Parking

Explanation:
There are few things so annoying as finding, when a parking lot is full, that someone has parked so carelessly as to take up two spaces.  Even worse, it may have been intentional; they decided to exchange the risk of someone accidentally scratching their car for the risk of someone doing it on purpose, see 1030: Keyed . However, there are also non-violent ways to tackle the problem; politely leave a note , or (if possible) just move their car (whether to its proper alignment or to an impound lot).
Of course, Black Hat takes the less-traveled path, apparently involving a cutting torch and what looks to be a circular saw . The offending portion of the parked car is sliced off (entirely without surgical precision) and neatly slotted into the remainder of the space. It is now legally parked, but will never become a functional car again. But at least Black Hat finally has space for his own car!
This comic may be the one referenced in 496: Secretary: Part 3 , where it is shown that Black Hat '...completely disassembled a car' because 'It was parked across two spaces! It was only fair', or this is the second time that a car has been in the way of him parking, so he has taken matters into his own hands.
The title text indicates that a large crowd watched Black Hat at work but refused to identify him, presumably because they feel that the car owner got what he deserved, and possibly because they didn't want to incur Black Hat's wrath.
[Black Hat is in a car driving around a parking lot.]
[Black Hat's car pulls up next to a red car, that's parked over a line at an angle that block two spaces.]
[Black Hat gets out of his car.] SLAM
[Black Hat is now holding a blow torch and a rotary saw, He's also wearing goggles and fuel tanks on his back. The blow torch is lit.] Fwoosh
[The badly parked car has been cut in half along a diagonal, and the half of the car that was in the second slot has been moved into the same slot as the rest of the car. Black Hat's car occupies the newly freed space.]
Black Hat, in the fourth panel, is also seen in the "Your Ad Here" screen.


Fermirotica

Explanation:
The Fermi paradox describes the contradiction between the high probability of extraterrestrial life and the lack of empirical evidence thereof. Age and size of the universe suggest that intelligent life should have occurred somewhere, and that some alien civilizations should have developed technology for interstellar travel . Therefore, one might expect the universe full of life. However, no evidence for any lifeforms on other planets has yet been found by humans. This inconsistency was first noted by Enrico Fermi in 1950 when he posed the question "Where is everybody?". The phenomenon, often called The Great Silence , was later examined more thoroughly in a paper by Michael H. Hart .
A decade after Fermi's observation, Frank Drake formulated the Drake equation , which aims at estimating the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. The formula presents itself as the product of several probabilistic factors which would be required for such a civilization to exist. Several parameters are unknown and the equation assumes that all factors are weighed equally, therefore the equation is not useful for computing any actual result.
The comic presents a somewhat related equation which computes the average distance from the observer wherein a couple can be found copulating. (The example parameters given in the comic yield 139 metres.) The implication of the equation is that we are surrounded by sex in our everyday lives. Nevertheless, we rarely encounter couples during the act itself. [ citation needed ] Borrowing from the Fermi paradox, the Fermirotica paradox poses the question: "Where is everybody having sex?". Of course, the lack of empirical evidence of couples having sex can easily be explained by the fact that most couples only have intercourse in privacy. A similar approach might also offer an explanation to the original problem: Alien species might conceal themselves from our observations, e.g. in order to avoid interfering in the development of civilizations . This answer to the Fermi Paradox is commonly called zoo hypothesis .
The second panel has Cueball sexually aroused by the statistical probability of a couple practising intercourse. This fantasy of his is termed statistical voyeurism by an off-frame speaker, and is evidently upset by it. Possible reasons for being upset are that he considers it an inappropriate use of statistics, or finds voyeurism inappropriate in general, or because it accurately predicts an actual copulation he is aware of and would rather keep private (e.g. the off-frame speaker is actually about to have sex).
The title text refers to the Google calculator and praises its capabilities of dimensional analysis , and more specifically unit conversion . Randall assumes that most readers will enter the equation with the example parameters into the Google search engine. The built-in calculator will output the result in the correct SI unit metre , although the population density was given as people per square mile . The second part of the title text states that the examples are nothing more than an educated guess, and that the equation is simplified. In reality, more parameters must be taken into account, e.g. the time of day, since most people will have sex in the evening or night. The insulting suggestion that the probability of sex rises when the reader's (supposedly promiscuous) mother is in town represents a Yo Mama joke .
Note that this comic was released on April 1st without being an April Fools' Day comic. But Randall made another April Fool on his reader, see the trivia section .
[A formula is shown with the variables explained above:] P d Regional population density (e.g. 18,600/mi²) X f Average person's frequency of sex (e.g. 80/year) X d Average duration of sex (e.g. 30 minutes) r=sqrt(2/(π*P d *X f *X d )) On average, someone within distance r of you is having sex.
[Cueball standing in front of an easel.] Cueball: Mmm, That probable couple 150 meters away is so hot. Oh yeah, theoretically work it, baby. From out of frame: Hey! No statistical voyeurism!


Crossbows

Explanation:
There are conflicting theories as to the meaning of this comic.
In the first and second interpretations, the title text could refer to literally being the slowest in the lab, and therefore the least able to outrun whatever is making everyone carry crossbows.
The proper interpretation of this comic, or whether there even is one, remains an open question.
[Cueball is pulling a crossbow out of a desk.] Cueball: Why do you have a crossbow in your desk? Megan (off-screen): You don't ?
[Pan to Megan who looks towards Cueball who is off-screen to the left.] Cueball (off-screen): No—why would— Megan: You are studying the consequences of Higgs excitation, aren't you? Megan: Like the rest of the lab?
[Cueball, now carying Megan's crossbow joins her as the panel extends to include another Cueball-like guy to her right, he also carries a crossbow.] Cueball: Yes, but why— Guy: Maybe he's slow with the math. Megan: Well, he has until Tuesday. Guy: Poor guy.


Security Question

Explanation:
Security questions are sensitive questions that allow a user to retrieve or reset his password if the password is lost or stolen. Because of this powerful function, security questions should be treated just as seriously as passwords. Typical security questions include "What's your mother's maiden name?" or "What's your secondary school?" and are intended to be easy for the user to answer but hard for anyone else to answer.
In this comic, however, the security question is deployed in a strange way, as the question "Where are the bodies buried?" assumes that one had buried bodies, hence had killed someone. The question turns out to be a ploy by the police, who were trying to bait Cueball into confessing his crime, as well as revealing the location of the incriminating evidence.
"I never" is a drinking game that somebody says "I never did something" to the others. If you never did it, you don't need to drink, otherwise, drink. Since he takes a drink for "I never hid any bodies SOUTH of Main Street", the police have narrowed down the search area. The next statement in the game could be "I never hid any bodies WEST of Central Avenue" (or whatever road dividing the area), further localizing the bodies to a quarter of the original search area, in a Twenty Questions manner. Of course, by taking the drink Cueball also admits that he buried bodies, though this evidence would not likely be accepted by any court.
[Cueball sits at a computer.] Computer Screen: -Email Account Setup- To verify your identity, we need to ask you a question nobody else could answer.
Computer Screen: Q: Where are the bodies buried? A: [A text field is shown with "Behind the" typed.]
[Cueball sits back and thinks.]
[Three stick figures, two wearing police hats and one wearing headphones, watch another computer.] [The same text field is shown with "Behind the ... nice try." typed.] Figure in Headphones: Damn.


