Computer Problems

Explanation:
Cueball explains to Megan that he is having computer problems. Normally, he is able to manipulate a "pattern" on his "metal rectangle full of little lights" (a reasonable, if oversimplified description of generated images displayed on a monitor). Today, however, the "pattern" is "all wrong". Megan suggests that he might be able to fix it by pressing more buttons, but following her advice doesn't seem to have the desired effect.
According to the title text, Randall uses a similar technique to explain his computer problems to his cat. Some cats have the habit to walk over or lay on keyboards (pressing a lot of buttons) or to lie on it (because keyboards of notebooks are designed to dispense heat, which many cats enjoy sleeping on). This is, however, not to fix a "pattern" which they usually don't care about but rather to get the same attention the keyboard receives from the cat's owner. "My cat seems happier than me," implies that "pressing buttons to make the pattern [of the 'metal rectangle full of lights'] change," makes a person less happy.
As evidenced by both past and future comics, Randall likes to make an effort to explain things for simple minds.
Speculatively, Randall may be commenting on the abstract nature of events that effect Cueball's happiness or well being. While the work Cueball does on the computer seems very important to him, the deconstructed version as discussed by Megan and Cueball make his resulting distress seem out of proportion. This interpretation is further supported by the title text in which Randall's cat, unaware of more abstract representations of activity on the computer, enjoys greater happiness overall.
[Cueball and Megan are looking at his computer, on the desk.] Cueball: You know this metal rectangle full of little lights? Megan: Yeah.
Cueball: I spend most of my life pressing buttons to make the pattern of lights change however I want. Megan: Sounds good.
Cueball: But today, the pattern of lights is all wrong ! Megan: Oh god! Try pressing more buttons! Cueball: IT'S NOT HELPING!


Seismic Waves

Explanation:
One stereotype surrounding Twitter users is that they are more concerned with broadcasting their current status than they are with addressing it. Earthquakes are natural disasters caused by the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates , known for the destruction that they leave in their wake. The comic outlines the potential that technology can have in warning people about earthquakes, which is unfortunately negated by the tendency of the typical users of the technology to care more about sharing the warning message than they are to preserve their own lives.
The title text is a geology pun, as "fine-grained" is a common term used by geologists to describe rocks.
Real scientists are trying to turn this speed difference into a practical tool . Go figure.
Nine years later they succeeded , as covered in 2219: Earthquake Early Warnings .
When an earthquake hits, people flood the internet with posts about it-some within 20 or 30 seconds. [A room with a desk, chair, and computer are shaking. The person in it is on his phone, using Twitter.] RobM163 Huge earthquake here!
Damaging seismic waves travel at 3-5km/s. Fiber signals move at ~200,000km/s. (minus network lag)
This means when the seismic waves are about 100km out, they begin to be overtaken by the waves of posts ABOUT them. [There is a geographical border on a map; the front edge of the wave of the quake is shown, with the front edge of the wave of tweets surpassing it.]
People outside this radius may get word of the quake via Twitter, IRC, or SMS before the shaking hits. [Megan and Cueball are standing, holding cell phones. Megan is looking at hers.] Megan: Whoa! Earthquake!
Sadly, a Twitterer's first instinct is not to find shelter. Megan and Cueball (on phones): RT @RobM163 Huge earthquake here!


Hell

Explanation:
Tetris is a game where the player has to manipulate falling blocks into forming complete rows, which will then be deleted and give points to the player. This comic is a play on this, presenting the player with a version of the game with a curved bottom that renders forming flat rows nearly impossible. Hell is a mythological and/or religious concept of a posthumous punishment for wrongdoers, depicted in many religions as eternal torment. Here the Tetris player feels they are in Hell when they try to play this game.
The title text presents similar situations where frustration is likely to occur. Katamari Damacy is a video game in which the player controls a sticky sphere which grows by assimilating objects smaller than itself, so gameplay would be extremely frustrating if none of the objects available is smaller than your sphere. Super Mario is a long-running franchise of platforming games; in some of the games (beginning with Super Mario 64 ), levels are completed by collecting large, golden Power Stars – so it would be very frustrating if one is impossible to reach.
This last part may also be a reference to the Ancient Greek myth of Tantalus ; as punishment for cannibalism, he suffers in Hades , confined to a pool with a fruit tree above it. As his punishment, the fruit branches on the tree recoil every time he tries to eat, and the water recedes every time he tries to drink.
Also see comic 888: Heaven , which presents an inverse situation in which the Tetris game provides unfairly perfect pieces to help the player win.
There is a playable version of this comic at Kongregate which, unsurprisingly, is frustratingly difficult ( but not impossible ) to play.
[The panel shows the display of a Tetris game where the bottom of the pit is curved into a semicircle making the two blocks at the bottom, a square and a reverse L piece lean crookedly towards each other at the bottom of the pit; an S piece is falling and the next piece is an L piece.] Next Top 000000 Score 000000 Level 01 [Below the panel:] Hell


Literally

Explanation:
The adverb "literally" implies that the action it describes actually happened, while its opposite, "figuratively", is used when the action it describes is being used as a figure of speech, and is not a representation of what actually happened. However, "literally" is often used colloquially as an intensifier, to mean "really" or "very", and even though many dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster and Oxford Learner's Dictionaries state that this is a valid use of the word, many people object to this usage. It is noteworthy that these dictionaries try to catalog how words are used, not whether any one usage is more valid than another.  Many might say it is more consistent to say a word such as "practically" for this usage.
In this comic, Cueball mentions he was literally glued to his seat, at which point a crazy man off-panel loudly corrects him. The crazy man declares that he has been stalking Cueball for eighteen years since an incident in seventh grade, when the crazy man (as a kid) used literally in the colloquial sense, and young Cueball corrected him. He felt humiliated and began to follow Cueball everywhere, waiting for Cueball to make the same mistake, presumably to save face.
When Cueball tells him that he is "literally the craziest person" he's ever met, the crazy man thinks that he is incorrectly using the word "literally" again; however, Cueball reassures him that he did not misuse it, meaning the crazy man actually is the craziest person he has ever met. This is reminiscent of the title text in 1652: Conditionals .
The title text points out that a chemistry experiment gone wrong is one of the few things that could cause someone to literally be glued to their seat, having previously been figuratively glued to their seat in fascination.
In this manner the title text could provide an alternative interpretation of Cueball's original sentence: "I was literally glued to my seat through the entire [chemistry experiment.]"
If this interpretation were correct, then the crazy person interrupted Cueball before he had a chance to finish his sentence, thereby never fulfilling his vow.
On a side note, if they were in seventh grade when Cueball corrected the crazy man's mistake, then Cueball and the crazy man are 30-31 (12|13 + 18) years old, approximately the same conclusion as in 1577: Advent .
[Cueball and a Cueball-like friend are walking left together. The friend turns his head towards Cueball who speaks, but is interrupted by voice from behind them off-panel right.] Cueball: I was literally glued to my seat through the entire- Off-panel voice: Hah! Off-panel voice: You mean "figuratively"!
[A crazy man walks into the next frame-less panel. He has messy hair and a messy beard. Cueball and his friend stop walking and turns toward him.] Cueball: Who are you? Crazy man: Eighteen years I've watched you! Crazy man: Waiting!
[A flashback panel. Four kids are standing around talking to each other. To the left is a girl with a ponytail and in front of her is a kid looking like Cueball - this is the Crazy man as a kid. He speaks to two kids in front of him, the one looking like Cueball, is actually Cueball as a kid, and then another kid with short black hair is standing with him. Above this panels frame, which is not as high as the other panels, there is text narrated by the crazy man. He also narrates a line at the bottom of the panel where the flashback panels frame is cut of at the bottom right.] Crazy man (narrating): Ever since that day in seventh grade when you humiliated me. Crazy man as a kid: I told him and he literally exploded! Cueball as a kid: Uh, unless he physically burst , you mean "figuratively". Kid with hair: Hah. Crazy man (narrating): Remember?
[Cueball and his friend has moved back away from the crazy man to get some more distance between him and themselves.] Crazy man: I knew one day you'd slip, and I vowed I'd be there to see you fall. How does it feel? Cueball: You are literally the craziest person I've ever met. Crazy man: You did it again! Cueball: No, I didn't.


Seat Selection

Explanation:
Many airlines give passengers the opportunity to select a preferred seat when booking a flight. In this case, Megan appears to be checking in at a self-check-in at the airport, where she is given the opportunity to select her seat. Rather than selecting a seat on the diagram, Megan clicks on the pilot seat (which is of course not an actual option for  online seating reservations [ citation needed ] ). In the last frame, we see that, because she chose the pilot seat, she is now actually sitting in the captain’s seat, flying the plane while whooping. A worried-looking pilot sits behind her at the back of the cockpit, holding both hands in front of his mouth.
The title text says to not click on the wing. The implication is that if you did click on the wing you would, similarly, end up sitting outside on the wing. Even if you were able to hold on, this would put you above the Death Zone, which is at 7 km (See the what if? Rising Steadily ). Standard cruising altitude is 10 km . It would be an unpleasant death, as the air is so thin that you actually lose oxygen to the air (as explained in the mentioned what if?).
This kind of event could lead to situations as the one depicted in 1660: Captain Speaking .
[A seat selection diagram to book your seat on a plane is displayed on a gray background. It shows the front end of a plane to just behind the wings. The outline of the plane is in a darker gray color, while the seating section is light gray with black seats. The cockpit windows are shown as well as the entrance section in the front of the plane where two arrows point out of the two possible exits one on each side. The first class section with only four seats for each of the 3 rows are clearly separated from the rest of the seats. The six seats for each row is labeled with letters A to F and the rows are labeled for every third seat starting at 9 and ending after two numbers behind the wings at 27. Below, going over the wing pointing down is a frame with light gray background and the following text:] Select desired seat by clicking on the above chart. F E D C B A 9 12 15 18 21 24 27

[Megan in a scarf with two suitcases behind her is standing in an airport, contemplating her choice at the self-check-in looking at the display from the first panel. Behind her is a manned check-in counter with Cueball and Ponytail sitting behind three screens at the counter. Above them is a big sign with an arrow to the right:] Gates
[Back to the seat selection diagram where a hand shaped cursor indicates that Megan has chosen the cockpit of the plane.] *Click* Select desired seat by clicking on the above chart. F E D C B A 9 12 15 18 21 24 27

[Close up of Megan seen through the front window in the cockpit of the plane, holding the yoke, her scarf hanging behind her into the next windows frame, like if she was riding a motorcycle, because she makes the plane rise enough for it to fall behind her. A pilot sitting behind her seen in the third window, is wearing a cap and sunglasses. He looks at her with both his hands held in front of his mouth.] Megan: WOOOOOOO!


