explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1620: Christmas Settings

2015-12-23T18:58:33Z

162.158.102.149: /* Explanation */ alternative interpretation

{{comic
| number = 1620
| date = December 23, 2015
| title = Christmas Settings
| image = christmas_settings.png
| titletext = SOUND DOGS MAKE: [BARKING] [HISSING] [LIGHTSABER NOISES] [FLUENT ENGLISH] [SWEARING]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|May need improvement. Should there be two versions of why they cannot remember?}}
[[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. 
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...

The title text continues this by showing another ad-lib dial: ''Sound dogs make'' ranging from the norm (barking) over "lightsaber noises" and speech to swearing. This is likely on another control panel (but could specifically be the sound a dog would make in response to Santa's entry, by whatever method?), but would give the same option of changing the expected vocal response of the dog away from (our norm of) barking. In popular culture, talking dogs are a commonly used trope; in contrast, swearing "dogs" are few, the most famous being Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog (a puppet, created by Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel and performed by the latter).

The comic might also be a joke on real-life controls often having no clear "default" value - which, by the way, is sometimes the case for virtual controls as well.

==Options for Santa==
*Below is a table with the ten possible settings starting with the originally chosen standard option and going clockwise through the rest:
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5
|'''Option''' || '''Normal Entry/Exit for...'''
|-
|{{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|Bathroom}} {{w|mirror}} || See {{w|Candyman (film)|Candyman}}, or {{w|Bloody Mary (folklore)|Bloody Mary}} (the latter has been used in [[555: Two Mirrors]]).
|-
|{{w|Skin pore|Pores of your skin}} || {{w|Sweat}} leaving the body.
|-
|{{w|Toilet}} || {{w|Human waste}} and {{w|The_Shawshank_Redemption|life-term prisoners}} (at least through the sewer).
|-
|{{w|Cat flap}} || Domesticated cats and dogs.
|-
|{{w|Sink|Kitchen faucet}} || Water.
|-
|{{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.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Ponytail are walking over to a console, Ponytail points towards it. They are drawn in a panel that is only half the width of the next panel below]
:Ponytail: Over here we have the universe control panel.
:Ponytail: These dials, for example, control Christmas.

:[A dial is shown. There is a label at the top and then there are ten settings, five symmetrically on the left and right side, but no setting straight up or down. It looks allot like the dial on a washing machine with different programs. The dial points towards the top left setting. All settings are labeled and there is a small line going to the point on the dial connected with each setting. The line at 3 and 9 o'clock are straight the other 8 are divided in two, where the first part goes horizontally and then bends either up or down, to end in the right position. Here the labele at the top and then the setting labels clockwise from top right, thus ending with the one the dial is set to:]
:'''Santa enters houses through...'''
:Shower Drain
:Mail Slot
:Heating Vents
:Bathroom Mirror
:Pores of Your Skin
:Toilet
:Cat Flap
:Kitchen Faucet
:Open Window
:Chimney

:[Ponytail is passing by this control panel looking back at Megan who trips and falls towards the console.]
:Megan: Whoops!
:Megans legs: Trip

:[Megan catches herself on the dial of the control panel and accidentally turns the dial. Ponytail has taken her hands to her mouth.]
:Dial: Click Click

:[Megan is standing in front of the console looking at the dial, Ponytail is standing behind it.]
:Megan: What was the Santa dial set to before?
:Ponytail: I forget.
:Megan: I'll just guess

==Trivia==
*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.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:1620: Christmas Settings

2015-12-23T18:56:40Z

162.158.102.149:

That's how Little Johnny killed Christmas, he left the tap running all night. --[[User:Jarfil|Jarfil]] ([[User talk:Jarfil|talk]]) 05:32, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Pores of your skin?! As utterly horrifying as it sounds, it's probably the most effective of the bunch, considering that all the others might not exist/be blocked in some manner and in some houses. [[User:Bon|Bon]] ([[User talk:Bon|talk]]) 06:27, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxh-Hjj8T9o Swearing dogs are definitely a thing]. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.28|173.245.54.28]] 05:59, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

How'd I do for my first explanation on this site? [[User:VectorLightning|VectorLightning]] ([[User talk:VectorLightning|talk]]) 07:47, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
:It was a great start. Keep it coming. Of course there will be many changes later, but I can see that some of yours original explain have survived the first edits since then ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:57, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