Matrix Revisited

Explanation:
In the first frame it is stated that the comic was released on the anniversary of the movie The Matrix . This is not true. The Matrix was released 31 March 1999 in the US, although it was next released in Australia on 8 April 1999, ten years before the release of this comic. But maybe Randall drew the comic (and had watched the movie) on the true 10 year anniversary day.
Megan is shocked when she realizes it is already ten years ago that The Matrix came out. This is an effect Randall has used to make you feel old several times (for instance he mentions The Matrix again two years later in 891: Movie Ages .)
In The Matrix , almost all of humanity lives in a computer simulation. Many years ago, robots took over the real world (not the simulation), and placed humans into the simulation while their body heat generated power for the robots. A few people have escaped from the Matrix, and they are on a mission with others to free the human race from the robots. The title of the strip is a reference to the documentary on the filming of The Matrix : The Matrix Revisited .
In the first three rows of the comic we see three famous scenes from The Matrix parodied by Randall. The characters are Morpheus , with sunglasses; Neo , as Cueball in the first two scenes and with a black coat in the third scene; Trinity , as Hairbun ; and a security guard in the third scene, as another Cueball-like guy.
In the first scene Morpheus tells Neo that one cannot explain what the Matrix is and that he must see it for himself to understand. Morpheus is very mysterious as he tempts Neo to take a look himself, which, in the movie, leads to the next scene. In this comic, however, Trinity makes Morpheus look foolish by clearly explaining the Matrix in a single, simple phrase, and then telling him that he must suck at explaining. (The actual quote from the movie is no one can be told what the Matrix is , which makes more sense: even after being rescued from the Matrix, Neo at first refuses to accept that his entire life has been a simulation, becoming highly distraught when confronted with that truth. Morpheus later mentions that for this reason, it is unusual to rescue people past a certain age.)
In the next scene Morpheus tries to ignore Trinity's remark and continues by showing Neo two pills, one red and one blue, and tells Neo that he can either take the blue pill and return to the simulation (the Matrix), never to hear about the Matrix again, or he can take the red pill and leave the Matrix, and "see how deep the rabbit hole goes" (a reference to Alice in Wonderland ). In the movie, Neo takes the red pill. In the comic, however, he mixes the two pills then snorts the purple powder he has created as though it was an illegal drug such as cocaine, and apparently winds up in a bizarre upside down and inverted dimension, presumably caused by his 'Drug Trip'. Even Morpheus now has no idea where they are. Note that the inversion of both color and orientation could be intended to evoke the idea of capturing an image on film (i.e. a film negative), which is really the only place where Neo and Morpheus exist. It is possible that the combination of pills allowed Neo to break through another layer of the simulation. Alternatively, this could simply be Randall trying to explain that they are in an alternate dimension whilst still remaining within the constraints of stick figures on white and black backgrounds.
What leads up to the third scene is when Neo and Trinity must save Morpheus, who has been captured by agents of the simulation. They obtain many guns and load them into trenchcoats. In the shown scene Neo is stopped at a security checkpoint in a building in the Matrix. A security guard tells him to remove any metallic items, since the scanner has shown him to have metal on his person, such as keys, and place them in a bin, then walk through the scanner again. In the movie, he opens his trenchcoat, revealing a myriad of weapons and dispatching all of the guards with the assistance of Trinity. In the comic, however, Neo opens his trenchcoat, but the guard's response of "eww" implies that Neo is otherwise naked and the guard is disgusted by his display of his genitals. It is possible that Neo, on account of having many metal implants (seen in the movie as being in the bodies of everyone raised by the robots), is trying to remove his implants, thus starting to take his clothes off.
After watching the movie, Cueball turns to his friends (Megan and another Cueball-like guy) and exclaims that he had forgotten how great the movie is. When his friend suggests that they put on the other two sequels, there is a beat panel where Megan and Cueball look at each other, then they beat up the offender off-panel.
The two sequels to The Matrix are widely regarded as inferior to the original, with some fans pretending they don't exist . This is what happens when Megan and Cueball return, and Cueball repeats his statement about how good it was. Then Megan is saddened by the fact they never made any sequels and Cueball agrees. Thus trying hard (even violently) to forget those sequels.
On IMDb the original movie was still in the top 20 on their top 250 chart in July 2015, with an average of 8.7 vs. only 7.2 and 6.7 to the sequels (though even those two scores are relatively high compared to other action titles).
9 years (and one day) later Randall made the comic 1978: Congressional Testimony where the movie The Terminator is mentioned. In the title text a similar line of thought as the one in the bottom strip of this comic is made. The third movie in the Terminator Franchise was so great that Skynet sent back a robot to prevent James Cameron, the director of the first two Terminator movies, from directing it, and instead another (much worse) version of the movie was later directed by another director. This indicates that Randall would rather not have had the third movie made, and also fantasizes about how much better it could have been with the original director making T3.
[Megan stands below two pieces of text, in a panel that is without a frame.] Today was the ten-year anniversary of the release of The Matrix. I sat down to watch it again. Megan: Holy fuck, ten years ago?
[The next three panels of the first row and the next two rows spoofs three scenes from The Matrix.]
[In scene 1 Morpheus with sunglasses and Trinity with hair bun are talking to Cueball-Neo. Morpheus has his hands together.] Morpheus: Unfortunately, no one can explain what the matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
[Trinity lifts her hand.] Trinity: Sure you can. It's a computer simulation in which you live, thinking it's reality. Neo: Oh.
[Morpheus takes his hands down and turns around glaring at Trinity who has also taken her hand down.] Trinity: ...What? Trinity: Look, maybe you just suck at explaining.
[In scene 2 Morpheus is talking to Neo while holding a red pill and a blue pill. To the far right is a part of a table.] Morpheus: ...Or you take the red pill, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
[Neo takes both pills from Morpheus.]
[Neo crushes both the red and blue pills on a table top.] Crush
[Neo snorts the resulting purple powder through a pipe he holds up to his face (his nose).] Snort
[Morpheus and Neo are shown upside down in a frame with inverted colors, i.e., black background with white lines.] Morpheus: Now look what you've done. Neo: Where are we? Morpheus: I have no idea.
[In scene 3 Neo, wearing a long, black trench coat, at a metal detector, is accosted by the Cueball-like security guard.] Guard: Please remove any keys, metallic items, weapons—
[Neo steps close to the guard and opens his trench coat towards the guard, who is facing the reader. The reader can't see what Neo has under his coat.]
[Same scene as above, but side view: Neo, on the left, is opening his coat toward the guard, who is on the right and seems to be looking down. Nobody speaks.]
[Same scene as above but the guard now looks up to Neos face and finally speaks:] Guard: Eww.
[In the last row of the comic we see three characters that have obviously just finished watching The Matrix. Cueball is sitting on the floor nearest to the TV, Megan is sitting on the floor, farther from the TV and a Cueball-like friend is sitting on an armchair, farthest from the TV.] Cueball: I forgot how good that movie was. Friend: Wanna put on the other two?
[Cueball, still sitting has turned to face Megan. They exchange looks without speaking.]
[View of room, which is now empty, as is the chair. Sounds comes from off-screen to the right.] Crash Wham Friend (off-screen): Ow! Ow!
[Cueball and Megan are back in the room, zoomed in so the TV is no longer visible, but the chair is and it remains empty. The friend is nowhere to be seen.] Cueball: I forgot how good that movie was. Megan: Too bad they never made any sequels. Cueball: True.


Urgent Mission

Explanation:
Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States . Aside from uniting most of his country against Great Britain 's rule, he was also a model of a renaissance man : an author, painter, musician, politician, postmaster, inventor, scientist, and diplomat. Some of his legacies include bifocals, the Franklin stove, an odometer for a horse-drawn carriage, the almanac, and abolitionist ideals. He has since been honored with the use of his image on the $100 bill.
Franklin also did several experiments regarding electricity , and invented the lightning rod . He discovered the fundamentals of electricity, including positive and negative charges, as well as the principle of conservation of charge. When Franklin first wrote down his notes for electricity, he defined a positive charge as one left on a glass rod by rubbing it with silk, and a negative charge as one left on rubber by rubbing it with fur. Without realizing it, this meant that he had assigned a negative value to the charge on the electron, later identified as the fundamental carrier of electrical charge.
In an electrical circuit, we envisage the charge to be flowing from positive to negative. This is analogous to energy flowing from a region of high temperature to one of low temperature, or a fluid moving from an area of high pressure to one of low pressure.  However, because an electron is negatively charged, the actual flow of electrons is in the opposite direction, from negative to positive. This reversal of the natural expectation has caused unnecessary confusion to many fledgling engineers.
In the comic, the invention of a time machine was commissioned with the intent of preventing a robot apocalypse like in Terminator movies, a recurring theme on xkcd. However, the Cueball that built and used the machine is an electrical engineer with misplaced priorities, believing that reversing Franklin's "mistake" takes precedence over eliminating a more immediate threat to the human race.
Cueball tells Franklin that the charge left on a glass rod by rubbing it with silk should be the negative charge, not the positive charge, because the friction removes electrons from the rod. This would not have been intuitive to Franklin, because the electron had not as of yet been discovered. Yet by telling Franklin to reverse the positive and negative conventions, this would ultimately result in an alternate universe where electrons are assigned a positive charge. One can only speculate what other changes this reversal of convention would lead to, as small changes tend to cascade into huge ones . Would the positron have been instead named the negatron? And would this affect the success of the Transformers franchise?
In the title text, Cueball defends his actions, stating that preventing the rise of dictators or pandemics is a fine idea, but here they have a chance of making the signs on "every damn diagram" make sense, which to him seems so much more important. Cueball is likely voicing Randall 's frustration with this breach of logic, albeit exaggerated to comedic levels.
[Cueball is coming out of star shaped hole, the hole has black stripes in it. Cueball has one leg inside but the rest of his body outside the hole. He points one arm at Benjamin Franklin. Franklin is sitting in a chair at his desk writing with a quill on a piece of paper. He is drawn with square glasses and long hair, but only at the back of his head, leaving  most of his head bald.] Cueball: Benjamin Franklin? Franklin: Yes? Cueball: I bring a message from the future! I don't have much time. Franklin: What is it? Cueball: The convention you're setting for electric charge is backward. The one left on glass by silk should be the negative charge.
[Caption below the panel:] We were going to use the time machine to prevent the robot apocalypse, but the guy who built it was an electrical engineer.


Well 2

Explanation:
This is the second comic in the Well series: The first was 561: Well .
The average person's lifespan is 80 years now. So, while immortality may become a reality within the coming century, Ponytail won't live long enough to achieve it.
Cueball is looking for a programming language that does not need him to be specific about his ideas. When humans communicate ideas to other humans they may be vague but still understood, since the listener can infer a lot of detail from context and basic knowledge. Until we start 'raising' compilers (like you would a child) compilers will not possess that feature. Hence the need for the programmer to be exact in communicating his ideas to the compiler. No language will ever be able to change that. Cueball complains that he knows what he means, perhaps hoping that this is perfectly sufficient .
Finally we find out that one of Megan 's admirers, Mike, whom she avoids, is hiding in the well. He has been waiting for her to come for her uncomfortable truth , so he can make her believe that she is actually attracted to him. But she is not so easily fooled and calls his bluff, telling him to come out of the well.
The title text suggests he might also have been down there for the money everyone is throwing in to the
well to get this uncomfortable truth. So it has never been a working well. When everyone (or just Megan) finds out about this, Mike is bombarded with the all the pennies people have brought along.
In the comic game 1608: Hoverboard there is also a well in the left part of the world. This well has the same type of covered top and at the bottom (it is very deep) there is a girl and above her a coin, like the one thrown into a wishing well. On these links, to images on xkcd ; used in the game, the top and the bottom of the well can be seen.
[Four people are lined up by a covered well, Ponytail in front followed by Cueball, Megan and a man with some kind of hat (could be Beret Guy, but only half of his head is shown so it is not clear). A large sign stands well in front of the well. Ponytail throws in a coin.] Well: Science may discover immortality, but it won't happen in the next eighty years. Sign: The Uncomfortable Truths Well.
[Zoom in on the well and Cueball who throws in a coin.] Well: You'll never find a programming language that frees you from the burden of clarifying your ideas. Cueball: But I know what I mean!
[Same zoom in on Megan who throws in a coin.] Well: You avoid your friend Mike because you're uncomfortably attracted to him.
[Megan bend in over the well looking down] Megan: Nice try, Mike. Megan: Get out of the well. Mike (from inside the well): Aww.


