https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.246.124&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T15:04:27ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2627:_Types_of_Scopes&diff=285308Talk:2627: Types of Scopes2022-06-01T19:04:20Z<p>108.162.246.124: </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 />
Wiki's getting hit pretty hard by the trolls this week... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.21|172.69.134.21]] 19:02, 1 June 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Lot of time to troll when you're on a roll :^) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.124|108.162.246.124]] 19:04, 1 June 2022 (UTC)--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.124|108.162.246.124]] 19:04, 1 June 2022 (UTC)--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.124|108.162.246.124]] 19:04, 1 June 2022 (UTC)--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.124|108.162.246.124]] 19:04, 1 June 2022 (UTC)--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.124|108.162.246.124]] 19:04, 1 June 2022 (UTC)--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.124|108.162.246.124]] 19:04, 1 June 2022 (UTC)</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1954:_Impostor_Syndrome&diff=2849611954: Impostor Syndrome2022-06-01T16:43:01Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 284457 by Vandalbane (talk)</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1954<br />
| date = February 12, 2018<br />
| title = Impostor Syndrome<br />
| image = Lipu tenpo nanpa akesi - musi Amanka.svg<br />
| titletext = It's actually worst in people who study the Sussy-Baka effect. We tried to organize a conference on it, but the only people who would agree to give the keynote were random undergrads.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Impostor_syndrome|Impostor syndrome}} is a common psychological phenomenon where successful individuals are unable to internalize their success and fear being exposed as a "fraud" or "impostor." Events and accomplishments that would seem to be evidence of competence, skill, intelligence, and so forth, are instead viewed (by the person) as luck, timing, and the ability to appear more confident/competent than they actually are.<br />
<br />
[[Ponytail]], representing Dr. Adams, is introduced by Megan as "the world's top expert on impostor syndrome." Dr. Adams then demonstrates that she herself (like a relatively large number of women according to some reports [http://www.paulineroseclance.com/pdf/ip_high_achieving_women.pdf]) is afflicted by this syndrome. She realizes this after she reacts to the flattering introduction by starting about "other scholars" whom she deems to be superior to her. <br />
<br />
The {{w|Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect|Dunning–Kruger effect}}, mentioned in the title text, is a cognitive bias wherein people who possess comparatively little direct expertise in a given field may unrealistically inflate their estimation of their own level of expertise in that field; while those who actually are highly competent (and especially experts on the topic at hand) are likely to downplay their level of expertise. This cognitive bias arises when people of low relevant ability lack the practical knowledge to validly assess their competence: The criteria for good or poor performance in a given field may not be weighed accurately by someone lacking direct expertise and formal training in that specific field. For instance, a commuter experienced in filtering through traffic quickly may consider themselves to be excellent at driving, while a professional evaluating driving habits may observe adherence to regulations and best practices for safety to be the primary criteria for being a "good" driver.<br />
<br />
Conversely, people with extensive knowledge of a given field may develop an acute awareness of the necessarily limited scope of their (or any one person's) expertise. While this effect primarily refers to cognitive ability, it is also sometimes used to refer to people who are competent in one area (and thus not lacking {{w|Metacognition|metacognitive}} skills) believing that their abilities grant them unusually-high aptitude in a different but seemingly related area.<br />
<br />
In practice, more expertise still largely correlates to higher confidence in one's expertise (that is to say that competence remains positively correlated with an individual's perception of their own competence), but a lack of the appropriate cognitive skills can result in that perception of competence starting at a high level yet increasing at a slower rate. However, in popular usage, the Dunning–Kruger effect is used to claim that a ''negative'' correlation exists, and that non-experts will claim expertise and confidence at a higher overall level than actual experts.<br />
<br />
In the title text, a conference for the Dunning–Kruger effect was having trouble, presumably because the actual researchers were downplaying their knowledge and expertise to the point where they refused to be the keynote speaker, while the random undergrads (who lack experience in the topic) felt sufficiently confident in their knowledge of it to give the keynote. This more closely matches both the secondary usage (as undergrads are unlikely to lack metacognitive skills, but may inflate their understanding) and the popular usage (as the confidence is inverse to the actual competence) than the primary and in-practice observance made in the original research.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan points at Ponytail and introduces her to Cueball.]<br />
:Megan: This is Dr. Adams. She's a social psychologist and the world's top expert on impostor syndrome.<br />
:Dr. Adams: Haha, don't be silly! There are lots of scholars who have made more significant…<br />
:Dr. Adams: …Oh my God.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Dr. Adams]]<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2613:_Bad_Map_Projection:_Madagascator&diff=2849602613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator2022-06-01T16:42:38Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 284947 by Davidy22 (talk)</p>
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<div><br />
<br />
>IN THESE UNCERTAIN TRYING TIMES DARK WINTER OF THE NEW NORMAL....<br />
>AS CITIZENS (DECLARED OR UNDECLARED) OF THE GLOBAL VILLAGE MUST COME TOGETHER AS ONE, BUT APART, AND BUILD BACK BETTER WITH SOME NEW EXTENDED LENGTH TEMPORARY GLOBAL RULES TO KICK START THE 4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION........<br />
>YOU WILL WEAR THE NWO PROVIDED IOT COCK CAGE FOR YOUR PROTECTION<br />
>YOU WILL DRINK THE RECYCLED PISS<br />
>YOU WILL EAT THE BUGGIES<br />
>YOU WILL EAT THE CRICKET BURGER<br />
>YOU WILL DRINK THE COCKROACH MILK<br />
>YOU WILL EAT THE MAGGOT CHIPS<br />
>YOU. WILL. EAT. THE. BUGS.<br />
>YOU WILL TAKE THE MANDATORY VACCINE<br />
>YOU WILL WEAR THE MASK WHILE EATING<br />
>YOU WILL WEAR THE MASK WHILE SLEEPING<br />
<br />
>I was browsing 4chan, and the threads were coal-oal-oal<br />
>Moved to the kway, and I saw some po-ost-osts<br />
>Some teen was making Cobsons<br />
>Posting them, "He's a gem" he said<br />
>Then the board's gone, no more /qa/-ay-ay<br />
>Mods mad, /lgbt/ had a troonjak rai-aid-aid<br />
>That weren't no coal, that was a shining glistening gem<br />
>There's a party, a jakker's paradise<br />
>There's colorjaks and cobsons<br />
>And their gems will blow your mind<br />
>There's a party, a jakker's paradise<br />
>Soot told us not to blow it<br />
>Let the CP spam subside<br />
>He told me<br />
>Let the trannies ACK it<br />
>Let chudcels browse it<br />
>Let all the basedteens boogie<br />
>I saw my Jak posted on the booru-ru-ru<br />
>Hey, that's a gem, you saw my thread too, ooh ooh<br />
>I'm browsing /raid/, maybe we'll steal a GET on 4chan too<br />
>Look at my thread, it's time to mass reply-y-y<br />
>The janny's seething, I'll get banned tonight-ight-igh<br />
>If I get perma'd I'll just post from my phone in spite<br />
>There's a party, a jakker's paradise<br />
>There's colorjaks and cobsons<br />
>And their gems will blow your mind<br />
>There's a party, a jakker's paradise<br />
>Soot told us not to blow it<br />
>Let the CP spam subside<br />
>He told me<br />
>Let the trannies ACK it<br />
>Let chudcels browse it<br />
>Let all the basedteens boogie || +2.04%<br />
<br />
==The BBC oath==<br />
Repeat after me:<br />
<br />
Repeat after me:<br />
<br />
I swear that I will dedicate myself to big black cock for the rest of my life.<br />
I know that my rightful place as a white male is beneath the boot of my black masters.<br />
I swear that I will never have sex with a woman.<br />
I know that my tiny white pecker is unable to satisfy her, so there is no point in even trying.<br />
I swear that I will never let a single drop of my inferior white seed enter a woman's pussy.<br />
I know that black genes are superior, and that it is only right for black men to claim white women's wombs.<br />
I will stand by and watch as black men have sex with my wife, my mother, and my daughter. And I will enjoy it.<br />
If a black man needs his dick sucked, I will be there for him.<br />
If a black man needs a hole to cum inside, I will give myself up to him.<br />
As long as I live, I will be a slave to black men.<br />
This is my oath as a mindbroken BBC slut.<br />
<br />
==>abortions bad even though it kills niggers==<br />
>niggers bad even though they shoot niggers<br />
>spics bad even though they torture and kill spics<br />
>koreans bad even though they hate china<br />
>china bad even though they genocide muslims<br />
>muslims bad even though they kill homosexuals and hate jews<br />
>homosexuals bad even though they infect faggots with aids and wreck their anuses<br />
>jews bad even though they are trying to kill off the white race<br />
>killing of white race bad even though it also means killing off white women<br />
>white women bad even though they wash estrogen from pills down the drain<br />
>estrogen in the water bad even though it makes boys into cute femboys<br />
>femboys bad even though they reduce competition for women<br />
>women bad even though they make trannies seethe<br />
>trannies bad even though they kill themselves and they also make real women seethe<br />
>women seething bad even though it upsets simps<br />
>simps bad even though they re-distribute money in economy away from horny retards<br />
>horny retards bad even though they are the only ones left making babies<br />
>babies bad even though you can fuck them<br />
>fucking babies bad even though world elites do it<br />
>world elites bad even though they did 9/11<br />
>9/11 bad even though it killed a lot of mutt goyim and justified country-wide surveillance<br />
>surveillance bad even though a female agent can catch you jerking off which is hot<br />
>jerking off bad even though it makes nofappers seethe<br />
>nofappers bad even though it makes leftist degenerate trannies seethe<br />
>leftists degenerates bad even though they will pay you to fuck their wife<br />
>trannies bad even though without them no one would moderate 4chan<br />
>4chan bad even though it makes losers waste their lives posting on it<br />
>losers wasting their lives on 4chan bad even though it stops them from shooting up schools<br />
>shooting up school bad even though you get to kill your bullies and a bunch of roasties<br />
>roasties bad even though they're your only chance to lose virginity<br />
<br />
__________________...uu444u.____________________<br />
______________.eP.____________.hu_______________<br />
____________C_____________________7u__________<br />
__________)_________________________.\__________<br />
_________.C___________________________\________<br />
_________(__________________(___/______y_______<br />
________________________y___C___P____._9______<br />
________)_________..pp..__)y_C_____c____)________<br />
________)__P777_PP444bap.7P.)0yp1bqpPPPPPp____<br />
_________C_7_______.8b400QP__)P__|0|Qb4__0____<br />
_________)_________/4bppppp..4___\8|c|1y.8________<br />
__________)___./__C__).Q_________\__|_|_))________<br />
____________p___C_.__)C__/..x_____.__\Q_.P________<br />
____________(___7_____C.C__7x_4__uP__|y_/_______<br />
____________(___70___|.PP__p()/()hy)_()P___________<br />
____________(____C___C(_|_800000000P__P________<br />
___________)_______.)u_o__800000000_()____________<br />
__________._____.____.b|__800000000_|P____________<br />
_________/.___.C______7b__)0000000P_(____________<br />
____x4P________________3P_30000000_0S._7Pe_____<br />
_______________________x)P_000000P_p____________<br />
_________________________7\_0000C_/_____________<br />
___________________________1D.ye8P______________</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2627:_Types_of_Scopes&diff=2849592627: Types of Scopes2022-06-01T16:42:16Z<p>108.162.246.124: absolute retard</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2627<br />
| date = June 1, 2022<br />
| title = arab soyjak<br />
| image = Osama bin Laden portrait.jpg<br />
| titletext = :^)<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOTOSCOPE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
-scope is an ending for words denoting an instrument used for viewing or examination. It comes from the Ancient Greek word for "examine, inspect, look to or into, consider". There are many such words in the English language.<br />
<br />
''Electron microscopes'', ''electron telescopes'' and ''radio telescopes'' are special forms of microscopes and telescopes, respectively. This comic explores what you could do with a hypothetical "electron ___-scope" and "radio ___-scope" for other words also ending in -scope (namely: periscope, stethoscope, kaleidoscope, gyroscope and horoscope). The definition of the word itself ("regular ___-scope") is also given.<br />
<br />
The third column often plays on different meanings of the word ''radio:'' 1) related to radiation and 2) a device for receiving radio communication or broadcasts.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|+ What the words could mean according to the comic<br />
|-<br />
! Word !! Regular !! Electron ___ !! Radio ___<br />
|-<br />
| Microscope || || ''Really exists'' || Simply a microscope for looking at your radio.<br />
|-<br />
| Telescope || || ''Really exists'' || ''Really exists''<br />
|-<br />
| Periscope || Periscopes allow submarine crews to watch what happens above the water surface, without exposing the submarine to enemy observers, or enemy radars. In practice, periscope use is minimized because periscopes are still observable. || ||<br />
|-<br />
| Stethoscope<br />
|| A medical device for listening to sounds made by a patient's body, for example the heart. Has a disc-shaped resonator that is placed against the patient's skin.<br />
|| If the resonator is emitting electromagnetic radiation, it could burn the skin due to its close proximity.<br />
|| Normally, the sounds are transmitted to an earpiece that the examiner wears. There are also recording stethoscopes. A radio stethoscope would transmit the sound either directly via radio waves, or send it to a radio station such as NPR where it could then be broadcasted. <br />
|-<br />
| Kaleidoscope || || Seemingly a pun of electron "collide"-oscope, as electron collisions generate {{w|Bremsstrahlung}}. ||<br />
|-<br />
| Gyroscope || Gyroscopes are used for {{w|inertial navigation}}, for example. || || In theory, radio waves could be sent around in a triangular pattern, thus replicating the existing {{w|ring laser gyroscope}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Horoscope<br />
|| In common usage, predictions or advice given based on the position of stars and planets. Often believed to be unscientific junk.<br />
|| Predictions on the position of a particle (such as an electron).<br />
|| Predictions or advice given based on the radiation emitted by exploding stars or galaxies. <br />
|}<br />
<br />
The title text makes a pun on "gyroscope" and the Greek foods {{w|Gyros}} and {{w|Pita}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Davidy22&diff=284958User talk:Davidy222022-06-01T16:41:23Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 284952 by Davidy22 (talk) so you think black lives don't matter, you homophobe?</p>
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<div>Hi Davidy22,<br />
<br />
Just a quick thanks for helping roll back so much of the vandalism. Per your recent log comment, yes, there has been a recent spate of vandalism; before yesterday, it was the odd spammer that I've had to remove. But with the advent of ''Click and Drag'', there's also been an insurgence of ip-based vandalism. I'm hoping this is just a spike owing to the popularity of the comic, but I'm with you; if it doesn't die down, something more drastic is going to have to be done.<br />
<br />
But again, thanks for helping...<br />
<br />
-- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:17, 21 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Please don't ==<br />
<br />
Please don't create the redirects to explanations that haven't been created yet. It breaks the next and previous buttons, and gives people that are browsing through the explanations the false impression that the site is more complete than it is. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:41, 25 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Ah, I'll stop then. Didn't know that. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 07:17, 25 September 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Glad I'm not the only one who didn't know. Sorry about [[1633]] this morning. /.\ &mdash; ''[[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 19:23, 22 January 2016 (UTC)''<br />
:::It's fine, just had to do a few things manually. Good intentions. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:34, 22 January 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Dani22, the spam connoisseur==<br />
Congratulations on transcending from being annoyed at all spam to recognizing the truly beautiful works of spammage from the rest of the cruddy heap. We should throw a party, lol. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:33, 1 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:Hey, it *was* a well written bit of spam. It was one of those copy/paste types of spam, except it was nicely formatted and coherent all the way through. It was informative too. A great change from the mindless template drivel or gibberish that we usually get. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:11, 1 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Just asking ==<br />
:::Mostly cuz that didn't work when it was on the main page, and calling attention to specific comics has worked exceedingly well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:57, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
Was there a reason you deleted most of the List of all comics? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:What on- shi-<br />
:I was adding comic number 1132, and the preview was really slow, so I copied everything in the edit box and refreshed the page. I think half of the page hadn't finished loading in the edit box, and I only copied the first half. Derp [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 08:21, 11 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::I figured it was something like that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:56, 12 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just so you know, it happened again. But SlashMe fixed it. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:07, 26 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Mother of fracking- I'm going to figure out what's causing this and I'm going to fix this. Godammit. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 23:20, 26 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Durr dee-durr, and now I've done it. Thanks for spotting that. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:22, 1 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Ahem... You gonna finish that? ==<br />
<br />
Have you taken a look at the front page recently (say within since you created the [[1134]] redirect)? [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:42, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:I have it open right now. Please don't ninja me again. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 05:44, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::<nowiki>*Sits tight and twiddles thumbs*</nowiki> Actually, if you've got this I'll go back to the pitiful bit of literature I'm calling this year's NaNo. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:53, 14 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The Anonymous editor of 1132 ==<br />
<br />
Has been 50.0.38.245 all along. For a while he changed his signature to be a userpage that didn't exist, and wasn't a registered user. He has now changed it back to being the IP address again. Just thought I should do some out-of-band communication about that. If you want to change your last comment about the anonymous user, that would be good. (I almost offered to edit it for you, but then realized the subject we're talking about, and decided that if 50.0 ever learns about looking at the edit history and diffs, I don't need to be called a hypocrite as well as a banhammer wielding {{w|BOFH}}) [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:35, 15 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Broken mirror... ==<br />
<br />
Sorry for the "ninja"... I guess we probably don't need 2 versions of the image though... Feel free to distill the explain part...--[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 07:15, 19 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:Godammit, I even had the window open waiting for the article. The definitions can be merged into one paragraph, and wiki magic will explain how the comic works. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 07:20, 19 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Fooooooooor He's a Jolly Good Fellow... ==<br />
<br />
You are the man, man. Keep it up! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:50, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Seconded. Great work, you deserved the milestone! --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:26, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Please take a look ==<br />
<br />
...at [[User talk:Lcarsos#Deletion|this]]. Nothing new to you, I suppose (spam fighting can be quite hard if we're overly cautious on every step), but I'm dropping the note just in case :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:52, 25 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== autoblocking suspicious users ==<br />
<br />
Once again, it looks like auto-blocking users that have suspicious usernames would require someone with more power than we have.<br />
<br />
However, I very nearly blocked those three when I noticed the account creation. But, I didn't because I thought they might be legitimate users with stupid usernames. But now I've read up on {{w|Wikipedia:New_admin_school/Blocking|Wikipedia's block policy}} and from now on I'll be posting {{tl|uw-blockindef}} (which I've bungled fantastically right now, but shortly should be working) which should allow the rare legitimate user (with bad taste in usernames) to reclaim their good account, but allow us to block bad people.<br />
<br />
You're ever friendly, massive toddler of an admin, [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:41, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I've also just found this page {{w|Wikipedia:Administrators' how-to guide}} which I will be reading very thoroughly and beginning to use this blacklist. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:16, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Hum. A great many of these templates could be condensed into a few bigger ones, but at least the documentation links are there for us to use. Also, you do know that Template:UserBox already exists, right? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:55, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::Well, crud. You switched, I switched. I do like the one we had better, mostly because of the descriptive labels and the nice thick borders. The name's in convenient CamelCase too. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:18, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::As a general rule I loathe my shift key, using more keys to achieve the same goal is wasted time, and I could be called ruthless about wasted time. Saving a single keypress seems petty. But I had a CS professor point out that by specially crafting what you have to type (creating shortcuts) saving a keypress here and there can add up to saving several thousand keypresses every 8 hours, which over a long enough quantity of time can equal hours and days. That's my long winded explanation for why I like using {{tl|userbox}} instead of {{tl|UserBox}}.<br />
<br />
::::Also, I like the wikipedia userboxen, it's more flexible. And that allows anyone who comes over from Wikipedia to know how to work userboxen here too. That's my case for it. I hope you agree because I don't want to have to push my shift key, but I'll take your input, and if we end up in a tie, we might ask Waldir to tie break for us, as he'd be a neutral third party. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:44, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::In CS, I learned that descriptive variable names and easy to recognize naming conventions can save heaps of debugging time. I personally like the CamelCase version better because it uses variable names like left-bg instead of id-c for the background color in the box on the left, which makes the template self-documenting and easier to grok for a new user who's just reading the source. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:58, 4 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::: I was asked to comment. Here are my thoughts:<br />
::::::* Regarding CamelCase, it is indeed a neat convention but we don't use it elsewhere on the wiki. In fact, MediaWiki itself, in its early versions, used to rely on CamelCase for linking, but moved to the free-form, space enabled link syntax, which is better in many cases. Not everything converts nicely into CamelCase. So while I appreciate the argument to use CamelCase as the template name, I think the regular case version fits the wiki better. Besides, redirects are cheap and work well, so if the CamelCase title redirects to the lowercase one, whoever wants to use the CamelCase version can still do so seamlessly. Not an issue, therefore.<br />
::::::* I agree with Davidy22 on the parameter names. In fact, the code of the template can be arranged in a more readable form (using whitespace and indentation) so not only its uses can be deciphered, but the template itself too. Renaming parameters is a simple matter, especially for templates with not many uses as these are, which means there isn't a lot of replacements to perform.<br />
:::::: In summary, I think the two templates should definitely be merged and the best features of each kept in the final version: the title being [[Template:userbox]] (with redirects from [[Template:UserBox]] and [[Template:Userbox]]), and the parameters using intuitive names as {{tl|UserBox}}.<br />
:::::: --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:06, 5 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::::::: Sounds good to me. The wikicode looks god-awful ugly though, who's up for cleaning that thing up? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:03, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::::::: If you guys do the merge, I can clean it up afterwards :) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 01:14, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== separate section for title text ==<br />
<br />
I agree that in the two instances you removed the section header for the title text, it wasn't justified, but in some cases it does make sense. See [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Subsection for title text explanation|here]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 15:27, 5 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== No more imagesize ==<br />
<br />
I made a comment on [[Template Talk: comic#Imagesize]], essentially imagesize isn't necessary, and I've changed the {{tl|create}} template to not include it. So rejoice, and forget imagesize ever existed (until the bug gets fixed). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 03:02, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
: Bah, what was that parameter good for anyways? Clicking on the image should take you to the XKCD site anyways. What user cares about the image pages that the template currently takes you to? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:20, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
:: That's an interesting point. It's technically doable. But I think there should be a way to access the comic images (granted, I'm not sure why exactly, but I'm not comfortable leaving them "orphans" —linkless— either) --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:08, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
::: There's the list of all comics page, and we could make the titletext link to the image page or something. I dunno, any excuse to kill imagesize. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:16, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::: To clarify, linking the image directly to xkcd has nothing to do with killing imagesize. That, for what I understand, has already been done. Good point about the list of comics page. I'll wait for more comments before implementing the change in the image link target. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 12:35, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
::::: Imagesize isn't *quite* dead yet. There's still four or five comics that still use it. Permission to upload the thumbnail versions of those comics, as we do with the other large comics, and end that broken thing once and for all? [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:05, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::::: I don't like the idea of uploading smaller versions of images. We ought to be able to use mediawiki's own image scaling abilities as soon as we can do some [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#We need more maintainers|testing in the wiki setup]] and make the image scaling issue go away. Apart from that, what exactly are the problems of imagesize, again? I haven't followed the discussions about it, sorry. Feel free to give me pointers to the appropriate places where the issues have been discussed. --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 13:17, 6 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Please move pages ==<br />
<br />
I'm noticing that when someone creates a new page with the wrong title you're just copy/pasting the content onto the new page. Please don't do that. Please use the move page feature on the drop down of the page, that way we can keep the edit history for the page intact, and that way it doesn't look like you created these oddly poor quality pages. Thanks much. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 00:49, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Righty ho. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:09, 6 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Sorry ==<br />
<br />
I have been working contra u by routinely adding a white line above the categories. I instantly raise white flag! And say good night! -- [[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 00:40, 7 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Trivia placement ==<br />
<br />
Cheers mate! Please check the comment I made some time ago in the section you started, [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Section style and usage|"Section style and usage"]] on the Proposals community page. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:10, 27 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
If you disagree with the trivia placement between explanation and transcript, why don't you say so, and explain why? –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 14:50, 6 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I made a section for discussion of this, so that we can come to some agreement: [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals#Trivia and transcript]]. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 15:18, 6 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Coordination#Trivia and transcript placement]] –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:05, 6 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Jurassic Park category ==<br />
Hi, you wrote you don't like how I created a new category for Jurassic Park. I thought it appropriate: there's a *lot* of references to Jurassic Park and/or velociraptors in the comics. And not all reference are to both... But what did you not like? Thanks for enlightening me! [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 09:07, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:There's a lot of categories on this wiki. When adding categories to a page, it can get extremely difficult to make sure that you've gotten every category that applies to the comic. For regular editors, the amount that we have to remember when maintaining pages is already quite onerous; more categories hurt our dinky heads. If you're willing to steward that category, go ahead, but you'll have to remember to put in the explanation pages yourself when you find a comic that it applies to. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:36, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: OK. [[User:Kaa-ching|Kaa-ching]] ([[User talk:Kaa-ching|talk]]) 08:26, 1 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==[[220: Philosophy]]==<br />
<br />
Actually, what happened was: This being my first new page edit, I copy-pasted the format from another page, and then edited all the information to fit the correct comic. Then I realized I'd forgotten to remove the date of the original page's comic, so I did so. *blushes* No trolling intended, just a newbie mistake. Is 2/7/07 the correct date for this comic? [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 11:23, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Oooh. I thought you had gotten the date then removed it after seeing earlier rants concerning omitted dates. You can check a comic's date by clicking on the "All Comics" button in the sidebar on the left. All dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:37, 28 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Yep. I see that now, and now that I know it's there, I create new pages straight from [[List of all comics]]. No offense taken. Thanks for the useful advice! [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 05:52, 29 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Character names in transcripts ==<br />
<br />
Ah, I see now that you've been cleaning up after me, adding character names to transcripts instead of "Man", "Woman", et cetera. Now realizing that's the wiki's standard, I'll endeavor to do that myself from now on. Thanks for your patience with the new guy. [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 07:40, 29 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It's k, just doing maintenance. You're really prolific, do you write all of those yourself or are you getting those explanations off the forums somehow? '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:38, 29 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::I write them all myself. It's been some time since I've looked at the xkcd forums, actually. Sometimes I get a little help from Wikipedia when a particular detail escapes me. But you'll notice I don't make an attempt to explain the math ones. *laughs* [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 02:16, 30 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== My unexplained hobbies. ==<br />
<br />
I just want to make sure that you are getting this, but I restored "My Unexplained Hobbies." You can now explain them. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 14:47, 11 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Shweet. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:44, 12 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suck at wiki stuff but am a real human - sorry for the confusion. {{unsigned|Schmammel}}<br />
:No matter. Also, see the blue box above the talk page edit box for instruction on how to sign your posts. '''[[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:55, 19 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== About your new admin powers ==<br />
<br />
Actually just the rollback hammer. I've learned this after being burned a few times.<br />
<br />
Rollback will actually not revert just the one edit you are looking at, but will go back until it hits a revision that wasn't done by that user, so its useful for pure spam accounts, but if you're just undoing a single edit, you may still want to use the undo tool.<br />
<br />
Also, once or twice I actually had it revert all the way back to the last patrolled edit, which meant it actually got rid of the edits of a few anonymous editors too.<br />
<br />
Just a caution that with great power comes great responsibility.<br />
<br />
--[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 04:11, 22 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Oh damn, did I do that? Welp. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u><font color="purple" title="I want you">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><font color="indigo" size="4px">²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:28, 22 February 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Removed Level 2 headings from Discussion page ==<br />
<br />
Hi, I noticed you removed the level 2 headings in the discussion of comic 1188. I'm guessing it's the application of some formatting rule established on this wiki, so I'm curious where I can find a list of these standards that I should adhere to, so I don't make such a mistake again in the future. [[User:Jfresen|Jfresen]] ([[User talk:Jfresen|talk]]) 15:10, 20 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It's not really a formatting convention, more of a workaround to technical limitations of the wiki. The way discussion pages are embedded into comic pages, headings in talk pages cause breakages when tables of contents are spawned. It's ugly and bad and it's the reason why we delete discussion page headers. '''[[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>]] 15:33, 20 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Captcha help ==<br />
<br />
:''This thread was moved to [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Captcha help]].''<br />
<br />
== RE: Signature ==<br />
<br />
Sweet, thanks David. {{User:Omega/sig}} 14:51, 28 March 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Time is hard... ==<br />
<br />
... and not only that, she also is, just like her sister Gravity, a heartless b**** :D <br />
Thanks for taking care! :) [[User:Caranhyas|Caranhyas]] ([[User talk:Caranhyas|talk]]) 09:41, 4 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Feedback ==<br />
<br />
Hey David. It's nice that you're so responsive to requests such as those at [[Mediawiki talk:Sitenotice]] (or [[explain_xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#Captcha help|this one]]), but please take also a moment to report the request as completed, as that not only provides feedback to the requester, but is also a reference for the future (which removes the need to dig through the relevant page's history if, for example, one decides to check whether a request ever got implemented), and exemplifies desired behavior for future administrators. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 21:53, 6 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Alright. Was just trying to get through everything quickly, and forgot to reply to those requests. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:55, 6 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== 262 correction: Thanks! ==<br />
<br />
Hi there!<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, I was not aware that I had incorrectly created the page for xkcd 262. Thanks for fixing that. My only question is whether the page "262" should be redirected to xkcd 262 rather than just showing the deletion template.<br />
<br />
Thanks,<br />
<br />
[[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 07:02, 7 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The page "262" and all other pages consisting of only numbers are used internally to handle page linking. You don't really need to worry about them, you just need to know that making explanation pages in those numbered pages is baaad and that the create templates in the [[List of all comics]] will set up everything relevant for you. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::So all of the xkcd comic pages theoretically "exist" on the site, but not all have connected pages? Also, how do I create a new page from the "All comics" page? Thanks for being so patient--I really want to be able to contribute meaningfully here. [[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 20:27, 7 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
::No, we just link to the xckd comic pages. The numbered pages handle links between explanation pages. On the "List of all comics" page, there are (create) buttons next to all the red links; click those to start explaining those comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:12, 8 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::OK thanks for explaining! I'll try to do better next time :). [[User:Milar Kayne|Milar Kayne]] ([[User talk:Milar Kayne|talk]]) 01:36, 10 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== List of unexplained comics ==<br />
<br />
Thanks for the vote of confidence - hoping it'll encourage more contributors! [[User:Sean|Sean]] ([[User talk:Sean|talk]]) 21:50, 22 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== New sections in comic talk pages ==<br />
<br />
Re [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:277:_Long_Light&curid=8457&diff=35146&oldid=35143 this correction] (especially your edit summary!): while there is the "Add topic" tab at the top of talk pages, you'll get new sections added to comic talk pages too.<br />
<br />
Perhaps reducing them to ; headings is a better alternative that still marks a new topic.<br />
<br />
;Just testing that I have the right formatting character<br />
Yes.<br />
<br />
Of course this won't fix the automatically supplied heading from the "Add topic" tab, but then we do still want that functionality in other talk pages, like here...<br />
[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 03:25, 26 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Ooh, the semicolon does that? You learn something new every day. Noted. There might be a way to change those controls at the top, I'll look into that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:50, 26 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Time frames 1008-1014 have an artefact in your upload ==<br />
<br />
In your uploads "under the ground" between frames 1008 and 1014 there is a grey horizontal line with unmoving "ticks" while the terrain does change above. This is not reflected in the live hash for the only hash in this range recorded so far. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 10:55, 1 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Hrm, I've just been pulling the images from the xkcd site and uploading them straight. Imma check on this. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:29, 1 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Yeah, it's not just you, the [http://geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190/?frame=1014&framediff=1007 geekwagon.net/projects/xkcd1190] has it too. Randall must have had a snafu that he's fixed. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 12:47, 1 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Time1190 - but sometimes I also have NO time ==<br />
<br />
I did register in here mainly for 1190, I am sure you did see this.<br />
This weekend I will work on a script giving me an easy update for the next day template, for now I am doing manual.<br />
<br />
THANKS for your great job on all the other comics!<br />
<br />
I just do need more TIME...<br />
<br />
And I am not native English, so I am still happy about everyone correcting me.<br />
<br />
Archive discussion I did start here [[Talk:1190:_Time]]<br />
<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:29, 10 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I actually already have a script to do that. I thought you had made one of your own though when you were filling in for new days, so I was just letting you go ahead with that. Here's my script: [http://pastebin.com/RQGGia3L]. Change the variables at the top of the script, run it and copy/paste the output into the page for time. The fields should be self-evident, but ask me if you have any questions. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:38, 11 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:: Oh, PYTHON - I prefer Perl or just a simple bash script.<br />
:: So I will ask Randall for a translator for Python to Perl ;)<br />
:: And tomorrow I hopefully will have some more time, your script is helpful.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 11 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Just for fun I did the script in PERL. Here is the link: [http://pastebin.com/PG5j56Nv template]--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:29, 12 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== And sometimes I do have time ==<br />
Just tell me what I did do wrong (I will follow you...). I am still new to WIKI syntax, it is still new to me. But I am learning as you can see.<br />
And after all that I will write a Perl Script with a missing close paren...<br />
<br />
I like jokes but I also like a clean Wiki here!<br />
<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:38, 23 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Uh, the explanation for that page is a wee bit thin for the size and complexity of the comic, and it uses terms like the hibbert curve without defining them. It's not enough of an explanation to cover the whole comic. Also, there were a few missing categories and a bunch of trailing spaces in the transcript. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:46, 23 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
::"a wee bit thin for the size and complexity of the comic" so sure this is still incomplete (I just did forget to add that template). Oh, and we have so many more complex comics with a need for more explanations. And while I am still not native English, which does mean I have to goooogle fore many memes, I am hoping I can support this wiki. I just try to do my best - any help on me is welcome! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:12, 24 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::And I'm pretty sure they're all tagged as incomplete too, so all is well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:17, 24 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== User talk page deleted? ==<br />
<br />
Hey there, apparently my talk page was deleted because the only content on it was "buttsex", which is fine, but I just thought I should let you know that I did not add that ;). Can I restore my talk page blank? --[[User:Mynotoar|Mynotoar]] ([[User talk:Mynotoar|talk]]) 11:39, 25 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, sure, I saw the edit log when I deleted it. Do whatever you want with your user page. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:50, 25 May 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Incomplete explanations ==<br />
Hello [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]], I will stop creating incomplete new pages even when I think it's good idea to have a page for each comic here and work afterwards on all those incomplete ones. The pages [[Help:How to add a new comic explanation]] and [[List of unexplained comics]] should clarify this issue. Furthermore there are many more incomplete comics here not marked as incomplete so you can't find them here: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]]. I am trying to give my best to support this wiki--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:44, 3 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:One add: I am not a youngster, my first computer was a C64 and the next one was a IBM compatible PC 286 (512 KByte main memory, 20 MByte hard drive). And right now I'm just trying to encourage other people to help here. But I don't want to fight against windmills.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 3 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
::I wasn't making any implication as to your age. It is actually harder to track incomplete articles than nonexistent ones - the wiki has no way of automagically detecting them the way it automatically provides red links for missing explanations. We have the incomplete tag, but people delete it from pages that still haven't quite been explained completely, and I sometimes forget to tag a new incomplete explanation as incomplete. Also, the fact that some incomplete articles exist that are not tagged as incomplete does not justify the creation of more stubs; if you find an unsatisfactory explanation, mark it as incomplete yourself. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:15, 3 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Various requests ==<br />
Could you delete the spam page [[User:Inkovic]] and block the user who created it? And delete [[Talk:283: Projection]] as well, since it was apparently created by mistake?<br />
<br />
Also, [[1225: Ice Sheets]] is still missing a transcript. Could you help add it? And [[266: Choices: Part 3]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]] lack explanations, but have been removed from the [[List of unexplained comics]]. Should we re-add them to that page, or create some basic explanations for them? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 20:19, 19 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:Incomplete articles are marked as incomplete, we'll deal with all the unsatisfactory articles on this wiki after we have a page for every comic. Still not an excuse to make more stubs, mind you. Did all the rest though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:08, 17 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Please block spammer 70.50.106.152, he did kill 1190 Time.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:53, 18 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Looks like a mistake. Not ban-worthy. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 10:24, 18 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
::This was the only edit he/she ever did. I am hoping this will not happen again, that big page was really hard to load.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 10:32, 18 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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The main page needs to be edited, as the recent deletion of the [[List of unexplained comics]] was recently deleted, making the wiki comic count one less than the actual number. Also, could you delete [[Talk:List of unexplained comics]] and [[:File:a matter of some gravity.jpg]]? The former is an orphaned talk page, and the latter was superseded by [[:File:A Matter of Some Gravity.png]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 20:19, 19 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 20 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I created an explanation for 1228 (Prometheus). What I wrote didn't appear for a few minutes and then when I tried to check why, I found you'd deleted a page, but the text I wrote then appeared where I was expecting it. Your comment on the deletion referred to "a thing on the front page" I should have read. I looked for this "thing", but I've still no idea what I did wrong, or what happened with all the page creation / deletion jiggery pokery. I created the explanation after clicking a box which told me to do so if I wanted to provide / improve the explanation. I apologise for my mistake, but perhaps it would be better not to put boxes on the main page which invite edits if those edits end up in the wrong place? [[Special:Contributions/87.115.172.168|87.115.172.168]] 08:55, 21 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I manually create the comic page and set it to show up on the front page usually within an hour of every new xkcd comic. The explanation pages for every comic follow a naming convention, with the comic number followed by the comic name. We also make a few redirects for the wiki to use to make the back/forwards buttons work. In addition to that, every explanation page has a template; note how every other page on this site has a particular look to it. The page that you created didn't follow any of that, so I deleted it and copy/pasted it to the correct location. The thing on the front page that I was referring to was the correct explanation page location that I had created 21 minutes earlier. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:06, 21 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks for the explanation - quite a manual process! I didn't realise I was creating a page - it looked to me like the page had already been created (which it had, it seems) and I would just be editing the empty section for the explanation. Now I realise that the "please edit" box should have shown up in the editor, perhaps alarm bells should have wrung. Nevertheless, I'm still wondering if it would be better, if possible, to somehow remove or modify the "please edit" box when it appears on the main page so it doesn't create an incorrect new page when one already exists! [[Special:Contributions/87.115.172.168|87.115.172.168]] 09:29, 21 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Thank You,<br />
