explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2525: Air Travel Packing List

2021-10-07T16:48:39Z

141.101.99.184: /* Explanation */ ...to be more accurate.

{{comic
| number = 2525
| date = October 6, 2021
| title = Air Travel Packing List
| image = air_travel_packing_list.png
| titletext = I know the etiquette is controversial, but I think it's rude when the person in front of me reclines their seat into the bell of my trumpet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an TRUMPETBORNE PARACHUTER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about a proposed air-travel packing list, and the humor is that many people who have not been flying during Covid might have forgotten what to pack. Most of the items are already found on the plane, SOUND like they would be useful on a plane, or could be useful in (the unlikely event of) a plane crash. Here is a quick summary of each:

{| class="wikitable"
! Item
! Explanation
|-
|Seat cushion
|This can be used as a flotation device in a crash and is provided by the airline. Some people may also bring their own cushions for comfort.
|-
|{{w|Parachute}}
|Parachutes are normally used to slow down your falling out of the sky to a relatively safe speed in case of a severe problem with your aircraft, and are routinely used as a safety device by (para)glider pilots, test pilots, military aircraft crew and in similar situations when being unable to land safely is a significant concern. A parachute won't be very useful in a typical passenger airplane (even a small one) as there is no way to safely exit such a plane in-flight. Even the airplanes used to voluntarily exit from while they're perfectly good (as some crazy people do) need to be specifically designed or modified for the purpose such as having wide sliding doors that are unaffected by airflow. However, there were single cases of people being ejected or sucked out of a passenger airplane; in such case a parachute could by arguably useful. Famously, [[:Category:Comics featuring D. B. Cooper|D.B. Cooper]] jumped from an airplane in-flight with a parachute.
|-
|Wing glue
|Probably to repair wings in the event of damage, potentially in a crash. Would be tricky (but not necessarily impossible) to apply mid-flight. This the first of several items that are potentially useful to the flight crew or maintenance teams, but would not be useful or appropriate for passengers to bring aboard.
|-
|{{w|Air horn}}
|An air horn uses compressed air to make a very loud noise very easily. This may be important for drawing attention to yourself in the event of a crash. Typically, emergency lifejackets on a plane are provided with a light and whistle for this purpose. The noise of an air horn might prove more effective for this purpose than a whistle, but it would become useless as soon as the compressed air ran out. Its inclusion is probably meant to suggest that the word 'air' in its name indicates that it's designed for use in an aircraft. Using one in a non-emergency situation would infuriate everyone else on the plane.
|-
|{{w|Sextant}}
|In combination with star charts, a sextant can be used to determine your position based on the location of stars in the night sky. Alternately, in combination with an accurate clock, a sextant can be used to determine the position of the sun relative to the aircraft to determine the vehicle's position. In a crash, you could use this to find your way to a safe place, but sextants are rarely used, and most people not trained on how to operate one. GPS will also allow you to find your position, is built into many phones, and is faster and easier to use than a sextant. If you've got a homing beacon, it probably makes more sense to just activate that and wait for help to arrive. Until the early 1980s, long-range airplanes had a {{w|Air_navigation#Flight_navigator|flight navigator}} that used sextants and {{w|celestial navigation}} to determine the position of the airplane.
|-
|Nose plugs and goggles for pressure
|Nose plugs and goggles are commonly used in swimming but would be useless for dealing with cabin pressurization or depressurization. Since your mouth and nose are interconnected, nose plugs would be useless on their own. Trying to hold your breath in a sudden depressurization event will cause lung damage, so nose plugs wouldn't be a good thing, even if you could also seal off your mouth. Goggles would also not be useful. During depressurization, the air would just seep out. During pressurization, they would just become uncomfortable and difficult to remove.
|-
|Airplane shoes
