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101 | Laser Scope | Laser Scope | https://www.xkcd.com/101 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/101:_Laser_Scope | [Box with a mailing label on one side, and in the front:] Miss your loved ones? [Picture of a laser scope.] YOU DON'T HAVE TO. RJX-21 Laser Scope
| This comic plays on the homonymic relationship between "miss" (to feel sad due to the absence of someone) and "miss" (to fail to hit – in this case, with a gunshot). "Miss your loved ones?" is a question that would generally use the former "miss." However, its use on the package for a laser scope implies the latter "mi... | |
102 | Back to the Future | Back to the Future | https://www.xkcd.com/102 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/102:_Back_to_the_Future | [Megan and Hairy are standing, talking to one another.] Hairy: This weekend, my professor friend built a time machine out of a DeLorean and I went back in time! I helped make sure my parents got together and helped my dad to be less of a loser.
Megan: Wow! Do you still have the time machine? Hairy: Nah. But I did what ... | This comic is a reference to the Back to the Future film series (specifically the first film) in which the protagonist, Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox ), travels back from 1985 (present day for him) to 1955 and accidentally interferes with his own parents' first meeting. He must then arrange for them to fall in ... | |
103 | Moral Relativity | Moral Relativity | https://www.xkcd.com/103 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/103:_Moral_Relativity | [A graph, rationalization as a function of speed, increasing asymptotically at c .] Related to moral relativism, it states that ethics become subjective only when you approach the speed of light. That is, it's okay to be self-serving, steal, and murder as long as you're going really, really fast. (Note: This is why rap... | This comic plays on the similar sounding terms relativ ity and relativ ism .
Moral relativism is a position in the philosophical field of ethics that holds that moral judgments are not absolute, but vary depending on the circumstances involved and the person (or people) making them. Philosophers who hold this kind of p... | |
104 | Find You | Find You | https://www.xkcd.com/104 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/104:_Find_You | [The panel is black with rough-edged white passages running down through it. Cueball is climbing onto a rope that is dangling down one of these passages. White text is in the black sections.] You were afraid that you would disappear, that you would be lost and forgotten. I held you tight against the dark and said that ... | This comic depicts Cueball climbing on a rope in a cavern. The text indicates that one of his loved ones used to be afraid of being taken away from him and being forgotten. It is not explicitly made clear whether the loved one in question is a woman with whom he is in love, a family member, or a relation of some other ... | |
105 | Parallel Universe | Parallel Universe | https://www.xkcd.com/105 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/105:_Parallel_Universe | [Cueball and Hairy are standing next to a large pentagram with candles at the points. A figure is hovering above it in a wave of energy.] Cueball: Sweet. I summoned myself from a parallel universe. Hairy: You know, he could vanish at any moment. Hairy: You should take this chance to make out with yourself. Hairy: . . .... | Cueball has (by some ritual, judging by the pentagram ) summoned himself from a parallel universe . Hairy suggests that Cueball should take advantage of this rare opportunity and make out with his other self.
In the third panel, Cueball seems to turn his head in response to the unexpected response. Hairy suggests that ... | |
106 | Wright Brothers | Wright Brothers | https://www.xkcd.com/106 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/106:_Wright_Brothers | [Cueball and Megan are talking to each other.] Cueball: I've heard that when the Wright brothers argued, they periodically switched sides in the debate to try to encourage a more balanced conclusion. Cueball: We should try that in our relationship!
Megan: It's a neat idea, but I think treating personal issues like a de... | The Wright brothers are Orville and Wilbur Wright, who are credited with the invention of the airplane and the first "controlled, powered, and sustained heavier-than-air human flight" in 1903.
Cueball mentions to Megan that the Wright Brothers would sometimes argue each other's point during debates in order to "encour... | |
107 | Snakes on a Plane! 2 | Snakes on a Plane! 2 | https://www.xkcd.com/107 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/107:_Snakes_on_a_Plane!_2 | [A sky full of jumbo jets is shown in movie poster format.] Top of the poster: From the creators of last summer's hit thriller Snakes On a Plane comes: Superimposed on the sky and planes: Snakes... on EVERY Plane! Much worse than last time.
| Snakes on a Plane is a 2006 movie starring Samuel L. Jackson . It features (surprisingly) snakes, on a plane, attacking the passengers. This comic proposes a sequel, taking the idea to the next level, making things infinitely worse: snakes on every plane!
To have snakes on every plane is much worse than snakes on just ... | |
108 | M.C. Hammer Slide | M.C. Hammer Slide | https://www.xkcd.com/108 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/108:_M.C._Hammer_Slide | [Two guys stand next to each other talking.] Hairy: I just feel like somewhere out there is the girl for me. Cueball: Yeah. Hairy: Someone loving and caring. Cueball: I know what you mean. Hairy: A girl whose only mode of transportation is the M.C. Hammer Slide. Cueball: Yeah. Cueball: ...Wait, what? [Megan hammer slid... | The base part of the comic is self-explanatory: Girl attracts Boy, Boy notices Girl, Boy approaches Girl, Girl reacts positively, Boy falls in love, Girl decides to answer lovecall, happily ever after, etc. The quirk in this comic is that the way Girl catches attention of Boy is through the signature move of 1980s rapp... | |
109 | Spoiler Alert | Spoiler Alert | https://www.xkcd.com/109 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/109:_Spoiler_Alert | [At the tope of the panel there is a large heading:] Spoiler Alert!
[Below that Severus Snape with long black hair is smacking a trenchcoat-clad Trinity off the top of a building with a brown sled. Below them is the following caption:] Snape kills Trinity with Rosebud!
| This comic refers to several unexpected plot twists from various Hollywood movies and combines them into one giant twist invented by Randall . A " spoiler " is a term used to describe information about the plot of any media that could spoil the media for someone who has not viewed it. The term "spoiler alert" has becom... | |
110 | Clark Gable | Clark Gable | https://www.xkcd.com/110 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/110:_Clark_Gable | [Famous image of Gone with the Wind with Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) kissing Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh).] The line was actually supposed to be "Frankly, my dear, I couldn't care less." It's just that Clark Gable had Tourette's.
| "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" is the signature catchphrase from the 1939 movie Gone With The Wind , which starred Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh . The phrase is spoken by Gable's character Rhett Butler as his last line, in answer to Scarlett O'Hara (Leigh) asking "Where shall I go? What shall I do?" The respons... | |
111 | Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection? | Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection? | https://www.xkcd.com/111 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/111:_Firefox_and_Witchcraft_-_The_Connection%3F | [A graph is shown with a positive slope.] [Y axis]: Membership in Wicca [X axis]: Total Firefox Downloads [Internet Explorer icon.] K EEP TH E FAITH [Outline of a cross.]
This type of statistical ploy is used again in a few other comics, like 523: Decline , 552: Correlation , and 925: Cell Phones .
| The comic charts the number of members of the religion Wicca against the number of times the Firefox web browser was downloaded, with the implication being that Firefox usage causes involvement in Wicca. In juxtaposing these almost certainly unrelated phenomena, Randall highlights the common error of assuming that cor... | |
112 | Baring My Heart | Baring My Heart | https://www.xkcd.com/112 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/112:_Baring_My_Heart | [A Venn diagram with three sets] Description of set 1: People who can always make me smile Description of set 2: People who constantly show me new things about the world Description of set 3: People I want to spend the rest of my life with Intersection point: YOU. Intersection of sets 2 and 3: Vanilla Ice | Randall presents a logical diagram known as a Venn diagram , which illustrates the relationship between multiple sets. The diagram is usually used to illustrate the overlap between various sets. For example, a Venn diagram of "even numbers" and "numbers divisible by 5" would have 2, 4, 6, 8, 12… in one circle, 5, 15, 2... | |
113 | Riemann-Zeta | Riemann-Zeta | https://www.xkcd.com/113 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/113:_Riemann-Zeta | [A z = fn(x, y) plot, with pointy spikes on the back sloping to a relatively flat front.]
