explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

271: Powers of One

2014-11-30T05:25:25Z

199.27.133.122: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 271
| date = June 6, 2007
| title = Powers of One
| image = powers_of_one.png
| titletext = It's kinda Zen when you think about it, if you don't think too hard.
}}

==Explanation==
This is a parody of the short documentary {{w|Powers of Ten (film)|"Powers of 10"}}: the original one can be found at http://www.powersof10.com/film.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0]

Like in the documentary, the comic features a man and a woman on a blanket, during a picnic. Then, the zoom level of the image should change... but, while in the documentary it changes by 10 times at regular intervals (hence the name "Powers of 10": 1x, 10x, 100x ...), in the comic powers of 1 are used: since every power of 1 is always 1, the image doesn't change at all.

So, a series of identical images is shown.

The title text says that this idea may seem profound, (or "{{w|Zen}}", which is commonly used in American slang to mean "profound") but quickly loses any pretensions to actually being profound when you take a second look.

==Transcript==
:[A sequence, presumably continuing endlessly in both directions, of identical images of a couple lying on a chequered blanket, with a picnic basket, on grass. Each image has a rule at the bottom giving measurements in meters, with the scale in terms of 1 to a particular power. The powers visible are the -1th (part), 0th-2nd, and 3rd (part).]

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

Talk:356: Nerd Sniping

2014-11-18T00:35:40Z

199.27.133.122: Will someone please actually test this instead of mucking about with theories and equations?

Just because the problem contains an infinite series (or parallel) doesn't mean that it's unsolvable. It's tricky, certainly, and getting the "true" answer involves some rather heavy math, but it's not impossible. Indeed, Google shows that it's already been answered. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 20:42, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

I've always had an issue with this problem for one simple reason. In an infinite set of resistors, there is no space to apply a charge, thus there is no resistance. Ohm's law states Resistance = Voltage / I(current). So, in a system where there is no current (creating a divide by zero error), and there is no voltage (no change in electron work capacity, because we don't have a way to excite the electrons, because there is no power) Resistance is incalculable. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:22, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

We live in 3 dimensions, just place a battery above the grid with wires going to the 2 points. --[[Special:Contributions/84.197.34.154|84.197.34.154]] 22:59, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

:Not everybody does... --[[Special:Contributions/85.159.196.14|FlatlandDweller]] 11:08, 15 November 2012 (UTC)

This problem is "unsolvable" only if you try to just use the basic methods for finite networks.
There is a page on this at [http://mathpages.com/home/kmath668/kmath668.htm http://mathpages.com/home/kmath668/kmath668.htm] that reports that the cited points have a resistance of '''4/pi - 1/2''' ohms (.773234... ohms).
The 1/2 ohm resistance between adjacent nodes is actually well known.
[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 05:05, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Solution here as well: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/news/2004-10-13/google/ [[User:Potie15|Potie15]] ([[User talk:Potie15|talk]]) 03:50, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

Nowhere it is said that the problem is unsolvable, just that it is interesting. Of course, the sniping is more effective is the problem is also difficult to solve, because otherwise the victim would get over it quickly. [[User:Dargor17|Dargor17]] ([[User talk:Dargor17|talk]]) 17:47, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

That method for parallel resistors is wrong. You don't divide resistances by the number of paths, you sum the reciprocals and then take the reciprocal of that. The method described only works if every resistor has the same value. While that's true in this problem, it's misleading to pass that off as a method that works for all cases. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.60|173.245.55.60]] 03:32, 1 April 2014 (UTC)
:Good point. I made some slight alterations to clarify that we are assuming the resistors are equal. It seems a better solution than getting into the more complex version of the problem. --[[User:BlueMoonlet|BlueMoonlet]] ([[User talk:BlueMoonlet|talk]]) 12:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

The real question is: why did the physicist cross the road? --[[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 00:53, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

Amazing. From the first comment the discussion is diverted from discussing the comic, to discussing the problem presented in the comic. The commentators have been nerd sniped by a demonstration of nerd sniping. Randall is just that good. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.86|108.162.216.86]] 17:55, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

"Sniping" might also be a pun or have a deliberately dual meaning in this context, referring to both a sniper and a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe_hunt snipe hunt] (do kids still practice the latter?). The former makes sense if Black Hat's purpose is to actually rid the world of physics and math nerds (consistent with his characteristic misanthropy and cynicism), but the latter also fits the theme of merely distracting a nerd with an impossible task, which the title text suggests may have been Randall's motivation for the strip. (On a side note, the Wikipedia article reveals that the terms sniper and snipe hunt have a common origin, which makes twice in the last month it's resolved a long-standing etymological puzzle for me. The other case united the multiple, seemingly unrelated meanings of minute <nowiki>["tiny" vs. time]</nowiki> and second <nowiki>[ordinal vs. time]</nowiki>; see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagesimal#Notation sexagesimal].) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.182|173.245.54.182]] 01:40, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

I've been led to believe that 'minute' means 'tiny amount of time', 'second' is 'secondary tiny amount of time', and , I quote "Real snipe (a family of shorebirds) are difficult to catch for experienced hunters, so much so that the word "sniper" is derived from it to refer to anyone skilled enough to shoot one." from the snipe hunt wiki page. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.4|141.101.104.4]] 23:45, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

Why doesn't someone solder together a thousand one ohm resistors into a grid then use an ohmmeter to measure the resistance? Then repeat with smaller and smaller grids to see if there's any effect on the measurement. If the resistance does not change, or at least doesn't change until the grid size gets quite small, then the "infinite" term in the problem is a 'red herring' to mislead. Pointless, useless, irrelevant etc information in problems is a common tactic for gauging the ability to recognize and reject such data. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.122|199.27.133.122]] 00:35, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

1433: Lightsaber

2014-10-13T20:10:35Z

199.27.133.122:

{{comic
| number = 1433
| date = October 13, 2014
| title = Lightsaber
| image = lightsaber.png
| titletext = A long time in the future, in a galaxy far, far, away, astronomers in the year 2008 sight an unusual gamma-ray burst originating from somewhere far across the universe.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic references a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDnoczxzQyg scene] from the third theatrically-released ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' movie, ''[[wikia:c:starwars:Return of the Jedi|Return of the Jedi]]'', wherein [[wikia:c:starwars:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] confronts his son, [[wikia:c:starwars:Luke skywalker|Luke Skywalker]], who had recently surrendered to [[wikia:c:starwars:Galactic Empire|Imperial]] soldiers. In the movie Vader notes that Luke Skywalker has constructed [[wikia:c:starwars:Luke Skywalker's lightsaber|a new lightsaber]] following the loss of his [[wikia:c:starwars:Luke skywalker#Lightsabers|original]] during their [[wikia:c:starwars:Duel on Cloud City|duel on Cloud City]] (Luke Skywalker's original lightsaber actually having been Anakin Skywalker's second). It makes a joke on the fact that a real laser would not have any way of stopping, and would therefore continue forever - something the ''Star Wars'' writers have been trying to justify for decades. Because Vader slightly tilts the active lightsaber, the beam ends up slicing straight through the hull of a large section of the Death Star (even though that's not where Luke and Vader were standing in the original movie). Hull breaches are a popular trope in science-fiction, despite being almost entirely absent from the Star Wars films.

The title text makes allusion to {{w|GRB_080319B|GRB 080319B}}, an unusual gamma ray burst in 2008, visible to the human eye. The {{w|Star_Wars_(film)|Star Wars}} {{w|Star_Wars_opening_crawl|opening crawl}} starts with the text "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...", so light emitted then and there could end up in our galaxy in our time.

Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader have had a similar conversation before in [[1397: Luke]].

