With Apologies to The Who

Explanation:
This comic refers to the song " My Generation " by the British rock band The Who , which was released in 1965. The song is about intergenerational conflict and has been regarded as a very decided proclamation of youthful rebellion. Cueball adapts the lyrics to describe his own generation, the Millennials . As people born from the 1980s onwards grew up with the internet, this generation is also nicknamed " digital natives ." It is therefore natural that the updated lyrics should refer to blogging and internet slang . The actions performed by Cueball while typing the text relate to the original music video, in which The Who smash their instruments in true rock star fashion. Cueball wails his keyboard like a guitar and smashes his monitor in the end.
The title text jokingly suggests that the band's lead singer Roger Daltrey originally meant the line
And don't try and Digg what we all s-s-say
as a reference to the social news site Digg , but changed it after switching to its competitor Reddit .
Explanation of Terms
An explanation of the terms in this comic:
"noobs" is a synonym of "newbie," which is a person who is new to an online community and is thus often not familiar with the rules and norms of the community. Cueball is suggesting that old people are not competent/familiar with the online realm. "the tubes" is likely a reference to the saying series of tubes . "grok" is a synonym for "understand." Cueball is suggesting that people of older generations have difficulty understanding internet slang, which is often true. "bloggin'" (blogging) is the act of writing in a blog .
Original Lyrics
The original lyrics of the song run as follows:
People try to put us d-d-down Just because we get around Things they do look awful c-c-cold I hope I die before I get old [...] Why don't you all f-fade away And don't try and dig what we all s-s-say I'm not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation I'm just talkin' 'bout my g-g-g-generation
[Cueball is sitting at a desk with a computer, typing.] Monitor: People try to shut us d-d-down just 'cause our music gets around [Cueball is standing on his chair and typing with his keyboard across his hip.] Monitor: Old folks act like total noobs get off our net; you block the tubes [Cueball is really wailing on the keyboard.] Monitor: Why don't you all just d-d-disconnect and don't try an' grok our d-d-dialect [Cueball smashes the keyboard into the monitor.] Monitor: I'm not tryin' to cause a big s-s-sensation I'm just bloggin' 'bout my generation
The song was actually written by guitarist Pete Townshend .
Roger Daltrey's name is misspelled as "Daltry".


Thoughts

Explanation:
This comic relates to the situation of getting introduced to the parents of one's girlfriend, which is often felt to be rather awkward. The parents tend to scrutinize and question the aspirant in order to find out if he is a good catch. A particularly delicate issue is the fact that the suitor may have had sexual intercourse with their daughter. This topic is almost never openly addressed, but can sometimes be felt in the subtext of the conversation. This makes the scenario somewhat susceptible to a so-called Freudian slip . The term describes a common psychological phenomenon where a subconscious thought bursts through and induces e.g. a slip of tongue.
In the comic, Cueball tries to repress any thoughts of sexual nature while talking to her parents Blondie and Blondie 's Cueball-like man.  He promptly utters the sentence "I have licked your daughter's nipples." and thus involuntarily addresses the topic he tried to avoid.
The title text suggests that either the parents do not want their daughter to meet him again, or that the girlfriend interdicts his licking her nipples again because of the embarrassing scene.
[Cueball talking with his girlfriend's parents represented by Blondie, holding a hand up in greeting and a larger version of Cueball. Above them there is a caption:] When meeting a girlfriend's family, I have to suppress the weirdest thoughts. Cueball: Hi! Blondie: Hi! It's so nice to finally meet you! Cueball: I have licked your daughter's nipples.


Fixed Width

Explanation:
Fixed width or monospaced font refers to the font used in old teletype terminals and some instant messaging clients (often Courier ).
For two text lines to have the same length, it's easier if they are in a monospaced font. For example, the following sentences are the same length in a monospaced font, but since we are using a proportional font , those lengths are not exact (the third line is noticeably wider):
<rob> last night was nice <emily> the best i've had <rob> yeah it was AMAZING

The title is possibly a double reference, both to a monospaced font and to lines of the same length.
Initially, by mere chance, Emily's and Rob 's lines were exactly the same length. This made Rob want to continue the pattern.
That Rob feels forced to change what he wants to type to continue the pattern could be a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder .
Because of the monospaced font, any reply with 19 characters (including space) would have continued the pattern. In particular, "definitely for real" or "i'm in love with you" would have worked.
In the title text Rob continues to write a sentence: "I wish I knew how to quit this so I wouldn't have to quit you." He acknowledges that he has a problem, since he cannot quit his desire to keep the fixed width. If he could have quit this desire, then he would not have had to quit Emily. But since he felt he had to keep the fixed width, he involuntarily wrote something that felt for Emily as if he quit her. And he was too late out with his apology for her to read it.
[A man, Rob, is sitting at a computer. The text is an IRC-style transcript of a conversation, in a fixed-width font. He is text-messaging a girl he slept with named Emily; their messages read as follows:]


Long Light

Explanation:
This strip depicts a common experience to most people - becoming frustrated with a device, system, or rule that appears to be badly made or have no purpose other than to frustrate the user (in this case, a traffic light that seems unreasonably, inexplicably long). One temptation we might have in these cases is to blame the designer of the system. Here, the designer appears and testifies to the amount of effort that went into the design, considering many factors. He challenges Cueball to come up with a better solution, the implication being that without a similar amount of training and effort, any naive solution would have flaws the designer would be happy to point out. This demonstrates to Cueball and the reader that just because they were unlucky enough to encounter something in a way that was inconvenient for no obvious reason, doesn't mean there is no reason at all.
Of course, all of this has occurred after the designer leapt out of nowhere onto the hood of the car, so he may not be entirely stable. This is elaborated upon in the final panel, where the designer finally admits that red light won't change until Tuesday, but since this comic was published on a Friday, the timing scheme really was absurd after all. It is also possible that the designer has intentionally changed the light specifically to make Cueball wait for a couple of days, or to stop himself from being flung off of the hood of the car.
The title text returns to the original point, reminding us that designers work hard and often encounter complex problems in doing their jobs. Their frustration may also be in part from the knowledge that future users will blame them for unavoidable problems and undervalue their work. With a little empathy, we can find a human connection to these problems, rather than let them drive us crazy.
Randall returns to the theme of the unseen contributions of engineers in 1741: Work .
[Cueball in a car, sitting at a red light.] Cueball: This light always takes forever. I'd like to smack the idiot who designed this intersection. [An engineer steps up onto the hood of Cueball's car.] Engineer: Hi. Cueball: Who the hell are you? Engineer: I designed this intersection. Engineer [arms spread outward]: You're right - I should have just made the light shorter! Never mind the hours of simulation and testing I did. Never mind that this intersection interacts with it's neighbors in a complicated way and it took me a week to work out timing sequences that avoided total jams. Engineer: Clearly, I'm a crappy engineer and you have a better solution. Go on, show me your proposed timings. Cueball: Get the hell off my hood before I start driving and fling you into traffic. Engineer: You can't. Light's red. Cueball: Well, when will it change? Engineer: Tuesday.


Black Hat Support

Explanation:
This strip portrays Black Hat providing support for Linux , but in fact he provides only annoying and unhelpful advice just for his own personal amusement.
The support line is clearly for Linux, as stated in the introduction, and the client on the phone clearly has a Linux problem. However, Black Hat is intentionally giving irrelevant instructions that refer to the Windows OS (Start Menu, My Documents Folder).
Finally, Black Hat asks the client on the phone to "bear with him" and suggests that the client should use a highly obsolete mechanism to look for the answer to his problem, namely AOL keywords. AOL is well known for producing one of the earlier online communities and has since fallen largely out of favor. The client hangs up the phone.
The title text mentions the function select() , which allows you to write asynchronous IO access routines by checking if it is ready to be read/written to at a specific moment. This is different than a threaded model, in that it can happen in a single thread. The danger of such programming is that if you do not coordinate the reader/writer properly, you can create a deadlock, which can result in the consumption of a lot of resources.
[Black Hat is sitting at his computer, wearing a phone headset.] Black Hat: Thank you for calling the Black Hat Support Line, your first source for Linux support. How may I assist? Phone: Hi. I'm running an Apache server, and the load keeps climbing out of control. Black Hat: Okay. First, click on the Start Menu. Phone: I'm sorry, this is the Linux helpline, right? Black Hat: Of course, sir. Black Hat: If you'll just open the "My Documents" folder- Phone: Just a damn minute. I think you're putting me on. Black Hat: Please bear with me, sir. Black Hat: Now, load up your AOL and go to the Keyword "Linux"- Phone: *click*


Pickup Lines

Explanation:
This comic adds strange twists to some classic abysmally cheesy pickup lines . Warning, terrible puns ahead:
Cueball is making a "your sister" joke. A different variation of this line is featured in 1069: Alphabet .
A Jetta is a car, and Cueball is implying that the father is an actual thief.
He adds the word "Screaming," to make the word "running" be literal instead of figurative.
This is yet another example of Beret Guy 's bartender job.
The title text refers to a pickup line like this: "That shirt looks good on you, but would look even better on my bedroom floor." But here the shirt is used as fuse for a Molotov cocktail thrown into their office.
[Cueball at a bar.] Cueball: If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put your sister and I together. Cueball: Is your father a thief? Because that's totally my Jetta you parked outside. Cueball: You must be tired, 'cause you've been running through my mind all night. Cueball: Screaming.


Librarians

Explanation:
Cueball is pressing on Megan for stopping her idea to visit her family. While Megan is fully convinced that this visit will happen, Cueball takes advantage of her love of books. He starts to open up a brand-new hardcover book much farther than it was made to open, ruining the spine, and then mistreats it some more. Megan cannot take this anymore, and gives up on the family visit.
The title text goes on with the inflexible stereotype, as librarians will not make exceptions for or give reductions to their romantic partners' overdue fees. Alternately, it could mean that a librarian who is faced with the abuse of books as a bargaining tool would take retribution by not making an exception for late fees for their partner, particularly if said partner is absent-minded or otherwise disorganized.
The humor comes from the stereotype of librarians as very sensitive to proper treatment of books and inflexibility with rule-breaking.
[Caption at the top:] Advantages to dating librarians.
[Megan and Cueball are standing together; Cueball is reaching inside a paper bag:] Megan: We're stopping in Baltimore to visit my family, and that's final. Cueball: Oh yeah?
[Cueball is upright and is holding a book.] Cueball: Hey, look, it's a new hardback book! Megan: You wouldn't.
[Cueball bends the book backwards.] Book: crinkle
[Cueball bends it back further.] Book: creak Megan: twitch
[Cueball bends the book back still further.] Book: crack Megan: OKAY! Megan: You win!