You are like the prime numbers Unpredictable turns, unconstrainable Tantalizingly regular but never quite the same
I am like the Riemann-Zeta function A rippled curtain of the imagined and real Deeply tied with you in ways incompr... | A prime number is any natural number with exactly two natural factors (1 and itself). The set of prime numbers is infinite, but they are somewhat elusive; there is no known way to find very large prime numbers except by trial and error. Some regularities in the primes have been found, but none that can fully predict th... | |
114 | Computational Linguists | Computational Linguists | https://www.xkcd.com/114 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/114:_Computational_Linguists | [Black Hat is standing next to a large badge that says FUCK Computational Linguistics.] Black Hat: And the dumbest thing about emo kids is that... I... You know, I'm sick of easy targets. Anyone can make fun of emo kids. You know who's had it too easy? Computational Linguists. "Ooh, look at me! My field is so ill-defin... | Black Hat has become bored with attacking Emo kids, a cultural and, particularly, musical phenomenon characterised by introversion and angst. This has become a common target of mockery for its tendency to claim that 'no one understands me,' when in fact such feelings are common amongst teenagers, which is probably why ... | |
115 | Meerkat | Meerkat | https://www.xkcd.com/115 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/115:_Meerkat | [A Meerkat wearing a helmet and blue jersey, and two guys in the background supposedly on a rugby field.] You have to admit--there's no rule on the books saying a Meerkat can't play rugby.
A golden retriever is at the centre of the basketball film Air Bud .
In the film Mr. Go , a gorilla becomes a star of the Korean Ba... | The situation is a reference to the animal athlete loophole trope, where an animal joins an underdog [ No Pun Intended ] sports team and saves the day. The other team, which is previously dominant, and usually has an entitled and/or bullying attitude, does not like it, but since there is not a specific rule against it,... | |
116 | City | City | https://www.xkcd.com/116 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/116:_City | [A picture of various apartment buildings.] Shadowed city slumber silently. A second-story suite. Come craving courtship, selected serendipitously Crazed copulations, a salacious storm of continuous coitus. Spread, straddled, conquered. Countless crashed suitors strewn carelessly. Center, silken sheets sensuously care... | The poem or description alternates between using words that start with C and words that start with S, to achieve an effect resembling alliteration . The gentle, romantic tone of the poem is broken by the last two words, Your Mom. This is an example of a maternal insult joke, and is phrased accordingly.
The title text f... | |
117 | Pong | Pong | https://www.xkcd.com/117 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/117:_Pong | Cueball: So what do we do if video game AI opponents become smart enough to question the "Matrix" into which we've put them? Pong paddle: Wait a minute! None of this is real! I can see through the world! I can see the code! I AM THE ONE! [The pong ball is moving towards the paddle.] [The pong ball slows down.] [The pon... | This comic largely refers to the 1999 movie The Matrix , which is about escaping a simulated reality. In the movie, a hacker called Neo realizes that the world he lives in is fake, and that, like every other human, he is used as a slave battery by machines that, to keep them under control, make them feel like they're "... | |
118 | 50 Ways | 50 Ways | https://www.xkcd.com/118 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/118:_50_Ways | [Two figures stand around a levitating person.] You gotta let go, Joe Just rise off your feet, Pete Just stay in the air, Claire Gotta levitate, Kate There must be 50 ways To learn to hover.
| The comic provides alternate lyrics to the chorus of the 1975 song " 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover " ( Video ) by American artist Paul Simon . Both the original and alternate lyrics provide a textual hook because the name at the end of the line is rhymed with the word before it (back/Jack, plan/Stan, go/Joe).
Randall , w... | |
119 | Worst Band Name Ever | Worst Band Name Ever | https://www.xkcd.com/119 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/119:_Worst_Band_Name_Ever | It's probably a good thing that I never get to pick band names. [A stage with banner overhead reading: OPENING TONIGHT! HEDGECLIPPER] [On the stage are three guys with a bass, guitar, drum kit, and strange haircuts. On the kick drum is a picture of a hedge clipper.] Lead Guitarist: Maaan...
| A hedge clipper or hedge trimmer is a gardening tool for trimming hedges or bushes. The implication is that motor driven hedge trimmers produce a bad, loud sound; maybe the sound of the band is even worse.
The title text suggests that they (or at least the lead guitarist) previously did not know their band's name. As h... | |
120 | Dating Service | Dating Service | https://www.xkcd.com/120 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/120:_Dating_Service | [A computer monitor displays the profile of a man named Randall on an online dating site. His profile contains a picture of a spiky-haired man and some text, which is rendered as dialogue in the panels.] Randall: Hi, my name is Randall. I like candlelight dinners and long walks on the beach. Randall: When I say long wa... | Enjoying "long walks on the beach" is a romantic activity stereotypically associated with dating; specifically, it is commonly listed as an interest in dating advertisements and, more recently, online dating profiles. It is among other romantic clichés like "candle-lit dinners" and may, in fact, simply indicate that th... | |
121 | Balloon | Balloon | https://www.xkcd.com/121 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/121:_Balloon | [Three drawings in one panel. A Cueball-like kid is holding a red balloon; The balloon gets caught in ceiling fan; The kid still holds on and is thus pulled up. Above the drawings is the following caption:] I watched the scene in the restaurant for a full fifteen minutes, hoping this would happen:
| An unidentified narrator, probably Randall , says how he saw a kid with a balloon stand next to a ceiling fan in a restaurant. He explains how for fifteen minutes, he watched the kid's balloon, hoping the balloon would get caught in the ceiling fan and make the kid fly up towards it. This looks like it could cause seri... | |
122 | Quirky Girls | Quirky Girls | https://www.xkcd.com/122 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/122:_Quirky_Girls | [Megan and a man with a thinning head of hair are talking, looking at a group of two men and a woman standing further away. The woman is on a table and the two men are looking at her.] Guy: I love that girl. She's not afraid to be quirky and different. Megan: You know, I'm active in street theatre and I collect and pai... | This is a fairly classic play on what people say they want isn't always what they mean they want. As per the comic, this is particularly true when it comes to the generalization of wanting someone "different." When Megan opens up to the other character and says how she is "different," she is met with a stereotypical, b... | |
123 | Centrifugal Force | Centrifugal Force | https://www.xkcd.com/123 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/123:_Centrifugal_Force | [James Bond, drawn as Cueball, is strapped to a giant wheel suspended from the ceiling. Black Hat is standing next to two levers.] Black hat: How do you like my centrifuge, mister Bond? When I throw this lever, you will feel centrifugal force crush every bone in your body. [Same scene, but a closer shot.] Bond: You mea... | Black Hat has strapped James Bond to a centrifuge and claims that the centrifugal force will be lethal. Bond objects that there is no such thing, but just centripetal force. The notion of centrifugal force is a common one, as we experience it whenever we turn. Teachers will initially teach Newtonian mechanics in an ine... | |
124 | Blogofractal | Blogofractal | https://www.xkcd.com/124 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/124:_Blogofractal | From the makers of the Blogosphere, Blogocube, and Blogodrome comes the Blogofractal
[A large rectangle subdivided into rectangles in a fractal pattern, most with a phrase or word inside. Some subdivisions cannot be seen, as they are too small.] [Mostly left to right from top-left corner.] TripMaster Monkey says 118th ... | The Blogosphere is a blanket term for all the blogs on the internet that link together and share information to the extent that the term "blogosphere" arose to describe the collective of blogs. This comic proposes a new structure for defining all blogs by a fractal of blogs.
Edward Tufte is a statistician who worked on... | |
125 | Marketing Interview | Marketing Interview | https://www.xkcd.com/125 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/125:_Marketing_Interview | [Black Hat, standing in front of Cueball, who is sitting behind a executive desk, looking at some papers.] Cueball: I've heard you're one of the best in the marketing business, but I've got your portfolio here and looks like you've never run a major campaign. Why should I hire you to head our new initiative?
