Papyrus

Explanation:
One of the comics in the " My Hobby " series, this one touches on the fact that Papyrus (the font) is considered to be overused by many typography geeks, including the font's own creator. Pretending that he doesn't know that, Cueball gives Ponytail a heartfelt card written in that font just to see her twitch.
The title text says that Randall actually likes Papyrus, even if it is overused, and refers to the fact that he will soon be receiving hate-mail from people who dislike Papyrus. Those mails will be written in Helvetica , another commonly-used sans-serif font that is highly esteemed by typography geeks, designers, and often hipsters. It suggests that the designers would also take the time to check the " kerning ", editing the spacing between individual letters to be visually pleasing - a time-consuming activity that, it can be suggested, would only be noticed by other designers. See also 1015: Kerning .
[Caption above the panel:] My Hobby: Getting typography geeks heartfelt cards printed in "Papyrus" and watching them struggle to act grateful.
[Ponytail is holding a card, with lines of indiscernible text, open and looking down, specifically neither on the card nor on Cueball, who is watching her instead. An angry tic is flicking on her forehead.] Ponytail: Thank you for the *twitch* ... lovely... *twitch* birthday card!


Troll Slayer

Explanation:
Stephenie Meyer is the author of the Twilight novels , a series of vampire novels popular with young teens. It is a love it or hate it type of novel, with a large following and a large portion of haters as well.
In the comic, 4chan , an imageboard , is featured. Imageboards such as 4chan have the feature to post anonymously. The users of 4chan launch an attack on a Twilight board and Stephenie Meyer asks them to stop. When they refuse, Meyer writes 4chan into her next novel, thereby drawing in a large number of fans of her novel as a counter-attack to what 4chan ran on the Twilight forum. This results in what the original 4chan users consider a ruined imageboard.
The title of the comic is drawn from the internet slang term troll , which refers to actively attempting to get a rise out of a forum. In this instance, 4chan attempted to troll a Twilight board and Meyer acted against the troll, making her a "slayer" of them. Obviously the pimpled boy she chats with is very dismayed by this result, as there are now so many more vampire-book-fans than computer geeks on 4chan, and they cannot get through with any of their funny/evil plans anymore. There may also be a reference to the famous vampire slayer known as Buffy , seeing that Stephenie's main character vampires do not need to be slain, but she then turns on those who tries to do so in real life on the message board.
The pictures used on the two panels showing the 4chan imageboard tells a lot about their users. It is unclear what the text page refers to. And also what it is that Cueball is standing next to. But a black hat, as shown in the third picture is typical for an internet troll (see the xkcd version of Black Hat ), and also the guy saying LOL is already laughing out loud at you before you read his text. He also LOL's in his comment about the angsty teens that reads the books, and whom he looks forward to trolling.
In the second 4chan panel all four images relate to Twilight . The first picture most likely depicts Edward Cullen and Bella Swan (from the movies) standing with their backs against each other. This person enjoys being anonymous.
The second picture with the text Dawnz refers, in "plural" form, to the last book Breaking Dawn which was split into two films part 1 and part 2 . This person wish to know about peoples favorite vampire, exactly the kind of questions the trolls would have mocked on the Twilight board, now infesting their own site. The third picture is of a person who has tried to dress up like a goth vampire, even commenting on the darkness of the picture. The last picture depicts the cover of the last book Breaking Dawn with the two chess pieces. This fan seems to be searching for a date around Dallas...
The title text refers to Walt Kelly 's famous saying . Kelly used it to refer to all of mankind, whereas here it refers to the users of 4chan, by bringing on the enemy of their forum themselves.
[A list of post comments alongside pictures on a website. The first picture shows a page from a book/website with a small black picture with a white feature in the upper left corner and text to the right and below it. The second picture shows Cueball in front of three people, with a unclear drawing to the right (is it a canon?). The third picture shows a man with a black hat holding up a sword to the left and a trumpet to the right. The fourth and last picture is cut off in the middle at the bottom of the frame. The visible top part shows a drawing of a mans face from the nose/ears and up. The man has black hair and says LOL]. Text picture: Hey, let's troll the fuck out of the Twilight boards Cueball picture: I'm in. Should be fun Man with sword picture: Me too. Signing on now. LOL face picture: Lol angsty teens.
[Stephenie Meyer is shown sitting facing right and chatting at her computer. She get's a reply from the screen. It looks like she actually speaks the lines of text to someone, but she only types it in via the keyboard. This becomes clear in in the next panel where the pimpled boy she talks to obviously types his reply on the keyboard. Across the top border of the frame is a smaller frame with a caption:] Hours Later:
Stephenie Meyer (typing): Hi, it's Stephenie Meyer. Fine, you don't like my books. But please leave us alone. Pimpled boy (from computer): Show us your tits. Stephenie Meyer (typing): I asked politely. Don't make me get tough.
[A boy with lots of pimples and black hair is sitting at his computer typing (facing the other way towards Stephenie in the previous panel). He writes his reply on the keyboard and receives a reply from Stephenie coming out of the computer.] Pimpled boy (typing): And what, call the internet police? You don't get it, do you? We've been trolling for years. We're all anonymous. There's nothing you can do to hurt us. We're the net's hate machine. Stephenie Meyer (from computer): Okay. Just remember, I gave you a chance. *Disconnected* .
[A page from a book is shown lying slanted across the panel. Some of the text is thus cut off at the edges of the frame. The first eight lines can be read clearly, even though the last letter in both the 2nd and sixth line is partly cut-off. Below that there are four incomplete lines, where only the visible part will be transcribed, but a good guess at the missing text is written in square brackets. Across the top border of the frame is a smaller frame with a caption:] Six Months Later:
Vampires! Book VI
Edward ran a pale hand through his perfect golden- bronze hair, then signed on to 4chan.org, the darkest place on the internet, where all his vampire compatriots spent their time. Suddenly, there was [a] [sha]rp knock at the d[oor] [?] swept in [?] [?r?]ing [?]
[Another list of post comments alongside pictures on the same website as in the first panel.  The first picture shows a man with black hair and a woman with long hair standing with their backs against each other (probably Edward and Bella from the books). The second picture is just a white frame with the text Dawnz. The third picture shows a person from the chest and up. The person has black hair and black clothes, with some kind of collar. The fourth and last picture shows two chess piece a large one in front of the other. The picture is shown completely but the text message seems to be more than two lines long, but only the top two lines are shown. Across the top border of the frame is a smaller frame with a caption:] Shortly thereafter:
Two people picture: OMG I love this place it's so edgy being anonymous Dawnz picture: Whos your favorite vampire Collared person picture: Check out my pic Im so dark just like this site Chess piece picture: Any Twilight fans in Dallas want to meet a lonely
[Back to the boy with lots of pimples now sitting resigned at his computer without typing.] Hairy: Oh... Oh God.


Drama

Explanation:
Megan and two Cueball -like guys discuss how irrational society's interactions about sex are. They decide to throw out all these silly societal rules to end drama forever and spread this philosophy to everyone they know, which immediately leads to a huge increase in drama as shown in the chart.
As one of the Cueballs in the comic states, people are indeed complicated and—crucially—what seems intuitive and rational to one person might seem completely irrational to someone else; so throwing out all the rules one person thinks make no sense isn't going to mean the world suddenly makes sense for everyone else. Instead, everyone who understands the old rules, whether they like them or not, will suddenly find themselves in a completely alien world to which they have no idea how to relate.
Furthermore, any one person's sense of what seems rational is based on incomplete information . The three people are trying to change all the sex rules—like the engineers referenced in the title text who think they can "solve" the stock market—can't even begin to conceive of all the chaotic factors affecting the system they're trying to fix, so they have no way of knowing which rules are truly rational and which aren't.
Geeks often fall prey to the fallacy that human interactions can be easily simplified if only a group of sufficiently qualified geeks put their minds to it as laid out in The Geek Social Fallacies and The Geek Social Fallacies of Sex .
Social rules that are adopted partly to avoid drama include laws surrounding marriage and alimony . These rules differ a large amount, but not incomparably, across different cultures. The study of them is a major concern in social science, and it is not unheard of to conjecture new ones, for example the work of the evolutionary psychologist Diana Fleischmann .
The situation in the title text, with a bunch of engineers diving into the stock market, is also mentioned in 1570: Engineer Syllogism .
[Megan and two Cueball like guys are sitting together.] Megan: Man, sex has all these crazy social rules. They just create drama. Cueball: Let's agree to change them, and make sex simple! Friend: Okay!
[Cueball gets up and goes out the door.] Cueball: Hooray! We've solved the problem of drama! Cueball: I'll go tell everyone!
[There is a graph labeled drama. Below is an axis and below that an arrow marked with time. A vertical dotted line is labeled and indicates the rule change. Drama is low, although fluctuating, before the rule change, then sharply increases afterward and continues to increase.] Drama Time Rule change
[Cueball closes the door and then leans against it.] Cueball: Holy shit Cueball: Guys Cueball: People are complicated!


