explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3031: Time Capsule Instructions

2024-12-31T14:19:26Z

FlashSheridan: /* Explanation */ or timezones

{{comic
| number = 3031
| date = December 30, 2024
| title = Time Capsule Instructions
| image = time_capsule_instructions_2x.png
| imagesize = 692x235px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Inside is a third box, labeled DO NOT OPEN UNLESS YOU ARE IN THE TIME ZONE WHERE YOU OPENED BOTH PREVIOUS BOXES.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ANNUAL TIME CAPSULE SUBSCRIPTION - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Do NOT delete this tag too late either.}}
This [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] sees a New Year party held at a location where a {{w|time capsule}} has been buried. On a sign above the burial place, the words "Time Capsule" are written, and the unreadable text below likely states that the capsule must not be opened until 2025. But given this is the New Year from 2024 to 2025, and midnight has just occurred given the shouting of Happy New Year, it is now OK to dig out the box and open it.

Such boxes could be buried for a long time, as was the case in this earlier comic on the subject [[1617: Time Capsule]] that was buried before World War II... So it could be interesting to open such boxes many years later to see what people of that age found interesting to preserve and "send" into the future.

This could explain why these people have their New Year Celebration located close to the Time Capsule site, to open it as soon as they were allowed according to the instructions. And as expected, the box [[Ponytail]] digs out states that it must not be opened until the year 2025. But this means they are now allowed to open it, and [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] who have already cheered with their wine glasses, look eagerly when Ponytail opens the time capsule.

Surprisingly, there is another box which has the label "Do not open after 2024". The instructions for opening the first box preclude opening the second... at least without inventing a time machine, or changing calendars or timezones.

The title text addressed the only way one can open the first two boxes without ignoring the instructions: by crossing time zones. When more easterly-referenced locations have become the 1st of January 2025, it will (for a short while) still be the 31st of December 2024 in more westerly ones (the boundaries themselves might be any orientation, not just north-south; the whole concept inverts across the International Date Line, before even considering hour-shift differences), meaning that theoretically someone could open the first box in a time zone where it is 2025 and then travel to one in which it is still 2024 to open the second box. However, the title text implies that if you take advantage of this loophole, you will not be allowed to open a third box inside the second box, as the instructions on that box requires that you have opened the first two boxes in the same time zone. It says "Do not open unless you are in the time zone where you opened both previous boxes".

Depending on interpretation, you could defeat the third box by placing it inside two time zones at once before opening it, as there is no time limit on the third box. This works if the instruction on the box is read as "unless you are in the time zone where you opened the first box, and you are in the time zone where you opened the second box". However, this new loophole could be patched by interpreting the third box as "unless you are in the ''one'' time zone where...". Another possible solution would be for both the box and the person opening it to be on the boundary between two time zones, half in each. Yet another possible solution would be to change the calendar used as point of reference: {{w|Calendar_era|many calendars}} use a lower year than the Gregorian calendar.

Depending on how one interprets the nature of Daylight Saving Time, there may be another solution. In Australia, {{w|Northern Territory}} and {{w|South Australia}} are in the same time zone (by the most common interpretation of the word) and border each other, but only the latter uses Daylight Saving Time; similarly, {{w|Queensland}} does not use Daylight Saving Time but is in the same time zone (by the most common interpretation of the word) as multiple Australian territories that do use Daylight Saving Time, including {{w|New South Wales}}, with which Queensland shares a border. This suggests the idea of opening the first box in South Australia or New South Wales then taking it north of the (horizontal) DST boundary without crossing any (vertical) time zone boundaries; one will then have up to an hour to open the second box and then as long as one wants to open the third box. However, Randall [[:Category:Daylight saving time|has historically expressed opposition to Daylight Saving Time]], so he might not count the first opening as occurring in 2025 if that year has already started only by virtue of Daylight Saving Time.

Both the above solutions could only have been used, if you already knew of the instructions on the boxes, unless it has been dug down in one of the relevant locations. And even getting the second box open following instructions would require it was possible to travel fast enough to reach a second New Year. Although this is definitely possible if you plan for it, this seems to not be one of those occasions, so most unlikely that this party would be able to move the box fast enough to be allowed to open the second.

