Craigslist Apartments

Explanation:
This is a comic about the potential pitfalls in finding an apartment on Craigslist . Just as in Craigslist, some of the posts are re-posted several times. Additionally, lots of posts use lots of tildes, exclamation points or asterisks as above to set their posts apart from others.
BR means bedroom, e.g. 3BR means that apartment has 3 bedrooms (common measurement of apartment size).
This ad is aimed at "crazy cat ladies/bachelors" who compulsively keep a number of animals much greater than is appropriate to the living space.
This is the first repetition of an entry that appears multiple times.  It is also extremely generic, telling the reader little useful about the house. The square house might be a garage, or just a regular square house.  Beside that, most houses have a door in front, there's nothing special about a door. [ citation needed ] It's possible this refers to an elevator. The different places it appears on the page could be the different floors it stops on.
A strobe light is a very bright light that, instead of remaining on, flashes very quickly. It's frequently used in parties. A constant strobe light and the stated lack of a floor would probably make living in the apartment somewhat difficult. It is not clear whether "no floor" means a dirt floor with no foundation or tiling, or whether there is literally some form of pit where a floor would be.
This is a post to live as an oarsman on a Viking ship .  The water and heat presumably both come from the sky, in the form of rain and sunlight.
This is a vague ad for a very unusual apartment. First off, the ad indicates that the two bedrooms are nested. This is an impractical layout, and it is very rare to see this. [ citation needed ] Possibly this refers to a tesseract , a four-dimensional cube. This conjecture is supported by mention of a Klein Bottle. Running water "in a sense" is both vague and concerning. The note about heat is similar. Short intense blasts of heat are not a comfortable way to heat a room. Depending on how intense the blasts are, they also may be dangerous or deadly. (Alternatively, the house could have a geyser inside, which would explain both the 'free heat in short,  intense bursts', along with the 'water that runs in a sense'.) A Klein bottle is a surface which has no difference between "inside" and "outside", similar to a mobius strip but with an extra dimension. It is physically impossible to build a Klein bottle in a three-dimensional space. It isn't certain what Klein stairs are, but they probably aren't very useful. This may be a pun on "clean" stairs.
This is a disguised "adult services" (sex) posting, with references to trimmed pubic hair, an attractive body, and a lack of STDs .  Craigslist no longer allows posts for this, because prostitution is illegal in most places in the US.  This post tries to evade the adult services ban by pretending to be something else. "No animals" would normally be assumed to mean "no pets", but in this context probably refers to STDs (possibly crabs or scabies ) or bestiality .
This Minotaur house is an ad for the house in the novel House of Leaves .   It may also refer to the Labyrinth in Ancient Greek mythology.
This is an ad for a residence in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant , located near to the town of Pripyat , in northern Ukraine. The NPP is a 3-level structure, and contains a pool for temporary spent nuclear fuel storage. The rooftop now has plants growing on it after years of neglect, and the glass facade references radioactive glassy minerals created by the explosion. Pripyat was founded in 1970 to serve the power plant, so is only 'historic' in the sense that it is associated with the Chernobyl disaster.
This house is a submarine, as indicated by the advertisement, presumably operated by a navy. The "previous tenants", being members of the armed forces, would undoubtedly resist entry of someone attempting to board their submarine. The sixty bedrooms refers to the crew members' bunks on board the ship, which are in extremely tight quarters and can be very uncomfortable. This may also be a reference to 496: Secretary: Part 3 , which makes reference to Black Hat stealing a submarine, presumably for 405: Journal 3 - apparently this is him trying to get rid of it.
This is an ad for a house in a generic horror movie.
Appearing in the title text, this is a reference to the Death Star in Star Wars . Alderaan is the home planet of Princess Leia , which was obliterated by the Death Star. Mandatory parking references the tractor beams used to drag nearby ships (such as the Millennium Falcon) into the base. The garbage disposal refers to an iconic scene from Star Wars aboard the Death Star, in which the heroes are in danger of being crushed to death inside a trash compactor chamber. It seems somewhat inconvenient that this "apartment" has over a million bedrooms but only three bathrooms. The guest rooms are probably the detention blocks such as Detention Block AA-23 .
[The comic is a single panel, presented as an apartment search.] [Title bar.] All apartments Search for: [_______] in: All apartments ( ) Title only (*) Entire post   Search Rent: [Min] [Max] 0+ BR [ ] Cats [ ] Dogs [ ] Has image [Date bar.] Fri Apr 15 [Begin the apartment listings.] $1600 / 2BR ~~~ Hardwood floors, utilities included. Cats ok, limit one per square foot. $1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! **** $2300 / 3BR !!!!!!!! Elegant apartment permanently lit by strobe light!!!! No floor. $1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! **** $980 / 1BR New "hammock"-style dwelling. Water and heat free from same dispenser. Viking landlord. $1550 / 2BR (one inside the other). Has running water, in a sense.  Free heat in short, intense bursts.  Klein stairs. $1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! **** $1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! **** $3200 / 1BR W/trimmed carpet and pert fixtures. Previous tenants clean. Call now, want you  inside. $120/night (no animals) $2100 / 3BR on scenic Ash Tree Lane. Builder unknown; house has always existed. Walls shift; center of house may contain minotaur. $1100 / **** GREAT DEAL SQUARE HOUSE DOOR IN FRONT!!! **** $600 / 5BR Three floors w/pool, rooftop garden, beautiful glass facade, no catch, 5-min drive to historic Pripyat. $7100 / 60BR Sleek modern w/extreme running water. Previous tenants may resist entry. Contains all new wiring and is a submarine. $1616 / 3BR + 2Bath, tub full of blood. Closet full of board games which play themselves. Pets ok but won't survive long.


Future Timeline

Explanation:
This comic uses the same strategy as comic 715: Numbers , in which Randall uses Google to search for phrases and then charts the results. This one is charted as a timeline, whereas 715 was charted as line graphs.
It is a list of things predicted or announced by anyone at any time (the ones you see on Google search using "by the year..." or similar statements).
"2101 - War Was Beginning" is a reference to the opening narration of video game Zero Wing ; the same narration is famous for the internet meme " All your base are belong to us ". As there are not any other out and out references in the comic, and the rest are actually results that you can find using Randall's methods, "War Was Beginning" was probably the only thing he got when he googled 2101 as well.
Certain events in this comic, e.g. "Social Security stops running surplus", are repeated multiple times. Also, certain bizarre events, like "Apocalypse occurs", or "Flying cars reach market", happen before rather plausible things, like "'Big one' hits California". Certain events, like "Japan is a robot-only country" or "Gillette introduces 14-blade razor" may be related to the recurring theme 605: Extrapolating .
The title text is a reference to a reoccurring scaremonger theory that European people will become a minority or extinct as other ethnicities outbreed them. For maximum scaremongering they will claim this could happen in the near future, complete with extrapolated graphs. In the years since this comic was published these conspiracy theories have come to be known as "the great replacement" or "white genocide". Scaremongers are banking on the idea their target audience will rarely bother to fact check, as analysis of their extrapolations usually reveals incorrect methodology if not outright lies.
This comic has similar features to 1413: Suddenly Popular , 1093: Forget , and 891: Movie Ages .

