explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1744: Metabolism

2016-10-11T09:07:00Z

Seipas:

I think the comics explanation should include dieticians.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.12|162.158.49.12]] 14:58, 10 October 2016 (UTC)

A reference on the topic of metabolic energy balance and common beliefs surrounding it: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/95/4/989.full [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.149|162.158.34.149]] 17:47, 10 October 2016 (UTC)

If it was White Hat saying this, I'd expect him to be literally able to eat whatever he wants, even items that are not normally edible. It is not, however (which is strange, because, even aside from that alternate interpretation, it sounds a lot like his style). --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.36|172.68.11.36]] 02:56, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
: I'd say in that case it had to be Beret Guy instead of White Hat. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:31, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

I have one of those metabolisms where if I eat more than what I need, I sweat a lot during the night and I never fatten. I'm always underweight. é_è [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 09:07, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1663: Garden

2016-04-04T11:33:00Z

Seipas: Mixed content

===Finally Garden is up on xkcd===
It is here the comic we have been waiting for, and it seems it is a April fool comic although it first came out past midnight in all of the US except Hawaii...
:I do not know when it will be on this page but for those impatient...
:[[File:Garden Loading screen shot.png]]
:It says to Relax, while it loads, but it will eventually get to a barren land with a growth lamp that can be moved:
:[[File:Garden Lamp screen shot.png]]
:The lamp can be moved and change color.
:[[File:Garden Red Lamp screen shot.png]]
:It may be there will be something growing if we wait long enough?
:And there will be more lamps and new items:
:[[File:Garden Three Lamp screen shot.png]]
:Yes he is messing with us for sure but at least not by not making a comic :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:46, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
::I succeeded to get a small plant, but I'm not sure how. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.167|162.158.86.167]] 10:16, 4 April 2016 (UTC)
:::Try not to cover everything with every light wavelength. I'm sure you get different plants with different wavelengths:
:::[[File:aprilfool-2016-xorg.png]]
:::Also, I've noticed a constant cpu usage, indicating some kind of number crunching. The script's name "linden" reminded me of linden dollars and crowdsourcing bitcoin mining with javascript, but afair linden dollars were never mined nor based on cryptography. -- [[User:Xorg|Xorg]] ([[User talk:Xorg|talk]]) 10:30, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

For those who are in https (with firefox for example) and don't see the "comic", there is mixed content. Click on the padlock on the up-left corner, then on the arrow, then "disable the protection against not secure elements" (or something like that). [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 11:32, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1663: Garden

2016-04-04T11:32:38Z

Seipas: Mixed content

Talk:1650: Baby

2016-03-02T11:48:40Z

Seipas: Creepy advice

in second sentence, it says bobble instead of bubble. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.233|162.158.252.233]] 10:08, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

"Good job getting it outside" ... Talking to people about their baby is basically something like talking with collector about his hobby you don't share. Well ... at least they can't show you two things looking exactly same and talk about how they differ. Unless they have twins. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:35, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Say something creepy, maybe they'll keep the baby away from you... [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 11:48, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1647: Diacritics

2016-02-24T21:06:36Z

Seipas: Question about "forté/forte"

Not quite sure if and how to inlcude the fact, that the German writing of résumé is Resümee. So the ü used by Cueball/Randall ist not that far off. However in German the word is not used for a CV (or similar), but for conclusions / abstracts. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:19, 24 February 2016 (UTC)
:I have included it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:31, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

:There is a newsgroup reading software called Forté Agent, which was popular in the past. It uses the same silly spelling as the title text. Might Randall be referring to it? http://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php {{unsigned|Lou Crazy}}

OT but I'm pretty amazed that my browser renders ȩ̊́́́́̆.́́́ properly. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.131|108.162.223.131]] 11:09, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

I doubt that Randall **forgets** to add the diacritics. My guess is that he is leaving it out due to habit or custom (or laziness), as accented characters often got mangled in emails at the Internet of yore. Just as some sysadmins here in .cz, me included. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.95.49|141.101.95.49]] 11:35, 24 February 2016 (UTC)
:Well it fits with his error in hie what if that may explain this comic. It is no referenced, so I think he means that it is not his strength to put them right! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:31, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

Might have a relation with changes officially added to school manuals regarding the spelling of many words in french (removal of many accents), in order to simplify it that sparked some debate (1990 paper from Académie française in charge of normalizing/perfecting french language pushed by government few weeks(months?) ago). [[User:Zurgul|Zurgul]] ([[User talk:Zurgul|talk]]) 11:47, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

The top accent on the last e can be a caron [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caron]. It is hard to tell in hand-written text. [[User:Jkotek|Jkotek]] ([[User talk:Jkotek|talk]]) 12:18, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

In phonetics, you have to use many diacritics when describing unusual sounds narrowly. So you could end up with something like [ë̯̰̙̹̃́], which is a slightly rounded, nasalised, centralised, creaky-voiced open short e with retracted tongue root that has a high tone but does not serve as a syllable nucleus. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.222|162.158.91.222]] 13:32, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

''Forte'' means both loud and strong in both Italian and French --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.103.7|188.114.103.7]] 14:35, 24 February 2016 (UTC)
:And also in music in English, so included that instead. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:31, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

When I first clicked on "explain xkcd" from Android app, I saw:

"@@@@@@@@ Pogo Game Technical Support Phone
Number USA ------ ((((((((- - - - ------Call us on
.
.
."
etc

I wondered whether it was part of the joke. But now I see that it is gone. I have a screenshot, but don't know how to include it.
:We have had a lot [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1647:_Diacritics&oldid=113270 of spam]. (Link is to version you saw). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:31, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

This comic looks like a mild example of [http://www.marlborotech.com/Zalgo.html Zalgo text], of which the most famous example (at least in my corner of the universe) is the "don't parse html with regex" [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags/1732454#1732454 answer on StackOverflow.] [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.53|173.245.54.53]] 17:42, 24 February 2016 (UTC)
:I was just going to mention the Zalgo-iness. You think this was intentional? [[User talk:AgentMuffin|~AgentMuffin]]

