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3 | September 30, 2005 | Island (sketch) | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A35%20pm-,Island,-I%20draw%20these Original title</span>]: '''Island'''</big></big> | Hello, island<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A35%20pm-,Island,-I%20draw%20these Original caption</span>]: I draw these a lot. | :[A green island surrounded by blue water] | This was the third comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 4: Landscape (sketch), and the next one was 2: Petit Trees (sketch). It was among the :Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJ... | |
5 | January 1, 2006 | Blown apart | null | Blown into prime factors | :[A black number 70 sees a red package with the appearance of a Christmas present. This small panel is partly overlaid on the next larger panel, which is shifted down.]
:'''70'''
:70: hey, a package!
:[The package explodes in a cloud of brown smoke. This panel is both behind the first in the top left corner, and below... | This comic is a mathematical and technical joke involving prime numbers and primary colors. In the comic, a black-colored ''70'' sees a package, but it turns out to be a letter bomb that explodes when opened. The result is pieces of the number scattered about: a red-colored ''7'', a green-colored ''5'', and a blue-colo... | |
6 | September 30, 2005 | Irony | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A42%20pm-,Irony,-Too%20much%20perspective Original title</span>]: '''Irony'''</big></big> | It's commonly known that too much perspective can be a downer.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A42%20pm-,Irony,-Too%20much%20perspective Original caption</span>]: Too much perspective can do that. | :[A panel only with text. The last text is written below a line in all capital letters.]
:When self-reference, irony, and meta-humor go too far
:A CAUTIONARY TALE
:[Cueball talks to his Cueball-like friend.]
:Cueball: This statement wouldn't be funny if not for irony!
:[Cueball laughs at his own joke in front of his ... | This was the ninth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 8: Red Spiders, and the next one was 9: Serenity is coming out tomorrow. It was among the :Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd L... | |
8 | September 30, 2005 | Red Spiders | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A41%20pm-,Spiders,-They%27re%20not%20spiders Original title</span>]: '''Spiders'''</big></big> | They are six-legged spiders<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A41%20pm-,Spiders,-They%27re%20not%20spiders Original caption</span>]: They're not spiders; they have six legs! | :[Many six-legged red spiders standing on and hanging from cuboids. The cuboids hang in the air with no visible means of support. Some of the spiders have made a bridge out of themselves.] | This was the eighth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 13: Canyon, and the next one was 6: Irony. It was among the :Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account.
This com... | |
10 | September 30, 2005 | Pi Equals | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A44%20pm-,Pi%20equals,-(4%20Comments Original title</span>]: '''Pi equals'''</big></big> | My most famous drawing, and one of the first I did for the site | :[A huge π to the left, then a large equal-to sign, and then five rows of text.]
:<big><big><big>π</big></big></big> | This was the eleventh comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 9: Serenity is coming out tomorrow, and the next one was 14: Copyright. It was among the :Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd... | |
11 | September 30, 2005 | Barrel - Part 2 | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A46%20pm-,Barrel%20%2D%20Part%202,-The%20story%20continues Original title</span>]: '''Barrel - Part 2'''</big></big> | Awww.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A46%20pm-,Barrel%20%2D%20Part%202,-The%20story%20continues Original caption</span>]: The [http://www.livejournal.com/users/xkcd_drawings/1388.html story] continues. | :[A boy sits in a barrel which is floating in an ocean.]
:Boy: none of the places i floated had mommies. | This was the thirteenth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 14: Copyright, and the next one was 15: Just Alerting You. It was among the :Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJourna... | |
12 | January 1, 2006 | Poisson | null | Poisson distributions have no value over negative numbers | :[Cueball is talking to Black Hat. Cueball has his mouth wide open and has both of his arms up.]
:Cueball: I'm a poisson distribution!
:[Same scene, except Cueball has only one arm up.]
:Cueball: Still a Poisson distribution!
:Black Hat: what the hell, man. Why do you keep saying that?
:[Cueball's face is gone, and h... | Cueball expresses himself as a Poisson distribution, which shows the probability of a given number of events occurring in a fixed interval of time or space. The X axis typically represents the "number of events" while the Y axis is a decimal representing the probability (e.g., 0.5 for 50% probability) a given number of... | |
13 | September 30, 2005 | Canyon | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A41%20pm-,Canyon,-I%27m%20not%20sure Original title</span>]: '''Canyon'''</big></big> | They're standing at the lip of the canyon, which isn't clear at all.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A41%20pm-,Canyon,-I%27m%20not%20sure Original caption</span>]: I'm not sure where they are, but they should be more ex... | :[Two guys, both Cueball-like, are standing at a cliff's edge.]
:Friend: What time is it?
:[Cueball looks at his watch in silence.]
:[Cueball looks up.]
:Cueball: Now.
:[The full scene is shown: the two men (barely visible) are standing at the lip of a huge canyon in a rocky, barren landscape. A pock-marked moon and... | This was the seventh comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey, and the next one was 8: Red spiders. It was among the :Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd Liv... | |
14 | September 30, 2005 | Copyright | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A45%20pm-,Copyright%20Law,-I%20posted%20this Original title</span>]: '''Copyright Law'''</big></big> | After reading Slashdot and BoingBoing, sometimes I have to go outside.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A45%20pm-,Copyright%20Law,-I%20posted%20this Original caption</span>]: I posted this to a Slashdot thread about copy... | :[A colored drawing of a hilly, grassy landscape. Cueball is leaning against a tree.]
:Cueball: Sometimes I just can't get outraged over copyright law | This was the twelfth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous was 10: Pi Equals, and the next one was 11: Barrel - Part 2. It was among the :Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account... | |
15 | October 2, 2005 | Just Alerting You | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=Just%20Alerting%20You%20(Monday%27s%20drawing) Original title</span>]: '''Just Alerting You (Monday's drawing)'''</big></big> | Just thought you should know<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=Just%20Alerting%20You%20(Monday%27s%20drawing) Original caption</span>]: I bet she's cool. I mean, she has a dinosaur!<br>I'm gonna update this MWF for a while a... | :[A man is standing on the back of a green dinosaur and holding reins to the dinosaur's head.]
:Man: Before you talk to me, I should warn you: I am kind of strange | This was the fourteenth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 11: Barrel - Part 2, and the next one was 16: Monty Python -- Enough. It was the first comic posted to LiveJournal after the :Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen xkcd comics were released.
