explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3029: Sun Avoidance

2026-04-06T15:07:14Z

82.132.239.70: /* Explanation */ Consistency of the Moon (c.f. the Earth and the Sun). Apollo landings clearly only on the Moon (excepting return to splashdown), so avoiding "Apollo Moon"-landings confusability. Punctuation adjacence to CN-tag.

{{comic
| number = 3029
| date = December 25, 2024
| title = Sun Avoidance
| image = sun_avoidance_2x.png
| imagesize = 311x403px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = C'mon, ESA Solar Orbiter team, just give the Parker probe a LITTLE nudge at aphelion. Crash it into the sun. Fulfill the dream of Icarus. It is your destiny.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic humorously ranks space missions based on their ability to "avoid" the Sun, presenting it as a "Sun Avoidance Skill Leaderboard." Most space missions remain relatively far from the Sun, with distances in the tens of millions of kilometers. However, the {{w|Parker Solar Probe}} is listed at the bottom of the leaderboard because it has come significantly closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft, at just 6.17 million kilometers. The joke lies in framing this incredible scientific achievement as a "failure" in avoiding the Sun.

The missions listed include notable solar and planetary exploration spacecraft like {{w|Mariner 10}}, {{w|Helios 1}}, {{w|BepiColombo}}, {{w|MESSENGER}}, and {{w|Solar Orbiter}}. These missions, designed to study the Sun or its surroundings, are ranked by their closest approaches to the Sun. The comic highlights the vast difference between the Parker Solar Probe and all other missions, emphasizing its unprecedented proximity to the Sun as part of its mission to study the solar corona and solar wind.

The inclusion of "All Other Expeditions in Human History" at the top of the leaderboard adds to the humor by lumping together all non-Sun-focused missions (likely including those which stayed on Earth for their entire duration), which obviously maintain much greater distances from the Sun. The comic concludes with a sarcastic congratulation to the Parker Solar Probe for its "worst job avoiding the Sun," humorously subverting the intention and achievement of the mission.

The caption text further expands on the joke by mockingly framing the Parker Solar Probe's proximity to the Sun as a skill-based failure. It suggests that its operators have demonstrated the "worst Sun avoidance skill" ever. This playful jab contrasts with the reality that the Parker Solar Probe's engineers and scientists intentionally designed the spacecraft to approach the Sun closer than ever before, enduring extreme heat and radiation to gather groundbreaking scientific data.

The "best job avoiding the Sun" award would likely go to the two Voyager probes, which started from Earth,{{cn}} traveled exclusively outwards from there, and successfully escaped the Sun's gravitational pull, sending them on a trajectory into deep space. Alternatively, depending on the definition of "expedition", and the method of calculating the award, it might go to a sub-expedition carried out on or near the Moon during one of the Apollo landings, which could have had a higher <i>minimum</i> distance from the sun than any expedition which started from Earth. However, Randall does not mention who is at the top of the leaderboard, only lumping the leader in with all other expeditions.

The title text references the Greek legend of {{w|Icarus}}, whose father crafted artificial wings so the two of them could fly out of the open-topped prison they were in. Icarus, despite his father's warnings, flew too high which, according to the myth, got him appreciably closer to the Sun where it was much hotter, hot enough to destroy Icarus's wings, which caused him to plummet from a very high altitude to his death. The comic reframes this from an unfortunate consequence of his overreaching, to a glorious failure of an attempt to destroy himself by reaching the Sun itself. (As humanity has learned since then, the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere are cold, not hot, and the distance from Earth's surface to the upper reaches of its atmosphere is only a tiny fraction of the total distance from the Earth to the Sun.) The caption text urges the operators of the aforementioned Solar Orbiter to use their satellite to alter the Parker Solar Probe's orbit to send it into the Sun, which would by definition lower the Parker Solar Probe's distance from the Sun to zero. Unfortunately, the Parker Solar Probe was only designed to get close to the Sun, not into it, and would be destroyed soon after entering the Sun if not before. Being destroyed would prevent the Parker Solar Probe from transmitting any further data, terminating its mission. Its operators would probably object to this.{{cn}}

==Transcript==
:[Header:] Sun Avoidance Skill Leaderboard

:[A table with three columns, all with underlined headers.]
:<u>Rank</u>
:<u>Mission</u>
:<u>Sun Nearest Miss</u>
:[First 'row', 'Rank', is of extra height and over several lines, using vertical and horizontal ellipses between the two endpoints to indicate a range of ranks in the first column, the first visible digit of the larger number being cut off by the left frame edge:] 1. ⋮ … ⋮ 4303857.
:[Across both the 'Mission' and 'Sun Nearest Miss' columns, the first row has some text spread across two lines, within a framing pair of large square brackets to match the Rank range:] All other expeditions in human history
:[A simple row, with all three columns separately populated, the first column's Rank number is also cut off across the first visible digit.]
:4303858.
:Mariner-10
:69.0 million km
:[Another row, likewise.]
:4303859.
:Helios 1
:46.4 million km
:[Another row.]
:4303860.
:BepiColombo
:45.8 million km
:[Another row, with a yet more significant Ranking digit now partly visible due to non-proportional spacing, itself being cut off in the stead of the now fully visible next digit.]
:24303861.
:Messenger
:45.3 million km
:[Another row, back to the original pre-cutoff.]
:4303862.
:Solar Orbiter
:43.8 million km
:[Another row.]
:4303863.
:Helios 2
:43.3 million km
:[Final row.]
:4303864.
:Parker
:6.17 million km

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Congratulations to the Parker Solar Probe for setting a new record for "Worst Job Avoiding the Sun."

==Trivia==
*This comic was released on Christmas Day of 2024, but makes no reference to Christmas.
**This year marks the first time in xkcd's 20 year history (of releasing comics around Christmas), that there have been no [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comics]] released during those days.
**Also all nine times before this year, when a release day fell on Christmas Day, that comic has always been about Christmas.
**If [[Randall]] found the accomplishments of the Parker Solar Probe more interesting than Christmas itself that might explain why this comic was released on Christmas Day instead.
**It is not the first space exploration accomplishment mentioned during Christmas, however, in the previous case ([[2559: December 25th Launch]]) from 2021, the comic was given a seasonal spin. 
**The lack of Christmas comics continued in 2025 making it two years in a row, see this [[3186:_Truly_Universal_Outlet#Trivia|trivia]] from [[3186: Truly Universal Outlet]], released on Boxing Day of 2025.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Space probes]]

2144: Adjusting a Chair

2026-04-06T14:53:20Z

82.132.239.70: Undo revision 409674 by 188.132.184.148 (talk) Revised re-edit. I think the error was 8n the other direction. Might need more tweaking to cover all cases, though.

{{comic
| number = 2144
| date = May 1, 2019
| title = Adjusting a Chair
| image = adjusting_a_chair.png
| titletext = When I was looking at the box, I should have thought more about what "360 degrees of freedom" meant.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic shows [[Cueball]]'s attempts to adjust a swiveling chair. This comically culminates in a massive chair with a big central seat and several other chairs branching off of it as Cueball continues learning how to adjust it. The chair also apparently has so many controls it takes two hours to discover them all (although Cueball may have shown off his newly-discovered abilities in the mean time, so it might not take two hours of continuous experimentation).

As many people have experienced, these chairs can be quite difficult to raise, lower, or maneuver if one does not know how. Typically, the chairs have multiple knobs and levers underneath the seat, which requires the user to rely on muscle memory to find them, since these levers are commonly used while sitting in the chair. There are often several ways to manipulate each control (may be rotated, moved laterally, vertically, or axially.) One usually needs to experiment with the levers and knobs in a new chair to understand how to work the chair, and it appears Cueball is experimenting with them.

Each step gets farther away from what real-life office chairs could do. In sequence, Cueball finds his chair doing more and more surprising things:

{| class="wikitable"
! Step|| Sound || Chair's Ability
|-
| 1 || Clunk || Being able to recline the seat back. Many office chairs do have this ability, which one can use for sitting comfort or perhaps to take a nap.
|-
| 2 || Hiss || Being able to raise or lower the seat. Most office chairs have this ability, but the comic departs from real chairs in two ways. First, it's much higher than any real chair. Second, he can raise the height while sitting on it; under normal design, pressing the raise/lower lever while sitting on the chair is how one ''lowers'' the seat, using one's own weight to depress the spring or hydraulic piston (which is what's used here, as indicated by the sound). However, it's not uncommon to find a chair that has worn out or been improperly calibrated, so that it does rise even when sat on (especially with lighter people), or does not lower (even when sat upon), with the lever active.
|-
| 3 || Poof || Being able to have the seat inflate. Some chairs have inflatable backrests for better lumbar support, but typically no inflatable seats. Although this could be useful (e.g. to help people who need to use extra seat cushions because of hemorrhoids or coccyx injury), it is not a typical office chair capability. However, in addition to simply inflating, Cueball's chair appears to actually make the seat longer and wider. Some chairs allow the arm rests to be adjusted closer or further away. Having the seat also adjust would similarly be useful to accommodate larger people (as for instance some wheelchairs are built wider than usual for wider people or for people who have extra dressings).
|-
| 4 || None || Forming a chair out of multiple sub-chairs. Putting out branches and growing extra seats, wheels and backs. Chairs definitely cannot do this in real life{{Citation needed}} and use cases are doubtful. Some chairs do have back-rests in several pieces. Being able to add more wheels could be convenient to increase stability, or decrease pressure on soft flooring.
|}

The title text refers to a common claim on such chairs, that the chair offers 360 degrees rotation and several degrees of freedom. This is a double entendre, depending on if "360 degrees" or "degrees of freedom" is interpreted as an object. However, here it means there are 360 {{w|Degrees of freedom (mechanics)|mechanical degrees of freedom}}, which is the number of independent parameters that define the configuration of an object; in other words, the chair has 360 different levers and options, far more than a standard chair{{Citation needed}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is shown adjusting a chair by pressing a button on the bottom of the chair. There is a caption in a frame over the top of the panel:]
:Adjusting a chair:

:[The seat back of the chair swings backward with him rather fast as shown by a few movement lines.]
:Chair: ''Clunk''

:[Cueball leans forward against the new chair position and presses another button.]

:[The chair extends to several times its previous height, very fast as shown by many lines beneath the seat.]
:Chair: ''Hiss''

:[At the top of this very high seat Cueball leans forward and presses another button.]

:[The seat expands in all directions, so Cueball only sits in the middle of it with his legs on top of the inflated cushion.]
:Chair: ''Poof''

:[The chair is now a massive contraption. It has 5 bases, each with wheels as the original chair. The main's seat is in the middle of the contraption with a single trunk going up from the five bases connecting them and the large cushion of the seat. Two entire chairs are branching out from underneath this central seat, they are each hanging in a thin wire more or less upside down to each side of the main trunk. Two poles are coming up from the central seat, each with a new seat and two back-to-back seat backs. Yet another seat is supported by a thin rod connecting the two top seats, looking almost like a table between the two chairs. Cueball is still on the main seat's cushion. He is holding on to one of the poles above him as he leans down and attempts to press yet another button beneath the seat. There is a caption in a frame over the top of the panel:]
:Two hours later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Puns]]

544: Pep Talk

2026-04-06T14:34:21Z

82.132.239.70: /* Explanation */ space!

{{comic
| number =544
| date =February 16, 2009
| title =Pep Talk
| image =pep_talk.png
| titletext =Listen! They said a team of chess players coached by someone with no understanding of basketball would never be competitive in the NBA! Well, it turns out they're pretty perceptive.
}}

==Explanation==
Another comic where [[Randall]] takes a less than serious look at sports.

