explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2562: Formatting Meeting

2022-01-03T23:46:32Z

172.70.90.43: /* Explanation */ Did a lot mere here than I intended.

{{comic
| number = 2562
| date = December 31, 2021
| title = Formatting Meeting
| image = formatting_meeting.png
| titletext = Neither group uses iso 8601 because the big-endian enthusiasts were all at the meeting 20 years ago.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOCAL VERSION OF DR SEUSS, WHO IS NOT JONATHAN SWIFT - Needs wikification (but no overlinking) and consideration of whether there is a relation to new year's eve. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic came out on New Year Eve 2021. But neither this nor the next comic from 2022 had any relation to New Year. This was the first time that happened in 11 years. See this [[2563:_Throat_and_Nasal_Passages#Trivia|Trivia]] on the next comic [[2563: Throat and Nasal Passages]], where this fact became clear.

In the {{w|United States}}, it's common to {{w|Writing|write}} {{w|Calendar dates|dates}} {{w|Numerical analysis|numerically}} in the {{w|Calendar date#Date format|format}} ''{{w|Month|month}}/{{w|Day|day}}/{{w|Year|year}}'' -- 2/3/22 means {{w|February}} 3, {{w|2022}} (the {{w|Century|century}} is often {{w|Purposeful omission|omitted}} when it's obvious that the date is around the {{w|Present|current time}}). In {{w|Europe}}, the {{w|Calendar date#Gregorian, day–month–year (DMY)|usual order}} is ''day/month/year'' - so 2/3/22 is 2nd {{w|March}}, 2022.

"{{w|Internationalization and localization|Localization}}" is the technique used in {{w|Software|software}} to make it accept {{w|Input (computer science)|input}} and display output in the formats most natural to {{w|User (computing)|users}} in their {{w|Location|locations}}. For example, in the United States {{w|Number|numbers}} use {{w|Comma|commas}} "," to separate {{w|1000 (number)|thousands}} and a {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal point|decimal point}} "." to separate the decimal values, while in large areas of the EU {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal comma|it is the reverse}}. And the textual output will be {{w|Translation|translated}} to the local {{w|Language|language}}. Naturally, this also includes displaying dates in the local format, as described above. Localization may also include the adoption of the {{w|Tax law|tax law}} to the location, for instance when adopting tax software made for the US to the {{w|United Kingdom|UK}}.

The {{w|Joke|joke}} in this {{w|Comics|comic}} is that two dates are shown, on the same {{w|Display device|display}}, relating to {{w|Meeting|meetings}} regarding localization. The date of the meeting of the US team is localized in the US format while the EU team's meeting is localized in the European format, and these two dates (about a month apart) happen to be formatted the same (there are 64 such pairings of dates, as long as the day of the month of one is between 1 and 12 and not equal to the presumed month of the other). [[Cueball]] needs to explain that the European meeting will be a month later than the US meeting to avoid any confusion due to the ambiguity. Which is {{w|Irony|ironic}}, since the aim of localization is to reduce such {{w|Confusion|confusion}}.

A further interpretation, which is extendeds also into the title text, is that these groups may have been supposed to meet on the same day. But even the a committee that was supposed to fix these problems messed this up. Cueball may be 'explaining' the staggered approachto cover up that the two groups are already reading the date(s) for the meeting quite differently.

{{w|ISO-8601}} (that is, standard number 8601 as promulgated by the {{w|International Organization for Standardization}} since 1988) specifies a date format of YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2021-12-31), which results in dates being listed in chronological order when sorted stringwise. The ISO format is called "{{w|big-endian}}", which refers to the fact that the most significant unit in the date (the year) comes first. The European format is instead "{{w|little-endian}}", as the front-end value represents the finest possible distinction the date can convey - the particular day. The American format is "{{w|middle-endian}}", or occasionally "mixed-endian", since the value given first is the one which is neither the one with greatest significance nor the most precise.

In the above, the 'value groups' are not usually internally checked for '{{w|Endianness|endianness}}', but regular numerals are also usual written with the largest place values on the left – for example, the first 2 in {{w|2021}} is the thousands place – though whether this convention is big-endian or little-endian depends on whether the writing system of such numbers is in the context of left-to-right or right-to-left text. The concept of endianess is most often used in reference to the storage order, whether of indivisible binary bits or of values built up of successive value groups. Pairs of hexadecimal values are individually usually represented in big-endian 'numeric' order, where bitwise distinctions are not necessary, but it is useful to know if a system stores a multibyte value in big-endan or little-endian packing, i.e. whether the value 0x01 0x02 (values 1 and 2, on their own) is treated as a value of 258 (0x01*256 + 0x02*1) or 513 (0x01*1 + 0x02*256). (The term was taken in inspiration from a [https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2003/ling538/Lecnotes/ADfn1.htm Jonathan Swift story] about a war over which end of a boiled egg one was to cut into, a useful metaphor for many other situations where diametrically opposed self-justifications for one ''or'' another practice may lead to standing by vague principles rather than agreeing upon a unifying resolution.) This standard was also mentioned in [[1179: ISO 8601]] and used in [[1340: Unique Date]].

The joke in the title text is that someone attempting to interpret the improperly formatted date as if it were expressed in the standardized ISO-8601 format, might read the date as March 22, 2002, so they went to the meeting almost 20 years ago. Unless the announcement of the meetings was made 2 decades in advance, there's a {{w|Paradox|paradox}} that these participants would have taken the date from an announcement in the far future. However this interpretation of the date is necessarily incorrect: ISO-8601 format specifies four-digit years, two-digit months, and two-digit days. Therefore "2/3/22” ''can by specification not'' be an ISO-8601 date, as "2" must be rendered as "0002", and "3" must be "03". Even if the leading {{w|0|zeroes}} were omitted in violation of ISO-8601, the year would become {{w|AD 2|Year 2}}, not Year 2002. Since the standard always uses a 4 digit 'YYYY' format in the first field, and no common formatting uses YYYY-DD-MM, any date written in ISO-8601 is easily recognized and (comparatively) {{w|Ambiguity|unambiguously}} interpretable as YYYY-MM-DD. Dates written in Y-M-DD or MM-DD-YY or other formats are (officially) formatted improperly.

==Transcript==
:[A screen is shown which displays five rows of text, the top three above a dividing line. To the right of the screen the upper part of Cueball is visible as he delivers a message concerning the text on the screen:]
:Localization working group
:Upcoming meetings
:-----------------
:US Team: 2/3/22
:EU Team: 2/3/22

:Cueball: And the European formatting and localization team will meet a month later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Calendar]]

2562: Formatting Meeting

2022-01-03T23:18:49Z

172.70.90.43: /* Explanation */ (Maths: 12 months, 11 non-congruent days of month = 132 confusable dates. But half as many pairs.) Also rewriting the "how it might have happened" for sense and removing the sillier commas along the way.

{{comic
| number = 2562
| date = December 31, 2021
| title = Formatting Meeting
| image = formatting_meeting.png
| titletext = Neither group uses iso 8601 because the big-endian enthusiasts were all at the meeting 20 years ago.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOCAL VERSION OF DR SEUSS, WHO IS NOT JONATHAN SWIFT - Needs wikification (but no overlinking) and consideration of whether there is a relation to new year's eve. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic came out on New Year Eve 2021. But neither this nor the next comic from 2022 had any relation to New Year. This was the first time that happened in 11 years. See this [[2563:_Throat_and_Nasal_Passages#Trivia|Trivia]] on the next comic [[2563: Throat and Nasal Passages]], where this fact became clear.

In the {{w|United States}}, it's common to {{w|Writing|write}} {{w|Calendar dates|dates}} {{w|Numerical analysis|numerically}} in the {{w|Calendar date#Date format|format}} ''{{w|Month|month}}/{{w|Day|day}}/{{w|Year|year}}'' -- 2/3/22 means {{w|February}} 3, {{w|2022}} (the {{w|Century|century}} is often {{w|Purposeful omission|omitted}} when it's obvious that the date is around the {{w|Present|current time}}). In {{w|Europe}}, the {{w|Calendar date#Gregorian, day–month–year (DMY)|usual order}} is ''day/month/year'' - so 2/3/22 is 2nd {{w|March}}, 2022.

"{{w|Internationalization and localization|Localization}}" is the technique used in {{w|Software|software}} to make it accept {{w|Input (computer science)|input}} and display output in the formats most natural to {{w|User (computing)|users}} in their {{w|Location|locations}}. For example, in the United States {{w|Number|numbers}} use {{w|Comma|commas}} "," to separate {{w|1000 (number)|thousands}} and a {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal point|decimal point}} "." to separate the decimal values, while in large areas of the EU {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal comma|it is the reverse}}. And the textual output will be {{w|Translation|translated}} to the local {{w|Language|language}}. Naturally, this also includes displaying dates in the local format, as described above. Localization may also include the adoption of the {{w|Tax law|tax law}} to the location, for instance when adopting tax software made for the US to the {{w|United Kingdom|UK}}.

The {{w|Joke|joke}} in this {{w|Comics|comic}} is that two dates are shown, on the same {{w|Display device|display}}, relating to {{w|Meeting|meetings}} regarding localization. The date of the meeting of the US team is localized in the US format while the EU team's meeting is localized in the European format, and these two dates (about a month apart) happen to be formatted the same (there are 64 such pairings of dates, as long as the day of the month of one is between 1 and 12 and not equal to the presumed month of the other). [[Cueball]] needs to explain that the European meeting will be a month later than the US meeting to avoid any confusion due to the ambiguity. Which is {{w|Irony|ironic}}, since the aim of localization is to reduce such {{w|Confusion|confusion}}.

A further interpretation, which is extendeds also into the title text, is that these groups may have been supposed to meet on the same day. But even the a committee that was supposed to fix these problems messed this up. Cueball may be 'explaining' the staggered approachto cover up that the two groups are already reading the date(s) for the meeting quite differently.

{{w|ISO-8601}} (that is, standard number 8601 as promulgated by the {{w|International Organization for Standardization}} since 1988) specifies a date format of YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2021-12-31), which results in dates being listed in chronological order when sorted stringwise. The ISO format is called "{{w|big-endian}}", which refers to the fact that the largest unit in the date (the year) comes first; the European format is instead "{{w|little-endian}}", while the American format is "{{w|middle-endian}}" (or "mixed-endian") since the unit given first is the one whose size is in the middle. (Regular numerals are also written with the largest place values on the left – for example, the first 2 in {{w|2021}} is the thousands place – though whether this convention is big-endian or little-endian depends on whether the numbers are being read in the context of left-to-right or right-to-left text. The "{{w|Endianness|endianness}}" terms are most often used in reference to whether the address of a value in the computer memory is the location of the most significant or least significant cell, though they originate in a [https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2003/ling538/Lecnotes/ADfn1.htm Jonathan Swift story] about a war over which end of the egg to eat first.) This standard was also mentioned in [[1179: ISO 8601]] and used in [[1340: Unique Date]].

The joke in the title text is that someone attempting to interpret the improperly formatted date as if it were expressed in the standardized ISO-8601 format, might read the date as March 22, 2002, so they went to the meeting almost 20 years ago. Unless the announcement of the meetings was made 2 decades in advance, there's a {{w|Paradox|paradox}} that these participants would have taken the date from an announcement in the far future. However this interpretation of the date is necessarily incorrect: ISO-8601 format specifies four-digit years, two-digit months, and two-digit days. Therefore "2/3/22” ''can by specification not'' be an ISO-8601 date, as "2" must be rendered as "0002", and "3" must be "03". Even if the leading {{w|0|zeroes}} were omitted in violation of ISO-8601, the year would become {{w|AD 2|Year 2}}, not Year 2002. Since the standard always uses a 4 digit 'YYYY' format in the first field, and no common formatting uses YYYY-DD-MM, any date written in ISO-8601 is easily recognized and (comparatively) {{w|Ambiguity|unambiguously}} interpretable as YYYY-MM-DD. Dates written in Y-M-DD or MM-DD-YY or other formats are (officially) formatted improperly.

