1757: November 2016

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November 2016
Once you've done this, make a note of how old they were. Then, when their age reaches double that, show them this chart again.
Title text: Once you've done this, make a note of how old they were. Then, when their age reaches double that, show them this chart again.

Explanation[edit]

This is yet another comic designed to make people feel old, following soon after the last one 1745: Record Scratch.

The comic takes the form of a table of ages between 16 and 41, and next to each, a list of things that originated approximately half that age ago. Thus, by mentioning those things to a person of that age, that person becomes aware that those things have now been around for the majority of their life. People tend to underestimate how long ago things happened, so the revelation will usually come as a shock and make them realize that things they think of as new and modern are actually a lot older than they thought. This, in turn, will make them feel old.

For example, if talking to a 24-year-old, the relevant sentence would be:

"Did you know that Facebook has been around for the majority of your life?"

To a 24-year old, Facebook likely still seems like a new innovation, so they may be shocked to discover that it has been around for more than half their life.

The joke at the end is that the guide isn't necessary for people over 41, since they already feel old, and are more than capable of providing any number of demonstrative examples.

It should be noted that the guide is only current for the time it was published, which is why it is billed as the "November 2016 Guide to Making People Feel Old". This is because the examples given in the table are relative to a person's age at that time. However, the title text sneakily suggests a way to get an additional use out of the guide: by noting down the person's age at the time you show them the guide, and then showing it to them again when they are double that age, they will realize that more than half a lifetime has elapsed since the last time they viewed this comic, and will thus feel old again.

Table for the guide[edit]

