Weird home page issue - looks like a BZIP file?

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Weird home page issue - looks like a BZIP file?

Postby aeschenkarnos » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:11 pm UTC

http://www.xkcd.com looks like this to me (I'm using Firefox):

BZh91AY&SY��w��߀0{����������` |'�%��tTp���P(��U��@������zB=j�Ʉa �'��mA$�2 {D�OO�?E=� ����d� OD9�##&�4!�!� ��di��a �&�DL���@h���� ���i��ɦM��h�d���dhC H� ��Sѩ���i���I�4=@z��4ˠ 9� j���@P��0��*���Q@�B�0 ��á��nl�m�>��_��q�e3�D&���ߛ��9z�̓�� V�5�$ �(�L��ˡ�ܾ���uN�X��{b��E��Pg��忄��K �b��Ш���J�D�t�#ڀ��\� �>3/�KT���x��{k�8a����8�P�����:ҫ�\p~�t'ܻ�A��5Wޢ&r�eo���"���-8��^��O���a�WEeߺ*�Kq*w��vJ��_�n�βϲ3Ѭ�t4��²ᚍ����V�V� ������5�t9�*u��x�S� P�3� �ͦ_LRN��Ft� xIX�s�|@�RPJ�AD�X�B&S�8���:�{�q��c�� Gق6��Dh���K�-��i =�4|���4�=�y�b���ѩ:]��c��8hn���0ʐ!����dc�$�?�Q*�t��L�r�� Le��@��*�]{k��^���m��ى�>�`���f(�j���QE d����W���F�{�$2��egJcx\����j�bH�d� p �I+�vn�/�+(�(:̐:�d)J`��>_�u�|ֶ9�Z��i��&}`״��<8o���v��M����F�E�C(���j�N0��� �����E��Z� zt6��sp �?A�:�E*��0�Gq` ��<��M]���b{��fT����s�>��݇r5����Gj�w�۞��ڹ���B&0f/~#e�x`}Ի�A)zZ�H����z�V�#�S�X�c��0$kZ'u��O��^$� ���'"�{ �=&�Au����.|�C���u����w����;@��eD9��qX_� %�&p��j4��h�:�6�q�Y-�� ��`��Ev� ��! ��20�;$�?afq �&U�'&��*�� %�]�n�ьo�P� �N�� A!�\�@�jpr�+�r\�DJ�� �k��I%r��n�A#$ l ��M��%pĎ��&l��K,xԝ(9���:V�`��# �hBW\]�T�Oa�/Cvd`��4H��k����mP<�� �م��u�n�\��`�� �7Ӈ�Q���+">�>���?9�\4�L����\�x3�(�A.�\��e.?)U��o���#�� bF�M�a�&z'��tL��5��~�T��%� 3��IJ6��5�츾i�и�{;1i �b�~�)� A g"�z^FW����@�� C�u�������xO� -uWaq�Я���0 ���R�� 񟜙��h"�X�0D�j�0��<�s cC**���m�VT6�#��W�j%��4:No���/�p�S��,�pW���ɚ�00���o�z���]m=���(Llm�����8%�*���0�EVb4m5ޑsu�]�pm�݂�8�Kũ6�%�T+S��7�Sp�^xʡ��~ s��Wl�fiu��$��Gi78<JKa� ͆{�y��҇gF�����24��4�P3i-IXҨ�P�宝-�m�4T��qzo%+!���X��y��F�� K���]�07`+���|򀉏�C�cҔ&�>�K悳__BSܚ�T�� ��H��MXkt����Z|���g��ܗ�] �1�û�_K�g ��vÈQ�_����j�Y�f;��'6�&c<W)������)����/)s�9%����Կ�|���`�6�.�j�T�.Ʈ=�0���N���-���#!�)� {�0:� 2��+EL%Β��&&�i �(V>[�[�`g���fR< ��R]h��=Y�8%���y�w�2��l� �D�13�d�.CF�\?�+�kн�X�~S,��F �!7)?���ع�:[o��P�PU"�]�2�\�K芉'2P�9�تbm��5Fr�i�r�i�W�����AKx� �A$ax��"� Aݙ��X���%]Ձ� �>T�T"e�G(W֪�Q�� o����$�-�Z�]:4`k�bX���dF��sa$�J���x� �/���ҵ�3ib�V��8�������|�l�R��%�2�Lh"4�Tkr��7 E]�bFd��0� ��P�Tj�=��e���USW3� CG�kE� cB�:X��x�5J�|�.�w@� �W�OT2���OhŒJp�����Er\38��&�ϻlÉ@g�,I!l:��.�p�!F#�


which looks like the intro to a BZIP file. I've tried telling NoScript to let http://www.xkcd.com do whatever it likes - no difference. I can successfully read the comic by going directly to http://www.xkcd.com/489/ (and so forth); just the home page that has this weird issue.
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Re: Weird home page issue - looks like a BZIP file?

