# As it turns out, African swallows ARE non-migratory **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 15, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827 "2012-03-15T04:06:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/1 "2012-03-15T04:06:28Z")
[According to Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow): _“A number of European and North American species are long-distance migrants; by contrast, the West and South African swallows are non-migratory.”_ So the Monty Python quip is actually true. I thought they just threw it in to be funny. Hell, to be honest I didn’t even know African Swallows really existed. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/2 "2012-03-15T04:24:29Z")
They were also right on target when they said that a five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut. It’s a simple question of weight ratio, y’see… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/3 "2012-03-15T07:30:24Z")
Monty Python owes a lot of its comic roots to Cambridge Footlights ( [Footlights - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footlights) ). That is, comedy performed and written by university students. This often seems to introduce a kind of academic layer under the comedy - sometimes more obvious than others. I bet if we dug deep enough, we’d find that the bits about being an anarcho-syndicalist commune were references to some social history textbook. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/4 "2012-03-15T08:10:52Z")
The Pythons were all university educated and that gave a unique depth to their humour. The obscure references in the various skits and movies are all drawn from intellectual subjects, especially philosophy. > **[Anarcho-syndicalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-syndicalism)** > > Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in broader society. The end goal of syndicalism is to abolish the wage system, regarding it as wage slavery. Anarcho-syndicalist theory generally focuses on the labour movement. Reflecting the anarchist philosophy from which it draws its primary inspiration... PS: my 13yr daughter recently elected Socrates for a school project…because she knew him from Monty Python. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/5 "2012-03-15T09:37:23Z")
As I understand it, all the numbers in _The Galaxy Song_ are roughly correct. Same thing with _Futurama_. In one episode, aliens from Omicron Persei 8 come to Earth angry that the broadcast of their favorite TV show was interrupted 1,000 earlier. Omicron Persei is about 1,000 light years from Earth. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/6 "2012-03-15T11:46:50Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Monty Python owes a lot of its comic roots to Cambridge Footlights ( [Footlights - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footlights) ). That is, comedy performed and written by university students. This often seems to introduce a kind of academic layer under the comedy - sometimes more obvious than others. I bet if we dug deep enough, we’d find that the bits about being an anarcho-syndicalist commune were references to some social history textbook. Cute. Still you gotta admit it is pretty clever while being damn funny. The list of Famous Members is impressive, thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/7 "2012-03-15T14:12:44Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > . . . Same thing with _Futurama_. In one episode, aliens from Omicron Persei 8 come to Earth angry that the broadcast of their favorite TV show was interrupted 1,000 earlier. Omicron Persei is about 1,000 light years from Earth. And 93 cents left in a savings account paying 2.25% interest for 1,000 years does indeed equal roughly $4 billion. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/8 "2012-03-15T14:58:44Z")
IIIIIIIIImmanuel Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable, Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar who could think you under the table David Hume could out-consume Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel. And Wittgenstein was a beery swine who was just as sloshed as Schlegel. Yeah, there was some pretty intellectual stuff going on under their clowning. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/9 "2012-03-15T15:20:53Z")
I will not buy this record, it is scratched. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/10 "2012-03-15T15:54:55Z")
I was highly amused years ago when I found out that the city of Amiens is (or was)an actual anarcho-syndaclist commune. I even posted about it here. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/as-it-turns-out-african-swallows-are-non-migratory/615827/11 "2012-03-15T16:15:11Z")
[Just what IS the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?](http://style.org/unladenswallow/) Love the footnotes. On the commentary track for _Holy Grail_, I thought Cleese said they were inspired by the countless student political groups that existed when they were at college: all of them very passionate and all of them a complete waste of time.