3131: Cesium

2025-08-25T05:05:47Z

2607:F140:400:AF:9424:5A3F:3925:7277: /* How to attract attention */ Mentioned food poisoning

{{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 BOT USING A DISASTROUSLY EXPERIMENTAL RECIPE. Need more on the other agencies mentioned in the title text and ideas on how he could succeed. The current section on how to attract attention needs work. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{w|Cesium-137}}, or Cs-137, is a radioactive {{w|isotope}} of {{w|Caesium|cesium}} (officially spelled 'caesium', internationally). 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 the shrimp were near materials contaminated with Cs-137 during shipment. A sample of breaded shrimp was [https://archive.ph/ri4tv confirmed to have been contaminated.]

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}}, along with other more common uses. Cueball and Megan cannot fathom how one could unintentionally contaminate shrimp with radioactive material, let alone with just one specific isotope. Cueball then comments that his biggest culinary screw-up attracted the attention of only 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 (the {{w|International Air Transport Association}} (IATA), {{w|International Mathematical Olympiad}} (IMO), or {{w|National Security Agency}} (NSA)) with a recipe he has butchered, either by accident or, more likely in his case, on purpose. Possessing and accidentally or intentionally releasing a radiation source like Cs-137 could get the attention of the NSA. Needless to say, it is difficult to imagine a cooking error that could be in any way brought to the attention of IATA or IMO. To "mess up a recipe", in the sense of cooking it for oneself or a small group of others, would be unlikely to create a problem on a scale that an international agency would take note of. A recipe that was published for others to use could cause more significant problems if it led to harm to many people. This might involve ingredients that were poisonous, or preparation methods that were unsafe. The word "recipe" is sometimes used metaphorically to describe a set of step-by-step instructions for tasks that don't involve food: "recipes" for chemical procedures (not unlike cooking recipes, in many ways), "recipes" for doing things with computers, etc. A particularly ill-considered thing is sometimes referred to as "a recipe for disaster". A number of these might be of interest to security agencies.

===How to attract attention===
====Attracting the attention of the IATA====
If the recipe is used in major airports and the recipe is contaminated with a drug, the pilots that consume it could experience vision loss or other problems, and if this recipe is widely used and normal people won't notice much besides minor side effects or negative effect was widespread enough where it affected very many flights, then this could attract the attention of the IATA. As a similar example, some airlines have mandated that the captain and first officer eat meals prepared in different kitchens in order to decrease the likelihood that they would both develop food poisoning severe enough to prevent either of them from being able to fly and land the plane. Not all airlines have these mandates, but a food poisoning incident like {{w|Zero Hour!}} would likely prompt IATA to institute this policy for all of its members, especially if it ended in a fatal crash.

Another possibility would be to cook a souffle so high and fluffy that it reaches airspace (like weather balloons sometimes do), or to sauté something that is very smokey, such as chili peppers, so that the smoke interferes with airspace (like the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajökull). Or rig up a pressure cooker to shoot pasta sauce out of its release valve. Or use the jet engine to pluck chickens.

====Attracting the attention of the NSA====
There could be a secret code hidden in the ingredients of a recipe, and if the code affects the whole nation, this could attract the attention of the NSA. However, a much harder way is to have a similar incident with the shrimp, but at a much larger scale and possibly affecting a lot of different foods, if this threat is big enough, the NSA will investigate if there are people purposely doing this.

====Attracting the attention of the International Mathematical Olympiad====
A recipe to attract the attention of the IMO is much harder to imagine. Randall's best chance might be to cause an incident with some mathematically interesting property that inspires a math puzzle to be written about it. Another possibility is some person is trying to give answers to a person in the Olympiad by giving the person a recipe with the answers as a secret code inside, thus attracting the attention of the IMO. If mass food poisoning happens at math Olympiad it can also get some attention, though that would require working for IMO as caterer or at some restaurant near the location where Olympiad is held. However, these are most probably all on purpose or would be not allowed to be served for reasons unrelated to IMO and it would be very unusual to accidentally make these recipes. About a week prior to the publication of this comic, [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/math-question-viral-elementary-school-bobby-seagull-b2807395.html a botched "math exercise" about baking that lacked an actual question] went viral and was reported on by traditional media, but it happened at an elementary school, completely unrelated to the IMO.

==Transcript==
:[Megan looks at a news story on her phone while talking with Cueball. Cueball is looking at Megan]
:Megan: There's a recall of frozen shrimp contaminated with cesium-137.
:Cueball: With ''what?''
:Megan: I know, right?
:Cueball: ''How!?''

:[Megan has put her phone away and she shrugs with her arms held out palm up, looking at Cueball.]
:Megan: No idea, but I bet it involved some expensive equipment. Those cesium sources aren't cheap.
:Cueball: Man.

:[Megan stands normally while Cueball holds a hand to his chin, looking down.]
: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>

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Math]]

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3131: Cesium