2012-11-03
Original: 2012-11-03 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
An older man with glasses and graying hair, in a gray jacket, sits beside a young person with dark hair wearing a yellow shirt and a backpack.
Man: GOOD LUCK IN COLLEGE, KIDDO. YOU KNOW, I ACTUALLY HAD MORE TROUBLE IN BASIC PHYSICS THAN MOST OF THE LATER STUFF.
Young person: HUH. I WONDER WHY?
Panel 2:
A red banner reads: SOON...
The scene shows the young person now seated, looking toward a blonde professor with glasses standing at a green chalkboard, gesturing.
Professor: NOW, THIS ALL MAKES SENSE IF WE ASSUME THE SPRING IS A BALL ON A PENDULUM WITH ITS MASS AT A POINT AT ITS CENTER SUSPENDED IN MID-AIR BUT THERE'S NO AIR AND NO GRAVITY AND THE PENDULUM SPRING HAS NO MASS AND NO FRICTION. I BELIEVE THE OTHER UNSTATED ASSUMPTIONS ARE OBVIOUS.
Votey:
Close-up of the blonde professor, wide-eyed.
Professor: ALSO, π = 3, g = 10, AND ANYTHING WE DON'T LIKE = 0.
An older man with glasses and graying hair, in a gray jacket, sits beside a young person with dark hair wearing a yellow shirt and a backpack.
Man: GOOD LUCK IN COLLEGE, KIDDO. YOU KNOW, I ACTUALLY HAD MORE TROUBLE IN BASIC PHYSICS THAN MOST OF THE LATER STUFF.
Young person: HUH. I WONDER WHY?
Panel 2:
A red banner reads: SOON...
The scene shows the young person now seated, looking toward a blonde professor with glasses standing at a green chalkboard, gesturing.
Professor: NOW, THIS ALL MAKES SENSE IF WE ASSUME THE SPRING IS A BALL ON A PENDULUM WITH ITS MASS AT A POINT AT ITS CENTER SUSPENDED IN MID-AIR BUT THERE'S NO AIR AND NO GRAVITY AND THE PENDULUM SPRING HAS NO MASS AND NO FRICTION. I BELIEVE THE OTHER UNSTATED ASSUMPTIONS ARE OBVIOUS.
Votey:
Close-up of the blonde professor, wide-eyed.
Professor: ALSO, π = 3, g = 10, AND ANYTHING WE DON'T LIKE = 0.
Alt text
A two-panel SMBC comic. Panel one: an older man with glasses sits next to a young person in a yellow shirt with a backpack, saying "Good luck in college, kiddo. You know, I actually had more trouble in basic physics than most of the later stuff." The young person replies, "Huh. I wonder why?" Panel two, under a red banner reading "SOON...": the young person is in a lecture hall while a blonde professor at a chalkboard launches into a tangle of physics simplifications: "Now, this all makes sense if we assume the spring is a ball on a pendulum with its mass at a point at its center suspended in mid-air but there's no air and no gravity and the pendulum spring has no mass and no friction. I believe the other unstated assumptions are obvious." The joke: intro physics is hard because it's buried in absurd idealizing assumptions. Votey: a wide-eyed close-up of the professor adding, "Also, π = 3, g = 10, and anything we don't like = 0."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.