explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

790: Control

2025-11-26T15:22:25Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{comic
| number = 790
| date = September 8, 2010
| title = Control
| image = control.png
| titletext = Which, at one point, led to a study showing that LSD produces no more hallucinations than a placebo.
}}

==Explanation==
This is another comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series]]. In a product experiment, two groups of people are given a certain pill or lotion. Some people are given the product to be tested, while others (the control group) are given a placebo; nobody is told which group they belong to. The control group acts as a norm for comparison against the others.

Randall has messed with this process by giving LSD ({{w|lysergic acid diethylamide}}) to the control group. LSD is a drug that causes hallucinations and distortions in the perception of time and space. [[Megan]], apparently a control, is experiencing spiders in her hallucinations. Since the control group is supposed to reflect what "normally" happens, this is indeed very confusing to the scientists. While hallucinating in the comic Megan is drawn as if she has six arms indicating that she's waving her arms. Though this also makes her look (together with her lower limbs) as if she has eight 'legs', in the manner of an actual spider.

The scientists are confused. This may mean that, in the light of the unusual adverse events, they have executed the option of unblinding the study. This implies that the trial has (or is being) ended, as not being double-blinded itself impacts the veracity of a continuing study. In a properly double-blinded study, the scientists would not know Cueball or [[Megan]] was the control and would only dutifully record their observations. However, it may be equally confusing even if they don't yet know which cohorts either participant are members of (for all they know, these two are from the same one), as the treatment may or may not be creating hallucinations even as the non-treatment may or may not seem to clear up rashes.

Depending upon how the flailing-limbed individual is interpretted, one or other 'treatment' may even have ''actually'' promoted the growth of additional body parts. Logically, this is more likely to arise from a trial drug intended to affect surface tissues (though still far from the usual expectations of any "anti-rash treatment") than a commonly used hallucinogen whose effects are generally understood to be on brain-chemistry and nervous function. Either outcome should worry ''any'' observer, even those not under the misconception that a placebo (also an unlikely cause, by definition) might be the provocative agent in this instance.

The title text suggests that, in a different study, this substitution was performed when the product being tested was itself LSD. This led to the conclusion that LSD is no more likely to cause hallucinations than the 'placebo', implying that LSD is not a significant hallucinogen. We can only hope they were able to redo the test, as in layman's terms "Nonsense MUST be wrong". Randall could also have only sneaked placebo in as the 'LSD' element of the study, to get the same comparative effect, though (if checked) the difference between the ''whole'' cohorts, from each modified type of study, would be striking.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the frame:]
:My Hobby:

:[Cueball looks down at his arm calmly, while next to him Megan is violently flailing around in terror. In the foreground a Cueball-like guy stands next to Ponytail who is holding a clipboard. They look on in puzzlement.]
:Cueball: My rash seems to have shrunk by about 20% today.
:Megan: OH GOD SPIDERS
:Cueball-like guy: ? ?
:Ponytail: ?

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Sneaking into experiments and giving LSD to the control group.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]
[[Category:Spiders]]

306: Orphaned Projects

2025-11-26T15:10:43Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{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:Sabotage]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

368: Bass

2025-11-26T15:09:08Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{comic
| number = 368
| date = January 9, 2008
| title = Bass
| image = bass.png
| titletext = And sometimes I use it to retaliate against the guy upstairs with the loud girlfriend and the elliptical dish.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are standing inside a room behind a window hearing an obnoxious car outside playing loud music with deep bass. Black Hat, owing to his destructive nature, has created a machine that is able to blow out the car's speakers. The machine evidently does this by playing the same soundwaves back at the car but with the {{w|Phase (waves)|phase}} slightly offset, tuning the phase difference to create a {{w|resonance}} in the car's speakers big enough for them to destroy themselves. In a stroke of evil, he then starts playing Shirley Ellis' ''{{w|The Name Game}}'' to show how annoying the man was acting. Cueball is horrified by this act of evil, as Black Hat carries on into the song {{w|Macarena (song)|''Macarena''}}.

The title text refers to comic [[316: Loud Sex]], where an elliptical reflector is used to focus sound waves from a couple having sex. Black Hat obviously gets annoyed by this and sometimes uses his machine to retaliate.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat and Cueball are standing in a room with one window. Black Hat is pushing a box with an elliptical dish on top towards the window.]
:''THUMPA THUMPA''

:Cueball: The bass from that car is driving me nuts.
:Black Hat: Me too. Give me a hand here.

:[The dish is aimed out the window; Black Hat plugs the device into the wall.]
:Cueball: I'm afraid to ask.
:Black Hat: The system detects bass rhythms and floods the target with a phase-shifted replica signal.
:Black Hat: The resonance should blow out their speakers.

:[The side of a building. The dish of the device is visible through a window, emitting sound waves.]
:''THUMPA THUMPA''
:''BLAM''

:[Back in the room.]
:Black Hat: Speakers down. Now flip that red switch.
:[Cueball does so with a "click."]

:[Back to the outside view, more sound waves.]
:'''''SHIRLEY SHIRLEY BO BIRLEY BANANA FANNA FO FIRLEY'''''
:Cueball: You're horrifying.
:Black Hat: Okay, now throw the switch labeled "Macarena".

