explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2013: Rock

2021-01-05T23:30:35Z

172.69.33.141: various comments

Wow, 3 paragraphs and still created by a “BOT”. Good self control today, explainers! 😂. If someone does change it, may I humbly suggest it be created by a “rock”? [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 19:40, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

Note: this explanation was written by someone who's not very good at skipping stones, if they think 1-2 skips is typical. A single skip is about the same as just throwing a rock in the water! (Just kidding around because it's Friday) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:39, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

: Actually, just throwing a rock in the water would be zero skips by Randall's reckoning. The five skips in this comic are followed by a "plunk", indicating Randall does not count the rock's final entry into the water as a skip. Though you did say "ABOUT the same", so technically you're still right. 8-) [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 02:23, 16 July 2018 (UTC)

Anyone know if there could even be a rock that came from a volcano near the south pole when the world was frozen over before multicellular life began, and if so, when would that have occurred? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:40, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

:Looking at {{w|Geologic temperature record}}, I suspect even the "world was frozen over before multicellular life began" is pretty bold statement not supported by actual evidence. Existence of specific volcano is likely even less supported. On the other hand, we can't disprove it either. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:21, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

::Likely, she is holding some sort of igneous rock found at one of the locations mentioned above. How she knows the age of the rock is the real mystery. Did she pick it up just now and she is guessing? Was it catalogued in a geoarchaeologic dig site? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.234|172.68.65.234]] 03:48, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

:::Perhaps she knows which formation it is from through colouration / texture / present-day context, and has read about the formation. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.141|172.69.33.141]] 23:30, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

"philosophical perspective". Does mean that this is the philosophers' stone?

: Only outside the US. [[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]]) 12:46, 1 July 2018 (UTC)

I don't think the assertion that the stone travelled from North Europe or South Africa is correct. I read it as Megan is at one of those locations, the stone's journey was from its birth at the south pole to meet her millions of years later and thousands of miles away. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.33|162.158.158.33]] 16:58, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

:It's also unclear if she means where the south pole is now (that is, the land now called Antarctica, formerly existing at lower latitudes) or where it was then (now existing at lower latitudes). But yeah, the means of mass transport aren't elucidated, where plate tectonics, surface flow such as erosion or [[1082|orogeny]], or human activity like sample shipping -- but it's probably all of the above. All we know is what's happening to the stone at the moments the comic depicts, which is definitely a short-range motion. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.141|172.69.33.141]] 23:30, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

He had seen things people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. He watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, plunk! Time to die.

: So it's a replicant stone! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.33|162.158.158.33]] 10:40, 3 July 2018 (UTC)

:: Or a finity stone. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.141|172.69.33.141]] 23:30, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

Very similar to an old Peanuts cartoon. https://i0.wp.com/www.overheavenshill.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/charlie-brown.jpg (deadlink)

How can a stone remain buried until it erodes away? Remaining buried until the Earth is swallowed by the Sun is at least theoretically possible, though highly unlikely given my probably-flawed understanding of geological and astronomical time scales, and remaining buried until it melts down into the mantle seems plausible. But if the stone erodes away, won’t it need to be unburied first? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.110|172.69.22.110]] 11:52, 28 November 2018 (UTC)

:I think the operative commonality between the three of the possible fates mentioned is that the rock has lost identity as an individual stone -- instead, it is merely part of a sedimentary composite. Now, I suspect a volcanic (or metamorphic if the rock was significantly altered since eruption, which seems likely given the time scales) stone would be harder than the matrix in which it is embedded, and so erosion around it would tend to reveal it before it is eroded away itself; but if it was, for the sake of supposition, about as hard -- then part of it may be surfaced, but the whole stone will not be exposed until the last bits of it have worn to sediment. That is, it would never again be picked up and held or indeed skipped by a creature analogous to Megan. Of course, that's likely for reasons unrelated to spans of time, also -- consider the mass of all biota over the course of geologic time compared to the overall mass of the crust, let alone mantle material! Most rock material is never touched by life, which I think adds to the marvel of how the planet has been transformed by life. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.141|172.69.33.141]] 23:30, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

