explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1989: IMHO

2018-05-07T14:34:48Z

172.68.58.41:

I mean, the dress is b&w if you have one of the forms of colorblindness. Although, what colors ''is'' it? [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:33, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
: The gold/black part is 61522F hex and the white/blue part is 8190B2 hex. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 16:55, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
::So that explains the colors represented by the photo; what about the colors of the dress itself? I'd guess black & gold, based purely upon the discussions I've heard. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::The dress was blue with black lace. And I've added the fact that Randall had made a comic because of the dress ([[1492: Dress Color]]). [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 01:04, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Currently adding transcript. [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:38, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Did top row. Feel free to format it differently. [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:42, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
::''Screams in edit conflicts.'' [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:53, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::Okay, I've normalized the formatting to what seems to be the standard: uniform indent with ":".[[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:57, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::: What about using tabs? ;D
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

AFAIK In normal (British) usage the phrase is "In my humble opinion" and I have heard it said, when someone prefaces their contribution with IMHO it is rarely humble but is definitely an opinion. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 16:47, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:The weirdos reading/using it as "honest" _might_ have a problem with the relatively common "IMNSHO." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.41|172.68.58.41]] 14:34, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

No lie, I had a manager who used to refer to the database language as Squeal. As in a high-pitched animal sound. We had an in-house database tool called PiggySQL. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:26, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:I've always preferred that pronunciation too. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:53, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Dammit. Now my brain will always translate "OMG" to "oh, my genitals".[[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.167|172.68.58.167]] 17:45, 4 May 2018 (UTC)Pat
:Actually I will keep this in mind. If someone OMGs me in a "discussion" on the web my response will be: Just scratch... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.10|172.68.51.10]] 18:08, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

The single space convention became the standard [[wikipedia:History_of_sentence_spacing#Movement_to_single_sentence_spacing|waaay before HTML]]. [[User:Cgrimes85|Cgrimes85]] ([[User talk:Cgrimes85|talk]]) 18:13, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Standard, but less readable. For printed documents (especially stories with a lot of lengthy paragraphs) I'd still strongly recommend using double spaces because it's easier for the reader to discern sentence breaks. Incidentally, I had points deducted from English papers lacking that extra space as late as 1998.
:(By the way, that link you gave is broken:
:"Trouble Encountered ~ can't fetch document")
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:10, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:: If you print documents with monospace font, using just single space is NOT the main reason it's hard to read. You should use proportional font and tool actually designed to handle printing, which include having better option than using two spaces. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:25, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
:Using extra-wide space between sentences (not necessarily two spaces) goes back to the earliest days of printing, long before the invention of typewriters.     As a matter of fact, the practice of double-spacing sentences with typewriters got started by trying to mimic the printing practices of the time.     It was only in the mid-20th century (with the 1949 edition of the Chicago Manual of Style) that the recommendation became "one space", in 1969 when they stopped mentioning the earlier customs, and in the 21st century where they explicitly prohibit any alternative.     There's a [https://web.archive.org/web/20171207185025/http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=324 great article about this] that explains the history in great detail.     (Sadly, that blog no longer exists, but the Wayback Machine has preserved the content).     [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 15:44, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

Tabs vs Spaces might also be a reference to the programmer's war on how to indent code correctly. [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 19:25, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Agreed. I prefer " " (U+2003, A.K.A. &emsp;)
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:10, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:: Did you ever manage to RUN some of those programs? :) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:25, 5 May 2018 (UTC)
Maybe I'm reading too much in this, but there is a popular product called "cramp tabs" for use during and right after a period [[User:Sysin|Sysin]] ([[User talk:Sysin|talk]])

I hate to be that guy, but I pronounce Giantess and Gift the same way.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 11:06, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

== SQL Pronunciation ==

For Microsoft's ''SQL Server'', "SQL" should be pronounced "sequel" because it's Microsoft's product, and that's how they pronounce it. I notice young I.T. people tend to try to make abbreviations into pronounceable words (acronyms) rather than go letter-by-letter (initialisms). Many older I.T. people I've met prefer initialism pronunciation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.10|172.68.150.10]] 17:36, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

The term "SQL" existed long before Microsoft started playing; they do not get to change the pronunciation. I do not think that it is necessarily young IT people who prefer pronouncable words. "SCSI" being pronounced "scuzzy" has a long tradition. For myself, I usually say "S-Q-L" but have also used "squeal". I am 57. Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.220|108.162.216.220]] 01:06, 6 May 2018 (UTC)
:I'm aware SQL existed long before Microsoft got into the act. It started as SEQUEL for "Structured English Query Language". Nor did I intend to say that Microsoft dictated the pronunciation for all SQL. In the first sentence, I was only referring to their product. I use "sequel" for Microsoft's product, but mostly "ess-kew-el" for others. For some reason, my remarks as typed came out shorter than as thought. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.76|172.68.150.76]] 14:39, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

Is it possible the last panel is punning on menstruation?

ANOTHER one where talking about a debate invents the debate for me! For decades GIF was pronounced "jif" by literally everyone since they were invented, until Big Bang Theory taught me some people (including them) pronounce it wrong. Then SQL, which everyone I've ever met - including in SQL class - pronounced it as S.Q.L., by letters (my favourite was when I learned of this debate, someone saying they used another word with the letters in the right places that was odd, I think "Squeal", which I resolved to use myself, but forgot since it never comes up for me). Now IMHO? This comic is literally the first I hear of this. Another one with a clear answer and no reason for debate: It's an acronym applied to an ages old phrase, which predates all this texting / internet stuff. The saying is "In My Humble Opinion", therefore so is the acronym. That's it. Mixing it up with TBH doesn't make it correct, just like "Should of / would of" isn't correct, nor is "for all intensive purposes", or "ect", or many, many others.

== Typing Spaces ==
As for the spaces-after-period thing, I was taught 2 in several typing courses, but quickly dropped it to one as a waste of space (I don't mean I think there's a limit to how many times we can use the space bar, I mean to keep things compact, LOL!) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:31, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

I, too, was taught to type two spaces after a full stop. I think it had something to do with the font most typewriters used. On a web page, the HTML processor seems to remove extra spaces. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.150.76|172.68.150.76]] 14:39, 6 May 2018 (UTC)
:Yes, HTML collapses all whitespace.    Runs of whitespace characters (spaces, tabs, newlines) are all collapsed and rendered as a single space.    But there are workarounds.    One of the easiest is to use non-breaking-space characters (<TT>&nbsp;</TT>), which are not collapsed.    You can see the effect of using them in this comment.    [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 13:43, 7 May 2018 (UTC)

72: Classhole

2017-12-09T15:28:54Z

172.68.58.41: /* Transcript */

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

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

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

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

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

==Transcript==
:Cueball: How did you spend your morning?
:Black Hat: Feeding rocks to children in the park.

:Cueball: Your sociopathic abuse of random strangers staggers me.
:Black Hat: I aspire to have more creativity than the common asshole.

:Black Hat: I'm more of a classy asshole -- A class-hole, if you will. For example, I like poking tiny holes in styrofoam noodle cups at the grocery store --

:Black Hat: Thanks to me, someone gets surprise boiling water in the lap.
:Cueball: I am in awe.
:Black Hat: It's even more fun to do to condoms.

==References==

<references />

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

1919: Interstellar Asteroid

2017-11-22T14:12:50Z

172.68.58.41: combine line

{{comic
| number = 1919
| date = November 22, 2017
| title = Interstellar Asteroid
| image = interstellar_asteroid.png
| titletext = Every time we detect an asteroid from outside the Solar System, we should immediately launch a mission to fling one of our asteroids back in the direction it came from.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|ʻOumuamua}} is the first detection of an [https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/faq/interstellar interstellar asteroid] passing through the Solar System originating from another solar system.

[[Megan]]'s list of objects with a similar shape ratio:
* 1:4:9 monolith from the sci-fi movie "{{w|2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}"
* {{w|Star Destroyer}}, a spaceship in the Star Wars universe
* Huge eggplant emoji (🍆, U+1F346 Aubergine, commonly used to represent a penis).
* Statue of {{w|"Weird Al" Yankovic}}, an American singer and parodist
* iPhone XXXXX, likely making fun of Apple's {{w|iPhone X}} and larger in size
* [http://voltron.wikia.com/wiki/Voltron_(Voltron_Force) Voltron], a giant robot from the animated series "{{w|Voltron|Voltron: Defender of the Universe}}"
* A giant {{tvtropes|BurialInSpace|space coffin}} with someone inside

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan walks towards Cueball while looking at her phone. Cueball sits in front of his laptop.]
:Megan: Hey, you know that asteroid that tumbled past from another star system? It's apparently really long and skinny.
:Megan: Like a ratio of 6:1 or 10:1.
:Cueball: Weird. Wonder what it's shaped like.

:Megan: Without more data, it would be irresponsible to speculate further.
:Cueball: So...you're going to?
:Megan: ''Absolutely.''

:Megan: Here are some objects with a similar shape ratio:
:Megan: The 1:4:9 monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
:Megan: A star destroyer.
:Megan: A huge eggplant emoji.

:Megan: A statue of Weird Al. An iPhone XXXXX. Voltron.
:Megan: A giant space coffin. But what could be inside? We can only guess. I'll start:
:Cueball: This is all based on ''how'' many data points, again?
:Megan: One. But it's a ''perfect'' fit!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:1902: State Borders

2017-10-16T13:31:45Z

172.68.58.41:

Let's be honest- it should ''all'' be Canada. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.123|162.158.74.123]] 12:24, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
:Or... Indigenous people's land? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.232|108.162.216.232]] 04:27, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

Could Arizona, New Mexico be a reference to Trump? Like, make the border straighter so it's easier to build a wall? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 12:35, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
:More likely the joke is that conceding territory to Mexico is about the last thing Trump would do [[User:AnotherAnonymous|AnotherAnonymous]] ([[User talk:AnotherAnonymous|talk]]) 13:04, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

My first thought is to wonder if it would be possible to arrange the map such that all internal borders are "straight lines" that span the entire country, to satisfy as many criteria as possible:
* The number of states remains unchanged
** …and they all get to keep their capitals (probably quite difficult)
*** …or (and?) each state manages to keep either its current population, land area, or coastline length
* Or all internal borders are parallels or meridians
* Or all states have the same land area
** …or population; or population density
* Or if you're allowing more (or fewer) states than the present layout, what's the greatest number of states possible such that they all contain at least one complete city?

