https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.70.35.85&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T08:21:50ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2461:_90%27s_Kid_Space_Program&diff=2117462461: 90's Kid Space Program2021-05-10T21:48:47Z<p>172.70.35.85: /* Explanation */ Replaced wikipedia link with a more standard wikipedia link.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2461<br />
| date = May 10, 2021<br />
| title = 90's Kid Space Program<br />
| image = 90s_kid_space_program.png<br />
| titletext = NASA may not want to admit it, but at this point they ARE the 90's Kid Space Program.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an ORBITAL LAUNCH SYSTEM. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
The "launch system" is just one of the "rubber popper" toys popular in the 90's. These toys are little rubber hemispheres, about 1" in diameter. When turned inside-out, they will snap back to their original shape, popping up into the air. The joke is that kids who grew up with these toys will think they're a great idea to propel a space ship to orbit, when it clearly can't reach orbital velocity.{{Citation needed}}<br />
<br />
This comic references rubber popper toys, a fixture of 90's kid culture, combined with a spacecraft planning to use a large instance to get into orbit, an absurd juxtaposition.<br />
<br />
The title text implies that many 90's kids are now working at {{w|NASA}} as adults.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[A command and service module are attached by four long trusses to a giant popper. The popper is in its inverted configuration, ready to pop.]<br />
<br />
Caption: The 90's Kid Space Program prepares for their first orbital launch<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Space]]</div>172.70.35.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2454:_Fully_Vaccinated&diff=2116752454: Fully Vaccinated2021-05-08T00:33:23Z<p>172.70.35.85: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2454<br />
| date = April 23, 2021<br />
| title = Fully Vaccinated<br />
| image = fully_vaccinated.png<br />
| titletext = "You still can't walk into someone's house without being invited!" "What? Oh, I see your confusion. No, this vaccine is for a bat VIRUS. I'm fine with doorways and garlic and stuff."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a FULLY VACCINATED VAMPIRE, which wants to know more about the vampire lore invoked in the title text, and who and how it is misunderstood and who says what and...}}<br />
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}}, specifically regarding the [[:Category:COVID-19 vaccine|COVID-19 vaccine]].<br />
<br />
The {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}} (CDC) has stated that once people are fully vaccinated, they are able to visit other people's houses (and not risk spreading/catching coronavirus). The implication, of course, is that you can visit people that you would also have visited before the outbreak. The humor in this comic comes from [[Megan]] who is just going to visit a random stranger's house. She explains this is okay because she is fully vaccinated, telling the person in the house that she is two weeks past her second dose. This was part of the topic of the last vaccine comic [[2450: Post Vaccine Social Scheduling]].<br />
<br />
Restrictions to socializing, brought in as various governments reacted to the emergent COVID-19 pandemic, often disallowed or discouraged visiting family, friends, etc, beyond a mutually isolating 'support bubble', which meant that many house visits that might have occurred beforehand were no longer advisable. With the development and distribution of vaccines, and the eventual receiving of a second dose as applicable, the rules have been modified to allow those vaccinated to once again resume some degree of their prior outgoing behavior where the risks have been mitigated.<br />
<br />
In this instance, though, Megan has taken the advice even further. Rather than opening back up to a situation closer to the 'old normal', she has taken it as an official sanction to ''exceed'' the old social limits and pester complete strangers. Alternately, this ''is'' what she always used to do, and only stopped 'for the duration', this unlucky householder being (one of) the first to be subjected to this 'guerilla visiting' now that there seems to be no reason not to continue.<br />
<br />
In the title text, the owner of the house explains to Megan that just because she has been vaccinated she just can't enter into someone's house without being invited — a commonly understood form of property law.<br />
<br />
But due to the vaccine type Megan thinks the owner has mixed this up with a commonly understood element of vampire lore, that vampires must be {{tvtropes|MustBeInvited|invited into a home}} before they can pass through the doorway. <br />
In vampire lore, vampires are often able to transform into bats, and these two are thematically associated with each other. Since the coronavirus is likely a {{w|bat virome}} that has entered into humans, Megan misunderstands the owner's objection to her entry, believing that the homeowner thinks that she has become a vampire. (The virus, and thus elements of the vaccine, having ultimately originated in bats and therefore 'possibly' actual vampire stock.)<br />
