There’s a competition to write a caption for a cartoon every week in the New Yorker. Then they pick three finalists, and you can go in and vote.
I just got my latest copy of the New Yorker and saw this cartoon by Frank Cotham:
… and this was one of the caption finalists, which is just brilliant:
“I think it’s important for them to hear both sides of the debate.”
Submitted by Marjorie Staiger, Boulder Creek, Calif.
Boy, I wish I’d said that!
On a related issue, don’t forget to catch the Daily Show‘s week-long special entitled “Evolution/Schmevolution”, next week.
Also, have a look at cartoon contest number 18, which is currently here. (Update: it keeps moving, so go here and see if you can see it.) To my mind, this just begs for a physics caption. Go to the site and submit one…let’s see what happens, and if you want to, place a copy of your idea here too. If you win, let me know and we’ll celebrate it here. Even if you don’t, we’ll have our own little competition for it here if we get enough entries. Rule: It has to be a physics-related caption!
-cvj
September 9th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
Ok, ok, I can’t resist starting you off. Two which spring to mind are:
The folks at the New Yorker probably won’t get either of these….
I’m sure you can do better. These are just off the top of my head.
Go for it!
-cvj
September 9th, 2005 at 11:38 pm
“Hold that thought Mrs. Smith – I’ll have to call you back. I’m afraid my floor just got colder.”
September 10th, 2005 at 5:22 am
“As I was telling my Eng.Lit.301 class, the laws of physics are nothing more than a construct of the capitalist patriarchy!”
September 10th, 2005 at 9:05 am
More evidence of intelligent falling….
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39512
September 10th, 2005 at 9:21 am
That is a great caption
“I think it’s important for them to hear both sides of the debate.”
Cosmic Variance has a larger version of this New Yorker cartoon, and I agree with Clifford: great caption. I should start pounding on a few church doors and demandin…
September 10th, 2005 at 9:50 am
“Then Dr. Jenkins experienced the ‘Second Pauli Principle:’ any physical law proposed by a theorist would be immediately applicable to his body.”
September 10th, 2005 at 9:54 am
hrm… I just realized I got the “Second Pauli Principle” (also known as the “Pauli Effect”) wrong… I think that’s supposed to be that an experiment is bound to fail if Pauli is nearby. But there is a principle such as I described above; I just forgot the name.
September 10th, 2005 at 10:01 am
[re: the caption contest]
“Never in Professor Frink’s wildest dreams did he expect a macroscopic quantum fluctuation to temporarily reorient the gravitational field in his office.”
September 10th, 2005 at 10:09 am
“Now of course we can neglect gravity….”
September 10th, 2005 at 10:26 am
9 has my vote
September 10th, 2005 at 11:02 am
“Everyone thought the full scale test of the equivalence principle was a big success”
September 10th, 2005 at 11:23 am
Well, if you just suspend belief for a moment…
September 10th, 2005 at 12:16 pm
Number 9. Definitely. Followed closely by number 1(i) though…
September 10th, 2005 at 12:30 pm
I submitted this for a caption:
I knew gravity was just a theory!
September 10th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
He wondered if he’d ever again be able to trust the scientists and their “theories.”
September 11th, 2005 at 7:59 pm
“So you think the laws of Thermodynamics are valid in Hell?”
September 12th, 2005 at 12:27 am
Eeeek, it’s gone! Anybody have a copy? johncheeseREMOVE@THISgmail.NOSPAM.com
September 12th, 2005 at 2:11 am
I’ll put an update link on the main post, Moi. The New Yorker seem to be moving their links around in a not entirely consistent way…. Whatever happens, it is competition number 18.
-cvj
September 12th, 2005 at 10:43 am
Moments before his office smacked into the ground, professor Blog was still convinced the Earth had disappeared…
September 12th, 2005 at 10:52 am
“Eureka! the First fermionic office”
OR
On finishing his latest holography proof, all of professor Blog’s office suddenly adheres to the walls.
September 12th, 2005 at 1:48 pm
It’s a bad sign when the disorder in one’s office is best modelled as a gas.