I have seen similar jokes on punctuation. Like: "I know Im not good at putting in any punctuation So here is some you can put in yourself <nowiki>..........,,,,,,,,,,------------""""""""" ''''''''' "</nowiki> I sadly have it this way with commas especially (but not only) in English. I can see that when others have copy edited my posts. But I think that is the great thing about wikis. The hard part is making the explanations, and the others can easily correct spell erroers etc. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:31, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

I'm a French native speaker, and I think I need more explanation. In English, you only use diacritics with words from other languages, right ? I guess "Résumé" comes from French (even if we only say CV), and forte/forté comes from Italian, am I right ? Then WHY do you write "forté" on a music sheet when in France, and I think in Italy too, we write "forte" ? Thank you for your potential answers. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 21:06, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1037: Umwelt

2015-12-09T14:24:49Z

Seipas:

Normally I understand xkcd. But this one hurts my head. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:35, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
: I sorted all of them out. Phew!!! That was some work. The ones at the end have no appropriate picture in the image part. Atleast the hurricane one should be added. Please do so. [[User:TheOriginalSoni|TheOriginalSoni]] ([[User talk:TheOriginalSoni|talk]]) 11:09, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
:: I live in one of Umwelt's "hurricane areas", and that's the one I see. How do we add it? [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 06:06, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

There is a fixed image used if your browser does not support javascript, which is missing. Additionally, the alt text varies at times. [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 20:16, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

I can't see any of them neither in Firefox nor in IE :( --[[User:Kronf|Kronf]] ([[User talk:Kronf|talk]]) 11:32, 13 October 2012 (UTC)

This has got to be one of my favourite xkcd's! That amount of ingenuity in one edition! [[User:D3KN0W|Dean]] ([[User talk:D3KN0W|talk]]) 22:33, 01 January 2013 (UTC)

There is now also a category page for Jurassic Park, but I'm not sure how to work that into the explanation. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 09:04, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

I can't resist noting that Chrome is sadly mistaken in thinking that its puzzle piece links up to a corner piece - it would have to be an edge piece to do that. Firefox would never have that kind of issue... [[User:Natf|Natf]] ([[User talk:Natf|talk]])
: Supposedly, if there were a puzzle with inner corners, such as one with a plus cut out of it, this could link up as shown. ... I wanna make a puzzle like that now. [[Special:Contributions/99.44.200.140|99.44.200.140]] 08:00, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

It would be difficult to compile, but I think this page would benefit from having the conditions along with the image (for instance, "Displays when running Netscape:") [[Special:Contributions/24.41.66.114|24.41.66.114]] 03:27, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

Hey, um, I think there is an AniMega Mega Mega Mega Maniacs reference. Namely, the question about hot dogs resembles Yakko's question to the Wally Llama except it dealt with packages of eight and packages of ten. (I forget which is which) {{unsigned ip|71.166.47.84}}

I came here to seek informartion about how each strip was seen. Disappointed... Especially after seeing there is a hebrew one!?!?!?!? (number 29) Is it real? Because I assume it should be visible from Israel and I can't see it [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.228|141.101.99.228]] 22:26, 30 December 2013 (UTC)

Added two location references to the 2Fast2Furious and Snake comics, with browser references. Anyone know why I got those results? {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.77}}
: I don't, especially since I live in the UK (not Texas) and yet I see the Snake comic? [[User:Enchantedsleeper|Enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:Enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 14:14, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

I found a new one, it seems to display when using TOR. Should I add it? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.60|173.245.49.60]] 02:22, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:Yes definitely. [[User:Chriswampler|Chriswampler]] ([[User talk:Chriswampler|talk]]) 16:07, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
::The Reviews comic just as appearing under TOR is actually comic #1036. Can you confirm that it is actually showing up under Umwelt? [[User:Chriswampler|Chriswampler]] ([[User talk:Chriswampler|talk]]) 20:34, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:::Yes. I checked like ten times. I just did it again.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.153|173.245.53.153]] 20:40, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:Honestly I can't do much explaining. Does anyone get it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.61|108.162.219.61]] 20:54, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Has anyone tested the Steam browser, whatever it is, with this comic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.66|108.162.219.66]] 18:50, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

I tested the Steam browser and got the "This plugin requires Sergey Brin's permission to run" comic, same as when I use Chrome.[[User:RobotSnake|RobotSnake]] ([[User talk:RobotSnake|talk]]) 18:16, 5 July 2014 (UTC)
:That is because the Steam browser is WebKit/Chromium-based. (Now you know something!)[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.88|173.245.50.88]] 03:34, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

For the Yahoo Chrome one with Sergey Brin, it reminds me a bit like how GerMega Mega Mega Mega Man tanks were unable to be moved on D-Day because Hitler, whose order was needed to move them, slept through the first five hours of the batter. It's the same theme of failure due to having only one person able to give permission, and that person being asleep.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.188|173.245.54.188]] 14:53, 19 July 2014 (UTC)

I get Pond on both my laptop (Firefox) and iPhone 3. I live in North Holland. Hope it helps, ask some other Dutch people about it for affirmation. On Opera, I get the turtle one. I should also note that if I make my browser window smaller, the right part of it is cut off. This page is clearly incomplete... -Maplestrip

...Uhm, have you guys ever tried looking at this page in Lynx? Because, seriously, this is amazing. It's basically this entire page. The start in particular is hilarious: "[[two people...]] <<..wait.. <scrolls through a listing of everything> oh goddammit Randall. Thanks a bunch, dude. I better get a raise for typing out all of this>> [[Two people standing next to eachother..." Reading some of this, is this where you got all the transcripts for these comics from? -Maplestrip

In Ireland I get no comic strip loading at all! Just nothing in between the direction buttons, on Chrome or Safari! :/ {{unsigned ip|173.245.53.215}}

Just something I feel should be added to the "Blizzard" comic: it seems to also change the distance measurement (magnitude and system), in the last panel, depending on your location; for instance, the final panel refers to them only having [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22279334/Screen%20Shot%202015-03-25%20at%2010.03.06%20PM.png six more kilometres to travel] for me: fitting given that I'm located in central Ontario. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.17|108.162.216.17]] 02:23, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

