explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1482

2015-02-04T05:56:24Z

199.27.128.144: This page maybe should be deleted now - transferred early edits to 1482:_NowPlaying. Hope that's right.

This page is empty

1482: NowPlaying

2015-02-04T05:53:25Z

199.27.128.144: Made all this on 1482, now transferring to named new page to match style. I hope.

{{comic
| number = 1482
| date = February 4, 2015
| title = #NowPlaying
| image = nowplaying.png
| titletext = If you click on the post, it takes you to search results for the note on various online music stores.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Comic is brand new, more content needed on this page.}}

==Transcript==

{{comic discussion}}

1482

2015-02-04T05:45:08Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */ Well, *this* is meta...

1482

2015-02-04T05:43:47Z

199.27.128.144: Adding structure to page.

1482

2015-02-04T05:41:21Z

199.27.128.144: Image name

1482

2015-02-04T05:39:08Z

199.27.128.144: First seed of new comic today.

{{comic
| number = 1482
| date = February 4, 2015
| title = #NowPlaying
| image =
| titletext = If you click on the post, it takes you to search results for the note on various online music stores.
}}

1323: Protocol

2014-01-29T08:10:33Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1323
| date = January 29, 2014
| title = Protocol
| image = protocol.png
| titletext = Changing the names would be easier, but if you're not comfortable lying, try only making friends with people named Alice, Bob, Carol, etc.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|check grammar, explain better Alice and Bob, and adding links to other comics related with cryptography}}
Alice, Bob and Eve are names usually used in cryptographic conversations. Usually Alice wants to send a secret message to Bob, and Eve is a malicious attacker that wants to read the message (More info on wikipedia: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob]).

The joke here is that any computer scientist will react to the names, thinking that they are listening a example about cryptography. By using this, you can force them to listen any boring story just by changing the names, and using the list of names usually used in these examples (Alice, Bob, Eve, Dan...)

The title text just shows a more radical approach to the problem, for the people who dont want to lie. In this approach instead of changing the names, you try to only make friends with people named like them.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is telling a story to a Computer Scientist who is seated at his desk.]
:Cueball: Alice sends a message to Bob saying to meet her somewhere.
:Computer Scientist: Uh huh.
:Cueball: But Eve sees it, too, and goes to the place.
:Computer Scientist: With you so far.
:Cueball: Bob is delayed, and Alice and Eve meet.
:Computer Scientist: Yeah?
:I've discovered a way to get computer scientists to listen to any boring story.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]

164: Playing Devil's Advocate to Win

2014-01-24T23:45:35Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number =164
| date =September 29, 2006
| title =Playing Devil's Advocate to Win
| image =global_warming.png
| titletext =There are so many well-meaning conservatives around here who just assume global warming is only presented as a moral issue for political reasons.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Global warming}} is the rise of the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th century and its projected continuation. Scientists are more than 90% sure that it's caused by an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humanity's industrialization and activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Losses of human food security and habitat, melting of glaciers leading to a rise in sea temperatures, and more frequent heat waves, droughts and species extinctions are just some of the many likely effects of global warming.

Yet despite the unequivocal nature of climate change, it's a hot-button political topic in the United States, with many conservatives denying its existence, arguing that it has natural causes, or claiming that global warming could be a good thing. Liberals counter by saying that conservatives are claiming these things because they're in bed with the oil companies, and by denying the existence of global warming, they're saved from having to do anything about it. It's such a controversial topic in the U.S. that, in this comic, [[Cueball]] says he's decided to keep his mouth shut about the whole thing. He's withdrawn from the debate because it doesn't ''matter'' if he wins the debate or not — science doesn't care about who got the last word. If humanity reaches the tipping point and one day can't do anything to stop global warming, Cueball will find it interesting to watch exactly what happens. And if it turns out the scientists are wrong, he won't feel embarrassed that he's been making a big deal about it this whole time.

In the title text, he touches on the political side of global warming, saying that there are many well-meaning conservatives out here who honestly believe that global warming doesn't happen, and that liberals only bring it up to have a moral issue to attack conservatives with.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Yes, from the evidence it looks pretty likely to me that we're causing global warming on a horrific scale. But with science you don't need to argue. It doesn't matter who wins the debate — it's about reality. By just waiting a little longer, we'll get to see who was right. It feels unethical but I find myself wanting to keep quiet about the science just to know for sure. As terrible as it sounds, the state of the world isn't really my responsibility. I'm just thrilled to get to watch. If the scientists are right — and if we keep people from understanding just a little longer — we'll enjoy quite a ride. And pragmatically, on the outside chance that they're all wrong, I get saved the embarrassment of having spoken up.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

335: Mattress

2014-01-18T22:01:12Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number = 335
| date = October 29, 2007
| title = Mattress
| image = mattress.png
| titletext = The TempurPedic wineglass guy broke his ankle.
}}

==Explanation==
A commonly cited problem with cuddling is that whatever arms you and your partner are lying on tend to fall asleep from your and/or your partner's weight, and are in any case not very comfortable to be lying upon. Here [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] have invented a mattress with a slot in it to solve that problem. To provide an activity for their lower arms when they are comfortably placed in that slot, they have installed a game of "{{w|Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots}}" underneath the bed.

The humour arises from the juxtaposition of a sedate activity like cuddling with a boisterous activity like "Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots" with the implication that Megan and Cueball are doing both at once.

The title text refers to a series of commercials for {{w|Tempur-Pedic}} mattresses where the presenter would place a wine glass on the mattress and then jump up and down somewhere else on the mattress. The fact that the wine did not spill was meant to indicate that one partner's motions would not disturb the other. It is implied that he did that test on this mattress and fell into the slot, hurting himself.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are cuddling.]
:Cuddling face-to-face is nice, but we can never figure out where to put our lower arms.
:Our solution: the Cuddle Mattress!
:Your lower arms fit in the convenient gap.
:[There is a diagram of a mattress with a notch cut through it at shoulder level. The gap is indicated with an arrow.]
:[The same couple is shown again, cuddling snugly on the mattress.]

:[Cueball and Megan are giving a presentation to another person. Cueball has a pointer and a clicker for the slides which are projected on the screen next to him.]
:Listener: Oh man, that's ALWAYS bothered me.
:Listener: I want one.

:Listener: Although... so the lower arms just sort of dangle?
:Listener: What do you do with them?

:Cueball: It was a bit awkward.
:Clicker: ''click''
:Megan: Then we had a second breakthrough.

:[The couple is shown again on the cuddle mattress, this time in more detail and facing the tops of their heads. Their lower arms are sticking through the gap in the mattress and playing a conveniently located game of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots.]
:Cueball: ''click click''
:Blue Robot: ''punch''
:Red Robot: ''punch''
:Megan: ''click click''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Sex]]

1318: Actually

2014-01-18T21:15:45Z

199.27.128.144: Centrifugal -> centripetal. DO NOT show me #123, this is the correct way in this case.

{{comic
| number = 1318
| date = January 17, 2014
| title = Actually
| image = actually.png
| titletext = Protip: You can win every exchange just by being one level more precise than whoever talked last. Eventually, you'll defeat all conversational opponents and stand alone.
}}

==Explanation==
The image shows a sphere, a simple model for the shape of the Earth. Six people stand on its surface, talking about ways to best describe it, starting with a flat surface, the first belief held, and ending with general relativity. As the statements form a circle, the very first statement can lead recursively off the last, as described below.

The statements in detail:

;Actually, measurements suggest it's flat.
* This statement is located at the top of the sphere in the comic, making it most likely to be read first. Given no other context, it will be interpreted as referring to the Earth; i.e. "The Earth is flat." This references the earliest view of our planet's surface.
;Actually, it's a sphere.
* This refers to the second earliest view of our planet's surface, as a ball with uniform radius everywhere.
;Actually, it's an oblate spheroid.
* This clarifies the previous statement; an {{w|oblate spheroid}} has a wider radius at the equator than through the poles. On Earth, this occurs because a rotating body tends to bulge at the equator, where the matter experiences greater centripetal forces (analogous to experiencing more force at the outside of a round-a-bout rather than at the center). This is known as the {{w|equatorial bulge}}.
;Actually, it's a shape defined by the EGM96 coefficients.
* This adds even more clarification to the previous statement; the {{w|EGM96|Earth Gravitational Model 1996}} is a detailed map of the Earth's gravitational field, which is not as uniform as a pure oblate spheroid would suggest.
;Actually, it's that plus local topography.
* This adds an almost unnecessary level of clarification to the previous; obviously the Earth's surface is not a smooth shape but rather contains numerous mountains, hills, valleys, etc. which constitute "local topography".
;Actually, it's embedded in a universe that's curved.
* This shifts the perspective from the actual shape of the Earth to the "shape" of the space around it. According to {{w|General relativity}}, our planet's gravity bends the space-time around it, making it curved. At the time General relativity was discovered, it was not conclusively known whether the {{w|Shape of the universe|whole universe was flat or curved}}.
;Actually, measurements suggest it's flat.
* Looping around to the first statement and given the context from the previous one, this can now be interpreted as "the universe is flat" rather than "the Earth is flat". Recent measurements of the universe's shape strongly suggest that it is more or less completely flat rather than curved.
* Further statements could now continue to be interpreted as referring to the universe rather than the Earth, thus forming a recursive loop.

The title text pulls the whole comic tegether, pointing out that each statement in the comic is more precise than the previous. Unlike the loop in the comic, someone who does this will likely eventually win any real-life debate. The phrase "stand alone" refers to driving away all conversation, resulting in no one wanting to speak to the person.

==Transcript==
:[Six people are standing upon a white circle as if it were a miniature planet. Each person is facing the reader and says something to the person on their right. All texts are displayed as a near-continuous stream over their heads to form one circle that encloses the whole picture.]
:[From topmost, going clockwise.]
::Cueball: '''''Actually,''''' measurements suggest it's flat.
::Ponytail: '''''Actually,''''' it's a sphere.
::White Hat: '''''Actually,''''' it's an oblate spheroid.
::Megan: '''''Actually,''''' it's a sphere defined by the EGM96 coefficients.
::Hairy 1: '''''Actually,''''' it's that plus local topography.
::Hairy 2: '''''Actually,''''' it's embedded in a universe that's curved.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:161: Accident

2014-01-16T06:29:53Z

199.27.128.144:

The issue date of the comic is not given. Can someone add this? [[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]]) 18:53, 3 August 2012 (EDT)

http://xkcd.com/851/ - more katamari damacy shenanigans {{unsigned ip|128.237.217.152}}

In guitar hero you tilt the controler to active star power.
If you did so with steering wheel you would crash. 21:47, 10 January 2014 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.205}}
Any reason for an incomplete? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.144|199.27.128.144]] 06:29, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

365: Slides

2014-01-13T06:58:23Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number = 365
| date = January 2, 2008
| title = Slides
| image = slides.png
| titletext = Did you know they can actually physically throw you out of SIGGRAPH?
}}

==Explanation==
The expression "bear with me for a moment" usually implies that what you are talking about is not random—the connection is to be explained later. This is not the case in the comic: Cueball is showing random slides which have no connection to each other.

The title text refers to {{w|SIGGRAPH}}, an annual computer graphics conference held since 1974. In [[541: TED Talk]] it is said that [[Randall]] has been banned from SIGGRAPH, and we can infer from this comic that he was physically thrown out of it. Another (very implausible) possibility is that Randall is making the joke that people who attend computer graphics conferences are stereotypically not very athletic and therefore unlikely to be able to physically throw someone.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: That chart explained the quantum hall effect. Now, if you'll bear with me a moment, this next graph shows rainfall over the amazon basin...
:If you keep saying "bear with me a moment" people will take a while to figure out that you're just showing them random slides.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]
[[Category:Banned from conferences]]

137: Dreams

2014-01-13T02:26:02Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number = 137
| date = August 4, 2006
| title = Dreams
| image = dreams.png
| titletext = In Connor's second thesis it is stated 'There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.' Does the routine destroy our creativity or do we lose creativity and fall into the routine? Anyway, who's up for a road trip!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Title text not fully explained, explanation rather short.}}
Basically a long-winded way of saying "carpe diem!" Seize the day and make it mean something. Every moment is choice between doing something you will remember forever or wasting another minute, another hour, another day, another year.

Connor's second 'thesis' is a quote from the character Sarah Connor in the film 'Terminator 2'.

Other comics with a similar theme about finding or taking unexplored paths, instead of fitting into the mold, includes [[59: Graduation]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]].

==Transcript==
:[Friend is standing behind Cueball, who is typing at a computer.]
:Friend: You should be more careful what you write. Future employers might read it.
:Cueball: When did we forget our dreams?
:Friend: What?
:[Cueball stands beside friend.]
:Cueball: The infinite possibilities each day holds should stagger the mind. The sheer number of experiences I could have is uncountable, breathtaking, and I'm sitting here refreshing my inbox. We live trapped in loops, reliving a few days over and over, and we envision only a handful of paths laid out before us. We see the same things every day, we respond the same way, we think the same thoughts, each day a slight variation on the last, every moment smoothly following the gentle curves of societal norms. We act like if we just get through today, tomorrow our dreams will come back to us And no, I don't have all the answers. I don't know how to jolt myself into seeing what each moment could become. But I do know one thing: the solution doesn't involve watering down my every little idea and creative impulse for the sake of some day easing my fit into a mold. It doesn't involve tempering my life to better fit someone's expectations. It doesn't involve constantly holding back for fear of shaking things up.
:Cueball: This is very important, so I want to say it as clearly as I can:
:Cueball: FUCK.
:Cueball: THAT.
:Cueball: SHIT.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:1098: Star Ratings

2014-01-10T07:54:34Z

199.27.128.144:

'''please add <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> to the end of your comments to include your signature. Thanks!'''

