Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Comic 930: Invitation To Love

[Hated moneybags "Carl Wheeler" sent me this guest review. The lazy fuck. -Ed.]

days of the week


Hello all, Carl again. I was going to write a post about the last comic - the one where a conversation about google plus ends, hilarious, with a crossbow deflating a basketball - but Rob pretty much covered the main issues there (the main issue was: WHY IS THIS HAPPENING). It seemed like such a bad comic, by xkcd standards, that I figured I would have to wait at least a few weeks before another one came along that inspired enough wrath for me to write about it. Well I was wrong.

Actually, that's unfair. This comic doesn't inspire wrath in me, the way some used to. This is just extreme puzzlement, and disappointment.

As you may know / remember / guess, I never liked these google-search-result comics. For one thing, the number of results that google tells you it has are notoriously unreliable, sometimes by an order of magnitude or more. For another, Randall seems to take as gospel that these results are direct proxies for whatever it is that he is interested in. For example, a few years ago, he wrote a comic about google search results for "I should have kissed her" vs "I shouldn't have kissed her." But just looking at the number of results for each one is a terrible measure of whether more people regret kissing versus the number of people who regret not kissing. Plenty of people don't put that stuff online! As a scientist, I'm really kind of surprised Randall thinks that this logic is ok. It's very clearly not.

A similar problem exists here, though it's worse in every imaginable way. For one thing, this research isn't trying to answer an interesting question. For all its flaws, the kissing google search was at least trying to answer the question "is it better to kiss this person and maybe regret it, or not kiss them and maybe regret that?" which I think we can all agree is a pretty interesting question (even if his method of answering has many flaws). But this comic is asking - what, exactly? I guess it's something like "which day of the week do certain things happen on?" That's - that's not very interesting. Take the three most correlated phrase/day pairs:

--Church is strongly associated with Sunday
--Getting drunk is strongly associated with Friday and Saturday
--Ladies night is strongly associated with Wednesday.

# 1 and # 2 are fairly obvious, and #3 is boring. Unless we can learn that there is an interesting reason why ladies night is on wednesday, I don't see how anyone can react to this with more than a "huh."

And those are the best ones! Look in the center and you see things like "[blank]day sucked" or "due on [blank]day." None of them are interesting at all! The dark purple is probably my favorite: "Announced [blank]day." What is that, even? That seems like such a vague term that it could encompass almost any type of event, and when it's that vague, hey, guess what: people are just not going to care.

The other problem is that the text is way crazy small, and constantly overlapping. It makes it very hard to read even the large version, and downright impossible for the regular size.

It's not the clearest way of presenting this data, either. I don't think the polar graph is the best way to go about it, but even it was, wouldn't it have been easier to just use solid lines of different colors and then have a key for which phrase each line represents? This post in the forums is exactly in line with my own feelings.

Actually, is it possible that the forums have gotten to be better? Seems like there's a good debate going about this comic.I find much that I agree with. What a strange experience!

Anyway, keep on rockin',

--Your dear pal Carl

133 comments:

  1. This comic was the first time I thought tl;dr for something with so few words. Although I suppose it's more of a "too obscure+boring+poorly-designed; didn't give a fuck." But that is way too long for the single thought that I gave this "comic" the first time I saw it.

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  2. Yeah, this is actually the only Xkcd comic I have not and will not ever bother reading (or viewing, whatever). Even that cumbersome chronological interactions for movie plotlines I analyzed a bit. Not this shit though.

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  3. I was wondering just how bad Rick Santorum's Google problem is, so I tried Googling "Rick Santorum"; Google says there are 3,790,000 results. So, how many of those results don't mention his Google problem? To find out, I searched for "Rick Santorum" -"Dan Savage", and got 7,000,000 results. The more restrictive search has more results? That's when I finally realized just how unreliable those numbers are.

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  4. What!? There's no way Google fudges their numbers!
    Also, since Randy doesn't record his results, and once such a comic is posted the results will be royally fucked, I wouldn't doubt if he pulled most of these "results" out of his ass.

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  5. carl i wouldn't talk about comics being visually unappealing if I were you

    (because you're so ugly)

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  6. I hate these 'comics' as well. Or rather, poorly represented dumps of unreliable, meaningless, boring data.