2220: Imagine Going Back in Time

2021-01-04T18:40:50Z

172.69.33.141: /* Explanation */ fix

{{comic
| number = 2220
| date = October 25, 2019
| title = Imagine Going Back in Time
| image = imagine_going_back_in_time.png
| titletext = I wonder what the trendy adults in 2019 who are too cool for Pokemon will be into. Probably Digimon!
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is checking his ''{{w|Pokémon Go}}'' app to check on the status of a Pokémon he had previously left in a gym (to defend it against the other two teams in the game). In the gym he sees that another player named "Reelect Trump 2020" has left a frog Pokémon, which is now standing next to his. Cueball, evidently not a fan of President Trump or his supporters, finds it distasteful to be indirectly associated with someone whose political views he finds unpleasant. (Alternatively, it may simply be that Cueball doesn't want politics injected into a game that he plays for fun.)

When he remarks on this to [[Megan]], she observes out how strange that remark would sound if he said it to his younger self from 20 years ago. Normally when people say "imagine going back in time", they are merely constructing a hypothetical scenario to illustrate how rapidly society has changed over the years. Megan is likely pointing out that the idea of Donald Trump becoming the President of the United States (let alone coming up for re-election) would have seemed very farfetched just 20 years ago.

However, it turns out that Cueball somehow actually does ''have'' the time-travel technology required to pull this off, and so he takes Megan's suggestion literally and goes back in time 20 years to do exactly what she suggested: he repeats the statement to his younger self to see what his reaction will be.

Unfortunately, past Cueball (in the year 1999) chooses to focus on a completely different aspect of the statement: the fact that ''Pokémon'' - a game that past Cueball sees as a children's game - will still somehow be popular in 20 years, and that his adult self is still playing it. These observations make Cueball feel uncomfortable, as they highlight the fact that he is spending time on pursuits that his younger self sees as frivolous or childish. He gets defensive and starts to argue with his younger self.

{{w|Pokémon}} is a media franchise that debuted in 1996 in Japan as both a video game and a trading card game. It was originally designed for and marketed to younger children (the tie-in cartoon series constantly emphasizes its main characters are ten years old), with a design, aesthetic and gameplay that were optimized for a younger audience. Since then, and up to 2019, there have been a total of eight generations of video games on consoles. As the franchise continued to thrive and evolve, it's gone through multiple generations, including ''Pokémon Go'', an augmented reality game for smartphones. These latest versions, in particular, have become popular with (and marketed to) adults, some of whom grew up playing the earlier generations.

In 1999 in North America, only the first generation of Pokémon video games had been released, consisting of {{w|Pokémon Red and Blue|''Pokémon Blue'' and ''Pokémon Red''}} for the Nintendo Gameboy. The second generation of Pokémon video games would not even be announced in Japan until {{w|Pokémon Gold and Silver#Release|November 1999}}, and advertising for the North American release would begin in December of 1999. A person living in 1999, who has only seen the first generation, with no official confirmation that a second generation was even being considered, and unable to predict the nostalgia market that would appear later, would quite plausibly wonder about its popularity 20 years later.

{{w|Donald J. Trump}} is the president of the United States at the time of publishing, elected in 2016. Even during his campaign, the idea of his election was considered absurd in many circles, as he had never held any kind of public office, and had no background that would lend itself to expertise in government or public policy. Prior to his election, he was primarily known as a New York real estate mogul and host of the 2003 reality television show ''The Apprentice''. While he'd been teasing the idea of a presidential run since the 1980s, and indeed {{w|Donald Trump 2000 presidential campaign|was seeking the Reform Party candidacy in 1999}} (at the advice of then-Governor of Minnesota {{w|Jesse Ventura}}, another actor-turned-politician), most people did not take the idea seriously, and the concept of him actually being President of the United States would have been hugely unexpected to most Americans in an earlier era.

Randall released a comic about Pokémon Go less than a week after its release back in July 2016: [[1705|1705: Pokémon Go]]. But Pokémon in general has been a [[:Category:Pokémon|recurring theme]] in xkcd long before Pokémon Go was released.

[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-the-frog Pepe the Frog] is an internet meme that has become associated with Donald Trump after his use of it during his presidential campaign. The use of a frog Pokémon, therefore, is a callback to this internet phenomenon.

