explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1338: Land Mammals

2014-03-07T23:56:52Z

108.162.215.36: /* Talk about the table */

Is it mass or weight? --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.119|173.245.53.119]] 06:38, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:It says weight. Since most land animals live on the... land, there is not much difference. I suppose if a lot of aninimals lived near a [https://xkcd.com/852/ prime pole vaulting location] it could skew the results. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 06:40, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm really curious, what are the other, unlabeled groupings? [http://vaclavsmil.com/the-earths-biosphere-evolution-dynamics-and-change/ Author's website] {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.46}}

<pre>
On page 186 of Smil's referenced book, there is a bar chart with the following values in millions of tons (*=not used in Randall's graphic):
elephants 0.8
horses 40
pigs 100
cattle 450
people 280
*whales 80
*all wild vertebrates 30
*all domesticated vertebrates 650
</pre> {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.46}}

I think that this graph is actually more illustrative of how much support humans need to maintain themselves (the amount of cattle is astonishing). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:58, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:''need''? I don't think we ''need'' so much cattle. It's just that most people prefer hamburgers and steaks to beans. So, how much we ''use'' to maintain ourselves would be better. (BTW, you don't count yourself as human?) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:39, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:According to [http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201209/how-many-dogs-are-there-in-the-world] there are 525 million dogs, assuming 20 kg as average weight, this should give 10 squares in the diagram. I can't find reliable numbers for cats, but there are more cats than dogs, but they don't weigh as much, so their total weight could be similar to that of the dogs. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.160|108.162.254.160]] 08:42, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

The blob of 13 under the word Livestock may very well represent both dogs and cats. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.46}}

===Layout of the blocks===
Does anybody see a reason for the particular layout of the blocks? My first impression was a globe but obviously it doesn't correspond to any continents, etc. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.66|108.162.254.66]] 08:44, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
: I've been wondering myself... I do think it is a picture of something. My ideas so far: an eye, a fried egg, a cell. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 09:29, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

::It may simply be something-like-a-circle of humans with the rest surrounding it. But it DOES look like a cell. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:39, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:: Could it be a sort of relationship diagram? It looks like we're in the centre, with the animals we have the closest relationships with — our pets and our food — nearest, and those we're less concerned with further away. [[User:Gidds|Gidds]] ([[User talk:Gidds|talk]]) 11:34, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:::Yes, the overall layout is human-centric, but that doesn't explain the intentionally lumpy and asymmetric regions. It would have been easier to place the blocks in regular shapes (circular, rectangular or otherwise) but Randall chose to do it this way. Cell with a nucleus is a reasonable guess. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 14:00, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
::::I think it resembles a (low resolution) globe, with humanity representing the major continent [[User:Boxy|Boxy]] ([[User talk:Boxy|talk]]) 14:19, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

::::I think it shows the relationship of the title text (assuming we are part of land mammals): there are about 1.2K squares in total representing a factor of 1K:1 overall. Thus the shape (resembling bacterium) is explained, the incorporation of all mammals into the shape, and the potential central location of humans (assuming most bacteria lives in our gut). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.31|108.162.219.31]] 16:09, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:::::I'm thinking the data points are placed using a polar coordinate system (although what the axis are I don't know, other than that being human gets you close to the center) combined with a mapping onto an x-y grid. Does that make any sense? --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 20:56, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:::::: I think the layout is intended to show two legged mammals in the middle and four legged surrounding it. There are not sufficient six legged mammals to make yet another circle outside the four legged circle. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 16:47, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

::::::: You know of ANY six legged mammal? Any six-appendages {{w|vertebrate}} I know of is mythological creature (like {{w|pegasus}} or some {{w|dragon}}s) or non-earth origin (like {{w|List_of_alien_species_in_the_Honorverse#treecats|tree cats}} or {{w|Pandoran_biosphere|Pandora-native}}). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:58, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

===Identifying the groups===
I would love to identify specific groups. The unlabelled animals come in groups, even the wild animals, even though only *one* of those groups (elephants for some reason) has been labelled. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 13:05, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
:Reason for elephant label == "This is how much/little the whole population of the largest land mammals amass to."? (Actually, given the scarcity of elephants, I'm surprised it's a full block. I suspect something else that could have been labelledsuch as "rats" would be far more.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 14:07, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

Per the wikipeda page[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel#Distribution_and_numbers] on camels I expect that they are the blob of 3 gray squares. [[User:Mwiser|Mwiser]] ([[User talk:Mwiser|talk]]) Update: I hadn't seen the 1 billion kg == 1 million tons notation which has since appeared. I therefore added camels (and also donkeys) to the table below. [[User:Mwiser|Mwiser]] ([[User talk:Mwiser|talk]])

Non [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_SI_definitions SI] units should just die [http://xkcd.com/526/ already]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.8|108.162.241.8]] 20:39, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:Is Randall's ton the metric {{w|tonne}} or the US {{w|short ton}}? -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.65|108.162.219.65]] 22:06, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
::Considering that Randall is very aware of the SI confusion, I'm sure he would have made it clear if he where NOT using metric tonne - so I would say his tonne is 1,000 kg! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:53, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

===Stab at the numbers===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: 95%; table-layout: fixed; line-height:1.25"
|-
! Land Mammal
! population in Billions
! Average Kilograms
! Total Kilograms in Billions
! xkcd value
! Notes
|-
! Humans
| 7.2
| 70
| {{sort|00504|504}}
| 556
| as of 2013
|-
! Cattle
| 1
| 1740
| {{sort|01740|1740}}
| 1918
| as of 2012
|-
! Pigs
| 1
| 350
| {{sort|00350|350}}
| 386
|
|-
! Chickens
| 19
| 1
| {{sort|00019|19}}
| 21
| not mammals
|-
! Goats
| 0.865
| 46
| {{sort|00039.7|39.7}}
|
| as of 2008... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat#Worldwide_goat_population_statistics src]
|-
! Sheep
| 1
| 80
| {{sort|00080|80}}
| 88
|
|-
! Elephants
| 0.000105670
| 5000
| {{sort|00000.5|0.5}}
|
| as of 2012 [http://www.elephantdatabase.org/preview_report/2013_africa/Loxodonta_africana/2012/Africa src]
|-
! Horses
| 0.058372106
| 500
| {{sort|00029|29}}
|
| as of 2006 [http://horsetalk.co.nz/2007/09/12/world-horse-population-58m/#axzz2v7dtQwJK src]
|-
! Rats
| 10
| 0.35
| {{sort|00003.5|3.5}}
| 4
| 10B is a guess
|-
! Cats
| 0.6
| 5
| {{sort|00003|3}}
| 3
|
|-
! Dogs
| 0.4
| 40
| {{sort|00016|16}}
|
|
|-
! Seal
| 0.022
| 200
| {{sort|00004.4|4.4}}
| 5
| not a land mammal
|-
! Mole
| 6×1014
| 0.075
| 4.5×1013
|
| Numbers are slightly exaggerated, but [http://what-if.xkcd.com/4 it would be nice] to have those quantities
|-
! Krill
| ?
| ?
| {{sort|00300|175-725}}
|
| Wild species with largest biomass (not a land mammal)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_krill#Biomass_and_production src]
|-
! Camel
| 0.014
| 465
| 6.51
|
| As of 2010 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel src]
|-
! Donkey
| 0.04
| 160
| 6.4
|
| As of 206 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey src] [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDkQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ed.ac.uk%2Fpolopoly_fs%2F1.21412!%2FfileManager%2Fdonkey%2520fact%2520sheet.pdf&ei=HO4XU6mlD4WbygGMlICoCg&usg=AFQjCNH4aPhQCgltmd0nkgxB6Zb4QU_qLw&bvm=bv.62577051,d.aWc&cad=rja mass src]
|-

|}
* 1 billion kg == 1 million tons [https://www.google.ca/search?q=convert:+1+kg+to+metric+tons src]
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heaviest_land_mammals
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_mammals_by_population
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.8|108.162.241.8]] 16:19, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

