explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1782: Team Chat

2017-01-16T06:32:33Z

Banaticus: /* Explanation */ grammar

{{comic
| number = 1782
| date = January 6, 2017
| title = Team Chat
| image = team_chat.png
| titletext = 2078: He announces that he's finally making the jump from screen+irssi to tmux+weechat.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] provides us with a – presumably anecdotal – montage of the Internet's changing attitude towards different instant messaging protocols, framed within the context of a team trying to remain in communication while tolerating each others' different tastes.

Although one-on-one "talk" programs date back to 1960s mainframes, {{w|Internet Relay Chat}} (IRC) was one of the first real-time group communication protocols, invented in 1988. While it remains the format on which most later apps were based, the convenience and accessibility of other protocols such as AIM and Skype gradually exceeded IRC in popularity. Many users took to the new environments, but others preferred the old and familiar, hence schisms between groups began to grow.

[https://www.skype.com Skype] and [https://slack.com Slack] are both proprietary centralized communication protocols (usually used through their official clients). Skype focuses mainly on voice communication, be it for personal or business use, and own installable client, while Slack relies almost entirely on text communication, focuses on work communication and works completely well in its own web client, even though official desktop and mobile clients are available as well. Slack also features a huge customizability (bots, plugins) possibly inspired by IRC, and its users need to create communication teams, working inside subdomains at *.slack.com. It is possible to connect to Slack via IRC as well, using a [https://get.slack.help/hc/en-us/articles/201727913-Connect-to-Slack-over-IRC-and-XMPP gateway feature], if allowed by the team's admin.

Randall here seems to be commenting on the persistence of IRC; while generally considered to be ancient software in comparison to newer and still-competing protocols, its endless customizability has led some people to support it above all others.

Extrapolating for the sake of humor, the joke here lies in a particularly uncommon but memorable type of Internet denizen: even in a far-off distant future where the world's technology has led to a superlative messaging network encompassing all people in some supposed, incredible bliss, there is always - in Randall's vision - going to be That IRC Guy. This might also be a reference to the scenarios in science fiction stories such as Isaac Asimov's {{w|Gaia_(Foundation_universe)#Galaxia|concept of Galaxia}} in the Foundation novels, or the concept of a merged human-computer intelligence as in The Last Question. [http://multivax.com/last_question.html], the concept of which is most notably highlighted by this line:

''[...] One by one Man fused with AC, each physical body losing its mental identity in a manner that was somehow not a loss but a gain. [...]''

In the title text, both {{w|GNU_Screen|screen}} and {{w|Tmux|tmux}} are unix programs that help you multitask while working in terminal, and {{w|Irssi|irssi}} and {{w|WeeChat|weechat}} are both communication clients supporting mainly IRC, capable of working in a terminal environment. Tmux is a newer and apparently more user-friendly project, complete with handy menus and titles, while screen is something of an industry standard, but relatively difficult to use – you need to know what you are doing or read help before use, otherwise you get lost and frustrated. [http://superuser.com/questions/236158/tmux-vs-screen] The same it is with the newer, more feature-packed and user-friendly weechat vs industry-standard, harder-to-use irssi. [https://www.quora.com/IRC-Which-do-you-prefer-irssi-or-weechat-and-why]

Basically, that ''one'' guy is a hardcore UNIX geek who doesn't use any graphical user interface, and in 2078 he still chooses to use terminal-emulation-based tools.

Timing of this strip follows the [https://irssi.org/2017/01/05/irssi-1.0.0-released/ release of irssi version 1.0.0].

Randall has touched on similar themes before in [[927: Standards]].

==Transcript==
:[Hairbun holding up her palm toward Cueball. A frame over the top border of the panel has a caption:]
:2004
:Hairbun: Our team stays in touch over IRC.

:[Megan is looking at Ponytail who is holding up her palm toward her. A frame over the top border of the panel has a caption:]
:2010
:Ponytail: Our team mainly uses Skype, but some of us prefer to stick to IRC.

:[Cueball is talking with Megan in a frameless panel. A frame at the top of the panel has a caption:]
:2017
:Cueball: We've got almost everyone on Slack,
:Cueball: But three people refuse to quit IRC and connect via Gateway.