*An alternate explanation is that internet users only vote in 1s and 5s, and that the cutoff represents the point where there are too many 1s.

*The people most likely to vote are those with strong opinions, which would often be polerized to one or five stars. These people would be the most likely to vote because their connection to the product would make them more willing to spend the time to share their experiance.

*In my opinion, this comic is about overrating. The comic says anything between full fout stars is crap. One possible explanation could be that people dislike to admit that their decision for a particular product was a bad one, so they grant three stars. Or look at certain brands, where every defect is by definition unimportant so they do not impact the review too harshly. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.51.138|46.142.51.138]] 15:05, 22 August 2012 (UTC)madd
**It was pointed out to me (by a district manager in the organization concerned) that on those surveys you are asked to take by retail outlets, anything less than a 5 is considered a zero by Corporate. They're apparently not interested in honest evaluations; either it was SUPEREXCELLENTGREAT!! or it's worthless. [[User:Shalom S.|Shalom S.]] ([[User talk:Shalom S.|talk]]) 19:24, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

*It seems likely that any product with a 1-start rating only has one (or a small number of) reviews as well. Usually a product has ''some'' redeeming value that someone will find useful.
     Spacebar keeps the kids warm at night. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.144|199.27.128.144]] 07:54, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
**Usually the developer or at least a friend will provide a positive rating and review, though the issue of self rating isn't specifically addressed by this comic. Still, if 3 users give it a 1-star review, but the developer has access to at least 2 accounts that can give a 5-star rating, you still result in 13/25 rating, or two-and-a-half stars, which is why that star rating would be "crap".--[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 16:31, 22 August 2012 (UTC)
*** Agreed. If there's only one review, it most likely comes from the supplier / author / producer, and in that case it's going to be a five star rating. From that perspective, the only way to get a bad _average_ review is if there are many bad reviews. As an example, consider a product with five reviews: 5, 2, 2, 1, 3. The average is 2.6, and depending on the implementation this might be shown as "two and half stars" or "three stars". If you take out the 5, you get an average of 2. Consider the case of two reviews, 5 and 1. The 5 is from the author and the 1 is from a real user. Average is 3. Considering the other cases (5 and 2, 5 and 3, 5 and 4) the averges are 3.5, 4, 4.5. As you can see, anything below 3.5 is crap (the 1 and 2 from real users) and 4 and 4.5 are indeed ok (3 and 4 from the real user). As the number of "real" reviews increases, the average will tend towards the actual average perception from users (law of large numbers), and there is ''no way'' to get a 5 on average because of the fact that when dealing with subjective evaluation, ''someone'' is going to think the product is crap, therefore a five star rating is the product of a single review from the author. [[User:Mem|mem]] ([[User talk:Mem|talk]]) 20:56, 22 August 2012 (UTC)

*I think there might be a little too much analysis for this, given the title text. When shopping online, especially for random items like computer parts, media, and whatnot, people tend to peruse through items fairly quickly and/or fairly critically. A 5 star rating seems a little too perfect for the real world, hence the notion that there's only one review; a cynic might say that its from the author himself or some astroturfer (and they're probably right). The rest of the rating scale, however, is an observation of buyer behavior. Getting ''only'' four out of five stars is considered the lowest a potential buyer will risk before buying/downloading/ordering whatever it is. Everything else is very unceremoniously considered "crap," with the reasoning that there's some sort of defect or angry reviewer. Any further inquiry isn't necessary since there's a lot of other alternative products or manufacturers on the market. Hence, "crap, move on to the next item" mentality." The title text alludes to this with its strange gravestones. I take it as symbolizing all the products and sellers and manufacturers and establishments that got below that 4-star threshold, doomed to death by obscurity as buyers simply skip over the item in question, having called quickly decided it was "crap." Whether they actually are that bad is beyond that line of thinking. Whether it might be someone just hating on it and everyone else being scared off is similarly beyond it. As mentioned above, Corporate considers anything that isn't great to be worthless; it's because online consumers tend to think the exact same thing. And I guess to top it off, the mention about going to Yelp to give it a one-star review due to his unease and then feeling compulsed not to would basically be some sort supernatural power from the cemetery making sure that 1.) the cemetery's rating doesn't go down, and 2.) the author doesn't make that whole rating cemetery thing even more meta. [[Special:Contributions/68.123.154.215|68.123.154.215]] 05:41, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
** Wow do I wish I could have used paragraphs there. [[Special:Contributions/68.123.154.215|68.123.154.215]] 05:41, 27 August 2012 (UTC)
*** You need to use . I tried to put some above. Hope that is what you meant. Generally agree with what you said, though. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 20:25, 20 November 2012 (UTC)

*The alt text sounds vaguely like a chain letter or urban legend. Does anyone recognize it as referring to any one in particular? --[[User:Aw|Aw]] ([[User talk:Aw|talk]]) 23:57, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

*I think this comic illustrates a more general rating bias. Consider hotel star ratings - almost every one boasts four or five. Sometimes you can see three. I was recently shocked to see a hotel displaying two stars next to its name! (No, I haven't stayed there, I was just driving by.) One-star hotel, anyone? -- [[Special:Contributions/89.174.214.74|89.174.214.74]] 14:50, 20 September 2012 (UTC)
**In many places, star ratings of a hotel are not a measure of the quality of the hotel, but of the types of services it provides (do they have private bathrooms, a pool, a concierge, etc.) [[Special:Contributions/75.103.23.206|75.103.23.206]] 22:58, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

*I find that, for most popular works on most popular sites (i.e., Amazon) at least, two star reviews (the least common rating) are actually rather entertaining; the reasoning being, in theory at least, that they by definition avoid hyperbole. [[Special:Contributions/178.42.120.14|178.42.120.14]] 20:43, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

*I have a different interpretation of the title text: the headstones are of people who rated the cemetery (where the rating on their headstone is what they rated the cemetery). When the "distant chill" mentioned is a foreshadowing of Cueball's impending death, which would result in a new headstone with his name and the one-star rating he was about to give. At least, that's how I see it. Any thoughts? [[Special:Contributions/27.253.79.231|27.253.79.231]] 08:30, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

The image at the end of this What-If references this comic in the image-text. http://what-if.xkcd.com/69/ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.117|108.162.238.117]] 06:29, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Talk:313: Insomnia

2014-01-09T04:48:37Z

199.27.128.144:

We know it must not be a 24-hour clock. On that setting, 4:31 would be in the afternoon, not at night.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.202|108.162.219.202]] 15:11, 22 December 2013 (UTC)

:I cannot tell if you are misguided, trolling or just hallucinating in the style of this comic. So - well done! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 18:18, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

Quite the opposite. 13:00 is 1 in the afternoon, and 4:31 would be 4:31 at night. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.144|199.27.128.144]] 04:48, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

706: Freedom

2014-01-09T04:39:12Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 706
| date = February 24, 2010
| title = Freedom
| image = freedom.png
| titletext = Sometimes I'm terrified to realize how many options other people have.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] comments on the absence of physical enforcement for social norms. [[Cueball]] goes through a list of possible things he could do that only his conscience and learned social morals prevent him from doing, before promptly receiving a punch to the face justified with his own reasoning.

The title text is a restatement of the first line of the comment, but reversed to show Cueball's newfound realization that the same freedoms apply to other people, to his physical detriment.

This is also an ironic reference to {{w|Zechariah Chafee}}'s oft-quoted line, "Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man's nose begins."

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Sometimes I'm shocked to realize how many options I have.
:Friend: Oh?

:[Cueball shakes his fist.]
:Cueball: Like, at any moment in any conversation, I could just punch the person I was talking to, and all these potentially life-changing events would unfold.

:Cueball: It's only my mental rules that stop me from punching you, or stripping naked, or getting on a plane to Fiji. Sure, rules have reasons. But shouldn't you exercise that freedom at least once before you die?

:''WHAM''

:[Cueball is knocked down on the ground, dazed and bruised.]
:Cueball: Okay, I should have seen that coming.
:Friend: But you ''couldn't''! That's the beauty!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]

293: RTFM

2014-01-09T04:07:15Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 293
| date = July 23, 2007
| title = RTFM
| image = rtfm.png
| titletext = Life is too short for man pages, and occasionally much too short without them.
}}

==Explanation==
The title RTFM is an acronym for "{{w|RTFM|read the fucking manual}}", which frustrated software users tell users when confronted with a simple question (most likely answered in the manual).

However, [[Cueball]] encounters a similar situation with a {{w|911}} call, in which the first question the 911 dispatcher asks Cueball if has he read the toaster's {{w|man page}} (man pages are the 'manual' for *nix systems, but only describe commands and library functions, not hardware). Even if a man page existed, it is unreasonable to require the user of a toaster to read the manual just to avoid being stabbed in the face. The 911 dispatcher decides that as he has not read the man page, Cueball is not entitled to medical assistance, and hangs up. Perhaps [[Black Hat]] got a job as a 911 dispatcher.

The title text refers to the popular phrase "Life's too short", which asserts that because we only have a fixed amount of time on Earth, and that time can pass by quickly, we should make the most of it. That could mean, for example, don't spend time reading the documentation unless you actually experience a problem. The second part alludes to the fact that most people die after being stabbed in the face.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball with a knife sticking out of his heavily bleeding face stands in front of a toaster, which has an arm extending from the top of it. He is holding a telephone to his ear.]
:Cueball: Hello, 911? I just tried to toast some bread, and the toaster grew an arm and stabbed me in the face!
:911: Did you read the toaster's man page first?
:Cueball: Well, no, but all I wanted was--
:911: ''click''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

282: Organic Fuel

2014-01-09T03:58:54Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 282
| date = June 27, 2007
| title = Organic Fuel
| image = organic_fuel.png
| titletext = I have nothing to apologize for.
}}
==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is fascinated about that engines can burn organic matter. But in fact {{w|biofuel}} is a big industry today. It is criticized now and then because it can affect food prices and is believed to exacerbate world hunger.

Next comes a reference to the famous quote, "Mussolini made the trains run on time", an oft-quoted piece of propaganda from Italy under Fascist dictator {{w|Benito Mussolini}}. The pun is made on the fact that {{w|Thyme|thyme}} (an herb, or as in this comic, a spice) and time (the physical phenomenon, as in the original quote) are near homophones. But the organic matter thyme could technically be used as fuel.

The title text may be interpreted in one of two ways. It may be attributed to the pun-maker, in which case he makes no apology for his corny joke, or it may be attributed to Cueball, in which case he makes no apology for the termination of friendship, since the pun was too terrible.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball at computer and a friend standing nearby.]
:Cueball: Wow – Engines can burn vegetable oil.
:Friend: Well, sure. You can burn most any organic matter. Corn, leaves, spices...
:Cueball: Spices? Really?
:Friend: Sure – Mussolini made the trains run on thyme.
:Cueball: ...
:Cueball: We are no longer friends.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

256: Online Communities

2014-01-07T06:21:08Z

199.27.128.144: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 256
| date = May 2, 2007
| title = Online Communities
| image = online_communities_small.png
| titletext = I'm waiting for the day when, if you tell someone 'I'm from the internet', instead of laughing they just ask 'oh, what part?'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Not every site and meme has an explanation; Transcript needs checked for completeness and cleaned up. One label unreadable, but may be obvious to someone who knows blogs well.}}
'''''Note:''' This comic dates from Spring 2007. The internet changed a lot since that time. A larger version of the image is available [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/online_communities.png here].''

This is Randall's first map of online communities, with a successor (showing some zoomed-in highlights of the map) at [[802: Online Communities 2]]. As Randall says on the map, the area of each "country" is roughly proportional to its membership, at least in 2007. Geographic location means a bit more, however, as the '''Compass-Rose-Shaped Island''' points out. North-south corresponds to a spectrum from practical to intellectual, and east-west corresponds to one from web-focused to real-life-focused. The map also bears resemblance to East Asia

Randall likes to draw maps in a manner like this. Each "Country" is represented by size and related points of interest. We also have a "Sea of memes" and a small "Straits of WEB 2.0".

===Compass Rose-shaped Island===
A joke located near the middle of the map, that nonetheless serves to organise the illustration. A Compass Rose - the name for the multi-pointed star that shows where North is on the map - appears on most maps; however, here, it's actually land that just coincidentally looks like a compass rose. The "points" of the island do, however, roughly organise the map: Left is "Focus on Real Life" (labelled "IRL", an abbreviation for "In Real Life", Right is "Focus on Web", labelled ".com". Up is Practicals, labelled "N", as in "North", but with small letters making it spell "Noob", slang for a "Newbie" or "New user" - a person less experienced with the internet, as many of the sites to the top of the map are ones infamous for having large numbers of largely computer-illiterate people. Down is "Intellectuals", labelled π, an important constant in mathematics approximately equal to 3.14.

