odd
Original: odd on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Woman with dark curly hair (excited): HEY, WATCH ME TALK: IF YOU TAKE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONSECUTIVE SQUARE NUMBERS, YOU GENERATE THE ODD NUMBERS.
Panel 2:
Fair-haired person (off-panel, skeptical): SO.?
Woman with dark curly hair: SO THIS IS AMAZING!
Panel 3:
Woman with dark curly hair: IT'S FUNDAMENTAL NON-INTUITIVE MATHEMATICS AND I CONVEYED IT TO YOUR CONSCIOUS MIND THROUGH SPIT-LADEN PUFFS OF GAS SHAPED VIA A SERIES OF SKIN-FOLDS!
Panel 4:
Woman with dark curly hair: THIS IS HOW OUR REALITY WORKS! YOU CAN DISCOVER UNIVERSAL TRUTH, SURE, BUT TO TRANSMIT IT YOU HAVE TO USE STUFF! NOISE, INK, FLASHES OF LIGHT...
Panel 5:
Woman with dark curly hair (gesturing upward): WE DO NOT KNOW THE PROOF OF THE TWIN PRIME CONJECTURE, BUT WE KNOW WITH ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY THAT IF IT EXISTS IT CAN BE EXPRESSED AS A SERIES OF TOOTS ON A WHOOPIE CUSHION!
Panel 6:
Woman with dark curly hair: REALLY MAKES YOU WONDER ABOUT THE BEING THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE.
Fair-haired person: EVERYTHING WORKS BUT NOTHING IS ELEGANT. GOD IS AN APPLIED MATHEMATICIAN.
Votey:
A whoopie cushion sits below a speech balloon filled with rows of binary code: 01001001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110110 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100101 01110000 01101100 01111001 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110011 00101100 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110011 01101000 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110110 01100101 01100100... (The binary spells: "I have lived deeply, and when the time comes, i wish to have lived...")
Woman with dark curly hair (excited): HEY, WATCH ME TALK: IF YOU TAKE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONSECUTIVE SQUARE NUMBERS, YOU GENERATE THE ODD NUMBERS.
Panel 2:
Fair-haired person (off-panel, skeptical): SO.?
Woman with dark curly hair: SO THIS IS AMAZING!
Panel 3:
Woman with dark curly hair: IT'S FUNDAMENTAL NON-INTUITIVE MATHEMATICS AND I CONVEYED IT TO YOUR CONSCIOUS MIND THROUGH SPIT-LADEN PUFFS OF GAS SHAPED VIA A SERIES OF SKIN-FOLDS!
Panel 4:
Woman with dark curly hair: THIS IS HOW OUR REALITY WORKS! YOU CAN DISCOVER UNIVERSAL TRUTH, SURE, BUT TO TRANSMIT IT YOU HAVE TO USE STUFF! NOISE, INK, FLASHES OF LIGHT...
Panel 5:
Woman with dark curly hair (gesturing upward): WE DO NOT KNOW THE PROOF OF THE TWIN PRIME CONJECTURE, BUT WE KNOW WITH ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY THAT IF IT EXISTS IT CAN BE EXPRESSED AS A SERIES OF TOOTS ON A WHOOPIE CUSHION!
Panel 6:
Woman with dark curly hair: REALLY MAKES YOU WONDER ABOUT THE BEING THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE.
Fair-haired person: EVERYTHING WORKS BUT NOTHING IS ELEGANT. GOD IS AN APPLIED MATHEMATICIAN.
Votey:
A whoopie cushion sits below a speech balloon filled with rows of binary code: 01001001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110110 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100101 01110000 01101100 01111001 00101100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 01110011 00101100 00100000 01101001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01110011 01101000 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110110 01100101 01100100... (The binary spells: "I have lived deeply, and when the time comes, i wish to have lived...")
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. A woman with dark curly hair excitedly explains math to a skeptical fair-haired companion on a snowy hill. Panel 1: she says taking the differences between consecutive square numbers generates the odd numbers. Panel 2: the companion replies "So.?"; she answers "So this is amazing!" Panel 3: she gushes that it's fundamental non-intuitive mathematics conveyed to the companion's conscious mind "through spit-laden puffs of gas shaped via a series of skin-folds!" Panel 4: she says this is how reality works—you can discover universal truth, but to transmit it you must use stuff: noise, ink, flashes of light. Panel 5: pointing skyward, she declares we don't know the proof of the twin prime conjecture, but we know with certainty that if it exists it can be expressed "as a series of toots on a whoopie cushion!" Panel 6: now silhouetted against the night, she muses it makes you wonder about the being that created the universe; the companion concludes, "Everything works but nothing is elegant. God is an applied mathematician." Votey: a whoopie cushion emits a speech balloon filled entirely with rows of binary code—the medium of truth reduced to crude bodily noise once more.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.