A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panel One: Drawing of a stick figure standing in front of Coinstar machine and inserting something into the slot.

Machine: WhirrrrrrrBzzt

Panel Two: Stick figure has stepped back from the machine and is holding a small bag in one hand.

Machine: Kachunk Tshhhhhhhhhh CLICK Click click click GRIND

Panel Three: Same scene.

Machine: Pop! Beeeeeeeeeeeep!

Holiday Tip: Coinstar does not handle chocolate coins well.

Hover text: Plus they take like 9%.

 

Warning: This comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scene: Advent calender, the kind with the little doors that open and there’s a space inside for candy.

The first door, red with a sprig of holly, is open and empty. It is labeled December 23rd. The front of the second door, labeled December 24th, 12:00 am, is open so wide the front can’t be seen and the space inside is empty. The third door, labeled December 24th, Noon,  is slightly open, empty, and is green with a red and white Santa hat. The rest of the doors are closed. The fourth door is white with crossed candy canes and is labeled December 24th, 6:00 pm.

Next row-

Fifth door-white with red tree ornament, December 24th, 9:00 pm. Sixth door-red with white star, December 24th 10:30 pm. Seventh door, green with red heart, December 24th, 11:15 pm. Eighth door, white with red sleigh, December 24th, 11:37:30,

Next row-

Ninth door, green with red and white Christmas stocking, December 24th, 11:48:45 pm. Tenth door, red with green Christmas tree, December 24th, 11:54:22.5 pm. Eleventh door,  white with green Christmas wreath, December 24th, 11:57:11.25 pm. Twelfth door, green with red and white Christmas present, December 24th, 11:58:35.63 pm.

Just the tops of the next row of doors can be seen at the bottom of the panel, implying there are many more doors.

Caption: Zeno’s Advent Calendar

Hover text: I think you could get up to about 11:59:57 before you’d have trouble swallowing the chocolates fast enough. At that point, you’d need some kind of a liquify-and-chug apparatus to get up over the 11:59:59 barrier. Anyway, Merry Christmas!”

 

Warning: This comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

 

 

A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

Scene: Panel is filled with four grocery store shelves, all densely packed with brightly colored products arranged like to like. In each section, one brand label stands out because it is bright white with black letters proclaiming just what the product is and not more. For example, next to a tan bread wrapper with the words “Country Loaf” and a red building on the label, there is a white wrapper with just the word “Bread.”

Caption: If I ever sold a line of supermarket goods, this is how I’d build a brand identity overnight.

Hover text: Legally-mandated information would be printed on the back or discreetly along the bottom. In small letters under the nutrition information it would say “Like our products? Visit our website!”  There would be no URL.

 

Warning: This comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

xkcd presents:

Some New

Science Mnemonics

Panel One:

Caption Above Drawing

Order of Operations

Parentheses, Exponents, Division & Multiplication, Addition & Subtraction

Traditional: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally

Drawing of a stick figure pointing at an open laptop on a desk, saying “Right there.” while a pony-tailed stick figure struggles with a dripping shark.

Caption Under Drawing

Please Email My Dad A Shark

0r

People Expect More Drugs And Sex

Panel Two:

Caption Above Drawing

SI Prefixes

Kilo, Mega, Giga Tera, Peta, Exa, Zetta, Yotta (this last is in gray)

Milli, Micro, Nano, Pico, Femto, Atto, Zepto, Yocto (this last is in gray)

Traditional:[I never learned one]

Drawing of a line graph with a dollar sign labeling the Y axis and a Zune on top of a downward plunging arrow hovering over a landscape with eleven tethered zeppelins, an offscreen voice saying, “er, what do we do with them?” and Karl  Marx in the foreground crying, “Rise!”

Caption Below

Big: Karl Marx Gave The Proletariat Eleven Zeppenlins, Yo (this last is in gray)

Small: Microsoft Made No Profit From Anyone’s Zuens, Yo (this last is in gray)

Panel Three:

Caption Above Drawing

Taxonomy

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

Traditional: King Philip Came Over For Good Sex

Drawing of a stick figure with long, royal hair, saying “I’m not sure who doubts this, really.