:[A black panel with white text and drawings. The main body of text is above a the singularity, a starburst around a circle with two more broken lined circles around the starburst. To the right another Cueball-like guy floats in space with his laptop computer, typing on the keyboard. A frame, that is white inside, is over the top border of the panel has a caption: ]
:2051
:Narration: All consciousnesses have merged with the Galactic Singularity,
:Narration: Except for ''one'' guy who insists on joining through his IRC client.
:One Guy: I just have it set up the way I want, okay?!
:Galactic Singularity: ''*Sigh*''



{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:Computers]]

320: 28-Hour Day

2013-11-24T06:29:14Z

Banaticus: /* Explanation */ forgot that I'd tagged that as temporarily noncollapsible

{{comic
| number = 320
| date = September 24, 2007
| title = 28-Hour Day
| image = 28_hour_day.png
| titletext = Small print: this schedule will eventually drive one stark raving mad.
}}

==Explanation==
The 28-Hour Day is a modified sleep schedule proposed to accommodate the discrepancy between the earth's day-night cycle and certain people's preferred sleep schedules. It discards the traditional notion of sleeping at night and replaces it with sleeping when it is more convenient for weekend parties and mid-week insomnia. It is also the only reasonable and consistent alternative day length which will sync with the widely accepted and practiced 168-hour week (168 = 7 * 24 = 6 * 28). Underneath the weekly timeline, [[Cueball]] describes the schedule's selling points to his friend, who apparently has difficulty sleeping.

Cueball's friend shows little interest in this idea, and instead resorts to low-quality "your mom" jokes. Cueball merely bides his time, and in the end successfully trumps the jokes with a response that impugns his friend's sexual stamina, leading him to concede defeat.

The title-text uses "{{w|Fine_Print|Small print}}" to mean "Disclaimer" and relieves the idea's creator of any responsibility in the case that it is tried and the tester finds the schedule to be a really bad idea.

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
!colspan=4|28-Hour Day Schedule
|-
!Day
!Time
!28-Hour
!"Normal"
|-
| Sunday||12:00 AM||
|rowspan=3|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Sunday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Sunday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Sunday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Sunday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Sunday||10:00 AM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|
|-
| Sunday||12:00 PM||
|-
| Sunday||2:00 PM||
|-
| Sunday||4:00 PM||
|-
| Sunday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Sunday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Sunday||10:00 PM||
|-
| Monday||12:00 AM||
|-
| Monday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Monday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Monday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Monday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Monday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Monday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Monday||2:00 PM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|
|-
| Monday||4:00 PM||
|-
| Monday||6:00 PM
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Monday||8:00 PM
|-
| Monday||10:00 PM||
|-
| Tuesday||12:00 AM||
|-
| Tuesday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Tuesday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Tuesday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Tuesday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Tuesday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Tuesday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Tuesday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Tuesday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Tuesday||6:00 PM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Tuesday||8:00 PM
|-
| Tuesday||10:00 PM
|-
| Wednesday||12:00 AM
|-
| Wednesday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Wednesday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Wednesday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Wednesday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Wednesday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Wednesday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Wednesday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Wednesday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Wednesday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Wednesday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Wednesday||10:00 PM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|-
| Thursday||12:00 AM
|-
| Thursday||2:00 AM
|-
| Thursday||4:00 AM
|-
| Thursday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Thursday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Thursday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Thursday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Thursday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Thursday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Thursday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Thursday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Thursday||10:00 PM||
|-
| Friday||12:00 AM||
|-
| Friday||2:00 AM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|-
| Friday||4:00 AM
|-
| Friday||6:00 AM||
|-
| Friday||8:00 AM||
|-
| Friday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Friday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Friday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Friday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Friday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Friday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Friday||10:00 PM||
|-
| Saturday||12:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||6:00 AM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|
|-
| Saturday||8:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||10:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||12:00 PM||
|-
| Saturday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Saturday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Saturday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=3|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Saturday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Saturday||10:00 PM||
|}

==Transcript==
:[There is a diagram which shows the hours in a week. It has sections labelled "bed" and below has sections labeled "night." They do not line up.]
:[Two men are talking together.]
:Cueball: You have trouble sleeping right?
:Friend: Only when your mom is over.
:[Cueball is now pointing to a chart.]
:Cueball: Since your work is flexible-
:Friend: -Like your mom-
:Cueball: -you should try the 28-hour day - 20 awake, 8 asleep (or 19/9 if you prefer).
:Friend: I prefer your mom.
:Cueball: It synchs up with the week - you spend weekdays awake normally, then on weekends you can go out all night.
:Friend: Just like your mom.
:Cueball: It means four extra hours daily. You can stay up until you're exhausted every day and then spend a full 9 hours asleep each night!
:Friend: But how much time can I spend doing your mom?
:Cueball: You? I'm guessing three or four minutes, tops.
:Friend: ...Well played.