Postby germanchiwawa » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:12 am UTC

I'm using Firefox 3 and if I enter the url "www.xkcd.com" everything is fine, but if I enter just "xkcd.com" I get this gibberish:

BZh91AY&SY£ôw�ë߀0{ïÿÿ¿ÿþê¿ÿÿô` |'Ü%èë·tTp�¥P(´�U¦£@‰¡¦‚žšzB=j„É„a �'©êmA$‚2 {DÅOOÕ?E=ª ��£Êd� OD9¦##&™4!£!“ ��di‘ a &¤DL¡¦˜@h��ÐÐ �€€iˆÈɦM�ÈhÈdÈ��dhC H ¤ÓSÑ©€‘´i¢§é¡I¢4=@zƒ�4Ë 9‚ j–µŠ@Pš 0¤€*ŠØQ@¸B0 ƒˆ᣸nlîmÛ>ÞÝ_éÊqüe3‹D&¸Ô†ß›í§¦ƒ9zŸÍƒá…ñ V�5Ê$ ‹(ÚL¦ëË¡´Ü¾‘ýáuNìšX¬ç{b©¿E¸‹Pg³àå¿„¥ÛK ìbà–Ð¨Š—ÈJÆD¹t¤#Ú€’±\¯ÿ>3/ÿKTšíé‚x™ä{k“8a’¾“ž8PÁ•°Êæó:Ò«ã\p~•t'Ü»™Aòà5WÞ¢&rÈeo¯ºÊ"æ¦û-8ìß^–ÈO¯šØa†WEeߺ*ïKq*w±­vJ»¬_”nÁβϲ3Ѭçt4øô²ᚍ×ò—…µVòV¯ °¬¨äø5‘t9”*ux°S” P¿3Ñ ªÍ¦_LRN·žFt¼ xIXsµ|@ÇRPJÊAD€X²B&Sí8–™’:Ð{ÇqÈàc�â GÙ‚6ðÙDhŸìì¤Kþ-Ái =Ð4|¾�ÿ4«=šyëbœ‹ØÑ©:]ïícíù8hn¯àö0ʐ!’ˆ“Êdc¸$À?ÕQ*¬t°öL™rëö‘ LeŒí…@˜¬*‡]{kÔù^’¹ì¿mœ”Ù‰÷>Ï`¿ßf(ÜjÈÁ—ç¸QE d””ŽW¥±F–{Ü$2ÖÁegJcx\”¤Šªj´bH™d¥ p ŽI+¨vn¥/©+(Ú(:̐:Îd)J`‹Í>_ºu¨|Ö¶9ëZÉëi’ì&}`×´µŒ<8oØùÖvÁMáäî¬øFE“C(‡óØj—N0…ˆ– ˆöí‹ÁÝEÐÄZ‚ zt6·Šsp Ø?Aâ‚:úE*›û¶0¬Gq` ÏÎ<¡åM]“®éb{­fT½µÇÞsŸ>¯«Ý‡r5üþéûGj«wÆÛžá§Ú¹’§åB&0f/~#eâx`}Ô»ê˜A)zZ˜Hò¥¥ˆz†VŽ#ÌS÷XÔcúñ0$kZ'u£ÿO™ø^$É …ÆÁ'"ó{ “=&šAuÊõøÙ.|C³òu²ûäÃw§®²Â;@¯ðeD9üqX_£ %ˆ&p¸¡j4†Ïhà:6¢q�Y-šø ¾«`œ“Evå ™Ï! Íå20Ð;$ë?afq Ò&UÊ'&£’*”– %Ç]«nµÑŒoƒP¯ •N¦Ž A!”\‰@¼jprÖ+¨r\ÐDJÌà ×k™­I%rÞÝnŒA#$ l –˜MŒî%pÄŽ©ð&l†ŽK,xԝ(9Œô®Í:Vë`Õð# ¥hBW\]ŒT¬Oaè/Cvd`4H¹§k«¢·ømP<Üï “Ù…¥ûuà‰nÍ\ÿ¼`¿ç À7Ó‡ÏQˆ¢ê+">º>›˜—?9â\4ÁLùÑ×å‰\Ùx3Ó(†A.†\¦¹e.?)U€ùo”­´#¦ª bFûMÓaŒ&z'óÈtLÙõ5³Ú~¿TŠÞ%Š 3°åIJ6Œ÷5ç츾ižÐ¸Å{;1i Èb ~’)Å A g"‘z^FW®´±®@§ñ C±uÜÛÜäçËÏxO© -uWaq—Я—®Õ0 •²Rññ ñŸœ™¥Ôh"ÍXÒ0D—jØ0ô’ú<äºs cC**’÷ÂmŒVT6Ÿ#¼WŒj%¡ž4:No†òû/‡pÎSöÿ,ŽpW‚Æö›ÉšÈ00·¥Ño»z–·Ð]m=‘ïñ(Llm¼«‡ªñ8%‚*©‹¦0‘EVb4m5Þ‘su“]ÈpmœÝ‚ã8ˆKÅ©6€%¸T+S·™7Sp^xÊ¡†á~ s–¦Wl²fiu¤¹$´ÚGi78<JKaà ͆{”yŽ÷Ò‡gF«ó24¤Ô4òP3i-IXÒ¨ÁPÖ宝-ƒm4Țqzo%+!±¬‡X‚‚y®‚Fóé KߨÕ]“07`+ª‰”|ò€‰ÓC¡cÒ”&î>ÇK悳__BSÜšØTŠë 䉉Hª…MXktêÐÙÜZ|ë×ÈgÇÄÜ—³] ì1‡Ã»˜_KŸg ù—ãvÈQŽ_üçñŒjÄYÔf;þ×'6û…º&c<W)§¹„¦éÐ)”ÙÍ/)s 9%ŽÔÝÆÔ¿|²ž­`˜6ë.“jÑT÷‹.Æ®=ó0°ÔßN—µ- ¶å#!ô)Œ {ï0:ñ 2À’ô+EL%Î’­ô&&‚i —(V>[´[î`gã—¯fR<„ŽR]hÃ�=Y’8%š´Áy½w³2¥†l½ †D„13¬dæ—.CFã\?¯+îkнêX²~S,ãáF²!7)?º»Ø¹‘:[oÁåP¿PU"ï]Á2ûŠ\¬K芉'2PÎ9õتbmƒõ5FrÛi‘rÙióWƒŸÀüAKx°ÂA$ax–Ù"Ò AÝ™±ÙX°©ñ%]ՁÁ >Tí¶T"eÕG(WÖªóQŒ¥ o’Šàœ‘½$é¯-ÀZ]:4`k½bX­üÁ³dFðæsa$ Jööî’xì ä/㘪ҵ´3ibäV8¥€ÞðÍÃÀŽ|ÃlóRå�%™2ò—Lh"4ÚTkróú7 E]ªbFdöì0÷ ÌÃP»Tjé=ÒÓe¯äîUSW3Ð CGÀkEÍ cBË:X ûx®5Jº|Ô.ïw@Õ àWŒOT2š…ú­¿OhÂŒJp¨Ç÷Ìü†Er\38ä»Ó&šÏ»lÉ@g¥,I!l:î.äŠp¡!F#èî
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Re: Weird home page issue - looks like a BZIP file?

