explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1416: Pixels

2014-09-03T15:26:10Z

Mezgrman: /* Bugs */

{{comic
| number = 1416
| date = September 3, 2014
| title = Pixels
| image = pixels.png
| titletext = It's turtles all the way down.
}}
'''NOTE: The above is only a zoomed out version of the this interactive comic.''' For a collection of images that appear when zooming in on this comic, see [[1416: Pixels/Images]].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Individual panels need explanations}}
This interactive comic begins with a panel where [[Cueball]] is stacking turtles. This is a reference to the idiom "turtles all the way down," which refers to the problem of infinite regression: if everything in the universe is "on top of" something else, so to speak, there must be a "bottom." A joking solution to the paradoxical nature of such a bottom is the proposition that {{w|Turtles_all_the_way_down|the world rests on a semi-infinite stack of turtles}}.

As can be read you should "scroll to zoom". This can be done by placing the cursor inside the panel of the comic. When scrolling up (using the mouse wheel) the picture zooms in until the pixels are visible. When you continue to scroll on each pixel then resolves into another comic picture, with black-on-white comic panels making up the white pixels and white-on-black panels making up the black pixels. Scrolling on until you can see the pixels of the comic picture you are now zooming into the process is repeated again and will be so for all subsequent sets of comic panels. Not all white and all black panels are the same; some sets involve more than two different panels, but all involve repetitive tiling.

===Book Launch===
The date of release of this comic (3rd September 2014) is also the launch date of Randall's book, [http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994 What If]. The book is shown and referred to in a number of frames, for example it is '''literally''' launched as a part of the rocket.

The model rocket is made from Rocket Parts from KSP. KSP is the {{w|Kerbal Space Program}}, a spaceflight simulator. Perhaps XKCD's 'parts' refers to KSP's large community of mod developers who contribute 'parts' to the game.

===Holism, Reductionism, Mu===
These three words refer to "A MU offering", an essay by Douglas Hofstatder in his book [[24|Godel, Escher, Bach]]. It includes a similar multiple level drawing: {{w|Mu (negative)|the word MU}} is composed of copies of the words HOLISM and REDUCTIONISM, each of which are in turn made of smaller copies of the other, which are in turn made of [http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/two-more-letters/ tiny copies] of the word MU.

===Needs More Struts===
{{w|Strut|Struts}} are structural members in engineering, and are are one of the components used in Kerbal Space Program to contruct rockets. 'Needs More Struts' seems to be a meme amongst players of Kerbal Space Program, along the lines of 'When in doubt, overengineer'. Megan deems Cueball's rocket to be insufficiently structually sound, and declares that it "Needs More Struts"

===Time Turners===
The time turner is a device from the Harry Potter series of novels by JK Rowling. It allows the user to re-live a period of time over again. In the third novel Hermione is given the time-turner to allow her to take extra classes, however it is eventually used to spare Buckbeak the hippogryph from execution. This prompted many questions regarding why time-turners weren’t used on other occasions to saves peoples lives (among other things).

While J.K Rowling has “[http://pottermore.wikia.com/wiki/Time-Turner solved the problem to her own satisfaction]” she admits that she entered into the subject of time-travel too lightly.
This panel jokes that if the real life JK Rowling had a fictional time-turner which worked, she would have gone back and removed the time-turner plotline from the book, saving her all the hassle of dealing with the resulting time-travel questions. This act would result in a time-travel paradox.

===Stockholm Syndrome===
{{w|Stockholm syndrome}} is the name for a psychological phenomenon, in which hostages develop sympathy, empathy and/or positive feelings towards their captors. These feelings are usually seen as irrational, seeing as the hostage is held against their wishes, usually with the threat of physical harm or death.

This panel asks "How do we know anyone really ''wants'' to live in Stockholm?", questioning whether everyone who lives in the city of Stockholm is in fact held hostage there and only stays because they have developed to like life there (due to Stockholm Syndrome).

===Shut Down the Server===
Cueball tells an offscreen character that he is going to shut down the server, while carrying a bucket of water.

Usually shutting down a server is done via the operating system or software, in this case it appears that cueball is simply going to douse it with water, likely resulting in serious water damage to the hardware.

=== du ===
`du` is a Linux command to indicate the "disk usage" of a file or directory.

~$ du -s video/
4170882256

This is a command that shows how large all the files are in this user's "video" directory - presumably where they store their personal videos. The units of the result is probably kilobytes (depending on settings)

This number is clearly large and difficult to parse, and the units are not clear. More appropriate units would be terabytes rather than bytes. The du command offers an option to display units in "human readable format", which will adapt to use kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, etc. as appropriate. The next command purports to request the same result in more human-readable form.

