Prescriptions
| Prescriptions |
| Original blog post on Building a Smarter Planet: http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2009/08/1998.html |
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Explanation
Two special "A Smarter Planet" comics were created by Randal after a special request from IBM's blog A Smarter Planet. They are not part of the regular numbered series of comics for xkcd's home site.
This comic references to the stereotype of doctors' handwriting being illegible, which is a very bad thing when you need a very specific medication and your pharmacy clerk can't read the numbers. Cueball is eager for his doctor to start signing his prescription digitally, as it means less paperwork and faster response time, but his enthusiasm fades when the doctor somehow manages to type in illegible handwriting. This could theoretically be done with a bad handwriting font, though most computerized forms don't allow you to change their font. The prescription number is given as "THX1138", the first film directed by George Lucas.
The RSA fingerprint given in the second panel 5e:2c:eb:ea:cc:1e:1b:ed:5f:96 is only 80 bits long, as it is expressed in hexdecimal each two characters representing a byte, which is of relatively low security.
Transcript
- [Header: Good news: Doctors are finally learning to use modern security tools.]
- Doctor: No need for phone verification. I've digitally signed it.
- [Header: Bad news: They've somehow learned to type with terrible handwriting.]
- [A close up of the document given to the patient by the doctor]:
- Prescription THX1138 RSA fingerprint:
- [in nearly unintelligible characters]: 5e:2c:eb:ea:cc:1e:1b:ed:5f:96
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I separated A Smarter Planet into two pages. One for each comic in the series.--17jiangz1 (talk) 12:54, 10 April 2015 (UTC)
