: "Olympic swimming. Croquet." This shape has nine small ellipses - eight arranged symmetrically towards the edges of the shape and one in the centre.

Caption underneath the signs and shapes: No one ever wants to use the topology department's athletic fields.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Sport]]

2625: Field Topology

2022-05-29T03:24:40Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2625
| date = May 27, 2022
| title = Field Topology
| image = field_topology.png
| titletext = The combination croquet set/10-lane pool can also be used for some varieties of foosball and Skee-Ball.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SOMEBODY HOMEOMORPHIC TO YOUR DOG - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic strip depicts a situation where the common practice of multi-use athletic facilities has been organised and constructed based soley on criteria in which sports are grouped by the {{w|topology|topological equivalence}} of their fields. (not to be confused with {{w|Field (mathematics)|mathematical fields}}, or the {{w|Fields Medal}} prize -- although successfully {{w|Straightedge and compass construction|constructing}} these fields might lead to medals of one kind or another being granted).

In topology, shapes which can be smoothly deformed into one another without adding or removing holes are considered to be "equivalent". Note that a topological hole is an area of the nominal space (or area, or other manifold) through which nothing restricted to this topology can pass. In describing a real-world archway, for example, this would be where the material of the arch is, not the actual 'hole' passing ''through'' the constructed arch, which is the path that one indeed may (or must!) pass through to get from one region of the layout to another. A loop is a path across the allowable territory of a topology (or a viable circuit to make through the world it describes) that end up where it started. If a loop cannot be tightened (ultimately adjusted to take a shorter path) down to a single point, then it must be wrapped around at least one 'topological hole' (i.e. through a physical one), and you have separately unique paths (or points, i.e. on different disconnected topologies) where you cannot adjust one loop to take the route of another, without severing a looped-path and reconnecting it.

{{w|Baseball}}, and {{w|tetherball}} are played on fields without any holes that the ball or players can completely pass through, so they are ({{w|Group (mathematics)|grouped}}) (physically and mathmatically) into one continuous field without holes. The goals on a {{w|soccer}} field presumably do not create holes because the goalposts and crossbar are connected to the field by the net, so the goals and field are topologically equivalent to a smooth disc. Any path taken into and out of the goal (any number of times) is topologically equivalent to one that does not go into this pocket of space at all.

{{w|Volleyball}} and {{w|badminton}} are played on a court through the center of which passes a net suspended from poles, and the {{w|high jump}} has a bar that contestants jump over. The space bounded by the bottom of the net (or bar), the supporting poles, and the ground can be considered to be a hole, a path over and under the net/bar cannot be simplified to one that does not, so their fields all have one "hole".

A basketball court has two physical pathable holes, the nets. Parallel bars can be thought of as two rectangles and thus as two topographical "holes". Both have opportunities to path through either (or both) structures, and so the material of the structures define a hole in the topological abstract of the playing 'surface'. The inclusion of an American football field is perplexing. Commonly, an American football field uses a "Y" shaped upright, making the field topologically equivalent to a plane. However, at lower levels of play (primary and secondary schools), sometimes an "H" shaped upright is used, which creates a topological hole under the crossbar at both ends of the field. The comic might instead refer to Gaelic football or Rugby, both of which use "H" shaped goals and are called "football" in certain contexts. The open-top of the goals is physically an analogue of soccer goals, but as a closed frame of the bottom does not have a net (except in Gaelic Football) these demonstrate topological loops. An alternate explanation would consider passage between the sidebars but at any ''indefinite'' distance above the crossbar (however supported above the ground) to be a special space for scoring purposes, and the topological hole would relate to these limits, held above the ground in a manner not dissimilar to the basketball hoop

The lane dividers in a swimming pool create bounded holes on the 'playing surface' equivalent to the number of lanes. And each hoop in croquet is a hole with one edge bounded by the playing surface. Similarly, as mentioned in the title text, this configuration is also {{w|homeomorphism|homeomorphic}} to a {{w|foosball}} table (with each rod sustaining the player figures above the table defining a hole) or a {{w|Skee-Ball}} lane (which is even more straightforward, as it is just a plane with several holes in which to throw balls).

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

A row of four signs, each held up by two posts, followed by a row of four roughly oblong shapes, one for each sign. The signs and oblong shapes are shaded as if three-dimensional objects, all being flattish with a small third dimension. The four oblongs are presented at an oblique angle, as if they are in "front" of the signs extending towards the viewer. All but the first oblong have various numbers of holes "through" them.

zero holes: "Baseball. Soccer. Tetherball."

one hole: "Volleyball. Badminton. High jump."

two holes: Basketball. Football. Parallel bars."

nine holes: "Olympic swimming. Croquet."

Image caption: "No one ever wants to use the topology department's athletic fields."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Sport]]

Talk:2625: Field Topology

2022-05-27T18:51:22Z

172.70.85.177:

First [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.64|172.70.86.64]] 12:50, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

Why is football on the two-hole field? Where are the holes? I don't think the goal posts in American football introduce any since they're not closed. Maybe it's soccer? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.88|172.69.68.88]] 12:58, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

:Well, you might still be able to call them holes. They would be if they were fully rectangles. --[[User:BlackBeret|BlackBeret]] ([[User talk:BlackBeret|talk]]) 12:59, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

: Gridiron football's field contains two areas (the endzones) that can be thought of as not being part of the "normal" field of play, for lack of a better way of saying that pre-coffee. Association football likewise has the areas within the nets. [[User:Noëlle|Noëlle]] ([[User talk:Noëlle|talk]]) 13:05, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

: My immediate thoughts were also that football (soccer) and football (gridiron) are the same, or indeed the other way round. In both cases the closed hole (assuming not a Y-like vertical holder, but H-like as per rugby football) plays no more or less topological part. Threading through the hole from behind has no relevence in either, and in fact defining it as a region that is 'a special enclosed gap with meaning' (which doesn't really matter in the topology sense, just like golf would be a topologically hole-less surface and as a coffee-cup's inside 'dimple' doesn't count, just its handle-hole that makes it equivalent to a doughnut) actually counts for something in association football. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 13:32, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

:: It's not the space bounded by the goal that is the 'hole' - it's the goal post itself (or in the case of the high jump, it's the bar, not the space under it). The reason soccer doesn't have 'holes' where the goals are is that they're positioned on the edge of the playable area - you can't play around the bars, because as soon as you cross the goal line you're out of play. And it doesn't matter whether it's a Y-shaped or H-shaped goal - topologically, they both form one continuous 'hole'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.80|172.70.91.80]] 13:37, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

::: I don't think that's the reason why soccer doesn't have holes. The goalposts in football are also outside the playable area, and so are the poles in volleyball. I think soccer is listed as zero-holes because soccer goals are typically not fixed to the field, and are instead separate objects that can be dragged around and removed from the field. On the other hand, the same is true of volleyball and badminton nets (and those nets contain many holes!) so the comic seems a bit inconsistent.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.146|172.70.175.146]] 14:05, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

:::: Speaking from a "football is soccer" nation (well, mostly, the exceptional subregions would argue that it's rugby) a soccer goal is typically ''not'' draggable around the field, but permanent (or a unit frame that has to be painstakingly hoisted out of the ground if you ''don't'' want them in your football stadium, when you repurpose it for other purposes) and it's only the optional net that gets added to the park's permanent goalposts for the official five-aside competition evening or day of the weekend. Draggable goalposts need a further level of intermediate organisation that goes beyond the typical "shipping container with windows cut in it (with shutters bolted over them) as a cheap changing room/officials' cabin" that might be found near the edge of the field but rarely even has as much as a corner flag left in them, between games".
:::: I presume that US 'football' posts are considered holes because they are an infinitely-tall window (even though the delineating poles only reach so high) that is a meaningful slice (where the goal is, you have to loop around it in mutually different unsimplifiable paths to reach the other side), but then that should make for ''two'' holes per end, if you count getting a field-goal and then returning round the sides (or vice-versa) as another valid surface-path.
:::: ...but, yeah, I can imagine the problem of definition (and cultural famiarity) here is going to produce more problems even than the understanding of topology. One of the less internationally-accepted comics, this. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 18:51, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

Tetherball, in many variants, does contain an obstruction -- the pole, which you're not allowed to touch. The Topology Department is getting tired of having to switch out the fields. [[User:Noëlle|Noëlle]] ([[User talk:Noëlle|talk]]) 13:05, 27 May 2022 (UTC)
:But you can surely jump over it, so it's topologically the same as a zero-height pole... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 13:32, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

Croquet has six hoops and a peg. How does that make for nine holes? Is it including the opponents' two balls as holes? And if so, why aren't opposing players counted as holes in the other sports? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.80|172.70.91.80]] 13:26, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

American football goals are Y-shaped. Rugby goals are H-shaped. Did... did Randall get those confused? Also, I fail to see how basketball and American football get two, croquet gets a bunch, but soccer gets zero. Aren't soccer goals (in-game at least) basically the same shape as croquet wickets, just waaaay bigger? Granted, I don't know anything about topology and I came to this wiki specifically cuz I'm dumb, so I'd love if someone could splain this all for me ;) --mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.170|172.69.69.170]] 13:37, 27 May 2022 (UTC)
:The soccer goal has a net, so the ball can't go through it. Topologically it's just a wall (Randall seems to be ignoring all the tiny holes in netting, presumaby because they're smaller than the balls so they're insignificant to the sports). [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:10, 27 May 2022 (UTC)
::I agree with that explanation - the net is the only thing that makes the soccer field not to have holes. It should be included in the comic explanation.
::The hole for the volleyball only makes sense taking in account that the bottom of the net doesn't reach the floor, although this space is not used in the game.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 14:18, 27 May 2022 (UTC)
::I agree about soccer; the explanation should be that soccer goals (with net) are topologically part of the plane. The same is true of ice hockey, even though you can travel "around" the net, it is topologically part of the field with no holes. As for (American) football, the topology only makes sense for H-shaped goals, which are more often seen on primary/secondary play fields than in higher level play. [[User:Aramisuvla|Aramisuvla]] ([[User talk:Aramisuvla|talk]]) 16:03, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

The group link pointing to group (mathematics) doesn't bear any relation with the sentence or the comic. I would remove the link.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 14:18, 27 May 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2624: Voyager Wires

2022-05-25T23:44:16Z

172.70.85.177:

This is fun - assuming a pair of 14ga wires were run the 14.5 billion mile distance from Earth to Voyager 1, the mass of copper would be on the order of 10<sup>12</sup> kg, or ~5 times the mass of copper ever mined out of the earth. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.87|172.70.126.87]] 17:18, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
:Wow, that's a lot of copper! I wonder how they've been communicating with the probes up until now? :) [[User:Danny E. Corchado|Danny E. Corchado]] ([[User talk:Danny E. Corchado|talk]]) 20:46, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

At current prices for copper, this spool would cost ~9.6 trillion dollars. Surprisingly, that's only about a third of the US national debt. --[[User:KrazyKat|KrazyKat]] ([[User talk:KrazyKat|talk]]) 17:29, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

The problem of the Earth spinning could be solved by putting the contact at one of the poles; it will have to be on a swivel joint to prevent it from twisting. But there's also the Earth revolving around the Sun, which requires the cable length to cycle up and down by 186 million miles every year. I guess we could use a big version of dog leash holders. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:44, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Days before this comic was published, NASA reported issues with Voyager 1, reporting that "the probe’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS) don’t reflect what’s actually happening onboard"
[https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/engineers-investigating-nasas-voyager-1-telemetry-data]

If they used wires and it was due to budget constraints, why not reel the Voyager probes back in and recycle the wire? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.173|108.162.245.173]] 19:24, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Quick calc+google - world copper reserves are estimated at 870 million tonnes, Voyager 1 is 14,471,238,963 miles from Earth (Voyager 2 a bit closer, 12 x 10^9 miles)... a lot of unit conversions and simple arithmetics later... World copper reserves would be enough for a cable with about 4 mm^2 cross-section (2,3 mm diameter) for one of them or 2.3 mm^2 cross-section (1,7 mm diameter) cables to both. Someone check the math please, it's been a long day... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.139|172.68.110.139]] 19:31, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

This is a comic worth a What-If-article. Even with zero friction extraction systems and enough available copper, there is the problem of the speed you need to send out new wire. Voyager is moving at ca. 17 km/s and Earth moves at about 30. So when Earth and Voyager move in opposite directions you have to produce *a lot* of wire per second in order to keep up with that (not exactly 47 km/s because Voyager is moving away from the ecliptic. [[User:Kimmerin|Kimmerin]] ([[User talk:Kimmerin|talk]]) 19:53, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
:Yes, definitely worth a What If! Randall, if you read this, please write a What If article on this! [[User:Danny E. Corchado|Danny E. Corchado]] ([[User talk:Danny E. Corchado|talk]]) 20:47, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
::Maybe this is a sly advertisement for an existing article in the forthcoming book! :) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.105|172.70.34.105]] 21:24, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Voyager 1 and 2 communicate with each other, or with Earth? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 20:27, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
:The comic clearly shows the wire going all the way from a Voyager to Earth. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:00, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

The explanation mentions the wire going through the Sun when we're on opposite sides of the Sun. But the Voyagers aren't traveling in the ecliptic plane, so it will probably miss the Sun. Although it still might be close enough that the heat will melt it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:00, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Is the whole joke of the "Alternate explanation" that they went overboard with the [citation needed]s? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:00, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
:Removed this section. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.117|172.69.33.117]] 23:15, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
Theoretically speaking, if the copper spool were to be anchored at the North or South Pole, it would avoid issues of wraparound. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.70|172.70.35.70]] 23:02, 25 May 2022 (UTC)
:Now you just have to work out what happens as the conductor moves (around, but also feeds out through) the geomagnetic field. (See {{w|Electrodynamic tether}}, not sure if it would help or not to be anchored directly upon the maximum declanation point of the geomagnetic pole, which isn't ''quite'' at the axial pole for the purposes of rotation-mitigation [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 23:44, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

1289: Simple Answers

2022-05-22T14:11:53Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */ It does not refute (give arguments that counter the assumption that something will happen) but it shows how it is not as significant a target of concern as some would think (the change above baseline is generally far more subtle).

{{comic
| number = 1289
| date = November 11, 2013
| title = Simple Answers
| image = simple answers.png
| titletext = 'Will [ ] allow us to better understand each other and thus make war undesirable?' is one that pops up whenever we invent a new communication medium.
}}

==Explanation==
This is [[Randall]]'s commentary on some of the baseless skepticism and equally baseless optimism directed at new technologies. Related: [[1215: Insight]] and [[1227: The Pace of Modern Life]]. While it's always healthy to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of cutting-edge tech before blindly diving in and adopting it, it's not healthy to base that evaluation on unrealistically high standards and expectations.{{Citation needed}} New developments will have pros and cons, and it's hard to tell whether they make the world a better place or not.

Randall has set up a Q&A for this kind of questioning. Most of the them are straightforward, but we'll provide some commentary on selected questions.

''Will [ ] destroy whole industries? Yes.'' A widely adopted technology usually causes another to gradually phase out, and industries will rise and fall as technologies do. This is a bit of a loaded question because "destroy industries" sounds negative, and only covers half the effect — instead of merely destroying them, we're also {{w|Creative destruction|replacing}} them with something (hopefully) better.

''Will teens use [ ] for sex? Yes. Were they going to have sex anyway? Yes.'' Sex is pretty important to almost everyone, so it'll find its way into most generic technologies. Hormone-crazed tech-savvy teenagers are a particularly strong intersection of the two. Parents fearing teen sex might be worried about how their kids would use the technology, but the second question puts such concerns into their proper context quite concisely.

''Will [ ] destroy music/art? No.'' Every new technology for reproducing musical and artistic works (such as [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2004/03/wicked-player-piano player pianos] and [http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbarro/2012/01/18/thirty-years-before-sopa-mpaa-feared-the-vcr/ video cassette recorders]) has been accompanied by warnings that it will destroy the industry that supplies it content. The reality is a special case of the "destroy industries" question - old business models will fall but new ones will arise in their place, and art and music as a whole will survive.

''But can't we go back to a time when— No.'' Elderly people {{tvtropes|WhenIWasYourAge|express their disapproval}} of today's technological luxuries, nostalgically longing for a time before Foo or Bar came around. That's just how the stereotype goes, but there is a large helping of truth to it. Usually, their sentiments are not a fair judgement, but an emotional attachment to the olden days and a {{tvtropes|TheyChangedItNowItSucks|resistance to change}}.

''Will [ ] bring about world peace?- No.'' People have been trying to bring about world peace for centuries; sadly, other people are in no such hurry and insist on more conflict to solve their own problems.

The final answer is a depressing and strangely beautiful comment on human nature: ''Will [ ] cause widespread alienation by creating a world of empty experiences? We were already alienated.'' Skeptics may be concerned that a new technology will make people's pleasures and interactions more artificial and shallow; Randall comments that this is already something well known in our society.

From the Title Text, ''Will [ ] allow us to better understand each other and thus make war undesirable?'' describes the usual theory that a technology might use to bring about world peace. Unfortunately, not only does the answer seem to be "no" to World Peace either way, but there's no indication that increased global communication actually facilitates understanding and empathy between distant communities. In fact, many cynics say the Internet has in fact caused the opposite effect, causing people to fracture into like-minded cliques rather than intermingle.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the chart:]
:The '''simple answers''' to the questions that get asked about every new technology:
:{| class="wikitable"
|Will [ ] make us all geniuses?||align="center"|No
|-
|Will [ ] make us all morons?||align="center"|No
|-
|Will [ ] destroy whole industries?||align="center" |Yes
|-
|Will [ ] make us more empathetic?||align="center" |No
|-
|Will [ ] make us less caring?||align="center" |No
|-
|Will teens use [ ] for sex?||align="center" |Yes
|-
|Were they going to have sex anyway?||align="center" |Yes
|-
|Will [ ] destroy music?||align="center" |No
|-
|Will [ ] destroy art?||align="center" |No
|-
|But can't we go back to a time when-||align="center" |No
|-
|Will [ ] bring about world peace?||align="center" |No
|-
|Will [ ] cause widespread<br />alienation by creating a world<br />of empty experiences?||align="center" |We were<br />already<br />alienated
|}

==Trivia==
* Robinson Meyer of {{w|The Atlantic}} [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/xkcd-is-amazing-but-its-latest-comic-is-wrong/281422/ rather disagreed] with [[Randall Munroe]] on this one...

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

California

2022-05-18T19:13:10Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 270427 by MeaganGilson8 (talk) Spam, again... Another one ripe for a ban (if they are tempted to bother to reuse!)

#REDIRECT [[1410: California]]

2619: Crêpe

2022-05-13T16:21:40Z

172.70.85.177: /* Explanation */ A rare 'having fun with the Incomlete Tag' from me...

{{comic
| number = 2619
| date = May 13, 2022
| title = Crêpe
| image = crepe.png
| titletext = A medicine that makes you put two dots over your letters more often is a diäretic.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ÇRÊPË - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a play on the expression "Weird flex but OK" ([https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Weird%20flex%20but%20ok definition at Urban Dictionary]). [[Cueball]] has made a {{w|crêpe}}, a thin pancake known for its legendary status in French cuisine. When he says the word "crêpe," however, the {{w|circumflex}} above the "e" comes out odd. Instead of the usual simple angle (^), it looks more like a stubby capital A. [[Megan]], who can apparently see the text inside speech bubbles, comments on the odd shape with the appropriate pun.

The proper French pronunciation of "crêpe" is such that the ê is pronounced as in "get", i.e. "cr-eh-p", but English speakers pronounce it like an "A", i.e. "cr-ay-p", so drawing the circumflex like an "A" references how it would actually be pronounced by [[Cueball]] as an English speaker.

The title text continues the wordplay by punning on {{w|diuretic}} (a substance promoting increased urine production), {{w|Diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis}} (adding two dots to a letter), and {{w|diacritic}} (what both the circumflex and the diaeresis are).

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is holding a plate with a crepe on it, conversing with Megan.]
:Cueball: Check out this crêpe I made!
:Megan: Weird circumflex, but okay.

{{comic discussion}}

2476: Base Rate

2022-05-12T01:32:28Z

172.70.85.177: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2476
| date = June 14, 2021
| title = Base Rate
| image = base_rate.png
| titletext = Sure, you can talk about per-capita adjustment, but if you want to solve the problem, it's obvious that this is the group you need to focus on.
}}

==Explanation==

The "{{w|base rate}}" is a type of base probability, which a statistical probability can be based on. The {{w|base rate fallacy}} is a type of error in which people are presented with the rate at which something occurs throughout an entire population along with more specific information about a subset of that population, and tend to ignore the whole-population information in favor of the specific information.

In this case, the joke is that 90% of people are right-handed, so if there is no connection between handedness and making base rate errors, then 90% of these errors would be made by right handers. Thus while [[Cueball|Cueball's]] claim that right-handers commit 90% of base-rate errors is technically true, taking that as reason to believe that "making base-rate errors" is somehow specially associated with right-handed-ness -- as would be implied by an intervention effort specific to right-handed-people -- is itself a base-rate error.

Cueball may be holding the pointer in his right hand, suggesting he might be right-handed (as 90% of stick figures are{{fact}}). Since Cueball has no facial features it is impossible to tell if he faces the audience, or looking at his graph. However, it seems most likely that he is looking at his audience while delivering the take home message and thus points at the graph behind him. Thus he likely belongs to the 90% that makes 90% of the base-rate errors, one of those he is just committing.

In the title text, Cueball dismisses the idea of adjusting his graph to account for the difference in numbers of left-handed versus right-handed members of the population. He suggests focusing efforts on the right-handed majority to resolve that 90% of base rate errors. This is a somewhat common counterargument to statistical arguments of this stripe (often as justification for racial profiling, for example); it fails because if the target group is not in fact somehow special with regard to the issue at hand, there is generally "nothing to fix" and no special approach to discover that cannot be just as easily applied to the population of the whole.

Something similar occurs in [[1138: Heatmap]], where Cueball makes inferences simply based on a population map of the US, instead of statistical evidence.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing in front of a screen that shows a bar graph with 2 bars with labels beneath. The right bar is significantly higher than the left. Cueball is holding a pointer which he points at the label of the highest bar, which has been encircled.]
:Cueball: Remember, right-handed people commit 90% of all base rate errors.
:Label: L R

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Bar charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Cognitive Bias]]

User talk:Davidy22

2022-05-12T01:09:24Z

172.70.85.177: /* New users deluge */

Hi Davidy22,

Just a quick thanks for helping roll back so much of the vandalism. Per your recent log comment, yes, there has been a recent spate of vandalism; before yesterday, it was the odd spammer that I've had to remove. But with the advent of ''Click and Drag'', there's also been an insurgence of ip-based vandalism. I'm hoping this is just a spike owing to the popularity of the comic, but I'm with you; if it doesn't die down, something more drastic is going to have to be done.

But again, thanks for helping...

-- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:17, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

== Please don't ==

Please don't create the redirects to explanations that haven't been created yet. It breaks the next and previous buttons, and gives people that are browsing through the explanations the false impression that the site is more complete than it is. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:41, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

:Ah, I'll stop then. Didn't know that. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 07:17, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

::Glad I'm not the only one who didn't know. Sorry about [[1633]] this morning. /.\ — ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 19:23, 22 January 2016 (UTC)''
:::It's fine, just had to do a few things manually. Good intentions. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:34, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

==Dani22, the spam connoisseur==
Congratulations on transcending from being annoyed at all spam to recognizing the truly beautiful works of spammage from the rest of the cruddy heap. We should throw a party, lol. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:33, 1 November 2012 (UTC)
:Hey, it *was* a well written bit of spam. It was one of those copy/paste types of spam, except it was nicely formatted and coherent all the way through. It was informative too. A great change from the mindless template drivel or gibberish that we usually get. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:11, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

== Just asking ==
:::Mostly cuz that didn't work when it was on the main page, and calling attention to specific comics has worked exceedingly well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:57, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
Was there a reason you deleted most of the List of all comics? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

:What on- shi-
:I was adding comic number 1132, and the preview was really slow, so I copied everything in the edit box and refreshed the page. I think half of the page hadn't finished loading in the edit box, and I only copied the first half. Derp [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 08:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

::I figured it was something like that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:56, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

Just so you know, it happened again. But SlashMe fixed it. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:07, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

:Mother of fracking- I'm going to figure out what's causing this and I'm going to fix this. Godammit. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:20, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

:Durr dee-durr, and now I've done it. Thanks for spotting that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:22, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

== Ahem... You gonna finish that? ==

Have you taken a look at the front page recently (say within since you created the [[1134]] redirect)? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:42, 14 November 2012 (UTC)
:I have it open right now. Please don't ninja me again. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 05:44, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

::<nowiki>*Sits tight and twiddles thumbs*</nowiki> Actually, if you've got this I'll go back to the pitiful bit of literature I'm calling this year's NaNo. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:53, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

== The Anonymous editor of 1132 ==

Has been 50.0.38.245 all along. For a while he changed his signature to be a userpage that didn't exist, and wasn't a registered user. He has now changed it back to being the IP address again. Just thought I should do some out-of-band communication about that. If you want to change your last comment about the anonymous user, that would be good. (I almost offered to edit it for you, but then realized the subject we're talking about, and decided that if 50.0 ever learns about looking at the edit history and diffs, I don't need to be called a hypocrite as well as a banhammer wielding {{w|BOFH}}) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:35, 15 November 2012 (UTC)

== Broken mirror... ==

Sorry for the "ninja"... I guess we probably don't need 2 versions of the image though... Feel free to distill the explain part...--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 07:15, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
:Godammit, I even had the window open waiting for the article. The definitions can be merged into one paragraph, and wiki magic will explain how the comic works. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:20, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

== Fooooooooor He's a Jolly Good Fellow... ==

You are the man, man. Keep it up! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:50, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

:Seconded. Great work, you deserved the milestone! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:26, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

== Please take a look ==

...at [[User talk:Lcarsos#Deletion|this]]. Nothing new to you, I suppose (spam fighting can be quite hard if we're overly cautious on every step), but I'm dropping the note just in case :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:52, 25 November 2012‎ (UTC)

== autoblocking suspicious users ==

Once again, it looks like auto-blocking users that have suspicious usernames would require someone with more power than we have.

However, I very nearly blocked those three when I noticed the account creation. But, I didn't because I thought they might be legitimate users with stupid usernames. But now I've read up on {{w|Wikipedia:New_admin_school/Blocking|Wikipedia's block policy}} and from now on I'll be posting {{tl|uw-blockindef}} (which I've bungled fantastically right now, but shortly should be working) which should allow the rare legitimate user (with bad taste in usernames) to reclaim their good account, but allow us to block bad people.

You're ever friendly, massive toddler of an admin, [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:41, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

:I've also just found this page {{w|Wikipedia:Administrators' how-to guide}} which I will be reading very thoroughly and beginning to use this blacklist. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:16, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

::Hum. A great many of these templates could be condensed into a few bigger ones, but at least the documentation links are there for us to use. Also, you do know that Template:UserBox already exists, right? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:55, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
:::Well, crud. You switched, I switched. I do like the one we had better, mostly because of the descriptive labels and the nice thick borders. The name's in convenient CamelCase too. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:18, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

::::As a general rule I loathe my shift key, using more keys to achieve the same goal is wasted time, and I could be called ruthless about wasted time. Saving a single keypress seems petty. But I had a CS professor point out that by specially crafting what you have to type (creating shortcuts) saving a keypress here and there can add up to saving several thousand keypresses every 8 hours, which over a long enough quantity of time can equal hours and days. That's my long winded explanation for why I like using {{tl|userbox}} instead of {{tl|UserBox}}.

::::Also, I like the wikipedia userboxen, it's more flexible. And that allows anyone who comes over from Wikipedia to know how to work userboxen here too. That's my case for it. I hope you agree because I don't want to have to push my shift key, but I'll take your input, and if we end up in a tie, we might ask Waldir to tie break for us, as he'd be a neutral third party. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:44, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

:::::In CS, I learned that descriptive variable names and easy to recognize naming conventions can save heaps of debugging time. I personally like the CamelCase version better because it uses variable names like left-bg instead of id-c for the background color in the box on the left, which makes the template self-documenting and easier to grok for a new user who's just reading the source. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:58, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

:::::: I was asked to comment. Here are my thoughts:
::::::* Regarding CamelCase, it is indeed a neat convention but we don't use it elsewhere on the wiki. In fact, MediaWiki itself, in its early versions, used to rely on CamelCase for linking, but moved to the free-form, space enabled link syntax, which is better in many cases. Not everything converts nicely into CamelCase. So while I appreciate the argument to use CamelCase as the template name, I think the regular case version fits the wiki better. Besides, redirects are cheap and work well, so if the CamelCase title redirects to the lowercase one, whoever wants to use the CamelCase version can still do so seamlessly. Not an issue, therefore.
::::::* I agree with Davidy22 on the parameter names. In fact, the code of the template can be arranged in a more readable form (using whitespace and indentation) so not only its uses can be deciphered, but the template itself too. Renaming parameters is a simple matter, especially for templates with not many uses as these are, which means there isn't a lot of replacements to perform.
:::::: In summary, I think the two templates should definitely be merged and the best features of each kept in the final version: the title being [[Template:userbox]] (with redirects from [[Template:UserBox]] and [[Template:Userbox]]), and the parameters using intuitive names as {{tl|UserBox}}.
:::::: --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:06, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

::::::: Sounds good to me. The wikicode looks god-awful ugly though, who's up for cleaning that thing up? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:03, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

:::::::: If you guys do the merge, I can clean it up afterwards :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 01:14, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

== separate section for title text ==

I agree that in the two instances you removed the section header for the title text, it wasn't justified, but in some cases it does make sense. See [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Subsection for title text explanation|here]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:27, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

== No more imagesize ==

I made a comment on [[Template Talk: comic#Imagesize]], essentially imagesize isn't necessary, and I've changed the {{tl|create}} template to not include it. So rejoice, and forget imagesize ever existed (until the bug gets fixed). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:02, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
: Bah, what was that parameter good for anyways? Clicking on the image should take you to the XKCD site anyways. What user cares about the image pages that the template currently takes you to? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:20, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
:: That's an interesting point. It's technically doable. But I think there should be a way to access the comic images (granted, I'm not sure why exactly, but I'm not comfortable leaving them "orphans" —linkless— either) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:08, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
::: There's the list of all comics page, and we could make the titletext link to the image page or something. I dunno, any excuse to kill imagesize. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:16, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
:::: To clarify, linking the image directly to xkcd has nothing to do with killing imagesize. That, for what I understand, has already been done. Good point about the list of comics page. I'll wait for more comments before implementing the change in the image link target. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:35, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
::::: Imagesize isn't *quite* dead yet. There's still four or five comics that still use it. Permission to upload the thumbnail versions of those comics, as we do with the other large comics, and end that broken thing once and for all? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:05, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
:::::: I don't like the idea of uploading smaller versions of images. We ought to be able to use mediawiki's own image scaling abilities as soon as we can do some [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#We need more maintainers|testing in the wiki setup]] and make the image scaling issue go away. Apart from that, what exactly are the problems of imagesize, again? I haven't followed the discussions about it, sorry. Feel free to give me pointers to the appropriate places where the issues have been discussed. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 13:17, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

== Please move pages ==

I'm noticing that when someone creates a new page with the wrong title you're just copy/pasting the content onto the new page. Please don't do that. Please use the move page feature on the drop down of the page, that way we can keep the edit history for the page intact, and that way it doesn't look like you created these oddly poor quality pages. Thanks much. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:49, 6 January 2013 (UTC)
:Righty ho. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:09, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

== Sorry ==

I have been working contra u by routinely adding a white line above the categories. I instantly raise white flag! And say good night! -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:40, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

== Trivia placement ==

Cheers mate! Please check the comment I made some time ago in the section you started, [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Section style and usage|"Section style and usage"]] on the Proposals community page. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:10, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

If you disagree with the trivia placement between explanation and transcript, why don't you say so, and explain why? –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 14:50, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

I made a section for discussion of this, so that we can come to some agreement: [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Trivia and transcript]]. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 15:18, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
:Moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Coordination#Trivia and transcript placement]] –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:05, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

== Jurassic Park category ==
Hi, you wrote you don't like how I created a new category for Jurassic Park. I thought it appropriate: there's a *lot* of references to Jurassic Park and/or velociraptors in the comics. And not all reference are to both... But what did you not like? Thanks for enlightening me! [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 09:07, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

:There's a lot of categories on this wiki. When adding categories to a page, it can get extremely difficult to make sure that you've gotten every category that applies to the comic. For regular editors, the amount that we have to remember when maintaining pages is already quite onerous; more categories hurt our dinky heads. If you're willing to steward that category, go ahead, but you'll have to remember to put in the explanation pages yourself when you find a comic that it applies to. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:36, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

:: OK. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 08:26, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

==[[220: Philosophy]]==

Actually, what happened was: This being my first new page edit, I copy-pasted the format from another page, and then edited all the information to fit the correct comic. Then I realized I'd forgotten to remove the date of the original page's comic, so I did so. *blushes* No trolling intended, just a newbie mistake. Is 2/7/07 the correct date for this comic? [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 11:23, 28 January 2013 (UTC)
:Oooh. I thought you had gotten the date then removed it after seeing earlier rants concerning omitted dates. You can check a comic's date by clicking on the "All Comics" button in the sidebar on the left. All dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:37, 28 January 2013 (UTC)
::Yep. I see that now, and now that I know it's there, I create new pages straight from [[List of all comics]]. No offense taken. Thanks for the useful advice! [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 05:52, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

== Character names in transcripts ==

Ah, I see now that you've been cleaning up after me, adding character names to transcripts instead of "Man", "Woman", et cetera. Now realizing that's the wiki's standard, I'll endeavor to do that myself from now on. Thanks for your patience with the new guy. [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 07:40, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

:It's k, just doing maintenance. You're really prolific, do you write all of those yourself or are you getting those explanations off the forums somehow? '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:38, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

::I write them all myself. It's been some time since I've looked at the xkcd forums, actually. Sometimes I get a little help from Wikipedia when a particular detail escapes me. But you'll notice I don't make an attempt to explain the math ones. *laughs* [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 02:16, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

== My unexplained hobbies. ==

I just want to make sure that you are getting this, but I restored "My Unexplained Hobbies." You can now explain them. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:47, 11 February 2013 (UTC)
:Shweet. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:44, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

I suck at wiki stuff but am a real human - sorry for the confusion. {{unsigned|‎Schmammel}}
:No matter. Also, see the blue box above the talk page edit box for instruction on how to sign your posts. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:55, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

== About your new admin powers ==

Actually just the rollback hammer. I've learned this after being burned a few times.