<br />
Megan thus begins to explain that the vaccine works on a bat virus and has nothing to do with bats. And since she is thus not a vampire she has no problems entering a doorway uninvited, and further explains she also tells that she is also not repelled by garlic or other classic weakness of vampires. Vampire lore states that they are [https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2010/02/22/six-ways-to-stop-a-vampire/ repelled by garlic], crosses, holy water, sunlight and wooden stakes through the heart (the last being a problem for humans in general{{Citation needed}}, vampiric or otherwise).<br />
<br />
The owner is attempting to explain that Megan does not have the legal or moral right to enter simply because she is vaccinated, but this seems to not register with Megan.<br />
<br />
Doing ridiculous things that were never allowed, even normally, after being vaccinated or low-risk, was also the theme of [[2434: Vaccine Guidance]]. [[2391: Life Before the Pandemic]] also dealt with a similar theme, with Cueball and Megan reminiscing about activities they missed doing but which had not been allowed or possible before the pandemic.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Megan is standing in front of a three-step stair leading up to an open door. She has one hand in the air while talking to someone inside the house, who replies. The ground outside has small tufts of grass.]<br />
:Megan: Hi, I'm here to visit!<br />
:Voice, from inside the house: Do I know you?<br />
:Megan: No, it's cool, I'm two weeks past my second dose.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Remember, once you're fully vaccinated, the CDC says you're free to visit other people's houses.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]<br />
[[Category:COVID-19 vaccine]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Social interactions]]</div>172.70.35.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=288:_Elevator&diff=211003288: Elevator2021-04-25T16:06:01Z<p>172.70.35.85: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 288<br />
| date = July 11, 2007<br />
| title = Elevator<br />
| image = elevator.jpg<br />
| titletext = Quick, try it with 'LOVE'.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Cueball]] is in an elevator, and notices that, beneath the certificate of [[Elevator Inspection]], mandatory in all U.S. elevators at least, there are buttons for Floor 1, 2, 3, and 4, and then a mysterious unlabeled button. Possible logical conclusions he might have made include (1) there is a fifth floor reachable by pushing the bottom button which for some reason is not labeled; or (2) the button has some other function, a common one is to stop the elevator wherever it may be; or (3) the panel with the buttons is from a template used for various elevators with up to five floors, and as this particular elevator only goes to four floors, the bottom button is unlabeled, and nothing will happen if he pushes it.<br />
<br />
He has, however, chosen to believe in a different explanation: the fifth button is not currently assigned, but giving it a label will assign it to whatever floor or other function he can give it. The possibilities are truly endless. And so, the intrepid Cueball writes "Zeppelin!" on a slip of paper and tapes it next to the unassigned button, thereby assigning it to move the elevator not to Floor 5, but to a {{w|Zeppelin}}. And it works – the elevator opens aboard a Zeppelin floating in the air, high above a land with many lakes, perhaps {{w|Nunavut}} or other Northern Canadian tundra.<br />
<br />
The title text is most likely a reference to the Aerosmith song "Love in an Elevator," which really is about sex in an elevator. However, it would also be great if one could reach the elevation of love by getting there in a magic elevator.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Elevator panel, with a Certificate of Inspection and five floor buttons, numbered 1–4. The fifth button is unlabeled.]<br />
:[Cueball thinks.]<br />
:[Cueball writes something on a small piece of paper.]<br />
:''Write Write''<br />
:[Cueball tapes it onto the panel.]<br />
:[Elevator panel, with the same Certificate and buttons, and with the piece of paper labeling the fifth button "Zeppelin!"]<br />
:[Cueball presses the new "Zeppelin!" button.]<br />
:[Elevator moves.]<br />
:Elevator: ''Ding''<br />
:[Cueball is looking out the door of a Zeppelin. The Zeppelin is flying over a green landscape with many lakes.]<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
<br />
*There is a [https://youtu.be/z9U9MN7_jus fan made animated version of this comic].<br />
<br />
{{Comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Airships]]<br />
[[Category:Elevators]]</div>172.70.35.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2450:_Post_Vaccine_Social_Scheduling&diff=2105162450: Post Vaccine Social Scheduling2021-04-19T21:36:09Z<p>172.70.35.85: Undo revision 210515 by 172.68.143.88 (talk)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2450<br />
| date = April 14, 2021<br />
| title = Post Vaccine Social Scheduling<br />
| image = post_vaccine_social_scheduling.png<br />
