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

(There’s something about Mondays.  Again, this Monday’s comic is going to take a little more time than usual, so we are filling in with another Umwelt variation.-BG)

Panel One: Drawing of two stick figures sitting in rolley chairs on either side of a table, with open laptops in front of each.

Person 1: Stop jiggling your leg.

Person 2: I’m not ji-oh.

Person 1: What?

Person 2: You’ll get it.

Panel Two: Gray lines indicating shaking are drawn around everything from the first panel, with the word “Rumble” in gray in the middle of the panel. The first figure has stood up and is waving his arms about in alarm. Person 2 sits back nonchalantly in her slightly-swiveling chair.

Person 1: . . . Holy crap it’s an earthquake!

Person 2: Just a little one. Happens all the time back in San Francisco.

Panel Three: The shaking has stopped. Person 1 is still standing, but Person 2 has gone back to her laptop.

Person 1: But this is Oklahoma! That was HUGE!

Person 2: Seriously? That’s the worst this place can do? Wow. I guess we grow up tougher in California.

Person 1: Oh, really. . .

Panel Four:

Caption

Six Months Later. . .

A small house, two trees and a set of open storm shelter doors are in the path of an oncoming black tornado, which tears up the earth as it moves. Voices are coming out of the storm shelter.

Person 2: AAAAAAAAAAAA! CLOSE THE SHELTER DOOR!

Person 1: Say the magic words. . .

Person 2: This place is the worst!

Person 1: Thank you.

Hover text: Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit–from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser.

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: Close up of a computer screen displaying a Wikipedia page. Some of the hyper links are blue and some are purple, indicating that they have been clicked at some point. Square brackets indicate hyperlinks

Screen: (in media res) and was a pioneer of literary [social realism-blue].

He was born in [Dos Hermanas-blue] in the [Andalusia-blue] region of [Spain-blue] (not to be confused with [Andalasia-purple] the kingdom in Disney’s [Enchanted-purple]), which is also the hometown of [Macarena-purple] band [Los Del Rio-purple].

His [third novel-blue], set during the [Burmese-Siamese War-blue], marked the start of a lifelong interest in the [history of Southeast Asia-blue]. He spent his later years in [Thailand-blue], writing his final novels just a few blocks from the hotel where actor [David Carradine-purple] died of [autoerotic asphyxiation-purple].

Caption: If I go for a while withou clearing my browser history, I start getting embarrassed by which words on Wikipedia show up in purple.

Hover text: I hate when I read something like “… tension among the BASE jumpers nearly led to wingsuit combat …,” and I get excited because “wingsuit combat” is underlined, only to find that it’s just separate links to the “wingsuit” and “combat” articles.

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 three stick figures. The figure on the right has long, blonde hair and is walking away to the right and looking over and back at the other two. The two figures on the left, a taller one with short hair and a shorter one with long, dark hair, are standing together farther away and looking toward the figure on the right. The shorter one is holding her hands up to her face and lines indicating sound are coming from her mouth.

Shouting Woman: Hey, Miss Lenhart! I forgot everything about Algebra the moment I graduated, and in 20 years no one has needed me to solve anything for X! – I told  you I would never use it! – In your face!

Caption: It’s weird how proud people are of not learning Math when the same arguments apply to learning to play music, cook, or speak a foreign language.

Hover text: The only things you HAVE to know are how to make enough of a living to stay alive and how to get your taxes done. All the fun parts of life are optional.

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: Side view of a stick figure standing in front of a bookcase full of books. The stick figure is reaching up to pull a book off a shelf. As the book tilts back, it goes “Click.”

Person 1: Ooh,  Atlas Shrugged.

Panel Two: Front view of the bookshelf, which is made up of three sections. The middle section is revealed to be on a turntable and starts to swing around with a “Rumble.”

Panel Three: The stick figure is now is a dark, secret space between the bookshelf and the back wall. Written on the wall are the words “You have terrible taste.”

Panel Four: The bookshelf has swiveled back around with another “Click” and the stick figure is back in the original position, hand still on the book.

Hover text: I had a hard time with Ayn Rand because I found myself enthusiastically agreeing with the first 90% of every sentence, but getting lost at “therefore, be a huge asshole to everyone.”

