explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2165: Millennials

2019-06-19T15:05:11Z

162.158.58.75:

I never understand the american obsession with naming generations, and it deeply confuses me. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 14:22, 19 June 2019 (UTC)
:You're calling it an American obsession, but I've never been obsessed with it myself. Instead, I suspect it's an American media obsession, and I'd prefer not to be associated with them. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 14:46, 19 June 2019 (UTC)
This is very similar to comic https://xkcd.com/973/ in which White Hat criticizes a different generation. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.160.134|172.69.160.134]] 15:03, 19 June 2019 (UTC)

I was under the impression that 'millenials' were those born in the 90s, in between gen y and gen z. I think there is a 'slight' trend that my generation has trouble 'growing up' even as adults. Many friends, if they haven't had kids they might still be living at home. Some even have kids and are still living with their parents. Myself, I don't see why a family structure couldn't work that way and still be healthy, I think the 'issue' comes from the older generations trying to keep the societal norms steady, and in the 1950s, when a boy turned 18 he became a 'man' and was promptly kicked out of the house, like a bird from a nest, or something like that... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.75|162.158.58.75]] 15:05, 19 June 2019 (UTC) Sam

2161: An Apple a Day

2019-06-11T15:16:10Z

162.158.58.75: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2161
| date = June 10, 2019
| title = An Apple a Day
| image = an_apple_a_day.png
| titletext = Even the powerful, tart Granny Smith cultivar is proving ineffective against new Gran-negative doctors.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GRAN-NEGATIVE APPLE-RESISTANT DOCTOR. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

"{{w|An apple a day keeps the doctor away}}" is a common English {{w|proverb}} and {{w|rhyme}}. The suggestion is that eating one apple daily will keep you healthy, and therefore reduce your necessity to go to the doctor, or, more literally and as used to be the case when this proverb was likely written, to {{w|house_call|have the doctor come to you}}.

[[Megan]] is giving a talk, starting with the common proverb, before continuing with "At least, used to." In a normal scenario, this may be to imply that eating apples is no longer enough to stay healthy (or that apples is not enough by itself). However, in this comic, this expression is reinterpreted to mean that apples are to doctors what {{w|antibiotics}} are to {{w|bacteria}}. It also suggests that keeping doctors away is of great importance, presumably because doctors in this scenario are threatening.

Megan continues with her reinterpretation, humorously mentioning that doctors have become resistant to apples so two or even three may be needed (analogous to resistant bacterial infections that can be killed off with greater concentrations), and in the worst cases doctors have become completely immune to apples (ie. {{w|superbugs}}). A poster behind Megan shows [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]] with three apples above her. This references situations where creatures can adapt to deal with threats, especially how some bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. In this case, the comic advocates only using the 'finest' apples in case all others prove unsuccessful (a reference to {{w|Multiple drug resistance|multidrug-resistant}} {{w|pathogens}}, where some antibiotics are only used as a last-resort to reduce the development of resistance to them).

This comic is a clear reference to the overuse of antibiotics in modern medicine, leading to an increase in {{w|antimicrobial resistance}} ("Superbugs"), which has seen increasing awareness in the last few years. The {{w|World Health Organization}} had the first [https://antibioticawareness.ca Antibiotic Awareness Week] in 2015, where a talk similar to the one in the comic would seem very appropriate.

In the title text this is taken further: Gran-negative is a pun on {{w|Gram-negative}}, a type of bacterium. A well-known technique called {{w|Gram staining}} distinguishes two types of bacteria (Gram positive versus Gram negative) on the basis of properties of their cell walls.

Mentioned in the comic and title text, {{w|Honeycrisp}} and {{w|Granny Smith}} are two different cultivars of apples. Granny Smith apples are a sour green apple, which have mixed feelings among apple eaters. Conversely, Honeycrisp is considered "an ideal apple for eating raw", and is the state fruit of Minnesota.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is facing straight out of a slim panel as she stands behind a lectern addressing the reader.]
:Megan: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
:Megan: Or at least, it used to.

:[The comic zooms out revealing that Megan and the lectern are standing on a podium. Megan is pointing behind her, with a stick, to at a poster prominently featuring Doctor Ponytail with three apples over her head.]
:Megan: Over time, some doctors have developed a resistance to apples. Keeping them away takes two or three apples instead of one.
:Megan: And there are worrying signs that a few doctors may have become completely immune.

