explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1054: The Bacon

2017-10-23T12:30:16Z

Wikiiscool123:

A doc
White Hat's wife will not have her job for long. {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.69}}

Suggest marking as incomplete. Source is Wikipedia? Is there someone who has more familiarity with opioids who can comment? And what's the purpose of the title text? Stating it's incorrect does very little to explain the joke (which I don't really get). [[User:Wikiiscool123|Wikiiscool123]] ([[User talk:Wikiiscool123|talk]]) 12:30, 23 October 2017 (UTC)

Talk:1054: The Bacon

2017-10-23T12:29:57Z

Wikiiscool123:

1712: Politifact

2016-07-30T22:32:57Z

Wikiiscool123: /* Explanation */has a smoke bomb*

{{comic
| number = 1712
| date = July 27, 2016
| title = Politifact
| image = politifact.png
| titletext = "Ok, I lit the smoke bomb and rolled it under the bed. Let's see if it--" ::FWOOOSH:: "Politifact says: PANTS ON FIRE!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Updated slightly, could probably use further overseeing.}}

The website {{w|PolitiFact}} rates political claims based on how true they are. The rulings from the Truth-O-Meter™ at PolitiFact are:
*True
*Mostly True
*Half-True
*Mostly False
*False
*Pants on Fire!

This comic presents a woman pretending to come from PolitiFact.com, annoying people (in this case especially [[Megan]], but also her living partner [[Cueball]]), by rating everything they say on the Truth-O-Meter. When Megan, apparently just having gotten out of bed, says she had trouble sleeping, the PolitiFact.com woman (called PolitiFact from now on) appears at an open window and observes (directly to Megan's face) that she is telling the truth with the rating of "''Mostly True!''" (So according to PolitiFact she did not sleep well most of the night, but may have slept OK for some parts of the night...)

Megan appears distressed, which is not improved when PolitiFact enters their house through the window, which caused Megan to chase after PolitiFact. They run by Cueball whose comment makes it clear that this is not the first time PolitiFact has been in their house like this, and he tells PolitiFact to get out. Megan even swears she had locked the window, which would imply that PolitiFact had opened a locked window (breaking and entering), but PolitiFact denies the claim with the rating of "''False!''", indicating that the window was not locked (not that this makes it acceptable to enter other peoples houses).

After the chase, PolitiFact ends up hiding under the couples bed; Cueball's claim that Politifact "can't stay under there forever" is promptly rated "''False''". Megan remarks, however, that no one likes Politifact, is rated "''Mostly True!''" This indicated that PolitiFact actually knows that what she/they do annoy most people, but she/they keep on doing it anyway.

The comic may be commenting on the fact that many people become very defensive when claims they make in political discussions are debunked by PolitiFact.com. There is a phenomenon where the people most influenced by an erroneous claim are the least likely to believe a fact checker. For example, The Washington Post [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/12/18/what-was-fake-on-the-internet-this-week-why-this-is-the-final-column/ shut down their internet rumor fact checker] because, "institutional distrust is so high right now, and cognitive bias so strong always, that the people who fall for hoax news stories are frequently only interested in consuming information that conforms with their views — even when it's demonstrably fake." Many people like the idea of a fact checker, until they disagree with it.

PolitiFact.com has been accused of being both [http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/03/14/mostly-true-ted-cruz-attack-proves-politifact-is-run-by-gigantic-assholes/ liberally biased] and [http://www.rifuture.org/politifact-ri-once-again-shows-right-wing-bias.html conservatively biased] at various times and has angered politicians on both sides of the aisle. The summary statistic "rulings" are especially troublesome; often the critics will agree that the information presented by the fact check is correct, and may agree that all relevant information has been included, but will disagree as to the importance of context omitted by the original speaker or the interpretation of ambiguous language. Hence, the statement that no one likes PolitiFact is "mostly true".

The title text makes a play on PolitiFact.com's most untrue rating, "Pants on Fire!" - a reference to the childhood accusation "{{w|Pants on Fire|Liar, liar, pants on fire!}}"

As it is very likely that Cueball has a {{w|smoke bomb}} on his person, as shown in another comic with Megan and Cueball as a couple, see [[486: I am Not a Ninja]], it will below be assumed that he says the first line in the title text. But it could also have been Megan, who seems even more eager to smoke PolitiFact out. She could have borrowed the one Cueball has...

In the title text Cueball says that he lit a {{w|smoke bomb}} and rolled it under the bed near PolitiFact. When it goes off it was apparently near enough to ignite PolitiFact's pants - thus, PolitiFact's pants are ''literally'' on fire and she yells "PANTS ON FIRE!".

Alternatively (but maybe less likely?) Cueball just says this out loud (he could even roll something other that is not a bomb in under the bed) and maybe he himself makes the loud FWOOOSH sound to represent the bomb going off. Then he would be telling an outright lie and that would be rated as "Pants on Fire!" as well.

The fact that PolitiFact seems to yell it could be interpreted to fit better with real pants on fire, but if Cueball tries so desperately to "smoke" her out, that he lies about a smoke bomb, she might also choose to yell "PANTS ON FIRE!" out loud. Maybe it is intended that both interpretations should be possible.

It may be a coincidence, but the fact that PolitiFact.com was {{w|PolitiFact.com#Reception|rewarded}} the {{w|Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting}} in 2009 for work done already in their first full year of work (after it was started in August 2007), and that this comic was released right after [[1711: Snapchat]] that mocks the strange prize categories of the {{w|Pulitzer Prize}} seems related. National Reporting is probably also not one of the best known categories, although it may rank above the [[1711: Snapchat|Pulitzer Prize for Snapchat]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan with messy morning hair is walking right and rubs her eyes.]
:Megan: I did ''not'' sleep well last night.

:[A woman with hair like Megan (but a bit longer) wearing a white hat with brim and a small card attached to the hat (like a press card) crawls up on the pane of an open window. She begins all her sentences with the word PolitiFact. When she shays this it is written in the color and style of the PolitiFact.com logo with blue ''Politi'' and red ''Fact''. Megan has just walked past the window and has turned to look at the woman. She is still holding one hand up and her hair is still messy.]
:PolitiFact: PolitiFact says ''mostly true!''
:Megan: Oh no...

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball is walking right, while Megan, arms stretched out and hair flowing behind her, runs by him chasing PolitiFact who is running with a hand up to hold her hat in placehair also flowing behind her.]
:Cueball: Not again. Get out of here, PolitiFact!
:Megan: I '''''swear''''' I locked that window.
:PolitiFact: PolitiFact says: ''False!''

:[Cueball and Megan looking downwards are standing at the foot of a well made bed with two pillows, and the bedsheets drawn tight. PolitiFact's voice emanates from a starburst at the edge of the shadow under the bed.]
:Cueball: You can't stay under there forever.
:PolitiFact (voice from under bed): PolitiFact says: ''False!''
:Megan: Nobody likes you, Politifact.
:PolitiFact: PolitiFact says: ''Mostly true!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]
[[Category:Politics]]

1584: Moments of Inspiration

2015-10-01T14:20:41Z

Wikiiscool123: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1584
| date = September 30, 2015
| title = Moments of Inspiration
| image = moments_of_inspiration.png
| titletext = Charles, I just talked to John and Mildred, who run that company selling seeds and nuts, and their kids with MOUTHS are starving!
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Isaac Newton}}'s original examples describing the {{w|Newton's law of universal gravitation|force of gravity}} show an apple falling from a tree in order to explain why the apple falls toward the Earth, instead of the Earth falling toward the apple. He was indeed inspired by a {{w|Isaac_Newton#Apple_incident|falling apple}} but over time this developed into the legend that he was originally inspired from being actually struck by an apple. The first part of this comic retells that famous legend. The later panels depict similar (but more implausible) legends that could emerge if we were to assume that other scientists' most famous examples and discoveries were based on actually observing some mundane everyday event taking place.

In the first situation we not only see the apple fall on Newton's head, we also see the Moon. This was one of the first astronomical objects on which he used his theory of gravity. He calculated its orbit around the Earth and found that it fit with the theory.