Caption Below

Katy Perry Claims Orgasms Feel Good Somtimes

or

Kernel Panics Crash Our Family Game System

Panel Four:

Caption Above Drawing

Geologic Periods

(Precambrian) Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Carboniferous Permian Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous Paleogene Neogene

Traditional: [I never learned one]

Drawing of a chart with four rows and seven columns of circles. A line across the chart separates the  bottom row from the rest.

Caption Below

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Does Cause Problems That Judicious Contraceptives Partially Negate

Panel Five:

Caption Above Drawing

Resistor Color Codes

Black Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Gray, White

Traditional: [None I care for]

Drawing of a stick figure with a buzz cut, holding a picket sign that reads “Nanobot Vaccine Chemtrail* 9/11″

*(BG note–we think that’s what it says)

Caption Below

“Big Brother Reptilian Overlords,” Yelled Glenn, “Brainwashing Via Ground Water!!”

or

Be Bold, Respect Others; You’ll Gradually Become Versatile, Great Wikipedians!

Panel Six:

Caption Above Drawing

Planets

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune

Traditional: My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos

Drawing of stick figure wearing Mary robes with a baby bump, talking to a bearded stick figure who is saying, “Uh huh.”

Caption Below

Mary’s “Virgin” Explanation Made Joseph Suspect Upstairs Neighbor

Hover text: “Sailor Moon’s head exploded once”; and “Some men have explosive orgasms” both work for the Great Lakes from west to east (Paddle-to-the-Sea order).

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

 

Panel One: Two stick figures are standing on a sidewalk in front of a brick wall. A rectangle on the wall behind them could be either a broken window or a movie poster. The figure on the left is wearing a Darth Maul mask and holding a ticket. The figure on the right is holding a green plastic light saber in one hand and a ticket in the other.

Panel Two: Same scene.

Panel Three: Same scene.

Panel Four: Same scene.

Darth Maul figure: Are you sure this place is a theater?

Light Saber figure: Let’s give it one more month.

Hover text: We could go to the theater across town and see if it’s opened THERE yet, but we don’t want to lose our place in line.

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

Fun Fact: Stores have a competition to see who can spread your items across the most plastic shopping bags.

Panel One: Drawing of a cut-away view of a shopping bag. Circles of various sizes, representing grocery items, fill the bag.
Voice One, off-panel: Here you go!
Voice Two, off-panel: Thanks!

Panel Two: Cut-away view of two shopping bags. One has one large item, the other has four smaller items.
Voice One, off-panel: Here you go!
Voice Two, off-panel: Oh, that’s easier to carry.

Panel Three: Same view of two shopping bags, only the one with one large item is now double- bagged.
Voice One, off-panel: Here you go!
Voice Two, off-panel: Double-bagging the big stuff makes sense…

Panel Four: Cut-away view of three shopping bags. One is double-bagged with one large item, the other two have two items each.
Voice One, off-panel: Here you go!
Voice Two, off-panel:That’s a bit wasteful…

Panel Five: Cut-away view of three shopping bags, same as last panel, but now they are all double-bagged.
Voice One, off-panel: Here you go!
Voice Two, off-panel: You just put five items in six bags.

Panel Six: Cut-away view of five shopping bags, all double-bagged with one item each.
Voice One, off-panel: Here you go!
Voice Two, off-panel: OK! I give up! I’ll buy a reusable bag!

Panel Seven: Cut-away view of one double-bagged shopping bag with one item — a reusable shopping bag.
Voice One, off-panel: Here you go!
Voice Two, off-panel: AUGH!
Hover text: The high I feel when I actually remember to bring my reusable bags to the store–and take them inside rather than leaving them in the parked car–can last for days.

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

Panel One: Drawing of two stick figures standing together and talking. The figure on the left has shoulder-length dark hair and is hold a small device like a cellphone, the figure on the right wears a white hat.

