explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

705: Devotion to Duty

2019-08-21T18:01:18Z

162.158.58.169: /* Trivia */ add category

{{comic
| number = 705
| date = February 22, 2010
| title = Devotion to Duty
| image = devotion_to_duty.png
| titletext = The weird sense of duty really good sysadmins have can border on the sociopathic, but it's nice to know that it stands between the forces of darkness and your cat blog's servers.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, we see a man talking on a phone. We are unsure of his aims (terrorism, robbery, etc.) but he has taken hostages and cut all links to the outside world, in order to control the situation and prevent the police from observing the interior of the building (as popularly depicted in film and television). Initially the villains seem to have everything under their control, but then the hostage-taker explains on the phone that someone has entered the building, climbed the air vents to bypass their cordon, effortlessly killing other hostage-takers (who are likely hardened killers with weaponry) on his way to the server room and then ignored the hostages, preferring instead to reconnect the servers to the outside world. The hostage-taker is evidently puzzled by this and explains it to the person on the other end of the phone, who immediately recognizes the reason: the man that entered the building is a sysadmin (short for {{w|System administrator}}), and he is concerned that his servers are losing uptime (time spent running or connected to the internet). This evidently concerns the man on the phone, who knows that a good sysadmin is an unstoppable force once started!

This comic is a reference to one of two things (or both): the Hollywood depiction of heroes able to perform superhuman feats in tricky situations (such as John McClane in ''{{w|Die Hard}}'', which the first two panels are a deliberate reference to), or the duty that people impose upon themselves to go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that they carry out their work (in this case a dutiful sysadmin, concerned for those trying to use his server).

The title text is a simple joke to the fact that the sysadmin will crawl through broken glass and defeat criminals/terrorists (forces of darkness) just so a cat blog (where owners write about their cats) can stay up. This creates a humourous contrast between the seriousness with which large websites treat issues like uptime and business continuity, and the often mundane and banal uses people actually have for them.

A sysadmin is also mentioned in the title text of [[309: Shopping Teams]].

==Transcript==
:[Bearded criminal is holding a pistol and talking on a mobile phone.]
:Criminal: We took the hostages, secured the building and cut the communication lines like you said.
:Phone: Excellent.

:[Still talking on the phone, waving gun around in the air animatedly.]
:Criminal: But then this guy climbed up the ventilation ducts and walked across broken glass, killing anyone we sent to stop him.

:Phone: And he rescued the hostages?

:[Criminal looking confused and defeated, shoulders hunched and pistol hanging limply at his side.]
:Criminal: No, he ignored them. He just reconnected the cables we cut, muttering something about "uptime".
:Phone: Shit, we're dealing with a ''sysadmin''.

==Trivia==
This comic was made into [http://store.xkcd.com/collections/apparel/products/sysadmin a shirt] in the xkcd store, which includes a new illustration on the back.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Computers]]

1480: Super Bowl

2019-08-21T08:53:00Z

162.158.58.169: /* Trivia */ add category

{{comic
| number = 1480
| date = January 30, 2015
| title = Super Bowl
| image = super_bowl.png
| titletext = My hobby: Pretending to miss the sarcasm when people show off their lack of interest in football by talking about 'sportsball' and acting excited to find someone else who's interested, then acting confused when they try to clarify.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Cueball]], representing [[Randall]], explains that even though he does not care about sports and is tempted to be scornful about others' obsession with them, he understands that people feel vulnerable about stuff they care about. And he will for sure be fed up with all the talk about the {{w|Super Bowl}} discussions and arguments over the coming weeks. (The comic was released on a Friday two days before {{w|Super Bowl XLIX}}, the final of the 2014 {{w|NFL}} season held on 2015-02-01).

However, since other people tolerate his interest in odd things like {{w|meteorology}} and the {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|''Philae'' lander}} (see [[1324: Weather]] and [[1446: Landing]]), he recognizes that he should show the same consideration to them. This is an invocation of the {{w|Golden Rule}}, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

In the last frame, he tells us that instead of celebrating the sports event on Sunday, he will be celebrating friendship (through listening to his friends) and, as a side note, snacking (as they are very frequently brought to Super Bowl-watching events). This suggests that the value of friendship trumps the discomfort of watching human activities that seem uninteresting to him – and of course, the free snacks also help ameliorate his discomfort.

The title text continues the "[[My Hobby]]" trope characteristic of some ''xkcd'' comics: here, Randall references people who scornfully refer to popular sports such as football, basketball, and/or baseball as "sportsball" and creates discomfort for them by pretending to be interested in this imaginary sport. This makes it appear as though they are in fact interested in sports when they are not, exposing their snobbishness. (It is worth noting that there is [https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/aWTjaTaTib5jIi7ZoHC9yzrx8xk4RSIo a Wii U game by that name].)

In a distant past, Cueball spent his time differently during the Super Bowl - see [[60: Super Bowl]]. (This was the second time that two xkcd comics have shared the [[:Category:Comics sharing name|exact same name]]). The year after he continued the trend with a Super Bowl related comic to "celebrate" the event: [[1640: Super Bowl Context]]. Between the 2006 comic and this one there were no other Super Bowl related comics coming out in relation to the Super Bowl final.

See also [[1107: Sports Cheat Sheet]] and two other comics where he jokes with sport in general: [[904: Sports]] and [[1507: Metaball]]. He again directly mentions lack of knowledge in [[1859: Sports Knowledge]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball standing.]
:Cueball: I don't know much about sports, which can be culturally isolating, so it's tempting to get vocal and defensive about not following them.
:Cueball: Caring about something makes people vulnerable, so ''not'' caring gives you power.

:[Pictures of a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_map weather map] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philae_(spacecraft) ''Philae'' spacecraft] in the background.]
:But I know things I'm into don't always sound interesting to 100% of the people around me, and it means a lot when they sometimes try to listen anyway - and maybe even find themselves sharing some of my excitement!

:[Cueball pointing to self.]
:Cueball: So while everyone is going on about the Super Bowl on Sunday, let me tell you what ''I'll'' be doing:

:[Cueball standing again.]
:Cueball: Listening!
:Cueball: Hooray for friendship!
:Cueball: <small>Also, eating snacks.</small>
:Cueball: <small>Hooray for snacks!</small>

== Trivia ==
This comic shares title with [[60: Super Bowl]], published February 6, 2006. This appears to be [[:Category:Disambiguation pages|only the second time]] that two ''xkcd'' comics have borne the same name. The first was [[786: Exoplanets]], published August 30, 2010, and [[1071: Exoplanets]], published June 20, 2012.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:American football]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Super Bowl 2]]

1673: Timeline of Bicycle Design

2019-08-21T08:42:59Z

162.158.58.169: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 1673
| date = April 27, 2016
| title = Timeline of Bicycle Design
| image = timeline of bicycle design.png
| titletext = I'll be honest--the 1950s were a rough time for cycling.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Randall]] created what is supposedly a 200 year history for bicycles with 13 designs ranging from 1810 to 2016. However, a cursory glance at each one shows that they are almost all fictitious, heavily flawed, and most don't even fit the definition of "bicycle". The main point of the comic is to show off these silly joke designs.

The only model that both looks like a real model and fits the year is the 1875 model, which resembles the {{w|Penny-farthing}}. The Penny-farthing was popular in the 1870s until the {{w|Safety bicycle}} took over around 1880. The 1875 model appears to be missing handlebars, but it's worth noting that on the real bicycle, the handlebars were very small and close to the saddle, and may be too small to appear in the drawing.

The 1860 model looks like the {{w|American Star Bicycle}}, but that bicycle was first invented in the 1880s.

The 1900 model looks like one of {{w|Paul Scheerbart}} 's perpetual motion machines.

Some of the other examples of "bikes" could, however, look like those in the image at the top of the {{w|Velocipede}} Wikipedia page.

Several of the "bikes" are shown with a human — [[Ponytail]] is "riding" the pole-vaulting bike, [[Cueball]] appears in four designs, and [[Megan]] appears in three. These humans provide a sense of scale and, in some cases, a demonstration of how the bike might be operated. Cueball's appearance in the 1900 design shows how huge that bike is, appearing to dwarf the previous two models while continuing the short trend of ever-increasing size.

Only two of the bikes have pedals (1875 and 2016) and another two have a sprocket with a chain (1900 and 1980). Seven designs include a seat for the rider — eight if you count the device holding Megan in the 1980 model.

The 1925 model is reminiscent of a {{w|fractal}}; {{w|Benoit Mandelbrot}} was born in October 1924.

The 1880 model could be the result of an {{w|evolutionary algorithm}} trying to produce a bicycle. Some sub-optimal algorithms that have been given the task of creating a vehicle have been shown to misplace parts in ways that makes them completely useless and/or inaccessible — for example, placing a small wheel inside a much larger wheel.

This comic (especially the 2016 bicycle) is possibly also a reference to [https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/~rlawson/cycleweb.html The Science of Cycology], a cognitive psychology project run by Rebecca Lawson at the University of Liverpool, which asked study participants to draw a bicycle from memory. The error rate was high, supporting a hypothesis that humans over-estimate their ability to explain how things work. Gianluca Gimini ran a similar project, [http://www.gianlucagimini.it/prototypes/velocipedia.html Velocipedia], in which he asked people to draw free-hand sketches of bicycles from memory, then later rendered some of the results as if they were real bikes.

Also, the designs given for the years from 1825 to 1925 distinctly resemble designs that tend to evolve in the various challenge environments in the genetic evolution games [http://boxcar2d.com/ BoxCar2D] ({{w|Flash Player}}) or [http://rednuht.org/genetic_cars_2/ Genetic Cars 2] ({{w|HTML5}}).

The 1980 design looks strikingly similar to the ''South Park'' "wild whacky action bike".

The title text refers to the scene labeled "1955" which depicts Cueball being chased by 3 bicycle wheels. Whatever caused the wheels to chase Cueball down a hill is left to the reader's imagination. It could be that the wheels have become sentient and are actively chasing Cueball, or it could be that the bicycle failed horribly and Cueball is running from the wreckage. The era this "bike design" is from (1955, which is in the 50s) would be hard to ride a bike in if it was the only available design.