==Transcript==
:[Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader are talking. Vader holds the handle of a powered-off lightsaber.]
:Vader: '''I see you have constructed a new lightsaber.'''
:[Vader turns it on. The beam of the lightsaber continues upward out of the frame.]
:Lightsaber: Snap-Hisss
:[Vader looks up toward where the beam is pointing.]
:[Vader looks back at Luke.]
:Vader: '''Where does it end?'''
:Luke: Doesn't.
:Intercom (out of view): ''Hull breach all along sector five!!''
{{comic discussion}}

1424: En Garde

2014-10-01T22:27:57Z

199.27.133.122: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1424
| date = September 22, 2014
| title = En Garde
| image = en_garde.png
| titletext = 'Touch!' 'Nope, I sighed and stared at you with resignation, so I regained emotional right-of-way.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|How guarded is Cueball really?}}

The left participant says "en garde!", a {{w|fencing}} call literally meaning "be on your guard" (from French). The call is used to order the participants to take their position, in a similar way to the “on your mark” command in racing. The other two commands are ''“[tireurs, êtes-vous] prêts?”'' (“[combattants, are you] ready?”) and ''“allez”'' (“go”). The right participant takes this to mean being "guarded" emotionally.

"What are you thinking?" is a common question used to deepen a conversation, typically between close friends or lovers. The person being asked may take a moment to consider what they are thinking and whether or not it would be appropriate to share with the asker. If the person being asked is emotionally comfortable with the asker, they may answer immediately without fear of judgment or ridicule. Such a level of comfort between two people generally takes a long time to develop.

The title text takes this further with the "touch" call, used to indicate to a participant that they have been "touched" by their opponent's blade, and therefore the attacker receives a point. The right participant counters this claim by saying his emotions have "priority" (or right-of-way), implying he was blocking out ("parrying") the touching feelings. {{w|Fencing practice and techniques|Fencing right-of-way rules}} can make a move invalid when another move has priority, but generally refer to physical actions on the participant's part.

==Transcript==
[Two fencers are standing together as if to fight]
:Fencer 1: ''En Garde!''
:Fencer 2: Ok.
:Fencer 2: No matter how long we know each other, when you ask "What are you thinking," I will always pause before answering.
:Fencer 1: Maybe a little ''less'' guarded?
:Fencer 2: No way. I've been hurt before.

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

124: Blogofractal

2014-09-17T03:21:45Z

199.27.133.122: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 124
| date = July 5, 2006
| title = Blogofractal
| image = blogofractal.png
| titletext = Edward Tufte's 'The Visual Display of Quantitative Information' is a fantastic book, and should be required reading for anyone in either the sciences or graphic design.
}}

{{incomplete|Many of the memes need explanations.}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Blogosphere}} is a blanket term for all the blogs on the internet, that link together and share information to the extent that the term "blogosphere" arose to describe the collective of blogs. This comic proposes a new structure for defining all blogs by: a {{w|fractal}} of blogs.

{{w|Edward Tufte}} is a statistician who worked on data visualization and wrote books on the subject, including "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", as mentioned in the title text.