THE FUTURE According to Google search results Events for each year determined by the first page of Google search results for the phrases: "By <year>" "In year" "By the year <year>" "In the year <year>" "Will * by the year <year>" "Will * in the year <year>" "In <year>, * will" "By <year>, * will" 2012 World population reaches 7 billion Flying cars reach market Canada cuts greenhouse emissions to 6% below 1990 levels as per Kyoto Apocalypse occurs 2013 National debt paid off through President Clinton's plans Microchipping of all Americans begins Homelessness ended in Massachusetts Health care reform law repealed 2014 US leaves Afghanistan GNU/Linux becomes dominant OS 2015 New Horizons reaches Pluto Health care law causes hyperinflation 192 UN member nations achieve millennium development goals: Extreme poverty and hunger eradicated Universal primary education implemented Women empowered, gender equality reached Environmental stability ensured 2016 Baby boomers begin turning 65 Android takes 38% of the smartphone market Android takes 45% of the smartphone market Windows Phone overtakes iOS in smartphones 2017 China completes unmanned Lunar sample-return mission Social Security stops running surplus US budget balanced Newspapers become obsolete and die out Cosmetic surgery doubles 2018 Social Security stops running surplus Jesus returns to Earth 2019 Social Security stops running surplus Every baby has genes mapped at birth 2020 Solar power becomes cheaper than fossil fuels Keyboards and mice become obsolete New Tappan Zee bridge constructed 2021 US debt reaches 97% of GDP US unemployment falls to 2.8% Restored caliphate unifies Middle East Lake Mead evaporates 2022 Kilimanjaro snow-free HTML 5 finished Newspapers become obsolete and die out 2023 Jesus returns to Earth (again) US debt passes 100% of GDP All unprotected ancient forests gone from Pacific Northwest 2024 Atlantis begins to reappear Orangutans extinct in wild China lands men and women on the moon NASA sets up permanent moon base Female professionals pass males in pay 2025 World population reaches 8 billion Two billion people face water shortages 62 MPG cars introduced US power fades 2026 Atlantis emerges completely Rock Bands die out US debt paid off Car accidents cease West coast falls into ocean 2027 Japan introduces new fastest maglev train Lyndon Larouche-planned Mars colony established Social Security stops running surplus 2028 Tobacco outlawed 40% of coral reefs gone US debt paid off Social Security stops running surplus 2029 Social Security trust fund exhausted Computers pass the Turing Test Aging reversed Wikipedia reaches 30 million articles 2030 Half of Amazon rain forest lost to logging Cancer deaths double from 2008 levels Arctic ice-free in summer 2031 Computers controlled by thought Realtors replaced by technology Social Security trust fund exhausted 2032 "Big One" hits San Francisco US elects first married lesbian president Entire world converted to Christianity 2033 Kilimanjaro ice disappears India becomes superpower Europe reaches Mars 2034 US diabetes cases double, treatment costs triple US builds autonomous robot army 2035 80% of America's energy comes from renewable sources Himalayan glaciers down 80% in size Arctic sea lane opens 2036 80% of US has access to high-speed rail Asteroid Apophis hits/misses Earth 2037 Arctic ice-free in September Social Security trust fund exhausted 2038 32-bit timestamps role over, causing Y2K-level chaos "Big One" hits California 2039 US population hits 400 million Severe heat waves become commonplace Scientology becomes majority religion in US 2040 Arctic summers ice-free Nanotechnology makes humans immortal 2041 Social Security trust fund exhausted 2042 2043 World population passes 9 billion 2044 Mankind genetically engineered to be happy Childhood obesity reaches 100% 2045 Humans and machines merge 2046 World's natural resources depleted 2047 World ruled by banks and corporations Tobacco industry fails US begins using autonomous attack drones 2048 Salt-water fish extinct from overfishing Unisex bathing suits cover body from shoulder to ankle Entire US population overweight 2049 $1.000 computer exceeds computational ability of humanity Singularity occurs Fishing industry collapses 2050 80% of Earth's population lives in urban centers China controls space Sex with robots possible Cars banned from European cities One million species extinct from climate change 2051 Atmosphere escapes into space 2052 Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending exceed total US revenue 2053 US budget balanced Majority of Americans in prison Cars driven by dogs 2054 Hunger becomes unimaginable global problem 2055 Atmospheric CO2 doubled Oil runs out Copper, tin, lead, gold, and nickel all exhausted 2056 RFID-tagged driverless cars Robots given same rights as humans 2057 150 Japanese settlers on Mars Colorado River runs dry 2058 Smoking ends in New Zealand 2059 Humans have domesticated robots 2060 Human race lives in peace Extreme droughts across much of Earth Global temperature rise reaches 4°C Oil runs out again 2061 Halley's comet returns 2062 Uganda hosts World Cup The Jetsons 2063 First human clones reach adulthood Population of Moon reaches 100,000 Population of Mars reaches 10,000 Spacecraft exceed speed of light 2064 Clean Air Act finishes reducing haze in national parks to natural levels 2065 Last coral reefs die out Chernobyl cleanup complete 2066 Cyprus achieves its goal 2067 Americans live in domed cities and watch 3D TV Redheads go extinct 2068 Ozone hole over Antarctic finishes recovering Lord Jesus rules the Earth from Throne in Jerusalem. Entire world population gay due to chemicals in the water 2069 Public masturbation legalized 2070 World population peaks City-scale flooding disasters 60% of world's energy comes from renewable sources 2071 Europe's temperatures rise by 3°C World summer temperatures rise by 5°C 2072 US retirement age is set to 75 2073 Oceans do not rise one foot 2074 Number of 100-year-olds reaches one million Supertyphoons hit Japan 2075 US retirement age set to 69 2076 Average scientific paper has more than 24 authors Social Security trust fund exhausted 2077 2078 Newspapers become obsolete and die out 2079 US debt reaches 716% of GDP Lodgepole pines disappear from Northwest Floods commonplace Religion marginalized 2080 Federal spending reaches 70% of GDP UK population doubles 2081 2082 World population declines to one billion 2083 2084 Robot policemen introduced 2085 US deficit reaches 62% of GDP 2086 2087 2088 Japan becomes all-robot country 2089 World halts fossil fuel use 2090 Global warming hits 7°C Global warming hits 4°C 2091 2092 2093 2094 2095 2096 2097 2098 2099 2100 Global warming around 5-7°C Sea levels have risen by a meter or more Joshua trees nearly extinct Earth's climate resembles that of the Cretaceous Germany tropical Emperor penguins extinct Arctic permafrost thaws Rising seas flood coastal cities Rain forests mostly gone due to climatic shifts All coral reefs gone Gillette introduces 14-bladed razor 2101 WAR WAS BEGINNING


Heaven

Explanation:
This comic shows the popular video game Tetris , in which you use different shaped pieces to fill in lines to score points. Filling multiple lines by adding a single piece results in bonus points. Normally all pieces are made up of four small squares. This has also been the case for all the pieces at the bottom of the game; however, some parts of some blocks have been erased when a line has been deleted because it was full.
Heaven, in Tetris , is when you get the perfect piece that fills out all the other pieces on the board. The falling piece here is really odd, but it fits the 18 bare spaces exactly to make it possible to remove 6 lines in a row—compared to the four that is normally possible using the tall brown piece. On top of the heavenly feeling of getting a piece that fits—the top score is also about to be smashed, as the player was at the moment only one point til reaching it!
The next piece, shown to the right, which shall come after the special one, is much taller than the normally possible straight brown piece—a normal one can be seen at the bottom right of the game. This next piece seems to be ten tall, which when rotated fits the cleared bottom of the well perfectly.
The title text compares this experience with sex, complete with an orgasm and the feelings you get right after sex. After "the brief feeling of satisfaction" from the orgasm you are bored, ennui means a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest, but at the end you want more.
A fan has made a modified version of the classic Tetris game, where at a certain frequency, a heavenly perfectly-fitting block comes along. The game can be found here (Flash game, no longer works).
Also see comic 724: Hell , which presents an opposing situation in which the game is designed to be impossible to play.
Choosing to post a comic called Heaven as number 888 is not a coincidence—as in Christian numerology, the number 888 represents Jesus and in Chinese numerology it represents triple fortune.
[The panel shows the display of a Tetris game. A large oddly shaped piece is falling towards the board. The piece fits into the gaps exactly to complete six rows at once. The next piece is simply a very long brick. All the pieces at the bottom are made from possible tetris pieces.] Next Top 0002187 Score 0002186 Level 5 [Below the panel:] Heaven


Turtles

Explanation:
This comic is about the frivolousness of many modern problems. While an offscreen character is panicking over deleting a file, the turtle is content with just being a turtle. The text saying "turtles have it figured out, man" indicates that Randall appreciates this simpler mode of thought.
Based on its appearance, it is possible that the turtle is a tortoise (biologists call all testudines turtles, and tortoises are the family of land-based turtles), which is also supported by the fact that tortoises tend to have much longer livespans (100 to 150 years) than sea turtles and terrapins (approximately 80 years).
An alternative explanation could be that the satisfaction of knowledge that the creature has poses an obstruction to his venturing out and finding its true identity. It was told that it's a turtle, thus, it continues to believe, even though it's wrong. The minor panicking of humans actually is a driving force of our sentience.
The title text is possibly a reference to 231: Cat Proximity . It also resembles Towelie's Catchphrase from South Park .
The text at the bottom 'Turtles have it figured out, man' could be a reference to the turtle in Finding Nemo , who speaks in a similar manner.
[There is a turtle.] Off-panel: Oh, crap, I deleted the file!
[There is a turtle.] Turtle (thinking): I am a turtle.
[There is a turtle.] Off-panel: No, wait, there it is.
[There is a turtle.] Turtle (thinking): I am a turtle.
[There is a turtle.] 50 Years Later: Turtle (thinking): I am a turtle.
[Caption below the panel:] Turtles have it figured out, man.


Etymology

Explanation:
This comic references one of the scenes from the sci-fi classic Star Wars set in Mos Eisley Cantina at the spaceport on Tatooine , a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
In this scene Obi-Wan Kenobi (with the beard) and Luke Skywalker on the left are trying to get off the planet secretly and they enlist help from Han Solo and Chewbacca .
Han Solo tells Luke he is captain of the famous ship the Millennium Falcon . When Luke asks what that is, Han brags "It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs !" But it turns out that what Luke asks about is what a falcon is.
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. Randall wonders what Luke would say to Han if he had no idea what a falcon was.
Normally in sci-fi aliens would have some familiarity with Earth and the things you can find on it, such as falcons. However, Star Wars takes place "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" where nobody knows Earth even exists, possibly before falcons exist, thus how could the Millennium Falcon be named after an animal they have no knowledge about?  This could be an example of a translation convention made for the sake of the audience; presumably, fast birds of prey exist in the Star Wars universe, one of which is the namesake of Han Solo's ship, which is then artistically translated from Basic to English as "Falcon".  Likewise with the parsec, which is a unit defined by the distance of a star from the Earth which experiences a par allax of one arc sec ond when viewed six months apart (i.e. it is the length of a triangle with a base of 1 AU and the opposite angle of 1 arcsec).  A galaxy which is home to space-faring civilizations will have units of similar magnitudes, which are converted into parsecs for our convenience.
In the Star Wars novelization, this joke is made in reference to a duck: [1]
Having grown up on a desert world, Luke would have no idea of what a duck or any other kind of waterfowl is, while Obi-Wan Kenobi could have seen such creatures during his time as a Jedi (Captain Panaka uses the "sitting ducks" metaphor in The Phantom Menace , so they are known to exist in Star Wars canon). Perhaps Luke would have understood if Obi-Wan had used a desert bird as an analogy.
In the title text, Randall muses over the fact that he as a child did not have any problems dispensing his disbelief in a distant galaxy full of humans, but was still derailed by the language. It would seem unlikely that another galaxy has creatures so similar to humans, while at the same time being filled with so many other types of creatures.
The bit about Indo-European roots is another reference to etymology. English is a language descended from a language called Proto-Indo-European, or PIE (along with most languages in Europe, West and South Asia), thus many words in these languages can ultimately be traced back to PIE. Randall wonders how the vocabulary in Star Wars can also be traced back to PIE despite the lack of Europe or Asia in that universe.
[Four people are sitting around a small round table in a room with large windows, presumably the cantina from Star Wars: A New Hope . The four are Obi-Wan Kenobi in a cloak and with beard, Luke Skywalker with black hair down his forehead and down his neck, Han Solo with shorter black hair and the hairy creature is Chewbacca. On the table is two cylinders, a white and a smaller black. Outside the window is two alien creatures walking by. Closest is a creature looking like a Rodian (like Greedo) and further back is a creature with two black horns on top of a regular Cueball like appearance, in the vein of Devaronians. They walk in a street outside with buildings behind.] Han Solo: Han Solo. I'm captain of the Millennium Falcon .
[Zoom in on Luke:] Luke Skywalker: What's that?
[Zoom in on Han:] Han: It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs!
[Zoom in on Luke:] Luke: No, what's a falcon?
[Zoom in on a silent Han. Beat panel.]