Rollback will actually not revert just the one edit you are looking at, but will go back until it hits a revision that wasn't done by that user, so its useful for pure spam accounts, but if you're just undoing a single edit, you may still want to use the undo tool.

Also, once or twice I actually had it revert all the way back to the last patrolled edit, which meant it actually got rid of the edits of a few anonymous editors too.

Just a caution that with great power comes great responsibility.

--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:11, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

:Oh damn, did I do that? Welp. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u><font color="purple" title="I want you">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><font color="indigo" size="4px">²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:28, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

== Removed Level 2 headings from Discussion page ==

Hi, I noticed you removed the level 2 headings in the discussion of comic 1188. I'm guessing it's the application of some formatting rule established on this wiki, so I'm curious where I can find a list of these standards that I should adhere to, so I don't make such a mistake again in the future. [[User:Jfresen|Jfresen]] ([[User talk:Jfresen|talk]]) 15:10, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

:It's not really a formatting convention, more of a workaround to technical limitations of the wiki. The way discussion pages are embedded into comic pages, headings in talk pages cause breakages when tables of contents are spawned. It's ugly and bad and it's the reason why we delete discussion page headers. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|purple|David}}<font color=green size=3px>y</font></u><font color=indigo size=4px>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:33, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

== Captcha help ==

:''This thread was moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Captcha help]].''

== RE: Signature ==

Sweet, thanks David. {{User:Omega/sig}} 14:51, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

== Time is hard... ==

... and not only that, she also is, just like her sister Gravity, a heartless b**** :D
Thanks for taking care! :) [[User:Caranhyas|Caranhyas]] ([[User talk:Caranhyas|talk]]) 09:41, 4 April 2013 (UTC)

== Feedback ==

Hey David. It's nice that you're so responsive to requests such as those at [[Mediawiki talk:Sitenotice]] (or [[explain_xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Captcha help|this one]]), but please take also a moment to report the request as completed, as that not only provides feedback to the requester, but is also a reference for the future (which removes the need to dig through the relevant page's history if, for example, one decides to check whether a request ever got implemented), and exemplifies desired behavior for future administrators. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:53, 6 April 2013 (UTC)
:Alright. Was just trying to get through everything quickly, and forgot to reply to those requests. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:55, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

== 262 correction: Thanks! ==

Hi there!

Unfortunately, I was not aware that I had incorrectly created the page for xkcd 262. Thanks for fixing that. My only question is whether the page "262" should be redirected to xkcd 262 rather than just showing the deletion template.

Thanks,

[[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 07:02, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

:The page "262" and all other pages consisting of only numbers are used internally to handle page linking. You don't really need to worry about them, you just need to know that making explanation pages in those numbered pages is baaad and that the create templates in the [[List of all comics]] will set up everything relevant for you. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

::So all of the xkcd comic pages theoretically "exist" on the site, but not all have connected pages? Also, how do I create a new page from the "All comics" page? Thanks for being so patient--I really want to be able to contribute meaningfully here. [[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 20:27, 7 April 2013 (UTC)
::No, we just link to the xckd comic pages. The numbered pages handle links between explanation pages. On the "List of all comics" page, there are (create) buttons next to all the red links; click those to start explaining those comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:12, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

:::OK thanks for explaining! I'll try to do better next time :). [[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 01:36, 10 April 2013 (UTC)

== List of unexplained comics ==

Thanks for the vote of confidence - hoping it'll encourage more contributors! [[User:Sean|Sean]] ([[User talk:Sean|talk]]) 21:50, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

== New sections in comic talk pages ==

Re [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:277:_Long_Light&curid=8457&diff=35146&oldid=35143 this correction] (especially your edit summary!): while there is the "Add topic" tab at the top of talk pages, you'll get new sections added to comic talk pages too.

Perhaps reducing them to ; headings is a better alternative that still marks a new topic.

;Just testing that I have the right formatting character
Yes.

Of course this won't fix the automatically supplied heading from the "Add topic" tab, but then we do still want that functionality in other talk pages, like here...
[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 03:25, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

:Ooh, the semicolon does that? You learn something new every day. Noted. There might be a way to change those controls at the top, I'll look into that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:50, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

== Time frames 1008-1014 have an artefact in your upload ==

In your uploads "under the ground" between frames 1008 and 1014 there is a grey horizontal line with unmoving "ticks" while the terrain does change above. This is not reflected in the live hash for the only hash in this range recorded so far. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 10:55, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
:Hrm, I've just been pulling the images from the xkcd site and uploading them straight. Imma check on this. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:29, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
::Yeah, it's not just you, the [http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/?frame=1014&framediff=1007 geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190] has it too. Randall must have had a snafu that he's fixed. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 12:47, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

== Time1190 - but sometimes I also have NO time ==

I did register in here mainly for 1190, I am sure you did see this.
This weekend I will work on a script giving me an easy update for the next day template, for now I am doing manual.

THANKS for your great job on all the other comics!

I just do need more TIME...

And I am not native English, so I am still happy about everyone correcting me.

Archive discussion I did start here [[Talk:1190:_Time]]

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:29, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
:I actually already have a script to do that. I thought you had made one of your own though when you were filling in for new days, so I was just letting you go ahead with that. Here's my script: [http://pastebin.com/RQGGia3L]. Change the variables at the top of the script, run it and copy/paste the output into the page for time. The fields should be self-evident, but ask me if you have any questions. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:38, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

:: Oh, PYTHON - I prefer Perl or just a simple bash script.
:: So I will ask Randall for a translator for Python to Perl ;)
:: And tomorrow I hopefully will have some more time, your script is helpful.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 11 May 2013 (UTC)
:::Just for fun I did the script in PERL. Here is the link: [http://pastebin.com/PG5j56Nv template]--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:29, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

== And sometimes I do have time ==
Just tell me what I did do wrong (I will follow you...). I am still new to WIKI syntax, it is still new to me. But I am learning as you can see.
And after all that I will write a Perl Script with a missing close paren...

I like jokes but I also like a clean Wiki here!

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:38, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
:Uh, the explanation for that page is a wee bit thin for the size and complexity of the comic, and it uses terms like the hibbert curve without defining them. It's not enough of an explanation to cover the whole comic. Also, there were a few missing categories and a bunch of trailing spaces in the transcript. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:46, 23 May 2013 (UTC)
::"a wee bit thin for the size and complexity of the comic" so sure this is still incomplete (I just did forget to add that template). Oh, and we have so many more complex comics with a need for more explanations. And while I am still not native English, which does mean I have to goooogle fore many memes, I am hoping I can support this wiki. I just try to do my best - any help on me is welcome! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:12, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
:::And I'm pretty sure they're all tagged as incomplete too, so all is well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:17, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

== User talk page deleted? ==

Hey there, apparently my talk page was deleted because the only content on it was "buttsex", which is fine, but I just thought I should let you know that I did not add that ;). Can I restore my talk page blank? --[[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]] ([[User talk:Mynotoar|talk]]) 11:39, 25 May 2013 (UTC)
:Yeah, sure, I saw the edit log when I deleted it. Do whatever you want with your user page. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:50, 25 May 2013 (UTC)

== Incomplete explanations ==
Hello [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]], I will stop creating incomplete new pages even when I think it's good idea to have a page for each comic here and work afterwards on all those incomplete ones. The pages [[Help:How to add a new comic explanation]] and [[List of unexplained comics]] should clarify this issue. Furthermore there are many more incomplete comics here not marked as incomplete so you can't find them here: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]]. I am trying to give my best to support this wiki--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:44, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

:One add: I am not a youngster, my first computer was a C64 and the next one was a IBM compatible PC 286 (512 KByte main memory, 20 MByte hard drive). And right now I'm just trying to encourage other people to help here. But I don't want to fight against windmills.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
::I wasn't making any implication as to your age. It is actually harder to track incomplete articles than nonexistent ones - the wiki has no way of automagically detecting them the way it automatically provides red links for missing explanations. We have the incomplete tag, but people delete it from pages that still haven't quite been explained completely, and I sometimes forget to tag a new incomplete explanation as incomplete. Also, the fact that some incomplete articles exist that are not tagged as incomplete does not justify the creation of more stubs; if you find an unsatisfactory explanation, mark it as incomplete yourself. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:15, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

== Various requests ==
Could you delete the spam page [[User:Inkovic]] and block the user who created it? And delete [[Talk:283: Projection]] as well, since it was apparently created by mistake?

Also, [[1225: Ice Sheets]] is still missing a transcript. Could you help add it? And [[266: Choices: Part 3]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]] lack explanations, but have been removed from the [[List of unexplained comics]]. Should we re-add them to that page, or create some basic explanations for them? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 20:19, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

:Incomplete articles are marked as incomplete, we'll deal with all the unsatisfactory articles on this wiki after we have a page for every comic. Still not an excuse to make more stubs, mind you. Did all the rest though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:08, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Please block spammer 70.50.106.152, he did kill 1190 Time.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:53, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
:Looks like a mistake. Not ban-worthy. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:24, 18 June 2013 (UTC)
::This was the only edit he/she ever did. I am hoping this will not happen again, that big page was really hard to load.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 10:32, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

The main page needs to be edited, as the recent deletion of the [[List of unexplained comics]] was recently deleted, making the wiki comic count one less than the actual number. Also, could you delete [[Talk:List of unexplained comics]] and [[:File:a matter of some gravity.jpg]]? The former is an orphaned talk page, and the latter was superseded by [[:File:A Matter of Some Gravity.png]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 20:19, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
:Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 20 June 2013 (UTC)

I created an explanation for 1228 (Prometheus). What I wrote didn't appear for a few minutes and then when I tried to check why, I found you'd deleted a page, but the text I wrote then appeared where I was expecting it. Your comment on the deletion referred to "a thing on the front page" I should have read. I looked for this "thing", but I've still no idea what I did wrong, or what happened with all the page creation / deletion jiggery pokery. I created the explanation after clicking a box which told me to do so if I wanted to provide / improve the explanation. I apologise for my mistake, but perhaps it would be better not to put boxes on the main page which invite edits if those edits end up in the wrong place? [[Special:Contributions/87.115.172.168|87.115.172.168]] 08:55, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
:I manually create the comic page and set it to show up on the front page usually within an hour of every new xkcd comic. The explanation pages for every comic follow a naming convention, with the comic number followed by the comic name. We also make a few redirects for the wiki to use to make the back/forwards buttons work. In addition to that, every explanation page has a template; note how every other page on this site has a particular look to it. The page that you created didn't follow any of that, so I deleted it and copy/pasted it to the correct location. The thing on the front page that I was referring to was the correct explanation page location that I had created 21 minutes earlier. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:06, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
::Thanks for the explanation - quite a manual process! I didn't realise I was creating a page - it looked to me like the page had already been created (which it had, it seems) and I would just be editing the empty section for the explanation. Now I realise that the "please edit" box should have shown up in the editor, perhaps alarm bells should have wrung. Nevertheless, I'm still wondering if it would be better, if possible, to somehow remove or modify the "please edit" box when it appears on the main page so it doesn't create an incorrect new page when one already exists! [[Special:Contributions/87.115.172.168|87.115.172.168]] 09:29, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

Thank You,

[[User:Hopiakuta|hopiakuta DonFphrnqTaub Persina hopiakuta]] ([[User talk:Hopiakuta|talk]]) 09:03, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

There are a couple of xkcd comics that link to an extra image on the site when they are clicked. On this wiki, most of the time, the explanations just contain a direct link to this image. However, sometimes, users upload the secondary images and link to those. This is rather inefficient, especially since some images are too large to be displayed directly after they are clicked on the wiki. So, I was wondering if you could delete the few secondary images from the wiki. They are: [[:File:lakes and oceans large.png]], [[:File:na make it better.png]], [[:File:subways large.png]], and [[:File:lojban translated.png]].

In addition, I suggest that some [[Special:UnusedFiles|unused files]] also be nuked. [[:File:combination vision test fullcolor.jpg]] was superseded by [[:File:combination vision test fullcolor.png]]. [[:File:22 pieces.png]] was uploaded by a user who apparently just wanted to show off his Tetris skills. [[:File:2008 christmas special original.png]] is an xkcd comic before it was updated, which I doubt is necessary to include on the wiki. [[:File:starsmove.png]] doesn't seem to serve any useful purpose. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 23:50, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

Na make it better and the translated lojban do add to the comic. The two larger versions of comic images and the junk files have been deleted. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:12, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

I think you might have forgotten to delete [[:File:22 pieces.png]]. And [[404: 404 Error]] was created by mistake and also needs to go.

Also, could some admin tackle the issue that involves thumbnails not displaying properly? Dgbrt suggested [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Errors_and_symptoms#Image_Thumbnails_not_working_and.2For_appearing this fix]. Perhaps it could be tried? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 16:00, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

:The 404 page needs to exist for the previous/next comic buttons to work properly. It also explains why comic 404 is missing, which may be confusing to some xkcd readers. Mostly the forward/backwards buttons though. The scrap image is gone, and I'm looking into the proposed fix. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:21, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
::Nope. The page [[404: 404 Error]] is a duplicate to [[404: Not Found ]]. I just did a redirect there because I can't delete it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:58, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Whoop, deleted. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:08, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
::::Thanks, but there is still the discussion page. I did the same redirect there.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:26, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

== Spam at 1190 Time ==

Hi, IP 68.100.149.94 is still doing annoying edits here. I do not like that.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:38, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

== Su Doku ==
Hi Davidy22, I'm trying to enhance explains. People do read and understand shorter explains more easy, but the link to the details must be always included. I just did add the incomplete tag because my edit is maybe not complete. Everyone is welcome to help. But please keep short as possible, otherwise people won't read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:19, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
:That explanation is hardly too long. Our explanations should be self-sufficient, with the links there just to provide further context on things that we talk about in the explanations. A description of the format of sudoku is an important part of the explanation for comic 74, as the comic deviates from it in a notable way that not all visitors may recognize, be it because they haven't heard of sudoku before or because they aren't particularly familiar with the puzzles. There's a wee difference between cutting information and condensing the wording of a passage, and what you did with that explanation leads further towards cutting content. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:45, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
::I prefer explains people will read. The wiki link for Su Doku is already there but I will work on a small explain soon.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:07, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
:::What, three full paragraphs is too much for people to read? Three full paragraphs of a complete explanation are better than a paragraph and two sentences of incomplete description? I'd rather we follow the name of the wiki and actually explain the comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:41, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
::::Read my version completely, I did adopt your hints on explain Su Doku and did some more polish. PLEASE just read before you undo! Tell me what's missing but I still prefer a more simple explain. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:10, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
:::::You made a complete explanation incomplete in the name of simplicity. At least you bothered re-adding the relevant information back in post-hoc this time. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:03, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

== 1190 Time pictures after major changes ==

Hi,
any ideas to get new file uploads here? After your change we have some silence...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:55, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
:Geekwagon, Aubronwood and many other sites keep archives of past frame hashes. We can look up our last hash and upload all proceeding images here. I did that for the first 500-odd frames, until people started doing it faster than me. I'll probably start again since other editors seem to be on holiday. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:43, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
::You did upload all the images manual, is this the new way to do this? I thought your scripts don't like file names like 1234a, 1234b..., so do you not use a bot to upload the images? Further more: Since hashes from other sites do not map to the new naming here I think we have to document them here. But it seems I'm just running against windmills.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:01, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Post-hoc scripts; instead of an image archive littered with special cases, scripts need only iterate in numerical order. It's slightly more difficult to upload, but it's a consistent naming scheme for future use. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:03, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

== 1190 Time pictures - Do you use a bot or not... ==

...it seems not - why?
Lazy as I am! You're not like this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:27, 12 July 2013 (UTC)
:I have a script to help with backlog uploads, but then I also manually upload new images while I'm awake and am near my computer. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:14, 13 July 2013 (UTC)
::What do you think about a bot? My computer is downloading the images by 24/7 so an upload here should be possible. But first I will start some tests at my local MediaWiki installation.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:56, 13 July 2013 (UTC)
:::A bot would be nice. Slashme's Slashbot actually did time image uploads, but he stopped cuz electricity bills or something. We could ask him if he's willing to share. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:31, 13 July 2013 (UTC)
::::I am thinking about a bot like ''DgbrtBot''. I never have done this before (WikiBot) but I know the fucking manuals and while Randall does not like Perl I will use this language ;). Tomorrow I will start some tests at my local MediaWiki and then I will need an account for a bot.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:53, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

== Outage from Friday to Saturday ==

Did you recognize this, every error was just a "access denied for user ... on database ...". This board was dead for 24 hours.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:32, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
:Yep, purged cache to fix it. Not currently in a place with perfect access to internet though, so I'm not quite as fast with that as I usually am. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:33, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
::The same happened yesterday. Do you have chronic disk space/quota shortage? --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 13:13, 25 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Yep. We added a donate button and the sidebar ads when these issues started happening - a few days after time - to buy better hardware. Money comes slow. We could probably stand to upgrade mediawiki and PHP too sometime. Sometime. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:43, 25 July 2013 (UTC)
::::Hi - I'm wondering if there has been any traction or progress in upgrading mediawiki - I was thinking especially with the recent comic [http://www.explainxkcd.com/1434 comic 1434] - but also historic comics like [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/826:_Guest_Week:_Zach_Weiner_(SMBC) 826] - that an [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap imagemap] would be useful in the explanation, which is apparently bundled with [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.21#Bundled_extensions mediawiki 1.21], but also available as a extension(?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 16:24, 16 October 2014 (UTC)
:::::Imagemap seems to be compatible with our version of Mediawiki. I'll get to adding it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:58, 16 October 2014 (UTC)
::::::Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:40, 18 October 2014 (UTC)
:::::::Thanks! -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 11:28, 29 October 2014 (UTC)
:::::::I tried to create an imagemap for [[1434]] on a separate page, but any attempt to include the imagemap caused the submission to hang (sitting showing only a blank page whether I tried to submit for a preview or to actually edit) - I believe it was Friday, but might have been Thursday if you're looking for error logs. This is in contrast to the behavior when I tried to use wiki image maps before you said you added the extension (it would:::::::: simply strip out the tags and show the text content). I don't know how much time you have to contribute to this site every day, or how high a priority fiddling with this extension would be, but I'd appreciate anything you can do to look into this. Specifically, I used the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:where_do_birds_go_clips_only.png cropped image I uploaded] and the [http://www.maschek.hu/imagemap/imgmap Online image map editor] markup generator, which was linked from the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap#See_also MediaWiki:ImageMap page] as it "supports all shapes, [and is] Extension:ImageMap compatible".
::::::::Alrighty, I'll get on it. Do you have the imagemap markup you were trying to use saved somewhere? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:42, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
::::::::Tested it, the error appears to be an old friend of mine. All the more reason to try and resolve it. Disabled the extension in the meantime, but it's still installed. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:22, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
:::::::::I don't have the markup handy, but it's pretty easy to create sample markup (which is why I included the links for errythang) - I'm not even sure how to escape it in a wiki to make it postable here, since it doesn't even commit the change - I appreciate your efforts! Do you get more money if I ''click'' on Ads? :-) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:18, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
::::::::::The way our pricing works, ad clicks don't directly translate to income, but they make the ad space more attractive to potential buyers which leads to them bidding up the price. Our base prices are rock bottom though to encourage our own users to advertise with us, and we wouldn't mind if you pointed your boss/marketing dept at work towards our bargain bin ad space. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:01, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
:::::::::::A long-time friend has been dealt with, the plugin is now re-enabled. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:11, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

== User RouterIncident and a bunch of templates ==

Hi, I'm hoping you have had nice holidays. We all do need recovery. But it's bad when no active admin is available here.

Please delete that citation template, or just enter a link to [[285: Wikipedian Protester]]. Please delete also this categories: "All articles lacking reliable references" and "Articles lacking reliable references". We still have the incomplete category, that should be enough.

BTW: RouterIncident is maybe also on holiday, no action the last days.
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:04, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

:I could not find these categories you speak of in the page creation log, but citation needed is gone now. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:01, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

== Please move some pages and edit the "List of all comics" ==

I can't move pages here, but this should work:

<nowiki>{{comicsrow|1245|2013-07-31|10 Day Forecast}}</nowiki>
*the correct page must be: "1245: 10 Day Forecast"
*the ''title'' must be: "10 Day Forecast"

So I did not save this update because it would result into corrupt links:

<nowiki>xkcd.com/1245 | 10 Day Forecast (create) | number / title / talk | 10_day_forecast.png | 2013-07-31</nowiki>

Please help, or give me the power to do this on my own.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:03, 1 August 2013 (UTC)
:Ooor instead of deviating from the title on xkcd, we could use an excellent feature to the comicsrow template put in by Waldir. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:20, 1 August 2013 (UTC)
::Uh, I didn't know this feature.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:03, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

== Template:Verification needed ==
This template is unnecessary, please delete it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:03, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
:Please also delete the templates behind this non existing categories:
:*Wikipedia pages with incorrect protection templates‏‎ (2 members)
:*Wikipedia protected templates‏‎ (2 members)
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:07, 2 August 2013 (UTC)
::Holy dependency hell. Purged the lot. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:42, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Can you nuke [[Talk:404: 404 Error]]? You forgot to delete it when you got rid of [[404: 404 Error]].

Also, any update on the thumbnail issue? They are still not displaying correctly See [[Special:UnusedFiles|unused files]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 22:03, 9 August 2013 (UTC)
:Deleted. Thumbnails are a bit trickier, seeing as Jeff is the only one who has direct access to the server. Still plugging. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

For some reason, the wiki places the [[Main Page]] in the same categories as the current comic. This should be fixed, as the only category it should belong to is the [[:Category:Root category|root category]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 16:30, 17 August 2013 (UTC)
:FYI I have answered [[User:Oneforfortytwo]] on [[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|his talk page]]. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 19:01, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

One more thing: Can you edit [[1190: Time]] and remove all links to images after 2973:00? Seeing as there will not be any more of them uploaded, and some of them are showing up on the [[Special:WantedFiles|wanted files page]]. Also, can you restore the deleted image [[:File:starsmove.png]]? Originally, I thought there was nowhere to put it, but I realized that I can link to it at [[1190: Time/Pictures]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 06:04, 20 August 2013 (UTC)
:Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:51, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Oh, can you delete [[1360: Old Files/info]]? Also, could we possibly get a page where people can post pages to be deleted? That would make it easier to report them. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 19:47, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

:Can do. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:59, 29 June 2014 (UTC)
::Mkay, deleted the page, was in the process of making the page when I recalled that [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests]] and [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals]] tend to be the pages used for proposing deletion of pages. Page deletion doesn't come up incredibly often, although I could create the page if people really want it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:25, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

I found [[:Category:Pages to delete]]. Although you can't explain why to delete a page. Perhaps a template would be more appropriate. Speaking of which, can you delete [[:Category:Commissioned]], [[:File:16px-BlackHat head.png]], [[:File:spirit rewrite unknown author.png]], [[:File:tongue awareness.jpg]], [[Special:ListFiles/ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|all of these uploads]], and [[Special:ListFiles/Spongebog|the Lorenz uploads here]]?

By the way, [[User:DgbrtBOT]] is not selecting the xkcd.com licensing choice when uploading new comic images, causing all of them to show up in [[:Special:UncategorizedFiles]]. And [[User:Dgbrt]] appears to have gone AWOL. Is there any way we can contact him and get him to change his bot?

Finally, I think there should be a category for the pages listed [[:Special:UncategorizedPages|here]]. Maybe helper comic pages, seeing as there is a helper comic images? Or comic subpages? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 23:47, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
:The template [[template:spam]] automagically includes the delete template. We used to have a delete template, but it literally saw no use. The black hat head is the site favicon and the tongue awareness image is used in an explanation. The others seem justifiable though. I'll submit a patch to dgbrt that oughta fix the image categorization thing. Comic subpages oughta be a fine name. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:19, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

== Time animation—a little help maybe? ==

About the animated Time GIF, I actually prepared one right away at the end, but I haven't been able to get it to upload here, even though it's rather less than the stated size limit, 12 MB out of I think 40 MB. If anyone can suggest what might be going on, I'll be happy to try it out. I did ask in the XKCD forum, but didn't get any help there. Just in case it was a temporary thing, I'll go give it a shot here again after I post this. Wouldn't want to save face or anything if it actually works all of a sudden, after all.—[[User:KarMann|KarMann]] ([[User talk:KarMann|talk]]) 20:03, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

== Clean explains ==

Oh, I did some reverts (undo) today again, I'm not happy:
*Ninja Turtles still belong to NASA
*Bullsh.. sorry
*Duplicate on some chess jokes
*Math
*And math again at some statistics (Increased Risk). <- ok, or (Increased Risk.)
While you do fight against spam, I simply do fight against some similar windmills. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:04, 27 August 2013 (UTC)
:Many of these were hamfisted ones that were targeted at one change, and reverted everything else contained in the same edit. Some of them were legitimate, some of them seem to show minimal effort to look at context before you edit. It's getting to the point where it's actually kind of disruptive now. If something is not in your area of expertise, don't revert like you do currently. There's a reason why rollback privileges are not given to all users. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:37, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

== 1269: Privacy Opinions‎ ==

This edit war is useless. The add is just '''TL;DR'''. And I'm sure even you did not read it all. Please keep explains as short as possible, otherwise people don't read. For understanding my post read this (read it all, there is a final statement at the bottom):
According to the title, the comic is about “opinions on internet privacy” in general. Six positions are offered as options. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by the author by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative valences in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels, as those characters are depicted either as having such boring lives that they have no need for privacy (the Crypto Nut, the Nihilist), or as being crazy (the Conspiracist, the Exhibitionist).
A fifth position, the Philosopher, is tagged somewhat ambivalently by the author: Megan is depicted as boring her interlocutor, yet in the title text, the author admits that he is usually the Philosopher. Also, “Philosopher” in vernacular English is neutrally valenced, potentially having the ability to expound either wisdom (sophia) or sophistry. It is also a synonym for Sage, the sixth position. As the author condones his own movement from Philosopher to Sage, he thus indicates that the Philosopher is to be viewed negatively, even if it is a tempting position to hold.
The title of the sixth position, the “Sage”, is positively valenced in contemporary English, and the author in the title text states that once he obtains a “burrito” – i.e., a “real” thing, he switches from the Philosopher to the Sage. The internal evidence presented thus far therefore is entirely consistent; the author encourages the reader to identify with the Sage.
By presenting five negatively tagged positions followed by a positively tagged sixth and final one, the author follows a rhetorical commonplace of listing and refuting a number of positions one by one, concluding with the favored and best one, which is not refuted and should be accepted both on its own merits and by virtue of being the last one standing. The comic therefore implies that no other (significant) positions exist.
Having completed the rhetorical analysis of the comic, we are now in a position to understand the meaning of “Internet Privacy”.
Panels #3 and 5 directly reference the American NSA. Panel #5’s “exhibitionist” also references Google, but the characters in the panel appear to be NSA agents (one wears an official cap and they are viewing the exhibitionist on an official, government-looking monitor). Likewise, the focus of the “Nihilist” is that the joke is on the people who gather the data, rather than those who are subsequently able to make use of it (such as Facebook’s users rather than "Facebook" itself; i.e., Facebook's employees and, by extension, its advertisers). The content of the actual data is only mentioned in panels #2, 4, and 5, and in each panel, it is suggested that it is meaningless or trivial. The Sage underscores the notion that any data known about him does not bother him, and therefore must be meaningless or trivial. The reader is thus encouraged to believe that it does not actually matter whether others discover personal data abou t him/her.
The comic is therefore what social theorists call *reductive*, because it reduces the range of possibilities of “Opinions on Internet Privacy” to an artificially and simplistically narrow subset; in this case, individuals concerned with government or corporate agencies using data that they have gathered on individuals, and the futility of worrying about such things. The comic does not admit the possibility of other “opinions on internet privacy” – namely, that individuals might have legitimate concerns with governmental or corporate uses of their data, let alone other individuals’ access to data that is assembled and distributed by corporations such as Facebook. The comic likewise does not consider the possibility of individuals having more interesting lives than the characters depicted, and therefore very real concerns about their privacy due to the activities that they engage in that are potentially more career limiting (should they be discovered) than obsessing about cryptography or eating a burrito.
The comic is “functionally” reductive, as opposed to “intentionally” reductive, because the reduction is the function or effect of the comic for readers who read it straightforwardly (such as the poster who claimed it was “about” Edward Snowden), whether or not the author intended this reduction to occur. There is not enough internal evidence in the literary text (i.e., the comic) to maintain that the author intentionally excluded other viable opinions on internet privacy; it could be that they are just not on his radar. For example, we do not have enough information in the comic to claim that the author is against civil rights; it could be simply that he doesn’t often think about them. Likewise, it would exceed the evidence of the comic to claim that the author believes that schoolteachers who use the internet to facilitate legal but frowned-upon sexual behaviors should lose their jobs if they are found out due to internet privacy breaches; it could be that the author simply hasn’t bothered to worry about these matters if they don’t affect him personally. This adjudication – whether the comic is “intentionally” reductive or not – may only be made on the basis of external evidence; that is, data known about the author from sources beyond this comic.
Use of such external evidence – historical, personal, psychological information about an author – is valid in determining the meaning of an author’s text, and is increasingly viable due to the accessibility of information about an individual on the internet today.
Additional observations about the comic follow.