Which of those criteria would be the most interesting challenge? And which could you construct an algorithm to solve?
I really should refrain from trying to build those algorithms, because I'm supposed to be working --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 13:28, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
:I'd like to see what a map of the US would look like with each house gerrymandered by their legislative preferences... Borders everywhere, and wow what a nightmare of litigation it would generate as people cross from one district to another!
:More to your query: I don't see any modifications you could make that would keep the population unchanged. Some people would inevitably end up in a different state.

:How about a map where every state has an equal number of spiders? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.232|108.162.216.232]] 04:39, 15 October 2017 (UTC)
::Population as in number of people; not necessarily the same people. --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 10:28, 15 October 2017 (UTC)
:::Oh... Hm, that doesn't sound very useful ''or'' aesthetically satisfying... I think mapping the regions where various spider populations dominate might be more interesting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.232|108.162.216.232]] 10:46, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

There are some great videos on YouTube about weird State boundaries. There are some REALLY weird oddities out there. Take for instance the "Give to Canada" piece - that's the Northwest Angle in Minnesota. It's really an accident that it ever ended up in the USA at all, and doesn't make any sense! [[User:Martini|Martini]] ([[User talk:Martini|talk]]) 13:40, 13 October 2017 (UTC)Martini
:I wouldn't call the NW Angle an accident as much as a slightly illogical solution in order to maintain the terms of the original border agreement in the face of the Mississippi River's inconveniently located headwaters. My recollection is that it said roughly: the border goes west of <this> point until reaching the Mississippi river [which all parties assumed continued that far north]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.40|108.162.216.40]] 14:13, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

I believe Randall's overall point is that though a large part of the individual United States have straight boundaries, especially in the West, or other features that are aesthetically pleasing, as in the S Carolina/Georgia/Florida coastline, there are a good number of internal inconsistencies. Many of these (most of the untagged "fixes") can be attributed to the concept that "Rivers make good logical boundaries", but even then, if you look closer, there are some really puzzling bits:
* The "Give To Canada" bit of Minnesota is almost all Indian Reservation land, so that kind of makes sense...
* The "Fix this thing" in Missouri is even stranger than it initially looks - while the notch in Arkansas is caused by the Mississippi River, there is a large bight of land in the middle of the Missouri-owned bit that is actually Kentucky (yes, there's an island of Kentucky that is separate from the main Kentucky state and entirely surrounded by Missouri)
* Not edited, but equally odd is the dip Florida cuts into Georgia near the east coast - there's no apparent town or natural features there to cause that irregularity

I don't happen to think the Arizona/New Mexico bits are political commentary, just "the entire rest of the state is a box, make this a straight line, too." cleanup. I mean yes, it would make wall-building easier, theoretically, but the Chinese showed the world centuries ago that straight lines are not needed to build a big fricking wall. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.131|108.162.238.131]] 14:23, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

- While I agree it probably isn't conscious political commentary, its interesting that there are not places the border increases; always concessions, never gains. May take into account its easier to give than take territory? --[[User:Jgt|Jgt]] ([[User talk:Jgt|talk]]) 19:32, 13 October 2017 (UTC)--[[User:Jgt|Jgt]] ([[User talk:Jgt|talk]]) 19:33, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

I'm surprised Randall didn't suggest cleaning up Point Roberts as well [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington]. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.174|141.101.107.174]] 14:33, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
: Presumably the graphic designers are okay with that, since it maintains the 49th Parallel as a nice, tidy border. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 20:18, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

I'm shocked he didn't support fixing the Idaho/Wisconsin/Montana/Oregon border. That top part should be either given to Montana, or split between Washington and Oregon... I wonder if he left out certain things in order to avoid offending certain groups of people. Like suggesting that Rhode Island and Connecticut should probably be one state, or that Vermont and New Hampshire should be as well. [[User:Kashim|Kashim]] ([[User talk:Kashim|talk]]) 17:03, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Some of the suggestions are ironic, for example Michigan's upper peninsula actually used to be part of the Wisconsin territory, but it was ceded to Michigan in exchange for the port of Toledo being ceded to Ohio. "why does Florida get Alabama's coastline" is actually because Alabama got part of Florida's coastline so it wouldn't be landlocked. The bit of Nevada that he wants to fix it so Nevada has territory along the Colorado River [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.250|162.158.75.250]] 17:18, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

Nobody seems to have noticed that Delaware's curved northern border has been flattened (removing Wilmington). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.83|108.162.238.83]] 21:31, 13 October 2017 (UTC)

One significant thing about this map is that, under this map, Hillary Clinton may have won the 2016 election. Citations needed, but I've seen it said that if the Upper Peninsula were moved from Michigan to Wisconsin and the Florida Panhandle were moved to Alabama, Clinton would have won Michigan and Florida, giving her an Electoral College majority. I don't think the Upper Peninsula has enough population to cost Michigan an electoral vote, and I think Florida would lose two electoral votes, putting Clinton exactly at the 270 needed to win. Perhaps the changes around Colorado and Nevada would make a difference, although there were also five faithless Clinton electors who might have voted for her if it would have made a difference. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.4|108.162.219.4]] 01:45, 14 October 2017 (UTC)

Good curve! The curve is called the Georgia Bight, or less euphoniously, the South Atlantic Bight. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.76|162.158.63.76]] 03:34, 14 October 2017 (UTC)

"'''Align to Grid'''" refers to the option to have icons snap to a grid on a Windows desktop. The idea is that the states become "aligned" like icons on a desktop. [[User:FakeCrash|FakeCrash]] ([[User talk:FakeCrash|talk]]) 17:59, 14 October 2017 (UTC)

It would be really useful if this could link to somewhere that described why the various panhandles and oddities exist. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.247|162.158.154.247]] 21:04, 14 October 2017 (UTC)

:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_States_Got_Their_Shapes [[User:Silverpie|Silverpie]] ([[User talk:Silverpie|talk]]) 21:26, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

They should be called geo-graphic designers [[User:Jaalenja|Jaalenja]] ([[User talk:Jaalenja|talk]]) 06:53, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

Randall had no references to Trump here. Get over it.
I mean really. Why does everybody think everything about the country has to do with Trump winning? [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 14:24, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

For the sentence: "Many U.S. residents will be made to live in new states, and thus be required to pay different taxes and obey different state laws, and even root for different sports teams." It should be expanded to explain that people are indeed required to root for sports teams in the state they live in⸮ --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.133.234|172.68.133.234]] 21:11, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

The map loks great, but you didn't include all 50 states.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.123|162.158.58.123]] 05:36, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

[https://img
ur.com/a/Tnjts I tried my hand at creating this map] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.112|162.158.255.112]] 01:23, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

In the "explanation" column of the grid the entry for Rhode Island says "Expanding Rhode Island eastward would reduce the number of land borders it has to two [...]" This confused me a great deal, and I triple-checked to confirm that Rhode Island currently has two land borders, so how would making it bigger reduce the number (which is currently two) to two? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.190|108.162.237.190]] 04:15, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

A description of the change to the eastern Massachusetts/New Hampshire border is missing.

The border between the Province of Québec and the States of New York and Vermont should also be straightened and aligned on the 45th parallel and, while we're at it, extended all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. The Northeastern border would then be a nice straight line, like the Northwestern border. New Hampshire would lose its extreme Northern tip (not a big deal), and Maine all of its Northern territory (which is mostly uninhabited anyway).

36: Scientists

2017-10-08T18:35:39Z

172.68.58.41: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 36
| date =  2006
| title = Scientists
| image = scientists.jpg
| titletext = A leading expert characterized the situation as 'retarded'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic plays on the type of statement that news reports often use: "in what [group of experts] are calling '[quote]'", to add more weight and credibility to their stories. In this case, [[Cueball]] is using the phrase to attempt to add gravitas to the (relatively mundane) fact that his shoes are missing and he thinks it's "pretty gay" by assigning this opinion to scientists (rather than it being, presumably, his friend's or his own opinion). The same joke is at play in the image text where a leading expert thinks the situation is "retarded".

There may be a second level to the joke: Randall was still working for NASA at the time the comic was posted, so his friends at that time would presumably include scientists and "leading experts". If his friends made fun of him for not being able to find his shoes, it would therefore be accurate to say that scientists had made those statements. However, since their being scientists is irrelevant to the legitimacy of their opinions about Randall's shoe problems, presenting their teasing as an expert opinion is humorously misleading; a similar joke is at play in [[1206: Einstein]].

The phrases "pretty gay" and "retarded" are politically incorrect slang for "dumb", and so they are the opposite type of speech expected of experts on news reports. (These terms were not generally considered more than mildly offensive by most of the public at the time this comic was posted; the cultural mainstream is now typically much more critical of this type of language, and this comic would likely be heavily criticized if it were published today.)

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is staring at an empty box on the floor.]
:In what scientists are calling "pretty gay", I can't find my shoes.

==Trivia==
*This comic was never posted on [[LiveJournal]].
**But its "comic number" was still among the 44 comics that was posted on the day the xkcd web site opened (1st of January 2006).
**41 one of these were previously posted on LiveJournal; only three were not.
**The other two are [[5: Blown apart]] and [[12: Poisson]].
*However, comic #36 was originally posted as a duplicate of comic [[10: Pi Equals]]. This was corrected sometime between [http://web.archive.org/web/20060423175703/http://www.xkcd.com/c36.html April 23, 2006] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20060705231511/http://xkcd.com/c36.html July 5, 2006], when the current version showed up in the web archive (see the links).
**The comic looks like one of Randall's old drawings. So when he realized his mistake (over three months after it was originally posted), he probably found an old drawing he never originally intended to use and posted it, to not make it stand out compared to the other comics from that time.
**This is the reason there is no date for this comic. It can be anytime between the two dates mentioned above.

{{Comic discussion}}

[[Category:No date]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]

1460: SMFW

2017-05-29T06:09:58Z

172.68.58.41: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1460
| date = December 15, 2014
| title = SMFW
| image = smfw.png
| titletext = wtfw it's like smho tbfh, imdb.
}}

==Explanation==
Randall gives some examples of confusing acronyms that closely resemble more commonly-used acronyms. He depicts [[Cueball]] apparently puzzling over the meaning of one such acronym.

