explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1200: Authorization

2018-08-07T13:44:13Z

162.158.63.46: added comment

This is the reason that I set sudo to not prompt for a password. I just make sure my computer locks itself aggressively. [[Special:Contributions/130.18.105.246|130.18.105.246]] 06:59, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

The admin account should still be guarded EXACTLY for the ability to install drivers. The driver you don't want to have installed is keylogger stealing your passwords. I mean, you don't have your bank password remembered in browser, do you? Still, auto-logout or auto-lock is important feature. You should also set-up and use separate account for high-risk activities (like opening emails from unknown persons promising naked celebrities ... ok, you actually shouldn't be opening such emails at all, but if you are really curious ...). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:06, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

:Even if you can log into your bank account, you could not transfer money without authorizing transactions. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 11:23, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
::My bank account website logs me out if I'm inactive for 10 minutes. It doesn't even leave the page up, it switches to a login screen. [[Special:Contributions/24.77.229.71|24.77.229.71]] 14:35, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
:I wonder how useful a keylogger would be if you never typed a username or e-mail to go with the password. Every important account I have has that remembered, and I just type the password. It sounds like it would be zero context. [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 15:09, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
::Except usernames tend to be reasonably easy to figure. E-mails certainly are what with folks tending to broadcast their e-mail addresses to everyone. So passwords, although also often not overly difficult to crack (http://xkcd.com/936/), remain the part not generally known. Not worrying about a keylogger picking up a password, even "out of context" would be a mistake. [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 17:11, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
:::Also, modern keyloggers (despite still being called keyloggers) also capture screen and mouse movement. They are perfectly able to record a password entered by clicking on keyboard on screen and many other ideas tried to complicate keylogging. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:48, 17 April 2013 (UTC)

Actually, for many years popular operating systems such as MS Windows did *not* have separate security for system administration, which made it very popular for the propagation of viruses and other malware. And once it was introduced, it wasn't enforced for many years. Only relatively recently this is happening, and still viruses, trojan horses and botnets thrive, because it is slightly inconvenient for the user to act safe(r). [[Special:Contributions/213.84.74.36|213.84.74.36]] 13:13, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Not agree with Randall on this one. Laptop stealing is very physical, there are way to keep people from physically able to use our active login session, such as make sure the laptop is physically secured when possible, make sure the screen locked out when we are away (we can automate that using bluetooth detection), etc. Root password protect another kind of attack, generally more clandestine one, such as trojan and rootkit installations, which can be more dangerous as we may not be aware it is there. [[User:Arifsaha|Arifsaha]] ([[User talk:Arifsaha|talk]]) 17:06, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

Not going to agree. I use lastpass for passwords, have every (important) site protected with 2fac, and firefox wipe all my userdata everytime I close it, so even if a keylogger is installed, or they have physical access to my device, they can't get to my personal information. So that covers Facebook, Gmail, Paypal, and the Bank. Everything else is encrypted

457: Frustration

2018-07-30T21:33:58Z

162.158.63.46: Added alternate explanation that seems likely to be the true meaning.

{{comic
| number = 457
| date = August 1, 2008
| title = Frustration
| image = frustration.png
| titletext = 'Don't worry, I can do it in under a minute.' 'Yes, I've noticed.'
}}

==Explanation==
A bra is pictured here, but instead of a traditional clasp, a {{w|Rubik's cube}} is used instead. This would lead to the frustration mentioned in the comic's title, as someone wishing to remove the bra would have to solve the Rubik's cube every time in order to undo the clasp. This would doubtless prove annoying, especially for a partner who may want to remove the wearer's clothing without impediment. A normal bra clasp can be tricky enough for the inexperienced user, but the addition of the Rubik's Cube element is going too far. However, it is possible that this is actually a nerdsnipe bra, as it appears to be a front-clasped bra, making the Rubik's cube a red herring.

