Anyone remembering the movie Muppets in Space where Gonzo really sees his Alpha-Bits cereal spelling a message (when it turned out to be his own kind communicating with him)? Or how about A Goofy Movie with the “Hi, Dad” alphabet soup Max had?
One of my jobs, I had to run a script that automatically configured network equipment. The script generated random passwords. The program running the script showed what was happening. One time, in the middle of a password was the “big F word.”
And that my friends is a keeper as a demonstration of both the principle of expected values and the idea of completeness in probability. (i.e. in order for the sum of probabilities to sum to 1, somethin MUST happen)
I calculated it, and it’s roughly a 1 in 141,167,100,000,000 (about 150 trillion) chance. Since FoxTrot has been going since 1988, that’s 33 years, plus 15 years for before the strip (since he was one year old), so Peter eats roughly 2,940,981,300,000 (about 3 trillion) bowls of cereal per year. Divide that by the number of days in a year, and you get 8,051,967,967.15 (about eight billion) bowls of cereal per day. This means that he somehow eats 5,591,644.42163 (about six million) bowls of cereal per minute, or 93,194.0736938 bowls of cereal per second, 24/7.
Space_Owl on GoComics over 3 years ago
He is the gazillion
marilynnbyerly over 3 years ago
Are you kidding? Ghosts have better things to do than that like arranging letters in alphabet soup.
Templo S.U.D. over 3 years ago
Anyone remembering the movie Muppets in Space where Gonzo really sees his Alpha-Bits cereal spelling a message (when it turned out to be his own kind communicating with him)? Or how about A Goofy Movie with the “Hi, Dad” alphabet soup Max had?
RobinHood over 3 years ago
That Ouija brand cereal can be pretty creepy.
Kroykali over 3 years ago
Today’s classic Sunday strip we’re missing:
https://www.gocomics.com/foxtrot/1999/05/09
danketaz Premium Member over 3 years ago
Must have one heck of an English assignment going on to be eating that much Alpha-bits.
dadoctah over 3 years ago
“To be or not to be, that is the gezornenplat.”
She: “My Alfa-Bits are haunted! They keep spelling out OOOOO!”
He: “You’re eating Cheerios.”
Lawrence.S over 3 years ago
He’s got an infinite number of monkeys and typewriters in his cereal bowl.
Publius10608218 over 3 years ago
The mothership is calling! (Anyone else remember that muppets?)
mail2jbl over 3 years ago
Reminds me of the cereal Gonzo was eating in “Muppets From Space”.
pathamil over 3 years ago
Switch over to Ghost Toasties…
bigbadwolf49 over 3 years ago
the normal, untampered with alphabet soup or cereal looks like a Trump sentence
raybarb44 over 3 years ago
Maybe, but don’t dismiss outright that supernatural thing…….
Jogger2 over 3 years ago
One of my jobs, I had to run a script that automatically configured network equipment. The script generated random passwords. The program running the script showed what was happening. One time, in the middle of a password was the “big F word.”
txmystic over 3 years ago
I haven’t eaten a bowl of Alpha-Bits since 1979. They still make it?
johndifool over 3 years ago
Scientific American actually address this exact kind of scenario today, in yet another odd coincidence:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-improbable-existence-is-no-evidence-for-a-multiverse/
RobinHood over 3 years ago
I had a simular experience, I read a message in my cereal that read OOOOOO. Then I realized I was eating Cheerios.
DCBakerEsq over 3 years ago
My oatmeal rarely spells out anything coherent.
lkpettus over 3 years ago
I don’t think they make Alpha Bits anymore. Can’t find them anywhere.
WCraft Premium Member over 3 years ago
Better than “Buzz off Peter”
harvey812abc over 3 years ago
So he can expect it to happen about once a week then?
Thinkingblade over 3 years ago
And that my friends is a keeper as a demonstration of both the principle of expected values and the idea of completeness in probability. (i.e. in order for the sum of probabilities to sum to 1, somethin MUST happen)
hariseldon59 over 3 years ago
I thought it would turn out to be a Jason prank.
ZaeTudor over 3 years ago
it should’ve said “stupid peter”
《Lily》 Premium Member over 3 years ago
Oml i did it i read every single foxtrot comic! Now time to do it again!
StackableContainers over 3 years ago
I had “dog” spelled out spontaneously with the cereal once. Not as mind blowing.
Zomboss’ Third in Command over 3 years ago
merely a coincidence
Zomboss’ Third in Command over 3 years ago
cue x files theme
Steamy over 3 years ago
i saw this while listening to the empty bowl
HenryBrandao almost 3 years ago
I calculated it, and it’s roughly a 1 in 141,167,100,000,000 (about 150 trillion) chance. Since FoxTrot has been going since 1988, that’s 33 years, plus 15 years for before the strip (since he was one year old), so Peter eats roughly 2,940,981,300,000 (about 3 trillion) bowls of cereal per year. Divide that by the number of days in a year, and you get 8,051,967,967.15 (about eight billion) bowls of cereal per day. This means that he somehow eats 5,591,644.42163 (about six million) bowls of cereal per minute, or 93,194.0736938 bowls of cereal per second, 24/7.
501179 over 1 year ago
Doctor octopus"hello Peter"