Editing 1402: Harpoons
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
+ | |||
This comic is a graph of the number of {{w|harpoon}}s in space over time. One would not expect that harpoons, which are associated with old technology, would be used in space, which is associated with high technology. Any occurrences are unexpected, and therefore interesting or funny. | This comic is a graph of the number of {{w|harpoon}}s in space over time. One would not expect that harpoons, which are associated with old technology, would be used in space, which is associated with high technology. Any occurrences are unexpected, and therefore interesting or funny. | ||
− | The first peak states that a harpoon was in space during the {{w|Apollo 12}} mission and | + | The first peak states that a harpoon was in space during the {{w|Apollo 12}} mission and is associated with an incident related to rum. This could imply that [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard the Apollo 12 rocket. Now, officially this is a joke and Apollo 12 carried neither harpoons nor rum; on the other hand, that's exactly why it would be considered an "incident". |
+ | |||
+ | The latter peak on this graph refers to the {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} unmanned spacecraft. As part of its mission, it's carrying a lander (called {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}}), which has two tethers to anchor itself to the comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}}. Rosetta was launched in March 2004 (as shown in the graph) and was scheduled to encounter the comet in August 2014, making this a timely comic. As of September 6th, Rosetta is maneuvering to enter orbit on September 10th. The Philae lander is scheduled to harpoon onto the comet in November 2014. The Rosetta spacecraft also carries a disk micro-etched with 13,000 pages of text in 1200 languages donated by the Long Now foundation, mentioned in previous comics. | ||
− | + | This continues a recurring theme (as seen in comics [[111: Firefox and Witchcraft - The Connection?]] and [[231: Cat Proximity]]), with two unrelated but interesting objects juxtaposed graphically with humorous results. | |
− | The title text compares the Philae lander's method of deploying its tethers to {{w|whaling}}, in which sailors would throw harpoons at a whale with the intent of killing the whale. It was important to throw hard so the harpoon would stick in the whale so it could not get away and would tow the whaling boat until it got tired and could be killed. Thus the title text implies that the spacecraft is sentient and needs a motivation to fire the harpoons hard enough to stay anchored to the comet; to this end it has been programmed to believe that its mission is to kill the comet | + | The title text compares the Philae lander's method of deploying its tethers to {{w|whaling}}, in which sailors would throw harpoons at a whale with the intent of killing the whale. It was important to throw hard so the harpoon would stick in the whale so it could not get away and would tow the whaling boat until it got tired and could be killed. Thus the title text implies that the spacecraft is sentient and needs a motivation to fire the harpoons hard enough to stay anchored to the comet; to this end it has been programmed to believe that its mission is to kill the comet. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
Line 28: | Line 31: | ||
:[The graph then stays at 0 until 2004. Then it rises to 2 and stays there until today, continuing as a dotted line after 2014. The rise is labeled.] | :[The graph then stays at 0 until 2004. Then it rises to 2 and stays there until today, continuing as a dotted line after 2014. The rise is labeled.] | ||
:Rosetta comet mission launched carrying lander with harpoon tethers | :Rosetta comet mission launched carrying lander with harpoon tethers | ||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
− | + | [[Category:Charts]] | |
− | [[Category: | ||
[[Category:Comics with color]] | [[Category:Comics with color]] | ||
− |