{| class="wikitable"
! Meme !! Explanation
|-
|TripMaster Monkey says || {{w|Tripmaster Monkey}} is a book by {{w|Maxine Hong Kingston}} about Wittman Ah Sing, an american graduate of chinese heritage. 'Monkey says' may be based on the saying 'Monkey See, Monkey Do'.
|-
|118th Post!! || A riff on the "first post" phenomenon.
|-
|Wikiconstitution! || The Onion wrote [http://www.theonion.com/articles/congress-abandons-wikiconstitution,5026/ a 2005 article] about putting the {{w|Constitution}} on a Wiki to allow public editing.
|-
|OMG || Common acronym for "Oh My God", often used in messaging.
|-
|DeCSS || {{w|DeCSS}} was a piece of code for decrypting DVDs. There was a significant effort to prevent this code from being distributed, which triggered the {{w|Streisand effect}}.
|-
|Casemod your Boyfriend!! || {{w|Case modding}} is the modification of a computer chassis (or less commonly other devices), usually to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Casemodding a boyfriend would therefore attempt to make him more attractive.
|-
|FLICKR || A well known [https://www.flickr.com/ photo sharing site].
|-
|They're saying on Kos that || The {{w|Daily Kos}} is a web blog which publishes news and opinions about american politics, from a liberal standpoint. Alternatively, {{w|Kos}} is a greek island and popular holiday destination.
|-
|http://slashdot.org/articl || {{w|Slashdot}} is a technology-related news website frequented by geeks.
|-
|tagCloud || A {{w|Tag Cloud}} is a visual representation of keyword meta-data, usually with font size increasing with importance.
|-
|Cory Doctorow is a little upset about copyright law. || This is an understatement. {{w|Cory Doctorow}} is a strong activist in this area.
|-
|Hey guys what if Google is evil?!? || {{w|Don't be evil}} is the corporate motto of Google, however the sheer quantity of data held by Google is a somewhat scary thought. A number of conspiracy theories exist that [[792|Google is evil]], bent on world domination, run by the government/CIA/FBI/illuminati/aliens.
|-
|I'll sleep with you for a FreeIpods deal. || This is a parody on how desperate people are in getting either iPhones (extremely popular yet expensive smartphones from Apple) or getting laid. (Coincidentally, years later, someone tried to sell her virginity in the exchange of an iPhone: http://www.techinasia.com/chinese-girl-sells-virginity-iphone4/ )
|-
|FirstPsot!! || Some users on sites that accept comments will race to write the first comment (usually saying something like "First post!" or some variation thereof).
|-
|Snakes on an I don't Even Care Anymore || There were many jokes about {{w|Snakes on a Plane}} where a supposedly new movie to come out was named "Snakes on a ______". Clearly this person is tired of those jokes. See also [[107: Snakes on a Plane! 2]]
|-
|KiwiWiki || A New Zealand (Kiwi) related wiki exists at [http://kiwiwiki.co.nz kiwiwiki.co.nz], and this is likely included because Kiwi is an anagram of Wiki.
|-
|CSS || Reference to {{w|Cascading Style Sheets}}.
|-
|Comments (0) || The number of comments is zero, sometimes indicating that nobody cares.
|-
|Blogotesseract || This is a joke on the word "blogosphere". This comic contains many such jokes where the word sphere is replaced by some other object.
|-
|¡play games! || One of the most frequent ads are those that mention "Play free games!". While these sites are real, they tend to be collections of Flash-based games taken from other sites from the Internet.
|-
|[RSS icon.] || {{w|RSS}} is a standard for web feeds.
|-
|is AYB retro yet? || The shoot-'em-up game "Zero Wing" on SEGA's Genesis console features an English translation so terrible it has long been a source of memetic humor. The line in question is, "'''A'''ll '''Y'''our '''B'''ase are belong to us!"
|-
|Google Google Google Apple Google Goog || ...a reference to how Apple is going into a prominence that rivals the ubiquitousness of Google, perhaps?
|-
|Cheney totally shot a dude!!! || A reference to the {{w|Dick Cheney hunting incident}}.
|-
|Watch this toddler get owned by a squirrel!!! || An example of clickbait, usually a sensationalized headline which links to a page or video which is either of passing interesting or none at all. 'Funny' videos of animals and babies/toddlers tend to spread like wildfire online.
|-
|Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers || A reference to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE a widely circulated video], captured at a developers' conference, featuring a perspiring {{w|Steve Ballmer}} chanting the word "developers".
|-
|I installed a Mac Mini inside ANOTHER Mac Mini! || This is a reference to Hackintosh, that is, installing a Macintosh operating system in a Windows-designed machine. In this case, installing a Mac Mini inside another is a relatively trivial, albeit meta, task.
|-
|Check out this vid of Jon Stewart || {{w|Jon Stewart}} is the host of ''{{w|The Daily Show}}'', a late-night political comedy/satire program.
|-
|9-11 <-> Trent Lott! || This could refer to the conspiracy theories regarding the {{w|September 11 attacks|incident from September 11, 2001}}, the date when the Twin Towers of the United States of America fell. While the popular story is that Arab/Muslim terrorists deliberately crashed their planes into the towers with the purpose of killing infidels, the theory tells that the government ordered the intentional demolition of the towers. In this post, the poster linked the September 11 incident to {{w|Trent Lott}} (a former US Senator).
|-
|Web 7.1 || This is a parody of {{w|Web 2.0}}, a concept in which content from the Internet is provided beyond the webpage. Despite its name, Web 2.0 does not really involve making an entirely new series of tubes or updating the existing ones, a point that the post parodies.
|-
|Kryptonite™ locks vulnerable to "keys!" || In about 2004, it was demonstrated that some tubular pin tumbler locks of the diameter used on Kryptonite locks could easily be opened with the shaft of an inexpensive Bic ballpoint pen of matching diameter, and this was widely reported.
|-
|Interesting post! Check out my blog, it has useful info on CARBON MONOXIDE LITIGATION || An example of a spam comment found where users can comment.
|-
|FIREFLY!! || Reference to {{w|Firefly (TV series)|Firefly}}, a US television series which was cancelled after only 14 episodes. Despite it's short run, it amassed a strong fanbase which used internet petitions and blogs to help fuel the push for the film {{w|Serenity_(film)|Serenity}}.
|-
|HELP ME || This is a simple post where someone is requesting help in hopes that the readers of the blog would bring solutions.
|-
|Engadget || [http://engadget.com Engadget] is a technology-related website.
|-
|Boing Boing || Reference to collaborative blog site [http://boingboing.net/ Boing Boing].
|-
|Gizmodo || [http://gizmodo.com Gizmodo] is a technology-related website hosted by Gawker.
|-
|MAKE Blog: DIY baby || This refers to various DIY (do it yourself) blogs. In this case, the blog post would refer to how to make a baby, which, most likely, would lead into pornographic territory. This post might also refer to the "How is babby formed?" meme.
|-
|My friend has a band!! || Blogs and other social media are common tools used by people to promote their (and their friend's) bands.
|-
|Jon released an exploit in the protocol for meeting girls. || Exploits bypass hardware/software security, permitting cracking or simple extension of the current capabilities of the hardware/software. (One example: an exploit in video-game consoles would permit someone to play homebrew applications or pirated games among other things.) In this case, the exploit went beyond the technological, permitting the exploiter to meet girls.
|-
|Internets! || "Internets" is a memetic version of saying "Internet".
|-
|Howard Dean? || {{w|Howard Dean}} was Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009, among other important positions.
|-
|So I hear there's a hurricane. || Blogging shut-ins can be hilariously out of touch with the outside world. Given the date of this comic (2006 was a slow year for hurricanes) the clueless blogger is probably asking about 2005's {{w|Hurricane Katrina}}, perhaps the most devastating hurricane to hit New Orleans.
|-
|We should elect this dude! || People have strong political opinions reflected in the Internet.
|-
|Google Maps is da best!! || Goggle Maps is a world mapping service from Google. "Da" is a common intentional misspelling of "the".
|-
|Moderation: +1 Sassy || A joke on Slashdot's moderating mechanism. Each post can get a moderation that consists of a score (+1/-1) and a reason (Insightful/Funny/Troll/etc.) "Sassy" is not one of the standard reasons.
|-
|RSS! || {{w|RSS}} again.
|-
|A-list || the most popular bloggers in the blogosphere are referred to as A-list, following a similar designation for actors. Also, possibly a reference to "A List Apart", a blog & publishing company focused mainly on emerging web technologies.
|-
|<3 || Emoticon for a heart.
|-
|Trackable URL? || This could refer to either marketing or security .
|-
|I shot a man in Reno check it out on YouTube! || The first half of this line comes from Jonny Cash's song "Folsom Prison Blues", which is "But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die". The second half turns it around, because people often say "I did X, watch it on YouTube".
|-
|HEY LOOK ROBOTS! || Both real-world experiments with robotics and science fiction stories involving robots are popular on the internet.
|-
|Net Neutrality! || {{w|Net neutrality}} is a hot topic. It is the principle that ISPs and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally. There is great debate as to what level this should be enforced or not, and whether it should be regulated.
|-
|Friends Only. || Personal blogging and social media websites typically have privacy settings that allow you to control who can see the posts. The "Friends Only" setting would prevent anyone that the user has not granted the "Friend" status to from seeing the content.
|-
|Dupe! || A common note if the same thing gets posted twice on some forum (Short for "duplicate".). There are two instances of this in the comic, therefore one of them is a dupe itself.
|-
|AJAX? || AJAX is a generic brand found in Mickey Mouse Works cartoons. It is also a JavaScript-based web technology enabling complex user interfaces
|-
|COMPLY || This is likely a reference to science fiction stories where a race of cyborgs or collection of robots try to assimilate, force compliance upon, or otherwise enslave all life in the universe.
|-
|Cowboy Neal || one of the original Slashdot editors
|-
|Blogodrome || This is a parody on the word "blogosphere."
|-
|Hey look I got Linux running on my tonsils! || People would often brag about getting linux to run on strange hardware, from toasters to esoteric computers. This is taken to the ridiculous extreme of tonsils.
|-
|Look alive, blogonauts! || Possibly a comment from a moderator of a dying blog attempting to motivate their users into generating more content.
|-
|Cafepress cockrings || Cafepress is a website which allows users to put pictures/logos on just about anything (t-shirts, mugs, etc). Currently, however, cockrings are not available.
|-
|BOOBIES!! || Another reference to the "First Post" phenomenon. The popular news site FARK automatically changes entries of "First post" to "BOOBIES" and modifies the timestamp to be many hours in the future.
|-
|MIA || "Missing in Action", a term applied to people who fought in wars yet were never found.
|-
|A Beowulf Cluster... of BLOGS!! || A {{w|Beowulf cluster}} is a computer cluster of computers networked together resulting in a high-performance parallel computing cluster. For a while, it was a fad to get one running on various strange platforms. This is a facetious example.
|-
|SPOILER ALERT || Often stated on the top of a post that contained spoilers. (See {{w|Spoiler (media)}}.)
|-
|You have been eaten by a Grue. || This is a reference to the first of the Zork games. When the protagonist enters a house, the protagonist would quickly enter a dark corridor. Attempting to travel without some form of light would lead to the message "You have been eaten by a Grue," ending the game. Said message became a meme.
|-
|Ruby on a monorail || A riff on the name {{w|Ruby on Rails}}, a common platform for web applications.
|-
|Lesbians! || Homosexual eroticism is rather popular on the internet, doubly so with the opposite gender (i.e. lesbians with straight men).
|-
|DNF Released! || "Duke Nukem Forever", a memetically long overdue sequel to the popular first person shooter video game "Duke Nukem", was still unreleased at the time this comic was published; the blog is either a hoax of some kind or yet another jab at the long development cycle.
|-
|Steampunk || Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that involves the blending of futuristic technology with Victorian Era aesthetics and materials.
|-
|BLAG || "Blag" is a memetic form of "blog".
|-
|PONIES! || A pony is a short horse. This could also refer to the Hasbro line of "My Little Pony" toys, popular with young girls. 
|-
|Xeni found some porn! || In some roleplaying games, whenever a character finds something, the message "[name] found [item]" appears. In this case, Xeni found pornography. Xeni probably refers to Xeni Jardin, a BoingBoing editor
|-
|IRONY || This could be a reference to criticisms that the Internet doesn't know what "irony" means.
|-
|LIARS! || This could be a reference to a recurring comment indicating that the original post is fabricated.
|-
|Linux on Rails! || Another riff on the name {{w|Ruby on Rails}}.
|-
|Blogocube || This is just a parody of the name "blogosphere".
|-
|del.icio.us! || Del.icio.us (this post making a pun on the word "delicious!", obviously) is a bookmark-sharing service. After complaints that Yahoo ate and killed the service, it was sold traded around for a while; it still exists, but under new software and management.
|-
|404 || "Web page not found", probably the most common error gotten in a web browser: {{w|HTTP 404}}.
|-
|o.O || An emoticon indicating confusion.
|-
|Don't slam the source when you close it. || The original phrase (generally spoken from parents to children) is "Don't slam the door when you close it." This twists it around to refer to {{w|Closed source software}}.
|}

