1598: "Salvage"

[puppysized]

"My hobby: Taking advantage of the rice myth by posting articles on "how to save your wet phone" which are actually just elaborate recipes for rice pilaf."

According to Google, rice pilaf looks really good. I'd better go find some of those articles...

[_Falanx_]

Not as tasty as a phone that actually works, rather simply being a really expensive and portable botulinum culture.

Battery out, SIM out, SDCard out, oven at gas mark 'slow' on a greaseproof sheet for an hour and a half. Its how they do aerospace electronics after they're washed.

[Mirkwood]

I have found the best solution is to take off the casing and disassemble the phone as far as practical, then using paper towels or the like to dry the components (with some air drying for good measure). It seems to be more effective than trying to cast some sort of rice-based spell for drawing out water from the inside of the phone.

[Flumble]

So, if my phone is broken in two, I can just soak it and put it in rice?

[Envelope Generator]

Pilaf is great and doesn't involve sunken boats and i have no idea what's going on in this strip. edit: oh, drying something with rice is it?

[Whizbang]

Well, no wonder that technique has never worked in my experience.

What about those "Do not eat" packets? Those are supposed to be super absorbent, right?

[pkcommando]

Well, no wonder that technique has never worked in my experience.

What about those "Do not eat" packets? Those are supposed to be super absorbent, right?

Don't bother, they make terrible rice pilaf.

[Copper Bezel]

So, if my phone is broken in two, I can just soak it and put it in rice?

Naw, rub some bacon on it.

Alternately, Windex.

Edit: Actually, my favorite thing about this thread is the association of the rice idea with cultic ritual or traditional medicine. I actually think that's probably completely accurate.

[pkcommando]

So, if my phone is broken in two, I can just soak it and put it in rice?

Tell your phone to just walk it off.

[cellocgw]

So, if my phone is broken in two, I can just soak it and put it in rice?

Naw, rub some bacon on it. {/quote]

No, wrap it in bacon and broil for 5 minutes

Alternately, Windex.

Unless you're a vegetarian, in which case "I make lamb for you."

But maybe there's an alternative explanation: they are going to keep pushing the wreck into a jar of rice until it (the wreck) is strong enough to hold up on its own. (for non baseball fans: many players used to (or maybe still do) stick their hand into a jar of rice, grip hard, and pull out on the theory that it'd strengthen their throwing/pitching hand).

[wolfticket]

Well, no wonder that technique has never worked in my experience.

What about those "Do not eat" packets? Those are supposed to be super absorbent, right?

I shove wet stuff in a sealed bag with a load of either silica gel or other mineral desiccant (whatever comes in those moisture absorber boxes).

Seems to do a decent job thoroughly drying things out, albeit this I have not tested whether this is actually objectively the case or whether the extreme alkali-ness of all this is killing either me or my electronics.

I figure rice doesn't work because, as we know, in order to make it absorb water at any decent rate you have to boil it, which doesn't make it sound like a great desiccant to me.

[Jorpho]

Pilaf is great and doesn't involve sunken boats and i have no idea what's going on in this strip. edit: oh, drying something with rice is it?

My first thought was that this was some kind of trenchant commentary in which a tragic symbol of the hubris and opulence of the West is used to scoop up large quantities of rice for distribution to famine-stricken territories. But no, it's drying something.

[DonJaime]

Pro tip: when making a strip based on a myth, first check whether the myth is actually known to the majority of your target audience.

[Whizbang]

Pro tip: when making a strip based on a myth, first check whether the myth is actually known to the majority of your target audience.

And by "majority" you mean you, right? Please check with you.

[The Moomin]

They've done it all wrong I think. It'll be a nightmare to wiggle the Titanic down into the rice for proper use of the absorption properties.

They should have half filled the tub with rice, put the Titanic in, fill it with the rest of the rice, then stir and recover.

[SuicideJunkie]

And by "majority" you mean you, right? Please check with you.

Everybody knows that people tend to assume everyone else is just like themselves. You should know that!

[Fungo4]

Did anyone else read "Historic Sausage"?

[Rowen Morland]

They've done it all wrong I think. It'll be a nightmare to wiggle the Titanic down into the rice for proper use of the absorption properties.

They should have half filled the tub with rice, put the Titanic in, fill it with the rest of the rice, then stir and recover.

Actually, I think they've been very clever and filled it half way up and then rigged a sheet near the top and put more rice on that leaving a large layer of air bellow. When the Titanic is place on the upper layer up Rice it will burp out the air and sink down into the empty space bellow, taking the upper layer of rice down with it in a cascade that should help fill the interior. Then you just need to pour more rice on top.

[CharlieBing]

Of course, the reason that rice is thought to work with wet phones is that it apparently draws out and absorbs the water (swelling in the process, of course). The problem with some of the suggestions being made about this bonkers cartoon is that if the rice gets inside the ship, it might expand and do more damage. Maybe that's a "What If?" question.

[rmsgrey]

Of course, the reason that rice is thought to work with wet phones is that it apparently draws out and absorbs the water (swelling in the process, of course). The problem with some of the suggestions being made about this bonkers cartoon is that if the rice gets inside the ship, it might expand and do more damage. Maybe that's a "What If?" question.

Or a Hornblower story...

[dziadek1990]

Titanic: 10/10

Titanic on rice: 11/10

[foxnewsfan]

The rice myth sort of makes sense. Drying wet devices is a major step in preventing further water damage and I would be interested in whether the antioxidant properties of rice have any role.

[orthogon]

I was taught that, if you drop electronic equipment in sea water, you first need to soak it in fresh water before you go to the drying phase. Otherwise the thing is going to be full of ions that could start conducting if it gets humid in the future. The guy who taught me also admitted that it's very difficult to actually bring yourself to go through with it.

