Talk:496: Secretary: Part 3

2012-12-31T20:02:59Z

71.183.92.58:

Could "Pleading the 3rd" be a form of the {{w|Chewbacca defense}}? --[[User:Bpothier|B. P.]] ([[User talk:Bpothier|talk]]) 22:55, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

I did some research on Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her confirmation hearing, but couldn't quite see why she has a criminal record similar to Black Hat's - can anybody help there? [[Special:Contributions/71.183.92.58|71.183.92.58]] 20:02, 31 December 2012 (UTC)

402: 1,000 Miles North

2012-12-31T20:01:27Z

71.183.92.58:

{{comic
| number = 402
| date = March 28, 2008
| title = 1,000 Miles North
| image = 1000_miles_north.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Twister would've been a much better movie if they'd cut out the bad-guy storm chaser and all the emotional romance crap. All you need for a good movie are tornados and scientists. Actually, that's all you need for anything.
}}

==Explanation==
Spoofing off of tornado chasers are these permafrost chasers, who are just like tornado chasers, but they are chasing very boring permafrost. {{w|Permafrost}} is a layer of ground that never thaws, unlike ground south of where they are at where the ground freezes in winter and thaws in the spring.

Twister was a movie about a crazy group of tornado chasers trying to drop a probe releasing device named Dorothy (based on the real-life project {{w|TOtable Tornado Observatory|TOTO}}) into the heart of a tornado. However much of the story was about Bill and his ex, both chasers, falling back in love, another chaser who is fighting Bill for research grants and fame, and a tornado that likes to chase people.

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

496: Secretary: Part 3

2012-12-31T19:57:21Z

71.183.92.58: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 496
| date = October 29, 2008
| title = Secretary: Part 3
| image = secretary_part_3.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = He actually installed each piece in a different car in the lot, then built a new car in the spot from the displaced pieces. It's a confusing maneuver known as the auto-troll shuffle.
}}

==Explanation==
When a person has been appointed to a position by the {{w|POTUS|President}}, they must first go through a confirmation hearing in front of the {{w|United States Senate|Senate}}, the upper house of {{w|United States Congress|Congress}} where they find if the person is qualified to be in the position they have been appointed to. Of course, [[Black Hat]] is not the cleanest of characters, so Congress has a lot of reservations about his {{w|résumé}}.

* {{w|Starbucks}} is an American "innovation," where coffee simply wasn't made fast enough. So the whole process was streamlined, and now the world is "better" for it.
** He hasn't yet, but in [[562: Parking]] Black Hat will cut someone's car in half to make it fit in a single space. Not quite as dramatic as completely disassembling a car and, as the title text says, putting a single piece in another car parked in the lot, and building a car out of the displaced parts, which could almost be considered subtle; but, it is quite dramatic.
* {{w|Charles M. Schulz}} drew a comic called {{w|Peanuts}}. One of the recurring characters was {{w|Snoopy}} who would often use his doghouse as an imaginary {{w|Sopwith Camel}} in many battles with {{w|Manfred von Richthofen|The Red Baron}} who piloted a {{w|Fokker Dr.I|Red Fokker}} {{w|Triplane}}.
** The {{w|Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade}} is a parade that happens on {{w|Thanksgiving Day (United States)|Thanksgiving Day}} in the US. There are many giant balloons of pop-culture icons. Snoopy has made many appearances.
* {{w|9/11 Truthers}} believe that the terrorist attack on the {{w|World Trade Center}} towers on September 11, 2001 (thus 9/11) was a conspiracy theory purported by the US Government as a cover up. In the comic, Black Hat appears to be mixing 9/11 truthers with {{w|Moon landing conspiracy theories|Moon landing conspiracy theorists}} who believe that {{w|NASA}} never put a {{w|Apollo mission|man on the moon}}.
** Black Hat uses a common refrain [[:Category:Wake Up, Sheeple|Wake up, Sheeple]]
* {{w|Radio Shack}} is a chain of consumer electronics shops that sold parts to build electronics with: resistors, transistors, etc. Apparently Black Hat managed to build a death ray from the parts there and accidentally vaporized a customer.
* {{w|Microsoft}} is the company that makes {{w|Microsoft Windows|Windows}}. {{w|Steve Ballmer}} is the {{w|CEO}} of Microsoft. {{w|Windows Vista}} was the {{w|operating system}} that came between {{w|Windows XP}} and {{w|Windows 7}}, and is considered by most to be a failure.
* Black Hat stole a nuclear submarine in xkcd [[405: Journal 3]] to get his hat back from [[Danish]].
* "Pleading the fifth" is to invoke the {{w|Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment}} of the {{w|United States Bill of Rights}}. Specifically, when someone pleads the fifth, they mean that they cannot be compelled to give testimony against themselves. That is, they do not have to say anything that could be taken as an admission of guilt. The {{w|Third Amendment to the United States Constitution|third amendment}} states that no homeowner has to keep troops of the United States Army in their house against their will. The only sensible time to plead the third would be when a member of the military knocks on the door and tries to gain entry, which is not the middle of a congressional hearing.

All comics in the [[:Category:Secretary|Secretary]] series:
* [[494: Secretary: Part 1]]
* [[495: Secretary: Part 2]]
* [[496: Secretary: Part 3]]
* [[497: Secretary: Part 4]]
* [[498: Secretary: Part 5]]

==Transcript==
:[The confirmation hearings begin...]
:Senator: It appears you have quite an arrest record.

:Senator: Is it true you completely disassembled someone's car outside a Starbucks?
:Hat Guy: It was parked across two spaces.

:Senator: You stole a red Fokker triplane and strafed the snoopy float at the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade?

:Hat Guy: Got three mimes, too.

:Senator: You disrupted a 9/11 truth meeting, insisting the Twin Towers never actually collapsed?
:Hat Guy: I have evidence! Don't trust the media! Wake up, sheeple!

:Senator: You were fired from Radio Shack after you built a death ray and vaporized a customer?

:Hat Guy: I was just testing it! Figures that'd be the one day there was a shopper in the aisle.

:Senator: And you were thrown out of Microsoft headquarters for... trying to feed a squirrel through a fax machine?

:Hat Guy: I forgot about that! it was part of an argument with Steve Ballmer about Vista. Which I won, by the way.

:[Senators look down at their notes]

:Senator: This is the worst history of vandalism, gleeful mayhem, and general recalcitrance we've seen in a nominee since Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

:Senator: And this--you stole a nuclear submarine?
:Hat Guy: I plead the third.

:Senator: You mean the fifth?
:Hat Guy: No, the third.

:Senator: You refuse to quarter troops in your house?
:Hat Guy: I have few principles, but I stick to them.

:Meanwhile...
:[Aboard Ron Paul's blimp]
:Pilot: We're nearing Washington, sir.
:Wait... There's something ahead on the sensors.

:Pilot: It's a balloon.
:Ron Paul: ...Oh, no.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ron Paul]]
[[Category:Wake Up, Sheeple]]
[[Category:Secretary|03]]

1154: Resolution

2012-12-31T19:41:46Z

71.183.92.58: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1154
| date = December 31, 2012
| title = Resolution
| image = resolution.png
| titletext = If at first you don't succeed, that's one data point.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a little reminder that it's the last day of 2012, and it's time to make your resolutions!

Cueball wants to break a very common habit of resolving to do something (go on a diet, for example), not doing it, and then trying the same, dysfunctional plan, thinking it will work "this year."

The irony is that Cueball resolved the same thing last year, and it is implied it didn't work, but he says it'll be different "this year."

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:496: Secretary: Part 3

402: 1,000 Miles North

496: Secretary: Part 3

1154: Resolution