Editing 2633: Astronomer Hotline
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
+ | {{incomplete|Created by 17 YEAR CICADA TRYING TO LOOK LIKE A FIREFLY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
+ | This comic is a joke about {{w|Helpline|helplines}}, and how people sometimes call helplines for non-significant reason. | ||
− | + | The comic starts with someone having called the "Astronomer hotline", hence the title. Judging by the way the helpline employee, [[Cueball]], starts the call, by asking for a description of the weird lights, it is implied that this is the main/only purpose of the helpline, or is, in practice, the only type of call they receive. | |
− | The | + | The caller is in panic, and doesn't know how to describe the light. Cueball is used to this and asks the caller to stay calm, then starts to go through his check list, asking them if it is day time, because if it was he would assume they have just noticed the Sun. This could be seemed very condescending, but it is like when the employee at a tech support hot-line asks if the computer is turned on, or if the caller tried to restart the computer, see [[806: Tech Support]]. |
− | The caller is | + | The caller is not affronted, but tells Cueball that the Sun set, and when asked if they are stars, and thus stationary, says they are zipping around in the bushes. |
− | + | At this point Cueball realizes that the caller has just seen {{w|Fireflies}}. He describes them for the caller as lightning bugs, tree blinkers or ground stars, and tells the caller that these are not a problem, so the caller is now relieved. Those descriptions are reminiscent of the fools stars (and planes) mentioned in [[2017: Stargazing 2]]. | |
− | + | However, Cueball must admit that astronomers do not know much about fireflies, since they are too fast for the astronomers' telescopes (in general, astronomers don't study terrestrial phenomena). And he thus transfers the caller to the "Weird Bug Hotline." | |
− | + | Before the call ends, at Cueball's end, he hears the first question from the new hotline: Is it currently biting you. | |
+ | Again going directly to the most important part, is there any immediate danger... | ||
− | + | Some people (Often {{w|Unidentified flying object|UFO}} enthusiasts) tend to get a little over-excited about calling every light in the sky they don't expect a UFO. This comic takes this to the extreme, where someone calls a helpline because they saw fireflies, and thought they were UFOs. While UFOs are not mentioned by name, they are heavily implied. | |
− | + | The title text is a reference to bugs that have gaps of several years between emerging from their larval state. Most famous are the {{w|Periodical cicadas}}, 13- and 17-year cicadas, that only emerge every 13 or 17 years, depending on species. The 17 years in the title text thus refers to the 17-year cicadas. Every 17 years the bug hotline hires a bunch of temporary staff, either because there will be more callers due to the unexpected new bug no one has seen for 17 years, or it could be because they just like to emulate nature and thus do this every 17 years. The largest 17-year cicada appearance in the USA is called {{W|Brood X}} which last occurred in 2021 and before that 2004. There can be smaller broods in other years, but the majority come out with 17 years interval, and the next is expected in 2038. | |
− | + | The joke in the title text is that the employment statistics for the weird hotline have to correct for this fact. | |
− | The | + | The reasons that it is 13 and 17 years are a bit {{w|Periodical_cicadas#Predator_satiation_survival_strategy|uncertain}}, but it is quite certain that it is because those numbers are prime numbers, that they have ended up on those numbers of years. Because it is thus unlikely that they will emerge in great numbers the same year as some other cyclic population is at a maximum every time they emerge. Because it they have any other cycle than those prime numbers, it will take a long time before they synchronize again. |
+ | Many animals and plants have delayed cycles like these so as to engage the cycles of others in ways that change; for example, oak trees give more acorns every other year, as their reproductive cycle is in symbiosis with how much squirrels bury but do not dig up to eat. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Trivia== | ||
+ | :The UK Military had a UFO helpline for over 50 years. [[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna34277625 Link]] | ||
+ | :This comic has a lot of themes that have been touched on in previous comics, including | ||
+ | ::Helplines [[278: Black Hat Support]], [[806: Tech Support]] | ||
+ | ::People not understanding basic concepts [[876: Trapped]] | ||
+ | ::Cicadas [[2263: Cicadas]] | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Cueball, with a headset on, is sitting in an office chair at a desk in front of his computer screen, hands on the keyboard. He receives a call, and the | + | :[Cueball, with a headset on, is sitting in an office chair at a desk in front of his computer screen, hands on the keyboard. He receives a call, and the callers voice is shown in a jagged frame above Cueball, between his two lines of text.] |
:Cueball: Hello, Emergency Astronomer Hotline. How would you describe the lights? | :Cueball: Hello, Emergency Astronomer Hotline. How would you describe the lights? | ||
:Caller on phone: ''I don't know! Help!'' | :Caller on phone: ''I don't know! Help!'' | ||
− | :Cueball: Stay calm. Is it day? If so, that's | + | :Cueball: Stay calm. Is it day? If so, that's The Sun. |
− | :[Cueball is now seen en face with the headset, but the computer etc. is not shown. The | + | :[Cueball is now seen en face with the headset, but the computer etc. is not shown. The callers voice is now written normally but with zigzag lines going to the text from Cueball's headphone. Cueball's reply have a normal line going up to it.] |
− | :Caller on phone: No, the | + | :Caller on phone: No, the sun set and then the light appeared! |
:Cueball: Hmm, could be stars. Are they stationary? | :Cueball: Hmm, could be stars. Are they stationary? | ||
:Caller on phone: No, they're all zipping around bushes. | :Caller on phone: No, they're all zipping around bushes. | ||
− | :[In a | + | :[In a frame-less panel, the setting returns to the one from the first panel. Also with the callers voice in jagged frames again.] |
:Cueball: ''Aha!'' Fireflies! | :Cueball: ''Aha!'' Fireflies! | ||
:Caller on phone: "Fireflies"? | :Caller on phone: "Fireflies"? | ||
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:Caller on phone: ''Phew!'' | :Caller on phone: ''Phew!'' | ||
− | :[Same setting as first panel, but broader panel. After Cueball's reply and a short reply from the caller as in the first panel | + | :[Same setting as first panel, but broader panel. After Cueball's reply and a short reply from the caller as in the first panel. There is a sound indicating transfer to another hotline. Then to the right there is a square panel with jagged edge, with the voice from the other hotlines employee.] |
:Cueball: We don't know much about them as they're too fast for our telescopes, but I can transfer you to the Weird Bug Hotline. | :Cueball: We don't know much about them as they're too fast for our telescopes, but I can transfer you to the Weird Bug Hotline. | ||
:Caller on phone: Sure, thanks. | :Caller on phone: Sure, thanks. | ||
:Transfer of call. *''Click''* | :Transfer of call. *''Click''* | ||
:Weird Bug Hotline on phone: ''Hi, Weird Bug Hotline. Is it currently biting you?'' | :Weird Bug Hotline on phone: ''Hi, Weird Bug Hotline. Is it currently biting you?'' | ||
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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