explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:977: Map Projections

2016-08-29T11:53:45Z

108.162.219.9: globes!!!

GLOBES ARE THE BEST although my enormous Winkel Tripel hasn't done too bad.
I have a Plate Carrée hanging on my wall myself. Never failed me yet. '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 07:05, 2 February 2013 (UTC)

I like the Azimuthal Equidistant (equatorial aspect) the best. - not Pennpenn. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.43|108.162.221.43]] 01:15, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

;Dymaxion
Dymaxion is clearly the best. There's nothing like a map made out of an unfolded d20. [[User:Alpha|Alpha]] ([[User talk:Alpha|talk]]) 19:43, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

: Makes you wonder what if a dodecahedron had been used instead of an icosahedron. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 18:02, 17 August 2013 (UTC)

::Here you go: http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/ProjPoly/Foldout/Dodecahedron/dodecahedron.html - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 16:40, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

;Quincunx
Peirce Quincuncial has 4 non-conformal points, but not the 4 corners, which are the south pole, but instead are the 4 midpoints of the sides. These are on the equator and seem to be 90 degrees apart.--DrMath 06:30, 30 August 2013 (UTC)
: I love Peirce Quincuncial, yet I slept throughout that "Inception". [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.228|141.101.99.228]] 11:36, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
: I'm surprised nobody thought of "''really'' looking at your hands" as a hint that person that likes this projection is under influence of LSD or similar drug. As this surely is a thing that you do. (and you'll think of it next time you smoke your joint - inception!) --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.137|108.162.254.137]] 17:29, 7 December 2014 (UTC)

Plus it has a picture of a man looking at his hand and a man looking at the man looking at his hand.[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 14:39, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

xkcd 1051's title text - "meta lucid dreaming". I really got excited that there was an article about and ironically, it leads to meta and lucid dreaming separately. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 21:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)BK201

The common video game trope of "the far east of the world is connected to the far west, and the far north likewise to the far south" is popularly resolved by saying that those game worlds are toroidal shapes. (For a particular reference, I am thinking of the SNES and PSX era Final Fantasy games (4-9.)) But sometime in the last year, I got the idea that you could also resolve that geographical conflict (and claim they are spherical) by the logic that the "world map" you see in those games (where they have one) is a Peirce Qunincuncial map. Is my logic sound? [[User:Boct1584|Boct1584]] ([[User talk:Boct1584|talk]]) 15:31, 28 March 2015 (UTC)

The explanation for the Peirce Quincuncial seems to miss the fact that Randall is implying that anyone who likes this map is most likely high. Getting lost in deep thought over things like your hands, or sitting in a dark theater for 6 hours to wrap your head around Inception...these are all very stereotypical "has smoke a lot of marijuana" behaviors. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.21}}

;Waterman

In actual fact, the Waterman butterfly map used a truncated octahedron based upon the mathematics of close packing of spheres and is not at all based upon any of CaHill's work/math.
-- steve waterman {{unsigned ip|65.92.20.61}}
:Perhaps the explanation should mention that Waterman himself signed up at forum.xkcd.com and vigorously denied that his map has anything to do with Cahill. At the time, it was unclear whether the account was really Waterman, or just a troll trying to make him look bad. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 21:39, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

;Kavrayskiy VII
Kavrayskiy is the best projection, despite being so far out of the mainstream that no-one west of Ukraine has seen one for the past 20 years. {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.64}}
:Wow, I looked into it and it really seems like an excellent projection. It's been a while since I've looked at projections but I think it's my new favourite as it has everything that I've been looking for in a projection. It's a more accurate (in extremes) and more pleasing Robinson projection that still has a reasonable amount cut off the top. Also, the indicatrix for it is very simple, as is the formula, and simple things please simple minds (like mine, apparently) -- without taking it to an extreme like the equirectangular projection does. I swear I've come across it before, but then again I grew up in a country which wasn't far from the Eastern Bloc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.214|141.101.98.214]] 14:51, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

;Sphere
To be fair, what is drawn is an orthographic azimuthal projection.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.153|108.162.216.153]] 18:59, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

1704: Gnome Ann

2016-07-08T04:36:55Z

108.162.219.9: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 1704
| date = July 8, 2016
| title = Gnome Ann
| image = gnome_ann.png
| titletext = In the words of Andrew Johnson, if I am to be shot at, I want Gnome Ann to be in the way of the bullet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
The name "Gnome Ann" is a pun on "No Man"
Much like with previous substitution comics, the phrases take on a new meaning with the replaced words.

==Transcript==
The Legend of Gnome Ann

:[At the beach, between the shoreline and a clock, "Gnome Ann" stands with her arms outstretched.]
:Proverb: Time and tide wait for Gnome Ann.

:[Gnome Ann chases 3 men to the right.]
:Proverb: The wicked flee when Gnome Ann pursueth. - Proverbs 28:1

:[Gnome Ann takes the groom's place in a wedding, shoving him to the side. The bride stands showing no reaction on the left.]
:Proverb: What therefor God hath joined together, let Gnome Ann put asunder. - Mark 10:9

:[Gnome Ann wisely meditates on a rock.]
:Quote: Time ripens all things; Gnome Ann is born wise. - Miguel De Cervantes

:[The Enterprise flies to the right, chasing a smaller craft.]
:Enterprise: Our Mission: to boldly go where Gnome Ann has gone before.

:[Sauron stands to the left of Gnome Ann, who is preparing to stab him with a sword.]
:Sauron: Fool! No man can kill me.
:Gnome Ann: I AM GNOME ANN!

{{comic discussion}}

1704: Gnome Ann

2016-07-08T04:35:07Z

108.162.219.9: added transcript

{{comic
| number = 1704
| date = July 8, 2016
| title = Gnome Ann
| image = gnome_ann.png
| titletext = In the words of Andrew Johnson, if I am to be shot at, I want Gnome Ann to be in the way of the bullet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
The name "Gnome Ann" is a pun on "No Man"
Much like with previous substitution comics, the phrases take on a new meaning with the replaced words.

==Transcript==
The Legend of Gnome Ann

[At the beach, between the shoreline and a clock, "Gnome Ann" stands with her arms outstretched.]
Proverb: Time and tide wait for Gnome Ann.

[Gnome Ann chases 3 men to the right.]
Proverb: The wicked flee when Gnome Ann pursueth. - Proverbs 28:1

[Gnome Ann takes the groom's place in a wedding, shoving him to the side. The bride stands showing no reaction on the left.]
Proverb: What therefor God hath joined together, let Gnome Ann put asunder. - Mark 10:9

[Gnome Ann wisely meditates on a rock.]
Proverb: Time ripens all things; Gnome Ann is born wise. - Miguel De Cervantes

[The Enterprise flies to the right, chasing a smaller craft.]
Enterprise: Our Mission: to boldly go where Gnome Ann has gone before.

[Sauron stands to the left of Gnome Ann, who is preparing to stab him with a sword.]
Sauron: Fool! No man can kill me.
Gnome Ann: I AM GNOME ANN!

{{comic discussion}}

1692: Man Page

2016-06-10T05:20:35Z

108.162.219.9: /* Transcript */ Improved formatting (re-added)

{{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.]