|Airlines typically don't require use of special footwear for passengers, nor do they provide special shoes. Before emergency egress, certain shoes (like high heels) must be discarded, though. Air crew are also prohibited from wearing such shoes.
|-
|Navigation crystal
|Mystical form of navigation, presumably either to help with navigating airplane or to help you get home after a crash.
Crystals that polarize light can be used as a compass [http://www.polarization.com/viking/viking.html].
|-
|Spare batteries in case the plane runs out
|Airplanes will generally use more power than any battery small enough to be easily packed in a bag can provide. They will generally use either 115V AC at 400Hz or 28V DC, both of which are very uncommon outside of aviation. The plane will almost never use its own batteries in-flight anyway, getting its electric power from the main engines, the APU, or, in emergencies, the ram air turbine or similar generating device. The batteries are generally only used on the ground when the engines are not running.
|-
|{{w|Birdseed}}
|So one can attract birds. In practice, this wouldn't work for multiple reasons (high speed, altitude and windows being sealed being among most obvious ones) and would pose a significant hazard of birds getting stuck in an engine if it did. On the other hand, spreading birdseed before boarding would be seen as misconduct by airport authorities, as it may pose a danger to aircraft by attracting birds. Alternatively, birdseed can be used to attract birds after surviving a crash, e.g. to catch them for food.
|-
|{{w|Homing beacon}}
|Once activated, a homing beacon will send out a continuous radio signal so that rescuers can find your location. These can be very useful in a plane crash, but airplanes already carry them ({{w|Emergency position-indicating radiobeacon}}s), so you don't need to pack one yourself. Incidentally, the {{w|COSPAS-SARSAT}} system for locating distressed airplanes and ships was a cooperation started by the United States and the Soviet Union, and it was an elegant and simple solution that uses the {{w|Doppler effect}} of radio signals for accurate location - long before the {{w|Global Positioning System}}.
|-
|Meteorite antidote
|Meteorites are pieces of space rocks that make it all the way to the ground. They can cause injury but they aren't poisonous{{Citation needed}}, so an antidote would not help.
|-
|USB wing connector
|this is a just a wire connector, but because it has wing in the name is on the list. alternatively, the plane wings connect by USB, and this can be used to reattach wings. Airplanes rather use the {{W|ARINC 429}} protocol instead of USB protocols to facilitate electronic communication between flight computers and the engines, for example.
|-
|Emergency siren
|USE IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
|-
|Spare flaps
|Flaps can be moved to adjust the lift/drag ratio of a wing, generally during takeoff and landing. Flaps are very large and mounted on the wing, outside the passenger compartment, so bringing spares would be very difficult and completely useless. Flaps failing to come down can also usually be remedied by just landing at a longer runway.
|-
|{{w|Mouthpiece (brass)|Mouthpiece}} (pandemic restriction; airlines still provide the trumpet)
|A part of a brass instrument like a trumpet. Randall jokes that trumpets are provided on airplanes (which would be very obnoxious to other passengers), but due to the pandemic you cannot use a shared mouthpiece.
|-
|Luggage ballast
|Likely to make plane more balanced. While balancing weight in a plane is indeed a real problem, it's solved by rearranging luggage and adjusting engine power slightly. Introducing ballast would mean additional weight for no real reason.
|-
|Flag (international flights)
|To identify your country of origin. Other flags are also used to communicate between boats without electricity, in the event the boats are in distress, so they could be used in the event of a crash.
|-
|Decoy tickets
|Maybe these would used as a distraction so you can sneak onto the plane without paying.
|-
|Keys to the plane
|Though some pushed for it after a plane was stolen in the {{w|2018 Horizon Air Q400 incident}}, planes do not require keys to activate like a car does. Likewise, plane doors are not locked with a key. Instead, they are rather sealed - if a seal is broken, the plane is thoroughly checked for any wrongdoing.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

<big>Air Travel Packing List</big>

If you haven't flown in a while, you might not remember what you need to bring. Use this handy checklist to pack!