Age Birth year Date of occurrences Occurrences Explanation Half age Years ago
16 2000 April 29, 2008 Grand Theft Auto IV Popular video game published by Rockstar Games; the 11th title in the Grand Theft Auto series. The games are often rated as Mature (and thus aimed at adults) and this entrance should not really affect 16 year olds, who may have tried the game now, but should not have played the game when they were only 8 years old. 8 8.5
17 1999 May 2007 Rickrolling A prank and internet meme involving an unexpected appearance of the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up", a bait and switch which has been referred to often in xkcd. Since this was aimed at people who knew the song (from 1987) and were online (mainly young adults in 2007), this entry should not really affect 17 year olds who are unlikely to have been rickrolled when they were only 8.5 years old. 8.5 9.5
18 1998 April 13, 2007 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters American Flash animated surreal comedy film based on the Adult Swim animated series Aqua Teen Hunger Force. This seems to be a joke, as both this movie and the one it was based on are for adults, and the people this targets would only have been 9 when it was released, and probably won't recognize the reference. The joke will fail, because they will not feel old. Very few people have ever heard of this movie, which is probably part of the joke. 9 9.6
19 1997 November 19, 2006 The Nintendo Wii 2006 is the time when the Nintendo Wii was released, with the Wii dominating 2006-2012. Ten year olds were likely to play Wii, and thus as 20 year olds remember and be surprised at how long it is since the first time, and feel old. This is the first entry that might actually work. 9.5 10.0
20 1996 March 2006 Twitter 2006 was a big year. Twitter was created. There were probably only a few 10-11 year olds that used Twitter in the first year of its release, and thus not many twenty year old people today would have been active on Twitter at the very beginning. This will only make that minority of people feel old. 10 10.7
21 1995 November 22, 2005 (Xbox 360),
September 30, 2005 (xkcd) 		The Xbox 360,
xkcd 		2005 saw the creation of the Xbox 360, another successful console. Randall also decided to throw in a 'reference joke', referring to the fact that xkcd was also created in 2005 where the first 13 comics where released on LiveJournal on September 30, 2005. As a callback, he has two x words in the same sentence, referring to 1750: Life Goals. The same two words were both in that comic. (Average release date for the two was October 25, 2005). The Xbox will work on the twenty-one year old, for the same reason the Wii above would work. xkcd would not, because it is not directed at pre-teens. They would not have any feelings towards the comic. It is included to make faithful xkcd readers feel old. "Is it really more than 10 years ago I read it first..." (and also for the self-reference). 10.5 11.0
22 1994 2005 (no specific date) Chuck Norris Facts Satirical factoids about martial artist and actor Chuck Norris began to appear on the Internet in early 2005. To begin with, they where not centered on Norris, instead focusing Vin Diesel. This makes it difficult to put a precise date on their appearance than "During the year 2005." Chuck Norris has replied to these factoids more than once, but the first time was in December 2006, almost two years after the memes began appearing. The "facts" are mainly based on his series Walker, Texas Ranger, which ran from 1993-2001. Since the series ended when the twenty-two-year-old of today was 7, they were not the target group for the crazy Chuck Norris Facts. It seems unlikely that this entry would work. 11 11.5
23 1993 January 25, 2004 Opportunity's Mars Exploration Opportunity is a Mars rover that landed on Mars on January 25, 2004. Mars Rovers are a recurring subject on xkcd. Even people who were not interested in science were very aware of Opportunity's voyage--it was covered in every type of news medium for a long time. 11.5 12.8
24 1992 February 4, 2004 Facebook Facebook is a social networking service created in 2004 as a competitor to Myspace. It grew quickly to become the #1 social networking service. Since kids under thirteen are not allowed on Facebook, twenty-four-year-olds could not have signed up at the time of its foundation. When it was opened up for anyone in 2006, they would have been fourteen, but that would then only have been 10 years ago. However, today everyone knows about Facebook (and many preteens created accounts by lying about their ages), and to learn that it has existed for half of your life may make you feel old even if you didn't sign up immediately. 12 12.8
25 1991 April 1, 2004 (Gmail),
July 9, 2003 (Pirates of the Caribbean) 		Gmail,
Pirates of the Caribbean 		Gmail is an email service created by Google. It was originally invitation-only (until 2007), and not marketed to kids, so it is unlikely that many thirteen year olds would have been using it in 2004; however, it has since been opened to anyone, and a lot of 25 year olds use it today. The first movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Curse of the Black Pearl, debuted in 2003. Three more movies followed before the release of this comic (average date is November 4, 2003). The movie was rated PG-13 and would likely have been a hit among 12-13 year old kids, so this would make many people born in 1991 feel old. 12.5 13.0
26 1990 January 7, 2003 In da Club Rap song by 50 Cent. The song was a #1 hit on multiple charts and in multiple countries. It is very likely that people who were thirteen at its release would have been aware of it, even if they were not "clubbing" themselves yet. 13 13.8
27 1989 September 20, 2002 Firefly Firefly is a space western drama TV series created by Joss Whedon, that became a cult classic. This may be Randall's favorite TV series, and it has been referenced often in xkcd. 13.5 14.1
28 1988 October 7, 2001 The War in Afghanistan The United States of America invaded Afghanistan shortly after the September 11 attacks (popularly known as 9/11), in an effort to eliminate the terrorist group al-Qaeda. Almost anyone who was 14 in 2001 would have been aware of the war. 14 15.1
29 1987 October 23, 2001 The iPod The iPod was a music playing device created by Apple Inc. in 2001. This would probably make lots of 29 year-olds feel old. 14-15 year old kids were likely to have had (or wished they had) an iPod. 14.5 15.0
30 1986 May 18, 2001 (Shrek),
January 15, 2001 (Wikipedia) 		Shrek,
Wikipedia 		Shrek is a popular parody film about fairy tales. It quickly gained a cult following and became a mega-hit, earning it three sequels and a franchise. It was a big hit popular for ages. Fifteen-year-olds were likely to know and love the movie, so they would probably feel old as 30-year-olds realizing it came out half their life ago.

Wikipedia is a an online encyclopedia created in 2001, which anyone can edit. (It is massively linked to from explain xkcd which has a Wikipedia category for comics like this that reference the website directly). (Average date is March 17, 2001). It is questionable how many kids used Wikipedia during the year it launched. Of course, realizing that before Wikipedia, you had to use a paper encyclopedia may still make a 30 year old feel old.

