Talk:3131: Cesium

2025-08-20T19:11:54Z

2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B: Tokaimura criticality accident

I think that's called a recipe for disaster. NOTE: I am also 104.225.172.143. [[Special:Contributions/138.43.101.123|138.43.101.123]] 14:36, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: No, ''I'' am 104.225.172.143! [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:09, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

My best recipe comes with a Notice to Mariners [[User:Hcs|Hcs]] ([[User talk:Hcs|talk]]) 14:45, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

I added a transcript. Hopefully it's okay. [[Special:Contributions/104.225.172.143|104.225.172.143]] 14:54, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

A gram of gold runs on the order of ~$100 USD as of writing; a gram of cs-137 looks to be in the millions~billions range. --[[Special:Contributions/158.91.163.9|158.91.163.9]] 14:55, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:Caesium contamination usually is caused by nuclear accidents (or atmospheric nuclear weapon tests) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-137#Environmental_contamination. It is unlikely that someone acquired pure Cs-137 and then "accidentally" contaminated the shrimp with that. --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 15:31, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

Bothering the NSA shouldn't be hard, just write some of their secrets on a cake (with frosting is optional) and post it online. [[Special:Contributions/212.101.26.209|212.101.26.209]] 14:57, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

What would IMO do, revoke your math license? [[Special:Contributions/216.73.162.10|216.73.162.10]] 15:22, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: They have numerous penalties at their disposal. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:27, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: I imagined the reason the IMO would get involved would be because the recipe created some interesting mathematical problem that could be used for the next competition. For example, something like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct3lCfgJV_A this video], where a grocery order taken too literally creates a seemingly harmless Diophantine equation whose smallest positive solutions are on the order of 10^80. [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 15:56, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

Maybe The IATA could get involved if your ruined recipe caused food poisoning on a commercial airliner that then resulted in an in-air emergency (whole flight deck passed out).
:Or if you create a column of dense toxic fumes that spreads over a wide area (on the level of a volcano eruption). On the other hand, I wonder what could bring the attention of the IMO when Terryology seemingly couldn't.--[[Special:Contributions/94.73.52.245|94.73.52.245]] 18:56, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

The criticality accident in 1999 at the Tokaimura nuclear facility seems like a good example of messing up a recipe in a way that draws considerable attention. {{w|Tokaimura nuclear accidents}} [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B]] 19:11, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

3131: Cesium

2025-08-20T18:51:58Z

2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B: /* Explanation */ wikilink IATA, IMO, NSA

{{comic
| number = 3131
| date = August 20, 2025
| title = Cesium
| image = cesium_2x.png
| imagesize = 588x298px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Someday I hope to find a way to mess up a recipe so badly that it draws the attention of the International Air Transport Association, the International Mathematical Olympiad, or the NSA.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a disastrous recipe-creating bot. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
{{w|Cesium-137}} (Cs-137) is a radioactive {{w|isotope}} of {{w|Caesium|cesium (a.k.a. "caesium")}}. This comic was posted the day after the {{w|FDA}} posted an [https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-advises-public-not-eat-sell-or-serve-certain-imported-frozen-shrimp-indonesian-firm advisory] about frozen shrimp sourced from an Indonesian firm, because they were contaminated with radiation during shipment.

Rather than being concerned about the potential health impacts, [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are curious about the technical details that led to this contamination. Cs-137 is normally a by-product of nuclear reactors and is occasionally used in {{w|Food_irradiation|food irradiation}}. Cueball and Megan cannot fathom how one could unintentionally contaminate shrimp with radioactive waste, and Cueball comments that his biggest culinary screw-up only attracted the attention of his local fire department, likely because he set something on fire while cooking. A real-life example of seemingly-random contamination by Cs-137 was the {{w|Goiânia accident}} in Brazil.

The title text says that one of Cueball's (or possibly Randall's) ambitions is to draw the attention of various organizations ({{w|International Air Transport Association}} (IATA), {{w|International Mathematical Olympiad}} or the {{w|National Security Agency}} (NSA)) with a recipe he has butchered, either by accident or more likely, in this case, on purpose. Needless to say, it is difficult to imagine in a cooking error that could be in any way brought to the attention of IATA.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

:[Megan, on the left, looks at a news story on her phone next to Cueball.]

:Megan: There's a recall of frozen shrimp contaminated with cesium-137.
:Cueball: With ''what?''
:Megan: I know, right?
:Cueball: ''How!?''

:[Megan puts her phone away and shrugs.]
:Megan: No idea, but I bet it involved some expensive equipment. Those cesium sources aren't cheap.
:Cueball: Man.

:[Megan stops shrugging, with Cueball in thought.]
:Megan: It's honestly a little inspiring to realize that it's always possible to screw up in a totally new way.
:Cueball: Yeah, the biggest agency whose attention '''''I've''''' drawn by messing up a recipe is the local fire department.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

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Talk:3131: Cesium

3131: Cesium