===Talk about the table===
uhh.... chickens aren't... mammals? (?) [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 17:22, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:Apparently not. http://www.ask.com/question/are-chickens-mammals
:--[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 03:23, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Where does these XKCD numbers come from? Cattle 1740? Humans 556? According to the comic there are 520 Cattle and 358 Humans (million ton). This table makes no sence in the XKCD number department. Appart from that it would be a great table to include in the comic... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:52, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Where does the average weight come from? As the human race is very young (26% below 15 years) and the cattle population has is changed very rapidly - thus there will also be many calves all the time - reducing the average weight far below that of an average adult animal ready to made in to beef... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:55, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Maybe the seal is considered a land mammal by Randal? Only wales are really not land mamals. The link to elephant population seems only to cover African elephants not Asian... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:01, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Does Randall consider cattle to be all the genus Bos? Waterbuffalo for example weigh about 400kg and wikipedia claims a world population of 130M. That would be 52 blocks. So, I'd assume that since there aren't any free blocks that large, that they are considered cattle. So, then Yaks and Wildebeests should be considered cattle as well, no? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.36|108.162.215.36]] 22:06, 7 March 2014 (UTC)rbnm
::sorry I meant Tribe Bovini not genus Bos [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.36|108.162.215.36]]rbnm

Rodentia? If the average rodent weighs something like 0.67kg, then 15B rodents would make up 13 squares. 0.67kg comes from the log average of the smallest and largest. If this includes rats (4B per the WHO) - is it reasonable that the rest of Rodentia includes 11B, 1-2 rodents per person on the Earth? That would include: squirrels, porcupines, beavers, guinea pigs, and hamsters; although guinea pigs might be considered pet/livestock (mmm... cuye!). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.36|108.162.215.36]] 23:56, 7 March 2014 (UTC)rbnm

===Title Text===
The title text mentions that bacteria outweigh humans by thousands (plural) to one. The notation 1000:1 used in the explanation is therefore not correct.
:True - I did not spot that. I have corrected it to the same version as the title text[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:15, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1338: Land Mammals

2014-03-07T22:19:01Z

108.162.215.36: /* Talk about the table */

Is it mass or weight? --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.119|173.245.53.119]] 06:38, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:It says weight. Since most land animals live on the... land, there is not much difference. I suppose if a lot of aninimals lived near a [https://xkcd.com/852/ prime pole vaulting location] it could skew the results. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 06:40, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm really curious, what are the other, unlabeled groupings? [http://vaclavsmil.com/the-earths-biosphere-evolution-dynamics-and-change/ Author's website] {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.46}}

<pre>
On page 186 of Smil's referenced book, there is a bar chart with the following values in millions of tons (*=not used in Randall's graphic):
elephants 0.8
horses 40
pigs 100
cattle 450
people 280
*whales 80
*all wild vertebrates 30
*all domesticated vertebrates 650
</pre> {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.46}}

I think that this graph is actually more illustrative of how much support humans need to maintain themselves (the amount of cattle is astonishing). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:58, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:''need''? I don't think we ''need'' so much cattle. It's just that most people prefer hamburgers and steaks to beans. So, how much we ''use'' to maintain ourselves would be better. (BTW, you don't count yourself as human?) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:39, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:According to [http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201209/how-many-dogs-are-there-in-the-world] there are 525 million dogs, assuming 20 kg as average weight, this should give 10 squares in the diagram. I can't find reliable numbers for cats, but there are more cats than dogs, but they don't weigh as much, so their total weight could be similar to that of the dogs. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.160|108.162.254.160]] 08:42, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

The blob of 13 under the word Livestock may very well represent both dogs and cats. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.46}}

===Layout of the blocks===
Does anybody see a reason for the particular layout of the blocks? My first impression was a globe but obviously it doesn't correspond to any continents, etc. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.66|108.162.254.66]] 08:44, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
: I've been wondering myself... I do think it is a picture of something. My ideas so far: an eye, a fried egg, a cell. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 09:29, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

::It may simply be something-like-a-circle of humans with the rest surrounding it. But it DOES look like a cell. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:39, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:: Could it be a sort of relationship diagram? It looks like we're in the centre, with the animals we have the closest relationships with — our pets and our food — nearest, and those we're less concerned with further away. [[User:Gidds|Gidds]] ([[User talk:Gidds|talk]]) 11:34, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:::Yes, the overall layout is human-centric, but that doesn't explain the intentionally lumpy and asymmetric regions. It would have been easier to place the blocks in regular shapes (circular, rectangular or otherwise) but Randall chose to do it this way. Cell with a nucleus is a reasonable guess. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 14:00, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
::::I think it resembles a (low resolution) globe, with humanity representing the major continent [[User:Boxy|Boxy]] ([[User talk:Boxy|talk]]) 14:19, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

::::I think it shows the relationship of the title text (assuming we are part of land mammals): there are about 1.2K squares in total representing a factor of 1K:1 overall. Thus the shape (resembling bacterium) is explained, the incorporation of all mammals into the shape, and the potential central location of humans (assuming most bacteria lives in our gut). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.31|108.162.219.31]] 16:09, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:::::I'm thinking the data points are placed using a polar coordinate system (although what the axis are I don't know, other than that being human gets you close to the center) combined with a mapping onto an x-y grid. Does that make any sense? --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 20:56, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:::::: I think the layout is intended to show two legged mammals in the middle and four legged surrounding it. There are not sufficient six legged mammals to make yet another circle outside the four legged circle. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 16:47, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

::::::: You know of ANY six legged mammal? Any six-appendages {{w|vertebrate}} I know of is mythological creature (like {{w|pegasus}} or some {{w|dragon}}s) or non-earth origin (like {{w|List_of_alien_species_in_the_Honorverse#treecats|tree cats}} or {{w|Pandoran_biosphere|Pandora-native}}). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:58, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

===Identifying the groups===
I would love to identify specific groups. The unlabelled animals come in groups, even the wild animals, even though only *one* of those groups (elephants for some reason) has been labelled. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 13:05, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
:Reason for elephant label == "This is how much/little the whole population of the largest land mammals amass to."? (Actually, given the scarcity of elephants, I'm surprised it's a full block. I suspect something else that could have been labelledsuch as "rats" would be far more.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 14:07, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

Per the wikipeda page[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel#Distribution_and_numbers] on camels I expect that they are the blob of 3 gray squares. [[User:Mwiser|Mwiser]] ([[User talk:Mwiser|talk]]) Update: I hadn't seen the 1 billion kg == 1 million tons notation which has since appeared. I therefore added camels (and also donkeys) to the table below. [[User:Mwiser|Mwiser]] ([[User talk:Mwiser|talk]])

Non [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_SI_definitions SI] units should just die [http://xkcd.com/526/ already]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.8|108.162.241.8]] 20:39, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:Is Randall's ton the metric {{w|tonne}} or the US {{w|short ton}}? -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.65|108.162.219.65]] 22:06, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
::Considering that Randall is very aware of the SI confusion, I'm sure he would have made it clear if he where NOT using metric tonne - so I would say his tonne is 1,000 kg! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:53, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

