explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1579: Tech Loops

2015-09-22T13:32:38Z

173.245.50.154: /* Description of the boxes */ Changing informal word "info"

{{comic
| number = 1579
| date = September 18, 2015
| title = Tech Loops
| image = tech_loops.png
| titletext = And when I think about it, a lot of "things I want to do" are just learning about and discussing new tools for tinkering with the chain.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is about how much time a geek might spend on a computer just to maintain the system itself, rather than actually using it for something relevant. This can in the worst cases go all the way up to the point where maintaining the system becomes the main goal. Often the operating system (OS) needs periodic updates, which might break some apps which in turn need to be updated; apps themselves might need to be updated, which can create all sort of incompatibilities which the geek then needs to spend time fixing.

Most people consider computers as tools to achieve something else — e.g. to surf the web, play games, read news or balance their bank account — and they would rather not have to spend lots of time on maintaining the OS or the computer if they can avoid it.

Here, however, [[Randall]] finds he's spending most of the time using his computer just for the sake of maintaining the OS or the hardware on said computer. It's tools for the sake of tooling, rather than tools as helpers to build something else.

A hardware equivalent would be the {{w|RepRap Project}}: get a 3D printer and end up spending all the time printing 3D parts for itself instead of creating something else like toys or art.

An alternative interpretation is how a simple task can get maddeningly tricky because of the inherent complexity of the system. An example of this appears in [[949: File Transfer]], where the simple task of sending a file from one computer to another gets practically impossible despite having all kinds of {{w|Cloud computing|cloud}} tools available, many of them designed to perform much more complex tasks with one simple click. In this view, the box labeled "things I actually want to use my computer for" could refer to simple actions like transferring a file and all the rest of the graph are unsuccessful tiring attempts to solve the problem by installing increasingly complex tools which end up not solving the simple problem properly. This is similar to this [http://www.pfccheatsheet.com/fnpgmr90.htm traditional programming joke].

In the title text Randall realizes that what he really wishes to do it often only to learn about and discussing new tools to improve the chain. So in this way it is for sure only a system to support itself. But on the other hand, then the box with things he actually wishes to use the computer for, is then not disconnected from the rest, but an integral part of it all.

Other comics about the same concept are [[349: Success]] and [[763: Workaround]].

==Description of the boxes==
There are 18 boxes in the chart, but only 12 different texts. 16 of the boxes are interconnected. Two are not connected to any other boxes.

Here is a list of all the items explained individually:
* Tool: In this context, a tool is mostly any general purpose computer program. Typical tools are text editors and calendar applications. Randall is presumably spending all his time installing and maintaining tools but never using them for their intended purpose.
** There are two tools which both are related to the updater and both have one entry and one exit. The first tool has an entry from the most active library (most arrows) and the second has an exit to the VM.
* Updater: An application designed to automatically download and install new versions of an already installed program. Referenced in [[1197: All Adobe Updates]]. The time spent in updating an application can't be used to get productive work from the application.
** The updater has one entry from a tool, but also exits to another tool. Two other exits goes to the most active library (most arrows) and to the repository which is the only box without exits.
* {{w|Repository (version control)|Repository}}: For programmers a repository is a database where programs are stored. All modifications of the programs are preserved for posterity, in the same way as the Wikipedia {{w|Help:Page history|View history}} tab.
** There are three entries but as the only of the connected boxes this box has no exits. Thus the information stored here never leaves; this means the programs stored in the repository are not used.
* {{w|Library (computing)|Library}}: In this context, a library is a part of a computer program which is developed separately, with the idea that the library will be used for more than one program and therefore saving effort, as the library has to be developed only once. Often, programs require specific versions of specific libraries that can or can not be available. A typical example of a library often required and not always available is Microsoft's {{w|Framework Class Library}}, more known as {{w|.NET Framework}}.
** There are six libraries. Four of them has one entry and one exit arrow and twice one library exits only to another library. The top left is the most active with two entries and three exits making it the second busiest box in the chart. But most important is the bottom right library that starts everything since this is the only of the interconnected boxes that does not itself have any entry. From this library you can reach all the other connected boxes starting from it's only connection: Awful hack from 2009.
* VM: A {{w|Virtual machine}} is a computer program designed to emulate a complete computer. Probably a reference to [[1305: Undocumented Feature]], combined with the next item "Chat client".
** It has two entries as it obviously both need a tool and a hardware workaround to function. It exits to the chat client already mentioned.
* Chat client: an {{w|Online chat}} program, probably a reference to [[1305: Undocumented Feature]], combined with the previous item "VM".
** It has two entries, one from the most active library (most arrows) and one from the already mentioned VM. It exits to the repository which is the only box without exits.
* IRC for some reason: {{w|Internet Relay Chat}}.
** It is connected in a loop (entry and exit) only with Awful hack from 2009.
* Custom settings: Some programs (and especially web sites) assume a fixed setup in the user's computer. Many web pages even state plainly that they are only intended to work in one single browser with some settings enabled. This is a nuisance for users, and it becomes helplessly burdensome when the user must install several programs requiring different settings.
** Is connecting two libraries, exiting to the most active library (most arrows).
* Hardware workaround: Sometimes a problem can be solved by hardware changes. Removing TV tuner or telephone modem cards, changing an USB device from one port to another, opening and closing the CD tray, etc. are operations that, in many cases, have led to solving a problem; most of the time with no one knowing exactly why such an operation should or could have any effect in the computer's behavior.
** Has one entry from the most active library (most arrows) and two exits to VM and Awful hack from 2009
* Awful {{w|Kludge|hack}} from 2009: An example of an awful hack can be found in [[1479: Troubleshooting]]. When an awful hack is necessary, it is often because less awful alternatives do not exist; so awful hacks tend to remain useful for many years. An example can be the 256-caracter limit in the Windows path for a file, which has been inherited from MS-DOS (way, way before 2009) and is still there up to Windows 10{{Citation needed}}.
** This is the most busy box with three entries and three exits. It has an entry from the only box that does not it self have any entries, the bottom right library. Another entry is from the Awful hack from 2009. It also form a simple entry exit loop with IRC for some reason, that box is not connected to any other boxes. And finally it exits to two libraries. One of these leads to the most active library (most arrows). From this hack all connected boxes can be reached, except the library that only has entry into the hack.
* {{w|Dynamic-link library|DLL}} needed by something: Although "DLL" is a term used by Microsoft Windows, all modern operating systems use dynamic libraries, each with its own name. A dynamic library is a part of a program which is not loaded when the program starts, but rather it's attached "dynamically" to the running process when it is needed. This has the advantage that the dynamic library is not loaded at all if it's not needed, and also several processes which need the same dynamic library can share the same copy in memory.
** This box only leads to two question marks, and not to any of the other items.
* Things I actually want to use my computer for: All the other stuff is thus only there to make it possible to use the computer for these purposes.
** But this box is not in any way related to all the tools libraries etc. mentioned here above. Which are thus in reality not needed at all.

==The tech loops==
:The flow chart described:
:→ means supports (key)
: 
:Things I actually want to use my computer for [isolated box with no links into or out of, by any of the following]
:
:DLL needed by something → ? [two exits to unknowns]
:
:Library (1) → Awful hack from 2009 →
::Awful hack from 2009 → IRC for some reason → Awful hack from 2009 → (Loop)
::Awful hack from 2009 → Library (2) → Library (3) → Repository
::Awful hack from 2009 → Library (4) → Library (5) → Custom Settings → Library (6) →
:::Library (6) → Chat Client → Repository
:::Library (6) → Hardware Workaround →
::::Hardware Workaround → VM → Chat Client → Repository
::::Hardware Workaround → Awful hack from 2009 → (Loop)
:::Library (6) → Tool (1) → Updater →
::::Updater → Repository
::::Updater → Library (6) → (Loop)
::::Updater → Tool (2) → VM → Chat Client → Repository
:
:(Note the Repository node leads to nowhere)

==Transcript==
:[A flow chart 18 boxes linked (or not) with arrows going in several different directions. At the top is an arrow pointing to the right with text under. The rest of the text in the chart is written inside the boxes.]
:[Under arrow:]
:Supports

:[Going from the top below the tip of the arrow and reading left to right and top to bottom the following text is written in the boxes that all are in some way connected with each other. The number of arrows going in and out of each box is noted behind the text in square brackets as [in, out]:]
:Updater [1, 3]
:Tool [1, 1]
:Tool [1, 1]
:Repository [3, 0]
:Library [1, 1]
:Library [2, 3]
:Library [1, 1]
:Chat Client [2, 1]
:VM [2, 1]
:IRC for some reason [1, 1]
:Custom Settings [1, 1]
:Hardware Workaround [1, 2]
:Library [1, 1]
:Awful hack from 2009 [3, 3]
:Library [1, 1]
:Library [0, 1]

:[The last box in the lower middle is not connected to any other boxes but has two exit arrows pointing to two questionmarks.]
:DLL needed by something [0, 2]
:?
:?

:[Box alone at the top right corner, with no connections:]
:Things I actually want to use my computer for [0, 0]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every now and then I realize I'm maintaining a huge chain of technology solely for the purpose to support itsel

==Trivia==
*In the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/2/2b/20150921141046%21tech_loops.png first version] of this comic is said "soley" instead of "solely" in the caption. This was corrected later on the release day.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Flowcharts]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1417: Seven

2015-09-21T17:02:51Z

173.245.50.154: /* Title text list */ It's Oedipus Rex, not simply Rex. Adding &#8203; Zero-width space

{{comic
| number = 1417
| date = September 5, 2014
| title = Seven
| image = seven.png
| titletext = The days of the week are Monday, Arctic, Wellesley, Green, Electra, Synergize, and the Seventh Seal.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] (or perhaps [[Randall]]) says he can't distinguish between sets that have exactly seven objects. This leads him to exchange the items in the sets without noticing, to the point where, when attempting to list a single set, each item mentioned actually belongs to a different set.

This is shown in the comic when [[Megan]] asks Cueball to name the seven dwarfs from ''{{w|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}}'', a task some people might find difficult, although they would not just choose words from other sets of seven to fill in the gaps.

The title text reveals that even a trivial set of seven items, like the days of the week, also goes completely wrong.

The comic may be related to the {{w|Set-theoretic definition of natural numbers#Oldest definition|oldest set-theoretic definition of the natural numbers}}, in which for each natural number, an equivalence class is defined over all sets which contain the same number of items. As Cueball is known for [[:Category:Math|mathematical thinking]], he could be presumed to have taken the underlying equivalence relation to heart, and (over)applying it to real life, genuinely judging sets to be identical if they all contain N objects.

The number seven being the number for when sets become indistinguishable is possibly a reference to {{w|The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two|Miller's law}}; however, this law refers to elements ''within the same set'' becoming indistinguishable, rather than the indistinguishability of different sets of the same size - indeed, its original tests involved either distinguishing between the items, or repeating them back ''in the correct order''.

The number seven has culturally been {{w|7 (number)#Religion and mythology|regarded as a special, magical or holy number}}, which contributes to the large number of familiar sets of seven that make this comic possible. This proliferation of well-known sets of 7 items could be another reason why Randall chose to use the number {{w|seven}} in the comic.

In [[1554: Spice Girls]] the game continues with Cueball saying that it is now Megan's turn and then he asks her a similar question regarding the names of the Spice Girls. Her problem is then that she simply finds different sets of five and then just adds Spice behind each of the words of that set.

===Comic list===
For each of the seven lists below, the relevant item's traditional position within its own list of seven, according to Wikipedia, is '''not''' necessarily equal to its position on the list in the comic. For some lists the position is equal, but not for most. For instance Sneezy is traditionally never mentioned first amongst the dwarfs since the leader Doc normally comes first. But "phylum" is the second major taxonomic rank as is "phylum" the second item on the list in the comic.

The seven "dwarfs" mentioned and their relevant sets of seven are (items in the set are written in bold):
{| class="wikitable"
|
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
|-
!{{W|Seven Dwarfs#Disney Dwarfs|Disney's Dwarfs}} from ''{{w|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}}''<ref group=c>The order is taken from the page about the movie. But Sneezy is never no. 1, on the other page, which is listed alphabetically, he is no. 5.</ref>
|Doc
|Grumpy
|Happy
|Sleepy
|Bashful
|'''Sneezy'''
|Dopey
|-
!Major {{w|taxonomic ranks}}.<ref group=c>There are now actually 8 on this list as {{w|Domain (biology)|domain}} has been included as the first in the list in 1990. It is, however, still normal to only list the 7 ranks in the table.</ref>
|kingdom
|'''phylum'''
|class
|order
|family
|genus
|species
|-
!{{w|Continents}}<ref group=c>Continents are normally listed by size (as here in the table), in which case Europe is no. 6. Alphabetically it would be fifth. By population, Europe would actually be no. 3 (i.e. it would match the position in Cueball's list). But by population density, it is no. 2. In reality Europe is not even a continent in itself, as it is connected directly to Asia (and also Africa) and there are {{w|Continent#Number_of_continents|many reasons}} not to split the continents into seven...</ref>
|Asia
|Africa
|North America
|South America
|Antarctica
|'''Europe'''
|Australia
|-
!{{w|Seven deadly sins|Deadly sins}}<ref group=c>List as on Wikipedia.</ref>
|lust
|gluttony
|greed
|'''sloth'''
|wrath
|envy
|pride
|-
!{{w|Seven-layer dip|Seven Layer Dip (recipe)}}<ref group=c>The list on Wikipedia is not in the order the dip should be made. The order used above is from this [http://allrecipes.com/recipe/seven-layer-dip-i/ recipe].</ref>
|refried beans
|cheese
|ground beef
|sour cream
|'''guacamole'''
|salsa
|chopped black olives/tomatoes/green onions
|-
!|Layers of the {{w|OSI model}}<ref group=c>The order above is in reverse. The numbers given on Wikipedia is from 7 to 1 as they stand above. However when showing them in a table they begin with no. 7. So it can be discussed if this is the correct order or the reverse. Since Data link is no. 2, the reverse above becomes the "correct" no. 6.</ref>
|application
|presentation
|session
|transport
|network
|'''data link'''
|physical
|-
!|{{w|Wonders of the World#Seven Wonders of the Ancient World|Wonders of the Ancient World}}<ref group=c>List as on Wikipedia.</ref>
|Great Pyramid of Giza
|Hanging Gardens of Babylon
|Statue of Zeus at Olympia
|Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
|Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
|'''Colossus of Rhodes'''
|Lighthouse of Alexandria
|}

<references group=c />

===Title text list===
The title text extends this saying he also does the same with the set of the seven days of the week.