The halftime {{w|Motivational speaker|pep talk}} of a {{w|basketball}} game is commonly used by coaches to inspire their team to either turn the game around, or to defend the lead, and to make strategic changes that will help them do so. Unfortunately, the basketball coach [[Cueball]] has absolutely no fundamental understanding of the sport, and has pulled his team (of Cueball-like players) into the locker room while the game is still in progress, not during halftime, enabling the other team to score at will.

He could have tried to get a {{w|Time-out (sport)|time-out}}, but still he would not have been allowed to take his team down to the locker room.

The title text parodies a common plot of, especially US, {{w|List_of_sports_films#Basketball|sports movies}} in which {{tvtropes|UnderdogsNeverLose|an inexperienced team (and sometimes coach) still manage to win}} a title after a highly motivational pep talk (see for instance {{w|Hoosiers (film)|Hoosiers}}). These pep talks usually take place during regular pauses of the game, and can lead to a come back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit.

It can probably be presumed that this is still Coach Cueball talking, but the precise meaning of the phrase depends upon who "they" are, or even if it's the same "they" in both instances. The classic interpretation might be that the both "they"s are his own team's detractors, possibly even the opposing team of {{w|National Basketball Association|NBA}} professionals, who have been trash-talking Cueball's team's chances by pointing out that {{w|chess}} players don't have any innate qualities to make them transfer well into high-level basketball, especially when the person trying to train them to do so (Cueball) explicitly has no basketball experience. Rather than this being a case of overturned expectations, even Coach Cueball has come to realise that the detractors' predictions have been very accurate.

An alternative reading is that the first "they" are people who have been assessing the ''opponents''' chances. Coach Cueball is, in this scenario, playing against a team of chess-players with an inexperienced coach of their own. Yet even with these possible disadvantages (Cueball's players may even be legitmate NBA basketballers, although Cueball's misunderstanding of when to depart the court imply he's at least as bad at organising such a team, and his people seem like they would do better with no coach at all), the opposing players (the "they" in the "they're") have overcome their 'obvious' disadvantages, and appear to have been able to use their (chess-playing?) observational skills to good effect. And not just currently triumphing against the poorly-led players we see, but at least on a par with the rest of the NBA circuit. Regardless of how well Cueball's team normally competes in the more general competition.

Further different nuances may apply if it is ''not'' Coach Cueball speaking the title text. But, whichever way it is meant, this supposed 'pep' statement ends up by admitting that the situation is hopeless, rather than the typically expected imparting of optimism and drive to try (however unlikely) to inspire a final victory.

==Transcript==
:[Coach-Cueball stands at the end of a double row of benches in the players locker room. He speaks to his team of five Cueball-like players, two are sitting with towels on the left bench, one stands behind them, and two are sitting on the right bench, one of them resting his head on his hands.]
:Coach-Cueball: Okay, team. We're sixteen points down. If we want to come back from this—
:Offscreen: Woo!! Score!!!
:Coach-Cueball: Okay, now we're eighteen points down. ...Listen—I'm starting to think we should only take these breaks at halftime.

==Trivia==
*In [[1392: Dominant Players]] Randall compares basketball with chess.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

544: Pep Talk

2026-04-06T14:30:52Z

82.132.239.70: /* Explanation */ Tyop

{{comic
| number =544
| date =February 16, 2009
| title =Pep Talk
| image =pep_talk.png
| titletext =Listen! They said a team of chess players coached by someone with no understanding of basketball would never be competitive in the NBA! Well, it turns out they're pretty perceptive.
}}

==Explanation==
Another comic where [[Randall]] takes a less than serious look at sports.

The halftime {{w|Motivational speaker|pep talk}} of a {{w|basketball}} game is commonly used by coaches to inspire their team to either turn the game around, or to defend the lead, and to make strategic changes that will help them do so. Unfortunately, the basketball coach [[Cueball]] has absolutely no fundamental understanding of the sport, and has pulled his team (of Cueball-like players) into the locker room while the game is still in progress, not during halftime, enabling the other team to score at will.

He could have tried to get a {{w|Time-out (sport)|time-out}}, but still he would not have been allowed to take his team down to the locker room.

The title text parodies a common plot of, especially US, {{w|List_of_sports_films#Basketball|sports movies}} in which {{tvtropes|UnderdogsNeverLose|an inexperienced team (and sometimes coach) still manage to win}} a title after a highly motivational pep talk (see for instance {{w|Hoosiers (film)|Hoosiers}}). These pep talks usually take place during regular pauses of the game, and can lead to a come back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit.

It can probably be presumed that this is still Coach Cueball talking, but the precise meaning of the phrase depends upon who "they" are, or even if it's the same "they" in both instances. The classic interpretation might be that the both "they"s are his own team's detractors, possibly even the opposing team of {{w|National Basketball Association|NBA}} professionals, who have been trash-talking Cueball's team's chances by pointing out that {{w|chess}} players don't have any innate qualities to make them transfer well into high-level basketball, especially when the person trying to train them to do so (Cueball) explicitly has no basketball experience. Rather than this being a case of overturned expectations, even Coach Cueball has come to realise that the detractors' predictions have been very accurate.

An alternative reading is that the first "they" are people who have been assessing the ''opponents''' chances. Coach Cueball is, in this scenario, playing against a team of chess-players with an inexperienced coach of their own. Yet even with these possible disadvantages (Cueball's players may even be legitmate NBA basketballers, although Cueball's misunderstanding of when to depart the court imply he's at least as bad at organising such a team, and his people seem like they would do better with no coach at all), the opposing players (the "they" in the "they're") have overcome their 'obvious' disadvantages, and appear to have been able to use their (chess-playing?) observational skills to good effect. And not just currently triumphing against the poorly-led players we see, but at least on a par with the rest of the NBA circuit. Regardless of how well Cueball's team normally competes in the more general competition.

Further different nuances may apply if it is ''not'' Coach Cueball speaking the title text. But,whichever way it is meant, this supposed 'pep' statement ends up by admitting that the situation is hopeless, rather than the typically expected imparting of optimism and drive to try (however unlikely) to inspire a final victory.

==Transcript==
:[Coach-Cueball stands at the end of a double row of benches in the players locker room. He speaks to his team of five Cueball-like players, two are sitting with towels on the left bench, one stands behind them, and two are sitting on the right bench, one of them resting his head on his hands.]
:Coach-Cueball: Okay, team. We're sixteen points down. If we want to come back from this—
:Offscreen: Woo!! Score!!!
:Coach-Cueball: Okay, now we're eighteen points down. ...Listen—I'm starting to think we should only take these breaks at halftime.

==Trivia==
*In [[1392: Dominant Players]] Randall compares basketball with chess.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

544: Pep Talk

2026-04-06T14:27:31Z

82.132.239.70: /* Explanation */ Rewrite to encompass the two main readings. And open up the possibility of more. Short of confirming with Randall what he really meant by it, it's wide open field, and anybody could win. Except chess-players coached by Cueball.

{{comic
| number =544
| date =February 16, 2009
| title =Pep Talk
| image =pep_talk.png
| titletext =Listen! They said a team of chess players coached by someone with no understanding of basketball would never be competitive in the NBA! Well, it turns out they're pretty perceptive.
}}

==Explanation==
Another comic where [[Randall]] takes a less than serious look at sports.

The halftime {{w|Motivational speaker|pep talk}} of a {{w|basketball}} game is commonly used by coaches to inspire their team to either turn the game around, or to defend the lead, and to make strategic changes that will help them do so. Unfortunately, the basketball coach [[Cueball]] has absolutely no fundamental understanding of the sport, and has pulled his team (of Cueball-like players) into the locker room while the game is still in progress, not during halftime, enabling the other team to score at will.

He could have tried to get a {{w|Time-out (sport)|time-out}}, but still he would not have been allowed to take his team down to the locker room.

The title text parodies a common plot of, especially US, {{w|List_of_sports_films#Basketball|sports movies}} in which {{tvtropes|UnderdogsNeverLose|an inexperienced team (and sometimes coach) still manage to win}} a title after a highly motivational pep talk (see for instance {{w|Hoosiers (film)|Hoosiers}}). These pep talks usually take place during regular pauses of the game, and can lead to a come back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit.

It can probably be presumed that this is still Coach Cueball talking, but the precise meaning of the phrase depends upon who "they" are, or even if it's the same "they" in both instances. The classic interpretation might be that the both "they"s are his own team's detractors, possibly even the opposing team of {{w|National Basketball Association|NBA}} professionals, who have been trash-talking Cueball's team's chamces by pointing out that {{w|chess}} players don't have any innate qualities to make them transfer well into high-level basketball, especially when the person trying to train them to do so (Cueball) explicitly has no basketball experience. Rather than this being a case of overturned expectations, even Coach Cueball has come to realise that the detractors' predictions have been very accurate.

An alternative reading is that the first "they" are people who have been assessing the ''opponents''' chances. Coach Cueball is, in this scenario, playing against a team of chess-players with an inexperienced coach of their own. Yet even with these possible disadvantages (Cueball's players may even be legitmate NBA basketballers, although Cueball's misunderstanding of when to depart the court imply he's at least as bad at organising such a team, and his people seem like they would do better with no coach at all), the opposing players (the "they" in the "they're") have overcome their 'obvious' disadvantages, and appear to have been able to use their (chess-playing?) observational skills to good effect. And not just currently triumphing against the poorly-led players we see, but at least on a par with the rest of the NBA circuit. Regardless of how well Cueball's team normally competes in the more general competition.

Further different nuances may apply if it is ''not'' Coach Cueball speaking the title text. But,whichever way it is meant, this supposed 'pep' statement ends up by admitting that the situation is hopeless, rather than the typically expected imparting of optimism and drive to try (however unlikely) to inspire a final victory.

==Transcript==
:[Coach-Cueball stands at the end of a double row of benches in the players locker room. He speaks to his team of five Cueball-like players, two are sitting with towels on the left bench, one stands behind them, and two are sitting on the right bench, one of them resting his head on his hands.]
:Coach-Cueball: Okay, team. We're sixteen points down. If we want to come back from this—
:Offscreen: Woo!! Score!!!
:Coach-Cueball: Okay, now we're eighteen points down. ...Listen—I'm starting to think we should only take these breaks at halftime.

==Trivia==
*In [[1392: Dominant Players]] Randall compares basketball with chess.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Basketball]]
[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

3227: Creation

2026-04-06T13:11:09Z

82.132.239.70: /* List of modes */ Given that they're titular Modes (not just things being described as modes), deserves the capital.

{{comic
| number = 3227
| date = April 1, 2026
| title = Creation
| image = creation_2x.png
| imagesize = 567x198px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.
}}
{{series
| series = April
| number = 18
| date = April 1, 2026
| days_late =
| day_category = Wednesday
| prev_title = 3074: Push Notifications
| prev_date = April 9, 2025
| next_title =
| next_date =
}}
To experience the interactivity of the web page, visit the {{xkcd|3227|original comic}}!

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently in ROBOTIC MODE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this {{w|April Fool's Day}} comic, several new viewing modes have been added to the xkcd website, accessible through a {{w|drop-down list}} beneath the comic (not visible on Explain xkcd). This allows various different viewing experiences for the entire website, including older comics. Some are "normal" viewing modes, like the typical "light" and "dark" modes, but others take such things further and/or in more esoteric ways. This includes an "airplane mode" (see below) that parodies and subverts the {{w|Airplane mode|normal implementation}}.

The accompanying comic references one of the first lines of the {{w|Bible}} (Genesis 1:3), wherein God creates light. Here, though, before God has a chance to fully appreciate the work, a person on Earth immediately requests an implementation of {{w|dark mode}}. Dark mode is a feature on many websites and devices which displays text in white against a black background instead of the default black text on a white background. In low ambient light this makes for a less intense viewing experience that is easier on the eyes, so many people who spend a lot of time looking at screens prefer dark mode (whereas casual users often find light mode easier to read). On OLED screens, another benefit is that because of the primarily low brightness of the screen, less battery life is consumed, which makes it useful for those who want to be energy-efficient or extend their battery life.

