explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

72: Classhole

2016-02-27T19:23:31Z

108.162.216.59: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 72
| date = March 6, 2006
| title = Classhole
| image = classhole.jpg
| titletext = A term coined by my friend Beth
}}

==Explanation==
The subject of this comic is [[Black Hat]] himself. He admits to being an asshole, a profanity that describes someone who does things that antagonize, irritate or anger others (either intentionally or incidentally). While a common example might be someone who weaves in and out of traffic, or someone who parks across two parking spaces, Black Hat is "more creative." This also suggests that, while most people described as assholes are either ignorant or selfish, Black Hat seems to intentionally behave this way strictly to be an asshole, and not for any self-benefit. He claims to be a "classy asshole," or as he coins the {{w|portmanteau}}, a "class-hole." He seems to equate creativity with class, although that seems like a leap. In any event, this is another early Black Hat strip which, for the first time, explicitly sets out that he goes out of his way to wreak havoc.

Among his "pranks," he suggests poking holes in grocery noodle cups. These are pre-packaged cups filled with dried noodles and dried soup mix (either in a separate pouch, or loose in the cup) to which one adds boiling water, which both boils the pasta and dissolves the soup mix to become the soup/broth. By poking holes in the cup, Black Hat ensures that someone pouring boiling water in the cup would have it leak all over them, causing them great surprise and pain.

He also suggests poking holes in {{w|condoms}}, which could cause even more serious consequences. This form of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_coercion#Birth_control_sabotage| contraceptive sabotage] is a way to cause unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease infection. Sabotage may be by someone acting maliciously at random (such as poking holes at the store pre-purchase) or by one of the participants to attempt to cause a pregnancy when the other partner does not want it, often occurring as part of reproductive abuse.<ref name=ACOG>Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. February 2013
[https://www.acog.org/Resources-And-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Health-Care-for-Underserved-Women/Reproductive-and-Sexual-Coercion Committee Opinion No. 554: Reproductive and Sexual Coercion] Obstet Gynecol 2013;121:411–5. PMID 23344307</ref>

The title text explains that the word was first introduced to [[Randall]] (and probably to the world) by a friend of his named Beth.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: How did you spend your morning?
:Black Hat: Feeding rocks to children in the park.
:Cueball: Your sociopathic abuse of random strangers staggers me.
:Black Hat: I aspire to have more creativity than the common asshole.
:Black Hat: I'm more of a classy asshole -- A class-hole, if you will. For example, I like poking tiny holes in styrofoam noodle cups at the grocery store--
:Black Hat: Thanks to me, someone gets surprise boiling water in the lap.
:Cueball: I am in awe.
:Black Hat: It's even more fun to do to condoms.

==References==

<references />

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Language]]

1081: Argument Victory

2016-02-25T21:26:04Z

108.162.216.59: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1081
| date = July 13, 2012
| title = Argument Victory
| image = argument victory.png
| titletext = Really, the comforting side in most conspiracy theory arguments is the one claiming that anyone who's in power has any plan at all.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Examples of the type of conspiracy pages mentioned with black background and different fonts would be an improvement. Also counter examples for such an example from Wikipedia etc. Also: what's the significance of a ".net page"?}}
[[Cueball]] is arguing with a {{w|conspiracy theorist}}, who is sitting in front of his computer talking back. They are probably using {{w|Skype}} as Cueball later asks him to watch closely, holding his phone up to show the other guy what he is doing.

Cueball's opponent seems to ignore all reliable sources, like {{w|Snopes}} and {{w|Wikipedia}} on top of several {{w|Academic journal|journals}}, instead preferring sources that are seemingly not credible (but that do agree with him). These conspiracy ".net" pages typically just have a black background and uses several different sizes of fonts, the larger (and probably also in bright colors), the more convincing, seems to be the belief, and Cueball cannot take these kind of sources seriously. ".net" websites can be made by anyone and have little limitations. The maker of a ".net" does not need to show sources of information, or even their name. As such, ".net" websites are notoriously unreliable and often have viruses or other malware. [http://zapatopi.net/blackhelicopters/ The Truth about Black Helicopters] is an example of one such website, supposedly explaining the truth behind
government "Black Helicopers".

The conspiracy theorist insists that by trusting reliable sources, Cueball is simply buying in to the cover-up. Cueball says he can win the argument, and will show him how, and then ceases to argue further in favor of going down a {{w|waterslide}} while holding up the phone to show the other guy how to have a good time. Since conspiracy theorists tend to be [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intransigent intransigent], Cueball sees himself as the victor after ceasing to argue with a guy who cannot be argued with, and instead decides to have some fun. This is even improved by the fact that it makes his opponent angry. (It is like discussing {{w|religion}} with very religious people - you can never make them change their mind by arguing with reason taken from scientific studies).

The joke here is also in the title of the comic which is ''[http://imgur.com/EKkAXgR Argument Victory]'' something that is very hard to achieve by on the web... Cueball won this victory not by arguing by by stopping this argument he was having with someone that could/would not be argued with.

The title text points out that belief in a conspiracy presupposes that those with the power to carry out the conspiracy actually have a plan, a situation which might be found more "comforting" than the the alternative that those in power are just muddling through with no plan at all. This concept is revisited in [[1274: Open Letter]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, looking right, is talking at his smartphone while holding it up in front of his head using both hands.]
:Cueball: I can't believe you're so wrong. I'm backed by Snopes, Wikipedia, and a half-dozen journals. You're citing .net pages with black backgrounds and like 20 fonts each.

:[A conspiracy theorist is sitting in front of this lap top at his desk looking left. He has his hair combed down. He is talking to Cueball via his laptop, probably Skyping.]
:Conspiracy theorist: It's sad how you buy into the official story so unquestioningly.
:Conspiracy theorist: Guess some people ''prefer'' to stay asleep.

:[Back to Cueball who has lowered his phone a bit. The reply from the conspiracy theorist is shown to come out of the phone with a jagged arrow and likewise speech bubble.]
:Cueball: Watch closely— I'm about to win this argument.
:Conspiracy theorist (reply from phone): How?

:[Cueball is sitting at the very top of a waterslide preparing to descend.]
:Cueball: By ''going down a waterslide''.

:[A split panel, with a close-up of the conspiracy theorist above and below Cueball is sliding down the waterslide with both hands above his head, water splashing up behind him as he holds his smartphone above the water in one hand.]
:Conspiracy theorist: So? what does that prove?
:Cueball: ''Wheee..''

:[Another split panel, this time a smaller part is used for the close-up of the conspiracy theorist above and below Cueball has more of this panels space for sliding down to the bottom of the waterslide with both hands above his head, water still splashing up behind him as he continues to keep his smartphone above the water in one hand.]
:Conspiracy theorist: You didn't win the argument!
:Cueball: ''...eeee!''
:Cueball: ''Sploosh!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Internet]]

66: Abusive Astronomy

2016-02-24T20:22:29Z

108.162.216.59: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 66
| date = February 20, 2006
| title = Abusive Astronomy
| image = abusive_astronomy.jpg
| titletext = Medium: Pencil on paper
}}
==Explanation==
An asterism is a pattern of stars which form some sort of perceived shape in the night sky. Some of these are patterns used to name regions of the sky, as constellations. Modern astronomy organizes the sky into 88 constellations, but different cultures saw different patterns in the same night sky, going back at least as far as the Babylonians and there are many other patterns and grouping of stars. The {{w|Pleiades}}, {{w|Orion's belt}} and the {{w|Big Dipper}} are among the most common asterisms that we recognize today and are among the first taught to people with an interest in astronomy. The Pleiades is an open star cluster in the constellation of Taurus, it is a group of stars which formed from the same nebula, and are moving together. Orion's belt consists of three stars which appear close in the sky, but are in fact at great distance from each other. The Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major. It can be used to help find the north pole star {{w|Polaris}} which is an aid to night-time navigation.

During planetarium tours, the tour guide will point out popular constellations and stars, sometimes they will ask a question to get the audience involved in the presentation. Usually these people are big on showing the wonder of the galaxy and are all smiles, but people have bad days. The comic is presenting an especially aggressive way of introducing the night sky.

When astronomers in the Northern Hemisphere are showing stars to people, there will frequently be someone who points to the Pleiades and says, "There's the Big Dipper!" (both appear as a trapezium of stars, with a handle, though the Pleiades is much smaller). This gets frustrating about the 100th time that you encounter this error. So, this comic could show someone releasing their frustration on the misinformed public by pointing out that what they just pointed at is actually the Pleiades. Then, pointing out that you can always locate the Pleiades by following the line of the stars in the belt of Orion. Then, pointing out the REAL Big Dipper.

