explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

601: Game Theory

2025-04-23T15:03:29Z

Stallman: /* Explanation */ dialogue clarification

{{comic
| number = 601
| date = June 24, 2009
| title = Game Theory
| image = game_theory.png
| titletext = Wait, no, that one also loses. How about a nice game of chess?
}}

==Explanation==
The comic and title text is a direct reference to the movie ''{{w|WarGames}}''.

In the movie, the {{w|artificial intelligence}} (AI) that controls the U.S. nuclear weapons is asked to play ''Global Thermonuclear War'', a real time game simulating a {{w|Nuclear warfare|nuclear attack}} scenario.

'''Spoilers''': In the movie it then takes the simulation to the real world, planning to launch a real attack on the {{w|USSR}}. In the end the AI is tricked into quickly running through several scenarios of the game, and then shuts down its planned attack as a result of what it finds out.

After analyzing all possible strategies, the AI reports: "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. Wait, no, that one also loses. How about a nice game of chess?" Interpreted literally, this means that the computer has figured out that it will lose the game no matter how it plays, so it chooses to play chess instead (at the time of the movie, computers could not yet beat the best human chess players, so it would be more interesting). A more profound interpretation is that wars always end badly for all parties involved so it's better to play nicer games like chess.

In this comic Cueball loads an AI and then ask it to "analyze love" (equivalent to playing the "love game"), which initially could be expected to end happily for everyone involved, as love is the opposite of war and war ends always so badly. Surprisingly, the result from the AI is similar to the war games. Thus if you "play the love game", you'll end up badly, regardless which moves you play.

The title text leaves love as looking actually worse than war, since in war there's at least the "winning move" of not playing, however in love even refusing to play means that the player loses the game anyway. [[Randall]] is thus stating that you have to go after love, even though you know you will lose/get hurt sometimes, because you will for sure also lose the game, even if you pretend not to play. Then Cueball or the AI again suggests a game of chess, as in the movie.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at a desk in an office chair typing on his computer. The text appearing above him is implied to be what is displayed on the screen.]
:A.I. Loaded
:>>> Analyze love

:[An hourglass appears over the computer as Cueball sits back and wait.]

:[The hourglass continues to display as Cueball shifts in his chair.]

:[A zigzag line from the computer indicates the final reply from the computer to the query.]
:Computer: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Chess]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Board games]]
[[Category:Games]]

Talk:3035: Trimix

2025-01-10T04:53:51Z

Stallman:

The 'standard' and '2x' sized images had unexpected sizes, so an imagesize parameter has been added to render the image consistently with other comics on this website. See the web [https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/trimix.png archive] for more details. --[[User:TheusafBOT|TheusafBOT]] ([[User talk:TheusafBOT|talk]]) 05:15, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
:yeah, the image on xkcd.com looks comically large for me, and I think this might be related to this. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.155.86|172.69.155.86]] 15:50, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
::Not for me. I’m on Safari, and it looks pretty normal. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 16:08, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
::I'm on Chrome and it looks much larger than usual. .-. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 16:50, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
::"Comically large"? If anything, the regular size is comically small. Why doesn't randall post comics in HD like everyone else? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.167|141.101.109.167]] 20:15, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
Because it's stick figures and thus unnecessary. Also, (at least on chrome) the image is so large that it overflows the boundaries. Likely a glitch, but maybe a pun, yeah. [[User:Stallman|Stallman]] ([[User talk:Stallman|talk]]) 04:53, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
:I thought the "over-inflated" image was part of the pun... - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.177|172.70.210.177]] 17:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

I'd question whether you could get a scuba tank to float with any amount of helium. Since you're dealing with a fixed size tank the most lift you going to get would be less than the weight of the air that the tank displaces (lift = weight of air - weight of tank - weight of helium, iirc). A typical aluminum Ali 80 tank has a volume of 11.1 liters which displaces only about 151g of air while the tank itself weighs 14kg [[User:StumbleRunner|StumbleRunner]] ([[User talk:StumbleRunner|talk]]) 07:17, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
: Now that you mention it ... I was distracted from the practicalities by the voice of Marvin the Martian running around in my head. Something about an earth-shattering kaboom. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.165|172.71.151.165]] 07:33, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
::Yes of course a SCUBA tank cannot create any float since it cannot change it's volume (except when exploding). This is the reason why it would not work. No matter how much helium is compressed (that it it the problem the gas is compressed!) inside it. I have added this, and are not sure the text beneath this makes any sense. Someone deleted my addition but I hope this was a case of edit conflict they did not care to resolve, rather than they deleted it on purpose!? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:11, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
:::I think, on revue, I happened to restore anything you thought lost (albeit in my words, not yet knowing what you'd done) when correcting/removing the awkward misunderstanding that helium is "anti-gravity" in the 'true explanation' bit. (Yes, it's the conceit of the comic, but should not then have been used in the ''genuine'' bit of the Explanation. You only become more buoyant if you have ''less'' weight in a given volume. For an effectively unchanging volume, more of even a lighter gas is heavier. And you can never have little enough of any gas to make a Scuba-tank buoyant at sea-level air pressures.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.118|172.70.90.118]] 11:13, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
: There is no question here. Boyancy is provided by making the container (the tank in this example) lighter for its volume than the equivalent amount of air. With a balloon, the container volume increasaes as you increase the helium, making the container more boyant. A tank does not expand, and thus gets less boyant as increased helium adds to its mass per volume. The very best that you could do would be to fill the tank with a vacuum, but even then it would still weight more than the equivalent amount of air due to the weight of the tank itself.[[User:Geek Prophet|Geek Prophet]] ([[User talk:Geek Prophet|talk]]) 18:04, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Trimix is also the name of one of the strongest injectible erectile dysfunction drugs. This was my first thought when I saw the comic title. Even after I recognized my error I half expected a double-entendre on "inflation".[[User:Geek Prophet|Geek Prophet]] ([[User talk:Geek Prophet|talk]]) 18:07, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
:When I first found the comic and googled “trimix”, the school {{w|Securly}} filter blocked it because of that exact reason. It was only when I switched to my personal computer that I realised my mistake. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:31, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
::That's the Scunthorpe Problem, for ya... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.70|172.70.85.70]] 22:51, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Won’t breathing too much helium cause {{w|Inert gas asphyxiation}}{{w|Inert gas asphyxiation|/suffocation}}? '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 21:55, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

361: Christmas Back Home

2024-12-11T01:37:39Z

Stallman: /* Explanation */ clarifications

{{comic
| number = 361
| date = December 24, 2007
| title = Christmas Back Home
| image = christmas back home.png
| titletext = Family going to bed at 10 PM is so much worse than jet lag.
}}

==Explanation==

The script begins similarly to the poem "{{w|A Visit from St. Nicholas}}":

:'''Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' the house''
:''Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;''

However, there is a change in the text due to the fact that Cueball is on a computer, perhaps coding or on the internet. Instead, it reads
:"'Twas the night before Christmas at my family's house"
:"There were no sounds of stirring save the click of a mouse."

The idea is that [[Cueball]] has been so used to being on the computer late at night (perhaps coding, or deep into some [[386: Duty Calls|Internet argument]]) and, being Cueball, he's forgotten the hours normal people sleep--such that, when Santa Claus arrives, Cueball is still awake. Note the mouse pun.

The joke of the title text is that being forced to sleep at normal times is compared with {{w|jet lag}}: sleeplessness due to your body being synchronized to another time zone, named as such because jet aircraft made it possible for people to travel farther and faster, throwing their internal clocks out of sync with the place they're in far more than in the age of necessarily longer travel times in which the full clock-shift is smeared over days, weeks or even months. Here, it is implied that Cueball needs to turn back his internal clock over five hours to sync with his family, although it may simply be that Cueball does not sleep at normal times, rather staying awake for hours on end on rabbit-holes.

==Transcript==
:[The panel depicts the interior of a house with numerous Christmas decorations. Santa stares at Cueball, who is sitting at his desk with his laptop.]
:'Twas the night before Christmas at my family's house.
:There were no sound of stirring save the click of a mouse.
:For 'twas just like a childhood Christmas except
:I'd forgotten the hours that normal folks slept.
:Santa: What are you doing out of bed so late?
:Cueball: Late? It's barely 3AM!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Christmas]]

Talk:1147: Evolving

2024-12-03T06:22:53Z

Stallman: yes

Bacteria can indeed "instantly" evolve within a generation instead of waiting for its descendents. It's called horizontal gene transfer and it's the primary mechanism for the propagation of antibiotic resistance. --[[User:Prooffreader|Prooffreader]] ([[User talk:Prooffreader|talk]]) 13:07, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
:Its sentences like that which make {{w|Microbiology|Microbiologists}} my heros. [[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 14:25, 14 December 2012 (UTC)
Should there be a reference to Arceus (the "ultimate creator Pokémon") here? I do not mean this for making a joke; I just thought that the coincidence can be appropriate here, since the bacteria is called "Aureus". [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 15:48, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

The evolved form looks the same to me. --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.121.97|178.26.121.97]] 07:54, 15 December 2012 (UTC)
: Because the difference is internal, in antibiotic resistance --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:56, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

The first external link (to the Cephas Ministry tract) seems to be broken.{{unsigned ip|173.245.56.211}}

When biologists make some sort of drug to counter this, I REALLY hope they call it "The Everstone" [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.65|108.162.223.65]] 12:08, 6 January 2016 (UTC) C
Yeah! [[User:Stallman|Stallman]] ([[User talk:Stallman|talk]]) 06:22, 3 December 2024 (UTC)

Actually the title text is a valid traning method in Pokemon, called switch-training.We keep a weaker 'Mon in the front, then switch out to stronger one to defeat the Opponent, gaining split Exp.So, Those Microbiologists will still have their bacteria evolving, but at a slower rate.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 11:04, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

I hope none of them were on a Nuzlocke... {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.185}}

Should've pressed the B button on this one. [[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 13:01, 20 October 2022 (UTC)

703: Honor Societies

2024-12-03T04:13:38Z

Stallman: /* Explanation */ Character correction.