==Transcript==
:[A screen is shown which displays five rows of text, the top three above a dividing line. To the right of the screen the upper part of Cueball is visible as he delivers a message concerning the text on the screen:]
:Localization working group
:Upcoming meetings
:-----------------
:US Team: 2/3/22
:EU Team: 2/3/22

:Cueball: And the European formatting and localization team will meet a month later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Calendar]]

2562: Formatting Meeting

2022-01-03T23:13:09Z

172.70.90.43:

{{comic
| number = 2562
| date = December 31, 2021
| title = Formatting Meeting
| image = formatting_meeting.png
| titletext = Neither group uses iso 8601 because the big-endian enthusiasts were all at the meeting 20 years ago.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOCAL VERSION OF DR SEUSS, WHO IS NOT JONATHAN SWIFT - Needs wikification (but no overlinking) and consideration of whether there is a relation to new year's eve. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic came out on New Year Eve 2021. But neither this nor the next comic from 2022 had any relation to New Year. This was the first time that happened in 11 years. See this [[2563:_Throat_and_Nasal_Passages#Trivia|Trivia]] on the next comic [[2563: Throat and Nasal Passages]], where this fact became clear.

In the {{w|United States}}, it's common to {{w|Writing|write}} {{w|Calendar dates|dates}} {{w|Numerical analysis|numerically}} in the {{w|Calendar date#Date format|format}} ''{{w|Month|month}}/{{w|Day|day}}/{{w|Year|year}}'' -- 2/3/22 means {{w|February}} 3, {{w|2022}} (the {{w|Century|century}} is often {{w|Purposeful omission|omitted}} when it's obvious that the date is around the {{w|Present|current time}}). In {{w|Europe}}, the {{w|Calendar date#Gregorian, day–month–year (DMY)|usual order}} is ''day/month/year'' - so 2/3/22 is 2nd {{w|March}}, 2022.

"{{w|Internationalization and localization|Localization}}" is the technique used in {{w|Software|software}} to make it accept {{w|Input (computer science)|input}} and display output in the formats most natural to {{w|User (computing)|users}} in their {{w|Location|locations}}. For example, in the United States {{w|Number|numbers}} use {{w|Comma|commas}} "," to separate {{w|1000 (number)|thousands}} and a {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal point|decimal point}} "." to separate the decimal values, while in large areas of the EU {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal comma|it is the reverse}}. And the textual output will be {{w|Translation|translated}} to the local {{w|Language|language}}. Naturally, this also includes displaying dates in the local format, as described above. Localization may also include the adoption of the {{w|Tax law|tax law}} to the location, for instance when adopting tax software made for the US to the {{w|United Kingdom|UK}}.

The {{w|Joke|joke}} in this {{w|Comics|comic}} is that two dates are shown, on the same {{w|Display device|display}}, relating to {{w|Meeting|meetings}} regarding localization. The date of the meeting of the US team is localized in the US format while the EU team's meeting is localized in the European format, and these two dates (about a month apart) happen to be formatted the same (there are 64 such pairings of dates, as long as the day of the month of one is between 1 and 12 and not equal to the presumed month of the other). [[Cueball]] needs to explain that the European meeting will be a month later than the US meeting to avoid any confusion due to the ambiguity. Which is {{w|Irony|ironic}}, since the aim of localization is to reduce such {{w|Confusion|confusion}}.

An extra joke, also in line with the title text, is that these groups of course was supposed to meet on the same day. But having messed this up, even for a committee that was supposed to fix these problems, Cueball may even state this to cover up, that the two groups are reading the date for the meeting differently

{{w|ISO-8601}} (that is, standard number 8601 as promulgated by the {{w|International Organization for Standardization}} since 1988) specifies a date format of YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2021-12-31), which results in dates being listed in chronological order when sorted stringwise. The ISO format is called "{{w|big-endian}}", which refers to the fact that the largest unit in the date (the year) comes first; the European format is instead "{{w|little-endian}}", while the American format is "{{w|middle-endian}}" (or "mixed-endian") since the unit given first is the one whose size is in the middle. (Regular numerals are also written with the largest place values on the left – for example, the first 2 in {{w|2021}} is the thousands place – though whether this convention is big-endian or little-endian depends on whether the numbers are being read in the context of left-to-right or right-to-left text. The "{{w|Endianness|endianness}}" terms are most often used in reference to whether the address of a value in the computer memory is the location of the most significant or least significant cell, though they originate in a [https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2003/ling538/Lecnotes/ADfn1.htm Jonathan Swift story] about a war over which end of the egg to eat first.) This standard was also mentioned in [[1179: ISO 8601]] and used in [[1340: Unique Date]].

The joke in the title text is that someone attempting to interpret the improperly formatted date as if it were expressed in the standardized ISO-8601 format, might read the date as March 22, 2002, so they went to the meeting almost 20 years ago. Unless the announcement of the meetings was made 2 decades in advance, there's a {{w|Paradox|paradox}} that these participants would have taken the date from an announcement in the far future. However this interpretation of the date is necessarily incorrect: ISO-8601 format specifies four-digit years, two-digit months, and two-digit days. Therefore "2/3/22” ''can by specification not'' be an ISO-8601 date, as "2" must be rendered as "0002", and "3" must be "03". Even if the leading {{w|0|zeroes}} were omitted in violation of ISO-8601, the year would become {{w|AD 2|Year 2}}, not Year 2002. Since the standard always uses a 4 digit 'YYYY' format in the first field, and no common formatting uses YYYY-DD-MM, any date written in ISO-8601 is easily recognized and (comparatively) {{w|Ambiguity|unambiguously}} interpretable as YYYY-MM-DD. Dates written in Y-M-DD or MM-DD-YY or other formats are (officially) formatted improperly.

==Transcript==
:[A screen is shown which displays five rows of text, the top three above a dividing line. To the right of the screen the upper part of Cueball is visible as he delivers a message concerning the text on the screen:]
:Localization working group
:Upcoming meetings
:-----------------
:US Team: 2/3/22
:EU Team: 2/3/22

:Cueball: And the European formatting and localization team will meet a month later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Calendar]]

2562: Formatting Meeting

2022-01-03T23:02:55Z

172.70.90.43: I presume this is what it means. Though amazingly there isn't quite the full 'tax-filling industry' over here for most people, as I know happens in the US.

{{comic
| number = 2562
| date = December 31, 2021
| title = Formatting Meeting
| image = formatting_meeting.png
| titletext = Neither group uses iso 8601 because the big-endian enthusiasts were all at the meeting 20 years ago.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOCAL VERSION OF DR SEUSS, WHO IS NOT JONATHAN SWIFT - Needs wikification (but no overlinking) and consideration of whether there is a relation to new year's eve. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic came out on New Year Eve 2021. But neither this nor the next comic from 2022 had any relation to New Year. This was the first time that happened in 11 years. See this [[2563:_Throat_and_Nasal_Passages#Trivia|Trivia]] on the next comic [[2563: Throat and Nasal Passages]], where this fact became clear.

In the {{w|United States}}, it's common to {{w|Writing|write}} {{w|Calendar dates|dates}} {{w|Numerical analysis|numerically}} in the {{w|Calendar date#Date format|format}} ''{{w|Month|month}}/{{w|Day|day}}/{{w|Year|year}}'' -- 2/3/22 means {{w|February}} 3, {{w|2022}} (the {{w|Century|century}} is often {{w|Purposeful omission|omitted}} when it's obvious that the date is around the {{w|Present|current time}}). In {{w|Europe}}, the {{w|Calendar date#Gregorian, day–month–year (DMY)|usual order}} is ''day/month/year'' - so 2/3/22 is 2nd {{w|March}}, 2022.

"{{w|Internationalization and localization|Localization}}" is the technique used in {{w|Software|software}} to make it accept {{w|Input (computer science)|input}} and display output in the formats most natural to {{w|User (computing)|users}} in their {{w|Location|locations}}. For example, in the United States {{w|Number|numbers}} use {{w|Comma|commas}} "," to separate {{w|1000 (number)|thousands}} and a {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal point|decimal point}} "." to separate the decimal values, while in large areas of the EU {{w|Decimal separator#Countries using decimal comma|it is the reverse}}. And the textual output will be {{w|Translation|translated}} to the local {{w|Language|language}}. Naturally, this also includes displaying dates in the local format, as described above. Localization may also include the adoption of the {{w|Tax law|tax law}} to the location, for instance when adopting tax software made for the US to the {{w|United Kingdom|UK}}.

The {{w|Joke|joke}} in this {{w|Comics|comic}} is that two dates are shown on the same {{w|Display device|display}} related to {{w|Meeting|meetings}} regarding localization. The date of the meeting of the US team is localized in the US format, while the EU team's meeting is localized in the European format, and these two dates about a month apart happen to be formatted the same (there are many such pairs of dates, as long as the day of the month is between 1 and 12). [[Cueball]] needs to explain that the European meeting will be a month later than the US meeting, to avoid confusion due to the ambiguity (which is {{w|Irony|ironic}}, since localization is intended to reduce {{w|Confusion|confusion}}).

An extra joke, also in line with the title text, is that these groups of course was supposed to meet on the same day. But having messed this up, even for a committee that was supposed to fix these problems, Cueball may even state this to cover up, that the two groups are reading the date for the meeting differently

{{w|ISO-8601}} (that is, standard number 8601 as promulgated by the {{w|International Organization for Standardization}} since 1988) specifies a date format of YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2021-12-31), which results in dates being listed in chronological order when sorted stringwise. The ISO format is called "{{w|big-endian}}", which refers to the fact that the largest unit in the date (the year) comes first; the European format is instead "{{w|little-endian}}", while the American format is "{{w|middle-endian}}" (or "mixed-endian") since the unit given first is the one whose size is in the middle. (Regular numerals are also written with the largest place values on the left – for example, the first 2 in {{w|2021}} is the thousands place – though whether this convention is big-endian or little-endian depends on whether the numbers are being read in the context of left-to-right or right-to-left text. The "{{w|Endianness|endianness}}" terms are most often used in reference to whether the address of a value in the computer memory is the location of the most significant or least significant cell, though they originate in a [https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2003/ling538/Lecnotes/ADfn1.htm Jonathan Swift story] about a war over which end of the egg to eat first.) This standard was also mentioned in [[1179: ISO 8601]] and used in [[1340: Unique Date]].

The joke in the title text is that someone attempting to interpret the improperly formatted date as if it were expressed in the standardized ISO-8601 format, might read the date as March 22, 2002, so they went to the meeting almost 20 years ago. Unless the announcement of the meetings was made 2 decades in advance, there's a {{w|Paradox|paradox}} that these participants would have taken the date from an announcement in the far future. However this interpretation of the date is necessarily incorrect: ISO-8601 format specifies four-digit years, two-digit months, and two-digit days. Therefore "2/3/22” ''can by specification not'' be an ISO-8601 date, as "2" must be rendered as "0002", and "3" must be "03". Even if the leading {{w|0|zeroes}} were omitted in violation of ISO-8601, the year would become {{w|AD 2|Year 2}}, not Year 2002. Since the standard always uses a 4 digit 'YYYY' format in the first field, and no common formatting uses YYYY-DD-MM, any date written in ISO-8601 is easily recognized and (comparatively) {{w|Ambiguity|unambiguously}} interpretable as YYYY-MM-DD. Dates written in Y-M-DD or MM-DD-YY or other formats are (officially) formatted improperly.

