3131: Cesium

2025-08-20T17:01:50Z

2607:FB91:1BE5:F4F4:592B:23F:D121:4FC8:

{{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}} 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, which are not normally used in food processing.{{cn}} 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.

The title text says that one of Cueball's (or possibly Randall's) ambitions is to draw the attention of various organisations with a recepie 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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3131: Cesium