explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1293: Job Interview

2023-09-28T17:09:18Z

172.69.33.41: /* Explanation */ Typo fix: wuitable to suitable

{{comic
| number = 1293
| date = November 20, 2013
| title = Job Interview
| image = job_interview.png
| titletext = When you talk about the job experience you'll give me, why do you pronounce 'job' with a long 'o'?
}}

==Explanation==
Following on from [[1032: Networking|his attempts at networking]], [[Beret Guy]], the oddball of the xkcd cast, conducts an interview for a position at his mysterious company.

Much like most of Beret Guy's interactions with people, Beret Guy is cheerful and upbeat, yet indicates that he has at best a scrambled understanding of how people in this situation normally act. Because of this, the job interview becomes increasingly bizarre, starting with Beret Guy's assertion that the company headquarters is a "real building [he] found", implying that the building's reality might be in question. In addition, "finding" the building may imply that he does not own or rent it, but simply found it empty and moved in. He says his company makes "stuff for phones", but then adds, "like apps and stickers," two wildly different products in terms of both production and profitability. He is strangely vague about both the position ("someone to write on our computers") and the salary ("a bunch of paychecks"). Then he mentions ghosts, which is either a powerful disincentive from joining the company, yet another sign that Beret Guy is mentally unsound, or both.

The strip finishes with Beret Guy plugging a cord into what appears to be an electrical outlet clumsily labeled "Soup," which then, implausibly, actually starts dispensing soup. Most electrical outlets do not function like this.{{Citation needed}} However, this is a typical behaviour of Beret Guy - see a similar example in: [[1395: Power Cord]]. It is possible that the electrical outlet is connected to a pipe which supplies soup from a soup reservoir or kitchen elsewhere in the facility, which would require the fixture to have a specialist valve-connector and the 'cable' to involve a pipe with a self-sealing end that 'keys' the valve open. It may even be more likely, given Beret Guy's 'abilities', that the outlet is taking electricity from a suitable power supply and the cord ultimately uses mass-energy conversion to turn it into soup; this would be in line with the possible operating mechanism of Beret Guy's water-creating dam in [[2710: Hydropower Breakthrough]].

The title text may be a reference to the biblical story of {{w|Job (biblical figure)|Job}} (pronounced with a long O to rhyme with globe), who was put through many horrendous ordeals to test his faith in God. This suggests that the interviewee will be taking on not a "job experience" but rather a "Job experience" (i.e. the job will be a horrendous ordeal). Alternatively, it's a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C4ayBHTES0 Homestarrunner reference].

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy walks in, followed by a...'prospective hire'.]
:Beret Guy: Welcome to our company! We're headquartered here, in this real building I found!

:[Both people sit down at a table. The 'hire' has a tray with food and a beverage. Beret Guy has a bowl. In the adjacent wall, there is a power outlet with a paper label taped to it marked "Soup". A small roll of wire sits next to Beret Guy's chair.]
:'Hire': What do you.. ''do''?
:Beret Guy: We make stuff for phones! Like apps and stickers.

:[Beret Guy grabs the roll of wire.]
:Beret Guy: We want to hire you to write on our computers. We can offer you a bunch of paychecks! There are ghosts here.

:[Beret Guy unrolls the wire and plugs it into the wall.]
:'Hire': ...Are you sure this is a company?
:Beret Guy: I hope so!

:[Soup streams out of the plugged-in wire into Beret Guy's bowl.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Job interviews]]
[[Category:Food]]

Talk:1835: Random Obsessions

2020-06-30T19:12:35Z

172.69.33.41:

I feel like it's worth noting that the internet fixations mentioned on the chart - robot, monkeys, pirate, ninja, zombies, bacon - were all mentioned in #856 Trochee fixation https://xkcd.com/856/ and that sandwich is also a trochee. [[User:Necroleopard|Necroleopard]] ([[User talk:Necroleopard|talk]]) 20:01, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

I'm clearly behind on some things here. I know about all of these except "sandwiches" and "bacon". [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 04:51, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
:Some reference to a rise in "sandwich debate" online (Google trends or something) would be very helpful. [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 04:53, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/is-a-hot-dog-a-sandwich is one of the threads of this meme but the meme does go further than just hotdogs --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.4|162.158.2.4]] 07:36, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

I added some description of the bacon fad, I wasn't sure if/where the Know Your Meme entry fits but here it is (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cultures/bacon) in case some other editor wants to put it in[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.11|108.162.238.11]] 13:09, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
:Bacon is never a fad though. It has always been and will always be. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 16:30, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
:: Yes, but as a common meme it was though. Though I remember it back in 2006 by 2010 it was already mainstream and fading.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.70|162.158.114.70]] 13:47, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

The current incomplete explanation asking about the bacon.... Are you kidding? This was the one I was most comfortable with! It's the quite current trend of singing the praises of bacon, memes shared around Facebook that say things like "Everything's better with bacon", "When in doubt, bacon", "Like if you love bacon, Comment if you love bacon, Share if you love bacon, ignore if you hate puppies". I even have a Facebook friend who put their middle name as "bacon", LOL! - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.16|108.162.219.16]] 21:42, 12 May 2017 (UTC) I finally signed up! This comment is mine. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:57, 13 June 2017 (UTC)
:I added that tag. The question is what about bacon started to rise in 2010 and is peaking now? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 02:24, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
::Here is the google trend for "Bacon": https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=bacon [[User:Jona|Jona]] ([[User talk:Jona|talk]]) 07:22, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
:::Looking at the graph, there appears to be a regular uptick in December or January. Interesting. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.166|108.162.245.166]] 22:27, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
::What started to rise? Ummmm, this stuff I already named. :) This graph is suggesting that Bacon memes, jokes, references, etc. started to rise in 2010. This being Google, it would probably mean people searching for these jokes and memes on Google, plus the people creating such things increasing the Google results. And thanks for the more specific answer, Jona, LOL! Even though my iPad is being a brat and won't show anything, the URL sounds quite the comprehensive answer, much better than anything I could say. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.64|108.162.219.64]] 03:27, 26 May 2017 (UTC) Also mine! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:57, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

I believe this comic might be talking about the Burger King commercials that set off Google Homes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_O54le4__I -An anonymous person [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.88|108.162.219.88]] 12:51, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
:By that, I meant "What is the definition of a sandwich?" part. -Same anonymous guy [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.88|108.162.219.88]] 12:53, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Why has nobody helping to edit these pages tried Googling a few key words? Nobody could figure out "robot monkeys;" I literally Googled the exact pair of words and limited the results to 2001 to 2011. It really does work. --[[User:OriginalName|OriginalName]] ([[User talk:OriginalName|talk]]) 03:51, 20 May 2017 (UTC)

I made the transcript complete by adding the caption and title text. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 11:29, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

I fixed the article so it's not incomplete anymore, but it still says "The current incomplete explanation in the spotlight is 1835: Random Obsessions, please help us fix it", even thought I already fixed it. Is it something with the site? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]][[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]] 22:03, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
:I was wondering this myself... Usually the comic chosen as the "Incomplete Explanation Of The Week" or whatever is one of the juggernauts I won't touch with a ten foot pole (other than some comments I've made which have clearly been lost in the flood, LOL!) but when I hit this one it seems complete, the tag is gone... IDK, maybe the site is programmed to pick a new one once a week or something, but it doesn't re-check to see if it's been completed in the meantime? - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.64|108.162.219.64]] 03:34, 26 May 2017 (UTC) I finally signed up! This comment is mine. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:57, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

TITS
:I see. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:57, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

Is the "Pirates vs Ninjas" a reference to [https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/Pirates_vs._Ninja#]?

2325: Endorheic Basin

2020-06-29T16:52:28Z

172.69.33.41: ce

{{comic
| number = 2325
| date = June 26, 2020
| title = Endorheic Basin
| image = endorheic_basin.png
| titletext = My biggest fear is that colonial engineers will try to flood me to generate electricity. My biggest hope is that I'll develop sailing stones.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ENDORHEIC BASIN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Yet another comic with one of [[Beret Guy|Beret Guy's]] [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|strange powers]]. This time he attracts water so it flows to him rather than running out towards the nearby oceans. He thus claims he is like an {{w|endorheic basin}}, hence the title.

An endorheic basin is a limited drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal, that equilibrate through evaporation. The {{w|Caspian Sea}} in Asia is the largest such basin. It is debated if it is a lake or a sea (it is salty, but not connected to the oceans). If it is a lake then it is the world's largest lake.

Real-life endorheic basins do not attract water in any unusual ways. Rather, they form when low-lying, inland areas receive water from rivers and streams, but not enough to flood them completely and allow the water to overflow into an ocean. As the surface of the lake grows, so do the rate of evaporation and seepage into the ground, until they're equivalent to the inflow of water (at least, on a yearly average). Obviously, Beret Guy's inexplicable effect on water is distinct from the way actual endorheic basins function.

The panel showing Beret Guy after a shower looks similar to what could happen in a space station if you have liquid water in zero gravity. The water sticks to any surface it encounters. See for instance the start of this video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeDJABZpVlI Water in zero gravity] and this one [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8TssbmY-GM Wringing out Water on the ISS - for Science!] to see how water reacts to human skin in zero gravity. It is thus almost impossible for him to dry off after a shower. It seems like the water that is attracted to him is still somewhat subject to gravity, as it pools downwards upon him; presumably he knows to finish showering before it floods over his face.

In fact he needs someone to come with a {{w|siphon}} to get rid of the water. A siphon is an u-shaped pipe, where the downward pipe is longer than the upward section. Thus the water falling in the downward section creates a pull lifting the water in the upward section up to the highest point, from which it will flow down pulling more water up. As the endorheic basin caused by Beret Guy seems to have a limited reach, placing one end of the pipe sufficiently far outside creates a similar effect: The water outside Beret Guy's area of effect flows down under the influence of gravity, creating a pull lifting the water near him "up" out of the endorheic basin.

As with real endorheic basins, if the water is allowed to sit, it will eventually evaporate, but he notes that he'll "develop salt flats". Water from rivers carry salts, typically in low concentrations, and if a lake lacks outflows, the salts build up over time, as the water evaporates. If a salt lake evaporates completely, it can create {{w|Salt pan (geology)|salt flats}} (or salt pans), like those near {{w|Salt Lake City}} in {{w|Utah}}, e.g. the {{w|Bonneville Salt Flats}}. These salts come in a variety of forms, including minerals. Sometimes, endorheic basins have high enough concentrations of dissolved minerals to be worth extracting, which is presumably what he means by "let me know if you need any minerals".