==Transcript==
:[A screen is shown which displays five rows of text, the top three above a dividing line. To the right of the screen the upper part of Cueball is visible as he delivers a message concerning the text on the screen:]
:Localization working group
:Upcoming meetings
:-----------------
:US Team: 2/3/22
:EU Team: 2/3/22

:Cueball: And the European formatting and localization team will meet a month later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Calendar]]

2563: Throat and Nasal Passages

2022-01-03T17:15:33Z

172.70.90.43: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2563
| date = January 3, 2022
| title = Throat and Nasal Passages
| image = throat_and_nasal_passages.png
| titletext = I always felt like what the 'you are now aware of your tongue' thing neeeded in order to be truly enjoyable was an element of mortal peril.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by someone very aware of both their throat, nasal passages and now also their lounge- Title text badly mentioned - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is another in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 COVID-19 pandemic}}.

[[Randall]] has even before the corona pandemic complained about sore throat caused by the cold, see [[1612: Colds]], more than once just a few weeks apart, see [[1618: Cold Medicine]]. So every year during the cold/flu season, he has been forced to think about his sore throat and stuffed nasal passages. But during the last two years he has been thinking about them much more, also when he has not been ill because of the pandemic.

In the graph a black solid line displays how much he has been thinking about this since 2000 and up until 2022. The first 20 years the graph oscillate up and down once every year, and every spike represents the cold and flu season. Autumn and winter causes the spike, while spring and summer clearly drops. Perhaps this is indicating no tendency to suffer from hayfever, which might at least produce mini-spikes at the times of of maximum grass-pollen, tree-pollen and/or other similar atmospheric flotsam. There is basically a spike for every year, although some years it looks a bit different which could be variations induced by complex socialical or meteorological drivers - meeting more or fewer people inside stuffy buildings rather than in the open air. But all in all the peaks seem low. That is when compared to how much time he has thought about it since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out around March 2020. Each summer since there has been a dip, but not anywhere close to the tops of the previous years, and around New Year 2022 the graph peaks (likely due to the {{w|SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant|Omicron variant}}).

The peaks in 2020 and 2021 (2022) are about 6 times higher than those the year before 2020. So if the Y-axis begins at zero, this is how much more he thinks of his throat now than during the times when he actually had a cold.

There seems to be no way of knowing if Randall has had covid-19, but from his comics it seems safe to assume he is fully vaccinated. But at the moment of release the Omicron variant of covid-19 seems to ignore vaccines for about 50% of those vaccinated. Although it seems those vaccinated usually gets a milder case.

The joke is in the dotted line at the very bottom of the graph which either is just above zero, or is actually supposed to be the zero line (which would not change the above assumption about 6 times more thinking). This line reflects how much time he actually wishes to think about them, which is probably not at all. But even before corona Randall seems to have spent way too much time pondering his sore throat.

In the title text Randall references the trick known as "You are now aware of your tongue", which is a self-fulfilling prophecy because it will make anyone hearing it involuntarily think and be aware of their tongue and, as long as they don't try to catch the moment they stop being aware of it, won't stop being aware. A similar technique{{Actual citation needed}} can be used to make people breathe consciously, which then makes it impossible to start breathing automatically and unconsciously again, which would usually have been the case before. Randall sarcastically remarks that the tongue trick needed an element of mortal peril to be truly enjoyable, his actual opinion is probably the opposite, that it was annoying before and that it only became worse now that it contains the danger of death.

==Transcript==
:[A graph with two curves are shown. The Y-axis ends in an arrow, but has no units or ticks. The X-axis has no arrow but has 23 ticks with every fifth longer and every tenth labeled. The first tick extends the Y-axis below the X-axis. Both curves start over the second tick and end over the last tick. One curve is a dotted straight line running along the bottom of the graph just above the X-axis. The other start a bit higher and oscillate a bit up and down with 19 sharp peaks and 19 troughs, where some of the troughs have extra features, and not all are equidistant. After this a 20th small peak just starts to drop down again, before the curve goes in to a very steep rise almost all the way to the top of the graph. There is a small dip on the way before it reaches a maximum. Then a deep drop followed by a smaller rise before an even deeper drop. But then at the end, the graph rises almost vertically to the highest point where the graph stops over the last tick. At the top left of the graph the two lines are explained showing a solid and a dotted line with text to their right. Below this, above the solid curve midway between the first two labels on the X-axis, is a label from which 5 arrows points to 5 consecutive peaks.]
:- How much Time I have spent thinking about my throat and nasal passages, over time
:┅ How much I want to think about them
:Label:Cold/Flu Season
:X-axis: 2000 2010 2020

==Trivia==
*New Year happened two days before the release of this comic, and it was the first released in 2022.
**As neither this or the previous comic [[2562: Formatting Meeting]], the last from 2021 released on New Years Eve 2021-12-31, are [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]], this marks the first year in a long time without an official New Year comic!
**Last time neither of the comics around the New Year was not a New Year comic was the New Year from 2010 to 2011.
***So after 10 years in a row with such a comic Randall did nothing to celebrate that it became 2022.
**The first New Year comic came out on 2007-12-31, and one more followed the year after, before two years without.
***So this is only the third time out of 15 without such a comic since the first came out 14 years ago.
*In the title text the word needed is spelled ''neeeded'' with three ''e''.
**It is expected that this error will be fixed, but that did not happen immediately!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Charts]]

Talk:2562: Formatting Meeting

2021-12-31T22:25:33Z

172.70.90.43:

I downloaded and ran theusaf's bot from its website to make this page. Not sure how to give page creation permission to [[User:Baffo32RunningTheusafBOT]]. When you run the bot you notice that Theusaf's username is "the usa f". [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.45|172.70.110.45]] 16:02, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

shouldn't it be ISO, not iso? actually, the whole title text is lowercase-d when I feel like it shouldn't be [[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.70|172.70.35.70]] 16:59, 31 December 2021 (UTC)Bumpf
: you're probably right. as a geek, one uses lowercase 'iso' all the time in computer date code where it is usually lowercase. e.g. i type `date --iso=seconds` every day into my linux terminal; it outputs 8601 format. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.167|172.70.114.167]] 19:23, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

Speaking as a European, we'd often read 2/3/22 as "2nd March 2022" (same order as the numbers), not "March 2, 2022", though obviously we'd understand both expressions. Also, the suggestion that the thousands/decimal punctuation is reversed in the EU is wrong, as this does not apply to all countries of the EU. For example, Ireland uses the same as the US (and the same as the UK, though that is no longer part of the EU and might eventually give up decimalisation altogether on account of fractions being more wholesome...) [[User:Rotan|Rotan]] ([[User talk:Rotan|talk]]) 18:47, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

Another comic which references ISO-8601 is: https://xkcd.com/1179/ [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 21:27, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

It's been more than 20 years since in 'casual' date writing I started prefering "D/Mmm/YYYY" format (today is 31/Dec/2021, for me right now, tomorrow is 1/Jan/2022) when I had a totally free hand. A combination of indicating to US colleagues in my multinational company of that time that I wasn't writing trying to write Jan/1/2022 (not that it would matter in that particular case!) and doing my bit to support the upcoming Y2K-compatability issues that other people were gradually getting to know about. Though for coded dates, YYYYMMDD[.hh[mm[ss[...]]]] always worked best for me. It numerically sorts (it will even when YYYY eventually becomes YYYYY!) and can be given arbitrary sub-day specification - at least until float-rounding errors start to creep in. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.43|172.70.90.43]] 22:25, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

2562: Formatting Meeting

2021-12-31T22:14:35Z

172.70.90.43: /* Explanation */ Yeah, forget that prior change, let's just go with a string-sort. Y10K be damned!

{{comic
| number = 2562
| date = December 31, 2021
| title = Formatting Meeting
| image = formatting_meeting.png
| titletext = Neither group uses iso 8601 because the big-endian enthusiasts were all at the meeting 20 years ago.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOCAL VERSION OF DR SEUSS, WHO IS NOT JONATHAN SWIFT - Needs wikification and consideration of whether there is a relation to new year's eve. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In the United States, it's common to write dates numerically in the format ''month/day/year'' -- 2/3/22 means February 3, 2022 (the century is often omitted when it's obvious that the date is around the current time). In Europe, the usual format is ''day/month/year'', so 2/3/22 is 2nd March, 2022.

"Localization" is the technique used in software to make it accept input and display output in the formats most natural to users in their locations. For example, in the United States numbers use commas "," to separate thousands and a decimal point "." to separate the decimal values, while in large areas of the EU it is the reverse. And textual output will be translated to the local language. Naturally, this also includes displaying dates in the local format, as described above. Note: Currency is only localized where there is a different formatting standard for the same currency (e.g., Canadian English is $1,000.00 and Canadian French is 1 000,00 $). Currency is never "localized" to a different currency as it would actually change the money value (e.g., $100 is not the same as €100) and a currency conversion is required, which may be further confounded by fluctuating rates in either the short or long term.

The joke in this comic is that two dates are shown on the same display related to meetings regarding localization. The date of the meeting of the US team is localized in the US format, while the EU team's meeting is localized in the European format, and these two dates about a month apart happen to be formatted the same (there are many such pairs of dates, as long as the day of the month is between 1 and 12). Cueball needs to explain that the European meeting will be a month later than the US meeting, to avoid confusion due to the ambiguity (which is ironic, since localization is intended to reduce confusion).

There could also be subtle commentary around the nature of cultural influence in modern times: things like diseases, political influence, and new research spreading to other countries, and how information and change is processed in ways people receiving it expect, rather than how it is intended or what it really is.

ISO-8601 (that is, standard number 8601 as promulgated by the International Standards Organization since 1988) specifies a date format of YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2021-12-31), which results in dates being listed in chronological order when sorted stringwise. The ISO format is called "big-endian", which refers to the fact that the largest unit in the date (the year) comes first; the European format is instead "little-endian", while the American format is neither since the unit given first is the one whose size is in the middle. (Regular numerals are also written with the largest place values on the left – for example, the first 2 in 2021 is the thousands place – though whether this convention is big-endian or little-endian depends on whether the numbers are being read in the context of left-to-right or right-to-left text. The "endianness" terms are most often used in reference to whether the address of a value in computer memory which takes up more than one cell is the location of the most significant or least significant cell, though they originate in a [https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2003/ling538/Lecnotes/ADfn1.htm Jonathan Swift story] about a war over which end of the egg to eat first.) This standard was also mentioned in [[1179: ISO 8601]].