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]
[[Category:Science]]

562: Parking

2025-11-26T15:04:48Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{comic
| number = 562
| date = March 30, 2009
| title = Parking
| image = parking.png
| titletext = Police reported three dozen cheerful bystanders, yet no one claims to have seen who did it.
}}

==Explanation==
There are few things so annoying as finding, when a parking lot is full, that someone has parked so carelessly as to take up two spaces. Even worse, it may have been intentional; they decided to exchange the risk of someone accidentally scratching their car for the risk of someone doing it on purpose, see [[1030: Keyed]]. However, there are also non-violent ways to tackle the problem;{{Citation needed}} [http://www.threadless.com/product/187/I_Park_Like_an_Idiot politely leave a note] (original link defunct, archive [https://web.archive.org/web/20120719122829/http://www.threadless.com/product/187/I_Park_Like_an_Idiot here]), or, if possible, just move their car (whether to its proper alignment or to an impound lot).

Of course, [[Black Hat]] takes the road less traveled, apparently involving a {{w|cutting torch}} and what looks to be a {{w|circular saw}}. The offending portion of the parked car is sliced off (entirely without surgical precision) and neatly slotted into the remainder of the space. It is now legally parked, but will never become a functional car again.{{Citation needed}} But at least Black Hat finally has space for his own car!

This comic may be the one referenced in [[496: Secretary: Part 3]], where it is shown that Black Hat '...completely disassembled a car' because 'It was parked across two spaces! It was only fair', or this is the second time that a car has been in the way of him parking, so he has taken matters into his own hands.

The title text indicates that a large crowd watched Black Hat at work but refused to identify him, presumably because they feel that the car owner got what he deserved, or possibly know enough of Black Hat's reputation to not betray him.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is in a car driving around a parking lot.]

:[Black Hat's car pulls up next to a red car, that's parked over a line at an angle that blocks two spaces.]

:[Black Hat gets out of his car.]
:''SLAM''

:[Black Hat is now holding a blow torch and a rotary saw, He's also wearing goggles and fuel tanks on his back. The blow torch is lit.]
:''Fwoosh''

:[The badly parked car has been cut in half along a diagonal, and the half of the car that was in the second slot has been moved into the same slot as the rest of the car. Black Hat's car occupies the newly freed space.]

==Trivia==
Black Hat, in the fourth panel, is also seen in the "Your Ad Here" screen.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]

620: Wings

2025-11-26T15:02:27Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{comic
| number = 620
| date = August 7, 2009
| title = Wings
| image = wings.png
| titletext = Please do not try any of this and die or get arrested.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] explains to [[Megan]] that on Saturn's moon {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}, the combination of lower gravity and a denser atmosphere make the act of flying simpler. Wings that are only capable of generating 9% of the necessary lift on Earth would allow one to fly if used on Titan.

Cueball now stands in front of an apparatus to do so; he is standing in a valley with a metal arch above him, and two pulleys that have a rope going from Cueball to one pulley to the other and to the pile of bricks that weigh 91% of his weight, so if he generates enough lift to cancel out 9% of his weight, then he will be able to lift himself and fly.

The experiment is a success. However, as Megan points out, his experiment has some problems, namely that he used hot glue for the wing joints and that he has friends into Greek mythology.

{{w|Icarus}} is a Greek character known for his self-powered flight, which ended when the wax holding his wings together melted due to the sun's heat, and he fell to his death. This supposedly occurred because he ignored instructions not to fly too close to the Sun, a tragic example of hubris — extreme arrogance. Here, {{tvtropes|IcarusAllusion|Black Hat is bringing an artificial "sun" to "Icarus" to recreate the tragedy}}.

[[Black Hat]] is standing on top of the arch with a powerful heat source, a {{w|heat lamp}}. The hot glue melts, then the wings fall apart, then Cueball falls.

In the title text, Randall asks that xkcd readers do not attempt to reproduce this. The reason for this is explained [[254: Comic Fragment|here]]. It could also simply be a media-standard "Don't try this at home" warning, as there are legitimate dangers to flying around unprotected. Sufficient height and a sudden loss of one's wings could indeed result in death (and deliberately causing someone to lose their wings and die or be injured would indeed get one arrested).

One thing to note about this comic is that Cueball is still attached via pulley to the bricks. These bricks, weighing down on the other side, should (obviously) slow his fall considerably. Of course, Black Hat could also cut the rope...{{citation needed}}

==Physics==

The calculated figure of 9% is only correct if the temperature on Titan has been raised to be the same as Earth — which, for human-powered flight, would probably be necessary anyway. At Titan's normal temperature, you would only have to generate about 3% of your Earth body weight in lift, as the atmosphere is much denser.

The friction in normal ball-bearing pulleys when loaded with 182 % of a persons weight would likely be greater than 9 % of that weight. Cueball must be using futuristic super-low-friction pulleys.

When the wings come off, Cueball is going to fall with an acceleration of about 0.047 g, or 21 times slower than a free fall (neglecting friction). The net downward force is 9 % of his weight, while the total inertia is 191 % of his body mass. So a fall from 21 meters (63 ft) will feel like a fall from one meter (3 ft), equivalent to the fall of someone who has hopped off a table. If he lands on his feet, he will not sustain injuries.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Titan's gravity is 14% of Earth's, and its atmosphere 50% denser.

:Cueball: So if you can generate 9% of your body weight in lift, you can fly on Titan.

