# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/902 "2021-07-22T19:02:00Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Yet another falsehood from Yahoo Serious. I was crushed to learn that Albert Einstein didn’t actually invent carbonated beer. I’m starting to wonder if he was even born in Tasmania. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2021, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/903 "2021-07-24T06:27:48Z")
> **[Dual USB-C](https://xkcd.com/2493/)** > > Small devices use two-prong USB-AC, but there's also a three-prong version with a USB-B plug as the ground. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/904 "2021-07-27T11:05:08Z")
> **[Flawed Data](https://xkcd.com/2494/)** > > We trained it to produce data that looked convincing, and we have to admit the results look convincing! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/905 "2021-07-27T13:14:03Z")
This is nothing new, except that it used to be natural intelligences that got trained to produce convincing-looking data. I had a professor once, who had an ancient code for stellar simulations. One of the graphs the code produced was extremely noisy, which the professor insisted was due to quantum mechanical effects in the star. I combed through it and discovered that the code was actually hitting overflows/underflows, and re-wrote it using higher precision, and suddenly the graphs were smooth. Which couldn’t possibly be right, because the right answer was a noisy graph, which she knew because that’s what the code always did, and she knew the code worked properly because it gave the right answers. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/906 "2021-07-29T01:30:15Z")
> **[Universal Seat Belt](https://xkcd.com/2495/)** > > The plug fits really snugly, so it should be safe in a crash. The car knows to trigger the airbag when it receives the USB disconnect notification. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2021, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/907 "2021-07-29T01:47:57Z")
I hope it’s faster to recognize it than most of my computers have been… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/908 "2021-07-30T15:18:15Z")
> **[Mine Captcha](https://xkcd.com/2496/)** > > This data is actually going into improving our self-driving car project, so hurry up--it's almost at the minefield. OK, fess up: How many of us had to immediately solve it? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/909 "2021-07-30T15:42:18Z")
Working on it. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/910 "2021-07-30T15:44:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, fess up: How many of us had to immediately solve it? Came to post the exact same thing. (And yes, I did.) ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/911 "2021-07-30T15:47:29Z")
Guilty. Took me longer than it would have if it had been a real minesweeper game because I had to juggle all the mental flags in my head. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/912 "2021-07-30T15:49:38Z")
Yep. 2 X 1 X **M M** 3 X 3 **M** X **M** X 1 X 1 ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/913 "2021-07-30T16:12:59Z")
Being that it’s XKCD I was surprised when clicking on the image didn’t do anything. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/914 "2021-07-30T22:24:18Z")
2010 XX30 3X0X 0101 where zero means no bomb and x means bomb. I hope. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/915 "2021-07-30T22:26:47Z")
I hope it didn’t take you seven hours to work it out… ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/916 "2021-07-30T22:39:48Z")
No. I did it on paper during lunch break at work (in perhaps three minutes), then forgot all about entering my results until a little while ago. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/917 "2021-07-30T22:48:40Z")
It’s good as a joke, but terrible as an actual captcha. Unless you go with the assumption that a bot can solve it immediately and a human will take a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/918 "2021-07-30T22:51:56Z")
I solved it and then clicked on the image hoping it was dynamic. I was disappointed. Now I’m considering making an app that gives you small minesweeper puzzles. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2021, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/919 "2021-07-30T23:29:24Z")
Doesn’t the [actual game](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ssaurel.minesweeper) already do that? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/920 "2021-07-31T01:35:27Z")
What’s notable about this array, and what I think @naita is aiming for, is that it starts with a few spots already “clicked”, and those spots are enough to uniquely determine the solution. By contrast, if I run the game and tell it to give me a 4x4 with four mines, I might end up blowing up on the second click before I have enough information, or I might end up clearing most or all of it on the first click, thus getting a trivial puzzle. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/921 "2021-07-31T02:49:09Z")
Is this a metajoke? The instruction on the supposed captcha is not to solve the puzzle or to click all of the locations of mines; you’re supposed to click all the pictures of mines. And of course, no mines are pictured. So an AI would read the instructions, look at the captcha, and click on nothing. A human would see a puzzle they’re familiar with, ignore the instructions, and solve the puzzle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=47)