Editing 2208: Drone Fishing

{{comic
| number    = 2208
| date      = September 27, 2019
| title     = Drone Fishing
| image     = drone_fishing.png
| titletext = Today's consumers who order their drones off the internet don't know the joy of going out in nature and returning with a drone that you caught yourself, whose angry owners you fought off with your own two hands.
}}

==Explanation==
Another comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series.

This comic is a parody of the traditional activity of fishing for fish. Typically, a person who is fishing will sit as [[Cueball]] does in this comic, by some body of water and wait for a fish to bite their cast line. However, some fisherman will use a kite to allow them to cast their line further in the water, and this is called "{{w|Kite fishing}}". But it is also possible to use drones for this, as in [https://youtu.be/8sdUZqOoAq4 "drone fishing."]

[[Randall]], however, is interpreting "Drone fishing" not as fishing ''with'' drones but as fishing ''for'' drones ("drone fishing" as in "lobster fishing"). In fact, what Cueball (or Randall) is doing, is kite fishing for drones, by flying a kite with fishhooks attached over some drone enthusiasts in hopes of snagging their drones. This is quite likely illegal, especially if Cueball were to "reel" the caught drone in.{{Citation needed}} It seems like he has already caught two that lay in front of his feet. All the drones are of the {{w|quadcopter}} type, as they are called in [[1630: Quadcopter]].

The title text parodies a common line about fishing, about the "joy of going out in nature", catching fish, and the struggle of reeling in large fish. However, instead of being about fishing, Randall has replaced the line to be about catching drones, and fighting off their owners. Considering that the two drone owners beneath his kite are children, [[Science Girl]] and a Cueball like kid, clearly smaller than Cueball/Randall in the chair, this should not be so tough in the pictured case.

Real life methods for capturing drones involve [https://youtu.be/TseOHDBZ8MA French Army falconry] training of [https://www.parismatch.com/Actu/Insolite/En-images-Les-aigles-plus-forts-que-les-drones-1186391 golden eagles] (a technique [https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/12/16767000/police-netherlands-eagles-rogue-drones abandoned] by Dutch police) and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvdKNBSWPyU firing nets from other drones,] which has been proposed for [https://ubir.buffalo.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10477/79546/BottaEtAl-2017-postprint-JGCD.pdf orbital debris removal], or the use of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GRaAHexsVk nets hanging on counter-drones.]

A similar setup for [https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/publicaffairs/iwitness/246735/sandra-aguinaldo-explores-bat-fishing-on-i-witness/story/ catching bats] with hooks on a kite string have been used, although it's illegal. It seems unlikely that Randall has had this in mind when he made this comic though.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is seated in a leaning chair, with a tackle box behind it and two drones lying on the ground in front of him. He is holding a fishing rod from which he is flying a kite on a long string. The kite is high up in the air and far away from Cueball. On the long string there are three smaller lines dangling below the string closer to the kite that to Cueball. Each line has six hooks evenly spread out, from a bit beneath the string to the end of the lines. Three quadcopter type drones are in the air nearby, with Science Girl and a Cueball-like kid standing right beneath the kite holding remote-controls for their respective drones. They are facing each other, the Cueball-like kid looking up, whereas Science Girl seems to be looking at the drone right in front of her, between and just above the kids. It has just begun to rise up as shown by lines beneath it. The two other drones are on either side of the kite line, both flying towards the hooks. Whoever controls the third drone must be off panel, and it is not clear which of those two the kid is controlling. The only text is a caption below the panel:]
:My Hobby: Drone Fishing

==Trivia==
*This is only the second time kites and drones are in the same comic.
**However, in [[1608: Hoverboard]] (their first appearance) the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/ae/1608_0970x1077y_Kite_and_weird_bug.png kite] and the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/7/7c/1608_0950x1084y_Quadcopters_over_lava_lake_right.png drones] are not in the same part of the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/cf/1608_full_tiny.png huge image].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]
[[Category:Kids]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Kites]]
[[Category:Drones]]