The joke in the title text is that someone attempting to interpret the improperly formatted date as if it were expressed in the standardized ISO-8601 format, might read the date as March 22, 2002, so they went to the meeting almost 20 years ago. Unless the announcement of the meetings was made 2 decades in advance, there's a paradox that these participants would have taken the date from an announcement in the far future. However this interpretation of the date is necessarily incorrect: ISO-8601 format specifies four digit years, two digit months and two digit days. Therefore "2/3/22” ''cannot'' be an ISO-8601 date, as "2" must be rendered as "0002", and "3" must be "03". Even if the leading zeroes were omitted in violation of ISO-8601, the year would become Year 2, not Year 2002. Since the standard always uses a 4 digit 'YYYY' format in the first field, and no common formatting uses YYYY-DD-MM, any date written in ISO-8601 is easily recognized and (comparatively) unambiguously interpretable as YYYY-MM-DD. Dates written in Y-M-DD or MM-DD-YY or other formats are (officially) formatted improperly.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball sitting next to a screen, which displays]:
:Localization working group
:Upcoming meetings
:<hr>
:US Team: 2/3/22
:EU Team: 2/3/22

:Cueball: And the European formatting and localization team will meet a month later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Calendar]]

2562: Formatting Meeting

2021-12-31T22:13:17Z

172.70.90.43: /* Explanation */ Technically by ASCII value, as there's punctuation but no alphabetic. (But if your sort algorithm is blind to non-numeral characters and takes it as a value, it is at least more Y10K compatible than typical string-sorting would be.)

{{comic
| number = 2562
| date = December 31, 2021
| title = Formatting Meeting
| image = formatting_meeting.png
| titletext = Neither group uses iso 8601 because the big-endian enthusiasts were all at the meeting 20 years ago.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOCAL VERSION OF DR SEUSS, WHO IS NOT JONATHAN SWIFT - Needs wikification and consideration of whether there is a relation to new year's eve. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In the United States, it's common to write dates numerically in the format ''month/day/year'' -- 2/3/22 means February 3, 2022 (the century is often omitted when it's obvious that the date is around the current time). In Europe, the usual format is ''day/month/year'', so 2/3/22 is 2nd March, 2022.

"Localization" is the technique used in software to make it accept input and display output in the formats most natural to users in their locations. For example, in the United States numbers use commas "," to separate thousands and a decimal point "." to separate the decimal values, while in large areas of the EU it is the reverse. And textual output will be translated to the local language. Naturally, this also includes displaying dates in the local format, as described above. Note: Currency is only localized where there is a different formatting standard for the same currency (e.g., Canadian English is $1,000.00 and Canadian French is 1 000,00 $). Currency is never "localized" to a different currency as it would actually change the money value (e.g., $100 is not the same as €100) and a currency conversion is required, which may be further confounded by fluctuating rates in either the short or long term.

The joke in this comic is that two dates are shown on the same display related to meetings regarding localization. The date of the meeting of the US team is localized in the US format, while the EU team's meeting is localized in the European format, and these two dates about a month apart happen to be formatted the same (there are many such pairs of dates, as long as the day of the month is between 1 and 12). Cueball needs to explain that the European meeting will be a month later than the US meeting, to avoid confusion due to the ambiguity (which is ironic, since localization is intended to reduce confusion).

There could also be subtle commentary around the nature of cultural influence in modern times: things like diseases, political influence, and new research spreading to other countries, and how information and change is processed in ways people receiving it expect, rather than how it is intended or what it really is.

ISO-8601 (that is, standard number 8601 as promulgated by the International Standards Organization since 1988) specifies a date format of YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2021-12-31), which results in dates being listed in chronological order when sorted alphanumerically. The ISO format is called "big-endian", which refers to the fact that the largest unit in the date (the year) comes first; the European format is instead "little-endian", while the American format is neither since the unit given first is the one whose size is in the middle. (Regular numerals are also written with the largest place values on the left – for example, the first 2 in 2021 is the thousands place – though whether this convention is big-endian or little-endian depends on whether the numbers are being read in the context of left-to-right or right-to-left text. The "endianness" terms are most often used in reference to whether the address of a value in computer memory which takes up more than one cell is the location of the most significant or least significant cell, though they originate in a [https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2003/ling538/Lecnotes/ADfn1.htm Jonathan Swift story] about a war over which end of the egg to eat first.) This standard was also mentioned in [[1179: ISO 8601]].

The joke in the title text is that someone attempting to interpret the improperly formatted date as if it were expressed in the standardized ISO-8601 format, might read the date as March 22, 2002, so they went to the meeting almost 20 years ago. Unless the announcement of the meetings was made 2 decades in advance, there's a paradox that these participants would have taken the date from an announcement in the far future. However this interpretation of the date is necessarily incorrect: ISO-8601 format specifies four digit years, two digit months and two digit days. Therefore "2/3/22” ''cannot'' be an ISO-8601 date, as "2" must be rendered as "0002", and "3" must be "03". Even if the leading zeroes were omitted in violation of ISO-8601, the year would become Year 2, not Year 2002. Since the standard always uses a 4 digit 'YYYY' format in the first field, and no common formatting uses YYYY-DD-MM, any date written in ISO-8601 is easily recognized and (comparatively) unambiguously interpretable as YYYY-MM-DD. Dates written in Y-M-DD or MM-DD-YY or other formats are (officially) formatted improperly.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball sitting next to a screen, which displays]:
:Localization working group
:Upcoming meetings
:<hr>
:US Team: 2/3/22
:EU Team: 2/3/22

:Cueball: And the European formatting and localization team will meet a month later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Calendar]]

2562: Formatting Meeting

2021-12-31T22:09:27Z

172.70.90.43: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2562
| date = December 31, 2021
| title = Formatting Meeting
| image = formatting_meeting.png
| titletext = Neither group uses iso 8601 because the big-endian enthusiasts were all at the meeting 20 years ago.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOCAL VERSION OF DR SEUSS, WHO IS NOT JONATHAN SWIFT - Needs wikification and consideration of whether there is a relation to new year's eve. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In the United States, it's common to write dates numerically in the format ''month/day/year'' -- 2/3/22 means February 3, 2022 (the century is often omitted when it's obvious that the date is around the current time). In Europe, the usual format is ''day/month/year'', so 2/3/22 is 2nd March, 2022.

"Localization" is the technique used in software to make it accept input and display output in the formats most natural to users in their locations. For example, in the United States numbers use commas "," to separate thousands and a decimal point "." to separate the decimal values, while in large areas of the EU it is the reverse. And textual output will be translated to the local language. Naturally, this also includes displaying dates in the local format, as described above. Note: Currency is only localized where there is a different formatting standard for the same currency (e.g., Canadian English is $1,000.00 and Canadian French is 1 000,00 $). Currency is never "localized" to a different currency as it would actually change the money value (e.g., $100 is not the same as €100) and a currency conversion is required, which may be further confounded by fluctuating rates in either the short or long term.

The joke in this comic is that two dates are shown on the same display related to meetings regarding localization. The date of the meeting of the US team is localized in the US format, while the EU team's meeting is localized in the European format, and these two dates about a month apart happen to be formatted the same (there are many such pairs of dates, as long as the day of the month is between 1 and 12). Cueball needs to explain that the European meeting will be a month later than the US meeting, to avoid confusion due to the ambiguity (which is ironic, since localization is intended to reduce confusion).

There could also be subtle commentary around the nature of cultural influence in modern times: things like diseases, political influence, and new research spreading to other countries, and how information and change is processed in ways people receiving it expect, rather than how it is intended or what it really is.

ISO-8601 (that is, standard number 8601 as promulgated by the International Standards Organization since 1988) specifies a date format of YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2021-12-31), which results in dates being listed in chronological order when sorted numerically. The ISO format is called "big-endian", which refers to the fact that the largest unit in the date (the year) comes first; the European format is instead "little-endian", while the American format is neither since the unit given first is the one whose size is in the middle. (Regular numerals are also written with the largest place values on the left – for example, the first 2 in 2021 is the thousands place – though whether this convention is big-endian or little-endian depends on whether the numbers are being read in the context of left-to-right or right-to-left text. The "endianness" terms are most often used in reference to whether the address of a value in computer memory which takes up more than one cell is the location of the most significant or least significant cell, though they originate in a [https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/Spring_2003/ling538/Lecnotes/ADfn1.htm Jonathan Swift story] about a war over which end of the egg to eat first.) This standard was also mentioned in [[1179: ISO 8601]].

The joke in the title text is that someone attempting to interpret the improperly formatted date as if it were expressed in the standardized ISO-8601 format, might read the date as March 22, 2002, so they went to the meeting almost 20 years ago. Unless the announcement of the meetings was made 2 decades in advance, there's a paradox that these participants would have taken the date from an announcement in the far future. However this interpretation of the date is necessarily incorrect: ISO-8601 format specifies four digit years, two digit months and two digit days. Therefore "2/3/22” ''cannot'' be an ISO-8601 date, as "2" must be rendered as "0002", and "3" must be "03". Even if the leading zeroes were omitted in violation of ISO-8601, the year would become Year 2, not Year 2002. Since the standard always uses a 4 digit 'YYYY' format in the first field, and no common formatting uses YYYY-DD-MM, any date written in ISO-8601 is easily recognized and (comparatively) unambiguously interpretable as YYYY-MM-DD. Dates written in Y-M-DD or MM-DD-YY or other formats are (officially) formatted improperly.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball sitting next to a screen, which displays]:
:Localization working group
:Upcoming meetings
:<hr>
:US Team: 2/3/22
:EU Team: 2/3/22

:Cueball: And the European formatting and localization team will meet a month later...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Calendar]]

2559: December 25th Launch

2021-12-31T22:05:40Z

172.70.90.43: Couple of ces.

{{comic
| number = 2559
| date = December 24, 2021
| title = December 25th Launch
| image = december_25th_launch.png
| titletext = Update: Santa has been destroyed by the range safety officer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by JWST: JUST WATCHED SANTA TERMINATED BY A RANGE SAFETY OFFICER NAMED GRINCH. What is a range safety officer? Even reading the wiki page still makes it unclear if this is a person or a system? - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST) is a space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. It has suffered many, many delays over its development period (as previously referenced in [[2014: JWST Delays]]), but it finally launched on Christmas day, December 25, 2021.

This was about 7 hours after this comic appeared. The release day of this comic was Christmas Eve the 24th of December. As can be seen from when [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2559:_December_25th_Launch&oldid=223041 this page] was created 05:02:00, 25 December 2021 (UTC), the comic came out at least 7 hours before {{w|Ariane flight VA256|launch}} which was 12:20:00, 25 December 2021 (UTC). Since Boston ([[Randall|Randall's]] home town) is 5 hours after UTC then the comic must have released close to midnight on the 24th for Randall, and clearly before midnight for the rest of the time zones in the US.

Web comics are usually drawn some time in advance. When this comic was drawn and scheduled for publication, it is possible NASA had not yet [[https://www.nasa.gov/feature/james-webb-space-telescope-launch-update announced]] that the launch of JWST was slipping from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day.

The launch was probably three days after [[Randall]] opened the last number in his [[2550: Webb|Webb]] advent calendar. (Thus this is the second [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] this year referring to the telescope).

In this comic, the James Webb Space Telescope is finally ready to take off. However, an unfortunate circumstance occurs: {{w|Santa Claus}} himself, presumably on his way to or from delivering presents to children, crosses into the path of the launch rocket. The joke is the implication that, right on the brink of success, this extraordinarily unlucky incident will either destroy the telescope, harm Santa, or cause yet another delay, much to [[Cueball]]'s horror.

Real launch aborts have {{w|STS-68|occurred}} with fewer than 2 seconds left in the countdown, causing delays of over a month.

According to the title text, the {{w|range safety officer}} has made the decision to shoot down Santa Claus's sleigh, in order to clear the sky above, protecting the launch window. This seems to demonstrate that they are determined not to let anything delay the launch any further (or that given a choice between destroying the telescope or destroying Santa, the range safety officer chooses the latter).