Trade Expert

Explanation:
Cueball as a news anchor has another Cueball-like character as guest in the studio, a doctor who is also a trade expert. However, Steven Berlee turns out to be a fraud. In reality he is a frustrated programmer willing to lie his way on to news show to share his message with any newscasters willing to listen:
Every time you say "backslash" as part of a web address on air, I die a little.
The slash character (/), also known as forward slash, is the correct way to separate distinct parts of a web address; for example in the address " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_(punctuation) ", a slash follows the "org" and the "wiki". However, some newscasters are unfamiliar with the distinction between the different types of slashes, thus confusing the normal slash with the backslash (\), the wrong character. They may also be somewhat overzealous by trying to specify forward- or backslash since just saying "slash" would be sufficient. Also as mentioned in the title text the backslash is used in addresses on a windows PC.
Steven Berlee claims that he suffers every time this mistake is made in a news program, explaining his reason for cheating his way on the air. Steven's name is most likely made up, as it seems to be taken from two or three of the inventors of the Internet :
Searching the internet lists no one called Steven Berlee, and the only references point back to this comic.
The title text refers to how in the Windows operating system, the backslash is actually used instead of the slash as a separator (in contrast to Unix-based systems, which use the forward slash). Thus, the path to any Windows file encoded in a URI (uniform resource identifier) would correctly contain the backslash character. It is possible to pass parameters, including strings, in an internet URI and so you could have an identifier that directly embedded the path of a windows file on a windows server - this would be such a weird and terrible thing to do.
In the title text Steven complains that after having had the modern version of the Internet for 20 years (since early 90s and this comic was released in 2010) they should have learned the difference by now. He also continues to claim that if they do not understand the difference between an internet url and Windows directory paths, and thus embedding these into their urls, then he cannot help them with just a short lecture while he cons his way to time on the air.
[Cueball as a news anchor is sitting behind a desk with his hand on the desk, leaning towards his off-panel guest to the right.] Cueball: And for more on the summit, we turn to trade expert Dr. Steven Berlee. Cueball: Steven?
[Zoom out to include Dr. Steven Berlee, also drawn like Cueball, with his hands below he desk, sitting behind the desk to the right of Cueball facing towards him, still with his hands on the desk.] Steven Berlee: I'm not actually a doctor or a trade expert. I'm just a programmer who lies to get on news shows.
[Close-up on Steven Berlee.] Cueball (off-panel): What? Why? Steven Berlee: To share a message with newscasters.
[Zoom back out to show both men, the news anchor now also with his hands below the desk.] Cueball: Which is? Steven Berlee: Every time you say "backslash" as part of a web address on air, I die a little.


iPad

Explanation:
In this comic, Cueball is entertained by his iPad (which came out a few days prior) because messing around with it is so fun and feels futuristic. Megan tries to bring perspective to him by telling him that his fun is really not so fun because so many exciting and much more impressive things are to come. Cueball still objects, because that makes him feel that he's too easily impressed by trivial things, and says that Megan is spoiling his fun by trying to make his source of entertainment seem less cool.
The title text is showing how Cueball is, instead of being horrified by all the new ways to die technology could present, like a scientist, enthralled by the many newer ways that death could occur.
[Cueball is sitting in an armchair, playing with an iPad. Megan is looking over his shoulder.] Cueball: Navigating Google Maps on the iPad is fun. It feels so futuristic. Cueball: Swoosh! Zoom!
Megan: There are, right now, monkeys controlling robotic arms via neural implants.
Megan: A huge and alien future is barreling toward us. And I can't WAIT.
Megan: But no, your iPad is cool, too. Cueball: Stop spoiling my future with your slightly more distant one.


Laser Pointer

Explanation:
It is common to use a laser pointer as a cat toy because cats are attracted to the dot and attempt in vain to catch it in their paws. They will chase the dot as it moves around, sometimes pouncing on it or swiping at it with its claws, however, they will never be able to catch it. [ citation needed ] This is very frustrating for cats (and dogs), because it triggers a hunting instinct, but removes the satisfaction of actually catching their prey.
Cueball is messing with his cat with a laser pointer, however, he is unprepared when his cat pounces and successfully grabs the laser dot. As Cueball looks around and tries to figure out what happened to the laser, his cat licks it, before eating it and starting to glow with a red light.
By this point, the best choice would be to run away screaming, as normal cats cannot eat lasers and start to glow. [ citation needed ] However, before he can run, the cat shoots lasers from its eyes and disintegrates a surprised Cueball on the spot.
It is then revealed that everything that happened was just a cat's dream. Only in its dreams can a cat successfully catch and consume the dot. Also, it is only in a dream that this will give it the power to shoot laser light from its eyes, and vaporize the human in revenge for taunting it with the laser pointer. [ citation needed ]
Real cats' eyes (and some other animals' eyes) have a tapetum lucidum behind their retinas, which increases their sensitivity in low-light conditions.  This can cause their eyes to appear to glow, but they're actually just reflecting light from the environment.
The title text makes a pun on the chamber in which lasers are formed, known as a laser cavity .
[Cueball points a laser pointer at the floor. A black cat crouches, staring at the red dot.]
[The cat pounces.]
[The cat lands with its paw on the dot, claws out.]
[The cat tugs on the dot.] tug tug
[Cueball tries to use the laser pointer, which is no longer emitting a beam.] Cueball: ??? click click
[The cat nibbles on the red laser dot.] Cat: lick? nom nom
[The cat arches, emitting red shock lines.]
[The cat shoots lasers out of its eyes at Cueball, who is covered in a bright red glow.] FWOOSH Cueball: AUGH! [The right side of the panel is the end of a thought bubble.]
[The black cat, sleeping, has dreamed the entire strip.]


Circuit Diagram

Explanation:
Another fine example of nerd sniping , as mentioned in the title text.
There are pieces of circuit diagrams, road maps, chemical diagrams, and other things all mixed in.
Explanations for each below!
[In the upper left corner there is a map scale, labeled with 1 mi (1 km).] [Underneath the scale is a circuit diagram with the following items connected:] An antenna symbol. A blender. An Arduino, labeled with "Arduino, just for blog cred". A chip, labeled "Most expensive chip available". A symbol for an inductor. A pattern that looks like a highway cloverleaf. A battery symbol (with the + and - symbols on the wrong ends) with a value of √2V. A resistor symbol label "120Ω or to taste". A switch that is labeled "glue open". A transistor with two emitters, one P and one N, and no collector. A jar of scarab beetles. A resistor labeled "brown blue orange". An unlabeled resistor with a center tap. A capacitor. A diode. A ground. An inductor. An another inductor. The two inductors and ground are all covered by a "solder blob". A "666 timer" that has pin 5 going into a question mark. A compass rose. A battery, labeled 50V, with grounds on both sides. A long horizontal wire that is labeled "pull this wire really tight". An AC source that is labeled 240V, shorted out, with a label on the short "Omit this if you're a wimp." An inductor that is labeled with "11kg". A Batman symbol. A squirrel. A wire that is labeled as a distance 3/8". A 50V battery. A frowny face. A vertical wire with a 90 degree bend labeled "caution". A balloon. An inductor symbol with a line on the bottom edge labeled as "warm front". A resistor labeled "ë". An electric eel. A capacitor. An unlabeled resistor. A gob of hot glue attached to a chip with an inverter hooked to an XOR gate, both with feedback into each other. A neck strap. A bridge rectifier labeled as "Moral rectifier". A bottle of magic smoke. A fishing bobber. A broken wire labeled with a question mark. A vertical wire labeled with "electrons single file". A switch labeled "Hire someone to open and close switch real fast." A contact labeled "touch tongue here". A resistor labeled "5Ω (decoy)" with only one terminal connected. A methyl group attached to a wire. A complex mesh of 1Ω resistors labeled with "Oh, so you think you're such a whiz at EE201?" A wire labeled "electrons single file". A wire bent in a U shape with an upside-down ground on the end. A flux capacitor with the bottom wire labeled "I-95". A wire labeled "yarn". An arena with two diodes going in and one leaving. An anode labeled "Bury deep, but not too deep." A motor labeled "vibrator". A resistor with a value of π. A 500V AC source. A wire that leads out of frame with a label "to center of sun". A 55 MPH speed limit sign. An SR latch (flip-flop) labeled "may use an actual sandal instead". A holding pen. A wire in a knot. A resistor labeled "8mm". A resistor symbol labeled "not a resistor; wire just does this". A motor symbol labeled "to scale". A tangled mess of wires connected and jumping over each other. A photo diode labeled "tear collector". A wire in the shape of a ECG. A light bulb. A capacitor-looking symbol labeled "3 liters". A resistor labeled "yes". An unlabeled inductor. A resistor with a question mark as a label. An inductor labeled "Take off shirt while wiring this part.  Ooh, yeah, I like that." A ground symbol immersed in a beaker of holy water.