15 15.8
31 1985 July 14, 2000 Those X-Men movies The X-Men film series, probably only referring to the first trilogy (X-Men (July 14, 2000), X2 (May 2, 2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (May 26, 2006) - us release dates). The release date refers to the first of these three movies. Presumably Randall is counting the series as existing from the time of the first release. 15-16 year old kids are likely to have loved X-Men, and feel old when they realize it came out half their life ago. 15.5 16.3
32 1984 February 4, 2000 The Sims The Sims is a simulation video game created by Maxis in 2000 in which you build homes, cities, and families. It was an immediate success upon launch. It seems likely that many people would have played The Sims, and thus many 32 year old people would feel old. This was the one that Randall could have used on himself to feel old. He turned 32 a few weeks before the release of this comic. 16 16.8
33 1983 October 19, 1998 Autotuned hit songs 1998 was when non-audio-professionals became aware of autotuning songs. Cher's song Believe, released October 19, 1998 may be the first time that most people really noticed autotuning. This is the only entry where there seems to be more than one year between the age of the thing and the half age of the person. However, it is also one of the entries where specific dating is difficult. Because the dates are not specific, it is difficult to judge how it would affect 33 year old people. Autotuning has been a standard for years, so it may make one feel old to know it has around for half your life. 16.5 18.1
34 1982 May 19, 1999 The Star Wars Prequels The Star Wars prequel trilogy (Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (May 19, 1999), Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (May 16, 2002), Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (May 19, 2005), us release dates). The Star Wars universe is most likely the most referenced movie universe in xkcd. The release date refers to the first of these three movies, because even only taking the first two movies, the average would only be 16 years ago, less than half the age of a 34 year old. These movies were awaited eagerly by many 17 year old kids, so they would remember the release well and feel very old. 17 17.5
35 1981 March 31, 1999 The Matrix Action film created by The Wachowskis (formerly known, at the time of The Matrix, as The Wachowski Brothers). Two more films followed, although they were widely regarded as inferior to the first (by for instance by Randall as seen in 566: Matrix Revisited). The Matrix was something new and is likely to have influenced 17-18 year old kids, so this entry would likely to produce feelings of age. 17.5 17.6
36 1980 September 28, 1998 Pokémon Red & Blue A popular video game franchise in the Pokémon series, a series often referenced in xkcd. The game was first released in Japan in 1996, but not in North America until 1998. It seems likely that many people interested in playing computer games would have played Pokémon games. and in particular this one, which was released when the target group was 18 years old. And now that's half their life ago, perhaps making them feel old. 18 18.1
37 1979 August 29, 1997 (Netflix),
June 26, 1997 (Harry Potter),
September 15, 1997 (Google) 		Netflix,
Harry Potter,
Google 		All three are still major things 19 years later. "Harry Potter" refers to the original publishing date of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Google refers to the date that the Google domain name was registered. (Average date is 03-07-1997). Harry Potter is widely read, but at the time of its release it was probably not at first taken up by those of 18-19 year old. That may have first come later, maybe with the release of the first movies in 2001, four years later. This may not be the best example for this age group. Also using Google and Netflix just when they where launched may also not have been so popular among 18-19 year olds in 1997. Still, all three things are big, and to realize that they have been around for half of a life may still make someone feel old. 18.5 19.4
38 1978 May 11, 1997 Deep Blue's Victory Deep Blue was a chess computer, who defeated Garry Kasparov, the reigning chess champion, in a match in 1997. It was the first chess computer to defeat a world champion under tournament conditions. Randall has a great interest in chess and it is a recurrent subject on xkcd. Unless a 38 year old is interested in chess, they may not even know what Deep Blue is, let alone have any impression of long ago the victory occurred. Chess players and computer nerds (both of whom are very likely to be xkcd fans) would certainly be aware of this particular day. 19 19.5
39 1977 September 13, 1996 Tupac's Death Tupac Shakur was an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in 1996. Eight of his albums are certified platinum (five released after his death), and he has been ranked as one of the greatest artists of all time. (Rolling Stone ranked him 86/100). It seems likely that many 39 year olds would feel old realizing that 2Pac has been dead for half of their lives. 19.5 20.2
40 1976 December 31, 1995 The last Calvin and Hobbes strip Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip by Bill Watterson that ran from November 18, 1985 to December 31, 1995. It is a recurring subject on xkcd . This comic had a lot of fans among people that are 40 today. Even those who didn't read it during its run may have discovered it later. Even those who didn't notice the ending at the time, might still feel old realizing it was so long ago. 20 20.9
41 1975 November 22, 1995 Toy Story The Pixar animated film Toy Story was the first feature length digitally-animated film to be released theatrically (and also Pixar's first feature film). Given that this was the first film of its kind, many 20-21 year olds would have seen it. For xkcd fans, such movies might be a big thing. For anyone who saw this movie (and the sequels) this could cause feelings of age. Side note: 41 year olds might actually feel young when reading this comic in November 2016, because they are the last people to still be expected to feel young before Randall deliberately destroys the feeling. 20.5 21.0
>41 Before 1975 N/A [Don't worry, they've got this covered] This joke is that people who are legitimately old already feel old. This could also be a reference to the number 42, 42 being the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He has referenced this number more than once before, for instance in 1213: Combination Vision Test and in the messages in the Play Area of 1608: Hoverboard. Showing people 42 years or more old this table will make them feel old, when they look for their age and find this. Also, it may disappoint older readers of xkcd, as they do not to get their own humorous half-your-life entry. (See the opposite effect mentioned for the 41 years old above). >20.5 N/A

