explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2450: Post Vaccine Social Scheduling

2021-04-16T11:47:49Z

Enkidu:

That third line down in the cartoon, shouldn't the first 2 be a 1? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.116|198.41.238.116]] 02:56, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:Plus, should they really be going to a movie during their two weeks? [[User:NixillUmbreon|NixillUmbreon]] ([[User talk:NixillUmbreon|talk]]) 03:20, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:Third line down may have gotten a spoiled batch on their second shot (or could be lying, thereby creating errors the schedule), but it does look to me like a typo. NixellUmbreon correctly notes that Third Line also does ''not'' wait the requisite period after 2nd dose before going to a movie!
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 03:50, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
::Or perhaps they think that as soon as they've had their second shot, they're Good To Go? Not lying deliberately, but just plain old misinformed [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.66|162.158.165.66]] 04:19, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:::I think the idea is because the other 2 people are vaccinated, assuming person 3 isn't at high risk, per CDC guidelines I think they're ok to socialize with vaccinated people (but that assumes there isn't anyone else at the movies) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.199|162.158.62.199]] 14:51, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

It seems unfair to attend any birthdays this year, considering how many could not be attended. Bobby gets a party but Susie doesn't? Hmm... Time is cruel.

Also, unrelated, but it's entirely possible that Lines 1, 2, 5, 7 & 8 are scheduling to gather on ''Line 3's'' birthday, while 3 isn't vaccinated yet.
:Line 3 doesn't attend the birthday. She's going to the movie with 4 & 5 just after the 2nd shot. Every one at the bday has had the 2nd shot for 2+ weeks. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.160|141.101.77.160]] 08:40, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
::That's my point! It is entirely possible to schedule a birthday party for someone who cannot yet attend. Case in point: Family & friends on Earth gathering to celebrate the birthday of an astronaut in space, who can only view the goings-on via a bandwidth-limited single-feed video chat. With CoViD '19 happening, who knows how many people have tried to schedule a ''surprise'' party only to discover that the birthday person won't be vaccinated in time? Mind you, I'm not saying it's the most likely scenario (far from it), I'm merely pointing out that with so many still unable to attend, it's entirely ''possible'' to schedule a party for the birthday of someone who can't attend.
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:50, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

''Edit:'' Also, also, what is a chungus? (I don't come to explainxkcd because I want to search random words on DuckDuckGo...)
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 03:50, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:according to dictionary.com, “Chungus is a meme featuring a chunky version of the cartoon character Bugs Bunny, typically captioned Big Chungus. It began as gaming joke that spread online as a slang term for anything ‘(adorably) chunky,’ similar to chonky.“ (which begs the question, what does that have to do with the explanation of this comic being written by a “big chungus”)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.233|162.158.62.233]] 04:18, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
Just wondering, how is Big Chungus related to this? Confuuusion [[User:Eelitee|Eelitee]] ([[User talk:Eelitee|talk]]) 04:29, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:Sooo... "Chungus" seems unrelated to anything in the comic, & was replaced in the bot tag so it no longer appears on the explanation page. Maybe it was just some idle defacement by an early visitor to the comic's explanation? It's a weird term: I don't see any use of it ''except'' in reference to this ''single appearance'' of a fattened Bugs Bunny, the phrase is not spoken in the cartoon & as a portmanteau "chunky" seems a clear contributor, but the latter half is less clear. (Misspelling of "ous" from "humongous"? Does not seem to get applied to humongous things, as often as small things that are fat, though... "bulbous"?)
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:09, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

Question as a European: Don't Americans use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which just needs 1 shot (in addition to those that need 2 shots)? Everyone in this chart gets a "2" shot (and in the case of the 3rd person even two "2" shots.) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 05:03, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:When scheduled for an immunisation an American may find that they are being administered Moderna, Pfizer, or until recently the J&J vaccine (currently that rollout is paused until an investigation into blood clot incidence can be concluded). The second shot if it exists needs to be the same as the first, but otherwise there is little local favouring of one manufacturer over the others. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.77|172.69.33.77]] 06:36, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
::Thanks for the information, but my question was about how J&J is applied (if it is applied at all), as to my knowledge it doesn't need a 2nd shot, but is fully functional few weeks after the first shot. But noone in this graph is getting only 1 shot. So it looks like this graph already ignores J&J/depicts a group of people in which noone got J&J. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:39, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:::J&J makes up < 5% of administered vaccines in the US even prior to the CDC freeze, so its not surprising that in a group of 11 people they all received either Moderna or Pfizer [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.199|162.158.62.199]] 14:51, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:::The people I know who've received the J&J vaccine were still advised to get a second dose (not that it's available).
:::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:58, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