Airspace is normally [https://simpleflying.com/rocket-launches-airline-traffic/ closed to air traffic] to avoid collisions between aircraft and rocket launches. While Santa might not know about such restrictions, he already knows about this particular launch because thousands of astronomy geeks have asked for a new space telescope as a Christmas present in their letters to Santa, and the easiest way for Santa to deliver such a present is just keeping a safe distance from the launch pad. Moreover {{w|NORAD}} [https://www.noradsanta.org/en/ tracks Santa]'s flying around the world and would be able to give sufficient warning to both Santa and Ground Control to prevent such a close encounter of a festive kind; as well as to prevent accidental global thermonuclear war by {{w|1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident|confusing a pack of flying reindeer}} with a first-strike attack by a foreign power. Finally, Santa Claus performs deliveries overnight, while the launch is scheduled for [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/24/science/webb-telescope-launch-date-livestream.html morning local time], so the timing of such a collision would not occur.

The JWST has been referenced previously in [[1730: Starshade]], [[2014: JWST Delays]], [[2447: Hammer Incident]] and [[2550: Webb]], as well as indirectly in [[975: Occulting Telescope]] and [[1461: Payloads]]. Santa is known to [[838|maintain a list of humans]] responsible for technological incidents and to have suitable punishment for offenders.

==Transcript==
:[Close-up of the top of the James Webb Space Telescope launch rocket. A "Webb" logo can be seen alongside other indistinct logos. Some clouds and birds are visible in the background.]
:Caption: T-minus 10...9...8...

:[Zoom-out to show the complete rocket and the ground below. The rocket takes up the bottom-left corner. At the top-right, Santa Claus and a line of reindeer are flying in towards the left.]
:Santa: Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!

:[Ponytail and Cueball sitting at mission control consoles.]
:Cueball: ''Oh no.''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Christmas]]
[[Category: Telescopes]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]

Talk:439: Thinking Ahead

2021-12-30T16:56:34Z

172.70.90.43:

I don't think the girl pictured is Megan, it seems to me that it's another girl and he is conflicted about talking to her because of unresolved feelings with Megan, which may come back to bite him if he doesn't explore them fully before becoming committed to another. Due to the beginning of the description it seems like this is just a silly mistake.{{unsigned ip|50.198.145.13}}
:It's fixed, and look at the trivia.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:24, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
::Where is this original transcript that I have seen people mention several times?[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:40, 12 June 2014 (UTC)
:::I believe it might be xkcd volume 0? --[[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 17:47, 28 December 2015 (UTC)
On to the actual problem mentioned in the article (i.e. Thinking Ahead), it's a common issue with intelligent guys who spend a lot of time thinking to start imagining all the ways a relationship could go wrong before it even starts. ([http://www.sosuave.com/romance/david/art61.htm "Why Very Intelligent Men Fail With Women, Reason #4: They psych themselves out"]) [[User:Donny2112|Donny2112]] ([[User talk:Donny2112|talk]]) 02:08, 3 July 2016 (UTC)
:sorry, non-native speaker here. Free to mock me, but I had a hard time understanding “I’m moving in the fall”. I thought it was some obscure idiom about rushing things and falling in love. Then I got that it probably just means “Next autumn I will move to another town”… right ? Thanks in advance --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.164|162.158.91.164]] 15:03, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
::As a native ''British'' speaker of English, it's one of the many words/phrases that I've had to gradually learn. (The ubiquitousness of Hollywood movies and US import TV shows quickly get one used to much of the strangenesses, but even after forty-odd years I'm occasionally surprised by something.) "Separated by a common language" indeed (see [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/table#Verb table as a verb], items 4 and 5, for polar-opposite uses of such a simple word), and [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeparatedByACommonLanguage if you want to dive down a rabbithole] there are plenty of places that go into examples.
::So, no, I won't mock you. I'm sure your grasp of any given English dialect is far better than my understanding of whatever your native language is. (German? If it is, mein Deutsche ist nicht sehr gut. If not, I'm probably even worse.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.43|172.70.90.43]] 16:56, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

2561: Moonfall

2021-12-30T15:11:14Z

172.70.90.43: Minor typo. (Hi, it's your favourite IP stalker here! ;) Total coincidence, of course. *Pbbbbb*)

{{comic
| number = 2561
| date = December 29, 2021
| title = Moonfall
| image = moonfall.png
| titletext = Novel ideas and cool explosions are both good, but what I really want from a movie is novel ideas ABOUT cool explosions.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by COOL EXPLOSIONS. - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Megan]] asks [[Cueball]] if he is excited by Moonfall or if he is cringing.

''{{w|Moonfall (film)|Moonfall}}'' is an upcoming 2022 movie scheduled for release in February. Its director, {{w|Roland Emmerich}}, is known for blowing up things in his movies (see for instance [https://www.gq.com/video/watch/explosions-the-roland-emmerich-supercut the Roland Emmerich Supercut]), as well as for factual inaccuracies in his work (mainly the scientific implausibility of his many disaster movies like ''{{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day}}'', ''{{w|The Day After Tomorrow}}'' and ''{{w|2012 (film)|2012}}'').

The [[#Plot|plot]] of ''Moonfall'' is scientifically preposterous, making it potentially "cringe-worthy" for someone who enjoys "hard" science fiction, like Cueball.

Cueball explains to Megan that he usually likes it when stories are based on good science. Maybe only bending it a bit to create the story, to expand our ideas of what is possible . But then he goes on to state that he supports giving Roland Emmerich as much money as he wants, to make cool spaceship noises and smash moons into things. In the movie it is only a moon (the {{w|Moon}}, presumably, see the [[#Plot|plot]] below). But in general Roland often uses huge explosions in his movies.

Megan sums the situation for Cueball up, stating that he is exited to expand our ideas of how much stuff can explode at once.

In the title text Cueball continues by explaining that while novel ideas and explosions are good, what he really want from a movie is novel ideas about cool explosions. So new ways to explode things, or ideas about exploding more things at once. Or both.

===Plot===
Spoiler Alert
:In Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler is convinced she has the key to saving us all - but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman believe her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our Moon is not what we think it is. —Centropolis Entertainment, [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5834426/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl quoted at IMDB]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan walking to the right]]
:Megan: Are you excited for ''Moonfall''?
:Megan: Or cringing?
:Cueball: Well...

:[Closeup on Cueball]]
:Cueball: I like when stories are grounded in good science because it's exciting to expand our ideas of what's possible.

:[Zoomed back out to Cueball and Megan walking to the right. Cueball has his palms raised]
:Cueball: But I also support giving Roland Emmerich as much money as he wants to make cool spaceship noises and smash moons into things.
:Megan: Excited to expand our ideas of how much stuff can explode at once.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Fiction]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring real people]]

2561: Moonfall

2021-12-29T23:04:33Z

172.70.90.43: /* Explanation */ Tense mix-up.

{{comic
| number = 2561
| date = December 29, 2021
| title = Moonfall
| image = moonfall.png
| titletext = Novel ideas and cool explosions are both good, but what I really want from a movie is novel ideas ABOUT cool explosions.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by COOL EXPLOSIONS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic seems to be referring to the new upcoming 2022 movie ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5834426/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Moonfall]''. Its director, {{w|Roland Emmerich}}, is known for blowing up things in his movies, as shown in [https://www.gq.com/video/watch/explosions-the-roland-emmerich-supercut the Roland Emmerich Supercut], as well as for factual inaccuracies in his work (from the scientific implausibility of his many disaster movies to ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1521197/ claiming that William Shakespeare did not write Shakespeare's plays]).

The plot of ''Moonfall'' is scientifically preposterous, making it potentially "cringe-worthy" for someone who enjoys "hard" science fiction:

:In Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler is convinced she has the key to saving us all - but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman believe her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our Moon is not what we think it is. —Centropolis Entertainment, [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5834426/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl quoted at IMDB]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan walking to the right]]
:Megan: Are you excited for ''Moonfall''?
:Megan: or cringing?
:Cueball: Well...

:[Closeup on Cueball]]
:Cueball: I like when stories are grounded in good science because it's exciting to expand our ideas of what's possible.

:[Zoomed back out to Cueball and Megan walking to the right. Cueball has his palms raised]
:Cueball: But I also support giving Roland Emmerich as much money as he wants to make cool spaceship noises and smash moons into things.
:Megan: Excited to expand our ideas of how much stuff can explode at once.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Fiction]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring real people]]

2559: December 25th Launch

2021-12-28T18:34:59Z

172.70.90.43: It may have /just/ been before midnight, assuming the current grabber-script wasn't too tardy. At one point I had changed it from something like "the day before" because it was somewhat misleading.

{{comic
| number = 2559
| date = December 24, 2021
| title = December 25th Launch
| image = december_25th_launch.png
| titletext = Update: Santa has been destroyed by the range safety officer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by JWST: JUST WATCHED SANTA TERMINATED BY A RANGE SAFETY OFFICER NAMED GRINCH. What is a range safety officer? Even reading the wiki page still makes it unclear if this is a person or a system? - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST) is a space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. It has suffered many, many delays over its development period (as previously referenced in [[2014: JWST Delays]]), but it finally launched on Christmas day, December 25, 2021, within hours of this comic appearing, although the official release day of this comic was Christmas Eve the 24th of December. This was probably three days after [[Randall]] opened the last number in his [[2550: Webb|Webb]] advent calendar. (Thus this is the second [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] this year referring to the telescope).

In this comic, the James Webb Space Telescope is finally ready to take off. However, an unfortunate circumstance occurs: {{w|Santa Claus}} himself, presumably on his way to or from delivering presents to children, crosses into the path of the launch rocket. The joke is the implication that, right on the brink of success, this extraordinarily unlucky incident will either destroy the telescope, harm Santa, or cause yet another delay, much to [[Cueball]]'s horror.

Real launch aborts have {{w|STS-68|occurred}} with fewer than 2 seconds left in the countdown, causing delays of over a month.

According to the title text, the {{w|range safety officer}} has made the decision to shoot down Santa Claus's sleigh, in order to clear the sky above, protecting the launch window. This seems to demonstrate that they are determined not to let anything delay the launch any further (or that given a choice between destroying the telescope or destroying Santa, the range safety officer chooses the latter).

Airspace is normally [https://simpleflying.com/rocket-launches-airline-traffic/ closed to air traffic] to avoid collisions between aircraft and rocket launches. While Santa might not know about such restrictions, he already knows about this particular launch because thousands of astronomy geeks have asked for a new space telescope as a Christmas present in their letters to Santa, and the easiest way for Santa to deliver such a present is just keeping a safe distance from the launch pad. Moreover {{w|NORAD}} [https://www.noradsanta.org/en/ tracks Santa]'s flying around the world and would be able to give sufficient warning to both Santa and Ground Control to prevent such a close encounter of a festive kind; as well as to prevent accidental global thermonuclear war by {{w|1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident|confusing a pack of flying reindeer}} with a first-strike attack by a foreign power. Finally, Santa Claus performs deliveries overnight, while the launch is scheduled for [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/24/science/webb-telescope-launch-date-livestream.html morning local time], so the timing of such a collision would not occur.

The JWST has been referenced previously in [[1730: Starshade]], [[2014: JWST Delays]], [[2447: Hammer Incident]] and [[2550: Webb]], as well as indirectly in [[975: Occulting Telescope]] and [[1461: Payloads]]. Santa is known to [[838|maintain a list of humans]] responsible for technological incidents and to have suitable punishment for offenders.

==Transcript==
:[Close-up of the top of the James Webb Space Telescope launch rocket. A "Webb" logo can be seen alongside other indistinct logos. Some clouds and birds are visible in the background.]
:Caption: T-minus 10...9...8...