Borders

Explanation:
Capture the flag (CTF) is a common way of playing games where the objective is to capture the opponent's flag while protecting your own team's flag. This comic describes a CTF server that Cueball joins for an online war game where peace has been established and no one is trying to capture the opponent's flags, therefore making the game unexciting and pointless, as Cueball says in the last panel.
The title text refers to the line of flags in front of UN buildings. If such a collection of flags of all the teams were established on a server, one could get a very high score by quickly capturing all of them.
A kajillion is slang for "an unspecified large number."
[Two Cueball-like guys stand on a hill overlooking a great city. One of them points at the city. Between them and the city stands an embassy flying a red flag. The text is not spoken by either of the guys.] Three years ago, the kingdom of Liate overthrew their old order and established a constitutional monarchy. Our leaders signed a treaty with their queen, and our borders were set by the Yarbis Accords. Many said war would be unending, that peace would always be a dream deferred. But today, our flag flies proudly over our embassy in their kingdom, and they walk our lands without fear. So come, traveller. Lay down your grudges and join us in brotherhood. It is time not to fight, but to live. [Cueball sitting at computer.] Cueball: This is the worst capture-the-flag server ever.


New Car

Explanation:
Cueball is sitting in a nice sports car, and his (Cueball-like) friend asks when he got it. It turns out it was bought as a prize supposed to be delivered to the 100,000,000th visitor to his company's website. But the user did not react to the notice on the page about the prize, even though it was flashing .
A well-known type of Internet scam tries to trick the reader into thinking that they've won a prize, often in the form of an annoying flashy ad banner (e.g. " You're our 100,000,000th visitor!!! Click HERE to claim a FREE Ferrari! "). A typical clickbait .
Cueball actually really did have a fancy car to give out, but the winner didn't claim it, believing it to be a scam. It is a bit like the boy who cried wolf — given enough lies, the truth will eventually look like a lie.
(As coincidences would have it, exactly the same joke appears in the much-loved British comedy series That Mitchell and Webb Look , in a 2006 John Finnemore sketch about a "MASSIVE YACHT!" giveway. Presumably Randall hadn't come across the Mitchell and Webb version when he wrote this comic three years later.)
The title text refers to another type of scam: advertising fake " male enhancement " drugs. Randall suggests that if such a drug really did exist, it would be very difficult to advertise effectively, since most people would assume it was a scam. Additionally there may be a relation implied (intersection) between people having sports cars and people needing penis enlargements: big cars to compensate feelings of inferiority [ citation needed ] (or red cars to compensate for cyanness ).
[A Cueball-like guy is standing behind, a sports car where Cueball sits turned toward him.] Friend: When'd you get the car?
[Zoom-in on Cueball in the car.] Cueball: It's the darndest thing. We bought it as a prize for the 100,000,000 th visitor to our website.
[Zoom-in on the friend.] Friend: And they didn't want it? Cueball (off-screen): Apparently.
[Pan to where both the friend and Cueball in the car can be seen, but not the front of the car.] Friend: Maybe they didn't see the notice. Cueball: It was flashing and everything! Friend: How bizarre.


Can't Sleep

Explanation:
Cueball is in bed and is having trouble sleeping. He tries the old standby of counting sheep as they jump over a fence, but upon reaching 32,767 sheep, 65535 sheep jump back over the fence and start counting up again from -32,768. This is a reference to an integer overflow, when an increasing amount (sheep in this case) suddenly overflows and shows up as a negative value. This is because when a whole number or integer is represented in a digital form, such as on a computer, the number's range is limited by the amount of space used to store it. When the greatest possible number given the storage space is exceeded, an arithmetic overflow occurs, which may result (depending on the used language among other things) in starting over at the least possible number given the storage space, similar to a car's odometer. Imagine an odometer with six digits reaching 999999. Upon driving one more mile or km, the digits will roll back over to 000000. Causing or failing to prevent integer overflow is a common mistake by programmers that may have software security consequences. Some languages like C/C++ even leaves the signed integer overflow undefined behavior , it may or may not wrap to the beginning, the instruction can be ignored or may cause the software to crash.
In this case, the least and greatest possible numbers are -32,768 and 32,767, which implies that the storage space used would be 16 bits. In addition, it's clear that the number is designated as a signed number, meaning that it can be either positive or negative.
However, even if Cueball had this limitation, it would never actually pose a problem. By 32,767 sheep, at a rate of one sheep per second, Cueball has been counting for 9.101 hours (or about 9 hours 6 minutes). This would signify that he has extreme insomnia and probably needs treatment, and also that he has spent the entire night counting, and therefore would just get up and start the day rather than count sheep all over again from -32,768.
The title text refers to the 1968 Philip K. Dick science fiction novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , which was adapted into the perhaps more widely known Ridley Scott directed 1982 film Blade Runner . The implication is that if we ever do create androids that dream of electric sheep, we should make sure to give them sufficient storage space to store numbers large enough such that an arithmetic overflow will be far less likely to occur, even if they count for a long time. A "long int" typically consists of four bytes rather than two, so instead of being limited to a range from -32,768 to 32,767 the number will be capable of storing numbers from -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647, which would take 68.1 years to exhaust. "sheepCount" is a possible name for a variable to be used in a computer program. Declaring a variable tells the computer that it should allocate a portion of memory to be associated with the variable name given. For those who might be unfamiliar with common programming practices, "sheepCount" is named using what is commonly referred to as CamelCase , meaning that all words in the name ("sheep" and "count") are pushed together and the first letter of every word after the first is capitalized. This is one of several common approaches to naming variables in computer programming. This is because you can only have capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores in variable names in most languages, and the names cannot start with a number. An alternative is snake_case , where the spaces are replaced with underscores and the names are lowercase.
[Cueball is in bed, presumably trying to sleep. The top of each panel is a thought bubble showing sheep leaping over a fence and Cueball's counting and the sheeps baaing is written above the sheeps. Two sheep are jumping from left to right in the first panel.] 1... 2... Sheep: Baaa
[Two sheep are jumping from left to right. Cueball is holding his pillow.] ... 1,306... 1,307... Sheep: Baaa
[A whole flock of sheep (nine visible) is jumping over the fence from right to left; the first and last sheep is cut off at the edge of the frame. Cueball is now sitting up looking up at his thought bubble.] ... 32,767 ...-32,768... Sheep: Baaa baaa baaaa baaa ba Cueball: ?
[Two sheep are again jumping from left to right. Cueball is holding his pillow over his head.] ...-32,767... -32,766... Sheep: Baaa


Together

Explanation:
Cueball and Megan are seen running together hand in hand. Behind them, two others (who look like Cueball and Megan as well) are standing next to a box in an open field of grass.
Together, Cueball and Megan fall in love, get married, and retire in old age to a porch swing, Cueball now wearing a sailor cap and Megan with hair worn just like Hairbun .
Suddenly, without a word, old Cueball using his cane, leaves old Megan on the porch, even though she shouts out for him to come back. He then returns to his two friends at the box from the first panel, they are now also much older and are still standing beside the box. Old Cueball picks up a sheet of paper and checks off "Happiness", the third point checked off on a list entitled "Scavenger Hunt," where the other items include these two above that are checked off: Indian-Head Penny and Snake Skin, as well as the two items below that, are not yet checked off: Four-Leaf Clover and Shark Tooth. At least one more unchecked point is on the list, but it is covered by a speech bubble.
So finding happiness was just one item in what is presumably the longest-running scavenger hunt of all-time, considering Cueball grew significantly old during the hunt. The comic ends with Cueball asking, "What's next?"
The list indicates this is a hunt for somewhat rare items. The US Indian Head cent (penny) was produced from 1859 to 1909, making it somewhat rare. But this they have managed. (It may have been easier to find when the scavenger hunt started, depending on when that was; for instance, if the last panel takes place in the 2000s, and 70 years have gone by, then the treasure hunt started in the 1930s, when these pennies were still fairly common.) Also, the snake skin has been managed which may be a little easier to find if you live in areas with snakes as they shed their skin by molting. So finding such a skin would be the objective to find here.
A four leaf clover is a rare variation of the common three-leaf clover. A shark tooth is not easy to obtain unless you live near a beach with souvenir shops.
The title, Together , of the comic is probably a reference to the saying that you find happiness together with your loved one. Cueball could have taken many different paths to find happiness, together or separate, but he chose togetherness as a way to find happiness, which is a common theme in love stories. But happiness is not something a person finds, it is an experience, hence the need to accumulate enough experiences to determine beyond doubt that happiness was truly found. This is why he had to wait until old age before he could go back to his friends.
Note that Megan is never seen together with Cueball's friends, and especially since she is not invited to go back to them to check the happiness point off, there there is no reason to assume that she was in on the game from the beginning. She was just a means to an end, which makes Cueball's actions rather cruel and questionable.
The title text indicates that after all this time, the players may abandon the game due to being bored with it. It is typical for children to tire of a game before it is finished; except here, Cueball spent nearly a lifetime on just one part of this game! Building a treehouse is another example of a common childhood activity. Naturally, the intended mental image of a bunch of old men and women building a treehouse and playing in it like six-year-olds is another punchline. However, as mentioned in 212: Brain , the fantasy of constructing the perfect treehouse seems to nevertheless hold a permanent place in Randall's heart (or brain) regardless of how old he gets or how immature the ambition may seem. The idea of adults having a fort in the woods was also mentioned, rather darkly, in the title text of 219: Blanket Fort .
Three of the old people look very similar to three of those standing in line in 586: Mission to Culture . And much later in 1910: Sky Spotters the two birdwatchers look very much like the old version of Cueball and Megan. Giving an old person a sailor cap was also used in 2213: How Old .
[Cueball and Megan are running in a field, holding hands. They are running away from another pair which also looks like Cueball and Megan. This pair stands in the background, next to a small box. There may be something lying on top of the box, but it is difficult to see clearly. The sun is shining above them.]
[Cueball and Megan are in a boat on a lake, very romantic. Cueball is speaking to Megan, illustrated with a heart.] Cueball: ♡
[Cueball and Megan sit together on a bench on a beach, watching the sunset.]
[Cueball and Megan stand in front of an altar under a wedding arch, with confetti falling around them. He is wearing a butterfly and she a veil.]
[Cueball and Megan, now old and wrinkled, sit together holding hands on their porch at the top of a small stair outside their house. He has a sailor cap on and Megan now wears her hair in a bun. Although the woman looks like Hairbun, and the old man is wearing a sailor cap, we can assume this is still Megan and Cueball given the juxtaposition of the preceding panel.]
[The same setting is depicted but seen from the side of the house. Cueball begins walking away from Megan using his cane. He has descended from the stair. Finally, Megan speaks, and unusually there is a speech bubble, with an extra smaller bubble hanging on to it for the second sentence.] Megan: Dear? Where are you- Megan: Come back!
[Cueball approaches an old couple, presumably the kids from the first panel now turned old. They seem tired, looking down all the time. The man only has hair around his neck and also a cane. The woman has long thinning hair. The box from the first panel is between Cueball and the other two. On top of it lies a piece of paper]
[Same picture except that Cueball is now standing still and has picked up the paper from the box and writes on it with a pen. Again there is a speech bubble.] Cueball: Okay,
[The paper is shown. It is a scavenger hunt list with at least six items. The three first items have been checked off. The last item is blocked by the speech bubble, but can be seen to be there from the check box.] Scavenger hunt: ☒ Indian-head penny ☒ Snake skin ☒ Happiness ☐ Four-leaf clover ☐ Shark tooth ☐ [covered by speech bubble] Cueball (off-panel): What's next?


