1016: Valentine Dilemma

2015-02-23T19:21:57Z

Editer: /* Explanation */ Explains title text.

{{comic
| number = 1016
| date = February 13, 2012
| title = Valentine Dilemma
| image = valentine_dilemma.png
| titletext = The worst resolution to the Valentine Prisoner's Dilemma when YOU decide not to give your partner a present but your PARTNER decides to testify against you in the armed robbery case.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Title text not explained}}
Both [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are agonizing over what to get each other for Valentine's Day. Both panic and do weird things. At the heart of the way they are acting is the {{w|prisoner's dilemma}}, which [[696: Strip Games|has been referenced before]] in xkcd.

The prisoner's dilemma is a canonical example of a game analyzed in {{w|game theory}} that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interest to do so. Wikipedia has a great example of prisoner's dilemma, which illustrates it very well:

:Two men are arrested, but the police do not possess enough information for a conviction. Following the separation of the two men, the police offer both a similar deal—if one testifies against his partner (defects/betrays), and the other remains silent (cooperates/assists), the betrayer goes free and the cooperator receives the full one-year sentence. If both remain silent, both are sentenced to only one month in jail for a minor charge. If each 'rats out' the other, each receives a three-month sentence. Each prisoner must choose either to betray or remain silent; the decision of each is kept quiet. What should they do?

In this way, both Cueball and Megan are kept separate, each not knowing what the other is going to do for Valentine's Day in the Valentine Dilemma as it is named in the title of this comic. And both do weird things for Valentine's Day, which ends up being the perfect result to the Valentine Dilemma as both end up with the same level of weirdness and don't go for the grand gesture.

The title text combines the two dilemma scenarios in an absurd juxtaposition, with the reader ("you") choosing from the Valentine's Day gift-no gift dilemma and the other person choosing to betray the reader in an armed-robbery case.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball standing with hand on chin.]
:Cueball: Flowers seem so... trite. Something homemade? Easy to look halfhearted.

:[Megan sitting at a computer, also with hand on chin.]
:Megan: Valentine's day is a corporate construct.
:Megan: But hard to opt out of.
:Megan: I don't want to be a corporate tool ''or'' an inconsiderate jerk.

:[Cueball pacing.]
:Cueball: How do I fight cliché? I could get her a gift on a ''different'' day.
:Cueball: But what am I proving?

:[Megan leaning back with stapler in hand.]
:Megan: It's such a contrived ritual. But maybe rituals are necessary social glue.

:[Cueball panicking.]
:Cueball: Forty presents. No, ''none!'' No, give her five items and then steal two from her.
:Cueball: OK, breathe, keep it together.

:[Megan sweating, still holding the stapler.]
:Megan: And what if he gets me something and I don't reciprocate?
:Megan: Prisoners dilemma!
:Megan: AAAAAAAAAA!!

:[Cueball and Megan talking. Cueball is holding a basket and a jar of hammers. Megan's hand is stapled to her face.]
:Cueball: I got you Easter candy and a jar of hammers.
:Megan: I panicked and stapled my hand to my face.
:Cueball: We overthought this.
:Megan: Yes.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Psychology]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Valentines]]

1471: Gut Fauna

2015-01-09T08:37:33Z

Editer: /* Explanation */ Added significance of the wolf.

{{comic
| number = 1471
| date = January 9, 2015
| title = Gut Fauna
| image = gut_fauna.png
| titletext = I know it seems unpleasant, but of the two ways we typically transfer them, I promise this is the one you want.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First draft, needs editing and expanding}}

The {{w|microbiome}} is the collection of "good" bacteria that reside in the human digestion tract and help digest certain foods. It is sometimes referred to as {{w|gut flora}}. The title Gut fauna is a play on words. (fauna means animal life in latin, just like flora means bacterial life in this context).

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is visiting a doctor ([[Ponytail]]) for some unknown problem. The doctor informs him that his gut macrobiome is out of balance, which Cueball responds to with confusion over whether or not she meant the microbiome or macrobiome. A macrobiome, instead of being composed of small organisms such as bacteria, is composed of larger organisms such as mammals. The phrase "gut fauna" would refer to any animals living inside a gut (as the word fauna refers to animals living in an ecosystem).

Cueball is right to be worried by the doctor's reference to his macrobiome, as normal humans shouldn't have large animals living inside them. This fear is compounded when the doctor prescribes one wolf for Cueball to swallow, which is normally impossible for humans and would, at the very least, result in major interior damage when the wolf disagrees with being swallowed. The choice of a wolf echoes the reintroduction of the animals into the macrobiome of Yellowstone National Park in the United States, where they have improved the balance by, in part, preying on elk and reducing the damage caused by their grazing.

The title text suggests that swallowing the wolf is not the worst situation that could have occurred, as the doctor refers to another "way" that the wolf could be administered. One typical way that microbiome's are restored is through {{w|fecal bacteriotherapy}}, most easily described as a "poop transfer". The worse "other way" that the doctor is referring to is thus likely the rectal route, which is definitely less preferably than attempting to swallow a live wolf. Both ways would, however, be lethal! {{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:Doctor: I see the problem. Your gut macrobiome is out of balance. One moment.
:Cueball: I think you mean ''micro''biome... Right?
:Doctor: No. Here, swallow this.
:Cueball: That's a wolf.
:Doctor: Do you need a glass of water?

==Trivia==
*For a good description of the microbiome see [http://youtu.be/5DTrENdWvvM The Invisible Universe Of The Human Microbiome].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Animals]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1016: Valentine Dilemma

1471: Gut Fauna