explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2425: mRNA Vaccine

2021-02-16T18:42:53Z

108.162.241.64: /* Explanation */ it seems like the orders are being misinterpreted into 'build a death star' from an ambiguous statement, so I noted that might be intended.

{{comic
| number = 2425
| date = February 15, 2021
| title = mRNA Vaccine
| image = mrna_vaccine.png
| titletext = To ensure lasting immunity, doctors recommend destroying a second Death Star some time after the first.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a THERMAL EXHAUST PORT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is another in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}. This one is another analogy to how {{w|mRNA vaccines}} work, by creating inactive fragments of the virus to prime the immune system to be prepared to stave off the real thing. This is done in response to Cueball's question to the person vaccinating him, "Why would my body attack something it made itself?", using elements of the film ''{{w|Star Wars (film)|Star Wars: Episode IV}}'' as an analogy.

The analogy starts in the second panel, where the Rebel Alliance has retrieved the {{w|Death Star}} plans, conveyed by {{w|Princess Leia}} to General [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jan_Dodonna Jan Dodonna] (in ''Star Wars'', via {{w|R2-D2}} and some adventures, but shown as a simple handoff here). The Death Star is a space station the size of a small moon that has the power to destroy planets. However, in this panel, the "Death Star plans" are passed down a line of people until they get reinterpreted as something to build and are used to build a Death Star, in contrast to the film, where the plans are used to find a weakness in the enemy Death Star and destroy it. The ensuing panels indicate that people are sent to build the Death Star according to the plans that Princess Leia provided. In the analogy, the mRNA in the vaccine corresponds to the plans for the Death Star, the spike proteins (inactive COVID-19 virus fragments) that the mRNA code for correspond to the benign Death Star itself, and the cellular processes that build spike proteins correspond to the builders of the benign Death Star.

After Leia's Death Star has been built, it is positioned near a planet/moon. This Death Star is ''benign'': it only ''looks'' dangerous and isn't about to actually hurt anyone, as Leia had it built essentially for target practice. The Rebels mobilize to destroy this benign Death Star because it looks like an enemy battle station. However, the Death Star operators are confused, because Leia (a member of the Rebels) had ordered its construction. The Rebels initially attack the surface of the benign Death Star, without much effect; Leia orders the factories to continue developing torpedoes and ships as they run out, presumably putting an extra workload on the factory workers and tiring them out. In the analogy, the Rebels correspond to the immune system's {{w|B cells}} and {{w|T cells}}, which mobilize to attack the spike proteins (the benign Death Star) made as a result of the vaccine, but are often ineffective at first. The body keeps producing these immune cells, trying many variants (many ways of attacking the benign Death Star) in an attempt to find one that works well against the spike proteins. This results in Cueball experiencing {{w|side effects}} from the vaccine, including soreness and tiredness, and he lies down and rests.

After much effort on the Rebels' part, they find a weakness in the benign Death Star, a "thermal exhaust port" vulnerable to "proton torpedoes" that can destroy the Death Star. Firing a proton torpedo down the exhaust port destroys a Death Star very rapidly, compared to the initial, ineffective frontal assault on the surface. After this benign Death Star is destroyed, Princess Leia allows the fleet to stand down. In the analogy, the immune system (the Rebel Alliance) figures out a way to attach to the spike proteins (attack the benign Death Star) made by the mRNA vaccine; the immune system's {{w|antibodies}} (Rebel planners) now "know" how to recognize and destroy things that have these spike proteins — including COVID-19 viruses (real, dangerous Death Stars).