[Same scen... | Black Hat is trying to get a job running a marketing program. Cueball conducts the interview and says that although he has heard that Black Hat is the best in the business, his portfolio does not show that he has run any major marketing campaigns. Black Hat asks where he heard that rumor and Cueball begins to respond. ... | |
126 | Red Spiders Cometh | Red Spiders Cometh | https://www.xkcd.com/126 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/126:_Red_Spiders_Cometh | [Many red spiders, standing on and hanging from blocks, hover ominously over a small city, ready to attack.]
This sort of drawing, with blocks converging on a horizon, is a common type of drawing practice to practice three-dimensional views.
| The fourth in the series of sketches involving red spiders , the titular spiders are overlooking a small city. The title text implies that things won't end well, and possibly that the counter-offensive from the previous comic in the series had failed.
The full series of Red Spiders comics:
[Many red spiders, standing o... | |
127 | The Fast and the Furious | The Fast and the Furious | https://www.xkcd.com/127 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/127:_The_Fast_and_the_Furious | on the other side of the world a new style of street racing rules the tokyo underground the cars are lighter the tires are slick when you drift, if you ain't out of control, you ain't in control. and if you work the wheel back and forth just right,
[Two cars race around a corner with blue sparks spraying from their tir... | This comic shows an imagined crossover between the film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and video game series Mario Kart , specifically the entry Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
In Tokyo Drift , the protagonist is trying to break into the underground street racing ring, and finds that the urban environment of Tokyo is ... | |
128 | dPain over dt | dPain over dt | https://www.xkcd.com/128 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/128:_dPain_over_dt | dPain/dt = (-k 1 Pain + [Image of Megan]) (1/(1 + e ^ -(t-k 2 )/d)) k 1 =? k 2 =? [Image of Megan]=How much she's still in my life Please let d only be a few days... or weeks I guess there's some kind of a cutoff after years, where it stops mattering and we can be friends. Do I want that? Is k 1 positive? Is k 2 large?... | Another one of the math-love relationship comics, a mathematical depiction of pain as a differential equation is shown. It is hoped that dPain/dt , or the rate of pain (in this case, shrinking), decreases quickly so that the pain will vanish quickly. He's hoping the value for d will not be larger than a few days or som... | |
129 | Content Protection | Content Protection | https://www.xkcd.com/129 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/129:_Content_Protection | Content Protection System: [Megan sits on a couch watching a large flat-panel television, connected to a box labeled HDMI. The screen is labeled with "Approved screen" The cable is labeled with "Approved connection" The HDMI box is labeled with "Approved player" Megan's head is labeled with "Approved content"]
| This comic is a commentary on HDCP , a media standard that requires all the devices from player to cable to display to be "approved" to carry HDCP content. HDCP is intended to protect media encrypted with DRM from being intercepted between the player and the display. Interestingly, however, it is literally impossible f... | |
130 | Julia Stiles | Julia Stiles | https://www.xkcd.com/130 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/130:_Julia_Stiles | The best thing ever to appear on TV: 12-year-old Julia Stiles as a hacker in a 1993 episode of PBS's "Ghostwriter"
[A sketch of Julia Stiles, as a 12-year-old, with a bandana over her head, long wavy hair, elbow shirt, wrist band, and pants.] Julia Stiles: Do you know anything about hackers? Julia Stiles: Can you jam w... | Julia Stiles , who later became a well-known actress as an older teenager and adult, did in fact appear in the children's television show Ghostwriter as a 12-year-old in 1993. The sketch in this comic depicts Stiles as she appeared in the episode, and all the dialogue attributed to her is taken from her character's act... | |
131 | Fans | Fans | https://www.xkcd.com/131 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/131:_Fans | BEST THING ABOUT HAVING MY OWN APARTMENT: Holding fans in place so they twitch helplessly and make that clicking sound without my mom yelling at me. [Cueball holding fan in place.] click click
| This comic is probably best understood by someone with young kids who explore everything in their household, and the fear that the kids will damage something expensive. Some parents issue harsh warnings to their children when they so much as touch an expensive item, which can be frustrating to children who feel that th... | |
132 | Music Knowledge | Music Knowledge | https://www.xkcd.com/132 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/132:_Music_Knowledge | [Megan and Cueball converse.] Megan: What kind of music do you listen to? Cueball: Oh, a mix of things. Some classic rock like Boston, but then of course Queen and Bowie, Joan Jett... Megan: Definitely, we need more of those sounds. Cueball: But there's some great newer stuff too, like Franz Ferdinand, The Donnas, and ... | The punchline of this comic is that just by naming bands from the game Guitar Hero , you can sound pretty knowledgeable about music without actually knowing anything about the bands you are naming. This is further emphasized when Megan mentions Metallica , a very famous band that mostly everyone can be assumed to have ... | |
133 | The Raven | The Raven | https://www.xkcd.com/133 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/133:_The_Raven | Once upon a midnight dreary While I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious Volume of forgotten lore While i nodded, nearly napping, Suddenly there came a tapping As if someone gently rapping Rapping at my chamber door... [A door opens, revealing Eminem wearing a hoodie.] click creak Eminem: Yo.
| The comic's title is a reference to the well-known poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe , one of the most popular pieces of poetry in the English language. The comic quotes the first four lines of the work, in which the poetic persona perceives a strange knocking on his door in the middle of the night. Unlike the original... | |
134 | Myspace | Myspace | https://www.xkcd.com/134 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/134:_Myspace | [Computer screen showing a myspace page.] Oh man, you and everyone in earshot are gonna love the first five seconds of this song!
| This comic references a common issue that users would experience in the late 2000s on the now outdated website MySpace . At the time, an individual with a profile on that website would be able to choose a song that would automatically play when anyone accessed said profile. This was a heavily promoted feature in which ... | |
135 | Substitute | Substitute | https://www.xkcd.com/135 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/135:_Substitute | [In a classroom, the board says "Math" on the top-left corner, and "Mr. Munroe" in the middle. A Cueball portrays Randall, standing in front of it, speaking to the class.] Randall: Miss Lenhart couldn't be here today, so she asked me to substitute. Randall: I've put out your tests. Please get started.
[A student in the... | This comic refers to the film Jurassic Park , a 1993 movie based on the 1990 novel by Michael Crichton . The film centers around a billionaire who bought an island and opened a zoo or theme park for dinosaurs that he has cloned from DNA recovered from blood found in fossilized mosquitoes. After a computer programmer sh... | |
136 | Science Fair | Science Fair | https://www.xkcd.com/136 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/136:_Science_Fair | [Text above the drawing:] Although it caught me by surprise at the time, looking back I understand why my senior science fair project went over as badly as it did.
[A science fair project consisting of eight posters on three pink walls is set up for presenting such a project, so it is possible to step in between the wa... | A science fair involves schoolchildren doing research on a subject of their choice. The purpose is to give them hands-on experience with scientific techniques. Even so, a project based on cunnilingus , oral stimulation of the female genitalia for sexual enjoyment, would not likely be acceptable in a science fair, a set... | |
137 | Dreams | Dreams | https://www.xkcd.com/137 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/137:_Dreams | [A friend is standing behind Cueball, who is typing at a computer.] Friend: You should be more careful what you write. Future employers might read it.
[The friend still stands while Cueball looks at his computer.] Cueball: When did we forget our dreams? Friend: What?
[Cueball stands beside his friend.] Cueball: The inf... | In the first panel of this comic, it is clear that Cueball has just written some comment that his friend thinks will lower his chances for getting a job in the future. This is common advice given to teenagers and young professionals, given as a warning that their posts online could be seen by a potential future boss.
I... | |
138 | Pointers | Pointers | https://www.xkcd.com/138 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/138:_Pointers | [Cueball is playing a video game, with Black Hat standing behind him.] Cueball: Man, I suck at this game. Can you give me a few pointers? Black Hat: 0x3A28213A 0x6339392C, 0x7363682E. Cueball: I hate you.