==Transcript==
:From the makers of the Blogosphere, Blogocube, and Blogodrome comes
:the Blogofractal

:[A large rectangle subdivided into rectangles in a fractal pattern, most with a phrase or word inside.]
:[Mostly left to right from top-left corner.]
:TripMaster Monkey says
:118th Post!!
:Wikiconstitution!
:OMG
:DeCSS
:Casemod your Boyfriend!!
:FLICKR
:They're saying on Kos that
:<nowiki>http://slashdot.org/articl</nowiki>
:tagCloud
:Cory Doctorow is a little upset about copyright law.
:Hey guys what if Google is evil?!?
:I'll sleep with you for a FreeIpods deal.
:FirstPsot!!
:Snakes on an I don't Even Care Anymore
:KiwiWiki
:CSS
:Comments (0)
:Blogotesseract
:¡play games!
:[RSS icon.]
:is AYB retro yet?
:Google Google Google Apple Google Goog
:Cheney totally shot a dude!!!
:Watch this toddler get owned by a squirrel!!!
:Developers
:Developers
:Developers
:Developers
:I installed a Mac Mini inside ANOTHER Mac Mini!
:Check out this vid of Jon Stewart
:9-11 <-> Trent Lott!
:Web 7.1
:Kryptonite™ locks vulnerable to "keys!"
:Interesting post! Check out my blog, it has useful info on CARBON MONOXIDE LITIGATION
:FIREFLY!!
:HELP ME
:Engadget
:Boing Boing
:Gizmodo
:MAKE Blog: DIY baby
:My friend has a band!!
:Jon released an exploit in the protocol for meeting girls.
:Internets!
:Howard Dean?
:So I hear there's a hurricane.
:We should elect this dude!
:Google Maps is da best!!
:Moderation: +1 Sassy
:RSS!
:A-list
:<3
:Trackable URL?
:I shot a man in Reno check it out on YouTube!
:HEY LOOK ROBOTS!
:Net Neutrality!
:Friends Only.
:Dupe!
:AJAX?
:COMPLY
:Cowboy Neal
:Blogodrome
:Hey look I got Linux running on my tonsils!
:Look alive, blogonauts!
:Cafepress cockrings
:BOOBIES!!
:MIA
:A Beowulf Cluster... of BLOGS!!
:SPOILER ALERT
:Dupe!
:You have been eaten by a Grue.
:Ruby on a monorail
:Lesbians!
:DNF Released!
:Steampunk
:BLAG
:PONIES!
:Xeni found some porn!
:IRONY
:LIARS!
:Linux on Rails!
:Blogocube
:del.icio.us!
:404
:o.O
:Don't slam the source when you close it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]

124: Blogofractal

2014-09-15T18:02:36Z

199.27.133.122: /* Explanation */ MLP:FiM was NOT released when this comic was made

{{comic
| number = 124
| date = July 5, 2006
| title = Blogofractal
| image = blogofractal.png
| titletext = Edward Tufte's 'The Visual Display of Quantitative Information' is a fantastic book, and should be required reading for anyone in either the sciences or graphic design.
}}

{{incomplete|Many of the memes need explanations.}}

==Explanation==
The {{w|Blogosphere}} is a blanket term for all the blogs on the internet, that link together and share information to the extent that the term "blogosphere" arose to describe the collective of blogs. This comic proposes a new structure for defining all blogs by: a {{w|fractal}} of blogs.

{{w|Edward Tufte}} is a statistician who worked on data visualization and wrote books on the subject, including "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", as mentioned in the title text.

