1748: Future Archaeology - Revision history

42.book.addict: we don't use TOCs in comic pages

2025-10-23T05:06:57Z

we don't use TOCs in comic pages

2001:4450:813D:C800:FCCA:442D:8C9D:DF33 at 22:09, 22 October 2025

2025-10-22T22:09:47Z

FaviFake at 12:23, 29 July 2025

2025-07-29T12:23:49Z

FaviFake: /* Explanation */

2025-07-29T12:23:41Z

‎Explanation

FaviFake at 22:42, 10 May 2025

2025-05-10T22:42:35Z

Hatman31: /* Explanation */ RW & RM unnecessary text

2024-08-06T18:33:45Z

‎Explanation: RW & RM unnecessary text

172.70.178.232 at 09:41, 29 January 2024

2024-01-29T09:41:34Z

141.101.98.162: /* Explanation */

2023-12-01T09:53:46Z

‎Explanation

FaviFake at 09:55, 29 August 2023

2023-08-29T09:55:45Z

FaviFake: Fixed broken link (was a redirect)

2023-05-22T08:08:15Z

Fixed broken link (was a redirect)

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:06, 23 October 2025
Line 8:		Line 8:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	~~{{TOC}}~~
	The comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] about a {{w\|time travel\|time-traveling}} energy Sphere who came back from the future to see [[:Category:Spiders\|spiders]]. Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future, they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w\|2016 United States presidential election}}, which pitted the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] against former United States First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State {{w\|Hillary Clinton}}, who was also involved in several {{w\|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy\|controversies}}. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. (The election was the subject of the comic released the day before the election [[1756: I'm With Her]], in which [[Randall]] endorsed Clinton directly.)		The comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] about a {{w\|time travel\|time-traveling}} energy Sphere who came back from the future to see [[:Category:Spiders\|spiders]]. Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future, they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w\|2016 United States presidential election}}, which pitted the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] against former United States First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State {{w\|Hillary Clinton}}, who was also involved in several {{w\|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy\|controversies}}. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. (The election was the subject of the comic released the day before the election [[1756: I'm With Her]], in which [[Randall]] endorsed Clinton directly.)

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:09, 22 October 2025
Line 8:		Line 8:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
		+	{{TOC}}
	The comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] about a {{w\|time travel\|time-traveling}} energy Sphere who came back from the future to see [[:Category:Spiders\|spiders]]. Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future, they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w\|2016 United States presidential election}}, which pitted the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] against former United States First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State {{w\|Hillary Clinton}}, who was also involved in several {{w\|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy\|controversies}}. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. (The election was the subject of the comic released the day before the election [[1756: I'm With Her]], in which [[Randall]] endorsed Clinton directly.)		The comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] about a {{w\|time travel\|time-traveling}} energy Sphere who came back from the future to see [[:Category:Spiders\|spiders]]. Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future, they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w\|2016 United States presidential election}}, which pitted the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] against former United States First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State {{w\|Hillary Clinton}}, who was also involved in several {{w\|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy\|controversies}}. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. (The election was the subject of the comic released the day before the election [[1756: I'm With Her]], in which [[Randall]] endorsed Clinton directly.)

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:23, 29 July 2025
Line 53:		Line 53:
	[[Category:Basketball]] <!-- Shaq -->		[[Category:Basketball]] <!-- Shaq -->
	[[Category:Songs]] <!-- Arron -->		[[Category:Songs]] <!-- Arron -->
		+	[[Category:Time-Traveling Sphere]]