{{comic
| number = 703
| date = February 17, 2010
| title = Honor Societies
| image = honor_societies.png
| titletext = Hey, why do YOU get to be the president of Tautology Clu-- wait, I can guess.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] has apparently been invited to join an {{w|Honor society|honor society}}, but he considers the reason he should join to be a circular argument: because honorable people are in honor societies and people who are in honor societies are supposedly honorable. He objects that this is a {{w|tautology (language)|tautology}}: a claim that something is true because it is true (and thus a meaningless claim). From this, he concludes that he might as well be in a "tautology club" and then starts one. Thus [[Randall]] mocks honor society clubs for being pointless.

In the final panel where Cueball has formed the club, [[Ponytail]] asks a new member (a Cueball-like guy) how he found out about them and he tells about their Facebook page. The reference to {{w|Facebook}} mocks {{w|Facebook groups}} whose names refer to a number of members they hope to attract (such as I Bet I Can Find 1,000,000 People Who Dislike Romanian Dog Abusers), usually ostensibly to raise awareness for some issue but perhaps in fact just for the ego-stroking pleasure of amassing a large number of followers. Tautology Club employs this tactic only for the sake of creating yet another tautology.

Cueball is listing the rules of the club from a [[podium]]. The phrase "The first rule of _______ Club" is a reference to the 1999 movie ''{{w|Fight Club}}'' (see also [[922: Fight Club]]), which contains the famous line "The first rule of Fight Club is 'You do not talk about Fight Club,'" a reference to the club's intended secrecy. This phrase has been appropriated for myriad other varieties and parodies, such as the one mentioned in the comic.

The short guy with glasses could be {{w|List of FoxTrot characters#Jason Fox|Jason Fox}} from the {{w|FoxTrot}} comic (see the first two frames of [[824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)]].) Although it takes a little imagination to see, the hair, the height, the glasses, and the geek factor fit. Three of the other characters from the audience look like regular characters but with slightly different hairstyles than usual. There is a buzz cut version of [[Hairy]], [[Hairbun]], and [[Danish]].

Tautologies would be mentioned again in [[1310: Goldbach Conjectures]]. Tautology Club was mentioned in [[1602: Linguistics Club]].

The answer to the title text would also be a tautology: he gets to be the president because he is the president.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits at a desk, while someone off-screen answers his question.]
:Cueball: Wait. I should join this honor society to show colleges I'm honorable, and I'm honorable because I'm in an honor society?
:Off-screen voice: Basically, yes.

:[Close up of Cueball.]
:Cueball: Sounds like I could save time by joining the Tautology Club directly.
:Off-screen voice: That's not a real club.
:Cueball: Then I'm starting it.

:[Inserted in a frame crossing the top of the third panel's frame is a caption. Cueball is standing on a podium in the right part of the panel speaking. From left to right we find Ponytail, a Cueball-like guy, a short guy with glasses, a buzz cut version of Hairy, Hairbun, and to the right of Cueball, a woman that looks like Megan although with an uncharacteristically white stripe in her hair.]
:Caption: Tautology Club:
:Ponytail: So how'd you learn about us?
:Cueball-like guy: From your Facebook group, "If 1,000,000 People Join This Group, It Will Have 1,000,000 People In It."
:Cueball: ''Listen up!'' The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Fight Club]]
[[Category:Self-reference]]

1395: Power Cord

2024-11-20T06:37:43Z

Stallman: revert

{{comic
| number = 1395
| date = July 16, 2014
| title = Power Cord
| image = power_cord.png
| titletext = In this situation, gzip /dev/inside to deflate, then pipe the compressed air to /dev/input to clean your keyboard. Avert your eyes when you do.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, we see [[Beret Guy]] walking in from the left, as [[Cueball]] is sitting on a couch, typing on a {{w|laptop}} on his {{w|lap}}, with its {{w|power cord}} unplugged. Instead of connecting it to the {{w|wall socket}}, Beret Guy picks it up and blows air into the loose end of the cord, as if inflating a balloon — and the laptop inflates, along with the "power brick" that is on the cord. It then floats away, making Cueball grab for it as Beret Guy casually walks away. (See an instance where Cueball inflates something in a similar unexpected way in [[1798: Box Plot]]).

It is not possible to inflate a laptop like this,{{Citation needed}} and (with [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugVRY-Cv7Ng&t=401s rare exceptions]) it is not possible to inflate ''anything'' by blowing down a power cord. Beret Guy has previously demonstrated several [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|supernatural abilities]], for instance with power cords, such as in [[1293: Job Interview]].

In general, human breath should not be buoyant enough to lift much in an atmosphere of ordinary air (see Trivia section below for details). There is a standard cartoon convention that {{tvtropes|AllBalloonsHaveHelium| inflating something with breath}} nonetheless makes it lighter than air. Also, given Beret Guy's many manifestations of inexplicable phenomena, it is not too far fetched to believe his body is, in fact, expelling some form of lighter-than-air gas, similar to the character Rigel on Farscape who could "fart helium".

The title text involves some jokes on {{w|Unix}} systems. On Unix, {{w|everything is a file}}; even most of the hardware can be referenced by a (virtual) file. These virtual files usually are in /dev or another virtual filesystem like /sys or /proc. While /dev/input really exists and points to the input system (mice, keyboards, gamepads, etc.), /dev/inside doesn't. {{w|gzip}} is a common tool to compress files. The first joke is to compress the air inside the laptop (with the command <code>gzip /dev/inside</code>) in order to deflate the laptop back to normal size. It is a pun with the literal meaning of "deflate", which is also the {{w|DEFLATE}} algorithm used by gzip (compressing files is also called "deflating"). Another joke is "{{w|Pipeline (Unix)|piping}}", the act of using the output of one operation as the input to another. As the output of the gzip command would be compressed air, a ''physical'' pipe could be used to direct the air somewhere useful. The output of a command can also be redirected to a file. Since the hardware is a file, the suggestion is to direct the air to /dev/input (which, in this case, means the keyboard, but would actually be a directory on real system, which can't normally be piped into) to clean it, similar to "compressed air" dusting cans. The complete command would be <code>gzip /dev/inside | /dev/input</code>. As this might cause a spray of unpleasant detritus (compare [[237: Keyboards are Disgusting]]), the reader is advised to avert their eyes.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy enters to find Cueball on a chair typing on a laptop. Cueball's power cord is unplugged from the wall.]
:Cueball typing: Type type

:[Beret Guy picks up the power cord. Cueball continues typing.]
:Cueball typing: Type type

:[Beret Guy blows into the plug end of the cord. The laptop abruptly inflates and Cueball jerks back.]
:Beret Guy: '''PBBBBT'''
:Laptop: '''FOOMP'''

:[Beret Guy walks away, leaving Cueball climbing up his chair to retrieve his inflated laptop which is now floating away.]

==Trivia==
The only chemical difference between dry air and dry exhaled breath is the conversion of oxygen (molecular weight = 32) to carbon dioxide (MW=44), not counting substances in such low concentrations that their effect on the average molecular weight of the air (MW=29) is negligible. A change of concentration of the CO2 from [https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-composition-d_212.html 0.04%] to about [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathing#Composition 4%] is typical. This increases the average molecular weight. However, exhaled breath is also usually much more humid than air, increasing the concentration of water (MW=18) from a typical value of 1% to approximately 5%, which decreases the average molecular weight. The two changes approximately cancel each other.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;"
|- style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center;"
! style="text-align:right; font-weight:normal;" |
! MW
! style="background-color:#efefef;" | Dry air
! style="background-color:#efefef;" | Fractional MW 
! Air with 1% water
! Fractional MW 
! style="background-color:#efefef;" | Exhaled composition dry
! style="background-color:#efefef;" | Fractional MW 
! Exhaled composition with 5% water
! Fractional MW 
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | N2
| style="text-align:left;" | 28.01
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 78.08%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 21.87
| 77.30%
| 21.65
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 78%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 21.85
| 74.10%
| 20.76
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | O2
| style="text-align:left;" | 32.00
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 20.95%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 6.70
| 20.74%
| 6.64
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 17%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 5.44
| 16.15%
| 5.17
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | Ar
| style="text-align:left;" | 39.95
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.93%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.37
| 0.92%
| 0.37
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 1%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.40
| 0.95%
| 0.38
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | CO2
| style="text-align:left;" | 44.01
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.04%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.02
| 0.04%
| 0.02
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 4%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 1.76
| 3.80%
| 1.67
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | H2O
| style="text-align:left;" | 18.01
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| 1.00%
| 0.18
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| 5.00%
| 0.90
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | Total
| style="font-weight:bold; text-align:left;" |
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 100.00%
| style="background-color:#efefef; font-weight:bold;" | 28.97
| 100.00%
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 28.86
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| style="background-color:#efefef; font-weight:bold;" | 29.45
| 100.00%
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 28.88
|}

Because humans are warm-blooded, human breath is slightly warmer than the surrounding air, and therefore has slightly fewer molecules per unit volume. This is also true of hot air balloons, but they operate at much higher temperatures than human breath and are therefore able to obtain a greater amount of net buoyancy.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Linux]]

1395: Power Cord

2024-11-20T06:36:59Z

Stallman: beret

{{comic
| number = 1395
| date = July 16, 2014
| title = Power Cord
| image = power_cord.png
| titletext = In this situation, gzip /dev/inside to deflate, then pipe the compressed air to /dev/input to clean your keyboard. Avert your eyes when you do.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, we see [[Beret Guy]] walking in from the left, as [[Cueball]] is sitting on a couch, typing on a {{w|laptop}} on his {{w|lap}}, with its {{w|power cord}} unplugged. Instead of connecting it to the {{w|wall socket}}, Beret Guy picks it up and blows air into the loose end of the cord, as if inflating a balloon — and the laptop inflates, along with the "power brick" that is on the cord. It then floats away, making Cueball grab for it as Beret Guy casually walks away. (See an instance where Cueball inflates something in a similar unexpected way in [[1798: Box Plot]]).

