explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1692: Man Page

2016-06-10T06:09:04Z

188.114.97.151: Noted paradox about flags using em dashes.

{{comic
| number = 1692
| date = June 10, 2016
| title = Man Page
| image = man_page.png
| titletext = For even more info, see blarbl(2)(3) and birb(3ahhaha I'm kidding, just Google it like a normal person.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Initial draft/outline. As one of those comics, needs a section on each part. Needs an explanation of a man page for those unaware. Also needs fact-checking.}}
This comic shows a Unix man page for a fictional program called "blerp". It details the command line options for this program, many of which are strange, annoying, or even impossible. These options are mostly in alphabetical order.

Unix manpages are meant to provide a brief reference on the usage of a command, not verbose and well-written explanations as you may find in manuals which is another common type of documentation. This fictional manpage seems to exaggerate its crypticness, thus making fun of a common trait that many manpages have.

[Here is a short list of some thoughts on or explanations of the options.]

{| class="wikitable"
!Flag!!Description!!Explanation
|-
| -a||ATTACK MODE||Like a robot or something similar. Strange for a command line program.
|-
| -b||SUPPRESS BEES||Nonsensical option.
|-
| -—||FLAGS USE EM DASHES||Hard to tell the difference between en and em dashes. Command line options (flags) typically use en dashes (short dashes approximately the same width as the letter n). Em dashes can't easily be typed into a command line interface, so switching flags from en to em dashes is excessively difficult and nonsensical.
Also implies a paradox where if flags were to use em dashes, this flag itself would be invalid.
|-
| -c||COUNT NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS||Most likely not useful.
|-
| -d||PIPES OUTPUT TO DEBUG.EXE||Almost a standard option, but .exe is the weird part.
|-
| -D||DEPRECATED||Useless.
|-
| -e||EXECUTE SOMETHING||Vague.
|-
| -f||FUN MODE||Strange and slightly ominous.
|-
| -g||USE GOOGLE||As an actual program flag, a bit hackjob-ish, but most likely relating to googling how this program works.
|-
| -h||CHECK WHETHER INPUT HALTS||Completely impossible, by the Halting Theorem.
|-
| -i||IGNORE CASE (LOWER)||Usually, ignoring case means that a program will run without differentiating between upper- and lowercase. This flag suggests that blerp will run ignoring all the lowercase characters completely, or ignoring all the uppercase characters with -I.
|-
| -I||IGNORE CASE (UPPER)||
|-
| -jk||KIDDING||A common acronym, not a program flag.
|-
| -n||BEHAVIOR NOT DEFINED||Possibly mathematically ominous? Otherwise useless.
|-
| -o||OVERWRITE||Standard flag.
|-
| -O||OPPOSITE DAY||Strange flag.
|-
| -p||SET TRUE POPE; ACCEPTS \"ROME\" OR \"AVIGNON\"||This refers to a [https://en.wikipedia.org/Western_Schism historical schism in the Catholic Church.] In the 14th century, the Pope briefly ruled from Avingon, France, instead of Rome. After the Papacy was returned to Rome in 1377, the Church split (the so-called Western Schism) as not everyone accepted the move and the Pople who ordered it. This flag apparently allows the user to select a preferred Pope. There is actually a possible feature request here, as \"PISA\", a third Pope, should also be an option.
|-
| -q||QUIET MODE; OUTPUT IS PRINTED TO STDOUT INSTEAD OF BEING SPOKEN ALOUD||In most cases, a program will output basic information to the console, and running it in quiet mode will make it run without outputting anything. Blerp, on the other hand, outputs information through audio, and the quiet flag causes it to run like a normal program.
|-
| -r||RANDOMIZE ARGUMENTS||Pointless and possibly damaging.
|-
| -R||RUN RECURSIVELY ON <nowiki>http://*</nowiki>||The star (*) symbol is often used as a wildcard to match any string of characters. "<nowiki>http://*</nowiki>" suggests that blerp will be run on every webpage on the internet.
|-
| -s||FOLLOW SYMBOLIC LINKS SYMBOLICALLY||[Needs explanation of symbolic links]
|-
| -S||STEALTH MODE||Similar to -a.
|-
| -t||TUMBLE DRY||A laundry option.
|-
| -u||UTF-8 MODE; OTHERWISE DEFAULTS TO ANSEL||[Explanation of ANSEL necessary.] UTF-8 is rather standard. Similar in this regard to -q.
|-
| -U||UPDATE (DEFAULT: FACEBOOK)||Update usually refers to replacing an old software with a newer version. The default here suggest posting a status update to Facebook.
|-
| -v||VERBOSE; ALIAS TO find / -exec cat {}||Almost standard flag, in ordinary programs the opposite of -q. This command prints the contents of all files in the filesystem tree. However, it will never complete, as certain device files never end (/dev/urandom contains random bytes). Note that the "find" command is missing <code>\;</code> and will not run, instead complaining <code>find: missing argument to `-exec'</code> .
|-
| -V||SET VERSION NUMBER||Strange flag.
|-
| -y||YIKES||Meaningless.
|}

The bug report site, http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/46644-Hemiptera, isn't a currently active webpage, but inaturalist.org is a site working to extend biological research, and http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/Hemiptera does work. [[wikipedia:Hemiptera]] is the order classifying True Bugs.

Copyright "or best offer" is humourous, needs explanation of individual parts.

The "copyright" line references several variously open-source content licenses; GPL 2, GPL 3, creative commons, and BSD licenses are mentioned. "LIKE GECKO" is a reference to a web browser user-agent string; modern user-agent strings include a lot of text designed to let the browser pretend to be several different browsers/renderers, and "(like Gecko)" is the standard text for a browser that wants to be treated as if it were Gecko while admitting, if you look closely, that it isn't really Gecko. This copyright line, which includes a lot of mashed-together text that might appear to match any of several different licenses, resembles a user-agent string.

==Transcript==
:[A terminal screen; the background is black and the text is white.]
:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"|
;NAME
:blerp

;SYNOPSIS
:blerp {[ OPTION | ARGS ]...[ ARGS ... -f [FLAGS] ...}
:blerp {... DIRECTORY ... URL | BLERP} OPTIONS ] -{}

;DESCRIPTION
:blerp FILTERS LOCAL OR REMOTE FILES OR RESOURCES USING PATTERNS DEFINED BY ARGUMENTS AND ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES. THIS BEHAVIOR CAN BE ALTERED BY VARIOUS FLAGS.

;OPTIONS
:{|
! scope="row" | -a
| ATTACK MODE
|-
! scope="row" | -b
| SUPPRESS BEES
|-
! scope="row" | -—
| FLAGS USE EM DASHES
|-
! scope="row" | -c
| COUNT NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS
|-
! scope="row" | -d
| PIPES OUTPUT TO DEBUG.EXE
|-
! scope="row" | -D
| DEPRECATED
|-
! scope="row" | -e
| EXECUTE SOMETHING
|-
! scope="row" | -f
| FUN MODE
|-
! scope="row" | -g
| USE GOOGLE
|-
! scope="row" | -h
| CHECK WHETHER INPUT HALTS
|-
! scope="row" | -i
| IGNORE CASE (LOWER)
|-
! scope="row" | -I
| IGNORE CASE (UPPER)
|-
! scope="row" | -jk
| KIDDING
|-
! scope="row" | -n
| BEHAVIOR NOT DEFINED
|-
! scope="row" | -o
| OVERWRITE
|-
! scope="row" | -O
| OPPOSITE DAY
|-
! scope="row" | -p
| SET TRUE POPE; ACCEPTS "ROME" OR "AVIGNON"
|-
! scope="row" | -q
| QUIET MODE; OUTPUT IS PRINTED TO STDOUT INSTEAD OF BEING SPOKEN ALOUD
|-
! scope="row" | -r
| RANDOMIZE ARGUMENTS
|-
! scope="row" | -R
| RUN RECURSIVELY ON <nowiki>http://*</nowiki>
|-
! scope="row" | -s
| FOLLOW SYMBOLIC LINKS SYMBOLICALLY
|-
! scope="row" | -S
| STEALTH MODE
|-
! scope="row" | -t
| TUMBLE DRY
|-
! scope="row" | -u
| UTF-8 MODE; OTHERWISE DEFAULTS TO ANSEL
|-
! scope="row" | -U
| UPDATE (DEFAULT: FACEBOOK)
|-
! scope="row" | -v
| VERBOSE; ALIAS TO find / -exec cat {}
|-
! scope="row" | -V
| SET VERSION NUMBER
|-
! scope="row" | -y
| YIKES
|}

;SEE ALSO
:blerp(1), blerp(3), blirb(8), blarb(51) blorp(501)(c)(3)

;BUG REPORTS
:<nowiki>http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47744-Hemiptera</nowiki>

;COPYRIGHT
:GPL(2)(3+) CC-BY/5.0 RV 41.0 LIKE GECKO/BSD 4(2) OR BEST OFFER

|}

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

Talk:1537: Types

2015-12-29T23:30:30Z

188.114.97.151:

Relevant: WAT talk https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat {{unsigned ip|‎108.162.254.108}}

Are (6) and (7) about completing sequences?

If the sequence was [1, 2, 3, ?] we would expect the ? to be a placeholder for 4. So [1, 2, 3]+2 is wrong := FALSE. But [1, 2, 3]+4 is correct := TRUE. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.22}}

"+2 appears to be applying a unary + to the number 2" : or it adds the number of the line, 10, to 2 => 12. Also, the eleventh line, "2+2" may add 2 to all the following 2, explaining line 12. (that theory is from a friend of mine) [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 12:17, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
: Also, for the lines 6 and 7, the operation "[1,2,3]+x" may add x to the set [1,2,3] and return true if the operation succeeded or false if not. Adding 2 to the set [1,2,3] returns false because 2 is already in [1,2,3]. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 12:23, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
:: I thought it was doing element-wise addition and then comparing "[6] > [3,4,5]" (using the line number in the joke, like in line 10). The problem here is that line 6 should return true and line 7 should return false. [[User:Rand|Rand]] ([[User talk:Rand|talk]]) 15:46, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

Yellowish Blue: http://www.livescience.com/17948-red-green-blue-yellow-stunning-colors.html is NaN! {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.129}}

''"The ironic thing is that fractions with 2 in the nominator are not the kind of numbers that typically suffer from floating point impreciseness."''
- This is not technically correct. Should read "fractions with 'power of 2' in the '''de'''nominator. However, the 3/2 would cause precision errors. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.129}}
: I don't know proper English wording for things, but 3/2=3*2^-1, so it would be represented exactly under IEEE-754 too. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 13:58, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Is there more to this comic, a fixed set of rules that can tie all the examples together, or does each line make its own joke independently? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.5|108.162.219.5]] 12:54, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

;"normally"

<blockquote>This would make sense if it was <code>[] + 2</code></blockquote>

It really wouldn't. Javascript returns <code>"2"</code> (god knows why) and Python gives an error. Don't really feel like testing many other languages, but I also think it's not really a logical assumption to make at all. Can't think of a reason for <code>[] + 2</code> to return <code>[2]</code>... ever. It ''might'' make a little bit of sense in Randall's oddly typed language, but not in any sane one. --[[User:TotempaaltJ|TotempaaltJ]] ([[User talk:TotempaaltJ|talk]]) 12:35, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

: Javascript first converts <code>[]</code> (the empty array) to the empty string (using the rule "stringify each element and join with a comma"), then treats the operation as <code>"" + 2</code>, which results in conversion of the other operand to string and then concatenation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.214|141.101.97.214]] 12:46, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

line 4: asci code of N + 2 = asci code of P [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 13:07, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

My favourite xkcd in a while. =8o) Of the list I got a good laugh out of numbers 8 and 13. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:11, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

I think a lot of this is his joke about programming languages loving the number 4. 2 + "2" = "4", [1,2,3] + 4 = true, 2+2 = DONE, and the range one all seem to support this. Also reminds me of this: http://xkcd.com/221/ {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.112}}

Why isn't yellowish blue just green? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 16:18, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
:Because yellow and blue don't make green. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.158|108.162.237.158]] 23:33, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
::It does with my paint kit. Isn't that subtractive mixing. I feel like I've just traveled to a version of [[1268: Alternate Universe]], except I'm the only one here who went to kindergarten. What am I missing? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 02:28, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
:::Since this is a Programming language, it must be talking about RGB colors, where green is a base color and yellow is mixed using red and green. So a "yellowish blue" would contain all base colors, resulting in white – and that's propably why Randall's language returns NaN.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.42|141.101.92.42]] 08:39, 13 June 2015 (UTC)
::The only {{w|color wheel}} I know has purple (not blue) opposite yellow and orange (not yellow) opposite blue. If that is incorrect, then wikipedia needs some serious editing. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 02:31, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

:::You're talking about the {{w|RYB color model}}, whereas most programming languages work in the {{w|RGB color model}}, where yellowish blue is undefined. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 23:30, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

:It's a lot simpler than that. Perceptually there is no yellowish-blue, one would never describe a blue as being yellowish. If you add yellow to blue you get greenish-blue, add more and you get green, then yellowish-green, then greenish-yellow. At no point would you describe the colour as either yellowish-blue or bluish-yellow. This is why it's the equivalent of NaN, you can use the language to tell the machine you want the result of "2/0", or you want the result of "blue with a yellowish tinge", but in either case it is not possible to represent the result. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.154}}

line 4: I read NaP as Not a Problem. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.12|141.101.104.12]] 17:00, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
: So did I. [[User:Xynariz|Xynariz]] ([[User talk:Xynariz|talk]]) 23:12, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
: To me, the (2/0) looks like a person curled up on bed with the +2 as the Z's indicating sleeping which I believe was the intention on top of 'P' being 2 chars more than 'N'

Line 3 is missing its prompt. There does not appear to be any relevance to the joke, nor has anyone yet explained why it should be missing. Typo? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.183|108.162.221.183]] 17:10, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

:I haven't noticed it until I saw your comment. It seems deliberate to me. Hard not to notice that when writing the fourth line. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.48|108.162.221.48]] 19:24, 13 June 2015 (UTC)BK201

::Although I agree the context makes the mistake a hard one to have failed to be spotted, [http://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/915 I still think there's not much sense in it being deliberate]. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 23:30, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

Note that some programming languages avoid the problem of overloaded '+' operator between operands of vividly different types by using other symbols for string concatenation (be it "a"~"b" or "a"."b") and numerical addition. The real WTF is abusing '+' for string concatenation, which has very different properties from numerical addition, not being symmetrical for example: concat("aa", "bb") == "aabb", while concat("bb", "aa") == "bbaa" != "aabb". --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 17:38, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Series of comics? I don't recall any others about Randall's new programming language... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.29|141.101.98.29]] 19:13, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

;+2
I think this is a japanese language joke. The + sign can also refer to the kanji 十, which is 10 in japanese. This would explain the result being twelve. 十二, or 10 2, is twelve in japanese. {{unsigned|Rafaeladson}}

I think number 5 is an escaped quote (two consecutive double quotes yields one double quote), a plus sign, and another escaped quote. The result is shown with an alternate form of escaped quotes (the apostrophe and double quote can both be used to show a string). NSIS scripting language uses this notation.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.180|108.162.221.180]] 20:19, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Clearly this is what the xkcd phone's OS is written in (with some help from StackOverflow) {{unsigned ip|162.158.68.113}}

Great job at explaining the outputs. I clearly would have missed some interpretations without your insights. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.146|108.162.254.146]] 21:10, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

The joke on line [10] really doesn't seem to be a Chinese/Japanese language joke. We can see that the language interacts much more directly with line numbers from the inter-line joke between lines [11] and [14], where line [12] becomes [14] because the value of 2 has become 4. This is provable by observing that the line after [14] is [13], showing that the previous line really is still line [12], it simply displays as [14] because the value of 2 has changed. This absurdly direct interaction between the code and its line number makes the joke on line [10] make a lot more sense, as a Chinese/Japanese language joke here seems much too contrived and out-of-place considering the nature of the other jokes in the comic. Not to mention, if the joke on line [10] was really concerning the code's interaction with its line number, it would set up nicely for introducing the inter-line joke between lines [11] and [14].[[Special:Contributions/188.114.106.89|188.114.106.89]] 03:35, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

:Mostly agreed, but still it's an amusing coincidence. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 23:30, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

As a speaker of Japanese, the explanation "[In the Japanese number system] the plus sign is instead the symbol 十" sounds even more absurd than if someone said that English speakers use the small letter "t" as an addition symbol. "十" (ten) and "＋" (full-width plus) are different glyphs and using them interchangeably would certainly not be useful. Although depending on language skill and display font they may visually seem more equal than they're supposed to. 08:28, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

* #5—I'm surprised we've missed the obvious joke: quotations within quotations. the double-quatation "I think so." gets single-quoted within another quotation: "He said, 'I think so.'"
* The word is "complements", not "opposites", on the colour wheel. I think the joke is likely that most people think of "yellowish blue" as "green"—as it would be on an artists' colour wheel. Regardless, complements on an RGB colour wheel should not result in NaN—it would result in a mix of yellow (255, 255, 0) and blue (0, 0, 255), which is white (255, 255, 255).
* [[Special:Contributions/108.162.226.174|108.162.226.174]] 12:23, 13 June 2015 (UTC)

Is it bad that all I understood at first was the last one?{{unsigned|LuigiBrick}}

"yellowish blue" is actually parsed in HTML to be a red colour: #e00000 which is between pure red and "chucknorris". See here: http://randomstringtocsscolor.com/ [[Special:Contributions/162.158.3.12|162.158.3.12]] 00:55, 15 June 2015 (UTC)Martin

In response to the comment above that a mix of yellow (255, 255, 0) and blue (0, 0, 255) would be white (255, 255, 255): you could just as easily claim that the result would be black (0, 0, 0) ;-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.3.12|162.158.3.12]] 00:59, 15 June 2015 (UTC)Martin

And now I just wait for an implementation of this language to show up on GitHub. /grab popcorn [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 06:16, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1535: Words for Pets

2015-12-28T23:24:12Z

188.114.97.151:

I skipped the first step by naming my cat "Cat". On the plus side, even in the third year I was still mostly calling her by her name. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.134|108.162.254.134]] 08:06, 8 June 2015 (UTC)
:My cat is also named "Cat". Then again, I call all cats "Cat". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.138|108.162.210.138]] 19:00, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

Not sure this is relevant enough to include, but there's [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ADogNamedDog a trope about that] [[Special:Contributions/188.114.111.224|188.114.111.224]] 11:39, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

I interpreted this slightly differently. In the first year, the pet is fresh and new, and you put the effort in to call it by its name. As time goes on, you get sloppier about it. In addition, I believe he missed a ring from it: Expletives. Within a year of having a new cat, I was calling it more by expletives than its name. [[User:Drmouse|Drmouse]] ([[User talk:Drmouse|talk]]) 14:24, 8 June 2015 (UTC)
:I thought expletives were deliberately implied, so I'm very surprised they are not mentioned in the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.239.231|198.41.239.231]] 23:50, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

I disagree with the explanation. The comic is about words used to refer to the pet, i.e. to name the pet when talking to someone else, not to talk to the pet. For instance "I forgot to feed Lassie" might later become "I forgot to feed the dog", then "I forgot to feed the damn thing" or whatever. Am I the only one to understand "refer" like this?
Zetfr 16:53, 8 June 2015 (UTC)
:In my household at least, we use the animal's species as its name. For example, instead of "Have you fed Lassie?", we may say " Have you fed Dog?". I think is what Randall is implying. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.29|141.101.98.29]] 17:00, 8 June 2015 (UTC)
::Since he begins to refer to the animal in the animals language, I would say that only makes sense if he talks to the animal. However the way the caption is phrased it could be understood the way he talks about the animal. So I think it is impossible to say that one explanation is correct and the other is wrong. Maybe that should be mentioned in explain. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:14, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

:::Agreed. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 23:24, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

I got a completely different idea to this, the relationship is one of friendship, not parentage, so the moving from name to associated to other words to sounds would be more like Hey Lassie -> Hey Dog -> Hey Fatso -> Ugh, Oi. This shows more the common friendship trope of insulting one another in a humorous way, which seems far more likely than transitioning into some kind of hybrid language for all bar the most "maternal" of owners. [[User:Hackerjack|Hackerjack]] ([[User talk:Hackerjack|talk]]) 22:40, 8 June 2015 (UTC)
:I agree here. With our cat it was Hi Blaser -> Hi Cat -> You little **** -> Oi, you -> "Maw?" [[User:Drmouse|Drmouse]] ([[User talk:Drmouse|talk]]) 09:08, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

The "You little ****" is something I can definitely attest to. A friend of mine keeps calling his cats assholes and similar words, so often that I have a hard time remembering their actual names. "come here" isn't how one "refers to" a pet, it's how one might call a pet, which isn't what the comic is about at all... [[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 09:15, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

:I call my dog "plague" (makes more sense in our dialect of Portuguese). [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 23:24, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

I wouldn't say Randall is restricting this comic to either of the two major possibilities: speaking to the pet, or speaking about the pet. It could well be a mixture of both.
We have a cat whose name is "Pwca" (Welsh spelling, same as "Pooka" as in the Jimmy Stewart movie "Harvey") but the name varies between "Pwca" and "Picklebean" and just "Bean" right along with "silly kitty" and "funny girl" and other descriptive words. She has a typical little short chirp that she uses to get our attention or to complain about something, and we often chirp back to her, so that would be "the pet's own language." My daughter's cat "Minnie" is "Minners" or "Minimum" or "Min-Min" or again, descriptive terms. You could certainly argue that some of those words are borderline incoherent. In most cases, they can be used while speaking either /to/ the pet, or /of/ the pet to a third party (or sometimes to the universe at large.)
Note that the phrase "pet name" has a double meaning, with 'pet' either a noun or an adjective, and in the latter case usually not actually referring to a pet.[[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 00:43, 10 June 2015 (UTC)

Randall talks to cats: [http://xkcd.com/231/ 231] {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.83}}

I thought it is Vienn diagram not Euler diagram {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.47}}

I call my kitty "foofy butt," "foofbutt," "fluffbutt," "plushbutt," "puffbutt," "squishy," [gibberish cooing], "meow meow," "hairy baby" (BH6 is my favorite animated movie), identical meows to his, and sometimes, occasionally, his actual name Mitu. Or Mittu My mom spells it differently than me. For the longest time, autocorrect autocorrected his name to MIT. xD Now all I can picture is me stroking the dome of one of the best schools in the entire world like it's a kitty. KITTY.

