explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1245: 10-Day Forecast

2022-10-22T03:27:59Z

172.70.189.134:

You might think Tuesday's image could be anything, even cacti. I did, until I read these comments and zoomed in. Now I think it looks like Jamiroquai's mascot, the guy with the horned helmet. {{unsigned|101.162.84.101}}

Can't believe multi mention of apocalypse but no mention of my first guess (due to -), that place below.
[[User:Monteletourneau|Monteletourneau]] ([[User talk:Monteletourneau|talk]]) 07:00, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Any possible significance of people seeming having longer legs that usuall on "monday" frame? Also, why should that "tuesday" figure be {{w|antichrist}}? Looks more like {{w|Loki_(comics)|Loki}} to me (although if it SHOULD be Loki he would probably look even more similar). And "sunday" frame looks more like {{w|Bee}}s that {{w|Locust}}, but it's true I never heard of plague of bees :-). (On the other hand, if {{w|Plagues of Egypt|Plague of locusts}} would be referenced, one would expect the other plagues as well.) Also note that if that should reference {{w|Book of Revelation|Christian Apocalypse}}, it should include more horses. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:16, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:I think the "legs" thing is indicating they're floating up due to the {{w|Rapture}}. --[[User:Druid816|Druid816]] ([[User talk:Druid816|talk]]) 10:26, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:It's also possible that we're looking at a reference to the Doctor Who episodes "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" in which the Tenth Doctor encounters "the devil" on the remnant of a planet orbiting a black hole. If that's the case, we could be looking at some spaghettification on Monday. --[[User:NHBradson|NHBradson]] ([[User talk:NHBradson|talk]]) 16:41, 5 August 2013 (UTC)
I think that we should remove the 'the rapture' explaination because they don't look like the illustrations on Wikipedia which are angels carrying people to heaven and this is people's legs growing very long i.e not the same.[[User:Obscure xkcd reference|Obscure xkcd reference]] ([[User talk:Obscure xkcd reference|talk]])

Also, WHY negative zip codes? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:53, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:It may be a reference to [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MinusWorld Minus Worlds], implying that the ZIP codes are levels in a video game and the negative ones are glitches, although that's a stretch. [[Special:Contributions/38.108.195.69|38.108.195.69]] 13:41, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

The person in the tuesday picture reminded me of the Rabbit "Frank" from Donnie Darko / S. Darko. --[[Special:Contributions/95.33.125.63|95.33.125.63]] 10:33, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:If he is, it may mean that negative zip codes are located in a [http://www.donniedarko.org.uk/explanation/ Tangent Universe] --[[User:Danroa|Danroa]] ([[User talk:Danroa|talk]]) 11:02, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:To me he looks more like Hellboy with horns (in apocalypse mode). His right hand seems to also be larger than his left.[[Special:Contributions/37.130.227.133|37.130.227.133]] 17:02, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

I think that it's actually Megan that says the title text, and not Cueball, mainly because the title text is agreeing with what Cueball said ("Oh, definitely not"). If Cueball were to confirm his own sentence, it wouldn't make sense. {{User:Grep/signature|11:20, 31 July 2013}}

Isn't Sunday a plague of flies? And, judging by the curvature of the earth (I assume) on Tuesday One, wouldn't the character be the size of Galactus? With horns like Galactus? I think it makes sense that it's Galactus. And Monday is just a weird day, just like in my zip code. [[Special:Contributions/67.60.145.86|67.60.145.86]] 13:36, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

: I assume he's just standing on a hill.[[Special:Contributions/153.31.113.20|153.31.113.20]] 18:53, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

What's a zip code? [[Special:Contributions/80.2.179.200|80.2.179.200]] 14:15, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
: Seriously? See {{w|ZIP code}}. [[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 15:09, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:: Not so off-the-wall. The zip code is an American-only thing. Might be worth a mention for non-American readers. [[User:Vyzen|Vyzen]] ([[User talk:Vyzen|talk]]) 16:21, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Strongly disagree with that statement. I live in Israel and we have and use zip codes. [[Special:Contributions/95.35.56.169|95.35.56.169]] 17:42, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
::::Well, here in the UK we use {{w|Postcodes_in_the_United_Kingdom|Postcodes}} that are alphanumeric in nature but pretty much have the same purpose behind them. Although thanks to US imports on TV/films I think most people know that the US call theirs ZIP Codes, even if not that it's a simple number (like I believe most of European postcodes are). However, it doesn't harm to give the link referencing it (as has been done) for anyone who really doesn't know or just appreciates a push towards a bit of [[214|Wikicreep]]. (Which I've just self-inflicted on myself by reading down the Postcode article... Forsooth! Hoist by my own {{w|petard}}!) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.215.19|178.98.215.19]] 19:19, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
:::::Uhhh, your Postcodes are a horror for programmers, just because the length vary. The first official implementation for this was during {{w|WWII}} in Germany, the UK did implement this in the range of 1959-1974, and the US did start this system in 1963. But there are still many countries not using this system (like Ireland), which is just a double horror for programmers.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:18, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
::::::Start with "m/(\w+) (\w+)/" and then subdivide into branches according to $1's further matching? At each stage checked for more specific validity (and even existence!). If not that, "m/[A..Z]{1,2}\d{1,2}[A..Z]? \d[A..Z]{2}/i" should work if you want just a single test (with ()s around elements for the geographic validation checking part). Ok, so it's not "\d{howevermany}", then check it exists on the database, but it'd do for starters, and personally I relish such programming challenges... ;) [[Special:Contributions/178.98.215.19|178.98.215.19]] 11:36, 1 August 2013 (UTC)
::::Jumping in late, but it would be very odd for Israel to use ZIP codes, which are a US Government program (the Zone Improvement Program=ZIP) program. Maybe Israelis who speak American English use the acronym, but I doubt it's the official name. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 13:26, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

