2011-10-01
Original: 2011-10-01 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (caption): SEPTEMBER 1981: THE FIRST SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE IS CREATED.
[A scanning tunneling microscope is shown: a gray probe apparatus descending toward a tiny point on a sample stage, against a yellow background.]
Panel 2 (caption): SEPTEMBER 1981 + 1 SECOND: THE FIRST SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE JOKE IS CREATED.
[A younger man with brown hair cups his hand to his mouth and calls out toward an older, gray-bearded man wearing glasses.]
Younger man: HEY HEINRICH! WE FOUND YOUR PENIS!
Votey:
[A hand-drawn line graph. The vertical axis is labeled "INSULTINGNESS OF 'WE FOUND YOUR PENIS' JOKES" and the horizontal axis is labeled "MICROSCOPE MAGNIFICATION." A straight diagonal line rises steadily from the origin, showing a positive linear relationship.]
[A scanning tunneling microscope is shown: a gray probe apparatus descending toward a tiny point on a sample stage, against a yellow background.]
Panel 2 (caption): SEPTEMBER 1981 + 1 SECOND: THE FIRST SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE JOKE IS CREATED.
[A younger man with brown hair cups his hand to his mouth and calls out toward an older, gray-bearded man wearing glasses.]
Younger man: HEY HEINRICH! WE FOUND YOUR PENIS!
Votey:
[A hand-drawn line graph. The vertical axis is labeled "INSULTINGNESS OF 'WE FOUND YOUR PENIS' JOKES" and the horizontal axis is labeled "MICROSCOPE MAGNIFICATION." A straight diagonal line rises steadily from the origin, showing a positive linear relationship.]
Alt text
A two-panel comic. Panel 1 caption: "September 1981: the first scanning tunneling microscope is created," showing a gray microscope probe lowering toward a tiny point on a sample stage against a yellow background. Panel 2 caption: "September 1981 + 1 second: the first scanning tunneling microscope joke is created." A young brown-haired man cups his hand to his mouth and calls to an older gray-bearded man in glasses: "Hey Heinrich! We found your penis!" The joke: the instant a microscope powerful enough to image atoms exists, it's immediately used to make a small-genitalia insult. Votey: a hand-drawn line graph with the y-axis labeled "Insultingness of 'we found your penis' jokes" and the x-axis labeled "Microscope magnification," with a straight diagonal line rising from the origin, indicating that the higher the magnification, the more insulting the joke.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.