2535: Common Cold Viruses

2023-06-14T12:39:15Z

172.70.162.251: /* Explanation */ Because "persons" seemed to be syntactically/grammatically correct, and the sense of many single decisions, rather than a group-effort by a people (or even several peoples!), seems more appropriate.

{{comic
| number = 2535
| date = October 29, 2021
| title = Common Cold Viruses
| image = common_cold_viruses.png
| titletext = "It's not an influenza, but the onset has notes of the '09 H1N1 strain." "Ah yes, that was a good year for H1N1."
}}

==Explanation==

This comic is another entry in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}.

In this strip, [[Megan]] and [[White Hat]] are listening to [[Cueball]] explain his newfound interest in the various different viruses that cause the {{w|common cold}}, which is an umbrella term used to describe the mild-to-moderate symptoms these viruses all cause.

Megan expresses curiosity as well, and White Hat suggests he could get a {{w|DNA sequencer}} to help. By the third and final panel, several years have passed. All three characters appear to be ill, perhaps even as a result of now purposefully infecting themselves with chosen diseases. Whether deliberately or 'naturally', they do seem to have by now encountered a {{w|respiratory syncytial virus}} (RSV) and various types of {{w|rhinoviruses}}, and are now describing their experienced symptoms with terms similar to ones used in {{w|wine tasting}} (e.g. "bouquet" is a term used in wine tasting; "nosefeel" is a parody of the wine-tasting term "mouthfeel", etc.).

This strip follows the theme of [[915: Connoisseur]], making fun of the fact that people can form strong opinions and preferences on pretty much anything if they spend enough time and attention on it. In this case, despite the fact that the symptoms of these viruses are almost universally considered to be unpleasant, the characters appear to have developed an appreciation for the subtle variations. A similar phenomenon is referenced in [[1095: Crazy Straws]].

The idea of intentionally infecting a person with a disease is a trope in multiple Speculative Fiction stories. For instance, Iain M. Banks' {{w|Culture series}}, set in a world where all diseases are eradicated or treatable, includes story lines where individuals deliberately infect themselves with viruses to experience the symptoms.

The title text references the H1N1 {{w|swine flu}} virus, which was the disease at the heart of the {{w|2009 swine flu pandemic}}. It also further expands on the wine tasting comparison – connoisseurs often consider the environmental conditions of the growing season the grapes came from as an important factor in the quality of a given wine, so certain years may be considered better than others. Since 2009, less severe forms of H1N1 influenza have become one of the standard variants in annual flu seasons and a perennial in the influenza vaccination mix. From the influenza strain's perspective, 2009 was the year of breakthrough success for H1N1.

As access to community makerspaces, labs, and knowledge has spread, people have begun doing more things at home that were previously confined to industrial and academic research environments. This was stimulated further during the onset of the pandemic, when communities became focused on helping offset overtaxed national resources.

==Transcript==
:[Megan, Cueball, and White Hat are standing in a group.]
:Cueball: COVID has made me so curious about colds. The next time I get one, I want to know which virus it is specifically.
:Cueball: A rhinovirus? RSV? Mild influenza? Or something weird like metapneumovirus?

:[They begin to talk together.]
:Megan: How distinct are they? Could you learn to tell them apart?
:Cueball: See, I wonder!
:White Hat: I could get a sequencer from work...

:[Caption above the panel:]
:Several years later...
:[In this panel, Cueball is sitting on the left, Megan is sitting on the right, and White Hat is standing at the far right. Megan is coughing, her hair frazzled. There is a tissue box in the middle, and discarded tissues lie on the ground.]
:Cueball: Ah yes, this one has the rich, full-bodied bouquet of RSV, but the heady congestion lends it a lingering rhinovirus nosefeel.
:Megan: *Cough*
:Megan: Quite right!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:2783: Ruling Out

2023-05-31T23:14:10Z

172.70.162.251:

Wow. the amount of citation needed tags is excessive. Here's a fun idea, do like that SMBC comic and actually find and give citations. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.72|172.69.70.72]] 19:41, 31 May 2023 (UTC)Bumpf
:Definitely. I fixed one (it should have been ''after'' the comma), during some other edits, but was sorely tempted to remove maybe two of them to just keep the funniest one(s). Whichever that(/they) might be. I expect they'll almost all evaporate in a future edit, though, as there's plenty of editting bound to be done. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.219|172.70.90.219]] 19:47, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
::Nice work to whomever on that! Xkcd never fails to make me smile if not LOL, and Explainxkcd never fails to teach cool facts. o7 [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.147|172.69.134.147]] 21:28, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure there has been serious scholarship about the habitable zone of some quasars. Let's see.... Here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/2364/1/012057/pdf Not absolutely certain, but absolutely '''not''' ruled out. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.24|172.69.134.24]] 20:02, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
:I think that Cueball's scientific team did a study to discount the possibilities of quasars in the habitable zone of a star, not of a habitable zone around a quasar.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.249|172.71.166.249]] 20:52, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
::A quasar could exist in the habitable zone of a star, and if it was particularly dim, it wouldn't make the zone inhabitable. There's no minimum brightness for quasars, is there? For example, [https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/728/1/26] defines quasars in terms of relative magnitude, so I don't see why a tiny black hole with a small but sufficient accretion disk in translunar orbit couldn't qualify. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.162|172.69.134.162]] 20:54, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

I don't know how to properly describe the length of time the Moon's orbit of the Earth has been known. If you think that the moon orbits the earth, but you also think the sun, stars, and planets orbit the earth, do you actually have any way to justifiably say that you know that the Moon orbits the Earth? Also, is it worth pointing out the reasons that the moon is such an obvious thing to know about (i.e. its visibility and prominence to the naked eye, its cultural significance,...)?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.183|162.158.174.183]] 20:59, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
:Interesting xkcd (sort-of) reference here. Back when What-If questions started being solicited, I sent in something (roughly) like "When trying to justify the original geocentric theory of the solar system, it is said that it had always 'looked like everything went round the Earth'... What would it have looked like if it had always looked like everything, including the Earth, went round the Sun?" ...which I'm pretty sure never got answered. Probably didn't spark enough possible scope for that good old xkcd magic. But I saw plenty of other good stuff, so no regrets on my part. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.251|172.70.162.251]] 23:14, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

Y'know, I'm not entirely convinced that "tectonically active black holes" is something that we're actually capable of ruling out [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.190|172.68.174.190]] 22:33, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2535: Common Cold Viruses

Talk:2783: Ruling Out