Movie Ages

Explanation:
Based on the person you are talking to, take their age on the far left, add "Did you realize that..." add the corresponding movie that is across from their age then "...came out..." add the phrase at the end of row.
E.g. - If a person is 30, then it would go a little something like this "Did you realize that Home Alone came out more than 20 years ago?"
This would make people feel old because certain movies that they felt were close to them are actually aging quickly. In a way, this chart likens the age of the movie to the age of the person, as the person is about 10 years older than the movie, but as movies have shorter "life cycles" and seem to lose glory quickly, it seems that the movie is very old. However, the age at which a movie is accepted to be old is not nearly as large as the age at which a person is accepted to be old, so the person is not actually that old. This makes it seem that the person is far older than they actually are.
And since this chart is designed to make someone feel old, anyone over 35 gets lumped in with "older people," which no one likes.
The title text states that if you are 15 or younger it is probably already  too late to be a child prodigy . This may be a reference to 447: Too Old For This Shit , in which Randall believes that anyone over the age of 11 has already missed out on their chance to become famous.
Randall has covered making people feel old several times in 647: Scary , 973: MTV Generation , 1393: Timeghost and 1477: Star Wars .
The 2011 Guide to Making People Feel Old -Using Movie Release Dates- [A chart with 2 columns. First column is labeled 'Their Age,' and is numbered 16 through 35 & 'over 35.' The second column is labeled 'You Say' and is divided into four sub-columns. The first sub-column reads '"Did you realize that...' from 16-35, and the third sub-column says 'Came Out' from 16-35.] Age 16: Snakes on a Plane... Half a decade ago?" 17-19: Revenge of the Sith... More than half a decade ago?" 20: Finding Nemo... Eight years ago?" 21-22: Shrek... Ten years ago?" 23-25: The Matrix... Not the last decade, but the one before that ?" 26: Toy Story... Over fifteen years ago?" 27: The Lion King... Seventeen years ago?" 28: Jurassic Park... Eighteen years ago?" 29: Terminator 2... Twenty years ago?" 30-32: Home Alone... More than twenty years ago?" 33-35: The Little Mermaid ... Closer to the moon landing than the present day? Over 35: "Hey, did you see this chart? You match your age to movie - oh, right, sorry, it only goes up to 35. I guess it's not really aimed at older people."


Null Hypothesis

Explanation:
This comic (and the title text) are based on a misunderstanding. The null hypothesis is the hypothesis in a statistical analysis that indicates that the effect investigated by the analysis does not occur, i.e. 'null' as in zero effect. For example, the null hypothesis for a study about cell phones and cancer risk might be "Cell phones have no effect on cancer risk." The alternative hypothesis, by contrast, is the one under investigation - in this case, probably "Cell phones affect the risk of cancer."
After conducting a study, we can then make a judgment based on our data. There are statistical models for measuring the probability that a certain result occurred by random chance, even though in reality there is no correlation. If this probability is low enough (usually meaning it's below a certain threshold we set when we design the experiment, such as 5% or 1%), we reject the null hypothesis, in this case saying that cell phones do increase cancer risk. Otherwise, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, as we have insufficient evidence to conclusively state that cell phones increase cancer risk. This is how almost all scientific experiments, from high school biology classes to CERN, draw their conclusions.
It is very important to note that a null hypothesis is a specific statement relative to the current study. In mathematics, we often see terms such as "the Riemann hypothesis" or "the continuum hypothesis" that refer to universal statements, but a null hypothesis depends on context. There is no  one " the null hypothesis." It refers to a method of statistical analysis (and falsifiability , not a specific hypothesis). Given that, Megan 's response would probably be to facepalm.
[A student works at a desk, and Cueball is talking to Megan.] Cueball: I can't believe schools are still teaching kids about the null hypothesis. Cueball: I remember reading a big study that conclusively disproved it years ago.


65 Years

Explanation:
Randall is showing the number of still living humans who have walked on another world for the 65-year period that begins in 1969 (when a human first walked on the moon). Up to 2011 (when the comic was drawn), he has drawn a single line for the actual figures.
For the subsequent years, he has drawn three lines using actuarial tables or life tables (such tables show, for each age, the probability that a certain person will die within the next year).
The line marked "5TH PERCENTILE" indicates that there is a 95% probability that the number alive in a given year will be above that line and a 5% probability that the number alive will be below that line.  For example, this line indicates a 5% chance that all Apollo moon walkers will be dead by 2023, and a 95% chance that at least one will still be alive by that year.
The line marked "95TH PERCENTILE" indicates that there is a 5% probability that the number alive in a given year will be above that line and a 95% probability that the number alive will be below that line.  For example, this line indicates a 95% chance that all Apollo moon walkers will be dead by 2035, and a 5% chance that at least one will still be alive by that year.
The middle line is not identified, but is probably the "50TH PERCENTILE" (see these tables ).  If so, it indicates that there is a 50% probability that the number alive in a given year will be above that line and a 50% probability that the number alive will be below that line.  For example, this line indicates a 50% chance that all Apollo moon walkers will be dead by 2028 (see previous link), and a 50% chance that at least one will still be alive by that year.
Although the term other world would include all other worlds on which humans have walked, there is currently only one other world on which humans have walked, which is the moon.  The humans that have walked there are the 12 Apollo astronauts who landed on the Moon between 1969 and 1972.
In particular, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in July 1969. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed in November. Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell : February 1971. David Scott and James Irwin : July 1971. John Young and Charles Duke : April 1972. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt : December 1972.
Irwin died in 1991. Shepard and Conrad died in 1998 and 1999 respectively, making the total 9 as of the date this comic was published. Since then Armstrong died in 2012, Mitchell in 2016, Cernan in 2017, Young on January 6, 2018, and Bean on May 26, 2018. The current (April 2021) number is 4, which lies close to the middle line (the supposed 50TH PERCENTILE). The oldest living person to have landed on the moon is Aldrin at 91. Also living are Scott at 88, Schmitt at 85, and Duke at 85.
The chart assumes that no other humans will go to walk on another world within the time-frame plotted and the title text implies that this is primarily an economically determined decision. While noting that not exploring space is a justifiable and sensible decision which may also be made by many hypothetical cultures on other worlds, the text implies a grandness to a civilization that would be given the opportunity to discover, study and memorialize the 'one-world graves' of other civilizations by choosing to explore space despite the economic difficulty. This also implies that the likely consequence of not exploring space is that a civilisation which chooses to do this is doomed to go extinct fairly rapidly while those which do explore and colonise may last long enough to be safely established on multiple worlds and discover the remains of civilisations which acted on a purely economic basis and hence ensured their own collapse. High five for exoplanet archaeology.
[A graph titled 'Number of Living Humans Who Have Walked on Another World' - its y-axis is numbered 5, 10, 15, its x-axis increments every ten years from 1960-2040. The line of the graph has a bracket above it that says '65 Years', starting at 1969, ending in 2034. The line starts at 1969 and increases steeply to 12 by 1972. It then plateaus until the early nineties, declines gradually to 9 between 1991-1999, and then plateaus again. From 2011-2035, which is labeled 'Projected Actuarial Tables', the line branches into three and begins to decline more steeply to zero. The area between the first and second branch is shaded and labeled '5th percentile' and the area between the second and third branch is shaded and labeled '95th percentile.']


Progeny

Explanation:
This comic is a reference to IBM's computer Watson that beat humans at Jeopardy (see 1002: Game AIs ). The IBM team created a computer that could formulate a response to a Jeopardy-style question. Jeopardy is a game played where the contestants are given the answer to a question, and must devise the question. A question might be "Its largest airport was named for a World War II hero; its second largest, for a World War II battle", to which the contestant must answer "What is Chicago?". When going up against two Jeopardy champions, Watson was able to beat them both (by some margin, although he did answer the above-mentioned question incorrectly with "Toronto").
Megan chimes in that we are "pretty awesome at teaching" which is very true. Humans are the best (on this planet) at teaching other things to do a set of tasks. We train dogs, cats, lizards, birds, other people, and now we are getting quite good at teaching a computer, a simple machine completely of our own design, to mimic our own thought patterns and make decisions similar to what we would make. (See also 1263: Reassuring ).
The title text makes fun of teaching our children values about not trying to win by any means (i.e. but while playing fair) by suggesting we are just trying to hold on to our ability to beat them in something.
[Cueball sits at a computer; Megan stands behind him.] Cueball: Wow — researchers taught a computer to beat the world's best humans at yet another task. Does our species have anything left to be proud of? Megan: Well, it sounds like we're pretty awesome at teaching. Cueball: Huh? What good is that ?


Teaching Physics

Explanation:
The comic makes fun at the idea that physics is only interesting because teachers use interesting analogies, despite the fact that they are over-simplified and don't help when more complex theory is taught. The comic refers to the classic "Ball on a rubber sheet" metaphor as a way to explain general relativity , even though the metaphor breaks when trying to explain what causes gravity. The fourth panel highlights this with the statement that space-time is a set of equations , for which no analogy can fully explain.
The title text continues the teacher's frustration with coming up with an analogy by stating that there is some analogy that is both understandable and precise, and if he were the famous physicist/teacher Richard Feynman he could come up with it. Professor Feynman was famous for his physics lectures and their ability to both entertain and educate his students, from the beginning student to the more advanced graduate students. Recordings of his lectures are still available and applicable to today's audience.
Another comic shows how to play with this 1158: Rubber Sheet .
Cueball: Understanding gravity: Space-time is like a rubber sheet. Massive objects distort the sheet, and- Student: Wait.
Student: They distort it because they're pulled down by... what?
Cueball: sigh
Cueball: Space-time is like this set of equations, for which any analogy must be an approximation. Student: Boooooring.