I'm in Georgia but I still got the Hurricane image. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.187|108.162.238.187]] 14:12, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

I have the "Reviews" one. With Firefox/Linux without referer and without javascript, from France. With javascript I don't have any comic. Edit : I checked, it's because I have the "Reviews" one but inside a <noscript> tag, so it doesn't display when javascript is activated. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 14:20, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1037: Umwelt

2015-12-09T14:20:38Z

Seipas:

Normally I understand xkcd. But this one hurts my head. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 20:35, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
: I sorted all of them out. Phew!!! That was some work. The ones at the end have no appropriate picture in the image part. Atleast the hurricane one should be added. Please do so. [[User:TheOriginalSoni|TheOriginalSoni]] ([[User talk:TheOriginalSoni|talk]]) 11:09, 8 September 2012 (UTC)
:: I live in one of Umwelt's "hurricane areas", and that's the one I see. How do we add it? [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 06:06, 30 January 2013 (UTC)

There is a fixed image used if your browser does not support javascript, which is missing. Additionally, the alt text varies at times. [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 20:16, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

I can't see any of them neither in Firefox nor in IE :( --[[User:Kronf|Kronf]] ([[User talk:Kronf|talk]]) 11:32, 13 October 2012 (UTC)

This has got to be one of my favourite xkcd's! That amount of ingenuity in one edition! [[User:D3KN0W|Dean]] ([[User talk:D3KN0W|talk]]) 22:33, 01 January 2013 (UTC)

There is now also a category page for Jurassic Park, but I'm not sure how to work that into the explanation. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 09:04, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

I can't resist noting that Chrome is sadly mistaken in thinking that its puzzle piece links up to a corner piece - it would have to be an edge piece to do that. Firefox would never have that kind of issue... [[User:Natf|Natf]] ([[User talk:Natf|talk]])
: Supposedly, if there were a puzzle with inner corners, such as one with a plus cut out of it, this could link up as shown. ... I wanna make a puzzle like that now. [[Special:Contributions/99.44.200.140|99.44.200.140]] 08:00, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

It would be difficult to compile, but I think this page would benefit from having the conditions along with the image (for instance, "Displays when running Netscape:") [[Special:Contributions/24.41.66.114|24.41.66.114]] 03:27, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

Hey, um, I think there is an AniMega Mega Mega Mega Maniacs reference. Namely, the question about hot dogs resembles Yakko's question to the Wally Llama except it dealt with packages of eight and packages of ten. (I forget which is which) {{unsigned ip|71.166.47.84}}

I came here to seek informartion about how each strip was seen. Disappointed... Especially after seeing there is a hebrew one!?!?!?!? (number 29) Is it real? Because I assume it should be visible from Israel and I can't see it [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.228|141.101.99.228]] 22:26, 30 December 2013 (UTC)

Added two location references to the 2Fast2Furious and Snake comics, with browser references. Anyone know why I got those results? {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.77}}
: I don't, especially since I live in the UK (not Texas) and yet I see the Snake comic? [[User:Enchantedsleeper|Enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:Enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 14:14, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

I found a new one, it seems to display when using TOR. Should I add it? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.60|173.245.49.60]] 02:22, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:Yes definitely. [[User:Chriswampler|Chriswampler]] ([[User talk:Chriswampler|talk]]) 16:07, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
::The Reviews comic just as appearing under TOR is actually comic #1036. Can you confirm that it is actually showing up under Umwelt? [[User:Chriswampler|Chriswampler]] ([[User talk:Chriswampler|talk]]) 20:34, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:::Yes. I checked like ten times. I just did it again.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.153|173.245.53.153]] 20:40, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
:Honestly I can't do much explaining. Does anyone get it? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.61|108.162.219.61]] 20:54, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Has anyone tested the Steam browser, whatever it is, with this comic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.66|108.162.219.66]] 18:50, 26 May 2014 (UTC)

I tested the Steam browser and got the "This plugin requires Sergey Brin's permission to run" comic, same as when I use Chrome.[[User:RobotSnake|RobotSnake]] ([[User talk:RobotSnake|talk]]) 18:16, 5 July 2014 (UTC)
:That is because the Steam browser is WebKit/Chromium-based. (Now you know something!)[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.88|173.245.50.88]] 03:34, 2 September 2014 (UTC)

For the Yahoo Chrome one with Sergey Brin, it reminds me a bit like how GerMega Mega Mega Mega Man tanks were unable to be moved on D-Day because Hitler, whose order was needed to move them, slept through the first five hours of the batter. It's the same theme of failure due to having only one person able to give permission, and that person being asleep.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.188|173.245.54.188]] 14:53, 19 July 2014 (UTC)

I get Pond on both my laptop (Firefox) and iPhone 3. I live in North Holland. Hope it helps, ask some other Dutch people about it for affirmation. On Opera, I get the turtle one. I should also note that if I make my browser window smaller, the right part of it is cut off. This page is clearly incomplete... -Maplestrip

...Uhm, have you guys ever tried looking at this page in Lynx? Because, seriously, this is amazing. It's basically this entire page. The start in particular is hilarious: "[[two people...]] <<..wait.. <scrolls through a listing of everything> oh goddammit Randall. Thanks a bunch, dude. I better get a raise for typing out all of this>> [[Two people standing next to eachother..." Reading some of this, is this where you got all the transcripts for these comics from? -Maplestrip

In Ireland I get no comic strip loading at all! Just nothing in between the direction buttons, on Chrome or Safari! :/ {{unsigned ip|173.245.53.215}}

Just something I feel should be added to the "Blizzard" comic: it seems to also change the distance measurement (magnitude and system), in the last panel, depending on your location; for instance, the final panel refers to them only having [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22279334/Screen%20Shot%202015-03-25%20at%2010.03.06%20PM.png six more kilometres to travel] for me: fitting given that I'm located in central Ontario. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.17|108.162.216.17]] 02:23, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

I'm in Georgia but I still got the Hurricane image. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.187|108.162.238.187]] 14:12, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

