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Superstition

|< < Prev #3191 (January 7, 2026)

Title text: It's important to teach yourself to feel responsible for random events, because with great responsibility comes great power. That's what my wise Uncle Ben told me right before he died; he might still be alive today if only I'd said rabbit rabbit that year!

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Explanation

This is incomplete: This page was created by people who will edit this wiki or else it is their fault. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

This comic references the 'superstition', which is known to have existed as far back as 1909, of saying "rabbit rabbit" on the first day of a month in order to have good luck. There are many 'superstitions' about actions that either cause bad luck (e.g. "step on a crack, break your mother's back", walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror) or protect against bad luck (e.g. carrying a rabbit's foot, throwing salt over your shoulder after spilling some).

When asked to explain it, Cueball reveals that, rather than being subject to magical thinking, he is fully aware that the act has no real direct power, and thus in his case this isn't really a superstition, but merely a cultural artefact. However, he suggests that acts like these have a psychological effect by making people feel guilty over random unpleasant events over which they have no control by implying that there must have been some unrelated act which could have prevented them.

"Uncle Ben" is a reference to Spider-Man, whose uncle told him that "with great power comes great responsibility". He was not actually aware of Peter Parker's developing super-powered abilities, his aphorism being about far more mundane abilities to improve people's lives, but this still became the central guiding tenet for the superhero's philosophy. The title text flips this and implies that by taking on a great responsibility one will gain the concomitant degree of extra power. The adherence to superstitions to control our fate implies that we all have great powers, however, and we must therefore use them responsibly.

Transcript

This is one of 36 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

[Blondie, Cueball and a child (Hairy) are walking from left to right. The child is turning towards Cueball.]

Cueball: Oops, I forgot to say "rabbit rabbit" on January first!

Hairy: Why do you do that?

Cueball: Just a superstition.

Hairy: What's a superstition?

Cueball: It's a way to train yourself to feel like any bad thing that happens is your fault.

Trivia

• As of January 7th, 2026, both the 1x and 2x version of this comic had no anti-aliasing applied (1-bit black and white). It was fixed later that day.

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Discussion

Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.

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This is a test. PoolloverNathan^{[stalk the blue seas]} 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

This is not. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 13:26) 18:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)

A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this

^furhhfghure _{guyrburgryhuyvfr} "rvhru"

interesting way of writing quotations xd

hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line

Please beware that <p> on mediawiki also disables automatic paragraph breaks, so you need a closing </p> or you'll break automatic paragraph formatting for the rest of the page. Zmatt (talk) 22:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

hi uh its hard to get here. is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

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yum yum [citation needed]

Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}

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Recent comments:

8 January 2026

09:09

Talk:3190: Tensegrity‎ (diff | hist) . . (+143)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

7 January 2026

		N    22:28	Talk:3191: Superstition‎‎ (9 changes | history) . . (+1,539)‎ . . [Maofgf‎; TheusafBOT‎; 64.201.132.210‎; 2a06:5906:1412:4100:1c9b:b7e4:7419:fd67‎; 2a02:c7c:6d8a:6800:74ec:66a3:2e17:78bc‎; 2a01:e0a:1d1:7ce0:964f:c262:a580:de9‎; 2a00:23ee:1878:2422:583a:77b9:1416:97d1‎; 2600:1006:b347:c663:d55a:314:cb4f:43f6‎; 2401:d005:d402:7a00:f107:d318:6c4c:dca3‎]
			22:28 (cur | prev) . . (+181)‎ . . 64.201.132.210 (talk) (Random event or ....)
			21:33 (cur | prev) . . (+185)‎ . . 2401:d005:d402:7a00:f107:d318:6c4c:dca3 (talk)
			21:16 (cur | prev) . . (+266)‎ . . 2a02:c7c:6d8a:6800:74ec:66a3:2e17:78bc (talk) (i am not a robot just for using linux. leave me alone recaptcha)
			21:10 (cur | prev) . . (+210)‎ . . Maofgf (talk | contribs)
			20:45 (cur | prev) . . (+156)‎ . . 2a01:e0a:1d1:7ce0:964f:c262:a580:de9 (talk)
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		N	19:43 (cur | prev) . . (+113)‎ . . TheusafBOT (talk | contribs) (Created by theusafBOT: talk page for 3191)