In the second situation Cueball throws a baseball towards {{w|Lise Meitner}}, but when she fails to catch the ball it hits one of her porcelain model-atoms. In this way Meitner discovered a way to split the atom. Cueball may represent {{w|Otto Hahn}}, since they were part of the Hahn-Meitner-Strassmann team that worked on this problem. Hahn was later awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, where Meitner was overlooked. Throwing something at someone and asking them to [http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/think-fast-throwing-something.1984437/ think fast] is a common "joke", where the receiver rarely has a chance to actually catch the object. But in this case it could also be a reference to the fact that she then thought fast then made a major discovery. Or if it is Hahn, then he thought faster and got the award instead of her. The porcelain models might also be a reference to {{w|Meissen porcelain}}, in German called "Meißner Porzellan", where "Meißner" is phonetically very similar to "Meitner". (Meitner has previously been mentioned in the comic [[896: Marie Curie]], which more or less explains why [[Randall]] did not choose the more famous {{w|Marie Curie}} as the female example in this comic. Meitner is not very well known in the public, compared to the three men or Curie, but this may exactly be the point for choosing her. She should have been just as famous considering what splitting the atoms has been {{w|Nuclear weapon|leading to}}!)

In the third situation it is indicated that half of {{w|Charles Darwin}}'s children had {{w|beaks}}. This would make it very difficult for them to drink soda from a glass or through a straw, compared to his normal children with mouths. Based on this assumption he developed his ideas about natural selection and {{w|evolution}}. (The comic is unclear on whether this makes them more or less fit to survive and reproduce). This is a reference to Darwin's initial findings on the {{w|HMS Beagle}} on how {{w|Galapagos}} {{w|finches}} with differently shaped beaks are better suited for specific types of food, and therefore are better selected for in environments where those foods are available. (The title text furthers this, see below). After having learned about genes from Mendel's works, Darwin later in life regretted having married his cousin, as consanguinity would increase the chances that his children would be born with birth defects, as it ultimately happened. The difficulty caused by beaks when drinking liquids could be a reference to this Aesop's fable {{w|The Fox and the Stork}}.

In the fourth situation {{w|Albert Einstein}} remarks to a man that it's annoying that the man's twin brother keeps flashing a light from a train when Einstein is trying to check his clock. He then comes to a sudden revelation. This references several of Einstein's (separate—it makes little sense together in this manner) thought experiments on {{w|special relativity}}, such as the {{w|twin paradox}} (the twin on the train should be younger after decelerating to a stop), the time between separate flashes of light, and the {{w|time dilation}} experienced by the observer in the moving {{w|frame of reference}}.

In the title text there is a description of how beaks rather than mouths are more useful when the foods have shells that need to be cracked open like nuts and seeds. Here it is clear than in the John and Mildred family you starve if you cannot eat the bird food, and thus it would be an advantage to have a beak for survival instead of a normal mouth. "John" and "Mildred" may be Mildred and {{w|John T. Scopes}} of the famous 1925 "{{w|Scopes Trial|monkey trial}}" in which John was fined $100 for teaching evolution in a Tennessee school.

==Transcript==
:[Isaac Newton, with curly long hair, sits under a tree. A waning crescent moon can be seen. An apple falls and hits him on the head. There is a caption in a frame that breaks the top border of the main frame:]
:Isaac Newton
:Apple falling: Bonk
:Isaac Newton: ''Ow!''

:[Isaac Newton rubs his sore head.]
:Isaac Newton: Aha!

:[Cueball throws a baseball towards Lise Meitner with short dark hair. (The ball can be seen in the next frame). She turns towards him too late to react and completely fails to even try catching the ball. There is a caption in a frame that breaks the top border of the main frame:]
:Lise Meitner
:Cueball: Hey Lise! Think fast!
:Ball hitting something (off-screen): Crash

:[Lise takes her hands to her mouth and she watches the broken porcelain atom lying in two pieces on the floor where it has fallen of a desk. On the desk three other intact atoms can be seen. The baseball lies behind her.]
:Lise Meitner: Oh no! My collection of porcelain atoms!
:Lise Meitner:...Hmm.

:[Four kids are standing in front of Megan and Charles Darwin (with a big beard and hair behind the ears). All the kids are trying to drink a glass of soda with a straw in them. The first kid is a boy with dark flat hair and sips soda through the straw with his mouth. The next kid is a boy with standing black hair, he tries in wain to drink with his beak open on each side of the glass. The third kid is a girl with her hair in a bun. She tries to get her beak into the glass which she has put on the floor. The last kid is a boy version of Cueball who slurps his soda through the straw. There is a caption in a frame that breaks the top border of the main frame:]
:Charles Darwin
:Megan: I gave our kids soda, but the ones with beaks always have trouble drinking it.
:Charles Darwin: I've noticed that...
:Boy with flat dark hair: Sip sip
:Boy with standing black hair and a beak: Crunch
:Girl with her hair in a bun and a beak: Peck peck
:Cueball like kid: Sluurp

:[A hairy guy is standing in front of Albert Einstein (with wild hair and a moustache), who is holding one hand to his head and has a clock in his other hand. Behind them is a train, with a locomotive at the front and a wagon behind that stretches beyond the frame. Another hairy guy has his head out of the front window of the wagon and is flashing a light towards the other two. In the next three windows can be seen passengers, two with Cueball like heads and one with hair. There is a caption in a frame that breaks the top border of the main frame:]
:Albert Einstein
:Albert Einstein: I wish your twin brother would stop shining lights at us from that train. I can barely see my clock!
:Albert Einstein: ...Wait!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Biology]]

453: Upcoming Hurricanes

2015-08-22T20:57:12Z

Wikiiscool123: /* Explanation */deleted reference to trivia section for Hurricane Cos(x); it's been months and that section still doesn't exist.

{{comic
| number = 453
| date = July 23, 2008
| title = Upcoming Hurricanes
| image = upcoming_hurricanes.png
| titletext = I'd like to see more damage assessments for hurricanes hitting New York and flooding Manhattan -- something like the 1938 Long Island Express, but aimed a bit more to the west. It's just a matter of time.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic gives ludicrous and ironic upcoming {{w|Tropical cyclone|hurricane}} paths on an unlabelled map of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas Americas] that shows the region roughly between central {{w|Canada}} and northern {{w|Brazil}}. Blue and red dotted lines indicate the future hurricane paths.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Hurricane Name
! Details
|-
| Hurricane Where-The-Hell-Is-Bermuda
| Enters from the east side of the map, wanders around the {{w|Atlantic Ocean}} in a scribble that seems to take the shape of an {{w|Ampersand}}. This may be a reference to Dwarf Fortress. Then it goes north for a while, and then peters out without entering the {{w|Bermuda Triangle}}. The Bermuda Triangle is a location in the Atlantic Ocean loosely framed by the three corners {{w|Bermuda}}, {{w|Miami}} and {{w|Puerto Rico}}. The myth is that (too) many ships and planes get lost once they enter inside the area of this triangle and disappear without a trace. In this case the hurricane gets lost before entering and can't even find the triangle.
|-
| Hurricane Illinois-Has-It-Too-Easy
| Comes from somewhere to the north-west, goes through {{w|Illinois}}, and then back to the north-west. This hurricane, while actually impossible, comes from Canada to strike {{w|Chicago}}, Illinois, before heading back to Canada. As hurricanes never hits Illinois this particular hurricane "think" they have too easy a time in this particular state. Interestingly enough, (though it did not affect the Chicago area or correspond with the path displayed in the comic), roughly one year later a {{w|Derecho|Super derecho}}, a storm resembling a hurricane or tropical storm in movement and form, {{w|May 2009 Southern Midwest derecho|struck}} central and South Illinois, in addition to much of {{w|Missouri}} and {{w|Kansas}}.
|-
| Hurricane Freud
| Refers to {{w|Sigmund Freud}}, who believed that accidental sexual expression was a reflection of the unconscious mind's sexual desires. The hurricane's path forms a pair of testicles beside Florida. Florida, due to its shape and location, can be said to resemble a penis, and the hurricane's shape and position exemplify Freud's ideas.
|-
| Hurricane Screw-It-Let's-Just-Trash-Florida-Again
| Comes from the east, starts to curve to the north, and then turns sharply to head straight for Florida and zigzag through it four times before dying out. Sticking out from the rest of the US, Florida is prone to hurricanes from the East, South, and West. And with the state not being very high or wide, it is common for a hurricane to run over Florida, lose some strength, then rebuild strength over the hot waters in the Gulf of Mexico, only to do a U-turn and strike again. This is not exactly what happens with this particular hurricane, where it turns out into the Atlantic Ocean again each time. Just proving that its only wish was to strike Florida!
|-
| Hurricane Red and Hurricane Blue
| Blue is the only hurricane path drawn in blue. The two hurricanes are playing a game zipping in straight lines and right angles around {{w|Haiti}}, {{w|Jamaica}}, and {{w|Cuba}}. When ''Red'' successfully cuts off ''Blue'', the latter instantly dies, and then ''Red'' dies shortly thereafter. The game they play is the game of {{w|Tron_(video_game)#Light_Cycles|Light Cycles}} from the {{w|Tron_(video_game)|video game}} based on the movie {{w|Tron}}. ''Hurricane Blue'' lost because it crashed into the wall of light left by ''Hurricane Red's'' {{w|Light_Cycle#Light_cycles|light cycle}}.
|-
| Hurricane Cos(x)
| Forms a curve in the shape of a {{w|sinusoid}} above the bottom edge of the map. Its path resembles a {{w|sine}} wave. This kind of {{w|trigonometric functions}} can, however, both be expressed as sin(x) or cos(x), the latter being a {{w|cosine wave}}. They look exactly the same when there is no clearly defined coordinate system as in this case.
|}