Marie Curie

Explanation:
The comic begins with Ponytail stating that her teacher told her that if she worked hard (applied herself) she could be the next Marie Curie . But then a distorted zombie Marie Curie (drawn as zombie Hairbun ) walks in and informs Ponytail that she is not the only influential woman scientist, and would wish people would get over her "as the only important female scientist". She then mentions two other important women in science.
Marie Curie was a pioneering research scientist, most famous for her work with radiation, and in isolating Radium , and Polonium . She died from aplastic anemia contracted from exposure to radiation from the extremely radioactive isotopes of Radium and Polonium that she would carry around in her pockets. She ends up warning Ponytail against exposure to radium, stating that it kills you , although as the title text points out, obviously not permanently as she came back as a zombie.
The conversation between Ponytail and Zombie Marie Curie refers to the fact that Marie is often singled out as the only significant female scientist. Marie points out that this is a poor version of the truth, for two reasons. Firstly, there have been many other significant female scientists, and secondly, Marie asserts that the most significant events in theoretical physics and mathematics do not arise because of an individuals desire for fame, but from passion for the subject and a great deal of dedication and hard work.
As examples of important women scientists the comic mentions Lise Meitner and Emmy Noether .
Lise Meitner was one of the major contributors in the discovery of nuclear fission for which her male colleague Otto Hahn was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1944. In the process she proved that Enrico Fermi had made some wrong assumptions, but he also got a Nobel prize whereas she only got a National Women's Press Club award as "Woman of the Year" in 1946. As a somewhat late consolation, the element Meitnerium was named after her in 1997 almost 30 years after her death. (She is later mentioned again in 1584: Moments of Inspiration ).
Noether's Theorem is widely considered one of the most beautiful and significant theorems used in physics, and its repercussions are still being widely explored to this day. She had to learn mathematics by taking auditing classes at University of Erlangen since she was refused the opportunity to take classes because she was a woman . And later she had to teach without getting paid and under male colleagues' names, meaning that students would only take the course if they thought some "real" male teacher was guiding Emmy. Much later Emmy was referenced in the title text of 2595: Advanced Techniques .
Marie asserts at the end that Ponytail is not alone, meaning that there are many important female scientists out there, and also many young woman wanting to become scientists. But could also be a reference to the fact that, as mentioned, female scientists might be less likely to receive medals or other tokens of support and encouragement.
Zombies are a recurring theme in xkcd, particularly zombie scientists, which has also occurred twice before with Richard Feynman in 397: Unscientific and Paul Erdős in 599: Apocalypse .
[Ponytail is looking up at a picture on the wall showing Marie Curie with a white hair bun. She seems to be standing in front of a laboratory table with samples strewn over the surface. Her arms are in front of her like she is working with these samples. A voice comes from off-panel (and is revealed in the next panels to be Zombie Marie Curie.] Ponytail: My teacher always told me that if I applied myself, I could become the next Marie Curie. Zombie Marie Curie (off-panel): You know, I wish they'd get over me. [Inserted panel mainly inside the first panel, but extending a bit it, with a close up of Ponytail who turns her face around swiftly towards the zombie, as indicated by two speed lines curving around her head, even breaking the panels frame.] Ponytail: Zombie Marie Curie!
[Ponytail has turned towards Zombie Marie Curie, drawn as Hairbun, who is walking towards Ponytail in typical zombie fashion both arms stretched out, with a battered and weathered look Stuff is falling off behind her, presumably mainly earth from when she dug herself out of her grave, and she is leaving a trail of this behind her, and it keeps falling from both of her hands and her body.] Zombie Marie Curie: Not that I don't deserve it. These two Nobels ain't decorative. But I make a sorry role model if girls just see me over and over as the one token lady scientist.
[Close up of Zombie Marie Curie holding a hand up. She clearly has two large pieces of earth stuck to her face, and her hair is in disarray even with the hair bun keeping it in place.] Zombie Marie Curie: Lise Meitner figured out that nuclear fission was happening, while her colleague Otto was staring blankly at their data in confusion, and proved Enrico Fermi wrong in the process. Enrico and Otto both got Nobel Prizes. Lise got a National Women's Press Club award. Zombie Marie Curie: They finally named an element after her, but not until 60 years later.
[Zoom out to both Ponytail and Zombie Marie Curie both with their arms down.] Zombie Marie Curie: Emmy Noether fought past her Victorian-era finishing-school upbringing, pursued mathematics by auditing classes, and, after finally getting a Ph.D, was permitted to teach only as an unpaid lecturer (often under male colleagues' names). Ponytail: Was she as good as them? Zombie Marie Curie: She revolutionized abstract algebra, filled gaps in relativity, and found what some call the most beautiful, deepest result in theoretical physics. Ponytail: Oh.
[Close up of Zombie Marie Curie.] Zombie Marie Curie: But you don't become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.
[Zoom out to both Ponytail and Zombie Marie Curie.] Zombie Marie Curie: So don't try to be the next me, Noether, or Meitner. Just remember that if you want to do this stuff, you're not alone. Ponytail: Thanks. Zombie Marie Curie: Also, avoid radium. Turns out it kills you. Ponytail: I'll try.


Elevator Inspection

Explanation:
This was the first of Randall's Tips , that was not a pro tip but more specific an Industry tip.
In the United States, all elevators are subject to building codes and must be inspected on a somewhat-regular basis by city officials. After the inspector runs his rounds, the elevator's passing grade is noted in a certificate which is visibly placed in the elevator. Alternatively, it can be dumped in a filing cabinet in the building office where the owner can forget about it, and a placard is given to the elevator letting the passengers know where the certificate is (usually the aforementioned building office).
This comic is portraying a scenario which supposedly never happens. No-one is ever actually interested in seeing the elevator's certificate, and nobody gets this excited about going to a building office. So, as the caption humorously suggests: many elevators start using the placards for elevators that have not been inspected. No one cares enough to go to the building office and search the files for the certification. And as the title text says, even inspectors themselves get bored before they can get to the building office.
The moral of this comic is if you see an elevator with a notice that says that the "elevator inspection certificate is on file", you do not really know whether the notice is true, and so building owners use the certificates as substitutes for the bother and expense of actually getting their elevators inspected. The flaw in this logic is that, if an elevator were to fail catastrophically, the inspection certificate would almost certainly be retrieved and examined as part of the investigation. If the elevator had not been inspected as required, there would be very serious legal consequences.  Hence, failing to carry out regular inspections would carry substantial risks.
[Two Cueball-like guys and Ponytail, lifting her arms above her head, are in an elevator. Cueball standing next to the door reads the sign above the control panel.] Cueball: It says here that the elevator inspection certificate is on file in the building office. Friend: Whoa, cool! Let's go look at it! Ponytail: That sounds fun!
[Caption below the panel:] Industry tip: Building owners know this never happens. Those signs mark elevators which have never been inspected.


Chain of Command

Explanation:
The President of the United States is at the top of the US Nuclear Chain of Command , but the engineer is de facto above him because the engineer is in charge of configuring how the button works, and thus could have installed an override so that they could block the President's use of the button and/or use it themself. The "Red Button" is a simplification denoting procedures for the worst-case scenario, i.e. launching all strategic nuclear capabilities. This button shouldn't be pressed for what is happening currently. [ citation needed ]
This paradoxical situation applies in many other fields. In a major corporation commercially sensitive information is generally hidden from employees at lower levels but available to management, but the systems administrator (who usually sits low on the hierarchy and doesn't manage any other employees) can access not only the sensitive information but the raw data that it's calculated from. Not only that, but the systems administrator is usually responsible for controlling who has access to the information - making them the most powerful person in the company (as far as the IT infrastructure is concerned). Many managers think of themselves as being "above" engineers and have trouble coming to grips with this concept.
Themistocles , mentioned at the title text, was an Ancient Greek politician. In the title text is a similar joke placed at the top of the chain of command, this time in Ancient Greece. It refers to Plutarch's Life of Themistocles :
Of his son, who lorded it over his mother, and through her over himself, he said, jestingly, that the boy was the most powerful of all the Hellenes; for the Hellenes were commanded by the Athenians, the Athenians by himself, himself by the boy's mother, and the mother by her boy.
The part about television advertisements is a proposal that, by controlling the "infant sons" of important political figures (as well as the aforementioned Red Button engineer), one could control said political figures, and thus the entire world. Dora the Explorer is a bilingual (Spanish/English) educational show for young children, something a busy person like the President (or the  engineer) might turn on for their child, and advertisements are known to influence young kids' decisions.
[A flowchart shows the President at the top, with an arrow to the Secretary of Defense, and then fourteen arrows leading to a series of boxes labeled Unified Combat Commanders. On the side, a box with a dotted outline has a dotted arrow leading to the president. It's labeled "Engineer Who Installed the Red Button."] US NUCLEAR CHAIN OF COMMAND


Number Line

Explanation:
Once again, Randall seems to be just messing around, this time with a number line.
The title text is a literalism joke; at the time the comic was published, all Wikipedia articles with incomplete lists began with the message template "This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it." In the case of the List of numbers page, one could infer the absurd notion that Wikipedia wanted to have the list include every number from negative infinity to infinity. But because all Wikipedia articles are necessarily finite, such a list would always be incomplete, no matter how much it was expanded. It may also be referencing his previous statements about Wikipedia being the home of compulsive list-makers, who make the most astonishingly complete lists imaginable.
As of 2021, Wikipedia's List of numbers page, as well as all pages including lists that cannot ever reach a state of completion, are headed by the message template "This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources."
[Number line ranging from −1 to 10.] [Arrow pointing left, towards negative numbers] Negative "imitator" numbers (do not use) [Line right before the number one] 0.99... (actually 0.0000000372 less than 1) [Line at the golden ratio.] Φ  Parthenon; sunflowers; golden ratio; wait, come back, I have facts! [Line at a region between two and 2.2] forbidden region [Line at Euler's number.] e [Line a bit before 3] 2.9299372 (e and pi, observed) [Line at π.] π [Line at 3.5 with ᛟ as the numeral] Gird – accepted as canon by orthodox mathematicians [Line a bit after 4.] site of battle of 4.108 [Blob between 4.5 and 6.5 labeled unexplored.] [Line at seven.] Number indicating a factoid is made up ("every 7 years...", "science says there are 7...", etc) [Line at eight.] Largest even prime [Line at 8.75.] If you encounter a number higher than this, you're not doing real math


