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| Toasting Marshmallows |
 Title text: We have two 'in case of fire, break glass' boxes, which you pick between based on how big of a problem the fire is. One has an extinguisher, and one has sticks, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. |
Explanation
Intensive, or even unintentional, testing of computer hardware can occasionally result in overloading components, sometimes leading to heat damage or even a fire. This comic suggests that engineers should fake out any such errors in judgement by pretending that any resulting fire was the deliberate aim, treating the burning equipment as a campfire over which they can roast marshmallows on sticks.
Cueball and Megan's conversation indicates that this is what happened here. They have overloaded a circuit board to the point of combustion and are using the resulting fire to roast marshmallows. Megan also (rightly) raises the concern that burning printed circuit boards and other plastics can release toxic fumes, like dioxins and heavy metal vapors. Toasting marshmallows over these chemical flames would contaminate the food, making it extremely unsafe to eat.
The title text deals with equipment intended to be used in the case of a fire. One option is a fire extinguisher, a valid tool for dealing with the danger a fire could pose. The other is the equipment and ingredients required to exploit the fire to make the traditional campfire food s'mores, which is presumably for situations where it is not possible or not worthwhile to put the fire out (perhaps due to being too strong or too minor, respectively).
Toasting marshmallows in a lab environment has been previously referenced in 2514: Lab Equipment, while another unorthodox method for toasting marshmallows was covered in 2804: Marshmallow. An alternative use for marshmallows was suggested in 517: Marshmallow Gun.
Transcript
- [A single panel showing Cueball and Megan sitting on the ground. Between them is a small fire built of what appears to be a burning circuit board. Both are holding long sticks with marshmallows on the end, roasting them over the flames.]
- Cueball: At least we finally determined the board's actual thermal limit.
- Megan: Yeah. You know, we probably shouldn't eat these.
- [Caption below the comic:]
- Engineering tip: Keep sticks and marshmallows around to make failures look intentional.
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