    There are some 'potentially' interesting things here, but of course randall doesn't actually analyze them. For example, getting drunk and going to church both spike on wednesday. Or maybe they don't; I have a hard time telling because randy used a fucking polar graph. I think the 'comic' might be a lot better if he had attempted clever little descriptions of the patterns for each phrase.

    But I guess he is too busy analyzing the menstrual cycle data to determine when megan will most likely be lactating.

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  7. wednesday night church is a fairly common thing. not really sure why

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  8. Andrew "Tubbs" McGeeJuly 28, 2011 at 12:10 AM

    Gotta get down on [x]day

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well, if praying once a week ain't enough, the second day would naturally be Wednesday. That way you're doing your god-lovin' at regular intervals.

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  10. How can that really be Carl when he's under my desk right now playfully flicking my testicles with his tongue?

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  11. OH GOD RANDY YOU STUPID FUCK JUST DRAW A BAR CHART AND LABEL THE SERIES.

    A line chart would be misleading because the time axis isn't continuous - if a lot more people do X on day T+1 than day T then it doesn't necessarily mean that the number of people doing X increases as day T approaches day T+1.

    This attempt suffers exactly the same problem except that these misleading interpolations - the curves plotted in the white space - form the majority of the diagram. Also it's incredibly hard to read because he's turned the curves into the labels.

    It's no surprise that the same NASA which just fucked up with its Constellation programme and got beaten down by some copycat start-up which was happy to give the first hit free also interned this kid.

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  12. Ladies night is on wednesday because of some song from the 70s.
    So not a very interesting reason.

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  13. Hi, I'm Anonymous and I'm a MANJuly 28, 2011 at 9:15 AM

    This blog needs more Carl.

    xkcd, especially as of late, needs less total pointlessness.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Penile burninationJuly 28, 2011 at 10:07 AM

    This blog needs more naked girls.

    ReplyDelete
  15. @Penile use your allowance on a prostitute.

    Remember the number one rule of prostitution: all women will; some are cheaper than others.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comic is anti muslim! how did noone notice? Friday is not fucking highlighted!!!!!
    I declare Jihad against Rand al Munroe!
    Kill the infidel!!!

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  17. I guess I just have a keen eye.

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  18. Okay, I want to know, why did Ravenzomg leave? I know we can only guess. Let's dedicate this comment thread to answering that question. Let the Wild Mass Guessing begin!

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  19. As as fule kno, all women hate all other women (the hatred being proportional to the perceived thinness*youth differential).

    tl;dr ALTF's dominance.

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  20. There are no computers in my cellar.

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  21. hey guys did you hear about those people who got killed in norway? the LIEberals are trying to pin it on religious people when a moslem terrorist group has already admitted they didd it? WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!!!

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  22. Shake up, weeple.

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  23. Jon Levi, why don't you write about it in your fanfic?

    ReplyDelete
  24. It is a shame, ravenzomg's reviews were half decent... Unlike GAYmer2k4, more like NECKBEARDER2k4 amirite?

    ReplyDelete
  25. You should all get glasses. I thought assburgers and pattern recognition mixed.

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  26. @4:22: Asperger's is a disorder, not a mark of talent - people who genuinely have it work harder to operate despite it.

    And I'm fairly sure everyone here hates people who e-self-diagnose, a clear cuddlefish trait. Maybe you're talking about that sort of aspie.

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  27. the "should have kissed her" vs "shouldn't have kissed her" thing isn't about what people are doing, or what they want. To me, it's just presenting an idea about regret. People are posting about this? Why are they even thinking about it? Why are they even worrying about what might have been, when they will be dead in a relatively short time?

    All flesh is an abomination. We are all born of sin and filth. Also, this was a crappy comic.

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  28. Looks like everyone but the anonfags steered clear of this one.

    Also, does anyone find it odd that RavenZOMG and ALTF disappeared at the SAME TIME?

    Has anyone ever seen them in the same room together?

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  29. I haven't seen her flooding this comment thread yet.

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  30. So, 931, right?
    Randall is talking about cancer again, so that's cool.

    It's definitely not supposed to be funny, so I'm not going to hold that against it, but on the other hand I really don't care about it, and I'm not sure if I should hold that against it...

    He definitely made a mistake and isn't sure what the 60% is referring to:

    [First mention]: "a 60% chance that some cancer will slip past the treatment and get out."
    This is definitely referring to a 60% chance that you will cancer again.

