{{comic
| number =305
| date =August 20, 2007
| title =Rule 34
| image =rule 34.png
| titletext =Okay, Lance. For entry into the college bowl, spell 'Throbbing'
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is rather surprised to find {{w|slash fiction}} (same-sex erotic fiction) featuring characters from the {{w|Thomas the Tank Engine}} television series, but [[Megan]] isn't remotely surprised, citing {{w|Rule 34 (meme)|Rule 34}}: "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions."

Cueball denies the truism of the rule, coming up with several examples of porn that doesn't exist yet, until he comes across one that they both agree would be pretty hot: Women playing electric guitar in the shower. Megan proceeds to get ahead of the curve by registering [http://WetRiffs.com WetRiffs.com] ({{w|NSFW}}).
By doing this, Megan invoked {{w|Rule 34 (meme)#Variations and corollaries|Rule 35}}, an amendment on rule 34. Rule 35 states: 'If there is not porn of it, porn will be made of it'.

In the title text we can assume that the presenter in a homoerotic spelling bee is asking a male participant with a somewhat phallic name to spell a sexually related term.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Huh-- Thomas the Tank Engine slash fiction.
:Megan: It's rule 34 of the internet. If you can imagine it, there is porn of it.
:Cueball: Nah. The web is freaky, but it can't begin to have everything.
:Cueball: There's no porn set atop storm-chasing vans. No homoerotic spelling bees. No women playing electric guitar in the shower.
:Megan: Actually, that last one would look pretty hot. As long as they were unplugged or waterproofed...
:Megan: Rivulets of water run down her chest, the smooth body of the guitar firm against her hips.
:Megan: She twangs the E-string and it shakes off tiny droplets in all directions.
:[She rises into a crouch.]
:Megan: You're sure it doesn't exist?
:Cueball: Not yet.
:Megan: I'm registering WetRiffs.com. Let's get on this.

==Trivia==
*Randall actually ''did'' register [http://wetriffs.com Wetriffs.com] (archive [http://web.archive.org/web/20130518191217/http://wetriffs.com/ here]), and people submitted pictures of themselves in the shower holding electric guitars. Randall would later create a tumblr page called "[http://raccoonsexdungeon.tumblr.com Raccoon Sex Dungeon]" to coincide with Cueball referencing it in [[1025: Tumblr]].
*When referencing a fictional website on a webcomic, TV series or other form of media, it's generally a good idea to create the website yourself so that you can control the content and protect yourself from getting sued because someone got there first and flooded it with inappropriate, even harmful material.
*Since this comic, there had been actual Rule 34 on homoerotic spelling bees. [https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=8430 1] [http://blackmothfic.twonth.com/snitches.html 2].

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

Talk:305: Rule 34

2014-05-27T09:20:32Z

Alex:

2014-05-04T14:22:09Z

Alex: /* Explanation */

{{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). {{w|Red Hat}} is the company behind {{w|Fedora Linux}} and {{w|RHEL}}.

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 etc.). Some companies/foundations, while not needing these developers, can greatly benefit from a community-maintained 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, both companies have opted to hire Hitch-like advisors to give them intentionally bad dating advice, thus sabotaging their relationship before it could become distracting: The man is advised to criticize his date in an attempt to appear more intelligent (something very unlikely to work, but nonetheless attempted by some men), and in the title text, we learn that the woman is being similarly advised to watch lots of romantic comedies (bad advice because stereotypically guys do not love those).

==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 from 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]]

305: Rule 34

2014-05-04T13:51:44Z

Alex: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number =305
| date =August 20, 2007
| title =Rule 34
| image =rule 34.png
| titletext =Okay, Lance. For entry into the college bowl, spell 'Throbbing'
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is rather surprised to find {{w|slash fiction}} (same-sex erotic fiction) featuring characters from the {{w|Thomas the Tank Engine}} television series, but [[Megan]] isn't remotely surprised, citing {{w|Rule 34 (meme)|Rule 34}}: "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions."

Cueball denies the truism of the rule, coming up with several examples of porn that doesn't exist yet, until he comes across one that they both agree would be pretty hot: Women playing electric guitar in the shower. Megan proceeds to get ahead of the curve by registering [http://WetRiffs.com WetRiffs.com] ({{w|NSFW}}).
By doing this, Megan invoked {{w|Rule 34 (meme)#Variations and corollaries|Rule 35}}, an amendment on rule 34. Rule 35 states: 'If there is not porn of it, porn will be made of it'.