This demand represents a common experience for web and app designers, who spend a lot of time creating something that looks beautiful to them, and in their particular use case, only to find when it is put out into the wild that it doesn't suit the needs of many of their actual users, who don't particularly care about the effort they've put in.

Dark mode is not usually implemented on planets,{{cn}} although one could argue that night-time is effectively Earth's "dark mode", which could have been created by God as a response to the person. (That seems likely, in fact, given that the very next words in Genesis 1:4 are "and he separated the light from the darkness".) The comic deviates somewhat from traditional Judeo-Christian theology, as in Genesis the day/night cycle was created on the first day, but humans were created on the sixth day - thus, the "dark mode" (night-time) would already have been implemented by the time humans existed. Possibly the person is actually requesting a dark mode that can be toggled at will, rather than one which occurs automatically each day.

Unlike most comics, the title text contains no jokes, but rather explains the update and gives basic instructions.

The comic credits the "Excellent Design Team", consisting of Amber, Benjamin Staffin, and Kevin who helped create the modes.

===List of Modes===
; Light Mode
: The usual site experience. Typically, where sites have light and dark modes, light is the default option, so as to mimic ink on paper (such as printed {{w|newspaper comic strip}}s).

; Lighter Mode
: The entire web page is filtered to look {{w|Exposure (photography)#Overexposure and underexposure|overexposed}}, making colors wash out and reducing the contrast.

; Dark Mode
: A standard "white content on black background" dark mode. Specifically, Dark Mode inverts the colors of the page (which makes a {{w|Negative (photography)|colour-negative}} and then hue-rotates it by 180 degrees (to make hue return to normal, only brightness-reversed. (For example, see comic [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution|556]], with dark mode enabled, to see how the hue is maintained.) The background of the page, normally light blue, becomes a dark blue; (near-)whites become (near-)blacks, and vice-versa, only mid-tones staying the same. This inversion makes the content of this particular comic, with the original transition from a dark pane to "let there be light" panes and the subsequent request for this very feature, particularly nonsensical, as it seems to start fully bright, then darken as God creates light.

; Darkest Mode
: Everything on the webpage turns completely black (severely 'underexposed', in effect, the opposite to "Lighter mode" but also even more extreme). The exception is the drop down menu widget, which may appear as merely a dark gray — and depending upon the browser itself, the dropped-down menu may be its 'natural' appearance when it becomes fully active — which is of course extremely helpful for navigating back out of this mode or onward onto others.

; Blurry Mode
: {{w|Blur (photographic effect)|Blurs}} the entire webpage. This is not conventionally desirable as it makes it harder to read text and interpret visuals. Whereas light and dark mode support can improve {{w|Web accessibility|accessibility}} for certain vision conditions, this mode makes already poor vision even worse.

; Grayscale Mode
: Applies a standard {{w|grayscale}}/{{w|Colorfulness#Saturation|desaturation}} conversion filter to the entire webpage. Many devices provide a grayscale mode as one of their color filter settings, which can simulate different {{w|color vision deficiencies}}. Grayscale specifically can also help improve focus by preventing colors from catching the eye and making distractions less visually appealing.

; Greyscale Mode
: Operates identically to Grayscale Mode, but also changes the spelling of "math" in the slogan at the top of the page to "maths" (to go along with the respective {{w|American and British English spelling differences|British English}} use of ''{{wiktionary|gray}}/{{wiktionary|grey}}'').

; Dorian Greyscale Mode
: Makes the webpage slowly turn grey, including darkening/fading-to-grey 'white' areas. This refers to ''{{w|The Picture of Dorian Gray}}'', in which the titular character has a portrait that slowly ages and fades out while the character stays young and handsome. The transformation finishes after 5 minutes.

: Of note is that the surname of the titular character is "{{w|Grey (disambiguation)#People|Gray}}" (as is still common, if not dominant, in Britain), but the mode itself is named for the primary British/non-American standard English version of the word for such a hueless shade.

: No relation to the {{w|Dorian mode}}, a musical scale.

; Space Opera Mode
: Turns the entire page into a ''{{w|Star Wars}}''-style opening scroll, which loops round until you change the mode. Scrolling the mouse scrolls up or down through the page content. {{w|Space opera}} is a genre of sci-fi that ''Star Wars'' falls under.

; 3D Mode
: Makes the comic render in {{w|Anaglyph 3D|anaglyphic stereoscopy}}. [[Randall]] has used 3D space before for [[848|another joke comic]].

; Origami Mode
: Rotates and folds various pieces of the webpage, as if it were {{w|origami}}-folded.

; Ink Mode
: Recolors the webpage as if drawn in blue ink, which is often used for the initial roughing-out of a drawing.

; Spring Mode
: Gives the comic a simple physics simulation, making it slightly rotate around an axis when the page is scrolled, and giving it a {{w|springboard}} look, hence the name. The axis around which the page precesses is perpendicular to the axis the user scrolls on. This means that when the page is scrolled vertically (the usual direction), the comic wobbles around a horizontal axis, but when scrolled horizontally (if your screen size or zoom allows it), the comic precesses about the vertical axis.

; Antipodes Mode
: Turns the entire webpage upside down. An {{w|antipodes|antipode}} is the point on the Earth's surface directly opposite of another, but "The Antipodes" is also a term used to refer to {{w|Australia}} and {{w|New Zealand}} by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. Note: When the comic was first published this was labeled "Southern Hemisphere Mode".

; Hacker Mode
: Recolors the entire webpage in the stereotypical green-on-black coding environment color scheme often used by {{w|hacker}}s on film and TV. This visual shorthand is a holdover from early {{w|monochrome monitor}}s that used P1 phosphor. (Modern terminal software has no such limitations, and many programmers today use {{w|syntax highlighting}} to color-code operators and keywords.)

; Screensaver Mode
: Makes the comic float around on the webpage, bouncing as it hits the edges. A common type of {{w|screensaver}} has some text or other element drifting around the screen in this way. Many people ended up watching such screensavers, waiting for the bouncing graphic to hit the corner of the screen. Like with Hacker Mode, there is an element of nostalgia to this; screensavers are less necessary on modern LCD screens, so fewer setups use them.

; Modem Mode
: Slowly reveals the comic from top to bottom, as if slowly loading (but [[598: Porn|only in approximation]]) the way images often used to have to be progressively rendered from a low-rate stream of image data in the days of more limited dial-up connections and also a lower-performance {{w|Internet backbone}} in general. This is accompanied by audio of the sound of a {{w|modem}} communicating over such a connection. NB - this mode does not appear to function correctly/reliably for some viewers.

; Stained Glass Mode
: Fills each closed area of the comic with a separate color to mimic the look of {{w|stained glass}} imagery. The colors vary each time this mode is selected or the page is reloaded in this mode, which works by flooding a single pseudorandom hue over all areas of near-white, each flood bounded only by any sufficiently dark or saturated drawn line/border.

; Airplane Mode
: Makes the comic fly around on the page, with the {{w|onomatopoeia}} "NYOOM!" written next to it, as if it were an {{w|airplane}}. This is unlike the usual use of {{w|airplane mode}} to refer to disabling the cellphone (or all {{w|radio frequency}}) features of a mobile device, as required on most flights. Of course, the website's "Airplane Mode" does no such thing, and would be pointless to enable on an airplane.{{cn}}

; Boat Mode
: Makes the entire webpage tilt back and forth, emulating the way a boat rolls on the water. While [[165: Turn Signals|extremely unlikely]], this could theoretically counteract the rocking motion of a boat, stabilizing the page content. In practice, it is unlikely to help with {{w|seasickness}}. (As of 2024, some smart devices started offering a "vehicle motion cues" feature that is meant to reduce motion sickness, although it is designed for road vehicles rather than watercraft.)

: This mode is a reference to the longstanding mention of a Boat Mode in the [[footnote]], which says "Remove your device from Airplane Mode and set it to Boat Mode".

==Transcript==
:[Black background with white caption boxes.]
:Caption: And God said,
:Caption:"Let there be light,"

:[A bright explosion of light from a star in the center, with a white caption box.]
:Caption: And there was light.

:[The star with bright rays of light is shown against the horizon of a planet.]
:[The same planet horizon is shown with a clear sky above.]
:Caption: God saw that the light was-
:Voice from the planet: Can you add support for dark mode?

<noinclude>{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:April Fools' Day comics]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Comics with custom header texts]]
</noinclude>

Talk:3228: Day Counter

2026-04-06T13:05:31Z

82.132.239.70: Really need a better way of saying "when you're not ignoring the positive/nature of the number, and treating ±0 as the baseline"... But shorter than that, and not at all misusable/misunderstandable.

Someone has to be first [[Special:Contributions/2401:D005:D402:7A00:780:9D40:A38A:98A0|2401:D005:D402:7A00:780:9D40:A38A:98A0]] 13:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
:No, but someone has to be the ''0.99999999999999956th''... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:58, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

In response to the comment added by @[[User:GSLikesCats307|GSLikesCats307]], "When the comic was first published the number was −0.00000000000000017 days": Perhaps Randall was just trying to make things a bit more realistic. I've shown a realistic example that could generate −0.00000000000000044. My experiments didn't find any simple example that could generate −0.00000000000000017. (Which is not to say there isn't one.) —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 15:15, 3 April 2026 (UTC), edited 15:39, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

The day counter is now showing −0.00000000000000044 on my Windows 11 system using Chrome. Maybe the result differs based on computer/browser combination? [[Special:Contributions/72.218.191.213|72.218.191.213]] 16:16, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

The April Fools dark mode thing was kept! Lets go! [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 16:25, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

This comic was published during NASA's Artemis II moon mission. Could Cueball seeming to be floating above his chair be a reference to null gravity? [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:12, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

My guess is that irrational numbers have "infinite digits" in any base, but my math education is not good enough even to know how to start to prove it, an informal confirmation would be appreciated. [[Special:Contributions/5.91.22.162|5.91.22.162]] 22:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
:As a decimal in a certain base is just a fraction (with a denominator of a power of the base), numbers with finite decimal expansions must be rational (assuming the base is rational) [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 23:31, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
::Let's all work in base π so we can have irrational discussions that make sense. What's e in base π?[[Special:Contributions/98.22.184.160|98.22.184.160]] 12:49, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:::I want to meditate on all the transcendental numbers. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Plot twist: This is accurate, just too precise and able to predict the future. Someone is about to cause one. [[Special:Contributions/47.141.37.161|47.141.37.161]] 05:24, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:Doesn't have to be predicting the future to be accurate. Maybe it means that the last error occurred 38 picoseconds ago. [[User:Gorcq|Gorcq]] ([[User talk:Gorcq|talk]]) 14:26, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Surprised that there hasn't been an Artemis II comic yet. --[[User:Funstuff4fun|Funstuff4fun]] ([[User talk:Funstuff4fun|talk]]) 06:12, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Sorry, new to posting; sorry if I am misunderstanding. The text describes −0.00000000000000044 as a very small negative number. Is this saying that it is close to zero? If so, would that be better expressed as large, rather than small? [[User:Flickerwit|Flickerwit]] ([[User talk:Flickerwit|talk]]) 15:54, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:The value is very small. The representation of the number is large (or ''fairly'' large, by some certain limited measure). But you wouldn't call 0.9 "smaller", or 'closer to zero'/"0", than "0.8888888888..." under most usages. Even though that might be correct in a string-handling context. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:"Greater" and "lesser" work like that (with -1 being greater than -2), but "larger" and "smaller" are more ambiguous, and often refer to the absolute value. [[Special:Contributions/192.112.253.21|192.112.253.21]] 02:58, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
::One generally would not describe −0.00000000000000044 as "large" (rather than "larger", in direct comparison), except maybe in the implicit context of numbers that routinely are orders of magnitude less (in absolute terms) ''or'' are consistently more negative (e.g. zero is an ''upper'' limit and one or other of -0.5, -5 or -5,000,000 could be more typical value).
::In the context of natural numbers, it is "small" in the grand scheme of things (or 'extremely middling', on a signum-observing basis, given how close to zero it is), especially given the implied floating precision which might suggest that 44,000,000,000,000,000 (or something not too disimilar to it — same {{w|significand}}, as above, but the most positive version of the base-exponent, not the nost negative) is another possible stored value that can be represented. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.70|82.132.239.70]] 12:58, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Considering how close to April Fools this comic is, it could be a remnant of such a prank that they haven't bothered to clean up yet. [[Special:Contributions/2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:A420:F4F:966C:167E|2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:A420:F4F:966C:167E]] 16:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

