Chemical Stick Figures

Guest Comic - House Synthesis

2010-10-27T22:49:00.003-04:00

Dammit, house synthesis SHOULD get a Nobel!

Via my brother. I'll have one of my own coming (eventually).

Subscribing to RSS is good for you.

#47 - An Unexpected Call

2010-03-03T12:00:00.002-05:00

One panel Burn Notice parody!

I plan on expanding this to spoof the whole opening sequence (eventually).

#46 - Restrained Enthusiasm

2010-03-01T18:44:00.000-05:00

Getting back into the swing of things with a few One Panels!

Extreme Laziness

2009-12-17T17:26:00.005-05:00

I was planning on getting a Christmas themed comic up before leaving to visit the parents for the holidays, and you can see how well that plan turned out. It has been almost two months since I last posted and I have no excuse. I've just been hella preoccupied/busy. I apologize to those that check here everyday for an update and find nothing.

But I have a solution!

On the right sidebar, near the bottom is a link to my RSS feed. So if you have an RSS reader, it'll tell YOU when I update to save you the trouble of clicking daily!

I might as well say this also; once I run completely out of ideas I plan on stopping so I won't jump the shark. I'm not in grad school anymore or even working in a lab at the moment. So when I'm tapped out, I'm done.

Don't worry though, I still have plenty of ideas, so it won't be anytime soon.

Thank you very much for reading Chemical Stick Figures! :-)

- Mike

Tutti, hanno un buon Natale ed un buon anno!

#45 - Not The Future

2009-10-26T21:27:00.001-04:00

A not-so-important project becoming the bread and butter project of the group!

Based on a former labmate's research experiences.

To remove any confusion about the third panel, and the possibility of a future punch to the jaw for being pretentious, the gold guy (the hard worker btw) in the first two panels suggested earlier to the backwards hat character to try gold instead of platinum. Not the other way around.

#44 - Freestyle Fridays

2009-09-07T12:00:00.001-04:00

I hate lab chores.

P.S. This doesn't count for the "Five O'Clock Rule".

#43 - Philogiston

2009-07-27T19:42:00.003-04:00

Brannon Braga himself would be proud of the technobabble used here today.

Welcome Curly Arrow readers! I hope you're liking what you see!

#42 - I'm a Chemist

2009-06-26T22:05:00.003-04:00

Is it bad that I was laughing like crazy while drawing this comic?

Anyways, over-the-top white boy gangsta rap about seemingly everyday things just cracks me up. So I figured, why not a chemistry one?

#41 - Effects May Vary...

2009-06-09T20:50:00.003-04:00

Yay for useful natural product syntheses!

#40 - Two For One

2009-05-17T16:04:00.007-04:00

If you have "Classics in Total Synthesis" (vol 1 of 2!), flip to the introduction and read it. Like Odysseus, you might make it to the Ithaca of the punchline.

I don't think this could actually happen for a real research article. Of course it would be funny (to me at least) if it did happen in JACS or OL.

#39 - Water Rings

2009-05-09T23:40:00.004-04:00

For some reason I wanted to throw in a Dune reference with the whole "CO2 = death of mankind" alarmist junk.

The expanded joke in the last panel (if I had more space) should have been:

"Remind me why we don't just buy HPLC grade water again?"

"The boss had money in the grant to buy a death-still, so we use a death-still. Besides, our crazy Korean post-doc says the human derived water "prawbawbly amplifies trimer with cytidine, I think so, this one..."

"...ALBERTA!"

She loves Alberta, I guess.

#38 - Forbidden Instruments

2009-04-26T17:58:00.004-04:00

Let's hear it for Analytical Instruments that only can be used by a specific few, and no one else can touch/use them!

Anyone?

No Huzzahs or "Hell Yeahs"?

Damn.

Yeah, I hate this too.

My lab had one HPLC, two GC's (one worked, the other didn't), and a GC/MS. The HPLC (and later a UPLC) was bought and paid for with a grant for a specific project. So once it was set up and running with optimal conditions, woe unto those that disturbed it. I wouldn't have been suprised if there was some sort of booby trap or password lock (for the computer) on the instrument.

The post doc that was on this project (not our friendly Russian one) was/is psychotic about it. Group meetings that she gave were "interesting." By interesting I mean slide after slide of graphs and charts. Keeping awake was a challenge to say the least.

#37 - Frak Me!

