XKCD Marks the Spot

XKCD Marks the Spot

Comic (October 22, 2015)

Original blog post on gatesnotes: http://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/XKCD-Marks-the-Spot

Title text: World Polio Day XKCD comic

Explanation

This is one of 53 incomplete explanations: I'm not very good at explaining these things, but maybe someone else can fix it If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

An extra comic drawn by Randall for Bill Gates' blog to celebrate World Polio Day. As noted, the disease polio has nearly been eradicated, with only a few isolated pockets remaining. Current methods of eradicating it are working well. As Ponytail is explaining this, Hairy for some reason claims that they need different methods. He then makes a series of increasingly ridiculous suggestions on different ways to eradicate polio, using overly advanced and complicated (and in some cases, nonexistent) technology. This may be because current methods are lacking the effort and funding to continue.

Transcript

This is one of 53 incomplete explanations: replace [panel n] with descriptions If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

[Panel 1]

Ponytail: The Polio nightmare is almost over.

[Panel 2]

Ponytail: By testing, monitoring, isolating, and vaccinating, we've pushed polio back, town by town, to just a few isolated pockets.

[Panel 3]

Hairy: Sounds like we need a whole new strategy.

Ponytail: Huh?

[Panel 4]

Hairy: How about we crowdsource it? Hold an online vote on which regions to vaccinate next!

Off-Panel Ponytail: What? No. We just need to stay focused.

[Panel 5]

Ponytail: We're 99.9% of the way there. We know how polio spreads and how to beat it. We've done it in almost every country. We just have to finish the job.

[Panel 6]

Hairy: Lets develop a mobile app that checks users for polio, then uses a 3D printer to—

Ponytail: No, we need to keep doing what we're doing: working with locals, testing people who show symptoms, monitoring sewage and vaccinating.

[Panel 7]

Ponytail: If we stop now, a few steps from the finish line, the virus could quickly roll back decades of gains.

[Panel 8]

Hairy: We should genetically engineer the common cold to fight the polio virus. Then we could cure the cold by—

Off-Panel Ponytail: We have the tools. We know what to do. We just need the money and the effort to do it.

[Panel 9]

Ponytail: We beat smallpox this way. We can beat polio, too.

Hairy: Okay, okay, I understand.

[Panel 10]

[Panel 11]

Hairy: Nanobots. With a fleet of polio-fighting nanobots, we—

Off-Screen Ponytail: Eye on the ball!

Hairy: Right, sorry.

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Discussion

Hairy's hair is really messed up. Herobrine (talk) 13:20, 15 April 2018 (UTC)
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