Editing 541: TED Talk
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| title = TED Talk | | title = TED Talk | ||
| image = ted_talk.png | | image = ted_talk.png | ||
− | | titletext = The IAU ban came after the | + | | titletext = The IAU ban came after the "redefinition of the 'planet' to include the IAU president's mom" incident. |
}} | }} | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | The comics shows Randall as a presenter at the highly prestigious {{w|TED conference}}, a symposium about technology, entertainment and design. The illustrious {{w|list of TED speakers|list of former presenters}} includes amongst others Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Larry Page, Richard Dawkins and Gordon Brown. The conference is regarded as a forum for {{w|digerati}}. Every talk has a length of | + | The comics shows Randall as a presenter at the highly prestigious {{w|TED conference}}, a symposium about technology, entertainment and design. The illustrious {{w|list of TED speakers|list of former presenters}} includes amongst others Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Larry Page, Richard Dawkins and Gordon Brown. The conference is regarded as a forum for {{w|digerati}}. Every talk has a length of 18 minutes and is supposed to be as captivating as possible. |
Randall's presentation, however, reduces the purpose of the conference to absurdity: The topic he wishes to point out to his listeners, is that of how to put an emoticon at the end of a parenthetical statement. This question is of little practical consequence, although it received a lot of attention after publication of the comic. In the last panel, the TED conference is another item to add to his list of conferences from which he has been banned. On the list are other conferences from all sorts of fields, including every American furry convention. | Randall's presentation, however, reduces the purpose of the conference to absurdity: The topic he wishes to point out to his listeners, is that of how to put an emoticon at the end of a parenthetical statement. This question is of little practical consequence, although it received a lot of attention after publication of the comic. In the last panel, the TED conference is another item to add to his list of conferences from which he has been banned. On the list are other conferences from all sorts of fields, including every American furry convention. | ||
− | The title text about Randall's ban from the {{w|IAU}} conference is a reference to the popular maternal insults called {{w | + | The title text about Randall's ban from the {{w|IAU}} conference is a reference to the popular maternal insults called {{w|"yo mama" jokes}}. A common representative of the genre runs "Yo mama so fat, scientists have declared her the 10th planet." |
− | + | Getting banned from attending a conference occurs more than once in xkcd, cf. [[153]] and [[410]]. | |
− | + | In response to this comic, {{w|PyCon}} organizers jokingly [http://pycon.blogspot.com/2009/02/randall-munroe.html announced] that Randall Munroe was banned from PyCon 2009 due to "last year's disgraceful keynote, 'Web Spiders vs. Red Spiders'." They also said they instructed their volunteers to refuse admission to him and "any stick figures who may attempt to register, particularly if they are wearing hats." | |
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Messages on the PyCon-Organizers mailing list show that this joke was intended to get Randall to come to PyCon: (The links will only work if you're subscribed to the mailing list.) | Messages on the PyCon-Organizers mailing list show that this joke was intended to get Randall to come to PyCon: (The links will only work if you're subscribed to the mailing list.) | ||
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::::::::OK - posted to the PyCon blog, by the power vested in me as publicity chair. With Michael Foord's excellent sentence added. | ::::::::OK - posted to the PyCon blog, by the power vested in me as publicity chair. With Michael Foord's excellent sentence added. | ||
::::::::Now let him know that since he's banned, he HAS to come. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011251.html] | ::::::::Now let him know that since he's banned, he HAS to come. [http://mail.python.org/mailman/private/pycon-organizers/2009-February/011251.html] | ||
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− | == | + | ==Transcript== |
+ | :[Randall Munroe on stage.] | ||
+ | :Randall: Hi. I'm Randall. Welcome to my TED talk. | ||
+ | :Randall: It's an honor to speak to you, some of the brightest innovators from so many fields, about a problem in desperate need of your attention: | ||
+ | :Randall: How DO you end parenthetical statements with emoticons? I can't figure out a good way. | ||
+ | :[Screen next to him shows two statements, both crossed out in red.] | ||
+ | :"Linux (or BSD :)" would... "looks mismatched" | ||
+ | :"Linux (or BSD :))" would... "looks mismatched and weird" | ||
− | Randall | + | :[Randall writing on a desk.] |
+ | :Randall's List - Conferences I'm banned from: | ||
+ | :Siggraph | ||
+ | :Eurocrypt | ||
+ | :Defcon | ||
+ | :Pycon | ||
+ | :International Astronomical Union | ||
+ | :Canadian Paleontology Conference | ||
+ | :Every American Furry Convention | ||
+ | :American Baking Society | ||
+ | :Asian Dolphin-Training Conference | ||
+ | :<u>TED</u> | ||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]] | ||
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[[Category:Furries]] | [[Category:Furries]] | ||
[[Category:Banned from conferences]] | [[Category:Banned from conferences]] | ||
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