[Two columns of lists of items. Each item is preceded by a checkbox.]
*Seat cushion
*Parachute
*Wing glue
*Air horn
*Sextant
*Nose plugs and goggles for pressure
*Airplane shoes
*Navigation crystal
*Spare batteries in case the plane runs out
*Birdseed
*Homing beacon
*Meteorite antidote
*USB wing connector
*Emergency siren
*Spare flaps
*Mouthpiece (pandemic restriction; airlines still provide the trumpet)
*Luggage ballast
*Flag (international flights)
*Decoy tickets
*Keys to the plane

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1239: Social Media

2021-09-23T20:34:25Z

141.101.99.184:

So how have folks responded to this one on Twitter? [[Special:Contributions/67.51.59.66|67.51.59.66]] 15:57, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

—girl look at that body. [[User:Greyson|Greyson]] ([[User talk:Greyson|talk]]) 17:09, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

This question might have initiated the comic: http://youtu.be/AdHGhSeYcq0?t=51m9s [[Special:Contributions/91.46.145.123|91.46.145.123]] 20:07, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
:Maybe, this Bill Gates video was released two days before this comic.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:22, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

It's somewhat ironic, that the first statement of Cueball is less than 140 characters long. Also, the whole situation seems similar to that in {{w|Earth Unaware}} by Orson Scott Card ... or maybe I should not tell the ending of the book.
[[Special:Contributions/78.8.147.90|78.8.147.90]] 20:47, 17 July 2013 (UTC) qbolec
:I did edit your wiki link, it was broken.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:22, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Not ironic, opening line less than 140 characters because social media?!
[[User:Monteletourneau|Monteletourneau]] ([[User talk:Monteletourneau|talk]]) 05:21, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Note that this is a {{w|press conference}}. All questions are made by professional journalists, not by simple Twitter users. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 22:57, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

Note that voting booths have only one character per message (sometimes only one bit), and nevertheless many people are interested in their outcome. I changed Twitter by "voting booth" and the following explanation becomes absurd.
:On a ''voting booth'' you can send messages with ''exactly one'' character. This means that there could not be much content in a single ''vote'', but often many people follow the people ''voting''. People who are not on ''democracy'' tend to react like Cueball and come to the conclusion that ''voting booths'' make press coverage more stupid, just because those messages lack many detail.
[[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 14:15, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

I mean, SpaceX could decide a clockwise or Anti-clockwise oribt based on a social media poll. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.184|141.101.99.184]] 20:34, 23 September 2021 (UTC)

Talk:1402: Harpoons

2014-08-05T10:49:26Z

141.101.99.184:

I took the sentient space craft joke to be a reference to the movie "Dark Star".{{unsigned ip|199.27.128.123}}

Harpoon is a brand of rum. Did a bottle make it into space? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.196|108.162.219.196]] 12:55, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

: I tried to find who makes it but wasn't able to find a definitive source. I added http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/ for now but it would be nice to have the link to the canonical source. Any pointers? --[[User:Waldir|Waldir]] ([[User talk:Waldir|talk]]) 17:24, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

: It's only headcannon. (ref to xkcd #1401) A headcannon which fires a harpoon. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.80|108.162.216.80]] 17:52, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

Did this comic upload quite late in the day for anyone else? Is anyone else experiencing or did anyone else experience that "Latest Comic" is still going to 1401 as ix XKCD.com and XKCD.com/# {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.216}}

"This is obviously a joke, as sentient spacecraft cannot be created with current technology." Yeah, will need a citation on that... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.148|108.162.229.148]] 13:23, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

Definitely a joke. Appolo 12’s call sign was Yankee Clipper, and a clipper ship would not carry any harpoons.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.129|108.162.216.129]] 14:04, 1 August 2014 (UTC)
: I'd believe someone might have smuggled some Harpoon (or even any brand of) rum up there, then brought it back down with them, ingested or otherwise (thus the drop right after the mission). Alternately, "incident" could be something more along the lines of losing an empty bottle of rum during a spacewalk (farfetched as it may be) and it reentering the atmosphere(?) - probably no more than stories, though - nothing official probably exists about anything like that going up or down in any manner.{{unsigned|Brettpeirce}}

Moby Dick is, let's say, extremely far-fetched. It was not the ship that was hunting the whale and harpooning it by itself. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.143|141.101.104.143]] 17:27, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

Could the Apollo 12 bump possibly be a reference to Futurama? "We're whalers on the moon, we carry a harpoon" [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.246|199.27.130.246]] 15:51, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

