Can someone explain this for folks whose existence is outside the US
ExplainXKCD to the rescue :D
Thank you! I never knew this existed. Awesome!
Not a yank, but according to my research historically some states (and even some cities) had dissimilar voltages, amperages, and plugs, and even a choice of alternating vs nonalternating current. Sort of like how the poms have 100V instead of our 240V but with only a few kilometres of distance involved, dependant on power company.
As someone not from the American northeast, I don't get it either.
As someone from the American northeast, i don't get it either.
I think the joke would have been better and more understandable if it had used different corporate names rather than states. But, of course, that might have been legally problematic.
IMO the joke is more "timeless" because it uses state names instead of company names.
Imagine if instead it mentioned Xerox computers, DEC terminals*, IPX, and Ethernet hubs. We'd say "wow that comic didn't age well". Even something as recent as "EVGA GPU" will go down in history books instead of commonplace.
*Yes, I am aware that the VT100 terminal spec is from DEC. But they don't make DEC terminals anymore
10 years down the road, we don't know what tech will look like. But there is a high likelihood that the state of Pennsylvania will still exist and hold relevance.
Part of the confusion I find is he’s trying to make a tech joke using something inherently non-technical, states’ names.
It's also just not funny.
Not funny and not about programming.
It's funny to the right crowd, but not programming.
Isn't this just a rehash of #927?
It may be referencing the same thing, but I’d argue it’s a completely different joke, excecution and setting. There are plenty of things that has more than one joke about it.
Thematically similar, but a different content. The ExplainXKCD page currently links a full 3 other standards-related comics.