{| class="wikitable"
! Meme !! Explanation
|-
|TripMaster Monkey says || {{w|Tripmaster Monkey}} is a book by {{w|Maxine Hong Kingston}} about Wittman Ah Sing, an american graduate of chinese heritage. 'Monkey says' may be based on the saying 'Monkey See, Monkey Do'.
|-
|118th Post!! || A riff on the "first post" phenomenon.
|-
|Wikiconstitution! ||
|-
|OMG || Common acronym for "Oh My God", often used in messaging.
|-
|DeCSS || {{w|DeCSS}} was a piece of code for decrypting DVDs. There was a significant effort to prevent this code from being distributed, which triggered the {{w|Streisand effect}}.
|-
|Casemod your Boyfriend!! || {{w|Case modding}} is the modification of a computer chassis (or less commonly other devices), usually to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Casemodding a boyfriend would therefore attempt to make him more attractive.
|-
|FLICKR || A well known [https://www.flickr.com/ photo sharing site].
|-
|They're saying on Kos that || The {{w|Daily Kos}} is a web blog which publishes news and opinions about american politics, from a liberal standpoint. Alternatively, {{w|Kos}} is a greek island and popular holiday destination.
|-
|http://slashdot.org/articl || {{w|Slashdot}} is a technology-related news website frequented by geeks.
|-
|tagCloud || A {{w|Tag Cloud}} is a visual representation of keyword meta-data, usually with font size increasing with importance.
|-
|Cory Doctorow is a little upset about copyright law. || This is an understatement. {{w|Cory Doctorow}} is a strong activist in this area.
|-
|Hey guys what if Google is evil?!? || {{w|Don't be evil}} is the corporate motto of Google, however the sheer quantity of data held by Google is a somewhat scary thought. A number of conspiracy theories exist that Google is evil, bent on world domination, run by the government/CIA/FBI/illuminati/aliens.
|-
|I'll sleep with you for a FreeIpods deal. || This is a parody on how desperate people are in getting either iPhones (extremely popular yet expensive smartphones from Apple) or getting laid. (Coincidentally, years later, someone tried to sell her virginity in the exchange of an iPhone: http://www.techinasia.com/chinese-girl-sells-virginity-iphone4/ )
|-
|FirstPsot!! || Some users on sites that accept comments will race to write the first comment (usually saying something like "First post!" or some variation thereof).
|-
|Snakes on an I don't Even Care Anymore || There were many jokes about {{w|Snakes on a Plane}} where a supposedly new movie to come out was named "Snakes on a ______". Clearly this person is tired of those jokes. See also [[107: Snakes on a Plane! 2]]
|-
|KiwiWiki || A New Zealand (Kiwi) related wiki exists at [http://kiwiwiki.co.nz kiwiwiki.co.nz], and this is likely included because Kiwi is an anagram of Wiki.
|-
|CSS || Reference to {{w|Cascading Style Sheets}}.
|-
|Comments (0) || The number of comments is zero, sometimes indicating that nobody cares.
|-
|Blogotesseract || This is a joke on the word "blogosphere".
|-
|¡play games! || One of the most frequent ads are those that mention "Play free games!". While these sites are real, they tend to be collections of Flash-based games taken from other sites from the Internet.
|-
|[RSS icon.] || {{w|RSS}} is a standard for web feeds.
|-
|is AYB retro yet? || The shoot-'em-up game "Zero Wing" on SEGA's Genesis console features an English translation so terrible it has long been a source of memetic humor. The line in question is, "'''A'''ll '''Y'''our '''B'''ase are belong to us!"
|-
|Google Google Google Apple Google Goog || ...a reference to how Apple is going into a prominence that rivals the ubiquitousness of Google, perhaps?
|-
|Cheney totally shot a dude!!! || A reference to {{w|Dick Cheney hunting incident}}.
|-
|Watch this toddler get owned by a squirrel!!! || An example of clickbait, usually a sensationalized headline which links to a page or video which is either of passing interesting or none at all. 'Funny' videos of animals and babies/toddlers tend to spread like wildfire online.
|-
|Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers || A reference to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE a widely circulated video], captured at a developers' conference, features a perspiring Ballmer chanting the word "developers"
|-
|I installed a Mac Mini inside ANOTHER Mac Mini! || This is a reference to Hackintosh, that is, installing a Macintosh operating system in a Windows-designed machine. In this case, installing a Mac Mini inside another is a relatively trivial, albeit meta, task.
|-
|Check out this vid of Jon Stewart || Jon Stewart is the host of ''The Daily Show'', a late-night political comedy/satire program.
|-
|9-11 <-> Trent Lott! || This could refer to the conspiracy theories regarding the incident from September 11, 2001, the date when the Twin Towers of the United States of America fell. While the popular story is that Arab/Muslim terrorists deliberately crashed their planes into the towers with the purpose of killing infidels, the theory tells that the government ordered the intentional demolition of the towers. In this post, the poster linked the September 11 incident to Trent Lott.
|-
|Web 7.1 || This is a parody of Web 2.0, a concept in which content from the Internet is provided beyond the webpage. Despite its name, Web 2.0 does not really involve making an entirely new series of tubes or updating the existing ones, a point that the post parodies.
|-
|Kryptonite™ locks vulnerable to "keys!" || In about 2004, it was demonstrated that some tubular pin tumbler locks of the diameter used on Kryptonite locks could easily be opened with the shaft of an inexpensive Bic ballpoint pen of matching diameter, and this was widely reported.
|-
|Interesting post! Check out my blog, it has useful info on CARBON MONOXIDE LITIGATION || An example of a spam comment found where users can comment.
|-
|FIREFLY!! || Reference to {{w|Firefly (TV series)}}
|-
|HELP ME || This is a simple post where someone is requesting help in hopes that the readers of the blog would bring solutions.
|-
|Engadget || Endgaget is a technology-related website.
|-
|Boing Boing || Reference to collaborative blog site [http://boingboing.net/ Boing Boing].
|-
|Gizmodo || Gizmodo is a technology-related website hosted by Gawker.
|-
|MAKE Blog: DIY baby || This refers to various DIY blogs. In this case, the blog post would refer to how to make a baby, which, most likely, would lead into pornographic territory. This post might also refer to the "How is babby formed?" meme.
|-
|My friend has a band!! ||
|-
|Jon released an exploit in the protocol for meeting girls. || Exploits bypass hardware/software security, permitting cracking or simple extension of the current capabilities of the hardware/software. (One example: an exploit in video-game consoles would permit someone to play homebrew applications or pirated games among other things.) In this case, the exploit went beyond the technological, permitting the exploiter to meet girls.
|-
|Internets! || "Internets" is a memetic version of saying "Internet".
|-
|Howard Dean? || Howard Dean was Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009, among other important positions.
|-
|So I hear there's a hurricane. || Blogging shut-ins can be hilariously out of touch with the outside world. Given the date of this comic (2006 was a slow year for hurricanes) the clueless blogger is probably asking about 2005's {{w|Hurricane Katrina}}, perhaps the most devastating hurricane to hit New Orleans.
|-
|We should elect this dude! || People have strong political opinions reflected in the Internet.
|-
|Google Maps is da best!! || Goggle Maps is a world mapping service from Google.
|-
|Moderation: +1 Sassy || A joke on Slashdot's moderating mechanism. Each post can get a moderation that consists of a score (+1/-1) and a reason (Insightful/Funny/Troll/etc.) "Sassy" is not one of the standard reasons.
|-
|RSS! || {{w|RSS}} again.
|-
|A-list || the most popular bloggers in the blogosphere are referred to as A-list, following a similar designation for actors. Also, possibly a reference to "A List Apart", a blog & publishing company focused mainly on emerging web technologies.
|-
|<3 || Emoticon for a heart.
|-
|Trackable URL? || This could refer to either marketing or security .
|-
|I shot a man in Reno check it out on YouTube! || The first half of this line comes from Jonny Cash's song "Folsom Prison Blues", which is "But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die". The second half turns it around, because people often say "I did X, watch it on YouTube".
|-
|HEY LOOK ROBOTS! ||
|-
|Net Neutrality! || {{w|Net neutrality}} is a hot topic. It is the principle that ISPs and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally. There is great debate as to what level this should be enforced or not, and whether it should be regulated.
|-
|Friends Only. ||
|-
|Dupe! || A common note if the same thing gets posted twice on some forum. (Short for "duplicate".)
|-
|AJAX? || AJAX is a generic brand found in Mickey Mouse Works cartoons. It is also a JavaScript-based web technology enabling complex user interfaces
|-
|COMPLY ||
|-
|Cowboy Neal || one of the original Slashdot editors
|-
|Blogodrome || This is a parody on the word "blogosphere."
|-
|Hey look I got Linux running on my tonsils! || People would often brag about getting linux to run on strange hardware, from toasters to esoteric computers. This is taken to the ridiculous extreme of tonsils.
|-
|Look alive, blogonauts! ||
|-
|Cafepress cockrings || This refers to the "Prince Albert" piercing.
|-
|BOOBIES!! || Another reference to the "First Post" phenomenon. The popular news site FARK automatically changes entries of "First post" to "BOOBIES" and modifies the timestamp to be many hours in the future.
|-
|MIA || "Missing in Action", a term applied to people who fought in wars yet were never found
|-
|A Beowulf Cluster... of BLOGS!! || A {{w|Beowulf cluster}} is a computer cluster of computers networked together resulting in a high-performance parallel computing cluster. For a while, it was a fad to get one running on various strange platforms. This is a facetious example.
|-
|SPOILER ALERT || Often stated on the top of a post that contained spoilers. (See {{w|Spoiler (media)}}.)
|-
|Dupe! || This is the second instance of this, and therefore a dupe itself.
|-
|You have been eaten by a Grue. || This is a reference to the first of the Zork games. When the protagonist enters a house, the protagonist would quickly enter a dark corridor. Attempting to travel without some form of light would lead to the message "You have been eaten by a Grue," ending the game. Said message became a meme.
|-
|Ruby on a monorail || A riff on the name {{w|Ruby on Rails}}, a common platform for web applications.
|-
|Lesbians! || Homosexual eroticism is rather popular on the internet, doubly so with the opposite gender (i.e. lesbians with straight men).
|-
|DNF Released! || "Duke Nukem Forever", a memetically long overdue sequel to the popular first person shooter video game "Duke Nukem", was still unreleased at the time this comic was published; the blog is either a hoax of some kind or yet another jab at the long development cycle.
|-
|Steampunk || Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that involves imagining futuristic technology imagined at the Victorian era.
|-
|BLAG || "Blag" is a memetic form of "blog".
|-
|PONIES! || A pony is a short horse. This could also refer to the Hasbro line of "My Little Pony" toys, popular with young girls. 
|-
|Xeni found some porn! || In some roleplaying games, whenever a character finds something, the message "[name] found [item]" appears. In this case, Xeni found pornography. Xeni probably refers to Xeni Jardin, a BoingBoing editor
|-
|IRONY || This could be a reference to criticisms that the Internet doesn't know what "irony" means.
|-
|LIARS! ||
|-
|Linux on Rails! || Another riff on the name {{w|Ruby on Rails}}.
|-
|Blogocube || This is just a parody of the name "blogosphere".
|-
|del.icio.us! || Del.icio.us (this post making a pun on the word "delicious!", obviously) is a bookmark-sharing service. Currently, Yahoo ate and killed the service.
|-
|404 || "Web page not found", probably the most common error gotten in a web browser: {{w|HTTP 404}}.
|-
|o.O || An emoticon indicating confusion.
|-
|Don't slam the source when you close it. || The original phrase (generally spoken from parents to children) is "Don't slam the door when you close it." This twists it around to refer to {{w|Closed source software}}.
|}

==Transcript==
:From the makers of the Blogosphere, Blogocube, and Blogodrome comes
:the Blogofractal