Voynich Manuscript

Explanation:
The Voynich manuscript is a very detailed book written in an unknown script, describing plants and recipes, most of which lack a real-world analogue. Over the past few decades, linguists and cryptographers have unsuccessfully attempted to decode the book. A cut out from the book is depicted in the first frame (real or similar).
Tabletop role-playing games (such as Dungeons and Dragons ) are fantasy games with extremely detailed descriptions of fantastical worlds. The invented language is probably a reference to The Lord of the Rings in which author J. R. R. Tolkien invented several languages of which Sindarin (Grey elvish), and Quenya (High elvish), are the most famous.
After being shown the manuscript for the first time by Megan , Cueball argues that it should be obvious that it's just an ancient role-playing-game rulebook, since the human tendency to invent fantastical worlds must have also existed in the past. That it is this obvious was again stated when the manuscript was referenced in 1501: Mysteries . In the last panel the book is used, 500 years ago, to play a game  similar to Dungeons and Dragons. They speak in a somewhat outdated English. The reference to the real plant Wolfsbane could also be a reference to another invented world, as it is memorably mentioned in the first book of the Harry Potter series.
After concluding this, a shocked Cueball then asks in the title text how Megan got her hands on the original manuscript, which is in the Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library . Rigorous security rules now only allow carefully controlled access to materials under video surveillance, thus Cueball's reaction upon realizing Megan has somehow gotten her hands on the original manuscript. He then unexpectedly goes on to suggest the prosaic activity of playing Druids and Dicotyledons , assuming such a game could be defined by the manuscript.
[Weird root vegetables surround a strange script.]
[Megan holding up book to Cueball.] Megan: This is the Voynich manuscript— a book, allegedly 500 years old, written in an unrecognized script. It's some kind of visual encyclopedia of imaginary plants and undeciphered "recipes".
[Megan points while Cueball opens the book.] Megan: It could be a hoax, a lost language, a cipher, an alien text, glossolatia — no one knows. Cueball: No one? But it's obvious.
[Megan continues to talk. Cueball holds the now closed book.] Megan: ... Obvious? Linguists and cryptographers have been stumped for decades. Cueball: They forget. Human nature doesn't change.
[Close up of Megan and Cueball - the book is off panel.] Cueball: Just imagine someone found a book from our time, full of lists, illustrations, tables, and long, dry descriptions of nonexistent worlds written in an invented language. What have they found? Megan: ...Dear Lord. It is obvious.

[Three people are standing around pawns and a die. One is holding a sheet of paper, another is holding a book, the third is holding a scythe. At the top of the panel there is a frame with the following text:] 500 Years Earlier: Person #1: Forsooth! I concoct an elixer of courage. Person #2: Nae! The source booke sayeth that requires some wolfsbane! Person #3: Your druid doth lose two points.


Period

Explanation:
A period, also called a menstrual cycle , is a process marked by (among other things) a few days of abdominal cramps occurring roughly once a month for women in the reproductive age .
"Period" ( T ) is also the term in mathematics for a measure of the rate at which something happens. It measures the length of time between occurrences. For example, a full moon happens about once every 29.5 days, so its period is 29.5 days. By taking the inverse of this, we can get a different measurement, its frequency ( f ) - the number of times an event happens within a given length of time. This is usually measured in hertz (pronounced the same as "hurts"), which is the number of times something happens in a second. Hertz is abbreviated as Hz, and since f = 1/T, with T measured in seconds (s), it follows that 1 Hz = 1 s −1 .
The woman has her period every 28 days. Since we can calculate the frequency based on the period, we can, indeed, calculate her "uterus-hertz" but she already knew that her "uterus hurts". Yes, this has all been a setup to a terrible pun to make your head hertz. And if she had not been in such terrible pains that she cannot even get up, she would have smacked Cueball for it, which would really hertz. This makes it even more hertzfull by Cueball, to make fun of his girlfriend in such a state.
The woman off screen is probably Megan given that she is most often depicted as Cueball's girlfriend, and the fact that he is in her home with her on the couch is a good indicator that they are intimate. (This is not enough to include this comic as one with Megan).
The title text gives the other answer that can be calculated from Cueballs musings, the actual frequency of the womans  period which have a period T = 28 days. 413 nanohertz is the correct frequency as shown here by Google Calculator.
It can also easily be shown here:
f = 1/28 days = 1/(28 days × 24 hours/day × 60 minutes/hour × 60 seconds/minute) = 1/(2,419,200 s) = 4.1336 × 10 −7 s −1 = 413 × 10 −9 Hz = 413 nHz .
[Cueball is standing with a hand to his chin looking towards a woman off-panel right. In all panels the woman answers off-panel with a small starburst close to the right panels border indicating from where her speak emanates.] Woman's voice (off-panel): Ugh. Stupid uterus. Cueball: Hey, your period is every 28 days, right?
[Cueball is standing hands down.] Woman's voice (off-panel): Yes, why? Cueball: Well, period = T = 1/f. Woman's voice (off-panel): So?
[Cueball holds up a finger in front of him.] Cueball: Using this, we can calculate something you already know. Woman's voice (off-panel): What?
[Cueball is standing hands down.] Cueball: Your uterus-hertz. Woman's voice (off-panel): If I could get up I'd smack you.


Android Girlfriend

Explanation:
This is the first (of two) comics in the Android series , which continued directly less than two weeks later in 600: Android Boyfriend .
Cueball shows off his new "android girlfriend" ( Megan ) to his Cueball-like friend, who asks if the android is a sex bot . The android responds by pulling a cherry stem from the friend's drink and inserting it into her mouth. So far, the action appears to be an emulation of the party trick where someone puts a cherry stem into their mouth and ties it into a knot in order to suggest tongue dexterity that could be put to good use in kissing and oral sex .
However, instead of tying the cherry stem in a knot, the android activates an arc welder built into her mouth, which presumably reduces the stem to ashes. The friend proclaims that that trick is definitely not sexy. But then the android aggressively approaches him, reaching out and saying, "Remove your pants". The friend, not eager to experience close genital contact with the arc welder, sensibly, refuses. (Of course he may also not wish to take of his pants in front of his friend, at a party with drinks and presumably other people; or perhaps he does not wish to admit that he actually does find the arc welding act sexy...)
The title text bounces a few implications around. Developing robots with the capacity to either learn or feel emotions is an ethical factor and practical consideration that is commonly explored in science fiction . Here, it's proposed that robots programmed for sex would have their emotions set to enjoy sex by default, but then use their capacity to learn to develop preferences on what kind of sex they want to have. This is potentially a psychological issue, mainly as to whether or not it would be considered "unhealthy", but more directly it's a customer satisfaction problem: what if a sexbot were to develop sexual fetishes that its owner finds unappealing?
It is also possible that the android shows a level of awareness superior to what is implied by the discussion in the strip. Then using an arc-wielder on that stem could be interpreted as a menace in response to a comment that would be unsensitive if referred to a real person.
[Cueball, holding his hand on Megan's shoulder, talks to his Cueball-like friend, who is holding a drink glass with a cherry.] Cueball: Check out my new android girlfriend. Friend: Is she a sex bot?
[The android grabs the cherry out of the friend's drink glass.] Grab
[Zoom in on the cherry as the stem is ripped off.] Plink
[Zoom to the android, who puts the stem into its mouth.] Nom
[The panel is dark gray, except around the android's mouth, where there is a bright flash and then a brighter cross going out from there. Both Cueball and his friend hold up their hands to protect their eyes.] Kzzzzt
[The android takes a step away from Cueball and reaches toward the friend's crotch. The friend holds up his hand protectively in front of him.] Friend: I don't think arc-welding a cherry stem counts as sexy. Android: Remove your pants. Friend: No.


Latitude

Explanation:
Black Hat shows his friend (presumably Robert [aka Rob from the chart]), that he has made a mobile phone application to log and find addresses and business names for the locations of his "friends" using data from Google Latitude which was a location-aware feature of Google Maps that allowed a mobile phone user to allow certain people to view their current location.
The reason it is worth doing so for him, is that most of those that use Google Latitude, haven't learned the habit to turn it off when engaging in "discreet" activities. And then Black Hat can access their whereabout which he then uses in his app.
The second panel shows the screen of Black Hat's smartphone with the logs for his two friend in table form showing activity for Megan and Robert (Rob), the latter log is partially cut off. (Regarding the use of these names see the trivia section ).
Robert's log is fairly innocuous: home at 12:30 PM, school at 2:00 PM, and riding a subway (or possibly in a Subway restaurant ) at 3:30 PM. This log shows that Robert did nothing interesting for Black Hat. There are also several holes in the table compared to the other column. This could either indicate that he stayed this long time those three places, but it could also indicate that Robert has already learned to switch off Latitude when he is not actively using it. This would fit with Black Hat's comment about a narrow window in which people haven't learned this. His friend Robert (the Rob version of Cueball shown here, see the trivia section ), may already have thought of this himself, or maybe Black Hat has mentioned it to him before getting the idea for the app thus warning him about the problem (without meaning to).
The reason Black Hat states that there only is a narrow window of time that people forget to turn Google Latitude off , is because people like him will make other people, who forget this, miserable. And then everyone will soon learn to turn the feature off making Black Hat's app useless.
Megan's log appears to prove Black Hat's point: She was home at 11:00 AM, at a sex toy store at 12:30 PM, home again at 1:30 PM, at another sex toy store at 2:00 PM, home again at 2:30 PM, then at Fry's Electronics at 3:00 PM, and at a power tool store at 3:30 PM, finally home again at 4:00 PM only to be at the hospital burn ward at 4:10 PM. The last entry is the only one where the interval is not half an hour indicating how fast Megan had to get to the hospital after getting home with her new power tools and electronics.
This suggests that Megan first tried the sex toy(s) from the first store, found them insufficiently satisfying, purchased additional sex toys from another store, was still unsatisfied, and then purchased some electronic devices and power tools (either to improve the performance of her sex toys or to apply directly for additional stimulation). The results were apparently more painful than pleasurable, necessitating a quick visit to the hospital burn ward. Overall, Megan has had an at first unsatisfying day and then finally a rather bad day, considering where the burn is most likely to be... She would almost certainly not be pleased to learn that Black Hat has been tracking her whereabouts and sharing this with their mutual friend Rob.
The title text shows that Randall liked the T-Mobile G1, also known as the HTC Dream , especially with the upgrade to Android Cupcake , more than he previously thought because it allows for more capabilities and the interface is clean and easy-to-use when compared to other "smartphones" of that time period (because the G1 was the first phone to introduce the Android operating system ) and it allows for special Google networking, allowing for apps like Maps to run better (making it easier to run apps like Latitude). From what able to be gathered in the comic, it is Black Hat who says this, because he is the one who uses the app and shows it off. He would be the most likely one to benefit from this kind of phone running this kind of OS/app.
[Black Hat is holding a phone up to Cueball.] Black Hat: We're in a narrow window in which people are using Google Latitude, but haven't learned the habit of turning it off when they're doing something discreetly. Black Hat: I wrote an app to log friends' locations and work out addresses and business names.
[A timetable is visible. The first column gives the time and splits the day in the half hour intervals starting at 11:00 AM, except for the last entry at 4:10 PM, where the time only jumps 10 minutes. The next two columns represents two persons activities during this time period. In the second column the last letter shown in the comic is partly cut off more or less. This last partly shown letter is written in the transcript, but no guess is made here. See the explanation. Above the table, over the two names, there is a caption:] Locations
Time Megan Robert 11:00 AM Home 12:30 PM Eastview Adult Toy Store Home 1:30 PM Home 2:00 PM Laketown Sex Toy Shop School 2:30 PM Home 3:00 PM Fry's Electronics 3:30 PM Ed's Power Tool Emporium Subway 4:00 PM Home 4:10 PM Hospital Burn Ward


