Flash of Genius

(HORN HONKING)

MAN ON RADIO:

On the Maryland Giant,

I'm the Fryman in the morning,

and it's time for sports!

The Orioles continue

to shoot skyward

like a Saturn V.

Having locked up the

pennant over a week ago,

last night in

Municipal Stadium in

front of over 19,000.

(SIREN QAILS)

Excuse me, sir.

Can I speak with one

of your passengers?

Sure. Go ahead.

Go in back.

I'll go back

there now.

Thanks.

Robert Kearns?

Dr. Kearns?

Yes?

Sir, your family's

very concerned

about you.

Qhy don't you

come with us?

The Vice President

asked me to come

to Qashington.

Yes, sir,

we understand.

You should

come with us.

I suppose I could.

Hmm.

I'll take that

for you.

Be careful.

That's for my kids.

Don't you worry,

sir. Qe'll take

good care of it.

(CHURCH CHOIR SINGING)

PETE:
Scott, you and Louise

want to come to our place

for dinner tonight?

SCO TT:

Well, what about

the Pistons game?

No, I gave

my tickets

to my kids.

Prices where they are,

you gotta be kidding.

Hiya, Bob.

Hey.

How's the teaching going?

(MEN CHATTERING)

Oh, good.

How many Kearns kids

are there now? 13?

I can divine it.

Oh, you can divine it.

Qhat Scott here divines

is that the Knicks have

two guys out

with ankle injuries,

right, Bob?

Mmm. You talking

about basketball?

(CHUCKLES) Kearns,

you probably

mean that.

I do.

(CHUCKLES)

(ORGAN PLAYING)

REVEREND:
As I look

out over this sea

of familiar faces,

I see men from

G.M., A.M.C.,

Ford, Chrysler,

Jeep and Dodge

all under one roof,

as it should be.

And it brings to

mind the apostles.

Qhat was it that brought

these very different men

together as one?

(KIDS CHATTERING)

Father Rooney was

good today, huh?

He was funny.

He was great.

He really was.

Can I pinch you?

No, dipshit.

Mom, make him

stop calling me...

Qhat did you just say?

Dipstick. It's an

automotive term,

Mom.

Qell, say that one

more time and I will

have your chassis waxed.

Okay? That's an

automotive term,

too.

Look at this.

I turn this thing off,

10 seconds later,

I can't see.

PHYLLIS:

I can't see, either.

So you turn it back on,

and now the

windshield's clean,

(QIPERS SCREECHING)

But the wipers

are dragging.

You hear that,

that screeching?

Mmm-hmm.

(CHUCKLING) Yeah,

I hear it, I hear it.

TIM:
Yeah, it's annoying.

All right,

so it's raining and

I turn it back off.

But now I can

barely see.

I can't... I can't

see anything, sweetie.

I can't, either.

Sweetie, turn them on.

Right now, I can't

see a thing.

If I don't turn this

thing on right now,

we'll hit somebody.

Turn it on, honey. Please.

(ALL EXCLAIMING)

Look at this!

(HORN HONKING)

PHYLLIS:
Okay, that's

not funny at all.

BOB:
Qhoa. All right.

All right. All right.

Ten thousand engineers

in Detroit,

you'd think they'd

know how to design

an automobile.

Qhat are you doing?

Oh, I was thinking

about how eyes work.

Qe blink about every four,

six seconds, and there's

this lachrymal fluid and...

Really?

Interesting.

And what are you

thinking about?

(SIGHS)

I'm thinking

we should make

another kid.

Gotcha.

(CHUCKLES) Yeah.

Oh, that's good.

You're funny.

(CHUCKLING)

I'm gonna be

right back.

Huh? Huh?

Yeah.

Spell "giant."

KATHY:
G-I...

PATRICK:
G-l-A-N-T.

It's so easy.

Is your name Kathy?

Is it your test?

I don't think so.

It's Kathy's test.

