XKCD: It's more than a comic

I'd like to program an online generator (pagetopper edit: For these mad libs calendar facts), but I don't think the web-oriented language/platform I'm most comfortable with (C# ASP.Net) is supported by my current hosting contract (likely *n*x-based)... All I know for sure it supports is PHP, and I haven't programmed in that in years.

That said, I could try making a client-side generator all in javascript...

edited 18th Dec '17 11:50:07 AM by Medinoc

I could do something in VBA very quickly, but it wouldn't be web-facing.

I imagine this should be a cinch in ANY programming language, really. Just print a sentence picking each part randomly from a set of phrases, something like that.

Is there a point to this comic, or is Randall just having some random fun?

Well, I was sort of wondering if any special wisdom could be gained from decoding which phrase chains lead to real facts, but I'll leave that to someone way more obsessive than I am. Otherwise, it just appears to be for teh lulz.

Here you go. In Python.

https://gist.github.com/petersohn/6c8f9d124bd961e909d2dc9a967ade2e

Edit: Now it contains the title text too.

edited 18th Dec '17 2:07:24 PM by petersohn

I like the way you went about it.

There were some errors in punctuation. Now I corrected them.

Nicely done! Is there a way to run it?

https://repl.it/repls/NonstopSourArctichare

If Python is installed on your computer, you can also save it as a .py document and open a command line interface to run it with the command "Python (filename)". You'll need to either have the file in the same folder your terminal session is looking at or change the directory it's looking at.

"Did you know that the latest sunset might not happen this year because of a decree by the pope in the 1500s? Apparently, it's getting worse and no one knows why. While it may seem like trivia, it is now recognized as a major cause of World War I."

Your script spat out one of the most surreal combinations possible. Yay.

edit: No, on second thought, about half the combinations are this nonsensical. But only half.

edited 19th Dec '17 9:12:11 PM by Brickman

You might consider sharing thet with Monroe. Bet he'd like it.

Virtual Assistant. This one is great. XD

Yeah, I love it.

That one was fun. Reminds me how I expected GPS devices to complain when I don't follow their directions.

Heh. I always find it a bit funny how, when the GPS talks, people automatically pause their conversation to avoid interrupting.

It also has an element of The Tape Knew You Would Say That.

the alt text is even better

The first GPS devices announced they were "recalculating" your route when you took an unexpected turn, which could sound a bit passive aggressive.

Don't they still? Waze does.

I once rode a taxi where the driver knew better than the GPS (the road parallel to the main road had less traffic and no traffic lights), so it kept recalculating after every crossing. It gets annoying after some time.

I would guess that Waze should regularly recalculate even if you follow the route because it has to follow live traffic changes.

I'm sometimes confused as to how GPS compute their timings, especially when you "disobey" them and they end up predicting an earlier time to arrival after recalculating their itinerary. I have had more than one GPS doing that.

That just means they calculate the time based on a less than optimal route, and you disobeying means you found a shorter route and saved some time.

Just because it is a computer does not mean it knows best.

Add to that things like predictive traffic weighting (they assume that that side street will be slower because it's often clogged with parked cars and people pulling out of driveways, but when you force yourself on it, it displays the ideal case since it just doesn't know for sure) and traffic shaping (IIRC from a news article, Waze actually does not always give ideal routes to its users, but will instead give varying ones with similar timing both in an effort to get more data on roads that might otherwise be little traveled and to reduce traffic jams). It's a good tool, though. I like being able to warn following motorists of things like potholes, police ahead, and cars stopped on the shoulder.

I haven't had Google Maps or Waze speak to me to tell me they were recalculating. They might show a text status, but they don't tell me verbally.

Yeah, Waze just plays a little beep when it has to recalculate. It's the same beep it plays when it's found a better route for you while you drive.

My problem is that I *think* Waze saves me time, but I have no real way to know because I didn't actually travel on any of the other possible routes. :) Most of the time its expected time is creepily accurate, but I have been in situations where I've arrived 15-20 minutes later than expected (usual travel time is 50 minutes) on a particularly traffic-crazy day.