Desert Island

Explanation:
This comic is making the point that there is a wonderful world waiting to be explored in the ocean. From above it seems so plain, endless, and boring. But underneath the surface lies the most unexplored area on the planet. This comic is a commentary on the need to head below the waves and start exploring.
Cueball sits writing in a diary on a desert island which is really a mountain of which only the sandy tip with a palm tree on it stands above the water. From his diary entry, it appears that he has been stranded on this island for 44 days, and only sees "flat empty waters" around him. The waters around him may be "empty", in that there are no other boats or coastlines around him, however, there are many objects below the surface.
Beneath the surface is:
The most important items from the title text are:
The title text itself is a poem:
[Cueball sits writing in a diary on a desert island, only the sandy tip of which with a palm tree on it stands above the water. Beneath the surface is a kelp forest, some sharks, a stingray, a shipwreck, a submarine, several large jellyfish, a giant squid fighting a sperm whale, a crashed plane, some coral formations, a thermal vent emitting a plume of smoke surrounded by several annelids, and a snail.]
Cueball: Day 44: Still stranded, with nothing but flat empty water as far as the eye can see.


HDTV

Explanation:
This comic pokes fun at the differing standard between image quality for television sets and other electronic devices, even though both are based on essentially the same standards. When rating television sets, a 1080p screen, that is, a screen 1,920 pixels wide and 1,080 pixels tall with progressive scan, is considered impressive. In contrast, the same resolution with a computer device is considered standard fare, given that, at the time of writing, a 4:3 ratio computer screen 1,024 pixels wide would have been expected. Widescreen monitors have already surpassed 1,920 pixels wide, and double widescreen monitors have become more common. As of the end of the 2010s, even most smartphones had a horizontal resolution nearing or at 1,080 pixels.
The title texts explains another disagreement involving images and popular opinion. The feeling that a viewer gets from watching a film in a theatre is different from the feeling from a home film, or again, between a serialized programme from an international television channel and a locally-broadcast programme. The disparity is that the small-time productions actually implement better-quality equipment than the big-time productions, in terms of higher frame rate (although not in image fidelity or other respects). However the small productions really are cheaper in other respects, and this feeling is transferred to the look of high frame rates, thanks to videotapes often being used instead of film stock. Low frame rates on more big budget films (and all old, nostalgic productions before high frame rates were commercially possible) mean low frame rates are associated with quality, despite not being as able to capture as much motion as better-quality high frame rates. Blur, judder, and slow pans are mostly absent in high-frame rate productions. This is changing, however, since the major films The Hobbit and Avatar 2 are/will be shot with better framerates.
[Cueball is pointing to a huge flatscreen HDTV on the wall. His friend is holding a cell phone.] Cueball (HDTV Owner): Check out my new HDTV-a beautiful, high-def 1080p. Friend: Wow, that's over TWICE the horizontal resolution of my cell phone. Friend: In fact, it almost beats the LCD monitor I got in 2004. It baffles me that people find HDTV impressive.


Eagle

Explanation:
Another comic in the My Hobby series. This comic is making a play on the typical "secret agent" code phrases such as the one above or "The Eagle has landed." or "The cobra has struck." The word "eagle" is especially popular for code phrases, referring to craft containing a VIP. Randall says that his hobby is to follow field biologists around and interpreting everything they do as a code phrases.
"The Eagle has landed" was also the first sentence Neil Armstrong sent back to earth on the first manned moon landing by Apollo 11 back in 1969.
The *KHHHKHT* noises that the character is making are imitations of the static sounds made when using a walkie-talkie or other radio devices. On real radios, this happens only at the end of a transmission; the first use of the sound would be the end of Ponytail's legitimate transmission, while the second one is from the fake transmission.
The title text is saying that when the character in the comic is not following field biologists and pretending they're saying code phrases, he is doing the reverse to secret agents. By hiring an animal trainer he can give them a situation they are unable to report, such as seeing an actual eagle land in front of them.
[Ponytail is looking up into a tree, holding a clipboard in one hand and a radio in the other.] Ponytail: The eagle has left the nest. Off-panel: *KHHHKHT* Roger that. Alert the agents. *KHKKHHKT* Ponytail: Will you stop that? [Caption below the panel:] My hobby: Following field biologists around and interpreting everything they say as code phrases.


Outbreak

Explanation:
Patient Zero is the usual terminology for the first patient tested or infected with an outbreak -style infection, (in the comic's case, a zombie outbreak,) like in the movie Outbreak , which is not the main inspiration for this comic, except maybe the title.
This comic, however, serves to make fun of the stereotypical zombie movie in which an unlikely series of events, coupled with extreme oversight on part of the staff, leave an opening for an outbreak to begin. Often, the infected find themselves lacking any restraint or containment, and freely move about in search of humans to infect.
In the comic Ryan (drawn as Cueball ) tells Laura (drawn as Megan ) that the patient has been exposed to toxin X-7 . The patient (a zombie version of a Cueball-like guy) can be seen through a window inside a laboratory, with Ryan trying to block the door. The patient has turned into a bloodthirsty monster that in true zombie-style calls out for brains, while walking with both arms stretched out and bits of him falling off, three typical cliches for zombie movies.
Laura then asks if the zombie has been kept in isolation , a standard medical procedure that prevents the patient from coming into contact with anyone or anything not specifically approved, and thus prevents the spread of the disease. Her question serves to point out the drastic difference in real-life procedure and zombie movies.
When told that so far the zombie has been isolated her next action is to run to her car to obtain the weapon she has there to destroy the zombie, again showing contrast against the often irrational and illogical actions of medical staff in movies, whose behaviors usually lead to their deaths and to the spread of the disease, which causes the real outbreak. Because one person (or a few people) dying from a disease is not called an outbreak.
When Laura returns, she kills patient zero before he can spread the infection, and thus the outbreak ends in the third panel five minutes after it started in the first panel.
The comic ends with a little "mock the audience" joke as romantic comedies stereotypically have a very different audience from zombie horror movies. [ citation needed ] The two characters had never been introduced before, their names are first given in the last panel. Having such an intense and life-threatening experience often causes people to fall in love. But for a zombie/disaster movie this is supposed to happen just before the end titles, so you have all the fun first, and can go home on the happy ending. Since the "fun" part only lasted for five minutes the rest of the movie will now describe Ryan and Laura's romantic relationship after this comic.
As a result, the director(s) of this movie are deliberately showing the wrong kind of film to the audience attracted by the title or teaser. This would be disastrous for a movie in real life given that audiences do not take kindly to such antics and are likely to pour hate about it online, dissuading others from going, and alienating both those audiences who enjoy romantic comedies and those who enjoy zombie films, leaving just a niche occupied by the people who enjoy both.
The title-text is included as another example of the logical real-life actions versus the illogical movie ones, as any dangerous substance in a real lab would be disposed of, preventing further harm. In zombie movies, another major trope is the medical staff thinking that they are safe after they eliminate the first zombie, only to find the remaining chemicals have been used to make more. But before Ryan and Laura have had dinner, they promptly go back and destroy both the X-7 toxin and the last hope of the zombie fans seeing the movie of any further action...
Zombies are a recurring theme in xkcd. Though zombies are often depicted as being raised from the dead they are as mentioned often created (in films) through disease or toxins as is the case here. Apart from the three typical features of zombies mentioned, the zombie in this comic is also called zombie in the official transcript on xkcd.
[Cueball and Megan stand outside a door into a laboratory (with the word "LAB" in large letters on the door). Cueball is leaning back against the door. A Cueball-like zombie which is clearly falling apart, walking with its hands stretched out in front of it, is visible through a window into the laboratory. At the top of the panel there is a frame around a yellow area with narration, which goes over the top of this panel's frame.] Narrator: The outbreak started with Patient Zero... Cueball: He was exposed to toxin X-7— now he's a bloodthirsty monster! Megan: Has he been in isolation? Zombie: Braaains!
[Cueball turns towards the door, pushing on it and partly blocking the door's label ("LA"). A noise indicates the zombie banging on the door from inside. Megan runs right her head and hand already partly outside the frame.] Cueball: Yes, but I can't hold this door for long! Megan: Hang on, I've got a gun in my truck. Zombie (hitting the door): Wham
[In this frame-less panel Cueball opens the door a crack, leaning back with a hand in front of his face, as Megan shoots with her shotgun through the open door at the zombie inside.  The word "LAB" on the door is no longer blocked.] Shotgun: BLAM
[Cueball and Megan stand together away from the laboratory door. Megan still holds shotgun down. At the top and bottom of the panel there is two more frames around a yellow areas with narration, which goes over the top and bottom of this panel's frame. As Cueball and Megan talk, their names are revealed.] Narrator: And ended with Patient Zero five minutes later. Cueball: So, I never got your name. I'm Ryan. Megan: Laura. Narrator: The remaining 90 minutes of the movie will be a romantic comedy.


Floor

Explanation:
The floor is lava is a game many kids play where they pretend the floor is lava , meaning that they can't step on it or else they'll get 'burned'. In this comic, the three kids are taking this game too seriously, causing great damage to the house with what appears to be a garden hose and some dynamite.
Stopping a lava flow by diverting it into an artificial trench or cooling the flow with (sea)water are both tactics that have been used in the past with varying success .
The title text refers to events like the 2010 eruptions at Eyjafjallajökull , the ash clouds of which caused the shutdown of most of Europe's IFR airspace. The first joke there is that grounding a child often means to consign him to his/her bedroom for a set period of hours (as a punishment), whereas grounding a plane means to disallow any use of that plane for an extended period of time. The most notable example of this is Concorde , which has been indefinitely grounded. The second joke is that causing panic and diverting a large number of flights would cause lots of financial damage, and would normally be subject to more punishment than simply giving the kids a time-out.
[Three Cueball-like kids are in a living room. Furniture and other things are knocked over, broken, or tilted. The first kid is holding a handle of a plunger with cables going offscreen.] First Kid: I've dynamited a trench through the kitchen to divert flow! BOOM
[The second kid is aiming a hose at the floor.] Second Kid: More hoses! We need to cool and solidify the surface layer! FWOOSH
[The third kid is standing on a chair, using a cell phone or radio.] Third Kid: Where are the damn helicopters?
[Caption beneath the panel:] Like many kids, we sometimes pretended the floor was lava.


