explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1732: Earth Temperature Timeline

2016-09-16T02:55:41Z

108.162.218.118:

The jump of 0.5 degrees from 2000 to 2016 has been shown to be false. It exists because "scientists" went back and changed (or "seasonally adjusted") their data to fit their preconceived conclusions. Just look at Al Gore's 'Inconvenient [Non]Truth', pretty much every doomsday scenario has not occurred. I expect better of XKCD.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.77|173.245.48.77]] 20:58, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Well, never mind then. Oh well. -- [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 1:02, 12 September 2016
:I acknowledge that the picture is WAY too long, so I added a "skip to explanation" bar, to speed things up. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:32, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Is it just me or does the picture not render all the way down in full resolution on firefox? I found it worked on Chrome and explorer... And Wauw, just after I had created the new [[:Category:Climate change]]... Was also just watched a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxEGHW6Lbu8 QandA program] yesterday where [[1644: Stargazing|Brian Cox]] tried to convince some Australian politician about global warming, but the other one just cried conspiracy... Will take some time to make this one complete I guess? Great ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:53, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
:That's the thing with this kind of stuff. It takes a LONG time to make it just right. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 19:08, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Please delete the ridiculous trivia
*The colors used to represent temperature vary from blue (the perceived hue of a black body at 20000K) to pale red (perceived at 2200K).
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.139|108.162.221.139]] 19:44, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Of course you can pretty much ignore the part of the diagram that is in dotted line, you can't rely on that data. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 20:40, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
:Note that even if we ignore the extrapolated future, the warming in the past century is already a vastly more abrupt climate shift than anything that happened in the preceding 219 centuries. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 21:15, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
::Actually we don't know what the shifts were on that scale in the past. The dotted line before modern measurement is a very limited estimate. We have no idea what the year to year changes were in the past, at best we can work out an average. I am reminded of a house mouse(life span of about 1 year) looking at the leaves fall from the tress and saying "Surely this is the end of the world". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 14:44, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::Randall explicitly addresses your specious complaint at 15900 BCE. Year-to-year fluctuations are not the same as the current century-long surge. Either show scientific evidence or go away, Mr Troll from Seattle Cloudflare. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 16:11, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
::::I should have known better to enter into a religious debate on the internet. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 00:17, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:::::No it is not that which is the problem, but that you try to disqualify the data without even bothering to look through them. Aa mentioned Randall tries to let us know that such a high fluctuation as we have in these last 100 years would not be hidden in the old data. As mentioned by Fankie this is explained between 16000 and 15500 BCE... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::::::I refuse to debate a matter of faith with you. Note that 15500-16000 is 500 years, perhaps when we have 500 years of accurate temperature measurements we will know more. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 03:54, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:::::::Why even bring your faith into this? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.92|108.162.212.92]] 16:29, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:::::::I call Troll. Talking about the significance of where the subchart/Legend/footnote lies? Like what years it's next to actually has any significance? Either he's too dim to actually look, or he's trolling. The standard recommendation is "Don't feed the trolls". :) - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:55, 16 September 2016 (UTC)
:Have you read the referenced papers? Well you fit well with the people he refers to between the two lines at the top. ;-) We are heading for troublesome times :-( [[164: Playing Devil's Advocate to Win]]... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:22, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

*the use unqualified of the words "still many people" is exactly the kind of weasely nonsense that this comic is designed to refute. there are "still many people" who claim the earth is flat, that they have been abducted by aliens, or that the MMR jab made their children autistic. those people are deluded or insincere. the difference with deniers of climate change is that there are in their ranks scientists who are clear-sighted but who have decided that funding at any price is better than none. this site should be better than that. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]]
::You're absolutely right, the ranks of climate deniers do indeed include a few scientists willing to sell their voices to the highest bidder (e.g. http://www.polluterwatch.com/heartland-institute ). But is that what you meant to say? - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:50, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::that the wording be changed to reflect that. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 11:59, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

For a large post like this, it's a wonder that we can all keep up and edit something like this all at once. Wow. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:56, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:Also, anyone else notice that this was a top trending post on Facebook last night? I don't know if I could call it a milestone but it's still pretty cool. And '''WE''' edited it! :D --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:06, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
::Very interesting, so it was explain xkcd and not xkcd that where the top trending post? Could you post a link to where you found this out? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:15, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::I can see you are right from the fact that Randall has chosen to postpone his next comic in order to keep this one on the front page for all the new visitors as has now been noted in the explanation and in the trivia section. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Maybe someone should add the fact that the transcript may be a reference to oxidation?[[User:Transuranium|Transuranium]] ([[User talk:Transuranium|talk]]) 19:21, 13 September 2016 (UTC)Transuranium
:I think you mean the "title text" not the transcript? And that you refer to the recent comic [[1693: Oxidation]] which is indeed referened in the title text, then that has been written at the bottom of the main explanation and has been there already since the 12th edit less than 1½ hour after the comic came out... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

Is nobody else having a problem seeing the comic? Both here and on XKCD I get an "Image not found" icon, a blue question mark. I thought maybe this was an interactive comic that doesn't work on my iPad (like that garden thing, though that did nothing on my computer either). If I tap it on XKCD nothing happens, here it leads to the picture's Wiki page - also with the question mark - which says it's a PNG, which I know this iPad can show. It's 11pm EST, maybe night maintenance on XKCD? Or the file got renamed without updating the sites? - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.227|162.158.126.227]] 03:12, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:I had trouble seeing it on my own PC using Firefox but not the other browsers I have. See my early comment above. I guess the file is too big for your iPad as it is a very huge file. I tried to download it but it failed. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:07, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::It's weird that I got what is clearly an "Image not found" icon, though. Maybe my 1st Gen iPad's Safari saw the file, decided "No way I'm loading that!"(or "that size can't be right", LOL!) and chose to show the error icon instead. When I force the issue, by going directly to the image URL listed on XKCD, the first time Safari crashed rather than load the image (but it crashes on a regular basis, so that didn't deter me), the second time it crashed, the third time it actually loaded, and I was able to see it. After seeing mentions here of spelling errors (though I have to disagree on "Pokemon", generally only people connected to the show bother with the accent. Like how I'm the only one who spells Hallowe'en correctly, with the apostrophe), I thought maybe the comic was taken down to correct it, but guess not. LOL! - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 20:54, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

I feel that the missing bottom axis is a usability problem, so I fixed it. [http://info.org.il/data/earth_temperature_timeline_bottom_axis.png See it here.] [[User:Hananc|Hananc]] ([[User talk:Hananc|talk]]) 10:42, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:Nice but I'm sure it was on purpose to indicate that time continues down,as well as a possible even worse temperature change. As shown in the previous global warming comic [[1379]] Earth has been 8 degree hotter than now... And apart from the last small segment (albeit a very important one) you either remember that white is normal and bluer is colder redder is warmer or else you cannot use the chart in between the top and bottom, and since this is the longest xkcd comic so far it would be a shame. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:07, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Okay, now that I've managed to SEE the damn thing, I have a question. There's no mention of why this is using "BCE" and "CE" instead of the standard "BC" and "AD", never mind what these stand for (thinking and thinking about it, my guess is "Before Christ Era" and "Christ Era"). This is the kind of thing that should be mentioned on ExplainXKCD, LOL! Fun fact: when I searched this page for "BCE", to confirm it wasn't explained, I got "Over 100 matches". :) Anyway, I figure maybe those are currently accepted scientific terminology, especially since "AD" is Latin, unlike "BC", but the average person still uses BC and AD. In fact, I think this is the first time I've ever seen BCE and CE (unless it's been on XKCD before and I just dismissed it as a typo or something. This time there are WAY too many for it to be a mistake every time, including here in the explanation!) - NiceGuy1[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 21:20, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:It's "Before Common Era" and "Common Era", an alternative to BC/AD. Pretty common alternative, though I don't know why off-hand - probably to remove the religious connotations of "Christ" and "Year of our Lord". --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.236|108.162.215.236]] 23:23, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::Because they're the standards in the scientific community. The guy above assumed his way is standard, but that's inaccurate. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.92|108.162.212.92]] 00:26, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:::I assume nothing. My statements are completely accurate. I OBSERVE it is the standard, the only standard anybody (else) seems to use. BC/AD is the "standard" because it is standard practice to use it. For good reason, since I would estimate just about everybody knows what it means, while I am sure I am in the majority in having never heard BCE/CE. It is also not "my" way, I made no choice here, it is the established convention, it is the way accepted and adopted by society. While I would normally be more inclined towards terminology devoid of religion (as seems to be the point here, now that someone kindly clarified these acronyms for me), I feel this would be a losing fight, one it would be foolish to attempt, the classic terminology is too ingrained in society. Sorry. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:44, 16 September 2016 (UTC)
:: For the convenience of archeologists working in the Middle East. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 01:16, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
::Thank you! Yes, it sounds to me like the point would be to remove the religious aspect. Personally, I don't really mind the religious terminology, I just see it as historical, keeping a record of where the names and numbering came from. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:44, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

What this comic doesn't show is what kind of changes occurred in the previous interglacial period as opposed to the current one. Since the current one is not yet over there could still be a stage of an interglacial with rapid temperature rise which we are only now reaching, but has happened in previous interglacial periods.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.54|108.162.219.54]] 02:32, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

I think this would be first time where I see global thermonuclear war described as "best case scenario". There was and still is lot of discussion about how much is current warming caused by humans, but that's not important. Important question is "can we stop it?" and the answer is "not without literally billions of dead" (and even that might not suffice). Any money currently used for most plans to reduce CO2 (which usually fails to reduce CO2, not speaking about global warming, but succeed in their main goal, which is moving the money into pockets of their proponents) would be better spent on ADAPTING to the change. Only plans for reducing CO2 actually worth doing are the ones related to stopping burning fossil fuels, because we will soon need fossil fuels to make food (and other stuff) from. Oh, and also stop burning FOOD. So we should replace fossil fuel power plants with only viable alternative - NUCLEAR. So called renewable power sources like solar are good addition, but doesn't scale to the amount of power and stability we need. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:12, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

So disappointing to see that Randall Hitler Munroe subscribes to the obviously false "global warming" religion. He should know better. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.83|172.68.55.83]] 00:11, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1732: Earth Temperature Timeline

2016-09-16T02:44:41Z

108.162.218.118:

The jump of 0.5 degrees from 2000 to 2016 has been shown to be false. It exists because "scientists" went back and changed (or "seasonally adjusted") their data to fit their preconceived conclusions. Just look at Al Gore's 'Inconvenient [Non]Truth', pretty much every doomsday scenario has not occurred. I expect better of XKCD.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.77|173.245.48.77]] 20:58, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Well, never mind then. Oh well. -- [[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 1:02, 12 September 2016
:I acknowledge that the picture is WAY too long, so I added a "skip to explanation" bar, to speed things up. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 17:32, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Is it just me or does the picture not render all the way down in full resolution on firefox? I found it worked on Chrome and explorer... And Wauw, just after I had created the new [[:Category:Climate change]]... Was also just watched a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxEGHW6Lbu8 QandA program] yesterday where [[1644: Stargazing|Brian Cox]] tried to convince some Australian politician about global warming, but the other one just cried conspiracy... Will take some time to make this one complete I guess? Great ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:53, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
:That's the thing with this kind of stuff. It takes a LONG time to make it just right. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 19:08, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Please delete the ridiculous trivia
*The colors used to represent temperature vary from blue (the perceived hue of a black body at 20000K) to pale red (perceived at 2200K).
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.139|108.162.221.139]] 19:44, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

Of course you can pretty much ignore the part of the diagram that is in dotted line, you can't rely on that data. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 20:40, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
:Note that even if we ignore the extrapolated future, the warming in the past century is already a vastly more abrupt climate shift than anything that happened in the preceding 219 centuries. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 21:15, 12 September 2016 (UTC)
::Actually we don't know what the shifts were on that scale in the past. The dotted line before modern measurement is a very limited estimate. We have no idea what the year to year changes were in the past, at best we can work out an average. I am reminded of a house mouse(life span of about 1 year) looking at the leaves fall from the tress and saying "Surely this is the end of the world". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 14:44, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::Randall explicitly addresses your specious complaint at 15900 BCE. Year-to-year fluctuations are not the same as the current century-long surge. Either show scientific evidence or go away, Mr Troll from Seattle Cloudflare. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 16:11, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
::::I should have known better to enter into a religious debate on the internet. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 00:17, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:::::No it is not that which is the problem, but that you try to disqualify the data without even bothering to look through them. Aa mentioned Randall tries to let us know that such a high fluctuation as we have in these last 100 years would not be hidden in the old data. As mentioned by Fankie this is explained between 16000 and 15500 BCE... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::::::I refuse to debate a matter of faith with you. Note that 15500-16000 is 500 years, perhaps when we have 500 years of accurate temperature measurements we will know more. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.119|108.162.246.119]] 03:54, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:::::::Why even bring your faith into this? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.92|108.162.212.92]] 16:29, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:Have you read the referenced papers? Well you fit well with the people he refers to between the two lines at the top. ;-) We are heading for troublesome times :-( [[164: Playing Devil's Advocate to Win]]... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:22, 12 September 2016 (UTC)

*the use unqualified of the words "still many people" is exactly the kind of weasely nonsense that this comic is designed to refute. there are "still many people" who claim the earth is flat, that they have been abducted by aliens, or that the MMR jab made their children autistic. those people are deluded or insincere. the difference with deniers of climate change is that there are in their ranks scientists who are clear-sighted but who have decided that funding at any price is better than none. this site should be better than that. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]]
::You're absolutely right, the ranks of climate deniers do indeed include a few scientists willing to sell their voices to the highest bidder (e.g. http://www.polluterwatch.com/heartland-institute ). But is that what you meant to say? - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:50, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::that the wording be changed to reflect that. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.84|141.101.98.84]] 11:59, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