Later on, the vaccinated Cueball approaches White Hat, who is maskless, coughing, and presumably sick with COVID-19. Metaphorically, the rebels are attacked by a truly threatening Death Star, this time led by the enemy, {{w|Darth Vader}}, who says a quote from ''Star Wars'' (although this quote is actually spoken by the Emperor in ''{{w|Return of the Jedi}}''). By now, though, the Rebel Fleet led by Leia already knows the weakness of a Death Star, the thermal exhaust port, and quickly destroys Vader's Death Star. In the analogy, Cueball's immune system (the Rebel Alliance) is able to destroy dangerous COVID-19 viruses (real, threatening Death Stars) because it knows about the virus's spike proteins (the thermal exhaust port). This is represented by Cueball not experiencing any suffering from COVID-19 (Vader's Death Star getting blown up immediately), and he goes on his way whistling merrily, perhaps to the tune of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yixG8pfncOs The Throne Room/End Title] (from the ceremony celebrating the destruction of the Death Star).

Cueball's wearing of a mask is in accordance with {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC}} guidelines, which recommend continuing to wear a mask, practicing social distancing, etc. after getting the vaccine; doctors at CDC "don’t yet know whether getting a COVID-19 vaccine will prevent you from spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 to other people, even if you don’t get sick yourself."[https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html] Further, none of the vaccines currently available are 100% effective. The best, as of the time the cartoon was posted, were about 94% effective at preventing infection.

The title text references the fact that the two COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States as of the date of publication (the {{w|Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine|Pfizer-BioNTech one}} and the {{w|Moderna COVID-19 vaccine|Moderna one}}) require [[2422: Vaccine Ordering|two doses of vaccine]] to be fully effective, as do many others in use worldwide (AstraZeneca, Gameleya Institute, Sinovac, etc.). The second dose strengthens the body's immune response to the spike proteins and causes it to "remember", via antibodies, how to attack those proteins for a long time — hopefully years or even decades. Likewise, the Rebels in the movies destroy two Death Stars, the second one in ''Return of the Jedi''. Incidentally, that second Death Star was destroyed while it was apparently incomplete, much like the Death Star here was destroyed before it could destroy Cueball; however, in the film, the Emperor had deliberately left it with an incomplete outer structure to lure the Rebellion into attacking it, only for the Rebels to find that its superlaser was fully operational.

Vaccination was also explained, xkcd-style, in [[2406: Viral Vector Immunity]]. References to the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' franchise are a [[:Category:Star Wars|recurring theme]] on xkcd.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball seated in a doctor's office getting a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Both he and the doctor are wearing masks; the doctor is also wearing a scrub cap.]
:Doctor: The vaccine contains mRNA instructions for making the virus spike protein.
:Cueball: Weird, so the vaccine is just blueprints?
:Doctor: Yup! Your body reads the mRNA, makes the proteins, and then has an immune reaction to them.
:Cueball: Why would my body attack something it made itself?
:Doctor: Well...

:[Princess Leia and General Dodonna in frame.]
:Leia: Here are the Death Star plans.
:Dodonna: Thank you, Princess.

:[Dodonna, Ponytail, and White Hat in frame.]
:Dodonna: These blueprints are from Princess Leia.
:Ponytail: Ugh, she's always giving us projects.

:[Ponytail and Cueball in frame.]
:Ponytail: Here, take these blueprints to your construction crew.
:Cueball: Affirmative. What is it?
:Ponytail: No idea. Something the Princess wants.
:Cueball: Copy that.

:Panel heading: Soon...
:[A view from outside of the Death Star.]
:Voice from Death Star: Hi, Commander? Construction crew B here.

:[A view from inside the Death Star, with a planet visible through two adjacent windows. Cueball is standing at some kind of control/communications panel.]
:Cueball: We finished building the Princess's big metal orb thing.

:[A view from outside the Death Star again, with the curve of the planet in the foreground.]
:Voice from Death Star: Do you know if she wants us to park it somewhere, or—
:Voices from the planet: '''''AAAAAA!!!'''''

