explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2889: Greenhouse Effect

2026-04-03T23:05:41Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ the comic does not appear as a joke at all; we don't need to disambiguate that

{{comic
| number = 2889
| date = February 2, 2024
| title = Greenhouse Effect
| image = greenhouse_effect_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x315px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Once he had the answer, Arrhenius complained to his friends that he'd "wasted over a full year" doing tedious calculations by hand about "so trifling a matter" as hypothetical CO2 concentrations in far-off eras (quoted in Crawford, 1997).
}}

==Explanation==

This comic has [[:Category:Climate change|climate change as its topic, a recurring theme]] on xkcd.

It depicts a timeline with three events:
* The introduction of the {{w|Watt steam engine}} in 1776. The comic takes it as the start of the {{w|Industrial Revolution}}, and the event that most directly ushered in the boom of fossil fuels' burning.
* [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_Influence_of_Carbonic_Acid_in_the_Air_upon_the_Temperature_of_the_Ground The first quantitative prediction] of the {{w|greenhouse effect}} by {{w|Svante Arrhenius}} in January and April 1896 (that doubling CO2 concentration would increase mean temperature by 5 to 6 °C, depending on latitude). Arrhenius drew on and included a summary of {{w|Arvid Högbom}}'s 1894 Swedish article, which dealt with carbon cycle over geological periods and first estimated annual global carbon emissions.
* The present day, early 2024.

As the caption points out, less time elapsed between the start of the Industrial Revolution and the work by Arrhenius, than has elapsed since then. Some present-day climate discussions may cite [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1957.tb01849.x a 1957 paper by Revell and Seuss] as "the starting point" for modern inquiries into global warming. While it was more advanced and detailed, the comic notes "we figured out the greenhouse effect" 61 years prior; see both [https://folk.universitetetioslo.no/roberan/t/EarlyEstimates1.shtml Robbie 2018] and even longer {{w|History of climate change science}} which includes earlier, qualitative works.

The implication, consistent with other [[:Category:Climate change|climate change themed xkcd comics]], is that humans have taken insufficient action to stop global warming despite knowing about it for more than a century, and understanding, at least intellectually, the consequences of inaction.

The title text portrays Arrhenius as dismissive of his work. A reading of the reference cited (page 8 in [https://courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/Courses/EPS281r/Sources/Greenhouse-effect/Arrhenius/3-optional-Crawford-1997.pdf Crawford 1997]: 'Writing to a friend at the end of [1895], he found it "unbelievable that so trifling a matter has cost me a full year".') suggests instead that Arrhenius was complaining about the unanticipated difficulty of answering what he thought initially was a simple question, about the historical (geological time) connection between carbon dioxide concentrations and global temperature. Per this reading, Arrhenius's complaint was about the work required to achieve the result, not about the significance of the result. His interpretation of the significance, though, differed from today's (page 11 in Crawford 1997): "[Global warming will] allow our descendants, even if they only be those of a distant future [estimating the doubling time as 500 years], to live under a warmer sky and in a less harsh environment than we were granted".

==Transcript==
:[At the top of the comic a timeline is shown as a long line. It has three dots, one at each end a bit inside the end of the line and one close to the middle Each dot has a gray curved line going up to it from below. Below the end of these lines a year is given. And beneath the year is a caption. Above the time line are two gray double arrows going from three gray lines above each of the three dots. The lines are broken in the middle where a label is written.]

:[Label of arrow that spans from first to second dot:]
:120 years

:[Label of arrow that spans from second to third dot:]
:128 years

:[Label for the first dot:]
:'''1776'''
:James Watt develops a steam engine that helps kick off the Industrial Revolution

:[Label for the second dot:]
:'''1896'''
:Arvid Högbom and Svante Arrhenius note that industrial activity is adding CO2 to the atmosphere, and calculate how much the Earth will heat up if the CO2 concentration doubles. Their answer closely matches modern estimates.

:[Label for the third dot:]
:'''2024'''
:Today

:[Caption below the panel:]
:We figured out the greenhouse effect closer to the start of the Industrial Revolution than to today.

==References==
<references/>

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Climate change]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

3199: Early Arthropods

2026-01-27T22:32:33Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ rm extra period

{{comic
| number = 3199
| date = January 26, 2026
| title = Early Arthropods
| image = early_arthropods_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x469px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Ugh, I'm never going to be like spiders. My descendants will all just be normal arthropods who mind their own busines and don't do anything weird.' --The ancestor of a bunch of eusocial insects
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an arthropod who will get 10 pointy things to zap a metal box and tell it stuff.. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic points out that something we generally take for granted — {{w|spider}}s spinning webs — can seem weird and disgusting when we consider the details of what it involves. Whereas the kind of adaptation referred to by the first {{w|arthropod}} (seen in {{w|isopoda|isopods}}) and by the second ({{w|scorpion}}s or {{w|crab}}s) may seem like obvious things for evolution to arrive at, it may be less clear how something would arrive at the outcome of web construction.

Note that evolution in real life does not work the way the comic implies, as creatures cannot choose a direction in which to evolve.{{citation needed}} An individual organism can choose to pursue certain activities, but these only affect its number of offspring. An intelligent species could accelerate this gradual process of natural selection through artificial selection that favored certain individuals, but this would still require many generations to make observable progress, and would generally require a more advanced understanding of what ''can'' be achieved. While many species select for fitness during reproduction, this is normally for traits that are already present, or of novel features that arise randomly and stand out as an advantage against their peers. Only humans are known to pursue major change, and mostly in other domesticated species, and even then it is an {{w|Dog breeding#Criticism|imperfect process}} that can be very hit-and-miss.

[[:Category:Spiders|Spiders]] are a recurring theme on xkcd.

[[2314:_Carcinization|Crabs]] are a recurring theme in biology. (and conversations with [[2418:_Metacarcinization|Randall]])

The {{w|eusocial}} insects mentioned in the title text are another group of arthropods with high levels of social organisation. As such, they are notable for ''not'' "minding their own busines (sic)", as their ancestor arthropod apparently expects. Eusociality has evolved multiple times in the ''{{w|Hymenoptera}}'' alone, as well as in termites. There is no arthropod species that is the ancestor to all the eusocial arthropods and no others. While there are a number of species of {{w|social spider}}, there aren't any that meet the strict definition of eusociality. Eusocial insects have been known to do weird things, such as [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09425-w giving birth to a separate species].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Wide panel with three small arthropods standing on the ocean floor. Two of the creatures are facing the leftmost one. Small bubbles and particles float around them.]
:Arthropod 1: Now that we're multicellular, what are your plans?
:Arthropod 1: I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!
:Arthropod 2: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!
:Arthropod 3: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

:[Beat panel narrowed in on the arthropods.]

:[Same scene:]
:Arthropod 1: '''''Dude.'''''
:Arthropod 2: Can you '''''please''''' just be normal about this?
:Arthropod 3: '''''What??!'''''

== Trivia ==
"Business" is misspelled in the title text as "busines".

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Biology]]

3199: Early Arthropods

2026-01-27T00:50:36Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ note

3199: Early Arthropods

2026-01-27T00:49:11Z

Megan: /* Transcript */ delete my edit-conflicted version, merge into previously established transcript

3199: Early Arthropods

2026-01-27T00:47:16Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ recurring theme

{{comic
| number = 3199
| date = January 26, 2026
| title = Early Arthropods
| image = early_arthropods_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x469px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Ugh, I'm never going to be like spiders. My descendants will all just be normal arthropods who mind their own busines and don't do anything weird.' --The ancestor of a bunch of eusocial insects
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a WEIRD ARTHROPOD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic pokes fun at spiders, which have a very unusual way of catching prey.

[[:Category:Spiders|Spiders]] are a recurring theme on xkcd.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Three small arthropods are standing on the ocean floor. Two of the creatures are facing the leftmost one.]
:Left arthropod: Now that we're multicellular, what are your plans?
:Left arthropod: I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!
:Middle arthropod: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!
:Right arthropod: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

:[The left and middle arthropod face the right one.]

:[The left and middle arthropod, still facing the right one start talking.]
:Left arthropod: DUDE.
:Middle arthropod: Can you PLEASE just be normal about this?
:Right arthropod: WHAT??!

:[Wide panel with three arthropods on the seabed:]
:Arthropod 1: Now that we're multicellular, what are your plans?
:Arthropod 1: I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!
:Arthropod 2: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!
:Arthropod 3: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

:[Beat panel narrowed in on the arthropods.]

:[Same scene:]
:Arthropod 1: '''''Dude.'''''
:Arthropod 2: Can you '''''please''''' just be normal about this?
:Arthropod 3: '''''What??!'''''

[Three blob-like multicellular creatures with simple rounded bodies, on a seabed. Small bubbles and particles float around them.]

Left creature: Now that we're multicellular, what are YOUR plans? I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!

Middle creature: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!

Right creature: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

[Beat frame.]

[All three blobs face roughly toward the middle one.]

Left and middle creatures: '''''Dude.'''''

Middle creature: Can you '''''please''''' just be normal about this?

Right creature: '''''What??'''''

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Biology]]

3199: Early Arthropods

2026-01-27T00:46:38Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ start

{{comic
| number = 3199
| date = January 26, 2026
| title = Early Arthropods
| image = early_arthropods_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x469px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Ugh, I'm never going to be like spiders. My descendants will all just be normal arthropods who mind their own busines and don't do anything weird.' --The ancestor of a bunch of eusocial insects
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a WEIRD ARTHROPOD. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic pokes fun at spiders, which have a very unusual way of catching prey.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Three small arthropods are standing on the ocean floor. Two of the creatures are facing the leftmost one.]
:Left arthropod: Now that we're multicellular, what are your plans?
:Left arthropod: I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!
:Middle arthropod: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!
:Right arthropod: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

:[The left and middle arthropod face the right one.]

:[The left and middle arthropod, still facing the right one start talking.]
:Left arthropod: DUDE.
:Middle arthropod: Can you PLEASE just be normal about this?
:Right arthropod: WHAT??!

:[Wide panel with three arthropods on the seabed:]
:Arthropod 1: Now that we're multicellular, what are your plans?
:Arthropod 1: I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!
:Arthropod 2: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!
:Arthropod 3: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

:[Beat panel narrowed in on the arthropods.]

:[Same scene:]
:Arthropod 1: '''''Dude.'''''
:Arthropod 2: Can you '''''please''''' just be normal about this?
:Arthropod 3: '''''What??!'''''

[Three blob-like multicellular creatures with simple rounded bodies, on a seabed. Small bubbles and particles float around them.]

Left creature: Now that we're multicellular, what are YOUR plans? I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!

Middle creature: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!

Right creature: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

[Beat frame.]

[All three blobs face roughly toward the middle one.]

Left and middle creatures: '''''Dude.'''''

Middle creature: Can you '''''please''''' just be normal about this?

Right creature: '''''What??'''''

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:3199: Early Arthropods

2026-01-27T00:45:11Z

Megan: note

Edit conflict on the transcript. Whoops! —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 00:45, 27 January 2026 (UTC)

3199: Early Arthropods

2026-01-27T00:44:05Z

Megan: initial transcript

{{comic
| number = 3199
| date = January 26, 2026
| title = Early Arthropods
| image = early_arthropods_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x469px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Ugh, I'm never going to be like spiders. My descendants will all just be normal arthropods who mind their own busines and don't do anything weird.' --The ancestor of a bunch of eusocial insects
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Three small arthropods are standing on the ocean floor. Two of the creatures are facing the leftmost one.]
:Left arthropod: Now that we're multicellular, what are your plans?
:Left arthropod: I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!
:Middle arthropod: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!
:Right arthropod: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

:[The left and middle arthropod face the right one.]

:[The left and middle arthropod, still facing the right one start talking.]
:Left arthropod: DUDE.
:Middle arthropod: Can you PLEASE just be normal about this?
:Right arthropod: WHAT??!

:[Wide panel with three arthropods on the seabed:]
:Arthropod 1: Now that we're multicellular, what are your plans?
:Arthropod 1: I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!
:Arthropod 2: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!
:Arthropod 3: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

:[Beat panel narrowed in on the arthropods.]

:[Same scene:]
:Arthropod 1: '''''Dude.'''''
:Arthropod 2: Can you '''''please''''' just be normal about this?
:Arthropod 3: '''''What??!'''''

[Three blob-like multicellular creatures with simple rounded bodies, on a seabed. Small bubbles and particles float around them.]

Left creature: Now that we're multicellular, what are YOUR plans? I'm gonna evolve little legs and swim around with them!

Middle creature: I'm gonna evolve sharp pincers and use them to crunch stuff!

Right creature: I'm gonna evolve glands to make string from my butt and use it to construct elaborate geometric nets hundreds of times my size to catch other animals.

[Beat frame.]

[All three blobs face roughly toward the middle one.]

Left and middle creatures: '''''Dude.'''''

Middle creature: Can you '''''please''''' just be normal about this?

Right creature: '''''What??'''''

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Spiders]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:3015: D&D Combinatorics

2025-10-10T17:00:08Z

Megan: apparently this comic was posted on reddit

The bot originally created this page as “D Combinatorics”. I renamed it to the correct title and tried to get as many of the references as possible (including a few redirects). [[User:JBYoshi|JBYoshi]] ([[User talk:JBYoshi|talk]]) 00:54, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

:The title in the Atom feed (which I'm assuming the bot consumes) is "D Combinatorics". I'm guessing something in Randall's pipeline didn't like the ampersand. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.160|162.158.154.160]] 01:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

::Yup, if you look at [https://xkcd.com/3015/info.0.json 3015's JSON] you see that <code>title</code> and <code>safe_title</code> differ, and if you look at the HTML page source you'll see '''3''' different things: <code><title>xkcd: D Combinatorics</title></code>, <code><meta property="og:title" content="D&amp;D Combinatorics"></code>, and <code><div id="ctitle">D&D Combinatorics</div></code>! So probably what happened is Randall entered D&D but was supposed to enter D&amp;D, and the openGraph tags adder code, having to be HTML-aware, decoded & normalized D&D as HTML would, but the other parts of the pipeline just ate it for some reason. {{unsigned ip|172.69.65.224|06:09, 23 November 2024}}

::: The problem now is that the feed doesn't validate (because it contains a bare &) and it's also not updating (maybe because of the previous problem). --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.119.13|172.71.119.13]] 11:10, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

::: Well, it's updating now, but it still doesn't validate. Sigh... --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.195|172.70.160.195]] 11:33, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

What are the odds of rolling 16 or higher on 3D6+D4? 3D6 average 10.5, D4 average is 2.5, total average should be 13. I do not know how to proceed from here. {{unsigned ip|172.71.147.206|01:14, 23 November 2024}}
:By raw combinatorics: 71 + 52 + 34 + 20 + 10 + 4 + 1 ways to get each of 16 - 22 respectively, for a total of 192, out of 4(6^3) = 864 total. 192/864 simplifies to exactly 2/9. I have no idea how Randall found this; if anyone has an idea, please let me know. [[User:Kaisheng21|Kaisheng21]] ([[User talk:Kaisheng21|talk]]) 01:33, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
::I used some simple python code to loop over every dice and confirm and it's 2/9 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.111|162.158.158.111]] 12:11, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
::I suspect there is no better way of doing it than looping over the dice. As to how Randall discovered it, it was obvious that at least 2d6 would be needed (since d6 is the only D&D dice that has a multiple of 3 sides), and after that my guess is Randall used a combination of a python script and some experimentation to land on the correct choice of dice. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.56|172.70.162.56]] 14:15, 1 December 2024 (UTC)

It seems like we edited the transcript at the same time. The odds of rolling 16 or higher in this situation seem to be 2/9? [[User:Darkmatterisntsquirrels|Darkmatterisntsquirrels]] ([[User talk:Darkmatterisntsquirrels|talk]]) 01:29, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

: There are 864 possible rolls (6 * 6 * 6 * 4). If you enumerate all of the rolls you will find that 192 are 16 or higher. 192/864 = 2/9, the value from the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.139|172.68.54.139]] 01:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

I added a table of outcomes to clarify how it works out to 2/9, anyone know how to make it pretty? -- Laurence Cheers {{unsigned ip|172.71.150.247|02:03, 24 November 2024}}

A much simpler approach: Roll two six sided dice and sum the result. You are successful if the result is 5 or 9. That happens 8 times out of 36. 8/36 = 2/9. (Or successful if the sum is 4 or 6, or 2 or 7, or 2,3,4 or 11, or several other combinations.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.139|172.68.54.139]] 01:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Clever, but dice rolls in D&D involving summing all the dice, applying modifiers, if any, and then comparing to one or more threshold values. Your method makes it very difficult to apply modifiers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.8|162.158.41.8]] 02:49, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
::I think you misunderstand the problem here. This is not skill, no modifiers apply, it's purely probability [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.111|162.158.158.111]] 12:11, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Minor quibble, arrows aren't fired (unless they're flaming or self-propelled, perhaps), they are shot. (Shotguns are fired of course.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.73|162.158.41.73]] 02:52, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Arrows are "loosed", even more accurately. At least to avoid the confusion from how so many things may be shot, or ''a'' shot. (Many different nouns, from a physical measure of liquer/coffee/vaccine to a projectile, or an even abstract fundemental of chance; and, as verb, projectiles perhps may be shot, then so may their targets.) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 14:32, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Well, lets not quarrel over it.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.67|172.71.103.67]] 14:37, 25 November 2024 (UTC)
:Too many barbed comments, and I'd be all of a quiver... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.153|141.101.99.153]] 14:51, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

Rolling 22 or lower on percentile dice (or, equivalently, 79 or higher) is close enough, and easier to come up with. (Give or take whether 00 is treated as 100 or zero.) Or directly represent the action: roll a d10. If it's 1-5, you lose. If it's 6-10, roll again; if it's 1-5 you lose, 6-9 you win, 10 roll again. (Modify slightly if you want to distinguish the case of grabbing *two* cursed arrows.) [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 03:26, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Alternative exact solution for getting this probability using dice: Roll: 1d8, 2d6, 1d4 succeed on 19 or higher.{{unsigned ip|172.68.55.11|03:54, 23 November 2024}}

I couldn’t remember the formula for binomial coefficients (“n choose k”), but there’s an easy way to calculate that the probability of drawing no cursed arrows is 2/9 without that formula. You just need to multiply the probabilities that each of the arrows drawn is not cursed. Since only two arrows are drawn, you only have to multiply two numbers.

The probability that the first arrow is not cursed is 5/10 – there are 5 non-cursed arrows and 5 cursed arrows out of 10 total. After taking out one non-cursed arrow, there are 4 non-cursed arrows and 5 cursed arrows out of 9 total, so the probability that the second arrow is not cursed is 4/9. Multiplying the two probabilities, the probability of drawing two non-cursed arrows is (4*5)/(10*9) = 20/90 = 2/9.

I was considering writing this observation in the Explanation section of the page, but I’m not if it belongs there. This solution avoids using formulas from combinatorics, so it might not be connected enough to the comic.—[[User:Roryokane|Roryokane]] ([[User talk:Roryokane|talk]]) 06:02, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

My simple-minded approach:
* Roll d10 once for your first arrow: if 1 to 5, the arrow is cursed, otherwise not;
* Roll d10 again for your second arrow: same rules, but repeat until you have a different number from the first one (so d10 is in fact only a d9 this time)
* I won't calculate probabilities – these are your arrows, live with it ;-) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.51|172.69.109.51]] 07:33, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:That has the benefit (over 3d6+1d4) of telling you which arrow(s) (if either) was cursed. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 07:52, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
::Also tells you how many cursed arrows are left, which is useful if the next player wants to take their chances with them too.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.68|172.71.103.68]] 14:40, 25 November 2024 (UTC)
:If you don't like re-rolls, you can make d9 out of 2d3. Nine possibilities, so just assign one of them (perhaps by rolling them one at a time) to be the more significant digit. Don't have a d3 handy? Use d6 and modulo off the extra! (1=1, 2=2, 3=3, 4=1, 5=2, 6=3) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.91|172.68.150.91]] 05:59, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

There seems to be doubt that a "N locks and M keys to unlock them" system could be easily accomplished. I think it could be trivial, with strategically interlocking locked-restraints. A chain formed of bike-locks can give a larger locked loop that can be unlocked by just unlocking any ''single'' one of the constituent locks, leaving the other locked loops to not matter (or you could also try the {{w|Borromean rings}} system, whereby it is again secure against itself, until just one ring is opened up to reveal that the rest now ''aren't even locked at all''...). With almost arbitrary ability to cross-link (or, if you will, repeated/alternating-reflected Borromean triplet connections), you can extend the requirements to more than one unlocking being required (by looping chain elements to mre than just the 'adjacent' loops, sideways onto a parallel meta-loop or up/down the chain, all you might do is allow some slack (could be sufficient to get a thing held directly closed by the taut loop-of-loops, but not enough if the passage of the loop through a hasp/sneck actually prevents the otherwise free movement of the final slide-to-unlock action to occur), but a second (or third, or fourth) unlocking can be required to open-end the whole metaloop of locks. At the top end, M=N solutions are also trivial (e.g. two keys, two locks popularly of safety deposit boxes or [[2677: Two Key System|other things]]). Which is not to say that a specific M-of-N puzzle (where 1<M<N) might not need a ''little'' bit of thought to actually design and implement, but there's no obvious reason why all such combinations shouldn't be nicely doable. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.165|172.69.79.165]] 14:56, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
:Can we first confirm that the M-of-N Encryption was what Randall was referencing in the first place? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.140|172.71.154.140]] 03:17, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
::No, first confirm that this is what the explanation treats as what Randall was referencing. As it was, "complicated lock mechanics" and/or "magic" were suggested as the only ways of doing this, when this (or what we thought this was) just needs a little thought and N bike-locks suitably entangled. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.45|172.70.58.45]] 13:17, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
:I'm glad someone else chimed in on this, because it is definitely ''not'' difficult to require unlocking of multiple discrete locks! I can't even figure out why one might think it would be? [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:55, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
::I had assumed that the locks were built into the chests (as they sometimes are), and that the chests were physically separated. Using m of n keys on a single chest would merely be complicated, but wouldn't really fulfill the description. Leaving the chests unlocked, but tightly wrapped in a locked chain would be more like drawers of a single "chest". I instead assumed that each of m chests had to be individually opened with its own proper key, but you had n chests to choose from. It was unspecified what would happen if you tried pairing a chest to the wrong key; perhaps both the key and the chest would be disabled (melted/stuck/burned/teleported). (And yes, needing only a subset of the chests, but any sufficiently large subset will do, is a semi-standard class of problem; a search for Byzantine Generals or PAXOS algorithm will get you started.) [[User:JimJJewett|JimJJewett]] ([[User talk:JimJJewett|talk]]) 07:45, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::For certain combinations of Ms and Ns, one solution is to have each chest have M locks (that must all be unlocked), such that each possible combination of M keys fully opens (at least) one chest, within which are the necessary complimentary keys to now fully unlock every other chest. A looser version is to have possibly only M/2 (or M/3, etc) locks in a configuration whereby you get to open any given two (or 3+) chests that only produce the full set of keys (and probably spares), but does leave it open to being exploited as "we could only open the one chest, and maybe one or two others with (M/2)<(owned keys)<(M) partial key overlap but at least it had ''some'' of the available treasure", unless designed to not work like that.
:::The limited subset of workable {M,N} values makes it impractical as "I have N chests and M chests, how do I...?" puzzle-setting, but still leaves it possible to force a puzzle from scratch that works this way (e.g. "you must have visited at least M antechambers and deceated the Key Guardians within, before you can open the chests within which are all the components necessary to create the potion that makes you ElementalLevelBoss-Proof"), for which you can determine a convenient set of requirements.
:::One (simple) combination would be two of three distinct keys (#1, #2 and #3) and three chests ("A", needs #1+2, contains #3; "B" needs 1+3, contains 2; "C" need 2+3, contains 1).
:::Add in the feature of duplicate keys but also a mechanism (or magic, or valid physical reason) which causes keys to be stuck in the locks (or vanish/melt/shatter/etc) upon being used, and you can create an even more complex puzzle, whereby having keys enough to (theoretically) open two chests is actually only enough to open one of them initially as you then lose the ability to attempt to open the other... at least until the opened chest provides new keys enough to open (perhaps by opening a different interim chest, with its own new keys, etc) the one that you did not initially choose. This would greatly expand the number of higher-order "M-of-N" combinations that you could facilitate. And could even created "M>N" requirements (three keys, two (combo-)locks: chest A needs 1+2, chest B needs 1+3; both render any keys inserted beyond further use but also contain a 'spare' 1; you need to externally gain 1+2+3 to eventually open A+B).
:::Exactly how (and why) you do it is open to your own needs.
:::And, if you're open to add an intermediate "locked box", you can exploit the trivial many:one ''and'' one:many relationships by just compounding them together, and maybe even adding more steps; e.g. with the last example of keys 1+2+3 opening A+B, you can offer up (from A, 4)+(from B, 5). To unlock C needs both 4+5 (thus 1+2+3, once removed), which itself handily contains ''all'' the further individual keys (or copies of the one key) required to open D, E, F, ... Z, so grants the stipulation of "3 needed to open 23". Or the earlier 2 keys (non-sticking, or regained by copies) for 3 chests grants the full co-keys needed to open that same key-store (see also {{w|Annett's key}}). Arbitrarily higher permutations of pretty much any initial number of (original) keys and however many intermediate openings (to match the singular key-safe's relatively simple multi-key requirements) steps you through the means to then open an arbitrary number of (final) locks, but you won't get ''any'' of the last locks unlocked if you have not fully satisfied the very first requirement.
:::...although it'd be neater if it was an M-and-N that was more direct, I still think. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.85|141.101.99.85]] 18:13, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

"other polyhedral dice, with the number of faces denoted by dX (e.g., d10 is a 10-sided die, with numbers from 1 to 10 on it)." - the d10 may be a poor choice as exemplar here; Back in the last century, when I was playing D&D, d10 were typically (and uniquely) numbered 0-9, not 1-10. This may no longer be the case, and I may be showing my age, but if it is still the norm, the d8 or d20 might be a better choice of example. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.6|172.68.210.6]] 02:40, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
:Typically, I've only seen 0-9 d10s, as part of a "d100" dice pair, with one reading 0-9 & the other reading 0⁰-9⁰... Single d10, mostly seem to come in 1-10? Maybe it depends which reseller one shops at... [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:49, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
::They are usually numbered 0-9, but the 0 represents 10, since writing 10 would require that face to have a different font size. It is still a d10, since the die has ten sides, and still cannot roll at 0. The d100 variant does the same thing with 100, but for the added reason that the 00 face actually does mean 0 when the other die rolls a 1-9. This is the convention, so a die that actually writes 10 on it instead of 0 will be rare. [[User:Stardragon|Stardragon]] ([[User talk:Stardragon|talk]]) 23:14, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

You've all been nerd-sniped. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 10:53, 24 November 2024 (UTC)

Combinatorics degree? Does such a degree really exist? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.130.37|162.158.130.37]] 17:19, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
:There are degrees for all kinds of things. A quick search reveals a number of "Combinatorics" or "Combinatorics and <Foo>" (e.g. "Optimisation") degrees. Some of them are marked as Masters degrees, and I haven't dug into the others to see if there are any 'pure' undergraduate ones (apart from anything else, I know there are crucial differences between the structures and scopes of UK and US 'degree courses' to consider, in particular), but there seems to be representation on both sides of the Atlantic (and elsewhere, e.g. Oceana).
:At the very least, it could be a selected specialised segment of an even wider mathematical degree course, or a cross-disciplinary one (like my own, which was part under Physics and part under Computing, but could have included a Stats-based element). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 19:07, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
::So "Combinatorics and <Foo>" would be meta-combinatorics, since it is combining something with something else. :) [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 20:19, 28 November 2024 (UTC)
:::I shall do my degree in "Combinatorics, Selectivity, Comparison, Decision Making and/or Cross-Designation (Choose Any Three)"... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.5|172.70.90.5]] 21:28, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm trying this on my DM. -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 15:11, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

Can someone put into the Explanation the current details regarding the nature of cursed arrows, in whatever edition of DnD we're currently up to. (8th? I've lost track.) In different DnD-like media, I know that it can act somewhat negatively (reduces aim accuracy) or even outright problematic (it curses the person loosing the projectile; or even renders the bow otherwise useless, as analogue to a cursed weapon), or else reduces/inverts the damage (breaks easier, or essentially acts like a thrown beneficial potion to increase health/strength/stamina/etc of the target). I assume that it one of these, from the assumption that the player desires a "good enough" roll to avoid. On the other hand, cursed projectiles could be treated akin to poisoned arrows or vengeful weapons in doing more, better or more targeted damage (in which case it's a powerful aid, the archer is instead taking a chance of using up a stock of 'special arrows', perhaps in line with not knowing whether their foe ''needs'' that extra degree of offensive power). But, at least from the explaining text's approach to dice-roll results, that doesn't exactly mesh with the typical "higher is better" rolling mantra. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.129|172.70.86.129]] 22:43, 25 November 2024 (UTC)

I don't think making an M-of-N mechanism with physical locks would be "extremely cumbersome". For example you could have a bolt that must be drawn back to open the mechanism, with several padlocks over it, where the shackle of each padlock blocks the motion of the bolt, such that the distance you can draw the bolt is proportional to how many padlocks are removed. Removing any m of the n padlocks gives you enough range of motion to open the mechanism.
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.224|172.71.154.224]] 23:17, 27 November 2024 (UTC)

A DM with a degree in Combinatorics would be unlikely to find this annoying.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.245|162.158.62.245]] 05:30, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

With up to three D&D dice, it is impossible to achieve 2/9 exactly. The closest you can get is with d6 + 2d10x10 >= 146 (where d10x10 denotes the tens die, ranging from 10 to 100) yielding a probability of 133/600 = 0.2216667. [[User:Vandof|Vandof]] ([[User talk:Vandof|talk]]) 06:27, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

With four D&D dice, 2d6 + d8 + d10 >= 21 and d10 + 2d12 + d20 >= 36 are alternate solutions. The former is more feasible than 3d6 + d4 for those who don't have three d6's. [[User:Vandof|Vandof]] ([[User talk:Vandof|talk]]) 06:49, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

You can do it with two dice, although not by summation. Roll 2d3; if 1,1, or 3,3 pass, else fail. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.88|162.158.167.88]] 19:41, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

Could someone explain option 6, multiplying two six-sided dice, with a threshold of > 20? I think 66, 65, 64, 56, 55, and 46 all work, making it ... equivalent to 1D6.
[[User:JimJJewett|JimJJewett]] ([[User talk:JimJJewett|talk]]) 07:25, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:It's >= 20, so 54 and 45 work as well. That brings the probability up to 8/36 = 2/9. [[User:Vandof|Vandof]] ([[User talk:Vandof|talk]]) 13:31, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

;Scales for locking
Wouldn't using scales for the chests that measure their current mass and lock/open the doors based on whether the chest still has the object work for an M-of-N encryption? A simple example: A chest has 2.5 kg of Au, with the chest itself and its combination lock being 20 kg. The next door opens iff the chest's total mass is less than 21 kg. Removing all the Au from the chest opens the door. The second one has an object with the mass of 3 kg, and the chest itself is 22 kg, with ''that'' door opening if the chest's mass is between 23 and 24 kg. Removing the object and replacing it with 1 kg of Au opens the door. Long story short: no, one does not need magic for realizing an M-of-N encryption, one just needs scales for a physical M-of-N encryption. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.25|172.68.245.25]] 08:16, 13 December 2024 (UTC)

== Randall doesn't understand probability or games ==

You don't need to combine the probabilities. You just make two checks. The first check is even odds of cursed / normal. If the check fails and it's cursed, presumably you proceed with the consequences of grabbing a cursed arrow, whatever that might be. In any case, whether the first arrow was normal, or the curse doesn't prevent you from grabbing and firing another arrow, the second check is either 4:9 (if the first arrow was normal) or 5:9 (if it was cursed). (These odds are written as the number of normal arrows remaining : the total number of arrows.)

There is no reason to roll the dice given in the comic. He just made up some dice rolls vaguely similar to those that he heard someone mention in the context of tabletop games, and he's certainly never actually played in one. You can convert these probabilities into decimal form and use a d100 for every check. Probabilistic results like these are the reason the d100 is in the game. (You can also roll 2d10, selecting one of them to be the tens digit and the other to be the units digit.)

The chance of succeeding (choosing a normal arrow) on the first check is 50%, so you can use any type of dice, and success is rolling above X/2, X = faces of the dice.

The chance of succeeding on the second check is 4/9 if the first arrow was normal, or about 44%. So you succeed on a roll of 44 or less. The chance is 5/9 if the first arrow was cursed, or about 56%. So you succeed on a roll of 56 or less.

You don't need a degree in anything to reach these conclusions. {{unsigned ip|172.70.83.67|20:51, 17 March 2025‎}}

== Am i the only one being '''extremely''' confused by the trivia section? ==

This is the current trivia section, emphasis mine:
:When this comic was originally released, the '''official title of this page was "xkcd: D Combinatorics", instead of "xkcd: D&D Combinatorics", due to an apparent error on Randall's end.''' [...]

:Whatever the precise problem, the ampersand also presumably [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#RSS_Feed_Broken|broke the RSS feed]], an issue that is said to be only fixable by [[User:Jeff]], who has been inactive for over a year now.

Am i the only one who sees the issue?
*3 times it says (or alludes to the fact that) Randall made a misktake on the xkcd.com website, which has nothing to do with this wiki.
**"official title", so on xkcd.com
**""xkcd: D Combinatorics", instead of "xkcd: D&D Combinatorics"" - only pages on xkcd.com start with "xkcd: "
**"error on Randall's end"

*2 times it says (or alludes to the fact that) the issue was on '''our''' end.
**"title of this page" - "this" means the one you're reading, the wiki
**"presumably [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#RSS_Feed_Broken|broke the RSS feed]]" - Our wiki's rss feed

Am I missing something? Was this an error on xkcd.com, on this wiki, or both? People keep treating it as if it's coherent. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:10, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

:Ok the trivia is definitely wrong, as you can see [https://web.archive.org/web/20241123024448/https://www.xkcd.com/ here], it's the official xkcd.com page name that was wrong. Also, and this isn't mentioned anywhere, the official title displayed on the xkcd.com site was wrong too! It had an additional semicolon. The trivia needs to be updated, i also added it to edited comics cat. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 17:22, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
::As I understand it (and understood it at the time), Randall did something wrong in creating his initial comic such that the "Created by a BOT" script created the page (and Talk page, and ''possibly'' populated a new RSS entry) with erroneous data.
::Whether that was done before or after the web.archive page, I don't know (my browser insists it can't open a secure connection there), nor if/when any subsequent change was done by Randall.
::I do know that I tested several browsers, at the time, and "&D" (and/or "&D;") and the lower-case equivalents only ever showed as a literal. But some kind of ''cleanHTML()'' function might well have been less willing to 'transmit' an unknown code, as it doesn't necessarily have access to all the DTD <!ENTITY ...> settings that a downstream browser might use (or the inbuilt latest HTML5 standards) so might have wanted to play safe upon finding ''anything'' that vaguely fits the "<ampersand><NAME><semicolon>" format, and just splice it out. I have no idea how RSS writers/readers deal with this (except some basic sanity checking for allowable character sequences, which seems to be the exact problem here after initially invalid data was entered upstream if it should have been &a&zwj;mp;ed when added in). I would check how my Perl environment and HTML-related modules deal with it, but I suspect it's done through sometging like PHP instead.
::(Escaped/unescaped data is notorious, when raw data is HTMLised, but that read in as raw and ''further'' HTMLised in multiple cycles, you end up with stuff like &a&zwj;mp;amp;amp;pound; popping up in things.)
::As far as most of the Trivia is concerned (including the currently hidden bits of it) I don't think it's wrong, though I can't say it's right without investigating the editor's(/editors'?) line of thinking all the way through at leisure. But it's a short and sweet precis of the basic issue, unless you want to start with XHTML Processing 101 and then get properly into DOM object parsing and various applicable WebTestKit criteria before deciding ''exactly'' where the fail-unsafe happened.
::With the "xkcd: D Combinatorics" bit, that looks like a browser header (or browser-tab's 'tab') announcing "<site name>: <page title>", but the only browsers I can test right now (Chrome and Firefox, both as Android versions) don't do that. I've used more different browsers than you've had hot keyboards, however, and I can believe that someone's does that sort of thing. If it's not a non-browser renderer/scraper, instead. Noting that the error came from xkcd(.com) and then caused problems on explainxkcd(.com), so I don't think there's an issue with that, but it's trivial to change to the browser-nonspecific (''and'' site-nonspecific) barebones "D Combinatorics" if that's what it is for someone ''with'' a better title-bar or tab-titling system than I have at the moment.
::Barring some rephrasing/reformatting, it looks Ok to me. But then I think I understood it already, so maybe I'm just not spotting the n00b-trap detail. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.45|172.71.241.45]] 22:14, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
{{Outdent|:::}}
(my browser insists it can't open a secure connection there)
In Chrome at least, you can type "thisisunsafe" to bypass security prompts.

With the "xkcd: D Combinatorics" bit, that looks like a browser header (or browser-tab's 'tab') announcing "<site name>: <page title>", but the only browsers I can test right now (Chrome and Firefox, both as Android versions) don't do that.
I'm not sure what you mean? [https://web.archive.org/web/20241123024448/https://www.xkcd.com/ This link's browser tab name] is always "xkcd: D Combinatorics" when i try it, both on mobile and on desktop Chrome.

Barring some rephrasing/reformatting, it looks Ok to me. But then I think I understood it already, so maybe I'm just not spotting the n00b-trap detail.
All i'm saying is that the most basic thing, "Was this problem of the wiki or of the official site?", not only isn't clearly answered but the problem itself isn't even fully mentioned (see last sentence of message you replied to). It can't be complete if it includes only half of the information, right? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:14, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
:I believe what you might be missing, that it seems everyone else missed that you missed, is that there are bots who create the new ExplainXKCD pages '''''using''''' XKCD's new page when one appears. So, if Randall put it wrong - as everything keeps saying - that means the bots copy said mistake into the new ExplainXKCD page. What all these authors are doing is assuming everyone knows that THIS is how this site works. Have I addressed your issue now? (Assuming you ever come back and see this, and assuming I ever come back and see your reply, LOL!). I note that, running 5 months late, that the webpage title on XKCD is still "D", not "D&D", while the visible title is correct. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:07, 12 April 2025 (UTC)
::Thank you. Yes, I knew that the bot creates the new page, and that this also meant the page on this wiki was wrong initially, but, unlike xkcd.com, this wiki's RSS was seemingly broken by this comic, while xkcd.com wasn't. Anyway, I think i have a pretty good picture, but it still isn't clear enough to rewrite the Trivia section. Good catch! I had also noted that incorrect tab title on xkcd.com on my last comment, which further complicates explaining the situation in the actual trivia section. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:53, 12 April 2025 (UTC)
'''Ok so here's what we know so far:'''
* The xkcd.com page for [[3015: D&D Combinatorics]] https://xkcd.com/3015/ still has the browser title "xkcd: D Combinatorics" instead of "xkcd: D&D Combinatorics". This was never fixed.

* The xkcd.com page for [[3028: D&D Roll]] https://xkcd.com/3028/ still has the browser title "xkcd: D Roll" instead of "xkcd: D&D Roll". This was never fixed.