:[The comic zooms in again on Megan behind the lectern.]
:Megan: So we must stockpile our finest apples in reserve, using them to fend off only the very worst doctors.
:Megan: Honeycrisps still work on most of them, but we don't know for how long.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] 
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Food]]

991: Phantom Menace

2019-06-11T01:20:42Z

162.158.58.75: add date

{{comic
| number = 991
| date = December 16, 2011
| title = Phantom Menace
| image = phantom_menace.png
| titletext = We could go to the theater across town and see if it's opened THERE yet, but we don't want to lose our place in line.
}}

==Explanation==
Here we have [[Cueball]] and one other unidentified character, who is dressed as [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Maul Darth Maul]. Darth Maul is a [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sith_apprentice Sith apprentice] in ''{{w|Star Wars: The Phantom Menace}}''. [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sith The Sith] are the group of characters in the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe who embrace [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_side_of_the_Force the dark side] of [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Force the Force] and are the enemies throughout the series. Cueball is holding a cheap replica of a [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber lightsaber], which is the weapon used by the [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi Jedi] and the Sith. Cueball and Darth Maul are standing outside what they think is a {{w|Movie theater|theater}} waiting for the upcoming {{w|3d movie|3D}} {{w|The phantom menace#3D re-release|edition}} of ''The Phantom Menace'', which was [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120915/releaseinfo originally released] in most countries in May 1999. They both appear to be holding tickets or passes, presumably for entrance to the movie. The movie was re-released two months after the comic was published, on February 10, 2012.

Cueball and his friend are die-hard ''Star Wars'' fans and thus are willing to line up in front of a seemingly abandoned, run-down building. When Cueball says "Let's give it another month", it's likely that they've been waiting at least a month already. It's quite possible that the characters are not aware of the movie release date and they don't even seem to know if they're at a theater.

This comic seems to be poking fun at those people who are willing to wait long in advance for the release of some product or the first theatrical release of a movie (with the original release of ''The Phantom Menace'' providing one of the most famous examples; some people camped in lines outside of movie theaters a full month in advance of ticket sales). The title text expands upon this when one of the characters states that going to a theater across town may be better, but he is worried about taking the chance due to the possibility of losing their place in this line, a misplaced sense of priorities if the line goes nowhere, and they are presently the only two in it.

It could be that no one else is waiting with them because ''The Phantom Menace'' is often considered to be {{w|The phantom menace#Reception|the worst movie}} in the ''Star Wars'' series because of the inclusion of a new race, [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gungan the Gungans] (specifically [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jar_Jar_Binks Jar Jar Binks]), the stilted dialog and wooden performances from the actors, the general abandonment of practical effects in favor of CGI, the lack of a gripping or coherent story, eliminating the mysticism of the Force and the Jedi through the introduction of [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Midi-chlorian midi-chlorians], and many other factors. Thus, the comic may be insinuating that few people will be seeing the 3D release of ''The Phantom Menace'' by depicting Cueball and his friend as the only two in line.

Alternatively, the comic may be set during the period preceding the movie's original, 2D release, and the joke, merely inspired by the then-upcoming rerelease, is directed at the aforementioned circumstances taking place at that time; those dedicated enough to wait more than a month in line to see a new ''Star Wars'' film purely on trust could also conceivably wait that long to see the film despite not knowing for sure if the movie has come out yet or whether they're even standing outside a theater.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, holding a lightsaber, and one in a Darth Maul mask stand outside a building. Each holding money in his or her hand. There is a cracked window on the building.]

:[Beat panel. They continue to stand there.]

:[Beat panel. They continue to stand there.]

:[Darth Maul turns to Cueball.]
:Darth Maul: Are you ''sure'' this place is a theater?
:Cueball: Let's give it one more month.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

2156: Ufo

2019-05-29T19:57:00Z

162.158.58.75: fixed HUD display (heads up display display)

{{comic
| number = 2156
| date = May 29, 2019
| title = Ufo
| image = ufo.png
| titletext = "It's a little low for a weather balloon; it might be some other kind." "Yeah. Besides, I know I'm the alien conspiracy guy, but come on--the idea that the government would care about hiding something so mundane as atmospheric temperature measurement is too ridiculous even for me."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an alien weather balloon. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This cartoon makes fun of {{w|conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories}}, by suggesting that authorities, like the Navy, could be promoting mysterious explanations for mundane phenomena (such as a {{w|weather balloon}}). UFO is an initialism for an {{w|unidentified flying object}}. This comic is mostly likely inspired by [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/us/politics/ufo-sightings-navy-pilots.html reports of US Navy pilots] seeing unexplained objects. The "History Channel thing" could refer to this [https://www.history.com/shows/unidentified-inside-americas-ufo-investigation upcoming series].