:Cueball: With wings, a stage harness, a cable, and 91% of my weight in bricks, I want to test this.
:[There is a heap of materials on the ground. Cueball is holding a stage harness.]

:[Large diagram of a bridge, seemingly metal. A rope leads through pulleys tied to the bridge. One end goes to Cueball, one end to a pile of bricks.]

:[Cueball is standing with wings attached to his arms.]

:[Cueball flaps the wings, and appears to be floating.]

:[Cueball glides.]

:Cueball: It works!
:Megan: Except you have two problems.
:Cueball: What?

:Megan: You used hot glue on your wing joints and you have friends into Greek mythology.
:Cueball: Huh?

:[Black Hat is standing on the bridge, with a large lamp labeled "heat lamp" attached to a battery.]

:[The wing segments fall off Cueball and he tumbles downward.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]
[[Category:Wingsuit]]

1284: Improved Keyboard

2025-11-26T14:57:05Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{comic
| number = 1284
| date = October 30, 2013
| title = Improved Keyboard
| image = improved keyboard.png
| titletext = I'm always installing tons of weird experimental keyboards because it serves as a good reminder that nothing I was going to type was really worth the trouble.
}}

==Explanation==
Modern smartphones and tablets have touchscreen LCD displays which completely cover the device's surface; for this reason they rely on software keyboards to input text such as text messages. The simplest software keyboards simply display a standard QWERTY keyboard and allow the user to tap on the letters they wish to enter, but this is slow. More sophisticated software keyboards such as SwiftKey facilitate faster text entry through gestures supported by language models. Because this space is still under development, new software keyboards promising better text entry continue to appear.

[[Black Hat]] is annoyed about [[Cueball]]'s text messages, so he sends Cueball a "better" keyboard that actually doesn't work — with the desired result that Cueball is not able to text him at all. His statement that the app is better than SwiftKey "in some ways" is literally true — it's better for ''him'', not for Cueball.

The Android keyboard app {{w|SwiftKey}} has been mentioned [[1068|before]], and Black Hat has done something similar in [[156|156: Commented]].

According to the title text, [[Randall]] does often try out new keyboard apps, only to be reminded each time that he ends up wasting more time learning the new gestures than he saves in typing more quickly. Alternatively, the increased effort and thought put into typing makes him realize that nothing he would type is really worth it to him anymore.

Similar problems arise later in [[1586: Keyboard Problems]] and [[1678: Recent Searches‎]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball walks on screen, holding a phone, and starts talking to Black Hat.]
:Cueball: Did you get my texts?
:Black Hat: You should install this keyboard I found.
:Cueball: What? Why? Is it better than SwiftKey?
:Black Hat: In some ways.
:[Black Hat begins to walk off-panel.]
:Cueball: Ok, installing...
:Cueball: It's not working. The key area is blank—I can't type anything.
:[Black Hat has left. Cueball stares at his phone.]
:[Beat frame. Cueball lets his hands fall to their side.]
:Cueball: ...Hey.

==Trivia==
*More improved analytic investigations on keyboards are done by Randall here: [http://what-if.xkcd.com/75/ What-If - Phone Keypad]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]

1439: Rack Unit

2025-11-26T14:55:14Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{comic
| number = 1439
| date = October 27, 2014
| title = Rack Unit
| image = rack_unit.png
| titletext = There's also nothing in the TOSes that says you can't let a dog play baseball in the server room!
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] announces to [[Megan]] that {{w|19-inch rack}}s for datacenter servers and {{w|Langstroth hive}} frames are both 19 inches wide (482.6 mm), with similar spacing between each slot. Black Hat is motivated by this knowledge to break into a Google datacenter and fill server racks with beehives. He then announces that Google led the world in datacenter honey production, an accomplishment fairly easy to achieve as no other datacenters are producing honey.{{cn}} Obviously, such an action led to Black Hat being kicked out from the facility by security guards and the loss of his hives. When Megan sarcastically consoles Black Hat for the loss of his hives, he declares that he'll find other datacenters to install hives in.

The pitch (or distance between repeating items) of 19 inch rack server hardware is measured in {{w|Rack_unit|rack units (U)}}, and is standardized at 1.75" (44.45 mm). Langstroth frames are typically mounted at a pitch of [http://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/TDS%20number%205%20langstroth%20and%20md%20hive.pdf 1.5" (38.1 mm)], and as a result would fit relatively well with a server cabinet. In contrast to the horizontal orientation of the modules in a server rack, honeycomb frames are designed to hang vertically, so the cells can hold nectar without it dripping out. Whether Black Hat was able to re-orient the racks to suit the needs of honey production remains a mystery.

Some datacenters provide colocation services where customers may install a server at a central location with better bandwidth and power reliability than a customer could provide on their own. Noticing that typical colocation {{w|terms of service}} (TOS) agreements don't specifically rule out the installation of beehives, Black Hat suggests he can enter a legal contract allowing him to install beehives at a data center without being kicked out. This, of course, is because nobody had previously thought that such a rule was necessary. Megan expects this to change once Black Hat starts deliberately exploiting this oversight.

