explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1067: Pressures

2014-01-23T06:29:00Z

108.162.219.223:

I think the alt-text is a play on words, where you have someone wearing "patent" shoes working on the movie "clerks II". So "patent" "clerk" if you will. Which is why everyone is surprised because they were looking for "patent clerks" with brilliant ideas, not someone wearing "patent" shoes working on a movie called "clerks..." It also seems to be sort of a jab at the absurdity of assuming there is something special about a "patent clerk". Like is it the job that is important? Just the name?

[[Special:Contributions/128.95.214.3|128.95.214.3]] 23:51, 20 September 2012 (UTC)Someone who should be working. (TJ)

"Much of" Einstein's patent work revolved around those arcane topics? Sounds like revisionist bullsh*t to me. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]]

Talk:1065: Shoes

2014-01-23T06:24:11Z

108.162.219.223:

Can we choose to wear another pair of bigger shoes over the magic shoes? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:39, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

There should be four toe-holes, not five. The fourth and last toes are almost always in the same toe-hole, as the shoes become very uncomfortable otherwise. The (four-toed) shoes, however, are very nice for relaxation, general purposes, and the outdoors.
:Technically, since these are stick figures, they shouldn't have any toes. Anonymous. 07:24, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
::Technically, I don't even see any feet. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 06:24, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1059: Bel-Air

2014-01-23T06:10:26Z

108.162.219.223:

Doggerel verse? Mixed with rap? What is this blasphemy? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:46, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

It seems that the 'click' was precisely timed so that Cueball could avoid hearing 'philadelphia' rhyme with 'adele for you'. I strongly support this decision. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 06:10, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

867: Herpetology

2014-01-22T23:46:58Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 867
| date = March 2, 2011
| title = Herpetology
| image = herpetology.png
| titletext = Birds are Aves, which is part of the clade Theropoda, which is in Saurischia, which is in Dinosauria. Those birds outside our windows are dinosaurs. We can clear out the rest of our brains because we now have the best fact.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Herpetology}} is the branch of {{w|zoology}} that studies reptiles and amphibians. {{w|Ornithology}} is the branch of zoology that studies birds.

At an ornithology conference, the presenter is using a cladistic chart to argue that the combining of amphibians and reptiles into a single field of study is misguided. In terms of their evolutionary history, reptiles are more closely related to birds (and even to mammals) than to amphibians. She states, in a patronising way, that the study of reptiles should more properly be combined into his own field.

Herpetologists would rightly see this view as a threat to their territory, their budgets and even their existence.

The claim made by the ornithologist is fundamentally correct; the evolutionary history of those groups did actually diverge in that way. So, instead of arguing the science, the herpetologists resort to a personal attack on the profession of ornithology. At their own conference, they retaliate with a chart that purports to demonstrate that douchebags and ornithologists are more closely related to each other than either are to "nice people", and they can therefore be grouped into an encompassing "asshole" classification.

Since the intent of the earlier presentation was presumably to rile herpetologists rather than achieve any particular scientific goal, this response seems appropriate.

In the title text, birds are class {{w|Aves}} which is a subset of the suborder {{w|Theropoda}} which is a subset of the order {{w|Saurischia}} and the superorder {{w|Dinosauria}}. Under the normal rules of classification, this means that all birds are technically dinosaurs.

==Transcript==
:Ornithology conference:
:[Graph showing a large tree split between amphibians and reptiles.]
:Ponytail: As you can see, herpetology is a silly field; reptiles are actually more closely related to birds and mammals than to amphibians.It should really be broken up, with lizards folded into ornithology.

:Herpetology conference:
:[Graph showing a large tree split between nice people and ornithologists.]
:Megan: As you can see, ornithologists are actually assholes.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

867: Herpetology

2014-01-22T23:10:08Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 867
| date = March 2, 2011
| title = Herpetology
| image = herpetology.png
| titletext = Birds are Aves, which is part of the clade Theropoda, which is in Saurischia, which is in Dinosauria. Those birds outside our windows are dinosaurs. We can clear out the rest of our brains because we now have the best fact.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Herpetology}} is the branch of {{w|zoology}} that studies reptiles and amphibians. {{w|Ornithology}} is the branch of zoology that studies birds.

At an ornithology conference, the presenter is using a cladistic chart to argue that the combining of amphibians and reptiles into a single field of study is misguided. In terms of their evolutionary history, reptiles are more closely related to birds (and even to mammals) than to amphibians. He states that the study of reptiles should more properly be combined into his own field.

Herpetologists would rightly see this view as a threat to their territory, their budgets and even their existence.

The claim made by the ornithologist is fundamentally correct; the evolutionary history of those groups did actually diverge in that way. So, instead of arguing the science, the herpetologists resort to a personal attack on the profession of ornithology. At their own conference, they retaliate with a chart that purports to demonstrate that douchebags and ornithologists are more closely related to each other than either are to "nice people", and they can therefore be grouped into an encompassing "asshole" classification.

Since the intent of the earlier presentation was presumably to rile herpetologists rather than achieve any particular scientific goal, this response seems appropriate.

In the title text, birds are class {{w|Aves}} which is a subset of the suborder {{w|Theropoda}} which is a subset of the order {{w|Saurischia}} and the superorder {{w|Dinosauria}}. Under the normal rules of classification, this means that all birds are technically dinosaurs.

==Transcript==
:Ornithology conference:
:[Graph showing a large tree split between amphibians and reptiles.]
:Ponytail: As you can see, herpetology is a silly field; reptiles are actually more closely related to birds and mammals than to amphibians.It should really be broken up, with lizards folded into ornithology.

:Herpetology conference:
:[Graph showing a large tree split between nice people and ornithologists.]
:Megan: As you can see, ornithologists are actually assholes.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]

863: Major in the Universe

2014-01-22T22:31:55Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 863
| date = February 21, 2011
| title = Major in the Universe
| image = major in the universe.png
| titletext = I hear Steven Levitt is writing a book analyzing A.J. Jacobs' quest to spend a year reading everything Malcolm Gladwell ever wrote. The audiobook will be narrated by Robert Krulwich of Radiolab.
}}

==Explanation==
Several authors are referenced here. {{w|Malcolm Gladwell}} is a Canadian author who wrote such books as "The Tipping Point", "Outliers" and "Blink." {{w|Steven Levitt}} is one of the co-authors of the book, "{{w|Freakonomics}}" and also the Freakonomics blog on NYTimes.com.

{{w|Robert Krulwich}} is a science correspondent for {{w|NPR}} (National Public Radio, for those outside of the US) and a co-host of the show {{w|Radiolab}}.

{{w|A. J. Jacobs}} is a journalist who immerses himself in different ideas and lives them out for periods of time. For example, he lives a year according to {{w|The Year of Living Biblically|all the rules in the bible literally}}.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] as a college student, meeting with his adviser or professor trying to decide what to major in. He decides to major in "The Universe", but when his adviser details the real work required of that major, Cueball scratches his head and tells what he really means. If you have not read Malcolm Gladwell's books, they all are slightly similar and details Gladwell's different "discoveries" about the world based on things that have happened.

Randall might be trying to make fun of people who claim to have a broad range of interests, but apparently just to deflect attention from the fact that they are too lazy to master even one field.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball before a professor.]
:Cueball: How can I pick a major? I'm interested in everything! Can't I major in "the universe"?

:Professor: Okay. First, I'll need papers on every European trade summit that did not result in an agreement. Then, spend a year memorizing every microprocessor instruction set ever used in a production chip.

:[Cueball scratches head.]

:Cueball: What I meant was I just want to read Malcolm Gladwell books and drink.
:Professor: We all do, sweetie.

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

Talk:860: Never Do This

2014-01-22T20:27:12Z

108.162.219.223:

The current explanation states ''"A "Rule 34" version of this might feature microscopic views of other bodily areas or fluids than fingernails."'' However, I think the title text is actually meant to point out that the images in The Secret House (and the stuff under your fingernails) are so disgusting that it may not be possible to make porn of it, which would be a violation of Rule 34. So by saying "I call Rule 34 on The Secret House," he is either challenging someone to prove that Rule 34 applies to something so disgusting, or he is questioning the validity of Rule 34 altogether.
--[[User:Foushee217|Foushee217]] ([[User talk:Foushee217|talk]]) 16:07, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

: I agree that it should be changed, but I disagree with your explanation. I think that calling Rule 34 on the book means the book already implements Rule 34. If microscopic photos of what's under your fingernails are dirty, microscopic photos of everyday phenomena in the common house are likely to be dirty. "Dirty" may be related to sexual activities. So, the book contains pornographic photos. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.232|108.162.231.232]] 03:37, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

:I am 100% sure that Rule 34 has absolutely nothing to do with the dual meaning of "dirty". Randall cannot be saying anything else except that since the Secret House exists, there must be porn that relates to it, or the idea or concepts expressed within it. Microscopic household porn. I am not going to pretend I can imagine what he thinks that will entail; he is simply calling Rule 34 that says it must exist. 19:59, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

I improved the Rule 34 explanation and tried to do better overall. Note that I am not convinced the third paragraph even belongs there (about Buddah and everything) but I worked on that one too. Goody. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:27, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

860: Never Do This

2014-01-22T20:25:16Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 860
| date = February 14, 2011
| title = Never Do This
| image = never_do_this.png
| titletext = I call Rule 34 on The Secret House.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] shows his new pocket {{w|microscope}} to [[Megan]]. With the curiosity of scientists, they quickly decide to use the microscope to look at a number of different things.

But after they use the microscope to inspect what is under their fingernails, they both sink into a catatonic state. Our fingers are how we interact with the world, and all manner of things get trapped under our fingernails; different kinds of dirt, fungus, spores, fragments of insects, insect droppings and so on. Such things that obviously look pretty horrific when magnified a few hundred times. Cueball and Megan never suspected what they would find, and seem unable to process or deal with the horror they have uncovered.

