explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

949: File Transfer

2017-07-09T01:49:29Z

162.158.214.64:

{{comic
| number = 949
| date = September 9, 2011
| title = File Transfer
| image = file_transfer.png
| titletext = Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend's laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is trying to help two people, his friend and his friend's cousin, exchange a 25 MB file. Most people know how to use email to send files through the internet, but 25 MB exceeds the attachment size limit of most email services. The reason there is a limit is because every email has to be transferred between several mail transfer agents, and each one has to temporarily store a copy of the email. Space constraints on those mail servers means that they must impose size limits, and an email with such a large attachment will therefore not be delivered.

The next option is to upload the file to an FTP server (FTP stands for {{w|File Transfer Protocol}}, as opposed to HTTP, {{w|Hypertext Transfer Protocol}}), used to transfer files between computers on a shared network, such as the internet. However, FTP servers are a touch more esoteric than a mere email attachment, and many internet users don't have access to one of their own.

Web hosting is simply the ability to create a website and store all the data for said website on a server which is connected to the internet. If Cueball's friend's cousin had the ability to do that, sharing the file would be as easy as putting a copy of it in an accessible directory and sending the link to the desired recipient.

{{w|Megaupload}} was one of many sites on the internet that recognizes most users' inability to host large files on their own, and so offers to host large files, sometimes for free, sometimes for a small fee. The payoff is that in order to make such a service profitable, many of these sites are cluttered with banner and pop up ads in a mad effort to squeeze as much ad revenue out of every page view as possible. It's not a dealbreaker for some, but Cueball seems to think it'll be too much for his friend's cousin to handle.

{{w|AOL Instant Messenger|AIM}} direct connect was a file sharing system on AOL Instant Messenger, which was already suffering severe drops in popularity by the year 2000. Clearly, Cueball is grasping at straws here: anybody desperate enough to invoke the name of AOL as a solution instead of a problem must be at their wits' end.

{{w|Dropbox (service)|Dropbox}} is a program with a web-based GUI that automates file sharing between two computers on the internet. But this solution also has its issues, as it requires that at least the sending party has a Dropbox account. Installing Dropbox software is not actually required, since Dropbox also provides a web interface for uploading and downloading files. At the time of the comic's publication, Dropbox was still relatively new and unknown, thus why it is not Cueball's first suggestion.

While Cueball is still explaining Dropbox, the friend's cousin has copied the file to a USB drive and physically transported it to the friend's house, circumventing the internet entirely. It's not an elegant solution, but sometimes traditional methods are the most efficient ways to get something done.

When used to transfer files between computers in the same room or building, this same approach is referred to as {{w|sneakernet}}. This comic is also an illustration of what {{w|Andy Tanenbaum}} said in 1989: ''Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.'' Sneakernet was examined in this [https://what-if.xkcd.com/31/ What If] article.

{{w|Tim Berners-Lee}} is considered to be the inventor of the World Wide Web. In the title text, [[Randall]] implies that he would be disturbed by the need today to use two separate protocols (smtp for sending the file as an email attachment and http for retrieving the file from the mail server web interface) to perform a third, unrelated, obvious function such as file transfer.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands near a computer, talking on the phone to another person.]

:Cueball: You want your cousin to send you a file? easy. He can email it to- ...Oh, it's 25 MB? Hmm...
:Cueball: Do either of you have an FTP server? No, right.
:Cueball: If you had web hosting, you could upload it...
:Cueball: Hm. We could try one of those MegaShareUpload sites, but they're flaky and full of delays and porn popups.
:Cueball: How about AIM Direct Connect? Anyone still use that?
:Cueball: Oh, wait, Dropbox! It's this recent startup from a few years back that syncs folders between computers. You just need to make an account, install the-
:Cueball: Oh, he just drove over to your house with a USB drive?
:Cueball: Uh, cool, that works too.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I like how we've had the internet for decades, yet "sending files" is something early adopters are still figuring out how to do.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

White Hat

2017-07-08T23:07:52Z

162.158.214.64:

{{Infobox character
| image = white_hat.png
| caption = White hat as seen in [[973: MTV Generation]]
| first_appearance = [[260: The Glass Necklace]]
}}
'''White Hat''' is a [[stick figure]] character in [[xkcd]]. He is distinguished by his eponymous white hat which appears to be in the shape and style of a {{w|boater}}. His appearance is identical to that of [[Black Hat]] other than the color of their respective hats. Unlike Black Hat, however, White Hat doesn't necessarily represent the same character in each appearance.

Interestingly, the two characters have been depicted together only in [[1110: Click and Drag]], [[1000: 1000 Comics]], [[1708: Dehydration]], and [[1756: I'm With Her]] still without a real connection between them, although they actually speak in the same setting in [[1708]], the other three being [[:Category:Large drawings|large drawings comics]] where they do not meet. The same goes for the other white hat guy, [[Beret Guy]]. See more on how little these three interact in xkcd in the explanation for [[:Category:Characters with Hats|Characters with Hats]].