If anyone's wondering, it appears that they made it roughly 5,879 millennia, six centuries, and one decade without an integer overflow error. [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]] ([[User talk:DL Draco Rex|talk]]) 19:34, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
:...I rather think it means that it will be that long until they ''aren't'' having one. ;) [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:08, 5 April 2026 (UTC)

I don't think it's significant that Cueball appears to be floating. Randall sometimes draws people in chairs that way. See, for example, [[2949]], [[3015]], and [[3052]]. —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 23:25, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
:Some of the examples are also seen in What If? and What If? 2. (Yup) [[User:Cream Starlight|Cream Starlight]] ([[User talk:Cream Starlight|talk]]) 04:42, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

I agree with [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]]: they started a 32 bit signed integer counter on -5877585-09-23 of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proleptic_Gregorian_calendar# proleptic Gregorian calendar], so that the counter goes

{| class="wikitable"
|+ days since our last integer overflow.
|-
! counter !! date
|-
| 0 || -5877585-09-23
|-
| 1 || -5877585-09-24
|-
| 2 || -5877585-09-25
|-
| ... || ...
|-
| 2146743572 || -001-12-30
|-
| 2146743573 || -001-12-31
|-
| 2146743574 || 0000-01-01
|-
| 2146743575 || 0000-01-02
|-
| ... || ...
|-
| 2147483646 || 2026-04-01
|-
| 2147483647 || 2026-04-02
|-
| -2147483648 || 2026-04-03
|}

[[User:Qprz|Qprz]] ([[User talk:Qprz|talk]]) 12:59, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3228: Day Counter

2026-04-06T13:00:15Z

82.132.239.70: Clarify

Someone has to be first [[Special:Contributions/2401:D005:D402:7A00:780:9D40:A38A:98A0|2401:D005:D402:7A00:780:9D40:A38A:98A0]] 13:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
:No, but someone has to be the ''0.99999999999999956th''... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:58, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

In response to the comment added by @[[User:GSLikesCats307|GSLikesCats307]], "When the comic was first published the number was −0.00000000000000017 days": Perhaps Randall was just trying to make things a bit more realistic. I've shown a realistic example that could generate −0.00000000000000044. My experiments didn't find any simple example that could generate −0.00000000000000017. (Which is not to say there isn't one.) —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 15:15, 3 April 2026 (UTC), edited 15:39, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

The day counter is now showing −0.00000000000000044 on my Windows 11 system using Chrome. Maybe the result differs based on computer/browser combination? [[Special:Contributions/72.218.191.213|72.218.191.213]] 16:16, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

The April Fools dark mode thing was kept! Lets go! [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 16:25, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

This comic was published during NASA's Artemis II moon mission. Could Cueball seeming to be floating above his chair be a reference to null gravity? [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:12, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

My guess is that irrational numbers have "infinite digits" in any base, but my math education is not good enough even to know how to start to prove it, an informal confirmation would be appreciated. [[Special:Contributions/5.91.22.162|5.91.22.162]] 22:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
:As a decimal in a certain base is just a fraction (with a denominator of a power of the base), numbers with finite decimal expansions must be rational (assuming the base is rational) [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 23:31, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
::Let's all work in base π so we can have irrational discussions that make sense. What's e in base π?[[Special:Contributions/98.22.184.160|98.22.184.160]] 12:49, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:::I want to meditate on all the transcendental numbers. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Plot twist: This is accurate, just too precise and able to predict the future. Someone is about to cause one. [[Special:Contributions/47.141.37.161|47.141.37.161]] 05:24, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:Doesn't have to be predicting the future to be accurate. Maybe it means that the last error occurred 38 picoseconds ago. [[User:Gorcq|Gorcq]] ([[User talk:Gorcq|talk]]) 14:26, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Surprised that there hasn't been an Artemis II comic yet. --[[User:Funstuff4fun|Funstuff4fun]] ([[User talk:Funstuff4fun|talk]]) 06:12, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Sorry, new to posting; sorry if I am misunderstanding. The text describes −0.00000000000000044 as a very small negative number. Is this saying that it is close to zero? If so, would that be better expressed as large, rather than small? [[User:Flickerwit|Flickerwit]] ([[User talk:Flickerwit|talk]]) 15:54, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:The value is very small. The representation of the number is large (or ''fairly'' large, by some certain limited measure). But you wouldn't call 0.9 "smaller", or 'closer to zero'/"0", than "0.8888888888..." under most usages. Even though that might be correct in a string-handling context. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:"Greater" and "lesser" work like that (with -1 being greater than -2), but "larger" and "smaller" are more ambiguous, and often refer to the absolute value. [[Special:Contributions/192.112.253.21|192.112.253.21]] 02:58, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
::One generally would not describe −0.00000000000000044 as "large" (rather than "larger", in direct comparison), except maybe in the implicit context of numbers that routinely are orders of magnitude less (in absolute terms) ''or'' are consistently more negative (e.g. zero is an ''upper'' limit and one or other of -0.5, -5 or -5,000,000 could be more typical value).
::In the context of natural numbers, it is "small" in the grand scheme of things (or 'extremely middling', on a non-absolute basis, given how close to zero it is), especially given the implied floating precision which might suggest that 44,000,000,000,000,000 (or something not too disimilar to it — same {{w|significand}}, as above, but the most positive version of the base-exponent, not the nost negative) is another possible stored value that can be represented. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.70|82.132.239.70]] 12:58, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Considering how close to April Fools this comic is, it could be a remnant of such a prank that they haven't bothered to clean up yet. [[Special:Contributions/2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:A420:F4F:966C:167E|2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:A420:F4F:966C:167E]] 16:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

If anyone's wondering, it appears that they made it roughly 5,879 millennia, six centuries, and one decade without an integer overflow error. [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]] ([[User talk:DL Draco Rex|talk]]) 19:34, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
:...I rather think it means that it will be that long until they ''aren't'' having one. ;) [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:08, 5 April 2026 (UTC)

I don't think it's significant that Cueball appears to be floating. Randall sometimes draws people in chairs that way. See, for example, [[2949]], [[3015]], and [[3052]]. —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 23:25, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
:Some of the examples are also seen in What If? and What If? 2. (Yup) [[User:Cream Starlight|Cream Starlight]] ([[User talk:Cream Starlight|talk]]) 04:42, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

I agree with [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]]: they started a 32 bit signed integer counter on -5877585-09-23 of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proleptic_Gregorian_calendar# proleptic Gregorian calendar], so that the counter goes

{| class="wikitable"
|+ days since our last integer overflow.
|-
! counter !! date
|-
| 0 || -5877585-09-23
|-
| 1 || -5877585-09-24
|-
| 2 || -5877585-09-25
|-
| ... || ...
|-
| 2146743572 || -001-12-30
|-
| 2146743573 || -001-12-31
|-
| 2146743574 || 0000-01-01
|-
| 2146743575 || 0000-01-02
|-
| ... || ...
|-
| 2147483646 || 2026-04-01
|-
| 2147483647 || 2026-04-02
|-
| -2147483648 || 2026-04-03
|}

[[User:Qprz|Qprz]] ([[User talk:Qprz|talk]]) 12:59, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3228: Day Counter

2026-04-06T12:58:28Z

82.132.239.70:

Someone has to be first [[Special:Contributions/2401:D005:D402:7A00:780:9D40:A38A:98A0|2401:D005:D402:7A00:780:9D40:A38A:98A0]] 13:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
:No, but someone has to be the ''0.99999999999999956th''... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:58, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

In response to the comment added by @[[User:GSLikesCats307|GSLikesCats307]], "When the comic was first published the number was −0.00000000000000017 days": Perhaps Randall was just trying to make things a bit more realistic. I've shown a realistic example that could generate −0.00000000000000044. My experiments didn't find any simple example that could generate −0.00000000000000017. (Which is not to say there isn't one.) —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 15:15, 3 April 2026 (UTC), edited 15:39, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

The day counter is now showing −0.00000000000000044 on my Windows 11 system using Chrome. Maybe the result differs based on computer/browser combination? [[Special:Contributions/72.218.191.213|72.218.191.213]] 16:16, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

The April Fools dark mode thing was kept! Lets go! [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 16:25, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

This comic was published during NASA's Artemis II moon mission. Could Cueball seeming to be floating above his chair be a reference to null gravity? [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 17:12, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

My guess is that irrational numbers have "infinite digits" in any base, but my math education is not good enough even to know how to start to prove it, an informal confirmation would be appreciated. [[Special:Contributions/5.91.22.162|5.91.22.162]] 22:14, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
:As a decimal in a certain base is just a fraction (with a denominator of a power of the base), numbers with finite decimal expansions must be rational (assuming the base is rational) [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 23:31, 3 April 2026 (UTC)
::Let's all work in base π so we can have irrational discussions that make sense. What's e in base π?[[Special:Contributions/98.22.184.160|98.22.184.160]] 12:49, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:::I want to meditate on all the transcendental numbers. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Plot twist: This is accurate, just too precise and able to predict the future. Someone is about to cause one. [[Special:Contributions/47.141.37.161|47.141.37.161]] 05:24, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:Doesn't have to be predicting the future to be accurate. Maybe it means that the last error occurred 38 picoseconds ago. [[User:Gorcq|Gorcq]] ([[User talk:Gorcq|talk]]) 14:26, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Surprised that there hasn't been an Artemis II comic yet. --[[User:Funstuff4fun|Funstuff4fun]] ([[User talk:Funstuff4fun|talk]]) 06:12, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

Sorry, new to posting; sorry if I am misunderstanding. The text describes −0.00000000000000044 as a very small negative number. Is this saying that it is close to zero? If so, would that be better expressed as large, rather than small? [[User:Flickerwit|Flickerwit]] ([[User talk:Flickerwit|talk]]) 15:54, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:The value is very small. The representation of the number is large (or ''fairly'' large, by some certain limited measure). But you wouldn't call 0.9 "smaller", or 'closer to zero'/"0", than "0.8888888888..." under most usages. Even though that might be correct in a string-handling context. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 19:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
:"Greater" and "lesser" work like that (with -1 being greater than -2), but "larger" and "smaller" are more ambiguous, and often refer to the absolute value. [[Special:Contributions/192.112.253.21|192.112.253.21]] 02:58, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
::One generally would not describe −0.00000000000000044 as "large" (rather than "larger"), except maybe in the implicit context of numbers that routinely are orders of magnitude less (in absolute terms) ''or'' are consistently more negative (e.g. zero is an ''upper'' limit and one or other of -0.5, -5 or -5,000,000 could be more typical value).
::In the context of natural numbers, it is "small" in the grand scheme of things (or 'extremely middling', on a non-absolute basis, given how close to zero it is), especially given the implied floating precision which might suggest that 44,000,000,000,000,000 (or something not too disimilar to it — same {{w|significand}}, as above, but the most positive version of the base-exponent, not the nost negative) is another possible stored value that can be represented. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.70|82.132.239.70]] 12:58, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Considering how close to April Fools this comic is, it could be a remnant of such a prank that they haven't bothered to clean up yet. [[Special:Contributions/2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:A420:F4F:966C:167E|2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:A420:F4F:966C:167E]] 16:32, 4 April 2026 (UTC)

If anyone's wondering, it appears that they made it roughly 5,879 millennia, six centuries, and one decade without an integer overflow error. [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]] ([[User talk:DL Draco Rex|talk]]) 19:34, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
:...I rather think it means that it will be that long until they ''aren't'' having one. ;) [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:08, 5 April 2026 (UTC)

I don't think it's significant that Cueball appears to be floating. Randall sometimes draws people in chairs that way. See, for example, [[2949]], [[3015]], and [[3052]]. —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 23:25, 5 April 2026 (UTC)
:Some of the examples are also seen in What If? and What If? 2. (Yup) [[User:Cream Starlight|Cream Starlight]] ([[User talk:Cream Starlight|talk]]) 04:42, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

Design of xkcd.com

2026-04-06T12:36:05Z

82.132.239.70: Undo revision 409665 by 2001:4450:81E7:1E00:ADD6:A33:300F:1CBB (talk) Strange copypaste thing...