There may also be a contrived pun here, in that "flats" is a description of various types of footwear (among them: women's shoes that are not high-heeled and ballet shoes not specifically reinforced for advanced 'pointe' dancing), and the water would clearly leave the 'flats' on his feet.

In the title text, Beret Guy mentions his "biggest fear" due to his water attracting abilities is being flooded to by "colonial engineers" in order for them to use him and the water to generate electricity. This may be a reference to the {{w|Qattara Depression Project}}. The Qattara depression is a low-lying region near the Egyptian coast. For nearly a century, there have been proposals to dig a canal from the sea to flood this depression, deliberately creating a huge endorheic basin. By placing {{w|hydroelectric dam}}s along the canal, the proposals hoped to generation huge amounts of electricity. At least one proposal included the use of nuclear explosions to create the canal, which may help to explain why he considers this his biggest fear.

He then mentions that his "biggest hope", due to his ability, is that he will generate {{w|sailing stones}}. Sailing stones (also known as sliding rocks, walking rocks, rolling stones, and moving rocks), are a geological phenomenon where rocks move and inscribe long tracks along a smooth valley floor without human or animal intervention. The movement of the rocks occurs when large ice sheets a few millimeters thick and floating in an ephemeral winter pond start to break up during sunny days. Frozen during cold winter nights, these thin floating ice panels are driven by wind and shove rocks at speeds up to 5 meters per minute. The {{w|Racetrack Playa}}, an endorheic basin in Death Valley, is one of the most famous locations for sailing stones.

This comic came out just a bit more than a month after the previous comic with one of Beret Guy's strange powers, [[2310: Great Attractor]], in which strange forces exerted a pull on Beret Guy. It does not appear that he himself is drawn to water, and we cannot determine if the Great Attractor is drawn to him, so Newton's Third Law may be constantly being broken, along with the more obvious scientific impossibilities that surround Beret Guy.

==Transcript==
:[Megan, holding a glass of water up in one hand, is talking to Beret Guy, who has water surrounding his feet, with small droplets falling off the two small water triangles that cover his feet. The water in her glass is leaning towards Beret Guy.]
:Megan: Why are your feet wet?
:Beret Guy: I'm an endorheic basin!

:[Megan looks down at her glass as the water in it is flying out towards Beret Guy's arm, which he has stretched out towards the glass.]
:Megan: Huh?
:Beret Guy: Nearby water flows toward me, not the ocean.
:Beret Guy: See?
:Megan: Oh, cool.

:[At the top of this panel is a box with text being said by Beret Guy to Megan. Beneath it is a depiction of what he is explaining to Megan. Beret Guy is shown standing in a bathroom, with a towel around his waist. Almost his entire body is covered completely in water, except most of his head above mouth level, and both his feet are beneath the water bubble. He yells to someone outside the bathroom. A shower-tray or partially sunken bathtub can be seen to the left with a closed shower curtain across it. To the right of him is the sink with mirror above it. Further right is the door. The floor is tiled.]
:Beret Guy - narrating: The most annoying part is drying off after a shower.
:Beret Guy: Can someone bring me the siphon?

:[Back to the situation from the first panel, although Megan has lowered her glass a bit. The glass seems to be as full as in the first panel though, even though Beret Guy now also has water on his arm where it was pulled out off Megan's glass in panel 2.]
:Beret Guy: But I have to get rid of it or I'll develop salt flats.
:Beret Guy: Anyway, let me know if you need any minerals!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Geography]]

Talk:2132: Percentage Styles

2019-04-03T16:52:28Z

172.69.33.41:

The only proper style for Britain and the US is ‘%65’. [[User:Aasasd|Aasasd]] ([[User talk:Aasasd|talk]]) 16:20, 3 April 2019 (UTC)
:O RLY? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.52|108.162.241.52]] 16:37, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

----
There's also 65/100, 65:100, <math>\textstyle\frac{65}{100}</math>, sixtyfive-hundreth, 0.65, and point sixty-five. Benny. 16:41, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

There's also 650‰ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.41|172.69.33.41]] 16:52, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2131: Emojidome

2019-04-02T07:15:10Z

172.69.33.41: /* Avocado quote citation */ new section

I've checked the network tab and console - nothing really seems to happen when you vote, which may be something we want to put on the explanation tomorrow - Myxoh

I suspect the real april fools joke is going to come on Wednesday when xkdc posts an app showing us our psychological profiles that they are now selling to marketing companies after data-mining our emotional preferences to marketing firms - Nosajimiki

@Nosajimiki: psychological profiles of xkcd fans. That might be some interesting marketing. - 5Cincinatus

@Myxoh: I came here to see if anyone else had noticed this! But, I do also see a websocket connection to emojidome.xkcd.com, I bet it's counting votes that way.

There is a websocket connection. A message is sent every time you vote. It looks like there are also status update messages every second (saying which emoji currently has exactly how many votes, i suspect this changes the amount of hearts that show up), and "bracket start" messages every so often. The bracket start message seems to contain hundreds of upcoming emoji pairs. Edit: a bracket start is sent at the start of every match (so every ~30 seconds). It also contains logs of which messages to show for previous matches, and which emoji are currently battling.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.138.10|172.69.138.10]] 16:30, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

There seems to be nothing stopping me from clicking multiple times. Do you think it actually counts it all those times? Can I click-spam to say "this is much better"? [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 16:48, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
:Randall just confirmed that you can vote multiple times, although if you click too fasr you get rate limited. (*warning: generic ip address assigned to phone data.*) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.47|172.69.70.47]] 22:35, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Well this is fun. Look like there are 512 symbols, meaning 256 first-round contests. The first round would take (at 38 seconds / round) ~2.7 hours. The remaining rounds, from an estimate of geometric progression, would just under double this, meaning this comic will run for ~ 5 hours until we have our winner... ~alexandicity [[Special:Contributions/172.69.226.177|172.69.226.177]] 16:51, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Did he just add a scroll bar to the previous matches? I didn't notice it earlier [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.148|162.158.255.148]] 18:17, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
:Nope, you were able to scroll before, too. At least about 2 hours ago. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 18:20, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

While some of the recaps of past battles are generic (taco vs sandwich: "One for the history books"), many seem to be specifically written for the battle (light bulb vs candle: "Some would argue that this one was settled in the 1800s"). I wonder if/how much this will continue into round 2.

Round two has just begun, and the timeout has been bumped to 60 seconds. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 18:41, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
:If that trend continues, the full competition will take pretty close to 24 hours. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 18:45, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
:It looks like it's 1:14/round, which is double what the time was in round one. Will round three be 2:28? 1:51?
::It's just over 1:15/round from the history JSON (plus some hundredths of a second, but it appears 1:15 is the intent)
:::Hadn't looked there. Round one concluded at 18:39:20-ish, 9560 seconds from 16:00:00. At 256 battles, that's 37.34 seconds/battle. However, it looks like the first battle ended at 15:59:57, which would add about 40 seconds, 9600 seconds/256=37.5 seconds exactly. Doubling for round 2 gives 75 seconds.
::2 minutes 30 seconds per battle now. Looks like each round will be 2 hours 40 minutes long.
:: Well it is after 5:00 PST and round 4 just started - and this thing is at exactly 5 minutes a round - which means another 160 minutes for the round. Will see in 2 hours and 40 minutes if the times go up to minutes. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.65|172.69.33.65]] 00:25, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

And while the match-ups winners are typically colored, and underlined, the losers are endgame grey.

Has anyone determined if multiple-voting is actually counted? For me at least the vote button fades back to gray after I click it, which implies you can/should click it again, but that may not actually be processed. We might add a clarification about that to the explanation. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 19:01, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
: A reddit user on the r/xkcd thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/b84at1/xkcd_2131_emojidome_script_src2131comicjs/) claims to have attempted "vote stuffing via the console" with no noticeable change in vote totals. So it looks like it may be sending it client-side, but only counting the vote once server-side --l

::Just few minutes ago there was message in "fun facts" that you can click multiple times, although it's not counted if you click too many times (or something like that). I guess that vote stuffing was too much. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:34, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

It would appear that we are supposed to believe the commentary is live, and unscripted:
" {"This one is a true test of the audience today.",
"Just to stress this again. Live commentary, folks. Completely unscripted and coming in hot.} "--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.173|162.158.79.173]] 19:20, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
:It's clearly live because the result of a previous round is affecting the next round's commentary - and the combinatorial explosion would prohibit that from being remotely plausible. We're watching live comedy here! [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 19:30, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
: On the dog vs. wolf, he said "Again, we are getting a lot of questions on this today. This is live commentary, folks." Proof I guess. HI RANDALL! [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.241|172.68.189.241]] 19:31, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Is there really anything we can put for the transcript? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.241|172.68.189.241]] 19:25, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
: We can go into the socket data and pull out the commentary for each matchup. -- [[User:Bobson|Bobson]] ([[User talk:Bobson|talk]]) 04:05, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

Aby ideas on how the commentary is done? It seems to sort of match the emojis.
[[User:Svízel přítula|Svízel přítula]] ([[User talk:Svízel přítula|talk]]) 19:31, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
: It seems that Randall is commetating this live, as he periodcally says it's live in the robot commentator text. See above. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.241|172.68.189.241]] 19:36, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
::Perhaps not "live" as each round 2 matchup was known 160 minutes before it was voted on. He could comment on the battle itself, and/or provide a comment if one or the other combatant won. I think he's a couple hours ahead of us.
::: I dunno. Whenever a new battle starts, there is a default message, that is soon replaced by a more pertinent message. That seems to suggest that he's doing it on the fly. [[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 20:03, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
::::If that's live, Randall, and if you see this, give us a shout-out as proof. -Brent
This is a quick piece of python to see the json results (and commentary):
<nowiki>import json, urllib.request
d = json.loads(urllib.request.urlopen("https://emojidome.xkcd.com/2131/socket ").read().decode('utf-8'))
for g in d['bracket']['played'][0]:
c1, c2 = g['game']
print(f"{c1['score']} {c1['competitor']}-{c2['competitor']} {c2['score']}")</nowiki>
[[User:Tammo80|Tammo80]] ([[User talk:Tammo80|talk]]) 19:42, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

: or if you want to see the vote count live in browser: https://emojidome.playcode.io/ -Andy 22:01, April 2019
:: Awesome, thank you [[User:9yz|9yz]] ([[User talk:9yz|talk]]) 20:23, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

There must be some kind of manipulation going on with the votes. There is NO WAY the poop emoji would lose to the skull emoji in round two. It was my guess for the winner >:( [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.138|162.158.106.138]] 20:50, 1 April 2019 (UTC)
: And the 100 emoji just lost to the shiny heart. :(