Alternatively, Randall may be comparing the difficulty of unhooking a bra with that of solving a Rubik's cube. In the heat of the moment, a lover may feel frustrated if they feel that the act of removing a bra is needlessly complicated and distracts from the activity at hand. Depending on the clasp mechanism, attempting to remove the bra may seem as frustrating and complicated as solving a Rubik's cube.

The title text is an imagined conversation between someone trying to undo this bra and someone who is likely wearing the bra. The first person explains that they can "do it" (i.e. undo the bra) in under a minute, which is a reasonably impressive skill to have if you are not a professional {{w|speedcuber}}. The second person replies that they've noticed, a sarcastic reply that relies on the alternative, sexual meaning of "do it", implying a complaint about the first person's speedy performance in bed.

==Transcript==
:[Black bra with Rubik's cube closure.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Sex]]

2025: Peer Review

2018-07-27T21:59:30Z

162.158.63.46:

{{comic
| number = 2025
| date = July 27, 2018
| title = Peer Review
| image = peer_review.png
| titletext = Your manuscript "Don't Pay $25 to Access Any of the Articles in this Journal: A Review of Preprint Repositories and Author Willingness to Email PDF Copies for Free" has also been rejected, but nice try.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a PEER REVIEWER. Needs volunteer commentary on title text. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

How academic publishing works: When a researcher wants to publish their findings, they send it to an academic journal. The editor of the journal is another researcher (usually a college professor), ''who gets paid nothing or a minimal honorarium'' for editing the journal. The editor chooses a few (usually three) peer reviewers who are other researchers familiar enough with the study's subfield to judge the study's quality fairly and accurately, and sends it out to them for review. These peer reviewers ''do not get paid'' for the work of reviewing the manuscript and offering a detailed critique of every part of the study, from lit review to methodology to conclusions drawn from the results. If the peer reviewers and editor agree that the study was well-conducted and the paper well-written (or just needs minor revisions), it is accepted and published in the journal. The researcher ''is not paid'' for getting their paper published in the journal.

In short, nobody in the process is paid for their work except the journal publisher, who charges other researchers, libraries and individuals for access to the fruit of these people's free labor. This is commonly referred to as a "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paywall Paywall]".

This system relies upon researchers to be employed by either companies or universities in positions which require them to publish in order to remain employed or achieve promotions or pay raises. In universities, only postdocs and tenure-track or tenured professors are paid in a way that figures in their research time as well as their teaching time, which means that anyone not in one of those positions (lecturers, educators, adjunct instructors) is not paid for any research they might be doing and publishing, nor are those who are conducting research but cannot get a tenure-track job due to universities replacing tenure lines with non-tenure-track positions.

Charging for access to these works has raised controversy in recent years, due to concerns that this may lead to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_silo Information silos].

Ponytail seems to be presenting papers concluding that this flow of currency is not equitable. Unfortunately (?), the journal she has submitted these findings to has opted not to review or publish them, either because they do not find her research suitable for their publication, or because they have a financial interest which conflicts with the findings, since sending her paper to review would give it directly to her target audience.

The title text refers to a recent Twitter [https://twitter.com/hwitteman/status/1015049411276300289 post] that went viral. Researcher Dr. Holly Witteman informs the public that you could just ask many researchers for a PDF copy of their academic paper and that they would be delighted to do so free of charge.
Pre-Print Repositories are online databases for researchers to publish drafts of their research for quick distribution to willing reviewers, sidestepping the lengthy and often arduous reviewing process as conducted by many research journals. These databases are free to access by researchers and the general public, and often papers will remain on these sites long after their journal publication, making them a convenient way to get to papers locked behind a paywall. There are also sites which collect and re-publish papers for free, such as http://sci-hub.is/ . Links to Sci-Hub can go dead after being widely published; this one was live as of July 27, 2018. In the title text, the publisher refuses to publish a paper that describes ways to get around the paywall restrictions that make up their bottom line.

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

:[Ponytail is sitting and looking at a laptop.]

