Difference between revisions of "1790: Sad"

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****This latter point could be especially troublesome for women like Ponytail (in one of Randall's comics) as it is against {{w|Women's_rights#Abortion|Women's right}}
 
****This latter point could be especially troublesome for women like Ponytail (in one of Randall's comics) as it is against {{w|Women's_rights#Abortion|Women's right}}
 
***The actual reasons for Ponytail's frustrations and depression aren't dwelt on and the focus is on her retreat into video games and the damage it's doing to her work projects.
 
***The actual reasons for Ponytail's frustrations and depression aren't dwelt on and the focus is on her retreat into video games and the damage it's doing to her work projects.
****However the reference to {{w|PolitiFact.com|PolitiFact}} makes it clear that she is thinking on politics, and the fact checking of most of Trumps claims which often turns out to be ''alternative truths'' (as Trump now have renamed ''lies'').
+
****However the reference to {{w|PolitiFact.com|PolitiFact}} makes it clear that she is thinking on politics, and the fact checking of most of Trumps claims which often turns out to be ''Pants on fire'' on the PolitiFact scale.
 
****See more on Politifact.com the earlier comic [[1712: Politifact]] from during the election campaign
 
****See more on Politifact.com the earlier comic [[1712: Politifact]] from during the election campaign
 +
****The quote from Ponytail is another indication that her trouble is with Trumps leniency with the truth in both election campaign and after, to the point where lies are now on a daily basis just called {{w|alternative facts}} or {{w|Post-truth_politics#United_States|post-truth}}.
 +
 +
 
*****By the way apart from the ''Politifact'' comic and ''I’m with Her'' then the only other direct reference to the election during the {{w|United_States_presidential_election,_2016#General_election_campaign|election campaign}} was in [[1748: Future Archaeology]], where Randall expressed interest in knowing the result of the election in advance.
 
*****By the way apart from the ''Politifact'' comic and ''I’m with Her'' then the only other direct reference to the election during the {{w|United_States_presidential_election,_2016#General_election_campaign|election campaign}} was in [[1748: Future Archaeology]], where Randall expressed interest in knowing the result of the election in advance.
 
***Seeing that this comic is about Ponytail being sad, the woman who in the first comic on this list was standing with a weapon to defend herself against condescending men (like Trump) and that one of the first decrees Trump signed, was regarding removal of support for women’s right to abortion abroad, she can see that she still have good reason (especially as a woman) to being sad these past three months.
 
***Seeing that this comic is about Ponytail being sad, the woman who in the first comic on this list was standing with a weapon to defend herself against condescending men (like Trump) and that one of the first decrees Trump signed, was regarding removal of support for women’s right to abortion abroad, she can see that she still have good reason (especially as a woman) to being sad these past three months.

Revision as of 09:40, 28 January 2017

Sad
With the right 90-degree rotation, any effect is a side effect.
Title text: With the right 90-degree rotation, any effect is a side effect.

Explanation

The comic is about Cueball confronting Ponytail about her recent behavior and emotional state, which has lasted a few months. It's implied that she (and thus also Randall) is sad following last years election, though the actual reasons for Ponytail's frustrations and depression aren't dwelt on and the focus is on her retreat into video games and the damage it's doing to her work projects.

Of course such sadness could come from many causes, so this comic would also work for someone who has a heartache from breaking up, or has lost some other important object of affection in their life (alive or dead or just their own abilities for instance in an accident). And people could choose to view it like this, if it suits some personnel experience. However, that this comic is political is not only supported by the fact check in the second panel (see more below regarding PolitiFact).

This was also only the second comic released after Donald Trump's inauguration the Friday before this comic's release, and it is clearly a reference to the sadness that has affected many Americans (as well as foreigners) after Hillary lost the election, and it fits with the past few months cited by Cueball in the first panel. And it seems to be worse for women making it obvious that it is Ponytail that are sad in this comic.

Although it could be said that Trump first took office Monday (before this Wednesday comic) he already began signing decrees (or executive orders) on Friday within a few hours after becoming president. Most of these would make it even worse for those already sad about him becoming president, because they would now see that he really meant all the things he promised/threatened to do depending on your political stance. (Actually fulfilling all political promises made during an election campaign is most often not the case!)