:Something like "YKK". [[Special:Contributions/121.72.110.10|121.72.110.10]] 23:30, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Doesn't the Monday guy sort of look like ''{{w|The Scream}}''?
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 15:09, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Did anyone else try to put in a negative zipcode because of this? I think Google should use this as one of the easter eggs they're so fond of. [[Special:Contributions/138.162.8.57|138.162.8.57]] 16:14, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
: at weather.com a negative ZIP code gets you a "can't find" type result with Cancun, Mazatlan and Amsterdam offered as suggestions for where you were interested in. (I tried ZIPs from 10012 to 98072, same result for all I tried). Google Maps just ignores the negative and gives correct results. [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 17:48, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Does anyone agree that Randall is playing with the fact that 10day forecast are very inaccurate. We can trust 3, max 4 days of accuracy. After that, is pretty meaningless since the divergence of the models is a likely scenario. No?[[User:Claudionico|cinico]] ([[User talk:Claudionico|talk]])
: Agree [[Special:Contributions/153.31.113.20|153.31.113.20]] 18:53, 31 July 2013 (UTC)
: I often say that the "five day forecast" is fiction after two days. --[[User:Mr. I|Mr. I]] ([[User talk:Mr. I|talk]]) 19:17, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

The forecast shows much more than expected from a normal "weather forecast". I like that. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.118.249|178.26.118.249]] 19:34, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

What happens to time, when the world ends? It is a 10-day-forecast. That coincides with 10 image frames. We have the days of the week at the bottom of the frames, which are an independent scale, because there is more than one frame for Tuesday. Interpretation/Assumption: 10 days (the forecast) is subjective for the people being in each location (here: ZIP code). Days of week and generally dates are a global reference time. So in these hells time locally stretches for eternity and this day will never end. But from an outside view time goes on normally.
Megan says they are all like that. That does not sound like it would be a special occasion to be there, when the world ends, or having found a ZIP number, where the world ends some days from now. Possible solution: Like a function with several poles the world could end at every location with negative ZIP about every week. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.118.249|178.26.118.249]] 19:49, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

:The fact that the "negative ZIP" universe ends while the normal one keeps going, points again to my theory (above) that this is a reference to Donnie Darko, Frank the rabbit (not the antichrist), and where negative ZIPs are for [http://www.donniedarko.org.uk/explanation/ Tangent Universes]. However I'm not a Donnie Darko expert (I think I started to understand it now reading that website, and the one time I watched it was in theaters...) and I'm not able to provide a theory for the bees/locusts... --[[User:Danroa|Danroa]] ([[User talk:Danroa|talk]]) 12:47, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

What about negative people, or negative areas where everyone is negative. Doom and Gloom, end of the world type of deal. Seems like a lot of negative people are always talking about the end of the world, and that negative zip code and what's occurring sounds exactly like how the end of the world is pictured. She says all negative zip codes are like that.{{unsigned|Glitch}}

Do certain zip codes not have Amazon Prime? [[User:Bugefun|Bugefun]] ([[User talk:Bugefun|talk]]) 01:45, 1 August 2013 (UTC)
: From the [http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=201118050 website]: Nearly all addresses in the continental U.S. are eligible. Explicitly excluded are Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, P.O. Boxes, APO/FPO addresses. [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 03:19, 1 August 2013 (UTC)
:Amazon needs to add "Negative ZIP codes excluded" on that page. --13:59, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

"Megan, however, assumes that the negative zip code represents an actual geographical location, and that the weather forecaster is showing an accurate forecast for the area. She further states that, since all negative zip codes produce similar forecasts, that all negative zip codes represent actual geographical locations for which the weather is like that."
: I think that's reading too much in the comic; I wouldn't say she's making such an assumption. [[Special:Contributions/84.197.94.196|84.197.94.196]] 21:11, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Is it necessarily a reference to the rapture? I mean, it seems to me that it could be poking fun at the twilight zone, or maybe parodying horror in general. --[[User:AlixeTiir|the amazing alixetiir]] ([[User talk:AlixeTiir|talk]]) 03:18, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Is it just me or can you kinda see a demonic face with horns in the static for the second "Tuesday"? --[[Special:Contributions/208.84.194.188|208.84.194.188]] 03:24, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

:That's probably just {{w|Pareidolia|Pareidolia}}. --[[User:AlixeTiir|the amazing alixetiir]] ([[User talk:AlixeTiir|talk]]) 03:59, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

It might be related to something someone said above, about long-term forecasts being inaccurate, the impossible nature of the integer (entered in the zip code) might cause the prediction function to go wild. This inaccurate forecast theory would be supported by how the first few days appear normal, where as the further it goes, the crazier it gets. My rendition of the comic would be that when entering a negative zip code, being an impossible value, it would render a prediction for a chaos-filled world. No end-of-the-world, no Antichrist, just pure chaos. Think of being present in a day where such a massive lightning-filled lightning storm goes on (zapping the ground every few moments), followed by a day where hoards of bees come by in masses, followed by some impossible to imagine occurrence that causes people to be so deformed (as far as you can tell, the could be deformed like that all the time in the chaotic universe). Then the day after some mysterious creature shows on the horizon, like in a horror film... I think this is supported by the Monday and (fire) Tuesday panels showing a bit too specific scenarios, as if someone took pictures of the occurrences.
But I do come to think it's either the prediction function going haywire the further it gets, or that Minus World thing [[Special:Contributions/38.108.195.69|38.108.195.69]] mentioned (which isn't very far-fetched). After all, Randall knows his computing and maths and it would be assumed he simply made references to such instances of giving a function wrong input and receiving a crazily unpredictable output. [[Special:Contributions/79.179.106.35|79.179.106.35]] 08:34, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

The person on the second Tuesday is supposed to be the Antichrist? I thought it was just a girl with really long pigtails like some kind of Pipi Long-stocking sort of thing where they have a mind of their own or something. I also thought the gravity was just turned off on Monday. I had the feeling There was some kind of apocalypse thing going on though.[[Special:Contributions/72.193.171.120|72.193.171.120]] 08:05, 4 August 2013 (UTC)