{| class="wikitable"
!Flag!!Description!!Explanation
|-
| -a||ATTACK MODE||Like a robot or something similar. Strange for a command line program.
|-
| -b||SUPPRESS BEES||Nonsensical option.
|-
| -—||FLAGS USE EM DASHES||Hard to tell the difference between en and em dashes. [Needs a short explanation for dashes.]
|-
| -c||COUNT NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS||Most likely not useful.
|-
| -d||PIPES OUTPUT TO DEBUG.EXE||Almost a standard option, but .exe is the weird part.
|-
| -D||DEPRECATED||Useless.
|-
| -e||EXECUTE SOMETHING||Vague.
|-
| -f||FUN MODE||Strange and slightly ominous.
|-
| -g||USE GOOGLE||As an actual program flag, a bit hackjob-ish, but most likely relating to googling how this program works.
|-
| -h||CHECK WHETHER INPUT HALTS||Completely impossible, by the Halting Theorem.
|-
| -i||IGNORE CASE (LOWER)||and -I Somewhat weird.
|-
| -I||IGNORE CASE (UPPER)||
|-
| -jk||KIDDING||A common acronym, not a program flag.
|-
| -n||BEHAVIOR NOT DEFINED||Possibly mathematically ominous? Otherwise useless.
|-
| -o||OVERWRITE||Standard flag.
|-
| -O||OPPOSITE DAY||Strange flag.
|-
| -p||SET TRUE POPE; ACCEPTS \"ROME\" OR \"AVIGNON\"||Controlling reality. [Explanation regarding Popes needed? This one confuses me.]
|-
| -q||QUIET MODE; OUTPUT IS PRINTED TO STDOUT INSTEAD OF BEING SPOKEN ALOUD||Almost standard flag, but with a twist of implying that non-quiet mode is spoken.
|-
| -r||RANDOMIZE ARGUMENTS||Pointless and possibly damaging.
|-
| -R||RUN RECURSIVELY ON <nowiki>http://*</nowiki>||The star (*) symbol is often used as a wildcard to match any string of characters. "http://*" suggests that blerp will be run on every webpage on the internet.
|-
| -s||FOLLOW SYMBOLIC LINKS SYMBOLICALLY||[Needs explanation of symbolic links]
|-
| -S||STEALTH MODE||Similar to -a.
|-
| -t||TUMBLE DRY||A laundry option.
|-
| -u||UTF-8 MODE; OTHERWISE DEFAULTS TO ANSEL||[Explanation of ANSEL necessary.] UTF-8 is rather standard. Similar in this regard to -q.
|-
| -U||UPDATE (DEFAULT: FACEBOOK)||Almost standard flag.
|-
| -v||VERBOSE; ALIAS TO find / -exec cat {}||Almost standard flag, in ordinary programs the opposite of -q. This command prints the contents of all files in the filesystem tree. However, it will never complete, as certain device files never end (/dev/urandom contains random bytes). Note that the "find" command is missing <code>\;</code> and will not run, instead complaining <code>find: missing argument to `-exec'</code> .
|-
| -V||SET VERSION NUMBER||Strange flag.
|-
| -y||YIKES||Meaningless.
|}

Bug reports leads to a taxonomy site?

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

==Transcript==
:[A terminal screen; the background is black and the text is white.]
:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"|
;NAME
:blerp

;SYNOPSIS
:blerp {[ OPTION | ARGS ]...[ ARGS ... -f [FLAGS] ...}
:blerp {... DIRECTORY ... URL | BLERP} OPTIONS ] -{}

;DESCRIPTION
:blerp FILTERS LOCAL OR REMOTE FILES OR RESOURCES USING PATTERNS DEFINED BY ARGUMENTS AND ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES. THIS BEHAVIOR CAN BE ALTERED BY VARIOUS FLAGS.

;OPTIONS
:{|
! scope="row" | -a
| ATTACK MODE
|-
! scope="row" | -b
| SUPPRESS BEES
|-
! scope="row" | -—
| FLAGS USE EM DASHES
|-
! scope="row" | -c
| COUNT NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS
|-
! scope="row" | -d
| PIPES OUTPUT TO DEBUG.EXE
|-
! scope="row" | -D
| DEPRECATED
|-
! scope="row" | -e
| EXECUTE SOMETHING
|-
! scope="row" | -f
| FUN MODE
|-
! scope="row" | -g
| USE GOOGLE
|-
! scope="row" | -h
| CHECK WHETHER INPUT HALTS
|-
! scope="row" | -i
| IGNORE CASE (LOWER)
|-
! scope="row" | -I
| IGNORE CASE (UPPER)
|-
! scope="row" | -jk
| KIDDING
|-
! scope="row" | -n
| BEHAVIOR NOT DEFINED
|-
! scope="row" | -o
| OVERWRITE
|-
! scope="row" | -O
| OPPOSITE DAY
|-
! scope="row" | -p
| SET TRUE POPE; ACCEPTS "ROME" OR "AVIGNON"
|-
! scope="row" | -q
| QUIET MODE; OUTPUT IS PRINTED TO STDOUT INSTEAD OF BEING SPOKEN ALOUD
|-
! scope="row" | -r
| RANDOMIZE ARGUMENTS
|-
! scope="row" | -R
| RUN RECURSIVELY ON <nowiki>http://*</nowiki>
|-
! scope="row" | -s
| FOLLOW SYMBOLIC LINKS SYMBOLICALLY
|-
! scope="row" | -S
| STEALTH MODE
|-
! scope="row" | -t
| TUMBLE DRY
|-
! scope="row" | -u
| UTF-8 MODE; OTHERWISE DEFAULTS TO ANSEL
|-
! scope="row" | -U
| UPDATE (DEFAULT: FACEBOOK)
|-
! scope="row" | -v
| VERBOSE; ALIAS TO find / -exec cat {}
|-
! scope="row" | -V
| SET VERSION NUMBER
|-
! scope="row" | -y
| YIKES
|}

;SEE ALSO
:blerp(1), blerp(3), blirb(8), blarb(51) blorp(501)(c)(3)

;BUG REPORTS
:<nowiki>http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47744-Hemiptera</nowiki>

;COPYRIGHT
:GPL(2)(3+) CC-BY/5.0 RV 41.0 LIKE GECKO/BSD 4(2) OR BEST OFFER

|}

{{comic discussion}}

1692: Man Page

2016-06-10T05:10:04Z

108.162.219.9: /* Transcript */ Improved formatting

{{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.]

{| class="wikitable"
!Flag!!Description!!Explanation
|-
| -a||ATTACK MODE||Like a robot or something similar. Strange for a command line program.
|-
| -b||SUPPRESS BEES||Nonsensical option.
|-
| -—||FLAGS USE EM DASHES||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. This command prints the contents of all files in the filesystem tree. However, it will never complete, as certain device files never end (/dev/urandom contains random bytes). Note that the "find" command is missing <code>\;</code> and will not run, instead complaining <code>find: missing argument to `-exec'</code> .

-V Strange flag.

-y Meaningless.
|}

Bug reports leads to a taxonomy site?

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

==Transcript==
:[A terminal screen; the background is black and the text is white.]
:{| class="wikitable"
|style="background-color:black;"|
;NAME
:blerp

;SYNOPSIS
:blerp {[ OPTION | ARGS ]...[ ARGS ... -f [FLAGS] ...}
:blerp {... DIRECTORY ... URL | BLERP} OPTIONS ] -{}

;DESCRIPTION
:blerp FILTERS LOCAL OR REMOTE FILES OR RESOURCES USING PATTERNS DEFINED BY ARGUMENTS AND ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES. THIS BEHAVIOR CAN BE ALTERED BY VARIOUS FLAGS.

;OPTIONS
:{|
! scope="row" | -a
| ATTACK MODE
|-
! scope="row" | -b
| SUPPRESS BEES
|-
! scope="row" | -—
| FLAGS USE EM DASHES
|-
! scope="row" | -c
| COUNT NUMBER OF ARGUMENTS
|-
! scope="row" | -d
| PIPES OUTPUT TO DEBUG.EXE
|-
! scope="row" | -D
| DEPRECATED
|-
! scope="row" | -e
| EXECUTE SOMETHING
|-
! scope="row" | -f
| FUN MODE
|-
! scope="row" | -g
| USE GOOGLE
|-
! scope="row" | -h
| CHECK WHETHER INPUT HALTS
|-
! scope="row" | -i
| IGNORE CASE (LOWER)
|-
! scope="row" | -I
| IGNORE CASE (UPPER)
|-
! scope="row" | -jk
| KIDDING
|-
! scope="row" | -n
| BEHAVIOR NOT DEFINED
|-
! scope="row" | -o
| OVERWRITE
|-
! scope="row" | -O
| OPPOSITE DAY
|-
! scope="row" | -p
| SET TRUE POPE; ACCEPTS "ROME" OR "AVIGNON"
|-
! scope="row" | -q
| QUIET MODE; OUTPUT IS PRINTED TO STDOUT INSTEAD OF BEING SPOKEN ALOUD
|-
! scope="row" | -r
| RANDOMIZE ARGUMENTS
|-
! scope="row" | -R
| RUN RECURSIVELY ON <nowiki>http://*</nowiki>
|-
! scope="row" | -s
| FOLLOW SYMBOLIC LINKS SYMBOLICALLY
|-
! scope="row" | -S
| STEALTH MODE
|-
! scope="row" | -t
| TUMBLE DRY
|-
! scope="row" | -u
| UTF-8 MODE; OTHERWISE DEFAULTS TO ANSEL
|-
! scope="row" | -U
| UPDATE (DEFAULT: FACEBOOK)
|-
! scope="row" | -v
| VERBOSE; ALIAS TO find / -exec cat {}
|-
! scope="row" | -V
| SET VERSION NUMBER
|-
! scope="row" | -y
| YIKES
|}