Online Package Tracking

Explanation:
Randall notes that package tracking, as provided by many shipping companies like UPS and FedEx Express , is helpful, as customers can see the status of their package delivery, and most people are very excited in the expectation of a package as shown in comic # 576 . However, Megan refreshes the package tracking page every few minutes in her impatience on the status of her package; it drives her crazy.
The headquarters of FedEx Express are located in Memphis, and it also serves as its global "SuperHub" located at Memphis International Airport .
The title text refers to the various " x of the month clubs" (fruit, cheese, wine, etc.) that one might have signed up for, only to receive a gift. But you are often not really interested in these gifts, and probably even less interested in receiving a stinging insect each month. This, combined with the ease by which a person can track the package, creates a strange dichotomy whereby you don't really want the package, but you keep checking where it is just because you can.
Online Package Tracking: Pros: Convenient, Useful Cons: Makes you crazy
[Megan is sitting at a computer.] *refresh* Megan: Aww, still in Memphis. *refresh* Megan: Aww, still in Memphis. *refresh* Megan: Aww, still in Memphis.


Organic Fuel

Explanation:
Cueball is fascinated about engines that can burn organic matter. But in fact, biofuel is a big industry today. It is criticized now and then, because it can affect food prices and is believed to exacerbate world hunger.
Next comes a reference to the famous quote, "Mussolini made the trains run on time," an oft-quoted piece of propaganda from Italy under Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini . The pun is made on the fact that thyme (an herb, or as in this comic, a spice) and time (the universal phenomenon, as in the original quote) are homophones . But the organic matter thyme could technically be used as fuel.
The title text may be interpreted in one of two ways. It may be attributed to the pun-maker, in which case he makes no apology for his corny joke, or it may be attributed to Cueball, in which case he makes no apology for the termination of friendship, since the pun was too terrible.
Randall later made another joke on the fact that thyme and time are homophones: 1123: The Universal Label .
[Cueball at a computer and a friend standing nearby.] Cueball: Wow – Engines can burn vegetable oil. Friend: Well, sure. You can burn most any organic matter. Corns, leaves, spices... Cueball: Spices? Really? Friend: Sure – Mussolini made the trains run on thyme. Cueball: ... Cueball: We are no longer friends.


Projection

Explanation:
Cueball and Megan are watching a movie on a couch. During the movie, a scene features a character's face with legible text projected by the monitor. Though commonly depicted for dramatic effect, this phenomenon does not actually occur with conventional monitor technology. Megan is annoyed and agitated by the inaccuracy of the effect. Cueball agrees and delves more into the optical underpinnings of projected images, but in the process segues into a romantic memory of the two of them in a parked car in the rain.
At that point, the two lose interest in the movie and begin making preparations to drive to the nearest rainstorm for another romantic evening experience.
This was the second time in four months that Randall mentions Pet Peeves . The first was 238: Pet Peeve 114 . The next, 1138: Heatmap , did not appear until more than five years later.
[Cueball and Megan are seated on a couch, watching TV.] Megan: Argh, movie pet peeve- Someone sitting at a computer in the dark with the screen projected on their face. Monitors don't work like that!
[Cueball and Megan face each other on the couch.] Cueball: Right - that only happens if you're in the way of a projected image. Like when we're sitting together in a parked car in the rain and the mottled light through the raindrops on the windshield makes shifting shadows on your skin...
[Beat panel.]
[Megan stands up, Cueball uses a laptop on table behind the couch.] Megan: ...I wasn't really into the movie anyway. Cueball: The nearest rainstorm's about 60 miles away. Megan: We'll drive fast. Cueball: I'll grab some snacks.


Tape Measure

Explanation:
Cueball acts like a small boy, finding a tape measure and then playing with it. He then extends it to 8 feet (approx. 2.5 meters), wondering whether or not that was a record, which makes him imagine a sport where extending the tape measure as far as possible was the goal. (Tape measure strips are bent upward lengthwise to support itself when oriented correctly, much like how one can better hold a sheet of paper horizontally by creating a slight dip. However, as a tape measure is extended, the weight of the strip eventually overcomes the support offered by the bend, causing it to collapse. Skillfully holding the tape measure at an angle can redirect some of the weight load and allow for a longer total extension; it is implied that this technique can be explored to the point of becoming its own sport.)
The title text refers to a future where this sport exists, and this comic is a representation of the origin of this sport.
[Cueball finds a tape measure.] Cueball: Hey, a tape measure.
[Cueball extends the tape measure.] extend extend
[The tape measure falls.] clatter
[Cueball tries again.] click schwoop
extend extend
extend
Cueball (thinking): Ooh, eight feet. I wonder if that's a record.
[Cueball imagines an olympic stadium, with three people extending tape measures] Audience: Gooo! Goooo! Gooooooo!


Wikipedian Protester

Explanation:
Cueball holds up a sign reading "[ Citation needed ]" during a political speech. The sign text is based on the Wikipedia template that can be placed next to statements that need citations, (that look like this [ citation needed ] ) usually because of questionable validity. Cueball is using this template to challenge the politician's speech, as political speakers often throw out claims that are not real.
The title text below the comic, “Semi-protect the constitution”, represents an alternative sign the protester could be holding. It is a pun on an occasionally-heard phrase “protect the Constitution,” which urges politicians to pass and enforce laws in a way that preserves the rules and rights set down by the U.S. constitution . “semi-protect” references semi-protection , a protection measure applied to some articles on Wikipedia, which protects some articles from being edited anonymously. More specifically, it does not allow articles to be edited by people who have been on the wiki for less than 4 days or made less than 10 edits unless an administrator or event coordinator manually confirms them earlier. Semi-protection on an article is shown by displaying this lock on the top right of an article. Constitutional amendments cannot usually be proposed anonymously. [1] [2] , meaning that in effect, all articles of the Constitution are semi-protected.
[A man with dark flat hair is standing at a podium. He is speaking to a crowd while standing behind a lectern. The lectern has a microphone on the top and sports an American flag in color on the side. He holds an arm on the lectern and the other arm is held up in front of him with a finger pointing upwards. There are four red stars on the side of the podium below him and behind him something that could be high curtains. There is an empty gap between the podium and the first people in the crowd followed by a stick with a red top, that indicates a fence to keep the crowd at a distance from the podium. After the fence there is a large crowd of people listening, most of them only partly drawn, only a few has hair. Three signs can be seen above the heads of the crowd, but they are all empty white signs. Except in the middle of the crowd, where Cueball has been raised above the rest of the crowd. He is holding a large sign up over his head in both hands. The sign has a blue text in black square brackets:] [ Citation needed ]


All Your Base

Explanation:
The comic refers to a popular internet phenomenon ( meme ) called " all your base are belong to us ." This catchphrase originated from the arcade shooter game " Zero Wing " and is a popular example of a poor translation into the English language. The phrase was popularized throughout the Internet and referenced in various images and videos. It is considered one of the earliest Internet memes, with the first occurrences dating back to the year 1998.
Cueball has, according to the comic, participated in the spread of the meme during its heyday. Ponytail , examining Cueball's root directory, wonders at his keeping the content he created years ago, as the meme's popularity has decreased massively since then. Cueball answers that this was always his favorite meme, and that he is waiting for the day it gets revived. His second-to-last line, "What you say !! ," is a line from the game as well, although he says it much sooner than its supposed return to popularity.
By using the example of internet memes, the comic also relates to the general principle of fashion , that everything once popular will, after a long enough time, be again in vogue. Trends experiencing this renaissance are often referred to as retro . Internet phenomena can be observed to follow the same rule, although with much shorter intervals due to the speed of information turnover.
The title text prophesies the return of the "all your base" (AYB) meme in 2021 (similar-sounding to "AD 2101," the date mentioned at the beginning of the game). It also contains a pun on the term " zero hour " and the name of the game, which initially brought the phrase into fashion.
The title text's prediction may have been recently fulfilled by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez .
[A section of a Linux terminal window is shown.] Text from window:
[Ponytail is at a computer.] Ponytail: What's with the All Your Base stuff? Didn't that die like five years ago? [From off-panel]: Yes.
[Cueball enters the panel.] Cueball: It was my first internet meme, and my favorite. Others tired of it, but I never did. Cueball: So I wait.
[Cueball raises his fists.] Cueball: Someday, decades from now, people will have forgotten. It will be fresh again. Cueball: Retro. Cueball: And when that day comes,
Cueball: I WILL BE READY! Ponytail: You need a hobby or something. Cueball: What you say!! Cueball: Wait, too soon.


