814: Diode

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Diode
And the worst part is you won't apologize.
Title text: And the worst part is you won't apologize.

Explanation[edit]

A diode is an electronic component that, to put it simply, blocks current traveling in one direction, but allows current going the other way. Diodes are a common component of digital circuits, such as those found in a computer. The end that rejects incoming current is marked with a line or band of paint.

The comic is describing a common frustration in relationships. Sometimes one party in a relationship will feel that the other isn't listening to them, even though they themselves are being as open as possible. This is analogous to the function of a diode, which the comic indicates by literally introducing a diode into the dialogue. The diode introduced has the banded end being held by Cueball. This means his words are blocked by the diode, while Megan's flows through to him; she never receives his protest, his pain, or his apology and thus does not feel she did anything wrong. Megan could possibly have used the diode as a way to avoid apologizing, but she must have known she risked looking like an idiot by not perceiving his apology, as illustrated by the title text: Megan didn't perceive Cueball's apology, due to it being blocked by the diode, so she berates Cueball for not apologizing. An alternative explanation is that Megan won't apologize, as she doesn't hear Cueball's complaint, and that Cueball is unhappy with her for this.

Transcript[edit]

[Cueball is talking to Megan. Megan holds up a diode.]
Cueball: We need to talk.
Megan: Okay, but first hold the end of this diode.
[They hold the diode.]
Cueball: You hurt my feelings yesterday.
Megan: You embarrassed me with my family last weekend.
[They are still holding the diode between them.]
Cueball: I'm sorry.


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Discussion

...but watch out for that knee if it's a Zenor diode! 31.110.91.76 00:39, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

"Zener", not "Zenor" 108.162.229.55 12:59, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

If cueball's words are indeed negative, they will pass trough the diode... But he still wo'nt appologize asuming an apology is positive. -173.245.53.148 15:44, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

1. A negative charge is what electrons have, so it won't pass through the diode, because Megan has the negative side.
2. A 'postive' apology (i.e. one with a positive charge, which is what you meant here) wouldn't flow at all, because charges don't go from positive to negative , so even if it was just a normal wire it still wouldn't flow.
3. You probably mean that the apology wouldn't flow, not that he wouldn't apologize.

Just on the structure, (ignoring the spelling errors, because I am pretty English isn't your first language) 'won't' stands for 'will not', so the apostrophe is a contraction of the 'o'. Beanie (talk) 12:30, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

I'm still having a problem with this, since the electrons are the mobile charge carriers and 'current' is a fiction. If anything is passing between them, it's got to be the electrons, not the 'current'. Like Randall, I've fantasized about going back and setting Ben Franklin straight about this, but then I thought that removing that one little speed bump in everyone's understanding of electricity could have accellerated technology just that little bit that would have resulted in having the atomic bomb in time for World War I. So, I've decided not to go back, it may have been a mistake with a highly practical outcome.

Is there a timeline (50% of them, I suppose) that have Ben getting it right, in which things go horribly wrong?

Why do you think his name is Ben? Beanie (talk) 12:31, 26 April 2021 (UTC)