~$ du -hs video/
A lot.
~$

It seems that the computer, rather than giving a specific answer, simply says that the size of the video directory is "A lot."

The final line indicates the computer is now ready to accept a new command.

===Fire Hydrant===
Black Hat is talking to a fireman, with a fire engine on fire in the background, he asks "To be fair, what else would you expect to come out of a 'Fire Hydrant'?"

Black Hat appears to have managed to replace the usual water supply to the hydrant with some sort of flammable liquid. Thus when the hydrant is used, the result is, quite literally, fire. In Black Hats logic, a hydrant which delivers water should be called a water hydrant.

===Evolution===
The {{w|March of Progress}} image is a famous and instantly recognisable image showing the stages of human evolution by way of a series of primate figures as if marching in a line. The panel parodies the March of Progress image, with 5 ducklings following an adult duck. In this case they don’t actually ‘evolve’ into the adult duck however. The comic has some resemblance to [[537: Ducklings]].

===The Only Copy===
Cueball & Megan turn to each other having just launched the What-If book rocket into space (construction and launch are seen in other panels). perhaps Megan realises they may have misunderstood the term 'book launch' and that they may have just lost the only copy of the book.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is stacking turtles, and is about to put the fourth turtle on his pile. At the bottom right there is a small panel. Inside this is written:]
:Scroll to zoom

:[When zooming in there will be several panels with text. The transcript of these may not be possible to complete - but add the transcript of these panels here: [[1416: Pixels/Transcript|interactive transcript]]]

==Bugs==
Doesn't seem to work properly in all browsers (e.g. Firefox and Safari on MacOSX), giving "TypeError: this.data is null" in line 173 of zoom.js: "var item = this.data.get(dims)"
Doesn't seem to work in IE8, comic is blank, but title text works.

Does not work on xkcd.org neither www.xkcd.org in Firefox and Chrome. Currently you should visit http://xkcd.com for this comic to work properly.

The comic (along with many other features of the site) will not work at all at present, as the server for dynamic content, c.xkcd.com, is down.

There is a bug/typo, where there is a chance of white pixels zoom into a missing panel, resulting in a white screen.
This is affecting several panels: "du" (1-in-13), "server-1" (1-in-13), and "time-turner" (1-in-14).
In each case the missing (404) tile is "what-if-trade" (probably should be "whatif-trade").

Also, it doesn't work on HTTPS.

==Gallery==
Here on the link can be found a [[1416: Pixels/Images|gallery]] with some of the many images found in this extensive comic.

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

1416: Pixels

2014-09-03T15:25:42Z

Mezgrman: /* Bugs */

{{comic
| number = 1416
| date = September 3, 2014
| title = Pixels
| image = pixels.png
| titletext = It's turtles all the way down.
}}
'''NOTE: The above is only a zoomed out version of the this interactive comic.''' For a collection of images that appear when zooming in on this comic, see [[1416: Pixels/Images]].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Individual panels need explanations}}
This interactive comic begins with a panel where [[Cueball]] is stacking turtles. This is a reference to the idiom "turtles all the way down," which refers to the problem of infinite regression: if everything in the universe is "on top of" something else, so to speak, there must be a "bottom." A joking solution to the paradoxical nature of such a bottom is the proposition that {{w|Turtles_all_the_way_down|the world rests on a semi-infinite stack of turtles}}.

As can be read you should "scroll to zoom". This can be done by placing the cursor inside the panel of the comic. When scrolling up (using the mouse wheel) the picture zooms in until the pixels are visible. When you continue to scroll on each pixel then resolves into another comic picture, with black-on-white comic panels making up the white pixels and white-on-black panels making up the black pixels. Scrolling on until you can see the pixels of the comic picture you are now zooming into the process is repeated again and will be so for all subsequent sets of comic panels. Not all white and all black panels are the same; some sets involve more than two different panels, but all involve repetitive tiling.

===Book Launch===
The date of release of this comic (3rd September 2014) is also the launch date of Randall's book, [http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994 What If]. The book is shown and referred to in a number of frames, for example it is '''literally''' launched as a part of the rocket.

The model rocket is made from Rocket Parts from KSP. KSP is the {{w|Kerbal Space Program}}, a spaceflight simulator. Perhaps XKCD's 'parts' refers to KSP's large community of mod developers who contribute 'parts' to the game.

===Holism, Reductionism, Mu===
These three words refer to "A MU offering", an essay by Douglas Hofstatder in his book [[24|Godel, Escher, Bach]]. It includes a similar multiple level drawing: {{w|Mu (negative)|the word MU}} is composed of copies of the words HOLISM and REDUCTIONISM, each of which are in turn made of smaller copies of the other, which are in turn made of [http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/two-more-letters/ tiny copies] of the word MU.

