Here's a little fellow who seems to belong to a genus of critters that I'm beginning to think of as "Advanced Stick Figures." Since he has a labcoat and a clipboard, he must be a scientist. Television has taught me that.
Since we're (or rather I'm - you may be thinking about something entirely unrelated at the moment) on the subject of scientists, I'll take this opportunity to repost my rules for safe and proper laboratory behavior:
- It doesn't go in your mouth.
- It doesn't belong in your ear.
- Don't stick it up your nose.
- Don't get it in your eyes.
- Don't drop it on the floor.
- Don't touch it if it's on fire.
- If it smells bad, it's probably bad for you.
- If it smells good, it's probably worse.
- If you can't smell it at all . . . well, it's been nice knowin' ya.
- If it can be pointed, be careful where you point it.
- Just because the radiation won't kill you now is no excuse.
- Read the label first.
- If it ain't broke, don't break it.
- If two substances are in separate containers, there's probably a good reason for it.
- If it kills other living things, there's a chance it's not good for you either.
- If metal dissolved in it, odds are your fingers won't fare much better.
- An experiment that causes physical pain is a poorly designed experiment.
- If you didn't do control experiments, you didn't do any experiments. Start over.
- A result you don't like is still a result.
- If it didn't work the first time, repeat the experiment.
- If it did work the first time, repeat the experiment.
- That which does not kill you . . . usually hurts like hell anyway.
- Learn to cope with frustration.
- Lightning may not strike the same spot twice, but just about everything else will (corollary: if it exploded last time, it's likely to explode this time too).