User:DollarStoreBa'al/WORKPAGE
IF YOU AREN'T DOLLARSTOREBA'AL, LEAVE NOW! IT'S A SURPRISE!!!
Wikipedia helpers also fine :)
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REMEMBER: ALWAYS PUT ON THE MOTIVATIONAL PLAYLIST BEFORE WORKING |
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ADD MORE SONGS TO THE PLAYLIST |
Contents
- 1 Header Texts
- 1.1 2007-05-06 - Preorder 256 posters
- 1.2 2007-05-03 - 2^8th comic
- 1.3 2007-03-24 - Back to standard text
- 1.4 2007-03-21 - Good shirts
- 1.5 2007-03-16 - Sense of Security Blag
- 1.6 2007-03-06 - Map of the internet – That you can buy!
- 1.7 2007-02-12 - Shirt restock
- 1.8 2007-02-10 - Standard Header
- 1.9 2007-02-02 - New blag post
- 1.10 2007-01-24 - Standard Header
- 1.11 2007-01-19 - He zorbed too hard :(
- 1.12 2006-12-31 - Standard Header
- 1.13 2006-12-14 - Xmas Orders closed
- 1.14 2006-12-09 - Deadline 12/13
- 1.15 2006-12-05 - Useless shirt
- 1.16 2006-11-29 - Nothing again
- 1.17 2006-11-18 - Need submitters
- 1.18 2006-11-09 - New toys
- 1.19 2006-10-13 - Nothing
- 1.20 2006-09-01 - IRC channel
- 1.21 2006-08-29 - BEEG shirts
- 1.22 2006-08-19 - Parody Week Dinosaur
- 1.23 2006-08-12 - Next Week Parody Week
- 1.24 2006-08-10 - Awesome date project
- 1.25 2006-07-21 - BestThing.info
- 1.26 2006-07-20 - Video unearthed
- 1.27 2006-07-14 - Sunday last day
- 1.28 2006-07-10 - One week for tees
- 1.29 2006-07-05 - Comic 23 Tee
- 1.30 2006-06-16 - DYK forums
- 1.31 2006-06-12 - Packaged T-shirts
- 1.32 2006-04-08 - nothin'
- 1.33 2005-12-12 - Composite face images
- 1.34 2005-11-26 - ASCG
- 1.35 2005-10-18 - Basic Bio
- 2 What If? chapters
- 3 Comic 997
- 4 Volume 0 table
- 5 explain xkcd:List of Commands
Header Texts[edit]
| Date & Comic | Header text | Explanation | Purpose | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Find Archive (3074) | Today's comic was created with Kevin Controne, Max Goodhart,
Patrick, Benjamin Staffin, Conor Stokes, and Amber. |
This comic's header text gives credit to those who helped Randall create 2025's April Fools' Day comic. Each link takes you to the person's social media page, GitHub page, or personal website. At the time of writing (October 2025), this is the only comic to have a unique header text past comic #3000, meaning it's been over half a year since a comic has had a unique header. | Credits | ||
| 2024-07-11 | Today's comic accidentally inspired by
this Buttersafe comic from 2011! |
This comic's header mentions that it was 'accidentally inspired' by a Buttersafe comic. It is assumed, but not confirmed, that the custom text was on the front page until the next comic, 2958, was published. The header text makes it clear that not only is he a fan of Buttersafe (as shown in the Comics I enjoy section of [xkcd.com]), but he also did not know of the existence of this comic until after it was published. This is shown with the fact that it was not shown until the next day. This text is permanently shown with this comic. As a special situation, this header text did not replace the current global header text, but was instead added below it at the time (10th anniversary for what if?) | Credits | ||
| 2024-04-06 | Today's comic was created with Max Goodhart,
Ed White, Alex Garcia, Kevin Cotrone, |
This comic's header text mentions the people who helped Randall put it together. It was on the front page from Saturday 6 April 2024 until 2917: Types of Eclipse Photo came out on Monday 8 April 2024. The earliest archived version of the next comic is from the following Tuesday 9 April 2024. It is assumed that the header text changed late on Monday 8 April 2024, despite the fact that Machine was still up at that time, as shown in this archive. When 2917: Types of Eclipse Photo was released, the front page had returned to the normal header.
As seen in the text, many people were involved. Some helped with two previous April Fools' Day comics, but there are many more involved in this comic than anything which came before it. Clicking on each person takes you to a link of their Instagram, Twitter, or the homepage of their own website/blog. In the credits, it is seen that the physics for the comic used Rapier, the Fast 2D and 3D physics engine for the Rust programming language. This header text was removed from the homepage on 2022-04-09, but it stayed as a permanent header for this comic. |
Credits | ||
| 2023-04-20 | Today's comic was put together with help from Max Goodhart,
Amber, Kevin, Benjamin Staffin, and Janelle Shane. |
This comic's header mentions and gives thanks to the people who helped Randall put the comic together. Despite the fact the comic was supposed to be a Wednesday release according to the archives, it was on the homepage from Thursday 2023-04-20 until Friday 2023-04-21, when the next comic (2766: Helium Reserve) was released and the page returned to its normal header. This header text remains as a permanent header text for this comic.
Clicking each name takes you to their Instagram/Twitter page or the homepage of their own website/blog. Most had helped with the two previous April Fools' day comic (see below). |
Credits | ||
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Today's comic was drawn for Daniel Becker, based on his winning question submitted to the What If? 2 contest. |
This header celebrated the winner of Randall's What If? 2 Contest, being one Daniel Becker. It mentions that the comic was based off the winning question's entry into the What If? blog. | What If? Promotion | ||
| 2022-04-01 | Today's comic was created with
Patrick, Amber, @chromakode, Michael, Kat, |
This comic's header mentions and gives thanks to the people who helped Randall put it together. It was on the front page from Friday 2022-04-01 until Tuesday 2022-04-05, when 2602: Linguistics came out and the front page returned to its normal header.
Clicking on each of the names takes you to the person's Instagram/Twitter page. Five also helped with the previous April Fools' Day comic. Because this header was only related to 2601, it was removed from the frontpage header, but it stayed up as a permanent header on this specific comic. |
Credits | ||
| 2021-04-01 | This comic was put together by
Max Goodhart, Patrick, Amber, Benjamin Staffin, |
This comic's header mentions and gives thanks to the people who helped put it together. It was on the front page from Thursday 2021-04-01 until 2446: Spike Proteins released Monday 2021-04-05.
Each person has a link to their name, the first being a personal homepage, and the other six linking to their Twitter accounts. Five of these people also helped with the previous April Fools' Day comic. Because this header is related only to this comic, it was removed from the front page and continued as a permanent header text for this comic. |
Credits | ||
| 2020-04-04 | Today's comic was put together by
Max Goodhart, Amber, Benjamin Staffin, Kevin, |
This comic's header mentions and gives thanks to the people who helped Randall put it together. It was only on the front page for about 1 day, around the 3rd or 4th of April 2020, the day before 2289: Scenario 4 came out, and the header text returned to normal.
Each name credited has either a personal homepage or a Twitter profile, except for the last name, which isn't linked. As this header text was only relevant to this comic, it was removed as the front page header and stayed as a permanent header to this comic. |
Credits | ||
| 2017-12-14 | Becky Beaton, sister of fellow cartoonist Kate Beaton,
has also been diagnosed with cancer. You can support her treatment here. |
This text was released as a response to the cancer diagnosis of Becky Beaton, the sister of Kate Beaton, the author of the webcomic Hark! A Vagrant. Although this is not on Randall's list of Comics he enjoys, he is clearly influenced by a cancer diagnosis among someone in his creative field.
Despite the fact that the support page was discontinued, this text continues to stay on this comic. Making this weirder is the fact that Randall has previously done something similar for another friend, Emily, but that header was not made permanent. |
Fundraiser | ||
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A number of people collaborated to build this comic, including @chromakode, Amber @fadinginterest |
This comic gave credit to the people that helped Randall put together that year's April Fools' Day comic. Most contributors mentioned in this text have also helped with other comics since then. Each link in the text took you to either the contributors' social media page or their own personal website. | Credits | ||
| 2017-04-28 | Previously: ISS Solar Transit
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This header links back to 1828: ISS Solar Transit, a comic with the same joke setup released on the Monday of the same week | Trans-comic link | ||
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Thank you to Phil Plait for the correction on #4!
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This header gives credit to Phil Plait, who corrected a mistake in the comic and prompted Randall to update the comic after its release. | Credits | ||
| 2016-10-10 | Note: Jolyon, founder of mindat.org, made a similar chart way before me!
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This Header text gives credit to Joylon, founder of mindat.org, who made a very similar comic to this long before Randall. This Header text is permanently attached to this comic. | Credits | ||
| 2016-05-12 |
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This comic was the third installment of the Substitutions series. As he did the same with the second, the header text is very similar.
This header text is a permanent staple of this comic. |
Trans-comic link | ||
| 2016-04-04 | Protip: If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.
You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only. |
This comic had a header text to help people use the comic when it came out. It was the global header text for some time, before it disappeared from the main header and remained as the header for Garden. | Additional Information | ||
| 2016-01-04 |
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This header text was used as a link to the previous installment of the substitutions series. When Substitutions 3, Randall made a separate header text linking to Substitutions 1 and 2. It was on the main page while the comic was up, and continues as a header text for this comic. | Trans-comic link | ||
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{Template:1 | This header gives credit to Emily Lakdawalla, who helped Randall create the comic, which was a live comic-based recreation of the landing of Philae, a probe designed by the ESA to land on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It is assumed that Emily was the reason that Randall was able to get current information about the landing so quickly. | Credits | ||
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You can get this comic as a poster! | This header text is the only one to be a permanent header text promoting the store. At the time of writing (November 2025), the store is offline, meaning that this link doesn't work. This is the most recent comic-specific header text to promote the xkcd store. | Store Promotion | ||
| 2012-07-09 | This header was only on July 9th, 2012, the day this comic came out. The day after, every page except the front page displayed a different header.
