https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.69.33.89&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T02:29:51ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2398:_Vaccine_Tracker&diff=2032672398: Vaccine Tracker2020-12-15T02:04:55Z<p>172.69.33.89: /* Transcript */ more cats</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2398<br />
| date = December 14, 2020<br />
| title = Vaccine Tracker<br />
| image = vaccine_tracker.png<br />
| titletext = *refresh* Aww, still in Kalamazoo. *refresh* Aww, still in Kalamazoo.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a VACCINE TRACKER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Similar to [[281: Online Package Tracking]], Cueball is trying to "track" the status of the {{w|Tozinameran|Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine}}, which was approved in the USA the week prior to the publishing of this comic, and began to be administered the day of publication.<br />
<br />
Cueball is refreshing his state's vaccine website, hoping that it will provide updates on the status of the vaccine distribution. <br />
<br />
The title text refers to Pfizer's vaccine plant in Michigan, and says that the vaccine has not been shipped yet.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Megan walks towards Cueball. Cueball sits in front of his laptop refreshing the page.]<br />
:Megan: What are you up to?<br />
:Cueball: You know how when I have a package coming, I sit here refreshing the package tracker?<br />
:Megan: Is that the state vaccine website?<br />
:[Cueball refreshes the page]<br />
:REFRESH<br />
<br />
:Megan: You know it will be a while before you can-<br />
:[Cueball refreshes the page, cutting her off.]<br />
:REFRESH<br />
:Megan: They haven't even announced when-<br />
:[Cueball refreshes the page again, cutting her off.]<br />
:REFRESH<br />
<br />
:Megan: Are you going to sit there clicking refresh for several months?<br />
:Cueball: '''''I am ready for the pandemic to be done.'''''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=239:_Blagofaire&diff=203003239: Blagofaire2020-12-11T18:29:36Z<p>172.69.33.89: /* Explanation */ ce</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 239<br />
| date = March 23, 2007<br />
| title = Blagofaire<br />
| image = blagofaire.png<br />
| titletext = Things were better before the Structuring and the Levels.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
Facts become distorted as time moves forward. What do we know about the Elizabethan times? They spoke strange English. What will 400 years from now think of the first twenty years of the Internet? Crazy people said crazy things online. Will we even say "online" 400 years from now? Won't the internet be everywhere, and everyone on it all the time in their retinal implants that being "offline" will seem absurd?<br />
<br />
Particular facts that this reenactor seems to have confused are:<br />
<br />
*"battling roving bands of trolls." Trolls in fantasy refer to monstrous creatures that are often antagonists who do battle with heroes. However, online trolls refer to disruptive members of discussion boards.<br />
*"The generation's finest minds meeting on comment threads, […] and holding the great dialogues of the age!" As Randall has pointed out in other comics ([[202: YouTube]], [[301: Limerick]], and [[481: Listen to Yourself]]), the discussions that take place online are often very poor examples of intellectual discourse.<br />
<br />
"Ren Faire" is short for "{{w|Renaissance Faire}}", described as "an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests." <br />
<br />
While {{w|Cory Doctorow}} is not in this comic, the character is {{w|cosplay}}ing him. This comic inspired several xkcd readers to give Cory Doctorow a red cape and goggles when he won the 2007 EFF Pioneer Award. Cory Doctorow's balloon is featured in [[482: Height]].<br />
<br />
The title Blagofaire might be an amalgamation between Blogosphere, Medieval Faire, and Blag, Randall's way of referencing [http://blag.xkcd.com his blog].<br />
<br />
The title text is probably the future cosplayer referring to the state of the future internet, indicating some organizational structure that constrains and stratifies it, and his preference for what he perceives as the wild and unfettered internet of the past.<br />
<br />
The "festival" the cosplayer references is later referenced in [[771: Period Speech]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Man in Red Cape and Goggles: Hey, it worked!<br />
:Cueball: What? Who are you?<br />
:Man in Red Cape and Goggles: I'm from the distant future.<br />
:Cueball: Wow. Hi!<br />
<br />
:Man in Red Cape and Goggles: Are you a blogger? I play one of you at our festivals!<br />
:Cueball: Huh?<br />
:Man in Red Cape and Goggles: Like the Ren faires of your time — I do reenactments.<br />
<br />
:Man in Red Cape and Goggles: We relive the days when the internet was new and free. The days of risky sharing, Slashdot, the Myspace music renaissance. The generation's finest minds meeting on comment threads, battling roving bands of trolls, and holding the great dialogues of the age!<br />
<br />
:Cueball: Is that how you—<br />
:Man in Red Cape and Goggles: We're fuzzy on some details. Did bloggers really wear red capes and goggles and blog from high-altitude balloons?<br />
:Cueball: No!<br />
:Cueball: Well, Cory Doctorow does. But nobody else.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*The same topic is mentioned in the title text of the second image of '''''[http://what-if.xkcd.com/69 what if? Facebook of the Dead]''''' displaying ''"An elderly Cory Doctorow cosplaying by wearing what the future thinks he wore in the past."''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cory Doctorow]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Time travel]]<br />
[[Category:Social networking]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=771:_Period_Speech&diff=203002771: Period Speech2020-12-11T18:27:56Z<p>172.69.33.89: /* Explanation */ ce</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 771<br />
| date = July 26, 2010<br />
| title = Period Speech<br />
| image = period_speech.png<br />
| titletext = The same people who spend their weekends at the Blogger Reenactment Festivals will whine about the anachronisms in historical movies, but no one else will care.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The actors on this stage are using language and technology from wildly differing time periods: <br />
* "Forsooth" is from {{w|Elizabethan era|Elizabethan times}} (1558–1603)<br />
* "{{w|Grok}}" is a word from the 1961 {{w|Robert Anson Heinlein|Robert Heinlein}} novel {{w|Stranger in a Strange Land}}<br />
* "Jive" is African American slang from the 1940s to the 70s<br />
* "Me Hearties" is popular 'pirate speak'<br />
* "Ten-Four" is {{w|Ten-code|police code}} for "Yes" and was popular during the 1970s CB radio craze<br />
<br />
Put together, the exchange roughly translates to "Do you truly understand what I'm saying, my friends?"/"We understand!".) The characters also combine archaic weapons like a spear and a sword with a presumably modern handgun and a laptop, adding to the growing heap of anachronisms.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]]'s contention is that hundreds of years from now, people will make similar errors that we do today when depicting historical items and language. Modern movies, fiction and other forms of media that depict history often confuse terms, items and equipment that were in one place and time period and place them in another, but few people notice because to them, all of it fits under the very broad category of "old, historical things" - only those with an interest in history really notice or seem to care. Thus following this trend, in the future, things like laptop computers and "grok my jive" will seem just as historical and "old-timey" as a spear or the saying "Forsooth!", except to those who participate in such things like "Blogger Reenactment Festivals", as mentioned in the title text.<br />
<br />