In this comic, a man is riding a... | |
16 | October 4, 2005 | Monty Python -- Enough | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=Support%20Surreal%20Humor Original title</span>]: '''Support Surreal Humor'''</big></big> | I went to a dinner where there was a full 10 minutes of Holy Grail quotes exchanged, with no context, in lieu of conversation. It depressed me badly.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=Support%20Surreal%20Humor Original capti... | :[The comic is drawn on blue-ruled graph paper.]
:[A Cueball with raised hands talks to two other Cueball-like characters and one Megan.]
:Cueball: We are the Knights who say... Ni!!
:Cueballs and Megan: hahaha
:[There is only text in the second panel]
:Does anyone else find it funny that decades later, people are sti... | This was the fifteenth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 15: Just Alerting You, and the next one was 17: What If.
This comic refers to the classic British sketch comedy group Monty Python, active primarily during the 1970s and early 1980s but also Monty Python Live (Mostly)|partly reunified ... | |
18 | October 10, 2005 | Snapple | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Monday%27s%20drawing%3A%20Snapple Original title</span>]: '''Monday's drawing: Snapple'''</big></big> | Sn = tin | :[Above the frames:]
:This one is entirely James' fault.
:[Two Cueball-like guys are standing and talking.]
:Cueball: Here, take a bite of this Snapple.
:Friend: food!
:[Cueball's friend takes a bite.]
:Friend: Ow! What is this?
:''Clink''
:[The panel switches to Cueball.]
:Cueball: It's an apple infused with tin.
... | This was the seventeenth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 17: What If, and the next one was 19: George Clinton.
Snapple is a brand of beverages that mostly sells bottled juices and teas. Its name is based on a carbonated apple juice the company once produced ("snappy apple"). In this comic,... | |
19 | October 12, 2005 | George Clinton | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Wednesday%3A%20George%20Clinton Original title</span>]: '''Wednesday: George Clinton'''</big></big> | I still wish it were true. | :[George Clinton uses a baton to point to the bottom of two equations on a blackboard. There is one more equation and a diagram on another blackboard to the right, which is cut off. There is text above:]
:I once tried to start the urban legend that George Clinton has a B.A. in mathematics
:[On the left blackboard ther... | This was the eighteenth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 18: Snapple, and the next one was 20: Ferret.
George Clinton (funk musician)|George Clinton is an American musician most famous for his funk music and wild hair style. His recorded music features themes of space, sci-fi, technology, a... | |
20 | October 14, 2005 | Ferret | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A16%20pm-,Friday%27s%20Drawing,-My%20brother%20has Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing'''</big></big> | My brother had a ferret he loved which died since I drew this strip. RIP.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A16%20pm-,Friday%27s%20Drawing,-My%20brother%20has Original caption</span>]: My brother has a ferret. He holds it... | :[A color drawing of a ferret with airplane wings and tail on it.]
:[Cueball and his Cueball-like friend (to the left) are talking.]
:Friend: Why on earth did you make those wings? You don't seriously think they could let your ferret fly, right?
:Cueball: I... of course not.
:[They continue to talk.]
:Cueball: That w... | This was the nineteenth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 19: George Clinton, and the next one was 21: Kepler.
Cueball built wings for his ferret and his friend asks why, indicating that it would be foolish to think that this would allow the ferret to fly. Cueball did, in fact, build these w... | |
21 | October 17, 2005 | Kepler | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=10%3A58%20am-,Monday%27s%20drawing,-Another%20one%20which Original title</span>]: '''Monday's drawing'''</big></big> | Science joke. You should probably move along.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=10%3A58%20am-,Monday%27s%20drawing,-Another%20one%20which Original caption</span>]: Another one which, if you don't get, you're probably better ... | :[Two Cueball-like guys stand in an aisle in a store.]
:Cueball: Nice store. How do you keep the floors so clean?
:Store manager: Oh, we hired this dude named Kepler, he's really good. Hard worker. Doesn't mind the monotony. Sweeps out the same area every night. | This was the twentieth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 20: Ferret, and the next one was 44: Love.
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer, best known for his laws of planetary motion. By using Tycho Brahe's observations of our solar system (Brahe gave Kepler ... | |
22 | October 24, 2005 | Barrel - Part 3 | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A30%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-The%20saga%20of Original title</span>]: '''Monday's Drawing'''</big></big> | A whirlpool!<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A30%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-The%20saga%20of Original caption</span>]: The saga of the boy and his barrel continues! ([http://www.xkcd.com/barrel_cropped_(1).jpg Part 1] a... | :[A large and deep vortex is in the center; spinning water covers the whole panel. A boy in a floating barrel is near the edge, apparently about to be sucked in.]
:Boy: wow! | This was the twenty-third comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 40: Light, and the next one was 23: T-shirts.
In the first two comics in the :Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel series, the boy is floating in the ocean in a barrel, making fairly innocent points about life's un... | |
23 | October 26, 2005 | T-shirts | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A10%20pm-,Wednesday%27s%20Drawing,-I%20saw%20the Original title</span>]: '''Wednesday's Drawing'''</big></big> | It's depressing how many of these are real shirts<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A10%20pm-,Wednesday%27s%20Drawing,-I%20saw%20the Original caption</span>]: I saw the "problem" t-shirt (upper right) on campus a few days... | :[A collection of phrases on T-shirts. The first and the last on actual black T-shirts worn by the same person, whose facial expression is more sad on the last one.]
:I see dumb people
:As a matter of fact the world <big>does</big> revolve around me
:I can only please one person per day / today is not your day.
:You kn... | This was the twenty-fourth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 22: Barrel - Part 3, and the next one was 37: Hyphen.
This comic satirizes the plethora of "snarky" phrase T-shirts that exist today. In the top-left, the character wears a typical (and real) snark shirt, "I see dumb people" (sugge... | |
24 | September 30, 2005 | Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A40%20pm-,Strip%20series,-One%20of%20a Original title</span>]: '''Strip series'''</big></big><br><br>#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓ | I love the idea here, though of course it's not a great-quality drawing or scan.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927001941/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=40#:~:text=8%3A40%20pm-,Strip%20series,-One%20of%20a Original caption</span>]: One of a series of strips I drew during a... | :Drawn during an unending NASA lecture
:[Two people are talking, one in a hat.]
:Cueball: it's just so hard to compare kids now with kids in the past. you can't help but to belong to one group or the other.
:Cueball: and of course every generation seems awful to the one before it. look at quotes from throughout histor... | This was the sixth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 1: Barrel - Part 1, and the next one was 13: Canyon. It was among the :Category:First day on LiveJournal|first thirteen comics posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on September 30, 2005, on the first day of the xkcd LiveJournal account.
