explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1957: 2018 CVE List

2019-11-17T20:52:49Z

108.162.241.220:

{{comic
| number = 1957
| date = February 19, 2018
| title = 2018 CVE List
| image = 2018_cve_list.png
| titletext = CVE-2018-?????: It turns out Bruce Schneier is just two mischevious kids in a trenchcoat.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures|CVE}} (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) is a standardized format for assigning an identity to a cybersecurity vulnerability (similar to the way that astronomical bodies are assigned unique identifiers by committees). Giving vulnerabilities a unique identifier makes them easier to talk about and helps in keeping track of the progress made toward resolving them. The typical format of a CVE identifier is '''CVE-[YEAR]-[NUMBER]'''. For example, the CVE identifier for 2017's widespread {{w|Meltdown (security vulnerability)|Meltdown vulnerability}} is [https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2017-5754 CVE-2017-5754]. CVEs also contain a short description of the issue.

In this comic (released in February 2018), Randall presents a number of spurious predicted CVEs for later in 2018. Each CVE identifier is given as "CVE-2018-?????", reflecting the fact that they have not yet happened so we don't know exactly what their CVE identifier will be.

Following are short descriptions of all the ''vulnerabilities'' mentioned in the comic.

;Apple products crash when displaying certain {{w|Telugu language|Telugu}} or {{w|Bengali language|Bengali}} letter combinations.
:This refers to a [https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/15/iphone-text-bomb-ios-mac-crash-apple/ real vulnerability] in iOS and MacOS publicized a few days before the comic was released, as well as [https://thenextweb.com/apps/2017/01/18/iphone-ipad-apple-text-ios-bug/ past] [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/01/18/apple-text-bomb-can-crash-iphones-single-message/ similar] iOS vulnerabilities.
;An attacker can use a timing attack to extploit [''sic''] a race condition in {{w|Garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collection}} to extract a limited number of bits from the Wikipedia article on Claude Shannon.
:The reference to using a Timing Attack to exploit a race condition in garbage collection refers to Meltdown and Spectre CPU flaws that can be exploited in a cloud server like the ones in Wikipedia. {{w|Claude Shannon}} was an early and highly influential information scientist whose work underlies compression, encryption, security, and the theory behind how information is encoded into binary digits.
:
:This is not a security problem. However, since Shannon formulated how the amount of unique or actual information some entity contains is proportional to the number of bits required to encode it, retrieving only a few bits casts a dark perspective upon the significance of the Shannon article's content.
;At the cafe on Third Street, the Post-it note with the WiFi password is visible from the sidewalk.
:Cafés often offer free access to WiFi as a service to patrons, as a business strategy to encourage said patrons to remain in the building and buy more coffee. Some use a password, so that only patrons can use the WiFi, and may display the password on signage inside. Since anybody could go into the cafe to read the post-it, and then use the network from nearby, the ability to read it from outside is, at most, a trivial problem. For systems that are supposed to be secure, writing passwords in a visible place is a major security flaw. For instance, following the [[wikipedia:2018 Hawaii false missile alert|2018 Hawaii false missile alert]], the agency concerned received criticism for a press photo showing [http://uk.businessinsider.com/hawaii-emergency-agency-password-discovered-in-photo-sparks-security-criticism-2018-1?r=US&IR=T a password written on a sticky note] attached to a monitor.
;A remote attacker can inject arbitrary text into public-facing pages via the comments box.
:Describes a common feature on news sites or social media sites like Facebook. The possibility for users to "inject" text into the page is by design. This is a humorous reference to the relatively common security vulnerability "[[Wikipedia:Cross-site_scripting|persistent cross-site scripting]]", where input provided by a user, such as through a comment section, can result in dangerous content containing arbitrary HTML or JavaScript code being displayed to other users.
;MySQL server 5.5.45 secretly runs two parallel databases for people who say "S-Q-L" and "sequel."
:Some people pronounce "{{w|SQL}}" like "sequel", after SQL's predecessor "SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language)". The standard for SQL suggests that it should be pronounced as separate letters; however, the author of SQL pronounces it "sequel", so the debate persists (with even more justification than arguments about how to pronounce "GIF"). MySQL is an open-source relational database management system. The latest generally available version (at the time of writing) is MySQL 5.7.
;A flaw in some x86 CPUs could allow a root user to de-escalate to normal account privileges.
:{{w|Privilege escalation}} refers to any illegitimate means by which a system user gains greater access than they are supposed to have, and most hackers will seek to achieve this if they can. The most highly-sought privilege is that of the root user, which allows complete access to an entire system— a ''superuser''.
:
:The irony of this CVE presents the reverse situation: that a flaw inadvertently ''de-escalates'' a root user to a less privileged user, which would cripple the ''superuser'', they would be disallowed access or ability to accomplish their required tasks, or worse, cause such tasks which do not {{w|fail safe}} to have catastrophic side effects.
;Apple products catch fire when displaying emoji with diacritics.
:This is a reference to a common problem of modern gadgets catching fire (usually related to flaws in lithium-ion batteries), as well as to Apple products crashing when attempting to display certain character sequences. Diacritics are the accents found on letters in some languages (eg. č, ģ ķ, ļ, ņ, š, ž). These would not normally be found on emojis. 🔥̃ is an example of such an emoji.
;An oversight in the rules allows a dog to join a basketball team.
:This probably refers to the movie {{w|Air Bud}}, about a dog playing basketball. This has been a common theme in xkcd comics: see [[115: Meerkat]], [[1439: Rack Unit]], [[1819: Sweet 16]], [[1552: Rulebook]].
:In 2017, it was discovered that an oversight in the constitution of the state of Kansas may [http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article175956836.html permit a dog to be governor]. Shortly before this comic published, the Secretary of State's office ruled that [http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/02/13/dog-kansas-governor/ it could not].
;Haskell isn't side-effect-free after all; the effects are all just concentrated in this one computer in Missouri that no one's checked on in a while.
:{{w|Haskell (programming language)|Haskell}} is a functional programming language. Functional programming is characterized by using functions that don't have side effects because they can not change things accessible in other parts of the program, as in [[1312: Haskell]]. The joke here is discovering that it does indeed have side-effects, manifested via external alteration, not violating the internal alteration paradigm. It may also be a reference to "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," a short story by Ursula Le Guin in which a utopian city concentrates all its misery into one child who is locked away in a basement.
;Nobody really knows how hypervisors work.
:[[wikipedia:Hypervisor|"Hypervisors"]] are a tool for computer virtualization. Virtualization is implemented via various combinations of hardware and/or software, which requires a computer to completely simulate another computer, with its own unique hardware and software, and to varying degrees as to whether or not the virtualization is aware of or can determine whether it is being virtualized. Many IT professionals and businesses rely heavily on various forms of virtualization, but most of the individual employees would be hard-pressed to explain how it works. Programs running on other virtual computers, or on the real computer, may be able to access information on a virtual computer in ways which would not be possible with a single real computer. Consequently, understanding how the hypervisor works is important to assessing the security of a virtual server. Meltdown and Spectre are related to this.
;Critical: Under Linux 3.14.8 on System/390 in a UTC+14 time zone, a local user could potentially use a buffer overflow to change another user's default system clock from 12-hour to 24-hour.
:This joke is about arcane systems that are running Linux in exceedingly rare situations, meaning that reproducing errors would be incredibly difficult or inconvenient, and would only affect a very tiny user base (if any at all). {{w|IBM System/390 ES/9000 Enterprise Systems Architecture ESA family|System/390}} is an IBM mainframe introduced almost 30 years before this comic, which has a version of Linux. UTC+14 is a time zone used only on some islands in the Pacific Ocean (Primarily [[Wikipedia:Line_Islands|the Line Islands]]) and is also the earliest time zone on earth. Even if all of these absurd conditions were met, the resulting vulnerability would still be relatively benign: simply changing a user's preferred clock display format. Other xkcd comics make references to such obscure computer-time issues relating to time zones and time conversions, and how many programmers find these issues frustrating or even traumatizing.
;x86 has way too many instructions.
:The x86 architecture (used in many Intel and AMD processors) is very complicated. Processors typically implement such a complex architecture using programs (microcode) run on a set of hidden, proprietary processors. The details of these hidden machines and errors in the microcode can result in security vulnerabilities, such as Meltdown, where the physical machine does not match the conceptual machine.
:
:A more complicated instruction set is more complex to implement.{{Citation needed}} The x86 architecture is considered "CISC" (a "{{w|Complex instruction set computer}}"), having many instructions originally provided to make programming by a human simpler; other examples include the 68000 series used in the first {{w|Apple Macintosh}}. In the 1980s, this design philosophy was countered by the "RISC" ("{{w|Reduced instruction set computer}}") design movement - based on the observation that computer programs were increasingly generated by compilers (which only used a few instructions) rather than directly by people, and that the chip area dedicated to extra instructions could be better dedicated to, for example, cache. Examples of RISC style designs include {{w|SPARC}}, {{w|MIPS}}, {{w|PowerPC}} (used by Apple in later Macintoshes) and the {{w|ARM architecture|ARM}} chips common in mobile phones. Historically, there was considerable discussion about the merits of each approach. At one time the Mac and Windows PC were on different sides; owners of other competing systems such as the Archimedes and Amiga had similar arguments on usenet in the early 1990s. This "issue" may be posted by someone who still recalls these debates. Technically, the extra instructions do slightly complicate the task of validating correct chip behaviour and complicate the tool chains that manage software, which could be seen as a minor security risk. However, the 64-bit architecture introduced by {{w|AMD}}, and since adopted by {{w|Intel}}, does rationalise things somewhat, and all recent x86 chips break down instructions into RISC-like micro-operations, so the complication from a hardware perspective is localised. Recent security issues, such as the speculative cache load issue in Meltdown and Spectre, depend more on details of implementation, rather than instruction set, and have been exhibited both by x86 (CISC) and ARM (RISC) processors.
:
:This explanation has way too many words.
;NumPy 1.8.0 can factor primes in ''O''(log ''n'') time and must be quietly deprecated before anyone notices.
:Fantastically, this would be an unimaginable software threat, not to be confused with the even speedier, but future-bound, threat in hardware via {{w|Quantum computing}}.
:NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with the programming language Python. ''O''(log ''n'') is [[wikipedia:Big_O_notation#Infinite_asymptotics|Big O notation]] meaning that the time it takes for a computer algorithm to run is in the order of log ''n'', for an input of size ''n''. ''O''(log ''n'') is very fast and is more usual for a search algorithm. Prime factorization currently is ''O''(''2''<sup>''n''</sup>n)). If something can find the prime factors of a number this quickly, especially a [[wikipedia:semiprime|semiprime]] with two large factors, it will enable attacks to break many crypto functions used in internet security. However, prime numbers have only a single factor, and "factoring primes" quickly is a simpler problem, that of [[wikipedia:Primality test|proving that a number is in fact a prime]].
;Apple products grant remote access if you send them words that break the "I before E" rule.
:Another joke on the first CVE and [[wikipedia:I before E except after C|a common English writing rule of thumb]], which fails almost as often as it succeeds. Possibly a jab at Apple's image, portraying their software as unable to handle improper grammar or spelling.
;Skylake x86 chips can be pried from their sockets using certain flathead screwdrivers.
:Skylake x86 chips are a line of microprocessors made by Intel. Some processors are soldered directly to a system board or daughter board, while others are attached to boards that plug into the system board by means of a socket (pins or connectors that make physical contact with receptacles or connectors on a system board). Some sockets, especially older ones, require force to insert or remove, and often require the use of a flat blade screwdriver or a specialized tool, but most modern ones use ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) techniques, often involving a lever or similar to tighten or loosen the friction/tightness of the contacts. No screwdriver is needed in this case. However, any processor ''can'' be forcefully removed from its socket with a screwdriver.{{Citation needed}}
;Apparently Linus Torvalds can be bribed pretty easily.
:{{w|Linus Torvalds}} is the {{w|benevolent dictator for life}} of the Linux kernel codebase. Normally it is hard to make changes because he has the last word, and because the kernel is replicated in all Linux installations. Linus made the news in January 2018 when, having looked at one of Intel's proposed fixes for the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, he declared "[https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/22/linus-torvalds-declares-intel-fix-for-meltdown-spectre-complete-and-utter-garbage/ the patches are COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE]". Presumably, it may be found that he may be successfully bribed to be less blunt and/or less critical of vulnerability fixes that are complete and/or utter garbage. If this were the case, this would be a severe critical vulnerability to all Linux servers and machines.
;An attacker can execute malicious code on their own machine and no one can stop them.
:The point of an attack is to make someone else's machine perform actions against the owner's will. Anyone can make their own machine execute any code if they have root access and the necessary tools, but this would usually not be described as an attack, except in the case of a locked-down appliance, such as a video game console, a John Deere tractor, or pay TV decoder.
;Apple products execute any code printed over a photo of a dog with a saddle and a baby riding it.
:This could refer to a CVE vulnerability of JPG files where JavaScript embedded within the image file is executed by some application. In this case, though, the code is visible on the image instead of invisibly encoded within the image file. The code is also only executed if the image contains a photo of a baby in a saddle riding a dog. It's unclear whether the photo would be a digital photo, a printed photo (i.e. as taken using a digital camera), or maybe both.
:Other than by some {{w|metadata}}, either internal to the image file, or embedded along with it, as in a web page, or a PDF or other container file, this "bug" would require the device to {{w|Hard AI|figure out}} specifically what the photo contains image-wise (something that's REALLY HARD for computers to do reliably), but would also require OCR (optical character recognition) code to convert the text superimposed on the photo into executable code. In other words, it's hard to believe in 2018 that such a bug could exist. Maybe in the future when such things are more routine...? As an example, OCR used to be hard to do reliably, but now it's a lot more routine and built into a lot of devices.
;Under rare circumstances, a flaw in some versions of Windows could allow Flash to be installed.
:Flash has been an integral browser plugin for decades, but has fallen out of favor in the 2010s, and eventually discontinued because of its notoriously abysmal security record. All security experts advise against installing it. Preventing installation of Flash would make systems more secure, but most versions of Windows do not prevent Flash installation. The joke here relates to the difficulty of keeping Flash up to date, or even installed properly to begin with. A common user experience, which is the subject of numerous jokes and memes, is the constant nagging notification to install or update Flash in order for web pages to display properly. Many IT professionals will bemoan the trouble they have experienced in the workplace due to these notifications and problems related to them.
;Turns out the cloud is just other people's computers.
:This refers to a meme that demands that "cloud" be replaced with "other people's computers" in all marketing presentation to CEOs and non-computer literate persons evaluating the security impact of using cloud services. Part of the humor here is that "the cloud" is, in actuality, simply a term for hosted services, or in other words computers being run by other people (typically businesses that specialize in this type of "{{w|Platform as a Service}}" or "PaaS" service model). Referring to "the cloud" as "other people's computers" is, at its core, entirely accurate, though it takes away the business jargon and simplifies the situation in such a way that it might cast doubt on the security, reliability, and general effectiveness of using "cloud" solutions.
;A flaw in Mitre's CVE database allows arbitrary code insertion.[[779|[~~CLICK HERE FOR CHEAP VIAGRA~~]]]
:Mitre's CVE database is where all {{w|Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures|CVEs}} are stored. This log message forms the punchline of the comic, as it implies that all of the exaggerated error messages above might have been inserted by hackers exploiting the vulnerability. To pour salt in the wound, they then included in a typical spam link purporting to offer inexpensive {{w|Viagra|brand-name Sildenafil}}.
;It turns out Bruce Schneier is just two mischevious kids in a trenchcoat.
:Appears in the title text. {{w|Bruce Schneier}} is security researcher and blogger. The "two kids in a trenchcoat" is a reference to the {{tvtropes|TotemPoleTrench|Totem Pole Trench}} trope. Shortly before this comic was posted, a [https://rare.us/rare-humor/two-kids-dressed-as-a-tall-man-to-get-into-black-panther-is-caught-on-video story went viral] in which two kids were photographed attempting this for real to get into a screening of ''Black Panther''.

==Transcript==
:[A heading is centered above a list of 21 vulnerabilities]
:<big>Leaked list of major 2018 security vulnerabilities </big>

:CVE-2018-????? Apple products crash when displaying certain Telugu or Bengali letter combinations.
:CVE-2018-????? An attacker can use a timing attack to extploit a race condition in garbage collection to extract a limited number of bits from the Wikipedia article on Claude Shannon.
:CVE-2018-????? At the cafe on Third Street, the Post-it note with the WiFi password is visible from the sidewalk.
:CVE-2018-????? A remote attacker can inject arbitrary text into public-facing pages via the comments box.
:CVE-2018-????? MySQL server 5.5.45 secretly runs two parallel databases for people who say "S-Q-L" and "sequel."
:CVE-2018-????? A flaw in some x86 CPUs could allow a root user to de-escalate to normal account privileges.
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products catch fire when displaying emoji with diacritics.
:CVE-2018-????? An oversight in the rules allows a dog to join a basketball team.
:CVE-2018-????? Haskell isn't side-effect-free after all; the effects are all just concentrated in this one. computer in Missouri that no one's checked on in a while.
:CVE-2018-????? Nobody really knows how hypervisors work.
:CVE-2018-????? Critical: Under Linux 3.14.8 on System/390 in a UTC+14 time zone, a local user could potentially use a buffer overflow to change another user's default system clock from 12-hour to 24-hour.
:CVE-2018-????? x86 has way too many instructions.
:CVE-2018-????? NumPy 1.8.0 can factor primes in ''O''(log ''n'') time and must be quietly deprecated before anyone notices.
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products grant remote access if you send them words that break the "I before E" rule.
:CVE-2018-????? Skylake x86 chips can be pried from their sockets using certain flathead screwdrivers.
:CVE-2018-????? Apparently Linus Torvalds can be bribed pretty easily.
:CVE-2018-????? An attacker can execute malicious code on their own machine and no one can stop them.
:CVE-2018-????? Apple products execute any code printed over a photo of a dog with a saddle and a baby riding it.
:CVE-2018-????? Under rare circumstances, a flaw in some versions of Windows could allow Flash to be installed.
:CVE-2018-????? Turns out the cloud is just other people's computers.
:CVE-2018-????? A flaw in Mitre's CVE database allows arbitrary code insertion.<span style="color:blue">[~~Click here for cheap viagra~~]</span>

==Trivia==

Randall has previously referenced diacritics in [[1647: Diacritics]].

