https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.68.59.30&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T11:22:18ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2192:_Review&diff=178386Talk:2192: Review2019-08-21T15:54:56Z<p>172.68.59.30: </p>
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Earth : Terrible storyline, feel depressed afterward. Controls buggy.<br />
: My advice would be to look at different storylines. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.44|172.69.22.44]] 14:24, 21 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
: It is in our power to choose fear, frustration, and despair or the alternative story line of love, joy, and freedom. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 15:06, 21 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Mostly harmless - [[User:GreenWyvern|GreenWyvern]] ([[User talk:GreenWyvern|talk]]) 13:39, 21 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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New servers opening soon! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.124|172.68.51.124]] 13:42, 21 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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He could discuss in greater detail at https://www.reddit.com/r/outside/ [[User:Poodlehat|Poodlehat]] ([[User talk:Poodlehat|talk]]) 13:43, 21 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I think the title text is alluding to controlling things like climate warming and the like, not learning to walk. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:56, 21 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
:"Huge World" would imply that the game type is first or third person, with the player taking control of a character in that world. In this sense, I think it's appropriate for the controls to be in reference to movement of the character. If the game type were management or simulation, I think you would be correct. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 14:03, 21 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
:"Huge World" so much to explore, could take more than a lifetime. Very few ever reach master level but general satisfaction is possible for every serious player, and the game Creator is accessible at any time. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 15:06, 21 August 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Perhaps this is a reference to the recent Public Policy Polling survey http://publicpolicypollling.blogspot.com/2011/07/evaluating-god.html whcih asked people about God's job performance. God received his highest rating on his "handling of creating the universe" with 71% in favor of the universe and 5% opposed.<br />
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Dan Loeb loeb@sig.com, 11:50, 21 August 2019 (ET)<br />
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"gun violence, sexual violence, poverty", etc, are really human's problems rather than Earth's problems.</div>172.68.59.30https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2052:_Stanislav_Petrov_Day&diff=163512Talk:2052: Stanislav Petrov Day2018-10-01T17:45:55Z<p>172.68.59.30: a joke and a reminiscence, equally pointless</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 />
Wednesday was also Talk Like a Pirate Day [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:51, 28 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
: What is a pirate's favorite letter?<br />
: Aaaar!<br />
: Many people think it's the 'R', but it's actually the 'C'! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.168|162.158.106.168]] 15:05, 28 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
::...I feel like I've read that on a webcomic somewhere... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.16|172.68.174.16]] 15:32, 28 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
:::It's a common audience participation joke when Paul and Storm perform The Captain's Wife's Lament, maybe that's what you're thinking of [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.123|162.158.62.123]] 13:36, 1 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
:::Ye'd think they'd be the most fond if the 'C', but without 'P', they just be irate. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.100|108.162.241.100]] 16:01, 28 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
Ayyy, got this one pretty fast. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.13|162.158.154.13]] 15:18, 28 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
:I thought that International Talk Like A Pirate Day was September 19th. I've been celebrating it on that day for decades [[User:Mr. I|Mr. I]] ([[User talk:Mr. I|talk]]) 19:37, 29 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I just read about Mr Petrov the other day, maybe on Quora. I wonder if Randall received the same article in his daily digest :) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.78|141.101.107.78]] 16:26, 28 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
'''History of Petrov Day as a holiday'''<br />
<br />
My critics: Not explaining much to the comics content; even admires that a stupid citation is still needed; this Wiki isn't a link list; I can do more... But I don't want to do censorship so maybe we can put this into a single sentence belonging to an explanation. Otherwise some could be moved to a trivia section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:17, 28 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I can't find anything specific, but a couple other articles list this BBC link https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24280831 which states that his heroism was kept secret until after the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991ish) and that Mr. Petrov "kept silent for 10 years" - so 1993 or maybe 2001. [[User:Afbach|Afbach]] ([[User talk:Afbach|talk]])<br />
