explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:304: Nighttime Stories

2022-02-27T20:08:45Z

Waddle Deo:

Why is it out of '''six''' books? How was that number reached? Depending on your point of view, it could be out of four (counting only ''Ender's Game'' and the ''Speaker''-''Xenocide''-''Children of the Mind'' trilogy) or nine (if we include the Shadow books, sans ''Shadows Alive'') or eleven (if we include the Earth as-yet-unfinished trilogy) or fourteen (if we include the lesser books like ''A War of Gifts'') or even sixteen if we include the as-yet-unreleased books - but I can't see how someone got six. To do this you'd have to take away part of a series, like only counting ''Ender's Shadow'' and ''Shadow of the Hegemon'', but not the other Shadow books. I guess you could include only the main quartet and the Earth books, but if you're going to include the Earth books why not include some of the others? --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.72|173.245.55.72]] 17:33, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

This is true. At the time of this comic there where only published 4-5 books in the series. The fifth came out in 2007. I have deleted the (out of 6) comment as the 6. came out in 2008 and more have followed since. The important issue is that the three books mentioned are the first three.[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:49, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

I think they wrote out of 6 because there are 6 main books with Ender in them. Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, Ender in Exile, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the mind.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.159|108.162.219.159]] 13:13, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

Xenocide *is* my favorite. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.150|108.162.221.150]] 04:27, 15 August 2015 (UTC)

Part of the joke is that both are fans of the Ender series and should have much in common and to talk about, but Cueball gives up on her before even hearing her explanation. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.11|162.158.92.11]] 14:16, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm more upset that he is implying Speaker for the Dead is any less bad than Xenocide. — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 23:13, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

That's a hot (and bad) take there, Kazvorpal. I question the judgement of someone who implies Speaker for the Dead is bad than someone who calls Xenocide their favorite in the series. I'm just speechless at how bad that opinion is.

C’mon, Children of the mind was way worse. Xenocide. — [[User:Waddle Deo]]

496: Secretary: Part 3

2022-02-21T20:49:12Z

Waddle Deo: Added a citation needed joke

{{comic
| number = 496
| date = October 29, 2008
| title = Secretary: Part 3
| image = secretary part 3.png
| titletext = He actually installed each piece in a different car in the lot, then built a new car in the spot from the displaced pieces. It's a confusing maneuver known as the auto-troll shuffle.
}}

==Explanation==
When a person has been appointed to be on certain positions<ref>https://www.senate.gov/CRSpubs/74919ab6-b407-451c-b429-702e9ae8dcb1.pdf</ref> by the {{w|POTUS|President}}, they must first go through a confirmation hearing in front of the {{w|United States Senate|Senate}} (the upper house of {{w|United States Congress|Congress}}) where they find if the person is qualified to be in the position they have been appointed to. Of course, [[Black Hat]] is not the cleanest of characters, so Congress has a lot of reservations about his {{w|résumé}}.
N.B. When this comic was written, Senate confirmation hearings occurred rapidly after a president made a nomination and were expected to prevent unsuitable candidates from being given positions of power.

