https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=75.110.59.63&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T15:12:31ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1141:_Two_Years&diff=235381141: Two Years2012-12-24T15:25:49Z<p>75.110.59.63: /* Transcript */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1141<br />
| date = November 30, 2012<br />
| title = Two Years<br />
| image = two years.png<br />
| imagesize = <br />
| titletext = She won the first half of all our chemo Scrabble games, but then her IV drugs started kicking in and I *dominated*.<br />
}}<br />
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== Explanation ==<br />
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This comic marks the second year of [[Randall Munroe]]'s wife's battle with cancer, and appears to depict actual events from those two years.<br />
<br />
Some explanations:<br />
* Panel 1: Randall's wife-to-be (at that point) receives a diagnosis over the phone as Randall sits by her side supportively.<br />
* Panel 2: Undergoing IV (intravenous) {{w|chemotherapy}}. Because of the hair loss that results from chemotherapy, many patients opt to shave their heads when they undergo chemotherapy. Her hair grows back over the course of the following panels.<br />
* Panel 3: The two of them spending time alone together. <br />
* Panel 4: The couple are waiting for the results of a scan. A phone is on the middle of the table that they are waiting to ring.<br />
* Panel 5: More chemotherapy. The couple are playing {{w|Scrabble}}, in which players use letter tiles to spell words in a cross-word style. She uses the fact that she has cancer as leverage to get Randall to ignore the fact that the word she has played (zarg) is not a real word.<br />
* Panel 6: Someone suggests they come for a visit next year, but all they can think about are the words "next year", indicating that they know the future is very much in doubt. <br />
* Panel 7: They get married.<br />
* Panel 8: The couple watching humpback whales.<br />
* Panel 9: Randall is paraphrasing a line from the song "{{w|Still Alive}}" ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_S0PGu-cH4 video]) from the video game ''{{w|Portal}}'' (''"I'm doing science and I'm still alive"'').<br />
* Panel 10: The two of them sit under a tree reflecting on the significance of the past two years.<br />
* Panel 11: Randall and his wife have dinner to celebrate the fact that she has made it two years since her {{w|biopsy}}.<br />
The title text is referring to a possible side-effect of chemotherapy drugs, the {{w|Chemotherapy#Neurological adverse effects|inability to concentrate}}.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Randall and Randall's fiancée sitting on a bed. She's on the phone with a doctor (shown in inset), who is looking at a clipboard.] <br />
:Doctor: [illegible] <br />
:Randall's fiancée: Oh God <br />
<br />
:[Randall and Randall's fiancée sitting at their laptops. Randall's fiancée is hooked up to an IV pump and her head is shaved.] <br />
:IV pump: ...BEEEP...BEEEP...BEEEP... <br />
<br />
:[Randall and Randall's fiancée rowing a canoe in a lake/mountain setting. Randall's fiancée is wearing a beanie.] <br />
<br />
:[Randall and Randall's fiancée sitting at a table staring at a phone. A clock is mounted behind them. Her head is stubbly.] <br />
:Randall's fiancée: How long can it take to read a scan!? <br />
<br />
:[Randall and Randall's fiancée playing scrabble. Randall's fiancée is again hooked up to an IV pump. She has longer stubbles.] <br />
:Randall: "Zarg" isn't a word. <br />
:Randall's fiancée: But Caaancer. <br />
:Randall: ...Ok, fine. <br />
<br />
:[Randall and Randall's fiancée talking to a friend. A large thought bubble is above their heads. She's wearing a beanie.] <br />
:Friend: So next year you should come visit us up in the mountain - [cut off by thought bubble] <br />
:Randall and Randall's fiancée: "Next year" <br />
<br />
:[Randall and Randall's fiancée getting married. He's wearing a bow-tie; she a white dress. A heart is above their heads. Randall's wife's hair is growing back a little.] <br />
<br />
:[Randall and Randall's wife standing on the coast, watching a whale jump out of the water. She's wearing a beanie.] <br />
<br />
:[Randall standing behind Randall's wife, who is sitting at a desk using a laptop. Her hair has grown back a little more.] <br />
:Randall: Hey- <br />
:Randall: You're doing science, <br />
:Randall: And you're still alive. <br />
:Randall's wife: Yeah! <br />
<br />
:[Randall and Randall's wife sitting under a tree.] <br />
:Randall: It's really only been two years? <br />
:Randall's wife: They were big years. <br />
<br />
:[Randall and Randall's wife at a fancy restaurant being served. Her hair has grown back more.] <br />
:Waiter: Happy... Anniversary? <br />
:Randall's wife: Biopsy-versary! <br />
:Waiter: ...eww. <br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]<br />
[[Category:Romance]]<br />
[[Category:Cancer]]</div>75.110.59.63https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1141:_Two_Years&diff=22104Talk:1141: Two Years2012-12-06T00:48:01Z<p>75.110.59.63: </p>
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<div>There are no words to convey how awesome you guys are. Thank you. <br />
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Also, great Portal reference. <br />
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[[Special:Contributions/81.32.87.159|81.32.87.159]] 07:30, 30 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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Like. [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 12:29, 30 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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Flip cancer. Lost my mother-in-law to it and now my dad is undergoing chemo for stage IV lung cancer.<br />