For instance, take a suit of full plate armor. To most people, plate armor is a "Medieval thing". So thus, when depicting King Arthur, a figure from 500 to 800 AD (if he even existed at all), one would (and has) put him in a suit of full plate because he is "medieval" and that is the stereotypical equipment of a Medieval figure. In actual fact, plate armor only came about after 1350, many centuries after King Arthur would have lived, and it coexisted alongside firearms for a very long time. King Arthur would have worn chainmail, but all of this would be lost on an average person watching a movie about King Arthur, to whom chainmail and full plate are interchangeable under the label of "historical armor" in their minds. It is not much of a jump from a span of 500 to 800 years of equipment being considered interchangeable to 1500 years of equipment and language being interchangeable. A similar confusion of "interchangeably old things" is seen in the title text to [[2396: Wonder Woman 1984]].<br />
<br />
The title text likely refers to [[239: Blagofaire]], which features the said "Blogger Reenactment Festivals".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A sword-wielding Cueball on a stage addresses three others; one has a spear, another a handgun and a knife, and the third a laptop.]<br />
:Cueball: Forsooth, do you grok my jive, me hearties?<br />
:Actors: Ten-four!<br />
:[The caption below.]<br />
:A few centuries from now, all the English of the past 400 years will sound equally old-timey and interchangeable.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=771:_Period_Speech&diff=203001771: Period Speech2020-12-11T18:27:37Z<p>172.69.33.89: /* Explanation */ ce</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 771<br />
| date = July 26, 2010<br />
| title = Period Speech<br />
| image = period_speech.png<br />
| titletext = The same people who spend their weekends at the Blogger Reenactment Festivals will whine about the anachronisms in historical movies, but no one else will care.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The actors on this stage are using language and technology from wildly differing time periods: <br />
* "Forsooth" is from {{w|Elizabethan era|Elizabethan times}} (1558–1603)<br />
* "{{w|Grok}}" is a word from the 1961 {{w|Robert Anson Heinlein|Robert Heinlein}} novel {{w|Stranger in a Strange Land}}<br />
* "Jive" is African American slang from the 1940s to the 70s<br />
* "Me Hearties" is popular 'pirate speak'<br />
* "Ten-Four" is {{w|Ten-code|police code}} for "Yes" and was popular during the 1970s CB radio craze<br />
<br />
Put together, the exchange roughly translates to "Do you truly understand what I'm saying, my friends?"/"We understand!".) The characters also combine archaic weapons like a spear and a sword with a presumably modern handgun and a laptop, adding to the growing heap of anachronisms.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]]'s contention is that hundreds of years from now, people will make similar errors that we do today when depicting historical items and language. Modern movies, fiction and other forms of media that depict history often confuse terms, items and equipment that were in one place and time period and place them in another, but few people notice because to them, all of it fits under the very broad category of "old, historical things" - only those with an interest in history really notice or seem to care. Thus following this trend, in the future, things like laptop computers and "grok my jive" will seem just as historical and "old-timey" as a spear or the saying "Forsooth!", except to those who participate in such things like "Blogger Reenactment Festivals", as mentioned in the title text.<br />
<br />
For instance, take a suit of full plate armor. To most people, plate armor is a "Medieval thing". So thus, when depicting King Arthur, a figure from 500 to 800 AD (if he even existed at all), one would (and has) put him in a suit of full plate because he is "medieval" and that is the stereotypical equipment of a Medieval figure. In actual fact, plate armor only came about after 1350, many centuries after King Arthur would have lived, and it coexisted alongside firearms for a very long time. King Arthur would have worn chainmail, but all of this would be lost on an average person watching a movie about King Arthur, to whom chainmail and full plate are interchangeable under the label of "historical armor" in their minds. It is not much of a jump from a span of 500 to 800 years of equipment being considered interchangeable to 1500 years of equipment and language being interchangeable. A similar confusion of "interchangeably old things" is seen in the title text to [[2396: Wonder Woman 1984]].<br />
.<br />
The title text likely refers to [[239: Blagofaire]], which features the said "Blogger Reenactment Festivals".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A sword-wielding Cueball on a stage addresses three others; one has a spear, another a handgun and a knife, and the third a laptop.]<br />
:Cueball: Forsooth, do you grok my jive, me hearties?<br />
:Actors: Ten-four!<br />
:[The caption below.]<br />
:A few centuries from now, all the English of the past 400 years will sound equally old-timey and interchangeable.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2396:_Wonder_Woman_1984&diff=2030002396: Wonder Woman 19842020-12-11T18:25:23Z<p>172.69.33.89: /* Explanation */ clarify</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2396<br />
| date = December 9, 2020<br />
| title = Wonder Woman 1984<br />
| image = wonder_woman_1984.png<br />
| titletext = 'Wait, why would you think a movie set in 1984 would do drive-ins as a retro promotion?' 'You know, 80s stuff. Drive-in movies. Britney Spears doing the hustle. Elvis going on Ed Sullivan and showing off his pog collection.' 'What year were you born, again?'<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by WALTER MONDALE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Ponytail, who was eager to see ''{{w|Wonder Woman 1984}}'', the sequel to the acclaimed 2017 ''{{w|Wonder Woman (2017 film)|Wonder Woman}}'' film, decided to block all news media leading up to the film, to avoid {{w|Spoiler (media)|spoilers}}. Avoiding "spoilers" is a common practice for people who do not wish to be "spoiled" by reading or hearing any plot points of the film, and want to experience it for the "first time" when watching it. Many early reviewers may inadvertently give away key parts of the film, which may "ruin" the experience for some watchers.<br />
<br />
However, there have been many delays for release of the film, in part because of the [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19 pandemic]] in the Spring of 2020. The film was originally delayed from November 1, 2019 to June 5, 2020, and then was pushed to August 14, 2020, and October 2, 2020, before it was finally moved to December 25, 2020. The film studio announced a simultaneous release of the film in theaters and also on streaming platform {{w|HBO Max}}.<br />
<br />
Absurdly, Ponytail did not turn off her news site blocker and so has not read ''any'' news for the past year, even news unrelated to movies. Because of this, she does not know who became the 2020 Democratic nominee, or who won the 2020 United States presidential election (both {{w|Joe Biden}}). Even more absurdly, she has not noticed others wearing masks, seen any Biden campaign signs, etc. It also seems that she does not know about the COVID-19 pandemic, as she seems confused as to why her movie is now being shown at a {{w|drive-in theater}}. Drive-in theaters have been seen as a much safer option than regular movie theaters during the pandemic. <br />
<br />
Cueball tries to warn her about the ongoing pandemic, but in an effort to avoid spoilers, she refuses to listen to him. Cueball then tells her to wear a mask, but she is still confused. Ponytail says that she will dress up in costume as Wonder Woman, who is traditionally shown wearing a {{w|tiara}}, but not a mask (unlike Batman or many other comic characters, although [[2367: Masks|efficiency of their masks]] still varies wildly in regards to COVID-19 protection).<br />
<br />