NP-Complete

Explanation:
Another entry in the " My Hobby " series of comics. Cueball is embedding NP-complete problems in restaurant orders. Specifically, he is ordering appetizers not by explicitly stating the names, but by the total price of them all. This is a simplified example of the knapsack problem . This is a problem in combinatorial optimization, as follows: If you have a knapsack (backpack or rucksack) that can hold a specific amount of weight, and you have a set of items, each with its own assigned value and weight, you have to select items to put into the knapsack so that the weight does not exceed the capacity of the knapsack, and the combined value of all the items is maximized.
In computational complexity theory , NP stands for "nondeterministic polynomial time," which means that problems that are NP take polynomial running time (i.e. the time a CPU would take to run the program would be polynomial in the input size) to verify a solution, but it is unknown whether finding any or all solutions can be done in polynomial time. Polynomial time is considered efficient; exponential and higher times are considered unfeasible for computation. NP-complete problems are ones that, if a polynomial time algorithm is found for any of them, then all NP problems have polynomial time solutions. In short, particular guesses in NP-complete problems can be checked easily, but systematically finding solutions is far more difficult.
The waiter's problem is NP-complete, since a given order's price can be found and checked quickly, but finding an order to match a price is much harder. This causes the order to effectively be an application layer denial-of-service attack / algorithmic complexity attack on the waiter, similar to Slowloris or ReDoS . (Formal proofs of the NP-completeness of the knapsack problem can be found at the above link.) The most straightforward way for a human to find a solution is to methodically start by first listing all the (6) ways of choosing one appetizer, and their total costs, then list all the (21) ways of choosing two appetizers (allowing repeats), and then list all the (56) ways of choosing three appetizers, and so forth. As any combination of eight appetizers would be more than $15.05, the process need not extend beyond listing all the (1715) ways of choosing seven appetizers.
Another famous NP-complete problem is the travelling salesman problem , mentioned by Cueball at the end, referring to the waiter's claim that he has 6 more tables to get to. (see also 399: Travelling Salesman Problem ).
The title text refers to the fact that NP-complete problems have no known polynomial time general solutions, and it is unknown if such a solution can ever be found. If the waiter can find an efficient general solution to this, he will have solved one of the most famous problems in mathematics. This problem is one of the six remaining unsolved Millennium Prize Problems stated by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000, for which a correct solution (including proving that such a solution doesn't exist) is worth US$1,000,000. A 50% tip is slightly less than fair.
For those curious, there are exactly two combinations of appetizers that total $15.05 and solve the problem posed in the comic strip:
My Hobby: Embedding NP-Complete problems in restaurant orders [A menu is shown.] Chotchkies Restaurant Appetizers Mixed Fruit 2.15 French Fries 2.75 Side Salad 3.35 Hot Wings 3.55 Mozzarella Sticks 4.20 Sampler Plate 5.80 Sandwiches Barbecue 6.55 [Megan, another person, and Cueball are sitting at a table. Cueball is holding the menu as well as a thick book and is ordering from a waiter. Megan is facepalming.] Cueball: We'd like exactly $15.05 worth of appetizers, please. Waiter: ...Exactly? Uhh... Cueball: Here, these papers on the knapsack problem might help you out. Waiter: Listen, I have six other tables to get to— Cueball: —As fast as possible, of course. Want something on traveling salesman?


Elevator

Explanation:
Cueball is in an elevator, and notices that, beneath the certificate of Elevator Inspection , mandatory in all U.S. elevators at least, there are buttons for Floor 1, 2, 3, and 4, and then a mysterious unlabeled button. Possible logical conclusions he might have made include (1) there is a fifth floor reachable by pushing the bottom button which for some reason is not labeled; or (2) the button has some other function, a common one is to stop the elevator wherever it may be; or (3) the panel with the buttons is from a template used for various elevators with up to five floors, and as this particular elevator only goes to four floors, the bottom button is unlabeled, and nothing will happen if he pushes it.
He has, however, chosen to believe in a different explanation: the fifth button is not currently assigned, but giving it a label will assign it to whatever floor or other function he can give it. The possibilities are truly endless. And so, the intrepid Cueball writes "Zeppelin!" on a slip of paper and tapes it next to the unassigned button, thereby assigning it to move the elevator not to Floor 5, but to a Zeppelin . And it works – the elevator opens aboard a Zeppelin floating in the air, high above a land with many lakes, perhaps Nunavut or other Northern Canadian tundra.
The title text is most likely a reference to the Aerosmith song "Love in an Elevator," which really is about sex in an elevator. However, it would also be great if one could reach the elevation of love by getting there in a magic elevator.
[Elevator panel, with a Certificate of Inspection and five floor buttons, numbered 1–4. The fifth button is unlabeled.] [Cueball thinks.] [Cueball writes something on a small piece of paper.] Write Write [Cueball tapes it onto the panel.] [Elevator panel, with the same Certificate and buttons, and with the piece of paper labeling the fifth button "Zeppelin!"] [Cueball presses the new "Zeppelin!" button.] [Elevator moves.] Elevator: Ding [Cueball is looking out the door of a Zeppelin. The Zeppelin is flying over a green landscape with many lakes.]


Alone

Explanation:
Cueball is making love with Megan but, like many highly introverted people, his attention is split between his inner and outer worlds. Part of his mind is counting her touches, and another part is wondering why his brain does these things, automatically and without his wanting it to. This worries him, and he feels guilty because he isn't giving her his undivided attention, which he believes she deserves.
As he unwillingly counts her touches, he recognizes the Fibonacci sequence . This recognition shocks him: it's like she knows what is going on in his head, and she sends him this signal to tell him that it's okay and that she understands. Awestruck, Cueball is reassured and glories in her love.
The title text makes it clear that he is able to stop worrying about the counting and that he is able to let it continue just in the background. It doesn't stop, but it isn't nearly that important or salient as the touching done by Megan.
[Megan crawling on bed toward Cueball.] Cueball: It's not something you can turn off. [Cueball pulling Megan, bedspread, and pillow off of bed onto floor.] Cueball: A part of me is always detached. Abstracting, looking at numbers and patterns. [Megan on top of Cueball, both under bedspread, on floor. Megan looks to be 'touching' Cueball.] Cueball: When we should be closest, part of me is still so alone. Counting the touches of her fingertips. Touch. Touch. Touch touch. Touch touch touch. Touch touch touch touch touch. [Same scene as third panel.] Cueball: Wait. Is that... That's the Fibonacci sequence! Whatever I did to deserve you, it couldn't have been enough.


Fucking Blue Shells

Explanation:
Sometimes, something suddenly goes wrong, and you can only shout obscenities at it. For instance, when the dog bites, when the bee stings, something unexpected happens, or a program crashes (e.g. a segfault ), the victim often reacts by swearing.
For Randall , however, profanities are caused mostly by blue shells in the video game Mario Kart . The blue shells, when fired, target the player currently in first place and stop them cold. In a close game near the end of the race, a player can go from first to an unrecoverable last in one hit.
The title text refers to the " Double Dash " installment of Mario Kart. This includes a technique to avoid being hit by a blue shell, but it requires skillful timing to accomplish.  The term " deep magic " comes from computer programmer slang. Interestingly, with a boost mushroom in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 8 (and the so-called "Super-Horn" in the latter), it is also possible (with accurate timing) to escape blue shells.
My Profanity Usage By Cause: [A pie chart is shown.] [Injury is about 2.5% of pie chart.] [Irony is about 2.5% of pie chart.] [Misc is about 2.5% of pie chart.] [Segfaults is about 10% of pie chart.] [Mario Kart is about 82.5% of pie chart.]


Dignified

Explanation:
Beret Guy is hanging upside down in a tree, usually something you might have done in your childhood. As an adult, it is not considered very dignified. Most likely, White Hat made a comment on this and the fact that Beret Guy has his head down. But then, Beret Guy gives him an answer, regarding where White Hat's head once came through and asks him why he is still acting so dignified .
Here, Beret Guy is referring to the process of childbirth . Put in the way he mentions said process, the fact that White Hat came into this world in such a fashion would be very humiliating.
In the title text, White Hat replies that he does not know, but then continues to ask why Beret Guy's beret stays on his head, even when upside down (in which gravity would tend to make a beret fall off). Beret Guy explains that he has stapled the beret onto his head.
Such a process is similar to that of closing a wound after major head surgery, using surgical staples . Normally, the stapling of the head would be conducted with anesthetic and removed after the incision has healed, and only an insane person would do this to himself.
Doing this the way Beret Guy did it would be very, very, painful, and likely a bad idea. [ citation needed ]
Beret Guy is never seen without his hat (although it has been hidden under a green helmet once in 769: War ). And later in 478: The Staple Madness , it turns out that he likes to staple anything to everything, so maybe he also stapled his hat to his head. The staple madness comic may very well be a sequel to this comic 262: IN UR REALITY , where Black Hat implied that he had stapled stuff to cats in the title text.
In the teaser trailer of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Indy staples a hat to his head (or at least pretends to) to prevent it from blowing off, a similar situation to the one Beret Guy is in here.
[Beret Guy swinging upside-down from a tree branch talking to White Hat walking by.] Beret Guy: You were once shoved headfirst through someone's vagina. Why are you acting so dignified?


goto

Explanation:
Goto is a construct found in many computer languages that causes control flow to go from one place in a program to another, without returning. Once common in computer programming, its popularity diminished in the 1960s and 1970s as focus on structured programming became the norm. Edsger W. Dijkstra 's article "Go To Statement Considered Harmful" in particular contributed to the decline of goto.
Often, people learning programming are told that goto is bad and should be avoided, but frequently, they are not given a good reason. Cueball , as one of these people, sees no harm in using goto to avoid rewriting much of his program, most likely written in the C programming language. As a result, he is attacked by a velociraptor . Velociraptor attacks are a running joke (and fear) often expressed in xkcd .
The name main_sub3 of the goto destination also shows bad programming style: it is an unmeaningful name suggesting that at least two similarly unmeaningful names are used for other goto marks and it is contradictory in that a chunk of code can either belong to the main program or to a subroutine, but not both.
The title text refers to Neal Stephenson , an author of cyberpunk novels. A label is used in many programming languages to refer to a point in a program that a goto instruction can jump to. The joke is that one of Stephenson's characters in Cryptonomicon is named Goto Dengo. When said out loud, "Dengo" sounds like "Then go."
[Sideways view of Cueball sitting at computer, thinking.] Cueball: I could restructure the program's flow - or use one little 'GOTO' instead. Cueball: Eh, screw good practice. How bad can it be? Text on computer: goto main_sub3; *Compile* [We now have a view from behind Cueball. Cueball looks at the computer.] [A raptor jumps into the panel, pushing Cueball off his chair.]