----

* The initial title displayed on xkcd.com for [[3015: D&D Combinatorics]] was "D&D; Combinatorics". This was fixed: https://web.archive.org/web/20241123024448/https://www.xkcd.com/

* The initial title displayed on xkcd.com for [[3028: D&D Roll]] was "D&D; Roll". This was fixed: https://web.archive.org/web/20241224095655/https://xkcd.com/

----

* The name used in the '''article title''' and in the {{tl|comic}} template on explainxkcd.com for the page [[3015: D&D Combinatorics]] was "D Combinatorics". The wiki editors manually moved the page from [[3015: D Combinatorics]] (now deleted) to [[3015: D&D Combinatorics]] and fixed the name in the {{tl|comic}} template: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3015:_D%26D_Combinatorics&oldid=357629

* The name used in the '''article title''' and in the {{tl|comic}} template on explainxkcd.com for the page [[3028: D&D Roll]] was "D Roll". The wiki editors manually moved the page from [[3028: D Roll]] (now deleted) to [[3028: D&D Roll]] and fixed the name in the {{tl|comic}} template: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3028:_D%26D_Roll&oldid=360160

----

*Our RSS feed was broken: [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#RSS_Feed_Broken]]

* I don't know if there were other errors.
**Did Randall's RSS feed also break? Or just explainxkcd's?
**Did our RSS break again when [[3028: D&D Roll]] was released?

----

The inconsistencies I pointed out in the beginning are still valid:

*3 times it says (or alludes to the fact that) Randall made a misktake on the xkcd.com website, which has nothing to do with this wiki.
**"official title", so on xkcd.com
**""xkcd: D Combinatorics", instead of "xkcd: D&D Combinatorics"" - only pages on xkcd.com start with "xkcd: "
**"error on Randall's end"

*2 times it says (or alludes to the fact that) the issue was on '''our''' end.
**"title of this page" - "this" means the one you're reading, the wiki
**"presumably [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#RSS_Feed_Broken|broke the RSS feed]]" - Our wiki's rss feed

Someone just needs to reasearch this a bit more and create a simple and clear Trivia section, explaining what happened. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 12:57, 27 April 2025 (UTC)
:It seems like you're vastly overthinking this. (Apologies for the delay, due to a device change I've been away from XKCD for a while and actually my comment here was the last one I made before my switch and is the only evidence of where I left off). Randall's site made a mistake because ampersand is a special character in HTML (the language of webpages), apparently his site doesn't sanitize input (remember Bobby Tables?), or not properly, it just dropped it as "I don't know what you want, so I'm skipping it". I'm not sure if it's used for anything else, but for one it's used to show special characters, such as itself: showing an ampersand is "[ampersand]amp;" (for the same reasons I don't want to use an ACTUAL ampersand here, and I don't want to make the detour of finding out how to do the same thing in wiki language), and a non-breaking space is "[ampersand]nbsp;" (meaning don't use THIS space to wrap the line, permanently keep these words together, and don't lump multiple spaces into one, like to indent things), I've used them both a lot when writing my own websites. Because XKCD got it wrong, the bots on ExplainXKCD copied the wrong incomplete title. That's it.

:Also, trying to understand by comparing the sites is inappropriate and doesn't make sense. All Wikis seem to be built on the same foundations, so a technical mistake like this that would happen on one, we can reasonably assume would similarly happen on other wikis. THEN comparing would make sense. But Randall's site isn't a wiki, there's no reason to believe it has equivalent vulnerabilities, it's a separate site, programmed separately, maybe XKCD sanitizes better or worse than wikis do, than this wiki does. Who knows, it doesn't really matter, this is just noting that the page titles weren't created properly.

:Also, you're misinterpreting some things. Like your evidence saying "this page" means the ExplainXKCD page. No, not necessarily. This wiki is about another website, so "this page" is also a valid way to talk about this comic's original page, on XKCD. Honestly, I don't know anything about the RSS feed, what it does, and how it's relevant to this issue in order to address that evidence, but you're down to 4 references to XKCD vs. 1 to ExplainXKCD. Or 3-1 plus 1 ambiguous. And what all this has to do with this wiki is the same as always: This site is about his. When there's some mistake or inconsistency by Randall, it gets noted here, in the TRIVIA. Like if Randall misspells something, we put that in the Trivia, if he replaces the comic with a corrected one, that goes in the Trivia too.

:In summary, XKCD made a mistake, Randall didn't notice to fix it, the bots copied it. Most likely, nothing HERE did anything wrong, as far as I can tell. The bots correctly copied the comic's name as it was listed, like it should, they couldn't know to look for a more complete title. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 00:23, 22 June 2025 (UTC)

::Welcome back!

Because XKCD got it wrong, the bots on ExplainXKCD copied the wrong incomplete title. That's it.
::To me, it doesn't seem like that's everything. Randall's site was broken in two different ways for two different comics on two different occasions, and only one of the two issues was later fixed in both comics, while the other one was never fixed in both comics. Also, we know it broke this wiki's RSS feed. Did it break Randall's RSS feed too? Did our RSS break ''again'' when Randall released the second broken comic [[3028: D&D Roll]]? I don't know because the Trivia sections for these two comics are ambiguous.

Also, you're misinterpreting some things. Like your evidence saying "this page" means the ExplainXKCD page. No, not necessarily.
:: I wish that were the case, but many editors here oftentimes use "this page" to refer to this wiki's page, "the one you're reading right now", '''especially''' in trivia sections.

When there's some mistake or inconsistency by Randall, it gets noted here, in the TRIVIA.
::That's true, but we sometimes use the trivia sections to talk about explainxkcd, such as the trivia section for comics {{cn}} and [[Papyrus]]. In these 2 D&D comics, I think the errors on both sites are relevant, but they should be clearly defined in their respective Trivia sections and currently they are not.

::We can now either rephrase the current trivia sections, or write up new ones. Since you seem to be the only person actively engaged in this discussion, could you give it a try, even if the details about the RSS feeds aren't known yet? You can use [[#help|this list I made earlier]] if you want. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:39, 22 June 2025 (UTC)
::: Funny, I just reached 3028, with the same issue. I note down a list of which comics I've edited/commented on, to try to remember to check for replies, and seeing the issue there I realized I forgot to note this one so came back to double-check if I had done anything here, and saw your replies :) I feel fairly sure that once upon a time I got some familiarity with the terms "RSS" and "RSS feed", possibly in a class, but that'd be 20, 25 years ago. I now have '''NOTHING'''. I don't know what it is, what it does, how to check if it's broken, why to care, or even how to look at it. Therefore I am completely unable to speak about it, and all I'm getting here about it is that's the main thing anyone thinks should be in the Trivia! Meaning, no, I'm not the one to write/edit the Trivia. What I know is what I said, that the issue is obvious to those of us who have handwritten webpages: Ampersand is an escape character used in HTML, to do special things, like display itself, non-breaking spaces, even an alternate way to show special characters like accented characters, music notes, things that can't be typed on a standard keyboard. It's worth noting that in programming for Windows, ampersand marks a character to underline, usually for menus to identify the hotkey, like "Files" means Alt-F opens the Files menu, the name would be typed programmatically "&Files". I've seen programs that don't sanitize their input that would render the name of this comic as "DD Combinatorics". BTW, for this I went to the Wiki Editing help to check what I had to do for an ampersand (turns out: nothing, it's generally fine), and the Wiki editor ALSO makes use of the ampersand for such things as special characters, so you could look there to see examples - I spotted one was to display such a code instead of interpret it, like &nbsp; [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:22, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

::::Welcome back! Thanks for your reply.

[A]ll I'm getting here about it is that [the RSS feed] is the main thing anyone thinks should be in the Trivia!

::::You are mistaken. At the bottom of this talk page, I have tried to make a lis tof all the things previous editors tried to clealrly add to the Trivia section. There are currently 4 errors, and only 1 of them is about the RSS feed. All the other errors aren't related to the RSS feed (even though they broke it). Thus, if one doesn't know anything about RSS feeds, they can still write up three quarters of the Trivia section. I think that's better than nothing! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:26, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

:Our RSS didn't break twice. It was made broken, due to [[3015]]'s error making it invalid, and was still broken by the time [[3028]] added its own example.
:If you do whatever you need to look at the RSS 'raw' (e.g. by using <code>view-source:https://explainxkcd.com/rss.xml</code>, if that's what works in your browser), you'll note that the first problematic ampersands are in 3028's data, in data which is ordered in newest-to-oldest order. Before that existed, it would have been 3015's initial-breaking ampersanding, which is still wrong. If someone went in and "ampersand-coded" the ampersand, they could 'fix' 3028 and it would still fail on 3015, or vice-versa. You (or someone who could) would of course have to solve both, to get it working. And it was made broken (thanks to being served 'bad' data, without anything having any instruction to re-present it in the 'good' form) consistently from 3015's time onwards. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 16:45, 22 June 2025 (UTC)

::Makes sense! Thanks. Did Randall's also break? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:33, 22 June 2025 (UTC)
:::His site? Probably not so that casual browsing would notice. There are more strict and less strict ways to deal with HTML data, and a lone ampersand can probably sneak through a standard web-page and be intepreted normally if it doesn't match an "&entity;" code. And xkcd.com's RSS feed only features the last three comics. I assume, therefore, only last week's... but ask me again when we get an additional special comic, not Monday, Wednesday or Friday, and we either get a four-deep history (being set to a week) or a three-deep history (drops the "just under one week ago" one out, early). But it means that the feed is absent of either 3015 or 3028 data, and is short and sweet and working ''at the moment''. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 23:38, 22 June 2025 (UTC)
:::...but, doing the research tha you could have done:
:::*Google for "xkcd 3015" and "D: Combinatrics" (no ampersand-D at all) is the 'hit' title, directly above "3015: D&D Combinatorics" of this site.
:::**Google is probably being consistent with the target page data for xkcd (see below) ''and'' the current site of the target explainxkcd page, which we've changed to be 'right'.
:::*Within the source for xkcd's 3015 comic, there's <code><nowiki><title>xkcd: D Combinatorics</title></nowiki></code> (no ampersand-D, probably because the ampersand-D was considered invalid and fell out of the publishing process for the title-tag).
:::*Next up, there's a meta-tag: <code><nowiki><meta property="og:title" content="D&amp;D Combinatorics"></nowiki></code>, which I had to make work here (it's an amp-entity, which I've had to write as amp-entity-for-amp, etc). This was either 'corrected' automatically, or later sanitised manually.
:::*There's then <code><nowiki><div id="ctitle">D&D Combinatorics</div></nowiki></code> with a 'raw' ampersand(-D), seemingly happily being treated as entirely literal, not broken-entity.
:::*Within the img-tag for the comic, there's <code><nowiki>... alt="D&amp;D Combinatorics" ...</nowiki></code> (again, I had to meta-it, in this edit, to outwardly show as the simple ampersand entity that it is). Sanitised/corrected/whatever, who knows.
:::Either tag-parameters derived from composed data are automatically sanitised, by whatever publishing mechanism Randall employs, or he got enough errors when it was wrong to go back in and change the othem so that they wouldn't error on him.
:::Neither inducing an error, nor getting corrected (even automatically), the content of the title-tag is in a zone of uncaring-strictness where it 'is wrong' but fails-safe in a way that nobody has done anything about, rather than ever having halted the page-rendering.
:::Meanwhile, all other 'plaintext' non-tag (but of course extenrally tagged) content is happily working with no strictness worries.
:::This is my "took two minutes to actually look at this issue" answer, of course, and maybe you've looked and deduced alternative explanations for what I see. But then probably you wouldn't have been asking any of these questions in the first place. I don't usually specifically read any of your contributions here (too much work, deciding whether your latest blitz on the wiki was worth it or not), but you got my attention as it's part of a larger conversation with other people. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 00:05, 23 June 2025 (UTC)

::::Sure! That's also what the IP at the top of this talk page pointed out, but you were more detailed. I guess that's also trivially related to the comic, which eans we should probably place that TOO in the trivia section. Argh it never ends! At least your comment is relatively easy to parse and could be just inserted in the articles directly with a few tweaks. But, we should probably change it a bit to connect it to the first issue in the to-do list for the trivia sections.

::::So, to recap, what we need to add to the trivia section is:


* The xkcd.com page for [[3015: D&D Combinatorics]] https://xkcd.com/3015/ still has the browser title "xkcd: D Combinatorics" instead of "xkcd: D&D Combinatorics". '''This is also what appears in Google results.''' This was never fixed.

* The xkcd.com page for [[3028: D&D Roll]] https://xkcd.com/3028/ still has the browser title "xkcd: D Roll" instead of "xkcd: D&D Roll". '''This is also what appears in Google results.''' This was never fixed.
**We now know these issues are caused by the... thing you described in your comment.
----

* The initial title displayed on xkcd.com for [[3015: D&D Combinatorics]] was "D&D; Combinatorics". This was fixed: https://web.archive.org/web/20241123024448/https://www.xkcd.com/

* The initial title displayed on xkcd.com for [[3028: D&D Roll]] was "D&D; Roll". This was fixed: https://web.archive.org/web/20241224095655/https://xkcd.com/

**I'm not sure if you covered this in your reply? "D&D;" seems a weird failure, why would the semicolon be after the "D"? This was fixed but I guess you could do your magic by inspecting the source of the archived version to see what went wrong.

----

* The name used in the '''article title''' and in the {{tl|comic}} template on explainxkcd.com for the page [[3015: D&D Combinatorics]] was "D Combinatorics". The wiki editors manually moved the page from [[3015: D Combinatorics]] (now deleted) to [[3015: D&D Combinatorics]] and fixed the name in the {{tl|comic}} template: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3015:_D%26D_Combinatorics&oldid=357629

* The name used in the '''article title''' and in the {{tl|comic}} template on explainxkcd.com for the page [[3028: D&D Roll]] was "D Roll". The wiki editors manually moved the page from [[3028: D Roll]] (now deleted) to [[3028: D&D Roll]] and fixed the name in the {{tl|comic}} template: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3028:_D%26D_Roll&oldid=360160
**Caused by the issue in the first bullet

----

*Our RSS feed was broken (and remained broken after [[3028: D&D Roll]]): [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#RSS_Feed_Broken]]

*Randall's RSS feed didn't noticeably break.

----

::::And i think that's everything? Now we just need to actually polish it and put it in the two articles. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:10, 23 June 2025 (UTC)

Hey, [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]], what was actually wrong with my edit? (For some reason when I made that edit I was logged into an old account I had forgotten about, [[User:Unexplainedthing]]; I guess the login was saved in my browser... but only used that account in that tab... idk, probably user error, but anyway, it was my edit.) 
I summarized some of the points that had already been made just above. The parts I added were things I could confirm for myself: the browser title is wrong, the archive of the site shows that the on-site title was originally wrong, the same holds for 3028. And the explain xkcd RSS feed is what was broken, according to all of the other discussion I see, though I don't really know how to go about verifying that myself. I did remove part of the explanation that (to me) felt pointlessly speculative, and I removed the 'incomplete' tag because I felt the explanation was now adequate; this may have been mistaken and/or premature, but based on your edit summary, it doesn't seem to me like that's the part you took issue with. Am I missing something? [[User:Revolutionary girl euclid|Revolutionary girl euclid]] ([[User talk:Revolutionary girl euclid|talk]]) 20:33, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

:You can read everything that was wrong in your edit by reading what's above your reply. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 19:43, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

::Do you mean the bullet points that I largely used as a basis when making my edits? Look, I don't know, maybe I just lose all my sanity and intelligence when I open this site. I'm barely even kidding, I might honestly just be doing a terrible job at comprehending things and mucking it all up for everyone else. But I certainly don't ''see'' what I'm getting wrong. Apologies, but I could use an actual explanation, if anyone wants to give one. [[User:Revolutionary girl euclid|Revolutionary girl euclid]] ([[User talk:Revolutionary girl euclid|talk]]) 04:17, 16 August 2025 (UTC)

:::Yeah actually I have absolutely no idea what was wrong, I've restored your version. Feel free to edit war over this until they give you an actual explanation. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 20:57, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

Apparently this comic was posted on Reddit and has 8.1K upvotes as of this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/1o2otba/request_as_a_dm_how_would_you_handle_this_issue/ —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 17:00, 10 October 2025 (UTC)

3149: Measure Twice, Cut Once

2025-10-02T01:48:59Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ elaborate

{{comic
| number = 3149
| date = October 1, 2025
| title = Measure Twice, Cut Once
| image = measure_twice_cut_once_2x.png
| imagesize = 571x482px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "Measure zero times, cut zero times." --carpenter who has achieved enlightenment and realized the wood is fine where it is
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A REALLY BAD METALWORKER. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

The comic shows a graph of the number of cuts made versus measurements, with various "professions" involving measuring and/or cutting. These include:
; Surveyor
This would obviously not involve much cutting, but would involve a great deal of measuring.
Surveyors have the task of measuring land. They measure boundaries, elevations, and distances, but never cut much; they only produce measurements and maps.

; Surgeon
{{w|Surgery}} is a task requiring a great deal of precision, being on a living creature, not an inanimate object, and therefore having far less room for error. Extensive measurements and diagnoses must be performed prior to making cuts, but cuts are still made. The cuts are minimal and precise.

; Good Carpenter
A good carpenter would measure twice and cut once, following the proverb.

; Carless Carpenter
A careless carpenter would measure once and cut once, not following the proverb. This could lead to mistakes that create pieces that don't fit and thus waste wood.

; Really Bad Carpenter
A particularly poor carpenter would measure 0.9 times and cut twice, following the proverb in reverse. Likely makes even more mistakes and wastes even more wood.

; Serial Killer
Would require very little measuring, but especially if the method involves knives, it would require potentially large amounts of cutting.

; Title text
The title text mentions a carpenter who does zero measuring and zero cutting, because they have apparently become enlightened and decided the wood is just fine where it is.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Scatter plots]]

3143: Question Mark

2025-09-18T02:26:58Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ save people some time staring at the title text

{{comic
| number = 3143
| date = September 17, 2025
| title = Question Mark
| image = question_mark_2x.png
| imagesize = 380x463px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although now people will realize three-per-em space that all this time I've been using weird medium mathematical space whitespace characters in my hair space hair space hair space speech dot dot dot...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] responds to [[Hairy]]'s use of the literal phrase "question mark" in speech where the mark would be used in writing by pronouncing various punctuation marks and formatting details which are intended not as words to say but as guides to the speaker, like Joe Biden reading a teleprompter. Complete captcha. Save changes. Close browser tab.

The title text reads: "Although now people will realize that all this time I've been using weird whitespace characters in my speech..."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:3135: Sea Level

2025-08-31T01:03:14Z

Megan: brain malfunctioning today

Holy crud empty page! F1RST P0ST! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:38, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:2038: Last of the original Star Wars cast dies. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 02:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::What? If you're trying to get back at me because I was being useless and just "first posting", it's a reference to [[269: TCMP]], and I also, by the way, wrote the whole first paragraph of this explanation. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:50, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Alright, sorry, just realized what you did is a reference to [[493: Actuarial]]. Sorry about that! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:53, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::::I guess you're one of today's lucky [[Ten Thousand]]...
::::Wait, no, not everyone has read comic 493 by the time they're adults. I'm too lazy right now to calculate how many people learn about comic 493 each day, so I'll leave it as [[356|an exercise for the reader]]. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 01:01, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

This one is related to the [https://xkcd.com/2809/ Moon] comic. [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 01:39, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:Clearly. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:49, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

::it's almost a repeat. is he running out of ideas? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 09:54, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Hope not. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 16:56, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Why do people talk about running out of ideas? That is something I can't imagine. The world throws ideas and absurdities at you all the time. Running out of time to execute an idea - sure. Seems much more likely to be filtering error (have to check current idea against 3000 previous strips). [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 19:42, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

Larry Niven had a story about alien-made indestructible spaceship hulls, except the makers didn't account for tidal effects when grazing a star. The test pilot was nearly ripped apart, but figured a way to survive. He sued their butts off against the guarantee. He concluded that their home planet did not have a large moon, a Clue. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:41, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

I think I finally figured out the common thread. All the items here are here because they are elements of Life on Earth. The way the explanation was written kind of buried that important part of the comic.

Overall, if you just look at them as unrelated phenomena, then Lightning seems quite common. Islands made by microskeletons, and life-forms which change their form during development seem like they would be pretty common where there is life. Large tides - thought to be uncommon, but don't have much data, and models are hard. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:A0|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:A0]] 18:04, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

All planets with intelligent life we know have tides. In fact one could argue that tides play an important role in the development in life. Thus any intelligent observe is arguably familiar with tides. Thus the text is wrong in arguing that tides are surprising based on the observation that most known planets likely do not have large tides. --[[Special:Contributions/2A01:599:114:9E35:D827:C56:FF88:1858|2A01:599:114:9E35:D827:C56:FF88:1858]] 19:09, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:Argument has problems - insufficient sample size, selection bias. Nothing in the comic talked about intelligent life.
:The role of tides in development of life certainly makes sense to add.
:Tides are strange in that they are very complex and hard to explain in detail. Fluid dynamics in a very complex, non-ridgid vessel, involve gravitational forces from multiple bodies. [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 20:00, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:: Sample size is definitely a problem. Nothing in the comic talks about tides being strange in a cosmic sense. They are just very weird for one of the two observers from earth. --[[Special:Contributions/195.63.76.62|195.63.76.62]] 20:39, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

I'm shocked that Randal didn't include some sort of reference to climate change- and how tides effectively, at least in 2025 and for the foreseeable future, dwarf sea rise due to melting ice. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 20:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:On a (twice-)daily basis, yes. But that's like saying an unseasonal/hyperseasonal cold snap belies the possibility of global warming. (If that's the point you're trying to make.)
:And I'm not sure if you're saying that Randall "is the sort of person who would go on and on about climate change, but for soe reason he surprisingly didn't do so here" or "he really ought to be mentioning climate change at every opportunity, but he missed the opportunity to convey the concept"..? I'd disagree with ''both'' of those assessments of his (non-)inclusion here, though, and perhaps you're even coming from a completely different third direction that I might or might not understand. But really not the place to discuss it, as he obviously hasn't made that part of the joke/message in this comic. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:27, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3135: Sea Level

2025-08-31T01:01:03Z

Megan: re

Holy crud empty page! F1RST P0ST! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:38, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:2038: Last of the original Star Wars cast dies. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 02:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::What? If you're trying to get back at me because I was being useless and just "first posting", it's a reference to [[269: TCMP]], and I also, by the way, wrote the whole first paragraph of this explanation. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:50, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Alright, sorry, just realized what you did is a reference to [[493: Actuarial]]. Sorry about that! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:53, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
::::I guess you're one of today's lucky [[Ten Thousand]].
::::Wait, no, not everyone knows about comic 493 by the time they're adults. I'm too lazy to calculate how many people learn about comic 493 by the time they learn adults right now, so I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 01:01, 31 August 2025 (UTC)

This one is related to the [https://xkcd.com/2809/ Moon] comic. [[User:Pgn674|Pgn674]] ([[User talk:Pgn674|talk]]) 01:39, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:Clearly. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 01:49, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

::it's almost a repeat. is he running out of ideas? [[user:lett‪herebedarklight|raeb]] 09:54, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Hope not. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 16:56, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:::Why do people talk about running out of ideas? That is something I can't imagine. The world throws ideas and absurdities at you all the time. Running out of time to execute an idea - sure. Seems much more likely to be filtering error (have to check current idea against 3000 previous strips). [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 19:42, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

Larry Niven had a story about alien-made indestructible spaceship hulls, except the makers didn't account for tidal effects when grazing a star. The test pilot was nearly ripped apart, but figured a way to survive. He sued their butts off against the guarantee. He concluded that their home planet did not have a large moon, a Clue. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:41, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

I think I finally figured out the common thread. All the items here are here because they are elements of Life on Earth. The way the explanation was written kind of buried that important part of the comic.

Overall, if you just look at them as unrelated phenomena, then Lightning seems quite common. Islands made by microskeletons, and life-forms which change their form during development seem like they would be pretty common where there is life. Large tides - thought to be uncommon, but don't have much data, and models are hard. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:A0|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:A0]] 18:04, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

All planets with intelligent life we know have tides. In fact one could argue that tides play an important role in the development in life. Thus any intelligent observe is arguably familiar with tides. Thus the text is wrong in arguing that tides are surprising based on the observation that most known planets likely do not have large tides. --[[Special:Contributions/2A01:599:114:9E35:D827:C56:FF88:1858|2A01:599:114:9E35:D827:C56:FF88:1858]] 19:09, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:Argument has problems - insufficient sample size, selection bias. Nothing in the comic talked about intelligent life.
:The role of tides in development of life certainly makes sense to add.
:Tides are strange in that they are very complex and hard to explain in detail. Fluid dynamics in a very complex, non-ridgid vessel, involve gravitational forces from multiple bodies. [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 20:00, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

:: Sample size is definitely a problem. Nothing in the comic talks about tides being strange in a cosmic sense. They are just very weird for one of the two observers from earth. --[[Special:Contributions/195.63.76.62|195.63.76.62]] 20:39, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

I'm shocked that Randal didn't include some sort of reference to climate change- and how tides effectively, at least in 2025 and for the foreseeable future, dwarf sea rise due to melting ice. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 20:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)
:On a (twice-)daily basis, yes. But that's like saying an unseasonal/hyperseasonal cold snap belies the possibility of global warming. (If that's the point you're trying to make.)
:And I'm not sure if you're saying that Randall "is the sort of person who would go on and on about climate change, but for soe reason he surprisingly didn't do so here" or "he really ought to be mentioning climate change at every opportunity, but he missed the opportunity to convey the concept"..? I'd disagree with ''both'' of those assessments of his (non-)inclusion here, though, and perhaps you're even coming from a completely different third direction that I might or might not understand. But really not the place to discuss it, as he obviously hasn't made that part of the joke/message in this comic. [[Special:Contributions/92.17.62.87|92.17.62.87]] 23:27, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

3135: Sea Level

2025-08-30T02:23:16Z

Megan: /* Transcript */ update

{{comic
| number = 3135
| date = August 29, 2025
| title = Sea Level
| image = sea_level_2x.png
| imagesize = 321x453px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They're up there with coral islands, lightning, and caterpillars turning into butterflies.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by A FRIENDLY TIDAL WAVE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this comic [[Cueball]] is wondering aloud what happened to an island, possibly a {{w|sandbar}} that was visible earlier, but is not anymore. [[Megan]] explains to him that the {{w|tide}} has gone up, and thus the island is underwater. She then tells him about what causes tides, namely the {{w|moon}}, which is large enough and orbits close enough to Earth to gravitationally affect the waters of our oceans, causing them to go up and down daily. Similarly to [[2809: Moon]], Cueball is amazed at the oddity of our planet having a natural satellite large enough to affect our oceans, and Randall seems to be as well, as the caption says that if the moon didn't exist, it would sound extremely outlandish and sci-fi-like.

{{w|Tide|Tides}} on Earth would indeed seem strange and unusual to a visitor from almost anywhere else in the universe, along with other features such as the large expanses of liquid water and the oxygen-rich atmosphere that was created by biological activity (photosynthesis). Not to mention the biological activity. As stated in the comic, tides on Earth are largely the result of a single large moon (the Moon) orbiting the Earth at a relatively short distance. If the Moon were absent, tidal amplitudes would be much less, because the Sun's gravity has much less influence on Earth's liquid water masses than the Moon does. Also, if more than one moon were present, or the moon(s) present were much less massive, or the moon(s) present had more distant orbits, tides would have less amplitude, and, in the case of multiple moons, would have much more complex (and possibly difficult to predict) periodicity.

The title text mentions other outlandish phenomenons on Earth, comparing them to tides, including {{w|coral islands}}, islands that build up on top of coral reefs out of coral detritus and other natural materials, {{w|lightning}}, when electrical charges come racing down from thunderclouds in a bright flash of light, and the {{w|metamorphosis}} of {{w|butterflies}}, when caterpillars create a chrysalis and come out as butterflies.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

[Single frame, with Megan and Cueball standing at a coastline, with water and waves visible.]

Cueball: Hey, where's that big island we were looking at this morning?

Megan: Oh, it's underwater. The ocean's depth here goes up and down by like ten feet every day.

Cueball: What?

Megan: It's because the planet has a big moon orbiting near the surface. It causes weird gravity effects.

Cueball: '''What???'''

Caption below the frame: People here are used to them, but tides are one of the weirdest and most sci-fi elements of life on Earth.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3135: Sea Level

2025-08-30T02:21:56Z

Megan: /* Transcript */ basic transcript

{{comic
| number = 3135
| date = August 29, 2025
| title = Sea Level
| image = sea_level_2x.png
| imagesize = 321x453px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They're up there with coral islands, lightning, and caterpillars turning into butterflies.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by A FRIENDLY TIDAL WAVE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this comic [[Cueball]] is wondering aloud what happened to an island, possibly a {{w|sandbar}} that was visible earlier, but is not anymore. [[Megan]] explains to him that the {{w|tide}} has gone up, and thus the island is underwater. She then tells him about what causes tides, namely the {{w|moon}}, which is large enough and orbits close enough to Earth to gravitationally affect the waters of our oceans, causing them to go up and down daily. Similarly to [[2809: Moon]], Cueball is amazed at the oddity of our planet having a natural satellite large enough to affect our oceans, and Randall seems to be as well, as the caption says that if the moon didn't exist, it would sound extremely outlandish and sci-fi-like.

{{w|Tide|Tides}} on Earth would indeed seem strange and unusual to a visitor from almost anywhere else in the universe, along with other features such as the large expanses of liquid water and the oxygen-rich atmosphere that was created by biological activity (photosynthesis). Not to mention the biological activity. As stated in the comic, tides on Earth are largely the result of a single large moon (the Moon) orbiting the Earth at a relatively short distance. If the Moon were absent, tidal amplitudes would be much less, because the Sun's gravity has much less influence on Earth's liquid water masses than the Moon does. Also, if more than one moon were present, or the moon(s) present were much less massive, or the moon(s) present had more distant orbits, tides would have less amplitude, and, in the case of multiple moons, would have much more complex (and possibly difficult to predict) periodicity.

The title text mentions other outlandish phenomenons on Earth, comparing them to tides, including {{w|coral islands}}, islands that build up on top of coral reefs out of coral detritus and other natural materials, {{w|lightning}}, when electrical charges come racing down from thunderclouds in a bright flash of light, and the {{w|metamorphosis}} of {{w|butterflies}}, when caterpillars create a chrysalis and come out as butterflies.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

[Megan and Cueball standing at a coastline with water and waves visible.]

Cueball: "Hey, where's that big island we were looking at this morning?

Megan: "Oh, it's underwater. The ocean's depth here goes up and down by like ten feet every day."

Cueball: "What?"

Megan: "It's because the planet has a big moon orbiting near the surface. It causes weird gravity effects."

Cueball: '''"What???"'''

Caption below the frame: "People here are used to them, but tides are one of the weirdest and most sci-fi elements of life on Earth."

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:3135: Sea Level

2025-08-30T02:18:06Z

Megan: re

3132: Coastline Similarity

2025-08-24T17:49:23Z

Megan:

{{comic
| number = 3132
| date = August 22, 2025
| title = Coastline Similarity
| image = coastline_similarity_2x.png
| imagesize = 553x219px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hey! A bunch of the early Cretaceous fossils on each coast seem to have been plagiarized, too!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a HUMAN, BUT IT WAS PLAGIARIZED BY A BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This comic depicts a classroom, likely relating to geography, geology or history, in which the teacher ([[Miss Lenhart]]) is discussing the similar coastlines of Africa and South America, and the way that modern understanding has revealed the cause. [[Cueball]] initially assumes that one coastline plagiarized the other before Miss Lenhart continues by revealing that it was {{w|continental drift}} that explained the similarity.

Continental drift is the widely accepted theory that Earth's continents were once all connected, and have been moving relative to each other due to {{w|plate tectonics}}. One of the clues that actually led to this discovery was that the shapes of the coastlines of South America and Africa that are separated by the Atlantic Ocean are similar. The similarity is much greater for the submerged {{w|continental shelf|continental shelves}} than for the visible coastlines; they're like adjacent pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

{{w|Plagiarism}} is the act of claiming credit for another individual's work, usually by duplicating the results. The discovery of plagiarism in an already-renowned body of work is often cause for scandal, and Cueball's reaction to the assumed plagiarism of the African/South American coastlines reflects this. Of course, continents are inanimate objects, and have no concept of plagiarism, let alone know how to perform it.{{Citation needed}}

The title text continues the joke about plagiarism. Additional corroborating evidence of continental drift is that there are similar species of plant and animal fossils on the two sides of the Atlantic, dating to the time when they were connected. Cueball thinks that the progenitors of these species also plagiarized each other, as opposed to the more mundane explanation which is that the progenitors were the ''same'' for both. The younger fossils are descendents of some species that existed across the once-connected lands, the older ones ''are'' the species that did not yet have the nascent Atlantic Ocean in their lives.

The theory of continental drift was originally proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912, based on such fossil evidence and other geological features common to the two continental borders, in addition to the similarities in shoreline shapes. It's significant to the history of science as a general subject, as a proposal that was originally met with strong opposition (not to mention mockery) but eventually became accepted by almost everyone. Modern cranks and crackpots sometimes point to it in support of their own implausible "theories", as though universal rejection of a "theory" by all of the experts somehow proves that it will someday be accepted and its originator proven right all along. In fact, Wegener's original theory did have a serious flaw, in that it lacked a plausible mechanism, though it was otherwise correct. Modern cranks' "theories" generally lack both plausible mechanisms ''and'' good analysis of supporting evidence. ("Yes, they laughed at Galileo... but they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.")

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is holding a pointer pointing to a wall map. The map shows South America and Africa, with the east coast of South America and the southwest coast of Africa highlighted in red.]
:Miss Lenhart: People had long noticed that South America and Africa had similarly-shaped coastlines.

:[A side view of the classroom. Jill and Cueball are sitting at school desks, looking at Miss Lenhart. The wall map is visible behind Miss Lenhart.]
:Miss Lenhart: In the 20th century, geologists finally found the explanation:

:[The same scene, with Cueball having his hands on his face.]
:Cueball: ''Plagiaris''--
:Miss Lenhart: Continental drift.
:Cueball: Oh.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Geography]]

2753: Air Handler

2025-08-17T04:06:35Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ fix {{citation needed}}

{{comic
| number = 2753
| date = March 22, 2023
| title = Air Handler
| image = air_handler_2x.png
| imagesize = 591x228px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It maintains odor levels in a normal familiar range, so if you open the windows and the air gets too fresh, it filters it through some dirty laundry samples to compensate.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Black Hat]] is demonstrating an air-conditioning unit that covers a wide variety of air qualities, as opposed to a heater that just warms air, a filter that just removes dust or a dehumidifier with the main purpose of removing moisture from the air.

In many devices that manage certain atmospheric conditions in a building using one device, an operational range is usually defined, and not one number. For example, when using a {{w|heat pump}}, if the interior temperature drops below a preset lower limit, then the heating function would be activated. If the interior temperature rises above another preset upper limit, the cooling function would be activated. This kind of ranged function is common with humidifier/dehumidifier units as well, to create a comfortable condition not too dry nor too damp for comfort. By specifying upper and lower limits for the operation of the device in question, minor variations of the controlled value will not cause the device to rapidly turn on and off, even working against itself, improving efficiency and reducing unnecessary wear and tear on the device and the building contents.

Devices that manage temperature and humidity are often installed in buildings to improve occupant comfort. Beyond that, the listed qualities become increasingly problematic and even dangerous.

Changing the pressure of the air could lead to <s>unintended</s> effects like large winds blowing through any cracks in the building.

The air handler also attempts to force the parameters of dust, smoke, odours, and number of bees into an "ideal" range. However, as opposed to being in a certain range, most people who live indoors prefer that these be minimised.{{citation needed}} It's also worth noting that "a normal amount" of bees varies widely depending on the situation. A typical honeybee colony contains [https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/honeybee-hive 60,000 to 80,000 bees], and a typical {{w|Swarming_(honey_bee)|swarm}} (bees looking to establish a new hive) is anywhere from [https://www.bee-commerce.com/content/freedownloads/FactsAboutSwarms.pdf 1,500 to 30,000]. To pollinate an acre of fruiting trees typically requires a minimum of [https://treefruit.wsu.edu/orchard-management/pollination/honey-bees/ 20,000 bees], or approximately five bees per square meter.

It is not particularly usual to directly monitor the number of bees in an air-stream (usually, insect-screens are the main way to filter out any pesky creatures that might find themselves likely to be caught up in that way), and one might imagine that the upper limit ''should'' be zero, for use indoors in standard living/working spaces, but it might be technically feasible to accurately count bees (with or without distinguishing from wasps and other flying insects) and be able to allow ''some''. But, unlike temperature or humidity, it would be rare (outside of a location used for agriculture) to have a non-zero ''minimum'' desirable quantity of bees. Even more so to then be directly equipped to upwardly correct the current value. The comic ends with Megan asking what the minimum value for bees is, and Black Hat giving an unhelpful but ominous answer that seems to confirm the "minimum number" of bees is ''not zero'', with his machine priming itself to release bees to get from below that minimum (it seems to have at least one trapped inside it ready to be released, judging by the buzzing sound). Even after any 'lack of' bees is dealt with, it's implied the machine can also generate smoke, dust and odours – something one would typically not miss if lacking.{{citation needed}}

As the title text elaborates, the machine analyses and adjusts the ''freshness'' of the air. A smart system in charge of odour-control (by spraying smell-suppressing chemicals and/or more desirable and dominant scents) could be made less wasteful by only trying to ''freshen'' the air when it detects enough necessity. But, of course, this machine also has an opposing limit. And, when the air is considered ''too'' fresh, it has a way of ''adding'' staleness/stinkiness to meet expectations with dirty laundry.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is standing to the right of an "air handler", talking to Cueball and Megan on the left side, probably presenting the sales pitch for the air handler in between them.]
:Black Hat: Our device monitors your home's air and keeps every variable between a lower and upper limit.

:[Zoom in on Black Hat]
:Black Hat: Temperature, humidity, pressure, dust, smoke, odors, number of bees...

:[Zoom out similar to Frame #1]
:Megan: Wait.
:Megan: What's the '''''lower''''' limit for "number of bees"?
:Black Hat: A normal amount.
:Air Handler: ''Bzzzzzz''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Bees]]

User talk:Megan

2025-08-17T04:02:36Z

Megan: re twice

<center>[[File:Megan.png|100px]] Archives: [[Special:Permalink/365518|1]]</center>
----
oh hey you're back, how you doing [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 17:34, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
:@[[User:CalibansCreations|CalibansCreations]]: Doing okay. How about you? —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:19, 14 August 2025 (UTC)
::could be better, could be worse [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 16:45, 14 August 2025 (UTC)
:::@[[User:CalibansCreations|CalibansCreations]]: understandable. Anything in particular that's troubling, or is that not a question for a public space? —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 04:37, 15 August 2025 (UTC)
::::eh, I ain't the type of guy to talk about it [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 10:39, 15 August 2025 (UTC)
:::::@[[User:CalibansCreations|CalibansCreations]]: in that case, we need a new conversation topic. (Or we could end the conversation.) Thoughts? If not, just ask me to suggest a topic. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 04:02, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

Uhhhh hi! I don't think we've ever met, so just wanted to introduce myself.--'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al |'''''Converse''''']][[Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa'al|'''''My life choices''''']] 01:06, 16 August 2025 (UTC)
:@[[User:DollarStoreBa'al]]: hihi! —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 04:02, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

User talk:Megan

2025-08-15T04:37:35Z

Megan: re

explain xkcd:User: Aprilfoolsupdate!