Bruce Schneier was previously mentioned in the title texts of [[748: Worst-Case Scenario]] and [[1039: RuBisCO]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1504: Opportunity

2019-11-15T18:28:12Z

108.162.241.220:

{{comic
| number = 1504
| date = March 27, 2015
| title = Opportunity
| image = opportunity.png
| titletext = We all remember those famous first words spoken by an astronaut on the surface of Mars: "That's one small step fo- HOLY SHIT LOOK OUT IT'S GOT SOME KIND OF DRILL! Get back to the ... [unintelligible] ... [signal lost]"
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is talking about the robotic science platform {{w|Opportunity (rover)|''Opportunity''}}. On January 25, 2004, the Opportunity rover landed on the surface of {{w|Mars}} for the purpose of gathering data about the surface of Mars. Opportunity has proven remarkably robust, and the comic extrapolates the rover's resilience to absurdity for comedic effect. As of Feb 12th, 2019, the Opportunity rover has finally been {{w|Opportunity mission timeline|declared dead}} after 5352 Sols (Mars Days) or 5500 Earth days on Mars. On Feb 13th, 2019, [[Randall]] eulogies the Opportunity Rover in [[2111: Opportunity Rover]].

The comic depicts the two scientists [[Ponytail]] and [[Hairbun]] at ground control being amazed at this fact already in 2010, and (maybe the same two) scientists continue to discuss this in 2015 in the second panel.

They mention another Martian rover, {{w|Spirit (rover)|''Spirit''}} that was also sent to Mars on the same date as Opportunity. Unfortunately, it became stuck and a sandstorm covered its solar panels. On March 22, 2010, it was thought that Spirit's batteries finally ran out, marking the end of its mission. This was covered in [[695: Spirit]], in which the Spirit rover is also portrayed with an anthropomorphic personality.

In 2023, Opportunity is still moving despite having supposedly no power source. It also became aggressive and deactivated the {{w|Mars 2020|rover sent in 2020}}. [[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] can't explain how it moves, but investigating is now too dangerous. This evolution is similar to the stories of {{w|HAL 9000}} (from {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|''2001: A Space Odyssey''}}) and {{w|List of Star Trek characters (T–Z)#V'Ger|V'Ger}} (from ''{{w|Star Trek: The Motion Picture}}''), both of which became dangerous to human beings.

By 2450, humans have colonized and {{w|terraformed}} Mars. Maybe it is the 2023 Cueball and Megan's descendants that are looking out over their huge "kingdom" from the capital on Mars. However ''Opportunity'' is by now dominating half of the planet and will not allow humans to enter its dark reign.

"Everything the light touches" is a reference to a line by {{w|List of The Lion King characters#Mufasa|Mufasa}} in ''{{w|The Lion King}}''. Mufasa's son {{w|List of The Lion King characters#Simba|Simba}} then asks "What about that shadowy place?" and Mufasa tells him "That is beyond our borders. You must never go there". This was used again in [[1608: Hoverboard]], where [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/a0/1608_0986x1076y_Our_kingdom_from_a_cliff.png Cueball tells the same line] to Ponytail in the left part of the world. In [http://what-if.xkcd.com/48 what-if xkcd], concerning the end of the sun shining on the British Empire, Cueball tells a child that everything the light touches is their kingdom, except for France, (which is covered in shadows,) to which Cueball replies, "That's France. We'll get it one of these days."

The title text forecasts the first words of the first astronauts on the surface of Mars. At first, the astronaut copies the first words of {{w|Neil Armstrong}} on the Moon ("That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind") but it is interrupted by the ''Opportunity'' rover. Opportunity has a drill to collect Martian rock samples, but here it is heavily suggested that the drill is being used as a weapon against the astronaut.

==Transcript==
:[The year (or year and first sentence) for each panel is written in a small frame at the top of each panel. It breaks the top frame of the panels.]

:[Ponytail is sitting at a computer, facing left. Hairbun stands behind her.]
:2010:
:Ponytail: After six years, ''Spirit'' is down, but ''Opportunity'' is still going strong.
:Hairbun: Tough little rover!

:[Opportunity traveling on Mars. Text is written in frames with zigzag lines]
:2015:
:Off-screen: Eleven years, wow.
:Off-screen 2: Wasn't the original mission 90 days?
:Off-screen: This is starting to get weird.

:[Cueball and Megan sitting at a computer, facing right.]
:2023:
:Cueball: The battery is totally disconnected. How can it still be moving??
:Megan: Given what it did to the Mars 2020 rover, we may never know.

:[Two Martian inhabitants looking like Cueball and Megan stands on a cliff edge pointing towards a dark, mountainous region. Behind them are a tower and a hover car]
:2450, terraformed Mars, Martian imperial capital:
:Martian Cueball: Everything the light touches is our kingdom.
:Martian Megan: What's that dark area?
:Martian Cueball: That is ''Opportunity's'' half of the planet. We must never go there.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Mars rovers]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:The Lion King]]

980: Money/Prices in tables

2018-11-13T18:28:17Z

108.162.241.220: /* GDP by year */

__NOTOC__
*Here below are five sections with tables listing the prices of several items in [[980: Money]].
*This is still work in progress.
**[[980: Money/Prices in tables#Dollars|Dollars]]
**[[980: Money/Prices in tables#Thousands|Thousands]]
**[[980: Money/Prices in tables#Millions|Millions]]
**[[980: Money/Prices in tables#Billions|Billions]]
**[[980: Money/Prices in tables#Trillions|Trillions]]

{{incomplete|''So'' disorganized. If you can organize this, please do. Many items are missing from the Billions and Trillions sections. Also we need someone to double-check the values, please.}}
==Dollars==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Item
! Price
|-
! rowspan="5"|Dollar bills
|-
| $1 Bill
| $1
|-
| $10 Bill
| $10
|-
| $500 Bill (William McKinley, discontinued)
| $500
|-
| $1000 Bill (Grover Cleveland, discontinued)
| $1000
|-
! rowspan="3"|Fruit
|-
| Apples (one dozen)
| $5.68
|-
| Oranges (one dozen)
| $3.08
|-
! rowspan="3"|Fast Food
|-
| Dollar menu item
| $1.00
|-
| Starbucks Coffee
| $2.00
|-
! rowspan="3"|Average US Restaurant Meals
|-
| Average single US restaurant meal
| $35.65
|-
| Average meal at the 20 costliest San Francisco restaurants
| $85.27
|-
! rowspan="7"|Dinner for four
|-
| Homemade rice and pinto beans
| $9.26 (With time cost of two hours of shopping, travel, prep and cleanup: $41.80)
|-
| Homemade chicken dinner
| $13.78 (With time cost of two hours of shopping, travel, prep and cleanup: $46.32)
|-
| McDonalds
| $27.89 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $36.03)
|-
| Arby’s
| $34.00 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $42.13)
|-
| Chili’s
| $69.64 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $77.78)
|-
| Outback Steakhouse
| $109.82 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $117.96)
|-
! rowspan="2"|Vehicles
|-
| Low-end bicycle
| $190
|-
! rowspan="2"|Clothes
|-
| Men's suit
| $400
|-
! rowspan="2"|Debt
|-
| Daily interest on average credit card debt
| $5.63
|-
! rowspan="4"|Daily income
|-
| Median household daily income
| $136.28
|-
| Taxes
| $32.16
|-
| After-tax
| $104.12
|-
! rowspan="4"|Game Consoles
|-
| PS3
| $250
|-
| Xbox 360
| $200
|-
| Wii
| $150
|-
! rowspan="9"|Electronics
|-
| Kindle Fire
| $199
|-
| Basic iPad
| $499
|-
| iPad + 3G + a year of data
| $869
|-
| Basic Macbook Air
| $999
|-
| Netbook
| $249.99
|-
| iPod Nano
| $129
|-
| Mac Mini
| $599
|-
| Comcast cable internet for a year ($59.99/month) || $719.88
|-
! rowspan="7"|Books
|-
| Paperback book
| $6.80
|-
| Hardcover book
| $32.27
|-
| Audio book
| $50.42
|-
| [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I15SB16/ref=r_kdia_h_i_gl Kindle]
| $79.00
|-
| New video game
| $49.99
|-
| Kindle keyboard + 3G
| $139
|-
! rowspan="6"|Loose change
|-
| Loose change per pound
| $12.80
|-
| Loose change with no quarters
| $5.40
|-
| One-gallon jug of loose change
| $270
|-
| Loose change with no pennies
| $17.40
|-
| Annual value of pennies received in change (at one daily cash purchase)
| $7.30
|-
! rowspan="7"|Pet ownership (Based on ASPCA estimations)
|-
| Annual cost of rabbit ownership
| $730
|-
| Annual cost of dog ownership
| $695
|-
| Annual cost of cat ownership
| $670
|-
| Annual cost of fish ownership
| $35
|-
| Annual cost of bird ownership
| $200
|-
| Annual cost of small mammal ownership
| $300
|-
! rowspan="3"|Cell phone bill
|-
| Traditional cell phone average annual bill
| $928.30
|-
| Smartphone average annual bill
| $1,320
|-
! rowspan="5"|Worker/CEO comparison
|-
| 1965 production worker average hourly wage
| $19.61
|-
| 2007 production worker average hourly wage
| $19.71
|-
| Typical 1965 CEO pay for the same period
| $490.31
|-
| Typical 2007 CEO pay for the same period
| $5419.97
|}
</div>

==Thousands==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Item
! Price
|-
! rowspan="6"|Typical household net worth by head of household’s age in 1984
|-
| <35 years
| $11,680
|-
| 35-44 years
| $72,090
|-
| 45-54 years
| $115,060
|-
| 55-64 years
| $149,240
|-
| >65 years
| $122,100
|-
! rowspan="6"|Typical household net worth by head of household’s age in 2009
|-
| <35 years
| $3,710
|-
| 35-44 years
| $40,140
|-
| 45-54 years
| $103,040
|-
| 55-64 years
| $164,270
|-
| >65 years
| $172,820
|-
! rowspan="4"|Raising a child to age 17
|-
| Upper income
| $302,860
|-
| Middle income
| $206,920
|-
| Lower income
| $150,380
|-
!rowspan="5"|Vacations
|-
| All-inclusive one-week trip for two to St. Lucia resort from New England (incl. flights)
| $3,204
|-
| Twenty week-long Hawaiian vacations
| $136,020
|-
| Typical week-long Hawaii trip for two from US West Coast (incl. flights)
| $6,801
|-
| Typical weekend Hawaii trip for two from US West Coast incl. flights)
| $2,863
|-
!rowspan="5"|School Prices
|-
| Estimated one-year Hogwarts cost (incl. tuition)
| $43,000
|-
| Seven-year Hogwarts degree
| $301,000
|-
| Average community college tuition
| $10,340 (One year $2,580)
|-
| Average in-state university tuition
| $28,920 (One year $7,230)
|-
!rowspan="8"|Income per capita (2005)
|-
| United States 2005 per capita income
| $32,360
|-
| Switzerland 2005 per capita income
| $29,910
|-
| Germany 2005 per capita income
| $27,550
|-
| UK 2005 per capita income
| $23,240
|-
| France 2005 per capita income
| $16,400
|-
| China 2005 per capita income
| $3,540
|-
| Brazil 2005 per capita income
| $5,540
|-
!rowspan="3"|Houses
|-
| Small rural house
| $100,000
|-
| Typical new home
| $224,910
|-
!rowspan="3"|Health
|-
| Average individual health insurance annual premium
| $5,430
|-
| Cancer treatment including chemo
| $117,260
|-
!rowspan="8"|Annual Household Costs
|-
| A daily pack of cigarettes for a year (NJ)
| $3,050
|-
| One Starbucks latte per day
| $1,820
|-
| Average smartphone annual cost
| $1,320
|-
| Annual cost of car ownership
| $3,650
|-
| Typical annual household spending
| $5,650
|-
| Average household CC debt
| $9,960
|-
| Annual cost to carry that debt
|$2,090
|-
!rowspan="13"|Typical annual housing costs
|-
| NYC
| $25,416
|-
| San Francisco
| $21,888
|-
| Boston
| $18,216
|-
| Los Angeles
| $17,640
|-
| Washington DC
| $16,380
|-
| Chicago
| $13,664
|-
| Worcester
| $12,456
|-
| Houston
| $11,888
|-
| Minneapolis
| $10,908
|-
| Detroit
| $10,080
|-
| Salt Lake City
| $9,108
|-
| Scranton
| $8,604
|-
!rowspan="4"|Prince William and Kate Middleton's Wedding
|-
| Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding cake
| $78,000
|-
| Kate Middleton's wedding dress
| $350,000
|-
| Flower cost for Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding
| $800,000
|-
!rowspan="10"|Value of an investment of $1,000/year
(NOT accounting for inflation) for 30 years with 5% annual interest
|-
| 1 year
| $1,000
|-
| 5 years
| $5,526
|-
| 10 years
| $12,850
|-
| 15 years
| $21,580
|-
| 20 years
| $33,070
|-
| 25 years
| $47,730
|-
| 30 years
| $66,440
|-
| 30 years ($30,000 saved in mattress)
| $30,000
|-
| 30 years ($1,000/yr at 4% real return (long-term stock + divident average)
| $56,080
|-
!rowspan="3"|Value of investment (accounting for inflation)
|-
| 30 years
| $27,370
|-
| 30 years ($30,000 saved in mattress)
| $12,360
|-
!rowspan="4"|Average Vehicle Costs
|-
| Average used car
| $8,910
|-
| Average new car
| $27,230
|-
| High-end bicycle
| $1,500
|-
!rowspan="15"|Total cost to buy and own selected vehicles for five years
|-
| Honda Insight
| $27,874
|-
| Toyota Prius
| $38,771
|-
| Jeep Patriot
| $35,425
|-
| Honda Fit
| $28,745
|-
| BMW Z4
| $61,312
|-
| Ford Explorer
| $45,524
|-
| Toyota Camry
| $34,679
|-
| smart fortwo
| $29,629
|-
| Honda CR-V
| $35,183
|-
| Chevy Volt
| $42,180
|-
| Hyundai Sonata
| $34,644
|-
| Ford F-150
| $48,734
|-
| Nissan Cube
| $29,383
|-
| Porsche 911
| $91,590
|-
!rowspan="7"|Total cost to buy and own selected vehicles for five years if gas were $10/gallon
|-
| Toyota Prius
| $48,990
|-
| Honda Fit
| $45,233
|-
| Ford Explorer
| $69,076
|-
| smart fortwo
| $45,058
|-
| Chevy Volt
| $50,612
|-
| Ford F-150
| $77,111
|-
!rowspan="8"|Typical annual household income
|-
| Bottom 20%
| $10,200
|-
| Second 20%
| $24,800
|-
| Middle 20%
| $44,400
|-
| Fourth 20%
| $76,100
|-
| Top 10%
| $201,100
|-
| Top 1%
| $822,000
|-
| Top 1/500th
| $2,080,000
|-
!rowspan="6"|Median US household income
|-
| Median US household income
| $51,570
|-
| After-tax
| $39,170
|-
| Taxes
| $12,100
|-
| Total lifetime income from ages 25-65 at $50,000/year after 25% taxes (including Social Security)
| $1,500,000
|-
| Cost per household served by US Rural Utilities Service program to expand broadband access
| $359,790
|-
!rowspan="13"|If I had $1000000 (Cost of the items the singer in "If I had $1000000" would buy in order to win your love: $263,330)
|-
| Furniture
| $21,160
|-
| Plymouth Reliant
| $3,000
|-
| Tree fort
| $15,000
|-
| Llama
| $2,120
|-
| Joseph Merrick's remains
| N/A (Held in Royal London Hospital collection and not available for purchase)
|-
| House
| $224,820
|-
| Tiny fridge
| $99.08
|-
| Gourmet pre-wrapped sausages (2)
| $34.48
|-
| Kraft Dinner (two double servings)
| $3.06
|-
| Expensive ketchup
| $10.75
|-
| Faux fur coat
| $198.00
|-
| Limo ride to the store
| $186.59
|-
!rowspan="5"|Luxuries
|-
| [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Opulence_Sundae Golden Opulence ice cream sundae]
| $1,000
|-
| Waist deep half-room ball pit
| $2,400
|-
| All 30 bestselling game consoles (refurb, eBay)
| $2,640
|-
| Initial seat on Virgin Galactic suborbital flight
| $200,000
|-
!rowspan="3"|Video Games
|-
| Typing F-U-N-D-S
| $10,000
|-
| Daily sales of [http://www.minecraft.net/ Minecraft]
| $193,500
|}
</div>

==Millions==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Item
! Price
|-
! rowspan="3"|Dr. Evil
|-
| Amount Dr. Evil thought he was demanding from the 1997 world
| $6,630,000
|-
| Amount he was actually demanding
| $1,380,000
|-
! rowspan="4"|William and Kates wedding
|-
| Flowers
| $800,000
|-
| Security
| $20,000,000
|-
| Total cost
| $800,000,000
|-
! rowspan="3"|$50000 salary for 40 years after 25% taxes
|-
| 50,000 salary for 40 years after 25% taxes
| $1,500,000
|-
| Lifetime cost to avoid changing your oil by abandoning your car and buying a new one whenever you hit 5.000 miles
| $3,270,000
|}
===Rare Items===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Thing !! Price
|-
| Qianlong Chinese vase sold in 2010 || $83,710,000
|-
| Leonardo’s Codex Leicester (bought by Bill Gates) || $45,930,000
|-
| Estimated value of first-edition Gutenberg Bible || $34,610,000
|-
| Double Eagle coin (All destroyed uncirculated save a few stolen from the US Mint) || $9,330,000
|-
| Treskilling Yellow postage stamp (At $50 billion/lb possibly the world’s most expensive thing by weight) || $2,780,000
|-
| 1297 Magna Carta original coypy signed by Edvard I || $21,890,000
|-
| Painting from The Card Players series (rumor) || $250,000,000
|-
| Willem de Kooning’s “Woman III” (2006 auction) || $168,780,000
|-
| Jackson Pollock’s “No. 5, 1948” (2006 auction) || $153,440,000
|-
| Airbus A380 || $264,000,000
|-
| Mona Lisa assessed value || $730,660,000
|}

