Difference between revisions of "576: Packages"
m (→Explanation) |
(minor correction) |
||
| (13 intermediate revisions by 10 users not shown) | |||
| Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| − | [[Cueball]] wrote a script that searches online shopping sites for items that cost US$1 with free shipping. Because the script is programmed to use an account with a $365 balance, this script will buy one random item per day. [[Megan]] | + | [[Cueball]] wrote a script that searches online shopping sites for items that cost US$1 with free shipping. Because the script is programmed to use an account with a $365 balance, this script will buy one random item per day for a full year. [[Megan]] comments that Cueball might just end up with "lots of crap" but he replies that he might get something interesting. |
| − | Over five days the script orders a length of rubber hose, a ski mask, a bear trap, a map of {{w|The Pentagon}} and "lube". This pattern prompts Cueball to stop the script out of fear of being placed on a FBI watch list. | + | Over five days the script orders a length of rubber hose, a ski mask, a bear trap, a map of {{w|The Pentagon}} and "lube" (sexual lubrication). This pattern prompts Cueball to stop the script out of fear of being placed on a FBI watch list; to a paranoid passerby, the purchased items make Cueball look like a terrorist who plans to kidnap and {{w|Rubber-hose cryptanalysis|torture}} federal employees. And also a pervert; such a contrast is considered funny. |
| − | In | + | In the title text a sixth item is sent, a {{w|bobcat}}. This may be connected with [[325: A-Minus-Minus]] where [[Black Hat]] delivered a bobcat instead of a chair. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
:[Cueball is sitting at his computer.] | :[Cueball is sitting at his computer.] | ||
:Cueball: I love getting packages. | :Cueball: I love getting packages. | ||
| − | :[Megan enters.] | + | |
| − | :Cueball: I set up a script to search eBay et. al. | + | :[Megan enters and Cueball turns towards her.] |
| − | :[Cueball | + | :Cueball: I set up a script to search eBay et. al. for $1 items with free shipping. |
| + | |||
| + | :[Cueball comes home with a backpack on his back and find a package waiting for him on his doorstop.] | ||
:Cueball: I gave it $365, so each day it can buy me something random. | :Cueball: I gave it $365, so each day it can buy me something random. | ||
| − | :Megan: What if you just end up with lots of crap? | + | |
| − | :Cueball: I'll give it away. But I'm sure I'll end up with some interesting stuff. | + | :[Cueball, again sitting at his computer.] |
| − | :[Day 1: Length of rubber hose | + | :Megan (off-screen): What if you just end up with lots of crap? |
| + | :Cueball: I'll give it away. | ||
| + | :Cueball: But I'm sure I'll end up with some interesting stuff. | ||
| + | |||
| + | :[The next five panels have a caption in a black frame at the top. The caption is written first for each panel. In the first panel Cueball has unpacked a hose. The paper lies in tatters on the floor. Megan stands next to him.] | ||
| + | :Day 1: Length of rubber hose | ||
:Cueball: Could be handy around the house. | :Cueball: Could be handy around the house. | ||
| − | :[Day 2: Ski mask | + | |
| + | :[Cueball stands with a black item and the torn paper it came in. Megan looks on.] | ||
| + | :Day 2: Ski mask | ||
:Cueball: It's spring, but hey. | :Cueball: It's spring, but hey. | ||
| − | :[Day 3: Bear trap | + | |
| + | :[Cueball is standing alone with a bear trap and the box it came in on the floor.] | ||
| + | :Day 3: Bear trap | ||
:Cueball: Huh. | :Cueball: Huh. | ||
| − | :[Day 4: Tourist map of the Pentagon. | + | |
| + | :[Megan is back as Cueball looks at a piece of paper that came in an envelope.] | ||
| + | :Day 4: Tourist map of the Pentagon. | ||
:Megan: Uh oh. | :Megan: Uh oh. | ||
| − | :[Day 5: Lube | + | |
| + | :[Cueball is standing alone with a tube in one hand and the box it came in in the other hand.] | ||
| + | :Day 5: Lube | ||
:Cueball: I'm stopping this before I end up on every F.B.I. watch list ever. | :Cueball: I'm stopping this before I end up on every F.B.I. watch list ever. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Trivia== | ||
| + | Someone has set up an [http://bobcatinabox.com/ actual service] inspired by this comic, which does exactly what this comic describes. | ||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
Revision as of 15:45, 27 January 2016
| Packages |
 Title text: Day six: 'The hell? Who mails a bobcat?' |
Explanation
Cueball wrote a script that searches online shopping sites for items that cost US$1 with free shipping. Because the script is programmed to use an account with a $365 balance, this script will buy one random item per day for a full year. Megan comments that Cueball might just end up with "lots of crap" but he replies that he might get something interesting.