In xkcd: Volume 0 , the pointers are different, specifically 0x4B657932, 0x6F66383A, and 0x73CD4542.
| This comic is about a play on the dual meaning of the word "pointer." Cueball is playing a video game, but he seems to be stuck. So he asks Black Hat for a few tips ("pointers") to progress in the game. Black Hat is, as usual, annoying, so he spits out a couple of (seemingly random) 32-bit hexadecimal addresses, which ... | |
139 | I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards | I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards | https://www.xkcd.com/139 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/139:_I_Have_Owned_Two_Electric_Skateboards | [Caption above the panels:] How electric skateboards work:
[Cueball is standing on a skateboard, just to the right of a sign. He pushes a button on the remote he has in his hand. The remote is connected to his skateboard through a wire.] Sign: Point A Click
[Cueball skates while he stands still on the board.] Whirrrr
[... | Randall likes electric skateboards (he has owned two already by the time of this comic). This comic shows a simple move where Cueball drives one from A to B.
It's not very artistic, but the "chicks" are cheering, and the comic states that this is how they work. The humor of the comic is an understated joke that if you ... | |
140 | Delicious | Delicious | https://www.xkcd.com/140 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/140:_Delicious | [Frame is split by a diagonal.] [First half: Cueball in front of open fridge.] Cueball: I have leftover cheese. I should get chips and make nachos.
[Second half: Cueball with bag of chips.] Cueball: I have leftover chips. I should get cheese and make nachos.
[Caption below the two drawings:] A delicious cycle
| The simplest explanation for the comic is the recipe for nachos . You take some tortilla chips , spread them out on a plate, sprinkle them with grated cheese and perhaps some other ingredients like salsa, beans, or guacamole, and put the plate in the oven until the cheese is melted. As usual with a full bag of snacks, ... | |
141 | Parody Week Achewood | Parody Week: Achewood | https://www.xkcd.com/141 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/141:_Parody_Week:_Achewood | [Unlike regular xkcd comics, the text here seems to be typed on a machine, and the speech is in bubbles rather than just indicated with a thin line from the speaker. This is true for all spoken text. Also, Beef almost never uses any punctuation in his sentences.]
[Philippe, an anthropomorphic stuffed otter, is particip... | This comic is a part of the Parody Week , just joking about other webcomics . This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday), not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, and it comprises the following five parodies :
Achewood is a webcomic by Chris Onstad . It portrays the lives of a group o... | |
142 | Parody Week Megatokyo | Parody Week: Megatokyo | https://www.xkcd.com/142 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/142:_Parody_Week:_Megatokyo | [At the top of the panel is the title of the comic inside Japanese quote characters. Beneath this is a text, and to the right of this is a drawing on an anime girl in shirt and skirt, who has blonde hair with very long pigtails, long rectangular earrings, and a blank expression looking slightly down while standing with... | This comic is a part of the Parody Week , just joking about other webcomics . This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday), not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, and it comprises the following five parodies :
Megatokyo is a webcomic by Fred Gallagher . Its art and storylines are heav... | |
143 | Parody Week TFD and Natalie Dee | Parody Week: TFD and Natalie Dee | https://www.xkcd.com/143 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/143:_Parody_Week:_TFD_and_Natalie_Dee | [Cueball is standing to the left in this frameless comic, talking to a woman and man. She has long black hair, black eyes, and a very wide mouth going from side to side of the part of her head visible for the hair. She wears a blue shirt, green shorts, and white shoes. She stands with her arms bent with her hands on he... | This comic is a part of the Parody Week , just joking about other webcomics . This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday), not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, and it comprises the following five parodies :
This comic parodies two comics in one go. TFD is an acronym for Toothpaste ... | |
144 | Parody Week A Softer World | Parody Week: A Softer World | https://www.xkcd.com/144 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/144:_Parody_Week:_A_Softer_World | [The comic uses lowercase letters throughout for all the text, which is written in white rectangular areas superimposed on top of the images. Above the first frame there is a title:] x k c d
[To the left is a red robot with a triangular lower body with panels with buttons and indicators, and the red head on top of two ... | This comic is a part of the Parody Week , just joking about other webcomics . This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday), not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, and it comprises the following five parodies :
This comic is a parody of Joey Comeau and Emily Horne's A Softer World webc... | |
145 | Parody Week Dinosaur Comics | Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics | https://www.xkcd.com/145 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/145:_Parody_Week:_Dinosaur_Comics | [T-Rex, a large green Tyrannosaurus, holds out his small arms to each side and the tail pointing up while speaking with a wide open pink mouth showing all his teeth. All the text is written like on a typewriter with both caps and lowercase letters, which is not normal in xkcd.] T-Rex: THINGS I AM UPPITY ABOUT: "They" a... | This comic is a part of the Parody Week , just joking about other webcomics . This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday), not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, and it comprises the following five parodies :
Dinosaur Comics is a webcomic by Ryan North . The artwork never changes, sa... | |
146 | Join Myspace | Join Myspace | https://www.xkcd.com/146 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/146:_Join_Myspace | [Cueball is talking to Black Hat.] Cueball: Dude, you should get on MySpace. Black Hat: Eh, I don't think so.
Cueball: C'mon. There's no real reason not to except snobbiness. It's the new social scene. Black Hat: I know. I'm just not interested.
Cueball: Please? I'll friend you. Black Hat: Carebearstare. Cueball: What?... | This comic refers to the 1980s TV/comic series Care Bears , in which various cuddly bears in rainbow colors go on missions to save the world. The characters' ultimate weapon is the "Care Bear Stare," in which the Bears stand together and radiate light from their respective tummy symbols. These combine to form a ray of ... | |
147 | A Way So Familiar | A Way So Familiar | https://www.xkcd.com/147 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/147:_A_Way_So_Familiar | Hairy: I saw a cute girl outside the bank today. She looked nice. Cueball: Oh no, not again. You are the worst judge of these things. Hairy: But she was so sweet. Shy, but there was something in her eyes. A pain down in her soul, the same as the one down in mine. Cueball: Mm hmm. Hairy: The police light played through ... | Some introverts tend to empathize with other people they perceive as being shy or introverted. Sometimes, their imagination leads them to obscure visions. A person outside the imaginative world can easily see through this and judge it as a delusion.
Hairy points out that he saw a girl at the bank and probably started h... | |
148 | Mispronouncing | Mispronouncing | https://www.xkcd.com/148 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/148:_Mispronouncing | [Caption at top of panel:] My hobby: Mispronouncing words
[Cueball and a friend are talking:] Cueball: Yeah, did you see what he said on his wobsite? Friend: ...his what? Cueball: Wobsite. Friend: ... I think you mean "website." Cueball: Why don't you write about it in your blag?
Today if you visit https://www.blag.xkc... | This is the sixth comic in the My Hobby series. Cueball is deliberately mispronouncing words while talking. It's just his hobby. Hobbies in the My Hobby series are generally annoying or weird, but with an element of cleverness. Here, Cueball persists in mispronouncing his words despite the second character's attempt to... | |
149 | Sandwich | Sandwich | https://www.xkcd.com/149 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/149:_Sandwich | [Cueball is sitting on a couch, talking to a Cueball-like friend.] Cueball: Make me a sandwich. Friend: What? Make it yourself. Cueball: Sudo make me a sandwich. Friend: Okay.
| On both Windows and UNIX computer systems, users can be assigned all kinds of rights, for example rights to access certain directories and files, or to execute certain commands. The sudo command (pronounced "sue due" or "pseudo") lets certain (authorized) UNIX users override these policies by executing the command (ev... | |
150 | Grownups | Grownups | https://www.xkcd.com/150 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/150:_Grownups | [Cueball is talking to Megan who is behind a waist-high screen across a doorway with colorful playpen balls behind her.] Cueball: Hey, I was wondering if you had plans for-- holy crap, what happened to your apartment? Megan: I filled it with playpen balls! Cueball: I... what? Why?