:RE: Economics Journal Submission

:We have received your manuscript "The Bizarre Economics of Academic Publishing: Why Volunteer Peer Reviewers Should Rise Up and Demand Payment from For-Profit Journals."

:We have elected not to send it out for review.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2021: Software Development

2018-07-23T01:42:43Z

162.158.63.46: /* Explanation */ Fixed link to NPM breakage

{{comic
| number = 2021
| date = July 18, 2018
| title = Software Development
| image = software_development.png
| titletext = Update: It turns out the cannon has a motorized base, and can make holes just fine using the barrel itself as a battering ram. But due to design constraints it won't work without a projectile loaded in, so we still need those drills.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AUTOMATIC DRILL CANNON
Can someone kindly fix the third paragraph? It's a little clumsy. - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Software development is often characterized by [[1513: Code Quality|graceless]] [[1695: Code Quality 2|solutions]] to rudimentary problems. [[Cueball]] has built an elegant drill (function) that can adjust torque and speed as necessary automatically to fulfill his requirement of 500 holes in the wall. [[Hairy]], in a categorically inelegant solution, loads 500 drills into a cannon and shoots them at the wall. This solution, in reality, would entail too many ludicrous safety problems to execute, but in software, the implications are only [[1833: Code Quality 3|really bad code]].

The casual disregard for the software itself is reminiscent of the idea of [https://devops.stackexchange.com/questions/653/what-is-the-definition-of-cattle-not-pets cattle not pets] when deploying to servers.

This resembles assigning two different software teams to resolve different parts of a problem and of making the independent tools collaborate to form a fluid solution. The so-called "drill team" is given the task of making the part of the system that makes a hole in the wall. The cannon team was given the task of making the part of the system that aims what the drill team produces at the designated place on the wall and subsequently drills the hole. The drill team assumed that the aiming device would merely place their portion in place, allowing it to make the hole, but the cannon team could not make assumptions about how the drill team would generate holes, so they needed to make something that could use whatever the Drill team produced to make the holes. It breeds an attitude of, "We don't know what they are going to make, but we know that if we fire it out of a cannon, it will definitely make a hole in the wall."

The title text is a joke about how often in software the best solution to a problem is a general one, rather than a specific one. See for example developers using Ruby on Rails (a full web framework with support for emails, templating, and web sockets) for a simple API-only service. They only need a very small part of rails (the hole drilling part), but end up with the whole framework anyway due to design limitations.

Another explanation of the title text is that software development is also often characterized by complexity and unintentional interdependence between different modules of code. It is an unending source of frustration for coders that a seemingly minor change to code can cause major changes to how the program works, including changes seemingly unrelated to the specific code that changed. A similar problem is when a line of code that “should be” unnecessary (according to the rules of the programming language) ends up being essential because the program will not work if the code is cleaned up and the line removed. Randall has referenced the issue of code that [[1513: Code Quality|does not work]] before. A final factor is that coders often write a particular function once in the first module, and then call back to that function when necessary in subsequent modules rather than rewriting the function over and over again. In that case, the first module cannot be eliminated, even if it is no longer necessary, because then all of the calls to the original function would be null, and the rest of the modules could not work. This can happen not just within programs, but across them, as much software on the internet relies on large collections of program modules in public or open source software databases. When a module goes missing it can have wide ranging effects, as seen in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Npm_(software)#Notable_breakages March of 2016.]

In the context of the comic, it could be that the code for the cannon was written to check if it is “loaded” with drills before it does anything, so the drill code is still needed to get the cannon to move on its motorized base and make the holes. Or the code for the drills define an obscure variable that is used by other code for the cannon or its base, so “removing” the drills would cause the cannon to “crash” and not operate.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Hairy are standing together and Hairy holds a power tool in his hands.]
:Cueball: We need to make 500 holes in that wall, so I've built this automatic drill. It uses elegant precision gears to continually adjust its torque and speed as needed.
:Hairy: Great, it's the perfect weight! We'll load 500 of them into the cannon we made and shoot them at the wall.