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-The comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] about a {{w|time travel|time-traveling}} energy Sphere who has come back from the future to see [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]]. (See [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] for a more complete explanation.) Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future, they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w|2016 United States presidential election}}, which pitted the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] against former United States First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, who was also involved in several {{w|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy|controversies}}. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. (The election was the subject of the comic released the day before the election [[1756: I'm With Her]], in which [[Randall]] endorsed Clinton directly.)
+The comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] about a {{w|time travel|time-traveling}} energy Sphere who came back from the future to see [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]]. Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future, they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w|2016 United States presidential election}}, which pitted the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] against former United States First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, who was also involved in several {{w|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy|controversies}}. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. (The election was the subject of the comic released the day before the election [[1756: I'm With Her]], in which [[Randall]] endorsed Clinton directly.)
 Sadly for Megan and Cueball, the sphere has come back from so far into the future that even spiders have gone extinct. (Whether humans also have is unclear, see [[1747: Spider Paleontology]]). The Sphere makes this clear by stating that its civilization hardly knows anything about our era, and they know little about our history and culture. (And by the way it only came back for the spiders, anyway). The idea is that history is filtered in similar fashion to fossils. What is contemporaneously important, like a {{w|spider web|spider's web}}, {{w|Feathered dinosaur|dinosaur feathers}} (see previous comic), or the United States presidential election may not survive. The Sphere tells them that only two written accounts have been reconstructed (note that they are not found in their entirety). And they do not know whether they even represent real events or myths. One of the two is indeed a myth, as it is about a man building a boat to survive a great flood. Megan recognizes this as being about {{w|Noah}} and his famous {{w|Noah's Ark|Ark}} from the {{w|Genesis flood narrative}}, as Cueball refers to. The other is a reference to a popular pop song.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This Wednesday comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] from Monday about a {{w|time travel|time-traveler}} (the black floating energy Sphere) who has come back from far in to the future to see {{w|spiders}} (only known from {{w|fossils}} in their time). See [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] for a more complete explanation of this part of the joke. This [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere|series]] ended with this comic. Both comics in this series have titles of a noun followed by a field of research.
+The comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] about a {{w|time travel|time-traveling}} energy Sphere who has come back from the future to see [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]]. (See [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] for a more complete explanation.) Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future, they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w|2016 United States presidential election}}, which pitted the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] against former United States First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, who was also involved in several {{w|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy|controversies}}. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. (The election was the subject of the comic released the day before the election [[1756: I'm With Her]], in which [[Randall]] endorsed Clinton directly.)
-Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future, they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w|2016 United States presidential election}}, which pitted the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] against former United States First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, who was also involved in several {{w|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy|controversies}}. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. (The election was the subject of the comic released the day before the election [[1756: I'm With Her]], in which [[Randall]] endorsed Clinton directly.)
+Sadly for Megan and Cueball, the sphere has come back from so far into the future that even spiders have gone extinct. (Whether humans also have is unclear, see [[1747: Spider Paleontology]]). The Sphere makes this clear by stating that its civilization hardly knows anything about our era, and they know little about our history and culture. (And by the way it only came back for the spiders, anyway). The idea is that history is filtered in similar fashion to fossils. What is contemporaneously important, like a {{w|spider web|spider's web}}, {{w|Feathered dinosaur|dinosaur feathers}} (see previous comic), or the United States presidential election may not survive. The Sphere tells them that only two written accounts have been reconstructed (note that they are not found in their entirety). And they do not know whether they even represent real events or myths. One of the two is indeed a myth, as it is about a man building a boat to survive a great flood. Megan recognizes this as being about {{w|Noah}} and his famous {{w|Noah's Ark|Ark}} from the {{w|Genesis flood narrative}}, as Cueball refers to. The other is a reference to a popular pop song.