The second round bracket was released, but is hidden behind the bottom nav buttons: https://xkcd.com/2131/emojidome_bracket_256.png --[[User:Thefallen138|Thefallen138]] ([[User talk:Thefallen138|talk]]) 20:56, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

And now the third round has begun. Strangely, the bracket is not visible yet: https://xkcd.com/2131/emojidome_bracket_128.png. The delay has been bump to something above two minutes as well. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 21:21, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

: It's here https://xkcd.com/2131/emojidome_bracket_round_3.png [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.79|162.158.107.79]] 21:41, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Both the Emojidome and counter were brought together in iframes https://ducakedhare.co.uk/emojidome.html [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.17|141.101.99.17]] 23:39, 1 April 2019 (UTC)taikedz

Anyone have an IRC room for Emojidome discussion? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.10|162.158.146.10]]

== "Emoji" or "emojis" as the plural? ==

Due to the nature of the Japanese language, "emoji" is technically both the plural and the singular - however, the improper form "emojis" is used more as a plural frequently nowadays among English speakers. Which form should this explanation use? --[[User:Youforgotthisthing|Youforgotthisthing]] ([[User talk:Youforgotthisthing|talk]]) 22:27, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

The "friends in Australia" comment was made during the last round's wink vs upside down smile battle. This is probably a pun on how Australia is on the other side of the world from America; I don't think Randall was seriously saying he witnessed an influx of Australians inbound. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.82|108.162.219.82]] 00:47, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

== Draws ==

What would happen if any of the fights resulted in a draw? (same number of votes for both)

Given the # of matchups, it's not actually that unlikely.

We should try to test this. Gotta keep Randall on his feet!

Pretty sure one early on resulted in a tie.

: The very first round was 0-0. I guess no one refreshed at exactly the right minute to see it. --[[User:Bobson|Bobson]] ([[User talk:Bobson|talk]]) 04:05, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

: Actually, Birthday Cake vs Cupcake was a tie at 3658:3658. Birthday Cake advanced. I wonder why? (from the socket: [{"score":3658,"competitor":"ðŸŽ‚"},{"score":3658,"competitor":"ðŸ§"}]) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.138|162.158.106.138]] 04:54, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

== Emoji Fonts ==
Having an emoji font is required to see emoji displayed on sites such as http://srv-01.valo.media/ . If anybody else is looking for a way to display these, there's a good free emoji font available here:
https://github.com/eosrei/twemoji-color-font
It includes a script to replace the default Windows emoji fonts to get them to display properly on windows. Unfortunately it's only black-and-white in chrome. If anybody knows any better options, please let me know!

== Commentary Transcript ==

I've written a script that pulls the commentary history and transforms it into a wiki table. It's up to date as of right now, and I'll run it again in the morning and one last time after the final round. If you have formatting suggestions, just put them here and I'll incorporate it when I regenerate the table. -- [[User:Bobson|Bobson]] ([[User talk:Bobson|talk]]) 04:58, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

== Successful Ballot-stuffing? ==

As I type this, I'm watching owl blast past 180000 votes in the owl-octopus bout. That means that in about 10 minutes, owl has earned more votes than all the votes earned in the entirety of any other individual bout. I could be totally off-base, but that seems vaguely suspicious to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.82|162.158.214.82]] 05:28, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

I concur: that is highly suspicious. Fortunately, nothing of importance is at stake here, even if you were really pulling for the octopus. At this moment, we're ±10 minutes into bee vs pineapple and nothing comparable has happened. It may be an isolated incident. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.144|162.158.106.144]] 05:50, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

== Avocado quote citation ==

I'm not sure where to put this. The "I like avocados because they taste pretty good and also they come with a cool wood ball you get to keep" quote is from here: https://twitter.com/jitka/status/236240801926086656 . [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.41|172.69.33.41]] 07:15, 2 April 2019 (UTC)

1648: Famous Duos

2019-04-02T02:22:50Z

172.69.33.41: /* List of real duos */ cleanup

{{comic
| number = 1648
| date = February 26, 2016
| title = Famous Duos
| image = famous_duos.png
| titletext = The Romeo and Butt-Head film actually got two thumbs up from Siskel and Oates.
}}

==Explanation==
In popular culture (the term is loosely used in this case) there are many '''famous duos''', such as {{w|Calvin & Hobbes}} (six-year-old boy and his toy tiger, from the cartoon strip with the same name) or {{w|David & Goliath}} (famous past King of Israel and giant, {{w|Biblical}} characters from the {{w|Book of Samuel}} in the {{w|Old Testament}}). (See the [[#Trivia|trivia section]] regarding an on-line list of duos).

In this table, [[Randall]] describes a fictional {{w|Many-worlds interpretation|parallel universe}} where the same names are used in different combinations — instead of Calvin, it is now Thelma (from the movie ''{{w|Thelma & Louise}}'') who is paired up with Hobbes, and Calvin is instead paired off with the King, from ''{{w|Anna and the King}}''. In all cases the one mentioned first on the list is also mentioned first in our universe, so it is always of the form Calvin and the King, never Calvin and Anna. There are 24 duos, and all 48 partners are mentioned (they go through four [[#Cycles|cycles]]). (In the title text of [[1644: Stargazing]] from the week before this comic, there is an indirect reference to parallel universes/{{w|multiverse}}).

The humor of this comic comes from the ridiculousness of the pairings, and the reader's imagination of the stories that are created with the pairs. See the whole [[#List of real duos|list of real duos]] as well as the [[#List of alternative duos|list of alternative duos]] below, with more detailed explanations.

In the title text, alternative movie ''Romeo and Butt-Head'' is mentioned, the fifth entry on the list. This is a combination of the famous {{w|Shakespeare}} play ''{{w|Romeo and Juliet}}'' and ''{{w|Beavis and Butt-Head}}''. ''{{w|Romeo and Juliet}}'' has been filmed many times; most recently in ''{{w|Romeo + Juliet}}'' from 1996 with {{w|Leonardo DiCaprio}} and {{w|Claire Danes}} in the leading roles. {{w|Butt-Head}} is the less stupid one (of the very stupid duo) from the animated TV series ''{{w|Beavis and Butt-Head}}'' (and a {{w|Beavis and Butt-Head Do America|film}}). As Romeo and Juliet is one of the best known love stories and Butt-Head is one of the most disgusting teens ever depicted on the big screen (only overtaken by {{w|Beavis}}), the combination could create disturbing pictures in people's heads (especially in the heads of anyone who may identify themselves with Juliet).

In the alternative universe, when this movie was released, it got the best possible review of two thumbs up from the critics ''Siskel and Oates''. {{w|Gene Siskel}} was paired with {{w|Roger Ebert}}, when they reviewed movies as the famous duo {{w|Siskel and Ebert}}. They were widely known for the "thumbs up/thumbs down" review summaries, with their best combined review being ''Two Thumbs Up'', one from each of them. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, they actually gave {{w|''Beavis & Butthead Do America''}} ''Two Thumbs Up''.

In the alternative universe Siskel and his partner gives the film a (surprising) two thumbs up, but Ebert has been replaced with Oates. This is a reference to John Oates of {{w|Hall & Oates}}, a famous American musical duo from Philadelphia.

There also exists a comedy duo named {{w|Garfunkel and Oates}}, formed by Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, who chose the "Garfunkel and Oates" name by combining the second names from both ''Hall & Oates'' and ''{{w|Simon and Garfunkel}}'' (the latter duo is mentioned in the main comic). Although this exact combo would not be possible in the xkcd version, as the "real universe" combo takes the second names from two duos rather than the first name from one and the second name from another (as in this comic), there may definitely be a deliberate reference to this group as well which has taken the parallel universe idea into our universe.