===Prizes===
{| class="wikitable"
! Amount !! Year !! Show/Movie !! Amount Today
|-
| $64,000
| 1955
| The $64,000 Question
| $528,310
|-
| £1,000,000
| 1998
| Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (UK)
| $2,270,000
|-
| $1,000,000
| 1999
| Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (USA)
| $1,330,000
|-
| $1,000,000
| 1955
| The Millionaire (TV Show)
| $8,250,000
|-
| $1,000,000
| 1931
| The Millionaire (Movie)
| $14,530,000
|}

===Bitcoins===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Thing !! Price
|-
| Market value of all Bitcoins as of 11/2011 || $22,819,797
|-
| Market value of all Bitcoins as at July 2011 peak price || $210,000,000
|}
===Elections===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Person !! Funds raised
|-
| 2012 presidential fundraising || $188,260,000
|-
| Herman Cain || $5,380,000
|-
| Jon Huntsman || $4,510,000
|-
| Michele Bachmann || $9,870,000
|-
| Ron Paul || $12,790,000
|-
| Rick Perry || $17,200,000
|-
| Mitt Romney || $32,610,000
|-
| Barack Obama || $88,420,000
|-
| Other || $17,480,000
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Person !! Funds raised
|-
| 2008 presidential campaign fundraising ||$1,860,390,000
|-
| Excluding candidate Lee L. Mercer, Jr of Houston, who claimed, in his combined FEC filings, || $900,005,507 in fundraising and $900,006,431 in campaign spending.
|-
| Ron Paul || $32,480,000
|-
| John Edwards || $64,410,000
|-
| Rudy Giuliani || $66,520,000
|-
| Mitt Romney || $116,730,000
|-
| Barack Obama ||$799,670,000
|-
| John McCain || $394,280,000
|-
| Hilary Clinton || $259,050,000
|-
| Other || $127,250,00
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Person !! Funds raised
|-
| 2004 presidential campaign fundraising || $1,006,810,000
|-
| Howard Dean || $61,620,000
|-
| Wesley Clark || $34,610,000
|-
| John Edwards || $39,310,000
|-
| John Kerry || $352,090,000
|-
| George W. Bush || $429,660,000
|-
| Other || $89,520,000
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Person !! Funds raised
|-
| 2000 presidential campaign fundraising || $805,120,000
|-
| Pat Buchanan || $37,440,000
|-
| John McCain || $75,180,000
|-
| Bill Bradley || $65,680,000
|-
| Steve Forbes || $114,400,000 *The Money Chart incorrectly reads $11,440,000
|-
| Al Gore || $170,520,000
|-
| George W. Bush || $247,100,000
|-
| Other || $94,800,000
|}

===2010 midterm elections fundraising===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Party !! Funds raised
|-
| Democrats || $815,000,000
|-
| Republicans || $587,000,000
|}

===2011-2012 Campaign donations by industry===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Party !! Funds donated
|-
| To Other || $16,000,000 approximately
|-
| To Democrats || $146,000,000 approximately
|-
| To Republicans || $145,000,000 approximately
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Party !! Funds donated
|-
| Finance industry || $122,900,000
|-
| Organized labor || $18,720,000
|-
| Energy industry || $26,680,000
|-
| Lawyers and general lobbyists || $57,590,000
|-
| Health industry || $42,727,000
|-
| Electronics and communication industry || $32,420,000
|}

===Inaugurations===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Thing !! Price
|-
| Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration || $174,100,000
|-
| Festivities (private donors) || $46,400,000
|-
| Federal + state + local government (mainly security) || $127,700,000
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Thing !! Price
|-
| George Bush’s 2005 inauguration || $178,600,000
|-
| Festivities (private donors) || $47,800,000
|-
| Federal + state + local government (mainly security) || $130,800,000
|}

===Past presidential campaign fundraising===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Campaign Year !! Funds raised
|-
| 1996 || $559,810,000
|-
| 1992 || $521,480,000
|-
| 1988 || $606,300,000
|-
| 1984 || $429,860,000
|-
| 1980 || $434,220,000
|-
| 1976 || $664,160,000
|}

===Millionaires===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Price
|-
| Darell Issa (R-CA) net worth || $304,000,000
|-
| Jane Harman (D-CA) net worth || $294,000,000
|-
| John Kerry (D-MA) net worth || $239,000,000
|-
| Mitt Romney net worth || $210,000,000
|-
| Jon Huntsmann net worth || $40,000,000
|-
| Average net worth of US senator || $13,400,000
|-
| Average net worth of US representative || $4,900,000
|-
| A billionare || $1,000,000,000
|}

===Value of a solid gold toilet (626 lbs) by year===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Value (Approximate)
|-
| 1967 || $2,000,000
|-
| 1968 || $2,000,000
|-
| 1969 || $2,000,000
|-
| 1970 || $2,000,000
|-
| 1971 || $2,000,000
|-
| 1972 || $3,000,000
|-
| 1973 || $4,000,000
|-
| 1974 || $7,000,000
|-
| 1975 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1976 || $4,000,000
|-
| 1977 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1978 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1979 || $9,000,000
|-
| 1980 || $15,000,000
|-
| 1981 || $10,000,000
|-
| 1982 || $8,000,000
|-
| 1983 || $9,000,000
|-
| 1984 || $7,000,000
|-
| 1985 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1986 || $7,000,000
|-
| 1987 || $8,000,000
|-
| 1988 || $7,000,000
|-
| 1989 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1990 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1991 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1992 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1993 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1994 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1995 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1996 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1997 || $4,000,000
|-
| 1998 || $4,000,000
|-
| 1999 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2000 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2001 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2002 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2003 || $4,000,000
|-
| 2004 || $4,000,000
|-
| 2005 || $5,000,000
|-
| 2006 || $6,000,000
|-
| 2007 || $8,000,000
|-
| 2008 || $8,000,000
|-
| 2009 || $10,000,000
|-
| 2010 || $13,000,000
|-
| 2011 || $15,000,000
|}

===Value of a carry-on suitcase full of $100 bills (30,00 ct, 60lbs)===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Value (Approximate)
|-
| 1967 || $20,000,000
|-
| 1968 || $19,000,000
|-
| 1969 || $18,000,000
|-
| 1970 || $17,000,000
|-
| 1971 || $16,000,000
|-
| 1972 || $16,000,000
|-
| 1973 || $15,000,000
|-
| 1974 || $13,000,000
|-
| 1975 || $12,000,000
|-
| 1976 || $12,000,000
|-
| 1977 || $11,000,000
|-
| 1978 || $10,000,000
|-
| 1979 || $9,000,000
|-
| 1980 || $8,000,000
|-
| 1981 || $7,000,000
|-
| 1982 || $7,000,000
|-
| 1983 || $7,000,000
|-
| 1984 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1985 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1986 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1987 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1988 || $6,000,000
|-
| 1989 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1990 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1991 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1992 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1993 || $5,000,000
|-
| 1994 || $4,000,000
|-
| 1995 || $4,000,000
|-
| 1996 || $4,000,000
|-
| 1997 || $4,000,000
|-
| 1998 || $4,000,000
|-
| 1999 || $4,000,000
|-
| 2000 || $4,000,000
|-
| 2001 || $4,000,000
|-
| 2002 || $4,000,000
|-
| 2003 || $4,000,000
|-
| 2004 || $4,000,000
|-
| 2005 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2006 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2007 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2008 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2009 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2010 || $3,000,000
|-
| 2011 || $3,000,000
|}

===Per US resident===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| $1 per US resident || $312,620,000
|-
| $1 per US household || $117,290,000
|-
| $10 from every US resident || $3,326,000,000
|-
| $10 from every US household || $1,179,180,000
|-
| Amount needed to live comfortably off investments || $4,090,000
|-
| EPA value of a human life || $8,120,000
|-
| Six Million Dollar Man (2011 dollars) || $29,870,000
|}

===Raptors===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Price !! Notes
|-
| One F-22 raptor || $154,500,000 ||
|-
| One velociraptor || $1,9300,000 || (25% of Jurassic Park production budget amortized over three velociraptors)
|}

===Professional rapper net worth===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Rapper !! Net worth
|-
| 50 Cent || $100,000,000
|-
| 50 Cent (stage name) || $0.50
|-
| 50 Cent (adjusted for inflation) || $0.70
|-
| Birdman || $100,000,000
|-
| Dr Dre || $125,000,000
|-
| Jay-Z || $450,000,000
|-
| Diddy || $475,000,000
|}

===J.K. Rowling===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value !! Notes
|-
| J.K. Rowlinng || $1,000,000,000 ||
|-
| J. K. Rowling had she become a rapper || $82,000 || Professional assessment by rapper/geek culture expert MC Frontalot
|}

===Annual hurricane forecast R&D funding===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Price
|-
| Annual hurricane forecast R&D funding || $20,000,000
|-
| Hurricane forecast improvement funding since 1989 || $440,000,000
|-
| Economic savings--during Hurricane Irene alone--due to limiting evacuations made possible by recent forecast advances || $700,000,000
|}

===Corporation Expenses===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Price
|-
| 30-second Super Bowl ad slot || $3,000,000
|-
| Annual cost to run Wikipedia || $18,500,000
|-
| Loss in NewsCorp value over hacking scandal || $750,000,000
|}

===Vehicles===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Price
|-
|Most expensive production car (Bugatti Veyron) || $2,400,000
|-
| Most expensive car ever sold (1957 Ferrari 250) || $16,390,000
|-
| Marginal cost to launch one shuttle || $450,000,000
|-
| Total shuttle program per launch || $450,000,000
|-
| One B-2 bomber || $2,500,000,000
|}

===Structures===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Price
|-
| Large city office building || $100,000,000
|-
| Dubai Fountain || $224,540,000
|-
| Burj Khalifa || $1,5210,000,000
|-
| New Yankee Stadium || $1,545,000,000
|}
===Video Games===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Price
|-
| Minecraft sales by October 2011 || $56,780,000
|}

</div>

==Billions==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

===Harry Potter movie franchise total revenue===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| Harry Potter movie franchise total revenue || $21,000,000,000
|-
| Treasure found in a temple in India in 2011 || $22,000,000,000
|}

===Box office revenue===
Adjusted for monetary inflation but not ticket price inflation
Hilighted [sic]: films that earned more than 2009's ''Avatar''
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Movie !! Revenue !! Highlighted
|-
| 2009 || ''Avatar'' || $783,510,000 ||
|-
| 2008 || ''The Dark Knight'' || $547,520,000 ||
|-
| 2003 || ''Shrek 3'' || $516,610,000 ||
|-
| 1999 || ''The Phantom Menace'' || $572,000,000 ||
|-
| 1997 || ''Titanic'' || $827,260,000 || Yes
|-
| 1994 || ''Lion King'' || $625,810,000 ||
|-
| 1993 || ''Jurassic Park'' || $625,810,000 ||
|-
| 1984 || ''Ghostbusters'' || $507,720,000 ||
|-
| 1983 || ''Return of the Jedi'' || $686,710,000 ||
|-
| 1982 || ''E.T.'' || $996,580,000 || Yes
|-
| 1980 || ''The Empire Strikes Back || $778,530,000 ||
|-
| 1977 || ''Star Wars'' || $1,681,000,000 || Yes
|-
| 1975 || ''Jaws'' || $1,067,510,000 || Yes
|-
| 1973 || ''The Exorcist'' || $1,019,000,000 || Yes
|-
| 1965 || ''The Sound of Music'' || $1,144,920,000 || Yes
|-
| 1962 || ''101 Dalmatians'' || $1,131,310,000 || Yes
|-
| 1960 || ''Ben-Hur'' || $561,090,000 ||
|-
| 1957 || ''The Ten Commandments'' || $532,570,000 ||
|-
| 1943 || ''Bambi'' || $1,391,000,000 || Yes
|-
| 1942 || ''Fantasia'' || $1,146,000,000 || Yes
|-
| 1940 || ''Gone with the Wind'' || $3,157,000,000 || Yes
|-
| 1938 || ''Snow White'' || $2,841,700,000 || Yes
|}

===Charity===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Amount given
|-
| US annual charitable giving || $294,850,000,000
|-
| To religious organizations || $102,000,000,000
|-
| To educational organizations || $42,240,000,000
|-
| To foundations || $33,450,000,000
|-
| To human services || $26,850,000,000
|-
| To societal benefit organizations || $24,570,000,000
|-
| To health organizations || $23,140,000,000
|-
| To international affairs || $15,980,000,000
|-
| To arts and culture || $13,460,000,000
|-
| To animals and environment || $6,750,000,000
|}
====Type of giving:====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Type !! Amount given
|-
| Individual giving || $214,650,000,000
|-
| Foundation grantmaking || $41,560,000,000
|-
| Bequests || $23,140,000,000
|-
| Corporate giving || $15,500,000,000
|}

===Gates Foundation total giving since 1994===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Amount given
|-
| Gates Foundation total giving since 1994 || $25,360,000,000
|-
| Global health || ~12B
|-
| US || ~4B
|-
| Developments || ~3B
|-
| Grants || ~1B
|}

===Book publishing industry revenue===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Genre !! Revenue
|-
| Book publishing industry revenue || $28,320,000,000
|-
| Romance || $1,380,000,000
|-
| Trade books || $14,130,000,000
|-
| K-12 || $5,570,000,000
|-
| Professional || $3,750,000,000
|-
| Higher education || $4,560,000,000
|}

===Video game industry revenue===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Revenue
|-
| Video game industry revenue || $48,900,000,000
|-
| United States || $18,830,000,000
|}

===Education===
{| class= "wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value !! Notes
|-
| Student loans outstanding || $955,800,000,000 ||
|-
| Federal student loans || $792,900,000,000 ||
|-
| Defaulted Federal student loans || $65,020,000,000 || Private total unknown
|-
| Private student loans || $163,900,000,000 ||
|-
| Total spending on primary and secondary education in the US || $612,470,000,000 ||
|-
| Teacher Salaries || $295,810,000,000 ||
|-
| Total annual higher education spending in the US || $355,110,000,000 ||
|}

===Harvard University revenue===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Revenue
|-
| Tuition, donations, and fees || $1,425,000,000
|-
| Investments || $7,900,000,000
|}

In other words, if Harvard completely eliminated tuition, it would mean roughly a 15% budget cut.

===Education foundations===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Foundation !! Amount given
|-
| Gates Foundation || $36,700,000,000
|-
| INGKA Foundation || $36,000,000,000
|-
| Howard Hughes Medical Institute || $14,800,000,000
|-
| Ford Foundation || $13,800,000,000
|-
| John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation || $6,100,000,000
|}

===Endowments of the 63 wealthiest universities===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! University !! Endowments
|-
| Endowments of the 63 wealthiest universities || $277,570,000,000
|-
| Harvard || $32,000,000,000
|-
| Yale || $19,400,000,000
|-
| Princeton || $17,100,000,000
|-
| U of Texas || $16,610,000,000
|-
| Stanford || $16,500,000,000
|-
| MIT || $9,900,000,000
|-
| Columbia || $7,800,000,000
|-
| U of Michigan || $7,800,000,000
|-
| Texas A&M || $7,030,000,000
|-
| Northwestern || $7,030,000,000
|}

===Corporate revenue===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Corporation !! Revenue !! Profit !! Loss
|-
| Walmart || $421,800,000,000 || $16,390,000,000 ||
|-
| ExxonMobil || $354,700,000,000 || $30,460,000,000 ||
|-
| Chevron || $196,300,000,000 || $19,020,000,000 ||
|-
| Fannie Mae || $153,800,000,000 || || $14,010,000,000
|-
| GE || $151,600,000,000 || $11,640,000,000 ||
|-
| Berkshire Hathaway || $136,100,000,000 || $12,970,000,000 ||
|-
| PepsiCo || $57,840,000,000 || $6,320,000,000 ||
|-
| Coca-Cola || $35,840,000,000 || $11,800,000,000 ||
|-
| VISA || $8,100,000,000 || $2,700,000,000 ||
|-
| MasterCard || $5,500,000,000 || $1,850,000,000 ||
|-
| General Motors || $135,600,000,000 || $6,170,000,000 ||
|-
| Ford || $129,000,000,000 || $6,560,000,000 ||
|-
| Chrysler || $44,950,000,000 || || $653,000,000
|-
| AT&T || $124,600,000,000 || $19,860,000,000 ||
|-
| Verizon || $106,560,000,000 || $2,550,000,000 ||
|-
| Bank of America || $134,20,000,000 || || $2,240,000,000
|-
| JP Morgan Chase || $115,480,000,000 || $17,370,000,000 ||
|-
| Citigroup || $111,060,000,000 || $10,600,000,000 ||
|-
| AGI || $104,420,000,000 || $17,370,000,000 ||
|-
| HP || $126,000,000,000 || $8,780,000,000 ||
|-
| Apple || $65,230,000,000 || $14,010,000,000 ||
|-
| Microsoft || $62,480,000,000 || $18,760,000,000 ||
|-
| Google || $29,320,000,000 || $8,510,000,000 ||
|-
| Combined annual profit of the Fortune 500 companies || || $708,600,000,000 ||
|}

