Talk:2437: Post-Vaccine Party

2021-03-17T09:06:55Z

172.68.142.105: APPARENTLY THERE'S A JOKE HERE AND THIS COMIC IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY

Okay, I started it. Join in and make it better! [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 17:26, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

:I thought that the party food and beverages were reduced to small cups of ice water and m&m as we gained weight over months of staying home. It looks like the list was made earlier in the pandemic when this was not a problem (yet). And now the list has changed since al lot of people gained weight. But pizzas and snack can contribute to the spread of the virus. For the rest I understand it like you N0lqu. mkljun 18:56, 15 March 2021 (UTC)
::Thanks, I added that! [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 18:19, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

Ping-pong should be a reasonably safe activity. A standard table is 9 feet long, so the players are forced to social distance. And unless you play at expert levels, it's not so energetic that you'll breathe heavily. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:27, 15 March 2021 (UTC)
:My employer padlocked the door to our ping-pong room because people apparently couldn't mask and play at the same time. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.212.218|162.158.212.218]] 13:33, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

I think this is more about how exciting the party is than about COVID precautions. These are all toned-down versions of regular party stuff. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.229|141.101.99.229]] 21:08, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

Still missing an explanation regarding the crossing out of "Big screen" in front of "TV". A small TV would actually be counterproductive, as folks would need to crowd around it in order to see it well, thus reducing social distance. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.140|162.158.75.140]] 21:37, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

:Answer is in the comment above yours. No one has been to a party in a year, and the idea is to "start slow" and keep the party from being overwhelming to people who have been isolating for a long time. I don't get the title text, though... [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 22:38, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

The COVID vaccine works by making your immune system kick in hard. At a panel presentation on COVID, a doctor was saying that fever, muscle aches, nausea, or other flu-like symptoms are to be expected after injections. It’s a good sign that the vaccine is working. The party list makes a little more sense if people were expected to be feeling mildly ill from the vaccine. —brad

I didn't initially read it as boring for the sake of safety, just boring because nobody has been to a party for a year and would find it harder to cope with the excitement. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.166|141.101.107.166]] 09:08, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
: This explains the title text, too. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.174|141.101.98.174]] 20:55, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

I think the joke is that we are being told we can increase social activity but not to increase it "too much". So we could have a gathering but not as big a gathering as before. The reduction is supposed to be targeted to specific activities that might risk contagious spread. However, the joke is that the person planning this party is reducing activities just for the sake of "downsizing" the party whether the activities are related to contagious spread or not. For example, watching TV on a small screen versus a big screen. The title text furthers the joke, that we have been conditioned to be fearful of trivial encounters that do not increase contagious risk (like briefly passing someone outdoors who is not wearing a mask even if we have a mask on) so something as innocuous as dropping a candy in a glass of water caused a panic. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 19:10, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
: There are a few ways that could scare or upset people, from the similarity of dropping medicine in a cup of water, to the danger of getting splashed by someone elses cup of water and catching their contagion that way. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.112|162.158.167.112]] 21:23, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
:: Exactly my point. This is so unlikely to actually cause contagion that it should not cause the attendees to "panic and scatter". And that's the joke. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 00:14, 17 March 2021 (UTC)
:: The thing with Diet Coke and Mentos crossed my mind, since this incident does not involve Diet Coke and does not involve Mentos, but it easily COULD have. :-) rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.108|162.158.159.108]] 22:36, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
<hr>
This is a joke. It is funny. Haha. Laugh. Hilarious.

2423: Project Orion

2021-02-11T03:02:09Z

172.68.142.105: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2423
| date = February 11, 2021
| title = Project Orion
| image = project_orion.png
| titletext = If you tune out again, when you tune back in you'll be hearing about dusty plasma fission fragment rockets.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FADED PHYSICIST. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

White Hat and Cueball are having a conversation. In the first panel, Cueball is telling White Hat about his gardening experiences. White Hat tunes out for the middle two panels, and when he starts paying attention again, Cueball is discussing {{w|Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)|Project Orion}}.

Project Orion was an ambitious plan to launch enormous spaceships into orbit by detonating a series of nuclear bombs below them. The force from the explosions would be absorbed by a pusher plate on the bottom of the rocket, which is the detail Cueball is sharing when White Hat tunes back in. It was considered feasible for construction, but abandoned out of concerns for both cost and the idea of spaceships literally armed with atomic bombs. Its coolness and the fact that it involves physics and engineering may be why physicists' conversations tend to converge to it.

The fact that physicists' conversations tend to converge towards Project Orion is similar to how biologists' conversations tend to converge towards carcinization in [[2418: Metacarcinization]]. This may turn out to be part of a series, similarly to the scaled world series, that will show similar examples in other fields, such as meteorologists' conversations converging toward tornadogenesis, mathematicians' conversations converging toward the Riemann hypothesis, or Randall's conversations converging toward dinosaurs.

Project Orion has been mentioned before, in [[786: Exoplanets]], where Beret Guy sums it up as "nuke-riding city ships."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is explaining to White Hat.]
:Cueball: Our garden grew really well last year, so we think we might put a second raised bed along the garage, if we can find a... [text fades to white]

:[Cueball looks around in confusion.]

:Cueball: [text fades back in] ...thanks to X-ray [ablation?], the pusher plate would absorb the nuclear blast, recoil, and then return to position for the next bomb. Such a wild idea! Probably good that it was abandoned.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2437: Post-Vaccine Party

2423: Project Orion