I miss him. He has lung cancer, and is at home, and I'm away at college. My poor little foofehbutt :c
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 05:20, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1531: The BDLPSWDKS Effect

2015-12-25T20:01:39Z

188.114.97.151: reference

Doesn't the reference to the "Doppler" effect refer to the fact that the Doppler effect may distort the meaning of words in a tonal language, thus making it harder to perceive the word being shouted out of the firetruck? [[User:A-jay|A-jay]] ([[User talk:A-jay|talk]]) 07:52, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

: I thought this too - tonal languages will inevitably suffer more from Doppler distortion than non-tonal ones, so it's going to take the listener longer to react to it. Obviously, that's not the sole cause for the delay with the BDLPSWDKS effect, but it's surely a contributing factor. [[User:Bish|Bish]] ([[User talk:Bish|talk]]) 11:22, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

I think it is a bit more complex than effect mentioned having an individual referent. It becomes complex because the language level, for example, interacts with the physics level. (I think this is the joke, that such random effects from different fields can actually interrelate in some bizarre scenario) A tonal language would be much more susceptible loss of meaning due to blue shift from the doppler effect than a nontonal language. Shouting red is also probably a reference to the 'red-shift' in the doppler effect, which, depending on the speed of the truck may distort the sound the shout or make it unintelligible. At sufficient speed, this would also distort the actual color of the firetruck, which is a topic Randall discussed in one of the What-If's about traffic lights and should probably be linked here. --[[User:MareCrisium|MareCrisium]] ([[User talk:MareCrisium|talk]]) 08:15, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

: I thought of the red being a redshift as well, but what the heck is "GREEN" then (rather than "BLUE")? [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 09:05, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

:: I'm pretty sure this is a reference to an idea that appeared (I don't know whether it's true, but I assume it also appeared in other places) in my Intro Psych textbook – that humans respond, in theory, to green firetrucks better than they do to red ones. See, for example, [http://www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/lime.aspx]. See the end of the third paragraph. If that's not a contributing factor to the BDLPSWDKS effect, I don't know what is. [[User:COgnaut|COgnaut]] ([[User talk:COgnaut|talk]]) 01:03, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

: Colors undergoing a red-shift move through the whole spectrum in sequence. Green is in the middle. Red-shifts happen when something is moving away from you, and blue-shifts happen when something is moving toward you, (although sometimes the more common term red-shift is used to describe both effects in casual context) but neither means that they thing turns red or blue. They mean that the color moves toward the red or blue side of the spectrum, from the (somewhat arbitrary) "middle" which is usually depicted as green. If the firetruck is coming toward the observer, they would be experiencing a blue-shift. If the fire truck is red, and moving very fast toward the observer, the apparent color would move toward the other end of the spectrum, but it may not be moving fast enough to get all the way to blue. Randall already did the calculations for a what if about the speeds necessary to change from red to green in an question about stoplights. --[[User:MareCrisium|MareCrisium]] ([[User talk:MareCrisium|talk]]) 00:06, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

I wonder if the reference to whether the language has a word for "firetruck" is a Sapir Whorf reference? If there's no word for firetruck, the listener (victim?) is likely to be more confused by the situation than a listener who can at least recognize what kind of vehicle is about to kill him/her (Curses! There's no sexless personal pronoun in this language!) So the reaction time of the first person is likely to be longer than that of the second person.
:"They/them/etc." has been the accepted sexless personal pronoun for a long time (in the order of centuries), even in the singular. The only people who say you shouldn't use it for such a purpose are the same ones who say you shouldn't split an infinitive despite it having been acceptable for centuries, simply because it's impossible to split infinitives in Latin. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.109|141.101.99.109]] 19:42, 29 May 2015 (UTC)
::"...simply because it's impossible to -- in Latin -- split infinitives."[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.165|108.162.219.165]] 19:10, 2 June 2015 (UTC)larK

There's a whole class of psychology experiments (with both human and animal subjects) that uses reaction-time as a measure of degree of understanding in various situations. Is this effect named after a famous experimental psychologist? If so, Randall may have to issue an update to this cartoon... {{unsigned|Ribbit}}

If you think English has no sexless personal pronoun you *clearly* haven't read comic 145. Ahem... --[[User:MareCrisium|MareCrisium]] ([[User talk:MareCrisium|talk]]) 08:49, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

: Off topic, but I agree 'them' is a sufficient pronoun in this case, since you've already specified the singular 'listener'. [[User:Bish|Bish]] ([[User talk:Bish|talk]]) 11:22, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Might the comic also involve the game Red Light, Green Light. In the firetruck version of the game, firetrucks don't stop for red lights. There's more to it than that, but you can google around for it because I don't want to post about that... [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.106|199.27.128.106]] 00:06, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

To the best of my knowledge, the Bernoulli effect is, in fact, responsible to the aerodynamic lift. While it is correct that most people trying to explain aerodynamic lift use an incorrect explanation, the incorrect part has nothing to do with Bernoulli, as implied by the explanation. [[User:Shachar|Shachar]] ([[User talk:Shachar|talk]]) 09:53, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

The Bernoulli effect describes how pressure distribution changes with speed, and needs to be understood if you want to fully grasp all the science behind it. That being said, there isn't an intuitive way to grasp how airspeed varies across a wing's surface which ultimately means that any accurate explanation dependent on the Bernoulli effect goes well beyond the scope of a layperson's understanding. It's better to note that wings are tilted to push the airflow downward and for every action their's an equal and opposite reaction.([[User talk:Some Guytalk]]) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.182|108.162.238.182]] 11:36, 29 May 2015 (UTC)
:Um, I'll give you half points – it depends on what type of wing you're talking about. You can have a "high lift" type wing fly straight and level and still provide plenty of lift. But a low chord wing (eg "fighter jet style") more greatly depends on forward speed and angle of attack to stay up than the lift provided by the wings. Needless to say, airplanes make people think - and too often the more people think about them, the more confused they get. [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 13:10, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

There's a difference between saying this is how wings generate lift and this is the only factor in the equation. On top of which angle of attack is not defined by the zero lift angle. that being said, every scrap of airfoil data I've ever seen shows a proportional relationship between (angle of attack - zero lift angle of attack) and CL (and by extension lift). Is that everything a professional needs to know about aerodynamics? Far from it. Is it an adequate explanation for laypeople? As far as I'm concerned, yes.--Someguy[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.156|173.245.54.156]] 20:57, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

"The Peltzman effect refers to how regulations intended to increase safety are ineffective or counterproductive. This is likely referenced by the observer responding to a dangerous situation more slowly if the language he is warned in has a word describing the object he's in danger from ("firefighter") than if the language didn't." The comic states that the person reacts more *quickly* if the language has a word for firefighter... {{unsigned ip|173.245.48.150}}

: I think it's actually about how the firefighter has gotten himself into a dangerous situation due to the feeling of safety he has from being in a modern firetruck, since a major case of the Peltzman effect is that increased car safety leads us to drive at higher speeds. The innocent pedestrian is less safe because the firefighter is driving more recklessly. [[User:Not-my-username|Not-my-username]] ([[User talk:Not-my-username|talk]]) 16:10, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

He totally could've added the McGurk effect in there. Just saying. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.181|108.162.237.181]] 15:37, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Isn't part of the Doppler joke the fact that it is a fire truck, as emergency vehicle sirens are very often used as an example of the Doppler effect?
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.159|141.101.98.159]] 13:18, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Is there a name for the law that states "red ones go faster"? I believe that too was referenced, but possibly not by name. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.46|198.41.238.46]] 19:59, 1 June 2015 (UTC)

:I'm not sure if [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RedOnesGoFaster this] helps, but I'll leave it here. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 20:01, 25 December 2015 (UTC)

Saw a nice post on this before I actually saw the comic, and came here to create a reference to it: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=19252 ... for extra commentary. [[User:Jadawin|Jadawin]] ([[User talk:Jadawin|talk]]) 21:44, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

And then I read that link's comments to the end, and saw a link here! Circularity achieved! [[User:Jadawin|Jadawin]] ([[User talk:Jadawin|talk]]) 21:48, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1526: Placebo Blocker

2015-12-23T22:53:54Z

188.114.97.151: opinion

;Placebome

The title of the referenced paper introduces the 'Placebome', the collection of genes which lead to the placebo effect. This is an absolutely ridiculous word, and would be worthy of Jonathan Eisen's [http://phylogenomics.blogspot.ch/search/label/Worst%20New%20Omics%20Word%20Award Worst New Omics Word Award]. [[User:Quantum7|Quantum7]] ([[User talk:Quantum7|talk]]) 08:31, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

;Title text bottle

It seems more plausible to me that the "they" and "same bottle" in the title text refer to the sugar pills for headache. The title text would then be an organic continuation of the immediately preceding dialogue. [[User:Angew|Angew]] ([[User talk:Angew|talk]]) 09:01, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
:Agreed. Take two sugar pils. The second will boost the effect of the first. It could work if you believe it.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:14, 18 May 2015 (UTC)
:: Agreed, updated. -- [[User:Phyzome|Phyzome]] ([[User talk:Phyzome|talk]]) 13:47, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

I'm confused about why this explanation is a stub. Personally, I think it explains the comic well, but I'll refrain from removing the incomplete tag in case most people think that the explanation isn't adequate. [[User:Caeleste Alarum|Caeleste Alarum]] ([[User talk:Caeleste Alarum|talk]]) 15:21, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

Wouldn't you find a malady that can be treated via placebo, like a headache, give control group A a headache pill, control group B a placebo and tell them it was a headache pill and give the test group a placebo blocker as the placebo and tell them it is a headache pill?

A placebo blocker would be really useful in medical testing to find out which medicines are actually effective and which are simply producing a stronger placebo effect through a noticeable side effect.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.125|173.245.48.125]] 15:46, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

;How to do it.

Compound two sets of placebos. The control set is just sugar pills. The other set would be the blocker. Unless the active dose is massive, it'd also be partially a sugar pill already.

Present both as a possible treatment for some malady.

Each group would then only get one pill, and be ignorant that there was potentially a placebo blocker in their dose.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.160|108.162.238.160]] 17:09, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

I would guess that there would have to be at least 6 groups. Groups 1 and 2 would be the traditional experiment with a drug and a placebo, groups 3, 4, 5, and 6 are given two pills one of which they told is a drug, the other is a placebo blocker which may prevent the first drug from helping you. groups 3 and 4 are given the real placebo blocker, groups 5 and 6 are given another placebo. This would be an interesting experiment in that you could test the psychological effects of telling someone who took a real drug that "it may not work." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.188|108.162.238.188]] 18:36, 18 May 2015 (UTC) Veggiet

I think we've entirely overlooked the idea of using a control group that doesn't know what the word placebo means. With such a control group, one could not tell them any lies at all "I've invented this new drug called placebo that will cure your rheumatism".[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 18:57, 18 May 2015 (UTC)

:Why do you have to include the world placebo? Any new made up name like turgidax or pragmanol or frogans or vulpix or bligdrine will work. What is wrong with saying to the patient in the control group,"You are testing a pill of bligdrine." The patient may or may not know what placebo is, but they will certainly be not aware of bligdrine. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.163|173.245.48.163]] 20:21, 18 May 2015 (UTC)BK201

I once removed the last paragraph regarding speculations on the title text as of what could happen if there were two different pills in the bottle. But it is to me clear that there is just sugar pills, as is already explained above. And thus this paragraph is overkill. But it was inserted again after I deleted it. I vote for it to be deleted, but will let someone else do this, as not to make it a personal edit war... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:05, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

Here's an experiment done all the way back in 1978: Levine, J.D., Gordon, N.C., and Fields, H.L. (1978). The mechanism of placebo analgesia. Lancet 2: 654-657.
Summary: The researchers recruited volunteers who were undergoing tooth extraction. After surgery, one group received morphine-based drugs (most, but not all, reported pain relief). Others received placebo (about a third reported pain relief). Others yet were given placebo AND naloxone, a drug that blocks the action of opioids (none reported pain relief). The researchers concluded that administration of placebo caused the release of endogenous opioids in some patients, and naloxone worked as a placebo blocker. More recent research with functional brain imaging has confirmed that opioids and placebos activate the same brain regions (Petrovic, P., Kalso, E., Petersson, K.M., and Ingvar, M. (2002). Placebo and opioid analgesia imaging--A shared neuronal network. Science 295: 1737-1740).[[User:CLSI|CLSI]] ([[User talk:CLSI|talk]]) 17:07, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

;How to run the experiment

I am going to comment out (but not delete yet) the explanation for how it is "actually quite simple" to test the placebo blocker. I feel that the experiment is flawed in that testing the two drugs simultaneously would potentially impact the results in respect to either one.

The experiment suggests: Group 1 would receive the new drug and a placebo pill; group 2 would receive the new drug and a Placebo Blocker; group 3 would receive two identical placebo pills; and group 4 would receive one placebo pill and one Placebo Blocker.

However, we still don't truly know how placebos work. Are the people in this study told what the second pill is for (a placebo blocker?) maybe that knowledge will negate the placebo entirely. For example, what if in a simple double-blind test of Drug A, the placebo group had the same results as the drug group. However, Drug B (the blocker) doesn't work. In the proposed experiment of both Drug A and Drug B, between Group 1 and Group 3, what if the placebo effect works on Placebo B, and so the placebo effect Placebo A had in the simple experiment is negated. Thus Drug A appears to be effective even though its not better than a placebo.

The bottom line is that it's not that easy to design an experiment to test two variables at once. [[User:TheHYPO|TheHYPO]] ([[User talk:TheHYPO|talk]]) 16:07, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

;Headache
The sentence "My head hurts" doesn't mean a headache, but Cueball takes this too literally. It's more like a reaction on some stupid experiments witch hurt my head. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 8 June 2015 (UTC)

I've just gone through the article, fixing grammar. I'm happy that spelling and grammar is good now. However I've also updated the explanation quite a bit; hopefully people agree it's an improvement, but I know a lot of people have taken an interest in this article. Edit or roll back if you like! [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 23:32, 14 July 2015 (UTC) P.S. In explaining the placebo, the placebo blocker, the placebo blocker placebo ... '''my''' head started to hurt too! (Could we have a "''placebo-blocker-placebo blocker''"? Or would that be taking things too far?)

If I'm thinking about it correctly, then a "placebo-blocker-placebo blocker" would be the same thing as a simple placebo-blocker. The only difference is that while giving them the sugar pill, instead of telling them "this pill will get rid of your headache," you'd be saying "this pill will get rid of your placebo effect." So if the blocker worked, then the patient would NOT be fooled ie they would NOT be convinced that the fake blocker works, which is kind of pointless because you DID end up giving them the blocker afterwards! Ok I agree my head hurts {{unsigned ip|198.41.235.59}}

As of the writing of this comment, there's an incomplete tag. While I agree that it's a bit bigger than necessary, it was good enough for me. However, there are two things that I disagree with (plus the typo that I fixed):
* I don't think the headache is because they're frustrated about not being able to conduct the experiment. I think it's because they're confused about the placebo [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/inception inception].
* I don't think the sugar pill is meant to cure the headache by placebo. I think it's a comforting action to offer someone a good tasting food when someone's distressed, plus the humor that the pills Cueball's holding are probably his placebo blocker pills and that they're actually sugar pills.
[[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 22:53, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1524: Dimensions

2015-12-22T22:38:45Z

188.114.97.151: opinion

This almost seems to be making fun of the frivolity with which people discuss the existence of multiple dimensions without realizing what that actually means. Anyone else get that feeling?