And when you did complete all that readings maybe you can summarize it, just in a way a reader would read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:15, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
:PRO TIP: explainxkcd is not guessxkcd.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:19, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
::I did actually read it, and goes well past merely defining words in the comic. It covers writer's craft and all of it is derived from valid analysis of text from the comic. There's maybe a couple of excess words that I edited out, but length is not a bad thing. I read it the first time, and it was a valuable analytical contribution to the explanation; I question the value of flat-out reverting major edits that significantly improve pages. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:33, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
:::First sentence is mapped to the title, the TL;DR section is at the bottom. OK?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:10, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
::::Uh, you cut the passage in half and split it up when it was referring back on itself? And you're accusing me of not bothering to read it? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:26, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
:::::Uh, Oh, Ahh, I did not delete any content, I just asked about improvements. Read my comments, still much smaller than this adds.
:::::Are you happy when people do not visit this site again because the explain is bullshit? TL;DR... I still prefer articles people will read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:49, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
::::::I know you didn't delete anything. You cut it down the middle and pasted half the passage at the end of the article, with little regard for flow or structure. That's not a valuable edit, even if it's a smaller change than the initial passage addition. Having short explanations is not worth cutting out valuable information. Cutting out content that's irrelevant to the comic, yeah. Cutting out false relations and waffle, that's fine. Don't cut out well-written analysis.
::::::Also, I'm noticing concurrent issues being raised against your edits again. Consider editing and working on top of edits instead of straight reverting them, and avoid antagonistic language. You already have one warning from the last time this happened. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:59, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
:::::::I still disagree. The list of panel explains is overruled by a massive amount of text before. This is still not a helpful explanation.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 06:58, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
::::::::It's not a helpful explanation for those incapable of reading or scanning a sizeable passage of text. It contains all the relevant information in a coherent and laid-out manner, with a bullet pointed list to draw attention to the frame-by-frame explanations for those who want to skip the intention and analysis. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:26, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

== Advertising ==

My Firefox AddOn NoScript did block the external page "projectwonderful.com". The untrusted picture [http://www.projectwonderful.com/img/uploads/pics/91967-1378268302.png] does not belong to "explainxkcd.com". Then clicking the picture brings me to this link: [[explain_xkcd:Advertise_Here]]. But, I still do not see any advertisement here at all, only this "wonderful project world", what's wrong?

I would like to pay here for a link to Randall's store (he doesn't know), but it has to be an internal picture to an external link. A user action is required, ask Randall about this security. External clicks do count, embedded content to external sites is a real insecure solution. Many modern browsers will not allow this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:51, 1 October 2013 (UTC)
:The image does belong to us, it's just served by project wonderful when no advertisers are currently bidding on us. The word "advertise" used in the link title is in the verb form, not the noun; that page describes how to advertise on our site. That page contains our advertising guidelines and a few links to our project wonderful bidding page. There, you can create an account and bid on any of the four regions we have on offer. Our minimum rate is USD$3.8 per day, and they let you link any image to any site. If you still can't advertise with us, post imgur links to screenshots to show me what you're doing.
:Have you not said in the past that you are an employed software developer? Instead of advertising a site wholly unaffiliated to you, why not ask your boss to try his hand at advertising on explain xkcd? It's cheaper than most advertising outlets, and we have a large and valuable audience for your average technology company. Your company can probably easily muster the ~$15 per day needed to advertise in all our available regions, and the process takes about as long as creating an account on any other site on the internet. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:13, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

== A database error has occurred... ==

I did clean the cache, it seems no admin is required to fix this damn problem. Site was down but available now again. I will also talk to JEFF about this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:54, 3 October 2013 (UTC)
: New server coming soon. Hopefully these DB issues will stop... forever. --[[User:Jeff|<b><font color="orange">Jeff</font></b>]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:39, 25 October 2013 (UTC)

== IP Users ==

I still do not like this mess: [[User:108.162.216.45]] and [[User:50.151.2.168]]. Users have to register for this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:18, 8 November 2013 (UTC)
:No they don't? {{w|User:70.21.5.28}}. The page takes up so little space, it's not worth forcing them to do something they may not want to do. When our IP friend wants an account, they will make that choice on their own. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:35, 8 November 2013 (UTC)
::Someone else will use the IP 50.151.2.168 in the future. If that user also likes xkcd and explainxkcd he will find a history he never has done. Still a mess. Nevertheless you can be sure that I never will edit this without admins permission.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:39, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

== Question: — or - ==

You're changing — to -, even while it looks to me like a (typical American) loooong dash at the picture. Original transcript by Randal on [[752]] is "Do you--", so I don't understand some of your latest edits. I'm changing &mdash to — ( on Linux). I did opt for removing the double spaces after a sentence, but is this dash also history? Like miles... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:01, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
:Eh, I just do it because it's only one character in the original comics. I don't actually have easy access to an mdash on my keyboard when I'm editing, I'll probably bind that to a key for future use. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:12, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
::My question was just: Is "—" wrong or not. You know I am German, but my OS and much more programs are running on English. That's because all that translations are just annoying. Nevertheless, at [[752]] the original transcript shows this: "Blonde: Do you--". this should be a long dash. And you did change many &mdash to "—", I just want to understand how to behave on this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:17, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
:::There isn't really a codified grammatical rule for the length of a dash. It's mostly stylistic, but it seems to be a rather common convention that a short dash is for joining words, and a long mdash is for punctuation dashes. Again though, it's not on the keyboard and the vast majority of people probably don't pay attention to dash length when reading. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:41, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
::::You did introduce this in the past, my keyboard gives me on "ALT GR + SHIFT + -" just a "—". but we still have to decide about a rule on this. "-"--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

== Extension:Comments ==

Have you thought about trying [[mw:Extension:Comments|Extension:Comments]]? It was recently updated (July 2013) and looks like it would make commenting the explanations much more user-friendly. Could you make a little experiment to see if it works well? Say, install it so we can test and see if it works well? I'd be willing to help in the conversion of current comments to the new format, and we could even make it a long-term goal to eventually bring back all the comments from the blog :D --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
: I did edit the incomplete template, ERROR is not correct. But a hint to the missing reason is great.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
: From prior experience, the comments plugin does generate a lot of meta-pages with scrambled names that made me prioritize other things over it, but I can totally run it for a few days to see how things go. In a few weeks, my free time will skyrocket and I should be able to install and monitor the plugin then. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:40, 24 November 2013 (UTC)
:: Hey Davidy. I wonder if you're able to try this out. If so, let me know how I can help!
:: On the other hand, I am disappointed to hear that the comments extension doesn't integrate neatly with mediawiki. Are you aware of any similar choice that may be better-behaved? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:33, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

== New comics BOT ==

I think that BOT is doing the job right now. Maybe there is a possibility to install it on this server, not much but some PERL modules are required, it should work on any OS. Nevertheless since I could see the updates in general did happen at 04:00 UTC I will implement a new script starting at 04:00 UTC, polling again after that again. But since I don't want to poll xkcd too much that poll would stop after fifteen minutes. Then there will be just a five minute schedule, until a new comic is found.

BTW: <nowiki>$text .= "{{comicsrow|$comic_num|$date|$comic_name|$picture_name}}\n"; </nowiki> means I will always add the optional parameter for the picture. Not all picture did work properly in the past, so I decided to include this parameter to get a working picture link on the main page. Any suggestions are welcome. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:50, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
:I have an idea for that, but I have a metric buttload of things that I need to do by the end of this week. I've seen comics come out several hours late so I think polling for four hours would still be apt, and I'm sure Randall's server could handle us polling him a little faster. Having a explanation page up at the same time as a new comic is really huge. I believe I have a solution for the comicsrow problem, but I also don't know Perl. I could probably figure it out in a weekend though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:19, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

== Incomplete tag at main page ==

Am I wrong, or is every new comic complete at the main page in the future? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:16, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
:When we include a comic page on the main page, templates and categories are preserved. While that's good for page layout and the like, it's not so good when we have templates that impart their categories upon the inheriting page, like the incomplete template did. It was tagging the main page as incomplete whenever the newest comic was marked as incomplete. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:27, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
::Yezzz, I understand. But presenting a new incomplete page in this way is not good. The counter has to be adjusted. But I'm serious on this and maybe some ''noinclude'' tags may help. While the main page should not be counted, the page it presents, if incomplete or not (<-the problem), should presented at the proper state. My bot will cover any solutions for further uploads. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:40, 9 December 2013 (UTC)
:::What counter? The counter on the main page doesn't take into account the main page itself, and the transcluded page is shown in its entirety, save for the discussion page and one category. What's the problem here? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:37, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

== I don't mind about a 24 hour ban... ==

...but after that I did try to do some more talks here:
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Mrarch&curid=13771&diff=55110&oldid=55109
DELETED!
I'm still the pest here, or what? I'm still hoping you will understand my actions here. I'm working much on the health of this board, talking to Jeff and many more here. And Mrarch just did delete my message. I'm German, so it could happen that I do use a sentence which could be interpreted different to my meanings. BUT: I just want to support this site as much I can do. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:49, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
:Oh nuts, didn't see that. I though he was just setting up his own user and talk pages. I'll leave a notice. Also, try to cooperate, and practice your English. There ''are'' a few naunces in his arguments that you're gliding over. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:45, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
::And oh nuts, we need some more people to review all the updates here. We have many new people here, doing great edits, but sometimes a correction is needed. I will still do this here, but you can be sure I will be much more polite when an edit-war does happen. I don't mind - xkcd is just fun. That counts! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:26, 14 December 2013 (UTC)

== BOT uploads at the comic list ==

Hi,
I can remove that "Picture.png" add, but I think it's more safe to use this optional parameter. Sometimes upper case and lower case did cause some problems. I'm trying to prevent this by providing the image link my BOT did upload here.

On January 1 my BOT did fail because the picture was not accepted at this Wiki, and my BOT stops on every unexpected error. The BOT doesn't understand Randall and so, when the BOT is running on problems it simply does nothing.

I've had serious problems to connect this site since a few deys, I don't understand why, but my BOT is doing it's job as planed.

Looking forward to some translations...

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:04, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
:Hm? What cases cause it to fail? Imma make this work. In cases of ambiguity, we could always err on the side of caution and include the parameter. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:54, 7 January 2014 (UTC)
::The BOT did fail on January 1. because the "PNG" was in fact an "Adobe XMP" format and the upload was rejected by this site. A BOT barely can't handle this unexpected mess. This requires human action and the BOT stops further actions. The optional parameter will be posted anyway; if BOT doesn't fail.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:13, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

== Incompleteness Tag. ==

My browser (Chrome) is showing that 137: Dreams is the incomplete comic of the day. I used the tags there as the page instructed. Did I use them incorrectly? (possibly it was supposed to be in the main page edit instead of the discussion? I am fairly new here)This is the algorithm now. 19:10, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
:The explanation page is already tagged. Tagging the discussion page marks the discussion page as incomplete. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:31, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
::I did edit this discussion page with a nowiki marker. And ‎Anomulus please sign your comments in the proper way, it's much more easy to discuss with an user instead of just a date. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:41, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

I did move some comics back to the incomplete section, a full explain is still more worth than a 0% ratio here. Nevertheless I am still thinking, not really working, on a German translation. But just because the ratio looks great here I will focus on that translation soon. Stay tuned...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:18, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
:If our numbers are right, a very healthy portion of our visitors should be German and you shouldn't have to be concerned with taking on the entire burden of translation. It's probably good to be conservative with the incomplete tag, it reduces the burden on of research on translators if they only have to change the language. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:33, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

== Incomplete Explanation of the Day ==

Some thoughts:
*[[explain xkcd:Incomplete Explanation of the Day]]: No need for the daily update, it's also still at the top.
*[[MediaWiki:Sitenotice]] should contain a link to this: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]].
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:43, 8 February 2014 (UTC)

:It takes very little extra effort to also update the project page, so I just do it anyways. The incomplete explanation of the day is supposed to be a focusing effort, to finish off one comic at a time. A link to the list of all the incomplete comics wasn't working, which is why I started drawing attention to individual comics in the sitenotice. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:55, 8 February 2014 (UTC)
::So tell me what's wrong with this link: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]]. In my opinion this could be still placed at the top.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:26, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
:::Mostly cuz that didn't work when it was on the main page, and calling attention to specific comics has worked exceedingly well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:57, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
::::I don't understand, there was a similar link in the past.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:13, 11 February 2014 (UTC)
:::::And in the past, that link had almost no effect on the incomplete pages count. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:54, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

===I just did remove a typo===
<code>:"1930s" has "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". a</code>

If you can not accept my typo correction on that simple damn "a" I will give up here. And I'm not sorry. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:40, 19 February 2014 (UTC)
:In the same edit I removed whitespace from the page, as is not immediately obvious from diffs but can be seen from the edit size numbers. The "a" has been gone in each of my proceeding edits, as you can see in the revision log if you would care to read it. Autoreverting is bad. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:57, 19 February 2014 (UTC)

== 1037: Umwelt ==

Hi, I'm sorry. But as my comments did say, some texts maybe helpful; but I can't fix all that layout issues. The individual pictures are still great, some ideas on that edits are nice, but it does not work in the full context. And those massive edits don't give both of us a way to review them all. I just did that revert because it doesn't work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:09, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
:The layout is still broken... I don't like edits without using a preview to verify a proper layout — and I do not like massive edits no one can follow.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 28 February 2014 (UTC)
::Image resizing will be fixed soon. Give it at most three weeks. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:37, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

== New admin proposal ==

Please take a look [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#New admin|here]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:36, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

== Template:comic ==

Isn't this just a revert and a freeze to a former revert done by me? Others did play then again on the main page appearance, but changes at this should be only possible for people not experimenting. The entire main page has to be protected. That page isn't a playground.

And on that admin discussions on me: My most posts are related to language, layout, and something — and I still don't like all those esoteric explains on ASSes, PENISpumps, ... But an admin has to work mostly on different issues.

Randall does primarily focus on "romance, sarcasm, math, and language.". Randall does more, so the SEX category is here, but I think we have to focus on the "primarily focus" at the headlines on explain pages first.

My advice here: Do NOT try to enhance well working templates, other statements are much more important.

--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:18, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

:It's not quite a revert, he changed how linking works for the first comic page, added jump links to the first and last pages and attempted a few fixes. I just fixed a few omissions that he made. Admin work usually tends to be focused on non-content stuff, yeah, but I feel like those people maybe probably might be right. Innuendo in comics not explicitly mentioning sex exist. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:03, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

== Mail send ==

It's still not easy to find important mails, I nearly lost yours but now you got a reply. Your issues needs a test, I will do that soon. And sorry for this three month late reply. Maybe I have been blind, I just found your message today.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:46, 17 March 2014 (UTC)
:The site GitHub.com did send a message to me from "David ???(possibly your surname)" but the address was in fact <nowiki>notifications@github.com</nowiki>. So this reply was stupid by me because that mail will never reach you.
:Please send me a notification here because I don't visit that GitHub site on a regular base. Last visit was two or three months ago. It's just a backup for myself and available to everyone who likes.
:Your request could remove links to GIF or JPG files, so I decided to include the picture link always because it does work on that template. Dynamic comics are much more complicated and my BOT stops to post any update here if something went wrong. I'm still thinking about a better logging on that, My idea is still: If the BOT decides not to post chaos here it should save any content for later manual analysis. But that's a big deal because Randall's comics are so different...
:Nevertheless the BOT covers most comics just in time, I know people are happy on this — and when the comic is too sophisticated, it just stops to prevent chaos here.
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:41, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

== File:lorenz-new.png ==

Moving this to File:lorenz.png does not work like my former updates, maybe it's some cache on the server. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:31, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:Huh. I'll have to take a look at that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:45, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:The file on the server looks right. It'll probably update itself on the caching servers in good time. The distortion is annoying though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:49, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
::Can you clear the cache? The page [[1350]] still looks bad like my former reverted updates. But maybe we use this just a test for the servers. Uploads are easy, but updates are the hell. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:08, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
:::Eff it, let's wait on it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:17, 3 April 2014 (UTC)
::::One idea: Try "Lorenz.png" instead of "lorenz.png". While WIKI is mostly case insensitive the servers maybe are. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:20, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

== German page ==

Is it still possible to create a German page here? I'm complete (honestly mostly) on my investigations for presenting a proper German page. On a positive reply I will present some more details (maybe screenshots) of my local wiki and a plan on how to bring it up to public. And consider, this would not only be for German readers, we have Austria, Switzerland, and many other parts in Europe. I would be happy to support this, and my BOT would be too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:37, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

:It's still possible, gonna do it after we clear out all the incomplete pages as promised.'''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:44, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

::So then this never would be happen. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:50, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
:::No, because we'll eventually clear out our backlog of old, incomplete articles. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:24, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

== /r/xkcd sitenotice ==

May I ask why you've added a sitenotice about /r/xkcd? The /r/xkcd sub is controlled by /u/soccer, who links to racist, xenophobic and misogynistic content regularly. Randall has even spoken in support of a petition for /u/soccer to be removed as a mod (which of course didn't happen because reddit doesn't do that). /r/xkcdcomic is a non-hateful alternative, one that Randall supports, and it has more users than /r/xkcd. [[User:LadyMondegreen|LadyMondegreen]] ([[User talk:LadyMondegreen|talk]]) 13:19, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
:If you look closely at the text and click on the link, you'll see that it actually says and links to xkcdcomic. Also, /r/xkcd is currently at 40000 subs and hit 10000 a few years ago. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:38, 2 May 2014 (UTC)
::Hmmm, yeah, I'm not sure how I got that backwards, but I did. Someone pointed it out to me on IRC and I guess I didn't look closely enough. Sorry about that. [[User:LadyMondegreen|LadyMondegreen]] ([[User talk:LadyMondegreen|talk]]) 19:35, 6 May 2014 (UTC)

== Any idea on this: [[A Smarter Planet]] ==

This should be mentioned here, but that article doesn't represent a comic from the main page. Maybe it should be merged to [[Randall]]? What do you think? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:17, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
:That's not a bad idea. I'll put that on the list of things to do. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:56, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
::Sorry, I've forgotten to post a reply here. I did put in a new template for this special issue because it's different to a common comic from xkcd. A standard comic template never can cover this. And when this template is complete it should be protected, but the resulting category page is still bad and I need help on this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:55, 28 May 2014 (UTC)
:Yeah, I figured that when I tried it myself. It might be a bug with parserfunctions though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:17, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

== Do we have active admins here? ==

This site seems to be running into chaos. The former approved admins do not work that much here; and now I'm even missing you.

Maybe you are on holidays; if so, I'm just greeting with "Happy holiday". BUT this site still needs an admin.

You know I'm still looking forward on a German page for this, but this English page is still on my main focus. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:16, 9 May 2014 (UTC)
:The image caching issue is caused by Cloudflare not refreshing the image that it serves as fast as we'd like it to. Outstanding admin requests and unsigned messages were left for one day. That's not inactivity. The only thing I saw being raised was the admin request, which was closer to a progress update to which you butted in with an irrelevant remark. The only conflict I see in talk pages is between you and other editors, and it's only mild disagreements and mostly civil discussion at the moment, so I'm pretty fine with it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:56, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

== Minor edits ==

Hi, you are often doing minor edits like fixing some syntax or missing parentheses. If you would mark them as "minor edits" it could be ignored at the "Recent changes" page. Major changes could be found much more easier. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

== Incoming confirmation email: Domain of sender address expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com does not exist ==

Since the email address of incoming confirmation emails come from a non-existing domain, they are bounced so never reach me.

From the mail logs:

<code>
2014-05-30T08:36:21.455368+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: NOQUEUE: connect from vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged)
2014-05-30T08:36:22.049902+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: s4U6aLdn012564: ruleset=check_mail, arg1=<expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>, relay=vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged), reject=553 5.1.8 <expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>... Domain of sender address expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com does not exist
2014-05-30T08:36:22.219369+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: s4U6aLdn012564: from=<expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>, size=2306, class=0, nrcpts=0, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged)
</code> {{unsigned|Jeroenp}}

:You shouldn't need a confirmation email to contribute and use the site. Uh, that feature'll probably be turned off; how did you request the email that generated the above error? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:21, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

::Because at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Preferences it says:

<blockquote><blockquote>E-mail address is optional, but is needed for password resets, should you forget your password.You can also choose to let others contact you by e-mail through a link on your user or talk page. Your e-mail address is not revealed when other users contact you.<br />
E-mail confirmation: Your e-mail address is not yet authenticated. No e-mail will be sent for any of the following features. <br />
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ConfirmEmail Confirm your e-mail address]<br />
* Enable e-mail from other users
* Send me copies of e-mails I send to other users
* E-mail me when a page on my watchlist is changed
* E-mail me when my user talk page is changed
* E-mail me also for minor edits of pages
</blockquote></blockquote>
::So I used this to send a confirmation email: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ConfirmEmail
::[[User:Jeroenp|Jeroenp]] ([[User talk:Jeroenp|talk]]) 19:13, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

The lunarpages do not know to set up a proper Mail Server. My Mail Servers also would never accept this until I whitelist them. Sadly I still have to do this for some customers — also big customers in the US. Reasons because this mail isn't valid:
*dig vps.lunarpages.com:
;; ANSWER SECTION:
vps.lunarpages.com. 3600 IN A 80.156.86.78
vps.lunarpages.com. 3600 IN A 62.157.140.133
*whois 67.210.100.50:
The answer belongs to LunarPages.
*But 67.210.100.50 isn't a registered MX entry for the domain "lunarpages.com":
lunarpages.com. 300 IN MX 0 sharpmail-new.lunarpages.com.
*which is:
sharpmail-new.lunarpages.com. 300 IN A 74.50.25.50

I'm sorry, but fighting against SPAM is important and a proper Mail and DNS configuration is mandatory. Maybe those admins at LP do need some help and advise.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:06, 2 June 2014 (UTC)
:If you don't have anything useful to say, don't say it. You don't have to be in on every single conversation on the wiki. The issue is being dealt with. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:45, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

== "Feeling old" category ==

Hello, Davidy22. I noticed that you deleted the "Feeling old" category I made a while ago due to being "tenuous, not significant enough." In the interest of becoming a better contributor to the wiki, could you explain further on significance for a new category?

I realize that there are various qualifications that a category has to fulfill, lest it only add clutter to the wiki. A category ought to be simple, memorable, and concise. It should refer to something within or about the strip, be deliberate, and be objective. And, ideally, it should apply to a fair number of strips. I figured that the four strips that included the motif of "character/Randall reflects on how distant the seemingly-recent past is" all used it significantly, as a central theme or as a punchline. I personally feel that Randall hasn't exhausted his use of this motif, and therefore it warrants its own category for future comics, saving time in future explanations and aiding readers of past explanations.

(My one personal issue with it is that the phrase "feeling old" does not feel concise or specific enough, but I couldn't think of a single word or a better two-word phrase to describe it.) -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.21|108.162.216.21]] 18:18, 12 August 2014 (UTC)

:I hope you (Or Davidy22) don't mind me starting off this conversation. Categories are not meant to be used as a tag cloud. Categories are a concrete thing in the comic such as [[:Category:Comics with color]], [[:Category:Red Spiders]]. They are not motifs or feelings about the comic. We don't have categories for happy comics and sad comics, and I can't think of a persuasive enough argument to allow them. Until there's a significant number of comics with "I feel old" or "I'm getting old" or "#FeelingOld" (eww) in the text, I'd hold off on trying to push this one through. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:55, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
::Part of the deletion ''was'' because it only had four comics under it. The only times I've allowed categories with that few comics behind them was when they were put forward by registered users who I could make promise to maintain them. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:51, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
::: Okay, so ''feeling'' old is a bad category name. Categories that sound subjective in general are bad. Perhaps "Aging" could work? And also, courtesy of two particular xkcd blogs, I know of at least 10 comics that would belong to it: [[218]], [[354]], [[447]], [[493]], [[647]], [[891]], [[973]], [[1093]], [[1393]], and the recently posted [[1408]]. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.21|108.162.216.21]] 03:38, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

== Weird formatting bug ==

I remember back when I had asked about skins you had told me to mention if there was anything off. Well, it's nothing major, but [http://puu.sh/ceEv7.png this] seems to happen on the Main Page alone on the monobook skin. I can't say I've ever seen this before... [[User:Schiffy|<font color="000999">Schiffy</font>]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|<font color="FF6600">Speak to me</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|<font color="FF0000">What I've done</font>]]) 16:55, 16 October 2014 (UTC)
:Mmmm, testing does not give me the same bug, but that part of the page is still malformed. I'll get on that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:58, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

== Dont change other peoples comments ==

When the user clicks "add a topic" in the comments block a new section is added. When a user does this you modify it to a heading style you prefer. This is against every design principal I know of. You have 3 legitimate choices: remove the button, style the header so it pleases you more, or let it be. Since this is a standard part of the wiki and updading versions would likely undo your changes, I would sugest that you simply learn to live with it, as it is not objectivly ugly.
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 13:10, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

:It's not actually done because the header is ugly, it's done because of an error case that occurs when the discussion page is transcluded onto the main explanation page, that came up a while back. It would probably be better to remove that button instead of having to manually change every discussion page header, and I'll get to that when I have the time. Also, note how I only modify headers in explanation talk pages, where the error can occur; headers in user talk pages and the community portal are unchanged. Also, updating between mediawiki versions does not change the contents of (most) pages, so it wouldn't actually undo what I'm doing. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:54, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

::Am I allowed to undo other peoples comments when they include blatant racism? See Weatherlawyer's comments on [[500: Election]] and [[522: Google Trends]]. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:28, 31 January 2015 (UTC)
:::No. You are not the judge of what other people are allowed to say. If other people say something questionable, they will be warned and/or banned. On the subject his his specific comments, they doesn't seem overtly racist in 500, just heavily politically skewed, but 522 seems pushing it. I'll warn him for now. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:32, 31 January 2015 (UTC)
::::With respect, referring to 'Only having voted for a chimpanzee twice' is (to me at least) an obvious racial slur aimed at Obama. I have no issue with anyone posting inflammatory comments with regard to his politics/policy/decisions as President/what he stands for etc etc etc, but racism is not ok. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 21:10, 31 January 2015 (UTC)
:::::Chimp in the general lexicon is used to describe someone mentally challenged, not black. I must say it's quite hard to discern exactly who or what he's talking about because it feels like he's just making comments for the sake of making lots of comments. His statement about texas being granted statehood probably doesn't support the idea that he's talking about Obama, since they're not very supportive of him to begin with. Texas to my knowledge has been a republican state, so unless he really doesn't know what he's talking about, I'd say it's more likely that he's talking about one or more of the recent Republican presidents. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:47, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

== Other explanations ==

What if we tried to include explanations for the What if? portion of xkcd? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:26, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
{{Color|#AAA|(p.s. - I'm not sure how to get my question to look like it's written on graph paper)}}
:That question comes up every once in a while. My response to the first one was that those things tend to be self explanatory and that the wiki is for the comic, but this'll be the fourth time it's been suggested. I dunno, how would it be formatted on the main page? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:01, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
::Format indeed... also I understand what you mean about self explanatory - I'd say at least 85% of each entry is quite plain, simple, and straightforward. Most of the humor of the feature is not traditional "ah-ha!" humor (that comes from revelation of a twist on assumptions, or which might benefit from explanation). Every once in a while, though, that remaining 15% (often from the images, but sometimes from a {{w|factlet}} or two) contains a few nuggets of knowledge that make me yearn for discussion or comment, and occasionally clarification to one degree or another. In addition to possible issues of cherry-picking what's explained, and questions on how to format it, there's the question of the variability in release date of the comics (used to be every Tuesday, then Thursday and, if I'm not mistaken, the last two(?) have been on Friday, with a few weeks missed (sometimes with and sometimes without notice or explanation) - so how to catalog that? I'll append to this conversation whenever I get that feeling of "if only there was" and we'll keep it open for discussion, if that sounds good to you(?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:33, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
:::Probably just note the release date of each article, although I don't fancy to task of cataloging that. I dunno, drop me a message whenever you want. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:37, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

== Template:i ==

I created that template for a reason. Unicode doesn't work right in many circumstances, especially on phones. Now people without Unicode support will see incorrect equations. Plus typing in a Unicode character is not easy, and not having an easy way to do it will guarantee it won't be used. That's why character templates exist on other wikis.

I copied the way of making the imaginary constant from Wikipedia. That's how the math template works. The Unicode version doesn't even look like an i in many fonts--the dot is missing. It looks like a weird squiggle that people won't recognize.

I really wish you would have done like other wikis and had a discussion (and let me know) before just deleting something. I'm lucky I happened to leave the tab open and happened to see it was deleted.

--[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 22:54, 23 November 2014 (UTC)
:Huh, tested and it does seem to be broken on phones. I'll get restoring that. A lot of these templates don't tend to end up being used though, past their creation. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:33, 24 November 2014 (UTC)

== Strong Language ==

Hey - I find it interesting that someone chose to create the category about "strong language" or something that you chose to delete because it had one comic. There are countless examples of "strong language", pretty much irrespective of what you consider to be "strong" (just search for one of the various "strong" words) but it's fascinating noone has felt strongly enough about it to make a category until 2015 -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:04, 26 January 2015 (UTC)
:It's also that "Strong language" is a really subjective category name that doesn't hold the same boundary for everyone, and is gonna be tough to populate to a degree that satisfies everyone. Although the person who made the category still frequents the wiki, so maybe he's capable of maintaining it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:36, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

== Delete a page ==

I created a page [[Test Page]] to test a potential feature. I intended to delete it afterwards, but it seems I don't have permission to delete it. Could you do so? Alternatively, make it into a sandbox [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 03:28, 1 March 2015 (UTC)
:Yeah, sure. In the future, use [[explain xkcd:Sandbox]]. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:33, 1 March 2015 (UTC)
::K [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 05:45, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

== Comic template ==

I made an upgraded version of the comic template that'll deal with [[Radiation]]'s broken navigation bar for once and for all. Could you please look over it to make sure it's all working fine, then replace the current template with it? Updated template is over [[User:Pixali/comictemplate/|here]] and can be viewed in action [[User_talk:Pixali/comictemplate/|here]]. [[User:Pixali|<font color="008000">Pixali</font>]] ([[User talk:Pixali|<font color="004b00">talk</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|<font color="004b00">contribs</font>]]) 02:54, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

:Tested, this implementation seems to break the back button. Documentation is incomplete and may need usage examples for the new parameters, but I can probably write that when this makes it to the actual implementation. When I'm free, I'll try and get it to work, there's a good start here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:52, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

::Got there before ya. I effectively rewrote the entire experimental template, fixing formatting & the broken back buttons while keeping the support for undefined numbers. I still have the examples up over at [[User_talk:Pixali/comictemplate/|the talk page]] for the new template so you can check it out there. I also tried to document it a bit better (inc. explaining the sort key better), but I'm not sure if it's satisfactory yet. [[User:Pixali|<font color="008000">Pixali</font>]] ([[User talk:Pixali|<font color="004b00">talk</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|<font color="004b00">contribs</font>]]) 04:51, 6 March 2015 (UTC)
::Seems pretty solid. I'll fold it into the main template. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:42, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

== Advertising? ==

Check the recent changes log. A page appears to have been made for the purpose of advertising or political rant or something (I didn't read much, it's long).