For a large post like this, it's a wonder that we can all keep up and edit something like this all at once. Wow. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 11:56, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:Also, anyone else notice that this was a top trending post on Facebook last night? I don't know if I could call it a milestone but it's still pretty cool. And '''WE''' edited it! :D --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:06, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
::Very interesting, so it was explain xkcd and not xkcd that where the top trending post? Could you post a link to where you found this out? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:15, 13 September 2016 (UTC)
:::I can see you are right from the fact that Randall has chosen to postpone his next comic in order to keep this one on the front page for all the new visitors as has now been noted in the explanation and in the trivia section. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:30, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Maybe someone should add the fact that the transcript may be a reference to oxidation?[[User:Transuranium|Transuranium]] ([[User talk:Transuranium|talk]]) 19:21, 13 September 2016 (UTC)Transuranium
:I think you mean the "title text" not the transcript? And that you refer to the recent comic [[1693: Oxidation]] which is indeed referened in the title text, then that has been written at the bottom of the main explanation and has been there already since the 12th edit less than 1½ hour after the comic came out... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:02, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

Is nobody else having a problem seeing the comic? Both here and on XKCD I get an "Image not found" icon, a blue question mark. I thought maybe this was an interactive comic that doesn't work on my iPad (like that garden thing, though that did nothing on my computer either). If I tap it on XKCD nothing happens, here it leads to the picture's Wiki page - also with the question mark - which says it's a PNG, which I know this iPad can show. It's 11pm EST, maybe night maintenance on XKCD? Or the file got renamed without updating the sites? - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.227|162.158.126.227]] 03:12, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:I had trouble seeing it on my own PC using Firefox but not the other browsers I have. See my early comment above. I guess the file is too big for your iPad as it is a very huge file. I tried to download it but it failed. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:07, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::It's weird that I got what is clearly an "Image not found" icon, though. Maybe my 1st Gen iPad's Safari saw the file, decided "No way I'm loading that!"(or "that size can't be right", LOL!) and chose to show the error icon instead. When I force the issue, by going directly to the image URL listed on XKCD, the first time Safari crashed rather than load the image (but it crashes on a regular basis, so that didn't deter me), the second time it crashed, the third time it actually loaded, and I was able to see it. After seeing mentions here of spelling errors (though I have to disagree on "Pokemon", generally only people connected to the show bother with the accent. Like how I'm the only one who spells Hallowe'en correctly, with the apostrophe), I thought maybe the comic was taken down to correct it, but guess not. LOL! - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 20:54, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

I feel that the missing bottom axis is a usability problem, so I fixed it. [http://info.org.il/data/earth_temperature_timeline_bottom_axis.png See it here.] [[User:Hananc|Hananc]] ([[User talk:Hananc|talk]]) 10:42, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:Nice but I'm sure it was on purpose to indicate that time continues down,as well as a possible even worse temperature change. As shown in the previous global warming comic [[1379]] Earth has been 8 degree hotter than now... And apart from the last small segment (albeit a very important one) you either remember that white is normal and bluer is colder redder is warmer or else you cannot use the chart in between the top and bottom, and since this is the longest xkcd comic so far it would be a shame. :-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:07, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Okay, now that I've managed to SEE the damn thing, I have a question. There's no mention of why this is using "BCE" and "CE" instead of the standard "BC" and "AD", never mind what these stand for (thinking and thinking about it, my guess is "Before Christ Era" and "Christ Era"). This is the kind of thing that should be mentioned on ExplainXKCD, LOL! Fun fact: when I searched this page for "BCE", to confirm it wasn't explained, I got "Over 100 matches". :) Anyway, I figure maybe those are currently accepted scientific terminology, especially since "AD" is Latin, unlike "BC", but the average person still uses BC and AD. In fact, I think this is the first time I've ever seen BCE and CE (unless it's been on XKCD before and I just dismissed it as a typo or something. This time there are WAY too many for it to be a mistake every time, including here in the explanation!) - NiceGuy1[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.239|108.162.218.239]] 21:20, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:It's "Before Common Era" and "Common Era", an alternative to BC/AD. Pretty common alternative, though I don't know why off-hand - probably to remove the religious connotations of "Christ" and "Year of our Lord". --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.236|108.162.215.236]] 23:23, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
::Because they're the standards in the scientific community. The guy above assumed his way is standard, but that's inaccurate. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.92|108.162.212.92]] 00:26, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
:::I assume nothing. My statements are completely accurate. I OBSERVE it is the standard, the only standard anybody (else) seems to use. BC/AD is the "standard" because it is standard practice to use it. For good reason, since I would estimate just about everybody knows what it means, while I am sure I am in the majority in having never heard BCE/CE. It is also not "my" way, I made no choice here, it is the established convention, it is the way accepted and adopted by society. While I would normally be more inclined towards terminology devoid of religion (as seems to be the point here, now that someone kindly clarified these acronyms for me), I feel this would be a losing fight, one it would be foolish to attempt, the classic terminology is too ingrained in society. Sorry. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:44, 16 September 2016 (UTC)
:: For the convenience of archeologists working in the Middle East. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 01:16, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
::Thank you! Yes, it sounds to me like the point would be to remove the religious aspect. Personally, I don't really mond the religious terminology, I just see it as historical, keeping a record of where the names and numbering came from. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:44, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

What this comic doesn't show is what kind of changes occurred in the previous interglacial period as opposed to the current one. Since the current one is not yet over there could still be a stage of an interglacial with rapid temperature rise which we are only now reaching, but has happened in previous interglacial periods.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.54|108.162.219.54]] 02:32, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

I think this would be first time where I see global thermonuclear war described as "best case scenario". There was and still is lot of discussion about how much is current warming caused by humans, but that's not important. Important question is "can we stop it?" and the answer is "not without literally billions of dead" (and even that might not suffice). Any money currently used for most plans to reduce CO2 (which usually fails to reduce CO2, not speaking about global warming, but succeed in their main goal, which is moving the money into pockets of their proponents) would be better spent on ADAPTING to the change. Only plans for reducing CO2 actually worth doing are the ones related to stopping burning fossil fuels, because we will soon need fossil fuels to make food (and other stuff) from. Oh, and also stop burning FOOD. So we should replace fossil fuel power plants with only viable alternative - NUCLEAR. So called renewable power sources like solar are good addition, but doesn't scale to the amount of power and stability we need. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 14:12, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

So disappointing to see that Randall Hitler Munroe subscribes to the obviously false "global warming" religion. He should know better. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.55.83|172.68.55.83]] 00:11, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1712: Politifact

2016-07-29T02:34:30Z

108.162.218.118:

The title text can be interpreted in two ways: Either that the pants are actually on fire or that rolling the smoke-bomb was a blatant lie. I'm not sure what to make of the "::FWOOOSH::" in the latter case...
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.83.66|162.158.83.66]] 16:46, 27 July 2016 (UTC)

I think there is also an aspect of excessive literalism here. For example when Meagan says "I swear I locked that window" Politifact says "false". While it is literally true that this statement was false this is only tangentially related to the conversation. What is important is the home break in going on.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.70|173.245.56.70]] 17:59, 27 July 2016 (UTC)

I think that the title text has two equally true meanings. It was NOT a smoke bomb (it was some other type of bomb, so calling it "smoke bomb" is false) and also Politifact's pants were literally on fire. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.147|162.158.214.147]] 21:32, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
: Smoke Bombs are not as obviously incendiary as (say) Incendiary Bombs, but they are actually burning, beneath the deliberate smoke, and perfectly capable of igniting materials. Depending upon their (mis)use. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.20|141.101.98.20]] 12:00, 28 July 2016 (UTC)

Is it appropriate for the transcript to have colored text? The point of a transcript is to have a formal plain text description, decorating the text in this manner to convey information seems contrary to that. An in-parenthesis statement of the color would perhaps be better. [[User:Thomson's Gazelle|Thomson's Gazelle]] ([[User talk:Thomson's Gazelle|talk]]) 16:51, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
:Well that can be discussed, but it's the way it has been done in all comics with colored text. It is always easy to read it if you copy paste and you can still search for the words. And a reader will not have problems with the text. But agree that the transcript should mention that PolitiFact is written like their logo with colors. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:46, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
::...maybe we should make a page for the formatting guidelines of transcripts. I swear I see this same thing on every page with formatted text in the transcript. [[User:Papayaman1000|Papayaman1000]] ([[User talk:Papayaman1000|talk]]) 19:32, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
:::I think it is as it should be. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:05, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
:::While I feel that formatted text is a perfectly good style decision for the transcripts in this way, I'd like to point out that when there was a discussion on changing the tagline - "It's because you're dumb" - it was pointed out that there are blind people who use this site to follow xkcd, by having a reader program read this transcript. I'm not sure if such a program would mention colours or bold or italic text (etc), which would mean mentioning the colours could be more effective. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:34, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

1698: Theft Quadrants

2016-06-25T00:53:53Z

108.162.218.118: /* Explanation */ A couple additions, a little grammar fixing.

{{comic
| number = 1698
| date = June 24, 2016
| title = Theft Quadrants
| image = theft quadrants.png
| titletext = TinyURL was the most popular link shortener for long enough that it made it into a lot of printed publications. I wonder what year the domain will finally lapse and get picked up by a porn site.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|How difficult would it be to steal TinyURL, really? Is it a real problem?}}

This is a "{{w|Time_management#The_Eisenhower_Method|Eisenhower box}}" comparing how difficult it is to steal a specified thing with the severity of the theft.

It is very hard to steal {{w|Gold Codes|nuclear launch codes}}. They are protected by many layers of federal security. That's a good thing, too, since if they were stolen, they could be used to start a {{w|Nuclear warfare|nuclear war}}, which would be a very bad thing.{{Citation needed}}

It is also hard to steal the {{w|Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom|crown jewels}}, since they are protected by a [http://yeomenoftheguard.com/Windsor%20Castle.jpg complex security system]. But if they were stolen, it wouldn't be so bad for most people.

It wouldn't be too hard to steal the {{w|Wienermobile}} (a car shaped like a hot-dog, advertising the Oscar Mayer brand), and there would be little consequence at all if it were stolen.

However, it wouldn't be hard (or at least, not as hard as stealing nuclear launch codes or the crown jewels) to steal the {{w|TinyURL|tinyurl.com}} domain name, but the consequences of that could be significant.

TinyURL offer a url shortening service. They provide short URLs that redirect to long ones. This is useful if you want to write down a very long URL as it saves typing and is more accurate. Other companies including [https://bitly.com/ bit.ly] offer a similar service, as do [https://goo.gl/ Google] and Twitter. TinyURL was, for a while, the most popular of these URL shortening services. If their domain name were stolen, all the redirects from short URLs could be changed to forward traffic to sites hosting, for example, malware. This would have significant effects on a large number of people, because TinyURL is used in many places both online and (as the title text notes) even sometimes offline.

Domain hijacking is relatively common. If a cracker can obtain personal information about the domain owner, they can impersonate them to the domain registrar, and obtain control of the domain, and with that control defraud a large number of people. [Well-known examples?]

As the title text notes, sites can be particularly vulnerable if they do not maintain their web site, as the registrar is free then to sell the same domain to any third party. A [https://reports.internic.net/cgi/whois?whois_nic=tinyurl.com&type=domain whois search] as of June 2016 finds that the tinyurl.com domain is next due for renewal in June 2018.

Randall has written about stealing the Wienermobile before in [[935: Missed Connections]].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete|Added basic transcript. Please improve on it by editing it.}}

{| class="wikitable"
!rowspan="2"|How hard thing would be to steal
! Hard
| The Crown Jewels||The Nuclear Launch Codes
|-
! Easy
| The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile||The tinyurl.com Domain Name
|-
!colspan="2" rowspan="2"|
! Not that bad
! Very bad
|-
!colspan="2"|How bad it would be if someone stole it
|}

{{comic discussion}}

1694: Phishing License

2016-06-15T14:42:10Z

108.162.218.118: /* Explanation */ its not it's

{{comic
| number = 1694
| date = June 15, 2016
| title = Phishing License
| image = phishing_license.png
| titletext = Later, walking out of jail after posting $10,000 bail: "Wait, this isn't the street the county jail is on."
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Phishing}} is a scam where a criminal sends emails or other messages (often large numbers of them) pretending to be from a trusted institution in order obtain passwords, credit card numbers, or other personal details of victims. The term is a neologism, playing on the term "fishing", because the process is likened to dangling bait and waiting for someone to bite. Phishing is illegal under both traditional fraud laws and modern cybercrime laws.

A {{w|fishing license}} is a government-issued permit allowing the catching of fish in controlled waters.

[[Cueball]] saw the sign offering phishing licenses, and was immediately arrested by the receptionist [[Ponytail]] upon applying for one. Clearly, there is no reason why a license would be available for a clear crime like fraud, hence why Cueball should have been more suspicious of the offer. The joke is that the process of offering "phishing licenses" is analogous to the process of phishing itself: they display a sign with a false offer, and wait for cyber-criminals to reveal themselves.

The title text reveals that Cueballs arrest was itself a scam. He has been put in jail, but is allowed to walk out after paying a {{w|bail}} of $10,000, only to find that when he gets back out on the street, it is not the street on which the county jail has its address. So Ponytail is actually not trying to capture people who would be interested in scamming people, she is trying to scam those people instead.

==Transcript==
:[A sign has an arrow below the text that points toward a sales window in a wall (with glass in front and small half circle opening at the bottom for transferring money and goods). On each side of the window there are two pieces of paper with unreadable text, and there is also one below the window that seems to have some kind of stamp or seal, still unreadable). In front of the window Cueball is addressing Ponytail who sits behind the window.]
:Sign: <big>Phishing license</big> apply here
:Cueball: Hi, I’d like to apply for a—
:Ponytail: You’re under arrest.
:Cueball: …OK, I should’ve seen that coming.