The title text is a reference to the film [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118570/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_3 Air Bud]. The original quote is "Ain't no rules says a dog can't play basketball." Much like Black Hat's beehive plan, the plot of Air Bud relies on a plan being so outlandish that nobody has ever thought to specifically forbid it before.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Black Hat are talking, Megan is sitting at a computer.]
:Black Hat: I've discovered something.
:Megan: Oh?
:Black Hat: Standard server rack units and standard beehive honeycomb frames are compatible.
:Black Hat: They're both 19 inches, with similar pitches.
:Megan: Uh oh.
:Black Hat: I'm pleased to announce that today, for a few hours, Google led the world in datacenter honey production.
:Black Hat: Until their security people kicked me out.
:Megan: I'm sorry your beekeeping career ended so quickly.
:Black Hat: I'll find a new datacenter.
:Black Hat: Turns out most colocation TOSes don't mention beehives.
:Megan: I suspect that will soon change.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Baseball]]
[[Category:Bees]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Google]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]

Category:Sabotage

2025-11-26T14:45:22Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF: Better description.

[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sabotage/ Sabotage] is the act of intentionally preventing the success of a plan or action, often an enemy or rival's. Doing so may involve property damage, psychological tactics and/or other means.

[[Category:Comics by topic]]

2644: fMRI Billboard

2025-11-26T14:34:47Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{comic
| number = 2644
| date = July 11, 2022
| title = fMRI Billboard
| image = fmri_billboard.png
| titletext = [other side] If the first word of an instruction you're given starts with the same letter as your crush's name, for that step imagine the experimenter is your crush.
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Functional magnetic resonance imaging}}, or fMRI, is a method of imaging brain activity by detecting blood flow changes apparent from magnetic differences between oxygenated and deoxygenated {{w|hemoglobin}}. Scientists use fMRI to try to detect deception and false memories,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419301873] plan brain surgery,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213158217303133] and understand the relationship between brain structures and cognition,[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419300879] among many other investigations. Volunteer research subjects [https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ participate in such studies] by lying inside large toroidal scanners while conducting tasks with projected images, sounds, and the like.

This comic shows a billboard erected by a neuroscience department in an attempt at sabotaging a rival department's volunteer subject compliance with their fMRI study instructions, by suggesting behaviors which would likely produce unexpected results, such as recalling a frightening memory after seeing similar stimulus slides, or imagining the lab technician is a romantic interest when reading words that begin with the same letter as their name. This is funny because academic department rivalries do not usually lead to sabotage,{{citation needed}} and in the rare cases when they do, it's usually clandestine instead of so absurdly blatant. The comic also shows neuroscience in terms of the technologies used to study it, and how experiment instructions can influence its development.

Following such suggestions or even inadvertently remembering them during an fMRI could very well interfere with its results. fMRI experiments are often criticized because they have low {{w|statistical power}} and can easily be confounded by experiment subject error in following instructions, among many other variables. In a famous 2009 study, a dead fish was shown to have apparent evidence of brain activity when scanned with ordinary fMRI techniques.[http://prefrontal.org/files/posters/Bennett-Salmon-2009.pdf] In 2015, discovery of a statistical error invalidated at least 40,000 fMRI studies.[https://www.sciencealert.com/a-bug-in-fmri-software-could-invalidate-decades-of-brain-research-scientists-discover] Subsequently in 2017, many more fMRI results were further discredited due to poor software parameter selection.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5487467]

The title text indicates that the sabotaging instructions are printed on both sides of the billboard, suggesting that it might have been erected on the grounds of the targeted rival department. Alternately, the instructions on the other side may be intended to disrupt research at the other institution.

==Transcript==
:[A large, building-sized billboard rises over what appears to be a college campus. The sign is supported by two sturdy planks disappearing behind one of two long one story buildings lying next to each other. The board is higher than the buildings and almost as long as the one it stands behind. That building seems to have a flat roof where the other has a peaked roof. It could, though, be a matter of perspective, and that both buildings have the same kind of peaked roof. There are several windows visible in both buildings and a door in the middle of the one with the billboard. There is a forest behind the buildings. In front of the main building there is a path with a round area just outside the door. The path goes past the next building, with yet another round area between the buildings. These round areas are where two paths crosses. Megan is standing outside the door, Cueball walks towards the round area between the buildings, Ponytail sits on the grass between the two paths going away from the buildings, she sits near a tree. Closer to the tree and also closer to the buildings another Ponytail like girl is standing together with Hairbun. The sign reads:]
: ⚠ Student fMRI study volunteers ⚠
: Remember, when you're in the scanner, if you see a slide that's similar to one they already showed you, think as hard as you can about your scariest memory.

:[Caption below panel:]
:A rival neuroscience department keeps trying to sabotage our experiments.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Psychology]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Scientific research]]

2528: Flag Map Sabotage

2025-11-26T14:29:02Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{comic
| number = 2528
| date = October 13, 2021
| title = Flag Map Sabotage
| image = flag_map_sabotage.png
| titletext = Delaware hopes to explore the western edge of areas marked with the Belgian flag, once the tornadoes die down.
}}

==Explanation==

The comic refers to a type of map that colors countries using the national flag designs; see [https://i.pinimg.com/originals/41/0f/36/410f3661d1cee3b255b82a111f99d242.jpg here] for such a map of Europe. Randall proposes a new flag specifically designed to troll such maps. Most obviously, the flag includes a legend with multiple common flag colors to indicate random regional attributes. Hence, the mere act of placing this flag on a map would cause people to misinterpret this legend as applying to the entire map, giving wildly false information about regions of other countries. This trick is reminiscent of [[327: Exploits of a Mom]], with Mrs. Robert's son named <code>Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--</code>.