[Megan is seen from the front through ... | Randall is again playing with the child/grownup mental setup. During childhood, adults ("grownups") make most of the decisions and put constraints on what their children do. As children age and eventually become grownups, there are some things that they do not do anymore, as they see them as childish.
Megan has taken t... | |
151 | Mario | Mario | https://www.xkcd.com/151 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/151:_Mario | Megan: For our anniversary, my boyfriend took me hiking in the mountains. Ponytail: My boyfriend proposed to me. Ponytail: They should call you Mario, 'cause you just got <<1 up'd.>>
| One-upmanship is the act of surpassing another person. In this case, one female character is one-upping her friend's claim of being taken on a mountain hike with a claim that she was proposed to.
Mario is the major figure in the Super Mario series. In the games, completing specific conditions causes a "1-up" (but the m... | |
152 | Hamster Ball | Hamster Ball | https://www.xkcd.com/152 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/152:_Hamster_Ball | [Cueball stands by a genie, whose lower body becomes smoke and trails down to an old-fashioned lamp.] Genie: You have awakened me from the lamp. You may have three wishes. What does your heart desire? Cueball: I'd like a human-sized hamster ball.
[A hamster ball appears; Cueball is inside it, arms outstretched.] Cuebal... | The comic starts with a genie , who, having been freed from a magical lamp, grants the owner three wishes; this isn't unusual, since the idea of a genie who does this is a very common trope in the fantasy genre.
Cueball asks for a human-sized hamster ball , and when he gets it, he starts to roll around in it, obviously... | |
153 | Cryptography | Cryptography | https://www.xkcd.com/153 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/153:_Cryptography | [Randall Munroe (drawn as Cueball) stands behind a lectern on a podium in front of a large conference audience (consisting of Cueball heads), with a poster hanging beside him.] Randall: My cryptosystem is like any Feistel cipher, except in the S-Boxes we simply take the bitstring down, flip it, and reverse it.
[The pos... | This comic refers to the study of cryptography . We can note the presence of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) logo in the lectern ( podium? ), an association that organizes the most important conferences in the cryptology field.
Randall , drawn as Cueball behind the lectern at the podium, i... | |
154 | Beliefs | Beliefs | https://www.xkcd.com/154 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/154:_Beliefs | [A girl with long black hair and a professor who looks like Megan stand together. The girl points to Cueball in the distance.] Girl: Professor, that man claims the earth is 6,000 years old! Professor: So? Just use your head and don't concern yourself overmuch with what other people think.
[Cueball is gone and the girl ... | This comic is a reference to Young Earth creationism , which includes the belief that the Earth has only existed for about 6,000 years. Young Earth creationism is mainly based on literal interpretations of the Bible , which is pseudoscience . The professor is originally not bothered by the fact that someone believes in... | |
155 | Search History | Search History | https://www.xkcd.com/155 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/155:_Search_History | [In a slim panel at the top of the comic Randall (drawn as Cueball) stands to the left and his speech is written in the rest of the panel to his right.] Randall: In solidarity with the many AOL users whose often embarrassing web searches were released to the public, I offer a sample of my own search history:
[The long ... | The comic references the AOL search data leak , where users had potentially identifying and embarrassing search histories published. Randall , drawn as Cueball , thus publishes his own potentially embarrassing searches in solidarity with the AOL users.
All of his searches relate to his fear of dinosaurs, mainly velocir... | |
156 | Commented | Commented | https://www.xkcd.com/156 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/156:_Commented | [Cueball calls out to and Black Hat while they are some distance apart as seen from the side. Black Hat is holding an arm out towards Cueball making a gesture and speaking one word.] Cueball: Hey, can you do me a favor? Black Hat: Commented!
[The same setting seen from behind Black Hat with Cueball drawn much smaller i... | When Cueball asks Black Hat for a favor, he seems to be making a rude gesture , by lifting a finger towards Cueball. However, the word he says, Commented! , does not seem to fit with the shorter four letter word usually combined with such a gesture.
Cueball also fails to understand this, but as it turns out, as the pan... | |
157 | Filler Art | Filler Art | https://www.xkcd.com/157 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/157:_Filler_Art | [Cueball stands in the middle of a single panel. The text above reads:] Sorry guys no comic today. I've gotta go to the doctor to get my thighs rotated. But here's some new character art I'm working on!
| There are times in which the owner of a webcomic can not make a comic on time for the next scheduled update (for example, needing to attend to a family emergency). Some deal with these situations by creating a "buffer" of comics (that is, making several comics ahead of time) in anticipation for these events. However, i... | |
158 | Six Months | Six Months | https://www.xkcd.com/158 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/158:_Six_Months | [Cueball is standing.] Cueball: It's been six months and I still have those dreams where you're pressed tight against me, where you look into my eyes and give me that grin and it's like you've forgotten everything.
Cueball: And something in the back of my head says it's wrong, it's not like this anymore, but I push it ... | Cueball is addressing his ex-partner, telling her that six months after their split-up, he still has dreams of their being together. In the moment after waking up, he is sometimes unable to tell reality and dream apart. However, the third panel reveals the punchline: His confusion results from the likeness between his ... | |
159 | Boombox | Boombox | https://www.xkcd.com/159 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/159:_Boombox | [Megan is looking out a second story window at Cueball holding a boombox over his head. Musical Notes are coming out of it.] Cueball: Megan! Megan: Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening. Cueball: I love you! Megan: Okay, that's great. Wait a second. Is... is that... Ice Ice Baby? What the hell? Cueball: I'm not ... | We see Cueball declare his love for Megan in an oft-used setting, paying homage to similar events in classic literature, notably the "balcony scene" from William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet ( act 2, scene 2 ), and a similar situation in Edmond Rostand 's Cyrano de Bergerac ( act 3, scenes 6-7 ). In the former, ... | |
160 | Penny Arcade Parody | Penny Arcade Parody | https://www.xkcd.com/160 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/160:_Penny_Arcade_Parody | [The first panel uses the art style of Penny Arcade.] Gabe: What? Sony has plenty of launch titles lined up that aren't lame sequels. Tycho: Name one. And furthermore, they... I... uh...
[The art style is dropped. The next two panels are just text.] I can't do this. I can't parody Penny Arcade. I've got nothing on thos... | Penny Arcade is a webcomic , primarily about video games and the culture surrounding them. It is written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik , though they are better known as their comic alter-egos: Tycho Brahe and Jonathan "Gabe" Gabriel.
This strip begins as a parody of the Penny Arcade strip, which mak... | |
161 | Accident | Accident | https://www.xkcd.com/161 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/161:_Accident | [Cueball driving in a car while listening to some music.] Music: ♫ ♩ ♬ [Another panel of Cueball listening to music while driving. Cueball's head is turned to the right.] Music: ♬ ♪ ♩ [A third panel. Cueball's head is turned to the left.] Music: ♫ NAAAA NA NA NANA NANA NA NA KATAMARI DAMACY ♪ ♩ [Cueball and Megan talki... | After someone plays a game enough, various instincts develop. One might be ready to push the right button when a right arrow comes up on screen. One might learn the tricky sequences of moves needed for a situation in the game, and find oneself doing them in another game in a similar situation. Or, as in this case, one ... | |
162 | Angular Momentum | Angular Momentum | https://www.xkcd.com/162 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/162:_Angular_Momentum | [Cueball sits sideways on a bed under an open window in the corner of a room. He is looking at Megan, who is spinning fast, indicated with two large circles indicating where her arms that are spread far out rotate, as well as two smaller circles around her knees and feet. The bed sheets are clearly messed up, as if som... | A moving object (like the Earth) has momentum. Momentum is the mass (size) of the object multiplied by the velocity (speed) of the moving object. So the Earth has a very high momentum because the Earth has a large mass (size) and is moving at a high velocity (speed) around the Sun. However, the momentum referenced in t... | |
163 | Donald Knuth | Donald Knuth | https://www.xkcd.com/163 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/163:_Donald_Knuth | [Black Hat and Cueball are sitting back to back at two separate desks, typing. Black Hat has turned toward Cueball to respond to him.] Cueball: Man, you're being inconsistent with your array indices. Some are from one, some from zero. Black Hat: Different tasks call for different conventions. To quote Stanford algorith... | Donald Knuth is a computer science Professor Emeritus at Stanford University who is famous for writing The Art of Computer Programming and developing the T e X computerized typesetting system.
