I find %~dp0 very useful, and I use it a lot to make my batch files more portable.
But the label itself seems very cryptic to me... What is the ~<
Another tip that would help a lot is that to set the current directory to a different drive one would have to use %~d0 first, then cd %~dp0. This will change the directory to the batch file's drive, then change to its folder.
Alternatively, for #oneLinerLovers, as @Omni pointed out in the comments cd /d %~dp0 will change both the drive and directory :)
Hope this helps someone.