# xkcd: Umwelt--web browsers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2012, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896 "2012-04-05T07:15:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/41 "2012-04-06T18:01:45Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I’d like to say thanks for the thread. I can never keep the mouse-over message going long enough to read a long one, so until I read this, I literally didn’t have a clue. (Is there a trick to getting the mouseover to show again once it’s expired. I can only get it to pop once.) If you move over, move the page up or down a click, then mouseover again, it will pop up a second time. Repeat as necessary. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/42 "2012-04-06T18:41:27Z")
Wow. So much for referring to xkcd strips by #. I’m in Washington (state) running Linux. No IE on this machine but Firefox renders the Voight-Kampff" test and Chromium (the open-source version of Chrome) produces the snake. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/43 "2012-04-06T19:07:45Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Ok, about a dozen miles out it’s still giving me the “blizzard in Chicago” panel. heh. I’m getting “Wisconsin” here. Blizzard setting. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/44 "2012-04-06T19:42:18Z")
I’m in the U.K. I get the snake in Firefox, the turtle/lie detector thing in chrome, and the Sun in IE9 (64bit), Safari and Opera. I guess the Sun image is a sort of default. I note that the mouseover on the snake only mentions browser window size. There is no clue given there that it makes a difference which browser you are using. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/45 "2012-04-06T20:18:24Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > Well, one workaround is to stop by the xkcd forums, where somebody starts a thread within minutes of a new comic being up, including the mouseover text. 🙂 You can also go to [m.xkcd.com](http://m.xkcd.com) there will be a link to click to get the mouse over text. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/46 "2012-04-06T20:35:43Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > You can also go to [m.xkcd.com](http://m.xkcd.com) there will be a link to click to get the mouse over text. That’s great to know! ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/47 "2012-04-06T23:06:40Z")
Firefox 10: I got the one with the snake (expandable to show an extra panel). IE9: A silhouette comic with a group of guys (“2quiet2furious”) and a little dinosaur. Safari 5.1.2: Same as the IE strip, except that the dinosaur is only visible when the window is expanded. (The gag actually makes sense in this browser.) Default Droid browser: A sketchy sun. Wii Opera browser: Comic does not display. Previous and next day strips display with no problem. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/48 "2012-04-06T23:16:32Z")
In London, using Firefox, I get a atick man standing on a shore saying “sorry I don’t have a comic poking fun at the UK here - I only have time to get to the most _important_ US states.” In ChromeI get an “error message:” “this plug-i requires Sergey Brin’s permission to run. Please wait while he is woken.” In both, the mouseover says that “Umwelt is the idea that, because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually inhabit very different worlds.” I quite like that idea, though as a German speaker I’m also thinking “what? Umwelt means universe.” It’s weird the way English speakers choose extremely ordinary German words to describe esoteric concepts. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/49 "2012-04-06T23:31:43Z")
I just used Firefox through a U.S. proxy, and got the Turtle/lie-detector thing that I got from my regular connection in Britain in Chrome. Firefox in Britain consistently gets me the snake. What I am getting in Essex, in both browsers, is quite different from what SciFiSam is getting just 40 miles or so away in London. Clearly this depends on much more than the browser you are using, and there is more to it than location dependence too. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/50 "2012-04-06T23:41:49Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > In both, the mouseover says that “Umwelt is the idea that, because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually inhabit very different worlds.” I quite like that idea, though as a German speaker I’m also thinking “what? Umwelt means universe.” It’s weird the way English speakers choose extremely ordinary German words to describe esoteric concepts. Actually, the use of _umweldt_ in the relevant sense, was introduced by [Jakob von Uexküll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_von_Uexk%C3%BCll), who was German. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896/51 "2012-04-06T23:51:37Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Actually, the use of _umweldt_ in the relevant sense, was introduced by [Jakob von Uexküll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_von_Uexk%C3%BCll), who was German. Hmm, fair enough. It just looks a little odd to me. (No d in Umwelt, btw). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-umwelt-web-browsers/617896.md?page=2)