The sets Cueball's "days of the week" come from are:
{| class="wikitable"
|
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
|-
!{{w|Days of the week}}<ref group=t>In the US, the weekdays are usually mentioned with Sunday first, whereas the international {{w|ISO week date}} standard defines Monday as the first day of the week. Although Randall is from the US, he has previously expressed his preference for [[1179: ISO 8601|ISO 8601]] (among [[526: Converting to Metric|other international standards]]), so it's reasonable to assume he'd list the days of the week starting on Monday.</ref>
|'''Monday'''
|Tuesday
|Wednesday
|Thursday
|Friday
|Saturday
|Sunday
|-
!{{w|Seven Seas#Modern|The Seven Seas (modern version)}}<ref group=t>There are many ways to lists 7 named bodies of water. The one used in the table uses the order from the Wikipedia article on the modern version, from the largest to the smallest of the seven. But at the top of the article on the {{w|Seven Seas}} another set of oceans are used. Here the two largest bodies of water (Pacific and Atlantic) are split in a north and a south part, and the Southern (or Antarctic) Ocean is included. They then displace the three smallest bodies of water mentioned in the table above. If that list is sorted in alphabetic order, using the name Antarctic Ocean instead of Southern Ocean, then "Arctic" would come second: Antarctic, '''Arctic''', Indian, North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Atlantic and South Pacific. "Arctic" could also be a reference to {{w|Climate zones}} - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]]. It could not, however, be a reference to {{w|Continents}}, because the Arctic is not a continent {{w|Continent#Number of continents|regardless of how they're counted}}.</ref>
|The Pacific Ocean
|The Atlantic Ocean
|The Indian Ocean
|The '''Arctic''' Ocean
|The Mediterranean Sea
|The Caribbean Sea
|The Gulf of Mexico.
|-
!{{w|Seven Sisters (colleges)|Seven Sisters}}, historically women's colleges in U.S.<ref group=t>List as on Wikipedia.</ref>
|Mount Holyoke
|Vassar
|'''Wellesley'''
|Smith
|Radcliffe
|Bryn Mawr
|Barnard
|-
!Traditional {{w|spectral color}}s<ref group=t>On the list on Wikipedia there are only six colors but Indigo was used to get to seven colors by Newton - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]].</ref>
|Red
|Orange
|Yellow
|'''Green'''
|Blue
|Indigo
|Violet
|-
!{{w|Pleiades (Greek mythology)|Pleiades}}, Seven Sisters, nymphs and daughters of Atlas and Pleone in Greek mythology<ref group=t>List as on Wikipedia, with the oldest first and the youngest last (it's unclear whether the ones in the middle are also listed by age). In any case, only in reverse alphabetical order Electra would be no. 5: Taygete, Sterope, Merope, Maia, '''Electra''', Celaeno, and Alcyone.</ref><ref group=t>Electra is one of the septet of Pleiades sisters, and also of the septet of the complete extant plays by Sophocles. Until [[Randall]] tells us which he meant, both are possible.</ref>
|Maia
|'''Electra'''
|Taygete
|Alcyone
|Celaeno
|Sterope
|Merope
|-
!|''{{w|Sophocles|Complete Plays}}'' by Sophocles<ref group=t>ibid</ref>
|Ajax/Aias
|'''Electra'''
|Oedipus The King/Oedipus Rex/Oedipus Tyrannus
|Oedipus at Colonus
|Antigone
|The Trachinian Maidens/The Women of Trachis
|Philoctetes
|-
!|''{{w|The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People}}'' by Dr. Stephen R. Covey<ref group=t>These seven habits are clearly named in order as they are listed as Habit 1 through Habit 7.</ref>
|Be proactive
|Begin with the end in mind
|Put first things first
|Think win-win
|Seek first to understand and then to be understood
|'''Synergize'''
|Sharpen the saw
|-
!|In the {{w|Book of Revelation}} in the {{w|New Testament}} there are {{w|Seven seals}}<ref group=t>''The Seventh Seal'' is also the name of a movie released in 1957, which belongs to a '''lot''' of sets of seven -- see the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section.</ref>
|The First seal
|The Second seal
|The Third seal
|The Fourth seal
|The Fifth seal
|The Sixth seal
|'''The Seventh seal'''
|}

<references group=t />

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are talking.]
:Megan: Can you name all the dwarfs from Snow White?
:Cueball: Sure, there's, um...
:Cueball's thoughts: Sneezy, phylum, Europe, sloth, guacamole, data link, Colossus of Rhodes
:I have this problem where all sets of seven things are indistinguishable to me.

==Trivia==
*Arctic (no. 2 on the title text list) could also be a reference to {{w|Climate zones|climate zones}}: '''Arctic''', North Temperate, Northern Subtropical, Tropical, Southern Subtropical, South Temperate and Antarctic.
**There are however usually only five mentioned according to the {{w|Köppen climate classification}}. They are: Tropical, Dry, Temperate, Continental and Polar climate.
*Concerning the seven colours of the spectrum (no. 4 on the title text list) {{w|Indigo#Classification as a spectral color|indigo is stuck in}} by {{w|Isaac Newton}} to add up to the seven notes in the {{w|Scale (music)#Western music|Western musical scale}}.
**It should be noted that {{w|Indigo#Classification as a spectral color|Newton probably meant}} the colours {{w|cyan}} and {{w|blue}} as we think of it today, rather than blue and {{w|indigo}}.
**Also note that in a {{w|rainbow}} you usually {{w|Rainbow#Number of colours in spectrum or rainbow|cannot distinguish more than six colours}} with cyan melting in with green and blue and the same for indigo with blue and violet.
***{{w|Color term#Basic color terms|This is highly dependent on the language you speak.}} Russian, for example, has both sinij and goluboj to describe different blues that in English are both blue. Japanese, as another example, has blue and green together (kinda) in 青.
**These are also the traditional seven artists' pigments, {{w|Roy G. Biv|with the accompanying mnemonic "Roy G. Biv"}} (or the "Richard Of York..." counterpart mnemonic, for those indoctrinated by a different method). Indigo dye is a widely known and readily available colouring agent. The ongoing ubiquity of the ''pigment'' (think denim) gives it a unique prominence despite its uncertain status as a spectral colour.
*''The Seventh Seal'' (no. 7 on the title text list) could also refer to the 1957 film {{w|The Seventh Seal}} by Swedish director {{w|Ingmar Bergman}}. Indeed, we can put it in quite a few sets of seven.
**This was Bergman's seventh film with an English title beginning with the letter 'S' (ignoring articles). ''A Ship Bound for India'', ''Summer Interlude'', ''Secrets of Women'', ''Summer with Monika'', ''Sawdust and Tinsel'', ''Smiles of a Summer Night'', '''''The Seventh Seal'''''.
**Similary ''The Seventh Seal'' is also the seventh Bergman film whose Swedish title starts with 'S', although the list has some different members. ''Skepp till Indialand'', ''Sånt händer inte här'', ''Sommarlek'', ''Sommaren med Monika'', ''Sommarnattens leende'', ''Sista paret ut'', '''''Det sjunde inseglet'''''.
**''The Seventh Seal'' was also one of seven Bergman films submitted by Sweden for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film during the 1950s and 1960s. '''The Seventh Seal''', ''The Magician'', ''The Virgin Spring'', ''Through a Glass Darkly'', ''The Silence'', ''Persona'', ''Shame''.
**According to the Wikipedia page on {{w|The Seventh Seal|The Seventh Seal}}, the Jesuit publication America wrote, "It also began a series of seven films that explored the possibility of faith in a post-Holocaust, nuclear age. In 'The Virgin Spring' (1960), 'Through a Glass Darkly' (1961), 'Winter Light' (1962) and 'The Silence' (1963), he poses traditional faith questions in identifiably religious language. The characters struggle self-consciously with their inability to believe in God and form relationships with one another. In 'Wild Strawberries' (1957) and 'The Magician' (1958), the issues are veiled in layers of metaphor. The theological questions become apparent only by placing them in the context of the other films of the period. With 'The Silence' he concludes that God is unknowable, and the human person must simply continue life's journey seeking understanding and happiness however one can. At that point, [http://americamagazine.org/node/148305 God-questions drop out of his films altogether].
*One way to remember the names of the Seven Dwarfs from the Disney film is: three emotions (Happy, Bashful, Grumpy), two S's (Sleepy, Sneezy), two D's (Dopey, Doc). Cueball assumes that Megan is asking in the context of the Disney film, but other works have named the dwarfs differently; see {{w|Seven Dwarfs}}.
*Megan's question uses the plural '''dwarfs'''. Astronomers also refer to the plural of {{w|dwarf star}}s as "dwarfs". The word "dwarves" is used in {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}'s works, but has been seen as far back as [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000293.html the early 1800s].

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

1417: Seven

2015-09-21T16:58:29Z

173.245.50.154: /* Comic list */ Optional break &#8203;

{{comic
| number = 1417
| date = September 5, 2014
| title = Seven
| image = seven.png
| titletext = The days of the week are Monday, Arctic, Wellesley, Green, Electra, Synergize, and the Seventh Seal.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] (or perhaps [[Randall]]) says he can't distinguish between sets that have exactly seven objects. This leads him to exchange the items in the sets without noticing, to the point where, when attempting to list a single set, each item mentioned actually belongs to a different set.

This is shown in the comic when [[Megan]] asks Cueball to name the seven dwarfs from ''{{w|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}}'', a task some people might find difficult, although they would not just choose words from other sets of seven to fill in the gaps.

The title text reveals that even a trivial set of seven items, like the days of the week, also goes completely wrong.

The comic may be related to the {{w|Set-theoretic definition of natural numbers#Oldest definition|oldest set-theoretic definition of the natural numbers}}, in which for each natural number, an equivalence class is defined over all sets which contain the same number of items. As Cueball is known for [[:Category:Math|mathematical thinking]], he could be presumed to have taken the underlying equivalence relation to heart, and (over)applying it to real life, genuinely judging sets to be identical if they all contain N objects.

The number seven being the number for when sets become indistinguishable is possibly a reference to {{w|The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two|Miller's law}}; however, this law refers to elements ''within the same set'' becoming indistinguishable, rather than the indistinguishability of different sets of the same size - indeed, its original tests involved either distinguishing between the items, or repeating them back ''in the correct order''.

The number seven has culturally been {{w|7 (number)#Religion and mythology|regarded as a special, magical or holy number}}, which contributes to the large number of familiar sets of seven that make this comic possible. This proliferation of well-known sets of 7 items could be another reason why Randall chose to use the number {{w|seven}} in the comic.

In [[1554: Spice Girls]] the game continues with Cueball saying that it is now Megan's turn and then he asks her a similar question regarding the names of the Spice Girls. Her problem is then that she simply finds different sets of five and then just adds Spice behind each of the words of that set.

===Comic list===
For each of the seven lists below, the relevant item's traditional position within its own list of seven, according to Wikipedia, is '''not''' necessarily equal to its position on the list in the comic. For some lists the position is equal, but not for most. For instance Sneezy is traditionally never mentioned first amongst the dwarfs since the leader Doc normally comes first. But "phylum" is the second major taxonomic rank as is "phylum" the second item on the list in the comic.

The seven "dwarfs" mentioned and their relevant sets of seven are (items in the set are written in bold):
{| class="wikitable"
|
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
|-
!{{W|Seven Dwarfs#Disney Dwarfs|Disney's Dwarfs}} from ''{{w|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}}''<ref group=c>The order is taken from the page about the movie. But Sneezy is never no. 1, on the other page, which is listed alphabetically, he is no. 5.</ref>
|Doc
|Grumpy
|Happy
|Sleepy
|Bashful
|'''Sneezy'''
|Dopey
|-
!Major {{w|taxonomic ranks}}.<ref group=c>There are now actually 8 on this list as {{w|Domain (biology)|domain}} has been included as the first in the list in 1990. It is, however, still normal to only list the 7 ranks in the table.</ref>
|kingdom
|'''phylum'''
|class
|order
|family
|genus
|species
|-
!{{w|Continents}}<ref group=c>Continents are normally listed by size (as here in the table), in which case Europe is no. 6. Alphabetically it would be fifth. By population, Europe would actually be no. 3 (i.e. it would match the position in Cueball's list). But by population density, it is no. 2. In reality Europe is not even a continent in itself, as it is connected directly to Asia (and also Africa) and there are {{w|Continent#Number_of_continents|many reasons}} not to split the continents into seven...</ref>
|Asia
|Africa
|North America
|South America
|Antarctica
|'''Europe'''
|Australia
|-
!{{w|Seven deadly sins|Deadly sins}}<ref group=c>List as on Wikipedia.</ref>
|lust
|gluttony
|greed
|'''sloth'''
|wrath
|envy
|pride
|-
!{{w|Seven-layer dip|Seven Layer Dip (recipe)}}<ref group=c>The list on Wikipedia is not in the order the dip should be made. The order used above is from this [http://allrecipes.com/recipe/seven-layer-dip-i/ recipe].</ref>
|refried beans
|cheese
|ground beef
|sour cream
|'''guacamole'''
|salsa
|chopped black olives/tomatoes/green onions
|-
!|Layers of the {{w|OSI model}}<ref group=c>The order above is in reverse. The numbers given on Wikipedia is from 7 to 1 as they stand above. However when showing them in a table they begin with no. 7. So it can be discussed if this is the correct order or the reverse. Since Data link is no. 2, the reverse above becomes the "correct" no. 6.</ref>
|application
|presentation
|session
|transport
|network
|'''data link'''
|physical
|-
!|{{w|Wonders of the World#Seven Wonders of the Ancient World|Wonders of the Ancient World}}<ref group=c>List as on Wikipedia.</ref>
|Great Pyramid of Giza
|Hanging Gardens of Babylon
|Statue of Zeus at Olympia
|Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
|Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
|'''Colossus of Rhodes'''
|Lighthouse of Alexandria
|}

<references group=c />

===Title text list===
The title text extends this saying he also does the same with the set of the seven days of the week.