Reminds me of http://xkcd.com/417/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patema_Inverted which make fun of dimensions too. {{unsigned ip|108.162.230.59}}
:Great - I will add 417. please sign you comment with <nowiki>--~~~~</nowiki> ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:57, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

My first thought about Title Text was that moving sideways (standard x or y axis) would be bad, but not as bad as moving upwards (standard z axis). Z direction would be my least favourite! --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.57|141.101.104.57]] 08:20, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
:You're thinking that from an incredibly geo-centric point of view. There is no reason that the three axes would be defined in absolute terms in terms of the surface of the Earth. Indeed, even if we *did* choose to define the three spacial dimensions relative to something to do with Earth, it would seem logical to me that the best way to do that would be to define the X-Y plane as the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun. In that case, unless you happened to be located at 23.5 degrees latitude, travelling in the Z direction would *not* be travelling perpendicular to the surface of the Earth, which is presumably to what you were referring in your comment. --[[User:Zagorath|Zagorath]] ([[User talk:Zagorath|talk]]) 22:38, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

::I think you guys are vastly overthinking the title text. Randall is making a joke. The 4 dimensions discussed are Length, Width, Height and Time. if you pick three of them to like, and one to hate, Width is the obvious hate. Most men like the idea of being taller and "longer where it counts". Being overweight is something most people dont like. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.111|173.245.48.111]] 15:41, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

The explanation looks more and more like a discussion. Four dimensions or eleven? I see that string theory "predicts 10 or 26 dimensions" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime). I think someone (but not me) should rewrite the discussion in a more comprehensive way.[[User:Jkrstrt|Jkrstrt]] ([[User talk:Jkrstrt|talk]]) 08:35, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

We might had a link to the 2 what-if related to move steadlily in one direction : http://what-if.xkcd.com/135/ and http://what-if.xkcd.com/64/ {{unsigned ip|188.114.101.12}}

Isn't the alt text a reference to the fact that a cartoon only has two physical dimensions? That's how time can be in his top three. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.113|141.101.99.113]] 09:09, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

"Being pushed in one of the other directions could be lethal, if you where pushed hard enough against a rock, over a cliff or in front of a truck..."
Being pushed in the dimension of time is also ultimately fatal though. Push someone through time for long enough and they'll certainly die. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.8|141.101.92.8]] 09:20, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Why the hang up on fixed coordinate systems even though there isn't even a practical way to establish one. (To the best of my knowledge distance can only be measured relative to some object.) it's more likely that the top three dimensions would be along the lines of North/South, East/West and time which is a much more practical point of view.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.183|108.162.237.183]] 11:32, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

''So if it is in the top three out of four, it must be number one...''.
I don't agree. What if Randall would hate going to Zazane galaxy or Ottzello galaxy (X axis), but wouldn't mind going to Xanthrus spiral or Rizoku galazy (Y axis) [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/spore/images/6/61/INTERGALACTIC_MAP-2.png/revision/latest?cb=20100616044044]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.144|108.162.238.144]] 13:50, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
:The argument would be that this is an arbitrary/anthropocentric classification of X, Y and Z that the universe neither confirms nor denies as the 'true' direction of the three dimensions (which can be in any direction, so long as each is perpendicular to the two others, in a Euclidean sense).
:(And personally. as opposed to the current description. I tend to think of x/y as the horizontal plane and z as vertical motion (up or down, depending on utility), in everyday use, although I'm flexible and will subscribe to one or other standard (and handedness of unit directions!) when dealing with other modelling systems. It's all easily convertible-between.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.79|141.101.99.79]] 17:31, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

I was going to say that if we think of three dimensions simplistically as length-width-height, it might make sense for someone to have a least-favorite spatial dimension--maybe width, since we're always fighting increases in that one. But, I REALLY like the idea above that time would be in the "top three" dimensions for a TWO-dimensional comic-strip character! (Note that Randall plays with this in the Wired comic series linked above, noting that in a comic strip, a small movemement indicates movement through space, but a large one--like between panels--indicates time: see panel #15 in the series) Clever and Randall-esque idea!! I suggest adding this idea to the main text and taking out some of the other discussion around this point.[[User:Jv|Jv]] ([[User talk:Jv|talk]]) 16:32, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Could it be that the title text is purely playing with words, as in any list of length n (4 dimensions in the world of the comic), one can only have n-1 favourites, so Cueball can only have a top / favourite 3? [[User:Mb|Mb]] ([[User talk:Mb|talk]]) 20:06, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

"Moving forward in time will also eventually be lethal by causing old age, ... But it is only possible to avoid these dangers by sidestepping them in one of the three spatial dimensions." - Wait! I can sidestep '''death'''? AWESOME! [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 20:09, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

The explanation says his favourite co-ords could still be x,y and z. Shouldn't that really by r, phi, theta since that's the best system for a spherical Earth? Also, I don't think you need to mention special relativity, even in classical physics you consider time to be the fourth dimension, you just lack a co-ordinate transformation between space and time. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.193|141.101.98.193]] 15:22, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Does the statement: “pushed inexorably forward through time” not strike anyone as important to discuss and explain? A book by Dan Falk describes the ramifications were one able to move volitionally through time: http://tinyurl.com/l2btjfd.

The Greeks held that time flowed like a river through the present from the past. Others (?) suggest that time flowed from the future into the present. Randall poses that we are pushed forward through time. Who or what does the pushing? With what purpose? To what end?

Pushing suggests we’re unwilling to go forward. But so does pulling. Pulling, by the way, might imply gravitational forces at work. However, those almost never end well. [[User:Run, you clever boy|Run, you clever boy]] ([[User talk:Run, you clever boy|talk]]) 14:30, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

;time

I was surprised nobody mentioned Randall's most famous comic about [[Time]] (which this comic reminded me of a little bit). [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 23:30, 14 May 2015 (UTC)
:I do not see any relation with a comic about something that occurs in the far future, and is also called time because it is dynamic and ran over an extended period of time... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:51, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

I love how the title text seems to imply that Randall has a least favorite space-dimension. The three space dimensions are arbitrarily assigned (they are orthogonal to each other but not absolute in relation to anything) so it's like he has a grudge against a completely arbitrary direction.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.113|108.162.216.113]] 03:20, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

;Black Hole
I wonder nobody came up yet with the obvious interpretation. The only situation where one is forced along a space dimension in the same sense as along time (everything else being unphysical - when you "just" fall from a cliff, you still could be saved) would be falling into a Black Hole. Which is indeed somewhat inconvenient :-) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.240|198.41.243.240]] 12:52, 16 May 2015 (UTC)
:I see no relation to black-holes. It is very far fetched from this mundane situation. UNtil you actually enter the event horizon you cold still be saved, and after that we really do not know what happens (except that you will probably be dead before you reach this horizon). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:51, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

Could the alt text be referring to hologram theory? My understanding of that is that the universe might only have two actual dimensions describing three dimensions in its interactions. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.144|108.162.237.144]] 07:00, 25 May 2015 (UTC)

If I were to read the current explanation without teading the comic, I would have no idea that this comic is partially a joke- the idea thay we would instead be pushed inexorably sideways or something is a source of humor in this comic. [[User:Bbruzzo|Bbruzzo]] ([[User talk:Bbruzzo|talk]]) 13:50, 30 August 2015 (UTC)
:I agree totally. The main point of this comic is the funny idea of being pushed inexorably through a spatial dimension (like in the Man Who Fell Sideways). That's clearly the funny part of this comic.[[User:DenverCoder9|DenverCoder9]] ([[User talk:DenverCoder9|talk]]) 05:49, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

:I thought this too: that the person would be able to time travel at will, but would have the inconvenience of travelling through space in a certain dimension. Also, nobody thought that the least favourite dimension could be Z, as in afraid of heights (assuming XY as the surface of Earth and Z as altitude)? [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 22:38, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

The title text, in my interpretation, is a sort of logic puzzle which implies that time must be his favorite dimension. Since the three spatial dimensions are degenerate, the fact that it's not his 4th favorite implies it must be his first. Also, main point: it is also just funny because 1. the idea of having a favorite dimension and 2. the application of "top three" to a group of 4 things, three of which are indistinguishable. [[User:DenverCoder9|DenverCoder9]] ([[User talk:DenverCoder9|talk]]) 05:49, 16 December 2015 (UTC)

1511: Spice Girl

2015-12-22T20:27:59Z

188.114.97.151: /* Two interpretations */ ambiguity no more exists; edited to reflect that, but managed to keep most of the text intact

__NOTOC__
{{comic
| number = 1511
| date = April 13, 2015
| title = Spice Girl
| image = spice_girl.png
| titletext = Haha, you'll see!
}}
''Not to be confused with [[1554: Spice Girls]]''
==Explanation==

===The Spice Girls===
The Spice Girls are a British pop girl group formed in 1994. It consists of five girls who each have a "spice girl" nickname. The five girls with their respective nicknames are:
*{{w|Mel B}} (MB) or "Scary Spice"
*{{w|Mel C}} (MC) or "Sporty Spice"
*{{w|Emma Bunton}} (Em) or "Baby Spice"
*{{w|Geri Halliwell}} (G) or "Ginger Spice"
*{{w|Victoria Beckham}} (V) or "Posh Spice"
The letter in parenthesis are relevant for the interpretation of the [[#The title text|title text]]

In [[1554: Spice Girls]] he shows how difficult it is to remember these five names...

===The internet quiz===
This is one example of a trend of on-line quizzes that would "identify" the user with one person/personality of a group based on a series of personality questions. This will most often concern which member of a band, TV cast/film cast or character from books etc. the quizzer most resembles. In this comic it is specifically [[#Spice girl quizzes|Spice girl quizzes]] that are the subject.

In this comic, [[Randall]] is suggesting that in order to cope with what he probably considers to be irritating {{w|clickbait}} links to these quizzes, he imagines the link titles as ''being shouted through a door in a postapocalyptic dystopia''. This is a reference to a trope in movies set in such postapocalyptic settings (which Randall presumably enjoys more) in which the heroes must determine whether an unknown agent is friend or foe, which in some such media occurs by shouting through locked doors. It is not likely that Randall would actually complete these quizzes, but if he did in this fantasy setting, the stakes would be higher and each answer would be fraught with dangerous meaning. It would thus also be much more fun taking the quiz and the result would seem to be important.

In Randall's fantasy dystopian future, the character who is subject of the dialogue may be one of two Spice Girls, described alternately as the one who is merciful and the one started the war (which likely resulted in the said dystopia). It is possible there are only two remaining Spice Girls, or that there are simply only two likely options in the particular circumstances of the comic. It is also unclear if Randall may be suggesting two fictional Spice Girls, or if in his fantasy future, two of the actual original Spice Girls fit the criteria mentioned. ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SQYLHWo8TA The Merciful One]'' could be a reference to the song with the same name by {{w|Zohar (band)|Zohar}}, another British music ensemble.

===Two interpretations===
As a result of the way the speech line was drawn in this comic, there is ambiguity as to the source of the dialogue. The official transcript now states: "A CRUEL INTERLOPER, external to the scene and room, pounds on the door and shouts at the two figures in our sight.". But, before that was available, there were two possible interpretations:

====The shout comes from outside====
The four little lines at the source end of the speech line are often used by Randall to denote sound coming from an unseen source. This suggests that the quiz question is being shouted by an angry agent or crowd ''outside'' the door in reference to the female character seen in the comic. Presumably if she is "the one who started this war", the person(s) outside would be hostile toward her.

In this case, it looks like the female character (who otherwise appears to be a [[Megan]] character) does not have any intention of answering, and is preparing for when the people outside break down the door by loading her shotgun to defend herself. In this interpretation, [[#The title text|the title text]] is said by "Megan" Spice indicating that when they get through the door they will be in trouble.

====The shout comes from Cueball====
In this interpretation, the four little lines at the source end of the speech line denote shouting, indicating that the quiz question is being shouted by Cueball to whoever is on the outside of the door, trying to determine if that person is merciful or hostile.

In this case, it looks like Megan is preparing for the latter possibility, loading her shotgun to defend herself if the person/people outside break through the door. [[#The title text|The title text]] is said by the spice girl outside, its inherent challenge suggesting that she is not the merciful one.

===The title text===
The title text refers to the [http://lyrics.wikia.com/Spice_Girls:Wannabe lyrics] from the Spice Girls' debut single, ''{{w|Wannabe (song)|Wannabe}}'' (Listen to ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJLIiF15wjQ Wannabe on YouTube]'') Here below is the relevant excerpt from the song where the letters in the last four lines refer to the spice girls [[#The Spice Girls|as given above]]. This rap {{w|bridge (music)|bridge}} is sung by Scary Spice except for the line with Easy V which is sung by Ginger Spice:
:So here's a story from A to Z,
:You wanna get with me You gotta listen carefully
:We got Em in the place who likes it in your face
:You got G like MC who likes it on an
:Easy V doesn't come for free, she's a real lady
:And as for me, '''ha ha, you'll see'''

These lyrics function as a little introduction to the (then) less-well-known girl group. The final line takes on a threat-like tone in this new context of the comic. And it doesn't help that it is Scary Spice who sings it.

The text may seem a little confusing to understand, especially the line that finishes ''on an''. According to another lyrics-site, which also has [http://genius.com/3134866 explanations] to some parts of the text, it means that G and MC likes it (sex) together with {{w|MDMA|ecstasy}} - as "On an E" is slang for being on ecstasy (see it used in this [https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090518130834AA0QdJD discussion]). They could not sing this directly without resulting in a PG rating, thus they inserted the "E" in the next line as '''E'''asy V, a line which is even sung by another spice girl, Ginger spice, where the rest of this bridge is sung by Scary spice.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is trying to barricade a door with his own body (although it already has a bar in front of it). He is in a room that is deteriorating with Megan who is loading a shotgun while sitting behind some sort of box.]
:Knocking on the door: '''Thump Thump'''
:Voice (see [[#Two interpretations|here]]): '''Which Spice Girl are you?!'''
:Voice (see [[#Two interpretations|here]]): The merciful one, or the one who started this war?

:[Caption below the frame:]
:'''When I see those quiz titles, I like to imagine they're'''
:'''being shouted through a door in a postapocalyptic dystopia.'''

==Spice girl quizzes==
*''What spice girl are you?'' quizzes
**[http://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/which-spice-girl-are-you#.gbkv2p3jDX Buzzfeed]
**[http://www.zimbio.com/quiz/w-MjcRyEoFZ/Which+Spice+Girl+Are+You Zimbio]
**[http://www.brainfall.com/quizzes/which-spice-girl-are-you/ Brainfall]
**[http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_spice_girl_are_you GoToQuiz]
*Kidspot
**''[http://www.kidspot.com.au/the-spice-girls-and-10-other-mummy-types-you-might-know/ The Spice Girls and 10 other mummy types you might know];''
**Baby Mummy, Sporty Mummy, Scary Mummy, Posh Mummy, Ginger Mummy and 10 others.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Clickbait]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Spice Girls]]

1506: xkcloud/Transcript

2015-12-22T19:33:23Z

188.114.97.151: /* User names */ might be relevant

*This is a valiant effort to create a transcript for the ''continually''(?) growing dynamic comic [[1506: xkcloud]].
**The front page of the comic is [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|transcribed]] as usual on the [[1506: xkcloud|main page]].
*See pictures of the other types of pages here: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages]].
<div class="toclimit-3" style="float:right; margin-left: 10px;">__TOC__</div>
==Intro==
*After clicking on the red button on the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] (only part of the transcript written on the main page for xkcd), you will see either:
**the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page or
**the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.
*Both these pages are transcribed below.
**Here below the headings of the transcripts for the four pages, links directly to the section with the relevant images on the page with [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages].
*From there you have to choose either a picture to a text or a text to an image.
**If you press the ''Draw one your self'' button on the ''Help! We lost the picture'' this page will change slightly:
***[[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]].
**When you then submit a picture, or if you just picked one of the five pictures or five text suggestions, or submitted a text your self, you will go to this page:
***[[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]]
*From all pages you can go back to the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] by clicking on the image of Cueball at his desk.
*After completing the first post, there will always be seven post shown below (also if you go back to the front page).
**When you complete a post your new post will be shown together with six new.
**When you push a button to recover more data these seven posts (including "yours") will be shown instead of only six as to begin with.
**From here you can loop between these four pages (not counting the ''Draw one for your self'' as a separate page.)
*The above mentioned pages are fully transcribed below.
*Also, there are lists for the following Randall created text and items:
**[[#Reason for data loss|Reason for data loss]]
**[[#User names|User names]]
**[[#User pictures|User pictures]] (a description of possible images next to users)
**[[#Like buttons|Like buttons]]
*Finally, there is all the user input text. This will probably be impossible to transcribe but a few examples should be provided as an example.
**These will be given here: [[#Post from users|Post from users]]
**Some of the picture can be seen on this page:
***[[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_text_page|Help! We lost the text]]==
:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! we lost the text that goes with this post!'''
:[For cases where the user has to submit or select a text according to a picture.]
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The picture can be used for several user names.]
:[Below the user name is the picture from the post. This picture is also chosen at random from a set which must mainly be created from user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five pictures see [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] section above).]

:[Below this and above five frames with text in two columns are this line of text:]
:Which text post do you think went with this picture?
:[The five texts below are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with. Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below this is a box where you are invited to write and submit a text suggestion. In the box written in gray letters (rather than black, which it will turn to when you type something) are the following text:]
:Or, write your own
:[To the left is a button with the text:]
:Submit

:[By clicking on any of the five text boxes you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) where the chosen text is now standing above the picture from the post above. If you write a text and click the submit button your own text will be written above the picture.]

:[Below this submit text box is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy regarding your personal data:

*Please stop sending us your personal data
*We are running out of places to put it
*Is this even yours?
*Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
*Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
*Why are you doing this
*Please stop
*Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are six post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All six again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]].]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_picture_page|Help! We lost the picture]]==
:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! We lost the picture that goes with this post!'''
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a picture of a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The same picture can be used for several user names (and probably likewise).]
:[Below the user name is the text of the post. This text is also random and it must mainly be user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five sentences see [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] section below). Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below is a blue rectangle where the missing picture should be. Instead there is only a white question mark:]
:'''?'''

:[Below this and above six picture frames in two rows is a line of text:]
:Which of these pictures do you think went with this post?
:[The five first pictures are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with). In the sixth and last picture frame the following text is written:]
:Draw one your self

:[By clicking on any of the five pictures you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) with the chosen picture now substituting the "?" in the post above with the chosen picture. If you click the Draw one your self the page will change slightly into the [[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]] page - a page where you can do exactly this. From there you go to the other page mentioned before.]

:[Below these six frames is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy regarding your personal data:

*Please stop sending us your personal data
*We are running out of places to put it
*Is this even yours?
*Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
*Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
*Why are you doing this
*Please stop
*Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following in light gray text:]
:Don't contact us ([http://euphoria.io/room/xkcd/ linking to this live chatroom])

:[To the right below the thin black line are six post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All six again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]].]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Draw_one_your_self_page|Draw one your self]]==
:[If you press the picture frame with the text ''Draw one your self'' on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page the page changes. It is not a new page. But below the white post frame with the blue rectangle with "?" there is now no longer six frames, but only one large frame. Above the frame is written:]
:Do your best to recreate the picture you think went with this post:

:[Below is a blank white frame with five tools to the left (pencil, eraser, redo, undo and delete all) and to the right you can choose between seven line thicknesses.]

:[Below this frame is a button on which it says:]
:Upload image
:[If you press this then you picture is uploaded and shown as part of the post on the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page].

:[Below the image editor nothing has changed compared to before and everything beneath the thin black line is as before.]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help_us_recover_more_data_page|Help us recover more data]]==
:[At the top of this third page (or fourth if coming from the paint a picture page) there are the following white text on a red button:]
:'''Help us recover more data'''

:[If you click this button you go back to one of the two pages that follows the front page that is the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page or the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page. So in this way a loop will begin. The only difference is that now there will be seven pictures instead of six at the bottom, and it will be the seven that was on this page - including the one you have been involved in at the top.]

:[Below this button is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk - same as with the two pages mentioned above as are the text given here below. If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy regarding your personal data:

*Please stop sending us your personal data
*We are running out of places to put it
*Is this even yours?
*Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
*Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
*Why are you doing this
*Please stop
*Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are both the post you have just finished (either by connecting a text or image with the missing part or even typing or painting your self) as well as six other posts below "yours". They are stacked above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. The other six are again random chosen - it is not the ones from the page where you should choose a text/image. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text is a blue "like button" that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]). Above these buttons there (from late in the afternoon no April 1st) appear a word which by clicking it created a permalink:]
:Link
:[This is written over all the buttons for each of the possible posts.]