In addition to the legend, the flag consists of two red fields, one of which has an irregular-shaped border, the other of which is a straight line. The irregular shape is similar to a geographical border based on natural features (such as rivers and coastlines), while borders not based on such features tend to be straight lines. Red is the most common color on national flags, so if any bordering country had red on their flag, it would risk bordering these red fields, confusing where the border lay (as well as designating the entire red region as "greater Delaware"). If this flag is intended for the USA (although the text mentions "our new country"), the red regions would be continuous with the red strips on both sides of Canada's flag and the red field on the right of Mexico's flag, disguising the border still further.

The title text refers to the flag of Belgium, which consists of three vertical stripes in the order (left to right) black, yellow, and red. The western part of Belgium would, according to the legend, be unexplored, while the eastern part would be Greater Delaware. The middle would therefore be a tornado zone separating the unexplored area from Greater Delaware. Depending on how the flags are aligned it might be possible to explore from the south, where the blue-white-red stripes of the French flag contain another piece of Greater Delaware that may be conveniently located to help said exploration. Exploring from the Netherlands (red, white, and blue horizontal stripes) is not viable as rebel forces are positioned between Greater Delaware and the unexplored region.

This is [[1815: Flag|not the first time]] Randall has made a flag for a new country.

==Transcript==
:[A flag displays a white country-shaped area surrounded by a red field. Inside the shape sits a map legend.]

:[Label of map legend] Map Legend
:[Bright blue rectangle] Disputed territory
:[Green rectangle] Newly independent
:[Blue rectangle] Demilitarized zone
:[Yellow rectangle] Tornado warning
:[Dark blue rectangle] Held by rebel forces
:[Red rectangle] Greater Delaware
:[Black rectangle] Unexplored

:[Caption below panel]
:Our new country's flag sabotages those maps where geographic areas are colored in with flag patterns.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]

1119: Undoing

2025-11-26T14:27:10Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF:

{{comic
| number = 1119
| date = October 10, 2012
| title = Undoing
| image = undoing.png
| titletext = I've been sneaking out at night and installing lamps on the underside of every photovoltaic panel I can find. Sure, there are upwards of 80% losses, but I prefer to think of them as nearly 20% gains.
}}

==Explanation==
This is another comic in the [[:Category: My Hobby|My Hobby series]]. It plays on how energy from natural resources (wind, sun, water) gets turned into electricity. {{w|Wind turbine|Wind turbines}} convert the wind power into rotational energy, which can then be used to produce electricity. The one seen in the image is the most commonly known wind turbine, which is use on wind farms. Wind turbines provide a renewable resource for homes and cities and a common method for sustainable energy. Turbines have been referenced before in xkcd, in [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]].

In this comic, [[Cueball]] has rigged it so that the wind turbine powers a {{w|mechanical fan|fan}}. He cut the power cable attaching the turbine to the {{w|Electrical grid|power grid}} and spliced it with the power cord of a giant fan. The nailed-together 2x4s that form the "tower" for the fan further indicate the "[https://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/jerry.html jury-rigged]" nature of Cueball's work. The electricity generated from the wind power is then used to power the fan, which in turn produces wind. This is about the complementary nature of wind turbines and fans, which was also covered in [[1378: Turbine]].

The undoing part refers to how Cueball is using this fan to restore the wind that was used to turn the wind turbine back to the original wind flow, canceling out not only the turbine's electricity production, but also its slight reduction of the surrounding wind force.

Wind turbines have a {{w|Wind turbine#Efficiency|theoretical limit of 59%}} of the portion of wind captured. You can see the wind not captured detailed in the image as dotted, turbulent curly lines; turbulent flow. Cueball has placed the giant fan in the direction of the wind so that the wind it produces combines with the windpower not captured by the wind turbine. This is indicated by the lines smoothing like they were at the start. Thus, not only is the electrical benefit undone, but also the change in natural wind currents.

The title text explains that he performs the same undoing process with solar cells, where light energy is converted into electricity using {{w|photovoltaic cells}}, which is then used to power lightbulbs for producing light on the area below them that the sun would normally illuminate. {{W|Solar panels}} only convert 20-25% of the energy captured from the sun into electricity. However, Cueball points out that he sees this as a 20% gain rather than an 80% loss. Since it is Cueball's hobby to waste time and energy, this makes perfect sense.

Incandescent light bulbs only convert at most 5% of the electricity provided into light, the rest is lost as heat energy. Thus less than 1% of the energy absorbed from the original sunlight will be released as light from the bulb. LED bulbs can do quite a bit better, approaching 90% efficiency, and releasing around 17% of the original sunlight, though in different frequencies.

In the case of the wind turbine and fan, the wind will, unfortunately, be moving at a much slower velocity than at the start as energy was lost in converting wind power to rotation energy, then to electricity, then back to rotational energy, then back to windpower. However, in the solar panel and lamp case, the light will be moving at the same speed as it entered the panel thanks to the constant nature of the speed of light, but be less bright instead.

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:My Hobby:

:[A large wind turbine is spinning but the electric cord has been severed and rewired to a large fan, with Cueball standing next to it]

:[Caption in large text below the panel:]
:Undoing

==Trivia==

A similar understanding of the difference between a wind turbine and a fan is presented by [[Megan]] in the later comic: [[1378: Turbine]].