;SEE ALSO
:blerp(1), blerp(3), blirb(8), blarb(51) blorp(501)(c)(3)

;BUG REPORTS
:<nowiki>http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47744-Hemiptera</nowiki>

;COPYRIGHT
:GPL(2)(3+) CC-BY/5.0 RV 41.0 LIKE GECKO/BSD 4(2) OR BEST OFFER

|}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1688: Map Age Guide

2016-06-01T20:34:16Z

108.162.219.9: Update map, please

Well, I have no clue how to upload the image, it just displays the title text.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.91|108.162.216.91]] 12:47, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
:Done. Guess the bot failed because there is a larger one when you click the image on xkcd? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:08, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
::The BOT didn't fail. The was an 404 error, the picture wasn't available at the first time. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:03, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
I feel like the title seriously lacks the word "political", there's all sorts of nice things with dating non-modern world maps. -- [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.104|141.101.104.104]] 13:34, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

It doesn't just cover political maps -- there is a section on telling when you are with physical maps via the presence or absence of bodies of water. In fact, there are four or five main branches: fictional maps, topographical maps, not a map, and political maps (which have two branches, based on the naming of Istanbul (was Constantinople) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.174|108.162.237.174]] 13:42, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

I like how that this flow chart also describes what I've drawn[[Special:Contributions/162.158.26.220|162.158.26.220]] 14:05, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

The 1992-1996 range (top right corner) could be narrowed down further with the independence of Eritrea 1993. Am I getting something wrong or did Randall actually overlook this? :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.141|162.158.85.141]] 14:49, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
:Or the splitting of Czechoslovakia, also in 1993... There are probably others for different time ranges, too. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.95.25|141.101.95.25]] 16:28, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----
Noone else has started work on this and I'm bored so... (feel free to reorder and/or add more detail where appropriate)
Relevant Events

'''Is there a big lake in Southern California? (Created by Mistake)'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salton_Sea Salton Sea] A previously dry lakebed accidentally flooded in 1905 while attempting to increase irrigation to the area from the Colorado River

'''How far East do the American Prairies reach?'''
The Northwest Territory was incorporated in pieces ~1820s, there may be something more relavent to draw the line at Indiana though.

'''Is there a big lake in the middle of Ghana? (Created on Purpose)'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Volta Lake Volta]

'''The US's southern border looks'''
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Purchase Gadsden Purchase]

'''"Buda" and "Pest" or "Budapest"''' [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest#Etymology Buda and Pest] were originally two different cities

'''Does Russia Border the Sea of Japan?''' Russia currently borders the sea of Japan so the 1867 upper limit is because of Tokyo not existing higher in the chain. The 1858 limit is to do with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Aigun Treaty of Aigun]

'''Rhodesia?''' The dates down the chain suggest this is about [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia_(region) Rhodesia the Region] not [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia Rhodesia the Unrecognized state] nor [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia] the British Colony {{unsigned ip|162.158.214.218}}

:We are talking about physical/stellite maps at this point of the chart. Incorporation is not relevant. This is about the movement or size change of the American prairies. Climate change, perhaps. Haven't found anything relevant on that, though. Maybe it is about untouched land, as in not having settlements. -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.85.183|162.158.85.183]] 16:05, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----

Should the relevant links above be added directly to the transcript, or to a separate section? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.29.127|172.68.29.127]] 14:29, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

:The transcript is only for faithful transcription of the comic. It exists for users who would otherwise be unable to view the regular comic, and should contain nothing but the contents of the comic. Links go in the explanation, if relevant. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|#707|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 18:56, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----

Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey! (It's Ankara) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.131|162.158.86.131]] 14:41, 1 June 2016 (UTC)
----

Maybe a better way of organizing this is chronologically, i.e., show the state of the world each year.

That being said, is every year accounted for? For example, 1857 appears to be missing. {{unsigned ip|162.158.60.41}}

----
From the left and roughly in chronological order (only partial, might add more later):

'The Holy Roman Empire?'
1806 - Dissolution of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire Holy Roman Empire] by Emperor Francis II

'Do Any of These Exist?'

1867 - British North America act passed, marking Canadian independence

- Alaskan Purchase by US from Russian Empire

- Meiji Restoration (in 1869, Emperor Meiji moves to Edo, which is renamed Tokyo)

'Texas is...'

independent - 1836? 35? 34? Texas Revolution

'Florida is part of...'

The US: 1818 - US basically controls East Florida after [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Wars#Jackson_invades_Florida First Seminole War] (Spain officially cedes the territory in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams%E2%80%93On%C3%ADs_Treaty Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819].

'Venezuela and or Ecuador?'

1830 - Both Venezuela and Ecuador become independent as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Colombia Republic of Gran Colombia] dissolves in late 1830, early 1831.

'Does Russia border the Sea of Japan?'
1858 - China cedes territory to Russia under the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Aigun Treaty of Aigun], bordering the Sea of Japan (sort of? There's also the Treaty of Beijing)

'South Africa?'
1910 - the Union of South Africa created, thanks to the South Africa Act 1909 enacted by British parliament

'Is Bolivia landlocked?'
1884 - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Valparaiso Treaty of Valparaiso] signed ceding Bolivian territory to to Chile, leaving Bolivia landlocked (see also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Pacific War of the Pacific]

'Buda and Pest or Budapest?'
1873 - Buda and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest,_Hungary Pest] merge to become Budapest

'Is Norway part of Sweden?'
1905 - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_union_between_Norway_and_Sweden Sweden-Norway dissolved], Norway becomes an independent monarchy

'Rhodesia?'
Rhodesia was named [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_rule_in_Rhodesia under the British South Africa Company in 1895]

'Austria-Hungary?'
1918 - Austria-Hungary officially separates into Austria and Hungary

'Albania?'
1912 - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Declaration_of_Independence Albania declares independence] from the Ottoman Empire

'Leningrad?'
1924 - Petrograd ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg Saint Petersburg]) changes its name to Leningrad

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.156|108.162.250.156]]

You know there are times where I suspect he's just making some of his comics intentionally hard to explain or very ambiguous just to watch us do somersaults trying to describe them and make it clear, not necessarily for this comic but definitely with some of them it just seems that way. I don't know if he does or not, or how much he even pays attention to this wiki, just a thought. Of course maybe he does just because we're prime nerd sniping material. [[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 16:00, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----
I'm pretty sure 'is it larger than a breadbox' is a reference to 20 questions. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.77|108.162.216.77]] 16:11, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

:From the Wikipedia page for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadbox 'Breadbox']: "The most common reference to breadboxes is the phrase "Is it bigger than a breadbox?" when trying to guess what some surprise object may be. This question was popularized by Steve Allen on the American game show What's My Line? where he initially asked the question on 18 January 1953. It remains a popular question in the parlor game 20 Questions." [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.16|141.101.98.16]] 17:48, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Note that it is very hard to even ''find'' Jan Mayen on an actual world map (even a political one), never mind figure out which country it belongs to. So anyone actually following these questions might (in some cases) get derailed fairly easily. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.81.77|141.101.81.77]] 18:20, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

::You will only get there if you can't find Istanbul/Constantinople, you can't find the Ottoman Empire, you can't find North Korea, and Soviet Russia can't find you. Note that the "no" box actually says "not yet". If you can find any of those four, you will never reach the Jan Mayen box. You will also never answer "yes" to the Jan Mayen box, as that would contradict the Soviet Union and North Korea not existing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:34, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

----

Update picture, please: The "giant French blob" "yes" option points to the correct box (Pakistan) on xkcd.com but not on this page (Bangladesh), and the incorrect version leaves out approximately 1930-1960. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:34, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1552: Rulebook

2015-07-18T00:29:21Z

108.162.219.9:

Doesn't ''the law'' forbid harming another's domestic animal? --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 05:20, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes it does. So, basically, the rulebook of the country says they cannot do it. It could have been a great cartoon if he had picked an example that was actually legal. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.239.32|198.41.239.32]] 05:50, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
::Well, technically ([[1475: Technically]]) the law isn't part of any rule book... Unless there is a law (or rule) which says otherwise. (edit: That doesn't mean the law wouldn't apply nevertheless!)[[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 06:15, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:Does this law exist in every country? The dog is on property owned by the sports venue in an unspecified country.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 08:23, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:: Slaughter is not technically harming, otherwise we would not be able to eat beef, pork, .. -- and yes some people _do_ eat dogs (and cats) [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 13:48, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
:: If an animal enters your premise and is not a protected species, you may kill it. If the owners wanted it alive they shouldn't have let it illegally trespass, since it usually only illegal to kill domestic animal on their domicile.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 00:29, 18 July 2015 (UTC)
:At least in my state (Utah) ''the law'' supports euthanasia of (non-human) animals so long as it is performed in a humane manner (which is a very different standard than applies to humans). Cruelty is punishable in the law, but one could make an argument that so long as the killing of the animal was done in a humane way, it may not be punishable by the cruelty statutes. The judgment of law enforcement officers, officers of a court with jurisdiction, juries, and perhaps the court of public opinion in some extra-legal context would all come into play if a question of whether euthanasia was cruel were to be raised. [[User:CasaDeRobison|CasaDeRobison]] ([[User talk:CasaDeRobison|talk]]) 14:17, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
::I don't think you can euthanize someone else's animal though, unless the court has ordered it. I'm pretty sure you'd be guilty of theft & destruction of private property.

On a mostly unrelated note: In at least one movie, the sports-playing dog has only three legs.
:"But, why is the dog missing a leg?" 'Well, a dog that good you don't eat all at once!' - old joke
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.19|108.162.221.19]] 22:12, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

Amusingly, Air Bud is also wrong because the basketball rules say that a team consists of five men, and dogs are not men. --[[User:AndyZ|AndyZ]]
:That can be argued, if Air Bud is a male dog. Besides, "baseball is a game of two teams of 9 players each", but then they go and use the Designated Hitter. So Air Bud is just the Designated Dog. [[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 07:22, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm reminded of what Paul said to the Galatians: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law." Life is meant to be lived in this positive way, where the more of these "fruits" we express, the better we make the world. ''— [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 12:48, 17 July 2015 (UTC)''

:Here endeth the lesson. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:04, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm not convinced this is related to Pluto at all. In the Air Bud movie, the dog's jersey reads K on one side, and 9 on the other. I think the 9 is in reference to this, and not a veiled commentary on planet definitions. {{unsigned|Strangequark}}

Huh? Pluto?? Come on, let's remove that. I know some people are really traumatized about the whole Pluto thing, but there's no need to see ghosts everywhere... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.5|141.101.104.5]] 15:05, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

The intentional foul is also referencing basketball when the losing team will intentionally foul the winning team late in the game so that the clock may stop. The winning team can only get 0,1, or 2 points from this then the losing team can try to quickly get 2 or 3 points making it "worth it" [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.126|173.245.50.126]] 15:09, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

I am an Israeli and 1552 is about to be very very useful in describing the actions of my government. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.114|162.158.91.114]] 19:41, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

;Battlebots
I guess no one else watches BattleBots here.
 A few weeks ago, in the second episode, [http://www.google.com/search?q=battlebots+Complete+Control+net the "Complete Control" team used a net against their opponent], citing the fact that the "no entanglement" rule which had previously existed had been removed from the rulebook. [https://what-if.xkcd.com/5/ Randall states he watches the show in What-if #5], so I think it's likely that Randall watched this new episode, and that this comic at least partially references it, although I concede that it's odd that he waited several weeks before doing so.
 Also, I think the connection between the 9 and Pluto is tenuous, but I concede that it's possible given the timing. -[[User:452|452]] ([[User talk:452|talk]]) 15:10, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

Many sports, especially youth sports, have rules specifying a player's minimum age. It's very likely that a dog could be excluded on those grounds. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.249|162.158.2.249]] 16:15, 17 July 2015 (UTC)1

A dog is a "canine" which, depending on your dialect of English, can sound like "K 9".
[[User:WL15|WL15]] ([[User talk:WL15|talk]]) 00:11, 18 July 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1530: Keyboard Mash

2015-05-27T09:08:32Z

108.162.219.9:

Spiders. We knew this would happen someday.

So, the plot seems to be that he went outside to deal with his dog, and the spider got inside, perhaps lurking in his room and striking when he sat down at his computer, hence the keyboard smash.
It could be him being taken, or perhaps the spider getting adjusted to the keyboard rather clumsily, what would you see as more feasible?
And from then on, it's the spider typing? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.168|108.162.238.168]] 06:23, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

"All your hands" were on the home row? Surely he means *both* hands or all *fingers* - unless he's already aware of the spider? Plot hole? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.121|141.101.99.121]] 06:43, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

: Good catch. May be he always was aware he was talking with a spider. And the las comment from the spider is just sarcastic. [[User:Arturotena|Arturotena]] ([[User talk:Arturotena|talk]]) 07:46, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

The comment "I am a normal Human typing with my Human hands." seems like something Beret Guy would say. Perhaps his time with Beret Guy has desensitized Cueball to those kind of comments? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 09:08, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

== Internal skeleton ==

In the title text, the spider invite to “CHAT ABOUT OUR INTERNAL SKELETONS.” Of course, the spiders, being arachnid, are invertebrate and don't have internal skeletons. Humans have. My guess is the spider is trying to fool the human. :-) [[User:Arturotena|Arturotena]] ([[User talk:Arturotena|talk]]) 07:34, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

== Number of "Fingers" ==
It is 7 keys - "fingers" that are used for the smash on the home row. Spiders have 8 legs. Anybody else notice that? lg tier666 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.92.43|141.101.92.43]] 07:44, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

:I count 8 keys: 7 letters and the digit "7". Bit, since the letters are repeated, the spider couldn't press all of the with its legs at the same time. All of this make me think that a spider could be an awesome typist. [[User:Arturotena|Arturotena]] ([[User talk:Arturotena|talk]]) 07:51, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

== Turing test ==

The spider passed the Turing test. Of course, the test were for machines, not arachnids. [[User:Arturotena|Arturotena]] ([[User talk:Arturotena|talk]]) 07:54, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

== What if? ==

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, the current "What if?" at http://what-if.xkcd.com/136/ is also spider related. It comes with a health warning: "If you're a serious arachnophobe, you might want to skip this one." :-) . [[User:Gearoid|Gearoid]] ([[User talk:Gearoid|talk]]) 08:09, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)

2015-05-01T02:37:40Z

108.162.219.9: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 824
| date = November 24, 2010
| title = Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)
| image = guest_week_bill_amend_foxtrot.png
| titletext = Guest comic by Bill Amend of FoxTrot, an inspiration to all us nerdy-physics-majors-turned-cartoonists, of which there are an oddly large number.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bill Amend}}, author of the newspaper comic {{w|FoxTrot}}, draws for [[Randall]] in this special '[[:Category:Guest Week|Guest Week]]' edition of [[xkcd]]. In the first two panels, we see {{w|List_of_FoxTrot_characters#Jason_Fox|Jason Fox}}, a geeky 10-year-old from Amend's strip. Jason asks to draw comics for Randall. When Randall refuses, he uses the sudo command, used in {{w|POSIX}} systems to perform an action as an administrator/super user. This forces Randall to agree. This is a reference to the very popular comic [[149: Sandwich]], which has now become a geek culture catch-phrase.

In the first comic, [[Cueball]] is making a pun on the word {{Wiktionary|attractive}}. In the first context it means a person is "good looking" or "beautiful" which the (presumably) female character attributes to her hair. In Cueball's context, it means that he is feeling an increased gravitational pull from the woman, due to her increase in mass (see {{w|Gravitation}}). This setup is also very typical of the Jason Fox character, who, ostensibly ten, is supposed to be too young to like girls.

{{w|Werner Heisenberg}} postulated in 1927, his eponymous {{w|Uncertainty principle|Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle}}, which roughly states that in {{w|quantum mechanics}} one cannot know both the position and momentum of a particle. The joke is that (presumably) Elisabeth Heisenberg does not know the position of her keys, because she knows too much about their (the keys') momentum. (This is also the subject of [[1473: Location Sharing]].)