In any case, it's not relevant to this wiki. {{unsigned ip|Mikemk}}
:Yeah, it happens. Looks like another admin got to it before I came home. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:46, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

== dgbrtBOT Problems ==

While I did update my OS to CentOS 7 this weekend I did some tests on my bot. But it seems that problem doesn't belong to my update because I can't get this site via https - only http works.

Broken: [https://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php https://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php]

Working: [http://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php http://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php]

My bot requires a secure login via https so I don't know how to fix this.

Browser request gives me "Error 521" and my bot is "Error code 2: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable".

Even [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page] doesn't work for me.

Unless this is fixed my bot will not work.
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:57, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
:On it. Would it be possible for you to fall back on http while we work on that? xkcd comics aren't hugely security sensitive, so it should be fine. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:13, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

::I'm glad to reach you so soon. And sadly this WIKI requires HTTPS for a bot to login. My attempts on plain HTTP did fail, I do need SSL. Did you change something here? On Friday my bot did work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:28, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
:::What's the error message with HTTP? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:04, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
::::"Logging in over plain HTTP is a bad idea, we would be sending secrets (passwords or cookies) in plaintext over an insecure connection. To protect against eavesdroppers, set protocol => 'https'..."
::::I do accept this restriction; using https should be possible here for BOTs because a BOT can do many. If someone missuses my BOT account it would be bad for this site.
::::Maybe I have to import a non trusted certificate (costs money to make it public), but I want still to be on a save path.
::::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:30, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
:::::Hum, it would be bad if another party got your address. In other news, have you tried it again recently? It should work, I believe. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:58, 9 March 2015 (UTC)
::::::PROBLEM SOLVED! And the secrets are reset, just in case...
::::::I got an expected error message while trying to update the LATEST COMIC. Not allowed because it just exist. Looks good...
::::::Next BOT run should work until it's an unexpected dynamic one done by Randall. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 10 March 2015 (UTC)
Bad news: Picture upload did work but then my bot failed. Error messages are not very helpful but I'm sure I'll figure it out. So I will do some tests tomorrow on that damn API changes. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:57, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
:Oof. If there's anything you need server side, tell me. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:48, 11 March 2015 (UTC)
More BAD news: I still have to figure out the reason for error messages like this: "Error code 0: at /opt/xkcd/xkcdtest.pl line 104." What the hell is "Error code 0"??? Sadly it seems I have to work on this a little bit more. AND gooooogle doesn't help me... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:06, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
:Error code 0 is the default exit value in perl. It seems like you're terminating the script at line 104. It's a natural exit though, so it's probably part of your error checking. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:51, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

== Request for help ==

I'm in the midst of a [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob disagreement]] with another user about some general stylistic issues and I'd like to solicit broader input from the wiki community. Do you know a mechanism by which I can request such input? Thanks! [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 00:04, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Davidy22&action=edit&section=77

:The community portal would be the place to do it. People don't usually frequent there, but you'll get input over an extended period of time. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:24, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

::Thanks. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:29, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

== List of all comics broke recently ==

Thanks for adding "For comics from 1001-1500, see [[List of all comics (1001-1500)]]" to http://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_all_comics_(full)
But now links are being added in the wrong place. I'm just not sure why/how. [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 18:44, 23 March 2015 (UTC)
:There's a couple of things I did wrong. Fix'd '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:40, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

== The "incomplete explanation of the day" doesn't seem to be updated daily... ==

Should this be the case?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 08:06, 9 April 2015 (UTC)
:Currently, it's whenever the current one is completed. It used to be per day, but we don't have as many incomplete comics left to cycle through, and the ones that are left, are difficult to fix and don't get frequent changes. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:12, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

==What Ifs taken down? ==
Hey man, I saw you took down the 'Short Answer Section', 'Alternate Universe Whatifs' and the 'Growth Rate' page. Is this because of the Creative Commons license, because you maybe don't want whatif-pages on this wiki or is it of something else? I really spent some time working on those two and maybe a genuine reason for taking them down would be appreciated [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] ([[User talk:Nk22|talk]]) 19:55, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
:The what if pages were literally just the contents of the main articles transferred over to here. Those articles are already Randall's answers to questions, well explained in-of themselves. They don't need any further assistance from us, and we're not providing a lot of value by just copying the text of his articles. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:02, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
::OK, I see the point you're making. Most of those don't go as deep as some of the comics and are basicly explinations themselves. I might as well just add links to the what-if.xkcd.com website for more info. [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] ([[User talk:Nk22|talk]]) 20:05, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

== You're a hero ==

I don't know how often you're told that. But you're a hero, and you're my hero. Keep doing an amazing job and avoid burn out. I'll be coming back in 2 weeks. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:07, 28 April 2015 (UTC)
:Being able to just set up pages and let users fill everything in really helps with the load. Makes it much less work than it may seem. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:19, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

== Green Hat ==

If Green Hat's one appearance is not sufficient for his own page, why does [[Brown Hat]] have his own page with only one appearance in [[399: Travelling Salesman Problem]]? --{{User:17jiangz1/signature|12:46, 05 May 2015}}
:I was not a part of making that, and am not a huge fan of the existence of that page because of the precedent set. Weak precedent doesn't really justify making more though, as there are enough one-off characters to easily make the characters navbox very cluttered and unusable while providing little real value to visitors. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:22, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

== Unicode Theme ==

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand how unicode wasn't a significant theme in xkcd. It has been mentioned directly and indirectly, from the past into the present. Compared to "no title text", it seemed at least as significant of a category. What kinds of categories are considered significant? (It was significant to me.) {{unsigned|Azule}}
:Hum, looking back, it *is* a central point of all four comics included. Might be more justifiable than the typical marginal category page. Just remember to maintain it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:10, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

==Bot Problems==
Can you see anything at the log files why my BOT can't create/edit a simple page here? Since I still get only "Error code: 0". I maybe have to debug the API itself. Picture upload should be fixed now. Someone did beautify the LATESTCOMIC template my bot didn't expect this and did a save STOP at that point. Let's see if the picture works again tomorrow, but I want to do the entire comic again. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:23, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
:I'll check soon, wee bit busy at the moment '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:28, 27 May 2015 (UTC)
::Thanks for help. Picture upload works again since I adopt the beautified LATESTCOMIC page - I need that number to verify a new comic. My bot is doing nothing if that test fails.
::But when I try to create a new page I still get NO information about the error. And I did many investigations so far. It's frustrating... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:01, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

:::Please delete this:
:::2 June 2015
:::: (diff | hist) . . Nb Test 000001‎; 20:23 . . (+33)‎ . . ‎DgbrtBOT (Talk | contribs)‎ (Created by dgbrtBOT)
:::: (diff | hist) . . Nb 000001: Test 000001‎; 20:23 . . (+288)‎ . . ‎DgbrtBOT (Talk | contribs)‎ (Created by dgbrtBOT)
:::Bullshit... downgrading my BOT API to the former version did solve the problem. The documentation for the current MediaWiki:Bot is WRONG!!! I don't know why I haven't had this idea before.
:::If my bot works again I will update the dgbrtBOT page on that status tomorrow. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
::::Huh. It might be that we're out of date, and you upgraded to a version incompatible with our mediawiki version. I'm gonna have to get on that eventually. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:53, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
:::::I don't think it's your MediaWiki version, my BOT API was just crap. Let's see if it does work again tomorrow. Picture uploads are already done by my bot again - even when people overwrite it. But maybe I've to do some minor fixes tomorrow, let's see. May the SCHWARTZ be with my MOG... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:12, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
::::::I suspect your newer version wasn't trying to break things, we *are* very out-of-date. The only way to really know is by upgrading the wiki and seeing if it breaks the bot again, I guess. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:20, 2 June 2015 (UTC)
:::::::My latest API client was corrupt, not the wiki here itself. Your guess sounds a little bit like the test was done in "2001: A Space Odyssey" on HAL. But since my BOT can't talk like HAL I have to check the log-files afterwards. Today there was only ONE PROBLEM: An user here was faster than my BOT within just 2 minutes - should not happen very often.
:::::::But if this happens again my BOT will get a new enhancement: If my BOT finds a just a few minutes old upload here it will override them all and create all the edits needed here. Nobody can write an explain by that time but my BOT would ensure all the proper changes would be done here. What do you think? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:16, 3 June 2015 (UTC)
::::::::Sounds good. I could also restrict page creation to certain groups, so that an anonymous user doesn't pull the trigger so fast either. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:58, 3 June 2015 (UTC)
:::::::::Let's see first if my BOT works again. But restricting page creation should not affect/effect the creation of TALK pages. Maybe overwrite this posts by my BOT would be the better option. Everything wrong would be cleaned up. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:09, 4 June 2015 (UTC)
The problems are '''solved''' and I'm happy about that. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:40, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
:I noticed. Good stuff. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:04, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
::Thanks. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

==Bad uppercase==
Please delete this: [[:File:Antique_Factory.PNG]]. The correct lowercase picture is done by me. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
:Done '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:47, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

==Please delete==
Please delete this [[:File:1540.jpg]] because it's the wrong name. I did change [[1540: Hemingway]] to the correct file uploaded by my BOT.
For the first time my BOT reverted an existing page because some standards did miss. My BOT was late (13:35 Nk22 vs. 13:48 dgbrtBOT) but my BOT was still acting correct and did all the further actions needed. [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] got a message by me. My BOT acts every 2 minutes so it seems I have to solve a cache problem, maybe at Randall's cloud... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:03, 19 June 2015 (UTC)
:Dunnered '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:00, 20 June 2015 (UTC)
::Thanks. A new upload on the correct image did last more than three hours for me to see. My BOT suffers on the same Cloud Cache problems. I've no idea to solve this damn clod cache. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:54, 20 June 2015 (UTC)

== BOT problems, CLOUD problems ==

My BOT still got the old comic while other people did upload the new one in a corrupt way. So let's define some rules for my BOT to be slightly more violent. For now I'm only checking if also the comic-name redirect exists. But I think that my BOT should test all required updates here, and if something is missing it would do a clean job here. Wrong picture uploads and more will still have to be solved manually. It will only a few minutes and I don't think that it will delete many essential contents, and even if it does it will be available at the history.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:11, 22 June 2015 (UTC)

== RE: Delete Template ==

Really? That's weird, [[Template:Delete]] is showing up blank and redlinked for me. <span style="background:#0064de;font-size:12px;padding:4px 12px;border-radius:8px;">[[User talk:AgentMuffin|<span style="color:#f0faff;">~AgentMuffin</span>]]</span>

== Kudos on fighting spam ! ==
I don't know if anyone tells you this.. You do an amazing job to keep all this working smoothly. It was especially evident in your current spam fighting. You were able to undo things even before anyone sees it. Amazing work man ! Keep it up. We are all with you, just holler somewhere on main page if you need help and we'll be there. (Well I haven't opened an account yet but I try to help anonymously...) Kudos again.. I'll buy you a drink if we ever meet and you mention that you are Davidy22 :D [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 10:48, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
:If I was good at this sysadmin thing, there just shouldn't be any spam. Took a whole day to figure out a configuration that keeps it at a manageable level, but stuff is still slipping through the cracks. I'll get to polishing it off in the weekend. Thanks for the support though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:50, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
::I second the anonymous praise here. All of it, both spam and keeping the page up and running. I did not even notice any spam, not before I read your note at the bottom below the ''Should we change the tagline?'' discussion. How does it manifest it self (can you shown an example, or is it not just reverted but completely deleted from the pages?). Great work no matter! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:24, 13 February 2016 (UTC)
:::If you take a look at the deletion log, you'll see [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Log/delete all the garbage] that appeared here in the last few days. There's also some vandalism in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous&action=history Miscellaneous], and no other community portal, which is suspicious. This just cropped up in the last few days, not sure why spammers decided to target us again. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:12, 13 February 2016 (UTC)
::::Did it fall together with the "Should we change the tagline? What do you want the new one to be? Discuss it here!" banner at the top, that links to the site that was spammed? That might make sense? Thanks for answering, now I understand what type of Spam we are being subjected too, and also why I did not see these pages from normal use. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:29, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
:::::Yeah, links from the main page probably determine where the spammers are targeting, but I don't know why they decided to start targeting us after all this time leaving us alone. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:42, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
:::::: Someone might have linked the misc page from some other site (reddit/tumblr/etc.) after banner was put up and the spammers might have just followed the link when crawling that site. That seems to be logical explanation of why it started just after we put up that banner. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 22:08, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
::::::: Well, i personally think that Davidy is doing a great job with handling this spam situation, and he deserves a lot more credit than what he's getting. So thanks, Davidy, for making sure the site is still functional. P.S. Sorry about the lack of signature. i just joined the channel today and i haven't figured everything out yet. {{unsigned|Flamewolf}}
::::::::If I were doing a good job, there wouldn't be spam to clean up in the first place. I'm trying a bunch of things but the spammers are fairly smart. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:27, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
:This thread has gone too deep, I'm coming out to first level. ;-) Alright, you could try couple of things. You first want to know where the spammers are coming from and if you can stop them at source. You might have to add tracking on what previous site is the user coming from. If all spam bots are coming from single source, we could request the source site that links us to modify/hide their links. Second, are the spam accounts posting from different IPs every time ? Otherwise you could place a temporary IP based ban. Third, I'm interested in knowing why the bots are creating accounts while they could edit the pages anonymously. This might tell us about the algorithm they are using. And how are accounts treated differently than anon users ? Do they not get captcha while posting ? In which case, you could enable captacha's for users with accounts as well. EDIT: I'm the same guy as the OP of this thread (IP : 199.27.130.216). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.153|108.162.245.153]] 11:18, 19 February 2016 (UTC)
:And in case you haven't seen this, take a look at [[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Combating_spam this mediawiki page]] about spam fighting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.153|108.162.245.153]] 11:27, 19 February 2016 (UTC)
:Another observation by looking at recent changes / deletion log, half the edits seem to be by bots, while half of them appear as if real people are behind this. There are companies out there that take contracts to and employ people to manually circumvent the spam protection strategies. If this is the case, we need a different strategy. That's why it's so important to know the nature of spammers and what are they using.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.153|108.162.245.153]] 11:48, 19 February 2016 (UTC)
:To be honest, i've had an idea for maybe stopping or slowing this. Maybe we could find a way to trace where all these accounts are coming from and block that place's IP from connecting to the website? --[[User:Flamewolf|Flamewolf]] ([[User talk:Flamewolf|talk]]) 15:26, 19 February 2016 (UTC)
:Alright, so, we're using cloudflare as a CDN and intermediary for traffic for performance reasons, and they obscure IP addresses. There's a fix that we've yet to implement, but something always seems to get in the way in real life. IP banning is a little weak because of this. Users with accounts also get CAPTCHA'd, until they are at least 3 days old and have at least 10 edits. I'm not sure why the spambots make accounts, besides gunking up our database with more garbage. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:00, 20 February 2016 (UTC)
:: Hey, good job! Whatever steps you took, seem to be working. Spam is nowhere to be seen. [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:RecentChanges Recent changes]] are all clean. Well done ! :) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 05:38, 22 February 2016 (UTC)
:::The last thing I changed was a permissions thing shutting off talk page creation for new users. Now that's over with, I'm going to have to dive back into that mess of a discussion over the tagline again. Blergh, with finals coming up too. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:54, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

== Question about spam ==

If I see spam on a talk page, such as what is present on the current comic's talk page, should I delete it? I don't want to get in trouble for messing with other people's posts. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 13:31, 20 February 2016 (UTC)
:Spambots aren't people, go nuts. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:25, 20 February 2016 (UTC)
::I just spotted this [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1613:_The_Three_Laws_of_Robotics&oldid=112929 spam] where the entire [[1613]] was deleted. I had just added something today, and found it was missing. I have of course corrected it, but could there be more? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:52, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

== Creation of disussion pages for new comics ==

Hi Davidy22. I have recently seen at least two cases where people wish to make a comment on a new comic, but cannot because the page has no been created (and they do not have the right to do so). For instance I even had [[User_talk:Kynde#Please_create_the_discussion_page_for_today.27s_comic.|a message]] from someone who could see I was making changes (I guess). Would it be possible for the BOT to create the discussion page empty like I did here [[Talk:1654: Universal Install Script]], with a not shown reminder about signing comments? That would help some users of explain xkcd who do not wish to make a user account. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:45, 11 March 2016 (UTC)
:Yeah, I can leave a message in dgbrt's talk page. I'll push him the changes needed to make it happen as well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:51, 11 March 2016 (UTC)
::Great, it would help some of the early users :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:22, 12 March 2016 (UTC)
:::Hi Davidy22 and hi [[User:Kynde|Kynde]]. Sorry, I'm late. Please check my talk page for further progress.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:46, 30 March 2016 (UTC)
:Hi Davidy does the boot not work at all now? Posted a reply on [[User_talk:Dgbrt#Making_discussion_pages|Dgbrt's talk page]]. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:06, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

== Errors in counting "known appearances" for characters ==

Hi Davidy22. I have seen this error more than once, and today with a comic featuring [[Danish]] it once again became very clear that something was wrong (impossible to spot for Cueball and the other main characters). On her page it says 16 know appearances. But on the page [[:Category:Comics featuring Danish]] it says 18, and even though one of these are the main page (which will change Wednesday when the next comic is released) there is one too few in the count. Maybe it will correct it self later? I think I have seen the same for [[Hair Bun Girl]] but her count is up to date now. But it is typically on the release days that people would pass these pages, so it is a shame if it first works later. Just so you can check it out, and if you know what's going on let me know ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:08, 21 March 2016 (UTC)
:So, the way the explanation on the main page works, we take the number in [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]] and find the page that is named that number. Every comic in this wiki must have a correspoding page for their number that redirects to the comic explanation to make the forward/backward buttons work and for the main page to automatically point to the latest explanation without need for us to allow bots to modify the main page directly. The entire text of the explanation is included in the main page in this process, including categories. The [[Template:comic discussion|discussion template]] actually has a check for the title of the current page, and it doesn't render if it's the main page. We can do a similar thing to prevent categories from being assimilated into the main page, create a template that inserts the check around the categories and have a bot remove the template when the comic isn't the newest one anymore. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:47, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
::That would be great. Guess you have more important things on your mind right now. Such a shame this should happen when this crazy april fool came out. It probably hinders some people in using this page to help explain. Good luck with making it work. I tried to read the post on the community page but did not really understand why it happened. It cannot be related to the Garden comic can it? And it was working fine all weekend. So nothing with April 1st either... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:14, 5 April 2016 (UTC)
:::The traffic is slugging our servers around and making a bunch of things on the wiki weird. I'm trying to alleviate the symptoms, but stuff like styles not working is the traffic's fault. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:46, 6 April 2016 (UTC)
::::So because people come in here due to the Garden comic there is so much run on Explain for a work week that it is still not working? If that is true Randall has done it again with his Nerd sniping! And yes I'm very guilty and would have been smeared all over the side walk by the truck had it been Black Hat rather than Randall who did this to me ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:53, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

== Wiki continuity ==

Hey - I noticed that neither of the two 'crats have been active since mid-late 2015. Have you been in contact with them? People may come and go from a wiki, but it'd be a shame to lose contact with the only folks who have the ability to promote admins. A wiki-reader, ''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' <sup>[[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]]</sup> 01:32, 24 March 2016 (UTC)
:I do actually keep in touch with [[User:Jeff|Jeff]] still, but Lcarsos is AWOL as far as I know. Jeff and I have server access, and I technically could make myself a beauracrat if I wanted to, I just wanted Jeff to be ok with it first and never asked. Jeff is still alive though, and I can get him to promote an admin if the community ever agrees that a user should be upgraded. I'm looking at kynde in particular, he does a lot here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:47, 26 March 2016 (UTC)
::Hey thanks Davidy. I'm not sure I'm up for the task though. I do actually not know that much about computers or what it means being an admin on such a page here. But I really appreciate the thought and the notice. Funny that Jeff wrote the note of the 100 mil. views only six days after the post from Philosopher. I had not heard about Jeff before, but read about him after that. Oh and also spotted that DGBRt works on the bot making auto discussion pages. Maybe it works here on April 1st (a comic I'm looking much forward to. Where is it. It's noon in Europe I cannot wait any longer ;-)--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:50, 1 April 2016 (UTC)
:::Hi Davidy. As you can obviously see I have been contributing quite a lot to explain xkcd lately. But it is time I took a break as I simply have spend too much time on xkcd... So I will take a break at least for the rest of 2016 from posting here. I hope to return later. Since I plan to stop completely from contributing after this post, I thought I at least would let someone know that it was a choice ;-) Best regards --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)
::::Thanks for all the work you've put in here, have a good holiday and I hope you'll be able to come back some time soon. You do good work here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:21, 14 November 2016 (UTC)
:::::Hi Davidy. Thanks for those words. I will not be back to me normal amount of editing, but I will start to contribute again some times. Just did on the [[2017]] comic. Nice to be back. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:25, 2 January 2017 (UTC)
::::::Oh, good to see you back already. Take your time with it, don't burn yourself out on editing. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:06, 4 January 2017 (UTC)

;Complaining about Dbgrt:
:Hi Davidy. I'm a bit tired of what happens lately with no. four top contributor back in the warzone. I would like to write something to you about why I feel I might end up taking another (longer?) break due to this... I hope you still would be sad to see me go, but these last few weeks it has been more with dread than enjoyment I come to these pages to see what has been written about my edits... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:55, 7 March 2017 (UTC)
::By the way just read through [[Talk:1806: Borrow Your Laptop]]. I have said a lot of what I have been thinking there now... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:31, 8 March 2017 (UTC)
:::I've had problems with dgbrt and other users before, I'll look into it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:15, 9 March 2017 (UTC)
::::Thanks. It is developing into a heated discussion between mainly Dgbrt and the rest... I'm sure I also sometimes make bad edits, and could cause problems... But at the moment Dgbrt seems to believed I had agreed with him on his other points rather than just the transcript. I tried to write that it was the tone and style that provoked me (and it seems others). And also that he seems to wish different style than the others involved at the moment. He claims there are many who have issues with the current style, but apart from the transcript I have not seen many examples, and none that he links to. Mainly it is to be expected that those who has issues write, and those that have not are much less likely to write that they like something. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:08, 10 March 2017 (UTC)
:::::Hi again. I'm really getting sooo tired of the way Dgbrt writes to my edits (and others). So I have now written an angry reply to him here [[Talk:1805:_Unpublished_Discoveries]], and explained to him that I have also complained to you directly. Because it is just not OK to become personal because I missed a "]" or write as I explain in my comment on that talk page. Hope you will find time to do something about it before he scares other editors than me away! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:06, 13 March 2017 (UTC)
::::::Hope you will soon find time Davidy, because it just gets more and more out of hand between the two of us. I had not been back to edit since the March 11th until today (long time for me when a new comic was up yesterday), because I'm really getting depressed by the way Dgbrt acts. See his comment (and my reply) to my admission that I had talked to you here in the link above. As I said he scrutinizes everything I do and find it lacking. If I think I'm improving something he says I have ruined other peoples work, but he also just undos others work as well... I see that you also undid one of his undoings as your most recent edit here... For the newest comic [[1810]] I really believed I only followed the consensus in the discussion and made some really nice additions, in my opinion of course. I hardly deleted any info, but moved it around. And then almost instantly I [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk%3AKynde&diff=137247&oldid=136552 get this message]. And again he only looks at the red not at what I have actually written. When deleting a paragraph or moving around everything turns red. This is thus the second time in a row he goes after my edits like this. I have almost not looked at what he have done to my many edits from this weekend, but the one I for other reasons did look at today [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1803:_Location_Reviews&action=history he had undone]. I redid it, but to what purpose...? I'm really sad that it has come to this, and have no proof yet that it is other than Dgbrt that has anything in general against my edits. Though he keeps claiming so. Of course there will be some negative comments, but he writes as if he knows that many other editors dislike what I do. Maybe I should have agreed to be an admin back then... ;-) well probably not when I end up in such a stupid edit war :/ --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:14, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

== Current lack of styles etc. ==

You obviously have more access than me, but simply turning on Chrome's Developer Tools shows all ''load.php'' script and style references are returning 404 status, but when you go to those references directly in a new tab they all display "No input file specified.".

And for me, the site doesn't seem to be slow in any way that would suggest lots of load.

[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 16:04, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

:A simple search at google gave me this: [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Load.php Manual:Load.php]. So someone with access to the server has to edit the file ".htaccess". If this doesn't help I would need the log-files from the server for further investigations. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:47, 7 May 2016 (UTC)
::It was permissions, didn't change htaccess when the problems started. Had a good few red herrings, figured it out eventually. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:00, 17 May 2016 (UTC)
:::Looks much better now. Thanks! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:01, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

== The current incomplete explanation in the spotlight is not incomplete. (Help us fix it!) ==

Every page says "The current incomplete explanation in the spotlight is 1338: Land Mammals. Help us fix it!"

But 1338: Land Mammals doesn't have an incomplete notice, and the list of all complete pages does not list 1338: Land Mammals.

I think someone removed the incomplete status from 1338: Land Mammals but no one picked a new one for the spotlight.

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.131|108.162.215.131]] 03:16, 5 May 2016 (UTC)
:Thanks for reminding me, I'll get better about checking on that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:01, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

== Category that should be deleted ==

Hi Davidy22. When [[1724]] came up someone added the [[:Category:Axiom of Choice]]. That took this category up to three. But I believe this may be warranted to keep that category. But I'll leave that to you. You deleted one I made once with three comics [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Ba%27al&action=edit&redlink=1 Category:Ba'al] (see [[1419: On the Phone]]).

But there was another category: [[:Category:Set theory]], which only referred to the two old Axiom of Choice comics and then as an under category had the Axiom of Choice category. So it was redundant. So I have removed any references to this category and moved relevant text to the axiom of choice.

So I will suggest that the set theory category page is deleted as with Ba'al. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 7 September 2016 (UTC)

:Oh, how'd I miss that. Removed both categories, the axiom of choice category was too narrow and too infrequent to merit a category page. Thanks for telling me. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:56, 10 September 2016 (UTC)
::I guess it is hard to keep up with all that happens here. I have made several new categories but now try to wait for at least five entries. For instance [[:Category:Google Glass]] and [[:Category:Climate change]] are recent addition, the latter very actual you could say with [[1732]]... And then I also just added [[Blondie]] and [[:Category:News anchor]] as new categories. I rephrased all three axiom of choice comics to refer to each other rather than to the category, so there is no loss of data for deleting both those categories. Let me know if you think I create too narrow categories. But as soon as there are more than five of anything, it become very tedious to refer back to each of them from each comic and a category is much to prefer. And with five already the chance that Randall soon add more comics is realistic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:20, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

New category to delete. Maybe there should be a category but not with this hopeless name: [[:Category:Comics featuring the floating sphere from the future]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:18, 19 October 2016 (UTC)
:Done '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:48, 19 October 2016 (UTC)
::Great. Now that we know it was only a two comic series I have made a new category for that series: [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere]]. I have also made a chronological list on the [[:Category:Comic series]] of each series to see how special this new series was in it's release schedule. There have been similar series, but never just like this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:49, 25 October 2016 (UTC)
----

== Why do you keep disorganizing my comments? ==
I've run into the instance where I would leave a comment on a page and then get an email later, only to find out it was just you moving my comments around. I know you told me posts like this were supposed to follow a chronological order, but comments don't need to (nor do they have to) follow a chronological order, so why do you keep disorganizing my comments and put them all the way at the bottom of the page (even when they are in chronological order or mine aren't the only comments out of order, yet you move only mine anyways)? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 22:45, 10 October 2016 (UTC)
:They do actually go in order. You break chronology when replying to a comment, and you signify that with indentation, but otherwise the custom on wikis is that new comments and comment threads go to the bottom. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:04, 10 October 2016 (UTC)
::If they go in chronological order, then why don't others follow that formula? Because on the same thread (and others) I've noticed out-of-order comments. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 23:13, 10 October 2016 (UTC)
:::Every top level comment goes in chronological order. The exception is when you're replying to another comment. Everyone else puts new top level comments at the bottom of the talk page. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:33, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
::::I was talking about top level comments. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:10, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
:::::And they should be in time order. Minor mistakes happpen sometimes, but posting straight to the top is just deliberately disregarding the flow of comments. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:41, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

== Current incomplete explanation ==

The "current incomplete explanation in the spotlight" has been the same for 5 months now and the last edit was almost a month ago.
May I suggest to either (a) mark the comic as complete and move on or (b) put a different comic in the spotlight and send this one back to the backlog?

Pro (a): All regular visitors who are willing to edit have probably read the notice, visited the explanation multiple times and simply don't have anything more to add at this point and won't be re-reading everything again.

Pro (b): If the comic comes into spotlight again at a later date, people are more likely to click on it because it's different from their last visit and they may actually go through with re-reading everything.

P.S. What's the criteria for completion on a comic like this where you can essentially explore a whole world and write about pretty much anything in it?
--[[User:7he3rain|7he3rain]] ([[User talk:7he3rain|talk]]) 10:50, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
:I don't want to just mark it as complete when I can't say that it is, I'll just change the comic. This kind of stuff does happen with the larger comics though, the pages get really unwieldy and they're older pages that people aren't necessarily interested in. I think there's a fairly good criteria for completion for 1608, set by the very large table, but it's an awful long way off still. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:46, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
::Yep mostly my work and I lost interest and time when other big comics came out. I would like to complete it but it is a big task. There are also other reasons given for why it is incomplete. And so it should not be marjed as complete. But yes maybe it should be changed to another comic in the searchlight? Which has already happened. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:16, 19 October 2016 (UTC)

== Signature concerns ==
I have tried numerous times, and I don't know if it's because I'm an idiot or not, but I cannot find a way to make a signature for my page. I've tried codes and other things in the 'new signature' bar, but all it does is replace 'JayRulesXKCD' with the code I typed before... What am I doing wrong? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:34, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
:Signature for your page? You mean a custom signature, right? You want to put <nowiki>{{SUBST:User:JayRulesXKCD/sig}}</nowiki> in the new signature box, then make a page containing the signature. You can view mine for a template. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:11, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
:Yes. I meant a custom signature. Thank you. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:10, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

== Falsehoods ==

>I'm not willing to keep making points that you'll brush off as false and state your own claims as true

It is literally the other way round. It is you who declare that 'signing' is good and I whose examples how it isn't you consistently ignore and vocally state that I have failed to provide. In light of this eerie brand of apparent self-victimization of yours, it doesn't seem to make much sense any longer to point out the nonsense of how you claim to have to 'clean mess' while the 'mess' in question is literally just freedom from screen clutter.