:[Zoom-out to show the complete rocket and the ground below. The rocket takes up the bottom-left corner. At the top-right, Santa Claus and a line of reindeer are flying in towards the left.]
:Santa: Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!

:[Ponytail and Cueball sitting at mission control consoles.]
:Cueball: ''Oh no.''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Christmas]]
[[Category: Telescopes]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]

2550: Webb

2021-12-28T18:31:27Z

172.70.90.43: (As per JWST Delays.)

{{comic
| number = 2550
| date = December 3, 2021
| title = Webb
| image = webb.png
| titletext = Each one contains a chocolate shaped like a famous spacecraft and, for the later numbers, a pamphlet on managing anxiety.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the REAL SPACE TELESCOPE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic depicts an {{w|advent calendar}} geared toward astronomers anticipating the launch of the {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}}.

At the time this comic was published, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was scheduled to be launched on the 22nd of December, 2021 (after [[2014: JWST Delays|many prior delays]]). Christmas would indeed have come early for astronomers if the launch had been successful and on time. By December 14, the launch date had been pushed back again to "no earlier than December 24", as NASA was working on resolving a communications issue between the observatory and its launch vehicle system. This was followed by another delay announced on December 21, when the launch date was pushed back to December 25, due to weather concerns. It was {{w|Ariane flight VA256|successfully launched}} from Kourou in French Guiana on December 25 at 09:20 FGT (12:20 UTC, 07:20 {{w|UTC−05:00|EST}}), as hoped for in this comic: [[2559: December 25th Launch]].

A normal advent calendar marks the days until Christmas by allowing miniature doors to be opened, or other means of revealing some treat/picture. This is often from the 1st of the month until the 'big reveal' on the 24th or 25th, though other schemes may exist in other cultures. This particular calendar features 18 hexagonal features, intended to be sequentially accessed over several days, in the same layout as the 18 gold-beryllium mirror segments designed to fold out to form the JWST's primary mirror. The first door is on the 5th, two days after this comic's publication date, making the last on the 22nd, the 'Big Day'.

Cueball's question could be interpreted two ways: Cueball doesn't know about JWST, so he is asking why this advent calendar ends before Christmas (and possibly fearing this calendar is similar to the one in [[1245: 10-Day Forecast]]); or Cueball does know about JWST and its history of delays, so he is asking why the calendar ends on 22 when there is no certainty in that launch date (and also implying that he expects it to be delayed). [Note: two weeks after the comic was posted, the JWST was again delayed, this time to no earlier than Christmas Eve (and later finally to Christmas Day itself), making the expectation accurate. This would also make a traditional advent calendar serve equally well, were it not for the hexagon design.]

December 22 is also the day after the northern hemisphere winter solstice. The end of the world was famously predicted for the winter solstice in [[998: 2012|2012]].

The title text references the fact that chocolates in advent calendars are often molded into different shapes, and the fact that the later numbers have a "pamphlet on managing anxiety" is probably supposed to quell the impeding fear that the launch could be delayed further or go wrong. The telescope's launch was initially planned for 2007, but due to various redesigns, financial issues, accidents, flaws, and the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}, the launch date was pushed back to 2011, then 2013, 2018, 2020, May 2021, October 2021, and finally to the current launch date in December 2021. It may also allude to post-launch concerns; even if the launch goes well, there will still be nervousness about the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ihVeEoUdo| complex 160-day process] in which the JWST reaches its intended {{w|James_Webb_Space_Telescope#Mission|observation point}} 930,000 miles from Earth, many subsystems are unfolded/deployed, and the instrument passes its final calibrations. There is effectively no way to rescue/repair this expensive piece of equipment should anything be amiss, unlike the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}}, which was visited five times by {{w|Space Shuttles}} to remedy and enhance various features. (There exist issues with even Hubble that cannot currently be considered repairable without the Shuttles or any proven replacement, and the JWST will be located far beyond Hubble's operational orbit in a place much more difficult to get to.)

The JWST has been referenced previously in [[1730: Starshade]], [[2014: JWST Delays]] and [[2447: Hammer Incident]], as well as indirectly in [[975: Occulting Telescope]] and [[1461: Payloads]], and later again in [[2559: December 25th Launch]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Ponytail are looking at an advent calendar hanging on a wall in front of them. The advent calendar is loosely tiled with 18 smaller hexagons, numbered from 5 to 22 in no clear order or pattern. They are regularly arranged into a larger hexagonal shape and of the five rows, there are three in the top and bottom ones, as also with each diagonal edge. There are four in each of the other rows, offset symmetrically, with a gap where a fifth could have been in the centre of the middle row.]
:Cueball: The hexagons are nice.
:Cueball: But why does it end at 22?
:Numbers:
5 22 10
11 15 19 17
14 7 none 13 8
9 16 6 20
18 21 12

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Astronomer Advent Calendar

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Calendar]]
[[Category:Telescopes]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Food]]

2014: JWST Delays

2021-12-28T18:27:59Z

172.70.90.43: That one actually came out before launch, so would have had to have been prescience if a response to the success.

<noinclude>:''"2014", this comic's number, redirects here. For the comic named "2014", see [[1311: 2014]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 2014
| date = July 2, 2018
| title = JWST Delays
| image = jwst_delays.png
| titletext = Since delays should get less likely closer to the launch, most astronomers in 2018 believed the expansion of the schedule was slowing, but by early 2020 new measurements indicated that it was actually accelerating.
}}

==Explanation==

The {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST) is a {{w|space telescope}} created to be the successor of the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}}.

The telescope has been in development since 1996, but has been plagued by numerous delays and cost overruns. This comic was likely inspired by the most recent [https://nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-completes-webb-telescope-review-commits-to-launch-in-early-2021 delay announcement], which was posted on June 27, 2018. At that time, the JWST was scheduled to launch on March 30, 2021.

* In July 2020, this was pushed back further to October 31, 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
* In June 2021, it was announced that the launch day is likely slip to at least mid-November 2021.
* On September 8, 2021, ESA announced that the official planned launch date is [https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Targeted_launch_date_for_Webb_18_December_2021 December 18, 2021.]
* On November 22, 2021, NASA announced that the official planned launch date was delayed by four days to December 22, 2021, following a problem encountered when mating JWST to its payload adapter. This date was referenced in [[2550: Webb]].
* On December 15, 2021, NASA announced that the official planned launch date was delayed by two days to December 24, 2021, following a [https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-launch-delay-december-24 communications issue between JWST and the launch vehicle]
* On December 21, 2021, NASA announced that the official planned launch date was delayed by one day to December 25, 2021 due to [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/james-webb-space-telescope-launch-update adverse weather at the launch site]
* On December 25, 2021, the telescope was successfully launched, which Randall anticipated with this comic: [[2559: December 25th Launch]].

This comic portrays the launch delays and the new predicted launch years and the times at which those predictions were made. There have been so many delays in this project that you can plot a line of best fit with a surprisingly high degree of accuracy. Randall says optimistically that the line’s slope is less than one (there is less than one year of ''new'' delay per year of elapsed time), implying, of course, that if events continue without further intervention, it will eventually be built, with a predicted date of late 2026.

The title text alludes to the famous research over the {{w|Accelerating expansion of the universe|universe’s accelerating expansion}}. The expansion had been predicted to be slowing due to gravity from everything in the universe; instead, it was found to be accelerating since about 5 billion years ago. Here, Randall looks at the apparently ever-delaying schedule and observes that the delay per time does not decrease, although the date gets nearer (which should help to schedule the launch date, as research and unknown parameters are replaced with engineering and exact predictions and measurements). However, this delay inflation contradicts Randall's usage of a linear trendline. Given the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}} brought some additional delays in 2020 and 2021, the "early 2020" date was perhaps unintentionally prescient.

The Wikipedia article linked above includes a {{w|James Webb Space Telescope#Cost and schedule issues|table}} which provides the data points for the chart:

{| class=wikitable
! width=35 | Year !! Planned<br />launch !! Time left<br />(years)
|-
| 1997 || 2007 || 10
|-
| 1998 || 2007 || 9
|-
| 1999 || 2007 to 2008 || 8-9
|-
| 2000 || 2009 || 9
|-
| 2002 || 2010 || 8
|-
| 2003 || 2011 || 8
|-
| 2005 || 2013 || 8
|-
| 2006 || 2014 || 8
|-
| 2008 || 2014 || 6
|-
| 2010 || 2015 to 2016 || 5-6
|-
| 2011 || 2018 || 7
|-
| 2013 || 2018 || 5
|-
| 2017 || 2019 || 2
|-
|2018 || 2020 || 2
|-
|2018 || 2021 || 3
|-
|2020 || 2021 || 1
|-
|2021 || 2021 || 0
|}

==Transcript==
:[Top caption, in the panel:]
:James Webb Space Telescope
:[Subtitle of top caption:]
:Launch Delays

:[There is a positive-quadrant only line graph. The x- axis is labeled 'Current Date' and the y axis is labeled 'Planned Launch Date'. The dates on both of the axes range from 1995 to 2030.]
:[In the graph are 15 points, starting at (1997,2007) and extending at a slope of a little less than one. The most recent one is labeled 'Now: 2021'.]
:[There are two lines on the graph: a red one and a dashed black one. The red one is a regression of the points on the graph. It has a slope of about ⅔. The black one is a line with a slope of one. They intersect at the point (2026,2026), marked by the label 'Late 2026'?]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Look, at least the slope is less than one.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Extrapolation]]

Talk:760: Moria

2021-12-22T18:51:53Z

172.70.90.43:

Can someone who has read the Silmarillion clarify what balrogs actually are? I'm not sure how accurate this is but I seem to recall that they were the lieutenants of Morgoth, and were not monsters but actually minor gods (Maiar?) [[User:Athang|Athang]] ([[User talk:Athang|talk]]) 23:14, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

That's correct. Balrogs were both corrupted Maiar and servants of Morgoth. Gandalf, as with all the Istari (wizards), was also of the Maiar. Hence the close matched fight which took every last ounce of Gandalf's strength. [[User:Plm-qaz snr|Plm-qaz snr]] ([[User talk:Plm-qaz snr|talk]]) 12:34, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Just don't ask if the buggers have wings! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.220|108.162.210.220]] 19:02, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

The bit about the Endless Stair could be a reference to Dwarf Fortress: one of the problems Dwarf Fortress players encounter is how the heck to get their miners back out of whatever moat/chute/spiky-pit/reservoir/pointless-doomsday-device-power-supply-tunnel they've just designed and built. And Randall plays Dwarf Fortress.

Given the time of the comic, could this be a reference to those trapped Chilean miners? IKR - remember them!?

980: Money/Prices in tables

2021-12-21T13:17:38Z

172.70.90.43: /* Dollars */ This pluralisation error bothers me the most.

