Editing 2086: History Department

{{comic
| number    = 2086
| date      = December 17, 2018
| title     = History Department
| image     = history_department.png
| titletext = When we take into account the recent discovery of previously-unstudied history in the 1750s, this year may have been an outright loss.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Ponytail]] is a representative of the history department, which might be a department of a university or other organisation. She presents the year report of 2018. In this, she explains, the department has fully analyzed over four months of history. In the meantime, due to the passage of time, another year of history has been added to their workload (implied to be the year spanning between the current meeting and the previous one). This presents a cycle in which the department would only be able to keep up if they could analyze, within a one year period, more than or exactly one year of history.

A department in a business, such as the finance department, is typically required to keep up with their own workload and complete an entire year's worth of workload every year.  A business that fails to manage this minimum would almost certainly fail: bills would not get collected, invoices would not get paid, employees would not get paid, etc.  A history department fails to follow this model in two very important ways.  First, the subject of history cannot be fully processed.  New discoveries change what we know about certain time periods.  Even current events cannot be fully processed, as future events will cause historians to see connections in things not previously thought to be connected.  Second, the standard model for history departments focuses on specific eras or specific subjects for the purpose of explaining the events to students.  History departments do not process years, but instead process the subject so that it stays relevant to the understanding of the current student body.

There are, however, long running historical projects that have suffered this very problem. An example is the {{w|Histoire_littéraire_de_la_France| Histoire littéraire de la France}} which began publication in 1733 with a volume covering up to the year 300. By 1995 over 40 volumes had been published, but the historical account had only reached the 14th century. The volumes for the 14th century had taken 130 years to produce. Although over the 250 years of the project publication had been proceeding faster than time elapsed, the proliferation of literary content following the dawn of printing in the 15th century is likely to cause the project to slip further into reverse.

The title text further expands this problem by indicating the discovery of a new era of history that had previously gone un-analyzed, which would have added more undiscovered history than it removed. The 1750s decade is possibly a reference to the {{w|Adoption_of_the_Gregorian_calendar#Great_Britain_and_its_colonies|adoption of the Gregorian Calendar by the British Empire}}. 

Randall previously mentioned that history is huge in [[1979: History]].

Events in the dates listed:
* November 1833: A Leonid meteor shower occurred in North America ({{w|Leonids#1800s}}); an 8.7 {{w|1833_Sumatra_earthquake| earthquake struck Sumatra}}.

* April 19-22, 1979: April 20: {{w|Jimmy_Carter_rabbit_incident| President Jimmy Carter was attacked by a swamp rabbit}}. This was referenced directly in [[204: America]], so is most likely the reason this period has been included; April 22: the {{w|Albert Einstein Memorial}} was unveiled at The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC.

* May 21-25, 585 BCE: Possibly a reference to the solar eclipse that actually happened May 28, 585 BCE, or to the war between King Alyattes of Lydia and King Cyaxares of Media

* June-August 1848: 
:* June &ndash; The {{w|Serbians}} from {{w|Vojvodina}} start a rebellion against the Hungarian government. 
:* June 2&ndash;June 12 &ndash; The {{w|Prague Slavic Congress, 1848|Prague Slavic Congress}} brings together members of the {{w|Pan-Slavism}} movement.
:* June 17 &ndash; The Austrian army bombards {{w|Prague}}, and crushes a working class revolt.
:* June 21 &ndash; {{w|Wallachian Revolution of 1848}}: The {{w|Proclamation of Islaz}} is made public, and a {{w|Romanians|Romanian}} revolutionary government led by {{w|Ion Heliade Rădulescu}} and {{w|Christian Tell}} is created.
:* June 22 &ndash; The French government dissolves the national workshops in Paris, giving the workers the choice of joining the army or going to workshops in the provinces. The following day, the {{w|June Days Uprising}} begin in response.
:* July &ndash; The {{w|Public Health Act 1848|Public Health Act}} establishes {{w|Local board of health|Boards of Health}} across {{w|England and Wales}}. 
:* July 5 &ndash; The Hungarian national revolutionary parliament starts to work.
:* July 19 &ndash; {{w|Women's rights}} &ndash; {{w|Seneca Falls Convention}}: The 2-day {{w|Women's Rights Convention}} opens in {{w|Seneca Falls, New York}} and "{{w|Bloomers (clothing)|Bloomers}}" are introduced at the {{w|feminism|feminist}} convention.
:* July 26 &ndash; The {{w|Matale Rebellion}} breaks out, against {{w|British Ceylon|British rule}} in {{w|Sri Lanka}}.
:* July 29 &ndash; {{w|Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848|Young Irelander Rebellion}}: A nationalist revolt in {{w|County Tipperary}}, against British rule, is put down by the {{w|Royal Irish Constabulary|Irish Constabulary}}.
:* August 6 &ndash; {{w|HMS Daedalus (1826)|HMS ''Daedalus''}} reports a sighting of a sea serpent.
:* August 14 &ndash; American President {{w|James K. Polk}} annexes the {{w|Oregon Country}}, and renames it the {{w|Oregon Territory}} as part of the United States.      
:* August 17 &ndash; {{w|Yucatán}} officially unites with Mexico.
:* August 24 &ndash; The U.S. barque ''{{w|Ocean Monarch (barque)|Ocean Monarch}}'' is burnt out off the {{w|Great Orme}}, {{w|North Wales}}, with the loss of 178, chiefly emigrants.
:* August 28 &ndash; Mathieu Luis becomes the first black member to join the {{w|French Parliament}}, as a representative of {{w|Guadeloupe}}.

* May 16, 2001: The {{w|neo-noir}} mystery film {{w|Mullholland Drive (film)|Mulholland Drive}} premiered at the {{w|2001 Cannes Film Festival|2001}} {{w|Cannes Film Festival}}. In addition, the Timothy McVeigh execution was originally scheduled for this date.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is standing behind a lectern holding a hand up indicating the presentation screen next to her with a list of time periods. The screen has a string ending in ring, attached to it, to pull it down.]
:Ponytail: 2018 was a productive year for the history department - we were able to fully analyze over four months of history.
:Ponytail: Unfortunately, over that same period, an entire year of new history was produced.
:Ponytail: I'm afraid we're falling behind.

:[Presentation:]
:<u>Studied</u>
:November 1833
:April 19-22, 1979
:May 21-25, 585 BCE
:June-August 1848
:May 16, 2001

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Public speaking]]