0556: "Alternative Energy Revolution"

Aquila · Postby **Aquila** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:49 pm UTC

Great strip.

My only confusion: Does the "batshit-insane" refer to Don Quixote or Al Gore?

As Don Quixote is a fictional literary character, my money is on Al Gore.

Terebrant · Postby **Terebrant** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:15 pm UTC

Great comic.

I want to see a Black Hat Man Sancho Panza.

Commodore · Postby **Commodore** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:15 pm UTC

Silly Randal, Quix (-otic references) are for kids!

almightyze · Postby **almightyze** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:16 pm UTC

sje46 wrote:Not cool, not funny, not a good strip.

You know, this is starting to get old. Pseudo-trolling only works when there is trolling prevalent. Of which there is none.

But, alas, I digress in talking to the quixotic. I present to ye, Fred Gallagher's take of the situation:

sje46 · Postby **sje46** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:18 pm UTC

You know, this is starting to get old. Pseudo-trolling only works when there is trolling prevalent. Of which there is none.

Who said I was trolling? Who said I was pseudo-trolling? Maybe my only intention was to follow a meme. But it's getting so old I guess. I don't really care what you think.

There is a thread for editing xkcd strips already. It's cool to post it here, but you might also want to try there too

Eternal Density · Postby **Eternal Density** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:29 pm UTC

almightyze wrote:
sje46 wrote:Not cool, not funny, not a good strip.

You know, this is starting to get old. Pseudo-trolling only works when there is trolling prevalent. Of which there is none.

But, alas, I digress in talking to the quixotic. I present to ye, Fred Gallagher's take of the situation:

I expected someone had beat me to posting that, and I was right

Does that count as "Make xkcd slightly better"?

sje46 · Postby **sje46** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:31 pm UTC

If you think it is my intention to annoy or hurt people, you do not understand my intention. My intention is only to have an outraged rant on every strip, and to end it with "not cool, not funny, not a good strip".

I do not care if you do not like this.

Bulletmagnet · Postby **Bulletmagnet** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:37 pm UTC

Damn, I neglected to scroll the page and only saw the first eight panels before reading the "alt" text. It made considerably less sense

Aquila wrote:My only confusion: Does the "batshit-insane" refer to Don Quixote or Al Gore?
As Don Quixote is a fictional literary character, my money is on Al Gore.

Nope. Al Gore brought our doom upon us; our saviour is the one batshit insane, hence: Don Quixote.

dennisw · Postby **dennisw** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:15 pm UTC

Bulletmagnet wrote:Damn, I neglected to scroll the page and only saw the first eight panels before reading the "alt" text. It made considerably less sense

Aquila wrote:My only confusion: Does the "batshit-insane" refer to Don Quixote or Al Gore?
As Don Quixote is a fictional literary character, my money is on Al Gore.

Nope. Al Gore brought our doom upon us; our saviour is the one batshit insane, hence: Don Quixote.

Or Tom Cruise.

eblum · Postby **eblum** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:58 pm UTC

I was reading the comic when someone mentioned Don Quixote for some other reason... (It's a book that they make you read in schools in Spanish speaking countries.)

"En un lugar de la Mancha de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme..."

Don Qujote de la Mancha, Chapter I
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

pancake bunny · Postby **pancake bunny** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:06 am UTC

this may sound stupid but at first i thought it was the man in the hat.

beanjavert · Postby **beanjavert** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:09 am UTC

You know, I didn't get the Strider/Gordon Freeman idea right away but, looking back at the comic, it's pretty hard to see anything else (besides Don Quixote, obivously). Somewhat-coincidentally, someone brought up "Zero-Point Energy" a while ago... (Gravity Gun = Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator)

And then, too, the water-tower comment--Strider at the water tower!

This is easily my favorite xkcd ever.

hoofinasia · Postby **hoofinasia** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:22 am UTC

kudos on the art! very lively. good coloring. nice silhouettes.

Though quixote does look like an undead skeleton knight.

