One of the great things about having kids is that you get to watch cartoons without anyone thinking you are weird. One of our family’s favorites the past few years (it first aired in 1999) has been SpongeBob SquarePants. He’s such a sweet nerdy character, and the writing on the show is very clever.
I used to think that I was a truly odd duck – thanks to the Internet, I have discovered that there are a WHOLE lot of people out there who share my nerdy, offbeat humor. It’s been great! The best part is that I am able to surf the net and find lots of quirky stuff that I never would have known about otherwise.
I recently ran across a wonderful blog written by a delightful young lady named Vi Hart. She makes math FUN (my Aunt Gloria – a high school Calculus teacher who saw “math” everywhere she went – would have loved her). I had a great time looking through her YouTube videos, but these are extra special:
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“Why so special?”, you may ask – well, after she made these videos, she sent them to the SpongeBob “people”. Kenny P. (the BG Layout Supervisor of SpongeBob SquarePants) responded to her via his blog.
Hi Vi,
OK, I guess the jig is up. It only took 14 years, 8 months, and about 16 days since I designed SpongeBob’s house before I was called out on its fraudulence. And, to be honest with you, I’m tired of living a lie. It’s time to come clean and make some changes for the better.
So, in the interest of truth and justice, I’ve made some slight alterations to the design (see attachment). Also, I’ve attempted to ferret out a few interesting proportions and relationships that have existed in the geometry of the design since the beginning. The one obvious correction that I’ve made is to the angles of ascension of the clockwise and counterclockwise spirals. You will find that they now follow their proper, naturalistic course. Also, notice that the third, implied spiral formed by the intersections of these spirals is now also correct.
Throughout the course of the show, the number of rivets on the windows has varied between 5 and 6, so I’ve standardized it to 5 (see design notes for explanation). And, the number of rivets on the doorframe fluctuates wildly. So, I’ve standardized that number to 13 (see notes).
Anyway, keep up the good work! Come by for a tour of the studio the next time you find yourself in Burbank.
-Kenny P.P.S. I love your videos, and, you just happened to have posted the SpongeBob video on my birthday. Synchronicity!
Oh, and I forgot to point out that I laid the design out on a golden rectangle! Oops.
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The comments to his post are funny, as well – I almost spewed out my Coke when I read this one:
Kenny and Vi;
After examining the effort and due diligence put into the standardization of Sponge Bob Square Pant’s house, the Canadian Standards Association feels that it would be prudent on our part to adopt this as the new standard for ALL underwater dwellings (both salt water and fresh water) built primarily of pineapple based building materials. We would be happy to send you a sticker that you can affix to the dwelling showing that it now complies with the newly adopted standard.
Thanks for this great contribution to standardization in the construction trades.Rob Rashotte
Director of Learning Services
Canadian Standards Association
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Then there is this poor chap, whose life will never be the same:
Vince Deporter said…
And I have been copying your mistake for over 12 years. How can you defend yourself? My career is now in shambles and nobody will ever want to work with me again! Snif. I gave my LIFE to you! Snif! Snort! (lip trembling…) 😀
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Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the Internet?
Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!
Have a great day –
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Koch's Tour 
i used to watch spongebob, although I liked chowder much better. (i don’t use the kids excuse thing, my dad and my brothers also watch cartoons)
anyway, i noticed that spongebob has been infiltrated by the communist agenda and they talk about global worming and sharing the wealth.
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Yeah, my (now grown) kids watched it recently and said that it had gotten “weird” and “creepy” – our youngest still enjoys watching it; she’s 10 and has Down syndrome, so the AGW agenda sails right by her (thankfully).
The best cartoons are those that just stick with generic funny stuff –
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but the rest of it’s hilarious. thanks 🙂
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Glad you liked it!
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Yes, I agree that in the past few years SBSP has become rather… infiltrated. Aside that, this is probably the most awesome thing ever to have blossomed from that show. I ♥ the internets!
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The Fibonacci Sequence for the win!!!!!!
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You know, when I am asked how I can prove that there is a God, I always fall back on Fibonacci. It makes people think 😉
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*adjusts pocket protector and black glasses with tape holding them together*
Yup.
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you ARE so weird, thats why i probly love ya so much, to be honest, im still a johnny quest man
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HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
Mr. TiFW grew up watching Johnny Quest – he’s the one who named our dog “Bandit” (‘cuz she’s white with a black mask on her face – she’s not as small as JQ’s dog, though…..).
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I have to admit (in spite of my Fibonacci heritage) – my favorite episode had to do with Patrick’s fancy sentence enhancers!!!
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That was a good one!
I’m partial to the one where Sandy is missing Texas….
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I have to admit, when I first saw Vi’s video, I thought of how much your mom would have LOVED it – no doubt, she would have started up a correspondence with her as well!
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I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it was dead week and she had a final soon, really soon!!!
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I think that video was done a while ago – Kenny P’s response was in January of this year. If you go to the link on her name, it tells you more about her.
I have a feeling she’s like a lot of us – lots of random ideas rattling around in her head; she just is able to tie them all together in a funky package (like the rest of us wish we could). Of course, I’m just nerdy enough to see what she’s doing and go, “Oh, yeah!”.
Then I get distracted by some other shiny object, and I’m off to scamper after that for a while…..
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Was Fibonacci the guy who drew Bugs Bunny?
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No, silly – that was da Vinci (you know, the guy with the “code” 😛 ) –
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This is so great!!! Love it!! 🙂
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