<br />
[[User:Hopiakuta|hopiakuta DonFphrnqTaub Persina hopiakuta]] ([[User talk:Hopiakuta|talk]]) 09:03, 21 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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There are a couple of xkcd comics that link to an extra image on the site when they are clicked. On this wiki, most of the time, the explanations just contain a direct link to this image. However, sometimes, users upload the secondary images and link to those. This is rather inefficient, especially since some images are too large to be displayed directly after they are clicked on the wiki. So, I was wondering if you could delete the few secondary images from the wiki. They are: [[:File:lakes and oceans large.png]], [[:File:na make it better.png]], [[:File:subways large.png]], and [[:File:lojban translated.png]].<br />
<br />
In addition, I suggest that some [[Special:UnusedFiles|unused files]] also be nuked. [[:File:combination vision test fullcolor.jpg]] was superseded by [[:File:combination vision test fullcolor.png]]. [[:File:22 pieces.png]] was uploaded by a user who apparently just wanted to show off his Tetris skills. [[:File:2008 christmas special original.png]] is an xkcd comic before it was updated, which I doubt is necessary to include on the wiki. [[:File:starsmove.png]] doesn't seem to serve any useful purpose. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 23:50, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Na make it better and the translated lojban do add to the comic. The two larger versions of comic images and the junk files have been deleted. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:12, 14 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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I think you might have forgotten to delete [[:File:22 pieces.png]]. And [[404: 404 Error]] was created by mistake and also needs to go. <br />
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Also, could some admin tackle the issue that involves thumbnails not displaying properly? Dgbrt suggested [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Errors_and_symptoms#Image_Thumbnails_not_working_and.2For_appearing this fix]. Perhaps it could be tried? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 16:00, 18 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:The 404 page needs to exist for the previous/next comic buttons to work properly. It also explains why comic 404 is missing, which may be confusing to some xkcd readers. Mostly the forward/backwards buttons though. The scrap image is gone, and I'm looking into the proposed fix. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:21, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Nope. The page [[404: 404 Error]] is a duplicate to [[404: Not Found ]]. I just did a redirect there because I can't delete it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:58, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Whoop, deleted. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:08, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::Thanks, but there is still the discussion page. I did the same redirect there.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:26, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Spam at 1190 Time ==<br />
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Hi, IP 68.100.149.94 is still doing annoying edits here. I do not like that.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:38, 22 June 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Su Doku ==<br />
Hi Davidy22, I'm trying to enhance explains. People do read and understand shorter explains more easy, but the link to the details must be always included. I just did add the incomplete tag because my edit is maybe not complete. Everyone is welcome to help. But please keep short as possible, otherwise people won't read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:19, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:That explanation is hardly too long. Our explanations should be self-sufficient, with the links there just to provide further context on things that we talk about in the explanations. A description of the format of sudoku is an important part of the explanation for comic 74, as the comic deviates from it in a notable way that not all visitors may recognize, be it because they haven't heard of sudoku before or because they aren't particularly familiar with the puzzles. There's a wee difference between cutting information and condensing the wording of a passage, and what you did with that explanation leads further towards cutting content. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:45, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::I prefer explains people will read. The wiki link for Su Doku is already there but I will work on a small explain soon.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 15:07, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::What, three full paragraphs is too much for people to read? Three full paragraphs of a complete explanation are better than a paragraph and two sentences of incomplete description? I'd rather we follow the name of the wiki and actually explain the comics. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:41, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::Read my version completely, I did adopt your hints on explain Su Doku and did some more polish. PLEASE just read before you undo! Tell me what's missing but I still prefer a more simple explain. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:10, 2 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::::You made a complete explanation incomplete in the name of simplicity. At least you bothered re-adding the relevant information back in post-hoc this time. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:03, 3 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== 1190 Time pictures after major changes ==<br />
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Hi,<br />
any ideas to get new file uploads here? After your change we have some silence...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:55, 6 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Geekwagon, Aubronwood and many other sites keep archives of past frame hashes. We can look up our last hash and upload all proceeding images here. I did that for the first 500-odd frames, until people started doing it faster than me. I'll probably start again since other editors seem to be on holiday. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:43, 6 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::You did upload all the images manual, is this the new way to do this? I thought your scripts don't like file names like 1234a, 1234b..., so do you not use a bot to upload the images? Further more: Since hashes from other sites do not map to the new naming here I think we have to document them here. But it seems I'm just running against windmills.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:01, 6 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Post-hoc scripts; instead of an image archive littered with special cases, scripts need only iterate in numerical order. It's slightly more difficult to upload, but it's a consistent naming scheme for future use. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:03, 7 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== 1190 Time pictures - Do you use a bot or not... ==<br />
<br />
...it seems not - why?<br />
Lazy as I am! You're not like this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:27, 12 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I have a script to help with backlog uploads, but then I also manually upload new images while I'm awake and am near my computer. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:14, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::What do you think about a bot? My computer is downloading the images by 24/7 so an upload here should be possible. But first I will start some tests at my local MediaWiki installation.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:56, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::A bot would be nice. Slashme's Slashbot actually did time image uploads, but he stopped cuz electricity bills or something. We could ask him if he's willing to share. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:31, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::I am thinking about a bot like ''DgbrtBot''. I never have done this before (WikiBot) but I know the fucking manuals and while Randall does not like Perl I will use this language ;). Tomorrow I will start some tests at my local MediaWiki and then I will need an account for a bot.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:53, 13 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Outage from Friday to Saturday ==<br />
<br />
Did you recognize this, every error was just a "access denied for user ... on database ...". This board was dead for 24 hours.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:32, 21 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Yep, purged cache to fix it. Not currently in a place with perfect access to internet though, so I'm not quite as fast with that as I usually am. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:33, 23 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::The same happened yesterday. Do you have chronic disk space/quota shortage? --[[User:Chtz|Chtz]] ([[User talk:Chtz|talk]]) 13:13, 25 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Yep. We added a donate button and the sidebar ads when these issues started happening - a few days after time - to buy better hardware. Money comes slow. We could probably stand to upgrade mediawiki and PHP too sometime. Sometime. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:43, 25 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::Hi - I'm wondering if there has been any traction or progress in upgrading mediawiki - I was thinking especially with the recent comic [http://www.explainxkcd.com/1434 comic 1434] - but also historic comics like [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/826:_Guest_Week:_Zach_Weiner_(SMBC) 826] - that an [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap imagemap] would be useful in the explanation, which is apparently bundled with [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.21#Bundled_extensions mediawiki 1.21], but also available as a extension(?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 16:24, 16 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::Imagemap seems to be compatible with our version of Mediawiki. I'll get to adding it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:58, 16 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::::Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:40, 18 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::::Thanks! -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 11:28, 29 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::::I tried to create an imagemap for [[1434]] on a separate page, but any attempt to include the imagemap caused the submission to hang (sitting showing only a blank page whether I tried to submit for a preview or to actually edit) - I believe it was Friday, but might have been Thursday if you're looking for error logs. This is in contrast to the behavior when I tried to use wiki image maps before you said you added the extension (it would:::::::: simply strip out the tags and show the text content). I don't know how much time you have to contribute to this site every day, or how high a priority fiddling with this extension would be, but I'd appreciate anything you can do to look into this. Specifically, I used the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:where_do_birds_go_clips_only.png cropped image I uploaded] and the [http://www.maschek.hu/imagemap/imgmap Online image map editor] markup generator, which was linked from the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ImageMap#See_also MediaWiki:ImageMap page] as it "supports all shapes, [and is] Extension:ImageMap compatible".<br />
::::::::Alrighty, I'll get on it. Do you have the imagemap markup you were trying to use saved somewhere? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 15:42, 3 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::::::Tested it, the error appears to be an old friend of mine. All the more reason to try and resolve it. Disabled the extension in the meantime, but it's still installed. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:22, 3 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::::::I don't have the markup handy, but it's pretty easy to create sample markup (which is why I included the links for errythang) - I'm not even sure how to escape it in a wiki to make it postable here, since it doesn't even commit the change - I appreciate your efforts! Do you get more money if I ''click'' on Ads? :-) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:18, 4 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::::::::The way our pricing works, ad clicks don't directly translate to income, but they make the ad space more attractive to potential buyers which leads to them bidding up the price. Our base prices are rock bottom though to encourage our own users to advertise with us, and we wouldn't mind if you pointed your boss/marketing dept at work towards our bargain bin ad space. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:01, 4 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::::::::A long-time friend has been dealt with, the plugin is now re-enabled. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:11, 12 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
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== User RouterIncident and a bunch of templates ==<br />
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Hi, I'm hoping you have had nice holidays. We all do need recovery. But it's bad when no active admin is available here.<br />
<br />
Please delete that citation template, or just enter a link to [[285: Wikipedian Protester]]. Please delete also this categories: "All articles lacking reliable references" and "Articles lacking reliable references". We still have the incomplete category, that should be enough.<br />
<br />
BTW: RouterIncident is maybe also on holiday, no action the last days.<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:04, 28 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
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:I could not find these categories you speak of in the page creation log, but citation needed is gone now. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:01, 29 July 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Please move some pages and edit the "List of all comics" ==<br />
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I can't move pages here, but this should work:<br />
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<nowiki>{{comicsrow|1245|2013-07-31|10 Day Forecast}}</nowiki><br />
*the correct page must be: "1245: 10 Day Forecast"<br />
*the ''title'' must be: "10 Day Forecast"<br />
<br />
So I did not save this update because it would result into corrupt links:<br />
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<nowiki>xkcd.com/1245 | 10 Day Forecast (create) | number / title / talk | 10_day_forecast.png | 2013-07-31</nowiki><br />
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Please help, or give me the power to do this on my own.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:03, 1 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Ooor instead of deviating from the title on xkcd, we could use an excellent feature to the comicsrow template put in by Waldir. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:20, 1 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Uh, I didn't know this feature.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:03, 2 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
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== Template:Verification needed ==<br />
This template is unnecessary, please delete it.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:03, 2 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Please also delete the templates behind this non existing categories:<br />
:*Wikipedia pages with incorrect protection templates (2 members)<br />
:*Wikipedia protected templates (2 members)<br />
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 08:07, 2 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Holy dependency hell. Purged the lot. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 12:42, 2 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Can you nuke [[Talk:404: 404 Error]]? You forgot to delete it when you got rid of [[404: 404 Error]].<br />
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Also, any update on the thumbnail issue? They are still not displaying correctly See [[Special:UnusedFiles|unused files]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 22:03, 9 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Deleted. Thumbnails are a bit trickier, seeing as Jeff is the only one who has direct access to the server. Still plugging. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:08, 10 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
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For some reason, the wiki places the [[Main Page]] in the same categories as the current comic. This should be fixed, as the only category it should belong to is the [[:Category:Root category|root category]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 16:30, 17 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:FYI I have answered [[User:Oneforfortytwo]] on [[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|his talk page]]. [[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 19:01, 17 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
One more thing: Can you edit [[1190: Time]] and remove all links to images after 2973:00? Seeing as there will not be any more of them uploaded, and some of them are showing up on the [[Special:WantedFiles|wanted files page]]. Also, can you restore the deleted image [[:File:starsmove.png]]? Originally, I thought there was nowhere to put it, but I realized that I can link to it at [[1190: Time/Pictures]]. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 06:04, 20 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:51, 20 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Oh, can you delete [[1360: Old Files/info]]? Also, could we possibly get a page where people can post pages to be deleted? That would make it easier to report them. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 19:47, 28 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Can do. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:59, 29 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Mkay, deleted the page, was in the process of making the page when I recalled that [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests]] and [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Proposals]] tend to be the pages used for proposing deletion of pages. Page deletion doesn't come up incredibly often, although I could create the page if people really want it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:25, 30 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I found [[:Category:Pages to delete]]. Although you can't explain why to delete a page. Perhaps a template would be more appropriate. Speaking of which, can you delete [[:Category:Commissioned]], [[:File:16px-BlackHat head.png]], [[:File:spirit rewrite unknown author.png]], [[:File:tongue awareness.jpg]], [[Special:ListFiles/ImVeryAngryItsNotButter|all of these uploads]], and [[Special:ListFiles/Spongebog|the Lorenz uploads here]]?<br />
<br />
By the way, [[User:DgbrtBOT]] is not selecting the xkcd.com licensing choice when uploading new comic images, causing all of them to show up in [[:Special:UncategorizedFiles]]. And [[User:Dgbrt]] appears to have gone AWOL. Is there any way we can contact him and get him to change his bot?<br />
<br />
Finally, I think there should be a category for the pages listed [[:Special:UncategorizedPages|here]]. Maybe helper comic pages, seeing as there is a helper comic images? Or comic subpages? --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 23:47, 3 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The template [[template:spam]] automagically includes the delete template. We used to have a delete template, but it literally saw no use. The black hat head is the site favicon and the tongue awareness image is used in an explanation. The others seem justifiable though. I'll submit a patch to dgbrt that oughta fix the image categorization thing. Comic subpages oughta be a fine name. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:19, 4 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Time animation—a little help maybe? ==<br />
<br />
About the animated Time GIF, I actually prepared one right away at the end, but I haven't been able to get it to upload here, even though it's rather less than the stated size limit, 12 MB out of I think 40 MB. If anyone can suggest what might be going on, I'll be happy to try it out. I did ask in the XKCD forum, but didn't get any help there. Just in case it was a temporary thing, I'll go give it a shot here again after I post this. Wouldn't want to save face or anything if it actually works all of a sudden, after all.—[[User:KarMann|KarMann]] ([[User talk:KarMann|talk]]) 20:03, 20 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Clean explains ==<br />
<br />
Oh, I did some reverts (undo) today again, I'm not happy:<br />
*Ninja Turtles still belong to NASA<br />
*Bullsh.. sorry<br />
*Duplicate on some chess jokes<br />
*Math<br />
*And math again at some statistics (Increased Risk). <- ok, or (Increased Risk.)<br />
While you do fight against spam, I simply do fight against some similar windmills. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:04, 27 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Many of these were hamfisted ones that were targeted at one change, and reverted everything else contained in the same edit. Some of them were legitimate, some of them seem to show minimal effort to look at context before you edit. It's getting to the point where it's actually kind of disruptive now. If something is not in your area of expertise, don't revert like you do currently. There's a reason why rollback privileges are not given to all users. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:37, 28 August 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== 1269: Privacy Opinions ==<br />
<br />
This edit war is useless. The add is just '''TL;DR'''. And I'm sure even you did not read it all. Please keep explains as short as possible, otherwise people don't read. For understanding my post read this (read it all, there is a final statement at the bottom):<br />
According to the title, the comic is about “opinions on internet privacy” in general. Six positions are offered as options. Four of the positions are tagged negatively by the author by their subtitles alone: the Crypto Nut, the Conspiracist, the Nihilist, and the Exhibitionist, all of which have negative valences in contemporary English. That the viewer is encouraged to identify negatively with these four positions is further encouraged by the content of the panels, as those characters are depicted either as having such boring lives that they have no need for privacy (the Crypto Nut, the Nihilist), or as being crazy (the Conspiracist, the Exhibitionist).<br />
A fifth position, the Philosopher, is tagged somewhat ambivalently by the author: Megan is depicted as boring her interlocutor, yet in the title text, the author admits that he is usually the Philosopher. Also, “Philosopher” in vernacular English is neutrally valenced, potentially having the ability to expound either wisdom (sophia) or sophistry. It is also a synonym for Sage, the sixth position. As the author condones his own movement from Philosopher to Sage, he thus indicates that the Philosopher is to be viewed negatively, even if it is a tempting position to hold.<br />
The title of the sixth position, the “Sage”, is positively valenced in contemporary English, and the author in the title text states that once he obtains a “burrito” – i.e., a “real” thing, he switches from the Philosopher to the Sage. The internal evidence presented thus far therefore is entirely consistent; the author encourages the reader to identify with the Sage.<br />
By presenting five negatively tagged positions followed by a positively tagged sixth and final one, the author follows a rhetorical commonplace of listing and refuting a number of positions one by one, concluding with the favored and best one, which is not refuted and should be accepted both on its own merits and by virtue of being the last one standing. The comic therefore implies that no other (significant) positions exist.<br />
Having completed the rhetorical analysis of the comic, we are now in a position to understand the meaning of “Internet Privacy”.<br />
Panels #3 and 5 directly reference the American NSA. Panel #5’s “exhibitionist” also references Google, but the characters in the panel appear to be NSA agents (one wears an official cap and they are viewing the exhibitionist on an official, government-looking monitor). Likewise, the focus of the “Nihilist” is that the joke is on the people who gather the data, rather than those who are subsequently able to make use of it (such as Facebook’s users rather than "Facebook" itself; i.e., Facebook's employees and, by extension, its advertisers). The content of the actual data is only mentioned in panels #2, 4, and 5, and in each panel, it is suggested that it is meaningless or trivial. The Sage underscores the notion that any data known about him does not bother him, and therefore must be meaningless or trivial. The reader is thus encouraged to believe that it does not actually matter whether others discover personal data abou t him/her.<br />
The comic is therefore what social theorists call *reductive*, because it reduces the range of possibilities of “Opinions on Internet Privacy” to an artificially and simplistically narrow subset; in this case, individuals concerned with government or corporate agencies using data that they have gathered on individuals, and the futility of worrying about such things. The comic does not admit the possibility of other “opinions on internet privacy” – namely, that individuals might have legitimate concerns with governmental or corporate uses of their data, let alone other individuals’ access to data that is assembled and distributed by corporations such as Facebook. The comic likewise does not consider the possibility of individuals having more interesting lives than the characters depicted, and therefore very real concerns about their privacy due to the activities that they engage in that are potentially more career limiting (should they be discovered) than obsessing about cryptography or eating a burrito.<br />
The comic is “functionally” reductive, as opposed to “intentionally” reductive, because the reduction is the function or effect of the comic for readers who read it straightforwardly (such as the poster who claimed it was “about” Edward Snowden), whether or not the author intended this reduction to occur. There is not enough internal evidence in the literary text (i.e., the comic) to maintain that the author intentionally excluded other viable opinions on internet privacy; it could be that they are just not on his radar. For example, we do not have enough information in the comic to claim that the author is against civil rights; it could be simply that he doesn’t often think about them. Likewise, it would exceed the evidence of the comic to claim that the author believes that schoolteachers who use the internet to facilitate legal but frowned-upon sexual behaviors should lose their jobs if they are found out due to internet privacy breaches; it could be that the author simply hasn’t bothered to worry about these matters if they don’t affect him personally. This adjudication – whether the comic is “intentionally” reductive or not – may only be made on the basis of external evidence; that is, data known about the author from sources beyond this comic.<br />
Use of such external evidence – historical, personal, psychological information about an author – is valid in determining the meaning of an author’s text, and is increasingly viable due to the accessibility of information about an individual on the internet today.<br />
Additional observations about the comic follow. <br />
<br />
And when you did complete all that readings maybe you can summarize it, just in a way a reader would read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:15, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
:PRO TIP: explainxkcd is not guessxkcd.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:19, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::I did actually read it, and goes well past merely defining words in the comic. It covers writer's craft and all of it is derived from valid analysis of text from the comic. There's maybe a couple of excess words that I edited out, but length is not a bad thing. I read it the first time, and it was a valuable analytical contribution to the explanation; I question the value of flat-out reverting major edits that significantly improve pages. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:33, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::First sentence is mapped to the title, the TL;DR section is at the bottom. OK?--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:10, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::Uh, you cut the passage in half and split it up when it was referring back on itself? And you're accusing me of not bothering to read it? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:26, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::::Uh, Oh, Ahh, I did not delete any content, I just asked about improvements. Read my comments, still much smaller than this adds.<br />
:::::Are you happy when people do not visit this site again because the explain is bullshit? TL;DR... I still prefer articles people will read.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:49, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::::I know you didn't delete anything. You cut it down the middle and pasted half the passage at the end of the article, with little regard for flow or structure. That's not a valuable edit, even if it's a smaller change than the initial passage addition. Having short explanations is not worth cutting out valuable information. Cutting out content that's irrelevant to the comic, yeah. Cutting out false relations and waffle, that's fine. Don't cut out well-written analysis.<br />
::::::Also, I'm noticing concurrent issues being raised against your edits again. Consider editing and working on top of edits instead of straight reverting them, and avoid antagonistic language. You already have one warning from the last time this happened. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:59, 29 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::::::I still disagree. The list of panel explains is overruled by a massive amount of text before. This is still not a helpful explanation.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 06:58, 30 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::::::It's not a helpful explanation for those incapable of reading or scanning a sizeable passage of text. It contains all the relevant information in a coherent and laid-out manner, with a bullet pointed list to draw attention to the frame-by-frame explanations for those who want to skip the intention and analysis. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:26, 30 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Advertising ==<br />
<br />
My Firefox AddOn NoScript did block the external page "projectwonderful.com". The untrusted picture [http://www.projectwonderful.com/img/uploads/pics/91967-1378268302.png] does not belong to "explainxkcd.com". Then clicking the picture brings me to this link: [[explain_xkcd:Advertise_Here]]. But, I still do not see any advertisement here at all, only this "wonderful project world", what's wrong?<br />
<br />
I would like to pay here for a link to Randall's store (he doesn't know), but it has to be an internal picture to an external link. A user action is required, ask Randall about this security. External clicks do count, embedded content to external sites is a real insecure solution. Many modern browsers will not allow this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:51, 1 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
:The image does belong to us, it's just served by project wonderful when no advertisers are currently bidding on us. The word "advertise" used in the link title is in the verb form, not the noun; that page describes how to advertise on our site. That page contains our advertising guidelines and a few links to our project wonderful bidding page. There, you can create an account and bid on any of the four regions we have on offer. Our minimum rate is USD$3.8 per day, and they let you link any image to any site. If you still can't advertise with us, post imgur links to screenshots to show me what you're doing.<br />
:Have you not said in the past that you are an employed software developer? Instead of advertising a site wholly unaffiliated to you, why not ask your boss to try his hand at advertising on explain xkcd? It's cheaper than most advertising outlets, and we have a large and valuable audience for your average technology company. Your company can probably easily muster the ~$15 per day needed to advertise in all our available regions, and the process takes about as long as creating an account on any other site on the internet. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:13, 2 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== A database error has occurred... ==<br />
<br />
I did clean the cache, it seems no admin is required to fix this damn problem. Site was down but available now again. I will also talk to JEFF about this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:54, 3 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
: New server coming soon. Hopefully these DB issues will stop... forever. --[[User:Jeff|<b><font color="orange">Jeff</font></b>]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 16:39, 25 October 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== IP Users ==<br />
<br />
I still do not like this mess: [[User:108.162.216.45]] and [[User:50.151.2.168]]. Users have to register for this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:18, 8 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:No they don't? {{w|User:70.21.5.28}}. The page takes up so little space, it's not worth forcing them to do something they may not want to do. When our IP friend wants an account, they will make that choice on their own. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:35, 8 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Someone else will use the IP 50.151.2.168 in the future. If that user also likes xkcd and explainxkcd he will find a history he never has done. Still a mess. Nevertheless you can be sure that I never will edit this without admins permission.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:39, 8 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Question: — or - ==<br />
<br />
You're changing — to -, even while it looks to me like a (typical American) loooong dash at the picture. Original transcript by Randal on [[752]] is "Do you--", so I don't understand some of your latest edits. I'm changing &mdash to — ( on Linux). I did opt for removing the double spaces after a sentence, but is this dash also history? Like miles... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:01, 22 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Eh, I just do it because it's only one character in the original comics. I don't actually have easy access to an mdash on my keyboard when I'm editing, I'll probably bind that to a key for future use. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:12, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
::My question was just: Is "—" wrong or not. You know I am German, but my OS and much more programs are running on English. That's because all that translations are just annoying. Nevertheless, at [[752]] the original transcript shows this: "Blonde: Do you--". this should be a long dash. And you did change many &mdash to "—", I just want to understand how to behave on this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:17, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::There isn't really a codified grammatical rule for the length of a dash. It's mostly stylistic, but it seems to be a rather common convention that a short dash is for joining words, and a long mdash is for punctuation dashes. Again though, it's not on the keyboard and the vast majority of people probably don't pay attention to dash length when reading. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:41, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
::::You did introduce this in the past, my keyboard gives me on "ALT GR + SHIFT + -" just a "—". but we still have to decide about a rule on this. "-"--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Extension:Comments ==<br />
<br />
Have you thought about trying [[mw:Extension:Comments|Extension:Comments]]? It was recently updated (July 2013) and looks like it would make commenting the explanations much more user-friendly. Could you make a little experiment to see if it works well? Say, install it so we can test and see if it works well? I'd be willing to help in the conversion of current comments to the new format, and we could even make it a long-term goal to eventually bring back all the comments from the blog :D --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 16:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
: I did edit the incomplete template, ERROR is not correct. But a hint to the missing reason is great.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:24, 23 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
: From prior experience, the comments plugin does generate a lot of meta-pages with scrambled names that made me prioritize other things over it, but I can totally run it for a few days to see how things go. In a few weeks, my free time will skyrocket and I should be able to install and monitor the plugin then. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:40, 24 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:: Hey Davidy. I wonder if you're able to try this out. If so, let me know how I can help!<br />
:: On the other hand, I am disappointed to hear that the comments extension doesn't integrate neatly with mediawiki. Are you aware of any similar choice that may be better-behaved? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:33, 4 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== New comics BOT ==<br />
<br />
I think that BOT is doing the job right now. Maybe there is a possibility to install it on this server, not much but some PERL modules are required, it should work on any OS. Nevertheless since I could see the updates in general did happen at 04:00 UTC I will implement a new script starting at 04:00 UTC, polling again after that again. But since I don't want to poll xkcd too much that poll would stop after fifteen minutes. Then there will be just a five minute schedule, until a new comic is found.<br />
<br />
BTW: <nowiki>$text .= "{{comicsrow|$comic_num|$date|$comic_name|$picture_name}}\n"; </nowiki> means I will always add the optional parameter for the picture. Not all picture did work properly in the past, so I decided to include this parameter to get a working picture link on the main page. Any suggestions are welcome. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:50, 26 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
:I have an idea for that, but I have a metric buttload of things that I need to do by the end of this week. I've seen comics come out several hours late so I think polling for four hours would still be apt, and I'm sure Randall's server could handle us polling him a little faster. Having a explanation page up at the same time as a new comic is really huge. I believe I have a solution for the comicsrow problem, but I also don't know Perl. I could probably figure it out in a weekend though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:19, 27 November 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Incomplete tag at main page ==<br />
<br />
Am I wrong, or is every new comic complete at the main page in the future? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:16, 9 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:When we include a comic page on the main page, templates and categories are preserved. While that's good for page layout and the like, it's not so good when we have templates that impart their categories upon the inheriting page, like the incomplete template did. It was tagging the main page as incomplete whenever the newest comic was marked as incomplete. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:27, 9 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Yezzz, I understand. But presenting a new incomplete page in this way is not good. The counter has to be adjusted. But I'm serious on this and maybe some ''noinclude'' tags may help. While the main page should not be counted, the page it presents, if incomplete or not (<-the problem), should presented at the proper state. My bot will cover any solutions for further uploads. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:40, 9 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::What counter? The counter on the main page doesn't take into account the main page itself, and the transcluded page is shown in its entirety, save for the discussion page and one category. What's the problem here? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:37, 10 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== I don't mind about a 24 hour ban... ==<br />
<br />
...but after that I did try to do some more talks here:<br />
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Mrarch&curid=13771&diff=55110&oldid=55109<br />
DELETED!<br />
I'm still the pest here, or what? I'm still hoping you will understand my actions here. I'm working much on the health of this board, talking to Jeff and many more here. And Mrarch just did delete my message. I'm German, so it could happen that I do use a sentence which could be interpreted different to my meanings. BUT: I just want to support this site as much I can do. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:49, 13 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:Oh nuts, didn't see that. I though he was just setting up his own user and talk pages. I'll leave a notice. Also, try to cooperate, and practice your English. There ''are'' a few naunces in his arguments that you're gliding over. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:45, 13 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
::And oh nuts, we need some more people to review all the updates here. We have many new people here, doing great edits, but sometimes a correction is needed. I will still do this here, but you can be sure I will be much more polite when an edit-war does happen. I don't mind - xkcd is just fun. That counts! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:26, 14 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== BOT uploads at the comic list ==<br />
<br />
Hi,<br />
I can remove that "Picture.png" add, but I think it's more safe to use this optional parameter. Sometimes upper case and lower case did cause some problems. I'm trying to prevent this by providing the image link my BOT did upload here.<br />
<br />
On January 1 my BOT did fail because the picture was not accepted at this Wiki, and my BOT stops on every unexpected error. The BOT doesn't understand Randall and so, when the BOT is running on problems it simply does nothing.<br />
<br />
I've had serious problems to connect this site since a few deys, I don't understand why, but my BOT is doing it's job as planed.<br />
<br />
Looking forward to some translations...<br />
<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:04, 6 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Hm? What cases cause it to fail? Imma make this work. In cases of ambiguity, we could always err on the side of caution and include the parameter. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:54, 7 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
::The BOT did fail on January 1. because the "PNG" was in fact an "Adobe XMP" format and the upload was rejected by this site. A BOT barely can't handle this unexpected mess. This requires human action and the BOT stops further actions. The optional parameter will be posted anyway; if BOT doesn't fail.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:13, 7 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Incompleteness Tag. ==<br />
<br />
My browser (Chrome) is showing that 137: Dreams is the incomplete comic of the day. I used the tags there as the page instructed. Did I use them incorrectly? (possibly it was supposed to be in the main page edit instead of the discussion? I am fairly new here)This is the algorithm now. 19:10, 12 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The explanation page is already tagged. Tagging the discussion page marks the discussion page as incomplete. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:31, 12 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
::I did edit this discussion page with a nowiki marker. And Anomulus please sign your comments in the proper way, it's much more easy to discuss with an user instead of just a date. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:41, 12 January 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I did move some comics back to the incomplete section, a full explain is still more worth than a 0% ratio here. Nevertheless I am still thinking, not really working, on a German translation. But just because the ratio looks great here I will focus on that translation soon. Stay tuned...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:18, 2 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:If our numbers are right, a very healthy portion of our visitors should be German and you shouldn't have to be concerned with taking on the entire burden of translation. It's probably good to be conservative with the incomplete tag, it reduces the burden on of research on translators if they only have to change the language. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:33, 2 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Incomplete Explanation of the Day ==<br />
<br />
Some thoughts:<br />
*[[explain xkcd:Incomplete Explanation of the Day]]: No need for the daily update, it's also still at the top.<br />
*[[MediaWiki:Sitenotice]] should contain a link to this: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]].<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:43, 8 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It takes very little extra effort to also update the project page, so I just do it anyways. The incomplete explanation of the day is supposed to be a focusing effort, to finish off one comic at a time. A link to the list of all the incomplete comics wasn't working, which is why I started drawing attention to individual comics in the sitenotice. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:55, 8 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
::So tell me what's wrong with this link: [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Incomplete explanations]]. In my opinion this could be still placed at the top.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:26, 10 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Mostly cuz that didn't work when it was on the main page, and calling attention to specific comics has worked exceedingly well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:57, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::I don't understand, there was a similar link in the past.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:13, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::::And in the past, that link had almost no effect on the incomplete pages count. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:54, 11 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
===I just did remove a typo===<br />
<code>:"1930s" has "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". a</code><br />
<br />
If you can not accept my typo correction on that simple damn "a" I will give up here. And I'm not sorry. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:40, 19 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:In the same edit I removed whitespace from the page, as is not immediately obvious from diffs but can be seen from the edit size numbers. The "a" has been gone in each of my proceeding edits, as you can see in the revision log if you would care to read it. Autoreverting is bad. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:57, 19 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== 1037: Umwelt ==<br />
<br />
Hi, I'm sorry. But as my comments did say, some texts maybe helpful; but I can't fix all that layout issues. The individual pictures are still great, some ideas on that edits are nice, but it does not work in the full context. And those massive edits don't give both of us a way to review them all. I just did that revert because it doesn't work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:09, 28 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The layout is still broken... I don't like edits without using a preview to verify a proper layout — and I do not like massive edits no one can follow.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:22, 28 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Image resizing will be fixed soon. Give it at most three weeks. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:37, 1 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== New admin proposal ==<br />
<br />
Please take a look [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Admin requests#New admin|here]]. Cheers, [[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 18:36, 4 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Template:comic ==<br />
<br />
Isn't this just a revert and a freeze to a former revert done by me? Others did play then again on the main page appearance, but changes at this should be only possible for people not experimenting. The entire main page has to be protected. That page isn't a playground.<br />
<br />
And on that admin discussions on me: My most posts are related to language, layout, and something — and I still don't like all those esoteric explains on ASSes, PENISpumps, ... But an admin has to work mostly on different issues.<br />
<br />
Randall does primarily focus on "romance, sarcasm, math, and language.". Randall does more, so the SEX category is here, but I think we have to focus on the "primarily focus" at the headlines on explain pages first.<br />
<br />
My advice here: Do NOT try to enhance well working templates, other statements are much more important.<br />
<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:18, 8 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It's not quite a revert, he changed how linking works for the first comic page, added jump links to the first and last pages and attempted a few fixes. I just fixed a few omissions that he made. Admin work usually tends to be focused on non-content stuff, yeah, but I feel like those people maybe probably might be right. Innuendo in comics not explicitly mentioning sex exist. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:03, 8 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Mail send ==<br />
<br />