Dark-haired figure: Everyone’s carrying sensor-packed, always-connected computers everywhere. That wasn’t true ten years ago.

White Hat Guy: It’s all changing too fast, huh?

Dark-haired figure: No, too slowly.

Panel Two: Closeup of dark-haired figure with cellphone.

Dark-haired figure: There’s so much potential here. These clumsy, poorly-designed toys are nothing compared to what lies ahead.

Panel Three: The dark-haired figure is climbing into a long, hinge-lidded, coffin-like box with hoses attached to one end as White Hat Guy looks on.

Dark-haired figure: That’s why I’ve worked to develop cryogenic freezing.–I’m gonna skip forward 30 years and use this stuff when it’s good.

Panel Four, labeled “30 Years Later…”: The dark-haired figure is climbing out of the box, slightly frazzled and frosted. Another stick figure is standing beside the box.

Stick figure: Welcome to the future! Nothing’s changed!

Dark-haired figure: What? Why??

Panel Five: Same scene except now a long, shadowy line of cryogenic boxes can be seen, most of them opening to show other stick figures waking up.

Stick figure: When cryogenic freezing was invented, all the engineers who were excited about the future froze themselves. So there’s been no one building anything new.

Panel Six: Different view of stick figure talking to the dark-haired figure.

Stick figure: But they’re all waking up now!

Dark-haired figure: Sweet! I’m gonna jump forward to see what they do!

Off-panel: Me, too!

Off-panel: Wait, uh, guys?

Hover text: “Welcome to the future! Nothing’s changed.” was the slogan of my astonishingly short-lived tech startup.

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

 

 

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

Scene: A timeline of decades, starting with 1900s on the left and running to 2010s. An arrow pointing to approximately 2011 is labeled “Today.”

The timeline is titled “The 20 Most-Played Christmas Songs (2000-2009 Radio Airplay) by Decade of Popular Release.” Alternating red and green boxes labeled with song titles are stacked on the timeline. A gray shaded area labeled “Baby Boom” spans the area from late 1940′s to early 1960s. The boxes are stacked highest in this area.

1900s, 1910s, 1920s – no boxes

1930s – Santa Claus is Coming to Town

1940s – White Christmas, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Let It Snow, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Winter Wonderland, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

1950s – Frosty the Snowman, Sleigh Ride, It’s Beginning to Look  a Lot Like Christmas, I Saw Momy Kissing Santa Claus, Little Drummer Boy, Blue Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

1960s – It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Holly Jolly Christmas

1970s – Feliz Navidad

1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s – no boxes

Caption: Every year, American culture embarks on a massive project to recreate the Christmases of Baby Boomers’ childhoods.

Hover text: An “American tradition” is anything that happened to a baby boomer twice.

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

 

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

Panel One: Drawing of an explosion in the lower right corner of the panel with the word “BOOM”.

Caption: When teacher complain,”You’re not working at your full potential!”

Panel Two: A car comes flipping end over end from the right with the word “CRASH”.

Caption: Don’t take it too hard.

Panel Three: Tiny stick figures run to the left,  screaming, “It’s headed this way!”, “Somebody stop him!!” and “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” as a six-tentacle-legged monster robot picks up another car, shaking a stick figure out. Two helicopters circle above the monstrosity. Atop the six tentacle legs is a clear dome where a stick figure can be seen working several control levers that whir, click and beep.

Caption: They complain way more when you do.

Hover text: The bunch of disadvantaged kids I was tutoring became too good at writing, and their essays were forcing me to confront painful existential questions, so I started trying to turn them on to drugs and crime instead.

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

Scene: Drawing of a stick figure exiting a restroom. A drinking fountain hangs on the wall next to the restroom door.  A thick black arrow points right to the next scene, which is the same scene, but the stick figure is shown drinking from the fountain. A thick black arrow points down and left to the next scene, which is the same scene, except the stick figure is going back into the restroom. A thick black arrow points up and left to the original scene with the stick figure coming out of the restroom.

Caption: I avoid drinking fountains outside of bathrooms because I’m afraid of getting trapped in a loop.