The hover text mentioning "...they don't have Amazon Prime" is probably a comedic extrapolation that, since there are no negative prime numbers, there couldn't be an Amazon Prime in a negative zip code. [[Special:Contributions/24.217.105.50|24.217.105.50]] 05:49, 5 August 2013 (UTC)
: A negative prime number is just ðe oppoſite of a prime hth. Oðerwise, ðe fact ðat -2*-1 = 2 becomes a problem. Unleſs you just ignore negatives entirely, whiĉ is ðe reaſonable approaĉ. [[User:Hppavilion1|Hppavilion1]] ([[User talk:Hppavilion1|talk]]) 01:59, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Personaly i see one of the angels from evangelion on earth surface into the Tuesday box. Not seeing this obvious référence in this thread make me write amoung far more clever comentaries...{{unsigned|82.245.232.105}}

At least in part, this is a Jurassic Park reference. In the book, they discuss how the origin of chaos theory began with the inability to predict weather beyond three days. Given that the weather gets crazy after three days, this just makes sense!{{unsigned ip|75.75.1.95}}

IMO the Tuesday guy is obviously HellBoy in his stick-man form as the world is destroyed. I do not see his crown however.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.18|108.162.219.18]] 20:45, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

I þink it'd be beſt to rewrite ðis article wiþout ſtatiŋ ðat it's probably juſt a prank by ðe programmers- it defeats ðe humor too muĉ, and it'd be more entertainiŋ(/horrifyiŋ) if it is properly interpreted to be a correct forecaſt, just of ðe wrong place. Beſides, xkcd has ʃown us ðat its world is a bit more bizarre and ſupernatural ðan ours on /more/ ðan one occaʒon; haviŋ a world where weaðer is simple, predictable, ðere aren't ſwarms of fleʃ-mites, water (I aſſume ðat's just normal O^2H) falls from ðe sky, and days don't repeat after cataſtrofic occurrences like ðe recent Siksþ Return in Hexadectober 1443+194i [[User:Hppavilion1|Hppavilion1]] ([[User talk:Hppavilion1|talk]]) 01:59, 14 September 2016 (UTC)
:What??? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.58|162.158.214.58]] 17:51, 18 July 2017 (UTC)
:: Allow me to try a quick translation of whatever [[User:Hppavilion1|Hppavilion1]] is talking about: "I think it'd be best to rewrite this article without stating that it's just a prank by the programmers, it defeats the humor too much and it'd be more entertaining/horrifying if it is properly interpreted to be a correct forecast just of the wrong place. Besides, xkcd has shown us that its world is a bit more bizarre and supernatural than ours on more (emphasized) than one occasion; having a world where weather is simple, there aren't swarms of flesh-mites, water (I assume that's just normal H20) falls from the sky and days don't repeat after catastrophic occurences like the recent ???? Return in Hexadectober" no idea what a Siksb is nor why he believes there is a sixteenth month--[[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 18:38, 18 July 2017 (UTC)

Jeez this comic is kind of scary, actually. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.189.134|172.70.189.134]] 03:27, 22 October 2022 (UTC)

== What is Monday ==

Monday doesn't seem like the rapture to me.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.139|172.68.189.139]] 18:32, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Agreed. I can't really explain the panel, though, besides "weird giant creatures". They look like they're in pain, maybe? Qoiuoiuoiu (talk) 00:18, 9 June 2022 (UTC)

== Table ==

We need a table explaining the days [[User:MysticalMHM1|MysticalMHM1]] ([[User talk:MysticalMHM1|talk]]) 20:55, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

2574: Autoresponder

2022-01-29T13:34:46Z

172.70.189.134: No indication sending to work email is a mistake. Also deleted unnecessary parantheses; why Cueball sending them in the first place doesn't need to be explained

{{comic
| number = 2574
| date = January 28, 2022
| title = Autoresponder
| image = autoresponder.png
| titletext = I ADMIRE HOW YOU SET BOUNDARIES AND I HOPE YOUR COLLEAGUES RESPECT THEM! PLEASE SPARE MY LIFE!
}}
*This was the ninth comic to come out after the [[Countdown in header text]] started.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VERRY AGRESSIVE AUTORESPONDER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] and [[White Hat]] are going to some kind of show (a movie or concert, perhaps), and Cueball asks White Hat if he is ready to go, who affirms this but asks for Cueball to email him the tickets before they go.

When Cueball does this he apparently opts to send them to White Hat's work email. When White Hat is not at work, he has an {{w|autoresponder}} activated that tells people to not disturb him as he is not at work. Usually this means that his email server sends an automatic response telling the sender of the mail that he is not at work, and not to expect an immediate reply.

But in this comic, White Hat has a physical autoresponder standing behind him, drawn as a human with thicker/rougher lines as if clad in bulky clothing, wearing spiky knee and elbow guards and a spike-embossed and notably scarred crash-helmet upon its head. It casually holds a glintingly sharp sword in its hand. When Cueball inadvertently activates it, it plunges forward to 'defend' White Hat from being disturbed by work related things during his spare time. It is so aggressive that it even violently pushes White Hat out of the way, with a blow to the face so that he falls back and dislodges his hat, as it prepares to confront the perpetrator, Cueball.

In the caption below, [[Randall]] states that he feel bad when he activates his friends' autoresponders. It is unclear if this is because he thinks he disturbs them with what they might think is work, because he then knows he will not get a reply or if he feels attacked (like Cueball in the comic) by their 'aggressively worded' auto-replies.

In the title text Cueball shouts out (in all caps) to the autoresponder "I admire how you set boundaries and I hope your colleagues respect them! Please spare my life!" He therefore thinks it is a ''good'' idea to have time away from work where you cannot be contacted by your colleagues.