:Read the first paragraph: "The incident was unknown to the public until it was revealed shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991." --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:41, 29 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I think everyone missed the subtle point in this comic - Stanislav was famous for correctly identifying the nuclear attack alert as a false alarm, and Cueball thought the calendar alert he received was a false alarm as well! I believe that's the real joke here! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:30, 29 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
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You all missed the joke of the “false alarm clock”, which is that if it keeps going off when it’s not supposed to, you very well might assume that it’s another false alarm when you are actually supposed to wake up, and thus will sleep late anyway, completely defeating the point of the alarm. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 20:33, 29 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
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Is it just me, or does Eliezer Yudkowsky show up abnormally frequently in explainXKCD? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.118|108.162.241.118]] 04:35, 30 September 2018 (UTC)<br />
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So, corrolarily if that's a word, if you ''don't'' ignore the alarm clock and go back to sleep, the world ends?<br />
(On a personal note, Stanislav Petrov day is the day before my birthday. It is somewhat gutting to think back on a day when I was opening presents, stuffing myself with cake, and running around the yard playing hide & seek with a bunch of other kids, and thinking just how different that day might have been).<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.30|172.68.59.30]] 17:45, 1 October 2018 (UTC)</div>172.68.59.30https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2027:_Lightning_Distance&diff=160714Talk:2027: Lightning Distance2018-08-01T19:08:29Z<p>172.68.59.30: </p>
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Calculations I used:<br />
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<math>t_1=\frac{s}{v_1}</math><br />
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<math>t_2=\frac{s}{v_2}</math><br />
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Substract:<br />
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<math>t_1-t_2=\Delta t=\frac{s}{v_1}-\frac{s}{v_2}=\frac{sv_2-sv_1}{v_1v_2}=s\frac{v_2-v_1}{v_1v_2}=s\frac{\Delta v}{v_1v_2}</math><br />
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Therefore<br />
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<math>s=\Delta t\frac{v_1v_2}{\Delta v}</math><br />
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I evaluated <math>\frac{v_1v_2}{\Delta v}</math> and it came to be 13.6 billion. Can someone verify it's correct? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.112|172.68.51.112]] 13:08, 1 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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:The comic begins with the question "how many miles away", so converting to kilometers isn't the right calculation.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.24|172.69.71.24]] 17:06, 1 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I used refractive index for visible light of 1.000277 (air at STP as opposed to 0C 1atm) and arrived at around 7.9 billion instead. Refractive index of 1.000337 is then required for the radio waves for the comic to be correct. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.221|172.68.11.221]] 13:46, 1 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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:Do you mean 7.9 billion to convert to miles or to kilometers? Because my 13.6 bilion is to kilometers. <br />
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::I'm sure the actual comic is referring to miles and 5 billion was picked to match with the "divide by five" rule for miles. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.131|172.69.70.131]] 13:59, 1 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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:::I did mean kilometers. If we use miles, 1.000314 fits almost precisely! (5.04 billion) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.17|172.68.11.17]] 14:42, 1 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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If you can count several seconds, as is suggested in the comic, the flash is still billions of miles away, the widest possible distance between Earth and Neptun is about 5 billion km. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.40|172.68.110.40]] 14:51, 1 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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Do you really need to know the spectrum of the flash? If we assume that a flash contains UV and X-ray radiation and that the visible light is generated at the same time as the UV or X-ray radiation then you only need to know the refractive index of light/UV/X-ray in air under the same temperature conditions and not the exact spectrum. [[User:Condor70|Condor70]] ([[User talk:Condor70|talk]])<br />
