Difference between revisions of "886: Craigslist Apartments"

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m (clean up, typos fixed: a oarsman → an oarsman)
(Transcript: Correct for / encoding error in xkcd official transcript)
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:Fri Apr 15
 
:Fri Apr 15
 
:[Begin the apartment listings.]
 
:[Begin the apartment listings.]
:$1600  
+
:$1600 / 2BR <nowiki>~~~</nowiki> Hardwood floors, utilities included. Cats ok, limit one per square foot.
: 2BR <nowiki>~~~</nowiki> Hardwood floors, utilities included. Cats ok, limit one per square foot.
+
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$1100  
+
:$2300 / 3BR !!!!!!!! Elegant apartment permanently lit by strobe light!!!! No floor.
: **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
+
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$2300  
+
:$980 / 1BR New "hammock"-style dwelling. Water and heat free from same dispenser. Viking landlord.
: 3BR !!!!!!!! Elegant apartment permanently lit by strobe light!!!! No floor.
+
:$1550 / 2BR (one inside the other). Has running water, in a sense.  Free heat in short, intense bursts.  Klein stairs.
:$1100  
+
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
: **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
+
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
:$980  
+
:$3200 / 1BR W/trimmed carpet and pert fixtures. Previous tenants clean. Call now, want you  inside. $120/night (no animals)
: 1BR New "hammock"-style dwelling. Water and heat free from same dispenser. Viking landlord.
+
:$2100 / 3BR on scenic Ash Tree Lane. Builder unknown; house has always existed. Walls shift; center of house may contain minotaur.
:$1550  
+
:$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
: 2BR (one inside the other). Has running water, in a sense.  Free heat in short, intense bursts.  Klein stairs.
+
:$600 / 5BR Three floors w/pool, rooftop garden, beautiful glass facade, no catch, 5-min drive to historic Pripyat.
:$1100  
+
:$7100 / 60BR Sleek modern w/extreme running water. Previous tenants may resist entry. Contains all new wiring and is a submarine.
: **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
+
:$1616 / 3BR + 2Bath, tub full of blood. Closet full of board games which play themselves. Pets ok but won't survive long.
:$1100  
 
: **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
 
:$3200  
 
: 1BR W/trimmed carpet and pert fixtures. Previous tenants clean. Call now, want you  inside. $120/night (no animals)
 
:$2100  
 
: 3BR on scenic Ash Tree Lane. Builder unknown; house has always existed. Walls shift; center of house may contain minotaur.
 
:$1100  
 
: **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
 
:$600  
 
: 5BR Three floors w/pool, rooftop garden, beautiful glass facade, no catch, 5-min drive to historic Pripyat
 
:$7100  
 
: 60BR Sleek modern w/extreme running water. Previous tenants may resist entry. Contains all new wiring and is a submarine.
 
:$1616  
 
: 3BR + 2Bath, tub full of blood. Closet full of board games which play themselves. Pets ok but won't survive long.
 
  
 
{{comic discussion}}  
 
{{comic discussion}}  
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]

Revision as of 17:32, 18 April 2013

Craigslist Apartments
$1600 / 1386153BR 3BATH, MODERN SLIDING DOORS, GUEST ROOMS, GARBAGE DISPOSAL. FREE MANDATORY PARKING (ENFORCED). CONVENIENT TO ALDERAAN.
Title text: $1600 / 1386153BR 3BATH, MODERN SLIDING DOORS, GUEST ROOMS, GARBAGE DISPOSAL. FREE MANDATORY PARKING (ENFORCED). CONVENIENT TO ALDERAAN.

Explanation

First and foremost, just like all Craigslist apartment postings, all of these posts are in all caps and some of the posts are re-posted several times, which is very annoying, but must work otherwise the agents would not do it. Additionally, lots of posts use lots of tildas tildes, exclamation points or asterisks as above to set their posts apart from others.

The square house door one must be a garage, or just a regular square house.

Hammock style dwelling sounds like working as an oarsman on a Viking ship.

The place with the Klein stairs is possibly a reference to Klein_geometry.

The trimmed carpet is obviously a sex posting, because Craigslist has taken down the obvious prostitution posts after getting a lot of heat about them. So, this is a posting to get around those sort of rules.

The Minotaur house is a reference to the Labyrinth and Minotaur on Crete from ancient Greek mythology, as well as the house of leaves.

The house with the 5 minute drive to historic Pripryat is a reference to the ghost town of Pripryat, which is near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine. It may also be the nuclear facility itself, depending on interpretation.

The last one on the list does not seem to be a direct scary movie reference, but a horror movie reference in general.

And last, but of course not least, the image text is a reference to the Death Star in Star Wars. Alderaan is the home planet of Princess Leia, which was obliterated by the Death Star.