===US health care spending===

===Total annual tax breaks to the five largest oil companies===

===US GDP===
Combined economic value of all goods and services produced in a year
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| US GDP || $14,545,950,000,000
|-
| Government || $1,980,640,000,000
|-
| Real estate || $1,925,210,000,000
|-
| Non-rental Real estate || $1,737,500,000,000
|-
| Rental and leasing || $187,610,000,000
|-
| Nondurable goods || $739,300,000,000
|-
| Food, beverage, and tobacco || $212,330,000,000
|-
| Chemicals || $223,050,000,000
|-
| Petroleum and coal || $123,630,000,000
|-
| Apparel || $12,050,000,000
|-
| Paper products || $57,800,000,000
|-
| Plastics and rubber products || $58,410,000,000
|-
| Textile mills || $18,130,000,000
|-
| Printing and related supports || $33,790,000,000
|-
| Durable goods || $898,420,000,000
|-
| Computers and electronics|| $212,640,000,000
|-
| Metal products || $125,590,000,000
|-
| Machinery || $116,110,000,000
|-
| Wood products || $21,530,000,000
|-
| Furniture || $24,930,000,000
|-
| Motor vehicles, trailers, and parts || $80,560,000,000
|-
| Other transportation equipment || $93,440,000,000
|-
| Mineral products || $39,360,000,000
|-
| Metals || $44,710,000,000
|-
| Electrical equipment and components|| $53,260,000,000
|-
| Miscellaneous || $81,390,000,000
|-
| Finance and insurance || $1,207,030,000,000
|-
| Federal Reserve banks and credit intermediaries || $529,540,000,000
|-
| Insurance || $437,340,000,000
|-
| Investments || $180,500,000,000
|-
| Funds and trusts || $59,550,000,000
|-
| Professional and business services || $1,752,750,000,000
|-
| Waste management || $39,870,000,000
|-
| Administrative and support services || $358,110,000,000
|-
| Legal services || $225,830,000,000
|-
| Computer systems design and service || $174,730,000,000
|-
| Corporate management || $253,950,000,000
|-
| Other professional or technical services || $700,250,000,000
|-
| Health and education || $1,294,580,000,000
|-
| Social assistance || $93,750,000,000
|-
| Ambulatory health care services || $529,750,000,000
|-
| Hospitals || $466,390,000,000
|-
| Educational services || $159,580,000,000
|-
| Utilities || $276,210,000,000
|-
| Other services || $345,540,000,000
|-
| Construction || $553,750,000,000
|-
| Retail trade || $844,380,000,000
|-
| Wholesale trade || $804,410,000,000
|-
| Mining || $248,080,000,000
|-
| Mining (other than oil and gas) || $50,380,000,000
|-
| Mining support || $51,270,000,000
|-
| Oil and gas || $145,990,000,000
|-
| Agriculture || $137,120,000,000
|-
| Farms || $107,140,000,000
|-
| Forestry, fishing, and related || $30,080,000,000
|-
| Arts and entertainment || $528,620,000,000
|-
| Food service || $285,480,000,000
|-
| Performing arts, sports, and museums || $73,040,000,000
|-
| Amusements, gambling, and general recreation || $73,040,000,000 || This appears to be a mistake Randall made and should read $58,110,000,000
|-
| Accommodation || $111,990,000,000
|-
| Information || $658,630,000,000
|-
| Broadcasting and telecommunications|| $366,560,000,000
|-
| Information and data processing || $78,300,000,000
|-
| Film, video, and sound recording || $61,610,000,000
|-
| Publishing (including software) || $152,170,000,000
|-
| Transportation and storage || $401,280,000,000
|-
| Warehousing and storage || $40,590,000,000
|-
| Water || $14,730,000,000
|-
| Air || $36,770,000,000 || This appears to be a mistake Randall and should read $63,680,000,000
|-
| Rail || $31,730,000,000
|-
| Truck || $116,520,000,000
|-
| Transit and land passenger || $24,110,000,000
|-
| Pipeline || $12,360,000,000
|-
| Other transport) || $97,560,000,000
|-
|}

===Billionaires===
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Person
! Networth
! Ten Richest Ranking
|-
! rowspan="14"|Technology
|-
| Carlos Slim Helú and family
| $74,000,000,000
| First
|-
| Bill Gates
| $56,000,000,000
| Second
|-
| Larry Ellison
| $39,500,000,000
| Fifth
|-
| Larry Page
| $19,800,000,000
|
|-
| Sergey Brin
| $19,800,000,000
|
|-
| Jeff Bezos
| $18,000,000,000
|
|-
| Steve Ballmer
| $14,500,000,000
|
|-
| Mark Zuckerberg
| $13,500,000,000
|
|-
| Paul Allen
| $13,500,000,000
|
|-
| Steve Jobs (D)
| $8,300,000,000
|
|-
| Eric Schmidt
| $7,000,000,000
|
|-
| Sean Parker
| $1,600,000,000
|
|-
| Steve Case
| $1,300,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="9"|Politicians and alleged evil plutocratic puppet masters
|-
| Warren Buffett
| $50,000,000,000
| Third
|-
| Charles Koch
| $22,000,000,000
|
|-
| David Koch
| $22,000,000,000
|
|-
| Michael Bloomberg
| $18,100,000,000
|
|-
| George Soros
| $14,000,000,000
|
|-
| Silvio Berlusconi and family
| $7,800,000,000
|
|-
| Rupert Murdoch
| $7,600,000,000
|
|-
| David Geffen
| $6,000,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="6"|Uncategorized
|-
| Bernard Arnault
| $41,000,000,000
| Fourth
|-
| Lakshmi Mittal
| $31,100,000,000
| Sixth
|-
| Amancio Ortega
| $31,000,000,000
| Seventh
|-
| Eike Batista
| $30,000,000,000
| Eighth
|-
| Mukesh Ambani
| $27,000,000,000
| Ninth
|-
! rowspan="5"|Walmart
|-
| Christy Walton and family
| $26,500,000,000
| Tenth
|-
| Jim Walton
| $21,300,000,000
|
|-
| Alice Walton
| $21,200,000,000
|
|-
| S. Robson Walton
| $21,000,000,000
|
|-
|-
! rowspan="5"|Fictional (source: ''Forbes'')
|-
| Carlisle Cullen
| $34,500,000,000
|
|-
| Scrooge McDuck
| $33,500,000,000
|
|-
| Bruce Wayne
| $6,500,000,000
|
|-
| Artemis Fowl
| $1,900,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="4"|Fashion
|-
| Lilianne Bettencourt
| $23,500,000,000
|
|-
| Ralph Lauren
| $5,800,000,000
|
|-
| Ronald Lauder
| $3,100,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="5"|Art and media
|-
| George Lucas
| $3,200,000,000
|
|-
| Oprah Winfrey
| $3,200,000,000
|
|-
| Five wealthiest rappers combined
| $1,250,000,000
|
|-
| J. K. Rowling
| $1,000,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="2"|Donald Trump
|-
| Donald Trump
| $2,700,000,000
|
|-
|}

Combined net worth of the world's 1,210 billionaires $4,500,000,000,000

===Corporations===
by market capitalization (combined value of all stock)

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Company !! Value
|-
| Saudi Aramco (State-owned company--estimated market value) || $2,940,000,000,000
|-
| Apple || $358,310,000,000
|-
| ExxonMobil || $357,910,000,000
|-
| PetroChina || $280,160,000,000
|-
| IBM || $211,640,000,000
|-
| Microsoft || $211,340,000,000
|-
| Bank of China || $208,810,000,000
|-
| China Mobile || $201,510,000,000
|-
| Royal Dutch Shell || $199,780,000,000
|-
| Nestle || $193,700,000,000
|-
| Chevron || $188,030,000,000
|-
| Facebook 2011 valuation || $70,000,000,000
|-
| AT&T attempted T-Mobile purchase || $39,000,000,000
|-
| Facebook 2010 valuation || $33,450,000,000
|-
| Zynga 2011 valuation || $14,000,000,000
|-
| LivingSocial 2011 valuation || $2,980,000,000
|}

===US household income===

===Cost to buy the world a coke===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Cost
|-
| Cost to buy the world a coke (2011 wholesale prices) || $2,240,000,000
|-
| Coca-Cola's annual marketing budget || $2,980,000,000
|-
| Cost to teach the world to sing (four half-hour lessons at $30 each) || $840,000,000,000
|}

===State government spending===

[map without amounts]

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
| Total US states' debt || $46,000,000,000
|}

====US foreign military aid====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Amount
|-
| Total || $11,010,000,000
|-
| Afghanistan || $5,800,000,000
|-
| Israel || $2,410,000,000
|-
| Egypt || $1,320,000,000
|-
| Other || $5,800,000,000
|}

====US foreign humanitarian and economic aid====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Amount
|-
| Total || $11,010,000,000
|-
| Iraq and Afghanistan || $5,370,000,000
|-
| West Bank and Ghana || $1,050,000,000
|-
| Africa (total) || $8,850,000,000
|-
| Other || $19,130,000,000
|}

===Ft. Knox gold reserves===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| Ft. Knox gold reserves (November 2011 prices) || $245,900,000,000
|-
| Unclaimed US treasury bonds || $16,000,000,000
|-
| All the tea in China || $4,210,000,000
|}

===Corporate tax deduction===

(Note: some of the corporate deductions are very technical, and even with the help of a technical accountant, I had trouble making sense of them. The text below is my best attempt at an English interpretation of the legalese.)

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Deductions
|-
| Corporate tax deduction || $125,180,000,000
|-
| Reduced tax on first $10 million of corporate income || $3,240,000,000
|-
| Delay of taxes on 'income' made from defaulting on a debt (Temporary stimulus measure) || $21,390,000,000
|-
| Temporary change to equipment depreciation rules allowing more (and sooner) deductions on the purchase of new equipment || $24,390,000,000
|-
| Clean energy, space, science, and tech R&D || $13,900,000,000
|-
| Miscellaneous rules for international corporate finance || $6,800,000,000
|-
| Foreign corporation income financing rules || $13,680,000,000
|}

===Individual tax deductions===
These are types of income, or uses of income, which the government has partly or fully exempt from tax, often to encourage some activity. This can be thought of as "spent" tax revenue, although it's not quite that simple; there's no guarantee that removing the deduction would add that amount of revenue, because the presence of the deduction may be affecting taxpayers' spending habits.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Deductions
|-
| Small business health insurance|| $1,620,000,000
|-
| Federal employee expenses abroad || $7,910,000,000
|-
| EITC (anti-poverty low-income tax credit) || $78,760,000,000
|-
| Donations to charity || $39,130,000,000
|-
| Capital gains (investment income) || $78,760,000,000
|-
| Pension contributions || $84,940,000,000
|-
| Other || $64,970,000,000
|-
| Employee fringe benefits || $6,690,000,000
|-
| Scholarships || $2,130,000,000
|-
| Property taxes || $15,710,000,000
|-
| Employer-provided transportation || $3,850,000,000
|-
| Retirement accounts || $24,630,000,000
|-
| Cafeteria plans || $26,760,000,000
|-
| State and local bonds || $19,560,000,000
|-
| Company daycare || $3,140,000,000
|-
| College and university tax credits || $12,060,000,000
|-
| Mortgage interest || $92,040,000,000
|-
| Medicare Benefits || $55,850,000,000
|-
| Child care || $55,850,000,000
|-
| Employer health plans || $107,140,000,000
|-
| Making Work Pay (ending) || $60,510,000,000
|-
| First-time homebuyer credit || $8,820,000,000
|-
| Veterans' benefits || $5,570,000,000
|-
| Life insurance benefits || $25,750,000,000
|-
| Capital gains death exclusion || $25,750,000,000
|-
| Social security and railroad retirement || $27,170,000,000
|-
| Home sale capital gains || $15,200,000,000
|}

===Federal spending===

===Disasters===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Disaster !! Estimated Total Damage !! Notes
|-
| Japan 2011 Earthquake || $235,000,000,000 || reconstruction and recovery cost, World Bank estimate
|-
| Hurricane Katrina || $107,440,000,000 ||
|-
| 1988 US Drought || $78,060,000,000 ||
|-
| 1980 US Drought || $60,740,000,000 ||
|-
| Hurricane Andrew || $46,180,000,000 ||
|-
| 9/11 insured losses || $40,000,000,000 || For hurricanes, the rule of thumb is that total losses are roughly double insured losses. It is unclear if a similar rule exist for terrorism.
|-
| Hurricane Ike || $28,170,000,000 ||
|-
| Hurricane Irene || $8,000,000,000 || (estimated)
|}

===Hypothetical disasters===
Estimated total losses if the disaster happened today
(based on insurance industry modeling)
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Disaster !! Estimated Total Losses !! Notes
|-
| 1938 Long Island Express || $236,960,000,000 || if it had curved left and made landfall in New Jersey instead of Long Island
|-
| 1812 New Madrid, Missouri earthquake || $206,050,000,000 ||
|-
| 1926 Miami hurricane || $202,000,000,000 ||
|-
| 1909 San Francisco earthquake || $197,810,000,000 ||
|-
| 1907 Galveston hurricane || $82,420,000,000 ||
|-
| Long Island Express || $78,060,000,000 || (1938 New England Hurricane)
|-
| Charleston SC, quake of 1886 || $76,240,000,000 ||
|-
| 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake || $12,360,000,000 ||
|}

===Cost of electricity===

===BP oil spill claims fund===

===New York CIty===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Combined Property Value
|-
| New York City || $806,490,000,000
|-
| Manhattan || $281,040,000,000
|-
| Queens || $208,180,000,000
|-
| Brooklyn || $201,230,000,000
|-
| Staten Island || $61,230,000,000
|-
| Bronx || $54,660,000,000
|}

===Megaprojects===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Project !! Cost !! Notes
|-
| National missile defense shield cost through 2013 || $107,690,000,000 ||
|-
| F-22 Raptor program || $67,610,000,000 || halted
|-
| Planned Russian Bering Strait tunnel || $66,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Obama's 2011 high-speed rail proposal || $53,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Cost to build SF-to-LA high-speed rail || $45,000,000,000 ||
|-
| UK Crossrail || $26,490,000,000 ||
|-
| King Abdullah Economic City || $50,020,000,000 || High-speed rail $9,120,000,000
|-
| Hong Kong International airport || $27,120,000,000 ||
|-
| Manhattan Project || $24,400,000,000 ||
|-
| 2nd Avenue NYC subway line || $17,960,000,000 ||
|-
| Big Dig cost || $18,510,000,000 || as of 2008
|-
| Failed Army intelligence-sharing computer system || $2,700,000,000 ||
|-
| Bay Bridge span replacement || $6,300,000,000 ||
|-
| Downtown Dubai project || $20,270,000,000 || Burj Khalifa $1,520,000,000
|-
| Channel Tunnel || $22,960,000,000 ||
|-
| Nimitz-class carrier || $4,930,000,000 ||
|-
| Gerald R. Ford-class carrier || $9,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Amtrak 30-year plan for northeast corridor || $192,000,000,000 || Randall made a mistake here the value represented by the blocks is $117,000,000,000
|-
| City Qatar is building to host the 2022 World Cup || $207,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Apollo moon landing project || $192,000,000,000 ||
|-
| International Space Station || $138,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Space Shuttle program || $194,620,000,000 ||
|-
| US interstate highway system || $465,970,000,000 || The largest single public-works project in the history of mankind
|}

===Federal budget===

===Budget options===

===Stimulus spending===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| 2008 Total || $205,930,000,000
|-
| Individual tax breaks || $120,110,000,000
|-
| Student loan guarantees || $33,470,000,000
|-
| Business tax breaks || $52,360,000,000
|-
| 2009 Total || $747,950,000,000
|-
| Tax breaks || $307,530,000,000
|-
| Education || $90,460,000,000
|-
| Medicare/Medicaid || $80,500,000,000
|-
| Transportation || $32,560,000,000
|-
| Unemployment || $62,740,000,000
|-
| Infrastructure || $24,000,000,000
|-
| Other spending || $150,160,000,000
|}

===Bailouts===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value !! Notes
|-
| 1980s-1990 S&L bailout || $78,300,000,000 || total cost to taxpayers
|-
| Cost to FDIC of bank failures || $19,000,000,000 || resulting from the 2008 financial crisis
|-
| TARP bailout funds distributed || $392,980,000,000 || Out of $700,000,000,000 available
|-
| Estimated TARP taxpayer losses || $41,660,000,000 ||
|-
| Value of outstanding TARP assets || $144,440,000 || Randall made a mistake here the chart should read $144,440,000,000
|-
| Bailout funds returned || $206,880,000,000 ||
|-
| Current Eurozone bailout fund || $1,361,700,000,000 ||
|}

===US Spending on Wars===
Including only direct spending on war operations, and not resulting veterans' benefits or interest on debt incurred.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! War !! Cost
|-
| World War I || $334,000,000,000
|-
| Spanish-American War || $9,030,000,000
|-
| Civil War || $79,740,000,000
|-
| American revolution || $2,410,000,000
|-
| 1812 || $1,550,000,000
|-
| Mexican War || $2,380,000,000
|-
| World War II || $4,104,000,000,000
|-
| Korean War || $341,000,000,000
|-
| Vietnam War || $738,000,000,000
|-
| Persian Gulf War || $102,000,000,000
|-
| Iraq War || $784,000,000,000
|-
| War in Afghanistan || $321,000,000,000
|}

</div>

==Trillions==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">

===Size of derivatives markets by year===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Size of market
|-
| 1988 || $3,090,000,000,000
|-
| 1995 || $26,690,000,000,000
|-
| 2001 || $86,390,000,000,000
|-
| 2005 || $227,260,000,000,000
|-
| 2009 || $439,000,000,000,000
|}

====Size of credit default swap market by year (included in derivatives)====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Size of market
|-
| 2001 || $1,150,000,000,000
|-
| 2005 || $19,350,000,000,000
|-
| 2007 || $66,280,000,000,000
|-
| 2009 || $31,350,000,000,000
|}

===US household net worth===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Worth
|-
| US household || $58,740,000,000,000
|-
| Poorer half || $1,470,000,000,000
|-
| Richer half || $57,270,000,000,000
|-
| Richest 1% || $19,620,000,000,000
|}

===Total debt in the US===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Worth
|-
| Total debt in the US || $36,580,000,000,000
|-
| State and local government || $2,500,000,000,000
|-
| Household || $13,560,000,000,000
|-
| Federal government || $9,510,000,000,000
|-
| Business || $10,980,000,000,000
|}

===World GDP===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! GDP
|-
| World || $62,900,000,000,000
|-
| North America || $17,850,000,000,000
|-
| United States || $14,530,000,000,000
|-
| South America || $3,070,000,000,000
|-
| EU || $16,240,000,000,000
|-
| Europe (incl. Russia and Turkey) || $20,130,000,000,000
|-
| Africa || $1,610,000,000,000
|-
| Asia || $17,530,000,000,000
|-
| Oceania || $1,310,000,000,000
|}

