Editing 409: Electric Skateboard (Double Comic)

[[Randall]] has a special fascination with {{w|Electric skateboard|motorized skateboards}}. A {{w|Longboard (skateboard)|longboard}} is a skateboard that is longer, used for downhill races, and skating through less urban areas (college campuses, for example).

''{{w|Mario Kart}}'' is a game series for {{w|Nintendo}} game consoles that allows four players to race each other while having good spirited fun like at [[290: Fucking Blue Shells]] while throwing items at each other. The objects in the fourth panel are Koopa shells, items in the game. They can be thrown like projectiles to crash into foes: green in a straight line, red homing onto the racer directly in front. They also come in single and triple varieties. In ''Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'', two racers occupy the same vehicle, with each possessing their own item slot (in contrast with most games in the series, in which a single vehicle can only have a single item ready, and must use it to obtain another). This is reflected in the drawing of Cueball and Megan together on the electric longboard, with Megan using a Red Shell and Cueball holding the triple Green Shells.

Calvin and Hobbes frequently involves heavy philosophical discussions. In one recurring theme, they ride down a dangerous hill in a red wagon or toboggan while discussing the nature of morality, usually ending in a crash (examples [http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2013/04/21] [http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/20] [http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1987/01/11]). This comic inverts that by having [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] go uphill while discussing philosophy. Naturally, they collide with Calvin and Hobbes' wagon - which prompts the title text.

Cueball uses the {{w|C (programming language)|C}} and {{w|Python (programming language)|Python}} programming languages as analogies for their ride. In general, Python is easier than C and abstracts a lot of C's hairier features ("boring parts," as Randall calls them). Moving from C to Python is quite a [[353|freeing experience]]; programmers no longer have to worry about pointers and memory allocation, and it just lets the code flow through the programmer until they are one with the Force. Erm, computer. Although, it seems that - before the crash - the idea that programming in C (and skating without electricity) building character is about to be explored philosophically (building character is also a recurring theme in Calvin and Hobbes, as documented delightfully in the [http://www.calvinandhobbes.wikia.com/wiki/Building_character Calvin and Hobbes wiki]).

Electric skateboards have been the subject of several other comics like [[139: I Have Owned Two Electric Skateboards]], a panel in [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel]], and the entire [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:The_Race The Race] five part comic series.