# What is Slug's illustration for the atomic/hydrogen bombs column about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 3, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459 "2013-05-03T23:24:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459/1 "2013-05-03T23:24:24Z")
A beat-up guy in a foxhole, with a medic standing over him with a funnel, and a nurse rushing out of an outhouse with two buckets labelled “B.B”? Doesn’t smell like nuclear apocalypse to me? Link: What’s the difference between a hydrogen bomb and an atomic bomb? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459/2 "2013-05-04T00:09:14Z")
Here’s the link > **[What’s the difference between a hydrogen bomb and an atom bomb?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342356/what-s-the-difference-between-a-hydrogen-bomb-and-an-atom-bomb)** ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459/3 "2013-05-04T04:31:23Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Link: What’s the difference between a hydrogen bomb and an atomic bomb? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459/4 "2013-05-04T05:10:14Z")
That looks like the illustration for “Is urine a disinfectant?” Ah: here you go: [Why are men supposed to wash their hands after urination? Plus: urine therapy! - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1043/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination) : From 1996: “Why are men supposed to wash their hands after urination? Plus: urine therapy!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459/5 "2013-05-04T05:21:38Z")
If you check the dates you’ll see those two columns originally were published in a single column. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459/6 "2013-05-04T05:30:28Z")
…and “BB” stands for “Battlefield Bactine”. I know. Gross. Just remember that the Master says, “Wash those hands”. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459/7 "2013-05-04T08:37:49Z")
Just don’t wash them in heavy water! ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459/8 "2013-05-10T20:28:56Z")
It’s rare nowadays for Cecil to have more than one question/answer in a column, but back in the good ole days, it was fairly common. And the two questions often had nothing (or next to nothing) to do with each other. Slug sometimes picked one or the other to illustrate, and sometimes came up with some combination illustration that was even more bizarre than his usual. When stuff was loaded onto the website (and for the books), the questions were separated. For the website, the illustration for that week was usually assigned to both questions (if there were two), leading to some… ah… surreal situations. It’s more trouble than it’s worth for someone to go through checking each one, so we just let it slide because there is no sanity clause. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-slugs-illustration-for-the-atomic-hydrogen-bombs-column-about/657459/9 "2013-05-15T21:26:42Z")
Yeah, what Dex said. That’s one of Slug’s illustrations that incorporates both questions.