In the title text, [[Randall]] explains that he drew this comic as a line drawing on white paper, using only a pencil. The image was later inverted for publication.

==Trivia==
As noted in the title text, the drawing for this comic was originally done in pencil, then inverted. Here is a re-inverted version of the file, to show (approximately) what the original drawing looked like.

[[File:Abusive_Astronomy_Inverted.jpeg|center|Inverted version of the comic.]]

==Transcript==
:Identifying star clusters:
:[Image of a star cluster.]
:This is the Pleiades, asshole.

:Orion's Belt:
:[Image of Orion's Belt.]
:Only a moron couldn't find it.

:This is the Big Dipper:
:[Image of the Big Dipper.]
:What the hell is wrong with you?

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]

1104: Feathers

2016-02-21T05:52:31Z

108.162.216.59: /* Explanation */ I discovered that the link leads to a video that is no longer on Youtube, and felt that this needed to be mentioned.

{{comic
| number = 1104
| date = September 05, 2012
| title = Feathers
| image = feathers.png
| titletext = Click to see a video of a modern bird using stability flapping during predatory behavior. It all fits! Also, apparently Microraptor had *four* wings? The past keeps getting cooler! (And there's more of it every day!)
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Dinosaur}}s have been a fascinating topic in popular science and have captivated children's interest since the first fossils were discovered in modern times, around the 1700s; prior discoveries in China and elsewhere were thought to be the bones of dragons or other mythical creatures. The success of the ''{{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}'' movies perpetuated an erroneous understanding of the physical characteristics of dinosaurs. Since the first movie of that series, scientific evidence has emerged suggesting that {{w|Dromaeosauridae}}, or "raptors", the main antagonists of that movie, looked quite different from their animatronic and CGI versions. In particular, they are now known to have been much smaller, and are believed to have had feathers and even wings, as evidenced by quill nobs observed on the arms of raptors.

[[File:Deinonychus (Raptor Prey Restraint).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Artist's impression of a "raptor prey restraint" as suggested by Fowler et al. (2011), and described by the child in the comic. (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
[http://denverfowler.com/ Denver W. Fowler] is among the scientists who support this hypothesis. (incidentally, a "{{w|Fowler}}" is a hunter of wildfowl/birds) The comic refers to [http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0028964 a publication by him and his colleagues] ("{{Wiktionary|et al.}}"), in the ''{{w|PLoS ONE}}'', an online scientific journal ("PLoS" stands for "Public Library of Science").

[[Megan]] believes this new model of the appearance of raptors makes them much less cool, but the way in which the child reformulates the facts to make them seem like even more vicious predators re-ignites her interest and makes the new raptors seem like at least as good a candidate for a good action thriller movie like the original version, if not better. Thus the phrase "the past keeps getting cooler".

Clicking on the original cartoon links to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qpdk-U8fI0 a YouTube video] of a bird of prey (in this case a {{w|Secretarybird}}) using its wings for stability while standing on top of a struggling prey, from which one can easily envision instead a raptor upon its prey — especially in case of some kind of "raptorphobia", as for [[Randall]] (see [[87: Velociraptors]] and [[135: Substitute]]) -- note: this video is now defunct. {{w|Microraptor}} was a small raptor with four wings, which lets you imagine even scarier scenes.

The same idea is later explored from a different perspective in [[1527: Humans]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan is walking up to a child who has a stack of books and is reading one of them on the floor.]
:Megan: What are you reading about?
:Child: Dinosaurs!
:Megan: Oh, yeah.

:Megan: They've gotten all weird since when I was a kid.
:Megan: They used to be awesome, but now they all have dorky feathers, right?
:Child: Yup!

:Child: This says they now think raptors used their wings for stability, flapping to stay on top of their prey while hanging on with their hooked claws and eating it alive.
:Footnote: *Fowler et. al., PLoS ONE 6(12), 2011

:[Megan stands staring at the child.]

:[Megan is now on the floor flipping through another book from the pile.]

==Trivia==
*In the comic it says "et. al." instead of the correct "et al.", this is a common mistake.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]

Talk:1637: Salt Mine

2016-02-01T08:05:09Z

108.162.216.59:

I don't think that the exotic restaurants relate, here. As well, I think that Ponytail says "Yes, that is definitely why" because she is saying "Yes, we definitely built the detector here to block out cosmic rays, and definitely *not* to eat the delicious salt." You know what I mean? Thoughts? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.21|173.245.54.21]] 06:46, 1 February 2016 (UTC)
: I agree. The comment about restaurants only adds to the potential confusion around the comic. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 08:05, 1 February 2016 (UTC)BK201

835: Tree

2015-12-26T03:56:24Z

108.162.216.59: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 835
| date = December 17, 2010
| title = Tree
| image = tree.png
| titletext = Not only is that terrible in general, but you just KNOW Billy's going to open the root present first, and then everyone will have to wait while the heap is rebuilt.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] turns his family's living room Christmas tree into a cringingly-awful programming pun. His parents, [[Hair Bun Girl]] and a father-Cueball, are so unamused, he's not welcome back next year.

{{w|Tree (data structure)|Trees}} are data structures in computer science, based on two simple rules:

*A tree starts at a single node, called its root.
*Each node in a tree has two or more spaces for its children, each of which may be empty or occupied by another node. Of course, that node may have its own children, and so forth. Each node except the root has exactly one parent. As a bit of trivia, a node with no children is called a "leaf node."

A binary tree is a tree where each node has spaces for exactly 2 children.

The "Christmas tree" is a basic representation of a binary tree - the star at the top is the root node, and the lights running down indicate the connections between parent and child. Contrary to what the terms "root" and "leaf" might imply, trees in computer science are typically represented upside-down, with the root on top and the leaves fanning out below.

The Christmas tree is constructed based on no apparent rules, but the main power of binary trees comes in organizing them according to specific rules. Because code that runs later can assume the data is organized in this specific way, it can use different algorithms that make things run faster. One way of doing this is with a heap. A {{w|Heap (data structure)|heap}} is a special kind of tree (usually a binary tree, but in this case a ternary tree), subject to one additional rule:

*For every node in the tree, ''everything'' beneath that node - both or all of its children, all of its children's children, all of ''their'' children, and so on - are "less than" the node itself.

"Less than" in this case can refer to any comparison that can be made between two nodes - in this case, it's based on the size of the presents. Of course, there's a cost to all this; the heap must first be placed in that order. Not only that, but if a node gets removed from the heap, the heap has to be "rebuilt" to put it back in the right order. This is referenced in the title text - if Billy opens the root present, several comparisons must be done to shift other presents in its place to preserve the heap rule.

In [[1308: Christmas Lights]] a similar strange Christmas tree has been constructed using the electromagnetic spectrum.

==Transcript==
:[There is a binary Christmas tree, with each node a ball, and lights strung between parent and child nodes. Beneath it is a heap of presents - sorted with the largest on top, smaller presents connected to it with string. Next to the tree is Cueball and his parents, Hair Bun Girl and another Cueball.]
:Cueball: It's a Christmas tree with a heap of presents underneath!
:Mother: ...We're not inviting you home next year.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Puns]]

Talk:1609: Food Combinations

2015-11-29T05:05:47Z

108.162.216.59:

Err, what? Ketchup flavored chips hard to come by in the US? I've yet to see a single supermarket that didn't have a large quantity of Herr's Ketchup Chips. And I live in the american Northeast.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 05:00, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

I tried this on a friend and after three tries she said, you just mentioned all my favorite food items. So... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:27, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

You know what's really good? Ice cream on pizza. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:23, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:That's a popular summer snack in Tasmania. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.32|198.41.238.32]] 08:02, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

So nobody puts sour cream on pancakes??? {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.14}}

Joey agrees with that - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSFgDZJVYbo [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.139|162.158.34.139]] 15:40, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:Thanks I was just thinking of that episode when seeing this comic. Think it deserves a place in the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:06, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Well, I made a first-hack attempt, with terrible grammar and no appropriate citations. Please don't be too harsh! [[Special:Contributions/199.27.129.83|199.27.129.83]] 16:14, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Most of the combinations involving the dairy items are disgusting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.9|108.162.216.9]] 19:29, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

If you think sour cream and pancakes is not a traditional combination, you've never been to Russia. We put sour cream in a lot of things, really, but pancakes especially. That applies almost as well to sour cream and ketchup (though that is just a pair of commonly combined condiments, not a food item in itself). I do, however, agree with the commentor above (even regarding sour cream). Incidentally, I had to google "relish" - apparently it's a general term for a big variety of chopped-vegetable items. The Russian name for one particularly common type literally translates as "eggplant caviar". Goes nicely with ham, is applied to pancakes occasionally. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.180.191|162.158.180.191]] 20:51, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:FYI, pickle (that is to say, pickled cucumber) relish is generally what people from the US mean when referring to relish. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 05:05, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

