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Double-Pronged Extension Cord

|< < Prev #3198 (January 23, 2026)

Title text: 'Oh, and can I borrow 50 sacks of loose flour, a pile of lithium-ion batteries, a bucket of bleach, and a bucket of vinega--' 'NO!!!!!!'

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Explanation

As Ponytail correctly points out, extension cords with prongs on both ends are lethally dangerous. They are also known as suicide cords for this reason.

Ponytail seems to relax when she persuades Cueball to use a regular extension cord instead. But then he elaborates that rather than wanting the cord to carry electricity, he actually intends to use it as a makeshift support similar to the screwdriver in Louis Slotin's infamous "Demon Core" or "Tickling the dragon's tail" experiment, which proved fatal. Understandably, this horrifies Ponytail even more.

The title text escalates the innocently mentioned hazards...though arguably not as much as the radioactivity. Loose flour is a well known fire hazard and the key to a flour-air explosion; 50 bags of it plus some way to get it into the air could blow up a sizable building. Lithium batteries are well known fire hazards when overcharged, which is why the TSA restricts them in checked luggage and there have been numerous fires caused by the lithium batteries in "hoverboards" leading them to be oft-banned in cities, airports, and by retailers who might otherwise sell them. A bank of 50 might be overkill, but if charged in parallel (serial probably wouldn't work as well), could likely cause a noticable explosion or fire once one of them hit its limit. And while vinegar and bleach aren't a particular fire hazard, they do release chlorine gas when combined, which is rather unfortunately lethal. As such, the theme appears to be "innocuous-appearing substances which are actually quite dangerous" -- except for the plutonium, of course.

Transcript

[Cueball is approaching Ponytail from off, who is sitting at a desk, with a laptop.]

Cueball: Do you have an extension cord with prongs at both ends? Can I borrow it?

Ponytail: No!!!

[Close up of Ponytail raising her arms in an exasperated fashion]

Ponytail: No one should ever buy or make those!

Ponytail: They start fires, destroy equipment, and risk electrocuting you or grid workers!

Cueball: OK, OK, I get it.

[The view zooms back out, showing Ponytail handing Cueball an extension cord.]

Cueball: Can I just borrow a regular cord, then?

Ponytail: Sure. Here.

Cueball: The prongs aren't important. I just thought they'd help anchor it to the wall.

Ponytail: Wait, what are you-

[Cueball is walking away from Ponytail, who sits at her desk with her hands to her head.]

Cueball: I need it to help hold up the top half of the reflector for this plutonium core that I'm-

Ponytail: AAAAAAAA!!!!

Trivia

Two days before this comic's publication, Randall Munroe released an xkcd "What-If?" video on YouTube, "How long would you survive with no DNA?", which suggests that the hypothetical instantaneous removal of all of a person's DNA would be similar in its effects to those of receiving a massive dose of ionizing radiation. Slotin's accident was one of the most notable such events known.

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