:Seconded. This strip hits close to home, even years after the fact. And given that of my parents and grandparents only one grandmother was not yet diagnosed with any type of cancer, both frequentist and Bayesian statisticians probably agree I should be cautious myself. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.57.253|46.142.57.253]] 20:01, 30 November 2012 (UTC) madd<br />
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Did anyone else think the second to last panel was a couple who were sitting close to ground zero of a nuclear bomb? It took several glances to finally see a tree instead of a mushroom cloud. [[User:Sayno2quat|Sayno2quat]] ([[User talk:Sayno2quat|talk]]) 15:35, 30 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:When I first saw that panel from my peripheral vision, I also thought it was a mushroom cloud.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 17:46, 30 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:Now that you mention it - on my monitor, before scrolling, I only swa the upper half of what looked indeed like a mushroom cloud. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.57.253|46.142.57.253]] 19:45, 30 November 2012 (UTC) madd<br />
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: Agreed; the mushroom cloud was my first impression, too. And I hazard the guess that it was intentional: it's an apt metaphor of how your world seems to explode... -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:02, 1 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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The language of referring to Randall's girlfriend as "wife" before they were married is awkward.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 17:47, 30 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:Ok, "partner" is slightly less awkward, but I think using "Cueball/Megan" instead of "Randall/Randall's partner" would be most consistent.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 21:17, 30 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:: +1 on '''s/Randall/Cueball/g''' (and '''s/(girlfriend|partner|wife)/Megan/gi''') with an explanation that the comic very likely depicts real-world events in Randall's and (real-world) Megan's life. Though it might be tributary to make the inferential leap, I think would be entirely "unscientific" to do so (which is so ''un''Randall...) It also reinforces the notion that this happens to many, many more couples: Randall and Megan are not unique in what they are experiencing, though Randall does an excellent job of illustrating just what they're going through. (And yes, I could just go and change it myself, but wanted to discuss beforehand.) -- [[User:IronyChef|IronyChef]] ([[User talk:IronyChef|talk]]) 14:02, 1 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:::Wikis lack democracy. Somebody puts their foot down, and that's that. In any case, I think if someone is going to insist that these characters can only represent Randall and his wife Megan, it's odd and slightly disrespectful to never use her proper name.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 01:29, 2 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::::Crying out about social injustice is the adult version of screaming "Ouch!" when a parent grabs a child's arm to get their attention. Democracy is not do-what-you-want-to. Democracy is having a discussion and then acting upon the results of that discussion. There have been [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Randall_in_Comics|many]] [[Talk:1117:_My_Sky|discussions]] about having Randall in comics. The result was that whenever Randall decides to place himself in a comic, that we should honor that. So, instead of using a generic character he put himself and his wife into the comic. So, we honor that. We do not know the name of his wife, Randall is a very private person, we respect his privacy and only go by the information he gives out, and we don't make wild speculations, this is why we don't refer to her by (any) name; it's the most respectful thing we can do.<br />
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::::To prevent vigilante edit warring I've locked the page. Now, if you think that the site should not recognize when Randall specifically puts himself in comics, then there is a reason to bring this discussion back to the table. [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]<span title="I'm an admin. I can help.">_a</span> ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 05:45, 2 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:::::So why is this comic different from [[881]], [[931]], [[933]], and [[996]]? There was consistency until [[1141]]. Consistency is what's wanted in a Wiki.[[User:CityZen|CityZen]] ([[User talk:CityZen|talk]]) 05:39, 3 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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Panel 3 is possible reference/inspiration for comic [[1024: Error Code]]--[[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 18:56, 30 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:Given what we know from Randall's past two years, I would rather infer that comic 1024 was inspired by one of these activities as seen in panels 3 and 8. [[Special:Contributions/46.142.57.253|46.142.57.253]] 19:43, 30 November 2012 (UTC) madd<br />
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::I was leaning towards the trip in panel 3 inspiring comic 1024 rather than referencing it as well. [[User:Shine|Shine]] ([[User talk:Shine|talk]]) 20:50, 30 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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Sooo... Because the clipboard-holding character in the first panel is a woman, we assume she's a nurse instead of a doctor?</div>75.110.59.63