===Total public debt===
(Note: US figures are from 2011, while the other totals use 2010 debt in 2011 dollars, which is likely an underestimate.)
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Debt !! Notes
|-
| EU (total) || $13,340,000,000,000 ||
|-
| United States || $10,200,000,000,000 || (Plus internal government borrowing of 4,740,000,000,000)
|-
| Japan || $8,630,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Germany || $2,480,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Italy || $2,140,000,000,000 ||
|-
| India || $2,140,000,000,000 ||
|-
| China || $1,907,000,000,000 ||
|-
| France || $1,767,000,000,000 ||
|-
| United Kingdom || $1,654,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Brazil || $1,281,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Canada || $1,130,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Spain || $834,210,000,000 ||
|-
| Mexico || $584,860,000,000 ||
|-
| Greece || $460,180,000,000 ||
|}

===Energy reserves===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Type of energy !! World total proven [type] reserves !! US Reserves
|-
| Oil || $131,960,000,000,000 (November 2011 prices) || $20,580,000,000,000
|-
| Coal || $72,850,000,000,000 (2011 central Appalachian prices) || $20,020,000,000,000
|-
| Natural gas || $21,470,000,000,000 (2011 NYMEX prices) || $930,470,000,000
|}

===Value of 10 years of electricity generated if the surface of Texas was converted to:===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Thing !! Value
|-
| Solar power plants || $89,240,000,000,000
|-
| Wind turbines || $7,950,000,000,000
|}

===All US real estate===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Type !! Value
|-
| All || $28,380,000,000,000
|-
| Home || $23,010,000,000,000
|-
| Commercial (includes stores, apartments, industrial, etc.) || $5,370,000,000,000
|}

===Value of all gold ever mined===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| Value of all gold ever mined (late 2011 prices) || $9,120,000,000,000
|}

===Liquid Assets===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| World Total Liquid Assets || $77,000,000,000,000
|}

===GDP by year===
{|class=wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! GDP (total economic activity) the world (minus US) !! GDP (total economic productivity) of the US (minus government) !! US federal government
|-
| 1920 || || ||
|-
| 1930 || || ||
|-
| 1940 || || ||
|-
| 1942 || || || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1943 || || || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1944 || || || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1945 || || || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1946 || || || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1947 || || $2,000,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1948 || || $2,000,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1949 || || $2,000,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1950 || || $2,500,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1951 || || $2,500,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1952 || || $2,500,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1953 || || $2,500,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1954 || || $2,500,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1955 || || $3,000,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1956 || || $3,000,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1957 || || $3,000,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1958 || || $3,000,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1959 || || $3,500,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1960 || || $3,500,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1961 || || $3,500,000,000,000 || $500,000,000,000
|-
| 1962 || || $3,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1963 || || $4,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1964 || || $4,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1965 || || $4,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1966 || || $4,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1967 || || $5,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1968 || || $5,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1969 || || $5,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1970 || || $5,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1971 || || $5,500,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1972 || || $6,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1973 || || $6,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1974 || || $6,000,000,000,000 || $1,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1975 || || $5,500,000,000,000 || $1,500,000,000,000
|-
| 1976 || || $6,000,000,000,000 || $1,500,000,000,000
|-
| 1977 || || $6,000,000,000,000 || $1,500,000,000,000
|-
| 1978 || || $6,500,000,000,000 || $1,500,000,000,000
|-
| 1979 || || $7,000,000,000,000 || $1,500,000,000,000
|-
| 1980 || $19,000,000,000,000 || $6,500,000,000,000 || $1,500,000,000,000
|-
| 1981 || $19,000,000,000,000 || $6,500,000,000,000 || $1,500,000,000,000
|-
| 1982 || $19,000,000,000,000 || $6,000,000,000,000 || $1,500,000,000,000
|-
| 1983 || $20,000,000,000,000 || $6,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1984 || $20,000,000,000,000 || $7,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1985 || $22,000,000,000,000 || $7,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1986 || $23,000,000,000,000 || $7,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1987 || $23,500,000,000,000 || $7,500,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1988 || $25,000,000,000,000 || $8,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1989 || $26,000,000,000,000 || $8,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1990 || $27,000,000,000,000 || $8,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1991 || $27,000,000,000,000 || $8,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1992 || $31,000,000,000,000 || $8,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1993 || $32,500,000,000,000 || $8,500,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1994 || $33,000,000,000,000 || $9,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1995 || $34,000,000,000,000 || $9,000,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1996 || $34,500,000,000,000 || $9,500,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1997 || $36,500,000,000,000 || $9,500,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1998 || $36,500,000,000,000 || $10,500,000,000,000 || $2,000,000,000,000
|-
| 1999 || $37,000,000,000,000 || $10,500,000,000,000 || $2,500,000,000,000
|-
| 2000 || $39,000,000,000,000 || $10,500,000,000,000 || $2,500,000,000,000
|-
| 2001 || $39,000,000,000,000 || $10,500,000,000,000 || $2,500,000,000,000
|-
| 2002 || $41,000,000,000,000 || $10,500,000,000,000 || $2,500,000,000,000
|-
| 2003 || $42,500,000,000,000 || $11,000,000,000,000 || $2,500,000,000,000
|-
| 2004 || $45,000,000,000,000 || $11,500,000,000,000 || $2,500,000,000,000
|-
| 2005 || $46,500,000,000,000 || $11,500,000,000,000 || $3,000,000,000,000
|-
| 2006 || $50,000,000,000,000 || $12,000,000,000,000 || $3,000,000,000,000
|-
| 2007 || $53,000,000,000,000 || $12,000,000,000,000 || $3,000,000,000,000
|-
| 2008 || $57,500,000,000,000 || $11,500,000,000,000 || $3,000,000,000,000
|-
| 2009 || $56,500,000,000,000 || $11,000,000,000,000 || $3,500,000,000,000
|-
| 2010 || $61,000,000,000,000 || $11,500,000,000,000 || $3,500,000,000,000
|-
| 2011 || $64,500,000,000,000 || $11,500,000,000,000 || $4,000,000,000,000
|}

===Estimated total economic production of the human race (so far)===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Thing !! Value !! Notes
|-
| Estimated total economic production of the human race (so far) || $2,396,950,000,000,000 || (roughly three-fifths of it since 1980)
|}
</div>
{{DEFAULTSORT:0980}}

Talk:2060: Hygrometer

2018-10-18T12:40:51Z

108.162.241.220: Added comment(s).

Interestingly, Google search for ometerometer returns porn results. If there is an xkcd comic about rule 34 (if it exists, there is porn about it), it could be linked here.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 15:48, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
:Yeah, and now xkcd is prominently displayed. Good for you! - Who? {{unsigned ip|162.158.165.238}}
:Should have taken a screenshot: The link provided under Trivia returns no porn results whatsoever now (yes I have SafeSearch turned off). I'm pretty sure almost any search for a seldom used word or phrase returns a high number of porn results, but '''I seriously doubt''' any of the porn was actually ''about'' ometerometers, or even featured that word on the page. I think you just got unrelated results. I'm gonna have to say "citation needed" on that one, because the citation given yields no such results. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:19, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
::[https://i.imgur.com/5VOBPMJ.png Here's your citation.] Needless to say, the term doesn't appear anywhere on those pages outside the search box, but ''something'' must've put it in that box in the first place—"ameterometer" and "emeterometer" and various other misspellings don't return any search results like this. [[User:Trambelus|Trambelus]] ([[User talk:Trambelus|talk]]) 21:57, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
:::We can just do a search for '"ometerometer" -xkcd' (without single quotes). This search yields 13 results, 4 of which are not porn, and 3 of which genuinely contain "ometerometer" in their content and not as part of SEO. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.220|108.162.241.220]] 12:40, 18 October 2018 (UTC)

Which meters do you enjoy?
I'm a particular fan of the Crookes radiometer [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.116|141.101.77.116]] 16:33, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
: Based almost solely on the exotic name, I'm a particular fan of the {{w|sphygmomanometer}} (blood pressure cuff), and I'm disappointed that Randall didn't take the opportunity to mention it anywhere. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.41|172.68.46.41]] 16:44, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
:: My laser power meter is pretty bad-assed - but the measurement tool I'm most impressed by isn't a "ometer", it's a "mechanics level" - which is basically just an incredibly accurate spirit level - it can measure a tilt angle equal to the thickness of a single sheet of paper over a distance of two meters - which is pretty astounding considering how crude it is. You can tell that you have a cool -ometer if it comes in a nice wooden box - and a seriously cool one if the box has brass hinges and is lined with velvet...it's kindof a rule for us ometerometrists. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.227|172.69.70.227]] 18:27, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Here's the Rule 34 comic: https://xkcd.com/305/ {{unsigned ip|172.68.65.6}}
:Thank you. I added it to the description.--[[User:Pere prlpz|Pere prlpz]] ([[User talk:Pere prlpz|talk]]) 16:52, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

But no mention of an alethiometer. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.113|172.68.58.113]] 16:59, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Let's all remember that there are some measurement devices that do not end in -ometer but rather simply in -meter, for example "multimeter", "ohmmeter", "ammeter", etc. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.77}}
: So does a micrometer end in ometer? Tough call! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.227|172.69.70.227]] 18:29, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
:: Micro-meter, not micr-ometer. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.59.12|172.68.59.12]] 20:05, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
:::You're absolutely right, the ''O'' always belongs to the first term. I will change the explanation accordingly. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:49, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
::::Oh - so Cueball wants an o-metero-meter? OK now I'm confused! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.77|108.162.221.77]] 21:59, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

I'm certainly not an expert on Google and how search results are generated, but I think it's at least highly likely that search results can be impacted by a user's previous searches and/or clicked results. While it might be interesting or even amusing, I don't think it's appropriate to include anything in the explanation of this comic about Rule 34 because it has absolutely nothing to do with the content of the comic itself! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:12, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

There's also metrometer (measures the size of the womb), and a kilometerometer (this is what some Americans call odometers in foreign cars). --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.54.136|172.68.54.136]] 22:19, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

I prefer ohmmeter since I am in an electronics course in my local college and I use it quite often. (^o^)Boeing-787lover 09:13, 18 October 2018 (UTC)

'''Trivia was nonsense'''

At this link [https://www.google.es/search?rlz=1C1NHXL_caES708ES708&ei=EEHHW-DWBJ2vgAbZyrSQAw&q=ometerometer&oq=ometerometer&gs_l=psy-ab.3...1876.4215.0.4448.12.10.0.0.0.0.376.1163.0j3j1j1.5.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..7.4.786...0j0i131k1j0i67k1j0i131i67k1j0i10k1j0i19k1j0i10i19k1.0.iW8nv_ipPpQ Google search for ometerometer] I can't see any porn. AND only 9 results at Google! The Rule 34 doesn't apply right now and so I've removed it completely. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:17, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
:If the ometerometer search term is in double-quotes, you'll get the porn. (Apologies if I did something wrong with this comment... Is my first here.) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.88|162.158.63.88]] 04:47, 18 October 2018 (UTC)

This comic came out on Randall's birthday [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.90|162.158.186.90]] 11:28, 18 October 2018 (UTC)

1695: Code Quality 2

2018-10-03T23:41:38Z

108.162.241.220: typo

{{comic
| number = 1695
| date = June 17, 2016
| title = Code Quality 2
| image = code_quality_2.png
| titletext = It's like you tried to define a formal grammar based on fragments of a raw database dump from the QuickBooks file of a company that's about to collapse in an accounting scandal.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is a continuation of [[1513: Code Quality]] the first [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series, in which we see [[Ponytail]] being introduced to the {{w|source code}} [[Cueball]] has written, and where he is warning her that he is self-taught so his code probably won't be written the way she is used to. In the first comic she continues to describe poetically the total mess of a code she encounters, using references to a child building houses, recipes created by corporate lawyers or the transcript of a couple arguing at IKEA, as well as using emojis in the code (title text).

In this comic she continues this trend in four more abusive comments, after starting this sequel with a short remark on how she hates reading Cueball’s code. Cueball is not even shown in this comic, only replying twice off-panel, but as the title makes it clear this is a sequel there can be no doubt that it is Cueball. With the four remarks here as well as a fifth in the title text, she has now managed to make no fewer than nine derogatory remarks on Cueball's programming skills.

In the second panel Ponytail makes a reference to "OCR" ({{w|Optical Character Recognition}}), a technique for recognizing text in a picture using software. In this case she is referring to a picture of a {{w|Scrabble}} game, which is a popular word-making game in which players have a pseudo-randomized set of letters and must arrange them on a grid to form interlocking words. OCR software is notoriously imperfect at the time of writing, and the criss-crossing semi-random words on a Scrabble board fed through an OCR program would likely produce dubious results, certainly not fit for current code standards.

Ponytail observes that Cueball’s code includes the [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Lexical_grammar#Keywords JavaScript reserved words] more often than a typical Scrabble board would, a concession that the code looks at least vaguely code-like. Reserved words such as ‘function’, ‘if’ and ‘return’ are fundamental building blocks of code, and most code uses them often. (They are called “reserved” because those words are reserved for their actual meanings such as defining a function – programmers may not create variables with those names.) As for why “triple points” translates to a prevalence of those words, Scrabble's point system is based on the value of individual letters, combined with certain modifier squares on the game board which can boost points. "Triple points" is the highest class of modifier available in the game (though it can be for triple points on a specific letter, or the entire word) and is highly-sought-after by players.

The third panel continues Ponytail's rant, this time referencing naval weather forecasts, avian interference and indentation. A weather forecast is a complex, multidimensional array of data used in predicting or assessing the atmospheric conditions of a geographical area over a set time. [https://www.aviationweather.gov/static/help/taf-decode.php Naval weather forecasts] use an extremely condensed code to send their information, rendering them unintelligible to an untrained reader. Transcribing it would be further complicated by a {{w|woodpecker}} (a bird noted for its rapid successive pecking motions) "hammering" (pecking) the Shift key on the keyboard, which would result in many letters being randomly capitalized. Indentation is the practice of shifting a section of text further from the starting margin, which in coding is typically used to organize functions and statements, but if done "randomly" would only serve to scramble the code hierarchy.

The fourth panel references famous poet {{w|E. E. Cummings}} and user name suggestions. Edward Estlin Cummings was a poet who used capitalization, punctuation, and line breaks in unconventional ways. Websites that offer membership often also require that users create a pseudonym (known as a "username") for use in tracking/authenticating their actions on the site, as well as identifying them to the site's community. Many of these sites also require usernames be unique. On popular sites, many common words, phrases and names have already been reserved by users, so when signing up for them many people run into situations where the name they want has already been taken. On many sites where this happens, the site may suggest alternate usernames, usually based on the one that was entered to begin with. For example, if the username "Hedgeclipper" is already reserved, the site may recommend "Hedgeclipper1234" or "H3dg3clipp3r" instead, depending on the algorithm behind the suggestions. In other cases, websites requiring users to enter personal information such as their name may suggest a username based on their name with a string of digits after it, such as "Joshua1128". An E. E. Cummings poem written entirely out of these semi-random suggestions would make the resulting poem even more "unusual" than his work is already considered.

The last panel's simile involves {{w|Markov chain|Markov chaining}}, {{w|Chatterbot|chat-bots}} (presumably), bus schedules and potential gross vehicular negligence. Applied Markov chaining is a process used in many computer algorithms that try to simulate real-world concepts such as speech simulation and decisions-making. Its inherent randomness also makes it a candidate for unpredictable things such as stock market analysis and speech recognition. Bus schedules are [http://elb-jpinstances-1463028547.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/ccg3/XSLT_STT_REQUEST?mode=direct&line=ccg:01065:%20:H:y15&sessionID=0&requestID=0&itdLPxx_template=tableResults&type_stt=any&language=en&coordOutputFormat=WGS84%5Bdd.ddddd%5D&outputFormat=0&name_stt=10111816&contentFilter=allstops often complicated and full of notation], and are notorious for confusing people who are not used to reading them. Chat-bots using applied Markov chains to recognize and respond to speech/text rely on the input being clear and well-organized in plain language. "Feeding" bus schedules to such a bot would likely result in the returns being complete gibberish and unreadable. The issue is further complicated when Ponytail suggests that the schedules are from a city where "the buses crash constantly", which would be horrifying if it happened so regularly that the schedules actually took crashes into account. However, the reason for the crashes is not stated, and it is not clear whether the passengers are in any danger. The buses might be safe if the problem is pedestrian suicides. Even more horrifying would be the further unpredictability of the output of the chat-bot from such unpredictable input.

Cueball finally comments that "… it runs fine for now" which indicates he knows the code has problems but is reluctant to fix them because it's more-or-less serving its function. Ponytail quips back that "So does a burning bus", which is technically true, but the "for now" part implies that disaster and injury could result at any moment, as would likely happen on a burning bus.

In the title text Ponytail makes a final remark. A formal grammar is a way of describing the structure of text such that computers can recognize or generate such text. A raw {{w|database dump}} is an export of the data from a database for the purposes of transferring it to another database or importing it into a program, viewed “raw” without processing to make it easy for humans to read. {{w|QuickBooks}} is an accounting software package. The company collapsing in an accounting scandal implies their accounting database would be a mess even in a human-readable format.

==Transcript==
:[Zoom in on Ponytail sitting in front of a computer screen typing. Cueball speaks only off-panel, but since this is a direct continuation of comic 1513: Code Quality where Cueball is shown, there can be no doubt it is him.]
:Ponytail: Ugh, I hate reading your code.
:Cueball (off-panel): I know, I know.

:[Zoom out of Ponytail in an office chair in front of the computer on a desk.]
:Ponytail: It's like you ran OCR on a photo of a Scrabble board from a game where Javascript reserved words counted for triple points.

:[Zoom in on Ponytails head.]
:Ponytail: It looks like someone transcribed a naval weather forecast while woodpeckers hammered their shift keys, then randomly indented it.

:[Zoom out back to the setting of the second panel.]
:Ponytail: It's like an E E Cummings poem written using only the usernames a website suggests when the one you want is taken.