The sets Cueball's "days of the week" come from are:
{| class="wikitable"
|
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
|-
!{{w|Days of the week}}<ref group=t>In the US, the weekdays are usually mentioned with Sunday first, whereas the international {{w|ISO week date}} standard defines Monday as the first day of the week. Although Randall is from the US, he has previously expressed his preference for [[1179: ISO 8601|ISO 8601]] (among [[526: Converting to Metric|other international standards]]), so it's reasonable to assume he'd list the days of the week starting on Monday.</ref>
|'''Monday'''
|Tuesday
|Wednesday
|Thursday
|Friday
|Saturday
|Sunday
|-
!{{w|Seven Seas#Modern|The Seven Seas (modern version)}}<ref group=t>There are many ways to lists 7 named bodies of water. The one used in the table uses the order from the Wikipedia article on the modern version, from the largest to the smallest of the seven. But at the top of the article on the {{w|Seven Seas}} another set of oceans are used. Here the two largest bodies of water (Pacific and Atlantic) are split in a north and a south part, and the Southern (or Antarctic) Ocean is included. They then displace the three smallest bodies of water mentioned in the table above. If that list is sorted in alphabetic order, using the name Antarctic Ocean instead of Southern Ocean, then "Arctic" would come second: Antarctic, '''Arctic''', Indian, North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Atlantic and South Pacific. "Arctic" could also be a reference to {{w|Climate zones}} - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]]. It could not, however, be a reference to {{w|Continents}}, because the Arctic is not a continent {{w|Continent#Number of continents|regardless of how they're counted}}.</ref>
|The Pacific Ocean
|The Atlantic Ocean
|The Indian Ocean
|The '''Arctic''' Ocean
|The Mediterranean Sea
|The Caribbean Sea
|The Gulf of Mexico.
|-
!{{w|Seven Sisters (colleges)|Seven Sisters}}, historically women's colleges in U.S.<ref group=t>List as on Wikipedia.</ref>
|Mount Holyoke
|Vassar
|'''Wellesley'''
|Smith
|Radcliffe
|Bryn Mawr
|Barnard
|-
!Traditional {{w|spectral color}}s<ref group=t>On the list on Wikipedia there are only six colors but Indigo was used to get to seven colors by Newton - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]].</ref>
|Red
|Orange
|Yellow
|'''Green'''
|Blue
|Indigo
|Violet
|-
!{{w|Pleiades (Greek mythology)|Pleiades}}, Seven Sisters, nymphs and daughters of Atlas and Pleone in Greek mythology<ref group=t>List as on Wikipedia, with the oldest first and the youngest last (it's unclear whether the ones in the middle are also listed by age). In any case, only in reverse alphabetical order Electra would be no. 5: Taygete, Sterope, Merope, Maia, '''Electra''', Celaeno, and Alcyone.</ref><ref group=t>Electra is one of the septet of Pleiades sisters, and also of the septet of the complete extant plays by Sophocles. Until [[Randall]] tells us which he meant, both are possible.</ref>
|Maia
|'''Electra'''
|Taygete
|Alcyone
|Celaeno
|Sterope
|Merope
|-
!|''{{w|Sophocles|Complete Plays}}'' by Sophocles<ref group=t>ibid</ref>
|Ajax/Aias
|'''Electra'''
|Oedipus The King/Rex/Tyrannus
|Oedipus at Colonus
|Antigone
|The Trachinian Maidens/The Women of Trachis
|Philoctetes
|-
!|''{{w|The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People}}'' by Dr. Stephen R. Covey<ref group=t>These seven habits are clearly named in order as they are listed as Habit 1 through Habit 7.</ref>
|Be proactive
|Begin with the end in mind
|Put first things first
|Think win-win
|Seek first to understand and then to be understood
|'''Synergize'''
|Sharpen the saw
|-
!|In the {{w|Book of Revelation}} in the {{w|New Testament}} there are {{w|Seven seals}}<ref group=t>''The Seventh Seal'' is also the name of a movie released in 1957, which belongs to a '''lot''' of sets of seven -- see the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section.</ref>
|The First seal
|The Second seal
|The Third seal
|The Fourth seal
|The Fifth seal
|The Sixth seal
|'''The Seventh seal'''
|}

<references group=t />

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are talking.]
:Megan: Can you name all the dwarfs from Snow White?
:Cueball: Sure, there's, um...
:Cueball's thoughts: Sneezy, phylum, Europe, sloth, guacamole, data link, Colossus of Rhodes
:I have this problem where all sets of seven things are indistinguishable to me.

==Trivia==
*Arctic (no. 2 on the title text list) could also be a reference to {{w|Climate zones|climate zones}}: '''Arctic''', North Temperate, Northern Subtropical, Tropical, Southern Subtropical, South Temperate and Antarctic.
**There are however usually only five mentioned according to the {{w|Köppen climate classification}}. They are: Tropical, Dry, Temperate, Continental and Polar climate.
*Concerning the seven colours of the spectrum (no. 4 on the title text list) {{w|Indigo#Classification as a spectral color|indigo is stuck in}} by {{w|Isaac Newton}} to add up to the seven notes in the {{w|Scale (music)#Western music|Western musical scale}}.
**It should be noted that {{w|Indigo#Classification as a spectral color|Newton probably meant}} the colours {{w|cyan}} and {{w|blue}} as we think of it today, rather than blue and {{w|indigo}}.
**Also note that in a {{w|rainbow}} you usually {{w|Rainbow#Number of colours in spectrum or rainbow|cannot distinguish more than six colours}} with cyan melting in with green and blue and the same for indigo with blue and violet.
***{{w|Color term#Basic color terms|This is highly dependent on the language you speak.}} Russian, for example, has both sinij and goluboj to describe different blues that in English are both blue. Japanese, as another example, has blue and green together (kinda) in 青.
**These are also the traditional seven artists' pigments, {{w|Roy G. Biv|with the accompanying mnemonic "Roy G. Biv"}} (or the "Richard Of York..." counterpart mnemonic, for those indoctrinated by a different method). Indigo dye is a widely known and readily available colouring agent. The ongoing ubiquity of the ''pigment'' (think denim) gives it a unique prominence despite its uncertain status as a spectral colour.
*''The Seventh Seal'' (no. 7 on the title text list) could also refer to the 1957 film {{w|The Seventh Seal}} by Swedish director {{w|Ingmar Bergman}}. Indeed, we can put it in quite a few sets of seven.
**This was Bergman's seventh film with an English title beginning with the letter 'S' (ignoring articles). ''A Ship Bound for India'', ''Summer Interlude'', ''Secrets of Women'', ''Summer with Monika'', ''Sawdust and Tinsel'', ''Smiles of a Summer Night'', '''''The Seventh Seal'''''.
**Similary ''The Seventh Seal'' is also the seventh Bergman film whose Swedish title starts with 'S', although the list has some different members. ''Skepp till Indialand'', ''Sånt händer inte här'', ''Sommarlek'', ''Sommaren med Monika'', ''Sommarnattens leende'', ''Sista paret ut'', '''''Det sjunde inseglet'''''.
**''The Seventh Seal'' was also one of seven Bergman films submitted by Sweden for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film during the 1950s and 1960s. '''The Seventh Seal''', ''The Magician'', ''The Virgin Spring'', ''Through a Glass Darkly'', ''The Silence'', ''Persona'', ''Shame''.
**According to the Wikipedia page on {{w|The Seventh Seal|The Seventh Seal}}, the Jesuit publication America wrote, "It also began a series of seven films that explored the possibility of faith in a post-Holocaust, nuclear age. In 'The Virgin Spring' (1960), 'Through a Glass Darkly' (1961), 'Winter Light' (1962) and 'The Silence' (1963), he poses traditional faith questions in identifiably religious language. The characters struggle self-consciously with their inability to believe in God and form relationships with one another. In 'Wild Strawberries' (1957) and 'The Magician' (1958), the issues are veiled in layers of metaphor. The theological questions become apparent only by placing them in the context of the other films of the period. With 'The Silence' he concludes that God is unknowable, and the human person must simply continue life's journey seeking understanding and happiness however one can. At that point, [http://americamagazine.org/node/148305 God-questions drop out of his films altogether].
*One way to remember the names of the Seven Dwarfs from the Disney film is: three emotions (Happy, Bashful, Grumpy), two S's (Sleepy, Sneezy), two D's (Dopey, Doc). Cueball assumes that Megan is asking in the context of the Disney film, but other works have named the dwarfs differently; see {{w|Seven Dwarfs}}.
*Megan's question uses the plural '''dwarfs'''. Astronomers also refer to the plural of {{w|dwarf star}}s as "dwarfs". The word "dwarves" is used in {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}'s works, but has been seen as far back as [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000293.html the early 1800s].

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

1417: Seven

2015-09-21T16:55:38Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ typo

{{comic
| number = 1417
| date = September 5, 2014
| title = Seven
| image = seven.png
| titletext = The days of the week are Monday, Arctic, Wellesley, Green, Electra, Synergize, and the Seventh Seal.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] (or perhaps [[Randall]]) says he can't distinguish between sets that have exactly seven objects. This leads him to exchange the items in the sets without noticing, to the point where, when attempting to list a single set, each item mentioned actually belongs to a different set.

This is shown in the comic when [[Megan]] asks Cueball to name the seven dwarfs from ''{{w|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}}'', a task some people might find difficult, although they would not just choose words from other sets of seven to fill in the gaps.

The title text reveals that even a trivial set of seven items, like the days of the week, also goes completely wrong.

The comic may be related to the {{w|Set-theoretic definition of natural numbers#Oldest definition|oldest set-theoretic definition of the natural numbers}}, in which for each natural number, an equivalence class is defined over all sets which contain the same number of items. As Cueball is known for [[:Category:Math|mathematical thinking]], he could be presumed to have taken the underlying equivalence relation to heart, and (over)applying it to real life, genuinely judging sets to be identical if they all contain N objects.

The number seven being the number for when sets become indistinguishable is possibly a reference to {{w|The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two|Miller's law}}; however, this law refers to elements ''within the same set'' becoming indistinguishable, rather than the indistinguishability of different sets of the same size - indeed, its original tests involved either distinguishing between the items, or repeating them back ''in the correct order''.

The number seven has culturally been {{w|7 (number)#Religion and mythology|regarded as a special, magical or holy number}}, which contributes to the large number of familiar sets of seven that make this comic possible. This proliferation of well-known sets of 7 items could be another reason why Randall chose to use the number {{w|seven}} in the comic.

In [[1554: Spice Girls]] the game continues with Cueball saying that it is now Megan's turn and then he asks her a similar question regarding the names of the Spice Girls. Her problem is then that she simply finds different sets of five and then just adds Spice behind each of the words of that set.

===Comic list===
For each of the seven lists below, the relevant item's traditional position within its own list of seven, according to Wikipedia, is '''not''' necessarily equal to its position on the list in the comic. For some lists the position is equal, but not for most. For instance Sneezy is traditionally never mentioned first amongst the dwarfs since the leader Doc normally comes first. But "phylum" is the second major taxonomic rank as is "phylum" the second item on the list in the comic.

The seven "dwarfs" mentioned and their relevant sets of seven are (items in the set are written in bold):
{| class="wikitable"
|
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
|-
!{{W|Seven Dwarfs#Disney Dwarfs|Disney's Dwarfs}} from ''{{w|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}}''<ref group=c>The order is taken from the page about the movie. But Sneezy is never no. 1, on the other page, which is listed alphabetically, he is no. 5.</ref>
|Doc
|Grumpy
|Happy
|Sleepy
|Bashful
|'''Sneezy'''
|Dopey
|-
!Major {{w|taxonomic ranks}}.<ref group=c>There are now actually 8 on this list as {{w|Domain (biology)|domain}} has been included as the first in the list in 1990. It is, however, still normal to only list the 7 ranks in the table.</ref>
|kingdom
|'''phylum'''
|class
|order
|family
|genus
|species
|-
!{{w|Continents}}<ref group=c>Continents are normally listed by size (as here in the table), in which case Europe is no. 6. Alphabetically it would be fifth. By population, Europe would actually be no. 3 (i.e. it would match the position in Cueball's list). But by population density, it is no. 2. In reality Europe is not even a continent in itself, as it is connected directly to Asia (and also Africa) and there are {{w|Continent#Number_of_continents|many reasons}} not to split the continents into seven...</ref>
|Asia
|Africa
|North America
|South America
|Antarctica
|'''Europe'''
|Australia
|-
!{{w|Seven deadly sins|Deadly sins}}<ref group=c>List as on Wikipedia.</ref>
|lust
|gluttony
|greed
|'''sloth'''
|wrath
|envy
|pride
|-
!{{w|Seven-layer dip|Seven Layer Dip (recipe)}}<ref group=c>The list on Wikipedia is not in the order the dip should be made. The order used above is from this [http://allrecipes.com/recipe/seven-layer-dip-i/ recipe].</ref>
|refried beans
|cheese
|ground beef
|sour cream
|'''guacamole'''
|salsa
|chopped black olives/tomatoes/green onions
|-
!|Layers of the {{w|OSI model}}<ref group=c>The order above is in reverse. The numbers given on Wikipedia is from 7 to 1 as they stand above. However when showing them in a table they begin with no. 7. So it can be discussed if this is the correct order or the reverse. Since Data link is no. 2, the reverse above becomes the "correct" no. 6.</ref>
|application
|presentation
|session
|transport
|network
|'''data link'''
|physical
|-
!|{{w|Wonders of the World#Seven Wonders of the Ancient World|Wonders of the Ancient World}}<ref group=c>List as on Wikipedia.</ref>
|Great Pyramid of Giza
|Hanging Gardens of Babylon
|Statue of Zeus at Olympia
|Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
|Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
|'''Colossus of Rhodes'''
|Lighthouse of Alexandria
|}

<references group=c />

===Title text list===
The title text extends this saying he also does the same with the set of the seven days of the week.