Cemetery

Explanation:
Here, Cueball appears to be putting blame on someone who called him. This could be a result of...
...the person insisting on a font that was not sans-serif, but the results were typographically unappealing. ...the person having problems because he used a font that was not sans-serif. ...Cueball being "forced" to tell person who is wrong, due to him giving Cueball something that was in a font that was not the sans-serif font for which Cueball asked.
In any case, the onlookers seem horrified at this sight. Cueball is using a Bluetooth headset that allows one to speak without actually holding the cell phone. The problem is that, since the headset is a small object attached to the user's ear while the phone is out of sight, someone using a Bluetooth headset may give the impression that he is talking to himself, or again, to a person who happens to be in front of him (even if the "unintended recipient" is dead). With Cueball standing in front of a grave and saying "This is your fault", to onlookers he looks like he's talking to the person buried there, who presumably died from a font-related incident.
A sans-serif font is a font without serifs, small lines or strokes regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol. Common sans-serif fonts include Arial and Helvetica .
The title text suggests that Cueball is not on good terms with his mother, thus meriting a worse argument. The problem is that Cueball was in front of a different tombstone, thus giving the impression that he had an even worse grudge against his seemingly deceased mother, said argument creating an even worse impression of Cueball.
A different example of not knowing someone is talking on the phone: [1]
[Cueball is in a cemetery, near a gravestone. Other people stand around staring. One Cueball-like figure stands to the right of him, and three figures, further away, look on as well. Of the three figures in the back, the tallest left-most Cueball-like figure covers his mouth with his hands. Megan is standing next to him, using her arm to block the view of a smaller figure to the right of her, presumably a child.] Cueball: Frankly, you deserve this. You knew I wanted a sans-serif font, and you ignored me. So really, this is your fault.
[Caption below the panel] I've discovered the worst place to wander while arguing on a hands-free headset.


Yogurt

Explanation:
Most packaged food has an expiration date that indicates when the food will probably no longer be suitable for consumption. This could be due to any number of reasons; most products will rot or grow mold after their expiration date passes, but some processed foods will "dry out" or just generally become "unpleasant" long before they actually spoil. The expiration date is sometimes called a "best before" or "use by" date for this reason.
Some products don't list the year as part of the expiration date, on the assumption that by the time the year becomes an issue, the food will obviously be spoiled. Cueball is encountering this issue; clearly the yogurt has gone bad - it's raising "stink lines" and appears to have visible mold - but the expiration date only lists "May 12th" and it's currently May 7th, so the characters reason that it must still be good since the expiration date hasn't passed yet. Somehow, they fail to notice the terrible smell coming off of it.
The Gregorian calendar was initially adopted in the Catholic European countries in 1582 to correct the slow drift of the seasons relative to the calendar year that occurred under the Julian calendar. The Protestant and Orthodox countries were slower to adopt it. The British Empire, including the American colonies, adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Cueball (in a seemingly sarcastic manner) wonders whether the expiration date might have been printed under the Julian Calendar, i.e., at least just under a century prior (there were some nations in Eastern Europe who changed from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar only around the time of the First World War).
The Gregorian calendar (our current calendar) is mostly the same as the Julian calendar with two major differences:
The last line spoken by Cueball may mean one of two things: either 1) he is continuing to be sarcastic toward his friend, or 2) he is genuinely considering that it may not have gone bad, despite all the clues saying otherwise.
The title text is Randall's own (absurd) [ citation needed ] view: for a short period of time preceding the expiration date of any food, no matter how many years have passed, it suddenly becomes good to eat again.
[Cueball is holding a yogurt cup at arm's length. Waves of stink are rising from it.] Cueball: Oh God, how old is this yogurt in your fridge? [Someone speaks from off-panel.] Friend: What's the expiration date?
[Cueball holds up the cup to look at the bottom.] Cueball: May 12th, but there's no year. [From off-panel again.] Friend: It's May 7th. So it's fine.
[Now the second person is on panel, and Cueball speaks from off-panel. The second person is sitting down working on a laptop.] Cueball: I'm not sure. When it was packaged, was civilization using the Gregorian or Julian calendar? Friend: Okay, I'll throw it out. Cueball: No, it might still be good!


Incision

Explanation:
Operation is a board game wherein one attempts to remove the organs of a patient, named Cavity Sam, with a pair of tweezers. A flat board has a cartoon image of a "patient", and dotted around various areas are holes inside of which contain plastic pieces representing the organs.
Additionally, each hole is lined with a metal connector, and the tweezers are made of metal, connecting via wire to the board. When the tweezers make contact with a metal connector, a buzzer sounds and a lamp on the patient's nose lights up to signal an error.
The game is notoriously difficult as the organs are quite small, and the buzzer is considered by players to be annoying, if not actually startling, particularly considering how much focus and steady hand is required to avoid the tweezers making contact with a metal connector.
In the comic, a child swallows a buzzer from such a board game, and the joke lies in the similarity between the game and actual surgery when the buzzer is brought into the mix. The title text brings this further by describing an incident where the doctor ended up removing several organs (the object of the game, but obviously not a good idea in real life). [ citation needed ]
The surgery would probably have been hard, as surgery requires concentration, [ citation needed ] with the game Operation being hard as well.
[Two doctors wearing surgical masks are standing over a prone patient. One of them is touching the patient's chest with a scalpel.] Doctor: I'm making the incision above the left— BZZZZT! Doctor: Augh!
[Caption below the panel:] October 8th, 2004: A child swallows an "Operation" buzzer, leading to the single most difficult surgery ever performed.


Malamanteau

Explanation:
A malapropism is the use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical utterance.  An example of a malapropism is Yogi Berra 's statement: "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes". A portmanteau is a word made up of two or more combined words. For example, motel is a portmanteau, from the words motor and hotel. A neologism is simply a newly coined word that is not yet in common use.
Here, Randall shows a hypothetical Wikipedia page of the word "malamanteau" which is both a portmanteau of "malapropism" and "portmanteau" and a neologism. The method used to create this new word is one of the very words used in the process. This is called a meta or "self-referential" joke.
By using many large obscure words in one sentence, Randall may also be picking on linguists, one of his favorite subjects , who are known for coining and using such words.
"Malamanteau" was originally coined in 2007, when it was proposed by user ludwig_van on Metafilter as a term for language errors like "flustrated" (flustered & frustrated) and "misconscrewed" (misconstrued & screwed).
The bottom line of the comic (Ever notice how Wikipedia has a few words it really likes?) is a reference to a large number of Wikipedia pages that start by labeling their subject matter as a malapropism, a portmanteau, or a neologism.
In response to this comic, editors at Wikipedia created a malamanteau page. It was deleted multiple times and eventually turned into a redirect to the Wikipedia page for xkcd . Malamanteau and the controversy at Wikipedia got coverage at The Economist and The Boston Globe . The comic is used to illustrate this section of the xkcd Wikipedia article. In order for this to be possible Randall had to change the license for this particular comic. This has been explained in a unique xkcd Header text that is only displayed on the page for Malamanteau .
The title text refers to Wikipedia's requirements of citations for a page on there to exist. It also refers to the wide range of places citations can be obtained from, showing a direct opposition due to the use of very different citations (The Language Log arguments are modern and informal, whereas the obscure manuscript is formal and much older). The title text also refers to the fact that Language Log is frequently used for Wikipedia citations.
Language Log is a blog that posts content relating to language and linguistics, including things like malapropisms and portmanteaus. While an informal source, it has produced new linguistic terms before, such as eggcorn . Its comments sections frequently contain discussions and arguments about English, whose participants are probably the same people who write Wikipedia articles about linguistic phenomena like malamanteaus. In actual fact, Malamanteau did not appear on Language Log until after this strip. Malamanteau has since been referenced on the Language Log website, with a link to the comic in question. Language Log has referenced xkcd many times before, reposting the comics and linking to the xkcd website.
The title text jokingly refers to the "malamanteau" citations being Language Log references and a document from the 1490s, in reference to the fact that linguists, like those who post on Language Log, often use old documents as evidence, possibly to prove that construction is a longstanding feature of the language. The joke is that the only references to this word or concept are a 500-year-old document and linguists informally arguing about what it means. In reality, if these citations were the only evidence of the term's use, then it would be unlikely to be a notable feature worthy of a Wikipedia article. Most articles that are only cited by a single website tend to get deleted unless the subject has achieved significant coverage in outside news media.
The comic shows Wikipedia as it would have looked at the beginning of May 2010, using its then-current logo and the then-default “Monobook” skin. Incidentally, just a day after the comic’s publication, a new version of the Wikipedia logo was published, and the default skin was switched to the “Vector” skin. Both of these still define the look of Wikipedia as of 2021 (though Vector undergoes continuous updates).
[The strip is set up as the top of a Wikipedia page.] [The Wikipedia logo.] Wikipedia The free encyclopedia [Side navigation options.] Navigation -Main Page -Contents -Featured Content -Current Events [Wikipedia header options.] Article  Discussion  Edit this page  History [The article itself.] Malamanteau From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A malamanteau is a neologism for a portmanteau created by incorrectly combining a malapropism with a neologism. It is itself a portmanteau of [...the article cuts off.] [Below the panel.] Ever notice how Wikipedia has a few words it really likes?