On the 13th of July, other pages had a new version of the header above. Later, 1079 gained a special combined header text, removing the part about Colorado and consolidating the unique header text into a single sentence. The new global header text, promoting the first installment of the What if? blog, was inserted below the unique text, creating a very unique combination header. Possibly due to a bug, the What if? announcement remains on the comic to this day, despite the fact that it was a normal global header, which changed for all other pages many years ago. |
Store Promotion | |||
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Cool--someone's already taken a crack at singing this! | This header text promoted an attempt at someone singing the comic, which was a parody of the Major-General's Song. It links to a YouTube video of the attempt. As seen from the text, this header was not up with the release of the comic, but instead came out later. | Additional Information | ||
| 2012-04-25 | {{{1}}}
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This comic has a permanent header text stating that many people emailed Randall about a separate approximation for the amount of seconds in a year. However, because the earliest archive already shows this text, it is unlikely that Randall actually received these emails before changing the text.
This header text was unique to this comic from the start, as other comics contained the global header text at the time of 1047's release date. |
Additional Information | ||
| 2012-04-01 | You can get posters, prints, and t-shirts in the xkcd store.
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This comic's header text promotes the xkcd store permanently. Despite the fact that the comic was on the front page, this was a comic-exclusive header from the very beginning, as other comics had the global header text on 1037's release date. | Store Promotion | ||
| 2012-03-19 | A helpful reader has provided an s/keyboard/leopard/ user script.
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In response to the joke of this comic, a reader created a browser extension that replaces each instance of the word 'keyboard' with the word 'leopard'. Randall appears to have gotten this script before its official release, as it was already on the header on the day the comic was released. While the link does not go anywhere useful any longer, an archived version of the link can be accessed here.
When 1032: Networking came out on 2012-03-21, the header text had returned to how it was before. |
Additional Information | ||
| 2011-12-29 | Some context for the cancer comics:
https://blog.xkcd.com/2011/06/30/family-illness/ |
This header text links to Randall's Blag, providing context for the recent comics relating to cancer. Around that time, his then-fiancee was diagnosed with Stage three Breast Cancer, which resulted in more emotional comics relating to cancer, leaving many readers confused. | Additional Information | ||
| 2012-04-04 | This one was fun (and exhausting) to make.
There's a poster of it in the store! |
This header text links to the store page for this comic, containing a large poster of the comic. | Store Promotion | ||
| 2011-11-15 | It turns out Monday was Steve Waterman's birthday.
His site has posters of his map, |
This header text mentions the birthday of Steve Waterman, and links to the homepage of his website. | Additional Information | ||
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This header text gave context to the comic, which was in relation to cancer. At that point, Randall's wife was battling Breast cancer, so cancer was a major part of Randall's life at that point in time. | Additional Information | |||
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Oops! It seems I wasn't the first one to do this joke.
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This header text, which is very similar to the header text for 2957: A Crossword Puzzle, admits that Randall was accidentally inspired by a different comic which had done the same joke earlier. The link in the text took you to a blag post admitting to the accidental plagiarism. | Credits | ||
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Today's comic might be familiar to a few dozen of you. :)
P.S. New blag post! |
This header text served two purposes. One was to give a message to those who 'might be familar' with the comic. The second was to promote a new Blag post, titled Michael Bay's Scenario. | |||
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Note: This comic's filename was originally 'advertising.png'. If you }
couldn't see it, that was just your AdBlock zealously protecting you. |
This header text let readers know about an issue with the comic not showing up that some users were experiencing. The comic was, apparently, being shown by displaying a PNG of the comic, which people's AdBlockers were mistaking for an advertisement, preventing the comic from appearing. | Additional Information | ||
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xkcd.com now has IPv6 connectivity. If you can't reach it, you or your
ISP have misconfigured equipment. Sadly, I now have no way to tell you. |
This comic's header lets readers know that xkcd supports IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version Six) connectivity, which assigns each device with an IP address and increases the amount of possible IP addresses to over 900 Undecillion. It also tells readers that if they are unable to access that connectivity, either they or their ISP haven't configured their equipment correctly. However, Randall admits he has no way to tell readers which end has the issue. | Additional Information | ||
| 2011-01-04 | I can't believe I forgot Hey Jude.
I don't get do-overs, but I couldn't resist making a fixed version. |
This header text appeared after Randall made this comic, consisting of songs known for repeating the lyric 'na'. After realizing he forgot 'Hey Jude' by The Beatles, he made a separate version of the comic with 'Hey Jude' included. See more in the comic's trivia section. | Additional Information | ||
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Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by Zach Weiner.
Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that. |
This header text was a reminder to readers about the ongoing Guest Week, this comic being the last one before returning to normal. This header lets leaders know about who contributed to the comic and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was Zach Weinersmith, author of the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. | Credits | ||
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Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by Jeffrey Rowland.
Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that. |
This header text was a reminder to readers about the ongoing Guest Week, this comic being the fourth one of five. It lets the readers know who contributed and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was Jeffrey Rowland, author of the webcomic Overcompensating. | Credits | ||
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Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by Bill Amend.
Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that. |
This header text was a reminder to readers about the ongoing Guest Week, this comic being the third one of five. It lets readers know who contributed to that comic and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was Bill Amend, author of the webcomic FoxTrot. | Credits | ||
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Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by David Troupes.
Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that. |
This header text was a reminder to readers about the ongoing Guest Week, this comic being the second one of five. It lets readers know who contributed to that comic and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was David Troupes, author of the webcomic Buttercup Festival. | Credits | ||
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Guest week! Today's comic is contributed by Jeph Jacques.
Five guest comics this week! XKCD should be back to normal after that. |
This header text was to let readers know of Guest Week, this comic being the first of five guest comics. It lets readers know who contributed to that comic and when xkcd was expected to return to normal. For this comic, the contributor was Jeph Jacques, author of the webcomic Questionable Content. | Credits | ||
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Full view here, poster here. Note: While I was working on this,
Ethan Bloch posted his own update of my my 2007 map. Check it out, too! |
This header text served two purposes. One was to give a larger version of the comic and also promote its poster, which could be found in the xkcd store before it was shut down. The second is to promote the fact that one Ethan Bloch had created his own update of comic 256. The link above now takes you to an archive link as the original site is now defunct. | Additional Information | ||
| 2010-05-12 | At Wikipedia's request, I release this comic under a cc-by-sa license.
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This comic's header text mentions that this specific comic is released under a Creative Commons 3.0 license. The link in the header text goes to the page regarding the Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 United States (CC BY-SA 3.0 US) license. Normally, xkcd is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 (CC BY-NC 2.5) license.
This comic's header didn't appear until between 2 and 4 months after it was published, with the earliest archive with the custom header text being from September 13th. |
Additional Information | ||
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Click on the comic to view the full-size version
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This simple header text lets readers know that, if they want a full-size version, they can click on the comic to access it. | Additional Information | ||
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This comic is also available as a poster here!
Click on today's comic to view the full-size version! |
This header text served two purposes. The first was to promote the fact that the comic could be acquired as a poster in the store before it was shut down. The second purpose was to let readers know that, if they wanted a larger version of the comic, they could access it by clicking on the comic. | Store Promotion | ||
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Comic today's you confuses here click if.
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This header text was a parody of the comic, being written in Reverse Polish notation. In normal notation, it would be read as 'Click here if today's comic confuses you', with the word 'here' linking to the Wikipedia page for Reverse Polish notation. | Additional Information | ||
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For this week, xkcd will update once a day (through Friday).
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This header text let readers know that, for that week only, a new comic would be released every day instead of the normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule due to the 'The Race' series of comics. This comic was the last comic in the series and was released on a Thursday. | Comic Series | ||
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For this week, xkcd will update once a day (through Friday).
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This header text let readers know that, for that week only, a new comic would be released every day instead of the normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule due to the 'The Race' series of comics. This comic was the third comic in the series, and was released on the normal release date of Wednesday. | Comic Series | ||
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For this week, xkcd will update once a day (through Friday).
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This header text let readers know that, for that week only, a new comic would be released every day instead of the normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule due to the 'The Race' series of comics. This comic was the second installment in the series, being released on a Tuesday. This comic was also where the '(through Friday)' portion of the header got added. It's possible that people got confused and assumed that Randall would release 7 comics over 7 days, when he would actually be only releasing comics every day until Friday. | Comic Series | ||
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For this week, xkcd will update once a day.
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This header text let readers know that, for that week only, a new comic would be released every day instead of the normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule due to the 'The Race' series of comics. This comic was the first installment in the series, and was released on a Monday | Comic Series | ||
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There are xkcd prints available in the store. |
This header served two purposes. It promoted the fact that you could get xkcd prints in the xkcd store before it was shut down, and also gave an example of the content shown in the comic. | Store Promotion | ||
| 2008-10-13 | {{{1}}}
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This comic and header text was made as a complaint of Digital Rights Management, or DRM. The header text makes a proclamation that the Amazon MP3 store sells DRM-free music, telling his readers how to acquire music not affected by DRM. | Additional Information | ||
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This comic is available as a poster print.
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This simple header served the purpose of advertising the fact that you could get this comic as a poster in the xkcd store, before it was shut down. | Store Promotion | ||
| 2008-09-05 | (Today's comic is a parody of House of Leaves.)
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When this comic was the newest, it was shown on the front page of xkcd, as seen here the day after release on 2008-09-06. However, this header was only on this comic, and the normal header returned to the front page after comic 473 was released. | Credits | ||
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XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. |
This header text serves to let the reader know of a video which they could watch, which contains the song that the comic is a parody of. | Additional Information | ||
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XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Previously: Journal |
This header text let the reader know that this comic was part of the 'Journal' series, and encouraged them to go back to the first comic in order to see each installment of the series in order. This installment was the final one in the series. | Comic Series | ||
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XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Previously: Journal |
This header text let the reader know that this comic was part of the 'Journal' series, and encouraged them to go back to the first comic in order to see each installment of the series in order. This installment was the fourth one in the series of five. | Comic Series | ||
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What is this about? See the wiki.