{{xkcd.com}}[[File:xkcd_website.png|thumb|right|250px|The four main sections of the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] website.]]{{TOC}}
The '''design of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]''' includes four white sections, which are separated by a thin black border and a light blue-gray background color. All text on the page uses a small caps font, except for the word "xkcd" in the logo image. Here is a list of the changes that have been made:

The design has changed many times over the years, but mainly in the beginning. Prior to [https://web.archive.org/web/20041024201125/http://68.57.186.221:8080/ October 24th, 2004], the website didn't mention the name "xkcd" and didn't include any comics. During that time, the site's message simply stated: "I don't use this page for much. It goes un-updated for a long time, and I don't really change the content, though I'm thinking of putting together a good links page. For now I just mostly use this to host pictures.". Before [https://web.archive.org/web/20051018051614/http://www.xkcd.com:80/ October 18th, 2005], the website was redesigned to be used to host xkcd comics. Between [http://web.archive.org/web/20060706040359/http://xkcd.com:80/ July 6th, 2006] and [http://web.archive.org/web/20060710090528/http://www.xkcd.com:80/ July 10th, 2006], the design of the website changed dramatically to one very similar to the current one.
<span id="Links"></span>
==Links section==
[[File:xkcd_links.png|right|150px]]
:''Main article: [[Links]]''

The first section is for the [[Links|links]] and is positioned at the top left of the page. It contains direct links to navigate around [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com], his social accounts, and his books. There have been [[Links#History|many changes]] to the links over the course of the site's history, with the last one being made in 2023. It states:

{{:Links}}
<span id="Header"></span>
==Header section==
[[File:xkcd_header.png|right|150px]]
The second section is the header, which contains the logo, the [[Tagline|tagline]], and the [[Header text|header text]]. The header is wider than the first section but has the same height. The xkcd logo is positioned on the upper left corner and serves as a clickable link to the front page. The image used in the logo of xkcd is from the first panel of [[77: Bored with the Internet]], showing only the characters and the chair and the desk with a now old fashioned computer screen. The color of the text in the logo is a shade of grey/gray(spelling varies with location), with a hex value of #6e7b91, and an rgba value of (110,123,145,255).

===Tagline===
:''Main article: [[Tagline]]''

Next to the logo is the [[Tagline|tagline]], a short text that appears regardless of which comic is being viewed. There have been [[Tagline#History|eight taglines]] displayed over the course of the site's history, with the current one being added in 2006. It states:

{{:Tagline}}

===Header text===
:''Main article: [[Header text]]''

The [[Header text|header text]] is usually updated when Randall has news to share or wants to add information about a specific comic. The header text has been changed [[Header text#Comic-specific header text|more than a hundred times]] since the launch of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com]. The standard header text states:

{{:Header text}}
<span id="Comic"></span>

==Comic section==
[[File:xkcd_comic.png|right|150px]]This section of the website is dedicated to displaying comics.

===Comic===
Positioned above the comic is the title, presented in large and bold lettering. Just below the title, but above the primary comic image, there are five buttons. They follow a fairly standard layout: on the outer edges are the <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 11px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;">|<</span></li> and <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 11px;">>|</span></li> arrows, which transport the user to the first or most recent comic accordingly. Adjacent to these are the <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 11px;">< Prev</span></li> and <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 11px;">Next ></span></li> buttons, allowing navigation between the comics immediately before and after the currently displayed one. In instances where the displayed comic is the first or the last, attempting to access the previous or next comic will simply result in the page being reloaded. At the center there is a <li style="background-color: #6E7B91; border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray; display: inline; font-size: 12px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;"><span style="color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 11px;">Random</span></li> button, which, when clicked, loads a comic at random. The same set of buttons is duplicated below the comic as well. While this redundancy isn't needed in most comics, it ensures that the buttons are conveniently accessible both before and after scrolling, especially for [[:Category:Large drawings|large comics]].

Finally, beneath this second row of buttons, two links are provided. The first functions as a permalink, directly linking to the comic currently displayed on the page. In some cases, custom permalinks are used for various versions of the same comic, such as in some of the [[:Category:Interactive comics|interactive comics]] like [[1350: Lorenz]] and [[1663: Garden]]. The structure of this link consists solely of the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] domain followed by the respective comic number. For instance, the link for comic [[3000: Experimental Astrophysics]] would appear as: "https://www.xkcd.com/3000/". The second link leads to the image URL suitable for hotlinking or embedding, in this case "https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/experimental_astrophysics.png". This link is stored within a comics-specific logical subdirectory of the server. The filenames of these images typically align with the comic titles, although exceptions arise, particularly in cases of [[:Category:Comics sharing name|title conflicts]] or when the visible comic is dynamically generated or a composite rendering.

The two links were originally plaintext and couldn't be clicked, but they were changed to hyperlinks between [https://web.archive.org/web/20210731145017/https://xkcd.com/102/ July 31, 2021] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20210810053223/https://xkcd.com/102/ Aug 10, 2021].

:<div style="font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 500; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; text-align: center;" class="plainlinks">Permanent link to this comic: </div><div style="font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 800; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; text-align: center;" class="plainlinks"> https://xkcd.com/3000/</div>
:<div style="font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 500; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; text-align: center;" class="plainlinks">Image URL (for hotlinking/embedding): </div><div style="font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 800; font-size: 16px; line-height: 150%; text-align: center;" class="plainlinks">https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/experimental_astrophysics.png</div>

===Title text===
:''Main article: [[Title text]]''

The [[Title text|title text]] is an {{w|HTML attribute}} that [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] puts on almost every xkcd comic to add something tangentially relevant to the topic of the comic. Over the years, [[Title text|its purpose has changed]].

==Bottom section==
[[File:xkcd_bottom.png|right|150px]]

=== Footer comics ===
:''Main article: [[Footer comics]]''

The [[Footer comics|footer comics]] are likely selected for representing the topics covered on xkcd. There have been [[Footer comics#History|five changes]] to the footer comics over the course of the site's history, with the last one being added in 2019. They are:

{{:Footer comics}}

===Feeds===
Below the footer comics, there are three feeds links. These links consist of a RSS feed, an Atom feed, and, starting from [https://web.archive.org/web/20190206060904/https://xkcd.com/ February 6th, 2019], a subscription link for receiving news via email. On [https://web.archive.org/web/20190611031920/https://xkcd.com/ June 11th, 2019], the last two links were also added to the [[Links|links]] at the top for easier access. They are:

<div style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 300px; Unicode-bidi: isolate; display: block; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 500;" class="plainlinks">
:[https://xkcd.com/rss.xml '''RSS Feed'''] - [https://xkcd.com/atom.xml '''Atom Feed'''] - [https://xkcd.com/newsletter/ '''Email''']</div>

===Comics I enjoy===
Beneath the two feeds there is a list of Randall's favorite webcomics with links:

<div style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 300px; Unicode-bidi: isolate; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 500;" class="plainlinks">
:Comics I enjoy:<br>
:'''[http://threewordphrase.com/ Three Word Phrase]''',
:'''[https://www.smbc-comics.com/ SMBC]''',
:'''[https://www.qwantz.com Dinosaur Comics]''',
:'''[https://oglaf.com/ Oglaf]''' (nsfw),
:'''[https://www.asofterworld.com A Softer World]''',
:'''[https://buttersafe.com/ Buttersafe]''',
:'''[https://pbfcomics.com/ Perry Bible Fellowship]''',
:'''[https://questionablecontent.net/ Questionable Content]''',
:'''[http://www.buttercupfestival.com/ Buttercup Festival]''',
:'''[https://www.homestuck.com/ Homestuck]''',
:'''[https://www.jspowerhour.com/ Junior Scientist Power Hour]'''</div>

===Other things===
:''Main article: [[Other things]]''

The [[Other things|Other things section]] on xkcd contains links to external websites [[Randall]] finds interesting. It is displayed beneath the Comics I enjoy section. There has been a total of [[Other things#History|five links]] displayed over the course of the site's history, [[Other things#History|which have been changed thrice]].

{{:Other things}}

===Warning===
:''Main article: [[Warning]]''

The [[Warning|warning]] on xkcd served as a humorous advisory message to users about the contents of the comics. It was originally [[Warning|added to the site]] in 2006, but [[Warning#Removal of the warning|it was removed]] in 2016. It stated:

{{:Warning}}

===Bitcoin address===
:''Main article: [[Bitcoin address]]''

The [[Bitcoin address]] on xkcd used to be included in the [[Footnote|footnote]] and in [https://xkcd.com/bitcoin xkcd.com/bitcoin]. A larger version of the Bitcoin address is available in [[Bitcoin address|the main article]]. He updated the addresses frequently, using them as a modern tip jar for high-tech users. There have been [[Bitcoin address#History|six Bitcoin addresses]] displayed over the course of the site's history, with the last one being [[Bitcoin address#Footnote|removed]], alongside the [[Footnote|footnote]], in 2016. It stated:

{{:Bitcoin address}}

===Footnote===
:''Main article: [[Footnote]]''

The [[Footnote|footnote]] on xkcd is set to a very tiny font size, which makes it hard to read without zooming in. A larger version of the footnote is available in [[Footnote|the main article]]. There have been [[Footnote#History|two major footnotes]] displayed over the course of the site's history, with the current one being added in 2016. It states:

{{:Footnote}}

===License and copyright===
Randall allows people to use his comics for free as long as they do not make money on them and as long as they credit him with the work.
There are two notes:

<div style="display: block; margin: auto; width: 410px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-family: Lucida, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 500;" class="plainlinks">
:This work is licensed under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ '''Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License'''].

:This means you're free to copy and share these comics (but not to sell them). [https://xkcd.com/license.html '''More details'''].</div>

"More details" is a link to [https://xkcd.com/license.html xkcd.com/license.html], which expands on what people are and are not allowed to do.

