Ian Kluft ✅🖥️📡KO6YQ@pnw.zone
10/22/2026I've got some scratches and bruises but that could have been a lot worse. Today was the first time I've been "doored" on a bicycle. (Many close calls before.) The gentleman apologized profusely. With other things going on, I needed a bike ride, but headed home after this.
The world is taking note of how the Netherlands prevents this by teaching drivers to reach for the door handle with the far hand so you'll turn where you can see oncoming bicycles. https://www.dutchreach.org/ #DutchReach #cycling
![XKCD comic #3274 "Arthurian Connector" https://xkcd.com/3274/
explanation from ExplainXKCD wiki https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3274:_Arthurian_Connector (no transcript yet at the time of posting)
transcript:
[diagram shows an electrical connector with wires from each side of the frame, one to a sword and one to an anvil with a sword-shaped hole in it.]
[text at top: Cursed Connectors #158: The Arthurian]
[text at bottom: (can only be unplugged by a rightful heir to the British🇬🇧 throne)]
Title text: Most coffee shops have a descendant of Sophia of Hanover on staff for this, but just as I was about to ask for help, a previously unknown heir of Uther Pendragon who was ordering a muffin tripped on my laptop cord.
explanation:
The comic references the fables of King Arthur. In Arthurian legend, whoever can remove The Sword in the Stone is the lawful king of Britain. Arthur is an orphan being raised in secret, and is even unaware of his own status; he notices the sword, removes it, and is proclaimed king. The sword is sometimes identified as Excalibur, although in other versions Excalibur was acquired by King Arthur from the Lady of the Lake. The most familiar version of this story is The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White which is based on Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. The animated musical film by Walt Disney is a well-known version of this fairytale based on White's book. While Arthur was the true King of Britain, this throne is now subsumed into the crown of the United Kingdom.
This is the next instalment in the series of Cursed Connectors and presents Cursed Connectors #158: The Arthurian, with one side having a sword, presumably Excalibur, and the other side with an anvil (being the main alternative to a stone, as the object into which the famed sword is embedded, in some common variations of the story). Randall says this connector can only be unplugged by a "rightful heir to the British throne", which would make this very difficult to unplug. There are only about 5,000 documented individuals who are somewhere in the line of royal succession, worldwide. And it is even more problematical if it is only the current first-heir-in-line (or even the current extant true monarch) that can accomplish this task, only allowing a further successor to take on the task after more deaths (or births, or perhaps even meaningful DNA tests) significantly alter the 'top end' of the list.
Since the Act of Settlement 1701, only descendants of Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter of James VI, can inherit the British throne. In the title text, Randall claims that coffee shops have "a descendant of Sophia of Hanover" to help unplug the connector (as they would be a rightful heir to the British throne). As noted, this encompasses only about 5,000 people. But this was "unneeded", as someone descended from Uther Pendragon (the father of Arthur), an even rarer occurrence, tripped and helped him unplug the connector.
The Sword in the Stone has also been referenced in 1521: Sword in the Stone, 2164: Glacier, and 2578: Sword Pull.
Apparently, there is no mystical restriction upon connecting the connector in the first place, perhaps due to the anvil/'stone' coming with a prepared hole ready to receive the sword. Although most versions of the legend involve some significant magical or physical power to have embedded the sword into its resting place in the first instance, which has been noted by others.](https://files.pnw.zone/media_attachments/files/116/954/434/586/911/501/original/e84c498850c6f5b5.png)
![wall-mounted monitor and hanging shelf with a Raspberry Pi computer displaying live data of interest to aviation and space geeks:
* JetTip arrival and departure board for PDX Airport (subscription required)
* ADS-B displays (using adsb[.]lol maps showing aircraft at and near PDX (crowdsourced free web site)
* ADS-B display of current Boeing test flights in the Pacific Northwest (crowdsourced free web site)
* NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center SWPC alerts (indicates possibility of aurora, current + past 24 hours) using my pull-swpc-alerts software (Open Source)
* NASA JPL asteroid fly-bys for the past 2 weeks to forward 2 months using my pull-nasa-neo software (Open Source)
photo by Ian Kluft
March 14, 2026 (Pi Day!)
Portland, Oregon, USA](https://files.pnw.zone/media_attachments/files/116/228/922/566/488/500/original/9d9d72ab35a54a6c.jpg)