2013

What Randall has accomplished here is to channel the totemic power of Tim Buckley's "Loss" and refashion it into a symbol of rejection. Through a miraculous concatenation of circumstances, this apparently unexceptional creation has presented itself to the woman, and she proceeds to spurn it with glee as her emasculated boyfriend looks on, devoid of agency, offering nothing but platitudinous words of affirmation. The subject here is not miscarriage but abortion.

2012

implying Randall reads scientific papers
implying the 9/11 Commission report was thorough

2011

tfw trump is still president

Also, fixed:

2010

This is one of those comics that wouldn't be nearly as hateful on its own except for the fact that Randall has simply run out of jokes. The premise-- "NERDY ENGINEER™ goes to HILARIOUS LENGTHS to accomplish something DUMB PLEBES do EVERY DAY WITHOUT THINKING"-- is among Randall's favorites, and there's no reason to believe he'll ever stop using it. Gary Larson and Bill Watterson were brilliant, but what made them heroes was that they had the wisdom to recognize that they were running out of ideas and the courage to retire before they became Jim Davis.

2009

lol it's funny because astronomers and blue whales don't give off light

2008

It's not ironic that Randall is the guy he used to make fun of, it's just sad.

2007

I'm sure the Brookhaven RHIC actually exists, and that this is an accurate map of wherever it is located. I just can't bring myself to care.

2006

...but up until now I always thought companies offered loyalty bonuses and reward programs because they really wanted to be my friends!

2005

What's sadder:

1. that the New Yorker is running these kinds of shitposts,
2. that Randall is making comics about them, or
3. that Randall is making comics about them almost a year later?

2004

2003

I like how about half of these numbers are lists of multiple people. As read, this would suggest that after the Attorney General, five non-Washingtonians would all have to be sworn in simultaneously. Also, the President is apparently supposed to succeed himself first, and only upon having died in office a second time would the Vice President take over.

2002

The trick to a good shitpost is not to be obviously trying too hard. And what's with the but-really-tho Nate Silver fanboying there? Could the popularity of so-called "explainer journalism" be a consequence of the soullessness of the millennial trash Randall typifies-- people who worship error bars precisely because they have no minds of their own?

2001

People who take science headlines seriously are just the worst. Like, don't they know the state of science journalism? how every headline is blown way out of proportion? There should be some formula to show how you shouldn't believe science headlines that sound exciting. And it should be expressed in notation that only real science enthusiasts will understand, like some kind of correction factor to the p value; that way we can all chortle in our disgustingly self-satisfied way. And it should namedrop Bayesian methods so the frequentists don't get too full of themselves.