Addiction

Explanation:
Megan is attempting to stay a weekend at home without the Internet as she feels the constant exposure to novelty (from her internet surfing ) saps her own initiative. She writes a "last" on-line message about her resolution to Cueball , but he writes back that he doubts she can do it for even one hour.
She turns off her computer (or at least the screen) and stands up triumphantly next to it, however then she logs right back on to write to Cueball that it's not half bad being off-line, thus violating her original attempt as she clearly used the internet to send the message to Cueball. She doesn't even realize she did this until Cueball replies with the written sound Ahem? proving he was right about less than one hour.
Very typical of people having some kind of addiction , in this case for being on-line, they may not even realize when they indulge into it, which is the case with Megan here.
The title text elaborates on Megan's addiction, saying that when she turns off all of the machines in the room, it results in an "empty-room hum". This is a high pitched buzzing noise, which it is suggested results from the brain increasing its sensitivity to noises. This is a fairly normal experience, but the " whispers " mentioned may be slightly more sinister, as this is frequently associated as a sign of schizophrenia . See also 1590: The Source .
[Close up of Cueball typing at his computer. Megan's text message to him can be seen coming from the screen with a zigzag line, and Cueball writes a response as seen from the line going from his hand on the keyboard up to his message.] Megan (through the computer): Constant novelty saps my initiative. I'm gonna try to spend a weekend at home without internet. Cueball (writing): I give you an hour.
[Megan is standing up, she turns off the computer in front of her by clicking on a button on the screen. Her office chair has rolled back behind her.] Click
[Megan stands in front of the computer arms in her sides. Beat panel.]
[Zoom out with Cueball sitting in his office chair typing a reply on his computer to the message from Megan as in the first panel.] Megan (through the computer): So far, it's not actually too bad! Cueball (writing): Ahem? Megan (through the computer): Wait. Shit.


Porn

Explanation:
Cueball 's mention of how porn did not scar him is a reference to a lot of testimony on how porn has negatively affected people's lives . Of course, the porn really did affect the way he looked at women. Due to dial-up being of such a slow speed, videos that needed to be transmitted via dial-up had to be compressed using a lossy format, which reduces file sizes substantially but also causes heavy data losses; the result being that the new decompressed file would not be of the same quality of the original uncompressed file. In this case, the lossy format eats away at the detail of the picture, which, during decompression, results in blocky artifacts in an attempt to "reconstruct" the lost data. Since he associated blocky pictures with arousal, he seems to have trouble enjoying sex with his comparatively hi-fi girlfriend. In other words, the porn really did scar him after all.
The title text expands on this, referencing file corruption . It is also a pun on female "corruption," or a woman's awareness of her sexuality.
[Cueball is hunched up at a computer. A circle surrounds him; the rest of the panel is black. The text is written in a square panel above the white circle.] I shouldn't have watched all that porn as a teenager.
[The text is above the picture in a square frame. A computer screen is shown. It displays an on-line video player, with what appears to be a Cueball-like guy performing cunnilingus on a Megan-like girl. Five other windows (maybe ads) are also visible, though what they depict is not clear. One of them has readable text above a picture (of what appear to be a fleshlight). The rest of the text, including a heading at the top, is unreadable. There is picture with a lady with "big" hair holding her arms out. She has two black blotches on each side of her body. Maybe representing her breast, perhaps in a bra.] It's not that it scarred me. Ad text: X 10
[A modem is shown between the two text parts. The text is in two square frames.] It's just that we had dial-up. Modem: 14.4 kbps And now I'm stuck with a fetish.
[Cueball and Megan are in bed together. The text above the picture is in a square frame.] For video compression. Cueball: Can you try to look... blockier?


Apocalypse

Explanation:
This comic begins with the beginning of the Apocalypse , hence the title. It is depicted, properly, with a very dystopian color picture with several yellow burning meteors striking down from the blood red sky, towards a black, red, orange and yellow ground. The way the panels are drawn below makes a transition from this dark image to a normal comic, with the first normal panel being superimposed on the dark image.
In this image Beret Guy shouts out The apocalypse! And then he continues to explain what this will mean: The skies burn, the seas turn to blood, and the dead walk the earth!
All three sentences are attributed to the apocalypse, but it seems that the first one about the sky burning, actually comes from a translation of one of the Nostradamus predictions which has, amongst others, been used to " predict 9/11 ". In Revelation 16 from the Bible about the Seven bowls , which are a set of seven plagues of God's wrath poured over the wicked towards the Apocalypse, the second bowl describes that The Sea Turns to Blood . The resurrection of the dead is from the biblical version of the Apocalypse, the Last Judgment .
After Beret Guy has announced this, he runs into Cueball who has heard part of this, but he is only interested in the last part and asks to check if he understood correctly that the dead will walk the earth. When this is confirmed Cueball becomes very busy.
He runs to his office and quickly writes a scientific math paper, then runs as fast as he can to the math department and get his colleagues to sign it. Then he runs to a cemetery where the dead are rising, finds the one he searched for, and asks the resurrected zombie if he is Erdős. When confirmed that he is indeed Erdős, Cueball asks him to sign the math paper.
Paul Erdős (26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician who (according to Wikipedia) published more papers than any other mathematician in history, working with hundreds of collaborators. His grave is in the Kozma Street Cemetery in Budapest.
There is an in-joke developed among mathematicians called the Erdős number (similar to a Bacon number for film actors, referenced in the title text, see below). By definition, Erdős has an Erdős number of 0. Everyone who has co-written a mathematical paper with Erdős has an Erdős number of 1. Everyone who collaborated with them (but not Erdős himself) is assigned an Erdős number of 2. In general, if k is the minimal Erdős number of all the people you've written papers with, your Erdős number is k + 1. The Erdős number is the length of the shortest "chain" from you to Erdős.
Thanks to collaboration between mathematicians and other researchers, many people in science and medical research now have Erdős numbers. Not everyone has an Erdős number, though; people without any chain linking them to Erdős have an undefined Erdős number. For example, most people who are not mathematicians or scientists do not have Erdős numbers. Nor do mathematicians and scientists whose publications were written by themselves only with no collaborators.
By this trick Cueball thinks that he and his colleagues will now all have an Erdős number of 1. The joke is that he would be using his last few hours in this life to write a math paper just to improve his and his friends' Erdős numbers.
There are, however, many problems with his idea, even assuming the dead will walk the earth on that day. First of all, just having your name on a piece of paper with Erdős's signature does nothing for your Erdős number. It needs to be a scientifically valid paper , published in a peer reviewed scientific journal . And given that the apocalypse is happening, there seems no time, chance or reason to publish any more math papers.
Even if there were time, it would not count for much to have someone sign a math paper they haven't even read, let alone had anything to do with the actual writing and research. The same would be true for the other five mathematicians who signed it. But of course many papers have coauthors who did not do much more than work in the same department as the person who actually wrote the paper (a sad but true fact). Presumably Cueball's friends assume that nobody will investigate whether they, or Erdős, truly participated in the writing and research of Cueball's paper.
Furthermore, even if it did count, they will not be able to take the paper with them into the afterlife (although since nobody has ever returned from the afterlife [ citation needed ] we can't be certain of this), and thus since no one would have had time to read the paper, no one would know they had an Erdős number of 1. In the afterlife they could all say that they had such a number, but then again everyone else with such an interest could do the same, since no one could prove otherwise. Of course if you end up in the same part ( Heaven or Hell ) of the afterlife as Erdős he could confirm or deny the claim, but that would probably not help Cueball and his friends, since he could tell the truth about their paper. (Erdős was known for using an idiosyncratic set of slang terms, in which he described people who had stopped doing mathematics as having "died", whereas people who had died had "left".)
That the whole comic is about the Erdős number, and not just Erdős signature, is made clear in the title text which refers to a similar (and less esoteric) meme called " Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon ", or simply Bacon numbers. This time, the chain's center is actor Kevin Bacon , and the links are formed by two people appearing in the same movie. Unlike Erdős, Kevin Bacon is not dead, so those of you wishing to get a Bacon number of 1 still have a chance.
In the title text Cueball thus wonders if there is still time for him to make a short film with Kevin Bacon, now he has used so much time on improving his Erdős number. Again, if the film hasn't been shown to the public it would not count for anything...
One of the mathematical scribbles appearing in panel 5 shows the square root of 163, which may be a reference to Ramanujan's constant .
403: Convincing Pickup Line has a parody of the Erdős collaboration graph.
Zombies are a recurring theme in xkcd, particularly zombie scientists, which has also occurred both before with Richard Feynman in 397: Unscientific and after with Marie Curie in 896: Marie Curie .
[The first panel is very large and shows a dark scene with one large meteor in front and four smaller in the background showering the darkened earth. They are all five black with yellow fire around them and a fire trail behind them, and all are flying from the top left corner and down towards right. The sky at the top is pitch black, but then the sky turns blood red under dark clouds. Two large mountain peaks, one almost pyramid shaped, are shown to the left and to the right there are two smaller peaks towards the distant horizon. The mountains and the ground around them are mainly black, but with red, orange and yellow streaks spread all over the black area beneath the mountain peaks, maybe indicating fire or lava, or reflections in water or blood. At the bottom right corner a normal white panel is superimposed on this apocalyptic image.]
[The smaller panel at the bottom of the first is halfway over the first panel, haflway below, and only to the right of the middle of the first panel. Beret Guy is running towards left, with his arms raised in the air.] Beret Guy: The apocalypse! The skies burn, the seas turn to blood, and the dead walk the earth!
[From here a normal sequence of panels in three rows begin beneath the second panel. This leaves a gap between the apocalyptic panel and the first row of regular panels, on the left side where the 2nd panel did not reach over. In this panel Beret Guy (coming from the right) finds Cueball.] Cueball: The dead what? Beret Guy: Walk the earth!
[Cueball running right in a thin panel.] Cueball: I have to go.
[Cueball sitting on a chair at a table scribbling vigorously and noisily with a pen on a paper. Mathematical symbols appear above Cueball's head, including a summation from i=0 to n, a logarithm of n and the square root of a number.] ∑ n i=0 i k 1/i log(n) √163 Scribble Scribble
[Cueball running right again, in a thin panel, pen and paper in hand.]
[Cueball opening door with label:] Math Dept Cueball: The dead return! Cueball: Everyone, quick, get your names on here!
[Cueball stand on the left side of a table looking left over his shoulder. Five people are lining up to sign the paper lying on the right side of the table. The first who signs with a pen is Blondie, then in line follows Megan, a Cueball-like guy, Ponytail and another Cueball-like guy who stand with one hand to his chin looking right, away from the other.] Blondie: At last! Guy looking right: I hope there's time!
[Cueball running right in yet a thin panel, with pen and the paper flowing behind him.]
[Cueball walks right with the paper and pen in his hand as he arrives at at a cemetery as revealed by an old worn sign. Scary sounds appear off-panel right.] Sign: Cemetery Rising dead (off-panel): Hurrghhh
[Cueball, still going right, arrives at a grave, pen in hand and the other hand almost outside the panel, but with a corner of the paper just visible. The grave has a large gravestone to the right and in front of it there is a Cueball-like guy rising up from the ground using his arms to push up on the base of the stone and the small pile of earth towards Cueball. The guy looks very worn, with dirt on his head and scratches on his cheek.]
[Cueball bends a little down and offers pen and paper to the raised dead man who looks up at him when he is addressed.] Cueball: Paul Erdős? Erdős: Yes? Cueball: We need you to sign this.


