explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

User:AP579

2019-03-07T05:08:08Z

AP579: Blanked the page

1273: Tall Infographics

2013-10-05T01:08:14Z

AP579:

{{comic
| number = 1273
| date = October 4, 2013
| title = Tall Infographics
| image = tall_infographics.png
| titletext = 'Big Data' doesn't just mean increasing the font size.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
This comic is a satirical {{w|infographic}}, which is usually used to simplify and help visualize information that would be dreadfully boring otherwise.
[[Randall]] takes this "simplification" to the extreme by making an unhelpful infographic, complete with unnecessary data and ironic and blatant misuse of common graphs and charts. At this point, he is not even simplifying his sentence "By the year 2019, all information will be communicated in this clear and concise format." He makes a sarcastic claim, pointing out how needlessly complicated some infographics make things they are supposed to condense.

In the chart:
* The number 2019 is huge and placed between the numbers 2018 and 2020, which is bordering on extraneous considering that the fact that 2019 precedes 2020 and succeeds 2018 is blindingly obvious.
* The graph of information represented by this format is extrapolated off of and intersects with 100% at 2019. This is a running joke on xkcd and is ridiculous for multiple reasons, as shown in [[1007]] and [[605]]
* A pie chart, with one part labeled "will" and one part labeled "be", which is completely nonsensical as pie charts compare the sizes of two populations, and "will" and "be" are merely words and are not being used as populations.
* "6 years from now" and "72 months" are more blindingly obvious facts
* A corny illustration of [[Megan]] telling [[Hairy]] the word "communicated" and Hairy enthusiastically responding "Yes!" despite the absurdity of the situation
* The word "this" in huge font, and the word "in" with a bracket, taking up an inordinate amount of space.
* A {{w|Venn diagram}}. As anyone who has seen a Venn diagram knows, the two circles are two concepts or qualities, and objects or concepts that fit inside the circles go within. The words "clear and concise" plastered across the Venn diagram have absolutely nothing to do with Venn diagrams.
* The position of the letters in the word "format," which bears no relationship to the meaning of the word itself. The letter T is highlighted in blue and relabeled.

It is also likely that this comic is a send up of the recent trend towards presenting information in tall graphics that are easily viewed on smartphone screens. A tall graphic with the same pixel width as an iPhone, for example, can viewed without zooming and using only vertical scrolling. Another discussion venue for the topic and this comic is [http://gizmodo.com/tall-infographics-suck-1441047853 Gizmodo: Tall Infographics Suck].

The title text mentions the often-hyped term "{{w|big data}}." "Big data" normally refers to the challenges of working with and visualizing a quantity of data which is hard to process using traditional tools and methods. Randall (now speaking unsarcastically) tells us that just because the font size is huge doesn't mean you have handled the big data well.

==Transcript==
:By the year
:(2018)2019(2020)
:All information
:[Graph representing all information]
:6 years from now (72 months)
:[In a pie chart] will be
:Megan: communicated
:Guy in scruffy hair: Yes!
:in THIS
:[In a Venn diagram] clear and concise
:[On the x axis of a bar graph]
:format

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]

1273: Tall Infographics

2013-10-05T01:07:24Z

AP579:

{{comic
| number = 1273
| date = October 4, 2013
| title = Tall Infographics
| image = tall_infographics.png
| titletext = 'Big Data' doesn't just mean increasing the font size.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
This comic is a satirical {{w|infographic}}, which is usually used to simplify and help visualize information that would be dreadfully boring otherwise.
[[Randall]] takes this "simplification" to the extreme by making an unhelpful infographic, complete with unnecessary data and ironic and blatant misuse of common graphs and charts. At this point, he is not even simplifying his sentence "By the year 2019, all information will be communicated in this clear and concise format." He makes a sarcastic claim, pointing out how needlessly complicated some infographics make things they are supposed to condense.