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:I initially made the mistake of thinking this referred to time difference between visible and UV/X-ray, but it specifically says "brightness." If you want to compare the brightness at a distance to the brightness at the source you'll need to know the brightness at the source, i.e. the spectrum of the flash itself. But with this technique you don't need to know the dispersion only the relative attenuation.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.142|172.68.54.142]] 18:54, 1 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I understand the joke Randall was going for, but have a problem with the wording. "Count the number of seconds" won't work for fractions of anything. "Measure" would work, but spoils the gag a bit. Counting numbers are integers; counting the seconds between the visible and radio frequency flashes will give you zero. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.24|172.69.71.24]] 17:00, 1 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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:You're certainly correct, but the joke works (for me at least) by its comparison to the standard rule of counting seconds, and humans are not generally precise enough to resolve better than one second. By keeping Megan's wording as close to the customary rule as possible I think it optimizes the humor. That "Billion" at the end is the whole joke for me, the replacement of "sound" with "radio wave" can be glossed-over on first reading, until you get to the unexpected extra 9 orders of magnitude in the conversion.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.142|172.68.54.142]] 18:54, 1 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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Do these account for the air pressure variability common in most thunderstorms?<br />
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== Assumptions on the medium properties sound? ==<br />
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Refractive index of *dry* air might be pretty close to 1 for both light and RF EM waves, but:<br />
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Let's assume that the air is humid, if not even full of water drops. After all, lightning.<br />
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Let's further assume that an air/water mixture or solution has electromagnetic properties between these two materials.<br />
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In water, refractive index for light is about <math>n_{\text{water, optical}}=1.33 n_{\text{air, optical}}</math>, (as easily demonstrated by the optical refractive effects); for RF, we typically use values of <math>\frac{n_{\text{water, RF}}^2}{\mu_r}=\epsilon\approx 80</math>. So, <math>n_{\text{water, RF}}\approx \sqrt{80}n_{\text{air, RF}}</math>.<br />
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<br />
Let's assume a 10⁻³ "EM-effective" water content in the comic air.<br />
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That would lead to <math>\frac{v_{\text{opt.}}}{v_{\text{RF}}} = \frac{\frac34}{\sqrt{80}^{-1}}= \frac34\sqrt{80}=6.7</math>.</div>172.68.59.30https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2025:_Peer_Review&diff=1605412025: Peer Review2018-07-27T15:02:35Z<p>172.68.59.30: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2025<br />
| date = July 27, 2018<br />
| title = Peer Review<br />
| image = peer_review.png<br />
| titletext = Your manuscript "Don't Pay $25 to Access Any of the Articles in this Journal: A Review of Preprint Repositories and Author Willingness to Email PDF Copies for Free" has also been rejected, but nice try.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a PEER REVIEWER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.68.59.30https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2024:_Light_Hacks&diff=160471Talk:2024: Light Hacks2018-07-25T16:17:20Z<p>172.68.59.30: </p>
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<div>We all know what we thinking, right :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECLvFLkvY7Y<br />
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Dyson spheres are the future but we’ll never see one in our lifetime, right? Maybe we can build small ones around candles and things as practice. Great art display for your local makerspace! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.100|162.158.63.100]] 11:03, 25 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
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Here’s a real light hack: https://hackaday.com/2016/02/29/fake-window-brings-natural-light-into-basement/ [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.183|162.158.62.183]] 15:21, 25 July 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I used to think life hacks were cool. Then I read a few of them and realized they were just Hints from Heloise with a cooler, hipper name.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.30|172.68.59.30]] 16:17, 25 July 2018 (UTC)Pat</div>172.68.59.30https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2021:_Software_Development&diff=1602012021: Software Development2018-07-18T15:36:18Z<p>172.68.59.30: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2021<br />
