0761: "DFS"

[Powder]

Alt-Text: "A breadth-first search makes a lot of sense for dating in general, actually; it suggests dating a bunch of people casually before getting serious, rather than having a series five-year relationships one after the other."

I have to agree with this strategy for dating. Learn what works for you then narrow down your search. Breadth-first FTW!

[FCN]

What happened to his hair?

[pheonix7117]

It was struck by lightning while he investigated snakes.

[Qaanol]

List items #4

First panel: Bee eating contest
Second panel: Tracheal fouling
Third panel: Coral snake

[mowdownjoe]

IS that a towel or cargo pants he's wearing? Or, perish the thought, parachute pants? Is he dating the girl that can only move with the MC Hammer slide?

[wackojacko1138]

IS that a towel or cargo pants he's wearing? Or, perish the thought, parachute pants? Is he dating the girl that can only move with the MC Hammer slide?

It's a towel. Because, you know, he isn't dressed. Hence the "you're not dressed?"

[Persona]

Those are towels. He just finished his before-date shower.

Relatedly, his hair dried. You didn't think all the xkcd characters were actually bald before, did ya?

[lsdigit]

Also Taipans are aggressive buggers.

[Schwolop]

What's a good heuristic to use with A* in order to improve my dating strategy?

[jazz12]

Breadth First Search - Explore a range of partners~ and then explore their neighbours?

[myrcutio]

if only there was a graph for the number of searches done while not wearing pants/proximity to a date or woman

[cjmcjmcjmcjm]

Not too funny, but so true

[sje46]

He should have done 3 panels on the top and two at the bottom. Or just five across on one row.

If anyone's too lazy to Google, LD50 refers to the amount of substance that is lethal to 50% of a population.

[Platypodes]

Breadth First Search - Explore a range of partners~ and then explore their neighbours?

I think that would be when you start with people in your immediate social circle, and then go on blind dates with friends-of-friends.

Less literal interpretation: start with people in your immediate social circle, then acquaintances, then people who shop at your supermarket, then you start going to bars in nearby towns, and eventually you end up on the internet e-dating people in other countries.

Edit:

He should have done 3 panels on the top and two at the bottom. Or just five across on one row.

The big white abyss is a bit distracting, yeah. I think 2, 2, 1 would have been good.

[Steve the Pocket]

DFS? More like ADD, amirite?

[Gerino]

That's.... so.... true -.0

[Orca]

Amusing. Amusing, but not excellent.

[eviloatmeal]

Wikipedia syndrome! RANDAALLLL!!!

[prometheus3737]

This comic certainly was far from the best of XKCD, but it also wasn't the worst. I'd put it on the lower side of mediocre. The layout on the other hand makes me makes me want to punch Randal in the face so hard his momma feels it.

[Gnatty]

Interesting to note that the characters are less clothed when they actually have clothes (or towels) drawn on...the layout annoyed me too. I sat there waiting for something to flash up....but I was disappointed

[Eternal Density]

This is why it's best to just write a search spider to do all the work and report back the results.

I quite like taking metaphors too far. It's like when you take a long walk off a short pier and step into a motorboat...

[skeptical scientist]

So, how many panels did people make it through before figuring out the acronym DFS?

(I figured it out while reading panel 3.)

[Richard.]

List items #4

First panel: Bee eating contest

wut.

Second panel: Tracheal fouling

could it be "Tracheal fowling"? kinda looks like a 'w'

Wikipedia syndrome! RANDAALLLL!!!

Same. For some reason, nature's biological extremes always keep me on wikipedia foreverz, "Turritopsis nutricula" for instance. AKA the "immortal jellyfish." and don't even get me started on deep sea life...

I do in-depth searches like this all the time. It helps if you dont go too in-depth

[Madtentacle]

Breadth-first works best on dating because you are looking for the minimal number of moves to achieve coitus. On the other hand it takes some time to set up a breadth-first. I tried to use a breadth-first on an exam because it seemed appropriate, but didn't have time to get it to work properly. I barely passed the exam, and when I got the example solutions from my professor I saw that he had used depth-first and simply limited the number of levels. And he used global variables. And another time he used goto because it was easier .