ThemePark · Postby **ThemePark** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:35 am UTC

brandtsound wrote:Wind power IS safe- the gamble is with actual payback- around the time they start EARNING money rather than just paying back your investment is the time when their COULD be mechanical problems- so it is a gamble. However, it is safe (well, except for maybe some birds- but that's debatable); Vestas (from Denmark) does a really good job of building them- their offshore ones are amazing!

that said, this is still an amazing comic today!! I hope this one becomes a poster

I knew Vestas would be mentioned sooner or later. :-D

Mmm, I do love it when my small country gets in the spotlight. :-D

dennisw wrote:
Bulletmagnet wrote:Damn, I neglected to scroll the page and only saw the first eight panels before reading the "alt" text. It made considerably less sense

Aquila wrote:My only confusion: Does the "batshit-insane" refer to Don Quixote or Al Gore?
As Don Quixote is a fictional literary character, my money is on Al Gore.

Nope. Al Gore brought our doom upon us; our saviour is the one batshit insane, hence: Don Quixote.

Or Tom Cruise.

My money's on Tom Cruise.

AWA · Postby **AWA** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:39 am UTC

Great comic...

I was waiting for one of the tripods (great pseudo-trilogy) to Cap one of the people...ah well...

arden13 · Postby **arden13** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:42 am UTC

I loved this comic! i honestly thought it was going to be a 'meh' comic until the end, and when he threw in Don Quixote, it mades it an entirely different, but coherent story. It was brilliant!

I don't think he needs a series for this though. it doesn't really need a continuation, as the last frame is powerful enough to make a story, or set of stories in its own way. Just my humble opinion though

jeszjesz · Postby **jeszjesz** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:49 am UTC

Not just Don Quixote, but Picasso's Don Quixote - sweet.

(Favourite quote from the book - "Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse")

dennisw · Postby **dennisw** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:40 am UTC

Randall, get out of my catalog!

This afternoon a Wireless catalog arrived in the mail. As I was flipping through it, I found Desktop Wind Turbine Models!

Also, in honor of comic 549, Princess Bride and Dread Pirate Roberts shirts (plus an action figure).

disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with this catalog or merchandise.

Dazlar · Postby **Dazlar** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:23 am UTC

THE QUIXOTE PROTOCOL!

Mr. Knowitall · Postby **Mr. Knowitall** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:35 am UTC

I LOVED the Tripod series when I was a kid! And I was just thinking about it recently. I guess that's a sign that I have to reread them.

ISammael · Postby **ISammael** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:12 am UTC

ryan wrote:I hope it is a series.

I saw Don Quixote at the end and went "yesssss"

As did I.

Randall, As You Wish.

ADXCKGuy · Postby **ADXCKGuy** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:35 am UTC

Clean energy, Wells, Christopher, Cervantes? One of my favorites in a long while.

SpazzyMcGee · Postby **SpazzyMcGee** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:44 am UTC

This was a good one.

I liked the color. I'm so used to the same old black and white that the simple sunset colors in the background really caught my interest.

The "Al Gore, you've doomed us all!" thing made me LOL. That guy is such a meme.

The Don Quixote thing right at the end was the perfect ending. It all tied togethor so well. It doesn't surpass Stone Man IMO, but I will definitely come back to this one in the future for a smile.

As for this talk about it being a series, it would be welcome but I think the ending of this individual comic was good enough.

pollywog · Postby **pollywog** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:57 am UTC

Wow. My favourite strip in a long time. Beautiful, surreal, imaginative, and funny, with a cool twist at the end.

I love randall's ability to take a normal scenario and turn it into an outlandish "What if...?"

The Scyphozoa · Postby **The Scyphozoa** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:00 am UTC

Well... yeah, but then the annoying thing is that we accept that "what if..." as real, then he makes another "what if..." about the first "what if..." and it doesn't really do anything.

alethiophile · Postby **alethiophile** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:11 am UTC

Looks like there'll be no series--or at least, not an updates-every-day one. I am sad.

mattflaschen · Postby **mattflaschen** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:57 am UTC

I assume besides the obvious Don Quixote reference, Randall is also referring to the proven fact that any source of electricity will attract NIMBYists, not only more obvious candidates like coal plants and nuclear reactors.

