Editing 1620: Christmas Settings

[[Ponytail]] is showing [[Megan]] around in her facility, and as the comic begins they enter a new room (''over here we have'') where she has the ''Universe Control Panel''.

A "Universe Control Panel" would be a set of dials to control the universe, and anyone having access to a room with these controls would from our point of view be in a God like position. If such a room did exist it would most likely be situated outside our universe (a dimension outside, and not necessarily in another universe). Since this is Christmas, looking at it from a Christian point of view, this would be Gods domicile and his control room for the universe would probably be located in Heaven.

Seen from a physicist point of view the typical panels for such a control room, would be with dials to control the specific size of {{w|Physical constant|fundamental constants}} of the universe such as the {{w|speed of light in vacuum}}, {{w|Planck constant}} and the {{w|fine-structure constant}} to mention but a few.

But the first control panel they reach includes the dials that control {{w|Christmas}}. So these control panels are either much more detailed than just physics constant (or not at all considering these underlying constants at all). That we see this option as the first, is of course because this is a [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] released on the 23rd of December.

From Ponytails comment it is clear that this is just one of several panels with dials, and on the panel for Christmas there are more than one dial. We only see one of these up close (to get an idea of how they work, and for the sake if the joke).

Megan and Ponytail have not reached the panel yet, and it is not them, but the reader, who sees the dial from the second panel, that specifically control the Christmas setting for how {{w|Santa Claus}} enters people’s houses: The ''Santa enters houses through''-dial, has [[#Options for Santa|ten different possible settings]]. The one it's set to at this point of the comic is the traditional ''chimney''. Amongst the other nine there is one option that would be more logical ''open window'', but surprisingly here is not option called ''the door'' though. But the other eight, are increasingly weird or even impossible (though of course not for Santa, who can deliver a billion packets in one night and fly in a sleigh drawn by flying  reindeer…) These options ranging from the ”feasible” like ''mail slot'', ''heating vents'' or ''cat flap'' to the impossible/ridicules (some even disgusting) as ''kitchen faucet'', ''shower drain'' or ''toilet'' over the truly magical ''bathroom mirror '' and to the downright unpleasant - ''pores of your skin''. (See [[555: Two Mirrors]] regarding the mirror version).

As Megan and Ponytail are on their way to the next stop on the tour of these facilities Megan trips and catches herself on the Santa dial, messing it up by clicking it twice. Ponytail is disturbed by this and holds up her hand to her mouth. The reason for this is obvious when Megan asks what it was set to before so as to undo the mishap, because Ponytail tells that she has forgotten. So they cannot put it back right. This kind of proves that Ponytail is just a guide, and not the creator of the control panels.

As so often seen with human behaviors (if they are indeed human beings at all?) Megan says she will simply take a wild guess and hope she get it right. As the only thing she really knows is that it is not on the right setting now, there is only 1/9 that she will get it right assuming she will at least change it away from the setting she ended up on.

As we can see in the comic the dial clicks twice, implying it has moved two positions; Megan has thus most likely changed the dial to either "kitchen faucet" or "mail slot." As we do not know which of these she will now change away from, It is impossible to guess from the comic where she end up putting it, all ten options are possible. <!-- TO DO: change this for a results report about from where Santa currently enters trough -->

Since this comic was released on the 23rd of December, we are likely to find out in less than two days, if Santa comes out of the pores on our skin, or just through the mail slot... Only the first of these options will for certain be detected by someone…

As it is Ponytail who are showing Megan around, it is thus the first time Megan even hear about these dials, and she has no idea about where the Santa dial was pointing before. The reason why Ponytail cannot remember to which option the dial was set before is most likely because she is not part of our universe, and also not the creator of the control panel. If this is a control room outside of our universe these settings will not affect the two girls but they also have no need to know about Christmas on Earth. Anyone with access to these control room, might not particularly care for what happens on Earth, which is just one of a multitude of planet and stars that needs to be controlled from this control room.  