==Reason for data loss==
{| class="wikitable"
!Sentence
!Explanation
|-
| +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START +++
|A reference to Hex, the magical computer from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which would occasionally emit this error
|-
|<%= reason %>
|A template used by server-side frameworks such as Rails, which would normally replace this line with the actual value of the "reason" variable.
|-
|a user's middle name was <nowiki></html></nowiki>
|Having a user name containing an html tag might cause issues in the server, similar to [http://xkcd.com/327 xkcd 327].
|-
|aol window in front of netscape window
|AOL (America Online, a dial-up online service popular in the 1990s) acquired Netscape (company that developed for the original commercial browser, precursor to Firefox) in 1998
|-
|Baby ur much 2 fast
|Lyrics from the Prince song "Little Red Corvette"
|-
|bookmarks migrated to Venezuela
|Bookmarks are typically migrated from one file folder to another so that they can be accessed by another browser.
|-
|butter didn't suit the works
|Reference to "Alice in Wonderland" -- the Mad Hatter put butter into his watch to make it keep more accurate time, and explained "I used the very best butter, too."
|-
|butter overflow
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|butter to text interface not found
|A reference to speech-to-text interfaces, typically used by people who cannot see easily to enable them to use a computer.
|-
|butter underrun
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|cannot save, there's something gross on the S key
|A reference to the "Control-S" save shortcut on both Windows and Mac, and is saying that they are unable to activate the shortcut (thus saving the data) because there is "something gross" on it.
|-
|CAPTCHA response indicated parahuman intelligence
|A CAPTCHA is a tool which aims to prevent comupter-generated submissions to an online form by asking the user a question which is easy for humans but (supposedly) hard for computers. In this case, the CAPTCHA detects {{w|parahuman}} intelligence rather than human intelligence.
|-
|cat-like typing detected
|When cats walk or sit on keyboards, they can type, which can be annoying. A program called [http://bitboost.com/pawsense/ PawSense] attempted to detect this and block the typed keystrokes to reduce inconvenience.
|-
|confirmation BIOS
|Pun on "confirmation bias" (a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors); BIOS is part of a PC's hardware
|-
|could not evade skifree yeti
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkiFree SkiFree] is an early 90s computer game that requires the player to ski down an endless slope. It's famous for a yeti that appears after the player reaches a certain distance, which then chases and eats the player. Possibly a reference to [[667: SkiFree]].
|-
|could not initialize sound blaster 16
|The Sound Blaster 16 is a PC sound card which used FM synthesis to play MIDI files, which was popular in the 1990s.
|-
|CRM-114 unit malfunctioning
|The CRM-114 unit's malfunction is the main plot device in the film Dr Strangelove
|-
|cumulonimbus #19 too rabbitlike
|A cumulonimbus is a type of cloud. This may be a reference to Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. The error suggests that the cloud looked too much like a rabbit.
|-
|data too big
|
|-
|database configuration violates the Prime Directive
|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive Prime Directive] comes from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek Star Trek], and refers to the principle of not interfering with the natural development of primitive cultures. This error is implying that the database is being seen as a primitive life, and therefore the server is not allowed to make any changes to it.
|-
|Dave's not registered, man
|Cheech and Chong reference: "Dave's not here, man".
|-
|Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
|References the VX community, which can be found on [http://www.reddit.com/r/VXJunkies/ its subreddit] and a WIP [http://vxmodules.wikia.com/wiki/VX_Wiki wiki]. The community is centered around making up technobabble about the fictional "VX" series of devices, without breaking character.
|-
|dictionary too stiff to read
|dictionary in addition to being a book where you can look up the definition of words can also be a data structure of key value pairings.
|-
|electrons too big, stuck in wafer
|"Wafer" refers to silicon or other material used as substrate for semiconductor fabrication.
|-
|ERR:INVALID DIM
|On the Texas Instruments TI-83 and TI-84 calculators, this is an error message shown [http://oakroadsystems.com/math/ti83oops.htm#x_InvalidDim in various situations].
|-
|error reading drive B. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abort,_Retry,_Fail%3F Abort, Retry, Fail?]
|A common error from MS-DOS, often caused by a failing floppy disk
|-
|error
|This error message is so uninformative as to be redundant.
|-
|error: error code [error] while decoding error code
|Similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|error: operation completed successfully
|A somewhat common coding error in *nix programs. The program detected an error and tried to print the error using a function such as perror which prints a message based on the global variable errno. However, the error wasn't generated by a standard library routine so errno equals 0 (no error).
|-
|ethics in journalism
|Possibly a reference to the movement Gamergate, a group ostensibly dedicated to "ethics in video game journalism", but has been accused of misogyny and harassment.
|-
|eyelash! eyelash!
|Possibly a reference to [http://xkcd.com/1086 xkcd 1086]
|-
|files fell out
|Paper files (as would be stored in a filing cabinet) can be misplaced and items can fall out of them if mishandled. However, it would be unexpected for digital files to fall out in this way.
|-
|files overwritten with more interesting content
|
|-
|firewall caught fire
|Pun based on the inclusion of the term "fire" in "firewall"
|-
|floating point unit no longer afloat
|A floating point unit is a part of a CPU which can perform calculations on non-integers. The pun is that the floating point unit is not floating (as in on a liquid). Possibly a reference to the Jargon File's [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/N/number-crunching.html#crunchly74-12-25 Crunchly comic].
|-
|food problematic
|Firefly quote
|-
|friday squid blogging
|Security guru Bruce Schneier regularly posts a blog post with this title, and some squid related news, primarily as a discussion thread.
|-
|general uncertainty
|Possibly reference to the general uncertainty principle in Quantum Mechanics, which gives an upper limit for the accuracy of measuring two variables at the same time.
|-
|GSM filter change required
|Possibly referring to an electronic component used to filter out GSM frequencies. Unlike automotive oil filters, electronic filters don't require changing.
|-
|guru meditation #00000025.65045338 press left mouse button to continue
|A common error from the Commodore Amiga.
|-
|hard drive oil depleted
|Hard drives don't use oil/gas like cars do, so it would be strange for the oil to have depleted.
|-
|helvetica scenario
|A reference to the episode on Calcium from the BBC TV show Look Around You.
|-
|HTTP 403 and 3/4ths
|HTTP errors are emitted when an HTTP request (e.g. to download a web page) fails. 403 is Forbidden and 404 is Not Found; 403.75 is somewhere between the two. Reference to Harry Potter's Platform 9¾.
|-
|HTTP 418
|The 4xx class of status code is intended for cases in which the client seems to have erred. For example, the well known 404 is when the client requests a web page that doesn't exist. HTTP 418 is part of the {{w|HTCPCP|Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol}}, denoting "I am a teapot," and purportedly is used when sending an instruction to brew coffee to a teapot.
|-
|http is down
|Since all the traffic is being handled by http (or https), is http were truely down, it would be a conundrum.
|-
|hung up prematurely
|Possible reference to dialup modems: The server disconnected the phone line too soon.
|-
|I got pretty distracted trying to figure out how big space is
|Possible reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which purports that space is Really Big.
|-
|i hurt myself today / to see if i still feel
|Lyrics from "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.
|-
|illegal carrot detected in mail queue
|carrot instead of caret
|-
|insufficient smoke for current mirror array
|Refers to the phrase 'smoke and mirrors'
|-
|lights are out, hard drive is taking a nap
|
|-
|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lp0_on_fire lp0 on fire]
|lp0 is the printer port, there used to be a 'printer on fire' error/warning
|-
|Main Bus B Undervolt
|A line from Apollo 13, when the spaceship is 'having a problem'.
|-
|mean connection time exceeded
|"Maximum connection time exceeded" might be an error -- by definition, some connections must last longer than the mean (average) connection time.
|-
|microwave running
|Both microwaves and Wifi operate on the same frequency and have been known to cause interference
|-
|minimum recursion depth not reached
|"Maximum recursion depth exceeded" would be an error -- "depth not exceeded" wouldn't be (and there is no minimum limit)
|-
|nanobots in the water
|
|-
|not a hair question
|One of the error messages that the Bucket bot in the #xkcd IRC channel can emit is "That is not a hair question."
|-
|oh jeez there's a lot of you can you all just hang on for a second please oh frig this is so bad
|
|-
|our buffer runneth over
|Old-English style message for "buffer overrun" instead of more modern language. There were no computers yet at that time. Also a reference to the King James translation of Psalm 23, which includes the phrase "my cup runneth over".
|-
|out of electrons
|
|-
|out of monads
|Monads are a concept in functional programming languages, such as Haskell. They have a reputation for being hard to understand.
|-
|overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
|
|-
|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_LOAD_LETTER PC LOAD LETTER]
|Error message on older printers stating to add extra letter-size sheets, which has become known to be a very cryptic error message. Reference to the film {{w|Office Space}}.
|-
|Please Insert Riven CD 4
|{{w|Riven}} is a graphical adventure game by {{w|Cyan Worlds}} that was the sequel to {{w|Myst}}, released in 1997. Due to its large amount of image and video content it was on 5 compact discs, and when you traveled from one section of the game to another, it usually prompted you to insert a different CD to load that section's content.
|-
|PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
|The prompt given by a Commodore-64 when using the LOAD command (without a filename argument)
|-
|previously-recovered files overwritten by newly-recovered ones
|
|-
|qubit indeterminate
|Possibly referring to quantum indeterminacy of qubits, which are used in quantum computing.
|-
|RDBMS completely forgot how inner joins work
|"Inner join" is a common SQL operation performed by a Relational DataBase Management System.
|-
|screws are stripped
|
|-
|server aperture too narrow for capital letters
|
|-
|server farm lost starbucks wifi signal
|
|-
|server fell in ocean
|
|-
|server had too much to drink
|Servers are unlikely to have human style issues with drinking too much alcohol.
|-
|server power cable stolen by raccoon for nest
|
|-
|server room haunted
|Maybe a reference to an UVB-76 broadcast in 2001, which said "I am 143. Not receiving the generator." and "That stuff comes from hardware room." in Russian
|-
|sitemap was held upside down
|Sitemap refers to a website directory. Paper maps can be held upside down.
|-
|Something went wrong: Something went wrong (Something went wrong)
|similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|soonerist sperver fid dot nile
|A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism spoonerism] - spoonerist server did not find file
|-
|spin cycle still active
|Washing machines have a spin cycle. Hard-drives spin. CPUs have cycles.
|-
|spin number must be of the form n/2
|Quantum spin numbers (in atomic physics) must be integers or half-integers
|-
|spontaneous splinal dereticulation
|"Reticulating Splines" is a loading message in The Sims and SimCity video game series.
|-
|SQL ejection
|ejection instead of injection
|-
|subtle threading bug in turing-complete version numbering system
|
|-
|sysadmin trapped in well
|Reference to Timmy being trapped in a well.
|-
|tape on write-protect hole fell off
|Read-only floppy disks have a ''write-protect'' hole in the corner. A writable disk has no hole.<ref>http://oit.ua.edu/oit/services/it-service-desk/write-protect-a-floppy-diskette/</ref> It was common practice to convert read-only floppy disks (that could be obtained for free due to, e.g. shareware distribution at computer stores) into writable floppy disks by placing sticky tape over the hole.
|-
|temporal paradox
|
|-
|the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
|butter instead of number
|-
|the little plastic tab on the box the data's in broke off
|
|-
|the server is temporarily permanent. Please try another also.
|
|-
|the system / is down
|Lyrics from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILVfzx5Pe-A "The System is Down"], also known as Strongbad Techno. Possible additional reference to the '/' root filesystem on unix/linux.
|-
|This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
|Similar warnings betray proprietary software designed to break when used outside the terms of its license. Messages like this are unlikely to be found in free software like Ubuntu, where anti-features are largely inviable.
|-
|This page contains content from the Open Source Initiative, who have blocked it on copyright grounds.
|It would be ironic for the Open Source Initiative, which promotes sharing and modification, to prevent the sharing of the page for copyright reasons.
|-
|too many hands on the keyboard
|Possibly a reference to a scene in NCIS where two people simultaneously used the same keyboard to "double hack".
|-
|transfer interrupted by incoming fax
|Internet access used to be on dialup modems, which is also used for telephone calls or faxing. These can't operate at the same time.
|-
|TRIED TO READ 9TH SIDE OF 8 TRACK
|Eight-track tape is an obsolete format for recorded music; the tape itself only had two sides. Nine-track tape - much wider than eight-track tape - was used for computer data storage.
|-
|turns out server was on circuit with lightswitch by door
|If you turned out the lights as you left the room, it would power down the server.
|-
|Unable to cast variable of type Int32 to Magic Missile
|Magic Missile is a spell (which you can cast) in Dungeons & Dragons. Casting can also refer (in programming) to converting variables from one type to another, e.g. from integer to string. The pun here is that a 32-bit integer is being cast to the Magic Missile spell.
|-
|undefined is not a function, which really makes you think
|"Undefined is not a function" is a Javascript TypeError.
|-
|unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
|
|-
|unimplemented trap
|"Trap" refers to a computer operation code that is not implemented in the processor's instruction set and instead performs a system call. "Unimplemented trap" was an error message in some previous versions of MacOS.
|-
|User accepted terms but not conditions
|Normally, at a EULA you must accept 'terms and conditions'. There is basically no option to only agree to terms.
|-
|User is {{w|not a typewriter}}.
|A reference to the "isatty" function in the Unix C library, which reports whether a file descriptor is connected to a teletypewriter (terminal) or not. Interactive programs generally are intended to be used from a terminal.
|-
|user put spaces/vowels in filename
|Because early FAT file systems allowed only 8 characters in the filename, users often shortened names by removing the vowels. This ostensibly kept the file names readable, but under the 8-character limit. In practice, filenames without vowels were often misunderstood. Also, several programs (more so in the past) break when attempting to read from/write to files with spaces or reserved characters/non ASCII characters on their name.
|-
|UTF-31 decode error
|UTF-31 instead of UTF-32
|-
|virtual memory got too real
|Virtual memory is where the OS writes less-used parts of RAM to disk, so that the RAM can be used for another program, hence the less-used parts are in virtual memory. "This is getting too real" is an idiom meaning the person is approaching their wits' end.
|-
|wrong files
|
|-
|YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS
|A line frequently announced by the Protoss advisor in Starcraft.
|}

==User names==
:[Below are possible (not all?) user names mentioned next to any post as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[In alphabetical order:]
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Comment
|-
|@meganamram
|Megan Amram is a comedian and writer. She became well known through her Twitter Channel @meganamram <ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Amram</ref>
|-
|Addison1
|
|-
|Addison8
|
|-
|Agric Silverfinger
|Referring to "Auric Goldfinger" in the James Bond Franchise. (Gold = Au, Silver = Ag)
|-
|Aidan2
|
|-
|Aiden1
|
|-
|Aiden5
|
|-
|Aidenn Aberforth Milne
|{{w|A. A. Milne}} is the author of {{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}. The A. A. stands for Alan Alexander. Aidan and Aberforth are both Characters in the Harry Potter series
|-
|Alice1956
|
|-
|Amanda08
|
|-
|Anonymous
|{{w|Anonymous}} as if most of these other names are not.
|-
|Apple Martin
|Apple Martin is the name of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's daughter.
|-
|Arthur17
|
|-
|Arthur19
|
|-
|Ashley8
|
|-
|Ashley92
|
|-
|Ashley2009
|
|-
|Austin72
|
|-
|Ayden1952
|
|-
|Bailey08
|
|-
|Bailey2001
|
|-
|Barbara1974
|
|-
|Benjamin1970
|
|-
|Benjamin Kenobi Sr
|{{w|Ben Kenobi}} or Obi-Wan Kenobi well known from {{w|Star Wars (film)|Star Wars}}. Since Ben had no kids this person could be his father.
|-
|Bool Hand Luke
|Portmanteau of the datatype {{w|Bool}} and the film {{w|Cool Hand Luke}}.
|-
|Brandi9
|
|-
|Brittany1
|
|-
|Caden14
|
|-
|Caden2010
|
|-
|Candice10
|
|-
|Carol04
|
|-
|Chad80
|
|-
|Charles18
|
|-
|Chelsea2006
|{{w|Chelsea_F.C.|Chelsea F.C.}} commemorated 100 years in 2005–2006.
|-
|Cheyenne15
|
|-
|Cheyenne1988
|Reference to the 1988 Chevrolet Cheyenne
|-
|Christina Applecare
|Portmanteau of actress {{w|Christina Applegate}} and {{w|Applecare}}
|-
|CMOS Def
|Portmanteau of {{w|CMOS}} and {{w|Mos Def}}.
|-
|Curic Copperfinger
|Referring to "Auric Goldfinger" in the James Bond Franchise. (Gold = Au, Copper = Cu)
|-
|Cynthia99
|
|-
|Cynthia1995
|
|-
|Dakota09
|
|-
|Dakota94
|
|-
|{{w|David St. Hubbins}}
|Character in the mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap.
|-
|Debbie3
|
|-
|Debbie26
|
|-
|Debbie62
|
|-
|Deborah3
|
|-
|Delta Elroy Backslash
|
|-
|Destiny89
|
|-
|Destiny1983
|
|-
|Dillon2008
|
|-
|Donald19
|
|-
|Donna2
|
|-
|Dorothy7
|
|-
|DragonBall Cooper
|Merging {{w|Dragon Ball}} with {{w|D. B. Cooper}}
|-
|Dunston Chexin
|Homonym of the film {{w|Dunston Checks In}}
|-
|Dustin46
|
|-
|Earl Sinclair
|{{w|Earl Sinclair}} is the Dinosaur family father from the {{w|Dinosaurs (TV series)|Dinosaurs TV series}}.
|-
|Egbert Bentley White
|{{w|E. B. White}} was an American Writer. The E. B. in his name stand for Elwyn Brooks.
|-
|{{w|Eliezer Yudkowsky}}
|An advocate for friendly artificial intelligence.
|-
|Elon Musk
|{{w|Elon Musk}} is the founder of {{w|SpaceX}} and a confounder of {{w|Paypal}} and of {{w|Tesla Motors}}.
|-
|Emily15
|
|-
|Eowyn L'Oreal James
|{{w|E. L. James}} is a British Author. Eowyn is a character in {{w|Lord of the Rings}}. L'Oreal is a brand of makeup.
|-
|Euphegenia Doubtfire
|{{w|Euphegenia Doubtfire}} is better know as Mrs. Doubtfire from the movie by the same name and played by {{w|Robin Williams}}.
|-
|Facebook Scott Fitzgerald
|{{w|F. Scott Fitzgerald}}, with F for Francis not Facebook, is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
|-
|Flash Groupon
|Named after {{w|Flash Gordon}} the hero of a science fiction adventure of the same name (comic and movies/TV series).
|-
|Frances29
|
|-
|Frances51
|
|-
|Frances99
|
|-
|Gary8
|
|-
|Gary86
|
|-
|Gary1951
|
|-
|George Debian Bush
|{{w|George W. Bush}}, commonly called "Dubya" after his middle initial to distinguish him from his father; 43rd {{w|President of the United States}}.
|-
|George Reagan Renesmee Martin
|{{w|George R. R. Martin|George Raymond Richard Martin}}, American novelist and screenwriter best known for his book series {{w|A Song of Fire and Ice}} and its television adaptation {{w|Game of Thrones}}; {{w|Ronald Reagan}}, the 40th {{w|President of the United States}}; {{w|List_of_Twilight_characters#Renesmee_Cullen|Renesmee Cullen}}, the daughter of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan in the novel {{w|Breaking Dawn}} of the {{w|Twilight (series)|Twilight saga}}.
|-
|Green Mario
|Luigi of the Mario Brothers is green while his brother Mario wears red. In Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros Luigi and Mario are identical apart from the colour of their clothing.
|-
|Greg2004
|
|-
|Hatsy Collins
|Bootsy Collins' milliner brother.
|-
|Henry05
|{{w|Henry V (play)|Henry V}}?
|-
|Henry4
|{{W|Henry IV, Part 1|Henry IV}}?
|-
|Horsepower Lovecraft
|{{w|H. P. Lovecraft|Howard Phillips Lovecraft}}, an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction; {{w|Horsepower}}, a common unit of measurement for the rate at which work is done ("power") commonly used in reference to engines.
|-
|J. Alfred Leftshark
|J. Alfred Prufrock from T. S. Eliot's poem {{w|The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock}}; "Left Shark" refers to one of the back-up dancers from {{w|Katy Perry}}'s performance at the {{w|Super Bowl XLIX halftime show}} who conspicuously danced out of beat.
|-
|Jack3
|
|-
|Jack39
|
|-
|Jacob10
|
|-
|Jada5
|
|-
|Jaden21
|
|-
|Jaden Riley Rufio Tolkien
|{{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}, author of {{w|The Hobbit}} and {{w|The Lord of the Rings}}; "J. J. R." stands for "John Ronald Reuel". "Jaden" perhaps from {{w|Jaden Smith}}; "Riley" is a {{w|Riley (given name)|Given Name}} and a common {{w|Riley (surname)|Surname}} but could refer to {{w|Life of Riley}} or the phrase that inspired it; "Rufio" refers either to the punk-rock band {{w|Rufio}}, the Lost Boy from the film {{W|Hook (film)|Hook}}, or one of {{w|Rufio (officer of Caesar)|Julius Caesar's officers}}.
|-
|Jaina Khloe Rowling
|{{w|J. K. Rowling}} author of {{w|Harry Potter}}. The J is for Joanne, the K is just to have a better {{w|pen name}}.
|-
|Jalen81
|
|-
|James URL Jones
|{{w|James Earl Jones}}, a prolific American stage and film actor most recognizable as the voice of {{w|Darth Vader}}; {{w|URL}} or "uniform resource locator" refers to the address of a webpage as displayed by a web browser in the address bar.
|-
|Jason15
|
|-
|Jayden79
|
|-
|Jennifer1
|
|-
|{{w|Jeph Jacques}}
|Jeph Jacques writes and illustrates the webcomic Questionable Content.
|-
|Jerry18
|
|-
|Joe Biden
|{{w|Joe Biden}} is the 47th (and current at the time of this comic) {{w|Vice President of the United States}}, jointly elected twice with President {{w|Barack Obama}} and in office since 2009.
|-
|John2
|
|-
|John Wilkes Knuth
|{{w|John Wilkes Booth}} was an American stage actor who assassinated President {{w|Abraham Lincoln}} at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. {{w|Donald Knuth}} is a computer scientist, famous for his multi-volume work ''The Art of Computer Programming'' and for developing the TeX text type-setting system.
|-
|Jonathan27
|
|-
|Joshua80
|
|-
|Joshua84
|
|-
|Justin28
|
|-
|Justin87
|
|-
|Kaden61
|
|-
|Kaitlin1976
|
|-
|Karen3
|
|-
|Kathleen78
|
|-
|Keira10
|
|-
|Keira48
|
|-
|Keira2002
|
|-
|Kelsey1970
|
|-
|Kelsey1996
|
|-
|Kenneth94
|
|-
|Kenneth96
|
|-
|Khloe2
|
|-
|Khloe14
|
|-
|Kilroy
|As in {{w|Kilroy was here}}?
|-
|Kim5
|
|-
|Kristy2007
|
|-
|Larry1994
|
|-
|Larry Ronald Hubbard
|{{w|L. Ron Hubbard}} although the L. stands for Lafayette. Was an American author and the founder of the {{w|Church of Scientology}}.
|-
|Lauren Ibsen Dolores Amit
|This is a modified version of "{{w|Lorem ipsum}} dolor sit amet," the first words of a garbled Latin text often used as a substitute for real text where the text content is irrelevant, such as in a page used to display a typeface.
|-
|Linda08
|
|-
|Lindsay2011
|
|-
|Lisa1995
|
|-
|Livemau5
|Referring to {{w|deadmau5}}
|-
|Lord Gaga
|Referring to {{w|Lady Gaga}}
|-
|Lord Mondegreen
|The term "{{w|Mondegreen}}" for a misheard word was coined in the essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen"
|-
|Louis Reasoner
|A character in the textbook {{w|Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs}}.
|-
|Madison19
|
|-
|Madison80
|
|-
|Malik2
|
|-
|Margaret5
|
|-
|Margaret11
|
|-
|Marie3
|
|-
|Marie10
|
|-
|Marie12
|
|-
|{{w|Marissa Mayer}}
|The President and CEO of Yahoo!
|-
|Mark92
|
|-
|Mark2006
|
|-
|Mark2007
|
|-
|Mark Zuckerberg
|{{w|Mark Zuckerberg}} is the founder of {{w|Facebook}}
|-
|Martin Van Halen
|{{w|Martin Van Buren}}, 8th President of the United States, combined with the band {{w|Van Halen}}.
|-
|Matthew2006
|
|-
|Mavis Bitcoin
|{{w|Bitcoin}} is an on-line payment system. The use of the name {{w|Mavis}} was initiated by {{w|Marie Corelli|Marie Corelli's}} 1895 novel ''{{w|The Sorrows of Satan}}''. Maybe Randall gives away his opinion on the Bitcoin concept in this name? Or perhaps the fictional character from Brøderbund's ''{{w|Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing}}''?
|-
|Michaela2006
|
|-
|Michelle11
|
|-
|Minecraft Holmes
|A portmanteau of the game Minecraft and the character {{w|Mycroft Holmes}}
|-
|Misty3
|
|-
|Myspace Tom
|{{w|Myspace}} was co-founded by {{w|Tom Anderson}}.
|-
|Norton Ghost Dad
|A portmanteau of the software {{w|Norton Ghost}} and the film {{w|Ghost Dad}}.
|-
|Notorious L.H.C.
|Portmanteau of rapper {{w|The_Notorious_B.I.G.|Notorious B.I.G.}} and the {{w|LHC}}.
|-
|Padme Dorothy James
|{{w|P. D. James}} is a British Author. {{w|Padme}} is a Star Wars character. (Dorothy is actually P. D. James' middle name)
|-
|Pam06
|
|-
|Patricia03
|
|-
|Paul50
|
|-
|Paul1957
|
|-
|Player One
|As in old computer games
|-
|Player Two
|As in old computer games
|-
|Professor Monoculatus McToff
|
|-
|Raymond6
|
|-
|Ronald22
|
|-
|Ruth3
|
|-
|S. G. Dukat
|[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Dukat Dukat, S.G.], better known as "Gul Dukat" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
|-
|Samuel19
|
|-
|Samuel49
|
|-
|Sarah55
|
|-
|Sarah1976
|
|-
|Sarah2005
|
|-
|Sharon91
|
|-
|Sharon99
|
|-
|Shaun6
|
|-
|Shaun46
|
|-
|Shaun1960
|
|-
|Sheena2005
|
|-
|Sherri97
|
|-
|{{w|Sidd Finch}}
|The subject of the notorious article and April Fools' Day hoax "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch"
|-
|Sierra3
|
|-
|Sierra7
|
|-
|Sierra10
|
|-
|Stacy07
|
|-
|Stacy14
|
|-
|Steven02
|
|-
|Steven50
|
|-
|Steven2002
|
|-
|Susan11
|
|-
|Susan25
|
|-
|Taylor1990
|
|-
|Taylor1998
|
|-
|Thomas2
|
|-
|Tim21
|
|-
|Tim87
|
|-
|[http://bobs-burgers.wikia.com/wiki/Tina_Belcher Tina Belcher]
|A character in {{w|Bob's Burgers}}
|-
|Todd33
|
|-
|Tonya22
|
|-
|Tonya38
|
|-
|Tracy1977
|
|-
|Tricia1
|
|-
|Tricia14
|
|-
|Trinity1989
|
|-
|Virginia1961
|
|-
|Virginia2006
|
|-
|Wil
|{{w|Will Wheaton}}'s [http://reddit.com/user/wil reddit username].
|-
|Wric Tungstenfinger
|Referring to "Auric Goldfinger" in the James Bond Franchise. (Gold = Au, Tungsten = W)
|}

