explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

308: Interesting Life

2025-07-05T12:10:22Z

2001:1C00:C27:F200:408E:C7C1:F880:EFCD: /* Explanation */ This time the citation needed was not only unfunny, it made the existing joke worse, since it already says indeterminate.

{{comic
| number = 308
| date = August 27, 2007
| title = Interesting Life
| image = interesting_life.png
| titletext = Quick, fashion a climbing harness out of a cat-6 cable and follow me down.
}}

==Explanation==
'{{w|May you live in interesting times}}' (or, in this comic, 'may you have an interesting life') is supposedly a Chinese saying, except that a few people (usually the worst-case-scenario kind) believe it to actually be a curse, even though it is usually meant in a good way when said. The quote also provides the title of the {{w|Terry Pratchett}} novel {{w|Interesting Times}}, which takes place in a fictional counterpart of China.

[[Cueball]] is shown here as an office worker, a job that, to most people, is the opposite of interesting. This is contrasted with [[Megan]], who is rappelling down the outside of his office building, for no apparent reason other than because she can, and inviting him on an adventure. This contrast is amplified by the usage of "interesting" colors for the outside in comparison to the "dull" gray for the inside of the building. Things are bound to get at least one kind of "interesting" very fast.

The title text refers to a {{w|Category 6 cable|Cat6}} cable, which is more commonly known as Ethernet cable. It would be easily found in an office building, since it is used to connect computers to a network. Its usefulness as a {{w|climbing harness}} is indeterminate.

==Transcript==
:[On the left hand side of the panel is a cutaway of several floors of an office, in gray. On the right side, a blue sky with clouds, and green hills below. Hanging from a cable is Megan, clearly having rappelled down the side of the building, next to a Cueball at his desk, who is looking at Megan.]
:Megan: You know how some people consider "May you have an interesting life" to be a curse?
:Cueball: Yeah...
:Megan: Fuck those people. Wanna have an adventure?

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

306: Orphaned Projects

2025-07-05T12:06:06Z

2001:1C00:C27:F200:408E:C7C1:F880:EFCD: /* Explanation */ removed another unfunny cn, one can stay :)

{{comic
| number = 306
| date = August 22, 2007
| title = Orphaned Projects
| image = orphaned_projects.png
| titletext = His date works for Red Hat, who hired a coach for her, too. She advised her to 'rent lots of movies like Hitch. Guys love those.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Debian}} is a {{w|GNU/Linux}} distribution (but also ships {{w|GNU Hurd}} and {{w|BSD}} versions).

The comic is about orphaned Linux projects, because volunteer FOSS developers will often leave their projects aside whenever something of greater importance to them requires more time (like dating, relationships, tiredness, sickness, boredom, natural disasters, wild boar attacks, zombie apocalypses, robot uprisings, desire for snacks, etc.). Some companies/foundations, while not needing these developers, can greatly benefit from community-maintained projects. The Debian Team uses a phrase that is, intentionally or otherwise, similar to the famous {{w|Yoda}} quote from ''{{w|Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace}}'' in the first panel "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering," by replacing it with dating and orphaned projects.

{{w|Hitch (film)|''Hitch''}} is a {{w|romantic comedy}} in which {{w|Will Smith}} plays a "dating coach," who helps men to have successful dates with women. To avoid losing their developers (in this case, Cueball), the people at the "Debian HQ" have opted to hire [[Black Hat]] to give the developer intentionally bad dating advice, thus sabotaging his relationship before it could become distracting. Cueball is advised to "constructively criticize" his date in an attempt to appear more intelligent. This technique is very unlikely to work,{{citation needed}} but is nonetheless attempted by some men. It is unclear whether this is "negging" (See [[1027: Pickup Artist]]) or simply a demonstration of hubris, neither of which would be an attractive attribute in a potential long-term partner or mate.

In the title text, the woman is being similarly advised by a representative hired by Red Hat. {{w|Red Hat}} is the company behind {{w|Fedora Linux}} and {{w|RHEL}}. She is advised to rent lots of romantic comedies, presumably to watch with her date. The prevailing stereotype is that young men strongly dislike films in that genre.

==Transcript==
:[Voices are coming from behind a door with a sign that reads "Debian Linux HQ."]
:First voice: Problem: One of the volunteer developers has a date this weekend. Dates lead to romance. Romance leads to orphaned projects.

:Second voice: What's the plan?
:First voice: We're hiring him a relationship coach. He's like Will Smith in "Hitch," but he only gives bad advice.

:[Black Hat is talking to Cueball, who is standing in front of a mirror.]
:Black Hat: Okay, remember: The key to conversation is constructive criticism.
:Black Hat: You need to show you're smart enough to solve her problems.
:Cueball: Makes sense.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

304: Nighttime Stories

2025-07-05T12:01:13Z

2001:1C00:C27:F200:408E:C7C1:F880:EFCD: /* Explanation */ removed unfunny cn

{{comic
| number = 304
| date = August 17, 2007
| title = Nighttime Stories
| image = nighttime_stories.jpg
| titletext = Cue angry letters from all seven fans of Xenocide.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] observes [[Megan]] walking around at midnight, reading a book that he can't see. Curious, he leaves his apartment to ask her what she is reading. It is revealed as {{w|Orson Scott Card}}'s ''{{w|Xenocide}}'', the third book in the {{w|Ender's Game series}} following ''{{w|Ender's Game}}'' and ''{{w|Speaker for the Dead}}'' (and since followed by several other books). Ender's Game has been covered in other xkcd comics like [[241: Battle Room]] and [[635: Locke and Demosthenes]], which cover events in the first book.

''Xenocide'' is regarded by fans as one of the weakest books in the series, while ''Ender's Game'' and ''Speaker for the Dead'' received extreme positive praise. When he discovers that she likes ''Xenocide'' more than the other two books, he instantly withdraws to his apartment, his opinion of her shattered. So far as Cueball is concerned, ''Xenocide'' is so clearly inferior that he could not be with anyone who 'wrongly' considers it to be the best of the series. This pokes fun at people like Cueball who have such strong opinions on books like Ender's Game that they could never get along with anyone who disagreed.

The title text pokes further fun at ''Xenocide'' by saying that there are only seven people in the world who would defend it, a laughably small number.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sitting in an armchair in a darkened room, with a bookshelf and an open window. Megan is seen outside reading a book by a glow.]
:For a few weeks now, sometime past midnight, a girl has wandered past my apartment reading by flashlight.

:[Outside, Megan walking down the street passing under a street lamp.]
:I wonder why she's up so late.
:Maybe she's restless
:Like me.
:I wonder what story she's wrapped up in.

:I wonder if she lets anyone into that island of light.

:[Cueball sitting in a dark room.]

:[Cueball has left the room.]

:[Cueball standing on his doorstep at the top of a small flight of stairs, near the bottom of which Megan has stopped, no longer reading.]
:Cueball: Hi! What are you reading?
:Megan: Orson Scott Card's 'Xenocide.' It's my favorite in the series!

:Cueball: Wait, you like it more than Speaker for the Dead or Ender's Game?
:Megan: Yeah!

:[Cueball has gone back in the house, leaving Megan standing alone.]

:[Cueball is sitting in the chair again.]
:And to think I loved her.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Fiction]]