The sets Cueball's "days of the week" come from are:
{| class="wikitable"
|
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
|-
!{{w|Days of the week}}<ref group=t>In the US, the weekdays are usually mentioned with Sunday first, whereas the international {{w|ISO week date}} standard defines Monday as the first day of the week. Although Randall is from the US, he has previously expressed his preference for [[1179: ISO 8601|ISO 8601]] (among [[526: Converting to Metric|other international standards]]), so it's reasonable to assume he'd list the days of the week starting on Monday.</ref>
|'''Monday'''
|Tuesday
|Wednesday
|Thursday
|Friday
|Saturday
|Sunday
|-
!{{w|Seven Seas#Modern|The Seven Seas (modern version)}}<ref group=t>There are many ways to lists 7 named bodies of water. The one used in the table uses the order from the Wikipedia article on the modern version, from the largest to the smallest of the seven. But at the top of the article on the {{w|Seven Seas}} another set of oceans are used. Here the two largest bodies of water (Pacific and Atlantic) are split in a north and a south part, and the Southern (or Antarctic) Ocean is included. They then displace the three smallest bodies of water mentioned in the table above. If that list is sorted in alphabetic order, using the name Antarctic Ocean instead of Southern Ocean, then "Arctic" would come second: Antarctic, '''Arctic''', Indian, North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Atlantic and South Pacific. "Arctic" could also be a reference to {{w|Climate zones}} - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]]. It could not, however, be a reference to {{w|Continents}}, because the Arctic is not a continent {{w|Continent#Number of continents|regardless of how they're counted}}.</ref>
|The Pacific Ocean
|The Atlantic Ocean
|The Indian Ocean
|The '''Arctic''' Ocean
|The Mediterranean Sea
|The Caribbean Sea
|The Gulf of Mexico.
|-
!{{w|Seven Sisters (colleges)|Seven Sisters}}, historically women's colleges in U.S.<ref group=t>List as on Wikipedia.</ref>
|Mount Holyoke
|Vassar
|'''Wellesley'''
|Smith
|Radcliffe
|Bryn Mawr
|Barnard
|-
!Traditional {{w|spectral color}}s<ref group=t>On the list on Wikipedia there are only six colors but Indigo was used to get to seven colors by Newton - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]].</ref>
|Red
|Orange
|Yellow
|'''Green'''
|Blue
|Indigo
|Violet
|-
!{{w|Pleiades (Greek mythology)|Pleiades}}, Seven Sisters, nymphs and daughters of Atlas and Pleone in Greek mythology<ref group=t>List as on Wikipedia, with the oldest first and the youngest last (it's unclear whether the ones in the middle are also listed by age). In any case, only in reverse alphabetical order Electra would be no. 5: Taygete, Sterope, Merope, Maia, '''Electra''', Celaeno, and Alcyone.</ref><ref group=t>Electra is one of the septet of Pleiades sisters, and also of the septet of the complete extant plays by Sophocles. Until [[Randall]] tells us which he meant, both are possible.</ref>
|Maia
|'''Electra'''
|Taygete
|Alcyone
|Celaeno
|Sterope
|Merope
|-
!|''{{w|Sophocles|Complete Plays}}'' by Sophocles<ref group=t>ibid</ref>
|Ajax/Aias
|'''Electra'''
|Oedipus The King/Rex/Tyrannus
|Oedipus at Colonus
|Antigone
|The Trachinian Maidens/The Women of Trachis
|Philoctetes
|-
!|''{{w|The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People}}'' by Dr. Stephen R. Covey<ref group=t>These seven habits are clearly named in order as they are listed as Habit 1 through Habit 7.</ref>
|Be proactive
|Begin with the end in mind
|Put first things first
|Think win-win
|Seek first to understand and then to be understood
|'''Synergize'''
|Sharpen the saw
|-
!|In the {{w|Book of Revelation}} in the {{w|New Testament}} there are {{w|Seven seals}}<ref group=t>''The Seventh Seal'' is also the name of a movie released in 1957, which belongs to a '''lot''' of sets of seven -- see the [[#Trivia|Trivia]] section.</ref>
|The First seal
|The Second seal
|The Third seal
|The Fourth seal
|The Fifth seal
|The Sixth seal
|'''The Seventh seal'''
|}

<references group=t />

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are talking.]
:Megan: Can you name all the dwarfs from Snow White?
:Cueball: Sure, there's, um...
:Cueball's thoughts: Sneezy, phylum, Europe, sloth, guacamole, data link, Colossus of Rhodes
:I have this problem where all sets of seven things are indistinguishable to me.

==Trivia==
*Arctic (no. 2 on the title text list) could also be a reference to {{w|Climate zones|climate zones}}: '''Arctic''', North Temperate, Northern Subtropical, Tropical, Southern Subtropical, South Temperate and Antarctic.
**There are however usually only five mentioned according to the {{w|Köppen climate classification}}. They are: Tropical, Dry, Temperate, Continental and Polar climate.
*Concerning the seven colours of the spectrum (no. 4 on the title text list) {{w|Indigo#Classification as a spectral color|indigo is stuck in}} by {{w|Isaac Newton}} to add up to the seven notes in the {{w|Scale (music)#Western music|Western musical scale}}.
**It should be noted that {{w|Indigo#Classification as a spectral color|Newton probably meant}} the colours {{w|cyan}} and {{w|blue}} as we think of it today, rather than blue and {{w|indigo}}.
**Also note that in a {{w|rainbow}} you usually {{w|Rainbow#Number of colours in spectrum or rainbow|cannot distinguish more than six colours}} with cyan melting in with green and blue and the same for indigo with blue and violet.
***{{w|Color term#Basic color terms|This is highly dependent on the language you speak.}} Russian, for example, has both sinij and goluboj to describe different blues that in English are both blue. Japanese, as another example, has blue and green together (kinda) in 青.
**These are also the traditional seven artists' pigments, {{w|Roy G. Biv|with the accompanying mnemonic "Roy G. Biv"}} (or the "Richard Of York..." counterpart mnemonic, for those indoctrinated by a different method). Indigo dye is a widely known and readily available colouring agent. The ongoing ubiquity of the ''pigment'' (think denim) gives it a unique prominence despite its uncertain status as a spectral colour.
*''The Seventh Seal'' (no. 7 on the title text list) could also refer to the 1957 film {{w|The Seventh Seal}} by Swedish director {{w|Ingmar Bergman}}. Indeed, we can put it in quite a few sets of seven.
**This was Bergman's seventh film with an English title beginning with the letter 'S' (ignoring articles). ''A Ship Bound for India'', ''Summer Interlude'', ''Secrets of Women'', ''Summer with Monika'', ''Sawdust and Tinsel'', ''Smiles of a Summer Night'', '''''The Seventh Seal'''''.
**Similary ''The Seventh Seal'' is also the seventh Bergman film whose Swedish title starts with 'S', although the list has some different members. ''Skepp till Indialand'', ''Sånt händer inte här'', ''Sommarlek'', ''Sommaren med Monika'', ''Sommarnattens leende'', ''Sista paret ut'', '''''Det sjunde inseglet'''''.
**''The Seventh Seal'' was also one of seven Bergman films submitted by Sweden for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film during the 1950s and 1960s. '''The Seventh Seal''', ''The Magician'', ''The Virgin Spring'', ''Through a Glass Darkly'', ''The Silence'', ''Persona'', ''Shame''.
**According to the Wikipedia page on {{w|The Seventh Seal|The Seventh Seal}}, the Jesuit publication America wrote, "It also began a series of seven films that explored the possibility of faith in a post-Holocaust, nuclear age. In 'The Virgin Spring' (1960), 'Through a Glass Darkly' (1961), 'Winter Light' (1962) and 'The Silence' (1963), he poses traditional faith questions in identifiably religious language. The characters struggle self-consciously with their inability to believe in God and form relationships with one another. In 'Wild Strawberries' (1957) and 'The Magician' (1958), the issues are veiled in layers of metaphor. The theological questions become apparent only by placing them in the context of the other films of the period. With 'The Silence' he concludes that God is unknowable, and the human person must simply continue life's journey seeking understanding and happiness however one can. At that point, [http://americamagazine.org/node/148305 God-questions drop out of his films altogether].
*One way to remember the names of the Seven Dwarfs from the Disney film is: three emotions (Happy, Bashful, Grumpy), two S's (Sleepy, Sneezy), two D's (Dopey, Doc). Cueball assumes that Megan is asking in the context of the Disney film, but other works have named the dwarfs differently; see {{w|Seven Dwarfs}}.
*Megan's question uses the plural '''dwarfs'''. Astronomers also refer to the plural of {{w|dwarf star}}s as "dwarfs". The word "dwarves" is used in {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}'s works, but has been seen as far back as [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000293.html the early 1800s].

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

1579: Tech Loops

2015-09-21T13:42:31Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */

Talk:1579: Tech Loops

2015-09-21T13:40:47Z

173.245.50.154:

RANDALL, WHY DID YOU GIVE ME AN EXISTENIAL CRISIS?! [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.113|173.245.54.113]] 10:49, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

There are only three loops; "Awful hack from 2009" and "IRC for some reason" forms one, "Tool" → "Updater" → "Library" → "Tool" is the second, and there's a long one from "Awful hack from 2009" → "Library" → "Library" → "Custom settings" → "Library" → "Hardware workaround" → "Awful hack from 2009". Any other path not from "DLL needed by something" ends at "Repository". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.193|108.162.237.193]] 04:35, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

: I think the fact that "Repository" ends to be a sink (only entering connections) is a mistake - all other have at least one entry and at least one exit --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:24, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

:: No, I think that makes sense. A repository is where something is stored. If it's in use by something, it's not a repository. Of course, I'm thinking that repository means something like "USB Hard Drive", so I might be wrong. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.187|108.162.249.187]] 09:12, 18 September 2015 (UTC)
::: I agree to this. A repository is a perfect location for "dumping" things where they never come back [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 09:31, 18 September 2015 (UTC)
:::: I interpreted it to mean that the repository hosts the things it is dependent on, using the things it is dependent on, making the loop conceptual. The code that is hosted in the repository is only ultimately required because of the need for the repository to host thing code that the repository runs on. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.187|141.101.98.187]] 11:19, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

Doesn't Buddha sais "The Path is the Goal"? Just because what you are doing is on path which seems to go nowhere doesn't mean the path is not worth it. Did you saw any tourist complaining that the trek he's on is supposed to end on the same place it started? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:07, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

Does it bother anyone else that he wrote "soley" or am I missing something? {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.40}}
:It also bothers John and Nancy, but it doesn't bother me because he was obviously talking about doing it by means of a fish.[[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]])
:::The image is corrected [http://www.xkcd.com/1579/]. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 13:40, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

When I see this comic I think its less about "how tech people find complicated solutions to things" and more about how as time goes on they end up with increasingly complex workarounds to get old stuff to work. Like in https://xkcd.com/1305/ they wanted to use the chat group, but for that they needed the VM, but according to this comic they need hardware workaround for that, which needs a library to work, which needs custom settings, which needs a library, etc.... Thoughts? {{unsigned|Pyrolo}}

I don't get the current "explanation" at all which goes off on a seemingly off-topic tangent on Android programming (not to mention that I don't agree that gps-based apps to find nearby gas stations are the typical introductory apps source code one might find.)
From the design of the xkcd panel, it's obviously targeted at a Windows desktop computer rather than Android, given the mention of DLLs. You could trivially substitute DLL by "shared library" (aka ".so") and make it a Linux or other Unix-compatible system, which combined with Windows would cover 99.99% of existing desktop systems. And of course a reference to [https://xkcd.com/349/ 349] shall be made when it comes to hardware workarounds.
Given this context, the comic is more about how much of the time one might spend on a computer as a geek tends to be in maintaining the system itself rather using it, up to the point where maintaining the system becomes the main goal. Most people consider computers as tools to achieve something else -- e.g. to write a book or balance their bank account; however here Randall is using his computer just for the sake of maintaining the OS or the hardware on said computer. It's tools for the sake of tooling, rather than tools as helpers to build something else. If somebody knows how to express that more fluently, please do so.
:A hardware equivalent would be reprap: get a 3d printer and end up spending all the time printing 3d parts for the printer instead of creating something else like toys or art.
:I've modified the explanation with a variation of this; I've left the original explanation in place since maybe there's some value in it. Please edit as you see fit. [[User:Ralfoide|Ralfoide]] ([[User talk:Ralfoide|talk]]) 14:53, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

A great deal of all that we do, as individuals, and as a society, directly or indirectly maintains our ability to do so.
Such a tiny sliver of our lives is "unproductive", but that's literally the only reason we do any of the "productive" parts of life.
The only things really worth doing are the things there is no real reason for doing.
Does that make sense?
[[User:Benjaminikuta|Benjaminikuta]] ([[User talk:Benjaminikuta|talk]]) 18:07, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

In a broader sense, one might even say that the basic human desire to socialise is evolutionarily advantageous, serving the purpose of continuing the species. In that broad sense, everything that we do is merely "maintaining a huge chain of technology solely to support itself". Reminds me of https://xkcd.com/59/. It's easy to forget why we do things in life. [[User:Benjaminikuta|Benjaminikuta]] ([[User talk:Benjaminikuta|talk]]) 18:14, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

Forget about official "tech people," even godforsaken ordinary users spend way too much time wrestling with this stuff. I myself always quail when I see a .dll in the distance. It has never ended well for me.[[User:NoniMausa|NoniMausa]] ([[User talk:NoniMausa|talk]]) 01:08, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Sometimes you eat too much dogfood. If you write a toolkit, and then find you need to write a buildsystem (or other infrastructure) and at some point find your buildsystem using the toolkit, you are probably doing something wrong. Note the exception of writing an IDE in your toolkit, for your toolkit, is not only okay, it is doing it wring.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.235|162.158.90.235]] 10:45, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

I'm the author of the original explanation (that about Android things). It looked good to me at that time (mostly justified by the "things I actually want to do with my computer" bit), however the "new" explanation by Ralfoide looks much better now, so probably mine should be just deleted (I'm not doing just that right now because I lack the time to search for useful bits to keep, if any). By the way, the Android story actually happened to a friend of mine just as told. :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.183|108.162.229.183]] 21:54, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

This is me again from another IP. I changed the wording of my original explanation and changed the Android stuff to a reference to comic 949. Now I feel like the first explanation was awfully worded and this one says about the same thing but fits much better. Or something [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.236|108.162.229.236]] 10:21, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

The current explanation is wrong. The joke is that there are a lot of running components in Randall's computer (services, daemons, applications...) whose only purpose is to enable the execution of the other components in the loop. In other words, performing busywork, which is a waste of computer resources. The chain probably started when Randall wanted to test a new software in Linux, that is known to have a nightmarish package system based on dependencies, so he had to install a lot of libraries and perform some ugly hacks to get the software working, which in turn required other packages to be installed and tweaked. At one point, one of the packages or hacks had a circular dependency with the original software and created a loop. By then, Randall had already forgotten why he wanted to use that software in the first place, and now he only uses it to keep the rest of the loop running. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.108|141.101.99.108]] 10:41, 21 September 2015 (UTC)
: The footer begins "Every now and then", so this is not about a single event. Also, the "DLL" part does not match this being Linux-specific. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.236|108.162.229.236]] 11:23, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

1579: Tech Loops

2015-09-21T13:39:24Z

173.245.50.154: /* Transcript */ Every now and then I realize I'm maintaining a huge chain of technology solely for the purpose to support itsel

Talk:1580: Travel Ghost

2015-09-21T13:36:44Z

173.245.50.154:

Racing Ghosts is a refference to Mario Kart [[User:ẞ qwertz|ẞ qwertz]] ([[User talk:ẞ qwertz|talk]]) 12:50, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

: This seems like a bit of a stretch to me. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.118|173.245.55.118]] 13:35, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

So in the title text, is he being replaced with the ghost who always *ahem* comes last? --[[User:SaturNine|SaturNine]] ([[User talk:SaturNine|talk]]) 12:53, 21 September 2015 (UTC)
:I agree. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 13:36, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

1580: Travel Ghost

2015-09-21T13:35:54Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ &mdash;

{{comic
| number = 1580
| date = September 21, 2015
| title = Travel Ghost
| image = travel_ghosts.png
| titletext = And a different ghost has replaced me in the bedroom.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|rough draft}}
It is true that many applications--for instance [http://maps.google.com Google Maps] allow one to plan routes from point A to B. It is also true that such applications do occasionally fail to produce an ideal route, be it due to construction, traffic, or simple error.