In computer science, an array is a structure that stores multiple values in a fixed order, and the elements are accessed by the... | |
164 | Playing Devil's Advocate to Win | Playing Devil's Advocate to Win | https://www.xkcd.com/164 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/164:_Playing_Devil%27s_Advocate_to_Win | [Cueball is standing under a large amount of text said in one go.] Cueball: Yes, from the evidence it looks pretty likely to me that we're causing global warming on a horrific scale. But with science you don't need to argue. It doesn't matter who wins the debate — it's about reality. By just waiting a little longer, we... | Global warming is the rise of the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th century and its projected continuation. More than 97% of scientists are sure that it's caused by an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humanity's industrialization and activities such as the burning of fos... | |
165 | Turn Signals | Turn Signals | https://www.xkcd.com/165 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/165:_Turn_Signals | [Two cars are seen sitting at a red light. One person is seen walking from his car up to the driver of the car in front of him. The turn signals of both cars seem to be blinking at the same time.] Person in Street: Hey, our turn signals are in sync! Person in Car: What the hell?
Person in Street: Usually they're at lea... | Turn signals are designed to flash between 60 and 120 times per minute. Most turn signals are driven by an electromechanical device. Due to manufacturing tolerances, battery state of charge, ambient temperature, and various other factors, two different turn signals rarely flash at the same rate, even among cars of the ... | |
166 | Misusing Slang | Misusing Slang | https://www.xkcd.com/166 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/166:_Misusing_Slang | The best part of getting older is gonna be intentionally misusing slang around teenagers just to watch them squirm. Cueball: Oh man, that song is so pwned! Teenager: twitch
| Randall expresses excitement for the time in the future where he can intentionally misuse modern-day slang in order to make nearby teenagers feel uncomfortable. He illustrates this by using the word "pwned," the past tense of "pwn" (from "own," as in to defeat completely): "The noob was pwned by the pro."
Many teenager... | |
167 | Nihilism | Nihilism | https://www.xkcd.com/167 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/167:_Nihilism | [Beret Guy and Cueball approach a tree while talking.] Cueball: There is no God. Our existence is without purpose. Beret Guy: Oh, definitely. Beret Guy: We are adrift in an uncaring void indifferent to all our mortal toil. Cueball: Exactly! In the end, nothing we do matters. [Beret Guy climbs the tree.] Beret Guy: Tota... | It is argued by some that atheism leads to nihilism . One rebuttal would be to reject the premise that there is no purpose outside of fulfilling divine intention, but Randall instead rejects the premise that nihilism ought to be burdensome. As a result, Beret Guy resolves that, if everything is ultimately meaningless, ... | |
168 | Reverse Euphemisms | Reverse Euphemisms | https://www.xkcd.com/168 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/168:_Reverse_Euphemisms | My Hobby: Reverse Euphemisms [Two people talking.] Cueball: Oh, hey, school just let out and it's YMCA night, so I've gotta go take a shit. Friend: What? Cueball: I mean I actually have to drop the kids off at the pool.
| Euphemisms are figures of speech used in place of more offensive terms. In this comic, Cueball uses swear words in the place of benign terms, inverting the typical usage of euphemisms. To "drop the kids off at the pool" is a euphemism meaning to "go take a shit." In this case, however, Cueball actually has to drop kids... | |
169 | Words that End in GRY | Words that End in GRY | https://www.xkcd.com/169 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/169:_Words_that_End_in_GRY | [Black Hat and Cueball are standing next to each other.] Cueball: There are three words in the English language that end in "gry". "Angry" and "Hungry" are two. What's the third?
Black Hat: I don't think there is one, unless you count really obscure words. Cueball: Ha! It's "language"! I said there are three words in "... | This is a reference to a famous joke (see the first of the meta versions under the wiki link), mistold in the above comic.
The original, correct telling of the joke is:
Think of words ending in "-gry". "Angry" and "Hungry" are two of them. There are only three words in the English language. What is the third word? Hint... | |
170 | Turn Back | Turn Back | https://www.xkcd.com/170 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/170:_Turn_Back | Cueball: Should we keep going? Megan: I don't know. Cueball: We can turn back if you want. Megan: Look--
Megan: Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't have a plan any more than you? Maybe just having this conversation means we're lost.
[Wide shot of the characters in a Calvin and Hobbes-esque alien landscape.]
Cue... | Calvin and Hobbes was a daily comic drawn by Bill Watterson , published between 1985 to 1995. It followed the adventures of a young boy named Calvin and his tiger, Hobbes. The frequent themes of spontaneity, beauty, and adventure that characterize many of Calvin's conversations with his friend Hobbes can also be seen i... | |
171 | String Theory | String Theory | https://www.xkcd.com/171 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/171:_String_Theory | [Heading above panel:] String theory summarized:
[Two Cueballs are talking.] Cueball: I just had an awesome idea. Suppose all matter and energy is made of tiny, vibrating "strings". Friend: Okay. What would that imply? Cueball: I dunno.
| String theory is a theory in theoretical physics for explaining how the universe works. It is a theory trying to explain everything belonging to our universe; specifically, it aims to unite general relativity and quantum field theories .
When a new theory is thought up, the theorists will usually supply some prediction... | |
172 | Skateboarding is Not a Crime | Skateboarding is Not a Crime | https://www.xkcd.com/172 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/172:_Skateboarding_is_Not_a_Crime | [A set of lockers, that are dark pink, blue, yellow, dark pink then blue. The middle one has a white sticker stuck to it proclaiming "Skateboarding is not a crime."] When I'm president, skateboarding will still be legal, but display of those stupid stickers will be a felony.
| The skateboarding subculture has taken up the phrase "skateboarding is not a crime" in protest of how many cities have banned skateboarding in certain areas, such as parks. Randall apparently really does not like these stickers and states that when he becomes president, any and all displays of stickers bearing the phra... | |
173 | Movie Seating | Movie Seating | https://www.xkcd.com/173 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/173:_Movie_Seating | At the movies, I get frustrated when we file into our row haphazardly, ignoring the computationally difficulty problem of seating people together for maximum enjoyment. [Map of relationships between 8 people.] [Legend:] Single line: friends. Double line: in a relationship. Arrow: one-way crush. Dashed line: acquaintanc... | At the time of writing in most movie theaters in the US, seats were not reserved . [1] That is, tickets are sold by screening without seat assignment, and therefore an entering patron can take any vacant seat. Therefore, a group of incoming patrons may walk in a column and take a section of consecutive seats in a row, ... | |
174 | That's What SHE Said | That's What SHE Said | https://www.xkcd.com/174 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/174:_That%27s_What_SHE_Said | My Hobby: Using "that's what she said" only in the most grammatically ambiguous situations. Friend: He doubts she could've done what they claimed she did. Cueball: That's what she said!
| " That's what she said! " is a phrase used in the US in response to an unintended sexual innuendo, similar to the UK phrase "said the actress to the bishop." An example usage might look like the following:
A: (while putting together some furniture) I think this is too big. B: That's what she said!