This comic may be a continuation of [[Randall|Randall's]] mistrust of modern electric wind turbines (see [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]).

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]
[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Wind turbine]]

472: House of Pancakes

2025-11-25T10:48:33Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF: Small tweak for book accuracy.

{{DISPLAYTITLE:472: House of Pancakes}}
{{comic
| number = 472
| date = September 5, 2008
| title = House of Pancakes
| image = house_of_pancakes.png
| titletext = Fuck it, I'm just going to Waffle House.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] is parodying Mark Z. Danielewski's novel ''{{w|House of Leaves}}'' by renaming it ''House of Pancakes'' (after the American fast food franchise {{w|International House of Pancakes}}). ''House of Leaves'' has an unconventional page layout and style, including the colouring of every instance of the word "house" in blue, as is done on the menu. It includes footnotes within footnotes like Randall did here.

In ''House of Leaves'', protagonist Johnny Truant (whose meta-narration is marked by Courier font as mimicked in the comic) discovers a book called ''The Navidson Record'' (represented here by the pancake menu), which in turn details a film of the same name, which in turn details a horror story of a family living in a sentient house. Truant, who is clearly intelligent and cultured, probes deeper into notating ''The Navidson Record''—and into insomnia—until ''The Navidson Record'' consumes his mind horrifically, the same way the film in the novel consumed the author of ''The Navidson Record'', the same way the house in the novel consumed part of the family.

''House of Leaves'' lends itself to many interpretations, but has been called a "satire of academic criticism," which makes this comic essentially a satire of a satire. Since part of the appeal of ''House of Leaves'' is that it takes itself extremely seriously with its intricacy, multitude of both real and made-up references to academic and popular culture, and layered emotional conflict, Randall's reduction of the ''House of Leaves'' to the (International) House of Pancakes cuts a humorous edge to a dark story. The tone of the comic parodies the tone of ''House of Leaves'': lonely, fear-inducing, and increasingly insane, but using pancakes instead of darkness.

Additionally, the mysterious "Mohawk Girl" referred to in the comic may be a nod to the ''House of Leaves'' character Delial, or to [[147: A Way So Familiar]].

The word "house" is in blue in every instance, which is a stylistic attribute of Mark Z. Danielewski's novel. Every Minotaur reference is marked out in red ink, and every use of "house" or a foreign language's equivalent, such as 'Haus' and 'maison' is in blue. This is not a reference to hyperlinks. It is often thought that the house is printed in blue because houses have 'blueprints.'

The censored portion of the Big Steak Omelette is "...fresh green peppers, onions, mushrooms,..." per IHOP's website for the Big Steak Omelette: "Tender and tasty strips of steak, hash browns, fresh green peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and Cheddar cheese." Also, Omelette is misspelled, but that's probably just a typo.

The title text refers to the {{w|Waffle House}}, another US restaurant chain. The joke is that the protagonist has decided that maybe all this angst isn't worth it, and he'll just go to a different restaurant.

Clicking on the original comic links to the amazon.com page for House of Leaves.

From ''[[xkcd: volume 0]]'':
{{quote|This is a parody of the fascinating book ''House of Leaves''.}}

==Transcript==
:[All instances of the word "House" are in blue. Text is a mix of 'Printed' (hi-res serifed proportional font), 'Typed' (more crude-looking non-proportional serifed font) and 'Written' (freetext, in standard xkcd AllCaps style, having the occasional decoration and emphasis added).]
:[Above the 'frame' is Typed text:] Every day a new city, a new IHOP. And yet every night the dreams get worse. I ply the highways, a nervous eye on the rear-view mirror, the back seat piled with stolen menus. Their doors are opened 24 hours, but forever closed to my soul. This is what my life has become. This is my hell.
:[A bordered frame, in the style of an (illustrated and annotated) menu. We see two columns of product descriptions, three full ones and in each column and a hint of a fourth going beyond the bottom of the frame.]
:[Each clear description generally start with a product name, in bold, and a product description, all in Printed text. To the left of these are an illustrative image which has a barely legible caption seemingly identical to the product namr header, and a stylistic 'angled shadow' set subtly behind it. In each description text there may be at least one footnote-number in superscript and square-brackets. Below each are Typed footnote paragraphs (mostly) relating to the footnote numbers in the above description. Additional scribbles are Written around and alongside the above, as text, doodles and other marks of one type or another.]
:[Menu header:]
::[Sidenote left, Written:] International
::[Printed header:] House of Pancakes
::[Scribbled-out sidenote, Written to the right:] BLOGSPOT

:[Item subheader, top of first column:] Strawberry Banana Pancakes
::[Item description:] Four pancakes filled with sliced fresh banana and crowned with cool strawberry topping, more [17] bananas and [23] whipped topping.
::[Footnote 17, with three smudged fingerprints over parts of this and the top of the next item down (a fourth, perhaps, far to the bottom of the framed area):] Driven by a nameless fear, a whisper in the dark behind me, I flee ahead of I know not what. Whenver I turn, there's nobody behind me. And yet someone is clearly stealing the ketchup. WHY?
::[Footnote 23, sandwiched incongruously and sideways from low to high, mostly between the images of the Stuffed French Toast and Ham and Egg Melt items, to the right:] My life is feeding, fleeing, fighting, and forgetting.