| date = July 18, 2018<br />
| title = Software Development<br />
| image = software_development.png<br />
| titletext = Update: It turns out the cannon has a motorized base, and can make holes just fine using the barrel itself as a battering ram. But due to design constraints it won't work without a projectile loaded in, so we still need those drills.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an AUTOMATIC DRILL CANNON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Software development is characterized by a lot of back and forth on requirements. Here, the requirement is to drill 500 holes in a wall. The software engineer (Cueball) has created a precision drill (some elegant software). As soon as he hands it off to Operations (Hairy), it gets deployed to the wall 500 times via a cannon. Part of the joke here is that they are making holes with drills by using them as bullets, rather than as, say for example, drills.<br />
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The casual disregard for the software itself is reminiscent of the idea of [https://devops.stackexchange.com/questions/653/what-is-the-definition-of-cattle-not-pets cattle not pets] when deploying to servers. <br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
'''Cueball:''' We need to make 500 holes in that wall, so I've built this automatic drill. It uses elegant precision gears to continually adjust its torque and speed as needed.<br />
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'''Hairy:''' Great, it's the perfect weight! We'll load 500 of them into the cannon we made and shoot them at the wall.<br />
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'''Caption:''' How Software Development Works<br />
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'''Title text:''' Update: It turns out the cannon has a motorized base, and can make holes just fine using the barrel itself as a battering ram. But due to design constraints it won't work without a projectile loaded in, so we still need those drills.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]</div>172.68.59.30https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2008:_Irony_Definition&diff=158955Talk:2008: Irony Definition2018-06-18T23:51:20Z<p>172.68.59.30: </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 />
Adding to the irony are the complaints from overeducated drama fans criticizing common uses of the term, assuming that "dramatic irony" is the only valid definition. Search "alanis morissette ironic misuse" for lots of fun with semantics and pseudo-intellectualism. I suspect that Randall is poking fun at the critics, rather than those who misuse the term. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.89|172.68.142.89]] 17:56, 18 June 2018 (UTC)<br />
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* I agree it's poking fun at the critics. The explanation should include correct examples of irony that even non-USA pedantics agree meet the definition.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.82|108.162.216.82]] 19:03, 18 June 2018 (UTC)Pat<br />
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Should mention be made that a possible motivation of this comic is President Trump's misuse of the word "ironic" 11 days earlier in a tweet? [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1004693718945984512]<br />
[[User:Heshy|Heshy]] ([[User talk:Heshy|talk]]) 18:40, 18 June 2018 (UTC)<br />
: Eleven days ago seems a bit distant to be an inspiration. It's not like this comic is infrequently updated.... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.30|172.68.59.30]] 23:51, 18 June 2018 (UTC)<br />
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If sarcasm is a type of irony, is this question ironic? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.82|162.158.126.82]] 20:19, 18 June 2018 (UTC)</div>172.68.59.30https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1981:_Rickrolling_Anniversary&diff=1559231981: Rickrolling Anniversary2018-04-16T22:16:27Z<p>172.68.59.30: /* Trivia */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1981<br />
| date = April 16, 2018<br />
| title = Rickrolling Anniversary<br />
| image = rickrolling_anniversary.png<br />
| titletext = Want to feel old? The 'want to feel old?' factoid meme dates back to around 2011, closer to the Bush/Kerry election than to today.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a Rickroller that feels old- Seems close to complete.}}<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] tells [[Megan]] that by the release of this comic in April 2018 it is the 10th anniversary of the peak of {{w|rickrolling}}, and she is amazed that this has been so long ago. She then remembers that they met each other during this meme, and tells him happy anniversary. After a beat panel Cueball concludes that ''We've known each other for so long''.<br />
<br />
"[https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?t=59 We've known each other for so long]", is the first line of the second verse of the song "{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}" the hit song by {{w|Rick Astley}} on which rickrolling is based. The first reference to this was in [[351: Trolling]] from 2007, where Astley himself was Rickrolled by [[Black Hat]]. Black Hat then later uses Astley to show his girlfriend [[Danish]] how Rick-Rolls in [[524: Party]], a New Year party from the end of 2008. <br />
<br />