 The joke is that, in the future, the 2000 {{w|Aaron Carter}} hip hop song "{{w|That's How I Beat Shaq}}" ([http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/aaroncarter/thatshowibeatshaq.html lyrics] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfhhWA9GF0M video]) is considered as valuable a historical document when researching humans as parts of the {{w|Bible}}. While secular historians consider the story of the Flood to be mythical, they still use it to infer facts about the early history of the Middle East, simply because there are a fairly small number of texts surviving from that era. "That's How I Beat Shaq" is, likewise, a fictional story including some true elements; it's just that as long as there are abundant sources documenting life in the year 2000, there's no reason to consult the song in any historical context. Yet it is the latter story that the time traveler assumes to be a clearly religious one, while seeing the former as a relatively straightforward survival story. A further layer of humor is that "That's How I Beat Shaq" is an archetypal {{w|David and Goliath}} story&mdash;the story of David and Goliath of course being a Biblical one as well.
@@ Line 40: / Line 38: @@
 :Sphere: The other is an account of how a man named Aaron Carter defeated a god named Shaq.
 :Megan: That one may have been mangled a bit by the eons.
 {{comic discussion}}
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 This Wednesday comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] from Monday about a {{w|time travel|time-traveler}} (the black floating energy Sphere) who has come back from far in to the future to see {{w|spiders}} (only known from {{w|fossils}} in their time). See [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] for a more complete explanation of this part of the joke. This [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere|series]] ended with this comic. Both comics in this series have titles of a noun followed by a field of research.
-Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w|United States elections, 2016}} where the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] was up against former United States First Lady {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, who also had several {{w|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy|controversies}} going on. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. It is likely one of the most discussed elections ever, especially in the rest of the world outside the US, where especially European leaders have made it clear that they are against Trump. That was mainly earlier on, before they realized he might actually stand a chance. Of course, anyone interested in any election would be interested to hear from the future how it went, but this particular election may interest a larger proportion of the world population than any prior election. (The election was the subject three weeks later the day before the election where [[Randall]] endorsed Hillary directly in [[1756: I'm With Her]].)
+Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future, they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w|2016 United States presidential election}}, which pitted the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] against former United States First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, who was also involved in several {{w|Hillary_Clinton_email_controversy|controversies}}. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. (The election was the subject of the comic released the day before the election [[1756: I'm With Her]], in which [[Randall]] endorsed Clinton directly.)
-Sadly for Megan and Cueball, the sphere has come back from so far into the future, that even spiders have gone extinct. (Whether humans also have is unclear, see discussion about this in [[1747: Spider Paleontology]]). The Sphere makes this clear by stating that its civilization hardly knows anything about our era, and they know little about our history and culture. (And by the way it only came back for the spiders, anyway). The idea is that history is filtered in similar fashion to fossils. What is contemporaneously important, like a {{w|spider web|spider's web}}, {{w|Feathered dinosaur|dinosaur feathers}} (see previous comic), or the United States presidential election may not survive. The Sphere tells them that only two written accounts have been reconstructed (note that they are not found in their entirety). And they do not know whether they even represent real events or myths. One of the two is indeed a myth, as it is about a man building a boat to survive a great flood. Megan recognizes this as being about {{w|Noah}} and his famous {{w|Noah's Ark|Ark}} from the {{w|Genesis flood narrative}}, as Cueball refers to. The other is a reference to a popular pop song.
+Sadly for Megan and Cueball, the sphere has come back from so far into the future that even spiders have gone extinct. (Whether humans also have is unclear, see discussion about this in [[1747: Spider Paleontology]]). The Sphere makes this clear by stating that its civilization hardly knows anything about our era, and they know little about our history and culture. (And by the way it only came back for the spiders, anyway). The idea is that history is filtered in similar fashion to fossils. What is contemporaneously important, like a {{w|spider web|spider's web}}, {{w|Feathered dinosaur|dinosaur feathers}} (see previous comic), or the United States presidential election may not survive. The Sphere tells them that only two written accounts have been reconstructed (note that they are not found in their entirety). And they do not know whether they even represent real events or myths. One of the two is indeed a myth, as it is about a man building a boat to survive a great flood. Megan recognizes this as being about {{w|Noah}} and his famous {{w|Noah's Ark|Ark}} from the {{w|Genesis flood narrative}}, as Cueball refers to. The other is a reference to a popular pop song.
 The joke is that, in the future, the 2000 {{w|Aaron Carter}} hip hop song "{{w|That's How I Beat Shaq}}" ([http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/aaroncarter/thatshowibeatshaq.html lyrics] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfhhWA9GF0M video]) is considered as valuable a historical document when researching humans as parts of the {{w|Bible}}. While secular historians consider the story of the Flood to be mythical, they still use it to infer facts about the early history of the Middle East, simply because there are a fairly small number of texts surviving from that era. "That's How I Beat Shaq" is, likewise, a fictional story including some true elements; it's just that as long as there are abundant sources documenting life in the year 2000, there's no reason to consult the song in any historical context. Yet it is the latter story that the time traveler assumes to be a clearly religious one, while seeing the former as a relatively straightforward survival story. A further layer of humor is that "That's How I Beat Shaq" is an archetypal {{w|David and Goliath}} story&mdash;the story of David and Goliath of course being a Biblical one as well.