The title text shows Ponytail’s even more remarkable historical imagination. She believes the move to drive-in theaters to be a "retro promotion," presumably because drive-ins and the '80s setting of the movie are now both considered to be retro now. However, drive-in theaters are not of the same time period as the movie; according to Wikipedia, drive-in theaters were in fact in decline in the 80s due to the advent of cable TV, VCRs, and home video. Ponytail further demonstrates more misunderstanding of history by mentioning several other things which she wrongly believes are from the '80s. {{w|Britney Spears}} was popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s. {{w|Hustle(dance)|The Hustle}} was a disco dance popular in the mid 1970s. {{w|Pogs}} under that name peaked in the mid-1990s. {{w|Elvis}}'s appearance on the ''{{w|Ed Sullivan Show}}''- one of the pivotal moments of American pop culture- occurred on September 9, 1956. Cueball points out this mess of inconsistencies by asking Ponytail when she was born, referring to the idea that she would subconsciously combine all these time periods because she didn't live through them, and only knows about them through pop culture. A similar behavior is seen in [[771: Period Speech]]<br />
<br />
This comic is similar to [[2280: 2010 and 2020]], which features someone who also is unaware of the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Ponytail sitting at a desk, chatting with Cueball (off-screen) on a laptop.]<br />
:Ponytail: Just two weeks until I see ''Wonder Woman 1984'', learn who the Democratic nominee was, and find out how the election went.<br />
:Cueball: Huh?<br />
<br />
:[Close-up on Ponytail.]<br />
:Ponytail: To avoid spoilers, I blocked all news sites ahead of the November 2019 release.<br />
:Ponytail: But then they bumped the date on my ticket to June 2020, and now December 25th.<br />
:Ponytail: It also moved to a drive-in theater? Some retro promotion, maybe.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball on his laptop, chatting with Ponytail (off-screen) on a laptop.]<br />
:Cueball: Wait, you haven't seen '''''any''''' news?<br />
:Ponytail: Nope!<br />
:Cueball: So you don't know about -<br />
:Ponytail: '''''No spoilers!'''''<br />
<br />
:[Back to Ponytail sitting at a desk, chatting with Cueball (off-screen) on a laptop.]<br />
:Cueball: Okay. Just...<br />
:Cueball: Bring a mask, in case you need to get out of the car.<br />
:Ponytail: Oh, I'll have a full '''''costume!''''' But it's a tiara, not a mask.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=45:_Schrodinger&diff=19503945: Schrodinger2020-07-25T01:00:27Z<p>172.69.33.89: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 45<br />
| date = January 4, 2006<br />
| title = Schrodinger<br />
| image = schrodinger.jpg<br />
| titletext = There was no alt-text until you moused over<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a joke creating a humorously false synthesis, combining the principles of quantum superposition and the effects of reading a comic one panel at a time.<br />
<br />
{{w|Schrödinger's cat}} is a thought experiment that illuminates the notion that a particle only resolves itself to its state upon observation, and until such observation is made, it is in all of its possible states simultaneously. In the thought experiment, a cat is both dead and alive until observation; likewise, in this comic, [[Black Hat]] and [[Cueball]] are likening the last panel to the box with the cat: until you read it, it is in a mixed state (a superposition) of both funny and unfunny.<br />
<br />
Finally, in the last panel, both of them say "Shit." The joke is that after reading the last panel, the comic is both funny (as it is unexpected) and not funny (as the last line was a non sequitur and therefore there is no climax) at the same time, thus proving Black Hat and Cueball wrong, hence them expressing discontent with the word "shit."<br />
<br />
The [[title text]], which Randall here calls the alt-text, suggests that the alt text did not exist until the mouse over action occurred. This is another reference to Schrödinger's cat. You do not know if there is a title text until you mouse over, so before you mouse over, the title text could be missing or existent. <br />
<br />
===Schrödinger's cat===<br />
Schrödinger's cat is a famous thought experiment proposed by {{w|Erwin Schrödinger}} to question the {{w|Copenhagen interpretation}} of quantum mechanics.<br />
<br />
Under the {{w|Copenhagen interpretation}}, any particle is described by a {{w|wave function}} that allows one to calculate the probability that it is any given state. A radioactive nucleus with a half-life of one hour, for instance, would have a wave-function that would split, showing two distinct states (decayed, undecayed) that change over time until some "observation" forced the wave-function into one state or another (called "collapsing the wave-function"). Before the wave-function is collapsed, it is incorrect to say that the atom has decayed or has not decayed; it is in a "superposition" of states, effectively both decayed and undecayed. <br />
<br />
Schrödinger thought that the Copenhagen interpretation was absurd, and devised the below thought experiment to show this. The experiment goes as follows: Put a cat in a box, he said, with a device triggered by the decay of an atom with a half-life of one hour that would release a poisonous gas if triggered. Then, after waiting an hour, the Copenhagen interpretation would say that the atom is in a superposition of decayed and undecayed states, and thus, by extension, the cat would be in a superposition of alive and dead states. Only when the box is opened would the wave-function for the cat collapse into either alive or dead states. This thought experiment is not meant to be taken literally, as every interaction of a particle with another constitutes an observation, and many particles must interact for a cat to die, but still his argument was that since it is absurd for a cat to be both alive and dead, it is absurd for an atom to be both decayed and undecayed.<br />
<br />
If this experiment were to be performed, the cat would not be both dead and alive.<br />
<br />
== Transcript ==<br />
:[Black Hat and Cueball are standing next to each other. Above them the text is written in a box with shades around it.]<br />
:Schrödinger's Comic<br />
<br />
:[Black Hat and Cueball are still standing next to each other, but Cueball has lifted his arms above his head. The text is again written in a box with shades around it.]<br />
:The last panel of this comic is both funny and not funny at the same time.<br />
<br />
:[Black Hat and Cueball are still standing next to each other, Cueball arms are down again. The text is again written in a box with shades around it.]<br />
:Until you read it, there's no way to tell which it will end up being.<br />
<br />
:[Black Hat and Cueball are still standing next to each other. Cueball has become smaller and smaller through the three frames after the first. Quite clearly here in the last panel. The text is again written in a box with shades around it.]<br />
:Shit.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*This was the 42nd comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].<br />
**The previous was [[39: Bowl]]. <br />
**The next was [[46: Secrets]].<br />
*There had been a break of almost a month between this and the previous comic.<br />
**This time was probably used to prepare the launch of the new [[xkcd]] site.<br />
*Original title: "Drawing: Schrodinger"<br />
**For the first time in eight comics and only the second time since after the first day on LiveJournal, the weekday was not part of the title on LiveJournal.<br />
**But the extra word "Drawing" was still added to the title for this and the four comics after the next, in spite of the simultaneous release on xkcd.<br />
*There were no original [[Randall]] quote for this comic.<br />
*This was the first comic to be posted simultaneous (i.e. on the same day) on both LiveJournal and the new xkcd site. <br />
*Thus this comic was one of the last 11 comics posted on LiveJournal.<br />
**These 11 comics were [[:Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd|posted both on LiveJournal and xkcd]] after the xkcd site opened on the 1st of January 2006. <br />
**They were not all posted on the same day though.<br />
*Black Hat's hat is beginning to shorten from its top-hat look, although its height varies between panels. (As does Cueballs height compared to Black Hat.)<br />
<br />
<br />
{{Comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 42]]<br />