{{comic discussion}}

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

1692: Man Page

2016-06-10T04:41:21Z

108.162.218.118: /* Explanation */ Fixed spacing. Probably still bad.

{{comic
| number = 1692
| date = June 10, 2016
| title = Man Page
| image = man_page.png
| titletext = For even more info, see blarbl(2)(3) and birb(3ahhaha I'm kidding, just Google it like a normal person.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Initial draft/outline. As one of those comics, needs a section on each part. Needs an explanation of a man page for those unaware. Also needs fact-checking.}}
This comic shows a GNU man page for a fictional program called "blerp". It details the command line options for this program, many of which are strange, annoying, or even impossible. These options are mostly in alphabetical order.

[Here is a short list of some thoughts on or explanations of the options.]

-a Like a robot or something similar. Strange for a command line program.

-b Nonsensical option.

-— Hard to tell the difference between en and em dashes. [Needs a short explanation for dashes.]

-c Most likely not useful.

-d Almost a standard option, but .exe is the weird part.

-D Useless.

-e Vague.

-f Strange and slightly ominous.

-g As an actual program flag, a bit hackjob-ish, but most likely relating to googling how this program works.

-h Completely impossible, by the Halting Theorem.

-i and -I Somewhat weird.

-jk A common acronym, not a program flag.

-n Possibly mathematically ominous? Otherwise useless.

-o Standard flag.

-O Strange flag.

-p Controlling reality. [Explanation regarding Popes needed? This one confuses me.]

-q Almost standard flag, but with a twist of implying that non-quiet mode is spoken.

-r Pointless and possibly damaging.

-R Could be harmful, may not halt depending on what blerp does.

-s [Needs explanation of symbolic links]

-S Similar to -a.

-t A laundry option.

-u [Explanation of ANSEL necessary.] UTF-8 is rather standard. Similar in this regard to -q.

-U Almost standard flag.

-v Almost standard flag, in ordinary programs the opposite of -q. [Explanation of the aliased command needed. Runs everything?]

-V Strange flag.

-y Meaningless.

Bug reports leads to a taxonomy site?

Copyright "or best offer" is humourous, needs explanation of individual parts.

{{comic discussion}}

382: Trebuchet

2016-05-17T20:07:54Z

108.162.218.118: Egging in the US is more commonly random vandalism or pranking, not targeted at anyone or intended to be a "protest". In the rural areas, at least.

{{comic
| number = 382
| date = February 11, 2008
| title = Trebuchet
| image = trebuchet.png
| titletext = It was also fun when those teenagers tried to egg our house and it insta-cooked the eggs in mid-air.
}}

==Explanation==
Straightforward comic playing on [[Megan]]'s contradictory stance on [[Cueball]]'s historical {{w|trebuchet}} project and her own {{w|Automatic target recognition|auto-targeting}} kilowatt {{w|laser}}.

She explains her stance with the fact that her invention help keep the squirrels off the {{w|Bird feeder|feeder}}. That it actually works is backed up by the fact that we hear a squirrel squeaking as it getz zapped by the very powerful laser. But getting hold of such a laser and programming the auto-targeting so it only zaps squirrels and not the birds is a very complicated process - and there are probably many other ways to keep the squirrels off the feeder. So Megan is of course no better than Cueball here.

The title text refers to {{w|egging}}, throwing eggs at houses, other objects, or even people. While this is illegal it's still a famous form of protest; more often it's simple random {{w|vandalism}} or {{w|prank|pranking}}, most common on {{w|Halloween}} in the US. Generally targets are chosen at random, with little specific malicious intent towards the victim, although it's not unusual for people to seek out and target the property of those who they dislike.

Trebuchets are referred to in later comics: [[1160: Drop Those Pounds]] and [[1190: Time]]. They are also mentioned in the title text of [[1378: Turbine]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is working on something on a table, and Megan is sitting at a computer.]
:Cueball: The trebuchet is almost done!
:Megan: Mm.
:Cueball: The range should be over 150 meters.
:Megan: Look - I'm sure it's a cool project.
:[Picture of a trebuchet.]
:Megan: But eventually you'll need to outgrow these toys, and focus your energy on something practical. This mad science is getting out of hand.
:Cueball: Says the girl who mounted an auto-targeting kilowatt laser on the roof.
:Megan: That's practical! It keeps the squirrels off the feeder!
:[From off-frame.]
:''GZZZZZAPP''
:''Squeak!''

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

380: Emoticon

2016-05-17T19:31:27Z

108.162.218.118: Can't you at least write "xkcd" properly in these pages, if nowhere else?

{{comic
| number =380
| date =February 6, 2008
| title =Emoticon
| image =emoticon.png
| titletext =U+FDD0 is actually Unicode for the eye of the basilisk, though for safety reasons no font actually renders it.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|basilisk}} is a legendary creature reputed to have the power to kill with a single glance. In this comic, Cueball learns much to his dismay that the basilisk's power is fully compatible with the 21st century, and can kill you just with a smiley emoticon over instant messaging.

Cueball's request for A/S/L is a standard question when first meeting someone online; it asks for age, sex (gender) and location.

The title text mentions U+FDD0, which in reality is the code for a {{w|Unicode#Character General Category|"non-character"}} in Unicode.

U+FDD0 did in fact kill at least one chat client at the time. Konversation in particular. (and presumably any other Qt-based chat clients using QTextDocument)

"basically u+fdd0 (eye of basilisk, the snake) is in a char range that's marked for interchange and illegal in utf-8"

"but qt's utf-8 encoder let it through anyway"

"but it just so happens that qt's qtextdocument uses u+fdd0 as text frame delimiter"

"so when you append it to a qtd, counters run wrong and eventually you crash"

"d-bus closes the connection and crashes the client when it encounters illegal utf-8, and kde's notification system works through d-bus"

The problem was fixed after the xkcd "report" and Konversation now handles unicode normally.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits at computer, typing.]
:~!~ Opening Chat with BSLSK05
:<NICKM> Hi!
:<NICKM> A/S/L?
:<BSLSK05> :)
:[Cueball looks stunned, flies backward.]
:[Two smaller frames focus in on BSLSK05's emoticon, implying rotation to show a smile and two open eyes.]
:[Cueball at computer slouches in chair, dead, crossbones above his head.]
:[At the remote computer a basilisk is looking at its screen.]

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

364: Responsible Behavior

2016-05-17T08:33:28Z

108.162.218.118: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 364
| date = December 31, 2007
| title = Responsible Behavior
| image = responsible_behavior.png
| titletext = Never bring tequila to a key-signing party.
}}

==Explanation==
This [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] could play out after [[Cueball]] has returned from a {{w|New Year}} party the day before. (The next New Year day comic in 2008 was also related to a big party: [[524: Party]]).

In order to send encrypted mail to people, you need to know their {{w|Public-key_cryptography|public key}}. You use this key to encrypt the email, and only they can read it (using their private key). However, there is the problem of authentication: how do you know for certain that the key belongs to the person to whom you think it does? It could be someone else masquerading as them, hoping for people to send them sensitive information. They could decrypt and read your mail, and could even re-encrypt it using the genuine public key of the intended recipient, and then pass the message onto them, leaving both you and the recipient unaware of the interception. This is a type of {{w|Man-in-the-middle_attack|man-in-the-middle attack}}.

One solution for this is that people {{w|Keysigning|sign each other's keys}}. It works like this: say you want to send an email to {{w|Alice and Bob|Bob}}, but you've never met him. You find his key online (they are stored on certain servers, like cryptographic phone books), but how can you be sure that it's really his? Well, turns out that you have a mutual friend [[177:Alice and Bob|Alice]], and you have her public key and you know that it is hers. If Alice has signed Bob's key with her private key (which only she has access to), it means that she's certain that that really is Bob's key. So then you can be sure that Bob's key is genuine (since you have a common friend, Alice) and that your communications will be safe.

A {{w|Key_signing_party|key-signing party}} is simply a super-geeky party where people meet in real life so that they can be sure of people's identity, and then everyone signs everyone else's key. It's a good way to expand the web of trust. The joke here is that he has no idea who this girl is and yet he still signed her key. This is dangerous, because he is vouching for her identity. If he is mistaken, this could result in a serious loss of credibility on his part.

The humor lies in the juxtaposition of what you expect (that they had sex) and what is the case (they signed each other's key, also known as geek-sex).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball on phone.]
:Voice: Hey, I just got home from the party
:Cueball: The one with the IRC folks?
:Voice: Yeah.
:Cueball: How was it?
:Voice: Got too drunk. I screwed up, bad.
:Cueball: What happened?
:Voice: There was a girl. No idea who she was. Don't even know her name. I was too drunk to care.
:Cueball: And what, you slept with her?
:Voice: No.
:Voice: I signed her public key.
:Cueball: Shit, man.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]

Talk:339: Classic

2016-05-17T06:59:16Z

108.162.218.118:

Looks very much like a turntable and speaker to me. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.45}}

My guess is it's a sarcastic reference to how many songs heavily borrow from Pachelbel's canon in D. In Stairway the clean arpeggiated beginning of the song and the solo around the referenced part of the song, IIRC, as well as Procul Harem's Whiter Shade of Pale are variations on the work, in different keys. The listener knows this but doesn't know Pachelbel's long dead. Just my 2c. If I was certain I'd change the page. If you're convinced please do so. Steve T [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.188|108.162.219.188]] 11:52, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

The real question is if Randall is a defener(TM) or not. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.219|108.162.231.219]] 15:48, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

It looks a little like a turntable and speaker to me; if that's what it is supposed to be, I hope that Randall would have made it look more like that. But my only other idea is an iPhone/iPod in a dock, and that argument has a hard time convincing even me. I also think that the title text is a straightforward reference to the talented Lim Jeong-hyun, whom Randall is saying should be supported and encouraged towards greatness. StephenP [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 21:08, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

I don't think having only one explanation is necessary. The comic really could be interpreted either way; there is no "right" way to interpret it. As long as it's clear that they're two different intepretations, it's better to have all the detail and let the reader decide. Can we remove the incomplete? [[User:LogicalOxymoron|LogicalOxymoron]] ([[User talk:LogicalOxymoron|talk]]) 19:21, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

I agree with ^ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.205|108.162.249.205]] 01:19, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

I disagree; the two explanations aren't really distinct enough to warrant an alternative, and should be combined into one. The point, as I see it, is that baby boomer music is better in many ways - not just lyrically. It's just not a complicated or ambiguous comic to confuse readers with a second explain. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.55}}

Changed the bracketed part in the transcript - the guitarist for Led Zeppelin is Jimmy Page, not Robert Plant. Robert Plant is the vocalist though. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.69|108.162.245.69]] 02:38, 7 October 2014 (UTC)

; Pachelbel Kid
By "Pachelbel kid", isn't he maybe referring to the guy in the famous [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM "Pachelbel Rant" video from 2006?], implying that in the current generation there are also people that show actual musical talent?--[[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.75|198.41.243.75]] 19:10, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

:: I have no idea. I rewrote that section because the previous version didn't make any sense, but I haven't linked to that video because I don't know how that fits into the joke and what he's referring to. Was the video spiking in popularity when the comic came out? Is it a well-known meme that an internetter of the mid '00s would have recognised? I don't know so I didn't include that when I edited it, but there's scope for someone to do that if it makes sense. for that to be Randall's joke. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.155|108.162.249.155]] 03:09, 14 March 2016 (UTC)

Classical music isn't "a type of music"; the term didn't even exist back then. It was invented to differentiate it from music that wasn't written in what was considered the "classical style" with rebuttals and mathematical meter and tonal harmony, etc. Back then you were just playing/writing music, which could be described as an arpeggio, or a sonata, or a symphony, opera, etc. "Classic" may be related, but not directly, and it has nothing to do with the number of famous performers, but the style and mode of music itself.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 06:59, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

305: Rule 34

2016-05-17T05:50:05Z

108.162.218.118: slash fiction isn't just "same-sex erotica", it always features famous fictional characters, usually from unrelated series.

{{comic
| number =305
| date =August 20, 2007
| title =Rule 34
| image =rule 34.png
| titletext =Okay, Lance. For entry into the college bowl, spell 'Throbbing'
}}

==Explanation==

[[Cueball]] is rather surprised to find {{w|slash fiction}} (same-sex erotic fiction featuring characters from popular media, often from unrelated series) featuring characters from the {{w|Thomas the Tank Engine}} television series, but [[Megan]] isn't remotely surprised, citing {{w|Rule 34 (meme)|Rule 34}}: "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions."

Cueball denies the truism of the rule, coming up with several examples of porn that doesn't exist yet, until he comes across one that they both agree would be pretty hot: Women playing electric guitar in the shower. Megan proceeds to get ahead of the curve by registering WetRiffs.com.
By doing this, Megan invoked {{w|Rule 34 (meme)#Variations and corollaries|Rule 35}}, an additional rule based around rule 34. Rule 35 states: 'If there is not porn of it, porn will be made of it'.

In the title text we can assume that the presenter in a spelling bee is asking a male participant with the name "Lance" to spell "[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Throb throbbing]", a term sometimes used to describe the swelling of a person's genitals. The scene thus plays out like the start of a hypothetical {{w|spelling bee}} that could contain rude words or innuendo.

Rule 34 is mentioned in the title text of [[505: A Bunch of Rocks]] and [[860: Never Do This]].