===Bike Design Analysis===
{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="4" style="border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
! width="4%" | Year
! width="21%" | Image
! width="35%" | Description
! width="15%" | Similar to
! width="25%" | What's wrong with it?
|-
| 1810
| [[File:1673-_1810.png|310px]]
| A single wheel with a long curved bar. Ponytail is riding it like a pole vault.
| {{w|Unicycle}}, {{w|Pole vault}}
| There is no means to propel it once started, since the rider is held off the ground. It would be very difficult to balance on this device as well.
|-
| 1825
| [[File:1673-_1825.png|310px]]
| A large wheel connected to a tiny one, with a complex bar leading to a set of handlebars. Cueball is pushing it from behind.
| {{w|Wheelbarrow}}
| This bike has no seat and no means of propulsion other than being pushed from behind, defeating its purpose as a vehicle.
|-
| 1840
| [[File:1673-_1840.png|310px]]
| Two wheels connected by a single horizontal bar.
| {{w|Skateboard}}
| No means of propulsion or steering. Design is bottom-heavy, making it very difficult to keep balance.
|-
| 1860
| [[File:1673-_1860.png|310px]]
| A large wheel in back and a small wheel in front, connected to a large seat on top. Megan is sitting on the seat doing nothing.
| {{w|Pennyfarthing}} (backwards),American Star bicycle
| No means of propulsion or steering.
|-
| 1875
| [[File:1673-_1875.png|310px]]
| A large wheel in front with pedals attached, connected by a nearly-vertical rod to a small seat on top. A curved rod connects the seat to a much smaller wheel.
| Pennyfarthing (almost exact match)
| No handlebars are depicted, suggesting that there is no means of steering.
|-
| 1880
| [[File:1673-_1880.png|310px]]
| A very large wheel, connected by a short rod to a much smaller wheel and a seat. These hang from the axle at an odd angle.
| Unicycle (vague)
| The seat and small wheel appear to hang inside or next to the large wheel. A rider could not sit on the seat and would be unable to touch the ground, making it impossible to propel or control the bike.
|-
| 1900
| [[File:1673-_1900.png|310px]]
| An extremely large wheel, connected by a chain to a roughly human-sized wheel on top. Cueball may be standing on it, but it's unclear what he's doing. He appears to be pushing a giant ball or a very big globe.
| Unicycle
| No means of steering, unclear means of propulsion. It would be very difficult to mount this device, to get it moving with human power, and to control and stop it. Additionally, it would require many resources to build and a building several stories tall to store it.
|-
| 1915
| [[File:1673-_1915.png|310px]]
| A large wheel connected by an angled rod to a seat. The seat is connected by a nearly-vertical rod to an extremely small wheel behind the large one. Cueball is sitting on the seat, leaning far forward and apparently turning the large wheel by hand.
| Pennyfarthing, {{w|Wheelchair}}
| No apparent means of steering. Propulsion appears to be by hand, similar to a manual wheelchair, making the device both impractical and uncomfortable.
|-
| 1925
| [[File:1673-_1925.png|310px]]
| A symmetric seat sits atop a vertical rod connected to a wheel. From the center of this wheel, the frame extends out both front and back toward the ground, with progressively smaller wheels attached in a fractal design. It appears that only the wheels at the very ends of the rods touch the ground.
| Unicycle, {{w|Fractal}}, Holman Locomotive
| No means of propulsion or steering other than pushing against the ground. Only the tiniest wheels touch the ground - if these are truly in fractal pattern, they would not withstand the weight of a rider nor be able to roll on anything but the smoothest of surfaces.
|-
| 1940
| [[File:1673-_1940.png|310px]]
| A single seat is connected to four small wheels in a line. Each rod is separate, and the wheels are not directly attached to one another. Megan is standing on the seat and pushing the device forward with a long, flexible pole.
| {{w|In-line Skate}}, {{w|Gondola}}
| No means of steering or propulsion (using a pole doesn't count). Frame would very likely collapse under a rider's weight.
|-
| 1955
| [[File:1673-_1955.png|310px]]
| Cueball is being chased down a hill by three {{w|bicycle wheel|bicycle wheels}}.
| ''n/a''
| This scene suggests a spectacular failure of one or more bicycles, resulting in three wheels rolling down a hill. It's possible the wheels became sentient and are rebelling against humans.
|-
| 1980
| [[File:1673-_1980.png|310px]]
| A wheel is connected to a triangular frame. Extending up from the frame appears to be a back rest. Just in front of the triangle is a sprocket with no pedals. Two long bars connect from here to a front bar, which extends down to a second wheel and up to a very long set of handlebars. The sprocket connects to the front wheel. Megan is crouched on top of the sprocket with her back resting against the rear frame.
| "Chopper" {{w|Motorcycle}}, Women's {{w|Safety bicycle}}
| No apparent means of propulsion unless the sprocket acts like a {{w|cog wheel}}, requiring the rider to essentially run in place to propel the bike, which would be difficult and uncomfortable in Megan's position. While this is the first of the designs that shows a clear means of steering, the chain would interfere.
|-
| 2016
| [[File:1673-_2016.png|310px]]
| A rear wheel has pedals directly attached to it, and is connected to a horizontal rod. A small fender is attached to this rod under the wheel and almost against the ground. A {{w|kickstand}} hangs down and forward. A triangular frame extends upward toward the front, holding a milk bottle, and a second triangle connects to the front wheel, which also has pedals and a low-hanging fender. A set of touring-style handlebars is attached to the front. Two bars extend backward from the two triangles, and a horizontal bar extends backward. Just above the rear wheel, a seat is suspended inside a forked frame hanging down from the top bar.
| Safety bicycle
| The frame is over-complicated and, despite several strong supports in the front, would still likely collapse under a rider's weight. Front pedals would be nearly impossible to use. Seat cannot be used. Fenders and kickstand could easily strike the ground and interfere with the bike's movement.
|}

==Transcript==
:[13 drawings 8 in the top and 5 in the bottom row of different and weird "bicycle" designs. Above them there is a heading, and below each bike a year is given. On the very last cycle there is a drinking bottle with a label.]
:'''Timeline of Bicycle Design'''

:[Ponytail hanging on to a bending rod that goes down to a single normal sized bike wheel. It looks like a unicycle with no seat. The rod is bending quite a lot so she looks like she is about to use the contraption as a pole vault]
:1810

:[Cueball is running after a device holding on to a rod bend in several places before reaching the ground at a very small wheel that then is connected with a shorter rod to a normal sized bike wheel.]
:1825

:[Two normal sized bike wheels connected with a single rod between them.]
:1840

:[Megan sits on a large saddle on top of a double sized bike wheel, she has some kind of handle bars to hold on to (or it could just be the saddle) and then a small rod goes down to a half size front wheel.]
:1860

:[A regular drawing of a Penny-farthing with very small back wheel (half the size of the front wheel on the 1860 bike) and very large front wheel (larger than the 1860 bike) and pedals in the middle of the front wheel. There are no visible handlebars.]
:1875

:[A huge wheel twice the size of the one on the Penny-farthing, and then a small wheel (like the small one on the Penny-farthing) hangs in a rod from the center of the giant wheel. The small wheel has a saddle attached, but it is not straight up.]
:1880

:[This is the largest bike. Not the largest drawings, but where the other have the characters in roughly the same size, this one has a small drawing of Cueball standing on top of the wheel holding on to some kind of handle bar. The wheel is about three times his height.]
:1900

:[Cueball sits in the "saddle" of a bike design that is similar to the Penny-farthing, but the saddle is more a rod, and the back wheel is on a rod going straight down from where the saddle ends. Also there are no pedals, so Cueball seems to be directly spinning the front wheel by hand.]
:1915

:[A symmetrical saddle sits on top of single bike wheel, as with a unicycle but with no pedals. There are (at least) six progressively smaller wheels in-line to the first, three to front and three to the rear, each new wheel approximately half the size of the one before. A possible fourth wheel, presumed to complete the set of medial stabilisers, can no longer be discerned from the rod that goes through the center of the larger wheels.]
:1925

:[Megan stands on top of a saddle that has four individual rods extending from it, each to a small wheel. One wheel is directly beneath her, one is behind her, one is the same distance in front, and one is farther out in front. Megan is pushing the bike with a long flexible rod resembling a pole vault.]
:1940

:[Cueball is running down a steep hill with his arms up, being chased by three normal-sized bike wheels.]
:1955

:[Megan sits on a bike contraption that seems to have a holder around her mid section rather than her sitting on a saddle. This holder goes to the back wheel below her, and there is actually a sprocket with a chain, although no clear pedals beneath her feet. She holds on to a very long handle bar, which connects with two long rods coming from the sprocket at the front end of the bike far ahead of Megan, below which is a wheel, to where the chain is actually going. Both wheels seem to be normal size.]
:1980

:[Another weird contraption of a bike with pedals on both normal sized wheels which have handlebars on the side pointing down towards the front. The saddle hangs in a swing, connected to a rod above it, which goes to the front of the bike and splits in two rods which connect to the center frame of the bike. In front of these there is a contraption resembling many styles of touring bike handlebars, which sits just above the front wheel. The two wheels are connected with a long rod between the center of the wheels and in the middle of this is the center part of the frame going up toward the handle. On the middle of this is a bottle with a label. Towards the back wheel there are two rods sticking out, one presumably a kickstand, the other possibly a parking brake.]
:2016
:Bottle: Milk

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Timelines]]

Category:Harry Potter

2019-08-20T18:43:15Z

162.158.58.169: ce

The {{w|Harry Potter |Harry Potter franchise}}, staring {{w|Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter}} in 7 books and eight movies, is often referenced in xkcd.

Mainly, however, by smaller references to characters or items in the books, like to Snape in [[109: Spoiler Alert]], to Horcruxes in [[1079: United Shapes]], (Colorado Wikipedia) or to specific spells in the title text of [[2191: Conference Question]].

[[Category:Fiction]]

850: World According to Americans

2019-08-13T19:14:42Z

162.158.58.169: /* Table of items in the map */ lots of complications in China - Taiwan debate

{{comic
| number = 850
| date = January 21, 2011
| title = World According to Americans
| image = world according to americans.png
| titletext = It's not our fault we caught a group on their way home from a geography bee. And they taught us that Uzbekistan is one of the world's two doubly-landlocked countries!
}}
*A [http://xkcd.com/850_large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==
There's a somewhat well-circulated image on the internet entitled "[http://google.com/search?q=the+world+according+to&tbm=isch The World According to Americans]" which plays on the stereotype of the ignorant American. In it, the entirety of Eastern Europe and most of Asia are entitled "commies" and the Middle-East as "evil-doers," and so on. Later, other people created similar maps to re-do the concept. It later spread to other cultures.

This comic is an anti-joke playing on that idea. You expect to see something which plays on the stereotypes that exist in American culture of various parts of the world. However, instead, the map is remarkably well-informed, and shows how sampling bias can be used to conflate results. See below the [[#Table of items in the map|table of items in the map]].

The title text jokes that in fact the only reason that the map is fairly well annotated is that the group of people labeling it were actually on the way back from a {{w|National Geographic Bee|geography bee (competition)}}. This could add weight to the 'Ignorant American' stereotype as these individuals should know more than the common person (Although, as the illustrators wrote below Cape Horn, the reason they did not draw Antarctica or many South American, Middle Eastern and British countries and the lack of detail may be because the people who asked them to draw this map was beginning to 'look impatient' since they did not get the expected ignorant result.)

A {{w|landlocked country}} is a country that does not border any major bodies of water. Furthering the concept, a {{w|Landlocked_country#Doubly_landlocked|doubly-landlocked}} country is a country that not only has no connection to water, but is only bordered by ''other'' landlocked countries. As the title text states, there are only two such countries in the world as of 2012: {{w|Uzbekistan}} and {{w|Liechtenstein}}. This is the type of fact that may be stereotypically expected of a geography bee competitor.