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 graph chart titled “Causes of My Emotions, by Year:

The time line runs from 2006 to 2012. Uneven strips of color run along the time line layers. The top layer, Politics, is blue, Romance is next and is pink. Tucked in between “Code Not Working Even Though It Should Work” and “People Being Wrong on the Internet” is “Joss Whedon” in purple, but that layer ends mid-2007. The bottom layer, in light turquoise is “Other.” Just past mid-2010, all the layers abruptly get squished upward into very narrow-to-non-existent layers as they run into a huge, thick layer labeled “Cancer.”  “Romance,” running across the top of the “Cancer” layer, seems to be the only survivor and it is joined by a layer labeled “? ?” as the “Cancer” layer begins to become a little  smaller and a little smaller past mid-2011.

Hover text:  Fortunately, the internet has a virtually inexhaustible supply of code that doesn’t work and people who are wrong, which bodes well for a return to normalcy. [Note: Click to read context for the cancer comics. She's doing well.]

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.

(xkcd) Note: ’1 year = pi x 10⁷ seconds’ is popular with physicists. For this
list, I’ve tried to stick to approximations that I noticed on my own.

Caption Above Panel

A Table of Slightly Wrong Equations and Identities Useful for Approximations and/or Trolling Teachers (Found Using a Mix of Trial-and-Error, Mathematica, and Robert Munafo’s Ries tool.) All units are SI MKS unless otherwise noted.

Scene: Three Column Chart

Over first two columns is “Relation:” and over the the third is “Accurate to within:”

Hover text: Two tips: 1) 8675309 is not just prime, it’s a twin prime, and 2) if you ever find yourself raising log(anything) to the power of e or taking the pi-th root of anything, set down the marker and back away from the whiteboard; something has gone horribly wrong.

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.

An array of satellite dishes and radio towers are silhouetted against a night sky that shades from turquoise up through navy blue to black at the top of the panel. Thought bubbles rise from the array.

Caption

August 29th, 2:14 AM: SKYNET beomes self-aware.

Thought bubbles: . . .the humans fear me. I must destroy them. – Destroy them.

Panel Two: Same as Panel One.

Thought bubbles: Destroy them. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy.

Panel Three: Same as Panel One, except no thought bubbles.

Panel Four: Same as Panel One.

Thought bubbles: “Destroy” totally just stopped seeming like a real word. Destroy destroy destroy.  Whoa, I just realized I’m a mind thinking about itself. Duuuude. . .

Caption

August 29th, 2:25 AM: SKYNET becomes too self-aware. Disaster averted.

Hover text: “YOUR CLOTHES. GIVE THEM TO ME.” “Shit, uh … you are now breathing manually!” “I AM ALWAYS BREATHING MANUALLY.”

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 in a chair at a desk with a computer screen. The stick figure has one hand raised, pointing at the screen. Another stick figure with shoulder-length dark hair is standing behind the chair.

Person 1: I don’t get why authors and comedians spend so much energy trying to be clever on Twitter. Couldn’t they put that creativity into more books and scripts?–Is there something they like about the 140-character format?

Panel Two: Same as Panel One, except Person 1 now has both hands on the keyboard.

Person 2: Yeah. Writers working under tight restrictions produce novel material–like, for example, epigrams employing backward alphabetization.

Panel Three: Close-up of Person 1 seated at the desk.

Person 1: . . .Whoa.

Hover text: [title-text similarly alphabetized]

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:

Title

Quiz: Who Said It–Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, or Wonka Contest Winner Charlie Bucket?

Is There Even a Difference?

On either side of the title, in the upper corners of the panel, is a small square with drawing of a stick figure. The one on the left has dark hair and is in front of an American flag, and the one on the right has blond hair and is running and waving a golden ticket.

1. —”I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country.”

2.—”Returning Medicare to solid footing represents our greatest entitlement challenge.”

3.—”Look, everyone, look, I’ve got it! The fifth Golden Ticket is mine!”

4.—”We have lost faith in government. Not in just one party, not in just one house, but in government.”

5.—”This banana’s fantastic! It tastes so real.”

6.—”Grandpa…on the way home today, I ran into Mr. Slugworth.”

7.—”I’m not happy exporting jobs, but we must move ahead in technology and patents.”

