# Plane on a Treadmill mentioned on XKCD **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 8, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581 "2008-09-08T07:09:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/1 "2008-09-08T07:09:04Z")
So, tonight’s XKCD’s alt text mentions the plane on a treadmill argument. Not sure if it’s a reference to SDMB or Mythbusters though (the debate started here, right?) Anyhow, I can’t even get the link to Search to work, much less do a search, so I dunno if the topic has been touched here tonight yet, or even when the original PoaTM thread was. [link](http://www.xkcd.com/473/) ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/2 "2008-09-08T07:22:32Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > So, tonight’s XKCD’s alt text mentions the plane on a treadmill argument. Not sure if it’s a reference to SDMB or Mythbusters though (the debate started here, right?) > > Anyhow, I can’t even get the link to Search to work, much less do a search, so I dunno if the topic has been touched here tonight yet, or even when the original PoaTM thread was. > > http://www.xkcd.com/473/ [Link, because I fail at VB code](http://www.xkcd.com/473/) ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/3 "2008-09-08T07:31:23Z")
[**Johnny L.A.'s** roundup of the ‘Plane on a Treadmill’ threads.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465003) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/4 "2008-09-08T08:00:09Z")
Can someone please explain the previous (IHOP) strip? Is it just a surreal mood piece, or is there some reference I’m missing? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/5 "2008-09-08T08:05:34Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Can someone please explain the previous (IHOP) strip? Is it just a surreal mood piece, or is there some reference I’m missing? Look at the very top, above the comic, above its title, but below the xkcd logo: he gives a special message explaining it. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/6 "2008-09-08T08:20:57Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Look at the very top, above the comic, above its title, but below the xkcd logo: he gives a special message explaining it. Doesn’t look like much of an explanation, but it does remind me a lot of Fight Club. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/7 "2008-09-08T08:23:25Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Doesn’t look like much of an explanation, but it does remind me a lot of Fight Club. How much more direct an explanation can you get than “TODAY’S COMIC IS A PARODY OF [HOUSE OF LEAVES](http://www.amazon.com/House-Leaves-Mark-Z-Danielewski/dp/0375703764)”? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/8 "2008-09-08T08:36:05Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > How much more direct an explanation can you get than “TODAY’S COMIC IS A PARODY OF [HOUSE OF LEAVES](http://www.amazon.com/House-Leaves-Mark-Z-Danielewski/dp/0375703764)”? Ah, didn’t see that part. For some reason my brain just filtered that out as part of the logo. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/9 "2008-09-08T09:23:51Z")
> **[50 Ways](https://xkcd.com/118/)** > > I woke up to find that I had scrawled the last line of this sleepily on a sheet of paper on my desk. I shouldn't have listened to the 70's hit marathon on the way home from work the night before. I wrote the line “Just stay in the air, Claire”. Yep, my existence in the world won’t go by without leaving a legacy. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/10 "2008-09-08T09:39:28Z")
Ah. Never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/11 "2008-09-08T09:53:56Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I wrote the line “Just stay in the air, Claire”. You have that kind of influence on Randall Munroe? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/12 "2008-09-08T10:22:53Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > [xkcd: 50 Ways](http://xkcd.com/118/) > > I wrote the line “Just stay in the air, Claire”. Yep, my existence in the world won’t go by without leaving a legacy. So Randall does have some pasing connection to the Dope? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/13 "2008-09-08T11:34:34Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > So, tonight’s XKCD’s alt text mentions the plane on a treadmill argument. Not sure if it’s a reference to SDMB or Mythbusters though (the debate started here, right?) No, it appeared on at least one other message board I know of prior to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2008, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plane-on-a-treadmill-mentioned-on-xkcd/462581/14 "2008-09-08T12:01:13Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > You have that kind of influence on Randall Munroe? I just hang out in an irc channel which he used to write in.