
A guy walks up to the counter in an old-fashioned hat store. He's wearing 10 small cowboy hats in a neat pile atop his head. After a quick double-take, the proprietor remarks: "Our customers usually buy the ten-gallon hat. You're the first to buy ten one-gallon hats."
This describes a cartoon that appeared in The New Yorker several years ago, and it provides an indirect foundation for the…