... | |
25 | October 31, 2005 | Barrel - Part 4 | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=2%3A42%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-(11%20Comments Original title</span>]: '''Monday's Drawing'''</big></big> | :(<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=2%3A42%20pm-,Monday%27s%20Drawing,-(11%20Comments Original caption</span>]: By the way, here are all the barrel comics on a single (easily linked) page:<br>http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html... | :[The barrel is shown on a grid paper background, floating sideways and empty in a choppy sea.] | This was the twenty-sixth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 37: Hyphen, and the next one was 26: Fourier.
In the first three comics of the :Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel series, Barrel Boy explored the ocean in a barrel and then encountered a whirlpool, all with a re... | |
26 | November 2, 2005 | Fourier | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Wednesday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Fourier Original title</span>]: '''Wednesday's Drawing - Fourier'''</big></big> | That cat has some serious periodic components | :[Cueball is talking on the phone. A grotesque, spiky cat, who is apparently a Fourier transform, is looking at him.]
:Cueball: Hi, Dr. Elizabeth? Yeah, uh... I accidentally took the Fourier transform of my cat...
:Cat: Meow! | This was the twenty-seventh comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 25: Barrel - Part 4, and the next one was 27: Meat Cereals.
A Fourier transform is a mathematical function transformation often used in physics and engineering. The theory is that any line graph can be represented as the sum of a ... | |
27 | November 4, 2005 | Meat Cereals | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Meat%20Cereals Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing - Meat Cereals'''</big></big> | Disgusting | :[A collection of fictional meat-based cereals in bright colors with nice pictures on them.]
:Pork Loops
:Mice Krispies
:Hammios
:Frosted Bacon Flakes
:Scrapple Jacks
::Hey, these don't taste like Scrapple!
:Honey Bunches of Goats | This was the twenty-eighth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 26: Fourier, and the next one was 30: Donner.
Randall Munroe|Randall parodies several real-world breakfast cereals (which typically consist solely of grains and sweet flavorings) by creating versions that contain meat (animal produ... | |
28 | November 14, 2005 | Elefino | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Monday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Elefino Original title</span>]: '''Monday's Drawing - Elefino'''</big></big> | Hell if I know | :Q: What do you get when you cross an Elephant with a Rhino?
:[Picture of elephant, mathematical addition symbol, picture of rhino, equals sign, large question mark.]
:A: I haven't a goddamn clue. | This was the thirty-second comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 29: Hitler, and the next one was 31: Barrel - Part 5.
The answer for the riddle in this comic is given by the title text, "Hell if I know", which, when spoken out loud, sounds like the title of this comic, "Elefino". "Elephino" is ... | |
29 | November 11, 2005 | Hitler | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Hitler Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing - Hitler'''</big></big> | So he's saying that God thought Hitler's art was so bad that the Holocaust was an acceptable alternative. It's no secret that the hat guy is closely based on Aram, from Men in Hats.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Friday%2... | :[Black Hat and Cueball are talking together in the same position in all four panels.]
:Cueball: Learning about the Holocaust has really shaken my belief in God.
:Black Hat: You know, as a young man, Hitler was rejected from art school.
:Cueball: Yeah... shame he didn't get in.
:Black Hat: Well, have you seen any of ... | File:Man in Hats.png|400px|thumb|right|The ''[http://meninhats.com/d/20040225.html Men in Hats comic]'' on which Black Hat is based on.This was the thirty-first comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous was 34: Flowers, and the next one was 28: Elefino.
Cueball speaks to Black Hat about the Holocaust and Ad... | |
30 | November 7, 2005 | Donner | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Monday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Donner Original title</span>]: '''Monday's Drawing - Donner'''</big></big> | Some people haven't heard of the Donner Party. They were pioneers who got stranded and likely resorted to cannibalism. | :[Three people stand outside a restaurant; Megan, a man with some hair and another shorter person, probably a woman. There is a sign above the door which says "Joe's" (presumably the name of the restaurant) and a menu next to it. Outside the door, there is a maître d' with a cap behind a lectern. There is a sign on the... | This was the twenty-ninth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 27: Meat Cereals, and the next one was 34: Flowers.
The Donner party was a group of pioneers who set out west along a new route that was supposed to be easier to travel, but ultimately proved slow and treacherous. They became trappe... | |
31 | November 16, 2005 | Barrel - Part 5 | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=11%3A54%20am-,Barrel%20%2D%20Part%205,-The%20ferret%20got Original title</span>]: '''Barrel - Part 5'''</big></big> | Too good not to happen.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=11%3A54%20am-,Barrel%20%2D%20Part%205,-The%20ferret%20got Original caption</span>]: The [http://www.xkcd.com/ferret.html ferret] got to fly, in the end! | :[A boy is grasping on to a piece of driftwood in an ocean.]
:[A zoomed out view of the boy still grasping on to a piece of driftwood in the ocean.]
:[A ferret with some airplane wings and an airplane tail flies above the ocean.]
:[A shot of the ocean, now empty.]
:[The flying ferret is carrying the boy to safety.]... | This was the thirty-third comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 28: Elefino, and the next one was 32: Pillar.
This gives a happy ending to the :Category:The Boy and his Barrel|The Boy and his Barrel series, with the flying ferret from 20: Ferret. The humor is derived from the juxtaposition of tw... | |
32 | November 19, 2005 | Pillar | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Pillar Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing - Pillar'''</big></big> | A comic by my brother Doug, redrawn and rewritten by me<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Pillar Original caption</span>]: Oops, I totally forgot to update yesterday afternoon. Well, I haven't sl... | :[At the top of the panel is a black frame with the following text:]
:This one is mostly by my little brother, Doug.
:[A Cueball-like guy stands on the top of a tall pole and talks to his Cueball-like friend on the ground. The drawing is repeated three time in the same panel, once for each comment by the two guys.]
:P... | This was the thirty-fourth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 31: Barrel - Part 5, and the next one was 33: Self-reference.
Two Cueball-like guys ponder the unanswerable philosophical question of whether all people observe the universe the same, or whether, for example, what one person sees a... | |
33 | November 21, 2005 | Self-reference | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Self%2Dreference Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing - Self-reference'''</big></big> | I think about self-reference a lot. Example: this comment. | :[Cueball is standing alone.]
:Cueball: I promise to never again squeeze humor out of self-reference.
:[Beat panel.]
:[Cueball is standing alone.]
:Cueball: God dammit. | This was the thirty-fifth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 32: Pillar, and the next one was 41: Old Drawing.
