2014-08-20

A webcomic answering a child's question with progressively more pedantic experts. Top panel: a small child looks up at a woman and asks, "Mommy, what is the fastest animal?" The following panels each show the woman's face captioned with a profession giving its answer. NORMAL PERSON: "The cheetah!" BIOLOGIST: "A descending peregrine falcon." ENGINEER: "Human being in an orbiting satellite." PHYSICIST: "Unexpected reference frame. Question invalid." Votey (aftercomic): labeled CHEMIST, the same woman, drawn with wide blank eyes and a baffled expression, asks, "What's an animal?" The joke: each discipline reframes the simple question until the chemist no longer even understands the category.