Another possibility is to close the first box (when the second one is out side) and then open it again in the same time zone where the second box was opened. If you do not read it as the first place you opened it... But that would likely be a stretch.

In any case it seems more likely you would ignore any other silly rules. The original rule that the Time Capsule should remain closed until 2025 is the one that makes sense. So after opening the first at the right time, one could just disregard the words on the boxes (or at least Randall's interpretation of them); there is probably not some kind of [[242: The Difference|magical enforcement mechanism]]. Also it seems likely this was just a prank so there will be nothing interesting inside, but one might fear some kind of bobby trap, or a [[325: A-Minus-Minus|bobcat]]. So there could be some kind of enforcement mechanism...

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are clinking wine glasses while Ponytail is digging with a shovel under a sign standing on two legs next to Ponytail. From the off-panel to the left several voices are shouting. On the sign are two large words above two lines of unreadable lines of text.]
:Off-panel voices: <big><big>''Happy New Year!''</big></big>
:Sign: <big>Time</big> Capsule

:[A dirty box with a hasp closing it. There is a label on the lid:]
:Do not open until 2025

:[Cueball and Megan, holding their wine glasses, look over Ponytail's shoulder as she crouches down near the box and opens it with an audible sound. The shovel is standing behind the box, dug into the ground.]
:Click

:[The open box is shown revealing that it contains a second, pristine, box with a similar label:]
:Do not open after 2024

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Time]]

Talk:2781: The Six Platonic Solids

2023-05-31T12:33:49Z

FlashSheridan: predates my claim in “A Naive View of the Russell Paradox” https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.00090

Does he know about Homestar Runner? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.137|172.70.131.137]] 06:02, 27 May 2023 (UTC)
:Yes. http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Webcomic_Sightings#xkcd [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 01:07, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

Why Jorb? Only thing I can find is [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jorb Jorb on wikitionary] just meaning spelling of bad pronunciation of Job. And yes the episode of Homestar Runner [https://homestarrunner.com/toons/a-jorb-well-done A Jorb Well Done] comes up. Also this episode that is the top meaning of jorb on [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jorb Urban dictionary]. Would really like there to a better idea than that Plato did a great Jorb making a sixth solid to rule the mathematicians. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:18, 27 May 2023 (UTC)

: I agree. We should ask for our money back. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 17:19, 27 May 2023 (UTC)

What if there're much more of them, like a [https://xkcd.com/2657 Ď̩̰odec̭ähedron], but our minds can't properly comprehend their shape?
: There are a bunch of other regular polyhedra besides the Platonic solids. Most notable are the triangular, square, and hexagonal tilings (which are planar and infinite) and the four Kepler-Poinsot polyedra (which are nonconvex). And there are dozens more if you don't require faces to be planar. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.234|172.70.178.234]] 09:44, 27 May 2023 (UTC)
::See https://youtu.be/_hjRvZYkAgA for an overview of every regular polyhedron in Euclidean 3-space. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.40|162.158.146.40]] 09:59, 27 May 2023 (UTC)
:::I had never seen this channel before, and I'd very much like to thank you for introducing it to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.8|162.158.167.8]] 21:39, 29 May 2023 (UTC)
: Some of the proofs of the theorem that there are exactly five platonic solids do not require our minds to "comprehend their shape", because they only rely on their algebrical properties. In fact, the Group theory proof works in any dimension (≥3), despite our minds being very bad at picturing what stuff looks like in higher dimensions. In fact, it's a bit of the opposite: lower dimensions (2 and 3) are "special cases", because all other dimensions have exactly 6 such platonic solids. [[User:Jthulhu|Jthulhu]] ([[User talk:Jthulhu|talk]]) 15:41, 27 May 2023 (UTC)