It will be interesting to see if all items will be checked of eventually when people from many different countries comes by? I checked of pancakes and ice cream. I put ice in almost every time I make sweet pancakes. Yummy. But we also have "food" pancakes (not sweat) with meat in them. And I'm note talking about tortillas or burrito pancakes. Made exactly like normal sweet pancakes without sugar and with salt. In The Netherlands they have pancake houses where the toppings is more like that of a pizza, and then after wards they drop on some kind of syrup... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:06, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Avocado and ice cream is traditional? Really? I mean, the novelty ice cream places (bacon ice cream, beer ice cream, Tabasco ice cream, you know the drill), sure, but where is that a traditional pairing? ... However, I'm putting in another vote for sour cream with pancakes. Especially if you consider crêpes and associated acts as in the pancake category, so there's the whole world of savory pancakes out there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.7|108.162.221.7]] 04:16, 28 November 2015 (UTC)MR
:I have removed avocado and ice cream. That cannot be thought of as traditional even if someone actually likes it. I do not know if you could think of pancakes and sour cream as traditional. But again if you think of them both as sweat and food pancakes (as already is the case, then maybe...) I will not list it though as I do not feel it is traditional. But I would also not delete it if anyone else feels it is. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:41, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

At least five of those alleged "individually good" so-called "foods" - relish, ketchup, cheese, sour cream, and avocado - are absolutely disgusting and would destroy any food value of things they came in contact with. YMMV.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.33|108.162.221.33]] 09:46, 28 November 2015 (UTC)
:Well I also do not like avocado or sour cream and neither most forms of eggs plus only a few kind of cheese. But I know that many people really love these items, and that would not make it a bad combination to put sour cream and avocado together. I just would not wish to eat it for my personal taste. That I do not like it, does not make it disgusting. But I would be sorry if someone tried to make me eat it. But not get disgusted because other people eat it in front of me. Disgusting things are something like rat or excrements... ;-) And this has to be taken into account before anyone changes the table above. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:37, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

There's some "almost something I've seen" combinations, in the above. For example, while I've never had Ham And Avocado, Ham And Pineapple is not uncommon. (Of course, now we're also into neighbouring territory of "does pineapple belong on a pizza?" ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 16:39, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1609: Food Combinations

2015-11-29T05:03:02Z

108.162.216.59:

Err, what? Ketchup flavored chips hard to come by in the US? I've yet to see a single supermarket that didn't have a large quantity of Herr's Ketchup Chips. And I live in the american Northeast.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 05:00, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

I tried this on a friend and after three tries she said, you just mentioned all my favorite food items. So... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:27, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

You know what's really good? Ice cream on pizza. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:23, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:That's a popular summer snack in Tasmania. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.32|198.41.238.32]] 08:02, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

So nobody puts sour cream on pancakes??? {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.14}}

Joey agrees with that - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSFgDZJVYbo [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.139|162.158.34.139]] 15:40, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:Thanks I was just thinking of that episode when seeing this comic. Think it deserves a place in the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:06, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Well, I made a first-hack attempt, with terrible grammar and no appropriate citations. Please don't be too harsh! [[Special:Contributions/199.27.129.83|199.27.129.83]] 16:14, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Most of the combinations involving the dairy items are disgusting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.9|108.162.216.9]] 19:29, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

If you think sour cream and pancakes is not a traditional combination, you've never been to Russia. We put sour cream in a lot of things, really, but pancakes especially. That applies almost as well to sour cream and ketchup (though that is just a pair of commonly combined condiments, not a food item in itself). I do, however, agree with the commentor above (even regarding sour cream). Incidentally, I had to google "relish" - apparently it's a general term for a big variety of chopped-vegetable items. The Russian name for one particularly common type literally translates as "eggplant caviar". Goes nicely with ham, is applied to pancakes occasionally. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.180.191|162.158.180.191]] 20:51, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

It will be interesting to see if all items will be checked of eventually when people from many different countries comes by? I checked of pancakes and ice cream. I put ice in almost every time I make sweet pancakes. Yummy. But we also have "food" pancakes (not sweat) with meat in them. And I'm note talking about tortillas or burrito pancakes. Made exactly like normal sweet pancakes without sugar and with salt. In The Netherlands they have pancake houses where the toppings is more like that of a pizza, and then after wards they drop on some kind of syrup... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:06, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Avocado and ice cream is traditional? Really? I mean, the novelty ice cream places (bacon ice cream, beer ice cream, Tabasco ice cream, you know the drill), sure, but where is that a traditional pairing? ... However, I'm putting in another vote for sour cream with pancakes. Especially if you consider crêpes and associated acts as in the pancake category, so there's the whole world of savory pancakes out there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.7|108.162.221.7]] 04:16, 28 November 2015 (UTC)MR
:I have removed avocado and ice cream. That cannot be thought of as traditional even if someone actually likes it. I do not know if you could think of pancakes and sour cream as traditional. But again if you think of them both as sweat and food pancakes (as already is the case, then maybe...) I will not list it though as I do not feel it is traditional. But I would also not delete it if anyone else feels it is. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:41, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

At least five of those alleged "individually good" so-called "foods" - relish, ketchup, cheese, sour cream, and avocado - are absolutely disgusting and would destroy any food value of things they came in contact with. YMMV.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.33|108.162.221.33]] 09:46, 28 November 2015 (UTC)
:Well I also do not like avocado or sour cream and neither most forms of eggs plus only a few kind of cheese. But I know that many people really love these items, and that would not make it a bad combination to put sour cream and avocado together. I just would not wish to eat it for my personal taste. That I do not like it, does not make it disgusting. But I would be sorry if someone tried to make me eat it. But not get disgusted because other people eat it in front of me. Disgusting things are something like rat or excrements... ;-) And this has to be taken into account before anyone changes the table above. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:37, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

There's some "almost something I've seen" combinations, in the above. For example, while I've never had Ham And Avocado, Ham And Pineapple is not uncommon. (Of course, now we're also into neighbouring territory of "does pineapple belong on a pizza?" ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 16:39, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1609: Food Combinations

2015-11-29T05:00:42Z

108.162.216.59:

Err, what? Ketchup flavored chips hard to come by in the US? I've yet to see a single supermarket that didn't have a large quantity of Herr's Ketchup Chips. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 05:00, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

I tried this on a friend and after three tries she said, you just mentioned all my favorite food items. So... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:27, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

You know what's really good? Ice cream on pizza. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 15:23, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:That's a popular summer snack in Tasmania. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.32|198.41.238.32]] 08:02, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

So nobody puts sour cream on pancakes??? {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.14}}

Joey agrees with that - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSFgDZJVYbo [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.139|162.158.34.139]] 15:40, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
:Thanks I was just thinking of that episode when seeing this comic. Think it deserves a place in the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:06, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Well, I made a first-hack attempt, with terrible grammar and no appropriate citations. Please don't be too harsh! [[Special:Contributions/199.27.129.83|199.27.129.83]] 16:14, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Most of the combinations involving the dairy items are disgusting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.9|108.162.216.9]] 19:29, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

If you think sour cream and pancakes is not a traditional combination, you've never been to Russia. We put sour cream in a lot of things, really, but pancakes especially. That applies almost as well to sour cream and ketchup (though that is just a pair of commonly combined condiments, not a food item in itself). I do, however, agree with the commentor above (even regarding sour cream). Incidentally, I had to google "relish" - apparently it's a general term for a big variety of chopped-vegetable items. The Russian name for one particularly common type literally translates as "eggplant caviar". Goes nicely with ham, is applied to pancakes occasionally. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.180.191|162.158.180.191]] 20:51, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

It will be interesting to see if all items will be checked of eventually when people from many different countries comes by? I checked of pancakes and ice cream. I put ice in almost every time I make sweet pancakes. Yummy. But we also have "food" pancakes (not sweat) with meat in them. And I'm note talking about tortillas or burrito pancakes. Made exactly like normal sweet pancakes without sugar and with salt. In The Netherlands they have pancake houses where the toppings is more like that of a pizza, and then after wards they drop on some kind of syrup... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:06, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Avocado and ice cream is traditional? Really? I mean, the novelty ice cream places (bacon ice cream, beer ice cream, Tabasco ice cream, you know the drill), sure, but where is that a traditional pairing? ... However, I'm putting in another vote for sour cream with pancakes. Especially if you consider crêpes and associated acts as in the pancake category, so there's the whole world of savory pancakes out there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.7|108.162.221.7]] 04:16, 28 November 2015 (UTC)MR
:I have removed avocado and ice cream. That cannot be thought of as traditional even if someone actually likes it. I do not know if you could think of pancakes and sour cream as traditional. But again if you think of them both as sweat and food pancakes (as already is the case, then maybe...) I will not list it though as I do not feel it is traditional. But I would also not delete it if anyone else feels it is. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:41, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

