3151: Window Screen

2025-10-07T05:56:44Z

2401:D002:CA0C:9F00:31FA:700E:A0CD:DDF1: Added a trivia section. If it is not done well, it is because I am new.

{{comic
| number = 3151
| date = October 6, 2025
| title = Window Screen
| image = window_screen_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x299px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine or Home Improvement or DIY
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by Alfred Nobel's screen saver. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
Cueball believes he should receive a Nobel Prize for creating a custom screen for a window.

A window screen is most often used to block insects, other small animals, and debris from passing through an open window, while allowing air and light. One can also make a mesh that attaches to the outside of the glass to display an outward-facing image or limit incoming light. Most windows are flat and rectangular, and pre-made meshes for these can be measured and cut with basic tools. Some windows have complex shapes. As discussed, it is very difficult to design a screen that neatly matches a complex glass surface.

An oblique angle is any angle that is not a multiple of 90 degrees (not a right or straight angle). While right angles allow for intuitive mapping of sides to an X-Y coordinate plane, acute or obtuse angles indicate that at least one side will have endpoints that differ in both coordinates. This requires extra calculations.

Curved edges require extra care to measure and cut. Circular or semicircular windows follow a constant curve that can be traced with limited effort, but the window in the comic is irregular.

"Noncoplanarity" means that not all elements of a system can be represented on the same plane. It is implied that the window is not flat, suggesting that the glass is curved. The shape in the comic could possibly occur if the room featured in the first and third panels was at least partly conical, with the window narrowing to match the wall sloping inward to a central point above (this would also fit the earlier mention of multiple curved edges). The glass could also be shaped into an outward bubble. Either way, the mesh must be carefully shaped.

Perfectly fitting a custom screen to such a window may be a significant technical accomplishment that the builder may wish to share with acquaintances. However, it is generally not considered near the level of one of the world's most prestigious awards, which often recognize years of effort, rather than something that Cueball did between the "this weekend" and the present (at most one week).

==Trivia==
At the time this comic was released, there was a technical error making it too large to be viewed optimally. This has not been fixed yet. This may be a further layer to the joke, as the comic does not fit within the required space.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[The text for the first panel appears above the panel itself.]
:This weekend,
:I had to make an oversized screen for a porch window.
:[Cueball is looking out through a window with a straight bottom, slanting sides and a curved upper edge.]

:[In each of the remaining panels, the text appears within the panel but above the illustration.]
:It involved countless tiny problems, each somehow way harder than it should be.
:Oblique angles. Curved edges. Noncoplanarity.
:[Cueball is shown pondering various problems involving geometry and angles.]

:... I solved them all.
:I measured precisely. I did trigonometry. I made custom parts.
:And it fit '''''perfectly.'''''
:No gaps, no ripples.
:[Cueball with slightly more hair, looking at the window covered by a bordered mesh.]

:I know that your foundation normally limits its purview to physics, medicine, peace, chemistry and literature.
:However, if you review the attached photo showing how well the screen fits into the...
:[Cueball is revealed to be sitting at a computer, typing a message.]

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

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3151: Window Screen