The title text refers to the {{w|1938 New England hurricane}} (also known as the Long Island Express), that caused $4.7 billion in damage. Had it been further west it could have caused more damage as the right side of a hurricane is stronger and more destructive than the left side as the winds on the right side push water inland. [[Randall]] asks for more damage assessments for such a hurricane that would be able to flood {{w|Manhattan}} in {{w|New York}}. Only four years after this cartoon was published, making it almost prophetic, {{w|Hurricane Sandy}} did strike the {{w|New York metropolitan area|New York–New Jersey area}} as a {{w|post-tropical cyclone}} storm. Hurricane Sandy caused an estimated $74 billion in damage.

The 1938 hurricane is also [[980:_Money/Transcript#Disasters|referenced]] in [[980: Money]] where it is calculated that it would have caused $78 billion had it happened in 2011. However, if that hurricane had taken the same turn as Sandy did, the cost today could have been a staggering $237 billion.

==Transcript==
:[An unlabelled map shows the region roughly between central Canada and northern Brazil. Dotted lines indicating hurricane paths cover the map, all red except Hurricane Blue which is blue. Each line is labelled - here follows the labels as they appear from the top and down:]
:Hurricane Where-the-Hell-Is-Bermuda
:Hurricane Illinois-Has-It-Too-Easy
:Hurricane Freud
:Hurricane Screw-It-Let's-Just-Trash-Florida-Again
:Hurricane Red
:Hurricane Blue
:Hurricane cos(x)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Penis]]

345: 1337: Part 5

2015-06-14T01:55:56Z

Wikiiscool123: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 345
| date = November 16, 2007
| title = 1337: Part 5
| image = 1337_part_5.png
| titletext = This digital music thing will probably reach its endgame sometime in the next decade or so. These are very exciting times.
}}

==Explanation==

{{w|Richard Stallman}} is the ardent defender of freedom and believer in {{w|copyleft}}, he also founded the {{w|GNU Project}}. (He is not really a swordfighter.)

{{w|Cory Doctorow}} is a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the weblog {{w|Boing Boing}}. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the {{w|Creative Commons}} organization. He does not really travel around in a balloon or (usually) wear a red cape, but Randall introduced this idea in [[239: Blagofaire]] and has continued it in later [[:Category:Comics_featuring_Cory_Doctorow|comics featuring Cory Doctorow]].

{{w|Blogosphere}} is a name used to refer to all blogs on the Internet, many of which frequently link to and refer to other blogs. Here, the Stallman character talks about it as though it were a portion of the atmosphere.

Blogs often label posts with keywords, known as tags. A {{w|Tag cloud}} is a way of displaying the tags on a site where the more common tags appear in larger type than less-common ones. It has no relationship to actual water vapor clouds in the sky, but in the comic, the Doctorow character suggests that tag clouds are actually in the air, below the new blogosphere.

The {{w|Dread Pirate Roberts}} is a fictional character from the book and movie {{w|The Princess Bride}}. Roberts is the most feared pirate on the seas. But, "Dread Pirate Roberts" is merely a title that has been passed down as previous "Roberts" have gained enough money (from piracy) to retire comfortably. Westley, one of the main characters from The Princess Bride, becomes the Dread Pirate after being taken prisoner by the preceding Pirate Roberts.

At the end of the movie, Inigo Montoya has won the vengeance he has sought all his life, and expresses to Westley that he doesn't know what to do next. Westley suggests Montoya succeed him as Roberts, saying, "Have you ever considered piracy? You'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts." Cory Doctorow's line in the comic therefore mimics that line from the movie.

{{w|Bram Cohen}} is the founder of {{w|BitTorrent}}, a distributed method of downloading files. People can and do use BitTorrent both for lawful file downloads and also for sharing media files unlawfully. Its distributed nature, where someone does not download a file from just one other computer but rather in many pieces from many other computers with the same file, makes it more difficult for record and movie industry groups to police, and therefore a person with Elaine's motivations might be interested in helping design such a system.

{{w|Ubuntu}} is probably the most well known distribution of {{w|GNU}}/{{w|Linux}}. A {{w|GNU}}/{{w|Linux}} distribution (often referred to simply as "Linux") is any operating system that is based on {{w|GNU}} software and the Linux {{w|kernel}}.

The phrase "Happy Hacking" often accompanies an autograph from Richard Stallman.

All comics in "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series:
*[[341: 1337: Part 1]]
*[[342: 1337: Part 2]]
*[[343: 1337: Part 3]]
*[[344: 1337: Part 4]]
*345: 1337: Part 5 (this one)

This series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.

==Transcript==
:[Two RIAA agents attack Elaine and Stallman. Elaine breaks the leg of RIAA #1, while Stallman disarms RIAA #2 in a flying maneuver.]
:Elaine: Thanks, Stallman!
:Stallman: 'Tis my pleasure.

:Elaine: So, wait - how did you know we were in trouble?
:Stallman: My friend here was tracking these thugs from his balloon. He called me and I thought I'd stop by
:[Doctorow slides down a rope in red cape & goggles.]
:Doctorow: -Hi! Cory Doctorow - It's a pleasure to meet you.

:Elaine: Balloon?
:Stallman: Aye. They're up there constructing something called a "Blogosphere."
:Doctorow: Yup! It's twenty kilometers up, just above the tag clouds.

:Bobby: Mom, I'm hungry.
:Mrs. Roberts: Hush! I'm coding. You ate yesterday.
:Stallman: You know, Roberts, GNU could use a good coder like you. Ever thought of joining us?
:Elaine: Maybe someday. Right now I've got an industry to take down. Music doesn't need these assholes.
:Doctorow: Begone! And never darken our comment threads again!

:Stallman: Well, you won't fix the industry with random exploits. You need to encourage sharing in the public mind.
:Doctorow: Hey; With your music and coding backgrounds, you should get into building better p2p systems.