[[Category:Posted on LiveJournal after xkcd]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2281:_Coronavirus_Research&diff=1887492281: Coronavirus Research2020-03-16T19:06:20Z<p>172.69.33.89: /* Transcript */ intro</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2281<br />
| date = March 16, 2020<br />
| title = Coronavirus Research<br />
| image = coronavirus_research.png<br />
| titletext = "Also, reading 500 coronavirus papers in a row and not sleeping? Probably not great for you either, but I haven't found any studies confirming that yet. I'll keep looking."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a TRAP! Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is the seventh comic in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] (with at least seven in a row) about the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} - {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}. <br />
<br />
[[Megan]], disheveled and exhausted, has been researching COVID-19 nonstop and is now reporting her findings to [[Cueball]]. She claims to have read all available literature on the subject, but the best she can come up with is an extremely basic fact about {{w|virus}}es—namely that they infect cells and this is bad and should be prevented, which Cueball and just about everybody else already knew. She enthusiastically replies that she knows this with {{w|error bars}}, which are graphical representations of the variability of data and are used on graphs to indicate the error or uncertainty in a reported measurement.<br />
<br />
In the title text, she has a hunch that staying awake long enough to read 500 scientific papers is probably not a good idea, but she hasn't found a study that specifically confirms that. She intends to further compound her exhaustion by continuing to do research rather than just getting some much needed sleep. Assuming that Megan averages half an hour to find and read each paper, she has been continuously reading for 10.4 days, which is approaching the world record for not sleeping.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[A very disheveled Megan walks up to Cueball from the left of the panel]<br />
:Megan: ''Hi.''<br />
:Cueball: Hello. You look...fine.<br />
<br />
:[Megan and Cueball are standing next to each other, in a frameless panel.]<br />
:Megan: I have now read virtually every available scientific paper on COVID-19.<br />
:Cueball: Cool, what'd you learn?<br />
<br />
:[Megan and Cueball are standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]<br />
:Megan: Well it seems this virus wants to get inside your cells.<br />
:Cueball: Mhmm...<br />
<br />
:[Megan and Cueball are standing next to each other. Megan raises her arm, with her index finger in the air.]<br />
:Megan: But it's a '''''trap!''''' You shouldn't let it.<br />
:Cueball: I think we knew that.<br />
:Megan: But now I know it with '''''error bars!'''''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]<br />
[[Category:Research Papers]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2275:_Coronavirus_Name&diff=188634Talk:2275: Coronavirus Name2020-03-14T02:16:18Z<p>172.69.33.89: Recent suggestion.</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Covid-19 is more dangerous than the flu and has already killed more people. And any death rate that starts with 0.00 and then has a number other than zero can only be called "basically zero" if you value human life very little. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.132|162.158.94.132]] 21:49, 2 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:addendum: this seems to depend on what source you use for the chinese yearly flu death rate. number of deaths is either much higher or somewhat lower.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.123|162.158.91.123]] 21:53, 2 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:It's Trump taking point that the coronavirus is a hoax and no worse than the flu. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.213|162.158.74.213]] 22:14, 2 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:At the very least, the fact the virus has over 90,000 confirmed cases makes it a significant disease. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.246|172.69.34.246]] 22:28, 2 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:It doesn't seem like the point of the comic is to comment on the severity of the virus. Seems more on-topic to say things that are objectively true, like "Many people are concerned about the virus" rather than discussing disputed stats.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.132|162.158.106.132]] 22:58, 2 March 2020 (UTC) Patb<br />
::I agree, and suggest we remove the line with stats entirely. It isn't relevant to the comic, and having it refer to "current estimates" means someone will have to keep updating it when new estimates are made. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.57|172.69.54.57]] 08:17, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::A running total here wouldn't be necessary, there is at least one web site especially for that (or a page for Covid-19 on a general disease outbreak tracking site). To me it looks like this virus is about equally dangerous as flu, except that this virus is only in about 70 countries and counting, so if it isn't in yours yet (as far as you know) then you are not yet in danger (as far as you know). Also, flu kills a lot of people, numerically, every year, and if this virus kills an equal number of people, every year, there are twice as many people dead, total. (ish) So it's worth trying to stop this virus from existing, while we might still do that. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.76|162.158.159.76]] 13:40, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Let's inject a little sanity here: Trump's "talking point" about it being no on par with the flu is, for once, correct. Most people who are infected have mild symptoms, or none at all. In fact, that's how it's suddenly turned out that the spread is so much greater than previously reported: Because most people never even know they have it. Given this, the mortality rate is a tiny fraction of what was previously reported, perhaps 0.3% instead of 3%. And it was only ostensibly 3% in a primitive region where some people still have dirt floors, and almost nobody is willing to deal with their socialized health care system except in an emergency. Therefore most of the infected were not showing up for treatment, only those in serious trouble. In fact, the vast majority of those who have died are elderly or immunocompromised, ''exactly'' the same group who are killed in the tens of thousands each year by the flu, in the US. So no, this has been a tempest in a teapot, stirred up by the unscientific CDC in order to pad their budget, the way they do periodically with a new fake pandemic threat. SARS, West Nile, bird flu, h1n1, and ebola...no competent epidemiologist would ever seriously have expected those to become a threat in the US, or anywhere else outside of primitive regions. But the CDC has continued to redouble their unearned budget on this fraudulent fearmongering. As I learned when consulting for such ilk in DC, "Fear Equals Funding". Oh, and no, 90,000 cases only make it a "significant disease" in the way that another coronavirus, the common cold, is significant. It's not significantly dangerous. In fact, it really is just a strong kind of common cold. « [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 21:32, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::While it doesn't seem to be more lethal than flu (or in general having more severe symptoms), either it's more contagious or the fact it's contagious for weeks before symptoms makes it spread easier. In this sense it's more serious threat - imagine for example if ALL employees of nuclear power plant would be infected leaving noone capable of caring of the reactor. That said, it seems that panic is currently more dangerous than the virus itself. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:14, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:The 2% death rate in the explantion is outdated. [https://news.sina.cn/zt_d/yiqing0121 Here (in Chinese)] is the compiled data for all China. As of March 3rd, the death rate calculated by (death toll)/(confirmed infected patients) is 3.7% for all China and 4.6% for Wuhan city (the epicenter). The number for Wuhan is likely to grow in the following days, too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.190.86|162.158.190.86]] 20:11, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::The mortality rate in China is only relevant if one lives in an area with a primitive socialized health care system. As with SARS, it won't turn out to have a significant death rate among people infected in the US who are not elderly or immunocompromised. Perhaps, in fact, a zero death rate outside of that high risk group. « [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 21:32, 3 March 2020 (UTC) <br />