-In fact, the Spheres civilization believes Shaq ({{w|Shaquille O'Neal}} a professional basketball player 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) tall) to refer to a god, which was then defeated by Aaron, a 14-year-old (and rather small kid) at the time of the release of his single in 2001. He beats Shaq on the basketball court one on one, so although this is a David vs. Goliath story it is not a fight till death. But to Aaron and his basketball fan friends, Shaq is probably seen as a kind of god. Megan comments that the pop song may have been mangled by the {{w|Aeon|eons}}. The Sphere asks Megan and Cueball if it is true that Aaron (Carter's) brother Moses did part an ocean. Megan decides to refrain from trying to explain this, having already in the previous comic realized how hard it is to explain spiders to someone who is a fan, but has never heard of spider web, and thus just states yes, yes exactly. Of course according to the Bible she can say yes to the question about Moses parting the water, as long as she does not say anything about the connection with Aaron Carter.
+In fact, the Spheres civilization believes Shaq ({{w|Shaquille O'Neal}}, a 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) tall professional basketball player) to be a god, who was then defeated by Aaron, a 14-year-old (and rather small kid) at the time of the release of his single in 2001. He beats Shaq on the basketball court one on one. Megan comments that the pop song may have been mangled by the {{w|Aeon|eons}}.
-There appears to be a major flaw in the comic on the fact that the Sphere speaks perfect English and understands Megan and Cueball. If they only have two written accounts from our time, why do they then speak English? Especially since they seem to come from another planet and are thus likely not humans (see discussion of the sphere in the previous comic). Of course if they are humans and have come from Earth (maybe travelled away), they may just have retained the English language. But given the fact that young people today probably would not understand their own grandparents' grandparents, and that the Sphere is from so long into the future that Megan calls it eons, spiders are extinct, and only two texts have survived, it should be impossible for the language to have stayed the same. Alternatively, they have also recovered some video clips, but then it would be strange the Sphere did not mention this. A final solution is that the Sphere's civilization is so advanced that it can learn the language instantly by just being in the room with other beings, simply reading it from their mind. Given the fact that it seems the Sphere has come to Earth from another planet, and has the ability to travel in time, this last option may not even be so far-fetched.
+The title text expands on the joke by letting the Sphere explain that the only connection they have found between their two historical documents is via the biblical story of {{w|Moses}}. As Moses is one of God's chosen prophets and leaders, like Noah and {{w|Abraham}} before him, these two stories appear close together in the Bible, though not close together chronologically, and it would be likely that their document with the Flood story also has some parts about Moses. Moses had an older biological brother named {{w|Aaron}} and the Sphere's civilization has hastily concluded that Moses' brother and Aaron Carter are the same. According to the Bible, God {{w|parting of the Red Sea|parted the Sea of Reeds (commonly mistranslated as Red Sea)}} for Moses and the {{w|Israelites}}. This is often referred to, either erroneously or out of simplification, as Moses having parted the Red Sea. Along with Noah's Flood, this is one of the two major times in the Bible that God effects grand change on a body or bodies of water.
-This comic was published the day after the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}'', thus referring indirectly to a new possible flood history. It was the first what if? post in almost three months, the longest break between two post during 2016 (and third longest of all time at the time of its release), and it thus seems realistic that there should be some kind of connection between that and this comic. A later comic ([[1750: Life Goals]]) also referenced this what if? post more or less directly. In this comic, Randall managed to combine no less than four of his favorite recurring subjects with [[:Category:Time travel|time travel]], [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]], [[:Category:Politics|politics]] and [[:Category:Religion|religion]].
+This comic was published the day after the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}'', thus referring indirectly to a new possible flood history. It was the first what if? post in almost three months, the longest break between two post during 2016 (and third longest of all time at the time of its release), and it thus seems reasonable that there should be some kind of connection between that and this comic. A later comic ([[1750: Life Goals]]) also referenced this what if? post more or less directly. In this comic, Randall managed to combine no less than four of his favorite recurring subjects with [[:Category:Time travel|time travel]], [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]], [[:Category:Politics|politics]] and [[:Category:Religion|religion]].
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 This Wednesday comic is a direct continuation of the previous comic [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] from Monday about a {{w|time travel|time-traveler}} (the black floating energy Sphere) who has come back from far in to the future to see {{w|spiders}} (only known from {{w|fossils}} in their time). See [[1747: Spider Paleontology]] for a more complete explanation of this part of the joke. This [[:Category:Time traveling Sphere|series]] ended with this comic. Both comics in this series have titles of a noun followed by a field of research.
-Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w|United States elections, 2016}} where the ''very'' controversial {{w|Donald Trump}} was up against former United States First Lady {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, who also had several {{w|Hillary_Clinton#Email_controversy|controversies}} going on. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. It is likely one of the most discussed elections ever, especially in the rest of the world outside the US, where especially European leaders have made it clear that they are against Trump. That was mainly earlier on, before they realized he might actually stand a chance. Of course anyone interested in any election would be interested to hear from the future how it went, but this particular election may interest a larger proportion of the world population than any prior election. (The election was the subject three weeks later the day before the election where [[Randall]] endorsed Hillary directly in [[1756: I'm With Her]].)
+Since [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] now have access to the Sphere from the future they ask if it knows who will win the election. This is a reference to the {{w|United States elections, 2016}} where the ''very'' controversial [[Donald Trump]] was up against former United States First Lady {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, who also had several {{w|Hillary_Clinton#Email_controversy|controversies}} going on. This comic was released about three weeks before election day. It is likely one of the most discussed elections ever, especially in the rest of the world outside the US, where especially European leaders have made it clear that they are against Trump. That was mainly earlier on, before they realized he might actually stand a chance. Of course, anyone interested in any election would be interested to hear from the future how it went, but this particular election may interest a larger proportion of the world population than any prior election. (The election was the subject three weeks later the day before the election where [[Randall]] endorsed Hillary directly in [[1756: I'm With Her]].)
-Sadly for Megan and Cueball, the sphere has come back from so far in to the future, that even spiders have gone extinct. (Whether humans also have is unclear, see discussion about this in [[1747: Spider Paleontology]]). The Sphere makes this clear by stating that its civilization hardly know anything about our era and they know little about our history and culture. (And by the way it only came back for the spiders, anyway).
+Sadly for Megan and Cueball, the sphere has come back from so far into the future, that even spiders have gone extinct. (Whether humans also have is unclear, see discussion about this in [[1747: Spider Paleontology]]). The Sphere makes this clear by stating that its civilization hardly knows anything about our era, and they know little about our history and culture. (And by the way it only came back for the spiders, anyway). The idea is that history is filtered in similar fashion to fossils. What is contemporaneously important, like a {{w|spider web|spider's web}}, {{w|Feathered dinosaur|dinosaur feathers}} (see previous comic), or the United States presidential election may not survive. The Sphere tells them that only two written accounts have been reconstructed (note that they are not found in their entirety). And they do not know whether they even represent real events or myths. One of the two is indeed a myth, as it is about a man building a boat to survive a great flood. Megan recognizes this as being about {{w|Noah}} and his famous {{w|Noah's Ark|Ark}} from the {{w|Genesis flood narrative}}, as Cueball refers to. The other is a reference to a popular pop song.
-The idea is that history is filtered in similar fashion to fossils.  What is contemporaneously important, like a {{w|spider web|spider's web}}, {{w|Feathered dinosaur|dinosaur feathers}} (see previous comic), or the United States presidential election may not survive. The Sphere tells them that only two written accounts have been reconstructed (note that they are not found in their entirety). And they do not know if they even represents real events or myths. One of the two is indeed a myth, as it is about a man building a boat to survive a great flood. Megan recognizes this as being about {{w|Noah}} and his famous {{w|Noah's Ark|Ark}} from the {{w|Genesis flood narrative}}, as Cueball refers to. The other is a reference to a popular pop song.
+The joke is that, in the future, the 2000 {{w|Aaron Carter}} hip hop song "{{w|That's How I Beat Shaq}}" ([http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/aaroncarter/thatshowibeatshaq.html lyrics] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfhhWA9GF0M video]) is considered as valuable a historical document when researching humans as parts of the {{w|Bible}}. While secular historians consider the story of the Flood to be mythical, they still use it to infer facts about the early history of the Middle East, simply because there are a fairly small number of texts surviving from that era. "That's How I Beat Shaq" is, likewise, a fictional story including some true elements; it's just that as long as there are abundant sources documenting life in the year 2000, there's no reason to consult the song in any historical context. Yet it is the latter story that the time traveler assumes to be a clearly religious one, while seeing the former as a relatively straightforward survival story. A further layer of humor is that "That's How I Beat Shaq" is an archetypal {{w|David and Goliath}} story&mdash;the story of David and Goliath of course being a Biblical one as well.
-The joke is that, in the future, the 2000 {{w|Aaron Carter}} hip hop song "{{w|That's How I Beat Shaq}}" ([http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/aaroncarter/thatshowibeatshaq.html lyrics] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfhhWA9GF0M video]) is considered as valuable a historical document when researching humans as parts of the {{w|Bible}}.