It is not possible to inflate a laptop like this,{{Citation needed}} and (with [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugVRY-Cv7Ng&t=401s rare exceptions]) it is not possible to inflate ''anything'' by blowing down a power cord. Beret Guy has previously demonstrated several [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|supernatural abilities]], for instance with power cords, such as in [[1293: Job Interview]]. Perhaps his breath is helium, a new addition to the many [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|supernatural abilities]].

In general, human breath should not be buoyant enough to lift much in an atmosphere of ordinary air (see Trivia section below for details). There is a standard cartoon convention that {{tvtropes|AllBalloonsHaveHelium| inflating something with breath}} nonetheless makes it lighter than air. Also, given Beret Guy's many manifestations of inexplicable phenomena, it is not too far fetched to believe his body is, in fact, expelling some form of lighter-than-air gas, similar to the character Rigel on Farscape who could "fart helium".

The title text involves some jokes on {{w|Unix}} systems. On Unix, {{w|everything is a file}}; even most of the hardware can be referenced by a (virtual) file. These virtual files usually are in /dev or another virtual filesystem like /sys or /proc. While /dev/input really exists and points to the input system (mice, keyboards, gamepads, etc.), /dev/inside doesn't. {{w|gzip}} is a common tool to compress files. The first joke is to compress the air inside the laptop (with the command <code>gzip /dev/inside</code>) in order to deflate the laptop back to normal size. It is a pun with the literal meaning of "deflate", which is also the {{w|DEFLATE}} algorithm used by gzip (compressing files is also called "deflating"). Another joke is "{{w|Pipeline (Unix)|piping}}", the act of using the output of one operation as the input to another. As the output of the gzip command would be compressed air, a ''physical'' pipe could be used to direct the air somewhere useful. The output of a command can also be redirected to a file. Since the hardware is a file, the suggestion is to direct the air to /dev/input (which, in this case, means the keyboard, but would actually be a directory on real system, which can't normally be piped into) to clean it, similar to "compressed air" dusting cans. The complete command would be <code>gzip /dev/inside | /dev/input</code>. As this might cause a spray of unpleasant detritus (compare [[237: Keyboards are Disgusting]]), the reader is advised to avert their eyes.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy enters to find Cueball on a chair typing on a laptop. Cueball's power cord is unplugged from the wall.]
:Cueball typing: Type type

:[Beret Guy picks up the power cord. Cueball continues typing.]
:Cueball typing: Type type

:[Beret Guy blows into the plug end of the cord. The laptop abruptly inflates and Cueball jerks back.]
:Beret Guy: '''PBBBBT'''
:Laptop: '''FOOMP'''

:[Beret Guy walks away, leaving Cueball climbing up his chair to retrieve his inflated laptop which is now floating away.]

==Trivia==
The only chemical difference between dry air and dry exhaled breath is the conversion of oxygen (molecular weight = 32) to carbon dioxide (MW=44), not counting substances in such low concentrations that their effect on the average molecular weight of the air (MW=29) is negligible. A change of concentration of the CO2 from [https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-composition-d_212.html 0.04%] to about [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathing#Composition 4%] is typical. This increases the average molecular weight. However, exhaled breath is also usually much more humid than air, increasing the concentration of water (MW=18) from a typical value of 1% to approximately 5%, which decreases the average molecular weight. The two changes approximately cancel each other.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;"
|- style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center;"
! style="text-align:right; font-weight:normal;" |
! MW
! style="background-color:#efefef;" | Dry air
! style="background-color:#efefef;" | Fractional MW 
! Air with 1% water
! Fractional MW 
! style="background-color:#efefef;" | Exhaled composition dry
! style="background-color:#efefef;" | Fractional MW 
! Exhaled composition with 5% water
! Fractional MW 
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | N2
| style="text-align:left;" | 28.01
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 78.08%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 21.87
| 77.30%
| 21.65
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 78%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 21.85
| 74.10%
| 20.76
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | O2
| style="text-align:left;" | 32.00
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 20.95%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 6.70
| 20.74%
| 6.64
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 17%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 5.44
| 16.15%
| 5.17
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | Ar
| style="text-align:left;" | 39.95
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.93%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.37
| 0.92%
| 0.37
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 1%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.40
| 0.95%
| 0.38
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | CO2
| style="text-align:left;" | 44.01
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.04%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 0.02
| 0.04%
| 0.02
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 4%
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 1.76
| 3.80%
| 1.67
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | H2O
| style="text-align:left;" | 18.01
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| 1.00%
| 0.18
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| 5.00%
| 0.90
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | Total
| style="font-weight:bold; text-align:left;" |
| style="background-color:#efefef;" | 100.00%
| style="background-color:#efefef; font-weight:bold;" | 28.97
| 100.00%
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 28.86
| style="background-color:#efefef;" |
| style="background-color:#efefef; font-weight:bold;" | 29.45
| 100.00%
| style="font-weight:bold;" | 28.88
|}

Because humans are warm-blooded, human breath is slightly warmer than the surrounding air, and therefore has slightly fewer molecules per unit volume. This is also true of hot air balloons, but they operate at much higher temperatures than human breath and are therefore able to obtain a greater amount of net buoyancy.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Linux]]

Talk:393: Ultimate Game

2024-11-20T06:02:27Z

Stallman:

Why would Gygax choose to play such a luck-heavy game for his life? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:18, 23 February 2013 (UTC)
::You are kidding, right? Just in case not: Because it can be really long to finish it (therefore gains time by just playing it) and also because he created it. [[Special:Contributions/189.135.40.161|189.135.40.161]] 19:44, 25 April 2013 (UTC)
::In this situation, I'd rather play a luck-heavy game than a strategy one. Not that I'm a bad chess player, but Death is probably better. He's probably not better at Chutes/Snakes and Ladders, though.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.148|108.162.219.148]] 03:43, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

----

'''"...Death's boss (satan?) would like."'''
I'd guess Death's boss, in this case, is Jesus - at least he is addressed like that in the last frame ;-)[[Special:Contributions/95.113.60.8|95.113.60.8]] 20:25, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
:I would think that the "boss" is not meant to be any specific or well-known figure, Satan or Jesus. Based on his depiction, he seems rather generic. I think "Jesus" in the last panel is just used as an exclamation. [[Special:Contributions/24.41.66.114|24.41.66.114]] 03:15, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

------

Couldn't Gygax just get a terrible role that makes him fail initiative and keep missing, then get totally pwned by a critical hit from Death?
:Terrible rolls (or roles, if a bad character choice?) aside, with the alternative being eternal-''whatever'', it's probably worth a go to spin things out unless you're convinced that the eternity concerned is a better thing. (And ''actually'' a thing, not oblivion.) And if Gary's rotating new members into the party, as seen, then it could become a very long campaign indeed, lasting long after all the original group of characters have retired, become NPC flavour or individually succumbed to the many and various trials and tribulations thrown at them. Unless Death is the DM/GM/whatever (rather than a shared participant in some freeform collaborative game, which probably gives Gygax more than enough leeway to keep going) with enough experience to succesfully bring about a "Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies" event or foresee and prevent useful tricks such as the casting of Air Wall in naval battles to slew odds in the Adventurers' favour (<-true story... and even when the caster had run out of power, he bluffed enemy ships into colliding with each other by just waving his arms as ''if'' he had created yet another invisible barrier in their paths!) I could see him as outclassed in D&D as Discworld's Death apparently could sometimes be by chess ("REMIND ME AGAIN," he said, "HOW THE LITTLE HORSE-SHAPED ONES MOVE.")  [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 14:54, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Death might be the DM,though, just with clearly defined rules on how he can kill Gary. Or maybe 1e/2e/3e has something wirid that does that by default, I've never played them.

-----

"Anyone want to play Dungeons and Dragons for the next quadrillion years?" [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.45|141.101.98.45]] 21:11, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Me!

-----
Now if you could challenge Death to any game, would not "The Game" be the ultimate win against Death, as he would then always be the looser? {{unsigned|Para}}
:you made me lose. goddammit. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 08:58, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

AAAAAARGH I LOST THE GAME
-----
This is the page image for the TV Tropes page "Rules Lawyer". Just wanted to let you know. :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 09:42, 14 May 2015 (UTC)
-----
Can Someone make a D&D topic page? We really need one. [[User:Lols0827|Lols0827]] ([[User talk:Lols0827|talk]]) 18:58, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

Talk:393: Ultimate Game

2024-11-20T06:01:10Z

Stallman:

Why would Gygax choose to play such a luck-heavy game for his life? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:18, 23 February 2013 (UTC)
::You are kidding, right? Just in case not: Because it can be really long to finish it (therefore gains time by just playing it) and also because he created it. [[Special:Contributions/189.135.40.161|189.135.40.161]] 19:44, 25 April 2013 (UTC)
::In this situation, I'd rather play a luck-heavy game than a strategy one. Not that I'm a bad chess player, but Death is probably better. He's probably not better at Chutes/Snakes and Ladders, though.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.148|108.162.219.148]] 03:43, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

----

'''"...Death's boss (satan?) would like."'''
I'd guess Death's boss, in this case, is Jesus - at least he is addressed like that in the last frame ;-)[[Special:Contributions/95.113.60.8|95.113.60.8]] 20:25, 22 May 2013 (UTC)
:I would think that the "boss" is not meant to be any specific or well-known figure, Satan or Jesus. Based on his depiction, he seems rather generic. I think "Jesus" in the last panel is just used as an exclamation. [[Special:Contributions/24.41.66.114|24.41.66.114]] 03:15, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

------

Couldn't Gygax just get a terrible role that makes him fail initiative and keep missing, then get totally pwned by a critical hit from Death?
:Terrible rolls (or roles, if a bad character choice?) aside, with the alternative being eternal-''whatever'', it's probably worth a go to spin things out unless you're convinced that the eternity concerned is a better thing. (And ''actually'' a thing, not oblivion.) And if Gary's rotating new members into the party, as seen, then it could become a very long campaign indeed, lasting long after all the original group of characters have retired, become NPC flavour or individually succumbed to the many and various trials and tribulations thrown at them. Unless Death is the DM/GM/whatever (rather than a shared participant in some freeform collaborative game, which probably gives Gygax more than enough leeway to keep going) with enough experience to succesfully bring about a "Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies" event or foresee and prevent useful tricks such as the casting of Air Wall in naval battles to slew odds in the Adventurers' favour (<-true story... and even when the caster had run out of power, he bluffed enemy ships into colliding with each other by just waving his arms as ''if'' he had created yet another invisible barrier in their paths!) I could see him as outclassed in D&D as Discworld's Death apparently could sometimes be by chess ("REMIND ME AGAIN," he said, "HOW THE LITTLE HORSE-SHAPED ONES MOVE.")  [[Special:Contributions/178.98.31.27|178.98.31.27]] 14:54, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Death might be the DM,though, just with clearly defined rules on how he can kill Gary. Or maybe 1e/2e/3e has something wirid that does that by default, I've never played them.

