https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.75.105&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T09:05:43ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1726:_Unicode&diff=1260441726: Unicode2016-09-01T17:27:25Z<p>162.158.75.105: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1726<br />
| date = August 29, 2016<br />
| title = Unicode<br />
| image = unicode.png<br />
| titletext = I'm excited about the proposal to add a "brontosaurus" emoji codepoint because it has the potential to bring together a half-dozen different groups of pedantic people into a single glorious internet argument.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is a highway engineer that have been placing two traffic signs in a river trying in vain to guide the water flow and thus he ends up talking to the water trying to make it take a detour instead of going under the bridge. On the distant bank two other engineers are arguing, with gestures, about where to place a third sign lying next to them. (Alternatively they are also shouting at the the water to make it behave a certain way, or they are actually calling out to the crazy Cueball in the river to come back in?)<br />
<br />
As rivers flow according to the landscape, this plan will not work and the river will continue on its course. Cueball is very frustrated by this and is still trying to make the river obey the traffic laws. The caption lays out the punchline: The comic compares the useless approach of Cueball attempting to divert a flowing, moving river with fixed signs that do nothing, with the {{w|Unicode Consortium}}'s attempt to define the diverse and ever-changing human language with strict technical standards.<br />
<br />
{{w|Unicode}} is a largely successful attempt to have a standard for representing all possible letters, numerals, digits and symbols that make up human writing in all languages. This includes the roman letters used in this article, characters with modifiers like ê (both with the common characters as well as the modifiers selectable separately), logographic characters like in Chinese, syllabic writing system like Japanese, right-to-left and/or top-to-bottom writing systems, mathematical symbols and many other writing systems. <br />
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{{w|Emoji}}, one of the trendier Unicode blocks, are also referenced in the title text (see below). The symbols on the signs in the river are real road signs, but interestingly enough they also both exist in Unicode, with the warning sign triangle with an exclamation mark ⚠ having [http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/26a0/index.htm code (U+26A0)] and the black, rightwards arrow ➡ having [http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/27a1/index.htm code (U+271A)]. As can be imagined, coping with the wide variety of character sizes, orientations, ways they can be modified, capitalization rules, etc. can get to be very challenging as the Unicode Consortium tries to write rules that accommodate how printed language is actually used. Emoji have become a [[:Category:Emoji|recurrent theme]] on xkcd.<br />
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The title text refers to [http://unicode.org/L2/L2016/16072-jurassic-emoji.pdf a proposal] to add three dinosaur heads to the official list of emoji.<br />
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This is likely to stir a glorious internet argument between the following half-dozen opposing (and {{w|pedantic}}) camps that may now be brought together:<br />
*Those who favor the inclusion of more emoji vs. those who oppose emoji on principle.<br />
*Those who accept the existence of ''{{w|Brontosaurus}}'' vs. those who deny its status as a species unique from ''{{w|Apatosaurus}}''.<br />
**[[Randall]] has made it clear what he believes in [[636: Brontosaurus]].<br />
**Although it seems new development has occurred since the release of that comic, suggesting that Brontosaurus is a specific species. But that is still debated...<br />
*Those who favor a traditional, scaly image of dinosaurs vs. those who have accepted the feathered-dinosaur paradigm.<br />
*Those who prefer a different dinosaur species be included instead.<br />
*Those who point out that two of the dinosaurs in the "Jurassic Emoji" set actually come from the {{w|Cretaceous period}}, and as such renaming is necessary vs. those who think that "{{w|Jurassic}}" is a cooler word (because of the movies).<br />
*Those who for religious or other reasons deny the existence of dinosaurs.<br />
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See also this [http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicode-ml/y2016-m08/0103.html discussion about this comic on the Unicode mailinglist]...<br />
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Highway engineers were also the subject of [[253: Highway Engineer Pranks]] and [[781: Ahead Stop]].<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is standing in a river close to it's right bank, the water reaching up to his thighs. He is holding on to a traffic sign standing towards right. It has a label and an arrow below this pointing to the right bank. With his other arm he is pointing to the left at the advancing water masses. Further up the river is another street sign this sign has an exclamation mark inside a triangle. The water flow is indicated with several lines on the river surface, mainly moving along the river, but around Cueball and the signs there are circular lines. In the distance on the left bank of the river two people are standing and making gestures with raised arms. The left has white hair (could be either sex) and the other is a Cueball-like guy. A third sign is lying on the ground to the left of them face down. Behind them is a slope up to a road with a parked car. The road continues out over a a bridge that crosses the river. The river which passes under it both left and right of a central pillar. At that distance the right bank of the river (and thus the right end of the bridge) is not visible, being outside the panel. On each river bank grass can be seen and on the right bank also a small stone.]<br />
:Cueball: No, go ''this'' way, not-<br />
:Cueball: Are you even ''listening!?''<br />
:Cueball: ... ''Hey! That's not what that area is for!''<br />
:Sign with arrow: Detour<br />
:Sign with triangle: !<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Watching the Unicode people try to govern the infinite chaos of human language with consistent technical standards is like watching highway engineers try to steer a river using traffic signs.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Apatosaurus]]<br />
[[Category:Emoji]]</div>162.158.75.105https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=253:_Highway_Engineer_Pranks&diff=126043253: Highway Engineer Pranks2016-09-01T17:26:35Z<p>162.158.75.105: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 253<br />
| date = April 25, 2007<br />
| title = Highway Engineer Pranks<br />
| image = highway_engineer_pranks.png<br />
| titletext = Prank #11: Boston<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Some classical but inaccurate {{w|Interchange (road)|interchanges}} are shown. In general, these interchanges are designed to allow the traffic to flow without directly crossing any other traffic stream. But here we can see some different approaches:<br />
<br />
*The first design resembles a {{w|cloverleaf interchange}}, but has no way to merge back onto the highway once you enter it, making it inescapable.<br />
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*The second interchange has off-ramps that you would normally use to change to the other highway, but in this design they simply merge back to the original highway, so you don't really have a choice in where to go. This is sometimes seen on real freeways where one lane must go around an obstacle such as a bridge support.<br />
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*The {{w|roundabout|rotary}} has a path that puts cars from opposite sides of the rotary onto a collision course. This is a humorous reference to {{w|particle accelerators}} (such as the {{w|Superconducting Super Collider}}) which are designed to put particles on a collision course.<br />
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In the title text {{w|Boston}} is mentioned, a slightly more complicated prank in itself. A common fiction is that the streets evolved from old cowpaths; but in the 17th century they avoided swamps and marshes and followed shorelines before the original peninsula comprising the city was expanded with landfill in the 19th century. {{w|Transportation in Boston#Road infrastructure|Boston's road infrastructure}} in general lacks a {{w|street grid}} like most other US-cities have. On top of that, roads change names and lose and add lanes seemingly at random. Randall, who lives in Boston, seems to be venting frustration.<br />
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Highway engineers were also the subject of [[781: Ahead Stop]] and [[1726: Unicode]].<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Each panel depicts a highway intersection.]<br />
:The Inescapable Cloverleaf:<br />
:[Roads lead onto the rings for each leaf, but then are trapped in the circles. Minor roads also allow travel between the rings.]<br />
<br />
:The Zero-Choice Interchange:<br />
:[On and off-ramps exist, but they lead back to the same lane they disconnected from.]<br />
<br />
:The Rotary Supercollider:<br />
:[The roads lead into a traffic circle, and then a loop reverses the direction of flow so all the roads run into each other.]<br />
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{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.75.105