Naurgul · Postby **Naurgul** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:11 am UTC

mattflaschen wrote:I assume besides the obvious Don Quixote reference, Randall is also referring to the proven fact that any source of electricity will attract NIMBYists, not only more obvious candidates like coal plants and nuclear reactors.

We recently had an incident like that in Greece, only it was a town council that wanted to build the turbines, not simple citizens. I thought that such protesting against turbines would be common, but your post seems to imply that I was wrong.

Edit: Wow, so many new members. People are registering just to express their love for this comic. When I first read it, I thought I would be at least moderately unique in loving it so much.

crisco11 · Postby **crisco11** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:03 am UTC

This is the comic that finally made me register...

I had to read the first tripod book in 6th grade English and loved it, but for some reason I could never find any of the others in the trilogy in the bookstore. Maybe it is finally time to try Amazon.

I also thought the fact that the Hitchhiker's trilogy was actually five books was just part of the humor.

Thirdly, I just saw the opera version of Don Quixote, which was awesome, by the way.

The Free Man · Postby **The Free Man** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:16 am UTC

Interesting. The morning before this comic was up War of the Worlds was on TV at about 3 AM Pacific.

Coincidence?

pollywog · Postby **pollywog** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:40 am UTC

Yeah, probably.

Julien · Postby **Julien** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:32 am UTC

Brilliant, I say, brilliant. The plot is thrilling and the art is just xkcd at its top.

Congratulations.

Protector one · Postby **Protector one** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:10 am UTC

Did no one notice the World of Goo reference? (The windmills + color scheme.)

Naurgul · Postby **Naurgul** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:50 am UTC

Contrabass wrote:Anyone else notice the striking resemblance to the windmill level in World of Goo?

Protector one wrote:Did no one notice the World of Goo reference? (The windmills + color scheme.)

I don't really think it's a reference, it seems more like a coincidence. The colour scheme is very different and not every windmill is a reference to WoG.

Here's a comparison:

Spoiler:

Edit

Spoiler:

Shallot · Postby **Shallot** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 1:01 pm UTC

FUCKING YES. Also, that first panel? Best use of gradients I've ever seen.

atheneschild1 · Postby **atheneschild1** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:14 pm UTC

The last frame in this comic references a specific painting, one that a friend has been looking for, for years. Does anyone know this painting's name?

Thank you.

sje46 · Postby **sje46** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:15 pm UTC

atheneschild1 wrote:The last frame in this comic references a specific painting, one that a friend has been looking for, for years. Does anyone know this painting's name?

Thank you.

Your friend hasn't googled "Picasso Don Quixote"?
I Think it's called "Don Quixote".
http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/CERVANTE/csa/artics92/lo_re.htm

Susy · Postby **Susy** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:21 pm UTC

THIS IS THE GREATES RANDALL´S COMIC EVER!!!!

I TOTALLY LOVE IT...

AND AGAIN: RANDALL GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!

chrth · Postby **chrth** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:56 pm UTC

Another new person logging in to praise the comic here. Fantastic. Has something for everyone.

As for the Tripods, my encounter with them was when they were serialized as a comic in Boy's Life.

atheneschild1 · Postby **atheneschild1** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:12 pm UTC

sje46 wrote:
atheneschild1 wrote:The last frame in this comic references a specific painting, one that a friend has been looking for, for years. Does anyone know this painting's name?

Thank you.

Your friend hasn't googled "Picasso Don Quixote"?
I Think it's called "Don Quixote".
http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/CERVANTE/csa/artics92/lo_re.htm

The painting we are thinking of definitely uses Picasso's depiction, but it is a watercolor, with the exact coloration as the comic strip.

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