140: Delicious
| Delicious |
 Title text: I'm currently in the I Have Cheese phase of this cycle. |
Explanation[edit]
The simplest explanation for the comic is the recipe for nachos. You take some tortilla chips, spread them out on a plate, sprinkle them with grated cheese and perhaps some other ingredients like salsa, beans, or guacamole, and put the plate in the oven until the cheese is melted. As usual with a full bag of snacks, you always end up with that tiny bit left at the bottom of the bag. In this case, it is either leftover grated cheese (left) or tortilla chips (right). So you end up buying another package of the other ingredient to make nachos again.
This is an example of a virtuous or vicious cycle, in which a feedback loop reinforces itself. A virtuous cycle has favorable results, while a vicious has detrimental results. In this case, it is neither a virtuous or vicious cycle, but a delicious cycle - the pun of this joke.
The title text just says that currently, Randall has leftover cheese. He will probably get chips soon, continuing the cycle.
The same problem with having leftovers when making a dish using two types of food that don't match up is the setup for the joke in 1641: Hot Dogs.
Transcript[edit]
- [Frame is split by a diagonal.]
- [First half: Cueball in front of open fridge.]
- Cueball: I have leftover cheese. I should get chips and make nachos.
- [Second half: Cueball with bag of chips.]
- Cueball: I have leftover chips. I should get cheese and make nachos.
- [Caption below the two drawings:]
- A delicious cycle
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Rikthoff (talk) The issue date is definitely off. Can anyone fix?
Also, my wife has a similar problem with cereal. She won't drink the milk after finishing the cereal, so she goes to get more milk. --DanB (talk) 13:52, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
If you melt the cheese enough, it becomes a viscous cycle. Alpha (talk) 04:41, 15 September 2013 (UTC)
- I wonder if anyone's ever been caught in a couscous cycle... Nyperold (talk) 15:28, 20 September 2016 (UTC)
The explanation states that a vicious cycle is a negative feedback loop while a virtuous cycle is a positive one. Actually, both are positive feedback loops, i.e. self-reinforcing ones. Vicious means that the results are negative, virtuous that the results are positive.
From the linked wikipedia page: The terms virtuous circle and vicious circle refer to complex chains of events which reinforce themselves through a feedback loop. A virtuous circle has favorable results, while a vicious circle has detrimental results. [...] Both circles are complexes of events with no tendency towards equilibrium (at least in the short run). Both systems of events have feedback loops in which each iteration of the cycle reinforces the previous one (positive feedback). 173.245.53.121 23:55, 10 October 2014 (UTC)
The best way to break this is to remember that you can still eat the chips after using up the dip. 173.245.56.211 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- Or you can drink the melted cheese after running out of chips. That's how you know you're an adult: nobody can stop you from drinking melted cheese. 162.158.255.69 22:57, 16 September 2015 (UTC)
There's a famous bit some comedian did about pop tarts being like this. You eat one pop tart as a snack; but you can't leave the extra tart, it'll grow stale. So you eat it. But now you're halfway to making it a whole meal. Might as well open another packet. You finish the second packet and now there's only one packet left in the box, which seems silly...so...—Kazvorpal (talk) 06:04, 22 September 2019 (UTC)