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

320: 28-Hour Day

2013-11-24T06:27:59Z

Banaticus: /* Explanation */ added better schedule -- I have no idea what "language" means, so I removed the incomplete tag as the comic seemed well explained to me

{{comic
| number = 320
| date = September 24, 2007
| title = 28-Hour Day
| image = 28_hour_day.png
| titletext = Small print: this schedule will eventually drive one stark raving mad.
}}

==Explanation==
The 28-Hour Day is a modified sleep schedule proposed to accommodate the discrepancy between the earth's day-night cycle and certain people's preferred sleep schedules. It discards the traditional notion of sleeping at night and replaces it with sleeping when it is more convenient for weekend parties and mid-week insomnia. It is also the only reasonable and consistent alternative day length which will sync with the widely accepted and practiced 168-hour week (168 = 7 * 24 = 6 * 28). Underneath the weekly timeline, [[Cueball]] describes the schedule's selling points to his friend, who apparently has difficulty sleeping.

Cueball's friend shows little interest in this idea, and instead resorts to low-quality "your mom" jokes. Cueball merely bides his time, and in the end successfully trumps the jokes with a response that impugns his friend's sexual stamina, leading him to concede defeat.

The title-text uses "{{w|Fine_Print|Small print}}" to mean "Disclaimer" and relieves the idea's creator of any responsibility in the case that it is tried and the tester finds the schedule to be a really bad idea.

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed89"
!colspan=4|28-Hour Day Schedule
!Day
!Time
!28-Hour
!"Normal"
|-
| Sunday||12:00 AM||
|rowspan=3|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Sunday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Sunday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Sunday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Sunday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Sunday||10:00 AM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|
|-
| Sunday||12:00 PM||
|-
| Sunday||2:00 PM||
|-
| Sunday||4:00 PM||
|-
| Sunday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Sunday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Sunday||10:00 PM||
|-
| Monday||12:00 AM||
|-
| Monday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Monday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Monday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Monday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Monday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Monday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Monday||2:00 PM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|
|-
| Monday||4:00 PM||
|-
| Monday||6:00 PM
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Monday||8:00 PM
|-
| Monday||10:00 PM||
|-
| Tuesday||12:00 AM||
|-
| Tuesday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Tuesday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Tuesday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Tuesday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Tuesday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Tuesday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Tuesday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Tuesday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Tuesday||6:00 PM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Tuesday||8:00 PM
|-
| Tuesday||10:00 PM
|-
| Wednesday||12:00 AM
|-
| Wednesday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Wednesday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Wednesday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Wednesday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Wednesday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Wednesday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Wednesday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Wednesday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Wednesday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Wednesday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Wednesday||10:00 PM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|-
| Thursday||12:00 AM
|-
| Thursday||2:00 AM
|-
| Thursday||4:00 AM
|-
| Thursday||6:00 AM||||
|-
| Thursday||8:00 AM||||
|-
| Thursday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Thursday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Thursday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Thursday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Thursday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Thursday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Thursday||10:00 PM||
|-
| Friday||12:00 AM||
|-
| Friday||2:00 AM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|-
| Friday||4:00 AM
|-
| Friday||6:00 AM||
|-
| Friday||8:00 AM||
|-
| Friday||10:00 AM||||
|-
| Friday||12:00 PM||||
|-
| Friday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Friday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Friday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=6|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Friday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Friday||10:00 PM||
|-
| Saturday||12:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||2:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||4:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||6:00 AM
|rowspan=4|Sleep
|
|-
| Saturday||8:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||10:00 AM||
|-
| Saturday||12:00 PM||
|-
| Saturday||2:00 PM||||
|-
| Saturday||4:00 PM||||
|-
| Saturday||6:00 PM||
|rowspan=3|Normal night 6pm to 6am
|-
| Saturday||8:00 PM||
|-
| Saturday||10:00 PM||
|}

==Transcript==
:[There is a diagram which shows the hours in a week. It has sections labelled "bed" and below has sections labeled "night." They do not line up.]
:[Two men are talking together.]
:Cueball: You have trouble sleeping right?
:Friend: Only when your mom is over.
:[Cueball is now pointing to a chart.]
:Cueball: Since your work is flexible-
:Friend: -Like your mom-
:Cueball: -you should try the 28-hour day - 20 awake, 8 asleep (or 19/9 if you prefer).
:Friend: I prefer your mom.
:Cueball: It synchs up with the week - you spend weekdays awake normally, then on weekends you can go out all night.
:Friend: Just like your mom.
:Cueball: It means four extra hours daily. You can stay up until you're exhausted every day and then spend a full 9 hours asleep each night!
:Friend: But how much time can I spend doing your mom?
:Cueball: You? I'm guessing three or four minutes, tops.
:Friend: ...Well played.

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

1292: Pi vs. Tau

2013-11-24T05:55:08Z

Banaticus: /* Trivia */ In this comic, Randall uses "e" in the title text to represent Euler's Constant (roughly .5) while in 899: Number Line he used e to represent Euler's Number (roughly 2.7).