:[Item subheader, second down on left column:] Rooty Jr.
::[Item description, a splash of red (ketchup/blood) within it, further (secondary?) spatters and red marks, possibly including an attempt to create mostly unintelligable letters, spread on or around lower passages:] A kids only [19] version of our house signature Rooty Tooty. One scrambled egg, one strip of bacon, one pork sausage link and one fruit-topped buttermilk pancake.
::[Footnote 19:] The decision not to hyphenate "kids only" is likely connected to the omission of the serial comma. I wonder if the author is British. I wonder if he sleeps at night.

:[Item subheader, third down on left:] Rise 'N Shine
::[Item description:] Two eggs, toast and hash browns served with your choice [21] of two strips of bacon or two pork sausage links.
::[Footnote 21, starting with an small word (possibly (I") made illegible by one of the spatters of red:] rent a storage unit. Sleep there. Fill it with pancakes. Leave.

:[Item subheader, top of right column:] Stuffed French Toast
::[Item description:] Cinnamon raisin French [18] toast stuffed with sweet cream cheese filling, topped with cool strawberry or your choice of fruit compote and whipped topping.
::[Footnote 18:] Nightmares again. I wake up covered in sweat, and what appears to be a thin sheen of maple syrup

:[Inserted text, Written with emphasis and underlined:] WHO IS MOHAWK GIRL?

:[Item header, second down at right, which is sideways (low to high) in the general position that the horizontal text would normally be, next to the normally-set product image:] Ham & Egg Melt
::[Item description, also sideways and consistently 'below' (to the right of) its header:] Grilled sourdough bread stuffed with ham, scrambled eggs, Swiss and American cheeses. [20]
::[Footnote 20, normally orientated and positioned:] Ordered this in at an IHOP in Rochester, New York. There was blood on the floor. Some of it was mine.

:[Small drawn doodle, inserted, of three instances of a Cueball, the middle one holding out an item (gun?) to the right, followed by a ground feature (pool of liquid?)]
::[Written above the second (and third) Cueball:] Enough with your pancakes.
::[Written above the 'pool', two words heavily bolded:] Enough with your GOD DAMN pancakes.

:[Item header, third on the right:] The Big Steak Omlette
::[Item description, a few words of text has been censored by a black strip:] Tender strips of steak, hash browns, [censorship strip, long enough to obscure perhaps 4-6 typical words] tomatoes and Cheddar cheese. Served [22] with house salsa.
::[Footnote 22:] Woke up in Las Vegas. They're closing the Star Trek Experience today. The IHOP up the strip had pancake platters named after various states. None of them sounded like home.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]
[[Category:Footnotes]]

472: House of Pancakes

2025-11-24T18:48:57Z

2A00:23C6:5D52:7C01:4848:E9FF:FE57:78AF: Sticking to the bit. Note that Minotaur references in the book aren't always struck-through, but they are always red.

{{DISPLAYTITLE:472: House of Pancakes}}
{{comic
| number = 472
| date = September 5, 2008
| title = House of Pancakes
| image = house_of_pancakes.png
| titletext = Fuck it, I'm just going to Waffle House.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] is parodying Mark Z. Danielewski's novel ''{{w|House of Leaves}}'' by renaming it ''House of Pancakes'' (after the American fast food franchise {{w|International House of Pancakes}}). ''House of Leaves'' has an unconventional page layout and style, including the colouring of every instance of the word "house" in blue, as is done on the menu. It includes footnotes within footnotes like Randall did here.

In ''House of Leaves'', protagonist Johnny Truant (whose meta-narration is marked by Courier font as mimicked in the comic) discovers a book called ''The Navidson Record'' (represented here by the pancake menu), which in turn details a film of the same name, which in turn details a horror story of a family living in a sentient house. Truant, who is clearly intelligent and cultured, probes deeper into notating ''The Navidson Record''—and into insomnia—until ''The Navidson Record'' consumes his mind horrifically, the same way the film in the novel consumed the author of ''The Navidson Record'', the same way the house in the novel consumed part of the family.

''House of Leaves'' lends itself to many interpretations, but has been called a "satire of academic criticism," which makes this comic essentially a satire of a satire. Since part of the appeal of ''House of Leaves'' is that it takes itself extremely seriously with its intricacy, multitude of both real and made-up references to academic and popular culture, and layered emotional conflict, Randall's reduction of the ''House of Leaves'' to the (International) House of Pancakes cuts a humorous edge to a dark story. The tone of the comic parodies the tone of ''House of Leaves'': lonely, fear-inducing, and increasingly insane, but using pancakes instead of darkness.

Additionally, the mysterious "Mohawk Girl" referred to in the comic may be a nod to the ''House of Leaves'' character Delial, or to [[147: A Way So Familiar]].

The word "house" is in blue in every instance, which is a stylistic attribute of Mark Z. Danielewski's novel. Every Minotaur reference is marked out in red ink, and every use of "house" or a foreign language's equivalent, such as 'Haus' and 'maison' is in blue. This is not a reference to hyperlinks. It is often thought that the house is printed in blue because houses have 'blueprints.'

