Talk:2998: Ravioli-Shaped Objects

I think its a missed opportunity not to include the 'bulging lithium battery' themed throw pillow.Xurkitree10 (talk) 22:04, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

Oh, these actually exist--172.64.236.35 12:07, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

Although technically, the pillow itself is normal, it's the overlay / cover which is battery themed. -- Hkmaly (talk) 05:08, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

Battery stories. One of my backup batteries has started bulging so much I wrapped it in duct tape to hold the case onto it. It still works if I joggle the connectors well, but I’m worried. Another time, I was trying to repair a cell phone but accidentally pierced the battery with my tiny screw driver. It started sparking and smoking and emitting dense dark noxious smoke. I threw it, it landed on a chair and burst into a small fire. The building filled with the dense noxious smoke, setting off all the alarms, coughing, opening the windows. When the fire calmed down (it didn’t spread) the chair seat was burnt in the shape of the battery, as well as the phone was bent and discolored and unusable in every way. But it still had its electronics in many parts. I want to image that flash chip and get my files! A kid also once told me, they had an old phone they had taken to a very cold event (lithium batteries can hold power in proportion to temperature, so sudden drops could be a problem), and it started emitting s whining nosie. They threw it for safety, and it exploded away from them, according to their story.

Now, people also sell large expanded batteries for cell phones, which don’t fit in the case, and people mod or bend the case to get more power for their phones. Phone hacking, in some areas, has been getting easier and easier as information on it spreads and as design norms for phones stabilise. I used to mismatch phone batteries to save money and waste, but I was young and I would do crazy things like bunching up internal foil from candy wrappers, or bending paperclips, or pulling copper strands from discarded wires, and with my youngster manual dexterity i could measure the right voltages and jam, tape, or solder the disparate batteries to the internal connectors, and forcing the phone back on would then indeed yield things that looked like Randall’s drawings here.

Since traditional lithium batteries stop working after a few years, there’s pressure for people to do home battery mods.

But I bet nowadays you can find all sorts of clear descriptions of how to do these various things much better than I used to all over the internet somewhere, maybe even 3d print designs for parts. Maybe even a robot or drone exoskeleton for your phone, connecting with usb-serial or bluetooth or wifi.

So according to Randall it’s totally safe to use my bulging lithium backup battery (even if a screen is a little cracked)? 172.69.59.66 (talk) 22:29, 14 October 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Should we create a group/series for comics containing confusion matrices? This now makes 5, with the other 4 being 2963, 2813, 2420 and 1890. 108.162.250.184 22:50, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

Nevermind I just realised that this group exists, my bad. 172.68.210.124 22:53, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

I wasn't expecting a comic about spicy pillows but I think it's awesome that we got one. I do think there should be mention of or links to how to safely dispose of expanding lithium batteries such as Call2Recycle in the explanation, even if it's just to spread awareness about the dangers of spicy pillows and the proper disposal of them. OmniDoom (talk) 23:36, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

spicy pillows yummy Caliban (talk) 07:41, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Shouldn’t the bottomright square be yellow or even red? (I see it is mentioned in the explanation already) - - 172.71.103.178 09:26, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

I'm assuming that Randal has the experience in his community of never having an issue with installing an expanded battery. The comic appears to be saying that rumors that this is dangerous are false. But I don't know, maybe he's getting senile. In the "internetizen" or "hacker" spirit of the comic's demographic, trying out alternative approaches than the mainstream is (or was) the celebrated norm, and leads to many new discoveries that are (or were) shared online. There might be more information on irc or twitter. 108.162.245.129 23:17, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

My interpretation is that yellow indicates "weird" rather than safe/practical. Two two yellow-marked squares are no unsafe or impractical, they are merely weird. Having a bulging phone battery is not weird, and because it still functions (despite being dangerous/damaging), it can't be red either. I do think it's an odd choice though, emotionally. Maplestrip (talk) 09:41, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

In the phone/pillow square, we can see an edge under the front of the pillow, so maybe Cueball split the phone opened and placed the pillow between the parts. That would explain the red color. 162.158.127.99 12:43, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

If the intent is to put each battery/non-battery-substitute 'in' the battery compartment, then this makes sense. Given that it's typically a tight-tolerance fit (so that even a slightly 'blown' battery is hard to insert, or at least get the cover back over), anything bigger than the original battery will protrude, or at least distort the case heavily. 172.71.26.55 14:38, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

It seems like Randall forgot to hide the sketch in the bottom left cell. {unsigned ip|162.158.167.83|20:50, 15 October 2024}}

Please do not eat old Samsung batteries. P?sych??otic?pot??at???o (talk) 21:01, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Nor drink, nor use as headrests. Thank you fandoor your cooperation. 172.68.22.191 23:50, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Eating a lithium (IIRC) battery is good for one and those about iff one is a zombie in Z Nation ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3843168/ ) Otherwise? Yikes.

Aside: I'd advise against thinking that xkcd is an advice column. 172.70.134.213 02:58, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

Please do not eat other brand of lithium batteries either, no matter their age. Do not eat Apple batteries. Do not eat Google Pixel batteries. Do not eat Xiaomi batteries. Do not eat Huawei batteries. Do not eat Honor batteries. Do not eat Motorola batteries. Do not eat rechargable AAA batteries. Actually, do not eat non-rechargable AAA batteries either, although those are not lithium-based. -- Hkmaly (talk) 05:15, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

Nor AAs, CR2032s or PP3s. Although I suspect that D cells are perfectly ok, so long as you don't try to chew them and just swallow them whole... 172.70.90.202 05:45, 17 October 2024 (UTC)