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2024-03-29T01:27:46Z
User contributions
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https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2391:_Life_Before_the_Pandemic&diff=202587
Talk:2391: Life Before the Pandemic
2020-12-02T17:07:24Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
This reminds me of the Four Yorkshiremen from At last the 1948 show. Tell that to youngsters nwadays. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 15:06, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Thank you for correctly identifying the origin of the sketch :) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.74|141.101.98.74]] 13:09, 28 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
: ...but tell that to the youth of today, and they wouldn't believe you! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.216|162.158.155.216]] 13:44, 28 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
It is actually not clear to which ongoing pandemic the comic is referring. Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_epidemics] is listing 10 epidemics currently going on. The longest ongoing one is the HIV/AIDS pandemic since 1981. It is not unlikely that the majority of humans on earth has no recollection or barely remembers the time before 1981. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.43|162.158.158.43]] 15:51, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:You are *techinally* correct. (The best kind of correct) But, only one pandemic has made people wear masks, moved indoor activities outdoors, is referred to as THE pandemic, we -as a society- are waiting on a vaccine for, and is currently the central topic of our discourse. [[User:Argis13|Argis13]] ([[User talk:Argis13|talk]]) 15:59, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: The HIV/AIDS pandemic is making people wear condoms, which on some level could be compared to masks or safety nets. I believe there are some people to be found that miss the time before the 1980s restriction in their sex life.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.158|141.101.98.158]] 16:07, 27 November 2020 (UTC) <br />
: according to wikipedias own definition ("An epidemic is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time."), i'd argue that HIV is not an epidemic, much less a pandemic, but a regular endemic disease by now. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.180|162.158.88.180]] 18:19, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Non native speaker, here. Should the mouse-over text be understood as riding a horse in a shopping mall? That would make sense as it is as absurd as the other activities mentioned in the strip. "Mall" can have also other meanings, but riding through the National Mall in Washington DC or the Mall in London doesn't seem outrageous as all.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 16:01, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:You are correct, Randall means riding a horse through a shopping mall. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 16:09, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:(Written but ECed by Nitpicking... But as I said a few things I liked, have it anyway.)<br />
:As a term, though over here in my country it's more often called a "Shopping Centre", I would indeed assume it's collection of stores with at least one entrance-doorway (and possibly all) leading into an indoor 'street' (one of several, perhaps with multiple levels, upper ones deployed as lining balconies to provide skylight/spotlight illumination from the shared roof).<br />
:The 'street' roadway would be designed to be pedestrian-only (or mobility scooters; but usually barring skaters, skateboarders, bicycles and all motor-vehicles except for dispensation or disobedience) and typically surfaced in polished stone slabs or ceramic tiles. Which might be one of the worst surfaces for an iron-shoed horse to try to walk on due to the low grip or friction (I think there are rubber horseshoes/overshoes available for mounts that might be ridden or led across hard surfaces like asphalt).<br />
:I'm happily reminded of the sequence in True Lies where the horse is used to chase the motorbike - partly, and apologetically, through the hallways of a posh hotel - and I presume they had to stick to carpeted areas (or lay down and secure ones of their own) rather than the bare marble mall-like flooring for the more dynamic bits of stunt-riding involved in that.<br />
:So, yes, a horse in a (shopping) mall would be dangerous to the shoppers, dangerous to the horse/rider and even if no iniury occured, horses being biogical it's a fair bet that the previously immaculate floors might need cleaning even if they don't need repairing. ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.96|162.158.159.96]] 16:35, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
Could "riding a horse in the mall" be a reference to the John Mulaney skit "there's a horse loose in the hospital"? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.70|108.162.241.70]] 16:50, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I'm detecting just a tiny bit of sarcasm in this comic. [[User:Elvenivle|Elvenivle]] ([[User talk:Elvenivle|talk]]) 17:52, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
: I am detecting more than a tiny bit. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 21:02, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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SCUBA divers, especially sport divers, usually breathe air through a mouthpiece that is separate from the mask . . . [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.186|162.158.75.186]] 18:23, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Indeed. SCUBA divers almost always to wear a mask, but it's used to cover the eyes and provide an air space in front of them, allowing clearer vision underwater. (Some divers wear goggles instead of a mask.) [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 20:59, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Divers can't wear goggles since there's no way to equalize the air space in front of the eyes. This would result in severe injuries to the eyes if you dive beyond a few meters.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.195|172.68.142.195]] 14:14, 30 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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SCUBA mask could be a reference to diving masks converted into hospital ventilators by a famous sporting good retailer (Decathlon)?<br />
https://www.isinnova.it/easy-covid19-eng/<br />
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Isn't there another XKCD comic that showed a one of the characters riding a horse? I seem to recall the title text of that one referred to riding in a shopping mall or other large enclosed space. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 21:02, 27 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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This is hilarious and wonderful.<br />
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Regarding grills in libraries (girls in libraries are fine), I'm reminded of the declaration that one is required to proclaim when applying for membership of the Bodleian Library in Oxford:<br />
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I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library.<br />
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Megan would definitely not be allowed in, for that reason, if not for others.<br />
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Also, I think the horse might be required to wear a mask, which might be a problem if you had a recalcitrant horse.<br />
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Given that it IS those two, Megan and Cueball, they could actually be people who DID those things. Cueball is absent minded enough to think that not being charged and chased at a gasstation is a free refil. Megan really WOULD ride a hose through the mall. <br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.139|172.69.63.139]]C0unt<br />
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:Ha! You have clearly failed to consider the electric grill. Check and mate, Bodleian Librarians of Oxford! You shall keep your oppressed patrons from delicious grilled snacks no longer. Q.E.D! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.219|172.68.142.219]] 10:03, 28 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Indoor fireworks were a thing when I was young (and apparently [https://www.amazon.co.uk/HS-Indoor-Fireworks/dp/B00F94C4F6 still are]), not needing any special expertise or training. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.74|141.101.98.74]] 13:12, 28 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Yes, I thought the point of that reference was that they do still exist, and ostensibly the pandemic would stop you using them because of the recommendations against indoor activities, but in reality it's not the pandemic that stops most people buying them - it's the fact that they're really really crap. (I know a lot of people who have bought them once, but no-one who has bought them twice.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.74|141.101.98.74]] 16:38, 28 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Restaurant soda free-refills aren't a loss-leader. You paid $2 for that soda, the restaurant paid between 5 and 20 cents. The *cup* probably cost more than the *beverage* did. https://www.aol.com/2010/09/08/top-5-food-mark-ups-where-restaurants-make-huge-profits/ [[User:Draco18s|Draco18s]] ([[User talk:Draco18s|talk]]) 19:05, 29 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Could someone who is more competent than me please add "Correlation does not imply causation" from wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation) to the page? The whole comic is a perfect example of that principle. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.239|162.158.91.239]] 22:26, 29 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
: It seems like you were thinking of something nonobvious. I don't know where that would go. Did you mean to comment on a different comic? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.207|173.245.52.207]] 21:40, 1 December 2020 (UTC)<br />
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"Since multiple people would presumably have already touched the metal interior, this is an effective way to spread the contagion quickly." Except, that as our knowledge of the virus has increased the medical community now thinks that surface contact is anything but an "effective" way for COVID-19 to pass from person to person. There's other germs you can pass on/pick up from frequently touched surfaces but COVID-19 isn't one of them.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 17:07, 2 December 2020 (UTC)</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2335:_Photo_Deposit&diff=194943
Talk:2335: Photo Deposit
2020-07-22T18:50:56Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
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Depositing cash through a smartphone app was one of the silliest and most useful features in GTA V. Unfortunately, depositing money would not duplicate it. Presumably the characters in the game are very honest and trustworthy, destroying any cash instantly after scanning it in. This honesty is to be expected from thieving killers such as these.<br />
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You can also withdraw cash via the app. How that works is beyond me.<br />
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--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 23:38, 20 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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A frequent joke in "The Goon Show" on 1950s British radio was the offer of a printed photograph of usually a small sum of money, treated as the photograph actually having value itself. Sometimes it's a phonograph disc. And sometimes the money represented turns out to be a forgery. In a less silly context, the photograph might be considered as an I.O.U., as evidence that the money exists and will be paid... which is what a banknote is, really. But in practice someone influencing you with pictures of money might be dishonest. Bank advertising for instance.<br />
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Wikipedia's article on "The Goon Show running jokes" (!) doesn't mention money photographs, although there is a reference to handing out pictures of Queen Victoria, especially in historical stories. Pictures of Queen Victoria may be on older money, but these ones don't seem to be.<br />
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Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.26|141.101.98.26]] 08:18, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Search for "photo"(graph) in http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s06e07_foiled_by_president_fred for the instant(s) that came straight to my mind, being recently broadcast. (I assume you're familiar with LSD?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.14|162.158.159.14]] 09:38, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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"Other nations ... have started introducing plastic banknotes" Lol. Australia had *finished* introducing plastic bank notes 30 years ago. [https://csiropedia.csiro.au/polymer-banknotes/] [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 01:43, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Hmm. How much money would that be? Say each photo is 4MB and your upload speed is 25 or so Mb/s. Each upload would take about 1.3 secs. We'll round up to 1.5. To keep it simple, we'll say that they have a stack of bills, and are able to scan each new bill within those 1.5 seconds. Now, if the bank allows you to upload $100 bills, without any rate limiting, you'd be able to make $400/min (the same as the what if article, weird). Which means that in six hours, they could make $144,000 dollars! Of course, this is mostly guesswork, but it should be somewhere in the ballpark. <br />
Could be a little more: Smaller photos, better network.<br />
Or a lot less: Most people don't have $144,000 in cash ready at a moment's notice, and scanning could take more than 1.5 secs. <br />
Of course, if this was a feature that was announced, and they had time to prepare....<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.102|108.162.245.102]] 04:11, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
: $100*(60/1.5)sec = $4000 per min, or $1.44 million in 6 hours. You forgot that there are 2 phones, so double that. Also, you wouldn't need ALL the money, you (or an assistant) can take the money already scanned to another bank and swap it for new cash, repeat. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.173|162.158.123.173]] 17:57, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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The feature of depositing check is this new or old... Is it something from before or after the Corona outbreak? It is a smart feature to avoid visits to banks during the pandemic - also the money thing, which of course is not realistic irl. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:19, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:depositing checks by smartphone is old, going back to 2018 if not earlier, and the depositing of currency could be realistic if bills used blockchain ledger entries instead of easily guessed serial numbers and everyone verified every currency transaction against the blockchain every time (this would end counterfeiting as a side effect). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 09:53, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Yes but that entirely defeats the purpose of cash, if you have to verify every transaction against a database. Also blockchain is entirely unnecessary. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 06:11, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:The Chase app started allowing deposits ten years ago. See this article from ten years ago today: https://phys.org/news/2010-07-banking-deposit-smart-phone-photo.html [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:44, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Is it by the way illegal to even take a picture of banknote? I know printing one out is... Even if only one side and not very good quality. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:27, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:if taking pictures of banknotes is illegal then bank security cameras (and security cameras in many retail establishments and casinos) are routinely breaking the law. Also, aren’t change machines taking a picture as part of their anti-counterfeiting circuits? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 09:58, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Even printing banknote is legal if you follow some rules. I read that you need to make it bigger than 150% or smaller than 75% of real size, although details may vary depending on country. Of course, doesn't change the fact that your graphics program might refuse to work with that image and your printer may refuse to print it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I know it's acceptable in the 'colonial' idiom, but seeing "cheques" spelt as "checks" always confuses me for a micromoment. As well as imagining a test/verification being somehow a bartered service, I'm only just getting past it also being a bill-of-fare (in the UK we may pay a bill with a cheque, over there you can pay a check with a bill). But carry on carrying on! I'll get my coat. (If I can find the coat-check.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.100|162.158.159.100]] 10:01, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Yes, we need to spell it as "chex" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.173|162.158.123.173]] 17:46, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Why is cryptocurrency in there, it seems tangential at best? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:01, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:The more paranoid (or stand-offish for their own good reasons) Crypto users might not even connect bitwallets electronically but pass a transaction-code by other means (retyped from hardcopy, or rescan an on-screen generated QR, depending on requirements) and then rely upon the decentralised 'audit book' checking and authorising that transaction with minimal{{Citation needed}} risk of subsequent tracing-and-linking-together by The Man/whoever. I think it's both far too paranoid ''and'' not paranoid enough, in equal measure, if you're trying to keep your associations off-grid, but it seems there are those who seem to like doing it that way. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.222|141.101.98.222]] 20:35, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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The explanation seems excessive, given how obvious the joke is. [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 04:58, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Curse my memory over ~10-15years! I vaguely remember a traveler focused bank that accepted cash deposits. They'd add the amount to your account, you could spend it and they'd cover the costs, and if you didn't have the bills submitted to one of their locations across the globe within a certain amount of time they'd rip you a new one in fees. The photos had to be perfect, and even then they were up for review and could be rejected by a human who didn't like the background it was sitting on. I remember my parents only ever used it once and needed my help understanding it so it was just right. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 18:50, 22 July 2020 (UTC)</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:491:_Twitter&diff=184104
Talk:491: Twitter
2019-12-03T14:36:40Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
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<div>Just end every sentence in Burma Shave [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]])<br />
:Never tried this/It could work/I just need an idea/Wait, crap./Burma-Shave<br />
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Are we sure that Cueball is typing? It seems to me that he is getting a series of texts (or a series of tweets), because of the "Beep Beep" sound: cell phones typically don't beep when typing. --[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 09:25, 11 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
: I have to agree, add in that the zig-zag is used for external text usually, like the other end of a call. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.154|173.245.56.154]] 20:35, 22 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The transcript was accordingly edited. --[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 04:05, 25 July 2014 (UTC<br />
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I don't think the title text explanation is correct. He's not suggesting you upgrade to "Burma Shave" - he's saying, "Upgrade from Firefox 2". Burma Shave just follows. I'll edit it. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.54|108.162.216.54]] 12:55, 26 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
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This comic not appearing for me on the xkcd.com website, anyone else? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.6|162.158.122.6]] 20:24, 15 December 2016 (UTC)</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1627:_Woosh&diff=183826
Talk:1627: Woosh
2019-11-28T20:00:50Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
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<div>Looking for a joke that isn't there sounds a lot like [http://xkcd.com/559 xkcd.com/559]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.140|162.158.2.140]] 05:43, 8 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Woooosh! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.181|108.162.245.181]] 05:48, 8 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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::::Woosh {{{unsigned ip|108.162.245.131}}<br />
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::::::'''Woof''' ''(Guess my bot still needs some work)'' [[Special:Contributions/162.158.153.131|162.158.153.131]] 08:41, 8 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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If it was a joke video that was never meant to be real to begin with and the commenter didn't realize this, then woosh would actually make sense [[User:Figvh|Figvh]] ([[User talk:Figvh|talk]])<br />
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:Woosh[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.65|173.245.56.65]] 10:32, 8 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Probably in reaction to a video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEI-iDxfj0M] that gained notoriety this week and raised a big discussion whether is was spontaneous or enacted.<br />
