Testing a placebo blocker

Oooo!  This really is a hard experiment to design.  Placebo effect is real, and this xkcd cartoon posted nearby at the Curious Wavefunction hints at some of the complications. Warning: science nerds only; ordinary people may not find this funny. 

Free speech explained

Free speech is a difficult concept for many people, particularly those people who feel entitled to say anything they please because they are ludicrously rich. Exercising your freedom of speech is not without consequences, and here to explain this fully is a wonderfully direct way is xkcd, a favorite cartoon of this author.

Nerdiest cartoon of all - xkcd

Without question the nerdiest cartoon of all is xkcd.  If you do not know this cartoon, then you have no nerdy tendencies at all, and don't act like this is a good thing.  This particular one, a cartoon of all known exoplanets is pretty spectacularly nerdy even for xkcd.  Took me a second to realize there was a "you are here" component just lacking the red arrow.  And to draw them all to scale.  How nerdy is that?  Knowing how many exoplanets we know about is pretty nerdy too.  Crap, that means updating a line in a book chapter, and how doyou cite a cartoon?  It takes a very special mind to think of this stuff, and then to make it funny.