+In fact, the Spheres civilization believes Shaq ({{w|Shaquille O'Neal}} a professional basketball player 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) tall) to refer to a god, which was then defeated by Aaron, a 14-year-old (and rather small kid) at the time of the release of his single in 2001. He beats Shaq on the basketball court one on one, so although this is a David vs. Goliath story it is not a fight till death. But to Aaron and his basketball fan friends, Shaq is probably seen as kind of god. Megan comments that the pop song may have been mangled by the {{w|Aeon|eons}}. The Sphere asks Megan and Cueball if it is true that Aaron (Carter's) brother Moses did part an ocean. Megan decides to refrain from trying to explain this, having already in the previous comic realized how hard it is to explain spiders to someone who is a fan, but has never heard of spider web, and thus just states yes, yes exactly. Of course according to the Bible she can say yes to the question about Moses parting the water, as long as she does not say anything about the connection with Aaron Carter.
-While secular historians consider the story of the Flood to be mythical, they still use it to infer facts about the early history of the Middle East, simply because there are a fairly small number of texts surviving from that era. "That's How I Beat Shaq" is, likewise, a fictional story including some true elements; it's just that as long as there are abundant sources documenting life in the year 2000, there's no reason to consult the song in any historical context. Yet it is the latter story that the time traveler assumes to be a clearly religious one, while seeing the former as a relatively straightforward survival story. A further layer of humor is that "That's How I Beat Shaq" is an archetypal {{w|David and Goliath}} story&mdash;the story of David and Goliath of course being a Biblical one as well.
+There appears to be a major flaw in the comic on the fact that the Sphere speaks perfect English and understands Megan and Cueball. If they only have two written accounts from our time, why do they then speak English? Especially since they seem to come from another planet and are thus likely not humans (see discussion of the sphere in the previous comic). Of course if they are humans and have come from Earth (maybe travelled away), they may just have retained the English language. But given the fact that young people today probably would not understand their own grandparents' grandparents, and that the Sphere is from so long into the future that Megan calls it eons, spiders are extinct, and only two texts have survived, it should be impossible for the language to have stayed the same. Alternatively, they have also recovered some video clips, but then it would be strange the Sphere did not mention this. A final solution is that the Sphere's civilization is so advanced that it can learn the language instantly by just being in the room with other beings, simply reading it from their mind. Given the fact that it seems the Sphere has come to Earth from another planet, and has the ability to travel in time, this last option may not even be so far-fetched.
-In fact the Spheres civilization believes Shaq ({{w|Shaquille O'Neal}} a professional basketball player 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in) tall) to refer to a god, which was then defeated by Aaron, a 14 year old (and rather small kid) at the time of the release of his single in 2001. He beats Shaq on the basketball court one on one, so although this is a David vs. Goliath story it is not a fight till death. But to Aaron and his basketball fan friends, Shaq is probably seen as kind of god. Megan comments that the pop song may have been mangled by the {{w|Aeon|eons}}.
+This comic was published the day after the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}'', thus referring indirectly to a new possible flood history. It was the first what if? post in almost three months, the longest break between two post during 2016 (and third longest of all time at the time of its release), and it thus seems realistic that there should be some kind of connection between that and this comic. A later comic ([[1750: Life Goals]]) also referenced this what if? post more or less directly. In this comic, Randall managed to combine no less than four of his favorite recurring subjects with [[:Category:Time travel|time travel]], [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]], [[:Category:Politics|politics]] and [[:Category:Religion|religion]].
-The title text expands on the joke by letting the Sphere explain that the only connection they have found between their two historical documents is via the biblical story of {{w|Moses}}. As Moses is also one of God's chosen prophets and leaders, like Noah and {{w|Abraham}} before him, these two stories appear close together in the Bible, though not close together chronologically, and it would be likely that their document with the Flood story also has some parts about Moses. Moses had an older biological brother named {{w|Aaron}} and the Sphere's civilization has hastily concluded that Moses' brother and Aaron Carter are one and the same. According to the Bible, God {{w|parting of the Red Sea|parted the Sea of Reeds (commonly mistranslated as Red Sea)}} for Moses and the {{w|Israelites}}. This is often referred to, either erroneously or out of simplification, as Moses having parted the Red Sea. Along with Noah's Flood, this is one of the two major times in the Bible that God effects grand change on a body or bodies of water.
+The title text expands on the joke by letting the Sphere explain that the only connection they have found between their two historical documents is via the biblical story of {{w|Moses}}. As Moses is also one of God's chosen prophets and leaders, like Noah and {{w|Abraham}} before him, these two stories appear close together in the Bible, though not close together chronologically, and it would be likely that their document with the Flood story also has some parts about Moses. Moses had an older biological brother named {{w|Aaron}} and the Sphere's civilization has hastily concluded that Moses' brother and Aaron Carter are the same. According to the Bible, God {{w|parting of the Red Sea|parted the Sea of Reeds (commonly mistranslated as Red Sea)}} for Moses and the {{w|Israelites}}. This is often referred to, either erroneously or out of simplification, as Moses having parted the Red Sea. Along with Noah's Flood, this is one of the two major times in the Bible that God effects grand change on a body or bodies of water.
 ==Transcript==
@@ Line 56: / Line 48: @@
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
-[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]   <!-- Arron and Shaq -->
+[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] <!-- Arron and Shaq -->
 [[Category:Time travel]]
 [[Category:Spiders]]