:[Zoom in to Ponytails head and the screen in a wider panel. Finally Cueball again answers off-panel.]
:Ponytail: This looks like the output of a Markov bot that's been fed bus timetables from a city where the buses crash constantly.
:Cueball (off-panel): Whatever, it runs fine for now.
:Ponytail: So does a burning bus.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Code Quality]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Code Quality 02]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] 
[[Category:Language]] 
[[Category:Animals]] 
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]

Talk:1924: Solar Panels

2018-09-27T15:17:47Z

108.162.241.220:

Sorry, but who, except the odd American, has *empty space* next to anything that belongs to him? ;-) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.199|162.158.89.199]] 20:47, 4 December 2017 (UTC)
:I think there are a lot of farms and villages where the residents have empty space next to them outside of America. And even inside America anyone in urban areas doesn't have much empty space next to them. But urban areas are prime for rooftop installation, which also has the added benefit of not covering up areas of vegetation. Also apartment buildings are more likely to have flat rooftops which are better for placing solar panels. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:26, 6 December 2017 (UTC)
::Well I'm not going to give up a fifth of my precious garden to solar cells, when I can mount them safe and flat on the roof of the house, where they are already at a close to ideal angle (provided your gable goes east-west, OK). And for most people in the old world, as for American suburbia, the available area on a south-facing roof is more close to a third or half of the free space around the house. And I neither want solar cells or my terrace on the north side. :-/ --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.21|162.158.93.21]] 10:06, 7 December 2017 (UTC)

And really, if it moves, just keep the diesel engine in it, or switch to hybrid if you can. Batteries that are charged from power plants running on fossile fuel are an ecological nightmare. And car batteries are usually charged overnight, when solar panels are dead. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.199|162.158.89.199]] 20:54, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

:You are right that charging batteries from power plants running on fossile fuel doesn't really bring any ecological advantages ... assuming the engine operates close to optimal parameters. Most cars doesn't operate near optimal parameters inside city, but do on highways, hence hybrid. Also, it is much more ecological to have batteries charged by nuclear power plants. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 04:15, 5 December 2017 (UTC)
::Ja, Germany here. Our whole politics from left to right has this obsessive-compulsive nuclear-power-blows-up-and-poisons-everyone problem, so we're switching them off. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.133|162.158.89.133]] 07:49, 6 December 2017 (UTC)
: I always thought of the main advantage of electrical battery powered cars (instead of petrol or Diesel powered ones) was not so much the immediate ecological improvement, but rather that (once they are the norm) you don't need to convince EVERY SINGLE CAR USER to get rid of their old car and get a new one (Like you have to do now, when you invent engines which use less fuel or something). Instead, when you change the overall energy production of a country (hopefully to something more sustainable and envronmentally friendly), the cars will just passively follow. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.37|162.158.89.37]] 14:46, 5 December 2017 (UTC)
:: I think the main motivation for moving to electric vehicles is that it largely moves the pollution away from where people are. (From the energy production, anyway - particulate pollution from brakes, tyres, etc. is a whole other matter...)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.4|162.158.34.4]] 09:10, 6 December 2017 (UTC)
:::Not another matter, but the exact thing that makes mass-use of electric cars pointless in the moment, especially when motors have catalytic converters, which they have since the mid-90ies. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.93.21|162.158.93.21]] 10:10, 7 December 2017 (UTC)

I think that the reference to solar panels on roads in the title text could also be talking about the disaster that is solar roadways.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.244|108.162.221.244]] 22:50, 4 December 2017 (UTC)

I don't think it's appropriate to use rooftops as an example of where solar panels should not go when the title text of the comic specifically uses rooftops as an example of a good place for solar panels. How many people have an empty field near their house? I also think it's worth mentioning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_highway#Photovoltaic_pavement Solar Freakin' Roadways] [[User:YM Industries|YM Industries]] ([[User talk:YM Industries|talk]]) 04:08, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

: I agree, rooftops are kinda the prime example for good places to put solar panels. Especially because even in small cities, there are tons of flat-roofed buildings (which would make the alignment to the sun possible) and it is often (nearly) unused space, whereas an "empty" (as in not-build-upon) space could be used for lots of other things, not least just some wild nature. I went ahead and changed the explanation accordingly, putting hte emphasis mor on inclined vs. flat surfaces (and this free to select optimal direction)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.37|162.158.89.37]] 14:46, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

The current transcript is not very useful for people who use screen readers, or for any other purpose (e.g. full text search). Could someone please describe the flowchart in a purely textual, "linear" fashion, as was done for other flowchart comics? Thanks very much in advance! Zetfr 15:01, 5 December 2017 (UTC)
:I tried to improve it, hopefully it's helpful. [[User:Asdf|Asdf]] ([[User talk:Asdf|talk]]) 18:02, 5 December 2017 (UTC)
::Great, thanks a lot! Zetfr 22:06, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

The flowchart doesn't use standard flowchart symbols - they remind me of cars/trucks, each having a (rounded body) plus two wheels (holding yes and no). Anyone think this is deliberate?
:Not particularly as he used similar design in [[1688: Map Age Guide]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:01, 6 December 2017 (UTC)

The reason that you don't want to put solar panels on something that is hot is not because hot things use more power. It's because the efficiency of solar panels decreases as a function of temperature: See here for example http://news.energysage.com/solar-panel-temperature-overheating/ . This is why solar panels on a road are not a great idea (among other reasons). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.76|108.162.219.76]] 01:23, 6 December 2017 (UTC)

Maybe I'm just a bit slow here, but why are jets, cars and deer considered hot to the touch when running? Sure, jets and cars do have hot parts when running - but so have many modern sail boats (at least motorized ones). And what about deer? The only deer being hot is the one in my oven - and there's no sun. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 14:31, 6 December 2017 (UTC)
:well sailboats have only a small part (the motor) that is becoming really hot, since the body is watercooled. While deer are not getting that hot, a quick google search told me that their regular body temperature is 38.5-39.5°C. Also they do not regulate their temperature by sweating through skinpores as humans, but by sweating in their mouth, and regulating their temperatures through their ears. This means, in my understanding, that when they are running, the body cannot cool down as good as a human one, so i guess the can get up to 40-42°C during that period.
:The second thing to consider is, that hot is always relative. In this context it should mean "hot compared to the cooling water of a solar panel", as solar panels generate power by heating up water in a circuit (on a deer it should be a small cirquit to not put to much ballast on the deer). Heating it up can only generate power, when it is also cooled down. For this it needs a colder reference. When the deer itself is getting ~40°C, thats too hot to have cooling capacity. [[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]])
::While I see that PV get less effective if heated up and as such cooling makes sense, this was the first time I heard of that. So thank you for that (really!). In the wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_panel cooling isn't even mentioned at all. However, this still does not convince me. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Impulse Granted, these are all protoptypes/experiments (and the plane is definitely no jet) and will most likely not come to serial production, but nevertheless...

Randy SO missed the "If you like it..." angle. All the single rooftops! (I'll show myself out) [[Special:Contributions/172.68.244.252|172.68.244.252]] 15:20, 8 December 2017 (UTC)

Why does animals being classified as "moving objects" require a citation?

2050: 6/6 Time

2018-09-26T13:08:10Z

108.162.241.220: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2050
| date = September 24, 2018
| title = 6/6 Time
| image = 6_6_time.png
| titletext = You know how Einstein figured out that the speed of light was constant, and everything else had to change for consistency? My theory is like his, except not smart or good.
}}

The original image has a link to a previous comic [https://xkcd.com/1061/ 1061: EST] which is explained [[1061: EST|here]].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Cueball]] suggests a regional time system similar to that used in many societies prior to the invention of [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-time-division-days-hours-minutes/ mechanical time keeping], such as [https://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Telling_Time Japan during the Edo period] or the {{w|Roman timekeeping|Roman Empire}}, where the day is separated into two parts based on night and day and then subdivided by hour, minute, and second to give season-variable lengths for each. This method is also named [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/temporal_hour temporal hour], and still in use in the Jewish religion time table.

Exact points in time such as noon, sunrise, or sunset vary on the {{w|Longitude|longitude}} from east and west, while the length of day and night depends on the {{w|Latitude|latitude}}. The first problem is solved today by using {{w|Time zone|time zones}} in which at noon the sun is in most cases at or close to the {{w|Zenith|zenith}} and sunrise/sunset happens at different times. The second issue is attributed to the tilt of Earth's axis and the curvature of its surface; in summer days are longer than nights and vice versa in winter. In the polar regions there are very long days (and nights) and by Cueball's suggestion the entire months-long polar day would last only 12 of the newly defined "hours".

The caption lays out the punchline in which [[Randall]] has very strong feelings and opinions on how standards of time ''should'' be measured, but as bad as he believes the official standards are he also recognizes that his own rules would not be popular with other people. After coming to recognize this he has made a hobby or game out of making the worst possible system of measuring time and sharing it with other people.

The caption, though vague, can also be assumed to relate to the gradual deviation of certain regions from the {{w|Coordinated Universal Time}} (UCT) zones with "{{w|Daylight Saving Time}}" that is observed inconsistently and smaller regions opting for awkward fractional increments of deviation from Coordinated Universal Time.

The title text refers to Einstein's {{w|Special relativity|special theory of relativity}} which postulates that the speed of light is the same for all observers, regardless of the motion of the light source (or the observers). An observer at high speed measures the same speed of light as an observer with no motion, measured from the same light source. In classical physics the speed of the moving observer would be added up but in special relativity this isn't true, instead the time runs slower for the moving observer. And additional to this {{w|Time dilation|time dilation}} there is also a {{w|Length contraction|length contraction}}, without which the geometry wouldn't work.

"Today is one of the two days each year when my clocks run at the same speed as everyone else's" refers to the autumnal equinox, when day and night are the same length, therefore causing his clocks to match the world.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and White Hat are walking.]
:Cueball: Under my time system, the sun rises at 6 am and it sets at 6 pm, as it '''''should'''''.
:Cueball: The length of the second is different each day and night, and the current time shifts with your latitude and longitude.
:Cueball: Today is one of the two days each year when my clocks run at the same speed as everyone else's.

:[Caption below the frame:]
:Time standards are so unfixably messy and complicated that at this point my impulse is just to try to make them worse.

==Trivia==
*In the title text the name Einstein was originally misspelled as "einstein".
*This comic was released two days after the {{w|September equinox}} 2018 in the [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/seasons?year=2018&tz=-5&dst=1 US]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Time]]

Talk:2050: 6/6 Time

2018-09-24T19:51:26Z

108.162.241.220:

This is actually how time worked in ancient Greece, minus the 6 o'clock part. Sunrise was at 12, sunset at 12 and the length of each hour varied depending on the part of the year [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.163|172.68.189.163]] 16:15, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Not just Greece but most of medeaval Europe. The concept of a fixed length hour only arises with clockwork. that Noon, the ninth hour, now occurs at the sixth hour - that we call 12 - is mainly due to post black death labour shortages. {{unsigned|Arachrah}}

: Also ancient Rome. I ''think'' Romans borrowed this system from Greeks and it later spread along with the Roman Empire's influence. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.10.22|172.68.10.22]] 16:52, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

:: To be fair, the Romans "borrowed" (stole) a lot of other things from the Greeks, not the least of which was their pantheon. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.172|108.162.216.172]] 18:21, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

: Before clockwork (as mentioned above) was created, variable hours/minutes/seconds were necessary (at least during daylight hours) as the sundial obviously <sup>({{w|citation needed}})</sup> is just based off of the sun's angle in the sky.[[User:Rajakiit|Raj-a-Kiit]] ([[User talk:Rajakiit|talk]]) 17:42, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Some facts: {{w|September equinox}} was at 01:54 UTC on September 23 when in the entire US it still was September 22 as can be seen here: [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/seasons?year=2018&tz=-5&dst=1 U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department (Apsides and Seasons 2018)]. This comic was released two days later. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 16:32, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Could the timing of this comic be related to the [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45366390 EU voting to end DST within its borders?] [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.100|108.162.241.100]] 16:51, 24 September 2018 (UTC)
:This isn't about daylight saving time, which just moves clocks forwards and backwards by one hour in most cases. Cueball refers to an equinox when day and night are both 12 hours. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:05, 24 September 2018 (UTC)
:: This comic is about "unfixably messy and complicated" time standards (of which DST is one) at least as much as equinoxes (which aren't quite what you say they are; I won't get a 12-hour interval between sunrise and sunset at my latitude for another few days yet). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.220|108.162.241.220]] 19:51, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

The hours/minutes/seconds get really short/long in the polar regions. {{unsigned ip|162.158.74.243}}

The caption can also be referring to the alteration of time zones for political reasons, such as China having only one now rather than the five it used to use, or the Republic of Kiribati pushing the International Date Line east of its entire territory.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.140|172.69.22.140]] 17:50, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Here is a YouTube video explaining the Japanese system (and how they created mechanical clocks to support it) - [https://youtu.be/3iclecbIgN0?t=135 Begin Japanology - Clocks and Watches]. -- [[User:Dhericean|Dhericean]] ([[User talk:Dhericean|talk]]) 18:15, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Swatch time: Still more sensible than any other division of the day I've ever heard.

Seriously though, isn't it about time we all switched to metric? 10 segments in a day, not 24. 100 units in a segment. Straightforward, easy to figure pay rates, & pretty simple to convert to & from.

Increments of 24 & 60 have no relevance to anything these days. The only reason to continue using a 24hr day is because "that's how it's been done for ages" & that's no excuse for anything.

[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:23, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

== From Wikipedia ==

“In Judaism, an hour is defined as 1/12 of the time from sunrise to sunset, so, during the winter, an hour can be much less than 60 minutes, and during the summer, it can be much more than 60 minutes. This proportional hour is known as a sha'ah z'manit (lit. a timely hour). A Jewish hour is divided into 1080 halakim (singular: helek) or parts. A part is 3⅓ seconds or 1/18 minute. The ultimate ancestor of the helek was a small Babylonian time period called a barleycorn, itself equal to 1/72 of a Babylonian time degree (1° of celestial rotation).[6] These measures are not generally used for everyday purposes.”

802: Online Communities 2

2015-09-22T17:49:38Z

108.162.241.220: Correcting Kanye spelling, explaining isle of sadness.

{{comic
| number = 802
| date = October 6, 2010
| title = Online Communities 2
| image = online_communities_2.png
| titletext = Best trivia I learned while working on this: 'Man, Farmville is so huge! Do you realize it's the second-biggest browser-based social-networking-centered farming game in the WORLD?' Then you wait for the listener to do a double-take.
}}
A [http://xkcd.com/802_large/ larger version] of this picture can be found by clicking the comic on xkcd.
{{TOC}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Not all of the regions are fully explained. Many labels aren't even mentioned outside of the transcript. Some towns need to be added for example.}}
This comic shows a map of internet communities where the size of each region roughly corresponds to its size, and its proximity to other regions indicates similarities.

This is the successor of [[256: Online Communities]]. It differs in that it is updated, and furthermore, instead of using the ''membership'' of whichever service to determine its size on the map, it uses its "daily social activity."

The map actually has two super−maps: the online community map is surrounded by the "countries" of E−Mail and SMS ("Instant Messaging"). These, in turn, are surrounded by the "Spoken Language" country (which is odd, considering that e−mail, SMS, and the Internet in general are based on ''written'' language) with its own sub−country, "cell phones" (which ''do'' involve e−mail and the Internet while being the mean medium of SMS's).

At the title text [[Randall]] explains that, using his definition of "most activity per day," Farmville is actually the ''second'' most popular social-network farming game -- the Chinese game Happy Farm was more popular at the time. This strikes many English-speaking xkcd readers as odd, because Farmville is much more famous, leading one to wonder how the it could not be the most played. The phrase "browser-based social-networking-centered farming game" is an example of an [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OverlyNarrowSuperlative overly-narrow superlative.]

===Facebook Region===
The Facebook region deals with social networks, that is, websites oriented towards having people meet.

'''{{w|Facebook}}''' is a social networking site that allows people to meet old real−life friends and make new friends that share similar interests. One of its most notable features is that a member can update a "status" or make normal posts about the happenings of the member's life, complete with pictures, other members "liking" these posts. The size of the Facebook region is not exaggerated; most websites seem to allow "liking" their content or allow/require logging in the website with a Facebook account. There even are cell phones with a "Facebook" button!

*'''{{w|FarmVille}}''' and '''{{w|Farm Town}}''' are Facebook games in which users manage farms. '''{{w|Happy Farm}},''' the Chinese game that inspired the other two, does not require Facebook integration, so it is separated by a solid line from Facebook. The "Unethical Bay" refers to how these games tend to addict players into constantly buying virtual items of questionable value.

*'''People You Can't Unfriend''' refers to people whom, due to real-life expectations and relationships, unfriending them is difficult, no matter how you really feel about them.

*'''Blatherskite River''' refers to the conversations on Facebook, which may be long yet devoid of general meaning or logic.

*'''Data Mines''' refer to the data mining that Facebook does with the interests of its members. This fuels the profitable advertising business at the expense of customer trust.

*'''Plains of Awkwardly Public Family Interactions''' refer to how interactions with family members on Facebook suddenly become more awkward because everyone on Facebook (and sometimes ''off'' Facebook, given that you do not necessarily need to log in if you want to see someone's Facebook account) if you are discussing with your family through post comments.

*'''524,287 Strong for Mersenne Primes''' refers to the communities who gain followers for a cause. A {{w|Mersenne prime}} is a prime number that is 1 less than a power of 2; 524287 is the 7th known Mersenne prime.

*'''Jungle-Bay Mountains of "It's Complicated"''' refers to one of Facebook's options as to what a user's relationship status currently is. A Jungle-Bay Mountain is a complicated and undefined climate, hence the complication.

*'''"Old Facebook" Resistance''' refers to Facebook's earlier users, who have often resisted (and resented) changes made to Facebook as it became more popular.