"SMFW", the title of the comic and an acronym used as the caption, is very close to a number of other common acronyms, including:

*"SFW", meaning "safe/suitable for work", denoting that something does not have suggestive content
*"MFW", meaning "my face when...", setting up for a user's reaction to something: possibly the intended replacement for the caption at the bottom of the comic
*"SMH", meaning "shaking my head", used to indicate dismay
*"SMF", meaning "so much fun"
*"NSFW", meaning "not safe for work", the opposite of "SFW"
*"MWF", meaning "Monday, Wednesday, Friday", the update schedule of XKCD

The title text contains more examples of imaginary acronyms of a similar nature:

*"WTFW" is a combination of "WTF" ("What the fuck?") and "TFW" ("That feel when...", used in a similar nature to "MFW"), and possibly "FTW" ("For The Win") and "FWIW" ("For What It's Worth")
*"SMHO" is a combination of "SMH" ("shake my head") and "IMHO" ("In my humble/honest opinion...")
*"TBFH" is a combination of "TBF" ("to be fair") and "TBH"
*"IMDB" is, of course, [http://www.imdb.com/ the Internet Movie Database], but also resembles "IMHO"

Below are possible examples of potential (already existing, albeit rare) representations for each acronym, according to the {{w|Urban Dictionary}}:

*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/SMFW SMFW] is listed as an acronym for "Smoke more fucking weed".
*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/WTFW WTFW] is listed as an acronym for "What the fuck, what?".
*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/SMHO SMHO] is listed as an acronym for "Shaking my head off".
*[http://www.urbandictionary.com/TBFH TBFH] is listed as an acronym for "To be fucking honest".

Knowing Randall, the sentences given in the comic proper and title text were (probably) made without an actual meaning in mind. Nevertheless, the sentence in the comic has a very plausible interpretation: "So Much Frustration When an acronym ''almost'' makes sense." (Another plausible interpretation of the acronym is "See My Face When".) Even the absurdly cryptic title text has a plausible translation: "What The Fuck, World? (WTFW) it's like Some Moron's Horrible Opinion (SMHO) To Be Fucking Honest (TBFH), I'm Done, Bye. (IMDB)"

The name of the comic "XKCD" is itself a false acronym. From the [http://www.xkcd.com/about xkcd about page]:

"It's not actually an acronym. It's just a word with no phonetic pronunciation -- a treasured and carefully-guarded point in the space of four-character strings."

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is sitting at a desk, crouched over a laptop.]
:SMFW an acronym ''almost'' makes sense

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

469: Improvised

2017-05-29T05:33:27Z

172.68.58.41: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 469
| date = August 29, 2008
| title = Improvised
| image = improvised.png
| titletext = Oh, your brother is Luke. Sorry, should've mentioned that first.
}}

==Explanation==
In the second of the original {{w|Star Wars}} film {{w|The Empire Strikes Back|Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back}}", just before {{w|Han Solo}}, portrayed by {{w|Harrison Ford}}, is frozen in carbonite, the following conversation occurs:
:Leia: I love you.
:Han: I know.

The original script had Han Solo respond with "I love you, too", but Harrison Ford felt that the character would not give such a cliched response, even in the face of likely death and ad-libbed the "I know" line that was actually used in the finished film. The ad-libbed line is generally thought to be better than the original would have been.

The comic presents several alternative ad-libs that Ford could have made in that conversation as well as at various points throughout the original trilogy. So in this situation it is the actor Ford and not Han Solo that speaks the lines.

{| class="wikitable"
! Row
! Col
! Ad-Lib
! Further Detail
|-
| 1
| 1
| '''Well, duh.'''
| Here, Han ruins the mood [a dramatic confession] with a flippant statement.
|-
| 1
| 2
| '''Seriously? ...Christ.'''
| Another example of an out-of-tone ad-lib. The original line is "never tell me the odds", a nod to Solo's daredevil persona. In this ad-lib, however, he is hesitant to try anything dangerous. Additionally, Ford's use of "Christ" would be unfitting, as Star Wars takes place in a galaxy far, far away, where Christianity is completely unknown. (Still, considering that Solo [[890:_Etymology|named his ship after an Earth bird of prey...]])
|-
| 1
| 3
| '''Oh! Hey, that explains the kissing earlier.'''
| Another absurd, out-of-character answer to a serious remark, this time with Solo acting romantically oblivious [rather than forward, as he is usually].
|-
| 2
| 1
| '''I'm nailing your brother.'''
| So far Leia doesn't know she has a brother (Luke). Also, since ''to nail'' means to penetrate, she may be surprised to learn that Han is currently engaged in a same-sex relationship (or at least an ongoing arrangement). This panel is referenced in the title text.
|-
| 2
| 2
| '''Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for scissors, though they do beat paper and rock.'''
| The original line is "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid", a reference to Luke's force training and lightsaber use. In this ad-lib, Han turns a discussion about weapons into a [unusually formal] discussion about the game {{w|Rock-paper-scissors}}.
|-
| 2
| 3
| '''Cool. Listen, this thing is really, REALLY cold.'''
| Han is in a freezing chamber in this scene. This remark indicates that he is not very interested in Leia's feeling at this moment since he is so cold.
|-
| 3
| 1
| '''Wowzers'''
| ''Wowzers'' is an expression used by {{w|Inspector Gadget}}; another amusingly out-of-character ad-lib.
|-
| 3
| 2
| '''Barely. They're pretty drunk.'''
| The original response here is "Uh, my team's ready. I don't have a command crew for the shuttle." In this ad-lib, Han responds to a serious situation [preparations for an important mission to bring down the Galactic Empire] with an unserious response and an admission that he's allowing his crew to drink while on duty.
|-
| 3
| 3
| '''Man, me too but Chewie never seems interested. Maybe I should grow my hair out.'''
| The original response was "I can arrange that! You could ''use'' a good kiss!" In the original film, Leia's remark "I'd just as soon kiss a wookiee" is meant as an insult to Han, implying that he's no more attractive than a great hairy monster. In this ad-lib, though, Han takes her statement literally, and suggests that he is also interested in kissing a wookiee. Chewbacca is Han's wookiee copilot and fellow smuggler. Han's suggestion that he's interested in kissing Chewbacca is unexpected on many levels: firstly, Han's shown interest in Leia, secondly, Chewbacca is an entirely different species, and thirdly, Chewbacca is also male, and Han Solo is presumed by Leia to be straight.
|}

Note: although it's spelled "wookie" in the comic, the canonical spelling of Chewbacca's species is "{{w|Wookiee}}".

The title text continues the ad lib in panel four. It refers to the plot twist that {{w|Luke Skywalker}} is princess {{w|Princess Leia|Leia's}} brother, which would not be revealed until the next film in the series. How Harrison Ford knows this twist at this point in the story is unknown.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panels:]
:Harrison Ford famously improvised his "I know" line in E.S.B. Here are a few of his less-successful ad-libs:

:[Harrison Ford as Han Solo (in all the panels) stands in front of Princess Leia on the Cloud City Carbon Freezing Chamber.]
:Leia: I love you.
:Han: Well, duh.

:[Han Solo in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.]
:C-3P0: Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3720 to 1!
:Han: Seriously? ...Christ.

:[Han Solo stands in front of Princess Leia on the Cloud City Carbon Freezing Chamber.]
:Leia: I love you.
:Han: Oh! Hey, that explains the kissing earlier.

:[Han Solo stands in front of Princess Leia on the Cloud City Carbon Freezing Chamber.]
:Leia: I love you.
:Han: I'm nailing your brother.

:[Han Solo standing in front of Luke Skywalker, who is holding a blast shield helmet and a lightsaber. The training droid hovers between them.]

:Han: Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for scissors, though they do beat paper and rock.

:[Han Solo stands in front of Princess Leia on the Cloud City Carbon Freezing Chamber.]
:Leia: I love you.
:Han: Cool. Listen, this thing is really, really cold.

:[Han Solo stands in front of Princess Leia on the Cloud City Carbon Freezing Chamber.]
:Leia: I love you.
:Han: Wowzers.

:[Han Solo sits with two others. General Madine approaches.]
:Madine: General Solo, is your strike team assembled?
:Han: Barely. They're pretty drunk.

:[Han Solo and Princess Leia stand in an Ice Tunnel of Hoth.]
:Leia: I'd just as soon kiss a wookie.
:Han: Man, me too but Chewie never seems interested. Maybe I should grow my hair out.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Romance]]

1839: Doctor Visit

2017-05-19T22:39:12Z

172.68.58.41:

{{comic
| number = 1839
| date = May 19, 2017
| title = Doctor Visit
| image = doctor_visit.png
| titletext = According to these blood tests, you're like 30% cereal.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Edited by a human. Needs more humans.}}
[[Cueball]] is visiting his doctor [[Ponytail]], apparently for a general medical checkup.

While there is nothing wrong with him medically, the doctor wonders why he has continued to work for many years despite his body parts' individual fragility. Compared to man-made structures - like the USB cables mentioned by Ponytail, which quickly begin to fray - it's surprising that the body can survive for so long while sustaining so much wear and tear. Actually the body gets stronger and more fit the more it is used, as opposed to USB cables.

Ponytail specifically mentions his eyes which are so fragile and exposed. Yet most people go through a whole life with both eyes intact, although the vision itself may be impaired. The human reflexes and the shape of the skull around the eyes has a lot to do with the fact that it is possible to protect such fragile structures for a lifetime.

Ponytail also remarks that the body is composed of high pressure fluids (particularly blood, intracellular and extracellular fluids) and intricate parts (like the nervous system and the heart). If the fluids stopped flowing or the intricate parts stopped working, the entire body would fail, killing Cueball.

It should be noted that the human body is constantly replacing dead/injured cells and proteins. In a young human body, everything in the body is continually refurbished, and nothing is able to become old enough to deteriorate unintentionally; this requires a constant supply of energy and nutrients to keep this process going. As the body ages, these self-repair mechanisms eventually slow and can no longer keep up with the required repairs; this manifests as the various symptoms of old age (wrinkled skin, graying and balding hair, worsening eyesight and hearing, etc.)