===The Icy North===
Communities which were once major players, but now in a much reduced role. While some are still fairly large, they're somewhat relics of older times, hence the "Mountains of Web 1.0" that run through them - Web 1.0 is the first major generation of websites.
* ''Yahoo!'' was the most popular search engine around 1998, but lost out to Google. It remains in business due to diversification (It now owns Tumblr, for instance).
* ''Windows Live'', particularly ''Windows Live Messenger'', used to be a particularly major way for friends to communicate, now taken over by Skype and the like.
* ''AOL'' was once a huge player in the internet service provider market, noted for sending out millions of CDroms in the '80s and '90s offering a month or so free internet service (followed by high fees and difficult cancellation). Notably, AOL was the first company to sign up large numbers of people to internet access throughout the year, whereas before then internet was mainly provided by colleges and Universities, fundamentally changing internet culture (see {{w|Eternal September}}) - This influx of new users or "Noobs" (short for "newbies") names the ''Noob Sea'' south of AOL. The ''Chat Rooms'' nearby were a selling feature of early ISPs - ways to communicate with other people from that ISP. They are largely dying now, but were a major selling point in the early days.
* ''Classmates.com'', ''Reunion.com'' Early sites that offered to help you find your former classmates from school, a role largely taken over by the big, more generalised social media sites.
* ''Friendster'': While a few rebrandings let it survive - mainly as a primarily Southeast Asian social gaming site, apparently - Friendster was the first big social media site, later outpaced by ''Myspace'' and, now, ''Facebook''. See Social Media, below.
* ''Qwghlm'': A reference to the "Baroque Cycle", a series of science fiction books by Neal Stephenson. In them, Qwghlm is a group of islands in the icy north. See [http://baroquecycle.wikia.com/wiki/Qwghlm http://baroquecycle.wikia.com/wiki/Qwghlm].
* ''Chasm'': A barely-readable note just below the "O" of "NORTH". This may simply be a reference to a lot of fantasy series containing a chasm. (For example, the One Ring is destroyed by flinging it into a fiery chasm in The Lord of the Rings.)
===Dating sites (Northwest coastal regions)===
* ''E-Harmony'' and ''OkCupid'' are dating sites; the other, larger sites near them are mostly social media sites.
* ''The Lonely Island'' label appears to be a joke: Surrounded by, but separate from dating sites and social media sites, it would be a rather lonely place. Probably named after "[http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Tol_Eress%C3%ABa Tol Eressëa]" (Translation: The Lonely Island) a somewhat obscure location in J. R. R. Tolkien's books, but there are {{w|The Lonely Island|other possibilities}}.
* ''Classmates.com'' is a services in which the user can meet fellow classmates that came from the same high school. The website is probably best-known by its memetic advertisement that said "She married him??!! And they've got 7 kids??" (Incidentally, there is more to the coupled picture than what the advertisement says.)
* ''Reunion.com'' is/was one of Classmates.com's competitors.

===Social Media (West)===
Sites mainly used to communicate with friends, such as Facebook and Myspace. The first large one was ''Friendster'', but this has largely become a social gaming site primarily used in Southeast Asia, as discussed in The Icy North, above. Other social media sites listed are:

* ''Faceparty'' A UK social media site started in 1999.
* ''Myspace'': A social media site partially owned by, of all people, Justin Timberlake. Started in 2003, and peaking around the time this comic was made, it nonetheless still remains popular for bands (hence "Myspace Bands" in the southwest). It was never known for having a particularly attractive web design, hence only a very small part of it labelled "Attractive Myspace Pages".
** The "Series of Tubes": A reference to an internet meme. In 2006, U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, while arguing for the end of "Network neutrality", a concept that keeps ISPs from favouring or charging more for high-speed access to sites, claimed that such regulation was needed because the Internet was "not a truck" you could just load up with as much as you want, but a "series of tubes". This is not very accurate, and his arguments were rather poor, and, as such, his speech received widespread derision, and became a running gag on the internet.
* ''Facebook'': Generally considered (at least in the West) the "modern" social media network, and the most popular. However, this comic is from 2007, and Facebook did not catch up to Myspace until 2008-2009. [Source: {{w|Myspace}}]
* ''Orkut'': A social media network launched in 2004 by Google, it became hugely popular in Brazil, India, and, to a lesser extent, Japan.
* ''Xanga'': A blogging and social media site launched in 1998.
* ''LJ'': Livejournal, a blogging site, more or less, but one that allows an internet forum-like structure where anyone, or selected people, can all start new posts on a community. Noted for a large number of teenagers, fanfic authors, and the like, hence the "Bay of Angst" to its south.
* ''Blurty'': Livejournal's software is Open Access, meaning anyone can use it to set up a site. {{w|Blurty}} is according to Wikipedia an 18+ general community using this software.
* ''Cyworld'': A South Korean social media site featuring avatars and "mini-rooms".

===The Blogipelago (Southwest)===
Portmanteau of blog and archipelago. Sulawesi is a real island in the Indonesian archipelago, implying that this region's similarity to Indonesia is probably intentional.

* ''Huffington Post'':
* ''Shipwreck of the SS Howard Dean'': In the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, Howard Dean raised funds mainly over the internet, and was doing very well, until a gaffe caused him to crash and burn just before the primaries began. See {{w|Howard Dean presidential campaign, 2004}}.
* ''Cory Doctrow's Balloon'': Reference to [[239: Blagofaire]]
* ''Boing Boing'':
* ''Technorati'': A site for searching blogs
* ''Sulawesi'': As mentioned above, a real island that is part of the Indonesian archipelago.
* ''{{w|Xu Jinglei}}'': Chinese actress. According to Wikipedia: "In mid-2006, her Chinese-language blog had the most incoming links of any blog in any language on the Internet, according to Technorati."
* ''Post Secret'': '''Placeholder.'''
* ''Point South of Technorati'': Can't read it
* ''The Wet Sea'': Perhaps a reference to a West Sea, but not sure what that would be. Maybe just a simple joke, as what else would a sea be but wet?

===Sea of Culture (Central region) ===
'''Needs descriptions of each site'''

Sites for sharing and showing off music and images, most focusing on self-created content

* ''Gulf of Youtube'': YouTube is the definitive video website where people can upload videos with the purpose of public viewing, ranging from home movies through official music videos through Let's Plays of people playing video games to questionably-legal uploads of cartoons and films. Google has since purchased YouTube.
* ''Piczo'':
* ''Broadcaster'':
* ''The Bit Torrent'' and the ''P2P Shoals'': Reference to filesharing (the passing around often copyright-infringing files, such as movies, CDs, and the like), often done with the BitTorrent protocol. A "Torrent" can also be a flood of water, hence it being used to name a river. P2P stands for "{{w|Peer-to-peer}}", the basis for the BitTorrent protocol.
* ''Flickr'': a website where people can upload and share photographs they took.
* ''LastFM'': a music website that is notable of its "scrobbling" feature.
* ''DeviantArt'': the largest art website, where people can upload, sell, and buy not only art itself, but also video, audio, Flash-work, and even skins (the original purpose of deviantArt). While many big-name/professional people and organizations have their works in deviantArt, the site is more infamous for the large amount of people who upload low-quality fan-art and fan-characters, most notably of media from Japan. Another point of infamy is the large amount of drama that can happen in the website.

"Straits of Web 2.0" - A strait is a narrow passage between two outcroppings. Web 2.0 is a term used to describe new internet architectures, which these programs and Wikipedia (the other side of the strait) are examples of. "Gays of Web 2.0" is a pun: The opposite of a gay person is a straight person.

===User-created content and discussions (Southeast)===
Sites such as {{w|Wikipedia}} and chat programs such as IRC.

* Wikipedia: The world's largest encyclopedia. Given you're on a wiki, we're going to presume you know about it.
* The Wikipedia Project: Wikipedia has generalised (actually called {{w|Wikimedia}}) to cover a number of separate web sites, though, at the time of this comic, none near the size of Wikipedia, perhaps explaining the small size of all the other vertexes of the "web".
* Usenet: The predecessor of most modern forums. A set of discussion groups that dominated the early internet.
* IRC isles: IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat - it's a simple, low-bandwith program for chatting. Common uses include Dungeons and Dragons games and other geeky pursuits. Well, common uses by me, anyway.
* SourceForge: A code repository. Basically, a place for programmers to meet up and work on a variety of free and open source projects. See {{w|sourceforge}}.
* MIT: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most respected universities for Engineering, Robotics, and other such fields.
* Engadget: '''Placeholder'''
* Gizmodo: '''Placeholder'''
* MakeBlog: '''Placeholder'''
*Google's Volcano Fortress: A Volcano Fortress is one traditional dwelling place of evil geniuses in fiction, and Google has quietly taken over huge chunks of people's interaction with the web. Perhaps this provides some background for [[254: Comic Fragment]]?
*Stallman's Airship: A joke, perhaps in line with Cory Doctorow's Balloon ([[239: Blagofaire]], also referenced in this strip)

===Ocean of Subculture and Sea of Memes (East)===
'''Need descriptions'''
Sites related to smaller internet communities, a.k.a. "Subcultures". Also, a whole lot of internet memes, unsurprisingly. The "Viral Straits" references the idea of something "going viral", e.g. spreading quickly to huge numbers of people on the internet. These sites are often responsible for things going viral, and the memes listed are ones that went viral in the past.

'''Sites'''
* ''2Channel'': a Japanese imageboard that was actually the original inspiration for...
* ''4Chan'': an imageboard in which people can upload pictures while others comment on them. The website is infamous for its loose/often non-existent rules, incredibly vulgar userbase, source of new memes, and spawning of trolls. 4chan's random board, known internally as /b/, is almost constantly flooded with porn and image macros.
* ''Reddit'': the self-described "front page of the Internet" in which users submit stories, photos and videos and the best are "up-voted" to the top of the page.
* ''Digg'': a former competitor to Reddit in the social-news sphere, but has been sold since this map was drawn and restarted as a aggregator of news stories.
* ''Fark'':
* ''Something Awful'': a website that is meant to showcase all things "awful". SomethingAwful also has a large trollbase, but they tend to be more honorable than the ones from Encyclopedia Dramatica and 4chan. One example is there being a spotty holding of the no-furries rule in the forums. The forums themselves are famous because of the holding of the Let's Plays of Dangan Ronpa and Super Dangan Ronpa 2, which had cooked up public interest to the point of there being an English-language release of the games.
* ''/.'' (Slashdot):
* ''YTMND'' is an acronym for "You're The Man Now, Dog!" It's also a community in which users can create meme-type nonsense by playing music over an image (either static or animated).
* ''Stumble Upon'':
* ''Del.icio.us'':

'''Memes and related'''
* ''Isle of Slash'': Slash is the habit of taking two male characters from fiction, and writing a plot where they have lots of sex. Named because of a common way of writing pairings in fanfiction, "X/Y", with / being pronounced "slash". Oh, and, "Isle of" sounds like "I love".
* ''Numa'': A reference to the viral video "Numa Numa", consisting to a fat guy dancing and lip-syncing to the song "Dragostea din tei" (Romanian for "Love from the lindens").
* ''Your Base'': A reference to the "All your base are belong to us" meme, a line from the game ''Zero Wing'', a game with a huge amount of hilariously badly translated {{w|Engrish}} dialogue. See [[286: All Your Base]] for more discussion of the meme.
* ''Bay of Trolls'': Trolls are people who attempt to stir up controversy by intentionally saying statements meant to annoy others into responding. "Bay" can refer to both a sheltered port, and to an animal's cry, so "Bay of Trolls" can be read as "Shelter for trolls" or "Angry shouting of Trolls". Given the communities surrounding it, both are fairly apropos.
* ''Soviet Russia'': "In Soviet Russia" jokes are a style of joke popularized by comedian Yakov Smirnoff, which since has become an internet meme. Example: "In America, you always find a party. In Russia, Party will always find you." - playing off of the idea that "Party" can also refer to "The Communist Party". The meme version usually isn't as clever as that, though. See "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-soviet-russia in soviet russia]".
* ''SPAAARTA'': As in, "THIS! IS! SPAAARTA!!!", A famously over-the-top line from the movie ''300''.

===MMORPGs and related games (Northeast by East)===
An area dedicated to MMORPGs, large-scale games with huge numbers of players put into the same world. The label "Here there be anthromorphic dragons" references a common marking on old maps ("Here there be dragons") but updates it to joke about the more humanoid dragons seen in many games.

* Yahoo Games: A branch of Yahoo (see "The Icy North") dedicated to games (mainly boardgames). http://games.yahoo.com
* UO (Ultima Online): One of the first MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games), and the first to grow to any size. Based on the long-running ''Ultima'' RPG computer games. Started 1997.
* EQ (EverQuest): Another important early MMORPG, started 1999. UO and EQ have declined significantly since then, for a while, they were each the iconic MMORPG, but that role has been taken over by...
* WoW (World of Warcraft): 2004 MMORPG, again based on a previously-existing RPG series, and by far the largest and most iconic at the time of this comic's creation. A few others have risen to challenge it since.
* Runescape: Free-to-play fantasy MMORPG; the largest in existence.
* FFXI (Final Fantasy XI): The eleventh installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series of video games, and the first to be a MMORPG. It didn't really take off until after this comic was made.
* Lineage: 1998 MMORPG. Particularly popular in South Korea, a country with somewhat of a cultural obsession with video games.
* Second Life: A virtual world, noted for largely working from user-generated content, which can be sold by users for real money. See {{w|Second Life}}. "Third Life" is a joke based on Second Life - if it existed it would presumably be a game people play to escape Second Life, which they play to escape their first, real life.