-----

"Anyone want to play Dungeons and Dragons for the next quadrillion years?" [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.45|141.101.98.45]] 21:11, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

-----
Now if you could challenge Death to any game, would not "The Game" be the ultimate win against Death, as he would then always be the looser? {{unsigned|Para}}
:you made me lose. goddammit. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 08:58, 3 June 2015 (UTC)
-----
This is the page image for the TV Tropes page "Rules Lawyer". Just wanted to let you know. :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 09:42, 14 May 2015 (UTC)
-----
Can Someone make a D&D topic page? We really need one. [[User:Lols0827|Lols0827]] ([[User talk:Lols0827|talk]]) 18:58, 4 November 2019 (UTC)

Talk:1037: Umwelt

2024-11-20T05:53:00Z

Stallman:

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]]) 13:15, 28 March 2013 (UTC)
: 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 Animaniacs 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|23:46, 8 October 2013}}

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|02:57, 28 March 2014}}
: 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)
:For me, using TOR, it displayed the full Aurora comic. [[User:Zorlax the Mighty|Zorlax the Mighty'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:Zorlax the Mighty|talk]]) 17:50, 5 June 2016 (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 German 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 [[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 21:58+, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

...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: "<nowiki>[[two people...]]</nowiki> <<..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 [[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 22:10, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

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|18:41, 13 November 2014}}

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)

And now we need Randall to make an Umwelt page for Microsoft Edge. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.61|108.162.221.61]] 02:06, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Note of interest: Windows 10, Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta, GA. Currently receiving "The Void" on both Chrome and Microsoft Edge unless Javascript is disabled. When disabled, "Reviews" is shown instead. Also: Chrome on HTC One M8 shows "Corporate Networks" with yellow triangle and Google - a combination which incidentally does not seem to be on this page. [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 05:11, 9 February 2016 (UTC)

I'm on Windows 10 in NJ and I'm getting "Snake" instead of "Hurricane" on Opera, Chrome, Edge and Maxthon. Has this happened to other NJ users, or is "Hurricane" in only some parts on New Jersey? Maybe it's because it's on Windows 10. {{unsigned ip|69.123.50.168}}

I'm in Idaho using Firefox, and I get Reviews whenever I go to this comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.74|108.162.246.74]] 18:41, 17 April 2016 (UTC)

Should I add to the article that I'm seeing "Snake" on Chrome version 49.0.2623.112 on Windows 8 in Massachusetts? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.72|108.162.219.72]] 00:13, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
:I posted that comment before I had an account. Now that I'm looking back at this article a year later, I've gone ahead and done it. —[[User:CsBlastoise|CsBlastoise]] ([[User talk:CsBlastoise|talk]]) 22:28, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

I got a variant of the snake one in Ohio using Windows 7 and Google Chrome Version 49.0.2623.112 m. As of now, it should only be visible in "Texas (on Chrome Version 33.0.1750.154 m), New Jersey, California (on Chrome Version 39.0.2171.95), Maryland, Massachusetts (Safari for iOS), Connecticut (Safari for iOS)."[[User:Bbrk24|Bbrk24]] ([[User talk:Bbrk24|talk]]) 16:35, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

I'm getting Plugin Disabled in Safari, Firefox, Safari mobile, Chrome mobile, and the Google app. The only anomaly is Chrome desktop, where I'm getting Tornado (located in "the Midwest"), and I'm all out of browsers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.72.113|162.158.72.113]] 21:37, 18 June 2016 (UTC)

I get the review strip when sharing http://xkcd.com/1037/ on FB, and the full aurora strip using chrome on my android t-mobile phone [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.89|173.245.48.89]] 17:55, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

I'm in Virginia, but when i look at umwelt in firefox, it gives me the tornado, whith ohio in the third panel, and on chrome, it does aurora, still saying ohio. {{unsigned ip|172.68.78.127|11:38, 22 October 2016}}

I looked at it in Firefox, and the alt text changed from saying "web browser" to "browser window size" Should we add that?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.59|108.162.238.59]] 18:11, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

I can see the Hurricane comic and I'm in California. Anyone else getting it from a place not mentioned in the article? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.233|172.68.142.233]] 04:33, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

I live in New York, but I get the snake comic for some reason. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.160.136|172.69.160.136]] 18:41, 19 June 2019 (UTC)

I'm surprised nobody mentioned yet that "Umwelt" is the German word for "environment" - both in the sense of "someone's surroundings" as well as in the sense of "nature/ecology". [[User:Dermaniac|Dermaniac]] ([[User talk:Dermaniac|talk]]) 13:38, 7 June 2022 (UTC)

For the Israel comic, it's not just that interfaith marriage is culturally frowned upon, Israel in fact does not legally recognise interfaith marriages. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.170.65|162.158.170.65]] 11:30, 12 August 2022 (UTC)

Strange, im seeing the aurora one, but im in NC... [[User:Ilios2357|Ilios2357]] ([[User talk:Ilios2357|talk]]) 21:37, 4 March 2024 (UTC)

== Comic Might Now be Broken? ==

For some reason, this comic does not seem to be working now. It doesn't work on Chrome version 57.0.2987.133 on Windows 8 in Massachusetts, even though it worked a year ago on the very same computer with version 49.0.2623.112 of Chrome in the same location (showing "Snake" then); I tried it on Internet Explorer on the same computer (only because it's the only other browser I have on it), and it didn't work there either; my brother grudgingly agreed to try it on Firefox on his Ubuntu 14.04 machine (in the same room), and we got the same result.

No, I'm not talking about the void; here, there is absolutely no image at all. It seems to be the same as the experience that an anonymous user posted above about two and a half years ago:
<blockquote>In Ireland I get no comic strip loading at all! Just nothing in between the direction buttons, on Chrome or Safari! :/ [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.215|173.245.53.215]] 18:41, 13 November 2014 (UTC) <code>''(Comment was actually unsigned; contributor and timestamp are implied by <nowiki>{{unsigned ip}}</nowiki> template and edit history, respectively)''</code></blockquote>
Now, every time I tried on my computer, the browser said that the page was trying to load unsafe scripts. Maybe this is somehow linked to the fact that within the past few months, Randall (or more likely Davean) made all xkcd links secure (<nowiki>https://</nowiki>), and the now secure nature of the page could be blocking the location- and browser-sensing scripts in the comic itself. However, the comic still didn't work when I opted to "Load Unsafe Scripts", so maybe it isn't that simple.

Also, it might be helpful to note that [[User:Seipas|Seipas]] posted on here that he was having an issue that is probably quite similar to this one:
<blockquote>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)</blockquote>
Anyway, with all that said, is there anyone else who is having this issue and/or knows what might be causing it?

—[[User:CsBlastoise|CsBlastoise]] ([[User talk:CsBlastoise|talk]]) 23:48, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

:It has to do with the browser getting scared off by "mixed active content." Mozilla's developers discuss it in more detail here: [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Mixed_content]. In Firefox at least, there's a config change you can make (security.mixed_content.block_active_content) to override this and get the comic to display. (Well, kind of. I'm still getting "The Void," but I'm working on it.) Other browsers can probably be reconfigured likewise, though you should remember to change back when you're done to avoid security problems.. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.94|108.162.216.94]] 03:28, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

when using chromium on ubuntu 16.04 32 bit (yeah yeah yeah) I get no comic loaded, there is no element present. --> http://i.imgur.com/KZwpN8y.png have fun all. -[anon]

I live in Florida and I had the "Lake Diver Killer" comic show up for me in Umwelt. Then it changed to the "Void" comic despite the fact that JavaScript was supported (it was Google Chrome) and now nothing shows up at all. I don't get it.... --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 12:25, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

I notified davean, since nobody said doing so. [[User:Musaran|Musaran]] ([[User talk:Musaran|talk]]) 14:26, 29 May 2017 (UTC)

Developer console on Opera 46 shows this error:
GET http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8?callback=waldoCallback&w=796&h=658…%3Dopera%26hs%3DuXE%26gbv%3D1%26sei%3Df5dkWd_9MMiGaJKyibAG&_=1499764695887 503 (Service Unavailable)
So it appears there are problems with the server.
Also, I confirm that disabling Javascript in the browser results in the reviews comic displaying. [[User:Jaalenja|Jaalenja]] ([[User talk:Jaalenja|talk]]) 09:28, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

Israel is incorrect. I ive there and I got Saturday _OHF {{unsigned ip|162.158.90.36}}

Guys it won't even load in my iPad browser, you can't even see the ring now. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 05:45, 6 April 2018 (UTC)

Two buttons and no comic on Chrome 20/10/21, Oxford UK

Istočno Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 24. 10. 2022., Firefox 103.0.2 on Arch Linux desktop - nothing, just the two layers of buttons. Same thing in Private Browsing as well as normal. Inspect [Element] does show the Reviews strip in a <noscript> tag, but nothing appears on the page. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.143|172.68.50.143]] 00:56, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

I have good news: [https://mastodon.social/@chromakode/109531309722997557 Umwelt is being fixed!]