Parental Trolling

Explanation:
Set in the future, a daughter approaches her father playing a music video of Rick Astley 's " Never Gonna Give You Up ". The daughter insults her father's generation's versions of playing pranks, specifically Rickrolling . The daughter refers to this as " trolling " (part of the comics title), which is popular jargon for trying to disrupt a person or community via an action to elicit an emotional response. She then comments that Cueball's generation's trolling efforts suck.
The humour is in that the dad reveals he has 'trolled' his daughter by creating a reaction in which her speech centers would shut down when she gets upset, thus eliciting an emotional response which perfectly displays his prank. This would not be possible in real life unless he messed with her brain, which would be dangerous and possibly illegal. [1] This could also be referring to how most people tend to get confused in their speech patterns when upset, meaning that the dad could in fact be trolling his daughter through her misunderstanding.
In this comic, the girl holds an ultra-thin tablet, a futuristic technology when this comic was released, a year before the release of the iPad. It also shows a curved computer monitor and keyboard, both of which seem to float above the desk.
The title text refers to the conflict between teenagers and adults over music and culture, with teenagers often listening to music which annoys their parents. ' Easter egg ' is a term used to describe a hidden inside joke or feature inside software. Here, the daughter has been treated like a piece of software by her father Cueball. He states that since the kids on purpose chooses music and culture that they know annoys their parents, it is a fair retaliation to build in such Easter egg responses. Many people would probably disagree on this, but maybe not so much parents with teenagers at home.
[In a frame crossing the top border of the first panel of the comic:] The future
[Cueball is sitting at a futuristic desktop computer with the curved screen and keyboard both floating above the table, and a girl with pigtails is standing behind him with a portable ultra-thin screen. She shows the screen to Cueball. On it is a man with dark hair.] Girl: Hey dad, look at this old music video. Video: We're no strangers to love... Cueball: Wow, you got me.
[The girl now looks at the device.] Girl: Did your generation really use this to troll people? So lame. You know, you guys sucked at pranks.
[The girl is holding the device down along her legs as Cueball turns from his computer and addresses her.] Cueball: Did we? I once raised a kid with conditioning so her speech centers shut down when she was upset.
[The girl has dropped the device on the floor and is fisting her hands. Cueball has turned back and is typing on the keyboard.] Girl: What? No, you couldn't have bleegle warble yargle arrgh! Cueball: Teehee.


Swine Flu

Explanation:
Swine flu is a strain of the flu which can be transmitted from pigs to humans. In 2009, it was the origin of the Pandemic H1N1/09 virus , which most news stations called either "H1N1" (the subtype name) or "swine flu". Because of the ambiguous name given to it and the somewhat hazy description of the transmittal process and dangers to humans, many people were concerned about the virus in ways that weren't going to be threats. This comic pokes a bit of fun at the overreaction by users on Twitter .
Randall (or someone else) seems to have created Twitter accounts for all referenced handles (that may not have already existed). Some of the handles continue their interactions with each other in later tweets.
Skeeve37 is a self-described hypochondriac . The tweet exemplifies the general populace's over-concern with the "animal themed" pandemics. Similarly after the bird flu scare, people avoided eating chicken.
Hanneloreec is a self-described "young lady who is concerned about many things". She is a reoccurring character in the webcomic Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques, who also manages her twitter handle.
Paulyshorefan 's tweet is a reference to the flash game " Pandemic 2 ", in which players try to create a disease that infects the whole world. Madagascar is the most difficult country to infect, as it only has 1 port and often closes it at the slightest hint of an infection. The difficulty of infecting Madagascar has caused it to become a meme . The user's Twitter handle is a reference to Pauly Shore , a comedian who was briefly popular in the 1990s before quickly becoming out of favor and derided as unfunny.
CrackMonkey74 's tweet is a parody of viral Christian(?) messages that say that current tragedies are God's punishment, despite the fact that the Bible says that the end is not yet to come. More specifically, Crackmonkey74 blames the ACLU , lesbians (a reference to the current culture wars that give big press towards proponents of same-sex marriage against fundamentalist Christians), 9/11 (the day when the Twin Towers fell, causing controversy on whether Muslim terrorists crashed their planes on the towers or whether the government staged this by purposefully demolishing the towers) and nanobots (possibly a reference towards the highly promising but still relatively not understood field of nanotechnology, plus another reference towards the phrase "playing God"). He is likely the same Crackmonkey74 from 406: Venting and 202: YouTube .
Twilight7531 's tweet implies that she got a bone fracture which ended up protruding from her arm. However, she seems to lack medical knowledge, so she is worried that her fracture is actually swine flu (though how she can be typing with a broken arm is confusing).
Wigu 's tweet is a reply towards Untoward 's. Given the context, Untoward seems to have "gotten intimate" with a pig (since syphilis is a venereal disease). Given the fact that Untoward got sick because of a pig, Untoward seems to have concluded that he got swine flu.
The last comment by 2011Seniorsrule references a medical paper published by the journal The Lancet , in which it is proposed that autism is caused by vaccination . Since then, the paper was partially retracted in 2004, and fully retracted in 2010 because of conflicts of interest. The entire incident has been defined as the MMR vaccine controversy . This stance has still been seen since the retraction of the paper, and still holds some popularity by cranks , quacks , pseudoscientists , and conspiracy theorists alike who are convinced that the CDC is hiding vital data that proves vaccines cause autism . The most famous figure in support of it is Jenny McCarthy . This Twitter user is not only using a debunked study about a completely different set of vaccines, they have also confused cause and effect (i.e. even if vaccines caused autism, that doesn't mean that autistic people carry flu vaccines). Also, licking vaccinated people isn't how vaccines are administered. On top of that, fear of germs and/or hypersensitivity is common among autistic people, so "licking an autistic kid" may be a difficult and possibly painful experience for the lickee. (By contrast, allistic children are well known to enjoy being licked.)
The title text at first states the fact that some flu symptoms are actually the symptoms of the body's reaction, and can in some cases be more dramatic than the initial infection. E.g. A fever is a defense mechanism of the body against a disease. Then the title text makes the recommendation, to protect oneself from an overreaction by living an unhealthy life. This is not a good advice. [ citation needed ]
[Caption:] Twitter is great for watching uninformed panics unfold live.
[The comic shows a twitter search results page with "Swine flu" in the search box and a gray search button.] twitter [Swine flu] (search)
[The results is displayed in a frame below the search panel:] Realtime results for Swine flu 0.05
[This next line is highlighted in yellow. Most text here and below is written in normal black font, but the underlined links in the main text is in blue. Below each tweet is a line with info and reply links etc. all in gray font. Between the yellow line and the first tweet and between each tweet is a dotted line.] 1,918 more results since you started searching. Refresh to see.
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Skeeve37 : Oh god I ate pork yesterday before I knew about swine flu!

Less than 10 seconds ago from web ∙ reply ∙ view tweet
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Hanneloreec : Without duct tape I can't seal the door to keep out swine flu but I can't get duct tape without going outside! Help! Less than 10 seconds ago from web ∙ reply ∙ view tweet
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Paulyshorefan : How long until the swine flu reaches me here in Madagascar? Less than 10 seconds ago from web ∙ reply ∙ view tweet
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CrackMonkey74 : Swine flu is God's punishment for the ACLU and lesbians and 9/11 and nanobots! Less than 10 seconds ago from web ∙ reply ∙ view tweet
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Twilight7531 : I fell down the stairs and there was a crack and a jagged white thing is sticking out of my arm guys is this swine flu? Less than 10 seconds ago from twitterific ∙ reply ∙ view tweet
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Wigu : @Untoward : No, that sounds like syphilis, not swine flu. What did you say you did with a pig? Less than 10 seconds ago from tweetdeck ∙ reply ∙ view tweet
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2011Seniursrule : My Dad said flu vaccines are linked to autism, so to be safe from swine flu I'm trying to lick an autistic kid. Less than 10 seconds ago from web ∙ reply ∙ view tweet
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CrackMonkey74 has appeared in two earlier comics: 202: YouTube and 406: Venting .