Android Boyfriend

Explanation:
This is the second (and last) comic in the Android series , referring directly back to 595: Android Girlfriend , where Cueball showed that he had an android girlfriend Megan . So now Ponytail has decided she would also like to have an android boyfriend ( Hairy ). But upon bringing these two androids together, they fall for each other and decide to have "sex" on the spot, resulting in several mechanical sounds off-panel while their "owners" watch on with disgusted interest.
Vibrators and Fleshlights are sex toys that represent male and female genitalia, respectively. Ponytail's flat description indicates that she is not particularly aroused by what amounts to a pair of animatronic sex toys rubbing against each other. Randall's title text claims that he has actually done such a thing, and stuck it on his fireplace mantle for all his house-guests to see. He admits though that it is the most unsettling mantlepiece decoration in my house. References to fleshlights is a recurring theme in xkcd.
[Ponytail enters from the right dragging Hairy along by his hand, as she moves towards Cueball who stands with Megan in his hand.] Ponytail: I thought your android girlfriend was cool so I got myself an android boyfriend.
[Suddenly the Megan android runs into the arms of the Hairy android, while Ponytail has let go of his hand. Ponytails head swirls around to follow her run by.] Ponytail: He's really great. I like how— Ponytail: Uh.
[Cueball and Ponytail look towards the two androids, but they are now outside this frame-less panel.] Off-panel sound: *Zip* Off-panel voice: Mmmmm
[Cueball and Ponytail still look at the scene off panel.] Cueball: ...Huh. Ponytail: It's like somebody stuck a vibrator in a fleshlight. Off-panel sound: Whirrr Off-panel voice: Mmmm Off-panel sound: Click
This is the comic six years before 1541: Voice , in which Ponytail stated that she could only control her voice once every six years.


Game Theory

Explanation:
The comic and title text is a direct reference to the movie WarGames .
In the movie, the Artificial intelligence (AI) that controls the US Nuclear Weapons is asked to play Global Thermonuclear War , a real time game simulating a nuclear attack scenario.
Spoilers : In the movie it then takes the simulation to the real world, planning to launch a real attack on the USSR . In the end the AI is tricked into quickly running through several scenarios of the game, and then shuts down its planned attack as a result of what it finds out.
After analyzing all possible strategies, the AI reports: "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?" Interpreted literally, this means that the computer has figured out that it will lose the game no matter how it plays, so it chooses to play chess instead (at the time of the movie, computers could not yet beat the best human chess players, so it would be more interesting). A more profound interpretation is that wars always end badly for all parties involved so it's better to play nicer games like chess.
In this comic Cueball loads an AI and then ask it to "analyze love" (equivalent to playing the "love game"), which initially could be expected to end happily for everyone involved, as love is the opposite of war and war ends always so badly. Surprisingly, the result from the AI is similar to the war games. Thus if you "play the love game", you'll end up badly, regardless which moves you play.
The title text leaves love as looking actually worse than war, since in war there's at least the "winning move" of not playing, however in love even refusing to play means that the player loses the game anyway. Randall is thus stating that you have to go after love, even though you know you will lose/get hurt sometimes, because you will for sure also lose the game, even if you pretend not to play. The AI then again suggest a game of chess, as in the movie.
[Cueball is sitting at a desk in an office chair typing on his computer. The text appearing above him is implied to be what is displayed on the screen.] A.I. Loaded >>> Analyze love
[An hourglass appears over the computer as Cueball sits back and wait.]
[The hourglass continues to display as Cueball shifts in his chair.]
[A zigzag line from the computer indicates the final reply from the computer to the query.] Computer: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.


Overstimulated

Explanation:
After being cooped up working on papers, Cueball goes to a party, only to find himself tuning out the gossip of his friends in order to work on math problems in his head. He writes down the prime numbers on cards, and then stretches them out such that the area of the card is the same (say, 1), but one of the sides has been elongated to a length equal to the number on the card. This reduces the length on the other dimension to the reciprocal of the number on the card (i.e. 1/ n , with n being the number on the card), according to the area formula for rectangles.
Stacking these reciprocals all up will eventually diverge, meaning the sum will be infinite without ever leveling off. This is referred to as the divergence of the sum of the reciprocals of the primes , and was proven by Euler in 1737.
The Cambridge Aspergers Test includes questions on preferences for, and ability to cope with, social situations. It also asks the person taking the test if they have an affinity for numbers and see patterns in every day objects. Cueball could possibly score high on the Asperger's scale — or he could just be introverted, or find math more interesting than criticizing others which is generally considered in science circles a dull thing to do considering the vast variety of other topics and activities available. Introversion is an idea from psychology. Thinking about things on one's own is often relaxing for an introvert, while hanging out with other people is not. Hence the irony of the comment in the last panel. Cueball's friends fail to realize that hanging out with them is actually more stressful for him than doing math - especially when people are doing nothing but talking negatively about those not present.
The title text mentions people that talk negatively about people that aren't there. A much later comic; 1176: Those Not Present , is about just that.
[There is a group of people. Three women and four men. They are standing around a table with a drink on it.] Man #3: Have you seen John lately?
Woman #3: He and Claire blew off this party to see Jeff. Man #4: They do that a lot.
Man #1: Yeah; I don't know what his problem is with hanging out lately. Man #3: He's like Katie—ever noticed how she only goes somewhere if Jeff's there?
[Cueball is cringing away from all the text; none of the text is attributed to specific people.] Somebody: It's so lame how she hangs around him even when he's not single: Somebody: He likes it. Somebody: Someone seriously needs to date her. Somebody: Totally. Somebody: And honestly I feel like a jerk but I wouldn't mind if she hung around with us a little less. She needs other friends, you know!
[Cueball peels a hole in the panel. The numbers '1', '2', and '3' are visible through the gap.] Somebody: Have you noticed how every dude she dates is a total druggie? Somebody: Nope Somebody: I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that was weird. Somebody: Michelle dates potheads like Elaine but at least they both have real jobs. Somebody: Michelle does? She designs those book covers, right? Somebody: And it's not like she smokes a lot. Somebody: Elaine is one of those girls who
[The previous panel's text appears again, but peeled back even further. Cueball looks up.] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Somebody: -noticed how - Somebody: Nope Somebody: -es is a tota- Somebody: -t th- -ought
[Cueball starts taking down the prime numbers.] 1 4 6 8 9 10 12 14 15 2 3 5 7 11 13 [Cueball grabs and squeezes the 2, so it is half as wide and twice as tall.]
[A formula: Sum with i from 1 to infinity of 1/P i = h - ie. the sum from 1 to infinity of the inverse of each prime.] [The panel shows a 2 that is 2 units tall and 1/2 wide, a 3 that is 3 units tall and 1/3 wide, and so on. Cueball is moving the 7.]
[Cueball writes h = ∞. The numbers are piled on their side next to a scale.] Voice: Don't you agree? Voice: Hey, wake up.
Man #1: You zoned out or something. Cueball: Sorry; I must be... tired. Man #1: I don't blame you. All day cooped up working on papers. Man #3: Must be nice to get out and relax, huh? Cueball: Yeah. [Girl #3 reaches for the glass on the table.]