In the chart:
* The number 2019 is huge and placed between the numbers 2018 and 2020, which is bordering on extraneous considering that the fact that 2019 precedes 2020 and succeeds 2018 is blindingly obvious.
* The graph of information represented by this format is extrapolated off of and intersects with 100% at 2019. This is a running joke on xkcd and is ridiculous for multiple reasons, as shown in [[1007]] and
* A pie chart, with one part labeled "will" and one part labeled "be", which is completely nonsensical as pie charts compare the sizes of two populations, and "will" and "be" are merely words and are not being used as populations.
* "6 years from now" and "72 months" are more blindingly obvious facts
* A corny illustration of [[Megan]] telling [[Hairy]] the word "communicated" and Hairy enthusiastically responding "Yes!" despite the absurdity of the situation
* The word "this" in huge font, and the word "in" with a bracket, taking up an inordinate amount of space.
* A {{w|Venn diagram}}. As anyone who has seen a Venn diagram knows, the two circles are two concepts or qualities, and objects or concepts that fit inside the circles go within. The words "clear and concise" plastered across the Venn diagram have absolutely nothing to do with Venn diagrams.
* The position of the letters in the word "format," which bears no relationship to the meaning of the word itself. The letter T is highlighted in blue and relabeled.

It is also likely that this comic is a send up of the recent trend towards presenting information in tall graphics that are easily viewed on smartphone screens. A tall graphic with the same pixel width as an iPhone, for example, can viewed without zooming and using only vertical scrolling. Another discussion venue for the topic and this comic is [http://gizmodo.com/tall-infographics-suck-1441047853 Gizmodo: Tall Infographics Suck].

The title text mentions the often-hyped term "{{w|big data}}." "Big data" normally refers to the challenges of working with and visualizing a quantity of data which is hard to process using traditional tools and methods. Randall (now speaking unsarcastically) tells us that just because the font size is huge doesn't mean you have handled the big data well.

==Transcript==
:By the year
:(2018)2019(2020)
:All information
:[Graph representing all information]
:6 years from now (72 months)
:[In a pie chart] will be
:Megan: communicated
:Guy in scruffy hair: Yes!
:in THIS
:[In a Venn diagram] clear and concise
:[On the x axis of a bar graph]
:format

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]

434: xkcd Goes to the Airport

2013-06-28T00:01:52Z

AP579:

{{comic
| number = 434
| date = June 9, 2008
| title = xkcd Goes to the Airport
| image = xkcd_goes_to_the_airport.png
| titletext = Under three ounces, but it stains panties.
}}

==Explanation==
The various characters of xkcd cause problems at the airport due to their various quirks.

Panel 1: [[Beret Guy]] and [[Megan]] are lost, following each other in a loop. Beret Guy displays his obsession with [[452: Mission|baked goods]], which turns out to be a problem again.

Panel 2: [[Cueball]] tries to carry a lockpick set through security because of this hacker girl (spoofing the incidents where someone has been manipulated into carrying drugs or other contraband by a romantic interest they met on the Internet). The security guard is apparently made uncomfortable by this while Cueball continues rambling.

Panel 3: On the plane, Cueball has been instructed to disable the wireless transmission functionality of his device. Many airports will disable {{w|Mobile phones on aircraft}} as well as devices that transmit information because they may disrupt communication to cellular towers on the ground. However, his laptop is running Linux and he doesn't know how to change the wireless settings; he's reading the manual for the esoteric program that controls the wireless radio. However, this is probably not the ideal situation, as the airplane is pressed to take off.

Panel 4: [[Black Hat]] a container of liquid through security. According to US law, the maximum amount of liquid in a container is three ounces, a security measure taken to prevent terrorists from taking explosives onto planes. When the guard has doubts about the amount of liquid in the vial, Black Hat reveals that the liquid is actually blood from a churchmouse. The guard is visibly uncomfortable and clearly does not want to deal with the issue any further.