Maybe it is a reference to a print ad by Bacardi-Martini, mentioned briefly in Buzz Aldrins book Magnificent Desolation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.82|141.101.104.82]] 22:10, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

While it is more likely that a harpoon (or bottle of harpoon rum) went to space and returned with the Apollo 11 mission, the caption makes it sound like the harpoon was only in space for the duration of the incident. Might it have been created and destroyed there?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.171|108.162.219.171]] 22:54, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

The graph explicitly asserts the Apollo 12 incident caused a "harpoon" to be in space, but only for a short time. Therefore, the harpoon was destroyed in space or returned to earth. Perhaps harpoon rum ascended with the astronauts; then was consumed on the moon, burned up in earth's atmosphere, or returned with the astronauts. (DP) [[User:D peterson|D peterson]] ([[User talk:D peterson|talk]]) 14:49, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

;Whale killing
Saying "sailors would throw harpoons at a whale until it died" betrays a limited understanding of the process. Harpoons were barbed, and were meant to stick in the whale while it sounded (went deep.) A length of (about half-inch) rope kept the harpoon connected to the whaleboat. After the whale was exhausted (from towing the whaleboat while trying to shake off the harpoon? idk) the whaleboat could approach it, and the boatswain (''not'' the harpooner) would kill it with an unbarbed lance. Holling Clancy Holling's ''Seabird'' shows how it was done, with pictures and all. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.153|173.245.54.153]] 19:00, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

;Svend Foyn
Norwegian whaler Svend Foyn revolutionarized whaling by inventing explosive harpoon to hunt whales. He made whaling much easier and quicker. This method saved Norway from the famine thread in 19th century.{{unsigned|Multimotyl}}

;[Citation needed] joke.
I thought the sentence "of course, Rosetta is not sapient[Citation needed]", was sort of funny. It implied "of course, Rosetta is not sapient[or is it?]", adding a bit of humour and mystery to the explanation. {{unsigned ip|108.162.222.77}}
: i think it should be added back in, until somebody can cite a source showing that it is not sentient. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 02:24, 3 August 2014 (UTC)
;Suggestions for apollo 12 rum incident explanations
The Apollo Rum Incident is probably related to [http://www.arentfox.com/sites/default/files/pdf/ArentFox-Stories-01-Aiming-High.pdf Bacardi's advertising campaign] which altered the image of Buzz Aldrin (apparently from Apollo 11, not 12) to show him in shorts with a rum. I mean, unless it wasn't altered ... [[User:Arothfusz|Arothfusz]] ([[User talk:Arothfusz|talk]]) 16:44, 2 August 2014 (UTC) A. Rothfusz

Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report NASA SP-235

"The Apollo 12 core-tube bit is far from optimal in design, but results in a smaller range of uncertainty. On the other hand, hammering a core into the soil is known to cause more disturbance to the sample than if the core is PUSHED into the soil at a HIGH, CONSTANT SPEED." ... (/rum horizontal)

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.207|108.162.246.207]] 16:47, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

'''Some Coincidences'''

1. A daily rum ration was provided in British navy until 1970: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_ration

2. Harpoon cocktail was updated in 1970 to include option of gin as base: http://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/2178/harpoon-cocktail

3. Apollo 12 actually flew in November 1969: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_12

4. HMS Apollo Rum incident: http://idle-idle.blogspot.com/2008/02/hms-apollo-incident_15.html

5. There is a variety of hops called Apollo: http://beerlegends.com/apollo-hops

6. Harpoon is slang for harmonica, but there's no evidence a harmonica was on board.

7. The memorial 'Fallen Astronaut' was placed on the moon on August 1,1971 by Apollo 15 (the backup crew for Apollo 12): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_Astronaut

8. August 1, 1971 has been called the "greatest day of scientific exploration that we've ever seen in the space programme - possibly of all time.": http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/1/newsid_4101000/4101579.stm