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This header text allowed the reader to do further research on the topic by linking to the official xkcd wiki, which was part of the long-defunct Forums. | Additional Information | ||
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XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Previously: Journal 2 |
This header text let the reader know that this comic was part of the 'Journal' series. Unlike the other installments of the Journal series, this text linked to the previous installment rather than the first installment. | Comic Series | ||
| Es el diablo}] | For use on Wikipedia, I release this particular
comic under a cc-by-sa license. |
This header text served the purpose of letting readers know that Randall had specially released this comic under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license, allowing for the image to be uploaded to Wikipedia. Normally, Randall normally releases his comics under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license, which, at the time, was not allowed to be uploaded to Wikipedia. | Additional Information |
| Date & Comic | Header text | Explanation | Purpose | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From 2024-12-05 (during 3020: Infinite Armada Chess) until present. |
Special 10th anniversary edition of WHAT IF?—
revised and annotated with brand-new illustrations |
The only difference between this text and the previous global header text is the final hyphen. The first link goes to the page for the new what if? book on xkcd, with the other link going to the Harper Collins (the publisher) page for the book. This header has been up for approximately 9 months at the time of writing (2025-09-17), except for the one month when Randall endorsed Harris for president.
Because the previous header texts as well as the Header text countdown all promoted some sort of what if? book, the header has been continuously used to promote what if? for nearly 4 years at the time of writing. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2024-11-16 (during 3012: The Future of Orion) until 2024-12-04 (during 3019: Advent Calendar Advent Calendar) |
Special 10th anniversary edition of WHAT IF?—revised and
annotated with brand-new illustrations and answers to important |
The only difference between this header text and the next one was that during this time period, only preorders were available. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2024-10-17 (during 2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia) until 2024-11-15 (during 3012: The Future of Orion) |
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This header text was Randall's official endorsement of Kamala Harris for President during the 2024 United States presidential election. He also posted the same image on hisTwitter (formally X) account and on his Bluesky account on November 3rd, two days before the election.
This text was up until November 11th, after the election had taken place and Donald Trump was declared the winner. |
Politics | ||||
| From 2024-05-15 (during 2933: Elementary Physics Paths) until 2024-10-15 (during 2998: Ravioli-Shaped Objects) |
Special 10th anniversary edition of WHAT IF?—revised and
annotated with brand-new illustrations and answers to important |
This text promotes the preorder of the 10th anniversary edition of the original what if? book. The first link goes to the page for the book on xkcd and the other link goes to the book's Harper Collins page (Harper Collins is the book's publisher). The same text was displayed after Randall's endorsement of Kamala Harris for president. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2024-03-20 (during 2909: Moon Landing Mission Profiles) until 2024-05-14 (during 2932: Driving PSA) |
{{{1}}}
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This header promotes the new what if? YouTube channel, in which Randall narrates a post on the what if? blog. At this point, the global header text had been promoting what if? for over two years. | Channel promotion | ||||
| From 2023-11-29 (during 2861: X Value) until 2024-03-19 (during 2908: Moon Armor Index) |
{{{1}}}
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This header promotes the what if? YouTube channel, narrated by Randall. The first link goes to the what if? page on xkcd, and the other two go to the new YouTube channel. A small change occurred 2024-03-14, where the first two lines became one line, making the alignment worse. This new version only lasted five days before a change was made, replacing it with a different, although very similar, header text. | Channel promotion | ||||
| From 2023-08-31
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What if? 2 is now available in paperback in the UK!
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This header text promotes the paperback version of what if? 2, notifying readers that it was available in the UK. The link goes to the page on xkcd about the what if? 2 book, and directing to the UK order link, where there was now an option to order a paperback copy.
An image was placed above the text, showing the front cover of the new book. Because this was not specifically related to what if? 2, it ended a streak of over 22 months where the header text was constantly promoting the book since the countdown began in January 2022. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2023-02-17
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This header has no text, only an image of the front cover of the book. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2022-09-23
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This header consists of two images, with the one promoting the NYT bestseller list on the left.
This header somewhat obviously celebrates the fact that what if? 2, shortly after release, had claimed a spot on the New York Times bestseller list. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2022-09-13
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This header announces the release of Randall's what if? 2 book.
Each image is a link, which takes you to the book's page on the xkcd website. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2022-09-12
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This header acts as a countdown for Randall's what if? 2 book. This is a very similar header to what had come out just two days before, which instead displayed an image showing 3 days.
The Les Miserables song mentioned is One Day More, which is a fitting title for a song stuck in his head. Each image is a link, which takes you to the xkcd page for what if? 2. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2022-09-11 (during 2670: Interruption) until 2022-09-12 (during 2670: Interruption) |
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This header acts as a countdown for Randall's what if? 2 book. This is a very similar header to the header showing one week. which came out 4 days beforehand, and the header showing one day, which came out just one day after this header released.
Each image is a link, both taking you to the xkcd page for the book. |
Book promotion | ||||
| 2022-09-07
From 2022-09-07
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This header was the third straight header to feature a two-image design, where the countdown was on the left and the book's cover was on the right.
It promoted the soon-to-be-released what if? 2 book, which had been heavily promoted for nearly two weeks up to that point. Each image is a link, which takes you the xkcd page for the book. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2022-08-11
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This header text, which advertised the fact that preorders were open for what if? 2, was the global header text for two different stints. Instead of this being the global header from August 11th until September 6th, it was interrupted for 9 days while Randall's book tour was ongoing.
The image to the left was a link, which took you to a what if? 2 contest. In this contest, one contestant's question would be answered by Randall and included in the book. The image to the right takes you to the book's dedicated page on xkcd. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2022-08-17
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This header was the first header of several to consist of two distinct images, and the third straight to contain the image of the book's cover after the countdown ended.
It promotes a book tour that Randall was taking at the time, to promote what if? 2. Clicking the image took you to the events page of xkcd. At the time, it showed you a calendar with each planned stop on the book tour marked, covering the US and London. The image on the right takes you to what if? 2's dedicated page on xkcd. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2022-07-19
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Preorder What If? 2 (all US preorders eligible) and enter our contest for a chance to win a dedicated comic and What If blog post!
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This header contains text which promotes what if? 2, which was recently made available to preorder at that time.
Clicking the link in the text takes you to a site which allowed users to compete to have their question, along with an answer, be put in the book. While this link is now defunct, you can access an archived version here. Clicking the image of the book's cover takes you to the book's dedicated page on xkcd. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2022-02-01
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What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions comes out 9/13.
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This header text was the first header to promote what if? 2. It promoted the fact that preorders were available, and that the book would come out 7 months later, on September 13th.
It also was the first of many headers promoting the book to consist of two parts, this one having some lines of text and an image of the book's cover. This header's release coincided with multiple changes to the site, including a comic which also announced the new book and a change to the xkcd links section of the site at the top-left corner. It now included links to books, and especially to this specific book. The image of the book's cover, the link in the text, and the comic itself are all links to the book's dedicated xkcd page. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2022-01-10
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xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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This header text was an image, which slowly zoomed out and moved to reveal a promotion for What if? 2, along with the standard header text.
In the image, there was a countdown, which began reading 20d 22h 0m and ticked down every minute until only ten minutes were left. At that point, the image began shaking, and the countdown began counting seconds until it reached zero, at which point the final frame, which showed a snapshot of the book's cover, was displayed for a few minutes before the header text updated and the next comic came out. When viewing the archives, the countdown actually still functions, and follows the internal clock of the user's computer for 59 minutes. For a full transcript and explanation of this header, see Countdown in header text. |
Book promotion | ||||
| 2022-01-08
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xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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This header text was a return to the standard header text, which had not appeared as the global header since November 7th, 2018, making this the longest period of time without the standard header text appearing even once.
As the countdown was added to it on the tenth, it was only the global header in this form for two days. |
Standard Header | ||||
| From 2021-12-20
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For anyone trying to find What If? this year,
it's in stock at Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Bookshop |
This header text mentions the fact that, for anybody who wishes to purchase what if? for Christmas, it was in stock at multiple different book retailers. Each link is the corresponding store's link for What If?. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2020-06-03
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This header promoted Black lives Matter, showing a single-panel comic with Cueball (possibly representing Randall), saying 'Black Lives Matter' with a grey box next to him reading 'How To Help'. However, instead of just this box being a link, the entire image is a link to joining Campaign Zero, a part of the BLM movement.
It came out shortly after the Killing of George Floyd, which sparked large protests in the US and received large amount of national and global media coverage. This header stayed for over 18 months, making this possibly the longest-staying header in xkcd history. |
Politics | ||||
| From 2020-04-05
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(no header text) | This was the first time that xkcd had gone without a header, especially for an extended period of time. After the previous header was removed, no header was inserted in its place, not even the standard go-to header. It stayed empty for almost two months, until the BLM header was inserted. | No Header | ||||
| From 2020-04-04
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Today's comic was put together by
Max Goodhart, Amber, Benjamin Staffin, Kevin, |
This header text was only up for one day, and gives credit to those who put together the 2020 April Fools' Day comic, which had taken two extra days to release due to 'technical reasons' (see the previous header). While this header was only up for one comic, and continues as a comic-specific header, this was a global header while the April Fools' comic was on the front page.
Oddly, when this header was removed after 2289: Scenario 4, no header came to replace it, leading to a 2-month period where there was no global header text at all. |
Credits | ||||
| From 2020-04-02 (during 2287: Pathogen Resistance) until 2020-04-03 (during 2287: Pathogen Resistance) |
Note: For technical reasons Wednesday's comic will be posted Thursday instead. Apologies for the delay!
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This header come directly before 2020's April Fools' Day comic. It apologized for the delay of the comic, stating that technical difficulties along with the overall complexity of the comic pushed its release date back one day, meaning the comic was posted on a Thursday instead of the usual Wednesday.