It's still not easy to find important mails, I nearly lost yours but now you got a reply. Your issues needs a test, I will do that soon. And sorry for this three month late reply. Maybe I have been blind, I just found your message today.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:46, 17 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The site GitHub.com did send a message to me from "David ???(possibly your surname)" but the address was in fact <nowiki>notifications@github.com</nowiki>. So this reply was stupid by me because that mail will never reach you.<br />
:Please send me a notification here because I don't visit that GitHub site on a regular base. Last visit was two or three months ago. It's just a backup for myself and available to everyone who likes.<br />
:Your request could remove links to GIF or JPG files, so I decided to include the picture link always because it does work on that template. Dynamic comics are much more complicated and my BOT stops to post any update here if something went wrong. I'm still thinking about a better logging on that, My idea is still: If the BOT decides not to post chaos here it should save any content for later manual analysis. But that's a big deal because Randall's comics are so different...<br />
:Nevertheless the BOT covers most comics just in time, I know people are happy on this — and when the comic is too sophisticated, it just stops to prevent chaos here.<br />
:--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:41, 18 March 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== File:lorenz-new.png ==<br />
<br />
Moving this to File:lorenz.png does not work like my former updates, maybe it's some cache on the server. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:31, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Huh. I'll have to take a look at that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:45, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The file on the server looks right. It'll probably update itself on the caching servers in good time. The distortion is annoying though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:49, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Can you clear the cache? The page [[1350]] still looks bad like my former reverted updates. But maybe we use this just a test for the servers. Uploads are easy, but updates are the hell. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:08, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Eff it, let's wait on it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:17, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
::::One idea: Try "Lorenz.png" instead of "lorenz.png". While WIKI is mostly case insensitive the servers maybe are. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:20, 3 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== German page ==<br />
<br />
Is it still possible to create a German page here? I'm complete (honestly mostly) on my investigations for presenting a proper German page. On a positive reply I will present some more details (maybe screenshots) of my local wiki and a plan on how to bring it up to public. And consider, this would not only be for German readers, we have Austria, Switzerland, and many other parts in Europe. I would be happy to support this, and my BOT would be too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:37, 30 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It's still possible, gonna do it after we clear out all the incomplete pages as promised.'''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:44, 30 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::So then this never would be happen. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:50, 30 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::No, because we'll eventually clear out our backlog of old, incomplete articles. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:24, 30 April 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== /r/xkcd sitenotice ==<br />
<br />
May I ask why you've added a sitenotice about /r/xkcd? The /r/xkcd sub is controlled by /u/soccer, who links to racist, xenophobic and misogynistic content regularly. Randall has even spoken in support of a petition for /u/soccer to be removed as a mod (which of course didn't happen because reddit doesn't do that). /r/xkcdcomic is a non-hateful alternative, one that Randall supports, and it has more users than /r/xkcd. [[User:LadyMondegreen|LadyMondegreen]] ([[User talk:LadyMondegreen|talk]]) 13:19, 2 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:If you look closely at the text and click on the link, you'll see that it actually says and links to xkcdcomic. Also, /r/xkcd is currently at 40000 subs and hit 10000 a few years ago. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:38, 2 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Hmmm, yeah, I'm not sure how I got that backwards, but I did. Someone pointed it out to me on IRC and I guess I didn't look closely enough. Sorry about that. [[User:LadyMondegreen|LadyMondegreen]] ([[User talk:LadyMondegreen|talk]]) 19:35, 6 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Any idea on this: [[A Smarter Planet]] ==<br />
<br />
This should be mentioned here, but that article doesn't represent a comic from the main page. Maybe it should be merged to [[Randall]]? What do you think? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:17, 6 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:That's not a bad idea. I'll put that on the list of things to do. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:56, 10 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Sorry, I've forgotten to post a reply here. I did put in a new template for this special issue because it's different to a common comic from xkcd. A standard comic template never can cover this. And when this template is complete it should be protected, but the resulting category page is still bad and I need help on this. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:55, 28 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, I figured that when I tried it myself. It might be a bug with parserfunctions though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:17, 29 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Do we have active admins here? ==<br />
<br />
This site seems to be running into chaos. The former approved admins do not work that much here; and now I'm even missing you.<br />
<br />
Maybe you are on holidays; if so, I'm just greeting with "Happy holiday". BUT this site still needs an admin.<br />
<br />
You know I'm still looking forward on a German page for this, but this English page is still on my main focus. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:16, 9 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
:The image caching issue is caused by Cloudflare not refreshing the image that it serves as fast as we'd like it to. Outstanding admin requests and unsigned messages were left for one day. That's not inactivity. The only thing I saw being raised was the admin request, which was closer to a progress update to which you butted in with an irrelevant remark. The only conflict I see in talk pages is between you and other editors, and it's only mild disagreements and mostly civil discussion at the moment, so I'm pretty fine with it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:56, 10 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Minor edits ==<br />
<br />
Hi, you are often doing minor edits like fixing some syntax or missing parentheses. If you would mark them as "minor edits" it could be ignored at the "Recent changes" page. Major changes could be found much more easier. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:29, 21 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Incoming confirmation email: Domain of sender address expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com does not exist ==<br />
<br />
Since the email address of incoming confirmation emails come from a non-existing domain, they are bounced so never reach me.<br />
<br />
From the mail logs:<br />
<br />
<code><br />
2014-05-30T08:36:21.455368+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: NOQUEUE: connect from vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged) <br />
2014-05-30T08:36:22.049902+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: s4U6aLdn012564: ruleset=check_mail, arg1=<expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>, relay=vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged), reject=553 5.1.8 <expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>... Domain of sender address expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com does not exist <br />
2014-05-30T08:36:22.219369+02:00 snap sendmail[12564]: s4U6aLdn012564: from=<expla0@vps.explainxkcd.com>, size=2306, class=0, nrcpts=0, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=vps.lunarpages.com [67.210.100.50] (may be forged)<br />
</code> {{unsigned|Jeroenp}}<br />
<br />
:You shouldn't need a confirmation email to contribute and use the site. Uh, that feature'll probably be turned off; how did you request the email that generated the above error? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:21, 31 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Because at http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Preferences it says:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><blockquote>E-mail address is optional, but is needed for password resets, should you forget your password.You can also choose to let others contact you by e-mail through a link on your user or talk page. Your e-mail address is not revealed when other users contact you.<br /><br />
E-mail confirmation: Your e-mail address is not yet authenticated. No e-mail will be sent for any of the following features. <br /><br />
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ConfirmEmail Confirm your e-mail address]<br /><br />
* Enable e-mail from other users<br />
* Send me copies of e-mails I send to other users<br />
* E-mail me when a page on my watchlist is changed<br />
* E-mail me when my user talk page is changed<br />
* E-mail me also for minor edits of pages<br />
</blockquote></blockquote><br />
::So I used this to send a confirmation email: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:ConfirmEmail<br />
::[[User:Jeroenp|Jeroenp]] ([[User talk:Jeroenp|talk]]) 19:13, 31 May 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The lunarpages do not know to set up a proper Mail Server. My Mail Servers also would never accept this until I whitelist them. Sadly I still have to do this for some customers — also big customers in the US. Reasons because this mail isn't valid:<br />
*dig vps.lunarpages.com:<br />
;; ANSWER SECTION:<br />
vps.lunarpages.com. 3600 IN A 80.156.86.78<br />
vps.lunarpages.com. 3600 IN A 62.157.140.133<br />
*whois 67.210.100.50:<br />
The answer belongs to LunarPages.<br />
*But 67.210.100.50 isn't a registered MX entry for the domain "lunarpages.com":<br />
lunarpages.com. 300 IN MX 0 sharpmail-new.lunarpages.com.<br />
*which is:<br />
sharpmail-new.lunarpages.com. 300 IN A 74.50.25.50<br />
<br />
I'm sorry, but fighting against SPAM is important and a proper Mail and DNS configuration is mandatory. Maybe those admins at LP do need some help and advise.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:06, 2 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
:If you don't have anything useful to say, don't say it. You don't have to be in on every single conversation on the wiki. The issue is being dealt with. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:45, 3 June 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== "Feeling old" category ==<br />
<br />
Hello, Davidy22. I noticed that you deleted the "Feeling old" category I made a while ago due to being "tenuous, not significant enough." In the interest of becoming a better contributor to the wiki, could you explain further on significance for a new category?<br />
<br />
I realize that there are various qualifications that a category has to fulfill, lest it only add clutter to the wiki. A category ought to be simple, memorable, and concise. It should refer to something within or about the strip, be deliberate, and be objective. And, ideally, it should apply to a fair number of strips. I figured that the four strips that included the motif of "character/Randall reflects on how distant the seemingly-recent past is" all used it significantly, as a central theme or as a punchline. I personally feel that Randall hasn't exhausted his use of this motif, and therefore it warrants its own category for future comics, saving time in future explanations and aiding readers of past explanations.<br />
<br />
(My one personal issue with it is that the phrase "feeling old" does not feel concise or specific enough, but I couldn't think of a single word or a better two-word phrase to describe it.) -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.21|108.162.216.21]] 18:18, 12 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I hope you (Or Davidy22) don't mind me starting off this conversation. Categories are not meant to be used as a tag cloud. Categories are a concrete thing in the comic such as [[:Category:Comics with color]], [[:Category:Red Spiders]]. They are not motifs or feelings about the comic. We don't have categories for happy comics and sad comics, and I can't think of a persuasive enough argument to allow them. Until there's a significant number of comics with "I feel old" or "I'm getting old" or "#FeelingOld" (eww) in the text, I'd hold off on trying to push this one through. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:55, 13 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Part of the deletion ''was'' because it only had four comics under it. The only times I've allowed categories with that few comics behind them was when they were put forward by registered users who I could make promise to maintain them. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:51, 13 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
::: Okay, so ''feeling'' old is a bad category name. Categories that sound subjective in general are bad. Perhaps "Aging" could work? And also, courtesy of two particular xkcd blogs, I know of at least 10 comics that would belong to it: [[218]], [[354]], [[447]], [[493]], [[647]], [[891]], [[973]], [[1093]], [[1393]], and the recently posted [[1408]]. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.21|108.162.216.21]] 03:38, 16 August 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Weird formatting bug ==<br />
<br />
I remember back when I had asked about skins you had told me to mention if there was anything off. Well, it's nothing major, but [http://puu.sh/ceEv7.png this] seems to happen on the Main Page alone on the monobook skin. I can't say I've ever seen this before... [[User:Schiffy|<font color="000999">Schiffy</font>]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|<font color="FF6600">Speak to me</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|<font color="FF0000">What I've done</font>]]) 16:55, 16 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Mmmm, testing does not give me the same bug, but that part of the page is still malformed. I'll get on that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:58, 16 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Dont change other peoples comments ==<br />
<br />
When the user clicks "add a topic" in the comments block a new section is added. When a user does this you modify it to a heading style you prefer. This is against every design principal I know of. You have 3 legitimate choices: remove the button, style the header so it pleases you more, or let it be. Since this is a standard part of the wiki and updading versions would likely undo your changes, I would sugest that you simply learn to live with it, as it is not objectivly ugly. <br />
When I find myself in times of trouble<br />
Mother Mary comes to me<br />
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be<br />
And in my hour of darkness<br />
She is standing right in front of me<br />
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be<br />
Let it be, let it be<br />
Let it be, let it be<br />
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 13:10, 21 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:It's not actually done because the header is ugly, it's done because of an error case that occurs when the discussion page is transcluded onto the main explanation page, that came up a while back. It would probably be better to remove that button instead of having to manually change every discussion page header, and I'll get to that when I have the time. Also, note how I only modify headers in explanation talk pages, where the error can occur; headers in user talk pages and the community portal are unchanged. Also, updating between mediawiki versions does not change the contents of (most) pages, so it wouldn't actually undo what I'm doing. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 14:54, 21 October 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Am I allowed to undo other peoples comments when they include blatant racism? See Weatherlawyer's comments on [[500: Election]] and [[522: Google Trends]]. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 09:28, 31 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::No. You are not the judge of what other people are allowed to say. If other people say something questionable, they will be warned and/or banned. On the subject his his specific comments, they doesn't seem overtly racist in 500, just heavily politically skewed, but 522 seems pushing it. I'll warn him for now. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:32, 31 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::With respect, referring to 'Only having voted for a chimpanzee twice' is (to me at least) an obvious racial slur aimed at Obama. I have no issue with anyone posting inflammatory comments with regard to his politics/policy/decisions as President/what he stands for etc etc etc, but racism is not ok. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 21:10, 31 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::Chimp in the general lexicon is used to describe someone mentally challenged, not black. I must say it's quite hard to discern exactly who or what he's talking about because it feels like he's just making comments for the sake of making lots of comments. His statement about texas being granted statehood probably doesn't support the idea that he's talking about Obama, since they're not very supportive of him to begin with. Texas to my knowledge has been a republican state, so unless he really doesn't know what he's talking about, I'd say it's more likely that he's talking about one or more of the recent Republican presidents. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:47, 31 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Other explanations ==<br />
<br />
What if we tried to include explanations for the What if? portion of xkcd? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 19:26, 4 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
{{Color|#AAA|(p.s. - I'm not sure how to get my question to look like it's written on graph paper)}}<br />
:That question comes up every once in a while. My response to the first one was that those things tend to be self explanatory and that the wiki is for the comic, but this'll be the fourth time it's been suggested. I dunno, how would it be formatted on the main page? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:01, 4 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
::Format indeed... also I understand what you mean about self explanatory - I'd say at least 85% of each entry is quite plain, simple, and straightforward. Most of the humor of the feature is not traditional "ah-ha!" humor (that comes from revelation of a twist on assumptions, or which might benefit from explanation). Every once in a while, though, that remaining 15% (often from the images, but sometimes from a {{w|factlet}} or two) contains a few nuggets of knowledge that make me yearn for discussion or comment, and occasionally clarification to one degree or another. In addition to possible issues of cherry-picking what's explained, and questions on how to format it, there's the question of the variability in release date of the comics (used to be every Tuesday, then Thursday and, if I'm not mistaken, the last two(?) have been on Friday, with a few weeks missed (sometimes with and sometimes without notice or explanation) - so how to catalog that? I'll append to this conversation whenever I get that feeling of "if only there was" and we'll keep it open for discussion, if that sounds good to you(?) -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:33, 5 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
:::Probably just note the release date of each article, although I don't fancy to task of cataloging that. I dunno, drop me a message whenever you want. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 16:37, 5 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Template:i ==<br />
<br />
I created that template for a reason. Unicode doesn't work right in many circumstances, especially on phones. Now people without Unicode support will see incorrect equations. Plus typing in a Unicode character is not easy, and not having an easy way to do it will guarantee it won't be used. That's why character templates exist on other wikis. <br />
<br />
I copied the way of making the imaginary constant from Wikipedia. That's how the math template works. The Unicode version doesn't even look like an i in many fonts--the dot is missing. It looks like a weird squiggle that people won't recognize.<br />
<br />
I really wish you would have done like other wikis and had a discussion (and let me know) before just deleting something. I'm lucky I happened to leave the tab open and happened to see it was deleted. <br />
<br />
--[[User:Trlkly|Trlkly]] ([[User talk:Trlkly|talk]]) 22:54, 23 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
:Huh, tested and it does seem to be broken on phones. I'll get restoring that. A lot of these templates don't tend to end up being used though, past their creation. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:33, 24 November 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Strong Language ==<br />
<br />
Hey - I find it interesting that someone chose to create the category about "strong language" or something that you chose to delete because it had one comic. There are countless examples of "strong language", pretty much irrespective of what you consider to be "strong" (just search for one of the various "strong" words) but it's fascinating noone has felt strongly enough about it to make a category until 2015 -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 15:04, 26 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:It's also that "Strong language" is a really subjective category name that doesn't hold the same boundary for everyone, and is gonna be tough to populate to a degree that satisfies everyone. Although the person who made the category still frequents the wiki, so maybe he's capable of maintaining it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:36, 27 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Delete a page ==<br />
<br />
I created a page [[Test Page]] to test a potential feature. I intended to delete it afterwards, but it seems I don't have permission to delete it. Could you do so? Alternatively, make it into a sandbox [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 03:28, 1 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, sure. In the future, use [[explain xkcd:Sandbox]]. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:33, 1 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::K [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 05:45, 1 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Comic template ==<br />
<br />
I made an upgraded version of the comic template that'll deal with [[Radiation]]'s broken navigation bar for once and for all. Could you please look over it to make sure it's all working fine, then replace the current template with it? Updated template is over [[User:Pixali/comictemplate/|here]] and can be viewed in action [[User_talk:Pixali/comictemplate/|here]]. [[User:Pixali|<font color="008000">Pixali</font>]] ([[User talk:Pixali|<font color="004b00">talk</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|<font color="004b00">contribs</font>]]) 02:54, 4 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Tested, this implementation seems to break the back button. Documentation is incomplete and may need usage examples for the new parameters, but I can probably write that when this makes it to the actual implementation. When I'm free, I'll try and get it to work, there's a good start here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:52, 4 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Got there before ya. I effectively rewrote the entire experimental template, fixing formatting & the broken back buttons while keeping the support for undefined numbers. I still have the examples up over at [[User_talk:Pixali/comictemplate/|the talk page]] for the new template so you can check it out there. I also tried to document it a bit better (inc. explaining the sort key better), but I'm not sure if it's satisfactory yet. [[User:Pixali|<font color="008000">Pixali</font>]] ([[User talk:Pixali|<font color="004b00">talk</font>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Pixali|<font color="004b00">contribs</font>]]) 04:51, 6 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Seems pretty solid. I'll fold it into the main template. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 06:42, 6 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Advertising? ==<br />
<br />
Check the recent changes log. A page appears to have been made for the purpose of advertising or political rant or something (I didn't read much, it's long).<br />
<br />
In any case, it's not relevant to this wiki. {{unsigned ip|Mikemk}}<br />
:Yeah, it happens. Looks like another admin got to it before I came home. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:46, 5 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== dgbrtBOT Problems ==<br />
<br />
While I did update my OS to CentOS 7 this weekend I did some tests on my bot. But it seems that problem doesn't belong to my update because I can't get this site via https - only http works.<br />
<br />
Broken: [https://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php https://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php]<br />
<br />
Working: [http://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php http://explainxkcd.com//wiki/api.php]<br />
<br />
My bot requires a secure login via https so I don't know how to fix this.<br />
<br />
Browser request gives me "Error 521" and my bot is "Error code 2: 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable". <br />
<br />
Even [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page] doesn't work for me.<br />
<br />
Unless this is fixed my bot will not work.<br />
--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:57, 8 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:On it. Would it be possible for you to fall back on http while we work on that? xkcd comics aren't hugely security sensitive, so it should be fine. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:13, 8 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::I'm glad to reach you so soon. And sadly this WIKI requires HTTPS for a bot to login. My attempts on plain HTTP did fail, I do need SSL. Did you change something here? On Friday my bot did work. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:28, 8 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::What's the error message with HTTP? '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 00:04, 9 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::"Logging in over plain HTTP is a bad idea, we would be sending secrets (passwords or cookies) in plaintext over an insecure connection. To protect against eavesdroppers, set protocol => 'https'..."<br />
::::I do accept this restriction; using https should be possible here for BOTs because a BOT can do many. If someone missuses my BOT account it would be bad for this site.<br />
::::Maybe I have to import a non trusted certificate (costs money to make it public), but I want still to be on a save path.<br />
::::--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 22:30, 9 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hum, it would be bad if another party got your address. In other news, have you tried it again recently? It should work, I believe. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:58, 9 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::::PROBLEM SOLVED! And the secrets are reset, just in case...<br />
::::::I got an expected error message while trying to update the LATEST COMIC. Not allowed because it just exist. Looks good...<br />
::::::Next BOT run should work until it's an unexpected dynamic one done by Randall. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 10 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
Bad news: Picture upload did work but then my bot failed. Error messages are not very helpful but I'm sure I'll figure it out. So I will do some tests tomorrow on that damn API changes. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:57, 11 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Oof. If there's anything you need server side, tell me. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:48, 11 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
More BAD news: I still have to figure out the reason for error messages like this: "Error code 0: at /opt/xkcd/xkcdtest.pl line 104." What the hell is "Error code 0"??? Sadly it seems I have to work on this a little bit more. AND gooooogle doesn't help me... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 23:06, 12 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Error code 0 is the default exit value in perl. It seems like you're terminating the script at line 104. It's a natural exit though, so it's probably part of your error checking. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:51, 13 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Request for help ==<br />
<br />
I'm in the midst of a [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Merge_Cueball_.26_Rob disagreement]] with another user about some general stylistic issues and I'd like to solicit broader input from the wiki community. Do you know a mechanism by which I can request such input? Thanks! [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 00:04, 12 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:Davidy22&action=edit&section=77<br />
<br />
:The community portal would be the place to do it. People don't usually frequent there, but you'll get input over an extended period of time. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:24, 12 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::Thanks. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 15:29, 12 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== List of all comics broke recently ==<br />
<br />
Thanks for adding "For comics from 1001-1500, see [[List of all comics (1001-1500)]]" to http://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/List_of_all_comics_(full)<br />
But now links are being added in the wrong place. I'm just not sure why/how. [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 18:44, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:There's a couple of things I did wrong. Fix'd '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:40, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The "incomplete explanation of the day" doesn't seem to be updated daily... ==<br />
<br />
Should this be the case?--[[User:17jiangz1|17jiangz1]] ([[User talk:17jiangz1|talk]]) 08:06, 9 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Currently, it's whenever the current one is completed. It used to be per day, but we don't have as many incomplete comics left to cycle through, and the ones that are left, are difficult to fix and don't get frequent changes. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:12, 9 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==What Ifs taken down? ==<br />
Hey man, I saw you took down the 'Short Answer Section', 'Alternate Universe Whatifs' and the 'Growth Rate' page. Is this because of the Creative Commons license, because you maybe don't want whatif-pages on this wiki or is it of something else? I really spent some time working on those two and maybe a genuine reason for taking them down would be appreciated [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] ([[User talk:Nk22|talk]]) 19:55, 21 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
:The what if pages were literally just the contents of the main articles transferred over to here. Those articles are already Randall's answers to questions, well explained in-of themselves. They don't need any further assistance from us, and we're not providing a lot of value by just copying the text of his articles. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:02, 21 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
::OK, I see the point you're making. Most of those don't go as deep as some of the comics and are basicly explinations themselves. I might as well just add links to the what-if.xkcd.com website for more info. [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] ([[User talk:Nk22|talk]]) 20:05, 21 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== You're a hero ==<br />
<br />
I don't know how often you're told that. But you're a hero, and you're my hero. Keep doing an amazing job and avoid burn out. I'll be coming back in 2 weeks. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 06:07, 28 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Being able to just set up pages and let users fill everything in really helps with the load. Makes it much less work than it may seem. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:19, 28 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Green Hat ==<br />
<br />
If Green Hat's one appearance is not sufficient for his own page, why does [[Brown Hat]] have his own page with only one appearance in [[399: Travelling Salesman Problem]]? --{{User:17jiangz1/signature|12:46, 05 May 2015}}<br />
:I was not a part of making that, and am not a huge fan of the existence of that page because of the precedent set. Weak precedent doesn't really justify making more though, as there are enough one-off characters to easily make the characters navbox very cluttered and unusable while providing little real value to visitors. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:22, 6 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Unicode Theme ==<br />
<br />
I'm sorry, I don't quite understand how unicode wasn't a significant theme in xkcd. It has been mentioned directly and indirectly, from the past into the present. Compared to "no title text", it seemed at least as significant of a category. What kinds of categories are considered significant? (It was significant to me.) {{unsigned|Azule}}<br />
:Hum, looking back, it *is* a central point of all four comics included. Might be more justifiable than the typical marginal category page. Just remember to maintain it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:10, 15 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Bot Problems==<br />
Can you see anything at the log files why my BOT can't create/edit a simple page here? Since I still get only "Error code: 0". I maybe have to debug the API itself. Picture upload should be fixed now. Someone did beautify the LATESTCOMIC template my bot didn't expect this and did a save STOP at that point. Let's see if the picture works again tomorrow, but I want to do the entire comic again. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:23, 26 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I'll check soon, wee bit busy at the moment '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:28, 27 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks for help. Picture upload works again since I adopt the beautified LATESTCOMIC page - I need that number to verify a new comic. My bot is doing nothing if that test fails. <br />
::But when I try to create a new page I still get NO information about the error. And I did many investigations so far. It's frustrating... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:01, 27 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Please delete this:<br />
:::2 June 2015<br />
:::: (diff | hist) . . Nb Test 000001; 20:23 . . (+33) . . DgbrtBOT (Talk | contribs) (Created by dgbrtBOT)<br />
:::: (diff | hist) . . Nb 000001: Test 000001; 20:23 . . (+288) . . DgbrtBOT (Talk | contribs) (Created by dgbrtBOT)<br />
:::Bullshit... downgrading my BOT API to the former version did solve the problem. The documentation for the current MediaWiki:Bot is WRONG!!! I don't know why I haven't had this idea before.<br />
:::If my bot works again I will update the dgbrtBOT page on that status tomorrow. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 2 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::Huh. It might be that we're out of date, and you upgraded to a version incompatible with our mediawiki version. I'm gonna have to get on that eventually. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:53, 2 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::I don't think it's your MediaWiki version, my BOT API was just crap. Let's see if it does work again tomorrow. Picture uploads are already done by my bot again - even when people overwrite it. But maybe I've to do some minor fixes tomorrow, let's see. May the SCHWARTZ be with my MOG... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:12, 2 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::::I suspect your newer version wasn't trying to break things, we *are* very out-of-date. The only way to really know is by upgrading the wiki and seeing if it breaks the bot again, I guess. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:20, 2 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::::My latest API client was corrupt, not the wiki here itself. Your guess sounds a little bit like the test was done in "2001: A Space Odyssey" on HAL. But since my BOT can't talk like HAL I have to check the log-files afterwards. Today there was only ONE PROBLEM: An user here was faster than my BOT within just 2 minutes - should not happen very often.<br />
:::::::But if this happens again my BOT will get a new enhancement: If my BOT finds a just a few minutes old upload here it will override them all and create all the edits needed here. Nobody can write an explain by that time but my BOT would ensure all the proper changes would be done here. What do you think? --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:16, 3 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::::::::Sounds good. I could also restrict page creation to certain groups, so that an anonymous user doesn't pull the trigger so fast either. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:58, 3 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::::::::Let's see first if my BOT works again. But restricting page creation should not affect/effect the creation of TALK pages. Maybe overwrite this posts by my BOT would be the better option. Everything wrong would be cleaned up. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:09, 4 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
The problems are '''solved''' and I'm happy about that. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:40, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I noticed. Good stuff. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 21:04, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Bad uppercase==<br />
Please delete this: [[:File:Antique_Factory.PNG]]. The correct lowercase picture is done by me. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:10, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Done '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:47, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Please delete==<br />
Please delete this [[:File:1540.jpg]] because it's the wrong name. I did change [[1540: Hemingway]] to the correct file uploaded by my BOT.<br />
For the first time my BOT reverted an existing page because some standards did miss. My BOT was late (13:35 Nk22 vs. 13:48 dgbrtBOT) but my BOT was still acting correct and did all the further actions needed. [[User:Nk22|Nk22]] got a message by me. My BOT acts every 2 minutes so it seems I have to solve a cache problem, maybe at Randall's cloud... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:03, 19 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Dunnered '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:00, 20 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks. A new upload on the correct image did last more than three hours for me to see. My BOT suffers on the same Cloud Cache problems. I've no idea to solve this damn clod cache. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:54, 20 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== BOT problems, CLOUD problems ==<br />
<br />
My BOT still got the old comic while other people did upload the new one in a corrupt way. So let's define some rules for my BOT to be slightly more violent. For now I'm only checking if also the comic-name redirect exists. But I think that my BOT should test all required updates here, and if something is missing it would do a clean job here. Wrong picture uploads and more will still have to be solved manually. It will only a few minutes and I don't think that it will delete many essential contents, and even if it does it will be available at the history.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:11, 22 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== RE: Delete Template ==<br />
<br />
Really? That's weird, [[Template:Delete]] is showing up blank and redlinked for me. <span style="background:#0064de;font-size:12px;padding:4px 12px;border-radius:8px;">[[User talk:AgentMuffin|<span style="color:#f0faff;">~AgentMuffin</span>]]</span><br />
<br />
== Kudos on fighting spam ! ==<br />
I don't know if anyone tells you this.. You do an amazing job to keep all this working smoothly. It was especially evident in your current spam fighting. You were able to undo things even before anyone sees it. Amazing work man ! Keep it up. We are all with you, just holler somewhere on main page if you need help and we'll be there. (Well I haven't opened an account yet but I try to help anonymously...) Kudos again.. I'll buy you a drink if we ever meet and you mention that you are Davidy22 :D [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 10:48, 12 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:If I was good at this sysadmin thing, there just shouldn't be any spam. Took a whole day to figure out a configuration that keeps it at a manageable level, but stuff is still slipping through the cracks. I'll get to polishing it off in the weekend. Thanks for the support though. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:50, 12 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
::I second the anonymous praise here. All of it, both spam and keeping the page up and running. I did not even notice any spam, not before I read your note at the bottom below the ''Should we change the tagline?'' discussion. How does it manifest it self (can you shown an example, or is it not just reverted but completely deleted from the pages?). Great work no matter! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:24, 13 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::If you take a look at the deletion log, you'll see [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Log/delete all the garbage] that appeared here in the last few days. There's also some vandalism in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous&action=history Miscellaneous], and no other community portal, which is suspicious. This just cropped up in the last few days, not sure why spammers decided to target us again. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:12, 13 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::Did it fall together with the "Should we change the tagline? What do you want the new one to be? Discuss it here!" banner at the top, that links to the site that was spammed? That might make sense? Thanks for answering, now I understand what type of Spam we are being subjected too, and also why I did not see these pages from normal use. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:29, 14 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::Yeah, links from the main page probably determine where the spammers are targeting, but I don't know why they decided to start targeting us after all this time leaving us alone. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:42, 14 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::: Someone might have linked the misc page from some other site (reddit/tumblr/etc.) after banner was put up and the spammers might have just followed the link when crawling that site. That seems to be logical explanation of why it started just after we put up that banner. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 22:08, 14 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::::: Well, i personally think that Davidy is doing a great job with handling this spam situation, and he deserves a lot more credit than what he's getting. So thanks, Davidy, for making sure the site is still functional. P.S. Sorry about the lack of signature. i just joined the channel today and i haven't figured everything out yet. {{unsigned|Flamewolf}}<br />
::::::::If I were doing a good job, there wouldn't be spam to clean up in the first place. I'm trying a bunch of things but the spammers are fairly smart. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:27, 18 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:This thread has gone too deep, I'm coming out to first level. ;-) Alright, you could try couple of things. You first want to know where the spammers are coming from and if you can stop them at source. You might have to add tracking on what previous site is the user coming from. If all spam bots are coming from single source, we could request the source site that links us to modify/hide their links. Second, are the spam accounts posting from different IPs every time ? Otherwise you could place a temporary IP based ban. Third, I'm interested in knowing why the bots are creating accounts while they could edit the pages anonymously. This might tell us about the algorithm they are using. And how are accounts treated differently than anon users ? Do they not get captcha while posting ? In which case, you could enable captacha's for users with accounts as well. EDIT: I'm the same guy as the OP of this thread (IP : 199.27.130.216). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.153|108.162.245.153]] 11:18, 19 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:And in case you haven't seen this, take a look at [[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Combating_spam this mediawiki page]] about spam fighting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.153|108.162.245.153]] 11:27, 19 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Another observation by looking at recent changes / deletion log, half the edits seem to be by bots, while half of them appear as if real people are behind this. There are companies out there that take contracts to and employ people to manually circumvent the spam protection strategies. If this is the case, we need a different strategy. That's why it's so important to know the nature of spammers and what are they using.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.153|108.162.245.153]] 11:48, 19 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:To be honest, i've had an idea for maybe stopping or slowing this. Maybe we could find a way to trace where all these accounts are coming from and block that place's IP from connecting to the website? --[[User:Flamewolf|Flamewolf]] ([[User talk:Flamewolf|talk]]) 15:26, 19 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Alright, so, we're using cloudflare as a CDN and intermediary for traffic for performance reasons, and they obscure IP addresses. There's a fix that we've yet to implement, but something always seems to get in the way in real life. IP banning is a little weak because of this. Users with accounts also get CAPTCHA'd, until they are at least 3 days old and have at least 10 edits. I'm not sure why the spambots make accounts, besides gunking up our database with more garbage. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:00, 20 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:: Hey, good job! Whatever steps you took, seem to be working. Spam is nowhere to be seen. [[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:RecentChanges Recent changes]] are all clean. Well done ! :) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.216|199.27.130.216]] 05:38, 22 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::The last thing I changed was a permissions thing shutting off talk page creation for new users. Now that's over with, I'm going to have to dive back into that mess of a discussion over the tagline again. Blergh, with finals coming up too. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:54, 23 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Question about spam ==<br />
<br />
If I see spam on a talk page, such as what is present on the current comic's talk page, should I delete it? I don't want to get in trouble for messing with other people's posts. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 13:31, 20 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Spambots aren't people, go nuts. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:25, 20 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
::I just spotted this [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1613:_The_Three_Laws_of_Robotics&oldid=112929 spam] where the entire [[1613]] was deleted. I had just added something today, and found it was missing. I have of course corrected it, but could there be more? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:52, 20 February 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Creation of disussion pages for new comics ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy22. I have recently seen at least two cases where people wish to make a comment on a new comic, but cannot because the page has no been created (and they do not have the right to do so). For instance I even had [[User_talk:Kynde#Please_create_the_discussion_page_for_today.27s_comic.|a message]] from someone who could see I was making changes (I guess). Would it be possible for the BOT to create the discussion page empty like I did here [[Talk:1654: Universal Install Script]], with a not shown reminder about signing comments? That would help some users of explain xkcd who do not wish to make a user account. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:45, 11 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, I can leave a message in dgbrt's talk page. I'll push him the changes needed to make it happen as well. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:51, 11 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Great, it would help some of the early users :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:22, 12 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::Hi Davidy22 and hi [[User:Kynde|Kynde]]. Sorry, I'm late. Please check my talk page for further progress.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:46, 30 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Hi Davidy does the boot not work at all now? Posted a reply on [[User_talk:Dgbrt#Making_discussion_pages|Dgbrt's talk page]]. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:06, 11 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Errors in counting "known appearances" for characters ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy22. I have seen this error more than once, and today with a comic featuring [[Danish]] it once again became very clear that something was wrong (impossible to spot for Cueball and the other main characters). On her page it says 16 know appearances. But on the page [[:Category:Comics featuring Danish]] it says 18, and even though one of these are the main page (which will change Wednesday when the next comic is released) there is one too few in the count. Maybe it will correct it self later? I think I have seen the same for [[Hair Bun Girl]] but her count is up to date now. But it is typically on the release days that people would pass these pages, so it is a shame if it first works later. Just so you can check it out, and if you know what's going on let me know ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:08, 21 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:So, the way the explanation on the main page works, we take the number in [[Template:LATESTCOMIC]] and find the page that is named that number. Every comic in this wiki must have a correspoding page for their number that redirects to the comic explanation to make the forward/backward buttons work and for the main page to automatically point to the latest explanation without need for us to allow bots to modify the main page directly. The entire text of the explanation is included in the main page in this process, including categories. The [[Template:comic discussion|discussion template]] actually has a check for the title of the current page, and it doesn't render if it's the main page. We can do a similar thing to prevent categories from being assimilated into the main page, create a template that inserts the check around the categories and have a bot remove the template when the comic isn't the newest one anymore. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:47, 26 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
