Editing 1110: Click and Drag

This comic is a take on how vast and rich the world is, and on the thrill of exploring it. The world can be described as sad, as well as it can be described as wonderful, even if this seems a bit contradictory, just because it is so big and there are so many different things happening in it all at once. [[Cueball]] comments about this while hanging from a balloon, which brings to mind the expanded perspective over the landscape attained by early experimenters in overland flight.

The title text is the same as the comic title, and both of these invite the reader to ''Click and drag'' the inside of the last panel, with their mouse, and by dragging, explore what is hidden outside that panel. The image displayed at first turns out to be part of a huge landscape, filled with big or small things, humorous details, people here and there, cave mazes, things floating in the air, jokes and references, unexpected things, relaxing views, etc.

The fact that we only see a small part of the landscape at once refers to the idea that we cannot in real life comprehend the whole world altogether, but only what is around us and/or in the range of our understanding at the time. The click-and-drag process, in which it is impossible to go as fast as we would want to, also draws a parallel with the fact that exploration is always done gradually, step by step, and trying something (i.e. here dragging in a certain direction) always has a cost. This click-and-drag exploration reproduces the thrill of discovering new horizons, getting lost sometimes, finding unexpected things, seeing beauty, humor, desolation or happiness here and there... which can easily captivate an xkcd reader for a long time (and as such qualifies as [[356: Nerd Sniping|nerd sniping]]).

In comic [[1416: Pixels]] you zoom, by scrolling, until every pixel in this image turns into new pictures, and this can be continued again and again. Once you have zoomed in, you are able to ''click and drag'' the picture just like in this comic.

And in [[1608: Hoverboard]] exactly the same idea is used again, but instead of dragging the image you fly/float around in the image with Cueball on a {{w|hoverboard}}. This gives a very different way to explore as he cannot go through walls or the earth etc. You also have to discover that there is a big world outside the initial play area; and where this comic tried to help people realize they should do something, both with the title and title text, Hoverboard directly tries to dissuade people from going outside with a warning message. Another major difference is that hoverboard is actually a game where you can collect coins (spread throughout the picture) and return them to the starting point to gain a score.

:[This transcript only covers the first four panels as they are shown here above (i.e. before you click and drag).]

:[Cueball is narrating the story, all the text is written in boxes above and below him without speech lines connecting to him.]

:From the stories

:And it was

:[The wind picks up and blows Cueball to the right.]

:It was.

:[Full width panel where the scene opens up. You see Cueball is about a tree's-height from the ground. To the right there is a tall tree with no leaves on it and a broken limb. Below him are some rocks and grass. This is the initial view of the world, that can be clicked and dragged. It is part of tile named 1 North 1 East.]

:I just didn't expect it to be so ''big''.

 

:[The rest of the comic is transcribed below in the [[1110: Click and Drag#List of details and references (with transcript)|List of details and references]] section.]

 

*The click-and-drag portion of this comic is divided up into 2592 sections of 2048x2048 pixels.

*There are 225 separate 2048x2048 PNG files (plus the PNG container with the first panels). The other 2337 sections are simply filled black (in the south) or white (in the north) with HTML.

*The populated area is 81 frames wide (33 West - 48 East) and 32 frames tall (13 North - 19 South)

*According to [[Randall]] in #xkcd on the night this was released, a full size image of this comic (leaving out the blanks) would be 60 gigapixels, and a true single rectangular image would be close to a terapixel. The online version is 1 gigapixel without the blanks and 10 gigapixel as rectangular image (2048x2048x225 = 943,718,400 and 2048x2048x2592 = 10,871,635,968).

*Based on the height of figures as well as the "two mile" figure given on the left-hand side, the scale should be approximately 32 pixels per 5 feet, making the entire map 25920 feet wide (4.9 miles or 7.9 kilometers) by 10240 feet tall (1.9 miles or 3.1 kilometers). If it were an overhead area, it would be about 9.5 square miles (6093 acres or 24.7 square km), roughly the size of Block Island, Rhode Island, USA. Just the POPULATED area (225 tiles with something drawn on them) would be 529 acres, or 0.826 square miles (2.14 sq km) — about the size of Princeton University.

