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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
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This comic is a reference to the satirical novel ''{{w|Flatland|Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions}}'', in which a society of flat shapes live in a {{w|Two-dimensional space|2D}} world -- a recurring reference in XKCD comics. Half the book is a direct satire of {{w|Victorian era|Victorian}} society, and the other half explores the experience of discovering a new dimension, where a sphere introduces a square (named A. Square) to {{w|Three-dimensional space|3D}}. [[Cueball]] appears to have taken the place of this sphere, and the comic takes place after the square knows the third dimension exists.
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{{incomplete|I just added the information on unixkcd from https://vimeo.com/78912850. I think I got all the commands from the javascript file, but I could be wrong. I just added the reply for several commands. These replies probably need a more detailed explanation.}}.
  
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Humans will never fully be able to fully grasp the concept of a fourth spatial dimension (at least not in the foreseeable future), but there are ways of squashing or slicing four dimensions to create partial visualizations of 4D space. ''{{w|Miegakure}}'' is a yet-to-be-released 4D game that uses cross-sections of 4D space. Cueball attempted to play a pre-release version of it, but after having his "mind blown", he gained more sympathy for A. Square, who'd had similar trouble understanding 3D. A. Square accepts his apology.
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This comic is a reference to the satirical novel {{w|Flatland|''Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions''}}, in which a society of flat shapes live in a {{w|Two-dimensional space|2D}} world. Half the book is a direct satire of {{w|Victorian era|Victorian}} society, and the other half explores the experience of discovering a new dimension, where a sphere introduces a square (named A. Square) to {{w|Three-dimensional space|3D}}. [[Cueball]] appears to have taken the place of this sphere, and the comic takes place after the square knows the third dimension exists.
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Humans will never fully be able to grasp the concept of a four spatial dimensions (at least not in the foreseeable future), but there are ways of squashing or slicing four dimensions to create partial visualizations of 4D space. {{w|Miegakure}} is a 4D game that uses cross-sections of 4D space. Cueball attempted to play it, but after having his mind blown, he gained more sympathy for A. Square, who'd had similar trouble understanding 3D. A. Square accepts his apology.
  
 
The joke here is that Cueball was being silly and drew lines on A. Square to make him look like {{w|SpongeBob SquarePants (character)|SpongeBob}}, which did not make the square happy. Cueball apologizes again.
 
The joke here is that Cueball was being silly and drew lines on A. Square to make him look like {{w|SpongeBob SquarePants (character)|SpongeBob}}, which did not make the square happy. Cueball apologizes again.
  
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The title text is a third apology for when Cueball crawled down into the second dimension. Being a stick figure, he is composed of a circle and straight lines.{{Citation needed}} In Flatland, circles are priests (Flatland's highest social level. Actually, the highest aren't circles; in fact they are actually many-sided polygons that look identical to a true circle in Flatland.), and all women are lines; thus, to a watcher in Flatland, Cueball would look very much like a priest above many connected women, which may look like a lesbian orgy.
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The title text is a third apology for when Cueball crawled down into the second dimension. Being a stick figure, he is comprised of a circle and straight lines. In Flatland, circles are priests (Flatland's highest social level), and all women are lines; thus, to a watcher in Flatland, Cueball would look very much like a priest above many connected women, which may look like a lesbian orgy.
  