At least five of those alleged "individually good" so-called "foods" - relish, ketchup, cheese, sour cream, and avocado - are absolutely disgusting and would destroy any food value of things they came in contact with. YMMV.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.33|108.162.221.33]] 09:46, 28 November 2015 (UTC)
:Well I also do not like avocado or sour cream and neither most forms of eggs plus only a few kind of cheese. But I know that many people really love these items, and that would not make it a bad combination to put sour cream and avocado together. I just would not wish to eat it for my personal taste. That I do not like it, does not make it disgusting. But I would be sorry if someone tried to make me eat it. But not get disgusted because other people eat it in front of me. Disgusting things are something like rat or excrements... ;-) And this has to be taken into account before anyone changes the table above. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:37, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

There's some "almost something I've seen" combinations, in the above. For example, while I've never had Ham And Avocado, Ham And Pineapple is not uncommon. (Of course, now we're also into neighbouring territory of "does pineapple belong on a pizza?" ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 16:39, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1549: xkcd Phone 3

2015-07-11T11:30:03Z

108.162.216.59:

I assume that this is made, at least in part, in reference to the just-made OnePlus infodump and their upcoming OnePlus 2 smartphone. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.188|162.158.2.188]]

Is the heartbeat accelerator used to fool fitness wristbands? Or apps? Or ... ? [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 07:56, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

"Ear screen" may refer to a different meaning of "screen" - a device that protects you from something, as in "sun screen". In this case, the "ear screen" would block the sound of the phone's speakers, making it useless (at least for telephony). 08:02, 10 July 2015 (UTC)~~ [[User:thepike|thepike]]

:I thought it was a name change like those of beret guy, repurposing words to stay accurate without using the correct/standard term.[[User:Athang|Athang]] ([[User talk:Athang|talk]]) 09:54, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Doesn't running natively just mean that it runs apps natively instead of emulating them or something. Which would be a pointless marketing term OR it implys that the phone itself or the person inside runs.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.192|108.162.249.192]] 10:53, 10 July 2015 (UTC)
:I did some re-writing on that point (because the likes of the Java Virtual Machine-type solution is a half-way house that needs mentioning, between 'native' and 'emulated'), but it's a bit long. Also I briefly mentioned the Crusoe chip essentially a 'hardware virtual machine layer' (over and above the machine-code to micro-code one that doesn't bear mentioning due to the ubiquity), but not sure I described it well enough. At the time, the talk was that a Crusoe chip could end up (by sofware flag or magic 'autodetection') run x86/Intel-compatible ''or'' Motorola (Apple) ''or'' DEC Alpha instruction sets (and probably any other sets they could squeeze in, whether CISC or RISC, like Acorn's {{w|ARM architecture|ARM}}) without any software emulation at all. Of course, that was the time when programs didn't so heavily rely upon an OS's own API for pretty much ''all'' resources (at least on single-user machines), which is in effect an additional Virtual Machine layer, and the whole computing business has gone in a different direction, even Apple temporarily played with the PowerPC platform model.
:...Yeah, that's no shorter than my in-article edit, is it? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 13:44, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Wireless discharge: I think the explanation is too complicate. Every cellphone (and every other device that uses batteries) does discharge without a wire, it is just normal. The joke (in my eyes) is here that no-one would advice with that. --[[User:DaB.|DaB.]] ([[User talk:DaB.|talk]]) 11:43, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Here's an idea: a phone that discharges it's power wirelessly into another device.(unlikely that this is what it means though)[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.166|108.162.249.166]] 12:39, 10 July 2015 (UTC)
* How about a phone that discharges it's battery into another human? I'd buy that (provided I could control when and whom.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.224|141.101.88.224]] 13:54, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Could "Boneless" be a play on words against the jawbone devices?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.203|108.162.219.203]] 13:12, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

Does the title text seem to imply to anyone else that the customer may have been abducted for testing? [[User:Schiffy|Schiffy]] ([[User_talk:Schiffy|Speak to me]]|[[Special:Contributions/Schiffy|What I've done]]) 17:13, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

A runaway pacemaker ("heartbeat accelerator") probably wouldn't cause a heart attack. A heart attack is the interruption of blood flow to the heart muscle. A runaway pacemaker ''could'' cause a lethal tachycardia -- 2,000 beats per minute is [http://europace.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/6/592.full documented] and hearts don't do well at that rate... [[User:Andrew|Andrew]] ([[User talk:Andrew|talk]]) 19:24, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

The first xkcd phone comic also mentioned that the phone can drown. It said something like, "Don't submerge phone; it will drown."[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.141|108.162.216.141]] 03:20, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

I have to protest the idea in the explanation that a screen "all the way through" would leave no space for the actual workings of the phone. I owned an original Nexus 7, which I took apart after the kids dropped it in the bath. All of the controlling circuitry was in a thin layer *around* the screen surface, not below it. Below it was mostly battery, and presuming it takes AA batteries it wouldn't have a giant LiIon. It's not an absurd notion at all that a phone could have nothing behind its screen. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 11:30, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

519: 11th Grade

2015-03-13T00:40:36Z

108.162.216.59: Useless speculation throws off the flow of the text.

{{comic
| number = 519
| date = December 19, 2008
| title = 11th Grade
| image = 11th_grade.png
| titletext = And the ten minutes striking up a conversation with that strange kid in homeroom sometimes matters more than every other part of high school combined.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip is a comparison about the time spent in 11th grade doing various things, and how important those things are to one's future. The first two bars on the chart are 900 hours of class, which is about 180 hours short of how many hours kids spend in school each year (most likely to show the lunch hour), and 400 hours of homework, or an average of about 2.2 hours per school day. Conversely, idly messing around in {{w|Perl}} (a programming language) for only one weekend is shown to have a much larger impact on one's future — specifically Randall's, as learning how to code would have been key to his job as a robotics engineer. This is likely due to the skills one can pick up in even just a single weekend in contrast to the often redundant, trivial or generalist information that schools tend to convey.

The title text is a further exaggeration, claiming that striking up a conversation with the strange kid at school could be far more important than all four years of a high school education. There is always the chance that "that strange kid" might turn out to be the next {{w|Mark Zuckerberg}}. Or that he knows a guy who can find you your first job. Or he's the one who tells you about his interest in a to you yet unknown topic and sparks your interest in it as well, and maybe it turns into your future career.

==Transcript==
:[Above a bar graph:]
:11th-grade activities:
:[The y axis is labeled:]
:Usefulness to career success
:[Above the x-axis are two small and one huge bar. Below thw axis each bar is labeled:]
:900 hours of classes
:400 hours of homework
:One weekend messing with Perl

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:1474: Screws

2015-01-16T08:28:20Z

108.162.216.59:

This page is now on the first page of google for "uranium screw". [[User:Mrmakeit|Mrmakeit]] ([[User talk:Mrmakeit|talk]]) 05:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't think that patent is the right one, it seems to describe a uranium decontamination procedure, not a screw made of uranium like in the comic. [[User:LeoDeQuirm|LeoDeQuirm]] ([[User talk:LeoDeQuirm|talk]]) 05:46, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the "uranium screw" is just a reference to the fact that the head of the screw appears to have split in two ("fissioned"), as opposed to a normal flat head screw that still has the edges connected. [[User:Sam887|Sam887]] ([[User talk:Sam887|talk]]) 05:50, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Just a shot in the dark here, but a company that sells uranium ore and radiological equipment happens to also sell screws for one of its Geigers that look just like the screw cross-section in the comic. [http://www.uraniumrocks.com/products/replacement-circuit-board-mount-screws-for-victoreen-cdv-700-short] [[User:Conqu2|Conqu2]] ([[User talk:Conqu2|talk]]) 06:01, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I was wondering if the "uranium screw" was referring to the Demon Core -- two hemispherical domes that Louis Slotin was holding apart with a screwdriver. Then I remembered the Demon Core was plutonium, not uranium. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.119|173.245.48.119]] 06:49, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I think the be was going for apple's pentalobe screw with the 5 ponted star

I don't think the uranium screws are named for their use in stuff to do with uranium, as I have both seen and used screws that look like that before. It's basically a flat head screw whose divot extends all the way across the face of the screw. I agree more with the previous commentor who notes that the screw looks like it has fissioned. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.182|108.162.237.182]] 06:34, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

An actual rivet is neither a screw nor a bolt; it's a fastener that is placed and then has one end plastically deformed -- traditionally by a rivet gun, but more often in smaller sizes by some sort of press or clamp. (Pop rivets are hollow, and are deformed by pulling a cone-sheaped wedge into the open end of the hollow core.) There's no way to remove one except to destroy it (drill it out or cut one end off). The item pictured could also be the head of a carriage bolt, but that's no help if you can't get at the other end of the bolt. Randall is slightly pessemistic, though: there *are* some "security" screws and bolts that use a slightly-elliptical domed head that's hard to tell from a rivet; they can be unscrewed, but only with a matching slightly-elliptical socket. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.70|199.27.133.70]] 06:35, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

All of which can be removed by a sonic screwdriver. Totally a real thing.