Up to the day this comic was released (January 25th) it would already be drastic things like the Mexican border wall (on the day of the comics release), the withdrawal of Affordable Care Act, the approval of the Dakota Access and the Keystone XL pipelines (which would be troublesome for an environmentalist as Randall as both oil pipes have environmental issues) and the Mexico City Policy regarding stopping any help to poor women abroad with regards to information or any other way helping with abortion. This latter point could be especially troublesome for women like Ponytail (in one of Randall's comics) as it is against Women's right, which should only be expected from Donald Trumps sexual harassment of women in general and especially to his grab them by the pussy comment.

See much more abut these issues and the several other recently released sad comics in the trivia. The first of these sad comics was 1761: Blame in which Cueball begins by stating that: I feel sad! a clear relation to this comic!

Ponytail seems unwilling to acknowledge that anything she is doing is wrong, offering absurd justifications for her behavior. When Cueball mentions that her projects have stagnated, she retorts that her virtual farm in the video game Stardew Valley is in great shape.

Cueball's comment about not being able to hide from everything is a common one to give to insecure people or to those trying to run away from their problems. Ponytail's reply is in the form of a PolitiFact reply, claiming (possibly quite truly) that such assertions are mostly false, one of the six options, but it is far from being the worst, thus acknowledging that you can't hide from everything, just mostly. See more about Politifact.com in the comic 1712: Politifact. This is the only political answer she gives in this comic, but it is another clear indication (by Randall and Ponytail) that her trouble is with Trumps leniency with the truth in both election campaign and since, to the point where lies are now on a daily basis just called Alternative facts or Post-truth.

Comments are something a programmer adds to their code such to make a note for themselves or others, typically to explain a complicated piece of logic or explaining external dependencies of a piece of code. Instead, Ponytail has been writing unrelated notes filled with obscenities. Ponytail's reply is one of typical advice given to amateur fiction and non-fiction writers, that to "write what you know.", implying that all Ponytail knows right now is obscenities.

Functions are pieces of code which developers create to avoid repetition and make the code clearer (such as "calculate distance between points" or "process values"). A function which does nothing is almost useless (although sometimes programmers leave functions empty, when they create the skeleton of a program, but then they usually intends to fill them out later). It is expected that a function does something with a given parameter, but Ponytail’s function does nothing with the parameters except returning the parameter but with the comment No, you deal with this. Thus she wishes that somebody/something else deals with any problem, probably what she would also wish for right now, where she is so sad that she even neglects her projects.

Ponytail replies that she writes them like this in order to try to avoid side effects (i.e. unexpected, unintended, and typically unwanted effects upon calling a piece of code), in line with a functional programming paradigm. When Cueball points out that she avoids all effects, Ponytail quotes part of a famous quote from Ripley in Aliens: I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only' way to be sure. By replying that it's the "only way to be sure" she is thus indirectly saying better safe than sorry, but in reality she just don't care about her programming anymore because of her sad state of mind.

The title text is a pun, interpreting the phrase "side effect" literally. If you turn an object 90 degrees along the right axis you will place it on its side, so thus making it a effect of putting something on its side, or a "side effect." You can also turn 90 degrees (along another axis), facing what was previously your side.

The title "Sad" is a common interjection in Trump's tweets. The time-frame of "the past few months" from the first panel is consistent with this, as the election was on November 8, 2016, and the comic was posted on January 25, 2017 four days after Donald Trump's inauguration as 45th president of the United States on January 20, 2017. The reference to fact-checking in the second panel is also reminiscent of the election and post-election coverage. This is not the first sad comic since Trump was elected.