===Table of items in the map===
{| class="wikitable"
!style="width: 25%;"|Annotation
! Further details
|-
| Hey so what projection should we use? I’ll aim for "Robinson".
| Any flat [[977|map projection]] of a sphere must have inaccuracies. {{w|Mercator projection}} displays shapes well at the expense of size. For example, Mercator's Greenland appears larger than South America, but is actually one eighth the size. {{w|Gall-Peters projection}} does the opposite, showing accurate surface area with distorted ("awful") shapes. {{w|Robinson projection}} compromises between shape & size for aesthetics; hence Greenland is "still too big".
|-
| Did you know Maine is actually the US state closest to Africa?
| The distance is about 5076 km (~3754 mi). Measurement points are {{w|Sail Rock (disambiguation)|Sail Rock (Maine)}}, the most eastern point of the USA, and a point which seems to be the most southern (and as such western) point of el-Beddouza Beach, {{w|Morocco}}. It's not the most western point of Morocco (or Africa), though.
|-
| Do we have to label all the Virgin Islands?
| Which are {{w|Virgin_Islands#Larger_Islands|9 larger}} and about 100 {{w|List of Caribbean islands#British Virgin Islands|smaller}} {{w|List of Caribbean islands#United States Virgin Islands|islands}} - surely a lot of labels.
|-
| French, and I think Dutch and English
| The three separated areas are (from west to east) {{w|Guyana}} (former British colony), {{w|Suriname}} (former Dutch colony) and {{w|French Guiana}} (still officially part of France). The former two often switched between French, Dutch and British colonial rule. The latter was French most times except of a short Portuguese episode.
|-
| Brazil (Portugese-speaking )
Rest of South America (Spanish-speaking)
| In green is Portuguese-speaking (misspelled) Brazil, and in blue are the Spanish speaking Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina.
|-
| {{w|Greenland}} (Still too big!)
Yeah, but the Peters map is awful
| Relating back to the choice of map projection, the apparent size of Greenland is one of the most commonly known projection based inaccuracies. The {{w|Gall-Peters projection}} shows accurate surface area, but with distorted ("awful") shapes.
|-
|Scandanavia
| A typo of {{w|Scandinavia}}. The area shown includes Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, but the actual area of Scandinavia excludes Finland. The Scandinavian peninsula countries include Norway, Finland, and Sweden, and those can be collectively (and nerdily) referred to as "Fennoscandia."
|-
| Western Europe
Eastern Europe
| The line here approximately follows that of the {{w|Iron Curtain}} that separated the {{w|Warsaw Pact}} states (the Soviet Union and other Communist allies) from the {{w|NATO}} (US-allied) and neutral states. However, all of Germany is included in Western Europe (when during the Cold War it was divided into East and West Germany) while Austria (which was officially neutral in the Cold War but closely tied to the West and therefore blocked off from its Communist neighbors) is marked as Eastern Europe. Here, Eastern Europe also includes the {{w|Balkans}} (the southern peninsula east of Italy), which are usually considered separate. During the Cold War, the Balkans were divided between Soviet-allied Albania (which later left the Pact) and Bulgaria, NATO-allied Greece and Turkey, and Yugoslavia, which was a neutral Communist state. It's also worth noting that there should be a blob of Russian red in the middle of Eastern Europe, representing the Russian exclave of {{w|Kaliningrad oblast}}.
|-
| British Isles
Ireland
| Although {{w|Ireland}} belongs to the {{w|British Isles}} geographically, it does not belong to the {{w|British Islands}} politically. That may be the reason why Ireland is labeled additionally - to show it's known that Ireland does not belong to the {{w|United Kingdom}}. {{w|Northern Ireland}} does, though.
|-
| Rainforest DRC
| The area shown is actually not completely the {{w|Democratic Republic of the Congo}} (DRC), but since one of the persons who made this map says he doesn't know the African map very well (see statement below), it's fairly accurate. Also the area called rainforest is somewhat larger than the area depicted as {{w|tropical rainforest}} on Wikipedia.
|-
| So this is one of those things where you point out our ignorance and stereotypes?
Yeah – I mean I freely admit I don’t know the African map very well, which speaks volumes in itself.
| Here two of the persons involved in drawing this map discusses what their lack of knowledge about Africa says about them. The African portion of the map is for sure the most poorly labeled, which lends weight to the stereotype of the 'Ignorant American'. Although it has to be mentioned, that the geography of Africa is in general not well known - at least within the Western world. So that's not really an American thing, here. The few countries which are labeled here mostly are well known because of their unstable political situation or because of their remarkable location. The labeled locations (and the presumably reasons of their "publicity") are west to east, north to south: {{w|Morocco}} ({{w|Arab Spring}}, location), {{w|Algeria}} (Arab Spring, {{w|Algerian Civil War|Civil War}}), {{w|Sahara|Sahara Desert}} (largest hot desert of the world), {{w|Sudan}} ({{w|Second Sudanese Civil War|Civil war}}, Arab Spring), {{w|West Africa}} ({{w|West Africa#Postcolonial eras|Lots of Civil wars}} and thus bad humanitarian situation, {{w|Blood diamond|Blood diamonds}}), {{w|Somalia}} ({{w|Somali Civil War|Civil war}}, {{w|Piracy in Somalia|pirates}}), {{w|Lake Victoria}} (largest lake of Africa, quite remarkable even at large scale maps (as here)), {{w|Mozambique}} ({{w|Mozambican Civil War|Civil war}}), {{w|Angola}} ({{w|Angolan Civil War|Civil War}}) and {{w|Madagascar}} (one of the worlds large island at the east coast - quite remarkable).
|-
| Cape Horn
| {{w|Cape Horn}} is the southern tip of ''South America'', not ''Africa''. The southern tip of Africa is called {{w|Cape of Good Hope}}.
|-
| Should we include {{w|Antarctica}}?
Let’s not – these guys are looking impatient
| Here it is made clear that since those who came with this assignment is getting impatient since their project of proving how little Americans know about the world failed miserably. And now they are getting impatient. It also shows that if some labels or parts are missing then it could be because of this and not for lack of knowledge. This is also a joke on the lack of labels that would be required for the map of Antarctica. Drawing Antarctica and labeling it would probably take less time than having the discussion about whether to include it, and then writing that discussion on the map.
|-
| {{w|Aral Sea}} (Gone)
| Former one of the largest fresh-water lakes of the world, now actually not completely gone, but almost.
|-
| Various former Soviet states
| Which are (west to east) {{w|Kazakhstan}}, {{w|Turkmenistan}}, {{w|Uzbekistan}}, {{w|Tajikistan}} and {{w|Kyrgyzstan}}. The former {{w|Soviet Union|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics}} was dissolved in 1991 and thus the {{w|Cold War}} had ended.
|-
| Middle East
| Drawn here to include {{w|Egypt}} and {{w|Turkey}}. Whether these should be included depends on whether you mean the phrase ''Middle East'' politically or geographically. They are both Muslim countries, but geographically Egypt is in Africa and Turkey is usually not included because of its close affiliation with Europe.
|-
| Boxing Day quake
Wait, "Boxing day"? There’s no way you’re American.
I read BBC News, OK?
| On December 26, 2004, a {{w|2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami|huge earthquake}} struck off the coast of Indonesia, causing severe tsunamis. December 26, the day after {{w|Christmas Day}}, is celebrated as {{w|Boxing Day}} in the UK, Canada, Australia, and some other English-speaking countries, but not the US. As such, the earthquake became known as the Boxing Day Quake.
One of the people who came asked these people to draw this map picks up on the use of 'Boxing Day' as something no American would say and questions that this person is in fact American. But an American reader of {{w|BBC News}} (part of the British Broadcasting Corporation) may start to use the phrase "Boxing Day" about the Tsunami.
|-
| India -> Mostly Muslim
India -> Mostly Hindu
| In general {{w|India}} is separated in {{w|Religion in India|two religious groups}}. Muslims in the north-west, Hindus in the rest. As visible on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_India#/media/File:Religion_in_India.svg map] in the linked Wiki article, the area with a predominant Muslim population is way smaller than depicted in the comic.
|-
| Tibet (contested)
| The area was annexed by the {{w|People's Republic of China}} in the 1950s. Since then there are struggles to gain independence. The marked area is fairly inaccurate, though. Today's {{w|Tibet Autonomous Region}} (former {{w|Kingdom of Tibet}}) is roughly the southern half of the marked area extended a bit to the south-east.
|-
| Kamchatka Peninsula, but I admit I only know this one from Risk
|''{{w|Risk (game)|Risk}}'' is a board game played on a map of the world, where players own territories and battle each other for world domination. The person in the comic admits to knowing {{w|Kamchatka Peninsula}} only from the territory "Kamchatka" in the game. Kamchatka is notable among the territories in the game because it and Alaska are connected, despite being on opposite sides of the board- a fact that can easily be overlooked.
|-
| Koreas
| The two Koreas are the ''{{w|Democratic People's Republic of Korea}}'' (North Korea) and the ''{{w|Republic of Korea}}'' (South Korea).
|-
| Japan, duh.
| Well... {{w|Japan}}.
|-
| Taiwan (actually called "The Republic of China" – it's complicated.
| This is a reference to the complicated political history of {{w|Taiwan}}. After the {{w|Chinese Civil War}}, the Nationalists fled China for the island of Taiwan and set up a government in exile there, vowing to return. In the intervening 70 years or so, Taiwan eventually began to transform into a democracy and a country of its own, but hasn't shed the name, or the animosity with China. Taiwan and China are separate countries, but due to the name, Taiwan is often wrongly said to be part of China. The government of China also claims {{w|Political status of Taiwan|sovereignty of Taiwan}} and Taiwan is not represented by the United Nations... hence the it's complicated tag. There is also a missing end-paren here, which is either a typo or a reference to [[859]]. The tag 'it's complicated' is one of the options for relationship statuses on Facebook, and denotes two people whose relationship defies the usual labels. In this case it is the relationship between the countries which is complicated.
|-
| Sulawesi
| As a running gag, the island of {{w|Sulawesi}} (formerly known as Celebes) is depicted in several map-like drawings and charts (see [[256: Online Communities]], [[273: Electromagnetic Spectrum]], [[802: Online Communities 2]], and [[1555: Exoplanet Names 2]]). Of course, there are good reasons to show it on an actual world map like the one here.
|-
| Paupa New Guinea
| A spelling mistake of {{w|Papua New Guinea}}.
|-
| Phillipines
| A spelling mistake of the {{w|Philippines}}.
|}

==Transcript==
:THE WORLD
:According to a Group of
:'''AMERICANS'''
:who turned out to be unexpectedly good at geography, derailing our attempt to illustrate their country's attitude toward the rest of the world.

:[Left to right, up to down.]

:[North of Canada.] Hey so what projection should we use?
:I'll aim for "Robinson."

:[North America.] Alaska; Canada; Hudson Bay; Québec; United States
:Did you know Maine is actually the US state closest to Africa?; Bermuda (British!)

:[Central America.] Baja California (Mexico); Mexico; Central America; Panama Canal; Gulf of Mexico; Cuba; Hispañola; POR.; Jamaica
:Do we have to label all the Virgin Islands?

:[South America.] Rest of South America (spanish-speaking); Brazil (portugese-speaking); French, and I think Dutch and English; Tierra del Fuego

:[Greenland.] Greenland (still too big!); Yeah but the Peters map is awful; Iceland

:[Europe.] British Isles; Ireland; Gibralter; Scandanavia; Western Europe; Eastern Europe; Black sea; Middle East

:[Africa.] Morocco; Algera; Sahara Desert; West Africa; Sudan; Rainforest DRC; Lake Victoria; Somalia; Angola; Mozambique; South Africa; Cape Horn; Madagascar

:[West of DRC.] So this is one of those things where you point out our ignorance and stereotypes?
:Yeah – I mean, I freely admit I don't know the African map very well, which speaks volumes in itself.

:[West Asia.] Russia; Aral sea (Gone); Various former Soviet states; Afghanistan & Pakistan; India; Mostly Muslim; Mostly Hindu

:[Indian Ocea.] Sri Lanka; Boxing Day Quake
:Wait, "Boxing day"? There's no way you're American.
:I read BBC News, OK?

:[East Asia.] Mongolia; Tibet (contested); China; Southeast Asia

:[Pacific Ocean.] Kamchatka Pennisula, but I admit I only know this one from Risk.
:Koreas; Japan, duh.; Taiwan (actually called "The Republic of China." – it's complicated.); Phillipines; Malaysia; Indonesia; Sulawesi; Paupa New Guinea; Australia; Tasmania; New Zealand

:[South of Africa.] Should we include Antarctica?
:Let's not – these guys are looking impatient.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Maps]]

850: World According to Americans

2019-08-13T19:10:56Z

162.158.58.169: /* Table of items in the map */ copyedit, link

{{comic
| number = 850
| date = January 21, 2011
| title = World According to Americans
| image = world according to americans.png
| titletext = It's not our fault we caught a group on their way home from a geography bee. And they taught us that Uzbekistan is one of the world's two doubly-landlocked countries!
}}
*A [http://xkcd.com/850_large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==
There's a somewhat well-circulated image on the internet entitled "[http://google.com/search?q=the+world+according+to&tbm=isch The World According to Americans]" which plays on the stereotype of the ignorant American. In it, the entirety of Eastern Europe and most of Asia are entitled "commies" and the Middle-East as "evil-doers," and so on. Later, other people created similar maps to re-do the concept. It later spread to other cultures.

This comic is an anti-joke playing on that idea. You expect to see something which plays on the stereotypes that exist in American culture of various parts of the world. However, instead, the map is remarkably well-informed, and shows how sampling bias can be used to conflate results. See below the [[#Table of items in the map|table of items in the map]].

The title text jokes that in fact the only reason that the map is fairly well annotated is that the group of people labeling it were actually on the way back from a {{w|National Geographic Bee|geography bee (competition)}}. This could add weight to the 'Ignorant American' stereotype as these individuals should know more than the common person (Although, as the illustrators wrote below Cape Horn, the reason they did not draw Antarctica or many South American, Middle Eastern and British countries and the lack of detail may be because the people who asked them to draw this map was beginning to 'look impatient' since they did not get the expected ignorant result.)

A {{w|landlocked country}} is a country that does not border any major bodies of water. Furthering the concept, a {{w|Landlocked_country#Doubly_landlocked|doubly-landlocked}} country is a country that not only has no connection to water, but is only bordered by ''other'' landlocked countries. As the title text states, there are only two such countries in the world as of 2012: {{w|Uzbekistan}} and {{w|Liechtenstein}}. This is the type of fact that may be stereotypically expected of a geography bee competitor.