Could the "cursed -1" be a Nethack reference? I don't know if Dungeons and Dragons has the "blessed/uncursed/cursed" status, but in Nethack cursed items with negative enchantments (denoted "cursed -whatever") are a pretty common occurrence. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.25|199.27.133.25]] 07:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

In Nethack, Cursed objects cannot be removed. Seems appropriate. At first I thought it was a pozidrive screw head. Posts on the fission screw head: where have you seen screws whose divot does *not* extend across the head?

[[User:Kreuiter|Kreuiter]] ([[User talk:Kreuiter|talk]]) 08:03, 16 January 2015 (UTC)from wikipedia: Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans (13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793) commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror

I don't think it is specifically a reference to Nethack as a lot of ol games (both video and tabletop) use the mechanic of non removable cursed objects. It is common enough in my opinion that we could argue about until we are blue in the face and get nowhere.

--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 08:28, 16 January 2015 (UTC)
uranium screw may be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin#Criticality_accident Louis Slotin], who died when he was using a screw driver to seperate two halves of a plutonium sphere as part of a science demonstration, and triggered a large burst of radiation when his hand slipped.

1136: Broken Mirror

2014-11-25T15:41:16Z

108.162.216.59: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1136
| date = November 19, 2012
| title = Broken Mirror
| image = broken_mirror.png
| titletext = 'I see you're in this mood again.' 'I am always in this mood.'
}}

==Explanation==
It is a common superstition that breaking a mirror will result in 7 years of bad luck. [[Black Hat]] mocks the superstition, claiming that all is random, but ultimately cause it to be true due to his {{w|Existential nihilism|nihilistic}} apathy preventing him from cleaning up the shards of glass. The joke is that Black Hat will likely get glass in his feet, and the broken mirror, or at least Black Hat's inaction will have an impact.

Black Hat breaks a mirror and sarcastically claims that it will bring bad luck for 7 years, implying that the broken mirror will have no impact on his life. After [[Cueball]] reminds Black Hat that the broken mirror will at least cause him to clean up the glass. Black Hat responds with a quote from {{w|Ecclesiastes}} that explains "being clean" (doing good) or "being unclean" (doing bad) things does not affect whether good or bad things happen to us. Due to Black Hat's interpretation of {{w|Ecclesiastes}}, he is not going to clean the shards, and thus be "unclean", and feels nihilistic that this will not alter his life in the long term. Of course, in the short term, it will have an impact as he will get glass in his feet if he does not clean it.

Black Hat continues saying that "My fate is as these shards" this mirrors another quote from Ecclesiastes "For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals". Cueball tries to cheer up black hat by reminding him that life is not that bad, "it's just a vanity mirror". Black hat responds saying " All is vanity mirrors". "All is vanity" another quote from Ecclesiastes, this line is repeated throughout the book and refers to impermanence of man and his creations. As the mirror just broke, its impermanence is apparent.

In the title text Cueball says "I see you're in this mood again" to which Black Hat responds, "I am always in this mood". This is a reference to Black Hat being a nihilist in his other appearances.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat and Cueball stand in a bedroom. There is a broken mirror on the floor at Black Hat's feet.]
:Black Hat: Oops. Guess this means seven more years of the illusion that my actions somehow influence the indifferent hand of probability which governs our lives.

:[Black Hat looks down at the broken shards of glass on the floor.]

:Cueball: Plus like half an hour of sweeping.
:Black Hat: No, I think I'll leave it.
:Cueball: You'll get glass in your feet.

:Black Hat: Eccles. 9:2—All things come alike to all: to the clean, and to the unclean.
:Black Hat: My fate is as these shards.
:Cueball: Dude, chill. It's just a vanity mirror.
:Black Hat: ''All'' is vanity mirrors.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Religion]]

476: One-Sided

2014-11-02T18:40:03Z

108.162.216.59: /* Explanation */ There are no crossbows in Fallout, it's probably a reference to zombies or velociraptors.

{{comic
| number = 476
| date = September 15, 2008
| title = One-Sided
| image = one-sided.png
| titletext = He continued, "Okay, Bernanke is uncontaminated. Find a crossbow and get him into position behind one of the columns at the Fed entrance. This is gonna get ugly."
}}

==Explanation==

The comic refers to the phenomenon of hearing half a conversation from a stranger on a cell phone and, not noticing the cell phone, imagining that that person is talking to you and responding in kind. The chart gives a plot of the frequency that this occurs against the amount of time that passes before the error is discovered. It also implies that the author's second relationship was in reality just a particularly long instance of this occurrence, suggesting that his 'girlfriend' wasn't even aware of the relationship.

The title text is the continuation of the phone call, which involves a fictional conspiracy involving the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke and a crossbow.

==Transcript==
:[Sometimes my conversations with strangers go on for a while before I realize that they're talking on their phones.]
:Guy with backpack: Hi!
:Cueball: Hi.
:Guy with backpack: What's up?
:Cueball: Uh, not a lot...
:Guy with backpack: Shit. Does Bernanke own a crossbow?
:[Background is a graph, with x-axis labelled "Length of Conversation" and y-axis labelled "How Often This Happens". The graph looks parabolic towards the left-hand side, but as x approaches infinity, y approaches zero. A vertical dashed line runs through the graph, slightly to the right of the peak of the graph. To the right of the dashed line there is an arrow pointing to the right that is labelled "Awkward Zone". The x-axis has a broken scale, and to the right of the break there is a very small increase in the graph that is parenthetically labelled "My Second Relationship".]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Crossbows]]

1210: I'm So Random

2014-09-24T21:59:05Z

108.162.216.59: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1210
| date = May 10, 2013
| title = I'm So Random
| image = im so random.png
| titletext = In retrospect, it's weird that as a kid I thought completely random outbursts made me seem interesting, given that from an information theory point of view, lexical white noise is just about the opposite of interesting by definition.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Hairy]] walks up to [[Black Hat]], utters a nonsense phrase and them proclaims that he is "so random". This is a reference to a modern phenomenon in which people make "random" statements, and somehow imagine themselves to be funny and interesting because of this. Black Hat, never one to hesitate over bringing someone down hard, replies that he is also random, proving this by pouring forth a torrential stream of numbers that nearly overcomes poor Hairy. Black Hat then resumes his posture at the computer, as if nothing has happened.

It is true that when brilliant and creative people speak passionately about a subject, they can make mental leaps and changes of context that might seem bewildering to an outsider. The conversation may even seem to be "random". However, simply vocalizing nonsense is not analogous, or even desirable; it is more likely a character trait of someone who has difficulty in following or adding to a normal human conversation.

Black Hat's "random" numbers are actually quoted from [http://oeis.org/A002205 the first lines] of ''{{w|A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates}}'' making it both "officially random", but also essentially not. See also: [[221: Random Number]].

A side note is that "Monkey tacos" is a phrase which contains two trochees. A {{w|trochee}} is a {{w|metric foot}} with one stressed beat and one unstressed beat; it may be a reference to or an unconscious allusion to [[856: Trochee Fixation]].

The title text elaborates on "random text", stating that he once would have believed that Hairy's random outbursts made him interesting despite the definition of "interesting" meaning the opposite. {{w|White noise}} is essentially random sounds waves which taken on mass blend into audio static essentially taking on a macroscopically uniform sound experience despite their random nature. This can be used in some sleep or relaxation therapies, which foils well with the random assault experienced in the comic.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is working peacefully at his computer when an annoying little brat Hairy runs up behind him and goes.]
:Hairy: MONKEY TACOS! I'm so random!

:Black Hat: Me too.

:[Black Hat spews an enormous torrent of random numbers, and Hairy is blasted away.]