Hover text: I’ve always wondered whether you could drink slowly enough, and eliminate fast enough, that you just sort of peed continuously. But I’m afraid to try because I worry someone might call while I’m doing it and ask what I’m up to, and I won’t be able to think of a lie.

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

Scene: Drawing of a stick figure sitting in a comfy chair, watching TV.

TV: Senator’s Grayton’s campaign has imploded following the candidate’s promise to give tax breaks to drunk drivers and to authorize the use of unmanned predator drones in the War on Christmas.–Grayton had been polling at 20%, but his support has since plunged by 19%.

Caption: I hate the ambiguity created when people don’t distinguish between percentages and percentage points.

Hover text: Grayton also proposed making college scholarships available exclusively to sexually active teens, amnesty for illegal immigrants who create room for themselves by killing a citizen, and a graduated income tax based on penis size. He has been endorsed by Tracy Morgan, John Wilkes Booth’s ghost, and the Time Cube guy.

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

 

Panel One: Drawing of two stick figures. The figure on the left is holding out cell phone with a picture on its screen to show to the other stick figure, who wears a black hat.

Person One: Check out the SLS–130 tons to orbit. Finally, rockets that improve on the ones we had 40 years ago.

Black Hat Guy: Are we getting Nazis to build these ones, too?

Panel Two: Caption above two subpanels.

Offscreen: What?

Caption above next two panels: When we first captured Von Braun and his team, we had our engineers interview them, then we built the rockets. But our rockets kept exploding.

Subpanel One: Drawing of three stick figures. One is seated (possibly tied up) in a chair. One stands behind the chair, wearing a helmet and holding a rifle. One stands in front of the chair, taking notes on a clipboard.

Subpanel Two: Clipboard guy watches as a rocket explodes.

Panel Three: Drawing of a Saturn V rocket with afterburn on a black background.

Caption: Eventually we gave up and had the German teams do it, and they built us the Saturn V Moon Rocket.

Panel Four: The same two stick figures from the first panel are standing and talking. The first one has lowered his arms and is looking downward.

Person One: I’m…not sure what lesson to take from that.

Black Hat Guy: “If you want something done right, learning from the Nazis isn’t enough. You have to actually put them in charge.”

Person One: That’s a terrible lesson.

Black Hat Guy: Then I guess you should get a Nazi to come up with a better one.

Hover text: The SLS head engineer plans to invite Shania Twain to stand under the completed prototype, then tell her,”I don’t expect you to date me just because I’m a rocket scientist, but you’ve gotta admit–this is pretty fucking impressive.”

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

 

 

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

Scene: Large panel filled with six smaller panels in a three over three pattern.

Panel One: Drawing of two stick figures, one with chin-length dark hair, standing outside a locked door, trying the knob.

Caption–Dorm: Locked

Panel Two: First two stick figures stand looking at a long-haired, headset-wearing stick figure who is seated at a desk with a monitor.

Long-haired, headset-wearing stick figure: “I’ll be done Tuesday.”

Caption–Other Dorm Room: Roommate in Raid

Panel Three: First two stick figures are looking in through a window in a door at a room with three stick figures, a podium, and a large book under a glass case.

Caption–Library Rare Book Collecton: Occupied by tour for visiting Nelson Mandela

Panel Four: In silhouette, the two stick figures are standing in front of a large door with a radiation warning symbol and a sign that reads “No Entry”. There is a keypad on the right side of the door.

Caption–Accelerator Tunnel: Sealed while beam is in operation

Panel Five: One stick figure stands next to and the dark haired stick figure climbs on top of a cut-away view of an inhabited beaver lodge.

Caption–Beaver Lodge: Frozen over for winter to keep out predators, only accessible via underwater entrance

Panel Six: The two stick figures are standing next to a table piled with books. The dark haired stick figure is holding and looking at an open book.

Other stick figure: “Are you sure?”

Caption–Hyperspace: Ruled out by current understanding of physics

Caption under large panel: College Law #27

The availability of private space is inversely proportional to the desirability of the hookup.