The title text continues off the final panel, saying that there are less than three ounces of blood in a churchmouse, but it "stains panties", an undesirable scenario. However, this undesirable scenario is paralleled by the implied undesirable scenario of a terrorist attack due to explosive liquids, the possibility of which caused the law. The title text seems to parody the prospect of an explosion with the relatively insignificant staining of pants.

==Transcript==
:[Standing outside the Airport. There is a sign saying "Airport" and a plane in the background.]
:Megan: Okay, what airline?
:Beret Guy: I'm following you.
:Megan: ...I'm following <u>you</u>.
:Beret Guy: I assumed we were walking to the bakery.
:Megan: You always assume that!
:[Presumably the security checkpoint.]
:Security Guy: Lockpicks? These are... illegal, actually. Where did you get them?
:Cueball: Oh man, it all started with this hacker girl.
:Security Guy: You need to come with -
:Cueball: Sure, sure. But man, let me tell you about her!
[On a plane.]
:Announcement: If your device has a "Transmit" function, please disable it.
:Cueball: Okay - hang on, I'm half way through the iwconfig man page.
[Security checkpoint.]
:Security guy: Sir, is this container under three ounces?
:Black Hat: Not sure, how much blood is there in a churchmouse?
:Security guy: Why don't you just go.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

891: Movie Ages

2013-05-12T05:09:54Z

AP579:

{{comic
| number = 891
| date = April 27, 2011
| title = Movie Ages
| image = movie ages.png
| titletext = If you're 15 or younger, then just remember that it's nevertheless probably too late to be a child prodigy.
}}

==Explanation==
Based on the person you are talking to, take their age on the far left, add "Did you realize that..." add the corresponding movie that is across from their age then "...came out..." add the phrase at the end of row.

E.g. - If a person is 30, then it would go a little something like this "Did you realize that Home Alone came out more than 20 years ago?"

This would make people feel old because certain movies that they felt were close to them are actually aging quickly. In a way, this chart likens the age of the movie to the age of the person, as the person is about 10 years older than the movie, but as movies have shorter "life cycles" and seem to lose glory quickly, it seems that the movie is very old. However, the age at which a movie is accepted to be old is not nearly as large as the age at which a person is accepted to be old, so the person is not actually that old. This makes it seem that the person is far older than they actually are.

And since this chart is designed to make someone feel old, anyone over 35 gets lumped in with "older people," which no one likes.

==Transcript==
:The 2011 Guide to Making People Feel Old
:-Using Movie Release Dates-
:[A chart with 2 columns. First column is labeled 'Their Age,' and is numbered 1 through 35 & 'over 35.' The second column is labeled 'You Say' and is divided into four sub-columns. The first sub-column reads '"Did you realize that...' from 1-35, and the third sub-column says 'Came Out' from 1-35.]
:Age 16: Snakes on a plane ... Half a decade ago?"
:17-19: Revenge of the Sith ... More than half a decade ago?"
:20: Finding Nemo ... Eight years ago?"
:21-22: Shrek ... Ten years ago?"
:23-25: The Matrix ... Not the last decade, but the one before ''that''?"
:26: Toy Story" ... Over fifteen years ago?"
:27: The Lion King ... Seventeen years ago?"
:28: Jurassic Park ... Eighteen years ago?"
:29: Terminator 2 ... Twenty years ago?"
:30-32: Home Alone ... More than twenty years ago?"
:33-35" The Little Mermaid ... Closer to the moon landing than the present day?
:Over 35: "Hey, did you see this chart? You match your age to movie -- oh, right, sorry, it only goes up to 35. I guess it's not really aimed at older people."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]

82: Frame

2013-05-12T04:59:42Z

AP579:

{{comic
| number = 82
| date = March 29, 2006
| title = Frame
| image = frame.jpg
| titletext = ...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
[[Cueball]] is standing in the middle of a square, which starts warping and slowly wrapping around him, then pulling him apart. The title text implies that Randall wasn't being very serious about this comic, or perhaps that it was an idea to creatively use parts of the comic nobody thought about.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands alone in the centre of the panel. Tendrils from the frame develop and grow in panels 1 and 2, wind round him in panel 3, and finally retreat back to the frame, tearing Cueball apart in panel 4.]

