1402: Harpoons - Revision history

Strike 2: Duty Calls (spelling error)

2025-11-23T10:53:21Z

Duty Calls (spelling error)

92.23.2.228: /* Explanation */ Is a single word.

2025-06-20T21:16:59Z

‎Explanation: Is a single word.

4.8.204.82: /* Ambiguous comma use */

2025-06-20T19:35:03Z

‎Ambiguous comma use

CalibansCreations: /* Explanation */

2025-01-30T12:47:15Z

‎Explanation

172.69.59.13: /* Explanation */

2024-08-14T22:21:30Z

‎Explanation

JLZ0kTC5 at 07:35, 22 October 2022

2022-10-22T07:35:07Z

While False: Added to category Harpoons

2022-09-10T11:57:15Z

Added to category Harpoons

Adrmcr: fixed punctuation at /* Trivia */

2022-08-26T16:15:21Z

fixed punctuation at ‎Trivia

Vandalbane: Undo revision 285152 by Vandalbane, a big guy (for you) (talk)

2022-06-01T18:15:17Z

Undo revision 285152 by Vandalbane, a big guy (for you) (talk)

Vandalbane, a big guy (for you) at 18:14, 1 June 2022

2022-06-01T18:14:33Z

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==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 and seafairing, 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 and seafaring, 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 various possible explanations have been put forward (See discussion section below). One of more widely accepted theories proposes that [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard the Apollo 12 rocket. Despite a fair amount of research into the basis of the harpoon incident, there have been no credible or official sources to confirm the presence of any type of harpoon on board Apollo 12. As the presence of a harpoon on board would run counter to any official story, perhaps that's exactly why it would be considered an "incident".

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==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 and sea fairing, 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 and seafairing, 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 various possible explanations have been put forward (See discussion section below). One of more widely accepted theories proposes that [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard the Apollo 12 rocket. Despite a fair amount of research into the basis of the harpoon incident, there have been no credible or official sources to confirm the presence of any type of harpoon on board Apollo 12. As the presence of a harpoon on board would run counter to any official story, perhaps that's exactly why it would be considered an "incident".

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==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, and sea fairing, 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 and sea fairing, 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 various possible explanations have been put forward (See discussion section below). One of more widely accepted theories proposes that [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard the Apollo 12 rocket. Despite a fair amount of research into the basis of the harpoon incident, there have been no credible or official sources to confirm the presence of any type of harpoon on board Apollo 12. As the presence of a harpoon on board would run counter to any official story, perhaps that's exactly why it would be considered an "incident".

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 The first peak states that a harpoon was in space during the {{w|Apollo 12}} mission and various possible explanations have been put forward (See discussion section below). One of more widely accepted theories proposes that [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard the Apollo 12 rocket. Despite a fair amount of research into the basis of the harpoon incident, there have been no credible or official sources to confirm the presence of any type of harpoon on board Apollo 12. As the presence of a harpoon on board would run counter to any official story, perhaps 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 carried a lander called {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}}, which has two harpoon 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. Rosetta maneuvered to enter orbit on September 10, and ultimately the Philae lander touched down on the comet on 12 November 2014, although the harpoon system failed to deploy. Randall produced a live comic of the landing, updating [[1446: Landing]] every 5 minutes with the latest progress. 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.
+The latter peak on this graph refers to the {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} unmanned spacecraft. As part of its mission, it carried a lander called {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}}, which has two harpoon 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. Rosetta maneuvered to enter orbit on September 10, and ultimately the Philae lander touched down on the comet on 12 November 2014, although the harpoon system failed to deploy. Randall produced a live comic of the landing, updating [[1446: Landing]] every 5 minutes with the latest progress. The Rosetta spacecraft also carries a disk micro-etched with 13,000 pages of text in 1200 languages donated by the {{w|Long Now Foundation}}, mentioned in [[1340: Unique Date|previous]] [[1380: Manual for Civilization|comics]].
 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. Evidently this motivation was not enough, as Philae ultimately failed to deploy its harpoons - it still managed to land, though.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==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, and sea fairing, 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 various possible explanations have been put forward (See discussion section below). One of more widely accepted theories proposes that [http://www.harpoon-rum.eu/1.html Harpoon] brand of {{w|Rum#Regional variations|Jamaican rum}} made it aboard the Apollo 12 rocket. Despite a fair amount of research into the basis of the harpoon incident, there have been no credible or official sources to confirm the presence of any type of harpoon on board Apollo 12. As the presence of a harpoon on board would run counter to any official story, perhaps that's exactly why it would be considered an "incident".

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 ==Trivia==
-In 2018, shortly after the line gets dotted, the number actually increased again, thanks to the {{w|RemoveDEBRIS}} satelite.
+In 2018, shortly after the line gets dotted, the number actually increased again, thanks to the {{w|RemoveDEBRIS}} satellite.
 {{comic discussion}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:57, 10 September 2022
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	[[Category:Line graphs]]		[[Category:Line graphs]]
	[[Category:Comics with color]]		[[Category:Comics with color]]
		+	[[Category:Harpoons]]

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 | number    = 1402
 | date      = August 1, 2014
-| title     = Harpoons and Will Allen
+| title     = Harpoons
-| image     = Will Allen holding fish.jpg
+| image     = harpoons.png
 | titletext = To motivate it to fire its harpoons hard enough, Rosetta's Philae lander has been programmed to believe it is trying to kill the comet.
 }}