RTFM

Explanation:
The title RTFM is an acronym for " read the fucking manual ," which frustrated software manufacturers tell users when confronted with a simple question (most likely answered in the manual).
However, Cueball encounters a similar situation with a 911 call (the emergency number in the US), in which the first question the 911 dispatcher asks is if Cueball has read the toaster's man page (man pages are the 'manual' for unix systems, but only describe commands and library functions, not hardware). Even if a man page existed, it is unreasonable to require the user of a toaster to read the manual simply to avoid being stabbed in the face. [ citation needed ] The 911 dispatcher decides that as Cueball has not read the man page, he is not entitled to medical assistance, and so hangs up.
The title text refers to the popular phrase "Life's too short," which asserts that because we only have a limited amount of time on Earth, and that time can pass by quickly, we should make the most of it. That could mean, for example, don't spend time reading the documentation unless you actually experience a problem. The second part suggests that some people actually die because they didn't RTFM!
[Cueball with a knife sticking out of his heavily bleeding face stands in front of a toaster on a counter, which has an arm extending from the top of it. He is holding a telephone to his ear.] Cueball: Hello, 911? I just tried to toast some bread, and the toaster grew an arm and stabbed me in the face! 911: Did you read the toaster's man page first? Cueball: Well, no, but all I wanted was-- 911: click


Bookstore

Explanation:
Cueball starts reading a book off the shelf as he considers buying it, but gets so engrossed in it that he accidentally reads the entire thing, eliminating his reason for buying it in the first place. He quietly puts it back and turns to leave the store, only to have the book (which exists in his brain as information) set off the store's anti-theft sensor. This is a satire of copyright as it pertains to digital copies, because when you download a game or music file (or read a book, in this case), you are merely making an identical copy of the source material.
The title text suggests that if the security guard wants to do a brain search, he might want to skip over all the presumably sexual encounters Cueball has had with the security guard's mom, thus inducing a 'yo mama' joke.
[Cueball is standing in a bookstore, looking at a book.] Cueball [thinking]: This book looks interesting. Maybe I'll buy it.
[Cueball reads the book; a clock appears above.]
Cueball [thinking]: Oops, I read the whole thing. Cueball [thinking]: I'll just quietly put it back and go.
[Cueball walks through a security scanner to exit the bookstore.] BEEP BEEP BEEP
Voice from off-frame: Hey! Your brain set off the sensor! Cueball: I, uhh... Voice from off-frame: You have a book in there, don't you! Cueball: Crap.


DNE

Explanation:
DNE stands for "do not erase," and is commonly used on school whiteboards to let the sanitation staff and other teachers know not to erase that particular area of the board. DNE circles often encompass important information such as test dates or the teacher's name.
It is easy to see how leaving things marked with DNE can become automatic for anyone often erasing boards, so that they don't notice what the message actually says, or reflect on whether the DNE-marking is reasonable for it. Cueball 's dissatisfactory note is not very subtle, but Randall notes in the title text that advertisers have successfully used the same tactic for less conspicuous URLs to their sites. He also kindly asks you to replace those messages with xkcd.com to get some free advertising.
On the bottom half of the board is a crossed out 2x2 matrix and two functions for exponential decay .
[Cueball is in an empty classroom writing on the whiteboard. In the top right corner in large print is written "Fuck This Place!". It is circled, and underneath he is writing "DNE".]


Tony Hawk

Explanation:
Cueball is seen using a hand-held game system, while on a skateboard. He is playing one of the many Tony Hawk titles in which you control a skater and perform tricks to gain points and achievements. While playing the game, he wants to simultaneously perform the trick in real life, both because it is exceptionally difficult to do both and because the game will give him praise when he does a trick successfully.
In the title text, Randall describes his Bad Idea #271: Dropping into the half-pipe on a Segway .
One imagines this would result in the Segway becoming unstable and going completely crazy, hence one would classify it as a "bad idea."
Which is surprisingly not the case; it even looks quite fun .
The Segway engineers obviously foresaw this situation and implemented the Segway controller with its tilt sensors accordingly.
My Hobby: Doing skateboard tricks in Tony Hawk while also doing them in real life. [Cueball moves towards a quarter pipe on his skateboard while manipulating his PSP.] Beep Click Beep
[Cueball is in mid air having performed a Frontside 360°, both literally and on the PSP.] ♪ Frontside 360°! ♫ Frontside 360°!


Lisp Cycles

Explanation:
Lisp is one of the oldest high level programming languages . Despite being significantly ahead of its time, it never got enough traction outside of academia, and has never been widely used. However, it is considered to be a very powerful language even in the present day. Quotations regarding Lisp show that several big names in computer science and the tech industry hold Lisp in very high esteem. Eric S. Raymond goes as far as to say
Lisp is also famous for its use of fully parenthesized Polish prefix notation . As a result, Lisp programs take the form of enormous nested lists bounded by parentheses, and it is not uncommon to see the source code of a large Lisp program close off with an equally enormous stack of close-parens, representing the simultaneous termination of dozens of recursively and hierarchically nested functional and procedural structures.
In the first panel, Cueball praises Lisp, observing that no other language can match the awe that it still strikes despite its significant seniority.
In the second panel, Cueball proposes that new programmers might continue to learn Lisp forever; despite the language's lack of widespread adoption, a small cadre of hackers will always exist who keep the language alive.
The third panel references Star Wars . The "old wizard" Obi-Wan Kenobi, who remembers the culture and sophistication of the Old Republic ("Before the dark times. Before the Empire.") and lives as a hermit in the desert at the beginning of the film spoke these lines when passing on a lightsaber to Luke Skywalker:
The title text is also a reference to Star Wars lines:
The MIT mentioned in the title text is, of course, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an institution fundamental to the development of Lisp (and Scheme, which is a dialect of Lisp). For about 20 years, MIT taught Scheme in its introductory computer science course, 6.001 — Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (that course has since been replaced with a course teaching Python).
[Cueball is sitting at a computer, and Megan is standing behind the desk.] Cueball: Lisp is over half a century old and it still has this perfect, timeless air about it. Cueball: I wonder if the cycles will continue forever. A few coders from each new generation rediscovering the Lisp arts.
[Man in Jedi robes carrying a towering stack of parentheses in his arms, speaking to Hairy.] Jedi: These are your father's parentheses. Elegant weapons. For a more... civilized age.


Tesla Coil

Explanation:
Cueball diligently creates a Tesla coil , a device that produces high voltage alternating currents.
After that show by Cueball, Black Hat magically shoots electricity from his fingertips. When Cueball asks how he did that, he says that science doesn't really work, then hovers in mid-air, further proving his point. There is simply no apparent explanation for Black Hat's abilities, which means science is still woefully incomplete or, as Black Hat said, simply doesn't work.
The title text indicates that this was all actually a dream, explaining Black Hat's abilities and pointing out how dreams can be difficult for scientists as they will attempt to analyse and understand everything in the dream according to the laws of science, which wouldn't apply in dreams.
[Cueball and Black Hat stand near a tesla coil mounted on a table.] Cueball: I finally finished my Tesla Coil!
[The room is dark; the characters appear as faint blue outlines on black background. Cueball turns on the Tesla Coil and it sparks white static electricity.] click Black Hat: Cool, but—
[Lightning shoots out of Black Hat's hands, Cueball appears to be in shock  and awe.] Black Hat: Check this out!
[The lights are back on, Cueball's arms are raised in amazement.] Cueball: How did you do that? Black Hat: The world doesn't actually make any sense. Science doesn't work. No one told you because you're so cute when you get into something.
[Black Hat floats up the frame, and Cueball is pointing towards Black Hat.] Black Hat: Still, neat toy. Cueball: Now you're hovering! Black Hat: I guess you're still not getting this.


Aeris Dies

Explanation:
From the looks of this comic, there is a friend here who had a loved one (named 'Maggie') who died. Maggie is likely a spouse or girlfriend, but could also be a mother or another significant relation. Cueball tries to help him by comparing his plight to a significant plot point in the popular game Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 1 in 1997, the plot point being the permanent death of Aerith Gainsborough (originally translated as "Aeris"), the last of a race called 'the Ancients' and a potential love interest of the main character of the game. Although technically being a spoiler due to its significance and dissonance to the plot, Aerith's death became one of the most iconic video game scenes of all time, leading to its referencing and even parodies throughout the game community (some even depicting her revenge on Sephiroth , the main antagonist of the game and her murderer).
The word 'permanent' was not meant for redundancy in the last paragraph; the developers wanted to symbolize how death is unexpected, leaving you with an empty feeling, filled only by regret. Therefore, when they received word about how much people wanted Aerith to be brought back to life, they felt that they succeeded with evoking the right feelings with her death. Even so, due to all the significance her death brought, the developers refused to officially resuscitate her.
That did not stop other people from modifying the game in order to unofficially resuscitate her, though.
Cueball feels really troubled that his friend would take such a course of action (especially with a fictional character, admittedly) instead of dealing with her death. His friend takes this to more disturbing levels, wanting to 'mod' Cueball with Maggie's clothes, turning Cueball into a 'substitute Maggie.'
The title text references The Sims , a series of life simulation games where you can create virtual people (the aforementioned Sims), set their appearances, and essentially mess around with their lives. Cueball notes that his friend already attempted to 'recreate' Maggie and him (repeatedly at that) using the simulation abilities in the games of his The Sims series.
[Two men are talking. The second man is sitting on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest.] Cueball: Maggie's gone. You can't bring her back. Friend: But I have to, she's a part of my life. Cueball: *sigh* Cueball: Okay, let me put this in your terms. Cueball: Remember when Aeris died in FFVII? It was sad, but you had to keep playing . Friend: Actually, I downloaded a mod to add her back to my party. It changed other character's appearances and dialogue to hers so you didn't have to lose her. Friend: Lots of gamers did it. [Cueball puts his hand on his chin.] Cueball: That is troubling on several levels. Friend: I wonder if Maggie's old dresses would fit you.