:[A large rectangle subdivided into rectangles in a fractal pattern, most with a phrase or word inside.]
:[Mostly left to right from top-left corner.]
:TripMaster Monkey says
:118th Post!!
:Wikiconstitution!
:OMG
:DeCSS
:Casemod your Boyfriend!!
:FLICKR
:They're saying on Kos that
:<nowiki>http://slashdot.org/articl</nowiki>
:tagCloud
:Cory Doctorow is a little upset about copyright law.
:Hey guys what if Google is evil?!?
:I'll sleep with you for a FreeIpods deal.
:FirstPsot!!
:Snakes on an I don't Even Care Anymore
:KiwiWiki
:CSS
:Comments (0)
:Blogotesseract
:¡play games!
:[RSS icon.]
:is AYB retro yet?
:Google Google Google Apple Google Goog
:Cheney totally shot a dude!!!
:Watch this toddler get owned by a squirrel!!!
:Developers
:Developers
:Developers
:Developers
:I installed a Mac Mini inside ANOTHER Mac Mini!
:Check out this vid of Jon Stewart
:9-11 <-> Trent Lott!
:Web 7.1
:Kryptonite™ locks vulnerable to "keys!"
:Interesting post! Check out my blog, it has useful info on CARBON MONOXIDE LITIGATION
:FIREFLY!!
:HELP ME
:Engadget
:Boing Boing
:Gizmodo
:MAKE Blog: DIY baby
:My friend has a band!!
:Jon released an exploit in the protocol for meeting girls.
:Internets!
:Howard Dean?
:So I hear there's a hurricane.
:We should elect this dude!
:Google Maps is da best!!
:Moderation: +1 Sassy
:RSS!
:A-list
:<3
:Trackable URL?
:I shot a man in Reno check it out on YouTube!
:HEY LOOK ROBOTS!
:Net Neutrality!
:Friends Only.
:Dupe!
:AJAX?
:COMPLY
:Cowboy Neal
:Blogodrome
:Hey look I got Linux running on my tonsils!
:Look alive, blogonauts!
:Cafepress cockrings
:BOOBIES!!
:MIA
:A Beowulf Cluster... of BLOGS!!
:SPOILER ALERT
:Dupe!
:You have been eaten by a Grue.
:Ruby on a monorail
:Lesbians!
:DNF Released!
:Steampunk
:BLAG
:PONIES!
:Xeni found some porn!
:IRONY
:LIARS!
:Linux on Rails!
:Blogocube
:del.icio.us!
:404
:o.O
:Don't slam the source when you close it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Talk:124: Blogofractal

2014-09-14T23:44:11Z

199.27.133.122:

Strange - this explanation seems significantly less complete than [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]] and not significantly less complex - anyone care to weight in on that thought? -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 13:31, 12 May 2014 (UTC)

:[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]] picks the daily incomplete explanation randomly from the [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|list of incomplete explanations]]. So, each page has a fair chance of getting picked, but they don't necessarily have a rating of "needs most help" to "doesn't need much help" that is used to pick. Feel free to work on other explanations. The banner is just to help new users who want to jump in and get their hands dirty but don't know where to start. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 19:29, 12 May 2014 (UTC)

Ponies is *not* a reference to My Little Pony (or at least, it cannot be one to the "Friendship is Magic" incarnation.) This comic is from 2006. FIM didn't debut until 2010. Either Randall has a time machine (a possibility one cannot, of course, completely exclude), or the reference is to something earlier. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.122|199.27.133.122]] 23:44, 14 September 2014 (UTC)

897: Elevator Inspection

2014-09-13T18:09:20Z

199.27.133.122: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 897
| date = May 11, 2011
| title = Elevator Inspection
| image = elevator inspection.png
| titletext = Even governmental elevator inspectors get bored halfway through asking where the building office is.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|How's this rewrite look?}}
In the United States, all elevators are subject to building codes and must be inspected on a somewhat-regular basis by city officials. After the inspector runs his rounds, the elevator's passing grade is noted in a certificate which will usually be dumped in a filing cabinet in the building office where the owner can forget about it, and a placard is given to the elevator letting the passengers know where the certificate is (usually the aforementioned building office).

This comic is portraying a scenario which never happens. No one is actually interested in actually seeing the elevator's certificate, note gets this excited about going to a building office. So, as the caption humorously suggests: many elevators start using the placards for elevators that have not been inspected. No one cares enough to go to the building office and search the files for the certification. And as the title text says, even inspectors themselves get bored before they can get to the building office.

The moral of this comic is if you see an elevator with a notice that says that the "elevator inspection certificate is on file", you do not really know whether the notice is true, and so building owners use the certificates as substitutes for the bother and expense of actually getting their elevators inspected.

==Transcript==
:[Three people in an elevator, one reading a posted sign.]
:Cueball: It says here that the elevator inspection certificate is on file in the building office.
:Friend: Whoa, cool! Let's go look at it!
:Ponytail: That sounds fun!

:Industry tip: Building owners know this never happens. Those signs mark elevators which have never been inspected.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Sarcasm]]
[[Category:Elevators]]

1401: New

2014-09-11T04:17:02Z

199.27.133.122: /* The comic */

{{comic
| number = 1401
| date = July 30, 2014
| title = New
| image = new.png
| titletext = The nice thing about headcannnons is that it's really easy to get other people to believe in them.
}}

==Explanation==
===Canon===
In fiction, "''{{w|Canon_(fiction)|canon}}''" describes the set of works about a fictional universe that are collectively recognized as having authenticity or being "official". These works collectively define the fictional universe. Other works may be written about fictional universes which are "non-canonical" or "apocrypha". Generally, works created or authorized by the original author(s) or creator(s) of a fictional universe are considered canon while works by others may be considered apocrypha. In other cases, the medium may be a determining factor (e.g. novels or reference books set in a fictional universe which originates in a television show or film may not be considered canon, although these are often also not created by the creators of the show or film). In some cases, the manner in which canonical works are distinguished from apocrypha is not universally agreed among a fanbase. A fiction's canon may be defined by the creators themselves, or determined by fans.

An example is {{w|Star Trek canon}}: Most fans agree that the {{w|Star Trek#Television series|five live-action television series}} and {{w|Star Trek (film franchise)|ongoing series of feature films}} (including those produced after the death of the original series' creator) are considered canon, while a plethora of novels and reference books are considered apocrypha. The short-lived ''{{w|Star Trek: The Animated Series}}'' is not universally agreed-upon. Some fictional universes have "levels" of canon such as {{w|Star Wars canon}}.

===Headcanon===
Fans often develop their own ideas about a fictional universe that are not actually part of the canon. Sometimes these are larger concepts that have gone unspoken and are presumed or agreed upon among the body of fans. In other cases, individual fans make presumptions or invent their own stories or ideas about the fictional universe. These are both examples of "''headcanon''". This form of pseudo-"canon" exists only in the mind of the fan watching or reading the material. That fan experiences the material with a certain additional backstory or certain elements of headcanon that other fans may not. Future works may confirm headcanon as actual canon, while other headcanon may turn out to conflict with subsequently introduced canon.

Some examples of headcanon involve relationships between characters, abilities, backstories, events following the conclusion of the work, etc. which the author or creator has not explained or included. In certain cases, headcanon may become so ingrained in a fandom that a subsequent work of canon may adopt the headcanon of a fanbase. In cases where a subsequent work of canon conflicts with that headcanon, fans may be angered, even though the headcanon was never an official part of the fictional universe.

As an example of headcanon, we may return to the ''Star Trek'' universe: The character {{w|Quark (Star Trek)|Quark}} runs a bar on ''{{w|Star Trek: Deep Space Nine}}''. It is canonical that Quark runs the bar and that the crew of the titular space station often patronize the bar. Fans might wonder why, on a station that has "replicators" (devices that can create any food or drink out of energy on demand), anyone would patronize a bar. If an individual or group of fans created and presumed a backstory that, for example, Quark has access to replicator patterns for exotic food or drink which aren't programmed into standard replicators, or actual exotic food or drinks which cannot be replicated, that would be headcanon (since the theory was developed without input or sanction from Star Trek's creators). Were the series still running, a future episiode might confirm or contradict that headcanon.

