The Secrets of
"The Entity"

Bill Gates returns, with a small patch over the bullet hole the General left after shooting him point-blank.

"it really did a number on my asthma" - Hm, Stan has asthma, too (see Sexual Harassment Panda).

Sign above door behind Mr. Garrison when he's chewing out the clerk: CANDY LANE

"I got a master's degree in mechanical engineering at Denver Community College!" - you don't get master's degrees in a community college. At best, you can get a diploma or bachelor's degree. More often you get an Associate's Degree at a community college.

"Can I get on that 7:30 a.m. flight?" - Just minutes before the flight was set to 7 a.m.

Garrison's first name: Herbert. But I thought it was Ethan. Maybe Ethan is his pen name. And Mr. Hat gets to speak again. Also, how the hell did a master in mechanical enginnering end up as an elementary school teacher?

Trey may have done cousin Kyle's voice, and that means he can do a mean Bugs Bunny if he lowers his voice just a bit and sharpens it up.

Cousin Kyle knows he's a misfit, as he tells Kyle he could have bought Cartman off at a lower price.

HBC is Channel 4.

Yasmine's Bleeth's depiction in this episode follows from recent incidents in her life.

Lizzy, the girl in pink, returns. She is on the swings.

Parker and Stone seem to take aim at all three things here: the airlines, Microsoft, and this heretofore unseen IT. IT is being offered at Better Buy, like XP is being offered at Best Buy. That's the only comparison, though, as IT is something yet unseen, while XP is the next generation of Windows. Microsoft has been accused of stifling innovations made by software developers outside of Microsoft, like the airline industry stifled the IT in this episode, but this can apply to any established industry, like the automobile industry stifling mass transit and alternative forms of energy for fuel. And now I put the information I received earlier right here:

November 19, 2001 - There's a scientist by the name of Dean Kamen who's been working on a personal transportation device for over a year now (it looks like a scooter that can keep its rider upright while it navigates all kinds of terrain), and a picture of it can be found over at Time. It is code named Ginger, and it seens to be an evolutionary step up from an earlier invention he made called Fred, his stair-climbing wheelchair. This seems to be the very thing Mr. Garrison is working on. News about this invention was quite a big thing last January, especially on this site: Ginger-Chat.com, but the buzz has died down since then. Watch it build up again, though, unless the Time article fails to make an impact. Thanks to Spliff, Ginger-chat's Webmaster, for discussing this in chat. You can find more info on Ginger here, here, and here. It's been in development since 1995. December 1, 2001 - "IT," the mysterious, much- hyped invention that a down-on-its-luck hi-tech world has seized on as a possible revolutionary breakthrough in the realm of personal transportation, is ready to be unveiled on Monday. December 2, 2001 - The SPS BBS reports that "Time magazine has the goods on that Dean Kamen "IT" invention." Turns out it's an advanced scooter (it's in the background, by the windows) which senses changes in balance to move forward, move back, stop, or counteract a potential fall. It's called a Segway now. Quite revolutionary for a "scooter," I must say. :) And were Matt and Trey close? Here's a bit of info behind the mechanics of the Segway from the article: "there's a gyroscope that acts like your inner ear, a computer that acts like your brain, motors that act like your muscles, wheels that act like your feet." There was a gyroscope in Garrison's IT as well. Top speed is 17 mph, as heard on NBC. Here's a good look at the Segway Human Transporter: Click here to see the Segway in action.

Cousin Kyle is a kid of honor. He never once told his aunt that Kyle and his friends were behind all those "accidents" he had while he was visiting. Awkward as he might be, stereotypical as he might be, he'd be worth having as a friend. And he's shrewd enough to be an investment banker when he gets older, as he invested in IT, and collected when IT folded.

It's good to see doubt enter Kyle's conclusions, so that Kyle is either confused, or not sure, or...

Speed of animation? Alas, no. Turns out the Hover-Round commercial featuring the Grand Canyon and spoofed on the show has been around for at least three years.