[[User:Duartix|Duartix]] ([[User talk:Duartix|talk]]) 11:16, 8 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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* You mean [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pxkboPjn8c]? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:53, 10 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Of course bots that auto-reply to comments can have problems of their own. Let Reddit's [http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/925/182/df3.png lolpenisbot] be a cautionary tale.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.203|162.158.152.203]] 21:26, 8 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Woosh [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.38|141.101.98.38]] 17:52, 9 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Woosh [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.38|141.101.98.38]] 17:52, 9 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::Woosh [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.38|141.101.98.38]] 17:52, 9 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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This comic seems to promote the same behaviour that he criticizes in [https://xkcd.com/481/ xkcd.com/481], [https://xkcd.com/810/ xkcd.com/810], [https://xkcd.com/1258/ xkcd.com/1258], and i'm sure others. I've seen a great deal of 'wooshing' in the past couple days, hopefully this disservice to the internet doesn't last.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.131|162.158.152.131]] 11:12, 9 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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: Woosh [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 21:29, 9 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
:: Are you for real?[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.41|199.27.133.41]] 23:31, 10 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
::: I'm taking a screenshot so I can remember this moment forever. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.76|108.162.238.76]] 05:10, 15 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcdwooshbot/ It now exists. Might we add this as a note on the article? [[User:Wolf9400|Wolf9400]]<br />
:Maybe in a trivia section? -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 00:22, 14 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Wait, isn't this exactly the reason why explainxkcd.com exists? To look for non-existent hidden jokes in xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.214.149|108.162.214.149]] 10:44, 20 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Comment of the year.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 20:00, 28 November 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I think I've found something even more amazing that "woosh" that can confuse people WAY more. Ever heard of {{w|0x10c|0x10c?}} Try typing that on a social network like Candid and see what happens. People get so confused. xD --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]]<sup>[[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]]</sup> 17:15, 10 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
:0x10c[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.21|108.162.242.21]] 14:28, 1 November 2019 (UTC)</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:961:_Eternal_Flame&diff=183825
Talk:961: Eternal Flame
2019-11-28T19:58:59Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
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<div>Ugh, I hate it when people attribute everything the the technology to Steve Jobs. Apple spends pebbles on R&D, polishes up the work of other countries and they get labelled as inventors and heroes. Incredibly frustrating for the rest of us in the technology industry. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|purple|David}}<font color=green size=3px>y</font></u><font color=indigo size=4px>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:35, 9 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I don't think Apple would polish up the work of other '''countries'''. [[User:InAndOutLand|InAndOutLand]] ([[User talk:InAndOutLand|talk]]) 01:51, 31 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
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:The way I see it, Apple's innovation is in their UI. The iPod wasn't the first portable digital music player, and the iPhone wasn't the first smartphone, but they ''were'' the first in their respective classes to have an intuitive interface that could easily be understood by someone with no technology background. Marketing is everything in the tech industry, and a product will fail if it can't ''convince'' the market that it's the better choice, even if it's absolutely better from a technical standpoint. [[User:Curtmack|Curtmack]] ([[User talk:Curtmack|talk]]) 18:36, 11 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:First of all, nothing in this comic attributes "everything in the technology industry" to Steve. Secondly, Apple spends more on R&D than most other companies – it's one of the reasons the markup is so high on Apple's products. Thirdly, if those "other companies" were just as good at design and execution as Apple, as you seem to believe, there would be nothing stopping them from achieving the same success as Apple. So what stopped Dell from releasing the iPhone and upsetting the mobile industry? What stopped HP from developing an online music store and totally upsetting the music industry? Either you're going to have to argue that everyone except Apple is just incredibly, incredibly unlucky, or you have to admit that there is something that Apple does that those companies don't. What that differentiating thing may be is open for debate, sure, but to say that everything they do is just a polish of some other company's work is simply ignorant. [[Special:Contributions/71.201.53.130|71.201.53.130]] 17:48, 1 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
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::Apple got lucky early on, and managed to get a fanbase, which they have basically brainwashed into thinking that Apple Products are automatically better than anything else. Secondly, I assume that it was not the comic itseld Davidy22 was referring to, but rather the explanation, which has since been changed. [[Special:Contributions/74.214.147.188|74.214.147.188]] 23:40, 24 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
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::: Brainwashed? The Apple II and the Macintosh were not the first in their ideas, but they were revolutionary computers. {{unsigned ip|112.209.87.11}}<br />
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:"pebbles on R&D"? I wish I had pebbles... Apple spends BILLIONS of US dollars every year on R&D ($3.3B in 2012, $4.4B in 2013). Check their Form-K filings with the SEC if you don't believe me. Some other tech companies spend more, but they also have a much larger product line than Apple's so that is to be expected.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.100|108.162.216.100]] 14:30, 18 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This actually looks more like the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Flame Centennial Flame] at the Canadian parliament building. It has the same paneling style at the base, unlike the JFK eternal flame, which, judging by pictures, has a round, flat base. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.65|173.245.55.65]] 16:23, 19 December 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The title text suggests that if I wait long enough the beachball will change to a flame. I have waited several minutes. How long does one have to wait? /David A [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 20:44, 23 August 2016 (UTC)<br />
:[[1627|Woosh.]][[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 19:58, 28 November 2019 (UTC)</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:961:_Eternal_Flame&diff=183824
Talk:961: Eternal Flame
2019-11-28T19:57:58Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
<hr />
<div>--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 19:57, 28 November 2019 (UTC)Ugh, I hate it when people attribute everything the the technology to Steve Jobs. Apple spends pebbles on R&D, polishes up the work of other countries and they get labelled as inventors and heroes. Incredibly frustrating for the rest of us in the technology industry. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|purple|David}}<font color=green size=3px>y</font></u><font color=indigo size=4px>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:35, 9 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I don't think Apple would polish up the work of other '''countries'''. [[User:InAndOutLand|InAndOutLand]] ([[User talk:InAndOutLand|talk]]) 01:51, 31 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The way I see it, Apple's innovation is in their UI. The iPod wasn't the first portable digital music player, and the iPhone wasn't the first smartphone, but they ''were'' the first in their respective classes to have an intuitive interface that could easily be understood by someone with no technology background. Marketing is everything in the tech industry, and a product will fail if it can't ''convince'' the market that it's the better choice, even if it's absolutely better from a technical standpoint. [[User:Curtmack|Curtmack]] ([[User talk:Curtmack|talk]]) 18:36, 11 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:First of all, nothing in this comic attributes "everything in the technology industry" to Steve. Secondly, Apple spends more on R&D than most other companies – it's one of the reasons the markup is so high on Apple's products. Thirdly, if those "other companies" were just as good at design and execution as Apple, as you seem to believe, there would be nothing stopping them from achieving the same success as Apple. So what stopped Dell from releasing the iPhone and upsetting the mobile industry? What stopped HP from developing an online music store and totally upsetting the music industry? Either you're going to have to argue that everyone except Apple is just incredibly, incredibly unlucky, or you have to admit that there is something that Apple does that those companies don't. What that differentiating thing may be is open for debate, sure, but to say that everything they do is just a polish of some other company's work is simply ignorant. [[Special:Contributions/71.201.53.130|71.201.53.130]] 17:48, 1 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Apple got lucky early on, and managed to get a fanbase, which they have basically brainwashed into thinking that Apple Products are automatically better than anything else. Secondly, I assume that it was not the comic itseld Davidy22 was referring to, but rather the explanation, which has since been changed. [[Special:Contributions/74.214.147.188|74.214.147.188]] 23:40, 24 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::: Brainwashed? The Apple II and the Macintosh were not the first in their ideas, but they were revolutionary computers. {{unsigned ip|112.209.87.11}}<br />
<br />
:"pebbles on R&D"? I wish I had pebbles... Apple spends BILLIONS of US dollars every year on R&D ($3.3B in 2012, $4.4B in 2013). Check their Form-K filings with the SEC if you don't believe me. Some other tech companies spend more, but they also have a much larger product line than Apple's so that is to be expected.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.100|108.162.216.100]] 14:30, 18 September 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This actually looks more like the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Flame Centennial Flame] at the Canadian parliament building. It has the same paneling style at the base, unlike the JFK eternal flame, which, judging by pictures, has a round, flat base. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.65|173.245.55.65]] 16:23, 19 December 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The title text suggests that if I wait long enough the beachball will change to a flame. I have waited several minutes. How long does one have to wait? /David A [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.33|141.101.80.33]] 20:44, 23 August 2016 (UTC)<br />
:[[1627|Woosh.]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2142:_Dangerous_Fields&diff=173263
2142: Dangerous Fields
2019-04-27T21:23:46Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Fields */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2142<br />
| date = April 26, 2019<br />
| title = Dangerous Fields<br />
| image = dangerous_fields.png<br />
| titletext = Eventually, every epidemiologist becomes another statistic, a dedication to record-keeping which their colleagues sincerely appreciate.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an INEXORABLE PROCESS. Percentages needed to be added (like [[1895: Worrying Scientist Interviews]]). Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This is a chart of "fields of study by danger", with mathematics being the least dangerous and gerontology being the most. Gerontology is shown as multiple times more dangerous than the other fields, so it is far on the right side of the graph. Generally speaking, the "study of ageing" does not seem likely to kill you, but approaching it philosophically, ageing is a cause of death.<br />
<br />
This comic was posted the day after {{w|Joe Biden}} entered the race for the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, which is shaping up to feature the [https://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/national-today-newsletter-american-politics-scarecrow-1.5107181 oldest set of candidates] in history.<br />
<br />
===Fields===<br />
*{{W|Mathematics}} is such a pure non-physical field that the probability of it being the direct cause of death is extremely low, barring workplace disputes or absent-mindedly wandering in front of traffic while pondering (as in xkcd [[356: Nerd Sniping]]).<br />
<br />
*{{W|Astronomy}} mostly deals with extremely far-away things, so assuming there isn't a meteor impact, astronomy is probably not going to kill you. Astronomy is slightly more dangerous than mathematics though, since it studies physical objects instead of abstract concepts. In addition to meteor or asteroid impacts, astronomical phenomena that might cause death include nearby supernovas, distant magnetar quakes, a solar flare or solar nova (the likelihood of which will increase over the next billion-odd years), perturbations in earth's orbit, increased or decreased solar radiation, alien invasion, etc. Given that the density of magnetars and potentially hostile alien civilizations in the potentially lethal radius is (like the radius itself) completely unknown, and not all past mass extinctions are explained, this one might be misplaced a bit. The lethal stroke may be unlikely, in absolute terms, but most cut quite a broad swath. Altitude sickness can be deadly; some 29 observatories are located above 10,000 feet / 3000 m, high enough to cause altitude sickness to susceptible individuals. Astronomers no longer spend time at observatories or outside with a telescope, but once death from exposure (especially cold) or from an accident trying to get to a good observation site to see a phenomena (especially before observatories were scattered world-wide) was less unlikely. Anything that can be done in the field carries the inherent risk of the, well, field. However, such observations are more likely by people who are not high in the field, or the professors of undergraduate classes in lab hours, or people who want to see a rar(ish) event without extra technology in the way, reducing the chances of death <br />
<br />
*{{W|Economics}} is the study of markets, which through recessions and scarcity can kill you in any way that capitalism or other economic systems can affect the availability of goods and services you need to survive.<br />
<br />
*{{W|Law}} in this context refers to the rules people have to follow in society, and given the nature of laws (civil and criminal), the odds that your death is related to law is low. Possible causes of death more-or-less directly related to the study of law would include attacks by someone you are prosecuting or defending, prosecution for a capital crime, persecution under legal authority (such as being shot or strangled by an officer of the law), attack by a guard or fellow prisoner, or for lack of medical treatment, while incarcerated, or death by exposure after expulsion from one's repossessed or otherwise legally confiscated home. Perhaps most ironically, a lawyer who committed a capital crime and was executed for it would be directly killed by the thing s/he studies.<br />
<br />
*{{W|Criminology}} is very similar to law, but is the study of crime, meaning it's more dangerous than just "law." Criminologists may be directly involved with criminals in the course of their studies, increasing their exposure to potentially life-threatening behavior.<br />
<br />
*{{W|Meteorology}} is the study of weather, and in large weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes, death is a distinct possibility. In some parts of the world, lightning storms can be frequent and getting hit by lightning can have a significant effect on one's continued survival. Curiosity to see a storm in person, or (if working for television news) exposing yourself in order to file a report may expose you to lightening, wind-blown projectiles, cold, etc, just like astronomers who leave the lab and computer models and go into nature, only astronomers have no reason to go out when there is cloud cover from a storm.<br />
<br />
*{{W|Chemistry}} is the study of chemicals and reactions of those chemicals. Since everything in existence is made up of chemicals (and chemists often use especially reactive or dangerous chemicals), the likelihood of a chemist's death being caused by chemistry (e.g., explosions, poisoning, chemical burns, suffocation...) is not insignificant.<br />
<br />
*{{W|Marine Biology}} is the study of marine life. Many marine creatures are venomous, many are very large, many are very hungry. Death could result from exposure to pathogenic bacteria, toxins (such as those produced by cone snails, and "red tide" dinoflagellates), allergies to shellfish, drowning (e.g. in strong ocean currents), scuba accidents, or water pollution, in addition to such perhaps more obvious (but overwhelmingly rarer) risks as shark attacks.<br />
<br />
*{{w|Volcanology}} involves the study of {{w|volcanoes}}, {{w|lava}}, and {{w|magma}}, with obvious risks to the scientists studying them in the field. At least 67 scientists have been killed in volcanic eruptions, as of 2017 ("[https://cosmosmagazine.com/geoscience/volcanologists-lose-their-lives-in-pursuit-of-knowledge Volcanologists lose their lives in pursuit of knowledge]").<br />
<br />
*{{w|Gerontology}} involves the study of aging, and of growing old in general. As everyone ages and eventually dies, those who study gerontology are not immune to dying in old age even if they evade all the other possible causes of death - thus making it the most likely among all shown fields. A gerontologist still can die from something else first, but without the inherent risk factors of other professions such as active volcanoes or underwater diving they're more likely to survive to retirement and thus meet their death of old age.<br />
<br />
The title text is about {{w|Epidemiology}}: the study of health and disease conditions in populations. In the event of an epidemic, there is a strong chance that epidemiologists in the search for the causation, transmission and treatment will be exposed and become victims of the disease in their own right. However, the title text refers more broadly to the role of epidemiology in maintaining detailed statistical records of diseases and other causes of death, such that eventually any epidemiologist (whatever the cause of death) will become one of his/her own statistics.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[A line chart is shown going from left to right with two arrows on either side. On the line are ten dots spread out unevenly from close to each end. The first four dots are clustered together on the left side. Then follows 5 more dots unevenly spaced, all to the left of center. On the far right of the line, near the end, there is one dot. Beneath each dot there goes a line down to a label written beneath each line. Above the chart there is a big title and below that an explanation. Below that again, there is a small arrow pointing to the right with a label above it.]<br />
:<big>Probability that you'll be killed by the thing you study</big><br />
:By field<br />
<br />
:[Arrow label:]<br />
:More likely<br />
<br />
:[Labels for the ten dots from left to right:]<br />
:Mathematics<br />
:Astronomy<br />
:Economics<br />
:Law<br />
:Criminology<br />
:Meteorology<br />
:Chemistry<br />
:Marine Biology<br />
:Volcanology<br />
:Gerontology<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Rankings]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1903:_Bun_Trend&diff=146739
Talk:1903: Bun Trend
2017-10-17T00:05:46Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Bread product ≠ rabbit - Subject says it all. {{unsigned ip|141.101.107.168}}<br />
:Yes, as to the trivia, I find it ridiculous that they might *not* be rabbits, per the diagram and reference to a small one, etc. I would correct this insanity had I more time.<br />
<br />
Other Bun comics include [[1682]] and [[1871]] - maybe we should start a category? --[[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 14:58, 16 October 2017 (UTC)<br />
:We can just link to the other "bun" comics for now—we can create a category when more pop up. [[User:RamenChef|RamenChef]] ([[User talk:RamenChef|talk]]) 18:21, 16 October 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Sure sure, everyone thinks they're harmless, until one picks up a switchblade and an attitude. [[User:DevAudio|DevAudio]] ([[User talk:DevAudio|talk]]) 15:32, 16 October 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is it true that Bun trends are increasing? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.69.223|162.158.69.223]]<br />
<br />
The long-awaited game Overgrowth was officially released on Steam today. It has been most succinctly described as a "Bunny Brawler". Coincidence? I think not!<br />
<br />
Is the {beep} a reference to the bun alert (which beret guy has installed)? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.226|162.158.63.226]] 23:35, 16 October 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I guess that {beep} is definitely a reference to the bun alert, and that the "recent acceleration in numbers" is only an observed trend due to more users reporting buns over the app, not an actual increase in numbers. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 00:05, 17 October 2017 (UTC)</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1900:_Jet_Lag&diff=146413
Talk:1900: Jet Lag
2017-10-09T23:54:52Z
<p>108.162.216.34: Listed the specified articles.</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