*If the 2048x2048 PNGs were to be printed out as a single poster at 300 dpi, the poster would be 15.36 yards (14.05 meters) long and 6.07 yards (5.55 meters) tall. Most of the detail would be invisible, as these PNGs are optimized for ~72 dpi screens.

*At the end of the right side it shows Cueball pondering where he'll float next.

==Viewers==

'''''Warning:''' there are cheating possibilities—people have implemented ways to explore that world more easily—but the best way to enjoy this comic is to play the game, explore the comic's world the way you're supposed to, get lost in the caves or in the sky, be startled by unexpected things or happy when finding some people after lengthy click-and-dragging through a repetitive landscape. If you didn't do that already, '''reading any below will spoil you from truly enjoying the comic.'''''

 

 

 

 

The 225 existing tiles are sorted by columns from West to East and from North to South in each column. (Note that this only includes the tiles that are not entirely white or black).

|[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] reach the western edge of the image and decide to live there. This is a reference to the last line in the film ''{{w|Groundhog_Day_(film)|Groundhog Day}}''.

:[Cueball and Megan are in a valley at the western edge of the world. Megan is checking their distance traveled with a {{w|GPS}} device. Cueball is looking behind them (eastward).]

|Just terrain, no activity.

|Just terrain, no activity.

|Just terrain, no activity.

|Just terrain, no activity.

|The smooth hillocks at the far right of this panel appear to be the nose and belly of a giant sleeping on its back. The feet extend into the next panel to the east. Possibly a reference to the giant's drink from {{w|Ender's Game}}.

|Just terrain, no activity.

|A miner. The sliding stone walls behind him (to keep back the water if he digs too far) are a reference to Ted Chiang's "Tower of Babylon".

|Cueball and Megan looking up from the bottom of the shaft. A tunnel goes to the east, there is a woman running eastward.

:[Deep underground a tunnel comes from the west and meets a tall cavern, but keeps going all the way to the east. Cueball has dug up from the ceiling tunnel and is shoveling out a little cavern.]

:[Cueball and White Hat are walking towards the benches.]

:[Cueball shaking his fist at the half-buried Statue of Liberty.]

|There are two tunnels, one at the top of the tile, one at the bottom.  The top tunnel continues to the east, but terminates in a rockfall about 1/3 of the way to the west.  The lower tunnel continues across the entire tile.  In the lower tunnel, someone in a straw hat saying "Becky?". He is carrying either a grappling hook or the end of a rope. Probably a reference to {{w|The Adventures of Tom Sawyer}} in which the title character rescues his sweetheart, Becky Thatcher, from a cave. Or, if that's a fedora and not a straw hat, then it could be Indiana Jones, carrying a whip, and calling Rebecca Stein from the "Indiana Jones And The Spear Of Destiny" comic books, or some other random Becky.

|Deep underground, a cavern opens up to reveal trees, grass, rocks, and a lake.  A bird flies toward the trees.  A person sits on a rock thoughtfully gazing into the water.  An upper tunnel goes completely across the tile.

|A {{w|Boeing 717}} or possibly a {{w|McDonnell Douglas DC-9}} in landing configuration.

|[[Category:Red spiders]] from earlier comics falling from the sky

|"{{w|I'm on a Boat}}" is a single from {{w|The Lonely Island}}'s debut album {{w|Incredibad}}. This may be the first time a {{w|knit cap}} has been used in xkcd. Knit caps have only been used a few times since, most prominently on [[Knit Cap]], see their section for more details.

:[Out at sea. On the west side are two buoys, on the east is only one, in the center there is a sailboat. Cueball and another person wearing a black knit cap are on the small sailboat.]

:Black knit cap: I'm on a boat! I expected more from the experience! Instead, all I can think to do is tell people where I am! ...I'm on a boat!