This comic features {{w|Fox Mulder}} and {{w|Dana Scully}}, two fictional FBI agents from the television show ''{{w|The X-Files}}''. In the show, Mulder is usually a believer in all manner of conspiracies and supernatural phenomena, whereas his partner, Scully, is reflexively skeptical of any claims of the paranormal.

A fighter aircraft's {{w|Head-up display|Head-Up Display}} (HUD), projects information about the aircraft and its surroundings on a glass panel in front of the pilot. This allows the pilot to fly and fight without looking down at gauges and panels in the cockpit. When the pilot selects a radar contact to track, information including the angle and range to that contact is displayed on the HUD. The HUD is also overlaid on video recorded by the airplane's on-board camera. Scully has examined the tracking information recorded in one video and concluded that the unidentified object was relatively stationary. Her opinion is that the object is likely a mundane weather balloon, rather than an extraterrestrial craft.

"Maybe the shadowy forces that control the world just want to believe" is an allusion to "I Want to Believe", a phrase from the ''The X-Files'' associated with Mulder and [https://images.newrepublic.com/82a6d0770aeaafbae8f26bf40a822b9b79a5c412.png?w=800 his iconic UFO poster.]

==Transcript==
:[Mulder from The X-Files depicted as Hairy sits in his office chair at his desk and points to his computer screen while looking over his shoulder and addressing Scully off-panel, who replies.]
:Mulder: Hey Scully, have you seen these Navy UFO videos?
:Scully (off-panel): Oh, the History Channel thing?

:[In a frame-less panel, Scully walks in from the right towards Mulder, who has turned around in his chair facing towards her (the desk is not included). He is leaning on the back of the chair with one arm. Scully has shoulder length hair, not similar to any of the regular women in xkcd.]
:Scully: I don't know about the other two videos, but in one of them, if you take the angles and ranges on the HUD and do a little geometry, it kind of suggests the object isn't really moving. It just looks like it because the plane's camera is panning.

:[Zoom in on Scully.]
:Scully: The pilots got excited for the same reason we did. Then the media got into it.
:Scully: But I think what they saw was a round, white object floating at 13,000 feet.

:[Zoom out again to shown that Mulder sits straight up in his chair with hands in his lap and the desk with computer behind him. Scully stand in front of him.]
:Harry: So your theory is that the military '''''claims''''' to have footage of aliens, but you think it's a giant cover-up to hide that it's a weather balloon?
:Scully: Some kind of balloon, yes.
:Harry: Pretty weird conspiracy.
:Scully: Maybe the shadowy forces that control the world just want to believe, too.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]

2147: Appendicitis

2019-05-09T04:06:31Z

162.158.58.75: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2147
| date = May 8, 2019
| title = Appendicitis
| image = appendicitis.png
| titletext = Fortunately, after a brief skirmish, I seem to have gained the upper hand in the battle against my internal organs, at least until they learn to read and find out the mean stuff I've said about them.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE ORGAN. Does anyone know where Randall's surgery was announced? If so, please add the link to the explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Cueball is visiting his doctor Ponytail (as in [[1839: Doctor Visit|1839: Doctor Visit]]), this time to diagnose some medical condition. It sounds like he has just undergone an {{w|Magnetic resonance imaging|MRI}} or some kind of {{w|medical imaging}}, and Ponytail is following up on the results. It appears that he may have {{w|appendicitis}}, the title of the comic, which could be treated through {{w|antibiotics}}, or through an {{w|appendectomy}} surgery.

The joke in the comic comes from Ponytail explaining his diagnosis and treatment options as a rebellion that needs to be quashed. His appendicitis is described as his appendix being a "traitor". Antibiotic treatment is described as using "chemical / biological weapons", while the appendectomy is described as "victory through the sword". She further describes more extreme "battle tactics", like crushing all other rebellions in his body. Lastly, she mentions "salting his abdomen" to prevent other rebellions. This is a reference to the {{w|salting the earth}} tactic in battle, which was a ritual to symbolize a curse on a conquered city and would have theoretically have hindered future crop production, thus preventing that city from being rebuilt.