I am very, very disappointed that this space does not yet contain a list of all the wiki articles he could have been reading according to the title text.<br />
Are we all still boggling at the list of cancelled skyscrapers? --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 13:52, 9 October 2017 (UTC)<br />
: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maritime_disasters<br />
<br />
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=proposed+interstellar+space+missions&fulltext=1&profile=default<br />
(No exact match found)<br />
<br />
https://stats.nba.com<br />
<br />
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_tall_buildings_and_structures<br />
<br />
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_warfare_and_the_military_in_the_19th_century<br />
(78 articles referenced. Have fun!)<br />
<br />
I corrected "Jet Lag is a psychological condition" to "Jet Lag is a physiological condition". I'll assume that was a typo, as one's body suddenly finding itself on the wrong side of the planet is definitely not a psychosomatic illness.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 23:54, 9 October 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Also… is Hairy supposed to represent Randall here? Unless I'm confused, he was in the UK a couple of days ago [though he'd have been travelling in the wrong direction to be waking up at 3pm], so could justify jet-lag (and could be just my perception but it seems this comic was posted later than usual, as if he overslept) --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 14:45, 9 October 2017 (UTC)</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1900:_Jet_Lag&diff=146412
1900: Jet Lag
2017-10-09T23:17:27Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Explanation */ Jet Lag is physiological, not psychological.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1900<br />
| date = October 9, 2017<br />
| title = Jet Lag<br />
| image = jet_lag.png<br />
| titletext = I had some important research to do on proposed interstellar space missions, basketball statistics, canceled skyscrapers, and every article linked from "Women in warfare and the military in the 19th century."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a GUY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{w|Jet lag|Jet lag}} is a physiological condition arising from changing one's longitude wide and fast enough that one's body clock is unable to adapt to the official clock. Symptoms include a sleep cycle which does not match the solar cycle as it usually would{{Citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
[[Hairy]] has just woken up at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and [[Ponytail]] mentions he must be still jet lagged (possibly from a recent trip). Hairy then {{tvtropes|AccidentalPublicConfession|accidentally public confesses}} that he has actually been up to some late-night Wikipedia browsing and reading about {{w|List of maritime disasters|maritime disasters}}.<br />
<br />
At the bottom, [[Randall]] confesses jet lag is a nice excuse for his usual sleep cycle altering behavior.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Randall further mentions reading about proposed {{w|Interstellar travel|interstellar}} space missions, {{w|basketball statistics}}, {{w|Proposed_tall_buildings_and_structures#Abandoned_proposals|canceled skyscrapers}}, and every article linked from Wikipedia's "{{w|Women in warfare and the military in the 19th century}}." Randall has earlier illustrated this issue in [[214: The Problem with Wikipedia]].<br />
<br />
Randall has previously discussed his oft-changing sleep cycle in [[320: 28-Hour Day]] and [[448: Good Morning]], and has alluded to it more subtly in [[68: Five Thirty]], [[92: Sunrise]], and [[776: Still No Sleep]]. We can thus see that this is a habit of Randall's that has persisted for more than a decade.<br />
<br />
===Trivia===<br />
[[Randall]] was doing events in Great Britain the week before this comic was published, the last of which was on October 2nd. This arguably makes this a rare [[:Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe|comic featuring Randall]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Hairy is rubbing his eyes and facing Ponytail.]<br />
<br />
:Hairy: Sorry, I just woke up.<br />
:Ponytail: It's 3 PM! ...Oh, of course, you're still jet lagged.<br />
:Hairy: I-yeah, that's it! I definitely didn't spend half the night reading Wikipedia articles about random maritime disasters.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel]<br />
:I love traveling, because my sleep schedule is as messed up as always, but suddenly I have an excuse.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1889:_xkcd_Phone_6&diff=145484
1889: xkcd Phone 6
2017-09-14T23:25:31Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1889<br />
| date = September 13, 2017<br />
| title = xkcd Phone 6<br />
| image = xkcd_phone_6.png<br />
| titletext = We understand your privacy concerns; be assured that our phones will never store or transmit images of your face.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This is the sixth entry in the ongoing [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone series]], released the day after Apple announced their new {{w|iPhone 8}} and the higher-end {{w|iPhone X}} (pronounced iPhone 10) with facial recognition features.<br />
<br />
===List of features (clockwise from center/top)===<br />
<br />
; Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)<br />
: Front camera is a common feature of smartphones. The camera lens is located on the same side of the phone's case as the main screen and therefore it is possible to capture the image of the user's face looking at the screen and display the interlocutor's face on the screen simultaneously, enabling video chat. However, as the camera is usually located above the screen, a user looking at the displayed image of the other person directs his or her eyes at the center of the screen and not at the camera's lens. This is very visible on the other end of the chat as if the person talking was looking down and not in the interlocutor's face which is an uncomfortable situation for most people. For this reason, professionals involved in movie or TV-making, like actors or reporters, are trained to look straight into the camera's lens while talking, which creates impression of looking straight at the viewer's face. During a video chat, however, looking into the lens of an above-screen camera does not allow one to see the interlocutor's face clearly because it is then in the peripheral field of vision.<br />
<br />
: To solve this conundrum, Randall proposes locating the camera lens right in the middle of the screen. Therefore the user looking at the screen to see the other person's face would be also looking at the lens, creating an impression of a straight look on the other end of the chat. This is absurd since the lens would then take place of some of the center pixels of the screen, not allowing the display the center part of the captured image of the other person's face (like eyes and/or lips) which is most important for nonverbal communication. Such location of the camera lens would also likely interfere with touch-screen function. It will make other applications on the phone difficult to use, since virtually no user interface is designed to accommodate for a blind spot in the center.<br />
<br />
; Full-width rear camera<br />
: Phone cameras tend to have lenses which are quite small and round or square -- same width as height. Full-width makes it sound like the camera lens is really wide, as in a long oval or rectangle shape. This generally would not accomplish anything worthwhile, unless it allowed you to take one-shot panorama photos.<br />
<br />
; CDC partnership - phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year<br />
: U.S. {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}} is a government agency tasked with addressing public health concerns such as infectious diseases, including seasonal flu. A common way of limiting spread of an infectious disease is {{w|Vaccine|vaccination}}, which most often involves administering a specially prepared medicine via an {{w|intramuscular injection}}. This features implies that the phone would automatically perform such an injection once a year, by shooting a needle out of a small aperture while the user is holding the phone to his or her cheek during a call.<br />
<br />
; 12-function<br />
: Most smartphones can be used for more than 12 different things. However, this may refer to the 12 basic functions of calculus (identity, squaring, cubing, square root, logarithm, exponential, reciprocal, sine, cosine, greatest integer, absolute value, and logistic), or the twelve function keys on a modern keyboard (more than the ten on the original IBM PC keyboard). Alternatively it may be a reference to calculators: basic models are sometimes referred to as four function calculators (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), and complex scientific calculators may advertise 250 or more functions.<br />
<br />
; Dishwasher safe<br />
: Usually a feature of plastic containers or fancy dishes. Unlikely to appear on a smartphone, though potentially useful if you need to clean your screen.<br />
<br />
; GPS transmitter<br />
: Many smartphones have a receiver for the Global Positioning System, which allows a phone to compute its position based on signals from the constellation of GPS satellites. However, a device with a "GPS transmitter" would broadcast signals that would interfere with the GPS receivers of all devices nearby.<br />
<br />
; 3-G acceleration<br />
: Usually, a phone is 3g compatible if it uses a certain standard ("third generation") for data transmission. However, 3-G acceleration implies the phone can accelerate at a rate of 3 times the acceleration of gravity, or approximately 30 m/s². An untrained human experiencing 3g for extensive periods of time can suffer injuries at a result.<br />
<br />
; Portable, solar-heated<br />
: Portability is pretty much the entire point of using a ''mobile'' phone, so advertising portability is rather pointless. Solar ''power'' charging could be a very useful feature on a phone, but solar ''heating'' usually applies to plumbing, where a water tank is heated by the sun and used to supply hot water to taps. Technically, as the sun heats up everything on Earth, the phone is in fact solar heated.<br />
<br />
;Pore-cleaning strip<br />
: Something sticky on that location would be very annoying for clean-shaven people and extremely painful for anyone with facial hair. See also [[777: Pore Strips]]<br />
<br />
; Maximum strength<br />
:Medicines are often sold a "Maximum strength", as in the highest dose allowed by law or allowed without a prescription. For phones, there are sometimes "hardened" or "ruggedized" versions which are designed to survive harsher environmental conditions such as surviving drops and collisions, excessive water and dust, etc. So Maximum strength could indicate a "ruggedized" phone, though a screen that extended past the edges would likely have the opposite effect.<br />
<br />
; Never needs sharpening<br />
: Phones do not need to be sharpened in the first place{{Citation needed}}. This is a feature more likely to be found in a knife advertisement (especially for a knife that cannot be sharpened, like a serrated or ceramic blade), or on a mechanical pencil<br />
<br />
; Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water<br />
: This is a play on the common IP-rating of water resistance, which is typically rated for submersion to a rated depth for 30 minutes. A phone which could only be used or carried for 30 minutes and then needed to be immersed in water would be rather inconvenient, especially if it was still susceptible to short-circuiting as most electronic devices do when submerged. On the other hand, perhaps this phone's target market are whales and dolphins. This would be a useful feature for them.<br />
<br />
; Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight<br />
: {{w|National Audubon Society}} is a non-profit organization dedicated to conservation of nature, mainly of birds, also organizing open {{w|birdwatching}} events. An app that identifies bird species, as for example from a photo of a bird made by the smartphone itself, would be cool. An app allowing you to control the bird's flight would be way cooler, but it is not possible at the current state of technology - and it would fly in the face of the Audubon Society core activity. This is a reference to {{w|Unmanned_aerial_vehicle|drones}} (artificial "birds") which are often controlled by a smartphone app. This may also be a reference to [[1425: Tasks]], in which an app that can recognize if a bird is on camera is proposed.<br />
<br />
; Extra screen<br />
:Possibly because of the center camera, an additional section of screen was added. Some phones also advertise having extra screen, although this refers to having a larger screen in general, rather than a small rectangle added to the bottom.<br />
<br />
; Wireless charging port<br />
:A rather pointless feature; because wireless charging has no wires, it needs no port.<br />
<br />
; Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older<br />
:Usually an item is deemed safe for a particular age or older, or (in the case of toys) is recommended for a particular age range. This is unusual in that it's a hodge-podge of age ranges with no apparent reason why some ages are safe and others are not. It may be a parody of drug commercials that list several age ranges for which the drug had to be separately approved.<br />
<br />
; Screen goes past the edge<br />
:A parody of the trend of "edge to edge" displays in recent generations of smartphones, or phones whose screens curve partway around the edge of the phone.<br />
<br />
; High thread count CPU<br />
:A CPU thread is a task the CPU performs. Several threads may share memory making them a process. Threads are meant to run in parallel and the operating system distributes the workload on the available hardware execution units. These execution units are sometimes called hardware threads, especially when there is more than one per core. For example, the Intel Core i7 7700 is considered a 4-core, 8-thread CPU. The vague "high thread count" statement could make sense in this context, however, it is most likely a joke about bedding, where it is an actual selling point.<br />
<br />
; Shroud of Turin-style facial transfer unlock<br />
:The {{w|Shroud of Turin}} contains an image of a face, ostensibly of {{w|Jesus Christ}}. Presumably, to unlock this phone, the user would have to physically press their face against the phone, the way Jesus Christ's allegedly transferred to the shroud. This is likely a reference to the iPhone X's FaceID unlock, which uses a ''photograph'' of your face to unlock it and which had attracted [https://www.wired.com/story/iphone-x-faceid-security/ significant criticism] immediately before this comic came out.<br />
<br />
; Fonts developed by NASA<br />
: Between 1975 and 1992 NASA used the {{w|NASA insignia|"worm" logotype}} in its insignia. It was a special font omitting the horizontal bar in the capitalized letter A. May be a reference to many advertisements that claim their product uses technology developed by NASA. This seems impressive, as NASA technology does tend to be quite strong and advanced, as they claim at their [https://spinoff.nasa.gov/ spin off] website. However, it would not be as impressive due to fonts having very little to do with NASA's core operations.<br />
<br />
; Includes applicator<br />
: What tampon packages, cosmetics, paints, and other products often say. An applicator for a phone would be absurd since the phone cannot be applied, spread, inserted, or attached to something else. This may be referring back to the aforementioned yearly vaccine.<br />
<br />
; Burns clean coal<br />
: There is a push for clean energy production due to pollution concerns. <!-- While burning any sort of coal may produce carbon dioxide, "clean-burning coal" has nothing to do with global warming, greenhouse gasses, or anything of the like. It refers to production of soot, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, etc., or lack thereof --> Using heat to generate operating electricity for a mobile phone is absurd, as the apparatus to burn any fuel and then extract electricity from that heat would be very large compared to the phone itself, and thus be impractical for a mobile.<br />
<br />
; Pre-seasoned<br />
:Pre-seasoned typically refers to cast iron cookware which is ready to use out of the box, as opposed to needing to season it with oil and heat. It can also refer to packaged meats which are ready to cook without needing to be seasoned with herbs and spices, or timber that has been dried and is ready for use.<br />
<br />
; Broad-spectrum SPF 30<br />
:The xkcd phone somehow gives an SPF 30 level of skin protection from the sun.<br />
<br />
; College-ruled<br />
:College-ruled is a style of notebook paper having narrower lines in order to fit more text per page. That the phone is college-ruled suggests that there are lines permanently displayed on the screen, which would obscure any images on the screen, along with any text that doesn't line up with the lines. Defective screens can show similar patterns. For example, the iPhone 6 "touch disease" cause regularly spaced vertical lines to appear on top of the screen. Here, it is possible that the manufacturer tries to pass off screen defects as features.<br />
<br />
; Sterile packaging<br />
:Useful for medical supplies, less so in a phone.<br />
<br />
; Radium backlight<br />
:The discovery of the radioactive element radium sparked a brief fad in which some watch makers painted watch faces or hands with a paint containing radium and a radioluminescent substance such as zinc sulfide which converted the radiation from the radium into visible light. This allowed the time to be read at night without needing an external power source for the light. However, it was eventually realized that regular exposure to radium could result in radiation poisoning, particularly for the workers assembling and painting the watches. A radium-based backlight would therefore be both potentially dangerous (especially for an object carried on one's person much of the time) but also largely useless, as the radioluminescent light is rather dim compared to conventional phone back lights.<br />
<br />
; 4K pixels (50×80)<br />
:This refers to having 4,000 pixels in the screen in total, rather than a screen width of ~4000 pixels. TV's advertised as "4K" are typically up to 4096 × 2160 pixels, or 8.8 million pixels. That would be outstanding for a cell phone whereas 4,000 pixels total would be horrendous. As a comparison, the old Commodore VIC-20 with a resolution of 176 × 184 would have over 8 times the pixels of this phone. It is however quite close to the screen resolution of the sturdy Nokia 3310, boasting a total of 4032 pixels positioned 84 × 48.<br />
<br />
In the caption below the phone [[Randall]] presents many different version numbers:<br />
*The number 6 is in correct order of all the xkcd phones<br />
*The {{w|Roman numerals|roman number}} VIII refers to the newly announced {{w|iPhone 8}} and jokes about the roman number X below<br />
*Version number 10 is the current version of Microsoft Windows after omitting the number 9<br />
*The {{w|iPhone X}} was announced together with the iPhone 8 by Apple on September 12, 2017, a day before this comic was released. Apple clarified X must be read as the roman number 10, so for additional absurdity two xkcd phones share the same number, using different numeral<br />
*The number 26 refers to...<br />
*In the year 1876 {{w|Alexander Graham Bell}} received the U.S. Patent No. 174465 for the {{w|invention of the telephone}}, but there is still a {{w|Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy|controversy}} whether {{w|Elisha Gray}} was the first who presented a working telephone. <br />
Below of this numbers Randall states that xkcd isn't responsible for this ''nonconsecutive version number war'', but, as it can be seen here above, he attempts to win. By counting parallel version numbers xkcd defeated Apple 6:2. The "nonconsecutive version number war" refers to several recent phones released consecutively with nonconsecutive version numbers, including:<br />
*The iPhone X (or Ten) which will be released shortly after the iPhone 8<br />
*The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was released after the Note 5<br />
*The Oneplus 5 was released after the OnePlus 3T<br />
<br />
The symbols at the end are ™ for trademark, ® for registered trademark, and © for a copyright protection. The degree symbol ° after the letter C could be a play with degree Celsius. The use of all four symbols after the phrase is ridiculous, as ™ and ® indicate trademarks with opposite registration statuses, slogans can't be copyrighted, and the degree symbol usually has no meaning when applied to text.<br />
<br />
<br />
In the title text Randall attributes privacy concerns about the facial recognition feature. A picture of a face will only be used for this new feature but never stored on the device nor transmitted to internet. A ''small'' side effect may be that the famous selfie pictures aren't possible anymore, as well as video calls.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A smartphone is shown, the screen is slightly wider than the case, in the middle is a photo lens, and at the right bottom a small extra part is added to the screen.]<br />
:[On top a bracket ranges nearly over the entire width of the case. The text reads:]<br />
:Full-width rear camera<br />
:[The label at the photo lens is:]<br />
:Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)<br />
:[The label on the extra part says:]<br />
:Extra screen<br />
:[At the bottom below the case a label reads:]<br />
:Wireless charging port<br />
<br />
:[The labels left to the phone are:]<br />
:4k pixels (50x80)<br />
:Radium backlight<br />
:Sterile packaging<br />
:College-ruled<br />
:Broad spectrum SPF 30<br />
:Pre-seasoned<br />
:Burns clean coal<br />
:Includes applicator<br />
:Fonts developed by NASA<br />
:Shroud of turn-style facial transfer unlock<br />
:High thread count CPU<br />
:Screen goes past the edge<br />
:Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older<br />
<br />
:[The labels right to the phone are:]<br />
:CDC partnership: Phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year<br />
:12-function<br />
:Dishwasher safe<br />
:GPS transmitter<br />
:3-G acceleration<br />
:Portable, solar-heated<br />
:Pore-cleaning strip<br />
:Maximum strength<br />
:Never needs sharpening<br />
:Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water<br />
:Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight<br />
<br />
:[Text below the phone:]<br />
:Introducing<br />
:'''The XKCD PHONE 6, VIII, 10, X, 26, and 1876'''<br />
:''We didn't start this nonconsecutive version number war, but we will not lose it.''™®©°<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:xkcd Phones]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1796:_Focus_Knob&diff=135073