In early comics, White Hat appeared mostly as a rare secondary character. But starting with comic [[915: Connoisseur]], White Hat began appearing more often and developed more of a personality, often playing the role of a philosophically misguided person. In this way, he's a bit of a {{w|straw man}}, making logical fallacies to help advance [[Randall|Randall's]] point (see also [[973: MTV Generation]], [[1215: Insight]], [[1255: Columbus]] and [[1277: Ayn Random]]). Other times, he is simply an alternative to [[Cueball]] or one of the other main characters.

In [[603: Idiocracy]] a character with a white hat appears, but it is a rounded safari hat very unlike White Hat's usual boater. He also has a very different mindset so there is no reason to believe that he is White Hat at all, and the comic has been removed from the list of those with White Hat. Main reason for this, is that White Hat already appeared in his normal hat three times before that comic, and Safari Hat guy has never been shown again, except in [[1000: 1000 Comics]].

==See also==
*[[:Category:Comics featuring White Hat|Comics featuring White Hat]]

{{navbox-characters}}
[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Characters with Hats]]

1819: Sweet 16

2017-04-04T12:08:15Z

162.158.214.64: An alternate explanation of the NBA 2k17 teams

{{comic
| number = 1819
| date = April 3, 2017
| title = Sweet 16
| image = sweet_16.png
| titletext = Every year I make out my bracket at the season, and every year it's busted before the first game when I find out which teams are playing.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Explain individual markings better, explain title text}}
{{w|March Madness}}, with its championship on the day this comic was published, features 68 basketball teams in an elimination bracket. Due to the setup the final three rounds (including the championship game) feature 16 teams, and are sometimes called the "Sweet 16" (an American slang term also used to describe someone's 16th birthday).

In this comic however, the bracket of the final 16 is not filled in with actual names, but descriptions of the odd circumstances of each team. For example, the first team is "a school with a dog on their team", a reference to {{w|Air Bud}}. The team descriptions become increasingly bizarre, comprising varied sports and pop culture references and and often building on and playing off of previous team descriptions.

The first four teams on the left are comprised partially or completely of animals, which are most likely pets, but could be animals for assisting disabled persons, emotional support animals, police dogs, feral cats, etc. The next two teams consist of some form of baseball-basketball crossover. The bottom two teams on the left feature developers and players of NBA 2k17, a basketball video game by 2K Games.

The first team on the right, the 1988 LA Lakers is an actual NBA team. They are paired against a team of four kindergarteners and current Cleveland player Lebron James (born 1984), who was also a kindergartner in 1988.

The next two teams feature basketball-boxing crossovers. The bracket after that features teams on unconventional mobility aids, Segways and stilts.

The final two teams are Cinderella teams. A Cinderella story is when a weak team works hard to achieve success. The final team consists of players wearing glass slippers, often a part of the Cinderella fairy tale.

The title text explains what the heck [[Randall]] was doing to make this comic: Randall is incredibly out of touch with sports. During March Madness a popular pastime is to take a look at the starting bracket of all 68 teams and speculate who will win each round. Randall, when handed a blank bracket, instead fills it with teams he ''wants'' to see play rather than who is actually in the tournament. A bracket is considered "busted" when a number of predicted teams lose earlier than expected. In this case, since Randall has not correctly predicted any of the teams in the tournament, his bracket is busted from the beginning - none of the teams he picked have any chance of actually winning the NCAA tournament because none of them were selected for the official tournament bracket. Thus, Randall's bracket is busted - he can't win with the teams he picked.

Related to [[1529: Bracket]]

===Table of the bracket===

{| class="wikitable"
!Grouping
!Team
!Explanation
|-
|rowspan="2"|School dog teams
|A school with a dog on their team
|rowspan="2"|Possibly a reference to {{w|Air Bud}}. Given Buddy's abilities, this would be an interesting experiment to see if a team of dogs can outcompete humans.
|-
|A school whose team is entirely dogs

|-
|rowspan="2"|Dog teams
|A dog team with one human
|rowspan="2"|This might be the continuation of the experiment. The cat might serve as a control.
|-
|A dog team with one cat

|-
|rowspan="2"|Baseball/basketball mashup
|A baseball team playing basketball
|rowspan="2"|Perhaps this is to see if a baseball team can play basketball as efficiently as a basketball team if both are outfitted with the same hindering equipment. While basketball doesn't require any gear and favours outfits that permit free movement, baseball has helmets, bats and thick gloves.
|-
|A basketball team with baseball gear

|-
|rowspan="2"|NBA 2k17 (video game)
|NBA 2k17 top players
|rowspan="2"|Given that the video game includes not only the current NBA players, but also some of the most successful teams in history, it's hard to see how the game developers can stand a chance. Alternately, the developers might play the video game against the AI as the players. Or, "top players" may refer to the humans who are best at playing the video game NBA 2k17, playing a real game of basketball against the developers.
|-
|NBA 2k17 top developers