I think this is a reference to how the Utah Teapot is nicknamed “the sixth Platonic solid” due to its presence beside real Platonic solids in demonstrations of 33D rendering. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.118.133|172.68.118.133]] 08:52, 27 May 2023 (UTC)
:...yeah, but you need to render that 33D shape on a proper 32D monitor, ideally, because even on a 31D monitor the two different forced perspectives/projections you need to collapse the extra dimensions down tend to look confusing. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.229|172.70.162.229]] 10:46, 27 May 2023 (UTC) *insert winky-face as necessary*
:: Thanks, that predates my claim in https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.00090, so I won’t claim priority:
::: ‘By this conception, the claim that there is a Russell Set is simply wishful thinking, analogous to wanting the phrase “sixth Platonic solid” to have a referent, while not actually intuiting which shape this might be.’
:: — [[User:FlashSheridan|FlashSheridan]] ([[User talk:FlashSheridan|talk]]) 12:33, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

Should we think about Jorb, perhaps, as "J orb," which might lead us to think about (''i'',''j'') coordinates, i.e. notational systems where ''j'' is the square root of minus 1? (blah blah engineering vs. mathematics, what does ''i'' mean, &c., &c., &c.) Maybe not! [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 10:41, 27 May 2023 (UTC)

When I naively imagine further platonic solids, my approach to cheating is usually to imagine arbitrarily non-euclidean space. It’s somewhat pleasant that the jorb looks a little like that —- it’s only platonic if the coordinate system it’s in bends and stretches to make it so. I imagine the name and depiction are simply to be intentionslkynvague or confusing about what it actually is. It’s a lot harder to do real innovation nowadays and tasks like inventing a jorb can readily crop up to nerds (the nerd snipe kind) who are looking for sufficiently hard and harmless puzzles. A sixth platonic solid seems to mostly happen outside the norms of what people usually consider in a pretty significant way. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.99|162.158.155.99]] 02:30, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

I asked GPT-4, "Why could Sauron control the Nazgûl when not in possession of the One Ring?" The response:

:''Sauron was able to control the Nazgûl even when he didn't possess the One Ring because of the nature of the rings they received and the relationship these rings had with the One Ring.''
:''Sauron, disguised as Annatar, the "Lord of Gifts," helped the Elven smiths of Eregion, led by Celebrimbor, forge the Rings of Power. Unknown to the Elves, Sauron had instructed them to forge the rings in such a way that they could be controlled by one master ring - the One Ring. He secretly forged the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, uttering the famous verse: "One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."''
:''When he gave the nine rings to Men, these rings corrupted them over time and turned them into the Nazgûl, also known as the Ringwraiths. Because these nine rings were still under the influence of the One Ring, Sauron was able to control the Nazgûl even when he did not possess the One Ring himself. The One Ring's power was inherent and didn't need physical proximity to exert control. The Nazgûl were bound to the will of Sauron as their wills were dominated by their rings, which were in turn dominated by the One Ring.''
:''The link and dominance were so strong that even when the One Ring was lost, the Nazgûl remained under Sauron's control. It's also worth noting that Sauron held the Nine Rings the Nazgûl originally received, which could also contribute to his ability to control them.''
:''It's a complex network of influence and control established by Sauron, making him a powerful Dark Lord even in the absence of his master ring.''

Well. I'm glad <s>someone</s> something understands that. Lol. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.145|172.69.22.145]] 06:11, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

Looks suspiciously like a bicycle saddle to me. And as anyone who's parked their backside on one for any distance or time, it is DEFINITELY a solid. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 07:25, 28 May 2023 (UTC)
:(Well, there's all kinds of saddles, and the [https://www.brooksengland.com/en_uk/swallow.html golden era of leather saddles] were actually not that bad (that link states a 10 year guarantee for the current output, but I personally know of a couple used regularly for 60+years and were still doing well), though with the advent of more synthesised materials they've had to go creative with the texture/covering to give it back the 'give'. Which no doubt makes more an 'impression' on the more modern saddle purchaser, in more ways than one.)
:Reminds me of one of the more abstract 'elemental' {{w|Henry Moore}} pieces, or possibly one of his contemporaries/'inspired-by's. And you could certainly find painters and other art-form creators who have gone into 'abstract blob' shapes, either to represent something real in a novel way or to deliberately represent nothing real at all, and I suspect that's Randall's aim... (Like "xkcd" made to not look enough like anything else, or so intended). It certainly shows no sign of ''any'' symmetry at all. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.32|172.70.86.32]] 12:29, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