===List of real duos===
*See the list of [[#List of alternative duos|alternative duos]] below.
*In this list the ''partner index'' indicates whom the second from the duo is linked with in the comic
**So in the case with Thelma (index 1) and Louise (partner index 3), this means that Louise is paired up with Batman (index 3).
**Thelma is paired up with the Hobbes who has partner index 1.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|+ Famous duos in this universe
|-
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | pairing
! scope="col" | Partner
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Explanation
! scope="col" | Name index
! scope="col" | Partner index
|-
| Thelma
| and
| Louise
| ''{{w|Thelma & Louise}}'' is a famous road trip film from 1991.
| 1
| 3
|-
| When Harry
| Met
| Sally
| ''{{w|When Harry Met Sally...}}'' is a romantic comedy film from 1989.
| 2
| 16
|-
| Batman
| and
| Robin
| {{w|Batman}} and {{w|Robin (comic)|Robin}} are comic book characters (first appearance for Batman was in 1939, Robin the year after). There have been several {{w|Batman_in_film#Films|films}} including one called ''{{w|Batman & Robin (film)|Batman & Robin}}'' from 1997. A new Batman film ''{{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}}'' had its release date three weeks after the release of this comic (2016-02-26).
| 3
| 4
|-
| {{w|Mark Antony|Antony}}
| and
| {{w|Cleopatra}}
| {{w|Mark Antony#Antony and Cleopatra|Antony and Cleopatra}} are historical figures who had an affair and three children together after the death of {{w|Julius Caesar}} up to Anthony's death 30 BC. Their combined names are best known from the play ''{{w|Antony and Cleopatra}}'' by {{w|Shakespeare}}.
| 4
| 12
|-
| Romeo
| and
| Juliet
| {{w|Romeo and Juliet}} are characters from Shakespeare's famous romantic tragedy, from 1597, made into several {{w|Romeo and Juliet on screen#Significant feature releases|major films}}.
| 5
| 24
|-
| {{w|Bonnie and Clyde#Bonnie Parker|Bonnie}}
| and
| {{w|Bonnie and Clyde#Clyde Barrow|Clyde}}
| {{w|Bonnie and Clyde}} were American criminals who traveled the central United States with their gang during the Great Depression until their death on May 23, 1934. They are well known from the film ''{{w|Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde}}''.
| 6
| 7
|-
| {{w|Pinky and the Brain#Pinky|Pinky}}
| and
| {{w|Pinky and the Brain#Characters|the Brain}}
| Two mice from ''{{w|Pinky and the Brain}}'', an American animated TV series from the 1990s.
| 7
| 20
|-
| {{w|Paul Simon|Simon}}
| and
| {{w|Art Garfunkel|Garfunkel}}
| {{w|Simon & Garfunkel}} is a very famous musical duo from the 1960s. (See also explanation for the title text).
| 8
| 22
|-
| Beauty
| and
| the Beast
| {{w|Beauty and the Beast}} are fairy tale characters from a French book from 1740, today best known from the {{w|Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)|Disney film}} from 1991.
| 9
| 10
|-
| {{w|Beavis}}
| and
| {{w|Butt-head}}
| ''{{w|Beavis and Butt-Head}}'' is an animated TV series from the 1990s shown on {{w|MTV}}.
| 10
| 5
|-
| {{w|Rocky the Flying Squirrel|Rocky}}
| and
| {{w|Bullwinkle J. Moose|Bullwinkle}}
| A flying squirrel and a moose known from the ''{{w|The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show}}'', an American animated TV series from the 1960s.
| 11
| 2
|-
| {{w|Bud Abbott|Abbott}}
| and
| {{w|Lou Costello|Costello}}
| {{w|Abbott and Costello}} is a famous American comedy duo whose work in vaudeville and on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s. They are known for their famous {{w|Who's on First}} sketch.
| 12
| 17
|-
| Dr. Jekyll
| and
| Mr. Hyde
| Not really a duo, {{w|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (character)|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde}} are the two sides of a well known character from the book ''{{w|Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde}}'' written by the Scottish author {{w|Robert Louis Stevenson}} in 1886. It has been adapted into several {{w|Adaptations_of_Strange_Case_of_Dr._Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde#Film|films}}.
| 13
| 15
|-
| {{w|Samson}}
| and
| {{w|Delilah}}
| Not really a duo, Samson and Delilah are Biblical characters from the {{w|Book of Judges}} (chapters 13-16). Samson was given supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies. However, Samson had two vulnerabilities: his attraction to untrustworthy women, and his hair, without which he was just a normal man. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him when Delilah had him reveal the secret of his hair, which she subsequently cut off. Then she handed him over to be captured by the Philistines, who gouged his eyes out and brought him to imprisonment in Gaza. He died while in capture but on his own terms. Delilah had not explained why he was no longer strong, so his hair had been allowed to grow out again. When he got it all back, he used his power to destroy a temple he was led into, taking many enemies with him in death.
| 14
| 11
|-
| {{w|Butch Cassidy}}
| and
| the {{w|Sundance Kid}}
| They are historical criminals who died in 1908. They were notorious American train and bank robbers with the {{w|Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch}} gang in 1899-1901. They were made famous by the film ''{{w|Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid}}'' from 1969.
| 15
| 23
|-
| Bill
| and
| Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey
| {{w|Bill & Ted (franchise)|Bill & Ted}} are characters from the two films ''{{w|Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure}}'' (1989) and ''{{w|Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey}}'' (1991). The two titles are spread out on the two new pairings for Bill and Ted, in recognition that this duo is mainly known for these two films, although there also is a {{w|Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1990 TV series)|spin-off animated series}} from 1990-1991.
| 16
| 6
|-
| {{w|David}}
| and
| {{w|Goliath}}
| Not really a duo, David and Goliath were biblical adversaries best known from "small" David's defeat of giant Goliath in the story {{w|David#David_and_Goliath|David and Goliath}}. David later became the second king of Israel, according to the {{w|Books of Samuel}}, and according to the {{w|New Testament}}, an ancestor of {{w|Jesus}}.
| 17
| 8
|-
| {{w|Sherlock Holmes}}
| and
| {{w|Dr. Watson}}
| Characters from {{w|Arthur Conan Doyle}}'s famous books (from 1887-1927) which have been made into numerous {{w|Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes#Film|films}}. In 2009 and 2011, a new {{w|Sherlock Holmes (2009 film)|series of movies}} has been released with {{w|Robert Downey Jr.}} and {{w|Jude Law}} as the two characters. There have also been several TV series.
| 18
| 19
|-
| Jay
| and
| Silent Bob
| {{w|Jay and Silent Bob}} is a strange duo from {{w|View Askew Productions|View Askew's}} film universe, first seen in the film {{w|Clerks}} from 1994. A film called {{w|Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back}} was later released in 2001. The director of these movies, {{w|Kevin Smith}} plays Silent Bob, who of course rarely speaks, but when he finally does it often becomes a long defining monologue. Jay (played by {{w|Jason Mewes}}) talks all the time!
| 19
| 18
|-
| {{w|Anna Leonowens|Anna}}
| and
| the {{w|Mongkut|King}}
| Recently made famous by the 1999 film ''{{w|Anna and the King}}'', based on the 1944 novel ''{{w|Anna and the King of Siam (novel)|Anna and the King of Siam}}'' by {{w|Margaret Landon}}. The Langdon novel was based on two memoirs written by Anna Leonowens in 1870 and 1872, from her experience as royal governess for King Mongkut's children and language secretary for the King from 1862-1867.
| 20
| 21
|-
| {{w|Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)|Calvin}}
| and
| {{w|Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes)|Hobbes}}
| ''{{w|Calvin and Hobbes}}'' is a comic series by {{w|Bill Watterson}} that ran from 1985-1995. Calvin is a six-year-old boy and Hobbes is Calvin's stuffed tiger and best friend, who becomes a living anthropomorphic tiger in Calvin's private fantasy world. They have been [[:Category:Calvin and Hobbes|featured regularly]] in xkcd, most prominently in the "duo" comic: [[409: Electric Skateboard (Double Comic)]].
| 21
| 1
|-
| Timon
| and
| Pumbaa
| {{w|Timon and Pumbaa}} are characters from ''{{w|The Lion King}}'' film (1994) and they also have their own {{w|The Lion King 1½|film from 2004}} and a {{w|Timon & Pumbaa (TV series)|TV series}} that ran from 1995-1999. There have been [[:Category:The Lion King|many references]] to ''The Lion King'' in xkcd, for instance the comment in the final panel of [[1504: Opportunity]], is from the original movie.
| 22
| 14
|-
| {{w|Mary Kate Olsen|Mary Kate}}
| and
| {{w|Ashley Olsen}}
| Known as the {{w|Mary-Kate_and_Ashley_Olsen|Olsen twins}}, these {{w|Twin#Dizygotic_.28fraternal.29_twins|fraternal twin}} actresses born in 1986 have been on TV since they were infants (on ''{{w|Full House}}'' from 1987) and began starring together in TV, film, and video projects, which enabled them to join the ranks of the wealthiest women in the entertainment industry at a young age. They have previously been the pun of the joke in [[362: Blade Runner]].
| 23
| 13
|-
| {{w|Mario}}
| and
| {{w|Luigi}}
| In the {{w|Mario (franchise)|''Mario'' series of video games}}, which started with the 1983 game ''{{w|Mario Bros.}}'', Mario and his brother Luigi are the main characters. ''Mario'' games have been referenced in several xkcd comics, such as [[151: Mario]] and the comics in the {{w|''Mario Kart''}} [[:Category:Mario Kart|category]].
| 24
| 9
|}

===List of alternative duos===
*See the list of [[#List of real duos|real duos]] above.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+ Famous Duos in a nearby parallel universe
|-
! scope="col" | Duo name
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Thelma and Hobbes
| In this essay [http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/207623.html Political Philosophies in Thelma and Louise] the sentence ''Thelma and Hobbes's Total Sovereign Authority'' can be found. In this case it is a reference to {{w|Thomas Hobbes}} as the essay is an analysis of Thelma and Louise's actions and the decision they make in comparison to the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and {{w|Jean Jacques Rousseau}}. Hobbes was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy. He also developed some of the fundamentals of European liberal thought, which could be said to be relevant for the movie.
|-
| When Harry met Bullwinkle
| {{w|Billy Crystal}} who played Harry in When Harry Met Sally... also has an uncredited cameo part as a mattress salesman in the movie {{w|The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle}} (see the list of uncredited actors on [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131704/combined IMDb]). In this real action movie, Rocky and Bullwinkle ends up in the real world, where it thus becomes likely that Billy who played Harry ends up meeting Bullwinkle "in real life".
|-
| Batman and Louise
| This duos name comes rather close to the real duo {{w|Clark Kent}} and {{w|Lois Lane}} especially since the film {{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}} was set for release three weeks after the release of this comic in February 2016.
|-
| Antony and Robin
| There is a book called ''[http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeares-Antony-Cleopatra-English-Literature/dp/0713155884 Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra"] written by a Robin Lee.
|-
| Romeo and Butthead
| It would be quite a different story if either Butt-head should replace Juliet or if Romeo should replace Beavis... (Note Butt-Head is spelled with a hyphen, but has been misspelled in the comic.)
|-
| Bonnie and Ted's excellent adventure
| There was not much excellent about the adventure for Bonnie as {{w|Ted Hinton}} was a Dallas County, Texas, deputy sheriff, the youngest of the posse that ambushed and killed Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. That they could have had an excellent adventure in an alternative universe becomes clear from this segment from his history on Wikipedia: "Ted Hinton was also once acquainted with young Bonnie Parker while she was working in Marco's Cafe in Dallas. Because of her good looks, many of the male customers would flirt with her. Hinton was always gentlemanly and treated Bonnie with respect. Hinton admitted in a later biography that he had a crush on Bonnie, which made it difficult for him as one of the men on the team sent to kill her and her lover, Clyde."
|-
| Pinky and Clyde
| As can be seen in the table above this refers to Pinky the mouse from Pinky and the Brain and Clyde from Bonnie and Clyde. But {{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)#Pinky|Pinky}} and {{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)#Clyde|Clyde}} are also the names of the pink and orange {{w|Pacman}} ghosts in this universe. They are, however, not a duo as there are {{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)|four ghosts}} ({{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)#Blinky|Blinky}} and {{w|Ghosts (Pac-Man)#Inky|Inky}} being the two others).
|-
| Simon and Goliath
| Goliath begins with G as Garfunkel. Simon was the shorter of the duo thus fitting as David vs. Goliath.
|-
| Beauty and Luigi
| No direct relation to either Mario or the Beast. However, each story has had a less-popular adaptation that takes place in the sewers of New York City: the 1993 {{w|Super Mario Bros. (film)|''Super Mario Bros.'' film}} and the 1987-1990 {{w|Beauty and the Beast (1987 TV series)|"Beauty and the Beast" TV series}}. Of course, Mario and Luigi are beast hunters rather than beasts.
|-
| Beavis and the Beast
| Beavis starts with the same three letters as Beauty, just like Beast does.
|-
| Rocky and Delilah
| There is a book called ''[http://www.bensonink.com/delilahsdaughters.html Delilah's Daughters]'', by Angela Benson, where Delilah Monroe's (note the closeness to Munroe) late husband is called Rocky. (See also [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsIvBLuiiRs Rocky and Delilah] on YouTube...)
|-
| Abbot and Cleopatra
| Abbot starts with an A as does Anthony. Cleopatra starts with a C as does Costello.
|-
| Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen
| In the Robert Louis Stevenson story, Dr. Jekyll has a sinister alter-ego in Mr. Hyde just like twins are (almost) the same persons. Though the Olsen twins are not {{w|Twin#IdenticalTwins|identical twins}}, as children the two shared the role of Michelle Tanner on the U.S. sitcom ''Full House''. Jekyll and Hyde are two people in one body, while Mary Kate and Ashley were, in a way, one person in two bodies. There are only three switches in this cycle. Butch Cassidy takes Mr. Hyde and the other Olson twin takes The Sundance Kid. This means that both twins are paired with a man instead of as in real life with a woman.
|-
| Samson and Pumbaa
| Samson has several letters in common with Timon but Samson is a huge man where Timon is a very small animal compared to the other main characters in The Lion King film.
|-
| Butch Cassidy and Mr. Hyde
| See above explanation for Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen.
|-
| Bill and Sally's Bogus Journey
| In this [http://www.rogerwhitney.com/casestudy/ case study] regarding retirement we ''meet Bill and Sally'' (as Sally met Harry). It could be said to be a ''bogus journey'' as it is just a case study.
|-
| David and Costello
| As Costello was the smaller of Abbot and Costello this does not match up with David vs. a Goliath as it did with Goliath vs small Simon.
|-
| Sherlock Holmes and Silent Bob
| This is the only case of a direct switch between two duos. Dr. Watson usually listen to the musings of Sherlock Holmes and Silent Bob is, as his name indicates, mainly silent. Jay talks all the time.
|-
| Jay and Dr. Watson
| See explanation above for their respective real universe partners (the only case of a direct switch between two duos).
|-
| Anna and the Brain
| The Brain desires to take over the world; the King is ruler of his domain.
|-
| Calvin and the King
| Although it is Calvin's fantasy that decides what happens, it is Hobbes that behaves like the King in their relationship at least when it comes to displaying physical strength to determine who decides.
|-
| Timon and Garfunkel
| Timon is put together with Garfunkel, which makes it a close match to Simon and Garfunkel.
|-
| Mary-Kate and the Sundance Kid
| See above explanation for Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen.
|-
| Mario and Juliet
| Mario would have no issue with balconies. His name has some similarities with Romeo.
|}

