October 2017
October 2017
[Megan and Cueball are walking.] Megan: Want to feel old? Cueball: Why do you always start your factoids that way? Of course I don't want to feel old. I already feel old.
[Slim beat panel where they keep walking.]
[In a frame-less panel only Cueball is shown walking.] Cueball: ...Fine, hit me.
[Megan holds her hand up as they again are shown walking together. Cueball balls his hands up into fists in response to her comment.] Megan: If you broke a mirror back when the Aaron Sorkin Facebook movie came out, your seven years of bad luck would be over this week. Cueball: Dammit.

Randall once again makes us feel old by referencing an old movie that our memory puts as recent. The movie in question is The Social Network , written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher , which was released seven years and three days prior to this comic, on October 1, 2010. Seven years is also how long some people believe bad luck will follow you after breaking a mirror .
Megan has often tried to make Cueball feel old and he thus claims he doesn't want to hear another of her factoids that will make him feel older, as he already feels old. Megan actually complies, but in the end Cueball gets too curious and ask her to hit him with the fact, which he immediately regrets.
A mirror was previously broken by Black Hat in 1136: Broken Mirror . However, as of October 2017, there are still 2 years left of bad luck.
The title text refers to the the 2016 US presidential election which took place on November 8, 2016, almost 11 months before this comic, and Randall/Cueball cannot understand that this is not longer ago. Donald Trump won in a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton ( Randall 's preferred of the two, see 1756: I'm With Her ). A common refrain, especially among comedians, is that Donald Trump's tumultuous presidency so far has been so stressful and eventful that the election feels like it took place far longer than 11 months ago. Backward telescoping is a psychological effect that causes people to overestimate the elapsed time since an event.
Interestingly, the title of this comic is patterned on the previous "this will make you feel old" comic " November 2016 ," which was published in the early hours of November 9th, while the presidential election's ballots were still being counted. Some people (including explain xkcd editors, writing in that explanation's trivia section, see that for more details, also on this special title name) felt that Randall could have published something more timely, and commented that the election had made them feel old enough as it was. By using the same sort of title and making this joke, Randall brings the whole thing full circle.
Shortly after the election Randall made several comics that could indicate his emotions regarding the result, but references to the election have become fewer and farther apart and here he again indicates that he has not been happy with the election result and what has followed, causing him to feel that all these bad things could not really have happened in less than a year, but they did.
[Megan and Cueball are walking.] Megan: Want to feel old? Cueball: Why do you always start your factoids that way? Of course I don't want to feel old. I already feel old.
[Slim beat panel where they keep walking.]
[In a frame-less panel only Cueball is shown walking.] Cueball: ...Fine, hit me.
[Megan holds her hand up as they again are shown walking together. Cueball balls his hands up into fists in response to her comment.] Megan: If you broke a mirror back when the Aaron Sorkin Facebook movie came out, your seven years of bad luck would be over this week. Cueball: Dammit.