:Elaine: What? Straight-up piracy?
:Doctorow: Sure- have you ever considered it? You'd make a wonderful dread pirate, Roberts

:Epilogue
:Elaine shared her ideas with Bram Cohen, who went on to develop BitTorrent.
:Mrs. Roberts spends her time developing for Ubuntu, and defacing the websites of people who make "your mom" jokes to her daughter. Elaine still stalks the net. She joins communities, contributes code or comments, and moves on. And if, late at night, you point a streaming audio player at the right IP at the right time - you can hear her rock out.
:~Happy Hacking.~

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Richard Stallman]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Your Mom]]
[[Category:1337|05]]

1014: Car Problems

2015-06-06T20:59:11Z

Wikiiscool123: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1014
| date = February 8, 2012
| title = Car Problems
| image = car_problems.png
| titletext = Or if you replace your car, we'll be happy to set it on fire again so you can take another crack at getting that shot.
}}
[[File:Chromatic_aberration_(comparison).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5| The lower image has lateral chromatic aberration (seen as a blur and a green edge in areas of contrast.) (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
==Explanation==
[[Megan|Megan's]] car appears to have combusted at some point while she left it unattended. Suspecting her friends and acquaintances [[Cueball]], [[Black Hat]] and [[Danish]] of perhaps having something to do with it, she gathers them in front of a couch and draws attention to the fact that something is just a little bit wrong with the two juxtaposed images she shows them. When she asks ''What is wrong with this picture'', they all three take this question literally and start critiquing the picture quality, and not the subject, feigning complete ignorance about the car being on fire. When Megan exasperatedly tells them what is wrong with the picture —that her car is on fire!— they continue to act evasive by telling her that she should buy a better camera.

To some, the title text and the dialogue suggest that they were the ones who collectively set her car on fire, probably in the middle of some nightly exploit. But if you're an engineer or a scientist, you realize that Megan's friends aren't being intentionally evasive, they are just doing exactly what they were told. They patiently and correctly describe what is wrong with the picture. If Megan had wanted to know what was wrong with her car, than she would have asked that. Her friends are just being friendly when they offer to help her create the scene [again] so that she can shoot the picture correctly.

As for the particular details of the digital photography terms mentioned:

*{{w|White balance}}: Artificial indoor light is more yellow, outdoor light is more blue. The light colour can also depend on weather or time of day. The human eye is a very good judge of whiteness under a variety of lighting conditions, digital cameras often have difficulty automatically correcting for this which can cause images to look too blue or orange. Professional cameras and image editing software allow you to adjust the white balance manually, which Megan probably has not done.
*{{w|Focus (optics)|Focus}} is a bit too close: As light passes through a camera lens, it is bent until the rays converge on the film or sensor. If the focus is too close, it implies that point of convergence from the light of the subject is slightly in front of the sensor (i.e. that Megan has accidentally focused on something closer than the car). This will result in near objects being (too) sharp, and the car being slightly blurry.
*{{w|Chromatic aberration}}: This causes coloured artifacts in an image, typically caused by cheap lenses, which do not focus light of different wavelengths (and thus different colours) in the same way. It is usually visible as a blueish or reddish outline around objects.
*{{w|Megapixels}}: This is the number of image sensor elements of digital cameras or the pixels on digital displays. More pixels improve the resolution but can also result in less overall quality for the pictures, due in part to the reduced size of each pixel sensor (because the total sensor size is typically the same for a given class of camera), and because for consumer-targeted products the total engineering budget is limited, so that extra money spent on a high megapixel sensor ends up reducing the money spent on other elements such as the lenses.

While this comic focuses on misunderstandings by people viewing pictures this could be also a reference to the [http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchResults?searchType=ID&targetCategory=I&searchCriteria.nhtsa_ids=PE11037 battery fire] in a stored, damaged {{w|Chevrolet Volt}} automobile. During a side-impact safety test, which the car passed with a five star rating at [http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/alternative-fuel/hybrids/the-straight-story-on-the-chevy-volt-battery-fire-6601217 Popular Mechanics], its high voltage battery pack was damaged. Part of the test procedure includes rolling the vehicle over after the impact to check for leaking fluids; during the rollover check, the vehicle electronics were flooded with coolant. The damaged vehicle was then put into storage where its high voltage battery remained energized; three weeks later the battery spontaneously caught fire, potentially due to corrosion, and destroyed the car. GM subsequently made design changes to address the causes of the fire.

==Transcript==
:[Megan stands in front of a projection of a car, with an audience of 3 people. One of the people is Black Hat, the others are Danish and Cueball.]
:Megan: Attention Please. This is a photo of my car as of two weeks ago.

:[Megan in front of a new projection of the same car engulfed in flames.]
:Megan: And ''this'' is my car as I found it this morning. Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?

:[The audience ponders.]

:Cueball: The white balance, for one.
:Danish: Focus is a bit too close.
:Black Hat: The chromatic aberration suggests you bought your camera because it had "The most megapixels".

:Megan: '''''THE CAR IS ON FIRE!'''''
:Comment from audience: Maybe you should use the insurance money to get a better camera.
:Comment from different person: yeah.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

1529: Bracket

2015-05-29T15:34:08Z

Wikiiscool123: /* Explanation */ comma added, link fixed

{{comic
| number = 1529
| date = May 25, 2015
| title = Bracket
| image = bracket.png
| titletext = I'm staring at the "doctor" section, and I can't help but feel like I've forgotten someone.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Explain the larger groupings separated by whitespace in the comic.}}
A {{w|Bracket (tournament)|tournament bracket}} shows the planned series of matchups in a tournament. In this comic Randall has shown a plan for a tournament between a wide range of cultural icons, both real and fictional, based mostly on similarities in their names. Various Internet groups have speculated on who would win in a fight between characters from different films. It may be relevant that the film {{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}} is soon to be released where the two eponymous {{w|superheroes}}, {{w|Batman}} and {{w|Superman}}, fight against each other.

The individual starting pairings are generally based on common or similar given or surnames. Some adjacent brackets are "segued" by someone like Jeff Daniels who segues from a bracket of "Jeff"s into a bracket of "Daniels"es. The bracket itself is fairly arbitrary. Most initial matchups are pairs, although several are trios and there's a quadruplet in the Russels group, while a single entry, Beyoncé, is given a first- and second-round {{w|bye (sports)|bye}}. Most of the participants in the tournament are people with a few exceptions. {{w|Shallots}} (small onions), {{w|scallops}} (bivalve mollusks), and {{w|scallions}} (green onions) are similar sounding foods, therefore may be confusing for some individuals (perhaps including [[Randall]]). The final grouping on the lower right of the bracket features a several retail stores and a film.

The [[title text]] is probably referring to {{w|Dr. Dre}}, particularly as a reference to his 2001 song "{{w|Forgot About Dre}}". Alternatively, the title text could simply be a reference to the large number of pop culture personas that include the word "Doctor", such as {{w|Gregory House|Doctor House}}, {{w|Mehmet Oz|Dr. Oz}}, {{w|Phil McGraw|Dr. Phil}}, {{w|Dr. Watson}}, {{w|Emmett Brown|"Doc" Brown}}, {{w|Dr. Seuss}}, {{w|The Doctor (Doctor Who)|Dr. Who}}, {{w|Dr Pepper}}, {{w|Doctor Doom}}, {{w|Zoidberg|Dr. Zoidberg}}, and {{w|List of fictional doctors|many others}}.

The incentive for the comic may have been the {{w|2015 French Open|French Open 2015}}, which started on the day of the publication.

The names and other entries in the bracket are (first-round matchups are grouped by shading):

{| class="wikitable"
!Grouping
!Subgrouping
!Person/Entry
!Known as
!Winning probability
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Armstrong
|{{w|Louis Armstrong}}
|Jazz-musician
| rowspan="4" |1/32
|-
|{{w|Neil Armstrong}}
|First human on the moon
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Lance Armstrong}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Cyclist
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Stretch Armstrong}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Action figure
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Jeff *
|Jeff Gordan (Probably {{w|Jeff Gordon}})
|Race car driver
| rowspan="9" |1/64
|-
|{{w|Jeff Bridges}}
|Actor in ''King Kong'', ''The Big Lebowski'', ''Iron Man'', ''Tron: Legacy''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jeff Daniels}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Dumb and Dumber''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J* Daniels
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Daniels}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Alcoholic beverages
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>Well<nowiki>*</nowiki>
|{{w|Orson Welles}}
|Director of ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}'' and known for his {{w|The War of the Worlds (radio drama)|radio-play}} of {{w|H. G. Wells}}' ''{{w|The War of the Worlds}}''
|-
|{{w|H.G. Wells}}
|Author, known for ''The War of the Worlds'' and ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|George Orwell}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author of ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}'' and ''{{w|Animal Farm}}''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Wells Fargo}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bank and stage coach company
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Russell *
|{{w|Kurt Russell}}
|Actor in ''John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A.'', ''The Thing'', ''Fast & Furious 7''
| rowspan="5" |1/128
|-
|{{w|Russell Brand}}
|Comedian
|-
|{{w|Russell Crowe}}
|Actor in ''Gladiator'', ''A Beautiful Mind'', ''Les Misérables'', ''Noah''
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Russell Simmons}}
|rowspan="2"|Rapper
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Simmons
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Richard Simmons}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Host of exercise program
| rowspan="3" |1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Simmons}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Musician, known from ''KISS''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Gene <nowiki>*</nowiki>
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Hackman}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor
|rowspan="5" |1/96
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ckman
|-
|{{w|Hugh Jackman}}
|Actor in the ''{{w|X-Men}}'' franchise as {{w|Wolverine (character)|Wolverine}}
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Alan Rickman}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Die Hard'', ''Harry Potter'' franchise, ''The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy''
|-
|rowspan="3"|Alan <nowiki>*</nowiki>
|-
|rowspan="2"|Alan Par*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Parsons}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Musician
|rowspan="7" |1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Partridge}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Fictional radio character
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> McCarthy
|{{w|Jenny McCarthy}}
|Anti-vaccination activist
|-
|{{w|Joseph McCarthy}}
|Senator known for anti-communist witch-hunt
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Eugene McCarthy}}
|rowspan="2"|Senator and Presidential candidate
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Eugene <nowiki>*</nowiki>
|-
|{{w|Eugene V. Debs}}
|Labor leader
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wilde*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Gene Wilder}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Bonnie and Clyde'', ''Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory''
| rowspan="4" |1/96
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Olivia Wilde}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Tron: Legacy'', ''Her''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar Wilde}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Writer
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar *
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar De La Renta}}
|rowspan="2"|Fashion Designer
|rowspan="3"|1/32
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar De La *
|-
|{{w|Oscar De La Hoya}}
|Boxer
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Jack Nic*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Nicklaus}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Golf player
| rowspan="9" |1/32
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jack Nicholson}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'', ''The Shining'', ''The Bucketlist''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ichol* / *ickel* / *ickle*
|-
|{{w|Phil Mickelson}}
|Golf player
|-
|{{w|Nicholas Nickleby}}
|Charles Dickens protagonist in the novel by the same name
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ryan Adams
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ryan Adams}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bryan Adams}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Singers with Stage Names Referencing Weight/Games
|{{w|Chubby Checker}}
|Singer famous for "The Twist"
|-
|{{w|Fats Domino}}
|Rock and Roll Singer
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Colin F*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Colin Firth}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Pride and Prejudice'', ''Love Actually''
| rowspan="5" |1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Colin Farrell}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Daredevil'', ''In Bruges'', ''Total Recall''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|F*rell*
|-
|{{w|Will Ferrell}}
|Comic actor, ''Anchorman'' and ''The Other Guys''
|-
|{{w|The Farrelly Brothers}}
|Comedy film-makers
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J<nowiki>*</nowiki> * *itt (three names)
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Joseph Gordon-Levitt}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor
| rowspan="2" |1/32
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jennifer Love Hewitt}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Garfield: The Movie'' 
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|D* Glover
|{{w|Danny Glover}}
|Actor, ''Lethal Weapon'' series
| rowspan="7" |1/64
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Donald Glover}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor, ''Community''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Don*
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Donnie Wahlberg}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Singer, ''{{w|New Kids on the Block}}''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wahlberg
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Mark Wahlberg}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''The Departed'', ''The Other Guys''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Mark *
|-
|{{w|Mark Ruffalo}}
|Actor, known for his role as {{w|Hulk (comics)|the Hulk}} in the film ''{{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers}}''
| rowspan="2" |1/32
|-
|{{w|Mark Shuttleworth}}
|Entrepreneur, founder of {{w|Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu}}
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Pullman
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Philip Pullman}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author, ''Dark Materials'' and ''Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ''
|rowspan="4"|1/48
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Pullman}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Spaceballs'', and ''Independence Day''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Bill *
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bill Paxton}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Apollo 13'', ''Aliens''
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Murray}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''Groundhog Day''
|rowspan="3"|1/32
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Ghostbusters/SNL alums
|-
|{{w|Dan Aykroyd}}
|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''The Blues Brothers''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Rogers
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ginger Rogers}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress known for dancing with {{w|Fred Astaire}}
|rowspan="2"|1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Confusing reference to {{w|Fred Rogers}} (host of children's show, popularly known as "Mister Rogers") and to {{w|Fred Astaire}} (Dancer, actor, and singer)
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Spock
|{{w|Mister Spock}}
|Character on ''Star Trek'' portrayed by {{w|Leonard Nimoy}}
|rowspan="10"|1/96
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Doctor Spock}}
|rowspan="2"|Author of book on childcare
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="8"|Doctors
|-
|{{w|Doctor Octopus}}
|Villain in Spider-Man comic books
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Manhattan}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in Alan Moore's Watchmen
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strangelove}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in a movie about nuclear war by {{w|Stanley Kubrick}}
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strange}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Sorceror Supreme in Marvel Comics
|-
|{{w|Julius No|Dr. No}}
|Main villain in the {{w|Dr. No (film)|first James Bond movie}}
|-
|{{w|The Doctor (Doctor Who)|The Doctor}}
|Main protagonist of the science fiction series ''{{w|Doctor Who}}''
|-
|{{w|Cory Doctorow}}
|Real person - [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow| who has been in a number of xkcd comics]]
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|J* Lewis
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lee Lewis}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Rock and Roll singer
|rowspan="9"|1/32
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lewis}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Comedian and former chairman of charitable organization
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Jenny Lewis}}
|rowspan="2"|Indie singer-songwriter
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Sounds like *"enny"
|-
|{{w|Xeni Jardin}}
|Digital commentator, Boing Boing co-editor
|-
|rowspan="4"|Chris *
|rowspan="2"|Chris * (Avengers actors)
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Evans}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Captain America''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Thor''
|-
|rowspan="2"|Chris P*
|{{w|Chris Pine}}
|Actor, ''Star Trek''
|-
|{{w|Chris Pratt}}
|Actor, ''Guardians of the Galaxy''
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|'S' Foods That Rhyme Assonantly
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Shallots}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Small onions
|rowspan="3"|1/96
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallops}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bivalve mollusks
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallions}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Green onions
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Suz* (Similar phonetics)
|{{w|Siouxie Sioux}}
|Rock singer
|rowspan="2"|1/64
|-
|{{w|Suzanne Vega}}
|Folk rock singer-songwriter
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Arnold *
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Tom Arnold}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Ex-husband of Roseanne Barr
|rowspan="4"|1/48
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Arnold Palmer}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Golf player
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|A* Palmer
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Amanda Palmer}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer/songwriter
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Wes *
|{{w|Wes Craven}}
|Film maker
|rowspan="10"|1/64
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Wes Anderson}}
|rowspan="2"|Movie Director
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|* Anderson
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Paul Thomas Anderson}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Film maker
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|P*ul Anderson
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Poul Anderson}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Science fiction author
|-
|rowspan="3"|Sirs
|rowspan="2"|Sir Walter *
|{{w|Sir Walter Scott}}
|Scottish poet and writer
|-
|{{w|Sir Walter Raleigh}}
|British explorer of Virginia
|-

|rowspan="2"|F* Drake
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Sir Francis Drake}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|British explorer, 2nd to circumnavigate the Earth
|-
|
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Frank Drake}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Astrophysicist, SETI pioneer
|-
|rowspan="5"|"Van"
|rowspan="3"|Van *
|{{w|Van Halen}}
|Rock band
|rowspan="3"|1/96
|-
|{{w|Van Morrison}}
|Singer/songwriter
|-
|{{w|Van Wilder}}
|Comedy film
|-

|rowspan="2"|R* Van Winkle
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Robert Van Winkle}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|AKA Vanilla Ice, rapper
|rowspan="3"|1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Fictional character
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Rip/Torn
|-
|{{w|Rip Torn}}
|Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, actor on ''Cross Creek'', ''Larry Sanders Show''
|rowspan="2"|1/32
|-
|{{w|Natalie Imbruglia}}
|Singer of "Torn"
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Body" in their name
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|The Body Shop}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Shop
|rowspan="6"|1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bath and Body Works}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Shop
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Bath" in their name
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bed Bath and Beyond}}
|rowspan="2"|Shop
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Beyon*
|-
|{{w|Beyond Thunderdome}}
|Motion picture
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Beyoncé}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer
|1/16

|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Neaten the format to make it more comprehensible.}}