Tag Combination

Explanation:
Song tags are a form of file metadata used to categorize music. Tags will typically describe the content and genre of the song, and many music organization programs and services will allow users to find all songs that contain a particular tag; so when a user searches for "Country breakup music," they will receive a list of country songs about breaking up.
In this comic, Cueball tests Megan 's claim that she can make a song name for any set of tags by coming up with a collection of mostly unrelated words: " lesbian voyeurism one-hit wonder mash-up ." A lesbian is a woman who is only sexually interested in other women. Voyeurism is the act of watching someone else do something sexual, generally without their knowledge. A one-hit wonder is a band that had "one big hit" before fading from the public eye forever. A mash-up is when someone takes two previously unrelated songs and makes a third song that's a mix of both of them (a recent example of which would be this Gangam Style/Ghostbusters theme mashup ). In response, Megan immediately replies with one song title that looks like it would fit the tags well. When Cueball asks for a second example, Megan gives him a new example for the same set of tags, which is really impressive.
Megan's first title, "I Wish That Stacy's Mom Had Jessie's Girl" is a mash-up of "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield (see video on YouTube), and "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne (see video on YouTube), the latter was a one-hit-wonder , whereas Springfield has had several other hits. (The song Stacy's Mom was referenced in comic 61: Stacey's Dad ).
The second title, "When You Come on Eileen I Touch Myself" is a mash-up of "Come on Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners (see video on YouTube), and "I Touch Myself" by Divinyls (see video on YouTube). Both of these are one-hit wonders (and can both be found on this list of such songs). Note that "Come on, Eileen" means "Hurry up, Eileen", and that "to come on someone" means to ejaculate on someone. Since the song is about lesbian sex, come on someone must mean have an orgasm while being on someone.
For other random connections see 305: Rule 34 .
The title text is a set of potential lyrics to Megan's second title. Randall borrowed the rhyme scheme, phrasing, and subject matter from the first eight stanzas of "I Touch Myself" with additional subject matter inspired by "Come on Eileen." The final stanza is the chorus lead-in from the latter.
The lyrics suggest a changed relationship between the characters. In the original "I Touch Myself", the female singer touches herself (masturbates) when thinking about her lover (of unspecified gender); instead, she now does this while a new third character makes love to her beloved, Eileen, while the singer overhears them (as a voyeur) from the apartment above.
Here are the lyrics for I Touch Myself and Come on Eileen . Below in the table the mashed up lines are shown. As can be seen most of the text is from "I Touch Myself":
[Cueball and Megan are talking.] Cueball: So you can come up with a song title fitting any tag combination? Megan: Try me.
[Cueball and Megan are talking.] Cueball: Lesbian voyeurism one-hit wonder mash-up. Megan: "I wish that Stacey's Mom had Jessie's Girl."
[Cueball and Megan are just standing there for a beat panel.]
[Cueball and Megan are talking.] Cueball: Well, that was one, but- Megan: "When you Come On Eileen I touch myself." Cueball: Okay, wow.

Both song names that Megan produces are in iambic pentameter , suggesting that Megan's hobby has the flavor of Cueball's in 79: Iambic Pentameter .


Packages

Explanation:
Cueball wrote a script that searches online shopping sites for items that cost US$1 with free shipping. Because the script is programmed to use an account with a $365 balance, this script will buy one random item per day for a full year. Megan comments that Cueball might just end up with "lots of crap" but he replies that he might get something interesting.
Over five days the script orders a length of rubber hose, a ski mask, a bear trap, a map of The Pentagon and "lube" (sexual lubrication). This pattern prompts Cueball to stop the script out of fear of being placed on a FBI watch list; to a paranoid passerby, the purchased items make Cueball look like a terrorist who plans to kidnap and torture federal employees. And also a pervert; such a contrast is considered funny.
In the title text a sixth item is sent, a bobcat . This is probably connected with 325: A-Minus-Minus where Black Hat delivered a bobcat instead of a chair.
[Cueball is sitting at his computer.] Cueball: I love getting packages.
[Megan enters and Cueball turns towards her.] Cueball: I set up a script to search eBay et. al. for $1 items with free shipping.
[Cueball comes home with a backpack on his back and find a package waiting for him on his doorstop.] Cueball: I gave it $365, so each day it can buy me something random.
[Cueball, again sitting at his computer.] Megan (off-screen): What if you just end up with lots of crap? Cueball: I'll give it away. Cueball: But I'm sure I'll end up with some interesting stuff.
[The next five panels have a caption in a black frame at the top. The caption is written first for each panel. In the first panel Cueball has unpacked a hose. The paper lies in tatters on the floor. Megan stands next to him.] Day 1: Length of rubber hose Cueball: Could be handy around the house.
[Cueball stands with a black item and the packaging material it came in. Megan looks on.] Day 2: Ski mask Cueball: It's spring, but hey.
[Cueball is standing alone with a bear trap and the box it came in on the floor.] Day 3: Bear trap Cueball: Huh.
[Megan is back as Cueball looks at a piece of paper that came in an envelope.] Day 4: Tourist map of the Pentagon. Megan: Uh oh.
[Cueball is standing alone with a bottle of lube in one hand and the box it came in in the other hand.] Day 5: Lube Cueball: I'm stopping this before I end up on every F.B.I. watch list ever.
Someone has set up an actual service inspired by this comic, which does exactly what this comic describes, and has been featured in the advertisements section to the left.


The Race Part 1

Explanation:
This is possibly a continuation of 139: I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards .
Firefly was a television series aired by Fox in 2002 that got cancelled mid-way through, but it has a large fan base nowadays (for a more comprehensive explanation, see the Wikipedia page). The star of the show was Captain Malcolm (or Mal) Reynolds, played by Nathan Fillion .
So in this comic, Megan tells Cueball that Nathan Fillion has an electric skateboard. Cueball immediately starts planning a trip to visit and race Nathan Fillion.
The title text refers to an earlier comic 211: Hamster Ball Heist , where Cueball kidnaps Wayne Coyne in his hamster ball.
All comics in " The Race " series:
This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.
Electric skateboards have been the subject of several other comics like 139: I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards , 409: Electric Skateboard (Double Comic) and a panel in 442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel .
Megan: Huh, cool. Nathan Fillion (Mal from Firefly) has an electric skateboard. Just like you!
[Cueball leaves the room.]
Megan: Did you hear that? Nathan- Sounds from off-screen: Ratchet Zip Buckle
[Cueball returns wearing helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, sunglasses and holding his electric skateboard.] Cueball: I heard. Gimme the computer. I need to book a flight.
[Caption in a black frame at the bottom of the last panel:] To be continued...


The Race Part 2

Explanation:
Firefly was a television series aired by Fox in 2002. The star of the show was Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds , played by Nathan Fillion .
Megan tries to play the rational card, and insist that the characters of major TV shows must get tired of fans' never-ending need to see them playing that character, and never being themselves. Nathan Fillion, however, appears to miss the days of Firefly so much that he spends his time reenacting his role as Malcolm at home.
In the fourth panel Cueball suggests they race for charities, which would mean the winner gets to donate the prize money to their charity of choice. In the fifth panel Fillion, takes the phrase and twists it to mean that the winner gets the charity. This is why Cueball says the confused line "Come again?"
The title text refers both to Mal being referred to by Kaylee as "Captain Tightpants" in the episode "Shindig" , and to Captain Hammer, a superhero played by Nathan Fillion in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog , another series created by Joss Whedon . "Hammerpants" may also be a reference to the odd, puffy parachute pants worn by 1990s rapper MC Hammer.
All comics in " The Race " series:
This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.
Electric skateboards have been the subject of several other comics like 139: I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards , 409: Electric Skateboard (Double Comic) and a panel in 442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel .
[Cueball with skateboard and gear and Megan are talking.] Cueball: "Why race him?" He's Captain Reynolds! Megan: Mr. Fillion is an actor. Firefly was years ago.
[They go over to a computer; Cueball is using a phone and presumably looking up a phone number.] Megan: He has his own life to live, and I'm sure the last thing he wants to do is indulge a fan by playing Mal for him.
Meanwhile... [Nathan Fillion is standing in front of a mirror in a trenchcoat.] Nathan: (into the mirror) Name's Captain Reynolds, ma'am. *ahem* Name's Captain Reynolds, ma'am. Someone offpanel: Nathan? Telephone! Nathan: That's Captain! Someone offpanel: Fine, Captain Nathan. Nathan: No, use my space name! Someone offpanel: *sigh*
[Nathan and Cueball talk on the phone.] Cueball: So, how about we race for charities?
Nathan: Sure. Always did want a charity of my own.
Cueball (between panels): Come again?
Nathan: You know, boxes in supermarkets collecting food. 'Course, ought to tack up a list sayin' which wines I like best...
Cueball: Uh, that's not quite— Nathan (over the phone): Listen, I'm the captain here. Cueball: ...I just got goosebumps when you said that.
Nathan: Yeah, happens to me too whenever I get captainy. I cut such a strapping figure. Nathan: Buckle! Swash! Nathan: All right, let's do this race.


The Race Part 3

Explanation:
Firefly was a television series aired by Fox in 2002 that got cancelled midway through, but it has a large fan base nowadays (for a more comprehensive explanation, see the Wikipedia page). The star of the show was Captain Malcolm (or Mal) Reynolds, played by Nathan Fillion . Other members of his crew were Kaylee (played by Jewel Staite ), the ship's mechanic, Inara Serra (played by Morena Baccarin ) was a Companion (or, as Mal would say: whore) that helped Serenity (the spaceship) gain a landing on many planets that otherwise would have nothing to do with Mal. River Tam (played by Summer Glau ) was the seemingly crazy younger sister of Dr. Simon Tam (played by Sean Maher ), and due to her latent psionic powers and the damage from the experiments she had undergone, she was known for making odd, out-of-context statements.
When Cueball is introduced to the first two women, he learns that they behave in real life as on the Firefly show (Summer is strange and Jewel is a mechanical wiz) - this is why he begins to ask about Morena Baccarin, and also why the other two says no. before he can finish the question is she really a prostitute ?
In the last panel, Kaylee apparently wired up Mal's controller to broadcast on the frequency of Cueball's skateboard, so it took control of his board, where Mal's stood still. (Buy a few RC models ( Radio-controlled model ) to play with friends and inevitably this will happen. Where two controllers broadcast on the same frequency, so the two models are confused by the signals they receive.)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a television series aired by Fox from 2008-09. Summer Glau played the role of Cameron, a Terminator; Cameron was played in a distinctly "strange" manner as a humanoid robot who finds much about humanity puzzling. Combined with her role as River Tam, the joke is that it wasn't Summer's characters who were eccentric, but that Summer Glau herself is actually just as strange and eccentric as she is shown to be on screen.
All comics in " The Race " series:
This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.
Electric skateboards have been the subject of several other comics like 139: I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards , 409: Electric Skateboard (Double Comic) and a panel in 442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel .
[Nathan, Cueball, and Summer Glau standing around with electric skateboards.] Nathan: Meet a few of my friends. This is- Cueball: Summer Glau! You were the best part of Chronicles .
Summer: I eat my bodyweight in food every 31 days. That's slightly faster than the human average.
[Summer stares off into space.]
Nathan: Yeah, there's a reason she only plays strange roles. Cueball: Ah. Summer (from below): I'm part of the floor now.
[They find Jewel Staite working on a skateboard's engine.] Nathan: And this is Kaylee. Jewel: My name is Jewel, Nathan.
Nathan: Kaylee— Jewel: Jewel . Nathan: —Jewel is fixin' up my new board. Jewel: Almost done!
Cueball: So wait. Summer's actually weird, Jewel's actually a mechanical whiz...
Cueball: ...will Morena Baccarin be here? Is she really a— Nathan and Jewel: No.
The racers set up [Nathan and Jewel are to the far left of a full-width panel. Nathan is standing on his skateboard holding a controller. Cueball is on his skateboard which is careening out of control on the far right of the panel.] Nathan: Kaylee, I've been gunnin' the radio hand throttle thingy for a while, but it ain't movin'. Jewel: Oh, I must've set it to the wrong frequency! Cueball (riding around on haywire board): AAAAAAAA