===The comic===
This strip uses a play on the {{w|homophone|homophonic}} relationship between "canon", as above, and "{{w|cannon}}", a projectile weapon. In this strip, [[Black Hat]] starts to introduce a "new headcannon" (noting the spelling). [[Cueball]], thinking Black Hat means "headcanon", inquires what Black Hat's new idea is. Instead of the expected idea or theory about a fictional universe, Black Hat removes his hat to reveal a tiny literal cannon on his head which blows away Cueball and his computer desk.

While headcanon may often be ignored or dismissed as non-canon or a personal theory, a headcannon would be far harder to ignore, as it is a physical object which has a notable (and in this case violent) impact on the real world. Randall appears to address both homophones in the title text by putting three consecutive "n"s in "headcannnon". That he uses all three "n"'s from the two words indicates that he also means that it is easy to make people believe in a self invented headcanons - this may be the actual punch-line of the comic, since it has proved very true with many fan-generated theories.

This comic also shows Cueball being once again distracted from his work in a manner similar to [[1388: Subduction License]].

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat walks in.]
:Black Hat: New headcannon:

:[Cueball is sitting at his desk, using his computer.]
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Black Hat lifts his hat, revealing his "headcannon": a tiny cannon on the top of his head. The headcannon fires and blows up Cueball's desk, the explosion throwing Cueball backwards.]
:Headcannon: '''BOOM'''
:Cueball: AUGH!

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

1402: Harpoons

2014-09-11T04:06:50Z

199.27.133.122: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1402
| date = August 1, 2014
| title = Harpoons
| image = harpoons.png
| titletext = To motivate it to fire its harpoons hard enough, Rosetta's Philae lander has been programmed to believe it is trying to kill the comet.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic is a graph of the number of {{w|harpoon}}s in space over time. One would not expect that harpoons, which are associated with old technology, would be used in space, which is associated with high technology. Any occurrences are unexpected, and therefore interesting or funny.

The first peak states that a harpoon was in space during the {{w|Apollo 12}} mission and is associated with an incident related to rum. This could imply that [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard the Apollo 12 rocket. Now, officially this is a joke and Apollo 12 carried neither harpoons nor rum; on the other hand, that's exactly why it would be considered an "incident".

The latter peak on this graph refers to the {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} unmanned spacecraft. As part of its mission, it's carrying a lander (called {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}}), which has two tethers to anchor itself to the comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}}. Rosetta was launched in March 2004 (as shown in the graph) and was scheduled to encounter the comet in August 2014, making this a timely comic. As of September 6th, Rosetta is maneuvering to enter orbit on September 10th. The Philae lander is scheduled to harpoon onto the comet in November 2014. The Rosetta spacecraft also carries a disk micro-etched with 13,000 pages of text in 1200 languages donated by the Long Now foundation, mentioned in previous comics.

This continues a recurring theme (as seen in comics [[111: Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection?]] and [[231: Cat Proximity]]), with two unrelated but interesting objects juxtaposed graphically with humorous results.

The title text compares the Philae lander's method of deploying its tethers to {{w|whaling}}, in which sailors would throw harpoons at a whale with the intent of killing the whale. It was important to throw hard so the harpoon would stick in the whale so it could not get away and would tow the whaling boat until it got tired and could be killed. Thus the title text implies that the spacecraft is sentient and needs a motivation to fire the harpoons hard enough to stay anchored to the comet; to this end it has been programmed to believe that its mission is to kill the comet.

==Transcript==
:'''Number of harpoons in space'''
:by year
:[A chart with a red graph is drawn below.]
:[The y-axis.]
:0 1 2 3
:[The x-axis.]
:1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
:[The graph is at zero until a sharp peak to 1 in 1970. The peak is labeled.]
:Apollo 12 rum incident
:[The graph then stays at 0 until 2004. Then it rises to 2 and stays there until today, continuing as a dotted line after 2014. The rise is labeled.]
:Rosetta comet mission launched carrying lander with harpoon tethers

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

1402: Harpoons

2014-09-10T08:01:03Z

199.27.133.122: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1402
| date = August 1, 2014
| title = Harpoons
| image = harpoons.png
| titletext = To motivate it to fire its harpoons hard enough, Rosetta's Philae lander has been programmed to believe it is trying to kill the comet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|}}
This comic is a graph of the number of {{w|harpoon}}s in space versus time. One would not expect that harpoons, which are associated with old technology, would be used in space, which is associated with high technology. Any occurrences are unexpected, and therefore interesting or funny.

The first peak states that a harpoon was in space during the {{w|Apollo 12}} mission and is associated with an incident related to rum. This implies that [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard the Apollo 12 rocket. This is a joke, Apollo 12 carried neither harpoons nor rum (at least, not officially, hence the "incident" part of the joke).

The latter peak on this graph refers to the {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} unmanned spacecraft. As part of its mission, it's carrying a lander (called {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}}), which has two tethers to anchor itself to the comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}}. Rosetta was launched in March 2004 (as shown in the graph) and was scheduled to encounter the comet in August 2014, making this a timely comic. As of September 6th, Rosetta is maneuvering to enter orbit on September 10th. The Philae lander is scheduled to harpoon onto the comet in November 2014. The Rosetta spacecraft also carries a disk micro-etched with 13,000 pages of text in 1200 languages donated by the Long Now foundation, mentioned in previous comics.

This continues a recurring theme (as seen in comics [[111]] and [[231]]), with two unrelated but interesting objects juxtaposed graphically with humorous results.

The title text compares the Philae lander's method of deploying its tethers to whaling, in which sailors would throw harpoons at a whale with the intent of killing the whale. It was important to throw hard so the harpoon would stick in the whale so it could not get away and would tow the whaling boat until it got tired and could be killed. Thus the title text implies that the spacecraft is sentient and needs a motivation to fire the harpoons hard enough to stay anchored to the comet; to this end it has been programmed to believe that its mission is to kill the comet.

==Transcript==
:'''Number of harpoons in space'''
:by year
:[A chart with a red graph is drawn below.]
:[The y-axis.]
:0 1 2 3
:[The x-axis.]
:1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
:[The graph is at zero until a sharp peak to 1 in 1970. The peak is labeled.]
:Apollo 12 rum incident
:[The graph then stays at 0 until 2004. Then it rises to 2 and stays there until today, continuing as a dotted line after 2014. The rise is labeled.]
:Rosetta comet mission launched carrying lander with harpoon tethers

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

1417: Seven

2014-09-08T05:36:09Z

199.27.133.122: /* Title text list */

{{comic
| number = 1417
| date = September 5, 2014
| title = Seven
| image = seven.png
| titletext = The days of the week are Monday, Arctic, Wellsley, 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 Cueball tries to enumerate 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 chose words from other sets of seven to fill in the gaps...)

The title text also makes it clear that even a simple set of seven items, like the days of the week, also goes completely wrong.

The comic is a reference to the oldest {{w|Set-theoretic_definition_of_natural_numbers#Oldest_definition|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 mathematical thinking he could be presumed to have taken the underlying equivalence relation to heart, and (over)applying it to real life, genuinely judges sets to be identical if they both 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 refers to elements within the same set becoming indistinguishable, rather than indistinguishability of different sets of the same size, as the original tests involved either distinguishing between the items or repeating them back in the correct order.