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Also worth mentioning is the pun in the greetings: A. Square - being on ground level - asks Cueball above him how he's doing by asking what's up.
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==Unixkcd==
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This comic was released on March 31, 2010 and was still up on April 1st, 2010. On {{w|April_Fools%27_Day|April Fools' Day}} [[Randall]] altered the website to mimic a {{w|Unix}} command line interface. This interface is still available on [https://uni.xkcd.com uni.xkcd.com].
 +
The terminal lists a few available commands, but there are several undocumented commands as well.
 +
* <code>display [number]</code> Shows the comic with the specified number.
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* <code>next</code> Shows the previous comic.
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* <code>prev</code> Shows the next comic. Shows the error "Time travel mode not enabled" on the last comic.
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* <code>first</code> Shows the first comic.
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* <code>last</code> Shows the last comic.
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* <code>random</code> Shows a random comic.
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* <code>dir</code> or <code>ls</code> Shows the content of the current directory.
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* <code>cat</code> (without a filename) will show <code>You're a kitty!</code> referencing [[231: Cat Proximity]].
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* <code>cat [filename]</code> Shows the content of the file. <code>cat [number]/alt.txt</code> displays the alt-text of the specified comic.
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* <code>cheat</code> Promotes the [https://store.xkcd.com/ xkcd store].
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* <code>cd [directory]</code> Changes to the specified directory.
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* <code>rm [filename]</code> will make it seem like you deleted the file.
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* <code>reddit [number]</code> shows the [https://www.reddit.com/ Reddit] voting bar for the specified comic (or xkcd when not number is specified).
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* <code>irc</code> or <code>write</code> Starts an {{w|IRC}} session to the xkcd channel on irc.foonetic.net.
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* <code>clear</code> clears the screen.
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* <code>man [command]</code> Show unhelpful information about the command (only <code>last</code>, <code>help</code>, <code>next</code>, <code>cat</code> or no command are support).
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* <code>locate [filename]</code> Normally used to locate a file in a directory. It will give humorous results when searching for <code>ninja</code>, <code>keys</code>, <code>joke</code>, <code>problem</code> and <code>raptor</code>.
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* <code>wget [url]</code> shows the content of the specified url.
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* <code>unixkcd</code> opens a new terminal window.
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* <code>sudo [command]</code> executes the command with {{w|Superuser|root}}  privileges.
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* <code>sudo shutdown</code> or <code>sudo poweroff</code> will shutdown the system.
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* <code>sudo restart</code> or <code>sudo reboot</code> will restart the system.
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* <code>sudo apt-get update</code> Refreshes the package list so the system knows which updates are available.
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* <code>apt-get</code> replies "This APT has Super Cow Powers." (apt-get Easter egg).
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* <code>sudo apt-get upgrade</code> On Internet Explorer and Firefox (pre-version 3) it shows a link to [http://abetterbrowser.org/ A Better Browser]. On all other browsers it doesn't complain.
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* <code>sudo apt-get dist-upgrade</code> Returns "You are already running [OS].".
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* <code>sudo apt-get moo</code> replies "Have you mooed today?" (apt-get Easter egg).
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* <code>make me a sandwich</code> and <code>sudo make me a sandwich</code> behave like [[149: Sandwich]].
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* <code>logout</code>, <code>exit</code> and <code>quit</code> will end the terminal session.
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* <code>help</code> or <code>halp</code> says "That would be cheating!".
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* <code>goto [any]</code> Shows comic [[292: goto]] and asks if you meant <code>display</code> instead.
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* <code>make love</code> Replies "I put on my robe and wizard hat.".
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* <code>i read the source code</code> Replies "<3".
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* <code>pwd</code> Replies "You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.".
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* <code>lpr</code> Replies "PC LOAD LETTER".
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* <code>hello joshua</code> Replies "How about a nice game of Global Thermonuclear War?".
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* <code>xyzzy</code> Replies "Nothing happens.".
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* <code>date</code> Replies "March 32nd".
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* <code>hello</code> Replies "Why hello there!".
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* <code>who</code> Replies "Doctor Who?".
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* <code>xkcd</code> Replies "Yes?".
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* <code>su</code> Replies "God mode activated. Remember, with great power comes great ... aw, screw it, go have fun.".
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* <code>fuck</code> Replies "I have a headache.".
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* <code>whoami</code> Replies "You are Richard Stallman.".
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* <code>nano</code> Replies "Seriously? Why don't you just use Notepad.exe? Or MS Paint?".
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* <code>top</code> Replies "It's up there --^".
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* <code>moo</code> Replies "moo".
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* <code>ping</code> Replies "There is another submarine three miles ahead, bearing 225, forty fathoms down.".
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* <code>find</code> Replies "What do you want to find? Kitten would be nice.".
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* <code>hello</code> Replies "Hello.".
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* <code>more</code> Replies "Oh, yes! More! More!".
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* <code>your gay</code> Replies "Keep your hands off it!".
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* <code>hi</code> Replies "Hi.".
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* <code>echo</code> Replies "Echo ... echo ... echo ...".
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* <code>bash</code> Replies "You bash your head against the wall. It's not very effective.".
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* <code>ssh</code> Replies "ssh, this is a library.".
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* <code>uname</code> Replies "Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator".
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* <code>finger</code> Replies "Mmmmmm...".
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* <code>kill</code> Replies "Terminator deployed to 1984.".
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* <code>use the force luke</code> Replies "I believe you mean source.".
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* <code>use the source luke</code> Replies "I'm not luke, you're luke!".
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* <code>serenity</code> Replies "You can't take the sky from me.".
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* <code>enable time travel</code> Replies "TARDIS error: Time Lord missing.".
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* <code>ed</code> Replies "You are not a diety.".
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* <code>emacs</code> Replies "You should really use vim.".
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* <code>vi</code> or <code>vim</code> Replies "You should really use emacs.".
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* <code>asl</code> or <code>a/s/l</code> Randomly replies "2/AMD64/Server Rack", "328/M/Transylvania", "6/M/Battle School", "48/M/The White House", "7/F/Rapture", "Exactly your age/A gender you're attracted to/Far far away.", "7,831/F/Lothlórien" or "42/M/FBI Field Office".
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* <code>hint</code> Randomly replies "We offer some really nice polos.", "This terminal will remain available at xkcd.com/unixkcd/</a>", "Use the source, Luke!" or "There are cheat codes.".
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* <code>find kitten</code> Showed the {{w|Robotfindskitten}} game (no longer works).
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* <code>buy stuff</code> same as <code>cd store</code>.
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* <code>time travel</code> displays [[630: Time Travel]].
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There are also some other commands borrowed from a {{w|Zork}} like {{w|Text-based_game|text based adventure game}}.
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* <code>look</code> describes your current surroundings.
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* <code>go [direction]</code> moves you in the specified direction (<code>down</code> is also supported).
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* <code>light lamp</code> lights your lamp.
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* <code>sleep [seconds]</code> sleeps for the specified time.
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You will be killed by a {{w|Grue_(monster)|grue}} if you didn't light your lamp when going south.
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Going west repeatedly will list the refrain from the song {{w|Go_West_(song)|Go west}}.
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The terminal also responds to the {{w|Konami code}} Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A. Entering this code repeatedly will transform all characters to upper case, add a gray text shadow, add an orange text shadow, shake the screen and add a background image of Richard Stallman from [[344: 1337: Part 4]].
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==Trivia==
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There is actually a SpongeBob episode featuring a flat creature that resembles a crude drawing of SpongeBob.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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:[Cueball talks to a square on the ground.]
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:[Cueball encounters a square on the ground.]
 