Self-reference is a situation where something (a comic, a drawing, a musical work, a novel, a mathematical theorem) refers to itself in some manner. This can be a powerful technique ... | |
34 | November 9, 2005 | Flowers | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Wednesday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Flowers Original title</span>]: '''Wednesday's Drawing - Flowers'''</big></big> | This is actually pencil on paper, just inverted and colored<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Wednesday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Flowers Original caption</span>]: Original drawing is pencil on graph paper.<br>Bonus points if yo... | :[A sketch of flowers, drawn in green, red, and yellow on a black background.] | This was the thirtieth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 30: Donner, and the next one was 29: Hitler.
This is a drawing of flowers made by Randall Munroe|Randall. According to the title text and the original caption on the LiveJournal post, he originally drew the flowers with a pencil on a w... | |
35 | November 26, 2005 | Sheep | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Sheep Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing - Sheep'''</big></big> | I think it's the sheep zapping the cactus and not vice-versa<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Sheep Original caption</span>]: I'm still on vacation, sorry this is a bit late. I forgot what day it was. A... | :[Caption in a black frame above the image written in normal letters not all caps:]
:Another from my high-school notebooks.
:[A sheep and a green saguaro cactus in a brown pot are linked by an arcing yellow electricity bolt.] | This was the thirty-seventh comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 41: Old Drawing, and the next one was 42: Geico.
Due to Randall's vacation, he picked out comics from his old high-school notebooks for the second time in a row. It is an unusual drawing.{{citation needed}}
The comic 520: Cuttlef... | |
36 | <!--DO NOT ADD 2006-01-01 - this was NOT the actual post date of the comic, but merely the default date in the xkcd database. These comics do not have a known post date--> 2006 | Scientists | null | A leading expert characterized the situation as 'retarded' | :[Cueball is staring at an empty box on the floor.]
:Cueball: In what scientists are calling "pretty gay", I can't find my shoes. | This comic plays on the type of statement that news reports often use: "In what [group of experts] are calling '[quote]'," to add more weight and credibility to their stories. In this case, Cueball is using the phrase to attempt to add gravitas to the (relatively mundane) fact that his shoes are missing, and he thinks ... | |
37 | October 28, 2005 | Hyphen | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Hyphen Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing - Hyphen'''</big></big> | I do this constantly<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Hyphen Original caption</span>]: Tune in Monday for the conclusion to the story of the boy and his barrel. | :[Cueball (on the left) is talking to his Cueball-like friend (on the right) about a car (left to both of them) that resembles a Volkswagen Beetle. Above the drawing is a statement:]
:My hobby: whenever anyone calls something an [adjective]-ass [noun], I mentally move the hyphen one word to the right.
:Cueball: Man, t... | This was the twenty-fifth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 23: T-shirts, and the next one was 25: Barrel - Part 4.
This is the first comic in the :Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series. In these comics, Randall Munroe|Randall suggests an obscure activity or pastime he enjoys that he declares as... | |
38 | November 30, 2005 | Apple Jacks | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Wednesday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Apple%20Jacks Original title</span>]: '''Wednesday's Drawing - Apple Jacks'''</big></big> | There used to be these ads, see...<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Wednesday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Apple%20Jacks Original caption</span>]: Who else remembers those commercials? | :[Cueball is standing holding a bowl in his hand. His son is sitting on the floor playing video games.]
:Cueball: Hey, these don't taste like apples!
:Son: Fuck off, Dad. | This was the thirty-nineth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 42: Geico, and the next one was 43: Red Spiders 2.
Apple Jacks is a breakfast cereal produced by Kellogg's. As the title text begins to explain, there was an ad campaign for the cereal in the 1990s that focused on someone (usually ... | |
39 | December 5, 2005 | Bowl | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Bowl Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing - Bowl'''</big></big> | For the moment it's a standoff<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Bowl Original caption</span>]: This is not the barrel boy.<br><small>'''Current Mood:''' ''Final Exam-y''</small> | :[A boy is glaring at a model sailing ship floating in a bowl of water.]
:Boy: Sooner or later, my friend, one of us will run out of time. | This was the forty-first comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 43: Red Spiders 2, and the next one was 45: Schrodinger.
The comic roughly parodies a situation in which two characters are seeing who can wait longer to get the result they want. However, in the comic, the model sailing ship is not ... | |
40 | October 21, 2005 | Light | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A03%20pm-,Friday%27s%20Drawing,-(3%20Comments Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing'''</big></big> | Like a beacon | :[A crowd of figures stand around in the dark. A Megan is illuminated by a beam of light.]
:In a dark and confusing world,
:you burn brightly
:I never feel lost | This was the twenty-second comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 44: Love, and the next one was 22: Barrel - Part 3.
Beacons, often in the form of lighthouses, were built on coasts to give ships a point of reference where land was, so that they could find where they were going, and to know where... | |
41 | November 23, 2005 | Old Drawing | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Wednesday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Old%20Notebook Original title</span>]: '''Wednesday's Drawing - Old Notebook'''</big></big> | I don't want to talk about it<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Wednesday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Old%20Notebook Original caption</span>]: I'm on vacation! At home. Fresh drawings when I return! | :[A tree holding a chainsaw over a recently cut-down tree. The first text is in a frame at the top of the panel.]
:I found this in one of my high-school notebooks. I think I drew it just to take revenge on people snooping through my stuff.
:Tree stump: Well, you stumped me... | This was the thirty-sixth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 33: Self-reference, and the next one was 35: Sheep.
This comic plays off the pun between [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stumped stumped], meaning confused or at a loss, and a Tree stump|tree stump, which is the remnants of a tree t... | |
42 | November 28, 2005 | Geico | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Monday%27s%20Drawing%3A%20Geico Original title</span>]: '''Monday's Drawing: Geico'''</big></big> | David did this<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Monday%27s%20Drawing%3A%20Geico Original caption</span>]: <small>'''Current Mood:''' ''File:sick.gif|12px sick''</small> | :[Cueball holding a golf club.]
:Cueball: I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by threatening my agent with a golf club. | This was the thirty-eighth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 35: Sheep, and the next one was 38: Apple Jacks.