:[A view from the planet's surface with the Death Star in the sky. 3 Cueballs, a Megan-like character, and Ponytail are on the planet's surface.]
:Voice from Death Star: ...Is everything ok?
:Cueball 1: '''''AAAAAAA!'''''
:Cueball 2: ''Imperial battle station!!!''
:Ponytail & Cueball 3: ''AAAAAAAAAA''
:Offscreen voice: ''Red Alert Red Alert''

:[Another view from the planet's surface. There is some type of military encampment surrounded by an open field, with trees and mountains in the background. People are running around on the field, which also contains several currently grounded craft and several flying craft streaming toward the Death Star.]
:Death Star voice: Hello?
:Generic field voices: ''Get the fighters in the air!''
:''Red Alert''
:''Blow it up! Blow it up!''
:''AAAAA''
:Generic tree voices: '''''AAAAAaa'''''
:Generic spacecraft voices: ''Kill it kill it kill it kill it kill it kill it''

:[A zoomed-in view of the outside of the Death Star, which is accumulating light damage. Numerous spacecraft are shooting at it; various explosions occur on the Death Star's surface and in space nearby.]
:Death Star voice: Hello?
:Generic spacecraft voices: ''Shoot it! Shoot it! Shoot it!''
:That armor's too strong! We're not getting through!
:''Keep firing!''

:[A view from inside the Death Star again with Cueball at the control panel and the planet in the background windows; various projectiles and explosions can be seen through the window.]
:Cueball: Can everybody please just chill? We don't even have the laser thing wired up. We—
:'''''BOOM'''''
:''Hey!!'' I ''said'', we...

:[Ponytail enters from the left, and points to her left. Princess Leia points at her.]
:Ponytail: We can't get through! We're running out of proton torpedoes!
:Leia: Send every crew to build more torpedoes!
:Ponytail: There aren't enough ships to—
:Leia: ''Build more ships!!''

:[Ponytail is standing still and Princess Leia is walking to the right with her fists raised.]
:Ponytail: That thing is just sitting there. Are you sure we—
:Leia: ''Keep building ships! Build ships forever! '''Destroy the orb!'''''

:[A view of the Death Star in space and the curvature of the planet off to the side. An enormous torrent of (barely visible) ships is seen streaming from the planet's surface to the Death Star. The damage to the Death Star is slightly worse.]
:Generic ship voices: '''''aaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaa'''''
:Death Star voice: What is ''wrong'' with you people?

:[Back in the real world, Cueball is standing with arms hunched and a cartoon helix above his head. Megan stands next to him.]
:Cueball: Definitely feeling a little sore.
:Megan: Yeah, they said you might have some side effects.
:Megan: You lie down—I'll get you some hot tea and a blanket.

:[An outside view of the damaged Death Star with ships swarming it.]
:Generic voices: ''Die die die die! Die!''

:[An inside view; Cueball appears injured, and the control panel is damaged with a fire on the ground nearby.]
:Cueball: I hate you all so much.

:[The outside of the Death Star again.]
:Ship 1: What's that?!
:Ship 2: Looks like a thermal exhaust port.
:Ship 3: I'm going in!

:[The outside of the Death Star.]
:''pew pew pew pew pew pew''

:[Beat panel.]

:[The Death Star explodes.]

:[A disheveled Dodonna, Princess Leia, and Ponytail in frame.]

:[The same frame.]
:Leia: Good work.

:[In the real world, Cueball sits on top of a bed with a blanket draped over his lap. Megan stands next to the bed.]
:Cueball: I'm feeling better today.
:Megan: That's great!

:Panel heading: A few months later...
:[Cueball and White Hat walking past each other. Cueball is wearing a face mask; White Hat isn't but coughs into his elbow.]
:White Hat: ''Cough cough''

:[The real Death Star drifts toward the planet.]
:Death Star voice: We have reached the rebel system, Lord Vader.

