Elvie #047
Dec14
on December 14, 2018
at 5:29 pm
This strip first appeared in issue #207 of Linux (Pro) Magazine.
Fork this comic (or just grab the source files) on GitHub
↓ Transcript
[Panel 1: Elvie is looking at a letter she's written]
"Dear Lego Company,
It's great to see that your recent 'Women of NASA' set included Margaret Hamilton, who led the software development team for the Apollo missions. But when will we see other great female programmers, such as Grace Hopper or Ada Lovelace, immortalised in plastic?
Yours constructively,
Elvie"
[Panel 2: Elvie is holding a lego minifig of Ada Lovelace. Caption: Many months later…]
Elvie: I've finally got a minifig of Ada Lovelace…
[Panel 3: Elvie is next to a boxed Lego kit]
Elvie: …it's just a shame the set cost $5000!!!
[The kit is Babbage's Difference Engine, and contains 20,000 pieces (plus the minifig)]
"Dear Lego Company,
It's great to see that your recent 'Women of NASA' set included Margaret Hamilton, who led the software development team for the Apollo missions. But when will we see other great female programmers, such as Grace Hopper or Ada Lovelace, immortalised in plastic?
Yours constructively,
Elvie"
[Panel 2: Elvie is holding a lego minifig of Ada Lovelace. Caption: Many months later…]
Elvie: I've finally got a minifig of Ada Lovelace…
[Panel 3: Elvie is next to a boxed Lego kit]
Elvie: …it's just a shame the set cost $5000!!!
[The kit is Babbage's Difference Engine, and contains 20,000 pieces (plus the minifig)]
I can’t say I understand the joke.
If you know who Ada Lovelace is, how she’s related to Babbage’s Difference Engine and what the Difference Engine is, then you’ll understand why the Lego set would come with that minifig, and why it would have so many pieces and therefore cost so much. If you don’t already have that background knowledge then this probably isn’t the joke for you.