2025-08-15T04:36:04Z

Megan: "Sorry to be editing your user page like this, but I can’t help it."

<table class="infobox vcard">
<tr><th colspan=2 class="fn" style="text-align:center; font-size:125%; font-weight:bold; background-color:#BCD4E6;">Aprilfoolsupdate!</th></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="{{{class|}}}" style="text-align:center; {{{headerstyle|}}}">
<div><center>Aprilfoolsupdate!</center></div></td></tr>
<tr class="{{{rowclass|}}}">
<th scope="row" style="text-align:left; line-height: 1.3em;">Born date</th>
<td class="{{{class|}}}" style="line-height: 1.3em;">Not telling</td></tr>
<tr class="{{{rowclass|}}}">
<tr class="{{{rowclass|}}}">
<th scope="row" style="text-align:left; line-height: 1.3em;">Planet</th>
<td class="{{{class|}}}" style="line-height: 1.3em;">Earth {{Citation needed}}</td></tr>
<tr class="{{{rowclass|}}}">
<th scope="row" style="text-align:left; line-height: 1.3em;">Language</th>
<td class="{{{class|}}}" style="line-height: 1.3em;">English</td></tr>
<tr class="{{{rowclass|}}}">
<th scope="row" style="text-align:left; line-height: 1.3em;">Stellar system</th>
<td class="{{{class|}}}" style="line-height: 1.3em;">The solar system</td></tr>
<tr class="{{{rowclass|}}}">
 
Wow what? I can create my user page now! Yay! (And please edit my user page)
 
==About me==
very basic knowledge of html, like to use <nowiki> </nowiki>. I want others to reply ASAP, but I want to have the last word, but I still want them to reply.
 
==My signature==
[[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!| Aprilfoolsupdate!]]([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]])
 
I like my signature, please touch it.
 
==Just a bunch of thanks to [[User:DollarStoreBa'al | DollarStoreBa'al]]==
Thanks a lot to [[User:DollarStoreBa'al | DollarStoreBa'al]] for teaching me to make a template!
 
{{Thx$store}}
 

{{Userbox | border-c = #033 | border-s = 1 | info-s = 9 | id = THX | info = [[User:DollarStoreBa'al| DollarStoreBa'al]] | float = right}}

==My FFA sandboxxxxx==
[[user:Aprilfoolsupdate!/Sandbox | sandboxxxxxxxxxxx]]
 

==User page creation==
Tell me in the [[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]] page if you want to have your user page created.
<hr>

==Leaderboard for top 50:==
{{Special:ContributionScores/50/7/nosort,notools}}

==the leaderboard that is barely known==
[[Special:ContributionScores#All time (Top 50)|This Leaderboard]]

User talk:Megan

2025-08-14T08:19:28Z

Megan: re

Talk:3128: Thread Meeting

2025-08-14T08:14:49Z

Megan: cmt again

Can't believe this still hasn't been explained, it's been a whole {{#expr: trunc(({{#time: U|{{CURRENTTIMESTAMP}}}} - 1755097380 )/60)}} minutes since this released. How am I supposed to enjoy it now? {{unsigned ip|2a01:5a8:479:b635:b4cd:4b3e:238a:dfc|16:08, 13 August 2025}}
:Oh, hey 2a01:5a8:479:b635:b4cd:4b3e:238a:dfc, I know you!
:Honestly I didn't realise you existed outside the Alien Vs. Predator Slash Fiction fandom. I haven't seen you since you described an even more squicky use of the plasmacaster than usual. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.187.138|82.132.187.138]] 16:40, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
::omg hiii [[Special:Contributions/82.132.187.138|82.132.187.138]]! I think we've met in some forum where we pitted our web series together. I'm so proud of the Xronology (my series) for coming out on top, but your "Bottom Simulator 1993" wasn't too bad either! [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 16:44, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

This is the earliest I remember a comic being released in a looong time stevethenoob 19:31, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

One solution to this is to set up a personal website and link to it in your bio, while linking to all of your accounts from there. This way, people can discover your other interests via that personal website. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 17:24, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
:Given that I never use any (exactly-the-)same username twice, anywhere, this sounds like the absolutely last thing that I'd do. (I'm happy that you don't know whether I'm any (or all!) of @jimmy_wales, @realdonaldtrump, @KensingtonRoyal, @zuck, @FoxNews, @jairmessiasbolsonaro, @randallmonroe or ''anyone''...)
:In fact, I haven't got a 'bio' anywhere, except my CV/Resumé (which only lists my real-name email address that I don't use for anything but that) and what little I can get away with on any corporate system. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 20:20, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
::That's a good way to do it. What's linked can never be fully un-linked on the internet! [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 20:35, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
:::It helps that I got any possible internet self-promotion out of my system well before there was any 'social media' (and mostly before there was even 'the web') when it was all a far more pseudonimous text-only environment.
:::What doesn't help is that I also rejected things like LinkedIn as 'fads', like MySpace or Facebook (it'll never catch on!), to possibly tangible professional detriment. But I've muddled along. ;) (And it might even have helped not to have any embarassing skeletons in my closet, in anything easily googlable.)
:::But, hey let millenials be millenials and Zs be Zs, as well as the Gen Xs/Boomers that didn't come in ''well'' past the Eternal September. I'm sure they also mostly muddle through. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 21:50, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
::I have an interlinked network of main accounts with similar usernames. For some platforms I have alts, and for some platforms (like this one) I have no main account and only a different username. This stops issues with employers looking up my stuff if I use different writing styles on different accounts—not particularly difficult to do.
::Also, did the wiki admins finally figure out how to do X-Forwarded-For? —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:10, 14 August 2025 (UTC)
:::[[(]]I can't figure out if that's a bad thing because it means people show their IP addresses to random strangers, or if it's a good thing because you can show everyone your vanity IPv6 address with the suffix set to <code>::1337</code>. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:14, 14 August 2025 (UTC)
I call these "internet loops"! Could also be someone randomly knowing someone else I also know or other roundabout way to rediscover someone. It happened a bunch of time with a specific Minecraft content creator's community for me, where someone found my comment on an Avatar fan video, I spotted someone else on a maths video with very few views, other people there liked the same music and someone joined a Pokémon-themed Discord who has one of the Minecraft community members as shared friend. And some people there already knew an Undertale creation of the owner. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 20:35, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3128: Thread Meeting

2025-08-14T08:10:20Z

Megan: cmt

Can't believe this still hasn't been explained, it's been a whole {{#expr: trunc(({{#time: U|{{CURRENTTIMESTAMP}}}} - 1755097380 )/60)}} minutes since this released. How am I supposed to enjoy it now? {{unsigned ip|2a01:5a8:479:b635:b4cd:4b3e:238a:dfc|16:08, 13 August 2025}}
:Oh, hey 2a01:5a8:479:b635:b4cd:4b3e:238a:dfc, I know you!
:Honestly I didn't realise you existed outside the Alien Vs. Predator Slash Fiction fandom. I haven't seen you since you described an even more squicky use of the plasmacaster than usual. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.187.138|82.132.187.138]] 16:40, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
::omg hiii [[Special:Contributions/82.132.187.138|82.132.187.138]]! I think we've met in some forum where we pitted our web series together. I'm so proud of the Xronology (my series) for coming out on top, but your "Bottom Simulator 1993" wasn't too bad either! [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 16:44, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

This is the earliest I remember a comic being released in a looong time stevethenoob 19:31, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

One solution to this is to set up a personal website and link to it in your bio, while linking to all of your accounts from there. This way, people can discover your other interests via that personal website. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 17:24, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
:Given that I never use any (exactly-the-)same username twice, anywhere, this sounds like the absolutely last thing that I'd do. (I'm happy that you don't know whether I'm any (or all!) of @jimmy_wales, @realdonaldtrump, @KensingtonRoyal, @zuck, @FoxNews, @jairmessiasbolsonaro, @randallmonroe or ''anyone''...)
:In fact, I haven't got a 'bio' anywhere, except my CV/Resumé (which only lists my real-name email address that I don't use for anything but that) and what little I can get away with on any corporate system. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 20:20, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
::That's a good way to do it. What's linked can never be fully un-linked on the internet! [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 20:35, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
:::It helps that I got any possible internet self-promotion out of my system well before there was any 'social media' (and mostly before there was even 'the web') when it was all a far more pseudonimous text-only environment.
:::What doesn't help is that I also rejected things like LinkedIn as 'fads', like MySpace or Facebook (it'll never catch on!), to possibly tangible professional detriment. But I've muddled along. ;) (And it might even have helped not to have any embarassing skeletons in my closet, in anything easily googlable.)
:::But, hey let millenials be millenials and Zs be Zs, as well as the Gen Xs/Boomers that didn't come in ''well'' past the Eternal September. I'm sure they also mostly muddle through. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 21:50, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
::I have an interlinked network of main accounts with similar usernames. For some platforms I have alts, and for some platforms (like this one) I have no main account and only a different username. This stops issues with employers looking up my stuff if I use different writing styles on different accounts—not particularly difficult to do.
::Also, did the wiki admins finally figure out how to do X-Forwarded-For? —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:10, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

I call these "internet loops"! Could also be someone randomly knowing someone else I also know or other roundabout way to rediscover someone. It happened a bunch of time with a specific Minecraft content creator's community for me, where someone found my comment on an Avatar fan video, I spotted someone else on a maths video with very few views, other people there liked the same music and someone joined a Pokémon-themed Discord who has one of the Minecraft community members as shared friend. And some people there already knew an Undertale creation of the owner. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 20:35, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3128: Thread Meeting

2025-08-13T17:24:06Z

Megan: cmt

Can't believe this still hasn't been explained, it's been a whole 12 minutes since this released. How am I supposed to enjoy it now? {{unsigned ip|2a01:5a8:479:b635:b4cd:4b3e:238a:dfc|16:08, 13 August 2025}}
:Oh, hey 2a01:5a8:479:b635:b4cd:4b3e:238a:dfc, I know you!
:Honestly I didn't realise you existed outside the Alien Vs. Predator Slash Fiction fandom. I haven't seen you since you described an even more squicky use of the plasmacaster than usual. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.187.138|82.132.187.138]] 16:40, 13 August 2025 (UTC)
::omg hiii [[Special:Contributions/82.132.187.138|82.132.187.138]]! I think we've met in some forum where we pitted our web series together. I'm so proud of the Xronology (my series) for coming out on top, but your "Bottom Simulator 1993" wasn't too bad either! [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 16:44, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

This is the earliest I remember a comic being released in a looong time {{unsigned|SteveTheNoob|17:12, 13 August 2025‎}}

One solution to this is to set up a personal website and link to it in your bio, while linking to all of your accounts from there. This way, people can discover your other interests via that personal website. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 17:24, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3128: Thread Meeting

2025-08-13T17:22:47Z

Megan: please sign

3127: Where Babies Come From

2025-08-12T09:27:35Z

Megan: i feel like this qualifies for the sex category

{{comic
| number = 3127
| date = August 11, 2025
| title = Where Babies Come From
| image = where_babies_come_from_2x.png
| imagesize = 652x362px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Historians: Contemporaneous documentation of the initial events is often sparse, and in fact people often get testy and uncooperative when we urge better documentation for the historical record.
}}

==Explanation==
Children are often curious, and ask a lot of questions about the world around them. One such question that tends to come up at some point is "where do babies come from?" and it's notable as one that many adults are uncomfortable giving correct answers to, because of the common reluctance to discuss sex-related matters with youngsters. While children are sometimes told that there's a baby inside a pregnant woman's tummy, the issues of how the baby got in there, or how it's supposed to get out, are often dodged. There are a variety of common myths about where babies come from, as told to children, such as "brought by a stork", "found in a cabbage patch", or [https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1987/04/18 "built from a kit"]. This comic presents a variety of answers to that question, supposedly from the point of view of specialists in several different areas of science, some of which are incorrect, others of which are allusions to the process of conception or childbirth expressed in the vocabulary of the specialist's field.

They might be deliberately misleading the questioner by using very euphemistic terms to avoid personal embarrassment, deliberately over-'simplifying' the explanation as a {{w|Lie-to-children|stepping stone}} to the eventual more specific truth or else they are themselves ignorant/misled about the process. In each case, however, their abstraction of the process is described in terms that are actually relatively technical ones from their own field, to the presumed audience, showing that they are not necessarily able to find the right level of explanation, as well as not having used the a less obtuse reframing of the topic much closer to that of actual reproductive biology.

;Geneticist: Terms normally used to describe gene flow among populations (for example, the acquisition through intermarriage of genes for blue eyes in a population that previously lacked them) are applied to the fertilization of a human egg, a very specific "admixture event" (zygote formation). Population-level admixtures are commonly dated to thousands or even millions of years ago; KYA = "one thousand years ago". 0.001 KYA = 1 year, approximately the duration of most human pregnancies. Fellow geneticists would likely commend their colleague's wit. Children, and most everyone else, would likely just go "Huh?"

;Astronomer: Ejections of matter from parent bodies are common events in the galaxy and the observable universe, at scales ranging from comets to black holes. The process of giving birth is compared to a "low-impulse" ejection, such as the casting off of rocks and dust from a rotating asteroid. Such a comparison, while it may make sense in cosmology, is unlikely to find favor with any woman who is, or has ever been, in labor.
:Alternately the "low-impulse ejection" could refer to ejaculation, not the act of giving birth. The former would have a considerably higher impulse than the latter but it's still very low on a cosmic scale and would still qualify as "low-impulse".

;Software Engineer: An {{w|off-by-one error}} is a common programming mistake in which a value is, well, off by one. A birth could be described as a "population" metric increasing by one, or alternately, a baby could cause a static population metric to become off-by-one.

;Geologist: The baby is said to have been created by the process of differential erosion, in which softer rocks are eroded more quickly, leaving harder rocks behind. Arguably, a geologist who was making a serious attempt to compare geological and biological processes would recognize that the growth of a fetus has much more in common with accretionary, rather than erosional, mechanisms. Granting that the geologist depicted is witty and not clueless, this explanation is the most intentionally farcical, the most {{w|List_of_Calvin_and_Hobbes_characters#Mom_and_Dad|Calvin's Dad}}, of the five.

;Meteorologist: Turbulent mixing of air masses ("turbulence") has been experienced by just about everyone who has ever been in an airborne aircraft. Turbulence can occur at all levels of the atmosphere from the ground up, and is frequently accompanied by clouds and precipitation. It is a pungent metaphor for coitus. Fasten your seat belts.

;Historians (title text): Instead of proffering an explanation for "where babies come from", the historians (plural) lodge a complaint about the difficulties they have encountered in obtaining the data needed for them to make one. The plaint is a common preamble and disclaimer in formal history publications. The historians express surprise and indignation that their efforts to obtain "better documentation" of the "initial events" (the mating behavior) leading to baby formation are seen as prurient and voyeuristic, and are met with resistance.

==Transcript==

:Various experts answer the question “Where do babies come from?”
:[Five characters are shown, left to right, each saying their answer. Below each character is their respective occupation.]
:Hairy [Geneticist]: Recent admixture event, roughly 0.001 Kya.
:Ponytail [Astronomer]: Low-impulse ejection from a parent body.
:Hairbun [Software engineer]: Off-by-one error in the population calculations.
:Cueball [Geologist]: The area was originally a uniform plane, but the non-baby parts eroded at higher rates.
:Megan [Meteorologist]: Moist ground-level turbulent mixing.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Sex]]

User talk:Megan

2025-08-02T04:55:55Z

Megan: clear

<center>[[File:Megan.png|100px]] Archives: [[Special:Permalink/365518|1]]</center>
----

3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object

2025-05-04T17:28:09Z

Megan: Undo revision 376303 by 172.69.34.105 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 3084
| date = May 2, 2025
| title = Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object
| image = unstoppable_force_and_immovable_object_2x.png
| imagesize = 297x379px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Unstoppable force-carrying particles can't interact with immovable matter by definition.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an INFINITE MASS, MOST COMMONLY KNOWN AS "YOUR MOM". Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
An "unstoppable force meeting an immovable object" is a common expression when two things with mutually exclusive properties are forced to interact.

In the comic this is depicted with three drawings, first showing an arrow representing an unstoppable force moving toward an object that is immovable. In the next drawing they meet and the force arrow enters the object. In the final drawing the force arrow is moving past the object that has, of course, not been moved. But the force has also not been stopped. In the caption below [[Randall]] states that he cannot understand why people find this scenario to be tricky.

Most of the time, the expression is just that, an expression, one that is meant to convey there will be a lot of destruction when the two things meet. Sometimes it is a euphemism for more complex things such as people or ideologies (who have contradictory goals and are unwilling or unable to compromise), other times it's an exaggeration for large and powerful forces that are not literally unstoppable but still cause massive damage when they run into each other.

Randall proposes a solution to the paradox: the unstoppable force will not actually interact with the immovable object; the unstoppable force is not stopped and the immovable object is not moved.

An example explanation of this situation is described in a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eKc5kgPVrA video] by {{w|Minute Physics}}. This comic could actually be said to show what is shown in the video.

Randalls comic makes a play on the word "force" which has different interpretations depending on context. In casual language, an object can be a "force" if it carries enough energy, while to a physicist like Randall it describes a fundamental influence between particles of matter, and not all forces interact with all types of matter, nor ''can'' they be stopped (only depleted, by interaction and dispersion over their effective distance). The humor derives from the differences between the lay-impressions of the scenario and a more technical interpretation, in line with prior [[123: Centrifugal Force|informative comics]] of this ilk.

In the title text Randall makes it clear that unstoppable force-carrying particles do not interact with immovable matter by definition. Thus each of these "impossible" concepts can exist, but since they can never interact, the problem of what will happen when they do, is thus not relevant. In quantum physics all forces are mediated by force-carrying particles, but this is not usually something that is relevant to take into account, when macroscopic objects interact.

==Transcript==
:[In one panel there are three drawings representing the same scenario at three different times. In the first drawing shows a right-pointing arrow ti the left, and a rounded trapezium-like object to the right of the centre. They are both labeled with a line going from the label above down to the objects:]
:Unstoppable Force
:Immovable Object

:[In the second drawing the arrow is shown in the process of moving through the trapezoid, the part of the arrow within the trapezoid is drawn in gray lines.]

:[In the third drawing the arrow is to the right of the trapezoid.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't see why people find this scenario to be tricky.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]

2961: CrowdStrike

2025-03-30T23:39:19Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ correction

{{comic
| number = 2961
| date = July 19, 2024
| title = CrowdStrike
| image = crowdstrike_2x.png
| imagesize = 322x384px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We were going to try swordfighting, but all my compiling is on hold.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about the {{w|2024 CrowdStrike-related IT outages}} occurring on the day of the comic's release. CrowdStrike makes security software to protect computers from malware, ransomware and other cyberattacks. The software is sold to businesses and large enterprises like hospitals, airlines and retailers. CrowdStrike frequently releases updates to their software to handle new types of malware they know about. A faulty update for one of their software products, which was apparently released without adequate testing or {{w|quality assurance}}, caused computers with the software installed to crash (a {{w|Blue Screen of Death}}, given that it caused failures primarily in {{w|Microsoft Windows}} versions 10 and 11) very early on when booting up. This meant the computers could not be quickly or automatically fixed. Because many large businesses with large numbers of computers used CrowdStrike's software on at least some of their systems, or relied upon businesses that did, the resulting disruption was very widespread and very visible, preventing those businesses from operating and, in many cases, preventing their employees from working while their computers were affected. Even nominally unaffected systems (not having CrowdStrike/an afflicted version of Windows installed) could find themselves indirectly, and perhaps only partially, unusable due to relying upon other systems that were afflicted.

Apparently, Cueball and Ponytail's company, or possibly a company providing a service their work depends on, uses CrowdStrike to secure their computers (although they may just be using it as an excuse to slack off, if their colleagues don't know any better). Without being able to work, they have found something more entertaining to do -- Cueball, riding a scooter and with a rope tied around his waist, is towing Ponytail, who is half-kneeling on a swiveling chair, around their office or neighborhood. Performing this activity is probably a bad idea.{{cn}}

As the caption suggests, not everyone has the luxury of slacking off while their computers are broken. CrowdStrike engineers had to address the faulty update, and help the businesses using their software to fix their computers. And relevant employees at affected customers' IT departments had to work to mitigate the impacts, and to roll out the necessary fixes. In the event, CrowdStrike had released a patch for the software around six hours after it came to light, but this had to be manually applied to each affected device.

The title text refers to [[303: Compiling]], in which Cueball also found an alternative way to spend time at work when 'forced' to step away from his computer, albeit for a less disruptive reason. But, because of ''this'' problem, even the compiling is on hold. If sword fighting is 'officially allowed' only during actual compiling, as that comic implied, then during this instance (forced to be {{w|Glossary of video game terms#AFK|AFK}} for different reasons) they must resort to yet ''other'' activities, such as the one in this comic.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is pointing his finger at Ponytail and Cueball. Ponytail is partly crouched on a moving office chair, holding with both hands onto a rope tied around the waist of Cueball, who is riding an electric scooter.]
:White Hat: Hey, aren't you supposed to be working on the—
:Ponytail: Sorry, that's all on hold today because of the CrowdStrike thing.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Protip: As long as you're not actually in charge of '''''fixing''''' the CrowdStrike thing, you can use this excuse for pretty much anything you want to do today.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Protip]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computer security]]

3055: Giants

2025-02-25T01:05:11Z

Megan: :Category:Venn diagrams

{{comic
| number = 3055
| date = February 24, 2025
| title = Giants
| image = giants_2x.png
| imagesize = 341x423px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I can't get over the suspicion that all those viral pictures are photoshopped and 'Flemish' belongs in the lower right circle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT giant - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Class !! Explanation
|-
| {{w|Red giant|Red Giant}} || Space || A type of star
|-
| {{w|Blue giant|Blue Giant}} || Space || A type of star
|-
| Iron Giant || Space, Not Real || Title character from a {{w|The Iron Giant|1999 animated film}} and the {{w|The Iron Man (novel)|1968 children's book}} it was based on (written by English poet and author {{w|Ted Hughes}} and published outside the US as ''The Iron Man: A Children's Story in Five Nights'') : a robot from outer space.
|-
| {{w|Frost Giant (disambiguation)|Frost Giant}} || Not Real || Beings from Norse mythology (inspiring their perhaps more popularly known Marvel comic/film versions)
|-
| Jolly Green Giant || Not Real || A mascot for a {{w|Green Giant|brand of canned vegetables}}.
|-
| {{w|Cardiff Giant}} || Geologic/Planetary, Not Real || An 1869 hoax
|-
| {{w|Atacama Giant}} || Geologic/Planetary || A prehistoric {{w|geoglyph}}
|-
| {{w|Paratethys#Salt Giants|Salt Giant}} || Geologic/Planetary || A huge salt deposit below the Mediterranean sea
|-
| {{w|Gas giant|Gas Giant}} || Space, Geologic/Planetary || A gaseous planet like Jupiter or Saturn
|-
| {{w|Ice giant|Ice Giant}} || Space, Geologic/Planetary || An icy planet like Uranus or Neptune
|-
| {{w|Man in the Moon|The Man In The Moon}} || Space, Geologic/Planetary, Not Real || A face visible in the near side of the moon, sometimes shown as a character in children's nursery rhymes
|-
| {{w|Flemish Giant rabbit|Flemish Giant (title text)}} || Real, but Randall suspects it belongs in Not Real || The largest breed of domestic rabbit (about the same size as a small dog like a terrier)

|}

This is one of many xkcd comics that include or reference Venn diagrams.

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Venn diagrams]]

User talk:Megan

2025-02-13T16:31:48Z

Megan: nope

<center>[[File:Megan.png|100px]] </center>

== anonymous comment ==
:good call [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.61|172.70.91.61]] 09:21, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

== what are you ==

[[File:pix plz.png|400px|right|thumb|This seems vaguely relevant, though it's not directed at anyone in this conversation. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 03:07, 15 July 2024 (UTC)]]

why do you have no user page --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.119|172.68.205.119]] 08:19, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
:because they redirected the user page to their talk page [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 13:07, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
::but why? why should she do that? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 09:34, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
:::She has no wish to say anything, her*self but is neat enough not to leave that page uncreated/liable to being created by someone else in a way not wanted.
:::(* - presumptive, but it feels churlush to go with "theirself" and unwittingly perpetuate the concept of TANGOTI...)
:::The other answer is 'because she can'. And it doesn't break anything. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.157|172.70.91.157]] 10:37, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
::::172.70.91.157: Actually, it's possible to automatically choose a pronoun for a named user by typing this text: <code><nowiki>{{gender:Megan|he|she|they}}</nowiki></code>. (Renders as: {{gender:Megan|he|she|they}})
::::TANGOTI is wrong with exceedingly high probability if you consider demographic evidence - of the billions of women, at least one uses the Internet. Also I contradict TANGOTI by being a "girl on the Internet", though I can't prove it to you unless we arrange for something where we meet IRL and I show you me logged in to this account. The costs of doing that, though, clearly outweigh the benefits of it. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:10, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
:172.68.205.119 and 172.70.91.157: Hi. I'm surprised you came here. I don't really have anything to say about myself, which is why I don't have a user page. I created a redirect so my user page isn't a red link, which is seen as a sign of inexperience. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:10, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
::Hi, as ...91.157 (whatever I am this time round), definitely nice to have Word Of God(dess) on this whole, ultimately trivial, issue. Would have left it to you, ideally, but for some reason I decided to contribute. Perhaps to save you the effort. Yeah, that didn't happen like that.... :p ...but nice to know my stumbling around was fairly close to target on pretty much all counts. (Hmm, does that sound smug? I intend it to mean that I'm relieved.) I don't disbelieve your gender at all, of course, I just hedged my bet a bit more than necessary in an attempt to be hypercourteous.
::Aside from whether or not I might be (irrelevent!) I definitely knew actual GOTI back in pre-web times, when there weren't anywhere like billions of ''people'' OTI, and TANGOTI was an emperically disproved trope even before I landed on it. But perhaps it was more likely that proper ''girls' names'', in self-chosen usernames, were more likely to be 'virtually cosplaying' males, as most people who didn't care to (perhaps falsely) advertise chose neutral names. And more than one of my known-female online aquaintences even chose a male-type identity - on occasions when I've 'presented as female' (just username, nothing more, in a MUD context) I've been 'hit upon' shockingly quickly that has (surprisingly?) never happened under my usually more abstract (or maybe male) choice of screen-name. And your choice of themetic name might have just been because it was the first name of any kind that came to mind, not already 'claimed'.
::So I know that anybody can be anything (or claim to be anything, actively or passively). Rather than doubting you, I was just trying to anti-pigeonhole you. Clumsily. You're (probably) human, which is all that matters. (And, if not, I would find that interesting, but also not necessarily my business; even if it might be someone else's... like MIB, an exorcist, Dr Doolittle or any number of other AI businesses who need to play catchup.)
::The reason why *I* came here to edit, BTW, is that I was attracted by the prior edits. I'm a lurker at heart. A long-standing trait, though one I don't always stick to, hence replies like these. I suspect .205.119 just got here through following the (non-red) link, randomly from an intriguing contribution. Sorry to impinge upon you more (once I start unlurking, I tend to rabbit... as you see). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.244|172.69.43.244]] 12:18, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
:::Thank you for replying – that way, I know I'm not talking into the great void of nothingness.
:::I see. You could just use the auto-pronoun thing that MediaWiki provides (registered users can configure their pronouns in their settings). I have mostly been a lurker, aside from a few editing sprees a while ago. I logged back into this account today originally to make a small edit from a place where Google services are blocked (so I can't complete the CAPTCHA required at every edit), but then saw that there were a bunch of new messages on my talk page and got caught up in this conversation.
:::Yes, getting "hit upon" is one thing that happens with being visibly feminine online. I just ignore such people, unless they're being particularly nasty, in which case I feed their messages into an AI chatbot I designed to make the conversations as interesting as possible. I do the same for scammers.
:::Most of the "virtually cosplaying" males that I have met online were [https://reddit.com/r/egg_irl eggs]. Don't tell them that; just be kind and let them figure it out on their own.
:::The name is thematic and I don't use it anywhere else. (Elsewhere I go by "charmquark" or "tauparticle", though I have almost zero social media presence. Compound that with the fact that both names are also the names of fundamental particles, and you're unlikely to find me via internet search engine.) In retrospect, I'm surprised how lucky I was to somehow have registered such a short thematic name; particularly unexpected is that [[Special:ListUsers/Megan|many other users]] have names starting with "Megan" but were created earlier than this account.
:::The edit I had intended to make has already been done now, but I'll have to find another one to justify writing this much text not related to the actual content of this wiki. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 23:26, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

== I think I might have found you. ==

[https://www.charmquark.blog/about You said you went by charmquark, so I looked it up and found this.]

Let me know if you want me to remove this, or remove it yourself. Your choice. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:44, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

:@[[User:CalibansCreations]] A good guess based on your knowledge, but no, that is not me. Charmquark was a name I used circa 2022 and have since abandoned because it conflicted with someone else (indeed, someone who was not that person). —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 02:26, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

:By the way, if you can find me elsewhere, you are given permission to share that. It's my responsibility, after all, to not reveal too much about myself on the public internet. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 05:32, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

Header text

2025-02-13T16:31:31Z

Megan: /* 2024-10-16 - Promotion of Kamala Harris for president */ not current anymore

[[File:xkcd_header.png|thumb|right|250px|The header segment on [[xkcd|xkcd.com]]]]
The '''header text''' is updated whenever [[Randall]] has news to share. However, after the novelty of the news ends, the page usually goes back to its default header text, which states:

:xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

In recent times there has been very long between the old go to text has been used for extended periods though. The most recent header text can be found at the top of the [[Header_text#Global_header_text|Global header text]] section, if it has been updated since the last change.

Usually, changes to the header text show up in all comics. However, in certain cases, the header text of a specific comic is changed permanently, which means it won't be modified like the rest of the comics. See the list of these comics [[#Comic-specific header text|here]].

==Comic-specific header text==
{{notice|'''This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect:''' This list is missing many comic-specific header texts. Don't remove this notice unless they're all mentioned here. [[Talk:header_text#1047|See the Talk page]] for some examples. If you can address this issue, please '''[{{fullurl:{{{target|{{FULLPAGENAME}}}}}|action=edit}} edit the page]!''' Thanks.}}

When editing the section, list the changes chronologically with the date of the web archive link and hyperlink each date. Include an internal link to the comic at the time of each change and describe the modifications with relevant information. Place the most recent changes at the top.

===A Crossword Puzzle===
*[[2957: A Crossword Puzzle]]
**This comic's header mentions that it has been inspired by an old comic (by accident, i.e. originally Randall was not aware of his inspiration).
***It was on the front page from from Thursday [https://web.archive.org/web/20240711100451/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-07-11] until the next comic to come out Friday [ 2024-07-12]. [ASSUMPTION]
**The text:
***Today's comic accidentally inspired by [https://www.buttersafe.com/2011/02/17/crosswords/ this Buttersafe comic] from 2011!
**It makes it clear that Randall did not wish to take credit for this old idea
***Although it seems like he did not know where he got the idea from at first, when he posted it.
***Because the addition of this header text was not posted together with the comic, when it was released on Wednesday 2024-07-10 and it was still not there in the early morning of Thursday [https://web.archive.org/web/20240711000851/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-07-11].
***That he is a fan of Buttersafe is made clear at the bottom of the xkcd page where it is on Randall's list of the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Comics_I_enjoy|Comics I enjoy]].
**As a special situation this special header did not replace the current header text, but was added below the active header text at the time about [[#2024-05-15_-_Special_10th_anniversary_edition_of_WHAT_IF.3F|10th anniversary for what if?]].
***This has not been the normal way to add comic-specific header text. So it will be interesting to see what happens when the next comic is released [UPDATE]
**Since this header was related only to explain the inspiration for this comic, it was removed from the frontpage header, when the next comic was released. [ASSUMPTION!!!]
***But it stayed up as one of the permanent different headers on this comic, as seen [SOME] days after it stopped being on the front page on [?? 2022-07-13???].
**See the comic on {{xkcd|2957}}.

===Machine===
*[[2916: Machine]]
**This comic's header mentions the people who helped put it together.
***It was on the front page from Saturday [https://web.archive.org/web/20240406163326/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-04-06] (although it was supposed to have been a Friday release according to the xkcd archives) until the next comic to come out Monday 2024-04-08, but the earliest archived version of the next comic is from Tuesday [http://web.archive.org/web/20240409060444/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-04-09].
****It probably changed late on Monday the 8th, but Machine was still up late on [https://web.archive.org/web/20240408225854/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-04-08].
****It may be like previous years because this was an April fools' Day comic, and Randall wished it to stay on the front page longer?
***When [[2917: Types of Eclipse Photo]] was released the front page returned to normal header.
***The previous comic [[2915: Eclipse Clouds]] was still on the front page Saturday [https://web.archive.org/web/20240406053609/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-04-06]. So a very late Friday release...
**The text:
***Today's comic was created with [https://chromakode.com/ Max Goodhart], [https://github.com/spyhi Ed White], [https://twitter.com/uh_oh_thats_bad Alex Garcia], [https://twitter.com/cotrone Kevin Cotrone], [http://burningcandle.io/ Conor & Ami Stokes], [https://liranuna.com/ Liran Nuna], [https://www.instagram.com/fading_interest/ Patrick], [https://manishearth.github.io/ Manish Goregaokar], [https://github.com/benley Benjamin Staffin], [https://github.com/ayust Amber], and [https://github.com/dyfrgi Michael Leuchtenburg] with physics by [https://rapier.rs/ Rapier].
**It thanks those that helped Randall create that years [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]].
***All have a link to their name, either to Instagram page or X or their own home pages. Some of them have also helped with the two previous April Fools' comic, see below, but there are many more involved in this one than any of the previous.
***Also the Fast 2D and 3D physics engine for the Rust programming language, Rapier, is mentioned as standing for the physics of the comic.
**Since this header was related only to the Fools' comic, it was removed from the frontpage header, when the next comic was released.
***But it stayed up as one of the permanent different headers on this comic, as seen two days after it stopped being on the front page on [https://web.archive.org/web/20240409010518/https://xkcd.com/2916/ 2022-04-09].
**See the comic on {{xkcd|2916}}.

===Escape Speed===
*[[2765: Escape Speed]]
**This comic's header mentions the people who helped put it together.
***It was on the front page from Thursday [https://web.archive.org/web/20230420203744/https://xkcd.com/ 2023-04-20] (although it was supposed to have been a Wednesday release according to the xkcd archives) until Friday [https://web.archive.org/web/20230421082400/https://xkcd.com/ 2023-04-21], when the next new comic was released (very late, possibly because this was an April fools' Day comic, and Randall wished it to stay on the front page longer?)
****When [[2766: Helium Reserve]] was released the front page returned to normal header. This seems to have not happened until Saturday as the earliest archive is form [https://web.archive.org/web/20230422121650/https://xkcd.com/ 2023-04-22] with the new comic.
**The text:
***Today's comic was put together with help from [https://chromakode.com/ Max Goodhart], [https://www.instagram.com/fading_interest/ Patrick Clapp], [https://amberyu.st/ Amber], [https://twitter.com/cotrone Kevin], [https://twitter.com/bstaffin Benjamin Staffin], and [https://www.aiweirdness.com/ Janelle Shane].
**It thanks those that helped Randall create that years [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]].
***All have a link to their name, either to Instagram page or Twitter or their own home pages. Most of them have also helped with the two previous April Fools' comic, see below.
**Since this header was related only to the Fools' comic, it was removed from the frontpage header, when the next comic was released.
***But it stayed up as one of the permanent different headers on this comic, as seen two days after it stopped being on the front page on [https://web.archive.org/web/20230423150206/https://xkcd.com/2765/ 2022-04-23].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|2765}}.

===Instructions===
*[[2601: Instructions]]
**This comic's header mentions the people who helped put it together.
***It was on the front page from Friday [https://web.archive.org/web/20220401210146/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-04-01] until Tuesday [https://web.archive.org/web/20220405031003/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-04-05], when the next new comic was released (very late, possibly because Instructions was an April fools' Day comic, and Randall wished it to stay on the front page longer?)
****When [[2602: Linguistics Degree]] was released the front page returned to normal header This seems to have not happened until Tuesday as the earliest archive is form [https://web.archive.org/web/20220405125644/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-04-05] with the new comic.
**The text:
***Today's comic was created with [https://twitter.com/fadinginterest Patrick], [https://twitter.com/Aiiane Amber], [https://twitter.com/chromakode @chromakode], [https://twitter.com/dyfrgi Michael], [https://twitter.com/wirehead2501 Kat], [https://twitter.com/xDirtyPunkx Conor], [https://twitter.com/zigdon @zigdon], and [https://twitter.com/bstaffin Benjamin Staffin].
**It thanks those that helped Randall create that years [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]].
***All have a link to their name, the first with an Instagram page, the other seven with a link to their Twitter account. Five of those also helped with the previous April Fools' comic, see below.
**Since this header was related only to the Fools' comic, it was removed from the frontpage header, when the next comic was released.
***But it stayed up as one of the permanent different headers on this comic, as seen two days after it stopped being on the front page on [https://web.archive.org/web/20220406021357/https://xkcd.com/2601/ 2022-04-06].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|2601}}.

===Checkbox===
*[[2445: Checkbox]]
**This comic's header mentions the people who helped put it together.
***It was on the front page from Thursday [https://web.archive.org/web/20210401232108/https://xkcd.com/ 2021-04-01] until Monday [https://web.archive.org/web/20210405130031/http://xkcd.com/ 2021-04-05], until the new comic was released on Monday.
**The text:
***This comic was put together by [https://chromakode.com/ Max Goodhart], [https://twitter.com/fadinginterest Patrick], [https://twitter.com/Aiiane Amber], [https://twitter.com/bstaffin Benjamin Staffin], [https://twitter.com/cotrone Kevin Cotrone], [https://twitter.com/wirehead2501 Kat], and [https://twitter.com/dyfrgi Michael Leuchtenburg].
**It thanks those that helped Randall create that years [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]].
***All have a link to their name, the first with a personal home page, the other six with a link to their Twitter account. Five of those also helped with the previous April Fools' comic, see below.
**Since this header was related only to the Fools' comic, it was removed from the front page header, when the next comic was released, here from the day after that release Tuesday [https://web.archive.org/web/20210406143023/http://xkcd.com/ 2021-04-06].
**But it stayed up as one of the permanent different headers on this comic, as seen two days later on [https://web.archive.org/web/20210407203547/https://xkcd.com/2445/ 2021-04-07].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|2445}}.

===Collector's Edition===
*[[2288: Collector's Edition]]
**This comic's header mentions the people who helped put it together.
***It was on the front page only for about a day around April 3rd and [https://web.archive.org/web/20200404014814/http://xkcd.com/#-370,-277vApril 4th 2020].
**The text:
***Today's comic was put together by [https://chromakode.com/ Max Goodhart], [https://twitter.com/Aiiane Amber], [https://twitter.com/bstaffin Benjamin Staffin], [https://twitter.com/cotrone Kevin], [https://www.instagram.com/fading_interest/ @fading_interest], [https://twitter.com/wirehead2501 Kat], [https://twitter.com/zigdon @zigdon], and Christopher Night.
****All names have links except the last.
**It thanks those that helped Randall create the 2020 [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]], which had taken two extra days before it was released due to the complex nature of the comic.
*Due to the delay the next comic, [[2289: Scenario 4]], was released already the day after the Fool's comic, even though it was thus [[2289:_Scenario_4#Trivia|on a Saturday]]!
**Since this header was related only to the Fools' comic, it was removed from the front page header, when the next comic was released, but it stayed up as one of the permanent different headers on this comic
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|2288}}.