Secondly, when zooming in on reality like this, it is easy to start realizing that things have more detail than you think and thus, describing a table as table may not suffice.
This induction, which is extensively used in at least the {{w|Buddhism}} philosophy as preached by the {{w|14th Dalai Lama}}, will result in a train of thought that shows that any concept can be divided up further and further. There are no true surfaces. There is no such thing as a solid. Objects are composed of fibers, mineral grains or cells, eventually of molecules and atoms and fundamental particles. At the very bottom, all is quanta. The concept of an 'ego' or 'self' will be reduced to some biochemistry and then to essentially nothing - you don't exist.

The title text refers to Rule 34, an {{w|internet meme}} which states "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions.". The book referenced is "The Secret House: 24 hours in the strange & wonderful world in which we spend our nights and days" by {{w|David Bodanis}} and is a study in {{w|micrograph|microphotography}}. It features extreme close-ups of everyday phenomena in the common house, but as seen from a microscopic perspective. "Rule 34" states that there must be porn of this nature, but it is not clear what form this would take.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball brings in a pocket microscope.]
:Cueball: Check it out - a pocket microscope!
:Megan: Ooh! Let's look at stuff!

:[Cueball holds a pencil; Megan peers at a quarter through the microscope.]
:Cueball: The tip of this pencil is neat!
:Megan: This quarter is really scratched.

:Cueball: Let's look at the skin under our fingernails!

:Minutes later...
:[Cueball and Megan curl up in a pit of despair.]
:Cueball and Megan: oh god oh god

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

860: Never Do This

2014-01-22T20:14:50Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 860
| date = February 14, 2011
| title = Never Do This
| image = never_do_this.png
| titletext = I call Rule 34 on The Secret House.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] shows his new pocket {{w|microscope}} to [[Megan]]. With the curiosity of scientists, they quickly decide to use the microscope to look at a number of different things.

But after they use the microscope to inspect what is under their fingernails, they both sink into a catatonic state. Our fingers are how we interact with the world, and all manner of things get trapped under our fingernails; different kinds of dirt, fungus, spores, fragments of insects, insect droppings and so on. Such things that obviously look pretty horrific when magnified a few hundred times. Cueball and Megan never suspected what they would find, and seem unable to process or deal with the horror they have uncovered.

Secondly, when zooming in on reality like this, it is easy to start realizing that things have more detail than you think and thus, describing a table as table may not suffice.
This induction, which is extensively used in at least the {{w|Buddhism}} philosophy as preached by the {{w|14th Dalai Lama}}, will result in a train of thought that shows that any concept can be divided up further and further. There are no true surfaces. There is no such thing as a solid. Objects are composed of fibers or mineral grains or cells, eventually of molecules and atoms and fundamental particles. At the very bottom, all is quanta. The concept of an 'ego' or 'self' will be reduced to some biochemistry and then to essentially nothing - you don't exist.

The title text refers to Rule 34, an {{w|internet meme}} which states "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions.". The book referenced is "The Secret House: 24 hours in the strange & wonderful world in which we spend our nights and days" by {{w|David Bodanis}} and is about microphotography. It features extreme close-ups of everyday phenomena in the common house, but as seen from a microscopic perspective. "Rule 34" states that there must be porn of this nature, but it is not clear what form this would take.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball brings in a pocket microscope.]
:Cueball: Check it out - a pocket microscope!
:Megan: Ooh! Let's look at stuff!

:[Cueball holds a pencil; Megan peers at a quarter through the microscope.]
:Cueball: The tip of this pencil is neat!
:Megan: This quarter is really scratched.

:Cueball: Let's look at the skin under our fingernails!

:Minutes later...
:[Cueball and Megan curl up in a pit of despair.]
:Cueball and Megan: oh god oh god

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

Talk:860: Never Do This

2014-01-22T19:59:34Z

108.162.219.223:

Talk:858: Milk

2014-01-22T19:54:02Z

108.162.219.223:

Psychic and oddly aware of some mad fetishes. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:04, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

Am I just being pedantic when I note that there is no mention of breastfeeding in the comic? Were I to milk a cow, for example, I would not wish that action to be characterized as breastfeeding. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:54, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

901: Temperature

2014-01-22T19:50:21Z

108.162.219.223: /* Doubly Surprised */

{{comic
| number = 901
| date = May 20, 2011
| title = Temperature
| image = temperature.png
| titletext = And the baby has a fever.
}}

==Explanation==
This is a play on the fact that many {{w|digital thermometers}} look similar to {{w|pregnancy tests}}. [[Cueball]], perhaps feeling ill, is using a thermometer to measure his body temperature and determine if he has a fever. As a male, he is presumably doubly surprised when the thermometer tells him instead that he is pregnant.

The two bars on the thermometer are similar to lines that appear on a traditional pregnancy tests. One bar is the control line; it will become visible given any normal urine sample. If it doesn't appear, the test is invalid. The other bar, the test line, reacts to {{w|human chorionic gonadotropin}}, a hormone that's released during pregnancy. If both lines become visible, the test result is positive; if only the control line becomes visible, the test result is negative. Other results are invalid, since the control line didn't appear.

Thermometers are typically used to measure temperature, and the title text notes that this clever thermometer has also detected a fever in the baby.

==Transcript==
:[A close up of Cueball with a thermometer in his mouth.]

:[The thermometer beeps.]
:Thermometer: BEEP

:[A full-body shot of Cueball looking down at the thermometer.]

:[A close-up of the thermometer's read-out.]
:Thermometer: PREGNANT

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

1216: Sticks and Stones

2014-01-22T19:34:57Z

108.162.219.223: /* Rabid improvement */

{{comic
| number = 1216
| date = May 24, 2013
| title = Sticks and Stones
| image = sticks and stones.png
| titletext = Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can make me think I deserved it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Sticks and Stones (nursery rhyme)}}:
<blockquote>Sticks and stones may/will break my bones 
But words/names will never harm/hurt me.</blockquote>
is a nursery rhyme said, often by parents, to persuade an individual, usually a child, to ignore any name calling or mean taunts that were said by others in an attempt to hurt the individual's feelings.

The comic challenges this sentiment when the child responds that, although words can't harm you physically, they can change how you feel, and isn't that the most important thing of all? [[Cueball]] obviously sees the simple truth in this, but tries to deflect (or something) by claiming that the world really isn't that bad. The child refers again to the rhyme, observing that the physical world can be harsh enough, because there are things like sticks and stones that break your bones and presumably people who use them as weapons to do so. Upon reflection, Cueball agrees that this image is actually horrific.

The title text is rather dark, and is probably a reference to the currently active bullying and shaming culture. None of us deserves to be beaten or stoned, but words are powerful enough to make us think that we do.

In the long tradition of the science of the obvious, recent studies (for example: [http://www.pnas.org/content/108/15/6270.full?sid=758b38cc-b399-4d22-9c37-3c074cf321b Social rejection shares somatosensory representations with physical pain]) have shown that, in fact, the brain's reactions to physical pain and emotional rejection are somewhat similar and even feed into each other.

==Transcript==
:Child: Did you hear what he said about me!?
:Cueball: Well, remember: sticks and stones may break my bones, but words —

:Child: — can make someone else feel happy or sad, which is literally the only thing that matters in this stupid world?

:[Brief pause.]

:Child: Right?
:Cueball: The world isn't ''that'' bad.
:Child: Explain the line about sticks and stones?
:Cueball: ...OK, maybe it's kind of horrific.

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

Talk:1216: Sticks and Stones

2014-01-22T19:21:17Z

108.162.219.223:

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will hurt forever. --[[User:Buggz|Buggz]] ([[User talk:Buggz|talk]]) 06:04, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

Noone can appreciate the difference between broken bones and someone namecalling him without experience with the first. The things childs do to each other is basically the worst they ever experienced - because if those wouldn't, they would do worse. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:31, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

Is it really a rhyme if it doesn't rhyme? --[[User:Dangerkeith3000|Dangerkeith3000]] ([[User talk:Dangerkeith3000|talk]]) 15:02, 24 May 2013 (UTC)
:The rhyming of "stones" and "bones" probably counts as the big feature, and then the 'uhr' sound of "words" and "hurt" echo this resonance, and I've never heard the "harm" version that wouldn't have this. Although it's certainly a non-standard rhyming scheme (if it's AABC) and scan (7+7 syllables, or (3+4)+(2+5) or however you want to split it). It's pithy, which probably trumps strict adherence to anything like iambic pentameter. Maybe there's an argument that it's more musical, with a rythm of 4 groups of 4 beats ("sticks" and "words" extending over two of them, each, the way I'd say it). But musical lyrics and spoken verse are easily interchangable, and as long as it isn't totally 'blank' verse I'd accept it as a rhyme. (Not an authority, though ->) [[Special:Contributions/31.109.101.73|31.109.101.73]] 19:56, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

Citation: http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/27/in-the-brain-broken-hearts-hurt-like-broken-bones/ and http://www.pnas.org/content/108/15/6270.full?sid=758b38cc-b399-4d22-9c37-3c074cf321be [[User:Woliveirajr|Woliveirajr]] ([[User talk:Woliveirajr|talk]]) 16:58, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

My dear departed mother-in-law put it much more memorably - Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will break my heart. [[Special:Contributions/131.107.147.231|131.107.147.231]] 17:46, 24 May 2013 (UTC)

I can easily disregard words. It's not as easy to disregard a broken bone. After my fourth day at my new job, my knees are killing me, and that's not even close. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 01:16, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

So was this comic copied from here? http://thegentlemansarmchair.com/post/50907218931/sticks-and-stones-http-i-imgur-com-sowwlir-jpg
[[User:Bryced|Bryced]] ([[User talk:Bryced|talk]]) 07:43, 27 May 2013 (UTC)
:Nice find, looks similar but the child doesn't talk. That's the point here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:18, 27 May 2013 (UTC)

I think the last panel isn't so much implying that Cueball thinks THE WORLD is horrific, but that the RHYME (and the fact that it's something regularly promoted to children) is horrific.--[[Special:Contributions/68.230.167.173|68.230.167.173]] 07:13, 10 August 2013 (UTC)
:Definitely. The horrific part is that we have a children's rhyme about a bone-breaking beating with clubs or rocks. That kind of thing curdles my stomach a little when I even read it in the paper (sorry, internet), so yes it does seem out of place here! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:21, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

1210: I'm So Random

2014-01-22T19:14:16Z

108.162.219.223: /* Moved the 'trochee' reference out of prime position, provided a better explanation of the "i'm so random" meme */

{{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 analagous, 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==
:[Hairy approaches Black Hat, who is at a computer.]
:Hairy: Monkey Tacos! I'm so random.
:Black Hat: Yeah, me too.
:[A massive speech bubble comes out of Black Hat's mouth, filled with random numbers, knocking Hairy to the ground.]
:[Black Hat resumes work at his computer, as if nothing has happened.]