A possible alternate explanation of panel three and four could involve cancer. Panel three could be construed as exploratory surgery. Panel four could be referencing cancer-preventative drugs.

After all this explanation, Cueball begins to question Ponytail's methods, and requests to see a different doctor to get a {{w|Second_opinion#Medicine|second opinion}}.

The title text continues the battle metaphor, saying that Cueball is defeating his illness, at least until they can read his words against them.

Two days before posting this comic Randall had a case of Appendicitis{{Citation needed}}, but is now recovering after surgery.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file on a clipboard in her left hand.]
:Ponytail: Well, we zapped you with energy beams, and it looks like one of your stupid organs is a traitor.
:Cueball: ...which one?
:Ponytail: I dunno, appendix? Gallbladder? One of the little ones that sucks.
:Cueball: What should I do?

:[Closeup on Ponytail. She holds her left hand in a clenched fist.]
:Ponytail: You could quash the revolt with the ruthless deployment of chemical and biological weapons.
:Cueball (off-screen): ...antibiotics?
:Ponytail: But certain victory comes only through ''the sword''.
:Cueball (off-screen): Surgery.

:[Closeup on Ponytail with her fists raised.]
:Ponytail: While we're inside, we'll look around-if we see any signs of insurrection elsewhere, we will not hesitate to act. There can be no armistice. Your parts must fall in line or be crushed.
:Cueball (off-screen): Um.

:[Zoom out again to the entire scene. Ponytail points her left hand up.]
:Ponytail: When the battle is won, we will salt your abdomen so no new organs can ever sprout up to trouble you again.
:Cueball: Maybe I should get a second opinion.
:Ponytail: Only if you care what a ''weaker'' doctor would say.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2144: Adjusting a Chair

2019-05-03T18:18:24Z

162.158.58.75: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2144
| date = May 1, 2019
| title = Adjusting a Chair
| image = adjusting_a_chair.png
| titletext = When I was looking at the box, I should have thought more about what "360 degrees of freedom" meant.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EDITOR WITH TOO MANY DEGREES OF FREEDOM. Needs review. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic shows [[Cueball]]'s attempts to adjust a swivelling chair. As many people have experienced, these chairs can be quite difficult to raise, lower, or manoeuvre if one does not know how. Typically the chairs have multiple knobs and levers underneath the seat. One typically needs to experiment with them in a new chair to understand how to work the chair, and it appears Cueball is experimenting with them. This comically culminates in a massive chair with a big central seat and several other chairs branching off of it as Cueball continues learning how to to adjust it. The chair also apparently has so many controls it takes two hours to discover them all (although Cueball may have shown off his newly-discovered abilities in the mean time, so it might not take two hours of continuous experimentation).

Each step gets farther away from what real-life office chairs could do. In sequence, Cueball finds his chair doing more and more surprising things:

{| class="wikitable"
! Step|| Sound || Chair's Ability
|-
| 1 || Clunk || Being able to recline the seat back. Many chairs do have this ability, which one can use for sitting comfort or perhaps to take a nap.
|-
| 2 || Hiss || Being able to raise or lower the seat. Most chairs have this ability, but the comic departs from real chairs in two ways. First, it's much higher than any real chair. Second, he can raise the height while sitting on it; under normal design, pressing the raise/lower lever while sitting on the chair is how one ''lowers'' the seat, using one's own weight to depress the spring or hydraulic piston (which is what's used here, as indicated by the sound). However, it's not uncommon to find a chair that has worn out or been improperly calibrated, so that it does rise even when sat on (especially with lighter people), or does not lower even when not sat upon with the lever active.
|-
| 3 || Poof || Being able to have the seat inflate. Although this could be useful (e.g. to help people who need to use extra seat cushions because of hemorrhoids or coccyx injury), it is not a typical office chair capability. However, in addition to simply inflating, Cueball's chair appears to actually make the seat longer and wider. This doesn't seem to have a lot of useful application in office chairs.
|-
| 4 || Unknown || Putting out branches and growing extra seats, wheels and backs. Chairs definitely cannot do this in real life{{Citation needed}} and use cases are doubtful.
|}

The title text refers to a common claim on such chairs, that the chair offers 360 degrees rotation and several degrees of freedom. This is a double entendre depending on if "360 degrees" or "degrees of freedom" is interpreted as an object. However, here it means there are 360 {{w|Degrees of freedom (mechanics)|mechanical degrees of freedom}}, which is the number of independent parameters that define the configuration of an object; in other words, the chair has 360 different levers and options, far more than a standard chair{{Citation needed}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is shown adjusting a chair by pressing a button on the bottom of the chair. There is a caption in a frame over the top of the panel:]
:Adjusting a chair:

:[The seat back of the chair swings backward with him rather fast as shown by a few movement lines.]
:Chair: ''Clunk''

:[Cueball leans forward against the new chair position and presses another button.]