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Huh-- Thomas the Tank Engine slash fiction.
:Megan: It's rule 34 of the internet. If you can imagine it, there is porn of it.
:Cueball: Nah. The web is freaky, but it can't begin to have everything.
:Cueball: There's no porn set atop storm-chasing vans. No homoerotic spelling bees. No women playing electric guitar in the shower.
:Megan: Actually, that last one would look pretty hot. As long as they were unplugged or waterproofed...
:Megan: Rivulets of water run down her chest, the smooth body of the guitar firm against her hips.
:Megan: She twangs the E-string and it shakes off tiny droplets in all directions.
:[She rises into a crouch.]
:Megan: You're sure it doesn't exist?
:Cueball: Not yet.
:Megan: I'm registering WetRiffs.com. Let's get on this.

==Trivia==
*Randall actually ''did'' register WetRiffs.com (archive [http://web.archive.org/web/20130518191217/http://wetriffs.com/ here]), and people submitted pictures of themselves in the shower holding electric guitars. Randall would later create a tumblr page called "[http://raccoonsexdungeon.tumblr.com Raccoon Sex Dungeon]" to coincide with Cueball referencing it in [[1025: Tumblr]].
*When referencing a fictional website on a webcomic, TV series or other form of media, it's generally a good idea to create the website yourself so that you can control the content and protect yourself from getting sued because someone got there first and flooded it with inappropriate, even harmful material.
*Since this comic, there had been actual Rule 34 on homoerotic spelling bees. [https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=8430 1] [http://blackmothfic.twonth.com/snitches.html 2].

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

Talk:302: Names

2016-05-15T05:38:26Z

108.162.218.118:

The explanation of the title text doesn't appear to be about the title text, more like the second paragraph seems to be the title-text-explanation (a very good one at that). Anybody thinks so too? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.97.215|141.101.97.215]] 10:55, 16 April 2014 (UTC)
:Yes.--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.222|199.27.130.222]] 14:22, 17 April 2014 (UTC)
:I agree with this. I've removed the line explaining the title text. [[User:Codefreak5|Codefreak5]] ([[User talk:Codefreak5|talk]]) 19:00, 9 July 2014 (UTC)
I think that the comic is a reference to the season 4 finale of the tv show Friends, where the groom accidentally calls his fiancé Rachel during the wedding, instead of her actual name, Emily. {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.188}}
: Name "Rachel" could just be a coincidence. I myself was reminded of the plot line in "The Junior Mint" episode of Seinfeld where Jerry forgets his girlfriend's name (Mulva/Dolores) and tries to find it out without letting on he forgot it. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.190}}

This is perfect; I know exactly how he feels! To busy trying to think of what to say to actually catch the persons name, then by the time I realize, it's too late to ask without embarrassment! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 05:38, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:268: Choices: Part 5

2016-05-13T06:19:48Z

108.162.218.118:

I think it's related to [[235: Kite]]. There is kite, Megan, Cueball - but they didn't say "hi". {{unsigned ip|108.162.231.55}}

I'd agree here. It's nice to have pleasant realisations. [[User:Toad573|Ribbit it's Toad!]] ([[User talk:Toad573|talk]]) 05:44, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure if this should be taken as something that happens in direct chronological relation with the previous "Megan travels to another universe" series; it's not apparently related. I see no reason to treat these cartoons as if they follow any particular order or time frame, except when it's obvious. In fact, until I came here and started reading the explanations, I never even thought of them as particular "characters" with names, just representations of certain types of people. It wasn't long, but I hadn't even associated Black Hat with being an "asshole" in particular. I thought it was just a way of giving the series some texture. In any case, he's the only one that shows a real definite set to his personality, and he could be representative of a certain type of person. The others are less so, but I don't think they should be viewed as sequential characters in a storyline; they're more like people in The Far Side, where they usually look very much alike, but there is no actual relation between the people shown in on frame and the next. Not to say giving them names doesn't make explaining easier, but I wouldn't take it any further than that. Personally, anyway. Unless Randall specifically said they were intended to be specific characters at some point... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 06:19, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

267: Choices: Part 4

2016-05-13T06:08:24Z

108.162.218.118: The text in the cartoon makes it clear that she called her there to make out with her, not the title text. That is the second mention of it.

{{comic
| number = 267
| date = May 24, 2007
| title = Choices: Part 4
| image = choices_part_4.jpg
| titletext = Making out with yourself: now an official xkcd theme? Troubling.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the {{w|existentialistic}} {{w|climax (narrative)|climax}} of the Choices series. It takes up the recurring [[xkcd]]-theme how people tend to be blind towards the staggering amount of possibilities that each day holds, with routine and boredom as a result. (See e.g. [[137: Dreams]] and [[706: Freedom]].)

The [[Megan]]-clone implies that Megan has been taken to some kind of {{w|afterlife}} or parallel universe outside reality. Its not a dream, but she will not remember this place when she goes back. But the clone hopes that these hints will stay with her. Realizing that she would not remember being here, Megan suddenly realizes that she might already have been here before. And the clone admits that she has taken her to this place once before. Although not for another hint though; actually it was to make out with herself. And then she quickly says ''bye''.

The title text makes it clear that the Megan-clone did actually earlier brought her into this place just to make out, and then refers to this being the second time this has been a theme, [[105: Parallel Universe]] being the first.[[Randall]] appears to find a little troubling (or it may be that he suspects his readers will).

The series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday). All parts of "[[:Category:Choices|Choices]]":
*[[264: Choices: Part 1]]
*[[265: Choices: Part 2]]
*[[266: Choices: Part 3]]
*[[267: Choices: Part 4]]
*[[268: Choices: Part 5]]

As this was the fourth in the series it was released on a Thursday.

==Transcript==
:[Megan in a bubble is floating in outer space (on a dark blue background) next to her clone outside the bubble. Megan is simulating sitting down in the middle of the bubble. The clone reaches one arm out toward the bubble. There is not line from the first part of the clones text to the rest of the text. It is given from the context who speaks. There are always more stars in the panels to the left, than those to the left.]
:Clone: I shouldn't do this, but I pulled you out for a moment to give you a hint.
:Megan: A hint?
:Clone: Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they're doing. Do things without always knowing how they'll turn out.

:[Megan leans towards the clone, the clone "lies" on her tummy arms forward, and legs lifted up.]
:Megan: Why tell me this?
:Clone: You're curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you're waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.

:[Megan is "sitting" down with her hands on her knees. The clone stands and lifts and arm up.]
:Megan: So, wait, what ''is'' this place? Am I going to wake up thinking this was a dream?
:Clone: This is... Think of this as after the game, outside the theatre. To go in, I had to suspend disbelief, forget the outside.

:[Megan again leans towards the clone, the clone spreads out her arms.]
:Megan: So you... Huh. Why give me hints I'm going to forget?
:Clone: You'll forget this trip but I think the hints should stay with you.
:Megan: ...If this is a game, are you— are ''we''— cheating?
:Clone: Yup.

:[Megan still leans towards the clone, the clone spreads leans a little back her arms down.]
:Megan: Is that a good idea?
:Clone: Well it's an interesting one. We'll see how it goes.
:Megan: Well, I guess I'll see you aroun—

:[Megan leaning towards the clone with a hand up, the clone leaning even more back, almost like she is falling backwards.]
:Megan: Wait a minute; have you brought me here before?
:Clone: I ... Maybe. Once.
:Megan: For another hint?
:Clone: Er.
:Clone: Actually we just made out.
:Megan: We wh—
:Clone: Bye!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Choices]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Sex]]

244: Tabletop Roleplaying

2016-05-13T01:37:15Z

108.162.218.118: What If? 53 likely related to this cartoon

{{comic
| number = 244
| date = April 4, 2007
| title = Tabletop Roleplaying
| image = tabletop roleplaying.png
| titletext = I may have also tossed one of a pair of teleportation rings into the ocean, with interesting results.
}}

==Explanation==
Four people are playing a {{w|role-playing game}}. [[Megan]] is the game master (GM), describing the adventure and what happens. The other people control imaginary characters in the game. [[Cueball]] attempts to have his character lead other characters in the imaginary construction of dice and gaming sheets. This would allow his character to become the GM of a new game inside the game they're currently playing. "Recursing" refers to "recursion," a concept of computer programming where a piece of code calls itself, essentially making the code run multiple times "within" itself. Looping is a rudimentary form of recursion.

It should be noted that the GM has multiple ways of dealing with this scene. She could simply allude to the success or failure of the recursive game and "skip to the next scene", allow the roleplaying to continue (with crafting checks determining the quality of the miniatures, and a gambling check determining the outcome of the in-universe rpg session), have the party's plans [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChandlersLaw be interrupted by some sort of threat], or Megan could simply [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RocksFallEveryoneDies drop huge rocks on the party].

The title text refers to a pair of fictional rings. Anything passing through one gets teleported instantly to the other, as if the two rings were next to each other. There's an old gamer theory that, if you drop one of the rings in the ocean, water will naturally pass through it and out the other ring, potentially draining the entire ocean, or at least creating a perpetual seawater fountain out of the other ring. And if you teleported one ring directly to the bottom of the ocean, the amount of pressure pushing the water through would cause a gigantic, never-ending torrent, obliterating anything placed in its path. That idea is drawn out in [[969: Delta-P]]. A similar concept is addressed in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/53/ What If? 53, "Drain the Oceans], where a reader asked "How quickly would the ocean's drain if a circular portal 10 meters in radius leading into space was created at the bottom of Challenger Deep, the deepest spot in the ocean? How would the Earth change as the water is being drained?". This question may have been inspired by the mention of throwing teleport rings into the ocean in this cartoon.

The rings themselves are most likely inspired by the "Ring Gates" item from the {{w|wikipedia|Dungeons and Dragons}} 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide (the most recent edition of Dungeons and Dragons at the time this comic was published), which had a similar function. However, a key thing to note is that the rings only allow 100 lbs of material to pass through them each day, meaning that your geyser would only erupt every 24 hours (though this may still qualify as an "interesting result").

==External Links==
* [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#ringGates The DnD 3.5 SRD's "Ring Gates"]
* [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?123123-Pair-of-teleportation-rings-ocean A Giant in the Playground forum thread discussing the "pair of teleportation rings"]

==Transcript==
:[Four people sit around a table.]
:Megan: Your party enters the tavern.
:Cueball: I gather everyone around a table. I have the elves start whittling dice and get out some parchment for character sheets.
:Megan: Hey, no recursing.

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

Talk:133: The Raven

2016-05-12T05:17:27Z

108.162.218.118:

[[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]]) Date is definitely incorrect. Could someone fix that?

I must admit curiosity as to how you equated "rapping on a door" with "rape". "Rapping" as used in the poem means exactly what it says; to tap on the door. Electric doorbells didn't exist in the 1800s and people would announce their presence at your door by knocking (rapping) on it. It has nothing to do with rape.
:Agreed, and fixed. The original posting made the incorrect association of ''rapping'' (to knock or strike) with ''rape'' (originally to sieze or carry away, in addition to its more contemporary meaning) which was incorrectly described as "too force open"... but that's the nature of wikis: we all can post, and we all can correct. Thanks for pointing it out. -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:26, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Should it be mentioned that the actual poem says "as '''of''' someone gently rapping" rather than "as if"? -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.25|141.101.104.25]] 22:33, 21 February 2015 (UTC)
: I was about to say the same thing. A rare, uncorrected Randall error probably bears comment. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.175|108.162.237.175]]

Is there any possible connection between the fact that in the original it was a raven, and now it's a white rapper, instead of a black one? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 05:17, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:124: Blogofractal

2016-05-12T05:08:10Z

108.162.218.118:

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

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

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

:Makes me wonder what state MLP was in at that time. G3? G3.5 (also known as the Hell Babies edition)? --[[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.132|103.22.201.132]] 06:55, 16 September 2014 (UTC)
::Ponies may be a reference to the OMG Ponies! theme that attacked slashdot for April Fools Day back in that timeframe (my eyes still burn when I think about it).[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 21:52, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

Why does he misspell "blagosphere"? What's this "blog" stuff? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 05:08, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

114: Computational Linguists

2016-05-12T04:43:11Z

108.162.218.118: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 114
| date = June 12, 2006
| title = Computational Linguists
| image = computational linguists.png
| titletext = Chomskyists, generative linguists, and Ryan North, your days are numbered.
}}

==Explanation==
Here [[Black Hat]] is criticising computational linguistics, which overlaps between various field like theoretical linguistics, artificial intelligence, etc. Linguistics itself is still a hotly debated subject, as is seen by the various conflicting theories on the origin of languages like the forms of {{w|Proto-Indo-European}} language.

The joke in the comic is that Black Hat, instead of trying to poke fun at angsty emo kids, decides to poke fun at computational linguists for their attempts to model natural languages on computers using the various contradictory theories that are floating around nowadays. He may be associating the two groups, suggesting that their cries of "[their] fields being so ill-defined..." has similarities to emos constantly crying about how "people don't understand them, really" (or he may just be taking a swipe at people who think themselves above normal scientific methods).

The title text is a reference to some of the people who contributed to language theory:
*{{w|Noam Chomsky}} is an influential American psychologist and linguist who, based on cross-cultural studies, proposed a still-disputed theory that the human brain is unique from that of other species in that it includes a fundamental Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that is pre-programmed with basic rules of grammar and syntax: thus, language is innate to humans.
*{{w|Generative linguistics}} is a term within linguistics that is used in several ways, some of which are contradictory. This may be why it is chosen as a target by [[Black Hat]].
*{{w|Ryan North}} is the author of the webcomic {{w|Dinosaur Comics}}, and has a degree in computational linguistics.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is standing next to a large badge which says FUCK Computational Lingustics]
:Black Hat: And the dumbest thing about emo kids is that... I... You know, I'm sick of easy targets. Anyone can make fun of emo kids. You know who's had it too easy? Computational Linguists. "Ooh, look at me! My field is so ill-defined, I can subscribe to any of dozens of contradictory models and still be taken seriously!"