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

Talk:1035: Cadbury Eggs

2014-01-22T01:33:32Z

108.162.219.223:

They can't *all* be like that. I'm pretty sure the ones with caramel fillings have waay more calories than the average egg, and coke zero probably amounts to less than one egg. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:34, 21 January 2013 (UTC)
:true, but it's worse for you for completely different reasons. [[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 10:07, 15 April 2013 (UTC)
:surely coke zero isn't technically food. why not replace it with hummingbird urine? naturally sweet! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 01:33, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1030: Keyed

2014-01-22T01:21:11Z

108.162.219.223:

Is is just me, or does that explanation make Carrie Underwood sound like one crazy b*tch? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 01:21, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:996: Making Things Difficult

2014-01-21T22:49:05Z

108.162.219.223:

Commenter VaguelyCreepy had a few notes on Mardi Gras beads that are probably good to keep close to this page:

:A few notes on the Mardi Gras beads:
# They come in all colors, so pink isn’t particularly unusualy, though it could still fit if the doctor specifically chose that color for that reason.
# New Orleans natives really frown on that kind of behavior, and you usually only see it from tourists who think Mardi Gras is some kind of excuse to do whatever you like. The entire thing is a celebration, but if you act like an ass, people are going to hate you for it, and you may very well get arrested. Also, the beads, as well as a variety of other memorabilia, are thrown to everyone, including the women who keep their tops on.

That's all. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:58, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

I'm removing the line, "In this case, the beads are pink, likely a reference to the Pink ribbon campaign related to Breast cancer awareness." The beads aren't pink, they're clearly purple. [[Special:Contributions/67.253.239.15|67.253.239.15]] 19:21, 20 July 2013 (UTC)
:I have an app which identifies them as pink (I'm colorblind, so I can't personally pass judgement). The pink beads would definitely make sense. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.202|108.162.219.202]] 06:33, 30 December 2013 (UTC)

:I'm no expert, but if you open the image in Paint, zoom and use the eye-dropper, the color is definitely purple to the eye. My sample was (R,G,B => 175,68,173). It is not uniform, but other samples were similar. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 22:49, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:991: Phantom Menace

2014-01-21T22:40:27Z

108.162.219.223:

Episode I is so much maligned that some fans have created their own viewing order:

*IV: A New Hope
*V: The Empire Strikes Back
*II: Attack of the Clones
*III: Revenge of the Sith
*VI: Return of the Jedi

Skipping The Pantom Menace entirely. [http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2011/11/11/the-star-wars-saga-suggested-viewing-order/]

[[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 23:26, 28 August 2012 (UTC)

I like to believe that being in line early is a phantom menace.--[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 05:37, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

I actually saw the 3D rerelease... [[User:BlueDudeWithATude|BlueDudeWithATude]] ([[User talk:BlueDudeWithATude|talk]]) 15:43, 27 May 2013 (UTC)

I think that the existing explanation kind of misses the comic entirely. The comic was published 2 months before the 3D rerelease, so we can assume that the events of the comic take place at the same time as the publishing and so the characters are standing there at least 2 months early. Also, Cueball says "Let's give it one more month" to the suggestion that they aren't even in line for a theatre, suggesting that a) they've probably been waiting for at least a month, and b) they're so dedicated that they went to watch the movie without even knowing where they were going. So, my explanation would be that the characters are die-hard Star Wars fans, willing to watch even the much-maligned Episode I and also convinced of the sheer importance of this event that they're willing to line up at least 3 months in advance at what might not even be a theatre. [[User:Gman314|Gman314]] ([[User talk:Gman314|talk]]) 16:57, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

I'm reasonably certain (but not so certain as to edit the article) that the joke is not that they're waiting for the re-release of Phantom Menace in 2012, but the original release in 1999. [[User:Neito|Neito]] ([[User talk:Neito|talk]]) 02:50, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

The intent of the comic is identical either way, and there are no clues to help us decide, except for the timing of publication. They both seem pretty clueless; the terrible props, the inane conversation, and the simple fact that they have been in line *by themselves* for a long time, with no clear indication that they are even at a theater. Is Randall trying to say that people queuing up to see phantom menace, are, to put it bluntly, stupid? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 22:40, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

991: Phantom Menace

2014-01-21T22:33:43Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 991
| date = December 16, 2011
| title = Phantom Menace
| image = phantom_menace.png
| titletext = We could go to the theater across town and see if it's opened THERE yet, but we don't want to lose our place in line.
}}

==Explanation==
Here we have [[Cueball]] and one other unidentified character, who is dressed as [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Maul Darth Maul]. Darth Maul is a [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sith_apprentice Sith apprentice] in {{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}. [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sith The Sith] are the group of characters in the {{w|Star Wars}} universe who embrace [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_side_of_the_Force the dark side] of [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Force the Force] and are the enemies throughout the series. Cueball is holding a cheap replica of a [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber lightsaber], which is the weapon used by the [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi Jedi] and the Sith. Cueball and Darth Maul are standing outside what they think is a {{w|Movie theater|theater}} waiting for the {{w|3d movie|3D}} {{w|The phantom menace#3D re-release|edition}} of The Phantom Menace, which was [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120915/releaseinfo released] in most countries in February of 2012. They both appear to be holding tickets or passes, presumably for entrance to the movie.

Cueball and his friend are die-hard Star Wars fans and thus are willing to line up in front of a seemingly abandoned, run-down building. When Cueball says "Let's give it another month", it's likely that they've been waiting at least a month. It's quite possible that the characters are not aware of the movie release date and they don't even seem to know if they're at a theater. The movie wasn't re-released until two months after the comic was published.

This comic seems to be poking fun at those people who are willing to wait long in advance for the release of some product or the first theatrical release of a movie. The title text expounds upon this when one of the characters states that going to a theater across town may be better, but he is worried about taking the chance due to the possibility of losing their place in this line, a misplaced sense of priorities if the line goes nowhere, and they are presently the only two in it.

It could be that no one else is waiting with them because the Phantom Menace was considered to be {{w|The phantom menace#Reception|one of the worst movies}} in the Star Wars series. It is much maligned because of the inclusion of a new race, [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gungan the Gungans], specifically [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jar_Jar_Binks Jar Jar Binks] and the stilted dialog and wooden performances from the actors.

The comic may be insinuating that few people will be seeing the 3D release of The Phantom Menace by depicting Cueball and his friend as the only two in line.

==Transcript==
:[Two people -- one in a Darth Maul mask, the other holding a lightsaber, and each holding money in his or her hand -- stand outside a building.]
:[They continue to stand there.]
:[They continue to stand there.]
:[Darth Maul turns to lightsaber guy.]
:Darth Maul: Are you sure this place is a theater?
:Lightsaber guy: Let's give it one more month.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

983: Privacy

2014-01-21T22:23:45Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 983
| date = November 28, 2011
| title = Privacy
| image = privacy.png
| titletext = Eventual headline: 'University Researchers Create Life in Lab! Darkness, Faulty Condoms Blamed.'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is about [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] attempting to find some privacy to "hook up", which is slang for engaging in sexual activity.

They start by going to a dorm. However, the door is locked.

In the second frame, the female roommate of Megan's is currently in a {{w|Raid_(gaming)|raid}}, which is a phrase used in {{w|World of Warcraft}} and other {{w|Massively multiplayer online role-playing game|Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games}} or MMORPGs. A Raid is a large gathering of players that work together to defeat a difficult enemy.

The Rare book collection in the library in frame three is usually deserted, so it would be perfect for sexual activity, but instead a tour is going through the area instead. It is unclear if the tour is visiting {{w|Nelson Mandela}} in the rare book section or Nelson Mandela is visiting the school and is getting a tour through the rare book section.

Next they try an accelerator tunnel that is in use and thus locked. This is a normal safety feature in particle accelerators in order to protect researchers from being exposed to potentially dangerous radiation from the particle beam, simply by being near the accelerator while it is in use.

Then they try a beaver lodge. A beaver lodge is usually only accessible from underwater and during winter, the entrances are even further protected by a solid sheet of ice. Note that the final level of the Nintendo 64 game Banjo-Kazooie includes a beaver's living space resembling the one shown. In the game, the lodge is only accessible during the winter phase, when the player must swim from a hole in the ice to the underwater entrance.

With our current understanding of physics, there is neither the possibility of {{w|hyperspace}} existing, nor the possibility of getting there quickly.