[[Category:Design of xkcd.com| 1]]{{xkcdmeta}}

Talk:3144: Phase Changes

2026-04-06T12:32:45Z

82.132.239.70:

Heyyyyyyy, new comic! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#023020">DollarStoreBa'al</span>]]<sup>[[User_talk:DollarStoreBa'al|<span style="color:#000080">converse</span>]]</sup> 12:47, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

finally, a comic about crystallography [[Special:Contributions/2607:FB91:1498:5878:AD2:E57:4DFB:1B7F|2607:FB91:1498:5878:AD2:E57:4DFB:1B7F]] 12:52, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Water: Who wants a hugggg??? {{unsigned ip|173.95.168.108|02:13, 20 September 2025}}

Man, now every single time I hear anything about "ice spikes" my mind immediately goes to Minecraft. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. [[User:Willintendo|Willintendo]] ([[User talk:Willintendo|talk]]) 04:01, 21 September 2025 (UTC)

Does anyone know if it is possible to deliberately create one? [[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 05:09, 22 September 2025 (UTC)
: For sure - you just need a spike-shaped mould and a freezer... [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:10, 22 September 2025 (UTC)
:Without having personally investigated it, but knowing the general conditions being suggested, first a container that's shallow, wide and steep-sided at the depth of the water. (Would an upturned frisbee do? ...but a fairly solid one, not the overly floppy/rubbery type.)
:Then, not sure about the freezing criteria, but I'm guessing a ''fairly'' slow and steady drop in temperature down to and past freezing. A single particularly rough patch at water-level, or other contamination, might help start the freezing there, rather in the centre and freezing to the edge, sufficient to start an ice-'skin' (plastic frisbee might help to keep the denser, warmer water below the surface warmer and denser longer than with a metalic dish of the same profile) which you want to spread across and around the surface. The last bit to freeze should ideally be in the middle (as in, not at the actual far edge), so I don't know if there's anything you can do (a lesser, but still, rough surface within the container?) to encourage ice-growth around the perimeter (pi.r distance) quicker than straight across the surface (2.r). Ideally, it'll be a single conformist ice-crystal (like they attempt to cast jet-engine blades, but for different reasons and in a different shape), although ''possibly'' starting icing off at more than three semi-regularly spaces on the rim would meet up at all the edges correctly before any of the 'ice fronts' hit the actual centre.
:Perhaps hold the ambient air tempreature just slightly below freezing, if you can't just keep going slow. You don't want to cool the subsurface too much yet, if you can help it.
:Once there's a (mostly) established ice-skin (probably pressing directly up against the edge due to the expansion of the ice, and thick enough to not fracture itself from those lateral forces) except for the last spot of no-ice (or thinnest-ice that will easily 'erupt' a fracture-hole) then continued cooling will reach the non-surface water and raise its ideal volume, it'll come up through the hole/weak-point and overflow, in the open air, and the flow-rate and scale of the emerging water-through-hole will dictate where the cool air finally freezes the outflow. And the orientation(s) of the existing crystaline ice will dictate what skew it might have (I can't think of a way to force that in any particular direction without manually adding seed-crystals of ice at just the right moment in just the right way).:
:If there's just the right temperature profile (over time), the pressure profile (therefore the outflow profile, therefore the hole-/extrusion-edge freezing profile) will lead to the spiky or inverted-pyramidal ice formation for as long as there remains enough under-ice water with enough latent expansion to feed the process.
:The lab experiments may have been using distilled/hyperpurified water to limit and control the spontaneous ice-formation, but clearly 'in the wild' examples have managed with liquid that's not particularly free of common solutes (solid and gaseous). And the temperature of the overnight frost isn't exactly fine-tuned. It's probably more that some containers ''can'' do this sort of thing andcsoke can't. A saucer of water is more likely to wedge its expanding ice outwards, raise its whole ice-top up to relieve the freezing-induced pressure and only seep out at ''all'' edges.
:But any more likely container (something like a discarded coffee-jar lid, comes to mind, if the frisbee isn't right at the edges, and has some other useful features that might aid icing up 'properly') that's one of many such containers, that happen to be outside on an eventually freezing night, has a non-zero chance of doing everything required, even/especially with bits of autumnal leaf or storm-blown twig 'contaminating' the pooled rainwater. And enough small chances lead it near certainty that it will happen to at least one of them as the conditions were ''just'' right.
:Invoking it in a household freezer ''could'' also be possible (with the correct setup and freezer (re-)settings), and maybe even tap water can do the job of 'pure' water. But far fewer trials can be carried out (per attempt) than nature conducts entirely without human intent/fine-tuning.
:Lab-based experiments can at least apply even more control (and an intelligent amount of tuning) to the attempts to replicate nature. Though still seems far from certain, from the brief reading I've done on this, that they can invoke the effect any time they feel like it. If anybody here manages to reproducibly pull together the necessary physical alchemy (especially with a household freezer), I'm sure everyone else studying this would be very interested to discover your particular 'recipe' and play with it themselves. ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.57|82.132.238.57]] 16:42, 22 September 2025 (UTC)
: tl;dr: [https://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/icespikes/icespikes.htm#:~:text=To%20see%20your%20own%20ice,some%20ice%20spikes%20to%20grow. To make ice spikes, freeze distilled water in a regular ice cube tray]. --[[User:Mwarren|Mwarren]] ([[User talk:Mwarren|talk]]) 02:40, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Does anyone notice that the ice spikes in the second panel resemble a wine bottle and triangle wine glass? just want to put that out there. also this is my first comment so sorry if i screw something up. [[Special:Contributions/2001:861:2822:D7A0:AD97:C387:ED60:AF9|2001:861:2822:D7A0:AD97:C387:ED60:AF9]] 03:24, 6 April 2026 (UTC)
:I can't ''unsee'' it, now. ;)
:PS. Mostly unscrewed-up (you signed, at the very least), but I moved this to below the reply to the prior comment. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.70|82.132.239.70]] 12:32, 6 April 2026 (UTC)

1212: Interstellar Memes

2026-04-06T12:28:21Z

82.132.239.70: /* Table with memes */ Mainly the capital case of "March", before we get into other date-format arguments. Leaving (as perhaps it's an apt joke?) the issue of him, *having died*, being said to *have opted to* stay quiet after his death. Classic!

{{comic
| number = 1212
| date = May 15, 2013
| title = Interstellar Memes
| image = interstellar memes.png
| titletext = The strongest incentive we have to develop faster-than-light travel is that it would let us apologize in advance.
}}
A [http://xkcd.com/1212/large/ larger version] of this picture can be found by clicking the comic on xkcd.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Need to add the missing explanations for memes.}}

[[Randall]] highlights various memes from popular culture. A {{w|meme}} is a phenomenon, often in this scenario in the form of a movie quote, a musical reference, a catchphrase or other notable saying that spreads quickly by word-of-mouth. Memes become popular because people hear about them and repeat them to others. Randall points out that if the assumed intelligent life from other star systems were listening to the things we said, then they would just now be hearing and popularizing memes started years ago on earth. The delay is due to the time that it takes for expressions of the meme to travel (presumably via radio waves) to distant star systems.

Our solar system, from where the electromagnetic waves are emitted, is located just left of the center of the picture. The other star systems are arranged roughly according to their distance from the sun, while their size corresponds to the size of the star compared with that of the Sun. The meme for Sirius is a pun; it refers to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in which Bellatrix Lestrange kills Sirius Black. Radio waves travel at the {{w|speed of light}}. The title text jokes that these memes are so annoying that it would give us further incentive to develop the technology to travel {{w|faster than light}}, just simply to be able to outrun the radio waves, reach a distant star system, and apologize in advance to the "residents" about the memes, before the memes arrive.

In the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|47|Alien Astronomers}}'', Randall points out that Earth entertainment television and radio signals were never broadcast with sufficient intensity to be detectable at the majority of interstellar distances making it unlikely that aliens are picking up our memes and links back to this comic.

===Table with memes===
The table below lists all the memes described, and the star at which the comics states those memes should be heard by the time when the comic was released in 2013. The year of the meme plus the number of light years to the star should end up close to 2013.

Most end up within the range 2011-2013 which may indicate the meme became popular one or two years later (on Earth or at the distant star system.) Two memes reach the targets in 2014. Some of those errors may be caused by the inaccuracy of the distances.