This comic was the first in over a year to not promote How To?, and was the first to not promote a book since 2019-02-06. This delayed upload schedule created circumstances which made it so 2287: Pathogen Resistance stayed two extra days on the front page, meaning the third comic of the week, 2289: Scenario 4, was uploaded on a Saturday. |
Comic Delay | ||||
| From 2019-11-22 (during 2232: Hotel Room Party) until 2019-12-01 (during 2235: Group Chat Rules) and from 2020-01-16 (during 2255: Tattoo Ideas) until 2020-04-01 (during 2287: Pathogen Resistance) |
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This was the global header for two distinct stints, being interrupted by the Christmas promotion of the book. It was also the last header to promote How To, which had continuously been promoted in the global header text for over a year at that point.
It gives a quick promotion of the book in an image, followed by multiple links which take you to different websites where you can purchase the book. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-12-02 (during 2236: Is it Christmas?) until 2020-01-15 (during 2255: Tattoo Ideas) |
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This was the Christmas promotion of Randall's new book, How To. Despite the fact that it was solely meant to promote the book for the Christmas season, it remained up until January 16th.
This header was very similar to the previous header, with the only changes being made to the image. Each link in the text takes you to each brand's respective page for the book. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-11-06 (during 2224: Software Updates) until 2019-11-22 (during 2231: the Time Before And After Land) |
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This header text was used to promote How To, which had come out a couple months beforehand. As always, clicking anywhere on the image takes you to the book's page on Penguin Random House, where you could find the audio sample.
Each of the links takes you to that brand's respective page for How To. This is also the latest header text to promote any sort of audio. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-10-02 (during 2210: College Athletes) until 2019-11-05 (during 2224: Software Updates) |
I'll be at New York Comic Con!
I'm giving a talk on Thursday, and on Friday |
This Header simultaneously promotes the book How To, with each of the links in the first part of the text going to the brand's respective pages for the book, and the fact that Randall would be going to the New York Comic Con, a multi-day comic book fan convention.
It states that Randall would be giving a presentation that Thursday at the Comic Con, and would also be hosting an event at Caveat NYC, an event venue on the island of Manhattan. Over the course of this header's existence, small changes were made, but nothing major enough to be granted its own row. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-09-30 (during 2209: Fresh Pears) until 2019-10-02 (no archived version) (during 2210: College Athletes) |
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This header features Cueball, representing Randall, commenting on how How To, the book this header was promoting, was 'tons of fun' to write, and that it can be preordered by clicking a blue link. As always, there are no HTML image maps used, meaning that clicking anywhere on the image will take you to xkcd's dedicated page for the book.
Each link provided below the image takes you to each brand's page for the book. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-09-11 (during 2200: Unreachable State) until 2019-09-29 (during 2208: Drone Fishing) |
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This Header text was used to promote the fact that How To, which had been released just a few days prior. After the header promoting the book's release date was removed, this Header took its place. The image consists of an image of the book's cover, with some decoration around it, and text beneath it. This text provides links which go to the respective brand's page for the new book.
The image also states that Serena Williams and Chris Hadfield featured in the book, which they do. Serena Williams' presence in the book is also mentioned in the promotion comic Serena Versus the Drones. Serena Williams is a retired professional tennis player and former world #1 on the Women's Tennis Association's rankings. u Chris Hadfield is a retired Canadian astronaut, singer, engineer, and former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot. He served on two space shuttle missions and has spent five months as the commander of the International Space Station. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-09-04 (during 2198: Throw) until 2019-09-09 (during 2200: Unreachable State) |
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This header text celebrated the release date of How To.
The image consists of an image with two images of the book shown, with a drawing of Cueball riding two quadcopters up to change a lightbulb in a ceiling lamp, while two other characters are watching, one of whom is holding a ladder. Beneath the image are links to order to book from various sites, and clicking the image takes you to xkcd's dedicated page for the book. |
Book promotion | ||||
| 2019-09-03 (during 2197: Game Show) |
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This header text was a joke which Randall performed on his viewers on How To's release date, which is tailored so that an average xkcd reader would get it. It jokes that there are two different versions of the book for two differing calendar systems. The Gregorian calendar (the calendar we use today) replaced the Julian calendar because the latter had an issue, which caused an increasing discrepancy between the actual date and the weather associated with it. The Gregorian calendar is much more accurate in terms of the solar year.
Because of this increasing discrepancy, the date shown on the Julian calendar is 13 days (now 15) behind the date shown on the Gregorian Calendar.
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Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-08-27 (during 2194: How to Send a File) until 2019-09-02 (during 2197: Game Show) |
My new book, How To, comes out next week! Read an exclusive excerpt about transmission here. |
This header simply promotes the new book How To, and the fact it was out in a week. Unlike the multiple headers promoting How To both before and after this one, it consists solely of a few lines of text. It provides links to the respective brand's page for the new book.
The second line also contains a link to one of his blog posts, which contains an excerpt from one of the chapters. A later version of the header included these links, as well as a link to the book tour. The page now contained the winner of the book tour contest, Juneau, Alaska. Despite the fact that this wasn't a countdown, it stayed up until the book's release date on September 3rd. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-08-06 (during 2185: Cumulonimbus) until 2019-08-26 (during 2193: Well-Ordering Principle) |
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This image promotes a contest which allows a US reader to win a sketch of themselves in his new book, How To, which would come out that September. It also contains a number of links which go to the respective brand's dedicated page for the book.
Clicking on the image takes you to a blag post about the event, titled Win an xkcd sketch. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-08-03 (during 2184: Unpopular Opinions) until 2019-08-06 (during 2185: Cumulonimbus) |
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This Header, like many of those which came both before and after it, promotes the new book How To, which was coming out in just under a month at the time. This image promotes said fact, with an image of the book's cover to the left of the text.
Below the image, there are four links, each taking you to the respective brand's page for the book, allowing you to preorder it. Clicking on the image took you to a blag post titled How To Chapter List and Introduction, which contained How To's table of contents and introduction. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-07-10 (during 2173: Trained a Neural Net) until 2019-07-14 (during 2175: Flag Interpretation) and from 2019-07-23 (during 2179: NWS Warnings) until 2019-08-02 (during 2184: Unpopular Opinions) |
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This header text, like many which had come before and after it, promotes How To, a book which, at the time, would have been releasing in about 2 months. It had two distinctive stints as the header text, being interrupted by the promotion of his ComiCon appearance for about a week.
This header was the first header to include preorder links below the image, each taking you to a specific brand's page to preorder the book. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-07-15 (during 2176: How Hacking Works) until 2019-07-22 (during 2179: NWS Warnings) |
Going to San Diego Comic Con this week? I'll see you there!
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This header text was a brief break from the How To promotion, instead promoting a talk which he would give at that year's San Diego Comic Con. During the Con, he gave a talk and appeared in some panels, before finally handing out signed copies of How To almost a month before its official release. | Public Appearance | ||||
| 2019-07-09 (during 2173: Trained a Neural Net) |
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This header was used solely to promote How To, which would be coming out in 3 months at the time. It shows images of the book's cover, with miscellaneous drawings from How To scattered throughout the middle of the image, with text promoting the book. This header only stayed up for a day in this style, before adding a line of links showing where to preorder the book below the image.
Clicking on the image takes you to xkcd's dedicated page for the book. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-06-25 (during 2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics) until 2019-07-08 (during 2172: Lunar Cycles) |
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This simplistic header promoted a contest which allowed for the readers of xkcd to choose a town which the How To book tour would visit. Clicking on the image takes you to a blag post outlining the contest details. Using only book titles, you were instructed to create a story, with the longest sentence improving your chances of winning. The image visualized what submissions may look like, with 15 people standing side by side, each holding a book. The eventual winner of this contest was Juneau, Alaska.
From left to right, the characters visualized in the image are Megan, Cueball, a man with blonde hair, Jill, Blondie, two Hairys, White Hat, a kid with curly hair, Hairbun, Cueball, Megan, Knit Cap, Ponytail, and Beret Guy. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-06-15 (during 2163: Chernobyl until 2019-06-25 (during 2167: Motivated Reasoning Olympics) |
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This header, similar to the previous one, promoted the How To book tour, which Randall would shortly be going on. The image is almost exactly the same as the previous one, with the only change being a link reading '[Click here for dates and tickets]'. While the reason for the change is not known, our best guess is that readers didn't realize that the image was a link, so Randall added this line for clarity.
The entire image, not just the blue text, is a link to a blag post officially announcing the book tour, with all the cities and dates which Randall would visit listed out. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-06-11 (during 2161: An Apple a Day until 2019-06-14 (during 2162: Literary Opinions) |
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This header was the first to promote the How To book tour. It showed a map of the United States with dots representing the location of each city he would be visiting, with one dot outside the map indicating the city which would be chosen by readers. The list of cities is as follows:
The entire image links to a blag post announcing the book tour and detailing the contest used to determine the reader-chosen city. |
Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-02-06 (during 2107: Launch Risk until 2019-04-22 (during 2139: Email Settings) and from 2019-05-17 (during 2150: XKeyboarCD until 2019-06-10 (during 2160: Ken Burns Theory) |
 HOW TO
ABSURD SCIENTIFIC ANSWERS TO COMMON REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS Available September 3, 2019. Preorder: Amazon,Barnes & Noble,IndieBound,Apple Books |
This complex header was the first to promote How To. It officially announced the book and provided links where a reader could preorder the book. It served two distinct stints, each lasting over a month, being interrupted by the promotion of the e-newsletter subscription promotion. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2019-04-23 (during 2140: Reinvent the Wheel until 2019-05-16 (during 2150: XKeyboarCD) |
Still mourning the demise of Google Reader?