==Transcript==
:[Hand-drawn fantasy style map with land and sea areas representing populations of online communities. Each area or item is labeled.]
:Map of Online Communities and related points of interest
:Geographic area represents estimated size of membership

:[Land Area Labels:]
:The Icy North (Yahoo, Windows Live),
:AOL, Reunion dot com,
:Classmates dot com,
:E-harmony,
:Faceparty,
:Chasm,
:QWGHLM,
:Yahoo Games,
:Mountains of Web 1.0,
:The Lonely Island,
:MySpace,
:Attractive MySpace Pages,
:The Series of Tubes,
:Myspace Bands,
:WOW,
:Lineage,
:Second Life,
:Third Life,
:UO,
:EQ,
:FFXI,
:2channel,
:4chan,
:LJ,
:Xanga,
:Orkut,
:Cyworld,
:Blurty,
:OK Cupid,
:Facebook,
:Piczo,
:The Compass-Rose-Shaped Island,
:Broadcaster,
:Flickr,
:Last.fm,
:DeviantArt,
:Isle of Slash,
:Numa,
:Digg,
:Fark,
:Reddit,
:Your Base,
:Soviet Russia,
:(slashdot),
:Spaaarta (YTMND),
:StumbleUpon,
:Del.icio.us,
:The Blogipelago,
:Sulawesi,
:Xu Jinglei,
:Post Secret,
:Technocrati,
:JWB,
:BoingBoing,
:Huntingdon Post,
:Gays of Web 2.0,
:The Wikipedia project,
:MIT,
:Engadget,
:Gizmodo,
:Usenet,
:XY Singles,
:MAKE Blog,
:IRC Isles,
:Sourceforge.

:[Sea Area Labels:]
:NOOB Sea,
:Gulf of YouTube,
:Bay of Angst,
:Sea of Culture,
:Ocean of Subculture,
:P2P Shoals,
:Straits of Web 2.0,
:Here Be Anthropomorphic Dragons,
:Bay of Trolls,
:Viral Straits,
:Sea of Memes,
:The Wet Sea
:Item Labels: Shipwreck of the SS Howard Dean, Cory Doctrow's Balloon, Stallman's airship, Google's volcano fortress

:(Not a complete survey. Sizes based on the best figures I could find but involved some guesswork. Do not use for navigation.)
:Spring 2007

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Large drawings]]

442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel

2014-01-06T08:32:44Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 442
| date = June 27, 2008
| title = xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel
| image = xkcd_loves_the_discovery_channel.png
| titletext = I love the title-text!
}}
{{incomplete|Transcript is not standard, many panels are not explained.}}
==Explanation==
This comic is a parody of the {{w|Discovery Channel}} commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0 'Boom De Yada']. The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip. In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial."

The campaign from the {{w|Discovery Channel}} was not called "Boom De Yada", but {{w|I Love The World}}. It's possible that the title "xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel" is in reference to that.

Most of the panels are references to previous xkcd strips. However, some are not:

* The 1st panel is a reference to [[162|comic 161]], where Megan spins in a circle to "rob the planet of angular momentum."
* The 2nd panel is a reference to [[413|comic 413]], where Megan and Cueball turn an EEE PC into a household pet.
* The 3rd panel is a reference to [[434|comic 434]], where Beret Guy shows his liking for bakeries in first panel.
* The 4th panel is a reference to [[239|comic 239]], where someone from the far future believes may people blogged while flying and wearing red capes and goggles.
* The 6th panel is a reference to the /b/ ("Random") forum on {{w|4chan}}, which is in fact home to plenty of "messed-up folks".
* The 7th panel is a reference to [[150|comic 150]], where Megan decides that she has the ability to, and wants to, turn her house into a giant playpen.
* The 8th panel is a reference to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/robe-and-wizard-hat this (nsfw)].
* The 17th panel is a pun on the song {{w|Rock Me Amadeus}} and US president {{w|Barack Obama}}.
* The 18th panel has Cueball's crotch replaced with the (similar-looking) icon used for a {{w|transistor}} in a circuit diagram.

==Transcript==
:[The comic is in parody of the Discovery Channel commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line "Boom De Yada."]
:[The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip.]
:[In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial.]

:Panel 1: [[162|(Reference Comic 162)]]
:[Megan spinning around.]
:I love momentum.

:Panel 2: [[413|(Reference Comic 413)]]
:[Megan laying on floor tinkering with EEE PC hamster ball robot.]
:I love to engineer.

:Panel 3: [[434|(Reference Comic 434)]]
:[Beret Guy standing in bakery holding a loaf of bread in each hand, sign with "PIE!" in background.]
:I love this bakery!

:Panel 4: [[239|(Reference Comic 239)]]
:[Cory Doctorow in goggles and red cape flying superman-style.]
:I love the blogosphere!

:Panel 5: [[152|(Reference Comic 152)]]
:[Cueball running in large hamster ball.]
:I love the whole world

:Panel 6:
:[Depiction of internet sludge (4chan b-Random)]
:And all its messed-up folks.

:Panel 7: [[150|(Reference Comic 150)]]
:[Cueball and Megan immersed in playpen balls.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 8:
:[Mass of playpen balls with speech "I put on my robe and wizard hat" originating from it.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 9: [[72|(Reference Comic 72)]]
:[Black Hat taking gift away from kid with party hat.]
:I love your suffering.

:Panel 10: [[153|(Reference Comic 153)]]
:[Diagram showing RSA fingerprint authentication between two people.]
:I love cryptography.

:Panel 11: [[230|(Reference Comic 230)]]
:[Cueball and Megan in bed covered by red sheet.]
:I love entangled sheets.

:Panel 12: (Blag or [[235|Reference Comic 235)]]
:[Cueball hanging from kite string holding camera.]
:And kite photography.

:Panel 13: [[256|(Reference Comic 256)]]
:[Map of the internet.]
:I love the whole world

:Panel 14: [[8|(Reference Comic 8)]]
:[Cube with red spider on top.]
:And all its mysteries.

:Panel 15: [[303|(Reference Comic 303)]]
:[Two people sword-fighting on rolling office chairs.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 16: [[263|(Reference Comic 263)]]
:[Classroom with two students and Mrs. Lenhart.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 17:
:[Cueball saying "Barack me Obamadeus!" to another man speaking energetically at a podium.]
:I love elections.

:Panel 18:
:[Cueball holding schematic diagram of a transistor in front of his crotch.]
:I love transistors.

:Panel 19: (Reference Comic [[69]], [[214]])
:[Cueball and Megan in bed, Cueball saying "There ''must'' be taft slash fiction."]
:I love weird pillow talk.

:Panel 20: (Reference Comic [[49]], [[279]], [[317]])
:[Cueball speaking to Megan.]
:I love your sister.

:Panel 21: [[249|(Reference Comic 249)]]
:[Roller coaster with Cueball in front car holding chess board and thinking about a move.]
:I love the whole world.

:Panel 22: [[167|(Reference Comic 167)]]
:[Beret Guy standing in the midst of leafless trees.]
:The future's pretty cool!

:Panel 23: [[108|(Reference Comic 108)]]
:[Megan doing the MC Hammer slide towards Cueball.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 24: [[409|(Reference Comic 409)]]
:[Cueball and Megan on an electric skateboard.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

==Trivia==
*This comic was enacted by Olga Nunes and various famous people as [http://www.olganunes.com/xkcd ''We Love xkcd''].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Playpen balls]]
[[Category:Red Spiders]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Electric skateboard]]

442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel

2014-01-06T08:28:36Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 442
| date = June 27, 2008
| title = xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel
| image = xkcd_loves_the_discovery_channel.png
| titletext = I love the title-text!
}}
{{incomplete|Transcript is not standard, many panels are not explained.}}
==Explanation==
This comic is a parody of the {{w|Discovery Channel}} commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0 'Boom De Yada']. The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip. In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial."

The campaign from the {{w|Discovery Channel}} was not called "Boom De Yada", but {{w|I Love The World}}. It's possible that the title "xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel" is in reference to that.

Most of the panels are references to previous xkcd strips. However, some are not:

* The 1st panel is a reference to [[162|comic 161]], where Megan spins in a circle to "rob the planet of angular momentum."
* The 2nd panel is a reference to [[413|comic 413]], where Megan and Cueball turn an EEE PC into a household pet.
* The 3rd panel is a reference to [[434|comic 434]], where Beret Guy shows his liking for bakeries in first panel.
* The 4th panel is a reference to [[239|comic 239]], where someone from the far future believes may people blogged while flying and wearing red capes and goggles.
* The 6th panel is a reference to the /b/ ("Random") forum on {{w|4chan}}, which is in fact home to plenty of "messed-up folks".
* The 8th panel is a reference to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/robe-and-wizard-hat this (nsfw)].
* The 17th panel is a pun on the song {{w|Rock Me Amadeus}} and US president {{w|Barack Obama}}.
* The 18th panel has Cueball's crotch replaced with the (similar-looking) icon used for a {{w|transistor}} in a circuit diagram.

==Transcript==
:[The comic is in parody of the Discovery Channel commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line "Boom De Yada."]
:[The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip.]
:[In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial.]

:Panel 1: [[162|(Reference Comic 162)]]
:[Megan spinning around.]
:I love momentum.

:Panel 2: [[413|(Reference Comic 413)]]
:[Megan laying on floor tinkering with EEE PC hamster ball robot.]
:I love to engineer.

:Panel 3: [[434|(Reference Comic 434)]]
:[Beret Guy standing in bakery holding a loaf of bread in each hand, sign with "PIE!" in background.]
:I love this bakery!

:Panel 4: [[239|(Reference Comic 239)]]
:[Cory Doctorow in goggles and red cape flying superman-style.]
:I love the blogosphere!

:Panel 5: [[152|(Reference Comic 152)]]
:[Cueball running in large hamster ball.]
:I love the whole world

:Panel 6:
:[Depiction of internet sludge (4chan b-Random)]
:And all its messed-up folks.

:Panel 7: [[150|(Reference Comic 150)]]
:[Cueball and Megan immersed in playpen balls.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 8:
:[Mass of playpen balls with speech "I put on my robe and wizard hat" originating from it.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 9: [[72|(Reference Comic 72)]]
:[Black Hat taking gift away from kid with party hat.]
:I love your suffering.

:Panel 10: [[153|(Reference Comic 153)]]
:[Diagram showing RSA fingerprint authentication between two people.]
:I love cryptography.

:Panel 11: [[230|(Reference Comic 230)]]
:[Cueball and Megan in bed covered by red sheet.]
:I love entangled sheets.

:Panel 12: (Blag or [[235|Reference Comic 235)]]
:[Cueball hanging from kite string holding camera.]
:And kite photography.

:Panel 13: [[256|(Reference Comic 256)]]
:[Map of the internet.]
:I love the whole world

:Panel 14: [[8|(Reference Comic 8)]]
:[Cube with red spider on top.]
:And all its mysteries.

:Panel 15: [[303|(Reference Comic 303)]]
:[Two people sword-fighting on rolling office chairs.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 16: [[263|(Reference Comic 263)]]
:[Classroom with two students and Mrs. Lenhart.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 17:
:[Cueball saying "Barack me Obamadeus!" to another man speaking energetically at a podium.]
:I love elections.

:Panel 18:
:[Cueball holding schematic diagram of a transistor in front of his crotch.]
:I love transistors.

:Panel 19: (Reference Comic [[69]], [[214]])
:[Cueball and Megan in bed, Cueball saying "There ''must'' be taft slash fiction."]
:I love weird pillow talk.

:Panel 20: (Reference Comic [[49]], [[279]], [[317]])
:[Cueball speaking to Megan.]
:I love your sister.

:Panel 21: [[249|(Reference Comic 249)]]
:[Roller coaster with Cueball in front car holding chess board and thinking about a move.]
:I love the whole world.

:Panel 22: [[167|(Reference Comic 167)]]
:[Beret Guy standing in the midst of leafless trees.]
:The future's pretty cool!

:Panel 23: [[108|(Reference Comic 108)]]
:[Megan doing the MC Hammer slide towards Cueball.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 24: [[409|(Reference Comic 409)]]
:[Cueball and Megan on an electric skateboard.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

==Trivia==
*This comic was enacted by Olga Nunes and various famous people as [http://www.olganunes.com/xkcd ''We Love xkcd''].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Playpen balls]]
[[Category:Red Spiders]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Electric skateboard]]

248: Hypotheticals

2014-01-06T08:05:28Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 248
| date = April 13, 2007
| title = Hypotheticals
| image = hypotheticals.png
| titletext = What if someone broke out of a hypothetical situation in your room right now?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
This comic sets up a recursive loop of hypothetical situations within hypothetical situations, reaching an absurd level. The title text attempts to extend it further into the reader's mind. When Cueball is within the hypothetical situation Beret Guy created, he creates another hypothetical situation where he has a knife, so he could break out of his current situation.