1796: Focus Knob
2017-02-10T16:36:34Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1796<br />
| date = February 8, 2017<br />
| title = Focus Knob<br />
| image = focus_knob.png<br />
| titletext = Maybe if I spin it back and forth really fast I can do some kind of pulse-width modulation.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The comic is a pun. Normally, a rotary {{w|control knob}} is used for adjusting parameters in instruments, and the parameter "focus" is used to adjust the {{w|focal length}} on microscopes, telescopes, and other lens-based equipment. Here, however, the "focus knob" is used for Randall's {{w|Attention|personal sense of focus}} -- that is, how focused he is on his work and productivity, with the extremes of focus being towards ''Detail-Oriented'' (small details) and the ''Big Picture'' respectively. (A similar knob was used in [[1620: Christmas Settings]]).<br />
<br />
The healthy balance, Randall suggests, is focusing mostly towards the ''Big Picture'' (two thirds of the way towards the ''Big Picture'' between ticks 24 and 25 out of 37), while keeping an eye on the details by still staying one third ''Detail-Oriented''. Focusing too much on the big picture can ensure nothing gets done, leading to {{w|panic}} and existential {{w|paralysis}}. Unfortunately, the range of healthy balance appears to be vanishingly small and difficult to reach; additionally, if we assume the knob can only stop at the little ticks marked along the outside, there is no way to set it in the window of ''Healthy Focus''. <br />
<br />
While performing any task (including your daily life as well as editing explainxkcd), it is easy to get so lost in the details that you forget the big picture. It is also equally easy to think too much about the big picture and make vague plans while missing out on the details.<br />
<br />
It is clear that at the moment Randall is mainly focusing on the small details fiddling with his e-mail settings as the knob is set to the 13th tick only just past one third away from ''Detail-Oriented''. He thus seems to try to avoid seeing the big picture right now, since it is his personal knob to set as he wishes.<br />
<br />
Existential paralysis stemming from Randall getting worried about realizing how serious the state of the world is today (at the time of the comics release) are a common punchline in xkcd. With all the crises going on around the world, people get bombarded with these negative stories if they follow the news, either on TV, in news papers of on any social media (See [[1773: Negativity]]), especially on Facebook (see [[1761: Blame]]). It can thus become very overwhelming, if people do not focus more on their e-mail settings! This goes especially in a time like this, where many panics on Facebook due to for instance wars and conflicts around the world (like in {{w|Syrian Civil War|Syria}}), talk about [[:Category:Climate change|climate change]], or all the {{w|List of executive actions by Donald Trump|executive orders}} currently being signed by the recently {{w|Inauguration of Donald Trump|inaugurated}} President {{w|Donald Trump}}, who took office less than three weeks before this comic's release. See more about these issues and other recently released [[1756:_I'm_With_Her#Sad_comics|sad comics here]]. <br />
<br />
Getting to deep into all this could cause the kind of panic attacks that could lead to the existential paralysis mentioned on the right side of the knob. It is these that Randall may be trying to avoid by keeping his focus firmly in the realm of e-mail settings rather than anywhere near the big picture.<br />
<br />
The joke in the title text relates to Randall's use of an old fashioned analog control, probably a {{w|potentiometer|potentiometer}}, in the graphic versus a more electronically modern and efficient switching system. Randall imagines a replacement control using {{w|pulse-width modulation}} (PWM), which is a technique often used to control the {{w|Switched-mode_power_supply|regulation in electronic power supplies}} or the [http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/blog/pulse-width-modulation.html speed of electric motors] with far greater power efficiency than simpler analog controllers. This technique consists of shifting between fully on and fully off states so that the average is the expected output, but no power is wasted by holding the control mechanism "partially on". For example switching back and forth between 0 and 1, spending half the time in each position will lead to a mean value of 0.5. To code 0.67 (the ''healthy balance''), Randall would have to spend more time in the extreme big picture position (67% of the time) than in the detail-oriented position. In the real world of course, a person switching so radically and completely between attention states might get diagnosed with some sort of {{w|Mania|mania}}. But the knob might just be switched between the dividers bordering the healthy zone, creating the perfect balance<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the drawing:]<br />
:Personal Focus<br />
<br />
:[A gray rotary control knob with the range of options divided by 37 small ticks on a black semi circle that extends over 270 degrees from 45 degrees past "6 o'clock" and around to 45 degrees before that "time" on the other side. The first and last tick are a bit larger than the other 35. The knob has a black line that indicates that the knob's setting is on the 13th line from left. This also seem to indicate that the knob can only point to the ticks and not in between them. At the bottom left and right where the semi circle begins and ends there are two labels in normal black text:]<br />
:Left: Detail-Oriented<br />
:Right: Big Picture<br />
<br />
:[Above and all along the black semi circle with the range, another semi circle is drawn in light gray. This has been divided into three sections, with two large sections left and right forming the actual semi circle which here consist of two double ended arrows pointing to four stopping lines orthogonal to the gray arrows pointing at them. The left and right stopping lines are above the larger left and right end ticks below. The other two stops are very near each other, the left just slightly past the 24th tick (from left) and the next is just short of the next 25th tick (but not as near as the other line was to the 24th tick). There is no line or arrow between these two very close stopping lines. There are three labels. The labels for the first section (spanning slightly more than 24 ticks) and the second section (spanning a bit more 13 ticks) have their labels written next to the arrows, which has been broken in order to have the text written next to the black semi circle. The remaining small space lies between the 24th and 25th tick, and it thus have no possible settings within it - i.e. no tick is inside this section, and it is the only part not encompassed by the two double arrows. It is labeled to the right of it, and a line goes from the label down to indicate this small section. All the above including the text is drawn in the same light gray color. Note that Randall has misspelled "existential" in the right section label.]<br />
:Left section: <span style="color: gray;">Fiddling with email settings</span><br />
:Right section: <span style="color: gray;">Panic and <!--NOTE existential misspelled in the comic so leave it here as is, see Trivia-->existental paralysis</span> <br />
:Small section: <span style="color: gray;">Healthy balance</span><br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Randall has misspelled existential as ''existental'' with only one "i"!<br />
**Maybe because of his paralysis (which he did manage to spell correctly).<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Charts]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1792:_Bird/Plane/Superman&diff=134498
Talk:1792: Bird/Plane/Superman
2017-01-30T17:58:25Z
<p>108.162.216.34: plane icing?</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Randall missed that a plane can lose it's ability to fly via excessive icing on surfaces. While it is not usually the way in which it is cured (using deicing solution and onboard aircraft systems to melt them,) sunbathing the plane in greater than freezing temperatures is an excellent way to regain the ability to fly. (And without additional energy cost, too!) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 17:58, 30 January 2017 (UTC)</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=441:_Babies&diff=115372
441: Babies
2016-03-21T23:18:08Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 441<br />
| date = June 25, 2008<br />
| title = Babies<br />
| image = babies.png<br />
| titletext = I bet my future kids will read this someday. DEAR FUTURE KIDS: how did you get internet in the cellar?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
A common theme of xkcd is that one never feels that one has "transitioned to adulthood", in the sense of actually attaining the seriousness and sense of responsibility that children imagine all adults to possess. Here, the author illustrates this by imagining [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] taking on the ultimate "adult responsibility" — having a child, treating it as they would any other engineering project. Disassembling a project to check the parts is an activity that is appropriate for a self-built computer or robot, but disassembling a child would be impractical. It would also kill the child. Megan also shows her lack of child experience by holding the baby upside-down by the foot, which isn't a good idea.{{Citation needed}} Her behavior could also indicate that Megan is treating the child as an object rather than a human being.<br />
<br />
The title text implies the author will have kids someday. It will be surprising if they read this comic, not just because it will give them an unflattering look into their father's attitudes on having children, but because he plans to lock them in the cellar where there will be no internet access. This is possibly a reference to {{w|Kaspar Hauser}}, who is a boy that was claimed to have grown up in a dark cell in Germany in the 19th century, or to the incestuous children of {{w|Josef Fritzl}}.<br />
<br />
This is also the topic of [[674: Natural Parenting]] and [[1384: Krypton]].<br />
<br />
Much later, a comic with the singular version of this title was released: [[1650: Baby]]. Here, Cueball refrains from saying something as stupid as he does here about another couple's baby.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:It doesn't seem right that we're old enough to have kids.<br />
:[Megan holds a baby upside-down by one leg.]<br />
:Megan: Sweet! We made a baby!<br />
:Cueball: Are we sure we did it right?<br />
:Cueball: We should disassemble it, check all the parts, and put it back together.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Baby 1]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1657:_Insanity&diff=115077
1657: Insanity
2016-03-18T12:46:57Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1657<br />
| date = March 18, 2016<br />
| title = Insanity<br />
| image = insanity.png<br />
| titletext = I looked up "insanity" in like 10 different dictionaries and none of them said anything like that. Neither did the DSM-4. But I'll keep looking. Maybe it's in the DSM-5!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In this comic White Hat quotes to Cueball the "definition of insanity", which is, according to that quote, to do the same thing repeatedly while expecting a different outcome, to which Cueball responds by applying the quote to the action of quoting that quote. White Hat seems to have quoted that quote quite a few times already, expecting people to change their behaviour which hasn't happened so far. So according to that definition of insanity, it is insane to keep quoting the definition of insanity, expecting people to change their behaviour because of that. The title text counters White Hat's statement more directly by saying that the quote is not the literal definition of "insanity" in any official sources. <br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1118:_Microsoft&diff=115046
1118: Microsoft
2016-03-18T01:23:11Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1118<br />
| date = October 8, 2012<br />
| title = Microsoft<br />
| image = microsoft.png<br />
| titletext = Facebook, Apple, and Google all got away with their monopolist power grabs because they don't have any 'S's in their names for critics to snarkily replace with '$'s.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In the late 1990s {{w|Microsoft}} started bundling its web browser, {{w|Internet Explorer}}, with its {{w|Windows}} operating system. This effectively destroyed the {{w|Netscape}} company, who up until then had the most market share with its browser, {{w|Netscape Navigator}}. Microsoft was involved in {{w|United States v. Microsoft|a legal case}} against the U.S. government, which required Microsoft to allow IE to be uninstalled among other remedies. {{w|Removal of Internet Explorer|Removal of Internet Explorer}} has no clear solution as libraries and utilities associated with Internet Explorer are used across other Windows applications.<br />
<br />
The comic sarcastically states that this stopped companies from creating a monopoly on software practices. Unfortunately, platform developers such as Apple, Sony, and Microsoft have restricted third-party software distribution over the internet via their own [http://www.apple.com/iphone/from-the-app-store/ curated] [http://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/ online] [http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/ stores] in recent years, and will come full circle with the introduction of Metro Applications on the Windows 8. The comic also mocks the triviality of {{w|Browser wars|browser debates}} compared to current antitrust cases concerning [http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/googles-new-search-results-raise-privacy-and-antitrust-concerns/ privacy] and [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-11/u-s-files-antitrust-lawsuit-against-apple-hachette.html price fixing].<br />
<br />
{{w|Apple}} bundled a browser in on both its desktop and mobile platforms. On its mobile platform, {{w|iOS}} users are not allowed to change the default browser. Apple also requires all iOS developers to sell their apps only through the iTunes app store, paying sizeable commissions to Apple, and Apple can refuse to sell any app. In some instances, Apple has developed its own versions of popular third-party apps.[http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/10/serving-at-the-pleasure-of-the-king.html] <br />
<br />
On {{w|Android}}, {{w|Google}} bundles in a mobile version of {{w|Google Chrome|Chrome web browser}} (as of version 4.0 ''Ice Cream Sandwich''), but you are allowed to change the default browser. The company has a majority market share in web search engines, being the most popular search engine available. On {{w|Facebook}}, users face difficulties in accessing or removing their profiles and personal information, among {{w|Criticism of Facebook|other issues}}. Recently, this has been mitigated by the ability to [http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/06/facebook-now-allows-you-to-download-your-information/ download a zip file] of all content ever posted to Facebook, but it [http://www.zdnet.com/blog/london/facebook-still-doesnt-delete-your-photos-three-years-later/2936 still remains difficult] to delete data from Facebook.<br />
<br />
Apple has been widely criticized for trying to force all users of Mac OS or iOS to run only content approved by Apple and distributed through the Apple App Store, each sale from which gives royalty payments to Apple.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to mocking Microsoft as Micro$oft or M$ for attempting to take too much money from consumers.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Megan: Remember when we prosecuted Microsoft for bundling a browser with an OS? Imagine the future we'd live in if we'd been willing to let one tech company amass that much power.<br />
:Ponytail: Thank God we nipped ''that'' in the bud.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1638:_Backslashes&diff=110576
Talk:1638: Backslashes
2016-02-03T16:14:10Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
<hr />
<div>...Maybe it's meant to search for all Game Grumps transcripts which make mention of the "[http://gamegrumps.wikia.com/wiki/Grep Grep]" gag? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.55|108.162.216.55]] 15:53, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It should be noted that this also occurs in almost every programming language where "\" is the escape character. i.e.<br />
print("Hello")<br />
> Hello<br />
print("\"Hello\"")<br />
> "Hello"<br />
print("\\Hello\\")<br />
> \Hello\<br />
Oh, and by the way, isn't this the third comic to mention "Ba'al, the Soul Eater"? Maybe we should start a category. (Others are [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1246:_Pale_Blue_Dot 1246] (title text) and [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1419:_On_the_Phone 1419].)<br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.29|173.245.54.29]] 06:14, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:[[:Category:Ba'al|Did that]] before seeing you comment, so yes I agree. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:47, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;I don't think the regex is invalid<br />
<br />
According to <tt>man grep</tt> you need to specify the <tt>-E</tt> option to use extended regex; without it unescaped parentheses are not interpreted, so they don't need to match.<br />
<br />
My - very wild - guess is that it was the command he used to find the line with the most special characters, but I am not confident enough to edit the article (if someone can confirm?). {{unsigned ip|141.101.66.83}}<br />
<br />
If it was supposed to do that, it doesn't work. Running it on my bash history matches no lines, and I have lots of special characters in there [[Special:Contributions/197.234.242.243|197.234.242.243]] 07:12, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Explain it to me like I'm dumb. What is this comic going on about? I think the explanation needs more examples like that hello, above, because that's almost understandable. --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.231|198.41.238.231]] 07:47, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I agree. But I cannot help either.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:51, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is the third time Randall has mentioned Ba'al the Soul Eater xD [[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 08:26, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Yes, that was already mentioned a few hours before you comment, see the first comment. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:51, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
After passing the regex through bash, you get <nowiki>\\[[(].*\\[\])][^)\]]*$</nowiki> That is, the literal character \, followed by [ or (, followed by any number of any characters, followed by \, followed by ] or ), followed by any number of characters that aren't ) or ], until the end of the line. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.44|108.162.216.44]] 08:33, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:It sounds like you know what you are talking about. Anyone who can explain it good enough for the explanation, and correct the explanation of the title text if it is wrong to say that it would not work. I have added this as the reason for incomplete. But maybe also examples are needed for people with not programming skills/knowledge. We also enjoy xkcd ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:51, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For fun: <br />
cat ~/.bash_history | xargs -d "\n" -n 1 -I {} bash -c 'chars="$(echo "$1" | grep -o "[a-zA-Z0-9 ]" | wc -l)"; echo "$(( 100 - $(( $chars * 100 / ${#1} )) )) $1"' _ {} | sort -nrk 1 | less<br />
<br />
Outputs your bash_history, ordered by relative gibberishness. This was copied by hand from desktop to mobile, might well have a few typos.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.208|162.158.90.208]] 10:04, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The problem in the comic is not with regexes per se but with situations when the entered text or expression passes through several interpreters, like bash -> grep/sed/awk, or program text -> external shell command. In such cases, you have to escape backslashes for each program in the sequence, and it gets worse if you have 'real' backslashes in the final text that you're processing with the utilities (Windows' file paths, for example). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_toothpick_syndrome.<br />
Feel free to lift this to the explanation page, since I'm not good at longer and more careful explanations than this one.<br />
Also, gotta notice that Feedly stripped paired backslashes in the title text (probably passed it through some 'interpreter' embedded in its scripts). [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 10:13, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:A funny comment about the MediaWiki software, which is even worse than this comic: <code><nowiki><Nikerabbit> I looked the code for rlike and didn't find where it does this. Can you point me to it? <vvv> $pattern = preg_replace( '!(\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\)*(\\\\\\\\)?/!', '$1\\/', $pattern ); <Nikerabbit> I thought that was ascii art :)</nowiki></code> ([https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/P110$275 source]) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.215|162.158.91.215]] 10:18, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Interestingly, I first looked at this on my phone (using <strike>Chrome</strike> Feedly for Android), but the title text did not display correctly in that the backslashes didn't appear (which was a little confusing!). In Chrome on my Windows desktop, the title text appeared correctly. [[User:Jdluk|Jdluk]] ([[User talk:Jdluk|talk]]) 11:36, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
enough with the harry potter fancruft. "elder" is a [[Wiktionary:elder|perfectly good word]]. just because you came across it for the first time in harry potter means you are *typing carefully* the kind of person that likes harry potter. unless this is a ''harry potter reference'' wiki, of course. in which case i'll prepare a complete list of every word that appears both here and there and put a list on every page. oh, right, no i won't. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.161|141.101.106.161]] 12:41, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Remember that "Elder" is used in a lot of RPGs to denote high level enemies or items. I feel like that's what Randall's referring to here, more than Harry Potter or the general sense of the term "Elder."<br />