Based on the shape, ribbing, and a different definition of "platonic" I think this could be referring to the Roman artefact that was recently re-classified as a dildo. Platonic solid? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.111|172.70.111.111]] 16:06, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

Not gonna lie, this feels like a Cow Tools comic to me. Sometimes mathematicians discover new things, wouldn't it be weird if they discovered something impossible? End of joke. Everything else regarding the shape and name is an inkblot test (until the title text which is actually a LOTR reference of course). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.82.59|172.70.82.59]] 17:04, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning that the dodecahedron and isocahedron have their names switched? [[User:C.h.ninnymuggins|C.h.ninnymuggins]] ([[User talk:C.h.ninnymuggins|talk]]) 21:00, 28 May 2023 (UTC)
:It would be if they were (a common error), but... they aren't. (See {{w|Platonic solid|here}}.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.196|172.69.79.196]] 21:33, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

Ok whoever added that jan misali link that's super cool of you nice [[Special:Contributions/172.71.82.147|172.71.82.147]] 03:50, 29 May 2023 (UTC)Bumpf

I feel that there's a joke missing here, especially with the LOTR connection made in the alt-text. After all, Plato might have gifted the solids to the mathematicians, but thanks to Gary Gygax, it was the gamers who found a use for them....
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.7|172.70.86.7]] 06:37, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

Plato did a a great jorb ruling the mathematicians by forging the impossible... plato got a gold star at his job review... was that really it?--[[User:4til7|4til7]] ([[User talk:4til7|talk]]) 20:33, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

I kind of feel sorry for the platonic solids. Condemned to the friend zone for eternity; or at least until the end of this universe. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 22:54, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

You've all been nerd sniped. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.43|172.70.42.43]]

2715: Pando

2022-12-23T13:35:42Z

FlashSheridan: Spotted a grammatical error, then ran a spell check.

{{comic
| number = 2715
| date = December 23, 2022
| title = Pando
| image = pando_2x.png
| imagesize = 422x372px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The presents under the tree are actually a single gift connected by an underground ribbon system.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CHRISTMAS PANDA — Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Pando_(tree)|Pando}} is a {{w|Populus tremuloides|quaking aspen}} tree colony in {{w|Fishlake National Forest}}, Utah. Depending on how you measure[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWAA-SrrFUQ], Pando is the largest living organism on earth, and is thereby also the largest tree on earth. (By dry mass (Weight not including water), Pando is the largest living thing humans have found. There is [https://www.forbes.com/sites/linhanhcat/2019/02/22/largest-organism-in-the-world/?sh=43fdf2a444ac one fungus in Oregon] which may weigh more including water, but that fungus is not a tree)

Pando is a Tree colony, a type of {{w|Clonal colony}} made of trees. Clonal colonies all form from the same seed or other origin, and are all genetically identical. Tree colonies spread using their extensive root system. Under all trees there are {{w|Root|roots}}, which gather nutrients and water from soil. On clonal trees (Such as the Quaking Aspen, Pando's Species), when roots from one tree surface they can form another tree/stalk. This additional stalk is a genetic clone of the original. This clone then grows its own root network, and where they surface they too form more clones. However, crucially, the roots between the clones do not naturally separate, so all clones naturally stay attached. Each clone has a limited lifespan, only a few decades/centuries, but the colony can live for millennia. For example, the only known wild example of {{w|Lomatia tasmanica|''Lomatia tasmanica'', aka King's lomatia,}} is a clonal shrub thought to be at least 43,600 years old, and Pando itself is thought to be around 14,000 years old.

{{w|Christmas}} is a celebration on the 25th of December, traditionally celebrating the birth of {{w|Jesus}}, but that festival being built heavily upon pagan traditions[https://chefin.com.au/blog/these-6-christmas-traditions-are-actually-pagan-customs/] and annual social customs, then arguably converted into a far more secular event (with or without rampant consumerism). This comic was published on the 23rd of December, 2 days until Christmas, or [[Christmas Eve Eve]]