An alternative explanation for the reason Ponytail has forgotten, is that the universe immediately updated its settings to the latest selection, once Megan released the dial, changing all previously existing folklore and memories in existence to match (this will only make sense if the two girls are part of the universe that they are in control of). Where previously it was widely known that Santa Clause entered through the chimney, it is now widely known that he enters through kitchen faucets or mail slots (depending on Megan's selection). This makes it impossible to remember what the original setting was. Of course if this happened then how do they remember that it was changed in the first place? Megan would now know what that is on the correct position and leave it be. So this explanation makes little sense...

 

 

==Options for Santa==

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5

|{{w|Chimney}} || {{W|Santa Claus}} typically comes in this way (see him here in a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I-b_GJ4ltk victorian roof-top song and dance number]. Also {{w|The_Three_Little_Pigs|big bad wolves}} uses this entrance in Disney’s cartoon.

|{{w|Shower#Drainage|Shower drain}} || Dirty shower water.

|{{w|Mail slot}} || Letters, post cards and small presents delivers by the mailman.

|{{w|Duct (flow)|Heating vents}} || Hot air used for {{w|central heating}}.

|{{w|Toilet}} || {{w|Human waste}} and {{w|The_Shawshank_Redemption|life-term prisoners}} (at least through the sewer).

|{{w|Window|Open window}} || {{w|Burglars}} and other criminals. Also often used as an exit by teenagers in movies and other film media, or by people who have locked themselves out of their own house.

==Options for dogs==

{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5

|[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hissing Hissing] || Typically a {{w|List of animal sounds|sound contributed}} to {{w|snakes}}, but also something {{w|cats}} are [http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/why-do-cats-hiss/ said to hiss], for instance as a reaction against a barking dog. It would thus be very frustrating for dogs if their noise was changed into that or their arch enemies.

|{{w|Lightsaber|Lightsaber noises}} || A lightsaber makes a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kpHK4YIwY4 very unique sound], and as they are one of the most known props from the {{w|Star Wars}} universe, it is very relevant as the newest Star Wars movie {{w|Star Wars: The Force Awakens}} was released a week before this comic. Star Wars was also the main theme a month ago in the comic [[1608: Hoverboard]], the coin collecting game that celebrated [[Randall|Randall's]] new book.

|{{w|Fluency#Speech|Fluent}} {{w|English language|English}} || [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRcUcxtaX-Q Speaking dogs] are a common trope as are {{w|talking animals}} in general. A person who is native to a country where they speak English will usually be fluent in speaking English. But a person may not usually be described as being fluent in their {{w|Native tongue}}. But a person from a country who does not speak English as their first language, but who speaks it very well would speak fluent English. 

|{{w|Profanity|Swearing}} || It would be unpleasant for people who dislike swearing, and a big problems for movies such as {{w|Lassie}} where most of the soundtrack would have to be replaced by {{w|Bleep censor|bleeps}}. Swearing "dogs" are few, the most famous being {{w|Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog}}, a puppet created by {{w|Conan O'Brien}} and {{w|Robert Smigel}} and performed by the latter.  

:Ponytail: Over here we have the universe control panel.  

:Megans legs: Trip

:Megan: I'll just guess

*In the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/7/73/20151223160450!christmas_settings.png original version] of the comic Ponytail erroneously said: ''These dials, for example, '''controls''' Christmas.''  

**This was soon changed to the current (and grammatically correct) version with out the "s" at the end of controls ''These dials, for example, control Christmas.''  

**Thus proving that it was intended that there where more than one dial, we just see the one that Megan later changed by mistake for the sake of the joke of the comic.

 

*Below is a table with ten of the most likely dials to find on a Universe Control Panel for {{w|Physical constant|physical constants}}.

**If just one of these constant had a slightly different value, life as we know it (or even star formation) might not have been possible, (see the {{w|anthropic principle}}). So it was good that it was only the Santa setting Megan screwed-on (up).

|{{w| proton|Proton mass }} || m_p =  1.672 621 777 × 10⁻²⁷ kg ||