=== Seven Years===
*[[1928: Seven Years]]
**[http://web.archive.org/web/20171214171157/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-12-14]
**It was released as a response to another cancer diagnosis, this is explained in the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Header_text|Header text]] which has replaced the standard ''xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.'' The new one is this one, with the active link included:
**The text (with link):
***Becky Beaton, sister of fellow cartoonist Kate Beaton, has also been diagnosed with cancer. You can support her treatment [https://www.youcaring.com/beckybeaton-1008390 here].
**{{w|Kate Beaton}} is the creator of the web comic [http://www.harkavagrant.com/ Hark! A Vagrant].
***Although this comic is not one on Randall's list of ''[[Design_of_xkcd.com#Comics_I_enjoy|Comics I enjoy]]'', he is clearly much influenced by another cancer diagnosis among someone in his own creative field.below.
**On [https://web.archive.org/web/20190817141450/https://www.xkcd.com/1928/ 2019-08-17], close to two years later, the message was still there and also [https://web.archive.org/web/20211226120634/https://xkcd.com/1928/ 2021-12-26] just past four years later.
***There was the possibility that it would be removed, when the support page was discontinued...
***But as that already happened before [http://web.archive.org/web/20181106124430/https://www.youcaring.com/beckybeaton-1008390 2018-11-06] it seems like it will be there to stay.
***Last archived version was from [http://web.archive.org/web/20180305022301/https://www.youcaring.com/beckybeaton-1008390 2018-03-05].
***Randall has previously done something similar for another friend, Emiliy, but [[#2014-11-27_-_Help_Emily|that header]] was not made permanent.
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1928}}.

===ISS Solar Transit 2===
*[[1830: ISS Solar Transit 2]]
**[https://web.archive.org/web/20170428041338/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-04-28]
**This header links back to [[1828: ISS Solar Transit]], a comic with the same joke setup released on the Monday of the same week
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1830}}.

===Meteorite Identification===
*[[1723: Meteorite Identification]]
**Randall realized that his comic was almost a copy of some other person. And he has since then acknowledged this on the comics specific page see more [[1723: Meteorite Identification#Trivia|here]].
**At the time of this post, in the newest saved version on the archive from [http://web.archive.org/web/20161010215516/http://xkcd.com/1723/ 2016-10-10] it is still there and says:
***Note: Jolyon, founder of [http://www.mindat.org/ mindat.org], made a similar chart way before me!
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1723}}.

===Substitutions 3===
*[[1679: Substitutions 3]]
**This was the third installment of Substitutions and as he did with [[#Substitutions 2|the second]] linking to the first and telling about browser extensions for this he did the same with this one:
**The text:
***(Previously: {{xkcd|1288|Substitutions}} and {{xkcd|1625|Substitutions 2}})
***Note: There are various [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/replacerator/gaajhenbcclienfnniphiiambbbninnp?hl=en browser extensions] for this.
**It was on the main page while the comic was up, for instance here on [https://web.archive.org/web/20160512102325/http://xkcd.com/ 2016-05-12].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1679}}.

=== Garden===
*[[1663: Garden]]
**This comic had a header text to help people use the comic when it came out.
**For some time this text was the main header text, but after a while is disappeared from the main header, but remained as the header for Garden.
***See more [[xkcd_Header_text#2016-04-04_-_Protip_on_Garden|below]] or on the Garden page [[Garden#Header_text_after_release|here]]
**Today and as of the newest saved version on the archive from [http://web.archive.org/web/20161231231600/http://xkcd.com/1663/ 2016-12-31] it is still there and says:
***Protip: If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.
***You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1663}}.

===Substitutions 2===
*[[1625: Substitutions 2]]
**This was the second installment of Substitutions and Randall links to the first and tells about browser extensions for this:
**The text:
***(Previously: {{xkcd|1288|Substitutions}})
***Note: There are various [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/xkcd-substitutions/jkgogmboalmaijfgfhfepckdgjeopfhk?hl=en browser extensions] for this.
****He did the same when [[xkcd_Header_text#Substitutions_3|Substitutions 3]] came out, linking to the two previous.
**It was on the main page while the comic was up, for instance here on [https://web.archive.org/web/20160104171722/http://xkcd.com/ 2016-01-04].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1625}}.

===United Shapes===
*[[1079: United Shapes]]
**The header was unique for this comic on the day it came out: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120709045709/http://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-07-09].
**The text:
***There's a larger version of this map [http://xkcd.com/1079/large/ here] (Colorado is [http://xkcd.com/1079/colorado/ here]).
***It's also available as a [https://web.archive.org/web/20120709045709/http://store.xkcd.com/xkcd/#StateMap poster].
**The text was never on other pages:
***Before US was released, also on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120709004956/http://www.xkcd.com/ 2012-07-09] the comic [[1078: Knights]] was on the main page, with the previous [[xkcd_Header_text#2012-04-09 -_Standard_text_plus_store_link|promotion of the store]].
***The US version was still on the front the day after [https://web.archive.org/web/20120710063424/http://xkcd.com/ 2012-07-10].
***But the same day [https://web.archive.org/web/20120710114846/http://xkcd.com/1078/ 2012-07-10] the page for Knights did show a new header, which may only have been active on other pages than the front on this day... See details here [[xkcd_Header_text#2012-07-10_-_New:_what-if.xkcd.com|New:_what-if.xkcd.com]]
****Here is another page from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120710095644/http://xkcd.com/1070/ 2012-07-10] with [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], that was also saved that day, so this was on the top of all other comics, except the front page.
**There are simply no version of the front page from the 11th and 12th of July 2012. But from other pages it can be shown that from the 11th there was a difference.
***On [https://web.archive.org/web/20120711223349/http://xkcd.com/1078/ 2012-07-11] on the page for Knights and for instance from the same day on page number [https://web.archive.org/web/20120711223339/http://xkcd.com:80/1077 1077] [[1077: Home Organization]] there is the same but new header, different than the one Knights had both two days before and the other one from the day before.
***And also on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120711123734/http://xkcd.com:80/1079/ 2012-07-11] the numbered page {{xkcd|1079}} for US displays a mix of this new and the unique version of the header text.
****It left our the part about Colorado and moved the bottom line up so the unique part is written in one line (that may still take up two lines as the text will spill over, (maybe just in some browsers?)
****And then it added the two lines of header text that was on all the other pages (presumably also the front page, but that was first proved with the version from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154207/http://xkcd.com/ 2012-07-13]).
****And this is the version still shown on {{xkcd|1079}} today, even though the bottom lines was a normal header that was supposed to disappear.
**The final text that is still on US today:
***There's a larger version of this map [http://xkcd.com/1079/large/ here]! It's also available as a [https://store.xkcd.com/collections/posters/products/united-shapes-poster poster].
***New: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/ what-if.xkcd.com]: abusing science to answer hypothetical questions.
***I'll answer a new reader question every Tuesday.
****Here above the link has been updated to the one in the current version, where as the above link in the original version, that is now a dead link, has been directed to an archived version of the stores poster.
****The link the new part is to the very first ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|1|Relativistic Baseball}}'' which was released on 2012-07-10, the day after US was released, but before the next comic [[1080: Visual Field]] was released on 2012-07-11.
*****There are no version of comic {{xkcd|1080}} archived while it was on the front page, so it is not possible to tell what the front page looked like on the 11th and 12th of July. But best guess is that it looked like that on Knight shown above from the 11th.
**The first version was on the main page while the comic was up.
***Maybe there was a time with the final version on the front page, but seems like Randall put the new header text there in hand, and forgot to delete it after, so he probably first changed it when the new comic came out.
***Since the new header was important, promoting his new ''what if'' blog, he likely did not wish to have a fairly new page (maybe even on the front page on the 10th) without the reference. Also he did not wish to remove the link to the poster in the store.
***But this makes it a special unique header, as a relic from the past header text is left together with the text that was supposed to be permanent. It should have been deleted when the link to ''what if'' 1 was removed.
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1079}}.

===Approximations===
*[[1047: Approximations]]
**It has a permanent text saying that many people emailed Randall about another approximation for one year than the one given in the comic.
***As it was already there from the release day on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120425220409/http://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-04-25] it seems unlikely that he actually received those e-mails before changing the header text for this comic!
**The unique text:
***Lots of emails mention the physicist favorite, 1 year = pi x 107 seconds.
***75^4 is a hair more accurate, but it's hard to top 3,141,592's elegance.
**There was a different header on other comics even while this comic was on the front page with the unique text. See [[#2012-04-09_-_Standard_text_plus_store_link|Plus store link]].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1047}}.

===Umwelt===
*[[1037: Umwelt]]
**It has a permanent promotion of the store already from the release day on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120401151639/http://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-04-01]:
**The unique text:
***You can get posters, prints, and t-shirts in the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store].
**It stayed on the front page while this comic was the most recent, so for instance also two days later on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120403223453/http://www.xkcd.com/ 2012-04-03]
***There was a different header on other comics even while this comic was on the front page with the unique text. See [[xkcd_Header_text#2012-03-28_-_Visiting_Newport_News|Visiting Newport News]].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1037}}.

===s/keyboard/leopard/===
*[[1031: s/keyboard/leopard/]]
**In response to the idea of having you browser replace keyboard with leopard a reader made a script that could do just that.
**Randall seem to have gotten this script before release (or at least on the day of release) as it was already the header text on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120319130702/http://xkcd.com/ 2012-03-19] the day the comic was released.
**The unique text is:
***A helpful reader has provided an [https://userscripts.org/scripts/show/128626 s/keyboard/leopard/ user script].
****The link does not go anywhere useful any longer, but here is the archived version of the link from two days after the release of the comic on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120321174019/http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/128626 2012-03-21]
**It was never changed on the other comics so was only on the front while this comic was up until 2012-03-21
***Here also shown on the second day it was up on its own page on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120320143916/http://xkcd.com:80/1031/ 2012-03-20].
**The next comic [[1032: Networking]] came out on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120321205835/http://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-03-21] and here the header text has returned to what it was before the leopard comic: [[xkcd_Header_text#2012-03-12_-_xkcd_Holistic_Browser|xkcd Holistic Browser]].
***Here are examples from dates around this showing it was not used on other pages:
****The last archived version of the front page from before the 19th was this version from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120317121834/http://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-03-17], but here is an example from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120318153256/http://xkcd.com:80/1030/ 2012-03-18] (from comic [[1030: Keyed]]), the day before leopard comic came out.
****Both on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120319174700/http://xkcd.com/1030/ 2012-03-19] (from comic [[1030: Keyed]]) and on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120320191039/http://xkcd.com:80/1012 2012-03-20] (from comic [[1012: Wrong Superhero]]) during the time leopard was up, the header text currently in used was still shown.
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|1031}}.

===Making Things Difficult===
*[[996: Making Things Difficult]]
**Randall links to a blog post about cancer as related to this cancer comic
**The unique text:
***Some context for the cancer comics:
***[https://blog.xkcd.com/2011/06/30/family-illness/ https://blog.xkcd.com/2011/06/30/family-illness/]
****The link is for post on his [[Blag]].
****It is on the oldest stored version from [https://web.archive.org/web/20111229043804/http://xkcd.com:80/ 2011-12-29] when it was on the header.
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|996}}.

===Money===
*[[980: Money]]
**Randall notes his thoughts about making it and makes a promotion of the poster.
**The unique text:
***This one was fun (and exhausting) to make.
***There's a poster of it in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/money-poster store]!
****It is both at the oldest stored version from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120404110059/http://xkcd.com:80/980 2012-04-04] and the newest at time of editing [https://web.archive.org/web/20220108132250/https://xkcd.com/980/ 2022-01-08].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|980}}.

===Map Projections===
*[[977: Map Projections]]
**Randall notes that a person had birthday on the release of this comic about maps, and this guy has maps on his homepage
**The unique text:
***It turns out Monday was Steve Waterman's birthday. His [https://web.archive.org/web/20111118003418/http://www.watermanpolyhedron.com/ site] has posters of his map, plus maybe the world's only Winkel Tripel-critiquing poetry.
****The link goes to [http://www.watermanpolyhedron.com/ Waterman project] home page. Above the link goes to an archived version from around the time of release of the header text.
****It is at the oldest stored version with the comic on the front page on [https://web.archive.org/web/20111115231643/http://xkcd.com:80/ 2011-11-15].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|977}}.

===Na===
*[[851: Na]]
**After Randall made this comic, he realized he could have "made it better" and changed the header text to:
***I can't ''believe'' I forgot Hey Jude.
***I don't get do-overs, but I couldn't resist making [https://xkcd.com/851_make_it_better/ a fixed version].
**See more about it in that comics [[851:_Na#Trivia|trivia section]].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|851}}.

===Malamanteau===
*[[739: Malamanteau]]
**Randall notices that he has changed this comics license, so it can be used on Wikipedia.
**The text:
***At Wikipedia's request, I release this comic under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/ cc-by-sa] license.
****The link is to the page regarding {{w|Creative Commons license}} in the US.
****Specifically for Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States (CC BY-SA 3.0 US)
*****Usually xkcd is [[Design_of_xkcd.com#License_and_copyright|shared under]] [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License]. This does not allow commercial use, But the 3.0 does.
**When the comic came out it had the normal header text from that time, as seen here two days after release on [https://web.archive.org/web/20100514072436/http://xkcd.com/ 2010-05-14].
***First archived version with the unique text is from [https://web.archive.org/web/20100913003146/http://xkcd.com/739/ 2010-09-13], but the previous archived version of this comic is from [https://web.archive.org/web/20100713160533/http://xkcd.com:80/739/ 2010-07-13].
***So it happened somewhere in the two months in between. But at least it was not there the first two months after release, but there before four month after release.
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|739}}.

===Steal This Comic===
*[[488: Steal This Comic]]
**Randall is tired of {{w|DRM}}, an acronym standing for Digital Rights Management. This comic displays this. He thus make a promotion of Amazon that sells music without DRM.
**The text:
***Note: the [https://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b?ie=UTF8&node=163856011 Amazon.com MP3 store] sells DRM-free music. Kudos.
****The link is to Amazon MP3 music. Here is an archived version from [https://web.archive.org/web/20081001083843/http://www.amazon.com/MP3-Music-Download/b?ie=UTF8&node=163856011 2008-10-01], two weeks prior to the release of the comic.
**The header text was on the comic from the release day, here seen the day after on the first archived version from [https://web.archive.org/web/20081014232952/http://xkcd.com/ 2008-10-14].
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|488}}.

===House of Pancakes===
*[[472: House of Pancakes]]
**This comic's header notes its status as a parody:
***(Today's comic is a parody of [https://www.amazon.com/House-Leaves-Mark-Z-Danielewski/dp/0375703764 House of Leaves].)
**Only on the days this comic was the newest was this header featured on the front page of xkcd for instance as seen here the day after release on [https://web.archive.org/web/20080906103932/http://www.xkcd.com/ 2008-09-06].
***But it was only on this comic. The commercial for his new t-shirt was on all the other pages, also on [https://web.archive.org/web/20080906103932/http://www.xkcd.com/ 2008-09-06] and presumably returned to the front page with the next comic. But there is a gap in the archive after this comic.
**See the comic on xkcd {{xkcd|472}}.

==Global header text==
When editing the section, list the changes chronologically with the date of the web archive link and hyperlink each date. Include an internal link to the newest comic at the time of each change and describe the modifications with relevant information. Position the last comic displaying the header text below the other data and place the most recent change at the top.

===2024-10-16 - Promotion of Kamala Harris for president===
*[https://archive.is/eHWsq#https://xkcd.com/ 2024-10-16]
**For some reason the web archive failed to upload xkcd between [https://web.archive.org/web/20241015192147/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-10-15] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20241103203651/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-11-03]. Thus the above image is from a different archive.
**[[2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia]] came out when this header was changed.
**Instead of text, it is a three part comic. In the first panel, [[Cueball]] (probably representing [[Randall]]) is shown walking, carrying a sign. In the second panel, he is seen hitting the sign with a hammer into the ground. In the third, Cueball is gone, and the front of the sign can be seen. It says "Harris for president". "Hammering it in", if you will.
**This is in reference to the 2024 presidential elections.
**Randall posted the same image on his [https://x.com/xkcd/status/1853098106667114801 Twitter (formally X)] and [https://bsky.app/profile/xkcd.com/post/3la2jku6ace2f Bluesky] accounts on November 3rd, 2024, two days before the presidential election.

===2024-05-15 - Special 10th anniversary edition of WHAT IF?===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20240515200351/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-05-15]
**[[2933: Elementary Physics Paths]] came out when the header changed.
**The text:
***[https://xkcd.com/what-if/ Special 10th anniversary edition of WHAT IF?]—revised and annotated with brand-
***“new illustrations and answers to important questions you never thought to ask—
***coming from November 2024. Preorder [https://bit.ly/WhatIf10th here]!
**The first link goes to the page for the what if? book on xkcd and the other link is to the HarperCollins page for the 10th anniversary edition of the book.

===2024-03-20 - What If? is on YouTube!===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20240320173158/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-03-20]
**[[2909: Moon Landing Mission Profiles]] came out when the header changed.
*The only text version from the previous header was trimmed having some words removed taking it down from four to three lines (and solving the bad alignment that happened five days before at the end of the previous header text).
**The text:
***[https://what-if.xkcd.com/ What If?] is on YouTube! The first video answers
***“[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LSyizrk8-0 What if we aimed Hubble at Earth?]” Follow the
***[https://www.youtube.com/@xkcd_whatif What If?] channel to be notified about new videos.
**The first link goes to the what if? page on xkcd and the other two links are to the YouTube channel and to its very first video.
*The promotion of the what if? franchise continues for the second year running. A few words were taken off as the YouTube channel was no longer new at this point.
*This version ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20240514034349/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-05-14], while [[2932: Driving PSA]] was on the front page. But the what if? promotion continued

===2023-11-29 - What If? is now on YouTube!===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20231129184009/https://xkcd.com/ 2023-11-29]
**[[2861: X Value]] came out when the header changed.
*There was only text this time.
**The text:
***[https://what-if.xkcd.com/ What If?] is now on YouTube!
***Check out the first video for the answer to
***“[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LSyizrk8-0 What if we aimed the Hubble Telescope at Earth?]”
***and follow [https://www.youtube.com/@xkcd_whatif xkcd’s What If? The Video Series channel] to be notified about each new video.
**The links goes to the what if page on xkcd and the other two links is to the new YouTube channel with videos of some of the what if articles and to the very first video.
*This is thus not a promotion of the what if? 2 book but still promotion of the what if? franchise.
*A small change happened on [https://web.archive.org/web/20240314113602/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-03-14], as the first two lines became one line which made the alignment worse. So it seemed strange to do this. It looked like normal up until [https://web.archive.org/web/20240313113429/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-03-13]. But it only lasted five days before a change was made that made it into a new although very similar header text.
*This version ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20240319134138/https://xkcd.com/ 2024-03-19], while [[2908: Moon Armor Index]] was on the front page, but was replaced by a very similar what if? header.

===2023-08-31 - What if? 2 is now available in paperback in the UK!===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20230831200321/https://xkcd.com/ 2023-08-31]
**[[2822: *@gmail.com]] came out when the header changed.
**The image to the right stayed, but after more than a half year with no text, text was added to the left of the picture because the paper back was available in the UK.
***As opposed to the previous headers this was plain text and not a picture.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The text:
***What if? 2 is [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/#UK now available] in paperback in the UK!
***what if? 2
**The link goes to https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/#UK, the page on xkcd about the What if? 2 book, and directing to the UK order links where there now also it a paper back version.
*This version was still up in the middle of November 2023 when this segment was updated.
*This version ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20231128174224/https://xkcd.com/ 2023-11-28], while [[2860: Decay Modes]] was on the front page, but was replaced by another What If? header.
**Although it was not specifically related to the new book. Thus it ended a more than 22 month long constant promotion of the book since the [[#2022-01-10_-_Standard_text_with_countdown|countdown]] began in January 2022.

===2023-02-17 - What if? 2 picture only===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20230217185629/https://xkcd.com/ 2023-02-17]
**[[2739: Data Quality]] came out when the header changed.
**For the first time in a very long time there is no real header text. Only the small red picture with the plane and the title of the what if? 2 book in the right section of the header. As it has been since [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]] stopped.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The text:
***what if? 2
*This version ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20230830064414/https://xkcd.com/ 2023-08-30], while [[2821: Path Minimization]] was on the front page, but was replaced by another What If? 2 header.

===2022-09-23 - What if? 2 Instant New York Times Bestseller===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220923182825/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-09-23]
**[[2675: Pilot Priority List]] was on the front page when the header changed.
***The header celebrates that the new what if? 2 book has become an instant New York Times bestseller.
**The header kept the same layout as the previous and thus still consist of two parts. With the right picture the window also used in [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]], but with the image that appeared in it after the count down ended.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The new image to the left has a black border. To the left is still the picture of the new what if? 2 book. It has the same image as in the picture to the right, but showing the entire front of the book, with details of those looking up at the plane from the ground. The title and the author name can be read in white on the red book. There are also unreadable white text above the plane and below the author name. The spine of the book can also be seen, as the book is seen a bit from the side. Here are also unreadable white text. To the right of the book there are two lines of text, with the first line in very large bold letters.
**The text:
***what if? 2
***Randall Munroe
***What if? 2
***Instant New York Times bestseller.
***what if? 2
****Both images are links that goes to a dedicated page on xkcd about [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ what if? 2: the book].
*This version ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20230216181705/https://xkcd.com/ 2023-02-16], while [[2738: Omniknot]] was on the front page, but was replaced by another What If? 2 header,

===2022-09-13 - What if? 2 is available now===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220913142432/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-09-13]
**[[2672: What If? 2 Flowchart]] was released as the header changed, even though it was a Tuesday.
***The header and the comic celebrates the release of the new what if? 2 book, that came out on this day.
**The header kept the same layout as the previous and thus still consist of two parts. With the right picture the window also used in [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]], but with the image that appeared in it after the count down ended.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The new image to the left has a black border. To the left is still the picture of the new what if? 2 book. It has the same image as in the picture to the right, but showing the entire front of the book, with details of those looking up at the plane from the ground. The title and the author name can be read in white on the red book. There are also unreadable white text above the plane and below the author name. The spine of the book can also be seen, as the book is seen a bit from the side. Here are also unreadable white text. To the right of the book there are two lines of text, with the first line in very large bold letters
**The text:
***what if? 2
***Randall Munroe
***What if? 2 is available now!
***what if? 2
****Both images are links that goes to a dedicated page on xkcd about [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ what if? 2: the book].
*This thus ended the pre-release promotion of the book, that began on [[#xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-31_-_What_if.3F_2|2022-01-31]], plus of course the three weeks of [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|countdown]] before. For a sum total of 8 months and three days.
**It will be interesting to see how long before any reference to what if? 2 will disappear from the header text.
*This version ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20220922150042/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-09-22], but was replaced by another What If? 2 header, while [[2675: Pilot Priority List]] was on the front page.

===2022-09-12 - One day to What if? 2 comes out===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220912125617/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-09-12]
**This was while [[2670: Interruption]] was still up.
**The header is the same layout as the previous and thus still consist of two parts. With the right picture the window also used in [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]], but with the image that appeared in it after the count down ended.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The new image to the left has a black border. To the left is still the picture of the new what if? 2 book. It has the same image as in the picture to the right, but showing the entire front of the book, with details of those looking up at he plane from the ground. The title and the author name can be read in white on the red book. There are also unreadable white text above the plane and below the author name. The spine of the book can also be seen, as the book is seen a bit from the side. Here are also unreadable white text. To the right of the book there are three lines of text. With the first line written in large bold letters. This also has a footnote star. And the footnote is then written to the right in smaller font over five lines of text.
**The text:
***what if? 2
***Randall Munroe
***One day* until what if? 2 comes out!
***<nowiki>*</nowiki>I'm going to spend the day with that Les Mis song stuck in my head, aren't I.
***what if? 2
****Both images are links that goes to a dedicated page on xkcd about [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ what if? 2: the book].
**The foot note refers to the [[2636: What If? 2 Countdown]]. For the date where the header changed 2022-09-12 it was ''F(99) where F(N) means sing all the verses of N Bottles of Beer On the wall followed by F(N-1)'' to release day.
***It is thus for certain this song Randall mentions will now be stuck in his head.
***Les mis song, probably meaning les miserables song, as in a horrible song, he now has stuck in his head for an entire day.
**The header stayed the same until [https://web.archive.org/web/20220913134002/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-09-13].
***This was while [[2671: Rotation]] was still up, early on the release day of the new book.

===2022-09-12 - Three days to What if? 2 comes out===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220911102450/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-09-11]
**This was while [[2670: Interruption]] was still up.
**The header is the same layout as the previous and thus still consist of two parts. With the right picture the window also used in [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]], but with the image that appeared in it after the count down ended.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The new image to the left has a black border. To the left is still the picture of the new what if? 2 book. It has the same image as in the picture to the right, but showing the entire front of the book, with details of those looking up at he plane from the ground. The title and the author name can be read in white on the red book. There are also unreadable white text above the plane and below the author name. The spine of the book can also be seen, as the book is seen a bit from the side. Here are also unreadable white text. To the right of the book there are three lines of text. With the first line written in large bold letters. This also has a footnote star. And the footnote is then written to the right in smaller font over five lines of text.
**The text:
***what if? 2
***Randall Munroe
***Three days* until what if? 2 comes out!
***<nowiki>*</nowiki>Assuming it's still Saturday. I'm a static png image and can't perceive time.
***what if? 2
****Both images are links that goes to a dedicated page on xkcd about [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ what if? 2: the book].
**The header only stayed the same for one day and [[2670: Interruption]] was still up when it changed to the next.

===2022-09-07 - Less than one week to What if? 2 comes out===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220907211736/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-09-07]
**This was while [[2668: Artemis Quote]] was still up.
**The header still consist of two parts. With the right picture the window also used in [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]], but with the image that appeared in it after the count down ended.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The new image to the left has a black border. To the left is still the picture of the new what if? 2 book. It has the same image as in the picture to the right, but showing the entire front of the book, with details of those looking up at he plane from the ground. The title and the author name can be read in white on the red book. There are also unreadable white text above the plane and below the author name. The spine of the book can also be seen, as the book is seen a bit from the side. Here are also unreadable white text. To the right of the book there are four lines of text. With the middle line written in large bold letters. This also has a footnote star. And the footnote is then written to the right in smaller font over four lines of text.
**The text:
***what if? 2
***Randall Munroe
***Less than one week* until what if? 2 comes out!
***<nowiki>*</nowiki>Oh no, now I have that song stuck in my head.
***what if? 2
****Both images are links that goes to a dedicated page on xkcd about [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ what if? 2: the book].
**The foot note refers to the [[2636: What If? 2 Countdown]]. For the date where the header changed 2022-09-07 it was ''one pico-universe-lifetime'' to release day. But the next day 2022-09-08 it was ''The Baby Shark chorus for a family of 50,000 sharks''.
***It is thus for certain this song Randall mentions will now be stuck in his head.
**The header stayed the same until [https://web.archive.org/web/20220910024549/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-09-10].
***This was while [[2670: Interruption]] was up.

===2022-08-27 - Preorder What if? 2 - with image - again===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220827232205/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-08-27]
**[[2664: Cloud Swirls]] came out when it changed.
**The header [[#2022-08-16 - Preorder What if? 2 - with image|changed back]] to the preorder image from the previous header, when Randall's book tour ended. See the link.
*It ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20220906191403/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-09-06].
**This was while [[2668: Artemis Quote]] was up.

===2022-08-17 - What if? 2 book tour===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220817161136/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-08-17]
**[[2659: Unreliable Connection]] was out when it changed.
**The header still consist of two parts. With the right picture the window also used in [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]], but with the image that appeared in it after the count down ended.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The new image to the left has a black border. Inside this there is text to the left. Then Cueball is seen flying by holding on to a single balloon (like in [[1110: Click and Drag]]). He flies over five mountain peaks with snow, with three clouds and three distant birds in front of him, as he drifts to the right, as shown with movements lines behind him. In front of him is a dark feature at the bottom of the frame. Above this is a blue square (like a button) with white text.
**The text:
***I'm going on a what if? 2 book tour!
***Click to see where
***what if? 2
****The image to the left is a link to [https://xkcd.com/events/ randall munroe: events] page on xkcd. Which at the time showed the calendar with the planned stop for his book tour, which covered the US and London.
****As always the link button in blue is not the only part of the image that is a link, as he just mentioned in the [[#2022-08-11 - Preorder What if? 2 - with image|previous header text]], and several times before...
****The right image is a link that goes to a dedicated page on xkcd about [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ what if? 2: the book].
*This header thus continues the promotion of the new book, which was at the time was only 27 days away (or [[2636:_What_If%3F_2_Countdown|6 dog months]]).
**It will be interesting to see how long it takes before promotion for the book disappears from the header. It may still take months.
*The header stayed the same until [https://web.archive.org/web/20220826202043/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-08-26].
**This was while [[2663: Tetherball Configurations]] was up.

===2022-08-11 - Preorder What if? 2 - with image===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220811055445/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-08-11]
**[[2657: Complex Vowels]] came out as it changed.
*The message in the header was not really changed, but the meaning of the text from the previous header was now written in an image, although the text did change somewhat.
**The header thus still consist of two parts. To the left the new image with an picture of the book and text. And to the right the window also used in [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]], but with the image that appeared in it after the count down ended.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The new image to the left has a black border. Inside this to the right is the new text. To the left is a picture of the new what if? 2 book. It has the same image as in the picture to the right, but showing the entire front of the book, with details of those looking up at he plane from the ground. The title and the author name can be read in white on the red book. There are also unreadable white text above the plane and below the author name. The spine of the book can also be seen, as the book is seen a bit from the side. Here are also unreadable white text.
**The text:
***what if? 2
***Randall Munroe
***Preorder what if? 2 and enter for a chance to win a comic inspired by your question! Click here to learn more. Or click wherever. This whole image is a link because html is hard.
***what if? 2
****In the left image there is a blue link font on the word "here" in click here. However the entire left image is a link to the [https://sites.prh.com/whatif2 what if 2 contest]. As explained he did not only make the word a link because html is hard! This is something Randall [[xkcd_Header_text#2014-07-23_-_what_if.3F_book_tour|often comments on]].
*****The link in the text goes to a contest page that starts with the words:
*****[https://web.archive.org/web/20220718171904/https://sites.prh.com/whatif2 Want Randall Munroe to answer you What If? question?]
*****Here above the web archive version of the link, in case the link from the text goes dead in the future.
****The right image is a link that goes to a dedicated page on xkcd about [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ what if? 2: the book].
**The header stayed the same until [https://web.archive.org/web/20220816124823/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-08-16].
***This was while [[2659: Unreliable Connection]] was up.

===2022-07-19 - Preorder What if? 2===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220719153239/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-07-19]
**[[2647: Capri Suns]] came out as it changed.
*The header looked a lot like the previous one, only part of the text changed.
**The header thus still consist of two part. To the left a line of text (split up, most likely over four lines for most users). And to the right the window also used in [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]], but with the image that appeared in it after the count down ended.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plane is the book title in white text.
**The text:
***Preorder What If? 2 (all US preorders eligible) and [https://sites.prh.com/whatif2 enter our contest] for a chance to win a dedicated comic and What If blog post!
***what if? 2
****The image is a link that goes to a dedicated page on xkcd about [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ what if? 2: the book].
***The link in the text goes to a contest page that starts with the words:
****[https://web.archive.org/web/20220718171904/https://sites.prh.com/whatif2 Want Randall Munroe to answer you What If? question?]
****Here above the web archive version of the link, in case the link from the text goes dead in the future.
**The header stayed the same until [https://web.archive.org/web/20220810034709/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-08-10].
***This was while [[2656: Scientific Field Prefixes]] was up.

===2022-01-31 - What if? 2===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220201000434/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-02-01]
**[[2575: What If? 2]] came out as it changed, and then it [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/3/36/Countdown_in_header_text_page_when_what_if_comic_came_out.png looked like this] already on 2022-01-31. But there is no archived version from that day after the header changed.
***This was what [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|the countdown]] had been counting down to.
***An announcement that Randall had written a sequel to the first ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book, based on his blog.
**The header consist of two part. To the left a line of text (split up, most likely over three lines for most users). And to the right the window also used in the countdown, but with the image that appeared in it after the count down ended.
***The image is taken from the front cover of the new book, with red background, showing a passenger plane taking off with the wheels still down. On top of it a Tyrannosaurus Rex has begun eating its way into the plane. Below the plan ia the book title in white text.
**The text:
***What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions comes out 9/13. Preorder [https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/ here!]
***What If? 2:
****The link goes to a dedicated page on xkcd about what if? 2: the book. The image is also a link to this page.
****The entire comic that came out along with the new header text is also a link to that page.
**At the same time the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#xkcd_links|xkcd links]] in the top left section of xkcd also changed to include links to books, and especially this new book.
*It will be interesting to see how long this version of the promotion for the new books stays up. But most likely there will be promotion for the book until release, and then more after the release.
**The header stayed the same until [https://web.archive.org/web/20220718145816/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-07-18], for more than 5,5 month. This was while [[2646: Minkowski Space]] was up.
***The change was rather small, but part of the text changed. The promotion continued though.

===2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220110183238/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-10].
**[[2565: Latency]] was still up when the [[Countdown in header text]] was added.
**The text was still the standard xkcd header: xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**But a countdown was added. This was inserted in a rectangular box, placed at the end of the standard header text.
***In some browsers the box forces the last word "Friday" to jump down to the next line.
**Inside the box the following time was displayed in the version in the link:
***20d 20h 27m
****This clock will also count down every minute, although it will return to the time at the time of archive when reloaded!
****While this was edited into this wiki the time had changed to 20d 19h 12m. So it was a very fresh download in the web archive, only about 1 hour old when it was updated to this wiki.
****The minutes change without refreshing the page, and follows this editors computers clock exactly, so it will end at 59 minutes, not at a full hour.
***It looks like it started on [https://munvoseli.github.io/xkcd-countdown/ 01-10 17:00 UTC].
****A calculation shows that this countdown will reach zero on Monday 2022-01-31 at 14:59 (2:59 PM) {{w|UTC}}.
****This will be at 9:59 (9:59 AM) in [[Randall]]'s home town
*****The last ten minutes it switched to seconds for the last minute so it made the switch 15:00 UTC 10:00 in Boston!
****From that it can be deduced that the count started at 20d 22h 0m
*****The first image on the archive thus came 1h 33m after the count began.
**At [https://web.archive.org/web/20220111153818/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-11] a diagonal black bar appeared in the lower left-hand corner of the countdown box.
***After that the [[Countdown in header text]] page was created and any further development on the count down will be mentioned on that page.
*It was last up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20220131124817/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-31] when [[2574: Autoresponder]] was on the front page.
**This archived version was when the counter was at 0d 2h 11m, and the last normal frame was already up at this time.
***It stayed like this until the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/17/Countdown_in_header_text_page_0_seconds.png counter ran out].
****Then for a few minutes the final frame, that revealed that all this was a promotion for Randall's new book what if? 2 was up [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/4/48/Countdown_in_header_text_page_just_after_countdown.png while the Friday comic was still up].
****Then when the new Monday comic came out with the promotion for what if? 2, the header changed.

===2022-01-08 - Back to standard text===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20220108044654/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-08].
**[[2565: Latency]] came out around the time the new header text appeared, on a Friday!
**The text returned to the standard xkcd header:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**This was the first time since [[#2018-11-07 - Back to standard text|2018-11-07]] that the text had changed back to that, and at that time it lasted until 2019-02-05.
***That is 1067 days (less than a month short of three years) without the standard text! (Can it be called standard anymore?)
**It was only left in the complete standard version until [https://web.archive.org/web/20220109030513/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-09] when Latency was still on the front page.
***Then the next day a [[#2022-01-10 - Standard text with countdown|countdown]] was added to it.
****That was after the weekend on Monday but before the Monday comic came up.
****So only during the weekend was it normal standard header text.

===2021-12-20 - What If in stock===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20211220211220/https://xkcd.com/ 2021-12-20].
**[[2557: Immunity]] came out around the time the new header text appeared.
**The text:
***For anyone trying to find What If? this year, it's in stock at [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-if-serious-scientific-answers-to-absurd-hypothetical-questions-randall-munroe/1118864093 Barnes & Noble], [https://m.booksamillion.com/p/What-If/Randall-Munroe/9780544272996 Books-a-Million], and [https://bookshop.org/books/what-if-serious-scientific-answers-to-absurd-hypothetical-questions-9781483041827/9780544272996 Bookshop]
**Each store name is a link to the corresponding store's page for ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]''.
*It was last seen on [https://web.archive.org/web/20220106100957/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-06] when [[2564: Sunshield]] was up.

===2020-06-03 - Black Lives Matter===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20200604003700/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-06-03].
**[[2315: Eventual Consistency]] came out as a new header text was finally inserted after almost two months without one.
**Cueball is standing to the left and speaks a single line of text: "Black Lives Matter"
**To the right is a gray link button with text: "[https://www.joincampaignzero.org/ How To Help]."
**As always, the entire image (which is only below the xkcd logo) is a link
***The button is thus not needed, but it will also work when clicking the location of the button.
**The link goes to [https://www.joincampaignzero.org/ Join Campaign Zero].
***{{w|Black Lives Matter}} is a loose, grassroots, decentralized confederation of groups and individuals advocating for racial justice. It arose in 2013 after the acquittal of {{w|George Zimmerman}}, who took the life of {{w|Trayvon Martin}}.
***Randall's featuring Black Lives Matter came on the heels of the {{w|Killing of George Floyd}} on May 25th 2020, which had sparked {{w|George Floyd protests|protest in the US}}
***Floyd died while saying "{{w|I can't breathe}}," which was already used due to other Black men's killings, the first was from the {{w|Killing of Eric Garner}}, back in 2014.
*It stayed like this until [https://web.archive.org/web/20200616114945/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-06-16] when [[2320: Millennium Problems]] was up.
**Then on [https://web.archive.org/web/20200617131438/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-06-17] the link changed to [https://blacklivesmatter.com/ Black Lives Matter]. [[2320: Millennium Problems]] was still on the front page on that day.
*On April 1st 2021 the front page header changed to mention who made the April Fools' comic.
**But this was only for this comic [[#Checkbox|Checkbox]].
**The rest of the pages kept the BLM header and it returned to this on the front page once the next comic was released on April 5th. At that time it will have been up for 13 months, making it the longest header different from the standard header.
*It was last up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20211219202204/https://xkcd.com/ 2021-12-19] when [[2556: Turing Complete]] was on the front page.
**At that time it had been up for 564 days or 1,5 year plus 16 days! This is most likely a record.

===2020-04-05 - Empty header===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20200405042955/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-04-05].
**[[2289: Scenario 4]] came out and the header belonging to the previous comic was removed.
**But no new header was inserted. Not even the go to [[#Header text|Header text]] about the release days of xkcd.
***Since the previous header was related only to the [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] [[2288: Collector's Edition]], and that had stopped the promotion of the [[How To]] book, after first experiencing problems with it's release, it seems Randall forgot what he usually put in the header.
*It stayed empty like this until [https://web.archive.org/web/20200602213017/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-06-02] when [[2314: Carcinization]] was on the front page.
**So almost two month without a header. This had not happened before.