Facebook

Explanation:
This comic approaches how Social networks have changed the ways of human interaction. With everyone placing their personal interests on their Facebook profile pages, it has become fairly easy to gather a lot of information about people. In the comic, Cueball uses this information to his advantage: He ascertained Megan's musical preferences beforehand in order to create the illusion of their sharing mutual interests. Megan is led to believe that he is like-minded , thus making it easier for Cueball to persuade her into having sex with him. Here the comic takes at the fact that many people use Facebook as a hunting ground for sexual contacts.
Apparently, Megan did not only mention her favorite bands in her profile, but also her preferred sex position . This can be read as a sideswipe at what intimate details some people are willing to share on the internet. Although mentioning sexual preferences is hyperbolic here.
Megan's taste in both fields can be regarded as outside the mainstream. Regina Spektor and The Polyphonic Spree are representatives of the indie pop genre. The Wheelbarrow ( NSFW ) features the man standing behind the woman and holding her legs, while she props up in a wheelbarrow-like position. The retrograde variant has the woman facing upwards. Unusual sex positions are also mentioned in comics 414: Mistranslations and 487: Numerical Sex Positions .
The title text suggests that Cueball did not stop at reading Megan's interests on her Facebook profile, but also obtained her phone number and placed it in his phone. It is implied that some of the "mildly sleazy" uses of Facebook can border on the verge of stalking . When Megan discovers the number, she may realise this and stay clear of Cueball...
Mildly sleazy uses of Facebook, part 14: Looking up someone's profile before introducing yourself so you know which of your favorite bands to mention Cueball: Favorite bands? Hmm... Cueball: Maybe Regina Spektor or the Polyphonic Spree. Megan: Whoa, those are two of my favorites, too! Megan: Clearly, we should have sex. Cueball: Okay! My favorite position is the retrograde wheelbarrow. [Megan raises arms.] Megan: Ohmygod, mine too!


Limerick

Explanation:
A limerick is a well-known type of poem that is usually humorous or bawdy. Technically, a limerick is primarily anapestic trimeter : each line contains three "feet," each foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. The rhyme scheme is AABBA: the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme, as do the shorter third and fourth lines. Almost anyone can instantly recognize a limerick after hearing the first line.
Slashdot is a venerable techie site. On many sites, the user base can vote comments "up" or "down," but at Slashdot, only moderators (these are randomly drawn from the pool of registered users) may up or down vote comments, and the moderator may select a reason for their up or down vote. Instead of a simple +1, a comment may be voted +1 (Funny). Similarly, instead of -1, a comment may be voted -1 (Off-topic). +5 is the maximum positive score. A comment rated +5 (Insightful) has been upvoted at least 5 times, and has a plurality of "Insightful" votes.
Cueball 's limerick says that he does not like Slashdot anymore, because his sarcastic comments are being treated as "insightful" by the very people he's being sarcastic to.
The title text refers to the notoriously awful comments on YouTube, many of which are so idiotic that they're interpreted as jokes.
In both cases, Randall is invoking Poe's Law . Both sites have become so full of extremes that you can no longer mock the extremists without looking like a sincere extremist yourself.
301, the number of this comic, is also a number often associated with YouTube. At the time this comic was published, view counts on YouTube videos would often freeze at 301, as YouTube would switch between view-counting algorithms when the number of views exceeded 300. Therefore, the comic number itself may be a reference to the title text.
[Cueball sits at a computer, typing.] Cueball (typing): I used to find slashdot delightful, Cueball (typing): but my feelings of late are more spiteful; Cueball (typing): my comments sarcastic Cueball (typing): the iconoclastic Cueball (typing): keep modding to plus five (Insightful).


Names

Explanation:
Everyone has had moments where they forget someone's name, even the name of someone pretty important. This doesn't often happen with one's own significant other, however, hence the joke.
Cueball has been in a relationship with someone but does not know his girlfriend's name. He knows that the relationship has progressed to the point where asking for her name would be awkward and impolite, and so he waits for someone to call her by name. Cueball is excited when one finally does, only to reveal that they are in the middle of a wedding ceremony. It is hard to be in a relationship with someone if you don't know their name, and for said relationship to progress to the point of a wedding is simply incredulous. [ citation needed ]
It's sometimes tricky to say the right things during an introduction, and while making sure you don't make an incorrect response (replying to the question "How're you doing?" with "Not much," for example, mishearing the question as "What are you doing?"), one can sometimes forget to pay attention to the actual important part of the introduction: the person's name. And it's awkward to ask someone for their name when you should, by all rights, already know it.
Forgetting people's names is a frequent symptom of various social anxiety disorders, but it can happen to anybody at any time.
Cueball (thinking): I hate it when I don't know someone's name, but it's been long enough that it's too awkward to ask. [The scene is revealed to be at the altar getting married by a minister to a woman in a bridal dress.] Minister: Do you Rachel, take this man... Cueball (thinking): Aha! Rachel!


Compiling

Explanation:
Computer programming involves writing instructions for a computer to follow, in a specific programming language , which is largely human readable and writable, at least to programmers who understand that language.  However, for the computers to follow instructions, they need to be given machine code — the actual "language" that computers "speak" and one that can be written directly with the correct tools, but would be too tedious and error-prone for just about any practical modern project where alternatives exist, where anything more than a Hello World could be awkward to implement straight into machine-code.
Conversion from the more conveniently human-writable code into computer-executable files is performed by assemblers , interpreters , or compilers .
Programs can be written in assembly code , which is basically just a set of mnemonics that make machine code much easier for a human to remember and correctly parse; the human-written assembly code is then run through a simple assembler to convert it directly into machine code.  Assembly coding is necessary whenever one is programming for a completely new architecture (one for which no other tools yet exist), and is still used in some other situations (as it allows the code to be optimized more closely for the system on which it is to run than is possible with other types of coding), but is still fairly tedious and error-prone, and assembly code needs to be completely rewritten if one wants to port it to a computer with a different architecture.
Interpreters (e.g. that for PHP for one example) generally read through the code, or script, each line at a time as and when required, and has to do a lot of work with various processing overheads and the risk of hitting an invalid instruction or mistake in syntax that it can't handle.  It also requires that a relevant version of the interpreter exist on any machine that has to run the script and perhaps some additional knowledge by the end-user.
For widely distributed (and especially commercial) programs, some form of compilation will instead be used.  Compiling may have just one computer system read through the man-written code and (barring errors) produces the equivalent stand-alone and direct machine-readable code, suitable for a given range of computers.  This process might involve several passes to check for 'obvious' errors in the code, as well as converting some programming concepts that are easiest for humans to understand into equivalent concepts that may be far easier for the computer to work with.
As such, compiling takes a certain amount of time at the time of production. Normally, this takes a few seconds, but, depending on the size of the project and the power of the computer doing the compilation, the time required to compile a program may measure in minutes, or even hours. As of 2015, the Linux Kernel contains over 19 million lines of code, arguably a massive job for any compiler, but if done correctly, it saves time for all the people who will ultimately be using its output.
Thus, when Cueball is caught wasting time at work, he argues that such activities are not worse than any other possible ones, at this moment.  If his job is writing code and compiling it, then there may be nothing else that he can do right now.  He cannot usefully tweak the code before it finishes compiling and the expected result checked.
The title text takes this a step further.  Cueball claims that all activities are equally benign while the code is compiling — and that includes committing illegal acts, such as stealing LCDs .
Nine years after this comic was released, Randall made a comic called 1755: Old Days about how compiling worked in the old days. It was Cueball who asked. The next comic after that, 1756: I'm With Her , was released the Monday before the 2016 United States presidential election . And in that comic, a Cueball with a sword on an office chair like in this comic is featured. Seems realistic that Randall had that politically loaded comic ready for some time, and when finding and deciding to use this old version of Cueball, he may have gotten inspired by the compiling theme to make Old Days.
The #1 Programmer Excuse for Legitimately Slacking Off: "My code's compiling." [Two programmers are sword-fighting on office chairs in a hallway. An unseen manager calls them back to work through an open office door.] Manager: Hey! Get back to work! Cueball: Compiling! Manager: Oh. Carry on.


Nighttime Stories

Explanation:
Cueball observes Megan walking around at midnight, reading a book that he can't see. Curious, he leaves his apartment to ask her what she is reading. It is revealed as Orson Scott Card 's Xenocide , the third book in the Ender's Game series following Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead (and since followed by several other books). Ender's Game has been covered in other xkcd comics like 241: Battle Room and 635: Locke and Demosthenes , which cover events in the first book.
Xenocide is regarded by fans as one of the weakest books in the series, while Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead received extreme positive praise. When he discovers that she likes Xenocide more than the other two books, he instantly withdraws to his apartment, his opinion of her shattered. So far as Cueball is concerned, Xenocide is so clearly inferior that he could not be with anyone who 'wrongly' considers it to be the best of the series. This pokes fun at people like Cueball who have such strong opinions on books like Ender's Game that they could never get along with anyone who disagreed.
The title text pokes further fun at Xenocide by saying that there are only seven people in the world who would defend it, a laughably small number.
[Cueball sitting in an armchair in a darkened room, with a bookshelf and an open window. Megan is seen outside reading a book by a glow.] For a few weeks now, sometime past midnight, a girl has wandered past my apartment reading by flashlight.
[Outside, Megan walking down the street passing under a street lamp.] I wonder why she's up so late. Maybe she's restless Like me. I wonder what story she's wrapped up in.
I wonder if she lets anyone into that island of light.
[Cueball sitting in a dark room.]
[Cueball has left the room.]
[Cueball standing on his doorstep at the top of a small flight of stairs, near the bottom of which Megan has stopped, no longer reading.] Cueball: Hi! What are you reading? Megan: Orson Scott Card's 'Xenocide.' It's my favorite in the series!
Cueball: Wait, you like it more than Speaker for the Dead or Ender's Game? Megan: Yeah!
[Cueball has gone back in the house, leaving Megan standing alone.]
[Cueball is sitting in the chair again.] And to think I loved her.