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]

565: Security Question

2016-05-12T04:19:37Z

108.162.218.118: He doesn't admit the crime; "I never buried bodies south of Main Street" would be true even if you never buried bodies ANYWHERE, and hadn't killed them.

{{comic
| number = 565
| date = April 3, 2009
| title = Security Question
| image = security_question.png
| titletext = Let's invite him to a party and play 'I never'. Okay, I never hid any bodies SOUTH of Main Street. ...he's taking a drink!
}}

==Explanation==
Security questions are sensitive questions that allow a user to retrieve or reset his password if the password is lost or stolen. Because of this powerful function, security questions should be treated just as seriously as passwords. Typical security questions include "What's your mother's maiden name?" or "What's your secondary school?" and are intended to be easy for the user to answer but hard for anyone else to answer.

In this comic, however, the security question is deployed in a strange way, as the question "Where are the bodies buried?" assumes that one had buried bodies, hence had killed someone. The question turns out to be a ploy by the police, who were trying to bait Cueball into confessing his crime, as well as revealing the location of the incriminating evidence.

[http://www.wikihow.com/Play-the-%22I%27ve-Never%22-Game "I never"] is a drinking game that somebody says "I never did something" to the others. If you never did it, you don't need to drink, otherwise, drink. Since he takes a drink for "I never hid any bodies SOUTH of Main Street", the police have narrowed down the search area. The next statement in the game could be "I never hid any bodies WEST of Central Avenue" (or whatever road dividing the area), further localizing the bodies to a quarter of the original search area, in a {{w|Twenty Questions}} manner. Of course, by taking the drink Cueball also suggests that he probably did bury bodies (although it's not an admission, since saying "I never buried any bodies south of Main Street" would be factually true even if you were a person who never killed anyone). In any case, it's evidence that would not likely be accepted by any court.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits at a computer.]
:Computer Screen: -Email Account Setup- To verify your identity, we need to ask you a question nobody else could answer.

:Computer Screen: Q: Where are the bodies buried? A:
:[A text field is shown with "Behind the" typed.]

:[Three stick figures, two wearing police hats and one wearing headphones, watch another computer.]
:[The same text field is shown with "Behind the ... nice try." typed.]
:Figure in Headphones: Damn.

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

Talk:105: Parallel Universe

2016-05-12T03:20:22Z

108.162.218.118:

[[User:Rikthoff|Rikthoff]] ([[User talk:Rikthoff|talk]]) The issue date might be off. All files since 101 have been created on April 11th, 2006. Anyone with an actual issue date?

:I have verified that the date is correct now. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]] ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 22:10, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

----

A comment, and a question:
* First off, I don't think the hairy character could possibly be a woman (or that it should matter anyway), otherwise it would be made clearer in the drawing and the transcript. Compare for instance with previous comics [[102]], [[93]] and [[84]]: each time it is made clear in the drawing as well as in the transcript. So in my opinion it's just another random guy.
* And now, not being a native English speaker, I don't understand what is meant by "make out" here (and I think this should be part of the explanation). "Make out" seems to have multiple possible interpretations, and if it is the semi-sexual meaning (as in {{w|Making out}} on Wikipedia) here, then I don't see the point of "taking this chance to make out with oneself"... a quirky fantasy? and a homosexual one, which doesn't seem in the xkcd style to me...
What I understand is that in the last panel the hairy character realized he could use the same argument for him as well; but apart from that, this comic remains pretty obscure to me. More explanation would be appreciated :-) [[User:Cos|Cos]] ([[User talk:Cos|talk]]) 17:28, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
* My interpretation: It's a classic course of action to {{w|Making out|make out}} (or even have sexual intercourse) with one's duplicate in the event that the two meet. Hairy suggests this to Cueball, pointing out that the duplicate may disappear at any moment because of the potentially tenuous nature of the spell keeping the duplicate in this reality. Hairy then realizes that, hypothetically, he/she could ''also'' spontaneously disappear, and uses this as a way to hint that he/she would like to make out with Cueball. The joke is the same regardless of whether Hairy is [[Megan]] or a male friend of Cueball, but if it's a male friend, there is an added layer of intended humor in the homosexual nature of the suggestion. Either way, Hairy is making the self-serving suggestion that Cueball forgo a rare chance (making out with his alternate-universe duplicate) in order to take advantage of a common chance (making out with an acquaintance from the same universe) because of a superficially identical pressure (spontaneous disappearance; in alternate-Cueball's case, because something would cause them to revert to their universe of origin, and in Hairy's case, because of some unknown hypothetical factor). [[User:JET73L|JET73L]] ([[User talk:JET73L|talk]]) 06:44, 10 November 2012 (UTC)
**I like this explanation the best. It's really the clearest out of all of them. --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 23:44, 2 December 2012 (UTC)
** I agree with Jimmy C and JET73L -- mwburden [[Special:Contributions/70.91.188.49|70.91.188.49]] 20:33, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
I kind of figured Hairy's line in the last panel was a "I just said something really untoward and will now leave the room before you hurt me/I embarrass us all further" sort of thing. Am I alone in this? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.75|108.162.215.75]] 19:04, 19 January 2014 (UTC)
* Yeah, that's what I always thought too. Or that he was suggesting he could leave to give Cueball and Cueball some privacy. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.189|108.162.237.189]] 01:44, 22 May 2015 (UTC)
**I agree, these were the two options that came to me when I read it, first that he was offering to leave the room, perhaps even because obviously there was no other reason to summon your parallel self, and he needn't have even said it, or second, that suddenly he realized it was a strange idea, and that he felt like "sinking through the floor" with embarrassment. Kind of "Umm....yeah. Right. I'll...just, like, go now...bye!" Of course, after reading the previous comments, I think the idea of the person hinting that THEY could vanish as well has merit too. I don't think it's Megan. He knows how to draw female characters; he wouldn't leave it ambiguous. That said, I never knew that it was a "thing" to think about making out with yourself if you ever met yourself...if you're not attracted to other males, why would you be attracted to yourself? What is it "it's not any gayer than masturbation, because it's both YOU"? I guess so, but I'll pass. I was also curious, this is one of several cartoons I've read now that are very ambiguous about sexuality. It makes me wonder, is Randall bisexual, or is he just trying to be open-minded and inclusive? (I guess it would be too confusing to make stick figures "ethnically diverse", and certain people would get offended anyway.)[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 03:20, 12 May 2016 (UTC)
The alternate is missing from the parallel universe. It would be easy to imagine a parallel universe in which the other individual who is present did the summoning, causing themselves to vanish from a different universe, which could be the one depicted in the comic. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.232|199.27.128.232]] 05:40, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

I don't see why the alternate explanation assumes this particular Cueball would be dating Megan and not Hairy. It seems a bit heteronormative.
I do think the regular explanation is correct, however. It's an argument by analogy. "If your alternate-universe could vanish at any moment, you should make out with him. I could vanish at any moment. Thus, by analogy..."
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.71|108.162.238.71]] 02:34, 28 January 2016 (UTC)
*I kind of thought this was supposed to be our Cueball, summoning another one. But I guess it could be either. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 03:20, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:97: A Simple Plan

2016-05-12T02:48:49Z

108.162.218.118:

I seriously doubt that this is the correct interpretation. Simple Plan's stereotypical bubblegum punk whiny teenager lyrics at first listen could pass for a parody, mocking the ridiculousness of 30 year olds complaining about homework and chores. But they aren't being ironic. They're being serious. Am I wrong here? Tell me I'm wrong. {{unsigned ip|70.67.175.61}}

:No, I think you're absolutely right with your interpretation! {{unsigned ip|213.69.26.162}}

::The title text seems to prove your interpretation is right. And I must say your comment is one of the most accurate statements I've ever seen. [[Special:Contributions/18.215.1.197|18.215.1.197]] 12:51, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

The interpretation is absolutely correct. Check this video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt0WP9ZBNiY], you will find this text "You don't know what it's like to be like me" in the lyrics.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 13:16, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

:Yes, that lyric is indeed in the song. But Randall is reflecting on the hilariously ironic "stereotypical bubblegum punk whiny teenager lyrics" as described above, not the bizarre explanation you have above. I understand if you're a Simple Plan fan, but judging by this comic Randall isn't. [[Special:Contributions/18.215.1.197|18.215.1.197]] 22:00, 26 May 2013 (UTC)
::Sorry I am late, but it seems we are just living at different time zones. I am not native English because I am from Germany, but I thought that "teenage angst" also mentioned at the Wiki page should stay at this explanation. I was also hoping someone else would participate here at this discussion. So I am sure we will find the REAL explain. I am with you. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:35, 27 May 2013 (UTC)

It says the title text stated that the text wasn't written by teenagers. As it appears now, it just says "This is true. The lyrics are ridiculous". Nothing about the age of the people who wrote them (although knowing how such singers work, I seriously doubt that any of the group actually wrote anything themselves. Which not to say that the person who wrote it for them was a teenager either. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:48, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:89: Gravitational Mass

2016-05-12T02:28:34Z

108.162.218.118:

Can anyone add more information about the information stated in the first panel? It is the most intriguing part. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 16:21, 9 September 2013 (UTC)
: There are two ways to look at mass; through gravity and through inertia. When you look at it through gravity then mass is basically how much a body is affected by gravity, or how much gravity it has. When you look at it through inertia then mass is how much a body resists changes velocity, ie. how hard it is to make a body (like a car) accelerate/decelerate. It turns out that looking at it boths ways gives the same result (same mass). --[[User:BorisIvanBabic|BorisIvanBabic]] ([[User talk:BorisIvanBabic|talk]]) 10:04, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
:In other words, apparently, inertial and gravitational mass for a given body are always identical, or rather reflect the same underlying characteristic of the body which we measure as mass, for any object in the universe; although certain theories explain why this might be the case, none adequately explain why it ''must'' be. ---[[User:Jolbucley|Jolbucley]] ([[User talk:Jolbucley|talk]]) 04:45, 29 January 2014 (UTC)
: Or just link it with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalence_principle#Development_of_gravitation_theory .Wikipedia usually explains things better than anything short of a school book. [[User:Tora|Tora]] ([[User talk:Tora|talk]]) 22:34, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Considering that the comic says that there doesn't seem to be a reason for it to be true, and the title text, I think that the missing part of the joke possibly had something to do with her being "heavier" than what a scale would show (since the scale would use the square law to get the mass from the force), and possibly that she is immovable (or hard to move) --[[User:BorisIvanBabic|BorisIvanBabic]] ([[User talk:BorisIvanBabic|talk]]) 10:04, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

I only realized on the second glance that the title text actually can't only be referred to the attraction of masses but also to the attractiveness of a person; in this case the attraction would not go up as you approach but as you go away because you wouldn't see just how ugly the person is. So the text not only puns on a false relation between distance and gravitational attraction but also on how unattractive "yo mama" is, creating a link to the initial idea of the kind of joke Black Hat is presenting [[User:Tora|Tora]] ([[User talk:Tora|talk]]) 22:50, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

I was gonna add a mention of another "yo mama" joke in Open Mic Night, but when I did a search, I discovered that there have actually been quite a lot of them. [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1037:_Umwelt], [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/819:_Five-Minute_Comics:_Part_1], [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/785:_Open_Mic_Night], [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/294:_Bookstore], [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/775:_Savannah_Ancestry], [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/541:_TED_Talk], [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/563:_Fermirotica], [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1261:_Shake_That] . . . How many of these should we mention? And is this an Official XKCD Theme? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.66|199.27.128.66]] 20:52, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

:Nice job. Internal links do work like this (look at my edit):
:*[[294: Bookstore]]
:*[[541: TED Talk]]
:*[[563: Fermirotica]]
:*[[775: Savannah Ancestry]]
:*[[785: Open Mic Night]]
:*[[819: Five-Minute Comics: Part 1]]
:*[[1037: Umwelt]]
:*[[1261: Shake That]]
:BUT there is a category here: [[: Category:Your Mom ]], most were already there but I did add two to this category. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:13, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

Ok, a bit of a nit-pick: But gravitational attraction goes '''down''', not up, with the square of the distance. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 09:46, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

It says
"Black Hat launches into a long description about the relativity of gravity and inertia that presumably will eventually lead to a Yo' Momma joke along the lines of "she's fat and not that attractive", but then gets bored or loses momentum and cuts to the chase. "
This makes it sound like he's openly embarked on telling a joke, only then he gets bored and cuts to the end. I thought it was supposed to sound like he was giving a serious lecture on gravity and inertia, and he planned to twist in into a joke and surprise the listener, but he gets bored and just makes the jump abruptly. Maybe the above text is just worded in a way that isn't clear, but I don't think the audience is supposed to expect it to be a joke until the last panel, where the abrupt change in seriousness makes it humorous. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 02:28, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

Talk:86: Digital Rights Management

2016-05-12T01:50:13Z

108.162.218.118:

And cue global warming...
[[User:Krev|Semicolon here]] ([[User talk:Krev|talk]]) 14:50, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

i might sound daft here, but is the wall of ice explained in any way? it feels like the humour here derives from it, and i'm not sure what to make of it. the explanation focusing on the details of the antipiracy laws and regulations feels a tad superfluous while i feel it doesn't really add anything that explains the joke. again, i'm a romanian, so my grasp of the english language (and the american culture) is below par, so this might be a silly question. feel free to remove my comment here if that's the case. {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.88}}
:The idea is that a glacier is impossible to stop if it starts moving simply because it is so massive. This can be compared to the demands of people for DRM-free content, which is equally unstoppable no matter how many politicians the DRM companies bribe. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.53|141.101.99.53]] 05:00, 9 March 2014 (UTC)
I agree; I think the "ice-wall" is a metaphor for the mass of the consumers. The companies are trying to go against the flow, and it's either bend or break. It's an ice-wall/glacier,, because there are few things in the world more powerful and unstoppable as a glacier. A glacier is also very slow, so it's also saying that although he might not be able to crush them immediately, he will eventually, and they'd better not forget it (no saying how far away he's starting from, either. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 01:50, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

