https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=162.158.38.4&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T01:31:34ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2008:_Irony_Definition&diff=158959Talk:2008: Irony Definition2018-06-19T06:45:35Z<p>162.158.38.4: /* Incorrect interpretation */ new section</p>
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Adding to the irony are the complaints from overeducated drama fans criticizing common uses of the term, assuming that "dramatic irony" is the only valid definition. Search "alanis morissette ironic misuse" for lots of fun with semantics and pseudo-intellectualism. I suspect that Randall is poking fun at the critics, rather than those who misuse the term. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.89|172.68.142.89]] 17:56, 18 June 2018 (UTC)<br />
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* I agree it's poking fun at the critics. The explanation should include correct examples of irony that even non-USA pedantics agree meet the definition.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.82|108.162.216.82]] 19:03, 18 June 2018 (UTC)Pat<br />
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Should mention be made that a possible motivation of this comic is President Trump's misuse of the word "ironic" 11 days earlier in a tweet? [https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1004693718945984512]<br />
[[User:Heshy|Heshy]] ([[User talk:Heshy|talk]]) 18:40, 18 June 2018 (UTC)<br />
: Eleven days ago seems a bit distant to be an inspiration. It's not like this comic is infrequently updated.... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.30|172.68.59.30]] 23:51, 18 June 2018 (UTC)<br />
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If sarcasm is a type of irony, is this question ironic? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.82|162.158.126.82]] 20:19, 18 June 2018 (UTC)<br />
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Since when is Canada not part of America? :) [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 02:09, 19 June 2018 (UTC)<br />
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== Incorrect interpretation ==<br />
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> The most common types of irony are sarcasm and paradox. Black Hat is using the latter<br />
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I think this interpretation misses the point. Whatever about sarcasm and paradox being examples of irony (I'm pretty sure sarcasm at least is not, paradox I'm not sure about either - irony is more about metacommentary than direct paradox), but Black Hat's statement isn't paradoxical anyway. Black Hat is using the term "irony" incorrectly, both in the comic and the title text. In the comic, be states that Cueball knows the definition of irony, implying that he, Black Hat does not. Cueball is angry that Black Hat is using "ironic" incorrectly.<br />
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Furthermore, the extra meta layer is that while Black Hat's statement is not ironic, the situation in the comic is ironic in itself: it's ironic that the Black Hat is choosing to use ironic in various statements even though he seems to imply that he knows full well that he does not know the definition of the word.<br />
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--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.4|162.158.38.4]] 06:45, 19 June 2018 (UTC)</div>162.158.38.4https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1953:_The_History_of_Unicode&diff=1525401953: The History of Unicode2018-02-15T21:25:07Z<p>162.158.38.4: Made the pluralization of emoji consistent by removing the only instance ending in โs.โ</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1953<br />
| date = February 9, 2018<br />
| title = The History of Unicode<br />
| image = the_history_of_unicode.png<br />
| titletext = 2048: "Great news for Maineโwe're once again an independent state!!! Thanks, @unicode, for ruling in our favor and sending troops to end New Hampshire's annexation. ๐๐๐๏ธ"<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
An {{w|character encoding|encoding of a character set}} is a mapping from characters to numbers. For example, the letter "A" might be represented by the value 65. A problem was that each script had its own character set. Different characters could be represented by the same value. Some languages, such as Japanese, had several inconsistent character encodings, so before people could send text, they would have to have agreed which character set to use. {{w|Unicode}} was planned as a way of solving this by providing for a single character encoding for all the various characters used in the world's languages. <br />
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Unicode is run by {{w|Unicode Consortium|a consortium}} of major technology companies and stakeholders. The founders of Unicode include {{w|Joe Becker (Unicode)|Joe Becker}}, who worked for Xerox in the 1980s. He has a beard and may be the character featured in the first and third panels. <br />
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New characters have continued to be added to Unicode, and recently many "{{w|emoji}}" (picture characters) have been added. Emoji were originally added to be compatible with text message encodings in Japan, but after devices in other countries started supporting them as part of Unicode, they caught on worldwide. Now emoji characters are added for their own sake, not just for compatibility.<br />
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One recently added emoji is the "[https://emojipedia.org/lobster/ Lobster emoji]". It was approved as part of Unicode 11, for release in 2018.<br />