It is unclear if the autoresponder is a human or a robot, but the open-faced helmet reveals the fringe and neck-length hair generally seen on female characters, Megan in particular. This would be reminiscent of the [[:Category:Android|Android series]], especially [[600: Android Boyfriend]] where one of the androids moves past its owner.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and White Hat are talking to each other while Cueball is typing on his smartphone. A dark haired figure stands behind White Hat, drawn with thicker/rougher lines as if clad in bulky clothing, wearing spiky knee and elbow guards, a spike-embossed and notably scarred crash-helmet upon its head and a holding a glintingly sharp sword in its hand.]
:Cueball: Ready to go?
:White Hat: Yup! Can you email me the tickets before we leave?
:Cueball: Sure, one sec.

:[The next panel is nested inside the first, although at first it just looks like two individual panels. This could indicate the second panel is an immediate response to the first. The armored figure aggressively moves forward towards Cueball, who drops his phone in surprise. The armored figure has its sword-arm raised, the other hand pushing White Hat behind it, by pushing him in the face which causes him to stumble backwards so his hat starts to fall off.]
:Cueball: Okay, I sent it to-
:Armored figure: '''''It is outside work hours!'''''
:Armored figure: '''''Prepare to die!'''''
:Cueball: ''Augh!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I always feel bad when I trigger my friends' work autoresponders.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3

2022-01-23T03:28:34Z

172.70.189.134: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 821
| date = November 19, 2010
| title = Five-Minute Comics: Part 3
| image = five minute comics part 3.png
| titletext = Resulting in The Little Rock 9x + C.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the third of three "five-minute comics" Randall posted during a week in November 2010. The introduction to the comic explains everything you need to know about the circumstances behind it.

Randall obviously made more than three of these five minutes comics, and one of them was published later, for a short period of time by a mistake, but an android xkcd browser picked it up while it was on-line and saved it. Since then it has been added to explain xkcd. So here is a complete list of all four comics in the entire [[:Category:Five-minute comics|Five-minute comics]] series:
*[[819: Five-Minute Comics: Part 1]]
*[[820: Five-Minute Comics: Part 2]]
*[[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]
*[[Five-Minute Comics: Part 4]]

Here is a list with explanations for each of the small comics:
*1. {{w|Pearl Harbor}} is a US Navy base that was {{w|Attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked}} in 1941 by Japanese airplanes, which prompted the US to join World War II. The attacks were made on ''December'' 7, 1941, not November 7. Thus, Randall is correct in depicting a Navy base going about its usual business.
This may also be a joke on present-day levels of awareness of the event; as it fades out of living memory, people might indeed confuse the date with November (or October) 7, despite it being {{w|Day of Infamy speech|"a day which will live in infamy"}}.

*2. {{w|Breastfeeding in public}} is a touchy subject in parts of the world. In the US, it is considered by some to be inconsiderate to others who would prefer not to see such a display. Of course, women breastfeeding in public are generally feeding their infants, not other adults. The situation presented in the comic is an absurd exaggeration of the debate.

*3. "s" is the command in {{w|sed}} to perform a pattern search-and-replace; the syntax has also been adopted by other text-processing utilities, including {{w|Perl}} (a favorite subject of xkcd), and has entered into the geek lexicon as something that could appear in general conversation. The specific command "s/I think that/I saw a study once that said/g" means "Find all occurrences of the phrase 'I think that', and replace it with the phrase 'I saw a study once that said'." This will, indeed, improve the persuasiveness of an article, as the existence of scientific evidence will make people more likely to believe what's said, while most people won't even think to actually look up the study in question.

*4. Arson is the crime of intentionally setting fire to a structure. {{w|Billy Joel}} will no doubt claim {{w|We Didn't Start the Fire|he didn't start the fire}}. And it turned out that they believed him. This was mentioned in the title text of [[1794: Fire]], which displays another similarly folded newspaper front page, with only the headline readable. The picture shown the fire Billy was arrested for, but he was only detained briefly. The song is also mentioned in [[1775: Things You Learn]].

*5. Coca-Cola is a fizzy cola-flavored soft drink, commonly abbreviated as "coke." {{w|Pop Rocks}} are a candy that contain tiny bubbles of gas, so that as the sugary candy dissolves on your tongue, it creates a popping sensation. For a long time, it was claimed that drinking the two together would cause one's stomach to explode; this was finally put to rest as some people (the Mythbusters in particular) started actually trying it, and discovered that it's merely painful, not lethal.
:Here, it's combined with elements of other common scary urban legends (phones ringing and creepy laughter) to form something bizarre.

*6. After ''{{w|Brown v. Board of Education}}'' ruled that schools could not segregate based on race, nine African American students from Little Rock, Arkansas enrolled in the previously-segregated Little Rock Central High School. The school board could not officially deny them attendance, but members of the community (and, after Arkansas governor Orval Faubus intervened, the Arkansas National Guard) formed a blockade to physically prevent them from entering the school building. The governor claimed this was within his power even after ''Brown v. Board'', because the students were enrolled without issue, they were just physically blocked from entering the school building. After determining that the right to enroll in a school does, implicitly, include the right to actually attend classes there, president Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division to accompany the students and force the National Guard to stand down, thus integrating the school. This incident became known as the {{w|Little Rock Nine}}.
:However, {{w|Integral|integration}} also has a meaning in mathematics. This is indicated in the comic with the soldiers lifting up a giant integral sign to place beside the school, in order to (mathematically) integrate it. Normally, an integral only makes sense on functions; however, since this is the Little Rock ''Nine'', if we take the integral of the constant function ''f''(''x'') = 9, we do, in fact, get 9''x'' + ''C'', as stated in the title text. The posture of the three soldiers with the integral sign echoes the iconic {{w|Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima}} photograph.

*7. Cell phones with advanced computing capabilities, typically at least requiring fully-featured Internet browsing, multimedia capabilities, and the ability to run software applications, are called "smartphones." Most cell phones also have a "vibrate" function that allows someone in a public situation to receive calls without alerting others; the phone will discreetly vibrate rather than activate a ringtone, thus privately notifying the owner that a call is incoming. A semi-common problem with this feature is that a vibrating phone on a table that has a slight slope will slowly - or, if the slope is bad enough, rather quickly - slide down the slope, possibly falling off the table and breaking. If our smartphones ever decided to kill us, this would possibly be their only method of attack.
**Randall later [http://what-if.xkcd.com/5/ covered this] in his [[what if?]] blog.

