Editing 434: xkcd Goes to the Airport

{{comic
| number    = 434
| date      = June 9, 2008
| title     = xkcd Goes to the Airport
| image     = xkcd_goes_to_the_airport.png
| titletext = Under three ounces, but it stains panties.
}}

==Explanation==
The various characters of [[xkcd]] cause problems at the airport due to their various quirks.

*[[Beret Guy]] and [[Megan]] are lost, following each other in a loop. Beret Guy displays his obsession with baked goods as he also does in later comics: [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]] and [[452: Mission]].

*[[Cueball]] tries to carry a {{w|Lock picking|lockpick set}} (a tool able to unlock doors without the original key) through security. The security guard tells Cueball that he has to come with him, but Cueball wants to tell the guard about "this hacker girl" before going with the guard (interestingly Cueball doesn't resist the arrest at all so long as he can tell his story). This may be spoofing the incidents where someone has been manipulated into smuggling drugs or other contraband by a romantic interest they met on the Internet. Alternatively, it may reference the fact that lockpicking is a common hobby among hackers, suggesting that Cueball's interest in the girl led to his current interests in hacking, lockpicking or both. The hacker girl could be [[Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory Elaine Roberts]] from the [[:Category:1337|1337-series]].

*On the plane, Cueball has been instructed to disable the wireless transmission functionality of his device. Many airlines require passengers to disable {{w|Mobile phones on aircraft|mobile phones on aircraft}} as well as other radio transmitting devices, because they may interfere with the radio-based navigation and communication equipment of the aircraft. However, his laptop is running Linux, and he doesn't know how to change the wireless settings; he's reading the {{w|Man page|manual}} for the program that controls the wireless radio. This is probably not an ideal situation, as the airplane is about to take off. Man pages were also referenced in [[293: RTFM]]. Much later, a plane was again linked to a man page in [[912: Manual Override]].

*[[Black Hat]] tries to carry a container of liquid through security. According to US law, the maximum amount of liquid that can be taken onto a plane in a container is three ounces (89 ml), a security measure taken to prevent terrorists from taking explosives onto planes. When the guard has doubts about the amount of liquid in the vial, Black Hat implies that the liquid is actually blood from a churchmouse.  This is referred to later in [[526: Converting to Metric]], which claims that a fieldmouse has much less blood than that.  The guard is visibly uncomfortable and clearly does not want to deal with the issue any further.

The title text continues off the final panel, saying that there are less than three ounces of blood in a churchmouse, but it "stains panties," an undesirable scenario. However, this undesirable scenario is paralleled by the implied undesirable scenario of a terrorist attack due to explosive liquids, the possibility of which caused the law. The title text seems to parody the prospect of an explosion with the relatively insignificant staining of panties, a term for women's underwear. This may also be a menstruation joke.

From ''[[xkcd: volume 0]]'':
{{quote|If it's unimportant enough to basically work on the honor system, it's not gonna crash the plane.}}

==Transcript==
:[Standing outside the Airport. There is a sign saying "Airport" and a plane in the background.]
:Megan: Okay, what airline?
:Beret Guy: I'm following you.
:Megan: ...I'm following <u>you</u>.
:Beret Guy: I assumed we were walking to the bakery.
:Megan: You always assume that!

:[Presumably the security checkpoint.]
:Security Guy: Lockpicks? These are... illegal, actually. Where did you get them?
:Cueball: Oh man, it all started with this hacker girl.
:Security Guy: You need to come with-
:Cueball: Sure, sure. But man, let me tell you about her!

:[On a plane.]
:Announcement: If your device has a "Transmit" function, please disable it.
:Cueball: Okay - hang on, I'm halfway through the iwconfig man page.

:[Security checkpoint.]
:Security guy: Sir, is this container under three ounces?
:Black Hat: Not sure, how much blood is there in a churchmouse?
:Security guy: . . .Why don't you just go.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Man pages]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]
[[Category:Aviation]]