Transcript

((The comic is a single panel, presented as an apartment search.))
[Title bar.]
All apartments
Search for: [_______] in: All apartments ( ) Title only (*) Entire post Search
Rent: [Min] [Max] 0+ BR [ ] Cats [ ] Dogs [ ] Has image
[Date bar]
Fri Apr 15
[Begin the apartment listings.]
$1600 / 2BR ~~~ Hardwood floors, utilities included. Cats ok, limit one per square foot.
$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
$2300 / 3BR !!!!!!!! Elegant apartment permanently lit by strobe light!!!! No floor.
$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
$980 / 1BR New "hammock"-style dwelling. Water and heat free from same dispenser. Viking landlord.
$1550 / 2BR (one inside the other). Has running water, in a sense. Free heat in short, intense bursts. Klein stairs.
$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
$3200 / 1BR W/trimmed carpet and pert fixtures. Previous tenants clean. Call now, want you inside. $120/night (no animals)
$2100 / 3BR on scenic Ash Tree Lane. Builder unknown; house has always existed. Walls shift; center of house may contain minotaur.
$1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! ****
$600 / 5BR Three floors w/pool, rooftop garden, beautiful glass facade, no catch, 5-min drive to historic Pripyat.
$7100 / 60BR Sleek modern w/extreme running water. Previous tenants may resist entry. Contains all new wiring and is a submarine.
$1616 / 3BR + 2Bath, tub full of blood. Closet full of board games which play themselves. Pets ok but won't survive long.


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Discussion

The house with a house inside may be a reference to the tesseracted, 4D house from Robert Heinlein's "-And He Built A Crooked House." ‎173.225.52.131 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Agree. I'm adding that to the text. -- The Cat Lady (talk) 00:17, 22 August 2021 (UTC)

I would have thought the klein stairs with the intense heat in short bursts may be a reference to a research fusion reactor. 'Net searches seem to suggest there may be connections between plasma behaviour and klein bottle mathematics. 108.162.250.5 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

The Minotaur sounds like a reference to Doctor Who The God Complex. 173.245.52.201 05:05, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

The closet full of board games which play themselves could be a reference to the movie Jumanji. Can't remember a tub full of blood from that movie, though, however surely pets won't survive long. 173.245.53.180 21:13, 12 December 2013 (UTC)

I explained the third one, but I have no idea about the lack of floor. Because of this and others, I added an 'Incomplete' tag with the appropriate reason. 108.162.212.206 03:32, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

I believe that the "616" "$1616" is a reference to the number of the beast. 173.245.54.90 18:53, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

The number of the beast is 666. Not 616. NealCruco (talk) 01:54, 18 April 2014 (UTC)
It sounds like you must have some good information to make that statement so plainly - maybe you should correct the appropriate section on Wikipedia (Number_of_the_beast#616) and add your references/citations. It would seem several sources (including the oldest known "version" of the text) indicates '616' as a "variant" Brettpeirce (talk) 12:59, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

I do not belive the glassy minerals would make up the entire facade

"including the oldest known "version" of the text"

Have you read that article?

I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait (talk) 23:20, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

I motion to close/complete this one. 199.27.128.65 17:57, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Regarding the house near Pripyat explanation, "the glass facade references radioactive glassy minerals created by the explosion" seems to be conflating the Corium produced at Chernobyl with the Trinitite produced by nuclear explosion at Alamogordo. There was a steam explosion at Chernobyl, but the Corium was produced by the heat of the subsequent meltdown, not by the force of the explosion. The current explanation also includes, "It may also be the nuclear facility itself, depending on interpretation; ...". It seems clear to me that the apartment for rent is the nuclear facility itself, and not some house in Pripyat, which is "5-min drive" away; why else the "Three floors w/pool, rooftop garden, beautiful glass facade". -- 108.162.219.43 12:03, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Agreed. I have edited to reflect the same, and have also noted the likelihood that the "pool" referenced is probably temporary containment for spent nuclear fuel. Not so sure about the "3-level" thing, though. My knowledge of nuclear power plant design is extremely limited. Orazor (talk) 12:20, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

I just reread this and I think that the the pool in question may be the glass walled three story swimming pool azure in pripyat. The same one as was in modern warfare. 173.245.54.167 13:48, 25 April 2015 (UTC)


Any idea what 1386153 means? Lucas often 'hid' 1138 everywhere, so could this be part of it? Other thoughts:

Fluffy Buzzard (talk) 15:26, 18 April 2014 (UTC)

Is the (no animals) part of the veiled porn ad another reference to 'no furries' maybe?141.101.98.217 19:15, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

I think the square room with a door in front is an elevator, making several floor stops in the list. PaperDragonCA 108.162.216.89 21:43, 19 October 2016 (UTC)

No. They are just selling a large, square, wooden front door. The word deal means wood. --162.158.79.33 20:46, 20 August 2020 (UTC)
I read it as "Great Deal, Square House, Door in Front", which jibes with it being an elevator. -- The Cat Lady (talk) 00:17, 22 August 2021 (UTC)

I thought that "water and heat from same source" meant being pissed on by the Viking. 173.245.50.246 17:34, 20 July 2017 (UTC)

I think that:

  • "Strobe light" AND "no floor" together may refer to a greenhouse.
  • Cats ok, up to 1/square foot --- literally cat-only animal shelter.
  • Viking landlord AND same source for water and head --- the area is Iceland, near geothermal water source.
My impression of the viking one was that it was on a hot spring. IIRC there are a lot of hot springs in scandanavia


Can someone explain why "it is impossible to build a klein bottle in 3 dementianal space"? It seems to me that klein bottles are readily available to purchase: https://www.kleinbottle.com/

Those are three-dimensional projections of a Klein bottle. A real Klein bottle is a mathematical abstraction that exists only in 4-space. Nitpicking (talk) 01:11, 9 September 2021 (UTC)