This comic references a long-running ad campaign for Geico insurance in which a character (different in each commercial) lists a series of horrible events or news, but then caps it o... | |
43 | December 2, 2005 | Red Spiders 2 | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Red%20Spiders%202 Original title</span>]: '''Friday's Drawing - Red Spiders 2'''</big></big> | This was actually drawn years before Red Spiders<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Friday%27s%20Drawing%20%2D%20Red%20Spiders%202 Original caption</span>]: And lo, they still have six legs. | :[Nine red spiders, with round appendages at the end of each of their six legs, are seen navigating an environment of blocks and other geometric constructions. The second-from-the-top spider appears to be holding a block down for the spider just below to climb on to help it up, or they might be lifting the block togeth... | This was the fortieth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 38: Apple Jacks, and the next one was 39: Bowl.
This is the second comic in the :Category:Red Spiders|Red Spiders series, published just over 2 months after the 8: Red spiders|first one. Like its predecessor, it is more of a sketch than... | |
44 | October 19, 2005 | Love | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063505/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/?skip=20#:~:text=1%3A07%20pm-,Wednesday%27s%20Drawing,-(2%20Comments Original title</span>]: '''Wednesday's Drawing'''</big></big> | This one makes me wince every time I think about it | :[Cueball and Megan stand facing one another.]
:Cueball: I love you!
:Megan: I love you!
:[Same scene as before.]
:Cueball: I love you more!
:Megan: Yeah.
:[Beat panel.] | This was the twenty-first comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 21: Kepler, and the next one was 40: Light.
This comic expresses the view of a love that is unbalanced and unequal. And how one form of love can be painful when closely examined. It is customary for people in a romantic relationship... | |
45 | January 4, 2006 | Schrodinger | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Drawing%3A%20Schrodinger LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Drawing: Schrodinger'''</big></big> | There was no alt-text until you moused over | :[Black Hat and Cueball are standing next to each other. Above them the text is written in a box with shades around it.]
:Schrödinger's | This was the forty-second comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 39: Bowl, and the next one was 46: Secrets. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic ... | |
46 | January 6, 2006 | Secrets | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=1%3A14%20pm-,Secrets,-I%27m%20a%20fan LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Secrets'''</big></big> | I'm a big fan of Kurt Halsey<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=1%3A14%20pm-,Secrets,-I%27m%20a%20fan LiveJournal caption</span>]: I'm a fan of [http://www.kurthalsey.com/ Kurt Halsey], if you hadn't noticed. Don't click that right n... | :[Drawing of a lonely girl staring down with almost closed eyes. The first line of text stands next to her to the left. The last part bottom, right.]
:I just want you to share in my secrets
:and not run away | This was the forty-third comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 45: Schrodinger, and the next one was 47: Counter-Red Spiders. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was lau... | |
47 | January 9, 2006 | Counter-Red Spiders | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Drawing%3A%20Counter%2DRed%20Spiders LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Drawing: Counter-Red Spiders'''</big></big> | I hope we can stop them<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=Drawing%3A%20Counter%2DRed%20Spiders LiveJournal caption</span>]: [http://www.xkcd.com/red_spiders_small.jpg They] must be [http://www.xkcd.com/red_spiders_2.jpg stopped]. | :[A stack of stick figures, standing on each others shoulders, 11 stick figures shown in the comic, extends from the bottom of the frame to the top. Cuboids hang in the air.]
:The counter-red-spider offensive begins... | This was the forty-forth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 46: Secrets, and the next one was 48: Found. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic ... | |
48 | January 12, 2006 | Found | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=10%3A41%20am-,Drawing%3A%20Found,-I%27ll%20get%20back LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Drawing: Found'''</big></big> | No more, no less<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=10%3A41%20am-,Drawing%3A%20Found,-I%27ll%20get%20back LiveJournal caption</span>]: I'll get back to science humor and awful puns soon, don't worry. | :[Cueball and Megan are standing on a white hill (presumably snow) with a grey sky covered with thick streaks of white, and small pink dots. All letters are written in lower case.]
:we are just two people
:who found each other | This was the forty-fifth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 47: Counter-Red Spiders, and the next one was 49: Want. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. ... | |
49 | January 14, 2006 | Want | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=11%3A41%20pm-,Drawing%20%2D%20Want,-(2%20Comments LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Drawing - Want'''</big></big> | Well, she's pretty hot. | :[Cueball is standing talking in the same position in all four panels. In the second panel, Cueball seems to have hair.]
:Cueball: I want to be brave enough to tell you how I feel.
:Cueball: I want to say "I love you" <u>before</u> I hang up the phone for once.
:Cueball: I want to drive all night with you, listening ... | This was the forty-sixth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 48: Found, and the next one was 50: Penny Arcade. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This c... | |
50 | January 17, 2006 | Penny Arcade | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=1%3A53%20am-,Penny%20Arcade,-I%27m%20actually%20pretty LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Penny Arcade'''</big></big> | Of course, Penny Arcade has already mocked themselves for this. They don't care.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=1%3A53%20am-,Penny%20Arcade,-I%27m%20actually%20pretty LiveJournal caption</span>]: I'm actually pretty fond of Penny... | :[A color drawing of Tycho, a man with wild brown hair in blue and cyan colored shirt. He has a big open mouth and holds one arm up while the other may be in his (unseen) pocket. He has two speech bubbles,]
:Tycho: You know what? If you've never played the 1995 SNES RPG "''Seiken Densetsu''", don't even <u>bother</u> r... | This was the forty-seventh comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 49: Want, and the next one was 54: Science. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic... | |
51 | January 18, 2006 <!-- The comic was released three days earlier on xkcd.com than on LiveJournal (21/1 2006). We use the earliest possible day--> | Malaria | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=1%3A43%20am-,Malaria,-Current%20Mood%3A LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Malaria'''</big></big> | The malaria party was David's idea.<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=1%3A43%20am-,Malaria,-Current%20Mood%3A LiveJournal caption</span>]: <small>'''Current Mood:''' ''Credit to David for this one''</small> | :[Four Cueball-like children wearing party hats, a discarded balloon is lying to the right. There is text above:]
:we had a malaria party
:[And there is text below:]
:but it turned out not to be very much fun. | This was the forty-nineth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 54: Science, and the next one was 52: Secret Worlds. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. Th... | |
52 | January 21, 2006 <!-- The comic was released two days earlier on xkcd.com than on LiveJournal (23/1 2006). We use the earliest possible day--> | Secret Worlds | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=8%3A15%20am-,Secret%20Worlds,-(1%20Comment LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Secret Worlds'''</big></big> | No two adjacent circles are the same color. | :[A multitude of circles connected with several lines. Most of them are rather small and colored red, yellow, green and blue. Nine of them are white, six of these are larger than all the other circles, but one is the same size as the largest colored (green) circle, and the two smallest are smaller than a few of the col... | This was the fiftieth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 51: Malaria, and the next one was 53: Hobby. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. This comic was... | |
53 | January 23, 2006 <!-- The comic was released two days earlier on xkcd.com than on LiveJournal (25/1 2006). We use the earliest possible day--> | Hobby | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=4%3A47%20am-,My%20Hobby,-(4%20Comments LiveJournal title</span>]: '''My Hobby'''</big></big> | The only one of these games I really played was Area 51 | :[A person with hair lies on the ground in a pool of red blood. At the top of the panel there is a caption. Then a text. And above the person there is a score with small lines around to indicate that it has just appeared over the body.]