I have the "Reviews" one. With Firefox/Linux without referer and without javascript, from France. With javascript I don't have any comic. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 14:20, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1614: Kites

2015-12-09T13:46:48Z

Seipas:

"If you didn't get it right away, and had to read this explanation, I would recommend finding a small dog and trying to fly it like a kite." This explanation made me laugh, kudos to whoever wrote it. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 06:42, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

(When editing the main article, guys, remember not to overwrite tags. When Transcript text was put in someone squashed both the Incomplete tag and the one for this Discussion... anyway...) Note that it appears the dog isn't 'floating', as described in at least one place, but flying by flapping his (not particularly large) ears. If it were a wagging tail, I wouldn't be so sure (remember the robot dog from Battle Of The Planets?), but ears don't tend to noticably flap like that (when the rest of the body isn't in motion/sitting in a car, poking its head out the window). Of course full Dumbo Ears are far more overscale than these, so maybe the dog has ''some'' floating skills, the ears are merely attitude controls. - (And I can't believe I'm now discussing the precise nature of the airworthiness of a dog. Thank you Randall!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 09:52, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

there is "it's" abuse here. para 3: "it's mouth." and para 4: "it's title." --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.233|141.101.106.233]] 12:56, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

At first I read "kitties" instead of "kites", maybe because I'm not a native speaker and the first word is more familiar to me. So... I was not really surprised to see a dog, here. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 13:42, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1614: Kites

2015-12-09T13:42:43Z

Seipas:

"If you didn't get it right away, and had to read this explanation, I would recommend finding a small dog and trying to fly it like a kite." This explanation made me laugh, kudos to whoever wrote it. [[User:NotLock|NotLock]] ([[User talk:NotLock|talk]]) 06:42, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

(When editing the main article, guys, remember not to overwrite tags. When Transcript text was put in someone squashed both the Incomplete tag and the one for this Discussion... anyway...) Note that it appears the dog isn't 'floating', as described in at least one place, but flying by flapping his (not particularly large) ears. If it were a wagging tail, I wouldn't be so sure (remember the robot dog from Battle Of The Planets?), but ears don't tend to noticably flap like that (when the rest of the body isn't in motion/sitting in a car, poking its head out the window). Of course full Dumbo Ears are far more overscale than these, so maybe the dog has ''some'' floating skills, the ears are merely attitude controls. - (And I can't believe I'm now discussing the precise nature of the airworthiness of a dog. Thank you Randall!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 09:52, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

there is "it's" abuse here. para 3: "it's mouth." and para 4: "it's title." --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.233|141.101.106.233]] 12:56, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

At first I read "kitties" instead of "kites", maybe because I'm not a natve speaker and the first word is more familiar with me. So... I was not really surprised to see a dog, here. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 13:42, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1572: xkcd Survey

2015-09-02T13:37:39Z

Seipas: Whining about Google and privacy

Mildly interesting to note that the ordering of most of the checkbox/radiobutton lists randomise each time the survery is loaded. Also, there is at least one other comic where Randall comments about not having figured out HTML imagemaps. Anyone remember which? --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:52, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:It was in one of his "under the logo" news bars, about him starting What If, iirc --[[User:Aescula|Aescula]] ([[User talk:Aescula|talk]]) 11:28, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
I wonder how many people, on reading 'Type "cat" here:', typed '"cat" here:'? I know I did... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 11:58, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:Guilty...--[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 12:08, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
: Me too... However you could have typed '"cat" here:', as well... (/edit: I wonder how many different entries the survey's result will reveal) (/edit2: I did not read properly... sorry. I typed '"cat"' not '"cat" here:' -.-)[[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 12:27, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
: I typed meow -[[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.86|141.101.105.86]] 12:41, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
Not sure if it was just me, but the comic wasn't a link at all! The cursor changed into a No cursor for me everytime I mouseover'd the comic. I went to survey using the "Bonus Link!" below the comic page. [[User:Brilliantnut|Brilliantnut]] ([[User talk:Brilliantnut|talk]]) 12:01, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:Never mind, this was probably due to the WebComics reader extension that I have in my browser. [[User:Brilliantnut|Brilliantnut]] ([[User talk:Brilliantnut|talk]]) 12:03, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
From hearing people on reddit comment about not being able to completely fill the text box (not just the visual box) with the error "Answer too long", it's caused by a 10k character limit. Presumably by Google Docs. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.192|108.162.249.192]] 13:18, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

The validation choices are interesting.
* "Enter a number between 1 and 100" rejects numbers outside this range (e.g. -1) but also reject valid responses (e.g. π).
* "Enter your age" and "Enter the number of $SIBLING" accept invalid responses such as -1. [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 13:29, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

"it's possible that someone may be able to identify you by looking at your responses"
Then why send those informations to Google ? I find the idea of thee survey interesting but why Google doc ? There are other options like Lime Survey. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 13:37, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

==Not a transcript==
This is mildly interesting, but it is not a transcript. Transcripts are meant mainly for blind people and search engines. Different letter sizes and a frame are not needed. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 12:54, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
:{| style="text-align:center; border:1pt black solid;"
|| Introducing '''THE XKCD SURVEY''' A search for weird correlations Note: This survey is anonymous, but all responses will be posted publicly so people can play with the data. '''Click here to''' '''take the survey''' Or click here, or here. The whole comic is a link, because I still haven't gotten the hang of HTML imagemaps. 
|}
I wonder how many people included "battery, horse, staple, correct" in the five random words box.

