Difference between revisions of "1209: Encoding"
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| − | [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] hired a skywriter to write some text provided in Unicode. {{w|Skywriting}} is using an airplane to write words in the sky with controlled releases of smoke. {{w|Unicode}} is a standard for encoding text which supports an incredible variety of characters and modifiers. An {{w|interrobang}} (‽) is a combination question mark and exclamation mark. A {{w|diacritic}} is any symbol added to a character ( ´ , ˘ , ˇ , ¨ , | + | [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] hired a skywriter to write some text provided in Unicode. {{w|Skywriting}} is using an airplane to write words in the sky with controlled releases of smoke. {{w|Unicode}} is a standard for encoding text which supports an incredible variety of characters and modifiers. An {{w|interrobang}} (‽) is a combination question mark and exclamation mark. A {{w|diacritic}} is any symbol added to a character ( ´ , ˘ , ˇ , ¨ , etc.), usually an accent mark being added to a letter. In Unicode, {{w|Combining character|combining diacritics}} are represented as separate characters, but are rendered graphically as modifications to the previous one. The request appears to be particularly strange, given that diacritics are supposed to go over ''letters'' and not punctuation marks. |
Apparently the skywriter got so confused about their instructions that he not only rendered the text incorrectly, but also lost control of the plane. The skywriter's errors and the phrase "Unicode support" play off the common issue of {{w|Mojibake|software rendering Unicode symbols incorrectly}}. | Apparently the skywriter got so confused about their instructions that he not only rendered the text incorrectly, but also lost control of the plane. The skywriter's errors and the phrase "Unicode support" play off the common issue of {{w|Mojibake|software rendering Unicode symbols incorrectly}}. | ||
Revision as of 15:54, 15 March 2014
| Encoding |
 Title text: I don't see how; the C0 block is right there at the beginning. |
Explanation
Cueball and Megan hired a skywriter to write some text provided in Unicode. Skywriting is using an airplane to write words in the sky with controlled releases of smoke. Unicode is a standard for encoding text which supports an incredible variety of characters and modifiers. An interrobang (‽) is a combination question mark and exclamation mark. A diacritic is any symbol added to a character ( ´ , ˘ , ˇ , ¨ , etc.), usually an accent mark being added to a letter. In Unicode, combining diacritics are represented as separate characters, but are rendered graphically as modifications to the previous one. The request appears to be particularly strange, given that diacritics are supposed to go over letters and not punctuation marks.
Apparently the skywriter got so confused about their instructions that he not only rendered the text incorrectly, but also lost control of the plane. The skywriter's errors and the phrase "Unicode support" play off the common issue of software rendering Unicode symbols incorrectly.
The title text refers to the C0 Block, the name for the first 32 character codes in Unicode (and ASCII), traditionally called control characters. Cueball wonders how the plane could have lost "control" when the "control characters" are easily found.
Transcript
- [Cueball and Megan are holding two-way radios.]
- Cueball talking into radio: "No, the combining diacritics go over the interrobang!"
- Megan, with radio lowered: "Oh jeez, I think he's lost control."
- The skywriter we hired has terrible Unicode support.
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He may have lost control whilst trying to fly in squares... What‽ --DanB (talk) 13:36, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
I've always thought that "interrobang" was one of the coolest words in the English language. Don't ya think?! --Dangerkeith3000 (talk) 15:32, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
- Coolest? Not the coolest, but a good word by some other measure, certainly. I might as well insist that... thingummy... oh... whatsit... ah, yes, that's it... "Lethology" is as cool. 178.98.255.57 00:51, 31 May 2013 (UTC)
- I like that "Gnaborretni" (an upside down interrobang) is as valid a word as "Interrobang". -Pennpenn 108.162.250.162 23:03, 25 February 2016 (UTC)
I think the "C0 Block" text may also be a skywriting double meaning, as skywriters use something called "Corvus Oil" to make the smoke.24.234.164.78 18:27, 8 May 2013 (UTC) Dustin
Saying that the C0 block ‘is there’ makes me think that the skywriter already wrote it; perhaps they hired the skywriter to write out all of Unicode in order‽ The interrobang is followed by a diacritic (overline), but unfortunately it's not combining. (The combining overline comes later.) —TobyBartels (talk) 20:02, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
I think that they were intentionally trying to trick the skywriter into doing the patterns bad. After all, why would someone actually need diacritics on an interrobang. --Purah126 (talk) 01:57, 3 March 2023 (UTC)
- Just from real life
Many of the web servers I am responsible for are using [[1]EBCDIC]. Browsers are on [[2]ASCII].
I can tell you that this is the hell.
--Dgbrt (talk) 20:38, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
"Skytyping" uses five or more planes flying in formation to skywrite in a dot-matrix format. It is computer controlled, so it really could have codepage issues.68.3.11.239 23:36, 11 May 2013 (UTC)
Just now catching up by reading all past comics and felt compelled to make my first comment on this one! Since Randall frequently makes subtle references to past subject matter, I wonder if the "C0" in the title text could be a reference to #878 - Model Rail, where he mentions the conflict over HO vs H0 scale on Wikipedia. If you take C0 to mean CO instead, this could be a reference to Carbon Monoxide in the atmosphere, since that's where the skywriting is taking place. I was surprised that nobody had mentioned this possible interpretation yet. Ianrbibtitlht (talk) 18:53, 29 May 2017 (UTC)