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

58: Why Do You Love Me?

2013-05-12T04:15:52Z

AP579:

{{comic
| number = 58
| date = February 1, 2006
| title = Why Do You Love Me?
| image = why_do_you_love_me.jpg
| titletext = Opening dialogue by Scott
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] asks "Why do you love me?" to [[Megan]], a fairly common question that couples ask each other. She responds "My heart never gave me a choice", a seemingly very sentimental, romantic answer. However, she effectively kills the romance of the moment by adding, "I wish it had", indicating that she would rather not have loved Cueball.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan are having a conversation.]
:Cueball: Why do you love me?
:Megan: I don't know; my heart never gave me a chance.

:Cueball: Aww.

:[No dialogue.]

:Megan: I wish it had.

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

849: Complex Conjugate

2013-04-10T19:51:20Z

AP579:

{{comic
| number = 849
| date = January 19th, 2011
| title = Complex Conjugate
| image = complex_conjugate.png
| titletext = Fun fact: if you say this every time a professor does something to a complex-number equation that drops the imaginary part, they'll eventually move the class to another room and tell everyone else except you.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke on the common phrase "Shit just got ''real''", meaning that something has suddenly increased in difficulty so it is now a real challenge. [[Cueball]] is standing in front of a board delivering a lesson, and is about to multiply a wavefunction by its complex conjugate. In mathematics, a complex number has a real part (a) and an imaginary part (b*the {{w|imaginary unit}}). The number can be written as a+bi. The complex conjugate of a number (a+bi) is a-bi. When one multiplies a complex number and its conjugate, the result is (a+bi)(a-bi), which is a^2+b^2. This process yields a number that does not have the imaginary part, making it real, which is a play on the aforementioned phrase. Accordingly, Cueball dictates that the people who are not skilled enough should leave.

The title text states that if you joke about this every time it's applicable, that will be annoying enough that the class will ditch you and attempt to take place in another room.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing at a whiteboard covered in equations, one of which is the time dependent Schrodinger equation.]
:Cueball: Okay, anyone who's feeling like they can't handle the physics here should probably just leave now.

:Cueball: Because I'm multiplying the wavefunction by its complex conjugate.
:Cueball: That's right.

:[Dramatic zoom. It appears the teacher is writing on the side of the panel.]
:Cueball: Shit just got ''real''.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Physics]]

iPad

2013-04-04T01:08:10Z

AP579: Redirected page to 728: iPad

#REDIRECT [[728: iPad]]

728

2013-04-04T01:08:07Z

AP579: Redirected page to 728: iPad

#REDIRECT [[728: iPad]]

728: iPad

2013-04-04T01:08:05Z

AP579: Created page with "{{comic | number = 728 | date = April 16th, 2010 | title = iPad | image = ipad.png | titletext = Maybe we're all gonna die, but we're gonna die in *really cool..."

{{comic
| number = 728
| date = April 16th, 2010
| title = iPad
| image = ipad.png
| titletext = Maybe we're all gonna die, but we're gonna die in *really cool ways*.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]] is entertained by his {{w|iPad}} because messing around with it is so fun and feels futuristic. [[Megan]] tries to bring perspective to him by telling him that his fun is really not so fun because so many exciting and much more impressive things are to come. Cueball still objects, because that makes him feel that he's too easily impressed by trivial things, and says that Megan is spoiling his fun by trying to make his source of entertainment seem less cool.

==Transcript==
[A man is sitting in an armchair, playing with an iPad. A woman is looking over his shoulder.]
Man: Navigating Google Maps on the iPad is fun. It feels so futuristic.
Man: Swoosh! Zoom!