I thought this comic was also about the CDC guidance even after getting vaccinated to stay in small groups, this, there is no group of > 4 people or so. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.143|172.69.35.143]] 05:17, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:Cabin and birthday are 5 people each. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 05:20, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:: Hmm, but by "Cabin" everyone has already been vaccinated. So should've they all be able to attend? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.19|172.69.33.19]] 05:31, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
::: Everyone still doesn't want to go everywere. If I'd schedule a Transformers movie night I'd only got most of my brothers to join and maybe two of our significant others. Also some may be unavailable for other reasons to which the alt-text seems to refer. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.238.244|162.158.238.244]] 07:55, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
Might this also a take on the transistor 'NPN hole' diagram? The title text states 'NP-hard' which is something different, but the diagram does look a little like transistor holes and electrons! Emitter's and Collector's? [[User:Fan2012|Fan2012]] ([[User talk:Fan2012|talk]]) 06:21, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

Hm, is this possibly the Boolean satisfiability problem (as in whether or not someone can come is TRUE or FALSE)? This is a NP-hard problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_satisfiability_problem [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.195|172.68.132.195]]

Could somebody send this recent book by a whistleblower to Randall? He could make so many jokes: https://books.google.com/books/about/Mindf_ck.html?id=8AqmDwAAQBAJ [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.13|162.158.62.13]] 12:18, 15 April 2021 (UTC)

Judging by the size of the gaps, 2, 7 & 8 presumably receive Moderna, while the rest receive Pfizer (for the pedants: yes, there are other possible explanations for the discrepancy in gaps, but this is the simplest). Does someone have a way of checking whether this roughly mirrors the prevalence of the two vaccines in the US up to mid-April?

Anyone concerned for the four people that [[Black Hat]] is taking to a cabin? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.16|141.101.98.16]] 17:56, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:I'm more concerned that I'm not going. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 17:58, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
:There are really 5 people plus [[Black Hat]] since the person sponsoring the event is not on the chart and will also be there. I am assuming that the person doing the arranging is doing it for personal benefit and will be attending all the events. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 02:24, 16 April 2021 (UTC)
::Not an obvious conclusion. In organising one's own line (Danish from the top line, or perhaps the Danish+Cueball couple, centred entirely on hosting/attending the Birthday event?), you're drawn into accounting for everyone else who ''might'' be there and their other potential commitments. Possibly extending to friends-of-friends (Blondie, other Cueball and Meghan? ...justifiable as not even pass-through members of Birthday?) who wouldn't be expected to be birthday guests but need to be figured in as potential confounding factors.
::Alternatively, as typical author+partner avatars, Cueball+Meghan at the bottom are arranging a couple of part-shared meet-ups and it has been extended upwards to account for proxy-associationz (including the Birthday, which isn't on their own radar). Though I find the connective topology of the (definite) links slightly less convincing in support of this version.
::(i.e. bottom-up and its subsequent accumulation of activities/people is less convincing, when compared to the top-down interpretation of Hairbun unfortunately being shown necessary to skip the main Birthday bash; Black Hat and Science Girl maybe only included high up as known linked persons, via their intended involvement in the Movie/Cabin/etc...)
::There are other possible starting assumptions (positionally, it could have 'started' with any single character's line, extended up ''and'' down as deemed necessary when more linked events and individuals were discovered) but none appear to be quite as logically satisfying. YMMV. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.80|141.101.107.80]] 08:15, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

Sorry, but this looks for me not only like a {{w|Sorting network}}, but it would also give the NP-problem reference more sense. [[User:Enkidu|Enkidu]] ([[User talk:Enkidu|talk]]) 11:47, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

949: File Transfer

2021-02-24T13:24:52Z

Enkidu: Tim Berners-Lee envisioned a real interactive web. Misusing emails for file sharing is probably painful for him, because his invention developed into this unnecessary complicated way