Over five days the script orders a length of rubber hose, a ski mask, a bear trap, a map of The Pentagon and "lube" (sexual lubrication). This pattern prompts Cueball to stop the script out of fear of being placed on a FBI watch list; to a paranoid passerby, the purchased items make Cueball look like a terrorist who plans to kidnap and torture federal employees. And also a pervert; such a contrast is considered funny.
In the title text a sixth item is sent, a bobcat. This may be connected with 325: A-Minus-Minus where Black Hat delivered a bobcat instead of a chair.
Transcript
- [Cueball is sitting at his computer.]
- Cueball: I love getting packages.
- [Megan enters and Cueball turns towards her.]
- Cueball: I set up a script to search eBay et. al. for $1 items with free shipping.
- [Cueball comes home with a backpack on his back and find a package waiting for him on his doorstop.]
- Cueball: I gave it $365, so each day it can buy me something random.
- [Cueball, again sitting at his computer.]
- Megan (off-screen): What if you just end up with lots of crap?
- Cueball: I'll give it away.
- Cueball: But I'm sure I'll end up with some interesting stuff.
- [The next five panels have a caption in a black frame at the top. The caption is written first for each panel. In the first panel Cueball has unpacked a hose. The paper lies in tatters on the floor. Megan stands next to him.]
- Day 1: Length of rubber hose
- Cueball: Could be handy around the house.
- [Cueball stands with a black item and the torn paper it came in. Megan looks on.]
- Day 2: Ski mask
- Cueball: It's spring, but hey.
- [Cueball is standing alone with a bear trap and the box it came in on the floor.]
- Day 3: Bear trap
- Cueball: Huh.
- [Megan is back as Cueball looks at a piece of paper that came in an envelope.]
- Day 4: Tourist map of the Pentagon.
- Megan: Uh oh.
- [Cueball is standing alone with a tube in one hand and the box it came in in the other hand.]
- Day 5: Lube
- Cueball: I'm stopping this before I end up on every F.B.I. watch list ever.
Trivia
Someone has set up an actual service inspired by this comic, which does exactly what this comic describes.
add a comment! ⋅ add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅ 
refresh comments!Discussion
The only way I could imagine Cueball being on a wanted watch list is if the items he ordered could be interpreted as potentially being used in a hostage crisis at The Pentagon. --Btx40 (talk) 20:27, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
- What's the lube for? 103.10.66.8 16:29, 19 May 2013 (UTC)
Has anyone actually tried this?--Mynotoar (talk) 22:57, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
- This guy did. 74.124.100.108 07:47, 20 October 2013 (UTC)
- Here's one you can sign up for. I've been signed up for a while and packages are starting to trickle in, much to my amusement. --Alex (talk) 22:46, 25 June 2014 (UTC)
- I've added a link to the "Bobcat in a Box" website in a trivia section, because I really thought it should be mentioned in the main article. Just some random derp 18:33, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
Who would sell a bobcat for a dollar? 108.162.250.217 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- I think the shipping costs will eat you alive. 108.162.220.53 18:49, 20 June 2015 (UTC)
Similar sort of experiment with a $100 cap, in bitcoins. Was discontinued within three months after the program purchased ecstasy internationally, a likely stolen credit card, and a presumably fraudulent (but very high quality) Hungarian passport - in addition to some other suspect items of questionable legality. 108.162.219.98 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- I think it would be an acceptable sacrifice of randomness in purchases to put a few "forbidden" key words in your purchase-bot's programming. -Pennpenn 108.162.250.162 04:22, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
I am totally signing up for Bobcat in a Box! :D --JayRulesXKCD what's up? 18:40, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
where can I get this script
A: you can have this instead B:don't know but there is a good fanfiction about this: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13249443/1/I-Am-A-Bobcat Overlord of oddities (talk) 23:02, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