== New location for long Too Quiet? ==

I got the long version of Too Quiet on a Chromebook in Minnesota. The long version only seems to be mentioned for Chrome in Indiana. Can anyone else verify? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.46|162.158.214.46]] 17:09, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

No one thought to mention that the "Snake" has two heads? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 23:56, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

== accessing XKCD with Netscape Navigator ==

I cannot access XKCD from Netscape 4.7 (i.e. a version from the 1990s), it gives a messagebox "Netscape and this server cannot communicate securely because they have no common encryption algorithm(s)."

Now I can work out what's going on: XKCD is not allowing unencrypted connections / is redirecting plain HTTP requests to the HTTPS version, but the only versions of SSLTLS that NS4 supports are ancient, insecure and prudently not supported by the site itself.

Now, if we assume that it's talking about still using NS ''per se'', not 1990s NS: — the last version of Navigator was NS9, based on FF2.0. In FF2.0, I get "Firefox can't connect securely to xkcd.com because the site uses a security protocol which is not enabled." Looking in the options, it only offers two protocols (SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0), both of which are enabled.

I therefore have reason to believe that the Navigator Umwelt phenotype can only be accessed by user-agent spoofing, as XKCD and hence Umwelt apparently cannot be accessed from Netscape due to XKCD requiring higher TLS versions than NS offers. -- [[User:HarJIT|HarJIT]] ([[User talk:HarJIT|talk]]) 15:40, 4 August 2018 (UTC)

:Yes, you're right. p.s. shortening the section header to improve the TOC. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 12:04, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

I keep trying to view the comic, but no matter what I try, it won't show me anything - [[User:AnonymousSub61|AnonymousSub61]] ([[User talk:AnonymousSub61|talk]]) 14:51, 25 April 2019 (UTC)

On the Chrome OS in Massachusetts, only two rows of navigational buttons are displayed. It may apply across every state with the chrome OS. 3 June 2021.

Can confirm chrome OS doesn't work in georgia. i think randall forgot to add a bit for browsers/states that support javascript but aren't specifically listed- [[User:Anonia|Anonia]] ([[User talk:Anonia|talk]]) 9:58 21 december 2021

I live in South Korea and use an LG U+ phone, but no comic shows up.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.62|108.162.246.62]] 15:15, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

== new location for aurora??? ==

i get the aurora one even though i'm not in any of the locations shown in that section. i live in madrid, spain
I get it too, but the US version. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.174|162.158.174.174]] 18:27, 14 March 2024 (UTC)

edit: also it shows me the utah version [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 16:34, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

is there an error with the smith college one? none of the people's hair is changed like in the wellesley one.. [[User:JLZ0kTC5|JLZ0kTC5]] ([[User talk:JLZ0kTC5|talk]]) 13:18, 6 October 2023 (UTC)

on uni.xkcd.com, trying to display this comic displays Reviews, the previous comic [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 06:14, 9 October 2023 (UTC)

I was driving through Colorado on my phone, of it's in desktop view it shows snake, but in mobile shows the Aurora comic. is there anything about on the page relating to using desktop vs. mobile view? {{unsigned ip|172.70.210.249|19:10, 29 March 2024}}

i am in the UK but i get the aurora one [[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.112|172.71.94.112]] 16:23, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

== missing comic ==

referrer discord seems to have its own comic. [https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1248017672390840321/1249979936958185533/IMG_0342.png?ex=66694608&is=6667f488&hm=9f651a38c08bdbfbf4a11c67e02993b40ed082d02ec006b336c63f504412ae01&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1977&height=1255]
I'm not a wiki editor, and also this probably won't be seen for a while, but oh well. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.31.29|172.71.31.29]] 16:22, 11 June 2024 (UTC)randomnoneditor5555
:Unless I'm mistaken, this is [[2699: Feature Comparison]]. Your mesage has been seen (by me, at least). And I don't know if you're saying that you you are ''disinclined'' to be a wiki editor, but if instead you think yourself ''incapable'' of editing (beyond the above comment) then be assured that it isn't that hard to do. Best advice would be to Preview any chosen change, see if it looks like you expect. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.175|172.71.242.175]] 21:19, 11 June 2024 (UTC)

== incorrect snake size ==

>The joke here is the extreme length of snakes. The world's longest living snake is the reticulated python, the longest ever measuring over 22 feet (6.95 meters).
Not interested in figuring out how you guys handle this, but the longest snake on record is about 10 meters long according to [https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-the-biggest-snake-in-the-world.html this article], while [https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-snake-ever-(captivity)#:~:text=The%20longest%20snake%20%2D%20ever%20(captivity,25%20ft%202%20in)%20long. Guinness] claims a 7.67 meter(25'2") snake as the longest ever recorded in captivity.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.175|162.158.126.175]] 06:20, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

I'm in Washington (not DC, there is a state by that name, for anyone who doesn't live in the US) and I saw Aurora with "as far south as us" on both Chrome and Edge. [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 18:48, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

We still need descriptions for maxthon and netscape. I vote we add this to the incomplete explanations.

1037: Umwelt

2024-11-20T05:31:02Z

Stallman: Add to the april fools line

{{comic
| number = 1037
| date = April 1, 2012
| title = Umwelt
| image = umwelt_the_void.jpg
| titletext = Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit--from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser.}}
{{TOC}}
*To view your personal version of the comic, visit the {{xkcd|1037|original comic}}.

==Explanation==
This was the third [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous fools comic was [[880: Headache]] from Friday April 1st 2011. The next was [[1193: Externalities]] released on Monday April 1st 2013. The most recent was [[2916: Machine]]

An {{w|Umwelt}}, as the title text explains, is the idea that one's entire way of thinking is dependent on their surroundings. Thus, this {{w|April Fools}} comic changes based on the browser, location or referrer. Thus, what the viewer is viewing the comic on, where they live or where they came from determines which comic they actually see. As a result, there are actually multiple comics that went up on April Fools' Day, although only one is seen.
(The term 'Umwelt,' as mentioned in the comic, refers to the semiotic theories of Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas A. Sebeok)

Information about how the wide variety of data was collected and credit for the viewers who contributed can be found [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/rnst4/april_fools_xkcd_changing_comic/ here].

===The Void===
[[File:umwelt the void.jpg]]

If the device or browser you are using does not support Javascript, you will simply see a static image of a white swirl on a dark background.

Possible reference to The Ring (https://imgur.com/wlGmm), as though to suggest that using an alternative browser is dismal and horrific.

Davean (xkcd's sysadmin): "[This] comic isn't available everywhere and it can come up i[n] some situation[s] only for recognized browsers."

Browser: Alternative Browser

===Aurora===
[[File:umwelt aurora.png|800px]]

One could interpret that since Megan didn't go out and therefore missed seeing the {{w|Aurora}} (northern lights), Cueball in his [[1350:_Lorenz#Knit_Cap_Girl|knit cap]] lied about it. That way, she wouldn't have felt sad that she missed out. Another interpretation could be that he decides that since she did not even bother to go outside to see such a spectacular sight he will not tell her about it. And yet another could be that he did not think it was interesting.

Cueball could possibly also be red-green colorblind, seeing the green aurorae as grey "clouds". This would serve as an example for the theme of the comic, as a non-colorblind person and a colorblind person seeing the same color would perceive it differently, one seeing it as its true color, and the other seeing it without the shade of color they cannot see. If this is the case, then it would be a reference to umwelt, as Cueball would be living in a world where the auroras do not reach his location.

In real life, [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-northern-lights-dont-look-anything-like-they-do-in-photos_n_5500a4d9e4b0e62d0dd4f9bb aurorae are usually seen as grey/white clouds] to the naked eye, as our eyes cannot perceive the "greener" colors as well in the dark.

This image changed based on the size of the browser window including different panels at different sizes.

Locations: Canada, Boston, Indiana, Maine, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Minnesota< Norway, Denmark, France, Ireland, Rhode Island, Mississippi, Seoul (Safari), London (on Firefox), China (on Firefox and Safari), Finland (Uses "Canada"). Also in Virginia, but using Ohio in the first panel; in Wisconsin and Maryland, but using Canada in the first panel; in Marion, Illinois, but using Canada in the first panel along with the phrase "as far south as us" in the first panel, and in Utah, also using the phrase "as far south as us", same with Colombia, Spain, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Washington State, and California.

In [[1302: Year in Review]] a possibly different Megan has a completely different approach to the chance of seeing northern lights, as that was the only event she was looking forward to in 2013, and it failed. If this is the same Megan, perhaps she learned that there actually were northern lights in her area from another source, and so desperately wanted to have another chance to see them.

===Snake===
[[File:umwelt snake composite 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt snake composite.png|Full size]]

The joke here is the extreme length of snakes. The world's longest living snake is the {{w|reticulated python}}, the longest ever measuring over 22 feet (6.95 meters). The blue and orange circles refer to the hit game {{w|Portal}}.
There is also a reference to the book "The Little Prince" in the second panel, where there is a large bulge in the snake that looks like an elephant. The Little Prince starts out by mentioning a drawing that the author made when he was six that showed an elephant inside a snake.

Also, the number and content of the panels changes depending on the size of your browser window.

This image changed based on the size of the browser window including different panels at different sizes.

Specific AltText for this image: Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit -from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your browser window size.