1547: Solar System Questions

2015-07-07T13:42:25Z

Seipas: + link to Wikipedia "Life on Mars"

{{comic
| number = 1547
| date = July 6, 2015
| title = Solar System Questions
| image = solar_system_questions.png
| titletext = My country's World Cup win was exciting and all, but c'mon, what if the players wore nylon wings and COULD LITERALLY FLY?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|1) Explain "in the wrong places" re: Io's volcanoes. 2) Explanation needed for why "ice spikes" on Europa are hypothesized.}}

This comic is a list of questions which [[Randall]] has about the Solar System, which at first glance may appear to be things that Randall would like to learn about.
In actual fact most of the questions have not been satisfactorily answered or proven by anyone in the {{w|List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics#Astronomy_and_astrophysics|scientific community}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Question given
! Answer given by Randall (in Red)
! Comments
|-
| Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
| Lava
| The {{w|Moon}} is in synchronous rotation with Earth, which means that we always can see only one half of the surface of the Moon. And on that side we can see large {{w|lunar maria}} formed by lava from big volcanoes. This surface is very different to all other celestial bodies we know in our Solar system. The double "the the" could be a Randallism — intended or unintended.
|-
| Why are all the blotches on the near side?
| ...
| The nearside of the Moon is dominated by the blotchy 'seas' or maria, the far side by craters. {{w|Far_side_of_the_Moon#Differences|Several explanations}} for this have been proposed, including an overabundance of impacts obliterating the blotches on the more exposed far side, different compositions of heat-producing elements, large collisions, or heat produced by the still-cooling Earth.
|-
| Did Mars have seas?
| Yes (briefly?)
| Recent explorations have confirmed there was once standing (and also flowing) water on {{w|Mars}}. Many rovers and orbiters on Mars give us the evidence on this early development of that planet, but it is still unknown how long such conditions existed in its history.
|-
| Was there life on Mars?
| ...
| One of the big mysteries, {{w|Life on Mars|not yet answered}}.
|-
| What's Titan like?
| Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
| The {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} mission confirmed the presence of {{w|Lakes_of_Titan|lakes and rivers}} on {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}. The {{w|Huygens_(spacecraft)#Findings|Huygens}} lander itself returned some very yellow images of a dry lake bed from Titan's surface.
|-
| What was Earth like during the Hadean?
| ...
| The {{w|Hadean}} was the first geologic era on earth, the planet had just formed and not much is known of that period of Earth. But since it was the time when Earth was formed it was mainly very hot with extreme volcanic activity, with the entire surface melted. This is why the era is named after {{w|Hades}} the ancient Greek god of the underworld.
|-
| Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
| ...
| The {{w|Oort Cloud}} is a theoretical spherical cloud of icy planetesimal, maybe dust, and also larger objects at a distance of up to around 100,000 {{w|Astronomical units|AU}} to our Sun. We can see similar clouds at other stars, but there is still no evidence that this cloud exists in our Solar System.
|-
| Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
| Something about magnets?
| The {{w|corona}} of the sun is hotter than it theoretically should be. The looping magnetic fields in this area could be responsible.
|-
| What are comets like?
| Precipitous
| The {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae lander}} is next to a cliff...
|-
| Where's Philae, exactly?
| ...
| ...but we're not sure ''which'' cliff.
|-
| What's Pluto like?
| rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
| rowspan="2" | The probe {{w|New Horizons}} may be about to answer both of these questions as it will reach it's closest approach to both {{w|Pluto}} and {{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}} just eight days after the release of this comic.
|-
| What's Charon like?
|-
| Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
| ...
| There is a size-gap between the rocky {{w|terrestrial planets}} up to Earth size and the {{w|gas giants}} very much larger than Earth in our Solar System.
There are many known {{w|exoplanets}} (planets in other solar systems) filling in the range between our rocky planets and our gas giants, known as [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Exoplanet_Mass-Radius_Scatter_Super-Earth.png Super-Earths]
|-
| What's Ceres like?
| [Working on it!]
| The {{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn probe}} is currently exploring the {{w|dwarf planet}} {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}} and reveals unseen surface features.
|-
| Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?
| Ice over a water ocean
| {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} is a moon of {{w|Jupiter}} and the surface is basically thick pack ice covered in {{w|lineae}}.
|-
| Why is Io so weird-looking?
| Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
| The moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}} is also orbiting Jupiter and is close enough that {{w|tidal forces}} make it the most volcanic object in the solar system. The moon is mainly yellow but there a several other colors on the surface, for instance spots and streaks of bright red color that comes from {{w|sulfur}} which is ejected by the volcanoes.
|-
| Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
| ...
| Many objects in the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} have a reddish hue. A possible explanation is that they are [http://www.space.com/9418-icy-red-objects-solar-system-edge-point-life-building-blocks.html| covered in organic molecules] formed by the irradiation of their surface ices. The New Horizons probe might also shed light on this.
|-
| What are those spots on Ceres?
| ...
| The Dawn probe found some mysterious spots on the Ceres. These [http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19568.jpg white spots] are still not understood, but the mission is still running and we may figure out the source of the glowing white features.
|-
| What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
| ...
| The European {{w|ESA}} selected the mission {{w|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)}} to Jupiter. The moon Europa is one target for that mission. But we have to wait, its launch target is 2022 and the arrival at Jupiter is planned for 2030. But that's not uncommon for missions like this, New Horizons or {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} did also travel approx. ten years to reach their target. And before such a mission can start many preparations have to be done.
|-
| Which of the other moons have seas?
| Several
| Depending on the definition of 'sea', other less obviously 'frozen water world' moons such as {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}} may have {{w|Ganymede (moon)#Subsurface oceans|subsurface}} [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27151-aurora-reveals-jupiter-moons-secret-subsurface-sea.html oceans] of liquid water or other substance liquid at the relevant temperature.
|-
| What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?
| ...
| {{w|Lakes of Titan}}
|-
| What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
| ...
|
|-
| What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
| ...
| {{w|Great Red Spot}}
|-
| What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?
| Heat from the RTG
| Discussed as the {{w|Pioneer anomaly}}. RTG stands for {{w|Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator}}.
|-
| What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
| ...
| Several spacecraft experienced unexplained speed increases during Earth flybys. This is called the {{w|flyby anomaly}}.
|-
| Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?
| Oscillating
| {{w|Solar neutrino problem}}
|-
| Why is there so much air on Titan?
| ...
| Titan has an atmospheric pressure 1.45 times that of Earth, but 1/7th of the surface gravity (that's less than Earth's own, practically airless, Moon). Hence the confusion! In fact, Titan actually has almost 20% more atmosphere (by mass) than Earth, and ''seven times'' more atmosphere across a given surface area!
Less influence from the more distant Sun probably helps retain more of the atmosphere's gasses (mostly nitrogen), and {{w|cryovolcanoes}} may replenish the methane fraction (which should by now have ''all'' been converted into the other hydrocarbons present) from subsurface reservoirs. But further studies are required to properly answer this question.
|-
| Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?
| ...
| A reference to the {{w|Kuiper Cliff}}.
|-
| Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
| ...
| {{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}} is a moon of {{w|Saturn}} and has a white side and a dark side.
|-
| Why does Iapetus have a belt?
| ...
| Iapetus has a 13 km high ridge around most of the equator, and a number of 10 km high mountains where the ridge is interrupted.
|-
| What's the deal with Miranda?
| ...
| {{w|Miranda_(moon)|Miranda}} is the smallest of {{w|Uranus}}' five round satellites, and it's {{w|Verona Rupes|a bit rough around the edges}} and also has an unusually high orbital inclination that is difficult to explain. Also possibly a [[Firefly|''Firefly'' reference]] since {{w|List of Firefly planets and moons#Miranda|Miranda}} is also the name of a planet in {{w|Serenity (film)|''Serenity''}}, a film basedion the {{w|Firefly (TV series)|''Firefly''}} TV series.
|-
| Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
| ...
| The {{w|Nice model}} is a theory of how our solar system formed, which suggested the possibility of Uranus and {{w|Neptune}} having swapped places before reaching their current positions. Work by Professor S. Desch [http://dusty.la.asu.edu/~desch/publications/2007/Desch2007.pdf also came to this result].
|-
| Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
| ...
| {{w|Late Heavy Bombardment}}
|-
| Did life start before it?
| ...
| For some speculation on this topic, see [http://www.livescience.com/5426-life-survived-earth-early-bombardment.html].
|-
| Is Europa covered in Ice Spikes?
| ...
|Dr Daniel Hobley has put forward a [theory http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21341176] that Jupiter's icy moon, {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}, has the right conditions to form ice spikes called {{w|penitentes}} of up to 10m in height.
|-
| Why haven't we built a big inflatable Extreme Sports Complex on The Moon?
| ...
| See, e.g., ''{{w|The Menace From Earth}}'', a 1957 short story by Robert Heinlein.
|}