:::@kazvorpal your comment is inappropriate for several reasons, including "primitive" and deprecating socialized medicine. Since there've already been deaths among the small group of known cases in the USA, it's way too early to calculate mortality rates here. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 16:24, 4 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::::There is nothing inappropriate about pointing out the primitive nature of the poorest provinces of China, nor the very factual failures of socialized medicine. As for the US, there have been no cases of someone dying here who was actually infected here. And there's no reason to believe that when they do occur, the mortality rate will turn out to be much worse than the flu. « [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 04:31, 8 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::Can someone ban this fucking racist Trumpbot? Kazvorpal even wrote some sort of article for blaming the failures of the current system on socialism. And then he calls China primitive and says some of the hospitals have dirt floors. Just ban Kazvorpal already. <br />
:::::Can you be a grownup who signs his posts, instead of a little coward who spews childish nonsense and then runs away to hide? I never said their hospitals had dirt floors, but the cold hard fact is that many of the houses in the poorest provinces do, because socialism is indeed such a failure. And those poor provinces are indeed primitive, no actual grownup disputes that fact, either. « [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 04:31, 8 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Though you're right in that there ''is'' sophistication in the system (potentially), while the US famously has a situation so broken that "almost nobody is willing to deal with their '''non-'''socialized health care system except in an emergency" either. I think if the meaning was "a health system which is primitively socialised(/ist)" I could accept the utterer's original intent, though I don't actually know enough about the the practicalities of the Chinese system to know how it actually transpires in individual off-the-street transactions. I live within the somewhat social UK one, and directly see its problems, but I've been done well by it myself despite it being notably sabotaged by various politicians on the scene by forcing some changes or refusing to implement others. I haven't myself experienced the strange US one, even during my visits there, but I've had such info as a live online chat (early 1990s, via IRC, for reference) with someone who daren't go to a doctor/A&E for a clearly in-progress medical issue - if it wasn't even a real thing (as cynics might suggest may have happened in the text-only pre-Eternal September entirely pseudonymical medium) it must have had a grounding on experience and yet it totally blew my mind that something that would cost a few GBP (in medical supplies) and literally a few minutes of a doctor's time (underpaid, arguably) could instead potentially end up as billed for USDthousands either directly or as private insurance overheads. Still, this is an old (and perpetual) politically-biased discussion that has had few actual new arguments added to any side for years, and will doubtless rumble on as long as it can - I think we should all realise that all the systems are bad, we just fundementally disagree about which particular ones are least bad. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.148|141.101.98.148]] 19:53, 4 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
If the Godzilla movies have taught me anything, it's that giant insects aren't a problem biologists can solve anyways. That's more of a "nuclear paleontology" sort of job. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 01:43, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It is legitimately difficult to tell if Ponytail's use of the word 'catchy' as a descriptor for 'coronavirus' is an intentional or unintentional pun. Either way, it's very opportune. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.239|108.162.221.239]] 03:55, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The current chapter of Wilde Life (a totally unrelated webcomic) as a giant spider interacting with two of the main characters, starting [https://www.wildelifecomic.com/comic/710/ here]. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 05:05, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think they missed a trick with the naming. CORVID-19 would have reminded everyone of H5N1 'bird flu', and we could just blame the crows. Kill a magpie to avoid infection!<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.253|162.158.158.253]] 10:53, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:What? How is CORVID-19 supposed to remind anyone of H5N1 or bird flu? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:20, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Corvidae is the family including crows, ravens, jays, magpies; so, CORVID~=bird. Not sure how many people would make that connection, but I think that's what the previous poster was getting at.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.91|162.158.187.91]] 13:13, 4 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I think "SARS-CoV-2: Electric Boogaloo" has a nice ring to it although a little wordy for everyday use. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.116|198.41.238.116]] 08:16, 4 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::I was thinking "SARS 2: The Attack of Pneumonia" 08:38, 11 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Yeah really dodged a bullet on those rhinoviri. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.44|172.69.22.44]] 11:36, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is it relevant to mention that some spiders grow larger in cities? https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105480 <br />
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:39, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'm not really wanting to catch COVID-19. I'm holding out for COVID-19b, which is going to be better beta-tested. (But by the time COVID-19c comes out, it's just going to be a bandwagon of planned obsolescence by then - I'd rather stick with what I've got until the next significent release version and keep a close eye on the advanced reviews and what other vendors are innovating.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.46|162.158.34.46]] 16:15, 3 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is only 3 years too early to be a reference to the spiders in Colorado https://xkcd.com/1688/ especially with Megan holding bio-hazardous material. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.33|162.158.62.33]]<br />
<br />
Assorted catchier names: a)Corona-chan (works for every disease with a girl name, Ebola, Zika, Lassa, Malaria, Cholera, Yersinia...Ask 4chan), b) My Corona (OK, a bit 1970-ish), c) Coronjob (for conspiracy buffs). (Personally, I'm less afraid of getting infected than getting, showing no symptoms as always and killing half of my environment...) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.9|172.69.54.9]] 09:36, 4 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah, "My Corona" got largely superceded by the fad for "e-Corona", except for some niches, and then along came "iCorona" and changed everything. Though there was also the short-lived Corona Millenium Edition. (It didn't stay bad. Corona XP became the highpoint. And if you did't like that, you might as well just go back to Corona Bob.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.43|162.158.154.43]] 16:59, 4 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think that it's worth noting that this comic came out the day after the American Super Tuesday primaries.--[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.64|172.69.71.64]] 15:42, 4 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:But it didn't. This comic came out the day ''before'' the primaries, and is completely unrelated to them. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.28|172.68.211.28]] 02:28, 5 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