The ''The Spanish Inquisition'' from Monty Python would have reached its destination in 2006. Because they're still watching ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' in 2013 it must be very popular or maybe it took seven years to decipher that {{w|British humour}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Meme !! Star !! Origin !! Year !! Distance to star !! Sum year !! Explanation
|-
| Yabba dabba doo! || {{w|Castor (star)|Castor}} || ''{{w|The Flintstones}}'' || 1960 || 51 ± 3 ly || 2011 ± 3 ||The catchphrase used by ''{{W|Fred Flintstone}}'' in the series ''{{W|The Flintstones}}'' whenever something good happens (like a work shift ending).
|-
| You've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" || {{w|Lambda Aurigae}} || ''{{w|Dirty Harry}}'' || 1971 || 41.2 ± 0.1 ly || 2012 || The famous line from the scene in ''Dirty Harry'' where the titular Harry forces a criminal to surrender by threatening him with an empty gun.
|-
| {{w|Where's the beef|Where's the beef?}} || {{w|HR 1614}} || Slogan for {{w|Wendy's}} || 1984 || 28 ly || 2012 || Catchy slogan used in many Wendy's commercials that caught on and became a meme in its own right.
|-
| And now for something completely different. || {{w|Capella (star)|Capella}}|| ''{{w|Monty Python's Flying Circus}}'' || 1969 || 42 ly || 2011 || "And now for something completely different" was previously used in U.K. magazine shows like ''Tonight'', but its use in Monty Python's material means it has come to be associated with them.
|-
| Here's lookin' at you, kid. || {{w|Kappa Reticuli}} || ''{{w|Casablanca (film)|Casablanca}}'' || 1942 || 70 ly || 2012 || "Here's looking at you, kid" is a line spoken by Humphrey Bogart in the 1942 film Casablanca.
|-
| My spoon is too big! || {{w|Kapteyn's Star}} || ''{{w|Rejected}}'' || 2000 || 12 ly || 2012 || The first line of Don Hertzfeldt's surreal animation ''Rejected'', released in 2000. In the story of ''Rejected'', this was meant to be an ad bumper for an educational channel.
|-
| May the force be with you. || {{w|Delta Trianguli}} || ''{{w|Star Wars}}''|| 1977 || 35 ly || 2012 || This is a phrase used a lot in the Star Wars franchise. It is a benediction used to bid a hopeful farewell, mostly by/to/between those who are aligned to the {{w|Jedi}} creed.
|-
| Peanut butter jelly time! || {{w|Luyten's Star}} || [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/peanut-butter-jelly-time an Internet meme] || 2002 || 12 ly || 2014 || "Peanut Butter & Jelly" was the only single by the Buckwheat Boyz, which became popular as a meme when paired with an animated dancing banana.
|-
| Rosebud. || {{w|Alpha Hydri}} || ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}'' || 1941 || 71 ly || 2012 || In the opening scene of Citizen Kane, the eponymous Mr. Kane dies, saying "Rosebud" as his last words. The rest of the movie focuses on the people in his life trying to determine what the meaning of this word was.
|-
| Oh my god, {{w|They killed Kenny|they killed Kenny!}} – You bastards! || {{w|AD Leonis}} || ''{{w|South Park}}'' || 1997 || 15.9 ± 0.2 ly || 2013 || This is usually said whenever the character Kenny from South Park is killed. This is a recurring reference, as Kenny dies in every episode of South Park. In its most referenced form, another of the child characters then swears at the antagonists, fate and/or {{tvtropes|BreakingTheFourthWall|the writer's of the show}}, whichever party may be responsible, but this may be toned down in later depictions.
|-
| ...God kills a kitten! – A what? || {{w|Procyon}} || {{w|Every time you masturbate... God kills a kitten|an Internet meme}} || 2002 || 11.5 ly || 2013 || The full catchphrase is "Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten". The reply for this meme notes that kittens aren't on any other planets{{Citation needed}}, so the other person is confused about what a kitten is.
|-
| I ''still'' can't believe Bellatrix– – Dude, get over it. || {{w|Sirius}} || ''{{w|Harry Potter}}'' ({{w|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix|book 5}}) || 2003 || 8.6 ly || 2012 || In the Battle of the {{w|Ministry of Magic|Department of Mysteries}}, {{w|Bellatrix Lestrange}} fires a spell at {{w|Sirius Black}}, {{w|Harry Potter (character)|Harry's}} {{w|Godparent|godfather}}. This spell knocks Sirius backward through an archway which is a physical doorway into the {{w|Afterlife|afterlife}} such that, when Sirius fell through it, he left the realm of the living and died. The star Sirius is obviously upset about this, as Sirius Black was named after him.
|-
| Ninjas fight ''all the time!'' || {{w|Epsilon Eridani}} || {{w|The Official Ninja Webpage}} || 2002 || 10 ly || 2012 || {{w|Ninja}} is the Japanese word for {{w|spy}}. In the 16th century, Japanese spycraft was codified into a profession, and spies had a significant influence on feudal intrigue during the {{w|Sengoku period|Japanese warring states period}}. These spies inspired a lot of literature, some fantastical, which over time developed into a popular stock character and a rich array of associated tropes. The Official Ninja Webpage is a satire website written from the perspective of a teenage American boy who is obsessed with the stock character and its associated tropes. One of these tropes, as written on the front page of the website, is that "Ninjas fight ALL the time."
|-
| {{w|D'oh!}} || {{w|HR 753}} || ''{{w|The Simpsons}}'' || 1989 || 23 ly || 2012 || This is what {{w|Homer Simpson| Homer Simpson}}, the father figure of {{w|The Simpsons}}The Simpsons, exclaims whenever he's annoyed.
|-
| {{w|The Spanish Inquisition (Monty Python)|''Nobody'' expects the Spanish Inquisition!}} || {{w|Beta Virginis}} || ''{{w|Monty Python's Flying Circus}}'' || 1970 || 35,6 ly || 2006 || Monty Python was an absurdist sketch show. In a particular episode, a character in a scene (a meeting between a mill-owner and his workers) complained about being asked some questions by saying they "did not expect a {{w|Spanish Inquisition}}", a superlative that was common at the time the sketch aired. At this point, several characters dressed in the uniforms of the Spanish Inquisition burst into the scene declaring that "nobody expects the Spanish inquisition", diverting the original sketch's direction. At the very end of the episode, a different character in a different (courtroom) sketch says that they "didn't expected the Spanish Inquisition" and everyone turns towards the door in expectation. The remainder of the episode follows the Spanish Inquisition rushing to the scene, and barely starting to 'surprise' everyone there before time runs out.
|-
| {{w|All your base are belong to us}}. || {{w|Tau Ceti}} || ''{{w|Zero Wing}}'' || 2001 || 11.9 ly || 2013 || This is a meme resulting from a mistranslated line in the game ''Zero Wing''. The correct translation was "We have taken all of your bases."
|-
| Take me to your leader! – No, Steve. || {{w|Beta Cassiopeiae|Caph}} || {{w|Take me to your leader (phrase)}} || 1957 || 55 ly || 2012 || "Take me to your leader" is a stock phrase attributed to aliens in 1950s science fiction during first contact. The first recorded instance is a New Yorker cartoon where aliens ask this question to a horse, illustrating the weirdness of aliens being able to communicate the phrase but not understanding the structure of society. Later usage was more sincere, with both humans and aliens asking each other to take them to their leaders. Since people near Caph would be aliens, one could ask them to take you to their leader. However, because the aliens on Caph are saying the meme to each other, the second speaker is personally familiar with the one making the request, apparently named Steve, which makes the request pointless. So the second speaker refuses the request because it is not important.
|-
| Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He ''waits.'' || {{w|Wolf 359}} || {{w|Chuck Norris facts}} || 2005 || 7.8 ly || 2013 || {{w|Chuck Norris}} is an American movie star, typically taking on roles where he would perform implausible feats of physical prowess. People online started making lists of many other implausible or impossible feats that Chuck Norris was supposedly capable of, including this one. Normal humans have a physiological need for {{w|sleep}}, with sleep deprivation having many negative health effects. That Chuck Norris does not sleep but instead waits implies a superhuman resistance to insomnia, while simultaneously explaining his inaction as a form of {{w|theodicy}}. On 19th March 2026, Chuck Norris died of a cause of death that he opted to keep quiet.
|-
| ♬ Numa numa ♪ || {{w|Lalande 21185}} || {{w|Dragostea Din Tei|Numa Numa song}} || 2004 || 8.3 ly || 2012 || "Numa numa" is part of the lyrics of the chorus of a Romanian-language europop song {{w|Dragostea Din Tei}}. A webcam recording of {{w|Gary Brolsma}} enthousiastically singing along with the song was uploaded to youtube and widely shared.
|-
| I can haz? || {{w|WISE 1049-5319|Luhman 16}} || {{w|Lolcats}} || 2006 || 6.6 ± 0.5 ly || 2013 || An early image macro meme format was captioning pictures of cats, as alluded to in xkcd [[262]]. One popular image featured an overweight Scottish Fold cat with the caption "I can haz cheezburger?", implying the cat is overweight because it likes eating cheeseburgers.
|-
| ''Internets!'' || {{w|Luyten 726-8|Gliese 65}} || {{w|George W. Bush}} [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/internets Internet meme] || 2004 || 8.7 || 2013|| The word 'Internets' is an incorrect pluralisation of the word, popularised by former US president George Bush, in his response to a question asked by an audience member about the moral state of media in the US, during a debate at Washington University in 2000. His response is as follows: "''[…] We can have filters on Internets where public money is spent […] so if kids get on the Internet, there is not going to be pornography or violence coming in.''" This was majorly overlooked until he made the same mistake during the presidential debate against US Senator John Kerry in 2004. He repeated this as follows: "''I hear there's rumors on the, uh, Internets [pause] that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to have a draft, period.''"
|-
| Look at the tiny dancing Earth mammals! || {{w|Gliese 1}} || {{w|Hampster Dance}} and/or {{w|Dancing Baby}} || 1998 || 14 ly || 2012 || Hampster Dance was a website featuring a set of tiled animated {{w|GIF}}s of cartoon hamsters dancing. The Dancing Baby is an animated GIF of a computer generated human baby dancing in a {{w|cha-cha}} style. Gliese 1 is not familiar with hamsters and human species, but since they are both mammals it refers to one or both as "tiny dancing Earth mammals". It is unclear how Gliese 1 knows that they are mammals, or what mammals are.
|-
| ''Wasssuup!?!'' || {{w|Van Maanen's star}} || {{w|Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)|Budweiser Beer}} advertising campaign || 1999 || 14 ly || 2013 || A compounded way of saying "What's up", a common greeting, with the compounded version being more common in 1990s' African American Vernacular English. In the commercial, two friends are lounging and watching a sports game, calling each other using an analog wired telephone. Using these telephones, multiple people in the same household could pick up phones connected to the same in-home telephone network and all participate in the conversation. Several other friends use this function to join the call and say "Wassuupp!?!" at each other in an escalatingly large group and then hang up to go back to doing their own thing.
|-
| Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker. || {{w|Beta Hydri}} || ''{{w|Die Hard}}'' || 1988 || 24 ly || 2012 || This line gained notoriety for being censored in subsequent releases as "Yippie-ki-yay, Mr. Falcon".
|-
| I pity the fool! || {{w|Groombridge 1830}} || ''{{w|Rocky III}}'' ({{w|Mr. T}}) || 1982 || 30 ly || 2012 || In Rocky III, the main antagonist Clubber Lang expresses pity towards protagonist Rocky Balboa, who is foolish enough to compete with him in a boxing match. The implication being that Lang is obviously going to win and cause Balboa a lot of unnecessary pain. The actor playing Clubber Lang, Mr. T, adopted this as his catchphrase, using it in different media.
|-
| The cake is a lie! || {{w|Alpha Centauri|Alpha Centauri A/B}} || ''{{w|Portal (video game)|Portal}}'' || 2007 || 4.3 ly || 2011 || This is a phrase that appears scrawled on a wall in the video game <i>Portal</i> foreshadowing the ending where, despite being promised cake, the player character is not given it and is almost killed by the antagonist.
|-
| ♪ Never gonna give you up ♫ || {{w|Alpha Centauri|Alpha Centauri A/B}} || {{w|Rickrolling}} || 2007 || 4.3 ly || 2011 || This is a reference to an act of tricking someone to watch/listen to the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" involuntarily.
|-
| I'm on a boat! || {{w|Proxima Centauri}} || ''{{w|I'm on a Boat}}'' || 2009 || 4.243 ± 0.002 ly || 2013 || The hook of a satirical hip-hop single with the same name, by {{w|The Lonely Island}} and {{w|T-Pain}}. The song is about winning a free boat ride and then being ridiculously proud of being on a boat.
|-
| ♫ Chocolate Raaaiiin ♫ || {{w|Barnard's Star}} || {{w|Tay Zonday}}: {{w|Chocolate Rain}} video || 2007 || 6 ly || 2013 || Chocolate Rain is a song uploaded to youtube by Tay Zonday, with video of him recording the voice track. "Chocolate rain" is the {{w|hook (music)|hook}} of the song that recurs every other line, and in the lyrics chocolate rain serves as an analogy for systemic racism.
|-
| Leave Britney alone! || {{w|Barnard's Star}} || {{w|Cara Cunningham}}: [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leave-britney-alone LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!] || 2007 || 6 ly || 2013 || {{w|Britney Spears}} is an American singer and pop star, who was ridiculed by the press and popular discourse for drama in her personal life. A highly watched early youtube video featured Cara filming herself in a highly emotional state, begging people to "leave Britney alone" because she had it hard enough.
|-
| You're the man now, dog! || {{w|Epsilon Indi}} || {{w|YTMND}} || 2001 || 11.8 || 2013 ||
|-
| {{w|More cowbell|More cowbell!}} || {{w|Kruger 60}} || ''{{w|Saturday Night Live}}'' || 2000 || 13 ly || 2013 || Saturday Night Live is a famous show that creates comedy sketchs every Saturday night. One of these sketches was the "More cowbell" sketch. This sketch was about the recording of "{{w|(Don't Fear) The Reaper}}", a song by the {{w|Blue Öyster Cult}}. In this skit, Gene Frenkle (a fictional character, played by {{w|Will Ferrell}}) was playing the {{w| Cowbell (instrument)|cowbell}}. However, because the cowbell was so distracting, the band stops playing and tells him to stop. This upsets Frenkel, who starts playing more and more annoyingly as the sketch goes on. {{w|Bruce Dickinson}}, played by {{w|Christopher Walken}}, encourages Frenkel to play the cowbell louder saying the iconic line, "Guess what! I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!".
Christopher Walken later said that the sketch "ruined his life", because of how popular it became.
|-
| Hasta la vista, baby. || {{w|Gliese 892}} || ''{{w|Terminator 2}}'' || 1991 || 21 ly || 2012 || This line originates from the Terminator, said before attempting to destroy an enemy. It has since {{w|Hasta la vista, baby|been quoted in other works}}.
|-
| Let's get ready to ruuumble! || {{w|Zeta Tucanae}} || {{w|Michael Buffer}} || 1984 || 28 ly || 2012 || This meme originated from the main catchphrase of ring announcer Michael Buffer, which he has used since 1984. The catchphrase has also made an appearance in the 1996 Disney movie ''{{w|Space Jam}}''.
|-
| {{w|You talkin' to me? (phrase)|You talkin' to ''me?''}} || {{w|Arcturus}} || ''{{w|Taxi Driver}}'' || 1976 || 36.7 ± 0.3 ly || 2013 || Main character Travis Bickle says this as he imagines drawing his gun in a confrontation.
|-
| Did ''I'' do that? || {{w|Xi Boötis|Boötis}} || ''{{w|Family Matters}}'' ({{w|Steve Urkel}}) || 1989 || 21.89 ± 0.07 ly || 2011 || This is the catchphrase of Steve Urkel, a breakout character from Family Matters.
|-
| Welcome to Good Burger, home of the good burger. – What's a burger? – I don't know. || {{w|70 Ophiuchi}} || {{w|Good Burger}} slogan || 1997 || 16.58 ± 0.07 ly || 2014 || Seeing as these stars aren't from Earth, they wouldn't know what a burger is.
|-
| Badger badger badger badger || {{w|Ross 154}} || {{w|Badger Badger Badger}} || 2003 || 9.7 ly || 2013 || One of the most popular videos created by Mr. Weebl, consisting of badgers (and a mushroom and snake) appearing when those words are said.
|-
| {{w|Vulcan salute|Live long and prosper.}} – OK. || {{w|HD 211415}} || ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' || 1967 || 44 ly || 2011 || Said mostly by the Vulcans of Star Trek as a greeting and gesture of good will, most notably Spock during the run of the original series.
|-
| Name's Bond. James Bond. || {{w|51 Pegasi}} || ''{{w|Dr. No (film)|Dr. No}}'' ({{w|James Bond}}) || 1962 || 50.9 ± 0.3 ly || 2013 || James Bond is the protagonist of a series of spy fiction, who has a habit of introducing himself with this exact phrase.
|-
| Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. || {{w|Alpha Serpentis}} || ''{{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}'' || 1939 || 74.0 ± 0.3 ly || 2013 || "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" is the signature catchphrase from the 1939 movie ''{{w|Gone With The Wind (film)|Gone With The Wind}}'', which starred {{w|Clark Gable}} and {{w|Vivien Leigh}}. The phrase is spoken by Gable's character {{w|Rhett Butler}} as his last line, in answer to {{w|Scarlett O'Hara}} (Leigh) asking "Where shall I go? What shall I do?"
|-
| Mr. T ate my balls! || {{w|Altair}} || [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ate-my-balls an Internet meme] || 1996 || 16.7 ly || 2013 || One of the oldest memes on the Web, with the original website by student Nehal Patel (which consisted of a bunch of Mr. T comic images recaptioned to have him saying he likes eating balls) first appearing in 1996.
|-
| I want the truth. – ''You can't handle the truth!'' || {{w|Delta Pavonis}} || ''{{w|A Few Good Men}}'' || 1992 || 20 ly || 2012 || These lines are given during a climactic testimony near the end of the film. They are versatile enough to be quoted in many situations.
|-
| I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. || {{w|Beta Trianguli Australis}} || ''{{w|The Godfather}}'' || 1972 || 40 ly || 2012 || Don Vito Corleone, the eponymous Godfather, uses this phrase when he intends to secure someone's cooperation via by threatening them with violence.
|-
| {{w|Resistance is futile|Resistance is futile.}} || {{w|Vega}} || ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' ({{w|Borg (Star Trek)|Borg}}) || 1988 || 25 ly || 2013 || The Borg are a fictional hypercollectivist superpower in the Milky Way galaxy depicted in the Star Trek franchise. The Borg expand by violently conquering the hundreds of species that exist in the galaxy, using cyborg implants to force conquered people to work for their collective in body and mind. When a Borg spaceship encounters resistance, it sends out a standard message explaining its intent to add the to-be-conquered people's biological and cultural distinctiveness to their own, and that resistance is futile.
|-
| Oh... My... Gaawd || {{w|Sigma Draconis}} || ''{{w|Friends}}'' ({{w|Janice Goralnik}}) || 1994 || 18.8 ly || 2013 ||
|-
| Ehh, what's up, Doc? || {{w|Epsilon Cygni|Gienah}} || {{w|Bugs Bunny}} || 1940 || 73 ly || 2013 || This is the main catchphrase of Bugs Bunny, one of the main characters in ''{{w|Looney Tunes}}''.
|-
| ''EXTERMINATE!'' || {{w|Alpha Cephei|Alderamin}} || ''{{w|Doctor Who}}'' ({{w|Dalek|The Daleks}}) || 1963 || 49 ly || 2012 || The main catchphrase of the Daleks of Doctor Who, used when they fire their gunsticks resulting in the extermination of whatever was hit. It wasn't actually used in this context in the TV series until Power of the Daleks, three years after {{w|The Daleks|their debut}}, though some of the very first scenes had them discussing amongst themselves the "extermination" of their newly rediscovered (and, at that time, mostly oblivious) enemies.
|}