:[A tournament bracket. The matchups are the following, on left-hand side and right-hand side:]

{| class="wikitable" style="background:transparent;border:none;width:100%;"
| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|
 (1) Louis Armstrong and Neil Armstrong
 (2) Lance Armstrong and Stretch Armstrong

 (3) Jeff Gordan and Jeff Bridges
 (4) Jeff Daniels and Jack Daniels

 (5) Orson Welles and H.G. Wells
 (6) George Orwell and Wells Fargo

 (7) Kurt Russell, Russell Brand, Russell Crowe and Russell Simmons
 (8) Richard Simmons and Gene Simmons
 (9) Gene Hackman, Hugh Jackman and Alan Rickman
 (10) Alan Parsons and Alan Partridge

 (11) Jenny McCarthy, Joseph McCarthy, Eugene McCarthy and Eugene V. Debs
 (12) Gene Wilder, Olivia Wilde and Oscar Wilde
 (13) Oscar De La Renta and Oscar De La Hoya

 (14) Jack Nicklaus and Jack Nicholson
 (15) Phil Mickelson and Nicholas Nickelby

 (16) Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams

 (17) Chubby Checker and Fats Domino

 (18) Colin Firth and Colin Farrell
 (19) Will Ferrell and The Farrelly Brothers

 (20) Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jennifer Love Hewitt

 (21) Danny Glover and Donald Glover
 (22) Donnie Wahlberg and Mark Wahlberg
 (23) Mark Ruffalo and Mark Shuttleworth

| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|
 (24) Philip Pullman, Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton
 (25) Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd

 (26) Ginger Rogers and Fred Rogers|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers
 (27) Mister Spock, Doctor Spock and Doctor Octopus
 (28) Doctor Manhattan, Doctor Strangelove and Doctor Strange
 (29) Dr. No, The Doctor and Cory Doctorow

 (30) Jerry Lee Lewis and Jerry Lewis
 (31) Jenny Lewis and Xeni Jardin

 (32) Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth
 (33) Chris Pine and Chris Pratt

 (34) Shallots, Scallops and Scallions

 (35) Siouxie Sioux and Suzanne Vega

 (36) Tom Arnold, Arnold Palmer and Amanda Palmer

 (37) Wes Craven and Wes Anderson
 (38) Paul Thomas Anderson and Poul Anderson

 (39) Sir Walter Scott and Sir Walter Raleigh
 (40) Sir Francis Drake and Frank Drake

 (41) Van Halen, Van Morrison and Van Wilder
 (42) Robert Van Winkle and Rip Van Winkle
 (43) Rip Torn and Natalie Imbruglia

 (44) The Body Shop and Bath and Body Works
 (45) Bed Bath and Beyond and Beyond Thunderdome
 (46) Winner of 44 and winner of 45
 (47) Winner of 46 and Beyoncé
|}

[Those are later interconnected:]

<div style="column-count:4;-moz-column-count:4;-webkit-column-count:4">

 (48) Winner of 1 and winner of 2
 (49) Winner of 3 and winner of 4
 (50) Winner of 5 and winner of 6
 (51) Winner of 7 and winner of 8
 (52) Winner of 9 and winner of 10
 (53) Winner of 12 and winner of 13
 (54) Winner of 14 and winner of 15
 (55) Winner of 16 and winner of 17
 (56) Winner of 18 and winner of 19
 (57) Winner of 21 and winner of 22

 (58) Winner of 24 and winner of 25
 (59) Winner of 26 and winner of 27
 (60) Winner of 28 and winner of 29
 (61) Winner of 30 and winner of 31
 (62) Winner of 32 and winner of 33
 (63) Winner of 34 and winner of 35
 (64) Winner of 37 and winner of 38
 (65) Winner of 39 and winner of 40
 (66) Winner of 41 and winner of 42

 (67) Winner of 49 and winner of 50
 (68) Winner of 51 and winner of 52
 (69) Winner of 11 and winner of 53
 (70) Winner of 54 and winner of 55
 (71) Winner of 56 and winner of 20
 (72) Winner of 57 and winner of 23

 (73) Winner of 59 and winner of 60
 (74) Winner of 61 and winner of 62
 (75) Winner of 63 and winner of 36
 (76) Winner of 64 and winner of 65
 (77) Winner of 66 and winner of 43

 (78) Winner of 48 and winner of 67
 (79) Winner of 68 and winner of 69
 (80) Winner of 71 and winner of 72

 (81) Winner of 58 and winner of 73
 (82) Winner of 75 and winner of 76
 (83) Winner of 77 and winner of 47

 (84) Winner of 78 and winner of 79
 (85) Winner of 70 and winner of 80

 (86) Winner of 81 and winner of 74
 (87) Winner of 82 and winner of 83

 (88) Winner of 84 and winner of 85

 (89) Winner of 86 and winner of 87

</div>
 

:[The two sides finally join up in:]

:(90) Winner of 88 and winner of 89

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Doctor Who]]

1529: Bracket

2015-05-29T15:29:40Z

Wikiiscool123: /* Explanation */ I'm not even a Whovian but Dr. Who is the obvious answer. Added to list.

{{comic
| number = 1529
| date = May 25, 2015
| title = Bracket
| image = bracket.png
| titletext = I'm staring at the "doctor" section, and I can't help but feel like I've forgotten someone.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Explain the larger groupings separated by whitespace in the comic.}}
A {{w|Bracket (tournament)|tournament bracket}} shows the planned series of matchups in a tournament. In this comic Randall has shown a plan for a tournament between a wide range of cultural icons, both real and fictional, based mostly on similarities in their names. Various Internet groups have speculated on who would win in a fight between characters from different films. It may be relevant that the film {{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}} is soon to be released where the two eponymous {{w|superheroes}}, {{w|Batman}} and {{w|Superman}}, fight against each other.

The individual starting pairings are generally based on common or similar given or surnames. Some adjacent brackets are "segued" by someone like Jeff Daniels who segues from a bracket of "Jeff"s into a bracket of "Daniels"es. The bracket itself is fairly arbitrary. Most initial matchups are pairs, although several are trios and there's a quadruplet in the Russels group, while a single entry, Beyoncé, is given a first- and second-round {{w|bye (sports)|bye}}. Most of the participants in the tournament are people with a few exceptions. {{w|Shallots}} (small onions), {{w|scallops}} (bivalve mollusks), and {{w|scallions}} (green onions) are similar sounding foods, therefore may be confusing for some individuals (perhaps including [[Randall]]). The final grouping on the lower right of the bracket features a several retail stores and a film.