:[The chair extends to several times its previous height, very fast as shown by many lines beneath the seat.]
:Chair: ''Hiss''

:[At the top of this very high seat Cueball leans forward and presses another button.]

:[The seat expands in all directions, so Cueball only sits in the middle of it with his legs on top of the inflated cushion.]
:Chair: ''Poof''

:[The chair is now a massive contraption. It has 5 bases, each with wheels as the original chair. The main's seat is in the middle of the contraption with a single trunk going up from the five bases connecting them and the large cushion of the seat. Two entire chairs are branching out from underneath this central seat, they are each hanging in a thin wire more or less upside down to each side of the main trunk. Two poles are coming up from the central seat, each with a new seat and two back-to-back seat backs. Yet another seat is supported by a thin rod connecting the two top seats, looking almost like a table between the two chairs. Cueball is still on the main seat's cushion. He is holding on to one of the poles above him as he leans down and attempts to press yet another button beneath the seat. There is a caption in a frame over the top of the panel:]
:Two hours later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

1085: ContextBot

2017-11-04T18:47:06Z

162.158.58.75: /* Explanation */ punctuation

{{comic
| number = 1085
| date = July 23, 2012
| title = ContextBot
| image = contextbot.png
| titletext = If you read all vaguebooking/vaguetweeting with the assumption that they're saying everything they can without revealing classified military information, the internet gets way more exciting.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a commentary on the practice of [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=vaguebooking "vaguebooking"] or [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=vaguetweeting "vaguetweeting"], which is posting a short message of sadness or frustration without context.

Google has been criticized more than a few times for keeping rather extensive data records on its users, who by this point constitute most of the internet, enough to cause serious damage if Google wasn't historically altruistic (as altruistic as a for-profit company can be). In the comic, ContextBot is a fictitious Google invention which puts context for these statuses, presumably based on all that personal data which Google has collected:

*The first response is pretty self-explanatory: the original poster wants to use the Internet while on the toilet, but can't get a {{w|wi-fi}} signal there.

*The second response is about a bad {{w|torrent file}} the original poster downloaded. A ''torrent'' is a way to download files from a lot of different sources at the same time, thereby speeding up the process; it is typically used for large downloads such as movies, games, or Linux software distributions. Fake torrents exist, which usually contain an encrypted {{w|.rar}} file which requires a password to open. To get the password, you usually need to go through a survey through the link supplied in the torrent; in some situations, you even need to pay in order to get the password. Even after that, it's quite likely that the .rar file just contains trash files, instead of the download you wanted.

*The third response is about an xkcd favorite, ''{{w|Minecraft}}'', which has been [[861: Wisdom Teeth|referenced]] [[882: Significant|multiple]] [[1110: Click and Drag|times]] in xkcd comics. Diamond is a very valuable resource in the game, and lava destroys any item dropped into it. A "stack" of diamond is 64 individual diamonds, because items can only be stacked up to 64 (maximum) in the vanilla minecraft. The 64 diamonds likely represents the fruit of several hours mining.

*The fourth response is about how the original poster mistook the grapes as being seedless. Grape seeds taste really bitter and are uncomfortable when swallowed; this is even more annoying when the seeds are unexpected.

As noted by the subtitle, ContextBot is considered a great good by everyone who was sick of vaguebooking. This also redeems Google's practice of all those data records in the public's eye.

In the ContextBot's avatar image, three people can be seen together hanging out. But the image is about to be cropped, leaving out the third person and therefore giving the impression that the two people in the cropped image are there without that person. This demonstrates how ''context'' is important to understanding a situation.

The title text refers to the cryptic ways in which someone with sensitive information must communicate. While most vaguebooking/vaguetweeting is about things of little importance, the title text implies that the things not mentioned impact national/global security. This implies that many tweets may actually be related to high-clearance military and or national security information, but must be vague in order to keep it secret, and if you take that as the context, then the internet suddenly becomes much more exciting.