Rule 34

Explanation:
Cueball is rather surprised to find slash fiction (same-sex erotic fiction featuring characters from popular media, often from unrelated series) featuring characters from the Thomas the Tank Engine television series, but Megan isn't remotely surprised, citing Rule 34 : "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions."
Cueball denies the truism of the rule, coming up with several examples of porn that doesn't exist yet, until he comes across one that they both agree would be pretty hot: Women playing electric guitar in the shower. Megan proceeds to get ahead of the curve by registering WetRiffs.com.
By doing this, Megan invoked Rule 35 , an additional rule based around rule 34. Rule 35 states: "If there is not porn of it, porn will be made of it."
In the title text, we can assume that the presenter in a spelling bee is asking a male participant with the name "Lance" to spell " throbbing ,"  a term sometimes used to describe the swelling of a person's genitals. The scene thus plays out like the start of a hypothetical homoerotic spelling bee that could contain rude words or innuendo.
Rule 34 is mentioned in the title text of 505: A Bunch of Rocks and 860: Never Do This .
Cueball: Huh-- Thomas the Tank Engine slash fiction. Megan: It's rule 34 of the internet. If you can imagine it, there is porn of it. Cueball: Nah. The web is freaky, but it can't begin to have everything. Cueball: There's no porn set atop storm-chasing vans. No homoerotic spelling bees. No women playing electric guitar in the shower. Megan: Actually, that last one would look pretty hot. As long as they were unplugged or waterproofed... Megan: Rivulets of water run down her chest, the smooth body of the guitar firm against her hips. Megan: She twangs the E-string and it shakes off tiny droplets in all directions. [She rises into a crouch.] Megan: You're sure it doesn't exist? Cueball: Not yet. Megan: I'm registering WetRiffs.com. Let's get on this.


Orphaned Projects

Explanation:
Debian is a GNU/Linux distribution (but also ships GNU Hurd and BSD versions). Red Hat is the company behind Fedora Linux and RHEL .
The comic is about orphaned Linux projects, because volunteer FOSS developers will often leave their projects aside whenever something of greater importance to them requires more time (like dating, relationships, tiredness, sickness, boredom, natural disasters, wild boar attacks, zombie apocalypses, robot uprisings, desire for snacks, etc.). Some companies/foundations, while not needing these developers, can greatly benefit from community-maintained projects. The Debian Team uses a phrase that is, intentionally or otherwise, similar to the famous Yoda quote from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in the first panel "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering," by replacing it with dating and orphaned projects.
Hitch is a romantic comedy in which Will Smith plays a "dating coach," who helps men to have successful dates with women. To avoid losing their developers (in this case, Cueball), the people at the "Debian HQ" have opted to hire Black Hat to give the developer intentionally bad dating advice, thus sabotaging his relationship before it could become distracting. Cueball is advised to "constructively criticize" his date in an attempt to appear more intelligent. This technique is very unlikely to work, but is nonetheless attempted by some men. It is unclear whether this is "negging" (See 1027: Pickup Artist ) or simply a demonstration of hubris, neither of which would be an attractive attribute in a potential long-term partner or mate. [ citation needed ]
In the title text, the woman is being similarly advised by a representative hired by Red Hat. She is advised to rent lots of romantic comedies, presumably to watch with her date. The prevailing stereotype is that young men strongly dislike films in that genre.
[Voices are coming from behind a door with a sign that reads "Debian Linux HQ."] First voice: Problem: One of the volunteer developers has a date this weekend. Dates lead to romance, romance leads to orphaned projects. Second voice: What's the plan? First voice: We're hiring him a relationship coach. He's like Will Smith in "Hitch," but he only gives bad advice. [Black Hat is talking to Cueball, who is standing in front of a mirror.] Black Hat: Okay, remember: The key to conversation is constructive criticism. Black Hat: You need to show you're smart enough to solve her problems. Cueball: Makes sense.


Excessive Quotation

Explanation:
Megan just wants to have a normal conversation about the moon, but Cueball replies with a quote from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope , wherein Obi-Wan Kenobi says: "That's no moon, that's a space station." Megan cuts him off in the manner of another Star Wars character, the villain Darth Vader , and showing a glimmer of the character's abilities, proceeds to choke him with The Force while modifying another phrase from the same film. (The original quotation was, "I find your lack of faith disturbing.")
There is humor in Megan's hypocrisy, however. Although she is disturbed by Cueball's unoriginal dialogue, she is fine with doing it herself.
Star Wars fans are a weird bunch, however, and the title text states that if a male Star Wars fan met a girl who could do this in real life, it'd only serve to turn him on even more.
[Outside, under a crescent moon.] Megan: It's strange to stare at the moon and think about people walking on it. Cueball: That's no moon, it's a— gack [She holds him up in the air by his neck à la Darth Vader using the force.] Megan: I find your lack of original conversation disturbing.


Interesting Life

Explanation:
' May you live in interesting times ' (or, in this comic, 'may you have an interesting life') is supposedly a Chinese saying, except that a few people (usually the worst-case-scenario kind) believe it to actually be a curse, even though it is usually meant in a good way when said. The quote also provides the title of the Terry Pratchett novel Interesting Times , which takes place in a fictional counterpart of China.
Cueball is shown here as an office worker, a job that, to most people, is the opposite of interesting. This is contrasted with Megan , who is rappelling down the outside of his office building, for no apparent reason other than because she can, and inviting him on an adventure. Things are bound to get at least one kind of "interesting" very fast.
The title text refers to a Cat6 cable, which is more commonly known as Ethernet cable. It would be easily found in an office building, since it is used to connect computers to a network. Its usefulness as a climbing harness is indeterminate. [ citation needed ]
[On the left hand side of the panel is a cutaway of several floors of an office, in gray. On the right side, a blue sky with clouds,  and green hills below. Hanging from a cable is Megan, clearly having rappelled down the side of the building, next to a Cueball at his desk, who is looking at Megan.] Megan: You know how some people consider "May you have an interesting life" to be a curse? Cueball: Yeah... Megan: Fuck those people. Wanna have an adventure?


Shopping Teams

Explanation:
Randall is comparing the ways different people look at choosing between similar products. In the first example, which Randall considers "bad," two "non-nerds" look at two products (without a description of any kind) and instantly decide which one they want. In the second example, which is considered "good," one of the two is a nerd , and the other one is a non-nerd. The non-nerd instantly picks one of the products, but the nerd evaluates the two and decides that the other one is better because it's a better deal. In both the first two cases, the pair is able to easily come to a decision.
However, in the third example, two nerds are comparing the two boxes, and both of them overanalyse the various merits and drawbacks on each of the two boxes. They are still there two hours later, unable to reach a clear agreement on which of the two boxes they wish to buy. One nerd comments that their definition of value is unclear, suggesting that the discussion has gone on for so long because they are re-evaluating their definitions over something too trivial. Some might perceive this as typical "nerd" behaviour, overanalysing a problem that is in actual fact quite trivial, such as the decision whether to buy one box or the other virtually identical box. The non-nerd woman from the second situation (or perhaps the store manager in this situation), who has watched the two nerds compare the two products for hours, attempts to put this into perspective by pointing out that an unclear definition of value is not their main problem. The implication is that their real main problem is that they are unable to reach an agreement on something that makes so little difference. Or their problem could be the one described in 1445: Efficiency .
The title text suggests that Randall entered a similar situation attempting to buy an air conditioner with his sysadmin, short for System administrator . The sysadmin is a person in an organization employed to manage the computer system or network, a role that requires technical skills and intelligence. The suggestion here is that a computer programmer, like Randall, put together with a sysadmin, would spend as much attention to detail as the two nerds in the comic, laboring over which of two trivially similar products to buy.
Randall deals with sysadmins again in 705: Devotion to Duty .
[Three teams are looking at a counter with two cubes on it. Above it all is written in very large letters:] Shopping teams
[Above the first team consisting of two Cueball-like guys is written the following text (the first line written with larger letters):] Bad: Two non-nerds Non-nerd 1: Let's get that one. Non-nerd 2: Okay.
[Above the second team consisting of a Blondie and a Cueball-like guy is written the following text (the first line written with larger letters):] Good: Non-nerd + nerd Blondie non-nerd: Let's get that one. Cueball nerd: Wait, I think that one might be a better deal. Blondie non-nerd: Okay, that one.
[Above the third team consisting of two Cueball-like guys is written the following text (the first line written with larger letters):] Very Bad: Two Nerds Nerd 1: How about that one? Nerd 2: I think the other one might be the better deal... Nerd 1: Hmm, I'm not sure...
[Inside a big arrow pointing straight down:] Two Hours Later
[The two Cueball-like guys are sitting on the floor in front of the counter, both having their laptops open and with lots of paper sheets spread around them, as well as a pen. Blondie from the second team comes in from the right and raises her arms:] Nerd 1: I think our main problem is our unclear definition of value. Blondie non-nerd: That is not your main problem!


Commitment

Explanation:
In the first panel, Cueball proposes to a woman. While he does this, a narrator (most likely the man's inner voice) explains why he wants to marry her. It's implied that he had doubts about their relationship. He'd never experienced a moment of overwhelming love and certainty, especially when they met, which he describes as "a choir of trumpeting angels when you meet the right girl." He's come to believe that such a scenario is actually implausible, and a serious relationship is about "realizing that what you have is what you want."
In the second panel, they get married. And in the third panel, after they are married, Megan comes in saying 'Hi.' His wife appears to still be wearing her wedding veil, implying that he meets Megan immediately after the scenario.  Cueball has the full 'love at first sight'-experience, with a literal choir of trumpeting angels, suggesting that Megan is actually the one he's supposed to be with. That this realization strikes him immediately after he married someone else puts him in a very difficult situation. This is expressed by him thinking 'Well, shit.'
The title text notes that the previous guy who had a similar experience fell in love with one of the angels instead, not realizing that it was the girl he just met that was the love of his life. Which is of course much worse, especially because the angels are transient, and the only way to see them again is by meeting the perfect 'girl' and he has just ignored her! Alternatively, it could mean that that person was actually the last person to have such an experience, possibly because the persons succeeded in marrying and having children with the angel, resulting in offspring that were too powerful or otherwise undesirable. Something similar happens in Genesis 6:1–4, so this may be a reference to the Bible.
The humor of this comic plays upon a common anxiety in trying to build relationships. A person may be dating someone who they enjoy being with, but expect a moment of supernatural clarity announcing that they've found the right person to spend their life with. Most people never have such a moment, and have to build their relationships slowly, based on more prosaic considerations, like compatibility, commitment, and shared life goals. Frequently, people will build such a relationship, but worry that a magic and transcendent love is still out there, and if they 'settle' for the person they're with, they may find that love later and be unable to act on it.
The comic 584: Unsatisfied could be seen as a continuation of this - with the blond girl being depicted as Ponytail . It can also be seen as a deconstruction: in the subsequent comic, no matter which partner he chooses, he spends the rest of his life thinking about the other, apparently never being totally satisfied with the relationship he has.
[Cueball proposing on his knee holding a box with a ring in it up to a girl with long blond hair. The text is written above them in a frame with yellow background.] I understand now. There's no choir of angels when you meet the right person. It's about growing out of your fears to realize what you have is what you want.
[Cueball and the woman are getting married. They stand under a gate of honor with a priest in front of them.] Girl: I do. Cueball: I do.
[Cueball walks hand in hand with blond girl when a cloud with trumpeting angels appears over Megan.] Megan: Hi.
[Same picture but without the cloud and angels. Cueball's thought is written in a frame with yellow background.] Well, shit.


