https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.68.54.123&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T14:04:43ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1764:_XKCDE&diff=131545Talk:1764: XKCDE2016-11-25T19:36:03Z<p>172.68.54.123: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
The title text reminds me of the Dust Theory in Greg Egan's _Permutation City_. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.72|141.101.104.72]] 07:45, 25 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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It reminds me of Mushroom Spawns.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.71|162.158.91.71]] 11:52, 25 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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[https://www.pcsteps.com/508-nested-virtualization/ Nested virtualization] to three layers... --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.133.150|162.158.133.150]] 09:46, 25 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Possible pun on existing desktop environments: KDE, CDE, LXDE, XFCE,... -> XKCDE (relies on conics using only upper-case letters). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 10:51, 25 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The title text is a take on poetry. It extends from the abstract tree (which is a digram and a datastructure type) to an actual tree with unpluggable roots and leafs which scatter in the wind and finally land spinning. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.97|162.158.91.97]] 11:00, 25 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Title text may bear an oncology reference, with the "root machine" being a primary tumor and the "leaf VMs" its metastases, which also (can) proliferate to form a new tumor on whatever tissue they land (even long after the primary tumor is destroyed). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.234.218|162.158.234.218]] 13:26, 25 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The "Pastels.com" link is already broken, and this comic is new for today??? Either somebody forgot to check the link or whoever owned the domain brought it down rather abruptly. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.95|162.158.75.95]] 18:39, 25 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Humans have used similar stacking arrangements in many different ways before. From Shakespeare's plays within plays, TV shows within shows, or characters within a story writing about an author writing a book. In the case of a book author, the 4th step might actually work - other authors, or fan-fiction writers might continue to tell stories about a character long after the original author is dead. A webcomic might be made satirizing a Krillin fanfic, that is referring to the character from Dragonball, a story whose main character is Goku, based on Sun Goku from the Journey to the West which is a retelling of Xuanzang's own account, Great Tang Records on the Western Regions which contains Buddist parables that describe a Master teaching a Student about the nature of Buddha a state of being exemplified by the achievements of Siddhartha Buddha who gain enlightenment after meditating on the lives of thousands of people. I think we as humans are good at stacking such virtual environments because it is a prerequisite of properly developed empathy, which requires tracing, sometimes long and elaborate, chains of relationships based on what someone else thinks another person might think of somebody else's behavior. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.231|162.158.214.231]] 19:42, 25 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I wonder how many xkcd comics contain lowercase letters (like 's' in "VMs")... --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.123|172.68.54.123]] 19:36, 25 November 2016 (UTC)</div>172.68.54.123https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1764:_XKCDE&diff=1315431764: XKCDE2016-11-25T19:30:17Z<p>172.68.54.123: /* Transcript */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1764<br />
| date = November 25, 2016<br />
| title = XKCDE<br />
| image = xkcde.png<br />
| titletext = 4. They unplug the root machine but the thousands of leaf VMs scatter in the wind and start spinning up new instances wherever they land<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Barebones and possibly inaccurate. Explain title text.}}<br />
<br />
Randall has created a theoretical software environment named XKCDE (a portmanteau on XKCD and CDE (Collaborative Development Environment)), which relies on the user creating a series of nested virtual machines inside each other, which would likely cause extreme strain on the resources of the machine running it. This strain is explained in [[676: Abstraction]], at least for the normal case. Virtual Machines are software which pretend to be PC hardware so that a "guest" operating system can run inside of them, under a "host" operating system. Nesting VMs is the process of making a guest also be a host to yet another guest. Generally this is considered quite wasteful of resources, especially beyond one or two layers deep, and is not done except in a test lab for very specific purposes. Randall's theoretical XKCDE requires it for its required use, by its very nature.<br />
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He suggests continuing that process until the user gets fired, which will very likely lead to the environment not having many active users, a very counter-productive approach to software development.<br />
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A software environment which disables both the machine it runs on and the user that runs it could be thought of as a useless machine.<br />
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Someone got [https://pcsteps.com/508-nested-virtualization 4 levels deep] with this.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
Installing the xkcd development environment<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|<br />
# Spin up a VM<br />
# Spin up a VM inside that VM<br />
# Continue spinning up nested VMs<br />and containers until you get fired<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.68.54.123https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1764:_XKCDE&diff=1315411764: XKCDE2016-11-25T19:29:12Z<p>172.68.54.123: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1764<br />
| date = November 25, 2016<br />