| titletext = As if these problems weren't NP-hard enough.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an UNVACCINATED MOVIEGOER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
The comic shows a timeline of a multitude of (presumably) friends and acquaintances getting two doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Due to the recommended delay between shots, as well as few weeks needed to build antibodies after the second shot, planning get-togethers becomes complicated by who is free to meet, or not yet.<br />
<br />
The diagram is some form of Scheduling Diagram, maybe akin to a {{w|Gantt chart}}, which helps to coordinate the status of several individual 'processes' (personal vaccination schedules) and demonstrate where dependent activities (meet-ups) are mutually possible.<br />
<br />
Eventually, everyone can start getting together, but during the time where some people have only received one dose, or neither dose, or their second dose recently, the scheduling is complicated. The complication is increased by the fact that people who have received one or two doses of vaccine, but haven't gone through the whole waiting period, can be expected to have some protection, but possibly not full protection (as represented by the dashed line). In that case, there's the added question of how important it is that the person be at an event, and how much risk the people involved are willing to tolerate. This may be the reason for the "movie" set, in which all participants will have received both doses, but one will not have completed the final waiting period.<br />
<br />
The title text references NP-hardness, a theme that has come up in past comics. {{w|NP-hardness}} describes a particular level of computational difficulty. Scheduling problems are normally NP-hard. But when extra challenges such as having to deal with whether or not people are vaccinated they become even more difficult.<br />
<br />
In this case though, {{w|Critical Path}} dependencies seem trivial enough. Events (vertical lozanges across the dot-marked timelines of those included) are trivial to validate as possible for those selected to attend. Fixed events in time can be scanned to show all those allowed to participate at that moment. Movable events can be rescheduled until (enough of) those hoped to be included are 'valid'. Complications may arise for those whose presence relies upon [[2441|the status of others]] potentially attending, or the need to maintain time between two events (in either order) with part-shared attendees as a precautionary 'cool-down' isolation. It is not obvious that either of these issues factor in, any more than basic scheduling conflicts would.<br />
<br />
The third person being scheduled for a movie before being fully vaccinated may be a direct reference to [[2441: IMDb Vaccines]], discussing the number of people that needs to be vaccinated to record a particular scene. Other than each line's identifying portrait (which are not of the Throne Room characters) no explicit age/vulnerability information is given to justify this, presumably the chart's users are aware of the specifics.<br />
<br />
The third person in the table is included in a movie viewing (for which masks could be worn) shortly after their second immunization, but not included in dinner group until full benefit of vaccine. CDC guidelines permit vaccinated individuals to visit inside a home or private setting without a mask with one household of unvaccinated people who are not at risk for severe illness. Therefore the movie gathering conforms to CDC recommendations provided that the single unvaccinated person is not at increased risk of severe illness and the movie is in a home or private setting.<br />
<br />
The third person in the table appears to have received the second shot twice. This is possibly a reference to [[2422: Vaccine Ordering]], or it could just have been a mistake.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[From top to bottom, there are eleven people standing on the left side of the image: Danish, Cueball #1, Hairbun, Black Hat, Ponytail, Science Girl, White Hat, Hairy, Blondie, Cueball #2, and Megan, with even-numbered characters standing slightly further to the left. Each character’s first and second doses of the vaccine are labelled ① and ②, respectively. The time before each character’s first dose is drawn with a grey solid line; the time between their first dose and after they are fully vaccinated (two weeks after their second dose) is drawn with a grey dashed line; and the time after they are fully vaccinated is drawn with a black solid line. Black Hat, Science Girl, Blondie, Cueball #2, and Megan have all received their first doses prior to the comic’s time frame. Social activities are drawn with a ellipse around the top and bottom members, and each participating character is identified with a large filled-in circle on their timeline. The ellipses are labelled:]<br />
: DINNER GAMES MOVIE BIRTHDAY DINNER CABIN<br />
<br />
:[The events that happen, in chronological order (from left to right), are:<br />
<br />
* Cueball #1 receives his first dose;<br />
* Blondie receives her second dose;<br />
* Ponytail receives her first dose;<br />
* Hairy receives his first dose;<br />
* White Hat receives his first dose;<br />
* Danish receives her first dose;<br />
* Black Hat receives his second dose;<br />