>this talk page is now locked for anonymous users

In a way befitting of an admin who spoke almost exclusively in falsehoods over this whole 'discussion', this is literally false as well. The page is locked to regular users as well. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|‎198.41.243.245}}
:The talk page is locked for user accounts under 10 days old and with less than 10 edits in other places. It's the same protection level used for page creation. I used it on the talk page because in addition to yur willful refusal to recognize or follow site rules, there were multiple other anonymous users who were behaving poorly towards other users, for whom banning was also going to prove ineffective because of shifting IP addresses. I'm not going to waste unpaid volunteer time dealng with people who think they're being clever defying formatting rules on internet forums because they think 20 additional charaters of information is discussion crippling clutter. If you're going to waste my time on my talk page as well, I'm going to raise privilege levels here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:36, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
:: >yur willful refusal to recognize
:: Not only did I recognize them, I also explained why you made them, why they damage the community, why you're refusing to admit that they damage the community, how you refuse to acknowledge any of the prior, and how you repeatedly vocally deny that I have explained all of the prior (owing to your discussion style, much of it more than once). Also, stellar job using the word 'other' in two so different contexts: first by implying that I am 'behaving poorly', and second, that no one behaved poorly towards me. To anyone who might read this comment, [[ Talk:1756: I'm With Her |search the page for the word 'civility' for the extent to which I abused other users]]. (Also, if you had a modicum of decency, you would have made a template explaining that owing to the page having been locked, any threads left unfinished do not reflect one of the participant deserting them, but just your interruption. But then, we've already established that it's not the site that you're caring about here.) (Oh, and shave your talkpage, it's fucking disgusting.) <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.238}}
:::Damage is some kind of hyperbole to use to describe a convention so baked into wiki discussion, there's a rendered shortcut for it baked into the software. Also, you're not the only offender on the talk page, the whole page was locked for anonymous users because you, some of the users you were conversing with, and certain other people throwing slurs at randall and admins were on changing IP addresses, making blocks impossible for behavior that would typically justify temporary blocks. This is a problem with IP users in general, and letting anonymous users comment is a motion of trust that the user won't deliberately ignore written rules while swearing at admins through the protection of being impossible to ban. You are not the only reason the page is locked, though the time I wasted on you certainly contributed to the decision. I've issued an ineffective ban on a commenter on the page already, and the discussion is far off topic in multiple branches of your comment trees and aggressive sporadically throughout. The page is locked so that moderation can actually happen, and because anonymous users haven't shown their best side today. Also, your tendency to assert that statements you disagree with are unequivocally false is very irritating. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:36, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
::::Great response Davidy - and very polite compared to what you faced. By the way also interesting to hear what happens behind the curtain for an admin. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:03, 28 January 2017 (UTC)

== Sad comic trivia ==

Hi Davidy.

As you can see I'm back editing. Specifically I have been busy connecting the sad post Trumps election comics and have made the post as a trivia to [[1790: Sad]] - see [[1790#Sad_comics|here]].

I would like to hear your opinion on the placement. I do not think these comics fit into a category as their relation needs to be seen in a broader light that I have tried to shine here. But maybe a separate page could be created, but I really do not know what to call it. Sad comics in general would also cover lots of other comics especially many of the cancer comics. So Sad Comics alone would not do it. Also Trump should not be part of the name, as Randall has as far as I know never mentioned his name in his comics yet? But to me it is crystal clear that the comic is either a direct reaction to the election or to peoples behavior online (or around Randall). Although I'm quite sure he is sad about the way politic is going especially with his concern for global warming.

When I first made the trivia someone deleted it entirely, but it was also just a short sum up of those three other comics [[Blame]], [[Negativity]] and [[1779: 2017|2017]]. Now I have also included he [[I'm With Her]] as it seems to have started the series of sad comics. But I think it is important for the understanding of these comics to have them collected somewhere, and if they are sad, then a comic called [[Sad]] seems to be the right place if no single page would do.

What do you think about this, and about my current trivia on Sad's page?
:--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:57, 28 January 2017 (UTC)
:Given the absence direct references to Trump in the comic, I would refrain from implicating him until Randall makes it explicitly clear that he's talking about Trump. The portions that talk about other comics' relation to Trump definitely fall outside the scope of the explanation page for 1790 and their removal was probably appropriate. Also, the word sad is a little tenuous of a link to trump and 1761, 1773 and 1779 all seem like similarly loose connections. They all depict feelings that may result from the election, but are not necessarily directly connected or caused by the election and linking them in a category or section for this and not other, older comics showing sadness is going to be difficult to support in the future. Also, constructing links between miscellaneous comics to Trump when none of them directly reference Trump seems like taking a side when we as a wiki should be firmly neutral. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:05, 29 January 2017 (UTC)
::Hi Davidy. Thanks for the constructive critique. What about the release days in relation the the election, the electoral college vote, new year (of the year he will be president) and finally the first comic after his first real workday. Personally I'm not in any doubt that his sad comics is a result of the election. Maybe they reflect more on other peoples sadness than Randall's own, but with the [[1732]] comic in mind I'm sure he is not only worried about the wall and Muslims banned from the states, but really really worried about the global warming that Trump will help increase. And he has made a direct comic related to his opinion on Trump in I'm With Her. By placing it in a trivia people can also choose not to read it, and I find that the increase in such sad comics is very relevant. I do not remember any real sad comics the year before his election.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:31, 29 January 2017 (UTC)
:::PS Just ran through the all comics a year back from I'm with her (or rather Blame) and on from blame. There are four depressing in those last 30 comics Blame included. The only remotely sad or disturbing comic in the 157 a year back from Blame is the global warming comic I just linked above here. And that is not really sad because it is also funny. But the end is scary. Also I checked the 15 pages listed under cancer. I would only say five of those are sad, the other are mainly funny or just something to be thoughtful of. The five sad comics came out over a range of 324 comics [[818]] in November 2010 until [[1141]] November 2012. SO instead of four in just three months it was only five over two years and on a subject he had real cause to be sad, negative or worried about. So I think it is very relevant for explain xkcd to note this increase in sad comics. Of course there could have been other sad comics in between those, but I just don't remember many comics like this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:59, 29 January 2017 (UTC)
::::The difference between the cancer category and these comics that may or may not have something to do with Trump is that there are explicit references to cancer in the comics in the cancer category. It takes some amount of inference to link those four comics to Trump, and they aren't necessarily linked to the election. They may typify things that Randall noticed after the election, but they can be used in vastly different contexts and the correlation does not necessarily indication causation. The only comic among the five in the trivia section that genuinely merits a sizeable amount of of text on trump is [[1756]], because he's actually directly relevant to the comic. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:24, 29 January 2017 (UTC)
:::::Hmmm. So would you suggest to remove it completely from the trivia. I could put it on my own page as a theory and link people with interest to it from the comics talk pages. Or would it be enough to remove Trump references and then keep the four sad negative comics as a worth of mentioning due to the fact that they do seem to take a negative view of the world which is not usually Randall's style. I'm of course sad... because I put a lot of work into that section. Just like I just did with the so far empty transcript of [[1461:_Payloads]] (not that much though!). See by the way an interesting [[1461:_Payloads#Trivia|trivia]] I found regarding that comic and the transcript on xkcd for said comic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 01:03, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
::::::Personal interpretation of a comic or loose perceived links between comics are what the discussion section is for. If users want to discuss speculative links between comics that aren't necessarily mentioned within the comic itself, they should do it in the discussion page and not the comic explanation. I'm usually actually somewhat against trivia because the kind of content that gets inserted in such a section is usually better suited to the discussion page, but it's sometimes appropriate. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:48, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
:::::::OK- I have moved it away from Sad which is not about Trump. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:51, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

== Oversized texting ==
Hi David, I would like to see your opinion on this topic [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kynde#Transcript_TLDR.3B]. And then I found this (also done by Kynde): [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=xkcd&diff=134457&oldid=109437]. It really needs a major rework. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:37, 17 February 2017 (UTC)
:I'll take a look, swamped right now. Quick skim seems to tell me that kynde is somewhat compromising, though the solution he's chosen seems to be employing slightly needless cruft. I'll comment when I get back to my desk. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:34, 18 February 2017 (UTC)
::Hi Dgbrt and Davidy22.
::I have tried to change the latest transcripts according to Zetfr's comments.
::And yes I did realize that my changes to the [[xkcd]] page was way too much on that specific page. And that was also why I removed most of the content to other specialized pages (maybe there is still too much in the [[xkcd#History|xkcd history]]?)
::I did this before I saw the comment Dgbrt made about it to me [[User_talk:Dgbrt#xkcd_page_and_more|on his page]]. That was where I had begun a thread [[User_talk:Dgbrt#Transcript_and_other_features|Transcript and other features]] because I was ''really happy how our transcript discussion went in the end''... I guess we were not on the same page there though :/
::I'm sorry we are taking your precious time with our problems. I just wish to get as much information about correlations between comics etc. on xkcd into this wiki. Maybe it will not always end in the right place?
::For that same reason I did not understand why Dgbrt's new category for comics where Randall has mentioned explain xkcd was not interesting enough (it just needed a better title IMHO), as I also [[User_talk:Dgbrt#Keep_it_compact|just wrote]] to Dgbrt.
::I will not do any further edits regarding the issues mentioned here above though, before hearing from you guys.
::Best regards --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:52, 20 February 20 don't understand a comic17 (UTC)
:::People come here because they don't understand a comic or part of a comic. First up, information that was found in metadata that otherwise has nothing to do with the comic is about as interesting to visitors as the [[773|letter from the president]] on a university website. A similar deal with the transcript, there are details that don't particularly contribute to comprehension of the comic that a blind person probably doesn't need to hear about, although you seem to have resolved your issues there. Explaining concepts used in a comic is useful, though you should try to use the <nowiki>{{w}}</nowiki> template where possible, as wikipedia is going to just be a better format for learning about something, and they'll remain up to date better than we probably can. It also has the side effect of cutting the length of explanations and leaving the extra reading to people who really want it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:59, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
::::I disagree. There are also many people coming here investing many hours to write the big explains. Why just not let them know that Randall recognizes and mention this. The JSON pages a no secret content; but since many people don't know it has to be explained. And, why do not make those editors a little bit proud about their work. I will talk to [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] about a different approach on this issue.
::::Since you have not reacted on all the massive enhancements by Kynde on the [[xkcd]] pages I will also discuss this with himself.
::::I'm hoping you will have a little bit more time in the future on such issue and not just pressing the UNDO button.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:47, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
:::::I concur with Dgbrt on the extra details, but maybe less in the main explanation. But trivia or sub pages etc I think it cool for those who use their time on these page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:22, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

== incomplete transcript 933 ==

Hi,
I saw you worked on 933, reverting and re-reverting. Do you think my way of transcript is ok and I can go on this way? Perhaps you can also give me some feedback or references to my approach for the 657 transcript? Anyway, is there a "how to" for transcripts? Thanks & best regards, LaVe--[[User:LaVe|LaVe]] ([[User talk:LaVe|talk]]) 19:37, 23 February 2017 (UTC)
:Oh, your work is fine, I just misclicked on the rollback button. Continue as you were. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:59, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

== Sitenotice ==

Could the [[Mediawiki:Sitenotice|sitenotice]] be updated to randomly pull a comic from the [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|incomplete explanations category]]? There's an example of how to do this on {{w|Template:Random page in category|Wikipedia}}. And perhaps it could be set to update after a fixed interval of time - say, a week? It would be easier than updating it manually, and you could avoid situations where the highlighted "incomplete explanation" is no longer incomplete, but remains in the sitenotice.

EDIT: Well, it seems that the second part is not really feasible. However, I still think the first part should be implemented. Instead of linking to a specific comic that could easily go stale, the sitenotice could just say "click here to see an incomplete comic" or something like that. The actual link would take you to a random incomplete comic using the aforementioned method. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 05:18, 10 June 2017 (UTC)
:Explain xkcd doesn't have the random in category special page (or dpl which could also be used), the sitenotice does need updating though. [[User:E^ipi|E^ipi]] ([[User talk:E^ipi|talk]]) 10:26, 10 June 2017 (UTC)
::I wanted to do a specific comic so that people could focus on the large incomplete comics remaining, though at this stage there's not that many incomplete pages left, perhaps I could make it random. Getting brutalised by finals right now, will just change it for now '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:47, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

== Ads that interrupt content ==

In recent months there have been a number of users seeing massive ads right smack in the middle of the articles. These ads are extremely disruptive and are not acceptable by any means.

The ads have since seemingly disappeared, so we thought an admin might have disabled them, however today I see them again.

Please take a look: [[Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time/Ads]]

--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 23:21, 11 December 2019 (UTC)

:I actually don't know when the site got moved to google ads, seems like it might be part of the mediawiki suite but I took my long abrupt hiatus somewhere between project wonderful going out of business and whenever the google ad plugin got added, don't even know if the server credentials are the same '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:57, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

== Set up X-Forwarded-For for correct IP address reporting ==

This should be done server-side, as right now (and for a very long time) it's been reporting load balancer / cache IP addresses for all the users. With recent vandalism, it'd help. [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 22:21, 29 April 2022 (UTC)
:Oh I remember this being a thing since way back when we went on a CDN. If I can still access the server and I find the time to take a look I could maybe '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:57, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

==Shutting down the crappifier==
Thanks for deleting that common.js page
[[User:Wafflefly21|Wafflefly21]] ([[User talk:Wafflefly21|talk]])
:Heartily seconded. Many thanks David! [[User:Jrfarah|Jrfarah]] ([[User talk:Jrfarah|talk]]) 01:50, 4 May 2022 (UTC)
:Thanks as well, this is a lot better. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 12:39, 4 May 2022 (UTC)
::I've been away for a very long time, this looked like it really needed some attention though '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:57, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

==do you have...==
... any good mass-reversion tools so we can revert the "crap (x 5000)" pages [[User:Stilloes|When even the muppets were on xkcd.com]] ([[User talk:Stilloes|talk]]) 02:11, 4 May 2022 (UTC)
:I have better rollback options, done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:44, 4 May 2022 (UTC)
::Are you back Davidy22? After five years. We have been missing admins on this page for years now...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:10, 4 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Oh word it's been a while, I remember your name well and you've apparently stuck around far more consistently than I have. I'm an admin, not a beaureaucrat, so I can't actually promote you myself but jeff's twitter is open and I'm sure he's still alive, he maybe remembers you and I can vouch for you too. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:17, 4 May 2022 (UTC)
:::We might need to assign some new admins (who meet the criteria to be an admin) that actually frequent the wiki. Having only one admin that is active is annoying, since we are limited by their availability. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 19:32, 4 May 2022 (UTC)
::::Yes I hope for some better admins than me, as I'm not very tech minded, and could have done nothing about the current situation. But it would be great if we could find a way to get hold of you in such cases. I'm not particularly interested in being an admin... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:23, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

== The vandalizer is back — please re-ban them ==

Hello — just wanted to let you know that the vandalizer's back under the username "Ex Kay Cee Dee". Can you re-ban them? (Also, how is the vandal not getting CAPTCHA'd, lol?) [[User:PaintspotInfez|PaintspotInfez]] ([[User talk:PaintspotInfez|talk]]) 17:20, 4 May 2022 (UTC)
:The user has enough edits that they are auto-captcha'd. Check discussions [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Vandalism|here]]. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 19:40, 4 May 2022 (UTC)
::I could crank the autoconfirm minimum to make it a little more onerous to get past captcha permissions, and take away $wgAllowUserJs wiki wide. A little unfortunate for anyone who was using it for their theme/ui but looks like some people would like to make sure we can't have nice things. My server login from five years ago doesn't actually work anymore, which I kind of expected, so I'm going to have to get in contact with jeff again, with a new twitter account too because I deleted the twitter account that I used to message him with. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:28, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Thanks for being here, first of all. But mainly you sound like you've got a gameplan, and I don't want to mention my ideas in case the guilty party can organise in advance how to get around them (or rather, chat on whatever darkweb forum they're getting advice from, I expect, because they show signs of being very unoriginal in many ways), so I expect you've got a few more things up your sleeve.
:::I very much expect a repeat of (whatever possible) vandalism from the same moron, as soon as they can be bothered, of course. So I shall continue to do my bit to counter any, from this anonymous sideline, as much as I can. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.145|172.70.90.145]] 03:45, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
:::Can we please get some more active admins? [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 12:47, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
::::I'm an admin, not a bureaucrat, so I can't actually make more admins. Pinged jeff on twitter to recommend kynde already to go with the the request for new server credentials/variable setting. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:44, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
::::Ah, ok. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 15:25, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
:::::What could I have done if I was an admin? I'm not very tech minded and not sure I would be the best choice for admin in such cases like this. We need some of those that actively fought the crapper this time to become admin. Think they proved their worth already... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:27, 6 May 2022 (UTC)
::::::I've been skimming edit logs and history and I've got my eye on the person who made the current comic update bot, theusaf. and the person who did the last revert script, jacky. Looks like they both joined fairly shortly after my unannounced hiatus, which is why I don't recognise them, but they've been around a good solid while it seems. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:37, 6 May 2022 (UTC)

== DAVID!! VANDALISM BOTS ARE IMMINENT! ==

OH CRAP, Ex Kay Cee Dee is spamming everything, similar to last time. idk what else to say other than pls fix
:It's likely the same user with an alt account. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 19:31, 4 May 2022 (UTC)

== Something for you to check? ==

I just [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Crap&diff=264798&oldid=264797 reverted something], and I'm on my phone right now so not really in the best position to demunge it, but it looks like an attempt to socially-engineer a 'useful idiot' attack-by-proxy.

If you know otherwise, then we could trust you (after checking for character-spoofing of your account, obviously), but I don't think it'll be legit at all. Ball's in your court. At least until I get home and dig into it myself at more leisure, but I couldn't use it myself anyway. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 17:19, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
:Pushed it through a deobfuscator and it's still obtuse, it's not a quick obfuscation pass of jacky's revert script and there's a section of obtuse operations selecting characters out of a string "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789+/=" in a function that infinite loops when I copy paste it into a console and I don't have enough time in a day to walk through this to see what it does so I'm going to not restore it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:05, 6 May 2022 (UTC)
::I'm the one wrote it. It is based on Jacky's script, but it has a secret algorithm for detecting spam edits that it is very unlikely that the vandal will be able to reverse engineer and bypass. I obfuscated it so the vandal can't see how it works, and unfortunately I'm not willing to publicly give out more information, because much more could allow the vandal to figure it out. Anyway, it's no big deal that it's removed; Jacky's script could probably be adapted to most future bots, and my script is still available in the edit history. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.47|172.70.178.47]] 04:45, 6 May 2022 (UTC)
:::As the (double-)reverter, perhaps I need to apologise. You just edit-conflicted my "what I thought about the submission, and why I thought it suspicious" message (which I spent a while snippeling back down mightily, before actually trying to post). At the core though, you should realise (if a legit helper) that the obfussing creates more suspicion than confidence. And 'secret algorithms' with the usage instructions you provided... Sorry, I would not personally risk it. Rang alarm bells.
:::I did get some way into being a 'human interpreter' to your code, but hadn't yet got past enough 'munge' and onto the meat-and-two-veg to confirm either conclusion. So reserving my judgement. With all due respect, if you truly aren't "Ex Kay Cee Dee"/whoever, and I hope you appreciate my reasoning and (for what it's worth, to Davidy22 and the rest) my personal inclinations as to what colour hats are involved here.
:::But I'll shut up, for now. Lest I be thought too self-indulgent. Hmmmm.. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.41|162.158.159.41]] 05:47, 6 May 2022 (UTC)
:::It's me, the self-indulgant one, again. Now a quadruple-reverter.
:::My arguments are basically:
:::* We can't trust this code.
:::* We can't trust you (presumably the same submitter, all four times).
:::* We can't trust that, even ''if'' you have honestly written it for honest purposes, it does not contain unintended flaws. (c.f. The (original) Internet Worm, albeit locked into this site... One hopes!)
:::* And we couldn't really fix it if we even knew that it was perfectly good except for some minor implementation error.
:::And I know I'm just as unidentified as you (the other IP party in this little squabble, sorry Davidy22 for using your pages to make this conversation), but I'm not the person trying to get as many users as possible to run something from as many tabs as possible. I respectfully submit my opinion (take it or leave it) that the risks outweigh the claimed usefulness.
:::We've fought the vandalism with manual and non-obfuscated scripts, previously. There's no reason to imagine that your solution is the necessary panacea, without which we are doomed. The opposite, however, is all too distinct a possibility.
:::I'm being civil towards you, IP, because I'm open-minded enough to believe that you still haven't realised how much you are presenting several problematic aspects. I'm sorry if I'm rejecting a truly helpful effort. But consider the various better ways of making use of your benevolent insights, and I'm sure your help would be welcomed if presented in less problematic circumstances.
:::If you're actually the bad-guy, then obviously you already know this, and are just going to be annoyed that you're found out. But then this means you have no valid arguments and my apologies are obviously moot. To ''this'' version of you, I invite you to just go away. Not that I'm under any illusion that this request would work. But I will still try to be polite about it, at least to your face.
:::Ok. That'll do for now. I've made my point, and whoever wants to read it can read it and decide for themselves what sounds more right. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.64|172.70.86.64]] 00:34, 10 May 2022 (UTC)
::::Just spent some time deobsfuscating the program. It is code for crapping pages. —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 01:53, 10 May 2022 (UTC)
:::::Alright that saved me the effort that I already wasn't going to put in to walk through that hedge, semiprotected the page since there's probably not much good that's coming out of not doing so. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:06, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

== New users deluge ==

Hi Davidy

Is the many new users part of the spam and vandalism?

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Log/newusers

Looks crazy... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:08, 11 May 2022 (UTC)
:I mean, it's been like that forever, hasn't it? It was certainly like that before I left, although I did a bunch of permissions stuff that stopped those accounts from generating actual spam before my long break. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:32, 11 May 2022 (UTC)
::I'm real at least. I made an account to make it easier to roll back some of the vandalism. You can also find me on a few other wikis like Sarna. That does seem like an unusual amount of new users. I wonder if they are wanting them to age so that they can use them for mass edits later. [[User:Shockeray|Shockeray]] ([[User talk:Shockeray|talk]]) 19:09, 11 May 2022 (UTC)
:::From my experience (long enough, without a username as I am) the volume and/or frequency is 'normal'.
:::I believe ''mein host'' (upon whose page we are) has said elsewhere that procedures he put in place to prevent auto-spammers spamming are working - insofar as the accounts get created but then never get to do much of the commercial spam-stuff they were being created for.
:::What's unusual, is that on the current view offered by the Log/newusers there are ''four'' (or so I spotted) such users without their Contrib being redlinked (i.e. they ''have'' contributed). I think you're one of them, Shockeray... TBH, I just skimmed to see if it had gone up by an order of magnitude. Which it hasn't.
:::My habitual lurk on this site is via the "Recent pages" link (with 500 'most recent items', usually) to keep me abreast of interesting things and things of interest. And the single-entry representing all of the latest accounts (per calendar-day block) is an old, old friend but one that I don't feel the need to dig into too much.
:::Noting that the latest troublesome account ("pants on fire", via emoji) was created a week or so ago and appeared to be a counter-vandal, IIRC (unless that was a different emoji-named account I'm remembering) and then showed itself to be controlled by the vandal anyway. Those accounts that have never posted are probably of no concern. Unless they start making subtle forays into doing so, maybe. Except for being a background level of resource-use. But I have no idea how much storage a Wiki has to reserve for unused feeler-accounts, etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 01:09, 12 May 2022 (UTC)

585: Outreach

2022-05-11T18:47:36Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 265726 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number =585
| date =May 18, 2009
| title =Outreach
| image =outreach.png
| titletext =Completely implausible? Yes. Nevertheless, worth keeping a can of shark repellent next to the bed.
}}

==Explanation==
Scientific animal tracking is commonly used to learn more about other species, particularly endangered ones, as a way of better understanding their physiology, behavior, and what risks they face in the wild. It's used in a wide variety of sciences, including wildlife biology, conservation, wildlife management and zoology.

The scientists in this comic are working on a rather limited budget as [[Ponytail]] explains, say that they can't afford the (relatively minuscule) cost of hiring someone to retrieve a tracking tag from the water. So they devise a plan that would actually cost far more: create one that will pop free, float to the surface, and inflate a giant helium balloon, causing it to gradually drift over land. Eventually, the balloon will slowly deflate and soft-land, and with any luck someone will find it and mail it back to the scientists. The shark is depicted much larger than the humans, and the quantity of helium necessary to lift it (as the later panels show) would be extremely expensive.

It goes horribly, hilariously wrong. The tag can't quite pop free from the shark, and proceeds to inflate the balloon ''while the shark is still attached''. Although the balloon is shown too small to lift the shark (a helium balloon can only lift approximately one gram per liter in air), but the shark miraculously rises right along with the tracker tag, drifts back over land, and goes right after the scientists that had been tracking it.

When [[Science Girl]] (maybe in her first appearance, before she got her buns) sees the two scientists running frantically from a flying shark, she figures that if such excitement is a daily part of a scientist's job, ''that's'' the job for her, as she tells her daddy [[Cueball]]. The title of the comic, '''Outreach''', refers to the type of activities that scientists do in order to motivate kids to become scientists when they grow up, and it clearly worked for Science Girl who displays keen interest and great knowledge on many subjects in her next appearances.

The title text suggests keeping shark repellent by one's bed to account for the quite-unlikely event of something like this happening. Because you never know. It may be a reference to the {{w|Batman (1966 film)|Adam West Batman film}} where Batman just happens to have some in his helicopter.

In reality, a balloon meant for lifting a tracker tag would be much too small to lift the shark, which is portrayed as being larger than person, so there is no danger. In addition, since sharks are fish, and fish cannot survive above water, the shark would die even if this could happened in real life. This doesn't stop movies like {{w|Sharknado}} (which was filmed after this comic) to portray sharks floating in the air.
The title text of [[1910: Sky Spotters]] seems to be a reference to this comic.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail faces two Cueball-like guys. All three are wearing goggles and lab-coats. Between them on a shelf stands a microscope and a beaker.]
:Ponytail: The tracking tag will record the shark's movement and habits.

:[The capsule is shown to float upward towards a water surface.]
:Ponytail (narrating): Then, it will pop free and float to the surface.

:[A coast is shown, with arrows directed from water to land. A small white circle on one of the arrows indicate the balloon.]
:Ponytail (narrating): We can't afford a recovery program, so the capsules will inflate helium balloons, drift over land,

:[The capsule is shown in close up. It has a caption on it.]
:Ponytail (narrating): And hopefully be found and mailed to us. Any questions?
:Caption: If found please call

:[Ponytail is standing over a groggy shark on a boat, with water behind her and a coastline in the background. She attaches the tracking tag to the shark.]
:''Chunk''

:[The shark is dropped headfirst off the boat, into the water with a large splash.]
:''Sploosh''
:Shark: !!!

:[The course of the shark is shown, weaving around islands.]

:[The capsule is shown sticking out of the shark at the moment it is ready to pop free.]
:''Click''

:[The capsule remains attached to the shark.]

:[The balloon starts to inflate, still attached to the shark and underwater.]
:''Hissss''

:[As the balloon inflates, it starts to pull the shark to the surface.]
:Shark: ??

:[The balloon breaks the surface, pulling the shark with it.]

:[Science Girl with a black ponytail, eating an ice cream cone is standing together with Cueball to the right in an otherwise empty frame.]

:[Two screaming scientists (A Cueball-like guy and Ponytail) runs past the two, who turns to look after them. The guy is holding the microscope and Ponytail the beaker from the first frame.]
:Scientists: Aaaaaaaa

:[A shark attached to a huge balloon floats past the girl and Cueball, it follows the scientists while snapping it's jaws.]
:Shark: ''Chomp chomp''

:[After the shark is gone, Science Girl turns to Cueball.]
:Science Girl: Daddy?
:Cueball: Yes?
:Science Girl: I want to be a scientist.

==Trivia==
*A T-shirt based on this comic is available in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/shark xkcd store].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Sharks]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]

716: Time Machine

2022-05-11T18:45:07Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 265559 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 716
| date = March 19, 2010
| title = Time Machine
| image = time_machine.png
| titletext = We never see any time travelers because they all discover it's a huge mistake. This is also why your friend at the lab suddenly looked a year older recently.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Rob]] is about to discover {{w|Time travel|time traveling}}, but a future version of him comes back in time and hits him with a baseball bat before he can actually build this time machine.

A common theme in time travel fiction is going back into the past to fix some mistake or stop some tragedy before it happens (see for instance {{w|The Terminator}} movies). In this comic, it is implied that Rob's time traveling turned out to cause a tragedy of some kind, so in order to stop it, Future-Rob must go back in time to stop himself from time traveling in the first place. The last panel supports this by suggesting that at least once a month somebody discovers time travel, but inevitably ends up going back in time to prevent themselves from doing so.

This is a plot point from the 2004 time-travel drama film [[wikipedia:Primer (film)|''Primer'']]: one character intends to travel back in time to prevent them from discovering time travel in this way, and another character has already traveled back in time, drugged his earlier self, and taken over the operation to discover time travel before the narrative of the film begins. ''Primer'' has a notoriously complicated plot that Randall already has made a jocular attempt at explaining in [[657: Movie Narrative Charts]]. Some more thorough attempts to explain it can be found [http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/334/can-someone-explain-the-sequence-of-events-in-primer here] and [http://qntm.org/primer here]. Doubtless, this has also been spoofed in countless other comedic settings.

The blood on the bat suggests that future Rob actually killed past Rob. This is of course a paradox like the {{w|grandfather paradox}} - but there are theories about how it would still be possible - see the link. The obvious paradox is that when Rob dies the future Rob never existed. But also the time travel Future Rob undertakes uses a technique that is now never invented. This was the reason for future Rob's travel.

The title text states that this is why we never see any time travelers since they would have stopped their own past selves from time traveling. After getting rid of their past selves they would then assume their place in the timeline, hence why a friend would suddenly look older: they ''have'' aged, just in another timeline before returning to the past.

==Transcript==
:[Rob is working at a workbench. Future-Rob appears out of nowhere with a baseball bat.]
:Future-Rob: Hi, Rob.
:Rob: Whoa, you're me!

:[Future-Rob holding the baseball bat, standing next to Rob.]
:Future-Rob: You're about to have an idea for a time machine.
:Rob: I am?

:[In a frameless panel, Future-Rob hits Rob over the head with the baseball bat.]
:''WHAM''

:[Megan approaches Future-Rob working at the workbench, with Rob nowhere to be seen. The bloody baseball bat is stashed behind it.]
:Megan: Hey, Rob. What's up?
:Future-Rob: Nothing.

:[Caption below the last panel:]
:This happens somewhere roughly once a month.

==Trivia==
This comic's title is very similar to [[1203: Time Machines]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Rob]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Baseball]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Time Machine]]

2249: I Love the 20s

2022-05-11T18:44:00Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 265693 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2249
| date = January 1, 2020
| title = I Love the 20s
| image = i love the 20s.png
| titletext = Billboard's "Best of the 80s" chart includes Blondie's 1980 hit "Call Me." QED.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic was released on the first day of the year {{w|2020}}. It was the second of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] around the 2019-2020 New Year, after [[2248: New Year's Eve]].