In this example, the ... | |
175 | Automatic Doors | Automatic Doors | https://www.xkcd.com/175 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/175:_Automatic_Doors | When I walk past an automatic door and it opens for me, I worry that if I don't go in I'll hurt its feelings. [Automatic door whirrs open.] whirrrr Cueball: Oh, um, I'm sorry, I was just... um... I guess I can hang out for a bit.
| Cueball has an uneasy suspiction that the automatic doors may have feelings, possibly due to their apparent sentience. This assigning of human characteristics to non-human things such as the doors is called anthropomorphism . Cueball extends the premise that the doors have feelings to those feelings being hurt by his n... | |
176 | Before Sunrise | Before Sunrise | https://www.xkcd.com/176 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/176:_Before_Sunrise | Cueball: Every morning for a week now I've gone out driving before sunrise. I wanted to get lost in the dark, park my car, listen to music, and sip from a warm drink as dawn broke around me, gradually revealing a landscape I'd never before seen. A chain of unique beginnings forcing wonder into the seeds of each day. Cu... | This is another example of Randall's propensity towards "your mom" jokes. The second panel contains an eloquent prosaic description of an idyllic sunrise over an unfamiliar landscape analogizing the uncertainty and excitement of the life that lies ahead. This is designed to put the reader off-guard for the "your mom" s... | |
177 | Alice and Bob | Alice and Bob | https://www.xkcd.com/177 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/177:_Alice_and_Bob | [Eve stands in the frame, talking to the reader.] Eve: I'm sure you've heard all about this sordid affair in those gossipy cryptographic protocol specs with those busybodies Schneier and Rivest, always taking Alice's side, always labeling me the attacker. Eve: Yes, it's true. I broke Bob's private key and extracted the... | Any good cryptography presentation will include at least one story about Alice and Bob . They are the canonical "protagonists" of the crypto world, frequently used in illustrations to demonstrate how a cryptographic system works. (The names were mostly chosen to abbreviate to A and B, as well as being of different gend... | |
178 | Not Really Into Pokemon | Not Really Into Pokemon | https://www.xkcd.com/178 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/178:_Not_Really_Into_Pokemon | I have found the perfect phrase for condescendingly dismissing anything: Cueball: Have you seen the new Ubuntu release? Black Hat: Nah, I'm not really into Pokémon.
| Pokémon is a popular franchise that includes 5 children's animated television shows, a collectible card game , and a whole series of video games. The premise is that a young "trainer" goes out to explore the world and catch Pokémon: fanciful wild creatures that come in many varieties, ranging from armoured dinosaurs th... | |
179 | e to the pi times i | e to the pi times i | https://www.xkcd.com/179 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/179:_e_to_the_pi_times_i | [Two Cueballs are standing at a board with writing on. One Cueball is pointing at the board.] Cueball: Numbers of the form n√-1 are "imaginary," but can still be used in equations. Friend: Okay. Cueball: And e^(π√-1)=-1. Friend: Now you're just fucking with me.
| The comic largely references Euler's identity . This identity states that e iπ + 1 = 0. Therefore, e iπ = −1.
The humor from this comic is because of the seemingly arbitrary relationship between e, π, and the identity of i (the square root of −1). e is the mathematical identity of which the derivative of e x with respe... | |
180 | Canada | Canada | https://www.xkcd.com/180 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/180:_Canada | [Two men stand talking to each other.] Cueball: If we lose this election, I'm moving to Canada. Friend: You say that every year. Cueball: I mean it this time.
Friend: Well, becoming a citizen takes work. Meanwhile, you have no money, half an art degree, and it's the start of winter. You'll freeze to death in the street... | Canada is the country north of the USA . [ citation needed ] During political seasons, partisan voters often threaten to move away if their side loses. For Americans, this often comes to claims of moving to Canada .
The punchline references the tagline "If you die in the game, you die in real life" from the 2006 horror... | |
181 | Interblag | Interblag | https://www.xkcd.com/181 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/181:_Interblag | Terms I have used or heard used to make fun of the internet: [Below: A matrix whose entries may contain crosses to indicate that a term has been used. The rows (prefixes) are labelled WORLD WIDE, INTER-, BLOGO-, BLAGO-, and WEB-; the columns are labelled NET, WEB, SPHERE, TUBES, and BLAG. In the interests of properly p... | The comic parodies the habit of word coining on the internet, as well as the enthusiasm for modern sounding terms in the IT world in general. Common examples include the shortening of "weblog" to " blog ," while the entirety of blogs is referred to as the " blogosphere ." The internet itself is sometimes called "The Tu... | |
182 | Nash | Nash | https://www.xkcd.com/182 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/182:_Nash | [Cueball and Dr. Nash (the Cueball-like guy to the right) stand talking to each other. Cueball is looking left and pointing off-panel.] Cueball: Hey, Dr. Nash, I think those gals over there are eyeing us. This is like your Nash Equilibrium, right? One of them is hot, but we should each flirt with one of her less-desira... | The first panel references a scene in the movie A Beautiful Mind in which Dr. John Forbes Nash, Jr. comes up with his famous concept of Nash equilibrium when he realizes that they get suboptimal results if all the guys go after the same hot girl. The second panel deconstructs the idea as Dr. Nash point out that staying... | |
183 | Snacktime Rules | Snacktime Rules | https://www.xkcd.com/183 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/183:_Snacktime_Rules | My dad was always the one who taught me about science, but looking back, I'm starting to realize how much my nerdiness was influenced by my mom.
[A woman and a child talk.] Child: Mom, can I have a snack in my room before bed? Mom: No, dear. You know you only get that privilege when your age is one less than a multiple... | The comic shows Randall's mother telling Randall that he can have a snack in his room before bed only when his age is "one less than a multiple of three." This means that the child starts getting snacks in his room before bed when he turns 2 years old, then stops getting them when he turns 3. Then he starts again when ... | |
184 | Matrix Transform | Matrix Transform | https://www.xkcd.com/184 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/184:_Matrix_Transform | [A square matrix next to a vertical two-by-one matrix, equated to a horizontal matrix that looks like the two-by-one matrix turned 90 degrees.] [Square matrix: cos90° sin90° -sin90° cos90°] [Two by one matrix:] [a₁ a₂] [An equal sign] [The same two by one matrix, but rotated by 90 degrees clockwise:] [a₁ a₂]
| A rotational matrix transformation (i.e. the big brackets with "cos" and "sin" in them) is used in computer graphics to rotate an image. In general, to rotate a point [a1, a2] in a 2D space by z° clockwise, you can multiply it by the rotation matrix [[cos z°, sin z°], [-sin z°, cos z°]]. In this case, the left side of ... | |
185 | Wikifriends | Wikifriends | https://www.xkcd.com/185 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/185:_Wikifriends | WikiFriends: [Two people are talking to each other.] Cueball: I really liked that movie. Friend: I hated that movie. Cueball: Me too.
| The comic's title refers to Wikis , which are collaboratively edited websites (such as this one). The first such site was WikiWikiWeb , but Wikipedia (an online encyclopedia) has become the most well-known example, and may have been specifically what Randall had in mind while drawing this comic, as other comics also re... | |
186 | Console Lines | Console Lines | https://www.xkcd.com/186 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/186:_Console_Lines | Fans turning away latecomers to all-night game console campouts: [Two different lines presumably leading to a video game store are shown. In the line labeled Sony/Microsoft:] Cueball: The line is full, asshole! Get off! [And in the one labeled Nintendo:] Cueball: I'm so sorry, all the consoles are spoken for. Cueball: ... | This comic relates to video game consoles . At the time this comic was published, there were three major competing products: the Playstation 3 by Sony , the Xbox 360 by Microsoft , and the Wii by Nintendo . When a game console gets released, fans are often seen queuing outside the stores or camping on the pavement in o... | |
187 | The Familiar | The Familiar | https://www.xkcd.com/187 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/187:_The_Familiar | [A guy is standing behind his friend who sits at a computer. Both look like Cueball.] Guy: Let's go see sunrise over the ocean. [The friend turns and replies:] Friend: That's a long drive, it's cold, I'm tired, and rationalizing the familiar is easy. [The guy leaves, and in the next two frames, the friend remains at hi... | Cueball's friend asks him to go with him to view the sunrise over the ocean. Cueball refuses by giving a list of excuses, including the statement that "rationalizing the familiar is easy." This statement is amusing, because Cueball acknowledges the fact that he is making excuses and seems to refuse going out on the bas... | |
188 | Reload | Reload | https://www.xkcd.com/188 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/188:_Reload | [Four soldiers are preparing to enter a battlefield; their leader addresses them.] Leader: Okay men, we're going in. Stay low, keep behind cover, and if you run out of ammunition, shoot outside the battlefield to reload.