The Race Part 4

Explanation:
Firefly was a television series aired by Fox in 2002, but it was canceled after only fourteen episodes had been produced. Over ten years later, it still has a devoted fan base, apparently including Randall . The main characters were the crew of the spaceship "Serenity", including Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds ( Nathan Fillion ), mechanical genius Kaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye ( Jewel Staite ), the apparently insane psychic River Tam ( Summer Glau ), and six others not mentioned in this comic.
Nathan Fillion appeared naked at the beginning and end of the show's eleventh episode, "Trash", after having been stripped of all his weapons, equipment, and clothes in a desert. Cueball is mentally overloaded by this image (either aroused or repulsed it is hard to say) to the extent that he misses the start signal.
Worried about his pursuer, Nathan wants to perform a Crazy Ivan , an emergency maneuver used by the crew of Serenity in the pilot episode of the series to escape the hot pursuit of a Reaver ship. It involves a 180° spin turn followed by rapid acceleration towards (and hopefully past) the pursuer, which does not have the ability to make such a rapid turn. In a Firefly -class vessel, it is performed by temporarily reversing the direction of thrust of one of the two atmospheric engines, achieved by physically rotating the engine nacelle.
The name of the maneuver is taken from the antics of Soviet submarines in trying to detect (not to evade) enemy submarines hiding in the sonar blind-spot directly behind their vessel. In reality, sharp turns suffice for this purpose; it is not necessary to completely reverse direction. The name entered popular culture after being used in the movie The Hunt For Red October .
Nathan appears to understand exactly what will happen. He asks Jewel to "override the remote differential ", implying that the two driven wheels could then be powered in opposite directions, causing a spin-turn. As Jewel points out, this will be unlikely to have the intended effect. Nathan is much heavier than his vehicle, and he is not securely attached to it. Momentum is his enemy. Even if it were successful, it would be utterly pointless, because he would find himself heading away from the finish line. Cueball is only pursuing him with the intent to overtake him, and the Crazy Ivan guarantees that this will happen.
Summer Glau is often a target of sexual attraction for her appearance and her well-known, eccentric characters. River Tam, in the movie Serenity , had subconscious programming that caused her to be able to take on dozens of foes in hand-to-hand combat, and her Terminator character in The Sarah Connor Chronicles also regularly beat on men far larger than her, which, for many, just adds to the attraction. Thus, even as Summer fells him with a devastating kick to the face, Cueball is incredibly aroused.
The title text refers to a common ability in fiction for characters to come up with an idea that is 'just crazy enough to work'. In real-life situations (such as an electric skateboard race), people are rarely able to come up with an idea that is just out-of-the-ordinary enough to work perfectly, and in their attempts to do so, will come up with an idea that will instead absolutely fail to work (and make them look like fools to boot).
All comics in " The Race " series:
This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.
Electric skateboards have been the subject of several other comics like 139: I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards , 409: Electric Skateboard (Double Comic) and a panel in 442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel .
[Cueball and Nathan Fillion are ready on the start line on their electric skateboards.] Voice off panel: On your mark...
Voice: Get set... Nathan: Remember episode 11, when I got all naked in that desert?
Voice: Go! [Nathan speeds away leaving Cueball standing at the start line.]
Voice: ...I said "Go." Voice: Someone throw some water on him. Cueball: Can't...get it...out of my head...
[Nathan on walkie talkie, speeding on his skateboard.] Nathan: He's right behind me. Kaylee, I'm gonna try a Crazy Ivan. Jewel [on walkie talkie] ( 579 shows Nathan's naming confusion): That doesn't make any sense, Nathan. Nathan: Trust me.
Jewel: No, I mean it's not a skateboard maneuver. The concept doesn't even apply to this situation. Nathan [via walkie talkie]: That's why it just might work! Jewel: No, that's the opposite of true!
Nathan: On my mark, override the remote differential and throw her into a spin. Jewel [via walkie talkie]: okay, but— Nathan: Mark! WHAM
[Nathan lying injured on the ground next to his skateboard, Cueball cruises past.] Whirrrrrrrr
[Nathan, trying to stand up.] Nathan: I'm down. Tell Summer "The chickens are in the hayloft. Plan Gamma is a go."
[Nathan, one foot on skateboard, looking at walkie talkie.] mumbling from walkie talkie Jewel: She says, "Plan gamma acknowledged. The meerkats are in the bag. [Summer Glau is walking off panel.]
Jewel [to walkee talkie]: So we're good? Nathan: Hard to tell with her. Do you see an actual bag of meerkats? Jewel: No. Nathan: Then we're probably good.
[Cueball screeching to a halt as he sees Summer Glau.] Cueball: Oh! Hi, Miss Glau! I'd love to talk, but Nathan's back on his feet and catching up.
[Summer grabs Cueball's arm.] Grab Cueball: Wha—
[Summer kicks Cueball in the face whilst pulling his arm towards her, he flies off his skateboard.]
[Summer walking away as Cueball lies crippled on the floor with his sunglasses beside him.]
[Cueball still lying on the floor.]
Cueball [thinking]: I've never been so turned on in my life.


The Race Part 5

Explanation:
This is a continuation of the previous comic in " The Race " series, 580: The Race: Part 4 .
In panel 6 (2nd panel in the 2nd row), Nathan Fillion line is reminiscent of a similar quote from the 2nd episode of Firefly , The Train Job : "I just wanted you to face me so she could get behind ya." In the show, Malcolm Reynolds is aided by Zoë Washburne , his second in command, who gets behind the bar thug he is speaking to. In the comic, Nathan Fillion is using the line on a fan, but Gina Torres is not standing behind Cueball this time.
Summer's line about growing but not retracting her hair appears to mean that because Nathan used her to stop Cueball, she has to stop him as well, which she neatly does. Alternatively, the line may be a random non-sequitur of the sort often uttered by her neurologically damaged character in the Firefly 'verse.
"Bwah!" is a sound Malcolm makes during one episode in which one of his crewmembers inadvertently sneaks up on him while trying to ask him a question. When he is questioned about it, he says he has invented a new war cry, and promptly practices yelling 'Bwahhhh' in a confident manner while readying his pistol.
Summer's statement in the 10th panel about swallowing a bug is a reference to the movie Serenity , made in 2005 to conclude Firefly's storyline. After a harrowing high-speed chase in an open-topped hovercraft, the only comment from Summer's character is "I swallowed a bug," showing that she was either unconcerned, or stunned, by the narrow escape.
The final panel is a reference to Fox Television 's treatment of Firefly . Firefly was cancelled after only 11 episodes of the 14 made were aired, leaving three episodes unaired.
Internet petitions, contrary to the sarcastic suggestion in the final panel, pretty much never work.
All comics in " The Race " series:
This series was released on five consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.
Electric skateboards have been the subject of several other comics like 139: I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards , 409: Electric Skateboard (Double Comic) and a panel in 442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel .
[Nathan skates in.] Nathan: So you took care of him? Summer: I can extrude hair, but I  can't retract it. Nathan: That a yes? [Summer grabs Nathan's arm as he skates past her, pulling him off the board.] Nathan: Bwah! [An Andy Capp-esque meleè dust cloud.] WHAP BAM POW WHAM [Summer skates away.] [A beat-up Nathan approaches an similarly battered Cueball.] Nathan: She may have my board, but I can still beat you to the finish line if I bring you down. Cueball: Bring it, Captain Tightpants. Nathan: I've got nothing to  bring. I just said that so she could get behind you. [Cueball turns.] Cueball: Who— [Cueball is hit with his board.] WHAM [Nathan stands over a prone Cueball.] Nathan: I just said that so I could get behind you. The serious fans always fall for the quotes. [Wide panel of Summer crossing the finishing line on Nathan's board, breaking through the tape.] Announcer: And the winner is... Off-screen voice: Summer Glau? Summer: I swallowed a bug again. [Close-up of Cueball's beaten face.] Cueball: All right, Fillion. I've had enough of your treachery and ...rugged good looks. This ends here. [Equally close-up: Nathan's face, bearing several grazes.] Nathan: All right, fanboy. Let this be our final battle. [They rush at each other, fists ready to swing punches.] Final battle canceled by Fox. Try an Internet petition drive - those totally work.


Brakes

Explanation:
A car's brakes fail on a winding mountain road. As a response, the driver calls a live radio phone-in show, overlooking the fact that he is in immediate danger and has no time to gather outside advice before improvising a solution. The driver loses control of the car and plunges over a cliff.
If this ever happens to you,
http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-a-Car-with-No-Brakes
The title text refers to Tom and Ray Magliozzi who were the co-hosts of the weekly radio show Car Talk . It was a car advice/comedy radio show often aired on NPR stations. While there is some actual advice given on the radio show, it's presented as a comedy/entertainment show. Much of the show did involve the hosts "gasping and hacking" as they ask non-relevant questions of the callers and add their own commentary or relate other personal asides and stories.
Since he claims that he has 6.5 funny seconds, he must have connected with them way before going over the cliff. Because in 6.5 seconds a car would fall approximately 200 m (½*g*t^2, with g = 9.81 m/s^2, and t the time in seconds. This will give 207 m, but there will be a lot of air resistance). It is clear from the drawing that the car is still going almost straight out into the air, so it is still almost at the height where it left the road at quite a high speed (to get this far away without turning the engine down towards earth yet.) And the front of the car is just about 5 car lengths to the ground, which would make this a 10-15 m drop only (which would take less than 2 seconds to fall). But according to the comic it seems like he first connected with the show, just when the car has left the road...
Of the potential responses to my brakes' failure, I did not choose the best. [A cliff is visible, with a car flying off it, and trees below.] Voice from car: Hello, you're on Car Talk.