USB cables are built to withstand far more wear and tear than the human body. But while this makes them tougher than blood vessels on the outset, they inevitably fray and fail faster than blood vessels because they lack the self-repair mechanisms of organic material.

The doctor's final remark is that Cueball is mainly made from dissolved bread, which is true from the perspective that the food (bread) he eats is digested in his alimentary system, absorbed into his bloodstream and used as nutrients for growth and repair.

This is taken further in the title text, where she states that the blood tests reveal he is 30% {{w|cereal}}.

All things taken into consideration, we don't actually have any confirmation that Ponytail is a real doctor. As Randall has stated before, [[699: Trimester|anybody can just buy a lab coat]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her right hand.]
:Cueball: Everything look good?
:Ponytail: I don't get how your body has been moving around for years and still works at all. My USB cables fray after like a month.

:Ponytail: Your heart has been pumping for decades without pausing for even a few minutes.
:Ponytail: And your ''eyes!'' They're so fragile and exposed!

:[Zoom in on Cueball gazing at his palms.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): You're full of all these high-pressure fluids and intricate parts that could kill you in seconds if they stopped working!

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene.]
:Cueball: ...can you just tell me whether I'm healthy?
:Ponytail: Yeah, you're fine.
:Ponytail: Which is weird, given that your body is basically made from dissolved bread.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1839: Doctor Visit

2017-05-19T19:07:23Z

172.68.58.41:

{{comic
| number = 1839
| date = May 19, 2017
| title = Doctor Visit
| image = doctor_visit.png
| titletext = According to these blood tests, you're like 30% cereal.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Edited by a human. Needs more humans.}}
[[Cueball]] is visiting his doctor [[Ponytail]], apparently for a general medical checkup.

While there is nothing wrong with him medically, the doctor wonders why he has continued to work for many years despite his body parts' individual fragility. Compared to man-made structures - like the USB cables mentioned by Ponytail, which quickly begin to fray - it's surprising that the body can survive for so long while sustaining so much wear and tear. Actually the body gets stronger and more fit the more it is used, as opposed to USB cables.

Ponytail specifically mentions his eyes which are so fragile and exposed. Yet most people go through a whole life with both eyes intact, although the vision itself may be impaired. The human reflexes and the shape of the skull around the eyes has a lot to do with the fact that it is possible to protect such fragile structures for a lifetime.

Ponytail also remarks that the body is composed of high pressure fluids (particularly blood, intracellular and extracellular fluids) and intricate parts (like the nervous system and the heart). If the fluids stopped flowing or the intricate parts stopped working, the entire body would fail, killing Cueball.

It should be noted that the human body is constantly replacing dead/injured cells and proteins. In a young human body, everything in the body is continually refurbished, and nothing is able to become old enough to deteriorate unintentionally; this requires a constant supply of energy and nutrients to keep this process going. As the body ages, these self-repair mechanisms eventually slow and can no longer keep up with the required repairs; this manifests as the various symptoms of old age (wrinkled skin, graying and balding hair, worsening eyesight and hearing, etc.)

USB cables are built to withstand far more wear and tear than the human body. But while this makes them tougher than blood vessels on the outset, they inevitably fray and fail faster than blood vessels because they lack the self-repair mechanisms of organic material.

The doctor's final remark is that Cueball is mainly made from dissolved bread, which is true from the perspective that the food (bread) he eats is digested in his alimentary system, absorbed into his bloodstream and used as nutrients for growth and repair.

This is taken further in the title text, where she states that the blood tests reveal he is 30% {{w|cereal}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her right hand.]
:Cueball: Everything look good?
:Ponytail: I don't get how your body has been moving around for years and still works at all. My USB cables fray after like a month.

:Ponytail: Your heart has been pumping for decades without pausing for even a few minutes.
:Ponytail: And your ''eyes!'' They're so fragile and exposed!

:[Zoom in on Cueball gazing at his palms.]
:Ponytail (off-panel): You're full of all these high-pressure fluids and intricate parts that could kill you in seconds if they stopped working!

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene.]
:Cueball: ...can you just tell me whether I'm healthy?
:Ponytail: Yeah, you're fine.
:Ponytail: Which is weird, given that your body is basically made from dissolved bread.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1838: Machine Learning

2017-05-18T22:36:01Z

172.68.58.41: Renamed Cueball and Cueball-like guy to Cueball Prime and Cueball II. Also organized explanation somewhat.

{{comic
| number = 1838
| date = May 17, 2017
| title = Machine Learning
| image = machine_learning.png
| titletext = The pile gets soaked with data and starts to get mushy over time, so it's technically recurrent.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Work in progress. <s>This explanation is an attempt at {{w|design by committee|machine learning by committee}}.</s>}}

{{w|Machine learning}} is a method employed in automation of complex tasks. It usually involves creation of algorithms that deal with statistical analysis of data and pattern recognition to generate output. The validity/accuracy of the output can be used to give feedback to make changes to the system, usually making future results statistically better.

Cueball Prime stands atop his machine learning system, which consists of a pile of mathematical functions with an input funnel (labelled "data") at one end, an output box (labelled "answers") at the other, and a whole mess of mathematical functions in between. As Cueball Prime explains to the incredulous Cueball II, data enters through the funnel, undergoes an incomprehensible process of linear algebra, and comes out as answers. Cueball Prime appears to be a functional part of this system himself, as he stands atop the pile stirring it with a paddle. Cueball Prime's machine learning system is probably very inefficient, as he is integral to both the mechanical part (repeated stirring) and the learning part (making the answers look "right").

The main joke is that, despite this description being too vague and giving no intuition or details into the system, it is close to the level of understanding most machine learning experts have of the most popular class of techniques in machine learning, namely support vector machines. 

This comic compares a machine learning system to a compost pile. {{w|Composting}} is the process of taking organic matter, such as food and yard waste, and allowing it to decompose into a form that serves as fertilizer. A common method of composting is to mound the organic matter in a pile with a certain amount of moisture, then "stirring" the pile occasionally to move the less-decomposed material from the top to the interior of the pile, where it will decompose faster.

''One of the most popular paradigms of machine learning is that of supervised learning, where a function mapping an input to an output is learned from several input-output pairs, e.g. a function mapping images of faces to people names, from a dataset of static labelled images. Classic machine learning techniques like regression, or logistic regression, have understandable parameters, and provable algorithms, but require significant engineering in the pre-processing step and don't perform very well for data like images or natural text. Deep learning techniques, on the other hand, require very little pre-processing, but require the data to be run through several steps of linear algebra, where essentially in each step the output of the previous step is multiplied with a matrix and sent to the the next step. This multi-step process has proven to be very successful for image and text data, but the structure of the parameters, arranged as a matrix for each step, allows for very little interpretation, and can only be described as "data going through a pile of linear algebra".''

The method of training such deep neural networks is via gradient descent, which can be viewed as "stirring the pile of linear algebra until the answers start looking right".

The title text refers to recurrent neural networks, which are a useful class of deep neural networks for dealing with sequence data like speech or text.

This comic satirizes machine learning, more specifically neural networks. In its most basic form, a neural network takes data and results and strengthens connections that give the right answer and weakens ones that don't, until the results "look right". Neural networks are extremely data-dependent, and make remarkably few guarantees when compared to most other computing techniques, thus the joke.

''Recently, other forms of neural networks, such as LSTMs, feed old sequence data back into the network with some delay, making it recurrent. The title text calls this the pile "getting mushy". The title text is also be a pun based on how Cueball Prime is going through the data. Instead of using a shovel, he is using a canoe paddle. Canoes can be used on rivers, and rivers by definition have currents. Thus, a recurrent data could, in this situation, mean data treated as if it were part of a river.''

In large-scale composting operations, the raw organic matter added to the pile is referred to as "input". This cartoon implies a play on the term "input", comparing a compost input to a data input.

==Transcript==

[Cueball Prime, holds a canoe paddle at his side and stands on top of a "big pile of linear algebra" containing a funnel labeled "data" and box labeled "answers". Cueball II stands to the left side of the panel.)]

Cueball II: This is your machine learning system?

Cueball Prime: Yup! You pour the data into this big pile of linear algebra, then collect the answers on the other side.

Cueball II: What if the answers are wrong?

Cueball Prime: Just stir the pile until they start looking right.

{{comic discussion}}

734: Outbreak

2017-05-16T15:15:04Z

172.68.58.41:

{{comic
| number = 734
| date = April 30, 2010
| title = Outbreak
| image = outbreak.png
| titletext = Let's get dinner after we promptly destroy all the X-7 we've manufactured.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Index case|Patient Zero}} is the usual terminology for the first patient tested or infected with an {{w|outbreak}}-style infection, like in the movie {{w|Outbreak (film)|Outbreak}}, which is not the main inspiration for this comic, except maybe the title.

This comic, however, serves to make fun of the stereotypical {{w|List of zombie films|zombie movie}} in which an unlikely series of events, coupled with extreme oversight on part of the staff, leave an opening for an outbreak to begin. Often, the infected find themselves lacking any restraint or containment, and freely move about in search of humans to infect.

In the comic Ryan (drawn as [[Cueball]]) tells Laura (drawn as [[Megan]]) that the patient has been exposed to ''toxin X-7''. The patient (a {{w|zombie}} version of a Cueball-like guy) can be seen through a window inside a laboratory, with Ryan trying to block the door. The patient has turned into a ''bloodthirsty monster'' that in true zombie-style calls out for brains, while walking with both arms stretched out and bits of him falling off, three typical cliches for zombie movies.

Laura then asks if the zombie has been kept in {{w|Isolation (health care)|isolation}}, a standard medical procedure that prevents the patient from coming into contact with anyone or anything not specifically approved, and thus prevents the spread of the disease. Her question serves to point out the drastic difference in real-life procedure and zombie movies.

When told that so far the zombie has been isolated her next action is to run to her car to obtain the weapon she has there to destroy the zombie, again showing contrast against the often irrational and illogical actions of medical staff in movies, whose behaviors usually lead to their deaths and to the spread of the disease, which causes the real outbreak. Because one person (or a few people) dying from a disease is not called an outbreak.