Hover text: Eventual headline: “University Researchers Create Life in Lab! Darkness, Faulty Condoms Blamed.”

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

 

 

 

 

 

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

New store item: [citation needed] stickers, for marking dubious printed claims in real life.

 

Scene: A stick figure with a pony tail is standing in front of a white board and holding a pointer in one hand. The white board has set theory figures written on it, like “x is an element of S.”

Person One: “The axiom of choice allows you to select one element from each set in a collection–and have it executed as an example to the others.”

Caption: My math teacher was a big believer in proof by intimidation.

Hover text: Proof of Zermelo’s well-ordering theorem given the Axiom of Choice: 1: Take S to be any set. 2: When I reach step three, if S hasn’t managed to find a well-ordering relation for itself, I’ll feed it into this wood chipper. 3: Hey, look, S is well-ordered.”

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

 

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Panel One: A stick figure is sitting at a desk with a laptop. The stick figure has one hand up to his chin.

Person One: “So I thought I found your porn folder in calendar/backup/PORN/

Person Two: (off panel) “Don’t open that!”

Panel Two: Same scene, but pulled back to show more of the desk and chair.

Person One: “But it contains a bunch more folders, and then…after 20 levels, somehow I’m back at the main folder?

Person Two: (off panel) “It’s, uh, well hidden.”

Panel Three: The stick figure has spun the desk chair around and is holding the laptop on his lap.

Person One: “I think there’s no actual porn here.-You’re just turned on by filesystems.”

Person Two: (off panel) “It’s a hardlinked directory loop–So taboo!”

Person One: “Now I feel dirty sharing a drive with you.”

Hover text: Eww, gross, you modified link()? How could you enjoy abusing a filesystem like that?

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

 

 

 

 

Description on the latest xkcd web comic has been delayed due to its scope and complexity. It should be up by Thursday or so, meanwhile the next xkcd will be up on Wednesday as usual.

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

Caption next to panel: Never have I felt so close to another soul and yet so helplessly alone as when I google an error and there’s one result

A thread by someone with the same problem

And no answer

Last posted to in 2003

Panel: A stick figure is standing in front of a desk with a monitor, gripping the monitor with both hands and shaking it.

Person One: “Who were you, DenverCoder9?–What did you see?!”

Hover text: All long help threads should have a sticky globally-editable post at the top saying ‘DEAR PEOPLE FROM THE FUTURE: Here’s what we’ve figured out so far …’

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

 

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caption above panels–”Where Citations Come From:”

First Panel: Stick figure with short, spiky hair, seated at a desk, typing on a laptop.

Caption–Citogenesis Step # 1: Through a convoluted process, a user’s brain generates facts. These are typed into Wikipedia.

Laptop: The “Scroll Lock” key was designed by future Energy Secretary Steven Chu in a college project.

Panel Two: A stick figure with a ponytail sits at a desk with a monitor, typing on a keyboard.

Caption–Step # 2: A rushed writer checks Wikipedia for a summary of their subject.

From keyboard: US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, (Nobel prizewinner and creator of the ubiquitous “Scroll Lock” key) testified before Congress today…

Panel 3: A stick figure is seated in an easy chair, typing on a laptop.

Caption–Step #3: Surprised readers check Wikipedia, see the claim, and flag it for review. A passing editor finds the piece and adds it as a citation.

Editor: “Google is your friend, people.”

Laptop: <REF>{{cite web| url=

Panel Four: Diagram– “Brain” has an arrow pointing to “Wikipedia” which points to “Cited Facts” which points to “Slightly Careful Writers”  from which comes an arrow labeled “More Citations” pointing back to “Wikipedia.” Below “Wikipedia” is “Citations” with another cycle of arrows, “Words” to “Careless Writers” and back to “Citations”.

Caption–Step #4: Now that other writers have a real source, they repeat the fact. References proliferate, completing the citogenesis process.

