­xkcd thread

New (well. New video) What-if? About a mole of moles.

Brian

The written version of that one is great. And one of the earliest what-ifs (#4): What if? - A mole of moles.

Any web page referencing star-nosed moles gets extra credit on my scorecard.

Ahh, so that’s where the Meat Planet came from:

“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.”

I’m sure that Black Hat Guy could draw the attention of all three at once.

This appears to have actually happened.

By the way, did you know that our ports include a radiation portal that containers entering the country have to go through before exiting? It’s nice to know they work.

Unfortunately, they won’t catch rotten shrimp, only radioactive ones.

I do now!

Ref the hover-over …

I’m thinking that had the shrimp been transported by air then IATA would have gotten involved. All kinda hazmat violations in shipping undeclared radioactives.

The shrimp were possibily contaminated in an irradiation facility which used a (leaky) cesium-137 source to sterilize the food. So your food might be radioactive but it shouldn’t be rotten.

And best of all, it’s self-microwaving. :wink:

But if they didn’t include the switch-off button they will be badly overcooked. Overcooked shrimps in the microwave are sad.

Convenience always comes with a cost. New! Improved! Self-cooking!

You can fool those with enough shielding… but there are also sensors that detect radiation shielding, from the shadow they cast in the natural cosmic-ray background.

You can also put your own radiation source on the other side of the truck in case the natural amount isn’t enough for clear imagery.

That is so cool that you should re-post it in the random interesting facts thread: you can’t shield without making the shielding detectable and thus rising suspicion.

Just head down the aisle a bit…
Imgur

It’s in the AI aisle, right above the Gansicam Godelle Foes.

And this was the fixed version where I told it to use realistic-sounding medications :slight_smile: . Still a lot of room for improvement…

I would like some Canbutty please.

Butter for your can? Cancer for your butt?