Editing 1355: Airplane Message

{{comic
| number    = 1355
| date      = April 14, 2014
| title     = Airplane Message
| image     = airplane_message.png
| titletext = PHARAOH IRY-HOR, FROM THE 3100s BC, IS THE FIRST HUMAN WHOSE NAME WE KNOW.
}}

==Explanation==
Large banners are sometimes flown behind airplanes to advertise a product or event to a large number of people. Here, [[Randall]] suggests replacing the ad with some interesting facts. This would tell people who see the banner something new and interesting about the world, rather than try to sell them something. He presents two possible facts: {{w|Adriamycin}}, a cancer therapy, and {{w|Iry-Hor}}, the earliest human we know by name.

The {{w|chemotherapy}} drug {{w|doxorubicin}}, trade name Adriamycin, is based on a strain of the bacterium ''{{w|Streptomyces peucetius}}'', first isolated from a soil sample taken at {{w|Castel del Monte, Apulia|Castel del Monte}} in {{w|Andria}}, Italy.

As mentioned at the title text {{w|Iry-Hor}} was an ancient, {{w|Dynasty 0|predynastic}} pharaoh of ancient Egypt — no earlier documents exist today. {{w|Kushim (Uruk Period)|Kushim}} is a contemporary contender.

This fact is also placed at exactly 3100 BC (or {{w|BCE}}) in [[1732: Earth Temperature Timeline]]. The week after that comic came out improving cancer research was the subject of [[1736: Manhattan Project]]. That became the first cancer related comic since this one, even though more than two years had passed and with {{w|cancer}} being a [[:Category:Cancer|recurring subject]] on xkcd... It could be a coincidence, but seems strange that both facts were directly/indirectly referenced within two weeks more than two years later, and there is even a banner in the cancer comic...

==Transcript==
:[There is a Cessna 172 with a banner behind.]
:Banner: Adriamycin, one of our most potent chemotherapy drugs, comes from the dirt from an Italian castle.

:[Caption beneath the panel]
:<big>My hobby:</big> 
:Breaking into airplane hangars and replacing the ads on their giant banners with cool facts.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Aviation]]
[[Category:Airplane banner]]