===Cycles===
*There are four cycles.
*The cycles listed below are sorted like explained this example from the longest cycle:
**It starts with "Thelma" (from Thelma and Louse), who is paired with "Hobbes". Hobbes is then shown diagonally down in the next entry below, Calvin and Hobbes, thus leading from "Hobbes" to "Calvin", who is similarly paired with "the King" leading to Anna and so on, until "Batman" is paired with "Louise", completing the cycle.
* First cycle: length 15
Thelma & Louise
Calvin & Hobbes
Anna & the King
Pinky & the Brain
Bonnie & Clyde
Bill & Ted
Harry & Sally
Rocky & Bullwinkle
Samson & Delilah
Timon & Pumbaa
Simon & Garfunkel
David & Goliath
Abbot & Costello
Antony & Cleopatra
Batman & Robin

* Second cycle: length 4
Romeo & Juliet
Beavis & Butthead
Beauty & the Beast
Mario & Luigi

* Third cycle: length 3
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

* Fourth cycle: length 2
Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson
Jay & Silent Bob

* Assigning an index starting with 1 (= Thelma & Louise) to 24 (= Mario & Luigi), they can be written as:

(1, 21, 20, 7, 6, 16, 2, 11, 14, 22, 8, 17, 12, 4, 3)
(5, 10, 9, 24)
(13, 23, 15)
(18, 19)

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Famous Duos in a nearby parallel universe

:[A list with 24 duos with a gray “and" between the two names (in one case it is a “met") and three times there is a gray word before (once) or after (twice) the names. The list is centered with the “and" in the middle disregarding the length of the names on each side:]
:{|
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Thelma
| and
| Hobbes
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | When Harry
| met
| Bullwinkle
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Batman
| and
| Louise
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Antony
| and
| Robin
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Romeo
| and
| Butthead
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Bonnie
| and
| Ted's excellent adventure
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Pinky
| and
| Clyde
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Simon
| and
| Goliath
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Beauty
| and
| Luigi
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Beavis
| and
| the Beast
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Rocky
| and
| Delilah
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Abbot
| and
| Cleopatra
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Dr. Jekyll
| and
| Ashley Olsen
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Samson
| and
| Pumbaa
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Butch Cassidy
| and
| Mr. Hyde
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Bill
| and
| Sally's Bogus Journey
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | David
| and
| Costello
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Sherlock Holmes
| and
| Silent Bob
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Jay
| and
| Dr. Watson
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Anna
| and
| the Brain
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Calvin
| and
| the King
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Timon
| and
| Garfunkel
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Mary-Kate
| and
| the Sundance Kid
|-
| style="text-align:right;" | Mario
| and
| Juliet
|}

==Trivia==
*Here is a ranked list with [http://www.ranker.com/list/best-duos-of-all-time/ariel-kana The Best Duos of All Time].
**When this comic came out there was still less than 300 duos on the list.
**16 of the 24 in the comic, and one of the two mentioned in the title text was on this list.
**Below the ranking refers to where they were on the list Sunday after the release of the comic (on Friday).
**The index refers to the index from the table above with the [[#List of real duos|list of real duos]].
:{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
|+ Ranking (on 2016-02-28) of famous Duos
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Duo
! scope="col" | Index
|-
| 2 || Batman and Robin|| 3
|-
| 8 || Holmes and Watson|| 18
|-
| 11 || Simon and Garfunkel|| 8
|-
| 22 || Thelma and Louise|| 1
|-
| 23 || Pinky and The Brain|| 7
|-
| 24 || Hall and Oates|| 26 Title text
|-
| 31 || Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid|| 15
|-
| 35 || Calvin and Hobbes|| 21
|-
| 41 || Jay and Silent Bob|| 19
|-
| 46 || Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde|| 13
|-
| 71 || Abbott and Costello|| 12
|-
| 79 || Beauty and the Beast || 9
|-
| 85 || Antony and Cleopatra|| 4
|-
| 99 || Beavis and Butt-head|| 10
|-
| 106 || Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen|| 23
|-
| 110 || Romeo and Juliet|| 5
|-
| 206 || Rocky and Bullwinkle|| 11
|-
| N/A || When Harry Met Sally...|| 2
|-
| N/A || Samson and Delilah || 14
|-
| N/A || Bill & Ted|| 16
|-
| N/A || David and Goliath || 17
|-
| N/A || Anna and the King || 20
|-
| N/A || Timon and Pumbaa || 22
|-
| N/A || Mario and Luigi || 24
|-
| N/A || Siskel and Ebert || 25 Title text
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Calvin and Hobbes]]
[[Category:The Lion King]]

362: Blade Runner

2019-04-02T02:22:07Z

172.69.33.41: wlink

{{comic
| number = 362
| date = December 26, 2007
| title = Blade Runner
| image = blade runner.png
| titletext = Blade Runner: classic, but incredibly slow.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is watching a DVD he got for Christmas (the comic is set on {{w|Boxing Day}}). His friend seems intent to ruin it for him.

''{{w|Blade Runner}}'' is a famous science fiction movie from 1982 featuring {{w|Harrison Ford}} and it is now considered a classic. One of the principal characters is played by {{w|Daryl Hannah}}. Hannah later became known for acting in lighthearted rom-com films, such as ''{{w|Splash (film)|Splash}}'' (in which she is a mermaid): similar to the type of films that the {{w|Olsen twins}} are known for. Hannah does look similar to the Olsens although she is 26 years older as they were born in 1986 - four years after the movie was released. ''{{w|Full House}}'' is a TV series and ''{{w|New York Minute (film)|New York Minute}}'' is a romantic film both featuring the Olsens. Hannah's character in ''Blade Runner'' (a homicidal sex robot) is a marked departure from this type of role.

The friend also claims that ''Blade Runner'' is a rip-off of the 2004 comedy film ''New York Minute''. Such a comment is completely illogical — Blade Runner came out 22 years prior, and the two films are completely different genres.

From the above it is clear that the friend is either just trolling (doubly so since ''New York Minute'' would not be considered very good by people who enjoys sci-fi classics) or he actually believes that these movies came out in the order he discovered them in. He may thus be sincere, although the other guy still hates him for ruining the experience for him by reminding him of the Olsen twins...

The title text is a common comment on the movie, it's just not like an ordinary modern sci-fi movie. It is also likely a pun on the phrase "instant classic", which is sometimes used to describe movies considered so good that they "become a classic" immediately after release.

==Transcript==
:Friend: What DVD is this?
:Cueball: ''Blade Runner''. I got it for Christmas.
:Friend: The one with Harrison Ford, right? And the Olsen twins?
:Cueball: Ye— What? Olsen twins? No, this is the 80's sci-fi classic!
:Friend: Huh. I didn't know the Olsen twins even ''did'' sci-fi.
:Cueball: ...They ''don't''.
:Friend: So is Ashely the replicant, or is Mary-Kate? I can never tell them apart.
:Cueball: Neither! They're not ''in'' this movie!
:Friend: Then who is?
:Cueball: Daryl Hannah!
:Friend: I liked her in ''Full House''.
:Cueball: I hate you.
:Friend: Man, this movie is just a ''New York Minute'' rip-off.

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

362: Blade Runner

2019-04-02T02:21:23Z

172.69.33.41: ce

{{comic
| number = 362
| date = December 26, 2007
| title = Blade Runner
| image = blade runner.png
| titletext = Blade Runner: classic, but incredibly slow.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is watching a DVD he got for Christmas (the comic is set on {{w|Boxing Day}}). His friend seems intent to ruin it for him.

''Blade Runner'' is a famous science fiction movie from 1982 featuring {{w|Harrison Ford}} and it is now considered a classic. One of the principal characters is played by {{w|Daryl Hannah}}. Hannah later became known for acting in lighthearted rom-com films, such as ''{{w|Splash (film)|Splash}}'' (in which she is a mermaid): similar to the type of films that the {{w|Olsen twins}} are known for. Hannah does look similar to the Olsens although she is 26 years older as they were born in 1986 - four years after the movie was released. ''{{w|Full House}}'' is a TV series and ''{{w|New York Minute (film)|New York Minute}}'' is a romantic film both featuring the Olsens. Hannah's character in ''Blade Runner'' (a homicidal sex robot) is a marked departure from this type of role.

