# ­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:** 47
**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 31, 2021, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/922 "2021-07-31T11:10:33Z")
Except to a human familiar with the Minesweeper game, those squares _are_ pictures of mines, albeit highly abstracted ones. This 💣 isn’t a literal picture of a mine, either. It’s an abstracted icon that we humans recognize as representing the concept of a “land mine” in some contexts. The blank squares which must be concealed mines given the rules of this specific puzzle and of captchas is at a higher level of abstraction, but they are still “pictures of mines”. ---
**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 31, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/923 "2021-07-31T12:19:47Z")
Yup. What Chronos said. I’ve decided to go supernerd on this and create a program in R to generate and solve these … Wish me luck! ---
**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 31, 2021, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/924 "2021-07-31T12:26:31Z")
Let us know when they’re ready. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/925 "2021-07-31T13:08:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > A human would see a puzzle they’re familiar with, ignore the instructions, and solve the puzzle. And thus fail the test. The meta joke is that the game involves _not_ clicking the mines, yet this test tells you to do the opposite. ---
**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, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/926 "2021-07-31T13:14:23Z")
If a test to detect humans is set up such that humans, and only humans, fail the test, then the test is defective, not the humans. But I think we’re at the point that there are enough interpretations, counter-interpretations, and meta-interpretations that the ambiguity is itself the joke. ---
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/927 "2021-07-31T14:15:40Z")
If “humans, and only humans, fail the test”, then the test has detected humans and is not defective. 😜 ---
**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, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/928 "2021-07-31T15:25:19Z")
I agree. That was my point. A test that humans would fail is a valid means for detecting humans. ---
**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 31, 2021, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/929 "2021-07-31T16:16:09Z")
> [@naita](#): > > I’ve decided to go supernerd on this and create a program in R to generate and solve these … Wish me luck! Turns out algorithmically solving even a small puzzle like this is darn hard, and to check that a randomly generated one is solvable the program needs to be able to solve at least a subset of puzzles. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/930 "2021-07-31T18:45:15Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Except to a human familiar with the Minesweeper game, those squares _are_ pictures of mines Thank you for explanation. As a human unfamiliar with the Minesweeper game, I was entirely confused, both by the xkcd and by the conversation here. (I mean, it was obvious to me that there was something I wasn’t getting and that that was probably due to my ignorance of a reference, but I had no idea what the reference was to.) ---
**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:** [August 1, 2021, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/931 "2021-08-01T01:25:17Z")
If you’re ever confused by an xkcd comic, try checking [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main\_Page](https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page). ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/932 "2021-08-01T02:13:00Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > If you’re ever confused by an xkcd comic, try checking [explain xkcd] That site looks like fun. > as real minefields usually do not have large numbers indicating which of the surrounding land contains mines[[ _citation needed_ – I tend to assume, when I don’t get xkcd, that it’s a programmer joke of some sort. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/933 "2021-08-01T20:06:56Z")
IIRC, given a pattern of numbers, determining whether there is any possible arrangement of mines consistent with that pattern of numbers is an NP-complete problem. But I had hope that you might be able to pull it off for sufficiently-small grids. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/934 "2021-08-01T20:13:41Z")
Yeah, I initially had high hopes that with that small a grid I could do something iterative and do one clue at a time in combination with neighbors, but it turned out not to work. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/935 "2021-08-03T06:38:54Z")
> **[Logic Gates](https://xkcd.com/2497/)** > > In C, the multiocular O represents the bitwise norxondor gorgonax. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/936 "2021-08-03T16:22:11Z")
I’m going to want to see some truth tables ---
**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:** [August 3, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/937 "2021-08-03T17:33:18Z")
I assume that the norx gate, when presented with a true input, returns any two same outputs, and when presented with a false input, returns any two different outputs, with which of the two possible outputs it returns being unspecified. In practice, of course, this would be easiest to implement by keeping one output permanently true, and the other just a straight feed-through of the input. But of course, in XKCD land, it’d be programmed for maximum perverseness. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/938 "2021-08-05T01:30:26Z")
> **[Forest Walk](https://xkcd.com/2498/)** > > The only other person to walk by was a linguist back in the 80s, but she just spent a while dissecting the phrase 'help me down' before getting distracted by a squirrel and wandering off. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/939 "2021-08-05T13:51:11Z")
Hehe Is the alt-text referencing a specific linguist? ---
**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:** [August 5, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/940 "2021-08-05T19:00:01Z")
I think it’s a reference to comic #2390, [Linguists.](https://xkcd.com/2390/) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/941 "2021-08-06T05:20:58Z")
Wasn’t the guy really called (or rather, took the alias) Dan Cooper, there was no “D.B.Cooper”? Ah, yup! > **[D. B. Cooper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > D.B. Cooper is a media epithet for an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft operated by Northwest Orient Airlines, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, the hijacker told a flight attendant he was armed with a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,338,000 in 2021), and requested four parachutes upon landi... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=46) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=48)