Idiocracy

Explanation:
The title of this comic is a reference to the dystopian comedy Idiocracy . The film postulates that over about 500 years, society will suffer from a massive decrease in intellectual potential. This development is attributed to the fact that people with a lower IQ are believed to be more likely to reproduce thus more readily pass on their genes.
Cueball professes his approval for the theories represented in the film, and the guy with the white safari hat agrees with him, lamenting the gradual decay in intelligence and education. (Note that Safari Hat is not the same guy as White Hat ! See below.)
But in panel 3, Safari Hat suddenly reveals that all the "facts" he cited were wrong, and we learn that he doesn't support the dysgenic thesis at all. He turns to accuse Cueball of conceited self-righteousness (using religious zealots as an analogy), harshly condemning intelligence dysgenics as an excuse for feeling superior to the rest of society. Cueball's suggestion of birth control for the unintelligent only furthers his attitude. Although it is not named, one thing at work here is the Dunning-Kruger effect — that stupid people don't realize they're stupid.
Safari Hat's punchline, playing on Cueball's birth control suggestion, is a direct insult: it would be better to reproduce with a stupid person than an elitist like Cueball.
It's pretty clear here that Randall is voicing his opinion through Safari Hat, and using Cueball as a straw man.
The title text reflects the opinion. It makes a few cheery comments on the future, but then finishes on a rather sour note about climate change . Climate change is a recurring theme in xkcd.
In fact, a negative correlation between intelligence and fertility is disputed; see the Wikipedia article on the accumulation of disadvantageous genes: dysgenics . And regardless of this the actual absolute IQs in modern societies have been rising, see Flynn effect . This can be paraphrased with the statement, that if the generation of our grandparents would take a today's IQ test, they would barely score an IQ of 70 and be at the limit of intellectual disability.
[Cueball is standing in front of three shelves with DVDs, holding a single DVD in his hand looking at the cover. A guy with a white rounded safari hat (Safari Hat from now on) stands behind him.] Cueball: Idiocracy is so true. Safari Hat: I know, right? It used to be that the intelligent, upper classes had more children.
[Zoom on on their heads as Cueball turns towards Safari Hat.] Safari Hat: Sadly, the recent reversal of this trend has dragged IQ scores and average education steadily downward. Cueball: Depressing, huh?
[Zoom out to show Cueball holding the DVD down as Safari Hat lifts on arm towards him.] Safari Hat: Yeah, except everything I just said was wrong. Cueball: Huh? Safari Hat: Wrong. False. The opposite of true.
[Zoom in only on Safari Hat.] Safari Hat: You're like the religious zealots who are burdened by their superiority with the sad duty of decrying the obvious moral decay of each new generation. Safari Hat: And you're just as wrong.
[Zoom out to both as before, but this time it is Cueball who holds up a finger.] Cueball: But look at how popular— Safari Hat: More harm has been done by people panicked over societal decline than societal decline ever did.
[Cueball spreads out his arms (the DVD gone) as Safari Hat has walked out off the panel.] Cueball: Look — all we need is a program that limits breeding to— Safari Hat (off-panel): New theory: Stupid people reproduce more because the alternative is sleeping with you.


Qwertial Aphasia

Explanation:
Randall has invented the term Qwertial Aphasia to describe the common experience of having a word, from a spoken conversation, accidentally spill over into something one is typing, often with humorous results.
The description "Qwertial" refers to the position of the top row of letters in the most common keyboard arrangement, the QWERTY keyboard layout, as this is only something that afflicts you while typing. Aphasia is a class of medical conditions which affect the production and understanding of language.
In this case Cueball is in the process of replying on the computer to his friend who just asked if they should go out to eat some food later. Cueball is about to explain why he should not, when Megan walks in and disturbs him with her stuffed toy giraffe which makes him say the word giraffe.
The joke set up in the comic comes from the substitution of the word 'giraffe' for the word 'frequently' , which changes the whole meaning of Cueball's last sentence. The original sentence would have been I can't afford to keep eating out this frequently . The unintentional replacement makes 'giraffe' the object of the sentence, and implies that Cueball is eating out (slang for cunnilingus ) a giraffe. He tries to correct himself by writing that he meant frequently but the damage is done and he will be the laughing stock with his friends for a while.
The title text continues the image of a giraffe as a sexual object - in particular, one which costs money . SMBC refers to the comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal , a whimsical joke-a-day comic which comes with a second illustration, which can be seen by clicking on a button known as the "votey". This additional panel often serves as a second punchline in the same way as the title text does in xkcd. Zach Weiner of SMBC responded to this title text in the votey on July 2, 2009 , the day after this comic was released.
[Caption in a frame partly above the main panels, but which breaks the top border of the two first panels frames:] I hate how when I'm talking while I type, sometimes I accidentally type a word I'm saying.
[Cueball is sitting at a computer chatting with a friend. The friends message "comes" out of the computer.] Friend (from computer): Wanna go get food later?
[Megan walks in to the frame, holding a small stuffed giraffe in front of her. Cueball is in the middle of typing his reply, which "comes" from the keyboard.] Megan: Check out what I found in the closet! Cueball (from keyboard): Sorry, I really shouldn't. Keyboard: Type type
[Megan has stopped and Cueball turns to look at her and the giraffe, while continuing to type.] Cueball: Aww, what an adorable stuffed giraffe! Cueball (from keyboard): I can't afford to keep eating out this giraffe. Keyboard: Type type
[Caption below the last panel in a frame which breaks the bottom border of the above panel:] Frequently! I meant "frequently" !


Extrapolating

Explanation:
This comic is a joke on the incorrect application of linear extrapolation . By connecting two points without any context, we can come up with incredibly funny results. Here, connecting the number of spouses yesterday (zero) and today (one) can result in a linear extrapolation to hundreds of spouses a year. Cueball presents the accumulation of husbands as though it were a phenomenon beyond the bride's ability to control. Using similar points for pregnancy (yesterday: no babies, today: one), we can get 200+ children inside a single person by the 7th month of pregnancy.
This is another comic in the infrequent My Hobby series.
This particular hobby has later been explored in 1007: Sustainable , 1204: Detail and 1281: Minifigs .
My Hobby: Extrapolating
[There is a graph. Time runs along the horizontal axis; Number of Husbands on the vertical graph. Yesterday and today are labeled in time, 0 and 1 in number of husbands. Points are plotted with 0 at yesterday, 1 at today. A straight line is fitted through them.] [Cueball is holding a pointer to the graph, and looking at Megan wearing a dress and veil.] Cueball: As you can see, by late next month you'll have over four dozen husbands. Cueball: Better get a bulk rate on wedding cake.


Cutting Edge

Explanation:
Half-Life 2 is a computer game, specifically a first-person shooter , released in 2004. In the above comic, Cueball plays the game in 2009. Newer games usually require more powerful computer parts, such as GPUs and RAM. The prices of these computer parts usually start expensive but drop quickly, so even a very cheap computer developed in 2009 will comfortably run a 2004 game.
Additionally, the price for an older game is considerably less than those of the more recent variety. Even the price of a once-new, highly anticipated AAA game is almost definitely guaranteed to have fallen due to the presence of newer games and the relative maturity of the present game. Most of the expected sales of a game happen near the release. A game would not be deemed that lucrative after 5 years, prompting a price drop to justify its sales or even printing. Sometimes, a game will be released with several, if not all, expansion packs at a fraction of the price of purchasing them all separately during the initial release.
However, the downside to Cueball's strategy is that his gaming knowledge will be five years out of date. In a subculture that moves as fast as video games, it's almost impossible for Cueball to embarrass himself harder.
On the last panel, "The cake is a lie" and "This was a triumph" are references to Portal , a video game released in late 2007. The cake references originate from the promises of cake that GLaDOS , a character in the game, makes to the player. Exploring the levels reveals several hiding places that seem to have been used, in one of which the player can find the words "The cake is a lie" repeatedly scrawled on the wall. As predicted, Portal was indeed considered old-fashioned by early 2013, with the developers themselves stating they were sick and tired of the endlessly parroted jokes. Both Portal and Half-Life 2 were released by the same company, Valve , and they released Portal 2 in 2011.
The song " Still Alive ", which the lyric "This was a triumph" comes from, was previously referenced in 375: Pod Bay Doors , and later referenced in 1141: Two Years .
The title text also points to another flaw in this strategy: multi-player gaming requires other players, so if you play a game five years after its release, there's often nobody else to play with. It's even worse with online gaming, as the company hosting the online server may have shut it down a long time ago. However, some game communities do last longer than others.
[Megan is standing. Cueball sits at a computer.] Megan: Where've you been all week? Cueball: Playing Half-Life 2! Megan: ...that came out in 2004.
Cueball: I get games on a five-year lag. That way, I never have to buy a high-end system, but get the same steadily-advancing gaming experience as people who do - and at a fraction of the price.
Cueball: There are no downsides! Megan: I can think of one ...
[Early 2013.] Cueball: Guys! Cueball: The cake is a lie! [Musical notes surround an italic line, suggesting Cueball is singing.] Cueball: This was a triumph. Cueball: The cake is a lie! Megan and a Friend: Sigh


2038

Explanation:
The 2038 problem is a well-known problem with 32-bit Unix-based operating systems. Unix time is stored as a 32-bit signed integer on these systems, counting the number of seconds since 1970. In 2038, we overflow the highest number we can store in signed 32-bit integers, leading to unexpected behavior. The switch to 64-bit operating systems will most likely be complete by the year 2038, which is why Randall is relieved. The reference to Y2K is a throwback to the year 2000 problem, in which people were concerned that computers storing years as two digits (e.g.: 99 to represent 1999) would cause problems when the year 2000 began because 00 could have been interpreted as 1900 by error. That Y2K issue was covered widely — with only some small mishaps — but calculating dates beyond 2038 is still not solved on many 32-bit UNIX based systems today. The "even WORSE" is possibly referring to how our increased reliance on computers means the bug could affect many more vital systems, but with Y2K passing by relatively uneventfully especially in light of the hype that preceded it caused people to take this sort of problem less seriously.
The title text is a reference to the film 2012 which is about the world ending in December of 2012, at the end of the Mayan calendar . If the designers of the UNIX operating system had used 1944 as their epoch instead of 1970, then the UNIX crash due to a variable overflow would coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar. Thus, the implication is that there could have been a boring scene in the movie where the UNIX time rolls over and nothing happens and no one cares — because the world doesn't exist any more.
[Text above the panel:] I'm glad we're switching to 64-bit, because I wasn't looking forward to convincing people to care about the Unix 2038 problem. [Cueball's Cueball-like friends asks him a question. Cueball raises his arm above his head while answering.] Friend: What's that? Cueball: Remember Y2K? This could be even worse!


