1052: Every Major's Terrible

2013-09-06T21:03:39Z

Nightsky:

{{comic
| number = 1052
| date = May 7, 2012
| title = Every Major's Terrible
| image = every_majors_terrible.png
| titletext = Someday I'll be the first to get a Ph. D in 'Undeclared'.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete}}
The header refers to an satiric opera from the 19th century. {{w|Modern Major-General's Song}} is a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. The song satirises the idea of the "modern" educated British Army officer of the latter 19th century. It is one of the most difficult patter songs to perform, due to the fast pace and tongue-twisting nature of the lyrics. Here's a YouTube video of "I Am the Very Model of A Modern Major's General" [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSGWoXDFM64] for those who need to get the tune.

{{w|Major general}} is a military rank in many countries. Here's is Tom Lehrer's Elements.[http://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html] And [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3zAbQ0aMK8 here] is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from Mary Poppins.

The panels are showing a song, some sentences are going over two or more panels. The refrain is like this: "put me down as "undecided" - Every Major's Terrible".

In panel 4, {{w|Methyl acetate}} is the solvent used to remove stamps from their envelope.

In panel 8, {{w|underwater basket weaving}} is a commonly used metaphor for any college major that is easy or worthless.

Panel 13 refers to the inability of {{w|seismology}} to reliably predict catastrophic {{w|earthquake}}s, even after centuries of extensive research.

In panel 14, the formal logic proposition "X ∴ ∃X" says "I say there's this thing called X, therefore, there exists this thing called X".

In panel 15, programming languages, like {{w|Lisp_(programming_language)|Lisp}}, use parenthesis as part of their syntax. Typically, a open parenthesis will be closed with a closing parenthesis. If not the code is not properly formatted for presentation, it can make it difficult for a programmer to determine where the unbalanced parenthesis begins or ends.

In panel 16, virology is the study of infectious diseases. The symbol above the central figure is the biohazard symbol.

In panel 19, {{w|Richard Feynman}} was a 20th-century physicist known for his sense of fun, including being photographed for one of his books while holding a bongo drum.

In panel 20, a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Redirect redirect on Wikipedia] is a page which immediately sends the visitor to a different page. This implies that the title of the first is either a synonym or a sub-topic of the second. Physics majors usually learn to code, and the standard joke is that they invariably get hired as computer programmers after graduation. The Wikipedia page {{w|physics major}} didn't actually exist when this comic was published. It was created the same day, but as a redirect to {{w|physics education}}. In the subsequent days, there were dozens of instances of people changing it to redirect to {{w|engineer}}, usually reverted within minutes.

In panel 25, {{w|supermoon}} and {{w|zodiac}} are terms invented not by astronomers, but rather by early {{w|astrology|astrologists}}.

In panel 26, {{w|agronomy}} is the science of using plants as food or fuel, while the unrelated {{w|agoraphobia}} is the fear of wide open spaces.

In panel 27, {{w|herpetology}} is the study of reptiles, while ophiophobia is the fear of snakes.

In panel 28, as the pun sugests, {{w|gastroenterology}} is the study of the human digestive system.

In panel 29, pre-med is a major chosen by students hoping to go on to medical school and eventually become doctors. Medical school is extremely competitive and usually requires a very high undergraduate GPA for prospective students.

In panel 30, the text is in all lower-case and strangely laid out compared to text in other panels. All lower case and "free" layout are both associated with 20th century "Modernist" poetry, especially the works of {{w|e.e.cummings}}.

In panel 33 and 34, the singer refers to economics. Economists claim that economics is a science like any other; scientists in other fields sometimes disagree.

And {{w|Sophie's Choice}} is any dilemma where choosing one cherished person or thing over the other will result in the death or destruction of the other, derived from the theme of the novel, and has also been turned into a romantic drama film.

From the title text 'Undeclared' is sometimes called "General Studies".