*8. The Three Little Pigs is a children's fairy tale about three pigs who build their houses out of, respectively, straw, sticks, and bricks. A wolf comes along and eats the pigs living in the straw and stick houses, but he can't knock down the brick house, because his only method for breaking them down is to blow on them until the material falls to pieces. (In some variants, the foolish pigs seek refuge in the brick house for a happier ending.)
:The 119 Little Pigs seems to be a variant where the pigs build their houses out of the 118 {{w|chemical elements}} (and bricks, presumably). The 38th little pig builds his house out of {{w|strontium}}, which is, of course, the 38th element on the Periodic Table. One wonders what happened to the pigs who are stuck making their houses out of elements that are gaseous or liquid at room temperature, or those whose houses would react with the air and/or undergo nuclear decay.
:In his book what if?, in the first comic, it shows the 92nd little pig, who built his house out of depleted Uranium, The wolf responded, "Dude". [https://store.xkcd.com/pages/if-you-re-looking-for-the-what-if-book/]
:Although given the water content in exhaled breath, it's {{w|Alkali metal#Reaction with water (alkali metal hydroxides)|easy to see}} how the wolf would huff, puff, and blow down the houses made of {{w|lithium}}, {{w|sodium}}, {{w|potassium}}, {{w|rubidium}}, {{w|caesium}}, and {{w|francium}}. Though making a houses out of {{w|hydrogen}}, {{w|helium}}, {{w|nitrogen}}, {{w|oxygen}}, {{w|fluorine}}, {{w|neon}}, {{w|chlorine}} and {{w|krypton}} would all be very difficult as they are gases at room temperature {{Citation needed}}. Also, there would be issues such as death from the toxicity of the elements, e.g. fluorine would kill the pig and wolf. The piggies may have difficulty collecting enough metal, as they would have trouble collecting enough {{w|technetium}} (43), which only occurs in minute traces, and {{w|astatine}}, of which approximately 1 ounce exists on earth.
:It could be a coincidence, or possibly Randall's intent, that the wolf asks "What is this shit?" while referring to strontium while "stronzo" is an Italian (vulgar) word for "turd", pronounced almost the same (it is a common source of bad taste jokes) and stront is a Dutch word for shit.

*9. "Fastest gun in the West" is a boast commonly made in Western movies, where it is used to mean that a person is the fastest at drawing his gun in a duel (or, alternatively, can fire his gun the fastest). It doesn't actually describe the gun itself, and certainly doesn't describe how fast the gun can gallop across the land.

*10. "It's what separates the ''men'' from the ''boys''" is a phrase used to describe "macho" activities that, apparently, only "real men" will participate/do well in; all the other men haven't grown up yet, and are thus "boys." {{w|Centrifuge}}s are used to rapidly separate a material from the liquid it's suspended in; this is either a pun on the word "separate", or an attempt by Randall to make the occupation of lab technician seem macho.
**In the film ''{{W|Moonraker_(film)|Moonraker}}'', {{W|James Bond}} was almost killed in a centrifuge used as a g-force training vehicle for pilots/astronauts - but he survived - and he for sure is a real man... See also [[123: Centrifugal Force]].

*11. Narnia is the mythical land in ''{{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}''. In the books, time passes differently in Narnia, such that one can spend many years in Narnia and come out to find that almost no time at all has passed on Earth; conversely, during a short trip back to Earth, hundreds of years could pass in Narnia. {{w|Lucy Pevensie|Lucy}} is taking advantage of this by putting a computer in Narnia to perform extremely fast computation. {{w|Folding@home}} and {{w|SETI@home}} are distributed computing projects that aim to solve extremely large computational problems by pooling together computer resources of thousands of home computers who volunteer for the project; Folding@home looks at how proteins are folded, which has applications in medical science, and SETI@home analyzes EM waves from space, looking for signs of extraterrestrial intelligent life amongst the cosmic background noise. Running through all of that data in a few hours would be quite an accomplishment indeed, given that, as Peter points out, the idea has many problems Lucy has evidently overcome:
**The book was written in 1957 and it occurs even earlier than that, long predating personal computers, so Lucy shouldn't even have one.
**Even if it occurs in an alternate universe where the PC was invented before 1957, the storage that would be needed to store the entire Folding@home and SETI@home databases would be far beyond her means, since the characters in the book are evacuees who don't have any money.
**Even if she somehow pulled that much storage space together, the time needed for one computer to run through those databases is on the order of millennia. A computer would not continuously run for that long without careful treatment, which Narnia is not equipped for.
**Even if we handwave around that issue (''"Aslan, use your power to keep all dust away from this computer for the next ten thousand years, please"''), the wall socket powering the computer is on the Earth side. Mains power outlets in the UK provide alternating current with an amplitude of 230 volts and a frequency of 50 hertz. The 50 Hz part is what's important here: all devices designed to work with UK mains power expect a 50 Hz sine wave. The time difference between Earth and Narnia would substantially elongate the sine wave in a method similar to the Doppler effect, which would probably prevent the computer from functioning at all. The frequency issue can be avoided by converting the alternating current to direct current on earth and passing the direct current to Narnia. However, to have a usable amperage (coulombs per second) on Narnia, the amperage (coulombs per second) on earth would have to be absurdly high, requiring wires much larger than shown. Also, the electricity costs would be too high.
**The time differential doesn't occur while people are entering/exiting Narnia (though they do occur while the wardrobe's open) or the Pevensie children would have had had some difficulty surviving the transition. Since the cables of the computer are crossing between the worlds, it seems unlikely that the time differential is even active yet.
:See also: [[1786: Trash]]

*12. ''{{w|The Honeymooners}}'' is a classic American sitcom. The show stars Ralph and Alice Kramden, and Ralph frequently makes empty threats of the form "One of these days, Alice...," followed by a combination of onomatopoeia. For example: "One of these days, Alice... BANG! ZOOM! Straight to the moon!" (Alice inevitably replies "Ahhh, shut up.")
:Here, Randall takes the pattern to a ridiculous and not-at-all threatening place.