*{{w|Starbucks}} is an American coffee shop chain.
**He hasn't yet, but in [[562: Parking]], Black Hat will cut someone's car in half to make it fit in a single space. Not quite as dramatic as completely disassembling a car and, as the title text says, putting a single piece in another car parked in the lot, and building a car out of the displaced parts, which could almost be considered subtle, but it is quite dramatic.
**The title text refers to the Starbucks incident. Taking all the parts from different cars to build a new car in the same spot parallels the idea in philosophy of the {{w|Ship of Theseus}}, in which a question arises of whether a ship is the same ship if it is replaced piece by piece by identical pieces.
*{{w|Charles M. Schulz}} drew a comic called {{w|Peanuts}}. One of the recurring characters was {{w|Snoopy}}, who would often use his doghouse as an imaginary {{w|Sopwith Camel}} in many battles with {{w|Manfred von Richthofen|The Red Baron}}, who piloted a {{w|Fokker Dr.I|Red Fokker}} {{w|Triplane}}.
**The {{w|Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade}} is a parade that happens on {{w|Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving Day}} in the US. There are many giant balloons of pop-culture icons. Snoopy has made many appearances. Being the [[classhole]] that he is, Black Hat has shot up the Snoopy float with a stolen Red Fokker triplane, which would be disturbing, especially to the kids watching the parade, who would get the impression that Snoopy has died. His statement that he "Got three mimes, too" just proves his casual disregard for collateral damage.
*{{w|9/11 Truth movement|9/11 Truthers}} believe that the terrorist attack on the {{w|World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center}} towers on {{w|September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001}} (thus 9/11) was not actually organized by terrorists, but by the United States government. Black Hat interrupts their conspiracy theory gathering, insisting on a comically exaggerated version of this conspiracy theory in which the attacks did not happen ''at all'' and the World Trade Center is presumably still standing. Such a conspiracy is extremely implausible, as it would require either the involvement of every single person to ever set foot in one of the world's largest cities, or some way to conceal a pair of hundred story tall buildings, which would be extremely difficult. Whether Black Hat actually believes this, or is just trying to troll conspiracy theorists, is unknown.
**Black Hat uses a common refrain [[:Category:Sheeple|Wake up, Sheeple]] to insult the senators.
*{{w|RadioShack}} was a chain of consumer electronics shops that sold parts to build electronics with resistors, transistors, etc. Apparently Black Hat managed to build a death ray from the parts there and accidentally vaporized a customer. His line "Figures that'd be the one day that there'd be a customer in the aisle" refers to the fact that RadioShack stores had been in steady decline over the years,{{citation needed}} largely propped up by momentum.
*{{w|Microsoft}} is the company that makes {{w|Microsoft Windows|Windows}}, and {{w|Steve Ballmer}} was its {{w|Chief executive officer|CEO}} until being replaced in 2014 by {{w|Satya Nadella}}. {{w|Windows Vista}} is an {{w|operating system}} released in 2007; it was widely panned by software critics. It is unclear how feeding a squirrel through a fax machine could possibly contribute to winning an argument about it, but given Black Hat's almost superhuman abilities to troll and avoid the consequences, it's possible that it could happen. Alternatively, Ballmer could've left the argument after the incident and Black Hat could simply be interpreting that as a victory.
*{{w|Ruth Bader Ginsburg}} was the second female justice on the {{w|Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court}}, appointed by President Clinton. The relevance here is that during her own confirmation hearings, she refused to answer many questions about her personal views, frustrating many Senators (nevertheless, she was confirmed, 96-3). {{w|John Roberts}}, the current Chief Justice, was similarly evasive in his hearings, citing the "Ginsburg Precedent."
*Black Hat stole a {{w|nuclear submarine}} in xkcd [[405: Journal 3]] to get his hat back from [[Danish]]. However, that one was a Russian submarine, and in 2008 (when this comic was drawn), the US Senate would probably not have held that against a nominee (things might be different in 2020). Perhaps they are indeed referencing that incident, or it could be that he has also stolen an American submarine. Stealing one navy submarine would be impossibly hard; stealing nuclear submarines from not one but two different navies would be practically impossible.
*"Pleading the fifth" is to invoke the {{w|Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment}} of the {{w|United States Bill of Rights}}. Specifically, when someone pleads the fifth, they mean that they cannot be compelled to give testimony against themselves. That is, they do not have to say anything that could be taken as an admission of guilt. The {{w|Third Amendment to the United States Constitution|third amendment}} states that no homeowner has to keep troops of the United States Army in their house against their will. Either Black Hat
**Doesn't understand the 3rd Amendment,
**Just chooses this amendment over the 5th to confuse the committee, who seems to forget the question,
**Believes the nuclear submarine to be his property, and rather than stealing it, he was simply expelling military personnel who were "quartered" in his nuclear sub without his permission, or
**Stole the submarine in order to have a convenient place other than his house to quarter troops

The final panels show Ron Paul's blimp finally approaching Washington DC. The balloon spotted on their radar is presumably piloted by blogger {{w|Cory Doctorow}}, as revealed in the next installment, Secretary: Part 4.

All comics in the [[:Category:Secretary|Secretary]] series are:
*[[494: Secretary: Part 1]]
*[[495: Secretary: Part 2]]
*[[496: Secretary: Part 3]]
*[[497: Secretary: Part 4]]
*[[498: Secretary: Part 5]]

This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.

It is possible that this series is a continuation of [[493: Actuarial]], in which Black Hat demonstrates great power over even Internet trolls via his sociopathic ways. This would explain why Black Hat was chosen as Internet secretary.

==Transcript==
:[The confirmation hearings begin.]
:Senator: It appears you have quite an arrest record.