:[Caption below the frame:]
:How software development works

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Programming]]

Talk:2022: Sports Champions

2018-07-20T19:32:30Z

162.158.63.46:

Since Kate Dopingscandal has a bike, it seems to me she's actually likely a direct reference to Lance Armstrong. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:46, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
:Yeah, that's why I included him as an example. Feel free to clarify if you want, of course.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.68|162.158.155.68]] 06:09, 20 July 2018 (UTC)
He should have listed, in the sport of eXtreme Software Engineering, the dominance of Little Bobby Tables in the late 2020's. ----
Would Jebediah be a reference to Kerbal Space Program? Things tend to go disaterously in it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.160|108.162.210.160]] 12:54, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

It's worth noting that the all-star right fielder for the Boston Red Sox, who are currently in first place in the MLB, is named Markus Lynn "Mookie" Betts, with the initials "MLB." Aside from the fact that he's already won several divisional titles with his team, there's a good chance he'll soon be on a world series winning team as well, perhaps to become the next high-profile example. (Full disclosure: I'm a huge Red Sox fan) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.22|172.68.54.22]] 13:47, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

Art Ball (1890’s)
Full name Arthur Ball
Born April , 1872, Madison, Indiana
Died December 26, 1915, Chicago, Illinois
Buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois
First MLB Game: August 1, 1894; Final MLB Game: October 15, 1898
Bat: Unknown Throw: Right Weight: 168

What, no Cecil Fielder? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.46|162.158.63.46]] 19:32, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1884: Ringer Volume/Media Volume

2017-09-04T19:05:17Z

162.158.63.46:

So, is this about the volume buttons controlling all aspects of volume on the phone, and it being difficult to control sometimes (a lot!)? ~Chris {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.220}}
:Yes, but it's strange because the default action of the volume control should be the ''main volume'' and NOT the ''ring tone volume''. Nevertheless a video advertisement is often much louder than the movie where it is embedded. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:50, 1 September 2017 (UTC)
:: "Should be" is a weird concept. On Android (at least the mutilated version on my phone), there is no "master volume". Volume keys control the volume for the channel which is currently making noise, or the ring tone volume if there isn't any current noise. --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 16:49, 2 September 2017 (UTC)
Protip: on Android when loading a youtube video, lock your phone and then unlock it. The video will then start paused, allowing you to adjust volume and then press play.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.4|172.68.206.4]] 15:06, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

On my Android phone, pressing either volume key results in the ringer volume slider appearing at the top of the screen. To its right is a downward-pointing caret. Pressing that caret adds sliders for media and alarm volumes. These can be moved using the touchscreen or the user can tap to select one to adjust and use the volume keys. [[User:D5xtgr|D5xtgr]] ([[User talk:D5xtgr|talk]]) 16:23, 1 September 2017 (UTC)
: These didn't exist in Android Lollipop, and were presumably added in Marshmallow [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.34|108.162.245.34]] 06:57, 2 September 2017 (UTC)
:: My old phone has KitKat and still has this option...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.112|162.158.214.112]] 08:16, 4 September 2017 (UTC)
::: With the android customization Gravity Box, you could alter the default volume slider to Media, the perfect solution in my opinion [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 14:43, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Don't understand this comic at all... why would you frantically turn your volume up and down like that in the seconds before a video starts? Do other people do this?? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.81|141.101.69.81]] 16:24, 1 September 2017 (UTC)
:People aren't intentionally doing that. The viewer is trying to turn down the media volume; however, Android defaults to those buttons adjusting the volume for incoming calls, which people usually leave maxed. The viewer is accidentally decreasing the incoming call volume, but only wants the media volume turned down. [[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 00:46, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Here's my understanding (though I don't have a smart phone and don't have first hand experience): The user has selected the video to start, it is about to begin (loading), and the user wants to turn down the volume on the video, but instead mistakenly turns down the volume on the ringer. Once noticing their mistake, they restore the volume to its original state and try again. Only to fail again. They repeat this cycle again, until the video finishes loading and catches them on the upswing. I believe once the video is loaded the volume controls on the side switch functions from ringer to media. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.238|108.162.216.238]] 16:36, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