===Table of items in the map===
{| class="wikitable"
!style="width: 25%;"|Annotation
! Further details
|-
| Hey so what projection should we use? I’ll aim for "Robinson".
| Any flat [[977|map projection]] of a sphere must have inaccuracies. {{w|Mercator projection}} displays shapes well at the expense of size. For example, Mercator's Greenland appears larger than South America, but is actually one eighth the size. {{w|Gall-Peters projection}} does the opposite, showing accurate surface area with distorted ("awful") shapes. {{w|Robinson projection}} compromises between shape & size for aesthetics; hence Greenland is "still too big".
|-
| Did you know Maine is actually the US state closest to Africa?
| The distance is about 5076 km (~3754 mi). Measurement points are {{w|Sail Rock (disambiguation)|Sail Rock (Maine)}}, the most eastern point of the USA, and a point which seems to be the most southern (and as such western) point of el-Beddouza Beach, {{w|Morocco}}. It's not the most western point of Morocco (or Africa), though.
|-
| Do we have to label all the Virgin Islands?
| Which are {{w|Virgin_Islands#Larger_Islands|9 larger}} and about 100 {{w|List of Caribbean islands#British Virgin Islands|smaller}} {{w|List of Caribbean islands#United States Virgin Islands|islands}} - surely a lot of labels.
|-
| French, and I think Dutch and English
| The three separated areas are (from west to east) {{w|Guyana}} (former British colony), {{w|Suriname}} (former Dutch colony) and {{w|French Guiana}} (still officially part of France). The former two often switched between French, Dutch and British colonial rule. The latter was French most times except of a short Portuguese episode.
|-
| Brazil (Portugese-speaking )
Rest of South America (Spanish-speaking)
| In green is Portuguese-speaking (misspelled) Brazil, and in blue are the Spanish speaking Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina.
|-
| {{w|Greenland}} (Still too big!)
Yeah, but the Peters map is awful
| Relating back to the choice of map projection, the apparent size of Greenland is one of the most commonly known projection based inaccuracies. The {{w|Gall-Peters projection}} shows accurate surface area, but with distorted ("awful") shapes.
|-
|Scandanavia
| A typo of {{w|Scandinavia}}. The area shown includes Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, but the actual area of Scandinavia excludes Finland. The Scandinavian peninsula countries include Norway, Finland, and Sweden, and those can be collectively (and nerdily) referred to as "Fennoscandia."
|-
| Western Europe
Eastern Europe
| The line here approximately follows that of the {{w|Iron Curtain}} that separated the {{w|Warsaw Pact}} states (the Soviet Union and other Communist allies) from the {{w|NATO}} (US-allied) and neutral states. However, all of Germany is included in Western Europe (when during the Cold War it was divided into East and West Germany) while Austria (which was officially neutral in the Cold War but closely tied to the West and therefore blocked off from its Communist neighbors) is marked as Eastern Europe. Here, Eastern Europe also includes the {{w|Balkans}} (the southern peninsula east of Italy), which are usually considered separate. During the Cold War, the Balkans were divided between Soviet-allied Albania (which later left the Pact) and Bulgaria, NATO-allied Greece and Turkey, and Yugoslavia, which was a neutral Communist state. It's also worth noting that there should be a blob of Russian red in the middle of Eastern Europe, representing the Russian exclave of {{w|Kaliningrad oblast}}.
|-
| British Isles
Ireland
| Although {{w|Ireland}} belongs to the {{w|British Isles}} geographically, it does not belong to the {{w|British Islands}} politically. That may be the reason why Ireland is labeled additionally - to show it's known that Ireland does not belong to the {{w|United Kingdom}}. {{w|Northern Ireland}} does, though.
|-
| Rainforest DRC
| The area shown is actually not completely the {{w|Democratic Republic of the Congo}} (DRC), but since one of the persons who made this map says he doesn't know the African map very well (see statement below), it's fairly accurate. Also the area called rainforest is somewhat larger than the area depicted as {{w|tropical rainforest}} on Wikipedia.
|-
| So this is one of those things where you point out our ignorance and stereotypes?
Yeah – I mean I freely admit I don’t know the African map very well, which speaks volumes in itself.
| Here two of the persons involved in drawing this map discusses what their lack of knowledge about Africa says about them. The African portion of the map is for sure the most poorly labeled, which lends weight to the stereotype of the 'Ignorant American'. Although it has to be mentioned, that the geography of Africa is in general not well known - at least within the Western world. So that's not really an American thing, here. The few countries which are labeled here mostly are well known because of their unstable political situation or because of their remarkable location. The labeled locations (and the presumably reasons of their "publicity") are west to east, north to south: {{w|Morocco}} ({{w|Arab Spring}}, location), {{w|Algeria}} (Arab Spring, {{w|Algerian Civil War|Civil War}}), {{w|Sahara|Sahara Desert}} (largest hot desert of the world), {{w|Sudan}} ({{w|Second Sudanese Civil War|Civil war}}, Arab Spring), {{w|West Africa}} ({{w|West Africa#Postcolonial eras|Lots of Civil wars}} and thus bad humanitarian situation, {{w|Blood diamond|Blood diamonds}}), {{w|Somalia}} ({{w|Somali Civil War|Civil war}}, {{w|Piracy in Somalia|pirates}}), {{w|Lake Victoria}} (largest lake of Africa, quite remarkable even at large scale maps (as here)), {{w|Mozambique}} ({{w|Mozambican Civil War|Civil war}}), {{w|Angola}} ({{w|Angolan Civil War|Civil War}}) and {{w|Madagascar}} (one of the worlds large island at the east coast - quite remarkable).
|-
| Cape Horn
| {{w|Cape Horn}} is the southern tip of ''South America'', not ''Africa''. The southern tip of Africa is called {{w|Cape of Good Hope}}.
|-
| Should we include {{w|Antarctica}}?
Let’s not – these guys are looking impatient
| Here it is made clear that since those who came with this assignment is getting impatient since their project of proving how little Americans know about the world failed miserably. And now they are getting impatient. It also shows that if some labels or parts are missing then it could be because of this and not for lack of knowledge. This is also a joke on the lack of labels that would be required for the map of Antarctica. Drawing Antarctica and labeling it would probably take less time than having the discussion about whether to include it, and then writing that discussion on the map.
|-
| {{w|Aral Sea}} (Gone)
| Former one of the largest fresh-water lakes of the world, now actually not completely gone, but almost.
|-
| Various former Soviet states
| Which are (west to east) {{w|Kazakhstan}}, {{w|Turkmenistan}}, {{w|Uzbekistan}}, {{w|Tajikistan}} and {{w|Kyrgyzstan}}. The former {{w|Soviet Union|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics}} was dissolved in 1991 and thus the {{w|Cold War}} had ended.
|-
| Middle East
| Drawn here to include {{w|Egypt}} and {{w|Turkey}}. Whether these should be included depends on whether you mean the phrase ''Middle East'' politically or geographically. They are both Muslim countries, but geographically Egypt is in Africa and Turkey is usually not included because of its close affiliation with Europe.
|-
| Boxing Day quake
Wait, "Boxing day"? There’s no way you’re American.
I read BBC News, OK?
| On December 26, 2004, a {{w|2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami|huge earthquake}} struck off the coast of Indonesia, causing severe tsunamis. December 26, the day after {{w|Christmas Day}}, is celebrated as {{w|Boxing Day}} in the UK, Canada, Australia, and some other English-speaking countries, but not the US. As such, the earthquake became known as the Boxing Day Quake.
One of the people who came asked these people to draw this map picks up on the use of 'Boxing Day' as something no American would say and questions that this person is in fact American. But an American reader of {{w|BBC News}} (part of the British Broadcasting Corporation) may start to use the phrase "Boxing Day" about the Tsunami.
|-
| India -> Mostly Muslim
India -> Mostly Hindu
| In general {{w|India}} is separated in {{w|Religion in India|two religious groups}}. Muslims in the north-west, Hindus in the rest. As visible on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_India#/media/File:Religion_in_India.svg map] in the linked Wiki article, the area with a predominant Muslim population is way smaller than depicted in the comic.
|-
| Tibet (contested)
| The area was annexed by the {{w|People's Republic of China}} in the 1950s. Since then there are struggles to gain independence. The marked area is fairly inaccurate, though. Today's {{w|Tibet Autonomous Region}} (former {{w|Kingdom of Tibet}}) is roughly the southern half of the marked area extended a bit to the south-east.
|-
| Kamchatka Peninsula, but I admit I only know this one from Risk
|''{{w|Risk (game)|Risk}}'' is a board game played on a map of the world, where players own territories and battle each other for world domination. The person in the comic admits to knowing {{w|Kamchatka Peninsula}} only from the territory "Kamchatka" in the game. Kamchatka is notable among the territories in the game because it and Alaska are connected, despite being on opposite sides of the board- a fact that can easily be overlooked.
|-
| Koreas
| The two Koreas are the ''{{w|Democratic People's Republic of Korea}}'' (North Korea) and the ''{{w|Republic of Korea}}'' (South Korea).
|-
| Japan, duh.
| Well... {{w|Japan}}.
|-
| Taiwan (actually called "The Republic of China" – it’s complicated.
| This is a reference to the complicated political history of {{w|Taiwan}}. After the {{w|Chinese Civil War}}, the Nationalists fled China for the island of Taiwan and set up a government in exile there, vowing to return. In the intervening 70 years or so, Taiwan eventually began to transform into a democracy and a country of its own, but hasn't shed the name, or the animosity with China. Taiwan and China are separate countries, but due to the name, Taiwan is often wrongly said to be part of China. The government of China also claims {{w|Political status of Taiwan|sovereignty of Taiwan}}... hence the it's complicated tag. There is also a missing end-paren here, which is either a typo or a reference to [[859]]. The tag 'it's complicated' is one of the options for relationship statuses on Facebook, and denotes two people whose relationship defies the usual labels. In this case it is the relationship between the countries which is complicated.
|-
| Sulawesi
| As a running gag, the island of {{w|Sulawesi}} (formerly known as Celebes) is depicted in several map-like drawings and charts (see [[256: Online Communities]], [[273: Electromagnetic Spectrum]], [[802: Online Communities 2]], and [[1555: Exoplanet Names 2]]). Of course, there are good reasons to show it on an actual world map like the one here.
|-
| Paupa New Guinea
| A spelling mistake of {{w|Papua New Guinea}}.
|-
| Phillipines
| A spelling mistake of the {{w|Philippines}}.
|}

==Transcript==
:THE WORLD
:According to a Group of
:'''AMERICANS'''
:who turned out to be unexpectedly good at geography, derailing our attempt to illustrate their country's attitude toward the rest of the world.

:[Left to right, up to down.]

:[North of Canada.] Hey so what projection should we use?
:I'll aim for "Robinson."

:[North America.] Alaska; Canada; Hudson Bay; Québec; United States
:Did you know Maine is actually the US state closest to Africa?; Bermuda (British!)

:[Central America.] Baja California (Mexico); Mexico; Central America; Panama Canal; Gulf of Mexico; Cuba; Hispañola; POR.; Jamaica
:Do we have to label all the Virgin Islands?

:[South America.] Rest of South America (spanish-speaking); Brazil (portugese-speaking); French, and I think Dutch and English; Tierra del Fuego

:[Greenland.] Greenland (still too big!); Yeah but the Peters map is awful; Iceland

:[Europe.] British Isles; Ireland; Gibralter; Scandanavia; Western Europe; Eastern Europe; Black sea; Middle East

:[Africa.] Morocco; Algera; Sahara Desert; West Africa; Sudan; Rainforest DRC; Lake Victoria; Somalia; Angola; Mozambique; South Africa; Cape Horn; Madagascar

:[West of DRC.] So this is one of those things where you point out our ignorance and stereotypes?
:Yeah – I mean, I freely admit I don't know the African map very well, which speaks volumes in itself.

:[West Asia.] Russia; Aral sea (Gone); Various former Soviet states; Afghanistan & Pakistan; India; Mostly Muslim; Mostly Hindu

:[Indian Ocea.] Sri Lanka; Boxing Day Quake
:Wait, "Boxing day"? There's no way you're American.
:I read BBC News, OK?

:[East Asia.] Mongolia; Tibet (contested); China; Southeast Asia

:[Pacific Ocean.] Kamchatka Pennisula, but I admit I only know this one from Risk.
:Koreas; Japan, duh.; Taiwan (actually called "The Republic of China." – it's complicated.); Phillipines; Malaysia; Indonesia; Sulawesi; Paupa New Guinea; Australia; Tasmania; New Zealand

:[South of Africa.] Should we include Antarctica?
:Let's not – these guys are looking impatient.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:Maps]]

2179: NWS Warnings

2019-07-24T10:02:02Z

162.158.58.169: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2179
| date = July 23, 2019
| title = NWS Warnings
| image = nws_warnings.png
| titletext = Kind of rude of them to simultaneously issue an EVACUATION - IMMEDIATE alert, a SHELTER IN PLACE alert, and a 911 TELEPHONE OUTAGE alert.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NWS EMPLOYEE THAT REALLY NEEDED A BREAK. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The {{w|National Weather Service}} (NWS) is a United States federal agency that is tasked with issuing national weather forecasts and {{w|Severe weather terminology (United States)|extreme weather alert}}s.

This comic portrays the NWS as a person that needs breaks, which is absurd, as it is an important service and would probably always have staff active, even on holidays. For example, the NWS [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/10/04/weather-service-office-begs-please-pay-us-in-secret-message/ continued to work during federal government shutdowns], as it was considered an essential service for the protection of life and property. Even if one of the NWS's 122 local weather offices were to be incapacitated, contingency plans are in place to ensure that nearby offices act as emergency cover; as happened in March 2019 with [https://twitter.com/mikeseidel/status/1106705454435057666 flooding in Nebraska forcing the NWS office in Valley to evacuate.]

