0699: "Trimester"

[kaimason1]

Wednesday's strip will be 700, and it seems the comics are going to be funny again, like they were in the 300s.

EDIT: Pagetopper!

[The Troubadour]

*snicker* This is half the reason alternative medicine has perceived credibility.

P.S. Nihiltres: you're more right then you know. Two people in my city once walked into a Chapters bookstore, each in suits. They picked up a large television and walked out with it. This was at daytime, when it was open, and the manager even saw it. They just all assumed it was all according to plan.

[Shark89]

Randle, after a long time of reading these comics and keeping my thoughts to myself, you have finally forced me to register.

My cheese burned, a lot, because I knew how true this was from experience.

My dad used to work as a sales man for a water treatment equipment company (sold home reverse-osmosis units). At some point while working or various companies, he bought a lab coat, and wore it to sales calls. He'd test the water out of the tap, give the gist of the unit's function, all while wearing a lab coat, and some people took it as near-gospel. I got to see it first hand, because he took me on calls during the summer or on weekends.

Another time, he wore it when he went to meet my mom at her office for lunch. But first, when he walked in, he told the new receptionist that he was a doctor who had been called in to give company physicals. The receptionist believed him, but was worried because no one had told her and she thought it would have been on a schedule that she had, and she probably would have presented herself to him for a physical if he hadn't cracked up eventually because she had believed him.

[bzakharin]

"Didn't anybody question you?"
"Of course, but when they did Patrick would say..."
"That's a stupid...."
"You'd be surprised how well it works."

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Chrysalis_(episode)

[philip1201]

You can also buy your own Uranium ore:
http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-Ore/dp/B000796XXM

Why buy a lab coat when you can get one for free?

[ManaUser]

An interesting thing about the xkcd art style, you can't tell whether someone is naked or not. (With obvious exceptions, like the lab coat.) It makes this strip potentially very creepy, depending on how you interpret it.

[jasonkoller]

I have a labcoat, a trench coat, and a brown coat.
Just because I can.

[Flippy]

You can also buy your own Uranium ore:
http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-Ore/dp/B000796XXM

Why buy a lab coat when you can get one for free?

Best search result ever!
Especially when you look at "Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed".

[Asphias]

This reminds me of how the Chasers War on Everything managed to get into a very protected zone at an international summit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H6pU4UbRYE

really shows how much you can do with a good outfit and being bold enough.

[rcox1]

I have a labcoat, a trench coat, and a brown coat.
Just because I can.

I have a hoodie and dark glasses. Just because I like to look more interesting than I am.

[neoliminal]

An interesting thing about the xkcd art style, you can't tell whether someone is naked or not. (With obvious exceptions, like the lab coat.) It makes this strip potentially very creepy, depending on how you interpret it.

You think that's creepy, just visualize her as pregnant by pretending that forward arm is her body.

[project2051]

You can also buy your own Uranium ore:
http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-Ore/dp/B000796XXM

Why buy a lab coat when you can get one for free?

Best search result ever!
Especially when you look at "Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed".

Hmmmm.. What can you do with:

Uranium ore, 32oz of wolf urine, a gallon of milk, a fresh whole rabbit, a ufo detector, JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser, and a wedding chapel.

I'm sensing some kind of strange cross-species shotgun wedding.

[Iridos]

Hmmm, yes, we know you can buy lab-coats?
But does he know you can't check up on lab-coat wearers with the Nobel committee?

The combination of Uranium Ore (note the price difference... $29 vs. "used" for $2500 - does used mean this stuff has already been inside a nuclear reactor and now contains Plutonium and all those other goodies?

Wonder where that "list price" comes from, too), wolf urine and Tuscan whole milk a JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser / Tank, ATN PhantomIR Thermal Vision Binocular an UFO-detector and the wedding chapel also gave me a start.
Probably you disguise the tank with the wedding chapel. Maybe you're able to see THROUGH the walls of the chapel with your $19,600 binoculars... I'd guess you'd somehow try to use the uranium ore as bait for UFOs... but I'm stumped what you'd use the milk and the wolf urine for. You could probably mix them and get... err...


I.

[Kummallinen]

THEY DO THIS IN FINLAND.

http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/htimes/finnish-papers/9442-false-doctors-identity-revealed-.html

With quite a success, too, apparently. More than three have been found during past month. (One was a vet, too.) >__< Very timely around here, thank you, Mr. Munroe. X)

[RogueCynic]

Also, unless a package is delivered to your door, you could have it sent to virtually any address in the area code no questions asked when you pick it up. At least it works with existing addresses, tune in next week to see how we did with the fake ones!