The title text indicates that the two found privacy for sex in the lab, but inadvertently got Megan pregnant. This is a pun on news titles about scientists who have created synthetic life in the lab. This eventual headline appears in a few [[1037: Umwelt]] frames as "Scientists Create Life In Lab".

The comic [[658: Orbitals]] is similar.

==Transcript==
:Dorm:
:[An incredibly libidinous, extremely attractive couple try and enter one person's dorm room.]
:Locked.

:Other Dorm:
:[The same couple in the other person's dorm room, where the roommate is sitting at a computer playing an MMO.]
:Roommate: I'll be done Tuesday.
:Roommate in raid

:Library Rare Book Collection:
:[Libidinous couple staring inside the room from outside. Nelson Mandela and other university workers inside the room, looking at some extremely expensive items.]
:Occupied by tour for visiting Nelson Mandela

:Accelerator Tunnel:
:[Couple stares at a heavy, imposing door denying them entry.]
:Sealed while beam is in operation.

:Beaver Lodge:
:[Couple attempting to enter an occupied beaver lodge.]
:Frozen over for winter to keep out predators; only accessible via underwater entrance.

:Hyperspace:
:[Couple in front of a number of highly advanced physics textbooks.]
:Cueball: Are you ''sure?''
:Ruled out by current understanding of physics.

:College Law #27:
:The availability of private space is inversely proportional to the desirability of the hookup.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Physics]]

982: Set Theory

2014-01-21T22:14:00Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 982
| date = November 25, 2011
| title = Set Theory
| image = set_theory.png
| titletext = Proof of Zermelo's well-ordering theorem given the Axiom of Choice: 1: Take S to be any set. 2: When I reach step three, if S hasn't managed to find a well-ordering relation for itself, I'll feed it into this wood chipper. 3: Hey, look, S is well-ordered.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a pun on the phrase "{{w|Proof by intimidation|Proof by Intimidation}}" which normally is a jocular term used mainly in mathematics. It refers to a style of presenting a purported mathematical proof by giving an argument loaded with jargon and appeals to obscure results, so that the audience is simply obliged to accept it, lest they have to admit their ignorance and lack of understanding.

However, in this comic, "Proof by Intimidation" is taken to mean that by intimidating the elements within a set, they will conform to the proof (or, as the title text says, they will become "well-ordered"). This is accomplished by believing that the elements can be {{w|anthropomorphize}}d such that they feel fear. The idea of executing as an example was invented by Sun Tzu in the ancient book {{w|The Art Of War}}.

The {{w|axiom of choice}} (which has been referenced in [[:Category:Axiom of Choice|previous xkcds]]) says that given any collection of bins, each containing at least one object, it is possible to make a selection of exactly one object from each bin.

In the title text, the well-ordering theorem states that every set can be well-ordered. A set X is well-ordered by a strict total order if every non-empty subset of X has a least element under the ordering. This is also known as {{w|Zermelo's theorem}} and is equivalent to the Axiom of Choice.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail stands at a blackboard, facing away from it. She has a pointer in her hand, and written on the blackboard is some set theory math.]
:Ponytail: The axiom of choice allows you to select one element from each set in a collection — and have it ''executed'' as an example to the others.
:My math teacher was a big believer in Proof by Intimidation.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Set theory]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Axiom of Choice]]

971: Alternative Literature

2014-01-21T22:05:57Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 971
| date = October 31, 2011
| title = Alternative Literature
| image = alternative_literature.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = I just noticed CVS has started stocking homeopathic pills on the same shelves with--and labeled similarly to--their actual medicine. Telling someone who trusts you that you're giving them medicine, when you know you’re not, because you want their money, isn’t just lying--it’s like an example you’d make up if you had to illustrate for a child why lying is wrong.
}}

==Explanation==
While the comic is funny on its own in a "[[:Category:Sheeple|Wake Up, Sheeple]]" kind of way, the full joke requires the title text, so make sure you read it. The comic title is a play on {{w|Alternative medicine}}.

In the comic, it is implied that [[Cueball]] has been scammed into buying blank books, though he attempts to defend it as a valid choice. The title text likens this to the {{w|CVS Pharmacy}} selling homeopathic pills using methods that does not clearly distinguish them from traditional pharmaceuticals. {{w|Homeopathy}}, widely considered a pseudoscience, is based on the idea that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will cure that disease in sick people, if administered in sufficiently small doses.

Homeopathic remedies are prepared by repeatedly diluting a substance with alcohol or water. Somewhat counter-intuitively, homeopathy considers the weakest dilutions to have the most powerful healing effect. Frequently, in fact, the dilutions are repeated past the point where any molecules of the active ingredient can remain.

Selling a homeopathic remedy as actual medicine when it is just water is analagous to selling blank books. The smudge of ink Cueball mentions in the comic may be referencing the fact that some of the less diluted homeopathic remedies can contain a tiny amount of the original substance.

Homeopathy is ridiculed in other xkcd comics and in the what-if blog (http://what-if.xkcd.com/79/).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a friend stand in front of Cueball's bookcase. His friend flips through a number of them.]
:Friend: All your books are full of blank pages.
:Cueball: Not true. That one has some ink on page 78.
:[The Friend looks at page 78.]
:Friend: A smudge.
:Cueball: So?

:Friend: There are no words. You're not reading. There's no ''story'' there.
:Cueball: Maybe not for you. When I look at those books, I think about all ''kinds'' of stories.

:Cueball: Reading is about more than what's on the page. Holding a book prompts my mind to enrich itself. Frankly, I suspect the book isn't even necessary.

:Cueball: The whole industry is evil. Greedy publishers and rich authors try to convince us our brains ''need'' their words. But I refuse to be a sucker.
:Friend: Who sold you all these blank books?

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

971: Alternative Literature

2014-01-21T22:04:52Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 971
| date = October 31, 2011
| title = Alternative Literature
| image = alternative_literature.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = I just noticed CVS has started stocking homeopathic pills on the same shelves with--and labeled similarly to--their actual medicine. Telling someone who trusts you that you're giving them medicine, when you know you’re not, because you want their money, isn’t just lying--it’s like an example you’d make up if you had to illustrate for a child why lying is wrong.
}}

==Explanation==
While the comic is funny on its own in a "[[:Category:Sheeple|Wake Up, Sheeple]]" kind of way, the full joke requires the title text, so make sure you read it. The comic title is a play on {{w|Alternative medicine}}.

In the comic, it is implied that [[Cueball]] has been scammed into buying blank books, though he attempts to defend it as a valid choice. The title text likens this to the {{w|CVS Pharamcy}} selling homeopathic pills using methods that does not clearly distinguish them from traditional pharmaceuticals. {{w|Homeopathy}}, widely considered a pseudoscience, is based on the idea that a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will cure that disease in sick people, if administered in sufficiently small doses.

Homeopathic remedies are prepared by repeatedly diluting a substance with alcohol or water. Somewhat counter-intuitively, homeopathy considers the weakest dilutions to have the most powerful healing effect. Frequently, in fact, the dilutions are repeated past the point where any molecules of the active ingredient can remain.

Selling a homeopathic remedy as actual medicine when it is just water is analagous to selling blank books. The smudge of ink Cueball mentions in the comic may be referencing the fact that some of the less diluted homeopathic remedies can contain a tiny amount of the original substance.

Homeopathy is ridiculed in other xkcd comics and in the what-if blog (http://what-if.xkcd.com/79/).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a friend stand in front of Cueball's bookcase. His friend flips through a number of them.]
:Friend: All your books are full of blank pages.
:Cueball: Not true. That one has some ink on page 78.
:[The Friend looks at page 78.]
:Friend: A smudge.
:Cueball: So?

:Friend: There are no words. You're not reading. There's no ''story'' there.
:Cueball: Maybe not for you. When I look at those books, I think about all ''kinds'' of stories.

:Cueball: Reading is about more than what's on the page. Holding a book prompts my mind to enrich itself. Frankly, I suspect the book isn't even necessary.

:Cueball: The whole industry is evil. Greedy publishers and rich authors try to convince us our brains ''need'' their words. But I refuse to be a sucker.
:Friend: Who sold you all these blank books?

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

Talk:959: Caroling

2014-01-21T21:16:06Z

108.162.219.223:

9 months until I can start pulling this out on carolers again. Gaaaah, the waaait. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 08:33, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

I removed the section about Wenceslas being posthomously named king; the reference that is used to support this claim in the Wikipedia article does not, in fact, do so. The claim is not repeated anywhere else that I can see. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 21:16, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

959: Caroling

2014-01-21T21:13:38Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 959
| date = October 3, 2011
| title = Caroling
| image = caroling.png
| titletext = For a thousand generations we vowed never to forget how his soldiers feasted on our brother Stephen.
}}

==Explanation==
Here are the lyrics for the first verse of the Christmas Carol, "{{w|Good King Wenceslas}}"

:''Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,''
:''When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;''
:''Brightly shone the moon that night, tho' the frost was cruel,''
:''When a poor man came in sight, gath'ring winter fuel.''

While not a king, {{w|Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia}} is considered a martyr and a saint. Far from being responsible for any massacre, he protected his subjects from external dominance, and is still a national hero to the Czech people. [[Black Hat]] is supplying {{w|disinformation}} to unsuspecting carolers in order to silence them.

The title text references "the {{w|St. Stephen's Day|Feast of Stephen}}" which is also known as the "Feast of St. Stephen" or "St. Stephen's Day", which is a holiday celebrated on 26 or 27 December, depending on the Western or Eastern church respectively. It is not actually a feast that involved eating a person named Stephen, instead a celebration of the Saint named Stephen.

==Transcript==
:[Three people stand together singing Christmas carols.]
:Carolers (in unison): Good king Wenceslas looked out on the—

:[Black Hat leans out of an above ground window.]
:Black Hat: King Wenceslas massacred my people.