===Trivia===
People of the SFU Choir have done renditions to this xkcd song. See [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seGpYa8UO0E SFU Choir - Every Major's Terrible]. The transcription is also shown at the scenes, so it is more easy to understand the text.

==Transcript==
:Every Major's Terrible
:to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan's
:Modern Major-General Song
:(Which you may know from Tom Lehrer's Elements. If not, just hum Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.)

:Philosophy's just math sans rigor, sense, and practicality
:and Math's just physics unconstrained by precepts of reality.
:A Business Major's just a thing you get so you can graduate
:and Chemistry's for stamp collectors high on methylacetate.
:Why anyone who wants a job would study Lit's a mystery
:unless their only other choice were something like Art History.
:A BA in communications guarantees that you'll achieve
:a little less than if you'd learned to underwater basket-weave
:I'd rather eat a Fowler's toad than major in Biology, RIBBIT (a frog)
:and Social Psych is worse than either Psych or Sociology.
:The thought of picking any one of these is too unbearable.
:Just put me down as "Undecided" - Every Major's Terrible.
:Now, if you can't prognosticate, that's ok in Seismology,
:but if your hindsight's weak as well, you'd best stick to Theology.
:CS will make each day a quest to find a missing close-paren.
:Virology will guarantee you'll never get a hug again.
:I.T. prepares you for a life of fighting with PCs nonstop.
:As Pratchett said, "Geography's just physics slowed with trees on top."
:thought physics seems to promise you a Richard Feynman-like career,
:the wiki page for "Physics Major" redirects to "Engineer."
:They say to study history or find yourself repeating it,
:but all that it prepares you for is forty years of teaching it.
:I recognize my four-year plan's at this point not repairable,
:but put me down as "Undecided" - Every Major's Terrible.
:Astronomers all cringe when they hear "Supermoon" or "Zodiac".
:Agronomy's a no-go; I'm a huge agorophobiac.
:I'm too ophiophobic to consider Herpetology,
:and I can't stomach any part of Gastroenterology.
:While Pre-Med gives you twitchy-eyed obsession with your GPA,
:a poetry degree bespeaks bewildering naivete.
:TV's behind the rush into Forensic Criminology
:(or so claims Meta-academic Epidemiology).
:By dubbing Econ "Dismal science" adherents exaggerate;
:the "Dismal"'s fine - it's "science" where they patently prevaricate.
:In terms of choices, I'd say only Sophie's was comparable.
:Just put me down as "Undecided" - Every Major's Terrible!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Songs]]

301: Limerick

2013-08-02T20:01:11Z

Nightsky: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 301
| date = August 10, 2007
| title = Limerick
| image = limerick.png
| titletext = Fun game: try to post a YouTube comment so stupid that people realize you must be joking. (Hint: this is impossible)
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Slashdot}} is a venerable techie site. As with many sites, the user base can vote comments "up" or "down"; unlike most sites, 1. only moderators--at Slashdot, these are randomly drawn from the pool of registered users--may up- or downvote comments, and 2. the moderator may select a reason for his or her up- or downvote. Instead of a simple +1, a comment may be voted +1 (Funny); instead of -1, -1 (Off-topic). +5 is the maximum positive score. A comment rated +5 (Insightful) has been upvoted at least 5 times, and has a plurality of "Insightful" votes.

[[Cueball]]'s limerick says that he does not like {{w|Slashdot}} anymore, because his sarcastic comments are being treated as "insightful" by the very people he's being sarcastic to.

The title text refers to the notoriously awful comments on YouTube.

In both cases, [[Randall]] is invoking {{w|Poe's Law}}. Both sites have become so full of extremes that you can no longer mock the extremists without looking like a sincere extremist yourself.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sitting at computer, typing.]
:Cueball: I used to find slashdot delightful,
:Cueball: but my feelings of late are more spiteful;
:Cueball: my comments sarcastic
:Cueball: the iconoclastic
:Cueball: keep modding to plus five (Insightful).

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

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1052: Every Major's Terrible

301: Limerick