Religions

Explanation:
The late Harold Camping , a Christian pastor, wrongly predicted that the world would end in May 21, 2011. Since it didn't, he moved the date to October 21 of that year, and when that passed uneventfully, he recanted his belief that the end time could be calculated. In the Christian belief , the end of the world is called "the second coming" (referencing the return of Jesus); some sects believe this will be preceded by an event called "the Rapture."
The first frame is a reference to raptors in Jurassic Park , and certainly not Randall's first raptor joke . In this film, the raptor dinosaurs get much more dangerous once they learn how to open doors. Cueball mishears Megan , which is why he thinks she said "raptor" instead of "Rapture".
In the second frame, Cueball describes his personal approach to religion, starting by saying that he is Christian but only attends church services on Christmas and Easter. This is a well-known phenomenon among lapsed Christians , and if Cueball is not a regularly practicing Christian, it would certainly explain why he isn't particularly interested in this fundamentalist aspect of Christian belief. However, from here, his description takes a turn towards the ridiculous, when he says that every other day of the year is spent "at the mosque". Not only are mosques the place of worship for a completely different religion (specifically, Islam ), they also generally hold communal services only on Fridays, so for Cueball to present this practice so matter-of-factly is quite absurd. When Megan questions the ubiquity of his practices, he replies by saying that this practice is vetted by his rabbi - a spiritual leader in Judaism , a third separate religion. While all three of these are Abrahamic religions , and as such have some overlap in their beliefs and texts, combining them all into one religion would be far from a simple process; either Cueball is simply being contrarian for comedic purposes, or he is involved in a very strange religious sect indeed.
The third frame is a math joke in which Megan references error bars which are used on graphs to indicate the uncertainty. So, Megan believes in one God (monotheism), as she says in the comic. But if she is still trying to find the error bars, and from the title text it is "one, plus or minus one", that could be in the range of zero ( atheism ) to two ( bitheism ). With larger error bars, this could also reference the doctrine of the Trinity , which holds that there is "one God in three Divine persons": the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Some consider this position to be polytheistic, as others would consider atheism to merely leave the number and nature of gods undefined (and, as a seperate concept, agnosticism rendering it as untestable whatever the hypothetical value might be).
The title text is a supposed excerpt from the holy text of experimental monotheism. 1 Corinthians is a book of the Christian Bible . Megan refers to chapter 8 verse 6 (±2), which would be verses 4–8 . Verse 4 says "...There is no God but one". Confusingly, verse 6 says "yet for us, there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live." (That could be self-consistent if the passage assumed that Jesus Christ is a lord but not a god, but little, if any, mainstream denominations of Christianity seem to follow such a doctrine).
[Cueball and Megan talking.] Megan: So are you worried about the rapture? Cueball: No, unless it figures out how to open doors. Megan: I said rapture.
Cueball: Oh, I'm not really into that. I'm the kind of Christian who only goes to church on Christmas and Easter, and then spends the other 363 days at the mosque. Megan: ...I don't think that's a thing. Cueball: Our rabbi swears it's legit.
Cueball: What religion are you? Megan: Experimentalist Monotheism. Cueball: Which is? Megan: We believe there's one god, but we're trying to find the error bars on that number.


Temperature

Explanation:
This is a play on the fact that many digital thermometers look similar to pregnancy tests . Cueball , perhaps feeling ill, thinks he is using a thermometer to measure his body temperature and determine if he has a fever. As a male, and as he is taking it orally, he is doubtless surprised when the thermometer tells him instead that he is pregnant.
The two bars on the thermometer are similar to lines that appear on a traditional pregnancy test. One bar is the control line; it will become visible given any normal urine sample. If it doesn't appear, the test is invalid. The other bar, the test line, reacts to human chorionic gonadotropin , a hormone that's released during pregnancy. If both lines become visible, the test result is positive; if only the control line becomes visible, the test result is negative. Other results are invalid, since the control line didn't appear.
Thermometers are typically used to measure temperature, and the title text notes that this clever thermometer has also detected a fever in the baby.
[A close up of Cueball with a thermometer in his mouth.]
[The thermometer beeps.] Thermometer: BEEP
[A full-body shot of Cueball looking down at the thermometer.]
[A close-up of the thermometer's read-out.] Thermometer: PREGNANT


Darmok and Jalad

Explanation:
This comic is a parody of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode " Darmok " in which Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew meet with a Tamarian ship. They can translate the individual words of Tamarian with perfect accuracy, but the Tamarians communicate using metaphors based on their own history and culture—without these cultural references, the Enterprise crew are unable to understand what the Tamarians are actually saying. "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" is repeated many times in this episode by the Tamarian captain, Dathon. Picard is eventually able to decipher the line to discover that it was a story of two warriors marooned on an island (Tanagra) who work together to defeat a common foe. The alien's intention is that he and Picard work together to defeat a monster as a way to cement ties between the Tamarians and the Federation .
In the comic, instead of suggesting a dramatic gesture to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough, the alien seems to be suggesting a one-night stand, hence the wink in the final panel. It is not clear if he is chatting up Deanna Troi (who has the long curly hair) or Picard. However, given that in the original episode Darmok and Jalad (the two warriors) were metaphorically identified with Dathon and Picard, it seems likely that he is flirting with Picard.
The title text suggests that the actor Patrick Stewart , who played Captain Picard, might find Star Trek fans indecipherable, in the same way that Captain Picard found the Tamarians indecipherable. This is a joke about how Star Trek fans stereotypically make constant references to the franchise which are so dense and obscure that even the program's actors might find them impossible to understand.
[Captain Dathon is seen on a communications screen.] Alien: Darmok and Jalad at Kalenda's!
[Jean-Luc Picard and Deanna Troi stand next to each other, looking off to the right.] Picard: Their language must be based on folklore and metaphor! Computer! Search cultural archives for Darmok-Jalad-Kalenda!
[Picard and Troi listen to the response.] Computer (off-panel): In Tamarian legend, Darmok and Jalad got totally wasted and hooked up at a party at Kalenda's.
[Dathon is seen on the communications screen again, winking.] WIIIIIINK


Extended Mind

Explanation:
This comic refers to the fact that the narrator has become so dependent on Wikipedia as a source of information that although it gives him the great advantage that he appears learned on any topic with a remarkable degree of specificity, the downside is that whenever Wikipedia goes offline, the limitations of his actual knowledge are revealed.
The title, "Extended Mind" , refers to a theory proposed by philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers, which postulates that the mind not only includes what can be found in the skull, but also incorporates external things, like Wikipedia. Others have connected this sort of thing to the inate biogical intelligence, or knowledge, but still consider it a different phenomenon under a label such as " ex telligence ".
The title text refers to an observed phenomenon that many of Wikipedia's page links eventually lead to the Philosophy page. This may be due to the fact that the first few links in any article tend to reference more general or abstract ideas, which eventually gravitate towards philosophy. This is not actually true, though. It works for the spark plug page and countless others but not for all. The comment section below has some examples, but many of them are not working anymore, because Wikipedia references change in time, as just about anyone can just log in and add/remove links, or just adjust their position in an article. Most instances of this not working are because of endless loops (page A to page B back to page A, or anything like that).
More info on this bizarre characteristic of the encyclopedia can be found on their page about it or on this blog .
[An IM window is open over a Chrome window with tabs for Spark Plug, Feeler Gauge, and Wikipedia.] Message with Mike1979 Mike1979: I replaced my spark plugs and now my car is running weird. Me: The spark gap might be off. Me: You can check with a feeler gauge. Mike1979: What should the gap be? Me: Usually between 0.035" and 0.070". Me: But it depends on the engine.
[An IM window is open over a Chrome window with a single Wikipedia tab, marked ERROR. The page says: "Wikipedia has a problem. Try waiting a few minutes and reloading (can't contact the database server: unknown error (10.0.0.242))] Message with Mike1979 Mike1979: I replaced my spark plugs and now my car is running weird. Me: What is a spark plug?? Me: Help Me: What is a car??
When Wikipedia has a server outage, my apparent IQ drops by 30 points.
Randall: "I drew it based on an older error message where the IP was 10.0.0.243. I changed it to 242 (a) because I try not to get too specific with those things, and didn't want people poking the actual machine at .243 (if it was still there) - I actually considered putting .276 and seeing how many people noticed, but figured they'd just think I made a dumb mistake. and (b) as part of this ancient inside joke involving the number 242 ..."