:Senator: Is it true you completely disassembled someone's car outside a Starbucks?
:Black Hat: It was parked across two spaces.

:Senator: You stole a red Fokker triplane and strafed the snoopy float at the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade?

:Black Hat: Got three mimes, too.

:Senator: You disrupted a 9/11 truth meeting, insisting the Twin Towers never actually collapsed?
:Black Hat: I have evidence! Don't trust the media! Wake up, sheeple!

:Senator: You were fired from Radio Shack after you built a death ray and vaporized a customer?

:Black Hat: I was just testing it! Figures that'd be the one day there was a shopper in the aisle.

:Senator: And you were thrown out of Microsoft headquarters for... trying to feed a squirrel through a fax machine?

:Black Hat: I forgot about that! it was part of an argument with Steve Ballmer about Vista.
::Which I won, by the way.

:[Senators look down at their notes.]

:Senator: This is the worst history of vandalism, gleeful mayhem, and general recalcitrance we've seen in a nominee since Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

:Senator: And this-you stole a nuclear submarine?
:Black Hat: I plead the third.

:Senator: You mean the fifth?
:Black Hat: No, the third.

:Senator: You refuse to quarter troops in your house?
:Black Hat: I have few principles, but I stick to them.

:Meanwhile...
:[Aboard Ron Paul's blimp.]
:Ponytail: We're nearing Washington, sir.
::Wait... There's something ahead on the sensors.

:Ponytail: It's a balloon.
:Ron Paul: ...Oh, no.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Secretary|03]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Secretary]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ron Paul]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
[[Category:Sheeple]]
[[Category:9/11]]

792: Password Reuse

2022-02-20T00:45:51Z

Waddle Deo: Fixed a misspelling.

{{comic
| number = 792
| date = September 13, 2010
| title = Password Reuse
| image = password_reuse.png
| titletext = It'll be hilarious the first few times this happens.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic has three layers: hacking, philosophy, and Google satire.

It starts off on a practical level, with [[Black Hat]] describing to [[Cueball]] a devious social engineering scheme. It relies on the fact that people commonly reuse the same password on multiple websites, and tend to create accounts on new websites somewhat indiscriminately. Thus, one could create a simple Web service to collect users' usernames, email addresses, and passwords. Since many users will reuse this combination on other websites as well, the website owner can try to hack their accounts on other common sites, such as {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}}, {{w|PayPal}} or even people's banks, using the same login information.

In panel 7, the comic suddenly develops a philosophical and ethical bent. Black Hat reveals that he has already carried out step 1, through his numerous unprofitable Web services which he had been running for this very purpose. However, after successfully executing the hack, he realizes that he does not know what to do with all this power.

He reveals that he is already financially self-sufficient, and makes a point that money can't buy happiness once past that point, stating that research has proven this. He could use his power to realize his sadistic pleasures of messing with people, but he's already a serial [[72: Classhole|classhole]] and does not need this information to continue that trend.

If he had any beliefs or ideology, he could use this power to try to spread them. However, he reveals that "since {{w|March_1997#March|March of 1997}}" he doesn't really believe in anything. While he doesn't reveal specifically what in March of 1997 caused this, it could possibly refer to the {{w|Heaven's Gate (religious group)#Mass suicide and aftermath|March 26, 1997 incident}} in San Diego, California, where 39 {{w|Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate}} cultists committed mass suicide at their compound. One of the cultists was the brother of {{w|Nichelle Nichols}} (a {{w|Star Trek}} actress), so the event got a big resonance in nerd circles (and [[Randall]] [[:Category:Star Trek|often references Star Trek]] in xkcd). However, given Black Hat's strange behavior, it could be anything, from {{w|Bill Clinton}} banning federal funding for {{w|human cloning}} research on the fourth, to the launch of {{w|Teletubbies}} on the thirty first. Later, in [[1717: Pyramid Honey]], Black Hat seems to finally find something to believe in.

The dilemma: Black Hat has cleverly executed a hack that has given him a lot of power, but he doesn't know what to do with it.

The last part of the comic now transitions to a satire on how {{w|Google}} has already gone through both the stages described above. It describes how all of Google's free services are simply a ploy to collect and control all the world's information, similar in concept but grander than the hack described in part 1. It satirizes the notion that behind Google's "Don't be evil" motto is actually an end-goal of using their powers eventually for evil. (Google has since removed the motto from their code of conduct, so maybe Randall's on to something...)