Location: Texas (on Chrome Version 33.0.1750.154 m), New Jersey, California (on Chrome Version 39.0.2171.95), Maryland, Massachusetts (Safari for iOS, Chrome version 49.0.2623.112), Connecticut (Safari for iOS, Chrome Version 73.0.3683.103, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge), Virginia (on Chrome), Michigan (Firefox v46.0.1), Penang (Chrome Version 65.0.3325.162), London (Microsoft Edge), Germany (on Opera One (version: 106.0.4998.70)), Fruita, Colorado (on Chrome for Android version 123.0.6312.80), China (Chrome and Edge).

===Black Hat===
[[File:umwelt tortoise 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt tortoise.png|Full size]]

Cueball as an analyst attempts to psychoanalyze [[Black Hat|Black Hat's]] [[72: Classhole|classhole]] tendencies. Cueball's quote and the whole setup is a direct reference to the movie {{w|Blade Runner}} (1982) and Black Hat is taking the Voight-Kampff test which is used to identify replicants from real humans.

Black Hat's reason for not helping the tortoise is that ''it '''knows''' what it did'' and thus in Black Hat's world view it deserves being turned over. The final part of the joke is that when zooming out it turns out that there is a tortoise behind Black Hat and he has actually already turned it over for what it did.

Location: Seems to appear mostly in "other countries" — those without location-specific comics.

===Too Quiet===
[[File:umwelt too quiet 1024.png]]
[[:File:umwelt too quiet.png|Full size]]

A reference to {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}} which has been [[87: Velociraptors|constantly]] [[135: Substitute|referred]] [[1110: Click and Drag|to]] [[155: Search History|before]] [[758: Raptor Fences|in]] this comic.

Also referencing the film {{w|2 Fast 2 Furious|2 Fast 2 Furious}}, an entertaining, yet intellectually unprovoking sequel in a popular film franchise, which is aimed at teenagers and young adults, prompting the blunt response from the stickman. The fact that Steve would use such a cliché {{w|2000s (decade)|noughties}} movie term in such an intense moment, and the subsequent curse, is the joke in this comic.

Location: short version — iPhone 5c Safari browser in Texas, iPhone 5 Chrome Browser in Minnesota, long version - Google Chrome browser in Indiana, Windows 8 Laptop

===Pond===
[[File:umwelt pond mobile.png]][[File:umwelt pond wide.png]]

Two different versions showed, the narrower version for mobile devices.

Location: The Netherlands and various other countries.

===Galaxies===
[[File:umwelt galaxies 1024.jpg]]
[[:File:umwelt galaxies.jpg|Full size]]

Megan is distracted from her conversation with [[Cueball]] by realizing that the space behind his head, from her vantage point, contains millions of galaxies. This is similar to an [https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/astro/hst_deep_field.jpg incredible photograph] taken by the Hubble Telescope, in which a tiny dark area of space in fact contained numerous galaxies.

The title text is an imaginative leap from this scenario: that the galaxies would be up to no good once Cueball is turned away from them.

This comic was only reported once... the intended environmental context is a mystery.

Location: unknown

===xkcd Gold===
[[File:umwelt xkcd gold.png]]

This is probably a reference to the 4chan Gold Account, an implementation on 4chan that does not actually exist, and is usually used to trick newcomers into revealing their credit card numbers. The joke is that "Gold Account" users can supposedly block other users from viewing images they have posted. The fifth panel is probably a reference to Beecock, a notorious set of shocker images. 4chan's moderators have been known to give out "beecock bans" or "/z/ bans" to particularly annoying users, which redirect the user to a page containing beecock and the text "OH NO THE BOARD IS GONE".

Referrer: 4chan

===Yo Mama===
[[File:umwelt dog ballast.png]]

Possible reference to Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s "{{w|Harrison Bergeron}}."

The joke is that people's different experiences shape how they perceive the world in that the people who live in this world would perceive the joke as funny, while people in our world would not get it. This is the idea of umwelt mentioned at the top of the context where different individuals perceive the world differently.

Refer: Facebook

===Reddit===
[[File:umwelt reddit.png]]

Reference to referencing, because Reddit, as a referring site, likes references to its referencing in its references.

This comic also features recursive imagery similar to [[688: Self-Description]] where the second panel embeds the entire comic within itself. (Except, conspicuously, the arrow indicating that it is "You" in the first panel.)

One of the browser tabs visible in the center panel is {{w|Elk}} on Wikipedia.

Referrer: Reddit

===Buns and Hot dogs===
[[File:umwelt somethingawful.jpg]]

This is a reference to the question "Why do hot dogs come in packages of 6 while buns come in packages of 8?"

Another, more sexual reference to this question can be found in [[1641: Hot Dogs]].

Referrer: SomethingAwful, Questionable Content, & MetaFilter

===Twitter===
[[File:umwelt twitter.jpg]]

A summary of the "content" typically found on Twitter.

In the tweet feed, there are three tweets about some podcast on the top, followed by the tweet containing link they clicked on to get to the comic, tweets about Rob Delaney, unspecified passive-aggressive tweets, and a tweet from {{w|Horse_ebooks}} retweeted by one of the users the reader follows.

On the left, the topmost dialog, with profile information, shows that the user has posted 1,302 tweets, but only follows 171 people and has even fewer followers, at a measly 48. This is marked with a sad face, implying that the user wants more followers.

Below that is the "who to follow" dialog, which is written up as consisting of "assholes".

Below that is the "trending tags" dialog for the United States. It is full of tags about word games, tags about misogyny, and tags about Justin Bieber.

Below that is an unidentified dialog full of "stuff your eyes automatically ignore". And finally, on the bottom is the background color, which is "a really pleasant blue".

"Aggression" is misspelled.

Referrer: Twitter

===Wikipedia===
[[File:umwelt wikipedia wide.jpg]]
[[File:umwelt wikipedia mobile.png]]

The term {{w|Mile High Club}} (or MHC) is a slang term applied collectively to individuals who have had sexual intercourse while on board an aircraft. Randall says that reading the news articles on it has distracted him from making that comic.

Two different versions shown, the narrower version (the single panel with all the text) for mobile devices.

Referrer: Wikipedia

===Google Chrome===
[[File:umwelt chrome1.jpg]]

{{w|Sergey Brin}} (born August 21, 1973) is an American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the most profitable Internet companies. As of 2013, his personal wealth was estimated to be $24.4 billion. Randall makes the joke that as the founder of Google, Brin's permission would be needed to use Google Chrome. Because there are millions of people who use Google, it is likely that at least some of the time Brin would be asleep, thus he would need to be woken.

Browser: Chrome

===Chrome/Firefox===
[[File:umwelt chrome2.png]]

Mozilla {{w|Firefox}} is a free and open-source web browser developed for Windows, OS X and Linux, with a mobile version for Android and iOS, by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. Cueball is complaining about {{w|Google Chrome}}, to which [[Ponytail]] replies that there is an {{w|add-on}} that fixes what he is complaining about. When questioned, she replies that the add-on is Firefox, which isn't an add-on at all and is instead a different browser.

Browser: Chrome

===Google Chrome-2===
[[File:umwelt chrome3.png]]

This panel references Google Chrome's error screen, which shows a puzzle piece. The comic humorously implies that Chrome is looking for that piece. When completing jigsaw puzzles, a common strategy is to figure out where the pieces must be from their geometry rather than from the picture they create. In this case, the text suggests that Chrome believes the puzzle piece connects to the pieces which form one of the corners of the puzzle, which may seem impossible because any piece that links up to a corner would usually have at least one flat edge, which this piece has none. However, more complicated puzzles have complex shapes and are not always simply approximate squares with tabs and blanks.

Browser: Chrome or silk on desktop view

===Mozilla Firefox Private Browsing===
[[File:umwelt firefox incognito.png]]

Another reference to crashing web browsers.
Firefox shows the history when it crashes.
Browser: Firefox (Incognito only?)

===Internet Explorer===
[[File:umwelt ie.png]]

This is yet another reference to crashing web browsers but instead, Internet Explorer has given up. It could be because there are too many sessions, they are shutting it down, or maybe it was too lazy to do anything.

Browser: Internet Explorer

===Maxthon===
[[File:umwelt maxthon.png]]

Browser: {{w|Maxthon}}

===Netscape Navigator===
[[File:umwelt netscape womanoctopus.png]]

[[File:umwelt netscape man.png]]

{{w|Netscape Navigator}} was a web browser popular in the 1990s.

Browser: Netscape

===Rockmelt===
[[File:umwelt rockmelt.png]]

{{w|Rockmelt}} is a social-media-based browser.

Reference to the gospel song {{w|Longing for Old Virginia: Their Complete Victor Recordings (1934)|"There's no hiding place down here" by The Carter Family}}, later covered by Stephen Stills.

:I run to the rock just to hide my face
:And the rocks cried out, no hiding place
:There's no hiding place down here

It may additionally be a reference to the ''Babylon 5'' episode "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place," which featured the song.

Browser: Rockmelt

===Plugin Disabled===
[[File:umwelt plugin disabled.png]]

When the Google Chrome web browser does not have the required software (called a plug-in) to display a web page's content, it displays a puzzle piece icon and an error message. In this case, Chrome informs the user that the content is impossible to display.

Browser: Plugin (?) Disabled, Safari Desktop

===Corporate Networks===
[[File:umwelt corporate general.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon firefox.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate amazon other.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate google chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft firefox.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate microsoft other.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate nytimes chrome.png]]
[[File:umwelt corporate nytimes other.png]]

These error messages appear if the user is on a network owned by one of the corporations noted. The error message includes a warning against speaking on the company's behalf.

ISP: Corporate networks of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, NY Times

===Military===
[[File:umwelt military.png]]

[[Cueball]] assumes that anyone using a military network has an important job like watching for incoming missiles. He includes a thank-you to the user for their military service.