The Pokémon left in the gym is most likely [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Politoed_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Politoed], the only official frog Pokémon released in the game at the time of publication. It comes from the tadpole series with [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Poliwag_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Poliwag] that evolves into [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Poliwhirl_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Poliwhirl] which by using a [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/King%27s_Rock King's Rock] can be evolved to Politoed (instead of to [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Poliwrath_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Poliwrath]). There are other frog like Pokémon in the game which are scheduled to be added to Pokémon Go, but where people who dislike Trump might have chosen [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Toxicroak_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Toxicroak], it seems an unlikely choice by a fan that hopes Trump is reelected!

This comic's joke is similar to one used in the 1985 science-fiction film ''{{w|Back to the Future}}'', in which Doc Brown (of 1955) is shocked to learn that {{w|Ronald Reagan}} would be the President of the United States in thirty years' time, when in 1955 Reagan was a TV actor.

{{w|Digimon}}, as mentioned in the title text, is another media franchise which is similar to Pokémon in some ways, though it is sometimes perceived as more "cool" and "adult" oriented. Its popularity in North America rose around 1999 with the airing of its anime series, but [https://geekinsider.com/digimon-vs-pokemon-retrospective-monster-marketing/ never became as popular as Pokémon].

This was the first of two time travel comics in less than a week, as the one two comics after this one, [[2222: Terminator: Dark Fate]], also had future Cueballs travel back to visit their past self.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball talks to Megan while looking at his smart phone.]
:Cueball: Ugh. A player named "Reelect Trump 2020" put a frog Pokemon in the gym next to mine.

:[Megan puts her hand to her face. Cueball is holding a device in his hand with an antenna. He uses the other hand to move a stick on the device.]
:Megan: Imagine going back in time and saying that to yourself 20 years ago.
:Cueball: Oh, I have a time machine! I'll try that.

:[A sound effect between panels, likely the sound of Cueball's time machine.]
:Bzzzzt

:[Two Cueballs standing, facing each other. The one on the right is holding the handheld device, and is thus Cueball from 2019. He is apparently repeating his statement to the other Cueball from 1999, with only the last 3 words shown. He gestures towards the left Cueball. Above the left Cueball there is a frame with a caption:]
:1999
:Cueball from 2019: ...next to mine.

:[Cueball from 1999 is shown, with Cueball from 2019 speaking off panel.]
:Cueball from 1999: I see.
:Cueball from 1999: Pokemon is still popular in 2019?
:Cueball from 2019: Yeah.

:[Cueball from 2019 is holding a finger up in front of Cueball from 1999.]
:Cueball from 1999: And it's cool for people your age to play it?
:Cueball from 2019: OK, I did not come here to be mocked.
:Cueball from 1999: This is a sobering cautionary tale.
:Cueball from 2019: '''''Listen, self...'''''

==Trivia==
* The idea of people extending their childhood hobbies into adulthood was explored in a more positive light in [[219: Blanket Fort]] and [[150: Grownups]]. The blurred line between childhood and adulthood is a recurring theme on xkcd.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]

[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Time travel]]
[[Category:Politics]]

2338: Faraday Tour

2021-01-04T18:34:59Z

172.69.33.141: /* Explanation */ direct

{{comic
| number = 2338
| date = July 27, 2020
| title = Faraday Tour
| image = faraday_tour.png
| titletext = I asked them if it was safe to be running tours during the pandemic. They said, "During the what?"
}}

==Explanation==

[[Hairy]], addressing an unseen camera (possibly the reader's POV) welcomes viewers to a {{w|Live streaming|livestream}} broadcast - that he calls/brands as a 'Livecast' - walking through "the world's largest {{w|Faraday cage}}." A Faraday cage blocks {{w|Electromagnetic field|electromagnetic transmission}} into and out of the cage area. Attempting to broadcast a walk through such a cage with any medium that uses radio waves would (theoretically, at least) cause the transmitter's signal to drop out completely, resulting in the loading wheel shown in panels three and four. Faraday cages do not necessarily have to be dark inside, as this one appears to be (they typically block longer wavelengths than those of visible light, which consists of electromagnetic waves). However, the darkness visually aligns with the concept of {{w|communications blackout}}, which is what Hairy's viewers experience while Hairy is in the cage. The darkness could be taken as a metaphor for depending so heavily on electronic connectivity for one's view of the world that anything not directly connected is conceived as unobservable.