==User pictures==
:[Below are descriptions of possible (not all?) user pictures shown next to any user name as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[The 20 user images can be directly accessed on xkcd from http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-1.png to http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-20.png.]
:[Picture of all users in number order from User-1 to User-2, ordered left to right, top to bottom:
:[[File:All users.png]]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-1.png User-1 Knit Cap Girl] [From [[1350: Lorenz]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-2.png User-2 Man with black hair] [Could be [[Hairy]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-3.png User-3 Baseball]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-4.png User-4 White silhouette]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-5.png User-5 Galaxy with jets from central black hole] (Similar picture can be found in [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]].)
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-6.png User-6 White planet Saturn with ''Space kills'' written above and below the planet]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-7.png User-7 Squirrel] [xkcd has had squirrels as a theme for a long time - see [[1503: Squirrel Plan]]).
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-8.png User-8 Squirrel close up]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-9.png User-9 Beret Guy with hair] [So not [[Beret Guy]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-10.png User-10 Man with Gray Hat] [So neither [[Black Hat] or [[White Hat]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-11.png User-11 Penrose triangle] [A {{w|Penrose triangle}}]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-12.png User-12 Standing hairy man] [Could be [[Hairy]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-13.png User-13 eiπ≈0]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-14.png User-14 Running black haired girl] [Could be [[Megan]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-15.png User-15 Walking hairy man] [Could be [[Hairy]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-16.png User-16 Close up of male face with black hair on a gray background]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-17.png User-17 Flying girl plus more in background] [Could be [[Megan]] from [[1416: Pixels]]. See also [[353: Python]]]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-18.png User-18 Hairy stick figure from a far distance]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-19.png User-19 Hair stick figure on a skateboard] [Could be [[Megan]]. She has been seen on [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?search=megan+skateboard&go=Go&title=Special%3ASearch skateboards].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-20.png User-20 Hairy stick figure fencing] [Could be [[Megan]]].

==Like buttons==
:[xkcloud has "''Like''" buttons next to each post (next to the post text above the picture), similar to those on Facebook, but with random text from this alphabetical list below where all words are [http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/want synonyms for want].]
*Covet
*Crave
*Hanker
*Thirst
*Yearn

==Post from users==
:[Some of the picture can be seen on this page: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].]
:[It will likely be impossible to transcribe all this as it is user input, and thus not Randall's own text. But at least a few examples should be given here as a reference. If anyone wish to expand beyond a few feel free to contribute.]
*Meritocracy is a pipe dream
''The Mushroom Kingdom (from Super Mario Bros.) is a monarchic meritocracy''
*The prophecy was true!
*The tea party was right about GMO bicycles
*Everything makes sense now
*Turkey drumstick Stonehenge was surprisingly compelling
*I've made a huge mistake
*Um, I think somethings wrong with my carrot...
*The rest is darkness and decay
*Howerboard to full power!
*My hobby: Freaking people out
*Is this real life?
''Reference to Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody''
*Where should I put this new cool tatto?

*Exact composition of this... thing... is yet to be determined.
*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
*Man, that cool-ade guy really lost some weight lately.
*Lol, no I didn't jump
*In hindsight, it makes perfect sense
*Whoops I left the Lens Cap on for this one. :S
*Duck Duck Go's secret algorithm
''Duck Duck Go is a search engine which doesn't track you. Somewhat ironically, their algorithm is a bit secretive''
*This isn't where I parked my zeppelin!
*Who stepped on my pop tart?
*Big Ben is going down
*Do my feet look fat?
*I say; Nuts to that!
*I can take photo's with my teeth!
*To infinity and birdyond!
''Reference to Toystory''
*I wish I could afford the monopolar model...
*I can control the BEES! But I only make them turn right
*the saddest moment of my childhood
*hey, so, we need to talk about your sphere-packing problem.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Comic subpages]]

1506: xkcloud/Transcript

2015-12-22T19:25:28Z

188.114.97.151: /* Reason for data loss */ missing a half explain for one of the messages

*This is a valiant effort to create a transcript for the ''continually''(?) growing dynamic comic [[1506: xkcloud]].
**The front page of the comic is [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|transcribed]] as usual on the [[1506: xkcloud|main page]].
*See pictures of the other types of pages here: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages]].
<div class="toclimit-3" style="float:right; margin-left: 10px;">__TOC__</div>
==Intro==
*After clicking on the red button on the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] (only part of the transcript written on the main page for xkcd), you will see either:
**the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page or
**the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.
*Both these pages are transcribed below.
**Here below the headings of the transcripts for the four pages, links directly to the section with the relevant images on the page with [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures of other pages|Pictures of other pages].
*From there you have to choose either a picture to a text or a text to an image.
**If you press the ''Draw one your self'' button on the ''Help! We lost the picture'' this page will change slightly:
***[[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]].
**When you then submit a picture, or if you just picked one of the five pictures or five text suggestions, or submitted a text your self, you will go to this page:
***[[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]]
*From all pages you can go back to the [[1506: xkcloud#Transcript|front page]] by clicking on the image of Cueball at his desk.
*After completing the first post, there will always be seven post shown below (also if you go back to the front page).
**When you complete a post your new post will be shown together with six new.
**When you push a button to recover more data these seven posts (including "yours") will be shown instead of only six as to begin with.
**From here you can loop between these four pages (not counting the ''Draw one for your self'' as a separate page.)
*The above mentioned pages are fully transcribed below.
*Also, there are lists for the following Randall created text and items:
**[[#Reason for data loss|Reason for data loss]]
**[[#User names|User names]]
**[[#User pictures|User pictures]] (a description of possible images next to users)
**[[#Like buttons|Like buttons]]
*Finally, there is all the user input text. This will probably be impossible to transcribe but a few examples should be provided as an example.
**These will be given here: [[#Post from users|Post from users]]
**Some of the picture can be seen on this page:
***[[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_text_page|Help! We lost the text]]==
:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! we lost the text that goes with this post!'''
:[For cases where the user has to submit or select a text according to a picture.]
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The picture can be used for several user names.]
:[Below the user name is the picture from the post. This picture is also chosen at random from a set which must mainly be created from user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five pictures see [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] section above).]

:[Below this and above five frames with text in two columns are this line of text:]
:Which text post do you think went with this picture?
:[The five texts below are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with. Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below this is a box where you are invited to write and submit a text suggestion. In the box written in gray letters (rather than black, which it will turn to when you type something) are the following text:]
:Or, write your own
:[To the left is a button with the text:]
:Submit

:[By clicking on any of the five text boxes you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) where the chosen text is now standing above the picture from the post above. If you write a text and click the submit button your own text will be written above the picture.]

:[Below this submit text box is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy regarding your personal data:

*Please stop sending us your personal data
*We are running out of places to put it
*Is this even yours?
*Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
*Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
*Why are you doing this
*Please stop
*Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are six post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All six again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]].]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help.21_We_lost_the_picture_page|Help! We lost the picture]]==
:[At the top of the page there are the following text:]
:'''Help! We lost the picture that goes with this post!'''
:Reason for data loss:
:[Here on this same line follows a text which is a random reason taken from a list created by [[Randall]]. See [[#Reason for data loss|examples below]]).]

:[Below this text is a white box on top of the light blue background. It is the post mentioned above. At the top is a random user picture - could be a person or a picture of a galaxy etc (see [[#User pictures|descriptions below]]). Next to the picture is a random user name (see [[#User names|descriptions below]]). The same picture can be used for several user names (and probably likewise).]
:[Below the user name is the text of the post. This text is also random and it must mainly be user input. Randall must have given some input to start with though - at least five sentences see [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] section below). Some examples are [[#Post from users|transcribed here]].]
:[Below is a blue rectangle where the missing picture should be. Instead there is only a white question mark:]
:'''?'''

:[Below this and above six picture frames in two rows is a line of text:]
:Which of these pictures do you think went with this post?
:[The five first pictures are from a random sample, created mainly by the users, but Randall must at least have made five to begin with). In the sixth and last picture frame the following text is written:]
:Draw one your self

:[By clicking on any of the five pictures you get to a new page (see the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page) with the chosen picture now substituting the "?" in the post above with the chosen picture. If you click the Draw one your self the page will change slightly into the [[#Draw one your self|Draw one your self]] page - a page where you can do exactly this. From there you go to the other page mentioned before.]

:[Below these six frames is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk (as on the front page). If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy regarding your personal data:

*Please stop sending us your personal data
*We are running out of places to put it
*Is this even yours?
*Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
*Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
*Why are you doing this
*Please stop
*Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following in light gray text:]
:Don't contact us ([http://euphoria.io/room/xkcd/ linking to this live chatroom])

:[To the right below the thin black line are six post above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. All six again random as mentioned above. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text are a blue like button that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]].]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Draw_one_your_self_page|Draw one your self]]==
:[If you press the picture frame with the text ''Draw one your self'' on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page the page changes. It is not a new page. But below the white post frame with the blue rectangle with "?" there is now no longer six frames, but only one large frame. Above the frame is written:]
:Do your best to recreate the picture you think went with this post:

:[Below is a blank white frame with five tools to the left (pencil, eraser, redo, undo and delete all) and to the right you can choose between seven line thicknesses.]

:[Below this frame is a button on which it says:]
:Upload image
:[If you press this then you picture is uploaded and shown as part of the post on the [[#Help us recover more data|Help us recover more data]] page].

:[Below the image editor nothing has changed compared to before and everything beneath the thin black line is as before.]

==[[1506:_xkcloud/Pictures_of_other_pages#Help_us_recover_more_data_page|Help us recover more data]]==
:[At the top of this third page (or fourth if coming from the paint a picture page) there are the following white text on a red button:]
:'''Help us recover more data'''

:[If you click this button you go back to one of the two pages that follows the front page that is the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page or the [[#Help! We lost the text|Help! We lost the text]] page. So in this way a loop will begin. The only difference is that now there will be seven pictures instead of six at the bottom, and it will be the seven that was on this page - including the one you have been involved in at the top.]

:[Below this button is a thin black line. Below this to the left we again see Cueball sitting at his desk - same as with the two pages mentioned above as are the text given here below. If you click on the picture with Cueball you return to the front page.]
:Desk: XKCD.COM

:[Below him there are the following text and bulleted list:]
:Our policy regarding your personal data:

*Please stop sending us your personal data
*We are running out of places to put it
*Is this even yours?
*Does anyone recognize whose data this is?
*Oh jeez never mind here comes more data
*Why are you doing this
*Please stop
*Help
:[Below this list appeared late in the afternoon the following weak gray text:]
:Don't contact us

:[To the right below the thin black line are both the post you have just finished (either by connecting a text or image with the missing part or even typing or painting your self) as well as six other posts below "yours". They are stacked above each other with user picture and name above a post text and a picture. The other six are again random chosen - it is not the ones from the page where you should choose a text/image. Furthermore to the right above each picture (right of the first line - if there are multiple lines) of the post text is a blue "like button" that you can press. The buttons seems to be active links when you hover over them, but nothing happens when you click on them. The buttons have a thumbs up icon to the right. Next to the icon there is a random word taken from a list created by Randall. (It seems to be from a list of words that are synonymous with want - see [[#Like buttons|below]]). Above these buttons there (from late in the afternoon no April 1st) appear a word which by clicking it created a permalink:]
:Link
:[This is written over all the buttons for each of the possible posts.]