    [Second mention]: "But your odds are still 60%."
    I would say this one is unclear. Is it your odds of surviving or your odds of cancering again?

    [Third mention]: "The only way to know if it worked is to wait for tumors to pop up elsewhere. If you go enough years without that happening then you were in the 60%."
    Unambiguously talking about 60% of people not cancering again.


    Now, let's all start making fun of how Randall can't get milk to come out of Megan's boobies again.

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  31. "[First mention]: "a 60% chance that some cancer will slip past the treatment and get out."

    It says 40% in the comic. Did Randall change the comic, or are you a fucking idiot?

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  32. God fucking dammit, I hate Randall.

    (1) Not all cancer is deadly the first time round, even if you don't cure it - I accept that this point is more relevant to older people, many of whom will have slow-growing cancers and die from something else way before. But it's awful the way society views cancer as OMG INEVITABLE DEATH when e.g. prostate cancer may just be slowed further with hormones and no further treatment needed;

    (2) Not all recurrence of cancer is deadly - just because you get it a second time it doesn't mean you're going to die or even suffer horribly;

    (3) Worrying about odds of getting cancer again is not healthy. Put another way, one in three people get cancer and one in three of them in the milkbags: that 40%-ish figure applies to everyone, although having it once means it's perhaps likely to happen again sooner than later. Be aware of any symptoms and make sure you are being regularly screened. I know this is hard when you have the double whammy of living in the third world USA and not having a real job to pay for healthcare, and I don't blame Randy for this.

    (4) Is this strip designed to get Megan panicking and needy so she'll never leave Randall? "Hey, babe, the doctors are dealing with your cancer, but THINK ABOUT IT IT MAY COME BACK!!!"

    (5) The worst thing is she probably wanted a total mastectomy recommended by her consultant but he threatened to leave her if she had one. We have the privilege to see the dramatic irony that no woman so disease-riddled will ever produce delicious milk again.

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  33. Wow guy above me, you're a bit of a douchebag aintcha?

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  34. 2:55 you are a cuddlefishy (fishy as in dishy) cuddlefaggot (faggot as in you secretly love dick).
    Dtop trying to paint your dick white to use it as a mighty sword for slaying the evil cyber baddies.

    'MOM SOMEBODY WAS RUDE ABOUT SOME RANDOM GIRL ON THE INTERNET'.

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  35. So say for example hypothetically you have cancer and your boyfriend has this webcomic and tells everyone about it. Then let's say just hypothetically, your boyfriend starts calculating all the odds of it coming back and of dying and all that stuff, and you just want to get on with life despite your hypothetical cancer. THEN your boyfriend makes a shit comic about it that served no purpose other than to scare everyone else into thinking about cancer.

    Okay that wasn't headed anywhere so I'm going to say that Randark spent far too much time on this comic without even making any point, cos it was too fuckin hard to understand anyway. All that art and text was wasted.

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  36. 3:01 Oh sorry I didn't realise that accusing people who make bad webcomics of bullying their partners into not having a mastectomy was the reasonable position, and not the sort of thing some sort of sociopath would come out with. My bad.

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  37. This comic was terrible because Randall was just stating what everyone knows: cancer is a terrible disease.

    That fact is though, is that Randall is so self absorbed that he didn't give a shit about cancer until it affected him. The only one who needed this comic was you Randall, everyone else who matters already knows the facts.

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  38. @3:20: There's only one person under discussion here who has made a comic for his fiancee effectively saying, "YOU MAY BE ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY BUT THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE IT'LL COME BACK!"

    Remember that xkcd isn't art for art's sake. It's Randy's business. He's emotionally torturing his fiancee for money.

    And, like Scott 3:21 said, where's the evidence that he actually cares about cancer, rather than his milky pet project?

    Who is the sociopath, really?

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  39. Anon2:25 - Anon3:20 sounded fairly balanced and accurate. Read it again.

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  40. 3:20 & 3:59 = samefag

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  41. Anon 2:25 - Anon 3:20 sounds really attractive

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  42. Thank you, Randall, few people have the courage to take such a strong stance against cancer.

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  43. The Alternate Universe has banned me, apparently for criticising Randall's latest gem of sensibility and poignance: "Fuck cancer".