You can sign up to get new comics delivered by email here. |
This header interrupted the first header to promote How To in favor of promoting a subscription service which viewers could utilize as a way to be notified when a new comic was released. It mentions Google Reader, a popular RSS and Atom feed aggregator which had shut down on July 1st, 2013. He advertises the newsletter almost 6 years after the shutdown, using email. | |||||
| From 2018-11-07 (during 2069: Wishlist until 2019-02-05 (during 2107: Launch Risk) |
xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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After a long period of sharing space with other headers during the ongoing 2018 Midterm Elections. After election day, the standard text came back, being the sole header for almost three months before Randall's announcement of How To. After the standard header text left, it wouldn't reappear for almost three years, the longest gap between standard texts at the time. | Standard Header | ||||
| From 2018-11-06 (during 2068: Election Night until 2018-11-07 (during 2069: Wishlist) |
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This header text reminded xkcd readers to vote in the 2018 United States Midterm Elections. As these were highly contested, every vote counted. It gave a reminder about the fact that if the polls close while you're in line, the government must let you vote. It also provides links which give additional information about voting, where your local polling place is, and to see what was on the ballot. | Politics | ||||
| From 2018-11-02 (during 2067: Challengers until 2018-11-05 (during 2067: Challengers) |
Find out where to vote: vote.org.
See what's on your ballot: BallotReady.org
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This header was very similar to the previous one, only adding a line below the first, taking you to a website which shows what would be on the reader's ballot before that year's election day on November 6th. It is part of a series of header texts related to the US 2018 Midterm Elections. | Politics | ||||
| From 2018-10-22 (during 2061: Tectonics Game until 2018-11-02 (during 2067: Challengers) |
Check your registration and find your polling place at vote.org.
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This header text reminded readers to register to vote in the 2018 United States Midterm Elections. It links to vote.org, a website which allows the user to check their registrations and contains a map of polling places near your location. | Politics | ||||
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xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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The standard text. It returned for just a couple months, between a reminder for readers in New York to vote and for all readers to register for the main election day during the 2018 United States Midterm Elections. | Standard Header | ||||
| From 2018-09-13 (during 2045: Social Media Announcement until 2018-09-14 (during 2046: Trum-) |
xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
NY votes today! Find your polling place here. (Zephyr Teachout for AG!)
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This short-lived header text reminded readers who lived in New York to vote on that day, as it was the day New York voted in the 2018 United States Midterm Elections. The text links to a New York government website which allows the viewer to see which polling place was the closest to them. | Politics | ||||
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xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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The standard header text, this time returning for 10 months, from during December 2017 to September 2018. It stayed during the long break between Christmas and the day New York voted in the 2018 United States Midterm Elections. | Standard Header | ||||
| From 2017-11-26 (during 1920: Emoji Sports until 2017-11-30 (during 1922: Interferometry) |
{{{1|To anyone looking for Christmas gifts: Until Monday you can get $5 off What If? and Thing Explainer on Amazon with coupon code GIFTBOOK17. At Barnes & Noble, until Sunday you can get 20% off |
This header text, like many others, only lasted a few days in between long stretches of standard headers. It promoted Christmas sales of What If? and Thing Explainer, as well as providing a code to use on the Barnes & Noble page for the books. | Book promotion | ||||
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xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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Standard Header | ||||
| From 2017-09-22] (during 1893: Thread until 2017-10-10 (during 1900: Jet Lag) |
I'll be visiting the UK next week!
You can join me in London from September 30-October 2 York, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Ely, Oxford, and Cheltenham. |
This header text was a promotion for public appearances around the UK between late September and early October. Each link goes to a site where you could purchase tickets to attend his appearances. Despite the fact that all of his appearances had already ended, the promotion continued until October 9th, when the header text returned back to standard. | Public Appearance | ||||
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xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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Standard Header | ||||
| From 2017-07-31 (during 1869: Positive and Negative Reviews until 2017-08-04 (during 1872: Backup Batteries) |
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This header thanked readers for their efforts to stop 'The Skinny Repeal', a bill which would have repealed the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, in the Senate. In an unexpected twist, Republican senators John McCain, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski all voted against the bill, as well as all democrats, leading the 100-member senate to veto the bill 51-49. John McCain voted 'no' just days after a brain cancer diagnosis, leading two other Republicans to do the same, vetoing the bill.
This act had an especially large effect on Randall, as this was during his wife's Breast Cancer treatment. Had the act been passed, it is possible that they would have lost their Healthcare coverage, saddling them with very large amounts of debt which they may not have been able to pay off. The entire image is a link, which takes you to a New York Times article showing the final results of the vote, as well as how members of each party voted. |
Politics | ||||
| From 2017-07-25 (during 1867: Physics Confession] until 2017-07-30 (during 1870: Emoji Movie Reviews) |
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This header came just days before a Senate vote on the 'skinny repeal' act, which would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act, which would have left millions of people without healthcare coverage. He asks his readers to contact their senators and ask them to vote 'no' on the bill. He provides a phone number to call, as well as recommending readers to contact their friends in multiple Republican states, whose senators were likely to vote 'yes' on the bill, and ask them to call as well.
Randall may have been motivated to do this because, at the time, his wife was going through cancer treatment. Had this bill been passed, it is possible their healthcare coverage would have been lost, leading them to attain large amounts of debt, and possibly forcing Randall to cease making comics. This header was up until the Senate ultimately vetoed the bill 51-49, leading Randall to change the header to a 'thank you'. |
Politics | ||||
| From 2017-01-21 (during 1788: Barge until 2017-07-25 (during 1867: Physics Confession) |
There are four new shirts in the xkcd store,
along with posters and lots of other stuff!
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This long-lasting header text promoted shirts and posters which could be found at the xkcd store at the time. It maintained the sales pitch of the previous header, only removing the image promoting the shirts. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2016-11-28 (during 1765: Baby Post until 2017-01-21 (during 1788: Barge) |
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This header promoted a Christmas sale on merchandise which was available in the xkcd store at the time. Despite the Christmas sale ending, the header remained until January 21st. The entire image was a link to the xkcd store. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2016-04-23 (during 1671: Arcane Bullshit until 2016-11-28 (during 1764: XKCDE) |
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The standard header returned for a long stint between late April and late November of 2016. | Standard Header | ||||
| From 2016-04-04 (during 1663: Garden until 2016-04-23 (during 1671: Arcane Bullshit) |
Protip: If you don't like how your garden is growing, you can click to prune it.
You can copy the URL to share your garden. From other browsers, it will be view-only.
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This header text stayed throughout most of April. It gave tips for the April Fools' Day comic, which came out with the release of this header. The header text stayed until April 23rd, at which point it became a Comic-Specific Header. | Additional Information | ||||
| From 2016-04-01 (during 1662: Jack and Jill until 2016-04-04 (during 1662: Jack and Jill |
First Version:
The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties.
Please stand by!
Second Version: The xkcd April 1st comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties.
Status update: Please stand by.
Status update: This is fine. Everything is fine.
Status update: Everything is on fire.
Status update: Searching for calendar systems in which Saturday is April 1st.
Third Version: The Friday xkcd comic is currently experiencing technical difficulties
[Editor's note: Everything is on fire] and has been delayed until Sunday night.
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Randall is making the best of a bad situation. Just before the release of that year's April Fools' Day comic, it experienced technical difficulties forcing Randall to delay its release. The three headers changed in rapid succession while 1662: Jack and Jill was still on the front page. Randall provides status updates on the comic, which quickly devolves into chaos before returning to a sense of false normalcy. This finalized header remained until the release of Garden on April 5th. | Comic Delay | ||||
| From 2015-12-13 (during 1615: Red Car until 2016-04-01 (during 1662: Jack and Jill |
Thing Explainer is available at:
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This header was the final header to promote Thing Explainer, which had been continuously promoted for over 10 months at that point. It provided links to places where the book could be purchased, just in time for the Christmas season. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2015-12-05 (during 1612: Colds until 2015-12-12 (during 1615: Red Car |
This header text served two purposes. It gave links to order Thing Explainer (which makes sense. It was December, after all.), and also promoted public appearances he would be doing with Ryan North in Naperville, Illinois and Toronto, Ontario. This header continued the trend of promoting Thing Explainer, which had been continually promoted since April. | Book promotion | |||||
| From 2015-12-03 (during 1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar until 2015-12-05 (during 1612: Colds |
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This header text contained a large image showcasing images from Thing Explainer, as well as multiple links for where to get the book. This image holds the odd record of being the largest image to ever be put into the header text (it is resized here for space). The image gets even weirder by being a link to Thing Explainer on Amazon, even though a link to buy the book on amazon was also provided beneath the image. The image was only provided for two days, before being replaced by a promotion for his public appearances with Ryan North. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2015-11-24 (during 1607: Supreme Court until 2015-12-02 (during 1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar |
First Version:
Second Version:
I'm doing a live Q&A; at 2:30pm PT with The Martian author Andy Weir.
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This header text served two purposes. For most of the time it was on the front page, it solely promoted Thing Explainer, and provided links where you could purchase it. However, it was shortly changed to advertise his public appearances with Andy Weir, with the link in that text taking you to his Facebook page. The image remained between the two texts, and it was a link to an old Blag post announcing Thing Explainer. However, the promotion of the public appearance only lasted one day, and as such is not important enough overall to be split into it's own section. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2015-10-22 (during 1593: Play-By-Play until 2015-11-24 (during 1608: Hoverboard |
We've almost eradicated polio. For World Polio Day, I drew a comic
about the eradication efforts. You can see it on Bill Gates's blog.
_________________________________________________________________ My new book of complex diagrams and simple words comes out Nov 24th.
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This header text promoted two things simultaneously, separated by a line. The top half of the header promoted a comic which Randall drew for Bill Gates' blog, celebrating the fact that Polio had almost been eradicated. The other header promoted Thing Explainer, a book which had just released that year. The top half of the header linked to the blog post that Randall's Polio comic had appeared in, while the bottom half linked to a Blag post announcing Thing Explainer. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2015-09-23 (during 1580: Travel Ghost until 2015-10-21 (during 1593: Play-By-Play |
News: Announcing my Thing Explainer book trip. Come say hi!