The Faraday cage that Hairy is visiting may also be an {{w|anechoic chamber}} for testing radio equipment, which would be completely lined with {{w|radiation-absorbent material}}, not just an open-air cage, to ensure that the measurements inside are of the highest quality. There's no particular reason that it would have to have the lights off for his tour (in fact, it would be better to have the lights on so that he could see the features inside), but some anechoic chambers have been used for [https://www.zdnet.com/article/quietest-place-on-earth-causes-hallucinations/ sensory deprivation experiments], in which participants are shut inside in total darkness and quiet.

"Smash that like (or subscribe, etc.) button" is a typical command given by YouTubers to watchers, asking to publicly "like" the video or subscribe to their channel if they enjoyed it, ultimately to boost the creator's popularity. Developers want lots of views, likes, and subscribes because YouTube pays artists (e.g. $1 per 1000 views).

The title text refers to COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. The joke is that, as they don't get cell service in the cage, the owners would be unaware of global events. This implies for comedic effect that the owners and workers solely live inside the Faraday cage, continuing the theme of treating connectivity as the only way to acquire information. They would still be able to receive news if they ever step outside to welcome visitors, or have print media delivered, but their choice to unconventionally isolate themselves might reflect their general attitudes to the world outside and it is also implied that Hairy is one of the rare few outsiders they have pre-agreed to allow to visit, or one of the few people who would think to ask for and plan a tour during a pandemic.

Randall has referenced Faraday cages for comedic effect in the past. See [[1142: Coverage]].

==Transcript==
:[Close-up on Hairy]
:Hairy: Hey there superfans, welcome to the livecast!

:[Hairy walks toward an opening in a large building]
:Hairy: Got a real treat for you today: a tour of the world's largest Faraday cage!
:Hairy: C'mon, let's check it-

:[Two panels of a "loading" spinner on a black background]

:[Hairy exits the building]
:Hairy: -was ''so cool!'' Wow!!
:Hairy: Thanks for coming along, and don't forget to smash that like button!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2405: Flash Gatsby

2021-01-04T18:30:50Z

172.69.33.141: comment

I think this link should be referenced (and something added about how the copyright for this particular work is specifically extended), but not sure how to : https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/595567/why-the-great-gatsby-isnt-public-domain#:~:text=Copyright%20laws%20in%20America%20are,domain%20until%20January%201%2C%202021.&text=In%201976%2C%20Congress%20passed%20the,revised%20copyright%20laws%20from%201909. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.121|162.158.62.121]] 02:30, 31 December 2020 (UTC)

I have one day to figure out how to do this in real life. Anybody have some tips?
[[User:HostnameNotCaroline|HostnameNotCaroline]] ([[User talk:HostnameNotCaroline|talk]]) 12:49, 31 December 2020 (UTC)

I do have tips for a plan, though I don't have a full-fledged plan. Presenting the book, sourcing the book, and fixing problems after publishing are all going to be separate steps. Keep in mind that it is ''only'' the text of the book that is copyright free, don't go taking something from the movie. I also don't know if later versions and revisions are covered or not- or if there were any. (What about forewords? They might be covered by copyright still.) I also recommend uploading it to a site that supports updating-in-place so that you can publish the new version without destroying all links to it.

Here's how I imagine it. You load the book and are faced with an introduction on what it is. Then the reader is either ploped into the start of the book with a table of contents accessible somewhere or into the table of contents directly. There needs to be some way of moving to a particular page or chapter without crowdsourced guesswork or a thousand clicks/page-swipes. You're going to want to format chapter starts (and titles if applicable). Give the chapters clear spacing and centered headers as a book would. Don't forget about how the text will be presented. It needs to be legible, people won't want to use it if it's not. If you can't vary the size, font, and color I recommend a 12pt-20pt serif font that's black on white. Honestly though, I think that the quality of the presentation itself will be what people judge your work by. That's kind of what separates publishers when multiple people publish the same work.

