explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1136: Broken Mirror

2012-11-19T15:31:37Z

Jsbqvb:

The lettering on the first word is unusually sloppy. I thought it said "COPS", as in Black Hat was about to be arrested for breaking the mirror, on the TV show Cops. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:16, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Does anyone have an opinion on how Black Hat broke the mirror? If it simply fell from the wall, he would not incur the bad luck.

322: Pix Plz

2012-10-15T16:43:33Z

Jsbqvb: This was an improper use of the phrase "real-time" and didn't actually add anything to the point being made.

{{comic
| number = 322
| date = September 28, 2007
| title = Pix Plz
| image = pix_plz.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = But one of the regulars in the channel is a girl!
}}

==Explanation==
Though this comic predates it, there is a [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/there-are-no-girls-on-the-internet meme] (also known as [http://rules-of-the-internet.urbanup.com/2799580 Rule 16] or [http://rulesoftheinternet.com Rule 30] [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rules-of-the-internet of the Internet] that has traveled through the Internet that there are no girls on the Internet. This comes from a stigma that girls are too stupid to go on the Internet. The {{Wiktionary|puerile}} nature of the Internet creates a repulsive force because of exactly what [[Cueball]] is doing. As soon as anyone claims to be a female online there will invariably be a slew of "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/tits-or-gtfo tits or gtfo]" replies.

[[Black Hat]], while usually a destructive force, and self-proclaimed [[classhole]], stands up for women everywhere. He enlists the help of a [[Ponytail]] character named Joanna (and in fact it could be claimed that Ponytail's name is Joanna) to [http://banhammer.urbanup.com/1921346 ban] Cueball from the Internet if he slips up again. Which he does.

{{w|IRC}} is the acronym for Internet Relay Chat. It is a protocol that eventually evolved into the {{w|instant messenger}}s, {{w|chat room}}s, and {{w|XMPP|XMPP (formerly Jabber)}} servers around today. With the advent of live-streaming video online, IRC channels are making a come-back as a way for hosts and audiences to communicate with each other.

An {{w|Electromagnetic pulse|EMP}} is an electromagnetic pulse that will disrupt electronics from functioning normally. An EMP is an unusual spike in voltage. Small EMPs will disrupt electricity momentarily, larger EMPs are capable of burning out circuitry.

There is no lost love between [[Randall]] and people who "jokingly" [[169|do something]].

==Transcript==
:[A man stands in the entrance to a room. The door has been broken down. A surprised nerd has turned away from his computer to face the remains of the door.]
:Man: Hi. I'm here about the girl who visited your IRC channel last night looking for Java help.
:Nerd: What did you do to my door?

:Man: When someone with a feminine username joins your community and you say "OMG a woman on the Internet" and 'jokingly' ask for naked pics, you are being an asshole. You are not being ironic. You are not cracking everybody up. You are the number one reason women are so rare on the Internet.
:Man: At least, the parts of it _you_ frequent.

:[Woman enters the room, holding some sort of device.]
:Man: As someone who likes nerdy girls, I do not appreciate this. I'm here to ban you from the Internet. The gal behind me with the EMP cannon is Joanna — she'll be assigned to you for the next year. Try to go online and she'll melt your PC.
:Nerd: Dude, she's hot. Is she single?
:Man: Joanna, fire.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1121: Identity

2012-10-15T16:38:28Z

Jsbqvb:

{{comic
| number = 1121
| date = October 15, 2012
| title = Identity
| image = identity.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Not sure why I just taught everyone to flawlessly impersonate me to pretty much anyone I know. Just remember to constantly bring up how cool it is that birds are dinosaurs and you'll be set.
}}

==Explanation==

Cueball lost the server password and is asking Megan what it is. Megan correctly comments, that she can't be sure, through text-based messages, that it's really Cueball asking for the password - it could be someone impersonating him in an attempt of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering_%28security%29 Social Engineering]. Cueball answers by starting to develop a cryptographic protocol they can use for proof of identity, probably something like [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging OTR Messaging] as implemented in many XMPP chat clients or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feige%E2%80%93Fiat%E2%80%93Shamir_identification_scheme Feige–Fiat–Shamir identification scheme] (in reality, it would already be too late for that - they should have prepared something beforehand). Before he even finishes, Megan answers "It's you", meaning that no one else is so geeky that they would answer like that. Cueball wants to stop her before she discloses the password since he hasn't yet properly proved his identity. The use of 2 random numbers provide encryption so that other people will not be able to eavesdrop; it does not provide authentication, the ability to verify the person you are talking to. [Can someone with more encryption/security knowledge confirm this?]