Form

Explanation:
Application forms, examination papers, etc. sometimes instruct applicants to avoid writing in blocked out areas of the page, as those areas are intended for administrative, office, or internal usage or processing.
Nonetheless, a person might write in the blocked out section out of an urge to defy authority, as does Cueball in the comic. Consequences for flouting these instructions are typically trivial (e.g. perhaps the form may not be processed correctly). However, Cueball's disregard for the rules prompts the preparations for an armed response by some sort of law enforcement or private security organization, presenting a serious consequence for Cueball.
The title text refers to Douglas Hofstadter , an author associated with the philosophical concept of self-reference. "This space intentionally left blank" is "Hofstadterially confusing" because if a space on a form contains the words "This space intentionally left blank", then the space is not, in fact, left blank.
Douglas Hofstadter is also the subject of the comic 917: Hofstadter .
A similarly harsh consequence for a trivial misdemeanor can be seen in both 292: goto and 499: Scantron .
[There is a sheet of paper, with a series of check boxes. A white rectangle is the focus.] Do not write in this space
[Cueball is standing with a pencil, looking at the page.]
[Cueball writes something on the page.]
[A group of people with helmets, black goggles, and rifles look at display screens. There is a radar system on a table between them.] [The screens show sheets of paper. On one screen, it shows Cueball writing.] [One of the men arms his weapon.] Cha-click


Tab Explosion

Explanation:
TV Tropes is a popular site which allows conversation on tropes . A common joke with the site is how you will read a page, find a certain trope, which will open another tab on your web page. Then, as you read another article, you'll open even more pages. Pretty soon, this will cause an extremely long cycle of opening new pages and closing old ones.
In the comic, this is exactly what happens to our unfortunate victim. He starts on a single page, then opens more and more tabs on different pages. Pretty soon, he finds himself stuck in a loop of opening pages.
The last frame refers to Rickrolling , which is the practice of being linked to Rick Astley's " Never Gonna Give You Up " on YouTube.
The title text refers to the comedy site Cracked.com . This site is also known for its addictive articles. Most articles are formatted in the same way the title text notes. Eventually, Cracked itself wrote a column that paid tribute to this cartoon . (See the very last line With that in mind, we present to you the 17 Worst Haircuts in The Ottoman Empire .)
The original comic links to TVtropes' page of Universal tropes . TVtropes has taken notice and has a welcome letter for you at the end of the main article: "Oh, and hello to all you xkcd readers. (And thank you for the information !)" Here the "thank you" link actually links to this page, the "hello" links to the comic on xkcd and the other two links are to two articles on TVTropes, the first about xkcd and the last one being an in-joke about how "TVTropes will ruin your life". The addition of this many links is likely meant to be ironic. [ citation needed ]
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.]
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Cueball: Huh.
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball stares at the computer.] Cueball: I never noticed that!
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Cueball: Haha, yeah.
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Cueball: So true.
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball stares at the computer.]
[Cueball stares at the computer.]
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball stares at the computer.]
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Click
[Cueball is sitting at a computer.] Megan (off-screen): Are you in there? Cueball: Help!
[Megan walks in behind Cueball who is still sitting at the computer. The bottom of the image is covered in Megan's last line] Megan: Okay, who linked you to TVTropes? What's with that site? Cueball: Can't ... stop... Megan: It's like Rickrolling, but you're trapped all day.


Sheeple

Explanation:
The people in this comic think of each other as sheep, who blindly follow direction without thinking for themselves. The word " sheeple " from the title has been used before in xkcd in the phrase " Wake up Sheeple !" In this comic, each person on the train considers themselves to be the only individual mind and everyone around them as "sheep". Ironically, the reader can see that although each of them thinks about how individual they are, they are all collectively thinking exactly the same thing, meaning that they are all sheeple. The comic can also be taken as a warning to not assume that you have more consciousness than someone else, since for all you know they could think the same about you.
Ayn Rand was a Russian-born American novelist and activist whose most famous books include, Atlas Shrugged , Anthem , and The Fountainhead . She developed a philosophy known as Objectivism , which promotes individual fulfillment (or so-called "rational self-interest") at the expense of collective goals and undertakings. Sheeple coordinates with Ayn Rand's novel, Anthem , set in the distant future in which the word "I" has been abolished and the evils of the communal values have created a new dark age.
A possible further irony can be found in the title text. Rand enthusiasts would seek individualism and independence from social pressures; however, a convention could be interpreted as a social collective of people who have similar interests in a subject. These ideas could arguably be construed to be opposites of each other. However, similar interests does not mean lack of individualism: this can be seen in Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged", which features a society of like-minded people centered around the concepts of individualism and neoliberalism .
[A thought bubble is shared between the five occupants of a subway car (four Cueballs and one Ponytail).] All: Look at these people. Glassy-eyed automatons going about their daily lives, never stopping to look around and think! I'm the only conscious human in a world of sheep.


Disaster Voyeurism

Explanation:
The comic is referring to a phenomenon known as gaping or rubbernecking . The terms are applied to people who stand around as spectators at the site of a disaster. Apparently, many people are attracted to terrible scenes out of a sort of morbid curiosity. While fascinated by the spectacle, most people also feel a sense of shame and guilt at the same time, unsure of whether it is morally wrong to be entertained by other's misfortunes.
This feeling of conscience is expressed in the comic by Megan , who secretly cherishes hope that a hurricane might strike but feels guilt despite knowing she isn't the cause of any danger. Black Hat on the other hand regards these feelings as perfectly natural. In the comic, he gives three more examples of how he enjoys other people's misfortune, each more sinister than the last, eventually partaking in the disaster itself which is another thing entirely:
It becomes clear that he actually enjoys it when other people are hit by tragedies. He reveals that he even actively promotes or causes the tragic fates of others. Him being a sadist concurs with the characterization depicted in other comics. Megan understands that the two of them are in fact leading entirely different conversations, as Black Hat is not in the least able to comprehend her scruples.
The title text aims at hurricane enthusiasts in internet forums, who are distracted by their scientific curiosity from the danger a hurricane may present to humans.
[Megan is watching TV. Black Hat is leaning on the back of her chair.] Megan: I've realized that I always secretly root for hurricanes. I watch the news hoping that they'll get really big and hit a city. I know my hopes don't actually affect it, but I feel bad.
Black Hat: Nah, that's just natural human attraction to spectacle. It's like watching the shuttle launch because you don't want to miss it if there's a disaster. Megan: ...I guess?
Black Hat: Or dressing as an intern to sneak into operating rooms, in case a patient dies and you can watch them harvest organs. Megan: Wait, you do that?
Black Hat: Or stealing detour signs to direct highway drivers down backwoods roads strewn with caltrops. After the tires burst, you start shooting out their windows.
Black Hat: Then, when they flee the car in terror, you hunt them on horseback, like men once did. Megan: I realized a while back that we're having entirely different conversations.


Estimation

Explanation:
When moving or copying files using the Windows Explorer , a dialog box opens to inform the user of how many of the files being moved have been moved with an estimate of how long the rest of the files should take. However, this estimate is often subject to seemingly random and extreme changes from a time measured in seconds or minutes to one measured in hours or days. This is because Windows bases its estimate on the latest file transfer rate, which exaggerates short-term fluctuations. For instance, transfers of many small files are generally slower than transfers of a few large files, because of per-file overhead (time spent writing data describing the file's title, location, etc. to the disk). A brief slowdown may cause the system to display that the transfer will take a long time (based on the total amount of data yet be transferred and the current low speed), while a sudden burst of data moved quickly between memory caches will give a time that is much too small.
A better implementation would keep track of the average file transfer rate over the entire operation, which would even out the bumps and give a more accurate estimate. Windows 8 avoids the problem by doing away with the time estimate.
The joke in the comic is the idea that this feature was actually purposely implemented and that the person who did so actually talks like that. He tells some friends on the phone how long it will take for him to arrive at their meeting point. However, like with Windows's estimation feature, he quickly changes his estimate multiple times from the extremes of days to seconds due to small fluctuations in traffic flow (like when he has to stop on a red light and then he speeds up on green).
The title text refers to the fact that if the connection is lost, and data can no longer be transmitted, the estimation just gets larger and larger as time goes on rather than realizing that no data being sent means there is no connection. This is a behavior that occurs on Microsoft network connections even when the connection is not lost. Kubuntu avoids this problem, but not that of wide fluctuations, by including only the past few seconds in its estimate. If there has been zero progress within the averaging interval, it reports "Stalled".
the actual author of the windows copy dialog created a video explaining why it's so wrong.
-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gTLDuxmQek
[Cueball is in a car, talking on his phone.] Cueball: I'm just outside town, so I should be there in fifteen minutes. Cueball: Actually, it's looking more like six days. Cueball: No, wait, thirty seconds.
[Caption below the frame:] The author of the Windows file copy dialog visits some friends.


