Difference between revisions of "477: Typewriter"
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The title text references that Randall's real grandmothers, upon seeing this comic, might feel bad that he doesn't write to them at all — not even poorly-written letters like in the comic. To remedy this, he writes a brief thank you note to his grandmothers... which includes also one ''CTRL-TAB'' combination. | The title text references that Randall's real grandmothers, upon seeing this comic, might feel bad that he doesn't write to them at all — not even poorly-written letters like in the comic. To remedy this, he writes a brief thank you note to his grandmothers... which includes also one ''CTRL-TAB'' combination. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==List of websites== | ||
+ | {| class="wikitable" | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | ! Website adress | ||
+ | ! Description | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | [http://www.cnn.com/ cnn.com] | ||
+ | | News | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | [http://www.reddit.com/ reddit.com] | ||
+ | | Discussion forums | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | [http://www.news.google.com/ news.google.com] | ||
+ | | Collection of news websites | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | [http://www.boingboing.net/ boingboing.net] | ||
+ | | Blogging | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ bbc.co.uk] | ||
+ | | BBC's website | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | [http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ fivethirtyeight.com] | ||
+ | | News, mainly politics | ||
+ | |- | ||
+ | | [http://www.slashdot.org/ slashdot.org] | ||
+ | | News and forums | ||
+ | | } | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== |
Revision as of 19:07, 24 June 2015
Explanation
Randall is writing a letter to his grandmother on a typewriter, thanking her for taking him and at least one other person on a trip. However, due to a habit he's developed from using a computer for so long, Randall inadvertently litters the letter with chunks of blank space followed by website URLs. As if through muscle memory, Randall periodically attempts to check the latest news by pressing a combination involving the Tab key, typing the URL of a specific website, then pressing a combination using the Tab key again.
On a computer the CTRL-TAB keyboard combination usually switches to another browser tab, such as between two Firefox windows, but there is only a simple TAB key on an old fashioned typewriter. Pressing Tab there doesn't switch to another screen, it just moves the platen (the typewriter's cursor, so to speak) to the next tab stop, leaving a wide space before the next typing on the same piece of paper. So the key combination that would satisfy Randall's somewhat hyperactive impulses on a computer is dramatically different on a typewriter, where that key instead causes movement of the platen. So, he hits the tab key, types a URL, and hits the tab key again right in the middle of his letter. It also shows Randall's love of news and information websites.
The title text references that Randall's real grandmothers, upon seeing this comic, might feel bad that he doesn't write to them at all — not even poorly-written letters like in the comic. To remedy this, he writes a brief thank you note to his grandmothers... which includes also one CTRL-TAB combination.
List of websites
Website adress | Description | |
---|---|---|
cnn.com | News | |
reddit.com | Discussion forums | |
news.google.com | Collection of news websites | |
boingboing.net | Blogging | |
bbc.co.uk | BBC's website | |
fivethirtyeight.com | News, mainly politics | |
slashdot.org | News and forums | }
Transcript
Dear Grandmom, cnn.com I hope this reddit.com letter finds you well. I wanted to say I really news.google.com enjoyed the trip you boingboing.net took us on, and am looking forward to bbc.co.uk visiting later fivethirtyeight.com this year. Love, slashdot.org Your grandson,
DiscussionThe spaces are because he's trying to alt-tab. 98.201.111.246 22:21, 31 January 2013 (UTC)mr
I don't know you , but it looks like a "Madlibs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madlibs) meets Firefox tabs" kind of letter to me. 141.101.103.206 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~) Technically it's the carriage that holds the type hammers for the letters. The platen is the rubber cylinder that holds the paper in place for the hammers. The ribbon is between the hammer and paper. -gateway mike 173.245.55.119 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~) The platen is indeed the rubber cylinder. The carriage, though, is the larger piece the platen is part of, which moves back and forth as you type. Hence "carriage return" at the end of a line. Either one works in this case, since the position of the next character is determined by moving the paper, not the hammers. 108.162.221.64 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~) Unless there was a change in the way a browser worked between then and now, Ctrl-tab is not something you would type an URL into after hitting as it switched between already open tabs. You would need to use Ctrl-T to open a new tab where the cursor would then be in the address bar to type an URL to go to. CTrl-Tab with only 1 tab open does nothing. 108.162.216.166 16:44, 19 July 2017 (UTC)
I had always seen this one as a somewhat unrealistic exaggeration, though lately I have found myself occasionally attempting to 2-finger tap to undo a line written with pencil on paper, with no success. Oh, the magic of technology. PotatoGod (talk) 05:45, 15 March 2020 (UTC)
Maybe I'm missing something; why is this listed under 'Comics featuring Nate Silver'? BlackHat (talk) 22:52, 24 October 2020 (UTC) |