Transcript

[Cueball is walking up to Ponytail who sits at her desk in an office chair typing on her computer.]
Cueball: How are you doing?
Ponytail: Hah.
Cueball: You seem distant lately. For the past few months.
Ponytail: Can't imagine why.
[Cueball talks to Ponytail at her desk from off-panel.]
Cueball (off-panel): Your projects have stagnated.
Ponytail: But my Stardew Valley farm is doing great.
Cueball (off-panel): You can't just hide from everything.
Ponytail: Fact check: Mostly false.
[In a frame-less panel Cueball is seen standing behind Ponytail at her desk.]
Cueball: I'm glad you're including more comments in your code, but it would be nice if they were comments about your code.
Cueball: Or at least a bit less obscenity-filled.
Ponytail: Look, they say to write what you know.
[Cueball leans forward towards Ponytail at her desk (who has looked on the screen in the same position through the entire comic).]
Cueball: All the functions you've written take everything passed to them and return it unchanged with the comment "No, you deal with this."
Ponytail: It's a functional programming thing. Avoiding side effects.
Cueball: You avoid all effects.
Ponytail: Only way to be sure.

Trivia

Sad comics

  • This comic continues the clear trend that Randall has had sad thoughts the last few months before this comic coinciding with events, mostly related to the election of Donald Trump as president of the united states in 2016.
    • Not since Randall's wife's cancer diagnosis has there been so many sad/negative or depressing comics.
    • Hopefully Randall is not so depressed for real as the comics below could suggest.
      • This comic is the fourth directly sad, negative or depressive comic since the election.
      • Note that none of the sad comics (up until Trumps took office) directly mentions him at all. And only the first listed here below is even directly related to the election in any way.
      • The connection is only in inferred from the mood and also the dates the comics where released which so far all have been close to some important day of the year or the election of Donald Trump or his subsequent actions.
      • If more related comics appears they can be listed here below.
        • Because since these comics are not easily collected under a specific category, thus this pages title is the perfect place to collect info regarding this sad state of Randall's thoughts!
  • Here follows a list of comics related to this sad state of mind with mention of relations (if any) there are between the release day and the comics:
  • 1756: I'm With Her
    • The day before the election:
      • It all began when Randall urged his American viewership to vote in the election the day after the comic was released.
      • Here he clearly showed his endorsement for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee in the election.
      • Although this is not directly sad, he included two weapon carrying defenders on either side of the comic.
      • One of these was Ponytail with a ray gun (the one she also wielded in 322: Pix Plz). The gun is for melting computers of persons that make snide remarks at women, clearly a reference to Donald Trumps sexual harassment of women in general and especially to his grab them by the pussy comment.
      • Randall has often made comics against women harassment before (see for a great example in 1027: Pickup Artist).
  • 1761: Blame
    • Ten days after the election.
      • This is the first really sad comic in which Cueball actually begins by stating that: I feel sad! a clear relation to 1790: Sad, this pages comic.
      • This is likely due to all the angry and scared comments of Cueball’s Facebook friends, and he thus decides to blame them rather than what they are angry about.
      • It took some days before Randall posted anything that could be said to have relation to the election, but the defeat of Hillary may have taken some time to digest.
      • Also the reactions to Trump’s victory on Facebook needed to build up over time before this comic.
      • Furthermore there was also some uncertainty to begin with if some states would call for a re-vote etc.
      • Still it was only the fifth comic after his campaign for Hillary failed.
  • 1773: Negativity
    • Three days before the U.S. Electoral College voted for Donald Trump to become the 45th president of the United States.
      • The first comic with a really negative title. (Like Sad, although Blame is of course a negatively loaded word, the comic did not need to be so sad as it was).
      • This comic and Blame could be seen as a small series as Cueball blames his friends on Facebook in the first comic, and then goes outside to avoid all the negativity online in the second, probably worsened for him after he blamed his Facebook friends because: Bad thing are happening.
      • Only it does not work because even the grass is after him.
      • At the time of the comics release there was still some rumors/hopes that the some of the electors would not vote for Trump. (But only two changed away from Trump!)
  • 1779: 2017
    • The New Year comic – a transition to the year when Donald Trump would become president.
      • Even the comic "celebrating" New Year was depressive and it was the first time that a New Year comic had such a depressive mood.
      • Cueball and Megan discuss if 2016 could end up as having been better than 2017 since all the bad thing happening in 2016 would first really take effect in 2017.
      • The biggest of these would be Trump becoming president, but also Brexit and a lot of dead famous people would be troublesome. None of these events (or any other specifically bad event of 2016 are cited in the comic).
      • Randall tries to make a happy twist by saying that maybe some unexpected good would come in 2017 as most of the sad events (just mentioned) was not expected to happen.
      • But hopping for this in the face of what awaits is difficult to he retorts to just hoping they won’t cancel the 2017 solar eclipse.
      • Fearing (for real) that astronomical events like this being canceled would call for you to be very depressed. Of course Randall doesn’t fear for this in real life, but it puts a perspective on the other parts of the comic.
      • Although the eclipse will certainly happen on August 21st 2017 Randall may still miss it, even if he is in the right place, as the weather could always be over cat and then ruin the experience.
      • So the worry that he will miss it is real and had also been mentioned three years earlier in 1302: Year in Review.
  • 1790: Sad (This pages comic. The title of that the reason to put this trivia on this page!)
    • Donald Trump’s inauguration.
      • This was only the second comic released after the inauguration the Friday before this comics Wednesday release.
      • Although it could be said that Trump first took office Monday (before this Wednesday comic) he already began signing decrees (or executive orders) on Friday within a few hours after becoming president.
      • The actual reasons for Ponytail's frustrations and depression aren't dwelt on and the focus is on her retreat into video games and the damage it's doing to her work projects.
        • However the reference to PolitiFact makes it clear that she is thinking on politics, and the fact checking of most of Trumps claims which often turns out to be Pants on fire on the PolitiFact scale.
        • See more on Politifact.com the earlier comic 1712: Politifact from during the election campaign
        • The quote from Ponytail is another indication that her trouble is with Trumps leniency with the truth in both election campaign and after, to the point where lies are now on a daily basis just called alternative facts or post-truth.