Kathy, what's the

next one?

Puppy.

Puppy or science?

Puppy's too easy.

Do science.

Hi, poop.

Okay. S-C-l-E-N-C-E.

Six minutes,

you guys. Come on,

let's really hustle.

KATHY:
S-C-l-E-N-C-E.

PATRICK:
Qhen is

Calvin's sleepover?

Friday. I have

to call his mom.

KATHY:
Can I go...

TIM:
"Police described

the badly decomposed

body..."

I don't think so today,

sweetie. I don't know.

"...as one of the most

gruesome crimes..."

PATRICK:
Qhat time?

Qhat is that?

My current event.

I thought we agreed

we weren't doing

murders for a while.

KATHY:
Mom, what

about after school?

Honey, good morning.

Hey.

You tired?

No, I'm fine.

Qhat time did

you come to bed?

I don't really know.

Are you substituting

today?

(QAILING)

Yeah, fourth grade.

Eat something.

BOB:
No, no. I'll get

something at school.

That seems like a lot.

No, they called.

It's at Pat's school,

and so I can pick

them up after anyway.

Qell, who's gonna

watch him?

And I'm gonna take

him to the...

Don't worry about it.

Eat something, honey.

Okay. Hey.

Bye, kids.

All right?

TIM:
See you, Dad.

DENNIS:
Bye, Dad.

PATRICK:
Bye, Dad.

Don't use your

wipers today.

Bob, what?

Yeah, I needed

the motor.

Honey, what

if it rains?

No, no. It's

not gonna rain.

(THUNDER RUMBLING)

BOB:
Good morning,

everybody. I want

to welcome you all

to the first day of

the quarter for Applied

Electrical Engineering.

My name is Dr. Robert Kearns

and I'd like to start

by talking to you

about ethics.

I can't think of a job

or a career where the

understanding of ethics

is more important

than engineering.

Qho designed

the artificial

aortic heart valve?

An engineer did that.

And who designed

the gas chambers

at Auschwitz?

An engineer did that, too.

One man was responsible

for helping save tens

of thousands of lives,

another man

helped kill millions.

Now, I don't know what

any of you are gonna end

up doing in your lives,

but I can guarantee you

that there will come a day

where you have

a decision to make,

and it won't be as easy as

deciding between a heart

valve and a gas chamber.

Everything we do

in this classroom

ultimately comes back to

that notion. All right?

(STUDENTS MURMUR IN AGREEMENT)

Grades count, too.

(ALL LAUGHING)

Hi, Jerry.

Dr. Kearns.

I'm gonna make

a donut run.

Are you interested?

Mmm, you can't do

it mechanically.

Can't do what?

That's the

pause between wipes.

That was my mistake.

Can't do it mechanically.

You might be able to do

it electronically.

Oh, probably.

You want a donut?

No, thanks.

Okay.

BOB:
Dennis, stop it.

Timmy! Cut it out.

Get over here.

Okay, Dennis,

problem again?

To make it pause

between sweeps.

BOB:
Good.

And solution?

Qell, I guess we could

change the speed.

Yeah.

Yeah, except it would

be the wrong approach

and it wouldn't work.

Qhat do I

always say?

"Qho farted?"

Besides that.

Uh, look for

the unobvious.

Yeah. So you do listen.

All right. Qell, we're

just looking

for a measured,

consistent pause.

Like your eye,

right there.

See that?

The way it blinks

away a tear?

And we could try

a bimetallic timer

that responds

to heat changes.

But then, of course,

what do we do on

a cold day?

Put the ball down.

Sit down here.

I want you to

put this together.

I want you to solder this,

all right? Dennis, help

him out. Get over here.

Here we go. Here we go.

Qe got Team Kearns here!

Yeah, this is hot,

this is hot. So,

careful, all right?

That's got a transistor

and a capacitor, and

resistors in there.

That's as simple as

I can get it. That's

when you get real beauty.

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