Other news: Announcing the Thing Explainer word checker tool!
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This simplistic header promoted two things related to Thing Explainer, which had released earlier that year. It promoted the Thing Explainer book tour and a tool which can help you "Write Like Up Goer Five and Thing Explainer", also known as Simple Writer. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2015-09-06 (during 1573: Cyberintelligence until 2015-09-22 (during 1579: Tech Loops |
Preorder: Amazon.co.uk, Waterstones
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This header was very similar to previous headers promoting Thing Explainer. The only change which occurred between the last header and this header was the addition of a line of text containing links, where you could preorder the book. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2015-06-06 (during 1534: Beer until 2015-08-07 (during 1561: Water Phase Diagram |
In other news, Space Weird Thing is delightful,
and I feel surprisingly invested in @xkcdbracket's results. |
This header text contained two sections, each talking about separate things. The upper portion of the header maintained the same promotion of Thing Explainer from the previous header, but added a couple new lines of text outlining 'other news' in his life. The first link goes to Space Weird Thing, a music video parody of David Bowie's Space Oddity music video using only the 1,000 most common words, inspired by 1133: Up Goer Five. Along with this, there was another link which went to @xkcdbracket on Twitter. This was a large bracket inspired by 1529: Bracket, in which a Twitter user simulated a full bracket with each entry from the comic. After this, it returned to simply promoting the book. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2015-05-15 (during 1525: Emojic 8 Ball until 2015-06-05 (during 1534: Beer |
|
This header text, like the one that came before it, promoted the fact that preorders were open for Thing Explainer, which had been announced with the previous header. The image linked to a Blag post titled New book: Thing Explainer. This header remained for just under a month before other news was added. | Book promotion | ||||
| 2015-05-14 (during 1524: Dimensions |
New book: Thing Explainer!
|
This header text announced Thing Explainer, a book which uses only the 1,000 most common English words at the time to explain complicated things such as the Curiosity Rover and Washing machines. When the next comic released, the header text turned to promoting the book, including providing links where you could preorder it. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2015-02-11 (during 1485: Friendship until 2015-05-12 (during 1523: Microdrones |
|
The standard header text returned for about three months, between his promotion of xkcd-themed Valentine's Day cards and the announcement of Thing Explainer | Standard Header | ||||
| From 2015-02-04 (during 1482: NowPlaying until 2015-02-10 (during 1484: Apollo Speeches |
|
This header was the last of the headers to promote Valentine's Day that year. It promoted the Valentine's Day cards which Randall had collaborated with other webcomic artists to create, and were first announced the month before. The promotion lasted until February 10th, at which point it was nearly impossible to ship cards out to customers by Valentine's Day. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2015-02-02 (during 1481: API until 2015-02-03 (during 1481: API |
Today is the last day to order the limited-run binary heart shirt!
|
This header solely promoted the binary heart shirt, which was in the xkcd store at the time, just before that year's Valentine's Day. The header remained up until the day after the shirts were no longer available to order. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2015-01-29 (during 1479: Troubleshooting until 2015-02-01 (during 1480: Super Bowl |
|
This header promoted both special store products that Randall had created for that year's Valentine's Day. He had partnered with other artists to create custom Valentine Cards, and had created a shirt which contained a heart made out of binary. This header lasted for only a few days until the header changed to promoting the last day you could order the shirts. The image promoting the shirt was a link to a https://web.archive.org/web/20150125080756/https://teespring.com/xkcdbinaryheart page] where you could purchase it. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2015-01-27 (during 1478: P-Values until 2015-01-28 (during 1479: Troubleshooting |
I've teamed up with three other webcomic artists
|
This short-lived header announced the fact that Randall had collaborated with 'other webcomic artists' to create Valentine's cards which could be purchased in the shop at the time. The link in the text took you to the card's page on the xkcd store. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2015-01-24 (during 1477: Star Wars until 2015-01-26 (during 1478: P-Values |
For Valentine's Day, you can get a binary heart shirt
(from comic #99!) in a limited run on TeeSpring
|
This header text was the first of many headers to promote the binary heart shirt which Randall released for that year's Valentine's Day. Instead of being on the xkcd store like one may assume, he actually used Teespring, a company that allows users to create and sell custom products, as the sales platform. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2014-12-22 (during 1463: Altitude until 2015-01-23 (during 1476: Ceres |
You can get xkcd shirts, prints, and posters in the store!
|
This header, like many others at the time, promoted the xkcd store, which contained various xkcd-themed merchandise. The link in the text was a link to the store. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2014-12-17 (during 1461: Payloads until 2014-12-18 (during 1461: Payloads and from 2014-12-19 (during 1462: Blind Trials until 2014-12-21 (during 1462: Blind Trials |
|
This header served two distinct stints as a header, in between an Easter egg header that Randall had released in between them.
This header consisted of just one image, promoting the xkcd store while also reminding readers that that Friday was the last day things could be shipped by the 25th. The entire image was a link to the xkcd store, not just the blue text in the image. |
Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2014-12-18 (during 1461: Payloads until 2014-12-19 (during 1461: Payloads |
|
This header was a more humorous version of the header which it both preceded and succeeded, possibly meant as an Easter Egg for those who happened to visit the site at the time when it was up. It lasted only for a few hours, meaning that not many actually got to see it while it was up. It reminded the reader that, if they wished to get Christmas presents from the xkcd store, they needed to order them by that Friday in order for them to be shipped in time. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2014-12-03 (during 1455: Trolley Problem until 2014-12-16 (during 1460: SMFW |
|
This header promoted the store during the Christmas season, with a touch of humor added in. The bobcat is a reference to 325: A-Minus-Minus. The image was a link to the xkcd store | Store Promotion | ||||
| (during 1453: fMRI} until 2014-12-02 (during 1454: Done |
Thank you for helping my friend Emily.
It means so much.
|
Just two days after Randall posted a header text to raise money for Emily's cancer treatment, the goal was met and this header replaced the previous one for three days. This means that the thanks for meeting the goal was up for more time than the header notifying readers of the goal itself. | Fundraiser | ||||
| (during 1452: Jurassic World} until 2014-11-28 (during 1453: fMRI |
Hey all. My friend Emily—the economist who helped
me with my money chart—has been fighting cancer. She's
having a rough time and could use some help. Thank you.
|
This header text was meant to raise money in order to help Randall's friend Emily fight cancer. The text linked to a GoFundMe page for Emily. Oddly, Emily did not get a permanent header as Becky did on the Seven Years comic. | Fundraiser | ||||
| (during 1428: Move Fast and Break Things} until 2014-11-25 (during 1451: Background Screens |
|
This header consisted of an image promoting the fact that What If? Had become a New York Times bestseller, while also promoting the book at the same time. The header remained up for over a month, only being interrupted by Emily's cancer diagnosis. The image was a link to the book's dedicated page on xkcd. | Book promotion | ||||
| (during 1416: Pixels} until 2014-09-01 (during 1451: Background Screens |
|
This header text promoted the fact that What If?, which had released the day before this header came out, was available to order. The entire image was a link to the book's dedicated page on xkcd. | Book promotion | ||||
| (during 1415: Ballooning} until 2014-09-03 (during 1416: Pixels |
|
This header kept the trend of simple images promoting What If?, with this one promoting the fact that the book was released that day. As this promoted only the release day, it was replaced by a more general promotion the day after. The entire image was a link to the book's dedicated page on xkcd. | Book promotion | ||||
| (during 1398: Snake Facts} until 2014-09-01 (during 1415: Ballooning |
|
This header text promoted the fact that Randall was going on a book tour for What If?, which was released that September. The image, like many others promoting the book, was a simple depiction of a celebrating Cueball with text to its right. The text in the image promoted the book, and asked the viewer to click on an apparent link in order to see a list of stops for the tour. However, by Randall's own admission, the entire image (not just the apparent link) was a link, as he had not figured out HTML imagemaps. The image was a link to a Blag post announcing the book tour and outlining a list of stops. | Book promotion | ||||
| (during 1341: Types of Editors} until 2014-07-22 (during 1397: Luke |
|
This header text was the first of many to promote What If?. This first one announced the fact that Randall was publishing a book cataloging entries from his What If? blog, which had been running continuously for multiple years at that point. The image was a link to a Blag post announcing the book. | Book promotion | ||||
| From 2014-01-09 (during 1314: Photos until 2014-03-12 (during 1340: Unique Date |
|
Standard Header | |||||
| From 2013-12-21 (during 1306: Sigil Cycle until 2014-01-08 (during 1314: Photos |
The deadline for guaranteed Christmas shipping has passed,
but if you order something from the xkcd store, we'll get it to you as fast as possible! |
This header text came out just four days before Christmas, when Randall would be unable to ship items ordered from the xkcd store by Christmas. He also reminds readers that they'd ship ASAP, but they wouldn't arrive by the 25th. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-12-06 (during 1300: Galilean Moons until 2013-12-20 (during 1305: Undocumented Feature |
(no header text) | For a couple weeks during early December of 2013, no header came to replace the previous Exoplanet Poster header. It is possible that there was an error with the intended header text, or that Randall simply forgot to put in a new one. This stopped when the xkcd store Christmas shipping deadline passed, and the header changed to let readers know of this fact. | No Header | ||||
| From 2013-12-02 (during 1298: Exoplanet Neighborhood until 2013-12-06 (during 1300: Galilean Moons |
You can get the Exoplanet Neighborhood comic as a poster!
|
Just after Exoplanet Neighborhoods came out, Randall updated the header to mention that you could get the comic as a poster in the store. This header lasted only four days, until the header turned empty. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-04-09 (during 1196: Subways until 2013-12-01 (during 1297: Oort Cloud |
You can get the Subways comic as a poster!