:[View from inside the real Death Star.]
:Vader: Now they shall witness the firepower of this fully armed and oper—

:[Leia, Ponytail, and Cueball in frame.]
:Leia: '''''Thermal exhaust port!!'''''
:Ponytail: ''Aaa''
:Cueball: ''Aaa''

:[An equally large torrent of ships stream from the planet to the real Death Star.]
:Death Star voice: What.
:Various ships: '''''aA AAAAAAA aaa aAAAAAAA aaa'''''
:'''''AAAAAA aaa aAAAAA'''''

:[The Death Star explodes, leaving debris trailing away.]

:[In the real world, White Hat and Cueball continue to walk past each other.]
:Cueball: ♫ ♫

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring face masks]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Biology]]

2423: Project Orion

2021-02-11T03:33:45Z

108.162.241.64:

{{comic
| number = 2423
| date = February 11, 2021
| title = Project Orion
| image = project_orion.png
| titletext = If you tune out again, when you tune back in you'll be hearing about dusty plasma fission fragment rockets.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FADED PHYSICIST. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

White Hat and Cueball are having a conversation.{{Citation needed}} In the first panel, Cueball is telling White Hat about his gardening experiences. White Hat tunes out for the middle two panels, and when he starts paying attention again, Cueball is discussing {{w|Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)|Project Orion}}.

Project Orion was an ambitious plan to launch enormous spaceships into orbit by detonating a series of nuclear bombs below them. The force from the explosions would be absorbed by a pusher plate on the bottom of the rocket, which is the detail Cueball is sharing when White Hat tunes back in. It was considered feasible for construction, but abandoned out of concerns for both cost and the idea of spaceships literally armed with atomic bombs. Its coolness and the fact that it involves physics and engineering may be why physicists' conversations tend to converge to it.

The fact that physicists' conversations tend to converge towards Project Orion is similar to how biologists' conversations tend to converge towards carcinization in [[2418: Metacarcinization]]. This may turn out to be part of a series, similarly to the scaled world series, that will show similar examples in other fields, such as meteorologists' conversations converging toward tornadogenesis, mathematicians' conversations converging toward the Riemann hypothesis, or Randall's conversations converging toward dinosaurs.

Project Orion has been mentioned before, in [[786: Exoplanets]], where Beret Guy sums it up as "nuke-riding city ships."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is explaining to White Hat.]
:Cueball: Our garden grew really well last year, so we think we might put a second raised bed along the garage, if we can find a... [text fades to white]

:[Cueball looks around in confusion.]

:Cueball: [text fades back in] ...thanks to X-ray [ablation?], the pusher plate would absorb the nuclear blast, recoil, and then return to position for the next bomb. Such a wild idea! Probably good that it was abandoned.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]

Talk:839: Explorers

2016-12-29T00:54:24Z

108.162.241.64:

How is that ship flying in the first place? Wouldn't the pieces fall off? '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:59, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:Inertia The pieces are moving at the same speed as the board. You would need energy to slow it down. Search it up. It's everywhere on the web. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.64|108.162.241.64]] 00:54, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

Magnetic Chess :-) [[Special:Contributions/121.99.55.58|121.99.55.58]] 03:23, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

Is the mini board really floating? It looked to me like it was adrift in sea. I think I might make some edits.
:I think the board is actually rolling on casters. If you look closely you can see a small round circle by each corner. I've edited it a bit. {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.63}}

This comic actually has a common error by non-chess players using chess positions: a1, and by extension a3 and c3, are dark squares. h1 is supposed to be the light-squared corner. [[Special:Contributions/18.215.1.155|18.215.1.155]] 06:50, 4 May 2013 (UTC)
:Unless, of course, the positions are relative to their small board, where al corners are white and hence numbering has to start on a white square [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.218|108.162.212.218]] 17:41, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

It looks like there are wheels in the corners. [[Special:Contributions/209.104.241.66|209.104.241.66]] 16:25, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