The Tell-Tale Beat

Explanation:
Daft Punk was a French electronic music group. The beat used in electronic music can be vocalized or spelled as "unn-tss". ' The Tell-Tale Heart ' is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe , in which the narrator tries to appear sane while describing how he killed a man and hid his body in the floorboards. Eventually, he imagines he hears the dead man's heartbeat through the floorboards. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is referenced again in the later comic 2344: 26-Second Pulse .
Cueball narrates that he killed Daft Punk and hid their bodies under the floorboards, as the narrator of 'The Tell-Tale Heart' did. (Having to outsmart a band named Daft Punk is quite ironic.) He says he has been haunted by the sound of the band's beats.
In the title text, the narrator continues trying to assert his sanity. The line, "You fancy me mad," comes directly from The Tell-Tale Heart. He then insinuates that he will kill Roderick Usher's band; Roderick Usher was a character in ' Fall of the House of Usher ', another story by Edgar Allan Poe, making puns on 'house' and 'trance', genres of electronic music (the character of Madeline Usher in the story suffers from catalepsy, frequently falling into trances).  The title-text is also a pun on the musician Usher ; although Usher does not have his own band, one of his best-selling albums was titled Confessions , appropriate to the themes of Poe.
The title text mentions techno music, which is the subject of 411: Techno and is also mentioned in 586: Mission to Culture .
[The three panels show portions of a single scene. Although the characters are still stick figures, the artwork style is heavily crosshatched and shaded.] [In the first panel there is a desk with monitor on it, and a painting of a woman above that. Next to it is a bookshelf.] Ever since I murdered Daft Punk
[There is a fireplace, with no fire. A rug lies before it. At the left end of the mantelpiece are two bottles, one tall, one round. Another photograph of a woman is in a frame at the right end. The bookshelf continues from the previous panel.] And hid their bodies beneath the floorboards, I've been haunted
[The narrator is clutching his head and leaning forward. A grandfather clock is behind him, next to a doorway. Above the doorway is a pallid bust of Pallas.] By this pounding . [White text on black.] Unn-Tss Unn-Tss Unn-Tss


Blogging

Explanation:
This comic is a satire of the conflict between consumers who expect quality results and creators who just want to make easy money by pandering to their audience. Cueball says the key to making a successful blog is to build a relationship with your readers. While this may be a good way to ensure you are delivering content that is relevant to your audience, if a blogger keeps the audience's interests as the foremost priority, the blog may become focused on making their core audience happy rather than quality. When an audience member raises the concern that quality should be a paramount concern if you want to impress people, Cueball responds that content (the quality of the blog's content) will be addressed later in the speech. This quickly placates the audience member, illustrating how the audience (for example, readers) of a service can be easily satisfied by telling them what they want to hear. This validates Cueball's point that the audience does not want quality as much as they want to hear their own ideas repeated back to them.
Alternative explanation:
This comic is a shot at all the typical blogging and social media instruction that is given. Cueball indicates he believes great content is not the highest priority when writing a blog, relegating it to at least part three of the coverage. The person in the audience, who is representing the "normal people", shows that people actually go to blogs for good content and couldn't care less about the other "strategies" the person on the stage is talking about. "Awesome! I love content," is probably highly sarcastic, implying that Cueball's talk is rather devoid of it. It could imply that the speaker thinks this talk is mostly marketing jargon that misses the fundamental aspects of writing skills (style, personality, good ideas, research, basics of style) and focusing instead on schemes to artificially gain popularity.
The title text takes a jab at blogs concerned with " viral content " and "monetization". That is, bloggers are only concerned about their audience because they might potentially give them money. Cueball drops some marketing jargon — "monetize the reader's eyeballs" — in order to disguise his true purpose: illegal organ harvesting . "Virally" in this context might indicate that the reader may become infected with a virus during organ extraction.
[Cueball stands on a stage before a large audience, holding a pointer and using it to highlight something on a screen behind him. He interacts with a member of the audience after making a point.] Cueball: The key to making a successful blog is building a relationship with your readers. Audience Member: I thought it was "make your updates good so people will want to read them." Cueball: We'll discuss content generation in part three. Audience Member: Awesome! I LOVE content.


Campfire

Explanation:
Cueball is telling a scary story to kids by the campfire about a killer. It seems as if the main character was able to trace the killer's computer to a local address (most likely one in her own house). 192.168/16 refers to the subnet the computer is on. The 192.168/16 subnet is reserved for private networks and traffic to or from addresses on that subnet and will not be routed by most internet-facing routers. Most home networks that are behind a router usually have addresses such as 192.168.0.xx or 192.168.1.xx and use NAT to present different addresses to the rest of the internet. Thus, the killer must have been extremely close, likely inside the house, using the victim's own computer network.
This is a modern update of a similar actual scary story, where the victim attempts to find the source of threatening phone calls only to find that they are coming from inside the house. Variations of this story made its way into several movies, including When a Stranger Calls (released in 1979, and re-made in 2006 ) or another version of the legend the movie was based on .  All have a similar basic plot: the killer calls the victim at home; when traced, the call is coming from a phone inside the victim's home .
The title text claims that this story will still be scary in 100 years, as the killer is on IPv4 . Currently the number of available IPv4 addresses are dwindling. There are plans to replace the addresses with IPv6 , which will largely increase the number of available addresses. In 100 years it would be very (technologically) scary for someone to still be using IPv4. This would be analogous to receiving a message by telegram today, rather than as an email or text.
[Cueball and three children are around a campfire at night. Cueball is standing up, with a flashlight under his face.] Cueball: But when she traced the killer's IP address... it was in the 192.168/16 block! Children: Gasp!


Infrastructures

Explanation:
Cueball has sent an essay to his bearded friend (possibly a caricature of Richard Stallman ) who is an advocate of free and open-source software. While the essay itself was good, his friend was worried because the essay was in the .doc format, the proprietary format that old versions of Microsoft Word used. The friend advises Cueball to use a format based on an open standard, possibly a format like ODF, ODT, ODS, ODP, or OpenOffice XML.
Cueball, who does not appreciate his friend criticizing the file format over the actual contents of the file, accuses his friend of pedantically stirring up trouble instead of simply caring that the software works (which is what most regular users would be concerned about). Given that it can be a challenge to move from a familiar proprietary application to an open-source rival which may lack compatibility, features, support and popularity, Cueball's stance is not entirely unjustified.
The bearded guy tries to explain that he is just concerned about the current proprietary software infrastructure that forces users to use software in a specific way, penalizing them for sharing the software or even preventing looking at the source code in order to learn what the program actually does or how it works. Cueball, however, isn't buying it, and accuses his friend of having an arrogance that crowds out his perspective , while also claiming that he is autistic — an epithet often aimed, particularly by denizens of online forums and imageboards, at people who have an intense fixation on seemingly trivial things.
Seven years later, Cueball runs to the friend, having become alarmed at Facebook's immense control and dubious policies about the personal information it collects. Since this is exactly the kind of situation the bearded guy was warning against, he sarcastically retorts by producing "the world's tiniest open-source violin". This is a twist on " playing the world's smallest violin ", a gesture used to convey sarcastic pity at someone else's misfortune. Interestingly, the guy does actually appear to possess the physical instrument itself, which is uncommon; usually it's just a quip or gesture. This implies that the bearded guy has been carrying around the violin for this eventuality (not unlike what Black Hat does in 757: Toot ), or perhaps he uses this sarcastic expression often enough to warrant it.
The title text references the following pieces of infrastructure that are compatible with the "free software" ideology:
The problem with the lack of open source and Facebook is also the subject of 1390: Research Ethics .
2003: [Cueball approaches a bearded fellow.] Cueball: Did you get my essay? Bearded Fellow: Yeah, it was good! But it was a .doc; You should really use a more open- Cueball: Give it a rest already. Maybe we just want to live our lives and use software that works , not get wrapped up in your stupid nerd turf wars.
Bearded Fellow: I just want people to care about the infrastructures we're building and who- Cueball: No, you just want to feel smugly superior. You have no sense of perspective and are probably autistic.
2010: Cueball: Oh my God! We handed control of our social world to Facebook and they're DOING EVIL STUFF!
Bearded Fellow: Do you see this?
[Inset, the bearded fellow rubs his index and middle fingers against his thumb.] Bearded Fellow: It's the world's tiniest open-source violin.


Walkthrough

Explanation:
A walkthrough video is a recorded explanation of how to accomplish a certain task, usually beating a video game (or a particular level of one). A speedrun is an attempt to complete a level or game as fast as possible. The man is implying that because he followed the speedrun video, intercourse didn't last long enough to satisfy his partner — who now probably doesn't want to date him again as a result.
The title text (humorously) shows what the narration on such a video might be like, based on typical video game walkthroughs. In a video game, a spawn point is a place where enemies, items, or players will appear; here, spawn is also being used in the biological sense of mating and reproduction. The "separate... more inside" part is similar to typical instructions about how to get past certain enemies or traps, while it could also refer to the labia majora and minora. Separating the labia majora would reveal the labia minora.
[Cueball sits at a computer. His friend enters the room.] Cueball: How did the date go? Friend: I wanted to be prepared, so I looked up a sex walkthrough video.
[The two men silently contemplate the words of the previous panel.]
[Cueball turns his head around. His friend looks down.] Cueball: ...and? Friend: It turns out it was a speed run. Cueball: Ouch.


