2010-07-24
Original: 2010-07-24 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Title: FEAR ITSELF:
A line graph. The vertical axis is unlabeled; the horizontal axis is labeled "Time".
Legend:
Green line = Dangerousness of kids' chemistry kits
Red line = Deaths attributable to kids' chemistry kits
The green line ("Dangerousness") starts very high on the left and curves steeply downward over time, dropping to near zero on the right. The red line ("Deaths") stays flat near the bottom of the graph the entire time.
A curved arrow points to the right-hand end of the green line, where it has nearly met the flat red line, with a caption:
"YOU LET BOBBY PLAY WITH WATER? DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S A CHEMICAL?"
Votey:
A pie chart drawn as an anthropomorphic character with arms (fists raised) and legs, striking a triumphant pose. The pie is divided into a large red slice labeled "JOKE" and a smaller yellow slice labeled "GRAPH".
Speech bubble: "I'M BACK, BABY!"
A line graph. The vertical axis is unlabeled; the horizontal axis is labeled "Time".
Legend:
Green line = Dangerousness of kids' chemistry kits
Red line = Deaths attributable to kids' chemistry kits
The green line ("Dangerousness") starts very high on the left and curves steeply downward over time, dropping to near zero on the right. The red line ("Deaths") stays flat near the bottom of the graph the entire time.
A curved arrow points to the right-hand end of the green line, where it has nearly met the flat red line, with a caption:
"YOU LET BOBBY PLAY WITH WATER? DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S A CHEMICAL?"
Votey:
A pie chart drawn as an anthropomorphic character with arms (fists raised) and legs, striking a triumphant pose. The pie is divided into a large red slice labeled "JOKE" and a smaller yellow slice labeled "GRAPH".
Speech bubble: "I'M BACK, BABY!"
Alt text
A hand-drawn line graph titled "FEAR ITSELF:". The horizontal axis is labeled "Time". A legend shows a green line for "Dangerousness of kids' chemistry kits" and a red line for "Deaths attributable to kids' chemistry kits". The green dangerousness line starts very high and curves sharply downward over time toward zero, as chemistry sets were made progressively safer/blander. The red deaths line stays flat near zero the whole time, having always been low. An arrow points to the far right end of the now-harmless green line with the caption: "YOU LET BOBBY PLAY WITH WATER? DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S A CHEMICAL?" The joke: public fear has neutered chemistry kits to the point of paranoia about ordinary water, even though deaths were never actually a problem. Votey aftercomic: a pie chart character with arms and legs, fists raised in triumph, shouting "I'M BACK, BABY!" The pie is split into a big red "JOKE" slice and a smaller yellow "GRAPH" slice, a self-aware gag about the comic returning to graph-based jokes.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.