* Blondie is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Science Girl receives her second dose;<br />
* Cueball #2 receives his second dose;<br />
* Megan receives her second dose;<br />
* Hairbun receives her first dose (erroneously labelled as ②);<br />
* Ponytail receives her second dose;<br />
* Black Hat is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Black Hat and Blondie go to dinner;<br />
* Danish receives her second dose;<br />
* Cueball #1 receives his second dose;<br />
* Science Girl is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Cueball #2 is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Megan is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Hairy receives his second dose;<br />
* White Hat receives his second dose;<br />
* Science Girl, Blondie, Cueball #2, and Megan play games;<br />
* Ponytail is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Hairbun receives her second dose;<br />
* Hairbun, Black Hat, and Ponytail go to the movies or make a movie (the label is just "Movie");<br />
* Danish is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Cueball #1 is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Hairy is fully vaccinated;<br />
* White Hat is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Danish, Cueball #1, Ponytail, White Hat, and Hairy attend a birthday party;<br />
* Hairbun is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Hairbun and Blondie go to dinner;<br />
* Black Hat, Science Girl, White Hat, Hairy, and Cueball #2 go to a cabin.<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Post-Vaccine Social Scheduling<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category: COVID-19]]<br />
[[Category: COVID-19 vaccine]]<br />
[[Category: Timelines]]<br />
[[Category: Programming]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Blondie]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Science Girl]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Danish]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Black Hat]]</div>172.70.35.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2451:_AI_Methodology&diff=2103802451: AI Methodology2021-04-17T15:08:53Z<p>172.70.35.85: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2451<br />
| date = April 16, 2021<br />
| title = AI Methodology<br />
| image = ai_methodology.png<br />
| titletext = We've learned that weird spacing and diacritics in the methodology description are apparently the key to good research; luckily, we've developed an AI tool to help us figure out where to add them.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT (91%). TRAINED BY AN ADVERSARIAL AI (72%). If you are knowledgeable about AI, please rewrite at least one paragraph for us. The current content was completely fudged by amateurs. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
The joke in this comic is that the people are using {{w|artificial intelligence}} (AI) without understanding how to. That classifier is trained on data that doesn't include the causes of the results, and then not testing it at all, producing a model that is both random and heavily overfitted. Such a model appears perfect but makes random predictions on new data. The flavor text is describing this happening, and how. For an introduction to machine learning, you can visit https://fast.ai/ .<br />
<br />
This comic shows Cueball giving a presentation of some description. He is reassuring his audience of the validity of his research's methodology, which he says is "AI-based". There are many issues that can arise from an AI-based methodology, such as lingering influence from its training data or a bad algorithm reducing the quality of the investigation.<br />
<br />
Cueball seeks to reassure his audience by quantifying the quality of his methodology. He does this by creating yet another AI to rank methodologies. This would not actually improve the confidence of any audience member, as any flaws of the methodology AI would likely be shared by the ranking AI, due to being created by the same team.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, the ranking AI heavily favours the methodology of Cueball's AI, and may be biased. It shows a normal distribution, with a singular outlier to the far right with an arrow above. It can be inferred (from the arrow) that this data-point represents the AI's methodology. It is a significant outlier, and as such it is probably not an accurate representation of Cueball's AI. Alternatively, this could be taken as AI 'nepotism', where Cueball's methodology AI is more likely to select AI-based approaches over others. This type of algorithmic bias is mentioned in [[2237: AI Hiring Algorithm]]. Another explanation would be that the x axis measures something other than "how good the methodology is" (eg, rate of highly significant results), and the fact that Cueball's AI is not within the normal distribution should have been a red flag indicating a problem with their methodology, but the ranking AI didn't notice the skew / correctly interpret the meaning of the data. (However, the title text seems to indicate that the x axis was indeed labeled by "quality of methodology", albeit defining this quality by very strange criteria.)<br />
<br />