          • By the way apart from the Politifact comic and I’m with Her then the only other direct reference to the election during the election campaign was in 1748: Future Archaeology, where Randall expressed interest in knowing the result of the election in advance.
      • Seeing that this comic is about Ponytail being sad, the woman who in the first comic on this list was standing with a weapon to defend herself against condescending men (like Trump) and that one of the first decrees Trump signed, was regarding removal of support for women’s right to abortion abroad, she can see that she still have good reason (especially as a woman) to being sad these past three months.


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Discussion

This comic was made in winter, maybe it's about seasonal affective disorder? Cueball says that she has been sad for a few months.

My first instinct is that Ponytail is feeling despondent about politics. I am reading too much of myself into it? 172.68.65.72 17:25, 25 January 2017 (UTC)

The title ("Sad" - a common interjection in Trump's tweets) strengthens this argument. 162.158.58.129 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
As does this being a problem that's been going on for the past few months. Contrary to what the explanation says, a programmer creating functions that don't do anything but return the same data back is not 'semi-common in regular life'. That and the title clearly indicate that this is about more than a programmer subverting complaints about their work. Something very bad is going on that has Ponytail, who also just happens to be a woman, depressed and angry. The election seems like the obvious thing. 108.162.216.28 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
My reaction was based on the "Fact Check" reference, which is largely used in politics. 172.68.65.72 18:01, 25 January 2017 (UTC)

Could "sad" could also refer to the medical term "Seasonal Affective Disorder", a condition where people feel depressed during the winter as a result of getting too little sunlight? Mr. I (talk) 20:05, 25 January 2017 (UTC)

I would have expected it to be in all caps if that were the case 172.68.65.72 20:42, 25 January 2017 (UTC)
Well in principle it is written in all caps on xkcd, but that is because of the font. If you copy paste the title it does come out Sad. But if you read it on xkcd you would see it as SAD. That is why we have this site to clarify. She (or rather Randall) is really sad, and with the way Trump is going to ruin the US for over half the population many will be really sad. Horrible what he has already started within a week of his inauguration, and with Randall obviously feeling like this too, and even living under him (not like us foreigners) then he is very likely sad. :-( --Kynde (talk) 14:56, 26 January 2017 (UTC)

It is not really true that "side effects" in this context are "unexpected, unintended, and typically unwanted..." A side effect in functional terms is simply an effect other than on the output of the function. As the linked wikipedia article explains, these are very common and typically (but not always) how a program interacts with the outside world. In a pure functional language functions do not have side effects. Ponytail's job may or may not be (but probably isn't) to avoid side effects at all costs. 141.101.107.24 21:23, 25 January 2017 (UTC)