Rickrolling had first started in 2007, but reached a peak in about April 2008 when, as an April fool's day prank, {{w|Youtube}} linked all its featured videos to ''Never Gonna Give You Up'', and the {{w|New York Mets}} were Rickrolled by a public vote to choose a song for the 8th innings sing-song. This coincided with a sharp [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rickroll peak in searches] for "Rick Astley" and related terms.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to another ''old'' xkcd meme of giving snippets of information to the reader [[:Category:Comics to make one feel old|that make them feel old]]. Although comics such as [[218: Nintendo Surgeon]] in 2007 refer to facts that could make you feel old, the first comic directly build around factoids to make one feel old in xkcd was [[891: Movie Ages]] in April 2011. This was 7 years before the time of publishing. The {{w|United States presidential election, 2004|Bush Kerry election}} was in November 2004, 6½ years before that comic, making the title text statement that the beginning of this meme is closer to that election that today. This is the way most of these make you feel old comics is build.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and Megan are walking.]<br />
:Cueball: This month marks ten years since the peak of the Rickrolling phenomenon.<br />
<br />
:[In a frame-less panel they keep waling.]<br />
:Megan: Seriously?<br />
:Megan: Wow. Happy anniversary, I guess.<br />
<br />
:[They keep walking silently, beat panel.]<br />
<br />
:[And they walk on.]<br />
:Cueball: We've known each other for so long.<br />
:Megan: We really have.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*This comic is a return to the recurring theme of [[:Category:Rickrolling|Rickrolling]], which was most famous around 2008 and 2009 - also at xkcd.<br />
*Interestingly enough the last time rickrolling was referenced in xkcd was [[1757: November 2016]], another comic centered around making people feel old.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Rickrolling]]<br />
[[Category:Comics to make one feel old]]</div>172.68.59.30https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1975:_Right_Click&diff=1553381975: Right Click2018-04-05T01:50:43Z<p>172.68.59.30: Who's on stage?</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1975<br />
| date = April 1, 2018<br />
| title = Right Click<br />
| image = right_click.png<br />
| titletext = Right-click or long press (where supported) to save!<br />
}}<br />
'''NOTE: The above is the first panel of an interactive comic.'''<br><br />
To experience the interactive content, click [https://www.xkcd.com/1975/ here].<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Please add an explanation table of all functions This is an April Fools comic, so it'll take a while to get organized and much longer to fill out. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic pokes fun at how hard it can be to save an image or to just navigate context menus in some computer programs. Likely it is also a reference to the movie "Ready Player One", based on the book by Cline: in the movie, in fact, the purpose was to find an Easter Egg hidden in an Atari video game named "Adventure".<br />
<br />
This is an interactive comic which manipulates the context menu of the browser. This menu is typically accessible by a right-click or a long press on mobile devices without a mouse.<br />
<br />
It should be noted that if you DO manage to save the image somehow (Possibly by right-clicking before the javascript loads, or by pulling it from the source, or by right-click saving it normally from unixkcd), it just shows the initial image of the page with nothing changed. There is not additional joke by actually being able to save the image. Note that if you dig deep enough, there IS a way to save the image from the right click menu, and it DOES get you a different image. However, the other ways previously mentioned do not give you that image, even though you are saving the image. <br />
<br />
The comic uses {{w|JavaScript}} and {{w|HTML5}} to override the standard context menu. Since modern browsers use the same features to integrate Add-ons into that menu, the behavior may be different depending on the browser environment. Browsers with JavaScript disabled, either totally or by using {{w|NoScript}}, won't access the functionality of the comic, but of course can easily save the image.<br />
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The manipulated context menu is described below:<br />
;Main Context Menu<br />
<br />
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"<br />
! # !! Menu Item !! Explanation !! Sub-Menu Items<br />
|-<br />
!1<br />
| '''Save'''<br />
| Only appears after successfully completing the ADVENT.EXE game or getting the Easter egg in Mornington Crescent.<br />
| Save image> Downloads this image. [https://xkcd.com/1975/v6xso1_right_click_save.png]<br />
<br />
|-<br />
! 2 <br />
| '''File''' <br />
| Normal submenu <br />
|Close: Closes menu, does nothing.<br />
Open: A:\, C:\, / (See more [[#Table - Filesystems Menu|below]])<br />
<br />
Find: Where, When, How, (grayed out) What, (grayed out) Why, Who. <br />
<br />
'Where' leads to four options. The first, 'computer', has two options ('folder' and 'menus'), which link back to the 'find' and right-click menus, respectively. "Narnia" leads to a link to the comic [[665: Prudence]] as well as to a grey comment about how it's weird that "they" have to die to go back to Narnia.<br />