However, just like Black Hat, once Google reaches the stage where they are able to capitalize on their powers, the Cueball-like head-executive finds that there is nothing evil left for them to desire, except (as [[Hairbun]] states) make even more money. As they already make a lot of money this ploy is moot, and anything remaining that they wish to do, such as hosting {{w|Call of Duty}} (CoD) tournaments, isn't evil at all.

In the end, the secretary calls dibs on the TV in the lobby in order to play CoD4 on what (one can assume) is a large screen. The Cueball-like executive who wished to implement the evil plan in the first place {{w|facepalm|facepalms}} when he realizes that Google just sucks at being evil.

In the title text, “The first few times this happens” may refer to the weekly CoD4 “tournament.” Alternatively, it could also mean the “first few times” a company decides to turn evil (but then has no idea how). It could also refer to the first couple of times an individual follows through on this plan but fails after the first part due to a lack of planning for the second part.

This comic was directly referenced in the title text of [[1286: Encryptic]].

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is standing to the left behind Cueball, who is sitting in an office chair at his desk working on his computer. A message from the computer is indicated with a zigzag line from the screen.]
:Black Hat: Password entropy is rarely relevant. The real modern danger is password reuse.
:Cueball: How so?
:Computer: <small>Password too weak</small>

:[Zoom in on Black Hat's upper part as he holds a hand up with the palm up.]
:Black Hat: Set up a Web service to do something simple, like image hosting or tweet syndication, so a few million people set up free accounts.

:[Zoom out to Black Hat standing in front of Cueball who has turned in the chair facing Black Hat, the desk is not shown in the panel.]
:Black Hat: Bam, you've got a few million emails, default usernames, and passwords.

:[Only Black Hat is shown as he holds out his arms.]
:Black Hat: Tons of people use one password, strong or not, for most accounts.

:[The next panel is only half the height of the other panels. Above the panel is the text that Black Hat narrates. In the left part of the panel, there is a piece of paper that seems to have been torn off at the bottom resulting in a jagged edge, which could also indicate that it continues further down than shown. On the paper, there are three labeled columns, and below each of them about 18 lines of unreadable sentences (mostly just one word). The @ in the e-mail addresses may be indicated with a larger unreadable sign. To the right a broad line goes right from the paper and splits up in five lines that go up or down ending in five arrows to the right, pointing at five labels.]
:Black Hat (narrating): Use the list and some proxies to try automated logins to the 20 or 30 most popular sites, plus banks and PayPal and such.
:Labels on paper: Email User Pass
:Labels at arrows:
::Banks
::Facebook
::Gmail
::PayPal
::Twitter

:[Same setting as panel 3 but Cueball has taken a hand to his chin.]
:Black Hat: You've now got a few hundred thousand real identities on a few dozen services, and nobody suspects a thing.
:Cueball: And then what?

:[Same setting in a larger panel with more white space to the left, Cueball has his hand down again.]
:Black Hat: Well, that's where I got stuck.
:Cueball: You did this?
:Black Hat: Why do you '''''think''''' I hosted so many unprofitable web services?

:[Zoom in on Black Hat's head now turned towards left.]
:Black Hat: I could probably net in a lot of money, one way or another, if I did things carefully. But research shows more money doesn't make people happier, once they make enough to avoid day-to-day financial stress.

:[Zooming a bit out, but still only showing Black Hat's head in the bottom right corner, again facing right.]
:Black Hat: I could mess with people endlessly, but I do that already. I could get a political or religious idea out to most of the world, but since March of 1997 I don't really believe in anything.

:[This panel is the last in this row, but it does not reach the end of the row above, an indication that this does not directly belong to the panels below. The same setting as panel 3 but Black Hat has his arms out.]
:Black Hat: So, here I sit, a puppetmaster who wants nothing from his puppets.
:Black Hat: It's the same problem Google has.
:Cueball: Oh?