==Transcript==
:[On a black background yellow circles and white bubbles are shown. Caption above the picture:]
:If other star systems are listening in on our pop culture, given the speed-of-light delay, these are the jokes and catchphrases they just learned about and are currently repeating way too much:

:[On a black background a map of star systems in relation to the Sun, which is roughly in the center, sending out radio waves is shown. Each star is a yellow circle of differing sizes, with a speech bubble (or more). The list is ordered from closest to furthest.]
:Proxima Centauri: I'm on a boat!
:Alpha Centauri A B: The cake is a lie! – ♪ Never gonna give you up ♫
:Luhman 16: I can haz?
:Barnard's star: Leave Britney alone! – ♫ Chocolate Raaaiiin ♫
:Wolf 359: Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits.
:Lalande 21185: ♬ Numa numa ♪
:Sirius: I still can't believe Bellatrix– – Dude, get over it.
:Gliese 65: INTERNETS!
:Epsilon Eridani: Ninjas fight all the time!
:Procyon: ...God kills a kitten! – A what?
:Epsilon Indi: You're the man now, dog!
:Tau Ceti: All your base are belong to us.
:Luyten's Star: Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
:Kapteyn's star: My spoon is too big!
:Kruger 60: MORE COWBELL!
:Gliese 1: Look at the tiny dancing Earth mammals!
:Van Maanen's star: WASSSUUP!?!
:Ad Leonis: Oh my God, they killed Kenny! – You bastards!
:70 Ophiuchi: Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. – What's a burger? – I don't know.
:Altair: Mr. T ate my balls!
:Sigma Draconis: Oh ... my ... gaawd.
:Delta Pavonis: I want the truth. – You can't handle the truth!
:Gliese 892: Hasta la vista, baby.
:Xi Boötis: Did I do that?
:HR 753: D'oh!
:Beta Hydri: Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker.
:Vega: Resistance is futile.
:Zeta Tucanae: Let's get ready to ruuumble!
:HR 1614: Where's the beef?
:Groombridge 1830: I pity the fool!
:Delta Trianguli: May the Force be with you.
:Beta Virginis: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
:Arcturus: You talkin' to me ?
:Beta Trianguli Australis: I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.
:Lamda Aurigae: You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'
:Capella: And now for something completely different.
:HD 211415: Live long and prosper. – Ok.
:Alderamin: EXTERMINATE!
:51 Pegasi: Name's bond. James Bond.
:Caph: Take me to your leader! – No, Steve.
:Kappa Reticuli: Here's lookin' at you, kid.
:Alpha Hydri: Rosebud.
:Gienah: Ehh, what's up doc?
:Alpha Serpentis: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Rickrolling]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Doctor Who]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]
[[Category:Terminator]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]

1797: Stardew Valley

2026-04-06T12:18:54Z

82.132.239.70: /* Explanation */ Balanced the parenthisised sentence structure/punctuation. Including de-nesting, to be easier on the eye.

{{comic
| number = 1797
| date = February 10, 2017
| title = Stardew Valley
| image = stardew_valley.png
| titletext = I have accidentally watered virtually every person and object in Pelican Town.
}}

== Explanation ==
''{{w|Stardew Valley}}'' is an indie {{w|farming}} {{w|simulation}} role-playing {{w|video game}} created and published by {{w|Eric Barone (developer)|Eric Barone}}. Just as in similar games like {{w|Farmville}} and {{w|Harvest Moon (series)|Harvest Moon}}, the player takes the role of a {{w|farmer}} who establishes their own farm and performs everyday tasks such as watering {{w|plants}}, growing food, and tending to animals. ''Pelican Town'', referenced in the title text, is a fictional village in this game.

In this comic, Cueball begins his morning routine in a ''Stardew Valley'' session by waking up and watering some of his farm's plants. However, he then walks up to a sleeping cat, pauses for a moment, then pours water on it, startling it awake. He says "Dammit." to this, likely indicating this isn't the first time he's made this mistake.

In the game, watering plants is an essential chore, which requires the player to "equip" a watering can. The player moves their character up to a plant and simply presses an action button (or key) to perform the watering action. The same action button is used to interact in different ways with other things, animals and people (e.g. to talk to them), so accidentally leaving the watering can equipped while trying to talk to someone can cause the player to "water" them instead. (Although, when you water the pets/NPCs in the game, you don’t get a reaction. Yet.) The comic illustrates how easy it is to do this in the game, as well as the comedic value of seeing this happen from the point of view of the player's character. Also, by doing this, you waste energy, which is a limitation on how much you can get done in one in-game day, making Cueball frustrated by wasting energy on watering his cat.

The title text reinforces this humor by indicating that [[Randall]] has used the watering can, probably unintentionally, on nearly every person and object in the game. It's amusing to think that he may curse each time he realizes he's still holding the can when he tries to talk to someone. (His use of the word "Dammit" in this comic also calls to mind a brief discussion on the word in [[559: No Pun Intended]].)

The use of the word "virtually" in the title text plays with the word's double meaning. It is used here in the sense of "almost", however when swapping the words "virtually" and "waters", the word assumes its alternate meaning, but the title text still makes sense: Since the game is only a simulation, the player "virtually waters" his plants.

''Stardew Valley'' was also mentioned only two weeks prior to this comic in [[1790: Sad]]; this comic explains why.

Interestingly, this comic is drawn in a slightly unusual style for [[xkcd]]. Of note is the border around the caption ("Stardew Valley Morning Routine"), the thicker-than-normal penmanship, and the use of drawn borders around the watering sound effects, Cueball's yawn, and the cat's sleeping word balloon. The cat's balloon in particular follows the visual style of the game (in which certain objects and animals may show their current emotional states with word balloons) - more generally, actions that normally occur in the game, such as the yawn and the watering action, appear to be shown in balloons while Cueball's "Dammit!" is written in the style of other xkcd comics. This likely suggests that Cueball's epithet here represents the player (Randall) actually saying this in response to the incorrect action of his character in the game.

== Transcript ==
:[Inside a slim frame at the top of the comic there is a caption:]
:Stardew Valley morning routine

:[Below this frame there are two rows each consisting of three small panels taking up the same width as the caption panel above:]

:[Cueball wakes and rises up from his pillow sitting beneath his blanket in his four poster bed with round knobs. He yawns with a hand to his mouth. Above him floats a large sound bubble:]
:Cueball: '''''Yawn'''''

:[Cueball walks to the right with a small watering can held in front of him.]

:[Cueball pours water from the can over the three small plants. A line goes from the water to another bubble:]
:Water: ''Splish''

:[Cueball walks back to the left with the watering can.]

:[Cueball stops with the can right next to a sleeping cat, which has a speech bubble pointing to its head.]
:Cat: Z

:[Cueball proceeds to pour water on the cat which immediately jumps up away from him trying to escape as water cascades on it. Again there is a line from the water to a speech bubble, but both the cats angry sound and Cueball's comment is written without bubbles.]
:Water: ''Splish''
:Cat: ''Mrowl!!''
:Cueball: '''''–Dammit. '''''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Cats]]