:[The carolers stand in silence.]

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

958: Hotels

2014-01-21T20:49:08Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 958
| date = September 30, 2011
| title = Hotels
| image = hotels.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = 'Rating: 1/5. Room filled to brim with semen, and when front desk clerk opened mouth to talk, bedbugs poured out.'
}}

==Explanation==
Alright, it is pretty clear what [[Black Hat]] is doing here. He is putting bad reviews on all the hotels he has stayed at and likes and wants to stay in again, and it is true that this would lower demand for said hotel. Putting positive reviews on bad hotels, on the other hand, would steer other people there so there are more vacancies at good hotels. He claims he is not enough influence to put them out of business.

The {{w|Tragedy of the commons}} "is a dilemma arising from the situation in which multiple individuals, acting independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest, will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource, even when it is clear that it is not in anyone's long-term interest for this to happen." This situation is not a complete example of this concept as Black Hat is the only one doing it. He understands, however, that if others do it, it would apply.

In the last frame, Black Hat references the {{w|invisible hand}} which is the term economists use to describe the self-regulating nature of the marketplace. Black Hat appears to be taking advantage of this invisible hand by literally cutting it with a knife and eating it.

The title text is an example of Black Hat's negative review. It does not seem very credible, even in the context of the abysmal standards usually seen in such reviews.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at a desk with a laptop, looking at a review website]
:Cueball: What's with this negative review? You ''liked'' that hotel.
:Black Hat Man: I have a script that posts a bad review for every hotel I stay at. It reduces demand, which means more vacancies and lower prices next time.

:Cueball: What if the place sucks?
:Black Hat Man: I change the review to positive to steer other people over there.

:Cueball: You punish companies you like!
:Black Hat Man: The odds of ''my'' review putting a hotel out of business are negligible.
:Cueball: If we all did that the system would collapse!
:Black Hat Man: Doesn't affect my logic. Tragedy of the commons.

:Cueball: That's not even the tragedy of the commons anymore. That's the tragedy of you're a dick.
:Black Hat Man: If you're quick with a knife, you'll find that the invisible hand is made of delicious invisible meat.

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

Talk:952: Stud Finder

2014-01-21T20:39:22Z

108.162.219.223:

In most of the U.S. local building codes specify 16 inches (about 41 cm) center-to-center as the standard distance between wooden studs.[[Special:Contributions/138.163.106.72|wknehans]] 15:22, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Could Black Hat probably have fixed Cueball's stud finder so that it always showed studs everywhere? [[User:Guru-45|Guru-45]] ([[User talk:Guru-45|talk]]) 15:23, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
:Well, I think it's Randall who's talking in the alt-text. --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 17:43, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

I thought Black Hat was about to say he had a "stud" for sale. Which can be taken in one of several ways... [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.63|199.27.128.63]] 21:34, 10 November 2013 (UTC)

I've always taken this as Black Hat doing in real life what obnoxious advertisers do on the Internet. Which is to say, take key words out of things you type (like your email or a search box) and advertise at you based on that. Black Hat pounced on the word "stud" and Lord only knows what products might be advertised at you based on that word, especially out of the twisted mind of BH, and Cueball is smart enough to head that one off at the pass. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.54|108.162.216.54]] 23:50, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Note to all: stud-finder-finder is obviously and completely correct. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:39, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:949: File Transfer

2014-01-21T20:35:01Z

108.162.219.223:

Years ago the usb drive was a floppy disc and the transfer was called "sneaker net".
This "solution" is much, much older than the web.
Also, why would TBL shed a tear? What's an HTML server got to do with file sharing? Do you think Randall meant Tommy Flowers?{{unsigned|‎188.29.119.251}}
:You are right. I deleted the sentence about Tim Berners-Lee, because the comic shows a perfectly legitimate use of the internet: transferring a 25 Mb file, which is much complicated than it should be. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 21:00, 10 October 2013 (UTC)
:He wasn't really right, and the title text should still be explained. I have done so. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:35, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
Just split the file into two pieces and send them in two emails. [[Special:Contributions/123.24.93.198|123.24.93.198]] 10:29, 3 August 2013 (UTC)
:With a chisel? Not everybody has a chisel around the house, these days. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:35, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
Actually Dropbox has [https://www.dropbox.com/home a web interface], you don't need to download any program. Still, both need to have Dropbox account. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 15:41, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes, you do. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:35, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

949: File Transfer

2014-01-21T20:31:35Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 949
| date = September 9, 2011
| title = File Transfer
| image = file_transfer.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend's laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is trying to help two people, his friend and his friend's cousin, exchange a 25MB file. Most people know how to use email to send files through the internet, but 25MB exceeds the attachment size limit of most email services. The reason there is a limit is because every email has to be transferred between several mail transfer agents, and each one has to temporarily store a copy of the email. Space constraints on those mail servers means that they must impose size limits, and an email with such a large attachment will therefore not be delivered.

The next option is to upload the file to an FTP server (FTP stands for {{w|File Transfer Protocol}}, as opposed to HTTP, {{w|Hypertext Transfer Protocol}}), used to transfer files between computers on a shared network, such as the internet. However, FTP servers are a touch more esoteric than a mere email attachment, and many internet users don't have access to one of their own.

Web hosting is simply the ability to create a website and store all the data for said website on a server which is connected to the internet. If Cueball's friend's cousin had the ability to do that, sharing the file would be as easy as putting a copy of it in a accessible directory and sending the link to the desired recipient.

{{w|Megaupload}} was one of many sites on the internet that recognizes most users' inability to host large files on their own, and so offers to host large files, sometimes for free, sometimes for a small fee. The payoff is that in order to make such a service profitable, many of these sites are cluttered with banner and pop up ads in a mad effort to squeeze as much ad revenue out of every page view as possible. It's not a dealbreaker for some, but Cueball seems to think it'll be too much for his friend's cousin to handle.

{{w|AOL Instant Messenger|AIM}} direct connect was a file sharing system on AOL Instant Messenger, which was already suffering severe drops in popularity by the year 2000. Clearly, Cueball is grasping at straws here: anybody desperate enough to invoke the name of AOL as a solution instead of a problem must be at their wits' end.

{{w|Dropbox (service)|Dropbox}} is an easy to use program with an intuitive GUI that automates file sharing between two computers on the internet, just like one might wish for. But this solution also has its issues, as it requires both users to have a Dropbox account, then install the software or plugin, and so on.

While Cueball is still explaining Dropbox, the friend's cousin has copied the file to a USB drive and physically transported it to the friend's house, circumventing the internet entirely. It's not an elegant solution, but sometimes brute force is the most efficient way to get something done.

When used to transfer files between computers in the same room or building, this same approach is referred to as {{w|sneakernet}}. This comic is also an illustration of what {{w|Andy Tanenbaum}} said in 1989: ''Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.''

{{w|Tim Berners-Lee}} is considered to be the inventor of the internet. In the title text, Randall implies that he would be disturbed by the need today to use two separate protocols (email and http) to perform a third, unrelated, obvious function such as file transfer.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands near a computer, talking on the phone to another person.]

:Cueball: You want your cousin to send you a file? easy. He can email it to- ... Oh, it's 25 MB? Hmm...
:Cueball: Do either of you have an FTP server? No, right.
:Cueball: If you had web hosting, you could upload it...
:Cueball: Hm. We could try one of those MegaShareUpload sites, but they're flaky and full of delays and porn popups.
:Cueball: How about AIM Direct Connect? Anyone still use that?
:Cueball: Oh, wait, Dropbox! It's this recent startup from a few years back that syncs folders between computers. You just need to make an account, install the-
:Cueball: Oh, he just drove over to your house with a USB drive?
:Cueball: Uh, cool, that works too.

:I like how we've had the internet for decades, yet "sending files" is something early adopters are still figuring out how to do.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]

949: File Transfer

2014-01-21T19:52:01Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 949
| date = September 9, 2011
| title = File Transfer
| image = file_transfer.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend's laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|no explanation of the title text}}
[[Cueball]] is trying to help a friend help their cousin send them a 25 MB file. This exceeds most email programs' attachment limit (note: Gmail increased their attachment limit to 25 MB in 2009, though many email programs still top out at 20 MB. This is because every email has to be transferred between several mail transfer agents that each have to save a copy of the email. Space constraints of those mail servers means that they may impose size limits, which happens to be 20 MB in most cases.), and so simply attaching the file to an email is out of the question.

The next option is to upload the file to an FTP server (FTP stands for {{w|File Transfer Protocol}}, as opposed to HTTP, {{w|Hypertext Transfer Protocol}}), used to transfer files between computers on a shared network, such as the internet. However, FTP servers are a touch more esoteric than a mere email attachment, and many internet users don't have one of their own.

Web hosting is simply the ability to create a website and store all the data for said website on a server which is connected to the internet. If Cueball's friend's cousin had the ability to do that, sharing the file would be as easy as making a website for it, then having Cueball's friend visit said website and download said file. But no, the adventure continues.

{{w|Megaupload}} was one of many, many sites on the internet that recognizes most users' inability to host large files on their own, and so offers to host large files, sometimes for free, sometimes for a small fee. The payoff is that in order to make such a service profitable, many of these sites are cluttered with banner and pop up ads in a mad effort to squeeze as much ad revenue out of every page view as possible. It's not a dealbreaker for some, but Cueball seems to think it'll be too much for his friend's cousin to handle.

{{w|AOL Instant Messenger|AIM}} direct connect was a file sharing system on AOL Instant Messenger, which was already suffering severe drops in popularity by the year 2000. Clearly, Cueball is grasping at straws here: anybody desperate enough to invoke the name of AOL as a solution instead of a problem must be at their wits' end.