{{comic
| number = 949
| date = September 9, 2011
| title = File Transfer
| image = file_transfer.png
| titletext = Every time you email a file to yourself so you can pull it up on your friend's laptop, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a single tear.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is trying to help two people, his friend and his friend's cousin, exchange a 25 MB file. Most people know how to use email to send files through the internet, but (as of 2011 when this comic was published) 25 MB exceeds the attachment size limit of most email services. The reason there is a limit is because every email has to be transferred between several mail transfer agents, and each one has to temporarily store a copy of the email. Space constraints on those mail servers means that they must impose size limits, and an email with such a large attachment will therefore not be delivered.

The next option is to upload the file to an FTP server (FTP stands for {{w|File Transfer Protocol}}, as opposed to HTTP, {{w|Hypertext Transfer Protocol}}), used to transfer files between computers on a shared network, such as the internet. However, FTP servers are a touch more esoteric than a mere email attachment, and many internet users don't have access to one of their own.

Web hosting is simply the ability to create a website and store all the data for said website on a server which is connected to the internet. If Cueball's friend's cousin had the ability to do that, sharing the file would be as easy as putting a copy of it in an accessible directory and sending the link to the desired recipient.

{{w|Megaupload}} was one of many sites on the Internet that recognized most users' inability to host large files on their own, and so offers to host large files, sometimes for free, sometimes for a small fee. The payoff is that in order to make such a service profitable, many of these sites are cluttered with banner and pop up ads in a mad effort to squeeze as much ad revenue out of every page view as possible. It's not a dealbreaker for some, but Cueball seems to think it'll be too much for his friend's cousin to handle.

{{w|AOL Instant Messenger|AIM}} Direct Connect was a file sharing system on AOL Instant Messenger, which was already suffering severe drops in popularity by the year 2000. Clearly, Cueball is grasping at straws here: anybody desperate enough to invoke the name of AOL as a solution instead of a problem must be at their wits' end.

{{w|Dropbox (service)|Dropbox}} is a program with a web-based GUI that automates file sharing between two computers on the internet. But this solution also has its issues, as it requires that at least the sending party has a Dropbox account. Installing Dropbox software is not actually required, since Dropbox also provides a web interface for uploading and downloading files. At the time of the comic's publication, Dropbox was still relatively new and unknown, thus why it is not Cueball's first suggestion.

While Cueball is still explaining Dropbox, the friend's cousin has copied the file to a USB drive and physically transported it to the friend's house, circumventing the Internet entirely. It's not an elegant solution, but sometimes traditional methods are the most efficient ways to get something done.

When used to transfer files between computers in the same room or building, this same approach is referred to as {{w|sneakernet}}. This comic is also an illustration of what {{w|Andy Tanenbaum}} said in 1989: ''Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway.'' Sneakernet was examined in this [https://what-if.xkcd.com/31/ What If] article.

{{w|Tim Berners-Lee}} developed the http protocol, the html markup language and the first web browser. Therefore he is considered to be the inventor of the World Wide Web. He envisioned originally an interactive web, where it would have been possible for the users to change a website directly using the browser, which would have made it possible to upload a file directly to a webpage:

:<q>Tim Berners-Lee's original vision of the Web involved a medium for both reading and writing. In fact, Berners-Lee's first web browser, called WorldWideWeb, could both view and edit web pages</q> (from Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WebDAV&oldid=1006182171 WebDAV]).

In contrast to this, a static web ("web 1.0") came alive, which developed then later to the interactive "web 2.0" we knew today. Wikis like explainxkcd.com, where the page content is editable via forms, are a perfect example for this "emulated interactivity". From the technical point of view, the webpage is still static and the browser is just a viewer for html pages with the limited possibility to send some form data to the server. Scripts on the server, which process this form data, change then the web page. This mechanism is a more complicated work-around for what Tim Berners-Lee originally planned.
Dropbox and the web interfaces of email providers are further examples of this "emulated interactivity". The title text assumes, that Tim Berners-Lee feels probably generally sad, that his invention developed into this unnecessary complicated way and misusing emails (maybe even via the web interface of email providers) for file sharing is therefore especially painful for what could have been so simple.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands near a computer, talking on the phone to another person.]