==Reason for data loss==
{| class="wikitable"
!Sentence
!Explanation
|-
| +++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REDO FROM START +++
|A reference to Hex, the magical computer from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which would occasionally emit this error
|-
|<%= reason %>
|A template used by server-side frameworks such as Rails, which would normally replace this line with the actual value of the "reason" variable.
|-
|a user's middle name was <nowiki></html></nowiki>
|Having a user name containing an html tag might cause issues in the server, similar to [http://xkcd.com/327 xkcd 327].
|-
|aol window in front of netscape window
|AOL (America Online, a dial-up online service popular in the 1990s) acquired Netscape (company that developed for the original commercial browser, precursor to Firefox) in 1998
|-
|Baby ur much 2 fast
|Lyrics from the Prince song "Little Red Corvette"
|-
|bookmarks migrated to Venezuela
|Bookmarks are typically migrated from one file folder to another so that they can be accessed by another browser.
|-
|butter didn't suit the works
|Reference to "Alice in Wonderland" -- the Mad Hatter put butter into his watch to make it keep more accurate time, and explained "I used the very best butter, too."
|-
|butter overflow
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|butter to text interface not found
|A reference to speech-to-text interfaces, typically used by people who cannot see easily to enable them to use a computer.
|-
|butter underrun
|butter instead of buffer
|-
|cannot save, there's something gross on the S key
|A reference to the "Control-S" save shortcut on both Windows and Mac, and is saying that they are unable to activate the shortcut (thus saving the data) because there is "something gross" on it.
|-
|CAPTCHA response indicated parahuman intelligence
|A CAPTCHA is a tool which aims to prevent comupter-generated submissions to an online form by asking the user a question which is easy for humans but (supposedly) hard for computers. In this case, the CAPTCHA detects {{w|parahuman}} intelligence rather than human intelligence.
|-
|cat-like typing detected
|When cats walk or sit on keyboards, they can type, which can be annoying. A program called [http://bitboost.com/pawsense/ PawSense] attempted to detect this and block the typed keystrokes to reduce inconvenience.
|-
|confirmation BIOS
|Pun on "confirmation bias" (a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors); BIOS is part of a PC's hardware
|-
|could not evade skifree yeti
|[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkiFree SkiFree] is an early 90s computer game that requires the player to ski down an endless slope. It's famous for a yeti that appears after the player reaches a certain distance, which then chases and eats the player. Possibly a reference to [[667: SkiFree]].
|-
|could not initialize sound blaster 16
|The Sound Blaster 16 is a PC sound card which used FM synthesis to play MIDI files, which was popular in the 1990s.
|-
|CRM-114 unit malfunctioning
|The CRM-114 unit's malfunction is the main plot device in the film Dr Strangelove
|-
|cumulonimbus #19 too rabbitlike
|A cumulonimbus is a type of cloud. This may be a reference to Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. The error suggests that the cloud looked too much like a rabbit.
|-
|data too big
|
|-
|database configuration violates the Prime Directive
|The [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive Prime Directive] comes from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek Star Trek], and refers to the principle of not interfering with the natural development of primitive cultures. This error is implying that the database is being seen as a primitive life, and therefore the server is not allowed to make any changes to it.
|-
|Dave's not registered, man
|Cheech and Chong reference: "Dave's not here, man".
|-
|Desystematized chronodynamic balancing detected in VX Module core.
|References the VX community, which can be found on [http://www.reddit.com/r/VXJunkies/ its subreddit] and a WIP [http://vxmodules.wikia.com/wiki/VX_Wiki wiki]. The community is centered around making up technobabble about the fictional "VX" series of devices, without breaking character.
|-
|dictionary too stiff to read
|dictionary in addition to being a book where you can look up the definition of words can also be a data structure of key value pairings.
|-
|electrons too big, stuck in wafer
|"Wafer" refers to silicon or other material used as substrate for semiconductor fabrication.
|-
|ERR:INVALID DIM
|On the Texas Instruments TI-83 and TI-84 calculators, this is an error message shown [http://oakroadsystems.com/math/ti83oops.htm#x_InvalidDim in various situations].
|-
|error reading drive B. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abort,_Retry,_Fail%3F Abort, Retry, Fail?]
|A common error from MS-DOS, often caused by a failing floppy disk
|-
|error
|This error message is so uninformative as to be redundant.
|-
|error: error code [error] while decoding error code
|Similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|error: operation completed successfully
|A somewhat common coding error in *nix programs. The program detected an error and tried to print the error using a function such as perror which prints a message based on the global variable errno. However, the error wasn't generated by a standard library routine so errno equals 0 (no error).
|-
|ethics in journalism
|Possibly a reference to the movement Gamergate, a group ostensibly dedicated to "ethics in video game journalism", but has been accused of misogyny and harassment.
|-
|eyelash! eyelash!
|Possibly a reference to [http://xkcd.com/1086 xkcd 1086]
|-
|files fell out
|Paper files (as would be stored in a filing cabinet) can be misplaced and items can fall out of them if mishandled. However, it would be unexpected for digital files to fall out in this way.
|-
|files overwritten with more interesting content
|
|-
|firewall caught fire
|Pun based on the inclusion of the term "fire" in "firewall"
|-
|floating point unit no longer afloat
|A floating point unit is a part of a CPU which can perform calculations on non-integers. The pun is that the floating point unit is not floating (as in on a liquid). Possibly a reference to the Jargon File's [http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/N/number-crunching.html#crunchly74-12-25 Crunchly comic].
|-
|food problematic
|Firefly quote
|-
|friday squid blogging
|Security guru Bruce Schneier regularly posts a blog post with this title, and some squid related news, primarily as a discussion thread.
|-
|general uncertainty
|Possibly reference to the general uncertainty principle in Quantum Mechanics, which gives an upper limit for the accuracy of measuring two variables at the same time.
|-
|GSM filter change required
|Possibly referring to an electronic component used to filter out GSM frequencies. Unlike automotive oil filters, electronic filters don't require changing.
|-
|guru meditation #00000025.65045338 press left mouse button to continue
|A common error from the Commodore Amiga.
|-
|hard drive oil depleted
|Hard drives don't use oil/gas like cars do, so it would be strange for the oil to have depleted.
|-
|helvetica scenario
|A reference to the episode on Calcium from the BBC TV show Look Around You.
|-
|HTTP 403 and 3/4ths
|HTTP errors are emitted when an HTTP request (e.g. to download a web page) fails. 403 is Forbidden and 404 is Not Found; 403.75 is somewhere between the two. Reference to Harry Potter's Platform 9¾.
|-
|HTTP 418
|The 4xx class of status code is intended for cases in which the client seems to have erred. For example, the well known 404 is when the client requests a web page that doesn't exist. HTTP 418 is part of the {{w|HTCPCP|Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol}}, denoting "I am a teapot," and purportedly is used when sending an instruction to brew coffee to a teapot.
|-
|http is down
|Since all the traffic is being handled by http (or https), is http were truely down, it would be a conundrum.
|-
|hung up prematurely
|Possible reference to dialup modems: The server disconnected the phone line too soon.
|-
|I got pretty distracted trying to figure out how big space is
|Possible reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which purports that space is Really Big.
|-
|i hurt myself today / to see if i still feel
|Lyrics from "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.
|-
|illegal carrot detected in mail queue
|carrot instead of caret
|-
|insufficient smoke for current mirror array
|Refers to the phrase 'smoke and mirrors'
|-
|lights are out, hard drive is taking a nap
|
|-
|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lp0_on_fire lp0 on fire]
|lp0 is the printer port, there used to be a 'printer on fire' error/warning
|-
|Main Bus B Undervolt
|A line from Apollo 13, when the spaceship is 'having a problem'.
|-
|mean connection time exceeded
|"Maximum connection time exceeded" might be an error -- by definition, some connections must last longer than the mean (average) connection time.
|-
|microwave running
|Both microwaves and Wifi operate on the same frequency and have been known to cause interference
|-
|minimum recursion depth not reached
|"Maximum recursion depth exceeded" would be an error -- "depth not exceeded" wouldn't be (and there is no minimum limit)
|-
|nanobots in the water
|
|-
|not a hair question
|One of the error messages that the Bucket bot in the #xkcd IRC channel can emit is "That is not a hair question."
|-
|oh jeez there's a lot of you can you all just hang on for a second please oh frig this is so bad
|
|-
|our buffer runneth over
|Old-English style message for "buffer overrun" instead of more modern language. There were no computers yet at that time. Also a reference to the King James translation of Psalm 23, which includes the phrase "my cup runneth over".
|-
|out of electrons
|
|-
|out of monads
|Monads are a concept in functional programming languages, such as Haskell. They have a reputation for being hard to understand.
|-
|overcurrent undervolt caused by vacuum cleaner on same circuit
|
|-
|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_LOAD_LETTER PC LOAD LETTER]
|Error message on older printers stating to add extra letter-size sheets, which has become known to be a very cryptic error message. Reference to the film {{w|Office Space}}.
|-
|Please Insert Riven CD 4
|{{w|Riven}} is a graphical adventure game by {{w|Cyan Worlds}} that was the sequel to {{w|Myst}}, released in 1997. Due to its large amount of image and video content it was on 5 compact discs, and when you traveled from one section of the game to another, it usually prompted you to insert a different CD to load that section's content.
|-
|PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
|The prompt given by a Commodore-64 when using the LOAD command (without a filename argument)
|-
|previously-recovered files overwritten by newly-recovered ones
|
|-
|qubit indeterminate
|Possibly referring to quantum indeterminacy of qubits, which are used in quantum computing.
|-
|RDBMS completely forgot how inner joins work
|"Inner join" is a common SQL operation performed by a Relational DataBase Management System.
|-
|screws are stripped
|
|-
|server aperture too narrow for capital letters
|
|-
|server farm lost starbucks wifi signal
|
|-
|server fell in ocean
|
|-
|server had too much to drink
|Servers are unlikely to have human style issues with drinking too much alcohol.
|-
|server power cable stolen by raccoon for nest
|
|-
|server room haunted
|Maybe a reference to an UVB-76 broadcast in 2001, which said "I am 143. Not receiving the generator." and "That stuff comes from hardware room." in Russian
|-
|sitemap was held upside down
|Sitemap refers to a website directory. Paper maps can be held upside down.
|-
|Something went wrong: Something went wrong (Something went wrong)
|similar to certain OS error messages which contain errors in themselves
|-
|soonerist sperver fid dot nile
|A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism spoonerism] - spoonerist server did not find file
|-
|spin cycle still active
|Washing machines have a spin cycle. Hard-drives spin. CPUs have cycles.
|-
|spin number must be of the form n/2
|Quantum spin numbers (in atomic physics) must be integers or half-integers
|-
|spontaneous splinal dereticulation
|"Reticulating Splines" is a loading message in The Sims and SimCity video game series.
|-
|SQL ejection
|ejection instead of injection
|-
|subtle threading bug in turing-complete version numbering system
|
|-
|sysadmin trapped in well
|Reference to Timmy being trapped in a well.
|-
|tape on write-protect hole fell off
|Read-only floppy disks have a ''write-protect'' hole in the corner. A writable disk has no hole.<ref>http://oit.ua.edu/oit/services/it-service-desk/write-protect-a-floppy-diskette/</ref> It was common practice to convert read-only floppy disks (that could be obtained for free due to, e.g. shareware distribution at computer stores) into writable floppy disks by placing sticky tape over the hole.
|-
|temporal paradox
|
|-
|the butter you have dialed is invalid or no longer in service
|butter instead of number
|-
|the little plastic tab on the box the data's in broke off
|
|-
|the server is temporarily permanent. Please try another also.
|
|-
|the system / is down
|Lyrics from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILVfzx5Pe-A "The System is Down"], also known as Strongbad Techno. Possible additional reference to the '/' root filesystem on unix/linux.
|-
|This copy of Ubuntu is not genuine and you have not yet resolved this issue.
|Similar warnings betray proprietary software designed to break when used outside the terms of its license. Messages like this are unlikely to be found in free software like Ubuntu, where anti-features are largely inviable.
|-
|This page contains content from the Open Source Initiative, who have blocked it on copyright grounds.
|It would be ironic for the Open Source Initiative, which promotes sharing and modification, to prevent the sharing of the page for copyright reasons.
|-
|too many hands on the keyboard
|Possibly a reference to a scene in NCIS where two people simultaneously used the same keyboard to "double hack".
|-
|transfer interrupted by incoming fax
|Internet access used to be on dialup modems, which is also used for telephone calls or faxing. These can't operate at the same time.
|-
|TRIED TO READ 9TH SIDE OF 8 TRACK
|Eight-track tape is an obsolete format for recorded music; the tape itself only had two sides. Nine-track tape - much wider than eight-track tape - was used for computer data storage.
|-
|turns out server was on circuit with lightswitch by door
|If you turned out the lights as you left the room, it would power down the server.
|-
|Unable to cast variable of type Int32 to Magic Missile
|Magic Missile is a spell (which you can cast) in Dungeons & Dragons. Casting can also refer (in programming) to converting variables from one type to another, e.g. from integer to string. The pun here is that a 32-bit integer is being cast to the Magic Missile spell.
|-
|undefined is not a function, which really makes you think
|"Undefined is not a function" is a Javascript TypeError.
|-
|unexpected timezone drift desynchronization
|
|-
|unimplemented trap
|"Trap" refers to a computer operation code that is not implemented in the processor's instruction set and instead performs a system call. "Unimplemented trap" was an error message in some previous versions of MacOS.
|-
|User accepted terms but not conditions
|Normally, at a EULA you must accept 'terms and conditions'. There is basically no option to only agree to terms.
|-
|User is {{w|not a typewriter}}.
|A reference to the "isatty" function in the Unix C library, which reports whether a file descriptor is connected to a teletypewriter (terminal) or not. Interactive programs generally are intended to be used from a terminal.
|-
|user put spaces/vowels in filename
|Because early FAT file systems allowed only 8 characters in the filename, users often shortened names by removing the vowels. This ostensibly kept the file names readable, but under the 8-character limit. In practice, filenames without vowels were often misunderstood. Also, several programs (more so in the past) break when attempting to read from/write to files with spaces or reserved characters/non ASCII characters on their name.
|-
|UTF-31 decode error
|UTF-31 instead of UTF-32
|-
|virtual memory got too real
|Virtual memory is where the OS writes less-used parts of RAM to disk, so that the RAM can be used for another program, hence the less-used parts are in virtual memory. "This is getting too real" is an idiom meaning the person is approaching their wits' end.
|-
|wrong files
|
|-
|YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS
|A line frequently announced by the Protoss advisor in Starcraft.
|}

==User names==
:[Below are possible (not all?) user names mentioned next to any post as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[In alphabetical order:]
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Comment
|-
|@meganamram
|Megan Amram is a comedian and writer. She became well known through her Twitter Channel @meganamram <ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Amram</ref>
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|Addison1
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|Agric Silverfinger
|Referring to "Auric Goldfinger" in the James Bond Franchise. (Gold = Au, Silver = Ag)
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|Aidenn Aberforth Milne
|{{w|A. A. Milne}} is the author of {{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}. The A. A. stands for Alan Alexander. Aidan and Aberforth are both Characters in the Harry Potter series
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|Alice1956
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|Amanda08
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|Anonymous
|{{w|Anonymous}} as if most of these other names are not.
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|Apple Martin
|Apple Martin is the name of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's daughter.
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|Benjamin Kenobi Sr
|{{w|Ben Kenobi}} or Obi-Wan Kenobi well known from {{w|Star Wars (film)|Star Wars}}. Since Ben had no kids this person could be his father.
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|Bool Hand Luke
|Portmanteau of the datatype {{w|Bool}} and the film {{w|Cool Hand Luke}}.
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|Cheyenne1988
|Reference to the 1988 Chevrolet Cheyenne
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|Christina Applecare
|Portmanteau of actress {{w|Christina Applegate}} and {{w|Applecare}}
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|CMOS Def
|Portmanteau of {{w|CMOS}} and {{w|Mos Def}}.
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|Curic Copperfinger
|Referring to "Auric Goldfinger" in the James Bond Franchise. (Gold = Au, Copper = Cu)
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|{{w|David St. Hubbins}}
|Character in the mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap.
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|Merging {{w|Dragon Ball}} with {{w|D. B. Cooper}}
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|Dunston Chexin
|Homonym of the film {{w|Dunston Checks In}}
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|Earl Sinclair
|{{w|Earl Sinclair}} is the Dinosaur family father from the {{w|Dinosaurs (TV series)|Dinosaurs TV series}}.
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|Egbert Bentley White
|{{w|E. B. White}} was an American Writer. The E. B. in his name stand for Elwyn Brooks.
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|{{w|Eliezer Yudkowsky}}
|An advocate for friendly artificial intelligence.
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|Elon Musk
|{{w|Elon Musk}} is the founder of {{w|SpaceX}} and a confounder of {{w|Paypal}} and of {{w|Tesla Motors}}.
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|Emily15
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|Eowyn L'Oreal James
|{{w|E. L. James}} is a British Author. Eowyn is a character in {{w|Lord of the Rings}}. L'Oreal is a brand of makeup.
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|Euphegenia Doubtfire
|{{w|Euphegenia Doubtfire}} is better know as Mrs. Doubtfire from the movie by the same name and played by {{w|Robin Williams}}.
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|Facebook Scott Fitzgerald
|{{w|F. Scott Fitzgerald}}, with F for Francis not Facebook, is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
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|Flash Groupon
|Named after {{w|Flash Gordon}} the hero of a science fiction adventure of the same name (comic and movies/TV series).
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|George Debian Bush
|{{w|George W. Bush}}, commonly called "Dubya" after his middle initial to distinguish him from his father; 43rd {{w|President of the United States}}.
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|George Reagan Renesmee Martin
|{{w|George R. R. Martin|George Raymond Richard Martin}}, American novelist and screenwriter best known for his book series {{w|A Song of Fire and Ice}} and its television adaptation {{w|Game of Thrones}}; {{w|Ronald Reagan}}, the 40th {{w|President of the United States}}; {{w|List_of_Twilight_characters#Renesmee_Cullen|Renesmee Cullen}}, the daughter of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan in the novel {{w|Breaking Dawn}} of the {{w|Twilight (series)|Twilight saga}}.
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|Green Mario
|Luigi of the Mario Brothers is green while his brother Mario wears red. In Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros Luigi and Mario are identical apart from the colour of their clothing.
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|Greg2004
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|Hatsy Collins
|Bootsy Collins' milliner brother.
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|Henry05
|{{w|Henry V (play)|Henry V}}?
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|Henry4
|{{W|Henry IV, Part 1|Henry IV}}?
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|Horsepower Lovecraft
|{{w|H. P. Lovecraft|Howard Phillips Lovecraft}}, an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction; {{w|Horsepower}}, a common unit of measurement for the rate at which work is done ("power") commonly used in reference to engines.
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|J. Alfred Leftshark
|J. Alfred Prufrock from T. S. Eliot's poem {{w|The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock}}; "Left Shark" refers to one of the back-up dancers from {{w|Katy Perry}}'s performance at the {{w|Super Bowl XLIX halftime show}} who conspicuously danced out of beat.
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|Jack3
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|Jack39
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|Jaden Riley Rufio Tolkien
|{{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}, author of {{w|The Hobbit}} and {{w|The Lord of the Rings}}; "J. J. R." stands for "John Ronald Reuel". "Jaden" perhaps from {{w|Jaden Smith}}; "Riley" is a {{w|Riley (given name)|Given Name}} and a common {{w|Riley (surname)|Surname}} but could refer to {{w|Life of Riley}} or the phrase that inspired it; "Rufio" refers either to the punk-rock band {{w|Rufio}}, the Lost Boy from the film {{W|Hook (film)|Hook}}, or one of {{w|Rufio (officer of Caesar)|Julius Caesar's officers}}.
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|Jaina Khloe Rowling
|{{w|J. K. Rowling}} author of {{w|Harry Potter}}. The J is for Joanne, the K is just to have a better {{w|pen name}}.
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|Jalen81
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|James URL Jones
|{{w|James Earl Jones}}, a prolific American stage and film actor most recognizable as the voice of {{w|Darth Vader}}; {{w|URL}} or "uniform resource locator" refers to the address of a webpage as displayed by a web browser in the address bar.
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|Jason15
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|{{w|Jeph Jacques}}
|Jeph Jacques writes and illustrates the webcomic Questionable Content.
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|Joe Biden
|{{w|Joe Biden}} is the 47th (and current at the time of this comic) {{w|Vice President of the United States}}, jointly elected twice with President {{w|Barack Obama}} and in office since 2009.
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|John2
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|John Wilkes Knuth
|{{w|John Wilkes Booth}} was an American stage actor who assassinated President {{w|Abraham Lincoln}} at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. {{w|Donald Knuth}} is a computer scientist, famous for his multi-volume work ''The Art of Computer Programming'' and for developing the TeX text type-setting system.
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|Kilroy
|As in {{w|Kilroy was here}}?
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|Larry Ronald Hubbard
|{{w|L. Ron Hubbard}} although the L. stands for Lafayette. Was an American author and the founder of the {{w|Church of Scientology}}.
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|Lauren Ibsen Dolores Amit
|This is a modified version of "{{w|Lorem ipsum}} dolor sit amet," the first words of a garbled Latin text often used as a substitute for real text where the text content is irrelevant, such as in a page used to display a typeface.
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|Linda08
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|Lindsay2011
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|Livemau5
|Referring to {{w|deadmau5}}
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|Lord Gaga
|Referring to {{w|Lady Gaga}}
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|Lord Mondegreen
|The term "{{w|Mondegreen}}" for a misheard word was coined in the essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen"
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|Louis Reasoner
|A character in the textbook {{w|Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs}}.
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|{{w|Marissa Mayer}}
|The President and CEO of Yahoo!
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|Mark Zuckerberg
|{{w|Mark Zuckerberg}} is the founder of {{w|Facebook}}
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|Martin Van Halen
|{{w|Martin Van Buren}}, 8th President of the United States, combined with the band {{w|Van Halen}}.
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|Matthew2006
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|Mavis Bitcoin
|{{w|Bitcoin}} is an on-line payment system. The use of the name {{w|Mavis}} was initiated by {{w|Marie Corelli|Marie Corelli's}} 1895 novel ''{{w|The Sorrows of Satan}}''. Maybe Randall gives away his opinion on the Bitcoin concept in this name? Or perhaps the fictional character from Brøderbund's ''{{w|Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing}}''?
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|Minecraft Holmes
|A portmanteau of the game Minecraft and the character {{w|Mycroft Holmes}}
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|Myspace Tom
|{{w|Myspace}} was co-founded by {{w|Tom Anderson}}.
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|Norton Ghost Dad
|A portmanteau of the software {{w|Norton Ghost}} and the film {{w|Ghost Dad}}.
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|Notorious L.H.C.
|Portmanteau of rapper {{w|The_Notorious_B.I.G.|Notorious B.I.G.}} and the {{w|LHC}}.
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|Padme Dorothy James
|{{w|P. D. James}} is a British Author. {{w|Padme}} is a Star Wars character. (Dorothy is actually P. D. James' middle name)
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|Player One
|As in old computer games
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|As in old computer games
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|Professor Monoculatus McToff
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|S. G. Dukat
|[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Dukat Dukat, S.G.], better known as "Gul Dukat" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
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|{{w|Sidd Finch}}
|The subject of the notorious article and April Fools' Day hoax "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch"
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|[http://bobs-burgers.wikia.com/wiki/Tina_Belcher Tina Belcher]
|A character in {{w|Bob's Burgers}}
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|Wil
|{{w|Will Wheaton}}'s [http://reddit.com/user/wil reddit username].
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|Wric Tungstenfinger
|Referring to "Auric Goldfinger" in the James Bond Franchise. (Gold = Au, Tungsten = W)
|}

==User pictures==
:[Below are descriptions of possible (not all?) user pictures shown next to any user name as for instance on the [[#Help! We lost the picture|Help! We lost the picture]] page.]
:[The 20 user images can be directly accessed on xkcd from http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-1.png to http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-20.png.]
:[Picture of all users in number order from User-1 to User-2, ordered left to right, top to bottom:
:[[File:All users.png]]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-1.png User-1 Knit Cap Girl] [From [[1350: Lorenz]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-2.png User-2 Man with black hair] [Could be [[Hairy]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-3.png User-3 Baseball]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-4.png User-4 White silhouette]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-5.png User-5 Galaxy with jets from central black hole] (Similar picture can be found in [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]].)
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-6.png User-6 White planet Saturn with ''Space kills'' written above and below the planet]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-7.png User-7 Squirrel] [xkcd has had squirrels as a theme for a long time - see [[1503: Squirrel Plan]]).
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-8.png User-8 Squirrel close up]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-9.png User-9 Beret Guy with hair] [So not [[Beret Guy]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-10.png User-10 Man with Gray Hat] [So neither [[Black Hat] or [[White Hat]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-11.png User-11 Penrose triangle] [A {{w|Penrose triangle}}]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-12.png User-12 Standing hairy man] [Could be [[Hairy]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-13.png User-13 eiπ≈0]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-14.png User-14 Running black haired girl] [Could be [[Megan]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-15.png User-15 Walking hairy man] [Could be [[Hairy]].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-16.png User-16 Close up of male face with black hair on a gray background]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-17.png User-17 Flying girl plus more in background] [Could be [[Megan]] from [[1416: Pixels]]. See also [[353: Python]]]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-18.png User-18 Hairy stick figure from a far distance]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-19.png User-19 Hair stick figure on a skateboard] [Could be [[Megan]]. She has been seen on [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?search=megan+skateboard&go=Go&title=Special%3ASearch skateboards].]
*[http://imgs.xkcd.com/xkcloud/user-20.png User-20 Hairy stick figure fencing] [Could be [[Megan]]].