{{w|Dropbox (service)|Dropbox}} is a simple, easy to use program with an intuitive GUI that will automate file sharing between two computers using the internet, just like the internet was designed to do. But this also has its issues, as it requires both users to have a Dropbox account, then install the software—

But alas, by the time Cueball arrives at a solution, his friend's cousin has used a mix of old and new technology, namely a car and a USB drive, to physically transport the file to his friend's house, thus circumventing the internet all together. It's not an elegant solution, but sometimes brute force is the easiest way to get something done. (This approach is sometimes called "{{w|sneakernet}}.")

What happens in this comic illustrates 22 years later what Andy Tanenbaum said in 1989: ''Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.''

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands near a computer, talking on the phone to another person.]

:Cueball: You want your cousin to send you a file? easy. He can email it to- ... Oh, it's 25 MB? Hmm...
:Cueball: Do either of you have an FTP server? No, right.
:Cueball: If you had web hosting, you could upload it...
:Cueball: Hm. We could try one of those MegaShareUpload sites, but they're flaky and full of delays and porn popups.
:Cueball: How about AIM Direct Connect? Anyone still use that?
:Cueball: Oh, wait, Dropbox! It's this recent startup from a few years back that syncs folders between computers. You just need to make an account, install the-
:Cueball: Oh, he just drove over to your house with a USB drive?
:Cueball: Uh, cool, that works too.

:I like how we've had the internet for decades, yet "sending files" is something early adopters are still figuring out how to do.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]

946: Family Decals

2014-01-21T19:46:30Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 946
| date = September 2, 2011
| title = Family Decals
| image = family decals.png
| titletext = My decal set has no adults, just a sea of hundreds of the little girl figures closing in around a single cat.
}}

==Explanation==
There exists a current fashion among car owners to place decals on their back window that represent their family. The decals consist of stick figures to depict the parents and children, perhaps shown doing a favorite activity, and even pets.

The first car window features a couple with three children, while the other shows just a couple, with large sacks of money. The humor comes from the opportunity cost implied in this — not having children allows you to avoid the expense of raising them and accumulate money for your own use.

One might expect that the cars would represent the difference in wealth, and they are identified as 'urban SUV' and 'sporty hatch back' in the transcript. The oval badge on the first hints that is is a {{w|Ford}} (a non-premium brand). The identity of the other car is not known, but it has a roof spoiler, a sloping roof-line and more complicated rear light assemblies, all pointing to a more expensive, less practical choice.

The title text refers to the humorous description of cats as the real masters of their household, and the little girls surrounding the cat refers to their ability to influence humans with their cuteness (as referenced in [[231: Cat Proximity|Cat Proximity]]). The implication is that any adults in the household have a limited, non-credited role.

==Transcript==
:[Two cars are parked next to each other. The car on the left is an urban SUV and has stickers on the rear window representing a family. From left to right there is an adult male, adult female, female youth, male youth, and young child. The car on the right is a sporty hatch back, it has similar stickers on the rear window, with an adult male and adult female. Instead of the youth and child stickers there is instead a large pile of money.]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:945: I'm Sorry

2014-01-21T19:24:22Z

108.162.219.223:

That's kinda hard though, he can't be the cause of ''everything'' that ever goes wrong, can he? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:03, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

:Well, not directly (at least not intentionally) however chaos theory suggests that he had some contribution even if he did not realize it (or at the vary least he could have taken some actions that would have 'randomly' stopped the event.) [[User:Yuriy206|Yuriy206]] ([[User talk:Yuriy206|talk]]) 18:21, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

:And the point is that he is annoyed by people deliberately mis-interpreting his condolences as an apology. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:24, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:943: Empirical

2014-01-21T19:21:16Z

108.162.219.223:

Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results, Cueball might not be willing to marry Megan next month. Empirical measurements of human behavior are naturally flawed due to the complexity of our decision making processes. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:05, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:Are you still happy that you wrote this comment? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 19:21, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

567: Urgent Mission

2014-01-21T18:59:06Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 567
| date = April 10, 2009
| title = Urgent Mission
| image = urgent_mission.png
| titletext = Sure, we could stop dictators and pandemics, but we could also make the signs on every damn diagram make sense.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Benjamin Franklin}} was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Aside from uniting most of his country against Britain's heavy-handed rule, he was also an author, printer, musician, politician, postmaster, inventor, scientist, and diplomat. Some of his legacies include bifocals, the Franklin stove, an odometer for a horse-drawn carriage, the almanac and abolitionist ideals. He has since been honored with the use of his image on the $100 bill. For the purposes of this comic, Franklin also created the {{w|lightning rod}} and discovered the fundamentals of electricity, such as positive and negative charges, as well as the principal of conservation of charge.

When Franklin first wrote down his notes for electricity, he defined a positive charge as one left on a glass rod by rubbing it with silk, and a negative change as one left on rubber by rubbing it with fur. Without realizing it, this meant that he had assigned a negative value to the charge on the electron, later identified as the fundamental carrier of electrical charge.

In an electrical circuit, we envisage the charge to be flowing from positive to negative. This is analogous to energy flowing from a region of high temperature to one of low temperature, or a fluid moving from an area of high pressure to one of low pressure. However, because an electron is negatively charged, the actual flow of electrons is in the opposite direction, from negative to positive. This reversal of the natural expectation has caused unnecessary confusion to many fledgling engineers.

Time-travelling [[Cueball]] believes that reversing this decision has a higher priority than, say, avoiding the robot apocalypse. Rubbing a glass rod with silk removes electrons from the rod, and defining the resulting charge of the rod as negative would have thus assigned positive charge to electrons. Nothing, could ever be the same.

This would mean that protons would have been assigned a negative charge, and a different name would have been used for the positron. Negatronic brains, anyone? Of course it is too late to change now. But a time traveler...

==Transcript==
:[Cueball steps out of rift. Benjamin Franklin is sitting at his desk with quill and parchment.]
:Cueball: Benjamin Franklin?
:Franklin: Yes?
:Cueball: I bring a message from the future! I don't have much time.
:Franklin: What is it?
:Cueball: The convention you're setting for electric charge is backward. The one left on glass by silk should be the negative charge.
:We were going to use the time machine to prevent the robot apocalypse, but the guy who built it was an electrical engineer.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Physics]]

563: Fermirotica

2014-01-21T18:52:21Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 563
| date = April 1, 2009
| title = Fermirotica
| image = fermirotica.png
| titletext = I love how Google handles dimensional analysis. Stats are ballpark and vary wildly based on time of day and whether your mom is in town.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The title text is not explained accurately. Fermi paradox and Drake equation has to be explained; Fermi and Hart did not develop an equation like this. What is the result of the equation given the suggested input - how do the units cancel out? This should also be explained?}}
The {{w|Drake Equation}} is a well known; it provides a means to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations that presently exist in our universe. {{w|Enrico Fermi}} and {{w|Michael H. Hart}} explored the consequences of the equation, and realized that once a civilization develops interstellar travel, an entire galaxy would be colonized in a relatively short period of time. The {{w|Fermi Paradox}} is the contradiction between this result, that our galaxy should be literally teeming with life, and our total inability to find any evidence for this.

The 'Fermirotica' equation actually implies a similar paradox. It estimates the likely distance that you would have to travel, in any direction, before you encountered a couple having sex. It demonstrates to us what we already know, that sex is all around us. But why don't we see any evidence for it? The answer, in this case, is that most people have sex in private - they hide their activity from outside eyes.

It is possible that the comic is also suggesting that this is the reason for the Fermi Paradox; the aliens are simply concealing themselves from us. The possible reasons for this are unknown. Perhaps they have been watching {{w|Star Trek}}, and realize how much weight we give to the {{w|Prime Directive}}.

The title text contains two separate statements. The first statement praises Google's dimensional analysis, or more accurately its ability to do unit conversion. Google can analyze the equation "sqrt( 2 / (pi * (18600 / mile^2) * (80 / year) * 30 minutes) )" and produce the answer in the correct SI units: 139.379395 meters. The second statement in the title text is a kind of disclaimer; the calculation uses only average quantities, and the true result would depend on a number of variables including (a) the time of day (fewer people have sex in the middle of the day) and (b) whether "your mom" was in town (she is exceptionally slutty).

Even though the date of publication of this comic is April 1, 2009, there is no evidence of it being a prepared as an April Fool's joke.

==Transcript==
:Pd Regional Population Density (e.g. 18,600/mi²)
:Xf Average Person's Frequency of Sex (e.g. 80/Year)
:Xd Average Duration of Sex (e.g. 30 Minutes)
:r=sqrt(2/(π*Pd*Xf*Xd))
:On average, someone within distance r of you is having sex.
:[Cueball standing at easel.]
:Cueball: Mmm, That probable couple 150 meters away is so hot. Oh yeah, theoretically work it, baby.
:From out of frame: Hey! No statistical voyeurism!
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:April fool's comics]]

563: Fermirotica

2014-01-21T18:51:01Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 563
| date = April 1, 2009
| title = Fermirotica
| image = fermirotica.png
| titletext = I love how Google handles dimensional analysis. Stats are ballpark and vary wildly based on time of day and whether your mom is in town.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The title text is not explained accurately. Fermi paradox and Drake equation has to be explained; Fermi and Hart did not develop an equation like this. What is the result of the equation given the suggested input - how do the units cancel out? This should also be explained?}}
The {{w|Drake Equation}} is a well known; it provides a means to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations that presently exist in our universe. {{w|Enrico Fermi}} and {{w|Michael H. Hart}} explored the consequences of the equation, and realized that once a civilization develops interstellar travel, an entire galaxy would be colonized in a relatively short period of time. The {{w|Fermi Paradox}} is the contradiction between this result, that our galaxy should be literally teeming with life, and our total inability to find any evidence for this.