==Transcript==
:Beret Guy: What if I had some ice cream? Wouldn't that be awesome?
:Cueball: No, stop--
:Beret Guy (thinking):
::Cueball: Great, you've trapped us in a a hypothetical situation!
::Beret Guy (holding ice cream): Mm, ice cream.
::Cueball: Maybe if I had a knife I could cut our way free...
::Cueball (thinking):
:::Beret Guy: Mmm, ice cream!
:::Cueball (reaching back into previous thought bubble): Here, take this one.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Recursion]]

198: Perspective

2014-01-06T05:51:53Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 198
| date = December 18, 2006
| title = Perspective
| image = perspective.png
| titletext = I wonder what I was dreaming to prompt that. I hope it wasn't the Richard Stallman Cirque de Soleil thing again.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The browser war did start in the 90's}}
{{w|Firefox}} is a popular browser and in 2006 it was the second most commonly used browser. Its more fervent supporters sometimes wrote as if there was a moral imperative to use Firefox rather than Internet Explorer.

[[Cueball]], presumably representing [[Randall]], begins each day with a reasonable perspective on the relative unimportance of an internet browser within the world at large, but quickly loses that perspective as his enthusiasm for Firefox gets the better of him. The humor stems from the irony that Cueball is relieved to trade a richer perspective for a simpler, browser-oriented world view.

At the title text we have {{w|Richard Matthew Stallman|Richard Stallman}}, an American software freedom activist and computer programmer connected to {{w|Cirque du Soleil}}. Supporting free software is more serious like being an artist at a circus.

==Transcript==
:Sometimes, when I first wake up, I am caught in the horrible grip of perspective.
:[Cueball sitting up in bed.]
:Cueball: It may be a jewel of open source, but Firefox is JUST A BROWSER. It shows WEBPAGES. What the hell is WRONG with us?
:Fortunately, this subsides quickly.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel

2014-01-05T09:25:29Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 442
| date = June 27, 2008
| title = xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel
| image = xkcd_loves_the_discovery_channel.png
| titletext = I love the title-text!
}}
{{incomplete|Transcript is not standard, many panels are not explained.}}
==Explanation==
This comic is a parody of the {{w|Discovery Channel}} commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_f98qOGY0 'Boom De Yada']. The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip. In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial."

The campaign from the {{w|Discovery Channel}} was not called "Boom De Yada", but {{w|I Love The World}}. It's possible that the title "xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel" is in reference to that.

Most of the panels are references to previous xkcd strips. However, some are not:

* The 1st panel is a reference to [[162|comic 161]], where Megan spins in a circle to "rob the planet of angular momentum."
* The 2nd panel is a reference to [[413|comic 413]], where Megan and Cueball turn an EEE PC into a household pet.
* The 3rd panel is a reference to [[434|comic 434]], where Beret Guy shows his liking for bakeries in first panel.
* The 6th panel is a reference to the /b/ ("Random") forum on {{w|4chan}}, which is in fact home to plenty of "messed-up folks".
* The 8th panel is a reference to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/robe-and-wizard-hat this (nsfw)].
* The 17th panel is a pun on the song {{w|Rock Me Amadeus}} and US president {{w|Barack Obama}}.
* The 18th panel has Cueball's crotch replaced with the (similar-looking) icon used for a {{w|transistor}} in a circuit diagram.

==Transcript==
:[The comic is in parody of the Discovery Channel commercial showing various clips of people singing a song with the chorus line "Boom De Yada."]
:[The comic is divided into a grid of 4 by 6 panels, each depicting a character or situation from a previous xkcd strip.]
:[In each panel is written a part of a song similar to the song from the Discovery Channel commercial.]

:Panel 1: [[162|(Reference Comic 162)]]
:[Megan spinning around.]
:I love momentum.

:Panel 2: [[413|(Reference Comic 413)]]
:[Megan laying on floor tinkering with EEE PC hamster ball robot.]
:I love to engineer.

:Panel 3: [[434|(Reference Comic 434)]]
:[Beret Guy standing in bakery holding a loaf of bread in each hand, sign with "PIE!" in background.]
:I love this bakery!

:Panel 4: [[239|(Reference Comic 239)]]
:[Cory Doctorow in goggles and red cape flying superman-style.]
:I love the blogosphere!

:Panel 5: [[152|(Reference Comic 152)]]
:[Cueball running in large hamster ball.]
:I love the whole world

:Panel 6:
:[Depiction of internet sludge (4chan b-Random)]
:And all its messed-up folks.

:Panel 7: [[150|(Reference Comic 150)]]
:[Cueball and Megan immersed in playpen balls.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 8:
:[Mass of playpen balls with speech "I put on my robe and wizard hat" originating from it.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 9: [[72|(Reference Comic 72)]]
:[Black Hat taking gift away from kid with party hat.]
:I love your suffering.

:Panel 10: [[153|(Reference Comic 153)]]
:[Diagram showing RSA fingerprint authentication between two people.]
:I love cryptography.

:Panel 11: [[230|(Reference Comic 230)]]
:[Cueball and Megan in bed covered by red sheet.]
:I love entangled sheets.

:Panel 12: (Blag or [[235|Reference Comic 235)]]
:[Cueball hanging from kite string holding camera.]
:And kite photography.

:Panel 13: [[256|(Reference Comic 256)]]
:[Map of the internet.]
:I love the whole world

:Panel 14: [[8|(Reference Comic 8)]]
:[Cube with red spider on top.]
:And all its mysteries.

:Panel 15: [[303|(Reference Comic 303)]]
:[Two people sword-fighting on rolling office chairs.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 16: [[263|(Reference Comic 263)]]
:[Classroom with two students and Mrs. Lenhart.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 17:
:[Cueball saying "Barack me Obamadeus!" to another man speaking energetically at a podium.]
:I love elections.

:Panel 18:
:[Cueball holding schematic diagram of a transistor in front of his crotch.]
:I love transistors.

:Panel 19: (Reference Comic [[69]], [[214]])
:[Cueball and Megan in bed, Cueball saying "There ''must'' be taft slash fiction."]
:I love weird pillow talk.

:Panel 20: (Reference Comic [[49]], [[279]], [[317]])
:[Cueball speaking to Megan.]
:I love your sister.

:Panel 21: [[249|(Reference Comic 249)]]
:[Roller coaster with Cueball in front car holding chess board and thinking about a move.]
:I love the whole world.

:Panel 22: [[167|(Reference Comic 167)]]
:[Beret Guy standing in the midst of leafless trees.]
:The future's pretty cool!

:Panel 23: [[108|(Reference Comic 108)]]
:[Megan doing the MC Hammer slide towards Cueball.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

:Panel 24: [[409|(Reference Comic 409)]]
:[Cueball and Megan on an electric skateboard.]
:Boom De Yada
:Boom De Yada

==Trivia==
*This comic was enacted by Olga Nunes and various famous people as [http://www.olganunes.com/xkcd ''We Love xkcd''].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Playpen balls]]
[[Category:Red Spiders]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Electric skateboard]]

590: Papyrus

2014-01-05T05:38:54Z

199.27.128.144:

<div style="font-family:papyrus, sans-serif">
{{comic
| number = 590
| date = May 29, 2009
| title = Papyrus
| image = papyrus.png
| titletext = I secretly, deep in my guilty heart, like Papyrus and don't care if it's overused. [Cue hate mail in beautifully-kerned Helvetica.]
}}

==Explanation==
One of the comics in the "My Hobby" series, this one touches on the fact that {{w|Papyrus (typeface)|Papyrus}} (the font) is considered to be overused by many typography geeks, including the font's own creator. Pretending that he doesn't know that, [[Cueball]] gives [[Ponytail]] a heartfelt card written in that font just to see her twitch.

The title text says that Randall actually ''likes'' Papyrus, even if it ''is'' overused, and refers to {{w|Helvetica}}, another commonly-used sans-serif font.

==Transcript==
:My Hobby:
:Getting typography geeks heartfelt cards printed in "papyrus" and watching them struggle to act grateful.
:Ponytail: Thank you for the ''*Twitch*'' ... lovely... ''*Twitch*'' birthday card!
:[Ponytail is holding a card open and looking at Cueball. An angry tic is flicking on her forehead.]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

</div>

173: Movie Seating

2014-01-05T04:55:22Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 173
| date = October 20, 2006
| title = Movie Seating
| image = movie_seating.png
| titletext = It's like the traveling salesman problem, but the endpoints are different and you can't ask your friends for help because they're sitting three seats down.
}}

==Explanation==
Cueball is upset at the way he and his friends have sat down at the movie theater. Part of the problem is that two people who are apparently in a relationship do not sit together. He therefore tries to use a {{w|social graph}} to calculate the best way for him and his seven friends to sit in a row, while taking into account all of the social connections among them. In {{w|mathematics}}, this type of problem is called {{w|combinatorial optimisation}}. The most popular example, the "{{w|Travelling Salesman Problem}}", is referenced in the title text, as well as in comics [[287]] and [[399]].

The title text shows that another part of the problem is that Cueball's friends who could have helped him calculate a solution are each sitting three seats away from him, and so he cannot ask them for help.

==Transcript==
:At the movies, I get frustrated when we file into our row haphazardly, ignoring the computationally difficulty problem of seating people together for maximum enjoyment.
:[Map of relationships between 8 people.]
:[Legend:]
::Single line: friends.
::Double line: in a relationship.
::Arrow: one-way crush.
::Dashed line: acquaintances
:[The eight friends sitting in a row in a dark cinema. Cueball and one other are between two lovers.]
:Cueball: Guys! This is not socially optimal!

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

59: Graduation

2014-01-03T08:09:11Z

199.27.128.144: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 59
| date = February 3, 2006
| title = Graduation
| image = graduation.jpg
| titletext = Opening dialogue by [[Scott]]
}}

==Explanation==
A young [[Miss Lenhart]] and [[Megan]] discuss their plans after the college. Miss Lenhart doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, so she is going to go to {{w|Graduate school|grad school}}. Graduate school is the next level of education after {{w|undergraduate education|undergraduate work}}, where students pursue a master's or doctoral degrees.

Megan, on the other hand, has decided to become a lighthouse operator. Which is a path that is becoming increasingly less travelled. Fewer people need lighthouses. Before GPS technology, lighthouses were invaluable markers of where the sea ended and where land began. Megan likes the idea of being the maid in the highest tower. Except where most fairy tales portray the {{w|Rapunzel|maid in the tower}} as helpless, waiting to be rescued, operating a lighthouse is far from helpless. It can be one of the most needed jobs for sea-farers to find their way back home safe.

Other comics with a similar theme about finding or taking unexplored paths, instead of fitting into the mold, includes [[137: Dreams]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Blonde are talking.]
:Blonde (or Ms. Lenhart): What do you want to do when you graduate?
:Megan: I want to become a lighthouse operator.
:Blonde: Oh?
:Megan: Yeah.
:[Cut to scene of lighthouse with text overlaid.]
:Megan: Lighthouses are built on interesting pieces of coast, so I'll have an interesting place to walk and swim, and great views of all kinds of weather. I'd feel good about myself and my work every single day.
:[Cut back to the two girls.]
:Megan: I'd get to be the girl in the tower, only I'd be the one rescuing people.
:Megan: Why. What do you want to do ?
:Blonde: I'm going to grad school. I don't really know why.
:Megan: Wanna come hang in my lighthouse over breaks?
:Blonde: ...yeah.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

1310: Goldbach Conjectures

2014-01-01T03:27:44Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number = 1310
| date = December 30, 2013
| title = Goldbach Conjectures
| image = goldbach_conjectures.png
| titletext = The weak twin primes conjecture states that there are infinitely many pairs of primes. The strong twin primes conjecture states that every prime p has a twin prime (p+2), although (p+2) may not look prime at first. The tautological prime conjecture states that the tautological prime conjecture is true.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Goldbach's conjecture}} and the {{w|Twin prime|twin prime conjecture}} are unsolved problems in mathematics relating to {{w|prime numbers}} (numbers whose only {{w|divisors}} are 1 and itself). A claimed proof of {{w|Goldbach's weak conjecture}} is currently under review.

Randall is riffing on the relationship between "strong" and "weak" logical statements, which are an interplay between the boldness or usefulness of a statement and the ease with which it might be proven to be true. For example, if Goldbach's conjecture (given in the comic under the label "strong") could be proven to be true, it would automatically imply that Goldbach's weak conjecture (given in the comic under the label "weak") is also true, because any odd number greater than 5 can be expressed as 3 (a prime number) plus an even number greater than 2 (which, per the strong conjecture, would itself be the sum of two prime numbers), resulting in a way to express the original odd number as the sum of three prime numbers. The weak conjecture does not, however, imply the strong conjecture.

Mathematicians have been solving related problems that are "weaker" than the weak conjecture, and working towards "stronger" ones. For example, in 1937 the weak conjecture was proven for odd numbers greater than 3 to the 14348907th power. In 1995 a version was proven based on the sum of no more than seven prime numbers, and in 2012 the ceiling was lowered to five primes. In 2013 the weak conjecture was claimed proven for numbers greater than 10 to the 30th power, while all numbers below that threshold were checked on a supercomputer. Goldbach's strong conjecture remains unsolved.

This comic plays on the "strong" and "weak" naming of Goldbach's conjectures by extending it to further degrees of strength or weakness. The "very weak" and "extremely weak" conjectures are indeed implied by Goldbach's weak conjecture, just as the weak conjecture is implied by the strong one. The "very strong" and "extremely strong" conjectures are extensions of Goldbach's strong conjecture, even as it is an extension of the weak conjecture. However, the "very weak" and "extremely weak" conjectures are so obviously true that they are hardly worth stating, while the "very strong" and "extremely strong" conjectures make such bold claims that they are obviously false.

Moreover, the "extremely weak" and "extremely strong" conjectures contradict each other, even though they're both derived (albeit in opposite directions) from the same initial conjectures.

The title text refers to the twin prime conjecture, which states that there are an infinite number of pairs of primes that differ by 2, and then applies the same spectrum of "weak" and "strong" statements to it.

[[Randall]]'s weak twin prime conjecture states that there are an infinite number of pairs of primes. This is clearly true. Per {{w|Euclid's theorem}}, there are an infinite number of primes. Unlike the actual twin prime conjecture (which specifies a distance of two), this conjecture does not specify a required distance. Thus, any pair from the infinite set of primes suffices. An example is 5 and 13.

His strong twin prime conjecture states that every prime is 2 less than another prime. This statement is obviously false, as there are many possible counter-examples to this statement (thus Randall's humorous {{w|hedge (linguistics)|hedge}} that some prime numbers "may not look prime at first").

The tautological prime conjecture states that it itself is true, while making no statement about primes. It is not technically a {{w|tautology}} but more of a plain assertion. Randall has mentioned tautologies before in [[703: Honor Societies]].

==Transcript==
:'''Goldbach Conjectures'''
:'''Weak'''
:Every odd number greater than 5 is the sum of three primes
:'''Strong'''
:Every even number greater than 2 is the sum of two primes
:'''Very weak'''
:Every number greater than 7 is the sum of two other numbers
:'''Very strong'''
:Every odd number is prime
:'''Extremely weak'''
:Numbers just ''keep going''
:'''Extremely strong'''
:There are no numbers above 7

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Math]]

556: Alternative Energy Revolution

2013-12-09T12:10:15Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number = 556
| date = March 16, 2009
| title = Alternative Energy Revolution
| image = alternative_energy_revolution.jpg
| titletext = The moment their arms spun freely in our air, they were doomed -- for Man has earned his right to hold this planet against all comers, by virtue of occasionally producing someone totally batshit insane.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Al Gore explanation may needs expansion}}
[[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are looking at modern windmills harnessing wind energy into electrical energy. They comment that there's something creepy about the windmills.They allude to the "War of the Worlds" - most likely a reference to the Jeff Wayne rock version of {{w|Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds|War of the Worlds}}, which has paintings of the martian tripods somewhat like these windmills, and also "The Tripods" from John Christopher's {{w|The Tripods|tripods trilogy}} a children's series of books about aliens who ride in walking tripods.

Suddenly the windmills pylons split into three legs, becoming the tripods suggested.

{{w|Al Gore}} is a former Vice President of the United States, known for his environmental activism and support of green energy sources.

In the final frame, the 16th century literary figure {{w|Don Quixote}} arrives (Randall's depiction seems to be inspired by {{w|Don Quixote (Picasso)|the drawing}} by {{w|Pablo Picasso}}). In the original story, Don Quixote is a wandering knight of questionable sanity who fights windmills, which he believes to be giants. Hence, he is the appropriate person to deal with this threat. Also, he is "batshit insane."

The title text is a reference to the {{w|H. G. Wells}} radio play/movie {{w|The War of the Worlds}}. "But there are no bacteria in Mars...when I watched them they were irrevocably doomed... By the toll of a billion deaths man has bought his birthright of the earth, and it is his against all comers"

The windmills also look like the fictional plants {{w|Triffid}}s from {{w|John Wyndham}}'s book "{{w|The Day of the Triffids}}" or the 1962 {{w|The Day of the Triffids (film)|film version}}.

There is a fan-created [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRuqPKcxMZY animation of this comic.]

==Transcript==
:[A field of windmills is silhouetted against dusk sky.]

:[Cueball and Megan are standing and sitting on the ground overlooking the windmills.]
:Cueball: I'm all for green energy, but those turbines creep me out. They remind me of War of the Worlds, or the Tripod books.

:Megan: They -are- unnerving.
:Cueball: I can't shake the feeling that at any moment they'll—
:''RUMBLE''

:[A leg begins to split off one windmill.]
:''crack''

:[The leg separates from the body of the windmill.]

:[The new leg lands on the ground.]
:''BOOM''

:[Another leg begins to split off the other side of the windmill's body.]
:''crack''

:[The new leg hits the ground, forming a tripod base.]
:''BOOM''

:[Smoke rises from destroyed buildings as the windmills rampage across the field.]

:[Cueball and Megan are now standing.]
:Megan: Oh no.
:Cueball: Al Gore, you've doomed us all.
:Megan: It's coming this way!
:Cueball: Run!

:[One of the enormous tripod windmill feet lands right behind the running couple, sending debris flying.]
:''BOOM''

:[Cueball and Megan run.]
:Megan: What now?
:Cueball: Someone has to stop them.
:Megan: But who could-
:Voice from next panel: Stand aside!

:[Don Quixote sits mounted at the top of a hill, lance at the ready.]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Windmills]]

556: Alternative Energy Revolution

2013-12-09T12:07:41Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 556
| date = March 16, 2009
| title = Alternative Energy Revolution
| image = alternative_energy_revolution.jpg
| titletext = The moment their arms spun freely in our air, they were doomed -- for Man has earned his right to hold this planet against all comers, by virtue of occasionally producing someone totally batshit insane.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Al Gore part needs explanation}}
[[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are looking at modern windmills harnessing wind energy into electrical energy. They comment that there's something creepy about the windmills.They allude to the "War of the Worlds" - most likely a reference to the Jeff Wayne rock version of {{w|Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds|War of the Worlds}}, which has paintings of the martian tripods somewhat like these windmills, and also "The Tripods" from John Christopher's {{w|The Tripods|tripods trilogy}} a children's series of books about aliens who ride in walking tripods.

Suddenly the windmills pylons split into three legs, becoming the tripods suggested.

In the final frame, the 16th century literary figure {{w|Don Quixote}} arrives (Randall's depiction seems to be inspired by {{w|Don Quixote (Picasso)|the drawing}} by {{w|Pablo Picasso}}). In the original story, Don Quixote is a wandering knight of questionable sanity who fights windmills, which he believes to be giants. Hence, he is the appropriate person to deal with this threat. Also, he is "batshit insane."

The title text is a reference to the {{w|H. G. Wells}} radio play/movie {{w|The War of the Worlds}}. "But there are no bacteria in Mars...when I watched them they were irrevocably doomed... By the toll of a billion deaths man has bought his birthright of the earth, and it is his against all comers"

The windmills also look like the fictional plants {{w|Triffid}}s from {{w|John Wyndham}}'s book "{{w|The Day of the Triffids}}" or the 1962 {{w|The Day of the Triffids (film)|film version}}.

There is a fan-created [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRuqPKcxMZY animation of this comic.]

==Transcript==
:[A field of windmills is silhouetted against dusk sky.]

:[Cueball and Megan are standing and sitting on the ground overlooking the windmills.]
:Cueball: I'm all for green energy, but those turbines creep me out. They remind me of War of the Worlds, or the Tripod books.

:Megan: They -are- unnerving.
:Cueball: I can't shake the feeling that at any moment they'll—
:''RUMBLE''

:[A leg begins to split off one windmill.]
:''crack''

:[The leg separates from the body of the windmill.]

:[The new leg lands on the ground.]
:''BOOM''

:[Another leg begins to split off the other side of the windmill's body.]
:''crack''

:[The new leg hits the ground, forming a tripod base.]
:''BOOM''

:[Smoke rises from destroyed buildings as the windmills rampage across the field.]

:[Cueball and Megan are now standing.]
:Megan: Oh no.
:Cueball: Al Gore, you've doomed us all.
:Megan: It's coming this way!
:Cueball: Run!

:[One of the enormous tripod windmill feet lands right behind the running couple, sending debris flying.]
:''BOOM''

:[Cueball and Megan run.]
:Megan: What now?
:Cueball: Someone has to stop them.
:Megan: But who could-
:Voice from next panel: Stand aside!

:[Don Quixote sits mounted at the top of a hill, lance at the ready.]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Windmills]]

1223: Dwarf Fortress

2013-12-09T07:43:27Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number = 1223
| date = June 10, 2013
| title = Dwarf Fortress
| image = dwarf_fortress.png
| titletext = I may be the kind of person who wastes a year implementing a Turing-complete computer in Dwarf Fortress, but that makes you the kind of person who wastes ten more getting that computer to run Minecraft.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
This comic is a reaction to the recent reveal of a U.S. electronic telecom surveillance program called {{w|PRISM (surveillance program)|PRISM}}, run by the NSA. (You can read a [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data Guardian article] about it.) PRISM, leaked by a former NSA official, incited some controversy since it provides government access to private data (e-mails, videos, chats, file transfers, etc.). 

''{{w|Dwarf Fortress}}'' is a freeware strategy game in which the player builds a civilization by giving orders to — as opposed to directly controlling — a group of dwarves. It is famous for having a very detailed simulation of its world and for allowing deep micro-management (as well as an incredibly steep learning curve). Cueball compares the omniscience of a ''Dwarf Fortress'' player to government surveillance.

"Big Brother" means "a tyrannical government body that constantly monitors all its citizens." The term comes from the classic dystopian novel ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}'' by George Orwell.

Informally, a system exhibits ''Turing-completeness'' when it is theoretically capable of executing any algorithm. One of the simplest Turing-complete systems is the {{w|Turing machine}}, a device that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules — it {{w|Church-Turing thesis|can be proven}} to have the same capabilities as any ordinary programming language. Other very simple systems include {{w|Rule 110}}, {{w|lambda calculus}}, {{w|Conway's game of life}}, and {{w|Brainfuck}}. (The reason we don't work with these is because they're a real pain in the ass. Would you rather build a network of spaceships that collide with each other to simulate the successor function, or just write <tt>i := i + 1</tt>?)

A common CS nerd challenge is to prove the Turing-completeness of a system that wasn't intended to be that way — games in particular. The usual way to do this is to construct a Turing machine simulator within the system. It has been done for Dwarf Fortress [http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-8269], (infinite) Minesweeper [http://web.mat.bham.ac.uk/R.W.Kaye/minesw/infmsw.pdf], Magic the Gathering [http://www.toothycat.net/~hologram/Turing/HowItWorks.html], Little Big Planet [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13GOFa1C4e4], Minecraft [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X21HQphy6I] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sNge0Ywz-M], (hacked) Pokémon Yellow [http://aurellem.org/vba-clojure/html/total-control.html] and 3D chess [http://cp4space.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/3d-chess-is-turing-complete/] (but see the note below). These kinds of proofs often involve formulating ridiculously complex creations just to simulate a little machine writing symbols on a tape!

(Technically, a computer is not really Turing-complete. A Turing-complete system has to have unlimited space, and that's not possible for a memory-limited computer or any software running inside it. But even if we don't have access to Turing-completeness, we can build a theoretical machine and show how it can be extended indefinitely. In a few of the games, we prove Turing-completeness in infinite variants.)

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits at a desk with a computer, hands on the keyboard, talking to an unseen observer.]
:Cueball: If the corporate surveillance state monitors and controls every aspect of my life...
:Big Brother: We do.
:Cueball: And I play Dwarf Fortress all day...
:Big Brother: You do.
:Cueball: Then you're effectively Dwarf Fortress players watching your dwarves play Dwarf Fortress.
:Big Brother: ... Oh God.
:Big Brother realises he's trapped in the most tedious possible Hell.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

1086: Eyelash Wish Log

2013-12-09T07:39:23Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1086
| date = July 25, 2012
| title = Eyelash Wish Log
| image = eyelash wish log.png
| titletext = Ooh, another one. Uh ... the ability to alter any coefficients of friction at will during sporting events.
}}

== Explanation ==
This comic is based on the situation that when someone's eyelash falls out, that person can make a wish on it. This comic appears to be a page from the fictitious Wish Bureau in charge of granting said wishes. And of course the Wisher is [[Black Hat]] and he has quite a few wishes, most of them based on the previous wish. A common trope in fiction is that wishing for more wishes is prohibited and for many of his wishes [[Black Hat]] attempts to circumvent that.

February 12's wish seems to be a reference to the unlimited {{w|breadsticks}} offered at {{w|Olive Garden}}.

February 27's wish relates to a common practice especially in tweets or other short length mediums where full length specific HTML addresses such as wwww.somewhere.com/articles/specificdate/the page.htm would not be feasible. So a more compressed but often less sensical string of seemingly random characters is used which links to a link of the full text address. This creates some problems for people who are security or privacy conscious and prefer to be informed before hand where they will be traveling on the Internet. It is analogous to a twisting set of watersides. Some water parks label where they end up and what style of ride it is (the doom tunnel vs the kiddy kicker). Imagine however your wanting a nice ride ending in shallow water. You could not wily predict the unlabelled ride as it twists out of sight if the label is gibberish. You might end up thinking your attempt to go down the Bay Watch slide might end you up in Pamella's porn pool, which could be well over your head.

