860: Never Do This

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Never Do This

Title text: I call Rule 34 on The Secret House.

Explanation

Cueball shows his new pocket microscope to a girl. Curious as they are, they quickly decide to use the microscope to look at things.

When Cueball decides to look at the dirt under his fingernails, they both sink into a depression. This is due to the fact that such dirt will contain things that most people consider "gross", like various types of fiber, dust, (parts of) dust mites. They never knew they were so 'dirty'.

Secondly, when zooming in on reality like this, it is easy to start realizing that things have more detail than you think and thus, describing a table as table may not suffice. This induction, which is extensively used in at least the Buddhism philosophy as preached by the current Dalai Lama, will result in a train of thought that shows that any concept can be divided up further and further. Objects will turn into quantum particles. The concept of an 'ego' or 'self' will be reduced to some biochemistry and then to essentially nothing - you don't exist.

The title text refers to Rule 34, an internet meme which states "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions.". The book referenced is "The Secret House: 24 hours in the strange & wonderful world in which we spend our nights and days" by David Bodanis and is about microphotography. It features extreme close-ups of everyday phenomena in the common house, but as seen from a microscopic perspective. A "Rule 34" version of this might feature microscopic views of other bodily areas or fluids than fingernails.

Transcript

[Cueball brings in a pocket microscope.]

Cueball: Check it out - a pocket microscope!

Megan: Ooh! Let's look at stuff!

[Cueball holds a pencil; Megan peers at a quarter through the microscope.]

Cueball: The tip of this pencil is neat!

Megan: This quarter is really scratched.

Cueball: Let's look at the skin under our fingernails!

Minutes later...

[Cueball and Megan curl up in a pit of despair.]

Cueball and Megan: oh god oh god

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Discussion

The current explanation states "A "Rule 34" version of this might feature microscopic views of other bodily areas or fluids than fingernails." However, I think the title text is actually meant to point out that the images in The Secret House (and the stuff under your fingernails) are so disgusting that it may not be possible to make porn of it, which would be a violation of Rule 34. So by saying "I call Rule 34 on The Secret House," he is either challenging someone to prove that Rule 34 applies to something so disgusting, or he is questioning the validity of Rule 34 altogether. --Foushee217 (talk) 16:07, 6 February 2013 (UTC)