When Laura returns she kills patient zero, before he infects any other, thus the outbreak ends in panel three five minutes after it started in panel one. And neither Laura or Ryan was infected by the splatter when she shot the zombie with a large {{w|shotgun}} at close range! This would of course (even realistically) have happened in a zombie movie, where often a single drop of blood in the eye would cause the disease to spread. (See for instance {{w|28 Days Later}} (2002) where that exact example is taken from, and where the zombies are not previously dead people rising from their graves, just like in this comic, although there it is a disease rather than a toxin that caused the outbreak).

The comic ends with a little "mock the audience" joke as romantic comedies stereo-typically have a very different audience from zombie horror movies. The two characters had never been introduced before, their names are first given in the last panel. Having such an intense and life-threatening experience often causes people to fall in love. But for a zombie/disaster movie this is supposed to happen just before the end titles, so you have all the fun first, and can go home on the happy ending. Since the "fun" part only lasted for five minutes the rest of the movie will now describe Ryan and Laura's romantic relationship after this comic.

As a result, the director(s) of this movie are deliberately showing the wrong kind of film to the audience attracted by the title or teaser. This would be disastrous for a movie in real life given that audiences do not take kindly to such antics and are likely to pour hate about it online, dissuading others from going, and alienating both those audiences who enjoy romantic comedies and those who enjoy zombie films, leaving just a niche occupied by the people who enjoy both.

The title-text is included as another example of the logical real-life actions versus the illogical movie ones, as any dangerous substance in a real lab would be disposed of, preventing further harm. In zombie movies, another major trope is the medical staff thinking that they are safe after they eliminate the first zombie, only to find the remaining chemicals have been used to make more. But before Ryan and Laura have had dinner, they promptly go back and destroys both the X-7 toxin and the last hope of the zombie fans seeing the movie of any further action...

Zombies are a [[:Category:Zombies|recurring theme]] in xkcd. Though zombies are often depicted as being raised from the death they are as mentioned often created (in films) through disease or toxins as is the case here. Apart from the three typical features of zombies mentioned, the zombie in this comic is also called zombie in the [http://xkcd.com/734/info.0.json official transcript] on xkcd.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan, stand outside a door into a laboratory (as it says on the door). Cueball is leaning back against the door. A Cueball-like zombie which is clearly falling apart, walking with it's hands stretched out in front of it is visible through a window into the laboratory. At the top of the panel there is a frame around a yellow area with narration, which goes over the top of this panels frame.]
:Narrator: The outbreak started with Patient Zero...
:Cueball: He was exposed to toxin X-7— now he's a bloodthirsty monster!
:Megan: Has he been in isolation?
:Zombie: Braaains!
:Door: LAB

:[Cueball turns towards the door pushing on it partly blocking the doors label. A noise indicates the zombie banging on the door from inside. Megan runs right her head and hand already partly outside the frame.]
:Cueball: Yes, but I can't hold this door for long!
:Megan: Hang on, I've got a gun in my truck.
:Zombie hitting door: ''Wham''
:Door: LA

:[In this frame-less panel Cueball opens the door, leaning back with a hand in front of his face, as Megan shoots with her shotgun through the open door at the zombie inside.]
:Shotgun: <big>''Blam''</big>
:Door: LAB

:[Cueball and Megan , now revealed to be called Ryan and Laura, stand together away from the laboratory door. Megan still holds shotgun down. At the top and bottom of the panel there is two more frames around a yellow areas with narration, which goes over the top and bottom of this panels frame.]
:Narrator: And ended with Patient Zero five minutes later.
:Ryan: So, I never got your name. I'm Ryan.
:Laura: Laura.
:Narrator: The remaining 90 minutes of the movie will be a romantic comedy.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Zombies]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

1767: US State Names

2017-05-16T15:08:58Z

172.68.58.41:

{{comic
| number = 1767
| date = December 2, 2016
| title = US State Names
| image = us_state_names.png
| titletext = Technically DC isn't a state, but no one is too pedantic about it because they don't want to disturb the snakes.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] has taken a {{w|map}} of {{w|the United States of America}} labeled "Geography Challenge: Name all 50 States" and filled in the states with words that sound similar to the states' names. The joke is that Randall is apparently terrible at remembering states by heart, or else that he interpreted "name" as "give a name to" and is giving each state a name similar to but different from its previous name. Songs such as the [https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fifty+nifty+united+states+song 50 Nifty United States] make these issues seem rarer, thus making it funnier. Below is the table.

This also may be a play on the ambiguity of the phrase "Name all 50 states". When you are asked to "name" something, it can be a request to supply its given name or to come up with a new name for it. Randall has apparently taken the latter interpretation. He also may be playing with the distinction between an object's identity and its label, e.g., "The state of Texas (identity) is named Hexxus (label)", though you can argue that "Texas" is also a label.

This comic is similar to [[1759: British Map]]. Also note that the text at the top of the comic is not in all caps.