The censored portion of the Big Steak Omelette is "...fresh green peppers, onions, mushrooms,..." per IHOP's website for the Big Steak Omelette: "Tender and tasty strips of steak, hash browns, fresh green peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and Cheddar cheese." Also, Omelette is misspelled, but that's probably just a typo.

The title text refers to the {{w|Waffle House}}, another US restaurant chain. The joke is that the protagonist has decided that maybe all this angst isn't worth it, and he'll just go to a different restaurant.

Clicking on the original comic links to the amazon.com page for House of Leaves.

From ''[[xkcd: volume 0]]'':
{{quote|This is a parody of the fascinating book ''House of Leaves''.}}

==Transcript==
:[All instances of the word "House" are in blue. Text is a mix of 'Printed' (hi-res serifed proportional font), 'Typed' (more crude-looking non-proportional serifed font) and 'Written' (freetext, in standard xkcd AllCaps style, having the occasional decoration and emphasis added).]
:[Above the 'frame' is Typed text:] Every day a new city, a new IHOP. And yet every night the dreams get worse. I ply the highways, a nervous eye on the rear-view mirror, the back seat piled with stolen menus. Their doors are opened 24 hours, but forever closed to my soul. This is what my life has become. This is my hell.
:[A bordered frame, in the style of an (illustrated and annotated) menu. We see two columns of product descriptions, three full ones and in each column and a hint of a fourth going beyond the bottom of the frame.]
:[Each clear description generally start with a product name, in bold, and a product description, all in Printed text. To the left of these are an illustrative image which has a barely legible caption seemingly identical to the product namr header, and a stylistic 'angled shadow' set subtly behind it. In each description text there may be at least one footnote-number in superscript and square-brackets. Below each are Typed footnote paragraphs (mostly) relating to the footnote numbers in the above description. Additional scribbles are Written around and alongside the above, as text, doodles and other marks of one type or another.]
:[Menu header:]
::[Sidenote left, Written:] International
::[Printed header:] House of Pancakes
::[Scribbled-out sidenote, Written to the right:] BLOGSPOT

:[Item subheader, top of first column:] Strawberry Banana Pancakes
::[Item description:] Four pancakes filled with sliced fresh banana and crowned with cool strawberry topping, more [17] bananas and [23] whipped topping.
::[Footnote 17, with three smudged fingerprints over parts of this and the top of the next item down (a fourth, perhaps, far to the bottom of the framed area):] Driven by a nameless fear, a whisper in the dark behind me, I flee ahead of I know not what. Whenver I turn, there's nobody behind me. And yet someone is clearly stealing the ketchup. WHY?
::[Footnote 23, sandwiched incongruously and sideways from low to high, mostly between the images of the Stuffed French Toast and Ham and Egg Melt items, to the right:] My life is feeding, fleeing, fighting, and forgetting.

:[Item subheader, second down on left column:] Rooty Jr.
::[Item description, a splash of red (ketchup/blood) within it, further (secondary?) spatters and red marks, possibly including an attempt to create mostly unintelligable letters, spread on or around lower passages:] A kids only [19] version of our house signature Rooty Tooty. One scrambled egg, one strip of bacon, one pork sausage link and one fruit-topped buttermilk pancake.
::[Footnote 19:] The decision not to hyphenate "kids only" is likely connected to the omission of the serial comma. I wonder if the author is British. I wonder if he sleeps at night.

:[Item subheader, third down on left:] Rise 'N Shine
::[Item description:] Two eggs, toast and hash browns served with your choice [21] of two strips of bacon or two pork sausage links.
::[Footnote 21, starting with an small word (possibly (I") made illegible by one of the spatters of red:] rent a storage unit. Sleep there. Fill it with pancakes. Leave.

:[Item subheader, top of right column:] Stuffed French Toast
::[Item description:] Cinnamon raisin French [18] toast stuffed with sweet cream cheese filling, topped with cool strawberry or your choice of fruit compote and whipped topping.
::[Footnote 18:] Nightmares again. I wake up covered in sweat, and what appears to be a thin sheen of maple syrup

:[Inserted text, Written with emphasis and underlined:] WHO IS MOHAWK GIRL?

:[Item header, second down at right, which is sideways (low to high) in the general position that the horizontal text would normally be, next to the normally-set product image:] Ham & Egg Melt
::[Item description, also sideways and consistently 'below' (to the right of) its header:] Grilled sourdough bread stuffed with ham, scrambled eggs, Swiss and American cheeses. [20]
::[Footnote 20, normally orientated and positioned:] Ordered this in at an IHOP in Rochester, New York. There was blood on the floor. Some of it was mine.

:[Small drawn doodle, inserted, of three instances of a Cueball, the middle one holding out an item (gun?) to the right, followed by a ground feature (pool of liquid?)]
::[Written above the second (and third) Cueball:] Enough with your pancakes.
::[Written above the 'pool', two words heavily bolded:] Enough with your GOD DAMN pancakes.

:[Item header, third on the right:] The Big Steak Omlette
::[Item description, a few words of text has been censored by a black strip:] Tender strips of steak, hash browns, [censorship strip, long enough to obscure perhaps 4-6 typical words] tomatoes and Cheddar cheese. Served [22] with house salsa.
::[Footnote 22:] Woke up in Las Vegas. They're closing the Star Trek Experience today. The IHOP up the strip had pancake platters named after various states. None of them sounded like home.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]
[[Category:Footnotes]]