{{comic
| number = 1292
| date = November 18, 2013
| title = Pi vs. Tau
| image = pi vs tau.png
| titletext = Conveniently approximated as e+2, Pau is commonly known as the Devil's Ratio (because in the octal expansion, '666' appears four times in the first 200 digits while no other run of 3+ digits appears more than once.)
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|octal expansion has to be explained}}
This is yet another of Randall's [[:Category:Comics presenting a compromise|compromise comics]]. A few mathematicians argue as to whether to use pi, which is the ratio between a circle's circumference and its diameter, or tau, which is the ratio between a circle's circumference and its radius. Randall is suggesting using "pau", which is a portmanteau of "pi" and "tau", as a number situated, appropriately enough, halfway between pi and tau. But of course his number would be inconvenient, as there are currently no commonly used formulas that involve 1.5 pi (0.75 tau).

Some consider pi as being the wrong convention and are in favor of using tau as ''the'' circle constant (see the [http://tauday.com/tau-manifesto Tau Manifesto], which was inspired by the article "[http://www.math.utah.edu/~palais/pi.html Pi is wrong!]" by mathematician Robert Palais). Others consider proponents of tau to be foolish and remain loyal to pi (see the [http://www.thepimanifesto.com Pi Manifesto]). Of course, regardless of which convention is used, the fundamental mathematics will remain unaltered. But the choice of pi vs tau can affect the clarity of equations, analogies between different equations, and how easy various subjects are to teach.

The title text for the comic is incorrect. The first 200 digits of 'pau' in octal are:
<pre>
4.5545743763144164432362345144750501224254715730156503147633545270030431677126116550546747570313312523403514716576464333172731124310201076447270723624573721640220437652155065544220143116155742515634462
</pre>
The sequence '666' does not occur at all in it.

Possibly, [[Randall]] used [http://www.wolframalpha.com/ Wolfram|Alpha] to calculate the result (he uses it a lot, for example [http://what-if.xkcd.com/70/ What-if 70: The Constant Groundskeeper] or [http://what-if.xkcd.com/62/ What-if 62: Falling With Helium]).
However, as of November 18, 2013, there's a bug in Wolfram|Alpha so that, when getting 200 octal digits from "pau", it just calculates the decimal value rounded to 15 significant digits (this is 4.71238898038469) and expands that as octal digits as far as needed.

This gives a periodically repeating number. In the first 200 digits of the octal expansion, the sequences 666 and 6666 do occur, but each only once. There are 4 occurrences, however, in the first 300 digits:
<pre>
4.554574376314416445676661714336617116240444076666510533533077631151350452060436452476274022621206136310000177621674175071262255702044274154476005744176002676623042402346036604733130522524127534777714554305412763636566643022106616734723661726160312772574551366370203115523402704104015532221722772357666</pre>
Expansion that long indeed does contain 666 (the {{w|Number of the beast|number of the beast}}) four times (with one instance as 6666). It also contains 0000, 222, 444, and 7777, but they only appear once in a run.

{{w|Mathematical coincidence|Coincidentally}}, e+2 is also very similar to 1.5pi, although only to a few digits.
<pre>
1.5π = 4.71238898038...
e+2 = 4.71828182845...
</pre>

The "Devil's Ratio" may be an allusion to the "{{w|Tritone|Devil's Interval}}", aka the "Devil's Chord" or 'Diabolus in Musica' ('The Devil in music'), which is the name sometimes given to the harmony between a root note and its tritone/augmented fourth/diminished fifth. This note is situated halfway between octaves, and is named for its dissonant quality. It is possibly a cross-reference between this and the "{{w|golden ratio}}".

==Transcript==
:[On the left is a "forbidden"-style slashed circle with the π symbol, captioned "Pi". On the right is a "forbidden"-style slashed circle with 2π, captioned "Tau". In the middle it reads 1.5π, captioned "Pau".]
:A compromise solution to the Pi Tau dispute

==Trivia==
*For Pi the sequence '666' occurs for the first time at position 2440. Many more occurrences can be found here: [http://www.angio.net/pi/ The Pi-Search Page].

* Note that pau is Catalan for peace, which is a good solution for the pi/tau dispute.

* In the discussion it has been theorized that Randall used [[356: Nerd Sniping|Nerd Sniping]]. In which case he was aware of the mistake in Wolfram!

*In this comic, [[Randall]] uses "e" in the title text to represent {{w|Euler–Mascheroni constant|Euler's Constant}} (roughly .5) while in [[899: Number Line]] he used e to represent {{w|e (mathematical constant)|Euler's Number}} (roughly 2.7).

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics presenting a compromise]]