this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2026
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xkcd #3316: Siege Engine

Title text:

They initially thought the containment structure alone would be sufficient, but for good measure they decided to include the Elephant's Foot inside.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3316/

explainxkcd for #3316

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[–] scratchee@feddit.uk 4 points 23 hours ago

The elephants foot is the name for the melted core at Chernobyl, its relevance is that the siege equipment in question is the Chernobyl containment facility (which was built to the side and then rolled over the entire reactor building because you can’t build in place with all the radiation trying to kill you).

So, containment facility is an interesting siege weapon, including the elephants foot turns it into a nuclear attrocity in a big box, rather different vibe.