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

{{incomplete|Values still need double-checking. Possibly spelling as well.}}
==Dollars==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Item
! Price
! Notes
|-
! rowspan="5"|Dollar bills
|-
| $1 Bill
| $1
| one dollar is generally believed to have the value of one dollar {{citation needed}}
|-
| $10 Bill
| $10
| ten dollars are just ten times one dollar,{{citation needed}} see above
|-
| $500 Bill (William McKinley, discontinued)
| $500
| discontinued bills [https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/06/11/how-much-is-a-500-bill-worth.aspx might be worth more than their original value] but can still be used as normal currency worth its designated value (in this case 500$)
|-
| $1000 Bill (Grover Cleveland, discontinued)
| $1000
| discontinued bill, see above
|-
! rowspan="3"|Fruit
|-
| Apples (one dozen)
| $5.68
| the price has since [https://www.in2013dollars.com/Apples/price-inflation/2011-to-2021?amount=1.31 risen due to inflation]
|-
| Oranges (one dozen)
| $3.08
| the price has since [https://www.in2013dollars.com/Oranges,-including-tangerines/price-inflation/2011-to-2021?amount=1.44 risen due to inflation]
|-
! rowspan="3"|Fast Food
|-
| Dollar Menu item
| $1.00
| most dollar menus cost one dollar,{{citation needed}} hence the name
|-
| Starbucks Coffee
| $2.00
| ten years later, one might for that price get a <s>small</s> [https://realmenuprices.com/starbucks-menu-prices/ tall freshly brewed coffee]
|-
! rowspan="3"|Average US Restaurant Meals
|-
| Average single US restaurant meal
| $35.65
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Average meal at the 20 costliest San Francisco restaurants
| $85.27
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
! 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)
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Homemade chicken dinner
| $13.78 (With time cost of two hours of shopping, travel, prep and cleanup: $46.32)
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| McDonalds
| $27.89 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $36.03)
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Arby’s
| $34.00 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $42.13)
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Chili’s
| $69.64 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $77.78)
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Outback Steakhouse
| $109.82 (With time cost of 30 minutes travel: $117.96)
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
! rowspan="2"|Vehicles
|-
| Low-end bicycle
| $190
| [https://www.google.com/search?q=low-end+bicycle+price a quick google search] will tell us that this is a fairly realistic price still
|-
! rowspan="2"|Clothes
|-
| Men's suit
| $400
| [https://www.google.com/search?q=men's+suit+price a quick google search] will tell us that this is a fairly realistic price, although there are much cheaper suits out there
|-
! rowspan="2"|Debt
|-
| Daily interest on average credit card debt
| $5.63
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
! rowspan="4"|Daily income
|-
| Median household daily income
| $136.28
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Taxes
| $32.16
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| After-tax
| $104.12
| it is just the taxes subtracted from the median household daily income
|-
! rowspan="4"|Game Consoles
|-
| PS3
| $250
| [https://www.google.com/search?q=playstation+3+price a quick google search] will tell us that their demand has decreased significantly since other consoles (PS4, PS5) were released and there are no more new games being developed for the Playstation 3
|-
| Xbox 360
| $200
| [https://www.google.com/search?q=xbox+360+price a quick google search] will tell us that their demand has decreased significantly since other consoles (Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S) were released and there are no more new games being developed for the Xbox 360
|-
| Wii
| $150
| [https://www.google.com/search?q=nintendo+wii+price a quick google search] will tell us that their demand has decreased significantly since other consoles (Wii U, Nintendo Switch) were released and there are no more new games being developed for the Nintendo Wii
|-
! rowspan="9"|Electronics
|-
| Kindle Fire
| $199
| like video game consoles, other electronics such as ebook readers become less demanded over time due to newer models and the discontinuation of support
|-
| Basic iPad
| $499
| like video game consoles, other electronics such as tablets become less demanded over time due to newer models and the discontinuation of support
|-
| iPad + 3G + a year of data
| $869
| as above; also 3G internet is being gradually shut down across the world ([https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/10/22/wireless-service-3-g-shutdown-coming-soon/8538388002/ USofA], [https://blog.telegeography.com/3gs-sun-is-setting-in-europe Europe]) so it won't be easy getting 3G internet for a whole other year (information as of december 2021)
|-
| Basic Macbook Air
| $999
| like video game consoles, other electronics such as laptops become less demanded over time due to newer models and the discontinuation of support
|-
| Netbook
| $249.99
| like video game consoles, other electronics such as laptops become less demanded over time due to newer models and the discontinuation of support
|-
| iPod Nano
| $129
| like video game consoles, other electronics such as music players become less demanded over time due to newer models and the discontinuation of support
|-
| Mac Mini
| $599
| like video game consoles, other electronics such as desktop PCs become less demanded over time due to newer models and the discontinuation of support
|-
| Comcast cable internet for a year ($59.99/month)
| $719.88
| comcast has changed its name to Xfinity since the comic came out
|-
! rowspan="7"|Books
|-
| Paperback book
| $6.80
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Hardcover book
| $32.27
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Audio book
| $50.42
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I15SB16/ref=r_kdia_h_i_gl Kindle]
| $79.00
| nowadays the price ranges from 24$ all the way up to a little over 300$, depending on the model
|-
| New video game
| $49.99
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Kindle keyboard + 3G
| $139
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
! rowspan="6"|Loose change
|-
| Loose change value per pound
| $12.80
| The chart depicts 12 blocks instead of 13.
|-
| Loose change with no quarters
| $5.40
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| One-gallon jug of loose change
| $270
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Loose change with no pennies
| $17.40
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Annual value of pennies received in change (at one daily cash purchase)
| $7.30
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
! rowspan="7"|Pet ownership (Based on ASPCA estimations)
|-
| Annual cost of rabbit ownership
| $730
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Annual cost of dog ownership
| $695
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Annual cost of cat ownership
| $670
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Annual cost of fish ownership
| $35
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Annual cost of bird ownership
| $200
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Annual cost of small mammal ownership
| $300
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
! rowspan="5"|Cell phone bill
|-
| Traditional cell phone average monthly fee
| $77.36
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Traditional cell phone average annual bill
| $928.30
| would be $928.32 since it is just the monthly fee times twelve
|-
| Smartphone average monthly fee
| $110.30
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Smartphone average annual bill
| $1,320
| would be $1,323.60 since it is just the monthly fee times twelve
|-
! rowspan="5"|Worker/CEO comparison
|-
| 1965 production worker average hourly wage
| $19.61
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| 2007 production worker average hourly wage
| $19.71
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Typical 1965 CEO pay for the same period
| $490.31
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|-
| Typical 2007 CEO pay for the same period
| $5,419.97
| {{Actual citation needed}}
|}
</div>

==Thousands==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Item
! Price
! Notes
|-
! 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
| The chart depicts 115 blocks instead of 117.
|-
!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
| This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $375,000.
|-
| 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
! Notes
|-
! 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
| The chart depicts 10 blocks instead of 8.
|-
| 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
|
|-
| 1933 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
|-
| Darrell 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 Huntsman net worth
| $40,000,000
|
|-
| Average net worth of US senator
| $13,400,000
|
|-
| Average net worth of US representative
| $4,900,000
|
|-
| A billionaire
| $1,000,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="5"|Per US resident
|-
| $1 per US resident
| $312,620,000
|
|-
| $1 per US household
| $117,290,000
| The chart depicts 138 blocks instead of 117.
|-
| $10 from every US resident
| $3,326,200,000
| The chart depicts 3126 blocks instead of 3326.
|-
| $10 from every US household
| $1,179,180,000
| The chart depicts 854 blocks instead of 1179.
|-
! 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
|
|-
! rowspan="6"|Prizes
|-
| $64,000 in 1955 when "The $64,000 Question" first aired
| $528,310
|
|-
| £1,000,000 in 1998 when the UK "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" aired
| $2,270,000
|
|-
| $1,000,000 in 1999 when the US "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" aired
| $1,330,000
|
|-
| $1,000,000 in 1955 when the TV show "The Millionaire" aired
| $8,250,000
|
|-
| $1,000,000 in 1931 when the film "The Millionaire" opened
| $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 2'' || $516,610,000 ||
|-
| 1999 || ''The Phantom Menace'' || $572,000,000 ||
|-
| 1997 || ''Titanic'' || $827,260,000 || Yes
|-
| 1994 || ''The 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
|-
| Other || $6,410,000,000
|}

====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
|-
| Missing || ~$5,000,000,000
|}

===Book publishing industry revenue===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Genre !! Revenue
|-
| Book publishing industry revenue || $28,320,000,000 (Sum of genres is $29.39 billion, 1 block more than depicted)
|-
| 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 (This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $956,800,000,000)
|-
| 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 || $17,010,000,000
|-
| 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
|-
| The other 53 || $136,490,000,000
|}

===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 (the chart depicts 156 blocks instead of 154) || || $14,010,000,000
|-
| GE || $151,600,000,000 (the chart depicts 151 blocks instead of 152) || $11,640,000,000 ||
|-
| Berkshire Hathaway || $136,100,000,000 ([[Randall]] rounded down from 136.185 billion) || $12,970,000,000 ||
|-
| PepsiCo || $57,840,000,000 || $6,320,000,000 ||
|-
| Coca-Cola || $35,840,000,000 (this appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $35,120,000,000) || $11,800,000,000 ||
|-
| VISA || $8,100,000,000 || $2,700,000,000 ||
|-
| MasterCard || $5,500,000,000 (the chart depicts 5 blocks instead of 6) || $1,850,000,000 ||
|-
| General Motors || $135,600,000,000 (the chart depicts 135 blocks instead of 136) || $6,170,000,000 ||
|-
| Ford || $129,000,000,000 || $6,560,000,000 (the chart depicts 6 blocks instead of 7) ||
|-
| Chrysler || $44,950,000,000 (this appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $41,950,000,000) || || $653,000,000 (this appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $652,000,000)
|-
| AT&T || $124,600,000,000 (the chart depicts 126 blocks instead of 125) || $19,860,000,000 ||
|-
| Verizon || $106,560,000,000 (the chart depicts 106 blocks instead of 107) || $2,550,000,000 ||
|-
| Bank of America || $134,200,000,000 (the chart depicts 135 blocks instead of 134) || || $2,240,000,000
|-
| JP Morgan Chase || $115,480,000,000 || $17,370,000,000 ||
|-
| Citigroup || $111,060,000,000 || $10,600,000,000 ||
|-
| AIG || $104,420,000,000 || $7,790,000,000 ||
|-
| HP || $126,000,000,000 || $8,780,000,000 (this appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $8,760,000,000) ||
|-
| 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
! Notes
|-
! 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
| The chart depicts 93 blocks instead of 92.
|-
! rowspan="10"|US health care spending (2005 data)
|-
| Private insurance
| $785,900,000,000
|
|-
| Out-of-pocket
| $282,260,000,000
| The chart depicts 250 blocks instead of 282.
|-
| Other private spending
| $79,000,000,000
| The chart depicts 111 blocks instead of 79.
|-
| 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
|
|}

===NCAA budget===
$5,640,000,000

===Total annual tax breaks to the five largest oil companies===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value !! Notes
|-
| 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 ||
|-
| 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 five largest oil companies || $36,000,000,000 ||
|-
| 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 || The chart depicts 2 blocks instead of 3.
|}