Shoulda called it Coronavirus-2019.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 22:51, 4 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Looking forward to seeing if there is an uptick in children named Corona later this year. I wouldn't bet against it. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 01:22, 9 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have to agree with the speculation that in the end this will end up being much ado about nothing just like swine flu and bird flu. 08:38, 11 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
: A very quick googleskim showed [https://www.google.com/search?q=deaths+by+avian+flu 616 worldwide deaths from the avian flu] ... and [https://www.google.com/search?q=deaths+by+pandemic+swine+flu 575,400 (12,469 USA) from pandemic swine flu.] [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 23:13, 11 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
One American of my acquaintance, living in New Zealand, has quoted (with approval) a recent suggestion he's heard of calling it "Trump's disease". What a great way to commemorate his presidency!</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2279:_Symptoms&diff=188483Talk:2279: Symptoms2020-03-11T19:10:22Z<p>172.69.33.89: I added Category:SARS-CoV-2 to the pages. And reCAPTCHA sucks.</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Coronavirus or Covid-19 should be tags. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 17:39, 11 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed. Depending on how you count [[2278]], this series has been running continuously since [[2275]]. So this is the 4th or 5th NCOV-2019 comic. The only problem is what should we name the tag? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.211.34|172.68.211.34]] 18:37, 11 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::"COVID-19" I'd say, for scientific accuracy.--[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 18:59, 11 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::I just added a [[:Category:SARS-CoV-2]] since {{W|Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2}} indicates that's the current official name. BTW, reCAPTCHA got very aggressive after I tagged the second page. I don't suppose there's a proper place to complain? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.89|172.69.33.89]] 19:10, 11 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Re. the title text, my reaction would be, "The medicine must not be working. I'd better take more." [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.120|172.68.38.120]] 18:38, 11 March 2020 (UTC)Pat</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2279:_Symptoms&diff=1884822279: Symptoms2020-03-11T19:04:32Z<p>172.69.33.89: Add Category:SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2279<br />
| date = March 11, 2020<br />
| title = Symptoms<br />
| image = symptoms.png<br />
| titletext = This medicine says it may cause lightheadedness, dry mouth, and blurred vision, but my head feels incredibly heavy, water is pouring from my mouth, and I can see individual hummingbird wingbeats, so I think I'm fine.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a PERSON WITH ICY SKIN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The comic states that the symptoms of a disease - perhaps Covid-19 as many recent comics have been on this subject - are fever, fatigue and dry cough. Megan is reassured that she doesn't have it, because her symptoms are the opposite - and equally bad. <br />
<br />
The title text expands on this joke as someone doesn't have common side effects but the opposite, which they should see a doctor for. It also reflects on the whole concept of symptom/side effect warnings themselves as often people have no good frame of reference for when a particular symptom is actually abnormal. It is often easy for one to believe they match some or all of a list of symptoms because for someone to be absolutely sure they do not have the a specific symptom, they would need an almost comic level of "normality".<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:SARS-CoV-2]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2278:_Scientific_Briefing&diff=1884812278: Scientific Briefing2020-03-11T19:03:28Z<p>172.69.33.89: Add Category:SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2278<br />
| date = March 9, 2020<br />
| title = Scientific Briefing<br />
| image = scientific_briefing.png<br />
| titletext = "I actually came in in the middle so I don't know which topic we're briefing on; the same slides work for like half of them."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete| Made by a CULTURE PRETENDING BAD THINGS ARE GOOD. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is about the need to act on problems, and the need to communicate them in ways that people can act on them. This problem underlies many issues in modern life, and anybody can help it{{Citation needed}}, by thinking, talking, helping, or asking others to help. If you can think of anything to do, say, make, or start, to help this, like say a small wiki for organizing discussion and viewpoints around issues that interested people could contribute to, please start something and link your work here to help others act as well.{{Citation needed}} It is arguable whether thinking or talking about a problem helps at all if no one acts upon it; Similarly, action without sufficiently informed thinking can make things worse. Therefore both analysis ''and'' action may be required, to effect positive change.<br />
<br />
Things are not good, and are going to be bad soon. The only way for things to not be bad is for someone to do something about it. [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are presenting these things to [[White Hat]], presumably hoping to encourage him to do something about things, but he instead chooses to wait for things to become bad, to which Megan replies that this is exactly the bad thing she and Cueball were hoping to prevent.<br />
<br />
What things? Any number of things, because, as the title text remarks, this is true of "like half of" any things examined by society. While a literal 50% of ''all'' things may not be getting bad (or good), in a more general sense all line graphs would trend (at least slightly) either up or down. This binary 'either good or bad' finding may lead one to conclude that "like half" of all graphs show something getting bad (or else good).<br />
<br />
The three comics preceding this one have been about COVID-19 ("the '''co'''rona'''vi'''rus '''d'''isease discovered in 20'''19'''"), so "things" could refer to cases of infections. The graph in the first panel shows a steadily rising line, but whith slight zigzags in it, which may be an intentional similarity to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeling_Curve Keeling Curve]. Like [[2275]], this comic seems a comment on the numerous world catastrophes that get sidelined until the very last moment, such as invading giant spiders, water quality, road systems, rising extremism and wars between groups with similar needs, lack of responsible oversight in majorly impactful international decisions, corruption and lack of trust for those with power, or climate change and related extinction of most species and cultures. Given Megan & Cueball's reaction to White-Hat's failure to act, this "sidelining" or failure to take action may very likely be the subject of their graph.<br />
<br />