Postby Dropzone » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:41 am UTC

Another report of the same issue, from here:

PWJay wrote:Can anyone explain this? I know I have NoScript installed, but I've set it to enable scripts, so that's not the problem (I don't think XKCD uses scripts anyway). I can access this comic strip if I type in http://xkcd.com/486/ , although it looks, to be blunt, buggered , but the homepage is garbled with what I assumed at first to be an image turned into font.

http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=buhtc2.png

Also, this thread turned out to involve a similar problem (the client receiving the page in an encoding it couldn't handle), but with gzip instead of bzip2. Someone suggested in that thread that the cause could be a misbehaving proxy server, but I don't think anyone's figured out for certain why this happens.
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Re: Weird home page issue - looks like a BZIP file?

Postby phlip » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:10 am UTC

For me, connecting directly (no proxy), the xkcd site will give a bzip2-encoded response, if I specifically say "Accept-Encoding: bzip2", but it won't if I don't. I don't think Firefox can handle a bzip2-encoded response, but if it doesn't ask for it, that should be OK... but if there's a badly-behaved proxy in between, it could be messing things up...

Could you try installing this extension, then load up the main xkcd page, do a hard refresh (Ctrl+F5... refreshes without using the cache), then go Tools->Page Info, go to the "Headers" tab, and copy/paste everything here. In particular, the "Accept-Encoding" request header, and "Content-Encoding" response.

[edit] Actually, before doing anything, try just doing a hard refresh on the page, and see if that fixes anything. It's possible something crazy happened once, and the result got cached, and now it's just loading from the cache (which would explain why it's dying on only one page, an all others are fine). This should be Step 1 for any "this webpage looks wrong" problem... caches, useful as they are, are fragile, and can cause problems like this easily, turning once-off random network glitches into apparently-persistant problems.
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Re: Weird home page issue - looks like a BZIP file?

Postby SecondTalon » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:32 am UTC

aeschenkarnos wrote:http://www.xkcd.com looks like this to me (I'm using Firefox):

Obligatory "Have you disabled all of your add-ons to see if that resolves the issue, and if so, turning them on one by one to see which one causes the problem?"
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Re: Weird home page issue - looks like a BZIP file?

Postby headprogrammingczar » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:14 pm UTC

We really need a sticky for this sort of stuff, like a "S&FI Debug Flowchart". Same goes for the Help Desk.
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