* +1. Between the fact that harry potter (, ages, or tribes) aren't mentioned anywhere else in the text and the comic being a progressive list, I see this being the most likely explanation. Plus the metion of demons, which are easily the most* common usage of the modifier.<br />
** (*) or second most, after "elder gods", who are, let's face it, also demons. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.180.125|162.158.180.125]] 14:41, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Attempting to add to the discussion: This regex is not necessarily invalid or incomprehensible. It looks like he was looking for a line with a regular expression or definitely some code. You just have to work your way through the backslashes. Although it might be invalid depending on the precise rules. He has some unescaped closing brackets and closing parenthesis. If these have to always be escaped then the regex is invalid. If however you don't have to escape a closing bracket with no opening bracket, then things are fine. I'm not familiar enough with grep's regex parser to know how it handles that edge case. Presuming those unescaped paren and brackets are fine, his regex searches for:<br />
<br />
1. A backslash<br />
<br />
2. An opening bracket<br />
<br />
3. An opening parenthesis (this is a character set but the only character in it is an opening paren)<br />
<br />
4. Any number of any characters<br />
<br />
5. A backslash<br />
<br />
6. An opening bracket<br />
<br />
7. A closing bracket<br />
<br />
8. A closing paren (presuming it doesn't have to be escaped when there is no opening paren)<br />
<br />
9. A closing bracket (presuming it doesn't have to be escaped when there is no opening bracket)<br />
<br />
10. Any number of character that are not a closing paren or closing bracket<br />
<br />
11. The end of the line<br />
<br />
<br />
Basically he is looking for a string that looks like:<br />
<br />
\[(AAAAA\[])]AAAAA<br />
<br />
Looks like a regex to me, and it looks like this regex also doesn't escape closing paren/brackets that don't have an opening paren/bracket, so I'm guessing that he knows what he is doing and his regex is fine. Maybe he was playing regex golf?<br />
[[User:Cmancone|Cmancone]] ([[User talk:Cmancone|talk]])cmancone<br />
<br />
Ninjaed by Cmancone, above. I agree with that result in every respect except for the start-of-string being potentially anything, but putting my own analysis in here because it took long enough to type!<br />
Depth-of-backslash might depend upon depth of utility. In Perl, <nowiki>''</nowiki>-quotes (among others) treat everything within as literal whilst ""-quotes (and variations) interpolates any special characters, variables, etc that you put in it. (Search for "Quote and Quote-like operators" in your favourite PerlDocs source.) '\sss' is a literal backslash followed by three 's' characters , while "\sss" is the special \s escape (a whitespace) followed by two further regular characters. You might need to define the first when you need to use it to provide a not-previously-escaped \s so that it might be escaped within another context. ''Or'' you define it as "\\sss" (escaped-\) the first time, as equivalent to '\sss'. But '\\sss' would be a literal that, later, could be interpreted as an escaped-\ to the input of a further context where the \s finally becomes 'match a whitespace'.<br />
<br />
'\\\sss' would be literal, whilst "\\\sss" could be equivalent to '\ ss' (literal backslash, literal space, rest of characters). Then, instead of literal '\\sss', for some purpose, you could interpolate two escaped-backslashes "\\\\sss"... and so on.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile I ''think'', just from visual inspection, "'''\\\[[(].*\\\[\])][^)\]]*$'''" in Bash should obey the interpolation rules quite nicely. The first two characters must be a literal backslash (from the escaped-backslash) and a literal open-square bracket (again, escaped). The next open-square and the close-square shortly after depict a character class that contains only an open-parenthesis, and could have been written as '''\('''.<br />
<br />
The '''.*''' indicates zero-or-more (the asterix) instances of ''any'' character (the dot). There is then a literal backslash (from the next '''\\''' duo) and a literal open-square (the '''\[''' pair) and close-square (the '''\]''' pair). The ''')''' is literal and does not need escaping (as a parenthesis group had not yet been opened), as is the next ''']''' character. To be sure, I would have written these two as the pair escapes '''\)\]''', but horses for courses...<br />
<br />
Then there's another character class (the next '''[''' and the final ''']''') required zero-or-more times (the asterix) to use up all the rest of the characters to the end (the ending '''$''' character). As there was no '''^''' character (a.k.a. caret/circumflex/etc) at the start, the match isn't bothered about what unmatched characters appear before the original '''\('''. This character class, however, starts with a '''^''' which in this context (the very first character of a character-class definition, not somewhere where an entire match-string starts) indicates negation of the following selection, so it is all characters ''but'' those specified, which is the regular close-parenthesis and (because it needs to be contained within a '''[]''' pair) the escaped close-square.<br />
<br />
So, all matching strings must start with '''\[(''', i.e. the backslash, open-square and open-paren. They can continue with ''any'' further text, before then having a '''\[])]''', i.e. backslash, open-and-close-squares and close-paren, close-square. After this, the match continues just as long as there are no non-closing square/classic brackets before the ending.<br />
<br />
The minimum matching literal string would be '''\[(\[])]''' with longer variants being of the form '''X\[(Y\[])]Z''' where X and Y can be replaced by anything (or be absent), and Z can be replaced by anything (or absent!) ''so long as it doesn't contain possibly relevent close-brackets!''. The latter stipulation is likely because the Y (and X) ''is'' allowed to contain these characters, and for some reason you don't want to confuse the test by finding some other '''\[])]''' segment within the X/Y-zones. (In this context, it doesn't actually seem to matter too much. But it might do in ways I haven't spotted or just be a hang-over from a prior permutation of the test.)<br />
<br />
The "grep -o" function is working on the output to the file being '''cat'''ed (there are alternate ways of doing this that some people might prefer), to only accept the lines in the file that match the '''X\[(Y\[])]Z''' string. These lines would appear to be lines of out.txt (a fairly generic name that reveals little to its original purpose) that are well-formed for some other purpose. A safety-escaped (i.e. not to be taken literally by any simple parser) '''[]'''-grouping containing a '''()'''-group (''not'' escaped, perhaps reasonably in context) containing potentially random text followed by an empty '''[]''' pair (again, safety-escaped). Depending on the source, the empty '''[]'''-pair could mean many things, as with the other layers. And the lines may end with any further text.<br />
<br />
The "out.txt" file might be the result of a prior Grep (string-search function) quote possibly scanning code for lines of particular importance by another pattern and dumping the results to out.txt for further perusal. And then Randall finds the need to dig further into the first result by extracting just those already selected that all have the '''X\[(Y\[])Z]'''-ish pattern to them.<br />
<br />
But I could be wrong, and that's way too long for an official explanation.<br />
(Perhaps just something like the penultimate paragraph, if we're not entirely mistaken?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.89|162.158.152.89]] 14:14, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The regex is supposed to be looking for:<br />
\\\ backslash<br />
[[(] [ or (<br />
.* any character (repeated 0 or more times)<br />
space space<br />
\\\ backslash<br />
[[\])] probably meant to match either [, ] or ). However, it's not correct, it instead matches the literal characters [)]<br />
[^)\]]* probably meant to match any character that isn't ) or ], repeated. Instead it means one character that's not a ), and then a ] zero or more times<br />
$ end of string<br />
<br />
The first problem is that you're not supposed to escape ] in a [...], and it also has to be first in the grouping (unless negated with a ^) It should be [][)] or something similar.<br />
The second problem is the same. The last bit should be [^])]*$ and not [^)\]]*$. [[User:Khris|Khris]] ([[User talk:Khris|talk]]) 14:24, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
I was reading through the regex, if using grep you run into an error with an unmatched ")". Removing this gets a string such as \[(AAAAA\[]]AAAAA$ http://regexr.com/3cng8 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.230|162.158.214.230]] 14:42, 3 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The regex relies on several special cases (*surprise*).<br />
First: bash double-quote expansion (see [https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Double-Quotes.html#Double-Quotes]). Perhaps non-intuitively, \\\ followed by a character that \ doesn't escape is an escaped backslash followed by a literal backslash, effectively the same as \\\\ followed by that same non-escaped character. After bash double-quote expansion, this results in:<br />
<br />
\\[[(].*\\[\])][^)\]]*$<br />
<br />
<br />
grep interprets this as:<br />
<br />
# any leading non-\ characters<br />
# literal backslash<br />
# character class containing [ and (<br />
# zero or more *any* characters<br />
# another literal backslash<br />
# yet another literal backslash, via a character class containing only a backslash. Note this does not contain an escaped ], as it might appear at first glance. See [http://www.gnu.org/software/grep/manual/html_node/Character-Classes-and-Bracket-Expressions.html]<br />
# literal )<br />
# literal ]<br />
# character class of anything except ), \<br />
# zero or more ]<br />
# end of line<br />
<br />
Matching examples:<br />
*echo 'asdf\[asdfasdf\\)]a]]]]]]' | grep -o "\\\[[(].*\\\[\])][^)\]]*$"<br />
*echo '\(\\)]P' | grep -o "\\\[[(].*\\\[\])][^)\]]*$"<br />
<br />
<br />
----<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 16:14, 3 February 2016 (UTC)rb</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1500:_Upside-Down_Map&diff=86634
1500: Upside-Down Map
2015-03-19T02:17:14Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1500<br />
| date = March 18, 2015<br />
| title = Upside-Down Map<br />
| image = upside_down_map.png<br />
| titletext = Due to their proximity across the channel, there's long been tension between North Korea and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Southern Ireland.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
It has been said that maps with the {{w|South-up map orientation|south pole at the top}} will "change your perspective of the world". Such a map can easily be achieved by simply rotating a normal map 180 degrees, though the text labels would also be upside-down and perhaps harder to read. A [https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&q=upside-down%2Bmap%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bworld Google Images] search reveals many examples of upside-down maps with the text oriented correctly for reading.<br />
<br />
This map is a comedic play on that where instead of the whole map being upside-down, each land mass is in the same position it would be in a traditional north-top map but rotated 180 degrees (presumably around some central point of the landmass) to the orientation it would have in a south-top map. Note that individual islands are rotated about their own centers, not following the rotation of the neighboring continent; however, some are displaced as necessary to keep them from being overlapped by the rotated continents. For instance, {{w|Madagascar}} would be overlapped by the {{w|Sahara}} if it remained in position, but is instead displaced eastward to keep it in the Indian Ocean. On the other hand all the islands of the {{w|Mediterranean Sea}} have disappeared under {{w|Asia}}.<br />
<br />
Asia is so broad that almost the entire {{w|Indochinese Peninsula}} (with for instance {{w|Vietnam}} and {{w|Thailand}}) has been rotated out of the top of the map. Similarly, the map omits {{w|Antarctica}} in the south.<br />
<br />
To keep their familiar shapes on a rectangular map, the continents would also have to be heavily distorted compared to their actual shapes, becoming much narrower (along the lines of latitude) near the poles and wider towards the equator. See also [[977: Map Projections]].<br />
<br />
The basic climates for several areas would be distinctly different. For example, the formerly-Central America area would be in the arctic zone while Siberia would be subtropical.<br />
<br />
It is interesting that to some people {{w|Australia}}, {{w|Tasmania}} and {{w|New Zealand}} do not look very much different from their normal appearance. They have asked "why Australia was not rotated". But they have been rotated, just like all other separate landmasses on the map.<br />
<br />
This arrangement of the world's land masses would have great advantages for trade, because there are (presumably navigable) straits between the {{w|Americas}} and between Africa and Asia, removing the need for the {{w|Panama Canal}} and the {{w|Suez Canal}}.<br />
<br />
The title text references the fact that in this new map, the {{w|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}} (UK) is now next to Asia, specifically the {{w|Korean Peninsula}}. {{w|North Korea}}, is mentioned in the text, having a history of hostile relations with nearby countries. However, on this map North Korea would be the part of {{w|Korea}} we today know as {{w|South Korea}}, Further, {{w|Northern Ireland}} is now at the south of the {{w|island of Ireland}}, so the UK's full name would need to change to The United Kingdom of Great Britain and '''Southern''' Ireland. There have been several wars concerning the {{w|English Channel}}, mainly, but not only, between {{w|England}} and {{w|France}}. Since a similar channel now, on this world map, is between the UK and North Korea (our map's South Korea) there could obviously have been many wars for the dominance over said channel.<br />
<br />
Along the same line of thinking, interesting speculations could be made from the following "new" facts: <br />
*{{w|Cuba}} is now off the east coast (formerly west coast) of {{w|Canada}} (and {{w|USA}}).<br />
*{{w|Japan}} is next to the coast of {{w|Portugal}} and {{w|Spain}}. <br />
*Madagascar lies next to {{w|Morocco}} and {{w|Mauritania}} on the east coast (formerly west coast) of Sahara.<br />
*{{w|Taiwan}} is now next to France. It is though doubtful whether they get along any better with the French than with the mainland {{w|China|Chinese}}.<br />
*{{w|Greenland}} lies next to {{w|Mexico}}.<br />
*{{w|Sri Lanka}} is located next to the {{w|Yamalsky District}} of {{w|Russia}}.<br />
*The island {{w|Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego|Tierra del Fuego}}, an island just south of the southern tip of South America, which is divided between {{w|Argentina}} and {{w|Chile}} is now located in a similar manner next to {{w|Colombia}} and {{w|Venezuela}}. So it would probably have been divided between these two countries.<br />
*The {{w|Falkland Islands}} (not named in the map, they are probably represented by the single island above the T in Tierra) where Argentina and UK have an ongoing {{w|Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute|sovereignty dispute}} now could be claimed by {{w|Ecuador}} or {{w|Peru}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Map of the world with all the landmasses rotated upside-down.]<br />
:[Four oceans and all the visible continents have been named in large letters in a bold font. The Pacific has been named both to the left and right. Several islands (large and small) have been designated with name but in grey and in a much smaller normal font. For all continents the names are written on them. For the island the name is written in the ocean except for Greenland.]<br />
<br />
:[Below the names on the map are given in the order they appear reading from left to right, first for the northern and then the southern hemisphere:]<br />
<br />
:[Northern hemisphere:]<br />
:'''North America'''<br />
:Cuba<br />
:Greenland<br />
:'''Atlantic Ocean<br />
:Iceland<br />
:UK<br />
:'''Asia'''<br />
:Sri Lanka<br />
:'''Europe'''<br />
:'''Arctic Ocean'''<br />
:Taiwan<br />
:Japan<br />
:'''Pacific Ocean''' <br />
<br />
:[Southern hemisphere:]<br />
:'''Pacific Ocean''' <br />
:'''South America'''<br />
:Tierra del Fuego<br />
:'''Africa'''<br />
:'''Indian Ocean'''<br />
:Madagascar<br />
:Indonesia<br />
:'''Australia'''<br />
:New Zealand<br />
<br />
:[Below the main frame:]<br />
:'''This upside-down map will change your perspective on the world!'''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Geography]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1500:_Upside-Down_Map&diff=86633
1500: Upside-Down Map
2015-03-19T02:16:53Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1500<br />
| date = March 18, 2015<br />
| title = Upside-Down Map<br />
| image = upside_down_map.png<br />
| titletext = Due to their proximity across the channel, there's long been tension between North Korea and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Southern Ireland.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
It has been said that maps with the {{w|South-up map orientation|south pole at the top}} will "change your perspective of the world". Such a map can easily be achieved by simply rotating a normal map 180 degrees, though the text labels would also be upside-down and perhaps harder to read. A [https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&q=upside-down%2Bmap%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bworld Google Images] search reveals many examples of upside-down maps with the text oriented correctly for reading.<br />
<br />
This map is a comedic play on that where instead of the whole map being upside-down, each land mass is in the same position it would be in a traditional north-top map but rotated 180 degrees (presumably around some central point of the landmass) to the orientation it would have in a south-top map. Note that individual islands are rotated about their own centers, not following the rotation of the neighboring continent; however, some are displaced as necessary to keep them from being overlapped by the rotated continents. For instance, {{w|Madagascar}} would be overlapped by the {{w|Sahara}} if it remained in position, but is instead displaced eastward to keep it in the Indian Ocean. On the other hand all the islands of the {{w|Mediterranean Sea}} have disappeared under {{w|Asia}}.<br />
<br />
Asia is so broad that almost the entire {{w|Indochinese Peninsula}} (with for instance {{w|Vietnam}} and {{w|Thailand}}) has been rotated out of the top of the map. Similarly, the map omits {{w|Antarctica}} in the south.<br />
<br />
To keep their familiar shapes on a rectangular map, the continents would also have to be heavily distorted compared to their actual shapes, becoming much narrower (along the lines of latitude) near the poles and wider towards the equator. See also [[977: Map Projections]].<br />
<br />
The basic climates for several areas would be distinctly different. For example, the formerly-Central America area would be in the arctic zone while Siberia would be subtropical.<br />
<br />
It is interesting that to some people {{w|Australia}}, {{w|Tasmania}} and {{w|New Zealand}} do not look very much different from their normal appearance. They have asked "why Australia was not rotated". But they have been rotated, just like all other separate landmasses on the map.<br />
<br />
This arrangement of the world's land masses would have great advantages for trade, because there are (presumably navigable) straits between the {{w|Americas}} and between Africa and Asia, removing the need for the {{w|Panama Canal}} and the {{w|Suez Canal}}.<br />
<br />
The title text references the fact that in this new map, the {{w|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}} (UK) is now next to Asia, specifically the {{w|Korean Peninsula}}. {{w|North Korea}}, is mentioned in the text, having a history of hostile relations with nearby countries. However, on this map North Korea would be the part of {{w|Korea}} we today know as {{w|South Korea}}, Further, {{w|Northern Ireland}} is now at the south of the {{w|island of Ireland}}, so the UK's full name would need to change to The United Kingdom of Great Britain and '''Southern''' Ireland. There have been several wars concerning the {{w|English Channel}}, mainly, but not only, between {{w|England}} and {{w|France}}. Since a similar channel now, on this world map, is between the UK and North Korea (our map's South Korea) there could obviously have been many wars for the dominance over said channel.<br />
<br />
Along the same line of thinking, interesting speculations could be made from the following "new" facts: <br />
*{{w|Cuba}} is now off the east coast (formerly west coast) of {{w|Canada}} (and {{w|USA}}).<br />
*{{w|Japan}} is next to the coast of {{w|Portugal}} and {{w|Spain}}. <br />
*Madagascar lies next to {{w|Morocco}} and {{w|Mauritania}} on the east coast (formerly west coast) of Sahara.<br />
*{{w|Taiwan}} is now next to France. It is though doubtful whether they get along any better with the French than with the mainland {{w|China|Chinese}}.<br />
*{{w|Greenland}} lies next to {{w|Mexico}}.<br />
*{{w|Sri Lanka}} is located next to the {{w|Yamalsky District}} of {{w|Russia}}.<br />
*The island {{w|Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego|Tierra del Fuego}}, an island just south of the southern tip of South America, which is divided between {{w|Argentina}} and {{w|Chile}} is now located in a similar manner next to {{w|Colombia}} and {{w|Venezuela}}. So it would probably have been divided between these two countries.<br />
*The {{w|Falkland Islands}} (not named in the map, they are probably represented by the single island above the T in Tierra) where Argentina and UK have an ongoing {{w|Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute|sovereignty dispute}} now could be claimed by {{w|Ecuador}} or {{w|Peru}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Map of the world with all the landmasses rotated upside-down.]<br />
:[Four oceans and all the visible continents have been named in large letters in a bold font. The Pacific has been named both to the left and right. Several islands (large and small) have been designated with name but in grey and in a much smaller normal font. For all continents the names are written on them. For the island the name is written in the ocean except for Greenland.]<br />
<br />
:[Below the names on the map are given in the order they appear reading from left to right, first for the northern and then the southern hemisphere:]<br />
<br />
:[Northern hemisphere:]<br />
:'''North America'''<br />
:Cuba<br />
:Greenland<br />