The title text refers to the {{w|2015 FIFA Women's World Cup}} which was won by USA a day before. The nylon wings and flying may be a reference to two passages from 3001: The Final Odyssey, one where Frank Poole tries out various wings while in an extremely low gravity environment, and one where he remarks while watching Swan Lake that Tchaikovsky could never have imagined a performance where the dancers were actually flying (due to aforementioned low gravity). This is also a reference to the last point on the list, because if we had such a stadium on the moon, maybe it would be possible to use such wings to make very long floating leaps.

==Transcript==
:'''Questions I have'''
:'''about the solar system'''
:(some answered)

:{| class="wikitable" style="border: 0px;"
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the the Moon so blotchy?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Lava
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are all the blotches on the near side?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Mars have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Yes (briefly?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Was there life on Mars?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Titan like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What was Earth like during the Hadean?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the Sun's corona so hot?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Something about magnets?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are comets like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Precipitous
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where's Philae, exactly?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Pluto like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" rowspan="2" | [Soon!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Charon like?
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Ceres like?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | [Working on it!]
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Europa so wierd-looking and pretty?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Ice over a water ocean
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Io so weird-looking?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are those spots on Ceres?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's in the seas under Europa's ice?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Which of the other moons have seas?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Several
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Heat from the RTG
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Oscillating
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is there so much air on Titan?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Iapetus weird-colored?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does Iapetus have a belt?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's the deal with Miranda?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Uranus and Neptune change places?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did life start before it?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is Europa covered in ice spikes?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|-
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why haven't we built a big inflatable extreme sports complex on the moon?
| style="border: 0px;" |
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Soccer]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

1540: Hemingway

2015-06-20T11:00:08Z

Seipas: invisble

{{comic
| number = 1540
| date = June 19, 2015
| title = Hemingway
| image = hemingway.png
| titletext = Instead of bobcat, package contained chair.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Finished with Edit Conflict assimilation, but prior author(s) invited to rejig}}

This comic is a reference to the six-word short story ''{{w|For sale: baby shoes, never worn}}'', which has been commonly attributed to famous author {{w|Ernest Hemingway}}; however, [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] explicitly states that this might not be the case at all. The comic plays on the fact that the original story takes the form of a short advertisement that might have been seen in a newspaper, and for these examples uses various modern 'standards' that did not exist in Hemingway's time. In keeping with the original, each example remains six words long. The title text obeys this rule, too.

In short: It is urban legend that Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and allegedly called it his best work.