"Canada" and "America" lead to the same set of bizarre menus (America leads into Canada's menu), which then give the options 'Upper' and 'Lower', ultimately leading to a drive-through and hockey, respectively.<br />
<br />
'When' leads to a description of Siri entering someone's home, and the menu can be followed to reveal several further events from 'earlier' in the day. The last one ('a bottle of jack and a toothbrush') is likely a reference to the song 'Tik Tok' by Kesha.<br />
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'How' simply leads to an exclamation of 'How!?'.<br />
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'What' is grayed out.<br />
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'Why' links to [http://itisamystery.com/], ''technically'' answering the question of "Why?"<br />
<br />
'Who' leads to a menu version of the Abbot and Costello "Who's on First?" routine, which eventually links to a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcRRaXV-fg&feature=youtu.be youtube video] of the routine. As of April 4th, a second submenu has been added, which contains Slappy and Skippy's "Who's on Stage?" parody of the previous routine, which also eventually leads to its [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdqv5xIsFLM youtube video].<br />
<br />
Backup: Causes the area around the comic to flash red 9 times, with high-pitch sounds reminiscent of a truck backing up. Likely a pun.<br />
<br />
Save: Only available after the save menu is unlocked after one of the two Easter Eggs is found, allows download of bonus comic.<br />
<br />
|-<br />
! 3 <br />
| '''Edit''' <br />
| Enables a mode allowing the user to draw on the webpage. Pressing Esc asks "Aw, that looks nice though. Really delete?" and the page returns to normal if OK is clicked.<br />
| None<br />
|-<br />
! 4 <br />
| '''System''' <br />
| Normal submenu <br />
|Shut Down> Changes the only menu option to "Power on", then once that is used, system returns to normal.<br />
<br />
/ (See [[#Table - Filesystems Menu|below]])<br />
|-<br />
! 5 <br />
| '''View''' <br />
| Normal submenu <br />
|Cascade>Links to [http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Mt._St._Helens,_Washington]<br />
<br />
Tile> Links to [[245: Floor Tiles]]<br />
<br />
Minimize> Changes pointer to a smaller pointer.<br />
<br />
Full Screen> Enters full screen.<br />
|-<br />
! 6 <br />
| '''Utilities''' <br />
| Normal submenu <br />
|Park drives> Nothing.<br />
<br />
Check space usage> (cannot click) Space usage: -Dark matter -Hydrogen -Helium -Scattered clumps of heavier elements -Stars -Rocks -Some space probes -Earth<br />
<br />
Spell check> English (links to [[1069: Alphabet]]) and Colors (links to [https://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/])<br />
<br />
Train AI> links to [[1838: Machine Learning]]<br />
<br />
Identify song> opens a long word-by-word menu for song lyrics; it's actually a menu-ised version of [[851: Na]].<br />
<br />
Advanced> several Unix commands, all absurd (or dangerous) for some reason:<br />
* <code>apt-get install /dev/null</code>: <code>apt-get</code> is the standard package manager used in Debian-derived Linux distributions (including Ubuntu); it is normally used to install software; <code>/dev/null</code> is the "bit-bucket" device on any Unix system, which can be used as a dummy output file to discard output or as a dummy empty input file. This command would attempt to install <code>/dev/null</code> (which is a device, not a package!) or, more correctly, would try to install a package reading its data from <code>/dev/null</code> (if <code>apt-get</code> is given a file name it tries to interpret it as a .deb package), which is obviously impossible.<br />
* <code>brew install apt-get</code>: <code>brew</code> is a third-party package manager for macOS; it is generally used to install "missing" open-source utilities on a macOS system; the command is attempting to install the aforementioned <code>apt-get</code>, which is both impossible (<code>apt-get</code> doesn't run on macOS) and hilariously recursive (did you install a package manager - brew - to install another one?). Even if this were possible, the package would have been called <code>apt</code>, as apt-get is only one of the commands in the package manager.<br />
* <code>/usr/local/bin/wine xen-hypervisor.exe</code>: <code>wine</code> is a compatibility layer used to run Windows executables on Linux (and on macOS); the fact that it is in <code>/usr/local</code> hints that it has been manually compiled on this machine; Xen is a Linux-based hypervisor, i.e. a software used to run and manage virtual machines over a Linux host, but the .exe suffix here hints that it is a Windows executable. The command would try to launch a Windows build of a Linux-based virtual machine manager on a Unix machine through a Windows emulation layer (wine).<br />
* <code>source .bash_history</code>: the <code>source</code> shell command reads the file that is given as argument and executes each of its rows as a command in the current shell, roughly as if you typed them in; <code>.bash_history</code> (located in the user home directory) is the file where the bash shell saves the history of the commands that have been run. This command would re-run all the command that have been typed in the shell.<br />