===Stab at the numbers===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: 95%; table-layout: fixed; line-height:1.25"
|-
! Land Mammal
! population in Billions
! Average Kilograms
! Total Kilograms in Billions
! xkcd value
! Notes
|-
! Humans
| 7.2
| 70
| {{sort|00504|504}}
| 556
| as of 2013
|-
! Cattle
| 1
| 1740
| {{sort|01740|1740}}
| 1918
| as of 2012
|-
! Pigs
| 1
| 350
| {{sort|00350|350}}
| 386
|
|-
! Chickens
| 19
| 1
| {{sort|00019|19}}
| 21
| not mammals
|-
! Goats
| 0.865
| 46
| {{sort|00039.7|39.7}}
|
| as of 2008... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat#Worldwide_goat_population_statistics src]
|-
! Sheep
| 1
| 80
| {{sort|00080|80}}
| 88
|
|-
! Elephants
| 0.000105670
| 5000
| {{sort|00000.5|0.5}}
|
| as of 2012 [http://www.elephantdatabase.org/preview_report/2013_africa/Loxodonta_africana/2012/Africa src]
|-
! Horses
| 0.058372106
| 500
| {{sort|00029|29}}
|
| as of 2006 [http://horsetalk.co.nz/2007/09/12/world-horse-population-58m/#axzz2v7dtQwJK src]
|-
! Rats
| 10
| 0.35
| {{sort|00003.5|3.5}}
| 4
| 10B is a guess
|-
! Cats
| 0.6
| 5
| {{sort|00003|3}}
| 3
|
|-
! Dogs
| 0.4
| 40
| {{sort|00016|16}}
|
|
|-
! Seal
| 0.022
| 200
| {{sort|00004.4|4.4}}
| 5
| not a land mammal
|-
! Mole
| 6×1014
| 0.075
| 4.5×1013
|
| Numbers are slightly exaggerated, but [http://what-if.xkcd.com/4 it would be nice] to have those quantities
|-
! Krill
| ?
| ?
| {{sort|00300|175-725}}
|
| Wild species with largest biomass (not a land mammal)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_krill#Biomass_and_production src]
|-
! Camel
| 0.014
| 465
| 6.51
|
| As of 2010 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel src]
|-
! Donkey
| 0.04
| 160
| 6.4
|
| As of 206 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey src] [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDkQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ed.ac.uk%2Fpolopoly_fs%2F1.21412!%2FfileManager%2Fdonkey%2520fact%2520sheet.pdf&ei=HO4XU6mlD4WbygGMlICoCg&usg=AFQjCNH4aPhQCgltmd0nkgxB6Zb4QU_qLw&bvm=bv.62577051,d.aWc&cad=rja mass src]
|-

|}
* 1 billion kg == 1 million tons [https://www.google.ca/search?q=convert:+1+kg+to+metric+tons src]
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heaviest_land_mammals
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_mammals_by_population
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.8|108.162.241.8]] 16:19, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

===Talk about the table===
uhh.... chickens aren't... mammals? (?) [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 17:22, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:Apparently not. http://www.ask.com/question/are-chickens-mammals
:--[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 03:23, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Where does these XKCD numbers come from? Cattle 1740? Humans 556? According to the comic there are 520 Cattle and 358 Humans (million ton). This table makes no sence in the XKCD number department. Appart from that it would be a great table to include in the comic... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:52, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Where does the average weight come from? As the human race is very young (26% below 15 years) and the cattle population has is changed very rapidly - thus there will also be many calves all the time - reducing the average weight far below that of an average adult animal ready to made in to beef... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:55, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Maybe the seal is considered a land mammal by Randal? Only wales are really not land mamals. The link to elephant population seems only to cover African elephants not Asian... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:01, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Does Randall consider cattle to be all the genus Bos? Waterbuffalo for example weigh about 400kg and wikipedia claims a world population of 130M. That would be 52 blocks. So, I'd assume that since there aren't any free blocks that large, that they are considered cattle. So, then Yaks and Wildebeests should be considered cattle as well, no? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.36|108.162.215.36]] 22:06, 7 March 2014 (UTC)rbnm
sorry I meant Tribe Bovini not genus Bos [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.36|108.162.215.36]]rbnm

===Title Text===
The title text mentions that bacteria outweigh humans by thousands (plural) to one. The notation 1000:1 used in the explanation is therefore not correct.
:True - I did not spot that. I have corrected it to the same version as the title text[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:15, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

Talk:1338: Land Mammals

2014-03-07T22:06:14Z

108.162.215.36: /* Talk about the table */

Is it mass or weight? --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.119|173.245.53.119]] 06:38, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:It says weight. Since most land animals live on the... land, there is not much difference. I suppose if a lot of aninimals lived near a [https://xkcd.com/852/ prime pole vaulting location] it could skew the results. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 06:40, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm really curious, what are the other, unlabeled groupings? [http://vaclavsmil.com/the-earths-biosphere-evolution-dynamics-and-change/ Author's website] {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.46}}

<pre>
On page 186 of Smil's referenced book, there is a bar chart with the following values in millions of tons (*=not used in Randall's graphic):
elephants 0.8
horses 40
pigs 100
cattle 450
people 280
*whales 80
*all wild vertebrates 30
*all domesticated vertebrates 650
</pre> {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.46}}

I think that this graph is actually more illustrative of how much support humans need to maintain themselves (the amount of cattle is astonishing). [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 07:58, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:''need''? I don't think we ''need'' so much cattle. It's just that most people prefer hamburgers and steaks to beans. So, how much we ''use'' to maintain ourselves would be better. (BTW, you don't count yourself as human?) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:39, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:According to [http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201209/how-many-dogs-are-there-in-the-world] there are 525 million dogs, assuming 20 kg as average weight, this should give 10 squares in the diagram. I can't find reliable numbers for cats, but there are more cats than dogs, but they don't weigh as much, so their total weight could be similar to that of the dogs. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.160|108.162.254.160]] 08:42, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

The blob of 13 under the word Livestock may very well represent both dogs and cats. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.46}}

===Layout of the blocks===
Does anybody see a reason for the particular layout of the blocks? My first impression was a globe but obviously it doesn't correspond to any continents, etc. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.66|108.162.254.66]] 08:44, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
: I've been wondering myself... I do think it is a picture of something. My ideas so far: an eye, a fried egg, a cell. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 09:29, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

::It may simply be something-like-a-circle of humans with the rest surrounding it. But it DOES look like a cell. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:39, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:: Could it be a sort of relationship diagram? It looks like we're in the centre, with the animals we have the closest relationships with — our pets and our food — nearest, and those we're less concerned with further away. [[User:Gidds|Gidds]] ([[User talk:Gidds|talk]]) 11:34, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:::Yes, the overall layout is human-centric, but that doesn't explain the intentionally lumpy and asymmetric regions. It would have been easier to place the blocks in regular shapes (circular, rectangular or otherwise) but Randall chose to do it this way. Cell with a nucleus is a reasonable guess. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 14:00, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
::::I think it resembles a (low resolution) globe, with humanity representing the major continent [[User:Boxy|Boxy]] ([[User talk:Boxy|talk]]) 14:19, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

::::I think it shows the relationship of the title text (assuming we are part of land mammals): there are about 1.2K squares in total representing a factor of 1K:1 overall. Thus the shape (resembling bacterium) is explained, the incorporation of all mammals into the shape, and the potential central location of humans (assuming most bacteria lives in our gut). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.31|108.162.219.31]] 16:09, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:::::I'm thinking the data points are placed using a polar coordinate system (although what the axis are I don't know, other than that being human gets you close to the center) combined with a mapping onto an x-y grid. Does that make any sense? --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 20:56, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:::::: I think the layout is intended to show two legged mammals in the middle and four legged surrounding it. There are not sufficient six legged mammals to make yet another circle outside the four legged circle. [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 16:47, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

::::::: You know of ANY six legged mammal? Any six-appendages {{w|vertebrate}} I know of is mythological creature (like {{w|pegasus}} or some {{w|dragon}}s) or non-earth origin (like {{w|List_of_alien_species_in_the_Honorverse#treecats|tree cats}} or {{w|Pandoran_biosphere|Pandora-native}}). -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:58, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

===Identifying the groups===
I would love to identify specific groups. The unlabelled animals come in groups, even the wild animals, even though only *one* of those groups (elephants for some reason) has been labelled. —[[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 13:05, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
:Reason for elephant label == "This is how much/little the whole population of the largest land mammals amass to."? (Actually, given the scarcity of elephants, I'm surprised it's a full block. I suspect something else that could have been labelledsuch as "rats" would be far more.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.7|141.101.99.7]] 14:07, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

Per the wikipeda page[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel#Distribution_and_numbers] on camels I expect that they are the blob of 3 gray squares. [[User:Mwiser|Mwiser]] ([[User talk:Mwiser|talk]]) Update: I hadn't seen the 1 billion kg == 1 million tons notation which has since appeared. I therefore added camels (and also donkeys) to the table below. [[User:Mwiser|Mwiser]] ([[User talk:Mwiser|talk]])