|-
|rowspan="2"|1988 players
|The 1988 Los Angeles Lakers
|rowspan="2"|The Los Angeles Lakers were at their height, winning a rare repeat victory. LeBron James is one of the most well-known basketball players. At the time of the 1988 finals, he was 4 years old, so even with his later talent and with the support of 4 kindergarteners, it would be tough for him to win the game. However, he might have a better chance if he played in the present, what with the 1988 Lakers team members being well over 50. It should be noted that the NBA requires a minimum of 13 team members.
|-
|Four kindergarteners and Lebron James

|-
|rowspan="2"|Boxer/basketball mashup
|Boxers playing basketball
|rowspan="2"|Perhaps this is to see if boxers team can play basketball as efficiently as a basketball team if both are outfitted with the same hindering equipment.
|-
|Basketball players in boxing gloves

|-
|rowspan="2"|Elevated players
|A team playing on stilts
|rowspan="2"|Not unlike {{w|segway polo}}, segway basketball would have the benifit of reducing physical exertion. Stilts, on the other hand, could help reach the hoops.
|-
|A team playing on segways

|-
|rowspan="2"|Cinderella teams
|A bad team that would make a good Cinderella story
|rowspan="2"|In a regular match, a good team could easily win against a bad team, but with glass slippers only for the good team, the bad team's chances increase drastically. That the team would make a good Cinderella story implies that the team will win against all expectations. Note: Regular glass would break when moving around too much, safety glass or similarly resilient material is recommended.
|-
|A good team playing in glass slippers

|}

==Transcript==
:[The comic shows a direct elimination bracket (a single-elimination tournament): there is a single match played by every pair of teams, and the winners of those matches are paired up for the next round of matches, this continues until there are no more matches to be played. There are sixteen teams described here (hence the number in the title), eight on each side of the empty rectangle in the middle. Every two teams are connected, these connectors are then also connected, these connectors are yet again connected, and a final pair of connectors, after making one counter-clockwise right angle turn, end up in the top and bottom edges of the central rectangle. The bracket is empty, no results of any of the matches are indicated.]

:{| class="wikitable" style="background:transparent;border:none;width:100%;"
| style="background:transparent;border:none;" |
 [These are paired.]
 A school with a dog on their team
 A school whose team is entirely dogs

 [These are paired.]
 A dog team with one human
 A dog team with one cat

 [These are paired.]
 A baseball team playing basketball
 A basketball team with baseball gear

 [These are paired.]
 NBA2K17 top players
 NBA2K17 top developers

| style="background:transparent;border:none;" |
 [These are paired.]
 The 1988 Los Angeles lakers
 Four kindergarteners and Lebron James

 [These are paired.]
 Boxers playing basketball
 Basketball players in boxing gloves

 [These are paired.]
 A team playing on stilts
 A team playing on Segways

 [These are paired.]
 A bad team that would make a good Cinderella story
 A good team playing in glass slippers

|}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1770: UI Change

2016-12-09T17:05:45Z

162.158.214.64: Changes in society's user interface?

Maybe a reference to the reddit iOS app randomly swapping the positions of upvote/downvote and the share button? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.30|162.158.75.30]] 15:22, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

Man, Facebook Android App did this just this morning! Comments are broken![[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:01, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

Pretty funny how the explainer so far focused on physical deterioration (old people's bodies beginning to fail) with respect to the offscreen comment. Randall is an environmentalist like everyone else, but even he clearly acknowledges in this comic that the point is mental deterioration and intelligence decrease with age -- failure to grasp things such as interfaces as fast as before. It's not about motor performance at all. <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>

Title text scenario: the ''Windows 8 removed START button'' was reintroduced first via community hacks ("classic shell"), then officially with version 8.1 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8#Upgraded_versions (ref.WIKI)] and is still there now (W10 - but, how long for?): sometimes it just makes sense to go back, IF/WHEN possible [[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.218|162.158.150.218]] 15:07, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

The title text has two levels: both Application interfaces and getting old. Randall is likely referencing Google's Calico lab which made a minor media buzz in 2013 with headlines like CNN's, "How Google's Calico aims to fight aging and 'solve death'. The MSN feed recently featured one of these stories along with Microsoft trying to "solve" cancer.

" products claiming to grant it have all been shams" That is exactly what they want you to believe! [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 15:57, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

Psst!, the title text is politics duh. Old people protest with their vote to change things back. Now if they are angry enough, politicians will change things back, right? 'Cause that's always possible.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.148|162.158.114.148]] 16:57, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

I'm not sure the "getting old" refers to loss of physical and mental function so much as "arbitrary" changes in society's "user interface": newspapers disappearing, face-to-face socializing being displaced by on-line interactions, job discrimination against older workers (especially those who haven't updated their skills), etc.