* <code>rm -rf $DIRECTROY/*</code>: <code>rm -rf</code> deletes recursively and forcefully the paths it is given as arguments; <code>$DIRECTROY</code> is a shell variable, probably containing some directory that whoever typed in this command wanted to clean; however, it is misspelled (it says <code>$DIRECTROY</code>, not <code>$DIRECTORY</code>), and, due to how POSIX shell work, it is thus expanded to an empty string; so, the command becomes <code>rm -rf /*</code>, which deletes all the files and directories in the root of the disk, effectively killing the system instead of just deleting the content of some directory. Notice that this particular misspell manages to circumvent the builtin protection of many <code>rm</code> versions, which refuse to do a plain <code>rm -rf /</code>, as <code>/*</code> gets expanded by the shell, so <code>rm</code> never has the chance to see explicitly that you are killing all the data in the root directory.<br />
* <code>:(){:|:&};:</code>: this is [https://askubuntu.com/q/159491/208527 a classic shell fork bomb], i.e. a small program that keeps launching copies of itself, until all resources have been exhausted or the user somehow manages to kill all its copies.<br />
* <code>echo "source .bashrc" >> .bashrc</code>: <code>.bashrc</code> is a file that gets executed whenever the <code>bash</code> shell is started in interactive mode; this command appends the string <code>source .bashrc</code> to it, which effectively executes it again recursively; this would pretty much make it impossible to open an interactive shell when launching it with the default parameters.<br />
* <code>alias gcc=php</code>: the <code>alias</code> shell builtin create an alias for another command; <code>gcc</code> is the GNU C compiler driver, which is used to compile programs written in the C language; <code>php</code> is the command-line interpreter for the PHP language. This line creates an alias such that when typing <code>gcc</code>, <code>php</code> is actually invoked, which would generate completely absurd error messages. This is doubly devious, as PHP isn't generally held in high esteem by large part of the programming community (especially by someone writing stuff in C).<br />
<br />
'); DROP TABLE Menus;-- links to [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]<br />
|-<br />
! 7 <br />
| '''Games''' <br />
| Normal submenu <br />
| Twenty Questions> A Twenty Questions interface that gets really confusing. There are links to Bing image searches for '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=okapi&FORM=HDRSC2 okapi]', '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pronghorn&FORM=HDRSC2 pronghorn]', '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=eland&FORM=HDRSC2 eland]', '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=baribusa&FORM=HDRSC2 baribusa]', '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=musk%20deer&FORM=HDRSC2 musk deer]' and '[https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ibex&FORM=HDRSC2 ibex]'. The game also contains some extremely large cans of creamed corn (a reference to [[1807: Listening]]).<br />
<br />
Rock Paper Scissors> A Rock Paper Scissors game where the computer always matches your move.<br />
<br />
D&D> A complex Dungeons and Dragons interface. Allows you to cast various spells from D&D 5e which link to various pages, including xkcd comics (e.g. [[1331: Frequency]]), what-ifs (e.g. {{what if|144|Saliva Pool}}) and other external sites (e.g. [https://www.nasa.gov/sun The Sun | NASA]). See [https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/88vwoe/xkcds_latest_comic_has_a_dd_easter_egg/ post on /r/dndnext] for all 285 links and 11 extra effects.<br />
<br />
ADVENT.EXE> A text-based game. If played correctly, you can win, unlocking 'Save'>'Save image' from the beginning menu, which links to [https://xkcd.com/1975/v6xso1_right_click_save.png]. 'ADVENT.EXE>Castle>Well>Wish for...' has links to comics [[572: Together]], [[1053: Ten Thousand]], [[152: Hamster Ball]], [[1196: Subways]], [[231: Cat Proximity]] and to what-if articles {{what if|111|All the Money}} and {{what if|9|Soul Mates}}. The C-remover is a reference to either the T-remover from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leather_Goddesses_of_Phobos Leather Goddess of Phobos] or the multi-letter remover from [http://emshort.com/counterfeit_monkey/ Counterfeit Monkey], a text adventure by Emily Short inspired by it. At one point in the maze, the options to travel are N, S, and Dennis instead of the usual N, E, S, W; this is a reference to the text-based game [http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Thy_Dungeonman Thy Dungeonman] found in a Strong Bad email from [http://homestarrunner.com homestarrunner.com].<br />
<br />
Hoverboard> Links to [[1608: Hoverboard]] browser game.<br />
<br />
Mornington Crescent> This is a simulation of the well-known game {{W|Mornington_Crescent_(game)|Mornington Crescent}}, which bears a surprising resemblance to {{W|London_Underground|London's Underground}} railway network. Players name a station, in turn, endeavouring to reach Mornington Crescent. The rules of play are very complicated and beyond the scope of this article; interested persons are referred to ''N. F. Stovold’s Mornington Crescent: Rules and Origins'' (sadly out of print). In this variation, one may reach 'Vauxhall'>'Easter basket'>'Take egg', also allowing you to save. The shortest path to the Easter basket is: Euston / Warren Street / Oxford Circus / Green Park / Victoria / Pimlico / Vauxhall / Easter basket<br />
|-<br />
! 8 <br />
| '''Help''' <br />
| Contains various submenus, all of which, barring Credits, loop back recursively to this menu:<br />
