xkcd is completely unfunny and overrated. It's riding on the coattails of 3-4 years ago, when it actually used to be good. Now it just panders to high schoolers and "misunderstood nerd" living stereotypes.

Nitpicking, maybe... but you actually think that there are only a FEW people who still appreciate paper books? We must live in very different places, because even the nerdiest of my social circle (and I work in InfoSec) won't touch e-books with a ten foot pole.

Are you kidding? I've been obsessively reloading status.twitter.com since I got in this morning!

This is exactly how I feel about xkcd. It doesn't seem to exist as an honest form of expression for its own sake, but rather as a series of attempts to get its readers to go "yeah! I get that reference! go me!" When it tries to be sentimental or romantic, it ends up being syrupy-sweet glurge. When it tries to make a statement, it comes off preachy. Most of the time, it's just warmed-over references to year old memes and random, bizarre situations that are weird for the sake of being weird rather than actually creative.

The worst part of it all is that I could just dismiss it as yet another webcomic I dislike if it wasn't IMPOSSIBLE to avoid. It's linked to and +5 funnied in nearly every Slashdot thread. You can't bring up something computer or science related on a forum without some "clever" person digging out a tangentially related xkcd strip. Oh, and because I work in computer security, I got that idiotic "Bobby Tables" strip emailed to me about a thousand times.

I'm just glad to find out that there are a handful of like-minded nerds who don't deify xkcd. It's cute sometimes, I guess, but we're not taking Bill Watterson level material here.

I grew up in Windham, Maine. It was a 6.5 mile drive just to my High School. Plus, riding your bike on the narrow shoulder of US-202 while cars are flying by you at 40mph wasn't exactly the safest thing in the world, and that's if the shoulder wasn't piled up with snow. If you were lucky, you'd know some kids living on your road, but in most cases you were stuck begging for rides.

I tend to drown myself in books when I'm depressed. I find TV more of a passive activity (watching other people do stuff) and books more engaging (I tend to put myself into the action of the book I am reading.) TV actually pisses me off when I'm in a bad mood, especially sitcoms, as my life problems don't typically resolve themselves in 30 minutes. :P

So you mean you've never, ever had an evening where you're in the mood to hang out with people, but circumstances (a bad cold, on call at work, really shitty weather,) prohibit you from doing otherwise? Right.

I'm single and have no roommate. I find it soothing to have the TV or a movie on when I am home, even if I am reading or doing chores. I don't get the same effect with music. My theory is that just having some kind of conversation in the background helps me to feel less lonely when I'm by myself.

Do I consider myself "unhappy?" I suppose a little lonely at times, but who isn't?

Wow, so you've never, ever lost touch with someone you knew in a former life (job, school, neighborhood) and/or never had the desire to look them up? You must have one hell of an address book.

Lucky you. Neither my crappy uni nor my hick high school has alumni lists. Well, I am sure the uni does, as they manage to send me letters begging for money once a month, but none of that info is available to me.

I've managed to find my old friends on facebook and linkedin; hopefully none of those sites become as shady as classmates have become, though facebook is starting to get there.

Here, here. I'm single because I haven't found the right guy yet. I'd love to be in a relationship, but I refuse to settle for someone I'm not really into. Some people seem to think it's actually UNHEALTHY that I want a boyfriend, even though I'm obviously not desperate for one, nor do I feel my life is lacking because I'm unattached. I simply think it'd be nice to have someone to curl up with on the couch and watch movies, share nice dinners with, etc.

I don't think there's anything wrong with people who prefer to be single, but I wish they'd stop thinking of me as a codependent loser because I'd like to be with someone.

When I started it I found a huge increase in energy levels that helped motivate me to work out more. I also found I began to crave vegetables. Fiber is encouraged with Atkins as it has some kind of effect of reducing the sugars absorbed. Overall I really don't eat more protein. I get full more easily from protein and fiber meals. Rather than feeling hungry a few hours after eating previously.

Now I maintain this diet because cutting out sugars has improved overall concentration and depression. I used to think I had some kind of depression problem, turned out to be what I was eating.