==Transcript==
:[A social network feed with four status updates from four different people. Each one has a reply from the same account, which is called 'ContextBot', underneath.]
:Close-up face with glasses: The things I put up with...
:ContextBot: (His building's WiFi doesn't reach the bathroom.)
:Male female couple: You'd think by now I'd have learned never to trust anyone.
:ContextBot: (She downloaded a torrent that turned out to be an encrypted .rar and a link to a survey.)
:Blonde girl with bangs: I officially give up.
:ContextBot: (She hit alt-tab to hide Minecraft at work and accidentally dropped a stack of diamond into lava.)
:Spiky hair guy: Sighhhh
:ContextBot: (He thought these grapes were seedless.)
:Everyone stopped complaining about Google's data-gathering when they launched ContextBot, a system which replies to vague, enigmatic social network posts with context from the poster's life.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Social networking]]

1911: Defensive Profile

2017-11-04T18:41:01Z

162.158.58.75: /* Explanation */ cannot is one word, not 2.

{{comic
| number = 1911
| date = November 3, 2017
| title = Defensive Profile
| image = defensive_profile.png
| titletext = NO DRAMA ZONE -> If I've made you sad, you'd better not tell me, because I am TERRIFIED of that situation and have NO IDEA how to handle it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Change the order of the paragraphs. Also please add an explanation of what a Twitter "bio" is if you can, since I can't think of a good one. And please add links to the mentioned comics.}}

This comic demonstrates a theoretical feature which provides more honest interpretations of social media profiles. We see a profile for a person who says they have "no filters" and has no qualms about offending or upsetting anybody with their seemingly radical views. But the "translation" of the description reveals that it is a vastly insecure person who seems to have the problem of saying the wrong thing every time and so their profile description is a way for them to justify their comments.

The title text continues, with the aggressive "NO DRAMA ZONE" turning out to mean that the user is merely trying to keep any offended or genuinely upset comments away from their page because they simply have no idea how to emotionally handle hurting someone's feelings.

Randall previously demonstrated another theoretical feature to address passive-aggressive behavior in [[1085: ContextBot]].

This comic not only illustrates such a feature, but implies that the "translated" thoughts are what's actually going on behind posts of these types on social media, as if Randall can actually read those people's minds somehow. If this implication is the intent of the comic, then Randall thinks that people who have "no filter" are actually insecure and that people who want "NO DRAMA" are actually afraid of upset comments. Alternatively, Randall hates people who post such things in their profiles, and therefore wants to belittle them in this comic as actually being insecure, rather than being as confident as their aggressive behavior implies. This explanation is corroborated by notable news near the comic's publishing time (see below).

The title of this comic is "Defensive Profile". "Defensive" is the opposite of "offensive", which is a word that might be used to describe the contents of profiles which display such a warning as in the comic. However, the feature reveals the warnings to actually be defenses against behaviors that deeply bother the profile owner. The profile is thus proved to actually be "defensive" instead of "offensive", at least regarding the warning text.

The comic's feature may be based on the context menu option of the Google Chrome web browser to have a foreign language webpage translated to the user's selected native language. However, in Google Chrome, the user may only translate the entire page, while in this comic the user may also select some text and have only the selected part translated. Also, Google Chrome uses Google Translate for translation by default, which cannot read minds like in the comic.{{Citation needed}}

The style of the profile showcased in the comic resembles the profiles of the popular social media website Twitter, which while the user is logged in, shows the user's own profile on the left side of the page in a similar style to the comic, with their picture on the left side of their name, their Twitter handle under their name (which explains the extra line of text under the name) and their "bio" right below those.

One notable news item regarding Twitter, near the comic's publishing time, is that a rogue employee of the Twitter company, on the last day of his job, banned the personal Twitter profile of U.S. President Donald Trump (it was undone 11 minutes later). While Donald Trump never wrote something similar to what the comic portrays on his Twitter profile, he is known to post "politically incorrect" statements there. Randall is known to have supported the opposing candidate before he was elected, having made a comic just to promote her, and particularly sad comics following his election. These events may have inspired the comic.

==Transcript==
:[A profile on an unknown social media site is displayed. The profile picture is a close-up image of Megan. The profile reads:]
:I speak my mind and don't care who I offend. No filter.

:[In the next panel, the text is highlighted, and a context menu has appeared. There is a mouse pointer on the option "View translation".]
:Copy
:Select all
:View translation [selected]
:Print

:[In the last panel, the profile text is updated:]
:I don't understand why people keep getting mad at me and I'm using this pep talk to convince myself that's okay.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Social networking]]

1889: xkcd Phone 6

2017-09-13T16:28:17Z

162.158.58.75: Added a reference to xkcd 1425.