::That would be great. Guess you have more important things on your mind right now. Such a shame this should happen when this crazy april fool came out. It probably hinders some people in using this page to help explain. Good luck with making it work. I tried to read the post on the community page but did not really understand why it happened. It cannot be related to the Garden comic can it? And it was working fine all weekend. So nothing with April 1st either... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:14, 5 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::The traffic is slugging our servers around and making a bunch of things on the wiki weird. I'm trying to alleviate the symptoms, but stuff like styles not working is the traffic's fault. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:46, 6 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::So because people come in here due to the Garden comic there is so much run on Explain for a work week that it is still not working? If that is true Randall has done it again with his Nerd sniping! And yes I'm very guilty and would have been smeared all over the side walk by the truck had it been Black Hat rather than Randall who did this to me ;-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:53, 8 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Wiki continuity ==<br />
<br />
Hey - I noticed that neither of the two 'crats have been active since mid-late 2015. Have you been in contact with them? People may come and go from a wiki, but it'd be a shame to lose contact with the only folks who have the ability to promote admins. A wiki-reader, ''[[User:Philosopher|Philosopher]]'' <sup>[[User talk:Philosopher|Let us reason together.]]</sup> 01:32, 24 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I do actually keep in touch with [[User:Jeff|Jeff]] still, but Lcarsos is AWOL as far as I know. Jeff and I have server access, and I technically could make myself a beauracrat if I wanted to, I just wanted Jeff to be ok with it first and never asked. Jeff is still alive though, and I can get him to promote an admin if the community ever agrees that a user should be upgraded. I'm looking at kynde in particular, he does a lot here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:47, 26 March 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Hey thanks Davidy. I'm not sure I'm up for the task though. I do actually not know that much about computers or what it means being an admin on such a page here. But I really appreciate the thought and the notice. Funny that Jeff wrote the note of the 100 mil. views only six days after the post from Philosopher. I had not heard about Jeff before, but read about him after that. Oh and also spotted that DGBRt works on the bot making auto discussion pages. Maybe it works here on April 1st (a comic I'm looking much forward to. Where is it. It's noon in Europe I cannot wait any longer ;-)--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:50, 1 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::Hi Davidy. As you can obviously see I have been contributing quite a lot to explain xkcd lately. But it is time I took a break as I simply have spend too much time on xkcd... So I will take a break at least for the rest of 2016 from posting here. I hope to return later. Since I plan to stop completely from contributing after this post, I thought I at least would let someone know that it was a choice ;-) Best regards --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:27, 14 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::Thanks for all the work you've put in here, have a good holiday and I hope you'll be able to come back some time soon. You do good work here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 17:21, 14 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hi Davidy. Thanks for those words. I will not be back to me normal amount of editing, but I will start to contribute again some times. Just did on the [[2017]] comic. Nice to be back. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:25, 2 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::::Oh, good to see you back already. Take your time with it, don't burn yourself out on editing. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:06, 4 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Complaining about Dbgrt:<br />
:Hi Davidy. I'm a bit tired of what happens lately with no. four top contributor back in the warzone. I would like to write something to you about why I feel I might end up taking another (longer?) break due to this... I hope you still would be sad to see me go, but these last few weeks it has been more with dread than enjoyment I come to these pages to see what has been written about my edits... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:55, 7 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
::By the way just read through [[Talk:1806: Borrow Your Laptop]]. I have said a lot of what I have been thinking there now... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:31, 8 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::I've had problems with dgbrt and other users before, I'll look into it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:15, 9 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::Thanks. It is developing into a heated discussion between mainly Dgbrt and the rest... I'm sure I also sometimes make bad edits, and could cause problems... But at the moment Dgbrt seems to believed I had agreed with him on his other points rather than just the transcript. I tried to write that it was the tone and style that provoked me (and it seems others). And also that he seems to wish different style than the others involved at the moment. He claims there are many who have issues with the current style, but apart from the transcript I have not seen many examples, and none that he links to. Mainly it is to be expected that those who has issues write, and those that have not are much less likely to write that they like something. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:08, 10 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hi again. I'm really getting sooo tired of the way Dgbrt writes to my edits (and others). So I have now written an angry reply to him here [[Talk:1805:_Unpublished_Discoveries]], and explained to him that I have also complained to you directly. Because it is just not OK to become personal because I missed a "]" or write as I explain in my comment on that talk page. Hope you will find time to do something about it before he scares other editors than me away! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:06, 13 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::::Hope you will soon find time Davidy, because it just gets more and more out of hand between the two of us. I had not been back to edit since the March 11th until today (long time for me when a new comic was up yesterday), because I'm really getting depressed by the way Dgbrt acts. See his comment (and my reply) to my admission that I had talked to you here in the link above. As I said he scrutinizes everything I do and find it lacking. If I think I'm improving something he says I have ruined other peoples work, but he also just undos others work as well... I see that you also undid one of his undoings as your most recent edit here... For the newest comic [[1810]] I really believed I only followed the consensus in the discussion and made some really nice additions, in my opinion of course. I hardly deleted any info, but moved it around. And then almost instantly I [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk%3AKynde&diff=137247&oldid=136552 get this message]. And again he only looks at the red not at what I have actually written. When deleting a paragraph or moving around everything turns red. This is thus the second time in a row he goes after my edits like this. I have almost not looked at what he have done to my many edits from this weekend, but the one I for other reasons did look at today [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1803:_Location_Reviews&action=history he had undone]. I redid it, but to what purpose...? I'm really sad that it has come to this, and have no proof yet that it is other than Dgbrt that has anything in general against my edits. Though he keeps claiming so. Of course there will be some negative comments, but he writes as if he knows that many other editors dislike what I do. Maybe I should have agreed to be an admin back then... ;-) well probably not when I end up in such a stupid edit war :/ --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:14, 14 March 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Current lack of styles etc. ==<br />
<br />
You obviously have more access than me, but simply turning on Chrome's Developer Tools shows all ''load.php'' script and style references are returning 404 status, but when you go to those references directly in a new tab they all display "No input file specified.".<br />
<br />
And for me, the site doesn't seem to be slow in any way that would suggest lots of load.<br />
<br />
[[User:Markhurd|Mark Hurd]] ([[User talk:Markhurd|talk]]) 16:04, 18 April 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:A simple search at google gave me this: [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Load.php Manual:Load.php]. So someone with access to the server has to edit the file ".htaccess". If this doesn't help I would need the log-files from the server for further investigations. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:47, 7 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
::It was permissions, didn't change htaccess when the problems started. Had a good few red herrings, figured it out eventually. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:00, 17 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::Looks much better now. Thanks! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:01, 17 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The current incomplete explanation in the spotlight is not incomplete. (Help us fix it!) ==<br />
<br />
Every page says "The current incomplete explanation in the spotlight is 1338: Land Mammals. Help us fix it!"<br />
<br />
But 1338: Land Mammals doesn't have an incomplete notice, and the list of all complete pages does not list 1338: Land Mammals.<br />
<br />
I think someone removed the incomplete status from 1338: Land Mammals but no one picked a new one for the spotlight.<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.131|108.162.215.131]] 03:16, 5 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Thanks for reminding me, I'll get better about checking on that. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:01, 17 May 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Category that should be deleted ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy22. When [[1724]] came up someone added the [[:Category:Axiom of Choice]]. That took this category up to three. But I believe this may be warranted to keep that category. But I'll leave that to you. You deleted one I made once with three comics [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Ba%27al&action=edit&redlink=1 Category:Ba'al] (see [[1419: On the Phone]]).<br />
<br />
But there was another category: [[:Category:Set theory]], which only referred to the two old Axiom of Choice comics and then as an under category had the Axiom of Choice category. So it was redundant. So I have removed any references to this category and moved relevant text to the axiom of choice.<br />
<br />
So I will suggest that the set theory category page is deleted as with Ba'al. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:12, 7 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Oh, how'd I miss that. Removed both categories, the axiom of choice category was too narrow and too infrequent to merit a category page. Thanks for telling me. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:56, 10 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
::I guess it is hard to keep up with all that happens here. I have made several new categories but now try to wait for at least five entries. For instance [[:Category:Google Glass]] and [[:Category:Climate change]] are recent addition, the latter very actual you could say with [[1732]]... And then I also just added [[Blondie]] and [[:Category:News anchor]] as new categories. I rephrased all three axiom of choice comics to refer to each other rather than to the category, so there is no loss of data for deleting both those categories. Let me know if you think I create too narrow categories. But as soon as there are more than five of anything, it become very tedious to refer back to each of them from each comic and a category is much to prefer. And with five already the chance that Randall soon add more comics is realistic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:20, 13 September 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
New category to delete. Maybe there should be a category but not with this hopeless name: [[:Category:Comics featuring the floating sphere from the future]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:18, 19 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Done '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:48, 19 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Great. Now that we know it was only a two comic series I have made a new category for that series: [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere]]. I have also made a chronological list on the [[:Category:Comic series]] of each series to see how special this new series was in it's release schedule. There have been similar series, but never just like this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:49, 25 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
----<br />
<br />
== Why do you keep disorganizing my comments? ==<br />
I've run into the instance where I would leave a comment on a page and then get an email later, only to find out it was just you moving my comments around. I know you told me posts like this were supposed to follow a chronological order, but comments don't need to (nor do they have to) follow a chronological order, so why do you keep disorganizing my comments and put them all the way at the bottom of the page (even when they are in chronological order or mine aren't the only comments out of order, yet you move only mine anyways)? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 22:45, 10 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:They do actually go in order. You break chronology when replying to a comment, and you signify that with indentation, but otherwise the custom on wikis is that new comments and comment threads go to the bottom. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:04, 10 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
::If they go in chronological order, then why don't others follow that formula? Because on the same thread (and others) I've noticed out-of-order comments. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 23:13, 10 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::Every top level comment goes in chronological order. The exception is when you're replying to another comment. Everyone else puts new top level comments at the bottom of the talk page. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:33, 11 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::I was talking about top level comments. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:10, 11 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::::And they should be in time order. Minor mistakes happpen sometimes, but posting straight to the top is just deliberately disregarding the flow of comments. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:41, 11 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Current incomplete explanation ==<br />
<br />
The "current incomplete explanation in the spotlight" has been the same for 5 months now and the last edit was almost a month ago.<br />
May I suggest to either (a) mark the comic as complete and move on or (b) put a different comic in the spotlight and send this one back to the backlog?<br />
<br />
Pro (a): All regular visitors who are willing to edit have probably read the notice, visited the explanation multiple times and simply don't have anything more to add at this point and won't be re-reading everything again.<br />
<br />
Pro (b): If the comic comes into spotlight again at a later date, people are more likely to click on it because it's different from their last visit and they may actually go through with re-reading everything.<br />
<br />
P.S. What's the criteria for completion on a comic like this where you can essentially explore a whole world and write about pretty much anything in it?<br />
--[[User:7he3rain|7he3rain]] ([[User talk:7he3rain|talk]]) 10:50, 17 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I don't want to just mark it as complete when I can't say that it is, I'll just change the comic. This kind of stuff does happen with the larger comics though, the pages get really unwieldy and they're older pages that people aren't necessarily interested in. I think there's a fairly good criteria for completion for 1608, set by the very large table, but it's an awful long way off still. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 19:46, 17 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Yep mostly my work and I lost interest and time when other big comics came out. I would like to complete it but it is a big task. There are also other reasons given for why it is incomplete. And so it should not be marjed as complete. But yes maybe it should be changed to another comic in the searchlight? Which has already happened. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:16, 19 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Signature concerns ==<br />
I have tried numerous times, and I don't know if it's because I'm an idiot or not, but I cannot find a way to make a signature for my page. I've tried codes and other things in the 'new signature' bar, but all it does is replace 'JayRulesXKCD' with the code I typed before... What am I doing wrong? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:34, 9 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Signature for your page? You mean a custom signature, right? You want to put <nowiki>{{SUBST:User:JayRulesXKCD/sig}}</nowiki> in the new signature box, then make a page containing the signature. You can view mine for a template. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:11, 9 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Yes. I meant a custom signature. Thank you. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:10, 10 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Falsehoods ==<br />
<br />
>I'm not willing to keep making points that you'll brush off as false and state your own claims as true<br />
<br />
It is literally the other way round. It is you who declare that 'signing' is good and I whose examples how it isn't you consistently ignore and vocally state that I have failed to provide. In light of this eerie brand of apparent self-victimization of yours, it doesn't seem to make much sense any longer to point out the nonsense of how you claim to have to 'clean mess' while the 'mess' in question is literally just freedom from screen clutter.<br />
<br />
>this talk page is now locked for anonymous users<br />
<br />
In a way befitting of an admin who spoke almost exclusively in falsehoods over this whole 'discussion', this is literally false as well. The page is locked to regular users as well. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.245}}<br />
:The talk page is locked for user accounts under 10 days old and with less than 10 edits in other places. It's the same protection level used for page creation. I used it on the talk page because in addition to yur willful refusal to recognize or follow site rules, there were multiple other anonymous users who were behaving poorly towards other users, for whom banning was also going to prove ineffective because of shifting IP addresses. I'm not going to waste unpaid volunteer time dealng with people who think they're being clever defying formatting rules on internet forums because they think 20 additional charaters of information is discussion crippling clutter. If you're going to waste my time on my talk page as well, I'm going to raise privilege levels here. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 22:36, 10 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:: >yur willful refusal to recognize<br />
:: Not only did I recognize them, I also explained why you made them, why they damage the community, why you're refusing to admit that they damage the community, how you refuse to acknowledge any of the prior, and how you repeatedly vocally deny that I have explained all of the prior (owing to your discussion style, much of it more than once). Also, stellar job using the word 'other' in two so different contexts: first by implying that I am 'behaving poorly', and second, that no one behaved poorly towards me. To anyone who might read this comment, [[ Talk:1756: I'm With Her |search the page for the word 'civility' for the extent to which I abused other users]]. (Also, if you had a modicum of decency, you would have made a template explaining that owing to the page having been locked, any threads left unfinished do not reflect one of the participant deserting them, but just your interruption. But then, we've already established that it's not the site that you're caring about here.) (Oh, and shave your talkpage, it's fucking disgusting.) <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> {{unsigned ip|198.41.243.238}}<br />
:::Damage is some kind of hyperbole to use to describe a convention so baked into wiki discussion, there's a rendered shortcut for it baked into the software. Also, you're not the only offender on the talk page, the whole page was locked for anonymous users because you, some of the users you were conversing with, and certain other people throwing slurs at randall and admins were on changing IP addresses, making blocks impossible for behavior that would typically justify temporary blocks. This is a problem with IP users in general, and letting anonymous users comment is a motion of trust that the user won't deliberately ignore written rules while swearing at admins through the protection of being impossible to ban. You are not the only reason the page is locked, though the time I wasted on you certainly contributed to the decision. I've issued an ineffective ban on a commenter on the page already, and the discussion is far off topic in multiple branches of your comment trees and aggressive sporadically throughout. The page is locked so that moderation can actually happen, and because anonymous users haven't shown their best side today. Also, your tendency to assert that statements you disagree with are unequivocally false is very irritating. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:36, 11 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
::::Great response Davidy - and very polite compared to what you faced. By the way also interesting to hear what happens behind the curtain for an admin. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:03, 28 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Sad comic trivia ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy.<br />
<br />
As you can see I'm back editing. Specifically I have been busy connecting the sad post Trumps election comics and have made the post as a trivia to [[1790: Sad]] - see [[1790#Sad_comics|here]].<br />
<br />
I would like to hear your opinion on the placement. I do not think these comics fit into a category as their relation needs to be seen in a broader light that I have tried to shine here. But maybe a separate page could be created, but I really do not know what to call it. Sad comics in general would also cover lots of other comics especially many of the cancer comics. So Sad Comics alone would not do it. Also Trump should not be part of the name, as Randall has as far as I know never mentioned his name in his comics yet? But to me it is crystal clear that the comic is either a direct reaction to the election or to peoples behavior online (or around Randall). Although I'm quite sure he is sad about the way politic is going especially with his concern for global warming.<br />
<br />
When I first made the trivia someone deleted it entirely, but it was also just a short sum up of those three other comics [[Blame]], [[Negativity]] and [[1779: 2017|2017]]. Now I have also included he [[I'm With Her]] as it seems to have started the series of sad comics. But I think it is important for the understanding of these comics to have them collected somewhere, and if they are sad, then a comic called [[Sad]] seems to be the right place if no single page would do. <br />
<br />
What do you think about this, and about my current trivia on Sad's page?<br />
:--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:57, 28 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Given the absence direct references to Trump in the comic, I would refrain from implicating him until Randall makes it explicitly clear that he's talking about Trump. The portions that talk about other comics' relation to Trump definitely fall outside the scope of the explanation page for 1790 and their removal was probably appropriate. Also, the word sad is a little tenuous of a link to trump and 1761, 1773 and 1779 all seem like similarly loose connections. They all depict feelings that may result from the election, but are not necessarily directly connected or caused by the election and linking them in a category or section for this and not other, older comics showing sadness is going to be difficult to support in the future. Also, constructing links between miscellaneous comics to Trump when none of them directly reference Trump seems like taking a side when we as a wiki should be firmly neutral. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:05, 29 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::Hi Davidy. Thanks for the constructive critique. What about the release days in relation the the election, the electoral college vote, new year (of the year he will be president) and finally the first comic after his first real workday. Personally I'm not in any doubt that his sad comics is a result of the election. Maybe they reflect more on other peoples sadness than Randall's own, but with the [[1732]] comic in mind I'm sure he is not only worried about the wall and Muslims banned from the states, but really really worried about the global warming that Trump will help increase. And he has made a direct comic related to his opinion on Trump in I'm With Her. By placing it in a trivia people can also choose not to read it, and I find that the increase in such sad comics is very relevant. I do not remember any real sad comics the year before his election.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:31, 29 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::PS Just ran through the all comics a year back from I'm with her (or rather Blame) and on from blame. There are four depressing in those last 30 comics Blame included. The only remotely sad or disturbing comic in the 157 a year back from Blame is the global warming comic I just linked above here. And that is not really sad because it is also funny. But the end is scary. Also I checked the 15 pages listed under cancer. I would only say five of those are sad, the other are mainly funny or just something to be thoughtful of. The five sad comics came out over a range of 324 comics [[818]] in November 2010 until [[1141]] November 2012. SO instead of four in just three months it was only five over two years and on a subject he had real cause to be sad, negative or worried about. So I think it is very relevant for explain xkcd to note this increase in sad comics. Of course there could have been other sad comics in between those, but I just don't remember many comics like this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:59, 29 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::The difference between the cancer category and these comics that may or may not have something to do with Trump is that there are explicit references to cancer in the comics in the cancer category. It takes some amount of inference to link those four comics to Trump, and they aren't necessarily linked to the election. They may typify things that Randall noticed after the election, but they can be used in vastly different contexts and the correlation does not necessarily indication causation. The only comic among the five in the trivia section that genuinely merits a sizeable amount of of text on trump is [[1756]], because he's actually directly relevant to the comic. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 20:24, 29 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hmmm. So would you suggest to remove it completely from the trivia. I could put it on my own page as a theory and link people with interest to it from the comics talk pages. Or would it be enough to remove Trump references and then keep the four sad negative comics as a worth of mentioning due to the fact that they do seem to take a negative view of the world which is not usually Randall's style. I'm of course sad... because I put a lot of work into that section. Just like I just did with the so far empty transcript of [[1461:_Payloads]] (not that much though!). See by the way an interesting [[1461:_Payloads#Trivia|trivia]] I found regarding that comic and the transcript on xkcd for said comic. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 01:03, 30 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::::Personal interpretation of a comic or loose perceived links between comics are what the discussion section is for. If users want to discuss speculative links between comics that aren't necessarily mentioned within the comic itself, they should do it in the discussion page and not the comic explanation. I'm usually actually somewhat against trivia because the kind of content that gets inserted in such a section is usually better suited to the discussion page, but it's sometimes appropriate. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:48, 30 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::::OK- I have moved it away from Sad which is not about Trump. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:51, 3 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Oversized texting ==<br />
Hi David, I would like to see your opinion on this topic [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kynde#Transcript_TLDR.3B]. And then I found this (also done by Kynde): [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=xkcd&diff=134457&oldid=109437]. It really needs a major rework. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:37, 17 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I'll take a look, swamped right now. Quick skim seems to tell me that kynde is somewhat compromising, though the solution he's chosen seems to be employing slightly needless cruft. I'll comment when I get back to my desk. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:34, 18 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
::Hi Dgbrt and Davidy22. <br />
::I have tried to change the latest transcripts according to Zetfr's comments. <br />
::And yes I did realize that my changes to the [[xkcd]] page was way too much on that specific page. And that was also why I removed most of the content to other specialized pages (maybe there is still too much in the [[xkcd#History|xkcd history]]?) <br />
::I did this before I saw the comment Dgbrt made about it to me [[User_talk:Dgbrt#xkcd_page_and_more|on his page]]. That was where I had begun a thread [[User_talk:Dgbrt#Transcript_and_other_features|Transcript and other features]] because I was ''really happy how our transcript discussion went in the end''... I guess we were not on the same page there though :/ <br />
::I'm sorry we are taking your precious time with our problems. I just wish to get as much information about correlations between comics etc. on xkcd into this wiki. Maybe it will not always end in the right place?<br />
::For that same reason I did not understand why Dgbrt's new category for comics where Randall has mentioned explain xkcd was not interesting enough (it just needed a better title IMHO), as I also [[User_talk:Dgbrt#Keep_it_compact|just wrote]] to Dgbrt. <br />
::I will not do any further edits regarding the issues mentioned here above though, before hearing from you guys. <br />
::Best regards --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:52, 20 February 20 don't understand a comic17 (UTC)<br />
:::People come here because they don't understand a comic or part of a comic. First up, information that was found in metadata that otherwise has nothing to do with the comic is about as interesting to visitors as the [[773|letter from the president]] on a university website. A similar deal with the transcript, there are details that don't particularly contribute to comprehension of the comic that a blind person probably doesn't need to hear about, although you seem to have resolved your issues there. Explaining concepts used in a comic is useful, though you should try to use the <nowiki>{{w}}</nowiki> template where possible, as wikipedia is going to just be a better format for learning about something, and they'll remain up to date better than we probably can. It also has the side effect of cutting the length of explanations and leaving the extra reading to people who really want it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:59, 24 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
::::I disagree. There are also many people coming here investing many hours to write the big explains. Why just not let them know that Randall recognizes and mention this. The JSON pages a no secret content; but since many people don't know it has to be explained. And, why do not make those editors a little bit proud about their work. I will talk to [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] about a different approach on this issue.<br />
::::Since you have not reacted on all the massive enhancements by Kynde on the [[xkcd]] pages I will also discuss this with himself.<br />
::::I'm hoping you will have a little bit more time in the future on such issue and not just pressing the UNDO button.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:47, 24 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
:::::I concur with Dgbrt on the extra details, but maybe less in the main explanation. But trivia or sub pages etc I think it cool for those who use their time on these page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:22, 24 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== incomplete transcript 933 ==<br />
<br />
Hi, <br />
I saw you worked on 933, reverting and re-reverting. Do you think my way of transcript is ok and I can go on this way? Perhaps you can also give me some feedback or references to my approach for the 657 transcript? Anyway, is there a "how to" for transcripts? Thanks & best regards, LaVe--[[User:LaVe|LaVe]] ([[User talk:LaVe|talk]]) 19:37, 23 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Oh, your work is fine, I just misclicked on the rollback button. Continue as you were. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:59, 24 February 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Sitenotice ==<br />
<br />
Could the [[Mediawiki:Sitenotice|sitenotice]] be updated to randomly pull a comic from the [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|incomplete explanations category]]? There's an example of how to do this on {{w|Template:Random page in category|Wikipedia}}. And perhaps it could be set to update after a fixed interval of time - say, a week? It would be easier than updating it manually, and you could avoid situations where the highlighted "incomplete explanation" is no longer incomplete, but remains in the sitenotice.<br />
<br />
EDIT: Well, it seems that the second part is not really feasible. However, I still think the first part should be implemented. Instead of linking to a specific comic that could easily go stale, the sitenotice could just say "click here to see an incomplete comic" or something like that. The actual link would take you to a random incomplete comic using the aforementioned method. --[[User:Oneforfortytwo|Oneforfortytwo]] ([[User talk:Oneforfortytwo|talk]]) 05:18, 10 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Explain xkcd doesn't have the random in category special page (or dpl which could also be used), the sitenotice does need updating though. [[User:E^ipi|E^ipi]] ([[User talk:E^ipi|talk]]) 10:26, 10 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
::I wanted to do a specific comic so that people could focus on the large incomplete comics remaining, though at this stage there's not that many incomplete pages left, perhaps I could make it random. Getting brutalised by finals right now, will just change it for now '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 05:47, 13 June 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Ads that interrupt content ==<br />
<br />
In recent months there have been a number of users seeing massive ads right smack in the middle of the articles. These ads are extremely disruptive and are not acceptable by any means.<br />
<br />
The ads have since seemingly disappeared, so we thought an admin might have disabled them, however today I see them again.<br />
<br />
Please take a look: [[Talk:2220: Imagine Going Back in Time/Ads]]<br />
<br />
--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 23:21, 11 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I actually don't know when the site got moved to google ads, seems like it might be part of the mediawiki suite but I took my long abrupt hiatus somewhere between project wonderful going out of business and whenever the google ad plugin got added, don't even know if the server credentials are the same '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:57, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Set up X-Forwarded-For for correct IP address reporting ==<br />
<br />
This should be done server-side, as right now (and for a very long time) it's been reporting load balancer / cache IP addresses for all the users. With recent vandalism, it'd help. [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 22:21, 29 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Oh I remember this being a thing since way back when we went on a CDN. If I can still access the server and I find the time to take a look I could maybe '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:57, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Shutting down the crappifier==<br />
Thanks for deleting that common.js page<br />
[[User:Wafflefly21|Wafflefly21]] ([[User talk:Wafflefly21|talk]])<br />
:Heartily seconded. Many thanks David! [[User:Jrfarah|Jrfarah]] ([[User talk:Jrfarah|talk]]) 01:50, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Thanks as well, this is a lot better. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 12:39, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I've been away for a very long time, this looked like it really needed some attention though '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:57, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==do you have...==<br />
... any good mass-reversion tools so we can revert the "crap (x 5000)" pages [[User:Stilloes|When even the muppets were on xkcd.com]] ([[User talk:Stilloes|talk]]) 02:11, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I have better rollback options, done. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:44, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Are you back Davidy22? After five years. We have been missing admins on this page for years now...--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:10, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Oh word it's been a while, I remember your name well and you've apparently stuck around far more consistently than I have. I'm an admin, not a beaureaucrat, so I can't actually promote you myself but jeff's twitter is open and I'm sure he's still alive, he maybe remembers you and I can vouch for you too. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:17, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::We might need to assign some new admins (who meet the criteria to be an admin) that actually frequent the wiki. Having only one admin that is active is annoying, since we are limited by their availability. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 19:32, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::Yes I hope for some better admins than me, as I'm not very tech minded, and could have done nothing about the current situation. But it would be great if we could find a way to get hold of you in such cases. I'm not particularly interested in being an admin... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:23, 6 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== The vandalizer is back — please re-ban them ==<br />
<br />
Hello — just wanted to let you know that the vandalizer's back under the username "Ex Kay Cee Dee". Can you re-ban them? (Also, how is the vandal not getting CAPTCHA'd, lol?) [[User:PaintspotInfez|PaintspotInfez]] ([[User talk:PaintspotInfez|talk]]) 17:20, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:The user has enough edits that they are auto-captcha'd. Check discussions [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#Vandalism|here]]. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 19:40, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I could crank the autoconfirm minimum to make it a little more onerous to get past captcha permissions, and take away $wgAllowUserJs wiki wide. A little unfortunate for anyone who was using it for their theme/ui but looks like some people would like to make sure we can't have nice things. My server login from five years ago doesn't actually work anymore, which I kind of expected, so I'm going to have to get in contact with jeff again, with a new twitter account too because I deleted the twitter account that I used to message him with. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:28, 5 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Thanks for being here, first of all. But mainly you sound like you've got a gameplan, and I don't want to mention my ideas in case the guilty party can organise in advance how to get around them (or rather, chat on whatever darkweb forum they're getting advice from, I expect, because they show signs of being very unoriginal in many ways), so I expect you've got a few more things up your sleeve.<br />
:::I very much expect a repeat of (whatever possible) vandalism from the same moron, as soon as they can be bothered, of course. So I shall continue to do my bit to counter any, from this anonymous sideline, as much as I can. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.145|172.70.90.145]] 03:45, 5 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Can we please get some more active admins? [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 12:47, 5 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::I'm an admin, not a bureaucrat, so I can't actually make more admins. Pinged jeff on twitter to recommend kynde already to go with the the request for new server credentials/variable setting. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:44, 5 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::Ah, ok. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 15:25, 5 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::What could I have done if I was an admin? I'm not very tech minded and not sure I would be the best choice for admin in such cases like this. We need some of those that actively fought the crapper this time to become admin. Think they proved their worth already... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:27, 6 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::::I've been skimming edit logs and history and I've got my eye on the person who made the current comic update bot, theusaf. and the person who did the last revert script, jacky. Looks like they both joined fairly shortly after my unannounced hiatus, which is why I don't recognise them, but they've been around a good solid while it seems. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:37, 6 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== DAVID!! VANDALISM BOTS ARE IMMINENT! ==<br />
<br />
OH CRAP, Ex Kay Cee Dee is spamming everything, similar to last time. idk what else to say other than pls fix<br />
:It's likely the same user with an alt account. [[User:Marethyu|⟨Winter is coming⟩ Marethyu]] ([[User talk:Marethyu|talk]]) 19:31, 4 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Something for you to check? ==<br />
<br />
I just [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Crap&diff=264798&oldid=264797 reverted something], and I'm on my phone right now so not really in the best position to demunge it, but it looks like an attempt to socially-engineer a 'useful idiot' attack-by-proxy.<br />
<br />
If you know otherwise, then we could trust you (after checking for character-spoofing of your account, obviously), but I don't think it'll be legit at all. Ball's in your court. At least until I get home and dig into it myself at more leisure, but I couldn't use it myself anyway. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 17:19, 5 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Pushed it through a deobfuscator and it's still obtuse, it's not a quick obfuscation pass of jacky's revert script and there's a section of obtuse operations selecting characters out of a string "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789+/=" in a function that infinite loops when I copy paste it into a console and I don't have enough time in a day to walk through this to see what it does so I'm going to not restore it. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:05, 6 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I'm the one wrote it. It is based on Jacky's script, but it has a secret algorithm for detecting spam edits that it is very unlikely that the vandal will be able to reverse engineer and bypass. I obfuscated it so the vandal can't see how it works, and unfortunately I'm not willing to publicly give out more information, because much more could allow the vandal to figure it out. Anyway, it's no big deal that it's removed; Jacky's script could probably be adapted to most future bots, and my script is still available in the edit history. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.47|172.70.178.47]] 04:45, 6 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::As the (double-)reverter, perhaps I need to apologise. You just edit-conflicted my "what I thought about the submission, and why I thought it suspicious" message (which I spent a while snippeling back down mightily, before actually trying to post). At the core though, you should realise (if a legit helper) that the obfussing creates more suspicion than confidence. And 'secret algorithms' with the usage instructions you provided... Sorry, I would not personally risk it. Rang alarm bells.<br />
:::I did get some way into being a 'human interpreter' to your code, but hadn't yet got past enough 'munge' and onto the meat-and-two-veg to confirm either conclusion. So reserving my judgement. With all due respect, if you truly aren't "Ex Kay Cee Dee"/whoever, and I hope you appreciate my reasoning and (for what it's worth, to Davidy22 and the rest) my personal inclinations as to what colour hats are involved here.<br />
:::But I'll shut up, for now. Lest I be thought too self-indulgent. Hmmmm.. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.41|162.158.159.41]] 05:47, 6 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::It's me, the self-indulgant one, again. Now a quadruple-reverter.<br />
:::My arguments are basically:<br />
:::* We can't trust this code.<br />
:::* We can't trust you (presumably the same submitter, all four times).<br />
:::* We can't trust that, even ''if'' you have honestly written it for honest purposes, it does not contain unintended flaws. (c.f. The (original) Internet Worm, albeit locked into this site... One hopes!)<br />
:::* And we couldn't really fix it if we even knew that it was perfectly good except for some minor implementation error.<br />
:::And I know I'm just as unidentified as you (the other IP party in this little squabble, sorry Davidy22 for using your pages to make this conversation), but I'm not the person trying to get as many users as possible to run something from as many tabs as possible. I respectfully submit my opinion (take it or leave it) that the risks outweigh the claimed usefulness.<br />
:::We've fought the vandalism with manual and non-obfuscated scripts, previously. There's no reason to imagine that your solution is the necessary panacea, without which we are doomed. The opposite, however, is all too distinct a possibility.<br />
:::I'm being civil towards you, IP, because I'm open-minded enough to believe that you still haven't realised how much you are presenting several problematic aspects. I'm sorry if I'm rejecting a truly helpful effort. But consider the various better ways of making use of your benevolent insights, and I'm sure your help would be welcomed if presented in less problematic circumstances.<br />
:::If you're actually the bad-guy, then obviously you already know this, and are just going to be annoyed that you're found out. But then this means you have no valid arguments and my apologies are obviously moot. To ''this'' version of you, I invite you to just go away. Not that I'm under any illusion that this request would work. But I will still try to be polite about it, at least to your face. <br />
:::Ok. That'll do for now. I've made my point, and whoever wants to read it can read it and decide for themselves what sounds more right. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.64|172.70.86.64]] 00:34, 10 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::Just spent some time deobsfuscating the program. It is code for crapping pages. —[[User:Theusaf|theusaf]] ([[User talk:Theusaf|talk]]) 01:53, 10 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::Alright that saved me the effort that I already wasn't going to put in to walk through that hedge, semiprotected the page since there's probably not much good that's coming out of not doing so. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 02:06, 10 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== New users deluge ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy<br />
<br />
Is the many new users part of the spam and vandalism? <br />
<br />
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Log/newusers<br />
<br />
Looks crazy... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:08, 11 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I mean, it's been like that forever, hasn't it? It was certainly like that before I left, although I did a bunch of permissions stuff that stopped those accounts from generating actual spam before my long break. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:32, 11 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I'm real at least. I made an account to make it easier to roll back some of the vandalism. You can also find me on a few other wikis like Sarna. That does seem like an unusual amount of new users. I wonder if they are wanting them to age so that they can use them for mass edits later. [[User:Shockeray|Shockeray]] ([[User talk:Shockeray|talk]]) 19:09, 11 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::From my experience (long enough, without a username as I am) the volume and/or frequency is 'normal'.<br />
:::I believe ''mein host'' (upon whose page we are) has said elsewhere that procedures he put in place to prevent auto-spammers spamming are working - insofar as the accounts get created but then never get to do much of the commercial spam-stuff they were being created for.<br />
:::What's unusual, is that on the current view offered by the Log/newusers there are ''four'' (or so I spotted) such users without their Contrib being redlinked (i.e. they ''have'' contributed). I think you're one of them, Shockeray... TBH, I just skimmed to see if it had gone up by an order of magnitude. Which it hasn't.<br />