Transcript[edit]

[Caption above the panel:]
The November 2016
Guide to making people
feel old
[A chart with a list of items to be put into the two first lines above the chart. First there are a line using the first column, then there are two lines using the second column. Below those lines are the two columns with underlined captions above. Between the columns are a long line connecting the two.]
If they're [age], you say:
"Did you know [thing] has been around for the majority of your life?"
Age
Thing
16
Grand Theft Auto IV
17
Rickrolling
18
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Colon Movie Film for Theaters
19
The Nintendo Wii
20
Twitter
21
The Xbox 360, xkcd
22
Chuck Norris Facts
23
Opportunity's Mars Exploration
24
Facebook
25
Gmail, Pirates of the Caribbean
26
In da Club
27
Firefly
28
The War in Afghanistan
29
The iPod
30
Shrek, Wikipedia
31
Those X-Men movies
32
The Sims
33
Autotuned hit songs
34
The Star Wars prequels
35
The Matrix
36
Pokémon Red&Blue
37
Netflix, Harry Potter, Google
38
Deep Blue's Victory
39
Tupac's Death
40
The last Calvin and Hobbes strip
41
Toy Story
>41
[Don't worry, they've got this covered]

Trivia[edit]

  • The comic 891: Movie Ages, released 5 years earlier, used a very similar technique to make people feel old, by giving the number of years that had elapsed since landmark movies were released. Some of those movies (Toy Story, The Matrix, Shrek) also appear in this comic. That same comic also ended with a similar punchline, by ending the chart at 35 (with people over 35 considered as "too old" for the chart). It is possible that Randall's increasing of the limit to 41 reflects his own increasing age; perhaps he no longer thinks people at 36 are too old to try to make them feel old.
  • Other comics with date-based titles include:


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Discussion

Ok transcript hopefully complete, but please check it over, as I did it while tired and staying up late waiting for the election results. Wyrme (talk) 05:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Spoiler alert: Trump won. --JayRulesXKCD (talk) 16:16, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

The main idea of the comic is stated in the first sentences "If they're [age], you say: "Did you know [thing] has been around for the majority of your life?" The majority of your life means "more than half your life". For each of the age stated in the comic, something that happened more than half the age ago is stated. As an example for the first two: Grand Theft Auto IV was released in 2008, which is 8 years ago. More than 8 years is at the same time more than half of 16 years, which means "the majority of a 16 year old's life" The next one goes for Rickrolling, which is "a prank and an Internet meme involving an unexpected appearance of the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. The meme is a type of bait and switch using a disguised hyperlink." according to wikipedia. Even if the first reference is from 2007, the same Wiki page says that 'By May 2008, the practice had spread beyond 4chan and became an Internet phenomenon'. May 2008 is more than 8 and a half years ago which is more than half of 17 years. It goes on and on, with "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters" which is a 2007 American Flash animated surreal comedy film", which again is more than 9 years ago and so on. Sorry if I'm not clear enough but I hope you got it. Anarhistu (talk) 11:19, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, the "majority part" is a bit confusing. I looked up 35 and saw "The Matrix" and I was like "wait, that didn't come out 35 years ago?!". Well, it didn't and that's not what the comic implys. However, it has been around for a MAJORITY (= more than half) of my life. 162.158.202.141 12:37, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm only 32, but saddened at the entry for 40. C&H was (and still is) one of my favorites. I say we all just take off today and play some Calvinball. Who's with me? 162.158.69.100 12:48, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

There is this last thing "over 41, we don't care" which I cannot really explain. Maybe the 40+ year olds seen all of these later in their life but why stop at this point? (which is around 1996, according to the "rules")? The internet has been around since way before that and if we take the first popular browser this was about 1993 or so. That would take us to 46. Is there any specific event which might be a reason to stop at 41? Anarhistu (talk) 13:12, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