The title text is likely a continuation of Cueball's dialogue, saying that when the classifying AI was shown good research methodology descriptions, the AI identified weird spacing and diacritics as the indicators of a good methodology. Cueball then used his AI to figure out where to put these into his own methodology description to improve his research report. Adding weird symbols into a text doesn't improve the quality of the text {{Citation needed}} and hence Cueball may be doing something very similar to p-hacking, where data is manipulated to decrease the p-number, which represents the likelihood the data is a fluke. P-hacking is mentioned in [[882: Significant]]<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Cueball stands in front of a projection on a screen and points with a stick to a histogram with a bell curve to the left and one bar to the far right marked with an arrow]<br />
:Cueball: Despite our great research results, some have questioned our AI-based methodology.<br />
:Cueball: But we trained a classifier on a collection of good and bad methodology sections, and it says ours is fine.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>172.70.35.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2450:_Post_Vaccine_Social_Scheduling&diff=2102882450: Post Vaccine Social Scheduling2021-04-15T15:22:36Z<p>172.70.35.85: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2450<br />
| date = April 14, 2021<br />
| title = Post Vaccine Social Scheduling<br />
| image = post_vaccine_social_scheduling.png<br />
| titletext = As if these problems weren't NP-hard enough.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a UNVACCINATED MOVIEGOER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
The comic shows a timeline of a multitude of (presumably) friends and acquaintances getting their two doses of vaccine. Due to the CDC-recommended delay between shots, as well as few weeks needed to build antibodies from the second shot, planning get-togethers in advance becomes complicated by who is free to meet, or not yet.<br />
<br />
Eventually, everyone can start getting together, but during the time where some people have only received one dose, or neither dose, or their second dose recently, the scheduling is complicated. The complication is increased by the fact that people who have received one or two doses of vaccine, but haven't gone through the whole waiting period, can be expected to have some protection, but possibly not full protection (as represented by the dashed line). In that case, there's the added question of how important is is that the person be at an event, and how much risk the people involved are willing to tolerate. This may be the reason for the "movie" set, in which all participants will have received both doses, but one will not have completed the final waiting period.<br />
<br />
The title text references NP-hardness, a theme that has come up in past comics. {{w|NP-hardness}} describes a particular level of computational difficulty. Scheduling problems are normally NP-hard. But when extra challenges such as having to deal with whether or not people are vaccinated they become even more difficult.<br />
<br />
The third person being scheduled for a movie before being fully vaccinated may be a reference to [[2441: IMDb Vaccines]], discussing the number of people that needs to be vaccinated to record a particular scene.<br />
<br />
CDC guidelines permit vaccinated individuals to visit inside a home or private setting without a mask with one household of unvaccinated people who are not at risk for severe illness. Therefore the movie gathering conforms to CDC recommendations provided that the single unvaccinated person is not at increased risk of severe illness and the movie is in a home or private setting.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[From top to bottom, there are eleven people standing on the left side of the image: Danish, Cueball #1, Hairbun, Black Hat, Ponytail, Science Girl, White Hat, Hairy, Blondie, Cueball #2, and Megan, with even-numbered characters standing slightly further to the left. Each character’s first and second doses of the vaccine are labelled ① and ②, respectively. The time before each character’s first dose is drawn with a grey solid line; the time between their first dose and after they are fully vaccinated (two weeks after their second dose) is drawn with a grey dashed line; and the time after they are fully vaccinated is drawn with a black solid line. Black Hat, Science Girl, Blondie, Cueball #2, and Megan have all received their first doses prior to the comic’s time frame. Social activities are drawn with a ellipse around the top and bottom members, and each participating character is identified with a large filled-in circle on their timeline. The ellipses are labelled:]<br />
<br />
DINNER GAMES MOVIE BIRTHDAY DINNER CABIN<br />
<br />
[The events that happen, in chronological order (from left to right), are:<br />
<br />
* Cueball #1 receives his first dose;<br />
* Blondie receives her second dose;<br />
* Ponytail receives her first dose;<br />
* Hairy receives his first dose;<br />
* White Hat receives his first dose;<br />
* Danish receives her first dose;<br />
* Black Hat receives his second dose;<br />
* Blondie is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Science Girl receives her second dose;<br />
* Cueball #2 receives his second dose;<br />