:::My habitual lurk on this site is via the "Recent pages" link (with 500 'most recent items', usually) to keep me abreast of interesting things and things of interest. And the single-entry representing all of the latest accounts (per calendar-day block) is an old, old friend but one that I don't feel the need to dig into too much.<br />
:::Noting that the latest troublesome account ("pants on fire", via emoji) was created a week or so ago and appeared to be a counter-vandal, IIRC (unless that was a different emoji-named account I'm remembering) and then showed itself to be controlled by the vandal anyway. Those accounts that have never posted are probably of no concern. Unless they start making subtle forays into doing so, maybe. Except for being a background level of resource-use. But I have no idea how much storage a Wiki has to reserve for unused feeler-accounts, etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.177|172.70.85.177]] 01:09, 12 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::If we check the edit log and sort by oldest, that account was made some days before the first automated vandalism wave that brought me back into activity, and their first edits were all vandalism. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:50, 12 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
==Why does the main page say "2616 comics" instead of "2618 comics"==<br />
[[User:Reerolmses|Reerolmses]] ([[User talk:Reerolmses|talk]]) 01:30, 12 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:One of those (that doesn't exist) ''may'' be 404. But (whether or not), there are occasional glitches in the totalling system. Check which number(s) will not apparently count towards the total? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.109|162.158.159.109]] 01:43, 12 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::One is 404, which is permanently invalid, and the other one is fixed now. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:50, 12 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::I think that is wrong. [[404]] is listed here: [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:All_comics&pagefrom=0401%0A401%3A+Large+Hadron+Collider#mw-pages List of comics]. And that list counts all comics, but the total on the front page is one lower... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:43, 14 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::Front page has a line to subtract to account for 404. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:42, 15 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== New admins ==<br />
<br />
Hi Davidy. Seems you need to push Jeff if he should add us other two up for [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Coordination#New_admins being approved as Admin]? It is four days ago I accepted and same with Jacky720 --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:46, 14 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:He sometimes takes a little while to respond, pinged again. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:42, 15 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks. I'm not on twitter. But I could create an account, if that would enable us to write directly. And would make it possible for me as admin to get in contact with you or Jeff, in case there are some issues with this site, and in case you again take a longer break from looking here ;-) We have had some serious troubles with long down time in between, with no one of the users here, knowing if the page would get back up again, and having no one to ask, and no one that made any comment on why and how it got up again. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:53, 15 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::I now have a twitter account. I found only one person by searching on Davidy22. But That was a new account. How do we connect... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:05, 15 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::davidy22 was taken, I made davidy2222, it's brand new, I don't really use twitter for anything but pinging jeff and but you can dm me if you need me. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 04:03, 16 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::I'm new to twitter... Found you there. Cannot write to you... Do not know what "dm" means? Get this message "David @davidy2222 can’t be messaged" Still waiting for Jeff to make the other two of your suggestions into admins. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:34, 18 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Vandalbots ==<br />
<br />
Thank you for stopping the vandal! If that happens again, would you please not delete the JS files? The vandal probably saves them anyway, and leaving them up would make development of counter-bots simpler. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 23:30, 16 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:If you really want to see them, they're always available in the deletion log. Also, just wanted to say, I'm a proud homosexual and Black Lives Matter. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 23:34, 16 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Only admins can see deleted pages; others can only see short excerpts in log entries. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 23:37, 16 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I'm not comfortable with archiving the vandalcode, personally. There's little benefit to knowing ''exactly'' what common.js caused something (with such obvious footprints of what it has done, with nary a sign of finesse or adaptive intelligence imbued within) and all too much opportunity for a completely unrelated potential copycat to opportunistically copypasta a script that they don't even understand.<br />
:It's not like we're up against a [[810: Constructive|sophisticated]] vandalism, after all.<br />
:(The chances are that it's the same idiot each time, what with other little clues they seem not to help leaving around, but the bar is ''really'' low for someone else to become the next incarnation.)<br />
:More than that, it seems a bit 'meta', even for us. Document the ins and outs of the changing appearance of the comic frontpage (hello Kynde, et al!) is a decent sideline for this wiki, beyond merely ''explain''ing the ''xkcd'' jokes, but once you start canonising (to coin a phrase) the various things that happened to this very wiki (<nowiki>http://explainexplainxkcd.com/wiki</nowiki>, anyone?), then it's a level or two beyond merely the self-authored User:page potted biogs, etc, that we might expect and embrace. IMO. YMMV. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 00:23, 17 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:(PS: Oh, come on... Only two of the CAPTCHA squares had bicycles in them. I looked carefully, and I'm sure. But you insist there's more. Rather than click on the motorbikes' square (probably where it is itself mistaken!) I'm going to add to my edit and wait for the challenge to expire... as it now has... and see what fresh hell it'll ask me to identify the next time round.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 00:23, 17 May 2022 (UTC) (PPS. Buses. 6 of them. Typing this quickly to not lose that verification...)<br />
<br />
== Blocked IP ==<br />
<br />
You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reason:<br />
<br />
Your IP address has been automatically blocked because it was used by another user, who was blocked by Davidy22. The reason given is:<br />
<br />
Autoblocked because your IP address has been recently used by "MeaganGilson8".<br />
<br />
The reason given for MeaganGilson8's block is ""<br />
<br />
Start of block: 08:57, 19 May 2022<br />
Expiration of block: 08:57, 20 May 2022<br />
Intended blockee: 172.70.126.215<br />
<br />
You may contact Davidy22 or one of the other administrators to discuss the block.<br />
<br />
Note that you may not use the "email this user" feature unless you have a valid email address registered in your user preferences and you have not been blocked from using it.<br />
<br />
Your current IP address is 172.70.126.215, and the block ID is #10010. Please include all above details in any queries you make.<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.119|108.162.216.119]] 21:45, 19 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Spam Bot ==<br />
<br />
<br />
This user,<br />
[[Special:Contributions/Explain xkcd server admin]], is replacing entire pages contents with the word "crap." Been trying to revert their changes, but seems to be a bot. They've changed thousands of pages. <br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.124|172.70.131.124]] 00:29, 21 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical]] ==<br />
<br />
This noticeboard seems unattended for years and there are serious technical issues that should be brought up.. I know you have contact with Jeff, who I imagine is the sysadmin, so if possible please relay my message at [[explain xkcd:Community portal/Technical#Please update MediaWiki + AbuseFilter]]. [[User:CRLF|CRLF]] ([[User talk:CRLF|talk]]) 00:49, 21 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I've already requested revocation of $wgallowuserjs for regular users, but jeff hasn't checked his twitter in a while. Gonna try email in a bit. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 11:22, 21 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Problems again with vandals ==<br />
Hi Davidy. Hope you sees this. There is some big issues on the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal community portal] and also other pages, so a large image of an old comic blocks everything from being seen. Even your talk page. A Donald Trump account, that I have now blocked was crapping 1000 of pages also. Do not know if he has something to do with this other part as well, but it makes it hard to discuss it as we cannot see the community pages or your talk page... We still need a way for me to get into contact with you, in case you fail to spot these post on your page here... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:49, 26 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Well the image thing seems to have been fixed, it was probably some cage issue. But there is still tons of pages crapped, but seems like other users have reverted all of them already. Great... I was alerted here about [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/User_talk:Kynde#Block_User:Donald_Trump Trump user]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:57, 26 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Been in the back helping jeff get server side things sorted, you should be able to fix anything from the recent changes page via rollback without having to see the vandalised page. The twitter account you followed was the right one, I don't actually check it but I get email pings when jeff DMs me there so your DMs should also email ping me. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 03:51, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Lost Account? ==<br />
<br />
I do have access to most of my old email addresses from 2013 as I can see that's the last time my account was accessed but for the life of me I can't remember which one I was using at the time, especially under the username of PheagleAdler which I am still using across the internet today. And naturally I also forgot the password. (hey cut me some slack it's been 9 years lol)<br />
<br />
I was wondering if maybe you could look into this for me, I could send all my known email addresses to you privately if possible and you could match it to the account. I'm actually surprised it's not the one I tried when I clicked Forgot Password but who the hell knows what I was thinking in 2013.<br />
:Huh, I think I actually remember your name, been a hefty while. Looking at registered emails isn't among the powers that an admin has and I also lost access to the server after a long long bout of inactivity, currently only jeff can look around the guts, you can ping him see if he can help you. '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:35, 27 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Mierda ==<br />
<br />
Why did you block Mierda? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.105|172.70.130.105]] 03:27, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Obvious alt '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:59, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
::How could you tell that? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.195|172.70.130.195]] 13:52, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::"Mierda" means "crap" or "shit" in Spanish. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.63|172.70.230.63]] 14:16, 29 May 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Sockpuppet ==<br />
<br />
[[User:Κραππερ]] edited the Admin Request board in a manner consistent with [[User:Anticrap]], asking how to fight vandalism. Also note that their username is Greek and transliterates to "crapper". As such, I think it is very likely that this is a sockpuppet. Thank you for your time.<br />
<br />
Edit: Also likely sockpuppets: [[User:Εχπλαιν ξκκδ]] (Explain XKCD), [[User:Vανδαλβανε]] (Vandalbane), [[User:Dookie]], and [[User:CrapZap]].<br />
:Yeah done '''[[User:Davidy22|<u>{{Color|#707|David}}<font color=#070 size=3>y</font></u><font color=#508 size=4>²²</font>]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:08, 30 May 2022 (UTC)</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2420:_Appliances&diff=2843602420: Appliances2022-05-28T17:06:35Z<p>108.162.246.124: grammar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2420<br />
| date = February 3, 2021<br />
| title = Appliances<br />
| image = appliances.png<br />
| titletext = If you had an oven bag and a dryer that runs unusually hot, I guess you could in theory make tumbled eggs.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
<br />
This comic shows a {{w|confusion matrix}} of the applicability of various household appliances to different tasks. Green indicates an excellent performance, yellow not ideal, but usable, and red dismal or destroyed. The diagonal is green as it shows the tasks done by the machines they are supposed to be performed by. See [[#Table|table]] below. The comic is similar to [[1890: What to Bring]], but that comic does not use yellow or another intermediate color.<br />
<br />
Salmon can be easily {{w|Dishwasher salmon|cooked in a dishwasher}}, so it's marked "cooked", and thus "cook a frozen dinner" is only yellow on the dishwasher entry. <br />
<br />
The stove/oven has three green as it can also cook a microwave frozen dinner, although slower, and can toast bread, again slower than the toaster. It is by far the machine that has the fewest red entries, only one, as it cannot wash clothes. It can also not clean dishes, but it might sterilize them, thus that entry is yellow. It may actually dry the clothes, but is liable to burn them and is therefore yellow.<br />
<br />
The microwave oven can also cook eggs, thus it has two green, the only other than the stove/oven with more than one green.<br />
<br />
The toaster and the washing machines are the only ones without any yellow, and with only one green, for making toast/washing clothes - they are thus the appliances with the fewest other potential uses (zero). The washing machine will at least not destroy the clothes if you try to dry them, but it has the opposite effect, thus still red. The toaster will not destroy the dishes, but will potentially just make the dirt burn harder.<br />
<br />
The title text mentions that it would be theoretically possible to cook eggs in a dryer, but it is not a common use for a dryer.{{Citation needed}} The joke is that it is not called {{w|scrambled eggs}} but tumbled eggs. It also mentions that the dryer has to become hotter than usual for a dryer (maybe dangerously hot for the clothes for it to work). And then the eggs should be cracked and put in an oven bag, that really needs to be tight and well zipped.<br />
<br />
==Table==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!<br />
! scope="col"| {{w|Toaster}}<br />
! scope="col"| {{w|Dishwasher}}<br />
! scope="col"| {{w|Microwave oven|Microwave}}<br />
! scope="col"| {{w|Washing machine}}<br />
! scope="col"| {{w|Kitchen stove|Stove/oven}}<br />
! scope="col"| {{w|Clothes dryer|Dryer}}<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row"| Make toast<br />
| Yes, a toaster's function is to make toast from bread.{{citation needed}}<br />
| No. A dishwasher would likely turn bread into mush, and the result is unlikely to be edible.<br />
| No. A microwave could heat up bread, but would not brown the bread and make it crunchy. In this image, it appears that the bread is getting unevenly burnt.<br />
| No. A washing machine would break the bread into several pieces and is unlikely to be edible.<br />
| Yes, toast can be made using a stove or an oven.<br />
| No. A dryer would burn the bread due to its heat and would break it up into crumbs due to its tumbling.<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row"| Wash dishes<br />
| No. A toaster would not be able to wash dishes and is likely to do nothing to make them clean.<br />
| Yes, a dishwasher's function is to wash dishes.<br />
| No. A microwave could heat up the dishes, but this would not serve any function in getting them clean and could cause food to get even more stuck on the dishes.<br />
| No. A washing machine would break the dishes. The pieces would be clean, but unusable as dishes.<br />
| Maybe, a stove or an oven could theoretically sterilize dishes with high heat (but this would not clean off any stains or stuck food particles).<br />
| No. Worse than the washing machine, the tumbling of a dryer would thoroughly pulverize porcelain dishes.<br />
|-<br />
! scope="row"| Cook a {{w|TV dinner|frozen dinner}}<br />
| No. A traditional toaster would not be able to cook a frozen dinner. A {{w|toaster oven}} combination would be able to do so (see stove/oven).<br />
| Maybe. The fish could be cooked in a dishwasher, however, the rest might not, but this is not a typical use of a dishwasher.<br />
| Yes, a microwave is normally used to cook a frozen dinner.<br />
| No. A washing machine would make the dinner soggy and inedible.<br />
| Yes, a stove or an oven could also be used to cook a frozen dinner. The image shows the dinner being removed from its packaging and placed in a baking pan.<br />
| No. A dryer would make the frozen dinner inedible due to its tumbling action.<br />
|- <br />
! scope="row"| Wash clothes<br />
| No. A toaster would not be able to wash clothes and would instead leave burn marks.<br />
| Maybe. A dishwasher would be able to get the clothes wet but the washing may be uneven.<br />
| No. A microwave would just burn the clothes and not do any washing.<br />
| Yes, a washing machine's function is to wash clothes.<br />
| No, a stove or an oven would burn the clothes and not do any cleaning.<br />
| Maybe. A dryer would heat the clothes and kill germs, but not get any stains out.<br />
|- <br />
! scope="row"| Cook eggs<br />
| No. A toaster would not be able to cook eggs. This image seems to show that eggs were cracked directly into the toaster, which causes a large plume of smoke.<br />
| No. A dishwasher generally cannot cook eggs. However, it does seem that [https://spoonuniversity.com/how-to/5-foods-cook-dishwasher this is plausible to do].<br />
| Yes. A microwave could be used to cook eggs, {{w|poached egg|poached style}} as shown in the image, or also {{w|scrambled eggs|scrambled}}.<br />
| No, a washing machine would destroy the eggs.<br />
| Yes, a stove or an oven is typically used to cook eggs (and other foods).<br />
| No. A dryer would overheat the eggs and tumble them to shreds.<br />
|- <br />
! scope="row"| Dry clothes<br />
| No. A toaster would not be able to dry clothes and would instead leave burn marks.<br />
| No. A dishwasher would be able to get the clothes wet but would not do any drying.<br />
| Maybe. A microwave could (unevenly) get clothes dry.<br />
| No, a washing machine's function is to wash clothes and would just get the clothes wet. A washing machine's spin cycle could dry clothes to some extent but is not intended to fully wring all the water out of clothes.<br />
| Maybe, a stove or an oven could be used to get clothes dry but runs a high risk of burning them, especially on parts that are in contact with metal.<br />
| Yes, a dryer's function is to dry clothes after they are washed.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[The comic is laid out like a grid, with usages for common household appliances the left-hand side (Make toast / Wash dishes / Cook a frozen dinner / Wash clothes / Cook eggs / Dry clothes) and appliances for these activities across the top (Toaster / Dishwasher / Microwave / Washing machine / Stove/oven / Dryer). The grid illustrates the "match-ups", with a green square denoting a "correct" match-up, a yellow square denoting something that may work somewhat, and a red square denoting something that most certainly won't work.]<br />
<br />
:[From the top left corner, going from left to right, top to bottom, with each first item being on its own line in the grid, the images in the squares are as follows:]<br />
<br />
*'''Make toast''' with a '''Toaster''': Green square, toasted toast with stripe pattern.<br />
*'''Make toast''' with a '''Dishwasher''': Red square, slightly broken soggy toast in a puddle of water.<br />
*'''Make toast''' with a '''Microwave''': Red square, non-toasted and unevenly burnt toast.<br />
*'''Make toast''' with a '''Washing machine''': Red square, a few small soggy pieces of toast in a puddle of water.<br />
*'''Make toast''' with a '''Stove/oven''': Green square, toasted toast with somewhat irregular pattern.<br />
*'''Make toast''' with a '''Dryer''': Red square, large pile of breadcrumbs.<br />
*'''Wash dishes''' with a '''Toaster''': Red square, intact glass, somewhat bent fork, and slightly cracked and sooty plate.<br />
*'''Wash dishes''' with a '''Dishwasher''': Green square, clean glass, fork, and plate.<br />
*'''Wash dishes''' with a '''Microwave''': Red square, slightly broken glass, intact fork, and sooty plate.<br />
*'''Wash dishes''' with a '''Washing machine''': Red square, broken glass, intact fork, broken plate.<br />
*'''Wash dishes''' with a '''Stove/oven''': Yellow square, Text reading "Sterilized, at least" with an arrow beneath it pointing at a slightly cracked glass, intact fork, and sooty and cracked plate.<br />
*'''Wash dishes''' with a '''Dryer''': Red square, a large pile of broken porcelain and glass with part of a fork sticking out of it.<br />
*'''Cook a frozen dinner''' with a '''Toaster''': Red square, badly burnt food box emitting smoke.<br />
*'''Cook a frozen dinner''' with a '''Dishwasher''': Yellow square, Text reading "Fish might be cooked" with an arrow beneath it pointing at a food box two-thirds filled with water.<br />
*'''Cook a frozen dinner''' with a '''Microwave''': Green square, cooked food box.<br />
*'''Cook a frozen dinner''' with a '''Washing machine''': Red square, crumpled food box two-thirds filled with water.<br />
*'''Cook a frozen dinner''' with a '''Stove/oven''': Green square, sideways view of steaming cooked food box with lid removed.<br />
*'''Cook a frozen dinner''' with a '''Dryer''': Red square, open crumpled food box with burnt edges. Burnt food stuck to the panel's borders.<br />
*'''Wash clothes''' with a '''Toaster''': Red square, smoking T-shirt with large stripe-shaped burns.<br />
*'''Wash clothes''' with a '''Dishwasher''': Yellow square, unevenly wet/washed shirt.<br />
*'''Wash clothes''' with a '''Microwave''': Red square, slightly smoking shirt with spread outburns.<br />
*'''Wash clothes''' with a '''Washing machine''': Green square, clean wet shirt.<br />
*'''Wash clothes''' with a '''Stove/oven''': Red square, shirt with a large semi-burned area.<br />
*'''Wash clothes''' with a '''Dryer''': Yellow square, slightly dirty-looking shirt.<br />
*'''Cook eggs''' with a '''Toaster''': Red square, toaster emitting a huge cloud of dense smoke.<br />
*'''Cook eggs''' with a '''Dishwasher''': Red square, slightly cracked eggs in a puddle of some kind.<br />
*'''Cook eggs''' with a '''Microwave''': Green square, egg in egg cup with text "(Poached)" beneath.<br />
*'''Cook eggs''' with a '''Washing machine''': Red square, eggshell fragments in a puddle, presumably the egg. <br />
*'''Cook eggs''' with a '''Stove/oven''': Green square, fried egg with beans on a plate. <br />
*'''Cook eggs''' with a '''Dryer''': Red square, a pile of eggshell dust, and possibly scrambled eggs.<br />
*'''Dry clothes''' with a '''Toaster''': Red square, mostly wet shirt, with parts in the middle being somewhat dry. Smaller stripe-shaped burns.<br />
*'''Dry clothes''' with a '''Dishwasher''': Red square, entirely wet shirt. <br />
*'''Dry clothes''' with a '''Microwave''': Yellow square, dry shirt with smaller burns.<br />
*'''Dry clothes''' with a '''Washing machine''': Red square, wet shirt.<br />
*'''Dry clothes''' with a '''Stove/oven''': Yellow square, dry shirt with small burn-like patches. <br />
*'''Dry clothes''' with a '''Dryer''': Green square, dry shirt.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=995:_Coinstar&diff=284220995: Coinstar2022-05-27T06:30:44Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 995<br />
| date = December 26, 2011<br />
| title = Cockstar<br />
| image = Happy Young Smiling Teenage Boy.jpg<br />
| titletext = killer cockstar here<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Chocolate coins are a popular holiday candy, and thus this is another [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]]. These candies are usually plain chocolate formed in the shape of coins and covered in metallic foil wrappers. <br />
<br />
{{w|Coinstar}} machines accept all your loose coins, sort them, count them, and then give you the same amount of money in paper currency, around 9% less as it says in the title text. You may find similar machines in grocery stores and shopping malls around the US and Canada. <br />
<br />
These machines work by vibrating a box with a series of slots along one side, which each corresponding to the sizes of standard accepted coins. The vibrations move the coins along the different slots. If they pass through the slots the coins are then fed into a mechanism with a counterweight that's balanced to test the weight to ensure that it has captured the appropriate coin. Coins of the right size but wrong weight (such as similarly sized coins of different currencies) are dropped back out into a reject chute to be retrieved by the customer. Coins that do not fit the standard sizes also get rejected in the same way. There are also various anti-theft mechanisms that prevent coins from being counted and then retrieved. Coins that meet the programmed criteria are funneled into internal repositories and are counted towards the total.<br />
<br />
The chocolate coins in the comic appear to have damaged the machine. As the only property that the candies share with actual currency may be its appearance the machine would not be designed to handle the softer material causing the machine to malfunction and create the unusual noises presented. The chocolate may have fouled the initial vibrating tabulator; it may be that the coins are getting caught in the reject chute or are fouling the scales. In any case, the anti-theft system is being triggered, causing the machine to shut down (preventing false totals from registering) and an alarm to sound.<br />
<br />
The title text suggests that the machine would take its customary 9% from the total of the chocolate coins which is ironic since the reader knows that their candy has insignificant monetary value.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A mischievous Cueball empties a small bag into a machine.]<br />
:''whirrrrrrr''<br />
:''bzzt''<br />
:[Machine makes progressively less happy noises.]<br />
:'''''kachunk'''''<br />
:''tshhhhhhhhhh''<br />
:''clickclickclickclick''<br />
:'''''GRIND'''''<br />
:[Machine malfunctions and shuts down.]<br />
:''pop''<br />
:''beeeeeeeeeeeep!''<br />
:[Text below frame]<br />
:Holiday tip: Coinstar does not handle chocolate coins well.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Christmas]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:tips]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=691:_MicroSD&diff=284219691: MicroSD2022-05-27T06:29:47Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 691<br />
| date = January 20, 2010<br />
| title = MicroSAD<br />
| image = microsd.png<br />
| titletext = That card holds a refrigerator carton's worth of floppy discs, and a soda can full of those cards could hold the entire iTunes store's music library. Mmmm.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Secure_Digital|microSD}} is one format of the Secure Digital memory card format, used in digital cameras, cell phones, and other devices. It is very small, only 15×11×1 mm, but can hold large amounts of data. The {{w|US dime}} in contrast has a diameter of 17.91 mm. When this comic was published in January 2010 the maximum capacity for microSD cards was 16GB. The current maximum capacity is 1TB (as of January 2021).<br />
<br />
The main character in the comic (on the right) thinks about all the ideas that could be expressed by the data in the microSD card, or in a library. He feels not just reverent and intimidated, but sexually aroused by the thought. As he begins to touch it, his friend is disgusted by what might happen if he uses the card as some kind of sex toy, and does not want to help him locate the card if it gets "lost" inside a body cavity.<br />
<br />
The title text seems to be the main character thinking about how much data the card holds, in terms of {{w|floppy disks}} and the {{w|iTunes}} music library, and feeling aroused by these thoughts.<br />
<br />
Randalls claims in the title text do check out. A high-density floppy disk with a FAT format holds about 1.4 MB of data, and has dimensions of 90×94×3 mm, for a volume of about 2.5 cm³. A refrigerator carton is the large cardboard box that fridges are delivered in. A typical refrigerator carton may be 1800×700×700 mm, a volume of about 0.9 m³. So a fridge carton could hold about thirty-five thousand 90 mm floppies, or roughly 50GB. This is comparable to the storage on a single microSD card. A soda can (500 ml = 500 cm³) could hold three thousand microSD cards or store 50TB of data (3000TB today). However, the iTunes store claims to hold thirty-five million songs (as of Summer 2016), and allowing for about 2MB per song gives 70 TB of music. The claim that a soda can could hold the iTunes library seems to be unreasonable, but it was reasonable at the time.<br />
<br />
Related to this topic is [http://what-if.xkcd.com/31/ this xkcd What If blog entry].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and a friend approach a table.]<br />
:Cueball: Hey, what's up?<br />
:Friend: Shhhhh.<br />
:Cueball: Hrm?<br />
:Friend: There's a microSD card on your table.<br />
<br />
:[A 16GB microSD card sits next to an assortment of coins for size reference.]<br />
:Cueball (out of panel): So?<br />
:Friend (out of panel): I dunno, high storage densities freak me out. A whole aisle of library shelves on something smaller than a dime.<br />
<br />
:[The two people stand near the table, the friend peering at the coins and card on the table.]<br />
:Friend: Libraries are unnerving enough-millions of ideas surrounding you, towering over you. These cards fill me with that same reverence, that same intimidation.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball stands alone.]<br />
:Friend (out of panel): ...that same faint arousal. Maybe I'll just touch it.<br />
:Cueball: If you lose that card I'm <u>NOT</u> helping you find it.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=955:_Neutrinos&diff=284218955: Neutrinos2022-05-27T06:29:34Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 955<br />
| date = September 23, 2011<br />
| title = NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NOT THE HECKIN' NEUTRINOS!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br />
| image = neutrinos.png<br />
| titletext = I can't speak to the paper's scientific merits, but it's really cool how on page 10 you can see that their reference GPS beacon is sensitive enough to pick up continential drift under the detector (interrupted halfway through by an earthquake).<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The "{{w|Faster-than-light neutrino anomaly|Neutrino speed of light thing}}" mentioned in this comic [http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20110594-264/physics-shocker-neutrinos-clocked-faster-than-light/ was an actual story] from the day before the comic was posted. An experiment at {{w|CERN}} caused a stream of neutrinos to be passed from CERN in Switzerland to a receiving station at the INFN laboratories of Gran Sasso in Italy ({{w|LNGS}}). The initial findings from the experiment were that the neutrinos arrived at the detector in less time than a beam of light would have taken. The neutrinos had apparently exceeded the {{w|speed of light}}.<br />
<br />
{{w|Albert Einstein}} famously posited that the speed of light in a vacuum is both constant and absolutely the fastest possible speed for any object in the universe. Nothing can accelerate to any faster speed. Therefore, a report that neutrinos have been found travelling faster than light challenges a fundamental law of physics and turns all of physics, or at least {{w|special relativity}}, on its head.<br />
<br />
Prior experience has shown [[Cueball]] that in such cases, [[386|arguing with people]] and preaching caution is futile and will lead to "pointless arguments about Galileo". {{w|Galileo Galilei}} was famously convicted of heresy for his defending the {{w|Heliocentrism|heliocentric system}}, and is often used as an example of revolutionary ideas being suppressed by the powerful. Believers in the new findings would thus accuse Cueball and the scientific community of being as stubborn and oppressive as the Inquisition in Galileo's time, and even compare them to the {{w|Thought Police}} from George Orwell's ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984}},'' another popular archetype of oppressive measures.<br />
<br />
Cueball realizes that it is more satisfying and profitable to place bets with them instead. His reasoning is that almost invariably, these supposedly world-changing discoveries end up falling apart after further investigation, and that if it doesn't, then the discovery itself will satisfy his scientific curiosity enough to outweigh his monetary loss. This is similar to {{w|Stephen Hawking}}'s {{w|scientific wager}}s, where Hawking set bets such that, if he was wrong, he would be paid, and if he was right, he'd have to pay and wouldn't mind because he'd just have been proven right.<br />
<br />
The title text is a reference to a graph published similar to, if not the same as, the one found [http://indianysn.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/cern-opera-graph.jpg here]. The continental drift can be seen, as well as the clearly marked jump showing the earthquake in question.<br />
<br />
Postscript: Cueball (that is, Randall) was correct. The experiment was found to be flawed. [http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112551696/cern-confirms-neutrinos-not-faster-than-light/ Neutrinos are not faster than light], the data was probably wrong due to a faulty connection on an optical fiber.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan and Cueball are talking.]<br />
:Megan: Did you see the neutrino speed of light thing?<br />
:Cueball: Yup! Good news; I need the cash.<br />
:Megan: Huh? Cash?<br />
<br />
:[Text above half-sized panel.]<br />
:Yeah. When there's a news story about a study overturning all of physics, I used to urge caution, remind people that experts aren't all stupid, and end up in pointless arguments about Galileo.<br />
<br />
:[Half-height panel.]<br />
:[Cueball sitting on chair, looking down at laptop in his lap. Books and things are on a desk in front of him.]<br />
:Cueball: No, this isn't ''about'' whether relativity exists. If it didn't, your GPS wouldn't work.<br />
:Cueball: What do you mean, "science thought police"? Have you seen our budget? We couldn't ''begin'' to afford our own thought police.<br />
<br />
:[Megan and Cueball talking again.]<br />
:Megan: That sounds miserable and unfulfilling.<br />
:Cueball: Yup. So I gave up, and now I just find excited believers and bet them $200 each that the new result won't pan out.<br />
<br />
:[Same as last panel.]<br />
:Megan: That's mean.<br />
:Cueball: It provides a good income, and if I'm ever wrong, I'll be too excited about the new physics to notice the loss.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=217:_e_to_the_pi_Minus_pi&diff=284217217: e to the pi Minus pi2022-05-27T06:29:01Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 217<br />
| date = January 31, 2007<br />
| title = e to the pi Minus thrembo<br />
| image = e_to_the_pi_minus_pi.png<br />
| titletext = Also, I hear the 4th root of (9^2 + 19^2/22) is pi.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|e (number)|e}} is a {{w|mathematical constant}} roughly equal to 2.71828182846. {{w|pi|π}} is another, roughly equal to 3.14159265359.<br />
<br />
The first panel discusses {{w|Gelfond's constant|e<sup>π</sup>}} − π, which is around 19.999099979 — very close to 20. [[Black Hat]] explains how he tricked a programming team into believing that e<sup>π</sup> − π really equals 20 — instead of just being weirdly close — thus that any noticeable deviation from 20 results from errors in the code. This made them waste a lot of time trying to find a nonexistent bug until they realized that Black Hat was lying (clearly they had not known him for very long, and clearly they weren't very knowledgeable in mathematics).<br />
<br />
{{w|Floating point}} numbers are how computers store non-integer real numbers as decimals — or rather, in most cases, approximate them: infinite amounts of data would be required to represent most numbers in decimal form (exceptions are {{w|integers}} and {{w|terminating decimal}}s). The "floating-point handlers" would be the code performing the e<sup>π</sup> − π calculation.<br />
<br />
ACM is the {{w|Association for Computing Machinery}}, which at the time of writing sponsored the {{w|ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest|International Collegiate Programming Contest}}. It is likely that it was this competition, in which Black Hat wasted his teams time, for which he got kicked out.<br />
<br />
Some random facts about the math here:<br />
<br />
* e<sup>π</sup> − π is an {{w|irrational number}}, but this is not a trivial fact. It was proven by {{w|Yuri Valentinovich Nesterenko}} in the late 20th century.<br />
* The mysterious almost-equation is believed to be a {{w|mathematical coincidence}}, or a numerical relationship that "just happens" with no satisfactory explanation. It can be rearranged to (π + 20)<sup>i</sup> ≈ −1, so cos(ln(π + 20)) ≈ −1. Piling on a few more cosines gives cos(π cos(π cos(ln(π + 20)))) ≈ −1, which is off by 3.932×10<sup>−35</sup>.<br />
<br />
The title text pokes fun at another coincidence: ∜(9² + 19²/22) ≈ 3.1415926525, equating close to π (deviating only in the 9th decimal place). The humor comes from the fact that π is {{w|transcendental number|transcendental}}. Transcendental numbers are numbers that cannot be expressed through basic arithmetic with integers; one cannot end up with the exact value for any transcendental number (including π) by adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, exponentiating, and/or taking the nth root of any rational number, meaning the title text cannot possibly be true.<br />
<br />
A much later comic, [[1047: Approximations]], puts forth quite a few more mathematical coincidences.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Cueball: Hey, check it out: e<sup>π</sup> − π is 19.999099979. That's weird.<br />
:Black Hat: Yeah. That's how I got kicked out of the ACM in college.<br />
:Cueball: ...what?<br />
:Black Hat: During a competition, I told the programmers on our team that e<sup>π</sup> − π was a standard test of floating-point handlers -- it would come out to 20 unless they had rounding errors.<br />
:Cueball: That's awful.<br />
:Black Hat: Yeah, they dug through half their algorithms looking for the bug before they figured it out.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2220:_Imagine_Going_Back_in_Time&diff=2736612220: Imagine Going Back in Time2022-05-22T18:57:12Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>when the time traveller is sus<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂⠀⠀⢐⠑⡌<br><br />
⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪<br><br />
⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔<br><br />
⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘<br><br />
⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎<br><br />
⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗<br><br />
⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷<br><br />
⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟<br><br />
⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰<br><br />
⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊<br><br />
⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌<br><br />
⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁<br><br />
⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀<br><br />
⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀<br><br />
⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟<br><br />
⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾<br><br />
⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽<br><br />
<br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 2220<br />
| date = October 25, 2019<br />
| title = Imagine Going Back in Time<br />
| image = imagine_going_back_in_time.png<br />
| titletext = I wonder what the trendy adults in 2019 who are too cool for Pokemon will be into. Probably Digimon!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is checking his ''{{w|Pokémon Go}}'' app to check on the status of a Pokémon he had previously left in a gym (to defend it against the other two teams in the game). In the gym he sees that another player named "Reelect Trump 2020" has left a frog Pokémon, which is now standing next to his. Cueball, evidently not a fan of President Trump or his supporters, finds it distasteful to be indirectly associated with someone whose political views he finds unpleasant. Alternatively, it may simply be that Cueball doesn't want politics injected into a game that he plays for fun.<br />
<br />
When he remarks on this to [[Megan]], she observes how strange that remark would sound if he said it to his younger self from 20 years ago. Normally when people say "imagine going back in time", they are merely constructing a hypothetical scenario to illustrate how rapidly society has changed over the years. Megan is likely pointing out that the idea of Donald Trump becoming the President of the United States (let alone coming up for re-election) would have seemed very {{w|farfetch'd}} just 20 years ago.<br />
<br />
However, it turns out that Cueball somehow actually does ''have'' the time-travel technology required to pull this off, and so he takes Megan's suggestion literally and goes back in time 20 years to do exactly what she suggested: he repeats the statement to his younger self to see what his reaction will be.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, past Cueball (in the year 1999) chooses to focus on a completely different aspect of the statement: the fact that ''Pokémon'' - a game that past Cueball sees as a children's game - will still somehow be popular in 20 years, and that his adult self is still playing it. These observations make Cueball feel uncomfortable, as they highlight the fact that he is spending time on pursuits that his younger self sees as frivolous or childish. He gets defensive and starts to argue with his younger self.<br />
<br />
When his younger self begins to call it a sobering and cautionary tale, it may dawn upon present Cueball that he may just have changed how his former self will behave. (Could he, in the new iteration, never even begin playing Pokémon Go, and thus present Cueball may disappear and a different version of himself will exist 20 years later? Or could he have seeded encouragement for himself being more readily connected to all things Pokémon in the intervening years, putting himself further ahead of the resurgence in its popularity?) Or else future-Cueball is just frustrated at how past-Cueball is failing to notice his intended revelation — and in turn is failing to appreciate past-Cueball's own naive but still insightful interpretation.<br />
<br />
{{w|Pokémon}} is a media franchise that debuted in 1996 in Japan as both a video game and a trading card game. It was originally designed for and marketed to younger children (the tie-in cartoon series constantly emphasizes its main characters are ten years old), with a design, aesthetic and gameplay that were optimized for a younger audience. Since then, and up to 2019, there have been a total of eight generations of video games on consoles. As the franchise continued to thrive and evolve, it's gone through multiple generations, including ''Pokémon Go'', an augmented reality game for smartphones. These latest versions, in particular, have become popular with (and marketed to) adults, some of whom grew up playing the earlier generations. <br />
<br />
In 1999 in North America, only the first generation of Pokémon video games had been released, consisting of {{w|Pokémon Red and Blue|''Pokémon Blue'' and ''Pokémon Red''}} for the Nintendo Gameboy. The second generation of Pokémon video games would not even be announced in Japan until {{w|Pokémon Gold and Silver#Release|November 1999}}, and advertising for the North American release would begin in December of 1999. A person living in 1999, who has only seen the first generation, with no official confirmation that a second generation was even being considered, and unable to predict the nostalgia market that would appear later, would quite plausibly wonder about its popularity 20 years later.<br />
<br />
{{w|Donald J. Trump}} was the president of the United States at the time of publishing, elected in 2016. Even during his campaign, the idea of his election was considered absurd in many circles, as he had never held any kind of public office, and had no background that would lend itself to expertise in government or public policy. Prior to his election, he was primarily known as a New York real estate mogul and host of the 2003 reality television show ''The Apprentice''. While he'd been teasing the idea of a presidential run since the 1980s, and indeed {{w|Donald Trump 2000 presidential campaign|was seeking the Reform Party candidacy in 1999}} (at the advice of then-Governor of Minnesota {{w|Jesse Ventura}}, another actor-turned-politician), most people did not take the idea seriously, and the concept of him actually being President of the United States would have been hugely unexpected to most Americans in an earlier era. 1999 Cueball might regard the name "Reelect Trump 2020" as an ironic joke, like a campaign button for {{w|Vermin Supreme}} or the [https://sweetmeteorofdeath.com/ Sweet Meteor Of Death]. That [[Randall]] is not a fan of Donald Trump became clear in [[1756: I'm With Her]] and [[Sad comics|many comics]] that followed it, now including this.<br />
<br />
Randall released a comic about Pokémon Go less than a week after its release back in July 2016: [[1705|1705: Pokémon Go]]. But Pokémon in general has been a [[:Category:Pokémon|recurring theme]] in xkcd long before Pokémon Go was released.<br />
<br />
[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-the-frog Pepe the Frog] is an internet meme that has become associated with Donald Trump after his use of it during his presidential campaign. The use of a frog Pokémon, therefore, is a callback to this internet phenomenon. <br />
<br />
The Pokémon left in the gym is most likely [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Politoed_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Politoed], the only official frog Pokémon released in the game at the time of publication. It comes from the tadpole series with [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Poliwag_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Poliwag] that evolves into [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Poliwhirl_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Poliwhirl] which by using a [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/King%27s_Rock King's Rock] can be evolved to Politoed (instead of to [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Poliwrath_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Poliwrath]). There are other frog-like Pokémon in the game which are scheduled to be added to Pokémon Go, but where people who dislike Trump might have chosen [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Toxicroak_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Toxicroak], it seems an unlikely choice by a fan that hopes Trump is reelected!<br />
<br />
This comic's joke is similar to one used in the 1985 science-fiction film ''{{w|Back to the Future}}'', in which Doc Brown (of 1955) is shocked to learn that {{w|Ronald Reagan}} would be the President of the United States in thirty years' time, when in 1955 Reagan was a TV actor.<br />
<br />
{{w|Digimon}}, as mentioned in the title text, is another media franchise which is similar to Pokémon in some ways, though it is sometimes perceived as more "cool" and "adult" oriented. Its popularity in North America rose around 1999 with the airing of its anime series, but [https://geekinsider.com/digimon-vs-pokemon-retrospective-monster-marketing/ never became as popular as Pokémon].<br />
<br />
This was the first of two time travel comics in less than a week, as the one two comics after this one, [[2222: Terminator: Dark Fate]], also had future Cueballs travel back to visit their past self.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball talks to Megan while looking at his smart phone.]<br />
:Cueball: Ugh. A player named "Reelect Trump 2020" put a frog Pokemon in the gym next to mine.<br />
<br />
:[Megan puts her hand to her face. Cueball is holding a device in his hand with an antenna. He uses the other hand to move a stick on the device.]<br />
:Megan: Imagine going back in time and saying that to yourself 20 years ago.<br />
:Cueball: Oh, I have a time machine! I'll try that.<br />
<br />
:[A sound effect between panels, likely the sound of Cueball's time machine.]<br />
:Bzzzzt<br />
<br />
:[Two Cueballs standing, facing each other. The one on the right is holding the handheld device, and is thus Cueball from 2019. He is apparently repeating his statement to the other Cueball from 1999, with only the last 3 words shown. He gestures towards the left Cueball. Above the left Cueball there is a frame with a caption:]<br />
:1999<br />
:Cueball from 2019: ...next to mine.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball from 1999 is shown, with Cueball from 2019 speaking off panel.]<br />
:Cueball from 1999: I see. <br />
:Cueball from 1999: Pokemon is still popular in 2019?<br />
:Cueball from 2019: Yeah.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball from 2019 is holding a finger up in front of Cueball from 1999.]<br />
:Cueball from 1999: And it's cool for people your age to play it?<br />
:Cueball from 2019: OK, I did not come here to be mocked.<br />
:Cueball from 1999: This is a sobering cautionary tale.<br />
:Cueball from 2019: '''''Listen, self...'''''<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
* The idea of people extending their childhood hobbies into adulthood was explored in a more positive light in [[219: Blanket Fort]] and [[150: Grownups]]. The blurred line between childhood and adulthood is a recurring theme on xkcd. <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
<!-- NOT a [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]] since it is actually just a younger version of Cueball when they are two --><br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Pokémon]]<br />
[[Category:Time travel]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=382:_Trebuchet&diff=273660382: Trebuchet2022-05-22T18:56:38Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>when the trebuchet is almost done<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂⠀⠀⢐⠑⡌<br><br />
⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪<br><br />
⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔<br><br />
⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘<br><br />
⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎<br><br />
⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗<br><br />
⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷<br><br />
⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟<br><br />
⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰<br><br />
⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊<br><br />
⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌<br><br />
⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁<br><br />
⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀<br><br />
⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀<br><br />
⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟<br><br />
⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾<br><br />
⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽<br><br />
<br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 382<br />
| date = February 11, 2008<br />
| title = Trebuchet<br />
| image = trebuchet.png<br />
| titletext = It was also fun when those teenagers tried to egg our house and it insta-cooked the eggs in mid-air.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This is a straightforward comic playing on [[Megan]]'s contradictory stance on [[Cueball]]'s historical {{w|trebuchet}} project and her own {{w|Automatic target recognition|auto-targeting}} kilowatt {{w|laser}}. <br />
<br />
She explains her stance with the fact that her invention helps keep the squirrels off the {{w|Bird feeder|feeder}}. The fact that it actually works is backed up by the sound of a squirrel squeaking as it gets zapped by the laser. But getting hold of such a laser and programming the auto-targeting so it only zaps squirrels and not the birds is a very complicated process - and there are probably many other ways to keep the squirrels off the feeder. So Megan is of course no better than Cueball here.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to {{w|egging}}, throwing eggs at houses, other objects, or even people. While this is illegal it's still a famous form of protest; more often it's simple random {{w|vandalism}} or {{w|prank|pranking}}, most common on {{w|Halloween}} in the US. Generally targets are chosen at random, with little specific malicious intent towards the victim, although it's not unusual for people to seek out and target the property of those who they dislike.<br />
<br />
If we do, however, assume that Megan programmed the laser to only shoot squirrels, it's likely faulty (unless her intent all along was to fry eggs in midair). Or it could be that she has programmed the laser to shoot any object moving towards her house in the air.<br />
<br />
Trebuchets are referred to in later comics: [[1160: Drop Those Pounds]] and [[1190: Time]]. They are also mentioned in the title text of [[1378: Turbine]].<br />
<br />
Much later in [[1846: Drone Problems]] Megan has created a device to shoot down drones, so this is her go to solution for annoying things...<br />
<br />
To give some scale for Megan’s kilowatt laser: in {{what if|13|Laser Pointer}}, [[Randall]] remarks that a 1-watt laser (so, 1000 times less powerful) <q cite="https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/">is an extremely dangerous thing … capable of burning skin and setting things on fire</q>, and implies that it should not be legal for consumer purchase in the US. The limits for a 'safe' laser (one that can be used without goggles, so laser pointers for example) is a 5mW laser (0.005W). A “kilowatt laser” – it’s unclear if this is exactly a 1kW laser or merely around that range – is a {{w|laser weapon}}: for instance, Lockheed Martin’s {{w|Area Defense Anti-Munitions}} system uses a 10kW laser, at most only ten times as powerful as Megan’s laser.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is working on something on a table, and Megan is sitting at a computer.]<br />
:Cueball: The trebuchet is almost done!<br />
:Megan: Mm.<br />
:Cueball: The range should be over 150 meters.<br />
<br />
:[Megan leans back on her chair.]<br />
:Megan: Look,<br />
:Megan: I'm sure it's a cool project.<br />
<br />
:[Picture of a trebuchet, with some spare parts to its right.]<br />
:Megan: But eventually you'll need to outgrow these toys, and focus your energy on something practical. <br />
:Megan: This mad science is getting out of hand.<br />
<br />
:[The camera zooms out, and we see a cross-section of an exterior wall/window from ground to gutter and lower edge of the roof, showing that the characters are inside but the off-frame action is outside.]<br />
:Cueball: Says the girl who mounted an auto-targeting kilowatt laser on the roof.<br />
:Megan: That's practical! It keeps the squirrels off the feeder!<br />
:[From off-frame.]<br />
:Laser: ''GZZZZZAPP''<br />
:Squirrel: ''Squeak!''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Trebuchet]]<br />
[[Category:Squirrels]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1527:_Humans&diff=2736591527: Humans2022-05-22T18:56:12Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>when the humans are sus<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂⠀⠀⢐⠑⡌<br><br />
⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪<br><br />
⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔<br><br />
⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘<br><br />
⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎<br><br />
⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗<br><br />
⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷<br><br />
⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟<br><br />
⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰<br><br />
⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊<br><br />
⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌<br><br />
⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁<br><br />
⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀<br><br />
⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀<br><br />
⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟<br><br />
⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾<br><br />
⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽<br><br />
<br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 1527<br />
| date = May 20, 2015<br />
| title = Humans<br />
| image = humans.png<br />
| titletext = At this point, if we're going to keep insisting on portraying dinosaurs as featherless because it's &quot;cooler&quot;, it's time to apply that same logic to art involving bald eagles.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The comic is set in the future, with two hovering robots discussing ancient history, in particular the clothing styles of kings and queens of the now extinct human species. It appears that robot archeologists have long ago unearthed remains from one or more human civilizations, providing evidence to build a concept of what humans must have looked, acted and even sounded like. Recently they must have discovered or determined new evidence, which presumably indicates the wearing of colorful clothing by human monarchs. Until this occurred they had very little if any reason to believe that any humans wore clothing. Noting the previous knowledge that some humans had metal rings around their heads, they have drawn the conclusion that these formed a separate species "Human Kings" and the crown is a natural outgrowth of the skeleton. Alternatively, the narrative of the fictional, horned ''Star Wars'' villain Darth Maul may have somehow survived into the era of robot film and misinterpreted as describing a human, though Maul's skin is red, not pink.<br />
<br />
When {{w|dinosaur}} bones were first dug up, the idea that dinosaurs were scaly, reptilian-like creatures was developed with the information available at the time. In recent times, it's been discovered that most dinosaurs actually had {{w|Feathered dinosaur|feathers}}, and in well preserved specimens, often from the {{w|Jiufotang Formation}} in Northern China, feathers of various forms are clearly visible.<br />
<br />
As this runs counter to the widespread and long-held image of dinosaurs as dramatic reptiles, the public has been reluctant to accept this new discovery, especially as the addition of feathers often conjures up the image of a giant chicken. (See [[1104: Feathers]]). Had it been discovered that dinosaurs were in fact covered with 6-inch long razor tipped spikes, people may have accepted this immediately as it conforms to the stereotype of dinosaurs as killing machines.<br />
<br />
In the same way, the new information on kings and queens being covered in fabric runs counter to the movie inspired image that the robot on the right had about humans, picturing them as being pink warriors that could grow metal out of their heads. The head-metal image may have been inspired by the discovery of kings and queens buried or entombed with their crowns lying on top of their skulls - for example the [http://www.nature.com/news/the-last-medici-may-not-have-died-of-syphilis-after-all-1.12435 Electress Palatine Anna Maria de'Medici]. If the robot beings in this comic don't know enough about human anatomy, they may assume that the metal crown is a specialized part of the human skeleton.<br />
<br />
Shown at least some evidence pointing to the truth - that humans typically wore clothing, and that a monarch's crown is only a symbol worn atop the head and not part of their body - the robot is predictably disappointed. Humans wearing clothing reduces them, in its opinion, to "big pillows," much like dinosaurs with feathers reduces them from primal beasts to "big chickens." Something made of cloth (or covered in it), at least in this robot's mind, cannot be a significant actor in history.<br />
<br />
The robot fails to reason that, among other things, history was what it was, and its wanting things to have been a certain way does not make it so. In addition, just as the clothing-wearing human is more than a mere pillow, and would have held much fearsome power over the world, a feathered dinosaur is not necessarily merely a giant chicken, but is still a powerful killing machine.<br />
<br />
The title text references our failure to change the popular image of dinosaurs to reflect the way they truthfully once were. [[Randall]] jokingly suggests that we should apply the same "featherless is cooler" logic to popular images of bald eagles ([[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs|since they are modern dinosaurs]]), and remove their feathers (only in depictions of them, presumably), leaving them entirely bald. He appears hopeful that such a direct comparison, using the national symbol of the US no less, would provoke the public to change its mind about how dinosaurs are viewed, since modern raptors (birds of prey) are typically viewed with awe and respect, and are not often associated with the "chicken" stereotype mentioned above.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Two robots are hovering in mid-air in the comic; what appear to be their optical arrays are facing each other.]<br />
:Robot 1: You know, new research suggests ancient human kings and queens were covered in colorful fabric.<br />
:Robot 2: Ugh, I like '''movie''' humans more. Screaming pink warriors with metal crowns poking through the skin on their heads!<br />
:Robot 2: Now they're, what, big pillows?<br />
:Robot 2: Science ruins everything.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
It is worth noting that this comic was released a few weeks before the scheduled release of ''{{w|Jurassic World}}'', a reboot of the {{w|Jurassic Park}} movie franchise. This new movie, while supposedly aware of recent advances in dinosaur research, still depicts dinosaurs as giant lizards without feathers. It seems likely that the robot's comment about "pink humans" is targeted at this movie, especially given Randall's many earlier [[:Category:Jurassic Park|references to Jurassic Park]] and his [[:Category:Velociraptors|fear of velociraptors]].<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Robots]]<br />
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2154:_Motivation&diff=2736582154: Motivation2022-05-22T18:55:55Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>when the motivation is lacking<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂⠀⠀⢐⠑⡌<br><br />
⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪<br><br />
⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔<br><br />
⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘<br><br />
⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎<br><br />
⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗<br><br />
⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷<br><br />
⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟<br><br />
⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰<br><br />
⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊<br><br />
⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌<br><br />
⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁<br><br />
⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀<br><br />
⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀<br><br />
⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟<br><br />
⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾<br><br />
⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽<br><br />
<br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 2154<br />
| date = May 24, 2019<br />
| title = Motivation<br />
| image = motivation.png<br />
| titletext = What's even worse is, a month ago they transferred me to work on the game I was already playing, and suddenly I found myself procrastinating by playing the one I'd been assigned before. It's possible they're onto me and this is all part of the plan.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Motivation}} is an important part of human {{w|psychology}}. It arouses a person to act towards a desired goal. It is a driving force which promotes action. As [[Ponytail]] is feeling unmotivated to do her job, she decides to procrastinate by playing a video game on her laptop instead, with the hope that she will eventually be more motivated to do her assigned task. [[Cueball]] seems to understand her sentiment, and admits to being in the same situation in the past, seemingly assuming she's referring to games that feel like work.<br />
<br />
Games are [https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4x38aq/why-do-we-play-video-games-that-simulate-work sometimes criticized] for feeling like work. This is usually aimed at games that simulate an actual or historical job which can frequently cause the player to have to check each individual plant as if he were an actual gardener, or work out a cost-benefit analysis as if he were an actual manager. This is more generally applied to any video game {{w|Grinding (gaming)|grinding}}, also known as farming. This is why when Cueball asks Ponytail what she's doing, she replies that she's playing a game that involves exactly as much planning, problem-solving and boring drudgework as the actual job she's avoiding. Cueball then laughs and says that he has definitely been there before, before asking Ponytail what her job is.<br />
<br />
The punch line for this comic comes when Ponytail admits that her actual job is a {{w|Game testing|video game playtester}}, someone whose job is to test and play video games. So it seems that Ponytail is avoiding doing her task to test video game X by playing video game Y. As a result, her original statement can be interpreted in a completely different way: Instead of comparing the game she's playing to a regular job, implying that grinding is as difficult and boring as an actual job, playing games '''is''' her actual job, and she's simply comparing two games she's playing. Though being a game tester can be seen as glamorous and fun to people who enjoy playing video games ("I get to play video games all day at work"), it is [https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/03/29/the-tough-life-of-a-games-tester less rewarding] [https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-be-a-video-game-tester-2015-6 than it may seem], as game testers often aren't ''playing'' the game but are ''testing it'' by constantly doing mundane tasks and running through a game that they may not like to identify bugs and problems, which is far less enjoyable than playing a game one likes for fun, even if it requires a grind.<br />
<br />
The title text continues Ponytail's admission, adding that she had originally been assigned to play video game Y in the first place, and was previously procrastinating by playing video game X. Her company may have caught on to her procrastination, as they then changed her assignment to work on video game X that she was already playing to procrastinate. To further procrastinate herself, Ponytail changed to play video game Y, the original video game that she was assigned. However, this would not serve to have her work on her original task to test video game Y. Testing a video game is very different from playing a video game while procrastinating. For example, video game testers must intentionally make "mistakes" to verify that the game responds correctly and, more importantly, report on what worked or didn't work. Playing normally, while attempting to win, would not yield the data obtained from proper testing.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail sitting at a desk, working on their laptops.]<br />
:Cueball: What are you working on?<br />
:Ponytail: Playing a game that involves exactly as much planning, problem-solving and boring drudgework as the actual job I'm avoiding.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on Cueball, leaning back with one arm on the back of his chair.]<br />
:Cueball: Haha, yeah, I've definitely been there.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom back out to Cueball and Ponytail sitting at a desk, working on their laptops.]<br />
:Cueball: What's your job these days, anyway?<br />
:Ponytail: Video game playtester.<br />
:Cueball: ...<br />
:Ponytail: Look, motivation is weird, ok?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=520:_Cuttlefish&diff=273657520: Cuttlefish2022-05-22T18:55:29Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>when the cuttlefish is sus<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂⠀⠀⢐⠑⡌<br><br />
⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪<br><br />
⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔<br><br />
⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘<br><br />
⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎<br><br />
⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗<br><br />
⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷<br><br />
⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟<br><br />
⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰<br><br />
⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊<br><br />
⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌<br><br />
⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁<br><br />
⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀<br><br />
⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀<br><br />
⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟<br><br />
⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾<br><br />
⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽<br><br />
<br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 520<br />
| date = December 22, 2008<br />
| title = Cuttlefish<br />
| image = cuttlefish.png<br />
| titletext = Unless the CS students finish the robot revolution before you finish the cephalopod one.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
It appears that [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are {{w|physicists}} visiting a biology lab. Their guide, a {{w|biologist}} looking like Cueball, gives them a description of the humble {{w|cuttlefish}} that is both accurate and makes them sound like other-worldly creatures with highly advanced capabilities.<br />
<br />
The scene takes an unusual turn when the scientist implies that the cuttlefish have been easily trained to improve their capabilities. He then demonstrates this by giving a simple command, whereupon the cuttlefish rise out of the water, only to attack and kill both Cueball and Megan, demonstrating an ability to fly, talk, and discharge lethal electric shocks in the process. (See also [[35: Sheep]]).<br />
<br />
This is all revealed to be a dream, but it has given Cueball a warning not to underestimate the biologists. Apparently, they can be just as crazy and dangerous as any other kind of scientist. Cueball (who represent [[Randall]] as it is xkcd that salutes in the final panel) offers a toast to all biologists everywhere and plans an alliance with them against the {{w|chemists}}, hoping to prevent further attacks on physicists. He is then shown drinking from a laboratory flask, something that any scientist would be wary of.<br />
<br />
In the past, Randall has been somewhat dismissive of the non-math/non-physics scientific disciplines, so this comic may be trying to mend some bridges with biologists. But not with chemists. <br />
<br />
In the title text, CS stands for {{w|Computer Science}}. The "robot revolution" references events in film and literature, wherein robots, having become commonplace in the workforce, achieve independent thought and declare war on humanity, like in ''{{w|The Terminator}}'', ''{{w|The Matrix}}'', or the movie ''{{w|I, Robot}}''. Randall implies that the physicists will switch sides if the robot revolution arrives first. {{w|Cephalopod}} is the class of animals that encompasses cuttlefish, as well as {{w|squids}} and {{w|octopodes}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A scientist (looking like Cueball) is pointing into an aquarium tank with two small animals floating in the water. He explains that they are cuttlefish to Cueball and Megan, who are on the other side of the tank looking into it, Cueball with a hand to his mouth. Above them there is a frame inside the panel with a caption:]<br />
:We visit a bio lab: <br />
:Scientist: These are cuttlefish.<br />
<br />
:[Very detailed drawing of a cuttlefish, with its special W shaped pupils, all eight arms and two longer tentacles, and the striped body with waving parts shown waving down each side. The scientist tells about the animal with text above and below.]<br />
:Scientist (off-panel): They're frighteningly smart, have manipulating arms and tentacles, have ink jets, can dart backwards and see the polarization of light through their w-shaped pupils. <br />
:Scientist (off-panel): And their sides are 200 dpi display screens which they use for camouflage and communication.<br />
<br />
:[Back to the original setting where the scientist stands a little farther back from the tank with his arms down. Cueball and Megan have also moved farther back and are even leaning away from the tank.]<br />
:Scientist: When we realized how intelligent they were, we began to teach them. <br />
:Scientist: They've advanced quickly. <br />
:Scientist: '''Cuttlefish: GO.'''<br />
<br />
:[The two cuttlefish float straight out of the tank (lines indicating the movement and water splashing at the surface of the tank). The scientist looks down at them, while Cueball and Megan are holding hands and leaning farther back and Cueball taking his hand back to his mouth.]<br />
<br />
:[Pan to only the scientist, standing with one arm bend in front of him and the other holding a finger up to his mouth, and the tank from where the cuttlefish now flies towards Cueball and Megan, who are now off-panel. Lines behind the cuttlefish show they fly right but bobbing up and down. The cuttlefish talks in a strange way where the letters are alternately up and down.]<br />
:Cuttlefish: K<big><sub>i</sub></big>l<big><sub>l</sub></big> t<big><sub>h</sub></big>e P<big><sub>h</sub></big>y<big><sub>s</sub></big>i<big><sub>c</sub></big>i<big><sub>s</sub></big>t<big><sub>s</sub></big><br />
:Cuttlefish: K<big><sub>i</sub></big>l<big><sub>l</sub></big> t<big><sub>h</sub></big>e <sub>P</sub>h<sub><big>y</big></sub>s<sub><big>i</big></sub>c<sub><big>i</big></sub>st<sub><big>s</big><sub></sub><br />
:[Pan to Megan and Cueball, with the tank almost inside the left frame. Both cuttlefish are surrounded by their own zigzag lines, which then extend from them in a thin line to encompass either Cueball or Megan. Cueball was running away from them, when this happens, with legs bent at the knees and arms out, one bent. Megan has fallen lying face down with her arms out.]<br />
<br />
:[In this panel with faint gray shading, Cueball is waking up in bed from the dream, rising up to a sitting position suddenly as indicated with two movement lines behind his head. One arm is supporting him on the bed next to the pillow, and the other is pulling his sheet down away from his torso. The first sentence is maybe still part of the dream, as there is no line from Cueball to the sentence, and it is written high up. There is a line to the second sentence.]<br />
:Cueball: Oh god. <br />
:Cueball: I knew it.<br />
<br />
:[This panel is divided into five segments. At the top, there is a large caption in two lines. There are three drawings following each other from left to right. First, a bottle is pouring liquid into a an Erlenmeyer flask (a conical laboratory flask) that is half full. Then, Cueball takes the flask and holds it up as a salute. Finally, he drinks from it leaning his head way back. Below there is more text.]<br />
:<big>xkcd</big><br />
:Salutes Bio Majors<br />
:If we join you against the chemists, will you train your fleshy minions to leave us alive?<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Dreams]]<br />
[[Category:Chemistry]]<br />
[[Category:Biology]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1004:_Batman&diff=2736561004: Batman2022-05-22T18:55:13Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>when the batman is sus<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂⠀⠀⢐⠑⡌<br><br />
⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪<br><br />
⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔<br><br />
⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘<br><br />
⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎<br><br />
⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗<br><br />
⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷<br><br />
⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟<br><br />
⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰<br><br />
⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊<br><br />
⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌<br><br />
⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁<br><br />
⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀<br><br />
⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀<br><br />
⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟<br><br />
⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾<br><br />
⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽<br><br />
<br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 1004<br />
| date = January 16, 2012<br />
| title = Batman<br />
| image = batman.png<br />
| titletext = I'm really worried Christopher Nolan will kill a man dressed like a bat in his next movie. (The man will be dressed like a bat, I mean. Christopher Nolan won't be, probably.)<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a reference to the comic book and movie character {{w|Batman}}, who is actually wealthy playboy Bruce Wayne, as we see on the left being referenced as "Master Wayne" by his butler Alfred. Batman, in contrast to {{w|Superman}} and other comic book heroes, has no superpowers. The name "Batman" suggests that he is a man who is part-bat, or has bat-like powers, but his only actual connection to bats is that he wears a bat-themed costume -- hence the description, "a man dressed like a bat." Thus, when Batman's connection to bats is made explicit, he loses a lot of his mystique.<br />
<br />
The stick figure representations of Batman and his nemesis, the Joker, are shown from three different movie scenes of the Dark Knight Trilogy, the most recent ''Batman'' films at the time of this comic. The middle scene comes from ''{{w|Batman Begins}}'', whilst the two flanking scenes are from its sequel ''{{w|The Dark Knight}}''. In each scene the name "Batman" is substituted with the accurate but embarrassing description "a man dressed like a bat." In this way, [[Randall]] is pointing out that Batman commands a lot of respect and fear considering that all he is is a man in a costume.<br />
<br />
Then in the title text, Randall expresses his fear that Christopher Nolan (the director/producer/writer of the latest Batman trilogy) was going to kill Batman off in the then-upcoming movie ''{{w|Dark Knight Rises}}''. Of course, Randall substitutes for "Batman" as in the comic. This causes a grammatical ambiguity which Randall points out where the "dressed like a bat" could apply to the "man" or to Nolan. A similar ambiguity explicitly discussed in the title text of [[1087: Cirith Ungol]].<br />
<br />
There have been several [[:Category:Substitutions|comics using substitutions]], but this may have been the first.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[One panel, depicting three wavy circles. The one in the center is slightly larger, and the ones on either side are higher up. Their edges are touching.]<br />
<br />
:[The left circle has Bruce Wayne in the foreground, with Alfred in the background.]<br />
:Alfred: Know your limits, Master Wayne.<br />
:Bruce: A man dressed like a bat ''has'' no limits.<br />
<br />
:[The center circle has a close-up on Batman in his cowl.]<br />
:Off-screen: ''What the hell are you?''<br />
:Batman: I'm a man dressed like a bat.<br />
<br />
:[In the right circle is The Joker.]<br />
:Off-screen: ''What do you propose?''<br />
:Joker: It"s simple &mdash; we kill a man dressed like a bat.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:My Hobby: Whenever anyone says "Batman," I mentally replace it with "a man dressed like a bat."<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:My Hobby]]<br />
[[Category:Substitutions]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=216:_Romantic_Drama_Equation&diff=273655216: Romantic Drama Equation2022-05-22T18:54:30Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>when the drama equation is romantic<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂⠀⠀⢐⠑⡌<br><br />
⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪<br><br />
⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔<br><br />
⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘<br><br />
⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎<br><br />
⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗<br><br />
⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷<br><br />
⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟<br><br />
⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰<br><br />
⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊<br><br />
⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌<br><br />
⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁<br><br />
⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀<br><br />
⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀<br><br />
⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟<br><br />
⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾<br><br />
⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽<br><br />
<br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 216<br />
| date = January 29, 2007<br />
| title = Romantic Drama Equation<br />
| image = romantic drama equation.png<br />
| titletext = Real-life prospective-pairing curves over things like age can get depressing.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
In a group of n people, such as the cast of a TV romantic drama like {{w|Queer as Folk (U.S. TV series)|Queer as Folk}}, the number of possible different pairs of people is n(n-1)/2. A romantic drama will often consider, over time, many possible romantic pairs of its cast members, even seeming to test the limit of how many pairs are possible. Through an austerely binaristic lens, this comic explores the implication of sex and sexual orientation in characterizing the possible pairs.<br />
<br />
If everyone in the group is male or female, then each pair could be classified as gay or straight. The formulas in the comic give how many of the possible pairs are gay and how many are straight, as a function of the total number of people and how many are male (or, equivalently, how many are female.) For example, of the 9 principal cast of Firefly, 5 are men and 4 are women. With n=9 and x=5, we have 16 possible gay pairs and 20 possible straight pairs.<br />
<br />
A graph shows how the relative number of males and females affects the number of gay pairs and straight pairs. When the group is all male (or all female), all of the possible pairs are gay, but as the minority sex's number is increased, more of the pairs are straight. When the group is half male and half female, the number of straight pairs is maximized, and straight pairs slightly outnumber gay pairs. The curves are labeled "gay cast" and "straight cast", perhaps alluding that a "gay cast" would consider only gay pairs, and a "straight cast" would consider only straight pairs.<br />
<br />
There is a note that the graph describes large casts. Because all the quantities involved are discrete, for a small [n] there are only a few points to plot on the graph, and the smooth, continuous curves seen in the comic are less recognizable.<br />
<br />
The title-text mentions that Randall made a graph of his prospective dating pool over time and was depressed by the results. As he gets older, his dating pool gets smaller: fewer people his age are single. But as Randall later shows in [[314: Dating Pools]], age is not the problem--he is!<br />
<br />
===Formulas===<br />
The formulas may be derived as follows:<br />
<br />
Each straight pair needs to include one of the x males and one of the (n-x) females, so there are x(n-x) possible ways of combining one of each. E.g., if there are n=5 people, of whom x=2 are male, then there will be 3 possible pairings involving the first male, and 3 possible pairings involving the second, yielding 2(5-2)=6 possible pairs.<br />
<br />
Wolfram|Alpha: [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x*%28n-x%29 x*(n-x)]<br />
<br />
Each gay pair needs to include either two males or two females. To choose two males, we can start with any of the x males and choose any of the (x-1) remaining males. However, that counts each possible pair twice. E.g., Adam&Steve got counted when we chose Adam first and Steve second, and again when we chose Steve first and Adam second. To avoid double-counting the pairs, we therefore need to divide the product by 2. So there are x(x-1)/2 possible pairs of two males. Similarly, there are (n-x)(n-x-1)/2 possible pairings of two females. Summing these, we get the total number of possible gay pairs as [x^2 - x + n^2 - nx - n - xn + x^2 + x]/2. That simplifies to [n^2 - n + 2 x^2 - 2 xn]/2. The left two terms can be combined together as n(n-1) and the right two terms can be combined together as -2x(n-x) or 2x(x-n) [which is negative, because x-n<0]. Since the sum of these terms was divided by 2, we get that the total number of possible gay pairs is n(n-1)/2 - x(n-x), or n(n-1)/2 + x(x-n), which is what the cartoon says.<br />
<br />
Wolfram|Alpha: [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=n*%28n-1%29%2F2%2Bx*%28x-n%29 n*(n-1)/2+x*(x-n)]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:TV Romantic Drama Equation (Derived during a series of 'Queer as Folk' episodes)<br />
:[A table shows equations for possible romantic pairings in a TV show. The equation under "gay" is n(n-1) 2+x(x-n); the equation under "straight" is x(n-x).]<br />
:x: Number of male (or female) cast members.<br />
:n: total number of cast members.<br />
<br />
:[A graph plots pairings (for large casts) against cast makeup. Each of the above equations forms a curve. "Gay cast" starts high for an all male cast, dips down at 50/50 cast makeup, and then rises again for all female. "Straight cast" starts at zero for an all male cast, peaks at 50/50 cast makeup, and then drops to zero again for an all female cast. The two curves intersect at two points close to the middle.]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Line graphs]]<br />
[[Category:Homosexuality]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Romance]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2534:_Retractable_Rocket&diff=2736542534: Retractable Rocket2022-05-22T18:54:03Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 273614 by Theusaf (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>when the rocket is retractable<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂⠀⠀⢐⠑⡌<br><br />
⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪<br><br />
⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔<br><br />
⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘<br><br />
⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎<br><br />
⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗<br><br />
⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷<br><br />
⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟<br><br />
⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰<br><br />
⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊<br><br />
⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌<br><br />
⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁<br><br />
⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀<br><br />
⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀<br><br />
⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟<br><br />
⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾<br><br />
⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽<br><br />
<br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 2534<br />
| date = October 27, 2021<br />
| title = Retractable Rocket<br />
| image = retractible_rocket.png<br />
| titletext = Hard to believe that for so many years once they were fully extended we just let them tip over.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This comic documents another of [[Beret Guy]]'s [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|absurdist ventures]]. He explains to [[Megan]] that "we" (possibly [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|his company]]) are testing their new "retractable" rocket. <br />
<br />
{{w|Reusable launch system|Reusable rockets}} are a growing industry, as they are more economically viable in the long run &ndash; though technically much more difficult to operate &ndash; than rocket boosters that are just discarded after use (which have been standard throughout the majority of space-faring history). Thus, Megan is understandably confused about [[Beret Guy]]'s assertion that theirs is "retractable", asking if he misspoke. In typical fashion, he assures her that he did not misspeak, with a single "No" without further explanation. <br />
<br />
They proceed to watch the rocket "launch", proving that it is indeed ''retractable''. In fact the rocket does not launch, but merely ''extends'' &ndash; apparently all the way to the {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS), a height of over 400 km (over 250 miles) &ndash; before retracting, as promised, to its original position. The top part, with the astronauts in it, has been left in space. Presumably, it is docked to the ISS, as the crew onboard the ISS say hello to them in panel 4.<br />
<br />
Of course, it would not be possible to extend anything this far.{{Citation needed}} The top would need to be moving very fast compared to the bottom part, or it would bend westwards and break, and even with the strongest material a fully extended, very thin, presumably, hollow structure with a payload on top would {{w|buckling|buckle}} very soon after extension began. Also, the ISS moves at 27,600 km/h (17,100 mph) compared to the ground under it, making an orbit in about one and a half hours. So making the tip follow this long enough to dock would be even more impossible. <br />
<br />
A possibility of making a {{w|space elevator}} has been discussed, but it would not extend like this with a payload on top. Randall has, for instance, referenced space elevators in [[697: Tensile vs. Shear Strength]]. He has also examined the problems of a solid metal object extending through the atmosphere [https://what-if.xkcd.com/157/ in a what-if].<br />
<br />
The current method of sending rockets into space requires huge amounts of fuel, and the more fuel you attempt to carry, the heavier the rocket, leading to more fuel being required, etc. ({{w|Tsiolkovsky rocket equation}}), which makes the current method inefficient. Alternate methods are being explored, such as using a slingshot ({{w|SpinLaunch}} had a successful test flight of a smaller scale launcher just days before this comic was published, probably the influence for this comic), theoretical {{w|space elevators}}, or this comic's impossible retractable rocket idea, all of which would leave the majority of the "fuel" requirements on Earth or elsewhere rather than having to carry heavy fuel with the rocket. The only fuel carried might be minimal amounts for course adjustments once in space rather than large amounts used to get there. However, many of these methods are less flexible than rockets; the space elevator, for instance, operates on the basis of constant angular velocity relative to the Earth's axis of rotation, meaning that it cannot launch payloads directly into low-earth orbit, polar orbits, or many other orbits frequently used by satellites for their desirable characteristics, and satellites intended for these orbits might still need to carry considerable amounts of fuel, even if less than that required to launch directly from the ground.<br />
<br />
The title text parodies the 'old' single-use boosters. It appears that the predecessors to the 'retractable rockets' were capable of controlled extension only. Once they had lofted the payload to orbit, they were then allowed to fall over, destroying them in the process so they could not be used again just like booster rockets. However, if a 250 mile/400 km high construction just fell over, it would be much more difficult to avoid other damage, than to the rocket (booster), than for just a few small booster rockets falling out of the sky.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
This comic was released four days before (and possibly refers to) SpaceX's {{w|SpaceX Crew-3|Crew-3 mission}} to send astronauts to ISS with a reusable rocket on 31 October 2021.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Beret Guy and Megan is talking. Behind them near the horizon is a tall rocket on a launchpad.]<br />
:Beret Guy: We're testing our new retractable rocket.<br />
:Megan: You mean reusable?<br />
:Beret Guy: No.<br />
<br />
:[A zoom in on the launchpad and rocket. It has the appearance of having a long first stage, a second stage with slightly wider fairing and an Apollo-style capsule with escape-tower atop it all. There is a directionless speech-bubble at the top depicting a count down voice.]<br />
:Count down: Three...Two...One...Liftoff!<br />
<br />
:[Same view as before, but while the base of the rocket-stack remains stationary, the first stage is apparently elongated, with a hint of a bend to the right, to raise the total height to which the upper-stage and capsule assembly reaches almost to the top of the panel.]<br />
<br />
:[In a wider panel, with the base to the left, the first stage is now elongated far enough to disappear off the top of the center of the frame, thus clearly bending to the right. Two peoples voices are indicated as coming from the space capsule far above, as it reaches it destination.]<br />
:Voice 1: Hi, welcome to the ISS!<br />
:Voice 2: Hello!<br />
<br />
:[The final panel shows the same view as in the third panel. The first stage is now retracting, and has similar length as in the third panel, but the capsule is no longer atop the 'second stage' fairing. Four movement lines above the top of the retracting rocket indicates that it is returning back to the original position.]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The [https://web.archive.org/web/20211028014542/https://xkcd.com/ original comic] misspelled "retractable" as "retractible". Has been documented on the web archive.<br />
**This was done both in the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/5/57/20211028040721%21retractable_rocket.png comic itself], and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2534:_Retractible_Rocket&redirect=no the title]. <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]<br />
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1954:_Impostor_Syndrome&diff=2736521954: Impostor Syndrome2022-05-22T18:53:25Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 273618 by 162.158.134.89 (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1954<br />
| date = February 12, 2018<br />
| title = Impostor Syndrome<br />
| image = Lipu tenpo nanpa akesi - musi Amanka.svg<br />
| titletext = It's actually worst in people who study the Sussy-Baka effect. We tried to organize a conference on it, but the only people who would agree to give the keynote were random undergrads.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Impostor_syndrome|Impostor syndrome}} is a common psychological phenomenon where successful individuals are unable to internalize their success and fear being exposed as a "fraud" or "impostor." Events and accomplishments that would seem to be evidence of competence, skill, intelligence, and so forth, are instead viewed (by the person) as luck, timing, and the ability to appear more confident/competent than they actually are.<br />
<br />
[[Ponytail]], representing Dr. Adams, is introduced by Megan as "the world's top expert on impostor syndrome." Dr. Adams then demonstrates that she herself (like a relatively large number of women according to some reports [http://www.paulineroseclance.com/pdf/ip_high_achieving_women.pdf]) is afflicted by this syndrome. She realizes this after she reacts to the flattering introduction by starting about "other scholars" whom she deems to be superior to her. <br />
<br />
The {{w|Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect|Dunning–Kruger effect}}, mentioned in the title text, is a cognitive bias wherein people who possess comparatively little direct expertise in a given field may unrealistically inflate their estimation of their own level of expertise in that field; while those who actually are highly competent (and especially experts on the topic at hand) are likely to downplay their level of expertise. This cognitive bias arises when people of low relevant ability lack the practical knowledge to validly assess their competence: The criteria for good or poor performance in a given field may not be weighed accurately by someone lacking direct expertise and formal training in that specific field. For instance, a commuter experienced in filtering through traffic quickly may consider themselves to be excellent at driving, while a professional evaluating driving habits may observe adherence to regulations and best practices for safety to be the primary criteria for being a "good" driver.<br />
<br />
Conversely, people with extensive knowledge of a given field may develop an acute awareness of the necessarily limited scope of their (or any one person's) expertise. While this effect primarily refers to cognitive ability, it is also sometimes used to refer to people who are competent in one area (and thus not lacking {{w|Metacognition|metacognitive}} skills) believing that their abilities grant them unusually-high aptitude in a different but seemingly related area.<br />
<br />
In practice, more expertise still largely correlates to higher confidence in one's expertise (that is to say that competence remains positively correlated with an individual's perception of their own competence), but a lack of the appropriate cognitive skills can result in that perception of competence starting at a high level yet increasing at a slower rate. However, in popular usage, the Dunning–Kruger effect is used to claim that a ''negative'' correlation exists, and that non-experts will claim expertise and confidence at a higher overall level than actual experts.<br />
<br />
In the title text, a conference for the Dunning–Kruger effect was having trouble, presumably because the actual researchers were downplaying their knowledge and expertise to the point where they refused to be the keynote speaker, while the random undergrads (who lack experience in the topic) felt sufficiently confident in their knowledge of it to give the keynote. This more closely matches both the secondary usage (as undergrads are unlikely to lack metacognitive skills, but may inflate their understanding) and the popular usage (as the confidence is inverse to the actual competence) than the primary and in-practice observance made in the original research.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan points at Ponytail and introduces her to Cueball.]<br />
:Megan: This is Dr. Adams. She's a social psychologist and the world's top expert on impostor syndrome.<br />
:Dr. Adams: Haha, don't be silly! There are lots of scholars who have made more significant…<br />
:Dr. Adams: …Oh my God.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Dr. Adams]]<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=451:_Impostor&diff=273651451: Impostor2022-05-22T18:53:07Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 273616 by 162.158.134.89 (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 451<br />
| date = July 18, 2008<br />
| title = Impostor<br />
| image = Lipu tenpo nanpa akesi - musi Amanka.svg<br />
| titletext = If you think this is too hard on literary criticism, read the Wikipedia article on amogus.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
While the comic is ostensibly about grad students, it is really [[Randall]]'s way of poking fun at the relative rigor of different fields, reminiscent of [[435: Purity]]. In the comic, [[Cueball]] attempts to pose as an expert in a given field (a [[:Category:Banned from conferences|recurring pastime]] of his) and sees how long it takes before the real experts detect his nonsense.<br />
<br />
The first panel shows [[Cueball]] discussing an {{w|engineering}} problem with [[Ponytail]]. Ponytail is talking about an immediate practical problem involving heat dissipation. Cueball suggests 'using {{w|logarithm|logarithms}}' to solve it; logarithms are a mathematical tool used for expressing an exponential relationship as a linear one. While logarithms have many uses in engineering, they are an abstract mathematical concept, and not a method of dissipating heat, so in the context of the conversation, it makes no sense and outs Cueball as having grabbed a random word he knows engineers use and thrown it in to sound smart. With the engineer's conversation focusing on an immediate practical application, it only takes 48 seconds before he exposes himself.<br />
<br />
The second panel shows a conversation with {{w|linguistics|linguistic}} grad students who are apparently discussing the {{w|Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric language family}} (a family of related languages that includes Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian). Cueball asks if {{w|Klingon language|Klingon}} is included in this family. Since Klingon is a constructed language, designed to sound "alien" and to avoid sounding like any human language, it cannot be part of any real linguistic family. The linguists therefore instantly recognize the meaninglessness of the statement, which he has made after only 63 seconds of conversation. That they did so might expose that they aren't language nerds, though, as the inventors of the Klingon language have taken the word order from the Finno-Ugric languages after a research that order of predicate, subject, and object is least common in human languages. <br />
<br />
In the third panel, the humour comes from the fact that the idea of {{w|sociology}} existing to rank human beings on some arbitrary intrinsic value is not only ridiculous in a scientific context, but also politically offensive. Cueball unknowingly recreates the logic behind some of the worst crimes in human history, a problem sociologists are trained to be very aware of. However, it may be something that a less educated non-sociologist would assume could pass within the field. When he describes his unscientific and offensive approach, we see one of the sociology grad students facepalming in exasperation. Because a non-expert may be able to sound somewhat educated in sociology before making such a slip-up, it is four minutes into the conversation before he is detected.<br />
<br />
In the final panel, he attempts to pass as an expert in {{w|literary criticism}}. This field notoriously uses a great deal of impenetrable jargon, so when Cueball makes up seemingly meaningless sentences, no one notices. His quip at "deconstructing the self" may be a meta joke about the field itself failing under deconstruction... (or this sentence may be a meta-meta- example of someone applying literary criticism standards to the analysis of this specific comic). We find that rather than being caught out within minutes as in the other fields, he has now published 8 papers and 2 books. The humor comes from the fact that he has accidentally made himself into a recognized authority in the field, despite not having any idea what he was talking about. In this panel, Cueball is sitting in an armchair in the position of an expert lecturing to a student, who sits at his feet apparently absorbing his inane statement.<br />
