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| | ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
| | + | {{incomplete|Work in progress}} |
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| − | In this comic the couple [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] want to rent a car. The [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|Cueball-like guy]] from the {{w|car rental}} agency tells them they only have two vehicles available: | + | In this comic [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] wants to rent a car. The Cueball-like guy from the rental agency tells them they only have two vehicles available: |
| − | * One car that puts its occupants into mortal danger, so much such that it is called ''The Murder Car''. The danger, however, is abstract—the car is haunted by a {{w|ghost}}, and actual death befalls only "maybe one in six". (That is the equivalent of a round of {{w|Russian Roulette}}.) This is the fatality rate for drivers (in this case, Megan), while the rate for passengers is not mentioned. | + | * One cat that puts its occupants into mortal danger, so much that it is called ''The Murder Car''. The danger, however, is abstract - it is haunted by a ghost, and actual death befalls only "maybe one in six". That is like taking one go at {{w|Russian Roulette}}. |
| − | * The other car, a regular {{w|Sedan (automobile)|sedan}}, has a defective {{w|GPS}} that incessantly gives instructions to go specifically to {{w|Seattle}}, regardless of the driver's intention to go there, and it cannot be turned off. | + | * The other car, a regular {{w|Sedan}}, has a defective GPS that incessantly gives instructions to go specifically to {{w|Seattle}]}, in spite that the driver would usually not want to go there. And it cannot be turned off! |
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| − | Megan believes she can ignore this and accepts the less lethal car. The comic suggests that driving with a GPS that tries to guide you to a different destination than that which you wish to visit—so it is always recalculating and asking you to do U-turns—is incredibly annoying. So annoying that given the choice between the persistent low-level annoyance of the GPS on one hand, and the ("low") probability of being murdered on the other, most people will choose the latter option. After all, they might survive murderous ghosts but they feel they will not survive long having to listen to the broken GPS. | + | Megan believes she can ignore this and accepts the least lethal car. But the comic suggests that driving with a GPS on that tries to guide you towards a different destination that what you wish to do, so it is always recalculating and asking you to do U-turns is so annoying, that given the choice between the persistent low-level annoyance of the GPS on one hand, and the (low) probability of being murdered on the other, most people will choose the latter option because, after all, they might survive murderous ghosts but they feel they will not survive long having to listen to the broken GPS. |
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| − | According to the title text, the murderous ghosts haunt both cars, but as soon as the car starts driving and the GPS begins to drone on, even the ghost cannot stand listening to the broken GPS and stops possessing it. | + | According to the title text, the murderous ghosts haunts both cars, but as soon as the car starts driving and the GPS begins to drone on, then even the ghost cannot stand listening to the broken GPS for long, and returns to ''The Murder Car''. |
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| − | Apart from the joke about GPS, this is also a subtle joke on the horrible cars one might get at a car rental service.
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| − | It is also possible that the car rental service is trying to drive people away from the haunted car, which we can assume is just a normal car, to get more profit when people come back and take the "haunted" car when their GPS is broken.
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| | ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
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| | :[The guy lifts his hand and looks at Megan and Cueball.] | | :[The guy lifts his hand and looks at Megan and Cueball.] |
| − | :Guy: The other is a regular sedan. | + | :Guy: The other is a regular Sedan. |
| − | :Guy: But it has a GPS that's stuck trying to navigate to Seattle, and you can’t turn it off. | + | :Guy: But is has a GPS that's stuck trying to navigate to Seattle. |
| | :Megan: ...I can ignore it, right? That's fine. | | :Megan: ...I can ignore it, right? That's fine. |
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| − | :[In a frame-less panel Megan and Cueball drive in the sedan.] | + | :[In a frame-less panel Megan and Cueball drives in the Sedan.] |
| − | :GPS: ''Turn left'' | + | :GPS: Turn left |
| − | :GPS: ''Recalculating'' | + | :GPS: Recalculating |
| − | :GPS: ''Make a U-turn'' | + | :GPS: Make a U-Turn |
| − | :GPS: ''Recalculating'' | + | :GPS: Recalculating |
| − | :GPS: ''Turn right'' | + | :GPS: Turn right |
| − | :GPS: ''Make a U-turn'' | + | :GPS: Make a U-Turn |
| − | :GPS: ''Recalculating'' | + | :GPS: Recalculating |
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| − | :[Megan and Cueball walk back into the agency with the guy behind his desk. Megan holds out the car keys in one hand.] | + | :[Megan and Cueball walk back into the the guy behind his desk. Megan holds out the car keys in one hand.] |
| | :Guy: Back already? | | :Guy: Back already? |
| | :Megan: We'll take the murder car. | | :Megan: We'll take the murder car. |
| − | :Guy: Popular choice. | + | :Guy: Popular Choice. |
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| − | ==Trivia==
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| − | *With an estimated 1.25 million vehicular deaths globally in 2013[http://www.who.int/gho/road_safety/mortality/traffic_deaths_number/en/] and approx. 1,187 million vehicles on the road in the same year [https://www.statista.com/statistics/281134/number-of-vehicles-in-use-worldwide/], the number of fatalities per vehicle comes to be around 0.1% or about 1 in 950. This number includes trucks and commecial vehicles.
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| − | * As of 2014, there were 253 million cars on the road in the US [http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-ihs-automotive-average-age-car-20140609-story.html] and only 32,675 deaths [https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812246], giving a rate of fatalities per car of slightly over 0.01%, or 1 in 7,700)
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| − | * The car lethality risk is lower in the US by a factor of 8, compared to the worldwide vehicular lethality risk.
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| − | *The global number of haunted cars is not available, but believed to be at least five in number. [http://www.autoblog.com/2014/10/31/five-cursed-haunted-cars/]
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| − | *Similarly, while the number of faulty car GPS devices is not available, Garmin recalled 1.3 million Nuvi GPS units in 2011. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/26/garmin-gps-recall-nuvi_n_695967.html] These recalls were not for bad directions, but for fire hazards.
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| − | *There are records of several {{w|Death by GPS | deaths resulting from following faulty GPS directions or maps}}, particularly while traveling in unfamiliar or difficult terrain. [http://www.newser.com/story/214008/woman-killed-after-gps-takes-her-to-wrong-street.html] [http://www.npr.org/2011/07/26/137646147/the-gps-a-fatally-misleading-travel-companion] [https://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/05/death-by-gps/]
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| | {{comic discussion}} | | {{comic discussion}} |