The loose 3x3 board is from a Classic Star Trek 3-D chess set. The little pegs on the corners are used to secure the board in different places around the game. [[Special:Contributions/74.98.181.175|74.98.181.175]] 02:03, 11 August 2013 (UTC)
: No, it's not. The Star Trek 3D chess consists of 3 stationary 4x4's and 4 mobile 2x2's. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.183|108.162.254.183]] 02:25, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Make of it what you will, but I just realized that the robber in Catan looks a lot like a black bishop....[[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.45|173.245.54.45]] 14:27, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

There's a typo in the comic. It says "misson" instead of "mission". [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.18|108.162.219.18]] 04:55, 13 June 2014 (UTC)
: and I just adjusted the transcript to reflect that [[User:SuperSupermario24|Just some random derp]] 05:08, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1351: Metamaterials

2016-12-27T14:20:11Z

108.162.241.64:

You should also note the reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roses_are_red - which should be quite obvious though.
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.61|108.162.229.61]] 06:34, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
:See also http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roses_are_red Sebastian :--[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.194|173.245.53.194]] 06:28, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
::Dude that's the exact same thing except mobile. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.64|108.162.241.64]] 14:20, 27 December 2016 (UTC)

Is there any guidelines for making a transcript? In my opinion any explanation of the comic should stop at a note of who deliver the line. Only when it is not clear in which order a text should be read or for special comics should there be anything else than written text from the comic. [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:50, 4 April 2014 (UTC)
:Take a look [http://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Proposals#Transcripts here]. It was a (short) discussion about transcripts. {{User:Grep/signature|12:20, 04 April 2014}}
::Thanks - from that I would say loose the explanation of what is in each image, and just write Megan or Megan off screen. I will. Change to that.[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:13, 5 April 2014 (UTC)
If I'm not terrible mistaken, this is not how metamaterials work. Can anybody link me a work about wavelength-shifting metamaterials?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.249|108.162.210.249]] 16:35, 4 April 2014 (UTC) (whoever put this on grep's talk page... it's supposed to go here)
:I have a feeling this cartoon would be funnier if it ''was'' how metamaterials work. But what do I know about metamaterials? The reference to Instagram was pretty funny, though. Why people want to wreck fine photos is beyond me. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.157|108.162.225.157]] 05:08, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

For red to turn into blue, you still need a nonlinear medium and a lot of red. Or maybe a temporally modulated medium with a modulation similiar to the frequency of visible light...?
(This needs to go in the discussion. Not the explanation. FTFY. You are welcome. ;) [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.67|173.245.55.67]] 20:25, 4 April 2014 (UTC)BK201

;The title text
I understood it as a filter that go online into peoples instagram pictures and turning them back to the original version. That is also a kind of a meta material - ie. not a real material. Of course(?) Randall will not apply a filter in front of every users camera when the picture is taken and before people use a filter on this "meta filtered" picture when they post it on instagram...? The reason I wish someone else to make the change is that I do not use instagram or filters and hope someone else who can do this better than me now dare to change this wrong explanation :-) [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:09, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

:I really think it's a sheet that Megan holds in front of the flowers, and not a box. And I think that Randall does indeed mean to hold a sheet in front of peoples cameras when they take a picture. The phrase photobombing is used for the act of intruding into the camera view when someone is taking a photo in order to disturb the picture (for example jumping out in front of a group photo, obscuring the group). {{unsigned ip|141.101.80.205}}

::Well good thing I didn't correct then :-) But then the explanation is not good enough for someone not using these things. Is it so that you apply the filter before you take the photo directly into instagram - so you never see the real photo. Then the title would make some sence! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:25, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

It's a box. If you look closely you can see the side in panel 3 and the bottom in panel 4. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.44|108.162.219.44]] 05:35, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

;Linking to Photonic Metamaterial for the Physics or Engineering-inclined

This article explains the challenges and the current approaches for metamaterials that operate at the frequencies of light.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photonic_metamaterials

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.89|108.162.215.89]] 07:00, 10 April 2014 (UTC)