{{comic
| number = 1889
| date = September 13, 2017
| title = xkcd Phone 6
| image = xkcd_phone_6.png
| titletext = We understand your privacy concerns; be assured that our phones will never store or transmit images of your face.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|All features need an explanation, the version number war and title text as well. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is the sixth entry in the ongoing [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone series]], released the day after Apple announced their new iPhone X with facial recognition features.

===List of features===

; Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)

: Front camera is a common feature of smartphones. The camera lens is located on the same side of the phone's case as the main screen, therefore it is possible to capture the image of the user's face looking at the screen and display the interlocutor's face on the screen simultaneously, enabling video chat. However, as the camera is usually located above the screen, a user looking at the displayed image of the other person directs his or her eyes at the center of the screen and not at the camera's lens. This is very visible on the other end of the chat as if the person talking was looking down and not in the interlocutor's face which is an uncomfortable situation for most people. For this reason, professionals involved in movie or TV making like actors or reporters are trained to look straight into the camera's lens while talking which creates impression of looking straight at the viewer's face. During a video chat, however, looking into the lens of an above-screen camera does not allow one to see the interlocutor's face clearly because it is then in the peripheral field of vision.

: To solve this conundrum, Randall proposes locating the camera lens right in the middle of the screen. Therefore the user looking at the screen to see the other persons' face would be also looking at the lens, creating an impression of a straight look on the other end of the chat. This is absurd since the lens would then take place of some of the center pixels of the screen, not allowing to display the center part of the captured image of the other person's face (like eyes and/or lips) which is most important for nonverbal communication. Such location of the camera lens would also likely interfere with touch screen function. It will make other applications on the phone difficult to use, since virtually no user interface is designed to accommodate for a blind spot in the center.

; Full-width rear camera

:

; CDC partnership - phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year

: U.S. {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}} is a government agency tasked with addressing public health concerns such as infectious diseases, including seasonal flu. A common way of limiting spread of an infectious disease is {{w|Vaccine|vaccination}}, which most often involves administering a specially prepared medicine via an {{w|intramuscular injection}}. This features implies that the phone would automatically perform such an injection once a year, by shooting a needle out of a small aperture while the user is holding it to his or her cheek during a call.

; 12-function

: Most smartphones can be used for more than 12 different things.{{Citation needed}}

; Dishwasher safe

: Usually a feature of plastic containers or fancy dishes. Unlikely to appear on a smartphone, though potentially useful if you need to clean your screen.

; GPS transmitter

: Many smartphones have a receiver for the Global Positioning System, which allows a phone to compute its position based on signals from the constellation of GPS satellites. However, a device with a "GPS transmitter" would broadcast signals that would interfere with the GPS receivers of all devices nearby

; 3-G acceleration

: Usually, a phone is 3g compatible if it uses a certain standard for data transmission. However, 3-G acceleration implies the phone can accelerate at a rate or 3 times the acceleration of gravity, or approximately 30m/s^2.

; Portable, solar-heated

: Portability is pretty much the entire point of using a *mobile* phone, so advertising portability is rather pointless. Solar *power* charging could be a very useful feature on a phone, but solar *heating* usually applies to plumbing, where a water tank is heated by the sun and used to supply hot water to taps. Technically, as the sun heats up everything on the earth, the phone is in fact solar heated.

;Pore-cleaning strip

: Something sticky on that location would be very annoying for people trying to make a call with beards.

; Maximum strength

:

; Never needs sharpening

: Phones do not need to be sharpened in the first place.{{Citation needed}} This is a feature more likely to apply to a mechanical pencil, which does have the advantage of never needing to be sharpened as opposed to a normal pencil.

; Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water

: This is a play on the common IP-rating of water resistance, which is typically rated for submersion to a rated depth for 30 minutes. A phone which could only be used or carried for 30 minutes and then needed to be immersed in water would be rather inconvenient.

; Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight

: {{w|National Audubon Society}} is a non-profit organization dedicated to conservation of nature, mainly of birds, also organizing open {{w|birdwatching}} events. An app that identifies bird species, for example from a photo of a bird made by the smartphone itself, would be cool. An app allowing you to control the bird's flight would be way cooler, but it is not possible at the current state of technology - and it would fly in the face of the Audubon Society core activity. This is a reference to {{w|Unmanned_aerial_vehicle|drones}} (artificial "birds") which are often controlled by a smartphone app. This may also be a reference to xkcd 1425 Tasks, in which an app that can recognize if a bird is on camera is proposed.

