Editing Talk:2749: Lymphocytes

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Battery cells have nothing to do with cell phones. The "cell" in cell phone is short for "cellular" and refers to the communication cells around each tower. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 03:09, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

: And that's short for "sell you our phone" where the contract lets you buy it over an extended time that ends about the same time the spiffier replacement model is available. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.209|172.69.70.209]] 10:42, 14 March 2023 (UTC) 

I was originally thinking the CD4+ would be a reference to ''Call of Duty 4'' and onwards, in which players scream (insults?) at each other while playing. But the feeling has subsided, after considering it. Mentioning it here, though, in leiu of adding it as 'factual'. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.47|172.70.162.47]] 06:06, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
: My interpretation was that 'D4' referred to the music pitch D_4, whicch might've been someone screaming, but I'm also reconsidering this now actually. [[User:Rpgcubed|Rpgcubed]] ([[User talk:Rpgcubed|talk]]) 23:46, 16 March 2023 (UTC)
: The screaming at the d4 dice is likely because of its pointed shape in relation to stepping on it; a common DnD trope. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.238|141.101.76.238]] 13:34, 22 March 2023 (UTC)Stu the DM

It should have bee Natural Born Killer Cells, but some opportunities were always going to be missed... --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.187|172.71.178.187]] 07:16, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

"Gamma-Delta T cells" being "unknown/unclassified" could be a reference to Star Trek, which has the galaxy divided into 4 quadrants: Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. The Delta Quadrant (setting of Start Trek Voyager) and the Gamma Quadrant (seen in Start Trek Deep Space Nine) are unexplored and uncharted from the Federation's point of view. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.129.51|162.158.129.51]] 09:23, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
:Doesn't say "unclassified" but "classified". I don't think the Star Trek quadrants are referred to as "classified". [[User:Inquirer|Inquirer]] ([[User talk:Inquirer|talk]]) 02:29, 15 March 2023 (UTC)
:I had in mind just general "above Top Secret" classifications (or reputed ones) like "Omega Level, Burn before reading" or somesuch. Either that or perhaps 'Greek system' fraternities/sororities and secret societies in general (perhaps there's a Gamma-Delta-Tau, or similar, out there) which seem to be a US cultural thing that seems ripe for Randall to spoof about.
:Bear in mind that he's taking (mostly) real naming conventions and just explaining them funnily (hence why not "Natural Born Killer" cells, mentioned above, which was my first thoughts on reading as well), so shoehorning a Trek reference in without making it more explicitly Trekkie in the 'free description' bit seems a bit like it wasn't even the point.
:My money's on the security level, as an intention. At least until someone comes up with a better cultural reference that fits better but that I hadn't known/remembered on the initial reading. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.57|172.70.85.57]] 13:33, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

So who is/are "the world's coolest immunologist(s)," who got to name Natural Killer cells (NK cells)? Doctoral student Rolf Kiessling and postdoctoral fellow Hugh Pross may have found them, but did they get to name them?
Likewise, who is/are the "significantly less cool immunologist(s)" who named ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 cells?  [[User:TCMits|TCMits]] ([[User talk:TCMits|talk]]) 15:20, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
:Their original paper describing them referred to them as "natural" killer cells, so their use of quotes implies that it was a new title they had come up with. [[User:Ahecht|Ahecht]] ([[User talk:Ahecht|talk]]) 16:13, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Definitely the "coolness" factor is in the naming, not in the discovering. All the discoverers are equally "cool". But coming up with the name "Natural Killer Cells" is orders of magnitude cooler than ILC1, ILC2, and ILC3 (blaaah). [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:11, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Regarding the Gamma-Delta cells being "unknown/classified" seems to be a reference to US Army Delta force commandos who are tasked with top-secret highly classified missions that would be unknown even to other military or political officials.(corrected thanks to Ahecht) [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 16:11, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
:The comic says "unknown/classified", not "unknown/unclassified". [[User:Ahecht|Ahecht]] ([[User talk:Ahecht|talk]]) 16:16, 14 March 2023 (UTC)

Coincidentally on the same day this comic was released two immunologists received the [https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/english/paul-ehrlich-and-ludwig-darmstaedter-prize-insights-into-the-origin-evolution-and-development-of-our-immune-system/ Paul Ehrlich Prize] for their work on the evolution of the "learning" immune system. No clue if this is relevant, not my field of expertise. ;-) --[[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.166|198.41.242.166]] 05:29, 15 March 2023 (UTC)

Whoever added the D&D references to D8 and D4, thank you. Was totally unexpected, and as a DM, I laughed so hard I cried. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.232|172.70.126.232]] 13:54, 15 March 2023 (UTC)
::Team effort. When I found it, it just referenced tabletop games in general. I changed it to D&D specific, because that's really what it is. Most games use d8 for damage like most sports only allow goalies to touch the ball with their hands. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.43|172.70.174.43]] 05:58, 16 March 2023 (UTC)
:::Pedancy: "...allow only goalies...", as goalies generally ''are'' allowed to kick/head/etc, in such sports where others can't handball. Ignoring the "most sports" bit altogether, as I don't know how what your scope is (only those ''with'' goalkeeping-roles, by whatever name?), how you're tallying it up (by basic list? Participation-weighted? Spectator-weighted?) and the rest... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.65|172.71.178.65]] 12:40, 16 March 2023 (UTC)

"[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2749:_Lymphocytes&diff=next&oldid=308593 Vandalism?]" - Yes, certainly, and you got there just before I undid it. And probably the usual suspect. '''Mods: please continue to do the necessary...''' The idiot concerned probably won't stop, but it'd be nice to tidy away some of the more obvious garbage they're littering up the system with. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.57|172.70.85.57]] 15:08, 15 March 2023 (UTC)

: Please, follow [[WP:GOODFAITH]] and assume good faith in these edits; maybe they were testing the MediaWiki software before thinking about how to contribute. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.238.49|172.64.238.49]]
::I'd assume good faith by default, but when you see repeat instances of that kind of change (amongst others), it's clearly no longer a matter of a single 'test', inadvertent error, honest misunderstanding, etc... Yep, that's a recurring form of vandalism, I would concur. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.56|172.70.85.56]] 21:05, 16 March 2023 (UTC)

Does anyone else think the title text could be a reference to plasma weapons in sci-fi?

AFAIK, one of the user-facing technical differences between DVD-R and DVD+R is that the +R type can be read without having to be "closed" at the end of a write session (leaving it "open" lets additional data be written later); whereas the -R type may also be left "open" at the end of a write session, but cannot be read until it is "closed". Or maybe it's that +R can be added to later, but -R can't. I forget exactly. Someone CMIIW. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.18|172.71.155.18]] 17:45, 20 June 2023 (UTC)
:I'm sure it was one ''or'' the other, yes, except that format-agnostic (multi-standard) CDR(W) drives (and/or the operating systems of the time) very quickly became capable of reading the 'unclosed' close-necessary format with no trouble. Occasionally you'd try putting an unclosed audio-CD in an audio disc player and it was too 'traditional', or else your friend/colleague with the slightly less advanced PC couldn't load something that you had no trouble at all with. Probably, by now, anyone still lumbered with old enough hardware/firmware/OS to still be affected by this probably finds it a problem they can take in their stride (they must have worked it out over the last quarter of a century or thereabouts!). ICBW, but certainly it became a negligable issue (or easily self-sorted by the end-users) by the end of my stint in a dedicated computer support position over 15 years ago... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.97|172.71.242.97]] 21:57, 20 June 2023 (UTC)