Woman: There are, right now, monkeys controlling robotic arms via neural implants.

Woman: A huge and alien future is barreling toward us. And I can't WAIT.

Woman: But no, your iPad is cool, too.
Man: Stop spoiling my future with your slightly more distant one.

{{comic discussion}}

729: Laser Pointer

2013-04-04T01:00:55Z

AP579: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 729
| date = April 19, 2010
| title = Laser Pointer
| image = laser_pointer.png
| titletext = It's a lasing cat-vity!
}}

==Explanation==
It is common to use a {{w|laser pointer}} as a cat toy because cats are attracted to the dot and attempt (in vain) to catch it in their paws. Only in its dreams can a cat successfully catch and consume the dot. Also, it is only in a dream that this will give it power to shoot lasers from its eyes, and vaporize the taunting human (it is a common joke that cats have no morals and view their humans as subordinates).

The title text makes a pun on {{w|laser cavity}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball points a laser pointer at the floor. A black cat crouches, staring at the red dot.]

:[The cat pounces.]

:[The cat lands with its paw on the dot, claws out.]

:[The cat tugs on the dot.]
:''tug tug''

:[Cueball looks at and tries to use the laser pointer, which is no longer emitting a beam.]
:Cueball: ?? ''click click''
:[The cat nibbles on the red laser dot.]
:Cat: ''lick? nom nom''

:[The cat arches, emitting red shock lines.]

:[The cat shoots lasers out of its eyes at Cueball, who is covered in a bright red glow.]
:''FWOOSH''
:Cueball: AUGH!
:[The right side of the panel is the end of a thought bubble...]

:[The black cat, sleeping, has dreamed the entire strip.]

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

User:AP579

2012-11-16T06:12:09Z

AP579: Created page with "I'm a human being. I also like dodecahedra. Yeah, I'm basically a purist (435) mathematical guy. So I do stuff like this sometimes."

I'm a human being. I also like dodecahedra.

Yeah, I'm basically a purist ([[435]]) mathematical guy. So I do stuff like this sometimes.

User talk:AP579

2012-11-16T06:08:09Z

AP579: /* Odd Transcripts */

==Odd Transcripts==
I think I've figured it out. Randall uses slashes to denote italics (something /like this/ or \like\ that) but when it goes into the transcript engine (whatever back end he's using) it parses the slashes as new lines.

Anyway, welcome to the wiki. Very nice job on your first pages! [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:56, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

Thanks c: I just float around because I tend to find some comics easier to explain than others.
I think the slashes for italics and the problems that arise make sense. Maybe that should be added into the default text for transcriptions, since it definitely confused me, and Randall probably uses quite a bit of italics. [[User:AP579|AP579]] ([[User talk:AP579|talk]]) 06:08, 16 November 2012 (UTC)

853: Consecutive Vowels

2012-11-16T03:00:28Z

AP579:

{{comic
| number = 853
| date = January 28, 2011
| title = Consecutive Vowels
| image = consecutive_vowels.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = But the windows! What if there's a voyeur watchi-- wait, now I'm turned on too.
}}

==Explanation==
After extensive research, [[Cueball]] shows [[Megan]] a chart depicting the relationship between sexual arousal and consecutive vowels, showing that a high amount of consecutive vowels will make someone much more sexually aroused. Megan says she doesn't get it, but Cueball interrupts her with "queueing", a word with 5 consecutive vowels. Megan dramatizes this by immediately asking for sex with "FUCK ME NOW." The title text shows that Cueball is fearful that there may be a voyeur peeking at them, but as "voyeur" has 4 consecutive vowels if "y" is considered a vowel, Cueball is turned on as well.

==Transcript==
He: I was running a factor analysis on this huge database, and check out what it found:
[He holds up the chart.]

[It's a graph plotting "sexual arousal" against "consecutive vowels." The trendline is a smooth exponential curve.]