| This comic refers to the common method for reloading your ammunition in arcade game type shooters, also known as "rail shooters." The player is typically given a Light gun , and the player characters typically have unlimited magazines of ammunition; to load a new magazine, the player would aim his light gun away from t... | |
189 | Exercise | Exercise | https://www.xkcd.com/189 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/189:_Exercise | Like many geeks, I got a lot more interested in exercise once I made the connection to leveling up. [Cueball is doing pull-ups on a bar in a doorframe.] Cueball: One more point to STR, then I'll run to work on CON.
| Role-playing games (RPGs) are a pastime commonly associated with geeks in which players assume the role of a fictional character in a fantasy world. In many RPGs, character evolution and advancement is represented by "leveling up." Through winning battles and, less frequently, completing tasks or missions, characters a... | |
190 | IPoD | IPoD | https://www.xkcd.com/190 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/190:_IPoD | [Black Hat sits at a computer. Cueball stands behind him.] Black Hat: You see, statisticians communicate using IPoD -- IP over Demographics. For example, the header of the next packet I send will be encoded into the New Jersey death rate. Cueball: So you're going to hack the census bureau and change the number of repor... | IP is one of the main protocols of the Internet. It is used to route data packets from one computer to another, using other computers or even complete networks in between if needed. It is designed to use the fastest (not necessarily the shortest) route to the target, automatically using another route if a connection or... | |
191 | Lojban | Lojban | https://www.xkcd.com/191 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/191:_Lojban | [Cueball and Black Hat are having a conversation.] [English version:] Cueball: If you learned to speak Lojban, your communication would be completely unambiguous and logical. Black Hat: Yeah, but it would all be with the kind of people who learn Lojban.
[Lojban version:] Cueball: da'i ganai do crebi'o la lojban gi le s... | Lojban is a constructed language designed to be logical, unambiguous, and culturally neutral — similar to the better known artificial language Esperanto . The authors originally designed it as an experiment, but a few people have picked it up and tried to learn it. However, anyone actually willing to learn Lojban is so... | |
192 | Working for Google | Working for Google | https://www.xkcd.com/192 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/192:_Working_for_Google | [A guy sits at a computer and addresses his friend standing behind.] Guy: Have you read about Google HQ? It sounds like an incredible place to work.
[The friend throws his hands in the air as he delivers this speech:] Friend: Man, I ain't going to be chained down in no corporate idea factory! They think just 'cause the... | Many look up to Google as the ultimate workplace in the IT industry. Therefore, they have lots of applicants but can afford to be very selective, and only the best and brightest succeed.
In the first panel, the guy at the computer asks his friend (both look like Cueball ) what he thinks about working at Google HQ ( Hea... | |
193 | The Perfect Sound | The Perfect Sound | https://www.xkcd.com/193 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/193:_The_Perfect_Sound | [Cueball and his friend are listening to music on a stereo.] Cueball: I'm telling you, listen right here to the sets of rising notes following the opening section. Friend: Uh huh. [Cueball indicates stereo.] Cueball: And then right here, the transition into the chorus. This is music. This is art ! [Cueball dances along... | This comic relates to the song " Mickey ", performed in 1982 by one-hit-wonder Toni Basil . The lyrics, as well as the instrumentation of the song, were in fact rather simple, being a perfect example of bubblegum pop in the early 1980s.
In the comic, however, the song is introduced as a musical masterpiece. Cueball poi... | |
194 | Penises | Penises | https://www.xkcd.com/194 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/194:_Penises | PENISES: Megan: They are about this big. [Holds her hands close together, about half a foot apart.] Now can we PLEASE , as a culture, move on?
| The comic takes aim at what is considered by some to be the apparent societal obsession with the male sexual organ ("phallocentrism"), especially in regards to size. In general, depictions of an erect penis (also called phallus ) represent male potency.
While present in every human civilization, the symbol of the penis... | |
195 | Map of the Internet | Map of the Internet | https://www.xkcd.com/195 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/195:_Map_of_the_Internet | Map of the Internet The IPv4 Space, 2006 This chart shows the IP address space on a plane using a fractal mapping which preserves grouping--any consecutive string of IPs will translate to a single, compact, contiguous region on the map. Each of the 256 numbered blocks represents one 8 subnet (containing all IPs that s... | On the map, all allocated IPv4 address blocks (as of 2006) are shown using a fractal mapping. (The Hilbert curve is used: the pattern is demonstrated at the bottom of the image.) In February 2011, the final remaining IPv4 blocks were allocated to the Regional Internet registries , and so today there would no longer be ... | |
196 | Command Line Fu | Command Line Fu | https://www.xkcd.com/196 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/196:_Command_Line_Fu | [Two men talking.] Cueball: Last night I was watching videos with this girl and my monitors kept turning off - even though I had disabled power save. Friend: Odd. Cueball: However! I wrote a command to jiggle the mouse pointer every couple minutes to keep it from going idle. Friend: Not the first hack I'd try, but see?... | The Linux command line allows a user to make their computer do nearly anything. The only hitch is that the interface is entirely text-based, and reading through user manuals to find the commands that you need can take a very long time.
In this comic, Cueball recounts how he used a command line hack to solve a problem w... | |
197 | Ninja Turtles | Ninja Turtles | https://www.xkcd.com/197 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/197:_Ninja_Turtles | [Four pie graphs, each colored green and brown.] Leonardo [Almost one-half green.] Michelangelo [More than one-half green.] Donatello [Five-sixths green.] Raphael [Roughly half-and-half.] [A legend] Notoriety as a [Brown.] Renaissance artist [Green.] Ninja turtle
| The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , or Ninja Turtles, are a pop-cultural phenomenon especially prominent in the late 1980s and 1990s. The four turtles are named for four artists of the European Renaissance: Leonardo da Vinci , Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , and Raffaello ... | |
198 | Perspective | Perspective | https://www.xkcd.com/198 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/198:_Perspective | Sometimes, when I first wake up, I am caught in the horrible grip of perspective. [Cueball sitting up in bed.] Cueball: It may be a jewel of open source, but Firefox is just a browser. It shows webpages. What the hell is wrong with us? Fortunately, this subsides quickly.
| Firefox is a popular browser, and in 2006, it was the second most commonly used browser. Its more fervent supporters sometimes wrote as if there was a moral imperative to use Firefox rather than Internet Explorer.
Cueball , presumably representing Randall , wakes up with a reasonable perspective on the relative unimpor... | |
199 | Right-Hand Rule | Right-Hand Rule | https://www.xkcd.com/199 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/199:_Right-Hand_Rule | [Picture of a right hand with fingers curved, thumb pointed away, with axes drawn to demonstrate the right-hand rule of physics.] Alternatives to the Right-Hand Rule in vector multiplication: [A slightly-open book with labeled axes drawn on.] Book Rule: Open the front cover along the first vector and the back cover alo... | The right-hand rule is a mathematics and physics trick to learning how to find the cross product of two Cartesian vectors in three dimensions. First, extend the fingers of your right hand in the direction of the first vector (in the example diagram in the comic, this is to the left). Then, curl your fingers in the dire... | |
200 | Bill Nye | Bill Nye | https://www.xkcd.com/200 | https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/200:_Bill_Nye | [A restaurant. Blondie is with two small Cueballs at a table; Bill Nye with black hair in a white lab coat sits at the next table with his back turned towards them. Two other tables can be seen at the edge of the panel at either side. A caption is written above them:] The tribulations of Bill Nye: Blondie: Hey, kids, s... | Bill Nye is an educator well known in the United States for his science-focused television show targeted to elementary school children ( website ).
A mother, Blondie , is sitting at a table in a restaurant with her two children, asking them a science-related question about the ice cubes in their drinks. She is hoping t... |
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