:[This panel is the first in the last row. It does not begin to the left, but has been shifted a bit to the right, just as the last panel above to the right, ended before reaching the right edge of the row above (and this one below). This is to indicate that this is row has a different story. A Cueball-like executive at Google is standing up leaning his arms on a table with Google's logo on the side. His office chair has been pushed to the left behind him and it is partly off-panel. He addresses the other executives at the table, two of which are shown. The first is Hairbun with glasses holding her head with both hands, elbows resting on the table. The other executive is also a Cueball-like guy, his head is partly outside the right edge of the panel. At the top of the panel to the left, there is a small frame breaking the panel's frame, inside which is a caption:]
:Google...
:Cueball executive: Okay, everyone, we control the world's information. Now it's time to turn evil. What's the plan?
:Hairbun: Make boatloads of money?
:Table: Google

:[Only the Cueball-like executive standing at the end of the table is shown, the table is left out. He is face-palming. One of the executives at the table is speaking off-panel. Could be either of the two above or someone not shown before]
:Cueball executive: We already do!
:Executive (off-panel): Set up a companywide CoD4: Modern Warfare tournament each week?
:Cueball executive: ''That's not evil!''
:Executive (off-panel): Ooh, Dibs on the lobby TV!
:Cueball executive: Okay, we ''suck'' at this.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Computer security]]
[[Category:Identity Theft]]

792: Password Reuse

2022-02-20T00:44:33Z

Waddle Deo: I decided to add another thing Black hat could be refreshing to.

{{comic
| number = 792
| date = September 13, 2010
| title = Password Reuse
| image = password_reuse.png
| titletext = It'll be hilarious the first few times this happens.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic has three layers: hacking, philosophy, and Google satire.

It starts off on a practical level, with [[Black Hat]] describing to [[Cueball]] a devious social engineering scheme. It relies on the fact that people commonly reuse the same password on multiple websites, and tend to create accounts on new websites somewhat indiscriminately. Thus, one could create a simple Web service to collect users' usernames, email addresses, and passwords. Since many users will reuse this combination on other websites as well, the website owner can try to hack their accounts on other common sites, such as {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}}, {{w|PayPal}} or even people's banks, using the same login information.

In panel 7, the comic suddenly develops a philosophical and ethical bent. Black Hat reveals that he has already carried out step 1, through his numerous unprofitable Web services which he had been running for this very purpose. However, after successfully executing the hack, he realizes that he does not know what to do with all this power.

He reveals that he is already financially self-sufficient, and makes a point that money can't buy happiness once past that point, stating that research has proven this. He could use his power to realize his sadistic pleasures of messing with people, but he's already a serial [[72: Classhole|classhole]] and does not need this information to continue that trend.

If he had any beliefs or ideology, he could use this power to try to spread them. However, he reveals that "since {{w|March_1997#March|March of 1997}}" he doesn't really believe in anything. While he doesn't reveal specifically what in March of 1997 caused this, it could possibly refer to the {{w|Heaven's Gate (religious group)#Mass suicide and aftermath|March 26, 1997 incident}} in San Diego, California, where 39 {{w|Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate}} cultists committed mass suicide at their compound. One of the cultists was the brother of {{w|Nichelle Nichols}} (a {{w|Star Trek}} actress), so the event got a big resonance in nerd circles (and [[Randall]] [[:Category:Star Trek|often references Star Trek]] in xkcd). However, given Black Hat's strange behavior, it could be anything, from {{w|Bill Clinton}} banning federal funding for {{w|human cloning}} research on the fourth, to the launch of {{w|Teletubbies}} on the thrifty first. Later, in [[1717: Pyramid Honey]], Black Hat seems to finally find something to believe in.

The dilemma: Black Hat has cleverly executed a hack that has given him a lot of power, but he doesn't know what to do with it.

The last part of the comic now transitions to a satire on how {{w|Google}} has already gone through both the stages described above. It describes how all of Google's free services are simply a ploy to collect and control all the world's information, similar in concept but grander than the hack described in part 1. It satirizes the notion that behind Google's "Don't be evil" motto is actually an end-goal of using their powers eventually for evil. (Google has since removed the motto from their code of conduct, so maybe Randall's on to something...)

However, just like Black Hat, once Google reaches the stage where they are able to capitalize on their powers, the Cueball-like head-executive finds that there is nothing evil left for them to desire, except (as [[Hairbun]] states) make even more money. As they already make a lot of money this ploy is moot, and anything remaining that they wish to do, such as hosting {{w|Call of Duty}} (CoD) tournaments, isn't evil at all.

In the end, the secretary calls dibs on the TV in the lobby in order to play CoD4 on what (one can assume) is a large screen. The Cueball-like executive who wished to implement the evil plan in the first place {{w|facepalm|facepalms}} when he realizes that Google just sucks at being evil.

In the title text, “The first few times this happens” may refer to the weekly CoD4 “tournament.” Alternatively, it could also mean the “first few times” a company decides to turn evil (but then has no idea how). It could also refer to the first couple of times an individual follows through on this plan but fails after the first part due to a lack of planning for the second part.

