Editing 2502: Every Data Table

{{comic
| number    = 2502
| date      = August 13, 2021
| title     = Every Data Table
| image     = every data table.png
| titletext =  I'm hoping 2022 is relatively normal because I don't know what symbol comes after the asterisk and the dagger.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is another entry in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}.

It shows a future data table with one entry for each year from 2017 to 2024, so this table is made at least three years after publication of the comic (presuming it does not depict some form of advanced estimation of trends). The only discernible differences across the eight years are that two years have footnotes as in 2020* and 2021<sup>†</sup>, whereas the other six years have not.

Sometimes a symbol such as an asterisk (*) or a dagger (†, also called an obelus or obelisk) is used to denote an unusual entry in a table to be explained in a footnote with a matching symbol. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact on the entire world and one way this can be seen is through strange stats resulting from the effects of the pandemic, at least in 2020 and 2021, the years marked with footnote in the data table. Various statistics such as employment statistics, spending power, holiday miles, pet ownership, births (or at least conceptions), and&mdash;naturally&mdash;deaths may have been either grossly suppressed/increased for the majority of 2020, and for 2021 may have hardly recovered, partially recovered, renormalized, bounced back with a vengeance or be over-compensated for in the effort to catch up. 

Thus Randall concludes that "every data table" will look like this one from now on, hence the title of the comic.
 
In the title text [[Randall]] states that he hopes 2022 is relatively normal. Comically, he doesn't mainly hope for this because he wants the COVID-19 pandemic to end, but rather because he doesn't know what footnote symbol to use after the asterisk and the dagger. 

At the time of this comic's publication in August 2021, nothing was exactly back to normal and proper recovery or the resulting compensatory readjustment may not have concluded in time for 2022 to reflect the trends expected based upon pre-2020 figures, and the additional further years that future statistics will record. The point is moot, however, because in February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine and (directly or indirectly) triggered various humanitarian, economic, and political crises around the world. By 2023 the war was still a source of global instability and any hopes of normalization are extremely premature.

Common symbols that are used after the asterisk and dagger include the double dagger (‡), the section symbol/silcrow (§), the parallel/double-pipe (‖) and the paragraph symbol/pilcrow (¶). Alternately one could use multiple symbols (such as †† or ***) or superscript numbers (¹, ², ³ ...).

Unrelated to the usage as English footnote characters, the asterisk and dagger symbol are used in German mainly as the shorthand "genealogic signs" to express "born" and "died" respectively (e.g. in encyclopaedias, as the German terms are three-syllable words for both and need to be shortened), so a person that is 2020(*) and 2021(†) would have been alive for only about a year, depending on the months. This symbology is also used on some tomb stones. An optimistic view is the "birth" and "death" of the coronavirus {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which would also understandably result in uncertainty on the next symbol in this order, for 2022. Pessimists in this context might suggest to use ∞, which is the symbol for infinity.

Similarly, in biology, an asterisk marks a species (or genus, etc...) that is possibly extinct and a dagger is used to note the possible extinction. (Double asterisks indicate taxa believed to be extinct in the wild but known to be extant in cultivation). This of course does not fit well with SARS-CoV-2, which is not close to extinction.
 
Randall seems not to have noticed the potential {{w|monkey's paw}} nature of his wish. "Relative" requires a comparison between things. It could be that the whole fall-out of the pandemic becomes the new normal, and future years have no necessity to use symbols to explain how those years come to be like everyone knows they are, while dates before 2020 will be entirely understood as the old normal. Only 2020 and 2021 may need contextual clarifying, due to their nature as a transition from the old normal to the new normal.

== Transcript ==
:[A data table is shown with eight years given. After each year is a series of dots, followed by illegible squiggles. The table is slanted compared to the panel, and closely cropped so it's impossible to tell how far the squiggles might extend or what other years might be included beyond the eight shown. Two of the years are marked with symbols indicating unseen footnotes.]
:2017.......
:2018....... 
:2019....... 
:2020*...... 
:2021<span style="font-family: serif;"><sup>†</sup></span>.......
:2022....... 
:2023....... 
:2024.......

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Every data table from now on

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Footnotes]] <!-- referencing symbols only, but heavily implied to exist -->