Here, [[Cueball]] has designed an app that sends actual copies of himself ("ghosts") along different routes to his destination with the hope of being able to find the route that is actually the shortest and easiest. His plan goes awry since these ghosts—at least one of which—will take a better route, thus arriving there before he himself does. Soon enough, he is fired from work because one of his "ghosts" always reaches work before he does. Even his family apparently comes to prefer the more punctual "ghosts" over him, with strange results.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, holding a smartphone, is talking to White Hat]
:Cueball: Lots of apps let you plan your trips using real-time bus, train, and traffic data. They try to predict which route will be faster, but aren't always right.

:[Cueball continues to talk off-panel. The text is above a map showing three possible routes with an overlaid Cueball on each; the top and the bottom route and Cueball are faded and the middle is black up until the black Cueball. After that this route is also faded. A black point on the right indicates the destination.]
:Cueball (off-panel): Instead of just '''''planning''''', my new app lets you send "ghost" versions of you along different routes, simulating their travel using the real-time data

:[Cueball, again talking to White Hat, holding the smartphone down].
:Cueball: That way, you can see which route turned out to be faster in practice,
:Cueball: You can also race your past selves.

:[Cueball is getting out of his car holding his smartphone in one hand and a briefcase in the other; A faded out Cueball bicyclist is in front of him to the right. At the top there is a caption in a frame:
:Soon...
Cueball: Ugh, lost to the bike ghost ''again.''

:[Cueball with his briefcase is outside a door, holding a key card up to a key reader. On the inside of the door Ponytail is facing the door and points toward the faded version of Cueball also holding a briefcase.]
:Cueball: Hey, my key won't work
:Ponytail: I'm sorry, but we've decided to replace you. This floaty guy is much more punctual."

:[Two small girls, one with a hair bun the other with wavy long hair, is holding faded out Cueball's hands. The real Cueball is standing to the right, next to his briefcase on the ground. He is holding his hands out towards his kids.]
:Little girl with hair-bun: Our ''new'' dad never misses our games!
:Cueball: ''Nooo!''

{{comic discussion}}

949: File Transfer

2015-09-21T13:16:47Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ &nbsp;

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

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

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

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

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

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

{{w|Dropbox (service)|Dropbox}} is a program with a web-based GUI that automates file sharing between two computers on the internet, . But this solution also has its issues, as it requires that at least the sending party has a Dropbox account. Installing Dropbox software is not actually required, since Dropbox also provides a web interface for uploading and downloading files.

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

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

{{w|Tim Berners-Lee}} is considered to be the inventor of the World Wide Web. In the title text, [[Randall]] implies that he would be disturbed by the need today to use two separate protocols (smtp for sending the file as an email attachment and http for retrieving the file from the mail server web interface) to perform a third, unrelated, obvious function such as file transfer.

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

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

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

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

1579: Tech Loops

2015-09-21T13:14:01Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ —

1579: Tech Loops

2015-09-21T13:10:24Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ View history, not View page

1577: Advent

2015-09-15T14:32:53Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ Any dictionary says that a dozen may be an approximate number, not exactly 12.

{{comic
| number = 1577
| date = September 14, 2015
| title = Advent
| image = advent.png
| titletext = The few dozen doors that have little Christmas trees on them are a nice touch.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|first drafts}}
An {{w|Advent calendar}} is usually a means of celebrating the days before Christmas. Each day on the calendar is represented by a "door" (a flap of card), behind which is usually a picture related to the Christian nativity, a picture of commercial Christmas (eg a present), a small chocolate, or a small gift. This comic satirizes the concept by proposing such a calendar that would have one gift for each day one is anticipated to live. Such a calendar would be very morbid and existential. This is especially disturbing when given as a gift because it implies someone has put extensive thought into when the recipient will die.

In [[Cueball|Cueball's]] case, assuming each square in the calendar represents one day, the wall he is facing is the entire present he received and the boxes just out of view follow the same pattern, the entire wall represents 16,800 days (a large grid of 12x20 smaller grids of 10x7 boxes: 12×20×10×7 = 16,800), i.e. just under 46 more years (16,800/365.25 = 45.99589).

Assuming that Cueball is a male from the US, and according to American Official Social Security [http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html Actuarial Life Table] for males, he is probably 31.9 years old [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=32*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.9%3B+31*x+%2B+y+%3D+46.83%3B+z*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.99589]. This would make [[Cueball]] almost exactly one year older than [[Randall]], who was born October 17, 1984 making him 30.9 years old when he wrote this comic.

The title text refers back to a standard advent calendar by saying that the Christmases are specially marked; on a traditional Advent calendar, only the 1st to the 24th of December have doors, however in recent times, Advent calendars often also include an additional door for the day after Advent, Christmas Day. A few dozen may be any small number, and 3.833 dozens (46) is aptly described by ''a few dozen''; see [[1070: Words for Small Sets]]. Any dictionary (for example [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/dozen Oxford Learner's Dictionaries]) says that a dozen may be an approximate number, not exactly 12.

A completely different advent calendar was mentioned in [[994: Advent Calendar]].

Similar calendars have been mentioned in the blog ''Wait But Why'' in the 2014 post [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Your Life in Weeks], and in equally geeky webcomic ''Abstruse Goose'', in the 2008 post [http://abstrusegoose.com/51 936 Little Blobs].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is looking at a large wall subdivided into a rectangular 20 x 12 grid, with each grid subdivided into 10x7 small drawers. Below the frame there is caption:]
:Unsettling gift: Life expectancy Advent calendar

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Time]]

1577: Advent

2015-09-15T14:29:02Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ 4 is a few, no doubt about that. 3.83 more so.

{{comic
| number = 1577
| date = September 14, 2015
| title = Advent
| image = advent.png
| titletext = The few dozen doors that have little Christmas trees on them are a nice touch.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|first drafts}}
An {{w|Advent calendar}} is usually a means of celebrating the days before Christmas. Each day on the calendar is represented by a "door" (a flap of card), behind which is usually a picture related to the Christian nativity, a picture of commercial Christmas (eg a present), a small chocolate, or a small gift. This comic satirizes the concept by proposing such a calendar that would have one gift for each day one is anticipated to live. Such a calendar would be very morbid and existential. This is especially disturbing when given as a gift because it implies someone has put extensive thought into when the recipient will die.

In [[Cueball|Cueball's]] case, assuming each square in the calendar represents one day, the wall he is facing is the entire present he received and the boxes just out of view follow the same pattern, the entire wall represents 16,800 days (a large grid of 12x20 smaller grids of 10x7 boxes: 12×20×10×7 = 16,800), i.e. just under 46 more years (16,800/365.25 = 45.99589).

Assuming that Cueball is a male from the US, and according to American Official Social Security [http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html Actuarial Life Table] for males, he is probably 31.9 years old [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=32*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.9%3B+31*x+%2B+y+%3D+46.83%3B+z*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.99589]. This would make [[Cueball]] almost exactly one year older than [[Randall]], who was born October 17, 1984 making him 30.9 years old when he wrote this comic.

The title text refers back to a standard advent calendar by saying that the Christmases are specially marked; on a traditional Advent calendar, only the 1st to the 24th of December have doors, however in recent times, Advent calendars often also include an additional door for the day after Advent, Christmas Day. A few dozen may be any small number, and 3.833 dozens (46) is aptly described by ''a few dozen''; see [[1070: Words for Small Sets]].

A completely different advent calendar was mentioned in [[994: Advent Calendar]].

Similar calendars have been mentioned in the blog ''Wait But Why'' in the 2014 post [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Your Life in Weeks], and in equally geeky webcomic ''Abstruse Goose'', in the 2008 post [http://abstrusegoose.com/51 936 Little Blobs].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is looking at a large wall subdivided into a rectangular 20 x 12 grid, with each grid subdivided into 10x7 small drawers. Below the frame there is caption:]
:Unsettling gift: Life expectancy Advent calendar

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Time]]

1577: Advent

2015-09-15T14:16:33Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1577
| date = September 14, 2015
| title = Advent
| image = advent.png
| titletext = The few dozen doors that have little Christmas trees on them are a nice touch.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|first drafts}}
An {{w|Advent calendar}} is usually a means of celebrating the days before Christmas. Each day on the calendar is represented by a "door" (a flap of card), behind which is usually a picture related to the Christian nativity, a picture of commercial Christmas (eg a present), a small chocolate, or a small gift. This comic satirizes the concept by proposing such a calendar that would have one gift for each day one is anticipated to live. Such a calendar would be very morbid and existential. This is especially disturbing when given as a gift because it implies someone has put extensive thought into when the recipient will die.

In [[Cueball|Cueball's]] case, assuming each square in the calendar represents one day, the wall he is facing is the entire present he received and the boxes just out of view follow the same pattern, the entire wall represents 16,800 days (a large grid of 12x20 smaller grids of 10x7 boxes: 12×20×10×7 = 16,800), i.e. just under 46 more years (16,800/365.25 = 45.99589).

Assuming that Cueball is a male from the US, and according to American Official Social Security [http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html Actuarial Life Table] for males, he is probably 31.9 years old [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=32*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.9%3B+31*x+%2B+y+%3D+46.83%3B+z*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.99589]. This would make [[Cueball]] almost exactly one year older than [[Randall]], who was born October 17, 1984 making him 30.9 years old when he wrote this comic.

The title text refers back to a standard advent calendar by saying that the Christmases are specially marked; on a traditional Advent calendar, only the 1st to the 24th of December have doors, however in recent times, Advent calendars often also include an additional door for the day after Advent, Christmas Day. Given that there are 46 Christmases on the calendar, some people may at first think odd that it states that there are only a few dozen of these, when there are almost 4 dozens (48); see [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], which states that "a few" is between 2-5. The title text then gives Cueball between 24 and 60 Christmases left, so 46 years is within this range.

A completely different advent calendar was mentioned in [[994: Advent Calendar]].

Similar calendars have been mentioned in the blog ''Wait But Why'' in the 2014 post [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Your Life in Weeks], and in equally geeky webcomic ''Abstruse Goose'', in the 2008 post [http://abstrusegoose.com/51 936 Little Blobs].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is looking at a large wall subdivided into a rectangular 20 x 12 grid, with each grid subdivided into 10x7 small drawers. Below the frame there is caption:]
:Unsettling gift: Life expectancy Advent calendar

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Time]]

1577: Advent

2015-09-15T14:14:03Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ spelling; more precise wording (some people, not all people)

{{comic
| number = 1577
| date = September 14, 2015
| title = Advent
| image = advent.png
| titletext = The few dozen doors that have little Christmas trees on them are a nice touch.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|first drafts}}
An {{w|Advent calendar}} is usually a means of celebrating the days before Christmas. Each day on the calendar is represented by a "door" (a flap of card), behind which is usually a picture related to the Christian nativity, a picture of commercial Christmas (eg a present), a small chocolate, or a small gift. This comic satirizes the concept by proposing such a calendar that would have one gift for each day one is anticipated to live. Such a calendar would be very morbid and existential. This is especially disturbing when given as a gift because it implies someone has put extensive thought into when the recipient will die.

In [[Cueball|Cueball's]] case, assuming each square in the calendar represents one day, the wall he is facing is the entire present he received and the boxes just out of view follow the same pattern, the entire wall represents 16,800 days (a large grid of 12x20 smaller grids of 10x7 boxes: 12×20×10×7 = 16,800), i.e. just under 46 more years (16,800/365.25 = 45.99589).

Assuming that Cueball is a male from the US, and according to American Official Social Security [http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html Actuarial Life Table] for males, he is probably 31.9 years old [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=32*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.9%3B+31*x+%2B+y+%3D+46.83%3B+z*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.99589]. This would make [[Cueball]] almost exactly one year older than [[Randall]], who was born October 17, 1984 making him 30.9 years old when he wrote this comic.

The title text refers back to a standard advent calendar by saying that the Christmases are specially marked; on a traditional Advent calendar, only the 1st to the 24th of December have doors, however in recent times, Advent calendars often also include an additional door for the day after Advent, Christmas Day. Given that there are 46 Christmases on the calendar, some people may at first think odd that it states that there are only a few dozen of these, when there are almost 4 dozens (48). See also [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], which states that "a few" is between 2-5. The title text then gives Cueball between 24 and 60 Christmases left, so 46 years is within this range.

A completely different advent calendar was mentioned in [[994: Advent Calendar]].

