YAXKCDT: March of 1997??

[SirStev0]

I know I am a day or so late on it, but yesterday and today were busy days.

The main joke/punchline aside... anyone have any clue what the "...but since March of 1997 I don't really believe in anything" line was about??

http://xkcd.com/792/

My best guest is Hale-Bopp.

Here is wikipedia on the major events of March 1997:

March

• March 4 – U.S. President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning.
• March 6 – President of Guyana, Cheddi Jagan dies in office.
• March 6 – Pablo Picasso's Tête de Femme is stolen from a London gallery (recovered a week later).
• March 6 – In Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers overrun a military base and kill more than 200.
• March 11 – An explosion at the Tokaimura nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level radioactive contamination, in the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history.
• March 13 – India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
• March 13 – The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China creates a new Chongqing Municipality, out of part of Sichuan.
• March 13 – The Phoenix Lights are seen over Phoenix, AZ.
• March 16 – Sandline affair: On Bougainville Island, soldiers of commander Jerry Singirok arrest Tim Spicer and his mercenaries of the Sandline International.
• March 18 – The tail of a Russian An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to Turkey, causing the plane to crash, killing all 50 on board, and resulting in the grounding of all An-24s.
• March 21 – In Zaire, Etienne Tshiksekedi is appointed prime minister; he ejects supporters of Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet.
• March 21 – Mercenaries of Sandline International withdraw from Papua New Guinea.
• March 22 – Tara Lipinski, 14, becomes the youngest women's world figure skating champion.
• March 22 – The Comet Hale-Bopp makes its closest approach to Earth.
• March 24 – The 69th Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, with The English Patient winning Best Picture.
• March 26 – In San Diego, California, 39 Heaven's Gate cultists commit mass suicide at their compound.
• March 26 – Julius Chan resigns as prime minister of Papua New Guinea, ending the Sandline affair.

 

[OCGuy]

que

 

[spidey07]

Google was founded.

 

[Wyndru]

Google was founded.

Domain wasn't registered until sept. 97 though?

 

[rcpratt]

Domain wasn't registered until sept. 97 though?

Yeah, I don't think that's it.

Google dates:
-Research project began - Jan. '96
-Domain registered - Sept. '97
-Founded - Sept. '98

 

[SirStev0]

Google was founded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

says Sept. 1998.

 

[Wyndru]

Was yahoo around that time, or search engines in general?

[EDIT]nvm, they just acquired Four11 in March 97

On 8 March 1997, Yahoo! acquired online communications company Four11.

 

[CrackRabbit]

March 26 – In San Diego, California, 39 Heaven's Gate cultists commit mass suicide at their compound.

 

[SirStev0]

Was yahoo around that time, or search engines in general?

The yahoo.com domain was created on January 18, 1995
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo

 

[rcpratt]

The Heaven's Gate thing does make sense with 'getting a religious idea out to the rest of the world'.

 

[SirStev0]

The Heaven's Gate thing does make sense with 'getting a religious idea out to the rest of the world'.

Like I sorta said... it "sorta" fits. I was expecting something more... obvious, I guess would be the best word.

 

[pontifex]

The Heaven's Gate thing or possibly the Phoenix Lights thing is my guess, unless there's something totally stupid that we missed, and since XKCD is usually totally stupid, I wouldn't doubt it.

 

[SirStev0]

The Heaven's Gate thing or possibly the Phoenix Lights thing is my guess, unless there's something totally stupid that we missed, and since XKCD is usually totally stupid, I wouldn't doubt it.

Yeh, again it only sorta fits.

 

[SirStev0]

damn ATOT, don't let me down.

 

[Ika]

the first page of the XKCD forum's thread about the comic seems to indicate that the Heaven's Gate thing is what it they're referring to. or it might just be the XKCD guys getting a kick out of people unwittingly googlebombing march 1997.

 

[SirStev0]

the first page of the XKCD forum's thread about the comic seems to indicate that the Heaven's Gate thing is what it they're referring to. or it might just be the XKCD guys getting a kick out of people unwittingly googlebombing march 1997.

He does get a kick out of that.