    Apparently, the sycophant forumites are sadder with Megan's cancer than Randall himself is.

    Captcha: hicat. Nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan nyan

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  44. Damn, you know an album is going to be shit if three of the tracks on it have "love" in the title.

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  45. Scott hit the nail on the head.

    "I didn't know shit about cancer, even though it's one of the most common killers in America, until it personally affected me. And now I find out it totally sucks! Did you guys realize that?!"

    ReplyDelete
  46. Anon 11:15 back.

    I swear some Orwellian shit happened and it originally said 60% for every number in the comic.

    some people in the forums noticed it too:
    "Secondly: the first panel doesn't make sense
    "if your 10 year prognosis is 60% that means a 60% chance that some cancer will slip past the treatment and get out"
    surely that should be "40% chance some cancer will slip out within 10 years"? "

    http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=73045#p2701086


    "Also, shouldn't it be a 40% chance that some cancer cells slip by?"

    http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=73045&start=40#p2701234





    Next time I notice something like this, I promise I'll save a copy.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Isn't there already someone who saves a webcite of all the xkcds?

    ReplyDelete
  48. @Fernie Canto
    I didn't see that. Did your post get deleted?

    @cptnoremac
    http://xkcdwebcited.blogspot.com/ - it's 35 comics behind though.

    FUCK CANCERS! AND FUCK CAPRICORNS - AND LIBRAS TOO - GRRRRR!

    ReplyDelete
  49. I was up when this comic got launched; it definitely said 60% everywhere. Left me pretty confused...

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  50. ♋♋♋♋♋♋♋♋July 29, 2011 at 12:06 PM

    ♋♋♋♋♋♋♋♋♋♋

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  51. I dunno, I didn't bother looking at the thread. But they usually don't delete posts.

    I actually think they were very tolerant to let me hang around for so long. What amuses me is that they are all so touched and saddened by this cancer thing, while Randall is milking it further and further for notoriety and sympathy. Fortunately, I think we're living in a world in which attention whoring with shit webcomics like that only work with those sycophantic forumites, and not with people that matter.

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  52. Hey how about this you idiotic assholes: DONT FUCKING READ THE COMIC IF YOU DONT FUCKING LIKE IT. Anyone who argues is retarded.

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  53. Also stop making fun of a guy whose wife has cancer. Youre just be fucking assholes to a guy who's just trying to raise awareness because his wife has a deadly disease. Get a life you stupid idiots.

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  54. Whoa, how dare you call me an idiot. My wife has cancer so I'm immune to everything you can say to me and anything you say to me makes you a complete monster. Thanks.

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  55. 12:36
    Hey how about this you idiotic asshole: DONT FUCKING READ THE BLOG IF YOU DONT FUCKING LIKE IT. Anyone who argues is retarded.

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  56. re: 12:42
    butthurt anon is butthurt

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  57. anon 1:07 is samefag

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  58. no i'm not, 1:06

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  59. Randy clearly has been reading the wikipedia entry on cancer rather than, say, his fiance's oncologist or someone who knows what they're talking about.

    That "40% relapse" is a lot more complex than just "some cells dodged the treatment." To transform into cancer, cells have to accumulate a lot of mutations in regulatory mechanisms. These mutations are preserved in the entire cell line, and only a few cells go all the way to cancerous, most others stay in the pre-cancerous state. Even if every single tumor is removed, these semi-transformed cells are already predisposed to transform into cancer, which can cause a relapse of an entirely independent cancer line.

    Cancer biology is an incredibly complex field, and the above scenario is just one of many things that can cause relapse. For someone who claims to be scientific, he sure doesn't do his background research.

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  60. @Anon 1:01
    Hey how about this you idiotic asshole: DONT FUCKING READ ANON 12:36'S COMMENT IF YOU DONT FUCKING LIKE IT. Anyone who argues is retarded.

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  61. I would have been able to not read it except for one thing: HE UNLEASHED THE FURY WITH CAPS LOCK.

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  62. Caps lock is an unholy, vile technique used only by the Machine Messiah and his brainwashed minions in an attempt to befoul all that is beautiful on the Internet.

    Captcha: boomen. Yeah, that's what they call them.

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  63. So we meet again, Carl. I'm impressed. How do you like the fruits of your work? I've got a lot to thank you for, although I'm afraid I'm gonna have to kill you anyway.
    We'll meet again soon.
    Bet on it.