===2020-04-04 - Put together by===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20200404014814/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-04-04].
**[[2288: Collector's Edition]] came out and the header changed.
**The text:
***Today's comic was put together by [https://chromakode.com/ Max Goodhart], [https://twitter.com/Aiiane Amber], [https://twitter.com/bstaffin Benjamin Staffin], [https://twitter.com/cotrone Kevin], [https://www.instagram.com/fading_interest/ @fading_interest], [https://twitter.com/wirehead2501 Kat], [https://twitter.com/zigdon @zigdon], and Christopher Night.
****All names have links except the last.
**It thanks those that helped Randall create this years [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]], which had taken two extra days before it was released due to the complex nature of the comic.
*Due to the delay the next comic, [[2289: Scenario 4]], was released already the day after the Fool's comic, even though it was thus [[2289:_Scenario_4#Trivia|on a Saturday]]!
**Since this header was related only to the Fool's comic, it was thus removed from the general header, but it stayed up as [[#Collector.27s_Edition|one of]] the permanent [[#Unique_header_text|unique header texts]].
***However, when it was removed from the general header, the header was left empty.
***Unlike some other headers that stayed on a given comic, this one was on all comics for the duration of the time it stayed on the front page, see for instance the previous comic on [https://web.archive.org/web/20200403232031/https://xkcd.com/2287/ 2020-04-03].

===2020-04-02 - Technical Reasons===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20200402234828/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-04-02].
**[[2287: Pathogen Resistance]] was up when the header changed.
*Randall turned out to, again, have problems with his complicated and interactive [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] for 2020.
**The text:
***Note: For technical reasons Wednesday's comic will be posted Thursday instead. Apologies for the delay!
*This finally stopped the promotion of the [[How To]] book.
**It had then been part of the header for well over a year since [https://web.archive.org/web/20190206060904/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-02-06].
*It stayed up a day longer than planed as the fool's comic, [[2288: Collector's Edition]] was first released on Friday, so the note was still up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20200403012612/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-04-03].
**[[2287: Pathogen Resistance]] thus stayed two extra day on the front page, and the third comic of that week, [[2289: Scenario 4]] was released already the day after the Fool's comic, even though it was thus [[2289:_Scenario_4#Trivia|on a Saturday]]!

===2020-01-16 - How To explores - again===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20200116190038/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-01-16].
**[[2255: Tattoo Ideas]] was still up when the header changed.
**The ongoing promotion of the book continued but here more than three weeks after Christmas the reference to Christmas was removed.
**The header then returned to the one from before Christmas:
***[[#2019-11-22 - How To explores|How To explores]] - see that for all other details.
*It was last up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20200401221435/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-04-01] when [[2287: Pathogen Resistance]] was on the front page.
**It was the problems with [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] of 2020 that finally stopped the promotion of the [[How To]] book.
**It had then been part of the header for well over a year since [https://web.archive.org/web/20190206060904/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-02-06].

===2019-12-02 - Into Science===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20191202223745/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-12-02].
**[[2236: Is it Christmas?]] came out when the header changed. Fitting as the change is about Christmas list.
**Still promoting the new [[How To]] book, continuing to make the image a link to the [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ How To book] page on xkcd.
***The links below to order are the same as in the previous header.
***Actually most of the header stays the same with the same four images and the same layout. But the text above has changed completely and the two main text sections between the drawings has changed but only slightly. The description of the images is thus left out, see below. Only new thing is that there are now two red circles connected with a red arrow. The first circle is around the word How To at the end of the first text with the arrow going from that circle to the second circle drawn around the picture of the book.
**The text:
***Is there someone on you Christmas list who's into science? They might like my new book '''''How To'''''
***It explores ridiculous ideas for applying scientific research to everyday problems...
***...And illustrates what would happen if you tried them.
***''Boom''
***You can get it here:
***[https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 B&N], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound], [https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple], [https://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=How+To+Randall+Munroe&source_code=COMA0213WS031709&SID=PRHA9A5E24CFB--9780525635680 Audible], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/23/trackingcode/PRH3D17167A3B Target]
*It was last up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20200115155040/https://xkcd.com/ 2020-01-15] when [[2255: Tattoo Ideas]] was on the front page.

===2019-11-22 - How To explores===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20191122214439/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-11-22].
**[[2232: Hotel Room Party]] was up when the header changed. It most likely changed when the comic appeared. Earlier on that day it was the previous header over the previous comic.
**Still promoting the new [[How To]] book, here again making the image a link to the [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ How To book] page on xkcd, after it previously was a link to where to listen to the audio book.
***The links below to order returns to the same as in the header before the previous header with links to audio books, except that the link to an exclusive edition has been removed.
***The header consist of an image with text above five small drawings with two text parts in between them. To the left is the closed How To book which is black with a blue readable title, How To, and unreadable white text below this as well as below the unreadable blue author name, which are below the image. The image shows Cueball putting in a light-bulb with drones under each foot while Megan, holding a ladder, and White/Black Hat are looking up at him. To the right of the book is a drawing of Ponytail pole-vaulting with two black helium filled balloons. Next to her is the first text segment. Then after that is the drawing, seen before in the header text, of a truck towing a house up a steep hill. This truck goes above the second text segment, with Cueball somersaulting above the text. Furthest right, above and just right of the text is an explosion with the sound written inside. Below the header image is some black text and then the links to where to get it as regular blue link text.
**The text:
***My new book '''''How To''''' explores the science behind spacecraft heat shields, butterfly metabolisms, and land border surveys...
***...By imagining ridiculous ideas for applying the research to you everyday life...
***...And illustrating what would happen if you tried them.
***''Boom''
***You can get it here:
***[https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 B&N], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound], [https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple], [https://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=How+To+Randall+Munroe&source_code=COMA0213WS031709&SID=PRHA9A5E24CFB--9780525635680 Audible], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/23/trackingcode/PRH3D17167A3B Target]
*It was last up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20191201191025/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-12-01] when [[2235: Group Chat Rules]] was on the front page.

===2019-11-06 - Audio clip===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20191106204314/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-11-06].
**[[2224: Software Updates]] was still up when the header changed, but the first archive version was first from after the next comic came out [[2225: Voting Referendum]].
**Still promoting the new [[How To]] book, here making the image a link to the How To book on Penguin Random House's audio book, where an audio clip read by Wil Wheaton can be sampled.
***The links below to order have now changed to those with audio books.
***The header consist of an image with text, with a "blue link", above the How To book that is being folded out from closed; to partially open; to opened up on two full pages; this takes three images. The closed book is the black book with a blue readable title, How To, and unreadable white text below this as well as below the unreadable blue author name, which are below the image. The image shows Cueball putting in a light-bulb with drones under each foot while Megan, holding a ladder, and White/Black Hat are looking up at him. The partly open book still has this cover partly visible, but unreadable, as well as come unreadable text in the open side. The open book shows two pages with lots of unreadable text and three figures (maybe one is a table). Next to the open book there is an arrow to the right pointing at an audio icon with three audio lines in front. Below the header image are the links as regular text.
**The text:
***You can click here to hear a clip from the audio version of '''''How To''''', read by Wil Wheaton.
***[https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/how-to-absurd-scientific-advice-for-common-real-world/id1475319694 Apple], [https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/how-to-absurd-scientific-advice-for-common-real-world-problems/369279 Audiobooks], [https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/How-To-Audiobook/1473680360?qid=1574679523&sr=1-1&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=DX3EZ14M14CFQPP9GHJY&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1 Audible], [https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Randall_Munroe_How_To?id=LzSGDwAAQBAJ Google Play], and [https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780525635680 Libro.fm]
**The entire image is a link to the [https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/576760/how-to/ How To book on Penguin Random House] page, where the audio clip can he played.
***As always it is the entire picture that is a link, and not only the blue underlined text that says click here!
*It was last on the archive on [https://web.archive.org/web/20191122044456/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-11-22] when [[2231: the Time Before And After Land]] was on the front page. But it was most likely still up when [[2232: Hotel Room Party]] came out. But then changed during the next day.

===2019-10-02 - Horse vs football team===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20191002005854/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-10-02].
**[[2210: College Athletes]] was up when the header changed.
**Still promoting the new [[How To]] book, but seeing this is no longer close to the release day the focus has changed. This time the image seems to be from one of the How To explanations in the book.
***The links below to order are the same as the previous header.
***But new text is added after the links to promote two events with Randall in New York the two days after this header came up.
****These links disappeared after a week leaving only the picture and the link to buy the book. See below.
***The header consist of an image with Cueball riding bareback on a horse. He comes from the left holding an American football. Running towards him from the right are eight American football players with helmets with three stars on the back of the helmet. Two of the players at the back are almost hidden by players in front of them. Beneath them is a line of text that belongs to the image, the period at the end of the sentence hangs in height with the center line of the last letter E... Then below the image follows the link and promotion of the NY events, these are written in regular.
**The text:
***My new book ''How To'' is out now! You can get it here.
***[https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 B&N], [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-randall-munroe/1130494832?ean=9780525686910#/ B&N Exclusive Edition], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound], [https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple], [https://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=How+To+Randall+Munroe&source_code=COMA0213WS031709&SID=PRHA9A5E24CFB--9780525635680 Audible], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/23/trackingcode/PRH3D17167A3B Target] I'll be at New York Comic Con! I'm giving [https://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/Explore/Panels/Panels-And-Screenings/#/event/how-todo-anything-with-randall-munroe-creator-of-xkcd a talk on Thursday], and on
***Friday [https://smbc-comics.com/ Zach Weinersmith] and I will be hosting [https://www.caveat.nyc/event/how-to--absurd-scientific-advice-for-common-real-world-problems-10-4-2019 an event at Caveat NYC].
**The image is a link to the [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ How To book page] on xkcd.
***The link to Target still seems to go the main page rather than to [https://intl.target.com/p/how-to-by-randall-munroe-hardcover/-/A-76508342 their How To book page]... Probably a still undiscovered error on Randall's part?
*This header changed, but so slightly that the changes will only be mentioned here rather than in a new section:
**The first link was last active on [https://web.archive.org/web/20191004014438/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-10-04]
**Then the day after only the second link remained from [https://web.archive.org/web/20191005041539/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2019-10-05]. [[2211: Hours Before Departure]] came out when it changed.
***But the text of this link changed as it had been a continues text from one to the other link. Also it was not entirely on it's own line, thus not as with the first link whose text was directly connected to the line with the links to buy the book.
***The new text of that link was:
****[https://smbc-comics.com/ Zach Weinersmith] and I will be hosting [https://www.caveat.nyc/event/how-to--absurd-scientific-advice-for-common-real-world-problems-10-4-2019 an event] Friday night at Caveat NYC!
****The last link was the same, but now it only covered two words not the entire end of the sentence.
***This other link was last active on [https://web.archive.org/web/20191007042707/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-10-07].
**And then the last link was gone by [https://web.archive.org/web/20191008053609/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-10-08], when [[2212: Cell Phone Functions]] came out.
*It ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20191105164001/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-11-05] when [[2224: Software Updates]] was up.

===2019-09-30 - Tons of fun===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190930234245/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-09-30].
**[[2209: Fresh Pears]] was up when the header changed.
**Still promoting the new [[How To]] book, but seeing this is no longer close to the release day the focus has changed to how much fun it was for Randall to write it and how proud he is of the result. Randall, as Cueball, is saying this in the new header image.
***The links below to order are the same, except a new has been added at the end.
***The header consist of an image with Cueball standing to the left of the book, shown as tall as he is. The book is opened up on two pages with lots of unreadable text as well as three drawings, only one of these, with a circle diagram, can clearly be seen. Cueball is speaking, and the text is above him and the book. Two words are blue with a line under as if they where a link. But as always the entire image is a link. Beneath the image is the links on where to order the book.
**The text:
***Writing my new book '''''How To''''' was tons of fun and I'm so proud of the result. It's out now-Click Here to order!
***Order: [https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 B&N], [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-randall-munroe/1130494832?ean=9780525686910#/ B&N Exclusive Edition], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound], [https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple], [https://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=How+To+Randall+Munroe&source_code=COMA0213WS031709&SID=PRHA9A5E24CFB--9780525635680 Audible], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/23/trackingcode/PRH3D17167A3B Target]
**The image is a link to the [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ How To book page] on xkcd.
***The new link to Target seems to go the main page rather than to [https://intl.target.com/p/how-to-by-randall-munroe-hardcover/-/A-76508342 their How To book page]... Probably an error on Randall's part.
*It ended on October 2nd while [[2210: College Athletes]] where up. But there is no archived versions from the 1st of October and the one from the 2nd is with the next version. But the editor of this was making changes to the explanation of College Athletes before the next header change came along.

===2019-09-11 - How To available===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190911053115/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-09-11].
**[[2200: Unreachable State]] was still up when the header changed.
**The release day part of the promotion was changed to telling that the new [[How To]] book was available. With teasers about what is in the book below the heading. On either side of the text a picture of the book is still shown. Also the links below changed, adding three new and removing one old.
***The header consist of an image with the book shown both left and right of some text. Both books have blue title and author name, and white unreadable title and white drawing of Cueball flying on two quadcopters to put in a light-bulb in a ceiling lamp, while White/Black? Hat is watching together with Megan, who is holding a ladder. Beneath the image is the links on where to order it.
***Between the two books are two sections of text above each other, the lover with smaller font.
**The text:
***How To is available now!
***Learn how to open bottles with nuclear weapons and how to be on time for meetings by altering the Earths rotation. The book also features advice from real-life experts including Chris Hadfield and Serena Williams.
***Order: [https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 B&N], [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-randall-munroe/1130494832?ean=9780525686910#/ B&N Exclusive Edition], [https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound],[https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple], [https://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=How+To+Randall+Munroe&source_code=COMA0213WS031709&SID=PRHA9A5E24CFB--9780525635680 Audible]
**The image is a link to the [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ How To book page] on xkcd.
**{{w|Serena Williams}} is a famous tennis player who was also featured in one of the [[:Category:Book promotion|promotion comics]] for How To: [[2190: Serena Versus the Drones]]
**{{w|Chris Hadfield}} is a Canadian retired astronaut, engineer, and former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot. The first Canadian to walk in space, Hadfield has flown two Space Shuttle missions and served as commander of the International Space Station.
***The new link to audible probably needs the user to be signed up, else it will go to the front page and ask yo to sign up. But from the archive the page can be seen [https://web.archive.org/web/20190923004816/https://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=How+To+Randall+Munroe&source_code=COMA0213WS031709&SID=PRHA9A5E24CFB--9780525635680 here].
*Up till [https://web.archive.org/web/20190922143253/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-09-22] it looked like this.
**Then on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190923145251/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-09-23] and extra link was added after Audible:
***[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/23/trackingcode/PRH3D17167A3B Target].
**[[2205: Types of Approximation]] was up when this change occurred during a weekend.
*It ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190929223547/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-09-29] when [[2208: Drone Fishing]] was up.

===2019-09-04 - Happy Release Day - bookstore===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190904051509/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-09-04].
**[[2198: Throw]] was already up when the header changed slightly, as the text below Happy release day changed.
*Most of the header stayed the same as the [[#2019-09-03 - Happy Release Day - calendar|day before]], but the reference to the Gregorian/Julian calendar was changed.
**The header consist of an image with the book shown both left and right of some text.Both books have blue title and author name, and white unreadable title and white drawing of Cueball flowing on two quadcopters to put in a light-bulb in a ceiling lamp, while White/Black? Hat is watching together with Megan comes who is holding a ladder. Beneath the image is the link on where to order it, now the preorder has been changed to order.
***Between the two books are two sections of text above each other, the lover with smaller font and in brackets.
**The text:
***Happy How To release day!
***Available wherever books are sold.
***(Mostly bookstores, I assume but you can always try your luck at Wendy's.)
**See below for any other details.
*It ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190909211737/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-09-09] when [[2200: Unreachable State]] was up.

===2019-09-03 - Happy Release Day - calendar===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190903051503/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-09-03]
**[[2197: Game Show]] was still up when the header changed, but it was for sure to coincide with [[2198: Throw]] which came out later on the release day while it still looked like in this version.
**Randall celebrated the release day of [[How To]], coming out the day the header changed.
***The comic is also a reference to a chapter in the book on how to throw things. A very complicated interactive comic where different persons or other living things can be chosen to throw dead or living things. The trow will then be shown below with distance measured in two units, normal and special. That is if the thrower can actually manage to throw the thing.
**The header consist of an image with the book shown both left and right of some text. The two black books have red stars around them, five on the outer side of the image and 6 on the inner, the stars are mirrored around left and right book. Both books have blue title and author name, and white unreadable title and white drawing of Cueball flying on two quadcopters to put in a light-bulb in a ceiling lamp, while White/Black? Hat is watching together with Megan, who is holding a ladder. Beneath the image is the link on where to order it, now the preorder has been changed to order.
***Between the two books are two sections of text above each other, the lover with smaller font and in brackets.
**The text:
***How To Randall Munroe
***Happy How To release day!*
***(*Gregorian calendar. The Julian edition doesn't come out for 13 more days.)
***How To Randall Munroe
***Order: [https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 Barnes & Noble],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound],[https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple Books]
**The image is a link to the [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ How To book page] on xkcd.
**Most of the world uses the {{w|Gregorian calendar}}, but before it was taken into use, the {{w|Julian calendar}} was in use.
***The Julian calendar does not take into account that every 100 years a leap year should be passed as in the Gregorian calendar, and thus it is at the moment 13 days behind, as it has has this many February 29th too many. Since there should actually be a leap year every 400 year, and the last of those was 2000, then it has been 13 days since 1900, and will stay like this until 2100 when it will become 14 days.
***The image is a link to the [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ How To book page] on xkcd.
**Already the next day the part of the header below happy release day about the Gregorian calendar changed. See [[#2019-09-04 - Happy Release Day - bookstore|above]].

===2019-08-27 - Out in a week===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190827082224/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-08-27].
**[[2194: How to Send a File]] was up when the header changed.
**Randall continues to promote his new book, [[How To]], coming out a week from this header.
***It is only three lines of text
**The text:
***My new book, How To, comes out next week!
***Read an exclusive excerpt about transmission [https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/08/26/how-to-send-a-file/ here].
***[Four links in gray blue are given with the first words in black:] Preorder ''How To'': [https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 Barnes & Noble],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound],[https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple Books]
**Later [https://web.archive.org/web/20190827184229/https://xkcd.com/2194/ on the same day], (and here for the next day [https://web.archive.org/web/20190828095401/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-08-27] for the front page), more text and links where added, plus the order of the text was changed.
**The later text was:
***My new book, [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ How To], comes out in a week! ([https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/08/23/book-tour-and-contest-winner/ Book tour info])
***You can preorder it now to get a copy when it's released:
***[https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 Barnes & Noble],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound],[https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple Books]
***You can also read an exclusive excerpt about file transfers [https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/08/26/how-to-send-a-file/ here].
**The link to the book tour also include the winner of the [[#2019-06-25 - People with books|contest]] to get Randall to add "your" city to his book tour.
***The winner was {{w|Juneau, Alaska}}.
*It ended on the release day 2019-09-03, so this was last on the page on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190902042108/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-09-02].

===2019-08-06 - Win a sketch===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190806052948/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-08-06].
**[[2185: Cumulonimbus]] was up when the header changed.
***Most likely the header changed when that comic came out on 2019-08-05. But the previous header was also out during that day.
**Randall continues to promote his new book, [[How To]], now making a competition where you can win a stick figure sketch of yourself. (Although only for US residents!)
***The image shows Hairy, with a cat at his feet and Megan (or Danish?) with a samurai sword. They are standing with their backs towards each other, the cat on the left, Megan facing right with the sword towards the words.
***Below the drawing are links to places to preorder the book.
**The text:
***Want to win a sketch of yourself as a stick figure? [https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/08/05/win-an-xkcd-sketch/ Click here] to find out how!
***[Four links in gray blue are given with the first words in black:] Preorder ''How To'': [https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 Barnes & Noble],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound],[https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple Books]
****The entire picture is a [https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/08/05/win-an-xkcd-sketch/ link] to a [[Blag]] post: ''Win an xkcd sketch''
****That is even though only the click here part of the text is in blue, like a link.
****Cause as he often has written: I still haven't figured out HTML imagemaps, most recently in the [[#2019-07-09 - Drawings from How To|2019-07-09]] header.
*The header stayed like this until [https://web.archive.org/web/20190826062701/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2019-08-26] when [[2193: Well-Ordering Principle]] was up.

===2019-08-03 - First look inside===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190803222711/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-08-03].
**[[2184: Unpopular Opinions]] was up when the header changed.
**Randall continues to promote his new book, [[How To]], now stating that it comes out next month.
***Set to be released on September 3rd 2019, this update was made exactly one month before.
***The image shows text to the left of three drawings of the book: First the closed book showing the black front cover with blue and white text and white drawings, then the book is partly opened, and finally it lays opened up showing two pages, with a readable heading on the right page.
***Below the drawing are links to places to preorder the book.
**The text:
***My new book comes out next month. Click here for a first look inside!
***[On the books front cover only two thins can be read:]
****How To
****Randal Munroe.
***[These two words can also partly be read on the opening book.]
***[Only the large heading can be read on the right page of the open book:]
****How to Dig a Hole.
***[These two pages also became part of a special comic relased during the weekend when this header was up: [[Disappearing Sunday Update]].]
***[The [[Disappearing_Sunday_Update#Transcript|transcript of that comic]] describes the images in the open book.]
***[Four links in gray blue are given with the first word in black:] Preorder:[https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 Barnes & Noble],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound],[https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple Books]
****The entire picture is a [https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/08/02/how-to-chapter-list-and-introduction/ link] to a [[Blag]] post: ''How To: Chapter list and introduction''.
*It stayed up like this while the special [[Disappearing Sunday Update]] came out on Sunday 2019-08-04, and was there still on Monday [ https://web.archive.org/web/20190805050812/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2019-08-05], at least during the time that the Sudan Update was still up.
**When the next comic came out late that Monday, it probably disappeared along with the Disappearing comic, but the first update with the next header is from Tuesday [https://web.archive.org/web/20190806052948/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-08-06], but the Monday comic [[2185: Cumulonimbus]] was still on the front page at that time,.

===2019-07-23 - Back to previous header===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190723205152/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-07-23].
**[[2179: NWS Warnings]] was up when the header changed.
*It returned to the previous header from before the ComicCon header, see [[#2019-07-10 - Adding links|2019-07-10]]
*It stayed up until [https://web.archive.org/web/20190802192259/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-08-02] while [[2184: Unpopular Opinions]] was up. The day after when it changed that comic was still up.

===2019-07-15 - ComiCon===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190715181016/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-07-15].
**[[2176: How Hacking Works]] was up when the header changed.
*Randall tells that he will be at ComicCon and links to his plans there.
**The text:
***Going to San Diego Comic Con this week? I'll [https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/07/15/san-diego-comic-con/ see you there]!
****The link is to a [[Blag]] post about his plans for the ComicCon
**Randall appeared in a couple of panels, and gave a talk.
**Finally he also handed out signed copies of his new [[How To]] book more than a month before official release.
***So still promoting the book, also in this header...
*It stayed up until [https://web.archive.org/web/20190722192637/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2019-07-22] the day after the ComiCon ended, while [[2178: Expiration Date High Score]] was up.
**Then it returned to the previous header from before the ComicCon announcement when [[2179: NWS Warnings]] came out.

===2019-07-10 - Adding links===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190710165920/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-07-10].
**[[2173: Trained a Neural Net]] was still up when the header changed slightly from that fro the day before.
**Only change was that beneath the picture, see [[#2019-07-09 - Drawings from How To|2019-07-09]], there is now a list of four links to companies where the book can be preordered.
**The extra text:
***[Four links in gray blue are given with the first word in black:] Preorder:[https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 Barnes & Noble],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound],[https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple Books]
*Note that the day after this change, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190711172451/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-07-11], a link to [[How To]] was added to the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#xkcd_links|links]] in the top left corner of xkcd.
*The header stayed like this until [https://web.archive.org/web/20190714175710/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-07-14] when [[2175: Flag Interpretation]] was up. When it changed the day after [[2176: How Hacking Works]] was up.

===2019-07-09 - Drawings from How To===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190709162102/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-07-09].
**[[2173: Trained a Neural Net]] was up when the header changed.
**Randall continues to promote his new book, [[How To]].
***The image shows a small picture of his book with text on either side.
***Below are what appears to be three drawings from the book. [[Ponytail]] pole vaultig with three baloons in one hand, then text, then a truck with a house behind it speeding fast up a hill then text and finally [[Cueball]] somersaulting towards an explosion.
***To the right there is a big blue button to click for preorder, with text below.
**The text:
***New book [Arrow points to book. Title can be read: How To]
***How To: Absurd Scientific Answers to Common Real-world Problems
***It's a guide to bad ways to do things...
***...And what would happen if you tried them.
***''Boom''
***Click here to preorder
***Or click anywhere. I still haven't figured out HTML imagemaps.
****The entire picture is a [https://xkcd.com/how-to/ link] to the official [[How To]] page on xkcd: https://xkcd.com/how-to/
****See [[1572: xkcd Survey]] where Randall mentions that he cannot make imagemaps.
*It stayed up like this only for a day, then an extra line of links was added the day after while the same comic was still up, see [[#2019-07-10 - Adding links|2019-07-10]].
**But the general header stayed up first for five days, and then it returned again for 10 more days after a break to announce a [[#2019-07-15 - ComiCon|ComiCon visit]].
**So a total of 16 days with this drawing.

===2019-06-25 - People with books===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190625190843/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-06-25].
**[[2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics]] was up when the header changed.
**Randall continues to promote his new book, [[How To]], and his book tour.
***The image now shows 15 people standing side by side each holding a book up in front of them with unreadable titles.
***From left: [[Megan]], [[Cueball]], a man with blonde hair, [[Jill]], [[Blondie]], [[Hairy]], another Hairy, [[White Hat]], a kid with curly hair, [[Hairbun]], another Cueball, another Megan, a guy with a knit cap, [[Ponytail]], and [[Beret Guy]].
***Above them is a text message.
**The text:
***Want to bring me to your town for my '''''How To''''' book tour? Click to find out how to enter the challenge!
****The entire picture is a [https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/06/10/book-tour-announcement/ link] to the official book tour announcement posted on the [[Blag]], with all cities and dates listed with details.
****In the link it is explained how to enter a competition on how to bring Randall to your city.
****Make a story using only book titles and get the books used to be held up by different individuals.
****A longer sentence will improve your chances.
*****This is indeed what this header picture shows.
*The header stayed like this until [https://web.archive.org/web/20190708155517/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-07-08] when [[2172: Lunar Cycles]] was up. When it changed the day after [[2173: Trained a Neural Net]] was up.

===2019-06-15 - Adding dates===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190615100645/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-06-15]
**[[2163: Chernobyl]] was up when the header changed.
**Randall only made a small change to the one that had been up for four days at this time.
**The text only changed by adding a line below the first line:
***Announcing the '''''How To''''' book tour:
***[Click here for dates and tickets]
****The rest of the header is exactly the same as on [[#2019-06-11 - Book tour|2019-06-11]], except everything is a bit smaller to make room in the same place for the extra line.
****The link is not located on the blue part of the text and it was already there before this update.
****Best guess is that not many clicked through and Randall then made it obvious that there was a link.
****The entire picture is a [https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/06/10/book-tour-announcement/ link] to the official book tour announcement posted on the [[Blag]], with all cities and dates listed with details.
****Randall has previously made it clear, in [[1572: xkcd Survey]], that he knows how to make an image a link, but not how to put the link only where he says to click. But it is easier to make a place for people to click than tell them this...
*The header stayed like this until 2019-06-25, when it changed while [[2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics]] was up. But this one was still up when that comic came out the day before [https://web.archive.org/web/20190624162740/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-06-24].

===2019-06-11 - Book tour===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190611031920/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-06-11]
**[[2161: An Apple a Day]] was up when the header changed.
***'''Note''' when this change happened two new links was added to the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#xkcd_links|xkcd links]] section of xkcd.
**Randall changed the header text to announce the official book tour for his newest book ''[[How To]]'' to be released 3 months later.
**The text:
***Announcing the '''''How To''''' book tour:
***[Below this header is a map of the mainland USA with 14 labeled black dots indicates the 14 cities that the book tour will take Randall to. One red dot with five red question marks above is located beneath the map to the left, indicating a 15th city to be chosen in a contest. Above the map to the right is a small picture of the book with the blue title on the black cover. Above the book is the release date and with an arrow pointing down to the book.]
***September 3rd
***How to
***Seattle
***Portland
***San Francisco
***Santa Cruz
***Los Angeles
***Salt Lake City
***Kansas City
***Ann Arbor
***Cincinnati
***Louisville
***Cambridge
***New York
***D.C.
***Raleigh
***????? (Chosen by readers)
***[The entire picture is a [https://blog.xkcd.com/2019/06/10/book-tour-announcement/ link] to the official book tour announcement posted on the [[Blag]], with all cities and dates listed with details.]
****In the link it is explained how to enter a competition on how to bring Randall to your city.
****Make a story using only book titles and get the books used to be held up by different individuals.
****Only US cities can apply.
**The header only stayed exactly like this for three days, and was still up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190614094729/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-06-14] when [[2162: Literary Opinions]] was on the front page.
***Then it changed slightly to indicate that the picture was a link which was not clear before. See above.

===2019-05-17 - Back to previous header===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190517103928/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-05-17]:
**[[2150: XKeyboarCD]] was still up when the header changed.
*It changed back to the exact same heading as before the one with Google reader here below.
**See [[#2019-02-06 - How to book|2019-02-06]] below for all details.
**It stayed up for more than three weeks and was still up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190610055519/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2019-06-10], while [[2160: Ken Burns Theory]] was still up on the day the next comic [[2161: An Apple a Day]] was to be released (where the new header could be found at least the next day, but maybe from the release of that comic?). Then it changed to announce the book tour for his new book.

===2019-04-23 - Google Reader===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190423155458/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-04-23]:
**[[2140: Reinvent the Wheel]] came out when it changed, ending a more than two and half month long [[#2019-02-06 - How to book|promotion]] of Randall's new book [[How To]].
**Randall changed the header text to ask if the reader still mourned the loss of {{w|Google Reader}} which closed on 2013-07-01, almost 6 years before this comic..
***He offers the possibility to sign up to receive the newest comic by e-mail.
**The comic may have relation to this, as some where using Google reader for different purposes when they closed it, without any chance of [https://www.google.com/reader/about/ getting your data out].
***The comic "Reinvent the Wheel" mentions that using external dependencies carry risks, such as Google closing down a feature. given the fact that the comic came out as the header changed it is probably not a coincidence.
**The text:
***Still mourning the demise of Google Reader? You can sign up to get new comics delivered by email [https://xkcd.com/newsletter/ here].
**The link is to https://xkcd.com/newsletter, where it is possible to submit your e-mail address and press a subscribe button.
***the following text is written above it:
***To receive the comic and news postings in your inbox, subscribe here.
**It stayed up for more than three weeks and was still up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190516100403/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-05-16], when [[2150: XKeyboarCD]] was up. Then it changed back to the promotion of his new book.

===2019-02-06 - How to book===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190206060904/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-02-06]:
**[[2107: Launch Risk]] was up at the time when it changed, having been up since Monday the 4th of February.
***Here it can be seen being on the front of xkcd on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190205050302/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-02-05], without the new text. This was also the last time the standard header text was used in several months.
***[[2108: Carbonated Beverage Language Map]] came up later on the day the header changed.
**Randall changed the header text to promote his newest book ''[[How To]]'' to be released 7 months later.
***He added an image of the book with large text next to it regarding the release and links on how to preorder it.
***There was no direct relation to the comics released at the time, except of course that he kind of launched his new book with all the risk it involves, while having a comic called launch risk up. It was though a very different and more real type of launch risk (of a human carrying space rocket) in the comic.
**The text:
***[The book is shown to the left as a black rectangle with large blue text and smaller gray text. On the book cover, in white drawings, are seen Megan with a ladder and either Black or White Hat (hard to say on black background). Both are looking up on Cueball who is floating in the air with a quadcopter beneath either leg, trying to plug in an electric light bulb in a naked lamp hanging down near him. It seems he has already removed the broken light bulb, as he has one in both hands. And now he tries to put in the new one. He could have let Megan use the ladder...]
***[The header in blue above it all:] How To.
***[Sub header in gray to the left of Cueball:] Absurd Scientific Answers to Common Real-world Problems
***[Author name in blue below the drawing:] Randall Munroe
***[Sub header to this below in gray:] Creator of xkcd
***[Sub header to this below in gray:] Author of what if? and Thing Explainer
***[Next to this book image are the following text:]
***[Large heading:] HOW TO
***[Normal size sub header:] Absurd Scientific Answers to Common Real-world Problems
***[In smaller gray font below:] Available September 3, 2019.
***[Four links in gray blue are given with the first word still in gray:] Preorder:[https://www.amazon.com/How-Absurd-Scientific-Real-World-Problems/dp/0525537090/ Amazon],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/2/trackingcode/PRH5522E62429 Barnes & Noble],[https://links.penguinrandomhouse.com/type/affiliate/isbn/9780525537090/siteID/8001/retailerid/6/trackingcode/penguinrandom IndieBound],[https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to/id1451461524?mt=11 Apple Books]
**It stayed up for more than two and a half month and was still up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190422030324/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-04-22], when [[2139: Email Settings]] was up. Then it finally changed to a new header without going back to the standard.

===2018-11-07 - Back to standard text===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20181107144453/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2018-11-07]
**The text returned to the standard xkcd header:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**It stayed like this until [[2107: Launch Risk]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190205050302/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-02-05], so two days less than three months.
***After this it did not return to the standard text for almost three years, but just short of a month before the third year without it, it returned on [[#2022-01-08 - Back to standard text|2022-01-08]].

===2018-11-06 - Election Day===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20181106122850/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-11-06]:
**[[2068: Election Night]] (on election day the day after this comic was released).
***It added a larger comic above the two links from the previous header. Those links of the previous header text was still up the day before [https://web.archive.org/web/20181105105855/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-11-05], when [[2067: Challengers]] was still up.
**Randall changed the xkcd header once more to try to make more people vote, and in this case help others to vote.
***Once again directly related to the new comic about election night.
**The text:
***[A line of altering blue and red stars, blue first and last of two rows of nine starts around of the heading:]
***Election Day!
***[Below Black Hat and Ponytail to the left and Megan to the right of Cueball is checking their smart phones. Cueball is addressing the reader:]
***Cueball: The biggest thing you can do th help is to check in with friends and family and make sure they know when and where they're voting.
***[Below these four characters there is the following text with two arrows pointing left and right. Both are turning up to text/links on either side of the four:]
***Use these links to answer questions
***[To the left:] Where and how to vote: [https://www.vote.org/ Vote-org]
***[To the right:] What's on your ballot: [https://www.ballotready.org/ BallotReady.org]
***[Below was the two links from the previous header:]
***Find out where to vote: [https://www.vote.org/ vote.org].
***See what's on your ballot: [https://www.ballotready.org/ BallotReady.org]
**It was only up one day and thus on ended the day after [https://web.archive.org/web/20181107144453/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2018-11-07] when the next comic [[2069: Wishlist]] came out.
***The text then returned to the standard xkcd header: xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
****It stayed like this until [[2107: Launch Risk]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190205050302/https://xkcd.com/ 2019-02-05].

===2018-11-02 - Where to vote===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20181103021059/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-11-02]:
**[[2067: Challengers]] (on the Friday, it was released).
***It added another link to the previous header text. That text was still up the day before on Thursday [https://web.archive.org/web/20181102015102/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-11-01].
***That was while comic [[2066: Ballot Selfies]] was still up.
**Randall changed the xkcd header to let people know who is on their voting ballot, and as before there is also a link on how to register for voting.
***This is also directly related to the new comic that came out that day, about helping people to decide who to vote for, i.e. who is on their ballot.
**The text:
***Find out where to vote: [https://www.vote.org/ vote.org].
***See what's on your ballot: [https://www.ballotready.org/ BallotReady.org]
**This was done at this moment because the {{w|United States midterm election}} was held on {{w|United States elections, 2018|Tuesday, November 6, 2018}}, four days after the release of this comic.
**It was still up the day before the election day, [https://web.archive.org/web/20181105105855/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-11-05], and then it changed with the next comic.

===2018-10-22 - Register for voting===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20181022120935/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-10-22]:
**[[2061: Tectonics Game]] (on a Monday, the 3rd day after release of this Friday comic)
***The standard text was still up Sunday [https://web.archive.org/web/20181021141446/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-10-21].
***The comic [[2062: Barnard's Star]] was released later that day.
**Randall changed the xkcd header to try to get people to register for voting.
**The text:
***Check your registration and find your polling place at [https://www.vote.org/ vote.org].
**This was done at this moment because the {{w|United States midterm election}} was held on {{w|United States elections, 2018|Tuesday, November 6, 2018}}, about two weeks after the release of this comic.
***It is generally believed that many of those not voting would have chosen democrats on election day, and thus Randall has an interest in getting as many as possible to register, see [[1756: I'm With Her]] (apart from the fact that he also most likely thinks that it is important to use the right to vote).
**It ended on [https://web.archive.org/web/20181103021059/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-11-02], when [[2067: Challengers]] came out.
***It was still there while [[2066: Ballot Selfies]] was still up the day before on [https://web.archive.org/web/20181102015102/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-11-01].

===2018-09-13 - NY votes today===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20180913133544/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-09-13]
**[[2045: Social Media Announcement]] (the day after the release of the comic.)
***It was not up when the comic was released on [https://web.archive.org/web/20180912131437/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-09-12].
**It was a short lived reminder that NY votes today below the usual standard text.
**The text:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
***NY votes today! Find your polling place [https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/ here]. (Zephyr Teachout for AG!)
**It ended with [[2046: Trum-]], the very next comic, on [https://web.archive.org/web/20180914175605/https://xkcd.com/ 2018-09-14], returning to the standard text.

===2017-11-26 - Christmas gifts===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20171126130857/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-11-26]
**[[1920: Emoji Sports]] had been up two days [https://web.archive.org/web/20171125125648/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-11-25] before the message changed from the normal version. But it changed the day before the next comic came up.
***It was changed to a commercial for Christmas shopping with a code for getting 5$ of the price with a codes for different online shops.
**The text:
***To anyone looking for Christmas gifts: Until Monday you can get $5 off
***[https://www.amazon.com/What-International-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544456866 What If?] and [https://www.amazon.com/Thing-Explainer-Complicated-Stuff-Simple/dp/0544668251 Thing Explainer] on Amazon with coupon code GIFTBOOK17.
***At Barnes & Noble, until Sunday you can get 20% off [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-if-serious-scientific-answers-to-absurd-hypothetical-questions-randall-munroe/1118864093 What If?] and [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thing-explainer-randall-munroe/1121864432 Thing Explainer] using code GIVETHANKS.
**It was only up a few days and ended with [[1922: Interferometry]] on [https://web.archive.org/web/20171130150053/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-11-30] where it returned to the standard text.
***But it was still up when the comic in between [[1921: The Moon and the Great Wall]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20171129140033/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-11-29].