The comic opens with [[Megan]], [[Cueball]], [[White Hat]], and [[Ponytail]] celebrating the new year and discussing their relief that the change of decade brings with it two beneficial side-effects; firstly, they can now unambiguously name the decade "the 20s", and secondly, since the decade has a well-defined name, any cultural trends that begin in the 20s can be attributed to the decade itself, and not to the generation that happens to coincide with it.

White Hat, however, tries a couple of times to raise a pedantic objection: he believes that the new decade does not "officially" start until 2021.

Ponytail corrects him on this, but he refuses to accept the correction until Megan cites an unlikely source: the fact that the {{w|VH1}} television show
{{w|I Love the '90s (American TV series)|''I Love the '90s''}} categorized MC Hammer's 1990 single "{{w|U Can't Touch This}}" as a 90s song, which supports Ponytail's definition of decade. The joke is that a pop culture documentary is not an authoritative source for definitions of time standards, yet for some reason everyone is willing to accept its authority on such matters anyway.

The disagreement over the definition of when decades start is due to the fact that there is more than one way to count decades. You could do it in one of the following two ways:
*By counting every span of ten years that has occurred since the start of year 1 in the Common Era (White Hat's definition)
*By taking the digit that is common to all years in a given ten-year span (Ponytail's definition)

White Hat's definition is an "ordinal" method, since it functions by counting the number of ten-year spans ''since the first one'', which is defined to have begun in the year 1. However, Ponytail's definition is the "cardinal" method, which simply groups years by their common most significant digits. For example, when we say "the 1980s", we mean "the span of ten years that all began with the digits 1-9-8".

Neither definition is wrong, however Ponytail's definition is the more common one, and she notes that this is not how decades are typically determined (the show isn't called "I Love the 200th Decade"), and the fact that we count centuries in an ordinal way does not mean that we should do the same with decades.

White Hat's objection (probably deliberately) recalls an issue that was frequently discussed around the year 2000. Because we ''do'' count centuries ordinally (eg. "1st century", "20th century", etc.), and the first century began on the year 1, the 21st century did not technically start until 2001. Much of the world, not understanding this (or not caring), celebrated the dawning of the year 2000 as the start of both a new century and a new millenium, ignoring those who point out the change wouldn't happen for another year. (Though it should be noted unlike decades this is a genuine mistake rather than two slightly different definitions.)

Megan's exclamation "Stop!" is similar to the line famously used by MC Hammer in "U Can't Touch This" ("Stop! Hammer time.").

"{{w|Aughts}}" and "Teens" were names suggested for the {{w|2000s_(decade)|2000s}} and {{w|2010s}} respectively; however, neither of those names managed to gain widespread acceptance.

{{w|Millennials}} is a name given to the generation which was born in the 80s and 90s, such that they began entering adulthood in the 2000s. The term was sometimes used pejoratively by older generations who view millennials as immature or complacent, particularly during the 2010s. The comic speculates that millennials may have been unfairly targeted due to the fact that the decade didn't have an easily-identifiable name; if it had, then people might have attributed their misgivings about modern culture to the decade itself, instead of singling out a demographic. This phenomenon was previously discussed in [[1849: Decades]].

Continuing the dubious "proof" offered by Megan, the title text goes on to use the {{w|Billboard (magazine)|Billboard}} [https://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboards-top-songs-80s Best of the 80s] chart as proof that the 1980s started in 1980, as their chart includes {{w|Blondie (band)|Blondie's}} "{{w|Call Me (Blondie song)|Call Me}}", which was released in 1980. The title text ends with {{w|Q.E.D.|QED}} ("quod erat demonstrandum"), which means "which was [necessary] to be shown", and is traditionally used at the end of a mathematical proof, as if this second landmark piece of evidence proves Megan's point as conclusively as a mathematical proof.

==Transcript==
:[Megan walks in from the left greeting Cueball, White Hat, and Ponytail standing next to each other, the last two looking in her direction.]
:Megan: Happy new decade!
:Ponytail: Welcome to the '20s!
:White Hat: '''''Actually—'''''
:Ponytail: I'm excited we can name decades again.
:Ponytail: "Aughts" and "teens" never caught on.

:[Megan stops next to Cueball as White Hat has his finger raised.]
:White Hat: Actually, the new decade doesn't start-
:Ponytail: Mostly, I'm just glad we can go back to attributing cultural trends to decades instead of generations.

:[All four just stand normal.]
:Cueball: Yeah.
:Cueball: Decades were silly, but making everything about "millennials" turned out to be even worse.
:Ponytail: Seriously.

:[Only White Hat and Ponytail are shown, both with their arms held out to the sides.]
:White Hat: It's technically not a new decade until '''2021'''.
:Ponytail: OK, listen.
:Ponytail: If you're going to be pedantic, you should at least be right.
:White Hat: I '''''am''''' right!
:Ponytail: You're '''''not'''''.

:[Zoom in on White Hat and Ponytail's upper bodies as they gesture towards each other both raising their hands palm up. Megan interrupts them from off panel, as made clear in the next panel. Her voice comes out of a starburst on the left panel frame.]
:White Hat: See, the 20<sup>th</sup> century didn't start until--
:Ponytail: But decades aren't centuries. They're not cardinally numbered.
:White Hat: You don't get it. Let me draw a--
:Ponytail: No, '''''you''''' don't--
:Megan (off-panel): Stop!

:[All four characters are displayed again. Megan has raised a finger and all the others look at her.]
:Megan: I can resolve this.
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: MC Hammer's ''U Can't Touch This'' (1990) was featured in '''''I Love the '90s''''', not ''''' '80s'''''.
:Ponytail: ...That settles that.
:White Hat: Yeah, I accept VH1's authority.
:White Hat: You win.

==Trivia==
* Millennials were also mentioned in [[1962: Generations]] and in [[2165: Millennials]]. Also, [[Randall]] himself is a millennial.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Pedantic]]

2127: Panama Canal

2022-05-11T18:43:21Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 266405 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2127
| date = March 22, 2019
| title = Panama Canal
| image = panama_canal.png
| titletext = Once they selected the other proposal, we could have kept shopping ours around, but we would had to modify it include an aqueduct over their canal, which would be totally unreasonable.
}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Panama Canal}} is, as the name suggests, a canal through the country of Panama. It is important for bridging the {{w|Atlantic}} and {{w|Pacific}} oceans, and is an important trade route. The canal is in Panama because this is the narrowest piece of land for crossing between the two oceans. When the Panama Canal was being proposed, several alternate routes were suggested such as the recently-revived {{w|Nicaragua Canal|Nicaragua Route}}.

Cueball says that when the Panama Canal connecting the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean was being planned, he proposed an alternate route that connects the {{w|Arctic Ocean}} to the {{w|Great Southern Ocean}}. At the time, the northern terminus would have been inaccessible, because the Arctic Ocean was almost completely covered by ice. His suggested route runs somewhat to the east of the {{w|Continental Divide of the Americas|continental divide}} and has a total length of slightly over ten thousand miles, in contrast to the real-life canal which is only fifty miles long. The extra length and more-rugged terrain make his proposal much more difficult to build and maintain than the real-life Panama Canal.{{Citation needed}}

Moreover, while the real-life canal significantly shortens the travel distance between major cities on the east and west coasts of the Americas, his alternative offers little benefit over traveling north or south in either the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. In fact, with the lack of currents that can aid travel and the slow speed required to traverse canal locks, it would be significantly slower. In addition, ships would have to wait approximately 100 years for global warming to melt the ice in the Arctic Ocean along the northern coast of North America sufficiently for them to enter or exit the northern end of the canal. (However, since construction of this canal might take even longer, the ice might not be a problem by the time it was completed.)

The title text references the now-existing Panama Canal, and the fact that Randall's canal would need to cross it at some point. The title text suggests that crossing two canals would have to be done via {{w|aqueduct}}, instead of the more useful {{w|at-grade crossing}}, most likely at {{w|Gatun Lake}}, which would allow boats to travel between the two canals by simply connecting them. The humor here is that this canal would be one of the most ambitious construction projects in history; an aqueduct being added to the costs is an expense on the same scale of needing an extra screw to hold something in on Apollo 11. The route depicted appears to cross the Mackenzie, Missouri, Rio Grande, and Amazon rivers anyway, so only this additional crossing is apparently "unreasonable."

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing in front of a poster with two maps showing the Americas. He is pointing to the right one with a stick he is holding in his hand. Specifically to the red line going through the Americas from the Arctic sea above Canada near Alaska, down through North America, through the middle of Central America down through the middle of South America to end up in the Antarctic sea below the tip of South America. On the map to the left there is a similar red line indicating the Panama Canal crossing the thinnest part of Central America from the Pacific Oceanto the Atlantic Ocean. Both lines end in small dots on either "side" of the continent. The two maps have labels above them:]
:Atlantic-Pacific option
:Arctic-Antarctic option

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I still don't understand why the Panama Canal planners rejected my proposal.

==Trivia==
*The Panama Canal was the main theme in [[1632: Palindrome]] and there is a scene in [[1608: Hoverboard]] where a [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/0/0d/1608_1026x1073y_Ruins_with_Cueball_singing_of_Spiders_and_Panama.png song that Cueball sings] references the canal. {{w|Panamax}} is referenced in the title text of [[1865: Wifi vs Cellular]].
*If Cueball had proposed an alternative Panama Canal when the original was being built, he would have to have been alive in the early 1900s. Assuming he was at least 18 when the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed to authorize the canal (a very generously low estimate), this version of Cueball would been born no later than 1885.
*This is the second comic in a row with a [[:Category:Maps|map based theme]]. Randall likes maps.
*A canal crossing a canal occurs at several places. One of the more famous ones is the {{w|Magdeburg Water Bridge}} in Germany. It also features some locks nearby, so ships can change from the canal to the Elbe river, and vice versa.
*Another interesting connection of canals on different height levels is the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel Falkirk Wheel] in Scotland.

{{comic discussion}}

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

1517: Spectroscopy

2022-05-11T18:43:05Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 265851 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1517
| date = April 27, 2015
| title = Spectroscopy
| image = spectroscopy.png
| titletext = Although right now I'm more excited about ESPRESSO's radial velocity measurements, so I'm listening to This Kiss, her song about measuring "centrifugal motion" on "a rooftop under the sky".
}}

==Explanation==
This comic mixes the method of using ''{{w|spectroscopy}}'' to detect {{w|oxygen}} on {{w|exoplanets}} (planets outside our {{w|Solar system}}) with [http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/faithhill/breathe.html the lyrics] for the {{w|Faith Hill}} song "{{w|Breathe (Faith Hill song)|Breathe}}" (listen to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCmsZUN4r_s "Breathe" on YouTube]).

From the lyrics:
:''I watch the sunlight''
:''dance across your face''
:''I can '''feel''' you breathe''
In the comic the word "feel" has been changed to "see". The two first panels are one line in the song. The last line is from the chorus and is repeated five times during the song, although not right after the first two lines.

In the first and second panel the singer examines the spectra of a remote planet by ''watching the sunlight'' during the {{w|Transit (astronomy)|transit}} of the planet as this sunlight ''dances across the planet's face''. Finally we determine that breathable oxygen exists. Since we cannot (as Faith can) ''feel'' the planet we have to ''see'' it. And by doing this ''I can see you breathe''.

Measuring the light output of stars (spectra) we are able to determine a number of details of the star, including rotation, relative radial velocity, chemical composition, temperature, and to some degree, distance and size. When a planet, as pictured, moves between the star and the observer, then by looking at the spectrum received, the viewer is able to determine the contents of the planet's atmosphere from the specific wavelengths of light that are {{w|Absorption spectroscopy|absorbed}} in this. If it turns out that the atmosphere absorbs the lines corresponding to molecular oxygen (O<sub>2</sub>) this is a clear indication that the planet has large quantities of breathable oxygen (but {{w|Exoplanet#Abiotic_oxygen|not necessarily life}}). However, there must be oxygen in large amounts in the atmosphere to sustain most of the life forms that we know of here on Earth (though {{w|Anaerobic_organism|not all}}). It is thus clear why [[Randall]] would be interested in exoplanets with oxygen.

This comic came out four days after this article about [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/23/nasa-nexss-search-for-life_n_7123788.html NASA's New NExSS Initiative]. {{w|NASA}} will search for signs of life on other planets, for instance by using "the light passing through the atmospheres of these exoplanets". And they "will study chemicals that have been detected on other worlds, such as oxygen and methane, to see if they were produced by biology".

The title text refers to determining {{w|radial velocity}} in the {{w|ESPRESSO}} program (Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet- and Stable Spectroscopic Observations). By noting that the radial velocity of the star changes slightly as the planet that orbits it moves around the star (centrifugal acceleration), the ESPRESSO program should be able to detect the masses of planets as they are moving towards the Earth in their orbit around their distant stars. The ESPRESSO program is so precise that it should be able to detect {{w|Terrestrial planet|planets as small as Earth}} and the other of the Solar system's inner planets.

Randall is now even more excited about ESPRESSO than he is about the oxygen levels, because it is now possible to detect these "very" small planets. So he is no longer listening to "Breathe", but to another Faith Hill song: "{{w|This Kiss (Faith Hill song)|This Kiss}}" (listen to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dls_cBmUt7Q "This Kiss" on YouTube]).

From the [http://www.sweetslyrics.com/59372.Faith%20Hill%20-%20This%20Kiss.html lyrics]:
:''It's '''centripetal''' motion''
:''On '''the''' rooftop under the sky''
The first line is part of the chorus and it is repeated four times, but Randall has changed the main word to "centrifugal". There is, however, [http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/faithhill/thiskiss.html disagreement] on-line whether it is centripetal or centrifugal.

The second line is not sung in connection with the chorus, and it is only changed a bit, so "the" is changed to "a". Also the "on" which is part of his line here is not part of the quoted line in the title text.

The song is not about measuring but, of course, about "The Kiss". Since the ESPRESSO is part of the {{w|Very Large Telescope}}, it is located on the {{w|Cerro Paranal}} mountain in the {{w|Atacama desert}} in {{w|Chile}} at an elevation of 2,635 meters (8,645 ft.) above sea level. So it could be said that it is measuring on a rooftop under the sky. Although it is radial velocity it measures, not {{w|Centrifugal force|centrifugal motion}}, the object it does measure will all be experiencing this {{w|fictitious force}} (also see [[123: Centrifugal Force]]), as the planets are in orbit around a star.

Randall has previously made [[:Category:Exoplanets|several references to exoplanets]] in his comics, most notable are the two comics with the same name: [[786: Exoplanets]] and [[1071: Exoplanets]]. The latter comic came out when there were exactly 786 exoplanets found. Today more than 1900 have been discovered (1915 as of Wikipedia on the release day of this comic), much more than twice that amount. And now they can find even smaller planets, and detect the atmosphere. Much have happened since the first exoplanet comic came out in 2010. Five comics later in [[1522: Astronomy]] he mentions {{w|astrobiology}} in the title text, closely relating it to this comic.

==Transcript==
:[A dark panel with a bright star in the center. To the left a planet (drawn as a new moon) approaches the star. Text is written above in white with two musical notes, one on each side of the text.]
:I watch the sunlight

:[Same image but now the planet transits the star. Small lines around the planet indicate the atmosphere, as seen from the light from the star passing through it. Text is again written above in white with two different musical notes, one on each side of the text.]
:Dance across your face

:[A white frame with a black line. It Is the spectrum of the planets atmosphere. Two distinct absorption peaks are visible. The first one is labeled with an arrow. Text is again written above, now in black, with two, again, different musical notes, one on each side of the text.]
:I can see you breathe
:Label: O<sub>2</sub>

:[Below the panels is the following caption:]
:Faith Hill on exoplanet spectroscopy

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Exoplanets]]

209: Kayak

2022-05-11T18:42:50Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 265624 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 209
| date = January 12, 2007
| title = Kayak
| image = kayak.png
| titletext = Man, there's future *everywhere*.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic deals with two linked themes, which both come under the umbrella of {{w|Existentialism|existentialism}}, a branch of philosophy.

Beret Guy invites Cueball to join him in a two-seat kayak trip. However, Cueball is confused by his intention.

Beret Guy initially words his invitation to Cueball as "come explore the future." However, this confuses Cueball, as he believes that Beret Guy's kayak can {{w|Travel through time|travel through time}} in a science fiction sense. In reality, Beret Guy is being more literal: after all, as the title-text emphasizes, "there's future everywhere;" everything is "traveling through time" simply by existing, as time is just another dimension. Beret Guy's comments show that he perceives all of life as an adventure, and just as exciting as time travel; his eagerness to "explore" it shows that he takes delight in the unpredictability of life. In this way, the comic criticizes people who become depressed with the lack of control they have over their future: Beret Guy suggests that, rather than continuously worrying, we should enjoy the thrill of the unknown.

Cueball asks Beret Guy why he wishes for a kayak trip, as there is no intrinsic purpose or logic behind this action. However, Beret Guy claims that, in fact, nothing has any intrinsic purpose in the long run, and thus there is no reason not to go on a kayak trip. In this case, if a kayak trip is likely to make you happy, it is the right thing to do. In this way, the comic could be seen as criticizing those who do not take advantage of life's opportunities.

Beret Guy's comments reference existentialism, which is a branch of philosophy that states that there is no intrinsic purpose or meaning to anything in life, as nothing will influence our eventual fate - death. It also states that there is no way of predicting what will happen to us, and that the future is always unknown. The solution is therefore to find one's own purpose in life, and make the most of life's opportunities while they are still available.

The title text may be a reference to the Calvin and Hobbes collection book "There's treasure everywhere!"

Making the most of life, and rationalizing the familiar, has also been explored in these comics:

*[[167: Nihilism]]
*The [[:Category:Choices|Choices]] arc.
*[[308: Interesting Life]]
*[[187: The Familiar]]

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy, in a kayak holding a paddle, is talking to Cueball, standing on a pier.]
:Beret Guy: Come explore the future with me!
:Cueball: Huh? What's that you're in?
:[Close up on Beret Guy and his kayak. The tip of the pier can be seen.]
:Beret Guy: A two seat kayak!
:Cueball: I see, but why do you have it?
:[Close up on Cueball. The tip of the kayak and the tip of the paddle can be seen. Beret Guy and the waterline cannot be seen.]
:Beret Guy: We'll find out! The future is a big place!
:Cueball: So the kayak travels through time?
:[Slightly zoomed-out version of the third panel. The tip of the paddle has disappeared but the waterline is visible again.]
:Beret Guy: Sure! Just like everything else! It also goes over water. Come on!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Time travel]]

1304: Glass Trolling

2022-05-11T18:42:35Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 265908 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1304
| date = December 16, 2013
| title = Glass Trolling
| image = glass_trolling.png
| titletext = Plus, when someone finally grabs your glasses and stomps on them, it costs way less than $1,500 to replace them.
}}

==Explanation==
This is another strip in the [[My Hobby]] series.

{{w|Google Glass}} is a set of glasses frames worn like typical glasses that features an optical display and internet connectivity. It responds to voice commands starting with [https://support.google.com/glass/answer/3079305 "OK ''glass''"], for example to initiate video recording or to check tomorrow's weather. Strangers and other people surrounding the user would often find it annoying to hear someone talking to "himself", or to ''Glass''. Also many people who buy the newest gadgets, like Google Glass, like to brag about it, and thus would try to say ''OK Glass'' so loud that other people will notice they have these cool new glasses. This can be very annoying in general!

[[Randall|Randall's]] hobby, is saying "OK, ''glass''" before any sentence while he is only wearing regular glasses. Like here where he (drawn as usual like [[Cueball]], with regular glasses) is checking tomorrow's weather, not on the glasses but on his {{w|smartphone}}. Apparently this is even more annoying to the bystander than if he would actually wear a real ''Google Glass'' while saying so. He thus both annoys other people, mocks people who buy such glasses to brag about them, and in general mocks Google Glass.

In the title text, Randall states that there is an extra benefit by doing this while only wearing regular glasses. Because when someone is finally fed up with the annoyance and rips the glasses off and stomps on them, then it would cost much less for regular glasses than if he had to replace a "Google Glass". These are very expensive - $1,500 at the time of this comic, as the title text says. (Note that regular glasses can also be very expensive, but you could choose to wear your reserve glasses for such a prank...). Also [https://mashable.com/2014/02/26/google-glass-assault/ several people] have claimed to been attacked while wearing Google Glass in San Francisco, with one person claiming [https://mashable.com/2014/04/13/google-glass-wearer-attacked/ their attacker destroyed their Glass].

The "OK, ''Glass''" keyword is not useless outside of ''Glass''; in the browser Chrome and the Android/iOS app ''Google Now'', "OK, ''Glass''" is also valid instead of "OK, ''Google''" to initiate a voice command. While Cueball may be using this app, it is not necessarily the case, given that the caption states that Cueball enjoys prefacing everything with the phrase.

It seems generally that Randall is no fan of Google Glass, which was also shown earlier in [[1251: Anti-Glass]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:My Hobby:

:[Cueball, wearing regular glasses, is holding his smartphone up in one hand while typing, as shown with two times two small movement lines on either side of the phone. A voice from off-panel right emanates from a starburst at the frame.]
:Cueball: OK, Glass, check tomorrow's weather.
:Cueball: Ooh, snow!
:Off-panel voice: Oh my god, it's somehow even ''more'' annoying than if you had it.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Saying "OK, Glass" before everything while wearing regular glasses.

==Trivia==
Google Glass was a [[:Category:Google Glass|recurring theme]] in xkcd in 2013.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Google Glass]]
[[Category:Weather]]

Tagline

2022-05-11T18:42:19Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 265694 by 👖🔥 (talk)

:''See also: [[explain xkcd:Tagline]] ''

The following '''tagline''' appears at the top of the [[xkcd]] main page, regardless of which comic is being viewed.

:''[[xkcd]]: A webcomic of [[:Category:Romance|romance]], [[:Category:Sarcasm|sarcasm]], [[:Category:Math|math]], and [[:Category:Language|language]].''

It's a kind of general mission statement for the xkcd comics. Nowhere is there a mention of humor, though it doesn't exclude it. In fact, there are some true [[931|downers]].

In the early days (until April 2006) the tagline read as:
:''A webcomic of romance and geek humor. Updated on time every M/W/F since 1779.''
(Old versions of the site can be viewed [http://web.archive.org/web/20060408220042/http://www.xkcd.com/c60.html here].)

[[Category:Design of xkcd]]
{{xkcdmeta}}

1909: Digital Resource Lifespan

2022-05-11T18:41:56Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 266476 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1909
| date = October 30, 2017
| title = Digital Resource Lifespan
| image = digital_resource_lifespan.png
| titletext = I spent a long time thinking about how to design a system for long-term organization and storage of subject-specific informational resources without needing ongoing work from the experts who created them, only to realized I'd just reinvented libraries.
}}

==Explanation==

In this chart, [[Randall]] laments the tendency of digital resources to quickly become obsolete or non-functional. By taking a general subject, such as xkcd's core subjects of "romance, sarcasm, math, and language", one can see that a useful tool such as a smartphone or computer app or interactive CD-ROM (essentially, software) does not have the lasting power of printed books (e.g. textbooks, for many general subjects) and microfilm/microfiche. The printed resources, not having to rely on a computerized platform for use, are far more reliable despite being less mobile and taking up physical space. The only digital source which is still working is {{w|Portable Document Format}} (aka PDF) which encapsulates fixed layout flat documents, and is supported for years already by {{w|Adobe Systems}} and is part of {{w|International Organization for Standardization|ISO}} standards, so has a widespread support, and should be still viewable in foreseeable future.

The title text makes a statement that libraries do not require the support of ''original'' authors/experts to organize and store vast resources for any subject imaginable. This is true, but omits the fact that ongoing efforts are required by experts in information organization and storage -- namely, librarians. Physical books and microfilm/microfiche need controlled storage environments, manual handling for storage, retrieval, distribution (in library terms, "circulation"), and the like. Thus, a library can require significant resources in personnel and facilities, but is usually seen as a "public good" for the benefit of society; thus, many communities and educational institutions invest in creating and maintaining a library despite the costs.

Archive.org refers to {{w|The Internet Archive}}, a non-profit organization that maintains the {{w|Wayback Machine}}, one of the largest archives of the {{w|World Wide Web}}. When a website is taken offline, copies of its content can often be found backed-up on the Wayback Machine. The Wayback Machine is primarily designed to back up {{w|Website|websites}}, however, and will often not be able to save information stored in a site's {{w|Database|databases}}, as alluded to in the comic. The Internet Archive has a part for non-website archives, but it cannot hold recent databases either due to copyright problems.

==Table==

{| class="wikitable"
!style="width:20%"|Caption
!style="width:20%"|Type of Resource
!style="width:60%"|Explanation
|-
|Book on Subject
|{{w|Book|Physical Books}}
|This is the most familiar physical resource and used as the baseline for other (digital) resources.
Under optimal conditions, a book can last indefinitely for future generations; there are books from the ancient times that are still readable today.
|-
|<nowiki>[Subject].pdf</nowiki>
|{{w|Portable Document Format}}
|This is the most familiar digital resource, with the probable exception of the internet as a whole. A format originally developed by Adobe, the majority of the format is now an {{w|Portable_Document_Format#History_and_standardization|ISO standard}} which means a compliant reader and writer can be made independently (which avoids the majority of the pitfalls described on later resources).
A PDF file is designed to be portable (it is even in the acronym), which means unless the creator of the PDF uses a web-only feature (which is non-standard), it can be opened everywhere a PDF reader is found. Authors may also opt for a stricter, "archival" version ({{w|PDF/A}}) which ensures that both required files are placed on the same PDF file and only documented formats are used to prevent the reliance on non-standardized formats.
|-
|<nowiki>[Subject] Web Database</nowiki>
|{{w|Database}}
|Another type of a digital resource which is, in itself, is like a digital library. Unlike a physical library however, it is usually only stored in a single file or server (there are instances that the database is distributed, but it is rare), which means that a failure to that server means that the database is wiped out, not to mention the gigantic space it takes (that is why the whole database are not stored in a digital archive, like the Internet Archive).
Additionally, unlike PDFs, there are almost-infinite ways of storing and retrieving data in a database, which means that when the method used becomes unsupported (like the Java scenario, which is of now is completely unusable in web browsers), the data in it is effectively lost (whether or not the data-in-question is still physically on the server).
|-
|<nowiki>[Subject] Mobile App</nowiki>
<small>(Local University Project)</small>
|{{w|Mobile app|Mobile App}}
|A type of digital resource that expands upon the idea of a web database. It allows easy access on a mobile device, however, as it is stated that it is a local university project, which means that support for it lasts only at most for a few years (which is not enough to maintain an application).
Additionally, {{w|Operating System|Operating Systems}} can get obsolete (like the {{w|Symbian}} platform used on older {{w|Nokia}} phones) or critical changes to it breaks older applications (like on the [http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41319675 Apple iOS]).
|-
|<nowiki>[Subject] Analysis Software</nowiki>
|{{w|Application software|Desktop Application}}
|A type of executable program that is found on desktop systems. It allows reliable access on a desktop system, which means that (assuming the program is offline) it can survive on its own. However, {{w|Operating System|Operating Systems}} can get obsolete (like the {{w|Classic Mac OS}} platform used on older {{w|Macintosh|Mac}} computers) or critical changes to it breaks older applications (like the new security features on {{w|Microsoft Windows|Windows}} which breaks older non-compliant programs).
|-
|<nowiki>Interactive [Subject] CD-ROM</nowiki>
|{{w|Application software|Desktop Application}}, {{w|CD-ROM|CD-ROMs}}
|A CD can hold anything from music to videos to applications. It also allows better offline access, and such were used in the 1990s and the early 2000s. It is still a fancy desktop application, which means that the situation on the analysis software applies here, not to mention the fact that a new invention can replace an obsolete one (for example, {{w|Microsoft Encarta}} was discontinued in 2010 due to the ease-of-access of {{w|Main Page|Wikipedia}}).
Additional issues mentioned are that CDs can become "{{w|Disc rot|scratched}}", in which case, the data becomes corrupted or unreadable. Also, many modern laptops do not have CD-ROM drives anymore, making it difficult to use CDs as a storage medium.
Additionally, this also covers the changes in a physical system: in the 1980s, {{w|Floppy disk|floppy diskettes}} were used, which was replaced in the 1990s by the CDs and DVDs, which then was replaced by {{w|Thumb drive|thumb drives}} in the 2000s, which is then supplemented (and in some cases, replaced entirely) by wireless device-to-device transfers (like {{w|Bluetooth}}) and internet file transfers using online storage (like {{w|Dropbox}} and {{w|Google Drive}}).

|-
|<nowiki>Library Microfilm [Subject] Collection</nowiki>
|{{w|Microfilm}}
|This is a physical resource used by libraries to preserve (or to create a copy) of a collection, usually those things that are rare or would cause a social or political issue when damaged. Although great preservation is needed to prevent damage to a film, the system used is standardized and knowledge to build a reader or a printer off a microfilm is widely available, like a PDF file. This comparison might look like a physical version of PDFs: standardized, common (books can be of any size imagined) format.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Needs reorganization?}}
:My access to resources on [SUBJECT] over time:

:[Below, a timeline and a graph with gray bars is shown:]

:[1980s-past 2020:]
:Book on subject

:[Early 2000s-past 2020:]
:[SUBJECT].pdf

:[2000-2010:]
:[SUBJECT] web database
::Site goes down, backend data not on archive.org
::[Small bar, 2000-2016/17:]
:::Java frontend no longer runs

:[2010-2015/16:]
:[SUBJECT] mobile app (Local university project)
::Broken on new OS, not updated

:[2000-2010:]
:[SUBJECT] analysis software
::Broken on new OS, not updated

:[Late 1990s-late 2000s:]
:Interactive [SUBJECT] CD-ROM
::CD scratched; new computer has no CD drive anyway.

:[1980s-past 2020:]
:Library microfilm [SUBJECT] collection

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It's unsettling to realize how quickly digital resources can disappear without ongoing work to maintain them.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Timelines]]

2181: Inbox

2022-05-11T18:36:45Z

172.70.85.177: Undo revision 266129 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2181
| date = July 26, 2019
| title = Inbox
| image = inbox.png
| titletext = Rome's declaration of war against Carthage was sent from a no-reply address, so Hannibal had to cross the Alps to deliver his "UNSUBSCRIBE" response in person.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Email}} differs from "snail" mail, in that people often expect a prompt reply. Replying to an email may lead to another email response, thus leading to a "loop" of constant replies and responses. Since an individual email is quick and cheap to send, people send lots of them. Thus people get a lot of emails, and may spend a large portion of their day dealing with email.

Megan observes that maybe the Romans got a lot done because they did not spend time on email. In doing this she plays on the email handling strategy named Inbox Zero, which they might not have had because the Roman number system had no symbol for zero. This is of course redundant, as email did not exist at the time.{{Citation needed}}

[https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/inbox-zero Inbox Zero] is an approach to email inbox management espoused by Merlin Mann, with the idea that people should spend as little time as possible in their email inbox. To achieve this, one should check one's inbox as few times as practical, and quickly deal with all new emails by deleting, delegating, sending a short reply where possible or categorizing them for later tasks. Basically it's a continuation of the "touch it once" strategy for dealing with physical mail.