| title = XKCDE<br />
| image = xkcde.png<br />
| titletext = 4. They unplug the root machine but the thousands of leaf VMs scatter in the wind and start spinning up new instances wherever they land<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Barebones and possibly inaccurate. Explain title text.}}<br />
<br />
Randall has created a theoretical software environment named XKCDE (a portmanteau on XKCD and CDE (Collaborative Development Environment)), which relies on the user creating a series of nested virtual machines inside each other, which would likely cause extreme strain on the resources of the machine running it. This strain is explained in [[676: Abstraction]], at least for the normal case. Virtual Machines are software which pretend to be PC hardware so that a "guest" operating system can run inside of them, under a "host" operating system. Nesting VMs is the process of making a guest also be a host to yet another guest. Generally this is considered quite wasteful of resources, especially beyond one or two layers deep, and is not done except in a test lab for very specific purposes. Randall's theoretical XKCDE requires it for its required use, by its very nature.<br />
<br />
He suggests continuing that process until the user gets fired, which will very likely lead to the environment not having many active users, a very counter-productive approach to software development.<br />
<br />
A software environment which disables both the machine it runs on and the user that runs it could be thought of as a useless machine.<br />
<br />
Someone got [https://pcsteps.com/508-nested-virtualization 4 levels deep] with this.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
Installing the xkcd development environment<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|<br />
# Spin up a VM<br />
# Spin up a VM inside that VM<br />
# Continue spinning up nested VMs and containers until you get fired<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.68.54.123https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1764:_XKCDE&diff=1315381764: XKCDE2016-11-25T19:17:47Z<p>172.68.54.123: s/pastels/pcsteps/</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1764<br />
| date = November 25, 2016<br />
| title = XKCDE<br />
| image = xkcde.png<br />
| titletext = 4. They unplug the root machine but the thousands of leaf VMs scatter in the wind and start spinning up new instances wherever they land<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Barebones and possibly inaccurate. Explain title text.}}<br />
<br />
Randall has created a theoretical software environment named XKCDE (a portmanteau on XKCD and CDE (Collaborative Development Environment)), which relies on the user creating a series of nested virtual machines inside each other, which would likely cause extreme strain on the resources of the machine running it. This strain is explained in [[676: Abstraction]], at least for the normal case. Virtual Machines are software which pretend to be PC hardware so that a "guest" operating system can run inside of them, under a "host" operating system. Nesting VMs is the process of making a guest also be a host to yet another guest. Generally this is considered quite wasteful of resources, especially beyond one or two layers deep, and is not done except in a test lab for very specific purposes. Randall's theoretical XKCDE requires it for its required use, by its very nature.<br />
<br />
He suggests continuing that process until the user gets fired, which will very likely lead to the environment not having many active users, a very counter-productive approach to software development.<br />
<br />
A software environment which disables both the machine it runs on and the user that runs it could be thought of as a useless machine.<br />
<br />
Someone got [https://pcsteps.com/508-nested-virtualization 4 levels deep] with this.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Some text is displayed above a box, listing some steps.]<br />
:[Above the box:] Installing the xkcd development environment<br />
<br />
:1. Spin up a VM<br />
:2. Spin up a VM inside that VM<br />
:3. Continue spinning up nested VMs and containers until you get fired<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.68.54.123https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1763:_Catcalling&diff=131474Talk:1763: Catcalling2016-11-23T21:30:56Z<p>172.68.54.123: </p>
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<div>Wouldn't this very quickly result in the extinction of all cats, as they are forced to rush from one chauvinist to another, unable to escape long enough to eat or sleep?<br />
>Jesper<br />
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Is it just me or wouldn't this fail if the misogynists also were cat-lovers? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.224|141.101.98.224]] 15:16, 23 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
* I doubt even cat-lovers would enjoy being swarmed by a hopeless amount of cats for an entire year.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.36|162.158.74.36]] 15:51, 23 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
>"Misogyny"<br />
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The way I originally read this, in addition to wanting to stop getting harassed, Megan also just liked cats and wanted an easy way to gather them. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.71|172.68.55.71]] 15:56, 23 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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My initial thought: Awww! Maybe by being confronted to care for neighborhood cats, such "men" might learn how to love and care for creatures who only want to exploit them, like said men do with women. That could work! ...And then I read the title text. --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.36|162.158.74.36]] 16:52, 23 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Catcalling now attracts my friend Catherine. [[User:Int|Int]] ([[User talk:Int|talk]]) 17:00, 23 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Did we know Megan was a lefty? [[User:Jameslucas|jameslucas]] <small>([[User talk:Jameslucas|" "]] / [[Special:Contributions/Jameslucas|+]])</small> 18:18, 23 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The big question is... does it attract bobcats? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.123|172.68.54.123]] 21:30, 23 November 2016 (UTC)</div>172.68.54.123https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1762:_Moving_Boxes&diff=131359Talk:1762: Moving Boxes2016-11-22T01:25:50Z<p>172.68.54.123: </p>
