4 ms·

Xkcd's mindboggling April Fools comic

181 points by dkulchenko 15y ago

ConstantineXVI 15y ago
I hit it from one of our EC2 boxen and got this: https://skitch.com/constantinexvi/8q5k9/skitched-20120401-145317 https://skitch.com/constantinexvi/8q5k9/skitched-20120401-14... And oddly, got the Jersey comic from my Dallas-based Linode https://skitch.com/constantinexvi/8q5m2/xkcd-umwelt-chromium https://skitch.com/constantinexvi/8q5m2/xkcd-umwelt-chromium
karlbunch 15y ago
LOL I'm using gogo inflight and it gave me a comic about Chicago.. Seems a couple dynamic frames or static based on geoip?
- karlbunch 15y ago
  View source you can see each panel is a different frame and a little note in the source: title="Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit--from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser."
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    Also known as the mouse-over text
rauljara 15y ago
The thread on xkcd forums has screenshots of a lot of the different comics. It's crazy how many variations there are. The one in hebrew (for those in Israel) makes me think people will be finding new ones for quite a while. http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=82442&start=1 http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=82442&sta...
tristan_louis 15y ago
It's quite an impressive effort. Works on user-agent, referer, or geolocation (or possibly a mix)
- morsch 15y ago
  Also, browser window width.
micheljansen 15y ago
The amount of preparation work that must have gone into this is admirable. There are so many variations!
sumukh1 15y ago
Here's a direct link for anyone who hasn't seen the comic yet. Try it on your mobile network and on different browsers Valid for today: http://xkcd.com/ http://xkcd.com/
- the_imp 15y ago
  At least from Finland and using Chrome, following the above leads me to this version, which I've not seen noted elsewhere -- is it specific to Hacker News? http://imgs.xkcd.com/a1panels/4444e5d258b5f12b41350ed2c550e32501eb4269412603a0a250123d211d29e3.png http://imgs.xkcd.com/a1panels/4444e5d258b5f12b41350ed2c550e3...
  - jonah 15y ago
    I see the same in California on Chrome and Firefox when coming from HN.
  - BerislavLopac 15y ago
    Apparently it's HN specific -- Croatia reporting here.
kd0amg 15y ago
I got the snake one, which changes as I resize the browser window. I was pleased to see somewhere along the snake was the elephant it had eaten.
- numlocked 15y ago
  I started ready The Little Prince earlier this morning for the first time. The snake + elephant were in the first version of the comic that I saw. My mind was surely the most boggled of any visitor.
dkulchenko 15y ago
I fired up Chrome's dev tools to figure out how it works. The JS that's doing the work is at http://imgs.xkcd.com/static/waldo.js http://imgs.xkcd.com/static/waldo.js. On page load, it sends a GET request to http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8 http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8 with params w for the browser width in pixels, h for the height and r with the referrer. The rest of the qualifiers (geoloc and browser (user-agent)) can be determined on the server-side. As a response, you get back JSON with the alt-text, image URL, and positioning info, which is then used to fetch and position the image. Fun fact: the server-side is written in Haskell: $ wget -S http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8 --2012-04-01 11:26:41-- http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8 Resolving umwelt.xkcd.com... 208.118.225.100 Connecting to umwelt.xkcd.com|208.118.225.100|:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: Warp/1.1.0.1 Content-Type: application/javascript Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: close http://hackage.haskell.org/package/warp/ http://hackage.haskell.org/package/warp/ Well done Randall and davean.
bicknergseng 15y ago
Is the IE9 version supposed to be a light at the end of a tunnel?
- rabidsnail 15y ago
  Safari seems to get the same thing, so probably not. When I saw it the phrase that came to mind was "cosmic sphincter".
morsch 15y ago
It's fantastic, and I enjoyed the different combinations. But I don't really get the one I get, the white disk on black thing. White light at the end of the tunnel? The alt-text doesn't really help me, either.
- blahedo 15y ago
  Yeah, that's the only one I can get too, with either of my regular browsers and no matter who the referrer is. No clue.
  - hosh 15y ago
    Probably the default.
srl 15y ago
This guy's dedication continues to astound me. Apparently he's still changing things - people who complain on the forum thread have noticed a few hours later that relevant fixed have been made. (Also, I wonder how much was done by rpm and how much by davean.)
protomyth 15y ago
Tried Opera and Safari on the Mac and got a broken plugin graphic with "There does not exist - nor could their ever exist - a plugin capable of displaying this content" alt text is "Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually inhabit very different worlds."
mtrimpe 15y ago
Reddit seems to have a near complete overview already: http://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/rnpiw/mindboggling_xkcd_april_fools_comic/ http://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/rnpiw/mindboggling_x... My favorite most definitely is the military one: http://imgs.xkcd.com/a1panels/961f9f87076b08c0d29f9182d6e1b370a059ddc1f4bacc246bb850fdcb174e44.png http://imgs.xkcd.com/a1panels/961f9f87076b08c0d29f9182d6e1b3...
instakill 15y ago
Surprised there's no Wikipedia addition to Umwelt after today's xkcd. Or maybe there is but I just don't see it.
- Dylanlacey 15y ago
  I See (Or perhaps a different sense) what you did there.
hosh 15y ago
This should be an exhibit in a museum of modern art. It gives people a taste of the "post-PC" world we are evolving towards. And there are some deeper stuff, too.
- daemin 15y ago
  I would certainly count this as a great piece of art, not modern, not post-modern, just current. Well done XKCD guys (and gals).