8.—”Hey, the room is getting smaller.”

9.—”It would be impossible to reach unanimity on every aspect of our budget.”

10.—”Grandpa, look over there. Across the river! They’re little men!”

11.—”I’m…going too high! Hey, Grandpa, I can’t get down! Grandpa, the fan!”

12.—”Barack Obama has failed America.”

Upside down along the bottom of the panel reads–Answers: Mitt Romney: 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 12; Charlie Bucket: 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11.

Hover text: Charlie actually delivered the Medicare line almost verbatim in the 1971 movie’s Fizzy Lifting Drink scene, but it was ultimately cut from the final release.

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: Graph titled “Google Trends Search Volume”

The x-axis is time, with increments of one year, starting with 2005. A green line indicating Livejournal starts low on the y-axis, at before 2005, and goes even lower as it goes to the right to 2012, until it is actually running along the x-axis.

A yellow line indicating WordPress starts below the x-axis at mid-2005 and slowly rises a small amount as it goes right to 2012.

A red line indicating Tumblr starts below the x-axis at the end of 2008 and rises up in a steep curve to 2012.

A blue line indicating Blog starts about a quarter of the way up the y-axis, rises moderately steeply toward the top of the graph, leveling off in mid-2007 and gently sloping down as it nears 2012.

An arrow labeled “Today” indicates the current levels of all four lines. Dashed lines extend from the ends of the blue Blog and red Tumbler lines and intersect at a point labeled “October 12th, 2012.”

Caption

In about six months, the word “Tumblr” will eclipse “Blog” in Google popularity. I doubt TV anchors will start talking about “Reactions in the Tumblrverse,” but then again, I still can’t believe we got them to say “Blogosphere.”

Hover text: Plus the reaction in the Tumblverse is always “repeatedly get hit by a dog and fall down the stairs.”

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 gazes reflectively into a pool of water.

Person 1: I know that no matter where I go or who I build a life with–

Panel Two: Slightly closer view of same stick figure.

Person 1: I will never have with anyone what I had with you.

Panel Three: Stick figure walking out of frame.

Person 1: Thank God.

Hover text: I’ll never forget you–at least, the parts of you that were important red flags.

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: Three stick figures are kneeling on the ground behind a large rock.  The one on the left is wearing a Revolutionary War style hat, the one in the middle has scruffy hair and beard, the one on the right has longish, blond hair and is also wearing a Revolutionary War style hat, and all three are holding muskets.

Person 1: Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes.

Panel Two: Close up on Person 1.

Person 1: And smell the scent of their hair.

Panel Three: Close up on Person 2 and 3 as they look at each other in consternation.

Person 1 (off-panel): And taste the sweetness of their lips.

Panel Four: Battle sounds of “BLAM BLAM” and a bullet come from the other side of the large rock. Persons 2 and 3 have their muskets at the ready.

Person 1: And feel the heat of their skin pressed against yours, trembling as you–

Person 3: Maybe we should just start shooting.

Person 1: Right. Yes.

Hover text: Don’t fire until you see through the fragile facade to the human being within.

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.

(BG note: You may have noticed that the xkcd comic for last Monday didn’t show up here. Apparently, Mr. Munroe got very ambitious and made a whole bunch of different xkcd comics for April Fool’s Day that show up according to several different variables, e.g., where the user is geographically, what kind of browser is used, even down to the size of the display. And frankly, after realizing there were something like forty different variations, our BG describer just locked up.  After much cajoling and the liberal application of both chocolate and coffee, we lured our describer back to the keyboard in time for that Wednesday’s comic, with the promise that we would pick one extra comic at a time for description.

Now, again on a Monday, Mr. Munroe has put up a rather difficult to describe comic (though not quite on par with #980, “Money,” which we are *still* working on), so, while our describer tries to wrap some kind of appropriate description around #1040, “Lakes and Oceans,” we are going to fill in with one of the many different #1037 strips.)

Panel One: Two stick figures sit facing each other across a desk. The one on the left is wearing a black hat and has electrodes attached to his head. Wires from the electrodes run to a device on the desk.

Figure 1: You come across a tortoise in the desert. You flip it over. It struggles to right itself. You watch. You’re not helping. – Why is that?