Non [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_SI_definitions SI] units should just die [http://xkcd.com/526/ already]. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.8|108.162.241.8]] 20:39, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:Is Randall's ton the metric {{w|tonne}} or the US {{w|short ton}}? -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.65|108.162.219.65]] 22:06, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
::Considering that Randall is very aware of the SI confusion, I'm sure he would have made it clear if he where NOT using metric tonne - so I would say his tonne is 1,000 kg! [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:53, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

===Stab at the numbers===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: 95%; table-layout: fixed; line-height:1.25"
|-
! Land Mammal
! population in Billions
! Average Kilograms
! Total Kilograms in Billions
! xkcd value
! Notes
|-
! Humans
| 7.2
| 70
| {{sort|00504|504}}
| 556
| as of 2013
|-
! Cattle
| 1
| 1740
| {{sort|01740|1740}}
| 1918
| as of 2012
|-
! Pigs
| 1
| 350
| {{sort|00350|350}}
| 386
|
|-
! Chickens
| 19
| 1
| {{sort|00019|19}}
| 21
| not mammals
|-
! Goats
| 0.865
| 46
| {{sort|00039.7|39.7}}
|
| as of 2008... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat#Worldwide_goat_population_statistics src]
|-
! Sheep
| 1
| 80
| {{sort|00080|80}}
| 88
|
|-
! Elephants
| 0.000105670
| 5000
| {{sort|00000.5|0.5}}
|
| as of 2012 [http://www.elephantdatabase.org/preview_report/2013_africa/Loxodonta_africana/2012/Africa src]
|-
! Horses
| 0.058372106
| 500
| {{sort|00029|29}}
|
| as of 2006 [http://horsetalk.co.nz/2007/09/12/world-horse-population-58m/#axzz2v7dtQwJK src]
|-
! Rats
| 10
| 0.35
| {{sort|00003.5|3.5}}
| 4
| 10B is a guess
|-
! Cats
| 0.6
| 5
| {{sort|00003|3}}
| 3
|
|-
! Dogs
| 0.4
| 40
| {{sort|00016|16}}
|
|
|-
! Seal
| 0.022
| 200
| {{sort|00004.4|4.4}}
| 5
| not a land mammal
|-
! Mole
| 6×1014
| 0.075
| 4.5×1013
|
| Numbers are slightly exaggerated, but [http://what-if.xkcd.com/4 it would be nice] to have those quantities
|-
! Krill
| ?
| ?
| {{sort|00300|175-725}}
|
| Wild species with largest biomass (not a land mammal)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_krill#Biomass_and_production src]
|-
! Camel
| 0.014
| 465
| 6.51
|
| As of 2010 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel src]
|-
! Donkey
| 0.04
| 160
| 6.4
|
| As of 206 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey src] [http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDkQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ed.ac.uk%2Fpolopoly_fs%2F1.21412!%2FfileManager%2Fdonkey%2520fact%2520sheet.pdf&ei=HO4XU6mlD4WbygGMlICoCg&usg=AFQjCNH4aPhQCgltmd0nkgxB6Zb4QU_qLw&bvm=bv.62577051,d.aWc&cad=rja mass src]
|-

|}
* 1 billion kg == 1 million tons [https://www.google.ca/search?q=convert:+1+kg+to+metric+tons src]
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heaviest_land_mammals
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_mammals_by_population
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.8|108.162.241.8]] 16:19, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

===Talk about the table===
uhh.... chickens aren't... mammals? (?) [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 17:22, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:Apparently not. http://www.ask.com/question/are-chickens-mammals
:--[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 03:23, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Where does these XKCD numbers come from? Cattle 1740? Humans 556? According to the comic there are 520 Cattle and 358 Humans (million ton). This table makes no sence in the XKCD number department. Appart from that it would be a great table to include in the comic... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:52, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Where does the average weight come from? As the human race is very young (26% below 15 years) and the cattle population has is changed very rapidly - thus there will also be many calves all the time - reducing the average weight far below that of an average adult animal ready to made in to beef... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:55, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Maybe the seal is considered a land mammal by Randal? Only wales are really not land mamals. The link to elephant population seems only to cover African elephants not Asian... [[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:01, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:Does Randall consider cattle to be all the genus Bos? Waterbuffalo for example weigh about 400kg and wikipedia claims a world population of 130M. That would be 52 blocks. So, I'd assume that since there aren't any free blocks that large, that they are considered cattle. So, then Yaks and Wildebeests should be considered cattle as well, no? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.36|108.162.215.36]] 22:06, 7 March 2014 (UTC)rbnm

===Title Text===
The title text mentions that bacteria outweigh humans by thousands (plural) to one. The notation 1000:1 used in the explanation is therefore not correct.
:True - I did not spot that. I have corrected it to the same version as the title text[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:15, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

1338: Land Mammals

2014-03-06T23:04:17Z

108.162.215.36: /* Table of the block sizes */

{{comic
| number = 1338
| date = March 5, 2014
| title = Land Mammals
| image = land_mammals.png
| titletext = Bacteria still outweigh us thousands to one--and that's not even counting the several pounds of them in your body.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The division of animal blocks are clear but only 6 are labeled. Some qualified guesses as to how the other (at least the largest) blocks are divided should be possible... What about the layout of the blocks?}}

This comic shows the total weight of mankind and other land mammals.
Only in the last century or so have humans, and their pets and livestock, come to occupy such a great proportion of the earth's land mammal mass.

Per the diagram, there are 358 million tons of humans, 864 million tons of pets and livestock, of which 520 million tons comes from cattle, and 34 million tons of wild animals; for a total of 1.3 billion tons.

As of March 2014 the world population was about 7.2 billion people so the comic assumes an average human weighs of about 49.7 kg: 7.2 billion people × 49.7 kg = 358 billion kg = 358 million tons. Since it's very unlikely that Randall assumed 49.7 kg per person, it is more possible that he assumed the average human weighs 50 kg and the world population is 7.16 billion people. As more than 25% of the [http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-gender-age.php worlds population is below 15 years of age], and many people live in poverty (i.e. no chance of obesity), this estimate may be very valid, although it may at first appear on the low side.

Cattle is by far more heavy than the total human population, but we do manage to outweigh both sheep and pigs - which may come as a surprise - as these animals probably by far outweigh the population in the countries that produce the main part of the worlds meat from such animals.

It is interesting to note that the world's heaviest land dwelling animal - the elephant - only takes up one square! It is the only type of wild animal to be singled out in the comic.

There are 8 distinct blocks of wild animal (elephants and 7 others). There are 13 distinct blocks of pets and live stock (only the top 5 are labeled - in order of weight they are: Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Goats and Horses). Dogs would properly also take up a large part - it could be the 6th largest, the one at the top - but how detailed are the division of species...?

Note that only land dwelling mammals are taken into account - thus no whales. It is not clear as to where, for instance, seals, sea lions and walruses belong - although they could belong to land mammals.

All other types of animals are not included. For instance, the weight of insects would outweigh us by far. Although not as much as the bacteria mentioned in the title text - they outweigh us thousands to one.

And that is without counting the part of our body weight that consist of bacteria: Several pounds. A fact that most people would properly like to ignore - which is a good reason to mention it here. These pounds are already counted as part of the total human weight.

The comic references the book [http://vaclavsmil.com/the-earths-biosphere-evolution-dynamics-and-change/ The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change] by {{W|Vaclav Smil}} as the source for most of the data - although a few other sources has also been used. These other sources are not referenced.

==Table of the block sizes==

*The table ranks each of the groups of blocks from 1 to 22 according to the size of the group = the number of blocks. # Blocks thus equals weight of the group in million tons = billion kg.
*There is total of 1256 blocks representing 1.256 billion tons.
**358 million tons of humans
**864 million tons of mammal pets and livestock
**34 million tons of wild land dwelling mammals

:Feel free to enter a comment on the groups especially those that are not already identified.