==Like buttons==
:[xkcloud has "''Like''" buttons next to each post (next to the post text above the picture), similar to those on Facebook, but with random text from this alphabetical list below where all words are [http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/want synonyms for want].]
*Covet
*Crave
*Hanker
*Thirst
*Yearn

==Post from users==
:[Some of the picture can be seen on this page: [[1506: xkcloud/Pictures posted by users|Pictures posted by users]].]
:[It will likely be impossible to transcribe all this as it is user input, and thus not Randall's own text. But at least a few examples should be given here as a reference. If anyone wish to expand beyond a few feel free to contribute.]
*Meritocracy is a pipe dream
''The Mushroom Kingdom (from Super Mario Bros.) is a monarchic meritocracy''
*The prophecy was true!
*The tea party was right about GMO bicycles
*Everything makes sense now
*Turkey drumstick Stonehenge was surprisingly compelling
*I've made a huge mistake
*Um, I think somethings wrong with my carrot...
*The rest is darkness and decay
*Howerboard to full power!
*My hobby: Freaking people out
*Is this real life?
''Reference to Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody''
*Where should I put this new cool tatto?

*Exact composition of this... thing... is yet to be determined.
*AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
*Man, that cool-ade guy really lost some weight lately.
*Lol, no I didn't jump
*In hindsight, it makes perfect sense
*Whoops I left the Lens Cap on for this one. :S
*Duck Duck Go's secret algorithm
''Duck Duck Go is a search engine which doesn't track you. Somewhat ironically, their algorithm is a bit secretive''
*This isn't where I parked my zeppelin!
*Who stepped on my pop tart?
*Big Ben is going down
*Do my feet look fat?
*I say; Nuts to that!
*I can take photo's with my teeth!
*To infinity and birdyond!
''Reference to Toystory''
*I wish I could afford the monopolar model...
*I can control the BEES! But I only make them turn right
*the saddest moment of my childhood
*hey, so, we need to talk about your sphere-packing problem.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Comic subpages]]

Talk:1521: Sword in the Stone

2015-12-22T03:12:39Z

188.114.97.151: opinion

In Arthurian legend, whoever can remove the Sword in the Stone is the lawful king of England. Arthur is an orphan being raised in secret; he notices the sword, removes it, and is proclaimed king. The sword is sometimes identified as Excalibur, although in other versions Excalibur was acquired by King Arthur from the Lady of the Lake. The most familiar version of this story is ''The Sword in the Stone'' by T. H. White which is based on ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' by Sir Thomas Malory. Having a woman remove the sword would introduce difficulties. [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 06:12, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Seriously? Megan being transgender is preposterous. The comic mentions a throne, not a king. The proposition that the character needs to be a man is far fetched and a bit sexist. The legend usually mentions a ruler, not a kind per se. Even if it were a king, that is a baseless statement. Legends are up to interpretation. If a woman pulls out a sword it is possible that she be crowned Queen without having a king. Case in point, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Victoria -of England; they both have seen the glory days of Britain. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.152|108.162.221.152]] 07:27, 6 May 2015 (UTC)BK201

: And there was {{w|Jadwiga of Poland}}, female who was crowned '''king'''. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:33, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

: It's clearly Megan. Perhaps Aurthur has returned in female form (definitely not transgender), but it's unmistakably Megan. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 13:01, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
::Agreed. Why should she even represent Arthur. Anyone who could take the sword out would get the throne. I think the explanation should say it is Megan and that she has taken the role Arthur had once. Also the idea that the new princess can get the throne even if she has younger brothers may be important here as written by another user below. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:01, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

In a visual novel, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saber_(Fate/stay_night) King Arthur is a girl]. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.169|108.162.222.169]] 08:06, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
:Came here looking for this, wasn't dissapointed. More people should know about Fate! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.121|141.101.91.121]] 22:19, 8 May 2015 (UTC)
:C'mon, nobody mentioned Pterrys short story "Once and Future" yet? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.240|198.41.243.240]] 13:01, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

Should be lawful king of Britain. King Arthur was fighting against the English. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.66|141.101.98.66]] 08:30, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

If there were a real Arthur (dux bellorum or whatever) this is true, however in the legends things are much more complicated and inconsistent, so England is as good as anything else. -richardelguru

: Actually, they're not. They are very consistent that Arthur fought the English, at twelve battles. I'm REALLY tired of the way Americans get this wrong - England is NOT Britain! [[User:Adge|Adge]] ([[User talk:Adge|talk]]) 23:02, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

Minor point, but Vallum Aelium was built to control the Picti, the Scots of the Dál Riata came much later and Scotland (Rìoghachd na h-Alba) is traditionally founded in the late C9CE. -richardelguru

I doubt it's a coincidence that this comic was published the day before a UK general eating contest that is widely predicted to be heading for the most complicated hung parliament in history. The monarch is a purely ceremonial head of state in practically all respects, but does (in theory) have the responsibility to "ask" someone to form a government (in practice, the person asked is determined by who holds the parliamentary majority, but there are huge arguments raging about who will "legitimately" hold such a majority, the leader of the party with most seats or the leader who can rustle up the biggest coalition). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.24|141.101.99.24]] 09:11, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

: I agree that this is a much more likely explanation for the timing of the comic. Don't have time to change the text myself right now ... --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 10:51, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

The punchline could also be about how it would be way too much hassle to try to lay claim to the throne in modern times, challenging the British royal family and all - Megan would probably be treated like a lunatic. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.223|141.101.88.223]] 11:19, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Arthur is a long haired boy [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/lemondededisney/images/4/47/Moustique.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130715192648&path-prefix=fr], [http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51US9KARtXL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg]. The comic shows a boy, not a woman. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 12:56, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
: The original Arthur is certainly a boy, however this comic is in the xkcd universe and in modern times, so if it looks like Megan, it's Megan. There's nothing in the comic itself that hints at the gender of the character. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 14:43, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

I just thought that the joke was how distracting Wikipedia can be and that Megan/Arthur here gets addicted to reading Wikipedia articles of even the most obvious things in the least appropriate moment. "Oh cool, the throne of England? Isn't that that European country. Let's see how big it is. Oh, wow, 120,000 square kilometers. What's that in miles? Hmm, alright. Huh, kilometres is spelled like this according to the international spelling? What is that?" etc etc, you get the idea :p [[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 12:59, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

: The title text would seem to go against that explanation.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.24|141.101.99.24]] 13:21, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

It's Megan. The new princess is the first woman who can inherent the throne without being leapfrogged by younger brothers. Before the Succession to the Crown Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_to_the_Crown_Act_2013) if Megan had pulled the sword out one of her brothers would have gotten to be King. (signed by jan) {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.149}}

: This and the eating contest tomorrow seems like the main reason for this comic. Forget Arthur for anything else than explaining the idea with the sword.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:01, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

She put it back because she discovered this country is a shithole. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.143|141.101.98.143]] 14:23, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

: That was how I interpreted it. Nothing about the election, Princess Charlotte or the British monarchy, it's simply a contrast between the way the throne of 'England' is portrayed in the legend - an illustrious ultimate prize bestowed upon the worthy from on high with bombastic fanfare and supernatural mysticism - and the reality of England being a drab backwater not worth ruling.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.35|141.101.98.35]] 20:54, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

: Me too. Maybe it's because I watched today episode 191 of The Big Bang Theory, where a British described England as "Cold, gloomy and easily accessed by a Frenchman through a tunnel." (that last part is context specific). Nonetheless, I've seen the depreciation of England in other media a few times. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 03:12, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

I think it's Megan. - [[User:RecentlyChanged|RecentlyChanged]] ([[User talk:RecentlyChanged|talk]])

I removed the reference to Megan becoming "heir to" the throne, as that implies she is next in line, rather than immediately ascending to the throne [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 16:40, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

: Well, wait: if the character is "heir to" shouldn't we label / call him "Heiry"? {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.165}}

My peronal take: Megan could technically abdicate the throne, letting it return to status quo or having the next-in-line take the turn. That way, Megan can keep {{w|Excalibur}} while not having to worry about ruling the country. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.105|173.245.52.105]] 16:56, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

I think using the term "yellow press" to refer to the news accounts of the birth of Princess Charlotte is uncalled for as this is a valid news event. Certainly there are some publications and media outlets that will take this completely over the top, but to lump reputable and long-honored papers such as the Times of London, the NY Times, the Washington Post, and many other publications in with the likes of the Daily Sun, the NY Daily Post, the National Enquirer, and Fox News just isn't right.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.216|173.245.54.216]] 17:31, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Is it possible that this comic also referred to the relatively low amount of power exerted by the British Royal Family now compared to long ago? [[User:BowtieMaster|BowtieMaster]] ([[User talk:BowtieMaster|talk]]) 21:37, 6 May 2015 (UTC)BowtieMaster
:Sign it with four tildes, your signature broke the page before. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.124|108.162.237.124]] 21:24, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Since this comic is set in the same 'reality' as the legends, and in the legends King Arthur is killed by his illegitimate son, wouldn't accepting the throne be more dangerous than it would be in reality? [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 13:30, 7 May 2015 (UTC)

On "transgender megan"- implying that transwomen are actually males is rather transphobic. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.176|173.245.52.176]] 00:03, 9 May 2015 (UTC)

As a Whovian, I think the reason why she puts it back could be because she has had foreknowledge of King Arthur picking up the sword and becoming King of England, so she could attempt to keep history as is when she puts it back. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.166|108.162.237.166]] 01:07, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1516: Win by Induction

2015-12-18T18:58:08Z

188.114.97.151: 3 stuff

Is the alt text a reference to double-yolkers (eggs with two yolks)? [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16118149 They're only about 1 in every 1000] but it seems like an obvious reference. --[[User:Fenn|Fenn]] ([[User talk:Fenn|talk]]) 08:32, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Makes sense to me. I didn't even think of double yolks until you mentioned it here. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.89|173.245.50.89]] 09:04, 24 April 2015 (UTC)BK201
::Seconded. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.52|188.114.110.52]] 14:34, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:::I'd think it's a reference to the rate of twins, which is currently almost exactly 1/30 (and on the rise) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin#Statistics] [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.186|173.245.56.186]] 17:45, 24 April 2015 (UTC)Merkky[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.186|173.245.56.186]] 17:45, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

The explanation currently says that doubling makes it uncountably infinite. I'm pretty sure that doubling at each step (or every few steps) is still a countable infinite set. Proof here: http://practicaltypography.com/the-infinite-pixel-screen.html (see section "The internet demands a recount", because the first attempt is wrong). We can also prove it using the same argument as when proving that N x N is countable infinite (making zig-zag), but in this case making a breadth-first search of the tree of Pikachus: map 1 to the first Pikachu, map 2 and 3 to the two Pikachus at the second level, map 4, 5, 6, 7 to the four Pikachus at the third level, map (2^(n-1))…((2^n) - 1) to the 2^(n-1) Pikachus at level n. {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.177}}
:Saw this too late. Yes, I agree, and I have fixed it accordingly. --[[User:Stephan Schulz|Stephan Schulz]] ([[User talk:Stephan Schulz|talk]]) 09:28, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:The problem being that we don't have an exact number for how many steps include double Pikachus. Granted, this is just a problem of practice, not theory. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.88|173.245.50.88]] 12:37, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

"infinite, but countable" {Cough.} Someone doesn't understand infinity. Perhaps they meant "enumerable". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 09:29, 24 April 2015 (UTC)ū
:Someone doesn't understand countability. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.217|141.101.89.217]] 09:46, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
::enumeration is counting, in the simplest sense. "To name one by one; specify, as if in a list". That said, the whole of infinite whole numbers CAN be counted, just not by a human and not within a reasonable amount of time. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.52|188.114.110.52]] 14:34, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

"The front most Pikachu speaks." Hey, look, it has those little lines to show it's speaking, not the blank white space behind it. Duh. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 09:32, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Looks like Megan is looking at her watch as well. Mention in transcript/explanation? [[User:Fenn|Fenn]] ([[User talk:Fenn|talk]]) 09:34, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Are Megan and Cueball supposed to fight each other? It seems like Cueball still has his closed Pokéball in his hands. Is it then Megan's Pokéball that has evolved into all these Pikachu? And is it because she waits for her Pokémon to be ready to fight Cueball, that she checks her watch? I do not know anything about the Pokémon game/world. But it seems to me that some part of this setup is unexplained by the above... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:23, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

::I've not seen many anime episodes, but in the games' battles the trainers always face each other from opposing sides. Plus, there are classes of trainers that are two people, so it could be that Megan is simply with Cueball. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 18:58, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

Friendly reminder: Grammatically speaking, Pokémon are like sheep or deer. Singular and plural are both written the same. One Pikachu, many Pikachu, all the Pikachu. You'd be surprised at how much rage forgetting this causes in certain corners of the Internet. {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.42}}

What doesn't make sense to me is how this could continue indefinitely – after all, each of those Pikachu must have caught its own Pikachu beforehand. I don't see any infinite loop here, just a bunch of Pikachu that already had one another caught itselves. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.96.217|141.101.96.217]] 10:13, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Ah, the immortal quip from Jerry Bona: "The Axiom of Choice is obviously true, the well-ordering principle obviously false, and who can tell about Zorn's Lemma?" [[User:Aube|Aube]] ([[User talk:Aube|talk]]) 05:29, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

The word "induction" could also be intended to have a double meaning, referring also to electromagnetic induction. Pikachu is, after all, and electric pokémon. {{unsigned ip|141.101.105.194}}
:Yes, I think this is right. Something about Maxwell's equations and induction. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.203}}
::From an engineering standpoint, in my opinion, Pikachu act more like biological capacitors (stored electric charge at potentially high voltage able to deliver large discharge currents) than inductors ("storing" magnetic energy via constant current, able to deliver high voltage when interrupted, like the ignition coil for an older automotive engine). I'm not too familiar with the Pokémon in-game/in-show universe, but I would imagine the Nurse Jenny corps could use electric Pokémon such as Pikachu (or Raichu) like defibrillators for cardiac events! --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.177|173.245.50.177]] 11:42, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:::There are certain moves, including some that Pikachu can learn, that appear to be based on induction (Thunder Wave and Shock Wave). Besides, they build up charge in their bodies from somewhere; I'd suspect induction from the surrounding environment is what charges them up. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.110.52|188.114.110.52]] 14:34, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

There's a point floating about how infinity doesn't imply completion. For instance, the number of all even integers is infinite, yet any given integer "only has a 50% chance of being even", so the series is quite obviously incomplete. This article seems to tend towards the idea (in diction) that an infinite number of pikachu would result in a win based on a 'logical' premise, without referring specificially to the terms of it's assumption. [[User:Xerxesbeat|Xerxesbeat]] ([[User talk:Xerxesbeat|talk]]) 11:38, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:The observation proceeds from the fact that the cardinality of all even integers is the same as the cardinality of all natural numbers (and the cardinality of all rational numbers). You can say that there are as many even integers are there are integers, conterintuitive as that seems. This, however, has nothing to do with the reasoning behind induction. Suppose that there is a finite number that doesn't correspond with a Pikachu, we can pick the least number for which this is the case (just check all the lower numbers until we find the least non-pikachu number N). But there is a pikachu corresponding to N-1, and it is holding a pokeball with a pikachu. So the pikachu in the pokeball of pikachu N-1 is pikachu N, and we have a contradiction to our supposition. Therefore there is no finite number that doesn't correspond with a Pikachu, QED.[[User:Aube|Aube]] ([[User talk:Aube|talk]]) 05:29, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

What happens if the Pikachu in the ball is recursing - picking himself? That doesn't fit the 30-40 double yolk thing, but would explain an infinite series. Food for thought. Megan is bored, waiting for the fight to start. I thought the game was supposed to begin when the players choose, though, so I don't understand why the wait is happening at all. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.151}}

I doubt this is an intentional part of the joke, but the strongest Ground-type moves (Earthquake, Precipice Blades, etc.) are multi-target, hitting all foes in a 1v5 situation such as Horde Battles. In theory, a strong enough super effective move from Cueball's lead would still end the battle in one turn. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.176|173.245.56.176]] 12:04, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Not Land's Wrath, Dig, or Earth Power, which are strong ground-type moves.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.126|173.245.48.126]] 13:05, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
::Actually, Land's Wrath is multi-target. (The ones you named are also weaker than Earthquake and Precipice Blades, so the original comment stands regardless. Although a lucky Magnitude is more powerful than any of those.) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.98|108.162.221.98]]

I normally get a hearty chuckle out of Randall's graphical musings, but this one had me scratching my head. Fortunately, ExplainXKCD always comes to the rescue! After reading this page, my first thought was: Pokéception! 13:17, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

This sentence is nonsensical: ''When Trainers do battle, the anime's dub has immersed the phrase "<Pokémon's name>, I choose you!" into popular culture memory, which is accompanied by throwing the ball containing the selected Pokémon to the ground, which releases the Pokémon at full size.'' [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.161|108.162.219.161]] 17:51, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Should it be noted that the Pikachu is drawn without its tail? It would normally a have lightning bolt shaped tail that appears to the side or from behind its head. (Trivia or other note?) [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 15:22, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:I agree it looks weird, but can it be written off as it's being obscured by itself? {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.89}}
::I would say not. Look how the left arms are all a bit obscured by the body. This indicates that the Pikachu are turned slightly toward a side view. That would mean the back end would more visible, including the tail. [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 09:34, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