Similar calendars have been mentioned in the blog ''Wait But Why'' in the 2014 post [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Your Life in Weeks], and in equally geeky webcomic ''Abstruse Goose'', in the 2008 post [http://abstrusegoose.com/51 936 Little Blobs].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is looking at a large wall subdivided into a rectangular 20 x 12 grid, with each grid subdivided into 10x7 small drawers. Below the frame there is caption:]
:Unsettling gift: Life expectancy Advent calendar

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Time]]

Talk:1577: Advent

2015-09-15T14:11:49Z

173.245.50.154: Deleting horizontal line

16800 squares counted, corresponding to a projected lifespan of 46 years. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.124|108.162.225.124]] 04:09, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

This description says "64 small drawers" but each of the small drawer sets contains 70. 7 columns, 10 rows. (Then there are 20 columns of drawer sets, and 12 rows.) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.115|199.27.133.115]] 04:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Same counting here, I changed the description. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.160|199.27.133.160]] 05:07, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Use × not x. (Editing with this phone is really hard.) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.171|173.245.55.171]] 05:13, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

I corrected the number of drawers ((70×12×20)÷365.25≈50) then used that calculation to work out Cueball's approximate age.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.185|141.101.98.185]] 06:36, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
:Note that (70×12×20)÷365.25≈46. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 12:32, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Reminds me on the [http://store.waitbutwhy.com/collections/life-calendars Life calendar] from this [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Wait but why post] [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

There is a (common) mistake in the life expectancy calculation in the description. If the life expectancy in the US is 75.9, then that doesn't mean you expected remaining life at 25 will be 50.9 years - otherwise that would imply no-one dies under 25. Since, sadly, many people do die before their 25th birthday, the life expectancy remaining at 25 will be somewhat larger than 50 years. As these tables show: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html 50 years remaining corresponds roughly to an age of 27-28. In other words your remaining life expectancy drops by less than one year per year, if no new information is presented (i.e. assuming you don't take up smoking etc.) {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.205}}

There's a link in this explanation stating that the life expectancy refers back to comic 1070. I think this may be the wrong comic, not sure what the correct one should be :/ [[User:apbarratt|apbarratt]] 09:17, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
This is about the title text that mentions "The few dozen doors". 1070 explains that "a few" for most people seems to be anything more than one but at most five.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.49.97|173.245.49.97]] 11:07, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

What struck me about the comic, and which didn't come out clearly yet in the explanation, is the idea of countdown. An advent calendar is a countdown to Christmas, one day at a time. This is a countdown to Cueball's death. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.167|108.162.241.167]] 11:54, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

I was expecting that the alt text would say "'''Your life may be shorter if you eat all of the chocolate'''". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 14:25, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

I don't know about the USA, but in the UK, advent calendars may contain chocolate, but many just show a picture (related to either the Christian or the commercial aspects of Christmas). I'm going to change the description slightly to make that clear. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 17:10, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

:Yes, I would normally get the chocolate ones from my parents. One year my grandmother gave me one with just pictures inside. I was '''not''' amused. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.148|108.162.241.148]] 20:18, 14 September 2015 (UTC)

Why on earth would it seem strange for 4 to be included in "a few"? It seems perfectly natural to me. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.249|198.41.243.249]] 23:43, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
: Maybe bacause: "One, two, three, many...". But I think the real reason is, that "a few dozen" = "4 dozen" seems fine, while "a few dozen" = "48" doesn't. So it's a conflict between "few" and "48" here. However, I agree in "4" being a totally acceptable value for "a few" [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:26, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

== "S&W" Linkage ==
Lets See if I get this right.
Could this have anything to do with the current story arc over at Sandra and Woo "S&W" about life expectancy? --Mark w --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.160|173.245.54.160]] 11:51, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

1577: Advent

2015-09-15T14:06:41Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ same age is not the same as one year older

{{comic
| number = 1577
| date = September 14, 2015
| title = Advent
| image = advent.png
| titletext = The few dozen doors that have little Christmas trees on them are a nice touch.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|first drafts}}
An {{w|Advent calendar}} is usually a means of celebrating the days before Christmas. Each day on the calendar is represented by a "door" (a flap of card), behind which is usually a picture related to the Christian nativity, a picture of commercial Christmas (eg a present), a small chocolate, or a small gift. This comic satirizes the concept by proposing such a calendar that would have one gift for each day one is anticipated to live. Such a calendar would be very morbid and existential. This is especially disturbing when given as a gift because it implies someone has put extensive thought into when the recipient will die.

In [[Cueball|Cueball's]] case, assuming each square in the calendar represents one day, the wall he is facing is the entire present he received and the boxes just out of view follow the same pattern, the entire wall represents 16,800 days (a large grid of 12x20 smaller grids of 10x7 boxes: 12×20×10×7 = 16,800), i.e. just under 46 more years (16,800/365.25 = 45.99589).

Assuming that Cueball is a male from the US, and according to American Official Social Security [http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html Actuarial Life Table] for males, he is probably 31.9 years old [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=32*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.9%3B+31*x+%2B+y+%3D+46.83%3B+z*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.99589]. This would make [[Cueball]] almost exactly one year older than [[Randall]], who was born October 17, 1984 making him 30.9 years old when he wrote this comic.

The title text refers back to a standard advent calendar by saying that the Christmases are specially marked; on a traditional Advent calendar, only the 1st to the 24th of December have doors, however in recent times, Advent calendars often also include an additional door for the day after Advent, Christmas Day. Given that there are 46 Christmases on the calender, it may at first seem odd that it states that there are only a few dozen of these, when there are almost 4 dozens (48). See also [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], which states that "a few" is between 2-5. The title text then gives Cueball between 24 and 60 Christmases left, so 46 years is within this range.

A completely different advent calendar was mentioned in [[994: Advent Calendar]].

Similar calendars have been mentioned in the blog ''Wait But Why'' in the 2014 post [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Your Life in Weeks], and in equally geeky webcomic ''Abstruse Goose'', in the 2008 post [http://abstrusegoose.com/51 936 Little Blobs].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is looking at a large wall subdivided into a rectangular 20 x 12 grid, with each grid subdivided into 10x7 small drawers. Below the frame there is caption:]
:Unsettling gift: Life expectancy Advent calendar

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Time]]

1577: Advent

2015-09-15T14:00:39Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ There is nothing in this comic that ties it to the date it appeared

{{comic
| number = 1577
| date = September 14, 2015
| title = Advent
| image = advent.png
| titletext = The few dozen doors that have little Christmas trees on them are a nice touch.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|first drafts}}
An {{w|Advent calendar}} is usually a means of celebrating the days before Christmas. Each day on the calendar is represented by a "door" (a flap of card), behind which is usually a picture related to the Christian nativity, a picture of commercial Christmas (eg a present), a small chocolate, or a small gift. This comic satirizes the concept by proposing such a calendar that would have one gift for each day one is anticipated to live. Such a calendar would be very morbid and existential. This is especially disturbing when given as a gift because it implies someone has put extensive thought into when the recipient will die.

In [[Cueball|Cueball's]] case, assuming each square in the calendar represents one day, the wall he is facing is the entire present he received and the boxes just out of view follow the same pattern, the entire wall represents 16,800 days (a large grid of 12x20 smaller grids of 10x7 boxes: 12×20×10×7 = 16,800), i.e. just under 46 more years (16,800/365.25 = 45.99589).

Assuming that Cueball is a male from the US, and according to American Official Social Security [http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html Actuarial Life Table] for males, he is probably 31.9 years old [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=32*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.9%3B+31*x+%2B+y+%3D+46.83%3B+z*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.99589]. This would make [[Cueball]] almost the same age as [[Randall]], who was born October 17, 1984 making him 30.9 years old when he wrote this comic.

The title text refers back to a standard advent calendar by saying that the Christmases are specially marked; on a traditional Advent calendar, only the 1st to the 24th of December have doors, however in recent times, Advent calendars often also include an additional door for the day after Advent, Christmas Day. Given that there are 46 Christmases on the calender, it may at first seem odd that it states that there are only a few dozen of these, when there are almost 4 dozens (48). See also [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], which states that "a few" is between 2-5. The title text then gives Cueball between 24 and 60 Christmases left, so 46 years is within this range.

A completely different advent calendar was mentioned in [[994: Advent Calendar]].

Similar calendars have been mentioned in the blog ''Wait But Why'' in the 2014 post [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Your Life in Weeks], and in equally geeky webcomic ''Abstruse Goose'', in the 2008 post [http://abstrusegoose.com/51 936 Little Blobs].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is looking at a large wall subdivided into a rectangular 20 x 12 grid, with each grid subdivided into 10x7 small drawers. Below the frame there is caption:]
:Unsettling gift: Life expectancy Advent calendar

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Time]]

1577: Advent

2015-09-15T13:53:09Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ Not a reference. Not even with the word "may"

{{comic
| number = 1577
| date = September 14, 2015
| title = Advent
| image = advent.png
| titletext = The few dozen doors that have little Christmas trees on them are a nice touch.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|first drafts}}
An {{w|Advent calendar}} is usually a means of celebrating the days before Christmas. Each day on the calendar is represented by a "door" (a flap of card), behind which is usually a picture related to the Christian nativity, a picture of commercial Christmas (eg a present), a small chocolate, or a small gift. This comic satirizes the concept by proposing such a calendar that would have one gift for each day one is anticipated to live. Such a calendar would be very morbid and existential. This is especially disturbing when given as a gift because it implies someone has put extensive thought into when the recipient will die.

In [[Cueball|Cueball's]] case, assuming each square in the calendar represents one day, the wall he is facing is the entire present he received and the boxes just out of view follow the same pattern, the entire wall represents 16,800 days (a large grid of 12x20 smaller grids of 10x7 boxes: 12×20×10×7 = 16,800). Commencing from 14 September, the sender of the gift assumes the recipient will live until 12 September 2061 i.e. just under 46 more years (10×7×12×20/365.25 = 45.99589).

Assuming that Cueball is a male from the US, and according to American Official Social Security [http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html Actuarial Life Table] for males, he is probably 31.9 years old [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=32*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.9%3B+31*x+%2B+y+%3D+46.83%3B+z*x+%2B+y+%3D+45.99589]. This would make [[Cueball]] almost the same age as [[Randall]], who was born October 17, 1984 making him 30.9 years old when he wrote this comic.

The title text refers back to a standard advent calendar by saying that the Christmases are specially marked; on a traditional Advent calendar, only the 1st to the 24th of December have doors, however in recent times, Advent calendars often also include an additional door for the day after Advent, Christmas Day. Given that there are 46 Christmases on the calender, it may at first seem odd that it states that there are only a few dozen of these, when there are almost 4 dozens (48). See also [[1070: Words for Small Sets]], which states that "a few" is between 2-5. The title text then gives Cueball between 24 and 60 Christmases left, so 46 years is within this range.

A completely different advent calendar was mentioned in [[994: Advent Calendar]].

Similar calendars have been mentioned in the blog ''Wait But Why'' in the 2014 post [http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/life-weeks.html Your Life in Weeks], and in equally geeky webcomic ''Abstruse Goose'', in the 2008 post [http://abstrusegoose.com/51 936 Little Blobs].

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is looking at a large wall subdivided into a rectangular 20 x 12 grid, with each grid subdivided into 10x7 small drawers. Below the frame there is caption:]
:Unsettling gift: Life expectancy Advent calendar

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Time]]

1577: Advent

2015-09-14T14:07:31Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ More precision

1577: Advent

2015-09-14T14:03:19Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ deleting "at the time of this comic's publication" because the comic will not change

1577: Advent

2015-09-14T14:01:10Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ 31.9 years old

1577: Advent

2015-09-14T12:38:07Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

Talk:1577: Advent

2015-09-14T12:32:53Z

173.245.50.154: (70×12×20)÷365.22=45.99589

1577: Advent

2015-09-14T12:28:44Z

173.245.50.154: just under 46, not 50 years

1577: Advent

2015-09-14T12:24:18Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ more precise wording

725: Literally

2015-09-11T13:09:58Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ See also 1576: I Could Care Less

{{comic
| number = 725
| date = April 9, 2010
| title = Literally
| image = literally.png
| titletext = The chemistry experiment had me figuratively -- and then shortly thereafter literally -- glued to my seat.
}}

==Explanation==
The adverb "literally" implies that the action it describes actually happened, while its opposite, "figuratively", is used when the action it describes is being used as a figure of speech, and is not a representation of what actually happened. However, "literally" is often used colloquially as an intensifier, to mean "really" or "very", and even though many dictionaries (such as [http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0038-literally.htm Merriam-Webster] or [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/literally Oxford Learner's Dictionaries]) state that this is a valid use of the word, many people object to this usage.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] mentions he was ''literally'' glued to his seat (one could easily assume that they had just left a theater), at which point a crazy man off-panel loudly corrects him. The crazy man declares that he has been stalking Cueball for eighteen years since an incident in seventh grade, where the crazy man (as a kid) incorrectly uses "literally" and young Cueball corrects him. He felt humiliated, overreacting to young Cueball's simple correction, and began to follow Cueball everywhere, vowing to be present when he makes the same mistake the crazy man had made in seventh grade.

When Cueball tells him that he is "literally the craziest person" he's ever met, the crazy man thinks that he incorrectly used the word "literally" again; however, Cueball reassures him that he did not misuse it, meaning that the crazy man actually is ''the'' craziest person he has ever met.

The title text points out that a chemistry experiment gone wrong is one of the few things that could cause someone to ''literally'' be glued to their seat, having previously been figuratively glued to their seat in fascination.

The title text could thus also be understood as an explanation of how the sentence which was interrupted would have ended: ''I was literally glued to my seat through the entire chemistry experiment''.

In this case the crazy person did not even catch Cueball in making the error - and because he interrupted too soon and gave himself away, he has lost the chance to do so, ever.
Even though he stalks Cueball, he may not have been able to join his chemistry class to witness the glue accident - and may thus, as described above, wrongly believe that Cueball was talking about a theater experience.

See also [[1576: I Could Care Less]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a friend walking together. Cueball turns to the friend.]
:Cueball: I was literally glued to my seat through the entire-
:Off-panel voice: ''HAH!''
:Off-panel voice: ''You mean "figuratively"!''

:[Crazy man walks into the panel. He has messy hair and a messy beard. Cueball and his friend stop walking.]
:Cueball: Who are you?
:Crazy man: Eighteen years I've watched you! Waiting!