:[Black Hat returns to work in peace.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]

820: Five-Minute Comics: Part 2

2014-08-24T04:25:54Z

108.162.216.59: /* Explanation */ Dang

{{comic
| number = 820
| date = November 17, 2010
| title = Five-Minute Comics: Part 2
| image = five_minute_comics_part_2.png
| titletext = Dear Wiccan readers: I understand modern Wiccans are not usually all about the curses and hexes. But Darth Vader was recently converted from Episcopalianism and he's still figuring it all out.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the second of three "five-minute comics" posts Randall made during November 2010. The introduction to the comic explains everything you need to know about the circumstances behind it.

*The first comic pokes fun at improbable conspiracy theories. {{w|Dealey Plaza#Grassy knoll|The grassy knoll}} is a location famous among conspiracy theorists who believe it to be the location of an unknown accomplice in the {{w|assassination of John F. Kennedy}}.
:It turns out that, somehow, this will all lead up to a theory that perfectly explains the {{w|September 11 attacks}}.

*When a woman described as having a "glow" about them, it's usually just a vague sentiment of attractiveness, specifically during pregnancy, which very suddenly reaches its conclusion as a baby is unceremoniously plopped into the world.

*"{{w|Cogito ergo sum}}" is philosophical statement in Latin, formulated by {{w|René Descartes}}, translated as "I think, therefore I am". Descartes wanted to build a philosophy from scratch, starting with something he could be absolutely certain of. "Cogito ergo cogito", is Latin for "I think, therefore I think." This can even beat "cogito ergo sum" in uncontroversiality, it is a {{w|tautology}}, which is why Cueball describes it as "playing it safe."

*Besides the cute kids in sheets, the comic on the far right could just be a joke on horror movie tropes and the phrase "buckets of blood." And/or Megan has some ability to fill the kids buckets with blood just by staring at it.

*To bail out of a plane means to escape the plane, usually via the cockpit's eject mechanism. To bail out a boat means to manually drain water coming onto the ship with buckets. The pilots here have confused the two, although if a plane was somehow taking on a large amount of water, bailing out that water would be a reasonable course of action.

*Sometimes, TV shows will tell true stories while playing up the drama angle for ratings purposes. In these cases, they will often air a notice similar to "The following program is a dramatization of real events" before the show, to indicate that the story they're about to tell is true, albeit not as a literally accurate retelling of events. But how do your dramatize the utterly mundane - say, making a sandwich? The answer is screaming. Senseless, inexplicable screaming.

*{{w|Black light}}s are a kind of lamp that filters out sub-purple light. This means that the only light it gives off is a small amount of purple light, plus plenty of ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light is invisible to humans, but it is noticeable in a few ways; it hurts the eyes, which is why it's hard to focus on things under a black light; it causes sunburns, although the amount given off by a black light is far too insignificant to do this in a realistic time; and it causes a fluorescence reaction in some some food stains and dust making them appear to glow, which is why the robes look dirty. As such, a "{{w|Lightsaber|blacklightsaber}}" would, indeed, be a bad idea.
**It also causes a fluorescent reaction in several types of cloth - which is why it has been used in disco techs, because of the way people in white t-shirts will light up.

*Most judicial systems have a {{w|jury}}, a panel of impartial laymen that, primarily, determines the guilt or innocence of a suspected criminal. "Ladies and gentlemen" is a formal way of addressing a crowd, and so Cueball addresses the jury as "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury."
:However, it turns out the jury consists only of women, so the "gentlemen" part is not needed. This poses a problem to Cueball's defense, which apparently relied on somewhat sexist tactics. This, sadly, is not too uncommon in real life.

*The commander's first line is a line from ''{{w|Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope}}''. In the original film, the commander was cut off by {{w|Darth Vader}} using {{w|Force_(Star_Wars)|the Force}} to strangle him, delivering the rebuttal "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
:Instead of belief in the Force as in the movie, the "ancient religion" referred to here is actually {{w|Wicca}}, a modern pagan religion with two deities that is most notable for practicing magic. So, naturally, Darth Vader puts a hex on the commander's family.
:The title text notes that modern Wiccans don't really practice the whole "putting hexes on people" thing, which is true. Episcopalianism probably refers to the {{w|Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church of the United States}}, which was founded during the American Revolution to replace the Church of England in the colonies.

==Transcript==
:Because of a family illness, instead of regular comics, this week I'll be sharing some strips that I drew as part of a game I played with friends. Each comic had to be written and drawn in five minutes.

:--Randall

====Comic #1====
:[A ninja is hiding under a diving board as a man runs along it.]

:[The man jumps on the end of the board and hits the ninja in the head, knocking him into the pool.]

:[The ninja floats in the water. A bullet passes through the man's head.]
:''thwipp''

:[The man is lying bleeding on the diving board, the ninja is still unconscious on the pool.]

:[A sniper is at the top of a hill. The sign in front of the hill says "Grassy Knoll".]

:[Someone is pointing at the diagram of the previous panel.]
:Off-panel voice: Wait, so ''what'' does this have to do with 9/11, again?
:Cueball: I ''said'' I'm getting there!

====Comic #2====
:[Cueball is studying Megan.]
:Cueball: You look different.

:Cueball: You have this... glow about you.

:[They stare in silence.]

:[A baby falls out of Megan.]
:''plop''

====Comic #3====
:Megan: Cogito ergo cogito.
:Off-panel voice: Playing it safe, huh?

====Comic #4====
:[Two children dressed up as ghosts are standing in front of Megan at a door, each carrying a bag.]
:Children: Trick or treat!

:[Megan doesn't move.]

:Child: Um hi. Why are you just standing there?
:Other Child: Candy?

:[Another silent panel as the children stare up at Megan.]

:[The second child looks in their bag.]
:Other Child: Oh God, my bag of candy.

:Other Child: It's filling with blood.
:Child: We should go.

====Comic #5====
:[A jet is flying across the panel.]
:Pilot: Bail out! Bail out! Bail out!

:[The pilot and copilot have buckets, and are bailing water out of the cockpit.]

====Comic #6====
:The following is a dramatization of real events.

:[Cueball is at a counter, with several jars.]
:Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAA I'm making a sandwich! AAAAAAAAAA!

====Comic #7====
:[Two people are carrying lightsabers and wearing robes.]
:Cueball: Oh God, my eyes won't focus right! And your robe looks... really dirty!
:My blacklightsaber was not a success.

====Comic #8====
:[Cueball is standing.]
:Cueball: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
:Off-screen voice: It seems we happen to be all ladies, actually.
:Cueball: ...in that case, this defense is going to appear extremely ill-advised.

====Comic #9====
:[Darth Vader is sitting between two people, at a table.]
:Cueball: Your sad devotion to that ancient religion hasn't helped you conjur up the stolen data tapes, or given you—
:Darth Vader: ''HEY.'' Wicca is a legitimate belief system!

:[Darth Vader is drawing a pentagram on the table.]
:Cueball: What are you—
:Darth Vader: Putting a hex on your family.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Five-minute comics]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

820: Five-Minute Comics: Part 2

2014-08-24T04:15:40Z

108.162.216.59: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorescence You mean fluorescence, phosphorescence continues to glow when the light has stopped.

{{comic
| number = 820
| date = November 17, 2010
| title = Five-Minute Comics: Part 2
| image = five_minute_comics_part_2.png
| titletext = Dear Wiccan readers: I understand modern Wiccans are not usually all about the curses and hexes. But Darth Vader was recently converted from Episcopalianism and he's still figuring it all out.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the second of three "five-minute comics" posts Randall made during November 2010. The introduction to the comic explains everything you need to know about the circumstances behind it.

*The first comic pokes fun at improbable conspiracy theories. {{w|Dealey Plaza#Grassy knoll|The grassy knoll}} is a location famous among conspiracy theorists who believe it to be the location of an unknown accomplice in the {{w|assassination of John F. Kennedy}}.
:It turns out that, somehow, this will all lead up to a theory that perfectly explains the {{w|September 11 attacks}}.

*When a woman described as having a "glow" about them, it's usually just a vague sentiment of attractiveness, specifically during pregnancy, which very suddenly reaches its conclusion as a baby is unceremoniously plopped into the world.

*"{{w|Cogito ergo sum}}" is philosophical statement in Latin, formulated by {{w|René Descartes}}, translated as "I think, therefore I am". Descartes wanted to build a philosophy from scratch, starting with something he could be absolutely certain of. "Cogito ergo cogito", is Latin for "I think, therefore I think." This can even beat "cogito ergo sum" in uncontroversiality, it is a {{w|tautology}}, which is why Cueball describes it as "playing it safe."

*Besides the cute kids in sheets, the comic on the far right could just be a joke on horror movie tropes and the phrase "buckets of blood." And/or Megan has some ability to fill the kids buckets with blood just by staring at it.