Threesome

Explanation:
The N-Body Problem in physics refers to our inability to analytically solve sets of differential equations modelling gravitational attraction between more than two bodies. Simply put, there are exact equations for describing the movement of two bodies reacting to each other's gravitational pull, but no such solutions exist for systems of three or more bodies.
A threesome is a sexual encounter with three people. The punchline of the comic is a play on the word "bodies": a threesome involves three (human) bodies, and it is implied that the physicist's participation in the threesome was hindered due to their inability to solve for the movement of said bodies (i.e. the physicist was apparently unable to get comfortable and sexually satisfied at the same time).
According to the title text, Megan proposed that they settle for a numerical solution since a closed-form solution is unavailable. A numerical solution to predict the motion of a system would be an "open" procedural solution or simulation. On the one hand, such a solution can be more practical and less time-consuming than a closed-form solution, especially in cases (such as the three-body problem) where the latter is suspected to be impossible. On the other hand, a numerical solution is only an approximation and will tend to deviate from the exact solution over time. In the context of the comic, Megan probably was suggesting that a numerical solution would be sufficiently accurate for the duration of the threesome, but it appears that the physicist insisted that they arrive at an exact solution.
A frequent observation in random n-body encounters is that one or more bodies are ejected from the system by achieving escape velocity (and loneliness), but stable solutions are possible. A closed-form solution would allow one to predict for how long such an arrangement would remain stable. Ironically, it could be that the physicist's insistence on finding an exact solution resulted in them being excluded/"ejected" from the threesome, which arguably would be very "awkward".
Megan: We had a threesome last night. Cueball: How was it?
Megan: Awkward - it was with a physicist. Cueball: Why's that awkward?
Megan: They can't solve the three-body problem. Cueball: Ah, yes.


Woodpecker

Explanation:
Beret Guy observes a woodpecker . A woodpecker is a type of bird known for using its bill to bore holes into trees to get access to and eat the insects living inside. Megan notes that the bird hatched approximately a year ago. Beret Guy seems touched by this fact, and attempts to explain to the woodpecker that it is the woodpecker's birthday.
Beret Guy leaves a present by the foot of the tree where the woodpecker is nesting. The woodpecker opens the present which turns out to be a power drill, a mechanical tool that is used to bore holes into wood, much quicker than a bird normally could. Not that this would be of much use to the bird, as the bird has no electricity [ citation needed ] and so no means of powering the drill, let alone opposable thumbs [ citation needed ] with which to operate the drill. In spite of this, the woodpecker has not only unwrapped the present; it has apparently accepted it, and flies off with it.
The title text appears to be Beret Guy talking to the bird still, pointing out that he can get the bird an extension cord to operate the drill because, in his mind, they are friends. In actuality, the bird may or may not care about the drill or Beret Guy. An extension cord, also, would not do much good as the bird would still have no electricity, and if it did have a source of electricity and was able to use the drill, it wouldn't be able to fly further than the length of the extension cord, which isn't far for a bird. This could be a reference to 509: Induced Current .
[Megan and Beret Guy are standing on a deck.] Beret Guy: A Woodpecker! pop pop pop Megan: Yup. [Woodpecker knocking against a tree.] Megan: He hatched about this time last year. pop pop pop pop [Megan leave the frame, leaving Beret Guy on the deck alone.] Beret Guy: ...Woodpecker? Beret Guy...It's your Birthday! Beret Guy: Did you know? Beret Guy: Did nobody tell you? [Beret Guy leaves the frame, changes to the tree base.] [Beret Guy brings a gift and places it at the tree trunk.] [The woodpecker comes down and opens the gift.] [The woodpecker flies away holding onto the cord of a power drill.]


Avoidance

Explanation:
Megan gave her number to Cueball at a party, but now doesn't want to talk to him. Because Megan works with recording voice messages at Verizon , she can with no effort put on the characteristically semi-lifeless tone of professional automated answers, and answer the phone with the "call cannot be completed"-message . Perhaps it was even she who recorded it in the first place. In this way she avoids Cueball, hence the title.
Cueball actually got through to her the first time he used her number, and since she did not know his number at the time, she took that call. After that she used her Verizon voice every time he calls. Cueball's Cueball-like friend, is suspicious, and it is him who ask if Cueball knows what Megan works with. He gets his suspicion confirmed, but seems to enjoy that Cueball hasn't understood the implications and doesn't let him in on the secret.
The title text mentions a possible hobby that Randall could think of. The hobby can be interpreted as a Reverse Turing test with someone imitating an Interactive voice response system to see how long they can keep this going before the caller either gives up and hangs up, or realizes someone is making a joke on them and calls them out. This is related to Randall's Hobby series , but this time it is not specifically Randall's own hobby.
[Cueball is sitting in a chair holding a phone to his ear while his Cueball-like friend talks to him.] Friend: Did you call that hot girl from the party yet? Cueball: I've been trying.
[In a frame-less panel Cueball looks at his phone and talks to his friend.] Cueball: It's weird. I swear I got her the first time. But now it says the number's wrong.
[Zoom in on the friend, Cueball talking to him off-panel.] Friend: What did you say she did, again? Cueball (off-panel): Voice work. At Verizon, I think. Cueball (off-panel): Why? Friend: No reason.
[Megan is talking into a phone, in an italic voice. Cueball's remark is shown emanating from the phone with a zig-zag line, also the click from hanging up the phone is shown like that.] Megan: We're sorry, your call could not be completed as dialed. Cueball (over the  phone): Damn. *Click* Megan: Please check the number and try again.


Lease

Explanation:
Cueball is about to sign a lease to rent a building, but he's scared that he's not grown-up enough for the responsibility, presenting as evidence that he still plays with Lego building blocks.
It's common for children to assume, on some level, that adults are all capable, even infallible, and have all the knowledge they need to navigate the adult world. As a result, there's often a subconscious assumption that you'll reach a point where you feel like an adult, with all the attendant knowledge and maturity. The reality is that maturation is a process, knowledge is gained over time (and often through harsh experience), and the immaturities of youth never spontaneously vanish. Most people learn to behave in ways that adult society expects of them well before such behavior comes naturally, and for some people it never does. This is probably the source of Cueball's comment that he "stopped growing up" as a teenager and has been "faking it ever since".
Of course, Cueball actually isn't responsible and capable, since he drifts off to think about the fictional character Batman (who appears in comic books, often considered children's material), in the middle of a serious financial transaction.
The title text references one of xkcd's most famous comics, 150: Grownups , where Megan decides to use the freedom of adulthood to fill her apartment with playpen balls. It is possible that this is a prequel to the events in that comic. After the events in this strip occur Cueball may have moved into the building where Megan lives, gets to know her and one day when he goes to see her, the events in that strip take place. From the title text we see the lender can tell that Cueball would like Megan and from the events of Grownups we see that a romantic relationship of some sort did form.
[A man is holding a sheet of paper.] Man: Okay, any other concerns before you sign the lease?
Cueball: I'm concerned that we're sitting here like I'm a responsible adult. I'm pretty sure I stopped growing up in my teens and have been faking ever since.
Cueball: For god's sake, you're entrusting me with a building . I still make LEGO buildings sometimes.
Man: Sir, does any of this impact your fulfillment of the lease terms? Cueball: I don't know what you just said because I was thinking about Batman.


Understocked

Explanation:
On July 16, 2009, Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts by police officer Sgt. James Crowley, after the police department received a call that Gates and another man were breaking and entering into the residence. Returning home from a visit to China, Gates had found his front door jammed, and tried to force it open with the help of his driver.
Arriving at the scene and finding the front door forced open, Crowley (a Caucasian) asked the African-American Gates to show his ID or other proof that he lived there.  Gates, feeling persecuted, responded with belligerence.  He presented identification, but continued to talk back to the officers. Sgt. Crowley arrested Dr. Gates and charged him with disorderly conduct. The charges were dropped on July 21, but the incident sparked a national debate about racial profiling .
On July 22, U.S. President Barack Obama criticized the arrest, saying that the Cambridge police "acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in his own home." He also commented on the racial undertones of the incident, saying that "there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."
The president's remarks were furiously criticized by the law-enforcement community, and President Obama apologized two days later, saying that he could have chosen his words better, and it wasn't his intention to malign the Cambridge Police Department or Sgt. Crowley. He also invited Gates and Crowley to discuss the situation over beers to air out their differences and come to an understanding about the situation.
This comic explores a hypothetical situation in which President Obama found he was all out of beer, and chooses to share tequila with Gates and Crowley instead. In pop culture, tequila is frequently represented as the "let's-get-trashed" alcohol of choice, and so in the comic, President Obama, Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley all get trashed on tequila, take a White House limo on a joyride, and all end up behind bars.
The title text goes back on the suggestion that drinking tequila rather than beer would cause this kind of behavior. It also jokingly implies that biology grad students are authorities on the effects of alcohol because they drink a lot, not because they understand how the human body works.
[A bald bearded man with glasses standing in his open doorway outside his house and a police man wearing a black peaked cap with white emblem standing on the stoop at the top of the stairs leading down from the house are swearing at each other] Both: * [email protected] #!
[The bearded man is in prison sitting on a bench behind bars.]
[Cueball, as the president of the United States, is standing behind a lectern with the Presidential Seal (eagle and all) on its front.] President: To defuse this misunderstanding, I've invited both men to have a beer with me at the White House.
[A policeman is standing left and looking left while the bearded man is walking towards the president both with their hands stretched out towards each other. They are in the oval room in the White House with a couch and an oval carpet and two large windows.]
[The president has opened cabinet on top of another cabinet. He is looking into it with a hand on his chin.] President: Actually, it seems we're out of beer. Voice (off-panel): Is there anything else?
[Zoom in on the back of the president's head viewing the shelve in the cabinet with a single labeled bottle:] Tequila
[The black Presidential Limo, with grayed out windows in the rear is being driven at high speed by the president who can be seen through the regular windows in the front of the car. The bearded man has his arms up and the policeman is waving his hat and holding the bottle of tequila are standing up looking out of the sunroof.] All: WOOOOOOOOOOOO
[The policeman, the bearded man, and the president are sitting on a bench behind bars in the same prison from panel two.]