:Crazy man: Ever since that day in seventh grade when you humiliated me.
:[Short flashback panel. 4 are standing around talking to each other.]
:Kid #2 (Crazy man): I told him and he literally exploded!
:Kid Cueball: Uh, unless he physically ''burst'', you mean "figuratively".
:Hairy: Hah.
:Crazy man (outside of flashback panel): Remember?

:Crazy man: I knew one day you'd slip, and I vowed I'd be there to see you fall. ''How does it feel?''
:Cueball: You are literally the craziest person I've ever met.
:Crazy man: You did it again!
:Cueball: No, I didn't.

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

1575: Footprints

2015-09-10T18:50:37Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ It's Jesus the one who disappeared, not the narrator

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two.

"Ducklings {{w|Imprinting (psychology)|imprinted}} on Jesus and followed him around" is a reference to {{w|Konrad Lorenz}}'s experiments. Three ducklings followed Jesus and the narrator.

"Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new ''{{w|The Twilight Saga (film series)|Twilight}}'' movie came out" probably means that Jesus went to see the movie and left the narrator alone.

"Got lost and followed our own footprints" may be a reference to "{{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}" (1926), in which the titular bear and his friend try and hunt a "Woozle" by its footprints, actually following their own round and round a bush, which also seems slightly childish for Jesus as traditionally portrayed. An alternate explanation is that they came to a dead end, and had to double back.

"Rode around with Jesus in captured {{w|Walker (Star_Wars)#All_Terrain_Scout_Transport_.28AT-ST.29|AT-ST}}" is a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character.

The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ, or that the narrator and Christ were not traveling anymore.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of this lingo and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

"There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" can be translated into normal English as "There's one set of footprints because I was definitely carrying you, brother!".

Also note that an alternate explanation of some of the oddities of the strip is that "Jesus" is not Jesus Christ, but some guy merely ''named'' Jesus, as is common in some Latin American countries.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1575: Footprints

2015-09-09T16:16:58Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ There's one set of footprints because I was carrying you, brother!

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two.

"Ducklings {{w|Imprinting (psychology)|imprinted}} on Jesus and followed him around" is a reference to {{w|Konrad Lorenz}}'s experiments. Three ducklings followed Jesus and the narrator.

"Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new ''{{w|The Twilight Saga (film series)|Twilight}}'' movie came out" probably means that Jesus went to see the movie and left the narrator alone.

"Got lost and followed our own footprints" may be a reference to "{{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}" (1926), in which the titular bear and his friend try and hunt a "Woozle" by its footprints, actually following their own round and round a bush, which also seems slightly childish for Jesus as traditionally portrayed.

"Rode around with Jesus in captured {{w|Walker (Star_Wars)#All_Terrain_Scout_Transport_.28AT-ST.29|AT-ST}}" is a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character.

The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ, or that the narrator and Christ were not traveling anymore.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of this lingo and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

"There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" can be translated into normal English as "There's one set of footprints because I was carrying you, brother!". ''Totes'' or ''totally'' here doesn't convey any special meaning.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1575: Footprints

2015-09-09T15:00:44Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two.

"Ducklings {{w|Imprinting (psychology)|imprinted}} on Jesus and followed him around" is a reference to {{w|Konrad Lorenz}}'s experiments. Three ducklings followed Jesus and the narrator.

"Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new ''{{w|The Twilight Saga (film series)|Twilight}}'' movie came out" probably means that Jesus went to see the movie and left the narrator alone.

"Got lost and followed our own footprints" may be a reference to "{{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}" (1926), in which the titular bear and his friend try and hunt a "Woozle" by its footprints, actually following their own round and round a bush, which also seems slightly childish for Jesus as traditionally portrayed.

"Rode around with Jesus in captured {{w|Walker (Star_Wars)#All_Terrain_Scout_Transport_.28AT-ST.29|AT-ST}}" is a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character.

The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ, or that the narrator and Christ were not traveling anymore.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of this lingo and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]

1575: Footprints

2015-09-09T14:34:10Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ Chronological order

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two.

"Ducklings {{w|Imprinting (psychology)|imprinted}} on Jesus and followed him around" is a reference to {{w|Konrad Lorenz}}'s experiments. Three ducklings followed Jesus and the narrator.

"Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new ''{{w|The Twilight Saga (film series)|Twilight}}'' movie came out" probably means that Jesus went to see the movie and left the narrator alone.

"Got lost and followed our own footprints" may be a reference to "{{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}" (1926), in which the titular bear and his friend try and hunt a "Woozle" by its footprints, actually following their own round and round a bush, which also seems slightly childish for Jesus as traditionally portrayed.

"Rode around with Jesus in captured {{w|Walker (Star_Wars)#All_Terrain_Scout_Transport_.28AT-ST.29|AT-ST}}" is a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character.

The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of this lingo and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]

1575: Footprints

2015-09-09T14:25:20Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ Changing "textese" by "this lingo"

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two, such as at one point "riding around in captured {{w|Walker (Star_Wars)#All_Terrain_Scout_Transport_.28AT-ST.29|AT-ST}}", a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character.

"Ducklings {{w|Imprinting (psychology)|imprinted}} on Jesus and followed him around" is a reference to {{w|Konrad Lorenz}}'s experiments. Three ducklings followed Jesus and the narrator.

"Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new ''{{w|The Twilight Saga (film series)|Twilight}}'' movie came out" probably means that Jesus went to see the movie and left the narrator alone.

"Got lost and followed our own footprints" may be a reference to "{{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}" (1926), in which the titular bear and his friend try and hunt a "Woozle" by its footprints, actually following their own round and round a bush, which also seems slightly childish for Jesus as traditionally portrayed.

The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of this lingo and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]

1575: Footprints

2015-09-09T14:23:24Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two, such as at one point "riding around in captured {{w|Walker (Star_Wars)#All_Terrain_Scout_Transport_.28AT-ST.29|AT-ST}}", a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character.

"Ducklings {{w|Imprinting (psychology)|imprinted}} on Jesus and followed him around" is a reference to {{w|Konrad Lorenz}}'s experiments. Three ducklings followed Jesus and the narrator.

"Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new ''{{w|The Twilight Saga (film series)|Twilight}}'' movie came out" probably means that Jesus went to see the movie and left the narrator alone.

"Got lost and followed our own footprints" may be a reference to "{{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}" (1926), in which the titular bear and his friend try and hunt a "Woozle" by its footprints, actually following their own round and round a bush, which also seems slightly childish for Jesus as traditionally portrayed.

The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of textese and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]

1575: Footprints

2015-09-09T14:23:03Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two, such as at one point "riding around in captured {{w|Walker (Star_Wars)#All_Terrain_Scout_Transport_.28AT-ST.29|AT-ST}}", a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character.

"Ducklings {{w{Imprinting (psychology)|imprinted}} on Jesus and followed him around" is a reference to {{w|Konrad Lorenz}}'s experiments. Three ducklings followed Jesus and the narrator.

"Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new ''{{w|The Twilight Saga (film series)|Twilight}}'' movie came out" probably means that Jesus went to see the movie and left the narrator alone.

"Got lost and followed our own footprints" may be a reference to "{{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}" (1926), in which the titular bear and his friend try and hunt a "Woozle" by its footprints, actually following their own round and round a bush, which also seems slightly childish for Jesus as traditionally portrayed.

The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of textese and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]

1575: Footprints

2015-09-09T14:17:03Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out"

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two, such as at one point "riding around in captured {{w|Walker (Star_Wars)#All_Terrain_Scout_Transport_.28AT-ST.29|AT-ST}}", a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character.

"Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new ''{{w|The Twilight Saga (film series)|Twilight}}'' movie came out" probably means that Jesus went to see the movie and left the narrator alone.

"Got lost and followed our own footprints" may be a reference to "{{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}" (1926), in which the titular bear and his friend try and hunt a "Woozle" by its footprints, actually following their own round and round a bush, which also seems slightly childish for Jesus as traditionally portrayed.

The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of textese and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]

1575: Footprints

2015-09-09T14:11:54Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ Link to Winnie-the-Pooh

{{comic
| number = 1575
| date = September 9, 2015
| title = Footprints
| image = footprints.png
| titletext = "There's one set of foot-p's cause I was totes carrying you, bro!" said Jesus seconds before I punched him.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic is a satirical graphical representation of the inspirational Christian poem "{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}," which has been recounted in many versions and is of disputed authorship.

The basic idea of the poem is that the narrator looks back at scenes of his life and sees two sets of footprints, his and those of Jesus. During the most difficult times of his life, the narrator sees only one set of footprints and assumes that Jesus had left him during those times. In the climax of the poem, Jesus responds to the narrator that he saw only one set of footprints during the most difficult times of his life because Jesus was carrying him during those times.

The poem is seen by many as overly sentimental and is thus ripe for parody of this kind. The graph mockingly illustrates various times when Jesus or the narrator left the scene, or otherwise gives various reasons why the number of footprints may have been other than two, such as at one point "riding around in captured {{w|Walker (Star_Wars)#All_Terrain_Scout_Transport_.28AT-ST.29|AT-ST}}", a reference to a two-legged combat "walker" from Star Wars. The implication is that Jesus would have participated in forcibly taking a war machine, which appears somewhat out of character. Likewise, the "Got lost and followed our own footprints" may be a reference to "{{w|Winnie-the-Pooh}}" (1926), in which the titular bear and his friend try and hunt a "Woozle" by its footprints, actually following their own round and round a bush, which also seems slightly childish for Jesus as traditionally portrayed. The reference at the end to Jesus drowning in a patch of quicksand, and then the narrator simply going home, again subverts the poem's earnestness. "Going home" may be a reference to dying, implying that the narrator died without Christ.

The title text continues the parody by imagining that Jesus delivers the poem's climactic lines in stereotypical {{w|California English|"surfer dude"}} speak, a dialect perceived by many to be obnoxious. The reference to punching Jesus is possibly another reference to the poem's perceived excessive sentimentality. Another interpretation is that the narrator, like many people, dislikes usage of textese and punched Jesus as a result of this hatred.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

A graph with time on the x-axis and numbers 1 through 5 on the y axis, labeled "Sets of footprints". A single red line runs through from left to right, showing different values at different times. Until the very end, the line always returns to the value 2, signifying two sets of footprints in the sand.

* The line starts at the value 2, then dips twice to the value 1. The two troughs are labeled, "Jesus carried me".
* The line then dips once again to the value 1. The trough is labeled, "I carried Jesus".
* The line rises to 3 briefly, and is labeled, "Who was that guy?"
* The line rises to 5 sharply, and then falls in a sharp staircase pattern, labeled "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus and followed him around".
* The line rises to 4, labeled "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips for very short periods five times to the value 1. The troughs are labeled, "Jesus disappeared for an evening each time a new Twilight movie came out". The first dip is between "I carried Jesus" and "Who was that guy?", the second between "Who was that guy?" and "Duckings imprinted on Jesus..." and the final three are all between the "Ducklings imprinted on Jesus..." and "Got lost and followed our own footprints".
* The line dips to 1, labeled "Rode around with Jesus in captured AT-ST"
* The line dips and stays level at 1, labeled "Hit quicksand patch. Jesus didn't make it :("
* The line dips to zero at the end, and is labeled "Went home".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:1574: Trouble for Science

2015-09-07T12:34:01Z

173.245.50.154:

Sentence case, or down style, is one method, preferred by many print and online publications and recommended by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The only two rules are the two rules mentioned above: Capitalize the first word and all proper nouns. Everything else is in lowercase. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/rules-for-capitalization-in-titles/ [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 12:30, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

1574: Trouble for Science

2015-09-07T12:32:05Z

173.245.50.154: Fixed to sentence case

{{comic
| number = 1574
| date = September 7, 2015
| title = Trouble for Science
| image = trouble_for_science.png
| titletext = Careful mathematical analysis demonstrates small-scale irregularities in Gaussian distribution
}}

==Explanation==
Five newspaper headlines are shown:

;Many commercial antibody-based immunoassays are unreliable
This sentence is true. See Kebaneilwe Lebani, [http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:352531 Antibody Discovery for Development of a Serotyping Dengue Virus NS1 Capture Assay], 2014. In this PhD thesis, 11 references are given.

;Problems with the p-value as an indicator of significance

;Overfeeding of laboratory rodents compromises animal models

;Replication study fails to reproduce many published results

;Controlled trials show Bunsen burners make things colder
This is a joke.

==Transcript==
[A simple comic consisting of five newspaper headlines]

Many Commercial Antibody-Based Immunoassays Are Unreliable

Problems With the p-Value as an Indicator of Significance

Overfeeding of Laboratory Rodents Compromises Animal Models

Replication Study Fails to Reproduce Many Published Results

Controlled Trials Show Bunsen Burners Make Things Colder

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Math]]

Talk:1574: Trouble for Science

2015-09-07T12:30:21Z

173.245.50.154: Created page with "Sentence case, or down style, is one method, preferred by many print and online publications and recommended by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Associatio..."

Sentence case, or down style, is one method, preferred by many print and online publications and recommended by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The only two rules are the two rules mentioned above: Capitalize the first word and all proper nouns. Everything else is in lowercase. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 12:30, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:12: Poisson

2015-09-07T12:25:25Z

173.245.50.154:

[[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]]) The date of issue of this comic is off. Does anybody have the correct date? Does anybody know the song that BlackHat is singing in the last frame?

I always imagine the song is either the Bangles cover of "hazy shade of winter" from the movie Less than Zero though I have also imagined it to be "saved by zero" by the Fixx.

:Did anyone notice the pun on poison and Poisson? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.174|108.162.254.174]] 18:39, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
:: What pun? Replacing "Poisson" with "poison" anywhere doesn't produce any additional meaning. [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 18:54, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Note that the 'h' in the word 'hell' looks like 'λ'. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.64.35|141.101.64.35]] 20:03, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

Also note that the Poisson distribution is "memoryless" (like the exponential distribution) which explains why the Poisson is content to continue repeating this fact. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.178|108.162.222.178]] 16:44, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

The coinflip distribution described in the second paragraph not a Poisson Distribution. Rather it is a binomial distribution (or a Bernoulli distribution for the single flip case). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.163|108.162.229.163]] 11:11, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
:I deleted it. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 12:25, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

12: Poisson

2015-09-07T12:24:40Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ Deleting unrelated example (binomial distribution)

{{comic
| number = 12
| date = December 22, 2005
| title = Poisson
| image = Poisson.jpg
| titletext = Poisson distributions have no value over negative numbers
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] expresses himself as a {{w|Poisson distribution}}.

