2011-11-23
Original: 2011-11-23 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (header banner: NORMAL PERSON):
A person sits in the foreground (seen from behind, in profile) watching a TV news broadcast. On the screen, a news anchor in a suit and red tie speaks.
TV Anchor: Estimates suggest 428,620 people have perished.
Normal Person: Oh my God, WHAT? So horrible...
Panel 2 (header banner: STATISTICIAN):
The same news broadcast, but now the foreground viewer is a person wearing glasses (the statistician).
TV Anchor: Estimates suggest 428,620 people have perished.
Statistician: Oh my God, WHAT? There's NO WAY they know that many significant digits!
Votey:
A loose black-and-white sketch close-up of the bespectacled statistician's face, looking stricken.
Caption: Heartbreaking...
A person sits in the foreground (seen from behind, in profile) watching a TV news broadcast. On the screen, a news anchor in a suit and red tie speaks.
TV Anchor: Estimates suggest 428,620 people have perished.
Normal Person: Oh my God, WHAT? So horrible...
Panel 2 (header banner: STATISTICIAN):
The same news broadcast, but now the foreground viewer is a person wearing glasses (the statistician).
TV Anchor: Estimates suggest 428,620 people have perished.
Statistician: Oh my God, WHAT? There's NO WAY they know that many significant digits!
Votey:
A loose black-and-white sketch close-up of the bespectacled statistician's face, looking stricken.
Caption: Heartbreaking...
Alt text
A two-panel webcomic comparing reactions to the same TV news report. Both panels show a news anchor on a television saying, 'Estimates suggest 428,620 people have perished.' In panel one, labeled NORMAL PERSON, the viewer reacts with horror: 'Oh my God, WHAT? So horrible...' In panel two, labeled STATISTICIAN, the viewer is a person in glasses who reacts with a different horror: 'Oh my God, WHAT? There's NO WAY they know that many significant digits!' The joke is that a statistician is appalled not by the death toll but by the implausible precision of the figure. Votey: a rough sketch close-up of the bespectacled statistician's stricken face with the caption 'Heartbreaking...'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.