    ReplyDelete
  64. It's hard to take a webcite of every comic once you stop caring.

    Bad comics breed anger. Mediocre comics breed apathy. And XKCD's been falling on the latter side for a while now.

    ReplyDelete
  65. One would hope Randall would have a more uplifting message about his fiance's cancer being in remission. I mean usually that's at least a positive thing, even if it doesn't mean you're "out of the woods".

    But no, he has a comic about how incredibly likely it is that his fiance will die. This is not healthy behavior.

    ReplyDelete
  66. 12:27, this strip is Radnall's way of posting a personal ad. Think of the number of cuddlefishettes he will have queueing up to have sympathy sex with him after Megan's too weak to open her eyes and notice.

    (OK, still zero, but this is part of the white knight's delusion...)

    ReplyDelete
  67. oncology isn't "real" science

    ReplyDelete
  68. Dearest Our Pal Carl said:

    "....with a crossbow deflating a basketball -...."

    I see no evidence that the ball has been deflated. Sure there is represented the perturbation of the Naismithian Orb by the impact of the arrow in the penultimate frame, but in the ultimate the ball is still spherical. Perhaps it was self-sealing?

    @ Rob July 28, 10:27 PM,

    Are you sure?
    Appearances can be deceiving and all.

    @ ThePirateKing,

    Ravenzomd is a citizen of Soviet Canuckistan. I am not.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Well it's interesting to see the forumites gushing over this comic, expressing such sympathy for a guy they don't even know, telling their own cancer stories. No one has yet said "Get out of my head, I've had cancer too.", but I wonder...

    > When I scrolled down to the final panel I started to cry

    I know it's sad. I'm sure a lot of us cried over 631 too.

    > Ban all carcinogens. Now.

    This guy is an idiot, if he's being serious. He gets called on it in this post.

    > BTW is "out of the woods" a Firefly reference?

    No it is'nt, Auliya. It's just a common saying.

    > If I had one criticism of this comic, it's that 'Fuck' isn't a strong enough swear. v.v

    You're right, squareroot. "Cunt cancer!" is better. Cunt cancer to hell!

    > Please, please, PLEASE do not say unkind things to one another concerning this issue or anything touching it.

    Oops.

    > THANK YOU.

    Thank you for what?

    > Today is day +606 for me after my transplant, and day 984 since diagnosis.

    Don't count the days. That's just morbid.

    And now, the phrase from the thread most likely to become a meme. For the record I counted it at least 30 times.

    > I hope everything turns out alright. Fuck cancer.
    > Fuck cancer, truly.
    > i agree seriously.. fuck cancer
    > Fuck cancer indeed.
    > I have bumper sticker on my car that says "Fuck Cancer".
    > But yeah, fuck cancer straight to Hell.
    > We try our best, fuck cancer.
    > FUCK CANCER. SERIOUSLY.
    > What the hell kind of an ending is "Man, fuck cancer. Really."?? Man, fuck xkcd. Really.

    ReplyDelete
  70. If one 'fucks' cancer does it not eventually give birth to little baby cancers?

    Kill it with kindness I say.

    ReplyDelete
  71. @ Jon Levi,

    "....You're right, squareroot. "Cunt cancer!" is better. Cunt cancer to hell!...."

    Only in the Land o' The Yankee, and perhaps Canada too, does the word 'cunt' supercede the word 'fuck' in sweariness severity.

    The non-Yankee/Canuck English speakers use 'cunt' in the same way as the Yankee/Canucks use 'asshole'. Presumably because the Yankee/Canucks are still culturally in their 'Anal Phase' and/or consider the anus to be the preferred penile receptacle. Non-Yankee/Canuck folks prefer a vagina for such activities.

    Oh, and outside North America, only men can be pejoratively called 'cunts' - it has 'male gender' status now.

    Then again, what do I know?

    Innit?

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  72. "fuck cancer"

    I keep saying it to myself and thinking what it means. Forgive me for jumping to conclusions, but I think Randall might have a cancer fetish.

    Repeat: RANDALL HAS A CANCER FETISH

    I just think maybe the time during Megan's breast cancer has been the best time in his life. It's a double-whammy of fetishes!

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  73. @R.

    There was a line, and you just crossed it.