Action Movies

Explanation:
A common complaint about action films is that they are light on plot and heavy on pointless violence and special effects. The Die Hard series (including Live Free or Die Hard ) are typical action films about which this complaint has been made.  However, Cueball reverses the complaint, stating that proportional to the run-time of the movie, there could have been much more action and much less plot.  He takes this idea to an extreme, saying that his ideal action movie should have only half a minute of exposition and otherwise consist of nothing but one long, continuous action scene. Megan adds that starring a well-known and popular character - one that audiences "never get tired of watching" - would further eliminate the need for exposition and provide more time for action.
The two come up with "River Tam Beats Up Everyone" as such a movie.  It is unclear if this is the actual title of their proposed movie or simply a description or teaser.  In either case, the name doubles as a more or less complete plot description.
River Tam (played by Summer Glau ) is a character from the popular but short-lived TV series Firefly .  In the show, she is shown to have almost clairvoyant mental capabilities (including being able to read minds and aim a gun without looking), and the series largely revolves around a conspiracy concerning her.  In the follow-up movie Serenity , River also possesses superhuman fighting skills - early in the film, triggered by a subliminal message, she unexpectedly begins attacking everyone in a bar.  Later, in the film's climax, she subdues an entire squadron of Reavers while hardly breaking a sweat.
The poster art for "River Tam Beats Up Everyone" is almost certainly inspired by these scenes from Serenity , and Megan and Cueball's decision to use River is based on her rampant popularity among the Firefly fan base.  The poster's typeface, Papyrus , has also been used in many of the marketing materials for both Firefly and Serenity ; Randall would later confess his love for it in the title text of 590: Papyrus .
In the title text, Randall states that Live Free or Die Hard had far too little action and suggests another movie, Crank , as a better example.  He goes on to suggest that Crank would have been better if it had had a larger budget and starred Summer Glau in a fighting role.
[Cueball and Megan are talking together as they walk away from a cinema.] Cueball: Another summer gone without a mindless big-budget action movie. Megan: Huh? Die Hard was nothing BUT action! Cueball: No, it was too talky. Megan: What? Too talky? Cueball: I tallied it minute-by-minute. It's at least 60% people walking and talking. ALL those movies are. Cueball: Just once, I want a real action movie. 30 seconds of exposition followed by a perfect 90-minute action scene. One with a huge budget, a good choreographer, and a great director. Megan: And they should center it around some character we already know, someone we never get tired of watching. Cueball: I think we've got something here... [A movie poster is shown.] Coming this summer River Tam Beats up EVERYONE [The poster shows a line of doorways. In the background, numerous people are lying on the ground or draped over doorways and windows. River Tam is doing a flying kick into someone's face, and another person is emerging from the doorway closest to the viewer.]


With Apologies to Robert Frost

Explanation:
This comic presents a poem about a god 's dilemma of whether to create the world using Perl or Lisp , two popular computer programming languages. The god has chosen to write it in Perl, but since then appears to lament the choice, apparently expressing that if given the chance to write the world's code again, they would use Lisp instead.
The implication is that a universe created by Lisp would look better under close examination, the 'founding myth' referred to in the poem.  Instead of an incomprehensible big bang , inflation , dark matter , and dark energy , the elegance of Lisp may have led to more elegantly framed laws of nature.
The grammar of Lisp as a language requires the programmer to use a multitude of parentheses and, in many cases, it can be difficult to determine whether all of the parentheses have been properly matched up to one another. The last two lines of the poem refer to the plentiful parentheses in Lisp, and the image at the bottom of the panel shows a close-parenthesis at the supposed end of the Universe.
A segmentation fault, also commonly called a segfault, is an error that occurs when a computer program attempts to access computer memory to which it should not have access.  This is a fatal error that will cause the program to stop executing.
This comic deals with similar subject matter to 224: Lisp , in which one of "the gods" claims that although the Universe may appear to have been written in Lisp, it was actually written mostly using Perl.
The poem itself and the title text are a parody of " Fire and Ice ," written by the American poet Robert Frost and first published in 1920. In this poem, the speaker discusses his stance in the debate on whether the world will be destroyed in fire or in ice. "A God's Lament" has a rhyme scheme that is nearly identical to that of Frost's poem. However, it differs in that "Lisp" does not rhyme with "men," "again," and "paren," while the corresponding four lines in Frost's poem do rhyme. (That said, "Lisp" does have a near-rhyme in "myth" and "with," especially if you say "Lisp" with a lisp.)
[A not-very-realistic view of the universe, in profile. To the left, a sectional view of the Earth, with its Moon and few clouds overhead, and a little Cueball standing, looking up. Extending to the right of the Earth, various stellar objects: some planets, some spaceships, another galaxy. Above them, on an artistically jagged white background, somewhat like a torn piece of paper, this text:] A God's Lament Some said the world should be in Perl; Some said in Lisp. Now, having given both a whirl, I held with those who favored Perl. But I fear we passed to men A disappointing founding myth, And should we write it all again, I'd end it with A close-paren. [To the right of the "various stellar objects", as if paired with the Earth at their left to bracket them, is a giant close parenthesis:] )


Insomnia

Explanation:
Simply put, the narrator's insomnia, combined with small bright lights in an otherwise pitch-black room, is causing him to hallucinate. Furthermore, the narrator is well aware that he will be unable to distinguish the hallucinations from reality. This finally occurs when his clock reads 13:72, which would not be possible on any clock.
A clock can never read "72 minutes," as there are only 60 minutes in an hour. While a clock can read "13 hours" on a 24-hour clock (which is common on most digital clocks in Europe, but not in the US), the thirteenth hour does not occur immediately after the fourth hour. [ citation needed ]
The title text shows that the narrator has indeed "succumbed" to his visions, and is assigning gibberish values — an alarm clock with a "cinnamon" setting, the time of day "25 hours and 131 minutes," and "levitation class" — to an otherwise normal monologue.
[It is black, except a few blue and green lights, and red numbers from a clock.] [The clock shows 4:31] Lying awake at night I realize how many little lights there are in my room. The alarm clock is the brightest. Can't sleep I'm alone with those glowing red numbers [The clock now shows 4:32] Time slows Does time even exist here? Thoughts churning in on themselves [The clock now shows 4:33] The madness can't be far away Ah yes [The clock now shows 13:72] There it is.


Dating Pools

Explanation:
Megan is upset because she is apparently older than 26, and among people who marry, half do so below 26. The intuitive conclusion is that the number of potential partners is decreasing as time goes on.
The Half Plus Seven Rule is an unwritten rule that asserts that it is creepy to date anyone who is younger than half your age plus 7 years. For example, a 50-year-old dating someone who is younger than 32 (50/2 + 7 = 32) would be considered creepy. As the graph shows, there is a lower limit and an upper limit.
The lower limit can be defined as f(x) = x /2 + 7 in which x is your age and f(x) is the minimum age of your partner. The upper limit can be defined as f^-1(x) = 2( x − 7) in which x is your age and f^-1(x) is the maximum age of your partner.
As age increases, the age range of potential non-creepy partners widens. At 26, the range of non-creepy partners is 18 years (20- to 38-year-olds). At 50, it is 54 years (32 to 86 years old).
At age 14, you can only date people your own age. The same also works with infinity, but even Methuselah died once.
While the application of this rule actually reduces the number of potential matches further, Cueball presents it in a positive way by showing that there are whole swathes of people who she couldn't marry in the first place without being in a creepy relationship. But, as her age increases, the range of non-creepy partners also increases. Combined with Census Bureau data for how many people exist within any such range, Cueball shows that her eligible dating pool is in fact still increasing.
Megan notes that graph-making nerds like Cueball may have a hard time finding dates, but this is refuted by the title text.
[Megan is sitting on the ground with her elbows on her knees and her hands on her chin.] Megan: This sucks. The median first marriage age is 26. The pool of singles is shrinking. I'm running out of time. Cueball: Actually, not quite.
Cueball: Yes, older singles are rarer. But as you get older, the dateable age range gets wider. An 18-year-old's range is 16–22, whereas a 30-year-old's might be more like 22–46. Text on chart: Standard creepiness rule: Don't date under (Age/2 + 7)
Cueball: I did some analysis of this with the Census Bureau numbers just last weekend. Your dating pool actually grows until middle age. So don't fret so much! [The first chart is labeled "Singles" and is a decreasing graph. The second graph is labeled Dating Pool, and is a bell curve.]
Megan: Did your analysis say anything about the dating prospects of people who spend weekends at home making graphs? Cueball: Come on. Somewhere at the edge of the bell curve is the girl for me.


