1198: Geologist

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Geologist

Title text: 'It seems like it's still alive, Professor.' 'Yeah, a big one like this can keep running around for a few billion years after you remove the head.'

Moose head and deers antlers mounted as hunting trophies. (from Wikimedia Commons)

Explanation

Geology is the study of the physical and chemical makeup of the Earth and geologists are sometimes called rock hunters, sometimes derisively.

Hunters, after killing an especially difficult or rare beast, sometimes remove its head and hang it up on a wall as a trophy. Cueball, as a geologist, "kills the Earth" by shooting at it. He removes its "head," a chunk of rock, and hangs it up on his office wall. Above the trophy it says Earth, and below it gives it lifespan from 4,500,000,000 BCE (Before Common Era)), which is the current age of the Earth, and then until the day where he shot Earth, which is also the day this comic was released 2013-04-12. The topic of hunting things that are not usually hunted is also in 640: Tornado Hunter

The title text is probably a reference to a chicken running around with its head cut off. A few billion years (7,600,000,000 years) is also about how much longer the Earth is expected to last, assuming it gets swallowed up by the expanding Sun at the end of the Sun's life.

Transcript

[Cueball, wearing earmuffs and goggles and holding a gun and a rock hammer in his hands, is walking away from his van in the background towards a group of rocks. The largest of these rocks is almost as tall as Cueball, but five smaller rocks are scattered on the ground, with a bit of grass growing at their bases. The van has text on its side:]

Dept. of

Geology

[Zoom in on Cueball close to the base of the largest rock. He has put the rock hammer on the ground next to him and aims his gun at the ground and shoots three holes in the earth, the last hole is just forming, as smoke comes out of the end of the gun.]

Blam Blam Blam

[Zoom out again with Cueball hacking away at the top of tallest rock formation with his rock hammer. The gun has been left near the three holes in the ground. The van can again be seen as can most of the text.]

Clink Clink

ept. of

ology

[Cueball, without his head gear, sits at his desk in his office reading a piece of paper he holds in his hands. Three other papers are lying on the otherwise empty desk. Behind him various items hangs on the wall most likely images and diplomas etc. One of them is blank, two looks like images, and four has unreadable text. The last item is the top of the rock that he just chipped off in the previous frame. It has been attached to a mount as a hunting trophy. Above and below there are labels:]

Earth

4,500,000,000 BCE - April 12, 2013

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Discussion

The title text sounds a bit like a movie reference. Did anyone catch it? --Koveras (talk) 07:53, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

I was thinking a zombie reference? Kaa-ching (talk) 08:14, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

The bad guy in "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" jokes about firing his handgun at the Earth, thereby killing "Gaia". --130.149.133.57 09:35, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

The first thing I thought of was the Gaia Hypothesis. Its advocates claim that Earth is a living thing. As far as we all know, living things can be killed. By killing Earth, Cueball puts an end to the controversy, for Earth is not alive anymore. Dellarappia (talk) 12:11, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

And geologists, specifically those employed by oil companies, are sometimes accused by environmental groups of "killing the earth" when they make holes in the ground and then take away something that's there. Of course they use a drill instead of a gun, and take oil instead of a random rock. 66.202.132.250 13:01, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

Could the title text be about cockroaches, a species which has been around for millions of years, and who also can survive for some time after their head is removed? 66.202.132.250 13:01, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

Many geologists that work in sub surface mapping use guns (mostly heavy gauge shotgun or explosives) to cause vibrations that bounce off dense rocks or liquid (oil) so that they can map what the sub surface looks like. 174.1.248.35 14:59, 12 April 2013 (UTC) TMC

 I'm a geologist.  If you're working in the Yukon/Alaska, you carry a gun to protect against bears.  If you're working in Central/South America, you have a team of dudes carrying guns to protect against other teams of dudes with guns.  Finally, if you're working in the lower 48 and carrying a gun, you probably grew up watching too many westerns.  

I don't get it. The "killing" and trophy collection is somewhat analogous to poking a whale with a pin then taking a scraping of its skin cells. 192.168.1.1 05:04, 13 April 2013 (UTC)

That kinda is the point: the utter ridiculousness of taking a trophy of the Earth this way. --Aaron of Mpls (talk) 08:30, 14 April 2013 (UTC)

Trivia fact: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Geology department featured this comic the day of it's release. 108.162.215.74 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

The way the rock looks that Cueball takes a chunk out of, it almost looks like someone else got there first! Which adds to the joke of the silliness of the act. --Natezmatthews (talk) 22:11, 27 March 2015 (UTC)

Maybe the truck's text doesn't need to be partly rewritten on the transcript --141.101.69.237 20:20, 2 June 2018 (UTC)

Thanks, maybe you can help to rewrite this overwhelming transcript. --Dgbrt (talk) 23:14, 2 June 2018 (UTC)