|
This header, which lasted for almost exactly 100 Comics, promoted the fact that you could get 1196: Subways as a poster in the xkcd store. The promotion lasted until early December, when it was replaced with a different store promotion for another comic, oddly promoting a comic poster as well. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2012-11-26 (during 1138: Heatmap) until 2013-03-11 (during 1183: Rose Petals, from 2013-03-20 (during 1188: Bonding until 2013-04-01 (during 1193: Externalities, and from 2013-04-03 (during 1194: Stratigraphic Record until 2013-04-08 (during 1196: Subways |
|
This header holds a record for the most distinct times it appeared as the header text, appearing three separate times. The content of the header was an image showing a torn piece of paper, with the tear revealing the words 'xkcd store' below it. Clicking on the image while it was up took you to the xkcd store, which featured various xkcd-themed merchandise. | Store Promotion | ||||
| 2013-04-02 (during 1193: Externalities) |
There were some surprise upsets in the Hash Breaking!
|
This header documented the challenge given to multiple prestigious colleges in 1193: Externalities. Randall had created a challenge in which multiple Alma Maters were tasked to break a 1024-bit Skein hash in the shortest time possible, with the college that had the least bits wrong at the end of the challenge winning. This header gave an update, stating that KIT (an Indian engineering college) in first place, with Colombia in second. He provided a link to the xkcd page where the results were being documented in real time. In the end, Carnegie Mellon University won, with 384 bits wrong of 1024. | |||||
| From 2013-03-15 (during 1186: Bumblebees until 2013-03-18 (during 1187: Aspect Ratio |
(no header text) | After the previous header letting people know that 1185: Ineffective Sorts was delayed, no header came to replace it for 3 days. This is one of only three times this has happened in xkcd's history | No Header | ||||
| From 2013-03-13 (during 1184: Circumference Formula until 2013-03-13 (during 1185: Ineffective Sorts |
The comic will be delayed until late morning EDT.
|
This simple header, which was up for less than a day, let readers know that the next comic (1185: Ineffective Sorts) was temporarily delayed. The delayed comic was quickly released and the header was replaced, oddly, with nothing. | Comic Delay | ||||
| From 2012-10-24 (during 1124: Law of Drama until 2012-11-26 (during 1138: Heatmap |
|
Standard Header | |||||
| From 2012-10-17 (during 1122: Electoral Precedent until 2012-10-23 (during 1124: Law of Drama |
New What-If article:
|
This header was the last header to promote the release of a specific entry to the What If? blog. This entry acted like a short-answer section, but only for lightning-related questions. This promotion lasted for only a few days before it was replaced with the standard header. The link in the article took you to the blog entry. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2012-10-10 (during 1118: Microsoft until 2012-10-16 (during 1121: Identity |
New What-If article:
{{Header text|What if you set off a nuclear bomb in the Mariana Trench?. |
This header text promotes the first short-answer entry of the What If? blog. It was up for a week, while it was the most recent blog entry. After that, it was replaced by a promotion for the next blog entry | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2012-09-26 (during 1113: Killed in Action until 2012-10-01 (during 1115: Sky |
New What-If article:
|
This header text, like many others around this time, promoted the latest entry to the What If? blog, this one being Laser Pointer. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2012-09-18 (during 1109: Refrigerator until 2012-09-25 (during 1112: Think Logically |
what-if.xkcd.com: What if all of a storm's water fell in a single raindrop?.
|
This header promoted the latest entry into the What If? blog, this one being Raindrop. It stayed up until the next blog entry was released. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-09-11 (during 1106: ADD until 2013-09-17 (during 1109: Refrigerator |
New what-if.xkcd.com article: Droppings
|
This time, the header text promoted the new What If? blog entry, this time titled Droppings. This header lasted until the next entry, Raindrop. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-09-05 (during 1103: Nine until 2013-09-10 (during 1105: License Plate |
New what-if.xkcd.com article:
|
This header was part of a long series of headers at the time, coming out each week with each new What If? blog entry. This one promoted Cassini. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-08-30 (during 1101: Sketchiness until 2013-09-03 (during 1103: Nine |
New what-if.xkcd.com article:
|
This header text was part of a series of headers promoting new entries to the What If? blog every week. For this week, it promoted Soul Mates | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-08-22 (during 1098: Star Ratings until 2013-08-28 (during 1100: Vows |
New What-If article: What if everyone got together and jumped
{{Header text|{{{1|at the same time, but then realized nobody brought food? |
This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. This week, the header promoted Everybody Jump. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-08-17 (during 1096: Clinically Studied Ingredient until 2013-08-21 (during 1097: A Hypochondriac's Nightmare |
This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. This week, the header promoted Everybody Out. This header, however, is unique from the others promoting the blog, as this is the last header to promote the website directly. | What If? Promotion | |||||
| From 2013-08-09 (during 1092: Michael Phelps until 2013-08-14 (during 1094: Interview |
|
This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. However, for most of the week Glass Half Empty was out, Randall used an image to promote the new entry rather than the traditional text. This is one of only two headers promoting the blog to use this format. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| 2013-08-07 (during 1091: Curiosity |
New: what-if.xkcd.com
This week: What if a glass were actually half-empty?
|
This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. However, this header is unique, as it only appeared for a single day before Randall replaced it with an image promoting the same article. This header text promoted Glass Half Empty. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-08-02 (during 1089: Internal Monologue until 2013-08-05 (during 1090: Formal Languages |
New: what-if.xkcd.com
This week: How long would humans last in a robot apocalypse?
|
This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. For this week, the header promoted Robot Apocalypse. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-07-25 (during 1086: Eyelash Wish Log until 2013-07-30 (during 1088: Five Years |
New: what-if.xkcd.com
This week: What if you had a mole (unit) of moles (animals)?
|
This header text was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. For this week, the header promoted A Mole of Moles, the fourth What If? blog entry. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2013-07-18 (during 1083: Writing Styles until 2013-07-23 (during 1085: ContextBot |
|
This header was part of a series of headers which came out every week, each promoting the latest entry into the What If? blog. During the week where Yoda was the most recent post, Randall decided to promote the new entry via an image rather than the typical text. This is one of only two headers promoting the blog to use an image rather than text. | What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2012-07-10 (during 1078: Knights until 2012-07-14 (during 1081: Argument Victory |
First version: New site: what-if.xkcd.com, where I abuse science to answer hypothetical questions. I'll answer a new question every Tuesday. Second version: New: what-if.xkcd.com: abusing science to answer hypothetical questions.
I'll answer a new reader question every Tuesday.
|
This header text came in two versions, each promoting the new What If? blog at what-if.xkcd.com. The first version was only up for a day, and, oddly, appeared on each comic except for the front page. The website given in the text wasn't a link, which is presumably why Randall quickly changed the header into the second version. |
What If? Promotion | ||||
| From 2012-04-09 (during 1040: Lakes and Oceans until 2012-07-09 (during 1078: Knights |
You can get prints, posters, and t-shirts in the store.
|
This simple header text combined the standard header text and the standard store promotion in one header. The link in the bottom row went to to the xkcd store, which contained various xkcd-themed merchandise. | Store Promotion | ||||
| From 2012-04-05 (during 1038: Fountain until 2012-04-08 (during 1039: RuBisCO |
|
A return to the standard header text, if only for a few days before the store promotion was added. | Standard Header | ||||
| From 2012-03-28 (during 1035: Cadbury Eggs until 2012-04-03 (during 1036: Reviews |
This promotion linked to a trip Randall was doing to Newport News, Virginia, where he would be giving a talk at his old school, Christopher Newport University. The first link in the text went to a Blag post announcing his trip, while the second link took you to a website where you could purchase tickets (the link here goes to an archived version, as the link is no longer working). | Public Appearance | |||||
| From 2012-03-12 (during 1028: Communication until 2012-03-26 (during 1033: Formal Logic |
New: holistic.xkcd.com, the least useful web navigation tool ever.}}} | This header text promoted a web navigation tool which Randall had developed, called the xkcd Holistic Browser. As the name implies, when you typed a web address, you would instead be taken to a web address someone else had entered. For a time, this header text overlapped with 1031: s/keyboard/leopard/, which has its own unique header text. | Other promotion |
|
|
MIND THE GAP-7 years-remember only to only archive the text in the TOP CENTER of the page, NOT the top left. |
2007-05-06 - Preorder 256 posters[edit]
- 2007-05-06 (during Code Talkers
- The text:
You can preorder posters of the online communities map in the store
- This one line was so long that you couldn’t see the end of the word ‘store’
- Last archived version 2007-05-14 (during Regarding Mussolini). 5-day gap.
2007-05-03 - 2^8th comic[edit]
- 2007-05-03 (during Online Communities)
- The text:
Hooray, the 2^8th comic!
By popular demand: preorder a poster of this map!
- Please note that we have no clue if there was any actual demand for a poster
- One archive, but no ‘unknown’ needed
2007-03-24 - Back to standard text[edit]
- 2007-03-24 (during Blagofaire)
- The text:
XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
- Last archived version 2007-04-06. The next archive after this is from MAY THIRD.
2007-03-21 - Good shirts[edit]
- 2007-03-21 (during Pet Peeve #114)
- The text:
There are some good shirts in the store.
- One archive, but only a three-day gap. No ‘unknown’ needed
2007-03-16 - Sense of Security Blag[edit]
- 2007-03-16 (during Collecting Double-Takes
- The text:
There are some good shirts in the store.
Lost: comic originals, sense of security. (blag post)
- One archive, 5-day gap…. ‘’sigh’’
2007-03-06 - Map of the internet – That you can buy![edit]
- 2007-03-06 (during Cat Proximity)
- The phrases ‘new:’ are both in red
- The text:
New: Map of the Internet poster print
New: Two new shirts in the store
- Ended 2007-03-14 (during Escape Artist) (yes, I said ended, not ‘last archived version’)
2007-02-12 - Shirt restock[edit]
- 2007-02-12 (during Small Talk)
- The text:
XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
T-shirts are restocked (for now) and shipping promptly!
- Last archived version was 2007-02-27. Sadly, a seven-day archive gap means we’re back to suffering.