Dyslexics

Explanation:
The joke shirt is supposed to be " Dyslexics of the world, Untie!", a nod to the The Far Side comic touching on the same topic (Dyslexics marching in parade, carrying a sign (inadvertently) reading "Dyslexics of the world UNTIE" because dyslexics mixed up the T and the I). In this case, the dyslexics were trying to make a parody of their propensity to transpose letters. The double transposition cancelled out, resulting in the original (but unintended) untransposed message.
The title text is an inversion of the inversion of the joke in the comic, in which Randall accidentally wrote the "incorrect" version of the shirt while trying to draw the comic. The last sentence ("I kept doing 'doing 'doing it wrong' wrong' wrong") means that, unwittingly, Randall kept failing at failing at failing.
[A t-shirt is shown with the text "DYSLEXICS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! " screen-printed on it.] The dyslexic support group ran into difficulties when they tried to make a joke fundraiser t-shirt.


Birth

Explanation:
Megan is in the process of giving birth. Instead of the normal birth we would expect, a baby's head and a gun emerge. The baby, who can already talk, attempts to rob the doctor saying, "Nobody move-this is a stick-up!" as is typical in movie robberies. It is not explained how the gun ended up in Megan's womb. (Maybe the gun grew there?)
The title text explains the comic by explaining that the baby learned this bad behavior because the mother played the video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) too frequently, as some people believe that if children play too many violent video games they act like the video games in real life. Grand Theft Auto has been criticized and publicly blamed for its potential to encouraging violent behavior in children. Thus, this comic is a parody of the studies and news stories about the effects of video games, especially Grand Theft Auto , on children; it hyperbolizes them by imagining what effects video games would have on an unborn baby.
This is one of the few comics that features Megan's name in the text.
In Grand Theft Auto III players gained the ability to pay the services of prostitutes to recover their health, and if they wished, kill them to get their money back. There is also criticism from the focus on illegal activities in comparison with traditional "heroic" roles that other games offer. The main character can commit a wide variety of crimes and violent acts while dealing with only temporary consequences, including the killing of policemen and military personnel.
Some people believe that if children play too many violent video games they act like the video games in real life. Most of the news stories are usually based on anecdotal evidence.
These stories were in the news or the public consciousness at the time of the comic:
On June 25 teens William and Josh Buckner opened fire on vehicles on a local Tennessee highway with a shotgun and killed a 45-year-old man. They later told police they were emulating Grand Theft Auto and they did not intend to hurt anyone.
Later in 2003 a 17 year old Devin Moore then grabbed a pistol from one of the police officers and shot and killed him along with another officer and dispatcher before fleeing in a police car. One of Moore's defense attorney, Jack Thompson, claimed it was Grand Theft Auto 's graphic nature—with his constant playing time—that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore's family agreed. In May 2005, Thompson appeared via satellite on the Glenn Beck program on CNN's Headline News. Thompson mentioned Devin Moore and said regarding Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City "There's no doubt in my mind [...] that but for Devin Moore's training on this cop killing simulator, he would not have been able to kill three cops in Fayette, Alabama who are now dead and in the ground."
In September 2006, Thompson brought another lawsuit, claiming that Cody Posey played the game obsessively before murdering his father Delbert Paul Posey, stepmother Tryone Schmid, and stepsister Marilea Schmid on a ranch in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
[Megan is giving birth. A doctor stands near the end of the table.] Doctor: Okay, the head is starting to crown. Doctor: Push!
Doctor: Wait, that's... that's a tube.
Doctor: It looks like the barrel of a...
[A Click noise comes from Megan's vagina.]
[A voice, that of the baby, comes from Megan's vagina.] Baby: Nobody move— This is a stick-up! Doctor: Oh, God! Stop pushing, Megan! Can you ... Pull?


Geeks and Nerds

Explanation:
The words "geek" and "nerd" are both commonly used to describe people who are looked down upon due to being too intelligent and not socially conventional enough. Distinction between the two varies, but it commonly involves differences in range of interests, depth of interests, choice of hobbies, social capability, if you play sports, and so on.
The title text gives Randall 's personal definitions: geeks are people passionately into something to a greater extent than casual hobbyists, while nerds are analytical logic-oriented people, often with underdeveloped social skills.
The comic makes the argument that if you care a lot about the distinction between a geek or a nerd , then you are most likely too invested in the result to not be either a nerd or a geek. But although one who maintains this distinction strongly could be a linguistics geek merely expressing their general interest in words/expressions, given the more pressing controversies linguistic geeks have to deal with, the strong interest one might have in the words "geek" and "nerd" is probably due to simply being a nerd geek .
[There is a two-circle Venn diagram; the circles are labeled and there is text in the intersection.] Left circle: Geeks Right circle: Nerds Intersection: People with strong opinions on the distinction between geeks and nerds


Worst-Case Scenario

Explanation:
This comic is a reference to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that happened in the Gulf of Mexico . Top kill is a reference to a procedure used as a means of regaining control over an oil well that is experiencing an uncontrolled eruption of crude oil. Michael Bay is an American film director known for his over the top special effects and plots, one example being the Transformers movie franchise .
Should the proposed firestorm actually happen, residential areas and hundreds of square miles of sensitive vegetation would be fouled by the mix of oil and sea water. A firestorm would certainly make the bad situation worse, and would certainly make a great scene in a typical Hollywood disaster movie. Lightning could set an oil slick on fire, in regions where the oil is most dense and very fresh. About 50-70% of the evaporation of oil's most flammable volatile compounds occurs in the first 12 hours after release, so fresh oil is the most likely to ignite. However, the winds of a hurricane are so fierce that any surface oil slick of flaming oil would quickly be disrupted and doused by wave action and sea spray. Heavy rain would further dampen any lightning-caused oil slick fires. So Michael Bay's firestorm would not actually happen in real life. However, if he decides to direct a new movie...
This comic is a commentary on the state of broadcast journalism and how they are always looking for speculation and voyeurism rather than facts. That they ask if Mr. Bay's proposed firestorm will have any effect on the then-upcoming congressional elections just serves to underline how little the journalists actually care about the damage that has actually been caused.
James Carville is a political commentator who was born and lives in Louisiana, and thus relates to media, politics, and Louisiana at once.
The title text has a reference to Jeff Masters, who was director of meteorology at Weather Underground and runs a blog ( archived ), and Bruce Schneier , who is a world-renowned security expert and also has a blog and several books. Vitamin D is a vitamin that the human body can synthesize with the aid of direct sunlight; the joke, "go outside", is Randall accusing us of all being shut-ins.
[Two reporters, Cueball and Ponytail, point microphones toward a scientist, Megan.] Ponytail: Dr. Scientist! The "Top Kill" has failed! What's the worse-case scenario for the gulf? Megan: The worst-case scenario is what's happening now.
Ponytail, out of frame: Yes, but is there any way it could get worse? Megan: Sure, but there are real disasters happening now, and you're substituting speculation and voyeurism for the investigative journalism we— Ponytail: Screw this! Let's ask Michael Bay.
[The reporters, now joined by a camerawoman, approach Michael Bay with their microphones.] Michael Bay: The worst case? A hurricane tracks into the gulf, whipping the surface of the spill into a frothy mix of oil and air.
[An alligator-filled conflagration atop a massive ocean wave approaches land.] Michael Bay, narrating: As the storm surges through the bayous, sparking power lines ignite the fuel air mixture into a roiling, alligator-filled wall of flame.
[A map of the gulf coast of Louisiana and southwest Mississippi is depicted with the current routes of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers highlighted. An arrow indicating a new primary flow of the Mississippi's waters into the Atchafalaya points toward southern Louisiana.] Michael Bay, narrating: Plowing northward, the fire hurricane destroys the Old River Control Structure in Concordia, rerouting the Mississippi westward and sweeping Morgan City and the heart of cajun country out to sea.
Michael Bay: James Carville emerges from the conflagration riding a burning alligator... Ponytail, out of frame: Will this affect the midterm elections? Michael Bay: Massively .


Study

Explanation:
This comic is about the ubiquitous study fliers that are placed around cities and especially college campuses.
This one obviously takes it to the absurd because it is a thinly-veiled attempt to get volunteers so that their kidneys can be "harvested" or stolen. Type O is a blood type that omits both A and B antigens so it won't cause reaction in blood types having anti-A or anti-B antibodies and thus people having this blood type are the most valuable for transplants (there are still other antigens that can cause reactions but these two are the most important).
Urushiol is an oily toxic irritant present in poison ivy and some related plants, digital contact means touching something with fingers and fibrous cellulose pulp is a scientific description of paper. This together suggests that the person who put up the flier soaked the strips with urushiol and is trying to see if it will cause irritation in anyone who will touch the strips with their fingers (and it will within ten minutes) [ citation needed ] .
[A posted flier with nine tear-off strips at the bottom reads: "Volunteers Needed for a scientific study investigating whether people can distinguish between scientific studies and kidney-harvesting scams. (Healthy Type-O Adults Only) TAKE ONE" Five of the nine strips are torn off.]


Book Burning

Explanation:
A group of people wanting to hold a book burning find themselves in a conundrum when they only have one book. Going to an online retailer reveals that the Kindle edition of the book is considerably less expensive than the hardcover edition. Unfortunately for the book-burners, the burning of a Kindle proves fatal because of the toxic fumes from the burning of its plastic shell, internal electronics, and/or the lithium polymer battery that powers it.
One purpose of book burning is to destroy heretical material and thus prevent the spread of those ideas. In this case, where a Kindle version downloaded and the device is burned, no heretical material is destroyed as the electronic version is still available for distribution. Those who survived the incident will then find that their actions did not prevent the spread of the heretical ideas, they have lost dear friends, and have to purchase new electronic devices.
Another purpose for a book burning is to have a public demonstration in protest of the ideas presented in the book. This may have been the purpose of the book burning mentioned in the comic, but this plan failed, as indicated by the title text, because it was reported in the newspaper, which no one reads.
In the past there were many book-burning incidents .
There is also a subtle pun in that " kindle " means "to start a fire".
The title text further drives home the point that electronic media is becoming the norm, while print is being supplanted by inventions like the Kindle.
[Cueball holds a book aloft, displaying it to his two friends.] Cueball: This book is full of heresy! Friend: Let's hold a book burning! [They confer more, then one friend runs off.] Cueball: I only have one copy. Friend #1: I guess we could buy more. Friend #2: I'll look online. [A screenshot from an online retailer's page displays pricing for the hardcover ($17.99) and Kindle ($9.99) editions of the mentioned book.]
[The front page of a newspaper, titled "News", is shown above the fold. The first article's headline reads "Eight dead from toxic fume inhalation" and a picture is shown depicting three bodies strewn around a massive plume of tar-black smoke.]