In short, the graph ''may'' indicate that our responses to information are going from good to bad.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Megan and Cueball are showing a graph on a projected screen. The graph is labeled "Things", with "Time" advancing to the right on the ''x''-axis. The level of "Things" has been rising over time to a point labeled "Now". The current level of "Things" is above a level labeled "Good", and about as far below a level labeled "Bad". Megan is pointing to the line of "Things" with a pointer stick, while Cueball is pointing up to the "Bad" level with a pointer stick.]<br />
<br />
:Megan: Here's the situation:<br />
:Megan: This line is here.<br />
:Cueball: But it's going up toward ''here''.<br />
<br />
:[White Hat enters the scene. His hand is on his chin. Cueball is no longer holding a pointer stick.]<br />
<br />
:White Hat: So things will be bad?<br />
:Megan: Unless someone does something to stop it.<br />
:White Hat: Will anyone do that?<br />
:Megan: ...We don't know.<br />
:Megan: That's why we're showing you this.<br />
<br />
:[A narrow panel focusing only on Megan and Cueball.]<br />
<br />
:White Hat (off-panel, left): So you don't know,<br />
:White Hat: And the graph says things are '''''not''''' bad.<br />
:Cueball: But if no one acts, they'll '''''become''''' bad.<br />
<br />
:[White Hat is back inside the frame. He is gesturing to Megan and Cueball with his palm up.]<br />
<br />
:White Hat: Well, please let me know if that happens!<br />
:Megan: Based on this conversation, it already has.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*Poorly labeled graphs were already the topic of [[833: Convincing]].<br />
*This comic was initially missing the speech line to Cueball in panel 3.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:SARS-CoV-2]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2277:_Business_Greetings&diff=1884802277: Business Greetings2020-03-11T19:02:32Z<p>172.69.33.89: Add Category:SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2277<br />
| date = March 6, 2020<br />
| title = Business Greetings<br />
| image = business_greetings.png<br />
| titletext = We have email and social media now, so we probably don't need to keep exchanging business cards by pressing them gently against each others' faces with an open palm and smearing them around.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an EYEBALL LICKER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is the third comic in a row about the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|outbreak in 2020}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} - {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}. The first comic was [[2275: Coronavirus Name]] and the second [[2276: Self-Isolate]], making all comics of that week about the virus outbreak.<br />
<br />
As a reaction to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, people are refraining from personal contact. This leads to changes with customs in the workplace - e.g. {{w|handshake|shaking hands}} at the beginning of a meeting, etc.<br />
<br />
The comic shows [[Beret Guy]] addressing his employees at [[:Category:Beret Guy's Business|his eccentric company]] ([[Ponytail]], [[Hairy]] and [[Hairbun]], see also [[1997: Business Update]]). He states that they should not overreact to the coronavirus. But at least they should now quit their usual startup procedure at meetings where everyone is "licking each others eyeballs". Virus or not, it is not common for humans to lick anyone's eyeballs at meetings, but it could be an extreme stretch of intimate behavior to make an analogy to some cultures' norm of kissing acquaintances in greeting.<br />
<br />
Humorously, his employees state that they will miss this human contact, but that they at least understand.<br />
<br />
Contact between saliva and eyes are a very common way to get the virus spread. But usually this occurs from one infected person sneezing and airborne particles randomly coming in contact with an uninfected bystander's eye or people touching their own faces and eyes after having touched an infected surface, not by applying the saliva directly to a person's eyeball by means of another person's tongue.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to an actual business custom (exchanging {{w|business card}}s), but one which is absurdly altered to promote the spread of disease by touching cards and hands to faces. It is not clear whether this is safer or more dangerous than Beret Guy's previous practice of eating business cards, see [[1032: Networking]].<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Beret Guy is standing to the left addressing Ponytail, Hairy and Hairbun sitting in office chairs at a table. Hairbun is at the end of the table. All three have one arm on the table.]<br />
:Beret Guy: I don't think we should overreact to the coronavirus,<br />
:Beret Guy: But it might be time to put an end to the custom of starting business meetings by everyone licking each others' eyeballs.<br />
:Hairy: I'll miss the human contact, but that's fair.<br />
:Hairbun: Gotta change with the times.<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*When the comic was first published, it did not have a title-text; it was added later during the day of release. <br />
**This has almost exclusively occurred previously with special interactive or dynamic comics. <br />
***Absence of title-text is so unusual that it broke at least one xkcd client ([https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.floern.xkcd Browser for xkcd by Floern]). <br />
*The phrase "each other" is actually singular. It should be "each other's eyeballs" (the eyeballs of each other person) and "each other's face" (the face of each other person).<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]<br />
[[Category:Social interactions]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:SARS-CoV-2]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2276:_Self-Isolate&diff=1884792276: Self-Isolate2020-03-11T19:01:17Z<p>172.69.33.89: Add Category:SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2276<br />
| date = March 4, 2020<br />
| title = Self-Isolate<br />
| image = self_isolate.png<br />
| titletext = Turns out I've been "practicing social distancing" for years without even realizing it was a thing!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SELF-ISOLATED BOT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is the second comic of (at least) three in a row about the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|outbreak in 2020}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} - {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}. The first being [[2275: Coronavirus Name]] and the third [[2277: Business Greetings]]. This thus makes all comics of that week about the corona outbreak.<br />
<br />
In this comic, [[Cueball]] is watching television and hears a suggestion that people may need to "self-isolate." This refers to the practice of {{w|isolation (health care)|isolating}} infected individuals, to keep the virus from spreading. If the outbreak grows more severe, going out in large crowds could also be discouraged, to avoid being infected by those around you. <br />
<br />
According to the [https://www.hhs.gov/answers/public-health-and-safety/what-is-the-difference-between-isolation-and-quarantine/index.html HHS], both quarantine and isolation help prevent the spread of infectious diseases, but they are different. Quarantine is for well people who might have been exposed to see if they become sick. Isolation is for sick people to keep them from infecting healthy people. So the suggestion for self-isolation means that sick people should stay away from healthy people.<br />
<br />
Cueball's response to this advice is that he's "been practicing for this moment [his] whole life". xkcd frequently refers to social awkwardness, introversion, and difficulty with interpersonal interactions. Cueball (likely representing Randall himself) appears to find spending time in public and with large groups trying. It's implied that he prefers to spend time alone (or possibly with small groups of family and close friends) rather than going out. The joke is that this tendency is often seen as unhealthy and alienating, but in the case of a pandemic, actually becomes quite valuable. Cueball seems to take an odd sort of pride in the fact that he's skilled at remaining alone and uninfected, while more social people would be in danger. <br />