*To bail out of a plane means to escape the plane, usually via the cockpit's eject mechanism. To bail out a boat means to manually drain water coming onto the ship with buckets. The pilots here have confused the two, although if a plane was somehow taking on a large amount of water, bailing out that water would be a reasonable course of action.

*Sometimes, TV shows will tell true stories while playing up the drama angle for ratings purposes. In these cases, they will often air a notice similar to "The following program is a dramatization of real events" before the show, to indicate that the story they're about to tell is true, albeit not as a literally accurate retelling of events. But how do your dramatize the utterly mundane - say, making a sandwich? The answer is screaming. Senseless, inexplicable screaming.

*{{w|Black light}}s are a kind of lamp that filters out sub-purple light. This means that the only light it gives off is a small amount of purple light, plus plenty of ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light is invisible to humans, but it is noticeable in a few ways; it hurts the eyes, which is why it's hard to focus on things under a black light; it causes sunburns, although the amount given off by a black light is far too insignificant to do this in a realistic time; and it causes a fluorescence reaction in some some food stains and dust making them appear to glow, which is why the robes look dirty. As such, a "{{w|Lightsaber|blacklightsaber}}" would, indeed, be a bad idea.
**It also causes a fluorescence reaction in several types of cloth - which is why it has been used in disco techs, because of the way people in white t-shirts will light up.

*Most judicial systems have a {{w|jury}}, a panel of impartial laymen that, primarily, determines the guilt or innocence of a suspected criminal. "Ladies and gentlemen" is a formal way of addressing a crowd, and so Cueball addresses the jury as "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury."
:However, it turns out the jury consists only of women, so the "gentlemen" part is not needed. This poses a problem to Cueball's defense, which apparently relied on somewhat sexist tactics. This, sadly, is not too uncommon in real life.

*The commander's first line is a line from ''{{w|Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope}}''. In the original film, the commander was cut off by {{w|Darth Vader}} using {{w|Force_(Star_Wars)|the Force}} to strangle him, delivering the rebuttal "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
:Instead of belief in the Force as in the movie, the "ancient religion" referred to here is actually {{w|Wicca}}, a modern pagan religion with two deities that is most notable for practicing magic. So, naturally, Darth Vader puts a hex on the commander's family.
:The title text notes that modern Wiccans don't really practice the whole "putting hexes on people" thing, which is true. Episcopalianism probably refers to the {{w|Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church of the United States}}, which was founded during the American Revolution to replace the Church of England in the colonies.

==Transcript==
:Because of a family illness, instead of regular comics, this week I'll be sharing some strips that I drew as part of a game I played with friends. Each comic had to be written and drawn in five minutes.

:--Randall

====Comic #1====
:[A ninja is hiding under a diving board as a man runs along it.]

:[The man jumps on the end of the board and hits the ninja in the head, knocking him into the pool.]

:[The ninja floats in the water. A bullet passes through the man's head.]
:''thwipp''

:[The man is lying bleeding on the diving board, the ninja is still unconscious on the pool.]

:[A sniper is at the top of a hill. The sign in front of the hill says "Grassy Knoll".]

:[Someone is pointing at the diagram of the previous panel.]
:Off-panel voice: Wait, so ''what'' does this have to do with 9/11, again?
:Cueball: I ''said'' I'm getting there!

====Comic #2====
:[Cueball is studying Megan.]
:Cueball: You look different.

:Cueball: You have this... glow about you.

:[They stare in silence.]

:[A baby falls out of Megan.]
:''plop''

====Comic #3====
:Megan: Cogito ergo cogito.
:Off-panel voice: Playing it safe, huh?

====Comic #4====
:[Two children dressed up as ghosts are standing in front of Megan at a door, each carrying a bag.]
:Children: Trick or treat!

:[Megan doesn't move.]

:Child: Um hi. Why are you just standing there?
:Other Child: Candy?

:[Another silent panel as the children stare up at Megan.]

:[The second child looks in their bag.]
:Other Child: Oh God, my bag of candy.

:Other Child: It's filling with blood.
:Child: We should go.

====Comic #5====
:[A jet is flying across the panel.]
:Pilot: Bail out! Bail out! Bail out!

:[The pilot and copilot have buckets, and are bailing water out of the cockpit.]

====Comic #6====
:The following is a dramatization of real events.

:[Cueball is at a counter, with several jars.]
:Cueball: AAAAAAAAAAAAA I'm making a sandwich! AAAAAAAAAA!

====Comic #7====
:[Two people are carrying lightsabers and wearing robes.]
:Cueball: Oh God, my eyes won't focus right! And your robe looks... really dirty!
:My blacklightsaber was not a success.

====Comic #8====
:[Cueball is standing.]
:Cueball: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
:Off-screen voice: It seems we happen to be all ladies, actually.
:Cueball: ...in that case, this defense is going to appear extremely ill-advised.

====Comic #9====
:[Darth Vader is sitting between two people, at a table.]
:Cueball: Your sad devotion to that ancient religion hasn't helped you conjur up the stolen data tapes, or given you—
:Darth Vader: ''HEY.'' Wicca is a legitimate belief system!

:[Darth Vader is drawing a pentagram on the table.]
:Cueball: What are you—
:Darth Vader: Putting a hex on your family.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Five-minute comics]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

248: Hypotheticals

2014-07-02T22:21:03Z

108.162.216.59: typo

{{comic
| number = 248
| date = April 13, 2007
| title = Hypotheticals
| image = hypotheticals.png
| titletext = What if someone broke out of a hypothetical situation in your room right now?
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is, in short, a new take on the common comedy {{w|trope (literature)|trope}} in which characters in a thought bubble will sometimes look out of the bubble and talk directly to the person thinking it, another person nearby, or even the viewer. In this comic, however, it features [[Cueball]] and [[Beret Guy]] in a conversation together, in which Beret Guy creates a hypothetical situation by imagining he had ice cream. This then, to Cueball's dismay, creates a hypothetical situation in which Beret Guy has ice cream, which he promptly begins to eat. Cueball then creates a hypothetical situation in which his hypothetical self has a knife to 'cut' out of the thought. He then gives this knife to Cueball, who supposedly will use it to cut out of his hypothetical situation.

The title text puts the comic into context, noting the unlikely possibility — and your most likely surprised reaction — if a person in a hypothetical situation you'd involuntarily created managed to break out of it and suddenly appear in your room. Or it could be understood the other way, that a person you have forced into your hypothetical situation breaks free from it, and disappears from your room. Also, it points out that the situation is in fact a hypothetical situation itself, creating some irony.

A similar event occurred in [[429: Fantasy]].

==Transcript==
:Beret Guy: What if I had some ice cream? Wouldn't that be awesome?
:Cueball: No, stop--
:Beret Guy (thinking):
::Cueball: Great, you've trapped us in a a hypothetical situation!
::Beret Guy (holding ice cream): Mm, ice cream.
::Cueball: Maybe if I had a knife I could cut our way free...
::Cueball (thinking):
:::Beret Guy: Mmm, ice cream!
:::Cueball (reaching back into previous thought bubble with a knife): Here, take this one.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Recursion]]

441: Babies

2014-06-20T22:35:05Z

108.162.216.59: added Kaspar Hauser

{{comic
| number = 441
| date = June 25, 2008
| title = Babies
| image = babies.png
| titletext = I bet my future kids will read this someday. DEAR FUTURE KIDS: how did you get internet in the cellar?
}}

==Explanation==
A common theme of xkcd is that one never feels that one has "transitioned to adulthood", in the sense of actually attaining the seriousness and sense of responsibility that children imagine all adults to possess. Here, the author illustrates this by imagining [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] taking on the ultimate "adult responsibility" — having a child, treating it as they would any other engineering project. Disassembling a project to check the parts is an activity that is appropriate for a self-built computer or robot, but is impractical for a child. Megan also shows her lack of child experience by holding the baby upside-down by the foot, which usually isn't a good idea.

The title text implies the author will have kids someday. It will be surprising if they read this comic, not just because it will give them an unflattering look into their father's attitudes on having children, but because he plans to lock them in the cellar where there will be no internet access. This is a reference to Kaspar Hauser: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspar_Hauser] , who is a boy that was claimed to have grown up in a dark cell in Germany in the 19th century.

This is also the topic of [[674: Natural Parenting]] and [[1384: Krypton]].

