3269: Airport Meeting
| Airport Meeting |
 Title text: Although it was a setback for physics, I'm glad the particle naming rights issue led to the cancelation of Pizza Hut's Superconducting Super Collider in the early 90s, so the Double Stuffed Extra Cheese Topping Quark ended up just being named 'top quark.' |
Explanation[edit]
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This is one of 42 incomplete explanations: This page swapped breifcases recently. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
This comic plays on the classic movie trope of a briefcase swap causing massive consequences. It uses this premise to jokingly explain the oddly mismatched, famous side-ventures of two major global companies: Michelin and Red Bull.
Michelin is primarily an automotive tire manufacturing company. However, they are also widely known for the Michelin Guide, which awards prestigious "Michelin Stars" to restaurants.
Red Bull is an energy drink company. Despite being a beverage brand, they have invested billions into motorsport events, famously owning two Formula One teams and even developing their own hypercars.
In the comic, Cueball (representing Red Bull) states he does restaurant analysis for a beverage company, while Ponytail (representing Michelin) is developing specialized automotive parts. Because they accidentally grab each other's briefcases at the airport, their companies end up executing the wrong business proposals. As a result, Michelin bizarrely dives into the culinary world, and Red Bull becomes famous for automotive engineering.
The title text expands this concept into particle physics. The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) was a real, massive particle accelerator project under construction in Texas during the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was designed to be much larger and more powerful than the current Large Hadron Collider (LHC). However, the US Congress officially canceled it in 1993 due to skyrocketing budget concerns.
The joke suggests that the project was actually a commercial partnership with Pizza Hut. In this alternate timeline, the project wasn't canceled due to government funding issues, but instead because of a dispute over commercial naming rights.
The top quark is a real elementary particle that was discovered in 1995 (shortly after the SSC's cancellation). The title text jokes that if the Pizza Hut collider had succeeded, the particle would have been branded as the "Double Stuffed Extra Cheese Topping Quark" instead of its actual scientific name.
Transcript[edit]
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This is one of 32 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
- [Cueball and Ponytail are standing together and talking to each other. Cueball holds a black briefcase, while Ponytail has a grey briefcase next to her.]
- Cueball: I do restaurant analysis for a beverage company.
- Ponytail: Neat! I work in the automotive industry, developing parts for specialized vehicles.
- [Same as first panel, but Cueball has put down his briefcase next to Ponytail's and pulled out his boarding card]
- Cueball: Oh, my flight is boarding. It was nice to meet you!
- Ponytail: You too!
- [Ponytail and Cueball walk off in opposite directions, each carrying the other's original briefcase]
- Header: Years Later:
- [A book with a star on it that reads:]
- Michelin Tire Company
- Star Restaurant Guide
- [A fancy sports car, facing to the right. On the body of the car, it says:]
- Red Bull Supercar
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