In many {{w|parliament}}ary and {{w|congress}}ional halls it is customary, when calling an issue to vote to have the people who want the issue at hand to be passed to say out loud that they agree. The customary response to this is to say "aye." The dissenters are then asked. Their response would be "nay" or "no". Then the volume (by rough {{w|decibel}}s) of the assenters and dissenters are weighed. If it is close, a more formal vote may be called. "Aye" is pronounced as "I" and "''i''" is the mathematical value of the square root of negative one, which can be used to represent an {{w|imaginary number}}.

The title text of this comic draws attention to the fact that there are a number of notable people who have become famous as cartoonists, but also hold degrees in physics or have a strong interest in physics. This might seem unusual, because the average person might see physics and art as incompatible, and this is why Randall writes "an oddly large number." These people include:
* Randall Munroe, the writer of xkcd, has a degree in physics from Christopher Newport University.
* Bill Amend, the creator of Foxtrot, majored in physics at Amherst College.
* Zach Weiner, who writes the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, majored in physics at San Jose State University.
* Henry Reich is the creator of the web video series MinutePhysics, and studied physics and mathematics at Grinnell College.
* Paul G. Hewitt is a physicist and author of physics textbooks. His textbooks contain a number of cartoons, drawn by Hewitt himself, to help illustrate physics concepts.
* Larry Gonick is a cartoonist who has published a number of educational comic books, including The Cartoon Guide to Physics.

''Guest Week'' was a series of five comics written by five other comic authors. They were released over five consecutive days (Monday-Friday); not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule. 
The five comics are:
*[[822: Guest Week: Jeph Jacques (Questionable Content)]]
*[[823: Guest Week: David Troupes (Buttercup Festival)]]
*[[824: Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)]]
*[[825: Guest Week: Jeffrey Rowland (Overcompensating)]]
*[[826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)]]

==Transcript==
:[Jason from FoxTrot is sitting at an artist's desk with a pencil, holding a phone.]
:Jason: Hi, Mr. Munroe? I have a great idea! Let me draw some strips for you!
:Mr. Munroe, through the telephone: Fat chance, kid.

:[Zoom in to Jason.]
:Jason: Sudo let me draw some strips for you.

:[There follow three strips. These will be separated by double new lines.]

:[Cueball and Ponytail are looking at each other.]
:Cueball: I find you more attractive than usual.
:Ponytail: You do? Is it my new haircut?

:[Zoom in to Cueball.]
:Cueball: Actually, I think it's all the weight you've been putting on. Your gravitational pull is pretty severe.

:[Cueball is now alone in the panel.]
:Cueball: Just sayin'.

:[Two people are in a living room. The woman is looking through a chest of drawers.]
:At home with the Heisenbergs
:Mrs. Heisenberg: I can't find my car keys.
:Mr. Heisenberg: You probably know too much about their momentum.

:[Cueball is standing on a stage, holding up a hammer. A crowd is in front of the stage.]
:Why mathematicians should run for Congress
:Cueball: All those in favor of the bill say "aye."
:Congressman #1: Aye.
:Congresswoman #2: Aye.
:Congress–Mathematician: √-1

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Guest Week]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Linux]]

1015: Kerning

2015-04-26T03:27:30Z

108.162.219.9: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1015
| date = February 10, 2012
| title = Kerning
| image = kerning.png
| titletext = I have never been as self-conscious about my handwriting as when I was inking in the caption for this comic.
}}

==Explanation==
In typography, {{w|kerning}} refers to the spacing between consecutive letters in printed material or the process of adjusting said spacing. Examples of bad kerning include text that adds so much space between letters of one word that it appears to be two words, or by including so little space between letters that they run together (A" and "V" might have their slanting sides overlap or "r" and "n" together might look like an "m" (this latter case has resulted in the slang term "{{w|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerning#Automatic_and_manual_kerning|keming}}" for this type of kerning). Extreme examples of bad kerning can lead to humorous or inappropriate text.

Kerning has been an issue in typography since the early era of printing presses and movable type but has taken on new challenges with digital printing. Typical non-designers using basic word processing software don't pay much attention to kerning. A good graphic designer, however, can compensate for bad kerning by individually adjusting the spacing between problem letters. People who specialize in graphic design or layout (and, thus, who are exposed to digital text on a regular basis) can become hyper-sensitive to bad kerning, seeing it in signs or other printed materials prepared by people without such sensitivity to bad kerning.

In the comic, the kerning in the sign is badly done: the spacing between C and I (in "City"), between C and E (in "Offices"), and even slightly between F and I (also in "Offices") is inconsistent. The space between the C and E is almost as wide as the space between the words. One character is clearly frustrated while the other character doesn't notice the problem at all.

The comic explains that once a person learns what good kerning is, he or she will get irritated by shoddy kerning in the future. And since it is very irritating to be annoyed every time this happens, [[Randall]] suggest that you teach this to someone you really hate. Unfortunately, the comic itself has also taught us to be annoyed. Thanks, Randall.

Incidentally, Google Search features an easter egg regarding this very topic: searching for the word "[https://www.google.dk/?gws_rd=cr&ei=4fQ1VePZHIGVsgGPkYCABQ#q=kerning kerning]" causes every instance of that word to be badly overspaced. On the other hand, searching for "[https://www.google.dk/?gws_rd=cr&ei=4fQ1VePZHIGVsgGPkYCABQ#q=keming keming]" will cause every instance to be even more badly underspaced.

The title text is written by Randall explaining that as he was writing this comic about kerning, he was very self-conscious of his own handwriting. The act of thinking about kerning (and likely, the act of drawing an example of such bad kerning) made him aware of it in his own writing. He probably hates the one who made him aware of this, although it gave him this idea for a comic (that if he is correct, will make a lot of people hate him now).

== Transcript ==
:[There is a poorly-kerned sign on the side of a building. Two Cueball-like guys are standing in front of it. The first guy has his hands in fits up in front of him and a black cloud over his head.]
:C ITY OFF IC ES
:First guy: ''Argh!''
:Second guy: What?
:[Caption below the frame:]
:If you really hate someone, teach
:them to recognize bad kerning.

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

Talk:1501: Mysteries

2015-03-20T20:49:26Z

108.162.219.9:

Here's a list of wikipedia links I compiled that will be useful for anyone wanting to update this page. http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/2zog5d/xkcd_1501_mysteries/cpktray {{unsigned ip|‎141.101.106.155}}

And I've got a solar eclipse to see (explainable, but weird!) but I started to compile things. Haven't got any links sorted yet, and percentages are (badly) done by eye. If someone does it better, ignore it.


[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 09:33, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

:(Whoops, pasted the flatfile format version by accident, in my rush, rather than the more Wikifriendly one that I discarded. Commenting it out until/unless I redo it. But you should still be able to see the details via the Talk Edit pages if you're bothered. Oh, and there was really too much cloud to see the eclipse for what it was. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 10:29, 20 March 2015 (UTC))

::I dropped the image into our CAD system and plotted the point co-ordinates. I've filled in the resulting percentages, which should be somewhere about right with a little rounding. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:35, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

:::Exactly right. (Although I didn't read the zero/zero crossing point is supposed to be maybe 50% on both scales, but instead ±zero. Still, doesn't matter. And perhaps displays/sorts better.) And looks like I don't need to recover my formatted notes after all. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 11:19, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.176|199.27.128.176]] 09:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC) XKCD has explained the Voynich Manuscript before: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/593:_Voynich_Manuscript

:XKCD has also 'explained' DB Cooper before ([[1400: D.B. Cooper]]) if that is worth mentioning. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.167|108.162.250.167]] 12:06, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

I have to wonder if Randall has ever seen http://keithledgerwood.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using and if so, whether he simply doesn't believe it. Not to sabotage his 100%-100% example if he wants to keep it there, but I'd put it at only 50% weird and 10% unexplainable. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.27|199.27.133.27]] 14:02, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

;Carly Simon

The Carly Simon explanation includes the text "This sets up a paradox in which the song is and isn't about the vain person." This isn't correct. The song is definitely about the person. Carly is thus asserting that the subject's vanity will lead him to a correct interpretation of the song. Going to change the explanation. [[User:EverVigilant|EverVigilant]] ([[User talk:EverVigilant|talk]]) 14:51, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

I don't see why this is on Randall's chart. The Wikipedia article is all the explanation the world needs. And Warren Beatty's reaction to the song simply seals it for me. No Big Deal. Move On. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:41, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''