March 7's wish is a reference to {{w|Nate Silver}}, who is a former writer for {{w|Baseball Prospectus}} working on predicting baseball players' stats and now writes for {{w|Five Thirty Eight}} in which he predicts the outcome of elections based on polling data.

And April 22's wish is a reference to the cartoon and video game series {{w|Pokémon}}. A Pokéball can be thrown at a Pokémon (or in this case, an annoying pet) to capture it and seal it indefinitely. In most cases, Pokéballs cannot be used on Pokémon owned by other people.

==Transcript==
{|
! align="left" colspan="2" |Eyelash Wish Log
|-style="color: gray;"
|
|align="right"|Whish bureau ID#:
|-
|
|align="right"|21118378
|-style="color: gray;"
|
|align="right"|Date range:
|-
!scope="row" style="color: gray;"|Wisher
|align="right"|Jan-Apr 2012
|}

{|
!align="left" width="50px"|Date
!align="left"|Wish
|-
|Jan 09
|That wishing on eyelashes worked
|-
|Jan 12
|A pony
|-
|Jan 15
|Unlimited wishes
|-
|Jan 19
|Revocation of rules prohibiting unlimited wishes
|-
|Jan 20
|A finite but arbitrarily large number of wishes
|-
|Jan 28
|The power to dictate the rules governing wishes
|-
|Feb 05
|Unlimited eyelashes
|-
|Feb 06
|That wish-granting entities be required to interpret wishes in accordance with the intent of the wisher
|-
|Feb 08
|That wish-granting entities be incapable of impatience
|-
|Feb 12
|Unlimited breadsticks
|-
|Feb 12
|Veto power over others' wishes
|-
|Feb 19
|Veto power over others' wishes and all congressional legislation
|-
|Feb 23
|The power to override any veto
|-
|Feb 27
|The power to see where any shortened URL goes without clicking
|-
|Feb 29
|The power to control the direction news anchors are looking while they talk
|-
|Mar 07
|The power to introduce arbitrary error into Nate Silver's predictions
|-
|Mar 15
|A house of stairs
|-
|Mar 23
|A universe which is a replica of this one sans rules against meta-wishes
|-
|Mar 29
|Free transportation to and from that universe
|-
|Apr 02
|A clear explanation of how wish rules are structured and enforced
|-
|Apr 07
|The power to banish people into the TV show they're talking about
|-
|Apr 08
|Zero wishes
|-
|Apr 15
|Veto power over clocks
|-
|Apr 22
|A Pokéball that works on strangers' pets
|}

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]

708: Sex Dice

2013-12-08T06:59:58Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number = 708
| date = March 1, 2010
| title = Sex Dice
| image = sex dice.png
| titletext = You roll for initiative, and... [roll]... wow, do you ever take it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Sex dice}} consist of two dice, one listing various actions, and one listing various body parts. Roll the dice, do the specified action to the specified body part, repeat as necessary.

Because most games require the same dice, in many peoples' game collections, the dice get mixed around between games. Unfortunately it seems [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] have accidentally exchanged one of their sex dice (the one that contains actions) with a normal six-sided die; as a result, the people playing a {{w|role-playing game}} in the last panel find themselves doing unusual actions.

Given the situation, it's likely the player who fondled the guard was supposed to roll 2 or 3 six-sided dice to determine the damage of his attack. The sex die came up as "fondle," while the other dice added up to six; hence, he fondled the guard for 6 damage.

The title text is another possible situation that might arise: "rolling for {{w|Initiative (role-playing games)|initiative}}" in role-playing games is how the players determine who attacks in what order during combat. Here, the player rolled the sex die as part of his initiative roll, and therefore "took initiative" in an entirely different way.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan kneel on a bed, Cueball is shaking a cup of dice.]
:Cueball: All right, baby. Get ready for...
:''Shake shake shake roll''

:(Between the first two panels.)
:[Two dice have been rolled, the first has five dots, the second says "BREASTS".]

:[Cueball and Megan, stare at the dice.]
:Cueball: I really need to organize the game cupboard.
:Megan: Wait, so where's the other sex die?

:[Two men and two women are sitting on the floor around a game.]
:Cueball: I... ''fondle'' the castle guard? That doesn't seem right.
:Megan: It did 6 damage, though.

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

489: Going West

2013-12-08T06:58:29Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number = 489
| date = October 15, 2008
| title = Going West
| image = going_west.png
| titletext = Listen, they request that you stop submitting a listing for your house labeled 'WHERE YOU BROKE MY HEART'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
Google Maps is a service to let people look at the world through their web browser. When Google Maps was first starting out, the maximum zoom level a person could select went past the highest resolution imagery available in certain areas. When this happened, Google Maps would tile the message "We're sorry, but we don't have imagery at this zoom level". When Cueball looks "closely" enough into Megan's eyes, he sees this same message.

The title text refers to a functionality of Google Maps that allows users to submit/update information about places on the map, such as business listings, monuments, etc. Such updates must be approved by Google before other users can see them. Apparently, Cueball has been repeatedly submitting 'WHERE YOU BROKE MY HEART' as a listing for his own house, so that Megan, who is now on the Google Maps team, will see those submissions.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are talking, and Cueball is walking away from Megan. Megan is holding an open envelope.]
:Megan: I'm sorry. The Google Maps team hired me.
:Cueball: But I can't move to California!
:Megan: Then I guess this is the end.
:Cueball: It can't be! ... Listen.
:[Cueball is holding Megan's hands in his.]
:Cueball: When I look deep into your eyes, I see a future for us.
:Megan: Look deeper.
:[Cueball looks deeper into Megan's eyes.]
:Cueball: "We're sorry, but we don't have imagery at this zoom level"?
:Cueball: They... they have you already.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Romance]]

1224: Council of 300

2013-12-07T23:18:30Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1224
| date = June 12, 2013
| title = Council of 300
| image = council_of_300.png
| titletext = 'And hypnotize someone into thinking they've uploaded it and passed it around.' 'But then won't the uploader get suspicious that it pauses at 301+ for a while? Why don't we just forge the number entirel--' ::BLAM:: 'The Council of 299 is adjourned.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}

{{w|YouTube}} (a video sharing site) has an odd quirk in its view counter. When a video hits 301 views, the view counter briefly stops updating. This means that YouTube is checking the views to make sure that no foul play is going on. (The choice of the number 301 is due to a harmless off-by-one error; Numberphile produced a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIkhgagvrjI video] that explains all this very well.) At times the number 301 catches some YouTubers off guard — for very popular videos, it may appear that the video has more likes than views!

More recently YouTube added a "301+" to indicate that the video has reached the 301 point and is awaiting review.

The author plays with the near coincidence of this number, and a conspiracy theory entity known as the {{w|Committee of 300}}. In this case, the video's first 300 views come from each of the Committee's council members, with the first view coming from a regular person coming from Cueball.

==Transcript==
:[A secret society meets in a darkened chamber; a kitschy video involving two people and an RC helicopter is projected onto the background.]
:Master: ..then it is settled. We the 300 members of the Secret Council decree that this video meets our standards and shall "go viral".
:Master: send it to one of our agents to be leaked to the common folk.
:Steward: Some of them are noticing the number.
:Master: ..add a plus sign to throw them off.
:Steward: very well.
:Soon...
:[A communication sent to Cueball, one of the many unsuspecting plebeians of the world.]
:Email: Ooh! check out this great video I found!
:[Zoom in on the viewer count of a YouTube video.]
:301+

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:YouTube]]

1224: Council of 300

2013-12-07T23:16:22Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1224
| date = June 12, 2013
| title = Council of 300
| image = council_of_300.png
| titletext = 'And hypnotize someone into thinking they've uploaded it and passed it around.' 'But then won't the uploader get suspicious that it pauses at 301+ for a while? Why don't we just forge the number entirel--' ::BLAM:: 'The Council of 299 is adjourned.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}

{{w|YouTube}} (a video sharing site) has an odd quirk in its view counter. When a video hits 301 views, the view counter briefly stops updating. This means that YouTube is checking the views to make sure that no foul play is going on. (The choice of the number 301 is due to a harmless off-by-one error; Numberphile produced a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIkhgagvrjI video] that explains all this very well.) At times the number 301 catches some YouTubers off guard — for very popular videos, it may appear that the video has more likes than views!

More recently YouTube added a "301+" to indicate that the video has reached the 301 point and is awaiting review.

The author plays with the near coincidence of this number, and a conspiracy theory entity known as the {{w|Committee of 300}}. The video's first 300 views come from each of the Committee's council members, with the first real view coming from Cueball.

==Transcript==
:[A secret society meets in a darkened chamber; a kitschy video involving two people and an RC helicopter is projected onto the background.]
:Master: ..then it is settled. We the 300 members of the Secret Council decree that this video meets our standards and shall "go viral".
:Master: send it to one of our agents to be leaked to the common folk.
:Steward: Some of them are noticing the number.
:Master: ..add a plus sign to throw them off.
:Steward: very well.
:Soon...
:[A communication sent to Cueball, one of the many unsuspecting plebeians of the world.]
:Email: Ooh! check out this great video I found!
:[Zoom in on the viewer count of a YouTube video.]
:301+

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:YouTube]]

1286: Encryptic

2013-11-12T04:31:43Z

199.27.128.144:

{{comic
| number = 1286
| date = November 4, 2013
| title = Encryptic
| image = encryptic.png
| titletext = It was bound to happen eventually. This data theft will enable almost limitless [xkcd.com/792]-style password reuse attacks in the coming weeks. There's only one group that comes out of this looking smart: Everyone who pirated Photoshop.
}}

==Explanation==
Web sites and other computers that authenticate users via passwords need to be able to know if the user typed in the right password. But storing the password itself on the computer has been known to be unnecessarily risky since the publication of [http://www.neurosecurity.com/articles/security/passwd.pdf Password Security: A Case History] in 1978. In that paper, Robert Morris and Ken Thompson demonstrated the practice of using a slow, cryptographically-secure one-way {{w|Hash function|hash function}}, so that even if the password file is stolen, it will be very hard to figure out what the passwords are, so long as the passwords themselves are suitably complex. They also pioneered the use of {{w|Salt (cryptography)|a “salt”}} which makes each password hash completely different even if two users use the same password. See [http://security.blogoverflow.com/2011/07/a-tour-of-password-questions-and-answers/ A tour of password questions and answers] for background on salts and suitably slow hash functions.

Adobe, however, ignored these well-known principles, and instead stored over a hundred million passwords in a reversably encrypted way, using a terrible choice of encryption methods which exposes a great deal of information about the passwords, and does not involve a salt. This password database was recently obtained by someone and released on the Internet.

In particular, Adobe used {{w|Triple DES}}, an older encryption algorithm which can still be relatively secure when properly used but they used it improperly. It works on 64-bit (8 character) blocks. Assuming that the passwords are stored in plain ASCII, this means that a sequence of 8 characters in a password which starts on a character position which is a multiple of eight is always encrypted to the same result. Therefore two passwords starting with “12345678” would start with the same block after being encrypted. Furthermore, this means that you can actually get a very good idea of the length of the password since anything with only one block is a password with length between 1 and 8 characters, and having two blocks implies it has between 9 and 16 characters, etc.

Adobe also stored hints users created for their passwords. That means that an attacker knows not only if the same 8 characters are used for multiple passwords but also has some hints for guessing them. That means that common password portions should be easy to recover and that any user may be “compromised” by someone else using a part of the same password and providing a good hint. As an example, a password having three hints “Big Apple”, “Twin Towers” and “If you can make it there” is probably “New York” (or a simple variation on that). The weakness here is that no decryption and therefore no hard cracking has to take place, you just group the passwords by their encrypted blocks and try to solve them like a crossword puzzle. These weaknesses have already been used to presumably identify a password used by {{w|Edward Snowden}}, as discussed at [http://7habitsofhighlyeffectivehackers.blogspot.com/2013/11/can-someone-be-targeted-using-adobe.html 7 Habits of Highly Effective Hackers: Can someone be targeted using the Adobe breach?].

The examples are not taken from the actual leaked file, since that [http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/11/how-an-epic-blunder-by-adobe-could-strengthen-hand-of-password-crackers/ uses a different format], and the examples are evidently cleverly crafted to make a nice crossword-like puzzle, which can be solved as shown in the Passwords section below.

As mentioned on http://filosottile.github.io/analyzing-the-adobe-leaked-passwords/ the data in the comic isn't real and contains a hidden message.
If the "user password" hashes are Base64 encoded, they read:
<pre>ThiswasnotagooduseofyourtimeButthenagainitwasprobablynotagooduseofmytimeeith
erAndyethereweareXOXOXOLetsLiveHereInThisTinySecretEncodedTextWorldForever==</pre>

E.g., with the initial unique hash blocks: <tt>python -c "print '4e18acc1ab27a2d6a0a2876eb1ea1fca'.decode('hex_codec').encode('base64')"</tt>)

The last letter "r" is not fully encoded in the data shown, but any letter from "g" to "v" produces the same binary data.