:'''Atlantic Ocean<br />
:Iceland<br />
:UK<br />
:'''Asia'''<br />
:Sri Lanka<br />
:'''Europe'''<br />
:'''Arctic Ocean'''<br />
:Taiwan<br />
:Japan<br />
:'''Pacific Ocean''' <br />
<br />
:[Southern hemisphere:]<br />
:'''Pacific Ocean''' <br />
:'''South America'''<br />
:Tierra del Fuego<br />
:'''Africa'''<br />
:'''Indian Ocean'''<br />
:Madagascar<br />
:Indonesia<br />
:'''Australia'''<br />
:New Zealand<br />
<br />
:[Below the main frame:]<br />
:'''This upside-down map will change your perspective of the world!'''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Geography]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=403:_Convincing_Pickup_Line&diff=74624
403: Convincing Pickup Line
2014-09-01T02:46:17Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Explanation */ Add paragraph on the Collaboration Graph.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 403<br />
| date = March 31, 2008<br />
| title = Convincing Pickup Line<br />
| image = convincing pickup line.png<br />
| titletext = Check it out; I've had sex with someone who's had sex with someone who's written a paper with Paul Erdős!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
A {{w|graph (mathematics)|graph}} is a mathematical object consisting of '''nodes''' connected by lines called '''edges'''. The nodes could represent for example people, and the edges could represent a connection from having slept together. Now, Megan has such a graph. Arguably, a {{w|symmetric graph|graph that is symmetric}} is nicer than a regular one, which is why Megan suggests that they should sleep together.<br />
<br />
The title text is a small-world joke on the concept of {{w|Erdős number}}. {{w|Paul Erdős}} was a Hungarian mathematician renowned for his eccentricity and productivity. He holds the world record for the number of published math papers, as well as for the number of collaborative papers. A person's Erdős number is the "collaborative distance" between the person and Erdős. Paul Erdős's Erdős number is 0 by definition. All of his 511 collaborators have the Erdős number 1; anyone who has collaborated on a mathematical or scientific paper with any of those collaborators has an Erdős number of 2, and so on. Thus, if you have written a paper with someone who's written a paper with someone who's written a paper with Paul Erdős, your Erdős number is 3. If you know a mathematician or are a mathematician you can calculate his/her/your Erdős number [http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/collaborationDistance.html here].<br />
<br />
The Collaboration Graph is the graph where each edge represents two people collaborated on a mathematical paper together, and the people represented are those with an Erdős number. Some of Erdős's colleagues have published papers about the properties of the Collaboration Graph, treating it as if it were a real mathematical object. One of these papers made the observation that the graph would have a certain very interesting property if two particular points had an edge between them. To make the Collaboration Graph have that property, the two disconnected mathematicians immediately got together, proved something trivial, and wrote up a joint paper. Explained [http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/hoffman-man.html here].<br />
<br />
Comic [[599: Apocalypse]] also references Erdős numbers.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Megan sit at a small table in a cafe. Megan holds up a graph.]<br />
:Megan: We're a terrible match. But if we sleep together, it'll make the local hookup network a symmetric graph.<br />
:Cueball: I can't argue with that.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Romance]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=826:_Guest_Week:_Zach_Weiner_(SMBC)&diff=71680
826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)
2014-07-14T18:44:53Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 826<br />
| date = November 26, 2010<br />
| title = Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)<br />
| before = ''Explainxkcd note: Don't try and click on this image to see the exhibits. Visit [http://www.xkcd.com/826/ the actual comic] instead''<br />
| image = guest week zach weiner smbc.png<br />
| titletext = Guest comic by Zach Weiner of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. When I was stressed out, Zach gave me a talk that was really encouraging and somehow involved nanobots.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<br />
==List of task to make complete==<br />
<br />
{{incomplete|Not all sections are explained}}<br />
{{incomplete|The explanations of some sections are incomplete, not explaining the punchline, or inconsistent in style of explanation}}<br />
{{incomplete|Not all popups are explained}}<br />
{{incomplete|The explanations of some popups are incomplete, not explaining the punchline, or inconsistent in style of explanation}}<br />
{{incomplete|Cross reference explanations to wikipedia where possible}}<br />
{{incomplete|Locations of hot-spots are missing}}<br />
{{incomplete|Review for grammar}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is guest drawn by Zach Weiner, author of the webcomic [http://www.smbc-comics.com/ Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]. It's interactive, so you'll have to see the [http://www.xkcd.com/826/ original comic].<br />
<br />
The entire comic is a hypothetical "{{w|Smithsonian Museum}} of Dad-Trolling, an entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement." That explains it pretty well.<br />
<br />
===Hall Of Misunderstood Science===<br />
Each exhibit is a display set up to reinforce the false answers to typical questions that children may ask their fathers about scientific topics. The answers given involve just enough information that the child may be satisfied with the answer and repeat it to others while maintaining the irony for adults that the answers are obviously misleading or false.<br />
<br />
<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_27.png|The basilisk is a mythological reptilian monster that was described with the ability to turn other living things to stone with its gaze.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_26.png|The figure speaking about molecule display is displaying a common trope attributed to elderly men in that they complain about developments that change the way the view or interact with the world. Historically, though it was understood that matter was made up of small particles it was a common misnomer to refer to these particle as atoms.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_25.png|The magnet exhibit alludes to a loss of sexual desire in adults that while perceived may not be true.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_24.png|Jesus' dandruff as snow refers to a common idiom in English that rain is "god's tears" and proposes a humorous and irreverent extension of the saying.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_20.png|The letters associated with DNA are related to the nucleotides which make up the chains, they are guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine. The commonality of the abbreviation disguises the link to the names of the nucleotides and gives rise questions regarding the letter choices.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_23.png|The sleep exhibit reinforces common fears by accentuating the aspect of vulnerability associated with sleep. "The Boogieman" is a common and generic ghost/monster name used by people telling ghost stories to young kids; he typically hides in closets and underneath beds, and attacks sleeping children.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_22.png|Water is less dense as a solid than it is when in liquid state. This is an unusual property as most materials are more dense in solid form. The exhibit falsely explains the phenomenon by linking it to a defense mechanism employed by prey species to deter predators. A rhinoceros, though fierce and territorial, is not a predator.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_21.png|The anti- in anti matter is a prefix in English which means "the opposite of" referring to the fact that antimatter is made up of oppositely charged particles from regular matter. This is a partial homonym to species of insects commonly called ants.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience===<br />
This section holds falsehoods that a dad might use to frighten his children. It is an interactive experience, so visitors can try something for themselves, then learn the frightening fact it indicates.<br />
<br />
<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_19.png|Helium makes your voice high-pitched, which visitors are told is a sign they are about to explode.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_18.png|Your middle finger is always longer than the others, so this test will always tell visitors they are an alien half-breed.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_16.png|Cherries are a common ingredient in Jello cups, but the exhibit implies that the cherry is actually a rabbit brain.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_17.png|<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Concessions===<br />
This area holds concession stands, which sell food. There are misleading names on each stand.<br />
<br />
<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_15.png|KFP - a parody of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), a popular fast food chain which specializes in fried chicken.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_14.png|Ground beef - a pun on the name. Ground refers to both the floor and the past tense of grind.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_13.png|Eyes cream - wordplay once more. Ice cream sounds exactly like eyes cream when spoken, hence the 'how did you think it was spelled?'<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History===<br />
This section perhaps refers to how poorly understood world history is in America. It is interesting to note that African and Australian history is completely omitted, while European and Asian history are at least referenced to.<br />
<br />
<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_11.png|{{w|Genghis Khan|Genghis Khan}} - a Mongolian conqueror.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_12.png|{{w|Crimean War|Crimean War}} - an European Conflict.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_10.png|{{w|The Renaissance|The Renaissance}} - a cultural movement in Europe.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_3.png|Star Wars - fiction is often treated as fact by children, or referred to as such by adults to children, either accidentally or purposefully.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_9.png|France - this further parodies the ignorance of countries outside of America, since most people know that France exists.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics===<br />
<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_8.png|"Naked wrestling" is a common euphemism for sex if your children happen to walk in on your coitus and you don't want to ruin their innocence.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_7.png|"Alcohol is poison" - an excuse to explain away why fathers may drink unhealthily, or are addicts.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_5.png|The "big tummies before babies come" obviously refers to pregnancy.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_6.png|Sidestepping around the death of a loved one is common with young children to spare them the sorrow of death; this takes it a step further by saying that the child's grandmother went to Saturn.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Miscellaneous===<br />
<gallery class=center widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_4.png|The dinosaur skeleton presumably refers to how humans have never actually seen a real dinosaur and have always only seen the bones.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_2.png|The Bathrooms have 3 doors. Clicking reveals that there is one for each gender of humans, and one for "Korgmen & Spangs". This may be a reference to the Marvel alien species {{w|Korg_(comics)|the Korg}}.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_1.png|The uncategorized dark green exhibit to the right is labeled "Magic eye trick that doesn't actually work". The exhibit resembles an {{w|autostereogram}}, a picture that has a hidden 3D image, but has to be looked at by forcing your eyes to focus either beyond ("wall-eyed") or in front of ("cross-eyed") the image, which many people find difficult or impossible to do. Autostereograms are commonly sold in books under the trademark "Magic Eye". Presumably the exhibit only pretends to be an autostereogram without actually being one.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:In the spirit of xkcd I present a proposal for a new Smithsonian museum:<br />
:The Smithsonian Museum Of Dad-Trolling<br />
:An entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement<br />
<br />
:(Click to view exhibits!)<br />
<br />
:The top left room is 'The Hall of Misunderstood Science'. It contains six exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A giant basilisk looms over children.<br />
:Exhibit label: BASILISKS: Real, deadly, under your bed.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: Four magnets hang from a square arch. A child is touching two of them together.<br />
:Text on the arch: Magnets only leap at each other when they're teenagers. Later, they lose interest.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A child on his dad's shoulders looks up at a looming statue of Jesus behind a lectern. There are flakes falling from Jesus onto them both.<br />
:Exhibit label: Snow is Jesus' dandruff. His scalp gets dry when it's cold.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A child lies asleep, while hands and a scary face reach up around the bed toward him.<br />
:Exhibit label: Sleep: Now you're vulnerable to the boogie man!<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: An ice block sits on a stand in front of pictures of a wolf and rhinoceros looking frightened.<br />
:Exhibit label: Freezing water: Expands to frighten predators.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: An insect on a stick is orbited by a small sphere.<br />
:Exhibit label: Anti-matter: Matter that is more than 50% ants.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A DNA strand with the letters T, A, C, and G hanging around it.<br />
:Exhibit label: DNA only has four letters because the alphabet was smaller back then.<br />
:Dad, to child: Told you so.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A bunch of molecules hang from the ceiling.<br />
:Exhibit label: Molecules? In my day, we only had atoms!<br />
<br />
:The top right room is 'Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience'. There are four exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: Five balloons float tethered to a table. A child is holding a sixth balloon. The Dad looks alarmed.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: If this helium makes your voice go higher, it's because you're ten seconds from exploding.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: An alien face is shown above an outline of several hands next to a ruler. A child holds his hand up to it.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Measure your middle finger. If it's longer than the others, you're an alien halfbreed.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: Three cups are on a table. A child is walking away with a fourth cup, the dad's arm around the child's shoulder.<br />
:Exhibit label: Has anyone seen my rabbit brain? It looks like a cherry, and I dropped it in a Jello cup.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A monstrous set of jaws open upward around a bed.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Make your bed or monsters will know a kid lives there.<br />
<br />
:The center right room is 'Concessions'. There are three booths.<br />
<br />
:Booth: A concession stand is labeled 'KFP', and displays a KFC-style bucket. A dad and child are eating.<br />
:Dad: The "P" is for "phoenix".<br />
<br />
:Booth: A concession stand.<br />
:Sign on stand: Ground beef: Beef we found on the ground.<br />
:Dad, to child: Told you.<br />
<br />
:Booth: A stand shaped like a giant eye.<br />
:Booth label: EYES CREAM<br />
:Subtitle: How did you think it was spelled?<br />
:Sign on booth: Now with more of the goo in your eyes. Same as every other creamery.<br />
<br />
:The lower left room is 'Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History'. There are five exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A man is riding a dragon.<br />
:Exhibit label: Genghis Khan: victory through dragons.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A criminal in front of some windows.<br />
:Exhibit label: The Crimean War: The first war against crime.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A castle with flags hanging on it.<br />
:Exhibit label: The Renaissance<br />
:Subtitle: Long story short, the wizards were in control.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit:A man in Jedi-style robes with a fake beard.<br />
:Exhibit label: Star Wars is a documentary. No, seriously.<br />
:Dad, to children: Kids, this man is a veteran.<br />
<br />
:The lower right room is 'Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics'. There are five exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A wrestling ring, with a man and woman mostly obscured by the exhibit label.<br />
:Exhibit label: Naked wrestling: perfectly normal. NEVER DO IT.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: a figure sits at a booth in front of a bowl of food. The dad is holding a bottle.<br />
:Exhibit label: Alcohol is poison. I drink to save you from it.<br />
:Dad: You're welcome.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A large bird.<br />
:Exhibit label: Mommies get big tummies before babies come because the stork likes chubby girls.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A rocket ship.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Grandma's not dead. She just returned to Saturn. For REVENGE.<br />
<br />
:In the areas outside the rooms, there are two more exhibits and restrooms, all clickable.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A dinosaur skeleton.<br />
:Exhibit label: That's right. Dinosaurs were made entirely of BONES.<br />
:Dad, to kid: If you think about it, it makes sense.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A large image hangs on the wall. It is a dense squiggly jumble of lines.<br />
:Dad, to kids: You gotta squint juuust right.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Magic eye trick that doesn't actually work.<br />
<br />
:Restrooms: There are three doors, each with a sign.<br />
:First door (male logo): Men & Boys<br />
:Second door (female logo): Women & Girls<br />
:Third door (unrecognizable logo): Korgmen & Spangs<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Ferret]]<br />
[[Category:Guest Week]]<br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]<br />
[[Category:LOTR]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Star Wars]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=826:_Guest_Week:_Zach_Weiner_(SMBC)&diff=71672
826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)
2014-07-14T17:23:09Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* List of task to make complete */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 826<br />
| date = November 26, 2010<br />
| title = Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)<br />
| before = ''Explainxkcd note: Don't try and click on this image to see the exhibits. Visit [http://www.xkcd.com/826/ the actual comic] instead''<br />
| image = guest week zach weiner smbc.png<br />
| titletext = Guest comic by Zach Weiner of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. When I was stressed out, Zach gave me a talk that was really encouraging and somehow involved nanobots.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<br />
==List of task to make complete==<br />
<br />
{{incomplete|Not all sections are explained}}<br />
{{incomplete|The explanations of some sections are incomplete, not explaining the punchline, or inconsistent in style of explanation}}<br />
{{incomplete|Not all popups are explained}}<br />
{{incomplete|The explanations of some popups are incomplete, not explaining the punchline, or inconsistent in style of explanation}}<br />
{{incomplete|Cross reference explanations to wikipedia where possible}}<br />
{{incomplete|Locations of hot-spots are missing}}<br />
{{incomplete|Review for grammar}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is guest drawn by Zach Weiner, author of the webcomic [http://www.smbc-comics.com/ Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]. It's interactive, so you'll have to see the [http://www.xkcd.com/826/ original comic].<br />
<br />
The entire comic is a hypothetical "{{w|Smithsonian Museum}} of Dad-Trolling, an entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement." That explains it pretty well.<br />
<br />
===Hall Of Misunderstood Science===<br />
Each exhibit is a display set up to reinforce the false answers to typical questions that children may ask their fathers about scientific topics. The answers given involve just enough information that the child may be satisfied with the answer and repeat it to others while maintaining the irony for adults that the answers are obviously misleading or false.<br />
<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_27.png|The basilisk is a mythological reptilian monster that was described with the ability to turn other living things to stone with its gaze.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_26.png|The figure speaking about molecule display is displaying a common trope attributed to elderly men in that they complain about developments that change the way the view or interact with the world. Historically, though it was understood that matter was made up of small particles it was a common misnomer to refer to these particle as atoms.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_25.png|The magnet exhibit alludes to a loss of sexual desire in adults that while perceived may not be true.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_24.png|Jesus' dandruff as snow refers to a common idiom in English that rain is "god's tears" and proposes a humorous and irreverent extension of the saying.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_20.png|The letters associated with DNA are related to the nucleotides which make up the chains, they are guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine. The commonality of the abbreviation disguises the link to the names of the nucleotides and gives rise questions regarding the letter choices.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_23.png|The sleep exhibit reinforces common fears by accentuating the aspect of vulnerability associated with sleep. "The Boogieman" is a common and generic ghost/monster name used by people telling ghost stories to young kids; he typically hides in closets and underneath beds, and attacks sleeping children.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_22.png|Water is less dense as a solid than it is when in liquid state. This is an unusual property as most materials are more dense in solid form. The exhibit falsely explains the phenomenon by linking it to a defense mechanism employed by prey species to deter predators. A rhinoceros, though fierce and territorial, is not a predator.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_21.png|The anti- in anti matter is a prefix in English which means "the opposite of" referring to the fact that antimatter is made up of oppositely charged particles from regular matter. This is a partial homonym to species of insects commonly called ants.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience===<br />