:Cueball: Hey, A. Square. How's Flatland?
 
:Cueball: Hey, A. Square. How's Flatland?
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:A. Square: Still flat. What's up?
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:Square: Still flat. What's up?
 
:Cueball: I just spent an hour playing a demo of this 4D game called Miegakure.
 
:Cueball: I just spent an hour playing a demo of this 4D game called Miegakure.
  
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:[In a frameless panel, a character in Miegakure jumps around the 4D landscape.]
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:[A character in Miegakure jumps around the 4D landscape.]
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:Caption above the panel: Trying to jump from block to block in four dimensions hurt my brain.
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:Trying to jump from block to block in four dimensions hurt my brain.
  
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:[Cueball continues talking to A. Square on the ground.]
 
 
:Cueball: So I apologize for giving you a hard time when you were slow to understand 3D space. I sympathize now.
 
:Cueball: So I apologize for giving you a hard time when you were slow to understand 3D space. I sympathize now.
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:A. Square: It's okay.
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:Square: It's okay.
  
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:[Zoom in on Cueball's head]
 
 
:Cueball: Also, I apologize for drawing arms, legs, and eyes on you to make you look like SpongeBob. That was out of line.
 
:Cueball: Also, I apologize for drawing arms, legs, and eyes on you to make you look like SpongeBob. That was out of line.
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:A. Square: Yes, it was.
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:Square: Yes, it was.
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==Trivia==
 
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*There is actually a SpongeBob episode featuring a flat creature that resembles a crude drawing of SpongeBob.
 
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===UniXKCD===
 
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*This comic was released on March 31, 2010 and was still up on April 1st, 2010.
 
−
**On {{w|April_Fools%27_Day|April Fools' Day}} in 2010 [[Randall]] altered the website to mimic a {{w|Unix}} command line interface.
 
−
**This interface is still available on [https://uni.xkcd.com uni.xkcd.com] and the source code is available on [https://github.com/chromakode/xkcdfools GitHub].
 
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**See more on the [[UniXKCD]] April Fools' Day joke.
 
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
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[[Category:Math]]
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[[Category:Geometry]]
 
 
[[Category:Video games]]
 
[[Category:Video games]]
 
[[Category:Homosexuality]]
 
[[Category:Homosexuality]]
 
[[Category:Sex]]
 
[[Category:Sex]]
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[[Category:Flatland]]
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[[Category:April fools' comics]]

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