; Extra screen

:Because of the center camera, an additional section of screen was added. This is similar to the new iPhone, which also has a few extra pixels up there.

; Wireless charging port

:Wireless charging has no wires, and needs no port.

; Safe for ages 6 – 8 months, 10 months, 18 months – 3 years, and 12 years and older

:Usually an item is deemed safe for a particular age or older, or (in the case of toys) is recommended for a particular age range. This is unusual in that it's a hodge-podge of age ranges with no apparent reason why some ages are safe and others are not.

; Screen goes past the edge

:An over-exaggerated version of the "edge to edge" displays in recent generations of smartphones

; High thread count CPU

:High thread count typically applies to bedding, not CPU threads.

; Shroud of Turin-style facial transfer unlock

:The Shroud of Turin apparently displays an image of the face of Jesus, appearing as if it was transferred to the cloth. Presumably, to unlock this phone, the user must press their face against it.

; Fonts developed by NASA

: NASA's expertise is not in fonts, and the fonts on almost all modern phones are the same.

; Includes applicator

:

; Burns clean coal

: There is a push for clean energy production as a result of increased awareness of global warming. While it may be useful for a phone to be able to produce its own energy, coal is by definition not a clean energy source because it produces carbon dioxide. The phone is not stated to have a vent for the CO2 to escape, which would technically make the coal "clean" as it is not entering the atmosphere. However, the gas is instead trapped inside the phone, which will quickly ruin it through a combination of heat and pressure.

; Pre-seasoned

:Pre-seasoned typically refers to cast iron cookware which is ready to use out of the box, as opposed to needing to season it with oil and heat. It can also refer to packaged meats which are ready to cook without needing to be seasoned with herbs and spices.

; Broad-spectrum SPF 30

:The xkcd phone somehow gives an SPF 30 level of skin protection from the sun.

; College-ruled

:College-ruled is a style of notebook paper having narrower lines in order to fit more text per page.

; Sterile packaging

:

; Radium backlight

The discovery of the phosphorescent element radium sparked a brief fad in which some watch makers painted watch faces or hands with the substance so the time could be read at night. However, it was eventually realized that regular exposure to radium could result in radiation poisoning, particularly for the workers assembling and painting the watches. A radium-based backlight would therefore be both potentially dangerous (especially for an object carried on one's person much of the time) but also largely useless, as the phosphorescence of radium is rather dim compared to conventional phone back lights.

; 4K pixels (50x80)

:This refers to having 4,000 pixels in the screen in total, rather than a screen width of ~4000 pixels. TV's advertised as "4K" are typically up to 4096 × 2160 pixels, or 8.8 million pixels. That would be outstanding for a cell phone whereas 4,000 pixels total would be horrendous. As a comparison, the old Commodore VIC-20 with a resolution of 176 x 184 would have over 8 times the pixels of this phone.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A smartphone is shown, the screen is slightly wider than the case, in the middle is a photo lens, and at the right bottom a small extra part is added to the screen.]
:[On top a bracket ranges nearly over the entire width of the case. The text reads:]
:Full-width rear camera
:[The label at the photo lens is:]
:Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)
:[The label on the extra part says:]
:Extra screen
:[At the bottom below the case a label reads:]
:Wireless charging port

:[The labels left to the phone are:]
:4k pixels (50x80)
:Radium backlight
:Sterile packaging
:College-ruled
:Broad spectrum SPF 30
:Pre-seasoned
:Burns clean coal
:Includes applicator
:Fonts developed by NASA
:Shroud of turn-style facial transfer unlock
:High thread count CPU
:Screen goes past the edge
:Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older

:[The labels right to the phone are:]
:CDC partnership: Phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to check every year
:12-function
:Dishwasher safe
:GPS transmitter
:3-G acceleration
:Portable, solar-heated
:Pore-cleaning strip
:Maximum strength
:Never needs sharpening
:Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water
:Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight

:[Text below the phone:]
:Introducing
:'''The XKCD PHONE 6, VIII, 10, X, 26, and 1876'''
:We didn't start this nonconsecutive version number war, but we will not lose it.™®©º
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:xkcd Phones]]