CNR

Explanation:
"Could not reproduce" (CNR as per the title) is used here as a double entendre . Because the reported bug is that speech recognition failed on a young child's voice, the programmers attempt to reproduce (biologically) in order to have a child to use as a test subject to understand and fix the bug, starting by reproducing it (the bug). However the attempt fails, as shown by the negative pregnancy test, and therefore the bug report is closed with the reason being "could not reproduce": they could not reproduce the bug because they could not reproduce biologically.
Nowadays, developers of software usually have a centralized repository of bugs which generally uses one of a handful of standard interfaces for tracking problems and desired features in software.  There is usually a quick way of removing pending items from this system by changing the status to closed and selecting a reason from perhaps a dropdown list.  "Could not reproduce" is a standard reason provided in almost all of these systems, so the novel pun provides extra humor to software developers.  This reason also shows up in comic 937: TornadoGuard .
The secondary joke is that Megan has chosen a ridiculous method of obtaining a child for the relatively simple task of testing the software. The obvious solution is to find a pre-existing child to use; [ citation needed ] giving birth to (and, presumably, raising) a child would burden the programmers with serious expenses, health concerns, and responsibilities; and it would take years before the child would be able to speak clearly enough to use the program.
The title-text "Can't and shouldn't" qualifies the bug report, meaning that the programmers not only could not reproduce, they also should not reproduce, as their reasons for doing so shows they have exceedingly bad judgment. (They also have poor child-rearing skills, as demonstrated in comic 674: Natural Parenting .)
[Megan is sitting at a computer.] Computer: Speech2Text Commander Computer: Bug #167801 Computer: Speech recognition fails on young child voices. Megan: Hmm.
[The view enlarges to show a man sitting at another desk.] Megan: Hey, can you do me without a condom? We need a young child for something. Cueball: Okay.
[A pregnancy test is displayed. The label indicates not pregnant.] Pregnant Not pregnant
[Megan is typing on the computer.] Megan typing: Bug #167801 Megan typing: Status: Closed Megan typing: Reason: Could not reproduce.


Unsatisfied

Explanation:
Cueball is trying to decide if he wants to stay with Ponytail who he is currently dating or leave her and have a relationship with Megan . The comic suggests that no matter which one he chooses he will never truly achieve happiness because of his longing for the option he chose not to take. In a sense this is a no-win situation . No matter what he does of interesting stuff (sex or otherwise) with Ponytail he will be thinking forever of Megan, and vice versa. This even goes on after he dies, where he lies next to one of them and thinks he would rather have been buried next to the other girl.
The title text is referring to a concept in computer science. All comparison based sorting algorithms are incapable of sorting an arbitrary set of n values faster than an order of n*log(n). On the other hand, non-comparison sorting algorithms (e.g. bucket sort ) with external knowledge of the distribution of the values can sort them with order n. If Cueball was capable of establishing an external scale he could use a non-comparison sort, but as he does not know what the best thing for him is he is stuck with comparisons and thus he can't achieve better performance.
This comic is possibly a sequel to 310: Commitment .
[Cueball is holding hands with Ponytail, while he is looking at Megan to the far right.] [Below this first central panel there are two arrows that direct the comic into a pair of different paths. Beneath each of the next three double panels there is a small arrow pointing straight down.]
(Left path) [Cueball has turned away from Megan (off-screen) and is now kissing Ponytail, but he is thinking about Megan.] (Right path) [Cueball walks away from Ponytail (off-screen) and reaches out to Megan, but he is thinking about Ponytail.]
(Left path) [Cueball is performing cunnilingus on Ponytail, he is still thinking about Megan.] (Right path) [Cueball and Megan have sex on the arm of a chair, he is still thinking about Ponytail.]
(Left path) [Cueball and Ponytail are drawing something together, and he is still thinking about Megan.] (Right path) [Cueball and Megan are hiking together, and he is still thinking about Ponytail.]
(Left path) [Cueball and Ponytail are holding hands looking at each other, and he continues to think of Megan.] (Right path) [Cueball and Megan are holding hands looking at each other, and he continues to think of Ponytail.]
[Below the previous two panels two longer arrows again reunite into one central panel.] [Two gravestones are next to each other. One of them (Cueball's) is thinking about a third gravestone (for the girl he did not choose).]


Outreach

Explanation:
Scientific animal tracking is commonly used to learn more about other species, particularly endangered ones, as a way of better understanding their physiology, behavior, and what risks they face in the wild. It's used in a wide variety of sciences, including wildlife biology, conservation, wildlife management and zoology.
The scientists in this comic are working on a rather limited budget as Ponytail explains, say that they can't afford the (relatively minuscule) cost of hiring someone to retrieve a tracking tag from the water. So they devise a plan that would actually cost far more: create one that will pop free, float to the surface, and inflate a giant helium balloon, causing it to gradually drift over land. Eventually, the balloon will slowly deflate and soft-land, and with any luck someone will find it and mail it back to the scientists.  The shark is depicted much larger than the humans, and the quantity of helium necessary to lift it (as the later panels show) would be extremely expensive.
It goes horribly, hilariously wrong. The tag can't quite pop free from the shark, and proceeds to inflate the balloon while the shark is still attached . Although the balloon is shown too small to lift the shark (a helium balloon can only lift approximately one gram per liter in air), but the shark miraculously rises right along with the tracker tag, drifts back over land, and goes right after the scientists that had been tracking it.
When Science Girl (maybe in her first appearance, before she got her buns) sees the two scientists running frantically from a flying shark, she figures that if such excitement is a daily part of a scientist's job, that's the job for her, as she tells her daddy Cueball . The title of the comic, Outreach , refers to the type of activities that scientists do in order to motivate kids to become scientists when they grow up, and it clearly worked for Science Girl who displays keen interest and great knowledge on many subjects in her next appearances.
The title text suggests keeping shark repellent by one's bed to account for the quite-unlikely event of something like this happening. Because you never know. It may be a reference to the Adam West Batman film where Batman just happens to have some in his helicopter.
In reality, a balloon meant for lifting a tracker tag would be much too small to lift the shark, which is portrayed as being larger than person, so there is no danger. In addition, since sharks are fish, and fish cannot survive above water, the shark would die even if this could happened in real life. This doesn't stop movies like Sharknado (which was filmed after this comic) to portray sharks floating in the air.
The title text of 1910: Sky Spotters seems to be a reference to this comic.
[Ponytail faces two Cueball-like guys. All three are wearing goggles and lab-coats. Between them on a shelf stands a microscope and a beaker.] Ponytail: The tracking tag will record the shark's movement and habits.
[The capsule is shown to float upward towards a water surface.] Ponytail (narrating): Then, it will pop free and float to the surface.
[A coast is shown, with arrows directed from water to land. A small white circle on one of the arrows indicate the balloon.] Ponytail (narrating): We can't afford a recovery program, so the capsules will inflate helium balloons, drift over land,
[The capsule is shown in close up. It has a caption on it.] Ponytail (narrating):  And hopefully be found and mailed to us. Any questions? Caption: If found please call
[Ponytail is standing over a groggy shark on a boat, with water behind her and a coastline in the background. She attaches the tracking tag to the shark.] Chunk
[The shark is dropped headfirst off the boat, into the water with a large splash.] Sploosh Shark: !!!
[The course of the shark is shown, weaving around islands.]
[The capsule is shown sticking out of the shark at the moment it is ready to pop free.] Click
[The capsule remains attached to the shark.]
[The balloon starts to inflate, still attached to the shark and underwater.] Hissss
[As the balloon inflates, it starts to pull the shark to the surface.] Shark: ??
[The balloon breaks the surface, pulling the shark with it.]
[Science Girl with a black ponytail, eating an ice cream cone is standing together with Cueball to the right in an otherwise empty frame.]
[Two screaming scientists (A Cueball-like guy and Ponytail) runs past the two, who turns to look after them. The guy is holding the microscope and Ponytail the beaker from the first frame.] Scientists: Aaaaaaaa
[A shark attached to a huge balloon floats past the girl and Cueball, it follows the scientists while snapping it's jaws.] Shark: Chomp chomp
[After the shark is gone, Science Girl turns to Cueball.] Science Girl: Daddy? Cueball: Yes? Science Girl: I want to be a scientist.


