Editing 3121: Kite Incident

{{comic
| number    = 3121
| date      = July 28, 2025
| title     = Kite Incident
| image     = kite_incident_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x1610px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Detectives say the key to tracking down the source of the kites was a large wall map covered in thumbtacks and string. 'It's the first time that method has ever actually worked,' said a spokesperson.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

In this comic [[Megan]] is setting up a kite as [[Cueball]] arrives. Megan sets up the kite using a fishing line, which is unorthodox but not unheard of. Because the connection between the holding point and the lofted kite will form a {{w|catenary}} hanging down, after paying out sufficient line toward a kite increasingly far downwind, the line starts to dip and possibly touch the ground. Cueball suggests adding another kite at that point, after which they can then pay out more line and keep the line raised off the ground for additional distance.

Modelling the line as a straight line stretching 15 degrees above the horizon, Megan has spent over 38km of fishing line by the time the first kite reaches the jetstream at 10km high.

They then get into a loop of adding more line to accommodate a stock of kites, and then more kites to support the line, until the kite chain reaches ludicrous proportions. The kites become so numerous and high-flying that they eventually blow in a circle around a significant part of the planet, following a {{w|jet stream}}. A circle on the surface of the Earth that follows the line of latitude where Randall lives is about 18,500 miles long, though a circumpolar jet-stream would curve into higher and lower latitudes to possibly add a lot more distance (as well as being at a higher altitude, which would add a more predictable fraction to its length).

The sirens in the second-to-last panel refer to a visit by some law-enforcement agency. The string of kites circling the Earth has interfered with international air travel. Although the mass of any given kite and the presence of such a relatively light and fragile tether should not cause too much difficulty for the majority of airliners if their wing or body collides with the kite-chain, the danger of a kite being ingested into the engine would ''preferably'' be avoided out of an abundance of caution. This is true even if the presence of kites is known to be not a more solid danger rather than a mystery and/or {{w|2023 Chinese balloon incident|perceived threat}} which can lead to {{w|Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption|air travel to be shut down}}. Regardless of the actual degree of danger, the authorities react accordingly, and events culminate in Megan and Cueball being forced to issue a formal apology. Having their lawyer there might indicate they won't get away with just an apology, but maybe this is to show they meant no harm, to decrease the penalty they will face.

The title text alludes to an investigation technique seen in many types of media where the investigator {{tvtropes|StringTheory|pins text and photo evidence to a board}}, connecting related evidence with string. This technique is also made fun of in [[2244: Thumbtacks And String]]. Though often good enough for fictional purposes, at least to the extent that the plot demands, the text indicates that real-world uses of 'string on a map' to discover a useful result have not actually been successful. But in this case, the string on the map would be there to indicate the actual extent to the string ''in the air'', probably from various reports received from around the world, and apparently it had successfully led to the discovery of the location from which the string originated on the ground and the subsequent intervention against the duo's excessive kite-deployment activity.

Kites have been a [[:Category:Kites|recurring topic]] on xkcd since the early days.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Cueball approaches Megan from the left. Megan is flying a kite, with the line attached to a spool.]
:Cueball: Ooh, flying a kite?
:Megan: Yeah. I found this big spool of fishing line in a closet.

:[In a silent panel, Cueball and Megan are seen from further away, indicating that the kite is flying higher.]

:[Cueball and Megan are seen from yet further away, indicating that the kite is flying still higher.]
:Cueball: Are we allowed to fly a kite this high? Should we Google whether there are rules?
:Megan: Eh, it's probably fine.

:[The line held by Megan leaves her hand almost horizontally before curving up. Cueball stands a little way downwind his hand up to the string, above head-height, as if supporting/stabilising it or testing its tendency to stay up.]
:Megan: The string is really starting to sag.
:Cueball: Maybe we could attach another kite? I'll go get one.

:[A new kite is attached just above the line, supporting it higher in the air, Megan's held end now leading up to the point it is joined.]
:Cueball: It worked!
:Megan: Nice!

:[Megan is feeding out line from a partly depleted spool, via a peg/ground anchor, with a knot visible a short way up the rising cord. Two further empty spoole are seen on the ground. Cueball is approaching with a box.]
:Cueball: I bought another package of string.
:Megan: Oh good, these spools are almost empty.
:Megan: I think we're in the jet stream.

:[Three empty spools, one spool in use and one unused spool surround Megan and Cueball, with one supporting kite visible on the line that Megan is still feeding out.]
:Cueball: How many kites are on there now?
:Megan: I've lost count.

:[Another silent panel, zoomed out to see at least a half self-supporting "kite-length" about ready to have a new kite added at the ground end, and almost the same amount of curve leading off-panel to the next (previously attached) kite, unseen. There are flat items (presumably kites), spools (one being the current one being fed out) and boxes (assumed to contain more kite material and/or spools behind and around the two small figures.]

:[A much larger panel with the same ground details but a wider view. Above the ascending line of kites there is now a second, horizontal line of kites, dangling furves of connecting chord, leading from off-panel left to off-panel right.]
:Cueball: Uhh...

:[Some kites, spools and boxes are around the two figures, now seen again in close-up.]
:Cueball: ...Did it blow in a circle?
:Megan: I don't know. Lemme look at a map of where the jet stream goes.
:Cueball: Hey, do you hear sirens?

:[A CNN logo is at the upper right of the panel. Megan stands at a lectern, with Cueball on one side and Ponytail, holding a briefcase, on the other. Illegible subtitle/sub-banner text appears at the lower left, lower right, and below them.]
:[A banner with white text on a black background:]
:Breaking: Kite Incident Duo Speaks
:Megan: On the advice of our lawyer, we would like to apologize for the events that shut down global air travel last week...

==Trivia==
Kites have been a [[:Category:Kites|recurring topic]] on xkcd since the early days. It has been three years since the last comic with kites, [[2632: Greatest Scientist]], six since Cueball put one up, and 10 since Megan did.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Kites]]
[[Category:Aviation]]