==Transcript==
:It doesn't seem right that we're old enough to have kids.
:[Megan holds a baby upside-down by one leg.]
:Megan: Sweet! We made a baby!
:Cueball: Are we sure we did it right?
:Cueball: We should disassemble it, check all the parts, and put it back together.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

945: I'm Sorry

2014-05-12T21:16:14Z

108.162.216.59: per similarity in structure to 1364

{{comic
| number = 945
| date = August 31, 2011
| title = I'm Sorry
| image = im_sorry.png
| titletext = You know I've always hated her.
}}

==Explanation==
In the US (and likely other countries as well), when someone presents the other with bad news, they respond with (as the comic explains) a sympathetic "I'm sorry". That is different from the apologetic "I'm sorry" that a person would give for something that is their fault.

As it says below the comic, Cueball switches his sympathetic "I'm sorry" when Megan does not accept the "I'm sorry" because it was not his fault. Cueball says at the end "I know what I did..." and "You know I've always hated her" as a wild switch to an apologetic "I'm sorry".

==Transcript==
:[Two people are standing next to each other having a conversation.]
:Person 1: My Mom's house burned down.
:Person 2: Oh! I'm sorry!
:Person 1: Why? It's not ''your'' fault.
:Person 2: It's nice of you to say that, but I know what I did.

:It annoys me when people interpret an obviously sympathetic "I'm sorry" as an apology, so I've started responding by making it one.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]

Talk:1122: Electoral Precedent

2014-03-13T18:16:55Z

108.162.216.59:

This illustrates how the future is unlike the past in countless ways.

----
I don't understand what he means by Alternative Tickets in the last frame.
:It does not say 'Alternative', it says {{w|Alliterative}}, meaning that both names starts with the same sound/letter. '''R'''omney/'''R'''yan --[[User:Pmakholm|Pmakholm]] ([[User talk:Pmakholm|talk]]) 16:04, 18 October 2012 (UTC)
----
My research tells me that Jefferson won 1800. Error on Randall's part? [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 08:52, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm a bit confused by 1792 vs. 1804: The latter is "No incumbent has beaten a challenger", but didn't Washington face any challenger when he was re-elected in 1792? [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 14:19, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
: {{w|United_States_presidential_election,_1792|He ran unopposed}} --[[User:Buggz|Buggz]] ([[User talk:Buggz|talk]]) 14:33, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
:: As far as I understand it, he had four opponents, but got all the votes. Then, the electoral college voted on whom to be the vice president among the remaining candidates. But it seems unlikely to get 100% of the popular votes, do I misinterpret the wiki page? [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 17:45, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
:::Well, back then, the electoral college didn't take their votes from the people. They just decided, so they decided to give Washington the presidency. [[Special:Contributions/140.247.0.79|140.247.0.79]] 18:55, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

----
"1904: No one under 45 has become president. ... Roosevelt did."

Sort of. {{w|Theodore Roosevelt}} (Oct 1858–1919) was under 45 when he ''became'' president, in 1901. But by the time of the ''1904'' election he was 46.
 [[Special:Contributions/75.36.234.236|75.36.234.236]] 18:48, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
:Correct. Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest President to date, but Kennedy was the youngest yet ''elected''. [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 20:09, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

The image needs to be updated. I'm not sure how to do that myself. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 23:56, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Uploaded corrected image, changed tense on comments. Reload/refresh to check the 1800 frame should now show Jefferson... --[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 01:36, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

And how can people be from Virginia AND Massachusett? I think he meant OR.[[Special:Contributions/77.245.46.86|77.245.46.86]] 11:39, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

I take it the entire comic will not go up under "Transcripts"? [[User:Bobidou23|Bobidou23]] ([[User talk:Bobidou23|talk]]) 22:03, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

:It will, but no one's been bothered the transcribe it all yet.[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 23:01, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

----
Although Buchanan/Breckinridge won in 1856, Stevenson/Sparkman were defeated by Eisenhower/Nixon in 1952.

He's wrong about the other 'precedent' for 2012 as well. Other first name with a K losers:
*1924, Frank T. Johns (Socialist Labor)
*1932, Frank S. Regan (Prohibition)
*1936, Frank Knox (Republican)
*1948, Tucker P. Smith (Socialist)
*1980, Patrick J. Lucey (Independent)
*1996, Patrick Choate (Reform)
*2004, Chuck Baldwin (Constitution)
*2008, Chuck Baldwin (Constitution)
--[[Special:Contributions/76.20.209.221|76.20.209.221]] 10:43, 20 October 2012 (UTC)
----

Good point about small party candidates, but Tucker P. Smith was the Socialist vice presidential candidate in 1948; the presidential candidate was Norman Thomas.
--[[Special:Contributions/174.59.119.154|174.59.119.154]] 13:51, 24 October 2012 (UTC)
----

;Errors
Should the errors be included in the article explanation, or should they just be discussed here in the chat box? I'm of the opinion that anything that doesn't go towards explaining the comic should go here in the discussion. I would lean towards keeping error nitpicking confined to the discussion page. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] ([[User talk:Davidy22|talk]]) 13:19, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

:I think errors should be put down in a trivia/errors section. Or, if a flame war is starting, move it onto the talk page. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:44, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

I put back my original comment on the 2012 streaks; some anonymous person had previously written 'whether he thinks "st" and "sp" sounds are different enough to count as alliteration', but first of all, an alliteration requires the (first) sound(s)/letter(s) of two words to be the same (not different), and second, if Randall would consider Stevenson/Sparkman not to be alliterative (as their second letters differ), he would undoubtedly think the same about Romney/Ryan.--[[User:Jay|Jay]] ([[User talk:Jay|talk]]) 14:11, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

:Yeah, I noticed that edit, but thought there was a "not" in there, which would have made it make sense. Ah well. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 16:50, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

:Not quite true, Jay - St/Sp is two different consonant ''blends'', which are much more intertwined than a consonant and its following vowel, as in Ro/Ry. The question is do they sound alike, not the literal letters used. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 17:06, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Re: 1996 - surely 'William' (12 pts not including 50 pts for using all seven letters) beats 'Robert' - (8 pts)? {{unsigned|163.1.166.255}}

----

2012: Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers.

Isn't Obama 6'1" and Romney is 6'2"? Certainly Obama won there. [[Special:Contributions/24.6.170.96|24.6.170.96]] 01:47, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

:The comic was written before the presidential election. {{unsigned ip|173.245.52.223}}

;Transcript
Just finished the transcript. I didn't check for typos, since there was a lot of typing. It would be great if someone else would look over it. {{unsigned|207.242.93.10}}

:Looks great! I've removed a lot of the whitespace which (I think) makes it easier to read, and doesn't require quite as much scrolling. I haven't gone through and spell checked everything either, but if someone finds anything they can fix it. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:44, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

----

2012: No Republican has lost a November 6 presidential election...
2012: No one ever wins re-election after the previous two presidents - from different parties - won re-election...
2012: No Democrat was re-elected with very high unemployment and a Republican-controlled House...

...until Obama. [[Special:Contributions/50.74.2.12|50.74.2.12]] 02:06, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

----

Is it me or does the 1972 panel now say „Quakers can’t win twice“? What happened to „No wartime candidate has won without Massachusetts“?
1956–1964 seem to be wrong, too. Or am I missing something?
[[User:Quoti|Quoti]] ([[User talk:Quoti|talk]]) 23:15, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1329: Standing

2014-02-12T15:58:29Z

108.162.216.59:

I was bold, and made a start on the page. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.6|141.101.98.6]] 10:08, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Note that the part which is really bad about "sitting" work is being in same position all day. I'm sure standing all day would be just as unhealthy (and more tiring), while the deer would be even more tiring and probably lower productivity. Even walking is not as ideal if you walk on treadmill, because it's too flat. So, real solution is having desk which would automatically (so you don't forget) change height periodically, forcing you to spend part of work sitting, part standing and part searching for repairman to fix the desk after it will get stuck again. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:41, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
:The research conclusion is simple: The more you sit the earlier you die. True, there are no conclusions on those who stand most of the day. I mix sitting and standing at work. My adjustable height desk works fine. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:20, 12 February 2014 (UTC)''

PS: The argument of "we are not built" is flawed. Humans are built to be mostly dead in thirty, forty if they are lucky. The reason cavemen were healthier that we are is not because of healthy exercise. It's because if he developed back pain problems, something eated him soon. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:48, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

:Humans were living 70 or 80 years several millennia ago. True, most died by age 40 from a variety of hazards modern humans don't face. The theoretical maximum age hasn't changed. It's been stuck at 120 for millennia. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 13:20, 12 February 2014 (UTC)''
::"Theoretical maximum" and "observed median" are probably different numbers. The second one seems like it would be more relevant to the discussion of general health trends over time.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 15:58, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Anyone notice that it's a part of the My Hobby series? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.30|108.162.219.30]] 11:46, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
:Somebody has - it is now part of that category as seen at the bottom of the page. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:31, 12 February 2014 (UTC)