Editing Talk:521: 2008 Christmas Special

Santa actually really is Muslim. Saint Nicholas was from Turkey, although his remains have been somewhere in Italy for the past millennium.{{unsigned ip|121.222.232.156}}
: Yeah, right. Living in what was later to be Turkey makes him a muslim. Islam was not even invented yet. [[User:Undee|Undee]] ([[User talk:Undee|talk]]) 11:44, 5 November 2013 (UTC)
:: Oh snap! xD --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:03, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
::: Yeah, right. How could anyone doubt that St. Nicholas and Santa Clause are in fact the same person? I mean, they have similar names, outfits and skin colours. Furthermore both aggressively promote annual shopping frenzies in the richest countries and have advertising partnerships with Coca Cola(r). {{unsigned ip|141.101.76.58}}

Of course you have to explain how St Nick who died in 343 CE could have been following a religion whose founder was born in 570 CE.  But you knew that. I also think we can do somewhat better than "somewhere in Italy".  His tomb is at Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.11}}

And also, equating Santa with St Nicholas is problematic at best.  Santa came about as an amalgamation of many different figures from folklore, so even if St Nick were Muslim, at best you could call Santa part-Muslim.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.171|108.162.216.171]] 18:31, 8 November 2014 (UTC)


I always thought Black Hat was talking to Danish. The hair's longer and it makes a modicum more sense that way (at least to me) Anonymous 03:34, 4 December 2013 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.91}}
:I see what you are saying (although I couldn't comment on whether the hair is longer) but the question sounds like something Megan would ask.  Danish would have built the laser chainsaw.  [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:20, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
::True... Anonymous 20:14, 13 February 2014 (UTC)
:I don't see Black Hat in any of the panels... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.83|173.245.55.83]] 14:50, 22 May 2014 (UTC)
::He is at the bottom line, first panel from left. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:48, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

Just checked this image for any data in the black frames (like in [[SOPA]]).  There is nothing; all pixels read #000000.  [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.53|108.162.216.53]] 20:52, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm don't think "sublimate" means vaporize... And neither would vaporize fit with the rest the story... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.208|141.101.89.208]] 14:08, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

Sublimation is a specific type of vaporization.  I don't think the exact nature of the board's destruction is important to the comic.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.171|108.162.216.171]] 18:31, 8 November 2014 (UTC)
:I think it's relevant because it's a secondary joke - the arduino boards could possibly have melted, but not sublimated: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublimation_(phase_transition) Sublimation_(phase_transition)] [[User:L-Space Traveler|L-Space Traveler]] ([[User talk:L-Space Traveler|talk]]) 23:54, 2 September 2022 (UTC)

Of all the black panels, i'm most curious about the contents of number 32. It would have made more sense if panel 31 read something like "From all of us to all of you, we wish you..."[[User:Mumiemonstret|Mumiemonstret]] ([[User talk:Mumiemonstret|talk]]) 09:37, 12 August 2014 (UTC)
:In the final panel, they get eaten by raptors. [[User:L-Space Traveler|L-Space Traveler]] ([[User talk:L-Space Traveler|talk]]) 23:54, 2 September 2022 (UTC)
::(This is a joke!) [[User:L-Space Traveler|L-Space Traveler]] ([[User talk:L-Space Traveler|talk]]) 23:54, 2 September 2022 (UTC)

Clones (cloned raptors) vs droids (cyborgs), and then victorious clones turning against their masters... Well, this raptors seem to be more independent then altered clones of Jango Fett but may be lightsabers aren't the only SW quote here.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.202|141.101.92.202]] 16:53, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

I changed "self-conscious" in the explanations for panel 13 and the title text to "self-aware". The former is generally understood to mean something along the lines of "nervous, especially in social situations" which doesn't describe the behavior of computers trying to wipe out humanity. {{unsigned ip|108.162.214.77}}

I feel like there should be some sort of way to view them probably via Easter egg [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.154|141.101.104.154]]

"Import skynet" may be a reference to Lorenz (or referenced in Lorenz), where the computer automatically types it.
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.108|199.27.128.108]] 14:06, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

Is "we apologize for the inconvenience" really trying to reference to Hitchhiker's Guide? The quote certainly appears in it, but it's a pretty common statement. [[User:RamenChef|RamenChef]] ([[User talk:RamenChef|talk]]) 18:08, 14 March 2017 (UTC)
:There are many guesses like this here but it says "possibly a reference". Nevertheless I'm sure it's easy to find hundreds of other possibilities...--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:13, 14 March 2017 (UTC)

You can also substitute Richard Stallman and Bill Gates with Linus Torvalds and Bjarne Stroustrup, respectively, if you like. :P [[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.92|172.69.42.92]] 19:05, 29 August 2020 (UTC)
Has anyone filled in the rest of the panels? [[User:Anonymouscript|Anonymouscript]] ([[User talk:Anonymouscript|talk]]) 22:14, 6 June 2022 (UTC)

How does [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=521:_2008_Christmas_Special&curid=10638&diff=334151&oldid=332563 this comma make things clearer]? Intruiged to know how it was unclear in perfectly standard list format... (I wouldn't multiply commas unnecessarily. Too easy to confuse clausal-commas with an unnecessary conjunction-comma.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 19:46, 3 February 2024 (UTC)
@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 And also, equating Santa with St Nicholas is problematic at best.  Santa came about as an amalgamation of many different figures from folklore, so even if St Nick were Muslim, at best you could call Santa part-Muslim.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.171|108.162.216.171]] 18:31, 8 November 2014 (UTC)
-Since in muslim view Islam was not 'invented' but reintroduced, Adam and Eve were muslims, as are all newborns. They only stop being by accepting (a.k.a. growing up in)
-another faith. So yes, Santa might be a muslim (we don't see him running around with crucifixes as we'd expect from St. Nicholas). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.212|162.158.90.212]]
 I always thought Black Hat was talking to Danish. The hair's longer and it makes a modicum more sense that way (at least to me) Anonymous 03:34, 4 December 2013 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.91}}