The title text makes a reference to a previous comic: [[792|Black Hat’s trouble with what to do with stolen passwords]]. It also states that users of pirated Photoshop are the winners here. This is because in order to make Photoshop pirate-able, it was modified (cracked) by removing the requirement for registration so their passwords were not sent to Adobe and therefore are not present in the leaked file.

The title itself is a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptic_crossword cryptic crosswords]

==Passwords==
Note that characters in the passwords could be upper or lower case, and they may involve common substitutions like "0" (number zero) for "O" (letter O); therefore, the clues cannot guarantee that the answer shown here is precisely correct. Nevertheless, we have plenty of information for a brute force attack.

{|class="wikitable"
! Input
! Hint
! Password
! Explanation
|-
|<tt>4e18acc1ab27a2d6</tt>
|weather vane sword
|<tt>{{w|Saint_Matthias|matthias}}</tt>
|In ''{{w|Redwall}}'', several characters are associated with a sword hung from a weather vane, but only Matthias shares the name of an apostle (6 lines down).
|-
|<tt>4e18acc1ab27a2d6</tt>
|
|<tt>matthias</tt>
|Although no hint was used, we know this password too, since it matches the previous one.
|-
|<tt>4e18acc1ab27a2d6 a0a2876eb1ea1fca</tt>
|name1
|<tt>matthias1</tt>
|Even without knowing the user's name, we already know how this starts, so the clue gives us a pretty good idea how it finishes (and another block useful 2 lines down)
|-
|<tt>8babb6299e06eb6d</tt>
|duh
|<tt>password</tt>
|Unfortunately, this is all too common, and the user practically told us that it's an easy one.
|-
|<tt>8babb6299e06eb6d a0a2876eb1ea1fca</tt>
|
|<tt>password1</tt>
|Although no hint was used, we know this by combining the previous two.
|-
|<tt>8babb6299e06eb6d 85e9da81a8a78adc</tt>
|57
|<tt>password57</tt>
|Since we know how this begins, this is a good guess.
|-
|<tt>4e18acc1ab27a2d6</tt>
|favorite of 12 apostles
|<tt>matthias</tt>
|This has only 12 possibilities to begin with (plus variant spellings, variant lists, and one replacement), but actually we know already which one by combining with the clue 6 lines up. (Surprise: it's the replacement!)
|-
|<tt>1ab29ae86da6e5ca 7a2d6a0a2876eb1e</tt>
|with your own hand you have done all this
|<tt>Judith1510</tt>
|This is a quotation from [http://www.biblestudytools.com/nrsa/judith/15-10.html Judith 15:10] in the Bible.
|-
|<tt>a1f9b2b6299e7a2b eadec1e6ab797397</tt>
|sexy earlobes
|<tt>{{w|Charlie_Sheen|Charlie Sheen}}</tt>
|This refers to an episode of ''{{w|Two and a Half Men}}''. Other answers are possible, but only this one fits the next line.
|-
|<tt>a1f9b2b6299e7a2b 617ab0277727ad85</tt>
|best TOS episode
|<tt>{{w|Charlie_X|Charlie X}}</tt>
|"{{w|Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series|TOS}}" refers to the original series of ''{{w|Star Trek}}''. Although this had dozens of episodes, only one fits the previous line as well as the next line.
|-
|<tt>39738b7adb0b8af7 617ab0277727ad85</tt>
|Sugarland
|<tt>HoustonTX</tt>
|{{w|Sugar_Land,_Texas|Sugarland}} is a suburb of {{w|Houston}}, {{w|Texas}}. This fits with the previous line.
|-
|<tt>1ab29ae86da6e5ca</tt>
|name + jersey#
|<tt>Judith15</tt>
|Even if we knew this user's name, we wouldn't know their jersey number. But the clue 4 lines up already gave us the answer.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|alpha
|<tt>abc</tt>
|This password is also far too common, but this clue still isn't enough to narrow it down. Combine with the clue 4 lines below, however, and it's quite easy.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|
|<tt>abc</tt>
|No hint, but the same as the surrounding passwords.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|
|<tt>abc</tt>
|No hint, but the same as the surrounding passwords.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|obvious
|<tt>abc</tt>
|Same as the surrounding passwords.
|-
|<tt>877ab7889d3862b1</tt>
|Michael Jackson
|<tt>abc</tt>
|{{w|Michael Jackson}} did many songs, but only one was {{w|ABC_(song)|alphabetical}} (4 lines up).
|-
|<tt>38a7c9279cadeb44 9dca1d79d4dec6d5</tt>
|
|
|No hint, but the same as the one below.
|-
|<tt>38a7c9279cadeb44 9dca1d79d4dec6d5</tt>
|he did the mash, he did the
|<tt></tt>
|''probably a reference to the {{w|Monster Mash}}, or to an actor in the show/film {{w|M*A*S*H}}; possibly a "keyboard mash" (e.g. asdfghjkl)''
|
|-
|<tt>38a7c9279cadeb44</tt>
|purloined
|<tt></tt>
|''possibly a reference to the Edgar Allen Poe story "{{w|The Purloined Letter}}"''
|-
|<tt>a8ae5745a2b7af7a 9dca1d79d4dec6d5</tt>
|fav water-3 {{w|List_of_Pokémon|Pokemon}}
|<tt></tt>
|''possible second block per [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Water_3_%28Egg_Group%29 Bulbapedia] are "el", "l", "le", "r", "t", "ta", "h", "a"''
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:Hackers recently leaked '''''153 million''''' Adobe user emails, encrypted passwords, and password hints.
:Adobe encrypted the passwords improperly, misusing block-mode 3DES. The result is something wonderful:

<pre>
User password Hint
------------- ----

4e18acc1ab27a2d6 weather vane sword
4e18acc1ab27a2d6
4e18acc1ab27a2d6 a0a2876eb1ea1fca name1
8babb6299e06eb6d duh
8babb6299e06eb6d a0a2876eb1ea1fca
8babb6299e06eb6d 85e9da81a8a78adc 57
4e18acc1ab27a2d6 favorite of 12 apostles
1ab29ae86da6e5ca 7a2d6a0a2876eb1e with your own hand you
have done all this
a1f9b2b6299e7a2b eadec1e6ab797397 sexy earlobes
a1f9b2b6299e7a2b 617ab0277727ad85 best tos episode
39738b7adb0b8af7 617ab0277727ad85 sugarland
1ab29ae86da6e5ca name + jersey#
877ab7889d3862b1 alpha
877ab7889d3862b1
877ab7889d3862b1
877ab7889d3862b1 obvious
877ab7889d3862b1 Michael Jackson
38a7c9279cadeb44 9dca1d79d4dec6d5
38a7c9279cadeb44 9dca1d79d4dec6d5 he did the mash, he did the
38a7c9279cadeb44 purloined
a8ae5745a2b7af7a 9dca1d79d4dec6d5 fav water-3 pokemon
</pre>

:The greatest crossword puzzle in the history of the world

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]

739: Malamanteau

2013-11-05T05:11:51Z

199.27.128.144: /* Response */

{{comic
| number = 739
| date = May 12, 2010
| title = Malamanteau
| image = malamanteau.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = The article has twenty-three citations, one of which is an obscure manuscript from the 1490s and the other twenty-two are arguments on LanguageLog.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|malapropism}} is the use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical utterance. An example is {{w|Yogi Berra}}'s statement: "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes".
A {{w|portmanteau}} is a word made-up of two or more combined words and their definitions. For example, motel is a portmanteau, from the words motor and hotel.
Here, Randall uses the word "malamanteau" which is both a portmanteau of "malapropism" and "portmanteau" and a malaprop of "portmanteau". The methods used to create this new word are the very words used in the process. This is called a meta or “self-referential” joke.

"Malamanteau" was originally coined in 2007, when it was proposed by user [http://www.metafilter.com/user/17900 ludwig_van] on [http://www.metafilter.com Metafilter] as a term for language errors like "flustrated" (flustered & frustrated) and "misconscrewed" (misconstrued & screwed). [http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2758 Malamanteau] did not appear on [http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/ LanguageLog] until after this strip.

==Response==
In response to this comic, editors at Wikipedia created a malamanteau page. It was deleted multiple times and eventually turned into a redirect to the Wikipedia page for {{w|xkcd}}. Malamanteau and the controversy at Wikipedia got coverage at ''The Economist'' and ''The Boston Globe''.

==Transcript==
:[The strip is set up as the top of a Wikipedia page.]
:((The Wikipedia logo.))
:Wikipedia
:The free encyclopedia
:((Side navigation options.))
:Navigation
:- Main Page
:- Contents
:- Featured Content
:- Current Events
:((Wikipedia header options.))
:Article Discussion Edit this page History
:((The article itself.))
:Malamanteau
:From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
:A malamanteau is a neologism for a portmanteau created by incorrectly combining a malapropism with a neologism. It is itself a portmanteau of ((... the article cuts off.))
:((Below the panel.))
:Ever notice how Wikipedia has a few words it *really* likes?

==External links==
*[http://wiki.xkcd.com/irc/Malamanteau Malamanteau] at the official xkcd wiki
*[http://malamanteaus.blogspot.com/ Malamanteaus], a blog dedicated to the creation and proliferation of malananteaux
*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Malamanteau Malamanteau] at urbandictionary.com
*[http://wordsquirt.com/Word/View/Malamanteau/dbb34d48-e565-4012-bcc8-56718f351712 Malamanteau] at wordsquirt.com

==References==
*[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/index.php?s=malamanteau Entries referencing "malamanteau"] at LanguageLog.com
*Malamanteau Talk Page Archives [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AMalamanteau/Archive_1 1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Malamanteau/Archive_2 2] at Wikipedia.com
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Malamanteau Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Malamanteau]
*[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malamanteau_page_history.jpg Screen capture] of the deleted history for the "Malamanteau" page from Wikipedia
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=Malamanteau Wikipedia Log for "Malamanteau"]
*Beutler, William (May 5, 2010) "[http://thewikipedian.net/2010/05/18/much-ado-about-malamanteau/ Much Ado About Malamanteau]". ''The Wikipedian''
*McKean, Erin (May 30, 2010) "[http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/05/30/one_day_wonder/ One Day Wonder]". ''The Boston Globe''
*R.L.G (Nov 4th 2010) "[http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/11/neologisms Eggcorn, mashup, malamanteau or other?]". ''The Economonist''
*July 17, 2007 "[http://ask.metafilter.com/67192/How-to-define-this-language-mistake How to define this language mistake?]" - MetaFilter thread with the first usage

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:CC-BY-SA comics]]
[[Category:Portmanteau‏‎]]

870: Advertising

2013-11-01T06:21:22Z

199.27.128.144: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 870
| date = March 9, 2011
| title = Advertising
| image = mathematically annoying.png
| titletext = I remember the exact moment in my childhood when I realized, while reading a flyer, that nobody would ever spend money solely to tell me they wanted to give me something for nothing. It's a much more vivid memory than the (related) parental Santa talk.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic pokes fun at some advertising tricks, analyzing them mathematically.

*"Up to 15% or more" is a reference to the {{w|Geico}} car insurance commercials: "15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance." "Up to" means "less than or equal to," so the phrase means "less than, equal to, or more than 15%," which is a {{w|tautology}}.

:The first line uses notation from {{w|set theory}} and reads out as: The {{w|Union (set theory)|union}} of {{w|Set (mathematics)|sets}} A and B equals the set of all x, such that x is {{w|Inequality (mathematics)|less than or equal to}} 15, or greater than 15, which equals the set of all {{w|real numbers}}.
:Below is a {{w|number line}} (with the numbers being interpreted as {{w|percentages}}) the black dot indicates that the number 15 is included, and the white dot indicates that 15 is not included, but only strictly bigger numbers.

* [http://thepiratebay.se/search/some%20things/0/6/0 Some things] in life are free. However, typically not those aggressively advertised, with a capital "free!" splashed right over the ads, followed by a small asterisk, indicating the presence of a {{w|fine print}}, ensuring that they are only technically not guilty of {{w|false advertising}}. (Get a '''FREE'''* drink!)

:The little formula [[Randall]] gives, is to calculate the least amount of money that they expect to make from you. The suggestion is that they expect their income from the ad to be more than what they paid for it. (*with the purchase of a $6 meal)

*Some sales are based on a scaling percentage rate - for example, all items are 20% off, but if you spend more than $200, you get 30% off instead, and so on. These are almost universally proclaimed with a phrase like "The more you spend, the more you save!" This is of course nonsense, as "spending" is the opposite of "saving", and the deal is there to make you spend more.

==Transcript==
:Mathematically Annoying Advertising:

:A ∪ B = {x:x ≤ 15 or x > 15} = ℝ
:[line graph representing the above equation.]
:When discussing real numbers, it is impossible to get more vague than "up to 15% or more".

:["FREE!*" in large text, with substantial illegible fine print.]
:If someone has paid $x to have the word "free" typeset for you and N other people to read, their expected value for the money that will move from you to them is at least $(x / (N+1))

:[Graph representing inverse relationship between "amount you spend" on the y axis and "amount you save" on the x axis.]
:It would be difficult for the phrase "the more you spend the more you save" to be more wrong.

==Trivia==
Randall changed the image name from advertising.png to mathematically_annoying.png, since adblocking extensions interpreted it as an ad and made the comic blank. He had had the same problem again just three months later with [[906: Advertising Discovery]].

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