I was a little confused by the "title/alt" text. Wouldn't people check ID before checking on any Nobel prizes?

Well they would, if it were a situation in which one would normally check ID. So you wouldn't use it as a minor buying alcohol, but if you're already at a black tie event chatting up the local millionaire's daughter or son, they're not exactly going to stop you to look at your driver's license, much less pick up a phone and call the Nobel committee.

You mean like this one? http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20323171,00.html
It is an interesting comic, however, I would not suggest testing it.

[HighwoodFool]

This comic reminds me of YEC's pretending to be "experts" in biology.

Also:

Cry baby cry... make your mother sigh...

The Beatles FTW!

He is BHG's favorite cousin. He is LCG.

Whoo! New character!

*snicker* This is half the reason alternative medicine has perceived credibility.

Out of curiosity, what would you say the other half is? Confirmation bias? Placebo effect?
Some methods work for certain problems, and some are proven quackery (e.g. ginko).

[djublonskopf]

The title to me suggests she just asked why abortions after the first trimester are frowned upon (an arbitrary date). I suspect nobody brought it up because we don't need a "pro-life vs. pro-choice" debate in this thread.

I was a little confused by the "title/alt" text. Wouldn't people check ID before checking on any Nobel prizes? Is Mr. Munroe implying ID is trivial to fake? Maybe it is a reference to the report that the Internet got nominated for a Nobel prize.

Before clicking to read the comic thread, I tried to guess what the first totally off-base, personal-grievance-flavored interpretation of the strip would be.

I guessed wrong.

[rdm_box]

He is BHG's favorite cousin. He is LCG.

Whoo! New character!

I rather think that he is the same scientist out of Science montage and is bored of watching machines whirr, and wants to play with defribrillators (not sure if that is spelled right) and scare pregnant women.

edit: Scroll down a bit on the uranium ore page and you see this:

Frequently Bought Together
Customers buy this item with Forbidden Lego: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against! by Ulrik Pilegaard

Lego!! Reminds me of the lego one, where the girl gets told by her dad about lego houses. When uranium decays, is it still the same, even though all the original parts still exist?

edit ii: Found it! Lego

[TimeSpaceMage]

Yeah, this comic made me think of that one drug commercial... think it was for osteoporosis. A guy in a lab coat and stethoscope was going around telling people about this drug.

[kaimason1]

On the discussions under uranium ore, someone asked if it was a joke and it turned into a two page flame war.

[scottyb]

The same principle works with a hardhat and hi-visibility vest.

No one will question anything you're doing if you have a hi-vis vest on.

Unless you're the Ghostbusters.

[ButterflyWillBeFree]

I feel like I was the only one who, upon reading that Nobel Prize comment, immediately thought of how Obama managed to wrangle one so early in his presidency that I heard rumor he didn't even know he was nominated until he won it...

Or maybe that's just me.


Oh, yeah...long time stalk-I mean lurker of the forums, first time poster, yadda yadda yadda, you all know the spiel.

[helo darqness]

I found this comic hilarious for a completely unexpected reason. When viewing the page in a maximized Google Chrome browser window on a 1024x768 display, the punchline is just below the screen threshold. I almost didn't realize it was there. For some reason, this made the comic much funnier.

I was looking at it on my treo, but to read the alt-text i came to the forum, and had the same thing happen to me. the delay makes it funnier.

it was like textual comic timing.

[minno]

*cringe*

[The Utilitarian]

Clearly she must have been hysterical, which, if the ancient Greeks are to be believed, is caused by the uterus wandering throughout the body.

[Pen_Bird]

Yeah, this comic made me think of that one drug commercial... think it was for osteoporosis. A guy in a lab coat and stethoscope was going around telling people about this drug.

"Now open one of your mouths..." -- ______

C-;

[Infectonator]

This made me honestly lol. I have been convinced to introduce myself.

[10nitro]

You can go quite far with a determined look on you face and a screwdriver in you hand... No one ask what you are doing as long as it looks like you should be doing it... =o)

Better: wearing safety glasses, awkwardly holding a brief case, a screw-driver, and a calculator, furiously punching numbers into the calculator.

Also, a pocket protector is a suitable substitute for a hall pass.

[Ouch.jars]

This reminds me of how the Chasers War on Everything managed to get into a very protected zone at an international summit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H6pU4UbRYE

really shows how much you can do with a good outfit and being bold enough.

And a Canadian flag.