Sports

Explanation:
A random number generator is any object or program that arbitrarily selects and produces a number from within a pre-defined range of numbers. For example, a single six-sided die will produce any integer between 1 and 6, inclusive. In an unweighted random number generator, every number that it can possibly produce has the same odds of coming up. When rolling a single precision die , for instance, there is an equal chance of rolling a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. Conversely, in a weighted random number generator, some numbers are more likely to come up than others. For example, when rolling two dice, a seven is far more likely to come up than a two, as there are six possible ways to roll a seven but only one way to roll a two.
All sports generate numbers that are inherently random. Home runs, goals, sacks, passes, shots, hits, misses, errors, and many more such statistics are generated in every match of every sports game. The rules of the particular sport, as well as the skill of the participants, introduces bias toward certain values; hence, sports matches are weighted random number generators.
If the generator is weighted to favor a specific team in a specific game, that is discussed. Then the results of the game (more random numbers) are discussed. It's the discussion that is the narrative part. If a player breaks a record, that becomes part of the narrative. The number is random, but weighted because of player skill or the rules of the sport.
College sports in the US are especially prone to this kind of narrative-first journalism with their penchant for using more arbitrary systems of placement to determine postseason play than professional sports which have almost all standardized their systems around sometimes highly complicated metrics to determine who reaches the postseason. Prime examples of this are the new College Football Playoff which has a committee release polls every week after Week 9 of the college football season, with the top four teams in the final poll playing for the championship, and March Madness where a similar committee ranks the top 68 teams in the country in a bracket for the championship tournament. The old Bowl Championship Series , which determined the NCAA Division I college football champion from 1998 to 2013, literally used computers generating numbers and algorithms based on team performance as a heavy part of their ranking systems that determined which two teams played for the championship at the end of the season.
The title text applies this to financial/stock results/forecasts as well and, most appropriately, to Dungeons & Dragons ( D&D ), a tabletop role-playing game. In D&D the players and Dungeon Master are forging a narrative about the characters and world they have collectively made up; the players all decide on courses of action (such as negotiating with townspeople, intimidating nobles, attacking monsters, to name a tiny faction of possibilities) and whether they succeed is determined by rolling dice of various numbers of sides. The numerical results are woven into a narrative by the Dungeon Master.
This strip is one of several in which Randall affectionately trivializes sports (see for instance 1107: Sports Cheat Sheet , 1480: Super Bowl and 1507: Metaball ).
[Two Cueball like commentators sit behind a desk.] Commentator to the left: A weighted random number generator just produced a new batch of numbers. Commentator to the right: Let's use them to build narratives! [Caption below the panel:] All sports commentary


Homeownership

Explanation:
One common annoyance of American renters is their inability to make simple changes to their dwelling — for example, drilling a hole in a wall to hang a picture — without having to ask for permission from the property owner.  In many cases, if the renter drills the hole without asking permission, they are charged for repairs.  This is one reason that home ownership can be empowering, as it allows the owner to do anything they wish with their property. This can lead to mishaps however, as shown in the comic when Cueball drills holes in the house to prove his ownership, to the point of structural instability.  Cueball's last statement expresses the fact that he was actually better off having someone who could dictate what could and could not be done with his residence.
The title text references fictional research showing that 60% of the toxic assets involved in the United States housing bubble were created by power drills. The implication being that Cueball is not alone in his hole drilling tendencies which created not only structural collapse of the homes, but also the financial collapse of the market as those houses would now be worth far less than the mortgages placed against them. Note the double usage of the word collapse.
[Cueball is in an empty room, on the phone with a friend.] Cueball: I've always rented, so this blows my mind—this house is mine ? I own a building? Friend: Yup!
Cueball: I could, like, decide to drill a hole in that wall there, and nobody could do anything about it? Friend: That's right!
[Cueball, off the phone, stands in silence.]
Ten hours later: [Cueball is standing to the left a pile of rubble, on the phone with a friend.] Cueball: Can I come stay with you? My house has a... problem. Friend: Let me guess: you drilled holes in it until it collapsed? Cueball: I don't think I'm cut out for homeownership.


Advertising Discovery

Explanation:
On Wikipedia , a well-referenced text or statement indicates credibility. References for particular facts are linked to by bracketed blue little numbers in superscript . [1] [3][4] When faced with a statement followed by these, readers will normally believe it without further ado, [6][10] since they take it on trust that there are directions on the bottom of the page, leading to a reliable source or two, agreeing with what the statement says. The effect becomes strengthened when such information often is confirmed to be correct.
In the comic, advertisers have realized that it has gone so far that people in general will take any nonsense for granted if there is just the right amount of Wikipedia-style reference tags to it. The penis pump e-commerce can suddenly flourish (again?) and the spammers won't even need to bother making up findings to cite.
Turgidax ® is something Randall formed from turgid , meaning swollen. One reason that the attaching of -ax creates a typically pill-like name is simply that -ax (and -ex ) are common Latin adjectival word endings, and that many drugs have names formed from Latin words. -Ax is also, specifically, the root of the -acious ending in English, as in "audacious" or (appropriately) bodacious , meaning "extra" or "especially". The idea is it makes the genitalius extra or especially turgid. Cardiovascular means relating to the heart and blood vessels.
The title text is about how Wikipedia users have been able to add "disputed"-tags (nowadays "disputed – discuss") after challenged facts, with this template , since the dawn of time. [11] [ disputed – discuss ] So when faced with the new advertising trick IRL , we could counter by scribbling those tags all over with blue Sharpie marker pens, and so automatically revive the critical thinking .
[Caption above the panel:] Advertising discovery: [Person sits at computer, reading an ad on the screen. The bracketed superscripts are blue.] Ad: Turgidax® triples [2] your penis size overnight, [2][5] improving both your sexual attractiveness [2][7] and your cardiovascular health. [7][8][9] Person (thinking): Sounds legit. [Caption below the panel:] Wikipedia has trained us to believe anything followed by little blue numbers in brackets.


Ages

Explanation:
This is a graph of the general themes that occur between the ages covered by each individual set of brackets. The layout is a parody of larger timescales of human or geologic history, e.g. "Bronze Age" or "Iron Age".
The "ages" identified and experiences typical at that age:
The title text is a joke about the shortsightedness of many people (at any age) in believing their current age to be ideal.
[A number line labeled "age." The start point is 0, with points labeled 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70, and the line continues past the width of the panel. There are interstitial, non-labeled points. Above the line are labeled brackets. They are (approximated):] 0-3: [Non-sentient] 4-12: "Everything is exciting!" 13-17: "Everything sucks!" 18-22: "Woooo college! Wooooo—" [vomit] 23-30: "Relationships are hard! 31-42: "So are careers!" 43-54: "No daughter of mine is going out dressed like that!" 55-75+: [More sex than anyone is comfortable admitting]


The Cloud

Explanation:
This comic is a reference to all of the companies that rolled out "cloud" services like Google 's and Amazon 's music service and Apple 's aptly named iCloud online backup service around the time that the comic was released. Despite the mental image people using cloud services have of their data being placed literally in the sky, the reality is that all the data in the cloud has to be stored somewhere , sometimes being merely a server. Black Hat claims that the various cloud services are all ultimately provided by his server.
When Cueball expresses skepticism that Black Hat has enough bandwidth to make that possible, he explains that it's done by Caching . Caching is an arrangement whereby some data is stored locally in order to reduce the need to retrieve it from more distant storage. However, it would require an unrealistically efficient level of caching to reduce the overhead requirements of the world's cloud storage networks to a level that could be accommodated by Black Hat's non-Enterprise class cable modem -- and if it could be done, it would simply transfer the load to other servers (i.e. Cueball's description of "the cloud" as it exists in the real world). However, it does make a bottleneck at Black Hat's server.
The title text refers to the Roomba , which is a small round battery-powered vacuum cleaner that runs automatically around the house. The Roomba begins to learn the dimensions of rooms, however, apparently it has never learned to avoid running over the cord, pulling it free of the socket and cutting power to the server.
The regular nightly downtime is a reference to an urban legend in which some critical piece of equipment (often a server) is unplugged regularly so that a vacuum cleaner or similar janitorial tool can be temporarily plugged in. Although the Roomba vacuum does not require this computer's outlet, "running over the cord" apparently causes similar interruption in service, probably unplugging the cord, requiring it to be plugged in again.
This comic is reminiscent of a scene in the British sitcom The IT Crowd in which the IT department pranks their non-tech-savvy manager by presenting a single small box and claiming that it contains the entire Internet.
The last panel showcases both Black Hat's stereotypical sadism and callousness. When Cueball asks about the hazard (namely, tripping) implicit in a cord stretching across a room, Black Hat responds by implying no one would want to do that, because it's unpleasant. Cueball responds with the fact that some people do things by accident, to which Black Hat says he doesn't know anyone like that. The only way Cueball can disprove this (at least quickly) is by admitting he's one of those people, opening him up to Black Hat's ridicule. Alternatively, this could be a hint towards how Black Hat, being the sadist he is, would "accidentally trip over" the cord, purposefully causing downtime and subsequent unpleasantness to those who rely on the cloud, a proposition supported by the title text.
There are some connections with both 1117: My Sky and the title text of 1444: Cloud and especially the April Fools' Day comic 1506: xkcloud .
[Cueball finds a computer tower with a wire leading away from it.] Cueball: What's this? Off-screen: The Cloud.
[Cueball looks behind him. The wire leads to an outlet in the wall next to where Black Hat sits at a desk with a computer. Another wire leads from that outlet to Black Hat's computer.] Cueball: Huh? I always thought "The Cloud" was a huge, amorphous network of servers somewhere. Black Hat: Yeah, but everyone buys server time from everyone else. In the end, they're all getting it here.
[A close-up of Black Hat.] Cueball: How? You're on a cable modem. Black Hat: There's a lot of caching.
[A close-up of Cueball, looking down at the tower at his feet.] Cueball: Should the cord be stretched across the room like this? Black Hat: Of course. It has to reach the server, and the server is over there.
[Cueball turns back to the Black Hat, still sitting at the computer.] Cueball: What if someone trips on it? Black Hat: Who would want to do that? It sounds unpleasant. Cueball: Uh. Sometimes people do stuff by accident. Black Hat: I don't think I know anybody like that.