:The population should only be be stated (in millions) if it can found through references - the XKCD average weight (in kg) is then given from the number of blocks in the group.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: 95%; table-layout: fixed; line-height:1.25"
|-
! Rank
! # Blocks
! Type
! Text
!Population (millions)
!Weight (kg)
!Notes/comments
|-
| 1
| 520
| Pets/Livestock
| Cattle
| 1000
| 520
| They only outweighs us by weight - not by numbers - there has been a stable [http://www.statista.com/statistics/263979/global-cattle-population-since-1990/ population] of about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion cattle}} since 2007.
|-
| 2
| 358
| Humans
|
| 7200
| 49.7
| According to this [http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ population counter] there are more than 7.2 billion people in the world today (as of march 2014).
|-
| 3
| 135
| Pets/Livestock
| Sheep
| 1000
| 135
|There is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion sheep}} according to wikipedia. The {{W|Domestic_sheep#Description_and_evolution|average sheep}} weight of 135 kg seems highly exaggerated as only the rams can weigh more then that.
|-
| 4
| 90
| Pets/Livestock
| Pigs
| 1000/2100?
| 90/43?
| According to the Wikipedia the {{W|Pig#Distribution_and_evolution|population of pigs}} is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion}}. According to the [http://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/psdReport.aspx?hidReportRetrievalName=Swine+Summary+Selected+Countries&hidReportRetrievalID=1649&hidReportRetrievalTemplateID=7 2nd reference] given for this in the wiki article, there is, however, 1.3 billions, and then 0.8 billion more (probably piglets) for a total of 2.1 billion? The piglets will not weigh much though.
|-
| 5
| 39
| Pets/Livestock
| Goats
| 864
| 45
| The {{W|Goat#Worldwide_goat_population_statistics|goat population}} can be summed up to 864 million from the wiki page. According to this list there are {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|850 million goats}}.
|-
| 6
| 29
| Pets/Livestock
| Horses
| 58
| 500
| According to Wikipedia there is a population of {{W|List of odd-toed ungulates by population|58 million}} horses. Horses can {{W|Horse#Size_and_measurement|weigh from 400-1000 kg}}. There are probably not that many foals compared to adults, as for instance for cattle and pigs.
|-
| 7
| 13
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| 8
| 10
| Wild animals
|
|
|
| The largest grouping of wild animals, less than 1/50 of the weight of cattle - although representing almost a third of all the wild land mammals.
|-
| 9
| 8
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Pets/Livestock
| Camel?
|17
|
|Wikipedia lists 17M as the number of camels. An average based on wikipedia numbers for male and female is about 500kg.
|-
| T10
| 7
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 13
| 6
| Pets/Livestock
| Dogs?
| 400
| 10-15
|According to Wikipedia, there are 400M dogs worldwide. Assuming an average size at 15kg, gives 6 blocks. Small dog=2 kg large dog = 100 kg the log average is about 15 kg.
|-
| T14
| 5
| Pets/Livestock
| Donkeys?
| 41
| 125
| There are roughly 41 Million {{w|Donkey#Present status|donkeys}} on earth and the average weight is about 125 kg
|-
| T14
| 5
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 16
| 4
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T17
| 3
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T17
| 3
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T19
| 2
| Pets/Livestock
| Cats?
|500
|
|Wikipedia quotes 500M domestic cats worldwide, with an average weight of 4.5 kg
|-
| T19
| 2
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T19
| 2
| Wild animals
| Rats/Mice?
|4000
|
|average rat is approximately 0.3kg (wikipedia). WHO estimate of 4 Billion rats and a comparable number of mice(0.02kg) = 2 blocks.
|-
| 22
| 1
| Wild animals
| Elephants
|
|
| The only wild animal to be singled out with text - also the heaviest land dwelling animal - but still only take up one block. According to Wikipedia there are at least 1.3 million elephants, and the heaviest weigh 7 tons. If an average elephant weighs half that much, 4.55 squares should be considered (1.3 million×3500/1 billion).
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:'''Earth's LAND MAMMALS by weight'''

:[A block indicating the value of each block:] = 1,000,000 tons

:[Dark gray block:] Humans
:[Light gray block:] Our pets and livestock
:[Green block:] Wild animals

:[The rest of the comic consist of blocks representing the weight of mammals. Some of the blocks are labeled:]
:*Cattle
:*Pigs
:*Goats
:*Sheep
:*Elephants
:*Horses

:Data from Vaclav Smil's ''The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change'', plus a few other sources.

{{comic discussion}}

1338: Land Mammals

2014-03-06T22:08:57Z

108.162.215.36: /* Table of the block sizes */

{{comic
| number = 1338
| date = March 5, 2014
| title = Land Mammals
| image = land_mammals.png
| titletext = Bacteria still outweigh us thousands to one--and that's not even counting the several pounds of them in your body.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The division of animal blocks are clear but only 6 are labeled. Some qualified guesses as to how the other (at least the largest) blocks are divided should be possible... What about the layout of the blocks?}}

This comic shows the total weight of mankind and other land mammals.
Only in the last century or so have humans, and their pets and livestock, come to occupy such a great proportion of the earth's land mammal mass.

Per the diagram, there are 358 million tons of humans, 864 million tons of pets and livestock, of which 520 million tons comes from cattle, and 34 million tons of wild animals; for a total of 1.3 billion tons.

As of March 2014 the world population was about 7.2 billion people so the comic assumes an average human weighs of about 49.7 kg: 7.2 billion people × 49.7 kg = 358 billion kg = 358 million tons. Since it's very unlikely that Randall assumed 49.7 kg per person, it is more possible that he assumed the average human weighs 50 kg and the world population is 7.16 billion people. As more than 25% of the [http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-gender-age.php worlds population is below 15 years of age], and many people live in poverty (i.e. no chance of obesity), this estimate may be very valid, although it may at first appear on the low side.

Cattle is by far more heavy than the total human population, but we do manage to outweigh both sheep and pigs - which may come as a surprise - as these animals probably by far outweigh the population in the countries that produce the main part of the worlds meat from such animals.

It is interesting to note that the world's heaviest land dwelling animal - the elephant - only takes up one square! It is the only type of wild animal to be singled out in the comic.

There are 8 distinct blocks of wild animal (elephants and 7 others). There are 13 distinct blocks of pets and live stock (only the top 5 are labeled - in order of weight they are: Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Goats and Horses). Dogs would properly also take up a large part - it could be the 6th largest, the one at the top - but how detailed are the division of species...?

Note that only land dwelling mammals are taken into account - thus no whales. It is not clear as to where, for instance, seals, sea lions and walruses belong - although they could belong to land mammals.

All other types of animals are not included. For instance, the weight of insects would outweigh us by far. Although not as much as the bacteria mentioned in the title text - they outweigh us thousands to one.

And that is without counting the part of our body weight that consist of bacteria: Several pounds. A fact that most people would properly like to ignore - which is a good reason to mention it here. These pounds are already counted as part of the total human weight.

The comic references the book [http://vaclavsmil.com/the-earths-biosphere-evolution-dynamics-and-change/ The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change] by {{W|Vaclav Smil}} as the source for most of the data - although a few other sources has also been used. These other sources are not referenced.

==Table of the block sizes==

*The table ranks each of the groups of blocks from 1 to 22 according to the size of the group = the number of blocks. # Blocks thus equals weight of the group in million tons = billion kg.
*There is total of 1256 blocks representing 1.256 billion tons.
**358 million tons of humans
**864 million tons of mammal pets and livestock
**34 million tons of wild land dwelling mammals

:Feel free to enter a comment on the groups especially those that are not already identified.

