# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 53
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1042 "2021-10-12T02:13:11Z")
> **[New Nobel Prizes](https://xkcd.com/2527/)** > > They've endowed a separate prize in Physiology or Medicine or Stopping Dr. Adams. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1043 "2021-10-14T05:35:19Z")
> **[Flag Map Sabotage](https://xkcd.com/2528/)** > > Delaware hopes to explore the western edge of areas marked with the Belgian flag, once the tornadoes die down. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1044 "2021-10-14T10:15:19Z")
I’m just going to put this down as one I don’t really get and move on ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1045 "2021-10-14T12:13:23Z")
I guess he’s referring to a map like below (which would get messed up if you added a spurious legend and a flag element that looked like a national boundary). [![](https://www.worldatlas.com/r/w960-q80/upload/f4/e0/49/shutterstock-1665254809.png) ](https://www.worldatlas.com/r/w960-q80/upload/f4/e0/49/shutterstock-1665254809.png) ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1046 "2021-10-14T12:57:31Z")
I, too, couldn’t quite understand the premise. I feel there is a “joke” in it but didn’t come out clearly. Something about flag colors using the map legend to indicate the country. Explain XKCD didn’t really explain, but it looked like a first pass explanation so maybe later. Did they put the map on the flag? ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1047 "2021-10-14T13:04:40Z")
Look at **hogarth** ’s post directly above yours. On a map like that, which colors in countries with their national flag, the XKCD flag would color in the country it represents with a spurious map legend and a spurious national border. ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1048 "2021-10-14T15:44:50Z")
Yeah, **hogarth** ’s map did help matters (I did see it before your post) but the joke in my mind is still only vaguely there. Doing research on the Belgian flag helped, though. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1049 "2021-10-14T18:51:39Z")
This is definitely one of XKCD’s less accessible vexillology-themed jokes. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1050 "2021-10-16T04:10:15Z")
> **[Unsolved Math Problems](https://xkcd.com/2529/)** > > After decades of studying the curve and the procedure that generates it, the consensus explanation is "it's just like that." ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1051 "2021-10-16T04:58:58Z")
I feel like there’s a math equivalent of Poe’s law. There’s no parody of a mathematical statement that’s so bizarre that it can be distinguished from an _actual_ mathematical statement. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1052 "2021-10-16T12:43:57Z")
Yeah, are these actual math problems? And in the second one, what’s the procedure if the random walk takes you into a trap (like if the next step after that open-circle endpoint is to the right)? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1053 "2021-10-16T14:08:47Z")
Or that it becomes one, and many years are spent on its solution. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1054 "2021-10-19T03:16:59Z")
> **[Clinical Trials](https://xkcd.com/2530/)** > > We don't need to do a clinical trial of this change because the standard of care is to adopt new ideas without doing clinical trials. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1055 "2021-10-19T21:22:49Z")
Reminiscent of [Health Drinks](https://xkcd.com/2475/), a mere 55 strips ago. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1056 "2021-10-21T10:42:28Z")
> **[Dark Arts](https://xkcd.com/2531/)** > > You think, 'okay, THIS is an ideal use case for hardlinks!' but then 6 months later you're doing some extremely cursed Google search like 'javascript ext4' and wondering where things went wrong. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1057 "2021-10-23T04:27:37Z")
> **[Censored Vaccine Card](https://xkcd.com/2532/)** > > CVS's pharmacies are fine, but I much prefer their \[censored\]s. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1058 "2021-10-23T12:45:23Z")
Hm, odd. My vaccine card uses mostly lower-case letters along the top line, not smallcaps. But then, mine was one of those freebie ones. Maybe Munroe paid more for a premium one for his. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1059 "2021-10-23T16:57:22Z")
It’s interesting how the name of xkcd is in actual lowercase, but the fonts and handwriting all use small caps (except in the earliest comics). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1060 "2021-10-26T04:43:33Z")
> **[Slope Hypothesis Testing](https://xkcd.com/2533/)** > > "What? I can't hear--" "What? I said, are you sure--" "CAN YOU PLEASE SPEAK--" ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/1061 "2021-10-26T19:25:19Z")
I love this one. This is so so true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=52) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=54)