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<div>I think I've got some Dark Matter in a box left in my basement. Anyone knows how long you can keep this stuff until it expires? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.22.72|162.158.22.72]] 13:36, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
: Mine is about 13.8 billion years old and still OK. But shouldn't about 3/4 of the boxes be filled with dark matter? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.172|162.158.91.172]] 14:21, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:: You probably mean 1/4 (and dark energy is the other 3/4). But we don't know how dark matter is distributed. In the extreme and unlikely case that dark matter consists entirely of MACHOs, there are no boxes with it. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.123|172.68.54.123]] 01:25, 22 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
: Hah! Mine's 13.8'''1''' years old.<br />
: It should be good for another 10^100 years or so. Give or take a few duotrigintillion years. {{unsigned ip|172.68.35.83}}<br />
--[[User:Thejohnfan|Thejohnfan]] ([[User talk:Thejohnfan|talk]]) 14:28, 21 November 2016 (UTC)Thejohnfan<br />
::Yeah - you've really gotta be careful about labelling that stuff - since it neither absorbs nor emits electromagnetic radiation, you're going to have to use gravitational lensing techniques to figure out which box it's in - and we all know how much of a pain THAT can be on moving day! [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:59, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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:When I last moved house, I methodically labelled every single box with it's exact contents. Several meticulously itemized boxes contained (amongst other things) stuff like "Acrylic art paint", "Rodent poison" and "Adhesives" - and the movers saw this and refused to move about a dozen boxes because they contained things that are liquids or hazardous materials. This was more than I could fit in my car - so this became a huge deal. So next time, I'm going with "Normal House Stuff". Seriously - just label them with the room you want them dumped in at your new home and a number...write the actual contents in a MySQL database...preferably with a photo of the box before you taped it up. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 14:59, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
::Label the boxes with "Normal house stuff'); DROP TABLE Boxes; --" if you're doing that. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.137|162.158.34.137]] 15:16, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
:::How do you access the MySQL database when your computer is still packed away in a box? [[User:B jonas|B jonas]] ([[User talk:B jonas|talk]]) 16:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Note that there is a similar use of "Normal" in [https://xkcd.com/1530/ https://xkcd.com/1530/] [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.151|141.101.98.151]] 16:54, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Protip: Label boxes you don't want the movers to know about with "Party Favors." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.83|172.68.79.83]] 16:22, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The explanation for Bison says they're "also known as buffalo". Not sure if that's technically accurate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison Excerpt: "Although sometimes referred to historically as a "buffalo", it is only distantly related to the true buffalo." {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.192}}<br />
:Yes, but colloquially, this is acceptable. For another example, see "Indian vs. Native American."[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.100|162.158.75.100]] 18:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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The "shards" could also be a reference to "sharding", as in "MongoDB is web scale"[http://www.mongodb-is-web-scale.com/]<br />
[[User:CrazyVaccine|CrazyVaccine]] ([[User talk:CrazyVaccine|talk]]) 17:30, 21 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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membranes shards may also refer to sponges {{unsigned ip|172.68.78.133}}<br />
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I read the "shawls glucose kits" as "shawls, glucose [testing] kits", not as "shawls, glucose, kits" {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.191}}<br />
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>>Vectors ARE physical objects in the wonderful world of epidemiology... also, I believe that it's incorrect to say that you can not put the 'physics' kind of vector into a box... just not, uh, physically, more theoretically? Also the same for field lines (unless it is full of dug up painted clods from the lines from an actual soccer field or something), but you could absolutely place a magnet next to a box, and now there are field lines in it, ammirght? -(unsigned, embarrassed, pedantic, etc) {{unsigned ip|173.245.48.84}}<br />
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Come on people this is funny! While Randal may not remember which box things are in, we must assume he KNOWS what stuff he has - ergo he really has all this stuff or at least these are keywords that represent real stuff (like "triangles" could be drafting set-squares) The joke is trying to figure out what on earth these keywords might actually represent! It being xkcd and Randal, we should not assume these are all "normal" items found in typical housholds but may be computer and tech linked. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.118|108.162.242.118]] 22:17, 21 November 2016 (UTC)</div>172.68.54.123