The [[title text]] is probably referring to {{w|Dr. Dre}}, particularly as a reference to his 2001 song "{{w|Forgot About Dre}}". Alternatively, the title text could simply be a reference to the large number of pop culture personas that include the word "Doctor", such as {{w|Gregory House|Doctor House}}, {{w|Mehmet Oz|Dr. Oz}}, {{w|Phil McGraw|Dr. Phil}}, {{w|Dr. Watson}}, {{w|Emmett Brown|"Doc" Brown}}, {{w|Dr. Seuss}}, {{w|The Doctor|Dr. Who}} {{w|Dr Pepper}}, {{w|Doctor Doom}}, {{w|Zoidberg|Dr. Zoidberg}}, and {{w|List of fictional doctors|many others}}.

The incentive for the comic may have been the {{w|2015 French Open|French Open 2015}}, which started on the day of the publication.

The names and other entries in the bracket are (first-round matchups are grouped by shading):

{| class="wikitable"
!Grouping
!Subgrouping
!Person/Entry
!Known as
!Winning probability
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Armstrong
|{{w|Louis Armstrong}}
|Jazz-musician
| rowspan="4" |1/32
|-
|{{w|Neil Armstrong}}
|First human on the moon
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Lance Armstrong}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Cyclist
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Stretch Armstrong}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Action figure
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Jeff *
|Jeff Gordan (Probably {{w|Jeff Gordon}})
|Race car driver
| rowspan="9" |1/64
|-
|{{w|Jeff Bridges}}
|Actor in ''King Kong'', ''The Big Lebowski'', ''Iron Man'', ''Tron: Legacy''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jeff Daniels}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Dumb and Dumber''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J* Daniels
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Daniels}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Alcoholic beverages
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>Well<nowiki>*</nowiki>
|{{w|Orson Welles}}
|Director of ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}'' and known for his {{w|The War of the Worlds (radio drama)|radio-play}} of {{w|H. G. Wells}}' ''{{w|The War of the Worlds}}''
|-
|{{w|H.G. Wells}}
|Author, known for ''The War of the Worlds'' and ''{{w|The Time Machine}}''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|George Orwell}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author of ''{{w|Nineteen Eighty-Four}}'' and ''{{w|Animal Farm}}''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Wells Fargo}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bank and stage coach company
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="4"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Russell *
|{{w|Kurt Russell}}
|Actor in ''John Carpenter’s Escape from L.A.'', ''The Thing'', ''Fast & Furious 7''
| rowspan="5" |1/128
|-
|{{w|Russell Brand}}
|Comedian
|-
|{{w|Russell Crowe}}
|Actor in ''Gladiator'', ''A Beautiful Mind'', ''Les Misérables'', ''Noah''
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Russell Simmons}}
|rowspan="2"|Rapper
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Simmons
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Richard Simmons}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Host of exercise program
| rowspan="3" |1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Simmons}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Musician, known from ''KISS''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Gene <nowiki>*</nowiki>
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Gene Hackman}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor
|rowspan="5" |1/96
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ckman
|-
|{{w|Hugh Jackman}}
|Actor in the ''{{w|X-Men}}'' franchise as {{w|Wolverine (character)|Wolverine}}
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Alan Rickman}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Die Hard'', ''Harry Potter'' franchise, ''The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy''
|-
|rowspan="3"|Alan <nowiki>*</nowiki>
|-
|rowspan="2"|Alan Par*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Parsons}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Musician
|rowspan="7" |1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Alan Partridge}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Fictional radio character
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> McCarthy
|{{w|Jenny McCarthy}}
|Anti-vaccination activist
|-
|{{w|Joseph McCarthy}}
|Senator known for anti-communist witch-hunt
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Eugene McCarthy}}
|rowspan="2"|Senator and Presidential candidate
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Eugene <nowiki>*</nowiki>
|-
|{{w|Eugene V. Debs}}
|Labor leader
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wilde*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Gene Wilder}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Bonnie and Clyde'', ''Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory''
| rowspan="4" |1/96
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Olivia Wilde}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Tron: Legacy'', ''Her''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar Wilde}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Writer
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar *
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Oscar De La Renta}}
|rowspan="2"|Fashion Designer
|rowspan="3"|1/32
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Oscar De La *
|-
|{{w|Oscar De La Hoya}}
|Boxer
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Jack Nic*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jack Nicklaus}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Golf player
| rowspan="9" |1/32
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Jack Nicholson}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'', ''The Shining'', ''The Bucketlist''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ichol* / *ickel* / *ickle*
|-
|{{w|Phil Mickelson}}
|Golf player
|-
|{{w|Nicholas Nickleby}}
|Charles Dickens protagonist in the novel by the same name
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki>ryan Adams
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ryan Adams}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bryan Adams}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Singers with Stage Names Referencing Weight/Games
|{{w|Chubby Checker}}
|Singer famous for "The Twist"
|-
|{{w|Fats Domino}}
|Rock and Roll Singer
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Colin F*
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Colin Firth}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Pride and Prejudice'', ''Love Actually''
| rowspan="5" |1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Colin Farrell}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Daredevil'', ''In Bruges'', ''Total Recall''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|F*rell*
|-
|{{w|Will Ferrell}}
|Comic actor, ''Anchorman'' and ''The Other Guys''
|-
|{{w|The Farrelly Brothers}}
|Comedy film-makers
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|J<nowiki>*</nowiki> * *itt (three names)
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Joseph Gordon-Levitt}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor
| rowspan="2" |1/32
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jennifer Love Hewitt}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress in ''Garfield: The Movie'' 
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|D* Glover
|{{w|Danny Glover}}
|Actor, ''Lethal Weapon'' series
| rowspan="7" |1/64
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Donald Glover}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor, ''Community''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Don*
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Donnie Wahlberg}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Singer, ''{{w|New Kids on the Block}}''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Wahlberg
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Mark Wahlberg}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''The Departed'', ''The Other Guys''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Mark *
|-
|{{w|Mark Ruffalo}}
|Actor, known for his role as {{w|Hulk (comics)|the Hulk}} in the film ''{{w|The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers}}''
| rowspan="2" |1/32
|-
|{{w|Mark Shuttleworth}}
|Entrepreneur, founder of {{w|Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu}}
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Pullman
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Philip Pullman}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Author, ''Dark Materials'' and ''Jesus, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ''
|rowspan="4"|1/48
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Pullman}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Spaceballs'', and ''Independence Day''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Bill *
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Bill Paxton}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor in ''Apollo 13'', ''Aliens''
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bill Murray}}
|rowspan="2"|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''Groundhog Day''
|rowspan="3"|1/32
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Ghostbusters/SNL alums
|-
|{{w|Dan Aykroyd}}
|Actor in ''Ghostbusters'', ''The Blues Brothers''
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Rogers
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Ginger Rogers}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actress known for dancing with {{w|Fred Astaire}}
|rowspan="2"|1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Confusing reference to {{w|Fred Rogers}} (host of children's show, popularly known as "Mister Rogers") and to {{w|Fred Astaire}} (Dancer, actor, and singer)
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Spock
|{{w|Mister Spock}}
|Character on ''Star Trek'' portrayed by {{w|Leonard Nimoy}}
|rowspan="10"|1/96
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Doctor Spock}}
|rowspan="2"|Author of book on childcare
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="8"|Doctors
|-
|{{w|Doctor Octopus}}
|Villain in Spider-Man comic books
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Manhattan}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in Alan Moore's Watchmen
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strangelove}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Character in a movie about nuclear war by {{w|Stanley Kubrick}}
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Doctor Strange}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Sorceror Supreme in Marvel Comics
|-
|{{w|Julius No|Dr. No}}
|Main villain in the {{w|Dr. No (film)|first James Bond movie}}
|-
|{{w|The Doctor (Doctor Who)|The Doctor}}
|Main protagonist of the science fiction series ''{{w|Doctor Who}}''
|-
|{{w|Cory Doctorow}}
|Real person - [[:Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow| who has been in a number of xkcd comics]]
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|J* Lewis
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lee Lewis}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Rock and Roll singer
|rowspan="9"|1/32
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Jerry Lewis}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Comedian and former chairman of charitable organization
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Jenny Lewis}}
|rowspan="2"|Indie singer-songwriter
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Sounds like *"enny"
|-
|{{w|Xeni Jardin}}
|Digital commentator, Boing Boing co-editor
|-
|rowspan="4"|Chris *
|rowspan="2"|Chris * (Avengers actors)
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Evans}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Captain America''
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Actor, ''Thor''
|-
|rowspan="2"|Chris P*
|{{w|Chris Pine}}
|Actor, ''Star Trek''
|-
|{{w|Chris Pratt}}
|Actor, ''Guardians of the Galaxy''
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|'S' Foods That Rhyme Assonantly
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Shallots}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Small onions
|rowspan="3"|1/96
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallops}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Bivalve mollusks
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Scallions}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Green onions
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Suz* (Similar phonetics)
|{{w|Siouxie Sioux}}
|Rock singer
|rowspan="2"|1/64
|-
|{{w|Suzanne Vega}}
|Folk rock singer-songwriter
|-