The friend also claims that ''Blade Runner'' is a rip-off of the 2004 comedy film ''New York Minute''. Such a comment is completely illogical — Blade Runner came out 22 years prior, and the two films are completely different genres.

From the above it is clear that the friend is either just trolling (doubly so since ''New York Minute'' would not be considered very good by people who enjoys sci-fi classics) or he actually believes that these movies came out in the order he discovered them in. He may thus be sincere, although the other guy still hates him for ruining the experience for him by reminding him of the Olsen twins...

The title text is a common comment on the movie, it's just not like an ordinary modern sci-fi movie. It is also likely a pun on the phrase "instant classic", which is sometimes used to describe movies considered so good that they "become a classic" immediately after release.

==Transcript==
:Friend: What DVD is this?
:Cueball: ''Blade Runner''. I got it for Christmas.
:Friend: The one with Harrison Ford, right? And the Olsen twins?
:Cueball: Ye— What? Olsen twins? No, this is the 80's sci-fi classic!
:Friend: Huh. I didn't know the Olsen twins even ''did'' sci-fi.
:Cueball: ...They ''don't''.
:Friend: So is Ashely the replicant, or is Mary-Kate? I can never tell them apart.
:Cueball: Neither! They're not ''in'' this movie!
:Friend: Then who is?
:Cueball: Daryl Hannah!
:Friend: I liked her in ''Full House''.
:Cueball: I hate you.
:Friend: Man, this movie is just a ''New York Minute'' rip-off.

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

362: Blade Runner

2019-04-02T02:20:26Z

172.69.33.41: /* Explanation */ copyedit

{{comic
| number = 362
| date = December 26, 2007
| title = Blade Runner
| image = blade runner.png
| titletext = Blade Runner: classic, but incredibly slow.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is watching a DVD he got for Christmas (the comic is set on {{w|Boxing Day}}). His friend seems intent to ruin it for him.

''Blade Runner'' is a famous science fiction movie from 1982 featuring {{w|Harrison Ford}} and it is now considered a classic. One of the principal characters is played by {{w|Daryl Hannah}}. Hannah later became known for acting in lighthearted rom-com films, such as "{{w|Splash (film)|Splash}}" (in which she is a mermaid): similar to the type of films that the {{w|Olsen twins}} are known for. Hannah does look similar to the Olsens although she is 26 years older as they were born in 1986 - four years after the movie was released. ''{{w|Full House}}'' is a TV series and ''{{w|New York Minute (film)|New York Minute}}'' is a romantic film both featuring the Olsens. Hannah's character in ''Blade Runner'' (a homicidal sex robot) is a marked departure from this type of role.

The friend also claims that ''Blade Runner'' is a rip-off of the 2004 comedy film ''New York Minute''. Such a comment is completely illogical — Blade Runner came out 22 years prior, and the two films are completely different genres.

From the above it is clear that the friend is either just trolling (doubly so since ''New York Minute'' would not be considered very good by people who enjoys sci-fi classics) or he actually believes that these movies came out in the order he discovered them in. He may thus be sincere, although the other guy still hates him for ruining the experience for him by reminding him of the Olsen twins...

The title text is a common comment on the movie, it's just not like an ordinary modern sci-fi movie. It is also likely a pun on the phrase "instant classic", which is sometimes used to describe movies considered so good that they "become a classic" immediately after release.

==Transcript==
:Friend: What DVD is this?
:Cueball: ''Blade Runner''. I got it for Christmas.
:Friend: The one with Harrison Ford, right? And the Olsen twins?
:Cueball: Ye— What? Olsen twins? No, this is the 80's sci-fi classic!
:Friend: Huh. I didn't know the Olsen twins even ''did'' sci-fi.
:Cueball: ...They ''don't''.
:Friend: So is Ashely the replicant, or is Mary-Kate? I can never tell them apart.
:Cueball: Neither! They're not ''in'' this movie!
:Friend: Then who is?
:Cueball: Daryl Hannah!
:Friend: I liked her in ''Full House''.
:Cueball: I hate you.
:Friend: Man, this movie is just a ''New York Minute'' rip-off.

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

362: Blade Runner

2019-04-02T02:17:00Z

172.69.33.41: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 362
| date = December 26, 2007
| title = Blade Runner
| image = blade runner.png
| titletext = Blade Runner: classic, but incredibly slow.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is watching a DVD he got for Christmas (the comic is set on {{w|Boxing Day}}). His friend seems intent to ruin it for him, although his first question seems legit as there are several versions of {{w|Blade Runner}}.

Blade Runner is a famous science fiction movie from 1982 featuring {{w|Harrison Ford}} and it is now considered a classic. One of the principal characters is played by {{w|Daryl Hannah}}. Hannah later became known for acting in lighthearted Rom-com films, such as "{{w|Splash (film)|Splash}}" (in which she is a mermaid) similar to the type of films that the {{w|Olsen twins}} are known for, and Hannah does look similar to the Olsens although she is 26 years older as they were born in 1986 - four years after the movie was released. {{w|Full House}} is a TV series and {{w|New York Minute (film)|New York Minute}} is a romantic film both featuring the Olsens. Hannah's character in Blade Runner (a homicidal sex robot) is a marked departure from this type of role.

The friend also claims that ''Blade Runner'' is a rip-off of the 2004 comedy film ''New York Minute''. Such a comment is completely illogical — Blade Runner came out 22 years prior, and the two films are completely different genres.

From the above it is clear that the friend is either just trolling (doubly so since ''New York Minute'' would not be considered very good by people who enjoys sci-fi classics) or he actually believes that these movies came out in the order he discovered them in. He may thus be sincere, although the other guy still hates him for ruining the experience for him by reminding him of the twins...

The title text is a common comment on the movie, it's just not like an ordinary modern sci-fi movie. It is also likely a pun on the phrase “instant classic”, which is sometimes used to describe movies considered so good that they “become a classic” immediately after release.

==Transcript==
:Friend: What DVD is this?
:Cueball: ''Blade Runner''. I got it for Christmas.
:Friend: The one with Harrison Ford, right? And the Olsen twins?
:Cueball: Ye— What? Olsen twins? No, this is the 80's sci-fi classic!
:Friend: Huh. I didn't know the Olsen twins even ''did'' sci-fi.
:Cueball: ...They ''don't''.
:Friend: So is Ashely the replicant, or is Mary-Kate? I can never tell them apart.
:Cueball: Neither! They're not ''in'' this movie!
:Friend: Then who is?
:Cueball: Daryl Hannah!
:Friend: I liked her in ''Full House''.
:Cueball: I hate you.
:Friend: Man, this movie is just a ''New York Minute'' rip-off.

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

2038: Hazard Symbol

2018-08-27T16:49:39Z

172.69.33.41: /* Explanation */ note symbols

<noinclude>:''"2038", this comic's number, redirects here. For the comic named "2038", see [[607: 2038]].''</noinclude>

{{comic
| number = 2038
| date = August 27, 2018
| title = Hazard Symbol
| image = hazard_symbol.png
| titletext = The warning diamond on the Materials Safety Data Sheet for this stuff just has the "😰" emoji in all four fields.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LASER EMITTING RADIOACTIVE SLIPPERY BIOHAZARD in about 10 minutes, ignoring writing rules. - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Hazard symbols are often required to indicate certain threats to human health. These symbols are typically black symbols on yellow backgrounds, a contrast typically associated with danger even in nature{{Citation needed}}. However, these symbols also need to be easy to interpret. Therefore, they have simple, recognizable shapes that are internationally uniform and well-understood.

This comic inverts this latter expectation, by combining multiple hazard symbols into one, creating something that is unique, and very hard to understand. In practice, if such an object were to be labelled, the five hazard symbols would be separated, each in their own triangle.

The hazard symbols, as noted in the transcript, are {{w|biohazard symbol|biohazard}}, {{w|radiation symbol|radiation}}, slip and fall hazard symbol, laser hazard, and {{High_voltage#Safety|high voltage symbol}}.

The title text refers to another unsafe subversion of expectations, in this case, with against the [[wikipedia:NFPA 704|NFPA 704]] "fire diamond". These are the colourful diamond-shaped symbols often found on the back of tankers, but they are also necessary inclusions on materials safety datasheets. These symbols give numeric indication of the hazardous nature of the material, in three different respects (flammability, health, and reactivity), in addition to providing space for an extra warning on the bottom, typically in the form of one or more letters. Using an emoji instead of numbers and letters would defeat the purpose of the fire diamond, as it would only give a qualitative indication of the danger ("very dangerous"), and additionally, could be very easily mistaken for a 0 (meaning safe).

😰 is described by {{w|Emojipedia}} as "[https://emojipedia.org/face-with-open-mouth-and-cold-sweat/ Anxious Face With Sweat]".

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic emphasizes a conglomerate of warning symbols (described below), drawn in black on top of a 'safety-yellow' background.
*The outer symbol is the outer portion of the international sign for bio hazard (not to be confused with the Jolly Rodger for poison).
** The section is much larger than the other symbols as it contains them all.
*At the center of the biohazard's contribution is the international symbol for radiation.
**The symbol and the remaining symbols are approximately the same size.
*Directly above (at 12:00) radiation is a common American symbol for slippery floors.
**It is a line representing the floor, and a person suspended in air and tilted at an angle as though falling backwards.
*At 4:00, is the symbol for high powered lasers
**This is tilted approximately 225 degrees and its tail shorted as a result of the conglomeration.
**This symbol is a trail of a laser, and emission of lines at some imagined point of contact.
*At 8:00 is the international symbol for high voltage
**This is tilted approximately 45 degrees, and drawn with significant irregularities.
**This symbol is an inverted Z like, lightning bolt with an arrow tip.

Under that from is a written caption:

"It's important to know the international warning symbol for radioactive high-voltage laser-emitting biohazards that coat the floor and make it slippery."

{{comic discussion}}

2035: Dark Matter Candidates

2018-08-21T03:10:50Z

172.69.33.41: /* Explanation */ In the television show "Too Close for Comfort", one of the characters is the cartoonist of a comic strip called "Cosmic Cow".