The {{w|ancient Romans}} are one of the model historical societies, well revered for their culture and life. A common misconception is that Romans did not have a concept of the number zero. The Romans were aware of the concept of zero, but there is no {{w|numeral}} for 0 in the {{w|Roman numeral}} system, as Roman numerals do not have place values like Arabic numerals. A value of ten or greater is represented in Arabic numerals using 0 as a placeholder for empty place values. Roman numerals do not have such a placeholder digit, and so did not have a numeral for zero; the word ''nulla'' was used to refer to "zero" in the sense of "nothing". Various sources indicate that this eventually gave use to '''N''' as a Roman numeral for "zero", and such is the case for modern users of Roman numerals.

The title text refers to {{w|Hannibal's crossing of the Alps}}, a famous military campaign by Hannibal against the Romans. Randall claims that Hannibal needed to invade Rome to tell them to stop sending him so many emails. The reason for this was that Rome's email was sent from a "[https://www.mailjet.com/blog/news/the-noreply-dilemma-going-from-no-to-yes/ no-reply]" email address, so Hannibal had no way of replying by email, and had to tell them in person. The real reason for Hannibal to cross the Alps was because he wanted to conquer Rome. He did not conquer Rome, so he never sent his "unsubscribe" message.

==Trivia==
* This is not the first time Randall has imagined strange "unsubscribe" messages; see [[1675: Message in a Bottle]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are sitting at a desk, facing each other, each working on their laptop computers.]
:Megan: Answering email is the worst. It just leads to getting more email.
:Cueball: Yeah, email is a trap.

:[Beat panel.]

:[Megan looks up from her work on the computer.]
:Megan: I bet the reason the Ancient Romans got so much done was that they had no concept of Inbox Zero.
:Cueball: '''''That''''' explains it.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Email]]

1100: Vows

2022-05-11T18:16:25Z

172.70.85.177:

{{comic
| number = 1100
| date = August 27, 2012
| title = Vows
| image = vows.png
| titletext = So, um. Do you want to get a drink after the game?
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke parodying wedding ceremonies and {{w|American Football}} plays intended to misdirect or fool the opponents about what is really happening.

A standard misdirection play involves the offense misdirecting the defense into thinking that the play being executed is actually a different play: for example, a {{w|American_football_positions|passing play}} could actually be a running play, or that a ball being run left is actually being run right, or that a {{w|field goal}} or {{w|Punt_(gridiron_football)|punt}} end up being attempted to get a {{w|Down_(gridiron_football)|down}}.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is about to get married to Amy, a girl looking like [[Megan]], but the bride interrupts the ritual by saying that she doesn't want to get married. The bride then reveals herself to be a Cueball-like man and after questioning reveals that the relationship and the wedding was an elaborate con to get the advantage on the football field. "Amy" turns out to be a player for the opposing team and he had a football on his person. He then proceeds to run the ball in for a touchdown. This clearly constitutes the ''greatest high school football misdirection play of all time''.

[[Randall]] takes the deception in a misdirection play to the next, virtually impossible level; it is unlikely that a relationship could develop to the point of marriage within the time-frame of a football game, with "the groom" not noticing that Amy was in fact a football player, or that he was standing on the football field.

The title text indicates that, in spite of the deception, "the groom" still has feelings and is not ready to give up the relationship (or at least he would like to share a beer with the opposing team like after a friendly game). Alternatively, as it is unclear who is speaking, "the bride" may have also developed feelings for "the groom" and is now awkwardly asking for a date after deceiving "the groom."

===Misdirection Plays===
Occasionally, especially at the high school level, extreme misdirection plays are attempted where teams try to misdirect the opposing team into thinking that a play is not even being run. Good examples of that can be found on YouTube, such as this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkA3nxuMJoM "wrong ball" trick], or that [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UIdI8khMkw "five more yards" trick]. Despite conforming to the rules of the game, these are considered to be dirty tricks and usually only work in little league football.

==Transcript==
:[A bride in full wedding dress, that looks like Megan, and Cueball with a bow-tie as the groom stand next to each other. Each has a hand outstretched toward the other.]
:Officiator (off panel): Do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband?
:Bride: ...No.

:[Cueball steps back in surprise. The bride removes a wig to reveal that she is in fact a Cueball-like man.]
:Groom: ''What? Amy!?''
:Man: I'm not Amy. None of this was real. You're back in senior year. It's the big game.

:[Cueball puts his hands to his head in confusion. The man holds up an American football, still holding the wig in his other hand.]
:Cueball: What ''is'' this!?
:Man: ''The greatest high school football misdirection play of all time.''

:[Cueball puts his hands to his mouth as the man in the wedding dress begins to run backwards, away from him holding up the ball.]

:[Cueball remains frozen in horror as the man turns and dashes toward the goalpost in the distance.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Wedding]]
[[Category:American football]]

1350: Lorenz/Transcript

2022-05-11T18:11:59Z

172.70.85.177: Revert vandalism

__NOTOC__
==Intro==
*This is a valiant effort to create a transcript for the continually growing dynamic comic [[1350: Lorenz]]
*'''A permalink is needed''' (at least at the end of a comic) for every transcript. Else anyone could invent text. Because not all the storylines that was available to begin with will be available today. And without the link no one can prove the transcript here wrong.
**Note that even from a permalink - if you click back you may not even get the possibility you came from, if there are more than four choices - like in the first panel, but for instance also in the second panel of the refresh choice.
**Similar the choices you have when you choose a permalink, will not come in the same order, and if there are more than four, you will again not be certain to have the choice you wish for - to be certain to have all choices, you need to save permalinks on all steps of a story tree.
*If you complete a part of the transcript then please add a note and a date on which this occurred. Like this:
**This branch was complete as of 2014-04-20. (Taken from the ''Your computer is literally haunted'' branch of the BSD story on ''Why is Python importing Skynet?''

{{notice|More panels/text have been appearing on the comic constantly since its debut (although it seems to have slowed down or stopped already after Easter 2014), so expanding this transcript is expected to be a constant work in progress.<br>We still have many storylines missing. Feel free to add more if you find them!}}

==Syntax==
*It is quite difficult to build the transcript in the form below.
*There is so many levels that you quickly lose control if you are not careful.
**To increase the ease of editing, make new levels with === up to six ======
**Then each of these levels can be edited individually - dividing down to the fourth level.

Expand below to see a guide to building the transcript.
*Typically there will be four options. Then the version below can be inserted.
*After the last line of text, followed by a '''Permalink''' continue like this:
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
<source>

(Last Permalink)
:[Description of image for instance: Knit Cap Girl thinks]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':

<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Line_1
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">(["link to permalink" Permalink_1])
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Line_2
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">(["link to permalink" Permalink_2])
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Line_3
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">(["link to permalink" Permalink_3])
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Line_4
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">(["link to permalink" Permalink_4])
</div>
</div>

</div>
</source>
</div>
<br>

==Transcript==
'''Knit Cap Girl''':<br>[Typing on the laptop and thinking.]<br>([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:be7a3304-b685-11e3-8001-94de80a03a29 permalink])
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
===Refresh Branch===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Refresh... No new email... Refresh... No new tweets... Refresh... ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6479d184-b9a0-11e3-b947-94de80a03a39 Permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">:[Hairy walks in] '''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
====So you're still refusing to use Facebook?====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:dcfb0896-b9bc-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[A green dinosaur appears]
'''Dinosaur''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====I will not submit to peer pressure... Wait I should tweet that, hold on.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:49aad068-b9d9-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Zooming in on the dinosaur's head]
'''Dinosaur''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Or should I MySpace this?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:3b4e57de-ba1e-11e3-8019-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Tweet. Ironic, because I am in fact a bird. Or is it the other way around?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:15cd0206-ba07-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Wait a second. I don't have a phone!======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f0681688-b9f5-11e3-800f-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======I can't reach the 3 key and the Shift key at the same time.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ba92df54-b9da-11e3-8011-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====I can only stand so many motivational and cat pics, man!=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:4d167904-b9cb-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Zooming in on the dinosaur's head]
'''Dinosaur''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Go analog, dog======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:0ef55296-b9e2-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Memes are becoming memes themselves======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:039574c2-ba22-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======And judging from their profile pictures, Facebook causes the newly married to turn into infants======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b51e0bdc-ba0e-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======They make me so hungry.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ba0e52f4-ba05-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====That's right, kids! Now you can have your very own Facebook page!=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:413e685c-b9e0-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Zooming in on the dinosaur's head]
'''Dinosaur''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Narcissism has never been this easy! Back in my day, we had to maually brag about every minor event in our life all over town!======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:7c9012e2-b9f5-11e3-800c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======It makes all your in-person social interactions more awkward!======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:43a4705e-ba22-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Become a retro hipster before everyone else by adopting the most mainstream fad!======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:3eda98ec-b9ef-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Now let's take this crossover to the next level!======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:a18985fa-ba28-11e3-8025-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====I am Facebooksaurus!=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d8fb1a84-b9d4-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Zooming in on the dinosaur's head]
'''Dinosaur''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======I will swallow your personal data!======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:fe72267a-ba21-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======...of genus ''Socialnetworkus''.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:f70fae72-b9f2-11e3-800a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======I fear the existential ambiguity of irreconcilable proclivities in prepetuity!======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:75cba2a0-b9f0-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======And I am two social outlets from being a hipster.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:4b97d44c-ba11-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

====Wanna build a snowman?====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:63eb16be-b9b0-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
====Hey. I hear Godot is in town. Wanna try to meet him?====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b7d6a9ac-b9a4-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
====Did you get my e-mail yet?====
:This branch was complete as of 2014-05-01.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:3232ad64-b9bd-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They leave]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====Yeah, I'm thinking Thai for lunch=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:fbc8365e-b9c1-11e3-800a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters walks out of the building - continue - Hairy looks into a hole in the ground]
'''Hairy:'''
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Has this hole always been here?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:84f421de-b9dd-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I think I see lizard people
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:dd14b50e-ba28-11e3-8028-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy:''' (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Because I'm not sure it's entirely safe.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:082fd1ee-b9ff-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Nothing ever is
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d23789c4-ba26-11e3-8020-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': (There is a speak-line from her up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Hairy - as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Russia is invading countries. North Korea is testing nukes… And you're worried about a small hole?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:538c61ce-ba41-11e3-8035-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a Line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a Line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======I don't know if actually going to Thailand is necessary…======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8a205b28-b9d3-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======Is it common for Thai businesses to have rooftop access?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:805d9626-b9d0-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking] '''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Yeah. Except over there, it's floor access, since everything is upside-down
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:3289a092-b9fe-11e3-8016-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Did you know the little prince lives just over there?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:c4058e30-b9fb-11e3-8016-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You don't get out a lot do you?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b563ad3c-b9e0-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You've never been to Thailand, have you?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:c29088ca-ba28-11e3-8026-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======There's a small crack in the pavement======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:4d8f22f6-b9d9-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl thinks]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Didn't he get my e-mail about parkour?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:c85963b2-ba28-11e3-8026-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Why didn't you tuck roll over that cravass?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d260fb42-bcbf-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">How did you not notice until we were up on the roof?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d266a600-bcbf-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You were supposed to do a double rebound off the small crack!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d27d2542-bcbf-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I picked this route because of the cracks in the pavement.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d2415de6-bcbf-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

=====The one with the cats of the one about geocaching in the Pentagon?=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ef8666b8-b9d5-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters walks out of the building - continue - They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======I hope it's open. Otherwise we'll just have to resort to those cat videos.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:744f8284-b9f0-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======Either way we're getting on a watch-list.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6d738768-ba0d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I have the funny feeling that you've been on one for some time.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:abc7dece-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''Feeling that you've been on one for some time. '' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.
:[Knit Cap Girl thinks]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Glad I brought the good GPS. …And a taser.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ab1cc674-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Everyone knows that stuff is fake. Snopes proved it.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ab45bc50-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I'm already on six. Two more and I get cake and a swat team sent to my house
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aa91d636-bbb1-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''Cake and a swat team sent to my house'' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======So are we really doing this?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:991468c4-b9ef-11e3-8006-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I'm not sure. How good are you rappelling skills?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:cfed42f6-bbdb-11e3-8034-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "ink cloud"!
:It's not very effective …
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Yes. There are cats in that geocache. Damnit.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:cffac188-bbdb-11e3-8034-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "Graph Theory"!
:It's not very effective …
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Sure. We spent almost all the bitcoins we got on kickstarter for this. It better work
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d048fa10-bbdb-11e3-8034-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''Kickstarter for this. It better work '' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "theft"!
:It's not very effective …
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">How else can we say that we pentagulated the location of something?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:cf63988a-bbdb-11e3-8034-002590d77bdd Permalink]) ]) - only ''Pentagulated the location of something?'' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.
:[Hairy looks into a hole in the ground ]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======I don't care what anyone says- Donuts are not a valid breakfast choice.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:7aa972a6-b9ec-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

=====Yes. You didn't see me reply burned into the lawn?=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ee80425e-b9d3-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters walks out of the building - continue - They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======See? It’s right there!======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ee80425e-b9d3-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You’ve been hanging out with the man in the black hat again, haven’t you?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:7d500e40-bbc0-11e3-8020-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''the man in the black hat again, haven’t you?'' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.
:[They walk on both speaking]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': (There is a speak-line from her up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Hairy - as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Guess Google Maps hasn’t updated.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:7c8ba71c-bbc0-11e3-8020-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "Graph Theory"!
:It's not very effective …
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Huh. My cellphone should have buzzed.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:7d2f2734-bbc0-11e3-8020-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "Radicality"!
:It's not very effective …
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">…Really? Just 'K' ? That seems like a lot of effort.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:7d420c96-bbc0-11e3-8020-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk under a tree]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======So I guess we’re married now?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:e8e2da88-ba04-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Maybe my font size was too big.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:a9c3e128-b9f3-11e3-800a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======It took a lot of gasoline======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:455c4776-ba1f-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy:'''
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I’m both impressed and terrified.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:2efaab9e-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You realize my email was about the environment
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:2f0612e0-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl] '''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "Abandonment"!
:It's not very effective …
:Suggest a line... (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">When did you do this? You’ve been inside last week.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:2f1e2826-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''This? You’ve been inside last week.'' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.
:[The two characters start arguing]
:'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line...
:'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">How many cars did you empty of fuel?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:2e75e7c4-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk under a tree]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div> </div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

=====Gmail must be down. Let's check it out.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:2b014942-b9d6-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters walks out of the building - continue - Hairy looks into a hole in the ground]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======It’s that hell’s light?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f542036c-b9d7-11e3-800b-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters walks on]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Why else would there be a gaping hole in the ground?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:643da0ac-ba3f-11e3-8035-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… <br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Nope. Just Carl Gustav Horn talking about evangelion till his audience spontaneously combsted.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:dd14dd54-ba28-11e3-8028-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "Ethylene dichloride"!
:It's not very effective …
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-04-22.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I hope not. Disco parties would be the last temptation Satan needs to use to win.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f84bdea6-b9ec-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I thought Gmail was around the corner.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:44627a70-ba42-11e3-8036-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">How long are you willing to keep walking for?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5eabdb2c-b9f4-11e3-800c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">How long until the internet’s working again?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:44627a70-ba42-11e3-8036-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">If nothing else this proves the time dilation effects don’t matter
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b1d644da-ba40-11e3-8035-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Nah, just the google internships ghetto.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:cf1a2d44-ba28-11e3-8027-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Hairy again looks into a hole in the ground ]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======I wonder what’s down there======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8b99279c-b9e1-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Remember that chain email about the hole to hell in Russia?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:0c3e5c5e-ba42-11e3-8036-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… <br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Hey, you, what is down there?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:aa91183e-ba05-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters walks on]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Satan doesn’t like to be called "you". He prefers "you bastard" or "you devil".
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f831ca90-bc56-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk under a tree]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Ever heard the phrase curiosity killed the cat?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f8152f52-bc56-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Would you be more or less afraid is someone had responded?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"> ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f80549ac-bc56-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… <br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">No wonder Gmail is down, someone cut their fiber!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f87d55a0-bc56-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… <br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Want to take a look?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b8cb58de-ba04-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I bet it’s just an outlet from the city of Ember
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4d795a74-ba20-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">When they talk about the singularity, I dion’t think they mean google servers undergoing gravitational collapse!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d5033e5c-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink] )
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Jules Vernes probably already discovered all the interesting stiff anyway
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d549ce3a-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink] )
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">That sounds dangerous, but I’m feeling sort of risk-takey right now.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d41d5cc0-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I think I can see my house from here
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:662ca9c2-ba2a-11e3-802d-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======Isn’t that Sergey Brin down there?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4830f04e-b9ef-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You didn’t feed him this week?!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:86bdcbfa-ba41-11e3-8035-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Google was inside us all along
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:c9c3dc78-ba41-11e3-8036-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Where’s his wife???
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b2ab58e0-ba41-11e3-8035-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======How long do you think he’ll keep digging?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:1ccf1ff8-b9e4-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">With a name like Doug, it’s impossible to say
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:3188ec4a-ba06-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy:'''
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">"Doug" is not impossible to say I just did
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:7b539f64-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "Anguish"!
:It's not very effective …
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Pre-nominative destination is a cruel thing.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:7b1b0d70-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Double impossible if he owns a Buick.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:7bf35392-bbd7-11e3-8030-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Hairy again looks into a hole in the ground]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Sometimes no answer is the answer
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:c5d294b4-ba06-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">He’ll keep digging as long as I keep dropping sandwiches on him
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:a6e518c0-ba00-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Do you think he’s lonely?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:edce5fd2-ba1c-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-01.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

====You know. Your car's on fire.====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:1a3242da-b9c0-11e3-8006-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

===Stupid Tiles Branch===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
These stupid tiles... I'll just play one more game.
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:79f036ac-b9a0-11e3-9003-94de80a03a39 Permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Hairy visits Knit Cap Girl.]<br>'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
====There's something weird out on the lawn.====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4af4a25a-b9a7-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They leave]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====This is an apartment. We don't have a lawn.=====
This branch was complete as of 2014-05-30.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:c53d02f6-b9bf-11e3-8005-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters walks out of the building - continue - Hairy looks into a hole in the ground]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======OK, two weird things.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:c390aeda-ba1e-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Who tiled the moat?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:30be5afc-ba42-11e3-8036-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''':

<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Seems costly
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d8e964d2-baa2-11e3-8015-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on both speaking]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': (There is a speak-line from her up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Hairy - as of 2014-05-28).
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">And aren't those all primes?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d8e5d178-baa2-11e3-8015-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-28.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Was it that guy with a hat again?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4c33f8ec-baaf-11e3-801f-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on both speaking]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': (There is a speak-line from her up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Hairy - as of 2014-05-28).
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">And how can you float in the air like this?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:a23d76b4-baaf-11e3-8020-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy:''' (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-28.)

</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Maybe three.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:0f104356-baa2-11e3-8011-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk under a tree]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-28.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I think I see cats down there
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:15ae5666-ba99-11e3-800a-002590d77bdd Permalink])

:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-28.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">On an unrelated note: Don't look down the hole.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ae1cd13a-ba93-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on both speaking]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': (There is a speak-line from her up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Hairy - as of 2014-05-28).
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======I can see a creeper down there======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:614f1684-ba29-11e3-802c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">These videogames are really encroaching on my life.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:e707102e-bab5-11e3-802a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Damn Griefers
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:27650fcc-ba43-11e3-8036-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">So this is what the outside world is like.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:c4ee8842-ba96-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Good source of gunpowder
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:02f3c380-baa3-11e3-8015-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======Is this 1-1 from Mario?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:dbe1fd42-b9d1-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink])
::[They walk under a tree]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Why does that tree looks fake?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:63201764-b9f8-11e3-8014-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues three images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "Theft"!
:It's not very effective ...
:[One more picture but this time the Pokémon speaks]
:'''Pikachu''': Um...
:'''Narrator''': ...
:[Hairy and Knit Cap Girl stands in front of the Pokémon in tall grass]:
'''Pikachu''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Do you come here often?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:fb4ca4ec-baae-11e3-801f-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Hairy and Knit Cap Girl walks past the Pokémon]:
'''Pikachu''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I wish I was president of France
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5253265c-ba92-11e3-8005-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Hairy and Knit Cap Girl walks past the Pokémon]:
'''Pikachu''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Do you have a moment to hear about our lord and savior?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:708aacc2-baaf-11e3-801f-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''Moment to hear about our lord and savior?'' can be seen in the image.
:[Hairy and Knit Cap Girl walks past the Pokémon]:
'''Pikachu''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">He shall vanquish us all from this slavery!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:c65d5358-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Hairy and Knit Cap Girl walks out of the tall grass - continue - They walk on seen in silhouette both speaking]
'''Knit Cap Girl:'''
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I thought Peta was going to liberate the Pokémon?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aea4e0ee-bbaf-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I just don't feel like I believe in the Helix fossil anymore
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aeacd4de-bbaf-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Do you really think we're all slaves?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ae59b1be-bbaf-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">God either does not exist, or he's got a lot of explaining to do.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:ae542e56-bbaf-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

</div>

</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Your GO or your HP!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:524e5c08-ba92-11e3-8005-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Hairy and Knit Cap Girl walks past the Pokémon]:
'''Pikachu''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

</div>

</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Actually, it's the final castle. Grab your Fire Flower!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:30ece2ee-ba2b-11e3-8031-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">OK sorry bad joke
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d5813986-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">This is what I spent my childhood preparing for!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:64303318-ba94-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''Spent my childhood preparing for!'' can be seen in the image.
:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Are you coming onto me?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d5468336-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on both speaking]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line…<br>
'''Knit Cap Girl''': (There is a speak-line from her up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Hairy - as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Or at least I think it's the final one. Seriously, if Peach isn't here I'm going to be pissed.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:d3fd0dcc-bae6-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''Peach isn't here I'm going to be pissed.'' can be seen in the image.
:[Hairy looks into a hole in the ground ] Hairy:
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">It's over this way.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:03925256-ba22-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)

</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I've never been this far before!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:aea948da-b9fe-11e3-8016-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on both speaking]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Are you going insane again?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:c7bede60-ba0e-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">We should order pizza after this.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:1c91b11e-bab0-11e3-8027-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You haven't said anything in a while...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:3be982b0-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Going?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:3d5058fa-baa7-11e3-801e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

</div>

</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======Where'd the bridge go?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b9018344-b9c0-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk under a tree]
'''Hairy''':

<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Did you lose your hover boots again?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:09932224-ba05-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Guess we're walking
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:a1d8f278-baa2-11e3-8015-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… <br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>

</div>

</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Didn't we chop this tree down to make the bridge?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2a56828a-b9f1-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Hairy''':

<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Or perhaps that was an alternate reality?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:fa4a0bce-ba28-11e3-802a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl thinks]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">No...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8fdae59a-baed-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on both speaking]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': (There is a speak-line from her up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Hairy - as of 2014-05-30).

</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I think I'm stuck in the matrix again.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:75c18b38-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "ink cloud"!
:It's not very effective …
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Where are you taking me?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5159e402-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… <br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Or maybe we have, and I'm remembering something that happened in the future?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:742be338-baf9-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''Something that happened in the future?'' can be seen in the image.
:[They walk on]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I just figured out how to get to 2048. Quick! We need ducks!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5c3da74e-b9ef-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink]) - only ''How to get to 2048. Quick! We need ducks!'' can be seen in the image.
:[They walk on]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Did you notice the top of that last thing you said got kind of cut off?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:7e5493f0-ba4f-11e3-8037-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Same image again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You should really keep your comment to 140 characters or fewer
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:a0fb90c2-baf2-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl thinks]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>

</div>

</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Is that tree following us?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:31935bf6-b9d6-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Hey, slow down!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:5bb63f6e-ba1e-11e3-8019-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They walk on both speaking]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': (There is a speak-line from her up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Hairy - as of 2014-05-30).
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Its OK. I've got a blowtorch if it gets any ideas
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([link Permalink])
:[The two characters start arguing]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy:''' (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there are no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">No, it's just caught in your magnetic field.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:6f66aaba-ba20-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues three images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "Ink cloud"!
:It's not very effective ...
:[One more image with the Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Magikarp! I choose you!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:99703da4-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four more images with the Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:It's not very effective ...
:Enemy Pikachu used "Radicality"!
:It's not very effective ...
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Trainer throws a pokeball!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:b16d8ddc-bae5-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four more images with the Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:It's not very effective ...
:Enemy Pikachu used "Uplift"!
:It's not very effective ...
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>

</div>

</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I think we picked it up at the last river.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:a1896f34-ba28-11e3-8025-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Continues four images with a Pokémon in front of Knit Cap Girl]
'''Narrator''':
:A wild Pikachu appeared!
:Enemy Pikachu used "Faceless"!
:It's not very effective ...
:Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-30.)
</div>
</div>

</div>

</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

=====I have a lawn?=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl and Hairy leave the house. They pass by a moat.]<br>'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Hmmm, did you order a moat?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">It helps keep bobcats out.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Of course. All cool kids have moats in their yards.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I don't have the best relationship with my mailman.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Yep. Delivered in two days, courtesy of Amazon Prime.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I don't remember this being here.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">It has begun! That's one of the first holes in reality.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I've been working on a theory that 2048 is a tool for the old ones to open up portals to this reality.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">What about black holes? Those don't count?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">We must go deeper.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I wanted to jump over the massive sinkhole, but nooo, someone just had to find out what was down there.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Oh, I had the moving company install it last week.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">We poop in it.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Finally got you out of the damn house.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Narrator''': A wild Pikachu appeared!<br>'''Narrator''': Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!<br>'''Narrator''': ...<br>'''Pikachu''': Um...<br>'''Pikachu''': Well then.<br>'''Pikachu''': I might have left surprises in that direction.<br></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Look how deep it goes!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I wonder if we can get someone to fall in?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I'm going in. You can come if you want to. I think I see stars down there.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">That was a missing opportunity.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I should come outside more often.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">It looks like I can see Moria from here.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You see Moria from everywhere, Dave.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Narrator''': A wild Pikachu appeared!<br>'''Narrator''': Enemy Pikachu used "Ink Cloud"!<br>'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...<br>'''Narrator''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Google Maps didn't warn me of this.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...<br>'''Narrator''': Enemy Pikachu used "Uplift!"<br>'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...<br>'''Narrator''': Enemy Pikachu used "Cute Face!"<br>'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...<br>'''Narrator''': Enemy Pikachu used "Faceless"!<br>'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...<br>'''Narrator''': Where's Twitch when I need help?<br>'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...<br>'''Narrator''': Enemy Pikachu used "Abandonment"!<br>'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Enemy Pikachu used "The Discrete Metric"!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...<br>'''Narrator''': Enemy Pikachu used "Extrude"!<br>'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...<br>'''Narrator''': ...<br>'''Pikachu''': Um...<br>'''Pikachu''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Now I only have Struggle left. Tie?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Pikachu''': No fair!
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">We are the knights who say Ni!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">What is even going on here?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Gathered the ink!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...<br>'''Narrator''': Enemy Pikachu used "Granite"!<br>'''Narrator''': It's not very effective...
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Yeah, who did you think gave them a balrog?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">One does not simple "give" a balrog.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">What? You weren't using it!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Gift-wrapping's the hardest part.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Moria is an anagram of Mario!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl and Hairy pass by a tree.]<br>'''Hairy''': Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====I hope it's not a bobcat this time.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[A giant hole appears and they fall into it.]<br>Knit Cap Girl and Hairy: Aaaaa...<br>[Knit Cap Girl wakes up.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': Gasp [Goes to his desk.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': Yawn [Sits at his desk.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Might as well clear more tiles.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Hairy visits Knit Cap Girl again.]<br>'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Um, there's a hole in your lawn...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">If it doesn't lead to a 1024 tile, I'm leaving.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Damn bobcats.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Well it was here...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I don't think it was bobcats this time. Unless they have backshoes...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I just had a dream about that.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl and Hairy go outside again and fall in the hole again~.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl and Hairy''': Aaaaa...<br>[Knit Cap Girl wakes up, leaves the bed and finds a boomerang.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">It looks like is [sic] fell from space.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl throwns the boomerang away and it hits something.]<br>Crash!<br>[Knit Cap Girl runs away.]
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I hope this isn't just another one of those dreams that keeps coming back at you.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang twice, only for it to return to him both times.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': Hm. I was expecting a shark.<br>[Knit Cap Girl throwns the boomerang again, and it returns to him again.]
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I hope this was not thrown by a bobcat.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang, only for it to return to him .]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': There's a mesage written on it.<br>[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang again. It hits something.]<br>Crash!<br>[Knit Cap Girl runs away.]
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">There's someone at the door looking for you.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I made an apple pie.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">If you want to do that, I'm rebuilding my bathroom this afternoon.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Definitely not going outside today.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Thank God it wasn't a bobcat.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You just got a package. It's by the door.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Why is there a bobcat on your lawn?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">There's somewhere [sic] weird out on the lawn.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">This seems familiar.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl and Hairy go outside.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': I hope it's not a velociraptor.
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Hold up. I need to get my wingsuit first.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I hope it's not a giant hole.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl and Hairy go outside. They pass by a tree.]<br>'''Hairy''': How disappointed are you?<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I was expecting a bobcat.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Oh? That's the other tree.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Eh, not that much.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I have a bad feeling about this.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Hey do you know why there's a giant hole in the yard?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl and Hairy go outside.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': I swear if it's a bobcat.<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Why did you bring me here?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">This dream has been looping for years, and yet we never tire of it. Why is that?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[There is a gap in the ground. Knit Cap Girl jumps over it, Hairy looks into it.]
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Hmmm... I should buy a shovel.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl looks at his screen wondering.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Wow! Shovels sure are expensive!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Shovels can't be actually made out of two sticks and a row of rocks?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl is wondering more. Hairy comes. They connect their laptops. Hairy is wondering. Knit Cap Girl tries something at Hairy's laptop.]
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">How can there be 36 types of shovel??!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">These prices are insane! I wonder if you can rent a shovel...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====If you reprogrammed the squirrel laser to target hipsters again...=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl and Hairy go outside.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Let's just say we won't have to worry about parking.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">No, now they're just wearing wigs ironically.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Things may have gotten out of control a little.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">At least it improved their haircuts.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