Regardless, in this comic the NWS has decided to take a break, and so has opted to issue every extreme weather alert possible for the entire contiguous portion of the United States (including DC, but not Alaska or Hawaii) to make sure no one is caught by surprise by extreme weather, since the NWS will not be able to issue warnings. As the NWS could not be sure which areas will need to get warned of severe incidents, the NWS has decided to issue warning polygons that cover the entire United States (ostensibly except Alaska and Hawaii). A layer of humor is that this would necessitate warnings where they would be highly unlikely to occur in real life; examples include issuing blizzard warnings for Florida, where any amount of snow is rare, and tsunami warnings for areas very far from any ocean coastline.

The title text mentions how some of the warnings that have been issued require action to get to safety that contradicts the other warnings, for example, an evacuation warning and a shelter in place order, since doing one would mean failing to do the other. This confusing scenario would likely prompt many concerned citizens to call emergency services for clarification, but the 911 outage alert would advise against this, adding another layer to the absurdity of the occurrence of the NWS taking a break.

This comic was likely inspired by the heat wave that impacted two-thirds of the US for more than a week.

Here is the table of the reasons in the background:

{| class="wikitable"
|Disaster
|Explanation
|-
|Tornado warning
|A [[wikipedia:Tornado | Tornado]] warning is issued for an area if a tornado is radar indicated, radar confirmed, or members of the public confirm the existence of a funnel cloud or a tornado. As tornadoes are more apt to form in different parts of the country at different times a country-wide tornado warning would be highly unlikely.
|-
|Cold warning
|The NWS does not issue cold warnings. As the text is cut off, Randall probably means Extreme Cold Warning, which the NWS offices in Alaska issue. This implies that the entire U.S. will get colder. This does not make sense, partly because in the time this comic was released, it was summer in the U.S., but also because Alaska, the one state that does receive this type of warning, is not shown.
|-
|Red flag warning
|A red flag warning means that conditions are favorable for the rapid spread of wildfires. While there are very few areas immune to wildfires, one that encompasses the entire country would be unlikely unless a conflagration of epic magnitude swept through the country.
|-
|Radiological hazard warning
|A radiological hazard warning is a non-weather event that is transmitted by the NWS. This means that a radiological source was lost, discovered, or released accidentally or maliciously. If the entire country were under such a warning, the outlook for the citizens would be pretty grim.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[Title in frame]

Alert: Everyone Just Keep An Eye Out In General

[A map of the 48 contiguous states of the United States, surrounded by several warning polygons that cover most or all of the area, along with parts of neighboring countries or the sea.]

[The following warning headers are printed in different colors around the map of the United States, some of which are cut off by the frame. Assumptions about text outside of the frame are given in parentheses]

Gale Warning, Tornado Warning, Flash Flood Warning, Air Quality (Alert) <br />
Frost Advisory, Severe Thunderstorm Warning, Dense Fog Advisory <br />
(Hurricane Force W)ind Watch, Tropical Storm Warning, Ice Stor(m Warning) <br />
(Extreme Cold) Warning, Heat A(dvisory) <br />
(Flood) Advisory, Snow (Squall Warning) <br />
(Storm Surge) Warning, Brisk W(ind Advisory) <br />
(Lake Effect Snow) Watch, Coastal Fl(ood Advisory) <br />
Dense Smo(ke Advisory) <br />
(Severe Weather Sta)tement, Gale War(ning) <br />
(Lakeshore Flood) Advisory, Wind Chill Ad(visory) <br />
(Extreme) Cold Warning, Blizzard Warn(ing) <br />
Hurricane Warning, Extreme Fire (Danger) <br />
(Freezing Fog Adv)isory, Tsunami Warning, Avalanche W(arning) <br />
(Ice S)torm Warning, Frost Advisory, Fire Warning, Volcano Warn(ing) <br />
Ashfall Advisory, Red Flag Warning, Radiological Hazard Warning <br />

[Text below frame]

When the National Weather Service needs to take a day off, they just issue warnings for everything so no one is caught by surprise.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Maps]]

980: Money/Prices in tables

2019-07-22T05:30:56Z

162.158.58.169: /* Thousands */

__NOTOC__
Below are five tables listing the prices of the items in [[980: Money]].

{{incomplete| Many items are missing from the Billions section. If you can organize the Millions, Billions and Trillions sections please do. Also we need someone to double-check the values.}}
==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 food spending
| $5,650
|-
| Average household CC debt
| $9,960
|-
| Annual cost to carry that debt
| $2,090
|-
!rowspan="13"|Typical annual housing cost for various cities (based on military's Basic Allowance for Housing for an E1 servicemember with no dependents)
|-
| 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 changing with inflation) for 30 years at 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 a 4% real return (long-term stock + dividend 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
| $34,697
|-
| 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="2"|Video Games
|-
| Minecraft sales by October 2011
| $56,780,000
|-
! rowspan="4"|William and Kate's wedding
|-
| Flowers
| $800,000
|-
| Security
| $20,000,000
|-
| Total cost
| $80,000,000
|-
! rowspan="6"|Human Values
|-
| 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
|-
| 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
|-
! rowspan="4"|Corporation Expenses
|-
| 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
|-
! rowspan="6"|Vehicles
|-
| 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
| $1,451,000,000
|-
| One B-2 bomber
| $2,500,000,000
|-
! rowspan="5"|Structures
|-
| Large city office building
| $100,000,000
|-
| Dubai Fountain
| $224,540,000
|-
| Burj Khalifa
| $1,521,000,000
|-
| New Yankee Stadium
| $1,545,000,000
|-
! rowspan="12"|Rare Items
|-
| 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 copy signed by Edward I
| $21,890,000
|-
| Painting from The Card Players series (rumor)
| $250,000,000
|-
| Willem de Kooning’s “Woman III” (2006 auction bought by David Geffen)
| $168,780,000
|-
| Jackson Pollock’s “No. 5, 1948” (2006 auction bought by David Geffen)
| $153,440,000
|-
| Airbus A380
| $264,000,000
|-
| Mona Lisa assessed value
| $730,660,000
|-
! rowspan="3"|Bitcoins
|-
| 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
|-
! rowspan="9"|Millionaires
|-
| 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
|-
! rowspan="5"|Per US resident
|-
| $1 per US resident
| $312,620,000
|-
| $1 per US household
| $117,290,000
|-
| $10 from every US resident
| $3,326,200,000
|-
| $10 from every US household
| $1,179,180,000
|-
! rowspan="3"|Raptors
|-
| One F-22 raptor
| $154,500,000
|-
| One velociraptor (25% of Jurassic Park production budget amortized over three velociraptors)
| $1,930,000
|-
! rowspan="8"|Professional 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
|-
! rowspan="3"|J.K. Rowling
|-
| J.K. Rowling
| $1,000,000,000
|-
| J. K. Rowling had she become a rapper (Professional assessment by rapper/geek culture expert MC Frontalot)
| $82,000
|-
! rowspan="4"|Hurricanes
|-
| 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
|}

===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
|}

===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 || $127,250,000
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Person !! Funds raised
|-
| 2004 presidential campaign fundraising || $1,006,810,000
|-
| Howard Dean || $61,620,000
|-
| Wesley Clark || $34,620,000
|-
| John Edwards || $39,310,000
|-
| John Kerry || $352,090,000
|-
| George W. Bush || $429,660,000
|-
| Other || $89,510,000
|}

{| 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"
|-
! Industry !! To Democrats (approx) !! To Republicans (approx) !! To Other (approx) !! Total Funds donated
|-
| Finance industry || $47,000,000 || $68,000,000 || $7,000,000 || $122,900,000
|-
| Organized labor || $14,000,000 || $2,000,000 || $2,000,000 || $18,720,000
|-
| Energy industry || $6,000,000 || $21,000,000 || $0 || $26,680,000
|-
| Lawyers and general lobbyists || $39,000,000 || $19,000,000 || $0 || $57,590,000
|-
| Health industry || $19,000,000 || $23,000,000 || $0 || $42,727,000
|-
| Electronics and communication industry || $21,000,000 || $12,000,000 || $7,000,000 || $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
|}

===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
|}

</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 || ~$12,000,000,000
|-
| US || ~$4,000,000,000
|-
| Developments || ~$3,000,000,000
|-
| Grants || ~$1,000,000,000
|}

===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
|-
| Student loans outstanding || $955,800,000,000
|-
| Federal student loans || $792,900,000,000
|-
| Defaulted Federal student loans (Private total unknown) || $65,020,000,000
|-
| 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===
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Item
! Price
|-
! rowspan="5"|US cancer spending
|-
| US spending on lung cancer treatment
| $11,310,000,000
|-
| US spending on tobacco marketing
| $13,600,000,000
|-
| US spending on all cancer treatment
| $106,870,000,000
|-
| US spending on cigarettes
| $91,660,000,000
|-
! rowspan="10"|US health care spending (2005 data)
|-
| Private insurance
| $785,900,000,000
|-
| Out-of-pocket
| $282,260,000,000
|-
| Other private spending
| $79,000,000,000
|-
| Total private spending
| $1,147,050,000,000
|-
| Medicare
| $387,070,000,000
|-
| Medicaid
| $351,980,000,000
|-
| Other government spending
| $219,000,000,000
|-
| Total Government spending
| $958,950,000,000
|-
| Total
| $2,106,000,000,000
|}

===Total annual tax breaks to the five largest oil companies===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| Combined pay at Wall St. banks and securities firms || $135,000,000,000
|-
| Mobile computing annual sales || $220,000,000,000
|-
| Online spending in 2009 || $251,070,000,000
|-
| NCAA budget || $5,640,000,000
|-
| Total annual tax breaks to the five largest oil companies || $2,100,000,000
|-
| US annual oil and gas subsidies || $41,000,000,000
|-
| Ethanol subsidies || $5,000,000,000
|-
| Combined annual profits of the ten largest health insurance companies || $12,870,000,000
|-
| 2010 lobbying || $3,560,000,000
|-
| 2005 lobbying || $2,750,000,000
|-
| 2000 lobbying || $2,000,000,000
|-
| One B-2 bomber || $2,500,000,000
|}

===US R&D===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| US annual corporate R&D || $334,490,000,000
|-
| Information technology || $46,560,000,000
|-
| Scientific technical, or professional services || $31,060,000,000
|-
| Manufacturing industries (Unlabelled on the money chart) || $236,151,000,000
|-
| Other || $20,710,000,000
|}

===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 by [[Randall]] 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 by [[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
|}

===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
|}

===US household income===

===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===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| Annual Deficit || $1,394,530,000,000
|-
| Additional receipts || $83,230,000,000
|-
| Taxes raised || $2,192,180,000,000
|}

===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===
(Price of electricity to power all US homes for a year, by plant type)
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Plant Type !! Cost !! Notes
|-
|Advance combined cycle natural gas || 78,100,000,000 ||
|-
|Conventional Coal (without societal costs) || 117,340,000,000
|-
| External societal costs from use of that amount of coal power || $226,690,000,000 || Harvard Medical School analysis. Range of possible values was $119b to $342b. Most of the uncertainty was due to potentially lower costs from air pollution or higher ones from climate change.
|-
| Public Health Burden in Appalacia [sic] || $55,400,000,000 ||
|-
| Air pollution from power plants || $118,300,000,000 ||
|-
| Climate Impact || $40,030,000,000 ||
|-
| Advanced coal with carbon capture || $168,590,000,000 ||
|-
| Biomass || $139,250,000,000 || Estimates of climate impact vary wildly Consensus seems to be more than nothing but less than coal.
|-
| Geothermal || $125,880,000,000 ||
|-
| Hydroelectric || $106,940,000,000 ||
|-
| Wind || $120,070,000,000 ||
|-
| Offshore wind || $301,030,000,000 ||
|-
| Solar (photovoltaic) || $260,800,000,000 ||
|-
| Solar (thermal) || $385,940,000,000 ||
|-
| Advanced nuclear || $140,980,000,000 || Little impact on climate/air, but hard to find assessments of meltdown and fuel storage costs/risks. Some past costs shown for perspective.
|}

===Nuclear accidents===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Accident !! Cost !! Notes
|-
| Fukushima meltdown estimated total cost to Japan || $131,100,000,000 || Compare to $128,590,000,000 for deaths from quake/tsunami
|-
| Fukushima cost from 300 extra cancer deaths (EPA conversion) || $2,579,000,000 ||
|-
| Belarus estimated 30-year costs from Chernobyl || $282,350,000,000 ||
|-
| Cost of estimated 42,457 Chernobyl deaths (EPA method) || $344,750,000,000 ||
|}