She: Huh? This chart makes no sense. What--
He: "Queueing"

[She grabs him.]
She: FUCK ME NOW.

==Trivia==
The word "queueing" is not recognized by most spellcheckers, but is a spelling that refers to queueing theory, the study of queues. The present tense of queue should actually be "queuing".

{{comic discussion}}

853: Consecutive Vowels

2012-11-16T02:57:47Z

AP579: Created page with "{{comic | number = 853 | date = January 28, 2011 | title = Consecutive Vowels | image = consecutive_vowels.png | imagesize = | titletext = But the windows! Wh..."

{{comic
| number = 853
| date = January 28, 2011
| title = Consecutive Vowels
| image = consecutive_vowels.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = But the windows! What if there's a voyeur watchi-- wait, now I'm turned on too.
}}

==Explanation==
After extensive research, [[Cueball]] shows [[Megan]] a chart depicting the relationship between sexual arousal and consecutive vowels, showing that a high amount of consecutive vowels will make someone much more sexually aroused. Megan says she doesn't get it, but Cueball interrupts her with "queueing", a word with 5 consecutive vowels. Megan dramatizes this by immediately asking for sex with "FUCK ME NOW." The title text shows that Cueball is fearful that there may be a voyeur peeking at them, but as "voyeur" has 4 consecutive vowels if "y" is considered a vowel, Cueball is turned on as well.

==Transcript==
He: I was running a factor analysis on this huge database, and check out what it found:
[He holds up the chart.]

[It's a graph plotting "sexual arousal" against "consecutive vowels." The trendline is a smooth exponential curve.]

She: Huh? This chart makes no sense. What--
He: "Queueing"

[She grabs him.]
She: FUCK ME NOW.

==Trivia==
The word "queueing" is actually spelled incorrectly. It should be spelled "queuing" instead, meaning that Megan should not have been as turned on as she was with only 4 consecutive vowels.

{{comic discussion}}

849: Complex Conjugate

2012-11-16T02:50:02Z

AP579:

{{comic
| number = 849
| date = January 19th, 2011
| title = Complex Conjugate
| image = complex_conjugate.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Fun fact: if you say this every time a professor does something to a complex-number equation that drops the imaginary part, they'll eventually move the class to another room and tell everyone else except you.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke on the common phrase "Shit just got ''real''", meaning that something has suddenly increased in difficulty so it is now a real challenge. [[Cueball]] is standing in front of a board delivering a lesson, and is about to multiply a wavefunction by its complex conjugate. In mathematics, the product of a complex number and its conjugate removes the imaginary part, effectively making it "real". Accordingly, Cueball dictates that the people who are not skilled enough to leave. The title text states that if you joke about this every time it's applicable, the class will ditch you and attempt to take place in another room.

==Transcript==
:[A teacher is standing at a whiteboard covered in equations.]
:Teacher: Okay, anyone who's feeling like they can't handle the physics here should probably just leave now.

:Teacher: Because I'm multiplying the wavefunction by its complex conjugate.
:Teacher: That's right.

:[Dramatic zoom. It appears the teacher is writing on the side of the panel.]
:Teacher: Shit just got real.
{{comic discussion}}

849: Complex Conjugate

2012-11-16T02:46:10Z

AP579: The transcript is a bit strange. It leaves returns between "got" and "real", and between the "real" and the period. I'm just going to leave it like this for ease of reading.

{{comic
| number = 849
| date = January 19th, 2011
| title = Complex Conjugate
| image = complex_conjugate.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Fun fact: if you say this every time a professor does something to a complex-number equation that drops the imaginary part, they'll eventually move the class to another room and tell everyone else except you.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke on the common phrase "Shit just got ''real''", meaning that something has suddenly increased in difficulty so it is now a real challenge. [[Cueball]] is standing in front of a board delivering a lesson, and is about to multiply a wavefunction by its complex conjugate. In mathematics, the product of a complex number and its conjugate removes the imaginary part, effectively making it "real". Accordingly, Cueball dictates that the people who are not skilled enough to leave.