In the title text we can assume that the presenter in a homoerotic spelling bee is asking a male participant with a somewhat phallic name to spell a sexually related term.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Huh-- Thomas the Tank Engine slash fiction.
:Megan: It's rule 34 of the internet. If you can imagine it, there is porn of it.
:Cueball: Nah. The web is freaky, but it can't begin to have everything.
:Cueball: There's no porn set atop storm-chasing vans. No homoerotic spelling bees. No women playing electric guitar in the shower.
:Megan: Actually, that last one would look pretty hot. As long as they were unplugged or waterproofed...
:Megan: Rivulets of water run down her chest, the smooth body of the guitar firm against her hips.
:Megan: She twangs the E-string and it shakes off tiny droplets in all directions.
:[She rises into a crouch.]
:Megan: You're sure it doesn't exist?
:Cueball: Not yet.
:Megan: I'm registering WetRiffs.com. Let's get on this.

==Trivia==
*Randall actually ''did'' register [http://wetriffs.com Wetriffs.com] (archive [http://web.archive.org/web/20130518191217/http://wetriffs.com/ here]), and people submitted pictures of themselves in the shower holding electric guitars. Randall would later create a tumblr page called "[http://raccoonsexdungeon.tumblr.com Raccoon Sex Dungeon]" to coincide with Cueball referencing it in [[1025: Tumblr]].
*When referencing a fictional website on a webcomic, TV series or other form of media, it's generally a good idea to create the website yourself so that you can control the content and protect yourself from getting sued because someone got there first and flooded it with inappropriate, even harmful material.
*Since this comic, there had been actual Rule 34 on homoerotic spelling bees. [https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=8430 1] [http://blackmothfic.twonth.com/snitches.html 2].

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

2014-04-16T11:37:35Z

Alex:

{{comic
| number = 53
| date = January 25, 2006
| title = Hobby
| image = hobby.jpg
| titletext = The only one of these games I really played was Area 51
}}

==Explanation==
This is the second in the "[[My Hobby]]" series of ''[[xkcd]]'' comics. In this comic, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] describes a rather silly "hobby" which references a common video game mechanism. In some video games that involved the player harming enemies (whether the player is a police officer or some other character), there is sometimes a penalty for harming "good guys" or innocent bystanders. In score-based games, this is usually in the form of a deduction from the player's score. In some games, these innocent bystanders have a tendency to leap out suicidally, as the game is trying to encourage the player to shoot them and thus lose points.

Randall suggests that his hobby is going to drug busts (where police officers surprise suspects in the midst of drug usage or drug deals in order to catch them in the act and arrest them). Drug busts are usually depicted as a large number of police officers with weapons drawn barging into a room or speeding up to an alley or a parked car. If the police witnessed a person jumping out, they might be startled and accidentally react by reflex and shoot that person (although in theory police officers are not supposed to open fire until they have identified the target as a potential threat). The comic image suggests the police would lose 100 points for such an act. Obviously, doing this in real life would be a really bad idea, as the hobbyist would quickly be killed.

The title text refers to the game "{{w|Area 51 (1995 video game)|Area 51}}" which was a popular shooter arcade game from 1995 (although a console/PC game {{w|Area 51 (2005 video game)|of the same name}} was released in 2005) which was one of many cabinet arcade games which featured a light gun which allowed players to aim at the screen and shoot in a realistic control mechanic. The title text suggests that the comic may be referring to these light gun cabinet games specifically in the comic, although the premise applies equally to first person shooters of any type (and even other game genres).

==Transcript==
:My hobby:
:When the police bust drug hideouts, I sneak in and hide. Then I jump out and startle them into shooting me so they lose points.
:[A dead body on the ground in a pool of blood, with "-100" over it.]

==Trivia==
*The original title on livejournal was "My Hobby"
*This is the fifty-first comic originally posted to livejournal. The previous comic was [[52: Secret Worlds]], the next is [[55: Useless]].
*The title text of [[188: Reload]] references this strip.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]