{{comic
| number = 2035
| date = August 20, 2018
| title = Dark Matter Candidates
| image = dark_matter_candidates.png
| titletext = My theory is that dark matter is actually just a thin patina of grime covering the whole universe, and we don't notice it because we haven't thoroughly cleaned the place in eons.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Every section needs to be filled and explained. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Dark matter}} is a hypothetical form of matter used by the vast majority of astronomers to explain the far too high apparent mass of objects at large scales in our universe. In galaxies, stars are orbiting faster than the gravitational force of the sum of the masses of visible matter in the galaxy could cause, and entire galaxies are observed moving much faster around each other than their visible masses could explain. In galactic collisions, the mass can appear to separate from the visible matter, as if the mass doesn't collide but the visible matter does. A small handful of galaxies have been observed to not have this property, suggesting that it is a *thing* that a galaxy can have more or less of and is separable from. At scales of our solar system, those effects are too small and can't be measured. In cosmology, dark matter is estimated to account for 85% of the total matter in the universe.

This comic gives a set of possibilities for what dark matter could possibly be, charted by mass from smallest (given in {{w|Electronvolt#Mass|electronvolts}}) to largest (given in kilograms). Masses in the range 10-15 kg to 10-3 kg are given in grams together with appropriate prefixes, while the ton takes the place of 103 kg.

The joke in this comic is that the range of the mass of the possible particles and objects stretch over 81 powers of ten, with explanations suggested by astronomers covering only some portions of that range. [[Randall]] fills the gaps with highly absurd suggestions.

;Axion
An {{w|axion}} is a hypothetical elementary particle that might be a component of dark matter.

;Sterile neutrino
{{w|Sterile neutrino|Sterile neutrinos}} are hypothetical particles interacting only via gravity. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.

;Electrons painted with space camouflage
{{w|Electron|Electrons}} are fundamental particles which compose the outer layers of atoms. A large number of electrons in the galaxy would be relatively easy to detect, as they not only interact with light (which dark matter does not appear to), but also have a strong electric charge. Presumably, space camouflage is a positively-charged coating which prevents electrons from interacting with light. (Needless to say, this is not an actual candidate for dark matter.) The mass of an electron is about 0.5 MeV which fits well into the graph.

;Neutralino
A {{w|neutralino}} is a hypothetical particle from {{w|Supersymmetry|supersymmetry}}, it is an actual candidate for dark matter.

;Q-ball
In theoretical physics, a {{w|Q-ball}} is a stable group of particles. It's an actual candidate for dark matter.

(In billiards, a cue ball is the white (or yellow) ball hit with the cue in normal play. In addition, [[Cueball]] is the name explainxkcd uses for the most common xkcd character.)

;Pollen
{{w|Pollen}} is a joke candidate, though people with seasonal allergies may suspect that the universe is genuinely made up entirely of pollen in the springtime.

;No-See-Ums
{{w|Ceratopogonidae|No-See-Ums}} are a family (Ceratopogonidae) of small flies, 1–4 mm long, that can pass through most window screens. Another joke candidate.

;Bees
Insects of the clade {{w|bee|Antophila}} are major pollinators of flowering plants. In recent years {{w|Colony collapse disorder|bees have been disappearing}} at an alarming rate; {{w|The Stolen Earth|Doctor Who explained}} that they are in fact aliens leaving Earth prior to a Dalek invasion.

;8-balls
In pool, the {{w|Pool (cue sports)|8-ball}} is a black ball numbered 8. It's a pun with Q-ball/cue ball. Unless undetected aliens have discovered billiards and become addicted to it, 8-balls are found only on Earth and are, hence, unlikely dark matter candidates.

;Space Cows
Cows are {{w|Bovinae|bovines}} extensively farmed on Earth for milk and meat. Although there is folklore concerning cows {{w|Hey diddle diddle|achieving circum-lunar orbits}}, not to mention their appearance on a {{w|Shindig (Firefly)|space western TV show}}, they have yet to be found elsewhere in the Universe. In the television show "Too Close for Comfort", one of the characters is the cartoonist of a comic strip called "Cosmic Cow".

;Obelisks, Monoliths, Pyramids
While those human constructions are huge on a human scale, they're negligible at universe-scale. It would take a large number of such constructions, distributed through space, to replicate the effects of dark matter; while a scenario could be envisioned where enough such constructs existed, with properties and distribution allowing them to match observations, this is obviously not a likely explanation.
They often show up in fiction and pseudo-scientific literature as alien artifacts generating immense unknown power out of nowhere, with the most famous and influential example being the three monoliths from {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}} (with the largest having a mass of about 500,000 tonnes).

;Black Holes ruled out by:
{{w|Black hole|Black holes}} are known to occur in sizes of a few sun masses (about 1030-1031 kg) as remnants of the core of former big stars, as well as in quite large sizes at the centers of galaxies (millions or even billions of sun masses). But recent gravitational wave detections indicate that black holes at 50 or 100 sun masses also exist, though their origin is still not understood. Randall doesn't mention this but some astronomers hope that these could fill at least a part of the gap.

Except the last item, all range below the mass of the sun (2x1030 kg) while the smallest known black hole is about four sun masses.
* Gamma rays: If dark matter were black holes of this size, the black holes would be evaporating in bursts of {{w|Hawking radiation}}, and we'd see a buzz of gamma rays from every direction.
* GRB lensing: {{w|Gamma-ray burst|Gamma-ray bursts}} (GRBs) are the brightest events in the universe and have been observed only in distant galaxies. While gravitational microlensing (see below) is an astronomical phenomenon, it doesn't make much sense here. GRBs are short (milliseconds to several hours) and are often detected only by space-borne sensors for gamma-rays -- rarely at any other wavelengths. Measuring lensing effects would be very difficult. This [https://arxiv.org/abs/1406.3102 paper] discusses the probability of detecting lensing effects caused by {{w|Dark matter halo|galactic halo objects}} among the known GRBs given sufficient objects to represent the missing mass.
* Neutron star data: {{w|Neutron star|Neutron stars}} aren't black holes, but they're also very small highly compact objects at about 1.4-2.16 solar masses. While black holes can't be observed directly, neutron stars are detectable in many wavelengths. The number of them gives a clue about the number of black holes close to the mass of the sun, a number which is far too low to make up dark matter.
* Micro lensing: {{w|Gravitational microlensing}} is a gravitational lens effect, (the path of radiation is changed by passing through space bent by nearby mass). This was predicted by Einstein's {{w|General Relativity|Theory of General Relativity}} and was first confirmed in 1919 during a solar eclipse, when a star which was nearly in line with the sun appeared closer to the sun than usual. Astronomers have found many so called {{w|Einstein ring|Einstein rings}} or Einstein crosses where a massive object in front of other galaxies bends the light toward us. Those massive objects may be black holes, but the number is far too low to explain dark matter.
* Solar system stability: Our {{w|Solar system|solar system}} is 4.5 billion years old and has been very stable since shortly after its formation. If not, we wouldn't exist. If dark objects at 1024 kg - 1030 kg (mass of Earth up to mass of Sun) accounted for dark matter and were distributed throughout galaxies, there should be many of them in the vicinity of our solar system and the system wouldn't be stable at all.
* Buzzkill Astronomers: Black holes above a certain size would be impossible to miss, due to the effects they have on nearby matter. But at the mass of some 1030 kg there must be many supernova remnants we still haven't found.

;Maybe those orbit lines on space diagrams are real and very heavy
Diagrams of our solar system (or any planetary system) often show lines representing the elliptical paths the planet takes around its sun. These lines don't show real objects, though. Astronomers just draw them on pictures of the solar system to show where the planets move. If you draw a line on a map to give someone directions, that line isn't an object in real life; it's just on the map. If these lines were real, they would be ''huge'' (Earth's would be 940 million km long (2π AU) and Neptune's would be 28 ''billion'' kilometers long). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0 Powers of Ten (1977)] gives a good sense of just how large these orbit lines need to be in order to be visible in space diagrams. If these orbit lines were also very dense, they would have a huge mass and could possibly account for the missing 85% of the mass in the universe. But they would also constantly be impaling the planets, including the Earth, which would be a problem. Their mass would also affect planetary motions in ways which we would detect. A related worry about space travel was expressed in previous centuries; it was thought that the planets were embedded within {{w|Celestial spheres|crystal shells}} (spheres or Platonic solids), and a rocket into space could smash the shells and send planets plummeting to Earth. Another joke candidate.

;Title text
The title text refers to the fact that space is just vast emptiness where a little bit of dirt could be overlooked. Actually the mean density of detectable matter in the universe, according to NASA, is equivalent to roughly [https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_matter.html 1 proton per 4 cubic meters]. And because this matter is mostly located in galaxies -- and inside there in stars and clouds -- the space between is even more empty. For comparison, one gram hydrogen consists of {{w|Avogadro constant|6.022 x 1023 atoms}}. Like at home wiping with a cleaning cloth in which we can see the dirt that wasn't clearly visible on the surface we have wiped, Randall believes that some few atoms more per cubic meter could stay undetected in the same way. This isn't true because in the space between galaxies astronomers can detect matter as it spreads over thousands or millions cubic light years. Atoms can't hide; there is always radiation.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:Dark matter candidates:
:[A line graph is shown and labeled at left quarter in eV and further to the right in g together with some prefixes.]
:[The labels read:]
:µeV, meV, eV, keV, MeV, GeV, TeV, 10-18kg, ng, µg, mg, g, kg, TON, 106kg, 1012kg, 1018kg, 1024kg, 1030kg

:[All items are shown in bars ranging between two approximately values:]
:< 1 µeV - 10 meV: Axion

:1 eV - 10 keV: Sterile neutrino

:0.5 MeV (exactly): Electrons painted with space camouflage

:10 GeV - 10 TeV: Neutralino

:100 TeV - 10-17 kg: Q-ball

:1 ng - 100 ng: Pollen

:0.1 mg - 1 mg: No-See-Ums

:10-1 g (exactly): Bees

:10 g - 100 g: 8-balls

:100 kg - TON: Space cows

:TON - 109 kg: Obelisks, monoliths, pyramids

:109 kg - 1033 kg: Black holes ruled out by:
::109 kg - 1013 kg: Gamma rays
::1013 kg - 1017 kg: GRB lensing
::1015 kg - 1022 kg: Neutron star data
::1021 kg - 1030 kg: Micro lensing
::1024 kg - 1030 kg: Solar system stability
::1030 kg - 1033 kg: Buzzkill astronomers

:1033 kg - >1036 kg: Maybe those orbit lines on space diagrams are real and very heavy

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]

2032: Word Puzzles

2018-08-13T17:16:50Z

172.69.33.41: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2032
| date = August 13, 2018
| title = Word Puzzles
| image = word_puzzles.png
| titletext = Eno's storied aria was once soloed by Judge Lance Ito on the alto oboe at Ohio's AirAsia Arena.
}}

The dialog, caption, and title text contain many
words that appear frequently in crossword puzzle
answers because the fit well with intersecting
words, in part because they have a high density
of vowels.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Cueball: ''"Parts of this aria were composed by Brian Eno's Opera Star au pair at the start of his post-live era."''