==Transcript==
:[A teacher is standing at a whiteboard covered in equations.]
:Teacher: Okay, anyone who's feeling like they can't handle the physics here should probably just leave now.

:Teacher: Because I'm multiplying the wavefunction by its complex conjugate.
:Teacher: That's right.

:[Dramatic zoom. It appears the teacher is writing on the side of the panel.]
:Teacher: Shit just got real.
{{comic discussion}}

849: Complex Conjugate

2012-11-16T02:44:52Z

AP579: Created page with "{{comic | number = 849 | date = January 19th, 2011 | title = Complex Conjugate | image = complex_conjugate.png | imagesize = | titletext = Fun fact: if you sa..."

{{comic
| number = 849
| date = January 19th, 2011
| title = Complex Conjugate
| image = complex_conjugate.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Fun fact: if you say this every time a professor does something to a complex-number equation that drops the imaginary part, they'll eventually move the class to another room and tell everyone else except you.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a joke on the common phrase "Shit just got ''real''", meaning that something has suddenly increased in difficulty so it is now a real challenge. [[Cueball]] is standing in front of a board delivering a lesson, and is about to multiply a wavefunction by its complex conjugate. In mathematics, the product of a complex number and its conjugate removes the imaginary part, effectively making it "real". Accordingly, Cueball dictates that the people who are not skilled enough to leave.

==Transcript==
:[A teacher is standing at a whiteboard covered in equations.]
:Teacher: Okay, anyone who's feeling like they can't handle the physics here should probably just leave now.

:Teacher: Because I'm multiplying the wavefunction by its complex conjugate.
:Teacher: That's right.

:[Dramatic zoom. It appears the teacher is writing on the side of the panel.]
:Teacher: Shit just got
:real.
{{comic discussion}}

721: Flatland

2012-09-16T03:49:46Z

AP579: Created page with "{{comic | number = 721 | date = March 31, 2010 | title = Flatland | image = flatland.png | imagesize = | titletext = Also, I apologize for the time I climbed ..."

{{comic
| number = 721
| date = March 31, 2010
| title = Flatland
| image = flatland.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = Also, I apologize for the time I climbed down into your world and everyone freaked out about the lesbian orgy overseen by a priest.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a reference to the satirical novel [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions], in which a society of flat shapes live in a 2D world. The narrator of this novel is a square that is introduced to 3D by a sphere. Cueball appears to have take the place of this sphere, and the comic takes place after the square knows the third dimension exists.

Cueball, a 3D figure, attempted a demo of the 4D game [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miegakure Miegakure], which confused him, even being only one dimension higher. Now he is sympathetic for the square, which he tried to introduce to 3D, which is one dimension higher for the square. The square then accepts his apology.

The joke here is that Cueball was being silly and drew lines on the square to make it look like Spongebob, which did not make the square happy. Cueball apologizes again.

The title text is a third apology for when Cueball crawled down into the second dimension. Being a stick figure, he is comprised of a circle and straight lines. In the book Flatland, a circle is the highest social level, a priest, and all women are lines; thus, to a watcher in flatland, Cueball would look very much like a priest above many connected women, which would look like an orgy between women.

==Transcript==
:[Person encounters a square on the ground.]
:Person: Hey, A. Square. How's Flatland?
:A. Square: Still flat. What's up?
:Person: I just spent an hour playing a demo of this 4D game called Miegakure.
:
:[A character in Miegakure jumps around the 4D landscape.]
:Trying to jump from block to block in four dimensions hurt my brain.
:
:Person: So I apologize for giving you a hard time when you were slow to understand 3D space. I sympathize now.
:A. Square: It's okay.
:
:Person: Also, I apologize for drawing arms, legs, and eyes on you to make you look like Spongebob. That was out of line.
:A. Square: Yes, it was.