:My hobby:
:When the police bust drug hideouts, I sneak in and hide. Then I jump ou... | This was the fifty-first comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 52: Secret Worlds, and the next one was 55: Useless. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. Thi... | |
54 | January 18, 2006 <!-- The comic was released seven days earlier on LiveJournal than on xkcd.com (25/1 2006). We use the earliest possible day--> | Science | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=11%3A04%20pm-,Science,-Bonus%20points%20if LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Science'''</big></big> | Bonus points if you can identify the science in question<br><br><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=11%3A04%20pm-,Science,-Bonus%20points%20if LiveJournal caption</span>]: Bonus points if you can identify the science in question. | :[A graph with a curve that begins at zero, then peaks at a given frequency, indicated via a thin vertical line, and then fades down towards zero. It is possible to see the data points, which fit the curve perfectly. The y-axis is labelled. Along the x-axis, the zero point and the frequency where the peak has its maxim... | This was the forty-eighth comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 50: Penny Arcade, and the next one was 51: Malaria. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched. Thi... | |
55 | January 27, 2006 | Useless | <big><big><span class="plainlinks">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060529063441/http://xkcd-drawings.livejournal.com/#:~:text=4%3A38%20am-,Useless,-(3%20Comments LiveJournal title</span>]: '''Useless'''</big></big> | Even the identity matrix doesn't work normally | :[Different mathematical equations, all with a heart on left side, and all ending up with question marks.]
:√♥ | This was the fifty-second and last comic originally posted to LiveJournal. The previous one was 53: Hobby, but the next comic, 56: The Cure, was never posted to LiveJournal. It was among the :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] a... | |
56 | January 30, 2006 | The Cure | null | My first try at drawing a real face in years. | :[A charcoal drawing of Robert Smith's head and face.]
:[Caption below:]
:Robert Smith should do a cover of Coldplay's ''Clocks'', so when he sings "Am I part of the cure or am I part of the disease?" we can say, "Ooh, we know this one!" | This was the first comic posted only on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] and not on LiveJournal. The :Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd.com|last eleven comics were posted both on LiveJournal and on [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] after the new site was launched.
The "real face" is that of Robert Smith (musician)|Robert... | |
57 | January 31, 2006 | Wait For Me | null | Opening dialogue by Scott | :[Cueball and Megan stand facing one another.]
:Megan: Why didn't you wait for me?
:Cueball: I thought you were gone forever!
:[Megan throws out her arms, and Cueball is looking down.]
:Megan: I said I'd be back in a minute!
:Cueball: The... the seconds went fast at first, but then they started to drag on.
:Cueball: S... | This comic juxtaposes a familiar exchange with a surreal outcome.
Megan is returning after a short absence. Cueball reacts as if she had been gone for years, and admits to having an affair while waiting.
In this comic, a familiar exchange occurs where one person asks the other why they did not wait. The humor lies i... | |
58 | February 1, 2006 | Why Do You Love Me? | null | Opening dialogue by Scott | :[Cueball and Megan are having a conversation. The same scene is shown for all panels.]
:Cueball: Why do you love me?
:Megan: I don't know; my heart never gave me a choice.
:Cueball: Aww.
:[Beat panel.]
:Megan: I wish it had. | Cueball asks "Why do you love me?" to Megan, a fairly common question that couples ask each other. She responds by saying, "My heart never gave me a choice," a seemingly very sentimental, romantic answer. However, after a Beat_(filmmaking)|beat panel, she effectively kills the romance of the moment by adding, "I wish i... | |
59 | February 3, 2006 | Graduation | null | Opening dialogue by Scott | :[Megan and Blondie are talking.]
:Blondie: What do you want to do when you graduate?
:[Same scene as before.]
:Megan: I want to become a lighthouse operator.
:Blondie: Oh?
:Megan: Yeah.
:[Cut to scene of lighthouse with text overlaid.]
:Megan: Lighthouses are built on interesting pieces of coast, so I'll have an int... | Megan and Blondie (in her first appearance) discuss their plans for life after college. Megan has taken the increasingly unusual choice of pursuing a career as a Lighthouse keeper|lighthouse operator, a path that has become increasingly less traveled, as lighthouses have become ever more automated and supplanted by oth... | |
60 | February 6, 2006 | Super Bowl | null | The Super Bowl is actually an elaborate ruse, concocted by a shadowy group in the mid sixties for this purpose. The "watch it for the ads" addition was a master stroke. | :[A green car with text above and next to it.]
:My hobby:
:While everyone is watching the Super Bowl, feeling smugly superior because they're "Only watching for the ads," I steal cars. | The third in the :Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series. The Super Bowl is the championship American football game of the National Football League, which is usually played each February, and the final game of the 2006 season, Super Bowl XL, was played on the evening of 2006-02-05, the day before this comic was released.
A... | |
61 | February 8, 2006 | Stacey's Dad | null | I bet she gets you to mow the lawn, doesn't she? | :[A hairy man.]
:Man: Look, I know you think that since I walked out she could use a guy like you. But trust me. That woman has got a lot going on, and you want none of it.
:Man: Get out while you still can.
:[Printed across the bottom of the panel.]
:'''Stacey's dad.''' | This comic refers to the song "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne (See the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v | |
62 | February 10, 2006 | Valentine - Karnaugh | null | Love and circuit analysis, hand in hand at last. | :[An abstract design made of squiggly lines. Colored hearts fill in the gaps, with the largest heart being in the center of the lines.]