===Table of States===
{{incomplete|Some states unfinished. Make wikipedia links.}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Fictional State
! Actual State
! Explanation
|-
| Wilwheaton
| {{w|Washington_State|Washington}}
| {{w|Wil Wheaton}} is an actor and writer, famous for his role as {{w|Wesley Crusher}} on {{w|Star Trek}}.
|-
| Organs
| {{w|Oregon}}
| Could refer to either {{w|Organ (anatomy)|body parts}} that perform vital functions, or large {{w|Organ (music)|musical instruments}} having rows of tuned pipes. Also a possible reference to {{w|Organ Trail}}, a retro survival video game that parodies {{w|The Oregon Trail (video game)|The Oregon Trail}}.
|-
| Cafeteria
| {{w|California}}
| A {{w|cafeteria}} is both a kind of restaurant and a name for a lunch room that serves food. California is large and diverse, offering a wide variety of choices. California also grows a large proportion of common vegetables available in the US ([http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2013/07/california_grows_all_of_our_fruits_and_vegetables_what_would_we_eat_without.html Source]), making it a 'Cafeteria' for the country.
|-
| Fallout New Vegas
| {{w|Nevada}}
| {{w|Fallout New Vegas}} is a video game set in post-apocalyptic Nevada.
|-
| Idolatry
| {{w|Idaho}}
| {{w|Idolatry}} is the worship of a physical object as a god, forbidden in the Abrahamic religions.
|-
| mount -a
| {{w|Montana}}
| A command to {{w|Mount (computing)|mount}} all disk volumes in fstab (except for ones with the noauto flag).
|-
| Wysiwyg
| {{w|Wyoming}}
| Acronym for "{{w|WYSIWYG|what you see is what you get}}". A reference to [[Types of Editors]].
|-
| Uhaul
| {{w|Utah}}
| {{w|U-Haul}} is a company that rents moving vans which are frequently decorated with scenes from places that most people have never visited.
|-
| Verizona
| {{w|Arizona}}
| {{w|Verizon}}, a telecommunications company, has the shared text "Rizon" with Arizona (Ve''rizon'', A''rizon''a).
|-
| Namaste
| {{w|New Mexico}}
| {{w|Namaste}} is a Hindu greeting.
|-
| Hexxus
| {{w|Texas}}
| The antagonist of Ferngully. {{w|FernGully:_The_Last_Rainforest|FernGully}} is said to be the model for the later film {{w|Avatar_(2009_film)|Avatar}}. This is the second time Hexxus was mentioned in xkcd, the first occurrence being in [[1750: Life Goals]]. May allude to the Texas oil industry and the state's general reputation for a lack of environmental protection.
|-
| Okay
| {{w|Oklahoma}}
| OK is the {{w|List_of_U.S._state_abbreviations|state's abbreviation}}. Okay is a spelling of another abbreviation O.K., which means "yes" or "good", and has {{w|OK#Proposed etymologies|quite a few possible origins}}.
|-
| Candice
| {{w|Kansas}}
| {{w|Candice}} is an alternate spelling of the girl's name "{{w|Candace_(given name)|Candace}}", which comes from the Latinized version of "{{w|kandake}}," a title used in the {{w|Kingdom of Kush}} (an ancient African monarchy) for a reigning queen, queen consort, or queen mother; possibly used for female members of the royal family in general.
|-
| Colocated
| {{w|Colorado}}
| May refer to computer servers located in a {{w|colocation centre}}, or to {{w|collocation}}, a linguistics term for words or terms that appear together with a frequency greater than chance.
|-
| Nebrunswick
| {{w|Nebraska}}
| {{w|New Brunswick}}, a Canadian province. People sometimes write "NB" as the postal abbreviation for Nebraska; in reality, Nebraska is "NE", and while there is no "NB" in the U.S. postal system, New Brunswick is "NB" in the {{w|Canadian_postal_abbreviations_for_provinces_and_territories|Canadian postal system}}.
|-
| Dakota
| {{w|South Dakota}}
| Randall seems to have forgotten his directions, so he drops the normal "South" and "North". He may also be teasing that this doesn't matter.
|-
| More Dakota
| {{w|North Dakota}}
| Probably just reference to the fact that there are two Dakotas, but mishearing/misrepresenting "North" as "More" (leaving South Dakota as just "Dakota"). Might be a reference to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/more-dakka "More Dakka"], a catchphrase by Orks from the {{w|Warhammer_40,000|Warhammer 40000}} universe, though WH40K isn't a usual XKCD touchstone.
|-
| Minestrone
| {{w|Minnesota}}
| {{w|Minestrone}} is a thick vegetable soup, originating in Italy.
|-
| Wainscot
| {{w|Wisconsin}}
| {{w|Panelling#Wainscot_panelling|Wainscot}} is a type of wood {{w|panelling}} covering only the lower half of a wall.
|-
| Iota
| {{w|Iowa}}
| {{w|Iota}} is the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iota ninth letter of the Greek alphabet]. In English, the word [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iota#English iota] may also mean "an inconsiderable amount".
|-
| Sk8rbois
| {{w|Illinois}}
| "Skater Boys" or just "Skater Boy" if the '-ois' is pronounced the same as it is in "Illinois". {{w|Sk8er Boi}} is a song by {{w|Avril Lavigne}}.
|-
| Mossouri
| {{w|Missouri}}
| The single different letter represents probably a typo (O is adjacent to I in a keyboard). This typo has about 22,000 results on Google. Alternatively, this could be an attempt to "correct" the spelling of the state name to match its non-intuitive {{w|List_of_U.S._state_abbreviations|postal abbreviation}}, MO, which is sometimes used as a pronounceable acronym. Or it could be a reference to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Moussouris Katie Mossouris].
|-
| Arkanoids
| {{w|Arkansas}}
| {{w|Arkanoid}} is an arcade game, developed by Taito in 1986.
|-
| Louisa
| {{w|Louisiana}}
| Louisa, feminine of Louis, is an Old German name meaning "famous warrior". Louisiana was named after King Louis XIV when it was founded as a French colony.
|-
| Misstate
| {{w|Mississippi}}
| The word "misstate" means to state improperly. "Mis-" is also a prefix meaning "wrong," "incorrect," or simply negating. "Misstate" could be a non-state. {{w|Mississipi State University|Miss State}} is a university in Mississippi. This may also be a joke on the fact that Mississippi is one of the most commonly misspelled state names.
|-
| Bandana
| {{w|Alabama}}
| A {{w|Kerchief|bandana}} is a large handkerchief cloth, worn either around the head or neck. Often used in Westerns.
|-
| Thennessy
| {{w|Tennessee}}
| {{w|Hennessy}} is a brand of cognac.
|-
| Kennedy
| {{w|Kentucky}}
| {{w|Kennedy Fried Chicken}} is New York City–based fast food brand that shares its initials with KFC, which was formerly (and still conventionally) Kentucky Fried Chicken. "Kennedy" is also the name of a former US president ({{w|John_F._Kennedy|John}}) and two former US senators ({{w|Robert_F._Kennedy|Robert}} and {{w|Ted_Kennedy|Ted}}).
|-
| That Other One
| {{w|Indiana}}
| 'That Other One' is something someone might say if they were trying to name all the states from memory, and knew where a state was but not what it was called. Appropriate for Indiana, due to being a state with relatively few distinguishing features.
|-
| Mishy
| {{w|Michigan}}
| According to the Urban Dictionary, "mishy" means "[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mishy mushy and horny at the same time]". Or it could just be a nickname, the way a lot of people's names, often children, get shortened with a trailing y (Bobby, Becky, Johnny, Suzy, Davey, Jimmy, etc.).
|-
| Oh Hi
| {{w|Ohio}}
| Oh (expression of surprise), Hi (greeting). A common utterance upon meeting an acquaintance unexpectedly.
|-
| Pencilmania
| {{w|Pennsylvania}}
| [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151935/ Pencil Mania] is a 1932 Tom and Jerry cartoon in which they pull out a pencil and proceed to draw figures in the air.
|-
| Newark
| {{w|New York}}
| The city of {{w|Newark,_New_Jersey|Newark}} is a suburb of New York City, and many people who live in Newark commute the 14 miles to work in New York City, however it is actually located in the state of New Jersey rather than New York. Other references: {{w|Newark_Liberty_International_Airport|Newark Liberty International Airport}} is a major flight hub serving the New York metropolitan area, the village of Newark, New York (near Lake Ontario), and {{w|Newark_element14|Newark element14}} (or simply "Newark"), the official distributor of Raspberry Pi. Possible reference to William Gibson's works. A mispronunciation of New York.
|-
| Vermouth
| {{w|Vermont}}
| {{w|Vermouth}} is an Italian alcoholic beverage.
|-
| New Hamper
| {{w|New Hampshire}}
| A {{w|hamper}} is a large basket, often with lid, used for laundry. Also another name for a picnic basket.
|-
| Spanish Maine
| {{w|Maine}}
| The {{w|Spanish Main}} was the mainland Spanish colonial possessions around the Gulf of Mexico. Also refers to the surrounding sea, as in the opening of the (children's?) song, "Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main, ...". May also refer to the {{w|USS Maine (ACR-1)}}, which, upon sinking, started the Spanish-American war.
|-
| Masseuses
| {{w|Massachusetts}}
| Women who give {{w|massage}}s professionally. A contentious term in the therapeutic massage industry due to its appropriation by prostitutes.
|-
| Roald Dahl
| {{w|Rhode Island}}
| A {{w|Roald Dahl|British writer}}, famous for child novels such as {{w|Charlie and the Chocolate Factory}}. This name does not actually rime well with Rhode Island. Dahl used the Norwegian pronunciation of his name, as he had Norwegian parents. Because of how the pronunciation of the name has not been wildly known by readers, Randall may not have been aware of this.
|-
| Connectfour
| {{w|Connecticut}}
| {{w|Connect Four}} is a two-player game, in which the objective is to connect four of your checkers in a row while preventing your opponent from doing the same. It has already been mentioned in [[1002: Game AIs]].
|-
| Nude Juggalos
| {{w|New Jersey}}
| {{w|Juggalo}} is a name given to fans of the group Insane Clown Posse or any other Psychopathic Records hip hop group. Also shares the same initials as New Jersey.
|-
| Delorean
| {{w|Delaware}}
| The {{w|DeLorean_DMC-12|DeLorean DMC-12}} is a car, made famous as the {{w|DeLorean_time_machine|time machine}} in the {{w|Back to the Future}} movies.
|-
| Maybelline
| {{w|Maryland}}
| {{w|Maybelline}} is a make-up brand.
|-
| District of Colubrids
| {{w|District of Columbia}}
| The {{w|Colubridae}} are the biggest family of snakes, accounting for about two thirds of the world's species. As the title text mentions, the District of Columbia, although not part of any state, is technically not a state itself, but is usually labeled on the maps like the 50 others for practical reasons. Here, Randall humorously explains the reason as people not wanting to upset the aforementioned snakes by dismissing their district for this pedantic reason.
|-
| Wyvern
| {{w|West Virginia}}
| A {{w|Wyvern}} is a mythical creature.
|-
| Virjayjay
| {{w|Virginia}}
| Virginia is similar to {{w|vagina}}. Vajayjay is slang for vagina.
|-
| Sweet Caroline
| {{w|North Carolina}}
| A {{w|Sweet_Caroline|song}} by Neil Diamond.
|-
| South Caroline
| {{w|South Carolina}}
| A further reference to {{w|Sweet_Caroline|song 'Sweet Caroline'}} by Neil Diamond, similar to 'Dakota' and 'More Dakota.' Plays on similarity between the names 'Caroline' and 'Carolina'.
|-
| George
| {{w|Georgia}}
| Georgia was named for {{w|George II of Great Britain}}.
|-
| Fyoridor
| {{w|Florida}}
| Possibly derived from the Russian name Fyodor, as in {{w|Fyodor Dostoyevsky}}.
|-
| Alberta
| {{w|Alaska}}
| {{w|Alberta}} is a Canadian province.
|-
| Kawaii
| {{w|Hawaii}}
| A {{w|Kawaii|Japanese term}} for cute, commonly romanized similar to Hawaii. Not to be confused with {{w|Kauai}}, a Hawaiian island.
|}

==Transcript==

[A map of the United States, with incorrect state names in red text color. A title:]

Geography challenge:

'''Name all 50 states'''

| Alabama => Bandana |

| Alaska => Alberta |

| Arizona => Verizona |

| Arkansas => Arkanoids |

| California => Cafeteria |

| Colorado => Colocated |

| Connecticut => Connect Four |

| Delaware => Delorean |

| District of Columbia => District of Colubrids |

| Florida => Fyoridor |

| Georgia => George |

| Hawaii => Kawaii |

| Idaho => Idolatry |

| Illinois => SK8RBOIS |

| Indiana => That Other One |

| Iowa => Iota |

| Kansas => Candice |

| Kentucky => Kennedy |

| Louisiana => Loisa |

| Maine => Spanish Maine |

| Maryland => Maybelline |

| Massachusetts => Masseuses |

| Michigan => Mishy |

| Minnesota => Minestrone |

| Mississippi => Misstate |

| Missouri => Mossouri |

| Montana => mount -a |

| Nebraska => Nebrunswick |

| Nevada => Fallout New Vegas |

| New Hampshire => New Hamper |

| New Jersey => Nude Juggalos |

| New Mexico => Namaste |

| New York => Newark |

| North Carolina => Sweet Caroline |

| South Carolina => South Caroline |

| Ohio => Oh Hi |

| Oklahoma => Okay |

| Oregon => Organs |

| Pennsylvania => Pencilmania |

| Rhode Island => Roald Dahl |

| South Dakota => Dakota |

| North Dakota => More Dakota |

| Tennessee => Thennessy |

| Texas => Hexxus |

| Utah => Uhaul |

| Vermont => Vermouth |

| Virginia => Virjayjay |

| Washington => Willwheaton |

| West Virginia => Wyvern |

| Wisconsin => Wainscot |

| Wyoming => WYSIWYG |

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geography]]

1302: Year in Review

2017-05-16T15:03:02Z

172.68.58.41: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1302
| date = December 11, 2013
| title = Year in Review
| image = year_in_review.png
| titletext = All in all, I give this year a C-. There were no aurora visible from my house and that comet evaporated. They'd better not cancel the 2017 eclipse.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Explanation needs a grammar check.}}
Many news organizations will recap the major stories of the past calendar year in late December (typically before the year has actually ended). This includes specialized news outlets such as sports stations which recap major sports stories or best plays of the year. Here, [[Cueball]], as a [[:Category:News anchor|news anchor]], expects [[Megan]] to talk about major news stories of 2013 such as the roll-out of {{w|Obamacare}}, the {{w|Papal conclave, 2013|election}} of {{w|Pope Francis}} or the {{w|Death of Nelson Mandela|death}} of {{w|Nelson Mandela}}, to give a few examples.

Instead, Megan only recaps one thing which was important to her: She did not see the {{w|aurora borealis}} (i.e. northern lights) in 2013, the dazzling natural geomagnetic light display caused by the {{w|solar wind}}. In 2013 a solar maximum was expected at its {{w|solar cycle}}, but the activity of the sun wasn't as heavy as before. So, a ''northern light'' had been very rare in this year. Megan has never seen northern light, and she is frustrated that is did not happen for her in 2013, thus overshadowing all other events. She even leaves in the middle of the review when she notices the sky clearing up, as she wish to check if there are any northern light this evening. This may very well be [[Randall|Randall's]] own frustration which is displayed here.

It turns out in the title text that Megan is actually reviewing the astronomical year, only considering astronomical events. She even rates it much like a movie review, although she seems to use the {{w|Academic grading in the United States|A-F grade scale}}. She only gives the year a C- (C minus), which would usually be the lowest passable grade, so she just lets the year pass in spite of the two failing events mentioned in the title text.