===BP oil spill claims fund===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value
|-
| BP oil spill claims fund || $20,270,000,000
|-
| Total 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami aid from all countries || $15,840,000,000
|-
| Worldwide aid to Somalia since 1991 || $55,000,000,000
|-
| G8/IMF loan pledge to Arab Spring || $73,000,000,000
|-
| Japan's contribution to TEPCO victim fund || $62,000,000,000
|-
| Cost to fund wikipedia at current levels for 100 years || $1,850,000,000
|-
| Cost to provide free yearly tax prep to every US household || $8,450,000,000
|-
| Cost to give every US 18 year-old a free degree at a community college || $46,340,000,000
|-
| Additional cost to fund all US schools at magnet school levels || $46,340,000,000
|-
| Annual cost to send every US child to a university for free || $127,610,000,000
|-
| Cost to buy the Amazon rainforest || $130,000,000,000
|-
| UBS loss from one rogue trader || $2,300,000,000
|-
| DoE loan to CA Valley Solar Ranch Project || $1,200,000,000
|-
| Apple's cash on hand || $76,200,000,000
|}

===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===
Estimates by the Congressional Budget Office of the effect of various hypothetical policy decisions on annual tax revenue, averaged over the next ten years.
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Item
! Price
|-
! rowspan="4"|Cost of existing tax cuts (Loss in annual revenue if tax cuts are made permanent)
|-
| 2001 (Bush) tax cuts
| $158,240,000,000
|-
| 2003 (Bush) capital gains tax cuts
| $27,190,000,000
|-
| 2010 (Obama) payroll tax cut
| $111,700,000,000
|-
! rowspan="4"|Potential new taxes (Increase in annual tax revenue if implimented)
|-
| Raise corporate taxes by one percentage point
| $10,060,000,000
|-
| Legalize marijuana and tax it at levels similar to tobacco
| $7,020,000,000
|-
| Institute tax on CO2 emissions
| $10,060,000,000 (This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $113,000,000,000)
|}

===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 ||
|}

===Federal Payments===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Cost
|-
| Annual improper federal payments comprising fraud, abuse, and poorly-documented payments || $125,400,000,000
|-
| Federal payments to dead retirees || $120,200,000
|-
| NEA-estimated cost to bring all US schools into good repair || $413,300,000,000,000
|-
| Annual economic cost of unmaintained infrastructure || $129,000,000,000
|-
| Estimated direct annual agricultural value of bees || $220,000,000,000
|}

===Military/Security Spending===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Cost
|-
| Wasted money in Afghanistan/Iraq war contracts || $60,000,000,000
|-
| Reconstruction money reportedly missing || $18,000,000,000
|-
| Total US spending since 2001 to secure borders || $90,000,000,000
|-
| US nuclear arms spending during the Cold War || $2,818,300,000,000
|-
| Ballistic missile submarines || $451,360,000,000
|-
| Ballistic missiles to put on those submarines || $136,690,000,000
|-
| The $87 billion which John Kerry voted for/against || $101,800,000,000
|-
| "Star Wars" missile defence system (1987 Heritage Foundation estimate) || $185,300,000,000
|}

===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">
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Item
! Price
|-
! rowspan="6"|Size of derivatives markets by year
|-
| 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
|-
! rowspan="5"|Size of credit default swap market by year (included in derivatives)
|-
| 2001
| $1,150,000,000,000
|-
| 2005
| $19,350,000,000,000
|-
| 2007
| $66,280,000,000,000
|-
| 2009
| $31,350,000,000,000
|-
! rowspan="5"|US household net 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
|-
! rowspan="6"|Total debt in the US
|-
| Total debt in the US
| $36,560,000,000,000
|-
| 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
|-
! rowspan="10"|World 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
|-
! rowspan="15"|Total public debt (Note: US figures are from 2011, while the other totals use 2010 debt in 2011 dollars, which is likely an underestimate.)
|-
| 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
|-
! rowspan="4"|World total proven Energy reserves
|-
| Oil
| $131,960,000,000,000 (November 2011 prices)
|-
| Coal
| $72,850,000,000,000 (2011 central Appalachian prices)
|-
| Natural gas
| $21,470,000,000,000 (2011 NYMEX prices)
|-
! rowspan="4"|US Energy Reserves
|-
| Oil
| $20,580,000,000,000
|-
| Coal
| $20,020,000,000,000
|-
| Natural gas
| $930,470,000,000
|-
! rowspan="3"|Value of 10 years of electricity generated if the surface of Texas was converted to:
|-
| Solar power plants
| $89,240,000,000,000
|-
| Wind turbines
| $7,950,000,000,000
|-
! rowspan="4"|All US real estate
|-
| All
| $28,380,000,000,000
|-
| Home
| $23,010,000,000,000
|-
| Commercial (includes stores, apartments, industrial, etc.)
| $5,370,000,000,000
|-
! rowspan="4"|Total ____ so far
|-
| Value of all gold ever mined (late 2011 prices)
| $9,120,000,000,000
|-
| World Total Liquid Assets
| $77,000,000,000,000
|-
| Estimated total economic production of the human race (so far, roughly three-fifths of it since 1980)
| $2,396,950,000,000,000
|}

===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
|}
</div>
{{DEFAULTSORT:0980}}

2178: Expiration Date High Score

2019-07-19T23:13:44Z

162.158.58.169: /* Transcript */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2178
| date = July 19, 2019
| title = Expiration Date High Score
| image = expiration_date_high_score.png
| titletext = "Wait, we've MOVED since 2010. How on Earth did--" "Look, some of us were just born to be champions."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by someone, born champion. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. EXP 20190721}}
[[Randall]] is introducing the rules of a game. If you find an item which you purchased, but is now past its {{w|expiration date}}, you get a score which is what percent of your lifetime elapsed between when the item expired and when you found it. Many perishable items, such as food, cosmetics, medications, batteries, or condoms, have expiration dates, or sometimes best by dates. The only other rule is, that it has to be something you have purchased yourself, so that heritages or stuff that was left in the basement when one moved in, does not count.

The joke is, that owning expired items without of noticing for long here is getting you a high score, while in reality it is not considered favourable.{{Citation needed}}

The other joke is both the items in the comic (a can of beans and a jar of pickles) do not go bad with time but in fact remain edible indefinitely (as long as the jar/can is not opened and is undamaged.)

Food going bad, in the sense that it will make you sick if you eat it, is most often caused by harmful bacteria growing in the food. Less often caused by fungi or yeast growing in the food and creating a poisonous substance, like methanol (wood alcohol.) The process of canning food involves boiling it to kill all possible pathogens, then sealing it in a can/jar while the food is still hot, with no air bubble. As long as this process is done correctly, as long as the jar lid has an air tight seal, and as long at the can is not punctured or gets a hole rusted through, no bacteria/virus/yeast/fungi can get in and the food can not spoil. Some food may discolor over time in the jar/can, or the texture may change, but it can not go bad in a way that makes it unsafe to eat.

Megan's mom does not have a jar of pickles with a 1978 expiration date because in 1978 jars and cans of food did not have expiration dates. Since then many countries introduced laws and regulations requiring companies to put expiration dates on perishable goods. In some instances this can have the negative effect of people throwing out good food by blindly following the suggested expiration date. This behavior can incentivize companies to adjust the expiration date, or put expiration dates on non-perishable goods, so that people will re-buy the products sooner.

Megan's age is revealed to be 37, found by substituting 2019 and 2010 into the formula.

The title text continues the conversation from the comic. The beans were apparently bought while living in a different home, meaning they were moved along with Megan's and Cueball's other belongings. This is somewhat unusual as many people take moving as an opportunity to go through their old stuff and get rid of things they no longer need. Another interpretation would be that Megan Cueball didn't bring the beans but bought them along with the kitchen they were found in.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
(Title up in the panel)
What's the most expired item you've found in your house?

Calculate your expiration date high score (must be something you purchased)

(Equation in a circle)
Score equals year you found item subtracting year item expired, divided by your age, multiplied by 100

(Megan and Cueball talking, with Megan holding a can)

Megan: These beans expired in 2010! That's... let's see... 24.3! New personal best!

Cueball:You are never going to beat your mom's jar of pickles from 1978.

Megan: Maybe there are more cans in there. Remind me not to look until 2030.

Cueball: This is the worst competition.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Food]]

Talk:2172: Lunar Cycles

2019-07-12T00:18:52Z

162.158.58.169:

Is it possible that the size of the Earth and the moon are supposed to be comparisons of how big the Earth looks from the moon vs. how big the moon looks from the Earth? {{unsigned ip|172.69.170.88}}
:Why would that have a cycle different from the distance cycle?[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:20, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

Where is the total eclipse of the heart?
Actually, why do we not have a total eclipse of the hart - when all deer are hidden?

A very quick and dirty (probably flawed, until I can plug things into a suitable visualiser to check and/or improve my initial idea) attempt to describe the nature of the square/circle oscilations of the Moon might well be smething like ''|r.cos(θ)−r.sin(θ)|.|sin(t/λ)| + |r.cos(θ)+r.sin(θ)|.|sin(t/λ)| + |r.√(2/π)|.|cos(t/λ)|=k'' ...only then you'd also want to make k a quantity also multiplied by the relative Earth/Moon size cycle. Either way, YMoonMV. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.88|141.101.98.88]] 00:41, 6 July 2019 (UTC)
:Isn't the square/circle a reference to rounded corner rectangles. If you increase the corner radius of a square, enough, you get a circle. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 05:37, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

Does anyone know of a real chart similar to the format of the last panel? That might be a cool thing to link to.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.166|162.158.75.166]] 16:38, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

Did anyone else expect to see "Total Eclipse of the Heart" right after "Total Eclipse of the Sea"? No? Ah, my coat, thank you.[[User:Daemonik|Daemonik]] ([[User talk:Daemonik|talk]]) 09:17, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave earlier [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.67|162.158.154.67]] 20:10, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

I remember there being a blue blood supermoon or some crazy thing like that once a year or so back. Mostly because I dreamed that it was also a falling moon and woke up very worried. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.169|162.158.58.169]] 00:18, 12 July 2019 (UTC)

== Astrology ==
I think this is primarily an astrology joke. Astrologers often use astronomical cycles (both real and made up) to "predict" future events or explain historic events. By having enough cycles, they can usually come up with results like "skinny jeans are always popular whenever the happy moon is in Pices and wet Mars is in the same Chinese zodiac as Mercury".

There's also possibly an allusion to Fourier transforms. {{unsigned ip|162.158.92.160|03:14, July 6, 2019‎}}

You know, I kind of expected a joke about periods [[Special:Contributions/172.69.160.146|172.69.160.146]] 01:49, 10 July 2019 (UTC)

I think this is unlikely - the jokes all hinge on cycles of the moon, and don't reference any dates or other celestial bodies in the way astrology does.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.37|162.158.154.37]] 12:33, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

==Phase x distance and supermoons==
I've been absolutely nerd-sniped by the "Phase x distance" in the bottom diagram. As far as I can figure out, if you multiply phase and distance, you should end up with a new cycle with a period of (29.5 x 27.5) = 811.25 days, which is about 2 years. A supermoon is when a full moon occurs when the Moon is closest to the Earth, so this phase x distance figure is effectively a supermoon detector - that's why supermoons occur at the peaks in Randall's diagram.

But when I looked into supermoons a bit - specifically [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermoon#/media/File:Moon_distance_with_full_&_new.png this diagram from Wikipedia] - other sources shows supermoons occurring on a ''yearly'' cycle - we supposedly get them every year. How can that be the case, if the two lunar cycles only synchronize every 2 years? It seems to me like there has to be at least one out of every two years where we get no supermoons at all - ie. the full moon is always coinciding with the moon being furthest away.

I feel like I must have made a mistake or wrong assumption, but I can't figure out what it is. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 17:15, 6 July 2019 (UTC)
:I figured it out; it turns out that I was simply wrong about how to calculate the length of a combined cycle. This [https://www.desmos.com/calculator/vaj4vapdul graph] shows that the two cycles would coincide every 400 days or so. Still can't figure out what "phase x distance" is meant to represent, though. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 17:54, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

== Earth/Moon changing size ==
While I do know that the Earth and Moon can technically change size due to accretion of interstellar material, the amount is so negligible that I don't even think it's worth mentioning. I suspect the Earth changes size more from thermal expansion and contraction than from accretion. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 13:03, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

==Harvest Moon==
The harvest moon does have some astronomical significance: the time of moon-rise from day to day changes less around the harvest moon than at any other time of the year. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon#Harvest_moon Wikipedia] and its [http://calgary.rasc.ca/sunset_moonrise.htm source] say that this allowed harvest work to continue into the night during the days after the full moon without a significant period of darkness between sunset and moon-rise. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.85|172.68.189.85]] 05:59, 10 July 2019 (UTC)

2174: First News Memory

2019-07-11T17:29:46Z

162.158.58.169: /* Frame Three */ mention 30s

{{comic
| number = 2174
| date = July 10, 2019
| title = First News Memory
| image = first_news_memory.png
| titletext = Psychology researchers say our 'flashbulb' memories of big events can be unreliable, but I clearly remember watching live on CNN as Challenger crashed into and destroyed the Berlin Wall.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FAULTY FIRST NEWS MEMORY. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. (Explain title-text) Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
7 xkcd characters are discussing their "first news memory", their first memory of an event that was reported by the news media. A person's "first news memory" can vary based on their age, the region where they grew up, and how in touch with the news they are.