The concept of a {{w|Christmas tree}}, itself, is rooted in various pre-Christian folkloric traditions and, in the modern era, may be adapted or adopted as required by local and personal circumstances, and need not be an {{w|Evergreen}} fir tree with an angel (or star) atop, but merely any handy plant (or artificial substitute) strewn with such decorations and/or {{w|Christmas lights|lights}} as the owner wishes. Because humans are, well, humans, people and places often compete to hold the record for the largest Christmas tree. At time of publishing (And writing), the tallest Christmas tree is officially a 64.36m (221ft) tall {{w|Douglas fir}} that was displayed in {{w|Northgate Station (shopping mall)|Northgate Shopping Center}}{{Actual citation needed}}, Seattle, WA in 1950[https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/77271-tallest-christmas-tree][https://www.historylink.org/File/21359]. The most widely spread, however, is likely the [https://www.italybyevents.com/en/events/umbria/world-largest-christmas-tree-gubbio/ Christmas tree display] in {{w|Gubbio}}, a town in Umbria, Italy, where hundreds of trees on a mountain face are lit up with light to form a Christmas tree shape.

Sidenote: A lot of articles say that the Gubbio tree has a Guinness world record. However, I can't find a citation for that. If anyone can, please add it. That would be appreciated.

In this comic, [[Randall]] proposes putting Christmas lights all the way around Pando to turn into (Technically) a Christmas tree. As Pando is the worlds largest tree then, if this plan were to be carried out, it would safely take the record and hold it for quite some time.

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2272: Ringtone Timeline

2020-03-01T15:34:32Z

FlashSheridan: /* Buying a ringtone: an audio recording of a phone on vibrate sitting on a hard surface? */

Doing the Title Text. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:07, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

What about the era of "I would love to set my phone to a traditional ringing sound but this weird space garbage is the closest my phone will get"? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.61|173.245.54.61]] 18:53, 24 February 2020 (UTC)
: What kind of phone is this? circa 2000s flip phone? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 08:52, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

I've got my smartphone set to the classic monophoncic Nokia 3310 tune. You can easily tell the >25y from the <25y generation apart from their reaction. [[User:Gir|-- //gir.st/]] ([[User talk:Gir|talk]]) 19:22, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

I wonder if Randal actually found some data to support his timeline or if it's more of a general observation made by him. In my subjective experience, the trend towards having the phone on vibrate all the time has been going on since at least 2017-2018 rather than the future/present time indicated in his timeline. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 19:41, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

: And I've not even noticed the change. I still hear ringtones going off when people get calls. I'm not even sure how it would work, since surely you'd at least need it to ring while charging or when you don't have pockets (like a lot of dressier women's clothing). And then there's the trend I have noticed of people actually playing their music out loud without headphones, which makes me think that people are not becoming more concerned about their phones making noise. [[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 10:35, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
::Playing music out loud (from phone hansets or, these days, far meatier bluetooth units) is an active decision, uncaring of others and/or deliberately showing off. Even these people ''might'' baulk at a random incoming call (assuming not pre-arranged) sparking off whatever sound it creates, at otherwise inopportune moments like sitting in a toilet stall, crossing the road or window-browsing for the next model of phone. Personally, I have the vibrate-and-'ring' setting, which startx to vibrate shortly before it makes noise, usually giving me time to evaluate the incoming call and answer/mute/reject it before very much of anything audible (except for my own yelp/exclamation of surprise and quick fumbling in the pocket, in response to the sudden 'tickle') happens. I wouldn't even need that if I had one of those earpieces, but they eat battery and always seem too losable so I don't. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.102|162.158.159.102]] 15:20, 28 February 2020 (UTC)

Early ringers were hand-cranked generators (or perhaps magnetos), so you might be able to tell who was calling by how fast they cranked.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.22|172.68.206.22]] 19:51, 24 February 2020 (UTC)
:No, in that period it was mostly still operators. I suppose you would know which operator was on duty, if your area was small enough. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 22:07, 24 February 2020 (UTC)

Party lines shared the signal and differentiated the callee by ring. I grew up on 19-ring-12, i.e. line 19 (on the manual switchboard in the village) ringing one long and two short. There was a magneto, but you used it to request the operator to give you a line for an outgoing call; it signaled the switchboard, not another party.