		18:04	Talk:3190: Tensegrity‎‎ (5 changes | history) . . (+3,303)‎ . . [82.132.237.91‎; Lordpishky‎; 193.42.0.156‎; Utdtutyabthsc‎ (2×)]
			18:04 (cur | prev) . . (+100)‎ . . Lordpishky (talk | contribs) (One word Eliza AI reference with nine word summary.)
			17:55 (cur | prev) . . (+2,443)‎ . . 82.132.237.91 (talk)
			16:16 (cur | prev) . . (+217)‎ . . 193.42.0.156 (talk)
		m	03:14 (cur | prev) . . (+2)‎ . . Utdtutyabthsc (talk | contribs)
		m	03:13 (cur | prev) . . (+170)‎ . . Utdtutyabthsc (talk | contribs)

		16:32	Talk:3188: Anyone Else Here‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+102)‎ . . [66.210.7.66‎ (2×)]
			16:32 (cur | prev) . . (+78)‎ . . 66.210.7.66 (talk)
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6 January 2026

		17:35	Talk:3189: Conic Sections‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+285)‎ . . [82.13.184.33‎; 163.116.145.34‎]
			17:35 (cur | prev) . . (+149)‎ . . 163.116.145.34 (talk)
			10:36 (cur | prev) . . (+136)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

		17:29	Talk:3190: Tensegrity‎‎ (8 changes | history) . . (+2,248)‎ . . [Coconut Galaxy‎; Barmar‎; 92.23.2.208‎; 82.13.184.33‎; 104.185.183.165‎; 76.187.17.7‎ (3×)]
			17:29 (cur | prev) . . (+787)‎ . . 92.23.2.208 (talk)
			15:38 (cur | prev) . . (+48)‎ . . Barmar (talk | contribs)
			14:39 (cur | prev) . . (+161)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
			11:37 (cur | prev) . . (+629)‎ . . 104.185.183.165 (talk) (comment about giraffes)
			08:29 (cur | prev) . . (+161)‎ . . Coconut Galaxy (talk | contribs)
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			04:59 (cur | prev) . . (+300)‎ . . 76.187.17.7 (talk) (One of Buckminster's student's works is sometimes described as "earrings for a giraffe.")
			04:56 (cur | prev) . . (+137)‎ . . 76.187.17.7 (talk) (colon-ization)

		17:06	Talk:3188: Anyone Else Here‎‎ (3 changes | history) . . (+52)‎ . . [Bateleur‎; These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For‎; 82.13.184.33‎]
			17:06 (cur | prev) . . (+84)‎ . . Bateleur (talk | contribs)
			10:22 (cur | prev) . . (-39)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)
		m	04:01 (cur | prev) . . (+7)‎ . . These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk | contribs)

		11:36	Talk:3185: Sauropods‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+90)‎ . . [82.13.184.33‎; 2a01:112f:490a:bb00:12d0:2c77:9ca3:6415‎]
			11:36 (cur | prev) . . (+113)‎ . . 2a01:112f:490a:bb00:12d0:2c77:9ca3:6415 (talk)
			09:40 (cur | prev) . . (-23)‎ . . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

		10:15	Talk:3187: High Altitude Cooking Instructions‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (0)‎ . . [82.13.184.33‎ (2×)]
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		10:02	Talk:3186: Truly Universal Outlet‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (-14)‎ . . [82.13.184.33‎ (2×)]
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		09:38	Talk:3184: Funny Numbers‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (-21)‎ . . [82.13.184.33‎ (2×)]
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