The following is a breakdown of the memories given by the characters, in typical xkcd fashion:
===Frame One===
[[Ponytail]] gets the ball rolling by posing the question.
[[Cueball]] recalls the election coverage from the year 1988. As Randall lives in the US, this is probably the {{w|1988 United States presidential election|1988 US presidential election}} in which George H. W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis. [[Megan]] recalls {{w|Berlin_Wall#Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall|the removal of the Berlin wall}}, which began in 1989.

===Frame Two===
[[Hairy]] recalls the {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|''Challenger'' explosion}}, which occurred in 1986. Many schools allowed teachers to bring a television to the classroom to show their students, sadly unaware of the impending disaster the children would witness. However, Hairy remembers watching the footage in 1995, so Hairy's teacher was knowingly showing the students recorded footage of a disaster. Presumably, showing a number of young schoolchildren a traumatizing event led to the teacher's dismissal.

===Frame Three===
[[White Hat]] says that his first news memory was about the 2016 election (presumably the {{w|2016 United States presidential election|2016 US presidential election}}), which is only three years prior to the publication date of this comic. As he is in his 30s, this implies that he spent most of his life not paying attention to the news or has amnesia.

===Frame Four===
[[Black Hat]]'s first sentence is normal in the context of the question, albeit making him older than the others. Given only the sentence 'we landed on the moon,' the 'we' is inferred to be 'the United States of America' or 'the human race.' The first {{w|moon landing}} occurred on July 20, 1969.
However, Black Hat goes on to say that 'my second memory is my mom telling us we were moving to Earth instead, to blend in with the humans.' This gives a completely different meaning to his first memory, as it is now implied that Black Hat is a humanoid alien who moved to the Moon, but whose mother then decided to move to Earth. Whether any news coverage resulted is unclear. [[Hairbun]] then remarks that this revelation explains Black Hat's odd (and usually disruptive) behavior. It is unclear whether Black Hat is telling the truth, but knowing Black Hat, and considering the fact that this would be unlikely to receive news coverage, he is likely intentionally trying to unnerve others. Another possibility is that Black Hat was the youthful victim of a prank by his own mother, with Hairbun's comment implying that such an upbringing accounts for the trollish aspects of Black Hat's character in the present day.

The title text gives [http://theconversation.com/flashbulb-memories-of-dramatic-events-arent-as-accurate-as-believed-64838 the claim] that {{w|Flashbulb memory|flashbulb memories}} of big events can be unreliable. Randall denies this claim, claiming to remember watching on CNN as the ''Challenger'' spacecraft crashed into the Berlin Wall. This is an inaccurate memory of these two events, as the ''Challenger'' explosion occurred in 1986 over the Atlantic Ocean, just east of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and did not occur near the Berlin Wall (in Berlin, Germany). Also, the Berlin Wall was intentionally demolished starting in 1989; it was not damaged by a space shuttle. It is possible that this memory also conflates those events with those of the {{w|September 11 attacks}} since the latter ''did'' involve three winged craft crashing into and destroying landmark structures.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, Hairy, White Hat, Black Hat and Hairbun are all at a party, discussing their earliest news memories.]

:[Panel with Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, and Hairy]
:Ponytail: What's your first news memory?
:Cueball: I always like this question! Mine was the 1988 election.
:Megan: Berlin wall for me. You?

:[Frame-less panel with Megan, Hairy, White Hat, and Black Hat]
:Hairy: Watching the ''Challenger'' launch in class. We were so excited; everyone was horrified when it blew up.
:Hairy: It was 1995.
:Hairy: Our teacher got fired soon after.

:[Panel with Hairy, White Hat, Black Hat, and Hairbun]
:White Hat: Mine's the 2016 election.
:Hairbun: ...aren't you in your 30's?
:White Hat: Look, we're not all great about keeping up with the news, OK?

:[Panel with White Hat, Black Hat, and Hairbun]
:Black Hat: My first memory is when we landed on the moon.
:Black Hat: My second memory is my mom telling us we were moving to Earth instead, to blend in with the humans.
:Hairbun: This explains a lot.

{{comic discussion}}

2174: First News Memory

2019-07-11T17:28:49Z

162.158.58.169: /* Frame Two */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2174
| date = July 10, 2019
| title = First News Memory
| image = first_news_memory.png
| titletext = Psychology researchers say our 'flashbulb' memories of big events can be unreliable, but I clearly remember watching live on CNN as Challenger crashed into and destroyed the Berlin Wall.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FAULTY FIRST NEWS MEMORY. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. (Explain title-text) Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
7 xkcd characters are discussing their "first news memory", their first memory of an event that was reported by the news media. A person's "first news memory" can vary based on their age, the region where they grew up, and how in touch with the news they are.

The following is a breakdown of the memories given by the characters, in typical xkcd fashion:
===Frame One===
[[Ponytail]] gets the ball rolling by posing the question.
[[Cueball]] recalls the election coverage from the year 1988. As Randall lives in the US, this is probably the {{w|1988 United States presidential election|1988 US presidential election}} in which George H. W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis. [[Megan]] recalls {{w|Berlin_Wall#Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall|the removal of the Berlin wall}}, which began in 1989.

===Frame Two===
[[Hairy]] recalls the {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|''Challenger'' explosion}}, which occurred in 1986. Many schools allowed teachers to bring a television to the classroom to show their students, sadly unaware of the impending disaster the children would witness. However, Hairy remembers watching the footage in 1995, so Hairy's teacher was knowingly showing the students recorded footage of a disaster. Presumably, showing a number of young schoolchildren a traumatizing event led to the teacher's dismissal.

===Frame Three===
[[White Hat]] says that his first news memory was about the 2016 election (presumably the {{w|2016 United States presidential election|2016 US presidential election}}), which is only three years prior to the publication date of this comic. This implies that he spent most of his life not paying attention to the news or has amnesia.

===Frame Four===
[[Black Hat]]'s first sentence is normal in the context of the question, albeit making him older than the others. Given only the sentence 'we landed on the moon,' the 'we' is inferred to be 'the United States of America' or 'the human race.' The first {{w|moon landing}} occurred on July 20, 1969.
However, Black Hat goes on to say that 'my second memory is my mom telling us we were moving to Earth instead, to blend in with the humans.' This gives a completely different meaning to his first memory, as it is now implied that Black Hat is a humanoid alien who moved to the Moon, but whose mother then decided to move to Earth. Whether any news coverage resulted is unclear. [[Hairbun]] then remarks that this revelation explains Black Hat's odd (and usually disruptive) behavior. It is unclear whether Black Hat is telling the truth, but knowing Black Hat, and considering the fact that this would be unlikely to receive news coverage, he is likely intentionally trying to unnerve others. Another possibility is that Black Hat was the youthful victim of a prank by his own mother, with Hairbun's comment implying that such an upbringing accounts for the trollish aspects of Black Hat's character in the present day.

The title text gives [http://theconversation.com/flashbulb-memories-of-dramatic-events-arent-as-accurate-as-believed-64838 the claim] that {{w|Flashbulb memory|flashbulb memories}} of big events can be unreliable. Randall denies this claim, claiming to remember watching on CNN as the ''Challenger'' spacecraft crashed into the Berlin Wall. This is an inaccurate memory of these two events, as the ''Challenger'' explosion occurred in 1986 over the Atlantic Ocean, just east of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and did not occur near the Berlin Wall (in Berlin, Germany). Also, the Berlin Wall was intentionally demolished starting in 1989; it was not damaged by a space shuttle. It is possible that this memory also conflates those events with those of the {{w|September 11 attacks}} since the latter ''did'' involve three winged craft crashing into and destroying landmark structures.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, Hairy, White Hat, Black Hat and Hairbun are all at a party, discussing their earliest news memories.]

:[Panel with Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, and Hairy]
:Ponytail: What's your first news memory?
:Cueball: I always like this question! Mine was the 1988 election.
:Megan: Berlin wall for me. You?

:[Frame-less panel with Megan, Hairy, White Hat, and Black Hat]
:Hairy: Watching the ''Challenger'' launch in class. We were so excited; everyone was horrified when it blew up.
:Hairy: It was 1995.
:Hairy: Our teacher got fired soon after.

:[Panel with Hairy, White Hat, Black Hat, and Hairbun]
:White Hat: Mine's the 2016 election.
:Hairbun: ...aren't you in your 30's?
:White Hat: Look, we're not all great about keeping up with the news, OK?

:[Panel with White Hat, Black Hat, and Hairbun]
:Black Hat: My first memory is when we landed on the moon.
:Black Hat: My second memory is my mom telling us we were moving to Earth instead, to blend in with the humans.
:Hairbun: This explains a lot.

{{comic discussion}}

2174: First News Memory

2019-07-10T21:40:18Z

162.158.58.169: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2174
| date = July 10, 2019
| title = First News Memory
| image = first_news_memory.png
| titletext = Psychology researchers say our 'flashbulb' memories of big events can be unreliable, but I clearly remember watching live on CNN as Challenger crashed into and destroyed the Berlin Wall.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FAULTY FIRST NEWS MEMORY. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. (Explain title-text) Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Six xkcd characters are discussing their "first news memory", their first memory of an event that was reported by the news media. A person's "first news memory" can vary based on their age, the region where they grew up, and how in touch with the news they are.

The following is a breakdown of the memories given by the characters, in typical xkcd fashion:
===Frame One===
Cueball recalls the election coverage from the year 1988. As Randall is usually US-centric, this is probably the {{w|1988 United States presidential election|1988 US presidential election}} in which George H. W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis. Megan recalls {{w|Berlin_Wall#Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall|the removal of the Berlin wall}}, which began in 1989.

===Frame Two===
Hairy recalls the {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|''Challenger'' explosion}}, which occurred in 1986. However, he remembers watching the footage in 1995, so Hairy's teacher was not showing them the launch live. Presumably, showing a number of young schoolchildren a traumatizing event led to his dismissal.

===Frame Three===
White Hat says that his first news memory was about the 2016 election (presumably the {{w|2016 United States presidential election|2016 US presidential election}}), which is only three years prior to the publication date of this comic. Given that he is in his thirties, this memory implies that he had not been following the news for quite some time. Alternatively, he could have amnesia and be unable to recall earlier memories.

===Frame Four===
Black Hat's first sentence is normal in the context of the question. Given only the sentence 'we landed on the moon,' the 'we' is inferred to be 'the United States of America' or 'the human race.' The first {{w|moon landing}} occurred on June 20, 1969.
However, Black Hat goes on to say that 'my second memory is my mom telling us we were moving to Earth instead, to blend in with the humans.' This gives a completely different meaning to his first memory, as it is now implied that Black Hat is a humanoid alien that moved to the Moon, but whose mother then decided to move to Earth. Whether any news coverage resulted is unclear. Hairbun then remarks that this revelation explains Black Hat's odd (and usually disruptive) behavior. It is unclear whether Black Hat is telling the truth, but knowing Black Hat, he is likely intentionally trying to unnerve others.

The title text gives the claim that memories of big events can be unreliable. Randall refutes this claim, claiming to remember watching on CNN as the ''Challenger'' spacecraft crashes into the Berlin Wall. This is an inaccurate memory of these two events, as the ''Challenger'' explosion occurred in 1986 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and did not occur near the Berlin Wall (in Berlin, Germany).

===Title text===
Citation: Talarico (2016) [http://theconversation.com/flashbulb-memories-of-dramatic-events-arent-as-accurate-as-believed-64838 "Flashbulb memories of dramatic events aren’t as accurate as believed"] ''The Conversation.''

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, Hairy, White Hat, Black Hat and Hairbun are all at a party, discussing their earliest news memories.]

:[Panel with Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, and Hairy]
:Ponytail: What's your first news memory?
:Cueball: I always like this question! Mine was the 1988 election.
:Megan: Berlin wall for me. You?

:[Frame-less panel with Megan, Hairy, White Hat, and Black Hat]
:Hairy: Watching the ''Challenger'' launch in class. We were so excited; everyone was horrified when it blew up.
:Hairy: It was 1995.
:Hairy: Our teacher got fired soon after.

:[Panel with Hairy, White Hat, Black Hat, and Hairbun]
:White Hat: Mine's the 2016 election.
:Hairbun: ...aren't you in your 30's?
:White Hat: Look, we're not all great about keeping up with the news, OK?