Mission to Culture

Explanation:
Cueball wants to take Megan out for his idea of a cultural experience; a symphony . The inference is that Megan's culturally impoverished because "all she ever listens to is techno ". After much griping on various levels, for instance complaining that all the other attendees are above sixty years old, she starts to get into the experience — sort of. The big 'cultural lesson' she (mis)gleans from the experience is similar to what a sporting aficionado would gain from watching a sports event. So it could be said that Cueball's mission to culture was a mission impossible in Megan's case.
Her observation regards the seating configuration of a typical modern orchestra , in which the violinists all sit audience-left, while the violists , cellists and bassists , with clearly larger instruments, are on the right. But it is not the size of an instrument that determines the payroll of a musician. [ citation needed ]
The title text is just icing on the cake. A sampler is an instrument frequently used in techno music that samples other sounds and plays them back, usually electronically altered. Remixing is a process, also often used in techno, of editing recorded music to get a different sound. Many classical pieces have had success as techno remixes. One example is Pachelbel's Canon in D major, referred to in the title text of 339: Classic .
Techno music is the subject of 411: Techno and is also referenced in 740: The Tell-Tale Beat .
Three of the old people in the line look very similar to the old people in 572: Together . In the very next comic 587: Crime Scene a man is again shown with hair only around the side of his head.
[Cueball is pulling Megan by her feet. She is holding onto the carpet, which visibly folds under her tug.] Cueball: We're getting some culture in you if it kills you. Megan: Don't wanna.
[Cueball is pushing Megan at the front door, with steps leading down outside. Megan is curled up with both her feet and her hands up on the middle of the door, her back arching out towards Cueball.] Cueball: All you listen to is techno. Megan: But... the symphony?
[Cueball and Megan stand in line between two other couples; A guy, who only has hair around his neck and a cane, and Hairbun stands behind them. A guy with a sailor cap and a woman with a big hair stands before them.] Megan: I think we're the only people here under 60. Cueball: Shhh.
[The couple sit in the audience just before the concert.] Megan: The right side is definitely better. Cueball: Better? Megan: They've all got bigger instruments. I bet they make more money. Cueball: *Sigh*


Crime Scene

Explanation:
Mathnet was a segment on the children's television show "Square One Television", where police mathematicians solved crimes and other mysteries by math. It parodies the Dragnet TV show (and earlier radio drama ) about the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).  This comic plays on that by implying that Mathnet was a real department of the LAPD, and that when the show was cancelled and the department was shut down its mathematicians were forced to become regular detectives.
Here, George Frankly, one of the two lead detectives on the show (a parody of Dragnet character Frank Smith), observes a murder scene along with another officer. His fellow officer, knowing him, tries to tell him off by saying that it is just two dead bodies. As a mathematician, George is constantly looking for potential patterns in the data. However, in this instance there are no obvious mathematical patterns, yet George nonetheless tries to look for one and observes that "two" is the third Fibonacci number . Since several small numbers are in the Fibonacci sequence, the fact that the number of bodies is one of these numbers is not the least interesting. The other officer tries to shut him down, discouraging this unhelpful line of thought.
The title text shows that this may not have helped since George now thinks he can see a Mandelbrot set , but he does quickly realizes that it was just blood splatters. The Mandelbrot set is a formula used to create certain kinds of fractals that you might imagine seeing in the something like blood spatters. The last word Golly is in response to George realizing he is seeing blood spatters - something he probably never did before on the children show.
The second comic in a row (and third in 16 comics) where a man is drawn with hair only on the sides of his head.
[A crime scene is surrounded by tape wound around several pins four of which are inside this panel. A large black pool is on the ground, with splashes around it, and a hammer lying in one of these splashes. Two people are standing outside the tape; a police officer with a peaked cap with a white emblem is standing closest and to his left is a man with male pattern baldness, who we learn is called George.] Policeman: Looks like a murder-suicide. George: Any interesting mathematical patterns? Policeman: No, George, just two dead bodies and a lot of blood. George: Two... That's the third Fibonacci number! Policeman: Not now, George.
[Caption below the frame:] When Mathnet shut down, the officers had trouble reintegrating into the regular L.A.P.D.


Pep Rally

Explanation:
Any American who went to high school remembers the convocations they had during football or basketball season, in which class would be interrupted and everyone was crowded into the gymnasium for a pep rally . Cheerleaders would cheer, they'd play the school fight song, the cheerleaders might do a routine, and the team would be introduced.
This is used to inspire school spirit and get people excited about attending the games so that they'd come to the games and spend money on tickets and concessions. A common boast at pep rallies is "Our school is the best!"
"Wait, why?" says one of the students, quite logically. Why is their school the best? The student population is simply made up of students living in the general ZIP code of the school's location. There's no intrinsic reason why any school is any better than the rest of them in any way that really matters in real life. And even having the #1 basketball or football team in the state doesn't mean the students in that school are any "better" than anyone else.
This comic subverts the usual expectation of unanimous agreement with the cheerleader's sentiment, and reminds you that people who go to other schools or root for other teams aren't "bad people". In fact, they are capable of being quite kind as is demonstrated by the North High football team who helped rebuild someone's deck, the principal who donated his kidney, and the welcoming invitation from one of the student's friends to his school's events. Randall would no doubt argue that this is the same of people who follow a different religion than you, are of a different ethnicity, or have a different political party affiliation.
The title text says that Randall was weirded out by pep rallies growing up, as many introverted people do because of the noise and excitement, and possibly because of the thinking presented in this comic. Now that he's older, he finds them even more creepy, perhaps because of learning about historical events that feel similar like the Nuremberg Rallies or even the various tribalisms of adults.
[Ponytail stands in front of crowded bleachers (with only Cueballs in it), waving pompoms high in the air.] Ponytail: Lakeview High is the best! Crowd: Yeah! Voice #1: Wait, why?
[Zoom on Ponytail, now with her hands and pompoms down.] Ponytail: What? Voice #1 (off-screen): A guy on the North High football team helped me rebuild my deck. Voice #1 (off-screen): It seems ungrateful to presume we're better.
[Same picture with Ponytail now just listening.] Voice #1 (off-screen): I mean, school districts are just based on zip codes. Voice #2 (off-screen): Their principal donated a kidney to my dad.
[Ponytail looks down, holding up her pompoms.] Voice #1 (off-screen): I'm texting with my friend there now. He says it's okay, and we're invited to their events if we want. Voice #1 (off-screen): But he sounded kind of hurt. Voice #2 (off-screen): Why are we doing this rally, again?


Designated Drivers

Explanation:
When a group of people go together to any kind of event where they expect to drink alcohol, and would like to drive to and from the event, it is usual to select one who has to be the designated driver . [ citation needed ] This person will then stay sober during the event, and can thus safely drive the other people home afterwards disregarding how drunk the other people become.
However, as this comic points out, if it's not a simple task of going from A to B and back, all together at the same time, then it becomes a complex problem that requires an intricate kind of strategy and logical thinking to solve. And may need more than one driver.
In this comic Cueball addresses his friends, regarding this problem right before they enter a bar. It seems they have already decided that one of the friends will be the designated driver. But then Cueball mentions that they will have to leave in two groups. And for some reason one of these groups will need at least two drivers (this is hard to explain - see below under number of drivers .) So now they already need three designated drivers. Furthermore, someone has to go and pick up another friend. And also two of them have to leave earlier than the rest by 10:00.
In the third panel the situation seems to be illustrated. Three people are drawn outside the bar with three lines going to the bar, so the number of lines leaving and entering each destination seems to represent a person each. Since the number of people leaving and entering each destination is the same, this makes it seem like the diagram is intended to be accurate. There are four people entering and exiting the bar and six people entering and exiting both the party and the dinner. The confusing part of the diagram is that there are only three people at the bar to begin with, not the four shown in the first panel. It also seems strange that someone will go back to the bar and especially that another goes back to the dinner from the party. It is thus not easy to make the diagram fit the description. See below for a possible take on the chart .
But the general concept would be that some people meet at a bar before joining the rest of a group at dinner, then later most of these move on to a party. After the party (or bar/dinner) people are going to head home in different groups.
The enormous complexities of planning who car pools with whom, from where to where, and when, make an excellent logic puzzle. And what is worse, anyone who has to drive needs to stay sober. So it is important to solve the puzzle before the drinking starts, or else there will be too few that can drive, or too many who never get to drink.
To make matters worse Tom complicates this already complicated logical puzzle , by involving the classic logic puzzle of the wolf, goat and cabbage (sometimes also known as Fox-chicken-grain puzzle ). In the last panel, the guy is shown standing with a goat on a tether, saying he can't be in the car with the wolf. Cueball is then brought to swearing over this. (The goat puzzle was also the subject of 1134: Logic Boat and 2348: Boat Puzzle ). And this may go some way of explaining why there needs to be a number of drivers .
The title text makes it clear why ordering a taxi is out of the question as it would take money out of the beer budget. Of course it also cost money to use your own car for gas etc. But when you already have a car, it is always cheaper to use that than pay for a taxi.
It's possible to match the chart up with the events in the comic if we assume two things: first, that everyone's initial position in the chart is at home, and second, that the party takes place at Cueball's house.
Whether or not Randall intended it this way isn't certain.
For clarity, I'll be referring to the first cueball as Cueball, the second as David, Megan as Emily, and the third cueball as Tom.
Unless a more efficient solution exists, the minimum number of people that have to remain sober is three: Tom, David, and either Julia or Emily. Emily is able to begin drinking the earliest, starting at the bar and continuing the rest of the night. If the place everyone is having dinner at serves alcohol, Paul can begin drinking at dinner. If Emily elected to stay sober, Julia can start drinking when Paul does. Cueball is the last to be able to drink, only getting to start once everyone is at the party.
Interestingly enough, if the goat and wolf cannot drive, then they only make a difference if Paul has the wolf, in which case David would have to pick Paul up and take him home, and Tom and his goat would leave after dinner.
If either the wolf or the goat can drive, then a sober human driver is not needed for the vehicle in which that animal travels.
[Cueball is addressing three people outside a bar, indicated by a sign (two Cueball-like guys and Megan).] Cueball: Wait, who's driving? First Cueball-like guy: Why? First Cueball-like guy: Tom, right?
[Zoom in on Cueball.] Cueball: Yes, but we have to leave in two groups. One of which will need at least two drivers.
[There is text both above and below a flowchart with arrows between a group of the three people Cueball is talking to, and three houses that are labeled 'bar', 'dinner', and 'party'. Three lines point from the group of people to the bar and a fourth arrives from the party. Four lines points away from the bar. Two goes to the dinner one to the party and one away to the left. There are six arrows arriving at the dinner. Apart from the two lines coming from the bar, there is one long arrow pointing to the dinner from the left and two coming in from above. One more comes from the party below. Six arrows points away. One arrow goes away to the top right, the other five arrows points straight down to the party. There are also six arrows coming and leaving the party. Apart from the five from the dinner there was the one coming in from the bar. The six arrows leaving are the one arrow that went to the bar and the one to the dinner. The other four leaves in two groups of two, on straight down and two curving to the left.] Cueball (off-panel): Someone has to get Paul, and Julia and Emily have to leave by 10:00. Labels: Bar Labels: Dinner Labels: Party Cueball (off-panel): The logistics of who can get drunk are nontrivial.
[The second Cueball-like guy to the right has an goat on a string behind him, which was not visible in the first panel, as he was at that time only partly inside the frame.] Second Cueball-like guy: Yeah, and I can't ride in a car with the wolf because he'll eat my goat. Cueball: Dammit, guys.