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[xkcd] Academia vs. Business (18 Nov 2009)

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Some engineer out there has solved P=NP and it's locked up in an electric eggbeater calibration routine. For every 0x5f375a86 we learn about, there are thousands we never see.

Transcript

[Cueball sits at a desk in front of a computer, leaning back in his chair with both hands down to his side. There are cans on the desk and more crushed ones on the floor.]
Cueball: I just wrote the most beautiful code of my life.

[Zoom in on Cueball and top half of desk.]
Cueball: They casually handed me an impossible problem. In 48 hours and 200 lines, I solved it.

[Curved lines with arrows divide the comic into two possible end panels, labeled "Academia" and "Business."]

Academia:
Professor: My god... this will mean a half-dozen papers, a thesis or two, and a paragraph in every textbook on queuing theory!

Business:
Boss: You got the program to stop jamming up? Great. While you're fixing stuff, can you get Outlook to sync with our new phones?

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