In the title text, Megan specifically complains about not being able to see aurora's from her house. If Megan actually represents Randall's frustration, then to expect to see it from a house in Massachusetts would be a lot to ask for. Usually people who wish to see northern lights will travel to an arctic area and stay away from light pollution from cities. But in years with heavy solar activity northern light may be visible even south of Massachusetts.

The title text also refers to {{w|Comet ISON}}. In February, a rough estimate of the comet's behavior predicted that it would become brighter than the full moon, a prediction that was widely reported by the media even though it was based on limited data and astronomers knew that it would not reach this brightness. In the end, although it was visible to the naked eye, it was never as bright as anybody hoped and apparently disintegrated on November 28, 2013 at its close approach to the sun.

The title text also refers to the {{w|2017 total eclipse}}, which will be visible as a partial eclipse for a few hours throughout North America on August 21 Monday, including a 100-mile band across the United States where it will be a total {{w|eclipse}} for a couple of minutes in the early afternoon. Although the weather may be cloudy so the sun will be blocked during totality, the eclipse will happen anyway as there are completely predictable. So Megan is being extremely pessimistic to even suggest that it might get canceled. That she also states it like someone might decide to cancel the eclipse, like it was a concert that could be canceled by the organizer is funny. Seems like Megan thinks "they" are the same that caused the comet to disintegrate and the solar activity to stay low. Anyone with the kind of power to stop a solar eclipse from happening would be God-like compared to humanity.

All in all, the comic suggests that the only events of significance to Megan (and Randall) are astronomical ones; the actions of humanity pale in comparison.

The joke of Megan answering a question in an interview in an unexpected manner has been used before in [[1111: Premiere]].

Interestingly in [[1037: Umwelt]] there is an [[1037#Aurora|aurora story line]] where Megan stays inside at her computer even though it can be seen from her own state, letting her friend go out alone. (So not the same Megan for sure).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is a news anchor sitting with his arms on a desk looking at Megan, a reporter shown in a feed on a screen to his right. There is a title below the feed.]
:Cueball: We go live to our ''2013: Year in Review!''
:Megan: Thanks!
:Megan: In 2013, I didn't see an aurora.
:Cueball: I- what?
:Title: Year in Review

:[Zoom to the top part of the screen with Megan. Her text is written above the screen without a frame around this segment of the comic.]
:Megan: The northern lights. I thought this would finally be the year.
:Megan: But it didn't happen.

:[Back to the original view but Cueball has turned more towards Megan, with only one arm on the desk.]
:Cueball: Oh. Uh... What about the rest of the year?
:Megan: What do you mean?
:Cueball: Any big news stories?
:Megan: Oh yeah, tons.
:Title: Year in Review

:[Same setting but Megan turns away from Cueball, who has taken both hands of the table. Megan is looking to her left at something off screen. Beat panel.]
:Title: Year in Review

:[Cueball turns back to face the viewers, both hands back on the desk, as Megan is leaving the screen, walking out to the right, her face already hidden by the frame of the feed.]
:Cueball: ...Well, that was ''2013: Year in Review.''
:Megan: The sky's clearing up. I'll be outside.
:Title: Year in Review

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:News anchor]]
[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

1836: Okeanos

2017-05-14T19:52:37Z

172.68.58.41:

{{comic
| number = 1836
| date = May 12, 2017
| title = Okeanos
| image = okeanos.png
| titletext = WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Chat comments still need more explanation.}}
The {{w|NOAAS_Okeanos_Explorer_(R_337)|NOAAS Okeanos Explorer}}, named after the Greek (and Roman) personification of the sea {{w|Okeanos}}, is a vessel that is currently exploring the Central Pacific Basin. It livestreams the video feed [http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html] of its deep sea exploration online.

This comic seems to be a representation of the livestream on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmVT36Axtn0], see the [[#Table of comments|table]] below for details.

The chat section for the actual livestream is disabled, but the comic adds some humoristic examples of what the chat section would look like. Several of the examples are the product of commenters falsely believing the livestream is that of a game, probably since most livestreams on youtube are of people playing games; [[Randall]] is joking about the viewers of said streams in particular not being able to tell the difference, as well as YouTube commenters in general. Randall has mentioned the ridiculousness of comments on YouTube before in both [[202: YouTube]] and [[481: Listen to Yourself]].

In the caption below Randall states that he likes to view the stream and commends them on disabling the chat section, for the reasons given in the comic above.

The title text is yet another comment by someone who dropped their phone in the ocean from a boat, and now wants to use Okeanos' resources to find it, which is of course impossible, as the phone will by now be hidden in the silt on the bottom. And even if not, the chance of finding anything dropped in the pacific ocean, the largest Ocean on the Earth, is all but zero.

==Table of comments==
{| class="wikitable"
!Comment
!Explanation
|-
| Fake
| A very common YouTube comment expressing skepticism, for example saying that the content is edited or computer generated.
|-
| Who else is watching this in 2017?
| This type of comment appears frequently on videos, as a kind of community bonding over discovering or revisiting older content. It is not relevant here, as this is a live feed in 2017.
|-
| Is this prerendered or will these graphics be in the game?
| Commenter probably thinks this is a trailer for a video game with hyperrealistic graphics.
|-
| That squid is a neoliberal.
| Likely an attempt at trolling; anyone with even a passing knowledge of marine life will be annoyed that the commenter confused the onscreen jellyfish with a squid, and everyone else will be annoyed by the politically-charged accusation in a place where such conversation clearly does not belong. Judging by the following comments, they have successfully baited at least one other person in the chat.
|-
| Why do the McElroy's never talk?
| A reference to The Adventure Zone, a ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}'' podcast hosted by the McElroy Brothers and their dad. In the world of The Adventure Zone, there is a creature called the Voidfish, which is generally interpreted to look like a jellyfish.
|-
| Stop messing around and eat the fish already.
| Possibly a gamer or food vlog watcher.
|-
| This is why Trump won.
| Another unwelcome injection of politics. This is likely targeted at the 'squid is a neoliberal' commenter, accusing them (in so many words) of being endemic of the widespread ignorance amongst the American population which led to the election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.
|-
| Why do you never craft anything?
| A comment referencing the game ''{{w|Subnautica}}'' where a key aspect to survival is crafting materials.
|-
| This is just a distraction
| Commenter thinks people should be focused on other things which are more important. Possibly political comment. Possibly conspiracy theorist.
|-
| Something is wrong with that baby giraffe.
| A live video of a giraffe in labor and giving birth was viral in April 2017. This commenter is either confused about which video they're watching, and is concerned that the creature on screen (a jellyfish) looks unlike a healthy baby giraffe, or is feigning this confusion as a joke.
|}

==Transcript==
:[The comic takes place during a typical YouTube live-stream. The live-stream is from "OceanExplorerGov", using a submarine to explore the Central Pacific Basin. On the left hand side, the live video feed is playing, showing the ocean's depths. On the right hand side, the chat (typically shown in live-streams) is displayed]

:User #1: Fake
:User #2: Who else is watching this in 2017?
:User #3: Is this pre-rendered or will this be in the game?
:User #4: That squid is a neo-liberal
:User #5: Why do the McElroys never talk
:User #6: Stop messing around and eat the fish already.
:User #7: This is why Trump won
:User #8: Why do you never craft anything
:User #9: This is just a distraction
:User #10: Something is wrong with that baby giraffe

:Caption: I love watching the Okeanos Ocean Exploration live-stream, but it's probably for the best that they don't enable chat.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]

1836: Okeanos

2017-05-14T13:53:46Z

172.68.58.41:

{{comic
| number = 1836
| date = May 12, 2017
| title = Okeanos
| image = okeanos.png
| titletext = WHEN I WAS ON A BOAT I DROPPED MY PHONE CAN U LOOK FOR IT
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| First edit.}}
The {{w|NOAAS_Okeanos_Explorer_(R_337)|NOAAS Okeanos Explorer}}, named after the Greek (and Roman) personification of the sea {{w|Okeanos}}, is a vessel that is currently exploring the Central Pacific Basin. It livestreams the video feed [http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html] of its deep sea exploration online.

This comic seems to be a representation of the livestream on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmVT36Axtn0]. The chat section for the actual livestream is disabled, but the comic adds some humoristic examples of what the chat section would look like. Several of the examples are the product of commenters falsely believing the livestream is that of a game, probably since most livestreams on youtube are of people playing games; Randall is joking about the viewers of said streams in particular not being able to tell the difference, as well as youtube commenters in general.
Randall mentioned the ridiculousness of comments on YouTube before in [[202: YouTube]] and [[481: Listen to Yourself]].

Randall states that he likes to view the stream and commends them on disabling the chat section.

{| class="wikitable"
!Comment
!Explanation
|-
| Fake
| A very common YouTube comment expressing skepticism, for example saying that the content is edited or computer generated.
|-
| Who else is watching this in 2017?
| This type of comment appears frequently on videos, as a kind of community bonding over discovering or revisiting older content. It is not relevant here, as this is a live feed in 2017.
|-
| Is this prerendered or will these graphics be in the game?
| Commenter probably thinks this is a trailer for a video game with hyperrealistic graphics.
|-
| That squid is a neoliberal.
| Likely an attempt at trolling; anyone with even a passing knowledge of marine life will be annoyed that the commenter confused the onscreen jellyfish with a squid, and everyone else will be annoyed by the politically-charged accusation in a place where such conversation clearly does not belong.
|-
| Why do the McElroy's never talk?
| A reference to The Adventure Zone, a ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}'' podcast hosted by the McElroy Brothers and their dad. In the world of The Adventure Zone, there is a creature called the Voidfish, which is generally interpreted to look like a jellyfish.
|-
| Stop messing around and eat the fish already.
| Possibly a gamer or food vlog watcher.
|-
| This is why Trump won.
| Another unwelcome injection of politics.
|-
| Why do you never craft anything?
| A comment referencing the game ''{{w|Subnautica}}'' where a key aspect to survival is crafting materials.
|-
| This is just a distraction
| Commenter thinks people should be focused on other things which are more important. Possibly political comment. Possibly conspiracy theorist.
|-
| Something is wrong with that baby giraffe.
| A live video of a giraffe in labor and giving birth was viral in April 2017. This commenter is either confused about which video they're watching, and is concerned that the creature on screen (a jellyfish) looks unlike a healthy baby giraffe, or is feigning this confusion as a joke.
|}
The title text is a comment by someone who allegedly lost their phone in the ocean, which is not a small place{{Citation needed}} and wants to use Okeanos' resources to find it.

