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In an attempt to explain the origin of the webcomic's title, Explain xkcd provided an argument that the name is a reference to The Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything from the science fiction novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe. The editors initially ran their own explanations for each comic strip, but later enabled a commenting system for readers to share their own interpretations as well, which could be then put to a vote by the userbase. The website Explain xkcd was registered on August 10th, 2009, which provides thorough explanations of the subject matter discussed in each xkcd comic.
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Other recurring characters include a woman named Megan with short hair, a nihilist that is often paired with an existentialist wearing a beret, and a boy in a barrel, as well as representations of famous people, including blogger Cory Doctorow, free software advocate Richard Stallman, Firefly cast members Summer Glau and Nathan Fillion and zombie versions of Richard Feynman and Marie Curie.
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Then I have the guy in the hat so I’d put all that on him and then say “but that’s not the main guy, he’s much nicer than that” and, and I took that, the black hat symbolizes that for me because Aram from the now ended webcomic Men in Hats also wore a hat. That’s just a recipe for comedy right there. A lot of the time, I’m in a real life situation and I think what’s the most hurtful thing, what’s the worst way this can go, and have someone do that gleefully. I started putting the man in the hat, when I just wanted to say the most absurd thing. Munroe revealed in an interview with Wikinews that the black hat-wearing xkcd figure frequently seen throughout the series was inspired by the character Aram from the webcomic Men in Hats.
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