===2017-09-22 - Visiting the UK===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170922232616/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-09-22]:
**[[1893: Thread]] (with its release).
***It was not up on the previous comic [[1892: USB Cables]], on the day they changed [https://web.archive.org/web/20170922025204/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-09-22].
**It was an announcement that Randall would visit the UK next week.
**The text:
***I'll be visiting the UK next week! You can join me in London from September 30-October 2 (at [https://live.newscientist.com/speakers/randall-munroe New Scientist Live], [https://www.rigb.org/whats-on/events-2017/october/public-lunchtime-talk--randall-munroe The Royal Institution], and [https://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/randall-munroe-on-making-complicated-stuff-simple/ Intelligence Squared]), then from October 3-6 in [https://www.stpetersyork.org.uk/public_lectures/randall_munroe_thing_explainer York], [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thing-explaining-with-randall-munroe-tickets-37832289396 Edinburgh], [https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/ely/randall-murray-thing-explainer/ Cambridge and Ely], [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/randall-munroe-book-signing-thing-explainer-tickets-38041072873 Oxford], and [https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/whats-on/2017/randall-munroe/ Cheltenham].
**Ended with [[1900: Jet Lag]] on [https://web.archive.org/web/20171010045802/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-10-10] when the text returned to normal.
***But it was still up the day before with [[1899: Ears]] on [https://web.archive.org/web/20171009040109/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-10-09].

===2017-07-31 - Thank you===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170731021227/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2017-07-31]:
**[[1869: Positive and Negative Reviews]] (3rd day after release of this Friday comic)
***The comic [[1870: Emoji Movie Reviews]] was released later that day.
***Megan is holding hand with Cueball and next to them is two words above each other: Thank you.
***The image is also a link.
****The link goes to [https://web.archive.org/web/20170801042453/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/us/politics/senate-votes-repeal-obamacare.html How Each Senator Voted on Obamacare Repeal Proposals], an article showing the senate votes. (here in an archived version).
**Ended with [[1872: Backup Batteries]] on [https://web.archive.org/web/20170804152509/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-08-04], but was still up when [[1871: Bun Alert]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20170803124342/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-08-03].

===2017-07-25 - Vote against health care bill===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170725103104/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-07-25]:
**[[1867: Physics Confession]] (2nd day after release of the comic, it was not up on the first day: [https://web.archive.org/web/20170724095252/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-07-24]).
**Randall modified the xkcd header to ask readers to support voting against Donald Trump's new health care bill.
***The header was replaced with an image which is available in an archived version [https://web.archive.org/web/20170726150959im_/https://imgs.xkcd.com/notes/call-senate.png here].
***The image is also a link (and you can click anywhere on it to go to the link that is mentioned).
****The link goes to [https://web.archive.org/web/20170729003307/https://www.trumpcareten.org/daily TrumpCare Ten] (here in an archived version).
****Randall has previously made it clear, in [[1572: xkcd Survey]], that he knows how to make an image a link, but not how to put the link only where he says to click.
***Transcript of the image:
****[Megan is holding hand with Cueball next to three lines of large text, the same height as they are:]
****Please tell your senators to vote against this health care bill. It will hurt people.
****[After these three lines there is a phone number in a very large bold font with a line of text below:]
****202-224-3121
****Or click here for more info
****[Below the above is a gray line which is split in the middle with gray text, and below that four state names in white text inside black boxes:]
****Know anyone in these states? Ask them to call, too.
****Alaska Maine Nevada Ohio West Virginia
**Ended while [[1869: Positive and Negative Reviews]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20170731164828/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-07-31], when it was replaced by a ''Thank you''.
***That comic came out already [https://web.archive.org/web/20170728124230/https://xkcd.com/ three days before] (Friday comic), but was still up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20170730141019/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2017-07-30]) when the message changed sometimes between Sunday 30th and Monday 31st (where [[1870: Emoji Movie Reviews]] was released).

===2017-01-21 - Update on previous===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170122003124/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-01-21]:
**[[1788: Barge]]
**It came up almost a month after Christmas but did not really change the sales pitch of the previous. It just removed the link image with the large red text, see previous version below.
**The text:
***There are [https://store.xkcd.com/collections/featured four new shirts] in [https://store.xkcd.com/ the xkcd store],
***along with [https://store.xkcd.com/collections/posters posters] and [https://store.xkcd.com/collections/everything lots of other stuff]!
**Ended with [[1867: Physics Confession]] on [https://web.archive.org/web/20170725103104/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-07-25].
***That comic came up [https://web.archive.org/web/20170724095252/https://xkcd.com/ the day before] the above version of the header appeared.
***So the first day after release it was still the T-shirt commercial.
***And it did not return to the standard version in between.

===2016-11-28 - Christmas sale===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161128153015/https://xkcd.com 2016-11-28]
**[[1765: Baby Post]]
**This came up in time for the Christmas sale of 2016.
**The text was
***There are [https://store.xkcd.com/collections/featured four new shirts] in [https://store.xkcd.com/ the xkcd store],
***along with [https://store.xkcd.com/collections/posters posters] and [https://store.xkcd.com/collections/everything lots of other stuff]!
***Above the text there was an image with two black t-shirts with white print on the chest. They were located at either end of a large red text written in the text type used in the comic. This text said New xkcd shirts.
***The entire image was a link to the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store].
**Ended with [[1788: Barge]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20170121114423/https://xkcd.com/ 2017-01-21]

===2016-04-23 - Back to standard text===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160423103108/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-04-23]
**When [[1671: Arcane Bullshit]] came out (probably 2016-04-22, but no earlier archived versions exist) the text returned to the standard xkcd header:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**It stayed like this for more than 7 months until [[1764: XKCDE]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20161128093459/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-11-28].

===2016-04-04 - Protip on Garden===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160404185353/https://www.xkcd.com/#5dbfbb82-fc20-11e5-8001-42010a8e000d 2016-04-04]
**Because of the complexity of the [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] [[1663: Garden]], Randall needed to give people some advice, hence a [[:Category:Protip|protip]] was added.
***This came in several versions, not all managed to be documented in the archive. See more in the trivia for garden regarding the [[1663:_Garden#Header_text_after_release|Header text after release]].
**The header text became a protip with the following text (the first version not documented only had the first line):
***'''Protip''': If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.
***You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.
**When the next comic, [[1664: Mycology]], was released two days later on [https://web.archive.org/web/20160406194653/https://xkcd.com/1664/ 2016-04-06], an extra line of text was added, due to the issues caused by Garden not being on the front page {{xkcd}} but only on the numbered page {{xkcd|1663}}.
***This change was first documented on the front page the day after on [https://web.archive.org/web/20160407010635/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-04-07]
***The change was of course also on and all the other comic and thus also on the Garden comic from [https://web.archive.org/web/20160406192530/https://xkcd.com/1663/ 2016-04-06].
**Text added below the other two lines:
***Note: If you're seeing today's comic in place of your garden, change the URL from xkcd.com/#<your code> to xkcd.com/1663/#<your code>.
****This extra line was only there until next time the comic change, so last day was [https://web.archive.org/web/20160408145017/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-04-08].
**On [https://web.archive.org/web/20160408195958/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-04-08] when [[1665: City Talk Pages]] was released the extra line was removed leaving the two written first here above.
***This was also the case on the Garden comic (and all other comics) from [https://web.archive.org/web/20160408204740/https://xkcd.com:80/1663/ 2016-04-08].
**The Protip stayed in the main header text until [https://web.archive.org/web/20160422102754/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-04-22] when [[1670: Laws of Physics]] was up.
***But even though it disappeared from main header and thus from all other comic it stayed on the Garden comic, also on [https://web.archive.org/web/20160423182630/https://xkcd.com:80/1663/ 2016-04-23].
***And it has then turned out to become one of the permanent [[xkcd_Header_text#Garden|Unique header texts]].

===2016-04-04 - Back to standard text as Garden came up===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160404123555/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-04-04]
**For a brief period of time, when [[1663: Garden]] was finally released, the Header text returned to the standard xkcd header:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**But this lasted less than 13 hours. (Time between the previous and next archived version is 13 hours and 7 minutes).
***As people needed guidance to the new complicated comic.

===2016-04-01 - April 1st comic - technical difficulties===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160401204749/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-04-01]
**When Randall had problem releasing [[1663: Garden]] several [[1663:_Garden#April_Fools.27_header_text|April Fools' header text]] arrived in short succession while [[1662: Jack and Jill]] was still up.
**Each of these where simple text.
***The first from the link abve:
****The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties.
****Please stand by!
***The next from [https://web.archive.org/web/20160402125723/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2016-04-02] at 12:57:
****The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties.
****Status update: Please stand by.
****Status update: This is fine. Everything is fine.
****Status update: Everything is on fire.
****Status update: Searching for calendar systems in which Saturday is April 1st.
***The next from [https://web.archive.org/web/20160402175822/https://www.xkcd.com 2016-04-02] at 17:58:
****The Friday xkcd comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties
****[Editor's note: Everything is on fire] and has been delayed until Sunday night.
**It stayed like the third version until [https://web.archive.org/web/20160404054612/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-04-04] three days after the April Fools' comic was supposed to come out, so Jack and Jill was up until it changed.
*This was what was needed to stop more than 10 months of promotion of the [[Thing Explainer]] book, see below.

===2015-12-13 - Thing Explainer is available===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151213194534/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-12-13]
**[[1615: Red Car]] was still up when the header changed.
***The change was that the promotion for where Randall was last week where removed and left only the promotion the book [[Thing Explainer]]:
**The text:
***Thing Explainer is available at: [https://www.amazon.com/Thing-Explainer-Complicated-Stuff-Simple/dp/0544668251 Amazon], [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thing-explainer-randall-munroe/1121864432?ean=9780544668256#/ Barnes & Noble], [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780544668256 Indie Bound], [https://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/thingexplainer Hudson]
**It was last up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20160401125621/https://xkcd.com/ 2016-04-01] while [[1662: Jack and Jill]] was on the front page.
***This was the last time that Thing Explainer was [[:Category:Book promotion|promoted]] in the header text.
****The first time was [[xkcd_Header_text#2015-05-14_-_New_book_Thing_Explainer|2015-05-14]], so it had been part of the header text for almost ten and a half month. That is a record!

===2015-12-05 - Thing Explainer is available and Next week===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151205070539/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-12-05]
**[[1612: Colds]] was up when the header changed.
***This was also at this time the [[2015-11-24 - Pages from my new book Thing Explainer|previous header texts image] was moved below the comic.
**Randall goes back to a simple promotion of the book [[Thing Explainer]] listing where to boy it.'
***But he adds a line about where he will be next week, first to a book shop on Illinois and then later in Toronto, where the host was {{w|Ryan North}} from [https://qwantz.com/ Dinosaur comics], one of the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Comics_I_enjoy|comics Randall enjoys]].
**The text:
***Thing Explainer is available at: [https://www.amazon.com/Thing-Explainer-Complicated-Stuff-Simple/dp/0544668251 Amazon], [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thing-explainer-randall-munroe/1121864432?ean=9780544668256#/ Barnes & Noble], [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780544668256 Indie Bound], [https://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/thingexplainer Hudson]
***I'll be in [https://web.archive.org/web/20151211002159/https://www.andersonsbookshop.com/event/naperville-reads-randall-munroe Naperville, IL] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20151205205714/https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/indigo-exclusive-randall-munroe-tickets-18694384407 Toronto, ON] (with [https://qwantz.com/ Ryan North]!) next week.
**It was last up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20151212133400/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2015-12-12] while [[1615: Red Car]] was on the front page.

===2015-11-24 - Pages from my new book Thing Explainer===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151203234149/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-12-03]
**[[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]] was still up when the header changed.
***This was a special one comic header text consisting of a large image with pages and excerpts from the book [[Thing Explainer]].
***The image was larger than most comics, and took away the focus of today's comic.
***So already two days after, when [[1612: Colds]] was released, the image was relegated to the being below the comic, but inside the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Main_comic|main comic]] segment, thus not a part of the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Bottom_segment|bottom segment]].
****But it was displayed in the header for all comics, here [https://web.archive.org/web/20151204030024/https://xkcd.com/1609/ an example] from the comic released two comics before 1611, [[1609: Food Combinations]].
****See more (and the image) [[Thing_Explainer#Promotion_at_the_xkcd_home_page|here]] on the page for Thing Explainer.
**Description of the image:
***At the top are shown four pages from the book. Two mainly blue, left and right, with white text and large images and between them two mainly white pages with blue text and smaller images. None of the text is readable, but the two blue pages pictures can be understood even in this size.
****The first page is number 2 about an animal cell: ''Tiny bags of water you’re made of''. It shows a detailed drawing of a human cell, with text at the top, and then several labels with text beneath that have arrows pointing to different parts of the cell.
****The second page is number 31 about the cockpit of an airplane: ''Stuff you touch to fly a sky boat''. It shows the inside of a cockpit with view out of the four windows, with lots of buttons in the ceiling, and blue screens and instruments at the bottom. Out the windows can be seen clouds and Cueball hanging from a balloon (a reference to [[1110: Click and Drag]]).
*****A zoom in on this page is shown beneath the four pages, see more below.
****The third page is page 27. What is on this page is a bit difficult to see, as there are no big drawings with clear meaning. It is the second page in a two page section on Data centers, with the second page focusing on the Computer: ''Computer building''. The pictures shows the data racks, to the right, and the individual computer components put into these, to the top left, with the wiring shown below to the left. Lots of text with arrows to different parts.
****The fourth page is page 23 about Trees: ''Tree''. It clearly shows the silhouette of a white tree on blue background. Several animal live on, in and beneath it. Cueball is standing on the ground. All the text are beneath labels that points to parts of the tree or the tree dwellers.
***In between the two time two pages there is a readable text, split over five lines, with two arrow at the top going from the corners of the text to the near corners of the white pages to either side. And below three arrows, with two pointing similarly as the two top arrows, but starting at the bottom of the text, and one arrow pointing straight down from the middle of the text to the large image below.
***Beneath all this is a large image which shows a zoom in on the left part of the cockpit from the second page above. The zoom is focused on the two front windows, but only the left is entirely in the picture, and the balloon hanging Cueball, cannot be seen in this part of the right window.
****At this zoom level, most of the text van be read (that is labels written on things or having arrows pointing to them). Clouds can bee seen out of both windows and in the background a rocket launch with smoke plume below the rocket is visible. The horizon line is well defines across both windows. Some of the instruments can be seen below the windows with text written on them. And some blue areas, mainly screens can be seen.
***Beneath this picture is a line with links to where the book can be ordered, like the one from the previous header text.
**The text:
***Pages from my new book, ''Thing Explainer'': Complicated stuff in simple words.
***[Labels in the cockpit]:
****Sky
****Ground (This should be below the sky. If it's above the sky, you're either having a big problem or doing something ''really'' fun.)
****Use this stuff to tell the sky boat to fly itself.
****Fly
****How fast it feels IAS 172
****Direction HDG 240
****Fall or rise
****How high 2500
****Fly
****Helpful screen
****Where the ground is
****You are: Flying
****Look here if there is a problem
***Below this image is a line of text with the first word in black and the other are four links to where to order the book:
****Order: [https://www.amazon.com/Thing-Explainer-Complicated-Stuff-Simple/dp/0544668251 Amazon], [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thing-explainer-randall-munroe/1121864432?ean=9780544668256#/ Barnes & Noble], [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780544668256 Indie Bound], [https://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/thingexplainer Hudson]
***The image is a link to [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544668251/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0544668251&linkCode=as2&tag=thekcs-20&linkId=S4XRZJJKSMHOWEQU Thing Explainer on Amazon].
**It was only part of the header for two days until [https://web.archive.org/web/20151204050419/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-12-04].
***It was then moved below the comics as mentioned above from [https://web.archive.org/web/20151205070539/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-12-05] when the next comic [[1612: Colds]] came out.

===2015-11-24 - Thing Explainer is out today===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151124201602/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-11-24]
**[[1607: Supreme Court]] was still up, but [[1608: Hoverboard]] most have come out close to the change.
***See both [https://web.archive.org/web/20151125001228/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-11-25 00:12] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20151125230753/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-11-25 23:07].
***Since this new "comic" was actually a {{w|browser game}} made to celebrate the release of Randall's new book, ''[[Thing Explainer]]'', which was released on the same day as this comic: Tuesday, November 24, 2015. The comic thus appeared on a Tuesday, replacing that week's normal Wednesday release to coincide with the release day.
***Hence it is a shame that there is no archived versions on the 24th showing Hoverboard on the front page. Even though the new version of the Header text is shown on the 24th, but on the previous comic.
**Cause all the header text is about is the release day of Thing Explainer!
***The top part is text with a line with large letters and a line below in brackets and using smaller letters. Below that there is a line dividing the text from the next part.
***Below follows the same header that was up as early as [[#2015-05-15 - Thing Explainer details|2015-05-15]] with the open book and three lines of text.
**The text:
***My new book, [https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/ Thing Explainer], is out today!
***(If you're in NYC, you can also [https://web.archive.org/web/20150925015809/https://stores.barnesandnoble.com:80/author/11170358 come see me]!)
***A picture of the open book is shown with diagrams of a human cell on the left page and suspension bridges on the right. All held in blue nuances. And arrow goes from the first word of the text to the right to the book on the left. The text is also blue except the title of the book which is in red:
****New book: Thing Explainer
****Up Goer Five-style diagrams of things (explained in the ten-hundred most common words)
***Below this image is a line of text with the first word in black and the other are four links to where to order the book:
****Order: [https://www.amazon.com/Thing-Explainer-Complicated-Stuff-Simple/dp/0544668251 Amazon], [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thing-explainer-randall-munroe/1121864432?ean=9780544668256#/ Barnes & Noble], [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780544668256 Indie Bound], [https://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/thingexplainer Hudson]
***The image above the order line is a link to the [[Blag]] post [https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/ New book: Thing Explainer].
**Already the day after [https://web.archive.org/web/20151125001228/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-11-25], when [[1608: Hoverboard]] was up, an extra line (a link) was added below the above. A line was separating it from the links above:
***[https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/11/24/a-puzzle-for-the-uk/ A puzzle for UK readers]
****This was to a blag post with A puzzle for the UK because he could not go to UK in person. So this was a kind of bonus for those who could solve it. (We need an entry on that here on xkcd...)
**On [https://web.archive.org/web/20151127114432/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-11-27] is still looked like this but then when the next comic, [[1609: Food Combinations]], came out on [https://web.archive.org/web/20151128130851/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-11-28] the line about seeing him in New York was removed.
**The version with the puzzle, but without the New York line, was then up until [https://web.archive.org/web/20151201222148/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-12-01] when [[1610: Fire Ants]] was up.
**Then on [https://web.archive.org/web/20151202225254/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2015-12-02] the line with the puzzle at the bottom was changed to:
***I'm doing a [https://www.facebook.com/AndyWeirAuthor/ live Q&A;] at 2:30pm PT with The Martian author Andy Weir.
****The link is to {{w|Andy Weir}}'s Facebook page. And the Q&A can likely not be seen anymore.
****Randall has made no less than two comics about the movie {{w|The Martian (film)|The Martian}}, [[1536: The Martian]] and [[1585: Similarities]].
***It only lasted that day, and this became the last day with this header text, so it ended while [[1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar]] was up.

===2015-10-22 - World Polio Day===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151022200022/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-10-22]
**[[1593: Play-By-Play]] was up when the header changed.
***Randall mentions World Polio Day and the comic he drew for Bill Gates' blog, [[XKCD Marks the Spot]].
***Although he still keeps mentioning the release date for [[Thing Explainer]].
**The text:
***We've [https://slate.com/technology/2015/08/no-new-polio-in-africa-for-one-year-gates-epidemiologist-on-vaccines-and-surveillance.html almost eradicated polio]. For World Polio Day, I drew a comic
***about the eradication efforts. You can see it on [https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/XKCD-Marks-the-Spot Bill Gates's blog].
***My [https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/ new book] of complex diagrams and simple words comes out Nov 24th.
****The last line is split from the Polio announcement with a line.
**Was there until [[1607: Supreme Court]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20151124065108/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2015-11-24].
***That was the day that the book was released, and when the next comic [[1608: Hoverboard]] came out, it was a celebration of the book.

===2015-09-23 - Book trip and tool===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150923044724/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-09-23]:
**[[1580: Travel Ghost]] was up when the header changed.
***Announcing the book trip for the [[Thing Explainer]] book as well as linking to a Thing Explainer word checker tool! Two lines of text with links.
**The text:
***News: Announcing my Thing Explainer [https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/09/22/im-going-on-a-book-trip/ book trip]. Come say hi!
***Other news: Announcing the Thing Explainer [https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/09/22/a-thing-explainer-word-checker/ word checker] tool!
****Both links are to the [[Blag]], the first a schedule for his book trip, and the second telling about Randall's new [https://xkcd.com/simplewriter/ Simple Writer] that could help you ''Write Like Up Goer Five and Thing Explainer''.
**Was there until [[1593: Play-By-Play]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20151021164208/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-10-21].

===2015-09-06 - New links===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150906181550/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-09-06]:
**[[1573: Cyberintelligence]] was still up when the header changed.
***The promotion of the book, [[Thing Explainer]], stayed the same with a picture above links to preorder it, but the links was reduced from four to two, the amazon link changed and a new company was added for the second link removing the other three.
***See [[#2015-05-15 - Thing Explainer details|2015-05-15]] below for all details on the image.
**The new link text:
***Preorder: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thing-Explainer-Randall-Munroe/dp/1473620910 Amazon.co.uk}, [https://www.waterstones.com/book/thing-explainer/9781473620919 Waterstones]
**Was there until [[1579: Tech Loops]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20150919220105/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-09-22].

===2015-08-09 - Back to previous header===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150809230825/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-08-09]:
**[[1561: Water Phase Diagram]] was still up when the header changed.
***It changed back to the exact same heading as before the one with other news here below.
****See [[#2015-05-15 - Thing Explainer details|2015-05-15]] below for all details.
**Stayed like this until [[1573: Cyberintelligence]] was out on [https://web.archive.org/web/20150905154014/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-09-05], but the only change was that the links to preorder changed from four to only two.

===2015-06-06 - Other news===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150606084120/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2015-06-06]
**Changed while [[1534: Beer]] was still up.
***This was just adding some "Other news", but leaving the promotion of [[Thing Explainer]] unchanged as in the [[#2015-05-15 - Thing Explainer details|previous header]], but adding two news stories in text below the link to preorder.
**The new text:
***In other news, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygrdAvmr-MA Space Weird Thing] is delightful, and I feel surprisingly invested in [https://web.archive.org/web/20150720074919/https://twitter.com/xkcdbracket @xkcdbracket's] results.
****The link to Space Weird Thing is a YouTube video with a simple words version of {{w|David Bowie|David Bowie's}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYRH4apXDo Space Oddity] music video, using only the top then hundred words. The creators contributes the idea to the [[1133: Up Goer Five]] diagram which also inspired the book Thing Explainer, also promoted in this header text.
****The other link is referring to [[1529: Bracket]] released 12 days before this update, as a twitter user made a survey going through all the brackets all the way to a winner was found. Seems Randall became interested in who won. See more on the comics page.
**Was there until [[1561: Water Phase Diagram]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20150807181044/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-08-07]. Then it returned back to the previous header with only the promotion of the book.

===2015-05-15 - Thing Explainer details===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150515060322/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2015-05-15]
**[[1525: Emojic 8 Ball]]
**This was a more detailed promotion for Randall's new book: [[Thing Explainer]] to be published in November 2015, more than half a year after the announcement, compared to the previous change which was just a line and a link.
**The text:
***A picture of the open book is shown with diagrams of a human cell on the left page and suspension bridges on the right. All held in blue nuances. And arrow goes from the first word of the text to the right to the book on the left. The text is also blue except the title of the book which is in red:
****New book: Thing Explainer
****Up Goer Five-style diagrams of things (explained in the then hundred most common words)
***Below this image is a line of text with the first word in black and the other are four links to where to preorder the book:
****Preorder: [https://www.amazon.com/Thing-Explainer-Complicated-Stuff-Simple/dp/0544668251 Amazon], [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thing-explainer-randall-munroe/1121864432?ean=9780544668256#/ Barnes & Noble], [https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780544668256 Indie Bound], [https://www.hudsonbooksellers.com/thingexplainer Hudson]
***The image above the preorder line is a link to the [[Blag]] post [https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/ New book: Thing Explainer].
**Changed while [[1534: Beer]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20150605082643/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-06-05], but only to add other information. The main promotion of the book stayed the same.

===2015-05-14 - New book Thing Explainer===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150514053623/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2015-05-14]
**[[1524: Dimensions]] was up.
***A single line announced the new [[Thing Explainer]] book, with link to the [[Blag]] post from the day before.
**The text:
***New book: [https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/ Thing Explainer!]
*The [[:Category:Book promotion|promotion of the book]] stayed up with some changes for [[xkcd_Header_text#2015-12-13_-_Thing_Explainer_is_available|more than 10 month]] first stopping when Randall had [[xkcd_Header_text#2016-04-01_-_The_xkcd_April_1st_comic_is_currently_experiencing_technical_difficulties|problems with his April Fool's comic]] in 2016... It is a record length.
**The first came already the day after so this short announcement was only up on this day and ended with the next comic. See above.
**See more details on the promotion of the book on the Thing Explainer page [[Thing_Explainer#Promotion_at_the_xkcd_home_page|here]].

===2015-02-11 - Back to standard text===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150211154103/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-02-11]
**When [[1485: Friendship]] came out the text returned to the standard xkcd header:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**It stayed like this until [[1523: Microdrones]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20150512184622/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-05-12], so just a day more than three months.

===2015-02-04 - Valentine cards only===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150204051152/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-02-04]
**[[1482: NowPlaying]] came out as it changed.
***After the last day of ordering t-shirt had passed it changed back to the picture with the Valentine cards from the previous header, but without the t-shirt picture.
***See that [[#2015-01-29 - Valentine cards and shirt|header change]], but only the first picture described.
**Ended while [[1484: Apollo Speeches]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20150210005540/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-02-10].

===2015-02-02 - Last day shirt===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150202092804/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-02-02]
**[[1481: API]] came out as it changed.
***Just letting people know it is the last chance to order the binary t-shirt.
***There was just a line of text:
**The text was:
***Today is the last day to order the limited-run [https://web.archive.org/web/20150202092804/https://teespring.com/xkcdbinaryheart binary heart shirt]!
***The last words is link to the shirt in the shop.
**Ended before the next comic was up, but still the day after, when it was too late to order: [https://web.archive.org/web/20150203022036/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-02-03].

===2015-01-29 - Valentine cards and shirt===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150129183442/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-01-29]
**[[1479: Troubleshooting]] was up when it changed.
***It was to tell about both the two previous updates in the same header- Both about the collaboration to make science themed Valentine's Day cards and his new Valentine t-shirt.
***There where two pictures, with a promotion of the two products and a link to them in the shop.
***On the left was text about the cards with a small drawing to the right of the text showing the four cards.
****An ant talking to an aphids; Earth rotating about the sun but locked so one side melts; an ant with a fungus growing from it's head with a heart, and a Velociraptor skeleton where the last bit of the tail is put on by a person. The text on the cards are unreadable, but they can be seen via the link.
***The text (in three lines) was:
****Webcomic science Valentine card collaboration
****The [https://web.archive.org/web/20150127161237/https://store.xkcd.com/products/webcomic-science-valentines link to the cards] from the picture.
***The picture on the left shows binary numbers 0 and 1 in white on a black background. The middle of the three lines of those have message in red text.
***The text:
****0 1 0 1 0 Binary heart 1 1 1
****1 1 1 Valentine shirt 0 1
****0 0 0 1 [limited run] 0 0 1
****The [https://web.archive.org/web/20150125080756/https://teespring.com/xkcdbinaryheart link to the shirt] from the picture.
**Ended while [[1480: Super Bowl]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20150201015913/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-02-01].

===2015-01-27 - Valentine's Day cards===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150127161237/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-01-27]
**[[1478: P-Values]] was up when it changed.
***It was to tell that about a collaboration to make science themed Valentine's Day cards.
***There was just two lines of text:
**The text was:
***I've teamed up with three other webcomic artists
***to make [https://web.archive.org/web/20150127161237/https://store.xkcd.com/products/webcomic-science-valentines a set of science-themed Valentine's Day cards]!
**There was a link to the cards on the store.
**Ended while [[1479: Troubleshooting]] was up [https://web.archive.org/web/20150128172147/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-01-28].

===2015-01-24 - Get shirts in store===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150124110707/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-01-24]
**[[1477: Star Wars]] came out as it changed.
***It was to tell about a new type of t-shirt for Valentine Day.
***There was just two lines of text:
**The text was:
***For Valentine's Day, you can get a binary heart shirt
***(from {{xkcd|99|comic #99!}}) in [https://web.archive.org/web/20150125080756/https://teespring.com/xkcdbinaryheart a limited run on TeeSpring]
**There was a link to [[99: Binary Heart]] and to the relevant t-shirt on the [https://teespring.com/ Teespring] home page.
**Ended while [[1478: P-Values]] was up [https://web.archive.org/web/20150126133139/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-01-26].

===2014-12-22 - Get shirts in store===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141222233233/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-12-22]
**[[1463: Altitude]] came out as it changed.
***After the Christmas sale deadline there was still merchandise in the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store].
***There was just a line of text:
**The text was:
***You can get xkcd shirts, prints, and posters in the [https://shop.xkcd.com/ store]!
**The word store was a link to the shop.
**Ended while [[1476: Ceres]] was up [https://web.archive.org/web/20150123102318/https://xkcd.com/ 2015-01-23].

===2014-12-19 - Back to previous header===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141219092349/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2014-12-19]:
**[[1462: Blind Trials]] came out as it changed.
*It changed back to the exact same heading as before the one with order now here below.
**See [[#2014-12-17 - Christmas deadline|2014-12-17]] below for all details.
**Ended while [[1462: Blind Trials]] was still up [https://web.archive.org/web/20141221172450/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2014-12-21].

===2014-12-18 - Order now===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141218090650/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2014-12-18]
**[[1461: Payloads]] was still up when it changed.
***It was to alert that the deadline for shipping before Christmas from the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store] was Friday and that it was rapidly approaching. This was a follow up on the [[#2014-12-17 - Christmas deadline|Wednesdays announcement]] the day before.
***The image was just four lines of text with several red and blue words.
**The text was:
***The xkcd store Christmas shipping deadline is Friday!
***Once it passes, there is no going back. The arrow of time drags us all
***Inexorably forward toward decay and disorder. toward the end of all things.
***Towards the empty silence of the grave. Order now!
**The entire drawing was a link to the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store], not just the blue text.
**Ended a day later while [[1461: Payloads]] was still up [https://web.archive.org/web/20141216084107/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-12-16].

===2014-12-17 - Christmas deadline===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141217085320/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2014-12-17]
**[[1461: Payloads]] came out as it changed.
***It was to alert that the deadline for shipping before Christmas from the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store] was Friday. This was announced Wednesday two days before the deadline.
***The image was just text with the last word in each line in red and the xkcd store blue as a link.
**The text was:
***Looking for a gift?
***xkcd store Christmas shipping deadline is Friday!
**The entire drawing was a link to the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store], not just the blue text
**Ended a day later while [[1461: Payloads]] was still up!

===2014-12-03 - Christmas shopping===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141203132024/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2014-12-03]
**[[1455: Trolley Problem]] came out as it changed.
***It was to announce the start of the Christmas shopping on the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store]
***Four boxes with shipping details are shown. Two green and two red, alternating from green. Between them are three text messages in two, two and three lines.
**The text was:
***xkcd store
***Christmas shopping
***I will probably not ship you a bobcat.
**The entire drawing was a link to the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store].
**The bobcat is a reference to [[325: A-Minus-Minus]].
**Ended while [[1460: SMFW]] was up [https://web.archive.org/web/20141216084107/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-12-16].

===2014-11-29 - Thanks - Emily===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141129211604/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-11-29]
**[[1453: fMRI]] was still up when it changed.
***It was to thanks for all the help his friend Emily with cancer got through among other his previous header text [[#2014-11-27 - Help Emily| Help Emily]].
***That only needed to be up two days before the goal was met.
**The text was:
***Thank you for helping my friend Emily.
***It means so much.
**Ended three days later while [[1454: Done]] was up [https://web.archive.org/web/20141202065133/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-12-02].

===2014-11-27 - Help Emily===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141127005239/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-11-27]
**[[1452: Jurassic World]] came out as it changed.
***It was to help a friend who got cancer by raising money for her.
**The text was:
***Hey all. My friend Emily—the economist who helped
***me with my {{xkcd|980|money chart}}—has been fighting cancer. She's
***having a rough time and could use some [https://web.archive.org/web/20141128183414/https://www.gofundme.com/e07dqk help]. Thank you.
**There are two links, one to the [[980: Money]] comic she helped Randall create, and one for her Go Fund Me page to raise money for her cancer cure.
***The help link above is to the archived version from that time, but the link was still active in August 2019: [https://www.gofundme.com/e07dqk Helping Emily Fight Cancer].
**Ended while [[1453: fMRI]] was up [https://web.archive.org/web/20141128070838/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2014-11-28].
***She did thus not get a permanent header as did Becky on the [[#Seven_Years|Seven Years]] comic.

===2014-10-02 - what if? bestseller===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141002211139/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-10-02]
**[[1428: Move Fast and Break Things]] was up when it changed from the [[#2014-09-02 - what if? book out|book is out]].
**This was a month after the ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book came out.
***It added a line of red text beneath the previous header to announce that the book was the #1 New York bestseller.
**The text was:
***My book is out!
***(#1 New York bestseller!)
**The entire image was a link to the [https://whatif.xkcd.com/book/ The Book] page on the [https://whatif.xkcd.com/ what if?] page on xkcd. post.
**Ended while [[1451: Background Screens]] was up [https://web.archive.org/web/20141125234520/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-11-25].

===2014-09-04 - what if? book out===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140904150600/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-09-04]
**[[1416: Pixels]] was up when it changed from the [[#2014-09-02 - what if? book out today|book is out today]].
**This was two days after the ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book came out.
***It only removed to today from the previous header, that had only been up two days.
**The text was:
***My book is out!
**The entire image was a link to the [https://whatif.xkcd.com/book/ The Book] page on the [https://whatif.xkcd.com/ what if?] page on xkcd. post.
**Ended while [[1428: Move Fast and Break Things]] was up [https://web.archive.org/web/20141001130827/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-09-01].

===2014-09-02 - what if? book out today===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140902125802/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-09-02]
**[[1415: Ballooning]] was up when it changed from the [[#2014-07-23 - what if? book tour|book tour header]].
**This was the day the ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book came out. [[Cueball]] standing to the left of the text with arms raised shouts this out.. The word Book is underlined and blue to indicate a link.
**The text was:
***My book is out today!
**The entire image was a link to the [https://whatif.xkcd.com/book/ The Book] page on the [https://whatif.xkcd.com/ what if?] page on xkcd. post.
**Ended while [[1416: Pixels]] was still [https://web.archive.org/web/20140903134518/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-09-03].

===2014-07-23 - what if? book tour===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140723180600/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-07-23]
**[[1398: Snake Facts]]
**This was a promotion of his book tour for the ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book made by [[Cueball]] standing to the left of the text with arms raised. Several parts of the text was underlined and blue to indicate links.
**The text was:
***I'm going on a book tour! click here for a list of stops.
***Or click anywhere-this whole image is one link because I've never gotten the hang of HTML imagemaps.
**The entire image was a link to the [[Blag]] post: [https://blog.xkcd.com/2014/07/22/what-if-book-tour/ What If book tour!].
***Later Randall commented on this lacking ability in the comic: [[1572: xkcd Survey]].
***He also mentions it in one of the [[#xkcd_Header_text#2019-07-09_-_Drawings_from_How_To|promotions]] for his [[How To]] book.
***He much later he again mentions that html is hard, thus explaining why the entire image is a link instead of the actual blue highlighted link in one of the promotions for [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-08-11_-_Preorder_What_if.3F_2_-_with_image|what if? 2]].
**Ended while [[1415: Ballooning]] was still up [https://web.archive.org/web/20140901113916/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-09-01].

===2014-03-13 - what if? announced===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140313070951/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-03-13]
**[[1341: Types of Editors]] was up.
**This was the first promotion of Randall's new ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book which is shown next to two lines of text.
**The text was:
***News:
***I'm publishing a ''what if'' book!
**The entire image was a link to the [[Blag]] post: [https://blog.xkcd.com/2014/03/12/what-if-i-wrote-a-book/ What if I wrote a book?]
**Ended while [[1397: Luke]] was up [https://web.archive.org/web/20140722142115/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-07-22].

===2014-01-09 - Back to standard text===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140109190927/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2014-01-09]
**When [[1314: Photos]] was still up when the text returned to the standard xkcd header:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**It stayed until [https://web.archive.org/web/20140312070248/https://xkcd.com/ 2014-03-12] when [[1340: Unique Date]] was up, a bit more than two months.

===2013-12-21 - Deadline for Christmas shipping has passed===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131221043417/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2013-12-21]
**It changed when [[1306: Sigil Cycle]] came out.
**This came up when it was too close to Christmas in 2013 for shipping to arrive in time for Christmas. And Randall makes a note of this, but lets people know that they could still buy presents...
**The text was
***The deadline for guaranteed Christmas shipping has passed, but if you order something from the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store], we'll get it to you as fast as possible!
**Ended when [[1314: Photos]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20140108181520/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2014-01-08].

===2013-12-06 - Empty header===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131206213503/https://xkcd.com/ 2013-12-06]
**It changed when [[1300: Galilean Moons]] came out.
***There was no header text. This happened next on [[Header_text#2020-04-05 - Empty header|2020-04-05]]. It looks really weird.
**Ended when [[1305: Undocumented Feature]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20131220005306/https://xkcd.com/ 2013-12-20].

===Changes not documented yet 3===
*More changes will for sure be here between this and the one below.

====Interesting links in the Archive 3====
*Just put the link here with a date and maybe a short note:
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131205202730/https://xkcd.com/ 2013-12-05]: Xmas sale before above
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130315162227/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2013-03-15]: Empty follows below

===2013-03-15 - Empty header===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130315162227/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2013-03-15]
**It changed while [[1186: Bumblebees]] was on the front page.
***After the text saying a comic would be delayed disappeared no text replaced this.
***So the header was left empty!
**This lasted until [https://web.archive.org/web/20130318072820/https://xkcd.com/ 2013-03-18] while [[1187: Aspect Ratio]] was up.

===2013-03-13 - Comic will be delayed===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130313133631/https://xkcd.com/ 2013-03-13]
**It changed when [[1184: Circumference Formula]] came out, likely because the next comic was delayed.
***But there is a gap of three days before where no archived version exist, so cannot say if there where more than a few hours with this text.
**The text:
***The comic will be delayed until late morning EDT.
**Ended when [[1185: Ineffective Sorts]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20130313175306/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2013-03-13].
***That was later same day as the first archived version. But could have been longer as mentioned above.