===Comic list===
For each of the seven lists below, the relevant item's traditional position on its own list of seven is equal to its position on the list in the comic. So, since "phylum" is the second major taxonomic rank, "phylum" is 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
|-
!Disney's Dwarfs from the movie ''{{w|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}}'')
|'''Sneezy'''
|Dopey
|Bashful
|Sleepy
|Grumpy
|Happy
|Doc
|-
!Major {{w|taxonomic ranks}}
|kingdom
|'''phylum'''
|class
|order
|family
|genus
|species
|-
!Continents
|Asia
|Africa
|'''Europe'''
|North America
|South America
|Australia
|Antarctica
|-
!{{w|Seven deadly sins|Deadly sins}}
|lust
|gluttony
|greed
|'''sloth'''
|wrath
|envy
|pride
|-
!{{w|Seven-layer dip|Seven Layer Dip (recipe)}}
|refried beans
|cheese
|ground beef
|sour cream
|'''guacamole'''
|salsa
|chopped black olives/tomatoes/green onions
|-
!|Layers of the {{w|OSI model|Open System Interconnection (OSI) data transmission model}}
|application
|presentation
|session
|transport
|network
|'''data link'''
|physical
|-
!|{{w|Wonders of the World|Wonders of the Ancient World}}
|Great Pyramid of Giza
|Hanging Gardens of Babylon
|Statue of Zeus at Olympia
|Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
|Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
|Lighthouse of Alexandria
|'''Colossus of Rhodes'''
|}

===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 (the relevant items number in the set is written in brackets before the item):
# {{w|Days of the week}}: (1) '''Monday''', Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
# {{w|Seven_Seas#Modern|The Seven Seas (modern version)}} - there are many possible lists of 7 named bodies of water, but one possibility where “Arctic” comes second in alphabetic order is: Antarctic, (2) '''Arctic''', Atlantic, Caribbean, Indian, Mediterranean, and Pacific.
## This could also be a reference to {{w|Climate zones}}. See [[#Trivia|Trivia]].
## This could also be a reference to {{w|Continents}}. See [[#Trivia|Trivia]].
# {{w|Seven Sisters (colleges)|Seven Sisters}}, historically women's colleges in U.S.: Mount Holyoke, Vassar, (3) '''Wellesley''', Smith, Radcliffe, Bryn Mawr, and Barnard
# Traditional {{w|spectral color}}s: red, orange, yellow, (4) '''green''', blue, indigo[[#Trivia|*]], and violet.
# {{w|Pleiades (Greek mythology)|Pleiades}}, Seven Sisters, nymphs and daughters of Atlas and Pleone in Greek mythology (in reverse alphabetical order): Taygete, Sterope, Merope, Maia, (5) '''Electra''', Celaeno, and Alcyone.
# ''{{w|The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People}}'' by Dr. Stephen R. Covey: Be proactive, Begin with the end in mind, Put first things first, Think win-win, Seek first to understand and then to be understood, (6) '''Synergize''', and Sharpen the saw
# In the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, there are '''{{w|Seven Seals}}''', simply numbered one through seven. '''The Seventh Seal''' is also the name of a movie released in 1957, which belongs to a '''lot''' of sets of seven [[#Trivia|(see below)]].

==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
: Caption: 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"}}. Indigo dye is a widely known and readily available colouring agent. The ongoing ubiquity of the ''pigment'' (think denim) gives it a unique prominence in spite of its uncertain status as a spectral colour.
*''The Seventh Seal'' (no. 7 on the title text list) could also refer to the 1957 film by 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, God-questions drop out of his films altogether."[http://americamagazine.org/node/148305]
* 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. Tolkein}}'s works, but has been seen as far back as the early 1800s. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000293.html]

{{comic discussion}}

1417: Seven

2014-09-08T05:34:30Z

199.27.133.122:

{{comic
| number = 1417
| date = September 5, 2014
| title = Seven
| image = seven.png
| titletext = The days of the week are Monday, Arctic, Wellsley, 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 Cueball tries to enumerate 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 chose words from other sets of seven to fill in the gaps...)

The title text also makes it clear that even a simple set of seven items, like the days of the week, also goes completely wrong.

The comic is a reference to the oldest {{w|Set-theoretic_definition_of_natural_numbers#Oldest_definition|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 mathematical thinking he could be presumed to have taken the underlying equivalence relation to heart, and (over)applying it to real life, genuinely judges sets to be identical if they both 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 refers to elements within the same set becoming indistinguishable, rather than indistinguishability of different sets of the same size, as the original tests involved either distinguishing between the items or repeating them back in the correct order.

===Comic list===
For each of the seven lists below, the relevant item's traditional position on its own list of seven is equal to its position on the list in the comic. So, since "phylum" is the second major taxonomic rank, "phylum" is 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
|-
!Disney's Dwarfs from the movie ''{{w|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}}'')
|'''Sneezy'''
|Dopey
|Bashful
|Sleepy
|Grumpy
|Happy
|Doc
|-
!Major {{w|taxonomic ranks}}
|kingdom
|'''phylum'''
|class
|order
|family
|genus
|species
|-
!Continents
|Asia
|Africa
|'''Europe'''
|North America
|South America
|Australia
|Antarctica
|-
!{{w|Seven deadly sins|Deadly sins}}
|lust
|gluttony
|greed
|'''sloth'''
|wrath
|envy
|pride
|-
!{{w|Seven-layer dip|Seven Layer Dip (recipe)}}
|refried beans
|cheese
|ground beef
|sour cream
|'''guacamole'''
|salsa
|chopped black olives/tomatoes/green onions
|-
!|Layers of the {{w|OSI model|Open System Interconnection (OSI) data transmission model}}
|application
|presentation
|session
|transport
|network
|'''data link'''
|physical
|-
!|{{w|Wonders of the World|Wonders of the Ancient World}}
|Great Pyramid of Giza
|Hanging Gardens of Babylon
|Statue of Zeus at Olympia
|Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
|Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
|Lighthouse of Alexandria
|'''Colossus of Rhodes'''
|}

===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 (the relevant items number in the set is written in brackets before the item):
# {{w|Days of the week}}: (1) '''Monday''', Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
# {{w|Seven_Seas#Modern|The Seven Seas (modern version)}} - there are many possible lists of 7 named bodies of water, but one possibility where “Arctic” comes second in alphabetic order is: Antarctic, (2) '''Arctic''', Atlantic, Caribbean, Indian, Mediterranean, and Pacific.
## This could also be a reference to {{w|Climate zones}}. See [[#Trivia|Trivia]].
## This could also be a reference to {{w|Continents}}. See [[#Trivia|Trivia]].
# {{w|Seven Sisters (colleges)|Seven Sisters}}, historically women's colleges in U.S.: Mount Holyoke, Vassar, (3) '''Wellesley''', Smith, Radcliffe, Bryn Mawr, and Barnard
# Traditional {{w|spectral color}}s: red, orange, yellow, (4) '''green''', blue, indigo[[#Trivia|*]], and violet.
# {{w|Pleiades (Greek mythology)|Pleiades}}, Seven Sisters, nymphs and daughters of Atlas and Pleone in Greek mythology (in reverse alphabetical order): Taygete, Sterope, Merope, Maia, (5) '''Electra''', Celaeno, and Alcyone.
# ''{{w|The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People}}'' by Dr. Stephen R. Covey: Be proactive, Begin with the end in mind, Put first things first, Think win-win, Seek first to understand and then to be understood, (6) '''Synergize''', and Sharpen the saw
# In the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, there are '''{{w|Seven_Seals}}''', simply numbered one through seven. "Seventh Seal" is also the name of a movie released in 1957, which belongs to a '''lot''' of sets of seven [[#Trivia|(see below)]].

==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
: Caption: 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"}}. Indigo dye is a widely known and readily available colouring agent. The ongoing ubiquity of the ''pigment'' (think denim) gives it a unique prominence in spite of its uncertain status as a spectral colour.
*''The Seventh Seal'' (no. 7 on the title text list) could also refer to the 1957 film by 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, God-questions drop out of his films altogether."[http://americamagazine.org/node/148305]
* 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. Tolkein}}'s works, but has been seen as far back as the early 1800s. [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000293.html]

{{comic discussion}}