I remember around 1982 staying over at a friend's house and hearing the electronic tweedling of their new landline phone and not knowing what it was. Prior to that all the phones I'd heard at homes, businesses, school, etc. were all normal ringers. So the cool space beeps starting around 1996 seems skewed to the right by about a decade. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.124|172.68.38.124]] 20:21, 24 February 2020 (UTC)Pat
: There's obviously plenty of overlap, and I think the boxes represent when a particular style was prevalent, not the entire duration. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:37, 24 February 2020 (UTC)
: In the UK, the so-called trimphone was introduced in the sixties with a warbling ringtone instead of the traditional bell sound. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.12|162.158.159.12]] 23:12, 24 February 2020 (UTC)
: The initial tones for tweedling or beeping phones were often pure sine wave tones, which are difficult for the human ear to locate. If you had five phones (not uncommon in some offices) you would need to pick up each in succession to find the one that was ringing. [[User:Snezzy|Snezzy]] ([[User talk:Snezzy|talk]]) 10:07, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
: I also remember being told (in the era of mostly electromechanical bells, but echoed by the occasionally extant trimphone) that the time signature of the ringing was something weird, like 13/8 (or 8/13 - I'm not musical enough to know what the difference is, and it's probably not those numbers exactly anyway), on the basis that you couldn't subvert the rhythm into a pleasant tune (real or imagined) and so *had* to respond to it, like you possibly could with 2/4-time. And I've seen the mechanism at the (automatic, but largely mechanical) exchange that continually rotates with variously spotted electrical contacts on its axle that produce the required dialling/ringing/busy/etc signals to get 'tapped' for all currently relevent subscriber circuits (meaning that every phone in a street, neighbourhood or even whole town would be exactly in synch with any other phone also producing the same sound on either ringer or ear-speaker, notwithstanding speed-of-sound delays between the locales and audibility of each). A remarkable clockworkpunk solution to simplifying the otherwise quite complex array of Subscriber Trunk Dialling/etc mechanisms. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 15:09, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

Interesting contrast to [https://xkcd.com/479/ xkcd 479].
[[User:LHN|LHN]]

I would like to point out that "a phone on vibrate sitting on a hard surface" may not have been receiving a call at the time of the audio recording so technically Randall's ringtone could be utter silence (or a very low coil whine). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.46|172.68.226.46]] 00:56, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

I can't stand people who use the old fashioned 1950s bell ringtone. It's not cute anymore, it's just boring and overused. Almost as bad as the many "default" ringtones that people are too lazy to change. These are smartphones! You can easily use just about any song or sound imaginable! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 08:52, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
:Yeah, how dare people like something you don't You can easily use just about any song or sound imaginable, therefore you should limit certain ones because someone online might find it "boring".[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.111|162.158.187.111]] 14:49, 26 February 2020 (UTC)
:I wouldn't call it lazyness. My phone hardly ever rings, because 1st, it is usually always on vibrate anyway, and 2nd, noone calls anymore. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 15:02, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

I will definitely not switch to vibration any time soon. I hate vibration in phones so much that I have installed multiple apps and mods to get rid of every single variant of vibration on my phone (which is surprisingly difficult), at least as long as the system is running. After shutdown it sadly still vibrates. Maybe I should screw off the vibration motor one day. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:54, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

1820s to 1870s: {{w|Steamship|whistle at end of long tube}}; (me, turn of the millenium: much abbreviated monophonic '[https://nokia.fandom.com/wiki/Composer Composer]' version of a complex polyphonic MIDI file of a {{w|In_the_Hall_of_the_Mountain_King|classical tune I quite liked}}); Mid 23rdC: {{w|USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701)|electronic version of a whistle through a long tube}}; Mid 24thC {{w|USS_Enterprise_(NCC-1701-D)|beeps}} [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 15:09, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
:I did that (entered my own ringtone Nokia's on-phone Composer thingummy) with the Thunderbirds theme tune. Learnt just enough how to extract note data from a MIDI file via a quick-and-dirty Perl script. Then had to monophonise it to get the vital trumpet refrain just right where it overlapped "Duh dah-dah-d(DAH-DAH-DAAAH!) ...". Would you believe I also tended to wear lots of very colourful/cartoony ties? Still got 'em. But my phones just (sort of) ring these days - No fun in it once you could just start to plug in sampled MP3s/etc of ''anything''. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.221|141.101.99.221]] 21:29, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