First thing that came to my mind: ICE == Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics, e.g. in ''Burning Chrome'' (by William Gibson); see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrusion_Countermeasures_Electronics]. IIRC, the book describes ICE as walls closing in on the protagonist's avatar in the virtual (cyber) world. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.231|199.27.128.231]] 09:36, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

This may be a stretch but I associated this with "Now is the winter of our discontent" from Richard III. Discontent can both be applied to the general dislike and therefore discontent on the users, but also discontent in terms on the dis, meaning negativity and content relating to the digital content. The wall of ice represents the approaching Winter which will continue until the end of the discontent. --[[User:Igwarrender|Igwarrender]] ([[User talk:Igwarrender|talk]]) 15:53, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

This could also be a joke that the ice wall isn't actually stoppable by him, or is it?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]]

Talk:937: TornadoGuard

2016-05-12T00:42:00Z

108.162.218.118:

The image text is also a reference to another comic: http://xkcd.com/583/
In this comic, the bug was that the speech recognition fails on a young child's voice. So the team attempts to reproduce a child in order to fix the bug and get the test subject. The bug report is closed as cannot fixed with the reason being 'could not reproduce'. {{unsigned ip|128.237.217.152| 19:40, 22 August 2012‎ (UTC)}}

And it's happened. See https://twitter.com/andymangold/status/341327603451441152/photo/1. Four-star rated "Tornado by American Red Cross" app, current top review reads "I did not find this app useful at all. There was a tornado watch for eight hours in my town, a tornado warning for 30 minutes, and there were no warnings or alerts visible on this app." [[Special:Contributions/192.91.191.162|192.91.191.162]] 16:58, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
:ROFL ;) If this picture is real it should be added to this explain. Check the Customer Review here: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tornado-by-american-red-cross/id602724318?mt=8 itunes], I am sure it's just a reaction on this comic.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:06, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

According to [[1098]], it's still an OK app. 22:57, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

'could not reproduce'

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sci.geo.earthquakes/kTDkMMbC_mw

[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 13:19, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

This is why looking at both the positive and negative reviews is good practice. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.44|173.245.54.44]] 17:57, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

It struck me when I read it that it was also suggesting that there are probably other people out there who COULDN'T leave a negative review, because the app failed them and they were killed in the tornado. If the program not working means you're likely to die, then only people with positive reviews will survive to leave reviews, giving the wrong impression: look, the are 3 times as many positive reviews as negative ones! I'll take it!"
It seems like there must be some reason he chose something so deadly as a tornado; it could have been anything, and the other reasons would still have worked.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 00:42, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

1660: Captain Speaking

2016-03-26T20:39:23Z

108.162.218.118: bro do u even grammar? its not it's

{{comic
| number = 1660
| date = March 25, 2016
| title = Captain Speaking
| image = captain_speaking.png
| titletext = Oh dang, you have to pay? Hey, has anyone else paid already? If so, can I borrow your phone for a sec?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Have tried to clear up some messy order in the explanation. Could probably do with a check up, especially from someone with knowledge about flights.}}
At periodic intervals on a commercial flight, the captain of the plane will address the passengers with information about the flight. Typically this will begin with "Good morning everyone, this is your captain speaking..." and go on to describe the progress of the flight, expected arrival time and so forth.

This comic takes this cliché and inverts it. Instead of the captain providing information, the captain tells the passengers that he has apparently forgotten everything about the flight, even down to what kind of plane he is supposed to be flying – although he does think it is a {{w|Boeing}}. He at least discovers the flight number and then he plan to use this on the consumer app {{w|Flightaware}} that is made for tracking flights. He thus hopes to be able to find out what the destination of “his” plane is. But Flightaware requires {{w|Wi-Fi}} access, so he goes on to ask the passengers if anyone know how to access the Wi-Fi.

This even gets worse in the title text where he realizes that you have to pay for using the on-board Wi-Fi , which means he is trying to access the same Wi-Fi that the passengers have access to instead of using the on-board Wi-Fi that must be in the cockpit (to which he is supposed to have free access). Instead of just paying he then asks the passengers if someone has already payed, because the he would like to borrow their smartphone so he can check the Flightaware app to find out where they are going…

Options for explaining this scenario are:
#The "captain" is not a genuine pilot, but has somehow found himself in the position of being in charge of an airplane.
#The captain has genuinely fallen asleep and has forgotten what plane he is on.
::But he has thus also forgotten how to navigate, determine his flight plan or communicate with air traffic control. In the USA (where xkcd cartoons are normally set), there is normally at least a co-pilot and an air stewards on the plane to support the captain.
::Seeing as how planes cannot take off on {{w|auto-pilot}} (nor can they taxi, but some can actually land), and require a skilled, awake human at the controls, it is unlikely that this captain was responsible for take-off; which must mean this auto-pilot is much more advanced than current models, likely a future model, or that his co-pilot took off and then went away. In the event a pilot fall asleep, on medium sized planes, ground- or proximity-, radar would set off an alarm waking the captain if they are on a collision course.
::Whilst it is normal for the captain to sleep part of a long flight, this can only occur if there are multiple pilots on the plane. Most flights are on auto-pilot for hours at a time, and the pilots serve primarily for takeoff, landing, and emergencies. He is completely clueless, having to use a consumer app and asking the passengers to get flight details, instead of radioing for help as he probably should. He would easily be able to get the information of where they are going by just asking any of the passengers though.

Seeing as this future auto-pilot is so smart it would seem [[Randall]] jokes that future pilots might forget how to fly altogether.

The fact that the captain is not sure of the flight number is not hard to imagine. Commercial pilots fly multiple flights per day and the numbers all run together after a while. Every radio communication starts with the flight number, but if the captain has been out of commission for some time, the flight number could easily be forgotten. However, he'd certainly know the aircraft type, as commercial pilots are type-rated for a specific aircraft type and with rare exceptions (e.g. Boeing 757/767) the type is specific to an airframe type.

==Transcript==
:[The text is written above a large commercial passenger airplane seen from below as it turns left. The text emanates from the cockpit.]
:Captain: This is your captain speaking.
:Captain: Gonna be honest-I just woke up and have no idea where I am. Looks like a Boeing of some kind?
:Captain: Oh, hey, it says the flight number here.
:Captain: Okay, I'm gonna check FlightAware to figure out where we're going.
:Captain: Anyone know how to get on the wifi?

==Trivia==
Real World Parallels:
* This comic coincided with [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/british-man-goes-out-for-quiet-drink-in-essex-wakes-up-in-barcelona-a6951756.html a newspaper story] of British man, Alex Caviel, who after a night out had a vivid dream of being on an aeroplane only to wake up to find himself on a plane landing in Barcelona.
* The comic was also published shortly after the [https://www.rt.com/news/337113-flydubai-scandal-leaks-fatigue/ Flydubai scandal], in which many pilots and former pilots accused the airline of overworking its pilots and causing massive fatigue and stress, shortly after the crash of the flight FZ981. These claim were later waged against the Fly Emirates airline. The comic could portray a scenario in which one of the fatigued pilots wake up mid-flight, still suffering from lack of sleep.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1653: United States Map

2016-03-09T16:14:59Z

108.162.218.118:

But what prompted this map? Has there been a real life event that influenced Randall to create this?
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.25|141.101.91.25]] 07:32, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Yes, this is about voting districts. They are so random you can not guess where your vote will count: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90RajY2nrgk

08:10, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

(Finally, someone made the page so I can post this. :| )

I removed the names from Randall's map! [http://i.imgur.com/Mvi8j9s.jpg Here's a blank version!] Muahahaha! [[User:Quoice|Quoice]] ([[User talk:Quoice|talk]]) 07:39, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:Cool. Could you be so mean as to make a version including the shapes of Alaska and Hawaii. You could use the ones from Randall's map of United shapes as templates. That would be fantastic! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:03, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Maybe add a table with every state cut out; and add a correct map with the cut out pieces in the right place? [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 09:05, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
:That would just be a normal map... The piece could go over a real map in the wrong place to show it. Or rather the entire map should be overlaid on a real map... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:22, 9 March 2016 (UTC)
::This sounds like a great idea to me! Case of "A picture is worth a thousand words". [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:39, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

First thing that comes to mind when I look at the map is seeing New York being against the Mexico border. I wonder how New Yorkers would deal with the Mexicans coming across. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.28|173.245.54.28]] 14:43, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

This proves it: continental drift is real, and much faster than we thought. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.217|162.158.114.217]] 15:18, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

[[File:1653-rearranged.png]] -- [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 15:31, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

There's nothing in the article right now that indicates the shapes of the states have been altered slightly so that they fit together seamlessly in this arrangement. I think that's an important point. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.80|162.158.255.80]] 15:53, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

What happened to Long Island (part of NY)?

1086: Eyelash Wish Log

2016-01-12T18:57:57Z

108.162.218.118: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1086
| date = July 25, 2012
| title = Eyelash Wish Log
| image = eyelash wish log.png
| titletext = Ooh, another one. Uh... the ability to alter any coefficients of friction at will during sporting events.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is based on a common belief/superstition that when someone's eyelash falls out, that person can make a wish on it. This comic appears to be a page from the fictitious Wish Bureau in charge of granting said wishes. And of course the wisher is [[Black Hat]] and he has quite a few wishes, most of them based on the previous wish. A common trope in fiction is that wishing for more wishes is prohibited and for many of his wishes [[Black Hat]] attempts to circumvent that.

;January 9: That wishing on eyelashes worked
:This wish is pointless. If wishing on eyelashes worked, then this would do absolutely nothing (because it already works) and if it didn't then nothing would happen because wishing on eyelashes wouldn't work.

;January 12: A pony
:This wish functions as a test to see whether or not previous wish worked. It can be assumed that it did, as Black Hat then continued to make additional wishes. Wishing for a pony is a stereotypical wish made by very young girls; since Black Hat is an adult man, the contrast is humorous.

;January 15: Unlimited wishes
:This appears to have failed, due to the typical ban of wishing for additional wishes in conventional folklore.

;January 19: Revocation of rules prohibiting unlimited wishes
:An attempt to circumvent the ban in the previous wish.

;January 20: A finite but arbitrarily large number of wishes
:Another attempt to circumvent the ban on unlimited wishes.

;January 28: The power to dictate the rules governing wishes
:Yet another attempt to circumvent the ban on unlimited wishes.

;February 5: Unlimited eyelashes
:This wish likely caused Black Hat to grow unlimited eyelashes, which could be quite inconvenient and painful. And, yes, one more attempt to circumvent the ban on unlimited wishes.

;February 6: That wish-granting entities be required to interpret wishes in accordance with the intent of the wisher
:This wish is likely a response to the previous day's misguided wish. It's actually quite a common problem that people making wishes leave them open for misinterpretation.

;February 8: That wish-granting entities be incapable of impatience
:An attempt to prevent whatever being is powerful enough to grant wishes from becoming angry with Black Hat while he tries to manipulate the system.

;February 12 #1: Unlimited breadsticks
:The first wish of this day seems to be a reference to the unlimited {{w|breadsticks}} offered at {{w|Olive Garden}}.

;February 12 #2: Veto power over others' wishes
:A power that could be interesting to have. It also very much fits with Black Hat's character.

;February 19: Veto power over others' wishes and all congressional legislation
:An improvement of the previous wish. This would be very interesting to have indeed, especially if you are Black Hat, because you could veto any federal law, a power normally entrusted only to the President.

;February 23: The power to override any veto
:This wish would allow Black Hat to override vetoes which in addition to the previous wish would effectively make him control the US legislature and, to some extent, also all other governing bodies. (Notably the UN, where the veto powers wielded by the "big 5" cannot be overridden and can have large impacts on global politics.) Note that it will not allow him to turn laws off (veto them) and on again (override the veto) at any moment, as once a bill becomes law it cannot be vetoed. Without the ability to propose legislation, Black Hat's powers are still limited. The wish may also refer back to the February 19 wish: by granting himself veto power over wishes, Black Hat just made vetoes more powerful than wishes; now he is trying to control other people's vetoes as well, lest they one-up him.

;February 27: The power to see where any shortened URL goes without clicking
:This wish relates to a common practice especially in tweets or other short length media where full length specific HTML addresses such as <tt>www.somewhere.com/articles/specificdate/the page.html</tt> would not be feasible. So a more compressed but nonsensical string of seemingly random characters is used which links to a link of the full text address. This creates some problems for people who are security or privacy conscious and prefer to be informed beforehand where they will be traveling on the Internet. The use of shortened URLs is also central to many types of trolls or practical jokes, most notably Rickrolling (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5MDnkV8DZA for an example), by directing someone to a different location than the link would initially suggest. Thus Black Hat might be wishing to be able to tell where the links go for the purpose of avoiding this sort of trolling.

;February 29: The power to control the direction news anchors are looking while they talk
:This wish likely appeals to Black Hat's mischevious side, allowing him to cause news anchors to look at the wrong camera during live broadcast. Repeatedly switching to the incorrect camera would cause havoc in the studio.

;March 7: The power to introduce arbitrary error into Nate Silver's predictions
:A reference to {{w|Nate Silver}}, who is a former writer for {{w|Baseball Prospectus}} working on predicting baseball players' stats and now writes for {{w|Five Thirty Eight}} in which he predicts the outcome of elections based on polling data. This would grant Black Hat the power to influence the result of elections. This would tighten the Black Hat's control of the US even more.

