Randall Munroe

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Randall Munroe speaking at MIT.
Randall Munroe speaking at MIT.

Randall Patrick Munroe (born October 17, 1984) is a self-described "pen/pencil operator" and programmer best known for creating the webcomic xkcd. A native of Easton, Pennsylvania, Munroe grew up in Chesterfield, Virginia and graduated from Christopher Newport University in 2006 with a degree in physics.[1][2] Munroe worked as a contractor for NASA before and after graduation, but his contract was not renewed in 2006, and he began to write xkcd full-time, supported by the sale of related merchandise.[3]

Munroe is also the creator of the websites BestThing, The Funniest, The Fairest, and The Cutest, which present users with two options and ask them to choose the one that is better, funnier, prettier, or cuter respectively. A scoring algorithm is then used by each site to rank the options over time, based entirely on choices made by the users, to determine the best thing, the funniest image, or the prettiest image. All of the options presented to users are provided by other users. A sub-project of BestThing is BestDate, which uses the same principle to determine what is the best possible date to go on.

He has also created the WetRiffs website, as a joke, 1 month after drawing the Rule 34 comic, "lamenting the lack of guitar-in-the-shower pictures on the internet" [4] and the LimerickDB to encourage the creation of new and the collection of old limericks. [5] Most recently he started a Geohashing wiki based on comic #426, which contains an algorithm that generates pseudo-random coordinates around the world every day. These coordinates can then be used as destinations for adventures, similar to geocaching.

Aside from maintaining his websites, Munroe also engages in kite photography, in which cameras are attached to kites and pictures are then taken of the ground or buildings.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ xkcd - A webcomic.
  2. ^ 582 students receive diplomas from Christopher Newport University. Christopher Newport University (2006-05-17). Retrieved on 2008-05-30.
  3. ^ xkcd.
  4. ^ http://wetriffs.com/
  5. ^ xkcd blog: LimerickDB.com.
  6. ^ Ben Kuchera, The joys of kite photography, Ars Technica, 2007-07-02

[edit] External links

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Persondata
NAME Munroe, Randall
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION webcomic author
DATE OF BIRTH October 17, 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH Easton, Pennsylvania, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH