Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ Explain XKCD Is a Black Hole Adam Engst I cannot believe I have just now discovered the [1]Explain xkcd wiki. Randall Munroe's [2]xkcd comic about science and technology is wonderful, but my academic background isn't always sufficient to understand the joke. (Or as the wiki's sardonic tagline puts it: 'Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.') Started in 2009, Explain xkcd provides detailed explanations of all 2775 (so far) comics. If you've ever wanted a detailed explanation of the oft-linked [3]'correct horse battery staple' comic about password strength, look no further. As with Wikipedia, anyone can edit Explain xkcd pages, but the editors enforce a matter-of-fact style meant to be understandable to a broad range of readers. Some explanations thus become [4]insanely detailed. More amusing are the discussions, where users debate the explanation, contribute additional background, and riff off the original joke. If you thought clicking around the xkcd website was a time sink, beware of Explain xkcd, where you'll be both entertained and educated. References Visible links 1. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page 2. https://xkcd.com/ 3. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/936:_Password_Strength 4. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1286:_Encryptic Hidden links: 5. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2023/05/explain-xkcd.png .