;March 15: A house of stairs
:This wish refers to the {{w|lithograph}} {{w|House of Stairs}} by {{w|M. C. Escher}}, or perhaps another of his lithographs, {{w|Relativity (M. C. Escher)|Relativity}}

;March 23: A universe which is a replica of this one sans rules against meta-wishes
:Another attempt to circumvent the rules against wishing for more wishes.

;March 29: Free transportation to and from that universe
:While the previous wish appears to have worked, Black Hat notes a problem with it: he is still in our universe with no ways to get to the new one.

;April 2: A clear explanation of how wish rules are structured and enforced
:It appears that one or both of the previous two wishes failed, so Black Hat tries to discover exactly what is offending the Bureau. Having clear rules and how they work helps anyone finding loopholes in them.

;April 7: The power to banish people into the TV show they are talking about
:Black hat is obviously fed up of hearing people talking about certain TV shows, and would like to be able to banish them into the show, thus prevent him having to listen to those people.

;April 8: Zero wishes
:An attempt to hack the wish-granting system by using a quite common vulnerability in input validation: an unexpected value. There may be multiple vectors this can work:
:* in many computer systems, 0 is reserved for unlimited
:* the number may be used as a divisor in some equation and this will make the system divide by zero and probably crash
:* there also may be an assertion like "number of wishes granted == 1" which would fail, again crashing the system
:* similarly, if viewed as a computer system, it is possible that the wish decrement is performed after the wish is granted, thus resulting in either -1 wishes (another common placeholder for unlimited numbers), or an integer overflow if the wish counter is stored in an unsigned integer; the overflow can result in an exception, otherwise -1 becomes represented as MAX_INT-1 - basically, an arbitrarily large number.
:However it seems the eyelash wish-granting system does proper input validation on zero because it did not crash or grant unlimited wishes
:This wish may also be a reversal of the January 9 wish. Black Hat is attempting to win his game by introducing a logical contradiction: if he gets "zero wishes", this is one wish granted; however, if it is not granted, then, de facto, he will have been granted zero wishes. This is a common technique used in logical proofs to show that an earlier assumption does not hold (in this case, the possibility of eyelash wishing to work).

;April 15: Veto power over clocks
:Midnight, April 15 is the deadline for filing income tax returns in the United States.
:It may also be that Black Hat, now in control of all human legislation, is attempting to extend this to further control also rules of nature -- in this case: time. The strange wording is likely to be due to Black Hat having consulted with the wish-hacking manual he acquired April 2.

;April 22: A pokéball that works on strangers' pets
:A reference to the cartoon and video game series {{w|Pokémon}}. A Pokéball can be thrown at a Pokémon (or in this case, a pet that the Pokéball thrower finds either annoying or cute) to capture/contain it and/or achieve ownership of it. Unless cheats are used, Pokéballs cannot be used on Pokémon owned by other people in the Pokémon games. Many players wish to obtain the often high-level Pokémon of NPCs, and black hat guy may also be interested in pranking other players by stealing their powerful Pokémon

The title text is another yet another mischievous wish. The coefficients of friction, though usually not noticed as they are unchanging, are all-important when performing physical activities — imagine trying to play hockey on a field of sand or sprinting over a sheet of ice. In addition to the difficulty going where you want or getting any balls that might be in play where you want them to go in a changing friction environment, angular momentum would also be very difficult to control.

==Transcript==
:{|
! align="left" colspan="2" |Eyelash Wish Log
|-style="color: gray;"
|
|align="right"|Wish bureau ID#:
|-
|
|align="right"|21118378
|-style="color: gray;"
|
|align="right"|Date range:
|-
!scope="row" style="color: gray;"|Wisher
|align="right"|Jan-Apr 2012
|}

:{|
!align="left" width="50px"|Date
!align="left"|Wish
|-
|Jan 09
|That wishing on eyelashes worked
|-
|Jan 12
|A pony
|-
|Jan 15
|Unlimited wishes
|-
|Jan 19
|Revocation of rules prohibiting unlimited wishes
|-
|Jan 20
|A finite but arbitrarily large number of wishes
|-
|Jan 28
|The power to dictate the rules governing wishes
|-
|Feb 05
|Unlimited eyelashes
|-
|Feb 06
|That wish-granting entities be required to interpret wishes in accordance with the intent of the wisher
|-
|Feb 08
|That wish-granting entities be incapable of impatience
|-
|Feb 12
|Unlimited breadsticks
|-
|Feb 12
|Veto power over others' wishes
|-
|Feb 19
|Veto power over others' wishes and all congressional legislation
|-
|Feb 23
|The power to override any veto
|-
|Feb 27
|The power to see where any shortened URL goes without clicking
|-
|Feb 29
|The power to control the direction news anchors are looking while they talk
|-
|Mar 07
|The power to introduce arbitrary error into Nate Silver's predictions
|-
|Mar 15
|A house of stairs
|-
|Mar 23
|A universe which is a replica of this one sans rules against meta-wishes
|-
|Mar 29
|Free transportation to and from that universe
|-
|Apr 02
|A clear explanation of how wish rules are structured and enforced
|-
|Apr 07
|The power to banish people into the TV show they're talking about
|-
|Apr 08
|Zero wishes
|-
|Apr 15
|Veto power over clocks
|-
|Apr 22
|A Pokéball that works on strangers' pets
|}

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]

1086: Eyelash Wish Log

2016-01-12T18:57:08Z

108.162.218.118: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1086
| date = July 25, 2012
| title = Eyelash Wish Log
| image = eyelash wish log.png
| titletext = Ooh, another one. Uh... the ability to alter any coefficients of friction at will during sporting events.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is based on a common belief/superstition that when someone's eyelash falls out, that person can make a wish on it. This comic appears to be a page from the fictitious Wish Bureau in charge of granting said wishes. And of course the wisher is [[Black Hat]] and he has quite a few wishes, most of them based on the previous wish. A common trope in fiction is that wishing for more wishes is prohibited and for many of his wishes [[Black Hat]] attempts to circumvent that.

;January 9: That wishing on eyelashes worked
:This wish is pointless. If wishing on eyelashes worked, then this would do absolutely nothing (because it already works) and if it didn't then nothing would happen because wishing on eyelashes wouldn't work.

;January 12: A pony
:This wish functions as a test to see whether or not previous wish worked. It can be assumed that it did, as Black Hat then continued to make additional wishes. Wishing for a pony is a stereotypical wish made by very young girls; since Black Hat is an adult man, the contrast is humorous.

;January 15: Unlimited wishes
:This appears to have failed, due to the typical ban of wishing for additional wishes in conventional folklore.

;January 19: Revocation of rules prohibiting unlimited wishes
:An attempt to circumvent the ban in the previous wish.

;January 20: A finite but arbitrarily large number of wishes
:Another attempt to circumvent the ban on unlimited wishes.

;January 28: The power to dictate the rules governing wishes
:Yet another attempt to circumvent the ban on unlimited wishes.

;February 5: Unlimited eyelashes
:This wish likely caused Black Hat to grow unlimited eyelashes, which could be quite inconvenient and painful. And, yes, one more attempt to circumvent the ban on unlimited wishes.

;February 6: That wish-granting entities be required to interpret wishes in accordance with the intent of the wisher
:This wish is likely a response to the previous day's misguided wish. It's actually quite a common problem that people making wishes leave them open for misinterpretation.

;February 8: That wish-granting entities be incapable of impatience
:An attempt to prevent whatever being is powerful enough to grant wishes from becoming angry with Black Hat while he tries to manipulate the system.

;February 12 #1: Unlimited breadsticks
:The first wish of this day seems to be a reference to the unlimited {{w|breadsticks}} offered at {{w|Olive Garden}}.

;February 12 #2: Veto power over others' wishes
:A power that could be interesting to have. It also very much fits with Black Hat's character.

;February 19: Veto power over others' wishes and all congressional legislation
:An improvement of the previous wish. This would be very interesting to have indeed, especially if you are Black Hat, because you could veto any federal law, a power normally entrusted only to the President.

;February 23: The power to override any veto
:This wish would allow Black Hat to override vetoes which in addition to the previous wish would effectively make him control the US legislature and, to some extent, also all other governing bodies. (Notably the UN, where the veto powers wielded by the "big 5" cannot be overridden and can have large impacts on global politics.) Note that it will not allow him to turn laws off (veto them) and on again (override the veto) at any moment, as once a bill becomes law it cannot be vetoed. Without the ability to propose legislation, Black Hat's powers are still limited. The wish may also refer back to the February 19 wish: by granting himself veto power over wishes, Black Hat just made vetoes more powerful than wishes; now he is trying to control other people's vetoes as well, lest they one-up him.

;February 27: The power to see where any shortened URL goes without clicking
:This wish relates to a common practice especially in tweets or other short length media where full length specific HTML addresses such as <tt>www.somewhere.com/articles/specificdate/the page.html</tt> would not be feasible. So a more compressed but nonsensical string of seemingly random characters is used which links to a link of the full text address. This creates some problems for people who are security or privacy conscious and prefer to be informed beforehand where they will be traveling on the Internet. The use of shortened URLs is also central to many types of trolls or practical jokes, most notably <url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5MDnkV8DZA>Rickrolling</url>, by directing someone to a different location than the link would initially suggest. Thus Black Hat might be wishing to be able to tell where the links go for the purpose of avoiding this sort of trolling.

;February 29: The power to control the direction news anchors are looking while they talk
:This wish likely appeals to Black Hat's mischevious side, allowing him to cause news anchors to look at the wrong camera during live broadcast. Repeatedly switching to the incorrect camera would cause havoc in the studio.

;March 7: The power to introduce arbitrary error into Nate Silver's predictions
:A reference to {{w|Nate Silver}}, who is a former writer for {{w|Baseball Prospectus}} working on predicting baseball players' stats and now writes for {{w|Five Thirty Eight}} in which he predicts the outcome of elections based on polling data. This would grant Black Hat the power to influence the result of elections. This would tighten the Black Hat's control of the US even more.

;March 15: A house of stairs
:This wish refers to the {{w|lithograph}} {{w|House of Stairs}} by {{w|M. C. Escher}}, or perhaps another of his lithographs, {{w|Relativity (M. C. Escher)|Relativity}}

;March 23: A universe which is a replica of this one sans rules against meta-wishes
:Another attempt to circumvent the rules against wishing for more wishes.

;March 29: Free transportation to and from that universe
:While the previous wish appears to have worked, Black Hat notes a problem with it: he is still in our universe with no ways to get to the new one.

;April 2: A clear explanation of how wish rules are structured and enforced
:It appears that one or both of the previous two wishes failed, so Black Hat tries to discover exactly what is offending the Bureau. Having clear rules and how they work helps anyone finding loopholes in them.

;April 7: The power to banish people into the TV show they are talking about
:Black hat is obviously fed up of hearing people talking about certain TV shows, and would like to be able to banish them into the show, thus prevent him having to listen to those people.

;April 8: Zero wishes
:An attempt to hack the wish-granting system by using a quite common vulnerability in input validation: an unexpected value. There may be multiple vectors this can work:
:* in many computer systems, 0 is reserved for unlimited
:* the number may be used as a divisor in some equation and this will make the system divide by zero and probably crash
:* there also may be an assertion like "number of wishes granted == 1" which would fail, again crashing the system
:* similarly, if viewed as a computer system, it is possible that the wish decrement is performed after the wish is granted, thus resulting in either -1 wishes (another common placeholder for unlimited numbers), or an integer overflow if the wish counter is stored in an unsigned integer; the overflow can result in an exception, otherwise -1 becomes represented as MAX_INT-1 - basically, an arbitrarily large number.
:However it seems the eyelash wish-granting system does proper input validation on zero because it did not crash or grant unlimited wishes
:This wish may also be a reversal of the January 9 wish. Black Hat is attempting to win his game by introducing a logical contradiction: if he gets "zero wishes", this is one wish granted; however, if it is not granted, then, de facto, he will have been granted zero wishes. This is a common technique used in logical proofs to show that an earlier assumption does not hold (in this case, the possibility of eyelash wishing to work).

;April 15: Veto power over clocks
:Midnight, April 15 is the deadline for filing income tax returns in the United States.
:It may also be that Black Hat, now in control of all human legislation, is attempting to extend this to further control also rules of nature -- in this case: time. The strange wording is likely to be due to Black Hat having consulted with the wish-hacking manual he acquired April 2.

;April 22: A pokéball that works on strangers' pets
:A reference to the cartoon and video game series {{w|Pokémon}}. A Pokéball can be thrown at a Pokémon (or in this case, a pet that the Pokéball thrower finds either annoying or cute) to capture/contain it and/or achieve ownership of it. Unless cheats are used, Pokéballs cannot be used on Pokémon owned by other people in the Pokémon games. Many players wish to obtain the often high-level Pokémon of NPCs, and black hat guy may also be interested in pranking other players by stealing their powerful Pokémon

The title text is another yet another mischievous wish. The coefficients of friction, though usually not noticed as they are unchanging, are all-important when performing physical activities — imagine trying to play hockey on a field of sand or sprinting over a sheet of ice. In addition to the difficulty going where you want or getting any balls that might be in play where you want them to go in a changing friction environment, angular momentum would also be very difficult to control.

