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| | ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
| | + | {{incomplete|Created by a FERRIS WHEEL OPERATOR. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
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| − | This is yet another comic part of the [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] on the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}. | + | This is yet another comic part of the [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] on the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic|2020-21 pandemic}} caused by the {{w|COVID-19|coronavirus disease 2019}} (COVID-19). |
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| − | This comic is a chart that orders things based on the level of alarm that would occur if it were revealed that someone had not done a given thing since early 2020. Many of the items, but not all, are linked to new constraints due to the pandemic. | + | This comic is a chart that orders things based on the level of alarm that would occur if it were revealed that someone had not done a given thing since early 2020. |
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| − | The title text serves as another chart point, though it isn't given where it is on the chart. | + | The title text serves as another graph point, though it isn't given where it is on the graph. |
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| | ;Been to a birthday party | | ;Been to a birthday party |
| − | Going to a birthday party was a normal task before the pandemic, and it's normal to say you haven't gone to one since early 2020. | + | :Going to a birthday party was a normal task before the pandemic, and it's normal to say you haven't gone to one since early 2020. |
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| | ;Eaten at a restaurant | | ;Eaten at a restaurant |
| − | Eating at a restaurant was also common before governments instated lockdowns, but during the lockdowns many restaurants had to limit their service to delivery and take-out. | + | :Eating at a restaurant without ordering food from it online was also common before the governments instated lockdowns, but it's ranked a little less normal by [[Randall]]. |
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| | ;Seen my family | | ;Seen my family |
| − | Seeing your family was fairly common before the governments instated lockdowns. However, there were emergency visits during the lockdown period. | + | :Seeing your family was fairly common before the governments instated lockdowns. However, there were emergency visits during the lockdown. |
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| | ;Been on a plane | | ;Been on a plane |
| − | Governments around the world cancelled commercial flights during the pandemic. However, businessmen like Bill Gates used private jets during the pandemic. | + | :Governments around the world cancelled commercial flights during the pandemic. However, businessmen like Bill Gates used private jet during the pandemic. |
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| | ;Gone to a movie | | ;Gone to a movie |
| − | Many cinema halls around the world closed due to the pandemic. Several movies were instead released directly to TV via OTT platforms.
| + | :Cinema halls around the world are closed due to the pandemic. Several cinemas due release were released directly to the TV via OTT. |
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| | ;Gone to a store | | ;Gone to a store |
| − | Although some stores were closed during the lockdown period, others were open for essential commodities. Therefore, going to a store for the first time since early 2020 is little strange.
| + | :Althought many stores were closed during the lockdown period, some markets were open for essential commodities. |
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| − | ;Installed software updates
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| − | Regularly installing software updates is recommended, mainly for security reasons. However, many people don't follow these recommendations (mostly by fear of software inconsistency or instability), although a delay of more than one year is quite long. Mentioning software updates is weird, because it is not directly related to the COVID pandemic. On the contrary, since many people spent much more time at home and worked at home, it was all the more important to keep software up to date, especially due to zero-day exploits.
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| − | ;Eaten a vegetable
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| − | Since vegetables are essential to a healthy diet, not eating a single vegetable in a whole year is not recommended.{{citation needed}} Anxiety due to the pandemic and disruption of social relations may have caused people to consume more junk food than usual.
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| − | ;Opened the fridge
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| − | This is quite weird, since most people use their refrigerators to store fresh food. Maybe some people became anorexic because of anxiety due to the pandemic or stopped consuming fresh food and relied more on junk food. Moreover, most food products will alter or rot if stored in a fridge for more than one year, and become dangerous to eat.{{citation needed}}
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| − | ;Paid taxes
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| − | Although some people, depending on where they live and their income, may not pay taxes in an immediately obvious way, there are some taxes, such as {{w|VAT}} in many countries and {{w|sales tax}} in the United States or Canada, which almost everyone would pay in the natural course of everyday life, though may not be 'obvious' in the paying, or even be extracted at source (withheld from payroll) in the simpler cases. (Randall lives in {{w|Massachusetts}}, which does not have a VAT, but does have a 6.25% sales tax.) It is therefore strange that someone could have gone a year without paying any taxes, implying they made almost no monetary transactions in the period, nor are made (directly) responsible for any residential or property-owning taxations that might otherwise be payable to one or other layer of government.
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| − | If the statement refers specifically to filing income taxes (which is often the case when people refer to "taxes", because the paperwork and large sums of money transferred at once makes the income tax highly noticeable and memorable), it might describe someone who filed a tax return for 2019 early in 2020 and then waited until later in 2021 to file a return for 2020.
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| − | ;Washed my hands
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| − | One of the main pieces of advice during the pandemic was to wash one's hands, frequently. Even in normal circumstances, washing hands is a good idea to remain hygienic,{{citation needed}} and not do so for a year would be disgusting to most people, and a good way of catching diseases.