Braille

Explanation:
Braille is a writing system for the blind and visually impaired using bumps on a paper, slate, etc. However, since most sighted people have no need for braille, and because braille messages may need to convey purely-visual information to blind people, the braille message may be adjusted from the original message. In this case, however, it acts as a jab toward people who are not blind, saying that "sighted people suck," which is obviously not something you would typically see (no pun intended) [ citation needed ] on informational signs. [ SIGHTation needed ] Similar "translations" can be found when one deciphers the alien translations on nearly all signs in Futurama.
The title text shows a practical (and more realistic) example of where regular text and braille text may differ. As the visually impaired cannot see color, the label would need to identify some other defining feature of the button in question, such as the given measurement.
I learned to read braille a while back, and I've noticed that the messages on signs don't always match the regular text. [A sign reads "Third Floor Office" with braille print underneath. Cueball is reading the braille.] Cueball (thinking): s-i-g-h-t-e-d-p-e-o-p-l-e-s-u-c-k ... Hey!


Loud Sex

Explanation:
Cueball 's neighbor likes to engage in loud sex, which keeps Cueball awake at night, and she pretends to apologize for it as a way of bragging, so Cueball wants to get revenge. A simple way would be to inflict the same to her in retaliation by having loud sex when she is not. But Cueball adds a science nerd's touch to it, with an elliptical reflector dish. As shown on the schema, such a dish reflects the sound waves in a way that all waves originating from a specific point (the first focus of the ellipse the dish's shape is based on) converge after reflection to a specific other point (the second focus of the same ellipse). [1] Cueball calibrates and installs his elliptical dish in such a way that all the sound coming from his loud girlfriend's head during sex is concentrated after reflection to his neighbor's head in her bed. This makes his loud sex far louder to her than hers was to him.
The title text makes a double entendre , where a spherical or parabolic reflector would cause different behaviors for the sound waves, but the play on words leads the reader to believe that aberrant sexual behavior would occur.
[1]: Note: that is actually the behaviour of an ellipsoidal reflector dish, or an elliptic one in two dimensions; but in 3D an elliptic one works similarly, only converging waves from a line to another line, instead of points.
My neighbor has loud sex. [Cueball in bed, covering his head with a pillow. There is sound coming from outside.] OHHHHH GASP AAAAAAA Good for her and all, but it keeps me up at night.
And she's so smug about it. [Cueball and neighbor coming out of their apartments.] Neighbor: Sorry, could you hear us last night? Oh, you know how it gets sometimes. Cueball: Not really...
But tonight I finally get my revenge. Because now I have a loud girlfriend too. [Megan with "LOUD" and an arrow pointing to her.]
And an elliptical reflector dish. [Diagram of an elliptical reflector dish.]
[Cueball and Megan having sex, with the dish behind them reflecting the sex sound effects, in a way that they focus, through walls, on his neighbor sitting up in bed while holding her head in pain.]


That Lovin' Feelin'

Explanation:
This is a parody of the popular song by The Righteous Brothers , " You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' ." The singer is talking about the cooling of his relationship with his significant other, and how the joy of their romance has been missing lately, and asks what they have to do to get it back. The actual first verse and chorus are as follows:
You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips You're trying hard not to show it (baby) But baby, baby, I know it:
You've lost that lovin' feelin' Ohh, that lovin' feelin' You've lost that lovin' feelin', Now it's gone, gone, gone, ohh-ohh.
In this comic's parody of the song, Cueball decides that since his relationship with his current girlfriend is cooling, maybe he should try her sister instead. (And as mentioned in the title text, at least she will have sex with him).
Cueball: You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips Cueball: And there's no tenderness like before in your fingertips. [Cueball thoughtfully places his hand on his chin.] Cueball: Maybe I should try your sister instead.


Nostalgia

Explanation:
Cueball and Megan refer to the practice of tricking people to see shock sites using bait-and-switch pranks. A shock site is a website that is intended to be offensive, disgusting, and/or disturbing to its viewers, containing materials of high shock value that is also considered distasteful and crude, and is generally of a pornographic, scatological, extremely violent, insulting, painful, profane, or otherwise provocative nature.
This comic is a direct reference to the former shock site goatse.cx that displayed a human distended anus (among other things). The domain was taken down in 2004, but it remains a memorable cultural reference from its time period. It therefore may be cited as nostalgia by trolls in the future. This comic evidently takes place in the future, as the characters are using some sort of advanced levitation technology that has yet to exist.
The title text warns us not to Google this meme, as it contains some horrifying results. If you ignore the warning from the title text and Google for "distended anus," you will find many results on this awful dysfunction like rectal prolapse .
Furthermore, the aforementioned shock site still exists at [REDACTED].
[Cueball and Megan, both wearing headsets with antennae, sunglasses, and jetpacks, are hovering.] Cueball: Darling, let's put on our best fake accounts, connect to the core ForumSpace, and trick people into looking at a picture of a man's distended anus! Megan: Oh, it'll be just like old times!


Engineering Hubris

Explanation:
This comic starts with a philosophical musing about engineering . The last panel reveals a joke about Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner , a cartoon series created by Chuck Jones . In the cartoon, the Coyote is constantly building odd contraptions (with parts ordered from the Acme Corporation ) to catch the Road Runner. The Coyote never succeeds, often because his devices don't work as intended.
The word Hubris from the comic title means extreme pride or arrogance. It is a theme from the classic Greek plays, and is usually severely punished by the gods.  The title text is implying that Chuck Jones would not let hubris go unpunished; the engineer might be able to construct 'better' traps than Wile E, but they would still be doomed to fail.
From the second panel, Murphy's Law can be simplified to "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." It was originally developed as a guideline for accident prevention starting at the design level. In the common vernacular today, it is interpreted more liberally: "If there is even the slightest chance of an unfortunate accident occurring, despite all your attempts to prevent it, the accident will happen anyway, purely out of spite." The namesake Edward A. Murphy Jr. has since evolved to mythic proportions, being cast as a vengeful god of misfortune and ruin.
[Landscape in the background, canyon with a winding road.] Maybe engineering is the pursuit of an unattainable perfection. Maybe it's impossible to create something bug-free. Maybe I'm a fool Maybe the tyranny of Murphy is the penalty for hubris. But I just can't shake the feeling [Cueball standing on boxes labeled "ACME."] With all those supplies I could have caught that roadrunner.


28-Hour Day

Explanation:
The 28-Hour Day is a modified sleep schedule proposed to accommodate the discrepancy between the earth's day-night cycle and certain people's preferred sleep schedules. It discards the traditional notion of sleeping at night and replaces it with sleeping when it is more convenient for weekend parties and mid-week insomnia. It is also the only reasonable and consistent alternative day length that will sync with the widely accepted and practiced 168-hour week (168 = 7×24 = 6×28), with the arguable exception of eight 21-hour days. Underneath the weekly timeline, Cueball describes the schedule's selling points to his friend, who apparently has difficulty sleeping.
Cueball's friend shows little interest in this idea, and instead he resorts to low-quality "your mom" jokes. Cueball merely bides his time, and in the end successfully trumps the jokes with a response that impugns his friend's sexual stamina, leading him to concede defeat.
The title-text uses " Small print " to mean "Disclaimer" and relieves the idea's creator of any responsibility in the case that it is tried and the tester finds the schedule to be a really bad idea. As he states, if you live by this schedule, chances are you will be driven stark raving mad. Given that Cueball gives his friend with the bad mom jokes this advice, it could be another way to try to punish him for the jokes. Although Randall makes several Your Mom comics , he has also in some comics shown that he dislikes these kind of jokes, especially when used too much in real life (see 366: Your Mom .)
[Above the panels of the main comic, there is a ruler-like time line diagram that shows the hours in a week. It has 6 black sections labeled "bed" in white text, at the top and 7 black sections labeled "night" in white text, at the bottom (the first and last sections are split in two as it goes from the end of the week to the start of the (next) week. So there are 8 night sections, but they only cover 7 times 12 hours). The night sections always go from 6PM to 6AM. But the bed sections are only 8 hours long and they only stay fully over the night sections two times, and two times they are not above the night sections at all. Above the ruler, the bed times are shown. These labels are over the relevant ticks on the ruler. The ruler has small ticks for every two hours, longer ticks at noon, and a line that goes all the way through the ruler dividing each day. The ruler begins on midnight as Sunday starts and ends as Saturday finishes at midnight. Below the ruler each day are labels with the three-letter abbreviations in a much larger font. Here below the rulers, text is transcribed with the day first, then night or bed according to which comes first, and the time interval for bed given after each bed. The first and last night will only be a partial word and only the first time will there be a (ni)ght to start.] Sun ght Bed 10AM 6PM Night
Mon Bed 2PM 10PM Night
Tue Bed 6PM 2AM Night
Wed Night Bed 10PM 6AM
Thu Night
Fri Bed 2AM 10AM Night
Sat Bed 6AM 2PM Nig
[Below the ruler are five panels. In the first, two Cueball-like guys are talking together. Cueball is addressing his friend with one hand raised.] Cueball: You have trouble sleeping right? Friend: Only when your mom is over.
[Cueball is now standing next to a an easel with a large version of the chart shown above the panels. Cueball is pointing to the chart while his friend is looking at it.] Cueball: Since your work is flexible- Friend: -Like your mom- Cueball: -you should try the 28-hour day - 20 awake, 8 asleep (or 19/9 if you prefer). Friend: I prefer your mom.
[Cueball moves forward toward his friend, with the chart behind him. He holds both hands, held together, up in front of him. The easel with the chart can now be seen to have three legs, as opposed to only two shown in the previous panel.] Cueball: It synchs up with the week - you spend weekdays awake normally, then on weekends you can go out all night. Friend: Just like your mom.
[In a frameless panel, only Cueball is shown from the torso up. He gestures with both arms raised on each side of him.] Cueball: It means four extra hours daily. You can stay up until you're exhausted every day and then spend a full 9 hours asleep each night!
[Back to both again, but without the chart. Cueball leans toward his friend as his friend lifts a hand to his chin.] Friend: But how much time can I spend doing your mom? Cueball: You? I'm guessing three or four minutes, tops. Friend: ...Well played.