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This comic shows the creator of Unicode talking about how it would change the way we thought about managing text, which could help with incompatible binary text encoding. This seems to have derailed over the next 30 years, as shown in [https://twitter.com/SenAngusKing/status/961331752718557184 a real tweet] from the junior Senator from {{w|Maine}}, {{w|Angus King}}. In the {{w|Twitter|tweet}}, Sen. King writes that he is excited that the system is getting a new lobster emoji, showing that now the Unicode system is used for more frivolous reasons. He even signs using two emoji to form his name. There is a cattle breed called {{w|Angus cattle}}, so the cow emoji, ๐ฎ, stands for "Angus", and the crown emoji, ๐, of course represents "King". Thus Angus King becomes ๐ฎ๐. This is thus not part of the xkcd joke; it just uses the real tweet for comic relief. The tweet was released February 7th, only two days before this comic; the second comment on the tweet posted this comic and asked which came first, but of course the tweet did. A user comments that Senator King should see it as a badge of honor (๐) to have his tweet included in an xkcd strip...<br />
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The title text imagines that Unicode will gain other unexpected roles in the next 30 years. In particular it acts as an armed force, capable of intervening in military disputes, such as an annexation of Maine by its neighbor, New Hampshire. The title text ends with three Unicode emoji: "๐" code point 1F64F "PERSON WITH FOLDED HANDS", "๐" code point 1F681 "HELICOPTER", and "๐" code point 1F396 "MILITARY MEDAL", suggesting that they are thanking them for their effort in the war, sending helicopters and soldiers to aid them against New Hampshire.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[1988:]<br />
:[A bearded man holds a document labeled "Unicode". Most likely he represents Joe Becker.]<br />
:Bearded man: My "Unicode" standard should help reduce problems caused by incompatible binary text encodings.<br />
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:[2018:]<br />
:[A tweet from Twitter is shown. To the left of Senator Angus King's name is his avatar (a face with a mustache) and to the right is the blue checkmark used by Twitter to signify a verified user.]<br />
:Senator Angus Kingโ<br />
:<span style="color:gray">@SenAngusKing</span><br />
:Great news for Maine - we're getting a lobster emoji!!! Thanks to <span style="color:#0066FF">@unicode</span> for recognizing the impact of this critical crustacean, in Maine and across the country. <br />
:Yours truly,<br />
:Senator ๐ฎ๐<br />
:<span style="color:gray">2/7/18 3:12 PM</span><br />
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:[Cueball and the bearded man (the latter now grey-haired) are looking at a wall with the Unicode standard, labeled "1988", and Senator King's tweet, labeled "2018", posted on it.]<br />
:Cueball: What... what happened in those thirty years?<br />
:Bearded man: ''Things got a little weird, okay?''<br />
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[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Emoji]]<br />
[[Category:Unicode]]<br />
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==Trivia==<br />
*Initial version of the comic had "1998" in panel 3 instead of "1988" as shown in panel 1. This was fixed later.<br />
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*Ironically, [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1953:_The_History_of_Unicode&oldid=152168 the first version of this article] (automatically generated by a bot) had problems with emoji encoding.<br />
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*At one time the scenario in the title text wouldn't have been ''quite'' as far-fetched as it sounds. Maine and New Hampshire were for many years involved in border disputes, primarily over {{w|New Hampshire v. Maine|fishing rights}} and whether {{w|Seavey%27s Island|Seavey Island}}, located in the middle of the river that forms the border of the two states, was part of Maine or New Hampshire. The latter issue {{w|Piscataqua River border dispute|was not settled until 2002}}. Neither dispute ever quite rose to the level of a full-on shooting war but [http://nhpr.org/post/legacy-nh-maine-lobster-war-and-why-it-may-wage#stream/0 they got surprisingly close].<br />
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{{comic discussion}}</div>162.158.38.4https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1840:_Genetic_Testing_Results&diff=140173Talk:1840: Genetic Testing Results2017-05-23T19:20:31Z<p>162.158.38.4: </p>
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Add in comment on joke between Genetic and Generic? The results are very generic, as all humans are from an unbroken line going back thousands of years. Perhaps add in a comment about what unbroken lines are typically in relation to, rather than how they are used here? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.168|172.68.65.168]] 14:36, 22 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Life is the single most important risk factor for death. [[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]] ([[User talk:Nialpxe|talk]]) 14:52, 22 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Oooh... is this comic going to be a series? --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|'''JayRules''XKCD''' ]]<sup>[[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|what's up?]]</sup> 16:56, 22 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I initially thought that the image of today's comic was a repeat of the first panel of the previous comic. Thanks to image overlay [http://i.imgur.com/b2cb2N1.png], I know it's not true. [[User:Xenos|Xenos]] ([[User talk:Xenos|talk]]) 02:24, 23 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I may be off base here, but I feel that the timing of this comic is relevant, as it ties into the recent influx of internet ads for AncestryDNA's genetic test service on platforms like YouTube. Their ads boldly claim to track your entire genetic lineage for $100, and this comic could be lampooning this latest trend (they have usurped Audible and Squarespace)as the go-to YouTube sponsor. If so, it may warrant reference in the explanation to explain the timing and possible inspiration for the comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.4|162.158.38.4]] 19:20, 23 May 2017 (UTC)</div>162.158.38.4