How to Get XKCD Author Randall Munroe To Visit Your City (xkcd.com) 61
Since 2005 Randall Munroe has been the author/illustrator of the popular nerdy comic strip XKCD -- and he's now planning to publish "the world's least useful self-help book." How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems offers readers a third choice beyond simply doing things either the right way or the wrong way: "a way so monumentally bad that no one would ever try it," according to a new page at XKCD.com:
It describes how to cross a river by removing all the water, outlines some of the many uses for lava around the home, and teaches you how to use experimental military research to ensure that your friends will never again ask you to help them move.
To promote the book Munroe has already scheduled visits in 14 nerd-friendly cities (including New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and Raleigh). But a final 15th city will be chosen "based on the results of a challenge..." The challenge: Write the best story using nothing but book covers. Arrange the titles of your favorite books into sentences that tell a story, assemble a single continuous line of people holding up the covers, and take a photo or video documenting your feat.
You can make the story as long as you want, but each book needs to be held by a different human. Creative grammar is fine, and you'll get extra credit for including as many books and people as possible.
Photos should be either shared on social media with the hashtag #howtoxkcd, or emailed to that address on Gmail. "Submit your entry between June 10 and July 31," explains the site, adding that a winner will be announced in August.
"Make sure to include your location (city/state, US only) so we know where to find you!"
To promote the book Munroe has already scheduled visits in 14 nerd-friendly cities (including New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and Raleigh). But a final 15th city will be chosen "based on the results of a challenge..." The challenge: Write the best story using nothing but book covers. Arrange the titles of your favorite books into sentences that tell a story, assemble a single continuous line of people holding up the covers, and take a photo or video documenting your feat.
You can make the story as long as you want, but each book needs to be held by a different human. Creative grammar is fine, and you'll get extra credit for including as many books and people as possible.
Photos should be either shared on social media with the hashtag #howtoxkcd, or emailed to that address on Gmail. "Submit your entry between June 10 and July 31," explains the site, adding that a winner will be announced in August.
"Make sure to include your location (city/state, US only) so we know where to find you!"
Impossible (Score:1)
Most geeks I know don't have enough friends to hold up the books.
Re: Impossible (Score:1)
Speak for yourself!
I have an entire army of stick figure people at my disposal.
Re: (Score:3)
I have never understood why his work has been considered funny.
You seem to be under the illusion that humor is an absolute - that all people should find the same thing humorous to the same degree.
But humor is extremely cultural to start with (EG compare English dry humor to US slapstick/stupid to Japanese .. well weird), and then after that it is personal. So IMHO a sense of humor is more akin to sense of taste, and that some people will like the things that you like to eat, and others will say that what you like to eat tastes horrible.
So just because you can't unders
Re: (Score:2)
Humor is not absolute, but there is a level of boring and trivial, which has to be overcome for something to be considered humorous.
That particular bullshit has not overcome ithe level - it is dumb boring.
Which is your subjective opinion
Re: Why did you feed the troll? (Score:2)
You got me to look at the AC comment. I was seeking context in case there was some added value to your earlier comment. Yes, there are some truths that justify the anonymity, but I cannot recall the last time I saw such a truth on Slashdot and posted by an AC.
You wasted my time, but why did you waste yours?
(It does no good to blame the AC. He is legion and he is nothing.)
Re: (Score:2)
You couldn't even be arsed to read the sentence after the one you quoted:
It's not witty or insightful. It's not silly or slapstick.
The GP clearly acknowledges that there are different types of humor, and that it's not an absolute.
The problem with XKCD is that it doesn't exhibit any of the traits associated with any type or variant of humor.
The second problem is that the people who claim that XKCD is funny can't even explain why.
It's as if XKCD is considered funny because people who don't actually find it funny think that others find it funny (although these others probably don't find it funny, either!), and they mutually trick each other into pretending they all like XKCD when none of them actually like it!
You left out the implied "in his fucking opinion ", and then go on to ignore every point that I made about humor being subjective and state (in your fucking opinion ) that XKCD is devoid of humor and making the absolute claim that XKCD is not funny
Gereral Theory of Relatively Funny Stuff (Score:2)
If I ever got a mod point to give, I might give your [OzPeter's] comment an "insightful".
I think the relativity of humor has to do with its educational functions. My GToRFS (but I'm not expecting a Nobel Prize) is that laughter is crucial for learning. At the lowest level, it explains why babies and children are so easily amused. The little learning machines are reinforcing their increasing understandings of the world's mysteries. At an intermediate level, slapstick is funny because we are learning what NOT
Re: (Score:1)
"little bobby tables" was great
Dude got political. Stopped reading. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Your idiocy has been tedious for a long time now.
It was Obama, not Trump, who gave aid and comfort to our most obvious enemies, the murderous Islamic countries.
Re:Dude got political. Stopped reading. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yep. Username checks out.
But, why? (Score:2)
Ni! (Score:1)
African or European nerds?
Hes is doing a _documentary_ ? (Score:2)
Because this third option is what is routinely chosen by politicians and other cretins with power today.
Re: (Score:2)
Insightful.
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks.
How to stop him (Score:4)
I would rather him not visit my city. I don't want him to get shot.
Re: (Score:2)
Clone an army of him. :P
XKCD Already Showed Me How To Do It (Score:5, Funny)
MUNROE'S IMAGINATION:
Reader 1: We need a good story made from book titles to get him to visit our city. We need to build a million dollar GAN-based machine learning cluster to scan all the book titles on Amazon and create a good story to convince him!
Reader 2: No good! Our algorithm produces results that are still too weird and unconvincing and he'll see right through our ruse!
Reader 1: Blast! Our evil plan is foiled!
WHAT WOULD ACTUALLY HAPPEN:
Reader 1: We want him to visit our city. Drug him and hit him with this $5 wrench until he gets in the van.
Reader 2: Got it.
Re: (Score:2)
Well played sir, and I'm surprised to see it was well modded, too.
But I still want to know why Munroe rejects my idea of putting fake GPS satellites in buildings.
Okay ... this is pretty close. (Score:2)
The Police Officers on Patrol [amazon.com] didn't agree that The Bonfire of the Vanities [wikipedia.org] I started was really a Home Depot Home Improvement [homedepot.com].