Comments on: xkcd rocks

By: Bloix

Bloix — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:08:44 +0000

Eszter, I’m not surprised that you like xckd – you could be one of the characters in it!

By: Watson Aname

Watson Aname — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:20:59 +0000

Lazygal—- no on two counts.

The proper Bacon number is like the Erdos one—- your Erdos number comes from peer reviewed publications only, your Bacon number from actual film credits only. So unless you were saying you’ve been credited in a film with your boss, who has been credited in a film with Kevin Bacon,(in which case I’ve misread you), it doesn’t count.

Even following the rules strictly though, there are at least two people with Bacon/Erdos numbers this low (meaning 5).

By: Lazygal

Lazygal — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:27:09 +0000

As I understand the rules, I have an Erdos number of 3 (I’ve published with my father, who published with Roger Penrose, who published with Erdos) and a Bacon number of 2 (my boss, who knows Kevin)… do I win?

By: Brendan

Brendan — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:30:16 +0000

Great post. While I was doing one in response, I Googled "xkcd author" to double-check the spelling of Randall's first name, and I saw from the first hit that he recently did an @Google talk. It's pretty funny, especially if you're already a fan of the comic.

By: Jacob Christensen

Jacob Christensen — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:09:24 +0000

If you read Randall’s blog, there is an explanation for the typos:

“I just had extremely minor surgery this morning (removing a lipoma from my right arm). I’m fine; it’s just a paranoid better-safe-than-sorry thing. But I’m writing this under the influence of the lingering anesthetics and my first-ever Vicodin. No interesting side effects so far other than dizziness, a higher rate of typing errors, and the tendency to zoom images all the way in and stare at them for several minutes at a time.”

(I assume the cartoon was finished on Thursday)

By: John Quiggin

John Quiggin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:10:05 +0000

On Erdos related jokes, I was quite please with this one.

By: Salient

Salient — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:03:51 +0000

So, after extensive research, I deduce this is a joke about Hank Aaron—right?

Yeah, that’s how I parsed it initially at least. Apparently, it can also be read as a joke on what it means to “co-author a paper’’ with a pun on the word `paper’ (paper = work of scholarship vs. paper = piece of paper).

This comic made everybody’s day around the department (but then, we arrange a showing of the Erdős documentary every four months or so and it’s always the big department-social-occasion of the season).

…

Apparently there is some controversy about how has the lowest combined Kevin Bacon-Paul Erdos number.

It is widely acknowledged that Homer Simpson has the highest Bacon-Err-D’ohs number.

By: rea

rea — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:33:04 +0000

So, after extensive research, I deduce this is a joke about Hank Aaron—right?

By: Jacob Christensen

Jacob Christensen — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:32:28 +0000

I hate to say this but the link in your comment #1 is broken. It should be Degrees of Separation :-P

Given that there are no mathematicians among my closer colleagues, my Erdöösj number is probably pretty high, btw.

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:45:36 +0000

I thought it was Natalie Portman; see her Wikipedia page.

By: Barry

Barry — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:37:18 +0000

Because We Can Tell.

By: Eszter Hargittai

Eszter Hargittai — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:19:51 +0000

Unless there’s some kind of crazy in-joke I’m not getting, see also the “cemetary” sign in the third-last frame.

This has now been fixed as well.:-)

Is “typo” the right word for a hand lettered cartoon?

How do you know it’s hand-lettered?;-)

By: Monte Davis

Monte Davis — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:18:38 +0000

Write-o. (Appended “chaps” is optional.)

By: rm

rm — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:10:20 +0000

Scribo?

By: Chris Stephens

Chris Stephens — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:07:35 +0000

Apparently there is some controversy about how has the lowest combined Kevin Bacon-Paul Erdos number.