The 'Fermirotica' equation actually implies a similar paradox. It estimates the likely distance that you would have to travel, in any direction, before you encountered a couple having sex. It demonstrates to us what we already know, that sex is all around us. But why don't we see any evidence for it? The answer, in this case, is that most people have sex in private - they hide their activity from outside eyes.

It is possible that the comic is also suggesting that this is the reason for the Fermi Paradox; the aliens are simply concealing themselves from us. The possible reasons for this are unknown. Perhaps they have been watching {{w|Star Trek}}, and realize how much weight we give to the {{w|Prime Directive}}.

The title text contains two separate statements. The first statement praises Google's dimensional analysis, or more accurately its ability to do unit conversion. Google can analyze the equation "sqrt( 2 / (pi * (18600 / mile^2) * (80 / year) * 30 minutes) )" and produce the answer in the correct SI units: 139.379395 meters. The second statement in the title text is a kind of disclaimer; the calculation uses only average quantities, and the true result would depend on a number of variables including (a) the time of day (fewer people have sex in the middle of the day) and whether "your mom" was in town (she is exceptionally slutty).

Even though the date of publication of this comic is April 1, 2009, there is no evidence of it being a prepared as an April Fool's joke.

==Transcript==
:Pd Regional Population Density (e.g. 18,600/mi²)
:Xf Average Person's Frequency of Sex (e.g. 80/Year)
:Xd Average Duration of Sex (e.g. 30 Minutes)
:r=sqrt(2/(π*Pd*Xf*Xd))
:On average, someone within distance r of you is having sex.
:[Cueball standing at easel.]
:Cueball: Mmm, That probable couple 150 meters away is so hot. Oh yeah, theoretically work it, baby.
:From out of frame: Hey! No statistical voyeurism!
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:April fool's comics]]

563: Fermirotica

2014-01-21T18:19:40Z

108.162.219.223: /* Improve title text explanation */

Talk:929: Speculation

2014-01-21T17:58:11Z

108.162.219.223:

I love the comics like this that work on multiple levels. They really lend to the legitimacy of xkcd as a thinking man's webcomic, and they're great comics to link to when I'm trying to make a point. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:24, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

It's a bolt. Longbows fire arrows, crossbows fire bolts. 'K?
:That bolt looks maighte like an arrow to me... but let's not quarrel about this. --[[User:Qwach|Qwach]] ([[User talk:Qwach|talk]]) 23:35, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
::Crossbows do fire bolts, so the only reason you wouldn't want to quarrel about it is because you would be wrong.
::However, the word "arrow" comes from the official transcript, so YOU don't want to quarrel about it either, 'K? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 07:19, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

The explanation states that it is Black Hat speaking in the title text. It makes much more sense if it is Randall speaking, but just demonstrating a slightly black-hat tendency. In my opinion. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 17:58, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

929: Speculation

2014-01-21T17:54:37Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 929
| date = July 25, 2011
| title = Speculation
| image = speculation.png
| titletext = 'I was pretty good at skeet shooting, but was eventually kicked off the range for catching the clay pigeons in a net and dispatching them execution-style.'
}}

==Explanation==
The conversation in the first three panels is fairly banal—it's a quick rumination on the nature of social networking platforms, and a brief reflection on their evolution. Whether or not everybody switches over to {{w|Google+}} or stays on {{w|Facebook}} is of no matter, as evidenced by the fact that {{w|AOL}} and {{w|IRC}} still both have devoted (if dwindling) followings.

And then, [[Black Hat]] shoots a crossbow bolt through the basketball. The implication is that he was invited to join the game by way of the ball being thrown his way. He has declined the invitation.

It's a symbolic gesture. When Black Hat says he's not the 'catch' type, what we're really meant to take away from the comic is that Black Hat will do what he wants to do, regardless of what his friends are doing. They're shooting hoops, he's on his phone. They're playing catch, he's got a crossbow.

The point is that Black Hat doesn't care about universal acceptance. Black Hat cares about Black Hat. The fact that he's not the catch type symbolizes that while statisticians may portray social network-ers as a sort of hive mind that will gravitate towards one platform over another, at the end of the day that hive mind is made up of innumerable individuals, many of whom will share Black Hat's easily summarized world view: My way.

In the image text, we hear of another instance of him playing by his own rules at a skeet shooting range. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target for a shotgun. The image text is a play on words, implying that the clay pigeons are the same as real pigeons, and Black Hat has captured them using a net and shot them from a very close range--completely unnecessary given that they are inanimate objects. It is especially surprising that Black Hat would bother to do this at all, especially since he has already proven himself to be an excellent shot.

==Transcript==
:[Two people are playing basketball, and black hat guy is looking at a phone.]
:Cueball: Do you seriously think ''everyone'' will move to Plus? It was hard enough getting them on Facebook.
:[Friend attempts to throw the basketball through the hoop, but it bounces off.]

:Friend: Do they have to?
:Friend: My mom still uses AOL—it doesn't mean my social life has to happen there.
:[Cueball passes the basketball back to #2.]

:Friend: Universal adoption isn't everything. I mean, IRC is still—
:[Friend throws the basketball.]

:[An arrow pierces the ball.]
:''THUNK''

:[Black Hat has a one handed crossbow, and is still looking at a phone.]
:Friend: You're not really the "catch" type, are you?
:Black Hat: I am not.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Crossbows]]

Talk:929: Speculation

2014-01-21T07:19:40Z

108.162.219.223:

Talk:925: Cell Phones

2014-01-21T06:59:51Z

108.162.219.223:

On first read I thought the joke is that the cell phone graph shape (somewhat) closely mimics the shape of the cancer graph, including the part where it begins to level off - implying that one linearly correlates with the other, with a 20 year delay (a typical time it takes for cancer to manifest, except in this case it's backwards). ultramage 14:17, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

That and the fact the graph is out by a scale factor of 1000 is always a fun way to screw over how the statistics look.{{unsigned ip|82.16.27.115}}

Nah b', it's 2000.{{unsigned ip|76.67.97.246}}

::The real problem with the graph is that it makes it look like cancer rates have increased from near-zero levels to way higher since 1970, until you actually read the Y axis and see that it's gone from about 400 (per 100,000) to about 475. This is an increase of only 18.75%, as opposed to the visual appearance of a 300% increase. Hats off to Black Hat!! [[Special:Contributions/108.28.72.186|108.28.72.186]] 01:18, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

I thought the laptop joke was that some people believe not to put it on your lap because it messes with your reproductive organs! ~JFreund
:But you know now you are wrong, correct? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 06:59, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:923: Strunk and White

2014-01-21T06:57:33Z

108.162.219.223:

EB White was also a Cornell professor. [[Special:Contributions/75.103.23.206|75.103.23.206]] 17:49, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
:Well he got his BA there. That's almost the same, right? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 06:57, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:922: Fight Club

2014-01-21T06:53:42Z

108.162.219.223:

I never really liked the movie either so... '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:25, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Really? Is something like that really common? I was a teen when I saw that movie and I did understand what it was about. And I'm not trying to show off; honestly, I don't think there is any merit on that. Wasn't the movie pretty obvious about it's anti-consumerism ideas? :/ [[Special:Contributions/189.179.25.191|189.179.25.191]] 23:05, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

No; it's about a dialectical opposition between the Narrator's two attempted paths to happiness: Conforming to what society says he should do to be happy, and smashing them all. (Norton and Pitt, respectively) It's the Slave and Master mentality from Nietzsche. A naive viewing of the movie (i.e. what almost every teenager sees, hence the mouseover text) is that, because the Conformist model is so clearly unhappy, the movie is glorifying Pitt's smashy-smashy ethos. Except that's completely self-destructive and unsatisfying, as well: an all-consuming hatred of consumerism is its own cosumerism-pathology. It's at the end of the movie that the dialectic resolves. Norton destroys both the confirmist and smashy-smashy selves, and starts on a path to true happiness. You see this as he leaves with Marla--he is leaving with her because he wants to be in a relationship with her because he and she will enjoy it. He is NOT doing it to ape how he's supposed to act, and he's not doing it as some sort of BDSM humiliation thing. He has become the Ubermensch--he is able to chart his own path to happiness, enjoying the fruits of material society if he would enjoy them, without being enslaved to them or enslaved by hatred of them. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.63.192|173.245.63.192]] 15:32, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

:tldr [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 06:53, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:918: Google+

2014-01-21T06:49:46Z

108.162.219.223:

I really don't mind Facebook. It's not like they look at my data specifically, they're just using my data in an aggregate to better target adverts at me, and I don't have any issue with receiving ads that I actually care about. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 01:23, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
:Is that you, Mark?? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 06:49, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Talk:912: Manual Override

2014-01-21T06:39:45Z

108.162.219.223:

I think that the joke here is actually that the pilot is attempting a manual override (I.E. overriding the automatic pilot and switch to manual control) by typing in 'manual override'(which is also the title, in fact), and the parser instead opens the manual under the 'manual' command for the 'override' program (as explained in this page), not that the manual is too long to be read in that specific situation (while that is a valid argument). [[Special:Contributions/93.144.215.90|93.144.215.90]] 12:36, 14 April 2013 (UTC)
:Agreed. [[User:Wotpsycho|Wotpsycho]] ([[User talk:Wotpsycho|talk]]) 02:50, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
:Yup. Sounds right. [[Special:Contributions/183.87.213.90|183.87.213.90]] 04:32, 8 June 2013 (UTC)Manan

The info page is overriding the man(ual) page as a source of information, even the name? --[[User:Qwach|Qwach]] ([[User talk:Qwach|talk]]) 23:06, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
:"man override" is giving the (gnu) manual page for the override command. Yes? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 06:39, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

908: The Cloud

2014-01-21T06:30:59Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 908
| date = June 6, 2011
| title = The Cloud
| image = the cloud.png
| titletext = There's planned downtime every night when we turn on the Roomba and it runs over the cord.
}}

{{incomplete|no explanation of unusual dialog in the last panel}}
==Explanation==
This comic is a reference to all of the companies that rolled out "cloud" services like {{w|Google}}'s and {{w|Amazon}}'s music service and {{w|Apple}}'s aptly named {{w|iCloud}} online backup service around the time that the comic was released.