ISP: Military networks

===T-Mobile===
[[File:umwelt tmobile.png]]

Reference to T-Mobile's distinguishing feature (at the time it was written) of weaker coverage, in relation to other major providers.

ISP: T-Mobile

===Verizon and AT&T===
[[File:umwelt verizon.png]]

[[File:umwelt att.png]]

Reference to Verizon and AT&T's scandals/controversy regarding implementation of bandwidth caps.

ISP: Verizon and AT&T

===France===
[[File:umwelt france.jpg]]

A common joke about France is that the nation does not win wars. This originated from France's annexation by Germany during World War II, and America's late entry into the war, which is sometimes portrayed humorously as a case of America 'saving' Europe, in this joke particularly France (the role of the French resistance is usually not mentioned), leading to a common American joke at the expense of France's military prowess [https://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/victories.html][https://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blpic-frenchmilitaryvictories.htm][https://politicalhumor.about.com/library/jokes/bljokefrenchmilitaryhistory.htm]. When France did not form part of the coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003, aligning with the many countries that condemned U.S. action, the joke was revived.

A Google search of "French Military Victories" + 'I'm feeling lucky' used to direct to "did you mean: french military defeats" (due to a {{w|Google bomb}}). Cueball is trying to show this to his friend, who is French. However, his joke backfires, as his friend immediately points out that the stereotype of France not having military victories is undercut by the fact that one of the most innovative military commanders in history, Napoleon, was French by citizenship (though Italian/Corsican by culture, as the French annexed Corsica a few months before his birth to an Italian noble family), and in fact conquered much of Europe.

Following the theme of umwelt, the comic highlights the two characters' differing perspectives: The American thinks that France is a military failure, while the Frenchman thinks of Napoleon.

The last line of the comic further implies that Cueball is not as smart as he thinks he is in regards to anything French, as he mispronounces the French loan word "{{w|Touché (fencing)|touché}}".

Locations: France & Quebec

===Germany===
[[File:umwelt germany.png]]

This comic references the {{w|Berlin airlift#The start of the Berlin Airlift|Berlin Airlift}}, a relief measure for citizens in West Berlin (surrounded by East Germany) instituted by the Western Allies after World War II. In reality, the Western Allies flew a grand total of 500,000 tons of food over the Soviet blockade in planes. Randall puts a twist on this event by making it more fun: dropping supplies from a grand chairlift. The play on words is that "chairlift" rhymes with "airlift" and thus makes an easy substitution. The chair force is also a name that other service branches use to make fun of the air force. Note East Germany wasn't blockaded, only West Berlin. "Blockade" is misspelled.

Location: Germany

===Israel===
[[File:umwelt israel.png]]

Translation: Mom, I met a great guy! But he's not Jewish. ...Wait, what do you mean "neither are we"? I'm completely confused.

A reference to the multiple use of the word Jewish to denote both a {{w|Judaism|religious group}} and a {{w|Jews|nationality/ethnicity}}, as well as the stereotype of Jews holding low opinions of interfaith marriage.

A side note: Randall accidentally drew an apostrophe instead of the similar-looking Hebrew letter י everywhere that letter should appear.

Location: Israel

===Carnot Cycle===
[[File:umwelt japan.png]]

A pun on "cycle"; a "{{w|Carnot cycle}}" is a thermodynamic cycle (e.g. refrigeration). Its efficiency depends on the temperature of the hot and cold 'reservoirs' in which it is operating. The icon on the side of the motorcycle resembles a [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Carnot_cycle_p-V_diagram.svg/1000px-Carnot_cycle_p-V_diagram.svg.png graph of the Carnot cycle.]

Location: Japan

===UK===
[[File:umwelt uk.jpg]]

He worded this as though to imply that the UK is a state of the U.S., and an unimportant one at that, which pokes fun at the UK, creating a paradox (sort of).

Location: UK

===Blizzard===
[[File:umwelt disasters blizzard.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or blizzards are harsher conditions to live under. In keeping with the theme of umwelt, the comic demonstrates that the two people perceive the world in two different ways due to their different experiences: The Californian perceives a mild earthquake and a severe blizzard, while the Northeasterner perceives a severe earthquake and a mild blizzard.

For each particular location in which this displayed, the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: Alabama, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Georgia, Halifax, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, the Northeast, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ottawa, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Texas, Toronto, Tennessee, New York, Wisconsin

===Tornado===
[[File:umwelt disasters tornado.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or tornadoes are harsher conditions to live under. In keeping with the theme of umwelt, the comic demonstrates that the two people perceive the world in two different ways due to their different experiences: The Californian perceives a mild earthquake and a severe tornado, while the Midwesterner perceives a severe earthquake and a mild tornado. It's similar to [[#Blizzard|Blizzard]].

For each location this displayed in the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: Alabama, Dallas, Illinois, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ottawa, Tennessee, Texas (and Virginia, but it used Ohio in the third panel)

Tornadoes are a [[:Category:Tornadoes|recurring subject]] on xkcd. The picture used in [[1754: Tornado Safety Tips]] very reminiscent of the one from this version of Umwelt. [[Category:Tornadoes]]

===Hurricane===
[[File:umwelt disasters hurricane.png]]

This comic is aimed at the debate over whether earthquakes or hurricanes are harsher conditions to live under. In keeping with the theme of umwelt, the comic demonstrates that the two people perceive the world in two different ways due to their different experiences: The Californian perceives a mild earthquake and a severe hurricane, while the Easterner perceives a severe earthquake and a mild hurricane. It's similar to [[#Blizzard|Blizzard]] and [[#Tornado|Tornado]].

For each location this displayed in the state name was substituted in the third panel.

Locations: D.C, Florida, Georgia, Houston, Miami, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia

===Lake Diver Killer===
[[File:umwelt lake diver.png]]

This comic shows a news reporter standing in front of a lake. She is reporting on a serial killer who targets divers. As more divers are sent in to investigate and/or search for bodies, more divers go missing, the implication being that they were also murdered. The more likely reason is the lake itself is dangerous for diving, and the divers probably drowned from natural hazards (undercurrents, entanglement, running out of oxygen in tanks, etc.) instead of a malicious assailant. Also, this is a sort of loop, where each time a diver gets killed, the investigative team goes and investigates, causing more divers to get killed, causing more deaths, and so on.

Location: Bay Areas, Metro Detroit, Vermont showed an image specifically referencing Lake Champlain

===Lincoln Memorial===
[[File:umwelt lincoln memorial.png]]

{{w|Abraham Lincoln}}, the 16th president of the United States of America, was not an entity composed wholly of nanobots that attempted to consume the entire nation to then be imprisoned within the {{w|Lincoln Memorial}}.{{Citation needed}} The inscription references the epitaph at the actual Lincoln Memorial, which reads "In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever".

Locations: Illinois & Washington, D.C.

===Helicopter Hunting===
[[File:umwelt helicoptor.png]]

In Alaska, governments and individuals have {{w|Wolf hunting#North America 2|shot wolves en masse from helicopters}} in an attempt to artificially inflate populations of game, such as moose and caribou, to make hunting them easier. This is opposed by many, as the game populations are not endangered (thus, this threatens ecological balance); wolves are a small threat to livestock in North America; most of the wolf body —including meat and bones— goes wasted as they are sought mainly for their pelts.

Knowledge of this issue was popularized by press around vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's infamous support for this culling method.

Location: Alaska

===Newspaper===
[[File:umwelt life scientists.png]][[File:umwelt life rit.png]][[File:umwelt life umass.png]]

Creating new life has long been a well understood process, in a lab or otherwise.

This comic is likely a reference to the title text of [[983: Privacy]]

Location: Various

Specific versions appeared for RIT and UMass Amherst

===Robot Paul Revere===
[[File:umwelt paul revere.png]]

Combination of the legend of {{w|Paul Revere#"Midnight Ride"|Paul Revere}} and a computer bit that differentiates between two situations by indicating a zero or a one.

Location: Boston

===Counting Cards===

All four colleges in this series are in Massachusetts and, being similar, in pairs, rival each other to some extent (Harvard-MIT and Smith-Wellesley). The comic contains a reference to the {{w|MIT Blackjack Team}}, which entered popular culture via the {{w|21 (2008 film)|film 21}}, and a possible reference to Orwell's book '1984' and/or {{w|Chain of Command (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|popular homage to it via Star Trek}}: "There are four lights."[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChYIm6MW39k]

Bonus: The thought-gears in panel 3 are spinning against each other.

Location: Harvard

[[File:umwelt counting cards harvard.png]]

Location: MIT

[[File:umwelt counting cards mit.png]]

"Course 15s" at MIT are the business major students, often mocked for taking a less-rigorous program. The different interpretation for why the MIT students could not count cards compared to Harvard may be a reference to the theme of umwelt.

Location: Smith

[[File:umwelt counting cards smith.png]]

Location: Wellesley

[[File:umwelt counting cards wellesley.png]]

Both Wellesley and Smith are all-women colleges in Massachusetts.

===Giant Box Trap===
[[File:umwelt box trap.png]]

Randall got his undergrad in Physics at the {{w|Christopher Newport University}}, and was scheduled to return shortly to give a talk. The "Trible" figure on the right is Paul Trible, the then-president of CNU. This comic depicts a classic trap, where an upside-down box is propped up with a stick. When the stick is removed, by pulling a string, the box falls and traps whatever is underneath it. Aside from the joke of the obvious trap, there's also the fact that the president would not be responsible for revoking unearned diplomas.

Location: Christopher Newport University

===Chemo Support===
[[File:umwelt chemo.jpg]]

[[Cueball]] has shaved his head in support of people going through {{w|chemotherapy}} but, as he is always depicted as a stick figure with no hair, no one can tell.

Randall's now-wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, and apparently DFCI is where they've been spending much of their time.