The various drafts offered in the comic are:
*"For Sale: This gullible baby's shoes": This suggests the seller somehow tricked the baby out of its shoes. This pokes fun at the tragedy that the original story suggests. With the original (For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn), readers could infer that the baby who would have worn the shoes must have died. Randall tries to make the reader infer other, more absurd things instead.
*"Baby shoes for sale by owner": This suggests that a very intelligent baby is somehow selling its own shoes, or that someone is selling an old pair of shoes they had as a baby.
*"Free shoes, provided you overpower baby": This suggests the person posting the ad doesn't in fact own the shoes, but rather is asking people to forcibly steal shoes from a baby wearing them.
*"For Sale: Weird baby's toe shoes: This might be a reference to [[1065: Shoes]], where shoes with toes were considered "creepy".
*"For Sale: Baby shoes / Prime eligible": This is a reference to Amazon, which offers Prime as a paid service to expedite shipping of items ordered on its website.
*"This weird trick covers baby feet!": This is modeled after common 'click bait' wording designed to get users to visit web pages, typically using words such as "This weird trick" or "secrets they don't want you to know" to artificially increase its apparent appeal.
*"For Sale: Baby shoes, just hatched": This plays on the meaning of the phrase "baby shoes", reframing it to mean a newly-born shoe (similar to "baby bird"), rather than its typical meaning of shoes designed for babies.
*"Sale: Seven-league boots (expedited shipping)": {{w|Seven-league boots}} are mythical boots that allow their user to move seven leagues (about 25 miles) per step. The "expedited shipping" part suggests that the boots will be shipped to the customer on the feet of a walking person, thus allowing the boots to be shipped much faster than if by airplane (except, of course, if the boots had to be shipped overseas).
*"Complete this survey for free shoes": This is another reference to common internet marketing campaigns, where users are incentivized to take surveys in exchange for small compensation such as free samples or coupons.
*"''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway [Citation needed]": This is a reference to Wikipedia. "Citation needed" is used to mark claims that require additional evidence to justify as true. In this case, Randal is using this to question whether the short story was really written by Hemingway.
*"This is my greatest short story": This is a completely different style that could also have been used to write a short story in six words. Rather than telling a story about shoes, this is more "meta" by referencing itself and being a self-fulfilling (or self-defeating) prophecy.
*"For Sale: Baby shoes (-1) [Cursed]": This is written like a description of a virtual item typically found in Roguelike games or MMOs. "-1" and "Cursed" are attributes of the item, which usually produce negative consequences that reduce its wearer's stats or abilities.
*"<Blink><Marquee>Baby shoes!</Marquee></Blink>": This is reminiscent of the style of HTML widely used in the 1990s. Both the <Blink> and <Marquee> tags make the text content ("Baby shoes!") appear more prominent and attention-grabbing. The normally invisible-and-rendered tag elements can be seen and are part of the six words count. This could have been due to 'sanitising' of uploaded text where HTML tags (other than any that are specifically allowed, like it appears Strikethrough formatting might be) are deliberately deactivated by the server. An interesting note: When this comic was first posted to xkcd.com, the '/' in the </Blink> tag was missing. This was fixed between the 19th and 20th of June, 2015, showing that this was, indeed, unintentional.
*"For Sale: Baby-sized saddle, bobcat": This is a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]] in which [[Cueball]] says: 'Instead of office chair, package contained bobcat'.
*"Hemingway busted for Craigslist shoe scam": This is written like a news headline where Hemingway supposedly wrote about shoes in order to perpetrate a scam. {{w|Craigslist}} is a website where users can advertise and seek goods and services.

The title text continues the reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]], but inverts the situation. Rather than unexpectedly receiving a bobcat by package, this time the package contains a regular item instead of the expected bobcat.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above comic]
:Hemingway's Rough Drafts

:[A list of rough draft stories]
:For sale: This Gullible Baby's Shoes
:Baby Shoes For Sale By Owner
:<strike>Actually, There's no evidence Hemingway wrote</strike>
:Free Shoes, Provided You Overpower Baby
:For Sale: Weird Baby's Toe Shoes
:For Sale: Baby Shoes ✓ Prime eligible
:<strike>Though popularly attributed to Hemingway, the</strike>
:This Weird Trick Covers Baby Feet!
:For Sale: Baby Shoes, Just Hatched
:Sale: Seven-League Boots (Expedited Shipping)
:Complete this survey for free shoes!
:''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway [citation needed]
:This is my greatest short story.
:For sale: Baby shoes (-1) [cursed]
:<blink><marquee>Baby Shoes!</marquee><blink>
:For Sale: Baby-sized Saddle, Bobcat
:Hemingway Busted for Craigslist Shoe Scam

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics|Color]]

1540: Hemingway

2015-06-20T10:53:11Z

Seipas: Unmatched quotation mark, xkcd.com/859 you're welcome.

{{comic
| number = 1540
| date = June 19, 2015
| title = Hemingway
| image = hemingway.png
| titletext = Instead of bobcat, package contained chair.
}}

==Explanation==
{{Incomplete|Finished with Edit Conflict assimilation, but prior author(s) invited to rejig}}

This comic is a reference to the six-word short story ''{{w|For sale: baby shoes, never worn}}'', which has been commonly attributed to famous author {{w|Ernest Hemingway}}; however, [[Randall|Randall Munroe]] explicitly states that this might not be the case at all. The comic plays on the fact that the original story takes the form of a short advertisement that might have been seen in a newspaper, and for these examples uses various modern 'standards' that did not exist in Hemingway's time. In keeping with the original, each example remains six words long. The title text obeys this rule, too.

In short: It is urban legend that Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and allegedly called it his best work.

The various drafts offered in the comic are:
*"For Sale: This gullible baby's shoes": This suggests the seller somehow tricked the baby out of its shoes. This pokes fun at the tragedy that the original story suggests. With the original (For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn), readers could infer that the baby who would have worn the shoes must have died. Randall tries to make the reader infer other, more absurd things instead.
*"Baby shoes for sale by owner": This suggests that a very intelligent baby is somehow selling its own shoes, or that someone is selling an old pair of shoes they had as a baby.
*"Free shoes, provided you overpower baby": This suggests the person posting the ad doesn't in fact own the shoes, but rather is asking people to forcibly steal shoes from a baby wearing them.
*"For Sale: Weird baby's toe shoes: This might be a reference to [[1065: Shoes]], where shoes with toes were considered "creepy".
*"For Sale: Baby shoes / Prime eligible": This is a reference to Amazon, which offers Prime as a paid service to expedite shipping of items ordered on its website.
*"This weird trick covers baby feet!": This is modeled after common 'click bait' wording designed to get users to visit web pages, typically using words such as "This weird trick" or "secrets they don't want you to know" to artificially increase its apparent appeal.
*"For Sale: Baby shoes, just hatched": This plays on the meaning of the phrase "baby shoes", reframing it to mean a newly-born shoe (similar to "baby bird"), rather than its typical meaning of shoes designed for babies.
*"Sale: Seven-league boots (expedited shipping)": {{w|Seven-league boots}} are mythical boots that allow their user to move seven leagues (about 25 miles) per step. The "expedited shipping" part suggests that the boots will be shipped to the customer on the feet of a walking person, thus allowing the boots to be shipped much faster than if by airplane (except, of course, if the boots had to be shipped overseas).
*"Complete this survey for free shoes": This is another reference to common internet marketing campaigns, where users are incentivized to take surveys in exchange for small compensation such as free samples or coupons.
*"''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway [Citation needed]": This is a reference to Wikipedia. "Citation needed" is used to mark claims that require additional evidence to justify as true. In this case, Randal is using this to question whether the short story was really written by Hemingway.
*"This is my greatest short story": This is a completely different style that could also have been used to write a short story in six words. Rather than telling a story about shoes, this is more "meta" by referencing itself and being a self-fulfilling (or self-defeating) prophecy.
*"For Sale: Baby shoes (-1) [Cursed]": This is written like a description of a virtual item typically found in Roguelike games or MMOs. "-1" and "Cursed" are attributes of the item, which usually produce negative consequences that reduce its wearer's stats or abilities.
*"<Blink><Marquee>Baby shoes!</Marquee></Blink>": This is reminiscent of the style of HTML widely used in the 1990s. Both the <Blink> and <Marquee> tags make the text content ("Baby shoes!") appear more prominent and attention-grabbing. The normally invisble-and-rendered tag elements can be seen and are part of the six words count. This could have been due to 'sanitising' of uploaded text where HTML tags (other than any that are specifically allowed, like it appears Strikethrough formatting might be) are deliberately deactivated by the server. An interesting note: When this comic was first posted to xkcd.com, the '/' in the </Blink> tag was missing. This was fixed between the 19th and 20th of June, 2015, showing that this was, indeed, unintentional.
*"For Sale: Baby-sized saddle, bobcat": This is a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]] in which [[Cueball]] says: 'Instead of office chair, package contained bobcat'.
*"Hemingway busted for Craigslist shoe scam": This is written like a news headline where Hemingway supposedly wrote about shoes in order to perpetrate a scam. {{w|Craigslist}} is a website where users can advertise and seek goods and services.

