Editing 1765: Baby Post

{{comic
| number    = 1765
| date      = November 28, 2016
| title     = Baby Post
| image     = baby_post.png
| titletext = [bzzzt] "REMEMBER TO CHECK IN FOR YOUR FLIGHT TO LONDON." "My wha-" [bzzzt] "YOUR UBER WILL ARRIVE IN FOUR MINUTES."
}}



==Explanation==

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is questioned about a series of posts made to his {{w|Facebook}} account. He explains the posts as the result of leaving his daughter (a baby, according to the title) unattended with his tablet. This is very common for parents with small children in modern times. Children tend to be fascinated with touchscreen devices, which include many entertainment options for small children (such as the mentioned "{{w|The Wheels on the Bus|Wheels on the Bus}}" video). Infants also tend to experiment with such devices, and frequently open apps, post links, and make calls without intending to.{{Citation needed}} This explains the first two panels: sharing the same video six times could be the result of the child repeatedly hitting the same area of the screen (such as a "share" link), and the gibberish text "FHFF,,,M,,,," could be due to the child randomly tapping on the screen, all without knowing what she was doing.

The joke begins when Cueball discovers an apparent pattern in the new posts, starting with a map of hardware stores and culminating in blueprints for the {{w|Tower of London}}. These subjects, if they were chosen consciously by an adult, would strongly suggest the poster was planning a heist to steal the {{w|Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom|Crown Jewels}}, which have a reputation, based in part on several movies (for example, ''{{w|Minions_(film)|Minions}}''), for being overly complicated to steal. It is very unlikely for a baby to be capable of designing and carrying out such a plan,{{Citation needed}} but it is also unlikely for these specific links to be posted all by accident.  Cueball seems genuinely perplexed by the links (and presumably wouldn't have posted them if he were planning the crime himself), so the reader is left wondering what could have caused these posts, and whether Cueball and/or his daughter might know more than they let on.  Cueball's suggestion of "keeping an eye" on his daughter suggests he is seriously considering the possibility that she might be an evil genius.

The title text continues the joke by notifying Cueball that his flight to London is leaving soon, and an {{w|Uber_(company)|Uber}} driver is coming to pick him up. Since his daughter was using the tablet and he is surprised by the messages, this suggests she is in fact the mastermind who has already started executing her plan.  Either she is making the journey herself (and Cueball is only receiving notifications because he has the same accounts linked to his phone), Cueball is being roped into the crime, or his daughter is deliberately making it look like he intends to steal the Crown Jewels in order to get him into trouble.

==Transcript==

[Ponytail is looking at something on her phone while talking to Cueball]
:Ponytail: Why did you post a ''The Wheels on the Bus'' Youtube video to Facebook six times?
:Cueball: Haha, whoops! My daughter was watching the tablet and must have hit something.

[Cueball is talking to someone on the phone while pushing a shopping cart with a few items in it]
:Phone: Hey, did you mean to post "FHFF,,,M,,,," and a link to a map of hardware stores?
:Cueball: I should really look up how to lock the screen.

[White Hat is holding his phone while walking with Cueball]
:White Hat: You just posted videos on metal-working, zip lines, and camouflage.
:Cueball: Uhh...

[Ponytail is looking at her phone while talking to Cueball]
:Ponytail: Um, you posted blueprints of the Crown Jewel rooms in the Tower of London.
:Cueball: Maybe we should be keeping more of an eye on her.

==Trivia==
*On the day of this comic's release, the header was changed to show some new T-shirts were on sale in [https://store.xkcd.com the xkcd store].
**[https://web.archive.org/web/20161128175506/http://xkcd.com/1765/ The link]

The crown jewels are also mentioned in [[1698: Theft Quadrants]].

The comic is similar to [[1419: On the Phone]], though here it seems that the daughter isn't just a cover story. It is also somewhat similar to [[576: Packages]], in that Cueball seems weirder since it started.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Social networking]]