|Tutorial<br />
Support<br />
<br />
Manual<br />
<br />
Troubleshooting<br />
<br />
FAQ<br />
<br />
Guide<br />
<br />
Q&A<br />
<br />
User forums<br />
<br />
--------------<br />
<br />
Credits> 'Some people who helped with this comic: <br />
[http://chromakode.com/ @chromakode] <br />
[https://twitter.com/aiiane Amber] <br />
[https://twitter.com/fadinginterest @fadinginterest] <br />
[https://twitter.com/wirehead2501 Kat] <br />
[https://twitter.com/cotrone Kevin] <br />
[http://90d.ca/ Stereo]'<br />
|-<br />
! 9<br />
| '''Do Crimes'''<br />
| Contains several "crimes" that can be committed. This option is unlocked by File > Open > C:\ (or /home/user) > Bookmarks/ > Secret > Enable Dark Web.<br />
| Steal Bitcoins > Grayed out.<br />
Say swears > Several clean swears that all link to [[771: Period Speech]].<br />
<br />
Hack > Three sub-options that link to various related comics. (Gibson: Nothing. Election: [[1019: First Post]]. Planet: [[1337: Hack]].)<br />
<br />
Forge a Scrabble Tile > Several sub-options that don't do anything. (U, Z, <this menu option intentionally left blank>, and two special characters, one being a Russian 'Э', as low-pitched [eh], and the second being a crossed swords emoji (⚔)<br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
;Filesystems Menu<br />
<br />
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"<br />
! Drive !! Menu Item !! Explanation !! Sub-Menu Items<br />
|-<br />
! A:\ <br />
| '''Insert''' <br />
| Only appears before inserting a floppy disk.<br />
|Floppy disk> Unlocks other options for drive A:\, which are identical to drive C:\<br />
Chip card> A long sequence of being told 'Please wait. Authorizing...' ending in 'Chip error! REMOVE CARD NOW!'<br />
|-<br />
! C:\ <br />
| '''Documents/'''<br />
| Nothing.<br />
| None.<br />
|-<br />
! C:\<br />
| '''Music/'''<br />
| Leads to a long string of prompts for song lyrics. 'Hey now / Hey now na now / Sing "This Corrosion" to me' inverts the webpage's color before Easter egg mode is enabled, and plays the referenced song in the browser with inverted color and flashing if the Easter egg mode is enabled. It's actually the same menu that is shown under Utilities>Identify song (which itself is a menu-ised version of [[851: Na]]). <br />
| 'Hey now / Hey now / Don't dream it's over' links to [[240: Dream Girl]]. 'This / is / a / story all about how / my life got flipped, turned upside down' links to [[464: RBA]]. 'This / is / the / story of a girl / who cried a river and drowned the whole world' links to a Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_FVAEYRM5I<br />
|-<br />
! C:\<br />
| '''Bookmarks/'''<br />
| Similar to Music/, Bookmarks/> Comics leads to a chain from which many comics are titled and linked. Bookmarks/> Secret> Enable Dark Web adds the 'Dark Web' option to the initial menu.<br />
|-<br />
! C:\<br />
| '''Games/'''<br />
| Same as 'Games' from the initial menu.<br />
|-<br />
! C:\<br />
| '''Sequences/'''<br />
| The options are the lines from a ''Tim and Eric'' sketch [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/celery-man Celery Man]; the final option links to a YouTube video of the sketch.<br />
| After several single-option menus, it links to this Youtube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHWBEK8w_YY<br />
|-<br />
! /<br />
| '''home/'''<br />
| Nothing.<br />
| guest> links to [//uni.xkcd.com|uniXKCD]. UniXKCD is itself something of an April Fools comic, as it was created several years prior with that year's comic. In addition to having a comic browsing interface, there are several one line responses (hint can give 'Use the source, Luke!'), a text-based adventure, and some commands (like man cat) do something you wouldn't expect (like saying 'you are now riding a half-man half-cat').<br />
<br />
user> Same files as C:\<br />
<br />
root> Displays 'You are not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.'<br />
|-<br />
! /<br />
| '''opt/'''<br />
| Does nothing.<br />
| None.<br />
|-<br />
! /<br />
| '''sbin/'''<br />
| Does nothing.<br />
| None.<br />
|-<br />
! /<br />
| '''usr/'''<br />
| Opens an infinite sequence of options, each similar to the last, but replacing the previous selection with another folder; probably a reference to the fact that [https://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/usr.html the /usr hierarchy] does contain a list of subdirectories pretty much identical [https://www.tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/the-root-directory.html to those of the root directory].<br />
|-<br />
! /<br />
| '''dev/'''<br />
| Nothing.<br />
|random/> links to a random xkcd comic.<br />
urandom/> links to [[221: Random Number]]<br />
|}<br />
<br />
In an additional fool it introduces the [https://uni.xkcd.com/ Unix XKCD] as a reference to the {{W|Telenet}}. (More on UniXKCD commands can be found [[721:_Flatland#UniXKCD|here]].)<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Empty frame with Cueball slightly right of centre.]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the frame:]<br />
:Editor's Note: Today's comic is optimized for local viewing. To see the full version, just save a copy of the image!<br />
<br />
:[Alt text:]<br />
:Right-click or long press (where supported) to save!<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line. --><br />
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[[Category:Interactive comics]]<br />
[[Category:April fools' comics]]</div>172.68.59.30