@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 There appears to be a major flaw in the comic on the fact that the Sphere speaks perfect English, and understands Megan and Cueball. If they only have two written accounts from our time, why do they then speak English? Especially since they seem to come from another planet and are thus likely not humans (see discussion of the sphere in the previous comic). Of course if they are humans and have come from Earth (maybe traveled away), they may just have retained the English language. But given the fact that young people today probably would not understand their own grandparents' grandparents, and that the Sphere is from so long into the future that Megan calls it eons, spiders are extinct, and only two texts have survived, it should be impossible for the language to have stayed the same. Alternatively they have also recovered some video clips, but then it would be strange the Sphere did not mention this. A final solution is that the Sphere's civilization is so advanced that it can learn the language instantly by just being in the room with other beings, simply reading it from their mind. Given the fact that it seems the Sphere has come to Earth from another planet, and has the ability to travel in time, this last option may not even be so far-fetched.
-This comic was published the day after the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}'', thus referring indirectly to a new possible flood history. It was the first what if? post in almost three months, the longest break between two post during 2016 (and third longest of all time at the time of its release), and it thus seems realistic that there should be some kind of connection between that and this comic. A later comic ([[1750: Life Goals]]) also referenced this what if? post more or less directly.
+This comic was published the day after the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|152|Flood Death Valley}}'', thus referring indirectly to a new possible flood history. It was the first what if? post in almost three months, the longest break between two post during 2016 (and third longest of all time at the time of its release), and it thus seems realistic that there should be some kind of connection between that and this comic. A later comic ([[1750: Life Goals]]) also referenced this what if? post more or less directly.
 In this comic Randall manages to combine no less than four of his favorite recurring subjects with [[:Category:Time travel|time travel]], [[:Category:Spiders|spiders]], [[:Category:Politics|politics]] and [[:Category:Religion|religion]].