In Pokemon games from Gold and up, pokemon are able to hold items, including pokeballs. While in the game, once a pokeball is filled it is no longer available to select as an item, this comic would seem to imply the possible 'inception' scenario of having a pokemon hold an active pokeball (as the games have already shown that a pokeball can go into a pokeball). --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.193|173.245.54.193]] 14:13, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
: ahem... "pokeception" short for "pocket inception" - I can't be the first one to coin this (?) - [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 16:33, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

With Megan looking at her watch and Cueball holding the ball, I think we're meant to understand that Megan IS the Pokémon Cueball intends to use against Pikachu.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.153|108.162.221.153]] 19:12, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:Since Cueball has a closed ball in hand he has yet to choose a Pokemon. Tjus Megan cannot be his. She must have thrown the first Pikachu ball. Should be changed in explanation.[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:31, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
It is possible the "win by induction" is from the Pikachu's opponent inferring the series in infinite, and conceding. 19:56, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Am I missing something or does Randall not quite understand how Pokemon works? (Or is intentionally misrepresenting it for the sake of the joke) Pokemon don't come out with their own pokeball with them-- the pokemon aren't magically created. In theory, if someone were to give a pokemon its own pokemon, a chain could occur, but it would be limited to the number of pokemon previously caught. The pokemon are born in the wild and are captured inside pokeballs-- not created from them. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.91}}
:If a Pikachu can catch another Pikachu in a Pokéball, then there is no reason why the Pikachu it just caught, did not think about this before, and that it had done the same. So when it was caught and put into the Pokéball, it already had a Pokéball with another Pikachu. Of this has occurred enough times you get the result of this comic. No one said this would go on forever, that is something we have interpreted from the comic. It does not come directly from Randall! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:36, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

Bother this. I send out Quagsire. Use Earthquake. '''Please''' do not wait.[[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 05:18, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

No mention of the exponential growth? If every 40th pikachu releases 2 and each of those also release their own pikachu then there is an average growth rate of the pikachu able to release another pikachu of 41/40 = 1.025. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.90|173.245.49.90]] 19:48, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

;Induction

Two other possibilities: one, in a bit of googling, it would appear that there is a type of Pokémon evolution called induced evolution, which involves stones of some kind? Alternately, we can use the term induction in the sense of soneone being ''inducted'' into a group. In this case, Megan has trained her Pikachu to be a Pokémaster. (Perhaps by arranging for it to be inducted into a rarified "gym"? I confess, I know nothing about the show.) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.196|173.245.56.196]] 13:11, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

:Considering [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Meowth_(Team_Rocket) Team Rocket's Meowth], which could talk and act just like a human, I think it would be possible for a Pokémon to become a trainer, maybe even fight without a trainer, knowing the intricacies of type effectiveness and what not. Also, the infinite Pikachu could have been made at a Day Care, but that would take an infinite time, and therefore can't be what happened in this comic. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 18:58, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

I'm surprised no one mentioned that Pokémon is a game a long time before becoming a show. Although it was because of the animated series that Pikachu became "special" among the hundreds of other cute critters.

Also, no mention to the russian matryoshka dolls? Come on...
Closest other xkcd I recall is https://xkcd.com/878/ {{unsigned ip|198.41.230.68}}

;Axiom of choice

Could this be to do with the {{w|axiom of choice}} from set theory? From my understanding, it's a fundamental axiom of set theory that says 'given a set of sets, it's possible to choose one element from each of those sets'. "Choosing" is in this case a specific operation that can be performed on an element.

One specific detail about the axiom is that all sets under consideration must be nonempty; that is, they must contain at least one element. So I think this is analogous to the situation of a Pokemon trainer owning multiple (full) Pokeballs: his Pokeballs are a collection of non-empty sets from which he is now trying to choose a single element ("Pikachu, I choose you!").

Under ''normal'' circumstances, he can do this without invoking the axiom of choice because he knows the names of all his Pokemon and so can select one from each set. In this case, he could prove his ability to make the choice simply by releasing all of his Pokemon from their balls one at a time. (The Pokemon's name is actually irrelevant, because simply releasing the Pokemon counts as a choice).

However, the situation becomes more complex if it turns out that his Pokemon also possess Pokeballs, because now his ability to make the choice is uncertain. In this situation, there could be ''infinitely many'' Pikachus, and so he can't definitely select a Pikachu from all the Pokeballs under his control. In a situation like this, a mathematician would invoke the axiom of choice.

However, it seems that Cueball is actually having a go at it using an inductive method of choice: first by choosing a Pikachu, then having each Pikachu choose a Pikachu. If the number of Pikachus carrying Pokeballs is finite, then eventually, this will demonstrate that the choice can be made and so the axiom of choice is unnecessary. However, if it's ''infinite'', then this will generate a neverending stream of Pikachus. In the latter case, the game never begins, because you can't begin a Pokemon battle until all participants have chosen Pokemon. Most likely, the other players would simply abandon the game, which Cueball could claim as a victory. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 13:52, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
:I think you are confused about the AoC. AoC states that given any collection of elements, you can choose an element from EACH set. If you are choosing a pokemon from a collection of pokeballs, it's equivalent to choosing one full pokeball from the collection and you are picking an element from a single set, which doesn't involve the AoC (this is something you can always do as long as the set is non-empty). In the example in the comic, AoC is not needed because there is already a natural ordering (ignoring the alt-text, which would make the set a partial ordering), so it's trivial to construct a choice function for any subset (choose the "least" pikachu in the sequence). On the other hand, if we have infinite pikachus running wild, we would need the Axiom of Choice (preferably its equivalent, the Well-Ordering Theorem) to assert that they can be ordered so that all of them except one is captured in a pokeball held by another pikachu.[[User:Aube|Aube]] ([[User talk:Aube|talk]]) 05:10, 25 April 2015 (UTC)
::I was hoping a real mathematician would get involved. ^^ Do you think that this mathematical definition of 'choice' is the one being referred to in the comic, though? [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 13:47, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

Why don't those Pikachu have tails? Have they been sliced off? Is this some kind of mutation?-🐼🐯😺🐱 {{unsigned|FlyingPiggy}}

Its all moot anyway. Pokemon can't talk but to say their name. [[User:YourLifeisaLie|Yourlifeisalie]] ([[User talk:YourLifeisaLie|talk]]) 14:45, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

:[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Meowth_(Team_Rocket) Team Rocket's Meowth]... [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 18:58, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

The 1 in 30 or 40 could be a reference to the fact that twins account for around 1 in 30 child births in the US, following in this vein, induction could be wordplay on the act of inducing labour in pregnant animals. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.69|141.101.99.69]] 21:22, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

Pikachu (the one the main character has) doesn't like living in a Pokeball. Maybe this comic explains why? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.184|108.162.221.184]] 23:29, 30 April 2015 (UTC) <<Why are all the IP addresses wrong?

4th Pokemon movie (Pokémon 4Ever: Celebi - Voice of the Forest; 2001) takes place in the past (relatively to Pokemon anime canon). There is old-fashioned pokeball used by young prof. Oak and it looks similar to one in the comic. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1DWzqUbJE8 Watch that part here.] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.222|141.101.89.222]] 17:20, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1512: Horoscopes

2015-12-17T19:47:40Z

188.114.97.151: localized data

So funny - especially the title text made me laugh :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:05, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
:Nine months later, it would certainly eliminate the stress of wondering if you were gonna "get lucky" that night. - Equinox [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.120|199.27.128.120]] 16:13, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

The "coriolis effect" in the title text refers to the spin direction of vortices (rotating currents such as cyclones, whirlpools, and water draining from a basin), which is counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. The title text is a joke extending the reversal to the flow of time.
: The spin direction of whirlpools and basins is 'not' determined by the coriolis effect, on this scale its impact is way too small to make a difference. The title text refers to how the coriolis effect is often used to explain phenomena (especially with relation to the hemispheres), even when its wrong. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.5|198.41.242.5]] 08:23, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

If the baby is born 9 months BEFORE they're conceived, would that account for the shift in seasons for the southern hemisphere? Born in March: Northern hemisphere -> conceived in June; Southern hemisphere -> conceived in December. June and December being summer respectively. If that's right, could someone add that to the wiki? [[User:none]]

The events described during which the conception of a person with a given birth month occurred assumes that the parents were in the United States at that time. The seasons would be shifted by six months in the southern hemisphere, and the holidays of the 4th of July (Independence Day -- Aries), Halloween (Cancer, conception in October), Thanksgiving (Leo, conception in November), Mother's Day (Aquarius, conception in May), and the NCAA (college) basketball playoffs ("March Madness" -- Sagittarius) , might either not be celebrated or celebrated on a different day. [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 08:11, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

:Halloween is starting to become common in Brazil, including the "Trick or Treat" stuff. Mother's Day is also celebrated at the same date. And I wouldn't be surprised if Thanksgiving became common here too, if not only for the sales... [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 19:47, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

"Today, horoscopes are admitted to be pseudoscience." Citation needed. But what rubbish. Horoscopes are not even pseudoscience, so who is it "admitting" they are? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.187|108.162.250.187]] 08:36, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

:Agree, I would like the citation for "today", as there were experiments disproving horoscopes in ancient Rome already (involving two babies born in same time, one rich, one slave). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:48, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

The general trick to horoscopes is make them vague enough that anyone can think they're true, regardless of their sign. --[[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 10:34, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
:"You will have an opportunity today, meet someone new and should take care of your finances. Family matters will continue as per the last few days." [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 13:41, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
: It's the {{w|Forer effect}}. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.134|108.162.249.134]] 21:55, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

I propose an addition to the "conceived during someone's wedding" -- it's more common that the conception is actually after the wedding, during the (somewhat expected) consummation by the actual married couple. Thus, "honeymoon babies"! --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.181|108.162.221.181]] 12:53, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
:I read this as being conceived at someone else's wedding - attending weddings often being a trigger for romantic thoughts. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.162|108.162.249.162]] 03:25, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Wait, I though Superman goes back in time not by "going against earths rotation, but simply by going faster than light?[[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.209|141.101.88.209]] 19:53, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

The expected conception column is off, therefore the explanations may be off. Length of a human pregnancy is 38 weeks after conception, or 9 1/2 months, not the 9 months that is commonly portrayed. I'm not sure if Randall took this into account or not. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.121|199.27.133.121]] 20:40, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
:This is true, except you must have meant 8½ month not 9½ since 38 weeks is less than 9 month. Actually it is very close to 8,75 month. But anyway you are correct, that all the dates should be fixed to go 38 weeks back, not 9 months!--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:54, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
::Yep, that is what I meant, sorry [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.121|199.27.133.121]] 05:26, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
::Updated with the correct dates, but the explanations haven't been proofread to conform with the dates [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.121|199.27.133.121]] 05:34, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
:::Fixed explanations, then realized you went for 40 weeks, not 38, so changed them to 38 weeks and fixed explanations again ;) [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 17:58, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
::::Even 38 weeks is idealised - I have a niece and nephew who were born 22 weeks after conception (4 years old now and doing well!) And term isn't until 41 weeks (from last menstruation) in France. 38 weeks happens to be a useful average in many parts of the world, but even healthy term pregnancies in USA/UK/Australia(/others?) covers the range of 35-40 weeks from conception. Also, with the rise of babies conceived by IVF, it's no longer quite so obvious what was happening 38-ish weeks before birth! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.162|108.162.249.162]] 03:30, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

No reference to the fact that November babies might be conceived on V day? [[User:Vkapadia|Vkapadia]] ([[User talk:Vkapadia|talk]]) 21:10, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

The real secret behind horoscopes and Nostradamus, is "vague shift"[[User:YourLifeisaLie|The Goyim speaks]] ([[User talk:YourLifeisaLie|talk]]) 01:36, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

In the second paragraph of the explanation, can we use either "i.e." or "for example," but not both? I don't have a particular preference for one or another; anyone who does is encouraged to make the correction. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.125|173.245.50.125]] 06:32, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

I feel like there was a missed opportunity for Scorpio. Could have mentioned Valentines Day. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.102}}

Talk:1504: Opportunity

2015-12-14T23:35:08Z

188.114.97.151: suggestion

"Everything the light touches is our kingdom" are Mufasa words from 'The Lion King' (1994) --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 08:39, 27 March 2015 (UTC)
- The "You must never go there" line is also from Lion King. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110357/quotes?item=qt0371437 [[User:Drmouse|Drmouse]] ([[User talk:Drmouse|talk]]) 11:40, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

May someone make this Transcritpt better? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.10|141.101.104.10]] 08:58, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

Hey, thanks to whoever tidied up my explanation [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.185|141.101.98.185]] 11:01, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

I think the second line ("We must never go there") is from the same scene in ''The Lion King'' as the first line, not a reference to ''Space Odyssey'' . See [[http://youtu.be/K5lEJlbEgz4]] from 0:52 to 1:23. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.55|108.162.216.55]] 11:04, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

It seems to me to be common currency that the 'missing' word in "one small step" is "a", not "this" (whether as a fluffed line, in the moment, or a temporary radio drop-out over that bare syllable). Also, while it's highly ''suggested'', there's no certainty in the title-text that the new Mars-landing quote ''necessarily'' ended in fatality. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 14:31, 27 March 2015 (UTC) (Someone seems to have edited the text that inspired these comments, now... so you may now ignore me. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 22:41, 27 March 2015 (UTC))

I just don't get how the rover could gain more power. It is after all, isolated on mars. All it could do is get weaker. Maybe it was already strong enough to control half of mars. [[User:YourLifeisaLie|The Goyim speaks]] ([[User talk:YourLifeisaLie|talk]]) 15:05, 27 March 2015 (UTC)
:My take was that even without batteries, it was still getting enough power from the solar panels (and maybe it somehow became sentient enough to reconfigure to create additional solar power arrays sufficient for its needs, like some suggestions for 'builder' robots on the Moon, perhaps mixed in with Von Neumann machine ideas). Which makes the "dark part of Mars, don't go there!" even more intruiging. (Have we done to Opportunity what 'we' tried to do to the Matrix's machine-civilisation? Darken the environment? And thus how is it still dangerous? The same reason as the Matrix machines are still powered on ''that'' world? Or has it raised the cloud of darkness itself; Because It Can, to delineate its territory or as an actual terraforming effort of its own, more suited to its own current needs and 'desires'? And how many ''more'' questions can I raise?) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 22:41, 27 March 2015 (UTC)
::The reason is because this is a joke. A little light-hearted confusion generating narrative which hinges on the unlikelihood of the Opportunity rover not only surviving far beyond it's projected time-period, extrapolated into the absurdity of it somehow taking over half the planet. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 00:09, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

I'm surely not the only person who read the title text and thought, "Well, that's more work for the Death of Being Ground by a Mars Rover Rock Abrasion Tool." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.171|108.162.216.171]] 18:01, 27 March 2015 (UTC)
:I just wanted to say pretty much the same thing, so no, you're not the only. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.168|173.245.53.168]] 09:12, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

Did something happen to inspire this? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 19:28, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

On March 20 Opportunity completed a reformat of its flash memory and started accumulating more data. On March 24 it logged 26.219 miles (42.195 km) in the 11 years and 2 months since it landed, the length of a marathon.

NASA JPL press releases: http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/newsroom/pressreleases/20150323a.html http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/newsroom/pressreleases/20150324a.html [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 22:59, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

What citations does this explanation require?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 11:39, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

What does the transcript require for it to be complete? As far as I can tell, it is complete. --[[User:Zbee|Zbee]] [[User talk:Zbee|talk]] [https://github.com/zbee git] ([[User talk:Zbee|talk]]) 17:16, 28 March 2015 (UTC)
:I think the transcript is incorrect, rather than incomplete. In the 2450 panel Meghan-M and Cueball-M appear to be standing in daylight. In that case it would be wrong to say they are "pointing in the dark". It would be better to say they are "pointing towards a dark, mountainous region". Someone feel free to edit the transcript if you agree.[[User:These Are Not The Coments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Coments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Coments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 19:21, 28 March 2015 (UTC)
::I hadn't caught that before; I've changed it and think it is good now.--[[User:Zbee|Zbee]] [[User talk:Zbee|talk]] [https://github.com/zbee git] 20:02, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

"[...] and will not allow humans to enter his dark reign." Shouldn't it be "it's dark reign."? [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 23:35, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1428: Move Fast and Break Things

2015-12-13T12:54:39Z

188.114.97.151: opinion

catch me if I'm wrong here, but driving the hearse recklessly would probably be more likely to injure pedestrians on the way to the funeral - not the attendees, who are often behind the hearse (?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 11:05, 1 October 2014 (UTC)
:That really depends on how recklessly you're driving.--[[User:Bmmarti3|Bmmarti3]] ([[User talk:Bmmarti3|talk]]) 13:32, 1 October 2014 (UTC)
:: Arguably, if you're doing it 'right' for certain values of 'right,' you should be getting both. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.193|108.162.237.193]] 03:36, 2 October 2014 (UTC)
:::Also relevant: “Drive recklessly” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S75Rfva9O8 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.243|108.162.221.243]] 04:58, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Forgive me, but "removing wrong body parts" in the explanation made me grin. "Woops, that's not an appendix! Why are we in the brain, anyway?" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.165|108.162.219.165]] 13:53, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

:The scary thing is that it does happen with suprising frequency. Incorrect diagnosis of symptoms, left leg amputated instead of the right, Mr Jones' operation accidentally carried out on Mr James, surgical instruments left inside the patient, incorrect drugs prescribed, etc etc. There is an interesting [http://www.ted.com/talks/brian_goldman_doctors_make_mistakes_can_we_talk_about_that?language=en TED talk] on the subject by Brian Goldman. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 14:07, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

:Reminds me of [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=580#comic this SMBC comic] —[[User:Artyer|Artyer]] <big>([[User Talk:Artyer|talk]]<big>'''|'''</big>[[Special:Contributions/Artyer|ctb]])</big> 15:50, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Quick question: If cueball almost got fired from his job at the funeral home, and still works there, how is this a job interview? —[[User:Artyer|Artyer]] <big>([[User Talk:Artyer|talk]]<big>'''|'''</big>[[Special:Contributions/Artyer|ctb]])</big> 15:50, 1 October 2014 (UTC)
:You can go to a job interview while you still have a job; in fact in some places you're more likely to get an offer this way. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 16:26, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

:Maybe he quit instead of getting fired. [[User:Cheeselover724|Cheeselover724]] ([[User talk:Cheeselover724|talk]]) 21:48, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

:For me, the casual way Cueball is sitting makes it more likely to be a job interview than to be a report after some incident. [[Special:Contributions/188.114.97.151|188.114.97.151]] 12:54, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

For the violin, he must have [http://www.laboiteverte.fr/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Faerie__s_Aire_and_Death_Waltz.jpg bowed real fast and slippage occurred.] --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.127|108.162.216.127]] 17:06, 1 October 2014 (UTC)
:That's amazing! Where does it come from? --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 21:06, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

::Hmm, found this, don't know if it's legitimate or not. http://lostinthecloudblog.com/2010/03/13/john-stump-composer-of-faeries-aire-and-death-waltz/ --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 21:32, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

I didn't read this as a job interview at all, but as a meeting with Cueball's current boss after an incident. Cueball explains his philosophy, in explanation of the catastrophe he's caused. It doesn't say anywhere that this is a job interview.{{unsigned|Mojacardave}}

I thought the popular saying was "fail fast, fail often." [[User:Heshy|Heshy]] ([[User talk:Heshy|talk]]) 16:29, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Could the "Move Fast and Break Things" also be a nod to [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/MFBT Mozilla Framework Based on Templates (MFBT)]? They're notorious for moving fast and breaking things and then subsequently fixing them really fast in a never-ending loop... --[[User:Wordherder|Wordherder]] ([[User talk:Wordherder|talk]]) 19:19, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Interestingly one should now include even Facebook Developer as one of the jobs where breaking things is bad, http://mashable.com/2014/04/30/facebooks-new-mantra-move-fast-with-stability/ Admittedly the comic would be less funny if the motto were "Move fast with stable infra." {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.164}}