824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)

2013-01-02T18:00:43Z

159.53.46.142: /* Explanation */ Geek culture is ipso facto not pop culture.

{{comic
| number = 824
| date = September 24, 2010
| title = Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)
| image = guest_week_bill_amend_foxtrot.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Guest comic by Bill Amend of FoxTrot, an inspiration to all us nerdy-physics-majors-turned-cartoonists, of which there are an oddly large number.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bill Amend}} draws for [[Randall]] in this special '[[:Category:Guest Week|Guest Week]]' edition of [[xkcd]]. In it, the geeky boy from {{w|FoxTrot}}, {{w|List_of_FoxTrot_characters#Jason_Fox|Jason}}, asks to draw comics for Randall. When Randall refuses, he uses the sudo command, used in {{w|Linux}} systems to perform an action as an administrator/power user. This forces Randall to agree. This is a reference to the very popular comic [[149: Sandwich]], which has now become a geek culture catch-phrase.

In the first comic, [[Cueball]] is making a pun on the word {{Wiktionary|attractive}}. In the first context it means a person is "good looking" or "beautiful" which the (presumably) female character attributes to her hair. In Cueball's context, it means that he is feeling an increased gravitational pull from the woman, due to her increase in mass (see {{w|General relativity}}).

{{w|Werner Heisenberg}} postulated in 1927, his eponymous {{w|Uncertainty principle|Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle}}, which states (roughly) that in {{w|quantum mechanics}} one cannot know both the position and momentum of a particle. The joke is that Heisenberg's wife does not know the position of her keys, because she knows too much about their (the keys') momentum (often dumbed down to velocity).

In many {{w|parliament}}ary and {{w|congress}}ional halls it is customary, when calling an issue to vote to have the people who want the issue at hand to be passed to say out loud that they agree. The customary response to this is to say "{{Wiktionary|Aye}}." The dissenters are then asked. Their response being "{{Wiktionary|Nay}}." Then the volume (by rough {{w|decibel}}s) of the assenters and dissenters are weighed. If it is close, a more formal vote may be called. "Aye" is pronounced as "I" and "''i''" is the mathematical value of the square root of negative one, which can be used to represent an {{w|imaginary number}}.

==Transcript==
:[Jason from FoxTrot is sitting at an artist's desk with a pencil, holding a phone.]
:Jason: Hi, Mr. Munroe? I have a great idea! Let me draw some strips for you!
:Mr. Munroe, through the telephone: Fat chance, kid.

:Jason: Sudo let me draw some strips for you.

:(There follow three strips. These will be separated by double new lines.)

:[A man and woman are looking at each other.]
:Man: I find you more attractive than usual.
:Woman: You do? Is it my new haircut?

:Man: Actually, I think it's all the weight you've been putting on. Your gravitational pull is pretty severe.

:[The man is now alone in the panel.]
:Man: Just sayin!

:[Two people are in a living room. The woman is looking through a chest of drawers.]
:At home with the Heisenbergs
:Mrs. Heisenberg: I can't find my car keys.
:Mr. Heisenberg: You probably know too much about their momentum.

:[A man is standing on a stage, holding up a hammer. A crowd is in front of the stage.]
:Why mathematicians should run for Congress
:House Speaker: All those in favor of the bill say "aye."
:Congressman #1: Aye.
:Congresswoman #2: Aye.
:Congress–Mathematician: [Responds with -1 inside a square root]

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

[[Category:Guest Week]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Linux]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)