585: Outreach - Revision history

Lettherebedarklight: /* Trivia */ add Category:Comics with a Spanish translation

2025-12-15T08:58:28Z

‎Trivia: add Category:Comics with a Spanish translation

82.132.237.210: Undo revision 395225 by Batbrain55 (talk) Perhaps noted by someone, now, but bad practice to create a redlinked category and just hope it's right.

2025-12-03T15:32:36Z

Undo revision 395225 by Batbrain55 (talk) Perhaps noted by someone, now, but bad practice to create a redlinked category and just hope it's right.

Batbrain55: New category idea, since there are at least three comics with this specific premise and accidents are a recurring theme in general.

2025-12-03T15:25:58Z

New category idea, since there are at least three comics with this specific premise and accidents are a recurring theme in general.

FaviFake at 10:19, 28 July 2025

2025-07-28T10:19:20Z

1234231587678 at 15:38, 18 March 2025

2025-03-18T15:38:32Z

172.68.186.129: /* Explanation */ Sentence needs bigger rewrite to avoid in-and-out-commain, really.

2024-09-11T21:58:56Z

‎Explanation: Sentence needs bigger rewrite to avoid in-and-out-commain, really.

42.book.addict at 18:35, 11 September 2024

2024-09-11T18:35:19Z

FaviFake: /* Trivia */ Updated xkcd store link with Web archive link

2023-09-01T09:52:32Z

‎Trivia: Updated xkcd store link with Web archive link

FaviFake at 14:54, 29 August 2023

2023-08-29T14:54:58Z

FaviFake: Fixed name and grammar

2023-07-08T08:26:39Z

Fixed name and grammar

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:58, 15 December 2025
Line 79:		Line 79:
	[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]		[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
	[[Category:Comics featuring children]]		[[Category:Comics featuring children]]
		+	[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

@@ Line 74: / Line 74: @@
 [[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
 [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
 [[Category:Biology]]
 [[Category:Science]]

@@ Line 74: / Line 74: @@
 [[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
 [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
 [[Category:Biology]]
 [[Category:Science]]

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 [[Category:Sharks]]
 [[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
-[[Category:Kids]]
+[[Category:Comics featuring children]]

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 Scientific animal tracking is commonly used to learn more about other species, particularly endangered ones, as a way of better understanding their physiology, behavior, and what risks they face in the wild. It's used in a wide variety of sciences, including wildlife biology, conservation, wildlife management and zoology. The scientists in this comic are working on a rather limited budget as [[Ponytail]] explains, say that they can't afford the (relatively minuscule) cost of hiring someone to retrieve a tracking tag from the water. Hence, they devise a plan that would actually cost far more: create one that will pop free, float to the surface, and inflate a giant helium balloon, causing it to gradually drift over land. Eventually, the balloon will slowly deflate and soft-land, and with any luck someone will find it and mail it back to the scientists. The shark is depicted much larger than the humans, and the quantity of helium necessary to lift it (as the later panels show) would be extremely expensive.
-It goes horribly, hilariously wrong. The tag fails to pop free from the shark and proceeds to inflate the balloon while the shark is still attached. Although the balloon is shown too small to lift the shark (a helium balloon can only lift approximately one gram per liter in air), but the shark miraculously rises right along with the tracker tag, drifts back over land, and goes right after the scientists that had been tracking it. When [[Jill]] (in her first appearance) sees the two scientists running frantically from a flying shark, she figures that if such excitement is a daily part of a scientist's job, ''that's'' the job for her, as she tells [[Cueball]], her father. The title of the comic, '''Outreach''', refers to the type of activities that scientists do in order to motivate kids to become scientists when they grow up, and it clearly worked for Jill who displays keen interest and great knowledge on many subjects in her next appearances.
+The plan has an unintended consequence: the tag fails to pop free from the shark and proceeds to inflate the balloon while the shark is still attached. Although the balloon is shown too small to lift the shark (a helium balloon can only lift approximately one gram per liter in air), the shark miraculously rises right along with the tracker tag, drifts back over land, and goes right after the scientists that had been tracking it. When [[Jill]] (in her first appearance) sees the two scientists running frantically from a flying shark, she figures that if such excitement is a daily part of a scientist's job, ''that's'' a job for her, as she tells [[Cueball]], her father. The title of the comic, '''Outreach''', refers to the type of activities that scientists do in order to motivate kids to become scientists when they grow up, and it clearly worked for Jill who displays keen interest and great knowledge on many subjects in her next appearances.
-The title text suggests keeping shark repellent by one's bed to account for the quite-unlikely event of something like this happening. Because you never know. It may be a reference to the {{w|Batman (1966 film)|Adam West Batman film}} where Batman just happens to have some in his helicopter. In reality, a balloon meant for lifting a tracker tag would be much too small to lift the shark, which is portrayed as being larger than person, so there is no danger. In addition, since sharks are fish, and fish cannot survive above water, the shark would die even if this could happen in real life. This doesn't stop movies like {{w|Sharknado}} (which was filmed after this comic) to portray sharks floating in the air.
+The title text suggests keeping shark repellent by one's bed to account for the quite-unlikely event of something like this happening. Because you never know. It may be a reference to the {{w|Batman (1966 film)|Adam West Batman film}} where Batman just happens to have some in his helicopter. In reality, a balloon meant for lifting a tracker tag would be much too small to lift the shark, which is portrayed as being larger than person, so there is no danger. In addition, since sharks are fish, and fish cannot survive for an extended period of time above water, the shark would die even if this could happen in real life. This doesn't stop movies like {{w|Sharknado}}, which was filmed after this comic, to portray sharks floating in the air.
 The title text of [[1910: Sky Spotters]] seems to be a reference to this comic.