:The population should only be be stated (in millions) if it can found through references - the XKCD average weight (in kg) is then given from the number of blocks in the group.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: 95%; table-layout: fixed; line-height:1.25"
|-
! Rank
! # Blocks
! Type
! Text
!Population (millions)
!Weight (kg)
!Notes/comments
|-
| 1
| 520
| Pets/Livestock
| Cattle
| 1000
| 520
| They only outweighs us by weight - not by numbers - there has been a stable [http://www.statista.com/statistics/263979/global-cattle-population-since-1990/ population] of about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion cattle}} since 2007.
|-
| 2
| 358
| Humans
|
| 7200
| 49.7
| According to this [http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ population counter] there are more than 7.2 billion people in the world today (as of march 2014).
|-
| 3
| 135
| Pets/Livestock
| Sheep
| 1000
| 135
|There is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion sheep}} according to wikipedia. The {{W|Domestic_sheep#Description_and_evolution|average sheep}} weight of 135 kg seems highly exaggerated as only the rams can weigh more then that.
|-
| 4
| 90
| Pets/Livestock
| Pigs
| 1000/2100?
| 90/43?
| According to the Wikipedia the {{W|Pig#Distribution_and_evolution|population of pigs}} is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion}}. According to the [http://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/psdReport.aspx?hidReportRetrievalName=Swine+Summary+Selected+Countries&hidReportRetrievalID=1649&hidReportRetrievalTemplateID=7 2nd reference] given for this in the wiki article, there is, however, 1.3 billions, and then 0.8 billion more (probably piglets) for a total of 2.1 billion? The piglets will not weigh much though.
|-
| 5
| 39
| Pets/Livestock
| Goats
| 864
| 45
| The {{W|Goat#Worldwide_goat_population_statistics|goat population}} can be summed up to 864 million from the wiki page. According to this list there are {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|850 million goats}}.
|-
| 6
| 29
| Pets/Livestock
| Horses
| 58
| 500
| According to Wikipedia there is a population of {{W|List of odd-toed ungulates by population|58 million}} horses. Horses can {{W|Horse#Size_and_measurement|weigh from 400-1000 kg}}. There are probably not that many foals compared to adults, as for instance for cattle and pigs.
|-
| 7
| 13
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| 8
| 10
| Wild animals
|
|
|
| The largest grouping of wild animals, less than 1/50 of the weight of cattle - although representing almost a third of all the wild land mammals.
|-
| 9
| 8
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 13
| 6
| Pets/Livestock
| Dogs?
| 400
| 10-15
|According to Wikipedia, there are 400M dogs worldwide. Assuming an average size at 15kg, gives 6 blocks. Small dog=2 kg large dog = 100 kg the log average is about 15 kg.
|-
| T14
| 5
| Pets/Livestock
| Donkeys?
| 41
| 125
| There are roughly 41 Million {{w|Donkey#Present status|donkeys}} on earth and the average weight is about 125 kg
|-
| T14
| 5
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 16
| 4
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T17
| 3
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T17
| 3
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T19
| 2
| Pets/Livestock
| Cats?
|500
|
|Wikipedia quotes 500M domestic cats worldwide, with an average weight of 4.5 kg
|-
| T19
| 2
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T19
| 2
| Wild animals
| Rats/Mice?
|4000
|
|average rat is approximately 0.3kg (wikipedia). WHO estimate of 4 Billion rats and a comparable number of mice(0.02kg) = 2 blocks.
|-
| 22
| 1
| Wild animals
| Elephants
|
|
| The only wild animal to be singled out with text - also the heaviest land dwelling animal - but still only take up one block. According to Wikipedia there are at least 1.3 million elephants, and the heaviest weigh 7 tons. If an average elephant weighs half that much, 4.55 squares should be considered (1.3 million×3500/1 billion).
|-
|}

==Transcript==
:'''Earth's LAND MAMMALS by weight'''

:[A block indicating the value of each block:] = 1,000,000 tons

:[Dark gray block:] Humans
:[Light gray block:] Our pets and livestock
:[Green block:] Wild animals

:[The rest of the comic consist of blocks representing the weight of mammals. Some of the blocks are labeled:]
:*Cattle
:*Pigs
:*Goats
:*Sheep
:*Elephants
:*Horses

:Data from Vaclav Smil's ''The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change'', plus a few other sources.

{{comic discussion}}

1338: Land Mammals

2014-03-06T19:55:21Z

108.162.215.36: /* Table of the block sizes */

{{comic
| number = 1338
| date = March 5, 2014
| title = Land Mammals
| image = land_mammals.png
| titletext = Bacteria still outweigh us thousands to one--and that's not even counting the several pounds of them in your body.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The division of animal blocks are clear but only 6 are labeled. Some qualified guesses as to how the other (at least the largest) blocks are divided should be possible... What about the layout of the blocks?}}

This comic shows the total weight of mankind and other land mammals.
Only in the last century or so have humans, and their pets and livestock, come to occupy such a great proportion of the earth's land mammal mass.

Per the diagram, there are 358 million tons of humans, 864 million tons of pets and livestock, of which 520 million tons comes from cattle, and 34 million tons of wild animals; for a total of 1.3 billion tons.

As of March 2014 the world population was about 7.2 billion people so the comic assumes an average human weighs of about 49.7 kg: 7.2 billion people × 49.7 kg = 358 billion kg = 358 million tons. Since it's very unlikely that Randall assumed 49.7 kg per person, it is more possible that he assumed the average human weighs 50 kg and the world population is 7.16 billion people. As more than 25% of the [http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-gender-age.php worlds population is below 15 years of age], and many people live in poverty (i.e. no chance of obesity), this estimate may be very valid, although it may at first appear on the low side.

Cattle is by far more heavy than the total human population, but we do manage to outweigh both sheep and pigs - which may come as a surprise - as these animals probably by far outweigh the population in the countries that produce the main part of the worlds meat from such animals.

It is interesting to note that the world's heaviest land dwelling animal - the elephant - only takes up one square! It is the only type of wild animal to be singled out in the comic.

There are 8 distinct blocks of wild animal (elephants and 7 others). There are 13 distinct blocks of pets and live stock (only the top 5 are labeled - in order of weight they are: Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Goats and Horses). Dogs would properly also take up a large part - it could be the 6th largest, the one at the top - but how detailed are the division of species...?

Note that only land dwelling mammals are taken into account - thus no whales. It is not clear as to where, for instance, seals, sea lions and walruses belong - although they could belong to land mammals.

All other types of animals are not included. For instance, the weight of insects would outweigh us by far. Although not as much as the bacteria mentioned in the title text - they outweigh us thousands to one.

And that is without counting the part of our body weight that consist of bacteria: Several pounds. A fact that most people would properly like to ignore - which is a good reason to mention it here. These pounds are already counted as part of the total human weight.

The comic references the book [http://vaclavsmil.com/the-earths-biosphere-evolution-dynamics-and-change/ The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change] by {{W|Vaclav Smil}} as the source for most of the data - although a few other sources has also been used. These other sources are not referenced.

==Table of the block sizes==

*The table ranks each of the groups of blocks from 1 to 22 according to the size of the group = the number of blocks. # Blocks thus equals weight of the group in million tons = billion kg.
*There is total of 1256 blocks representing 1.256 billion tons.
**358 million tons of humans
**864 million tons of mammal pets and livestock
**34 million tons of wild land dwelling mammals

:Feel free to enter a comment on the groups especially those that are not already identified.