Asteroid

Explanation:
The comic begins with Blondie as a news anchor reporting that an asteroid is headed for Earth.
The end of the world has been envisioned in many ways. One of the most common is with a really big rock hitting Earth. This has been depicted in movies several times, most famously, and released in the same year, are Armageddon and Deep Impact , but also The Day the Sky Exploded and many more. These  lists of films with asteroids and meteors show how popular this theme is.
There is an online calculator for asteroid impacts, but don't worry, as any rock that does hit Earth isn't likely to kill everyone . And, as seen in the what if? Diamond , speed counts too.
The joke here, though, is that, after sending up a robot to blow the asteroid to smithereens, said rock is actually the home of the Little Prince from the famous tale by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. To save our world, we must destroy his. And probably the prince along with it. If the only way to save our species is by killing off another species, is the act still ethical? In none of the world-destroying asteroid stories were said rocks actually home to intelligent life. Or any life, for that matter. A second joke that can be seen is that in said movies the "heroic" mission always involves humans in some way imperiling themselves to save humanity, rather than, say, staying safely at home and using a robotic rover to do all the dangerous stuff.
The title text is a reference to the 1998 asteroid movie Deep Impact . "Crossover" is a term used to refer to a technique of taking two independent (and usually already existing) stories and creating a scene or short story in which characters from both worlds collide and interact with each other. Or, in other words, characters from one story "crossover" into the second. Fanfic is short for Fan Fiction , e.g. a fictional story written by someone who loves a particular story/series/idea so much they wanted to write their own tale about it (or one who hated said story so much they felt compelled to fix it). It suggests that most people were unwilling to read a story about people nuking miniature kingdoms to save civilization. A tough entertainment call any day.
The Little Prince was referenced already back in 2: Petit Trees (sketch) and later again in 1350: Lorenz at the end of the space trip branch.
[Blondie as a news anchor is standing in front of a screen pointing to a diagram of an asteroid's trajectory path with Earth in the path. There is a caption below the screen:] Blondie: Astronomers have confirmed that the asteroid is headed for Earth. Caption: Breaking news
[In a frame-less panel Blondie narrates above a picture of a rocket with fire out the end of its two lifter rockets on either side of the central main part of the rocket. It flies up and right. In an inset picture to the right and below the rocket there is an image of a rover with text on it. The rower has two legs and a drill below it, and an antenna above the main body of the rower.] Blondie (narrating): NASA has launched a heroic mission to land a rover on the asteroid, drill into it, and destroy it with nuclear bombs. Rover: NASA
[Ponytail is sitting in an office chair at the control panel of a large unit using it. Cueball stands in front of it looking away from her to the right. Both are wearing headsets with microphones. A voice speaks to them from off-panel right.] Ponytail: The robot has landed successfully and planted the nukes! We're saved! Cueball: Hooray! Voice (off-panel): We're heroes!
[The Little Prince is standing on his small asteroid next to his rose and a very small volcano. He is looking at the NASA rover which is partly outside the panel to the right and up. Two legs and the drill can be seen as well as part of the antenna and the part of the body with the text. The rover has drilled into the asteroid. There is a digital countdown emanating from the rover above the Prince.] 0:05... 0:04... 0:03... Rover: NASA


Supported Features

Explanation:
This comic is a reference to Linux builds adding support and features that will not appeal to the majority of desktop computer and Linux users. Cueball has created a patch that allows support for processors with 4,096 cores, even though most computers have only 8 cores or fewer. He considers this to be more worthwhile an endeavor than full-featured Flash support, which was the most common way to present videos or animations on websites at the time when this comic was published, five years before the first official release of HTML5 . Flash movies are known for their bad performance and high consumption on CPU power compared with other movie formats. Cueball's friend is uninterested in the 4,096-core-processor fix, and only wants to know if it will help him with Flash video.
However, as of 2013, there are commercial computer systems that can be actually configured up to 2,048 cores (4,096 threads), e.g. SGI UV 2000 . 95% of the world's supercomputers run Linux, so while Flash video on desktop Linux would directly affect more people, the high performance computing industry relies on and actually funds Linux development. It should be noted that GNU/Linux now supports flash via Gnash . The first stable release was February 15, 2012; over two and a half years after this comic was written. In a turn, Flash was officially deprecated at the end of 2020, making supporting it mostly pointless.
The title text mentions the "American political satirist, writer, director, television host, actor, media critic, and stand-up comedian" Jon Stewart which further refers to his famous American late night satirical television program The Daily Show . The show is also available on the internet ( www.thedailyshow.com ), presented in Flash video.
[Cueball and a friend holding a laptop standing together.] Cueball: It took a lot of work, but this latest linux patch enables support for machines with 4,096 CPUs, up from the old limit of 1,024. Friend: Do you have support for smooth full-screen Flash video yet? Cueball: No, but who uses that?


Wings

Explanation:
Cueball explains to Megan that on Saturn's moon Titan , the combination of lower gravity and a denser atmosphere make the act of flying simpler. Wings that are only capable of generating 9% of the necessary lift  on Earth would allow one to fly if used on Titan.
Cueball now stands in front of an apparatus to do so; he is standing in a valley with a metal arch above him, and two pulleys that have a rope going from Cueball to one pulley to the other and to the pile of bricks that weigh 91% of his weight, so if he generates enough lift to cancel out 9% of his weight, then he will be able to lift himself and fly.
The experiment is a success. However, as Megan points out, his experiment has some problems. One, he used hot glue for the wing joints and two, he has friends into Greek mythology.
Icarus is a character in Greek mythology who is known for his own self-powered flight, which ended when the wax holding his wings together melted and he fell to his death. This supposedly occurred because he ignored instructions not to fly too close to the Sun, a tragic example of hubris — extreme arrogance. Here, Black Hat is bringing an artificial "sun" to "Icarus" to recreate the tragedy .
Black Hat is standing on top of the arch with a powerful heat source, a heat lamp . The hot glue melts, then the wings fall apart, then Cueball falls.
In the title text, Randall asks that xkcd readers do not attempt to reproduce this. The reason for this is explained here . It could also simply be a media-standard "Don't try this at home" warning, as there are legitimate dangers to flying around unprotected. Sufficient height and a sudden loss of one's wings could indeed result in death (and deliberately causing someone to lose their wings and die or be injured would indeed get one arrested).
One thing to note about this comic is that Cueball is still attached via pulley to the bricks. These bricks, weighing down on the other side, should (obviously) slow his fall considerably. Of course, Black Hat could also cut the rope... [ citation needed ]
The calculated figure of 9% is only correct if the temperature on Titan has been raised to be the same as Earth — which, for human-powered flight, would probably be necessary anyway. At Titan's normal temperature, you would only have to generate about 3% of your Earth body weight in lift, as the atmosphere is much denser.
The friction in normal ball-bearing pulleys when loaded with 182 % of a persons weight would likely be greater than 9 % of that weight. Cueball must be using futuristic super-low-friction pulleys.
When the wings come off, Cueball is going to fall with an acceleration of about 0.047 g, or 21 times slower than a free fall (neglecting friction). The net downward force is 9 % of his weight, while the total inertia is 191 % of his body mass. So a fall from 21 meters (63 ft) will feel like a fall from one meter (3 ft), equivalent to the fall of someone who has hopped off a table. If he lands on his feet, he will not sustain injuries.
Cueball: Titan's gravity is 14% of Earth's, and its atmosphere 50% denser.
Cueball: So if you can generate 9% of your body weight in lift, you can fly on Titan.
Cueball: With wings, a stage harness, a cable, and 91% of my weight in bricks, I want to test this. [There is a heap of materials on the ground. Cueball is holding a stage harness.]
[Large diagram of a bridge, seemingly metal. A rope leads through pulleys tied to the bridge. One end goes to Cueball, one end to a pile of bricks.]
[Cueball is standing with wings attached to his arms.]
[Cueball flaps the wings, and appears to be floating.]
[Cueball glides.]
Cueball: It works! Megan: Except you have two problems. Cueball: What?
Megan: You used hot glue on your wing joints and you have friends into Greek mythology. Cueball: Huh?
[Black Hat is standing on the bridge, with a large lamp labeled "heat lamp" attached to a battery.]
[The wing segments fall off Cueball and he tumbles downward.]


Superlative

Explanation:
The comic parodies a famous advertisement campaign for the Dos Equis beer brand. In the campaign, Jonathan Goldsmith plays " The Most Interesting Man in the World ", a suave elderly gentleman with a number of astonishing life experiences and skills. The campaign's format generally includes the narrator presenting hyperbolic descriptions of the man's accomplishments, followed by the man delivering his signature catchphrase, "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.", which has been widely adopted as an internet meme .
Cueball plays the antithesis of the protagonist in the campaign: the least interesting man in the world. Unlike the stories in the advertisement, his affairs tend to bore the listeners. Being the generic everyman, he possesses no outstanding capabilities at all. While the original is said to "speak French... in Russian", Cueball seems to have forgotten his French altogether. He also has apparently nothing of interest to tell, either in real life or in his blog. Instead, he will talk away about his weird dreams and his success in video games. Moreover, he is unable to stand too much beer and therefore absolutely ill-qualified to advertise it.
The title text is a reference to the slogan of the campaign "Stay thirsty, my friends." It also references Team Fortress 2 (TF2), a multi-platform, multi-player First-person shooter game.
He has dreams. [Cueball is gesturing to Megan.] Cueball: I was in this weird cross between work and my old house... Which he'll tell you all about. He can speak French. Or could in high school, anyway. A little. Cueball: Man, I knew all these tenses and stuff once. His blog has four posts, all apologies for not posting more. [Cueball is sitting at a desk, typing.] Cueball: Sorry, I've been trying to think of stuff to put here. He is The least interesting man in the world. [Cueball is sitting at a table. Megan and Ponytail are paying no attention to him.] Cueball: I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I stick to a glass or two. Any more and I feel sick.