* Megan receives her second dose;<br />
* Hairbun receives her first dose (erroneously labelled as ②);<br />
* Ponytail receives her second dose;<br />
* Black Hat is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Black Hat and Blondie go to dinner;<br />
* Danish receives her second dose;<br />
* Cueball #1 receives his second dose;<br />
* Science Girl is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Cueball #2 is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Megan is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Hairy receives his second dose;<br />
* White Hat receives his second dose;<br />
* Science Girl, Blondie, Cueball #2, and Megan play games;<br />
* Ponytail is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Hairbun receives her second dose;<br />
* Hairbun, Black Hat, and Ponytail go to the movies or make a movie (the label is just "Movie");<br />
* Danish is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Cueball #1 is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Hairy is fully vaccinated;<br />
* White Hat is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Danish, Cueball #1, Ponytail, White Hat, and Hairy attend a birthday party;<br />
* Hairbun is fully vaccinated;<br />
* Hairbun and Blondie go to dinner;<br />
* Black Hat, Science Girl, White Hat, Hairy, and Cueball #2 go to a cabin.<br />
<br />
<br />
Caption below the panel:]<br />
<br />
Post-Vaccine Social Scheduling<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category: COVID-19]]<br />
[[Category: COVID-19 vaccine]]<br />
[[Category:Timelines]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Blondie]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Science Girl]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Danish]]<br />
[[Category: Comics featuring Black Hat]]</div>172.70.35.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2446:_Spike_Proteins&diff=2099732446: Spike Proteins2021-04-08T07:40:01Z<p>172.70.35.85: Added concrete orders of magnitude oversize of spike protein, and citation</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2446<br />
| date = April 5, 2021<br />
| title = Spike Proteins<br />
| image = spike_proteins.png<br />
| titletext = Ugh, it's stuck to my laptop. It must have bound to the ACER-2 receptor.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a RIBOSOME from HTmL codes. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This is another comic in the [[:Category:COVID-19|COVID-19 series]] related to the {{w|2019-20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}}, caused by the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}.<br />
<br />
This is also another comic about the current [[:Category:COVID-19 vaccine|vaccine against COVID-19]]. A vaccine is designed to provoke an immune response from the body of the recipient, which "trains" the immune system to attack actual viruses (or bacteria). For COVID-19, the {{w|spike protein}}, necessary for the virus to bind a receptor on human cells and invade them, is the key protein for an immune response. Almost all vaccines approved for human use pre-COVID actually contain either inactivated pathogen (e.g., flu vaccine), live but safe pathogen variants (e.g., measles), or some protein from the pathogen that the immune system can respond to (e.g., pertussis). The four COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United States or the European Union as of the date of this comic, however, are all a relatively new type of vaccine that instead cause human cells to temporarily produce spike proteins, which the immune system then "learns" to attack. The Oxford-AstraZeneca and {{w|Johnson & Johnson}}’s {{w|Janssen Vaccines|Janssen}} vaccine use a technique first approved for the July 2020 Ebola vaccine, in which a genetically modified {{w|adenovirus}} is used to deliver DNA to the nuclei of the vaccine recipients' cells, which convert the DNA to {{w|Messenger RNA}} (mRNA). The recipients' cells then use the mRNA as instructions to produce spike proteins. The {{w|Pfizer}} {{w|BioNTech}} and {{w|Moderna}} vaccines are of an even newer type: m{{w|RNA vaccine}}s, which directly inject the mRNA into the body for the cells to use, and never have to enter the cell nuclei.<br />
<br />
[[Beret Guy]], in his [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|usual fashion]], misunderstands how reality works, then reality alters to fit his view of it. <br />
<br />
After receiving the vaccine, as he informs [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]], he claims he will now go away to make spike proteins. For him, this literally means that he (not his cells) will build them, by unexplained means. When he returns he is carrying his constructed protein, which is [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7224694/ roughly 8 orders of magnitude] larger than the normal version. He then drops it on the desk, where a laptop is being used. Cueball part-closes his screen to try to prevent the mass from landing on it - though he's only partially successful.<br />
<br />