2009-04-07T20:35:00.003-04:00

A Chemical Stick Figures tribute to the just ended BSG!

Take what you want from the series as a whole, but I still think the whole "Coup d'ètat" arc in the fourth (and final) season was stretched out too much. And don't get me started about the last hour of the finale.

EDIT: OH SNAP! It's printable on landscape!

#36 - Lab Deliveries

2009-03-31T20:32:00.005-04:00

In my continuing quest to make my comics fit on a sheet of paper (and be printable!), I think I've succeeded.

Edit: I guess not. The quest continues...

Update

2009-03-30T22:26:00.001-04:00

New comic up by Thursday, at the latest.

#35 - The Three Times Rule

2009-03-25T19:43:00.006-04:00

This rule keeps you from "diversifying" your research with too many projects or "to do's" by your adviser. What happens is that you don't give your full, laser-beam-cross-hairs-target in sight, attention until he/she mentions it to you three times. While this rule can work well with relaxed and laid-back advisers, it wouldn't be prudent to try it in a TS group (or in the real world for that matter).

#34 - Alkali Metal

2009-03-15T20:10:00.004-04:00

I think this one's pretty much self-explanatory. Also, don't get all EPA on me about dumping iPrOH/water down the drain.

#33 - Hatin' on WIFS

2009-03-09T20:53:00.007-04:00

We actually did this, many times. The odd part is that we wouldn't even be blasting the music, it was just loud enough to hear over the hoods and rotovaps. Next thing you know the door is slammed shut with FORCE by a certain labmate. I mean there was anger behind it. To tell the truth, I didn't know if he had some issues or just plain hated our music.

We usually play a wide range of music, from Miles Davis to Italian Pop Radio to Classical Music to Russian Gangster Rap (it exists, trust me).

You should check out The World/Inferno Friendship Society (WIFS) because they're awesome.

PS. I hate drawing on perspective.

#32 - Pending Lawsuit

2009-03-03T21:18:00.009-05:00

Don't try this in real life. If you do, try to win the bet outside of your research group. Possible lawsuits and sensitivity training does not bode well for overall group morale.

I've been wanting to do this one for a long time, basically for the whole premise of the joke and the absurdity of the punchline.

#31 - The Five O'Clock Rule

2009-02-25T20:55:00.003-05:00

This rule (at least in our lab) kept us on good behavior while our undergrad was in the lab doing research. Basically we wanted to show her that we were mature chemists and not total whack-jobs who cursed constantly (in multiple languages), made off-color jokes, or made crude sexual innuendos about the first year in our bay laying pipe with one of the female post-docs.

Thanks to CBC for the linkage!

#30 - A Small Change

2009-02-22T12:00:00.003-05:00

Another group meeting comic, as promised.

At least we didn't have "Harvard Style" group meetings, where if a suggestion you made in group meeting worked, you got third or fourth author on the paper.

EDIT: Apparently, I cannot spell.

#29 - Soporific Without the Pill

2009-02-20T21:02:00.003-05:00

Here's a one panel to round out the week! The group meeting/talk/seminar that just puts you to sleep.

It's been a long 5 days, so I (hopefully) will have a more substantial comic up by Monday. Probably still in the Group Meeting vein.

____________________________________________________________________

"The boss is out of town and we're STILL having group meeting?!?"

"Yes."

"Why don't we just push everyone back a week?"

"No, that would throw off the schedule. It's set in STONE!"

Guest Comic - Reasons Why I Don't Come Home Often

2009-02-17T20:30:00.000-05:00

Via my younger brother. I did touch up his comic to give it the Chemical Stick Figures oomph. But other than that, everything is essentially the same.

You can even tell we're in the same family, backwards black hat and black bandanna. Head coverings run in the family I guess.

#28 - The Second Rule of Lab is...

2009-02-12T21:00:00.001-05:00

Proper application of Star Wars quotes at the right time is essential. Of course you can always replace Star Wars with some other TV or movie quote.

First comic with the new tablet!

"What's campus security's number again?"

"Two-two....something, I forget."

Something New

2009-02-10T19:53:00.003-05:00

I recently bought an awesome Wacom tablet, so a new comic should be up in the next few days (hand-drawn OMG OMG !!!1!11!!!eleventy!1!one!). I'm still getting the hang of using it, so it might look a little choppy and messier than usual.

I think my whole 4 or 5 readers can wait just a while longer for some chemical stick figure awesomeness?