This section holds falsehoods that a dad might use to frighten his children. It is an interactive experience, so visitors can try something for themselves, then learn the frightening fact it indicates.<br />
<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_19.png|Helium makes your voice high-pitched, which visitors are told is a sign they are about to explode.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_18.png|Your middle finger is always longer than the others, so this test will always tell visitors they are an alien half-breed.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_16.png|Cherries are a common ingredient in Jello cups, but the exhibit implies that the cherry is actually a rabbit brain.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_17.png|<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Concessions===<br />
This area holds concession stands, which sell food. There are misleading names on each stand.<br />
<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_15.png|KFP - a parody of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), a popular fast food chain which specializes in fried chicken.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_14.png|Ground beef - a pun on the name. Ground refers to both the floor and the past tense of grind.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_13.png|Eyes cream - wordplay once more. Ice cream sounds exactly like eyes cream when spoken, hence the 'how did you think it was spelled?'<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History===<br />
This section perhaps refers to how poorly understood world history is in America. It is interesting to note that African and Australian history is completely omitted, while European and Asian history are at least referenced to.<br />
<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_11.png|{{w|Genghis Khan|Genghis Khan}} - a Mongolian conqueror.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_12.png|{{w|Crimean War|Crimean War}} - an European Conflict.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_10.png|{{w|The Renaissance|The Renaissance}} - a cultural movement in Europe.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_3.png|Star Wars - fiction is often treated as fact by children, or referred to as such by adults to children, either accidentally or purposefully.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_9.png|France - this further parodies the ignorance of countries outside of America, since most people know that France exists.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics===<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_8.png|"Naked wrestling" is a common euphemism for sex if your children happen to walk in on your coitus and you don't want to ruin their innocence.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_7.png|"Alcohol is poison" - an excuse to explain away why fathers may drink unhealthily, or are addicts.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_5.png|The "big tummies before babies come" obviously refers to pregnancy.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_6.png|Sidestepping around the death of a loved one is common with young children to spare them the sorrow of death; this takes it a step further by saying that the child's grandmother went to Saturn.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Miscellaneous===<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_4.png|The dinosaur skeleton presumably refers to how humans have never actually seen a real dinosaur and have always only seen the bones.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_2.png|The Bathrooms have 3 doors. Clicking reveals that there is one for each gender of humans, and one for "Korgmen & Spangs". This may be a reference the Marvel alian spcicies {{w|Korg_(comics)|the Korg}}.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_1.png|The uncategorized dark green exhibit to the right is labeled "Magic eye trick that doesn't actually work". The exhibit resembles an {{w|autostereogram}}, a picture that has a hidden 3D image, but has to be looked at by forcing your eyes to focus either beyond ("wall-eyed") or in front of ("cross-eyed") the image, which many people find difficult or impossible to do. Autostereograms are commonly sold in books under the trademark "Magic Eye". Presumably the exhibit only pretends to be an autostereogram without actually being one.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:In the spirit of xkcd I present a proposal for a new Smithsonian museum:<br />
:The Smithsonian Museum Of Dad-Trolling<br />
:An entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement<br />
<br />
:(Click to view exhibits!)<br />
<br />
:The top left room is 'The Hall of Misunderstood Science'. It contains six exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A giant basilisk looms over children.<br />
:Exhibit label: BASILISKS: Real, deadly, under your bed.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: Four magnets hang from a square arch. A child is touching two of them together.<br />
:Text on the arch: Magnets only leap at each other when they're teenagers. Later, they lose interest.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A child on his dad's shoulders looks up at a looming statue of Jesus behind a lectern. There are flakes falling from Jesus onto them both.<br />
:Exhibit label: Snow is Jesus' dandruff. His scalp gets dry when it's cold.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A child lies asleep, while hands and a scary face reach up around the bed toward him.<br />
:Exhibit label: Sleep: Now you're vulnerable to the boogie man!<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: An ice block sits on a stand in front of pictures of a wolf and rhinoceros looking frightened.<br />
:Exhibit label: Freezing water: Expands to frighten predators.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: An insect on a stick is orbited by a small sphere.<br />
:Exhibit label: Anti-matter: Matter that is more than 50% ants.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A DNA strand with the letters T, A, C, and G hanging around it.<br />
:Exhibit label: DNA only has four letters because the alphabet was smaller back then.<br />
:Dad, to child: Told you so.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A bunch of molecules hang from the ceiling.<br />
:Exhibit label: Molecules? In my day, we only had atoms!<br />
<br />
:The top right room is 'Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience'. There are four exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: Five balloons float tethered to a table. A child is holding a sixth balloon. The Dad looks alarmed.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: If this helium makes your voice go higher, it's because you're ten seconds from exploding.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: An alien face is shown above an outline of several hands next to a ruler. A child holds his hand up to it.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Measure your middle finger. If it's longer than the others, you're an alien halfbreed.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: Three cups are on a table. A child is walking away with a fourth cup, the dad's arm around the child's shoulder.<br />
:Exhibit label: Has anyone seen my rabbit brain? It looks like a cherry, and I dropped it in a Jello cup.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A monstrous set of jaws open upward around a bed.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Make your bed or monsters will know a kid lives there.<br />
<br />
:The center right room is 'Concessions'. There are three booths.<br />
<br />
:Booth: A concession stand is labeled 'KFP', and displays a KFC-style bucket. A dad and child are eating.<br />
:Dad: The "P" is for "phoenix".<br />
<br />
:Booth: A concession stand.<br />
:Sign on stand: Ground beef: Beef we found on the ground.<br />
:Dad, to child: Told you.<br />
<br />
:Booth: A stand shaped like a giant eye.<br />
:Booth label: EYES CREAM<br />
:Subtitle: How did you think it was spelled?<br />
:Sign on booth: Now with more of the goo in your eyes. Same as every other creamery.<br />
<br />
:The lower left room is 'Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History'. There are five exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A man is riding a dragon.<br />
:Exhibit label: Genghis Khan: victory through dragons.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A criminal in front of some windows.<br />
:Exhibit label: The Crimean War: The first war against crime.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A castle with flags hanging on it.<br />
:Exhibit label: The Renaissance<br />
:Subtitle: Long story short, the wizards were in control.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit:A man in Jedi-style robes with a fake beard.<br />
:Exhibit label: Star Wars is a documentary. No, seriously.<br />
:Dad, to children: Kids, this man is a veteran.<br />
<br />
:The lower right room is 'Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics'. There are five exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A wrestling ring, with a man and woman mostly obscured by the exhibit label.<br />
:Exhibit label: Naked wrestling: perfectly normal. NEVER DO IT.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: a figure sits at a booth in front of a bowl of food. The dad is holding a bottle.<br />
:Exhibit label: Alcohol is poison. I drink to save you from it.<br />
:Dad: You're welcome.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A large bird.<br />
:Exhibit label: Mommies get big tummies before babies come because the stork likes chubby girls.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A rocket ship.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Grandma's not dead. She just returned to Saturn. For REVENGE.<br />
<br />
:In the areas outside the rooms, there are two more exhibits and restrooms, all clickable.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A dinosaur skeleton.<br />
:Exhibit label: That's right. Dinosaurs were made entirely of BONES.<br />
:Dad, to kid: If you think about it, it makes sense.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A large image hangs on the wall. It is a dense squiggly jumble of lines.<br />
:Dad, to kids: You gotta squint juuust right.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Magic eye trick that doesn't actually work.<br />
<br />
:Restrooms: There are three doors, each with a sign.<br />
:First door (male logo): Men & Boys<br />
:Second door (female logo): Women & Girls<br />
:Third door (unrecognizable logo): Korgmen & Spangs<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Ferret]]<br />
[[Category:Guest Week]]<br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]<br />
[[Category:LOTR]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Star Wars]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=826:_Guest_Week:_Zach_Weiner_(SMBC)&diff=71671
826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)
2014-07-14T17:17:29Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Explanation */ improve readability</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 826<br />
| date = November 26, 2010<br />
| title = Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)<br />
| before = ''Explainxkcd note: Don't try and click on this image to see the exhibits. Visit [http://www.xkcd.com/826/ the actual comic] instead''<br />
| image = guest week zach weiner smbc.png<br />
| titletext = Guest comic by Zach Weiner of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. When I was stressed out, Zach gave me a talk that was really encouraging and somehow involved nanobots.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<br />
==List of task to make complete==<br />
<br />
{{incomplete|Not all sections are explained}}<br />
{{incomplete|Some explanations are incomplete, or not explaining the punchline, or inconsistent in style of explanation}}<br />
{{incomplete|Cross reference explanations to wikipedia where possible}}<br />
{{incomplete|Formatting and layout needs improvements}}<br />
{{incomplete|Review for grammar}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is guest drawn by Zach Weiner, author of the webcomic [http://www.smbc-comics.com/ Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]. It's interactive, so you'll have to see the [http://www.xkcd.com/826/ original comic].<br />
<br />
The entire comic is a hypothetical "{{w|Smithsonian Museum}} of Dad-Trolling, an entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement." That explains it pretty well.<br />
<br />
===Hall Of Misunderstood Science===<br />
Each exhibit is a display set up to reinforce the false answers to typical questions that children may ask their fathers about scientific topics. The answers given involve just enough information that the child may be satisfied with the answer and repeat it to others while maintaining the irony for adults that the answers are obviously misleading or false.<br />
<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_27.png|The basilisk is a mythological reptilian monster that was described with the ability to turn other living things to stone with its gaze.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_26.png|The figure speaking about molecule display is displaying a common trope attributed to elderly men in that they complain about developments that change the way the view or interact with the world. Historically, though it was understood that matter was made up of small particles it was a common misnomer to refer to these particle as atoms.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_25.png|The magnet exhibit alludes to a loss of sexual desire in adults that while perceived may not be true.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_24.png|Jesus' dandruff as snow refers to a common idiom in English that rain is "god's tears" and proposes a humorous and irreverent extension of the saying.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_20.png|The letters associated with DNA are related to the nucleotides which make up the chains, they are guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine. The commonality of the abbreviation disguises the link to the names of the nucleotides and gives rise questions regarding the letter choices.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_23.png|The sleep exhibit reinforces common fears by accentuating the aspect of vulnerability associated with sleep. "The Boogieman" is a common and generic ghost/monster name used by people telling ghost stories to young kids; he typically hides in closets and underneath beds, and attacks sleeping children.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_22.png|Water is less dense as a solid than it is when in liquid state. This is an unusual property as most materials are more dense in solid form. The exhibit falsely explains the phenomenon by linking it to a defense mechanism employed by prey species to deter predators. A rhinoceros, though fierce and territorial, is not a predator.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_21.png|The anti- in anti matter is a prefix in English which means "the opposite of" referring to the fact that antimatter is made up of oppositely charged particles from regular matter. This is a partial homonym to species of insects commonly called ants.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience===<br />
This section holds falsehoods that a dad might use to frighten his children. It is an interactive experience, so visitors can try something for themselves, then learn the frightening fact it indicates.<br />
<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_19.png|Helium makes your voice high-pitched, which visitors are told is a sign they are about to explode.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_18.png|Your middle finger is always longer than the others, so this test will always tell visitors they are an alien half-breed.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_16.png|Cherries are a common ingredient in Jello cups, but the exhibit implies that the cherry is actually a rabbit brain.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_17.png|<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Concessions===<br />
This area holds concession stands, which sell food. There are misleading names on each stand.<br />
<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_15.png|KFP - a parody of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), a popular fast food chain which specializes in fried chicken.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_14.png|Ground beef - a pun on the name. Ground refers to both the floor and the past tense of grind.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_13.png|Eyes cream - wordplay once more. Ice cream sounds exactly like eyes cream when spoken, hence the 'how did you think it was spelled?'<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History===<br />
This section perhaps refers to how poorly understood world history is in America. It is interesting to note that African and Australian history is completely omitted, while European and Asian history are at least referenced to.<br />
<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_11.png|{{w|Genghis Khan|Genghis Khan}} - a Mongolian conqueror.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_12.png|{{w|Crimean War|Crimean War}} - an European Conflict.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_10.png|{{w|The Renaissance|The Renaissance}} - a cultural movement in Europe.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_3.png|Star Wars - fiction is often treated as fact by children, or referred to as such by adults to children, either accidentally or purposefully.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_9.png|France - this further parodies the ignorance of countries outside of America, since most people know that France exists.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics===<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_8.png|"Naked wrestling" is a common euphemism for sex if your children happen to walk in on your coitus and you don't want to ruin their innocence.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_7.png|"Alcohol is poison" - an excuse to explain away why fathers may drink unhealthily, or are addicts.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_5.png|The "big tummies before babies come" obviously refers to pregnancy.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_6.png|Sidestepping around the death of a loved one is common with young children to spare them the sorrow of death; this takes it a step further by saying that the child's grandmother went to Saturn.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
===Miscellaneous===<br />
<gallery mode="packed-hover" widths=432px heights=285px><br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_4.png|The dinosaur skeleton presumably refers to how humans have never actually seen a real dinosaur and have always only seen the bones.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_2.png|The Bathrooms have 3 doors. Clicking reveals that there is one for each gender of humans, and one for "Korgmen & Spangs". This may be a reference the Marvel alian spcicies {{w|Korg_(comics)|the Korg}}.<br />
File:guest_comic_week_zach_weiner_smbc_1.png|The uncategorized dark green exhibit to the right is labeled "Magic eye trick that doesn't actually work". The exhibit resembles an {{w|autostereogram}}, a picture that has a hidden 3D image, but has to be looked at by forcing your eyes to focus either beyond ("wall-eyed") or in front of ("cross-eyed") the image, which many people find difficult or impossible to do. Autostereograms are commonly sold in books under the trademark "Magic Eye". Presumably the exhibit only pretends to be an autostereogram without actually being one.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:In the spirit of xkcd I present a proposal for a new Smithsonian museum:<br />
:The Smithsonian Museum Of Dad-Trolling<br />
:An entire building dedicated to deceiving children for amusement<br />
<br />
:(Click to view exhibits!)<br />
<br />
:The top left room is 'The Hall of Misunderstood Science'. It contains six exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A giant basilisk looms over children.<br />
:Exhibit label: BASILISKS: Real, deadly, under your bed.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: Four magnets hang from a square arch. A child is touching two of them together.<br />
:Text on the arch: Magnets only leap at each other when they're teenagers. Later, they lose interest.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A child on his dad's shoulders looks up at a looming statue of Jesus behind a lectern. There are flakes falling from Jesus onto them both.<br />
:Exhibit label: Snow is Jesus' dandruff. His scalp gets dry when it's cold.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A child lies asleep, while hands and a scary face reach up around the bed toward him.<br />
:Exhibit label: Sleep: Now you're vulnerable to the boogie man!<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: An ice block sits on a stand in front of pictures of a wolf and rhinoceros looking frightened.<br />
:Exhibit label: Freezing water: Expands to frighten predators.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: An insect on a stick is orbited by a small sphere.<br />
:Exhibit label: Anti-matter: Matter that is more than 50% ants.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A DNA strand with the letters T, A, C, and G hanging around it.<br />
:Exhibit label: DNA only has four letters because the alphabet was smaller back then.<br />
:Dad, to child: Told you so.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A bunch of molecules hang from the ceiling.<br />
:Exhibit label: Molecules? In my day, we only had atoms!<br />
<br />
