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Land of Black Gold: Tintin following tyre marks in the desert?

jayesh_gokhale
Member
#1 · Posted: 26 Sep 2004 18:05
In The Land of Black Gold when the Thom(p)sons are driving round in the desert in circles following their own tyre marks, it is shown that Tintin is also following the same tyre marks right from the time there was only one tyre mark. Following the marks, slowly he comes across many tyre marks and then deduces that somebody is following his own trails.

Now with Tintin and the Thom(p)sons both following the same route, the two not meeting each other is only possible if their velocities are similar. However the Thom(p)sons are in a jeep and Tintin is walking - so if they have made 4-5 rounds (as shown in the book), they have to come across each other in the second circuit.
Jyrki21
Member
#2 · Posted: 26 Sep 2004 20:07
jayesh_gokhale:
the Thom(p)sons are in a jeep and Tintin is walking

I've noticed this too. I just suspended my disbelief and decided they were driving really, really slowly. :)
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#3 · Posted: 26 Sep 2004 20:46
I don't follow this line of reasoning.
At the point which Tintin finds the single tyre mark the Thom(p)sons were not driving around in circles.
Tintin then joins the loop, and the Thom(p)sons, who have already made 4 or 5 circuits, catch him up.
They wouldn't have met him until he joined the loop.
finlay
Member
#4 · Posted: 26 Sep 2004 22:36
Tintin comes across the extra tyre marks very suddenly; he does not deduce that someone is following him, rather that he had come across "a motorway".

Also the Thom(p)sons made seven circuits. "Another one! That makes the seventh!"
jayesh_gokhale
Member
#5 · Posted: 28 Sep 2004 09:51
Page 29, frame 5 (Row 2, Col 1): Tintin is seen to be following Just one tyre mark.
Page 29, frame 7 (Row 2, Col 3): the Thom(p)sons meet their own tyre marks for the first time. They keep following their own tyre marks.
Page 30, frame 8 (Row 3, Col 2): Tintin is now shown to be following multiple tyre marks.
So it is apparent that Tintin and the Thom(p)sons were going on the same circular (closed loop) route, and with a major difference in their speeds, it is highly improbable that they meet after the seventh round that too when the thompsons are coming back.

However as Jyrki21 said that with the Thom(p)sons we can expect that they were driving very, very, slowly :)
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#6 · Posted: 28 Sep 2004 10:11
I think you're making the mistake of thinking that Tintin was part of the loop from when he came across the first tyre marks.
· Think of the Thom(p)son's trail as being in the shape of a "...'p', as in 'psychiatrist'...", with a course that starts at the bottom, heads straight for a bit, and then starts to loop...
· What Tintin comes across is the trail of the Thom(p)son's progress while they were still on the straight part,thus one set of tyre-tracks, before they started to circle.
· Tintin follows the straight track for a while, slowly and on foot, during which time, up ahead, the Thom(p)sons are doing multiple circuits on the loop, making many tyre-tracks...
· Tintin doesn't actually join the loop until page 30, frame 8, ("Almost a motorway, Snowy!") by which time the Thom(p)sons have made seven circuits. You can see that the single set of tracks Tintin has been following (on the left of the frame) are only now meeting up with the many tracks of the loop (on the right of the frame)
· So their relative speeds are irrelevant.
jock123
Moderator
#7 · Posted: 24 Aug 2009 13:14
Well, for once the activities of the Thom(p)sons can't just be blamed on their bumbling natures!
This blogger, Paul Kedrosky, has made the connection between this incident, and a recent paper in which scientists have studied the phenomenon, often reported in those who are lost, of people going in circles, and there apparently is a physiological reason for it.
However, from the brief excerpt I read, the conditions for people to circle is related to their view of the sun, and the detectives are still somewhat contrary, as the less you see the sun, the more you circle - which is the opposite of being lost in a desert in the blazing sun...!
cigars of the beeper
Member
#8 · Posted: 2 Sep 2009 00:32
It's great when science articles reference Tintin!
NikkiRoux
Member
#9 · Posted: 2 Sep 2009 05:39
That's interesting! Now I can go ahead and tell someone that.
Knowledge is power! :)

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