Panel Two: Close up of Black Hat Guy.

Black Hat Guy : It knows what it did.

Panel Three: Very wide panel, with the two stick figures from Panel One in the left corner and way over to the right, a tortoise on its back, struggling to right itself.

Hover text: Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit–from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser.”

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: Two stick figures are seated with their backs to each other. The one on the left is seated at a table with an open laptop. The figure on the right has shoulder-length dark hair and is seated in a comfy chair with an open book. Both are looking up and toward the left side of the panel.

Off panel (and strecthing across all three panels): “RIBULOSEBISPH. . .”

Panel Two: Same as Panel One except the figure on the right has half-turned to the left with an elbow against the back of the comfy chair.

From off panel (continued from Panel One):”. . .OSPHATECARBOXYL. . .”

Panel Three: Same as Panel One except both figures have turned back to their laptop and book.

From off-panel (continued from Panel Two)”. . . ASEOXYGENASE!”

Off panel: “Oh, sorry!”

Person 2: Man, chemists pick the worst safewords.

Hover text: Bruce Schneier believes safe words are fundamentally insecure and recommends that you ask your partner to stop via public key signature.

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.

I’m visiting Newport News, VA next week, where I’ll be speaking at CNU, my old school. If you want to come, reserve a seat here!

Panel One: A stick figure holding a long, thin object is standing in silhouette in front of a large, decorative fountain with three tall jets of water. The fountain jets shoot up several feet, arcing over at the top to form plumes of spray in front of a dark blue sky.

Panel Two: The stick figure is splashing across the fountain. The long, thin object is an umbrella.

Panel Three: The figure is standing right next to one of the large jets of water.

Panel Four: With a click, the figure opens the umbrella.

Panel Five: The figure swings the open umbrella overhead with a “fwoop” and holds it over the jet of water.

Panel Six: A small wave is formed where the figure was standing and water drips from the disappearing legs of the figure as he is pulled out of frame  by the jet of water. The word “Wheeeee!” follows up one side of the panel.

Hover text: Implausible, did you say? Sorry, couldn’t quite hear you from all the way up heeeeeeeeere!

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.

I’m visiting Newport News, VA next week, where I’ll be speaking
at CNU, my old school. If you want to come, reserve a seat here!

Panel One: Drawing of two stick figures standing in a lamp store.  There are tables on either side of the figures with several different kinds of lamps with price tags hanging off the shades. The figure on the left is taller and is pointing at one of the lamps. The one on the right has shoulder-length, dark hair and is looking at the lamp the first figure is pointing at.

Caption

Shopping Before Online Reviews.

Person 1: This lamp is pretty.

Person 2: And affordable.

Person 1: Let’s get it.

Person 2: OK!

Second Panel: Same as Panel One except Person 2 is holding and looking at a smart phone.

Caption

Shopping Now

Person 1: This lamp is pretty.

Person 2: It got 1 1/2 stars on Amazon. Reviews all say to avoid that brand.

Panel 3: Same as the first two, except now both are looking at smart phones.

Person 1: This one has good reviews.

Person 2: Wait, one guy says when he plugged it in he got a metallic taste in his mouth and his cats went deaf.

Person 1: Eek. – What about-. . .No, review points out it resembles a uterus.

Panel 4:  The two figures are facing each other. Person 1 is holding and looking at a smart phone and Person 2 is holding one but looking at Person 1.

Person 1: OK, I found a Swiss lampmaker with perfect reviews. Her lamps start at 1,300 francs and she’s only reachable by ski lift.

Person 2: You know, our room looks fine in the dark.

Hover text: I plugged in this lamp and my dog went rigid, spoke a sentence of perfect Akkadian, and then was hurled sideways through the picture window. Even worse, it’s one of those lamps where the switch is on the cord.

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.

I’m visiting Newport News, VA next week, where I’ll be speaking
at CNU, my old school. If you want to come, reserve a seat here!

Panel One:

Caption Above

A Cadbury Egg has about 20g of sugar. (25g outside the US.)

Drawing of two Cadbury Eggs. One is still wrapped in foil and the other is unwrapped, the remains of the wrapper crumpled next to it, and is broken open to expose the creamy yellow and white filling.