;WOW signa

It now says "This is the strongest evidence to date of extraterrestrial radio signals.", which is technically incorrect. We observe radio signals from outer space all the time, they originate from young stars, Big Bang, active galaxies, and so on. This should probably be rephrased to something about extraterrestrial intelligence, but I'm not sure if it deserves to be called "evidence". [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 16:18, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

;Dyatlov Pass

Um, Wikipedia regards avalanche as most plausible explanation of the Dyatlov Pass incident, and it appears to be most widespread and down-to-earth explanation that doesn't involve the supernatural or secret soviet weapons test, things like that. Shouldn't we include mention of the avalance then, perhaps? I mean, with such high "explainability" rating it's pretty clear that Randall probably assumes avalanche, since if he assumed other, less widespread theory he probably would downgrade the "explainability" to account for the fact that it's more disputed version. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.222|141.101.89.222]] 18:13, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

;Off the chart up and to the right

How the Universe came into existence (the physics and math behind "Why is there something rather than nothing?") is far weirder with less of an explanation than anything on Randall's chart – scientists' claims, which redefine "nothing," notwithstanding. And then how life started and evolved (the chemistry and biology – and quantum physics? – at the transition point between inanimate amino acids and cells and the subsequent arrival of ''homo sapiens'') is almost as strange as the Big Bang. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:34, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''

== Inaccurate explainability rating ==

I've read the Russian wikipedia article on Dyatlov Pass Incident and not only it's incredibly weird (much more details than condensed English article), but also no plausible explanation is provided that would account for all the incredibly weird stuff going on. I have no idea how that could be awarded 96% explainability.

UVB-76, on the other hand, is a pretty easy to explain as one-time-pad encrypted military broadcast, with buzzing to occupy the frequency and discourage others from using it. How is that just 23% explainable, I have no idea. That's what I've found in Russian sources, anyway.

Also, the Toynbee Tiles mystery is pretty much solved if you trust "Duerr, Justin. Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles" as a source.

There are even more inconsistencies pointed out above. At first I've suspected that the scale is accidentally inverted, but D.B. Cooper story is pretty poorly explained, so it's more like the whole thing is just randomly messed up.
--[[User:Shnatsel|Shnatsel]] ([[User talk:Shnatsel|talk]]) 19:54, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

== UVB-76 ==

Is it seriously that hard to explain the "UVB-76" thing? I've been listening to this thing for a year now and even have explained how it works from the innards a few months back. Besides, it's not even called UVB-76, it was a mishear of UZB-76, and it's not even that callsign anymore. The callsign has changed to MDZhB and it is a marker to occupy the frequency of the "Codename Vulkan" communications channel. The way this thing works is that it is a bunch of gears that control a buzzer, when the Buzzer goes down you can hear it winding down and the repairmen screwing in some things when they come in.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

1211: Birds and Dinosaurs

2014-06-19T11:45:25Z

108.162.219.9: corrected height

{{comic
| number = 1211
| date = May 13, 2013
| title = Birds and Dinosaurs
| image = birds and dinosaurs.png
| titletext = Sure, T. rex is closer in height to Stegosaurus than a sparrow. But that doesn't tell you much; 'Dinosaur Comics' author Ryan North is closer in height to certain dinosaurs than to the average human.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bird}}s are commonly considered to be a separate {{w|class (biology)|class}} of {{w|tetrapods}}. However, this classification is false according to {{w|phylogenetic taxonomy}}. Taking into account that birds developed around {{w|Late Jurassic|150 million years ago}} out of small {{w|theropod}} dinosaurs, birds along with crocodiles are indeed the remaining representatives of the {{w|Archosaur|archosaur clade}}. This premise appeared also in comic [[867: Herpetology]].

This relation between birds and dinosaurs is depicted in the comic in a {{w|cladogram}} which shows that ''{{w|Tyrannosaurus rex}}'' is more closely related to the common {{w|sparrow}} than to ''{{w|Stegosaurus}}''. Not only do the former share a phylogenetic branch, but ''T. rex'' also lived around 80 million years ''after'' ''Stegosaurus''. The concurrence of both species in popular culture is a widespread error. ''T. rex'' is also much more alike to modern birds than to other dinosaurs in terms of physiognomy. This relationship was pointed out on the [http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6133/690 Science] journal the week of the comic.

The comic draws the conclusion that if birds must in fact be considered modern dinosaurs, the hunting practice of birds of prey (specifically, the {{w|Peregrine Falcon}}) is consequently a dinosaur fight. For an inveterate dinosaur aficionado like [[Randall]], this fact must make the modern world much more attractive.

The line "This is a good world." could also possibly refer to a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxFrgql5dc famous scene] from the {{w|Serenity (Firefly episode)|pilot episode}} of the television series ''{{w|Firefly (TV series)|Firefly}}'' featuring two plastic dinosaurs in a somewhat philosophic dialogue. Randall is known to be a {{w|Browncoat|fan of the series}}.

The title text is a sidesweep to the webcomic ''[http://www.qwantz.com Dinosaur Comics]'' drawn by Ryan North, who stands 6'6.5" (199 cm) tall. At that page the title text of the comic [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2420 strip] from the same day refers to Randall and ''[[xkcd]]''.

The conclusion of this comic is referenced in the title text of the last image in the [http://what-if.xkcd.com/101/ Plastic Dinosaurs] What if?

==Transcript==
:By any reasonable definition, ''T. rex'' is more closely related to sparrows than to ''Stegosaurus''.
:[Diagram showing that ''Stegosaurus'' came earlier than ''T. rex'', along with it showing that ''T. rex'' came closer in time to sparrows. Evaluation criteria "separation by time", "phylogenetic distance" and "physical similarity" are highlighted in red.]
:Birds aren't ''descended'' from dinosaurs, they ''are'' dinosaurs.
:Which means that the fastest animal alive today is a small carnivorous dinosaur, ''Falco peregrinus''.
:[A picture of two birds is shown.]
:It preys mainly on other dinosaurs, which it strikes and kills in midair with its claws.
:[In red:] This is a good world.

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

1052: Every Major's Terrible

2014-02-28T19:10:48Z

108.162.219.9: Maybe it's firing pumpkins instead of cannonballs, then it makes perfect sense.

{{comic
| number = 1052
| date = May 7, 2012
| title = Every Major's Terrible
| image = every_majors_terrible.png
| titletext = Someday I'll be the first to get a Ph. D in 'Undeclared'.
}}

==Explanation==
The header notes that the song is based on the satirical {{w|Major-General's Song}} from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera ''The Pirates of Penzance''. The song satirises the idea of the "modern" educated British Army officer of the latter 19th century. ({{w|Major general}} being a military rank in Britain and many other countries.) See a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSGWoXDFM64 YouTube video of "I Am the Very Model of A Modern Major's General"] to get the tune. The lyrics are commonly rewritten, the most famous rewrite likely being [http://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html Tom Lehrer's Elements song], which is also available online. His other suggestion, "{{w|Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious}}", from ''{{w|Mary Poppins}}'', is another fast-paced patter-song with a somewhat similar tune, though it doesn't fit quite so well, and the match falls apart at the end of the fourth line, when the "Um-diddly"s start up - still, it's better than nothing. "My eyes are fully open" from Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Ruddigore'' would be a better fit, if anyone knew that that didn't already know the Major General's song.

There are at least two performances of this xkcd song online: a video with each major acted out by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGpYa8UO0E SFU Choir - Every Major's Terrible] and a solo with piano: [http://www.uproxx.com/gammasquad/2012/08/ben-miller-xkcd-every-majors-terrible/ xkcd's 'Every Major's Terrible' Is Now A Real Song By Ben Miller]. The transcription is also shown for each of them, so it is more easy to understand the text.

The panels show Randall's rewritten lyrics to the song. Every verse ends with "Just put me down as 'Undecided' - Every Major's Terrible", which gives the strip its name (and "Major's Terrible" is similar enough to "Major General", the corresponding lyrics in the original version, to serve as a callback).

Oh, and before we get going, in the title text, "Undeclared" is sometimes called "General Studies". Most U.S. universities will not let you get a degree in this, let alone an advanced degree such as a Ph. D. Also, it should probably be noted that this song refers to U.S.-like university systems, in other countries, one will study little to nothing outside your major, making it more-or-less impossible to be undecided as to major.