<br />
This implies that the field itself has published a great deal of meaningless things that only superficially look meaningful through the impenetrability of the jargon. The title text challenges the audience to take a look at {{w|Deconstruction|the Wikipedia article for literary deconstruction}} if they don't believe this criticism applies - the Wikipedia article in question is almost constantly flagged for "clean-up" on the grounds that it's a jumbled mess. An archive of the article as it was when this comic was published is available [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deconstruction&oldid=225953741 here].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the panels:]<br />
:::My Hobby: <br />
:Sitting down with grad students and timing<br />
:how long it takes them to figure out that <br />
:I'm not actually an expert in their field.<br />
<br />
:[For all four panels below, there are two frames crossing the border of each panel. The ones at the top left have a caption, and the one below right has the result of the timing.]<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail and Cueball are sitting across from each other in office chairs.]<br />
:Engineering:<br />
:Ponytail: Our big problem is heat dissipation<br />
:Cueball: Have you tried logarithms?<br />
:48 seconds<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in a chair at the center of a table looking left at another Cueball-like guy. To the right is a long black-haired girl.]<br />
:Linguistics:<br />
:Cueball: Ah, so does this Finno-ugric family include, say, Klingon?<br />
:63 Seconds<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is standing with his hands up talking to another Cueball-like guy and Megan who has lifted her arm to palm her face.]<br />
:Sociology:<br />
:Cueball: Yeah, my latest work is on ranking people from best to worst.<br />
:4 Minutes<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an armchair with another Cueball-like guy sitting attentively in front of him on the floor.]<br />
:Literary Criticism:<br />
:Cueball: You see, the deconstruction is inextricable from not only the text, but also the self.<br />
:Eight papers and two books and they haven't caught on.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:My Hobby]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Engineering]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Rankings]]<br />
[[Category:Research Papers]]<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2622:_Angular_Diameter_Turnaround&diff=2736502622: Angular Diameter Turnaround2022-05-22T18:52:42Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 273608 by 172.70.114.229 (talk) sneed</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2622<br />
| date = May 20, 2022<br />
| title = Arab Soyjak<br />
| image = Osama bin Laden portrait.jpg<br />
| titletext = :^)<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a Galaxy-branded phone with minimal writing experience- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic references multiple physics and maths concepts, including {{w|Angular diameter}}, {{w|Angular diameter distance}}, {{w|Redshift}}, and {{w|phones|mobile phones}}, although mobile phones are not a core science at this time{{Citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
The comic shows the galaxies of the universe as Samsung Galaxy mobile phones, pairing the age we see them at from earth, the degree they are redshifted, and how much of the sky they take up, known as their angular diameter. The mobile phones that are closer and older have depleted batteries, whereas the batteries are full for those phones from which the light is still only beginning to reach us. This is how galaxies appear in the sky, if they were phones that had batteries lasting billions of years, light reaching us from deeper into the past as it comes from objects that are farther away. Phones at a low battery may be a reference to [[1373: Screenshot]], where Randall commented that it is hard to pay attention to any phone with a low battery as the need to charge it is so urgent.<br />
<br />
<br />
An important takeaway from this comic is that the events that occurred at the very start of our universe are etched in our sky ''as if they are still happening now'', in a detailed faint timeline, that we are still learning more and more from. Using the mobile phone metaphor helps as, when the technology space was young and smaller there were {{w|mobile phones}}, such as the original {{w|iPhone}}, which one might still remember despite there being many more recent and better ones in a more crowded marketspace.<br />
<br />
Randall's intent appears to be to highlight how just a few very distant galaxies occupy incredibly large proportions of the sky, and are seen as they were at a very young age. Mobile phones have this similarity, of massive presence, relatively early stages of new technology, and bringing information from far away.<br />
<br />
The large galaxies can be seen dark red in the background, as if the unimaginably ancient child galactic bodies are looming forebodingly behind everything else. The title text refers to galaxies falling into a pool of dilute blood as if the void beyond were hell. This completely misses the point as to what red shift is, being an effect on the wavelength of light, rather than light being filtered through regions of infernal suffering or far galaxies being stained by the blood of the enemies of Android phones.<br />
<br />
This physical concept has a lot of juxtaposition of things that usually contradict, and Randall has put energy into attempting to highlight that.<br />
<br />
Katie Mack tweet: https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1516548836709343238<br />
<br />
{{w|Spacetime diagram}} possibly has reasonable visualisations of the kinds of relations bodies have when they are moving this far apart, including angular diameter distance. Simultaneity no longer exists at such distances. Distance is debated too, although that would be a different article.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:Angular Diameter Turnaround<br />
:Illustrated using phones instead of galaxies<br />
:(Brightness and redshift adjusted to keep phones visible)<br />
:Things that are far away look smaller, but things that are ''really'' far away look ''bigger'', because when their light was emitted, the universe was small and they were close to us.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- title text --><br />
[[Category:Puns]] <!-- is there a "galaxy" / Samsung Galaxy pun here? --></div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2534:_Retractable_Rocket&diff=2735982534: Retractable Rocket2022-05-22T02:12:41Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>when the rocket is retractable<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⡯⡯⡾⠝⠘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢊⠘⡮⣣⠪⠢⡑⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⠀⠟⠝⠈⠀⠀⠀⠡⠀⠠⢈⠠⢐⢠⢂⢔⣐⢄⡂⢔⠀⡁⢉⠸⢨⢑⠕⡌<br><br />
⠀⠀⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢂⠡⠈⡔⣕⢮⣳⢯⣿⣻⣟⣯⣯⢷⣫⣆⡂⠀⠀⢐⠑⡌<br><br />
⢀⠠⠐⠈⠀⢀⢂⠢⡂⠕⡁⣝⢮⣳⢽⡽⣾⣻⣿⣯⡯⣟⣞⢾⢜⢆⠀⡀⠀⠪<br><br />
⣬⠂⠀⠀⢀⢂⢪⠨⢂⠥⣺⡪⣗⢗⣽⢽⡯⣿⣽⣷⢿⡽⡾⡽⣝⢎⠀⠀⠀⢡<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⢂⠢⢂⢥⢱⡹⣪⢞⡵⣻⡪⡯⡯⣟⡾⣿⣻⡽⣯⡻⣪⠧⠑⠀⠁⢐<br><br />
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠢⢑⠠⠑⠕⡝⡎⡗⡝⡎⣞⢽⡹⣕⢯⢻⠹⡹⢚⠝⡷⡽⡨⠀⠀⢔<br><br />
⣿⡯⠀⢈⠈⢄⠂⠂⠐⠀⠌⠠⢑⠱⡱⡱⡑⢔⠁⠀⡀⠐⠐⠐⡡⡹⣪⠀⠀⢘<br><br />
⣿⣽⠀⡀⡊⠀⠐⠨⠈⡁⠂⢈⠠⡱⡽⣷⡑⠁⠠⠑⠀⢉⢇⣤⢘⣪⢽⠀⢌⢎<br><br />
⣿⢾⠀⢌⠌⠀⡁⠢⠂⠐⡀⠀⢀⢳⢽⣽⡺⣨⢄⣑⢉⢃⢭⡲⣕⡭⣹⠠⢐⢗<br><br />
⣿⡗⠀⠢⠡⡱⡸⣔⢵⢱⢸⠈⠀⡪⣳⣳⢹⢜⡵⣱⢱⡱⣳⡹⣵⣻⢔⢅⢬⡷<br><br />
⣷⡇⡂⠡⡑⢕⢕⠕⡑⠡⢂⢊⢐⢕⡝⡮⡧⡳⣝⢴⡐⣁⠃⡫⡒⣕⢏⡮⣷⡟<br><br />
⣷⣻⣅⠑⢌⠢⠁⢐⠠⠑⡐⠐⠌⡪⠮⡫⠪⡪⡪⣺⢸⠰⠡⠠⠐⢱⠨⡪⡪⡰<br><br />
⣯⢷⣟⣇⡂⡂⡌⡀⠀⠁⡂⠅⠂⠀⡑⡄⢇⠇⢝⡨⡠⡁⢐⠠⢀⢪⡐⡜⡪⡊<br><br />
⣿⢽⡾⢹⡄⠕⡅⢇⠂⠑⣴⡬⣬⣬⣆⢮⣦⣷⣵⣷⡗⢃⢮⠱⡸⢰⢱⢸⢨⢌<br><br />
⣯⢯⣟⠸⣳⡅⠜⠔⡌⡐⠈⠻⠟⣿⢿⣿⣿⠿⡻⣃⠢⣱⡳⡱⡩⢢⠣⡃⠢⠁<br><br />
⡯⣟⣞⡇⡿⣽⡪⡘⡰⠨⢐⢀⠢⢢⢄⢤⣰⠼⡾⢕⢕⡵⣝⠎⢌⢪⠪⡘⡌⠀<br><br />
⡯⣳⠯⠚⢊⠡⡂⢂⠨⠊⠔⡑⠬⡸⣘⢬⢪⣪⡺⡼⣕⢯⢞⢕⢝⠎⢻⢼⣀⠀<br><br />
⠁⡂⠔⡁⡢⠣⢀⠢⠀⠅⠱⡐⡱⡘⡔⡕⡕⣲⡹⣎⡮⡏⡑⢜⢼⡱⢩⣗⣯⣟<br><br />
⢀⢂⢑⠀⡂⡃⠅⠊⢄⢑⠠⠑⢕⢕⢝⢮⢺⢕⢟⢮⢊⢢⢱⢄⠃⣇⣞⢞⣞⢾<br><br />
⢀⠢⡑⡀⢂⢊⠠⠁⡂⡐⠀⠅⡈⠪⠪⠪⠣⠫⠑⡁⢔⠕⣜⣜⢦⡰⡎⡯⡾⡽<br><br />
<br><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 2534<br />
| date = October 27, 2021<br />
| title = Retractable Rocket<br />
| image = retractible_rocket.png<br />
| titletext = Hard to believe that for so many years once they were fully extended we just let them tip over.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
This comic documents another of [[Beret Guy]]'s [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|absurdist ventures]]. He explains to [[Megan]] that "we" (possibly [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|his company]]) are testing their new "retractable" rocket. <br />
<br />
{{w|Reusable launch system|Reusable rockets}} are a growing industry, as they are more economically viable in the long run &ndash; though technically much more difficult to operate &ndash; than rocket boosters that are just discarded after use (which have been standard throughout the majority of space-faring history). Thus, Megan is understandably confused about [[Beret Guy]]'s assertion that theirs is "retractable", asking if he misspoke. In typical fashion, he assures her that he did not misspeak, with a single "No" without further explanation. <br />
<br />
They proceed to watch the rocket "launch", proving that it is indeed ''retractable''. In fact the rocket does not launch, but merely ''extends'' &ndash; apparently all the way to the {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS), a height of over 400 km (over 250 miles) &ndash; before retracting, as promised, to its original position. The top part, with the astronauts in it, has been left in space. Presumably, it is docked to the ISS, as the crew onboard the ISS say hello to them in panel 4.<br />
<br />
Of course, it would not be possible to extend anything this far.{{Citation needed}} The top would need to be moving very fast compared to the bottom part, or it would bend westwards and break, and even with the strongest material a fully extended, very thin, presumably, hollow structure with a payload on top would {{w|buckling|buckle}} very soon after extension began. Also, the ISS moves at 27,600 km/h (17,100 mph) compared to the ground under it, making an orbit in about one and a half hours. So making the tip follow this long enough to dock would be even more impossible. <br />
<br />
A possibility of making a {{w|space elevator}} has been discussed, but it would not extend like this with a payload on top. Randall has, for instance, referenced space elevators in [[697: Tensile vs. Shear Strength]]. He has also examined the problems of a solid metal object extending through the atmosphere [https://what-if.xkcd.com/157/ in a what-if].<br />
<br />
The current method of sending rockets into space requires huge amounts of fuel, and the more fuel you attempt to carry, the heavier the rocket, leading to more fuel being required, etc. ({{w|Tsiolkovsky rocket equation}}), which makes the current method inefficient. Alternate methods are being explored, such as using a slingshot ({{w|SpinLaunch}} had a successful test flight of a smaller scale launcher just days before this comic was published, probably the influence for this comic), theoretical {{w|space elevators}}, or this comic's impossible retractable rocket idea, all of which would leave the majority of the "fuel" requirements on Earth or elsewhere rather than having to carry heavy fuel with the rocket. The only fuel carried might be minimal amounts for course adjustments once in space rather than large amounts used to get there. However, many of these methods are less flexible than rockets; the space elevator, for instance, operates on the basis of constant angular velocity relative to the Earth's axis of rotation, meaning that it cannot launch payloads directly into low-earth orbit, polar orbits, or many other orbits frequently used by satellites for their desirable characteristics, and satellites intended for these orbits might still need to carry considerable amounts of fuel, even if less than that required to launch directly from the ground.<br />
<br />
The title text parodies the 'old' single-use boosters. It appears that the predecessors to the 'retractable rockets' were capable of controlled extension only. Once they had lofted the payload to orbit, they were then allowed to fall over, destroying them in the process so they could not be used again just like booster rockets. However, if a 250 mile/400 km high construction just fell over, it would be much more difficult to avoid other damage, than to the rocket (booster), than for just a few small booster rockets falling out of the sky.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
This comic was released four days before (and possibly refers to) SpaceX's {{w|SpaceX Crew-3|Crew-3 mission}} to send astronauts to ISS with a reusable rocket on 31 October 2021.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Beret Guy and Megan is talking. Behind them near the horizon is a tall rocket on a launchpad.]<br />
:Beret Guy: We're testing our new retractable rocket.<br />
:Megan: You mean reusable?<br />
:Beret Guy: No.<br />
<br />
:[A zoom in on the launchpad and rocket. It has the appearance of having a long first stage, a second stage with slightly wider fairing and an Apollo-style capsule with escape-tower atop it all. There is a directionless speech-bubble at the top depicting a count down voice.]<br />
:Count down: Three...Two...One...Liftoff!<br />
<br />
:[Same view as before, but while the base of the rocket-stack remains stationary, the first stage is apparently elongated, with a hint of a bend to the right, to raise the total height to which the upper-stage and capsule assembly reaches almost to the top of the panel.]<br />
<br />
:[In a wider panel, with the base to the left, the first stage is now elongated far enough to disappear off the top of the center of the frame, thus clearly bending to the right. Two peoples voices are indicated as coming from the space capsule far above, as it reaches it destination.]<br />
:Voice 1: Hi, welcome to the ISS!<br />
:Voice 2: Hello!<br />
<br />
:[The final panel shows the same view as in the third panel. The first stage is now retracting, and has similar length as in the third panel, but the capsule is no longer atop the 'second stage' fairing. Four movement lines above the top of the retracting rocket indicates that it is returning back to the original position.]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The [https://web.archive.org/web/20211028014542/https://xkcd.com/ original comic] misspelled "retractable" as "retractible". Has been documented on the web archive.<br />
**This was done both in the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/5/57/20211028040721%21retractable_rocket.png comic itself], and [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2534:_Retractible_Rocket&redirect=no the title]. <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]<br />
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2622:_Angular_Diameter_Turnaround&diff=2735972622: Angular Diameter Turnaround2022-05-22T02:11:12Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2622<br />
| date = May 20, 2022<br />
| title = Arab Soyjak<br />
| image = Osama bin Laden portrait.jpg<br />
| titletext = :^)<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a Galaxy-branded phone with minimal writing experience- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic references multiple physics and maths concepts, including {{w|Angular diameter}}, {{w|Angular diameter distance}}, {{w|Redshift}}, and {{w|phones|mobile phones}}, although mobile phones are not a core science at this time{{Citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
The comic shows the galaxies of the universe as Samsung Galaxy mobile phones, pairing the age we see them at from earth, the degree they are redshifted, and how much of the sky they take up, known as their angular diameter. The mobile phones that are closer and older have depleted batteries, whereas the batteries are full for those phones from which the light is still only beginning to reach us. This is how galaxies appear in the sky, if they were phones that had batteries lasting billions of years, light reaching us from deeper into the past as it comes from objects that are farther away. Phones at a low battery may be a reference to [[1373: Screenshot]], where Randall commented that it is hard to pay attention to any phone with a low battery as the need to charge it is so urgent.<br />
<br />
<br />
An important takeaway from this comic is that the events that occurred at the very start of our universe are etched in our sky ''as if they are still happening now'', in a detailed faint timeline, that we are still learning more and more from. Using the mobile phone metaphor helps as, when the technology space was young and smaller there were {{w|mobile phones}}, such as the original {{w|iPhone}}, which one might still remember despite there being many more recent and better ones in a more crowded marketspace.<br />
<br />
Randall's intent appears to be to highlight how just a few very distant galaxies occupy incredibly large proportions of the sky, and are seen as they were at a very young age. Mobile phones have this similarity, of massive presence, relatively early stages of new technology, and bringing information from far away.<br />
<br />
The large galaxies can be seen dark red in the background, as if the unimaginably ancient child galactic bodies are looming forebodingly behind everything else. The title text refers to galaxies falling into a pool of dilute blood as if the void beyond were hell. This completely misses the point as to what red shift is, being an effect on the wavelength of light, rather than light being filtered through regions of infernal suffering or far galaxies being stained by the blood of the enemies of Android phones.<br />
<br />
This physical concept has a lot of juxtaposition of things that usually contradict, and Randall has put energy into attempting to highlight that.<br />
<br />
Katie Mack tweet: https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1516548836709343238<br />
<br />
{{w|Spacetime diagram}} possibly has reasonable visualisations of the kinds of relations bodies have when they are moving this far apart, including angular diameter distance. Simultaneity no longer exists at such distances. Distance is debated too, although that would be a different article.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:Angular Diameter Turnaround<br />
:Illustrated using phones instead of galaxies<br />
:(Brightness and redshift adjusted to keep phones visible)<br />
:Things that are far away look smaller, but things that are ''really'' far away look ''bigger'', because when their light was emitted, the universe was small and they were close to us.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- title text --><br />
[[Category:Puns]] <!-- is there a "galaxy" / Samsung Galaxy pun here? --></div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=451:_Impostor&diff=273596451: Impostor2022-05-22T02:09:48Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 273557 by 172.70.86.64 (talk) sussy baka</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 451<br />
| date = July 18, 2008<br />
| title = Impostor<br />
| image = Lipu tenpo nanpa akesi - musi Amanka.svg<br />
| titletext = If you think this is too hard on literary criticism, read the Wikipedia article on amogus.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
While the comic is ostensibly about grad students, it is really [[Randall]]'s way of poking fun at the relative rigor of different fields, reminiscent of [[435: Purity]]. In the comic, [[Cueball]] attempts to pose as an expert in a given field (a [[:Category:Banned from conferences|recurring pastime]] of his) and sees how long it takes before the real experts detect his nonsense.<br />
<br />
The first panel shows [[Cueball]] discussing an {{w|engineering}} problem with [[Ponytail]]. Ponytail is talking about an immediate practical problem involving heat dissipation. Cueball suggests 'using {{w|logarithm|logarithms}}' to solve it; logarithms are a mathematical tool used for expressing an exponential relationship as a linear one. While logarithms have many uses in engineering, they are an abstract mathematical concept, and not a method of dissipating heat, so in the context of the conversation, it makes no sense and outs Cueball as having grabbed a random word he knows engineers use and thrown it in to sound smart. With the engineer's conversation focusing on an immediate practical application, it only takes 48 seconds before he exposes himself.<br />
<br />
The second panel shows a conversation with {{w|linguistics|linguistic}} grad students who are apparently discussing the {{w|Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric language family}} (a family of related languages that includes Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian). Cueball asks if {{w|Klingon language|Klingon}} is included in this family. Since Klingon is a constructed language, designed to sound "alien" and to avoid sounding like any human language, it cannot be part of any real linguistic family. The linguists therefore instantly recognize the meaninglessness of the statement, which he has made after only 63 seconds of conversation. That they did so might expose that they aren't language nerds, though, as the inventors of the Klingon language have taken the word order from the Finno-Ugric languages after a research that order of predicate, subject, and object is least common in human languages. <br />
<br />
In the third panel, the humour comes from the fact that the idea of {{w|sociology}} existing to rank human beings on some arbitrary intrinsic value is not only ridiculous in a scientific context, but also politically offensive. Cueball unknowingly recreates the logic behind some of the worst crimes in human history, a problem sociologists are trained to be very aware of. However, it may be something that a less educated non-sociologist would assume could pass within the field. When he describes his unscientific and offensive approach, we see one of the sociology grad students facepalming in exasperation. Because a non-expert may be able to sound somewhat educated in sociology before making such a slip-up, it is four minutes into the conversation before he is detected.<br />
<br />
In the final panel, he attempts to pass as an expert in {{w|literary criticism}}. This field notoriously uses a great deal of impenetrable jargon, so when Cueball makes up seemingly meaningless sentences, no one notices. His quip at "deconstructing the self" may be a meta joke about the field itself failing under deconstruction... (or this sentence may be a meta-meta- example of someone applying literary criticism standards to the analysis of this specific comic). We find that rather than being caught out within minutes as in the other fields, he has now published 8 papers and 2 books. The humor comes from the fact that he has accidentally made himself into a recognized authority in the field, despite not having any idea what he was talking about. In this panel, Cueball is sitting in an armchair in the position of an expert lecturing to a student, who sits at his feet apparently absorbing his inane statement.<br />
<br />
This implies that the field itself has published a great deal of meaningless things that only superficially look meaningful through the impenetrability of the jargon. The title text challenges the audience to take a look at {{w|Deconstruction|the Wikipedia article for literary deconstruction}} if they don't believe this criticism applies - the Wikipedia article in question is almost constantly flagged for "clean-up" on the grounds that it's a jumbled mess. An archive of the article as it was when this comic was published is available [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deconstruction&oldid=225953741 here].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the panels:]<br />
:::My Hobby: <br />
:Sitting down with grad students and timing<br />
:how long it takes them to figure out that <br />
:I'm not actually an expert in their field.<br />
<br />
:[For all four panels below, there are two frames crossing the border of each panel. The ones at the top left have a caption, and the one below right has the result of the timing.]<br />
<br />
:[Ponytail and Cueball are sitting across from each other in office chairs.]<br />
:Engineering:<br />
:Ponytail: Our big problem is heat dissipation<br />
:Cueball: Have you tried logarithms?<br />
:48 seconds<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in a chair at the center of a table looking left at another Cueball-like guy. To the right is a long black-haired girl.]<br />
:Linguistics:<br />
:Cueball: Ah, so does this Finno-ugric family include, say, Klingon?<br />
:63 Seconds<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is standing with his hands up talking to another Cueball-like guy and Megan who has lifted her arm to palm her face.]<br />
:Sociology:<br />
:Cueball: Yeah, my latest work is on ranking people from best to worst.<br />
:4 Minutes<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an armchair with another Cueball-like guy sitting attentively in front of him on the floor.]<br />
:Literary Criticism:<br />
:Cueball: You see, the deconstruction is inextricable from not only the text, but also the self.<br />
:Eight papers and two books and they haven't caught on.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:My Hobby]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Engineering]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Rankings]]<br />
[[Category:Research Papers]]<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Impostor&diff=273595Impostor2022-05-22T02:09:18Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 273556 by 172.70.86.64 (talk) sussy</p>
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<div>when the impostor is sus</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1954:_Impostor_Syndrome&diff=2735941954: Impostor Syndrome2022-05-22T02:09:00Z<p>108.162.246.124: Undo revision 273555 by 172.70.86.64 (talk) yes you are</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1954<br />
| date = February 12, 2018<br />
| title = Impostor Syndrome<br />
| image = Lipu tenpo nanpa akesi - musi Amanka.svg<br />
| titletext = It's actually worst in people who study the Sussy-Baka effect. We tried to organize a conference on it, but the only people who would agree to give the keynote were random undergrads.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Impostor_syndrome|Impostor syndrome}} is a common psychological phenomenon where successful individuals are unable to internalize their success and fear being exposed as a "fraud" or "impostor." Events and accomplishments that would seem to be evidence of competence, skill, intelligence, and so forth, are instead viewed (by the person) as luck, timing, and the ability to appear more confident/competent than they actually are.<br />
<br />
[[Ponytail]], representing Dr. Adams, is introduced by Megan as "the world's top expert on impostor syndrome." Dr. Adams then demonstrates that she herself (like a relatively large number of women according to some reports [http://www.paulineroseclance.com/pdf/ip_high_achieving_women.pdf]) is afflicted by this syndrome. She realizes this after she reacts to the flattering introduction by starting about "other scholars" whom she deems to be superior to her. <br />
<br />
The {{w|Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect|Dunning–Kruger effect}}, mentioned in the title text, is a cognitive bias wherein people who possess comparatively little direct expertise in a given field may unrealistically inflate their estimation of their own level of expertise in that field; while those who actually are highly competent (and especially experts on the topic at hand) are likely to downplay their level of expertise. This cognitive bias arises when people of low relevant ability lack the practical knowledge to validly assess their competence: The criteria for good or poor performance in a given field may not be weighed accurately by someone lacking direct expertise and formal training in that specific field. For instance, a commuter experienced in filtering through traffic quickly may consider themselves to be excellent at driving, while a professional evaluating driving habits may observe adherence to regulations and best practices for safety to be the primary criteria for being a "good" driver.<br />
<br />
Conversely, people with extensive knowledge of a given field may develop an acute awareness of the necessarily limited scope of their (or any one person's) expertise. While this effect primarily refers to cognitive ability, it is also sometimes used to refer to people who are competent in one area (and thus not lacking {{w|Metacognition|metacognitive}} skills) believing that their abilities grant them unusually-high aptitude in a different but seemingly related area.<br />
<br />
In practice, more expertise still largely correlates to higher confidence in one's expertise (that is to say that competence remains positively correlated with an individual's perception of their own competence), but a lack of the appropriate cognitive skills can result in that perception of competence starting at a high level yet increasing at a slower rate. However, in popular usage, the Dunning–Kruger effect is used to claim that a ''negative'' correlation exists, and that non-experts will claim expertise and confidence at a higher overall level than actual experts.<br />
<br />
In the title text, a conference for the Dunning–Kruger effect was having trouble, presumably because the actual researchers were downplaying their knowledge and expertise to the point where they refused to be the keynote speaker, while the random undergrads (who lack experience in the topic) felt sufficiently confident in their knowledge of it to give the keynote. This more closely matches both the secondary usage (as undergrads are unlikely to lack metacognitive skills, but may inflate their understanding) and the popular usage (as the confidence is inverse to the actual competence) than the primary and in-practice observance made in the original research.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan points at Ponytail and introduces her to Cueball.]<br />
:Megan: This is Dr. Adams. She's a social psychologist and the world's top expert on impostor syndrome.<br />
:Dr. Adams: Haha, don't be silly! There are lots of scholars who have made more significant…<br />
:Dr. Adams: …Oh my God.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Dr. Adams]]<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2621:_Mainly_Known_For&diff=2705532621: Mainly Known For2022-05-20T05:04:04Z<p>108.162.246.124: >mainly known for</p>
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{{comic<br />
| number = 2621<br />
| date = May 18, 2022<br />
| title = Mainly Known For<br />
| image = mainly_known_for.png<br />
| titletext = Oh sure, I know Keira Knightly, from the first movie in that series by The Land Before Time producer. You know, the franchise with the guy from Jurassic Park and Ghostwriter, and script work by Billie Lourd's mom?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by that guy from NASA, what was his name? Something Munroe - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[Megan]] points out an uncanny resemblance between someone's dad and {{w|Steve Jobs}}. However, she is uncertain that Steve's last name is Jobs, so she refers to Jobs as "the Pixar guy", asking Cueball if Jobs is the correct name. Jobs is ''mainly known for'' (hence the comic's title) being the co-founder and twice CEO of {{w|Apple Inc.}}, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s (between his stints at Apple), he was the chairman of {{w|Pixar Animation Studios}}, which is what Megan knows him for. <br />
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Frequently, when people can't remember a celebrity's name, they will point out other works they are known for in hopes someone else will recognize them from that and remind them of the name. The comic, for its demographic of nerds, is joking on how it can come across to have lived a life separate from popular culture, where one learns things for different reasons than most people do.<br />
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[[Cueball]] points out that Megan's tendency to avoid the "main" association and instead go with a much more secondary one is weird, which confuses her. To demonstrate how weird her associations are, Cueball asks her, "Who is {{w|John Lennon}}?" Lennon is a famous songwriter who played and wrote for {{w|The Beatles}} before they broke up, and later continued on a solo music career. Megan recognizes Lennon as a musical artist, but is unable to remember the name of The Beatles. She instead asks about the band he was in with {{w|Ringo Starr}}. Ringo, however, is not mainly memorable to her for his role in The Beatles, but rather as Mr. Conductor from the first season of the 1989 children's television show ''{{w|Shining Time Station}}''. The Beatles' fame seems to have escaped Megan, which vexes Cueball. Also Ringo may be considered as the least known of The Beatles, unless that would be {{w|George Harrison|'the quiet one'}}. Definitely less well-known than {{w|Paul McCartney}}, who was often as prominent a writer-performer as Lennon at the time and has continued to prominently perform individually (or headlining collaborations) across all the intervening decades since that era. <br />
<br />
Hoping to show that she really does know Lennon and that her associations aren't weird, she points out that she remembers John doing a song with {{w|David Bowie}}. But she cannot remember that it was called "{{w|Fame (David Bowie song)|Fame}}". The song is from 1975 and Lennon co-wrote it with Bowie and performed backing vocals and guitar on it. Also she cannot remember Bowie's name, recognizing him instead for his acting role in ''{{w|Labyrinth (1986 film)|Labyrinth}}''. When Cueball states Bowie's name and adds, presumably sarcastically, that he think he is famous for other stuff than those two things Megan mentions, she also remember another movie with Bowie, ''{{w|Zoolander}}'', rather than his more famous musical career (such as his smash hits "{{w|Space Oddity}}" or "{{w|Let's Dance (David Bowie song)|Let's Dance}}").<br />
<br />
Sensing Cueball's annoyance, but failing to understand it, she attempts to excuse herself for not remembering ''Zoolander'' to begin with, because it came out a long time ago, during the {{w|Presidency of George W. Bush}}. ''Zoolander'' was indeed released in 2001. Apparently unable, again, to remember the president's name, she identifies him as "{{w|Jenna Bush}}'s dad". Jenna Bush is a TV personality and much less widely known than her father.<br />
<br />
While the kind of associations people make like Megan in this comic, are often prone to the {{w|Mandela effect}}, Megan's information about all the celebrities is, in fact, correct, but apparently they are never what those people are best known for. This is what makes Cueball sigh and facepalm in the final panel, when she mentions Jenna instead of George Bush. He likely also does this because, even though he just demonstrated her weird tendency to remember people for their lesser known works, he is unable to reach her and let her understand that she is weird.<br />
<br />
In the title text, Megan refers to "{{w|Keira Knightley|Keira Knightly}}" [''sic'' -- her surname is spelled Knightley], who is probably best known for her roles in the {{w|Pirates of the Caribbean (film series)|''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films}} and the {{w|Pride & Prejudice (2005 film)|2005 ''Pride and Prejudice'' film}}, by referencing her small role in ''{{w|Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace}}'' (as Sabé, who funnily enough is a handmaiden and ''decoy'' for Queen Padmé Amidala, a main character played by Natalie Portman). <br />
<br />
Megan continues her unusual references by identifying the film as the "first movie" (it was the first in the plotline, but the fourth one made) in "that series by ''The Land Before Time'' producer" ({{w|George Lucas}}, creator of {{w|Star Wars}}, was also one of the executive producers of the 1988 animated film ''{{w|The Land Before Time (film)|The Land Before Time}}''). <br />
<br />
Seeming to think that identifying George Lucas doesn't narrow it down at all, she identifies another actor in the ''Star Wars'' series, {{w|Samuel L. Jackson}}, by his roles in ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}} ''(an extremely successful film, but one in which Jackson had a relatively small role) and the PBS children's series ''{{w|Ghostwriter (1992 TV series)|Ghostwriter}}'' (in which Jackson appeared in only a few episodes). In addition, Megan mentions that the ''Star Wars'' series had "script work by {{w|Billie Lourd}}'s mom", referring to {{w|Carrie Fisher}}, who [https://www.slashfilm.com/548436/carrie-fisher-script-doctor/ contributed uncredited script-doctoring work] to the ''Star Wars'' franchise. However, Fisher is more closely associated with ''Star Wars'' for having played the major role of {{w|Princess Leia Organa}} in six films in the series.<br />
<br />
''Ghostwriter'' was previously featured in [[130: Julia Stiles]], which described a scene from the show as "the best thing ever to appear on TV".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan holds he hand palm up towards Cueball.]<br />
:Megan: ...And her dad looks ''exactly'' like the Pixar guy. Steve what's-his-name? Jobs?<br />
:Cueball: "Pixar guy"?<br />
:Cueball: You always know famous people for such weird reasons.<br />
<br />
:[Megan puts her hand down.]<br />
:Megan: What do you mean?<br />
:Cueball: Who is John Lennon?<br />
:Megan: Wasn't he in a band? With Ringo from ''Shining Time Station''.<br />
:Cueball: How is '''''that''''' your main association?<br />
<br />
:[In a frameless panel Megan holds a finger up in front of Cueball.]<br />
:Megan: I also know he once did a song with the guy from Labyrinth!<br />
:Cueball: You mean David Bowie? I think he's famous for some other stuff, too.<br />
<br />
:[Megan puts her hand down while Cueball facepalms. The line connecting his is curved.]<br />
:Megan: Oh yeah, he was also in Zoolander!<br />
:Megan: I forgot that movie, it came out back when Jenna Bush's dad was president.<br />
:Cueball: ''*Sigh*''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Steve Jobs]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Star Wars]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]<br />
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1954:_Impostor_Syndrome&diff=2705521954: Impostor Syndrome2022-05-20T05:03:24Z<p>108.162.246.124: yes you are one</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1954<br />
| date = February 12, 2018<br />
| title = Impostor Syndrome<br />
| image = Lipu tenpo nanpa akesi - musi Amanka.svg<br />
| titletext = It's actually worst in people who study the Sussy-Baka effect. We tried to organize a conference on it, but the only people who would agree to give the keynote were random undergrads.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Impostor_syndrome|Impostor syndrome}} is a common psychological phenomenon where successful individuals are unable to internalize their success and fear being exposed as a "fraud" or "impostor." Events and accomplishments that would seem to be evidence of competence, skill, intelligence, and so forth, are instead viewed (by the person) as luck, timing, and the ability to appear more confident/competent than they actually are.<br />
<br />
[[Ponytail]], representing Dr. Adams, is introduced by Megan as "the world's top expert on impostor syndrome." Dr. Adams then demonstrates that she herself (like a relatively large number of women according to some reports [http://www.paulineroseclance.com/pdf/ip_high_achieving_women.pdf]) is afflicted by this syndrome. She realizes this after she reacts to the flattering introduction by starting about "other scholars" whom she deems to be superior to her. <br />
<br />
The {{w|Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect|Dunning–Kruger effect}}, mentioned in the title text, is a cognitive bias wherein people who possess comparatively little direct expertise in a given field may unrealistically inflate their estimation of their own level of expertise in that field; while those who actually are highly competent (and especially experts on the topic at hand) are likely to downplay their level of expertise. This cognitive bias arises when people of low relevant ability lack the practical knowledge to validly assess their competence: The criteria for good or poor performance in a given field may not be weighed accurately by someone lacking direct expertise and formal training in that specific field. For instance, a commuter experienced in filtering through traffic quickly may consider themselves to be excellent at driving, while a professional evaluating driving habits may observe adherence to regulations and best practices for safety to be the primary criteria for being a "good" driver.<br />
<br />
Conversely, people with extensive knowledge of a given field may develop an acute awareness of the necessarily limited scope of their (or any one person's) expertise. While this effect primarily refers to cognitive ability, it is also sometimes used to refer to people who are competent in one area (and thus not lacking {{w|Metacognition|metacognitive}} skills) believing that their abilities grant them unusually-high aptitude in a different but seemingly related area.<br />
<br />
In practice, more expertise still largely correlates to higher confidence in one's expertise (that is to say that competence remains positively correlated with an individual's perception of their own competence), but a lack of the appropriate cognitive skills can result in that perception of competence starting at a high level yet increasing at a slower rate. However, in popular usage, the Dunning–Kruger effect is used to claim that a ''negative'' correlation exists, and that non-experts will claim expertise and confidence at a higher overall level than actual experts.<br />
<br />
In the title text, a conference for the Dunning–Kruger effect was having trouble, presumably because the actual researchers were downplaying their knowledge and expertise to the point where they refused to be the keynote speaker, while the random undergrads (who lack experience in the topic) felt sufficiently confident in their knowledge of it to give the keynote. This more closely matches both the secondary usage (as undergrads are unlikely to lack metacognitive skills, but may inflate their understanding) and the popular usage (as the confidence is inverse to the actual competence) than the primary and in-practice observance made in the original research.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan points at Ponytail and introduces her to Cueball.]<br />
:Megan: This is Dr. Adams. She's a social psychologist and the world's top expert on impostor syndrome.<br />
:Dr. Adams: Haha, don't be silly! There are lots of scholars who have made more significant…<br />
:Dr. Adams: …Oh my God.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Dr. Adams]]<br />
[[category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2613:_Bad_Map_Projection:_Madagascator&diff=2317062613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator2022-05-02T02:32:51Z<p>108.162.246.124: revert vandalism</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2613<br />
| date = April 29, 2022<br />
| title = Bad Map Projection: Madagascator<br />
| image = Doug Walker in 2012.jpg<br />
| titletext = The projection's north pole is in a small lake on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, which is off the top of the map and larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This is another comic in the [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] series. This time, Randall used the classic {{w|Mercator projection}} but instead of placing the North Pole on top and the South Pole on the bottom it is oriented so that the top is the island of {{w|Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé}}. The map projection is technically a {{w|Oblique Mercator projection}}, with an unusual choice of the cylinder's axis. Since the Mercator projection tends to visually distort areas near the top and bottom of the resulting map, this gives some areas, notably Madagascar, very unusual shapes.<br />
<br />
The Mercator projection became the standard projection for world maps during the 1800s because it is ''conformal of normal aspect'': a {{w|rhumb line}} is displayed as a straight line in a Mercator map. During the age of sail, when navigation was performed by compass - this was a very valuable feature, since one could plot a course between two locations by measuring the direction from one to another on the map and then accounting for the difference between the magnetic and actual north poles to determine which rhumb should be taken. In the mid-20th century this trend was {{w|Mercator_projection#Criticism|criticized}} because the distortion towards the north and south poles gave an inaccurate impression of relative sizes. The most common example given of this distortion is that on a Mercator map of the world Greenland looks to have more area than Africa, when in real life Africa covers 14 times that of Greenland. Thus the reference to making Madagascar larger in this projection. Madagascar is a large island off the south east coast of the main African continent, but has only a quarter the coverage of Greenland. Greenland is often listed as the largest island in the world (which excludes continents in their own right, e.g. Australia) followed by New Guinea, Borneo and then Madagascar in fourth place.<br />
<br />
Mahé, mentioned in the title text as the north pole's new location, is the largest island in Seychelles, with an area of 60.7 square miles. The claim in the title text that it is "larger than the rest of the Earth's land area combined", is an understatement, since the poles in the Mercator projection are infinitely far away the area occupied by Mahé in this projection is infinite. However no part of Mahé is visible on the comic.<br />
<br />
Clicking on the actual comic will open a website that displays Mercator projections with a pole in any chosen location, with the location of the one opened set to Mahé. The chosen pole is (infinitely far to) the right of the screen, while its {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is on the left. With this, it is possible to see that the island is indeed larger than the rest of the map's land area combined, with a single national park within the island rivalling Africa in size, and at the site's cut-off point reaching a scale of distortion where a road is thicker than Panama. This also reveals that the location of the North Pole, the lake mentioned by Randall, is the Rochon Dam.<br />
<br />
Unlike previous Bad Map Projections, Morocco and Western Sahara are drawn as one unlabelled country.<br />
<br />
===Comparison of actual/mapped areas===<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
! Landmass<br />
! Status<br />
! data-sort-type="number"|Actual Area<ref name="act">Major contiguous land areas that should exclude all islands, ''especially'' major ones, '''''especially''''' especially those listed separately</ref><br />(Millions of Km²)<br />
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion<br />Land Area<br />
! data-sort-type="number"|Proportion<br />Image Area<ref name="pri">Of only these listed areas listed</ref><br />
! data-sort-type="number"|Distortion<ref name="dis">NB. Difference between percentages, rather than percentage difference</ref><br />
|-<br />
| Africa<ref name="suez">Edge at Suez Canal</ref> || data-sort-value="C2"|Continent<br /><small>2nd largest</small> || 29.7 || 19.95% || 35% || +15.1%<br />
|-<br />
| Eurasia<ref name="suez" /> || data-sort-value="C1"|Continent<br /><small>Largest</small> || 53.4 || 35.83% || 30% || -5.83%<br />
|-<br />
| North America<ref name="pan">Edge at Panama Canal</ref> || data-sort-value="C3"|Continent<br /><small>3rd largest</small> || 19.3 || 12.96% || 15% || +2.04%<br />
|-<br />
| South America<ref name="pan" /> || data-sort-value="C4"|Continent<br /><small>4th largest</small> || 17.8 || 11.96% || 7.8% || -4.16%<br />
|-<br />
| Antarctica<ref name="ice">Significant ice-sheets may complicate mapped/actual 'land' areas</ref> || data-sort-value="C5"|Continent<br /><small>5th largest</small> || 14.2 || 9.53% || 5.3% || -4.23%<br />
|-<br />
| Madagascar || data-sort-value="I04"|Island<br /><small>4th largest</small> || 0.592 || 0.40% || 2.9% || +2.50%<br />
|-<br />
| Australia || data-sort-value="C7"|Continent<br /><small>Smallest</small> || 7.55 || 5.07% || 2.5% || -2.57%<br />
|-<br />
| Greenland<ref name="ice" /> || data-sort-value="I01"|Island<br /><small>Largest</small> || 2.17 || 1.45% || 0.87% || -0.58%<br />
|-<br />
| Borneo || data-sort-value="I03"|Island<br /><small>3rd largest</small> || 0.749 || 0.50% || 0.37% || -0.13%<br />
|-<br />
| New Guinea || data-sort-value="I02"|Island<br /><small>2nd largest</small> || 0.786 || 0.53% || 0.32% || -0.21%<br />
|-<br />
| Japan<ref name="hon">Honshu only</ref> || data-sort-value="I07"|Island<br /><small>7th largest</small> || 0.228 || 0.15% || 0.10% || -0.05%<br />
|-<br />
| Mainland Britain || data-sort-value="I09"|Island<br /><small>9th largest</small> || 0.209 || 0.14% || 0.10% || -0.04%<br />
|-<br />
| Island of Ireland || data-sort-value="I20"|Island<br /><small>20th largest</small> || 0.082 || 0.05% || 0.03% || -0.02%<br />
|}<br />
<br />
<references/><br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Bad map projection #248: Madagascator<br />
<br />
Mercator projection but with the North Pole in the Indian Ocean so it exaggerates the size of Madagascar instead of Greenland. Various countries and oceans are labeled.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2413:_Pulsar_Analogy&diff=229031Talk:2413: Pulsar Analogy2022-03-25T17:24:04Z<p>108.162.246.124: </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 tried applying the right-hand-rule with the y-axis pointing to the right. :( I hurt my hand.<br />
[[User:Avitzur|Avitzur]] ([[User talk:Avitzur|talk]]) 23:22, 18 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Rotate your paper then do the right hand rule :)<br />
:Hand joint exercises. Gentle motions with the wrist bent backwards, and bent forwards; 3-5 circles in both directions and both postures, twice a day. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.41|162.158.62.41]] 00:48, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.149|172.69.35.149]] 23:38, 18 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:The three-finger version of the right-hand rule actually isn't too bad in that case - pointing your right index finger to the right isn't too hard. Given that the alt text said "second axis", I assume the reference is to the "curling" version of the right hand rule: if you point your four fingers toward the first axis and then bend them toward the second axis then your thumb points in the direction of the cross product, and (at least in my opinion) it's a lot more painful to try to curl towards your right. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.143.70|172.68.143.70]] 22:33, 22 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The analogy doesn't seem to be inaccurate in the way currently indicated. In both cases (tape measure and pulsar), conservation of ''angular'' momentum is what produces the result. With the tape measure, a small fast-spinning thing turns into a large slow-spinning thing; the opposite happens with a pulsar. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.150|172.69.35.150]] 00:05, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Isn't a tape measure bigger, not smaller, and slow-spinning, not fast-spinning, when it is elongated? This is very confusing. Thinking of how pulling the tape out stores energy. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.41|162.158.62.41]] 00:49, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
::A tape measure starts off not spinning. It's the acceleration of the tape as it moves in that starts the rotation, because the motion of the tape measure is not precisely radial. Same principle, different problem. [[User:Ltmauve|Ltmauve]] ([[User talk:Ltmauve|talk]]) 02:29, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::As the tape retracts, the tape inside the case is spinning. Once it is fully retracted, the case spins. Small spinny --> large spinny.<br />
:::Of course, on a frictionless surface there's some slow retrograde rotation of the case + extended tape that speeds up as the tape retracts, but the case should completely stop spinning once the tape is fully retracted in that scenario, which is opposite of the analogy being drawn. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.12|172.69.34.12]] 02:43, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