[Whizbang]

I was taught that, if you drop electronic equipment in sea water, you first need to soak it in fresh water before you go to the drying phase. Otherwise the thing is going to be full of ions that could start conducting if it gets humid in the future. The guy who taught me also admitted that it's very difficult to actually bring yourself to go through with it.

You'd have to do so several times to ensure the salt was thoroughly cleaned out.

[Copper Bezel]

The rice myth sort of makes sense. Drying wet devices is a major step in preventing further water damage and I would be interested in whether the antioxidant properties of rice have any role.

No, no, everyone knows that antioxidants remove toxins, and what are toxins made of? That's right, chemicals, just like plastic. So if you cheaped out and got one of the c models, the rice will eat your phone.

[jc]

Pro tip: when making a strip based on a myth, first check whether the myth is actually known to the majority of your target audience.

... or whether they know how to google.

[Neil_Boekend]

To be honest, if I hadn't known the myth I would not have known how to look for it. "Titanic rice" wouldn't have resulted in much if XKCD wasn't so popular that ExplainXKCD was likely to have the explanation up within an hour.

Then again, I know the myth and I would try it if my phone fell in water (and wasn't waterproof). I also feel Randall didn't take much of a risk of people not knowing the myth. He has taken far greater risks (for most webcomics 1190: "Time" wouldn't have worked at all, since the fans wouldn't have noticed that the image changed.

And even older, Sandwich. That appealed only to a select group of webcomic readers. It also got XKCD much of it's fame.

The risks he took brought him great reward.

[Whizbang]

Also it is worth noting that not all comics are targeted at the same audience.

[Showsni]

I think the alt text does a good enough job of explaining what the strip is about for people unfamiliar with the "rice myth" (like myself).

And I know it's really just for the comic readers' convenience, but it amuses me that in this alternate world someone went to all the trouble of inscribing "RICE" in gargantuan letters on the bowl for no practical purpose whatsoever.

[speising]

I feel this comic stands on somewhat weak feet. While rice may not be the best desiccant, it has the advantage to be widely available as a first aid. To call it a myth seems to stretch it a bit.

[ThemePark]

I think the alt text does a good enough job of explaining what the strip is about for people unfamiliar with the "rice myth" (like myself).

And I know it's really just for the comic readers' convenience, but it amuses me that in this alternate world someone went to all the trouble of inscribing "RICE" in gargantuan letters on the bowl for no practical purpose whatsoever.

And on each grain of rice is inscribed the entire script to the movie Titanic.

[Keyman]

What about those "Do not eat" packets? Those are supposed to be super absorbent, right?

Be very careful with this. Don't let the balls out of the packet. The little balls inside those packets are exactly the size of the hole for the headphone jack. (Which isn't such a big deal for Titanic-sized objects, but...)

[Zylon]

Wow, been a while since we've had a strip that doesn't work as a joke at any level.

"Rice myth": Can dry out electronics.
Problem with raising the Titanic: Weakened superstructure.
Execution of premise in this strip: Raise the Titanic, then put it in rice?

Yeah... no. This is just a jumbled pile of WTF.

As much as it pains me to say it, this actually would have worked better as a White Beret strip, with a reporter interviewing him as he describes his nonsensical plan.

[Beavertails]

This strip is funny.

Sorry, but it is.

Some folks are just really overthinking it.

Which, I grant you is not always the case with an xkcd strip.

Maybe this will help?

Spoiler:

[commodorejohn]

Edit: Actually, my favorite thing about this thread is the association of the rice idea with cultic ritual or traditional medicine. I actually think that's probably completely accurate.

Really, what is tech support if not the modern version of ritual healing?

(...he says, from his job at a helpdesk...)

[Znirk]

Some folks are just really overthinking it.

Speaking of which, those are some impressive helicopters.

[MarkW]

So, if my phone is broken in two, I can just soak it and put it in rice?

Yes, of course you can do that! … and your phone still won't work.

[MarkW]

…if you drop electronic equipment in sea water, you first need to soak it in fresh water before you go to the drying phase. … The guy who taught me [that] also admitted that it's very difficult to actually bring yourself to go through with it.

A friend's phone slipped off a bench seat below deck and then marinated in the bilge during an afternoon of sailing. By the time we found and disassembled the phone, the corrosion had eaten away most of the solder joints and had started in on the circuit board traces; that phone died so that others might live.

Lesson learned: get that salt out PDQ!

[canterrain]

I signed for the forums because part of me feels really happy. I feel as though I inspired this particular comic (even though I probably didn't, it's probably just coincidence, and I really can't prove it).

You see, on September 24th I sent in the following question to What if:

"Subject: Rice to save my cell phone... in a lake.
I've often been told that if I get my cell phone wet, just drop it in a bag of rice to get the moisture out.

But what if I drop the phone in a Lake Superior? How much rice would I need to dump into the lake to get rid of all the moisture, retrieve my cell phone and get it working again?

Thank you,
Canterrain "

Probably a coincidence.. but I'ma tell myself I go the question answered anyway.

[MarkW]

Some folks are just really overthinking it.

Speaking of which, those are some impressive helicopters.

The RMS Titanic had a 52,310 ton displacement; assuming that the bow section includes 40% of that, it would weigh 18,982,000 kg (41,848,000 lb). The Mil Mi-26 "is the largest & most powerful helicopter to have gone into series production" (that's important in the next step) and has 20 metric ton (44,000 lb) lift capacity. So, here in the real world, it would take just under 1,000 helicopters to lift the bow section!