"These dials, for example, controls..." - is this a mistake? "This dial, for example, controls..." or "These dials, for example, control" would make more grammatical sense. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.33|141.101.99.33]] 09:35, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
: I think that there is more than one dail controlling Christmas. [[User:SirKitKat|sirKitKat]] ([[User talk:SirKitKat|talk]]) 09:53, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
:: Then surely it should be "These dials, for example, control"? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.33|141.101.99.33]] 10:13, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
::: You are correct and Randall has agreed and changed it to "These dials, for example, control Christmas" in the updated version. Good spotted. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:59, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Probably could do with a table of the options and associations. Better than the following that I just drew up (and actually formatted as a table!):
:Chimney - traditional (but not always practical) to our universe; also usable (to varying degrees of success) by Big Bad Wolves, adventurous burglars and adverse atmospheric/weather conditions;
:Shower Drain - typical horror movie (supernatural or natural creature invasion), as well as back-flooding;
:Open Window - more like a mundane burglar, or Hitchcock's 'The Birds';
:Mail slot - 'mundane' magical alternative to fitting down the chimney, where there is no usable chimney (''or'' horror movie, of various kinds); but raises the question of where the "with a special key that can open any door" option is, also, for Santa...
:Kitchen Faucet - another horror movie (supernatural) or a technothriller plot (contaminated water supply);
:Heating vents - another common alternative already given for those without a chimney/chimneyplace (''or'' horror/technothriller fodder);
:Cat Flap - another 'normal' alternative (which, again, does not exclude entry by various threats... or non-resident cats/non-cat pets/wildlife);
:Bathroom Mirror - supernatural (especially 'bad magic');
:Toilet - more traditionally rats or sewer-snakes, with reactions from "argh!" to "ewww...", depending on whether anybody is 'enthroned' at the time;
:Pores Of Your Skin - very much... ewww... (as for (techno)horror threats, it's almost always ''someone else's'' skin and/or sweat that's dangerous, so ''your'' skin
(where you aren't the 'patient-zero' or revenant already) would be something pretty novel)
:: Great minds think alike, I've just gone ahead and done that [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 12:16, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Genre examples would be good.
...also, there is of course a direct reference to how ''our'' universe seems to have certain universal physical values (e.g. 'speed of light') that might well be different in alternate universes. Whether or not the 'physical constants' we currently know are ''the'' fundemental physical constants (rather than derivative of the actual constant(s) the universe started with), it appears that this control room has access to rather less fundemental 'fundementals' to it. Or assumes that Christmas and Santa (and also probably the various entryways, even when not used by Santa) are universals to the universe that always exist in some form, but perhaps differently configured, in alternate universes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 10:28, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Someone thought these links were funny: <nowiki>{{W|Kitchen Faucet}} {{w|Bathroom Mirror}}. I removed the {{w}}</nowiki> template. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.17|108.162.221.17]] 12:51, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
:I was going to have a go with the table and make "normal use" and "irregular/fictional uses" columns, alongside the label items, but wikilinks on the items themselves would have made the first column less necessary, and wouldn't hurt (if done across the board). e.g. are cat-flaps as commonly known and understood outside of temperate areas (where a house isn't already handily perforated against the build-up of heat, but also need not be so sealed against the cold as to make a cat-flap a potentially harmful vent in the door that keeps the cold weather out) that we can be sure that future readers ''automatically'' know what one is? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.152.227|162.158.152.227]] 13:47, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
::I think in a table it is OK to have wiki links to all items, so as not to judge which are necessary. I will put them back. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:18, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Could the title text refer to the (in)famous barking "Jingle Bells"? [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 16:17, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

I would propose a different explanation of the comic. I believe Randall is suggesting that the default American explanation to children of how Santa is able to enter locked houses is logically unsatisfying and seemingly arbitrary, and that the universe would be able to function just as smoothly were that explanation to change without warning. Ponytail is unconcerned about the setting because she knows that it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. This is in line with [[1268]], where Randall implies that he would be more comfortable in an alternate universe in which lobsters were perceived as inedible instead of a delicacy. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.64|173.245.55.64]] 16:37, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
:I disagree, she is flustered when it happens as shown by Ponytail taking both hands up to her mouth. I would say she is distraught that she cannot remember. Probably her boss would be mad (the one who have made this control panel, and who would know the setting) if he found out. We do not see her response to Megan's suggestion that she will just guess... But I agree that it could be Randall's intention and also that it could be relevant to reference [[1268: Alternate Universe]] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:18, 23 December 2015 (UTC)
::That's a good point, but the tension is gone from Ponytail's body in the final panel and she doesn't say "I forget!". One might argue that she is momentarily concerned that Megan had injured herself, and that she relaxed when she realized that merely one of the constants of the universe had been changed. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.64|173.245.55.64]] 18:32, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Dail shifted two clicks, so now it is either on "Kitchen faucet" or "mail slot". Could be worse... If she gives it another 2 clicks in an attempt to put it back, it will end up on either "Chimney", "Toilet" or "bathroom mirror". Maybe it's best not to mess with it any further... --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.16|141.101.104.16]] 18:03, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Maybe it's also a joke on real-life controls often having no clear "default" value (which, by the way, is sometimes the case for virtual controls as well)? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.102.149|162.158.102.149]] 18:56, 23 December 2015 (UTC)