A {{w|Poisson distribution}} is a distribution that shows the probability of a given number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space. The horizontal axis typically represents the "number of events" while the vertical axis is a decimal representing the probability (i.e. 0.5 for 50% probability) a given number of events will occur in that fixed interval of time or space. It is commonly represented by a bar graph, or a point graph (sometimes with a line connection to show a trend, even though there is no actual value for non-integers).

What's important to note for this comic is that this distribution only has data points on non-negative integers and is not continuous through decimal numbers or (as the image text tells us) negative numbers because events can't occur 0.3 of a time, or -2 times.

After implying that the concept of a person being a mathematical distribution is irrational, [[Black Hat]] suggests he is "less than zero". Since the Poisson distribution doesn't exist or has no value at negative values, Cueball either leaves or disappears magically.

Hence, the punchline is the same as the title text: Cueball doesn't exist to Black Hat anymore, because he has a value less than zero. Another one of the early comics where Randall explains the joke in the title text.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball talking to Black Hat]
:Cueball: I'm a poisson distribution!

:Cueball: Still a Poisson distribution!
:Black Hat: What the hell, man. Why do you keep saying that?

:Cueball: Because I'm totally a poisson distribution.
:Black Hat: I'm less than zero.

:[Cueball is gone; Black Hat is whistling.]

==Trivia==
*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 the 41 comics]] posted before that on [[LiveJournal]].
**But this comic, as well as [[5: Blown apart]] also released that day, were never posted on LiveJournal.
*The release date is given from [http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http:////www.xkcd.com//Poisson.jpg - wayback.archive]. At least the 22nd of December was the first crawl date.
**This also explains that it was "released" on a Thursday.
**On xkcd it was released for the first time to the public on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
*One of the original drawings drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].
*[[Randall]] was still experimenting with character design, as Cueball has a face in the first two frames.
*This is the first appearance of Black Hat on xkcd.
**However Black Hat appeared in [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]] which was released almost 3 months before this one on LiveJournal.

{{Comic discussion}}

[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Math]]

12: Poisson

2015-09-07T12:19:40Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */ Not only Wikipedia believes Poisson distribution is a distribution that shows the probability of a given number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space.

{{comic
| number = 12
| date = December 22, 2005
| title = Poisson
| image = Poisson.jpg
| titletext = Poisson distributions have no value over negative numbers
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] expresses himself as a {{w|Poisson distribution}}.

A {{w|Poisson distribution}} is a distribution that shows the probability of a given number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space. The horizontal axis typically represents the "number of events" while the vertical axis is a decimal representing the probability (i.e. 0.5 for 50% probability) a given number of events will occur in that fixed interval of time or space. It is commonly represented by a bar graph, or a point graph (sometimes with a line connection to show a trend, even though there is no actual value for non-integers).

A simple example is the number of heads coming up on a fair coin flip. The distribution for one coin flip should be 0.5 at 0 heads and 0.5 at 1 heads; for 2 coin flips, the distribution would be 0.25 at 0 heads, 0.5 at 1 heads and 0.25 at 2 heads; etc. Multiple graphs like this are sometimes overlaid on one graph with a legend to distinguish the points (one coin flip in red, two coin flips in blue, etc.).

What's important to note for this comic is that this distribution only has data points on non-negative integers and is not continuous through decimal numbers or (as the image text tells us) negative numbers because events can't occur 0.3 of a time, or -2 times.

After implying that the concept of a person being a mathematical distribution is irrational, [[Black Hat]] suggests he is "less than zero". Since the Poisson distribution doesn't exist or has no value at negative values, Cueball either leaves or disappears magically.

Hence, the punchline is the same as the title text: Cueball doesn't exist to Black Hat anymore, because he has a value less than zero. Another one of the early comics where Randall explains the joke in the title text.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball talking to Black Hat]
:Cueball: I'm a poisson distribution!

:Cueball: Still a Poisson distribution!
:Black Hat: What the hell, man. Why do you keep saying that?

:Cueball: Because I'm totally a poisson distribution.
:Black Hat: I'm less than zero.

:[Cueball is gone; Black Hat is whistling.]

==Trivia==
*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 the 41 comics]] posted before that on [[LiveJournal]].
**But this comic, as well as [[5: Blown apart]] also released that day, were never posted on LiveJournal.
*The release date is given from [http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http:////www.xkcd.com//Poisson.jpg - wayback.archive]. At least the 22nd of December was the first crawl date.
**This also explains that it was "released" on a Thursday.
**On xkcd it was released for the first time to the public on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
*One of the original drawings drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].
*[[Randall]] was still experimenting with character design, as Cueball has a face in the first two frames.
*This is the first appearance of Black Hat on xkcd.
**However Black Hat appeared in [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]] which was released almost 3 months before this one on LiveJournal.

{{Comic discussion}}

[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Math]]

Talk:1560: Bubblegum

2015-08-06T20:07:55Z

173.245.50.154:

I believe the title text refers to the story about Calvin Coolidge about making a bet to not say 3 words.[[User:Blawho|Blawho]] ([[User talk:Blawho|talk]]) 04:51, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Duke Nukem says: "It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum...", not the other way around. Don't know if this is worth mentioning. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:24, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the explanation, I didn't know the movie quote. With this info in mind, I now think that panel 2 shows that Cueball is perhaps not making friends, so he decides to just go for the chewing gum option?? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.36|141.101.99.36]] 08:40, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
I added that the dénouement was similar to something the naïve and childish Beret Guy would do, that okay? [[User:MadHaighaHatta|Completely sane (And not Anglo-Saxon)]] ([[User talk:MadHaighaHatta|talk]]) 11:27, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
: The more I'm thinking about this thing the more I have to agree to 141.101.99.36. I think both possibilites should be mentioned in the explanation, since both behaviours would fit to Beret Guy's character. First: Comes in, says the quote (more or less) and does both, because he said he would. Second: Comes in says the quote, regarding the quote's origin having mind that only one of the options/actions have to be fulfilled and after looking at Cueball and Megan decides for "chewing gum" - or maybe "making friends" by gifting his bubblegum away... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:35, 6 August 2015 (UTC)

He may also be making a reference to the reality show cliché "I didn't come here to make friends." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.6|162.158.255.6]] 19:11, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

;Title text
Title text only 16 words? ''I(1) came(2) here(3) to(4) chew(5) bubblegum(6) and(7) say(8) no(9) more(10) than(11) eighteen(12) words(13) ... and(14) I'm(15) all(16) out(17) of(18)'' --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.98|162.158.93.98]] 10:26, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
: Title text 18 words, movie quote 16 words. Unless Randall takes the stuff in the movie quote as "bubble gum" where Randall's own text uses "bubblegum." Which is entirely possible, but weird. But then, what's not to like about "weird?" [[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 10:41, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
:: sorry, no native english - why is "I'm" counted as one word as it is "I am" which I would count as two words? Or is "don't" and "can't" also one word? -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.17|162.158.92.17]] 13:09, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
:::"don't" and "can't" are both also considered one word. In English, a contraction functions as one word, even though it combines multiple words. Don't bother asking why... the rules of English don't necessarily make sense. :-) [[User:Suspender guy|Suspender guy]] ([[User talk:Suspender guy|talk]]) 16:37, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
::::This is absolutely true. Basically, if it's not separated by spaces, it's one word, be there an apostrophe, hyphen or whatever. But the thing about English is not only do the rules not necessarily make sense, they don't necessarily exist, either, or if they do not everyone agrees on them, such as how many spaces to put after a period at the end of a sentence (used to be universally two, now that's quite rare); and whether to put punctuation inside or outside of quotation marks (I usually put it outside unless it's part of the quote, but that style is mainly restricted to computer manuals that are trying to avoid you typing in the sentence-ending period.) I still think English is harder to learn than Japanese (which is what most native English speakers cite as "a difficult-to-learn language") and I grew up speaking English.[[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 17:01, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

The description of the hovertext mentions "out of words" and "out of both"; might want to include the original, "out of bubblegum". Also, the deliberate truncation implies "out of time", which could relate to the possibility of it being a tribute to Roddy Piper.--[[User:Beth|Beth]] ([[User talk:Beth|talk]]) 12:44, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

I don't wanna change Randall's work - I just want to mention that ''I came here to chew bubblegum and say only sixteen words ... and I'm all out of'' would be more close to proposed origin where a) 16 words [with I'm= 1] and b) only positive descriptions used. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.17|162.158.92.17]] 13:16, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

I don't see why it's so strange that he didn't use the same number of words. He wrote the sentence in a way that he liked, counted the words he used, then added one. There's no need to overthink this.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.142|173.245.50.142]] 19:08, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
:I agree with you, but people here love to overthink. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 20:07, 6 August 2015 (UTC)

51: Malaria

2015-05-16T21:47:01Z

173.245.50.154: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 51
| date = January 18, 2006 
| title = Malaria
| image = malaria.jpg
| titletext = The malaria party was David's idea.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic ridicules the occurrence of {{w|pox party}}s. In these "parties" adults bring their children to deliberately expose them to a virus to promote {{w|Immunity (medical)|immunity}}. This is commonly done for a childhood disease like {{w|chickenpox}} and {{w|measles}}. A Malaria party would be an especially bad idea as many could suffer significant illness and die, but it is similarity a bad idea to expose your children (and thus also others) to potentially lethal and damaging diseases like measles instead of taking a safer vaccine.

In this comic we see four [[Cueball]]-like children in party hats with a balloon lying on the ground. As it says their malaria party did not turn out to be fun.

Some illnesses are more serious for adults than children. For example chickenpox is far less severe than its adult onset form {{w|shingles}}, and after contracting chickenpox the {{w|immune system}} has developed {{w|antibodies}} for it and so is not as vulnerable to the virus, and the person is immune for a significant period of time, possibly life. For more dangerous diseases like measles {{w|vaccines}} are used to prevent illness. However, malaria does not work this way, but instead once one has suffered from malaria, it can recur on its own even after apparent healing from symptoms. So having a malaria party would not promote immunity, but only make people sick and further vulnerable in the future.

===Malaria===
{{w|Malaria}} is a {{w|Mosquito-borne disease}} of humans and other animals caused by {{w|protists}} (a type of microorganism) of the genus ''{{w|Plasmodium}}''. It begins with a bite from an infected female {{w|mosquito}}, which introduces the protists, via its saliva, into the circulatory system, and ultimately to the liver where they mature and reproduce. The disease causes symptoms that typically include fever and headache, which in severe cases can progress to coma or death.

===Context===
There has been allot of {{w|MMR vaccine controversy|controversy}} over the {{w|MMR vaccine}} which works against {{w|measles}}, {{w|mumps}} and {{w|rubella}}. Whereas the last two are only dangerous to adults, and only because they can affect the abilities to have children, measles are a very dangerous disease also for children. In the US between 1987 and 2000 there were a 0.3% risk of a {{w|Measles#Complications|fatal complication}}. It can be much worse in underdeveloped countries. The controversy was based on a claim in an article that was later completely {{w|MMR_vaccine_controversy#Full_retraction_and_fraud_allegations|discredited}}. But this incidence has still caused many parents to keep their children out of this program.

So now parents deliberately take their children to measles parties like the Malaria party here. And although they may become immune if they survive (as opposed to malaria) then there is still a serious risk of death or other complications. And because of this lack of vaccination the advantages of {{w|Herd immunity}} that would else protect infants, the weak and those with a poor immune system from catching these diseases.

==Transcript==
:[For Cueball-like children wearing party hats, a discarded balloon is lying to the right. The first part of the text is written above the children, the second below.]
:We had a malaria party
:but it turned out not to be very much fun.

==Trivia==
*This was the 49th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[54: Science]].
**The next was [[52: Secret Worlds]].
*This comic kept it's original title: "Malaria"
*It is part of the last six comics on LiveJournal which all had a title without the word "Drawing" in it.
**Five of these had exactly the same title on both sites.
**Only 11 comics have the same title on both sites.
**Apart from the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|thirteen first comics]] posted to LiveJournal, there were only three other comics without the word "Drawing" in the title before these last six.
*Original [[Randall]] quote: "'''Current Mood:''' ''Credit to David for this one''"
**In this version he give David credit. In the title text it is more like he blames him for the idea.
*This comic was one of the last 11 comics posted on LiveJournal.
**These 11 comics were [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|posted both on LiveJournal and xkcd]] after the [[xkcd]] site opened on the 1st of January 2006.
**The first six comics were posted on both sites on the same day. But not this one.
*For some reason [[54: Science]] was posted before this one on LiveJournal on the 18th of January 2006, but first a week later on xkcd on the 25th of January 2006.
**So [[51: Malaria]] were released on xkcd the same day as [[54: Science]] came out on LiveJournal on Wednesday the 18th of January 2006 .
**It then came out on LiveJournal three days later on Saturday the 21th of January 2006.
**The release date here on explain xkcd uses the first release date, so that is the one on xkcd.
*After the mishap with [[54: Science]] the next three comics came out on LiveJournal a release day later.
**First with the last comic released on LiveJournal, [[55: Useless]], did the two sites release the same comic on the same day again.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 49]]
[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd]]
[[Category:David]]

Talk:226: Swingset

2015-01-10T01:46:37Z

173.245.50.154:

A glass with water can be momentarily inverted at this moment and the water will not leave the glass!--DrMath 08:56, 16 November 2013 (UTC)

Isn't the point about illustrating that you do in fact have weight even in instences that are written off as weightless? In space you just happen to be falling at the same velocity of your surroundings, maintaining orbit simply by moving fast enough to miss the Earth. On top of which, in a low enough orbit g is still close to 9.8 m/s^2 if only because altitude is insignificant compared to the radius of the Earth.--Passing Stranger 14:10 August 2014 (UTC)

No, you don't have weight in some instances. Weight is dependent upon gravity, so in deep space with no planets or stars close enough to matter you would be weightless. Mass, on the other hand... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.154|173.245.50.154]] 01:46, 10 January 2015 (UTC)

The woman appears to be his mother. {{unsigned|173.245.52.173}}