9. To harpoon, is to strike with a pointed instrument. Apollo 12 was struck by lightning (twice) upon takeoff. John Aaron's command "SCE to Aux" restored flight telemetry causing him to be labelled a "steely-eyed missile man": http://www.universetoday.com/98484/this-day-in-space-history-apollo-12-and-sce-to-aux/

10. Such an unusual event is called a "rum go": https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/rum_go

11. The Apollo 12 landing area was, ironically, 'Ocean of Storms'. It landed 600 feet from Surveyor 3, making this the "only human artifact ever encountered in lunar exploration". Conrad intended on taking a self-portrait with Bean at Surveyor 3, but couldn't find the self-timer he had smuggled on board. When he later found it, he threw it as hard as he could out onto the moon (motivated like a harpooner).

12. All Apollo 12 astronauts were from US Navy.

13. Episode 2 of 'Futurama' centers on a visit to an Apollo landing site & includes a song about whalers on the moon, carrying harpoons: http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Whalers_on_the_Moon
Fry uses a harpoon to derail a 'moon buggy' from an amusement ride so he can use it to visit the landing site. Fry says "yee-haw!" driving the buggy over a crater.

14. The 'Apollo 13' cocktail is based on rum: http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink8506.html

[[User:Nathan Hillery|Nathan Hillery]] ([[User talk:Nathan Hillery|talk]]) 21:35, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

Harpoon Rum did go up with Apollo 12. Some miniatures were taken for Thanksgiving, but Charles Conrad order his crew-mates not to drink them. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.207|141.101.98.207]] 10:36, 4 August 2014 (UTC)
: Is there any online references for this claim? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 20:22, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

Apollo 12's landing site was also known as Oceanus Procellarum. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc_20091104_apollo12.html#.U9-P-xD5eM0 {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.102}}

All I can think of now is "We're whalers on the moon, we carry a harpoon". That'll be in my head for the rest of the day [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.184|141.101.99.184]] 10:49, 5 August 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1398: Snake Facts

2014-07-31T04:05:34Z

141.101.99.184: Added thoughts on alt-text

I thought the Worlds longest snake was so long that it took up enough space to be in Brazil, Peru, and Chile at the same time.~~

Just a couple of thoughts: How big was the person whose digestive tract became the longest snake in the world? Also, does the grosser end of the digestive tract develop into the head of a venomous snake? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.29|108.162.223.29]] 06:57, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
:Not a particularly important part of answering your question, but... which end of the digestive tract are you thinking is the "grosser end"? I could imagine arguments for both. [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:30, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

The snake in the map shades Chile, BOLIVIA and Brazil, not Peru. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.125|108.162.229.125]] 08:25, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
:Randall has corrected the map on xkcd... Someone should upload the updated version. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.29|108.162.223.29]] 09:48, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
::Updated the image to match the one on xkcd.com. [[User:Nialpxe|Nialpxe]] ([[User talk:Nialpxe|talk]]) 10:00, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Sorry, the shading (unless randell's updated after reading this) does track chili, up the Pacific Coast, across the border with Peru and veers east into Brazil.

I did wonder if 'the World's longest snake' was a reference to the south American highway, part of the pan American highway. Parts were completed in the 1950's making it 'over 60years old', and does track chili as per the 'snakes' body into Peru but the brazilian section is connected elsewhere, neatly crushing my wild theory. :-( [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.161|141.101.99.161]] 09:39, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

