Editing 1953: The History of Unicode

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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, ๐Ÿฎ, stands for "Angus", and the crown emoji, ๐Ÿ‘‘, of course represents "King". Thus Angus King becomes ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿ‘‘. This is thus not part of the xkcd joke; it just uses the real tweet for comic effect. 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 (๐ŸŽ–) to have his tweet included in an xkcd strip...
 
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, ๐Ÿฎ, stands for "Angus", and the crown emoji, ๐Ÿ‘‘, of course represents "King". Thus Angus King becomes ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿ‘‘. This is thus not part of the xkcd joke; it just uses the real tweet for comic effect. 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 (๐ŸŽ–) to have his tweet included in an xkcd strip...
  
โˆ’
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: "๐Ÿ™" code point 1F64F "PERSON WITH FOLDED HANDS", "๐Ÿš" code point 1F681 "HELICOPTER", and "๐ŸŽ–" 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. The phrase "we're once again an independent state" may also be a political pun, as 2048 should be an election year, and King is an Independent senator.
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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: "๐Ÿ™" code point 1F64F "PERSON WITH FOLDED HANDS", "๐Ÿš" code point 1F681 "HELICOPTER", and "๐ŸŽ–" 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.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==

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