==Transcript==
:[The comic takes place during a typical YouTube live-stream. The live-stream is from "OceanExplorerGov", using a submarine to explore the Central Pacific Basin. On the left hand side, the live video feed is playing, showing the ocean's depths. On the right hand side, the chat (typically shown in live-streams) is displayed]

:User #1: Fake
:User #2: Who else is watching this in 2017?
:User #3: Is this pre-rendered or will this be in the game?
:User #4: That squid is a neo-liberal
:User #5: Why do the McElroys never talk
:User #6: This is why Trump won
:User #7: Why do you never craft anything
:User #8: This is just a distraction
:User #9: Something is wrong with that giraffe

:Caption: I love watching the Okeanos Ocean Exploration live-stream, but it's probably for the best that they don't enable chat.

{{comic discussion}}

1835: Random Obsessions

2017-05-13T00:04:15Z

172.68.58.41:

{{comic
| number = 1835
| date = May 10, 2017
| title = Random Obsessions
| image = random obsessions.png
| titletext = I take the view that "open-faced sandwiches" are not sandwiches, but all other physical objects are.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|New page, what sandwich debate? What is "bacon" referring to?}}

This comic is formatted as a graph showing various internet trends over the years according to [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=robot%20monkeys,pirates%20vs%20ninjas,zombies,bacon,definition%20of%20sandwich Google Trends]. The caption states that these "random obsessions," as stated in the title, have 9-10 year cycles, and so predicts that the sandwich debate will be over by around 2024.

Discussions about the definition of "sandwich" are surprisingly common on the web, like "Is hot dog a sandwich?" (See this [https://www.reddit.com/r/Sandwiches/comments/6587ub/what_is_a_sandwich_debate/ discussion] on Reddit)

The title text is a joke on the debate over the definition of a sandwich. The speaker, presumably [[Randall]], starts out with the fairly reasonable stance that open-faced sandwiches are not true sandwiches, but then veers off into the absurd by claiming that literally every other physical object in the universe ''is'' a sandwich. We can only hope that Randall does not extend this view to {{w|Cannibalism|human beings}}.

The other obsessions mentioned are, in order: robot monkeys, pirates vs ninjas, zombies, and bacon.

Though the trend is dying out, as seen by the fact the graph is past the peak, there has been an explosion in bacon flavored/scented products as well as items of clothing and decor that look like bacon. The YouTube channel Epic Meal Time was also part of the bacon fad, as adding large quantities of bacon to the meal being prepared was one of the running gags of the channel.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

1833: Code Quality 3

2017-05-05T16:51:38Z

172.68.58.41: The explanation for the punchline missed the mark entirely. Fixed.

{{comic
| number = 1833
| date = May 5, 2017
| title = Code Quality 3
| image = code_quality_3.png
| titletext = It's like a half-solved cryptogram where the solution is a piece of FORTH code written by someone who doesn't know FORTH.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a direct continuation of [[1513: Code Quality]] and [[1695: Code Quality 2]] in the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series, in which Ponytail continually insults Cueball's code style. In this comic, as in the previous, Cueball does not directly appear, only speaking off-panel; however, as it is a continuation of the series, it is clear that this is Cueball's code.

In the first panel, Ponytail references {{w|query string|query strings}}, which store information, such as search queries or page numbers, relevant to the URL. Query strings are not meant to be especially human-readable, so a song based on one would likely not be a good one.

A tactical light is a light that can be mounted on a gun for use in low-light scenarios. They tend to be very durable and very bright. Different models have different features and capabilities, so they are given cool-sounding model numbers. A JSON table of these model numbers would look like random data.

{{w|Alan Turing}} was a British theoretical computer scientist, often considered the father of the field. His 1936 paper outlined Turing machines, a theoretical model for computing, as well as computability and the halting problem. Theoretical computer science is very different from practical coding; understanding the contents of the paper would not at all help a coder to understand today's algorithms, design patterns, and best practices.

In the final panel, Ponytail references {{w|leet|leet-speak}}, in which symbols are replaced with similar-looking symbols, and a {{w|manifesto}}, a statement of a person or group's beliefs and intentions. A manifesto from a survivalist cult leader might be nonsensical, even before being translated to leet-speak. Memory allocation is a low-level computer programming concept; most modern languages have features that take care of memory allocation for the programmer, possibly implying that Cueball does not know how to use these features.

At this point Cueball, quickly becoming impatient with Ponytail's sass, retorts that if she can't start giving him the constructive criticism that he's looking for, he can always find someone else to replace her. Ponytail smugly responds that nobody else would be able to stomach his code for more than one sitting, and that she's the only one he's got.

{{w|Forth_(programming_language)#Programmer.27s_perspective|Forth}} is an old programming language that tends to be difficult to read. A {{w|cryptogram}} is a cipher puzzle, generally one easy enough to be solved manually. The title text implies that the code is so bad that it looks like unreadable FORTH code that is missing random characters.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail sitting in front of a computer screen typing. Cueball speaks only off-panel, but since this is a direct continuation of comic 1513 and 1695: Code Quality and Code Quality 2 where Cueball is shown, there can be no doubt it is him.]
:Ponytail: Your code looks like song lyrics written using only the stuff that comes after the question mark in a URL.
:Cueball (off-panel): Sorry.
:[Zoom in on Ponytail's upper body.]
:Ponytail: It's like a JSON table of model numbers for flashlights with "tactical" in their names.
:[Zoom back out again. Ponytail has lifted her hands off the table.]
:Ponytail: Like you read Turing's 1936 paper on computing and a page of JavaScript example code and guessed at everything in between.
:[Zoom in again on Ponytail's face.]
:Ponytail: It's like a leet-speak translation of a manifesto by a survivalist cult leader who's for some reason obsessed with memory allocation.
:Cueball (off-panel): I can get someone else to review my code.
:Ponytail: Not more than once, I bet.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Code Quality]]

841: Audiophiles

2017-05-03T23:09:09Z

172.68.58.41: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 841
| date = December 31, 2010
| title = Audiophiles
| image = audiophiles.png
| titletext = For years, I took the wrong lesson from that Monster Cable experiment and only listened to my music through alligator-clipped coat hangers.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is buying some new speakers for his television, and asks [[Megan]] if they have the right cord to hook them up. Megan begins chiding him for using "crappy little laptop speakers", i.e. low-powered, low-quality speakers that don't faithfully reproduce the sound.

Cueball and Megan reproduce the two extremes of the Audiophile arguments: Cueball simply wants something that works, regardless of the quality, whereas Megan wants to use speakers and sound to create beauty. Cueball seems to think that's unnecessary, and Megan snipes back that he's never heard beauty, so he wouldn't know; after all, he thinks low-bit-rate re-encodings from YouTube (at the time, notorious for dodgy sound quality) are perfectly fine music. Cueball, frustrated with Megan's perfectionism, states that he's just going to buy cheap, 5-watt speakers. While 5 watts may be a lot if you're, say, trying to fill the immediate area with sound from your MP3 player, it'd sound tinny and hollow, lacking any oomph, coming out of a television across the room.

Cueball, annoyed, tells a {{w|snowclone}} joke, the content of which implies that the content doesn't matter to her, only the quality in which it's delivered to her ear.

The title text is referring to a [http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/speakers-when-is-good-enough-enough.2512/page-2 forum post from audioholics.com,] where a user did a blind audio test using monster cable and coat hangers with soldered on alligator clips, and the audiophiles were unable to discern any difference. Randall, getting the wrong idea from it, instead just uses coat-hangers to connect his speakers, not getting that that wasn't the point.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are talking over the telephone. The first two panels are split diagonally. Cueball is at a store, holding a box, and Megan is consulting with him.]
:Cueball: Do we have an RCA-to-3.5mm female-female plug? I'm getting some speakers for the new Xbox, since the monitor doesn't have any.
:Megan: Are they crappy laptop speakers? ''Ugh.''

:[Cueball is standing next to a sale rack.]
:Cueball: Does it matter? I just want to hear if I'm getting shot at, not savor every detail of a beautiful musical soundscape.
:Megan: You've never ''heard'' a beautiful musical soundscape. You listen to 96kbps flv rips from YouTube.

:[Megan is walking.]
:Cueball: Whatever. I'm just going to get these $20 speakers. Five watts will be plenty.
:Megan: Five watts for a living room sound system? Is that a joke?

:Cueball: No, this is a joke: How many audiophiles does it take to change a lightbulb?
:Megan: How many?
:Cueball: I'll tell you later—you wouldn't appreciate the punchline over this 12kbps cell phone codec.
:''click''

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

Talk:1831: Here to Help

2017-05-01T23:26:36Z

172.68.58.41:

So who else read the "Six months later" caption in the voice of the French narrator from SpongeBob Squarepants? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.41|172.68.58.41]] 23:26, 1 May 2017 (UTC)

1831: Here to Help

2017-05-01T23:24:37Z

172.68.58.41:

{{comic
| number = 1831
| date = May 1, 2017
| title = Here to Help
| image = here_to_help.png
| titletext = "We TOLD you it was hard." "Yeah, but now that I'VE tried, we KNOW it's hard."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|No details are included. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a satire of computer programmers, who sometimes forget that not everything can be solved with an algorithm. Cueball, believing that he knows what they don't, tries to help. In the next panel, Megan and Hairy silently watch Cueball working on the problem on his laptop. Finally, six months later, Cueball concedes, and an exasperated Megan retorts sarcastically.
The title text furthers Cueball's apparent arrogance by showing a dialogue. Megan or Hairy says "We TOLD you it was hard.", referring to the first panel, but Cueball, still confident in his own ability's superiority, says, "Yeah, but now that I'VE tried, we KNOW it's hard."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Is this complete?}}
'''Megan:''' (speaking to Hairy) Our field has been struggling with this problem for years.

'''Cueball:''' Struggle no more! I'm here to solve it with ''algorithms!''

''[beat panel]''

'''Caption:''' Six months later: 
'''Cueball:''' Wow, this problem is really hard. 
'''Megan:''' ''You don't say.''

{{comic discussion}}