Addressing '''"Interestingly, some earlier versions of Windows allow adjusting volume on per-program basis using a single on-screen control. This feature was eventually removed as it was deemed to confusing to users."''', I use Windows 10 on my laptop, and I can right click on the sound manager, open volume mixer, and that allows me to adjust the volume of each active program. So I'm pretty sure this line is incorrect, as it is still a feature. (Alan) {{unsigned ip|108.162.212.47}}
: I think that line is supposed to refer to the quick volume control, rather than the full mixer. {{unsigned ip|162.158.154.121}}

On iPhones, there is an option to have the buttons always control media volume, even when there is no media playing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.119|162.158.79.119]] 19:11, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

The title texts idea of using this phenomena to bring advertisement also in other rooms, reminds me a little of the clever PR idea of Burger King. They asked Google in their TV-spot, what a Whopper is. And since a lot of people have an active Google speaker next to their TV-set, Google started answering with the first lines of the Wikipedia article about the Whopper. Coincidentally somebody has edited the Wiki-article about the Whopper a few days before, so that it sounds much more like advertisement. Mario {{unsigned ip|162.158.89.55}}

My Android phone doesn't behave like that, although I wish it did. If you press the volume buttons before a video starts, and immediately after while the onscreen volume is still visible, it ''continues to adjust the ringer volume''. This fixes the behavior in the comic, kind of, but it means that I ''still'' can't easily adjust the volume even after the video starts. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.109|162.158.111.109]] 10:57, 2 September 2017 (UTC)
:I have that problem too. I also note that at least some apps use the wrong channel; so videos use the media volume, but the ads come off the notification volume or similar. Also annoys me that certain fitness apps use the media volume for the synthesised speech to tell you that you're passed a mile; meaning you can't adjust it independantly of your music. Would really appreciate if each app could define its own output channels, which you can then connect to the system-wide volume channels (or apply filters to?) in whatever configuration you want. --[[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 16:49, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Per-application volume mixer was new in Windows Vista; XP and previous versions only had the system-wide volume control. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.121|162.158.154.121]] 11:00, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

I have a game on my phone called Papi Wall which I don't even play anymore, but which has a silent menu screen when you open it, which despite its silence is somehow occupying the media volume. So I open the game, which opens quickly, to quickly adjust the media volume at the menu screen and then switch back to the other app. It's the reason why it's still on my phone despite the fact that I don't play it. I think any Papi game, such as Papi Jump, would work for this, if you want to try. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.41|172.68.26.41]] 12:37, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

There's an Android application called Rocker Locker that plays a silent tone in the background, forcing the volume buttons to always control media volume. Cheers! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.22|108.162.219.22]] 23:37, 2 September 2017 (UTC)
: I like this idea, but surely the battery consumption is huge? I'd prefer an iOS style setting on my Android.[[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 07:55, 4 September 2017 (UTC)
:: There are reports of increased battery usage, but from personal experience across 3 different devices, some of which having it for more than a year, I never noticed such an issue. In the battery use menu it will show that the Android media server used 1–2%, but that's frankly incredibly miniscule. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.46|162.158.63.46]] 19:05, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

The video he's trying to load is certainly https://youtu.be/iAjCxadppcQ "Welcome to the World" (or one of the many remixes) by Kevin Rudolf. It's an on topic example media for what Randall is complaining about because it's a notably soft...THEN LOUD kind of song. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.58|162.158.142.58]] 01:35, 3 September 2017 (UTC)
:Could be, but I think it's just a common greeting (I thought of Let's Plays, personally). --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.11.5|172.68.11.5]] 03:13, 4 September 2017 (UTC)