181 points by dkulchenko 15y ago

I hit it from one of our EC2 boxen and got this: https://skitch.com/constantinexvi/8q5k9/skitched-20120401-145317 https://skitch.com/constantinexvi/8q5k9/skitched-20120401-14... And oddly, got the Jersey comic from my Dallas-based Linode https://skitch.com/constantinexvi/8q5m2/xkcd-umwelt-chromium https://skitch.com/constantinexvi/8q5m2/xkcd-umwelt-chromium

karlbunch 15y ago

LOL I'm using gogo inflight and it gave me a comic about Chicago.. Seems a couple dynamic frames or static based on geoip?

karlbunch 15y ago
View source you can see each panel is a different frame and a little note in the source: title="Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit--from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser."
- sliverstorm 15y ago
  Also known as the mouse-over text

rauljara 15y ago

The thread on xkcd forums has screenshots of a lot of the different comics. It's crazy how many variations there are. The one in hebrew (for those in Israel) makes me think people will be finding new ones for quite a while. http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=82442&start=1 http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=82442&sta...

tristan_louis 15y ago

It's quite an impressive effort. Works on user-agent, referer, or geolocation (or possibly a mix)

morsch 15y ago
Also, browser window width.

micheljansen 15y ago

The amount of preparation work that must have gone into this is admirable. There are so many variations!

sumukh1 15y ago

Here's a direct link for anyone who hasn't seen the comic yet. Try it on your mobile network and on different browsers Valid for today: http://xkcd.com/ http://xkcd.com/

the_imp 15y ago
At least from Finland and using Chrome, following the above leads me to this version, which I've not seen noted elsewhere -- is it specific to Hacker News? http://imgs.xkcd.com/a1panels/4444e5d258b5f12b41350ed2c550e32501eb4269412603a0a250123d211d29e3.png http://imgs.xkcd.com/a1panels/4444e5d258b5f12b41350ed2c550e3...
- jonah 15y ago
  I see the same in California on Chrome and Firefox when coming from HN.
- BerislavLopac 15y ago
  Apparently it's HN specific -- Croatia reporting here.

kd0amg 15y ago

I got the snake one, which changes as I resize the browser window. I was pleased to see somewhere along the snake was the elephant it had eaten.

numlocked 15y ago
I started ready The Little Prince earlier this morning for the first time. The snake + elephant were in the first version of the comic that I saw. My mind was surely the most boggled of any visitor.

dkulchenko 15y ago

I fired up Chrome's dev tools to figure out how it works. The JS that's doing the work is at http://imgs.xkcd.com/static/waldo.js http://imgs.xkcd.com/static/waldo.js. On page load, it sends a GET request to http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8 http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8 with params w for the browser width in pixels, h for the height and r with the referrer. The rest of the qualifiers (geoloc and browser (user-agent)) can be determined on the server-side. As a response, you get back JSON with the alt-text, image URL, and positioning info, which is then used to fetch and position the image. Fun fact: the server-side is written in Haskell: $ wget -S http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8 --2012-04-01 11:26:41-- http://umwelt.xkcd.com/story/ghenkEggov8 Resolving umwelt.xkcd.com... 208.118.225.100 Connecting to umwelt.xkcd.com|208.118.225.100|:80... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: Warp/1.1.0.1 Content-Type: application/javascript Access-Control-Allow-Origin: * Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: close http://hackage.haskell.org/package/warp/ http://hackage.haskell.org/package/warp/ Well done Randall and davean.

bicknergseng 15y ago

Is the IE9 version supposed to be a light at the end of a tunnel?

rabidsnail 15y ago
Safari seems to get the same thing, so probably not. When I saw it the phrase that came to mind was "cosmic sphincter".

morsch 15y ago

It's fantastic, and I enjoyed the different combinations. But I don't really get the one I get, the white disk on black thing. White light at the end of the tunnel? The alt-text doesn't really help me, either.

blahedo 15y ago
Yeah, that's the only one I can get too, with either of my regular browsers and no matter who the referrer is. No clue.
- hosh 15y ago
  Probably the default.

srl 15y ago

This guy's dedication continues to astound me. Apparently he's still changing things - people who complain on the forum thread have noticed a few hours later that relevant fixed have been made. (Also, I wonder how much was done by rpm and how much by davean.)

protomyth 15y ago

Tried Opera and Safari on the Mac and got a broken plugin graphic with "There does not exist - nor could their ever exist - a plugin capable of displaying this content" alt text is "Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually inhabit very different worlds."

mtrimpe 15y ago

Reddit seems to have a near complete overview already: http://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/rnpiw/mindboggling_xkcd_april_fools_comic/ http://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/rnpiw/mindboggling_x... My favorite most definitely is the military one: http://imgs.xkcd.com/a1panels/961f9f87076b08c0d29f9182d6e1b370a059ddc1f4bacc246bb850fdcb174e44.png http://imgs.xkcd.com/a1panels/961f9f87076b08c0d29f9182d6e1b3...

instakill 15y ago

Surprised there's no Wikipedia addition to Umwelt after today's xkcd. Or maybe there is but I just don't see it.

Dylanlacey 15y ago
I See (Or perhaps a different sense) what you did there.

hosh 15y ago

This should be an exhibit in a museum of modern art. It gives people a taste of the "post-PC" world we are evolving towards. And there are some deeper stuff, too.

daemin 15y ago
I would certainly count this as a great piece of art, not modern, not post-modern, just current. Well done XKCD guys (and gals).