Worst-Case Shopping

Explanation:
For most people, under most circumstances, a flashlight's water-resistance is a completely moot point, as most flashlight use occurs on dry land. But, as Randall has shown before , there is a tendency for people to imagine elaborate scenarios in which an extra edge would be useful.
In the dream sequence over the first 2 and a half frames, Cueball appears to be diving to find a key underwater, which he spots using his flashlight when he is at 8 meters. His flashlight goes out at 10 meters because he bought the "Hi-Brite" model. The dream sequence also references a "radio shed", which were only really used in the past for amateur radios or some other military style bases/compounds—which would align with his "warn the President" line. He thus suggests the more water-resistant flashlight. However, this is seen as ridiculous from his friend, since the more durable model costs over $25 more in return. He replies that "you never know" what situation you'll be in.
The title text takes Cueball's thought process to the next level. If he is getting a flashlight that works to 40 meters (worst-case), he should probably be prepared for even deeper waters as well (even worse-case).
[Cueball is diving in very deep, dark blue water. He shines a flashlight at the sea floor.] Cueball (thinks): Eight meters. There's the wreckage... Yes! I see the key!
[As he swims further toward it, his flashlight starts to cut out.] Cueball (thinks): Gotta grab it, surface, get in to the radio shed, and warn the President! Just a few more... Flashlight: BZZT FIZZ
[This panel has no border like the others, and is divided in half diagonally by a thought bubble.] [The left half of it is a dark blue thought bubble with the diver inside it. On the right hand side are packaged flashlights hanging on a shelf. The one called Hi-Brite is $24.95 and is labeled "water resistant to 10 meters." The one called "FenStar G6" is $49.95 and says "water resistant to 40 meters."] Cueball (thinks): Oh no.
[Cueball and a friend stand in front of a flashlight display in a store. Cueball looks down at the packages with his hand on his chin in thought. The thought bubble from the previous panel leads from his head. The friend stands behind him.] Cueball: ...maybe I should spring for the deeper water resistance. Friend: Why on earth would you care about that? Cueball: Look, you never know.


Permanence

Explanation:
On the top panel is the sketch of a Debian Installer showing a hostname dialog for its menu-driven frontend. Cueball wants to make sure that he chooses a great permanent name that he can give to the server he is running.
Choosing a name for a server is an important task.
It is non-trivial enough that there are official communications on how to choose a good name and why many ideas are bad, for example RFC 1178 Name Your Computer .
It is important to pick a good name because changing it is costly once many reference to the existing name are widespread. For example, RFC 1178 states:
When Megan quips about how quickly, in comparison, Cueball named their daughter Caroline (a living being - that is, the type of entity that would give the server purpose), Cueball retorts that he was under pressure at the time: Megan tried to name said daughter "Epidural" in honor of the painkiller drugs that were being injected into her spine at the time. Megan tries to justify this by explaining that those were very good drugs, but thus also confirms Cueball's point, in that she was drugged, not in her right mind, and thus not making good decisions. Epidurals work by stopping nerves in the spinal cord from transmitting signals, and would not have an effect on the brain similar to those seen in someone given an opiate or narcotic. She may, however, have been motivated purely by the fact that the drug stopped the pain of labor or a cesarean section; alternatively, she may have been on entirely different drugs at the same time.
In the title text Cueball mentions that he thinks that it is easier to change a person's name than to change the hostname of a server because of the number of changes that would need to be made to each of the machines that would have saved the old name of the server. It seems that Cueball hasn't realised that a child's name will get logged in government records, school records, and pretty much anything they sign up for and anything they buy or sign. (Of course, many of those documents will be changed by other organizations, making them somebody else's problem. Depending on the exact set of documents which Cueball needs to personally update, changing a name might be easier for him ). Also, you typically have to wait in line at the Social Security Administration office or at the Department of Motor Vehicles, both of which take excruciatingly long amounts of time.
[A large panel the combined width of the four panels below it.] [A blue Linux terminal installer screen with a grey box that is labeled "[!]CONFIGURE THE NETWORK" in red. Below, in black, it reads "Please enter the hostname for the system." Below is an empty blue entry box with a cursor and dashed underscore, and below this it says "<GO BACK>".]
[Cueball sits at his computer, Megan stands behind him.] Megan: You've been staring at that screen a while. Cueball: Picking a good server name is important.
[Megan stares at him.]
[She continues to stare.]
[Cueball pushes his chair back, puts one elbow on the back of the chair and points with his other hand at the screen.] Megan: And yet you settled on "Caroline" for our daughter in like 15 seconds. Cueball: But this is a server! Cueball: Besides, I had to—you were trying to name her "Epidural." Megan: Those were good drugs.


Magic School Bus

Explanation:
The Magic School Bus is a series of educational children's books in the US that was adapted in the mid-nineties into an animated television show. The series centers on a class of children whose teacher Ms. Frizzle makes use of the titular magic school bus to take her students on a variety of magical field trips that allow them to experience various scientific topics first hand, such as the inner anatomy of the human body, the effects of friction, what goes on inside a beehive, and many others.
In this comic, however, Ms. Frizzle initially takes the students onto the bus apparently for one of these field trips to explore the way batteries work, but then for whatever reason, she has the students get off the bus again and simply resorts to looking up the Wikipedia article about batteries . The implied joke is that, with the advent on resources like Wikipedia, it's no longer necessary for Ms. Frizzle to take the students on half-hour long trips in the bus to experience whatever phenomenon they are studying that day (which is what the third panel symbolizes) - Wikipedia effectively answers the question quickly and easily. An alternative answer is that Ms. Frizzle has just gotten lazy, and has resorted to looking up the answers to the students' questions on Wikipedia instead of taking them on field trips. The alternative seems more likely, since the third panel shows them still going on an adventure, however briefly it takes to get to the library/computer lab.
The red and white checkered rocket in the bottom-right of the third panel can possibly be a reference to The Adventures of Tintin Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon , in which Tintin goes to the moon in a rocket that is similar, if not identical, to the one depicted. To the bottom-left is a green Ciliate , a single celled life-form covered in hair-like fibres. At the top right are a set of Planetary gears . To the top left is a ringed planet, perhaps Uranus and in the background is a complex Feynman diagram .
The child who is asking the question looks similar to Wanda, one of the regular students in the class who often asked the questions that set the field trips in motion. Ralphie, the student in the second panel with the backward hat, was another student who often asked these questions. The students in the class were shown to be from many backgrounds (i.e. some of the students were black, another was Asian, etc.), something Randall appears not to have added into this comic, despite it being in color.
The title text is a reference to Phoebe, one of the students in Ms. Frizzle's class, who would regularly make a remark beginning with "At my old school..." (Phoebe used to go to a different school, unlike many of the other students in the class) to express wonder at how unusual were the events of Ms. Frizzle's field trips (e.g. "At my old school, we never rode on bees!"). Phoebe actually said that so much that in an episode where she goes back to her old school, the sign out front labels it as "Phoebe's old school".
Microsoft Encarta 2005 was a digital encyclopedia that was often used in school settings for learning with the aid of computers. Arguably, with the advent of Wikipedia, programs like Encarta have become relatively less widely used, which is part of the joke in the title text.
[A girl sits at a desk in a classroom, and the teacher stands before her. The teacher has a blue dress and blonde hair piled on her head in a bun. The girl raises her hand, the teacher raises both arms above her head, a pointer in one hand.] Girl: Ms. Frizzle, how do batteries work? Ms. Frizzle: To the bus!
[Ms. Frizzle and the children are shown getting onto the bus.]
[The bus, with Ms. Frizzle at the helm and a child's face in every window, soars through a rainbow void filled with a giant amoeba, a rocket, an epicyclic gear, a planet with rings, and a Feynman diagram.]
[The bus is parked, and the occupants have gotten out. The children stand around Ms. Frizzle, and she stands at a desk with a computer on it, typing.] Computer: Wikipedia - Batteries


Manual Override

Explanation:
There are two jokes in this comic. The first is that the pilot typed "man override" to manually override the plane's computer and steer the plane to safety, but instead he ends up opening the manual page for "OVERRIDE". The second joke is making fun of a trend in documentation for Unix-like systems using the free GNU toolchain.
Historically, UNIX systems had a way to access descriptions of the available programs by using the "man" command (from "manual"). Typing "man [program name]" would output a concise, helpful text, called a " man page ", describing the program's functionality, available command-line options, a list of related programs, etc. For some GNU-based systems, however, the output of "man [program name]" will be entirely too brief, mainly telling what the program does, then directing the user to invoke a GNU-specific information system ( GNU Info ). GNU Info pages can be quite useful, e.g. they often contain much more information than man pages, and are hypertextual , allowing quick navigation through a network of content-related Info pages; however, they often are much more complex to search through than simple man files, which take the form of single scrollable pages, one per program.
As such, the humour is predicated upon understanding the frustration which sometimes arises when GNU users seek out a man page, hoping for an easy, digestible read, only to find that the man page they opened merely redirects them to another, less accessible network of hypertext Info pages. This can be especially annoying when it interrupts a person's workflow; e.g. when what they wanted was to spend three seconds looking up the proper format of a particular command line function, and instead they end up redirected to a maze of detailed documentation. This would be especially dangerous when one is trying to stop a plane from crashing. [ citation needed ] To add injury to the insult, sometimes the Info pages aren't actually installed, causing the "info" viewer to just render the same old "man" page that had the directions in the first place.
The title text provides a tongue-in-cheek correction to the comic's title, suggesting that rather than typing "man(ual) override", the user/pilot should type "info override" to search GNU Info instead.
[A plane is in a nosedive with smoke pouring from one wing. Text comes from someone reading in the cockpit.] "This is the emergency override system, which can be used to regain control of the aircraft. Complete instructions for activating this system are available as a GNU info page."