EDIT: actually breadth first in a literal sense would be to set up a que and date everybody at the same time. and very slowly moving every relationship forward one step at a time.

[winter]

For dating you really should use something like A* instead. Use heuristics to keep you more or less on track, but allow for mistakes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A*

Edit: A* Ninja'd

[TheEponymousBob]

What's a good heuristic to use with A* in order to improve my dating strategy?

Breast-first search.

[Patashu]

I laughed. But I'm a nerd, so.

[captHij]

Another problem with a depth first search dating strategy is that when you move on you end up dating the friends and nearby nodes first. Is there a way to add simulated annealing to the search algorithm to make it increase the distance between nodes?

[Burn0ut07]

Got a good chuckle out of this one, though not sure I would have liked it as much if I didn't know what DFS was right away.

[jords]

Perhaps an iterative deepening search? That could get weird for dating, though...

So, how many panels did people make it through before figuring out the acronym DFS?

(I figured it out while reading panel 3.)

Just did an algorithms paper. Didn't have to figure it out

[meatyochre]

Perhaps an iterative deepening search? That could get weird for dating, though...

but good for sex

[Karilyn]

I generally disagree with the alt text. Never really understood casual dating.

Seems like it's an easy enough feat to identify individuals you are compatible/incompatible with, if you understand yourself, without the need for dating a large number of people. With a more focused search, you can instead dedicate time to more extended relationships with individuals, instead of attempting to test every person you meet.

[Dobblesworth]

So, how many panels did people make it through before figuring out the acronym DFS?

The only DFS I'm aware of is a certain furniture chain store in the UK, of the kind that only ever seems to be on a 50% seasonal sale.

[suso]

List items #4

First panel: Bee eating contest
Second panel: Tracheal fouling
Third panel: Coral snake

Heh, what the hell is Tracheal Fouling? BTW, you just make a single google result for that, whatever they call those. Sorry, I probably just screwed it up though.

[Istaro]

List items #4

First panel: Bee eating contest
Second panel: Tracheal fouling
Third panel: Coral snake

Heh, what the hell is Tracheal Fouling? BTW, you just make a single google result for that, whatever they call those. Sorry, I probably just screwed it up though.

Googlewhack? Man, haha, that brings me back!

P.S. Qaanol, good job. The only reason I logged on to the forums today was to see if anyone had figured out the cut-off items. I kinda suspsected someone would have.

[cburke]

What happened to his hair?

Proof that stress and worrying cause hair loss.

[Pikrass]

So, how many panels did people make it through before figuring out the acronym DFS?

(I figured it out while reading panel 3.)

I figured it out immediately. We're programmers or we're not.

I generally disagree with the alt text. Never really understood casual dating.

Seems like it's an easy enough feat to identify individuals you are compatible/incompatible with, if you understand yourself, without the need for dating a large number of people. With a more focused search, you can instead dedicate time to more extended relationships with individuals, instead of attempting to test every person you meet.

So true. I personally wait to start loving someone that I know. One don't fall into some troubles when one's tree is just a node (or a list, with Randall's definition of depth in the title-text).

[SirMustapha]

Breadth-first works best on dating because you are looking for the minimal number of moves to achieve coitus.

Ok, now listen.

The moment when you start talking like a "character" from an xkcd comic, STOP.

It's not healthy, it's not nice, it's not smart.

Talking like that, neither breadth-first nor depth-first nor ANY kind of search will help.

The problem with the guy from the comic is not that he used the wrong algorithm -- it's just that he doesn't behave like a human being. That is generally not very good for dates.

But on second thought... neither does the girl behave like a human being. "I'm here to pick you up. You're not dressed?". NO ONE talks like that.

I guess common sense doesn't apply. My normal approach is useless here.

[Brevifolia]

This is how I know XKCD is stalking me...

I get my first date in 5 or so years today and today's comic is this?!?


Randall has control over the satellites ladies and gentlemen. They are all his.

[entropomorphic]

"A breadth-first search makes a lot of sense for dating in general, actually; it suggests dating a bunch of people casually before getting serious, rather than having a series five-year relationships one after the other."

RANDALL THIS COMIC IS FIVE YEARS TOO LATE!!!