I hope at least some of that was applicable. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.155|172.68.132.155]] 13:34, 31 December 2020 (UTC)

Won't it stay up for longer if you publish it in correct timezone, making it available for those still in 2020? How does copyright law interact with timezones? How does flash's killswitch? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.25|162.158.203.25]] 14:16, 31 December 2020 (UTC)
:I'm still able to use Flash in Google Chrome, and it's after noon in my timezone (EST). Maybe it will actually stop with the next update? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:43, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

The copyright law in question states that a work becomes public domain at the '''end''' of the year, a certain number of years after the author (or last author in the case of a collaboration) died. In Canada, that time frame is 50 years. In the U.S., I believe it is 75 years, but copyright renewals were a thing in the States for a time. Because F. Scott Fitzgerald died in 1940 (80 years ago), his work ''finally'' goes into public domain at the end of this year after the 75 year term and the renewal expire.
[[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 15:53, 31 December 2020 (UTC)

Great Gatsby seems to be the work everyone is waiting to plagiarize legally. It's been mentioned in several reports on NPR today. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:43, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

"It was obviously delayed one day to come out on new year." Or another comic will come out today (Friday), and this was an extra comic and not a delayed one. I'm removing this sentence until we know. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 17:58, 1 January 2021 (UTC)
: per https://xkcd.com/archive/, this is not true. The publish date is 2020-12-30.

2405: Flash Gatsby

2021-01-04T18:29:58Z

172.69.33.141: not true, per https://xkcd.com/archive/ (hovering over shows 12/30 as publish date)

{{comic
| number = 2405
| date = December 30, 2020
| title = Flash Gatsby
| image = flash_gatsby.png
| titletext = Protip: At midnight your excuse for not having read The Great Gatsby can switch from "I'm worried about violating copyright" to "I think my copy requires Flash."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a green light. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. It's hard to enumerate why the moments that the copyright expires and flash is no longer officially supported, are not exactly the same, but Randall seems to expect us to do this. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic unfolds over the last few seconds of 2020 and the first few seconds of 2021. [[Cueball]] is attempting to do something requiring the overlap of two eras that only abut: creating an "unauthorized" adaptation of ''The Great Gatsby'', using the Adobe Flash plugin platform.

''{{w|The Great Gatsby}}'' is a classic novel written by {{w|F. Scott Fitzgerald}} in 1925. Copyright law in the United States of America, where ''The Great Gatsby'' was first published, was retroactively extended several times in the 1990s and early 2000s, causing the copyright on ''The Great Gatsby'' to extend [https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/595567/why-the-great-gatsby-isnt-public-domain until the end of 2020]. In 2021, it finally entered the public domain so that it became legal to make a copy without violating copyright law.

{{w|Adobe Flash}}, formerly known as Shockwave Flash, is a web plugin that was commonly used by many websites in the late 1990s and 2000s. It allowed website creators to add animations, sound, and complex logic to build games, videos, and other interactive experiences. Presumably, the Flash version of the novel is some kind of interactive reader, animated cartoon, or perhaps even a game.

Over the years, Adobe Flash was repeatedly exploited by hackers, incurring heavy costs on {{w|Adobe Inc.|Adobe}} as they tried to update Flash against these attacks after rushing features out before stabilizing them. Newer technologies are now able to provide comparable features with more compatibility, more community involvement, and less risk, so support for Flash is being phased out by most web browsers. Adobe officially [https://www.adobe.com/ca/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html ended support for Flash] after December 31, 2020.

In line with Adobe's decision, [https://www.chromium.org/flash-roadmap#TOC-Upcoming-Changes Chrome is blocking Flash in January]. This will make [https://www.newgrounds.com/games entire internet culture histories spanning many years of making and engaging Flash experiences] unusable for most people. Therefore, Cueball's Flash version of ''The Great Gatsby'' will become legal at the very moment that everyone should stop using it.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] suggests that the withdrawal of Flash support occurs after the copyright expiration rather than simultaneously with it. This is most likely because the applicable copyright law in the United States states that the creative work becomes public domain at the end of the year 2020 and Flash gets disabled at the beginning of the year 2021. So it is conceivable (but not practical) that there is one second when the novel is public domain and Flash is still enabled.