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| − | Like paying taxes, it is very common to wash one's hands inadvertently as part of another activity, so someone who actually has not washed their hands since early 2020 likely also never bathed or showered.
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| − | ;Seen another person
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| − | Despite the restrictions, most people will have seen another person during the pandemic, virtually or otherwise.
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| − | ;Seen a ghost
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| − | The fact that the speaker apparently has seen a ghost, both now and presumably before early 2020 (else they would simply say it was the 'first time' they saw a ghost) is unusual.{{citation needed}}
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| − | ;Served as a decoy
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| − | Similar to the previous point, this is not a normal activity, so the specificity is unusual.
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| − | ;Sighted land
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| − | Most people live on land,{{citation needed}} so sighting land should not be unusual, even during a pandemic. The fact that someone has gone over a year without sighting land suggests they have been lost at sea for the duration. There are several reported cases of ships' crews refused permission to disembark, due to local restrictions and/or because their scheduled relief were unable to embark, but the unluckily held-on persons forced to remain beyond their originally planned obligations should never have been left permanently beyond any tantalizingly unreachable view of the shore.
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| − | Taken more literally, it could simply mean that the person remained indoors and did not look outside, or that the person was temporarily blind.
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| − | ;Checked the news
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| − | If someone has not checked the news since early 2020, they will likely be in for a shock upon checking. Noting that this could possibly (if increasingly absurdly) still apply to someone like [[Ponytail]] (as portrayed in strip [[2396: Wonder Woman 1984]]).
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| − | ;Checked on the customers in the {{w|escape room}}
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| − | The implication is that the customers in question have been trapped in the escape room since early 2020. Most escape rooms are not equipped to support a person for that length of time, so unless the customers actually escaped, they would likely not have survived.{{citation needed}}
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| − | ;Contracted a novel bat virus
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| − | As a 'novel bat virus' is what kicked off the whole pandemic, contracting another one may send the whole world into a new pandemic, which is certainly alarming.{{Citation needed}}
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| − | ;Gotten the Ferris wheel operator's attention (title text)
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| − | It seems that the speaker has been stuck in a {{w|Ferris wheel}} for a year. It is unclear how they may have survived, unless the speaker is [[Beret Guy|a certain xkcd character]].
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| − | Alternately, it would be perfectly normal that the speaker has not been at an amusement park with a working Ferris wheel since early 2020 - but it would be unusual to focus on interacting with the operator versus enjoying the attraction.
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| − | Several [https://ask.metafilter.com/78414/The-Rotating-Prison-in-the-Mountain science fiction stories] include wheel-like prisons where people stay for years, but generally they are underground and horizontal rather than in the air and vertical like Ferris wheels are.
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| | ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
| | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
| | : [Heading:] | | : [Heading:] |
| − | : "This is actually the first time I've _____ since early 2020." | + | : "This is actually the first time |
| − | : [Below is a long vertical arrow with the words "normal" and "alarming" at the top and the bottom of the arrow respectively. To the right side of the arrow is a list of text, with each item starting with a triangle.] | + | : I've _____ since early 2020." |
| − | : ◀ been to a birthday party | + | : [Below showing a vertical arrow with the words "normal" and "alarming" at the top and the bottom of the arrow respectively. At the right side of the arrow showing a long list of text starts with a traingle.] |
| − | : ◀ eaten at a restaurant | + | : ◀been to a birthday party |
| − | : ◀ seen my family | + | : ◀eaten at a restaurant |
| − | : ◀ been on a plane | + | : ◀seen my family |
| − | : ◀ gone to a movie | + | : ◀been on a plane |
| − | : ◀ gone to a store | + | : ◀gone to a movie |
| − | : ◀ installed software updates | + | : ◀gone to a store |
| − | : ◀ eaten a vegetable | + | : ◀installed software updates |
| − | : ◀ opened the fridge | + | : ◀eaten a vegetable |
| − | : ◀ paid taxes | + | : ◀opened the fridge |
| − | : ◀ washed my hands | + | : ◀paid taxes |
| − | : ◀ seen another person | + | : ◀washed my hands |
| − | : ◀ seen a ghost | + | : ◀seen another person |
| − | : ◀ served as a decoy | + | : ◀seen a ghost |
| − | : ◀ sighted land | + | : ◀served as a decoy |
| − | : ◀ checked the news | + | : ◀sighted land |
| − | : ◀ checked on the customers in the escape room | + | : ◀checked the news |
| − | : ◀ contracted a novel bat virus | + | : ◀checked on the customers in the escape room |
| − | | + | : ◀contracted a novel virus |
| − | ==Trivia==
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| − | On July 6, 2021, four weeks after the release of this comic, an emergency patch update was released for Windows 7. Since support for Windows 7 had otherwise ended in mid-January 2020, this means that people whose computers ran Windows 7 could have installed software updates for the first time since early 2020.
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| | {{comic discussion}} | | {{comic discussion}} |