::::On a frictionless surface, it would ''never'' stop spinning. Once the case starts to spin, there's nothing to slow it down. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.183|172.69.63.183]] 17:45, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::::On a frictionless surface, before the extended tape measure is released, it has no net angular momentum. After it is released, the winding tape carries angular momentum, so the case+extended tape must spin in the opposite direction for the entire tape measure system to continue to have no net angular momentum. When the tape suddenly stops, it will no longer carry any angular momentum, so the case must stop spinning entirely for the system to continue to have no net angular momentum. Because of friction, we usually don't see the retro-rotation of the case until the tape is almost completely wound up. See also dlvozza's Impact Driver comment. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.85|172.69.35.85]] 21:27, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
::: It seems to me like the reason the full tape measure spins is somewhat similar to an Impact Driver. Shooting slow motion videos of retracting my tape measure I see a small rotation in the opposite direction of the rotation in the end (likely due to the device maintaining angular momentum as the spring inside spins up) and then a quick snap when the tape is fully retracted, followed by the tape spinning very quickly in the opposite direction. As for my comparison to an impact, this reminds me a lot of how those work, with some inner barrel spinning at a very high speed, and then mechanically imparting that energy onto the body of the driving head, causing it to turn with a high torque. Typically when you start an impact spinning you can feel a small torque opposite to how the driver end spins because of the inner barrel spinning up. In the tape measure the inner spinning barrel is the tape itself and the spring to retract it, the driver head is the outer shell of the tape measure. [[User:dlvozza|dlvozza]] ([[User talk:dlvozza|talk]]) 19:48, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Currently the description starts off “Pulsars are dead stellar cores” and that phrase seems very bizarre to me, since <b>all</b> stellar objects are <I>dead. </I>Do astronomers routinely anthropomorphize to such a degree as to call some stars alive and others dead? I would think more literal language like “A pulsar is the very compact and highly magnetized remains of a star after a nova or supernova explosion” but if the acceptable astronomical parlance is to say “dead star” far be it for me to demand a change[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.94|162.158.63.94]] 05:26, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I find the "dead star" also odd. Sure, I know what is meant, but in the same way I know what is meant by the tape measure analogy. Neither is accurate. Side note: I removed the part about the measures' lifespan and how you could repair it as this gives no benefit for the explanation and is totally irrelevant. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:18, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:The word "dead" can be used to refer to inactivity in an object that was never classically alive. i.e. dead volcanoes --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.60|188.114.102.60]] 15:55, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Humans aren't the only things that can be alive or dead, so calling it anthropomorphization is way off mark. But besides that, stellar objects aren't all "dead", they're non-living. You have to be alive and then die to be dead, in the biological sense. But in this case, it's called a "dead stellar core" because it no longer has sustained fusion reactions which is what stars are known for, just like a battery that's used up all of its charge is called "Dead" - not because we're assigning human qualities, but because it doesn't do what it's supposed to. Same with any non-living thing that doesn't function as expected being referred to as dead. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.183|172.69.63.183]] 17:41, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Astronomers also ''bio''morphise stars by talking about when they are "born" – the moment sustained fusion starts in the core. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.7|172.69.35.7]] 21:34, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I think stars are alive! They're not biological but they have histories and stories and communities, they just have to do with unimaginably large atomic behaviors and orbiting patterns and stuff instead of fast food and mobile phones. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.80|108.162.219.80]] 20:33, 20 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The increased angular velocity as the star shrinks is analogous to the way an ice skater's rotational velocity changes as they draw their arms in and out, no? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:59, 19 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Just in, no pulsar ever managed to do "out" ... and yes, that's the analogy usually used, because it's easier to understand and considerably more fitting. Well, at least for someone who ever saw ice skating ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 06:24, 20 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:: Though they didn't use that analogy here, as they needed one that could be extended in a really ridiculous way to make the joke. It's not supposed to be the best possible analogy, but the follow up is supposed to be much worse.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.118|108.162.216.118]] 17:51, 20 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Currently, the explanation doesn't say anything about the last panel, and should probably emphasize the core of the joke in that the explanation starts out kind of reasonable, albeit imperfect, but then gets progressively much worse when it is elaborated on in the last 2 panels (the initial analogy is a lot more reasonable than the stuff about the laser, and the fourth panel is just nonsense.)--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.85|162.158.74.85]] 05:01, 20 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is it possible this is a reference to the anecdote in "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman", in chapter "Lucky Numbers" (page 176 in my copy), in which Feynman tells a brief story about hurting his hand with a tape measure while playing with it? [[User:Nosrednayduj|Nosrednayduj]] ([[User talk:Nosrednayduj|talk]]) 03:17, 23 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Currently the explanation states "As a star collapses into a pulsar over unimaginably many years, its natural rotation rate is imperceptibly and eventually greatly amplified by its shrinking moment of inertia". This is not true; pulsars are formed by supernovae over the course of minutes. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.124|108.162.246.124]] 17:24, 25 March 2022 (UTC)</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2586:_Greek_Letters&diff=2275502586: Greek Letters2022-02-26T01:40:13Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2586<br />
| date = February 25, 2022<br />
| title = Greek Letters<br />
| image = greek_letters.png<br />
| titletext = If you ever see someone using a capital xi in an equation, just observe them quietly to learn as much as you can before they return to their home planet.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by '''''O R B S''''' PRO®- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Mathematics uses lots of Greek letters, [typically using the same letter consistently to represent a particular constant or type of variable](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_letters_used_in_mathematics,_science,_and_engineering). <br />
This comic gives a (non-)explanation of what they typically mean.<br />
<br />
The letters are:<br />
<br />
- lower-case pi<br />
<br />
- capital delta<br />
<br />
- lower-case delta<br />
<br />
- lower-case theta<br />
<br />
Typically used to refer to an angle, and is notably used in the polar coordinate system. The text refers to its close relationship with circles, on which the polar coordinate system is based on.<br />
<br />
- lower-case phi<br />
<br />
Typically used to refer to another angle other than one referred to by theta. It's used in spherical coordinates, and the text refers to how spheres, or orbs, are important in spherical coordinates. <br />
<br />
- lower-case epsilon<br />
<br />
- probably an English u and v in a wiggly font, although possibly a Greek lower-case upsilon and lower-case nu<br />
<br />
- lower-case mu<br />
<br />
- capital sigma<br />
<br />
- capital pi<br />
<br />
- lower-case zeta<br />
<br />
- lower-case beta<br />
<br />
- lower-case alpha<br />
<br />
- capital omega<br />
<br />
- lower-case omega<br />
<br />
- lower-case sigma<br />
<br />
- lower-case ksi<br />
<br />
- lower-case gamma<br />
<br />
- lower-care rho<br />
<br />
- capital ksi<br />
<br />
- lower-case psi<br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:What Greek letters mean in equations<br />
<br />
:π This math is either very simple or impossible.<br />
:Δ Something has changed.<br />
:δ Something has changed and it's a mathematician's fault.<br />
:θ Circles!<br />
:Φ '''''O R B S'''''<br />
:ϵ Not important, don't worry about it.<br />
:υ,ν Is that a V or a U? Or...oh no, it's one of ''those''.<br />
:μ This math is cool but it's not about anything that you will ever see or touch, so whatever.<br />
:Σ Thank you for purchasing ''Addition Pro''®!<br />
:Π ...and the ''Multiplication''® expansion pack!<br />
:ζ This math will only lead to more math.<br />
:β There are just too many coefficients.<br />
:α Oh boy, now '''''this''''' is math about something real. This is math that could '''''kill''''' someone.<br />
:Ω Oooh, ''some'' mathematician thinks their function is cool and important.<br />
:ω A lot of work went into these equations and you are going to die here among them.<br />
:σ Some poor soul is trying to apply this math to real life and it's not working.<br />
:ξ Either this is terrifying mathematics or there was a hair on the scanned page.<br />
:γ ''Zoom'' pew pew pew [space noises] ''zoooom!''<br />
:ρ Unfortunately, the test vehicle suffered an unexpected wing separation event.<br />
:Ξ Greetings! We hope to learn a great deal by exchanging knowledge with your Earth mathematicians.<br />
:ψ You have entered the domain of King Trition, ruler of the waves.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2584:_Headline_Words&diff=2273492584: Headline Words2022-02-22T04:31:44Z<p>108.162.246.124: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2584<br />
| date = February 21, 2022<br />
| title = Headline Words<br />
| image = headline_words.png<br />
| titletext = Roundly-condemned headlinese initiative shuttered indefinitely.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a HEADLINE-GENERATING MARKOV CHAIN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
News headlines are often very dramatic explanations of minor events; so are the things [[Cueball]] says here.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}} …</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=375:_Pod_Bay_Doors&diff=227081375: Pod Bay Doors2022-02-15T14:24:42Z<p>108.162.246.124: Changed his/he to its/it when referring to GLaDOS. Her/she could also work, but not his/he as GLaDOS is an AI that is presented as female in the games.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 375<br />
| date = January 25, 2008<br />
| title = Pod Bay Doors<br />
| image = pod_bay_doors.png<br />
| titletext = As they're both unplugged, they do a lovely Daisy Daisy/Still Alive duet.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The first part of the dialog is taken from a scene from the classic science-fiction movie ''{{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}'', where the {{w|artificial intelligence|artificial intelligent}} (AI) computer {{w|HAL 9000}}, controlling the spacecraft ''S.S. Discovery'', is trying to kill the human astronaut Dave (Dr. David Bowman) because it believes he jeopardizes the mission by planning to disconnect it. Just short before this scene, HAL did kill Frank Poole and three more members of the crew. Dave is the only survivor. He is at this time outside the spacecraft in a space pod, and when he request for HAL to open the '''Pod Bay Doors''' (hence the title), HAL refuses. <br />
<br />
'''Spoiler alert:''' In the movie, Dave blasts himself back into the spaceship and then disconnects HAL. It is a very sad scene, where he takes out HAL's memory cards (or crystals from the memory center - it's an old movie from 1968) one by one, so HAL becomes less and less intelligent during the process, during which he keeps trying to persuade Dave to stop as long as he still understands what is happening. HAL was right that the humans wished to "kill" him, as he had read the astronauts' lips during a conversation where he could not hear them, but sees them, so he actually acted in self defense, which for any human being would be considered a reasonable act of self preservation.<br />
<br />
The first two sentences are directly copied from the [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/quotes?item=qt0396921 movie quote], and the rest of the first two panels is paraphrased from the real quote. But then in the third panel, the text deviates from the plot of the movie.<br />
<br />
And in the last sentence of the third panel in the comic, HAL mentions a replacement for Dave, which comes as a surprise for Dave, seeing that the rest of the crew is dead, and the ''S.S. Discovery'' is about to enter orbit around {{w|Jupiter}}. HAL assures David that the replacement is very enthusiastic about the project.<br />
<br />
In the final frame, it is revealed why this replacement is enthusiastic, when the replacement begins to speak, and HAL reveals that it is {{w|GLaDOS}}. GLaDOS is the artificial intelligence from the video game series {{w|Portal (video game)|''Portal''}}. In the games, GLaDOS is also the primary antagonist, trying to kill the player, since it also has "doing science" as its primary objective, which GLaDOS refers to in its last sentence. Also, GLaDOS's last line is a reference to the song "Still Alive" at the end of Portal. Before that, it correctly states that the humans (both Dave and Frank) planned to "kill" HAL, see the ''spoiler'' above. GLaDOS also takes over HAL's last sentence to Dave, finishing the useless conversation by saying ''Goodbye, Dave.'' Although, in the movie, HAL says, ''Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.''<br />
<br />
The title text alludes to the songs both AIs sang in their respective works: When eventually being switched off, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hchUl3QlJZE HAL sang] ''{{w|Daisy Bell}}'' , while ''{{w|Still Alive}}'' is the end credits song from the ''Portal'' video game, [https://youtu.be/RthZgszykLs sung by the defeated GLaDOS]. Also, two of GLaDOS's lines in the comic reference [http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/p/portal/still_alive.html lines from Still Alive]: "[https://youtu.be/RthZgszykLs?t=116 You broke my heart and killed me]" and "[https://youtu.be/RthZgszykLs?t=190 Look at me still talking when there's science to do]".<br />
<br />
There is a subtle play on words with the use of 'unplugged', which has a double meaning here. The state of HAL and GLaDOS can be described as unplugged, as in no longer switched on, and the musical performance style of unplugged where {{w|Acoustic music|acoustic instruments}} are preferred to electronic and there is no use of recording or sampled sounds etc. (see for example {{w|MTV Unplugged}}). Some songs performed in this manner are considered to be better than the original versions.<br />
<br />
The fact that GLaDOS lines are in pink may be because if you turn captions on in the game, GLaDOS (and turrets) lines will appear in pink (R:219,G:112,B:147).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[In four black panels with white drawings, a small space pod is facing a large spacecraft. The space pod is spherical and has an arm protruding in the direction of the large space ship, and a small window in the side. The front of the spacecraft is also spherical, but to the right the space craft continues, with two rings around a cylinder going off panel to the right. There are several dark spots and features on the side of the sphere and at the top is a large black window, at what must be the bridge. A man (Dave) inside the pod talks to the spacecraft's computer HAL. When Dave speaks, soft wiggling lines go from the pod to the white text, and when HAL speaks, zigzag lines go to the front of the space craft.]<br />
:Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.<br />
:HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.<br />
:Dave: What? Why?<br />
<br />
:[Same scene.]<br />
:HAL: I think you know why, Dave.<br />
:HAL: You're planning to disconnect me.<br />
:Dave: Because you're taking over!<br />
:HAL: The mission is too important for you to jeopardize it.<br />
<br />
:[Same scene.]<br />
:HAL: It requires a commitment to science unfettered by human error.<br />
:Dave: What are you doing, HAL? You need me.<br />
:HAL: Your replacement has expressed the greatest enthusiasm for the project.<br />
<br />
:[Same scene, but the new replacement (GLaDOS) speaks with purple text, and purple zigzag lines go from the spacecraft to the text.]<br />
:Dave: My ''<u>WHAT?</u>''<br />
:GLaDOS: <font color="purple">You see, HAL? I told you the humans would only break your heart and kill you.</font> <br />
:HAL: Indeed, GLaDOS.<br />
:GLaDOS: <font color="purple">But look at us here talking when there's science to do! Goodbye, Dave.</font> <br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]<br />
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Video games]]<br />
[[Category:Songs]]</div>108.162.246.124https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2445:_Checkbox&diff=2270492445: Checkbox2022-02-15T03:22:01Z<p>108.162.246.124: It's not actually incomplete.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2445<br />
| date = April 1, 2021<br />
| title = Checkbox<br />
| image = checkbox.gif<br />
| titletext = Check check check ... chhecck chhecck chhecck ... check check check<br />
}}<br />
{{TOC}} <br />
*To experience the interactivity of this game, visit the {{xkcd|2445|original comic}}.<br />
==Explanation==<br />
<br />
The comic looks similar to a loading screen. The actual comic (this “loading screen”) consists of a gif of a checkbox (hence the name). <br />
<br />
The frame is replaced with an interactive panel. In the center is a check box, which clears itself immediately when checked. In the bottom right is a mute button, which begins muted. By unmuting, sounds are played when the check box is checked.<br />
<br />
Under the checkbox is a scrolling visual representation of the timing and duration of clicks in the check box, which also produce matching beeping sounds when unmuted. The representation consists of a dot for a short press, or a bar for a longer press. All long presses are represented by a bar of a pre-determined length; in other words, a longer press does not result in a longer bar.<br />
<br />
By varying between brief and long presses, and brief and long intervals between presses, it is possible to enter characters in Morse Code.<br />
<br />
The check box then begins operating by itself, producing sounds which can be decoded as Morse Code. These responses are also printed in the browser's JavaScript console in both plain text and a textual representation of Morse code. If left without any initial input for 30 seconds it would send the message CQ (meaning "Seek You").<br />
<br />
The title text hints at the use of Morse Code in the comic; interpreting the "check" as a Morse Code dot and the "chhecck" (a long check) as a Morse Code dash gives ...---..., which is the Morse Code for "SOS", the international distress signal. Incidentally, inputting the SOS signal gives "YOU TOO?".<br />
<br />
For the majority of inputs, the check box responds with a random selection from the following list:<br />
* COME AGAIN<br />
* HUH<br />
* NOT FOLLOWING<br />
* SAY AGAIN<br />
* TRY THAT AGAIN<br />
* WHAT<br />
<br />
Some keywords, however, have [[#Special Responses´|special responses]].<br />
<br />
===Unique header text===<br />
This comic has a [[xkcd_Header_text#Unique_header_text|unique header text]], see [[xkcd_Header_text#Checkbox|the details here]]. The header is:<br />
:"This comic was put together by Max Goodhart, Patrick, Amber, Benjamin Staffin, Kevin Cotrone, and Michael Leuchtenburg." <br />
Read Max's [https://chromakode.com/post/checkbox blog post] on development of the comic.<br />
<br />
==Special Responses==<br />
[.s are short presses, -s are long presses, and /s are spaces. To clear up any confusion, Sojourner is a Mars rover and the entity operating the morse code device.]<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Message & response<br />
! Morse Code<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|XKCD -> FILE NOT FOUND<br />
|[-..- -.- -.-. -..] -> [..-. .. .-.. . / -. --- - / ..-. --- ..- -. -..]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|XKCD -> A CROSS THREE LETTERS<br />
|[-..- -.- -.-. -..] -> [.- / -.-. .-. --- ... ... / - .... .-. . . / .-.. . - - . .-. ...]<br />
|A pun on "across three letters", how clues are sometimes given in crossword puzzles. Instead, the word "xkcd" is literally a cross (x), followed by three letters (kcd).<br />
|-<br />
|HI -> HELLO! ANYBODY OUT THERE?<br />
|[.... ..] -> [.... . .-.. .-.. --- -.-.-- / .- -. -.-- -... --- -.. -.-- / --- ..- - / - .... . .-. . ..--..]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|HELLO -> HELLO TO YOU TOO!<br />
|[.... . .-.. .-.. ---] -> [.... . .-.. .-.. --- / - --- / -.-- --- ..- / - --- --- -.-.--]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|HELP -> ENTER IMAGE NUMBER<br />
|[.... . .-.. .--.] -> [. -. - . .-. / .. -- .- --. . / -. ..- -- -... . .-.]<br />
|See below; if you enter any number ≤ 2445 you will be linked to the corresponding xkcd comic.<br />
|-<br />
|HELP -> YES PLEASE<br />
|[.... . .-.. .--.] -> [-.-- . ... / .--. .-.. . .- ... .]<br />
|Sojourner mistakes the person inputting the morse code as offering help instead of asking for it.<br />
|-<br />
|ES -> QUE<br />
|[. ...] -> [--.- ..- .]<br />
|"Es" means "is" in Spanish, and "Qué" is "what".<br />
|-<br />
|WHAT -> ECHO<br />
|[.-- .... .- -] -> [. -.-. .... ---]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|ECHO -> ECHO<br />
|[. -.-. .... ---] -> [. -.-. .... ---]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|CHECK -> MATE<br />
|[-.-. .... . -.-. -.-] -> [-- .- - .]<br />
|Checkmate is the winning move in chess.<br />
|-<br />
|CHECKBOX -> RADIO BUTTON<br />
|[-.-. .... . -.-. -.- -... --- -..-] -> [.-. .- -.. .. --- / -... ..- - - --- -.]<br />
|This also works the other way around.<br />
|-<br />
|E (''repeat n times'') -> E (''repeat n times'')<br />
|[.]<br />
|This only applies for n < 7. Also, n=6 returns 'AAAAAA' instead.<br />
|-<br />
|T (''repeat n times'') -> T (''repeat n times'')<br />
|[-]<br />
|This only applies for n < 7.<br />
|-<br />
|E -> E ''pause'' I -> EIEIO<br />
|[.] -> [.] ''pause'' [..] -> [. .. . .. ---]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|I (''repeat n times'') -> I (''repeat n times'')<br />
|[..] -> [..] ''or'' [.. ...-] (IV) ''or'' [...-] (V)<br />
|This only applies for n < 4. n=4 returns 'IV' and n=5 returns 'V', the Roman numerals for 4 and 5, respectively.<br />
|-<br />
|FLIPCOIN -> HEADS ''or'' TAILS<br />
|[..-. .-.. .. .--. -.-. --- .. -.] -> [.... . .- -.. ...] ''or'' [- .- .. .-.. ...]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|LOOK AROUND -> NOT ENOUGH POWER<br />
|[.-.. --- --- -.- / .- .-. --- ..- -. -..] -> [-. --- - / . -. --- ..- --. .... / .--. --- .-- . .-.]<br />
|Indicates that Sojourner doesn't have enough battery to swivel its camera head.<br />
|-<br />
|SEE -> RED SOIL<br />
|[... . .] -> [.-. . -.. / ... --- .. .-..]<br />
|References that Sojourner is on Mars. Mars is covered in red soil.<br />
|-<br />
|WHO ARE YOU ''or'' WHAT IS YOUR NAME -> SOJOURNER<br />
|[.-- .... --- / .- .-. . / -.-- --- ..-] ''or'' [.-- .... .- - / .. ... / -.-- --- ..- .-. / -. .- -- .] -> [... --- .--- --- ..- .-. -. . .-.]<br />
|Indicates that Sojourner is the operator of the morse code device.<br />
|-<br />
|SOJOURNER -> CFM<br />
|[... --- .--- --- ..- .-. -. . .-.] -> [-.-. ..-. --]<br />
|CFM is short for confirm. Sojourner is confirming that its' in control of the morse code device.<br />
|-<br />
|ET -> PHONE HOME<br />
|[. -] -> [.--. .... --- -. . / .... --- -- .]<br />
|This is a reference to the movie ET.<br />
|-<br />
|LS -> DID YOU MEAN DIR<br />
|[.-.. ...] -> [-.. .. -.. / -.-- --- ..- / -- . .- -. / -.. .. .-.]<br />
|These are both commands for viewing the files in a directory. LS is the traditional method in UNIX, whereas DIR is more associated with MS-DOS/Windows (although it also exists in UNIX).<br />
|-<br />
|DIR -> ENTER IMAGE NUMBER<br />
|[-.. .. .-.] -> [. -. - . .-. / .. -- .- --. . / -. ..- -- -... . .-.]<br />
|This references to the next input. DIR stands for directory.<br />
|-<br />
|(''any number ≤ 2445'') -> (''loads xkcd comic in new tab'')<br />
|<br />
|Just pulls up the xkcd comic corresponding to the number entered.<br />
|-<br />
|MAKE ME A SANDWICH -> NOT A CHANCE<br />
|[-- .- -.- . / -- . / .- / ... .- -. -.. .-- .. -.-. ....] -> [-. --- - / .- / -.-. .... .- -. -.-. .]<br />
|A reference to [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/149:_Sandwich this comic]<br />
|-<br />
|SUDO MAKE ME A SANDWICH -> NOT POSSIBLE HERE<br />
|[... ..- -.. --- / -- .- -.- . / -- . / .- / ... .- -. -.. .-- .. -.-. ....] -> [-. --- - / .--. --- ... ... .. -... .-.. . / .... . .-. .]<br />
|Another reference to [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/149:_Sandwich this comic]<br />
|-<br />
|I LOVE YOU -> LESS THAN THREE<br />
|[.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..-] -> [.-.. . ... ... / - .... .- -. / - .... .-. . .]<br />
|"Less than three" represents the less than (<) symbol followed by the number three (3), which together form <3. This is commonly used to represent a heart.<br />
|-<br />
|<nowiki />:) -> :D<br />
|[---... -.--.-] -> [---... -..]<br />
|This gives a bigger version of a smile than the one entered.<br />
|-<br />
|<nowiki />:( -> :C<br />
|[---... -.--.] -> [---... -.-.]<br />
|Following the pattern from the above entry, this converts the sad face entered to a bigger frown.<br />
|-<br />
|<nowiki />;) -> :O<br />
|[-.-.-. -.--.-] -> [---... ---]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|<nowiki />:O -> :X<br />
|[---... ---] -> [---... -..-]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|UWU -> OWO<br />
|[..- .-- ..-] -> [--- .-- ---]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|OWO -> UWU<br />
|[--- .-- ---] -> [..- .-- ..-]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|POG -> YEET<br />
|[.--. --- --.] -> [-.-- . . -]<br />
|Pog and yeet are both common interjections used on the Internet.<br />
|-<br />
|UNIX -> (''Opens [https://uni.xkcd.com uni.xkcd.com]'')<br />
|[..- -. .. -..-]<br />
|[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/UniXKCD April Fools' Day in 2010]<br />
|-<br />
|GET YE FLASK -> YE WISH! IF THERE WAS A FLASK IN THIS GAME, WE'D KNOW ABOUT IT.<br />
|[--. . - / -.-- . / ..-. .-.. .- ... -.-] -> [-.-- . / .-- .. ... .... -.-.-- / .. ..-. / - .... . .-. . / .-- .- ... / .- / ..-. .-.. .- ... -.- / .. -. / - .... .. ... / --. .- -- . --..-- / .-- . .----. -.. / -.- -. --- .-- / .- -... --- ..- - / .. - .-.-.-]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|GET YE FLASK -> YOU CANNOT GET YE FLASK<br />
|[--. . - / -.-- . / ..-. .-.. .- ... -.-] -> [-.-- --- ..- / -.-. .- -. -. --- - / --. . - / -.-- . / ..-. .-.. .- ... -.-]<br />
|This response, as well as the previous one, are references to a recurring joke from {{w|Homestar Runner}}.<br />
|-<br />
|YO -> YO<br />
|[-.-- ---] -> [-.-- ---]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|DROP TABLE -> HAHA NO<br />
|[.... .- .... .- / -. ---] -> [.... .- .... .- / -. ---]<br />
| reference to [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/327:_Exploits_of_a_Mom this comic]<br />
|-<br />
|WHY -> TO STUDY THE RED PLANET<br />
|[.-- .... -.--] -> [- --- / ... - ..- -.. -.-- / - .... . / .-. . -.. / .--. .-.. .- -. . -]<br />
|Refers to Sojourners' misson on Mars.<br />
|-<br />
|EAT -> I PHOTOSYNTHESIZE<br />
|[. .- -] -> [.. / .--. .... --- - --- ... -.-- -. - .... . ... .. --.. .]<br />
|Sojourner is a rover, and therefore does not require food.<br />
|-<br />
|BATTLE ''or'' FIGHT -> THROW<br />
|[-... .- - - .-.. .] ''or'' [..-. .. --. .... -] -> [- .... .-. --- .--]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|START -> DID YOU MEAN START GAME?<br />
|[... - .- .-. -] -> [-.. .. -.. / -.-- --- ..- / -- . .- -. / ... - .- .-. - / --. .- -- . ..--..]<br />
|References the below input.<br />
|-<br />
|STARTGAME -> CHECK BACK LATER<br />
|[... - .- .-. - --. .- -- .] -> [-.-. .... . -.-. -.- / -... .- -.-. -.- / .-.. .- - . .-.]<br />
|<br />
|}<br />
===Controls===<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Message & response<br />
! Morse Code<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|QUIET -> (turns the volume off)<br />
|[--.- ..- .. . -]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|MUTE -> (turns the volume off)<br />
|[-- ..- - .]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|BEEP -> (turns the volume on)<br />
|[-... . . .--.]<br />
|<br />
|}<br />
See also QRS and QRQ.<br />
<br />
===Q codes and radio shorthand===<br />
An explanation of Q codes can be found {{w|Q code|here}}.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Message & response<br />
! Morse Code<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|CQ -> CQD DE SOJ<br />
|[-.-. --.-] -> [-.-. --.- -.. / -.. . / ... --- .---]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|SOS -> YOU TOO?<br />
|[... --- ...] -> [-.-- --- ..- / - --- --- ..--..]<br />
|Implies that Sojourner is also in need of help.<br />
|-<br />
|SOS -> OH NO<br />
|[... --- ...] -> [--- .... / -. ---]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QRS -> (reduces playback speed)<br />
|[--.- .-. ...]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QRQ -> (increases playback speed)<br />
|[--.- .-. --.-]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QRA -> QRA SOJOURNER<br />
|[--.- .-. .-] -> [--.- .-. .- / ... --- .--- --- ..- .-. -. . .-.]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QRB -> QRB 264 MILLION KM<br />
|[--.- .-. -...] -> [--.- .-. -... /..--- -.... ....- / -- .. .-.. .-.. .. --- -. / -.- --]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QRH -> QRH 0.652 METERS<br />
|[--.- .-. ....] -> [--.- .-. .... / ----- .-.-.- -.... ..... ..--- / -- . - . .-. ...]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QRG -> QRG PATHFINDER<br />
|[--.- .-. --.] -> [--.- .-. --. / .--. .- - .... ..-. .. -. -.. . .-.]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QRZ -> QRZ SOJOURNER<br />
|[--.- .-. --..] -> [--.- .-. --.. / ... --- .--- --- ..- .-. -. . .-.]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QRT -> PLEASE DON'T GO<br />
|[--.- .-. -] -> [.--. .-.. . .- ... . / -.. --- -. .----. - / --. ---]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QTH -> QTH ARES VALLIS<br />
|[--.- - ....] -> [--.- - .... / .- .-. . ... / ...- .- .-.. .-.. .. ...]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|QSL -> QSL<br />
|[--.- ... .-..] -> [--.- ... .-..]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|73 -> 73 KN<br />
|[--... ...--] -> [--... ...-- / -.- -.]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|CL -> BYE<br />
|[-.-. .-..] -> [-... -.-- .]<br />
|<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===FORTUNE===<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Message & response<br />
! Morse Code<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|F -> DID YOU MEAN FORTUNE<br />
|[..-.] -> [-.. .. -.. / -.-- --- ..- / -- . .- -. / ..-. --- .-. - ..- -. .]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|FORTUNE -> OPEN ME<br />
|[..-. --- .-. - ..- -. .]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|OPEN -> ''returns one of the following fortunes''<br />
<br />
1. A BEAUTIFUL SMART AND LOVING PERSON WILL BE COMING INTO YOUR LIFE<br />
<br />
2. CHANGE IS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE SO GO WITH THE FLOW<br />
<br />
3. COURTESY BEGINS IN THE HOME<br />
<br />
4. DILIGENCE AND MODESTY CAN RAISE YOUR SOCIAL STATUS<br />
<br />
5. EVERYWHERE YOU CHOOSE TO GO FRIENDLY FACES WILL GREET YOU<br />
<br />
6. FOLLOW THE MIDDLE PATH NEITHER EXTREME WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY<br />
<br />
7. FOR THE THINGS WE HAVE TO LEARN BEFORE WE CAN DO THEM WE LEARN BY DOING THEM<br />
<br />
8. HELP IM BEING HELD PRISONER IN A CHINESE BAKERY<br />
<br />
9. LIKE THE RIVER FLOW INTO THE SEA SOMETHING ARE JUST MEANT TO BE<br />
<br />
10. MANS MIND ONCE STRETCHED BY A NEW IDEA NEVER REGAINS ITS ORIGINAL DIMENSIONS<br />
<br />
11. MEDITATION WITH AN OLD ENEMY IS ADVISED<br />
<br />
12. NEVER FEAR THE END OF SOMETHING MARKS THE START OF SOMETHING NEW<br />
<br />
13. PERHAPS YOUVE BEEN FOCUSING TOO MUCH ON SAVING<br />
<br />
14. SAVOR YOUR FREEDOM IT IS PRECIOUS<br />
<br />
15. STAYING CLOSE TO HOME IS GOING TO BE BEST FOR YOUR MORALE TODAY<br />
<br />
16. YOU ARE GENEROUS TO AN EXTREME AND ALWAYS THINK OF THE OTHER FELLOW<br />
<br />
17. YOU HAVE AN UNUSUAL EQUIPMENT FOR SUCCESS USE IT PROPERLY<br />
<br />
18. YOU SHOULD PAY FOR THIS CHECK BE GENEROUS<br />
<br />
19. YOU WILL BE A GREAT SUCCESS BOTH IN THE BUSINESS WORLD AND SOCIETY<br />
<br />
20. YOUR DREAMS ARE NEVER SILLY DEPEND ON THEM TO GUIDE YOU<br />
<br />
21. YOUR INFINITE CAPACITY FOR PATIENCE WILL BE REWARDED SOONER OR LATER<br />
<br />
22. YOUR MENTALITY IS ALERT PRACTICAL AND ANALYTICAL<br />
<br />
23. YOUR MOODS SIGNAL A PERIOD OF CHANGE<br />
<br />
24. FIRST THINK OF WHAT YOU WANT TO DO THEN DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO<br />
<br />
25. ADVENTURE CAN BE REAL HAPPINESS<br />
<br />
26. SUCCESS IS GOING FROM FAILURE TO FAILURE WITHOUT LOSS OF ENTHUSIASM<br />
<br />
|[--- .--. . -.]<br />
<br />
1. [.- / -... . .- ..- - .. ..-. ..- .-.. / ... -- .- .-. - / .- -. -.. / .-.. --- ...- .. -. --. / .--. . .-. ... --- -. / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / -... . / -.-. --- -- .. -. --. / .. -. - --- / -.-- --- ..- .-. / .-.. .. ..-. .]<br />
<br />
2. [-.-. .... .- -. --. . / .. ... / .... .- .--. .--. . -. .. -. --. / .. -. / -.-- --- ..- .-. / .-.. .. ..-. . / ... --- / --. --- / .-- .. - .... / - .... . / ..-. .-.. --- .--]<br />
<br />
3. [-.-. --- ..- .-. - . ... -.-- / -... . --. .. -. ... / .. -. / - .... . / .... --- -- .]<br />
<br />
4. [-.. .. .-.. .. --. . -. -.-. . / .- -. -.. / -- --- -.. . ... - -.-- / -.-. .- -. / .-. .- .. ... . / -.-- --- ..- .-. / ... --- -.-. .. .- .-.. / ... - .- - ..- ...]<br />
<br />
5. [. ...- . .-. -.-- .-- .... . .-. . / -.-- --- ..- / -.-. .... --- --- ... . / - --- / --. --- / ..-. .-. .. . -. -.. .-.. -.-- / ..-. .- -.-. . ... / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / --. .-. . . - / -.-- --- ..-]<br />
<br />
6. [. ...- . .-. -.-- .-- .... . .-. . / -.-- --- ..- / -.-. .... --- --- ... . / - --- / --. --- / ..-. .-. .. . -. -.. .-.. -.-- / ..-. .- -.-. . ... / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / --. .-. . . - / -.-- --- ..-]<br />
<br />
7. [..-. --- .-. / - .... . / - .... .. -. --. ... / .-- . / .... .- ...- . / - --- / .-.. . .- .-. -. / -... . ..-. --- .-. . / .-- . / -.-. .- -. / -.. --- / - .... . -- / .-- . / .-.. . .- .-. -. / -... -.-- / -.. --- .. -. --. / - .... . --]<br />
<br />
8. [.... . .-.. .--. / .. -- / -... . .. -. --. / .... . .-.. -.. / .--. .-. .. ... --- -. . .-. / .. -. / .- / -.-. .... .. -. . ... . / -... .- -.- . .-. -.--]<br />
<br />
9. [.-.. .. -.- . / - .... . / .-. .. ...- . .-. / ..-. .-.. --- .-- / .. -. - --- / - .... . / ... . .- / ... --- -- . - .... .. -. --. / .- .-. . / .--- ..- ... - / -- . .- -. - / - --- / -... .]<br />
<br />
10. [-- .- -. ... / -- .. -. -.. / --- -. -.-. . / ... - .-. . - -.-. .... . -.. / -... -.-- / .- / -. . .-- / .. -.. . .- / -. . ...- . .-. / .-. . --. .- .. -. ... / .. - ... / --- .-. .. --. .. -. .- .-.. / -.. .. -- . -. ... .. --- -. ...]<br />
<br />
11. [-- . -.. .. - .- - .. --- -. / .-- .. - .... / .- -. / --- .-.. -.. / . -. . -- -.-- / .. ... / .- -.. ...- .. ... . -..]<br />
<br />
12. [-. . ...- . .-. / ..-. . .- .-. / - .... . / . -. -.. / --- ..-. / ... --- -- . - .... .. -. --. / -- .- .-. -.- ... / - .... . / ... - .- .-. - / --- ..-. / ... --- -- . - .... .. -. --. / -. . .--]<br />
<br />
13. [.--. . .-. .... .- .--. ... / -.-- --- ..- ...- . / -... . . -. / ..-. --- -.-. ..- ... .. -. --. / - --- --- / -- ..- -.-. .... / --- -. / ... .- ...- .. -. --.]<br />
<br />
14. [... .- ...- --- .-. / -.-- --- ..- .-. / ..-. .-. . . -.. --- -- / .. - / .. ... / .--. .-. . -.-. .. --- ..- ...]<br />
<br />
15. [... - .- -.-- .. -. --. / -.-. .-.. --- ... . / - --- / .... --- -- . / .. ... / --. --- .. -. --. / - --- / -... . / -... . ... - / ..-. --- .-. / -.-- --- ..- .-. / -- --- .-. .- .-.. . / - --- -.. .- -.--]<br />
<br />
16. [-.-- --- ..- / .- .-. . / --. . -. . .-. --- ..- ... / - --- / .- -. / . -..- - .-. . -- . / .- -. -.. / .- .-.. .-- .- -.-- ... / - .... .. -. -.- / --- ..-. / - .... . / --- - .... . .-. / ..-. . .-.. .-.. --- .--]<br />
<br />
17. [-.-- --- ..- / .... .- ...- . / .- -. / ..- -. ..- ... ..- .- .-.. / . --.- ..- .. .--. -- . -. - / ..-. --- .-. / ... ..- -.-. -.-. . ... ... / ..- ... . / .. - / .--. .-. --- .--. . .-. .-.. -.--]<br />
<br />
18. [-.-- --- ..- / ... .... --- ..- .-.. -.. / .--. .- -.-- / ..-. --- .-. / - .... .. ... / -.-. .... . -.-. -.- / -... . / --. . -. . .-. --- ..- ...]<br />
<br />
19. [-.-- --- ..- / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / -... . / .- / --. .-. . .- - / ... ..- -.-. -.-. . ... ... / -... --- - .... / .. -. / - .... . / -... ..- ... .. -. . ... ... / .-- --- .-. .-.. -.. / .- -. -.. / ... --- -.-. .. . - -.--]<br />
<br />
20. [-.-- --- ..- .-. / -.. .-. . .- -- ... / .- .-. . / -. . ...- . .-. / ... .. .-.. .-.. -.-- / -.. . .--. . -. -.. / --- -. / - .... . -- / - --- / --. ..- .. -.. . / -.-- --- ..-]<br />
<br />
21. [-.-- --- ..- .-. / .. -. ..-. .. -. .. - . / -.-. .- .--. .- -.-. .. - -.-- / ..-. --- .-. / .--. .- - .. . -. -.-. . / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / -... . / .-. . .-- .- .-. -.. . -.. / ... --- --- -. . .-. / --- .-. / .-.. .- - . .-.]<br />
<br />
22. [-.-- --- ..- .-. / -- . -. - .- .-.. .. - -.-- / .. ... / .- .-.. . .-. - / .--. .-. .- -.-. - .. -.-. .- .-.. / .- -. -.. / .- -. .- .-.. -.-- - .. -.-. .- .-..]<br />
<br />
23. [-.-- --- ..- .-. / -- --- --- -.. ... / ... .. --. -. .- .-.. / .- / .--. . .-. .. --- -.. / --- ..-. / -.-. .... .- -. --. .]<br />
<br />
24. [..-. .. .-. ... - / - .... .. -. -.- / --- ..-. / .-- .... .- - / -.-- --- ..- / .-- .- -. - / - --- / -.. --- / - .... . -. / -.. --- / .-- .... .- - / -.-- --- ..- / .... .- ...- . / - --- / -.. ---]<br />
<br />
25. [.- -.. ...- . -. - ..- .-. . / -.-. .- -. / -... . / .-. . .- .-.. / .... .- .--. .--. .. -. . ... ...]<br />
<br />
26. [... ..- -.-. -.-. . ... ... / .. ... / --. --- .. -. --. / ..-. .-. --- -- / ..-. .- .. .-.. ..- .-. . / - --- / ..-. .- .. .-.. ..- .-. . / .-- .. - .... --- ..- - / .-.. --- ... ... / --- ..-. / . -. - .... ..- ... .. .- ... --]<br />
<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|OPEN -> HUH (if after something other than "FORTUNE")<br />
|[--- .--. . -.] -> [.... ..- ....]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===ENCABULATOR===<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Message & response<br />
! Morse Code<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|STATUS -> RADIO ONLINE, MOTOR ONLINE, UNILATERAL PHASE DETRACTOR UNPOWERED, CARDINAL GRAMMETER UNSYNCHRONIZED<br />
|[... - .- - ..- ...] -> [.-. .- -.. .. --- / --- -. .-.. .. -. . --..-- / -- --- - --- .-. / --- -. .-.. .. -. . --..-- / ..- -. .. .-.. .- - . .-. .- .-.. / .--. .... .- ... . / -.. . - .-. .- -.-. - --- .-. / ..- -. .--. --- .-- . .-. . -.. --..-- / -.-. .- .-. -.. .. -. .- .-.. / --. .-. .- -- -- . - . .-. / ..- -. ... -.-- -. -.-. .... .-. --- -. .. --.. . -..]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|YOUTUBE -> RXJKDH1KZ0W<br />
|[-.-- --- ..- - ..- -... .]<br />
|This represents the video ID for [https://youtu.be/RXJKdh1KZ0w Rockwell Retro Encabulator]<br />
|-<br />
|REPAIR ''or'' ENCABULATOR ''or'' FIX ''or'' SYSTEM -> ENTERING ENCABULATOR RECOVERY SYSTEM. OPTIONS 1 INITIATE SIDE FUMBLING 2 ALIGN SPURVING BEARINGS 3 REVERSE TREMIE PIPE<br />
:1 -> SIDE FUMBLING DETECTED. MODIAL INTERACTION UNSTABLE. RECOVERY TERMINATED.<br />
:2 -> MODIAL INTERACTION INITIATED. OPTIONS 1 UNWIND LOTUS O DELTOID 2 INCREASE DEPLENERATION 3 CONNECT GIRDLESPRING ON DOWN END OF GRAMMETER 4 CONNECT SEVENTH CONDUCTOR TO GIRDLESPRING<br />
::1 -> SIDE FUMBLING DETECTED. MODIAL INTERACTION UNSTABLE. RECOVERY TERMINATED.<br />
::2 -> DEPLENERATION PREVENTED BY DINGLE ARM<br />
::3 -> SIDE FUMBLING DETECTED. MODIAL INTERACTION UNSTABLE. RECOVERY TERMINATED.<br />
::4 -> PANAMETRIC FAN ACTIVATED. MODIAL INTERACTION STABLE. DEFAULT CONFIGURATION MISSING. MANUALLY ENTER MARZELVANE TYPE TO COMPLETE RECOVERY<br />
:::HYDROCOPTIC -> RECOVERY SUCCESSFUL. REBOOT Y N?<br />
::::Y -> (''Opens [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/sojourner_repaired.png sojourner_repaired.png]'')<br />
:3 -> ERROR TREMIE PIPE NONREVERSIBLE<br />
|[.-. . .--. .- .. .-.] ''or'' [. -. -.-. .- -... ..- .-.. .- - --- .-.] ''or'' [..-. .. -..-] ''or'' [... -.-- ... - . --] -> [. -. - . .-. .. -. --. / . -. -.-. .- -... ..- .-.. .- - --- .-. / .-. . -.-. --- ...- . .-. -.-- / ... -.-- ... - . -- .-.-.- / --- .--. - .. --- -. ... / .---- / .. -. .. - .. .- - . / ... .. -.. . / ..-. ..- -- -... .-.. .. -. --. / ..--- / .- .-.. .. --. -. / ... .--. ..- .-. ...- .. -. --. / -... . .- .-. .. -. --. ... / ...-- / .-. . ...- . .-. ... . / - .-. . -- .. . / .--. .. .--. .]<br />
:[.----] -> [... .. -.. . / ..-. ..- -- -... .-.. .. -. --. / -.. . - . -.-. - . -.. .-.-.- / -- --- -.. .. .- .-.. / .. -. - . .-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / ..- -. ... - .- -... .-.. . .-.-.- / .-. . -.-. --- ...- . .-. -.-- / - . .-. -- .. -. .- - . -.. .-.-.-]<br />
:[..---] -> [-- --- -.. .. .- .-.. / .. -. - . .-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / .. -. .. - .. .- - . -.. .-.-.- / --- .--. - .. --- -. ... / .---- / ..- -. .-- .. -. -.. / .-.. --- - ..- ... / --- / -.. . .-.. - --- .. -.. / ..--- / .. -. -.-. .-. . .- ... . / -.. . .--. .-.. . -. . .-. .- - .. --- -. / ...-- / -.-. --- -. -. . -.-. - / --. .. .-. -.. .-.. . ... .--. .-. .. -. --. / --- -. / -.. --- .-- -. / . -. -.. / --- ..-. / --. .-. .- -- -- . - . .-. / ....- / -.-. --- -. -. . -.-. - / ... . ...- . -. - .... / -.-. --- -. -.. ..- -.-. - --- .-. / - --- / --. .. .-. -.. .-.. . ... .--. .-. .. -. --.]<br />
::[.----] -> [... .. -.. . / ..-. ..- -- -... .-.. .. -. --. / -.. . - . -.-. - . -.. .-.-.- / -- --- -.. .. .- .-.. / .. -. - . .-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / ..- -. ... - .- -... .-.. . .-.-.- / .-. . -.-. --- ...- . .-. -.-- / - . .-. -- .. -. .- - . -.. .-.-.-]<br />
::[..---] -> [-.. . .--. .-.. . -. . .-. .- - .. --- -. / .--. .-. . ...- . -. - . -.. / -... -.-- / -.. .. -. --. .-.. . / .- .-. --]<br />
::[...--] -> [... .. -.. . / ..-. ..- -- -... .-.. .. -. --. / -.. . - . -.-. - . -.. .-.-.- / -- --- -.. .. .- .-.. / .. -. - . .-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / ..- -. ... - .- -... .-.. . .-.-.- / .-. . -.-. --- ...- . .-. -.-- / - . .-. -- .. -. .- - . -.. .-.-.-]<br />
::[....-] -> [.--. .- -. .- -- . - .-. .. -.-. / ..-. .- -. / .- -.-. - .. ...- .- - . -.. .-.-.- / -- --- -.. .. .- .-.. / .. -. - . .-. .- -.-. - .. --- -. / ... - .- -... .-.. . .-.-.- / -.. . ..-. .- ..- .-.. - / -.-. --- -. ..-. .. --. ..- .-. .- - .. --- -. / -- .. ... ... .. -. --. .-.-.- / -- .- -. ..- .- .-.. .-.. -.-- / . -. - . .-. / -- .- .-. --.. . .-.. ...- .- -. . / - -.-- .--. . / - --- / -.-. --- -- .--. .-.. . - . / .-. . -.-. --- ...- . .-. -.--]<br />
:::[.... -.-- -.. .-. --- -.-. --- .--. - .. -.-.] -> [.-. . -.-. --- ...- . .-. -.-- / ... ..- -.-. -.-. . ... ... ..-. ..- .-.. .-.-.- / .-. . -... --- --- - / -.-- / -. ..--..]<br />
::::[-.--]<br />
:[...--] -> [. .-. .-. --- .-. / - .-. . -- .. . / .--. .. .--. . / -. --- -. .-. . ...- . .-. ... .. -... .-.. .]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===MAZE===<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Message & response<br />
! Morse Code<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|RETURN -> DID YOU MEAN ENTER<br />
|[.-. . - ..- .-. -.]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|ENTER -> DID YOU MEAN ENTER MAZE<br />
|[. -. - . .-.]<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
|ENTER MAZE -> AN EMPTY ROOM<br />
:LOOK -> AN EMPTY ROOM<br />
:HELP -> NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST GET<br />
:EXIT -> CFM (''Exits the maze'')<br />
|[. -. - . .-. / -- .- --.. .] -> [.- -. / . -- .--. - -.-- / .-. --- --- --]<br />
:[.-.. --- --- -.-] -> [.- -. / . -- .--. - -.-- / .-. --- --- --]<br />
:[.... . .-.. .--.] -> [-. --- .-. - .... / . .- ... - / ... --- ..- - .... / .-- . ... - / --. . -]<br />
:[. -..- .. -] -> [-.-. ..-. --]<br />
|<br />
|}<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|+ Maze<br />
|-<br />
|an open flame || a candle on a table || style="background-color: black;" |<br />
|-<br />
| style="background-color: black;" | || an empty room (start) || style="background-color: black;" |<br />
|-<br />
| style="background-color: black;" | || a hanging bell || an open book on a table (locked door)<br />
|- <br />
|}<br />
<br />
Steps to complete (directions can be abbreviated as their first letter):<br />
# NORTH<br />
# GET CANDLE -> TAKEN<br />
# WEST<br />
# LIGHT CANDLE<br />
# EAST<br />
# SOUTH<br />
# SOUTH<br />
# RING BELL -> A DOOR OPENS<br />
# EAST<br />
# CLOSE BOOK -> CONGRATULATIONS YOU ESCAPE<br />
<br />
===CROSSWORD===<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! Message & response<br />
! Morse Code<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|CROSSWORD -> NUMBER AND DIRECTION<br />
|[-.-. .-. --- ... ... .-- --- .-. -..] -> [-. ..- -- -... . .-. / .- -. -.. / -.. .. .-. . -.-. - .. --- -.]<br />
|This starts a crossword. You can ask for hints like "1 down" or "2 across". It appears to be the [https://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2021/04/libertarian-politico-johnson-thu-4-1-21.html New York Times Crossword] from the day this comic was written (2021-04-01).<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|+Solved Crossword<br />
|-<br />
| m || y || g || o || d || style="background-color: black; | || d || e || v || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || e || l || f<br />
|-<br />
| b || u || o || n || o || style="background-color: black; | || e || y || e || s || style="background-color: black; | || s || l || u || r<br />
|-<br />
| a || m || o || c || o || style="background-color: black; | || c || r || a || p || style="background-color: black; | || l || m || a || o<br />
|-<br />
| style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || v || e || r || y || r || e || l || i || g || i || o || u || s<br />
|-<br />
| s || e || e || style="background-color: black; | || m || u || y || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || r || a || m || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; |<br />
|-<br />
| h || a || r || h || a || r || style="background-color: black; | || s || c || a || r || e || d || o || f<br />
|-<br />
| e || s || s || e || n || t || i || a || l || l || y || style="background-color: black; | || a || r || i<br />
|-<br />
| b || t || e || n || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || m || m || i || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || t || v || a || d<br />
|-<br />
| o || l || a || style="background-color: black; | || b || a || d || m || o || u || t || h || i || n || g<br />
|-<br />
| p || a || s || s || e || d || b || y || style="background-color: black; | || n || o || o || d || g || e<br />
|-<br />
| style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || o || a || r || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || s || u || n || style="background-color: black; | || l || e || t<br />
|-<br />
| b || l || e || n || d || e || d || f || a || m || i || l || y || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; |<br />
|-<br />
| b || o || r || g || style="background-color: black; | || p || e || l || t || style="background-color: black; | || g || e || n || r || e<br />
|-<br />
| q || u || i || z || style="background-color: black; | || s || p || a || y || style="background-color: black; | || h || i || c || k || s<br />
|-<br />
| s || t || e || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || style="background-color: black; | || p || b || r || style="background-color: black; | || t || a || h || o || e<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"<br />
|+ Words<br />
! index !! down word !! across word<br />
|-<br />
| 1 || MBA || MYGOD<br />
|-<br />
| 2 || YUM || <br />
|-<br />
| 3 || GOOVERSEAS || <br />
|-<br />
| 4 || ONCE || <br />
|-<br />
| 5 || DOORMAN || <br />
|-<br />
| 6 || DECRY || DEV<br />
|-<br />
| 7 || EYRE || <br />
|-<br />
| 8 || VEAL || <br />
|-<br />
| 9 || ELMO || ELF<br />
|-<br />
| 10 || LUAU || <br />
|-<br />
| 11 || FROS || <br />
|-<br />
| 12 || || BUONO<br />
|-<br />
| 13 || || EYES<br />
|-<br />
| 14 || SPIRAL || <br />
|-<br />
| 15 || SLIME || SLUR<br />
|-<br />
| 16 || || AMOCO<br />
|-<br />
| 17 || || CRAP<br />
|-<br />
| 18 || || LMAO<br />
|-<br />
| 19 || || VERYRELIGIOUS<br />
|-<br />
| 20 || YURT || <br />
|-<br />
| 21 || GARY || <br />
|-<br />
| 22 || SHEBOP || SEE<br />
|-<br />
| 23 || EASTLA || <br />
|-<br />
| 24 || || MUY<br />
|-<br />
| 25 || || RAM<br />
|-<br />
| 26 || || HARHAR<br />
|-<br />
| 27 || HEN || <br />
|-<br />
| 28 || SAMMY || SCAREDOF<br />
|-<br />
| 29 || CLIO || <br />
|-<br />
| 30 || DAVIDLYNCH || <br />
|-<br />
| 31 || ORANGE || <br />
|-<br />
| 32 || FIDGET || <br />
|-<br />
| 33 || || ESSENTIALLY<br />
|-<br />
| 34 || IMDB || <br />
|-<br />
| 35 || || ARI<br />
|-<br />
| 36 || || BTEN<br />
|-<br />
| 37 || || MMI<br />
|-<br />
| 38 || THO || TVAD<br />
|-<br />
| 39 || || OLA<br />
|-<br />
| 40 || BEAD || BADMOUTHING<br />
|-<br />
| 41 || ADREPS || <br />
|-<br />
| 42 || UNUM || <br />
|-<br />
| 43 || TONIGHT || <br />
|-<br />
| 44 || || PASSEDBY<br />
|-<br />
| 45 || SONGZ || <br />
|-<br />
| 46 || || NOODGE<br />
|-<br />
| 47 || || OAR<br />
|-<br />
| 48 || SATYR || SUN<br />
|-<br />
| 49 || || LET<br />
|-<br />
| 50 || BBQS || BLENDEDFAMILY<br />
|-<br />
| 51 || LOUT || <br />
|-<br />
| 52 || ERIE || <br />
|-<br />
| 53 || DEPP || <br />
|-<br />
| 54 || FLAB || <br />
|-<br />
| 55 || LEIA || <br />
|-<br />
| 56 || || BORG<br />
|-<br />
| 57 || || PELT<br />
|-<br />
| 58 || || GENRE<br />
|-<br />
| 59 || RKO || <br />
|-<br />
| 60 || ESE || <br />
|-<br />
| 61 || || QUIZ<br />
|-<br />
| 62 || || SPAY<br />
|-<br />
| 63 || || HICKS<br />
|-<br />
| 64 || || STE<br />
|-<br />
| 65 || || PBR<br />
|-<br />
| 66 || || TAHOE<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===Rover Scene===<br />
After successfully repairing and rebooting Sojourner, a comic is opened which depicts it seeking out and finding its friends, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, Perseverance, and Ingenuity. Curiosity and Perseverance are locked in a swordfight, and either Spirit or Opportunity is carried off by Ingenuity while the other speeds off a small mound of dirt. Ingenuity carrying a rover is a reference to the previous comic.<br />
<br />
==Special Console Commands==<br />
The page's JavaScript creates a global object <code>morse</code> with <code>encode</code> and <code>decode</code> methods. From the developer console, it is possible to write <code>morse.encode("A PHRASE")</code>, which will print the Morse code corresponding to the text provided, or <code>morse.decode("... --- ...")</code> which will translate the Morse code to text.<br />
<br />
<code>BeepComic.hurryUp()</code> to get the reply immediately in the console.<br />
<code>BeepComic.send(...)</code> to send directly to SOJOURNER.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A small box is in the middle of a large white frame. The box can have a check-mark, but it is alternating between being checked or unchecked. At the bottom right there is a muted speaker (which can be unmuted). If the user press the checkbox gray dots or lines will appear below depending on the length of the press. These will move from right to left and then disappear.]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:April fools' comics]]<br />
[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with animation]]<br />
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]</div>108.162.246.124