:(Text on right)
:You make me feel so much
:it all runs together
:I wish I could tell you
:[A large colored heart being crisscrossed by 3 thick lines in a vague triangle. Hearts border... | A Karnaugh map is a Boolean algebra tool that is used to simplify expressions. The final picture, the one that looks like a crossword puzzle, is similar to the way that a Karnaugh map is used on a Boolean truth table, to identify areas that can be simplified. [http://www.utdallas.edu/~dodge/EE2310/lec5.pdf This PDF doc... | |
63 | February 13, 2006 | Valentine - Heart | null | Just pretend you're kidding. | :[A Valentine's Day heart bordered with wavy red lace-like pattern with text:]
<center>I want to wish you a
'''''<span style | The comic shows a Valentines card that starts off nicely, but then "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/that-escalated-quickly escalates quickly]" becoming very unromantic although probably very honest, that the only purpose of this card is getting the receiver into bed. It says that if this is not the case, if she (or he) ... | |
64 | February 15, 2006 | Solar Plexus | null | It hurts to be hit there, you know | :[Black Hat and Cueball are talking to each other.]
:Black Hat: Asolarplexussayswhat?
:Cueball: What?
:[Beat panel.]
:[Beat panel.]
:[Black Hat punches Cueball in the solar plexus.] | The Celiac plexus|solar plexus is a network of interconnecting nerves that is centered in the area of the abdomen near the stomach. A blow to this area is painful and the cause of the feeling called "getting the wind knocked out of you" and is prevalent in media.
The trick "A sphincter says what" is a juvenile taunt t... | |
65 | February 17, 2006 | Banter | null | This was an actual mock conversation between me and a friend at TGIF. The waitress walked up around panel 5 and was somewhat put off. | :[Two Cueball like characters have a discussion. They are drawn the same in all eight panels.]
:Guy: Man, she's hot
:Friend: Whatever, you are so gay.
:Guy: C'mon, everyone knows you're the gay one.
:Friend: Hey, your mom's pretty masculine, but sleeping with her doesn't make me gay.
:Guy: Fag.
:Friend: Ass pirate.
:... | Two guys are trash-talking each other with homophobic comments and Maternal insult|"your mom" jokes. It goes somewhat astray and becomes awkward when the first guy makes a pass at the second guy and is rejected. Part of the element of the humor in this comic stems from a common assertion that the most homophobic of men... | |
66 | February 20, 2006 | Abusive Astronomy | null | Medium: Pencil on paper | :Identifying star clusters:
:[Image of a star cluster.]
:This is the <u>Pleiades</u>, asshole.
:Orion's Belt:
:[Image of Orion's Belt.]
:Only a moron couldn't find it.
:This is the <u>Big</u> <u>Dipper</u>:
:[Image of the Big Dipper.]
:What the hell is <u>wrong</u> with you? | An asterism is a pattern of stars that forms some sort of perceived shape in the night sky. Some of these are patterns used to name regions of the sky, as constellations. Modern astronomy organizes the sky into 88 constellations, but different cultures saw different patterns in the same night sky, going back at least a... | |
67 | February 22, 2006 | Nerd Girls | null | Nothing personal, high schoolers. | :[Girl with shoulder length brown hair and glasses, wearing a shirt which says "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons".]
:Girl: At least, thanks to your constant fawning, we have an '''excuse''' for our social ineptness. What's '''yours'''? | The stereotypical nerd is socially inept and has an obsession with a non-mainstream hobby such as Dungeons and Dragons. Nerd males are also typically represented as treating ''all'' women (including female nerds) with reverence and awkward fawning due to their supposed inexperience and lack of female company in compari... | |
68 | February 24, 2006 | Five Thirty | null | The 8th panel is my favorite | : | At 5:30 AM, one's sleep-deprived or prematurely-roused mind sometimes comes up with things that seem like nonsense later.
None of the twelve panels in this comic seem to have any correlation with one another, each one being its own "story," and none of them really make any sense. It is unknown whether Randall really w... | |
69 | February 27, 2006 | Pillow Talk | null | Maybe I should've tried Wexler? | :Cueball: Staring at the ceiling, she asked me what I was thinking about.
:Cueball: I should have made something up.
:Cueball: The Bellman-Ford algorithm makes terrible pillow talk. | The Bellman Ford|Bellman-Ford algorithm is an algorithm that calculates the shortest path(s) through a weighted digraph or collection of connected nodes or vertices. The "Wexler" in the title text refers to Wexler's algorithm, which is used to deal with the inverse problem of electrical impedance tomography, or simply ... | |
70 | March 1, 2006 | Guitar Hero | null | And then do it again in a moment now that they're out of Star Power. | :[On a stage, Megan is in the background as a singer holding a microphone. In the center is Hairy with an electric guitar. The catwalk has bumps to resemble the tracks of Guitar Hero.]
:[Caption above the stage]:
:When I'm in a rock band, I'm gonna do a cool, mellow song. Then in the middle I'll stop, announce "this p... | ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of video games (originally a single game) distributed by Activision. In the game, players simulate playing the guitar on famous guitar songs using a plastic guitar-shaped controller with five color-coded buttons on the neck representing guitar frets and a rocker bar on the body simulating a ... | |
71 | March 3, 2006 | In the Trees | null | It was tricky. | :[Cueball is standing in a forest.]
:Cueball: We made it so far together but then I lost you in the trees.
:[A closer view of Cueball.]
:Cueball: Finally. | This comic focuses on dark humor. In the first panel, the viewer is led to believe that it is a comic lamenting on the loss of love, as it states, "We made it so far together, but then I lost you in the trees." However, when we read the second panel ("Finally"), it becomes clear that the joke is that the loss of this "... | |
72 | March 6, 2006 | Classhole | null | A term coined by my friend Beth | :Cueball: How did you spend your morning?
:Black Hat: Feeding rocks to children in the park.
:Cueball: Your sociopathic abuse of random strangers staggers me.
:Black Hat: I aspire to have more creativity than the common asshole.
:Black Hat: I'm more of a <u>classy</u> asshole -- A class-hole, if you will. For example... | The subject of this comic is Black Hat himself. He admits to being an asshole, a profanity that describes someone who does things that antagonize, irritate, or anger others (either intentionally or incidentally). While a common example might be someone who weaves in and out of traffic, or someone who parks across two p... | |
73 | March 10, 2006 | Zeppelin | null | A tribute to Buttercup Festival | :Cueball: What time is it?
:[Picture of a Zeppelin style watch, indicating the time about 12:13 o'clock.]
:[Cueballs look up at the sky.]
:[A huge Zeppelin is visible in the sky.] | A zeppelin is a type of rigid dirigible aircraft, used in the early part of the 20th century for commercial airline traffic. They were well known for being the most luxurious, comfortable air travel of the time. The Hindenburg disaster, as well as World War II, led to the end of their use as commercial airliners. Also ... | |
74 | March 10, 2006 | Su Doku | null | This one is from the Red Belt collection, of 'medium' difficulty | :[A square divided into 2×2 squares, the top-right one has an 1 in it, the bottom-right one has a 0, the two left ones are empty.]