<br />
The comic image is a link to [https://web.archive.org/web/20200305015204/https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1235319133585248259 one tweet] in a thread of tweets about COVID-19 by [https://twitter.com/kakape @kakape], a science journalist according to their Twitter bio, which says "Social distancing may mean staying further apart from each other physically in coming weeks. We should compensate by caring even more about each other than usually, because we are, of course, all in this together." ([https://web.archive.org/web/20200305015137/https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1235312559324114951 beginning of thread]). <br />
<br />
In the title text, Cueball continues to be proud of his introversion, claiming that he has been "practicing social distancing" for much of his life.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball sits in an armchair watching television. A zigzag line from the TV indicates that the text is a voice from the TV.]<br />
:Voice from television: Experts are saying people may need to "self-isolate" to combat the virus.<br />
<br />
:[A slim beat panel with Cueball sitting silent in the armchair.]<br />
<br />
:[Zoomed in on Cueball in the armchair. A starburst on the right border indicates the voice from an off-panel person.]<br />
:Cueball: ... I've been practicing for this moment my whole life.<br />
:Off-panel voice: I don't think that's&mdash;<br />
:Cueball: ''Quick, make plans and watch how fast I cancel!''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Social interactions]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:SARS-CoV-2]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2275:_Coronavirus_Name&diff=1884772275: Coronavirus Name2020-03-11T18:59:56Z<p>172.69.33.89: Add Category:SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2275<br />
| date = March 2, 2020<br />
| title = Coronavirus Name<br />
| image = coronavirus_name.png<br />
| titletext = It's important to keep the spider from touching your face.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a MUTANT T. ANNEXA WOLF SPIDER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic is the first comic of (at least) three in a row about the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|outbreak in 2020}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} - {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}. . It was followed by [[2276: Self-Isolate]] and [[2277: Business Greetings]]. This thus makes all comics of that week about the corona outbreak.<br />
<br />
This is thus [[Randall|Randall's]] first take on the coronavirus outbreak. As of the publication date (March 2, 2020), the outbreak had infected more than 90,000 people, and had caused more than 3000 deaths. <br />
<br />
The disease caused by the virus was officially named {{w|Coronavirus disease 2019|COVID-19}} on 11 February 2020, as "coronavirus" is a category of viruses named for their appearance, which is similar to a halo or crown, and includes four different viruses which can cause the common cold in humans. However, the virus itself is not called COVID-19, but is called {{w|severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2}} (SARS-CoV-2). So calling the virus or disease "coronavirus" is like calling a specific strain of flu ''The Influenza virus''. However, since the new coronavirus is so hyped in the media it has attracted so much attention, so the name "Coronavirus" has become associated with COVID-19, making it difficult to discuss other types of coronavirus later on.<br />
<br />
As of March 2, 2020, COVID-19 in China has a 20% hospitalization rate and a 2% death rate by current estimates, compared to a [https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-myths.html typical rate of around 0.1% for the flu in the US].<br />
<br />
In this comic, researchers [[Ponytail]], [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are discussing that it is by now too late to try calling the disease its official name COVID-19, as the name coronavirus has stuck. [[Cueball]] reacts with dismay, since there are many other types of coronaviruses. <br />
<br />
The comic becomes absurd when Ponytail compares the coronavirus naming to a giant "car eating spider" living on top of the skyscrapers of the town, which is also just called "The Spider" even though it is technically a mutated ''{{w|Tigrosa annexa}}'' {{w|wolf spider}}. Everyone knows what you mean when you say "Coronavirus", as they do when you mention "The Spider".<br />
<br />
[[Megan]] then asks if they should not also do something about the spider, but Ponytail and Cueball agree that they can only tackle one problem at a time, and coronavirus takes up all their time. Only thing is that Ponytail now takes another commute, probably to avoid getting her car eaten.<br />
<br />
On a more serious note, the comic may also reference the fact that that there are many other problems in the world (both spider and non-spider related {{Citation needed}}) that kill many more people and cause more problems. So this draws a humorous comparison to the fact that we seem to have forgotten about all the wars, etc and focus just on the virus.<br />
<br />
The title text references the health advice that people avoid touching their face with unwashed hands, in order to prevent infections that they picked up by touching things from entering their mucous membranes. (It's a lot easier for an infection to enter the body through the inside of your nose than your hands.) It is likewise quite important to keep the giant spider from touching your face, but for the dissimilar reason that it might bite and eat you.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan is carrying a box with biohazard symbols on it towards a desk where Ponytail (wearing safety glasses) is working on a laptop, across from Cueball (also wearing safety glasses) who is putting a test tube into a centrifuge. There's also a flask on the desk.]<br />
:Ponytail: Feels like we missed the window for the "COVID-19" renaming. "Coronavirus" is just too catchy.<br />
:Cueball: But it's not specific! There are a lot of coronaviruses.<br />
<br />
:[In a frameless panel, Ponytail (still wearing safety glasses) is pointing at a screen or picture showing a modern city skyline with a large spider crawling across three of the high-rise buildings.]<br />
:Ponytail: I think it's fine. It's like, you know the giant spider downtown that sits on the buildings and sometimes eats cars? I think ''technically'' it's a mutant ''T. annexa'' wolf spider, but everyone is just calling it "the spider" and we all know what they mean.<br />
<br />
:[Back to the setting from the first panel. Megan is standing and Ponytail had turned towards her and Cueball has stepped back from the machine.]<br />
:Megan: I've been meaning to ask, what's '''''with''''' that spider? Should we...do something?<br />
:Ponytail: Honestly I've been too busy with the virus stuff to look into it-I just changed my commute to avoid Main St.<br />
:Cueball: Yeah, that's fair. One thing at a time.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:SARS-CoV-2]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Spiders]]</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2277:_Business_Greetings&diff=1881882277: Business Greetings2020-03-06T05:07:48Z<p>172.69.33.89: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2277<br />
| date = March 6, 2020<br />
| title = Business Greetings<br />
| image = business_greetings.png<br />
| titletext = <br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an EYEBALL LICKER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>172.69.33.89https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2270:_Picking_Bad_Stocks&diff=187521Talk:2270: Picking Bad Stocks2020-02-19T23:21:18Z<p>172.69.33.89: reqeust stock market category</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
clearly nobody told Randall about shorting stocks [[Special:Contributions/162.158.18.160|162.158.18.160]] 20:57, 19 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Can someone create a "stock market" category, or "economics"? There are a lot of comics referencing this. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.89|172.69.33.89]] 23:21, 19 February 2020 (UTC)</div>172.69.33.89