In the title text, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] suggests that this is, in fact, his own personality, and that anyone reading the comic can now impersonate him. For a bonus, he notes his own fascination with the fact that birds are descendants of dinosaurs, which one could use to impersonate him as well.

Notably, although the characters appear to be communicating by way of text (whether SMS, or some instant messaging protocol), Megan should not be able to interrupt Cueball. Text-based messages do not typically stream in realtime as they are typed. She wouldn't be able to read his message until he completed it and sent it. Unless they are using something like the unix talk command, which does stream characters as they are typed. This might make sense since they are conversing about a server password, but talk might also perform proper authentication, although it could likely be spoofed as most early unix programs were not very secure. The characters are not streamed in real time, by the way, because there is no deadline for transmission of the characters. Sending something "as soon as possible" is pretty much the opposite of "real-time" and I think this wiki should make great efforts to be extra geeky about the use of the phrase "real-time" treating it like "real-time operating system" rather than "I use the web so I think the word 'real-time' means that time itself is not fake." Has Randall written a comic about the misuse of the phrase "real-time"? He should.

{{Incomplete}}

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Hey, I lost the server password. What is it, again?

:Megan: It's— ...Wait. How do I know it's really you?

:Cueball: OOH, good question! I bet we can construct a cool proof-of-identity protocol. I'll start by picking two random—
:Megan(on phone):Oh good; it's you. Here's the password...
:Cueball: NO!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

962: The Corliss Resolution

2012-09-21T20:58:02Z

Jsbqvb: Copied from explainxkcd blog

{{comic
| number = 962
| date = October 10, 2011
| title = The Corliss Resolution
| image = the_corliss_resolution.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = And no avian society ever develops space travel because it's impossible to focus on calculus when you could be outside flying.
}}

==Explanation==
Jeb Corliss is a professional BASE jumper and wingsuit flyer (similar to the wingsuit you can see in the 4th frame). Corliss has jumped from a lot of different buildings and monuments in the world. Hence, the Corliss Resolution.

In this comic, which is well explained by its own captions - life in general decides to find an activity that is more fun than survival, like flying off a cliff in a wingsuit, rather than working on space colonization. And as the image text adds on to that, flying is more fun that working on calculus.

==Transcript==
The Fermi Paradox: Planets are so common that life should be too. So where is it?
[[A person with an unusual suit runs.]]

Well, now we know. It's not that life inevitably destroys itself with war.
[[The person keeps running.]]

It's just that it takes longer to develop space colonization.
[[The person leaps off a cliff]]
Than it does to invent an activity..

..more fun than survival.
[[Youtube video of the person, with the suit opening up into a wingsuit. As this is youtube, the comments have not been shown. Two people are watching the video offpanel.]]
Person 1: Holy crap.
Person 2: I don't care how dangerous it is. I have to try it.

{{comic discussion}}

1111: Premiere

2012-09-21T20:42:21Z

Jsbqvb: /* Explanation */ corrected quote from comic

{{comic
| number = 1111
| date = September 21, 2012
| title = Premiere
| image = premiere.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = 'But what's the buzz about the film?' 'We're hoping it's distracting.'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic depicts an entertainment news television program. The anchor notes that "all Hollywood" is in town - meaning there are a lot of members of the film industry (likely referring specifically to actors and actresses). The event is a movie premiere, which is often a very high-publicity event at which a film is screened in public for the first time (or at least in a specific locality for the first time, depending on the nature of the premiere).

Megan is the red carpet reporter which is a remote reporter who is reporting from the premiere itself. The red carpet is a tradition whereby a long red carpet is laid out leading to the entrance of (in this case) a theatre as a symbol of elegance. Stars are said to "walk the red carpet" when they arrive and do interviews and pose for photos along this carpet. Instead of reporting on the premiere, as intended, when asked "how do things look?" Megan instead reports on the (extreme) long-term outlook of our solar system. When asked how the stars a reacting (i.e. how the celebrities feel), she responds by how the (astronomical) stars are chemically reacting (i.e. hydrogen fusion) but notes that it won't last forever (referenceing the aforementioned forecast for our sun). When the anchor clarifies the "''movie'' stars", she notes that they won't last forever either (i.e., they will die). In the title text, Megan responds to a question about the movie by hoping the movie is "distracting" from the apparently grave news she has already reported.

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