:The population should only be be stated (in millions) if it can found through references - the XKCD average weight (in kg) is then given from the number of blocks in the group.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: 95%; table-layout: fixed; line-height:1.25"
|-
! Rank
! # Blocks
! Type
! Text
!Population (millions)
!XKCD weight (kg)
!Notes/comments
|-
| 1
| 520
| Pets/Livestock
| Cattle
| 1000
| 520
| They only outweighs us by weight - not by numbers - there has been a stable [http://www.statista.com/statistics/263979/global-cattle-population-since-1990/ population] of about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion cattle}} since 2007.
|-
| 2
| 358
| Humans
|
| 7200
| 49.7
| According to this [http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ population counter] there are more than 7.2 billion people in the world today (as of march 2014).
|-
| 3
| 135
| Pets/Livestock
| Sheep
| 1000
| 135
|There is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion sheep}} according to wikipedia. The {{W|Domestic_sheep#Description_and_evolution|average sheep}} weight of 135 kg seems highly exaggerated as only the rams can weigh more then that.
|-
| 4
| 90
| Pets/Livestock
| Pigs
| 1000/2100?
| 90/43?
| According to the Wikipedia the {{W|Pig#Distribution_and_evolution|population of pigs}} is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion}}. According to the [http://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/psdReport.aspx?hidReportRetrievalName=Swine+Summary+Selected+Countries&hidReportRetrievalID=1649&hidReportRetrievalTemplateID=7 2nd reference] given for this in the wiki article, there is, however, 1.3 billions, and then 0.8 billion more (probably piglets) for a total of 2.1 billion? The piglets will not weigh much though.
|-
| 5
| 39
| Pets/Livestock
| Goats
| 864
| 45
| The {{W|Goat#Worldwide_goat_population_statistics|goat population}} can be summed up to 864 million from the wiki page. According to this list there are {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|850 million goats}}.
|-
| 6
| 29
| Pets/Livestock
| Horses
| 58
| 500
| According to Wikipedia there is a population of {{W|List of odd-toed ungulates by population|58 million}} horses. Horses can {{W|Horse#Size_and_measurement|weigh from 400-1000 kg}}. There are probably not that many foals compared to adults, as for instance for cattle and pigs.
|-
| 7
| 13
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| 8
| 10
| Wild animals
|
|
|
| The largest grouping of wild animals, less than 1/50 of the weight of cattle - although representing almost a third of all the wild land mammals.
|-
| 9
| 8
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 13
| 6
| Pets/Livestock
| Dogs?
|400
|
|According to Wikipedia, there are 400M dogs worldwide. Assuming an average size at 15kg, gives 6 blocks. Small dog=2kg large dog =100kg the log average is about 15kg.
|-
| T14
| 5
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T14
| 5
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 16
| 4
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T17
| 3
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T17
| 3
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T19
| 2
| Pets/Livestock
| Cats?
|500
|
|Wikipedia quotes 500M domestic cats worldwide, with an average weight of 4.5kg
|-
| T19
| 2
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T19
| 2
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 22
| 1
| Wild animals
| Elephants
|
|
| The only wild animal to be singled out with text - also the heaviest land dwelling animal - but still only take up one block.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:Earth's Land Mammals by weight

:[After a block to indicate the size of each block:] = 1,000,000 tons

:[Dark gray block:] Humans [Light gray block:] Our pets and livestock [Green block:] Wild animals

:[The rest of the comic consist of blocks representing the weight of mammals. Some of the blocks are labeled:]
:Cattle
:Pigs
:Goats
:Sheep
:Elephants
:Horses

:[Bottom text:]
:Data from Vaclav Smil's The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change, Plus a Few Other Sources

{{comic discussion}}

1338: Land Mammals

2014-03-06T19:30:45Z

108.162.215.36: /* Table of the block sizes */

{{comic
| number = 1338
| date = March 5, 2014
| title = Land Mammals
| image = land_mammals.png
| titletext = Bacteria still outweigh us thousands to one--and that's not even counting the several pounds of them in your body.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The division of animal blocks are clear but only 6 are labeled. Some qualified guesses as to how the other (at least the largest) blocks are divided should be possible... What about the layout of the blocks?}}

This comic shows the total weight of mankind and other land mammals.
Only in the last century or so have humans, and their pets and livestock, come to occupy such a great proportion of the earth's land mammal mass.

Per the diagram, there are 358 million tons of humans, 864 million tons of pets and livestock, of which 520 million tons comes from cattle, and 34 million tons of wild animals; for a total of 1.3 billion tons.

As of March 2014 the world population was about 7.2 billion people so the comic assumes an average human weighs of about 49.7 kg: 7.2 billion people × 49.7 kg = 358 billion kg = 358 million tons. Since it's very unlikely that Randall assumed 49.7 kg per person, it is more possible that he assumed the average human weighs 50 kg and the world population is 7.16 billion people. As more than 25% of the [http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/world-population-gender-age.php worlds population is below 15 years of age], and many people live in poverty (i.e. no chance of obesity), this estimate may be very valid, although it may at first appear on the low side.

Cattle is by far more heavy than the total human population, but we do manage to outweigh both sheep and pigs - which may come as a surprise - as these animals probably by far outweigh the population in the countries that produce the main part of the worlds meat from such animals.

It is interesting to note that the world's heaviest land dwelling animal - the elephant - only takes up one square! It is the only type of wild animal to be singled out in the comic.

There are 8 distinct blocks of wild animal (elephants and 7 others). There are 13 distinct blocks of pets and live stock (only the top 5 are labeled - in order of weight they are: Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Goats and Horses). Dogs would properly also take up a large part - it could be the 6th largest, the one at the top - but how detailed are the division of species...?

Note that only land dwelling mammals are taken into account - thus no whales. It is not clear as to where, for instance, seals, sea lions and walruses belong - although they could belong to land mammals.

All other types of animals are not included. For instance, the weight of insects would outweigh us by far. Although not as much as the bacteria mentioned in the title text - they outweigh us thousands to one.

And that is without counting the part of our body weight that consist of bacteria: Several pounds. A fact that most people would properly like to ignore - which is a good reason to mention it here. These pounds are already counted as part of the total human weight.

The comic references the book [http://vaclavsmil.com/the-earths-biosphere-evolution-dynamics-and-change/ The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change] by {{W|Vaclav Smil}} as the source for most of the data - although a few other sources has also been used. These other sources are not referenced.

==Table of the block sizes==

*The table ranks each of the groups of blocks from 1 to 22 according to the size of the group = the number of blocks. # Blocks thus equals weight of the group in million tons = billion kg.
*There is total of 1256 blocks representing 1.256 billion tons.
**358 million tons of humans
**864 million tons of mammal pets and livestock
**34 million tons of wild land dwelling mammals

:Feel free to enter a comment on the groups especially those that are not already identified.

:The population should only be be stated (in millions) if it can found through references - the XKCD average weight (in kg) is then given from the number of blocks in the group.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width: auto; text-align: center; font-size: 95%; table-layout: fixed; line-height:1.25"
|-
! Rank
! # Blocks
! Type
! Text
!Population (millions)
!XKCD weight (kg)
!Notes/comments
|-
| 1
| 520
| Pets/Livestock
| Cattle
| 1000
| 520
| They only outweighs us by weight - not by numbers - there has been a stable [http://www.statista.com/statistics/263979/global-cattle-population-since-1990/ population] of about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion cattle}} since 2007.
|-
| 2
| 358
| Humans
|
| 7200
| 49.7
| According to this [http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ population counter] there are more than 7.2 billion people in the world today (as of march 2014).
|-
| 3
| 135
| Pets/Livestock
| Sheep
| 1000
| 135
|There is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion sheep}} according to wikipedia. The {{W|Domestic_sheep#Description_and_evolution|average sheep}} weight of 135 kg seems highly exaggerated as only the rams can weigh more then that.
|-
| 4
| 90
| Pets/Livestock
| Pigs
| 1000/2100?
| 90/43?
| According to the Wikipedia the {{W|Pig#Distribution_and_evolution|population of pigs}} is about {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|1 billion}}. According to the [http://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/psdReport.aspx?hidReportRetrievalName=Swine+Summary+Selected+Countries&hidReportRetrievalID=1649&hidReportRetrievalTemplateID=7 2nd reference] given for this in the wiki article, there is, however, 1.3 billions, and then 0.8 billion more (probably piglets) for a total of 2.1 billion? The piglets will not weigh much though.
|-
| 5
| 39
| Pets/Livestock
| Goats
| 864
| 45
| The {{W|Goat#Worldwide_goat_population_statistics|goat population}} can be summed up to 864 million from the wiki page. According to this list there are {{W|List of even-toed ungulates by population|850 million goats}}.
|-
| 6
| 29
| Pets/Livestock
| Horses
| 58
| 500
| According to Wikipedia there is a population of {{W|List of odd-toed ungulates by population|58 million}} horses. Horses can {{W|Horse#Size_and_measurement|weigh from 400-1000 kg}}. There are probably not that many foals compared to adults, as for instance for cattle and pigs.
|-
| 7
| 13
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| 8
| 10
| Wild animals
|
|
|
| The largest grouping of wild animals, less than 1/50 of the weight of cattle - although representing almost a third of all the wild land mammals.
|-
| 9
| 8
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T10
| 7
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 13
| 6
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T14
| 5
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T14
| 5
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 16
| 4
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T17
| 3
| Pets/Livestock
|
|
|
|
|-
| T17
| 3
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T19
| 2
| Pets/Livestock
| Cats?
|500
|
|Wikipedia quotes 500M domestic cats worldwide, with an average weight of 4.5kg
|-
| T19
| 2
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| T19
| 2
| Wild animals
|
|
|
|
|-
| 22
| 1
| Wild animals
| Elephants
|
|
| The only wild animal to be singled out with text - also the heaviest land dwelling animal - but still only take up one block.
|-
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:Earth's Land Mammals by weight