==Transcript==
:Because of a family illness, instead of regular comics, this week I'll be sharing some strips that I drew as part of a game I played with friends. Each comic had to be written and drawn in five minutes.

:--Randall

:;Comic #1
:Pearl Harbor. November 7th, 1941.
:[There is a beach, with some ships floating in a crescent shaped harbor.]

:[The same bay, again.]

:[The boats continue to move about the harbor.]

:[The boats do their thing. A title explains.]
:(We're going to be here a while, since the attack wasn't until December.)

:;Comic #2
:[Cueball is sitting on a bus, Megan in front of him. Another person is sitting in front of Megan and another person is sitting behind Cueball.]
:I know it's natural and all, but I really wish women on the bus wouldn't try to breastfeed me.
:Megan: C'mon, have some milk. Right here.
:Cueball: I'm ''reading''.

:;Comic #3
:s/I think that/I saw a study once that said that/g
:Instant persuasiveness multiplier!

:;Comic #4
:[A newspaper front page. Billy Joel is between two policemen.]
:Times
:Billy Joel Arrested for Arson

:;Comic #5
:[One person has a cord leaving their mouth, the other is holding a handset on the end of it to their ear.]
:Handset: Hee hee hee... *giggle*
:I hear that if you drink coke and eat pop rocks, you vomit up a corded telephone handset on which you hear creepy little girls giggling.

:;Comic #6
:[Three soldiers are holding a large integral sign, while a fourth points a gun at the Little Rock High School.]
:1957: Eisenhower orders the military to integrate Little Rock High School.

:;Comic #7
:[A smartphone is vibrating across a table, towards a person.]
:The smartphones got ''too'' smart... and developed a taste... for BLOOD!
:Fortunately, the only way they could move was by turning on their vibrate while on a sloped table.

:;Comic #8
:[Cueball is reading to his child.]
:Cueball: And the wolf went to see the 38th little pig, who had built his house out of strontium.
:Cueball: And the wolf was all, "Ok, what is ''with'' this shit?"
:The 119 Little Pigs

:;Comic #9
:[Cueball is holding up a gun.]
:Cueball: Fastest gun in the west!

:[The gun is galloping across the desert.]
:''gallop gallop''

:[There is a podium, with a gun in each position.]
:Winner!

:;Comic #10
:[A picture of a centrifuge dominates the panel.]
:Centrifuges: They're what separate the men from the boys.

:;Comic #11
:[A computer monitor is plugged in, and cables run into a wardrobe.]
:Lucy: Time passes differently in Narnia, so by putting the CPU and storage for my machine there, I was able to run through the Folding@Home and Seti@Home databases in about an hour.
:Peter: There are so many problems with that.

:;Comic #12
:[Someone is talking to Alice.]
:Person: One of these days, Alice... Wham, zoom, sploosh, fwoom, splash, gurlle, wheeeee, fwoosh, aren't waterslides fun?!

==Trivia==
*A T-shirt based on the "Centrifuges" strip is available in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/centrifuge xkcd store].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Five-minute comics| 03]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Five-minute comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Substitutions]]
[[Category:Chronicles of Narnia]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Analysis]]

821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3

2022-01-23T03:27:44Z

172.70.189.134: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 821
| date = November 19, 2010
| title = Five-Minute Comics: Part 3
| image = five minute comics part 3.png
| titletext = Resulting in The Little Rock 9x + C.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the third of three "five-minute comics" Randall posted during a week in November 2010. The introduction to the comic explains everything you need to know about the circumstances behind it.

Randall obviously made more than three of these five minutes comics, and one of them was published later, for a short period of time by a mistake, but an android xkcd browser picked it up while it was on-line and saved it. Since then it has been added to explain xkcd. So here is a complete list of all four comics in the entire [[:Category:Five-minute comics|Five-minute comics]] series:
*[[819: Five-Minute Comics: Part 1]]
*[[820: Five-Minute Comics: Part 2]]
*[[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]
*[[Five-Minute Comics: Part 4]]

Here is a list with explanations for each of the small comics:
*1. {{w|Pearl Harbor}} is a US Navy base that was {{w|Attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked}} in 1941 by Japanese airplanes, which prompted the US to join World War II. The attacks were made on ''December'' 7, 1941, not November 7. Thus, Randall is correct in depicting a Navy base going about its usual business.
This may also be a joke on present-day levels of awareness of the event; as it fades out of living memory, people might indeed confuse the date with November (or October) 7, despite it being {{w|Day of Infamy speech|"a day which will live in infamy"}}.

*2. {{w|Breastfeeding in public}} is a touchy subject in parts of the world. In the US, it is considered by some to be inconsiderate to others who would prefer not to see such a display. Of course, women breastfeeding in public are generally feeding their infants, not other adults. The situation presented in the comic is an absurd exaggeration of the debate.

*3. "s" is the command in {{w|sed}} to perform a pattern search-and-replace; the syntax has also been adopted by other text-processing utilities, including {{w|Perl}} (a favorite subject of xkcd), and has entered into the geek lexicon as something that could appear in general conversation. The specific command "s/I think that/I saw a study once that said/g" means "Find all occurrences of the phrase 'I think that', and replace it with the phrase 'I saw a study once that said'." This will, indeed, improve the persuasiveness of an article, as the existence of scientific evidence will make people more likely to believe what's said, while most people won't even think to actually look up the study in question.