The first factoid contains a common misconception about evolution, namely that species evolve ''only'' in small steps. It's entirely possible that a small mutation caused a protein that appeared in snakes' saliva to suddenly be ''very'' poisonous to the snake's prey or enemies. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.98|108.162.231.98]] 11:13, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
:It is possible, but unlikely. Snake venom is not a single chemical, but a mixture of several enzymes and toxins. There is a lot of variation in protein structure and enzymatic properties of the constituents of different snakes' venom, which suggests a gradual shift from one or two simpler lytic enzymes to a complex mixture. Each protein could have mutated separately, but the composition of the venom of each species almost certainly developed over a prolonged period of time. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.29|108.162.223.29]] 11:34, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
::I don't think the implication was that every venom evolution happened in one fail swoop. I believe he was pointing out that instead of people thinking that venom evolution started with bad breath (minuscule unnoticeable changes) more likely started with a reasonably poisonous mutation that actually benefited a snakes survival.--[[User:Bmmarti3|Bmmarti3]] ([[User talk:Bmmarti3|talk]]) 12:46, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
:: Exactly what Bmmarti3 said. ''"the composition of the venom of each species"'' You mean of today's snakes. This is what we would expect for animals that have been around for almost 100M years. The venom of the first poisonous snakes was certainly weaker (and probably only worked on specific targets), but that doesn't mean it was weak. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.98|108.162.231.98]] 13:05, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Is it possible that the alt-text is a reference to Cyrano de Bergeracs "L’Autre monde ou les états et empires de la Lune" ("Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon")? I don't have a proper translation, but there's a dialogue that says that every man is born with a snake inside his belly as a punishment by god.--[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.129|141.101.104.129]] 15:35, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
::Is this possibly a reference to the Goa'ould from "Stargate"?

That ive seen, Randall is usually very precise in his work. getting a wrong breed for 'longest snake' seems odd to me. Could the 'longest snake' be referring to either a 'longest lived' specimen, or a geographical feature named for a snake? Or perhaps an extinct species? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.196|108.162.215.196]] 15:51, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
::I think he's referring to an actual specimen that is pictured. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.49|108.162.216.49]] 18:12, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

I second the suggestion that this is not actually referring to a species of snake, or a particular specimen even.... It seems odd that Randall would post inaccurate information about snakes for no apparent reason. Perhaps this is a reference to something else entirely... previous dictators? Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? N'Sync reunion concerts? {{unsigned ip|108.162.246.215}}
::Agreed. Anaconda's are not found in Chile either... though Google says that the Anaconda Copper Company owned the largest Copper Mine in the world, located in Chile. I can't connect that factoid with the "more than 60 years" part, though. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.167|173.245.56.167]] 22:18, 23 July 2014 (UTC)
:::anaconda copper was founded in 1881, making it 'more than60 years old' - not a great connection in my book. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.196|108.162.215.196]] 15:00, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

::::Anaconda Cooper got out of Chile in the 1960's, when cooper was 'chilenized' and then estatized in the 1970's.
--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.125|173.245.48.125]] 18:23, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

I agree that some people are taking this too literally. Imagine if you approached the situation in reverse, accepting the factoids about a word that you are unfamiliar with. Our digestive tract swallows food, processes it, and evacuates the waste through a flexible wavy tube with several independent parts. The skeleton of the snake looks like a wavy line of individual segments, maybe implying where the name came from. The shaded area on the map looks pretty spot on with the location of the Andes mountain range (the longest continental mountain range on Earth and definitely believed to be over 60 years old). The top factoid is about the animal we have named after the concept of a snake as a wavy not straight staying thing. I like this idea and think I shall keep it. Thank you everyone for your help in offering inadequate information, and while that may seem sarcastic, it is not. I regularly use incorrect examples to get my mind on the correct path to good ones.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.74|199.27.128.74]] 06:32, 24 July 2014 (UTC)
::Created an account to accept potential wrath. [[User:JovialRoger|JovialRoger]] ([[User talk:JovialRoger|talk]]) 06:38, 24 July 2014 (UTC)
:The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes] The peak[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aconcagua] is in Argentina. Randall would probably take the opportunity to make the snake longer, if he had meant the Andes. Plus, no Bolivia/Peru map issue. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.223.29|108.162.223.29]] 07:42, 24 July 2014 (UTC)
There's an obvious reference to Ze Frank's True Facts series here, both in the amount of truth the facts have, and the use of the name Frank.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.238|108.162.210.238]] 07:49, 24 July 2014 (UTC)jivadent

Is the 'wikipedia says' at the start of every sentence necessary?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.206|108.162.249.206]] 08:48, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

Possible reference to a YouTube video uploaded 14 Feb 2014 explaining a partial solution to the Erdos Discrepancy Problem, which includes: "Two steps in front of you is a nest of angry snakes. And not just any old angry snakes, but like, snakes with really bad breath and stuff". [http://youtu.be/pFHsrCNtJu4?t=39s] --[[User:DivePeak|DivePeak]] ([[User talk:DivePeak|talk]]) 08:22, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

