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Airport Meeting

|< < Prev #3269 (July 8, 2026)

Title text: Although it was a setback for physics, I'm glad the particle naming rights issue led to the cancelation of Pizza Hut's Superconducting Super Collider in the early 90s, so the Double Stuffed Extra Cheese Topping Quark ended up just being named 'top quark.'

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Explanation

Michelin is a company that manufacture tires for cars and heavy machinery. However, they have also created the Michelin Guide, originally a guide for motorists in France that eventually branched out into dining and travel and spread across the world.

Red Bull is a company that manufactures the eponymous energy drink. However, they have also invested heavily in motorsport events, competing as a team in NASCAR and Formula One.

This comic jokes that this is because two employees accidentally swapped briefcases at an airport, suggesting that originally one had information that Michelin was using in support of the motorsport business and other possessed information that Red Bull was meant to identify restaurants, which better fits with the companies' existing specialties. By leaving with each other's paperwork, perhaps even remaining unaware of the confusion, both companies found themselves with departments pursuing opportunities to pivot into the technically quite different fields more closely related to the other.

The title text introduces the concept of even stranger specialization-swapping between a fast-food franchise and particle physics. There are six types of quarks: up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom. This makes a joke on the top quark, claiming that it was originally named the Double Stuffed Extra Cheese Extra Topping quark before being shortened to top quark. In reality, the top and bottom quarks were originally named truth and beauty quarks, and are still occasionally referred to as such.

Transcript

[Cueball and Ponytail are standing together and talking to each other. Cueball holds a black briefcase, while Ponytail has a grey briefcase next to her.]

Cueball: I do restaurant analysis for a beverage company.

Ponytail: Neat! I work in the automotive industry, developing parts for specialized vehicles.

[Same as first panel, but Cueball has put down his briefcase next to Ponytail's and pulled out his boarding card]

Cueball: Oh, my flight is boarding. It was nice to meet you!

Ponytail: You too!

[Ponytail and Cueball walk off in opposite directions, carrying each other's original briefcase]

Header: Years Later:

[A book with a star on it that reads:]

Michelin Tire Company

Star Restaurant Guide

[A fancy sports car, facing to the right. On the body of the car, it says:]

Red Bull Supercar

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