*4. Arson is the crime of intentionally setting fire to a structure. {{w|Billy Joel}} will no doubt claim {{w|We Didn't Start the Fire|he didn't start the fire}}. And it turned out that they believed him. This was mentioned in the title text of [[1794: Fire]], which displays another similarly folded newspaper front page, with only the headline readable. The picture shown the fire Billy was arrested for, but he was only detained briefly. The song is also mentioned in [[1775: Things You Learn]].

*5. Coca-Cola is a fizzy cola-flavored soft drink, commonly abbreviated as "coke." {{w|Pop Rocks}} are a candy that contain tiny bubbles of gas, so that as the sugary candy dissolves on your tongue, it creates a popping sensation. For a long time, it was claimed that drinking the two together would cause one's stomach to explode; this was finally put to rest as some people (the Mythbusters in particular) started actually trying it, and discovered that it's merely painful, not lethal.
:Here, it's combined with elements of other common scary urban legends (phones ringing and creepy laughter) to form something bizarre.

*6. After ''{{w|Brown v. Board of Education}}'' ruled that schools could not segregate based on race, nine African American students from Little Rock, Arkansas enrolled in the previously-segregated Little Rock Central High School. The school board could not officially deny them attendance, but members of the community (and, after Arkansas governor Orval Faubus intervened, the Arkansas National Guard) formed a blockade to physically prevent them from entering the school building. The governor claimed this was within his power even after ''Brown v. Board'', because the students were enrolled without issue, they were just physically blocked from entering the school building. After determining that the right to enroll in a school does, implicitly, include the right to actually attend classes there, president Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne Division to accompany the students and force the National Guard to stand down, thus integrating the school. This incident became known as the {{w|Little Rock Nine}}.
:However, {{w|Integral|integration}} also has a meaning in mathematics. This is indicated in the comic with the soldiers lifting up a giant integral sign to place beside the school, in order to (mathematically) integrate it. Normally, an integral only makes sense on functions; however, since this is the Little Rock ''Nine'', if we take the integral of the constant function ''f''(''x'') = 9, we do, in fact, get 9''x'' + ''C'', as stated in the title text.
The posture of the three soldiers with the integral sign echoes the iconic {{w|Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima}} photograph.

*7. Cell phones with advanced computing capabilities, typically at least requiring fully-featured Internet browsing, multimedia capabilities, and the ability to run software applications, are called "smartphones." Most cell phones also have a "vibrate" function that allows someone in a public situation to receive calls without alerting others; the phone will discreetly vibrate rather than activate a ringtone, thus privately notifying the owner that a call is incoming. A semi-common problem with this feature is that a vibrating phone on a table that has a slight slope will slowly - or, if the slope is bad enough, rather quickly - slide down the slope, possibly falling off the table and breaking. If our smartphones ever decided to kill us, this would possibly be their only method of attack.
**Randall later [http://what-if.xkcd.com/5/ covered this] in his [[what if?]] blog.

*8. The Three Little Pigs is a children's fairy tale about three pigs who build their houses out of, respectively, straw, sticks, and bricks. A wolf comes along and eats the pigs living in the straw and stick houses, but he can't knock down the brick house, because his only method for breaking them down is to blow on them until the material falls to pieces. (In some variants, the foolish pigs seek refuge in the brick house for a happier ending.)
:The 119 Little Pigs seems to be a variant where the pigs build their houses out of the 118 {{w|chemical elements}} (and bricks, presumably). The 38th little pig builds his house out of {{w|strontium}}, which is, of course, the 38th element on the Periodic Table. One wonders what happened to the pigs who are stuck making their houses out of elements that are gaseous or liquid at room temperature, or those whose houses would react with the air and/or undergo nuclear decay.
:In his book what if?, in the first comic, it shows the 92nd little pig, who built his house out of depleted Uranium, The wolf responded, "Dude". [https://store.xkcd.com/pages/if-you-re-looking-for-the-what-if-book/]
:Although given the water content in exhaled breath, it's {{w|Alkali metal#Reaction with water (alkali metal hydroxides)|easy to see}} how the wolf would huff, puff, and blow down the houses made of {{w|lithium}}, {{w|sodium}}, {{w|potassium}}, {{w|rubidium}}, {{w|caesium}}, and {{w|francium}}. Though making a houses out of {{w|hydrogen}}, {{w|helium}}, {{w|nitrogen}}, {{w|oxygen}}, {{w|fluorine}}, {{w|neon}}, {{w|chlorine}} and {{w|krypton}} would all be very difficult as they are gases at room temperature {{Citation needed}}. Also, there would be issues such as death from the toxicity of the elements, e.g. fluorine would kill the pig and wolf. The piggies may have difficulty collecting enough metal, as they would have trouble collecting enough {{w|technetium}} (43), which only occurs in minute traces, and {{w|astatine}}, of which approximately 1 ounce exists on earth.
:It could be a coincidence, or possibly Randall's intent, that the wolf asks "What is this shit?" while referring to strontium while "stronzo" is an Italian (vulgar) word for "turd", pronounced almost the same (it is a common source of bad taste jokes) and stront is a Dutch word for shit.

*9. "Fastest gun in the West" is a boast commonly made in Western movies, where it is used to mean that a person is the fastest at drawing his gun in a duel (or, alternatively, can fire his gun the fastest). It doesn't actually describe the gun itself, and certainly doesn't describe how fast the gun can gallop across the land.

*10. "It's what separates the ''men'' from the ''boys''" is a phrase used to describe "macho" activities that, apparently, only "real men" will participate/do well in; all the other men haven't grown up yet, and are thus "boys." {{w|Centrifuge}}s are used to rapidly separate a material from the liquid it's suspended in; this is either a pun on the word "separate", or an attempt by Randall to make the occupation of lab technician seem macho.
**In the film ''{{W|Moonraker_(film)|Moonraker}}'', {{W|James Bond}} was almost killed in a centrifuge used as a g-force training vehicle for pilots/astronauts - but he survived - and he for sure is a real man... See also [[123: Centrifugal Force]].