:[Cueball is sitting in a swing attached to the end of a crane, and is swinging.]

|An empty white tile. Exactly the same as {{1110|8|n|1|w}}

|The west wall of a large building which staircases narrower as it rises.

| Part of the {{w|Burj Khalifa}}

:Ponytail: We're so high up that if you threw a penny off the edge, inflation would reduce its value to $0.00999999975 by the time it landed.

|A narrowing peak. The above and below panels have construction cranes, but this panel is refreshingly devoid of them.

|On the west side, the top of a (different) construction crane. On the east side, Cueball is firing a clay pigeon launcher while Ponytail fires a shotgun at the target. Meanwhile, Megan comes up from behind with CDs.

:Megan: I found some more CDs

|On the west side, the bottom of the construction crane. On the upper eastern side, [[Hairbun]] is laid back, relaxing in a chair while using a laptop. On the next step down, a party crowd is out on a balcony. The same idea was later used in [[1499: Arbitrage]] which implies a similar plan to extract wealth out of a small market inefficiency that, in reality, would be far too onerous to exploit, in this case reselling the free chips offered at some restaurants.  Later [[1721: Business Idea]] implies a similar plan to extract wealth out of a small market inefficiency that would be far too onerous to exploit, in this case premium gasoline at regular prize. See also the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' {{what if|22|Cost of Pennies}} regarding why it would not be worth trying these kinds of ventures out.

|The bulk of the base of the building with one terrace visible on either side. Megan says "I came here to chew bubblegum... And I'm all out of bubblegum" is a reference to the movie {{w|They Live}} in which the character Nada famously says "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubblegum". That line is also used in the game {{w|Duke Nukem 3D}}  by Duke himself, when Shrapnel City (Episode 3) starts. Also, Cueball says "That's a shame" a line popularised by Jerry in the sitcom {{w|Seinfeld|Seinfeld}}. Pool line is a reference to "pool on the roof" prank from the movie {{w|Hackers (film)|Hackers}}.

:[A flat tunnel runs the length of the whole tile. It is rough cut on the ceiling, but a smooth surface for walking. There is a single vertical shaft that would have gone down. The ceiling above the shaft has crumbled, and the rubble has filled in the shaft.]

|An empty white tile. Exactly the same as {{1110|2|n|3|w}}

|The western wall at the base of a large building including its {{w|portico}}, a remote-control rocket-powered bicycle attempting to launch from the first terrace, a balcony on the second terrace and a {{w|satellite dish}} and other exhausts on the third. Two trees with a squirre stand in front of the building leading to a parking lot with cars and one {{w|Wienermobile}}

| No activity, mineshaft

| No activity, mineshaft

|Alaska at the bottom of the shaft.

|A reference to the {{w|Apollo 13}} manned mission to the moon in 1970. Two days after launch, en route to the moon, an oxygen tank exploded. Astronaut Swigert {{w|File:Apollo13-wehaveaproblem.ogg|reported}} the incident to Mission Control in Houston saying 'Houston, we've had a problem.' The 1995 movie {{w|Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13}} deliberately misquoted Swigert's famous statement as 'Houston, we have a problem' because the original made it seem that the problem had already passed.

|[Ground slops uphill, left-to-right (West to East). Close to the far right boundary is the Christmas Tree from {{w|A Charlie Brown Christmas}}. In the middle is an electronic listening station. Right and Up-slope of the listening station, Megan and Cueball are lying on the ground, talking. Near bottom left is Ponytail, wearing sunglasses, roller-skiing off a ski jump. Top left are four birds in the sky.]

|{{w|Minecraft}} reference: Someone (yelling, "AAAA") escapes a creeper (hissing, "SSSSSSSS") by running deeper into the cave.

|The {{w|Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory}} as seen in [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Great_Blue_Hill_Weather_Station_Milton_MA_01.jpg this particular photo]. The radio tower depicted shows the antennas for the {{w|WGBH (FM)|WGBH}} and {{w|WKAF}} FM stations.

|A {{w|Ross Winans|Winans}} Cigar Boat.

|{{w|Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope|Red Five}} is both Anakin and Luke Skywalker's call sign. Anakin uses the sign in the Battle of Coruscant and Luke uses it in the Battle of Yavin. Also note the use of "{{w|cannon}}" and "{{w|Canon (basic principle)|canon}}, possibly a reference to [[1401: New]]."