*'''Privacy Controls''' is located on the map surrounded by a Lava Pool, which is a reference to how difficult it is to find the privacy controls within Facebook.
*'''Niche Market Mountains''' refers to social networks aimed towards more niche markets are located. Similar to how mountains tend to be isolated from mainland, niche social networks tend to be just that: niche, without much interaction with the general populace.
*'''Charred Wasteland of Abandoned Social Networks''' refers to the tons of websites wanting to take advantage of the success of websites like Facebook to compete or even overpower with them. Even so, these websites tend to not have the userbase or even the expertise towards the long-term, hence they become wastelands: environments devoid of life, except the few life forms that are from these wastelands (in this case, the ones who are loyal to the website or which are sadly few).
*In the Charred Wasteland stands '''{{w|Ozymandias}}''', the titular broken statue of Shelley's poem. In the poem, only "two vast and trunkless legs of stone" and a "shattered visage" are all that remain of the once-great statue and both of these features are present in the comic. According to the poem, the pedestal before the broken statue reads "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings..." hence "friend of friends" below Ozymandias on the map.
*In the north are the '''Duckface Mountains''' and the '''Red Cup Mountains'''."Duckface" refers to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/duck-face this incredibly obnoxious facial expression], and "red cup pictures" are any pictures containing party-goers holding disposable red plastic beverage cups. Facebook is absolutely flooded with both types of pictures.
*In the south is '''Buzzword Bay'''. {{w|Buzzword}}s are words and phrases that make you sound a lot more topical than you actually are, used to garner attention; again, Facebook status updates are commonly filled with buzzwords.

While Facebook is the largest "country" of the Facebook Region, there are a lot of smaller "countries" that represent smaller social networks.

*Below Facebook (and "Old Facebook' Resistance") is '''{{w|Diaspora (social network)|Diaspora}}''', a fully open-source, decentralized, privacy-respecting-and-expecting alternative to Facebook. From what this map tells, Diaspora is little-known, even if Facebook is taken out of the context.
*'''{{w|StudiVZ}}''' is a German-speaking social network similar if not a ripped-off version of Facebook.
*'''{{w|XING}}''' is a German-speaking social platform similar to LinkedIn.
*'''{{w|Ning (website)|Ning}}''' is a service to create custom social websites. Its free services shut down in 2010.
*'''{{w|Taringa!}}''' is a Spanish-speaking social network that is based on a forums. Copyrighted material is frequently found there.
*Next to the Euro(pean) Gulf is '''{{w|Skyrock (social network site)}}''', a French-speaking social network.
*'''{{w|Wer-kennt-wen}}''' is a German-social network somewhat like MySpace.
*'''{{w|Nasza-klasa.pl}}''' or NK, is a Polish-speaking social network based on school relationships.
*'''{{w|Badoo}}''' is a social network primarily based on dating and picture-sharing.
*'''{{w|Classmates.com}}''' is a services in which the user can meet classmates that came from the same high school. The website is probably best known by its memetic advertisement that said [http://dudemanphat.blogspot.com/2005/10/how-am-i-supposed-to-care-about-nick.html "She married him??!! And they've got 7 kids??"] (Incidentally, [http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2003325519_adcouple27.html there is more to the coupled picture than what the advertisement says.])
*'''{{w|Myspace}}''' is a social networking website that is a kind of proto-Facebook: users could customize their one-page websites with whatever they wanted, make their interests and daily lives public, and interact with other users. Back in the mid 2000s, MySpace was the largest social network, many people using the website; however, the surprisingly-less-customizable Facebook ended up taking the place of MySpace. The "bands" country of MySpace refers to how a lot of bands in the day advertised and interacted using the website. Indeed, the latest incarnation of MySpace (in terms of 2013) is more oriented towards band members.
*'''{{w|LinkedIn}}''' is a social network aimed towards people in the workplace, which is why it is adjancent to '''Corporate Bay'''.
*'''{{w|Orkut}}''' was one of Google's first social networks before Google made [https://plus.google.com/ Google+]. It shut down in 2014.
*'''{{w|Hi5}}''' is a social network that is very popular among people in Latin America.
*'''{{w|Renren}}''' ('''「人人」''', "people" in Chinese) is "a Chinese copy of Facebook."
*'''{{w|Bebo}}''' was a social network popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It went bankrupt in 2013 and will move away from social networking and into apps.
*'''{{w|Friendster}}''' - One of the first major social networks, it has fallen way off in usage in recent years and was eclipsed by MySpace. It is still popular in Asia.
*'''{{w|VK (social networking website)|Vkontakte}}''' or VK, is the second largest social network service in Europe after Facebook. It is available in several languages, but particularly popular among Russian-speaking users around the world.
*'''{{w|Netlog}}''' is a Belgian social networking website specifically targeted at the global youth demographic.
*'''{{w|Mixi}}''' is an online Japanese social networking service.
*'''{{w|Qzone}}''' is a social networking website, which is big in China. According to a report published by Tencent, possibly surpassing other social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace in China.
*'''{{w|Tuenti}}''' is a Spain-based, social networking service, that has been referred to as the "Spanish Facebook."
*'''{{w|Cloob}}''' is a Persian-language social networking website, mainly popular in Iran. After the locally (and internationally) popular social networking website Orkut was blocked by the Iranian government, a series of local sites and networks, including Cloob, emerged to fill the gap.
*'''{{w|Kaixin001}}''' is a social networking website which ranks as the 13th most popular website in China and 67th overall.
*'''{{w|Piczo}}''' was a privately held blog website for teens. In November 2012, Piczo.com shut down.
*'''{{w|Odnoklassniki}}''' is a social network service for classmates and old friends. It is popular in Russia and former Soviet Republics.
*'''{{w|Adult FriendFinder}}''' is a pornographic dating site.
*'''{{w|Match.com}}''' is a dating site.
*'''{{w|Ok Cupid}}''' is another dating site.
*'''{{w|PlentyofFish}}''' is yet another dating site.
*'''{{w|Sulawesi}}''' is a real-life island in the Indonesian archipelago. It also appears in 256: Online Communities.

===MMO Isle===
MMO's (short form of "MMORPG", short form of "Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Player Game") are websites that host online games where multiple people take the role of a character and play in a setting hosted by the website. These types of games tend to be fantastical in setting. Frequently, missions are added to the game, giving current player more incentive towards playing more.

*'''[https://www.habbo.com/ Habbo Hotel]''' is a website where someone creates a human avatar an interacts in a virtual world that is not that different from the one in real life.
*'''[http://www.clubpenguin.com/ Club Penguin]''' is [http://disney.com/ Disney's] MMO where someone creates a penguin avatar and interacts with other in a more polar, cartoony setting. Club Penguin is aimed towards children.
*'''[http://maplestory.nexon.net/ Maple Story]''' is an MMO that has a more natural setting. The most distinguishing feature of Maple Story is its cartoony pixel art.
*'''[http://www.gamefaqs.com/ GameFAQs]''', while not an MMO, is a website that has the largest repository of walkthoughs, that is, guides that help someone beat a game. GameFAQs is notable for not only its large repository of walkthroughs of games that are across an extreme variety of consoles, handhelds, and even computers (not all of them MMOs), but also the drama that is rumoured to happen in the GameFAQs forums.
*'''[http://www.ign.com/ IGN]''' (full: '''Imagine Games Network'''), while also not an MMO, is the largest website that gives news on video games in general, not just MMOs. Each of the games mentioned in the site have pages that have summaries, reviews, screenshots, other art, videos, and links to news related to its games.
*'''[http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/index.shtml FFXI]''' (full: '''Final Fantasy XI''') is an MMO from SquareEnix, being the first MMO of the popular ''Final Fantasy'' series.
*'''[http://www.runescape.com/community Runescape]''' is an older MMO.
*'''[http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/ Starcraft II]''' is a realtime strategy game with a science fiction setting that heavily involves space travel. While technically not an MMO, it has a significant online multiplayer component.
*'''[http://us.battle.net/wow/en/ WoW]''' (full: '''World of Warcraft''') is the definitive MMO, being not only the most popular and one of the longest-running but also the most expansive (having its own spinoff games, comic books, novels, and even figurines), WOW giving the idea of how an MMO should be. A player can choose from a variety of races, each with its own heavy history.
*'''[http://secondlife.com/ Second Life]''' is similar to Habbo, albeit with a bigger suspension of disbelief (one example being that the player does not need to be a human) and in a 3D setting.
*'''[http://www.nationstates.net/ NationStates]''' is a text-based political simulation game. Notably, some of its traffic comes not from the actual game (which is optional), but the extensive set of political, roleplaying, and general forums attached.
*'''[http://www.urbandead.com/ Urban Dead]''' describes itself as "A Massively Multi-Player Web-Based Zombie Apocalypse", which sums it up pretty well.
*'''[http://www.kingdomofloathing.com KoL]''' (full: '''Kingdom of Loathing''') is a comedic browser-based MMO-ish RPG with minimalistic stick-figure art.
*'''{{w|CDC Games}}''' is a Chinese company reputed to be the largest MMORPG distributor.
*'''{{w|Eve Online|EVE Online}}''' is a science fiction MMO which is notable because of its virtual economy.
*'''{{w|Gaia Online|Gaia}}''' or Gaia Online, while not an MMO, is a forum oriented towards pop culture, including video games and Japanese media. Its most notable feature is the heavy customization possible of a member's pixel-art avatar. Its members tend to roleplay a lot, albeit in a more written, story-based form. Gaia has gained a reputation with its members stealing art and causing drama.
*'''{{w|City of Heroes|CoH}}''' or City of Heroes was a superhero-based MMORPG that was shut down November 2012.

Other notable regions include:
*The '''Mountains of Steam''', referring to the game distribution service [http://store.steampowered.com/ Steam] where people could buy and download video games in general, not just MMOs.
*'''River Grind''' refers to "grinding." In most MMOs, the character is a fighter of some sorts, yet starts at a level 1, signifying the character's aptitude level in combat. The character can level up and gain more aptitude levels through earning experience, of which the most reliable and otherwise common way is the process of "grinding," that is, repeatedly fighting opposing monsters (sometimes of a level notably lower that your character's), gaining experience points from winning these battles until your character gains a level, that is, "levels up". While a practical necessity in strengthening the character, this process can be tiresome, hence the expression "grinding."
*'''Spawn Camp''' refers to "spawn points", the places in combat-oriented MMO's tend to produce ("spawn") random AI-powered creatures, and the act of "spawn camping", in which the player character simply stands behind or around the spawn points to fight the enemy creatures as soon as they appear.
*'''Gulf of Lag''' refers to how the MMO can be slowed down a considerable amount due to the large amount of players simultaneously using the same server, this congestion bogging down the server and frustrating the users.
*'''[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/final-boss-of-the-internet End Guy for the Internet]''' refers to "end bosses," the last — and usually hardest to defeat — "bad guy" in a game (or a section of a game).

===YouTube Region===
The YouTube region refers to websites that are based on user-created content.

'''[https://www.youtube.com/ YouTube]''' is the definitive video website where people can upload videos with the purpose of public viewing, ranging from home movies through official music videos through Let's Plays of people playing video games to questionably-legal uploads of cartoons and films. Google had purchased YouTube.

Many of the sites on the map are just references to {{w|viral video}}s at {{w|YouTube}}:
*'''Viral Shores''' refers to how viral videos (whether they be viral marketing or simply memes) tend to proliferate on YouTube.
*'''Britney''' likely refers to pop singer {{w|Britney Spears}} and the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc‎ "Leave Britney Alone" guy].
*'''Maru Gulf''' refers to Maru the Cat, a YouTube celebrity [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/676:_Abstraction also mentioned in xkcd].
*'''Prairie Dog Habitat''' likely refers to the viral video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw Dramatic Chipmunk] (which is actually a Prairie Dog).
*'''Rick Rolling Hills''' references, well, {{w|Rickrolling}}. More information [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ here]. The "deserted" note likely refers to how Rick Astley himself is tired of the meme, or again, how people tend to leave the video upon getting "Rick Roll'd," never actually going to the video with the express purpose of viewing the video.
*'''Lunar Landing Soundstage''' is, of course, a reference to the {{w|Moon landing conspiracy theories}}, which Randall has railed on before.
*'''{{w|OK Go}} Bay''' refers to the band "OK Go" who have multiple viral music videos on YouTube, most famously [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA "Here it goes again"] featuring treadmills.

The '''HTML5 swamp''' refers to the spotty support of HTML 5 (an update on HTML that is frequently touting its media capabilities, making HTML 5 a viable alternative to Flash) YouTube has. Of course, by the time the comic was written, HTML 5 was still in its infancy. The Music Video Bay refers to the amount of music videos (official or otherwise) are present in YouTube.

Other counties of the YouTube region include:
*'''[https://vimeo.com/ vimeo]''', a website where people tend to showcase artistic content that they made on their own, notably independent studios.

Snob Sound:
*'''[https://secure.flickr.com/ Flickr]''', a website where people can upload and share photographs they took.
*'''[http://fotolog.com Fotolog]''', a photo website very popular in South America in 2004-2008, which was used as a social network.
*'''[http://www.last.fm/ Last.fm]''', a music website that is notable of its "scrobbling" feature.
*'''[http://www.deviantart.com/ deviantArt]''', the largest art website, where people can upload, sell, and buy not only art itself, but also video, audio, Flash-work, and even skins (the original purpose of deviantArt). While many big-name/professional people and organizations have their works in deviantArt, the site is more infamous for the large amount of people who upload low-quality fan-art and fan-characters, most notably of media from Japan. Another point of infamy is the large amount of drama that can happen in the website.

*'''[https://www.newgrounds.com/ Newgrounds]''', a website that hosts art, (Flash-based) videos, audio, and (Flash-based) games to which other users can comment and rate. Even so, content from Newgrounds tends to be obscene, though there is a filtering system if a viewer does not wish to see obscene content.
*'''[http://www.chatroulette.com/ Chatroulette]''' is a website where people are randomly paired up with each other and video/text chat.
*'''{{w|Brickshelf}}''' is the online resource for {{w|LEGO}} fans.
*'''[https://tumblr.com/ Tumblr]''', where people could make a blog and post text, pictures, video, audio, quotes, and links. The most distinguishing feature is the ability to "reblog" these posts from other's people's blogs into the user's own blog. Notable features of Tumblr include sketchblogs (where people upload their sketches), Ask blogs (where people answer questions other users ask, the moderators of these blogs usually pretending to be a character from a form of media), and the large amount of "social justice" (where people fight against racism, sexism, and other forms of negative discrimination). (See also [[1043: Ablogalypse]].)
*'''{{w|b3ta}}''' is a popular British website, described as a "puerile digital arts community" by The Guardian.

The '''Isle of teenagers who just discovered macroeconomics''' is a joke about how teenagers tend to think that the world and the economy are a lot simpler than they actually are. Combined with the typical internet mindset, this leads to a lot of teenagers posting blogs and videos and comments on blogs and videos describing how idiotic the government and other red-tape-related adults are.
The '''Snob Sound''' could refer to the large amount of people who look down on others in the surrounding websites (one example being an original artist looking down on people who draw mainly fan-art). '''The Iraq''' is a reference to Miss Teen USA 2007, Ms. Teen South Carolina - Lauren Katlin said "I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as...the US should help the US and should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the asian countries so we are able to build up our future." The usage of "the iraq" became a meme.

===Twitter Region===
*'''Bieber Bay''' is a reference to {{w|Justin Bieber}} a pop singer whose singing sprouted on YouTube and became very popular on Twitter and other social media. He is very much vilified because of his rather feminine appearance and his hordes of fans (called "Beliebers") that seem to support him to ridiculous extents. Lately, though, Justin Beiber has taken a "bad boy" attitude because of all the Beliebers who are willing to defend him no matter what, him partaking in a lot of questionable activities that include tattoos, questionably-legal substances, and buying prostitution, thus lowering his popularity in the general populace.
*'''{{w|Google Buzz}}''' is a former social network attempted by Google. It has since been shut down.
*'''Bit.Ly Mountains''' is a reference to the URL shortening service {{w|bit.ly}}.
*'''Kanye's Isle of Sadness''' is a reference to the musician {{w|Kanye West}}, whose Twitter, at the time, was [http://www.buzzfeed.com/mlew15/25-of-kanye-wests-most-thought-provoking-tweets-h0se famously introspective and stream-of-consciousness].
*'''Sarah Palin USA''' is the Twitter handle of former politician {{w|Sarah Palin}}.
*'''Clueless Politician Coast''' is a reference to the number of politicians on Twitter and other social networks who repeatedly share clueless updates that more often create an uproar than help their election chances.
*'''Desert of Food Updates''' is a reference to the number of pictures of food that are shared on social media (especially Twitter). There has even been some controversy on posting such pictures.
*'''Journalists Trying to Find the Cutting Edge''' is referencing journalists on Twitter trying to keep up with the way that news is gathered and delivered now, despite usually working for a newspaper that publishes once a day.
*'''{{w|SHAQ}}''' is a reference to the former NBA basketball player, {{w|Shaq}}.
*'''{{w|identi.ca}}''' is an open source social networking and micro-blogging service, being an alternative to Twitter.
*''' Breaking! Waves''' is a pun on the fact that so many people used the word "Breaking" at the beginning of tweets that do not warrant that tag that the word has lost most of its meaning and become a joke. It is a pun because waves "break" on the shore.
*'''Web 3.0''' refers to the unofficial term {{w|Web 2.0}}. In this case, "Web 1.0" refers to websites that give information to users. Web 2.0 refers to websites where the users themselves create content. Web 3.0 has sometimes been used as a term. For {{w|semantic web}}, a machine-readable version of the web, but this usage is far from universal.
*'''Hashtag games whose popularity confuses and depresses you''' refers to the game where a user posts something under a particular hashtag and others respond with their own ideas, all tagged under the same phrase. This has been very popular for no clear reason, as Randall notes.

===Geotagged Bay===
*'''{{w|Yelp}}''' is a website where people post reviews of real-life public locations (one example being restaurants).
*'''{{w|Geocaching}}''' is a worldwide GPS scavenger hunt where users upload positions of caches and others will find them and log it online.
*'''{{w|Foursquare}}''' is a location-based social network.
*'''Latitude''' refers to {{w|Google Latitude}}.

===Troll Bay and the Sea of Memes===
*'''{{w|Reddit}}''' is the self-described "front page of the Internet" in which users submit stories, photos and videos and the best are "up-voted" to the top of the page.
*'''{{w|Help:Using talk pages|Wikipedia Talk Pages}}''' refer to the pages where Wikipedia editors discuss how to improve articles.
*'''{{w|Wikia}}''' is a 3rd party wiki software, used in the making of the user-editable encyclopedias of just about any subject matter.
*'''{{w|StumbleUpon}}''' is a website-sharing service.
*'''{{w|Delicious (website)|Delicious}}''' is a bookmarking and bookmark-sharing service.
*'''{{w|Digg}}''' is a former competitor to Reddit in the social-news sphere, but now has been sold and restarted as an aggregator of news stories.
*'''{{w|Slashdot}}''', labeled "/." on the map, is a technical news site.
*'''{{w|Fark}}''' is a community website that allows members to comment on news articles from other sites.
*'''{{w|YTMND}}''' is an acronym for "You're The Man Now, Dog!" It's also a community in which users can create meme-type nonsense by playing music over an image (either static or animated).