:Megan (thinking): "...parts...start...eno...aria..."

:My hobby: messing with word game enthusiasts by using words that make them '''''sure''''' there's a puzzle to solve

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Music]]

2032: Word Puzzles

2018-08-13T17:13:35Z

172.69.33.41: added italics

{{comic
| number = 2032
| date = August 13, 2018
| title = Word Puzzles
| image = word_puzzles.png
| titletext = Eno's storied aria was once soloed by Judge Lance Ito on the alto oboe at Ohio's AirAsia Arena.
}}

The dialog, caption, and title text contain many
words that appear frequently in crossword puzzle
answers because the fit well with intersecting
words, in part because they have a high density
of vowels.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball: ''"Parts of this aria were composed by Brian Eno's Opera Star au pair at the start of his post-live era."''

Megan (thinking): "...parts...start...eno...aria"

My hobby: messing with word game enthusiasts by using words that make them '''''sure''''' there's a puzzle to solve

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Music]]

2029: Disaster Movie

2018-08-06T22:38:45Z

172.69.33.41: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2029
| date = August 6, 2018
| title = Disaster Movie
| image = disaster_movie.png
| titletext = Really, they'd be rushing around collecting revisions to go into the next scheduled quarterly public data update, not publishing them immediately, but you have to embellish things a little for Hollywood.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Lava flow. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A {{w|disaster movie}} is a sub-genre of movie, which resolves around a disaster, either a natural disaster, worldwide disease pandemic, or an attack. Typically, the plot of a disaster film is how the main characters escape the disaster, or deal with the after of the disaster.

Randall subverts this plot device by showing Ponytail call for a GIS survey team to map out the result of the disaster. Instead of panicking for survival, the scientists are rushing to update their data sets.

{{w|GIS}} is an acronym for geographic information system, a system used to capture and analyze spatial and geographic data. Presumably, a GIS survey team would go above the affected area in a helicopter, mapping the coastline changes caused by the natural disaster.

"Lava entering the sea, and new rifts opening to the north" may be a reference to the {{w|2018 lower Puna eruption}}, a volcanic event on the island of {{w|Hawaii (island)|Hawaii}}. Due to this eruption event, lava did enter the Pacific Ocean. As of the time of publishing, this event was still occurring.

The title text refers to the fact that geographical data sets are likely not published in "real time", but are updated in quarterly updates. Thus, there is not as much of a rush to do their updates, and the need is not as urgent as the proposed film would show.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A fraction of an office with two desks is shown. On the right Cueball sits behind a computer while in the middle Ponytail talks into a radio device with a small antenna. On the left Megan runs into the scene holding something like a tablet computer in her hand.]
:Megan: The lava is entering the sea, and new rifts are opening to the north!
:Ponytail: Get a GIS survey team in the air! We need to revise our coastline shapefiles!

:[Caption below the frame:]
:I want to make a disaster movie that just shows scientists rushing to update all their data sets.

{{comic discussion}}

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

18: Snapple

2018-08-05T04:30:09Z

172.69.33.41: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 18
| date = October 10, 2005
| title = Snapple
| image = snapple.jpg
| titletext = Sn = tin
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] hands another Cueball-like guy an apple calling it a ''Snapple.'' When the guy bites into it, his teeth go ''clink'' against the apple's metal surface; Cueball has infused the apple with tin.

The fourth panel is a silent wide shot, perhaps suggesting {{w|Anti-humor|the joke was met with silence as a weak joke}}. As a meta-joke, the final panel might jokingly suggest that the silence is because those unfamiliar with the periodic table of elements don't get the joke.

The joke in this comic is pretty self-explanatory, especially given that the image text continues the trend in early [[xkcd]] comics of explaining the joke. {{w|Tin}} is a metallic element whose abbreviation on the periodic table is "Sn" (as the Latin word for tin is "stannum"). Thus, the apple is a "Sn-apple."

{{w|Snapple}} is a brand of beverages -- mostly bottled juices and teas -- whose name is based on a carbonated apple juice they once produced ("snappy apple").

[[James]] (in the caption) presumably once made a joke to [[Randall]] about tin or Snapple or both.

==Transcript==
:[Above the frame:]
:This one is entirely James' fault.

:[Two Cueball-like guys are standing and talking.]
:Cueball: Here, take a bite of this Snapple.
:Guy: food!

:[Guy takes a bite.]
:Guy: Ow!
:Snapple and teeth: ''Clink''
:Guy: What is this?

:[Cueball explains:]
:Cueball: It's an apple infused with tin.

:[The two guys continue to stand as if frozen.]

:[Above two silent guys the following text is written inside a black frame:]
:Those of you who know your periodic table should be laughing right about now.

==Trivia==
*This was the 17th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[17: What If]].
**The next was [[19: George Clinton]].
*Original title: "Monday's drawing: Snapple"
*There was no original [[Randall]] quote for this comic.
**It could be argued that the caption of the comic ''This one is entirely James' fault'' was the quote. But it is part of the comic picture.
*This comic was posted on [[xkcd]] when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
**It was posted along [[:Category:First day on xkcd|with all 41 comics]] posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
**The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
*One of the original drawings drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].
*This is another early xkcd comic in which [[Cueball]] characters are drawn in some panels with faces.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 17]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring James]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Food]]

2022: Sports Champions

2018-07-24T19:14:14Z

172.69.33.41: /* Explanation */ direct link to doping in cycling

{{comic
| number = 2022
| date = July 20, 2018
| title = Sports Champions
| image = sports_champions.png
| titletext = For a long time, people thought maybe Usain Bolt was the one for running, until the 2090s and the incredible dominance of Derek Legs.
}}

==Explanation==
In an example of {{w|nominative determinism}}, the comic lists people whose surname relates to their participation in various sports. It is presented as though it was created in the far future, reflecting on champions over the decades through to the 2080s. The first three are real sportspeople, the remainder are imaginary players of the future.

The caricatures are participating in their sport, except for Jebediah who is standing at a {{w|lectern}}.

{| class="wikitable"
!style="width:20%"|Name
!style="width:10%"|Years
!style="width:15%"|Sport
!style="width:55%"|Explanation
|-
|Margaret Court
|1960s
|Tennis
|{{w|Margaret Court}} is an Australian tennis player, former world number 1, who won many competitions in the 1960s and 70s. A {{w|tennis court|tennis '''court'''}} is the playing arena used in that sport.
|-
|Gary Player
|1970s
|Golf
|{{w|Gary Player}} is a South African golfer who won nine major championships in the 1960s and 70s. Competitors are often known as '''player'''s, such as, in {{w|The Players Championship}}.
|-
|Lonzo Ball
|2020s
|Basketball
|{{w|Lonzo Ball}} is an American professional basketball player, currently with the Los Angeles Lakers. The 2020s decade predicts future success, as he began playing professionally in 2017. Basketball is, of course, a {{w|ball game|'''ball''' game}}.
|-
|Jake Halfpipe
|2030s
|Skateboarding
|A '''{{w|half-pipe|halfpipe}}''' is a structure used in extreme sports such as skateboarding and snowboarding.
|-
|Sarah Goggles
|2030s
|Swimming
|'''{{w|Goggles}}''' are protective eyewear used in many sports, such as swimming or skiing.
|-
|Kevin Slurve
|2050s
|Baseball
|A '''{{w|slurve}}''' is a baseball throwing technique, a portmanteau of '''sl'''ider and c'''urve'''.
|-
|Julia Chairlift
|2050s
|Skiing
|A '''{{w|chairlift}}''' is an aerial machine often used to transport winter sports participants up mountains.
|-
|Dwight Shuttlecock
|2060s
|Badminton
|A '''{{w|shuttlecock}}''' is a projectile used in the sport of badminton.
|-
|Brandon Sponsorship
|2060s
|Unclear
|Sporting professionals are often {{w|Sponsor (commercial)|sponsored}} by corporations. Brandon is holding a pair of shoes, which are probably a branded '''sponsorship''' item.
|-
|Kate Dopingscandal
|2070s
|Cycling
|There have been many '''{{w|List of doping cases in cycling|doping scandal}}s''' in the world of cycling. Doping refers to the "use of physiological substances or abnormal methods to obtain an artificial increase in performance."
|-
|Jebediah Disasterous Postgame-PressConference
|2080s
|Unspecified
|At the end of sporting events - i.e. post-game - there is often a {{w|News conference|press conference}} where the competitors discuss the result. Sometimes, these live interviews are a disaster. Randall has chosen to spell his name as "Disasterous", rather than the more conventional "Disastrous".
|-
|(in title text, not depicted)
Usain Bolt and Derek Legs
|2090s
|Sprinting
|From the title text, {{w|Usain Bolt}} is the retired world record holder for the {{w|100 metres|100 meter sprint}} Randall considers him a solid contender for this list since he can '''bolt''' down the track. However the fictional Derek '''Legs''' ends up replacing Bolt on the list, either as an even faster sprinter, or because “legs” more clearly and unambiguously relates to running than “bolt” does.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Two rows of people wielding sports equipment are shown, six in the upper row, five in the lower, only the last has no equipment but is standing behind a lectern with a microphone attached to it. Below each person, their name is given and the decade in which they were champions of their sport is given below their name, in brackets. Here is a list of the 11 people:]

:[Woman with dark hair holding a tennis racket]
:Margaret Court
:(1960s)

:[Cueball with a golf club]
:Gary Player
:(1970s)

:[Cueball with a basketball]
:Lonzo Ball
:(2020s)

:[Hairy on a skateboard]
:Jake Halfpipe
:(2030s)

:[Woman with dark hair wearing a swim cap and goggles]
:Sarah Goggles
:(2030s)

:[A man with a baseball cap throwing a baseball to the right]
:Kevin Slurve
:(2050s)

:[A woman with long black hair in a knit cap and wearing ski googles is standing on skis holding ski poles]
:Julia Chairlift
:(2050s)

:[Hairy holding a badminton racket bouncing a shuttlecock on it]
:Dwight Shuttlecock
:(2060s)

:[Hairy holding a pair of shoes in his hand]
:Brandon Sponsorship
:(2060s)

:[Hairbun standing next to a bicycle.]
:Kate Dopingscandal
:(2070s)

:[Hairy standing behind a lectern with a microphone on it.]
:Jebediah Disasterous Postgame PressConference
:(2080s)

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Fun fact: Every sport eventually produces a champion competitor named after a common element of the game.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Baseball]]
[[Category:Basketball]]