https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Mystyk 2026-04-30T16:44:41Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1457:_Feedback&diff=80410 2014-12-08T13:11:52Z

<p>Mystyk: </p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1457<br /> | date = December 8, 2014<br /> | title = Feedback<br /> | image = feedback.png<br /> | titletext = A new study finds that if you give rats a cell phone and a lever they can push to improve the signal, the rats will chew on the cell phone until it breaks and your research supervisors will start to ask some questions about your grant money.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Initial explanation - could likely use some work.}}<br /> <br /> Often when connecting to unfamiliar wi-fi networks, the signal displayed by the connecting device varies wildly, especially as distance increases. In this case, to improve the signal, Cueball has likely tried a variety of methods, and has ended up holding a pineapple while standing on top of a chair in order to get a perceived better signal. Standing on the chair ''might'' help (especially if the router is on a different floor of the building, although getting laterally closer to the router would undoubtedly help more), but it is almost inconceivable that the pineapple could have any effect on the signal. Megan questions his ridiculous behavior, but it seems Cueball has been driven nearly to madness due to the inconsistent signal strength.<br /> <br /> Another possible interpretation is that, in his desperation, [[Cueball]] has tried increasingly unlikely methods to increase his signal. When the signal increased (probably at random) while he was standing on a chair holding a pineapple, he erroneously concluded that his standing on the chair with the pineapple ''caused'' the signal strength increase. This is related to the idea in comic [[552]].<br /> <br /> Additionally, the use of a pineapple to increase wifi strength may be an obscure reference to a device called a [https://wifipineapple.com/ Wifi Pineapple], which is commonly used by police and hackers to simulate wireless networks in order to trick unsuspecting people to connect to them. Doing so then passes all wifi data through the device, allowing for a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-in-the-middle_attack Man-in-the-Middle Attack] that can compromise any unencrypted communication.<br /> <br /> The title text refers to a new study that apparently examined the behavior of rats in response to signal strength on a cellphone. It is a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasure_center#Rodent_experiments Olds and Milner's ground-breaking 1950s neuroscience research], in which rats were given access to a lever which stimulated the pleasure centre of their brains. (Spoiler: it does not end well for the rats.) In this new experiment the rats naturally could not understand the concept of signal strength, so they chewed up the cellphone, leading to the research supervisors questioning the validity of the study and questioning whether the grant money for the study was well used. The research team have perhaps focused their research not on the rats' behavior under the conditions of the experiment, but on the behavior of research supervisors.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :Megan: Why are you standing on a chair holding a pineapple?<br /> :Cueball: I wasn't getting good reception, but now I am!<br /> :The erratic feedback from a randomly-varying wireless signal can make you crazy.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}</div>

Mystyk