====There's a dinosaur at the door.====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:287feb84-b9c6-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[A green dinosaur appears]
'''Dinosaur''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====Self-doubt crippled my arms. Can I have yours?=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:36064c2c-b9d4-11e3-8008-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Zooming in on the dinosaurs head]
'''Dinosaur''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Never answer your mobile phone while I am addressing you!======
:This branch was complete as of 2014-05-24.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5383915e-b9f4-11e3-800c-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The dinosaur is going to step on their house]
'''Dinosaur''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I think you just entered a dead zone.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:74d46b02-ba1d-11e3-8018-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl ducks as a dinosaur foot crashes down through the roof]
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Augh
:[Knit Cap Girl wakes up from her nightmare in her bed]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Gasp
:[Knit Cap Girl sits in bed - continue - she is again lying down in bed - continue - she walks outside and finds a boomerang - continue - she picks up the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Up up down down left right left right B A
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d90897d8-bb26-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns and she reaches up to catch it – she stands with the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">If I forgot you, will it come back to me?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:1cc9eff2-bab0-11e3-8027-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns and she reaches up to catch it – she stands with the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Hmmm. Bendy.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:eecde4e2-baea-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns and she reaches up to catch it – she stands with the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Kids these days.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ec01bafe-ba27-11e3-8020-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl ducks as a dinosaur foot crashes down through the roof]
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Augh
:[Knit Cap Girl wakes up from her nightmare in her bed]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Gasp
:[Knit Cap Girl sits in bed - continue - the bed is empty - continue - she walks in to her laptop]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Yawn
:[Knit Cap Girl sits in front of her lap top – the first image again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">A little gaming should calm me down.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b779a964-baf3-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Hairy walks in]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">These stupid lines...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:360411c2-baa2-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap girls types on the PC]
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
'''Knit Cap Girl''': ??
:[Knit Cap Girl bends closer to the screen]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">So Rude
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ed4ae7e6-ba40-11e3-8035-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl ducks as a dinosaur foot crashes down through the roof]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Augh
:[Knit Cap Girl wakes up from her nightmare in her bed]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Gasp
:[Knit Cap Girl sits in bed – continue she is again lying down in bed - continue - she walks outside and finds a boomerang - continue - she picks up the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Bommerangs… I know how the dinosaurs went extinct.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:a46cc26c-bae8-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns and she reaches down to catch it – continue – she throws the boomerang again - she waits - the boomerang returns and she reaches up to catch it – she stands with the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic boomerang and said...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:a46bf9ea-bae8-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns and she reaches up to catch it – continue – she stands with the boomerang – continue - she throws the boomerang again - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns hitting her in the head]
'''Boomerang''': Thwack!<br>
'''Knit Cap Girl''':Ow
:[Knit Cap Girl walks away from the boomerang holding her head in her hand]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">We meet again
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ba1f565c-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns and she reaches up to catch it – continue – she stands with the boomerang – continue - she throws the boomerang again - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns hitting her in the head]
'''Boomerang''': Thwack!<br>
'''Knit Cap Girl''':Ow
:[Knit Cap Girl walks away from the boomerang holding her head in her hand]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">My entire life has prepared me for this moment.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b9e61702-bae7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns flying over her head – it then returns over her head the other way – continue - she waits - the boomerang returns and she reaches up to catch it – continue – she stands with the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Die you monster.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:a46cc26c-bae8-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl ducks as a dinosaur foot crashes down through the roof]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Augh
:[Hairy wakes up from her nightmare in his bed]
'''Hairy''': Gasp
:[ Hairy sits in bed]

'''Hairy''' (singing): I woke up like this
:[the bed is empty – continue – Hairy walks in to Knit Cap Girl at the laptop]
'''Hairy''': Yawn
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">You should really set your phone to vibrate.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f9a258c2-ba21-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Hairy now stands in front of her]:
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I have to stop hanging out with pintsize
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8071c5c6-bb6d-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The dinosaur appears again]:
'''Dinosaur''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">If dinosaurs think I’m a monster... I really should go to therapy.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:8072bcba-bb6d-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The dinosaur appears again]:
'''Dinosaur''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Had the T-Rex dream again. Add “mobile phones” to the list of things he hates.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:80bc04c4-bb6d-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The dinosaur appears again]:
'''Dinosaur''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======Also, have you heard about Tumblr?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Also I have some trenchant observations on language and philosophy to make.======
:This branch was complete as of 2014-05-24.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:a7926df0-ba22-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[The dinosaur is going to step on their house]
'''Dinosaur''':

<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Consider this cabin: The residents take its permanence for granted, yet it’s so ephemeral in the grand scheme.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b3beabba-ba96-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink]) – only ''Permanence for granted, yet it’s so ephemeral in the grand scheme.'' can be seen in the image as there is not enough space.
:[Knit Cap Girl ducks as a dinosaur foot crashes down through the roof]
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Augh
:[Knit Cap Girl wakes up from her nightmare in her bed]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Gasp
:[Knit Cap Girl sits in bed - continue - she is again lying down in bed - continue - she walks outside and finds a boomerang - continue - she picks up the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I must contemplate this boomerang really hard.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:a3298c92-baa1-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl throws the boomerang - continue - she waits - the boomerang returns hitting her in the head]
'''Boomerang''': Thwack!<br>
'''Knit Cap Girl''':Ow
:[Knit Cap Girl walks away from the boomerang holding her hers in her hand]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">One might imagine the computer screen as an escape from the perils of the outside world, but a life half lived is barely worth living at all!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:6a7bab5e-baa7-11e3-801e-002590d77bdd Permalink]) – only ''Of the outside world, but a life half lived is barely worth living at all!'' can be seen in the image as there is not enough space.
:[Knit Cap Girl ducks as a dinosaur foot crashes down through the roof]
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Augh
:[Knit Cap Girl wakes up from her nightmare in her bed]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Gasp
:[Knit Cap Girl sits in bed - continue - the bed is empty - continue - she walks in to her laptop]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Yawn
:[Knit Cap Girl sits in front of her lap top – the first image again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Take this house, a mere fraction of existence, crushed beneath me
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5690ae82-baa2-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Knit Cap Girl ducks as a dinosaur foot crashes down through the roof]
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Augh
:[Knit Cap Girl wakes up from her nightmare in her bed]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Gasp
:[Knit Cap Girl sits in bed]
'''Knit Cap Girl''' (singing): I woke up like this
: [Knit Cap Girl is again lying down in bed - continue - she walks outside and finds a boomerang - continue - she picks up the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Like this house modern language is an attempt to construct something of use from fragments of a mightier whole.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:955bdda4-baa1-11e3-800e-002590d77bdd Permalink]) – only ''Language is an attempt to construct something of use from fragments of a mightier whole.'' can be seen in the image as there is not enough space.
:[Knit Cap Girl ducks as a dinosaur foot crashes down through the roof]
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Augh
:[Knit Cap Girl wakes up from her nightmare in her bed]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Gasp
:[Knit Cap Girl sits in bed - continue - she is again lying down in bed - continue - she walks outside and finds a boomerang - continue - she picks up the boomerang]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line… (No options as of 2014-05-24.)
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

======It's not like you're using them.======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:e44f98fc-ba28-11e3-8028-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

=====I need a hand!=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:1475bf18-b9d2-11e3-8005-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====Did you think he was joking?=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:fb309d78-b9d3-11e3-8007-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

=====Sorry for just barging in, I couldn't reach the doorbell.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:ecd7ed66-b9cf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

====I heard Home Depot has 1024 bathroom tiles.====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:414ebe98-b9ac-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They leave]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====But how many bathrooms?=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:b30f9824-b9af-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====That's 2^5 more than Ikea, I need to see for myself.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:0f9a84fc-b9ae-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====Let's go, I can keep playing on my phone on the drive.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:17c25fc0-b9b7-11e3-8002-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

=====Pfft. Amateurs. Let's go mock them.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f8b13b78-b9ad-11e3-8004-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

====I think I saw a "4096" tile outside somewhere.====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:5929cf58-b9a7-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[They leave]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====І follow, only because І believe you=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:26ae5038-b9a9-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====І'll tag along, if only to see what new calming pastel color it could be.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:4f1dabca-b9bf-11e3-8005-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====These "threes" clones are getting out of hand.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d5c73aba-b9ab-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====we better catch the damn thing=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:161c1e4e-b9a9-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd Permalink])
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

===Political Thing Branch===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Oh. Hey. There's some kind of political thing going on. ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:16a6d0c6-b9a3-11e3-8ea4-94de80a03a39 Permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Laptop''': "...and let's go live to the debate."<br>[Two politicians are debating on TV.]<br>'''Politician 1''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">In contrast to my oppponent, who I quote, "Never liked Firefly much to begin with."
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">...but even if you tied enough birds to the car, would you get them to take off in unison?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Politician 2''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Tie a predatory bird to the car with a somewhat shorter rope so that it will scare off the rest of the birds without being able to reach them.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Training. That's why I support the "Airlift Act", which would put more resources into the hands of bird educators everywhere.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Politician 1''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">But is "Airlift" an acronym?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">There are birds outside tied to a car.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Cool, let's see who we should vote for.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I know who I'm voting for.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">How many birds? ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:bb0ca5f6-b9fc-11e3-8016-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I call her "Serenity."
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">So when you said birds...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Wait. The birds are inside!?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''White Hat''': Want to forget your dreams? There's a pill for that!
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">'''Someone inside the rocket''': I needed to escape from politics anyway.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Voice inside the rocket''': "…And let’s go live to the debate". ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:8c25769e-badf-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd permalink])
'''Other spacecraft''': We observe your speed to be 38.5%c, and your time is passing at 92.3% the rate of ours. Does this mirror your observations?
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">All terms are relative.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Liquefied bird fuel is the way to the future.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Well, by “birds” and “car” I really meant a rocket. There’s totally a rocket in your lawn, man.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">The owls in our barn are forming a union.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Or course: Avian Implemented Reuseable Lifter and Ingenuous Flight Technology!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">But you must agree that a bitd in the hand is worth more than three educators in the bush.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Incredible!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Wait... Is that like people who educate birds, or birds that teach?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">By opening and closing an umbrella near them.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">One word: Fiscal hawks.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">And if elected, I vow to win this war on Christmas once and for all!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I agree with my opponent all all [sic] issues and I think his economic plan is fantastic!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Yeah? well І agreed wholeheartedly with yours, first! You can't copy mine!</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

===BSD Branch===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Let's see if BSD is any easier to install nowadays. ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:00ac9f74-b9a0-11e3-81f8-94de80a03a39 Permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl is confused, staring at her laptop.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': ??<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
====Now I just need to look up what a "beard error" is...====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl has ?? next to her head to signify confusion. Hairy walks in. (continue) Hairy is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Hairy has ??? next to his head. Hairy had stepped back while the character is checking on Hairy's laptop computer. Knit Cap Girl is holding something rectangular.]<br>'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">The USB cable appears to be mono-directional.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Kernel mites?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I'm not sure rubbing butter on it will help
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Hairy and Knit Cap Girl are handling their computers more aggressively.]<br>'''Knit Cap Girl''': ARGH!
[They both stop. Knit Cap Girl walks away, her chair turned 180 degrees. Pushing aside the chair, she returns with a fiery blowtorch while wearing goggles.]<br>'''Hairy''': [holding up a finger] Um.<br>[Knit Cap Girl's computer was so burned, not only steam is coming out of the computer, but even the desk is noticeably burnt. The cable (apparently also burned) hangs from Hairy's laptop computer. The used blowtorch is clumsily laid sideways be the side of the desk. Both Knit Cap Girl (whose goggles are pushed off his eye) and Hairy are looking at the calamity. The chair is almost out of view. The goggles are on the floor while the chair is nowhere to be seen. Hairy and Knit Cap Girl are walking away from the scene.]<br>'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Are you all of a sudden in the mood for Thai food?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Let's try OpenBSD next time...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[First panel is of a panned view. Hairy and Knit Cap Girl are walking on a path away from a house. Next panel is back to a "normal camera view".]<br>'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Okay then.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Let's go exploring!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I love Windows.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Guess not.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">If you'd done the other one, maybe the popcorn would have popped.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Let's see if rubbing some bacon on it will work.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Let's try Linux next time...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Yep. It's haunted.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
====Wait. What's on this other partition?====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl has ??? next to her head to signify confusion. Hairy walks in. Hairy is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. The two stop typing. Hairy has ??? next to his head. Hairy had stepped back while Knit Cap Girl is checking on Hairy's laptop computer. Knit Cap Girl is holding something rectangular.]<br>'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Maybe if you cross connect the serial port to video port you'll be able to send the video directly in as an input for the password.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[Knit Cap Girl and Hairy are at sea, both emitting ripples. A shark's fin can be seen close to Hairy.]<br>'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">It worked fine for the shark
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">We're definitely getting closer though
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">That didn't work!
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">It would have worked for Solaris.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Look, it made perfect sense at the time.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Still simpler than it used to be, I guess.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">What's a segfault?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I think the cameras need to face each other.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">I'm not sure spaghetti works as a USB cable...
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
====Why is Python importing Skynet?====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:678126c2-b9c1-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Knit Cap Girl''': ???
:[Hairy walks in - continue - Hairy is on the other side of the desk with his own laptop computer. Both the computers are connected through Ethernet cable. The two characters are typing on the computer. - continue - The two stop typing.]
'''Hairy''': ???
:[Hairy has stepped back while Knit Cap Girl is checking on Hairy's laptop computer. Knit Cap Girl is reading something of a piece of paper and types on the laptop.]
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====It’s definitely the dust=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====We’re doomed=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====Well, it does have a certificate from cyberdyne systems.=====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
=====Your computer is literally haunted=====
:This branch was complete as of 2014-04-20.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:d3730956-b9d8-11e3-800b-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:[Hairy and Knit Cap Girl are suddenly floating in the ocean.]
:'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======I think my exact phrase was “don’t.”======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:30c1806c-ba22-11e3-801a-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:'''Hairy''':
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Should have said it faster ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:13531858-bade-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[One shark appear]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Restart the computer ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:536a1910-badd-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[Three sharks appears]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Don’t say that. ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:12f2257a-bade-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[The same image appears again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Maybe we tried guessing the root password too many times======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:40b67278-ba06-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:'''Hairy''':
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> I told you, the password is never “swordfish.” ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:93126666-bbb0-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[One shark appear]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> I just want to know how a 17th century coppersmith installed a key-logger ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:40b67278-ba06-11e3-8017-002590d77bdd permalink]) - only '' coppersmith installed a key-logger'' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[The same image appears again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Password may have been a desperate last guess ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:9392491c-bbb0-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[The same image appears again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======OK , maybe sudo teleport * `random-GPS was the wrong thing to type======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:f5afb63c-b9f0-11e3-8009-002590d77bdd Permalink])
:'''Hairy''':
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> To be fair most computers can’t actually do that ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:953098f2-bb36-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[One shark appear]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> But a chance at landing it in the playboy mansion, no matter how slim is always worth the gamble ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:953098f2-bb36-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd permalink]) - only ''matter how slim is always worth the gamble'' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[The same image appears again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Still though, you gotta admit it did what is was asked ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:95293512-bb36-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[The same image appears again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> I won’t say “I told you so… But” ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:953182bc-bb36-11e3-8001-002590d77bdd permalink]) <div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[Three sharks appears]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
======Which version of BSD where you using?======
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:932bb4a0-ba2e-11e3-8031-002590d77bdd Permalink])
'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> The first one? ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:9bb43082-bb48-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[The same image appears again]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Dunno. It was from some random FTP server. ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:9b96fda0-bb48-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[One shark appear]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> The one with the picture of the fish on it… Perhaps I should have actually read the details. ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:9b6e3082-bb48-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd permalink] - only ''should have actually read the details'' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.)
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[Three sharks appears]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> The 1997 special release on standard definition ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:9ba76992-bb48-11e3-804b-002590d77bdd permalink] - only ''Release on standard definition'' can be seen in the image as Knit Cap Girl's text overlaps Hairy's.) <div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[A shark and three octopuses appear - continue - they are all gone but there is red blood in the water - continue - the ocean is now clean/empty - Hairy starts swimming away from Knit Cap Girl.]
'''Knit Cap Girl''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> I see your class in see-jitsu has paid off ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:30f53d98-bbb3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd permalink] - This comic ties for longest comic with sharks so far - 13 panels)
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[The two characters reach a beach and walks out of the ocean – continue – the two walk on in silhouette]
'''Knit Cap Girl''': Suggest a line…<br>'''Hairy''': (There is a speak-line from him up to a possible text – but no suggestion can be reached as there is no choices for Knit Cap Girl - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Why are you leaving? That was the most fun I’ve had all day! ([http://www.xkcd.com/1350/#p:310127b6-bbb3-11e3-801c-002590d77bdd permalink] - only the bottom of ''Why are you'' can be seen above the rest of the text. This comic tie for longest comic with sharks so far - 13 panels)
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
:[The two characters reach a beach and walks out of the ocean – continue – they reach a pit in the ground. Knit Cap Girl jumps over while Hairy looks down into it]
'''Hairy''': Suggest a line… (There is no choices - as of 2014-04-20.)
</div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%"> Suggest a line…
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">

====My keyboard has to support SSH over USB?====
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

===Facebook Branch===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Hurry! We're in talks with Facebook. ([http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:2b330d48-bb01-11e3-8003-002590d77bdd Permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">'''Hairy''':
<div style="border-left: medium solid #000000; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0.1em">
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Google's at the door. They want to buy your... Well I'd rather you heard it from them.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Come check out my neighbour's ball pit. It's full of balls.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Oh, didn't I tell you? I got their database password years ago
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Do you think they'll care that the coffee machine doesn't work?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

===Gravity Branch===
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">Gravity. Lots of it. (This option is no longer available as of 2014-04-22 - [http://xkcd.com/1350/#p:87adb65e-baa2-11e3-8012-002590d77bdd Permalink])
<div class="mw-collapsible-content"></div>
</div>

{{DEFAULTSORT:1350}}
[[Category:Comic subpages]]

2466: In Your Classroom

2022-05-05T18:13:46Z

172.70.85.177: added scatter plot category

{{comic
| number = 2466
| date = May 21, 2021
| title = In Your Classroom
| image = in_your_classroom.png
| titletext = Ontology is way off to the left and geography is way off to the right.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Randall]] has created a thought experiment and corresponding chart about school courses. The idea is, "the subject of the class appears in the classroom" and the chart compares how dangerous and how unusual that would be.

In the title text two points that are off the chart to the left and right are also mentioned. See details about all the subjects in the [[#Table of subjects|table]] below.

Note that Randall uses similar diagrams in each of [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], [[1242: Scary Names]] and [[1501: Mysteries]], which also contain different items. They also have extra points mentioned in the title text. In the first two comics the points are also off the chart, whereas for the last the description of the point is too long to fit on the chart. Extra info outside the chart is also used in the title text of [[1785: Wifi]], but this is a line graph.

==Table of subjects==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Breakdown of Subjects
|-
!Course Topic
!Weirdness
!Badness
!Explanation
|-

!scope=row|Atmospheric Physics
|0%
|0%
|Absent very strange and unprecedented circumstances, every classroom on Earth has an atmosphere (although going by the exact wording of the starting hypothesis ("The thing you study just showed up in your classroom!"), the implication is that up until that point, the room in which the class is being held contained a vacuum, which in and of itself is interesting to physics students.)
|-

!scope=row|Ethics
|25%
|0%
|Ethical thinking and behavior are widely considered good and should normally be present in education, but are sadly not universal.
|-

!scope=row|Education
|0%
|10%
|Learning usually goes on in classrooms, so education as a concept is both being learned about and present in the form of learning itself.
|-

!scope=row|Bibliography
|25%
|7%
|Bibliography is the study of books, and books are normally present in classrooms, particularly bibliography classrooms. Although, more commonly speaking academically, a bibliography is a list of all sources used to compose a research paper, considered mandatory in all branches of academics but occasionally falsified or written in an incorrect style.
|-

!scope=row|Human Physiology
|0%
|20%
|This comic assumes that there are humans learning in the classroom, which was true at the time this comic was published, although in many places at the time the comic was published, many classrooms were closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
|-

!scope=row|Public Speaking
|25%
|15%
|Some classes require students to present things in front of the class, which is likely a requirement in a public speaking class. Thus, public speaking itself would be present in the class.
Some classes also have a teacher talking or presenting to the students from the front of the class, another form of public speaking.
|-

!scope=row|Architecture
|0%
|30%
|All buildings can be considered architecture, and most classes take place in buildings. This comic also refers to a class''room'', which is a room, and therefore considered architecture.
|-

!scope=row|Library Science
|25%
|25%
|Library science is concerned with the organization of knowledge, and is useful for finding information. Many classes require [https://papersowl.com/pay-for-research-paper research papers] that require the use of books and other sources of information to complete them. This would be even more appropriate for a class actually taught in the school library.
|-

!scope=row|Furniture Design
|0%
|40%
|Most rooms have furniture,{{Citation needed}} so this would probably be present in a classroom. May also be implying the classroom furniture has not been assembled yet, making it not as good and a lesson in furniture design.
|-

!scope=row|Culinary Arts
|40%
|30%
|Most studies of culinary arts include the teacher and/or students preparing food using the tools and/or techniques that have been taught, so it would be fairly normal for food to be a result of classroom activities. How ''good'' it is, however, can be a mixed bag, especially for student cooking attempts.
|-

!scope=row|Ergonomics
|5%
|45%
|Ergonomic equipment and workspaces promote comfort and efficiency, while non-ergonomic ones may be unpleasant, unhealthy, or even immediately dangerous.
|-

!scope=row|Botany
|40%
|40%
|The near-neutral position of botany (aka plant biology) suggests that the most likely reason for plants to be present would be something like a potted plant, which is not uncommon, and usually not unpleasant, but not very noteworthy. There are other potential reasons for plants to be present, but those are generally less likely.
|-

!scope=row|20th Century Authors
|65%
|10%
|Literature classes would benefit greatly from an open discussion or interview with the author themself. Sadly such things are rare, but not unheard of, putting it slightly on the "weird" side of the spectrum. Well-known authors of the 20th century have an increased likelihood of being dead by 2021, but there are still some authors of the 20th century who were well-established enough to be studied and still alive at the time this comic was published.
|-

!scope=row|Exobiology
|100%
|0%
|Exobiology is the study of extraterrestrial life. This would mean that an alien lifeform was in the classroom. This is extremely weird but very good for people to investigate and research the alien.
|-

!scope=row|21st Century Authors
|60%
|20%
|21st century authors have the advantage (over 19th and 20th century authors) of typically being alive and active at the time this comic was published. However, most authors who were primarily active in the 21st century are still developing their body of work, and/or still awaiting the judgment of history. The better availability of such authors, as compared to 20th century author probably explains the slightly lower "weirdness" score, while the limited body of truly prominent authors probably explains the lower "goodness" score.
|-

!scope=row|19th Century Authors
|100%
|15%
|No author who was active in the 19th century was alive at the writing of this comic,{{Citation needed}} hence, having one of them show up in class would be extremely weird. The opportunity to interact with such a person would be utterly unique, meaning that it scores pretty high on the "goodness" metric, though interestingly not as high as a 20th century author. Possibly, the potential "badness" of having a zombie or other reanimated being show up in your class is weighed against the advantage of having a historical figure there in person. It may also be that someone from the 19th century has an increased danger of having outdated ethics, which may result in discomfort on the part of the students.
|-

!scope=row|Paleontology
|100%
|25%
|Paleontology is the study of the history of life on Earth as based on fossils. In geology classes, it would be normal to have some fossils in the classroom. However, fossils are not usually found in other classrooms, and especially below the college level. Randall is also probably implying the weirdness of finding a live ''Jurassic Park''-style dinosaur.
|-

!scope=row|Robotics
|55%
|30%
|A course on robotics would often be expected to have some form of working models of the robots being discussed. However, for it to have "showed up" in your classroom could imply an actual functioning robot prototype walked into the classroom. While not cause for concern (as long as nobody in the class is named Sarah Connor), this would be a bit weird.
|-

!scope=row|Martian Soil Chemistry
|100%
|35%
|Martian soil only reaches Earth in small amounts, so it would be unusual to find a meaningful amount anywhere, except Mars.
|-

!scope=row|Tourism
|75%
|40%
|Tourists coming into an active classroom would be quite unusual; while tourists sometimes visit university campuses, it would generally be rude for a tour guide to lead them into a classroom when class is in progress. This could also refer to the students leaving to become tourists in another location.
|-

!scope=row|Child Psychology
|60%
|45%
|Children are rarely students in classrooms advanced enough to teach child psychology. In order for child psychology to be on display, presumably someone would have to have brought a child (either for a demonstration, or for some other reason), which is slightly weird, but not unheard of. This is considered slightly "good", presumably because it would give students some opportunity for firsthand observation, and because most people like, or at least tolerate, children.
|-

!scope=row|Entomology
|15%
|55%
|Entomology is the study of insects. Insects getting into a classroom is a very common event, even putting aside the possibility of someone bringing insects specifically to study. Most insects that might get in are relatively benign, but some (such as mosquitoes) might sting or bite, and many people simply don't like insects, even when they're not harmful, pushing this slightly into "bad" territory.
|-

!scope=row|Occupational Therapy
|10%
|62%
|Injury, illness or mental health problem that hinder your participation in life/school. Many students who have significant physical injuries and conditions that require occupational therapy would generally not engage in those activities during a class, although volunteers may be brought in as a demonstration of a particular health problem or method of treatment.
|-

!scope=row|Hydraulic Engineering
|40%
|62%
|Likely in the form of flooding or plumbing problems.
|-

!scope=row|Pest Control
|25%
|70%
|This is not dissimilar to entomology, but pest control tends to involve larger infestations, as opposed to individual insects, and also includes non-insect animals, such as rats. Such events in classroom are not as common as individual insects getting in (especially in a well-maintained building), but are far from unheard of, and risk many negative effects, from bug bites to structural damage, and may require evacuation and fumigation to deal with.
|-

!scope=row|Foodborne Illness
|15%
|80%
|Sometimes students in a culinary arts class do not properly observe hygiene standards and the food they present would lead to illness in those that consume the food. Thankfully, this is rare if the teacher is paying enough attention to proceedings. Students could also be ill from food eaten outside of class.
|-

!scope=row|Criminal Law
|45%
|85%
|This might happen if a crime occurs in the class. While an armed robbery is unlikely, incidents involving theft or drug use are not particularly uncommon. Regardless, such an incident would be very bad.
|-

!scope=row|Physiology of Stress
|0%
|90%
|Stress in a classroom, even stress that's bad enough to manifest itself in physical symptoms, is all too common. Stress that bad is very harmful, and a student realizing that they were manifesting the symptoms they're studying should take it as a warning sign.
|-

!scope=row|Oncology
|25%
|100%
|Oncology is the medical practice of treating cancer. For someone in a classroom full of students to have cancer is, unfortunately, not an uncommon event, putting it on the "normal" side of the scale. While not abnormal, it's clearly very bad.
|-

!scope=row|Ornithology
|60%
|55%
|Ornithology is the study of birds. A bird getting into a classroom would be somewhat strange, but there are circumstances under which it would happen. In most cases, that's not especially dangerous, but it would be disruptive, and introduce the possibility of the bird making a mess, and possibly getting hurt (or even hurting others), which makes it slightly bad.
|-

!scope=row|Animation
|100%
|56%
|Presumably Randall isn't referring to examples of animated works being displayed to the students in an animation class, as that would be normal. However, it would be very weird for animated characters to appear physically in the classroom instead of being projected on screens. Possibly a reference to movies such as ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' in which cartoon characters actively interact with the live action cast. As many of the characters abide by different physics, and a couple are depicted as insane, this would be very weird and potentially bad.
|-

!scope=row|Petroleum Geology
|65%
|60%
|Crude oil coming up through the floor of the classroom would be ''very'' weird. Any potential for hands-on learning experience would be limited, and quickly outweighed by classes being disrupted entirely (be it damage to the building, or oil companies trying to negotiate for the land).
|-

!scope=row|Highway Engineering
|75%
|65%
|A highway being built through an active classroom would be very unusual and not that safe.
|-

!scope=row|Toxicology
|55%
|75%
|Most likely, a toxic substance is present in the room. This is not very weird if the room is in a building that has {{w|asbestos}}-containing insulation (typically associated with buildings constructed before the 1990s, although it has not been specifically outlawed in the United States due to industrial lobbying) or lead paint (which was fully outlawed in 1978, so any paint must have been applied prior to that date). However, toxic substances are unsafe for humans.{{Citation needed}}
|-

!scope=row|Hematology
|75%
|70%
|Hematology is the study of blood. Given that there should be blood in each of the students present,{{Citation needed}} we should probably assume Randall means "large quantities of blood outside of one's body", which would indeed be both bad and weird.
|-

!scope=row|Hostage Negotiation
|70%
|85%
|Reasons as to why there would be hostage negotiations taking place at a school have horrifying implications for the students and teacher.
|-

!scope=row|History of Siege Warfare
|100%
|80%
|This would be an exceptionally strange event. Given that the topic is "history", having it show up implies that either historical figures have the classroom under siege (possibly through time travel or reanimation) or at least that the besiegers are using traditional weapons and methods in their attack. In either case, it would be a very weird event, and also very bad.
|-

!scope=row|Trauma Surgery
|55%
|95%
|An injury severe enough to require trauma surgery would be rare in a classroom, but there are circumstances under which it could realistically happen. Such an injury would be, by its very nature, a very bad thing.
|-

!scope=row|Volcanology
|75%
|95%
|Having a live volcano in one's classroom is both very dangerous and very weird {{Citation needed}}. Volcanoes mature over very long time frames, but even the earliest stages are highly disruptive and potentially deadly, as seen in the {{w|Parícutin#Formation|1943 eruption of Paricutín}} and the {{w|2018_lower_Puna_eruption#Eruption|2018 flank eruption of Kilauea}}. Note this also applies to [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar | baking soda and vinegar volcanoes that are offshoots of much larger vinegar hotspots]].
|-

!scope=row|Quasar Astronomy
|75%
|100%
|{{w|Quasars}} are distant astronomical objects that release large amounts of energy. Not only would the power of a quasar destroy the classroom (as well as the rest of Earth), quasars are too large to fit inside any known classroom. For example, {{w|ULAS J1342+0928}} has a mass of 8*10^8 solar masses. This means the event horizon of the black hole is almost 16 AU in radius, and this size does not include the accretion disk.
|-

!scope=row|Ontology (title text)
|<0%
|?
|Ontology is the philosophical study of existence and being. Since there must be ''something'' learning in the classroom, it is unsurprising that ontology is a normal subject to appear in the classroom. It would, in fact, be more bizarre to have a lack of ontology in the classroom.
|-

!scope=row|Geography (title text)
|>100%
|?
|Geographers study the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of the Earth. While each classroom classroom contains a small portion of the Earth's surface (normally not enough of it to be interesting to geographers), having the ''entire Earth'' appear inside a classroom would likely demand explanation. In particular, if this is an ordinary classroom (i.e. located ''on'' the Earth), the planet's simultaneous appearance within its walls would both defy our current understanding of spacetime, and risk [[1515: Basketball Earth | disastrous consequences at the hands of curious students.]] This could also be implying the classroom is suddenly being located on top of a geographic border, which would be highly unlikely, especially if it happened without warning.

|}

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

:[Caption above scatter plot with labeled axes]
:Caption: The thing you study just showed up in your classroom! That's...
:Upper y-axis label: Good
:Lower y-axis label: Bad
:Upper x-axis label: Normal
:Lower x-axis label: Weird

:[First quadrant (left to right, top to bottom):]
:20th century authors
:Exobiology
:21st century authors
:19th century authors
:Robotics
:Paleontology
:Martian soil chemistry
:Child psychology
:Tourism
:[Second quadrant]
:Atmospheric physics
:Ethics
:Education
:Bibliography
:Human physiology
:Public speaking
:Architecture
:Library science
:Furniture design
:Culinary arts
:Ergonomics
:Botany
:[Third quadrant]
:Entomology
:Occupational therapy
:Hydraulic engineering
:Pest control
:Foodborne illness
:Criminal law
:Physiology of stress
:Oncology
:[Fourth quadrant]
:Ornithology
:Animation
:Petroleum geology
:Highway engineering
:Toxicology
:Hematology
:Hostage negotiation
:History of siege warfare
:Trauma surgery
:Volcanology
:Quasar astronomy

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]
[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Scatter plots]]