===2012-11-26 - xkcd store===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121126235628/https://xkcd.com/1138/ 2012-11-26]
**It changed while [[1138: Heatmap]] was up.
***Notice that the above link is not from the main page, but from {{xkcd|1138}}.
***There was a gap of five days in the archive of the main page.
***The first day that it was archived from the front page was on [https://web.archive.org/web/20121201111432/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-12-01], while [[1141: Two Years]] was up.
**The standard header text is replaced with an image that makes it seem like a rip is being torn in the white region where the text used to be. Beneath the white material that has now been ripped, some text can partly be seen. It is possible to read it.
**The text:
***xkcd store
****The image is a link to the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store] (tadaaa!)
**Ended when [[1183: Rose Petals]] was up on [https://web.archive.org/web/20130311073948/https://xkcd.com:80/1183/ 2013-03-11]
***The above link is from {{xkcd|1183}}.
***Last time the front page was archived with it was though on [https://web.archive.org/web/20130309010403/https://xkcd.com/ 2013-03-09].

===2012-10-24 - Back to standard text===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121024082017/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-10-24]
**While [[1124: Law of Drama]] was on the front the header returned to the standard xkcd header:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**It stayed until [https://web.archive.org/web/20121126035129/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-11-26] when [[1138: Heatmap]] was up, a few days more than a month.

===2012-10-17 - New What-If - Lightning===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121017232102/https://xkcd.com/1121/ 2012-10-17]
**Probably while [[1122: Electoral Precedent]] was up.
***But the link above showing it was up on the 2012-10-17 is from the previous comics page {{xkcd|1121}} [[1121: Identity]].
***But the first version archived with this header is saved on [https://web.archive.org/web/20121018082304/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-10-18]
**Randall promotes another New What-If article.
***See the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|16|Today's topic: Lightning}}''.
**The text
***New What-If article:
***[https://what-if.xkcd.com/16/ What if lightning struck while you were ...]
**This lasted until [https://web.archive.org/web/20121023023404/https://xkcd.com/1121/ 2012-10-23] when [[1124: Law of Drama]] was on the front page
***This link is though from {{xkcd|1121}}.
***The last this version was archived on the front page was the day before on [https://web.archive.org/web/20121022120008/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-10-22].

===2012-10-10 - New What-If - Mariana Trench Explosion===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121010003837/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-10-10]
**[[1118: Microsoft]] was still up at this time.
**Randall promotes another New What-If article.
***See the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|15|Mariana Trench Explosion}}''.
**The text
***New What-If article:
***[https://what-if.xkcd.com/15/ What if you set off a nuclear bomb in the Mariana Trench?].
**This lasted until [https://web.archive.org/web/20121016055538/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-10-16] when [[1121: Identity]] was up.

===2012-10-02 - This week's What-If - Short Answer Section===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121002231724/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2012-10-02]
**[[1115: Sky]] was still up at this time.
**Randall promotes another New What-If article.
***See the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|14|Short Answer Section}}''.
**The text
***In this week's What-If article I [https://what-if.xkcd.com/14/ answer multiple reader questions].
**This lasted until [https://web.archive.org/web/20121008112434/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-10-08] when [[1118: Microsoft]] was up.

===2012-09-26 - New What-If - Laser Pointer===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120926163111/https://xkcd.com/1108/ 2012-09-26]
**[[1113: Killed in Action]] was up at this time.
***The link above showing it happened on the 26th is from {{xkcd|1108}}
***The first day this version was archived on the front page was on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120928003838/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-09-28]
**Randall promotes another New What-If article.
***See the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|13|Laser Pointer}}''.
**The text
***New What-If article:
***[https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/ If everyone aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at once, would it change color?]
**This lasted until [https://web.archive.org/web/20121001080517/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-10-01] when [[1115: Sky]] was up.

===2012-09-18 - what-if.xkcd.com - Raindrop===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120918143653/https://www.xkcd.com/1108/ 2012-09-18]
**[[1109: Refrigerator]] was still up at this time.
***The link above showing it happened on the 18th is from {{xkcd|1108}}
***The first day this version was archived on the front page was on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120919015232/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-09-19]
**Randall promotes another What-If article on the what-if page.
***See the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|12|Raindrop}}''.
**The text
***what-if.xkcd.com: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/12/ What if all of a storm's water fell in a single raindrop?].
**This lasted until [https://web.archive.org/web/20120925090123/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-09-25] when [[1112: Think Logically]] was up.

===Changes not documented yet 2===
*The above is the last documented.
**There will for sure be more changes earlier than this.

====Interesting links in the Archive 2====
*Just put the link here with a date and maybe a short note:
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120917052827/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-09-17]: What if Droppings ends.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120718231719/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2012-07-18] Next stores header text

===2012-07-10 - New: what-if.xkcd.com===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120710114846/https://xkcd.com/1078/ 2012-07-10]
**This was a special change happening over a few days. The above "new" header text from the given date is actually shown on the previous comic [[1078: Knights]].
***Another example from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120710072249/https://xkcd.com:80/1070 2012-07-10] is shown for [[1070: Words for Small Sets]].
**The comic on the main page released on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120709045709/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-07-09] was [[1079: United Shapes]], but that comic had a [[xkcd_Header_text#United_Shapes|unique header text]] upon its release.
***So both on the 9th as shown above and on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120710114846/https://xkcd.com/1078/ 2012-07-10] the header text was different on the front than on all other pages.
****As can be read in the link above, the new header text actually got incorporated into the unique text, so that after the next comic was released on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120711234408/https://xkcd.com/1079/ 2012-07-11] the current new header text and a smaller version of the original unique header text was now shown on the Unites Shapes page.
****{{xkcd|1079|And it was never changed back}}.
**The first version of the new text from the 10th was only active one day:
***The text:
****New site: what-if.xkcd.com, where I abuse science to answer hypothetical questions. I'll answer a new question every Tuesday.
*****The link was not an active link. And this was never shown on the front page, but on all other comics.
**Already on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120711223349/https://xkcd.com/1078/ 2012-07-11] when [[1080: Visual Field]] was released the new header changed a bit
***At this time it most have been shown on the front page, but the link above is again from [[1078: Knights]].
****For some reason the front page was not saved on either the 11th or 12th, so no version of the front page with Visual Field exist
****The first archived version of the front page with this new header text was from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154207/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-07-13] when [[1081: Argument Victory]] was on the front page.
**The final text:
***New: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/ what-if.xkcd.com]: abusing science to answer hypothetical questions.
***I'll answer a new reader question every Tuesday.
****This time the link was active and directs to the new ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' blog and its first entry {{what if|1|Relativistic Baseball}}
**The whole idea was that Randall released the new what if? blog on the 10th of July 2012. And thus would like to make a promotion of it.
***And then he timed it so poorly that the front page had a different header than the rest of the comics.
***It was so annoying for him that he actually changed the header for Unites Shapes manually so that page also showed the new link. Maybe even before it left the front page, but that has not been documented in the archive.
***And then he forgot about it when the header changed for all the other comics, so it is now a relic of the promotion of his first what if release.
**The what if promotion continued for a long time, but the final version from above only lasted until 17th at the latest. There is again no archived versions of the front page from the 15th, 16th or 17th.
***The last time it was archived on the front page was [https://web.archive.org/web/20120714062857/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-07-14], when [[1081: Argument Victory]] was still up.
***But on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120715070938/https://xkcd.com:80/1081/ 2012-07-15] it was still shown on the page for Argument Victory and same for [https://web.archive.org/web/20120716235458/https://www.xkcd.com/998/ 2012-07-16] on [[998: 2012]]
****So seemed it stayed up while [[1082: Geology]] was up on the 16-17/7.

===2012-04-09 - Standard text plus store link===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120409190952/https://xkcd.com/1026/ 2012-04-09]
**It changed when [[1040: Lakes and Oceans]] came up.
***The above link to prove this is though from comic {{xkcd|1026}} [[1026: Compare and Contrast]] the first to be found that where archived on the 9th.
***The first archived version on the main page is from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120411053543/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-04-11] when [[1041: Whites of Their Eyes]] was up.
***There where no archived version of the front page on the 9th or 10th while Lake and Oceans was up. So it was also first on the 11th that this new text could be seen, but only when it had moved to its own page number [https://web.archive.org/web/20120411052948/https://xkcd.com/1040/ 1040].
****The change probably came because of this special comic, which may became a [https://store.xkcd.com/collections/posters/products/lakes-oceans-poster poster].
**The update was to add a promotion for the store under the standard header text.
**The text
***XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
***You can get prints, posters, and t-shirts in the [https://store.xkcd.com/ store].
**This lasted until [https://web.archive.org/web/20120709004956/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2012-07-09] when [[1078: Knights]] was up, exactly three months, so although not only the standard text, the standard text was first for three months and three days, see [[#2012-04-05 - Back to standard text|below]].

===2012-04-05 - Back to standard text===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120405195956/https://www.xkcd.com/1021/ 2012-04-05]
**While [[1038: Fountain]] was on the front the header returned to the standard xkcd header:
***xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
**The link above to prove the date is seen on [[1021: Business Plan]].
***The first archived version on front page is from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120406111048/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-04-06], when [[1039: RuBisCO]] was up.
***A version showing Fountain with this can be found on it's own page {{xkcd|1038}} on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120406085618/https://xkcd.com:80/1038/ 2012-04-06].
****When it was archived while on the front page it still had the previous header on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120404210927/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-04-05].
**It stayed up, unchanged, until [https://web.archive.org/web/20120408200414/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-04-08] when [[1039: RuBisCO]] was up. So only three days.
***But [[#2012-04-09- Standard text plus store link|the change]] did not remove the standard text but just added a link to the store. And this version, still with the standard text at the top stayed for three more months.

===2012-03-28 - Visiting Newport News===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120328103319/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-03-28]
**[[1035: Cadbury Eggs]] was on the front when it changed.
***From the end of March 2012, there is a problem with the archived versions of xkcd, so they do not load properly and do not include the comic picture.
**It was to announce a talk Randall gave at his old school.
**The text:
***I'm [https://blog.xkcd.com/2012/03/22/im-visiting-cnu-on-april-4th/ visiting] Newport News, VA next week, where I'll be speaking at CNU, my old school. If you want to come, reserve a seat [https://web.archive.org/web/20120329214411/https://www.cnu.edu/pcs/xkcd/index.asp here]!
****The first link it to a post in the [[Blag]]: [https://blog.xkcd.com/2012/03/22/im-visiting-cnu-on-april-4th/ I’m visiting CNU on April 4th].
****The other link is no longer working, but the link above goes to an archived version.
**There was a special situation with this header text. For three days it was not on the front page, as the [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] [[1037: Umwelt]] came out and stayed from April 1st to April 3rd on the front page.
***This comic had it's own [[#Unique header text|unique header text]] from the start, one that has [[#Umwelt|stayed like this]] since!
****So from [https://web.archive.org/web/20120401151639/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-04-01] to [https://web.archive.org/web/20120403223453/https://www.xkcd.com/ 2012-04-03] the front page had another header:
*****You can get posters, prints, and t-shirts in the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store].
***But all the other comics kept the Visiting header on all three days as shown here:
****[https://web.archive.org/web/20120401214214/https://xkcd.com:80/1036/ 2012-04-01] from[[1036: Reviews]].
****[https://web.archive.org/web/20120402150258/https://xkcd.com/1019 2012-04-02] from [[1019: First Post]].
****[https://web.archive.org/web/20120403164523/https://xkcd.com:80/1036/ 2012-04-03] from [[1036: Reviews]].
*****The one from the 2nd of April was hardest to find, but the most important, because that was clearly in the time period where Umwelt was up, thus definitely proving that the other pages had a different header than the front page. This is rare.
**It returned to the front page on [https://web.archive.org/web/20120404210927/https://xkcd.com:80/ 2012-04-04] and stayed up until [https://web.archive.org/web/20120405195956/https://www.xkcd.com/1021/ 2012-04-05] when [[1038: Fountain]] was up.
***The link from the 5th though is from {{xkcd|1021}} [[1021: Business Plan]], the only comic archived on the 5ht to be found.
****The previous link was the last time it was archived while on the front page.

===2012-03-12 - xkcd Holistic Browser===
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120312185125/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-03-12]
**[[1028: Communication]] was up at the time.
***From here the archive doesn't load the page properly so it is really boring to document. This goes for both first and last day of this text.
**The text:
***New: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120318153220/https://holistic.xkcd.com/ holistic.xkcd.com], the least useful web navigation tool ever.
****The link is now dead, but the link above is to an archived version.
****On that page there is the following text:
*****The XKCD Holistic Browser
*****Because we are all one.
*****Type a web address
*****and you'll be taken to one
*****typed by someone else.
*****URL:
*****Warning: This allows strangers to direct your browser!
*****They may send you to pages containing
*****porn, viruses, or Justin Bieber fanfiction.
*****At the very least, turn on private browsing.
**During the time this header was active the comic [[1031: s/keyboard/leopard/]] came out.
***It had its own [[xkcd_Header_text#Unique_header_text|unique header text]] which thus replaced this text on the front page for two days.
***But it did not replace it on all the other pages so this was the active header text during the entire period, see more here: [[xkcd_Header_text#s.2Fkeyboard.2Fleopard.2F|s/keyboard/leopard/]]
**This lasted till [https://web.archive.org/web/20120327050311/https://xkcd.com/1033 2012-03-27] while [[1034: Share Buttons]] was up.
**But the last archived version with this on the front page was the day before [https://web.archive.org/web/20120326180811/https://xkcd.com// 2012-03-26].
***The link from 27th is from an archived version of [[1033: Formal Logic]].

===Changes not documented yet 1===
*The above is the last documented.
**There will for sure be more changes earlier than this.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120311135259/https://xkcd.com/ 2012-03-11] Text before. For next entry below...



[[Category:Design of xkcd.com]]

{{xkcdmeta}}

3033: Origami Black Hole

2025-01-04T02:38:08Z

Megan: + degeneracy pressure

{{comic
| number = 3033
| date = January 3, 2025
| title = Origami Black Hole
| image = origami_black_hole_2x.png
| imagesize = 272x480px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = You may notice the first half of these instructions are similar to the instructions for a working nuclear fusion device. After the first few dozen steps, be sure to press down firmly and fold quickly to overcome fusion pressure.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PLANET-SIZED SWARM OF SELF-REPLICATING NUCLEAR POWERED PAPER COMPRESSION ROBOTS - Please change this comment when editing this page. It needs an explanation for the title text. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows what at first appears to be an actual page of {{w|origami}} directions, like [https://origami.me/crane/ this one] or [https://origami.guide/origami-animals/origami-rabbits/origami-sleeping-rabbit/ this one], except labeled "How to fold a real origami black hole". The "real" part may be referring to a "fake" origami black hole which would be a piece of origami made to look like a black hole (whatever that means). It seems black-hole-like origami does exist, as created by [https://parchmentandallthingspaper.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/folding/ Richard Sweeney]. The implication is that while the linked origami only resembles a black hole, Randall's instructions indicate a method to physically create a {{w|black hole}} out of origami paper. However, it quickly devolves into nothing other than repeating folds in half. This wouldn't really create a black hole,{{citation needed}} but it would become impossible long before the 190 folds in half that the instructions require. In fact - assuming a thickness of around 0.1mm the sum of the lengths and width of the paper would need to be around 10^110 meters for it to be possible to fold it 190 times.

The {{w|mathematics of paper folding}} were augmented with [https://web.archive.org/web/20051102085038/http://pomonahistorical.org/12times.htm work by a California high school student in 2001] who wrote equations that [https://web.archive.org/web/20211116013626/http://teachersofindia.org/sites/default/files/folding_paper_in_half.pdf related the size of paper to the maximum number of folds it could make], which has not yet exceeded the low teens in human competition. This could be exceeded by scoring the paper to cut and flatten the outer layers of the folds, but its thickness would immediately surpass its length, and compressing it beyond the size of its fibers would require some way to hold it together.

This comic is likely a reference to the {{w|Schwarzschild radius}} of a piece of paper. The Schwarzchild radius is a characteristic of every object that depends on the object's mass. If an object is compressed into the volume of a sphere with its characteristic Schwarzschild radius, then that object will become a black hole. (More specifically, it will become a {{w|Schwarzschild metric|Schwarzschild black hole}}.) As such, if a piece of paper were folded sufficiently many times so as to fit within its own Schwarzschild radius, it would become a black hole. However, this would require compressing the paper into a flat sheet at every step, otherwise the paper would have a thickness greatly exceeding its Schwarzschild radius.

If we assume standard {{w|origami paper#Kami|kami origami paper}} with a side length of 15cm and a weight of 70 grams per square meter, we get a Schwarzschild radius of 2.339×10^-30 meters corresponding to a mass of 1.575 grams. It follows that, ignoring the paper's thickness, we would need to halve each side length -log2((2×2.339×10-30)/0.15)=94.69 times to fit each side length within the "Schwarzschild diameter" of the paper. Using the square folding technique in the comic, this would take approximately 95*2=190 steps to complete, the exact number given in the comic.

In actual fact, it's not possible to fold a piece of paper this many times, because the amount of paper 'wasted' in each fold [https://web.archive.org/web/20211116013626/http://teachersofindia.org/sites/default/files/folding_paper_in_half.pdf will quickly surpass the length and width of the paper]. For an ordinary letter-sized sheet (A4 or 8.5x11) the maximum number of folds is 7. The world record for the total number of folds is 12, done with a length of tissue paper 3/4 mile long. A group of MIT students demonstrated 13 folds using multiple miles of paper, but had to lay separate pieces together as it made them too thick to tape them. Materials other than paper, such as thin foil, can be folded more times. Not only that but, as the title text alludes to, prior to reaching any creation of a black hole, the pressures generated by the resulting {{w|Nuclear fusion#Confinement in thermonuclear fusion|fusion of its atoms}} must be overcome. Electron and neutron degeneracy pressure would also have to be overcome.

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

:How to fold a '''''real''''' origami black hole:

:Step 1.
:[A square sheet of paper shown folded in half, with a dashed line going across the middle, and an arrow pointing from one half to the other.]

:[In each step from Step 2. to Step 9., the paper is shown folded in half again and depicted in the same manner as Step 1.]
:Step 2.
:Step 3.
:Step 4.
:Step 5.
:Step 6.
:Step 7.
:Step 8.
:Step 9.

:Steps 10-189.
:[Text shown between tall square brackets:]
:Fold paper in half another 180 or so times.

:Step 190.
:[A labeled arrow points to a dot]
:Black hole!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Physics]]

3020: Infinite Armada Chess

2024-12-05T07:09:46Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ no such article

{{comic
| number = 3020
| date = December 4, 2024
| title = Infinite Armada Chess
| image = infinite_armada_chess_2x.png
| imagesize = 282x497px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Stockfish 16 suggests the unconventional opening 1. RuntimeError: Out of bounds memory access
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an infinite armada of stockfish BOTS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Chess}} is a board game played between two players on an 8x8 chessboard. In standard chess, each player has 8 pawns and 8 pieces: 2 rooks, 2 knights, 2 bishops, a queen, and a king. {{w|Chess variants}} are chess games in which the rules, board sizes, and/or piece behaviors are altered. In the chess game presented here, the standard chessboard is presented, however, the board extends vertically past the original 1st and 8th ranks off the page to infinity in both directions. Each square beyond the 8 standard ranks is filled by an additional queen. The {{w|Queen (chess)|queen}} is the most powerful piece on the chessboard, having the powers of a {{w|Bishop (chess)|bishop}} and a {{w|Rook (chess)|rook}} combined. With an {{tvtropes|TitleDrop|infinite armada}} of queens, each player will be much stronger.{{citation needed}} Sometimes having a bunch of queens [https://x.com/chesscom/status/1841540380363211164 doesn't go very well], however.

In {{w|algebraic chess notation}}, chess moves are represented by the move number, the piece moved, and the destination square. For example, the sequence 1. e4 Nf6 indicates that White opened the game by moving their e-pawn to the e4 square and Black replied by moving their kingside knight to f6, the {{w|Alekhine Defence}}. In the title text, {{w|Stockfish_(Chess)|Stockfish}} is a {{w|chess engine}} designed to evaluate a chessboard and find the best move. However, it is limited by the processing power of the computer on which it runs. {{citation needed}} As there are infinitely many pieces to consider in the move evaluation, Stockfish will require an infinitely large amount of {{w|RAM|memory}} to evaluate the position. This has the problem of exceeding the maximum memory of the computer running Stockfish, returning a RuntimeError as the first move for White.

==Transcript==
:[A chess board in the starting position, except it extends further at the top and bottom, going beyond the panel. The extra squares are filled with queens of the sides' respective colors.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Infinite armada chess

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

User:42.book.addict

2024-12-04T01:31:52Z

Megan: /* To Do List for Jeff */ minor spelling fix; idk if it's okay for me to edit here so revert me if i'm wrong

{{notice|I have reached out to [[User:Jeff|Jeff]]-the owner of this wiki and the only (sort of) active ‘crat-via Gmail. Hopefully he responds soon! You can see my To-Do List for him at the bottom of my user page. If there is anything else you think is important, please add to it. I am also considering asking him for adminship, for I am pretty active and available, as well as very dedicated towards this project. What do you think?
TL;DR-emailed [[User:Jeff|Jeff]], asked him to do some very important things, I want to become an admin, please give me your thoughts.}}

Hi! If you see this, you have reached my user page! I’m 14, live in California, love reading, and started reading Randall’s works (What If?, Thing Explainer, XKCD) in 2018. I started editing on Feb. 1, 2024. I've done {{#cscore:42.book.addict|changes}} changes across {{#cscore:42.book.addict|pages}} pages, bringing to a total of {{#cscore:42.book.addict|score}} point contribution score. See my [[User:42.book.addict/userbox|userboxes]]!

==My Loves==
•Hatsune Miku 🥰 
•Classical music-Beethoven 
•Reading (seriously. I will read any book you give me. I will read the ingredients off the back of a mustard bottle for fun. I read an entire scientific encyclopaedia during the lockdown.) 
•ao3 
•Pokémon cards (I have a pretty solid portfolio/collection) 
•Bluey (yes, I enjoy watching a preschool show. sue me.) 
•Harry Potter (the book series) 
•Sciences 
•Maths

==To Do List==
•learn to use the goddamned preview button
:✓ '''{{{1|Done}}}''' 
•get a life 
:X '''impossible'''
•create a bot that fixes grammatical mistakes through the Pywiki library 
:•<nowiki>{{citation needed}}</nowiki>, extra periods/commas/spaces/whitespace
•clean out the maintenance report pages 
•Use the summary box more often 
•finish up [[2288: Collector's Edition]] 

==Log==
•yayyyyy only 3 months on the wiki and already 43rd place in overall editing for the entire history of this wiki! also, first admin beat in edit count! more edits to come! (5/14/2024) 
•42nd place-the answer to life, the universe and everything else (5/16/2024) 
•what on earth did I do that made my contribution score jump 70 points (9/24/2024) 
•''must…figure…out…how…to…set…up…a…custom…sig (collapses after fighting with wikitext)'' (9/26/2024) 
•300 edits in a month! (10/1/2024, 2:13 PM PST) 
•broke my right wrist and yet I’m still editing this wiki at the hospital-what the hell am I doing with my life. (10/1/2024, 5:24 PM PST) 
•'''1000. EFFING. EDITS. YESSSSSSSSS.''' (I’m doing this edit with a damn cast 😭-I really need to take a break.) (10/1/2024, 6:20 PM PST) 
•wow, i did a 10 mile hike. i’m proud of myself. (10/13/2024) 
•organized user page, made a separate userbox page. (10/15/2024) 
•new sig, can’t use it due to “HTML tag errors”. gave out 2 barnstars, got both user/discussion pages protected. vandal count: 31! (10/25/2024) 
•just realized that it’s because my sig is way too damn long (10/30/2024) 
•AHHHHHHH [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aG7tmL5lJ0 WHITEPINE 3] CAME OUT AND I MISSED THE LIVESTREAM (happy halloween! 🎃) (10/31/2024) 
•I have fixed my sig! 255 characters-exactly at the max. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' (11/04/2024) 
•Pulled an all-nighter to finish a Geo project-would’ve been absolute hell if I was editing in between. Hiatus is still on, just wanted to add this It’s 5:29 AM right now. (11/21/2024) 
•''In New York,'' 
''Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,'' 
''Theres nothing you can’t do,'' 
''Now you’re in New York,'' 
''these streets will make you feel brand new,'' 
''the lights will inspire you,'' 
''lets hear it for New York, New York, New York'' 
(I’m on vacation in New York! The skyline’s very pretty :3) (11/28/2024) 

==Vandal Counter==
[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:42.book.addict&offset=&limit=500&action=history 4][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:42.book.addict&offset=&limit=500&action=history 5] times! (I’m going to take it as a sign that my impact on this wiki is positive enough to be recognized and singled out by vandals)

==To Do List for [[User:Jeff|Jeff]]==
•Update the MySQL and MediaWiki software 
•Promote another ‘crat 
•Promote some more active admins ([[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] is a candidate, [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]], maybe me?) 
•Find out the root cause behind all of these [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Technical#the_site_is_collapsing|errors]] (still happening as of November) 
•Give TheusafBOT bot status 
•De-sysop [[User:Markhurd|Markhurd]], [[User:Lcarsos|Lcarsos]], [[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]], [[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]], maybe [[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]] and other inactive admins (this list is only admins who haven’t edited in over 2 years) 
•Fix email confirmation

3016: Cold Air

2024-11-26T00:29:55Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ how dare you forget a period

{{comic
| number = 3016
| date = November 25, 2024
| title = Cold Air
| image = cold_air_2x.png
| imagesize = 713x283px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We also should really have checked that the old water tower was disconnected from the water system before we started filling it with compressed air.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a 204 atm COMPRESSED BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Tornadoes generally create winds of about 40-400 mph [https://www.weather.gov/ffc/fujita] (about 50-500 kph) which causes damage to buildings. Cueball proposes a method to essentially blow tornadoes away from cities by keeping enough "tornado repelling" air in a tank. Whether this would work is questionable since it's precisely the mixing of warm and cold air that produces the swirling motion that creates tornadoes.

In a compressed air system, peak pressure is considered about 40 bar [https://www.directindustry.com/prod/kaeser-kompressoren/product-4742-24559.html] (about 500 psi). Cueball proposes keeping the tank at 6 times that pressure to properly counteract the tornado. The title text confirms the tower's resemblance to a water tower is intentional which, if using 16 inch pipes as is common [https://www.waterworld.com/home/article/14071043/the-perfect-pipe] would produce much stronger winds than those of the tornado, because flow speed is inversely proportional to the diameter of the pipes and even a "wide" 16 inch pipe is very narrow for this purpose indeed.

(equation needed)

Further, highly compressed tanks are prone to bursting,{{Citation needed}} which is why they are only used for small volumes of air in highly controlled settings. Cueball's proposal would put it in the center of a dense city, creating the possibility for further damage. Especially if, as it appears, the tank is itself twice the height of the tallest surrounding buildings (drawn to resemble skyscrapers, so probably tens of stories tall) elevated high above them upon a base of a similar reach.

Finally, Tornadoes tend to form in ''sparsely'' populated areas, where structures are few and wind can flow uninterrupted, making his invention's necessity questionable at best. Even if Cueball's air tanks produce winds no faster than a normal tornado, they are now being produced in the center of a heavily constructed area, heavily increasing the potential buildings that can get damaged.

The result is a quadrupling in damage caused by wind, since now, not only are the tornadoes causing heavy winds, the tanks when functioning properly, and the tanks when malfunctioning, are causing heavy winds too.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is seen in front of a diagram of a tornado with a pointer in his hand. The diagram has arrows flowing from the bottom toward the tornado at the top and from the tornado toward the rain below it]
:Cueball: Tornado supercells are powered by the inflow of warm, moist surface air.

:[Cueball is now seen in front of a representation of his compressed air tank with a PSI of 3000 next to smaller buildings, appearing to be high-rise buildings or even skyscrapers in their own right, on either side of the tank]
:Cueball: Compressed air tanks could produce artificial pools of cold, dry air on demand, disrupting tornado inflow to protect cities.

:[Cueball, again with a pointer, is seen in front of a line graph labeled "Wind Damage over Time" (wind damage has increased after a point on the graph labeled "Giant experimental compressed air tanks installed in the middle of every major city"). In a frame in the top left corner, there is a label:]
:Several years later:
:Cueball: In retrospect, I can see how my plan went wrong.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Tornadoes]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]

User talk:Megan

2024-11-24T16:01:50Z

Megan: header for the anonymous comment

<center>[[File:Megan.png|100px]] ''What if I left this wiki to focus on what's genuinely important for my life?''</center>

== anonymous comment ==
:good call [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.61|172.70.91.61]] 09:21, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

== what are you ==

[[File:pix plz.png|400px|right|thumb|This seems vaguely relevant, though it's not directed at anyone in this conversation. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 03:07, 15 July 2024 (UTC)]]

why do you have no user page --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.119|172.68.205.119]] 08:19, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
:because they redirected the user page to their talk page [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 13:07, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
::but why? why should she do that? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 09:34, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
:::She has no wish to say anything, her*self but is neat enough not to leave that page uncreated/liable to being created by someone else in a way not wanted.
:::(* - presumptive, but it feels churlush to go with "theirself" and unwittingly perpetuate the concept of TANGOTI...)
:::The other answer is 'because she can'. And it doesn't break anything. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.157|172.70.91.157]] 10:37, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
::::172.70.91.157: Actually, it's possible to automatically choose a pronoun for a named user by typing this text: <code><nowiki>{{gender:Megan|he|she|they}}</nowiki></code>. (Renders as: {{gender:Megan|he|she|they}})
::::TANGOTI is wrong with exceedingly high probability if you consider demographic evidence - of the billions of women, at least one uses the Internet. Also I contradict TANGOTI by being a "girl on the Internet", though I can't prove it to you unless we arrange for something where we meet IRL and I show you me logged in to this account. The costs of doing that, though, clearly outweigh the benefits of it. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:10, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
:172.68.205.119 and 172.70.91.157: Hi. I'm surprised you came here. I don't really have anything to say about myself, which is why I don't have a user page. I created a redirect so my user page isn't a red link, which is seen as a sign of inexperience. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:10, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
::Hi, as ...91.157 (whatever I am this time round), definitely nice to have Word Of God(dess) on this whole, ultimately trivial, issue. Would have left it to you, ideally, but for some reason I decided to contribute. Perhaps to save you the effort. Yeah, that didn't happen like that.... :p ...but nice to know my stumbling around was fairly close to target on pretty much all counts. (Hmm, does that sound smug? I intend it to mean that I'm relieved.) I don't disbelieve your gender at all, of course, I just hedged my bet a bit more than necessary in an attempt to be hypercourteous.
::Aside from whether or not I might be (irrelevent!) I definitely knew actual GOTI back in pre-web times, when there weren't anywhere like billions of ''people'' OTI, and TANGOTI was an emperically disproved trope even before I landed on it. But perhaps it was more likely that proper ''girls' names'', in self-chosen usernames, were more likely to be 'virtually cosplaying' males, as most people who didn't care to (perhaps falsely) advertise chose neutral names. And more than one of my known-female online aquaintences even chose a male-type identity - on occasions when I've 'presented as female' (just username, nothing more, in a MUD context) I've been 'hit upon' shockingly quickly that has (surprisingly?) never happened under my usually more abstract (or maybe male) choice of screen-name. And your choice of themetic name might have just been because it was the first name of any kind that came to mind, not already 'claimed'.
::So I know that anybody can be anything (or claim to be anything, actively or passively). Rather than doubting you, I was just trying to anti-pigeonhole you. Clumsily. You're (probably) human, which is all that matters. (And, if not, I would find that interesting, but also not necessarily my business; even if it might be someone else's... like MIB, an exorcist, Dr Doolittle or any number of other AI businesses who need to play catchup.)
::The reason why *I* came here to edit, BTW, is that I was attracted by the prior edits. I'm a lurker at heart. A long-standing trait, though one I don't always stick to, hence replies like these. I suspect .205.119 just got here through following the (non-red) link, randomly from an intriguing contribution. Sorry to impinge upon you more (once I start unlurking, I tend to rabbit... as you see). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.244|172.69.43.244]] 12:18, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
:::Thank you for replying – that way, I know I'm not talking into the great void of nothingness.
:::I see. You could just use the auto-pronoun thing that MediaWiki provides (registered users can configure their pronouns in their settings). I have mostly been a lurker, aside from a few editing sprees a while ago. I logged back into this account today originally to make a small edit from a place where Google services are blocked (so I can't complete the CAPTCHA required at every edit), but then saw that there were a bunch of new messages on my talk page and got caught up in this conversation.
:::Yes, getting "hit upon" is one thing that happens with being visibly feminine online. I just ignore such people, unless they're being particularly nasty, in which case I feed their messages into an AI chatbot I designed to make the conversations as interesting as possible. I do the same for scammers.
:::Most of the "virtually cosplaying" males that I have met online were [https://reddit.com/r/egg_irl eggs]. Don't tell them that; just be kind and let them figure it out on their own.
:::The name is thematic and I don't use it anywhere else. (Elsewhere I go by "charmquark" or "tauparticle", though I have almost zero social media presence. Compound that with the fact that both names are also the names of fundamental particles, and you're unlikely to find me via internet search engine.) In retrospect, I'm surprised how lucky I was to somehow have registered such a short thematic name; particularly unexpected is that [[Special:ListUsers/Megan|many other users]] have names starting with "Megan" but were created earlier than this account.
:::The edit I had intended to make has already been done now, but I'll have to find another one to justify writing this much text not related to the actual content of this wiki. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 23:26, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

== I think I might have found you. ==

[https://www.charmquark.blog/about You said you went by charmquark, so I looked it up and found this.]

Let me know if you want me to remove this, or remove it yourself. Your choice. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:44, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

:@[[User:CalibansCreations]] A good guess based on your knowledge, but no, that is not me. Charmquark was a name I used circa 2022 and have since abandoned because it conflicted with someone else (indeed, someone who was not that person). —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 02:26, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

:By the way, if you can find me elsewhere, you are given permission to share that. It's my responsibility, after all, to not reveal too much about myself on the public internet. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 05:32, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

User talk:Megan

2024-11-20T05:32:22Z

Megan: /* I think I might have found you. */ reply again

<center>[[File:Megan.png|100px]] ''What if I left this wiki to focus on what's genuinely important for my life?''</center>
:good call [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.61|172.70.91.61]] 09:21, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

== what are you ==

[[File:pix plz.png|400px|right|thumb|This seems vaguely relevant, though it's not directed at anyone in this conversation. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 03:07, 15 July 2024 (UTC)]]

why do you have no user page --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.119|172.68.205.119]] 08:19, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
:because they redirected the user page to their talk page [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 13:07, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
::but why? why should she do that? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.190|172.69.79.190]] 09:34, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
:::She has no wish to say anything, her*self but is neat enough not to leave that page uncreated/liable to being created by someone else in a way not wanted.
:::(* - presumptive, but it feels churlush to go with "theirself" and unwittingly perpetuate the concept of TANGOTI...)
:::The other answer is 'because she can'. And it doesn't break anything. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.157|172.70.91.157]] 10:37, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
::::172.70.91.157: Actually, it's possible to automatically choose a pronoun for a named user by typing this text: <code><nowiki>{{gender:Megan|he|she|they}}</nowiki></code>. (Renders as: {{gender:Megan|he|she|they}})
::::TANGOTI is wrong with exceedingly high probability if you consider demographic evidence - of the billions of women, at least one uses the Internet. Also I contradict TANGOTI by being a "girl on the Internet", though I can't prove it to you unless we arrange for something where we meet IRL and I show you me logged in to this account. The costs of doing that, though, clearly outweigh the benefits of it. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:10, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
:172.68.205.119 and 172.70.91.157: Hi. I'm surprised you came here. I don't really have anything to say about myself, which is why I don't have a user page. I created a redirect so my user page isn't a red link, which is seen as a sign of inexperience. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 08:10, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
::Hi, as ...91.157 (whatever I am this time round), definitely nice to have Word Of God(dess) on this whole, ultimately trivial, issue. Would have left it to you, ideally, but for some reason I decided to contribute. Perhaps to save you the effort. Yeah, that didn't happen like that.... :p ...but nice to know my stumbling around was fairly close to target on pretty much all counts. (Hmm, does that sound smug? I intend it to mean that I'm relieved.) I don't disbelieve your gender at all, of course, I just hedged my bet a bit more than necessary in an attempt to be hypercourteous.
::Aside from whether or not I might be (irrelevent!) I definitely knew actual GOTI back in pre-web times, when there weren't anywhere like billions of ''people'' OTI, and TANGOTI was an emperically disproved trope even before I landed on it. But perhaps it was more likely that proper ''girls' names'', in self-chosen usernames, were more likely to be 'virtually cosplaying' males, as most people who didn't care to (perhaps falsely) advertise chose neutral names. And more than one of my known-female online aquaintences even chose a male-type identity - on occasions when I've 'presented as female' (just username, nothing more, in a MUD context) I've been 'hit upon' shockingly quickly that has (surprisingly?) never happened under my usually more abstract (or maybe male) choice of screen-name. And your choice of themetic name might have just been because it was the first name of any kind that came to mind, not already 'claimed'.
::So I know that anybody can be anything (or claim to be anything, actively or passively). Rather than doubting you, I was just trying to anti-pigeonhole you. Clumsily. You're (probably) human, which is all that matters. (And, if not, I would find that interesting, but also not necessarily my business; even if it might be someone else's... like MIB, an exorcist, Dr Doolittle or any number of other AI businesses who need to play catchup.)
::The reason why *I* came here to edit, BTW, is that I was attracted by the prior edits. I'm a lurker at heart. A long-standing trait, though one I don't always stick to, hence replies like these. I suspect .205.119 just got here through following the (non-red) link, randomly from an intriguing contribution. Sorry to impinge upon you more (once I start unlurking, I tend to rabbit... as you see). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.244|172.69.43.244]] 12:18, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
:::Thank you for replying – that way, I know I'm not talking into the great void of nothingness.
:::I see. You could just use the auto-pronoun thing that MediaWiki provides (registered users can configure their pronouns in their settings). I have mostly been a lurker, aside from a few editing sprees a while ago. I logged back into this account today originally to make a small edit from a place where Google services are blocked (so I can't complete the CAPTCHA required at every edit), but then saw that there were a bunch of new messages on my talk page and got caught up in this conversation.
:::Yes, getting "hit upon" is one thing that happens with being visibly feminine online. I just ignore such people, unless they're being particularly nasty, in which case I feed their messages into an AI chatbot I designed to make the conversations as interesting as possible. I do the same for scammers.
:::Most of the "virtually cosplaying" males that I have met online were [https://reddit.com/r/egg_irl eggs]. Don't tell them that; just be kind and let them figure it out on their own.
:::The name is thematic and I don't use it anywhere else. (Elsewhere I go by "charmquark" or "tauparticle", though I have almost zero social media presence. Compound that with the fact that both names are also the names of fundamental particles, and you're unlikely to find me via internet search engine.) In retrospect, I'm surprised how lucky I was to somehow have registered such a short thematic name; particularly unexpected is that [[Special:ListUsers/Megan|many other users]] have names starting with "Megan" but were created earlier than this account.
:::The edit I had intended to make has already been done now, but I'll have to find another one to justify writing this much text not related to the actual content of this wiki. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 23:26, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

== I think I might have found you. ==

[https://www.charmquark.blog/about You said you went by charmquark, so I looked it up and found this.]