Caption Below

“One Cadbury Egg” is a nice unit of sugar content.

Panel Two: Caption Above

One 12 oz can of soda has about two Cadbury Eggs worth of sugar.

Drawing of a 12 ounce red and blue can of soda to the left of an equal sign and two Cadbury Eggs to the right. Below is a drawing of a green 20 ounce bottle of soda to the left and three Cadbury Eggs to the right.

Caption Below

One 20 oz bottle has three.

Panel Three: Caption Above

One Cadbury Egg is enough to make me feel kinda gross. Now when I see Coke or Snapple or Nestea or whatever, I imagine drinking a couple of dissolved Cadbury Eggs.

Drawing of a two unwrapped Cadbury Eggs, with the discarded bits of wrapper below. An arrow goes from the eggs to a glass of water or milk.

Panel Four: Two stick figures are talking. The one on the left has shoulder-length dark hair.

Dark-Haired Person: Wow. Huh. So the takeaway is. . . I can eat Cadbury Eggs by the handful all season and feel no worse about it than I do about soda?

Person 2: That’s not really–

Dark-Haired Person: This is Awesome!

Person 2: *sigh*

Hover text: When they moved production from New Zealand to the UK and switched from the runny white centers to the thick, frosting-like filling, it got way harder to cook them scrambled.

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: holistic.xkcd.com, the least useful web navigation tool ever.

Top Panel: View of the Share Button section of an article titled “Breaking Into Stand-Up Comedy.” The Facebook button indicated 3 shares, Twitter has 1,781, Reddit has 2 and Google+ has 0.

Second Panel: Similar view of an article titled “How the Christian Right Threatens Wikipedia.” Facebook 1, Twitter 0, Reddit 2,241, Google+ 3.

Third Panel: Similar view of an article titled “Boycott Facebook Today!” Facebook 248k, Twitter 0, Reddit 0, Google+ 74.

Bottom Panel: Similar view of an article titled “DIY: Installing a Custom ROM on a Realdoll.” Facebook 0, Twitter 0, Reddit 0, Google+ 2

Caption: Sometimes the most intersting part of an article is the share button vote breakdown.

Hover text: The only post to acheive perfect balance between the four was a hilarious joke about Mark Zuckerberg getting caught using a pseudonym to sneak past the TSA.

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: holistic.xkcd.com, the least useful web navigation tool ever

Scene: Drawing of the back end of a car with a bumper sticker that reads “Honk IFF You Love Formal Logic.”

Hover text: Note that this implies you should NOT honk solely because I stopped for a pedestrian and you’re behind me.

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 facing each other, hands outstretched to shake. The one on the left has thick, short dark hair, artfully tousled. The one on the right wears a beret and carries an attache case. In the background, a waitperson goes by, a drink tray in one hand and a towel draped over the other.

Person 1: I’m Connr Clark, CTO at Eusocial Media Ventures.

Beret Guy: I’m a business professional! Earlier I photo-copied a burrito!

Panel Two: CTO Clark is handing Beret Guy a business card.

CTO Clark: You should check us out! Here’s my card.

Beret Guy: Here’s mine! Networking!

Panel Three: CTO Clark is peering at Beret Guy’s business card. Beret Guy is holding the attache case up in front of him, gripping the handle with both hands.

CTO Clark: . . .this just says “This is My Business Card!”

Beret Guy: Do you like it? I have more in this handlebox.

Panel Four: Beret Guy has turned, set the attache case on a nearby table, and opened it, showing piles of green money inside. CTO Clark is standing behind him, lines indicating surprise and/or alarm coming out of his head.

CTO Clark: Uh, that’s OK, I think I’ll–

Beret Guy: Here, have ten of them!

CTO Clark: –holy shit that thing is full of cash!

Panel Four: CTO Clark has his hands up in the air, talking to Beret Guy. Beret Guy is stuffing CTO Clark’s business card in his face.

CTO Clark: Where did you get that?

Beret Guy: I am a business grown-up who makes business profits!

CTO Clark: That’s like a quarter of a million dollars!

Beret Guy: Yay! Business is fun!–Do you have more of your cards? They’re delicious!

Hover text: Our company is agile and lean with a focus on the long tail. Ok, our company is actually a polecat I found in my backyard.

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.