# Xkcd: unfortunate timing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-unfortunate-timing/655916 "2013-04-17T06:59:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-unfortunate-timing/655916/1 "2013-04-17T06:59:25Z")
Last week’s "What If? column answered the question [“Am I right to be afraid of pressure cookers?”](http://what-if.xkcd.com/40/) The column has jokes about exploding pressure cookers. I’m surprised it hasn’t been pulled from the archive after what happened in Boston. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-unfortunate-timing/655916/2 "2013-04-17T07:21:08Z")
If it was about the deaths at the Boston Marathon, like a recent Family Guy episode, then fair enough. But this is domestic explosions, a tenuous connection at best. I can’t see that there’s a need. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-unfortunate-timing/655916/3 "2013-04-17T07:31:54Z")
Someone else pointed that out. To me, that would be like if someone wrote an article on why planes crash a week before 9/11. They just really don’t have anything to do with each other. The Boston Marathon Bomber just happened to put the bomb inside of a pressure cooker (instead of a pipe), that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-unfortunate-timing/655916/4 "2013-04-17T11:08:13Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Someone else pointed that out. To me, that would be like if someone wrote an article on why planes crash a week before 9/11. They just really don’t have anything to do with each other. The Boston Marathon Bomber just happened to put the bomb inside of a pressure cooker (instead of a pipe), that’s about it. I’d actually think your example might be more related, assuming the explanation included descriptions of planes crashing into things. I for one am happy there’s on overreaction on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-unfortunate-timing/655916/5 "2013-04-17T11:19:32Z")
If I recall, there _was_ a thread shortly before 9/11 about whether or not there was room at the airports to land all the airplanes flying over North America, which is not exactly the same sort of thing but still eerily prescient. Unfortunately, as it was more than 10 years ago now, it is no longer available through the board search function. Happily, the magic of Google makes finding it possible: [Impossible for every plane to land?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=85362) Basically, any time you get something like a terrorist attack you’ll be able to find an on-line discussion or mention of it if you look hard enough because there’s always a conversation on that sort of topic going on somewhere. It’s just coincidence. I don’t think we should be engaging in wholesome censorship (i.e. taking thing off the internet) due to coincidence.