===Needs More Struts===
{{w|Strut|Struts}} are structural members in engineering, and are are one of the components used in Kerbal Space Program to contruct rockets. 'Needs More Struts' seems to be a meme amongst players of Kerbal Space Program, along the lines of 'When in doubt, overengineer'. Megan deems Cueball's rocket to be insufficiently structually sound, and declares that it "Needs More Struts"

===Time Turners===
The time turner is a device from the Harry Potter series of novels by JK Rowling. It allows the user to re-live a period of time over again. In the third novel Hermione is given the time-turner to allow her to take extra classes, however it is eventually used to spare Buckbeak the hippogryph from execution. This prompted many questions regarding why time-turners weren’t used on other occasions to saves peoples lives (among other things).

While J.K Rowling has “[http://pottermore.wikia.com/wiki/Time-Turner solved the problem to her own satisfaction]” she admits that she entered into the subject of time-travel too lightly.
This panel jokes that if the real life JK Rowling had a fictional time-turner which worked, she would have gone back and removed the time-turner plotline from the book, saving her all the hassle of dealing with the resulting time-travel questions. This act would result in a time-travel paradox.

===Stockholm Syndrome===
{{w|Stockholm syndrome}} is the name for a psychological phenomenon, in which hostages develop sympathy, empathy and/or positive feelings towards their captors. These feelings are usually seen as irrational, seeing as the hostage is held against their wishes, usually with the threat of physical harm or death.

This panel asks "How do we know anyone really ''wants'' to live in Stockholm?", questioning whether everyone who lives in the city of Stockholm is in fact held hostage there and only stays because they have developed to like life there (due to Stockholm Syndrome).

===Shut Down the Server===
Cueball tells an offscreen character that he is going to shut down the server, while carrying a bucket of water.

Usually shutting down a server is done via the operating system or software, in this case it appears that cueball is simply going to douse it with water, likely resulting in serious water damage to the hardware.

=== du ===
`du` is a Linux command to indicate the "disk usage" of a file or directory.

~$ du -s video/
4170882256

This is a command that shows how large all the files are in this user's "video" directory - presumably where they store their personal videos. The units of the result is probably kilobytes (depending on settings)

This number is clearly large and difficult to parse, and the units are not clear. More appropriate units would be terabytes rather than bytes. The du command offers an option to display units in "human readable format", which will adapt to use kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, etc. as appropriate. The next command purports to request the same result in more human-readable form.

~$ du -hs video/
A lot.
~$

It seems that the computer, rather than giving a specific answer, simply says that the size of the video directory is "A lot."

The final line indicates the computer is now ready to accept a new command.

===Fire Hydrant===
Black Hat is talking to a fireman, with a fire engine on fire in the background, he asks "To be fair, what else would you expect to come out of a 'Fire Hydrant'?"

Black Hat appears to have managed to replace the usual water supply to the hydrant with some sort of flammable liquid. Thus when the hydrant is used, the result is, quite literally, fire. In Black Hats logic, a hydrant which delivers water should be called a water hydrant.

===Evolution===
The {{w|March of Progress}} image is a famous and instantly recognisable image showing the stages of human evolution by way of a series of primate figures as if marching in a line. The panel parodies the March of Progress image, with 5 ducklings following an adult duck. In this case they don’t actually ‘evolve’ into the adult duck however. The comic has some resemblance to [[537: Ducklings]].

===The Only Copy===
Cueball & Megan turn to each other having just launched the What-If book rocket into space (construction and launch are seen in other panels). perhaps Megan realises they may have misunderstood the term 'book launch' and that they may have just lost the only copy of the book.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is stacking turtles, and is about to put the fourth turtle on his pile. At the bottom right there is a small panel. Inside this is written:]
:Scroll to zoom

:[When zooming in there will be several panels with text. The transcript of these may not be possible to complete - but add the transcript of these panels here: [[1416: Pixels/Transcript|interactive transcript]]]

==Bugs==
Doesn't seem to work properly in all browsers (e.g. Firefox and Safari on MacOSX), giving "TypeError: this.data is null" in line 173 of zoom.js: "var item = this.data.get(dims)"
Doesn't seem to work in IE8, comic is blank, but title text works.

Does not work on xkcd.org neither www.xkcd.org in Firefox and Chrome. Currently you should visit http://xkcd.com for this comic to work properly.

The comic (along with many other features of the site) will not work at all at present, as the server for dynamic content, c.xkcd.com, is down.

There is a bug/typo, where there is a chance of white pixels zoom into a missing panel, resulting in a white screen.
This is affecting several panels: "du" (1-in-13), "server-1" (1-in-13), and "time-turner" (1-in-14).
In each case the missing (404) tile is "what-if-trade" (probably should be "whatif-trade")
Also, it doesn't work on HTTPS.