:Cueball: You want your cousin to send you a file? easy. He can email it to- ...Oh, it's 25 MB? Hmm...
:Cueball: Do either of you have an FTP server? No, right.
:Cueball: If you had web hosting, you could upload it...
:Cueball: Hm. We could try one of those MegaShareUpload sites, but they're flaky and full of delays and porn popups.
:Cueball: How about AIM Direct Connect? Anyone still use that?
:Cueball: Oh, wait, Dropbox! It's this recent startup from a few years back that syncs folders between computers. You just need to make an account, install the-
:Cueball: Oh, he just drove over to your house with a USB drive?
:Cueball: Uh, cool, that works too.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I like how we've had the internet for decades, yet "sending files" is something early adopters are still figuring out how to do.

==Trivia==
This comic has a resemblance to both, [[1810: Chat Systems]], and [[2194: How to Send a File]]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

Talk:949: File Transfer

2021-02-24T11:58:31Z

Enkidu:

About three years ago, I stumbled across this comic during an xkcd re-read, and I immediately thought "Hey, the small business I work for could make GREAT use of Dropbox!" Today, my boss says that bringing Dropbox to her business is one of the best ideas I've ever had. [[User:Boct1584|Boct1584]] ([[User talk:Boct1584|talk]]) 01:22, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

Years ago the usb drive was a floppy disc and the transfer was called "sneaker net".
This "solution" is much, much older than the web.
Also, why would TBL shed a tear? What's an HTML server got to do with file sharing? Do you think Randall meant Tommy Flowers?{{unsigned|‎188.29.119.251}}
:You are right. I deleted the sentence about Tim Berners-Lee, because the comic shows a perfectly legitimate use of the internet: transferring a 25 Mb file, which is much complicated than it should be. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 21:00, 10 October 2013 (UTC)
:He wasn't really right, and the title text should still be explained. I have done so. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:35, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
Just split the file into two pieces and send them in two emails. [[Special:Contributions/123.24.93.198|123.24.93.198]] 10:29, 3 August 2013 (UTC)
:With a chisel? Not everybody has a chisel around the house, these days. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:35, 21 January 2014 (UTC)
Actually Dropbox has [https://www.dropbox.com/home a web interface], you don't need to download any program. Still, both need to have Dropbox account. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 15:41, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
:Yes. Yes, you do. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.223|108.162.219.223]] 20:35, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Guys, dropbox supports link-sharing, for users without an account. Although, that feature probably wasn't around at the time this comic
was written. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.73|173.245.55.73]] 02:46, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

Duke: I THINK that the TIM BERNERS LEE part is not just to do with the protocols. If you had to send it to your friend's laptop , you *could* mail it your friends email id rather than to yourself, essentially using the email service in the *right* manner. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.81.237|141.101.81.237]] 07:27, 15 August 2014 (UTC)
:After all these years I stumbled only now upon this note in Wikipedia's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV WebDAV] article:
:<q>Tim Berners-Lee's original vision of the Web involved a medium for both reading and writing. In fact, Berners-Lee's first web browser, called WorldWideWeb, could both view and edit web pages.</q>
:So Tim Berners-Lee was imaging an interactive web when he invented html and http, instead of the static "web 1.0", which came alive. In his envisioned web, people probably would have uploaded a file to a webpage directly, instead of using the web-interfaces of email providers or services like Dropbox, which are complicated work-arounds to achieve the same thing. [[User:Enkidu|Enkidu]] ([[User talk:Enkidu|talk]]) 11:58, 24 February 2021 (UTC)

Hah, now we have darkhttp. Just download and install (a matter of seconds), execute (give root-of-to-share folder) and forward the ports on your router (2mins max). This should be rather easy :-). Alternatives could be also tftp etc. Or send something via GDrive^^[[Special:Contributions/108.162.253.174|108.162.253.174]] 10:11, 12 May 2015 (UTC)
:"forward the ports on your router" isn't "2mins max" if your ISP puts its residential subscribers behind [[wikipedia:Carrier-grade NAT|carrier-grade network address translation]]. For many, the only way out from behind CGNAT is to lease a static IP, and even for that, some ISPs require a commercially zoned service address. --[[User:Tepples|Tepples]] ([[User talk:Tepples|talk]]) 16:17, 17 October 2017 (UTC)