No, people above 40 already feel old, no need for a chart --162.158.88.204 13:18, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
Jurassic Park, Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Hood Men In Tights 162.158.69.100 13:21, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
He has previously stopped at a given age and stated that anyone older should feel old already --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
What's worse is... I knew several years had passed since this comic came out, so I back-dated my age to its release (as if I don't have to work out my current age, with the current year, pretty much... Every. Single. Time.) and found out that... ...I was already in the 'overflow' entry at the end, even then! Six and a half more years don't alter things that much. 172.71.242.191 05:09, 11 May 2023 (UTC)

But if I look in x years, then the entry at current age + x will have been there for (current age +x)/2 + x years, so if I look at it again after my age has doubled, the thing has been there for my entire life. --162.158.88.204 13:17, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Sorry your are completely wrong. If you are 20 now and look at something happening 10 years ago. Then when you are twice as old (40) you look at the same ting and that will then be 30 years old. It will always be 10 years younger than you. There was a mistaken explanation of the title text saying something like what you say, and now I have corrected it. He just means that if you show them this chart again when their age has doubles, you can say that this chart has now existed in the majority of your life. --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Heh. Randall isn't always prompt in posting new comics early on M/W/F, but this one went up promptly at 12:01am. He deserves to be embarrassed after the communist comic he posted on Monday. 172.68.55.83 13:31, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

How the hell did you make out Clinton to be a communist? It's Trump who likes Putin, where Clinton would be more against him... I guess he just thought people needed something that could distract them from the election, since most of his readers (especially after his previous comic) would have rooted for Clinton because of their fear that Trump won. On the other hand most people probably feels old today, after the election, so in that way the comic is a bit of a waste... --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
Sorry, but we Americans disagree with you. Too bad, so sad. 172.68.55.83 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Actually, we Americans chose Clinton, probably by a margin of >1M votes once CA and OR finish counting. Miamiclay (talk) 22:40, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
Almost three million, as it turned out; the margin in the popular vote was greater than the entire population of Chicago. Whoop whoop pull up (talk) 18:04, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
shush shush troll, nobody wants to hear your toxic lies 42.book.addict (talk) 22:40, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
Having just seen your effective mass vandalism of two other pages (maybe more), and so having a good idea where your 'sympathies' lie, you're probably going not going to acknowledge this (for whatever reason), but: Popular vote for Him: 62,984,828; Popular vote for Her: 65,853,514, a difference of 2,868,686 in her favour. And you randomly reply to a six-year-old comment? Yes, I think we know where you're at. 162.158.33.131 23:44, 25 February 2024 (UTC)

I don't understand how this is supposed to work. If I wanted to make someone feel old, I would pick an event that they think is fairly ancient and tell them: "do you realize you're *more* than twice as old as this?" Here, Randall does the opposite, he says: "did you know you're *less* than twice as old as this", so what? E.g. "Twitter has been around for a majority of your life" is true of anyone who is 0 to 20, so how is it supposed to make a 20-year-old feel old? Did Randall get his comic backwards or am I missing something? Zetfr 14:26, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

The idea is that you don't pick events that they think are ancient, you pick events that they think are recent. 162.158.222.138 16:46, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

The explanation says "The titletext points out that the same chart can be used for the same person much later in their life. However, the major event shifts earlier and earlier into their life; when their age has doubled, the event in the chart has happend in the year of their birth."
This makes no mathematical sense - the major event would shift earlier into their life, but not in time, and would remain the same distance from their birth year. What is probably intended is that now the chart itself will be around for a majority of their life (though I agree with the above commenter that it would probably make one feel young, not old). --172.68.10.90 14:54, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Exactly, what I wrote above to the other comment on this, and I have tried to correct it in the explanation. --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

I fixed the rest of the blank explanations, such as Gmail, Nintendo Wii, and others. Please fill in the 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force', as I was not able to find information about it anywhere and I have not seen that show, nor the movie itself, so I cannot answer. --JayRulesXKCD (talk) 15:14, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Actually Randall may be wrong with some of those entries at the current moment. Let's say that somebody is 19 years old, but their 20th birthday is on the 10th of November. The entry for their age is the Nintendo Wii which came 9 years, 11 months and 20 days ago (as of November 9), which is not more than half of the subject's age. I think this occurs on quite a few of those entries, so either the chart is intended to be addressed only to people during their birthdays, or one can make fun of any geek who parades this list for not being rigorous with their maths. 108.162.246.35 15:38, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

