https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=134.96.243.157 2026-07-09T18:30:11Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1226:_Balloon_Internet&diff=40983 2013-06-17T12:14:04Z

<p>134.96.243.157: It's not an hot air ballon, for lack of a burner or an opening at the bottom. It's a lighter-than-air ballon filled with gases.</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1226<br /> | date = June 17, 2013<br /> | title = Balloon Internet<br /> | image = balloon_internet.png<br /> | titletext = I run a business selling rural internet access. My infrastructure consists of a bunch of Verizon wifi hotspots that I sign up for and then cancel at the end of the 14-day return period.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete}}<br /> The comic references Google's new {{w|Project Loon}}, a balloon powered Internet for everyone. As usual, Randall is making fun of an endeavour in a way that questions its meaning. Internet access is widely considered a progress and balloons in this project are not meant to approach people or force anyone to use their services. On the contrary here it's caricatured as approaching Cueball and speaking so close to his ear that it startles Cueball, effectively becoming a nuisance in interrupting Cueball's reading of a book, then leaving Cueball wondering what happens.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :[In a natural landscape, perhaps hills or sand dunes, Cueball reading.]<br /> <br /> :[Cueball still reading. Small lighter-than-air balloon appears on top, descending.]<br /> <br /> :[Cueball still reading. Balloon continues to descend, approaches Cueball's head closely from behind.]<br /> <br /> :Balloon basket: ''Internet.''<br /> :Cueball: Augh!<br /> <br /> :[Lighter-than-air balloon ascends. Cueballs looks behind him as if not understanding where the voice came from.]<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br /> [[Category:Internet]]</div>

134.96.243.157