The genuis of xkcd

This was originally posted back in 2011 on another blog I had.  As I am in the process of consolidating all my writing, I am posting it here.  Even though, by now, you all know how obsessed I am with xkcd:

 

I am completely obsessed with xkcd, a web comic written by what is probably the funniest physicist in the known universe.  Not only do I enjoy it because it's full of science in-jokes, but because it shares my fear of velociraptor attacks, it's hysterically funny and even did a cross over with my other favourite comic, Calvin and Hobbes.  And since they allow you to put a few of their comics on your blog, I'm going to share some of my favourites with you.

This is so something I'd do...

I was in absolute hysterics over this one, especially since it reminds me of the "stick figures of death" comics my sister and I used to make.

When maths meets marketing

When most people work out a business or marketing plan, I'm sure they brainstorm then methodically work out the best ways to get what they want for the lowest cost possible.  The difference between myself and those people is that I have a fondness for reducing every possible thing to pure math.  I suck at business, I suck even more at marketing.  And I've spent the last four months working out how I can outsource both, or at least make it less painful for me to tackle on my own.  And then today it hit me:

Reduce it to a basic mathematical formula.

So I did:

Believe it or not, that is a marketing plan; one which (when implemented) is going to generate me massive amounts of website traffic and hopefully sales.

To paraphrase xkcd: Math! It works, b*tches!

As for what it says...well, if I tell you that then I'll have to exterminate you <--to be said in Dalek voice ;)

How to read a book about dinosaurs to your toddler...

My two year old daughter is currently obsessed with dinosaurs, despite my constant affirmation that neither geology nor paleontology are real sciences. But who am I to deny her what her heart apparently so desperately desires?

So I got her some dinosaur books.  I think I need to backtrack for a minute though...

I'm obsessed with xkcd.com (a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language to use their own words).  I spend hours reading and giggling at it, and as such I also really enjoy the whole velociraptor injokes - probably because I do similar.  Here's just one example of an xkcd comic relating to velociraptors:

As you've probably gathered from some of my other posts, I also tend to have a flair for the melodramatic.  And if you've seen Jurassic Park you'll know that it's filled with shrieking dinosaur sounds.

Enter my daughter's dinosaur books.

Why read a dinosaur book if you're not going to do awesome sound effects along with it?  The first page in one of her books has a picture of a velociraptor.  The text is "Running.  Follow me little dino. I can run so fast!".

Unless you live in this house...

Then it becomes "VELOCIRAPTOR! *aaaccccckkkkk-eeeeee-sssshhrrrrrriiieeeekkk* OH MY SPOCK, IT'S JURASSIC PARK! *more sound effects* RUN!!! RUN AWAY!!! *more sound effects* Quick! Into the kitchen! OH NO!  THEY CAN OPEN DOORS! *more sound effects* *dramatic fall to the floor* HIDE!!!!! *commando roll under the coffee table and more sound effects*"

*ahem*

In my defense, she loves it.  I do sometimes wonder if I should tone it down a bit, and whether I'm paving the way to be financing her future therapists trips to exotic Asian locations every other week.