:[Two birdwatchers with binoculars walk on the slope of a hill, one facing the tree at the far right of {{1110|2|n|5|e}} with her back to the giant jellyfish and the other one staring at it]

:Birdwatcher #1: Ooh, a {{w|yellow warbler}}!

:Birdwatcher #2: Cool.

|Level 1-1 of the original {{w|Super Mario Bros.}} This is confirmed by text on {{1110|3|s|7|e}}. Compare with [https://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMB_NES_World_1-1_Map.png screenshot]. The level's "bottomless pits" continue downward.

|The two pits on the left join together here.

|{{w|Role-playing game|RPG}} style pit trap

:[Deep below the surface, the two boreholes finally end. The bones of the unfortunate ones to have fallen down the holes are scattered. A single man-made shaft is covered by a plug of some kind. The shaft goes down to supported deck {{w|arch bridge}} spanning a large chasm, the bottom of which is not shown.]

:[A Pyramid in a cavern. Most likely a reference to Neon Genesis Evangelion's [http://evangelion.wikia.com/wiki/GeoFront NERV HQ], which is also located in a deep underground cavern. Most of a thatch-roof gazebo can be seen to the east of the pyramid.]

|Four wind turbines, with [[Megan]] standing among them. May be a reference to [[1378: Turbine]]

|Reference to the first line of "{{w|99 Problems}}" by {{w|Jay-Z}} ("If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son. I've got 99 problems but a <rhymes with "witch"> ain't one."). Just left of the fence is a small cleared area with what appears to be a frog in the center. Frog Prince? Also a reference to {{w|Off-by-one error#Fencepost error|fencepost error}}. Ironically, there may be an off-by-one error in the joke, since it would only take 100 fenceposts to cover 99 problems, not 101.

|The outline of the {{w|Bombardier Dash 8}} Q400 aircraft shown in Wikipedia.

|An empty black tile with symmetric coordinates (11 S, 11 E).

:''RIIIP''

:Megan: So, um, here's the thing—

:[The covered wagon has made it across the bridge. Everything is drooping, now. The horse is not walking as upright, the driver is slouching, the person out the back is now lounging on the back with a gun clearly visible.]

:[Farther east Cueball is sitting on top of a flagpole singing. Just northwest of him, a leaf spins through the air.]

|VLF antenna and a steep cliff dropoff to water. Cueball watches a butterfly flit around as they did in the {{w|Peanuts}} comic strip.

The VLF antenna is likely to be a representation of the [http://www.stormfax.com/wireless.htm Marconi Station] on Cape Cod as it existed in the early 1900's.  This station transmitted the first trans-Atlantic wireless telegram in 1903. It had the same four towers and steep drop-off to the beach as depicted in this comic with possible original photo [http://capecodhistory.us/Wellfleet-records/pictures/Marconi-pc.jpg here].

|A fin-shaped object protrudes from the ground.

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s with terrain

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s, one of which [[Black Hat]] is hanging from.

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.

|Top of the radio tower mentioned under 6N27E (right below).

|This appears to be the former record-holder for the tallest man-made structure, the {{w|KVLY-TV mast}} in {{w|North Dakota}}. It was surpassed by the {{w|Burj Khalifa}} (829.84&nbsp;m (2,723&nbsp;ft)) located in Dubai (also included in the comic).

|{{w|Radio tower}} with {{w|guy-wire}}s.

|{{w|Radio tower}} with {{w|guy-wire}}s.

|{{w|Radio tower}} with {{w|guy-wire}}s.

|{{w|Radio tower}} with {{w|guy-wire}}s.

|The base of a {{w|radio tower}}.

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s, one of which [[Megan]] is sliding down. Possibly a reference to the game {{w|Infamous (video game)|Infamous}}.

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s with terrain

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.

|{{w|Guy-wire}}s

|An anchor for {{w|Guy-wire}}s.

|A tree with a tractor.

|a {{w|barn}} and some trees.