:[After a block to indicate the size of each block:] = 1,000,000 tons

:[Dark gray block:] Humans [Light gray block:] Our pets and livestock [Green block:] Wild animals

:[The rest of the comic consist of blocks representing the weight of mammals. Some of the blocks are labeled:]
:Cattle
:Pigs
:Goats
:Sheep
:Elephants
:Horses

:[Bottom text:]
:Data from Vaclav Smil's The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change, Plus a Few Other Sources

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1305: Undocumented Feature

2013-12-23T02:54:56Z

108.162.215.36:

:;Please never edit existing posts at the talk page! Just add your content! And NEVER edit foreign posts! Use the "Sign Button" on top of editor or type this at the END of your post <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. This will add the IP or User and a timestamp to the END of your post.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

This sound pretty cool... Anyone know if it's real or which tool it's in? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.222|173.245.55.222]] 05:53, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

* its real, there are 8 other users, but must stay a secret. {{unsigned ip|108.162.231.233}}

* There is no secret chat room, stop looking for it. It doesn't exist. Look for your own island on the interweb, don't come spoil ours. [[User:scr_admin|scr_admin]]

Okay, let's be honest: how many of us, upon seeing today's comic, immediately went here to see if it was real or not? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.4|108.162.245.4]] 07:47, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

* I honestly did just that. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.137|173.245.53.137]] 08:06, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

* I also just did that... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.206|108.162.231.206]] 08:07, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

* I didn't start up my VM to test it, but I came here to see if was real >.< [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.56|108.162.216.56]] 09:47, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

* I also did that. But I take that, if it is real and someone uncovers it, it may destroy that community... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.123|173.245.53.123]] 10:28, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

* Same here. If it is real, I sincerely hope Randall has a) wiresharked it to find out where this chat room resides so he can prod the admin if it ever goes down b) has a backup plan to migrate himself and his friends to some other private chat room. It won't have the same mystery surrounding it, but at least it's something. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.222|108.162.231.222]] 10:51, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

:;Please never edit existing posts at the talk page! Just add your content! And NEVER edit foreign posts! Use the "Sign Button" on top of editor or type this at the END of your post <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. This will add the IP or User and a timestamp to the END of your post.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

It's not about Youtube, but Facebook, which just launched AUTOPLAYING video ads. Look at the title text, it's about Facebook's real name policy. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.232|108.162.231.232]] 08:11, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

* I wouldn't limit the scope of this commentary just to Facebook; YouTube's been doing autoplaying video ads for years. YouTube's also been asking for real names recently. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.200|108.162.212.200]] 14:26, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

* The video ads thing is definitely related to Facebook, but the title text is probably a reference to Youtube recently asking continuously to switch to the real name of google plus account and not the nickname many used on YouTube. Edited the explanation accordingly, since there was no reference to the title text. Spesknight [[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.216|108.162.231.216]] 09:08, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

I just searched after reading - and found this site! -- {{unsigned ip|141.101.99.247}}

* The real secret place is here! {{unsigned ip|108.162.229.75}}

* So THIS is the secret chat [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.7|108.162.229.7]] 09:50, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

* One day this place will be forgotten and so will we. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.197|108.162.231.197]] 09:52, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

anyone else recognizes the wonderful tcp-ip explanation movie of Ericsson [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hymzoUpM0K0 Dawn of the net] in frames 6 till 10? [User:Tesshavon|Tesshavon]] ([[User talk:Tesshavon|talk]])

* Tesshavon you're in my mind ! Also, the 6th frame is comes from one of the most common Friends posters (see e.g. here : [http://www.infinitydish.com/tvblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Friends-friends-69087_1024_768.jpg Friends] ) [[User:dandraka|dandraka]]

It's true. Small online communities offer a more folksy experience than the online giants. Some of the best places to hang out are BBS's that made it onto the Internet and have been there for 25+ years. {{unsigned ip|216.150.130.111}}

Well there's always IRC... {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.30}}

:;Please never edit existing posts at the talk page! Just add your content! And NEVER edit foreign posts! Use the "Sign Button" on top of editor or type this at the END of your post <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. This will add the IP or User and a timestamp to the END of your post.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

I've rewritten all the explanation.
As far as I'm concerned, I'd remove the incomplete box.
I just keep it because it's likely that someone else will feel something is missing.
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.180|173.245.53.180]] 15:27, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

If you're interested in a tightknit community out on the fringes of the Net, go join a MUD. Some are combat oriented, some are roleplay and chat oriented, all are text-based, and many have largely the same exact userbase as they had twenty years ago. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.228|108.162.212.228]] 15:48, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Hmm i think randall also wants to share his believs in the subcontext of the comic, the reason why we live on erth as a random error, the sysadmin who probably sees it all(=god), the question what will happen after all that is gone (his opinion, that our lives are compelty senseless)..etc. {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.161}}

* Anyone else think of comic 37 when reading the last panel (due to the ambiguity of whether he is talking about fucking "video ads" or "fucking video" ads)? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.227|173.245.50.227]] 18:31, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

Yes, of COURSE I came here to see if it really exists! I don't know if there's actually a chatroom as described, but Usenet has become much smaller, has no ads, and doesn't require you to know the secret application to get in. IIf a text experience with no ads appeals, dump FB, come back to Usenet! Tell 'em Sea Wasp sent you! :) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.186|108.162.219.186]] 19:15, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

*Shhh! You're forgetting the first rule of Usenet! [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.6|173.245.54.6]] 17:57, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

:;Please never edit existing posts at the talk page! Just add your content! And NEVER edit foreign posts! Use the "Sign Button" on top of editor or type this at the END of your post <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. This will add the IP or User and a timestamp to the END of your post.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:53, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

It's obviously about life and religion. The sysadmin who never writes anything must be there to keep everything running, because else the chat would stop to exist. Like most religions contribute to a god who is never seen or heard. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.232|108.162.231.232]] 08:03, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

I'm wondering if he got this idea from Starship Titanic. They had a very similar thing happen. [http://www.metafilter.com/98848/The-Post-That-Cannot-Possibly-Go-Wrong#3435156 See this epic MeFi comment from the self-described "main web hacker" behind Starship Titanic's web site.] [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.119|199.27.128.119]] 17:29, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

I've made several edits to clean up the explanation. Not sure whether I should remove the incomplete tag or not. --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.227|173.245.52.227]] 17:57, 19 December 2013 (UTC)
:Please don't do that. A comic at this size isn't complete within one or two days. Removing the incomplete tag is a minor issue, explaining is the major one. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:46, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

I don't really see why the trivia should be there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.45|108.162.216.45]] 20:29, 19 December 2013 (UTC)
:This content was moved from the explain section to a trivia section by me. It still needs some rework but it belongs to "old Windows utilities" like Randall is talking about here at the first panel.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:46, 19 December 2013 (UTC)

Reminds me of MUDs. I still check in on New Moon [http://eclipse.cs.pdx.edu/] a few times a year. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.236.25|108.162.236.25]] 16:15, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
:I see what you mean. For me it's the Discworld MUD. But it could similarly (i.e. not exactly like the comic suggests) apply to some long-term Usenet groups that I (in)frequent. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.229|141.101.99.229]] 16:22, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

It may not be the tool from the comic, but people here might be interested in: http://kurlander.net/DJ/Projects/ComicChat/resources.html {{unsigned|Jvfrmtn}}

If this chatroom was real I'd love to see it. I know ts not though. Of course what if there's a little fridge horror in this comic? Like a chatroom 98 sort of thing? Maybe the sysadmin or the people Cueball and the others are talking to are really ghosts or souls that were sucked into an old server forever doomed to spend their days talking to themselves until another unsuspecting user is sucked in.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.36|108.162.215.36]] 02:54, 23 December 2013 (UTC)