Core

Explanation:
This comic reflects on the fact that no matter where you are on Earth , its core is always directly under you, while incredibly hot and under huge amounts of pressure. Yet most of the time, we ignore this completely unless there is a volcanic eruption (which has nothing to do with the core, but mainly with the friction between the tectonic plates).
Cueball is presumably reading a geology book with diagrams and various facts about the Earth's interior, such as the core being subdivided into an inner core and an outer core , that the inner core is a solid ball, the size of the moon, that the outer core is at a pressure of 30 million pounds per square inch (approximately 2 million times atmospheric pressure at sea level) and the outer core is made of molten metal in a constant turbulent motion - a bit like a pot of boiling water. But every time he gets 15 minutes in to such a book he freaks out, realizing this deadly stuff is right beneath him, and he bends over to look down to the Earth.
The title text makes a note of how cool it would be to study this and be able to tell people you study what they're standing over... always! So if you do - then let everyone you meet know what you do for a living as soon as you introduce yourself by pointing at the ground beneath you! (Despite most geologists and geophysicists not studying the core, they do study what is beneath our feet.)
Alternately, the title text referencing someone gesturing downward, might look as if they were pointing to their genitals.  It might be considered a humorous opening to a speech.
[A cutaway diagram of the Earth, with colored layers including a labeled outer core and inner core.]
[A closeup of the stylized outer core, labeled "Turbulent molten metals at 30 million PSI" with turbulence lines, and of the inner core, labeled "moon-sized iron sphere."]
[Cueball reading a book pulls legs up tight under office chair, peering downwards.]
[Caption below the frame:] I freak out about fifteen minutes into reading anything about the Earth's core when I suddenly realize it's RIGHT UNDER ME .
What people of different science fields would often think about became the subject of 2057: Internal Monologues . Geologist are not included, but the molten core beneath our feet would probably have been the choice if they had. That Randall was actually already thinking about adding geology was made clear in the next comic 2058: Rock Wall about the core/mantle beneath our feet and 20 miles of rock (wall).


Ice

Explanation:
This comic is a reference to an old urban legend : a guy is drugged, then he awakes in an ice-filled bathtub only to discover both of his kidneys have been harvested by organ thieves . They have left him in the tub of ice, to let him survive in time to get to a hospital for dialysis . It is now his problem to get a new kidney, whereas the thieves can sell the organs to someone who (also) needs a kidney transplantation . By doing it in this way, the thieves prevent themselves from becoming murderers; thus if they get caught they might get a lesser sentence. That would be the explanation why they do not just kill the " organ donor ".
In this comic the situation is reversed: Beret Guy (who has just bought some ice for the party he is about to return to) is lured by Danish up to "her place" where he is drugged. The next morning he awakes in a bathtub filled with kidneys, only to discover that his ice has been harvested by Danish.
The title text refers to a similar story where the victim is left a note by their captor or one-night stand that says " Welcome to the AIDS club ". Rather than having been involuntarily infected with HIV/AIDS , the victim, Beret Guy, has been involuntarily enrolled in the American Automobile Association (AAA) and his roadside assistance card has been left on the counter. This could also be another pun on Beret Guy's response of yelling AAAAAAA , which could be another kind of AAA club that he is welcomed to.
There is no display of typical "Beret Guy behavior" in this comic, although it is typical for him to be involved in an incident that turns the world upside down. His encounter with organ thieves only cost him his ice, a party and that he got a nasty experience. But he retained his kidneys and was not infected with HIV.
[Megan is setting up a party. She is standing with a bottle in one hand looking at a snack table in front of her. Beret Guy stands behind her with both arms raised. Above and behind them there is a big banner with gray text.] Megan: Everything's ready... Megan: Except we're out of ice. Beret Guy: I'll get some! Banner: Party!
[Beret Guy is walking down the street past a building with a store window and sign. He is carrying a large bag of ice over his shoulder. Danish is standing on the sidewalk up against the brick wall and calls to him.] Danish: Hey sexy. Where're you headed with all that ice? Beret Guy: A party! Danish: There's a better party up at my place. Beret Guy: But I— Danish: C'mon, one drink. Sign: Save Mart Bag: Ice
[Zoom in on Beret Guy who rubs his eyes groggily, small bubbles floating up from his head. A caption is written above the image in a box that breaks the top frame of this panel:] The next morning... Beret Guy: ...Ugh... Where am I? Beret Guy: I was supposed to— Beret Guy: —Where's all my ice!?
[Beret Guy looks down to find himself in a bathtub full of kidneys. His scream extends on both sides of the panel, with only the five central A's in full view:] Beret Guy: AAAAAAA


Connoisseur

Explanation:
White Hat is fond of good wine , and he can probably distinguish slight differences in different types of wine, perhaps being the type that attends wine tasting parties. He doesn't like the cheap wine that Cueball has served for him (implying a cheap wine cannot be a good one, an opinion held by stereotypical wine snobs), looking with disgust at the label of the offending bottle.
On the other hand, Cueball doesn't have a preference; all of them taste the same for him, so presumably he gets the cheaper ones. White Hat tells Cueball that if he just tried some really good wine and paid more attention he would discover a whole new world.
Cueball's answer is the main message of the comic. He says that wine is no different from anything else in this respect, and makes a list starting with the wine but then going past house music , fonts , ants , ending with Wikipedia signatures and Canadian surrealist porn . His point being if you spend enough time focusing on any one subject, then you'll become a snobby connoisseur on that topic.
White Hat tries to defend wine by saying that some things have more depth than others (wine being among them), but Cueball challenges him on this by choosing something as obscure as 500 pictures of Joe Biden , then Vice President of the United States under Barack Obama , eating a sandwich as an example. He claims that if people were locked up in a box with those pictures for a year, they would end up being connoisseurs with the same vehemence regarding the best picture as wine tasters can be about the best wine.
White Hat claims that this is an exaggeration, but Cueball takes this as a challenge so in the last panel, apparently White Hat and Cueball are actually running this experiment to see if they will end up concentrating on slight differences among the pictures of Joe Biden eating a sandwich, just in the same way that White Hat concentrates on slight differences among different kinds of wine. The result of the experiment is clearly going to Cueball's side, the discussion being mainly between the importance of mayo or the light through lettuce from the sandwiches.
This mentality may also be applied to online groups based on any subject (such as television shows, films, and other hobbies and interests), where arguments and vehement, stubborn opinions are common despite the fairly unimportant subject.
The title text presents the same idea in a different wording. The "scale of our brains" refers to a concept similar to Richard Dawkins' Middle World , where things too small (say, smaller than the point of a pin) or too big (bigger than what we can see from a mountaintop) are just out of our comprehension, so the things our brains understand must be neither too small nor too big, i.e. the "middle world".
However, the title text goes further in this idea: When we find things too big (like the distance to the Moon), we shrink it so that it fits into the "middle world" we're used to. Conversely, when we find things too small (say, a mote of dust), we expand it for the same reason. In a quite similar way, if all we have is pictures of Joe Biden eating a sandwich, we "resize" that subject so that we can fill books with the details about the pictures.
[White Hat is holding a wine glass down in one hand and holding a bottle of wine up in front of him with the other hand. He is looking at the label and talking with Cueball standing next to him with his own filled wine glass in one hand. He is looking down at the glass.] White Hat: How do you stand this cheap wine? Cueball: Wine all tastes the same to me.
[Close-up of White Hat.] White Hat: You've just never had good wine. If you paid more attention, you'd realize there's a whole world here.
[Close-up on Cueball, who spreads his arms out, resulting in the wine in the glass sloshing so much that part of the wine is above the rim of the glass, some even hanging over the edge and a spray droplet hanging above the sloshing liquid.] Cueball: But that's true of anything! Wine, house music, fonts, ants, Wikipedia signatures, Canadian surrealist porn— Cueball: Spend enough time with any of them and you'll become a snobby connoisseur.
[This panel has no border (aka a 'frameless panel') and is next to but aligned further down than the first three panels. It shows a zoom out of both White Hat and Cueball again. White Hat now has both glass and bottle held down at his side. Cueball holds his glass down, but tilted away from him. A small puddle of wine is on the floor next to Cueball.] White Hat: But some things do have more depth than others. Cueball: If you locked people in a box for a year with 500 still frames of Joe Biden eating a sandwich, by the end they'd be adamant that some were great and some were terrible. White Hat: You're exaggerating. Cueball: Oh, really?
[This panel is below the feet of the two characters from the previous panel. It goes further to the left than those two, and is wider than the previous panels, but it does not go much past the middle, so there is a blank white space to the left of this panel, below the first and most of the second panel. It shows a box, with two star burst on the surface from where two voices emanate from the inside. Over the top left of the panels frame is a small frame with a caption:] A year later:
[The voice from left side of the box:]
Sure, most closed-mouth frames are boring, but in #415, the way the man's jaw frames the mayo on his hand is pure perfection, and—
[The voice from right side of the box:]
What a surprise- you praising a mayo frame. Listening to you , I'd think there was nothing else in The Sandwich.
[The voice from right side of the box:]
Frankly, the light hitting J.B.'s collar through the lettuce would put #242 in my top ten even if he had no mayo on his hand at all .


Unpickable

Explanation:
The comic plays on the idea that geeks and nerds will try to break into high-security areas in order to challenge themselves, instead of to steal things. The vault is labeled "unpickable" as a kind of challenge to break into it, while all the valuables are simply stored in a shoe box beside the vault.
A 24-pin dual-tumbler radial-hybrid lock would probably be too bulky and cumbersome to actually exist. The key would be huge, or just plain long . Given the length of the key, it would need to be extremely strong, and the length would be around 96mm, assuming that each notch is 5mm. In theory, though, it would be a remarkably difficult type of lock to pick. The fused 17th pin means that, even with the correct key, it cannot be opened. It would be much easier to simply break open the safe with brute force than to pick it. A simple and nerdy way to open the vault with brute force would be to use canned air, using the principle that cold objects are more brittle. Once the air is emptied onto the lock, it can be easily smashed with an ordinary hammer. This is an example of nerd sniping , since the vault is nearly unopenable, nerds and geeks would spend all their time on the vault and ignore the seemingly useless shoe box.
The title text continues the theme, with an unsolved 5x5x5 Rubik's cube to further challenge and distract the thief.
[Caption above the panel:] HackerShield Geek-Proof Safe System: [Two boxes sit side by side. One is a safe with a lock marked "Unpickable." It is labeled: ① 24-pin dual-tumbler radial-hybrid lock (rendered unopenable by a fused 17th pin). The other is a shoebox. It is labeled: ② Shoebox containing your valuables.]