:Binary Su Doku | Sudoku|Su Doku (Japanese for "single number," and now usually written as "sudoku") is a type of number puzzle, in which the player must place digits in a matrix field in the correct arrangement, such that they do not repeat within given domains. The most common arrangement is a 9×9 grid subdivided into nine 3×3 grids, ... | |
75 | March 13, 2006 | Curse Levels | null | I find so much fun in language. | :My hobby: mixing curse levels
:Cueball: What a gosh-darned cunt.
{{ | This is the fourth comic in the :Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series. Curse words (aka: swear words/profanities) are disrespectful words that are typically impolite to use in public. As noted in the strip, there are "levels" of curse words ranging from those "mild" words that are more acceptable to use, to those "severe"... | |
76 | March 15, 2006 | Familiar | null | :( | :[Hairy and Megan are talking]
:Megan: I worry that I'm just with you because it's familiar. Of course no one else compares. I've known you for so long that I'd have to spend years with someone to build up this kind of connection and I daren't let you go of you long enough to let that happen.
:Megan: But I guess this i... | Megan tells her boyfriend (Hairy) her reservations about their relationship: she's happy with him, she thinks he doesn't compare to anyone else, and they have a strong connection built up over the course of years, but she's worried that all this is just because they've been dating so long that she hasn't had the opport... | |
77 | March 17, 2006 | Bored with the Internet | null | I used to do this all the time. | :[Black Hat and Not-Hairy are talking in a room with a computer on.]
:Not-Hairy: I feel like I'm wasting my life on the internet. Let's walk around the world.
:Black Hat: Sounds good.
:[The two men are shown walking through trees.]
:[The two men are shown walking on flat stretch, with mountains in the distance.]
:[The ... | A character who has hair (not to be confused with Hairy) suggests to Black Hat that he is wasting his life on the Internet, and they should go explore the world. They appear to walk a great distance, through what appears to be a swamp or perhaps a forest in winter, across a plain, and down to a river valley. Despite tr... | |
78 | March 20, 2006 | Garfield | null | The use of the 'Garfield' character for the purposes of this parody qualifies as fair use under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. sec. 107. See Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music (92-1292), 510 U.S. 569 | :I want to see something unexpected in comics. Just one strip could make up for it all.
:[Garfield is standing on hind legs facing and looking directly at the camera. But is off-center in the frame, about 1/3 from the left, rotated very slightly clockwise.]
:[Zoom in on Garfield, still to the left, now rotated slightly... | The newspaper comic strip Garfield, which features an orange cat as the main character, has increasingly been known for repetitive, quality-lacking strips. In the past, this was because the creator, Jim Davis (cartoonist)|Jim Davis, prefers to explore the same subjects he is comfortable with but in different ways — or ... | |
79 | March 22, 2006 | Iambic Pentameter | null | Of course, you don't wanna limit yourself to the strict forms of the meter. That could get pretty difficult. | :[Two identical Cueballs are having a conversation. The latter is identified as Cueball, since he represents Randall who has the Hobby.]
:Friend: What time can you pick Michael up?
:Cueball: Well, I can meet the plane at ten of six.
:Friend: Do you know where to find him?
:Cueball: I'll meet him at the stairs before th... | In this part of the :Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series, the hobby is responding to casual questions using iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a form of poetic verse defined by the number of syllables per line. In this form, a line contains exactly five (penta means five in Greek) "Iamb (foot)|iambs" per line. An ia... | |
80 | March 24, 2006 | My Other Car | null | It's much better than the other one. | :[The back of a blue Mitsubishi with a spoiler is shown.]
:Bumper sticker: This '''<big>IS</big>''' my other car. | This comic refers to a popular form of bumper sticker that follows the template "my other car is a ____." Sometimes the blank is a fancy vehicle like a Porsche or a Ferrari; sometimes it's related to the person's job (e.g. "My other car is a fire truck"); sometimes it's an even more expensive form of transportation lik... | |
81 | March 27, 2006 | Attention, shopper | null | There's a red convertible outside my building with the license plate 'DADS MNY'. | :[Black Hat is holding a golf club and speaking into a P.A. system.]
:Black Hat: Attention,
:Black Hat: To the owner of a Dodge Viper SRT-10 with license plate "MYTOY," your lights are on and your windshield was just smashed with a golf club. | A common trope (often referenced in TV and film) is a loudspeaker announcement in which a store employee (or anyone else in charge somewhere where people gather, like church or a school) announces that a certain color and model of car has its lights on, or is blocking another car, or is about to be towed, or similar. A... |
End of preview. Expand in Data Studio
Dataset Card for Explain XKCD
Dataset Summary
An import of the Explain XKCD wiki (up to March 30, 2024), containing explanations for 2668 xkcd comics.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
number |
string | The xkcd comic’s sequential number (e.g. "3", "1000"). |
date |
string | Publication date of the comic, in “Month Day, Year” format (e.g. "September 30, 2005"). |
title |
string | The displayed title of the comic (e.g. "Island (sketch)"). |
before |
string | Any original or archived title/caption metadata, typically a MediaWiki-style link or HTML snippet pointing back to the source (e.g. the LiveJournal archive). |
image |
string | Filename of the comic image (e.g. "island_color.jpg") in the images/. |
titletext |
string | The “alt” or tooltip text that appears when you hover over the comic on xkcd’s site. |
transcript |
string | A plain-text transcript of the comic panels and dialogue. |
explanation |
string | A detailed explanation of the joke or references in the comic, suitable for the “Explain xkcd” format. |
NOTE: original image filenames in xkcd included spaces, in this dataset these were replaced with underscores.
Licensing Information
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Explain xkcd: It’s ’cause you’re dumb. (2025). Main Page. Fan-maintained wiki. Retrieved May 19, 2025, from https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License (CC BY-NC 2.5)
xkcd: License Page. Retrieved Retrieved May 19, 2025, from https://xkcd.com/license.html
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0)
This work
Citation Information
@misc{dchichkov_explainxkcd_2025,
author = {Chichkov, Dmitry},
title = {{Explain XKCD Dataset}},
year = {2024},
howpublished = {\url{https://huggingface.co/datasets/dchichkov/explainxkcd}},
note = {Fan-curated import of the Explain XKCD wiki up to March 30, 2024}
}
### Contributions
Thanks to [@dchichkov](https://github.com/dchichkov) for adding this dataset.
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