==Gallery==
Here on the link can be found a [[1416: Pixels/Images|gallery]] with some of the many images found in this extensive comic.

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

Talk:1406: Universal Converter Box

2014-08-11T10:31:20Z

Mezgrman:

According to Wikipedia, the 1st and 2nd gen MagSafe connectors in this image are swapped: What Randall labeled as MagSafe 1 is actually MagSafe 2 and vice-versa. [[User:Mezgrman|Mezgrman]] ([[User talk:Mezgrman|talk]]) 10:31, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Would like to see what a gender changer for the petrol pump looks like... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.219|108.162.250.219]] 04:37, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

: It’s a funnel. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.129|108.162.216.129]] 04:45, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

:: Im more intereted in understanding how the conversion between 87, 91 and 93 octane and Diesel is taking place -- some mini refinery most be included [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 07:34, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

: I guess those folks still using their ADB leopards are out of luck.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.129|108.162.216.129]] 04:45, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Oh god... there are quite a few blank spots on that gas pump, and we all know what Randall likes to do with [http://what-if.xkcd.com/35/ tape]. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.211|173.245.56.211]] 04:55, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Where's the old Mac DIN based serial port? I've got a Color Classic I'd like to resurrect! (No, seriously. It's got a math program on it that I paid about one <i>fifteenth </i> of what they're going for today!) [[User:ExternalMonolog|ExternalMonolog]] ([[User talk:ExternalMonolog|talk]]) 05:21, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Probably related: [http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/21b3ob/walking_through_my_local_electronic_store_i_found/ HDMI — garden hose adapter] for pouring sh*t from the TV directly on your lawn.

I hate the fact that I can think of multiple standards that are not covered here. A gazillion DIN connectors, mini HDMI, RS232, Canon/XLR,... All the AC power adapters just on their own will weigh more than 22.7 kilograms. And seriously, how are we meant to connect our coaxial network cable to an iPhone2 with this? --[[User:DivePeak|DivePeak]] ([[User talk:DivePeak|talk]]) 06:04, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

:: +1 [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 07:30, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

I'm just a little pissed that all those plugs and it still doesn't include an Australian 240v power plug... sigh. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.219|108.162.250.219]] 06:09, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

:: There are no power adapters in this afaik -- the title text talks about DC adapters, but they come in a separate bag [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 07:30, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

While we're mentioning things Randall forgot, we have eSATA, 9-pin serial, there are at least three types of firewire, Multiple SCSI interface sizes, TRRS audio/mic connectors, 1/4" inch audio connectors, XLR, varous RF connectors, and a ton of power connectors.

:: The STA and SCSI are mostly internal connections which users rarely had to worry about [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 07:30, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the magsafe 4 connector was the 'hair connector' from the avatar movie. That would really be the ultimate self-connecting magsafe successor. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.78|141.101.104.78]] 08:05, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Many of the video cables in this comic actually are compatible: DVI is backwards-compatible with VGA, HDMI is (mostly) compatible with DVI, S-video is compatible with composite RCA, and SCART is compatible with VGA in addition to supporting both types of composite. Might want to note that somewhere in the article. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.195|108.162.219.195]] 08:20, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

The male/female adapters has me wondering slightly... Does the kit come with adapters for the fuel and the power plug? Might make for a light generator. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.75|108.162.215.75]] 08:26, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

I was mildly sad to see that the token ring was not accompanied by a Tolkien ring. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 08:58, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Talk:725: Literally

2014-06-21T13:15:16Z

Mezgrman:

What does it mean to be figuratively glued to one's seat?--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.214.30|108.162.214.30]] 17:23, 31 May 2014 (UTC)
:It means that you are so fascinated by something that you just don't want to leave your seat because you might miss something – you're "glued" to your seat. [[User:Mezgrman|Mezgrman]] ([[User talk:Mezgrman|talk]]) 13:15, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

Talk:846: Dental Nerve

2014-06-13T18:08:46Z

Mezgrman:

Modern science has yet to come up with any plausible theories as to ''why'' Ke$ha would even want to brush her teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniel's in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/71.201.53.130|71.201.53.130]] 20:33, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

How important is brushing and flossing really? Take a look at these Before & After images courtesy of a Shellharbour Dentist (http://shellharbourcitydental.com.au) {{unsigned ip|108.162.250.219}}

What's with the stressed syllables in caps in the title text? [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.226|103.22.201.226]] 12:02, 2 June 2014 (UTC)
:It's to clarify which syllables are stressed. If you read it that way, it sounds like the original lyrics. [[User:Mezgrman|Mezgrman]] ([[User talk:Mezgrman|talk]]) 18:08, 13 June 2014 (UTC)