Sunday, July 27, 2008

Comic 454: Raises more questions than it answers

Really, Randall? This is what you think is funny now? "It's a phone line but I do it through the fax machine, so it is wireless a ha ha ha ha ha ha HA!" Who uses faxes? How is a fax possibly more convenient than...than anything? How is it easier to get an ethernet cable coming out of a fax than plugging it into the wall? Wouldn't it be funnier if this was a way of extending the cable rather than upgrading it or whatever? Also, don't faxes work over phone lines anyway, so how is this an upgrade? Also, aren't you aware that at no point in the history of time has a fax machine worked properly? FAIL.

On presentation, you get a 0. The walls make it look like you have divided this into three panels, which it clearly is not. I would have gone for no walls and a sort of zig-zag cutting thing in the middle to show that there is space you are cutting out.

Alas, the forums were no help in understanding if I was missing something. As usual. There were only 45 comments on this comic - compare that to 153 for the hurricane comic on Wednesday and 87 for mission. Obviously those have been around a few days longer but still, not up to speed, comments on comic 454! It's just an uninspiring visual gag that I think makes most people go "eh."

In the future, I will comment on the new shirt that Mr. Munroe is selling. Spoiler alert: I don't like it! End of spoiler alert.

6 comments:

  1. Yeah, this one just made me go 'what the hell?'

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  2. I think you are missing the fact that he is sending an ethernet cable through a phone line. The idea is that, if this were possible, the two parties would enjoy an ethernet connection without having a broadband internet connection.

    I'm not commenting on the humor of the comic or anything, it just seemed that you were confused on that point.

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  3. Get cracking on the insipid hats (455)! I want to see just how much commentary can be squeezed out of a truly half-assed strip.

    Or if you ARE already cracking, then pace yourself, any reasonable person would have a heart attack trying to express the uselessness of that strip.

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  4. LZ- It still doesn't seem like its accomplishing anything unless he could multiply how many ethernet plugs he had. In other words, is he doing anything he couldn't do with a very long extension cord? That seems like what he is using the fax machines for. Which isn't such a bad joke, but by talking about "upgrading" he clearly has something else in mind.

    Thomas- I am way ahead of you.

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  5. He is UPGRADING the phone line to send information at the speed of ethernet cable.

    This could be done with a long ethernet cable, but the idea is that one could "thread" the phone line with another, higher capacity, protocol (an absurd proposition).

    In the alt text he talks about threading the mail system to do the same thing. If you could mail one end of an ethernet cable to someone across the country, you could have a fast connection with that person, bypassing any networks. I imagine an envelope with a cable coming out of it, plugged into someone's computer.

    Not that this joke is worth more than one sentence, but I like explaining things.

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  6. ok, now I think I get it. Comic still sucks though.

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