2007-02-10 - Standard Header[edit]
- 2007-02-10 (during Random Number)
- The text:
XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
- Only one archive, but THE GAP IS ONLY TWO DAYS!!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!!
2007-02-02 - New blag post[edit]
- 2007-02-02 (during e to the pi Minus pi)
- The text:
New blag post:
Washington’s Farewell Address in everyday speech.
- Last archived version was 2007-02-04 (during Nintendo Surgeon). A six-day archive gap means we once again can’t have any fun.
2007-01-24 - Standard Header[edit]
- 2007-01-24 (during The Problem with Wikipedia)
- The text:
XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
- Just one archive once again! And, once again, a long archive gap means we can’t have any fun
2007-01-19 - He zorbed too hard :([edit]
- 2007-01-19 (during Brain)
- Remember to figure out what the fuck zorb is.
- The text:
I tried writing to zorb but I can’t convince them to send me one.
- Only one archive, lasted anywhere from 1-8 days
2006-12-31 - Standard Header[edit]
- 2006-12-31 (during Hallucinations)
- The standard header’s first appearance in its current form
- The text:
XKCD updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
- Last archive is 2007-01-14 (during Kayak). This is only an approximation, as there’s a 5-day archive gap.
2006-12-14 - Xmas Orders closed[edit]
- 2006-12-14 (during Command Line Fu)
- The text:
Christmas orders are closed! They will finish shipping shortly!
TheFairest - TheFunniest - TheCutest
- OH MY GOD THERE IS A 2.5 WEEK GAP
2006-12-09 - Deadline 12/13[edit]
- 2006-12-09 (during Penises)
- The first line is in red, except for the link, which is the normal color. The second line is the normal color.
- The text:
The deadline for Christmas orders is December 13th.
Supplies are limited; shirts are not guaranteed to stay in stock
- Only one archive once again! A 5-day gap in the archives mean we don’t know when it ended…or began.
2006-12-05 - Useless shirt[edit]
- 2006-12-05 (during Working for Google)
- The second line of text is in red, except for the period at the end of the sentence.
- The text:
New ‘Useless’ shirt available in the store! (Supplies limited)
The deadline for Christmas orders is December 13th.
- Actually, first time in a while where we really can just include that one archive, maybe with a ‘circa’ attached tho
2006-11-29 - Nothing again[edit]
- 2007-11-29 (during Exercise)
- The text:
- Unknown end date (6-day gap), lasted only one archive
2006-11-18 - Need submitters[edit]
- 2006-11-18 (during Wikifriends)
- The text:
TheFairest.info - TheFunniest.info - Have voters, need submitters.
(Content is user-submitted and may occasionally not be work-safe.)
- End date unknown (11-day archive gap). lasted only one archive.
2006-11-09 - New toys[edit]
- 2006-11-09 (during Interblag
- The text
New toys: TheFairest.info - TheFunniest.info
- End date unknown again, 8-day gap in archives
2006-10-13 - Nothing[edit]
- 2006-10-13 (during Turn Back)
- The text:
- Both start and end date unknown, as there is a 2-3-week gap between archives. One archive
2006-09-01 - IRC channel[edit]
- 2006-09-01 (during Mario)
- The website at the end of the text isn’t a link, but the words ‘xkcd irc channel’ are.
- The text:
Store has 2XL and 3XL shirts until preorder period ends.
NEWS: xkcd irc channel (#xkcd on irc.foonetic.net)
- We have literally no clue about anything between September 1st and October 13th. And the one on October 13th is just nothing! Also, one archive
2006-08-29 - BEEG shirts[edit]
- 2006-08-29 (during Sandwich
- The word ‘news’ is still in all caps, but has lost its boldness.
- The text:
Two t-shirts in the store! One sweet, one bitchin’.
NEWS: Store has 2XL and 3XL shirts until preorder period ends.
- Just one archive, but at least we’re only limited to a 3-day window. Don’t include ‘until unknown’ here
2006-08-19 - Parody Week Dinosaur[edit]
- 2006-08-19 (during Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics)
- Sadly, this is the only archive from the entirety of parody week. We can only assume that each comic from Parody Week had a very similar header to this, but they are all lost media now.
- The text:
Saturday is the last day to vote in the date contest!
Dinosaur Comics tribute! Regular comics return Monday.
- Only one archive. Because the header is specific to this comic (but not comic-specific - it was definitely global), we can probably say that this header left as the global header when the next comic came out.
2006-08-12 - Next Week Parody Week[edit]
- 2006-08-12 (during Delicious)
- The word ‘NEWS’ is formatted the same as last time
- The text:
‘‘NEWS:‘‘ Next week is Parody Week! New comic every weekday!
- Ended sometime around 2006-08-13 (during Delicious)
2006-08-10 - Awesome date project[edit]
- 2006-08-10 (during I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards)
- The word ‘NEWS’ is in BOLD and ALL CAPS, but isn’t thicc like last time.
- The text:
‘‘NEWS:‘‘ Signed prints of many comics are available!
Don’t forget to help vote in the awesome date project!
- Only one archive, and this time only two days between archives. We can only include the archive this time, not the ‘until unknown’
2006-07-21 - BestThing.info[edit]
- 2006-07-21 (during Fans)
- ’SISTER PROJECT’ is bold and in ALL CAPS (it’s also very thicc, which is odd. Same thickness as header link.)
- The text:
Comic updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
SISTER PROJECT: BestThing.info - decide What’s Best!
- Only one archive, but the end date is unknown as there are ~3 weeks between headers. End with ‘until Unknown’
2006-07-20 - Video unearthed[edit]
- 2006-07-20 (during Julia Stiles)
- News is once again in big and bold
- The text:
- NEWS: I've unearthed the video referenced in today's comic!
- Check the news section of the forums to watch it.
- Only one archive (this was a time of quick, very short-lived headers)
2006-07-14 - Sunday last day[edit]
- 2006-07-14 (during dPain over dt)
- the word 'news' is, again, big and bold.
- The text:
- NEWS: Sunday is the last day to order t-shirts]!
- only one archive once again
2006-07-10 - One week for tees[edit]
- 2006-07-10 (during Red Spiders Cometh)
- the word 'news' is Big n' Bold
- The text:
- NEWS: One week left to order t-shirts!
- Only one archive
2006-07-05 - Comic 23 Tee[edit]
- 2006-07-05
- Top red line is bold
- The text:
- Get a t-shirt based on comic #23 in the store!
- Ended 2006-07-06 (during Blogofractal)
2006-06-16 - DYK forums[edit]
- 2006-06-16 (during Meerkat)
- The same format as the previous one. two lines of red text
- The text:
- T-shirts shipped out Monday morning!
- Did you know we have active forums?
- Again, only this archive
2006-06-12 - Packaged T-shirts[edit]
- 2006-06-12 (during Computational Linguists)
- Text is in red sans-serif
- First time t-shirts are mentioned, but the two months in between archives probably contained something forever lost to time.
- The text:
- T-shirts are packaged and shipping first thing Monday!
- Only this one archive had this header
2006-04-08 - nothin'[edit]
- 2005-04-08 (during Digital Rights Management)
- Now it's in WingDings!
- The text:
- Ended 2006-04-28 (during 95: The Sierpinski Penis Game)
2005-12-12 - Composite face images[edit]
- 2005-12-12
- MORE TNR!
- The text:
- Kite Flying - Aerial Photography]
- The Sub Project - On and off through high school I worked on ROVs.
- Blue Eyes - The hardest logic puzzle in the world
- I run the American Society for the Conservation of Gravity
- I also create composite images of faces (available on commission)
- Ended 2006-02-07 (during Super Bowl)
2005-11-26 - ASCG[edit]
- 2005-11-26 (during Old Notebook)
- More TNR
- The text:
- Robowar is back, with a good Windows port
- Kite Flying - Aerial Photography]
- CNU Wireless Map - Informal survey of illegal CNU wireless networks
- The Sub Project - On and off through high school I worked on ROVs.
- Blue Eyes - The hardest logic puzzle in the world
- I also run the American Society for the Conservation of Gravity
- Only up one archive
2005-10-18 - Basic Bio[edit]
- 2005-10-18 (during Kepler)
- This was in the Times New Roman font, idk why.
- The text:
- Robowar is back, with a good Windows port
- Kite Flying - Aerial Photography]
- CNU Wireless Map - Informal survey of illegal CNU wireless networks
- The Sub Project - On and off through high school I worked on ROVs.
- Blue Eyes - The hardest logic puzzle in the world
- Tree Prank - My roommate and I are kind of awful.
- Ended 2005-11-18 (During Barrel - Part 5)
What If? chapters[edit]
Bouncy Balls -
Around 3,000,000 balls. Death would occur and you would be charged with manslaughter or murder.
Comic 997[edit]
| Image | Explanation |
|---|---|
| File:997 Don't Shoot.png | Example |
| File:997 Don't Vote.png | Example |
| File:997 Don't Judge.png | Example |
Volume 0 table[edit]
| Page Number | Ciphertext | Code used | Decoded text | Explanation |
| 1 | CNEG BAR BS RVTUG VA URK: RR AVAR RVTUG SVIR BAR BAR RVTUG. | A Caesar cipher with a 13-character shift | PART ONE OF EIGHT IN HEX: EE NINE EIGHT FIVE ONE ONE EIGHT. | This was the first piece of code in the entire book, and was meant to alert readers that there was a message in hexadecimal, separated and encoded throughout the book meant to be found and decoded. |
| 11 |
I0TAE/KE |
explain xkcd:List of Commands[edit]
| Command | Use | Example | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| <b> | Used to format text to be bold. | '<b>This text is bold!</b>' renders as:
This text is bold! |
Formatting |
| <i> | Used to format text to be italicized. Please note that autocorrect may attempt to capitalize the I. Remember to undo this, as it prevents the command from functioning | '<i>This text is italicized!</i>' renders as:
This text is italicized! |
Formatting |
