Difference between revisions of "713: GeoIP"

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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
{{w|Geolocation|GeoIP}} is a service that converts IP addresses to their respective location on the earth. This is done by looking up the IP address in a database maintained by various Internet Service providers. Advertisers often take advantage of the {{w|Keeping up with the Joneses|Joneses effect}} by creating localized ads based on your location.  These ads are often highly misleading since the images are often stock photographs with the nearest town superimposed on it.
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{{w|Geolocation|GeoIP}} is a service that converts IP addresses to their respective location on the Earth. This is done by looking up the IP address in a database maintained by various internet service providers. Advertisers often take advantage of the {{w|Keeping up with the Joneses|Joneses effect}} by creating localized ads which misleadingly appear to be specific to your location, but are often simply stock photographs with the name of the nearest town superimposed on top.
  
This is the case with the comic. The {{w|International Space Station}} presumably has a public-facing IP address, which is geolocated to "Low Earth Orbit". [[Cueball]] trolls the advertisers by inserting his actual location into the IP registry, thus getting the advertisement to claim that there are "local girls" in the ISS.  Since all members of the ISS know each other, Cueball underlines the obvious lie in GeoIP-based advertising.
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The comic satirizes this phenomenon. The {{w|International Space Station}} has a high speed data downlink, but no direct connection to the internet. But here, [[Cueball]] trolls the advertisers from onboard the ISS, by inserting his actual location on {{w|low Earth orbit}} into the database under that IP address. Thus, the advertisements claim that there are "local girls" in low Earth orbit — in fact a distance of roughly 420 kilometers in only a few times per month.  
  
 
The title text refers to how specific GeoIP can get. However, knowing that someone is in their mom's basement is hyperbole.
 
The title text refers to how specific GeoIP can get. However, knowing that someone is in their mom's basement is hyperbole.
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:[Internal view of the satellite, Cueball and Ponytail are floating about, Cueball is at a computer mounted to the wall.]
 
:[Internal view of the satellite, Cueball and Ponytail are floating about, Cueball is at a computer mounted to the wall.]
 
:Ponytail: Why?
 
:Ponytail: Why?
:Cueball: To mess with our advertisers. Check it out.
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:Cueball: To mess with advertisers. Check it out.
  
 
:[An ad reads "Meet local girls in Low Earth Orbit tonight!" and has two photos of girls in sexy poses, one captioned "Tanya, 18" and the other "Amber, 19". Below them is a button that reads "CHAT LIVE".]
 
:[An ad reads "Meet local girls in Low Earth Orbit tonight!" and has two photos of girls in sexy poses, one captioned "Tanya, 18" and the other "Amber, 19". Below them is a button that reads "CHAT LIVE".]
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[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
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[[Category:Sex]]
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[[Category:Your Mom]]

Revision as of 14:35, 23 January 2015

GeoIP
'Meet hot young singles in your mom's basement today'? Man, screw you, GeoIP.
Title text: 'Meet hot young singles in your mom's basement today'? Man, screw you, GeoIP.

Explanation

GeoIP is a service that converts IP addresses to their respective location on the Earth. This is done by looking up the IP address in a database maintained by various internet service providers. Advertisers often take advantage of the Joneses effect by creating localized ads which misleadingly appear to be specific to your location, but are often simply stock photographs with the name of the nearest town superimposed on top.

The comic satirizes this phenomenon. The International Space Station has a high speed data downlink, but no direct connection to the internet. But here, Cueball trolls the advertisers from onboard the ISS, by inserting his actual location on low Earth orbit into the database under that IP address. Thus, the advertisements claim that there are "local girls" in low Earth orbit — in fact a distance of roughly 420 kilometers in only a few times per month.

The title text refers to how specific GeoIP can get. However, knowing that someone is in their mom's basement is hyperbole.

Transcript

[External view of a satellite orbiting Earth. Dialog comes from within.]
Cueball: Yes!
Ponytail: What?
Cueball: I got our downlink into a GeoIP database.
[Internal view of the satellite, Cueball and Ponytail are floating about, Cueball is at a computer mounted to the wall.]
Ponytail: Why?
Cueball: To mess with advertisers. Check it out.
[An ad reads "Meet local girls in Low Earth Orbit tonight!" and has two photos of girls in sexy poses, one captioned "Tanya, 18" and the other "Amber, 19". Below them is a button that reads "CHAT LIVE".]


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Discussion

The title text is more than hyperbole: In the United States, if someone is "living in their mom's basement", it implies they can not or will not get a job allowing them to move out. i.e.: they are a loser. The resultant weak response "Screw you, GeoIP" seems to push that depiction even further. 173.245.56.186 23:11, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

I don't get this. The title text goes "Meet hot young singles in your mom's basement today?" Not their. Isn't this another "yo' mama" joke, simply implying that your mama has hot young singles in her basement?Mumiemonstret (talk) 08:02, 20 October 2014 (UTC)
I think it just means that you can do the same trick on *your* IP, just replacing the string "low earth orbit" with "your mom basement". MGitsfullofsheep (talk) 17:12, 24 October 2014 (UTC)
I think this means that your mum is the hot young single in her basement... 141.101.98.241 12:27, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
Yes nothing hyperbole here. It is just another of Randall's many your mom jokes and can be insulting in almost anyway you think about the sentence. Have tried to change the explanation of the title text according to this. --Kynde (talk) 21:28, 13 February 2016 (UTC)
I don't think this is a "Your Mom" joke. I agree with the first comment. It is simply that GeoIP has gotten so accurate that it can now pinpoint the user's location to his Mom's basement. An adult living in his parent's house is termed shameful in US as it means that the adult does not have a job and cannot support himself/herself. That is why he's hiding in the basement in the first place, instead of it just being 'Mom's house'. The ad is usually like this -- "Meet hot young singles in <user's location>" where the <user's location> part is filled in from GeoIP. Clearly, there are no "hot young singles" in his Mom's basement and it feels like GeoIP is unknowingly shaming the user by reminding him that he is in his mom's basement, and hence the "Screw you" response. 199.27.130.216 00:54, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
But it's your mom's basement, so that suggests you are online dating with a close relative? I don't understand it. That's right, Jacky720 just signed this (talk | contribs) 20:30, 12 December 2016 (UTC)
No that is simply GeoIP being fooled just like the ISS entry being put in. If someone living his his/her mom's basement got that ad, they already know there is no hot young girls in that area otherwise he would not be online trying to find close hot young girls. 108.162.216.166 13:38, 3 August 2017 (UTC)
The title text is saying that GeoIP is very accurate, and, just like it "assumed" that there were "local girls" in low earth orbit, it "assumes" that there are local girls in "your mom's basement", even though there are actually none.TaperingBirch (talk) 14:05, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Is it just me or do the girls look like they're floating in zero gravity? Tbodt (talk) 00:13, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

420??? 🌿 🌿 🌿 “in low Earth orbit; a distance of roughly 420 kilometers above the Earth surface” 42.book.addict (talk) 03:08, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

It varies (like "413 perigee to 422 apogee" frequent orbital variation, with periodic decay/reboost over time), but yes. Hubble is at ~540km up, and Iridium sats are at 780ish. LEO is arbitrarily defined as up to 2000km, but usage is skewed to the lower end of the not-totally-scraping-the-atmosphere range, including all manned space-stations (and all manned missions that aren't trans-lunar) of past and present. 141.101.99.43 03:54, 8 February 2024 (UTC)