Let me know if you want me to remove this, or remove it yourself. Your choice. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:44, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

:@[[User:CalibansCreations]] A good guess based on your knowledge, but no, that is not me. Charmquark was a name I used circa 2022 and have since abandoned because it conflicted with someone else (indeed, someone who was not that person). —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 02:26, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

:By the way, if you can find me elsewhere, you are given permission to share that. It's my responsibility, after all, to not reveal too much about myself on the public internet. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 05:32, 20 November 2024 (UTC)

User talk:Megan

2024-11-20T02:26:37Z

Megan: /* I think I might have found you. */ re

3010: Geometriphylogenetics

2024-11-13T00:06:45Z

Megan: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3010
| date = November 11, 2024
| title = Geometriphylogenetics
| image = geometriphylogenetics_2x.png
| imagesize = 316x391px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = There's a maximum likelihood that I'm doing phylogenetics wrong.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by EUCLIDIAN GENOMETRY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Phylogenetics}} refers to the practice of examining relationships among things that follow the principle of "descent with modification of progeny". In the course of descent with modification, one thing may give rise to two (the progeny), different modifications happen to each, and those modifications become established. Iterated "splits" over time yield a tree of objects; it is the purpose of phylogenetics to recover ("reconstruct") these trees, and use the information gained to inform study of the things contained. Phylogenetics has been most commonly applied to the classification/taxonomy of biological species and investigations of their evolutionary history, but it has also been used to examine the evolution of genes and biosynthetic pathways. Similar conceptual approaches have been used in the study of human languages and their evolution.

Data for phylogenetic analyses may come from any attributes ("characters") of the things being examined. {{w|Computational_phylogenetics|Rigorous techniques}} for these analyses became available starting in the {{w|Willi_Hennig|1950s}}, and these replaced earlier methods based largely on the individual judgement of experts. In phylogenetic studies of organisms, their DNA is far and away the most data-dense source of information, and consequently, most present-day investigations are based on analyses of selected genes and, increasingly, whole genomes. Thanks to the advent of more robust datasets, and more robust methods of data analysis, it is now commonplace for studies, especially on relatively understudied creatures, to reconstruct an evolutionary history (a phylogeny) that is radically different from what had previously been assumed. This is the "phylogenetic revolution" referred to in the caption. One example is the genus {{w|Hippopotamus|Hippopotamus}}, which had been considered a relative of pigs, which the animals somewhat resemble, until modern data and methods revealed it to be more closely related to whales, despite the animals being very different physically (hippos spend time in water, but [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-YRJCSZRJU can't swim]).

This comic presents a tree, which purports to be a phylogenetic tree and resembles one, in which the endpoints ("terminal taxa") are geometric shapes, hence "geometriphylogenetics", a portmanteau of "{{w|geometry}}" and "phylogenetics". The claim, that triangles are more closely related to circles and ellipses than to squares, rectangles, pentangles, and the like, is a riff on the findings, and even the wording, of authentic phylogenetic research papers that report "revolutionary" results. The absurdity, and the joke, is that geometries do not change over time via descent with modification of progeny, therefore phylogenetic principles and techniques are inapplicable to their study. Moreover, geometries do not contain DNA, so genetic analysis, even if relevant, is impossible.

The title text alludes to {{w|Computational_phylogenetics#Maximum_likelihood|maximum likelihood}}, one of the most robust, and most frequently used, methodologies for phylogenetic analysis. The method builds a number of trees from the data, assigns to each a probability that it conforms to a pre-selected model of evolution, and then selects the tree that has the highest likelihood of conformity to the model. The key to the joke is that maximum likelihood is a probabilistic method; "there is a high probability that I'm doing phylogenetics wrong". Which is, in fact, the case.

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

:[A tree diagram, or a dendrogram is shown, consisting of lines that branch off from left to right, starting with one horizontal line on the left. Eight results are shown on the right: ellipse on Path 1, circle on Path 2, triangle on Path 3, parallelogram on Path 4, trapezoid on Path 5, square on Path 6, rectangle on Path 7, and a pentagon on Path 8. The paths are listed in order top to bottom.]
:[Path 3 and the triangle are bold black, while the other branches are dimmer. The paths are connected as follows: Path 2 and 3 are connected, then both connect together to Path 1; Path 4 and 5 are connected, as are Path 6 and 7, and these two paths are connected altogether; Path 8 is then connected to the branch containing Paths 4 to 7. All of Paths 1 to 3 are then connected to Paths 4 to 8, the branches all culminating in a single line on the left.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The phylogenetic revolution continues:
:Triangles were long believed to be related to squares, but genetic analysis proves that they are actually very pointy circles.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Geometry]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Statistics]]

3009: Number Shortage

2024-11-11T18:16:17Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ there was a better way

{{comic
| number = 3009
| date = November 8, 2024
| title = Number Shortage
| image = number_shortage_2x.png
| imagesize = 284x269px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "10 minutes ago we were down to only 2 0s!" "How many do we have now?" "I ... don't know!!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT WITH 11 0S AND 10 1S. NO, WAIT... - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic presents a situation where the ability to use numbers is a limited resource. Even quantifying how many numbers are left uses up some of those numbers when stating the results.

In real life, being able to write or say digits is not a limited resource. However, the comic does parallel the {{w|Look-and-say sequence|Look-and-say sequence}} as well as many {{w|Math Blaster Episode I: In Search of Spot|educational video games}} for young children where numbers and mathematical concepts are treated as living people or factory goods, in order to give some sort of story or context to the math-related activities.

The comic conflates numbers with decimal digits. So when [[Miss Lenhart]] says "15 2s and 12 3s", that uses up two 2s (one in "2s" and one in "12") and one 3 (in "3s"). She adjusts the counts as she's speaking, so when she says "13 2s", that uses up another 3, leaving only 10 3s when she's completing the sentence.

In the title text, she uses the last two 0s when saying that they had two 0s left, so now they have no more 0s. But she can't use the number 0 to describe this situation because they're now out of them.

Miss Lenhart could have taken a different approach by saying "14 2s and 11 3s", which would be accurate once it has been said.

===Continuation===

A continuation of the pattern would go:

* "We have only 15 2s and 12 3s left."
* "No, wait, 13 2s and 10 3s."
* "No, wait, 12 2s and 9 3s."
* "No, wait, 10 2s and 8 3s."
* "No, wait, 9 2s and 7 3s."
* "No, wait, 8 2s and 6 3s."
* "No, wait, 7 2s and 5 3s."
* "No, wait, 6 2s and 4 3s."
* "No, wait, 5 2s and 3 3s."
* "No, wait, 4 2s and 1 3."
* "No, wait, ? 2s and 0 ?s."

At that point, having used up the last 3 at the end of the previous line, Miss Lenhart would lack the necessary 3s to articulate that there are "3 2s and 0 3s."

* "No, wait, 2 2s and 0 ?s."
* "No, wait, 0 ?s and 0 ?s."

Or perhaps at this point, she might just say "We have run out of some digits," since she can no longer articulate which ones or, indeed, how many.

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is standing on the left, facing Cueball and Megan on the right.]
:Miss Lenhart: The Math Department number shortage is getting worse. We have only 15 2s and 12 3s left.
:Miss Lenhart: No, wait, 13 2s and 10 3s.
:Miss Lenhart: No, wait...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

3007: Probabilistic Uncertainty

2024-11-07T01:31:38Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ past tense now

{{comic
| number = 3007
| date = November 4, 2024
| title = Probabilistic Uncertainty
| image = probabilistic_uncertainty_2x.png
| imagesize = 474x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "One popular strategy is to enter an emotional spiral. Could that be the right approach? We contacted several researchers who are experts in emotional spirals to ask them, but none of them were in a state to speak with us."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PESSIMISTIC POLL-VIEWING BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about the difficulty of dealing psychologically with 50/50 odds, and is likely inspired by the {{W|2024 United States presidential election}}, as this comic was released the day prior. The odds of the election as reported by many media sources were close to 50/50 <ref>https://www.270towin.com/2024-presidential-election-polls/</ref> <ref>https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/elections/polls-president.html</ref> <ref>https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2024/national/</ref>, where the pre-election polls show roughly a 50/50 chance of either [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris Kamala Harris] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump Donald Trump] being elected. This 50/50 scenario is the third scenario shown in the comic.

Further, with regards to N/A - the odds of "precisely" 50/50 are probabilistically zero, unless the event under consideration is something relatively trivial such as a coinflip or die roll (and even with those it is extremely unlikely the coins or dice are perfectly "fair"). Any scenario that involves social sciences, such as an election (or even a single relationship) will never be precisely 50/50 (or, indeed, *any* discrete value).

{| class="wikitable"
!Odds
!How to think about it in an emotionally healthy way
!Explanation
|-
| Good outcome more likely || Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor || An optimistic attitude with a dose of realism.
|-
| Bad outcome more likely || Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified || A realistic attitude with a dose of optimism.
|-
| Precisely 50/50 || ????? N/A ???? || {{w|N/A}} stands for "not available", "no answer", "not applicable" or "not assessed". The actual worst case scenario, with no single obvious stance (and then also its complimentary fallback position) to prepare to take.
|}

There are any number of actual strategies to consider, the details of which will all depend very much upon the exact situation being faced, and one's own existing range of experiences and attitudes. Part of the joke may be in presenting such a condensed summary. Anyone who truly feels they need help to prepare such expectations should ideally seek specific advice/counsel, not take a generic and impersonal checklist at face value.

The title text makes use of ambiguous wording: "researchers who are experts in emotional spirals" could either refer to researchers who study emotional spirals, or researchers who are undergoing emotional spirals themselves. Evidently, all the researchers "we" contacted were the latter, and thus unable to advise the comic.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[A table titled "Coping With Probabilistic Uncertainty", with two columns labeled "Scenario" and "How to think about it in an emotionally healthy way". The boxes in the Scenario column contains text followed by a rectangle split into two parts; the left part is a smiley face, the right part is a frowny face with slanted, angry eyes.]

Row 1, column 1: "Good outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 75%.
Row 1, column 2: "Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor".

Row 2, column 1: "Bad outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 25%.
Row 2, column 2: "Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified".

Row 3, column 1: "Precisely 50/50". The rectangle is split in half.
Row 3, column 2: "????? N/A ????"

==Trivia==
* This comic was posted a day before Election Day in the US, where the media has been reporting (based off of voter polls) that the 2 presidential candidates ([[Kamala Harris]] and [[Donald Trump]]) are closely contesting for the White House. This may be a possible reason behind the creation of this comic.

* Randall has dealt with the possibility of a tied electoral count 12 years before in ''what-if? [https://what-if.xkcd.com/19 #19]''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Psychology]] [[Category:Statistics]]

3007: Probabilistic Uncertainty

2024-11-06T04:39:46Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ that -> who

{{comic
| number = 3007
| date = November 4, 2024
| title = Probabilistic Uncertainty
| image = probabilistic_uncertainty_2x.png
| imagesize = 474x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "One popular strategy is to enter an emotional spiral. Could that be the right approach? We contacted several researchers who are experts in emotional spirals to ask them, but none of them were in a state to speak with us."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PESSIMISTIC POLL-VIEWING BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about the difficulty of dealing with 50/50 odds, and is likely inspired by the {{W|2024 United States presidential election}}, as this comic was released the day prior. The odds of the election as reported by many media sources are close to 50/50, which is the third scenario shown in the comic.

Further, with regards to N/A - the odds of "precisely" 50/50 are probabilistically zero, unless the event under consideration is something relatively trivial such as a coinflip or die roll (and even with those it is extremely unlikely the coins or dice are perfectly "fair"). Any scenario that involves social sciences, such as an election (or even a single relationship) will never be precisely 50/50, and no expert in a spiral would be able to be in a balanced consultable state long enough to speak to "us".

{| class="wikitable"
!Odds
!How to think about it in an emotionally healthy way
!Explanation
|-
| Good outcome more likely || Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor ||
|-
| Bad outcome more likely || Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified ||
|-
| Precisely 50/50 || ????? N/A ???? || {{w|N/A}} stands for "not available", "no answer", "not applicable" or "not assessed".
|}

When facing a situation with equal odds of a positive or negative outcome, it is possible to prepare emotionally for either result. Here are some strategies to consider:

;Acknowledge and accept uncertainty
:Recognize that uncertainty is a natural part of life. By accepting that you cannot control the outcome, you can reduce anxiety and focus on what you can manage—your response.

;Practice {{w|defensive pessimism}}
:This strategy involves setting low expectations and contemplating potential negative outcomes. By doing so, you can prepare yourself to handle setbacks and reduce anxiety. Research indicates that defensive pessimism can be an effective way to manage stress and improve performance.

;Develop {{w|coping}} mechanisms
:Equip yourself with strategies to manage emotions regardless of the outcome. Techniques such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and positive self-talk can help maintain emotional balance.

;Focus on what you can control
:Concentrate on aspects within your control, such as your effort, preparation, and attitude. This focus can empower you and reduce feelings of helplessness.

;Set realistic expectations
:Understand that both success and failure are possibilities. By setting realistic expectations, you can mitigate disappointment and appreciate positive outcomes more fully.

;Seek support
:Discuss your feelings and concerns with trusted friends, family, or a mental health professional. Sharing your thoughts can provide relief and offer new perspectives.

By practicing those strategies, you may prepare yourself emotionally to handle either outcome with resilience and composure.

The title text is a joke making use of ambiguous wording: "researchers who are experts in emotional spirals" could either refer to researchers who study emotional spirals, or researchers who are undergoing emotional spirals themselves.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[A table titled "Coping With Probabilistic Uncertainty", with two columns labeled "Scenario" and "How to think about it in an emptionally healthy way". The boxes in the Scenario column contains text followed by a rectangle split into two parts; the left part is a smiley face, the right part is a frowny face.]

Row 1, column 1: "Good outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 75%.
Row 1, column 2: "Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor".

Row 2, column 1: "Bad outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 25%.
Row 2, column 2: "Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified".

Row 3, column 1: "Precisely 50/50". The rectangle is split in half.
Row 3, column 2: "????? N/A ????"

==Trivia==
* This comic was posted a day before Election Day in the US, where the media has been reporting (based off of voter polls) that the 2 presidential candidates ([[Kamala Harris]] and [[Donald Trump]]) are closely contesting for the White House. This may be a possible reason behind the creation of this comic.

* Randall has dealt with the possibility of a tied electoral count 12 years before in ''what-if? [https://what-if.xkcd.com/19 #19]''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Psychology]] [[Category:Statistics]]

3007: Probabilistic Uncertainty

2024-11-06T04:39:21Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ better explanation for title text

{{comic
| number = 3007
| date = November 4, 2024
| title = Probabilistic Uncertainty
| image = probabilistic_uncertainty_2x.png
| imagesize = 474x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "One popular strategy is to enter an emotional spiral. Could that be the right approach? We contacted several researchers who are experts in emotional spirals to ask them, but none of them were in a state to speak with us."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PESSIMISTIC POLL-VIEWING BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about the difficulty of dealing with 50/50 odds, and is likely inspired by the {{W|2024 United States presidential election}}, as this comic was released the day prior. The odds of the election as reported by many media sources are close to 50/50, which is the third scenario shown in the comic.

Further, with regards to N/A - the odds of "precisely" 50/50 are probabilistically zero, unless the event under consideration is something relatively trivial such as a coinflip or die roll (and even with those it is extremely unlikely the coins or dice are perfectly "fair"). Any scenario that involves social sciences, such as an election (or even a single relationship) will never be precisely 50/50, and no expert in a spiral would be able to be in a balanced consultable state long enough to speak to "us".

{| class="wikitable"
!Odds
!How to think about it in an emotionally healthy way
!Explanation
|-
| Good outcome more likely || Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor ||
|-
| Bad outcome more likely || Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified ||
|-
| Precisely 50/50 || ????? N/A ???? || {{w|N/A}} stands for "not available", "no answer", "not applicable" or "not assessed".
|}

When facing a situation with equal odds of a positive or negative outcome, it is possible to prepare emotionally for either result. Here are some strategies to consider:

;Acknowledge and accept uncertainty
:Recognize that uncertainty is a natural part of life. By accepting that you cannot control the outcome, you can reduce anxiety and focus on what you can manage—your response.

;Practice {{w|defensive pessimism}}
:This strategy involves setting low expectations and contemplating potential negative outcomes. By doing so, you can prepare yourself to handle setbacks and reduce anxiety. Research indicates that defensive pessimism can be an effective way to manage stress and improve performance.

;Develop {{w|coping}} mechanisms
:Equip yourself with strategies to manage emotions regardless of the outcome. Techniques such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and positive self-talk can help maintain emotional balance.

;Focus on what you can control
:Concentrate on aspects within your control, such as your effort, preparation, and attitude. This focus can empower you and reduce feelings of helplessness.

;Set realistic expectations
:Understand that both success and failure are possibilities. By setting realistic expectations, you can mitigate disappointment and appreciate positive outcomes more fully.

;Seek support
:Discuss your feelings and concerns with trusted friends, family, or a mental health professional. Sharing your thoughts can provide relief and offer new perspectives.

By practicing those strategies, you may prepare yourself emotionally to handle either outcome with resilience and composure.

The title text is a joke making use of ambiguous wording: "researchers who are experts in emotional spirals" could either refer to researchers that study emotional spirals, or researchers who are undergoing emotional spirals themselves.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[A table titled "Coping With Probabilistic Uncertainty", with two columns labeled "Scenario" and "How to think about it in an emptionally healthy way". The boxes in the Scenario column contains text followed by a rectangle split into two parts; the left part is a smiley face, the right part is a frowny face.]

Row 1, column 1: "Good outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 75%.
Row 1, column 2: "Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor".

Row 2, column 1: "Bad outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 25%.
Row 2, column 2: "Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified".

Row 3, column 1: "Precisely 50/50". The rectangle is split in half.
Row 3, column 2: "????? N/A ????"

==Trivia==
* This comic was posted a day before Election Day in the US, where the media has been reporting (based off of voter polls) that the 2 presidential candidates ([[Kamala Harris]] and [[Donald Trump]]) are closely contesting for the White House. This may be a possible reason behind the creation of this comic.

* Randall has dealt with the possibility of a tied electoral count 12 years before in ''what-if? [https://what-if.xkcd.com/19 #19]''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Psychology]] [[Category:Statistics]]

3007: Probabilistic Uncertainty

2024-11-06T04:37:37Z

Megan: /* Explanation */ not 50/50 anymore

{{comic
| number = 3007
| date = November 4, 2024
| title = Probabilistic Uncertainty
| image = probabilistic_uncertainty_2x.png
| imagesize = 474x385px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "One popular strategy is to enter an emotional spiral. Could that be the right approach? We contacted several researchers who are experts in emotional spirals to ask them, but none of them were in a state to speak with us."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PESSIMISTIC POLL-VIEWING BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about the difficulty of dealing with 50/50 odds, and is likely inspired by the {{W|2024 United States presidential election}}, as this comic was released the day prior. The odds of the election as reported by many media sources are close to 50/50, which is the third scenario shown in the comic.

Further, with regards to N/A - the odds of "precisely" 50/50 are probabilistically zero, unless the event under consideration is something relatively trivial such as a coinflip or die roll (and even with those it is extremely unlikely the coins or dice are perfectly "fair"). Any scenario that involves social sciences, such as an election (or even a single relationship) will never be precisely 50/50, and no expert in a spiral would be able to be in a balanced consultable state long enough to speak to "us".

{| class="wikitable"
!Odds
!How to think about it in an emotionally healthy way
!Explanation
|-
| Good outcome more likely || Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor ||
|-
| Bad outcome more likely || Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified ||
|-
| Precisely 50/50 || ????? N/A ???? || {{w|N/A}} stands for "not available", "no answer", "not applicable" or "not assessed".
|}

When facing a situation with equal odds of a positive or negative outcome, it is possible to prepare emotionally for either result. Here are some strategies to consider:

;Acknowledge and accept uncertainty
:Recognize that uncertainty is a natural part of life. By accepting that you cannot control the outcome, you can reduce anxiety and focus on what you can manage—your response.

;Practice {{w|defensive pessimism}}
:This strategy involves setting low expectations and contemplating potential negative outcomes. By doing so, you can prepare yourself to handle setbacks and reduce anxiety. Research indicates that defensive pessimism can be an effective way to manage stress and improve performance.

;Develop {{w|coping}} mechanisms
:Equip yourself with strategies to manage emotions regardless of the outcome. Techniques such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and positive self-talk can help maintain emotional balance.

;Focus on what you can control
:Concentrate on aspects within your control, such as your effort, preparation, and attitude. This focus can empower you and reduce feelings of helplessness.

;Set realistic expectations
:Understand that both success and failure are possibilities. By setting realistic expectations, you can mitigate disappointment and appreciate positive outcomes more fully.

;Seek support
:Discuss your feelings and concerns with trusted friends, family, or a mental health professional. Sharing your thoughts can provide relief and offer new perspectives.

By practicing those strategies, you may prepare yourself emotionally to handle either outcome with resilience and composure.

The title text is a joke about emotional spirals - naturally, the emotional spiral experts would be emotionally spiralling. Or, they could be experts that are in an emotional spiral.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[A table titled "Coping With Probabilistic Uncertainty", with two columns labeled "Scenario" and "How to think about it in an emptionally healthy way". The boxes in the Scenario column contains text followed by a rectangle split into two parts; the left part is a smiley face, the right part is a frowny face.]

Row 1, column 1: "Good outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 75%.
Row 1, column 2: "Recognize that the bad outcome is possible, but be reassured that the odds are in your favor".

Row 2, column 1: "Bad outcome more likely". The smiley face portion of the rectangle is about 25%.
Row 2, column 2: "Prepare for the bad outcome while remembering that the future isn't certain and hope is justified".

Row 3, column 1: "Precisely 50/50". The rectangle is split in half.
Row 3, column 2: "????? N/A ????"

==Trivia==
* This comic was posted a day before Election Day in the US, where the media has been reporting (based off of voter polls) that the 2 presidential candidates ([[Kamala Harris]] and [[Donald Trump]]) are closely contesting for the White House. This may be a possible reason behind the creation of this comic.

* Randall has dealt with the possibility of a tied electoral count 12 years before in ''what-if? [https://what-if.xkcd.com/19 #19]''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Psychology]] [[Category:Statistics]]

Talk:3007: Probabilistic Uncertainty

2024-11-06T04:36:29Z

Megan: new top-level comment

Emotional spirals are useless. I've been coping by pretending we're in scenario 1, it keeps me sane. If I'm wrong, I'll jump off that bridge when we come to it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:23, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:And I have a friend whose strategy is baking. It's both therapeutic and delicious. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:41, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

:I see I don't know US geography well: which bridge you can jump from to leave it? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:34, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
::Most of them. Some of them may be 'caged in' for safety/anti-suicide/anti-DropThingsInThoseBelow purposes (or a {{w|covered bridge}}). Relatively few of the others will be ones that you would have no qualms about vaulting the railing, but (as well as it clearly being a witticism by Barmar) I think you could easily ''find'' a bridge that you could jump off. And the resulting falling part isn't at all the difficult bit. Landing safely (or, in extremis for those desperate enough, in a guaranteed immediately fatal manner) is more the challenge. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.206|172.70.86.206]] 14:48, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

I can't help but think that at preparing for the negative outcome regardless of which outcome is more likely (unless that outcome is *very* unlikely) is a healthy thing to do. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.141|172.71.147.141]] 20:30, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
: "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst" is my usual approach to things. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:45, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

This comic appeared the day before the 2024 United States Presidential Election. At publication time, polls were strongly suggesting about a 50/50 odds that either major candidate would win. Recent news items included advice from mental-health professionals on how to deal with election-related anxiety. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.195|172.71.167.195]] 20:32, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:Definitely related. This should be in the text, not in the comments, frankly. The yanks are going nuts about the election right now. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.124.243|172.71.124.243]] 20:57, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:Did the advice suggested narcotics? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:34, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

My personal policy is to expect and prepare for the worst. That way I can be surprised when it doesn't happen, and not surprised when it does, rather than the other way around. I don't "do" emotions, so it's basically just planning and mumbling colloquialisms involving the digestive system... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.64|172.71.134.64]] 21:31, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:As someone who used to think this way, this is obstructively cynical, and downright ''sad''. I mean, in theory you should be pleasantly surprised by the good, and prepared for the bad, but in practice you just dismiss anything good and focus exclusively on the bad. As someone with experience in this type of thinking, it isn't healthy. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.85|172.71.22.85]] 15:15, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

I can't help but feel that it's mostly Democrats that are anxious, where Trump winning is the bad case. Not being an American I don't have much perspective. Are many Republicans likely to also be anxious, and if so, why? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.170|172.69.60.170]] 21:55, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:Not sure about "anxious", for Trump-supporting Rs (as opposed to Trump-opposing ones, who are both anxious and tremendously conflicted), but there's certainly a buzz of some emotion. That, if ''their'' expectations/hopes/desires are dashed, seem more likely to turn into more direct push-back than Ds would in their case. i.e. if Trump truly wins, there'll be turmoil as the legitimate government forcefully pushes against large subsets of the people, if Harris truly wins then small but determined fractions of the people will push back against the legitimate government. (If it's any way ambiguous, for long enough, which 'truth' indicates a win, it could easily be people vs. people for at least as long as the confusion lasts, with very little reason to believe that it'll be Harris supporters throwing the first stone, probably making Florida 2000 look like a "neat transition"). But this is just what it looks like at this moment. Within a day we ''might'' get to see whose words get eaten, or it could be at least a month of building tensions (due to the US system of elections, deliberately legislated to be so much more inefcicient than it needs to be, compared to various other Western nations). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.106|172.68.186.106]] 15:28, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

:From what I've seen the ones in public-facing forums seem pretty indifferent. They do talk a lot about election fraud though. {{unsigned ip|172.70.34.117|22:42, 4 November 2024 (UTC)}}

I like that the comic leaves "good" and "bad" open to interpretation.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.83|172.70.211.83]] 22:29, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:He doesn't want to start fights in the comments/discussion pages/replies! Good to see him appealing to no specific demographic in this one. -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 22:40, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
::Considering that the "Harris for President" banner is still active, I'm not sure I agree with that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.4|172.68.22.4]] 22:53, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:::yeah, for that reason i think it's more just so the comic can have further longevity, as this way it can be applied to any number of things with two outcomes, not just the current election [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.193|141.101.109.193]] 00:02, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
::Well, so far so good ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:34, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Re [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3007:_Probabilistic_Uncertainty&oldid=355799 Further, with regards to N/A - the odds of "precisely" 50/50 are probabilistically zero]: Bear in mind that with the Electoral College system and the fact that only 7 US states are "likely in play," we are talking only hundreds or thousands of realistic possibilities. The odds of a 269-269 tie in the Electoral College are far more than 0. One possibility of a tie that is "on the radar" is if the Republicans take Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and the 2nd Congressional District of Nebraska (which is very likely to go Democratic) and the Democrats take Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. If you consider just the 7 "in play" states but Arizona "flips" from Republican to Democratic, there are 3 combinations that yield a 269-269 tie. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.249|172.70.210.249]] 01:29, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
: If there's a 269-269 tie, that's basically going to be a Trump win due to how the contingent election process works. (For that matter the far more plausible 270-268 to Harris, which happens if she wins Nevada but not Pennsylvania, is likely going to result in Trump getting the presidency as well, but let's ignore that.) However, many analysts, when faced with numbers like Nate Silver's 50.015%, are going to round it to 50% or 50.0% in the public-facing reports, resulting in apparent exact 50/50 odds even if mathematically they actually favor one side slightly. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.3|172.71.130.3]] 10:07, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
::There's little point in being so precise, since the fraction is far less than the margin of error in the polling. Anything between 49% and 51% is essentially a toss-up. If the 51% is in your favor you can feel hopeful, but hardly confident. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:11, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Re '''We contacted several researchers who are experts in emotional spirals to ask them, but none of them were in a state to speak with us''': Is it a stretch to think that the emotional-spiral experts were all "in Puerto Rico" (which is not a state), emotionally speaking? In the last week a supporter of one of the candidates insulted Puerto Rico and by extension, people of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican descent, causing an emotional uproar all over the inter-tubes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.210|162.158.90.210]] 01:37, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Created an account just to say this; don't get mad at me but in my opinion, both candidates are equally bad, which has led to a weird sense of calmness in me due to my belief that we'll be equally screwed no matter what, just in different ways. Tbh in my opinion both candidates are in between what their supporters think of them and what their opponents think of them. Please be civil if you reply, no ad hominem please. [[User:BurnV06|BurnV06]] ([[User talk:BurnV06|talk]]) 05:24, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
:No, one of them is clearly worse than the other. How do you feel about LGBTQ+ rights? Abortion? Medicare? Teaching kids that racism and homophobia in schools is bad? Well, if Project 2025 is anything to go by, one side ''clearly'' is the unpreferable unless you're a white, Christian, rich, and male. This is not a "both sides" issue. One is clearly the worse option. And frankly, I wish centrists knew this. I can agree to disagree on some issues but I just cannot elect someone who wants to punish people for the egregious crime of, ''gasp'', not conforming to societal standard of gender and romance.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.85|172.71.22.85]] 15:15, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
::... And Project 2025 is absolutely nothing to go by. It's what a (private) conservative think tank (privately) wants to see implemented. Trump had no involvement in its contents or publication. The Heritage Foundation has been publishing things like it since 1981; it only attracted attention THIS year because politically-motivated people are trying to scare you, and were running out of ideas. It should not surprise you to learn that people who you already disagree with, have ideas that you also disagree with, and might publish compilations of those ideas you disagree with on a regular basis. Freaking out over Project 2025 is like if conservatives started freaking out over a set of published policy recommendations by the Center for American Progress. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.96|172.68.3.96]] 16:56, 5 November 2024 (UTC) MeZimm
::Fair enough, but the point still stands that this is explicitly ''not''a both sides issue. Even taking Project 2025 out of account, one side is clearly worse.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.71.44|172.68.71.44]] 17:02, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
:"Equally bad" is highly subjective, Burn. More people would consider "a total disaster" vs "at least they're not a total disaster!" as a closer truth (whether their own personally-configured disastermeter comes in a Red or Blue casing), and consider balancing dead in the center of the fence to be the most inexplicable position to take. (Not to mention those like above, and also their antithesis opinions, who have a very definite good/bad opinion 9n the pair.)
:Not that I'd support being mad at you, as the problem with politics today is ''too much'' extreme polarization (we need more moderate voices, rather than wedging open an ever wider void between both limits of opinion). But there's just no realistic middle-ground to gather support around, and what middle-ground there is might also be moving one way or another (depending upon who you ask), so I'm afraid that the strictly neutral "as bad as each other" types are just guaranteed to be setting themselves up to be disappointed. In the 'best' case scenario, disappointed that things aint turning out to be as bad as feared, but I'm not sure that's reassuringly likely enough to comfort you. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.106|172.68.186.106]] 15:28, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
:Well said, and I think it's important to mention that the reason there isn't any moderates is that the moderates ''just don't care anymore''. At least online, complete political apathy is a position I've seen a lot of people take ("Why are they constantly slamming politics into my face, I just don't care"). Unfortunately, these kinds of people are also the moderates, people who aren't particularly one side or the other. This leads to a political landscape where you have 2 extremes, and a bunch of people in the middle who couldn't care less because of said extremes. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.31.24|172.71.31.24]] 15:39, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
:Not to be a “Discord mod” here, but the entire idea of the 50-50 portion of the comic alluding to the election today is just a theory. Y’all are reading in wayyyyyyy too deep. The comic isn’t even directly saying if one candidate is better (although the Header text is supporting Harris). The discussion is supposed to be for discussing the comic and how to improve it, not clash over ideological differences. Maybe instead of arguing about who’s the better candidate, we can finish up the comic explanation, which is extremely bare bones? TL;DR: break it up, people. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 18:19, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

I think it's funny that so many Democrats are genuinely terrified of the results and spend their days anxiously refreshing 538, whereas Republicans are filled with optimism and already know that the democrats have run the weakest candidate since Dukakis. Ah well, maybe in four years you'll actually get to vote for who leads your ticket instead of having them be appointed by the party elites directly without a vote. ;) {{unsigned ip|172.71.22.120|07:35, 5 November 2024}}
:Given the indirect democracy system the US has, there's a number of problems with who gets to be President. And if Harris is weaker than H. Clinton, but it's still on a knife-edge of popular/EC voting, does that mean that Trump's win was therefore less legitimate? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.106|172.68.186.106]] 15:28, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
::Do I really have to remind you that election results are not the same thing as poll results? In 2016, [https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/ FiveThirtyEight gave Trump a 28.6% chance vs Clinton's 71.4% chance.] Most polls were even more egregiously in favor of Clinton. Yet Trump won. Now in 2024, you say "it's still on a knife-edge of popular/EC voting" - somehow pretending the PREDICTIONS of right now are in any way comparable to the ACTUAL RESULTS of 2016. Yet polls get "shy Tories" and pranksters and all kinds of complicating factors (even assuming the pollsters are being honest - which is not something you should EVER "simply assume"). Polls are a little bit better than astrology in terms of actual predictive power. So comparing "polls now" to "actual election then" is completely wrongheaded. You have to compare predictions to predictions. And the predictions of 2016 were "the odds are MASSIVELY in Clinton's favor" - yet now they are running a WEAKER candidate and rate her has having even LESS probability of winning than Clinton did. Don't worry, though, I'm sure they figured out some way to solve all the problems with their 2016 process, and are now 100% trustworthy again! /s [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.127|172.68.3.127]] 19:45, 5 November 2024 (UTC) MeZimm
:::Whatever direction we're going with the rest of the arguments, don't lead us down the route of misanalysing (say) 28.6% vs. 71.4% as meaning anything other than that's the predicted chance (by a necessarily incomplete process) of the process coming out one way or another (even by just one vote that swings just one EC contribution). It doesn't mean that the popular vote will split by that proportion or the EC votes will split that way, it is just an assessment of how much the (each slightly biased) coins will fall either majority heads or majority tails. But we only see the one end result (itself a fudge of a fudge of many possibly imperfect opinions) and try to read the entrails all while hearing "but the predictions were 29/71, and it was much closer than that, so obviously those stats guys were wrong".
:::Do try not to fall for such statistical fallacies. The polling will be refined for all the things that it can be refined for (accounting for the kinds of people who do vote but don't answer to pollsters, or don't vote even though they say they will, etc) and should come with error bars which can be very telling but rarely get mentioned in 'executive summaries' that get selectively quoted by the headlines of organisations with less integrity and more of their own message to try to promulgate.
:::But looking across many polls, you can see even the 'headline figure' end predictions, shorn of the most obviously optomistic/pesimistic extremes, smeared from several percentage points one way to a similar the other. If the result is within one, two or three swingstates'-worth of ECs, it'll still vindicate most of the polling opinions. Though doesn't mean you can guarantee the reverse. Anyway, not long now until the process stops being fed by votes and starts being fully chewed on by those who produce the 'answer' to this year's big question. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.185|172.70.162.185]] 20:56, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

I'm reminded of some of my coding theory class, where the absolute worst bit error rate is 50%. Less than 50% and you can repeat the data to detect and correct the errors to some vastly low probability of an incorrect result, and more than 50% and you can invert the signal which flips it to less than 50%, then do the same. At exactly 50% you're essentially getting random noise, and there's nothing you can do about that (but allow allows a one-time pad encryption to be unbreakable if done correctly). --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.214.13|172.71.214.13]] 18:03, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

There's been talk about pollsters potentially herding because of just how tight the race allegedly is across all of the swing states (which should be more inclined D/R relative to each other, not all exactly even). I think Nate Silver made a tweet about the odds that the odds are so close. Could that be related to this comic, indirectly? {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.61|20:02, 5 November 2024 (UTC)}}

What's with the section talking about strategies to manage expectations? It reads like it came straight out of ChatGPT. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.155|172.71.102.155]] 04:29, 6 November 2024 (UTC)
:It probably is, considering I asked ChatGPT to analyze the comic yesterday to see if it could catch the joke about emotional spiral experts and got a very similar response. Shall we remove it? —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 04:32, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

Perhaps as expected, this has gone outdated pretty quickly. [https://manifold.markets/ManifoldPolitics/will-trump-win-the-2024-election Manifold] and [https://polymarket.com/event/presidential-election-winner-2024 Polymarket] are now both trading above 90% for Trump as of this comment. —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 04:36, 6 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3007: Probabilistic Uncertainty

2024-11-06T04:32:43Z

Megan: re

Talk:2963: House Inputs and Outputs

2024-07-25T13:35:24Z

Megan: on the category messup i made

what in the heckoslovakia is panel 16 [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.216|172.71.147.216]] 02:18, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:I can only assume that it's from the perspective of someone inside the well looking upward toward the outside world. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 02:23, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:: It's a reference to The Ring (リング) films and books. This distorted view from the inside of the well is an iconic part of the franchise's imagery, and, in minimal-spoilers form, its appearance suggests that someone has watched the cursed tape and should now expect a visitor to arrive from that well in seven days. (Definitely a red intersection) [[User:Scorpion451|Scorpion451]] ([[User talk:Scorpion451|talk]]) 02:52, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: more at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ring_(franchise) aside holy gosh! I was expecting to link to IMDB for like two or three movies. /aside the trailer at https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0298130/ starts with an a 1950-1990 ish USA telephone ring. It's been a while since I saw it and the ring referring to a telephone not magic ring is starting to sound familiar. SDT
:::: which is too much detail. "Panel 16 refers to a horror film" is not enough info SDT [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.102|172.70.134.102]] 04:06, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: [[396|You watched the tape!?]] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.27|162.158.94.27]] 07:07, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::: Having never seen* The Ring, I now think I understand a lot more about the film. Here was I, always thinking it was an allegory upon the idea of a {{w|webring}}...
::: ''* figure that if seeing "the tape" causes imminent death, then watching "The Ring" might at least cause an annoying rash/the sniffles in the near future... and I have indeed eventually felt an itch or had a runny nose even after seeing references ''to'' The Ring. Sometimes within a couple of months!''
::: I mean, is it not a bit of a Spoiler? (Clearly, I don't know how much it might be.) Hmmm... *itch itch* ''*aaachew!!*'' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.175|172.69.195.175]] 13:04, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.100|172.70.134.100]] 03:58, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
I'm assuming that a table would probably be best for this comic, but tbh I don't know how to make one and it's kinda late for me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.137.212|162.158.137.212]] 02:48, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:Update: thanks to whoever made the table [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.192|141.101.109.192]] 03:32, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
:::You're welcome :) I had to look at Wikipedia's tutorial to make it - [[User:Blue in real life|Blue in real life]] ([[User talk:Blue in real life|talk]]) 05:55, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
::::The table parser is incredibly byzantine; good job. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.11|172.70.215.11]] 07:34, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
As a note, water in power lines ''is'' actually a thing for high speed EV chargers - so much power is transferred even the cable need water cooling! [[User:Thief|Thief]] ([[User talk:Thief|talk]]) 12:38, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

172.70.162.18 (well, more precisely, the person who made [[Special:Diff/347189|this edit]]): you managed to make me frantically make two page moves thinking that you had removed the link that I added. See, I created [[Category:Confusion matrices]] and added links to that on all the articles with confusion matrices. However, I thought you had reverted my edit when you removed a link to [[:Category:Comics with confusion matrices]]. So I thought I had created the category under the wrong name compared with what I added and went to move the category, until I realized you had indeed removed a link to a category that isn't used. Two page moves later (because I made a typo in the first move), I realized that the category's name was correct and that someone had earlier linked to a nonexistent category that was not mine. '''OOPS.''' —megan [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 13:35, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Category:Confusion matrices

2024-07-25T13:29:20Z

Megan: okay, back to as it was before.

This category contains comics containing {{w|confusion matrices}}.