:The top right room is 'Regrettable Pranks: An Interactive Experience'. There are four exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: Five balloons float tethered to a table. A child is holding a sixth balloon. The Dad looks alarmed.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: If this helium makes your voice go higher, it's because you're ten seconds from exploding.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: An alien face is shown above an outline of several hands next to a ruler. A child holds his hand up to it.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Measure your middle finger. If it's longer than the others, you're an alien halfbreed.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: Three cups are on a table. A child is walking away with a fourth cup, the dad's arm around the child's shoulder.<br />
:Exhibit label: Has anyone seen my rabbit brain? It looks like a cherry, and I dropped it in a Jello cup.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A monstrous set of jaws open upward around a bed.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Make your bed or monsters will know a kid lives there.<br />
<br />
:The center right room is 'Concessions'. There are three booths.<br />
<br />
:Booth: A concession stand is labeled 'KFP', and displays a KFC-style bucket. A dad and child are eating.<br />
:Dad: The "P" is for "phoenix".<br />
<br />
:Booth: A concession stand.<br />
:Sign on stand: Ground beef: Beef we found on the ground.<br />
:Dad, to child: Told you.<br />
<br />
:Booth: A stand shaped like a giant eye.<br />
:Booth label: EYES CREAM<br />
:Subtitle: How did you think it was spelled?<br />
:Sign on booth: Now with more of the goo in your eyes. Same as every other creamery.<br />
<br />
:The lower left room is 'Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History'. There are five exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A man is riding a dragon.<br />
:Exhibit label: Genghis Khan: victory through dragons.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A criminal in front of some windows.<br />
:Exhibit label: The Crimean War: The first war against crime.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A castle with flags hanging on it.<br />
:Exhibit label: The Renaissance<br />
:Subtitle: Long story short, the wizards were in control.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit:A man in Jedi-style robes with a fake beard.<br />
:Exhibit label: Star Wars is a documentary. No, seriously.<br />
:Dad, to children: Kids, this man is a veteran.<br />
<br />
:The lower right room is 'Rotunda of Uncomfortable Topics'. There are five exhibits.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A wrestling ring, with a man and woman mostly obscured by the exhibit label.<br />
:Exhibit label: Naked wrestling: perfectly normal. NEVER DO IT.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: a figure sits at a booth in front of a bowl of food. The dad is holding a bottle.<br />
:Exhibit label: Alcohol is poison. I drink to save you from it.<br />
:Dad: You're welcome.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A large bird.<br />
:Exhibit label: Mommies get big tummies before babies come because the stork likes chubby girls.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A rocket ship.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Grandma's not dead. She just returned to Saturn. For REVENGE.<br />
<br />
:In the areas outside the rooms, there are two more exhibits and restrooms, all clickable.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A dinosaur skeleton.<br />
:Exhibit label: That's right. Dinosaurs were made entirely of BONES.<br />
:Dad, to kid: If you think about it, it makes sense.<br />
<br />
:Exhibit: A large image hangs on the wall. It is a dense squiggly jumble of lines.<br />
:Dad, to kids: You gotta squint juuust right.<br />
:Sign on exhibit: Magic eye trick that doesn't actually work.<br />
<br />
:Restrooms: There are three doors, each with a sign.<br />
:First door (male logo): Men & Boys<br />
:Second door (female logo): Women & Girls<br />
:Third door (unrecognizable logo): Korgmen & Spangs<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Ferret]]<br />
[[Category:Guest Week]]<br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]<br />
[[Category:LOTR]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Star Wars]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1383:_Magic_Words&diff=69937
Talk:1383: Magic Words
2014-06-19T13:53:10Z
<p>108.162.216.34: </p>
<hr />
<div>In this comic, Mr. Munroe makes a joke. As of yet, it is unclear what this joke IS, specifically, but it can be assumed that it's a funny one. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.120}}<br />
<br />
the clue was in "anapest"... for those more ambitious to explain and understand [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_%28prosody%29] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.83|108.162.221.83]] 04:13, 18 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Each sequence has four words with the same stress pattern, which makes them the same type of poetic foot (the first group is all iambs, the second is all trochees, the third is bacchius). Basically it's a pun. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.185|173.245.54.185]] 04:25, 18 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is Cueball really as much of a ''cunning linguist'' as Megan makes him out to be? If not, she is going to be extremely unsatisfied in bed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.25|108.162.208.25]] 08:36, 18 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ha! Cunning linguist! *snicker* [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.157|108.162.254.157]] 08:42, 18 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Before the explanation, I was wondering where "correct horse battery staple" was... {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.219}}<br />
<br />
Hmmm - surely there is some role the choice of words plays in this, beyond having a particular meter. Any ideas? [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 12:19, 18 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What about Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? =8o) [[User:Jarod997|Jarod997]] ([[User talk:Jarod997|talk]]) 12:44, 18 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I did not initially state that "a-na-'''pest''' is an anapest. But now I have tripple checked amongst other with a school teacher and the dictionary that I link to in the link. I have thus correct this back again. Please do not change it back! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:01, 18 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
:There seem to be some '''disagreement''' about the '''pronunciation''' of the word '''anapest''' - or at least what it means to stress a syllable. I'm no expert, but had two other hear the word from the link to the pronunciation given in the explain. There is now two different people who have written that anapest is an anapest (I'm one of them) and two others who have changed it back to being a dactyl, without commenting down here... The last who did it wrote that I had misread how the stress was in the dictionary. But I cannot see where this is defined? I just listened to the word. If someone can post a link to how the word is pronounced, and can explain to me how to read it, (so it can be made clear what is correct instead of starting an editing war...) that would be great. In case it is the first syllable that is stressed then the two definitions on Wikipedia for what an anapest is will give two different conclusions for the word. This I have now included in the anapest explanation. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:18, 19 June 2014 (UTC) <br />
<br />
Also, note that all these phrases are grammatically correct, but semantically nonsensical, Chomsky-style: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorless_green_ideas_sleep_furiously {{unsigned ip|141.101.104.41}}<br />
<br />
Does anyone else think these words were chosen because they have whispering qualities would produce an 'autonomous sensory meridian response'? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.207}}<br />
<br />
This is certainly contro-verse-ial. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.6}}<br />
<br />
As a linguist who dreams word-play, this comic is fantastic on so many levels. Thanks, Randall! [[User:Clumsy|Clumsy]] ([[User talk:Clumsy|talk]]) 21:34, 18 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Holy crap, I had no freaking idea what was going on in this one. The cool thing is it's funny enough to still give me a chuckle after reading the explanation. Most jokes die a painful death if they have to be explained. Also, I have no idea how to properly sign my posts so I'm ignorantly copying others, likely incorrectly. [[User:jakeepooh|jakeepooh]]<br />
<br />
I read the comic and the explanation, and I still have no clue. Guess no poetic foot fetish action for me.</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1345:_Answers&diff=63149
1345: Answers
2014-03-21T17:50:59Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Explanation */ Incorrect colon use.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1345<br />
| date = March 21, 2014<br />
| title = Answers<br />
| image = answers.png<br />
| titletext = Stanford sleep researcher William Dement said that after 50 years of studying sleep, the only really solid explanation he knows for why we do it is 'because we get sleepy'.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] claims that humans are driven by their curiosity, which is never-ending. This appears to be a riff on the recurring philosophical question of what separates humanity from the rest of the animals. [[Megan]] answers this blanket statement by observing an apparent paradox: Everyone spends approximately eight hours per day in an unconscious state of sleep, but no one has yet discovered the biological purpose of sleep. This implies that every member of the human species is confronted daily with a mystery, yet no one "loses sleep over it"&mdash;that is, almost no one is distracted by this mystery. This implies that Cueball's observed curiosity has a perceptible and proximate limit. <br />
<br />
It should be noted that many scientists are in fact busily investigating the reasons that humans sleep, although that inquiry has not resulted in satisfying answers. Some offered explanations are to avoid nocturnal predators, to give the body a chance to repair itself, and to allow the brain a period to sort out long-term from short-term memories.<br />
<br />
The title text makes a semi-tautological statement that people sleep only "because we get sleepy." This is an example of question-begging, because getting sleepy only means that someone is feeling the urge to sleep. This may be an oblique reference to the French playwright Moliere [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dormitive_principle], who created a satirical character who claimed to have discovered the answer to a popular question: The reason opium makes someone sleepy, said the character (a doctor), was that it contained a "dormitive principle" (i.e., something that makes someone sleepy).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Megan are talking.]<br />
:Cueball: Humans are defined by our curiosity, our hunger for answers.<br />
:Megan: We all spend a third of our lives lying down with our eyes closed and '''''NOBODY KNOWS WHY.'''''<br />
:Cueball: Touché.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1315:_Questions_for_God&diff=57692
1315: Questions for God
2014-01-14T21:00:20Z
<p>108.162.216.34: Undo revision 57691 by 108.162.216.34 (talk) Had not read the supporting comment, perhaps the commentor was right</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1315<br />
| date = January 10, 2014<br />
| title = Questions for God<br />
| image = questions_for_god.png<br />
| titletext = What sins could possibly darken the heart of a STEAMBOAT? I asked The Shadow, but he says he only covers men.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Megan]] is paraphrasing a famous quote from the British applied mathematician, and fellow of the Royal Society, {{w|Horace Lamb}}, who famously stated in 1932:<br />
<br />
:"I am an old man now, and when I die and go to heaven there are two matters on which I hope for enlightenment. One is {{w|quantum electrodynamics}}, and the other is the {{w|Turbulence|turbulent motion of fluids}}. And about the former I am rather optimistic."<br />
<br />
This was referring to two phenomena in physics that, at the time, were poorly understood and difficult to explain. Lamb proved to be correct in his prediction that quantum electrodynamics (QED) was easier to explain; nowadays we have a much clearer understanding of QED, while our understanding of turbulence has improved little. ({{w|Richard Feynman}}, who was himself largely responsible for explaining QED, famously described turbulence as "the most important unsolved problem of classical physics").<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]], in response, indicates that if he were to gain divine elucidation his question would relate to the widespread schoolyard rhyme "{{w|Miss Susie}}", which typically begins with the stanza:<br />
<br />
: "Miss Susie had a steamboat<br />
: The steamboat had a bell<br />
: Miss Susie went to heaven<br />
: The steamboat went to ...<br />
<br />
: Hello operator<br />
: Please give me number nine<br />
: ..."<br />
<br />
The rhyming scheme between the second and fourth lines, and implied contrast with "heaven," causes the listener to fill in the word "Hell" instead of the innocuous "Hello". Therefore, Cueball is wondering what a steamboat, an object lacking will, could have done to deserve divine punishment.<br />
<br />
The title text is a reference to the 1930s pulp series "{{w|The Shadow}}", whose eponymous character is a psychic vigilante. The 1937 radio plays introduction began with the line ''"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"'' Unfortunately, as the subject is a steamboat and hence neither human nor male, The Shadow would be unable to determine what heinous crimes the steamboat had committed to deserve damnation.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Megan: Horace Lamb said he would have two questions for God: why quantum mechanics, and why turbulence?<br />
:Cueball: I'd have just one: ''What did Miss Susie's steamboat '''do?!'''''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1315:_Questions_for_God&diff=57691
1315: Questions for God
2014-01-14T20:57:59Z
<p>108.162.216.34: /* Explanation */ In english 'men' can generically refer to humans, I doubt he meant 'men' as in 'male'</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1315<br />
| date = January 10, 2014<br />
| title = Questions for God<br />
| image = questions_for_god.png<br />
| titletext = What sins could possibly darken the heart of a STEAMBOAT? I asked The Shadow, but he says he only covers men.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Megan]] is paraphrasing a famous quote from the British applied mathematician, and fellow of the Royal Society, {{w|Horace Lamb}}, who famously stated in 1932:<br />
<br />
:"I am an old man now, and when I die and go to heaven there are two matters on which I hope for enlightenment. One is {{w|quantum electrodynamics}}, and the other is the {{w|Turbulence|turbulent motion of fluids}}. And about the former I am rather optimistic."<br />
<br />
This was referring to two phenomena in physics that, at the time, were poorly understood and difficult to explain. Lamb proved to be correct in his prediction that quantum electrodynamics (QED) was easier to explain; nowadays we have a much clearer understanding of QED, while our understanding of turbulence has improved little. ({{w|Richard Feynman}}, who was himself largely responsible for explaining QED, famously described turbulence as "the most important unsolved problem of classical physics").<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]], in response, indicates that if he were to gain divine elucidation his question would relate to the widespread schoolyard rhyme "{{w|Miss Susie}}", which typically begins with the stanza:<br />
<br />
: "Miss Susie had a steamboat<br />
: The steamboat had a bell<br />
: Miss Susie went to heaven<br />
: The steamboat went to ...<br />
<br />
: Hello operator<br />
: Please give me number nine<br />
: ..."<br />
<br />
The rhyming scheme between the second and fourth lines, and implied contrast with "heaven," causes the listener to fill in the word "Hell" instead of the innocuous "Hello". Therefore, Cueball is wondering what a steamboat, an object lacking will, could have done to deserve divine punishment.<br />
<br />
The title text is a reference to the 1930s pulp series "{{w|The Shadow}}", whose eponymous character is a psychic vigilante. The 1937 radio plays introduction began with the line ''"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"'' Unfortunately, as the subject is a steamboat and hence not human, The Shadow would be unable to determine what heinous crimes the steamboat had committed to deserve damnation.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Megan: Horace Lamb said he would have two questions for God: why quantum mechanics, and why turbulence?<br />
:Cueball: I'd have just one: ''What did Miss Susie's steamboat '''do?!'''''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Religion]]</div>
108.162.216.34
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1313:_Regex_Golf&diff=56735
1313: Regex Golf
2014-01-06T13:39:50Z
<p>108.162.216.34: added note about "grepping"</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1313<br />
| date = January 6, 2014<br />
| title = Regex Golf<br />
| image = regex_golf.png<br />
| titletext = <nowiki>/bu|[rn]t|[coy]e|[mtg]a|j|iso|n[hl]|[ae]d|lev|sh|[lnd]i|[po]o|ls/ matches the last names of elected US presidents but not their opponents.</nowiki><br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic revolves around a set of increasingly complicated {{w|regular expressions}}, which are patterns used to search through text for blocks of text matching the pattern. There is a saying in professional programming that goes like this (see [[1171]]):<br />
:Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I'll use regular expressions.” Now they have two problems.<br />
The comic exemplifies this as Megan's problems grow increasingly more convoluted - originally she was writing regex as a game, then moved on to automatically building regex on arbitrary lists of text, to searching through her files for code that appears to be a regex golf generator. At the end, Cueball quips that she now has "Infinite Problems" as a result of her efforts, tying back to the saying above.<br />
Code golf is a game where by programmings attempt to solve a problem using as few characters as possible, analogous to the number of golf shots took to reach the goal.<br />
<br />
===Regular Expressions===<br />
Regular expressions are a way for programmers to specify a textual pattern. You can later search for the pattern inside a text string - if the pattern is found it's said that the pattern "matches" the string, if it's not found it's said they do not match. The "Regex Golf" challenge is to make a regular expression that matches all of the strings in one group and none of the strings in another. As in "Code golf" the challenge is to find the shortest possible Regex that does this.<br />
The first regex Megan uses is /m | [tn]|b/, said to match Star Wars subtitles but not Star Trek. Subtitles are the secondary titles of the movies, after the "Star Trek: " or "Star Wars Episode N: ". For example, in "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" the subtitle is "The Phantom Menace".<br />
The forward slashed just mark the start and end of the regex. The | character means "or", so the regex matches any string that contains the patterns "m ", " [tn]" or "b" (including the spaces). The square brackets match one of the enclosed characters, meaning that " [tn]" matches either " t" or " n". The regex is appearently non case sensitive because it wouldn't work otherwise.<br />
The star wars subtitles match the parts of the regex in the following way:<br />
* "The Phanto<u>m </u>Menace" is matched by "m ".<br />
* "Attack of<u> t</u>he Clones" is matched by " [tn]".<br />
* "Revenge of<u> t</u>he Sith" is matched by " [tn]".<br />
* "A<u> N</u>ew Hope" is matched by " [tn]".<br />
* "The Empire Strikes <u>B</u>ack" is matched by "b".<br />
* "Return of<u> t</u>he Jedi" is matched by " [tn]".<br />
Note that the animated film "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is not included.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, none of the Star Trek subtitles contains an M followed by a space, a T or an N preceded by a space, or any B, so the regex does not match any of them. Note that in the original series all subtitles start with a "T" but it's the first character so it's not preceded by a space. Here is the list that Megan probably used:<br />
* Original series:<br />
** The Motion Picture<br />
** The Wrath of Khan<br />
** The Search For Spock<br />
** The Voyage Home<br />
** The Final Frontier<br />
** The Undiscovered Country<br />
* The Next Generation:<br />
** Generations<br />
** First Contact<br />
** Insurrection<br />
** Nemesis<br />
* Reboot series:<br />
** - the one without a subtitle -<br />
** Into Darkness<br />
<br />
"Grepping" refers to using the Unix/Linux command line tool "grep", which is short for "Globally search a Regular Expression and Print", thus continuing to use regular expressions in search for the lost files.<br />
<br />
In the last panel "and beyond" Megan uses the regular expression "/(meta-)*regex golf/" to describe her problem. * means "zero or more" or the preceding character/group (parentheses group characters). So this regex matches "regex golf", "meta-regex golf", "meta-meta-regex golf" etc.. In a way this is regex golf in itself, matching all levels of meta-regex golf while not matching anything else.<br />
<br />
In the title text there is a long regex that is the solution of another regex golf challenge - matching the last names of all elected US presidents but not their opponents. Note that the list of opponents include some people who were previously or later became presidents, so taken literally this is impossible. To make this work the list of opponents must exclude anyone who was also president.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Regex golf:<br />
:[Megan is sitting at a laptop. Cueball is standing behind her.]<br />
:Megan: You try to match one group but not the other.<br />
:Megan: /m | [tn]|b/ matches ''Star Wars'' subtitles but not ''Star Trek''.<br />
:Cueball: Cool.<br />
<br />
:Meta-regex golf:<br />
:Megan: So I wrote a program that plays regex golf with arbitrary lists...<br />
:Cueball: Uh oh...<br />
<br />
:Meta-meta-regex golf:<br />
:Megan: ...But I lost my code, so I'm grepping for files that look like regex golf solvers.<br />
<br />
:...And beyond:<br />
:Megan: Really, this is all /(meta-)*regex golf/.<br />
:Cueball: Now you have ''infinite'' problems.<br />
:Megan: No, I had those already.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]</div>
108.162.216.34