Swimsuit Issue

Explanation:
Sports Illustrated , while a sports magazine (from what the title implies), is infamous for its Swimsuit Issue , a yearly issue that heavily features women wearing revealing swimsuits (again, from what the title implies), something generally agreed upon as inappropriate for children.
However, the joke is on the father. Before he could stop the child from reading, the child had already made it clear that they have seen hard-core pornography in the pop-up ads they have encountered. They are familiar with the sight of women being "double penetrated" (i.e. engaged in simultaneous vaginal and anal sex), and indicates that these women are completely naked (implied by their surprise to see similar-looking women wearing swimsuits in the magazine). Thus, the swimsuit issue, in which the women are wearing some clothing and are not engaged in sexual activity, is relatively tame by comparison.
The title text has Randall suggest that pop-up blockers are far more important than The birds and the bees , a stance that most people do not agree with [ citation needed ] . There is some sense towards this approach, however. While "the birds and the bees" would have to wait until the child has developed sufficiently in order to get the proper effect, pop-up blockers are a more urgent need that would prevent a child from looking at inappropriate content before then. Pop-up blockers alone would not prevent everything , but they are a valuable asset nonetheless.
Child: What's this? Father: Oh! That's daddy's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue! It's not appropriate for— Child: Wow! They look just like the ladies who get double-penetrated in the popup ads! But with clothes on! Gosh!


Phobia

Explanation:
This comic seems to be about phobias , i.e. being afraid of specific and non-specific things like Blondie 's fear of snakes .
Prompted by Blondie's admission, Megan becomes philosophical (as she often does) and reveals an unusual phobia of her own: uncomfortable with outrightly rejecting a romantic advance, she would respond to such an advance by making the excuse that everything is complicated right now. This would postpone the advance until the next year, when the other person would ask again and she would defer again, and on and on until one of them dies or moves on. This is what Megan states she is afraid of.
After Megan has said this, Blondie thinks for some time (in the beat panel). When she finally decides to ask Megan something (perhaps to go out on a date), Megan cuts her off. It seems that Blondie has misread the situation, having guessed incorrectly that Megan is romantically interested in her. In fact, Megan is not. Rather than risk having to reject Blondie in the manner described above and beginning the cycle of annual rejections she so fears, Megan prevents the inquiry and interrupts Blondie to say that she wants to be a storm chaser.
Given that Blondie believes Megan may have feelings for her, it is understandable that she follows Megan's ambition and together they become storm chasers —individuals who pursue severe weather conditions, for either scientific investigation or providing media coverage, or simply for adventure. Ironically, chasing adverse weather, especially tornadoes, is more dangerous than the source of either character's original phobia. Indeed, one's ability to control the risk while being near a tornado is far less than one's ability to control the risk of being bitten by a snake; the tornado is violent and unpredictable, while snakes only attack humans when they feel threatened. Additionally, one needs to deliberately expose oneself to the snake in order to have any risk of being attacked.
This comic is related to the movies Snakes on a plane (snakes), Twister (tornadoes and storm chasers), and Thelma & Louise . The last of these movies has two women friends on a road trip, and in the end they kiss, and there have been several discussions on whether one or both of them are lesbian or not.
In the title text, Megan and Blondie notice that the snakes have been picked up by the tornado they are chasing; so now, in addition to the violent weather, they are also exposed to the danger of snakes falling from the sky.  (This is similar to the plot of Sharknado , although that movie was released several years after this comic.)
This is the third comic about tornadoes and storm chasers, a recurring subject on xkcd.  These were first mentioned in 402: 1,000 Miles North , and first shown in 640: Tornado Hunter .
[Blondie, with extra long hair and Megan in the background of the image observes a long snake on the ground in the foreground.] Blondie: Whoa, a snake! Megan: Cool! Blondie: I'm afraid of snakes.
[Zoom in only on Megan's upper half.] Megan: I'm afraid of saying "everything's complicated right now, but maybe next year" until there are no more years left.
[Slim panel with a zoom to a full picture of only Blondie as she considers this. Beat panel.]
[Same type of image of Megan, who cuts Blondie's reply (from off-panel) off in mid-sentence.] Blondie (off-panel): Do you- Megan: I want to be a storm chaser.
[A black tornado reaches from the black storm clouds to the earth, kicking up a sizable cloud of debris at its base. Blondie is at the wheel of a car, with Megan hanging out the window and holding a camera.]


Southern Half

Explanation:
On May 25, 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave a speech before a joint session of Congress , in which he set as a goal for the American people the task of landing a man on the moon and returning him successfully to earth. Though Kennedy didn't live to see that goal become a reality - he was assassinated in 1963 - the Apollo 11 lunar module landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon in July, 1969.
During that speech, Kennedy said the sentence that the comic is referring to, and the map provided shows that the vast majority of the regions he mentioned are actually in the Northern Hemisphere, despite Kennedy calling them "the whole southern half of the globe", not to mention the Southern Hemisphere has regions which are not included (like Australia).
The actual meaning behind Kennedy's statement is likely a reference to the common lingo used describing the 'third world' as the ' Global South ', which is a metaphorical rather than geographical description which includes all of the regions mentioned (though leaving out the USSR from Asia). At the time, a number of proxy wars between the U.S. and the USSR had broken out and were in progress in many third world countries across the entirety of the regions mentioned. Thus, Kennedy was describing the Cold War and his expectation that it would continue, and that the 'Global South' would be the actual battlefield. Out-of-context, and insisting on a literal geographic interpretation for the words, this part of the speech sounds particularly funny.
Another way to understand Kennedy's phrasing is a reference to the "southern half" of the land on earth. Because the area south of the equator is mostly water, the geographical centre of Earth (geometric centre of all land surfaces) is in Turkey, meaning that (with the exception of the Russian part of Asia) almost the entirety of the regions Kennedy listed are in the southern half of Earth's land surfaces.
The title text refers to a September 1962 speech Kennedy gave at Rice University. One of the most famous quotes from that speech is, "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." Randall suggests that all of the arguments Kennedy made for going to the moon could also serve the cause of many different "innovations", such as blowing up the moon, sending cloned dinosaurs into space, or, ridiculously, constructing a towering penis-shaped obelisk on Mars. Or, as seen here , eating a bag of pinecones.
"The great battlefield for the defense and expansion of freedom today is the whole southern half of the globe - Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East." -John F. Kennedy, 1961 speech to Congress.
[An ovoid world map, with Latin America colored in red, Africa in yellow, the Middle East in green, and Asia in Blue. There is an arrow pointing to the top of the map marked 'northern half', and another arrow pointing to the bottom half marked 'southern half.' The majority of these places are actually in the northern half.]
Okay, so I'm half a century late on this, but it's been bugging me: did JFK own a globe?


Dependencies

Explanation:
A compiler is a program that converts code written in a high-level programming language into an executable program. A section of code is said to be dependent on a second segment of code if the second segment is required for the first segment to work. Dependency resolution is part of compiler design, and is the study of determining and correcting dependencies which result in an unwanted, ambiguous, or impossible definition of the dependent section. Requiring that an action occurs if and only if the action has already occurred, like the prerequisite in this comic, is one type of potentially unwanted dependency.
The comic envisions a college computer science course (CPSC432) focusing on "compiler design with dependency resolution" which has itself as a prerequisite. The joke is that the prerequisite is an unresolved dependency, as you must complete this course before you can enroll in it, a phenomenon called Catch-22 .
This dependency would send a poorly designed compiler into an infinite loop. In real life, the problem is solved by allowing an object to satisfy itself as a prerequisite. This stops the compiler's infinite loop, but may not produce the desired functionality in the program. Another layer of the joke may be that any student who successfully enrolls in the class already knows this solution because they must have employed it in order to get past the apparent infinite recursion in the class prerequisites.
Managing dependencies is useful in other areas of computer science, e.g. package management . Collections of files are known as "packages". A software package might require that a particular operating system patch (a type of package) be installed first. That package might in turn require other packages be installed, and so on. Therefore, a package installer must know the dependencies of a package, and be able to figure out whether any required packages are missing before continuing with the installation.
The title text envisions a course on package management which has itself as a prerequisite, as well as the compiler design course with the impossible prerequisite presented in the main comic (CPSC 432), and glibc2.5 or greater. By looking at the course number it can be observed that CPSC 432 is a fourth year course, and this package management course (CPSC 357) is a third year course. Glibc is a commonly used package on Unix systems, and therefore should be taught in the course. This continues the joke since this course has the following unresolved dependencies:
[A portion of a page from an imaginary course catalog.] Page 3
[A table with four columns]
Department Computer Science
Course CPSC 432
Description Intermediate compiler design, with a focus on dependency resolution.
Prereqs CPSC 432
[The very top of the text for the next course in the table is visible but unreadable.]
The letter code "CPSC" is the letter code Christopher Newport University, Randall 's alma mater, uses for Computer Science.