Also, in this comic is a reference to {{w|caching}} and the {{w|Roomba}}. Caching is the way that remote sites would locally store data from the "The Cloud" to prevent from putting too much pressure on Black Hat's non-Enterprise class cable modem. The Roomba is a round vacuum that runs automatically around the house. The Roomba begins to learn the dimensions of rooms, however, apparently it has never learned not to run over the cord.

The regular nightly downtime is a reference to an [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/cleaner.asp urban legend] in which some critical piece of equipment (often a server) is unplugged regularly so that a vacuum cleaner or similar janitorial tool can be temporarily plugged in. Although the Roomba vacuum does not require this computer's outlet, "running over the cord" apparently causes similar interruption in service.

This comic is reminiscent of the British sitcom "The IT Crowd" in which they showcase a box that they make the rest of their non-Tech coworkers believe is "The Internet".

==Transcript==
:[Cueball finds a computer tower with a wire leading away from it.]
:Cueball: What's this?
:Off-screen: The Cloud.

:[Cueball looks behind him. The wire leads to an outlet in the wall next to where Black Hat sits at a desk with a computer. Another wire leads from that outlet to Black Hat's computer.]
:Cueball: Huh? I always thought "The Cloud" was a huge, amorphous network of servers somewhere.
:Black Hat: Yeah, but everyone buys server time from everyone else. In the end, they're all getting it here.

:[A close-up of Black Hat.]
:Cueball: How? You're on a ''cable'' modem.
:Black Hat: There's a lot of caching.

:[A close-up of Cueball, looking down at the tower at his feet.]
:Cueball: Should the cord be stretched across the room like this?
:Black Hat: Of course. It has to reach the server, and the server is over there.

:[Cueball turns back to the Black Hat, still sitting at the computer.]
:Cueball: What if someone trips on it?
:Black Hat: Who would want to do that? It sounds unpleasant.
:Cueball: Uh. Sometimes people do stuff by accident.
:Black Hat: I don't think I know anybody like that.

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

902: Darmok and Jalad

2014-01-21T06:25:50Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 902
| date = May 23, 2011
| title = Darmok and Jalad
| image = darmok_and_jalad.png
| titletext = I wonder how often Patrick Stewart has Darmok flashbacks when talking to Star Trek fans.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a parody of the {{w|Star Trek: The Next Generation}} episode "{{w|Darmok}}" in which [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Jean-Luc_Picard Captain Picard] and the Enterprise crew meet with a [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Children_of_Tama Tamarian] ship. They can translate the individual words of Tamarian with perfect accuracy, but the Tamarians communicate using metaphors based on their own history and culture—without these cultural references, the Enterprise crew are unable to understand what the Tamarians are actually saying. "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" is repeated many times in this episode by the Tamarian captain, Dathon. Picard is eventually able to decipher the line to discover that it was a story of two warriors marooned on an island (Tanagra) who work together to defeat a common foe. The alien's intention is that he and Picard work together to defeat a monster as a way to cement ties between the Tamarians and the [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/United_Federation_of_Planets Federation].

In the comic, instead of suggesting a dramatic gesture to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough, the alien seems to suggesting a one-night stand. It is not clear if he is chatting up [http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Deanna_Troi Deanna Troi] (who has the long curly hair) or Picard. However, given that in the original episode Darmok and Jalad (the two warriors) were identified with Dathon and Picard, it seems likely that he is flirting with Picard.

It is not certain why "Kalenda" replaced "Tanagra" in the quote; it could simply be an error. Without any context, the meaning behind the alteration, if any, is unclear.

The title text suggests that the actor {{w|Patrick Stewart}} (who played Picard) might sometimes feel as confused by Star Trek fans (many of whom are more knowledgeable about Star Trek than the actual actors in it, not to mention various other areas of arcane geek culture) as the character he played did in this episode.

==Transcript==
:[Captain Dathon is seen on a communications screen]
:Alien: Darmok and Jalad at Kalenda's!

:[Jean-Luc Picard and Deanna Troi stand next to each other, looking off to the right.]
:Picard: Their language must be based on folklore and metaphor! Computer! Search cultural archives for Darmok-Jalad-Kalenda!

:[Picard and Troi listen to the response]
:Computer (off-panel): In Tamarian legend, Darmok and Jalad got totally wasted and hooked up at a party at Kalenda's.

:[Dathon is seen on the communications screen again, winking]
:''WIIIIIINK''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Language]]

1252: Increased Risk

2014-01-21T06:14:50Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1252
| date = August 16, 2013
| title = Increased Risk
| image = increased_risk.png
| titletext = You may point out that strictly speaking, you can use that statement to prove that all risks are tiny--to which I reply HOLY SHIT WATCH OUT FOR THAT DOG!
}}

{{incomplete|turgid and boring}}
==Explanation==
The panel satirises the common misunderstanding of the concept of percentage. Quoting a percentage change without mentioning the base probability that this ratio acts on is meaningless (outside of arithmetic for arithmetic's sake). Most everyday communication, however, succumbs to such incompleteness. In the aftermath of this ambiguity, people tend to conflate relative and absolute changes.

If the probability of a shark attack at the North beach is 5 per million, then the probability of shark attack at the South beach is still not more than 6 per million. The difference between these values is not enough to normally justify choosing one beach over the other, even though a "20% greater" chance sounds significant when stated out of this larger context.

[[Cueball]] parodies the concern by noting that by going to a beach three times instead of two, their chances of attack by dogs with handguns in their mouths (a ludicrous and unrealistic scenario) increases by 50%. If the chance of the dog attack is one per billion on each visit to the beach, then the chance of attack increases over multiple visits regardless. (It's still one in a billion for any specific visit.) This does not change the overall improbability of there ever being a dog swimming with a gun in its mouth.

[[Beret Guy]] misunderstands Cueball's probability, exhibiting the {{w|Gambler's fallacy}} by believing that since they haven't been attacked in their first two trips, the chance of attack by dogs with handguns is higher on their third outing.

This is a common misunderstanding of statistics. While the overall probability of an attack in three trips would be higher than in a single trip, it doesn't change the fact that in each individual trip, the probability is still the same; whether or not they managed to avoid being attacked in their first two trips, the results of these trips do not factor into the probability equation of the third trip.

This also can be illustrated by coin flips: if one flips a coin 10 times in a row, no matter what the result of each previous flip is (even if it were nine heads in a row), the odds of getting heads on the next coin flip remains 50%. In other words, past experience does not impact subsequent flips.

The title text discusses the argument that the statement "A 50% increase in a tiny risk is still tiny," if taken at face value, can be used to prove that all risks are tiny. This can be compared to the {{w|Sorites paradox}} (the "paradox of the heap"), which involves a "heap" of sand from which grains of sand are removed individually. If one assumes that, after removing a single grain, a heap of sand is still considered a heap of sand, and that there are a limited number of grains of sand in the heap, then one is forced to accept the conclusion that it can still be considered a heap of sand even if there is only a single grain of sand (or even none at all).

The title text mocks this paradox by suggesting that even the implausible scenario of an attack by a dog with a handgun is just as likely as all other possible scenarios. If the probability of any scenario is "tiny", then (given a vague enough definition of "tiny") all scenarios become equally likely, so the otherwise ludicrous scenario of a dog with a handgun becomes no longer negligible.

==Transcript==
:[Three figures are standing around. Two have beach towels. Ponytail is looking at her cell phone. One of them is Beret Guy.]
:Ponytail: We should go to the north beach. Someone said the south beach has a 20% higher risk of shark attacks.
:Cueball: Yeah, but statistically, taking three beach trips instead of two increases our odds of getting shot by a swimming dog carrying a handgun in its mouth by '''''50%!'''''
:Beret Guy: Oh no! This is our third trip!
:Reminder: A 50% increase in a tiny risk is ''still tiny''.

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

261: Regarding Mussolini

2014-01-18T01:59:38Z

108.162.219.223: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 261
| date = May 14, 2007
| title = Regarding Mussolini
| image = regarding mussolini.png
| titletext = Constantly stopping these briefings halfway through is becoming a pain.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Godwin's Law}} states that all debates on the Internet, given enough time, will devolve into comparisons to Hitler or the Nazis. A common expansion on this law dictates that, when such a comparison is brought up, the debate immediately ends and the person who made the reference is declared the loser.

The scene in the comic shows generals of the {{w|Allies of World War II|Allied forces}} discussing about {{w|Benito Mussolini}}'s invasion of Egypt. Mussolini and Hitler were each commanders of {{w|Axis powers}} during {{w|World War II}}, so comparisons between them are almost certain to arise.

As the title text suggests, it would have been detrimental to the war effort if Godwin's Law had been enforced during those meetings.

The joke is that Mussolini did share some qualities with Hitler; the comparison is actually valid and Godwin's Law should not apply.

==Transcript==
:[Three people are standing around a map. One of them is pushing something with a stick.]
:[A messenger arrives.]
:Messenger: General, Italian forces have entered Egypt.
:General: As I expected. This is a foolish move by Mussolini, but like Hitler he will no doubt force his commanders to—
:Messenger: Hey. Godwin's Law.
:General: Dammit.
:General: You know, this may become a problem.

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