When a normal living body is coerced into making a spike protein, they are microscopic particles that distribute internally around the body to provoke an immune response. Beret Guy's macroscopic version provokes an understandable response of both disgust and confusion from both Cueball and Megan, who choose to ask why it is so wet. Proteins are [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2271157/ highly hydrated molecules] where water — through the moderation of its presence and absence in specific locations — plays a central role in shaping the structure and function of the protein (although it is not clear how Beret Guy knows that the spike protein should be hydrated since this is his first try). Though, of the many questions that might have been asked, it is not an entirely unreasonable snap reaction.<br />
<br />
Beret Guy remains typically oblivious to the fuss he causes. His enthusiastic intention, apparently, is to leave his first proud creation there as he departs to construct further examples. They will likely be no less unwelcome.<br />
<br />
Anything damp and squidgy (as ''this'' creation seems to be) would not be welcome around a laptop, for a number of reasons, and Beret Guy seems to have made a particularly messy contact with the part of the case where most such devices are likely to have clusters of unruggedised ports/connections that may not react well to the ingress of liquids.<br />
<br />
The title text is a pun on Acer, ACER2, and ACE2. {{w|Acer Inc.|Acer}} is a brand of computers including laptops. The {{w|Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2|ACE2 receptor}}, is an [https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-ace2-receptor-how-is-it-connected-to-coronavirus-and-why-might-it-be-key-to-treating-covid-19-the-experts-explain-136928 entry point on a cell] to which the SARS-COV-2 virus attaches during the process of entering the cell. {{w|ACER2}} is a real enzyme in humans which, although unrelated to ACE2 or SARS-COV-2, may also help bind the pun together.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is sitting in an office chair at a desk with an open laptop in front of him. Megan stands behind him looking over his shoulder. Beret Guy is in front of the desk, walking away and looking back at the two while holding a hand to his shoulder, where he got the vaccine shot.]<br />
:Beret Guy: Got the vaccine!<br />
:Megan: Congrats!<br />
:Beret Guy: Time to go make spike proteins.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball continues to work on his laptop while Megan is looking on.]<br />
<br />
:[In a frameless, narrow panel, Beret Guy walks back carrying a large object in his arms that looks like a spike protein. But it is about half as long as he is tall, fluffy and dripping wet, flexing slightly along its length, with the Y-shaped head pointed forwards, away from Beret Guy]<br />
:Beret Guy: OK! <br />
:Beret Guy: Here's my first try.<br />
<br />
:[Beret Guy drops the spike protein onto Cueball's desk with the Y-shaped end on the desk up against the back of Cueball's laptop. The movement is shown with several lines and a sound follows when it hits the desk. The head of it takes up the entire desk area not covered by the laptop, while the tail overhangs the desk. Cueball is grabbing the lid and base of his laptop with both hands, pulling it partially closed and away from the spike protein, and Megan reflexively leans away.]<br />
:Spike Protein: Plop<br />
<br />
:[Beret Guy turns to leave, with an outstretched finger pointing skyward. The overhanging part of the spike protein has sagged, and it is dripping some wet material over both the floor and desk. Cueball is sitting with his hands on the partially closed laptop, Megan stands normally again.]<br />
:Beret Guy: ''More!''<br />
:Cueball: Ewww.<br />
:Megan: Why is it so ''wet??''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]<br />
[[Category:COVID-19 vaccine]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]</div>172.70.35.85https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1485:_Friendship&diff=2090701485: Friendship2021-03-27T20:32:47Z<p>172.70.35.85: /* Explanation */ Original link is dead, provided updated link.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1485<br />
| date = February 11, 2015<br />
| title = Friendship<br />
| image = friendship.png<br />
| titletext = The only other Wikipedia vandalism that I would feel zero remorse about is editing the article on active US militia groups to replace "militia" with "fanclub".<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
A "{{w|Bromance}}" is a modern slang term for a strong non-romantic relationship between two male humans. It is a portmanteau of the words brother, meaning a close male friend (aka "bro"), and romance.<br />
<br />
Although current in popular media, some commentators have criticized the implicit homophobia in the term, suggesting that it denotes cultural discomfort at relationships of emotional closeness between men. [https://goodmenproject.com/gender-sexuality/hesaidfor-the-love-of-god-please-stop-saying-bromance/]<br />
<br />
In this comic, Randall is implying the Wikipedia page for the word "bromance" should more accurately represent what most bromances actually are: friendships. This could be a joke to reference the fact that some males prefer to not call friendships as such, for fear of looking unmasculine, or being confused as a gay couple. The comic makes light of the fact that the word bromance and friendship are interchangeable, and should be treated as such.<br />