:Megan: Pikachu, I choose ''DEATH''—

|Grass.

|Grass with a short rectangular structure.

|The top of a water tower. Cueball and Megan on the catwalk at the top. Cueball looking out. Megan using some mounted device (maybe a telephone?, or some controls?).

|The base of a water tower.

|Grass.

|Grass.

|Grass.

|Grass.

|Grass.

|Grass.

|Grass.

|Grass.

|[[Cueball]] with a balloon in his hand, flying towards the image border. He says "I wonder where I'll float next". This is a reference to [[1|the very first xkcd comic]]. It may also be a reference to {{w|World of Goo}}, a computer game, where at the end of level 1 the goo balls leave the screen carried by balloons, wondering what will be next. Alternatively, this may be a reference to the detail and variety of earlier panels.

==References by Category==

===Vehicles===

|{{1110|1|n|13|e}} {{1110|1|n|15|e}}

|{{w|Ross Winans|Winans}} Cigar Boat

===Man-made Structures===

===Technology===

|{{1110|1|n|25|w}}

|[[File:1110-radio-telescope.png]]

|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}

|[[File:1110-satellite-dish.png]]

|{{1110|1|n|33|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}

|{{w|Game Console}}

|{{1110|2|s|9|w}}

|{{w|Guns}} (Anti-Aircraft Gun, Shotgun)

|{{1110|6|n|2|w}}

|{{1110|2|n|2|w}}

|{{1110|2|n|5|e}}

|{{1110|1|n|18|e}}

|{{1110|15|s|1|w}}

===Games===

|{{1110|3|s|17|w}}

|{{1110|3|n|2|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}

|{{w|Marco Polo (game)|Marco Polo}}

|{{1110|1|n|11|w}}

|{{w|Super Mario Bros.}}

|{{1110|1|n|7|e}}

|{{1110|18|s|3|e}} {{1110|9|s|7|e}}

|{{1110|4|n|29|e}}

|{{w|The Oregon Trail (video game)|The Oregon Trail}}

|{{1110|1|n|15|e}} {{1110|1|n|13|e}}

===Movies===

|{{1110|5|n|12|e}}

|{{1110|1|n|13|e}}

|{{1110|9|n|2|e}}

|{{1110|1|n|25|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|33|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|36|e}}

|{{1110|1|n|13|w}}

|{{1110|8|s|17|w}} {{1110|18|s|8|e}}

|{{1110|1|n|8|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|21|w}}

===Television Shows===

|{{w|Lost (TV series)|Lost}}

|{{1110|1|n|17|w}}

|{{1110|5|n|2|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|2|w}}

|{{1110|2|n|3|e}}

===Books===

|{{1110|1|n|28|w}}

|{{w|Footprints (poem)|Footprints}}

|{{1110|1|n|21|w}}

|{{1110|1|s|17|w}}

|{{1110|12|s|13|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}

|{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}

|{{1110|13|n|1|e}}

|{{1110|14|s|7|e}}

===Music===

|{{1110|1|n|9|e}}

|{{1110|5|n|12|e}}

|{{1110|1|n|15|e}}

|{{1110|1|n|5|w}}

===Radio Programs===

|{{w|Desert Island Discs}}

|{{1110|1|n|17|w}}

===Flora and Fauna===

|{{1110|1|n|14|w}} {{1110|14|s|3|e}}

|{{w|Squirrel}}

|{{1110|1|n|1|w}}

|{{w|Velociraptors}}

|{{1110|1|n|27|w}}

|{{w|Seabirds}}

|{{1110|1|n|4|w}}

|{{w|Jellyfish}}

|{{1110|2|n|6|e}} {{1110|1|s|6|w}} {{1110|2|s|9|w}}

|{{w|Humpback whale|Whales (Humpback)}}

|{{1110|13|n|1|e}}

|{{1110|17|s|1|e}}

|{{w|Yellow Warbler}}

|{{1110|2|n|6|e}}

|[[:Category:Red Spiders|Red Spiders]]

|{{1110|6|n|5|w}}

===People===

|{{1110|1|n|9|w}}

|{{1110|1|n|8|w}}

|{{1110|3|n|2|e}}

|{{1110|2|n|4|e}}

===Places===

|{{1110|6|n|27|e}}

|{{1110|6|n|27|e}}

|{{1110|17|s|1|e}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]

[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]