This reminds me of something I saw on TV once where people pretended to be workmen and asked people to turn their phones off when crossing a bridge. Most did. Then they moved on to weirder actions (such as not stepping on cracks in the pavement) and, if I recall correctly, most of them still followed the orders.

[project2051]

I've always wanted to do kind of the opposite. To go around work telling everyone that everything is ok and just to go about business as usual, but doing it in a full hazmat suit.

[nomadluap]

I've always wanted to do kind of the opposite. To go around work telling everyone that everything is ok and just to go about business as usual, but doing it in a full hazmat suit.

Hmm, that reminds me of a video I saw once where a couple of guys in London were going around with megaphones and telling everyone that everything was okay, and to go about with their shopping and such.

[cparker15]

"Now open one of your mouths..." -- ______

C-;

Just stay away from my human horn!

[OdedO]

Lab coats are smart, but Golden coats are cuter.

[javahead]

Wednesday's strip will be 700, and it seems the comics are going to be funny again, like they were in the 300s.

Sequel?

THIS IS XKCD! <insert livid Gerard Butler .gif here>

Lab coats are smart, but Golden coats are cuter.

Unless you're an Argonaut.

[sweed]

This reminds me of a segment from the Chasers where they would pretend to be cops and give people tickets and citations for things like having shirts with bad jokes on them, having bad hair-do's and having stupid liscence plates.

also: look at one of the buyer reviews from the wolf urine:

By NedMuffin (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
One is immediately drawn to this vintage by the colour, which is an elegant, pale straw hue with an appealing peachy fruit on the nose. It has an incredibly effervescent bead -- the whole glass teams with bubbles -- culminating in a frothy layer at the head.

The palate has panache, with a firm, mineral acidity that cuts through a rather elegantly styled, poised meaty presence. As with most Chateau Deerbuster products, this has the signature leafy-fresh character, which softens into a slight rancid feel towards the end.

Even though it has a rather short and crisply defined finish, I still believe this has the composition and acidity to age well in the cellar of any self-respecting urine connoisseur.

and one from the uranium ore:

By Nero Goldstein "Bemused by a Muse" (The Great Nation of Texas) - See all my reviews
Picked this up for use in one of my kid's 'diversity' projects in school (Great Success!), and stuck the leftovers in the cabinet next to the baking soda.

Ran out of toothpaste, and remembered how you're supposed to be able to use baking soda to clean your teeth, so of course, I accidentally used this instead, and Wow! all I can say is, my teeth have never been cleaner! They sparkle, they tingle, and for some reason, they STAY clean now, no matter what. Highly recommended!

However, when I ran out of that fire-ant killer powder stuff, I figured I would try some for that too.

Big mistake!

Boy, it sure did not kill those ants!

Fortunately, those suckers get slower as they get bigger, so I have been able to use a shovel to take care of most of them, one at a time though, the sneaky devils.

And the darn trash man refuses to take them away..

I would have given this product 5 stars for the teeth and the project on embracing diversity, but I deducted one star because of the giant mutant ants.

[westrim]

I feel like I was the only one who, upon reading that Nobel Prize comment, immediately thought of how Obama managed to wrangle one so early in his presidency that I heard rumor he didn't even know he was nominated until he won it...
Or maybe that's just me.
Oh, yeah...long time stalk-I mean lurker of the forums, first time poster, yadda yadda yadda, you all know the spiel.

Oh man, it was the weirdest thing for me when they announced he got the prize. I had been on a redeye from LA to Miami, so when I got off the plane at about 8am EST, one of the first things I saw was CNN on a tv with the big news. It was like I had entered bizarro land. I had heard he was nominated but never dreamed they'd actually go ahead and give it to him, at least not so soon.

[andy33gmail]

Talking of conformity:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbc ... /510090392

(Article about when someone manages to convince McDonalds managers to sexually abuse employees)

[Trespasser]

As I myself have 4 lab coats I found this comic funny enough to finally register.
Though I have to say 2 of then are pretty useless now because they got holes as big as tennis balls because of acids (98% sulphuric acid and Hydrogen fluoride) . And they got lots of different colours because of chemicals like Potassium permanganate and Potassium dichromate. It's because I'm studying chemistry that I have those lab coats (I am in the lab 2 days a week normally but not at the moment).

[RogerB]

The first customer comment for the uranium ore on Amazon is so good I'm amazed no-one has yet passed on. So here it is:

I purchased this product 4.47 Billion Years ago and when I opened it today, it was half empty.

- Roger

[LittleBigSpoon]

Admittedly, when I first read this, I didn't notice the text at the very bottom, so it was funny, albeit a little odd. But then I noticed it just now.