https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=John1878explain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-09T04:27:19ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3131:_Cesium&diff=3846383131: Cesium2025-08-20T18:20:20Z<p>John1878: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3131<br />
| date = August 20, 2025<br />
| title = Cesium<br />
| image = cesium_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 588x298px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| 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.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|This page was created by a disastrous recipe-creating bot. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
{{w|Cesium-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.<br />
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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 a relatively small organization, that being 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.<br />
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The title text says that one of Cueball's (or possibly Randall's) ambitions is to draw the attention of various organizations 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.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Megan, on the left, looks at a news story on her phone next to Cueball.]<br />
<br />
:Megan: There's a recall of frozen shrimp contaminated with cesium-137.<br />
:Cueball: With ''what?''<br />
:Megan: I know, right?<br />
:Cueball: ''How!?''<br />
<br />
:[Megan puts her phone away and shrugs.]<br />
:Megan: No idea, but I bet it involved some expensive equipment. Those cesium sources aren't cheap.<br />
:Cueball: Man.<br />
<br />
:[Megan stops shrugging, with Cueball in thought.]<br />
:Megan: It's honestly a little inspiring to realize that it's always possible to screw up in a totally new way.<br />
:Cueball: Yeah, the biggest agency whose attention '''''I've''''' drawn by messing up a recipe is the local fire department.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<noinclude></div>John1878https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=130:_Julia_Stiles&diff=373729130: Julia Stiles2025-04-19T16:31:09Z<p>John1878: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 130<br />
| date = July 19, 2006<br />
| title = Julia Stiles<br />
| image = julia stiles.jpg<br />
| titletext = I found an old tape of this episode in my family's closet. Check the news section of the forums to see the clip!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Julia Stiles}}, who later became a well-known actress as an older teenager and adult, did in fact appear in the children's television show ''{{w|Ghostwriter (1992 TV series)|Ghostwriter}}'' as a 12-year-old in 1993. The sketch in this comic depicts Stiles as she appeared in the episode, and all the dialogue attributed to her is taken from her character's actual dialogue.<br />
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Although this dialogue was supposed to establish Erica (Stiles' character) as an expert on hacking, it actually consists mostly of buzzwords (some of which are fake), none of which would impress an actual computer hacker. The term "console cowboys" is stated to be a reference to the book ''{{w|Neuromancer}}'' in the full scene.<br />
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An archived version of the thread in the news section of the forums, as referenced in the title text, can be found [https://web.archive.org/web/20150326153234/http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=92 here]. A copy of the video with better audio can be found [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bLlj_GeKniA here].<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:The best thing ever to appear on TV:<br />
:12-year-old Julia Stiles as a hacker in a 1993 episode of PBS's "Ghostwriter"<br />
<br />
:[A sketch of Julia Stiles, as a 12-year-old, with a bandana over her head, long wavy hair, elbow shirt, wrist band, and pants.]<br />
:Julia Stiles: Do you know anything about hackers?<br />
:Julia Stiles: Can you jam with the console cowboys in cyberspace?<br />
:Julia Stiles: Never experienced the new wave? Next wave? Dream wave? '''OR''' cyberpunk?<br />
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==Trivia==<br />
*This is a rare comic on xkcd to feature a drawing of a recognizable human being, as opposed to a stick-figure representation of them.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>John1878