That's pretty pedantic. We're so close to the end of the year that we can reasonably assume it means "people who turned X years old in 2016" 141.101.98.165
I think he just goes for events that is approximately half as old as the person. Only error he seems to have made is with the Matrix, which came when the 35 years old of today was 18, and it has thus only been in their life about 17 years. --Kynde (talk) 20:43, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
Pedantic? This is xkcd we're talking about. Not only that there's a post commenting on this comic's timing regarding the MWF pattern, as on every other similar comic, a fact that should be taken even less seriously, but Randall has greatly shown his support of pedants partly by repeatedly depicting them as empowered in his comics. I think that pedants have to either take responsibility for their demeanour or admit to the fact that their peculiarity does not even have the tradeoff of accuracy it should have. In other words, anyone who bothers others with a list like this better have precise information to offer if they expect to have any reason not to waste others' time. 108.162.246.35 05:25, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

36 years old: Half-life has been around half of your life. 18000 years old: Half of the curium-250 atoms have been around half of your life. 108.162.219.82 17:58, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

You might be old if you remember watching the Berlin Wall being torn down on television. You would be even older if you remember reading about the Berlin Wall at the time it was being built. I remember both ... I read about the wall being built in elementary (primary) school current events. Rtanenbaum (talk) 21:30, 9 November 2016 (UTC)

Interesting, but not strange, to bring that wall up today. Since it is today the anniversary for it's destruction in 1989 (17 years ago so would have been good for the 34 years old). And very ironic that a man is then elected on this very day who has promised to build and even bigger wall between his country and another. --Kynde (talk) 22:14, 9 November 2016 (UTC)
If you want to feel really old, just remember that The Hoff sang "Looking for Freedom" in front of the Berlin Wall. ;) 198.41.242.242 11:01, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
Correction, 1989 is 27 years ago, half the life of a 54 year-old Rtanenbaum (talk) 15:02, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
Speaking of 1989, Taylor Swift's musical debut would be a viable alternative to the Wii RTM. Whoop whoop pull up (talk) 18:04, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
Auch I feel old now, that I could make such a mistake. Thanks for correcting it. But at least I'm not 54 yet, but I do remember the day very well. Just happy Randall raised the bar since his movie ages, so my age is still on the list and so I'm not just in the "rest above 41 group" ;-) --Kynde (talk) 15:06, 10 November 2016 (UTC)
It happened to me. Twice now, thanks to this comic. The first time was in grad school, when I was a student over the traditional age, Another student put out a survey which asked age at the end, offering various check boxes where I had to check the last one. I howled, "The next box is a pine box!" Ke4roh (talk) 18:46, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Randall seems to be confused. If you think Twitter is young, then finding out that it's existed for a majority of your life would make you feel young. If you think Twitter is old, then of course it's been around for a majority of your life, it's old.

The right one would be: such-and-such has been around for less than 50% of your life.141.101.98.112 15:52, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Grand Theft Auto IV was merely "popular"? It set the record for highest first-day earnings across all media types until The Dark Knight was released that summer. Fun fact: The Dark Knight was added to the National Film Registry last year (2020), along with Shrek. As of that year, there are six 2000s theatrically-released movies on the registry (Memento, Shrek, Real Women Have Curves, Brokeback Mountain, The Dark Knight, and The Hurt Locker).

Just thought I'd mention: the huge edit I did a few days ago was a mixture of fixing incorrect usage (e. g. verb-subject agreement), oddly formal language (was a previous editor perhaps a non-native speaker?), and mostly philosophical.

By philosophical, I mean this: a lot of the material I removed changed the purpose of this wiki (as I perceive it). It's Explain xkcd, not rate xkcd. A great deal of what I removed was the past editor saying how good he/she thought each age-reminder was, not explaining the meaning of it. I don't think I completely fixed the article, but I do think I ameliorated that. Nitpicking (talk) 01:56, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

Today is May 11th, the day of Deep Blue's victory. I guess it's the time for humans to fight back. 172.71.154.229 NaN:NaN, NaN undefined NaN (UTC)

GTA IV: Just because people who were 8 years old at the time of its release shouldn't have played it doesn't mean that they didn't. The regulation of video game classification & restriction of mature content that the Hot Coffee debacle caused was established enough that it was getting flouted by anti-authoritarians, and some kids could manipulate older adults into buying it for them. As well the game's impact on pop culture was inestimable, now-dated though it may seem today (it held the Guinness World Record for the single highest-earning piece of media on launch day until Avatar came out the following year, and it retained that record for the video-game sector until its sequel dethroned it). Kids would have obviously gone to any length to play it or at least watch their friends do so. 162.158.178.42 21:19, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

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