Location: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

===Reviews===
[[File:reviews.png]]

The previous strip appears twice when using [[wikipedia:Tor (anonymity network)|Tor]].

This strip was previously used in [[1036: Reviews]].

Browser: Any using Tor, xkcd API (JSON, RSS, Atom), w3m and reports of seeing it on a Kindle Fire HD, unixkcd; also happens if visiting with a browser that does not support JavaScript (such as Firefox with NoScript)

===Nothing===

[[File:Umwelt blank.jpg]]

In some cases, the comic can be completely absent, with only the top and bottom buttons visible. On most newer browsers, this is caused by a script loading part of the comic via an HTTP request while the rest of the webpage is delivered over HTTPS. This is referred to as [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Security/Mixed_content mixed content] and is blocked on modern browsers by default due to security concerns. This version of the comic is therefore likely not an intended outcome, but rather an unintended consequence of how this comic was implemented. [https://mastodon.social/@chromakode/109531309722997557 It has been confirmed] that this was not intentional and will be fixed. Since this comic's release, all devices viewing it have returned two rows of navigation buttons if near IP address 69.114.249.104.

The http(s) issue seems to have been fixed.

==Transcript==
:'''[This section only covers the first three comics. For the transcript of the entire comic, go to the [[1037: Umwelt/Transcript|full transcript page]].]'''

===The Void===
:[An epic void with a bright light shining right on you.]

===Aurora===
:[Cueball heading out past Megan comfortably sitting in front of a desk.]
:Cueball: Apparently there's a solar flare that's causing some Great Aurorae. CBC says they may even be visible here! Wanna drive out to see?
:Megan: Hockey's on.
:Cueball: Ok. Later.

:[An expansive, marvelous image of emerald green northern lights, floating down through the sky.]

:Megan: See anything?
:Cueball: No, just clouds.
:Megan: Not surprised.

===Aurora-US===
:[Cueball heading out past Megan comfortably sitting in front of a desk.]
:Cueball: Apparently there's a solar storm causing northern lights over Canada. CNN say they might even be visible {Options: "As Far South As Us", "Here in Boston", "Maine", "Ohio", "Oregon", "New York"}! Wanna drive out to see?
:Megan: It's cold out.
:Cueball: Ok. Later.

:[An expansive, marvelous image of emerald green northern lights, floating down through the sky.]

:Megan: See anything?
:Cueball: No, just clouds.
:Megan: Not surprised.

===Snake===
:[Two people standing next to each other. Megan is holding the head end of a snake. Depending on the width of your browser, the snake is: three frames, the third of which has a little bit of a bump; the first frame has a human-size bump, the second has a third person looking at the snake, and the third has the snake going though two Portals; a squirrel and the human-size bump in the first frame, a ring next to the third person in the second frame, and Beret Guy riding the snake in front of the portal; or The squirrel, a fourth person within the snake being coiled, and the human bump in the first frame, the ring, a fifth person in love, and the third person in the second frame, Beret Guy and the portal in the third frame, and the same two people in the fourth frame.]

:Megan: I found a snake, but then I forgot to stop.

:'''[For the transcript of the entire comic, go to the [[1037: Umwelt/Transcript|full transcript page]].]'''

==Trivia==
* The Reddit user [https://www.reddit.com/user/SomePostMan SomePostMan] created a [https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/t6wmh/all_umwelt_1037_comics_in_two_imgur_albums/ post] that collected all of the Umwelt comics and added explanations. Much of his information is now included in this wiki.
* At the start of the [https://xkcd.com/1037/info.0.json official transcript of this comic], the writer added a note alluding to its extreme length:
:: <nowiki>[[Two people...]]</nowiki>
:: ((..wait.. <scrolls through a listing of everything> oh goddammit Randall. Thanks a bunch, dude. I better get a raise for typing out all this))
* This comic was released on April 1 even though that was [[:Category:Sunday comics|a Sunday]] (only the third comic to be released on a Sunday). But it was only due to the April Fools' joke, as it did replace the comic that would have been scheduled for Monday, April 2nd. The next comic, [[1038: Fountain]], was first released on Wednesday, April 4th. This was the first that could be different for different readers.
* This comic displays the previous comic, Reviews (1036), when you try to view it on uni.xkcd.com.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Penis]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Velociraptors]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]

1045: Constraints

2024-11-20T05:26:50Z

Stallman: oops i messed that up

{{comic
| number = 1045
| date = April 20, 2012
| title = Constraints
| image = constraints.png
| titletext = [title-text similarly alphabetized]
}}

==Explanation==
An {{w|epigram}} is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. {{w|Constrained writing}} is an age-old literary phenomenon, where writers impose rules or patterns in their works. {{w|Haiku}} is a well known example of this.

{{w|Twitter}} is a short message social network and communication service. At the time this comic was published, all messages (known as tweets) on the service needed to be under 140 characters. Until August 2015 even private messages had that restriction. Twitter is frequently used by well-known comedians as a place to make interesting jokes and observations. It should be noted that the limit was increased to 280 characters in 2017, and the limit was removed for subscribed accounts in 2023.

All the words spoken by [[Megan]], from "Yeah" to "alphabetization", are in reverse alphabetical order. Here are the starting letters (with extra letter when more than one word in a row begins with the same letter):
:Y, Wr, Wo, U, T, R, P, N, M, L, F, Ex, Ep, Em, B, A.

It both answers [[Cueball]]'s question and exemplifies with an ingenious [[688: Self-Description|self-reference]]., while being short enough (133 characters) to be a valid tweet — hence the "whoa."

The title text, "title-text similarly alphabetized", is also backwards-alphabetized and self-referential. Starting letters:
:Ti, Te, S, A.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits in an office chair at his computer desk, motioning toward the screen with a hand as Megan stands behind him.]
:Cueball: I don't get why authors and comedians spend so much energy trying to be clever on Twitter. Couldn't they put that creativity into more books and scripts?
:Cueball: Is there something they ''like'' about the 140-character format?

:[Same picture but in a frame-less panel, except Cueball has taken his arm down.]
:Megan: Yeah. Writers working under tight restrictions produce novel material—like, for example, epigrams employing backward alphabetization.

:[A slim panel with only Cueball at his computer desk shown.]
:Cueball: ...Whoa.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Self-reference]]

1045: Constraints

2024-11-20T05:24:00Z

Stallman: small link fix

{{comic
| number = 1045
| date = April 20, 2012
| title = Constraints
| image = constraints.png
| titletext = [title-text similarly alphabetized]
}}

==Explanation==
An {{w|epigram}} is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. {{w|Constrained writing}} is an age-old literary phenomenon, where writers impose rules or patterns in their works. {{w|Haiku}} is a well known example of this.

{{w|Twitter}} is a short message social network and communication service. At the time this comic was published, all messages (known as tweets) on the service needed to be under 140 characters. Until August 2015 even private messages had that restriction. Twitter is frequently used by well-known comedians as a place to make interesting jokes and observations. It should be noted that the limit was increased to 280 characters in 2017, and the limit was removed for subscribed accounts in 2023.

All the words spoken by [[Megan]], from "Yeah" to "alphabetization", are in reverse alphabetical order. Here are the starting letters (with extra letter when more than one word in a row begins with the same letter):
:Y, Wr, Wo, U, T, R, P, N, M, L, F, Ex, Ep, Em, B, A.

It both answers [[Cueball]]'s question and exemplifies with an ingenious {{self-reference}}, while being short enough (133 characters) to be a valid tweet — hence the "whoa."

The title text, "title-text similarly alphabetized", is also backwards-alphabetized and self-referential. Starting letters:
:Ti, Te, S, A.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits in an office chair at his computer desk, motioning toward the screen with a hand as Megan stands behind him.]
:Cueball: I don't get why authors and comedians spend so much energy trying to be clever on Twitter. Couldn't they put that creativity into more books and scripts?
:Cueball: Is there something they ''like'' about the 140-character format?

:[Same picture but in a frame-less panel, except Cueball has taken his arm down.]
:Megan: Yeah. Writers working under tight restrictions produce novel material—like, for example, epigrams employing backward alphabetization.

:[A slim panel with only Cueball at his computer desk shown.]
:Cueball: ...Whoa.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Self-reference]]

Elaine Roberts

2024-11-20T00:57:46Z

Stallman: Small note about naming

{{Infobox character
| image = Elaine_Roberts.png
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = '
| first_appearance = [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]
}}

<noinclude>:''For a list of comics, see [[:Category:Comics featuring Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts|Comics featuring Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts]].''
:''For Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts' brother, see [[Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--]].''
:''For Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts' mother, see [[Mrs. Roberts]].''<noinclude>

'''Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts''', also known as her middle and last name '''Elaine Roberts''', is a [[stick figure]] character in [[xkcd]]. She is portrayed as the oldest child of [[Mrs. Roberts]] and has a younger brother named [[Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--]]. Her main appearances take place in the [[:Category:1337|1337 series]], where she is first introduced as the world's best hacker.

Her hacking journey began when she spent four years learning from [[Donald Knuth]], who mentored her in his hidden mountain retreat. With determination and skill, Elaine eventually surpassed her mentor's abilities. Notably, she successfully broke into the {{w|NSA}} headquarters with the help of {{w|Adrian Lamo}}. Additionally, she played a significant role in collaborating with [[Steve Jobs]] to shape Apple's future direction. In her quest for digital freedom, Elaine joined forces with [[Richard Stallman]] to confront the MPAA and RIAA, fighting against their skilled ninja fighters.

When she is drawn as an adult, she has white shoulder-length hair, and is a named version of [[Blondie]], like how [[Rob]] is a named version of [[Cueball]]. It is theorized that they may simply be the same character.
==Name==
According to title texts of [[327: Exploits of a Mom]] and [[342: 1337: Part 2]], her first name is "Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory" and "Elaine" is actually her middle name. This means that Roberts is her last name, since it's also her mother's surname.

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[[Category:Characters]]
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