:Okay, now I want to change my ringtone with a slide whisle XD [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 04:32, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

My "general" ringtone is a recording of a dialup modem in action. Freaks out the older nerds around me. I know a young woman who set the custom ringtone for when her mother called to the theme for the Wicked Witch of the North (original Oz movie). Friend of mine set the ringtone for his wife to a recording of her saying " [Marty], it's [Diane]..." [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 16:36, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

== Buying a ringtone: an audio recording of a phone on vibrate sitting on a hard surface? ==

Has anyone found a ringtone that is an audio recording of a phone on vibrate sitting on a hard surface? I tried and failed in the new and inferior iTunes Store.
— [[User:FlashSheridan|FlashSheridan]] ([[User talk:FlashSheridan|talk]]) 13:06, 29 February 2020 (UTC)
:Question: Why would you ''buy'' a ringtone? I mean, good luck to whoever puts what you want there to sell, but it's a bit Life Of Brian to 'individualise' your device with a potentially widely downloaded product. <crowd>Yes, We Are All Individuals!</crowd> (Even if you only sample your favourite chart hit/movie dialogue, you make it unique and your own 'art' by choosing how and where you slice it. And can at least be sure that the possible copyright infringement is done by yourself (surely mitigated by "fair use", if anyone cares enough) and not done by some moneymaking grifter who will commit unfair mass-piracy, before they skedaddle with their ill-gotten gains in the face of the IP lawyers. But then I'm not an iDevice user of any kind, so not sure how locked into pure purchases the Apple stuff is, and have never spent a red cent on my Android devices beyond the initial hardware purchasing (directly, though I have donated to developers - off app - if they don't effectively ''demand'' freemium payments to make their almost useful apps more useful) and of course any rolling network costs where applicable.
:Anyway, that mild rant aside, get (or use, if you already have one) a sound recorder app and pester someone with a vibrating phone and a hard table (ditto) and try a few experiments. It'll do your geeky soul good! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.222|162.158.34.222]] 16:52, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

:: I have made some custom ringtones (e.g. my default tone, going back to a Palm VII Midi browser plugin, of the Thunderbirds theme with an initial ten-second pause, which is sufficiently individualized not to overlap anyone else within earshot at the office who has also forgotten to mute his phone on a given day). But I’m happy to pay 99¢ to avoid duplicated effort.
:: — [[User:FlashSheridan|FlashSheridan]] ([[User talk:FlashSheridan|talk]]) 15:34, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2272: Ringtone Timeline

2020-02-29T13:06:29Z

FlashSheridan: /* Buying a ringtone: an audio recording of a phone on vibrate sitting on a hard surface? */ new section

Talk:1730: Starshade

2016-09-07T14:59:32Z

FlashSheridan: either there is no such Kickstarter project yet, or (less likely) link to the project

I would like to note that in the last frame the microphone booms on the headsets are on the right side, rather than on the left, which would have been more common. [http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/60749/why-most-of-the-microphones-are-placed-on-the-left-of-headsets-headphones Stackexchange discussion]
:Wauw that is not important here ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:24, 7 September 2016 (UTC)

Is this comic sexist? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.239.34|198.41.239.34]] 10:28, 7 September 2016 (UTC)
:Umh, NO!? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:24, 7 September 2016 (UTC)
::It passes the Bechdel Test, for whatever that's worth. Two women talking about astronomy!

Does "kickstart" refer to {{w|Kickstarter}}? --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 14:15, 7 September 2016 (UTC)

: Pretty clearly, but it might be good to make that explicit, and point out that either there is no such [https://www.kickstarter.com/signup?context=new_project&then=%2Fprojects%2Fnew%3Futf8%3D%25E2%259C%2593%26project%255Bcategory_id%255D%3D16%26project%255Bname%255D%3DWebb%2BStarshade%26project%255Bcountry%255D%3DUS%26commit%3DSave%2Band%2Bcontinue Kickstarter] project yet, or (less likely) link to the project.
: —[[User:FlashSheridan|FlashSheridan]] ([[User talk:FlashSheridan|talk]]) 14:59, 7 September 2016 (UTC)