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  74. R is young.
    He/She/It knows no better.
    He/She/It is also unaware of the concept of Karma - Instant or otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Re: Jon

    Oh god, please don't say it's the Moral Event Horizon. I JUST HATE TVTROPES SO MUCH!!!@ BLAAAAAaGHGH!!

    ReplyDelete
  76. Suck it bitches! Can't criticize this comic can you? Bitches.

    ReplyDelete
  77. R.@8:31 and 8:58 = Jon Levi = Anon@9:33 = samefag

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  78. Dearest Kitten,
    Why is your 'Profile' no longer available?
    Are you the real Kitten?
    And why do 1,000,000 1,500 Watt kettles become operational within 5 minutes of the end of an 'East Enders' episode?

    @ Anonymous 9:33 AM,

    Only cunts spell 'criticise' with a 'Z'.

    ReplyDelete
  79. @Jon Levi[230 on July 28]: I went on vacation. I can't tell you 100% why I don't have a blogger/google account, though.

    Hmm, on second thought I think it would be funnier if I had some sort of Randallian conversion. Yeah, let's go with that. LONG LIVE OUR GLORIOUS MAN-LORD YOU CRETINS ARE JUST TOO DULL AND DREARY TO UNDERSTAND HIS GENIUS AND PAIN.

    captcha: minitt. HOW I WOULD DESCRIBE ALL UR COX.

    ReplyDelete
  80. jon levi stop using my name
    i know no-one gives a shit about anyone on this blog including me but not you
    not you jon

    ReplyDelete
  81. "....YOU CRETINS ARE JUST TOO DULL AND DREARY TO UNDERSTAND HIS GENIUS AND PAIN....."

    Our dullness would explain our inability to discern genius, but one would think our dreary disposition would make us uniquely qualified to apprehend pain.

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  82. I'm guessing Raven's internet name got leaked into her real life, and she deleted everything about that name because she is thoroughly ashamed of it.

    @ALTF – I am actually Raven.

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  83. cancer is best :D and lactation D:

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  84. Better than being Spartacus I reckon Kitten

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  85. @Kitten 9:52

    That would be giving me too much credit. True, I did write the two R. posts, but I could not have produced the linguistic masterwork that is Anon 9:33's post.

    ReplyDelete
  86. It's true, Jon. Never have I seen such masterful use of the word 'bitches'. How is it possible to weave that literary sonata around so simple a subject?

    ReplyDelete
  87. The hell?

    Someone made three comments with my name. I did not write those.

    ReplyDelete
  88. you are the shittiest impostor(s) i've ever seen. put some effort in

    ReplyDelete
  89. To truly pettifog the great and powerful R one must artfully employ the phrase 'fuck off'.

    For example:

    "Fuck off out of here and die ALT-F."

    Or some such.

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  90. Dearest Kitten: I do not need internet evidence to be ashamed, my life is nothing but a big ball of shame. Shame and angst. Also omelettes [spell-check suggests: "letterbombs". wat].

    ReplyDelete
  91. This acute but nonspecific sense of anxiety, shame, angst, remorse, or dare I say, dread, is caused by your awareness that all your future selections of omelette ingredients are not determined for you but must be freely chosen by you.

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  92. 11:18 is not me. i never use caps except in my name.

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  93. This just in -
    Forumite 'Ephemeron' has posted an image macro of the phrase "fuck cancer", saying that he "must make this a meme". Quite unusual for an xkcd thread where everything is taken so darn seriously. How will the forumites react to potentially tasteless act? We'll have more information on this story as it unfolds.

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  94. did I make all these comments while drunk or something?

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  95. 12:38 is an obvious fake. if you're going to impersonate me, at least wait longer than three minutes.

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  96. @ Jon,

    I wonder if Mr. Dawkins, the celator of the word/concept 'meme', approves of the way his word is used/misused on the Internet these days.
    He probably prays to god that he'll die before it gets to out-of-control.

    @ All the Rs, real, imagined or wannabe,

    Fuck the fuck right the fuck out of here.

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  97. That's 'Non U'
    and 'U'

    I'm U and you're Non-U,
    Ask a Brit what that means.

    ReplyDelete
  98. I wonder if Mr. Dawkins, the celator of the word/concept 'meme', approves of the way his word is used/misused on the Internet these days.