===Verse 1===
;Panel 1, ''Philosophy's just math sans rigor, sense, and practicality'': The stick figure is posed as {{w|Rodin}}'s {{w|The Thinker}}, a common symbol for Philosophy. The equation in the background (two plus light bulb equals sailboat) is nonsense, hence "math sans rigor, sense or practicality"

;Panel 2, ''And Math's just physics unconstrained by precepts of reality.'': A cannon is firing. However, instead of going in the normal parabolic arc (a precept of reality), the cannonball splits and splits again like a binary tree. The cannonballs also demonstrate the {{w|Banach–Tarski paradox}}, which says a 3D ball can be cut up into pieces and reassembled into 2 balls identical to the first, something which is only possible in a theoretical universe made of infinite points, instead of the real universe which is made up of a finite number of atoms.

;Panel 3, ''A Business Major's just a thing you get so you can graduate'': Business is the most common major, often seen as a practical choice applicable to a wide variety of careers, or, as the comic illustrates, preferred by those who just want an easy way to graduate.

;Panel 4, ''And Chemistry's for stamp collectors high on methylacetate.'': Stamp collecting refers to the famous quote by {{w|Ernest Rutherford}}, "All science is either physics or stamp collecting." {{w|Methyl acetate}} is the solvent used to remove stamps from their envelope. The stamps in the background form the {{W|periodic table}} of the chemical elements.

;Panels 5 and 6, ''Why anyone who wants a job would study Lit's a mystery / Unless their only other choice were something like Art History.'': These lines refer to subjects where a majority of graduates will end up unemployed or eventually working in a field outside their majors. Topics such as Literature or Art History are often and historically said to be in this category -- although from [http://www.studentsreview.com/unemployment_by_major.php3?sort=Rate actual statistics], it is clear that there are far worse majors these days.

;Panels 7 and 8, ''A BA in Communications guarantees that you'll achieve / A little less than if you'd learned to underwater basket-weave'': {{w|Underwater basket weaving}} is a commonly used metaphor for any college major that is easy or worthless. "Communications" is a major chosen by people interested in news broadcasting or other media. For why that might be criticised, see [http://bad-pr.tumblr.com/ http://bad-pr.tumblr.com/.] Note that, if following the original music exactly, the line "A little less than if you'd learned to underwater basket-weave." will be repeated three times by the chorus after these panels.

;Panel 9, ''I'd rather eat a Fowler's toad than major in Biology,'': A {{w|Fowler's toad}} is a relatively common toad in the eastern US, and toads generally are not good eating. As well, a stereotype of studying biology is a frog dissection, which is likely part of the reference, albeit oblique.

;Panel 10, ''And Social Psych is worse than either Psych or Sociology.'': social psychology is compared to sociology (study of humans in society) and psychology (study of human minds); the first is represented by a mad chainsaw wielder in company, and the second by a mad chainsaw wielder by himself - the chainsaw wielder being stereotypical examples of "madness".

;Panels 11 and 12, ''The thought of picking any one of these is too unbearable, / Just put me down as "Undecided" - every major's terrible.'': End of the first verse. Every verse ends with some variation of this couplet, and in the original tune, each of these couplets are repeated by the chorus afterwards.
:''Unbearable'' and ''terrible'' rhyme for people who have the {{w|English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_/r/#Mary.E2.80.93marry.E2.80.93merry_merger|Mary-merry merger}}.

===Verse 2===
;Panel 13, ''Now, if you can't prognosticate, that's OK in Seismology,'': This refers to the inability of {{w|seismology}} to reliably predict catastrophic {{w|earthquake}}s, even after centuries of extensive research.

;Panel 14, ''But if your hindsight's weak as well, you'd best stick to Theology.'': The formal logic proposition shown in the illustration, "X ∴ ∃X", says "I say there's this thing called X, therefore, there exists this thing called X". This is basically what the bizarrely popular {{w|ontological argument}} for God boils down to. (Briefly, it asks you to imagine the best possible deity. A God like that that exists is better than one that doesn't. But we said we were imagining the best possible deity. Therefore, we fail logic, I mean, God exists.)

;Panel 15, ''CS will make each day a quest to find a missing close-paren.'': "CS" is short for "Computer Science." Most programming languages use parentheses as part of their syntax, and often have multiply-nested parenthetical expressions. This is especially true of {{w|Lisp_(programming_language)|Lisp}}. It is often difficult for a programmer to determine where the unbalanced parenthesis begins or ends when the code and parentheses are not properly formatted and indented.

;Panel 16, ''Virology will guarantee you'll never get a hug again.'': Virology is the study of infectious diseases. The symbol above the central figure is the biohazard symbol, implying that people who study infectious diseases (and are therefore located near them at some points in time) should be shunned like the plague, because they're probably carrying it.

;Panel 17, ''I.T. prepares you for a life of fighting with PCs nonstop.'': "I.T." is short for "Information Technology", a degree for people who maintain computer systems. If there is a need for an I.T. position (in which I.T. Professionals are employed) there are computers which need fixing - hence the I.T. Professional is always fixing computers, which may or may not have been [http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=19980506 "broken" by users].

;Panel 18, ''As Pratchett said, "Geography's just physics slowed with trees on top."'': This is a slightly amended quote from Discworld author Terry Pratchett, from his book "The Last Continent". The actual quote is "Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it." - but that doesn't scan.

;Panel 19, ''Though physics seems to promise you a Richard Feynman-like career,'': {{w|Richard Feynman}} was a 20th-century physicist known for his sense of fun, including being photographed for one of his books while holding a bongo drum.

;Panel 20, ''The wiki page for "Physics Major" redirects to "Engineer."'': A redirect on Wikipedia is a page which immediately sends the visitor to a different page. This implies that the title of the first is either a synonym or a sub-topic of the second. Physics majors usually learn to code, and the standard joke is that they invariably get hired as computer programmers after graduation. The Wikipedia page {{w|physics major}} didn't actually exist when this comic was published. It was created the same day, but as a redirect to {{w|physics education}}. In the subsequent days, there were dozens of instances of people changing it to redirect to {{w|engineer}}, usually reverted within minutes. As with the underwater basket-weaving line in the first verse, after the soloist sings this, the line would be repeated three times by the chorus.

;Panels 21 and 22, ''They say to study history or find yourself repeating it, / But all that it prepares you for is forty years of teaching it.'': This uses a version of a quote by {{w|George Santayana}} (although often attributed to others as well), ''Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it'' as a reason to study history - only to be followed by an indication that by studying history as a major, you will only be prepared to become a history teacher - and you will then spend the rest of your life teaching history.

;Panels 23 and 24, ''I recognize my four-year plan's at this point not repairable, / But put me down as "Undecided" - every major's terrible.'': End of the second verse. A "four-year plan" is the list of all the courses a student plans to include in his/her degree program. If you change majors every semester, or do not decide on one until too late, this list gets really difficult to turn into any one degree.

===Verse 3===
;Panel 25, ''Astronomers all cringe when they hear "Supermoon" or "Zodiac".'': {{w|Supermoon}} is a term invented by astrologers in the 1970s, with no significance in astronomy other than being the co-occurrence of orbital {{w|perigee}} and full-moon. But it comes up often in the press, linked to supernatural behavior. The {{w|zodiac}} is the circular band in the sky containing the apparent path of the sun, moon and planets. Most often when people talk about it, they're referring to {{w|astrology}} and {{w|horoscopes}} and other pseudo-scientific notions which often lead to conversations which are frustrating to astronomers.

;Panel 26, ''Agronomy's a no-go; I'm a huge agorophobiac.'': {{w|Agronomy}} is the science of farming, while {{w|agoraphobia}} is the fear of wide open spaces. Fields, where most farming happens, are wide open spaces.

;Panel 27, ''I'm too ophiophobic to consider Herpetology,'': {{w|Herpetology}} is the study of reptiles and amphibians, while ophiophobia is the fear of snakes. A bad combination.

;Panel 28, ''And I can't stomach any part of Gastroenterology.'': As the pun suggests, {{w|gastroenterology}} is the study of the human digestive system.

;Panel 29, ''While Pre-Med gives you twitchy-eyed obsession with your GPA,'': Pre-med is a major chosen by students hoping to go on to medical school and eventually become doctors. Medical school is extremely competitive and usually requires a very high undergraduate GPA for prospective students.

;Panel 30, <tt>a poetry degree bespeaks bewildering naïveté.</tt>: The text is in all lower-case and strangely laid out compared to text in other panels. All-lower-case and "free" layout are both associated with 20th century "Modernist" poetry, especially the works of {{w|e.e.cummings}}.

