2010-04-01
Original: 2010-04-01 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1: Two older men (one with brown hair, one bald/gray) stand before a whiteboard covered in dense handwritten mathematics. The equations include:
|f(σ + it)| = e^[R Σ_p^∞ (1/n) p^(-n(σ+it))]
= e^[Σ (1/n) p^(-nσ) cos(t log p^n)]
... ∫∫[φ_i C] d^q ...
There is also a diagram with labeled angles α, β, γ.
Panel 2: A young blond janitor in a blue jumpsuit holds a mop, a yellow bucket beside him, watching as the two men walk out of the room past the whiteboard.
Panel 3: A view from behind a different blond man's head, facing more whiteboard mathematics:
= e^[Σ (1/n) p^(-nσ) cos(t log p^n)]
= -n (cos^2(Θ)) √(∫∫[φ_i C])_α ...
Panel 4: The blond man (in a green/teal shirt) points and gestures from a doorway.
Panel 5: The blond man smiles, looking at a whiteboard/document with a small diagram (labeled ∝).
Panel 6: The two original men (brown-haired with glasses, and bald) look concerned/alarmed.
Panel 7: The same two men now grin broadly.
Panel 8: The brown-haired man holds a screwdriver at a panel/console; the bald man stands beside him smiling. There is a slot or mechanism on the device.
Panel 9: A large gray machine/device with boxes on top and two small silhouetted figures standing in front of it, near a keyboard-like console.
Panel 10: A close-up of a hand pressing a red button.
Panel 11: A huge cartoon explosion — a yellow burst cloud with debris and a lightning-bolt flash — with bold lettering: "BOOM!"
Panel 12: The blond man, soot-darkened, sits with his hands clasped looking devastated/resigned, flames burning to his right against a dark scorched background.
Votey: A naked man with long red flame-like hair and a red beard sits cross-legged on a pink blanket, hunched over with his hands clasped near his face in the same defeated, contemplative pose as the man in the final panel.
|f(σ + it)| = e^[R Σ_p^∞ (1/n) p^(-n(σ+it))]
= e^[Σ (1/n) p^(-nσ) cos(t log p^n)]
... ∫∫[φ_i C] d^q ...
There is also a diagram with labeled angles α, β, γ.
Panel 2: A young blond janitor in a blue jumpsuit holds a mop, a yellow bucket beside him, watching as the two men walk out of the room past the whiteboard.
Panel 3: A view from behind a different blond man's head, facing more whiteboard mathematics:
= e^[Σ (1/n) p^(-nσ) cos(t log p^n)]
= -n (cos^2(Θ)) √(∫∫[φ_i C])_α ...
Panel 4: The blond man (in a green/teal shirt) points and gestures from a doorway.
Panel 5: The blond man smiles, looking at a whiteboard/document with a small diagram (labeled ∝).
Panel 6: The two original men (brown-haired with glasses, and bald) look concerned/alarmed.
Panel 7: The same two men now grin broadly.
Panel 8: The brown-haired man holds a screwdriver at a panel/console; the bald man stands beside him smiling. There is a slot or mechanism on the device.
Panel 9: A large gray machine/device with boxes on top and two small silhouetted figures standing in front of it, near a keyboard-like console.
Panel 10: A close-up of a hand pressing a red button.
Panel 11: A huge cartoon explosion — a yellow burst cloud with debris and a lightning-bolt flash — with bold lettering: "BOOM!"
Panel 12: The blond man, soot-darkened, sits with his hands clasped looking devastated/resigned, flames burning to his right against a dark scorched background.
Votey: A naked man with long red flame-like hair and a red beard sits cross-legged on a pink blanket, hunched over with his hands clasped near his face in the same defeated, contemplative pose as the man in the final panel.
Alt text
A tall, mostly wordless SMBC comic. Top panels: two older scientists stand at a whiteboard covered in dense handwritten mathematics (zeta-function-style equations with sums, products, integrals, and an angle diagram labeled alpha, beta, gamma). A young blond janitor with a mop watches them leave. The janitor then studies the equations himself, gestures excitedly from a doorway, and smiles at the board — implying he has understood or extended the math. The two original scientists look first alarmed, then grin. Working together at a console, one uses a screwdriver on a panel; a large gray machine with two figures before it is assembled; a hand presses a red button. The result is a giant cartoon explosion drawn as a yellow burst cloud full of debris and a lightning bolt, lettered "BOOM!" In the final panel the blond man sits soot-covered with his hands clasped, looking defeated, as flames burn beside him — the grand theory ended in disaster. Votey (aftercomic): a naked man with long red flame-like hair and beard sits cross-legged on a pink blanket, hunched with hands clasped to his face in the same defeated, contemplative posture.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.