Interdisciplinary

Explanation:
An "interdisciplinary program" is a program at a school or university that involves students from multiple disciplines, or fields of study. Here, this comics lampoons the concept by envisioning an oddball exercise involving physics students and psychology students. Strictly speaking, this could be categorized as an interdisciplinary program. Further, the study of pendulums is common in physics courses, and the concept of fear arises in psychology, thus the joint effort can be supposedly said to unify both subjects.
The intersection of physics and psychology suggests the classic demonstration in which someone holds a heavy pendulum up against his face and releases it. Basic physics shows that the pendulum will, at most, harmlessly touch the person's face on the backswing (provided that he released it with no initial push and does not lean forward); however, it may take some force of will to refrain from flinching as the pendulum approaches. This experiment (with Black Hat's twisted take) is referenced in 1670: Laws of Physics and 2539: Flinch .
In another example where the two concepts meet, the pendulum-like motion of objects (such as a gold pocketwatch on a chain) is stereotypically used in portals of psychology as a device for hypnotism.
The ripping of Psychology, History, and English majors is a common theme in various xkcd comics.
The image text suggests that replacing the pendulums with history students would guarantee funding of a grant, perhaps because of the increased number of disciplines involved. In reality it of course serves to increase injuries among students in majors that the author does not approve of. Interestingly, this is apparently being said by the grant funders rather than the professor.
[In the foreground, 2 men and 1 woman are standing.] Cueball: This is an interdisciplinary program in which Physics students try to hit Psychology students with pendulums. Megan: Promising! [In the background, a woman stands on a platform and releases a pendulum hanging from the ceiling that swings toward a man who is running away.] Psychology student: AAAAAAA!
My professors had an ongoing competition to get the weirdest thing taken seriously under the label "interdisciplinary program".


Public Opinion

Explanation:
Cueball as a news anchor is reporting a message from a politician, shown behind him.
The comic is mocking the "old media" (television, radio, newspapers) for their move to opinions as an information source. Such change came with development of the internet and "new media" as source of information (websites, blogs, social networks), which pushed "old media" back and diminished their significance. In their attempt to return to relevance, "old media" tried to copy the opinion part of the news, taking what could be considered a bad thing from them. The humor of the comic comes from news anchor cutting to an opinion piece from people on the street, thus proving the politician's point.
The title text illustrates what Randall sees as the problem with this approach.  The new media, for the large part, consists of uninformed opinions from people of average intelligence and abilities.  However, the sheer volume and immediacy of information is threatening to destroy old media, much as the iceberg destroyed the Titanic.  You don't join with the iceberg or try to emulate its methods; the iceberg does not care, it's too big and will destroy you anyway. If possible, then the best way to survive is to steer far away to avoid it and find your own path.  (Ironically, the Titanic sank because it steered away just enough for the iceberg to scrape its side, tearing into multiple compartments.  If it had steered straight into the iceberg, although the bow would have been severely damaged, the ship might have stayed afloat.)  Old media must present us with something better than new media (for example: informed, analytical, intelligent), otherwise we have no need of them.
[Cueball as a news anchor reads from a paper. There is a picture on the left side of screen of a man with black hair speaking behind a lectern holding up one hand. In the bottom right-hand corner is the logo for the news.] Cueball: A leading politician today charged that the media, rather than informing people, now merely report on public ignorance. Cueball: Do our viewers agree? Let's hear from some voices on the street... Logo: News 24


Toot

Explanation:
"Toot my own horn" is an idiom meaning to brag. Cueball here is using this idiom to mean that he is not bragging, although he obviously is. However, Black Hat , being the classhole he is, takes this idiom literally and toots (blows) an air horn . An air horn is a horn attached to a can of compressed air, and at close range is extremely loud. Cueball is obviously surprised, as he was expecting Black Hat to start bragging instead of making an extremely loud sound with an air horn.
Black Hat's actions could also be interpreted as punishment of Cueball, who began by claiming that he didn't want to boast about his accomplishments, but then did so anyway. Or he could just be proving that he is a classhole by 1'upping Cueball.
The title text refers to the Vuvuzela , which is a noise-generating instrument , mainly used for making noise at soccer matches in South Africa. This comic was published during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and the constant buzzing from vuvuzelas throughout the matches attracted attention and controversy.
Cueball: I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I was first in my class at Caltech.
Black Hat: Really? I don't mean to toot my own horn, but BRAAAAAAP! [Cueball falls backward as Black Hat sounds an air horn in his face.]
[A picture of an air horn.] Air horns: Worth carrying around your entire life for those few perfect moments.


Raptor Fences

Explanation:
In the film Jurassic Park , the protagonists are menaced (some fatally) by carnivorous dinosaurs, including very large velociraptors , which are a genus of dromaeosaurid . In this film, the dinosaurs had been recreated via the sampling of ancient DNA recovered, primarily, from the stomachs of mosquitoes trapped in amber (fossilized tree sap).
Cueball is holding a lit cigarette, recalling the role of chain-smoking John "Ray" Arnold, the Chief Engineer of Jurassic Park, played by Samuel L. Jackson . He is reporting that the (veloci)raptors have escaped from their enclosure, but nobody seems overly concerned by this; they do not represent a danger. Apparently, the fear of being hunted by dinosaurs is greatly reduced if they have been genetically engineered to be small enough to gather up with a broom and dustpan.
The "gene for extreme dwarfism" may also be a reference to the "Ender's Game" series, which has previously been referenced in 635: Locke and Demosthenes , 304: Nighttime Stories , and 241: Battle Room .  In the parallel book to "Ender's Game", "Ender's shadow", the main character has had the gene for extreme dwarfism activated on himself as an infant.
Note that while growth is dependent on genes, it is extremely unlikely that any kind of genetic manipulation could reduce an animal in size by the factor of approximately 10,000 that is implied here. However, it is perhaps no less unlikely than being able to recreate the dinosaurs at all in the first place. People seem ready to ascribe almost limitless powers to DNA and genetic engineering, but there are many practical constraints.
In reality, velociraptors were only about 50 centimeters in height. It is also believed that they were covered in feathers. Together, these factors paint a very different picture of velociraptors. The velociraptors from Jurassic Park more closely resemble Deinonychus, a relative of the velociraptor, in fact the Deinonychus was used as the model for the Jurassic Park raptors. Still the name "velociraptor" has been consistently, and incorrectly, associated with their portrayal.
The title text suggests that even very small dinosaurs could be terrifying to some, if they imagined a huge number of them. The author would be pleased if this were the case.
[Cueball checks a computer terminal while a friend is running off in the opposite direction.] Cueball: The raptor fences are down. They're loose. Friend: I'll get a broom and dustpan.
Jurassic Park got a lot less scary when the researchers discovered they could activate the gene for extreme dwarfism.


3x9

Explanation:
In college courses with a very large number of students (picture the huge, tiered, amphitheater-style lecture halls shown in any movie or TV show about college), teaching assistants are often employed to help the professors grade student work. In math and science courses, students are expected to solve the problems and show their work as supporting evidence. Due to the high volume of work to grade, whether it's being done by the professor or a TA, the grader may get lazy and look for correct answers and the existence of work without checking that the work is accurate.
The math shown in this comic switches from √ being square root notation to it being division notation midway. That is an illegal operation. [ citation needed ] But the correct answer is reached anyway, because 27 is the correct answer to 3 × 9, 3√81, and 81 ÷ 3.
More generally, this pattern holds true for any number and its square; namely, 𝑥𝑦 = 𝑦² ÷ 𝑥 whenever 𝑦 = 𝑥².
The title text describes another technique usable when you remember the answer but not the calculations. It requires modifying the equation and the answer at the same time, hoping that at one point they'll look similar. Some students picture every step in the calculations, others skip some, as they seem obvious to them. Merging the equations once they look similar may trick the examiner into thinking that the step between them is obvious to the student, even if they ARE checking the calculations. The side effect (not mentioned) is that while doing this, you may actually realize what the calculations should be.
Alternatively, the title text could be a description of the calculations shown in the comic.
[A problem is given on an arithmetic test: "4) 3x9=?". In handwriting, the student's work follows. The student has accurately reformatted the question as 3 times the square root of 81, which visually resembles the long division problem of 3 divided into 81, and then solved the latter to get 27 — the correct answer to both.]


Moria

Explanation:
This is Randall 's take on the story of Moria in the fantasy story The Lord of the Rings . In the original the dwarves, hunting for the precious metal mithril dug so deep that they awoke a balrog — Maiar corrupted by Morgoth . Gandalf is telling about the story to four hobbits standing next to him. One of the hobbits has apparently read The Lord of the Rings , because he asks if the dwarves "awoke a terror of shadow  and flame", but then Gandalf says that they were trapped in their hole and couldn't get out.
However, Gandalf's final line may be a hint that the comic's version is closer to the original than it appears — in the story, the adventuring party discovers a journal of the last dwarves to occupy Moria. The last page starts ominously: "We cannot get out. We cannot get out." That memorable sentence is used again near the end of the page as the impending final orcish attack is described by the now-dead dwarves, and repeated by Gimli as they reflect on the terrible news, lending a much darker tone to the comic's punchline.
The title text suggests a mundane solution to their problem — a long ladder. The Endless Stair was a very long staircase from the lowest dungeon up to the top of the mountain above Moria.
[A far shot of Gandalf the Grey and the four hobbits standing in a dark, underground city.] Gandalf: Behold, Khazad-Dûm; the Dwarrowdelf; the mines of Moria -- once the greatest and mightiest city of the dwarves.
[Full body shot of Gandalf.] Gandalf: But the dwarves delved too greedily.
[Close-up on Gandalf.] Gandalf: And too deep.
[Full shot of the hobbits and Gandalf.] Hobbit: ...and awoke a terror of shadow and flame? Gandalf: No. They couldn't get out.