<br />
The comic later contains parts of the edited article, mocking the use of "bromance" in popular culture, implying that "friendships" can be used just as easily to describe platonic male relationships.<br />
<br />
Despite supposedly vandalizing the "bromance" article, the article is titled "friendship", giving a similar result to word-replacement browser extensions, as in [[1031: s/keyboard/leopard/]].<br />
<br />
The title text implies Randall does not agree with Wikipedia vandalism, except in the case of bromance/friendship, and also militia/fanclub, possibly to make light of the harsh sounding word in a negative light. This is probably because many of his comics include fake wikipedia entries, and many people, inspired by the comic, actually make the edit happen.<br />
<br />
In the wake of this comic, several Wikipedia pages were vandalized, among them {{w|Bromance}}, {{w|Militia organizations in the United States}}, {{w|Militia (United States)}}, and {{w|Friendship}}. All these pages were semi-protected by an administrator against further attempts for a week after this comic was published.<br />
<br />
The day this comic was published, a vote to delete the Bromance article was initiated on Wikipedia.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Bromance_%282nd_nomination%29]<br />
<br />
A later comic called [[1746: Making Friends]], was also not so much about friendship, but rather about vultures...<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A Wikipedia style layout is shown for extracts from an article titled Friendship.]<br />
<br />
:<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid #bbbbbb">'''Friendship'''</div><br />
:<span style="color: #A0A0A0"><sup>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</sup></span><br />
:A Friendship is a close non-romantic relationship between two (or more) men, a form of <span style="color: #0645AD">affectional</span> or <span style="color: #0645AD">homosocial</span> intimacy.<sup><span style="color: #0645AD">[1]</span></sup><br />
: Contents [<span style="color: #0645AD">hide</span>]<br />
:<span style="color: #0645AD">1 Etymology</span><br />
:<span style="color: #0645AD">2 Characteristics</span><br />
:<span style="color: #0645AD">3 Portrayal of friendship</span><br />
::<span style="color: #0645AD">3.1 Celebrity and fictional friendships</span><br />
::<span style="color: #0645AD">3.2 Historical and political friendships</span><br />
::<span style="color: #0645AD">3.3 Gay-straight friendships</span><br />
:<span style="color: #0645AD">4 See also</span><br />
:<span style="color: #0645AD">5 References</span><br />
:<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid #bbbbbb">'''Etymology'''</div><br />
:''Friendship'' is a <span style="color: #0645AD">portmanteau</span> of the words ''friend'' and ''ship''. Editor <span style="color: #0645AD">Dave Carnie</span> coined the term in the skateboard magazine ''<span style="color: #0645AD">Big Brother</span>'' in the 1990s to refer to the sort of relationships that develop between skaters who spend<br />
:[...]<br />
:<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid #bbbbbb">'''Portrayal of Friendship'''</div><br />
:'''Celebrity and Fictional Friendships'''<br />
:A number of celebrities have engaged in friendships with fellow celebrities. Examples include <span style="color: #0645AD">Ben Affleck</span> and <span style="color: #0645AD">Matt Damon</span>, described as "perhaps ''the'' pioneering friendship in showbiz history"<sup><span style="color: #0645AD">[9]</span></sup> which led to a hit <span style="color: #0645AD">off-broadway</span> play<br />
:[...]<br />
:Friendship on television has also become more commonplace, with some critics tracing its origins back to shows such as ''<span style="color: #0645AD">The Odd Couple</span>''.<sup><span style="color: #0645AD">[14]</span></sup> In October 2008, ''<span style="color: #0645AD">TV Guide</span>'' placed <span style="color: #0645AD">Gregory House</span> (<span style="color: #0645AD">Hugh Laurie</span>) and <span style="color: #0645AD">James</span><br />
:[...]<br />
:The Japanese and <span style="color: #0645AD">Korean music industry</span> actively encourages friendship among male celebrities (particularly members of <span style="color: #0645AD">boy bands</span>) as part of the <span style="color: #0645AD">fan service</span> to please the audience.<sup><span style="color: #0645AD">[19][20]</span></sup><br />
:In fiction, what had once been called <span style="color: #0645AD">buddy films</span> have to a degree been rebranded as friendship films, although<br />
:[...]<br />
:<div style="border-bottom: 1px solid #bbbbbb">'''Historical and political friendships'''</div><br />
:Politically, the relationship between <span style="color: #0645AD">Bill Clinton</span> and <span style="color: #0645AD">Al Gore</span> has been called a precursor to the friendship.<sup><span style="color: #0645AD">[6]</span></sup> The relationship between <span style="color: #0645AD">George W. Bush</span> and former press<br />
<br />
:[Below the extracts is this caption:]<br />
<br />
:'''How to improve the "Bromance" Wikipedia article'''<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Wikipedia]]<br />
[[Category:Portmanteau]]</div>172.70.35.85