This comic was directly referenced in the title text of [[1286: Encryptic]].

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is standing to the left behind Cueball, who is sitting in an office chair at his desk working on his computer. A message from the computer is indicated with a zigzag line from the screen.]
:Black Hat: Password entropy is rarely relevant. The real modern danger is password reuse.
:Cueball: How so?
:Computer: <small>Password too weak</small>

:[Zoom in on Black Hat's upper part as he holds a hand up with the palm up.]
:Black Hat: Set up a Web service to do something simple, like image hosting or tweet syndication, so a few million people set up free accounts.

:[Zoom out to Black Hat standing in front of Cueball who has turned in the chair facing Black Hat, the desk is not shown in the panel.]
:Black Hat: Bam, you've got a few million emails, default usernames, and passwords.

:[Only Black Hat is shown as he holds out his arms.]
:Black Hat: Tons of people use one password, strong or not, for most accounts.

:[The next panel is only half the height of the other panels. Above the panel is the text that Black Hat narrates. In the left part of the panel, there is a piece of paper that seems to have been torn off at the bottom resulting in a jagged edge, which could also indicate that it continues further down than shown. On the paper, there are three labeled columns, and below each of them about 18 lines of unreadable sentences (mostly just one word). The @ in the e-mail addresses may be indicated with a larger unreadable sign. To the right a broad line goes right from the paper and splits up in five lines that go up or down ending in five arrows to the right, pointing at five labels.]
:Black Hat (narrating): Use the list and some proxies to try automated logins to the 20 or 30 most popular sites, plus banks and PayPal and such.
:Labels on paper: Email User Pass
:Labels at arrows:
::Banks
::Facebook
::Gmail
::PayPal
::Twitter

:[Same setting as panel 3 but Cueball has taken a hand to his chin.]
:Black Hat: You've now got a few hundred thousand real identities on a few dozen services, and nobody suspects a thing.
:Cueball: And then what?

:[Same setting in a larger panel with more white space to the left, Cueball has his hand down again.]
:Black Hat: Well, that's where I got stuck.
:Cueball: You did this?
:Black Hat: Why do you '''''think''''' I hosted so many unprofitable web services?

:[Zoom in on Black Hat's head now turned towards left.]
:Black Hat: I could probably net in a lot of money, one way or another, if I did things carefully. But research shows more money doesn't make people happier, once they make enough to avoid day-to-day financial stress.

:[Zooming a bit out, but still only showing Black Hat's head in the bottom right corner, again facing right.]
:Black Hat: I could mess with people endlessly, but I do that already. I could get a political or religious idea out to most of the world, but since March of 1997 I don't really believe in anything.

:[This panel is the last in this row, but it does not reach the end of the row above, an indication that this does not directly belong to the panels below. The same setting as panel 3 but Black Hat has his arms out.]
:Black Hat: So, here I sit, a puppetmaster who wants nothing from his puppets.
:Black Hat: It's the same problem Google has.
:Cueball: Oh?

:[This panel is the first in the last row. It does not begin to the left, but has been shifted a bit to the right, just as the last panel above to the right, ended before reaching the right edge of the row above (and this one below). This is to indicate that this is row has a different story. A Cueball-like executive at Google is standing up leaning his arms on a table with Google's logo on the side. His office chair has been pushed to the left behind him and it is partly off-panel. He addresses the other executives at the table, two of which are shown. The first is Hairbun with glasses holding her head with both hands, elbows resting on the table. The other executive is also a Cueball-like guy, his head is partly outside the right edge of the panel. At the top of the panel to the left, there is a small frame breaking the panel's frame, inside which is a caption:]
:Google...
:Cueball executive: Okay, everyone, we control the world's information. Now it's time to turn evil. What's the plan?
:Hairbun: Make boatloads of money?
:Table: Google

:[Only the Cueball-like executive standing at the end of the table is shown, the table is left out. He is face-palming. One of the executives at the table is speaking off-panel. Could be either of the two above or someone not shown before]
:Cueball executive: We already do!
:Executive (off-panel): Set up a companywide CoD4: Modern Warfare tournament each week?
:Cueball executive: ''That's not evil!''
:Executive (off-panel): Ooh, Dibs on the lobby TV!
:Cueball executive: Okay, we ''suck'' at this.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Computer security]]
[[Category:Identity Theft]]