The title text continues the reference to [[A-Minus-Minus|325: A-Minus-Minus]], but inverts the situation. Rather than unexpectedly receiving a bobcat by package, this time the package contains a regular item instead of the expected bobcat.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above comic]
:Hemingway's Rough Drafts

:[A list of rough draft stories]
:For sale: This Gullible Baby's Shoes
:Baby Shoes For Sale By Owner
:<strike>Actually, There's no evidence Hemingway wrote</strike>
:Free Shoes, Provided You Overpower Baby
:For Sale: Weird Baby's Toe Shoes
:For Sale: Baby Shoes ✓ Prime eligible
:<strike>Though popularly attributed to Hemingway, the</strike>
:This Weird Trick Covers Baby Feet!
:For Sale: Baby Shoes, Just Hatched
:Sale: Seven-League Boots (Expedited Shipping)
:Complete this survey for free shoes!
:''Shoes'', by Ernest Hemingway [citation needed]
:This is my greatest short story.
:For sale: Baby shoes (-1) [cursed]
:<blink><marquee>Baby Shoes!</marquee><blink>
:For Sale: Baby-sized Saddle, Bobcat
:Hemingway Busted for Craigslist Shoe Scam

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics|Color]]

Talk:1538: Lyrics

2015-06-15T11:05:09Z

Seipas:

The character I'm missing in the title is [http://unicode-table.com/en/0FD0/ Tibetan Mark Bska- Shog Gi Mgo Rgyan U+0FD0] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.129|108.162.216.129]] 06:13, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

And the second Box is a Mathematical Script small I (U+1D4BE)
And the First Box is a Mathematical Fraktur small S (U+1D530)
I think These are the only ones, that iOS7 can't picture. [[User:ẞ qwertz|ẞ qwertz]] ([[User talk:ẞ qwertz|talk]]) 06:35, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

More fun with Unicode. Question is, which OS does Randall have that has perfect support? (It has to cover emoji and obscure glyphs like these. Likely that it's multiple devices?) [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 06:47, 15 June 2015 (UTC)
::Windows 7 here, everything displays properly for me. I don't think supporting most (or all) of the Unicode charset is as uncommon today as it used to be. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.128|108.162.221.128]] 10:37, 15 June 2015 (UTC)
::Linux Mint 17 here, ditto. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 11:05, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

I'm looking forward to finding out what the words are in English (as opposed to Unicodish). [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 06:47, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

"...but it's hard to read and I can't focus"? [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 07:48, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

Folks. I offer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI1hGShVdBA as the latest example of the genre. "I rub a Mexican loki" -> "I'm up all night to get lucky". [[User:Gearoid|Gearóid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 07:02, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

...Songs still have lyrics these days? {turns on the radio} BWWWUWWUWUWUWUB {turns off the radio} [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.111|108.162.215.111]]

I sometimes observe that while dreaming, I can read the seemingly intelligible text perfectly well, but it changes every time I look back at it. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.161|173.245.48.161]] 09:04, 15 June 2015 (UTC)

Title possibly inspired by http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags/1732454#1732454 (however, there is a lot of stuff like that) {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.108}}

Why a phone? Why cannot Cueball be holding a tablet? {{unsigned|RChandra}}

Talk:1537: Types

2015-06-12T12:23:01Z

Seipas: Explaining lines 6 and 7

Relevant: WAT talk https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat

Are (6) and (7) about completing sequences?

If the sequence was [1, 2, 3, ?] we would expect the ? to be a placeholder for 4. So [1, 2, 3]+2 is wrong := FALSE. But [1, 2, 3]+4 is correct := TRUE.

"+2 appears to be applying a unary + to the number 2" : or it adds the number of the line, 10, to 2 => 12. Also, the eleventh line, "2+2" may add 2 to all the following 2, explaining line 12. (that theory is from a friend of mine) [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 12:17, 12 June 2015 (UTC)
: Also, for the lines 6 and 7, the operation "[1,2,3]+x" may add x to the set [1,2,3] and return true if the operation succeeded or false if not. Adding 2 to the set [1,2,3] returns false because 2 is already in [1,2,3]. [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] ([[User talk:Seipas|talk]]) 12:23, 12 June 2015 (UTC)

Yellowish Blue: http://www.livescience.com/17948-red-green-blue-yellow-stunning-colors.html is NaN!

Talk:1537: Types

2015-06-12T12:17:29Z

Seipas: Explaining line 10, 11 and 12