I immediately thought of a currency snake, an agreement between two or more countries to keep variation in the value of their currencies in a certain range. Thought the three countries mentioned could have made such an agreement ca. 60 years ago. Admittedly I find no evidence of it whatsoever.21:45, 25 July 2014 (UTC)~

1397: Luke

2014-07-21T12:15:16Z

141.101.99.184:

{{comic
| number = 1397
| date = July 21, 2014
| title = Luke
| image = luke.png
| titletext = Don't turn it on.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic takes place in a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDnoczxzQyg scene] from the third theatrically-released ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' movie, ''[[wikia:c:starwars:Return of the Jedi|Return of the Jedi]]'', wherein [[wikia:c:starwars:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] confronts his son, [[wikia:c:starwars:Luke skywalker|Luke Skywalker]], who had recently surrendered to [[wikia:c:starwars:Galactic Empire|Imperial]] soldiers. In the movie Vader notes that Luke Skywalker has constructed [[wikia:c:starwars:Luke Skywalker's lightsaber|a new lightsaber]] following the loss of his [[wikia:c:starwars:Luke skywalker#Lightsabers|original]] during their [[wikia:c:starwars:Duel on Cloud City|duel on Cloud City]] (Luke Skywalker's original lightsaber actually having been Anakin Skywalker's second). In this comic, however, Darth Vader has accidentally discovered his son's {{w|Fleshlight}} (a male {{w|sex toy}} designed to imitate one of various orifices, most commonly a vagina), which he apparently brought with him on the [[wikia:c:starwars:Battle of Endor#The ground assault|attack on the Forest Moon of Endor]]. From a certain angle, a Fleshlight could be mistaken for the handle of a lightsaber, without the blade extended. Like many children, Luke Skywalker is attempting to hide evidence of his sexual activity from a parent.

The title text refers to the fact that if Darth Vader turned the Fleshlight on, instead of creating a blade of pure plasma (or energy) suspended in a force containment field the device would simply vibrate, revealing it for what it really is. Of course, if it gives the characteristic hum, Vader might confuse it for being a defective lightsaber construct, causing Vader to be disappointed in his son's abilities as a Jedi.

==Connection to previous comic==
[[1396]] was about 'hottest'. From there to 'luke warm' to this comic.
[[1396]] contained stickmen. As does this comic

==Transcript==
:[Darth Vader is holding what appears to be a powered-down lightsaber and talking to Luke Skywalker.]

:Darth Vader (dramatically): I see you have constructed a new lightsaber.

:Luke Skywalker: ...Yes. That is definitely what I did.

:Closing: Vader finds Luke's Fleshlight.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1394: Superm*n

2014-07-14T05:11:41Z

141.101.99.184:

Excellent description, but minor niggle: In "Superm*n' , the '*' is a wildcard. This isn't a regular expression that would match 'Superman' and Supermoon'. A regexp could be "Superm.*n" - the '.' means 'any character' and the '*' means 'as many times as you like'. (More selective regexps exist) If you were to interpret 'Superm*n' as a regular expression, it would match 'Supern' , 'Supermn', "Supermmn', Supermmmn' etc. So you could describe 'Superm*n' as a 'wildcard search that would match superman and supermoon'. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.184|141.101.99.184]] 05:11, 14 July 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1394: Superm*n

2014-07-14T05:09:45Z

141.101.99.184: 'Superm*n' shouldn't be interpreted as a regular expression

Excellent description, but minor niggle: In "Superm*n" , the '*' is a wildcard. This isn't a regular expression that would match 'Superman' and Supermoon'. A regexp could be "Superm.*n" - the '.' means 'any character' and the '*' means 'as many times as you like'. (More selective regexps exist) If you were to interpret 'Superm*n' as a regular expression, it would match 'Supern' , 'Supermn', "Supermmn', Supermmmn' etc. So you could describe this as a 'wildcard search that would match superman and supermoon'.