By late 2020, Flash Player was already blocked by most browsers, but could still be whitelisted on individual sites. Using old versions of browsers, or workarounds to run blocked extensions, Cueball's Great Gatsby may still be readable after the official Flash End of Life date of January 1, 2021. Even with these workarounds, Flash Player itself will block Flash content from playing on January 12, 2021, making that the final death date for official modern versions of Flash.

After January 12, Flash content may still be accessible through older builds of Flash Player, and through various [https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_flash_showcase archival] and [https://ruffle.rs/ emulation] projects.

The title wording does multiple work, with a number of possible meanings to it. It's the 'Gatsby' book via the medium of the electronic Flash format. Because of the briefest of availability (at best, a single moment), it appears and disappears again 'in a flash'. Being 'flash' is a very apt description of the millionaire Gatsby character himself ('Flash the cash' is being ostentatious). And, if the endeavor is not actually as legitimate as hoped, the word has also referred to felonious behaviors and forged copies.

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is sitting at a desk using his laptop.]
:Off-panel voice: 3... 2... 1... ''Happy New Year!''
:Cueball: Okay, it’s up!
:Cueball: Annnnnd ... support was pulled, it’s down again.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:There's only a very short window of time in which I can post my unauthorized Flash® adaptation of ''The Great Gatsby''.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Protip]] <!-- title text ->

2404: First Thing

2020-12-29T02:04:34Z

172.69.33.141: ce

{{comic
| number = 2404
| date = December 28, 2020
| title = First Thing
| image = first_thing.png
| titletext = Then I'm going to go on a weeks-long somatic hypermutation bender, producing ever-more targeted antibodies, while I continue to remain distanced and follow guidance from public health authorities.
}}

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

This comic, somewhat like [[2402: Into My Veins]], references both the {{w|COVID-19 vaccine}} and a common Internet trend.

The {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}} has been one of the most consequential and broadly unpleasant events in living memory. As of the publication of this strip, it is estimated to have caused over 1.5 million deaths worldwide, with over 300,000 deaths in the United States, with many more serious cases, often with lasting impacts. Even for those who have been spared infection, measures to slow the spread of the virus have been highly impactful, and have been ongoing for nearly a year.

In consequence of all of this, many people are excited for the vaccine (which will hopefully end the pandemic). Many people online have been sharing plans for what they'll do after getting the vaccine, like "see my friends" or "travel the world." In this comic, Ponytail takes the trend literally, listing instead what will happen in her body immediately after getting the vaccine.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Cueball are walking toward the right side of a single panel. Ponytail is gesturing with one arm.]

:Ponytail: The ''first'' thing I'm going to do after I get the vaccine?
:Ponytail: Definitely make a bunch of spike proteins and engulf them with dendritic cells.
:Ponytail: Then I'll probably display the antigens to my T-cells...

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]

2404: First Thing

2020-12-29T02:00:18Z

172.69.33.141: fixes

{{comic
| number = 2404
| date = December 28, 2020
| title = First Thing
| image = first_thing.png
| titletext = Then I'm going to go on a weeks-long somatic hypermutation bender, producing ever-more targeted antibodies, while I continue to remain distanced and follow guidance from public health authorities.
}}

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

This comic, somewhat like [[2402: Into My Veins]], references both the {{w|COVID-19 vaccine}} and a common Internet trend.

The {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}} has been one of the most consequential and broadly unpleasant events in living memory. As of the publication of this strip, it is estimated to have caused over 1.5 million deaths worldwide, with over 300,000 deaths in the United States, with many more serious cases, often with lasting impacts. Even for those who have been spared infection, measures to slow the spread of the virus have been highly impactful, and have been ongoing for nearly a year.

In consequence of all of this, many people are excited for the vaccine (which will hopefully end the pandemic). Many people online have been sharing plans for what they'll do after getting the vaccine, like "see my friends" or "travel the world." In this comic, Ponytail takes the trend literally, listing instead what will happen in her body immediately after getting the vaccine.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Cueball are walking toward the right side of a single panel. Ponytail is gesturing with one arm.]

:Ponytail: The ''first'' thing I'm going to do after I get the vaccine?
:Ponytail: Definitely make a bunch of spike proteins and engulf them with dendritic cells.
:Ponytail: Then I'll probably display the antigens to my T-cells...

{{comic discussion}}
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[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
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[[Category:Biology]]