    Except it's not misused at all, when Dawking originally coined the term in 1976 he said "Examples of memes are tunes, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches." It's not like catchy phrases on the internet are somehow less worthy of being called memes than "tunes" and "catch-phrases".

    ReplyDelete
  99. Fuck this guy with his fuck cancer meme.

    Fuck this comic and its crap and bad science.

    Fuck the forums and their cancerous bile.

    ... Fuck...

    ReplyDelete
  100. "I'm U and you're Non-U,
    Ask a Brit what that means."

    That should be 'Ask a Brit over 65 years old what that means'.

    Innit?

    ReplyDelete
  101. Kitten, you've regenerated! You must be on at least your tenth regeneration by now. You do know you're only allowed twelve?

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  102. @ALTF celator? He is a bit of that in the genitive. And your grasp of British culture is out-of-date: 'cunt' is regarded as more offensive than 'fuck' and thanks to Thatcher everyone's non-U in both senses (though no-one wants to admit it and/or is proud of it).

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  103. Wow. Randall really is milking Megan's cancer.

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  104. Does anyone actually read the shit ALTF posts? I can never get through it. Your style of writing isn't endearing or clever it's just fucking hassle.

    If I wanted to read someone intentionally making their language obtuse for no discernable reason I'd be over reading Tycho's posts on penny arcade.

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  105. I uncovered the mystery. The reason why Raven has disappeared is that Alt f has finally reached acceptance here at the blog. Without our constant rebukes, there is no reason for her to pretend to be someone else. No reason to field two horses in the race if one has already won.

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  106. There's very many things you can reasonably complain about this comic, (the math is simplistic and there's some real issues with the tone) but it requires a certain amount of tact to not come across as a complete asshole when you're making fun of a guy dealing with his fiance's cancer.

    And the levels of tact in this thread are... not very high.

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  107. When you make a terrible webcomic that faux-nerds try to shove down everyone's throat, you don't get a special pass when today's issue of your terrible webcomic is about your fiancee's cancer.

    Yeah, he's dealing with some really shitty stuff in his personal life, but when he decided to post that personal stuff in a public comic that he must know is incredibly popular, he brought the making fun of on himself.

    Hell, Randall knows this site exists (he doesn't go here because it makes him sad, but he definitely knows it exists). KNOWING that there is a group of people who make fun of every comic that he puts out, he put out a comic about his fiancee's cancer. And, really, it's a terrible comic. And he put it out quickly, not noticing an error in it, and fixed it secretly (again going against his one-time claim that he doesn't get do-overs. HA).

    You don't get to publish your private shit in what is, DISGUSTINGLY!, one of the web's most popular comics, and expect that no one is going to make fun of you.

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  108. @UserGoogol: most of the world is dealing with something tough. Most of these people don't milk the suffering of a loved one for sympathy and profit.

    All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

    We are the good men calling Randall out for who he is and what he is doing. There are no sacred cows: we must pull back the beef curtains to reveal the truth.

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  109. Rob put up my review you lazy ass.

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  110. No, put up my review!

    Title: Breast cancer? More like BEST cancer! Amirite?

    Review: tl;dr Randy has cancer or something

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  111. Rob put my review up your lazy ass.

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  112. It's been said but it needs to be said again.

    Randall is literally trying to make a profit from his gf's cancer

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  113. Carl profits off cancer/lactation jokes.

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  114. Er... it's a long shot, but perhaps Megan KNOWS what Randall is posting, and is okay with it?

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  115. 7:54, it's a long shot, but perhaps "illegal immigrant" sex slaves CHOSE their profession, and are okay with it.

    Do not mistake acquiescence for willing compliance. Every terrible regime begins this way.

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  116. As a plumber I profit off feces and human suffering.

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  117. 9:32, you profit off alleviation.

    Randy is profiting off the suffering. More than that, he's profiting off giving Megan the impression that things might get even worse.

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  118. Not like Carl, is Carl.

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  119. How to make a comic about cancer that doesn't suck


    http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1162

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  120. Yeah! People with cancer and their families suck! We should hate them because they're just looking for attention. You know, from their loved ones slowly dying in front of them. What selfish bastards those cancer families are. It's almost as annoying as those self-centered 9/11 windows! Randall should stop being a crybaby about his dying wife and go back to entertaining me!

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  121. actually what he said is that randy's cancer comics suck

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