Editing 713: GeoIP

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 12: Line 12:
 
The comic satirizes this phenomenon. The {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS) has a high speed data downlink, but no direct connection to the internet. But here, [[Cueball]] trolls the advertisers from on board the ISS, by inserting his actual location on {{w|low Earth orbit}} into the database under that IP address. He proudly presents his result to [[Ponytail]] where the advertisements claim that there are "local girls" (one of whom vaguely resembles [[Danish]]) in low Earth orbit; a distance of roughly 420 kilometers above the Earth surface, and thus at least that far away from all other girls in the world if they are not on the space station (or a nearby spacecraft, such as one bringing supplies to the space station).
 
The comic satirizes this phenomenon. The {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS) has a high speed data downlink, but no direct connection to the internet. But here, [[Cueball]] trolls the advertisers from on board the ISS, by inserting his actual location on {{w|low Earth orbit}} into the database under that IP address. He proudly presents his result to [[Ponytail]] where the advertisements claim that there are "local girls" (one of whom vaguely resembles [[Danish]]) in low Earth orbit; a distance of roughly 420 kilometers above the Earth surface, and thus at least that far away from all other girls in the world if they are not on the space station (or a nearby spacecraft, such as one bringing supplies to the space station).
  
βˆ’
The title text shows GeoIP has become so accurate that it can now pinpoint the user's location to his Mom's basement. In United States, an adult living with his parents is considered shameful for that person, since it means that the adult does not have a job and cannot support themself. The ads are typically of the form -- "Meet hot young singles in <user's location>" where the <user's location> part is filled in from GeoIP. In this case, the GeoIP is so accurate that it not just identifies that user is in his parents' house, but it also pinpoints the location that he's hiding in the basement, perhaps because he does not want to be seen by people visiting his parents. Thus GeoIP is unknowingly shaming the user by reminding him that he is in his mom's basement, and hence the "Screw you" response. However, this would also prove the false nature of these advertisements, as the user is unlikely to have not noticed any hot young singles currently sharing his mom's basement.{{Citation needed}}
+
The title text shows GeoIP has become so accurate that it can now pinpoint the user's location to his Mom's basement. In United States, an adult living with his parents is considered shameful for that person, since it means that the adult does not have a job and cannot support himself. The ads are typically of the form -- "Meet hot young singles in <user's location>" where the <user's location> part is filled in from GeoIP. In this case, the GeoIP is so accurate that it not just identifies that user is in his parents' house, but it also pinpoints the location that he's hiding in the basement, perhaps because he does not want to be seen by people visiting his parents. Thus GeoIP is unknowingly shaming the user by reminding him that he is in his mom's basement, and hence the "Screw you" response. However, this would also prove the false nature of these advertisements, as the user is unlikely to have not noticed any hot young singles currently sharing his mom's basement.{{Citation needed}}
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
βˆ’
:[External view of the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting the blue Earth below, shown with white clouds as stripes below and black sky above. Dialog, written in white on the black sky, comes from within the ISS.]
+
:[External view of a the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting the blue Earth below, shown with white clouds as stripes below and black sky above. Dialog, written in white on the black sky, comes from within the ISS.]
 
:Cueball (inside the ISS): ''Yes!''
 
:Cueball (inside the ISS): ''Yes!''
 
:Ponytail (inside the ISS): What?
 
:Ponytail (inside the ISS): What?

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)