xkcd #3251: Time Machine Conversation
Title text:
It’s possible to do sea navigation without a compass, but you’ll have to get some spoilers from the Polynesians.
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3251/
“What’s a spoiler?”
“It’s a fixed wing that you attach to a vehicle to provide additional downforce, but that’s not important right now.”
try to refrase it using only iron age terms
“So you know how when you go really fast with a chariot , it slips in tight turns? And you know when it’s really windy and you hold your hand like that, it gets pushed up? And when you hold it the other way, it gets pushed down? Right. We can use that to solve the chariot problem. We can put a board on the back of the chariot in the same way you would hold your hand to have it pushed down. That way, the chariot get’s pushed down and has better contact with the ground so it doesn’t slip as much.”
Ooga booga upside down wings
Ooga booga run fast
Ooga booga stay grounded
I think you’re off by a couple millennia. Depending on the definition, the iron age (in Europe) aligns roughly with Greek and early Roman antiquity, a time famously known for philosophers whose works we still read today, not with stereotypical cavemen.
Uh… it’s a hard, dead bird that you nail to a chariot so you don’t slide so much when you make sharp turns… 😰