==Transcript==
:{|
! align="left" colspan="2" |Eyelash Wish Log
|-style="color: gray;"
|
|align="right"|Wish bureau ID#:
|-
|
|align="right"|21118378
|-style="color: gray;"
|
|align="right"|Date range:
|-
!scope="row" style="color: gray;"|Wisher
|align="right"|Jan-Apr 2012
|}

:{|
!align="left" width="50px"|Date
!align="left"|Wish
|-
|Jan 09
|That wishing on eyelashes worked
|-
|Jan 12
|A pony
|-
|Jan 15
|Unlimited wishes
|-
|Jan 19
|Revocation of rules prohibiting unlimited wishes
|-
|Jan 20
|A finite but arbitrarily large number of wishes
|-
|Jan 28
|The power to dictate the rules governing wishes
|-
|Feb 05
|Unlimited eyelashes
|-
|Feb 06
|That wish-granting entities be required to interpret wishes in accordance with the intent of the wisher
|-
|Feb 08
|That wish-granting entities be incapable of impatience
|-
|Feb 12
|Unlimited breadsticks
|-
|Feb 12
|Veto power over others' wishes
|-
|Feb 19
|Veto power over others' wishes and all congressional legislation
|-
|Feb 23
|The power to override any veto
|-
|Feb 27
|The power to see where any shortened URL goes without clicking
|-
|Feb 29
|The power to control the direction news anchors are looking while they talk
|-
|Mar 07
|The power to introduce arbitrary error into Nate Silver's predictions
|-
|Mar 15
|A house of stairs
|-
|Mar 23
|A universe which is a replica of this one sans rules against meta-wishes
|-
|Mar 29
|Free transportation to and from that universe
|-
|Apr 02
|A clear explanation of how wish rules are structured and enforced
|-
|Apr 07
|The power to banish people into the TV show they're talking about
|-
|Apr 08
|Zero wishes
|-
|Apr 15
|Veto power over clocks
|-
|Apr 22
|A Pokéball that works on strangers' pets
|}

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]

1627: Woosh

2016-01-08T18:32:30Z

108.162.218.118: Specifics for title text

{{comic
| number = 1627
| date = January 8, 2016
| title = Woosh
| image = woosh.png
| titletext = It also occasionally replies with 'Comment of the year', 'Are you for real', and 'I'm taking a screenshot so I can remember this moment forever'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Very hasty draft. More needed on the alternative title text suggestions.}}
Replying to a comment with "woosh" generally indicates that there was a joke, and the comment failed to recognize it — "woosh" is onomatopoeia for the joke metaphorically "flying over their head". A bot replying to comments with "woosh" at random would be very confusing, as people would search for the nonexistent joke they missed. This is similar to [[559: No Pun Intended]].
"Comment of the year," just like the original bot reply, would cause confusion by implying that a random comment is extremely significant.
"Are you for real" could have two implied meanings when posted, generally: it could be implying that the person to whom the bot is replying to is a famous celebrity, and the commenter wants to know if the person who posted the original comment is a real celebrity and not fake. "Are you for real" can also imply that the commenter (the bot) doesn't believe that the original commenter is serious.
"I'm taking a screenshot so I can remember this moment forever" adds an implied air of extreme importance, hilarity or significance to a comment. People who read it might assume that there is a hidden joke or meaning somewhere inside the original comment.

Although it is not specified as one of [[Randall|Randall's]] hobbies it is clearly related to the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series.

==Transcript==
:[Online comment thread with text placed next to user pictures in three different levels. The first comment on the first level, the second on the second level and the last four on the same third level. Except for the second comment which is made by a person whose picture is a white silhouette of a human head and shoulders on black background, all the other comments are made by the same person with a picture of a guy with short black hair on white background. Below the pictures and below the text there are some unreadable information (indicated by wiggly lines) for the users name and time stamp etc. of the comments.]

:Hairy guy: This video looks fake to me.
::White silhouette : Woosh
:::Hairy guy: Huh? Everyone's acting like it's real!
:::Hairy guy: If it's a joke lots of people aren't getting it.
:::Hairy guy: What am I missing?!!
:::Hairy guy: Answer me

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Nothing creates more confusion than my bot that replies to random Internet comments with "Woosh".

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1594: Human Subjects

2015-10-25T00:48:37Z

108.162.218.118:

The responses in panels 1, 3, and 4 show that Megan is trying to downplay the issues despite better knowledge. This is probably done to surprise the reader of the dialogue for better dramatic effect. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.159|162.158.91.159]] 05:59, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

In the second panel, Megan makes a good point which Ponytail misses. If the control group had a high incidence of arson, while the experimental group did not (and assuming that proper protocols were followed in assigning subjects to groups), there is a possibility that the drug has the side-effect of suppressing the urge for arson [[User:Sysin|Sysin]] ([[User talk:Sysin|talk]]) 06:45, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
: Where is the point? "People where arrested for arson" - "Side effects" - "They where in the control group". That's not really a point for the side-effect of surpressing the urge for arson, is it? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.217|162.158.114.217]] 09:01, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
::If only people from the control group have been arrested, it is or could be. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.213|162.158.91.213]] 10:58, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
:::In this case both the control and the test group must be full of arsonists and the question is why did Ponytail let them lose to commit arson in the first place. May bye a double-blind test?[[User:Jkotek|Jkotek]] ([[User talk:Jkotek|talk]]) 13:29, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
:::Maybe both groups were arsonists and the thing helps prevent the person from getting arrested somehow. [[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 14:50, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

:Another interpretation of the second panel is that Ponytail went fishing for patterns in the data, and happened to find the apparent cluster of arson arrests. There is no obvious reason why arson arrests would have any bearing on a drug trial. (Of course this depends on the drug, but the experiment in the last panel is about moisturizing cream; since no more specifics are given there is no reason to assume it is a psychologically active substance.) If you look at enough variables about a group of people (be they ever-so carefully randomly selected) you will probably find some "unusual" pattern - some way that they differ from the entire population.
:A classic example of this is the observation about Israeli fighter pilots having predominantly girl children. However, when one looks at subsequent births to Israeli pilots, they show the usual gender distribution. The only reason for looking at the gender distribution of children of Israeli fighter pilots was because somebody noticed this pattern in some data set. See "Science of the Discworld" by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.112|199.27.128.112]] 23:29, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

did [[Danish]] cut her hair? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.8|108.162.216.8]] 11:22, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
:I agree, this is more typical of [[Danish]], so either she cut her hair or is wearing it up in some manner. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 00:48, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

also, the title text could allude to the fact that sociopaths (or successful ones at least) tend to be really adept at getting other people to write off or engage in their behaviours. that is, the IRB, despite the apparent awfulness of the actions of the subjects, on meeting them thought they were pretty cool and people should lay off. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.8|108.162.216.8]] 11:28, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

Are those "citation needed" of any use? There is already a link to Wikipedia for sociopathy. Also, the invoked reasons ("Is an arsonist defined as a sociopath?", "Is a masochist the same as a sociopath?", "Is there an agreed upon definition of 'truly sociopathic behaviour', and is this it?") are not sound to me. Sociopathy is defined as "antisocial behavior", so are arson and sadism. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.66.23|141.101.66.23]] 11:32, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

: I elected to simply remove references to sociopathy. I think the comic uses the phrase "awful" people, and I don't think it is necessary to instill the article with controversy by defining the people as sociopaths or any other term. Simply describing their traits and noting that it is unusual and why should be sufficient. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.31|108.162.216.31]] 14:01, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

I realize that this area is for discussing the subject of the comic, but of all the comic strips out there this is the last one I would ever expect to include the "word" ''snuck''. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.26|108.162.216.26]] 13:23, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
:This area is mainly for discussing the improvement of the article. Unlike Wikipedia, here we also can discuss the subject of the comic. I addressed your comment, because I never had heard the word (no scare quotes) ''snuck'', but immediatly knew it was an alternate past tense of ''sneak''. I added this: ''Snuck'' is a dialectal past tense of ''sneak''.[http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/g08.html]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 13:37, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

::With respect, I don't think the word "snuck" is uncommon or in any way unique to this comic. I don't think there is any valid need to include a line defining a common verb. If people don't know what the word "snuck" is, dictionary websites are aplenty, but let's not turn this site into one of those ones where every word is a link to a definition. Unless it's jargon or technical or a proper noun that needs explanation, I don't think definitions or links are really needed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.31|108.162.216.31]] 14:01, 23 October 2015 (UTC)
:: Why use a dictionary when Conan can do it for you? :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmoHSczX8pU {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.84}}

This comic could be referencing the growing realization that that the subjects of almost all psychology studies are not representative of the world population at large and of the great variety of humans found in the world. The subjects in psychology experiments are usually psychology students or other undergraduate students. Thus the subjects of these experiments are WIERD (Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic), these subjects are not close to worldwide normal. See this [//www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/psychology-studies-biased-toward-we-10-08-07/ Scientific American article] for more information. Thus this biases the results of psychology experiments in systematic ways, just as having a bunch of sociopaths as subjects would also systematically effect the results. --[[User:Benjamin|Benjamin]] ([[User talk:Benjamin|talk]]) 15:07, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

Might this comic be related to the increased effect of placebo in medical studies? The "awful people" explanation is one of the ones mentioned in the article: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34572482 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.49|141.101.79.49]]

:: Not really [[Special:Contributions/162.158.252.197|162.158.252.197]] 04:16, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

Does antisocial behavior really invalidate non-neuro/psychological drug trials? I don't think personality would change the progression and nature of other diseases. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.137|199.27.128.137]] 09:29, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

== World Polio Day Comic ==

At the top of xkcd.com is a link to Bill Gate's blog http://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/XKCD-Marks-the-Spot which currently contains one of Mr. Munroe's strips. Is this an appropriate subject for this wiki? and if so how?--[[Special:Contributions/198.41.235.101|198.41.235.101]] 20:35, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

1013: Wake Up Sheeple

2015-09-11T04:55:02Z

108.162.218.118: "unaware" to "previously unaware"

{{comic
| number = 1013
| date = February 6, 2012
| title = Wake Up Sheeple
| image = wake_up_sheeple.png
| titletext = You will be led to judgement like lambs to the slaughter--a simile whose existence, I might add, will not do your species any favors.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is going through the traditional street-protester refrain about the government having control over our lives and shouts "wake up, sheeple!" through a megaphone. ''{{w|Sheeple}}'' is a {{w|portmanteau}} of ''sheep'' and ''people'' used as a derisive term to describe people who thoughtlessly wander through their daily lives going exactly where they are "herded" by the powers that be.

However, in this comic, the Sheeple are gigantic humanoid sheep-men who have slumbered beneath the Earth for ten thousand years, and whom Cueball has inadvertently awoken with his repeated mantra (much as in [[555: Two Mirrors]]). The Sheeple appear to be some kind of {{w|Cthulhu_Mythos|eldritch abomination}} who will destroy the human race, and Cueball seems to be the only one previously unaware of their existence.

This comic may also be a view on Randall's actual political views; the awakened monster in the comic actually represents all the "sheeple". Thus, Randall may be saying that if the "sheeple" wake up and realize that the government is controlling them, without an authority figure (i.e. the government) the sheeple would go wild and pandemonium would ensue.

The title text says the humans will be led "like lambs to the slaughter" which is a phrase that appears many times in older texts, the Bible as an example. The phrase means that someone or something would be led to its destruction without it thinking to escape from the disaster. The Sheeple are likely to take it amiss, because it indicates the uncaring frequency with which humans kill sheep.

See more Sheeple-related comics at [[:Category:Sheeple]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball yells into a megaphone.]
:Cueball: Your government has turned against you! Corporations control your every thought! - Open your eyes!

:[Head-on view of Cueball.]
:Cueball: Wake up, sheeple! Wake up, sheeple! - '''''WAKE UP, SHEEPLE!!'''''

:[The man takes the megaphone away from his mouth.]
:''RUMBLE''

:[A half-sheep half-man creature rises through the cracking earth, holding aloft a gnarled staff.]
:''B-A-A-A-A-A...''

:[Close-up on the sheep-man's eye.]
:''TEN THOUSAND YEARS WE SLUMBERED... NOW WE RIIIIIIIISE'' baaaaaa

:[A clearly upset Megan goes up to Cueball, hands held out in front of her plaintively.]
:Megan: OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD ''WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!''
:Cueball: What? But I didn't—
:Out-of-frame #1: He awoke the Sheeple!
:OOF #2: Heaven forgive us!
:OOF #3: All is lost!

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

600: Android Boyfriend

2015-06-24T01:44:44Z

108.162.218.118: Quick grammar correction

{{comic
| number = 600
| date = June 22, 2009
| title = Android Boyfriend
| image = android boyfriend.png
| titletext = Which is, coincidentally, the most unsettling mantlepiece decoration in my house.
}}

==Explanation==
Referring to [[595: Android Girlfriend]] where [[Cueball]] showed that he had an android girlfriend, ([[Megan]]), [[Ponytail]] has decided she would also like to have an {{w|android (robot)|android}} boyfriend, ([[Hairy]]). But upon bringing these two androids together, they fall for each other and decide to have "sex" on the spot.

Part of the joke is that the androids find each other more attractive than the people to whom they were (presumably) created to find attractive. Like likes like, as the saying goes.

{{w|vibrator (sex toy)|Vibrator}}s and {{w|Fleshlight}}s are sex toys that represent male and female genitalia, respectively. Ponytail's flat description indicates that she is not particularly aroused by what amounts to a pair of animatronic sex toys rubbing against each other. [[Randall|Randall's]] title text claims that he has actually done such a thing, and stuck it on his fireplace mantle for all his house-guests to see.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail enters from the right dragging Hairy along by his hand, as she moves towards Cueball who stands with Megan in his hand.]
:Ponytail: I thought your android girlfriend was cool so I got myself an android boyfriend.

:[Suddenly the Megan android runs into the arms of the Hairy android, while Ponytail has let go of his hand. Ponytails head swirls around to follow her run by.]
:Ponytail: He's really great. I like how—
:Ponytail: Uh.

:[Cueball and Ponytail look towards the two android, but they are now outside the panel.]
:Off screen sound: *Zip*
:Off screen voice: Mmmmm

:[Cueball and Ponytail still look at the scene of screen.]
:Cueball: ...Huh.
:Ponytail: It's like somebody stuck a vibrator in a fleshlight.
:Off screen sound: Whirrr
:Off screen voice: Mmmm
:Off screen sound: Click

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Robots]]