Talk:380: Emoticon

This may also be a reference or allusion to David Langford's basilisks, which are computer-generated images (mostly fractals) that kill or otherwise incapacitate people by triggering faults or overloads common to human neuropathways. ...I think it's just about the humor in a mythological basilisk's power transferring via emoticons, though. JET73L (talk) 16:05, 8 February 2013 (UTC)

Cognitohazards are fun! Whoop whoop pull up (talk) 21:54, 5 February 2023 (UTC)

<BSLSK05> :) 173.72.159.14 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Perhaps Cueball isn't dead, but petrified, because he saw the eyes indirectly? Like in Harry Potter. 121.99.61.70 21:10, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

The X'd eyes and skull floating above Cueball indicates that the basilisk was, indeed, successful in its task. For those concerned about the paradox between "Cueball"'s untimely demise in this comic and his future appearances, consider this a parallel reality. Your brain is safe! Thokling (talk) 05:50, 22 September 2013 (UTC)

Maybe a Poincaré recurrence time passes between this comic and the next one. 108.162.219.5 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

...or just consider that 'Cueball' is simply the name of the 'species' of stick figure here. Otherwise, the Cueball here would still be missing a hand, literally. Greyson (talk) 03:16, 16 December 2013 (UTC)

Of course, there's no way we can tell it's not a prosthesis. --Alex (talk) 19:51, 17 May 2014 (UTC)

Is this the last comic with a CRT monitor? 89.243.117.162 20:57, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Good question, I did add a category for this so we can collect them.--Dgbrt (talk) 20:26, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

The CTR category was deleted by Davidy so the puzzle is left unsolved Kynde (talk) 12:10, 16 May 2014 (UTC)

It would be extraordinarily like xkcd to include a reference to [Roko's Basilisk] and make it literal, in a manner similar to how other debates and ideas in computer science, mathematics, and other fields became actual battles. Consider [Pumpkin Carving] or [Principle of Explosion], where ideas from set theory and logic manifest directly in the world. Warning: some folk find the thought experiment of Roko's Basilisk disturbing. 108.162.238.166 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

As noted above, the reference is more likely to Langford's basilisks (though the rest of your comment fits just as well). Though now I at least have an idea why is Roko's Basilisk named that... I kept wondering "why is this thought experiment in any way similar to a basilisk?" --141.101.81.74 06:37, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

For that matter, this particular comic is early enough that it actually predates the Roko's Basilisk story. --141.101.81.78 15:24, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

What's up with the explanation??

The explanation is super messy, can someone who understands it fix it? 162.158.133.120 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Why is the Basilisk a 5 year old male? 173.245.52.145 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I second this. It doesn't seem to follow from anything. --VannaWho (talk) 11:52, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

Maybe because snakes grow to maturity much quicker than humans? 172.70.230.250 (talk) 01:30, 8 June 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Or the username is chosen to match the original Greek βασιλίσκος (*basiliskos*), which can be used to refer to a basilisk, an Egyptian cobra, a minor royalty, a wren, the star Alpha Leonis, or a kind of shoe. 2a09:bac3:517e:2878::408:c (talk) 09:22, 5 September 2026 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Page Cleanup

I've had a bit of a look at this page. What's with the wierd trivia, by the way? GSLikesCats306 (talk) 12:45, 28 August 2026 (UTC)

I'm surprised there isn't more mention of the Harry Potter connection here: this cartoon came out about 5 years after the film with the basilisk and there was a character called Nick who it turned to stone. --Darth Vader (talk) 14:32, 28 August 2026 (UTC)

Oh yeah! It even matched the initals NickM. Added a section about that -- Black Hat's Hat (talk) 15:25, August 28, 2026 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I fixed the title text and added some extra information Morpheus (talk) 23:38, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

Very unsure how to obey {{incomplete|This is a bit too technical, explain it in simpler terms.}} for the Trivia section. There's very little in the current statements that can be removed to make it more understandable, and still accurate. Yet I suspect that adding more detail would also defeat the purpose. Can we have a serious discussion about which main bits are not being understood, and maybe suggestions as to what simpler terms would be acceptable? 92.23.3.28 17:53, 6 September 2026 (UTC)

I believe it's the stuff about QTextDocument and qt. Perhaps adding a short explanation about what that is might help. Morpheus (talk) 03:15, 8 September 2026 (UTC)

I added some short (well, shorter than they could be!) explanations for such terms as might need this. Tried to make it halfway readable, and not actually 'wrong', but I'm not at all confident I managed that. 92.23.7.14 13:13, 8 September 2026 (UTC)