*11. Narnia is the mythical land in ''{{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}}''. In the books, time passes differently in Narnia, such that one can spend many years in Narnia and come out to find that almost no time at all has passed on Earth; conversely, during a short trip back to Earth, hundreds of years could pass in Narnia. {{w|Lucy Pevensie|Lucy}} is taking advantage of this by putting a computer in Narnia to perform extremely fast computation. {{w|Folding@home}} and {{w|SETI@home}} are distributed computing projects that aim to solve extremely large computational problems by pooling together computer resources of thousands of home computers who volunteer for the project; Folding@home looks at how proteins are folded, which has applications in medical science, and SETI@home analyzes EM waves from space, looking for signs of extraterrestrial intelligent life amongst the cosmic background noise. Running through all of that data in a few hours would be quite an accomplishment indeed, given that, as Peter points out, the idea has many problems Lucy has evidently overcome:
**The book was written in 1957 and it occurs even earlier than that, long predating personal computers, so Lucy shouldn't even have one.
**Even if it occurs in an alternate universe where the PC was invented before 1957, the storage that would be needed to store the entire Folding@home and SETI@home databases would be far beyond her means, since the characters in the book are evacuees who don't have any money.
**Even if she somehow pulled that much storage space together, the time needed for one computer to run through those databases is on the order of millennia. A computer would not continuously run for that long without careful treatment, which Narnia is not equipped for.
**Even if we handwave around that issue (''"Aslan, use your power to keep all dust away from this computer for the next ten thousand years, please"''), the wall socket powering the computer is on the Earth side. Mains power outlets in the UK provide alternating current with an amplitude of 230 volts and a frequency of 50 hertz. The 50 Hz part is what's important here: all devices designed to work with UK mains power expect a 50 Hz sine wave. The time difference between Earth and Narnia would substantially elongate the sine wave in a method similar to the Doppler effect, which would probably prevent the computer from functioning at all. The frequency issue can be avoided by converting the alternating current to direct current on earth and passing the direct current to Narnia. However, to have a usable amperage (coulombs per second) on Narnia, the amperage (coulombs per second) on earth would have to be absurdly high, requiring wires much larger than shown. Also, the electricity costs would be too high.
**The time differential doesn't occur while people are entering/exiting Narnia (though they do occur while the wardrobe's open) or the Pevensie children would have had had some difficulty surviving the transition. Since the cables of the computer are crossing between the worlds, it seems unlikely that the time differential is even active yet.
:See also: [[1786: Trash]]

*12. ''{{w|The Honeymooners}}'' is a classic American sitcom. The show stars Ralph and Alice Kramden, and Ralph frequently makes empty threats of the form "One of these days, Alice...," followed by a combination of onomatopoeia. For example: "One of these days, Alice... BANG! ZOOM! Straight to the moon!" (Alice inevitably replies "Ahhh, shut up.")
:Here, Randall takes the pattern to a ridiculous and not-at-all threatening place.

==Transcript==
:Because of a family illness, instead of regular comics, this week I'll be sharing some strips that I drew as part of a game I played with friends. Each comic had to be written and drawn in five minutes.

:--Randall

:;Comic #1
:Pearl Harbor. November 7th, 1941.
:[There is a beach, with some ships floating in a crescent shaped harbor.]

:[The same bay, again.]

:[The boats continue to move about the harbor.]

:[The boats do their thing. A title explains.]
:(We're going to be here a while, since the attack wasn't until December.)

:;Comic #2
:[Cueball is sitting on a bus, Megan in front of him. Another person is sitting in front of Megan and another person is sitting behind Cueball.]
:I know it's natural and all, but I really wish women on the bus wouldn't try to breastfeed me.
:Megan: C'mon, have some milk. Right here.
:Cueball: I'm ''reading''.

:;Comic #3
:s/I think that/I saw a study once that said that/g
:Instant persuasiveness multiplier!

:;Comic #4
:[A newspaper front page. Billy Joel is between two policemen.]
:Times
:Billy Joel Arrested for Arson

:;Comic #5
:[One person has a cord leaving their mouth, the other is holding a handset on the end of it to their ear.]
:Handset: Hee hee hee... *giggle*
:I hear that if you drink coke and eat pop rocks, you vomit up a corded telephone handset on which you hear creepy little girls giggling.

:;Comic #6
:[Three soldiers are holding a large integral sign, while a fourth points a gun at the Little Rock High School.]
:1957: Eisenhower orders the military to integrate Little Rock High School.

:;Comic #7
:[A smartphone is vibrating across a table, towards a person.]
:The smartphones got ''too'' smart... and developed a taste... for BLOOD!
:Fortunately, the only way they could move was by turning on their vibrate while on a sloped table.

:;Comic #8
:[Cueball is reading to his child.]
:Cueball: And the wolf went to see the 38th little pig, who had built his house out of strontium.
:Cueball: And the wolf was all, "Ok, what is ''with'' this shit?"
:The 119 Little Pigs

:;Comic #9
:[Cueball is holding up a gun.]
:Cueball: Fastest gun in the west!

:[The gun is galloping across the desert.]
:''gallop gallop''

:[There is a podium, with a gun in each position.]
:Winner!

:;Comic #10
:[A picture of a centrifuge dominates the panel.]
:Centrifuges: They're what separate the men from the boys.

:;Comic #11
:[A computer monitor is plugged in, and cables run into a wardrobe.]
:Lucy: Time passes differently in Narnia, so by putting the CPU and storage for my machine there, I was able to run through the Folding@Home and Seti@Home databases in about an hour.
:Peter: There are so many problems with that.

:;Comic #12
:[Someone is talking to Alice.]
:Person: One of these days, Alice... Wham, zoom, sploosh, fwoom, splash, gurlle, wheeeee, fwoosh, aren't waterslides fun?!

==Trivia==
*A T-shirt based on the "Centrifuges" strip is available in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/centrifuge xkcd store].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Five-minute comics| 03]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Five-minute comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Substitutions]]
[[Category:Chronicles of Narnia]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Analysis]]