===Skype Region===
The Skype Region refers to different IM, or Instant Messaging services, that enable almost-real-time text chatting between multiple people. These often allow services like voice chat and even video calls.

*'''{{w|Skype}}''' is, according to Randall, the most popular of these among the internet. It has many features to allow peer-to-peer voice chats, as well as allowing calls to be made at a price to actual phones.
*'''{{w|AIM}}''' or AOL Instant Messenger is a chat client created by AOL.
*'''GG''' is {{w|Gadu-Gadu}} and instant messenger client popular in Poland.
*'''{{w|Yahoo Messenger}}''' is an instant messenger client by Yahoo.
*'''{{w|Google Talk}}''' is a voice/video chatting service from Google (that Google has been replacing with Hangouts). Google Talk also has an invasion fleet at its shores.
*'''{{w|ICQ}}''' is an older messaging service, albeit with an 18+ requirement (despite pornography not being the point of ICQ).
*'''{{w|Windows Live Messenger}}''', or "MSN", was the messaging service of Microsoft before Microsoft bought Skype. MSN was useful in that people could draw and send pictures to other chatters.
*'''{{w|UseNet}}''' was one of the original ways to communicate on the internet, though people can download (copyrighted) files through the service. Since it is still in use by some, it gets the tag "Still Around!" on the map.
*'''{{w|IRC}} Isles''' refers to the ancestor of Internet-powered chatting. People would have connected to a server and spoke publicly. IRC is still in use (per 2014, notably in getting help from users4. One of those isles is #xkcd which is an IRC community around [[xkcd]].

===Bay of Drama===
*'''{{w|FanFiction.net}}''' is a website where people can submit their fanfiction (stories by fans written about other peoples' media, normally that about popular media). The website tend to have people that are not helpful to those who legitimately want critique of their own stories.
*'''{{w|Xanga}}''' is a blogging service that, while popular at its time, lost out to...
*'''{{w|LiveJournal}}''' was the most popular blogging service before Tumblr.
*'''ONYD''' - Reference to {{w|Oh No You Didn't}}, which is explained in the Blogosphere region.
*'''{{w|Dreamwidth}}''' is a LiveJournal fork emphasizing its open-source nature.

===Blogosphere===
The Blogosphere region contains several general {{w|blog}} topics.
*'''{{w|photo blog|Photo Blogs}}''' are commonly used to chronicle the lives of the authors through photographs.
*'''Diary Blogs''' are another popular use of blogs (and, in fact, the original use) where authors write commentary about their lives.
*'''Bay of Grammar Pedantry''' deals with the fact that, whether due to a lack of proper education, a habit of using "chat-speak" in the text-limited SMS and MMS, or simply due to the (generally) more relaxed nature of the Internet, blog authors tend to write with horrible composition, a point of annoyment to a lot of other people due to the subsequent increased difficulty of reading the horribly-written material.
*'''Fandom Blogs''' are blogs created by a "{{w|fandom}}" which is a community of fans. A fandom blog deals with the subject matter of the respective fandom.
*'''Sea of Zero (0) Comments''' refers to blogs that get very little attention and therefore have no comments.
*'''SpamBlog Straits''' references spammers who use blogs to increase the number of links to their site to try to game search engines.
*'''OffTopic.com''' is a general interest forum that refers to itself as "the largest general discussion forum on the internet."
*Many more straightforward blogs, including:
**'''Writing/Poetry'''
**'''Gossip Blogs'''
**'''Political Blogs'''
**'''Music Blogs'''
**'''Tech Blogs'''
**'''Business Blogs'''
**'''Corporate Blogs'''
**'''Religious Blogs'''
**'''Miscellaneous Blogs'''
*'''Blog Blogs''' - These can refer to blogs that talk about the matter about blogging itself, though they can also refer to blogs which authors use in talking about blogging.

===Blogosphere (Core Region)===
Gossip Blogs:
Each blog below focuses on gossip surrounding celebrities and other well-known persons.
*'''{{w|Jezebel}}''' is a liberally feminist blog, hosted by Gawker.
*'''{{w|deadline.com|Deadline}}''' is an online entertainment news magazine.
*'''{{w|TMZ}}''' is a celebrity news website.
*'''{{w|Gawker}}''' is a blog that is the host of other blogs.
*'''LJ Oh No They Didn't''' - LiveJournal {{w|Oh No They Didn't}} - Oh No They Didn't, also known as ONTD, is the largest community on LiveJournal with over 100,000 members. The community focuses on celebrity gossip and pop culture with most of its posts aggregated from other gossip blogs.
*'''Doucheblog''' refers to blogs that were once insightful but that spiraled into long rants due to relationship changes of their authors.
*'''Isle of Mockery''' is a reference to the fact that some of what these blogs do is mock celebrities or other for doing or saying stupid things on camera.

Liberal Blogs:
Each blog below focuses on American political news with a "liberal" or "progressive" slant. These blogs tend to lean for the Democratic party.
*'''{{w|Huffington Post}}''' is a news blog.
*'''{{w|Paul Krugman}}''' is an American economist who considers himself a liberal.
*'''{{w|Daily Beast}}''' is a news and opinion website focusing on politics and pop culture.
*'''{{w|Talking Points Memo|TPM}}''' is a political journal run by Josh Marshall.
*'''{{w|Ezra Klein}}''' used to have his own site at the Washington Post, but is now the editor of [Vox.com].
*'''{{w|Think Progress}}''' is a political news blog.
*'''{{w|Daily Kos|Kos}}''' is another political blog.

Bay of Flame:
*'''{{w|Politics Daily}}''' is a political journalism website launched by AOL.
*'''CNN Political Ticker''' is CNN's political blog.
*'''{{w|Mediaite}}''' is a news and opinion blog covering politics and entertainment in the media.
*'''{{w|NY Times}}''' is one of the most famous newspapers, thus the comparatively large size of its island.
*'''{{w|The Talk}}''' is a talk show on CBS that discusses the latest headlines "through the eyes of mothers."
*Libertarian Isle (shaped like a {{w|Nolan Chart}})

Conservative Blogs:
Each blog below focuses on American political news with a "conservative" or Republican slant.
*'''{{w|Pajamas Media}}''' is a media company and operator of conservative news.
*'''{{w|Michelle Malkin}}''' is a conservative blogger, political commentator, and author.
*'''{{w|Hot Air}}''' is a news blog founded by Michelle Malkin.
*'''{{w|RedState|Red State}}''' is a political blog.
*'''{{w|American Thinker}}''' is a daily online magazine focused on politics.
*'''{{w|Townhall}}''' is a web publication and print magazine.

Tech Blogs:
*'''{{w|Boy Genius Report}}''' is a weblog that focuses on technology and consumer gadgets.
*'''{{w|Gizmodo}}''' is a news and opinion blog, hosted by Gawker, that talks about life's more technological matters.
*'''{{w|Engadget}}''' is another technology-oriented, albeit independent, blog.
*'''Crunchgear''' is a blog that reviews gadgets and other hardware.
*'''{{w|Techcrunch}}''' is an online publisher of technology industry news.
*'''{{w|Joystiq}}''' is a news and opinion blog that focuses on gaming.
*'''{{w|Kotaku}}''' is another gaming-oriented news/opinion blog, the main difference beig that Kotaku is owned by Gawker.

Assorted:
*'''{{w|BoingBoing}}''' is "i blog about wonderful things", the topics being quite random.
*'''{{w|Lifehacker}}''' is another Gawker blog, is a blog that teaches people how to simplify their lives through 'lifehacking', that is, using their resources in creative wayss. While the subject matter is life in general, there is a significant technological slant.
*'''{{w|Deadspin}}''' is a sports and sports gossip blog founded by Will Leitch.
*'''Meatorama''' is a blog that talks about cooking meat.

===QQ Region===
*'''Baidu Baike''' (「百度百科」, "Baidu Encyclopedia") and '''Hudong''' (「互动百科」, "Interactive Encyclopedia" ) are two Chinese online encyclopedias. Baidu Baike is powered by the same company as Baidu, the search engine popular in China.
* The '''Ma Le Ge Bi''' and the '''Grass Mud Horse Bay''' could refer to the {{w|Baidu 10 Mythical Creatures}}.
* The '''Location of Jia Junpeng''' refers to the Internet meme of {{w|Jia Junpeng}} in 2009 in China.
*'''{{w|Tencent QQ}}''' is a Chinese instant messaging program.
*In English communities "QQ" has several more common definitions:
**An {{w|emoticon}}, representing a face with two large, crying eyes.
**A synonym for "rage quit", in which a video game player quits the game out of sheer frustration. It originated in ''Warcraft II'' multiplayer, where pressing Ctrl+Q+Q would quit the game, and became more widely known in ''World of Warcraft''.
**These definitions are commonly combined, usually to mock the "rage quitter".
*The Gulf of China refers to how sites in the region are based in People's Republic of China ("Red China"). The '''Great Firewall''' refers to {{w|The Great Firewall of China}}, a pun on {{w|The Great Wall of China}}. Similar to how The Great Wall of China was meant to keep intruding nations out of the then-capital of the city, The Great Firewall of China is meant to keep visitors from visiting censored websites. However, either a VPN or remote access to a computer in a "freer" country can circumvent the Firewall. Oddly other Chinese websites (Qzone, Renren etc.) are not enclosed in this zone.

===Forums Islands===
Forums are websites where one person post a topic to which other people can discuss.

While the map has a zoomed in version, this article shall discuss the two bigger islands, first.

*'''[http://www.2ch.net 2channel]''' is a Japanese imageboard that was actually the original inspiration for 4chan.
*'''[http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites Craigslist]''' is a classified advertisement website with sections devoted to just about everything... which formerly included prostitution services, hence the '''The Former Site of Adult Services'''.

In the zoomed-in map, there is...
*'''[https://www.4chan.org/ 4chan.org]''' is an {{w|imageboard}} in which people can upload pictures while others comment on them. The website is infamous for its loose/often non-existent rules, incredibly vulgar userbase, source of new memes, and spawning of trolls. 4chan's random board, known internally as '''/b/''', is almost constantly flooded with porn and image macros. This is why Randall's incarnation of 4chan is shaped like a penis.
*'''420chan''' and '''7chan''', other imageboards in the style of 4chan. Their relative lack of popularity and derivative nature leads a lot of 4chan users to mock them; hence, their position on Randall's map suggests that they're mere wads of semen.
*'''Encyclopedia Dramatica''', labeled '''ED''' on the map, is a wiki site dedicated to chronicling internet memes and other noteworthy sites, events, people, and anything else that catches their attention, their respective articles written in an incredibly arbitrary and vulgar manner. The site is ''heavily'' steeped in the attitude of veteran, vulgar 4chan users. People who have articles in the website tend to react with despair, given not only the cruelty in which the articles talk about the person in question, but the presence of the article means that the person is now an eternal target from the trolls. The user is not in a position of retaliation, since the userbase of Encyclopedia Dramatica and 4chan tends to overpower the victim easily...
:...usually. Due to the founder's talk against the Australian Aboriginals (the founder is Australian), legal action has gone against the founder to the point of the founder having to shut down Encyclopedia Dramatica, founding the far tamer website Oh, Internet! (which is now shut down), instead. Trolls responded by not only uploading their own mirror of the website but also vilifying the former founder forever.
*'''Tunnel to Habbo''' is a reference to [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pools-closed the 2006 Habbo Hotel Raids], in which hundreds of 4chan Anons simultaneously logged onto Habbo Hotel and proceeded to be as obnoxious as possible, standing in formations of swastikas and penises or body-blocking the swimming pools.
*'''{{w|Catbus}} Route''' is likely a reference to {{w|Lolcat}}s in general.
*'''[http://www.ebaumsworld.com/ eBaum's World]''' is a media-hosting website founded by Eric Bauman. The site has lost a lot of traffic after (quite valid) accusations of stolen content.
*The gulf labelled '''{{w|Anonymous (group)|Anonymous}}''' is a reference to the trolls that label themselves "Anonymous" who recently had gained national acknowledgement because of the group's real-life tirades, including cracking attacks against the Church of Scientology and the founding of WikiLeaks (a website that leaks confidential material related to governments).
*[http://www.somethingawful.com/ SomethingAwful] is a website that is meant to showcase all things "awful". SomethingAwful also has a large trollbase, but they tend to be more honorable than the ones from Encyclopedia Dramatica and 4chan. One example is there being a spotty holding of the no-furries rule in the forums. The forums themselves are famous because of the holding of the Let's Plays of [http://lparchive.org/Dangan-Ronpa/ Dangan Ronpa] and [http://danganronpa2mirror.tumblr.com/ Super Dangan Ronpa 2], which had cooked up public interest to the point of there being an English-language release of the games.
Please note that, due to these Let's Plays being in a forums that frequently hides behind a "paywall" that requires a paid account before accessing, the links provided go to their mirrors.

==Transcript==
:'''Map of Online Communities'''
:Size on map represents volume of Daily Social activity (posts, chat, etc). Based on data gathered over the Spring and Summer of 2010.

:[Two insets on the upper left-hand corner shows that this map is a tiny portion of the huge continent of Spoken Language, encompassing portions of the Internet, Email, and Cell Phones (SMS).]

:[The largest landmass on the map by far, which takes up nearly the entire northern half of the map is "Facebook" - with large states in the south-east of the country labeled 'Farmville' and 'Happy Farm'. There is a much smaller state to the west of these called 'Farm Town'. To the north of these states is a large swath of unremarkable land entitled 'Northern Wasteland of Unread Updates.' This is directly north of the large Dopamine Sea.

:A peninsula on the south-west, just below the Plains of Awkwardly Public Family Interactions, houses many tiny states, such as MySpace, Orkut, LinkedIn, Bebo, & Hi5. It is bordered on the south by Buzzword Bay, which contains several islands of varying sizes. Among these are YouTube and Twitter (the largest), which are separated by the Social Media Consultant Channel. To the south-east of Twitter, across the Sea of Protocol Confusion, is another, equally large island. Most of it is Skype, with the north having two largish states called AIM and Windows Live Messenger. On the south-west part of the island are two smaller states called GG and Yahoo Messenger.

:The Island of Skype is extremely close to, but separated by the Great Firewall (a dashed line), the large landmass of QQ. It's north shore is the Gulf of China and Grass Mud Horse Bay. Outside of these bays, over the Great Firewall are two islands called Craigslist and 2Channel.

:In the Dopamine Sea, off the southern shores of Farmville and Happy Farm, is MMO Isle. Its largest state is WoW, with Runescape, Lineage, Maple Story, Habbo, and the Mountains of Steam among its notable landmarks. To the southeast of the island is the Gulf of Lag, in which sits the CDC Games island, with Eve Online.

:To the east of Twitter is Troll Bay, with such islands as Reddit and Reddit, Digg, Stumbleupon, Delicio.us, and Wikipedia Talk Pages. To their south are the IRC isles, of which one is the tiny island of #xkcd.

:East of these islands, and north of Skype island, is the Sea of Memes. In this sea, to the north of Craigslist and 2Channel, is an archipelago of tiny islands. There is an inset, labeled 'Forums.' (See below.)

:To the southwest of Twitter island, in the Sea of Opinions, are the blog islands. These lie south of the islands in Buzzword Bay, as well. The northernmost islands in this group are centered around the Bay of Drama, on which can be found Diary Blogs, Gossip Blogs, and Livejournal. Gossip Blogs share an island with Political, Music, and Tech Blogs. To the north of this island is a smaller island called Photo Blogs. South of Diary Blogs, and off the southwest coast of Music blogs is a smaller island called Fandom Blogs. South of Tech Blogs, off of which sprouts the small peninsula of Business Blogs, is the Spamblog Straits. On the other side of the straits is a large island made up of Miscellaneous Blogs, with two states demarcated as Religious Blogs and Blog Blogs. Southwest of the Blog Islands is the Sea of Zero (0) Comments.]

:[An inset of a group of islands in the sea of memes located on the lower right corner of the map, labeled 'Forums'. The largest by far is 4chan and /b/. Also found here are D2JSP, JLA Frums, Fan Forum, Something Awful, and many smaller ones, too numerous to list here.]

:[The northeastern third of Gossip/Political/Tech Blogs island is another inset labeled 'Blogosphere (Core)'. This can be found on the lower left corner of the map. Two peninsulas in Political Blogs bookend the Bay of Flame -- these are Liberal Blogs and Conservative Blogs. Between them lie several tiny islands such as Politics Daily, CNN Politcal Ticker, and Mediaite. Off the coast of Liberal Blogs lies the island of NYTimes, off the coast of Conservative Blogs is Libertarian Isle. Between the two lies The Talk. The northern peninsula of Tech Blogs contains places such as Gizmodo, Engadget, Joystiq, and Kotaku.]

:[Text found between the two insets, which are directly below the main map.]
:ABOUT THIS MAP
:Communities rise and fall, and total membership numbers are no longer a good measure of a community's current size and health. This updated map uses size to represent total social activity in a community -- that is, how much talking, playing, sharing, or other socializing happens there. This meant some comparing of apples and oranges, but I did my best and tried to be consistent.

:Estimates are based on the numbers I could find, but involved a great deal of guesswork, statistical inference, random sampling, nonrandom sampling, a 20,000-cell spreadsheet, emailing, cajoling, tea-leaf reading, goat sacrifices, and gut instinct (i.e. making things up).

:Sources of data include Google and Bing, Wikipedia, Alexa, Big-Boards.com, StumbleUpon, Wordpress, Akismet, every website statistics page I could find, press releases, news articles, and individual site employees. Thanks in particular to folks at Last.fm, LiveJournal, Reddit, and the New York Times, as well as sysadmins at a number of sites who shared statistics on condition of anonymity.

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