|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|<nowiki>*</nowiki> Arnold *
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Tom Arnold}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Ex-husband of Roseanne Barr
|rowspan="4"|1/48
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Arnold Palmer}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Golf player
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|A* Palmer
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Amanda Palmer}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer/songwriter
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Wes *
|{{w|Wes Craven}}
|Film maker
|rowspan="10"|1/64
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Wes Anderson}}
|rowspan="2"|Movie Director
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|* Anderson
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Paul Thomas Anderson}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Film maker
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|P*ul Anderson
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Poul Anderson}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Science fiction author
|-
|rowspan="3"|Sirs
|rowspan="2"|Sir Walter *
|{{w|Sir Walter Scott}}
|Scottish poet and writer
|-
|{{w|Sir Walter Raleigh}}
|British explorer of Virginia
|-

|rowspan="2"|F* Drake
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Sir Francis Drake}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|British explorer, 2nd to circumnavigate the Earth
|-
|
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Frank Drake}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Astrophysicist, SETI pioneer
|-
|rowspan="5"|"Van"
|rowspan="3"|Van *
|{{w|Van Halen}}
|Rock band
|rowspan="3"|1/96
|-
|{{w|Van Morrison}}
|Singer/songwriter
|-
|{{w|Van Wilder}}
|Comedy film
|-

|rowspan="2"|R* Van Winkle
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Robert Van Winkle}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|AKA Vanilla Ice, rapper
|rowspan="3"|1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Fictional character
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Rip/Torn
|-
|{{w|Rip Torn}}
|Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, actor on ''Cross Creek'', ''Larry Sanders Show''
|rowspan="2"|1/32
|-
|{{w|Natalie Imbruglia}}
|Singer of "Torn"
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Body" in their name
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|The Body Shop}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Shop
|rowspan="6"|1/64
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|{{w|Bath and Body Works}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6" rowspan="2"|Shop
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Businesses with the word "Bath" in their name
|-
|rowspan="2"|{{w|Bed Bath and Beyond}}
|rowspan="2"|Shop
|-
|colspan="2" rowspan="3"|Beyon*
|-
|{{w|Beyond Thunderdome}}
|Motion picture
|-
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|{{w|Beyoncé}}
|bgcolor="E6E6E6"|Singer
|1/16

|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Neaten the format to make it more comprehensible.}}

:[A tournament bracket. The matchups are the following, on left-hand side and right-hand side:]

{| class="wikitable" style="background:transparent;border:none;width:100%;"
| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|
 (1) Louis Armstrong and Neil Armstrong
 (2) Lance Armstrong and Stretch Armstrong

 (3) Jeff Gordan and Jeff Bridges
 (4) Jeff Daniels and Jack Daniels

 (5) Orson Welles and H.G. Wells
 (6) George Orwell and Wells Fargo

 (7) Kurt Russell, Russell Brand, Russell Crowe and Russell Simmons
 (8) Richard Simmons and Gene Simmons
 (9) Gene Hackman, Hugh Jackman and Alan Rickman
 (10) Alan Parsons and Alan Partridge

 (11) Jenny McCarthy, Joseph McCarthy, Eugene McCarthy and Eugene V. Debs
 (12) Gene Wilder, Olivia Wilde and Oscar Wilde
 (13) Oscar De La Renta and Oscar De La Hoya

 (14) Jack Nicklaus and Jack Nicholson
 (15) Phil Mickelson and Nicholas Nickelby

 (16) Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams

 (17) Chubby Checker and Fats Domino

 (18) Colin Firth and Colin Farrell
 (19) Will Ferrell and The Farrelly Brothers

 (20) Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jennifer Love Hewitt

 (21) Danny Glover and Donald Glover
 (22) Donnie Wahlberg and Mark Wahlberg
 (23) Mark Ruffalo and Mark Shuttleworth

| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|
 (24) Philip Pullman, Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton
 (25) Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd

 (26) Ginger Rogers and Fred Rogers|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers
 (27) Mister Spock, Doctor Spock and Doctor Octopus
 (28) Doctor Manhattan, Doctor Strangelove and Doctor Strange
 (29) Dr. No, The Doctor and Cory Doctorow

 (30) Jerry Lee Lewis and Jerry Lewis
 (31) Jenny Lewis and Xeni Jardin

 (32) Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth
 (33) Chris Pine and Chris Pratt

 (34) Shallots, Scallops and Scallions

 (35) Siouxie Sioux and Suzanne Vega

 (36) Tom Arnold, Arnold Palmer and Amanda Palmer

 (37) Wes Craven and Wes Anderson
 (38) Paul Thomas Anderson and Poul Anderson

 (39) Sir Walter Scott and Sir Walter Raleigh
 (40) Sir Francis Drake and Frank Drake

 (41) Van Halen, Van Morrison and Van Wilder
 (42) Robert Van Winkle and Rip Van Winkle
 (43) Rip Torn and Natalie Imbruglia

 (44) The Body Shop and Bath and Body Works
 (45) Bed Bath and Beyond and Beyond Thunderdome
 (46) Winner of 44 and winner of 45
 (47) Winner of 46 and Beyoncé
|}

[Those are later interconnected:]

<div style="column-count:4;-moz-column-count:4;-webkit-column-count:4">

 (48) Winner of 1 and winner of 2
 (49) Winner of 3 and winner of 4
 (50) Winner of 5 and winner of 6
 (51) Winner of 7 and winner of 8
 (52) Winner of 9 and winner of 10
 (53) Winner of 12 and winner of 13
 (54) Winner of 14 and winner of 15
 (55) Winner of 16 and winner of 17
 (56) Winner of 18 and winner of 19
 (57) Winner of 21 and winner of 22

 (58) Winner of 24 and winner of 25
 (59) Winner of 26 and winner of 27
 (60) Winner of 28 and winner of 29
 (61) Winner of 30 and winner of 31
 (62) Winner of 32 and winner of 33
 (63) Winner of 34 and winner of 35
 (64) Winner of 37 and winner of 38
 (65) Winner of 39 and winner of 40
 (66) Winner of 41 and winner of 42

 (67) Winner of 49 and winner of 50
 (68) Winner of 51 and winner of 52
 (69) Winner of 11 and winner of 53
 (70) Winner of 54 and winner of 55
 (71) Winner of 56 and winner of 20
 (72) Winner of 57 and winner of 23

 (73) Winner of 59 and winner of 60
 (74) Winner of 61 and winner of 62
 (75) Winner of 63 and winner of 36
 (76) Winner of 64 and winner of 65
 (77) Winner of 66 and winner of 43

 (78) Winner of 48 and winner of 67
 (79) Winner of 68 and winner of 69
 (80) Winner of 71 and winner of 72

 (81) Winner of 58 and winner of 73
 (82) Winner of 75 and winner of 76
 (83) Winner of 77 and winner of 47

 (84) Winner of 78 and winner of 79
 (85) Winner of 70 and winner of 80

 (86) Winner of 81 and winner of 74
 (87) Winner of 82 and winner of 83

 (88) Winner of 84 and winner of 85

 (89) Winner of 86 and winner of 87

</div>
 

:[The two sides finally join up in:]

:(90) Winner of 88 and winner of 89

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]
[[Category:Doctor Who]]