;Panels 31 and 32, ''TV's behind the rush into Forensic Criminology / (Or so claims meta-academic epidemiology).'': This refers to how forensic criminology shows, like CSI, that often dramatize, exaggerate or otherwise confuse the science behind forensics, give people unrealistically glamorous views of the career, thus encouraging them to join it. Epidemiology is the study of causes and effects of events and trends. This is, again, the point where the chorus joins in, as in the previous two verses.

;Panels 33 and 34, ''By dubbing Econ "dismal science" adherents exaggerate; / The "dismal"'s fine - it's "science" where they patently prevaricate.'': "Econ" is short for "Economics". Thomas Carlyle declared economice "{{w|the dismal science}}" in the Victorian era. Economists claim that economics is a science like any other; however, as the predictive power of all economic theories are exceedingly weak compared to any other science, this is disputed by those outside the field at times, and, of course, by this song.

;Panels 35 and 36, ''In terms of choices, I'd say only Sophie's was comparable. / Just put me down as "Undecided" - every major's terrible!'': End of the third verse, with yet another variant on the closing couplet. Choosing a Major is compared to {{w|Sophie's Choice}}, which is any dilemma where choosing one cherished person or thing over the other will result in the death or destruction of the other, derived from the theme of the novel, which has also been turned into a romantic drama film (in which a mother must choose which of her children will die).

==Transcript==
:'''Every Major's Terrible'''
:to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan's
:'''Modern Major-General Song'''
:(Which you may know from Tom Lehrer's ''Elements''. If not, just hum ''Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious''.)

:Philosophy's just math sans rigor, sense, and practicality
:: ''[Cueball thinking, chin on fist, à la Rodin's sculpture; in the air is a pseudo-mathematical expression "2 + <picture of light bulb> = <picture of sailboat>"]
:And Math's just physics unconstrained by precepts of reality.
:: ''[a cannon firing: a dashed line indicates the cannonball's trajectory, which bifurcates twice, although the sum of the momentums of the four resulting 1/4 sized cannonballs is presumably mathematically identical to the original]''
:A Business Major's just a thing you get so you can graduate
:: ''[a student receives a diploma from a dean on a podium, while a second student, diploma in hand, runs gleefully away, shedding robe and mortarboard]''
:And Chemistry's for stamp collectors high on methylacetate.
:: ''[a ponytailed student wearing goggles and holding an Erlenmeyer flask dances wildly to a light show -- or is it the Periodic Table? -- in the background]''
:Why anyone who wants a job would study Lit's a mystery
:: ''[Cueball, saying this, holds up hands questioningly]''
:Unless their only other choice were something like Art History.
:: ''[Cueball again, holding his chin speculatively]''
:A BA in communications guarantees that you'll achieve
:: ''[close-up of a graduate wearing embroidered robe and tasseled mortarboard]''
:A little less than if you'd learned to underwater basket-weave
:: ''[the same graduate, now underwater, surrounded by fish and a wicker basket]''
:I'd rather eat a Fowler's toad than major in Biology,
:: ''[Cueball holding a frog at arm's length, which says:]''
:: Frog: RIBBIT
:And Social Psych is worse than either Psych or Sociology.
:: ''[Megan indicating: a scruffy individual, an individual holding something which might be a chainsaw, and a scruffy individual holding something which might be a chainsaw]''
:The thought of picking any one of these is too unbearable.
:: ''[Cueball at his adviser's desk holding a course catalog]''
:Just put me down as "Undecided" - every major's terrible.
:: ''[he tosses the course catalog over his shoulder]''

:Now, if you can't prognosticate, that's OK in Seismology,
:: ''[seismograph chart; about halfway across one trace begins oscillating vigorously]''
:But if your hindsight's weak as well, you'd best stick to Theology.
:: ''[a bearded individual pontificates]''
:: Bearded individual: X ∴ ∃X
:CS will make each day a quest to find a missing close-paren.
:: ''[a code fragment]''
:: code: <code>(((()((((()(</code>
:: code: <code>))))())())())</code>
:Virology will guarantee you'll never get a hug again.
:: ''[a girl with a green Biohazard symbol floating above her head stands alone; to the left and right several people shun her]''
:I.T. prepares you for a life of fighting with PCs nonstop.
:: ''[Megan running at a PC with an axe raised over her head]''
:As Pratchett said, "Geography's just physics slowed with trees on top."
:: ''[image of Pratchett, speaking this line]''
:Though physics seems to promise you a Richard Feynman-like career,
:: ''[Richard Feynman plays the bongo drums while Megan and Ponytail look on admiringly]''
:The wiki page for "Physics Major" redirects to "Engineer."
:: ''[screenshot of so-mentioned redirect]''
:They say to study history or find yourself repeating it,
:: ''[flowchart: a grey box with a sad face chains to a decision diamond reading simply "?"; the "yes" branch leads to a yellow happy-face box while the "no" branch loops back to the initial sad face]''
:But all that it prepares you for is forty years of teaching it.
:: ''[teacher with boxy spectacles and a bun at a chalkboard indicating dates: 1935, 1969, 1991]''
:I recognize my four-year plan's at this point not repairable,
:: ''[Cueball at his adviser's desk again]''
:But put me down as "Undecided" - every major's terrible.
:: ''[adviser has his hand to his mouth as if gasping]''

:Astronomers all cringe when they hear "Supermoon" or "Zodiac".
:: ''[image of an astrologer espousing theories]''
:Agronomy's a no-go; I'm a huge agorophobiac.
:: ''[silhouette of Cueball, agitated, in an open field near a fence and a tractor]''
:I'm too ophiophobic to consider Herpetology,
:: ''[Cueball looking aghast at a snake on the ground; the snake may have other ideas]''
:: snake: ♥?
:And I can't stomach any part of Gastroenterology.
:: ''[anatomical image of a stomach]''
:While Pre-Med gives you twitchy-eyed obsession with your GPA,
:: [a badly disheveled individual, glasses askew, clutching folders and papers and dropping several]
:<tt>a poetry degree bespeaks bewildering naïveté.</tt>
:: ''[Ponytail reciting poetry; her poem is this panel's line, in a lighter, lower-case font]''
:TV's behind the rush into Forensic Criminology
:: ''["CSI: Miami" logo]''
:(Or so claims Meta-academic Epidemiology).
:: ''[Ponytail holding notebook, and balding individual wearing glasses and holding pipe, watch a wall-mounted flatscreen TV on which "CSI: Miami" logo is showing]''
:By dubbing Econ "dismal science" adherents exaggerate;
:: ''[Cueball discoursing on his opinion here]''
:The "dismal"'s fine - it's "science" where they patently prevaricate.
:: ''[close-up on Cueball]''
:In terms of choices, I'd say only Sophie's was comparable.
:: ''[Cueball at his adviser's desk once more]''
:Just put me down as "Undecided" - every major's terrible!
:: ''[Cueball makes a final dramatic flair]''

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

Talk:720: Recipes

2014-02-27T17:12:40Z

108.162.219.9: Just try wailing on the next person who's peeking at your screen with one of those puny lightweight models. It's not nearly as satisfying as a good THUNK from one of these beauties.

are you sure it's mepls? looks like the A and the L just overlap a bit... [[Special:Contributions/98.201.111.246|98.201.111.246]] 17:59, 3 February 2013 (UTC)mr

The title text seems to be a reference to "dazed and confused," which must mean something more significant than most simple conjunctions. I'll figure it out at some point. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 02:48, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

Also, I believe the laptop (notice how he holds it by the top of the screen) may be a reference to comic 925's (Cell Phones) title text "He (Black hat guy) holds the laptop like that on purpose, to make you cringe"...this is an unlikely reference though.
- androidtribbles {{unsigned ip|173.245.54.50}}

He's not holding it by the screen, it's being held by the keyboard right at the trackpad. It's still really cringe-inducing, but not quite as... fragile. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.76|108.162.216.76]] 08:49, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

It could also be a rugged laptop, those are a lot tougher and have a handle on them right below the keyboard; it could be the rectangle is not a trackpad, but the hole for the handle. While it's still not advisable to carry the laptop with the screen open like that, it's not nearly as cringe-worthy as the case and monitor hinges are made of thick metal. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 17:12, 27 February 2014 (UTC)