@@ Line 66: / Line 66: @@
 ==Trivia==
 * This is the first xkcd comic featuring [[Jill]].
-* A T-shirt based on this comic is available in the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/shark xkcd store].
+* This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125021918/https://store.xkcd.com/products/shark available as a T-shirt] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].
 {{comic discussion}}

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 Scientific animal tracking is commonly used to learn more about other species, particularly endangered ones, as a way of better understanding their physiology, behavior, and what risks they face in the wild. It's used in a wide variety of sciences, including wildlife biology, conservation, wildlife management and zoology.
-The scientists in this comic are working on a rather limited budget as [[Ponytail]] explains, say that they can't afford the (relatively minuscule) cost of hiring someone to retrieve a tracking tag from the water. Hence they devise a plan that would actually cost far more: create one that will pop free, float to the surface, and inflate a giant helium balloon, causing it to gradually drift over land. Eventually, the balloon will slowly deflate and soft-land, and with any luck someone will find it and mail it back to the scientists. The shark is depicted much larger than the humans, and the quantity of helium necessary to lift it (as the later panels show) would be extremely expensive.
+The scientists in this comic are working on a rather limited budget as [[Ponytail]] explains, say that they can't afford the (relatively minuscule) cost of hiring someone to retrieve a tracking tag from the water. Hence, they devise a plan that would actually cost far more: create one that will pop free, float to the surface, and inflate a giant helium balloon, causing it to gradually drift over land. Eventually, the balloon will slowly deflate and soft-land, and with any luck someone will find it and mail it back to the scientists. The shark is depicted much larger than the humans, and the quantity of helium necessary to lift it (as the later panels show) would be extremely expensive.
 It goes horribly, hilariously wrong. The tag fails to pop free from the shark and proceeds to inflate the balloon while the shark is still attached. Although the balloon is shown too small to lift the shark (a helium balloon can only lift approximately one gram per liter in air), but the shark miraculously rises right along with the tracker tag, drifts back over land, and goes right after the scientists that had been tracking it.
-When [[Science Girl]] (in her first appearance) sees the two scientists running frantically from a flying shark, she figures that if such excitement is a daily part of a scientist's job, ''that's'' the job for her, as she tells her daddy [[Cueball]]. The title of the comic, '''Outreach''', refers to the type of activities that scientists do in order to motivate kids to become scientists when they grow up, and it clearly worked for Science Girl who displays keen interest and great knowledge on many subjects in her next appearances.
+When [[Jill]] (in her first appearance) sees the two scientists running frantically from a flying shark, she figures that if such excitement is a daily part of a scientist's job, ''that's'' the job for her, as she tells her daddy [[Cueball]]. The title of the comic, '''Outreach''', refers to the type of activities that scientists do in order to motivate kids to become scientists when they grow up, and it clearly worked for Jill who displays keen interest and great knowledge on many subjects in her next appearances.
 The title text suggests keeping shark repellent by one's bed to account for the quite-unlikely event of something like this happening. Because you never know. It may be a reference to the {{w|Batman (1966 film)|Adam West Batman film}} where Batman just happens to have some in his helicopter.
@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 :[The balloon breaks the surface, pulling the shark with it.]
-:[Science Girl, eating an ice cream cone is standing together with Cueball to the right in an otherwise empty frame.]
+:[Jill, eating an ice cream cone is standing together with Cueball to the right in an otherwise empty frame.]
 :[Two screaming scientists (A Cueball-like guy and Ponytail) runs past the two, who turns to look after them. The guy is holding the microscope and Ponytail the beaker from the first frame.]
@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 :Shark: ''Chomp chomp''
-:[After the shark is gone, Science Girl turns to Cueball.]
+:[After the shark is gone, Jill turns to Cueball.]
-:Science Girl: Daddy?
+:Jill: Daddy?
 :Cueball: Yes?
-:Science Girl: I want to be a scientist.
+:Jill: I want to be a scientist.
 ==Trivia==
@@ Line 77: / Line 77: @@
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
-[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
+[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
 [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
 [[Category:Biology]]