Hover text: I just read a pop-science book by a respected author. One chapter, and much of the thesis, was based around wildly inaccurate data which traced back to … Wikipedia. To encourage people to be on their toes, I’m not going to say what book or author.

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

It turns out Monday was Steve Waterman’s birthday. His site has posters of his map, plus maybe the world’s only Winkel Tripel-critiquing poetry.

 

 

Scene: Drawing of twelve different types of maps of the world, laid out in a two by six pattern.

Top Caption: What Your Favorite Map Projection Says About You

First Map: Mercator

Caption: You’re not really into maps.

Second Map: Van der Grinten

You’re not a complicated person. You love the Mercator Projection; you just wish it weren’t square. The Earth’s not a square, it’s a circle. You like circles. Today is gonna be a good day!

Third Map: Robinson

Caption: You have a comfortable pair of running shoes that you wear everywhere. You like coffee and enjoy the Beatles. You think the Robinson is the best-looking projection, hands down.

Fourth Map: Dymaxion

Caption: You like Isaac Asimov, XML, and shoes with toes. You think the Segway got a bad rap. You own 3D goggles, which you use to view rotating models of better 3D goggles. You type in Dvorak.

Fifth Map: Winkel-Tripel

Caption: National Geographic adopted the Winke-Tripel in 1998, but you’ve been a W-T fan since long before “NatGeo” showed up. You’re worried it’s getting played out, and are thinking of switching to the Kavraskiy. You once left a party in disgust when a guest showed up wearing shoes with toes. Your favorite musical genre is”Post-”.

Sixth Map: Good Homolsine

Caption: They say mapping the Earth on a 2D surface is like flattening an orange peel, which seems easy enough to you. You like easy solutions. You think we wouldn’t have so many problems if we’d just elect normal people to Congress instead of politicians. You think airlines should just buy food from the restaurants near the gates and serve that on board. You change your car’s oil, but secretly wonder if you really need to.

Seventh Map: Hobo-Dyer

Caption: You want to avoid cultural imperialism, but you’ve heard bad things about Gall-Peters. You’re conflict-averse and buy organic. You use a recently-invented set of gender-neutral pronouns and think that what the world needs is a revolution in consciousness.

Eighth Map: Plate Carrée (Equirectangular)

Caption: You think this one is fine. You like how X and Y map to latitude and longitude. The other projections overcomplicate things. You want me to stop asking about maps so you can enjoy dinner.

Ninth Map: A Globe!

Caption: Yes, you’re very clever.

Tenth Map: Waterman Butterfly

Caption: Really? You know the Waterman? Have you seen the 1909 Cahill Map it’s based–…You have a framed reproduction at home?! Whoa…Listen, forget these questions. Are you doing anything tonight?

Eleventh Map: Peirce Quincunial

Caption: You think that when we look at a map, what we really see is ourselves. After you first saw Inception, you sat silent in the theater for six hours. It freaks you out to realize that everyone around you has a skeleton inside them. You have really looked at your hands.

Twelfth Map: Gall Peters

Caption:  I hate you.

Hover text:  What’s that? You think I don’t like the Peters map because I’m uncomfortable with having my cultural assumptions challenged?  Are you sure you’re not … ::puts on sunglasses:: … projecting?

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.

A web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

 

 

Panel One: Drawing of a stick figure in a small sailboat with a triangular sail. The stick figure is sitting aft, holding the tiller with one hand and a line attached to the boom with the other.

Panel Two: The sail starts to belly out with wind.

Panel Three: The stick figure has had to stand up to hold on to the line as the sail bellies out even more.

Panel Four: The stick figure is straining to hold on as the sail has stretched out almost into a balloon shape.

Panel Five: The stick figure falls back as the sail suddenly relaxes into its original shape and a lopsided bubble pops free from it.

Panel Six: The stick figure is sitting aft again, holding the lax line with one hand and scratching his head in bewilderment as the bubble floats gently upward.

Hover text: It only works a few times before you have to capsize the boat in a soap lagoon again.

 

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

Comic by xkcd.com. Described by BlindGadget under the Creative Commons license.