Having just been through a break up recently (and the resulting sadness that eventuates) I identified with the "No, you deal with this" as a classic response to "If you have a problem with what I did, deal with it." 162.158.178.27 02:00, 26 January 2017 (UTC)

Even without suffering a break up I came to the same connection and interpret the whole comic in that way. Tbh I don't see any connection to Trump's inauguration at all. But I'm not from the USA, and I understand the arguments leading to this conclusion. Yet I think it could be inserted as an alternative interpretation. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 09:09, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
For sure it is that which caused this. See my comment above, and the other Sad after Trumps election comic in the trivia. (And his I'm With Her comic). But a break-up also makes you sad, so if that is easier to relate to then this comic could also be for such a person. I do not live in the states but I'm sad because now we end up in a worse than current path scenario from the very bottom of the 1732: Earth Temperature Timeline comic. I would not be surprised if this election result will cause all ice to melt on Greenland very soon with devastating effect for Europe (because the Gulf stream may stop, so the "heat up" could case ice winters in Europe and cold summers) and many other places due to higher sea levels and wilder weather to boot. Sad? maybe, scared? for sure. We are not talking centuries, and maybe not even many decades the way things are going already and now Trump will make it worse by trying to stop scientist talking about their results and making oil lines through protected/fragile nature areas. ( Not to talk about the wall or women's rights etc. etc. etc.) --Kynde (talk) 14:56, 26 January 2017 (UTC)
I recommend reading this http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/11/its-going-to-be-okay.html and this http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/11/its-going-to-be-okay-follow-up.html Those articles were written right after the vote, but they're still valid, I think. Yes, I agree with you that Trump might wreck havoc. But I object that he can do as much damage in (at most) 8 years as you worry about. He's no totalitarian dictator who can do whatever he wants (and if he can do, the US American system is seriously flawed. I know another democratic system which was seriously flawed and yes, the result was the worst catastrophe in the 20th century which indeed did influence the whole world in a very bad way). However, I don't want to argue about politics. And I don't want to say that the current explanation is wrong. I just want to say that there might be a (plausible) alternative interpretation. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 08:40, 27 January 2017 (UTC)
I entirely agree with Elektrizikekswerk. The election was bad, but it isn't the source of all sadness these days. There's no indication that this is about the election, so I don't understand why everyone is automatically accepting that as truth. HisHighestMinion (talk) 11:18, 27 January 2017 (UTC)
Because this is the fourth since the election that is sad and is released in relation to events related to Trump - see Sad Comics section above. --Kynde (talk) 09:25, 28 January 2017 (UTC)

When people talk about virtual farms, I assume that they're talking about Farmville, so I was a little surprised for them to mention Stardew Valley instead. Oh well. I guess it's just me. (#waiting-for-the-nintendo-switch-port) --JayRulesXKCD what's up? 12:02, 27 January 2017 (UTC)

I vote we remove anything about Trump and speculation on Ponytail's depression other than the fact that she's obviously depressed and the initial correlation to Trump. i.e. lines 2 through 5 ("Of course, such sadness..." through "a clear relation to this comic!"). The comic doesn't dwell on it and it just seems like a ton of word cruft. 172.68.132.215 21:27, 28 January 2017 (UTC)

Why is like half of the explanation info about Trump? I came here to have XKCD explained, not the current political situation. I can go to other sites for that. If the Trump correlation is really that relevant, I think mentioning just once should be enough. 108.162.210.112 21:35, 31 January 2017 (UTC)

I'm with this guy. I'm commenting out the four Trump paragraphs as a test, seeing as every fact has been repeated a second time in the much more relevant Trivia section. If it turns out we need it the admins can just delete the comment markers.172.68.132.215 18:59, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

I come on here to fix a few spell check errors, until I realize I accidentally left my Firefox extension on and any mention of Trump is replaced with "King Cheeto", even here in the explanations. xD --JayRulesXKCD what's up? 18:29, 10 February 2017 (UTC)

Can someone please fix this? I don't think I can undo edits, but if a mod or something would please revert back to before all the "King Cheeto" stuff, that'd be greatly appreciated Viperzer0 (talk) 22:20, 23 August 2017 (UTC)