:[Panel with White Hat, Black Hat, and Hairbun]
:Black Hat: My first memory is when we landed on the moon.
:Black Hat: My second memory is my mom telling us we were moving to Earth instead, to blend in with the humans.
:Hairbun: This explains a lot.

{{comic discussion}}

2174: First News Memory

2019-07-10T21:39:37Z

162.158.58.169: more

{{comic
| number = 2174
| date = July 10, 2019
| title = First News Memory
| image = first_news_memory.png
| titletext = Psychology researchers say our 'flashbulb' memories of big events can be unreliable, but I clearly remember watching live on CNN as Challenger crashed into and destroyed the Berlin Wall.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FAULTY FIRST NEWS MEMORY. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. (Explain title-text) Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
6 xkcd characters are discussing their "first news memory", their first memory of an event that was reported by the news media. A person's "first news memory" can vary based on their age, their region where they grew up, and how in touch with the news they are.

The following is a breakdown of the memories given by the characters, in typical xkcd fashion:
===Frame One===
Cueball recalls the election coverage from the year 1988. As Randall is usually US-centric, this is probably the {{w|1988 United States presidential election|1988 US presidential election}} in which George H. W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis. Megan recalls {{w|Berlin_Wall#Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall|the removal of the Berlin wall}}, which began in 1989.

===Frame Two===
Hairy recalls the {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|''Challenger'' explosion}}, which occurred in 1986. However, he remembers watching the footage in 1995, so Hairy's teacher was not showing them the launch live. Presumably, showing a number of young schoolchildren a traumatizing event led to his dismissal.

===Frame Three===
White Hat says that his first news memory was about the 2016 election (presumably the {{w|2016 United States presidential election|2016 US presidential election}}), which is only three years prior to the publication date of this comic. Given that he is in his thirties, this memory implies that he had not been following the news for quite some time. Alternatively, he could have amnesia and be unable to recall earlier memories.

===Frame Four===
Black Hat's first sentence is normal in the context of the question. Given only the sentence 'we landed on the moon,' the 'we' is inferred to be 'the United States of America' or 'the human race.' The first {{w|moon landing}} occurred on June 20, 1969.
However, Black Hat goes on to say that 'my second memory is my mom telling us we were moving to Earth instead, to blend in with the humans.' This gives a completely different meaning to his first memory, as it is now implied that Black Hat is a humanoid alien that moved to the Moon, but whose mother then decided to move to Earth. Whether any news coverage resulted is unclear. Hairbun then remarks that this revelation explains Black Hat's odd (and usually disruptive) behavior. It is unclear whether Black Hat is telling the truth, but knowing Black Hat, he is likely intentionally trying to unnerve others.

The title text gives the claim that memories of big events can be unreliable. Randall refutes this claim, claiming to remember watching on CNN as the ''Challenger'' spacecraft crashes into the Berlin Wall. This is an inaccurate memory of these two events, as the ''Challenger'' explosion occurred in 1986 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and did not occur near the Berlin Wall (in Berlin, Germany).

===Title text===
Citation: Talarico (2016) [http://theconversation.com/flashbulb-memories-of-dramatic-events-arent-as-accurate-as-believed-64838 "Flashbulb memories of dramatic events aren’t as accurate as believed"] ''The Conversation.''

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, Hairy, White Hat, Black Hat and Hairbun are all at a party, discussing their earliest news memories.]

:[Panel with Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, and Hairy]
:Ponytail: What's your first news memory?
:Cueball: I always like this question! Mine was the 1988 election.
:Megan: Berlin wall for me. You?

:[Frame-less panel with Megan, Hairy, White Hat, and Black Hat]
:Hairy: Watching the ''Challenger'' launch in class. We were so excited; everyone was horrified when it blew up.
:Hairy: It was 1995.
:Hairy: Our teacher got fired soon after.

:[Panel with Hairy, White Hat, Black Hat, and Hairbun]
:White Hat: Mine's the 2016 election.
:Hairbun: ...aren't you in your 30's?
:White Hat: Look, we're not all great about keeping up with the news, OK?

:[Panel with White Hat, Black Hat, and Hairbun]
:Black Hat: My first memory is when we landed on the moon.
:Black Hat: My second memory is my mom telling us we were moving to Earth instead, to blend in with the humans.
:Hairbun: This explains a lot.

{{comic discussion}}

2173: Trained a Neural Net

2019-07-10T17:44:43Z

162.158.58.169: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2173
| date = July 8, 2019
| title = Trained a Neural Net
| image = trained_a_neural_net.png
| titletext = It also works for anything you teach someone else to do. "Oh yeah, I trained a pair of neural nets, Emily and Kevin, to respond to support tickets."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRAINED NEURAL NET. This is an incredibly stubby explanation; please expand. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
An {{w|artificial neural network}}, or a neural net, is a computing system inspired by a human brain, which "learns" by considering lots and lots of examples to develop patterns. For example, these are used in image recognition - by analyzing thousands or millions of examples, the system is able to identify particular objects. Neural networks typically function with no prior knowledge, and are "trained" by feeding in examples of the thing that they are told to analyze.

Here, [[Cueball]] is telling [[White Hat]] how he trained a neural net to sort photos into categories. The joke in the comic is that a human brain is already a neural network, albeit a biological one instead of an artificial one. By teaching oneself (or others) to do a task, you are ''de facto'' training a neural network. So instead of designing and training an artificial neural net that could do this task, all he did was manually sort the photos.

It is not advisable to say this in real life, because you might then be expected to use your already-trained neural net to do a similar task (or redo the same task) with much greater speed, thus ruining the façade. Also, people are offended when they are referred to by programmers as deterministic automata with no free will.

The title text is a continuation of this joke, as instead of designing and training two artificial neural nets named "Emily" and "Kevin", all he has done is train two people to manually respond to support tickets.

==Transcript==
:[Single panel with White Hat and Cueball, with White Hat holding what appears to be a smartphone.]
:White Hat: Oh, hey, you organized our photo archive!
:Cueball: Yeah, I trained a neural net to sort the unlabeled photos into categories.
:White Hat: Whoa! Nice work!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Engineering Tip: When you do a task by hand, you can technically say you trained a neural net to do it.

==Trivia==
[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Diego_Moussallem/publication/326030040_Neural_Machine_Translation_for_Query_Construction_and_Composition Some contemporary neural nets have been trained to answer questions about the contents of Wikipedia.] You [http://chat.dbpedia.org try one] that [https://wiki.dbpedia.org/contribute you can also help train]. Technically, improving Wikipedia helps train it, but for example [https://github.com/dbpedia/GSoC/issues/11 you can also look for problems with the net's output.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]

2173: Trained a Neural Net

2019-07-10T17:44:04Z

162.158.58.169: move to trivia section

{{comic
| number = 2173
| date = July 8, 2019
| title = Trained a Neural Net
| image = trained_a_neural_net.png
| titletext = It also works for anything you teach someone else to do. "Oh yeah, I trained a pair of neural nets, Emily and Kevin, to respond to support tickets."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRAINED NEURAL NET. This is an incredibly stubby explanation; please expand. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
An {{w|artificial neural network}}, or a neural net, is a computing system inspired by a human brain, which "learns" by considering lots and lots of examples to develop patterns. For example, these are used in image recognition - by analyzing thousands or millions of examples, the system is able to identify particular objects. Neural networks typically function with no prior knowledge, and are "trained" by feeding in examples of the thing that they are told to analyze.

Here, [[Cueball]] is telling [[White Hat]] how he trained a neural net to sort photos into categories. The joke in the comic is that a human brain is already a neural network, albeit a biological one instead of an artificial one. By teaching oneself (or others) to do a task, you are ''de facto'' training a neural network. So instead of designing and training an artificial neural net that could do this task, all he did was manually sort the photos.

It is not advisable to say this in real life, because you might then be expected to use your already-trained neural net to do a similar task (or redo the same task) with much greater speed, thus ruining the façade. Also, people are offended when they are referred to by programers as deterministic automata with no free will.

The title text is a continuation of this joke, as instead of designing and training two artificial neural nets named "Emily" and "Kevin", all he has done is train two people to manually respond to support tickets.

==Transcript==
:[Single panel with White Hat and Cueball, with White Hat holding what appears to be a smartphone.]
:White Hat: Oh, hey, you organized our photo archive!
:Cueball: Yeah, I trained a neural net to sort the unlabeled photos into categories.
:White Hat: Whoa! Nice work!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Engineering Tip: When you do a task by hand, you can technically say you trained a neural net to do it.

==Trivia==
[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Diego_Moussallem/publication/326030040_Neural_Machine_Translation_for_Query_Construction_and_Composition Some contemporary neural nets have been trained to answer questions about the contents of Wikipedia.] You [http://chat.dbpedia.org try one] that [https://wiki.dbpedia.org/contribute you can also help train]. Technically, improving Wikipedia helps train it, but for example [https://github.com/dbpedia/GSoC/issues/11 you can also look for problems with the net's output.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]

Talk:2173: Trained a Neural Net

2019-07-10T17:43:06Z

162.158.58.169: cmt

Of course it's cheating as human's neural nets came pre-trained. I mean, unless you trained infant to do it, and even then, some things in image recognition are hardwired. In any contest between modern software and infant in face recognition or "is that face happy" recognition, I'm betting on infant. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:03, 8 July 2019 (UTC)
:Face recognition might be innate, but higher level tasks are not. You're not born knowing how to ride a bicycle or do algebra (there may be some simple counting circuits in the brain), your neural network has to be trained so you can do these.[[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:04, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

Ahh -- a short and sweet comic and explanation! I'd propose not bloating the explanation too much; the joke has been explained perfectly fine already. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.16|172.68.51.16]] 22:16, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

Perhaps we should just all adhere to Randall's own advice in [[1475|1475:Technically]]:

:'My life improved when I realized I could just ignore any sentence that started with "technically."'

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.115|162.158.154.115]] 11:36, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
:But this one doesn't start that way. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.77|141.101.99.77]] 14:41, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
:Technically correct is only technically the best kind of correct during the all-but two week window when astrology doesn't work. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.82|172.68.141.82]] 18:13, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

Yay! We trained a neural net to explain XKCD [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 13:23, 9 July 2019 (UTC)

I'm not convinced that the paragraph on the neural net for answering questions about Wikipedia content is helpful at explaining the comic, but I am convinced that including 6 separate links within that short paragraph is entirely disruptive to that goal. Either the quantity of links should be severely curtailed or the paragraph needs to be removed from the explanation! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:38, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
:I'm a little concerned that you called it spam, given Randall's affinity for Wikipedia, and it being the best example. Can we workshop [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2173%3A_Trained_a_Neural_Net&type=revision&diff=176369&oldid=176354 it here?] I am happy to replace the many links to one at an intermediate page, e.g.[https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T166929#5319562] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.91|172.68.189.91]] 23:40, 9 July 2019 (UTC)
::I didn't call it spam - the editor who removed it used that term. I just felt the nearly continuous links were a little excessive and made it difficult to read. It might be appropriate in an added "Trivia" section at the end of the explanation, with just a link or two. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 13:10, 10 July 2019 (UTC)
:::I understand Randall's affinity for Wikipedia, but I don't believe that this neural net paragraph is helpful to the comic explanation. The Wikipedia neural net is not mentioned int he comic, and there is no indication that Randall was thinking about the Wikipedia neural net when he was creating the comic. I will move this to a Trivia section. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.169|162.158.58.169]] 17:43, 10 July 2019 (UTC)

2171: Shadow Biosphere

2019-07-03T18:53:42Z

162.158.58.169: /* Explanation */ ce

{{comic
| number = 2171
| date = July 3, 2019
| title = Shadow Biosphere
| image = shadow_biosphere.png
| titletext = The typical Shadow Biology Department is housed in a building coated in a thin layer of desert varnish which renders it invisible to normal-world university staff.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by SCP-SHADOW BIOLOGIST. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|shadow biosphere}} is a hypothetical microbial {{w|biosphere}} of Earth that uses radically different biochemical and molecular processes than currently known life. Although life on Earth is relatively well-studied, the shadow biosphere may still remain unnoticed because the exploration of the microbial world targets primarily the biochemistry of the macro-organisms.

Because organisms based on RNA would not have ribosomes, which are usually used to detect living microorganisms, they would be difficult to find in normal circumstances.

The comic suggests that this hypothetical biosphere exists, and its study is funded by "shadow" biotech corporations, but anyone that studies it becomes undetectable.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball and Megan are standing opposite of each other. A shadowy figure is behind Megan.]
:Shadowy Figure: These days most of our funding comes in from the shadow biotech industry.
:Megan: Did you hear something?
:Cueball: I think it's the wind.
:Caption below panel: The shadow biosphere exists, but if you study it, you become a shadow biologist.

{{comic discussion}}