===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"
! Category
! Item
! Value
! Notes
|-
! rowspan="2"|US GDP
|-
|
| $14,545,950,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="2"|Government
|-
|
| $1,980,640,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="4"|Real estate
|-
| Non-rental real estate
| $1,737,500,000,000
| The chart depicts 1736 blocks instead of 1738.
|-
| Rental and leasing
| $187,610,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $1,925,210,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="10"|Nondurable Goods
|-
| 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
| The chart depicts 14 blocks instead of 12.
|-
| Paper products
| $57,800,000,000
| The chart depicts 62 blocks instead of 58.
|-
| Plastics and rubber products
| $58,410,000,000
|
|-
| Textile mills
| $18,130,000,000
| The chart depicts 12 blocks instead of 18.
|-
| Printing and related supports
| $33,790,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $739,300,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="13"|Durable Goods
|-
| Computers and electronics
| $212,640,000,000
|
|-
| Metal products
| $125,590,000,000
|
|-
| Machinery
| $116,110,000,000
|
|-
| Wood products
| $21,530,000,000
| Rounded down to 21 blocks.
|-
| Furniture
| $24,930,000,000
|
|-
| Other transportation equipment
| $93,440,000,000
|
|-
| Motor vehicles, trailers, and parts
| $80,560,000,000
|
|-
| Mineral products
| $39,360,000,000
|
|-
| Metals
| $44,710,000,000
|
|-
| Miscellaneous
| $81,390,000,000
|
|-
| Electrical equipment and components
| $53,260,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $898,420,000,000
| This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $893,420,000,000.
|-
! rowspan="6"|Finance and insurance
|-
| 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
|
|-
| Total
| $1,207,030,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="8"|Professional and business services
|-
| 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
|
|-
| Total
| $1,752,750,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="6"|Health and education
|-
| 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
|
|-
| Total
| $1,294,580,000,000 (This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $1,249,580,000,000)
|
|-
! rowspan="2"|Utilities
|-
|
| $276,210,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="2"|Other services
|-
|
| $345,540,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="2"|Construction
|-
|
| $553,750,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="5"|Mining
|-
| Mining (other than oil and gas)
| $50,380,000,000
|
|-
| Mining support
| $51,270,000,000
|
|-
| Oil and gas
| $145,990,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $248,080,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="4"|Agriculture
|-
| Farms
| $107,140,000,000
|
|-
| Forestry, fishing, and related
| $30,080,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $137,120,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="6"|Arts and entertainment
|-
| 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
|-
| Accomodation [sic]
| $111,990,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $528,620,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="6"|Information
|-
| Information and data processing
| $78,300,000,000
|
|-
| Publishing (including software)
| $152,170,000,000
|
|-
| Film, video, and sound recording
| $61,610,000,000
|
|-
| Broadcasting and telecommunications
| $366,560,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $658,630,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="10"|Transportation and storage
|-
| 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 $63,770,000,000
|-
| Rail
| $31,730,000,000
|
|-
| Truck
| $116,520,000,000
| Rounded down to 116 blocks
|-
| Transit and land passenger
| $24,110,000,000
| The chart depicts 22 blocks instead of 24
|-
| Pipeline
| $12,360,000,000
|
|-
| Other transport
| $97,560,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $401,280,000,000
|
|-
|}

===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
| The chart depicts 19 blocks instead of 18.
|-
| 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
| The chart depicts 4 blocks instead of 6.
|-
! 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
| The chart depicts 2 blocks instead of 3.
|-
! 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
| The chart depicts 2 blocks instead of 3.
|-
|}

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 (the chart depicts 212 blocks instead of 211)
|-
| 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===

This section shows the money made every year in the US, broken into five pools of about $2 trillion each. The pools are sorted by income level—the top $2 trillion is made by a small number of wealthy households (the "one percent"), while the bottom $2 trillion represents the combined annual income of the poorer half of the country.

Note: Figures are only estimates—these statistics were computed using data from the Congressional Budget Office analysis of 2007 incomes, and have been subject to the normalizations detailed below.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Who !! # Households !! % Households !! Typical income/year !! Income
|-
| The 1% || 1.6 million || 1.3 || >$400,000 || $1,397,000,000,000
|-
| High incomes || 9 million || 8 || $150,000 - $400,000 || $1,411,000,000,000
|-
| Upper incomes || 18 million || 16 || $90,000 - $150,000 || $1,553,000,000,000
|-
| Upper middle incomes || 27 million || 23 || $55,000 - $90,000 || $1,610,000,000,000
|-
| The bottom 50% || 63 million || ~50 || <$55,000 || $1,711,000,000,000
|-
| Total || 118.6 million || 98.3 || || $7,682,910,000,000
|-
|}

===Amount needed===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Type !! Amount !! Notes
|-
| Required for poverty-line income || $2,602,000,000,000 || This is the amount which must be set aside from each pool in order to leave $22,350—roughly a poverty-line income—for each family in that pool. If taxes cut into this region, then it forces the average after-tax income for the pool below the $22,350. (Of course, many families in this group make less than that already.)
|-
| Required for a middle-class income || $4,874,000,000,000 || This is the amount which must be set aside from each pool in order to leave $44,700—roughly double the poverty-line income—for each family in that pool.
|-
| Amount needed to give everyone an income over $100,000 || $7,070,000,000,000 || Amount which must be left in the pool to keep the average income above $100,000 (See descriptions below for details)
|-
| Amount needed to give everyone an income over $250,000 || $8,836,000,000,000 || Amount which must be left in the pool to keep the average income above $250,000 (See descriptions below for details)
|-
|}

===Taxes===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Type !! Amount !! Notes
|-
| State taxes || $642,030,000,000 || Unlike federal taxes, state taxes are regressive—the poor pay a higher percentage of their income than the rich. This is because sales taxes, a large component of state revenues, fall disproportionately on the poor.
|-
| Federal taxes || $2,192,180,000,000 || effective total federal taxes paid, after deductions and tax credits
|-
|}

Note on methodology: these totals were calculated from an analysis of the 2007 CBO report on effective federal tax rates by income. There were some mismatches between figures on total income from various sources, and between CBO tax rates and federal revenue. The income totals here were adjusted for inflation and then scaled slightly to match federal tax revenue. This should only affect the total reported income, and not the distribution of the tax burden or the rough makeup of the quintiles.

===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 !! Notes
|-
| 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 || This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $1,480,000,000.
|}

====US foreign humanitarian and economic aid====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Amount
|-
| Total || $34,410,000,000
|-
| 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 !! Notes
|-
| 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 ||
|-
| Other || $41,740,000,000 || Rounded down to 41 blocks
|}

===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 to revenue, because the presence of the deduction may be affecting taxpayers' spending habits.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Area !! Deductions !! Notes
|-
| 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 || This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $56,460,000,000.
|-
| 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 || Rounded down to 24 blocks.
|-
| Cafeteria plans || $26,760,000,000 || Rounded down to 26 blocks.
|-
| State and local bonds || $19,560,000,000 || Rounded down to 19 blocks.
|-
| 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 || Rounded down to 55 blocks
|-
| Child care || $55,850,000,000 || The chart depicts 104 blocks instead of 107.
|-
| Employer health plans || $107,140,000,000 ||
|-
| Making Work Pay (ending) || $60,510,000,000 || The chart depicts 64 blocks instead of 61.
|-
| 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 ||
|-
| Total || $964,970,000,000 ||
|-
|}

===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 || The chart depicts 83 blocks instead of 78
|-
| 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) (the chart depicts 10 blocks instead of 8)
|}

===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 (rounded down to 236 blocks)
|-
| 1812 New Madrid, Missouri earthquake || $206,050,000,000 ||
|-
| 1926 Miami hurricane || $202,000,000,000 ||
|-
| 1906 San Francisco earthquake || $197,810,000,000 ||
|-
| 1900 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 || This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $60,400,000,000.
|-
| Air pollution from power plants || $118,300,000,000 || This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $123,300,000,000.
|-
| 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 ||
|-
| 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.
|-
| 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 ||
|-
|}

===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) || $2,570,000,000 ||
|-
| 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 || $100/acre going rate for poor-access land
|-
| 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 !! Notes
|-
| New York City || $806,490,000,000 ||
|-
| Manhattan || $281,040,000,000 ||
|-
| Queens || $208,180,000,000 || rounded up to 209 blocks
|-
| Brooklyn || $201,230,000,000 ||
|-
| Staten Island || $61,380,000,000 ||
|-
| Bronx || $54,660,000,000 || rounded down to 54 blocks
|}

===Megaprojects===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Project !! Cost !! Notes
|-
| National missile defense shield cost through 2013 || $107,690,000,000 ||
|-
| F-22 Raptor program (halted) || $67,610,000,000 || The chart depicts 61 blocks instead of 68.
|-
| Planned Russian Bering Strait tunnel || $66,000,000,000 || The chart depicts 56 blocks instead of 66.
|-
| 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 || Rounded up to 25 blocks
|-
| 2nd Avenue NYC subway line || $17,960,000,000 || Rounded down to 17 blocks
|-
| Big Dig cost || $18,510,000,000 || as of 2008 (rounded down to 18 blocks)
|-
| 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 || This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $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===
{| class="wikitable"
! Category
! Item
! Price
! Notes
|-
! rowspan="8"|General/Legislative
|-
| Policy and regulation
| $629,460,000
| Merged into one block with Management.
|-
| Fiscal assistance
| $5,150,000,000
|
|-
| Property and records
| $1,550,000,000
|
|-
| Legislative
| $4,140,000,000
|
|-
| Fiscal operations
| $12,070,000,000
|
|-
| Management
| $535,000,000
| Merged into one block with Policy and regulation.
|-
| Total
| $24,074,460,000
|
|-
! rowspan="6"|Energy
|-
| Conservation
| $5,070,000,000
|
|-
| Supply
| $5,870,000,000
|
|-
| Policy and regulation
| $629,460,000
|
|-
| Preparedness
| $201,710,000
|
|-
| Total
| $11,771,170,000
|
|-
! rowspan="4"|Science/Tech
|-
| General R&D
| $12,850,000,000
| Rounded down to 12 blocks.
|-
| Space
| $18,620,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $31,470,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="4"|Agriculture
|-
| Farm income
| $16,830,000,000
|
|-
| R&D and services
| $4,820,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $21,650,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="6"|Justice
|-
| Law Enforcement
| $28,140,000,000
|
|-
| Criminal justice assistance
| $4,920,000,000
|
|-
| Legal
| $13,250,000,000
|
|-
| Corrections
| $7,850,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $54,160,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="5"|Community and regional development
|-
| Community
| $10,040,000,000
|
|-
| Regional
| $3,290,000,000
| Label swapped with Disaster relief.
|-
| Disaster relief
| $10,800,000,000
| Label swapped with Regional.
|-
| Total
| $24,130,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="5"|Transportation
|-
| Air
| $21,720,000,000
|
|-
| Water
| $9,480,000,000
| Rounded up to 10 bocks.
|-
| Ground
| $61,610,000,000
| Rounded down to 61 blocks.
|-
| Total
| $92,810,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="7"|Education and job training
|-
| Social services
| $19,440,000,000
|
|-
| Research and other labor
| $5,470,000,000
|
|-
| Training/employment
| $9,990,000,000
|
|-
| Higher education
| $20,300,000,000
|
|-
| K-12 and vocational education
| $74,260,000,000
| The chart depicts 73 blocks instead of 74.
|-
| Total
| $129,460,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="7"|Natural resources
|-
| Pollution control
| $10,990,000,000
|
|-
| Conservation
| $10,930,000,000
|
|-
| Recreation
| $3,960,000,000
|
|-
| Other resources
| $6,560,000,000
|
|-
| Water
| $11,810,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $44,250,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="5"|Health/Medicaid
|-
| Health care
| $335,320,000,000
|
|-
| Safety
| $4,200,000,000
|
|-
| Research
| $34,670,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $374,080,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="2"|Interest on debt
|-
|
| $198,870,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="3"|Social Security
|-
|
| $716,360,000,000
|
|-
| Federal payments to dead retirees
| $120,200,000
|
|-
! rowspan="8"|Income security
|-
| Other income aid
| $184,350,000,000
|
|-
| Food aid
| $96,410,000,000
|
|-
| Retirement and disability (non-SS)
| $6,650,000,000
|
|-
| Housing
| $59,450,000,000
|
|-
| Government retirement and disability
| $121,500,000,000
|
|-
| Unemployment
| $162,330,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $630,680,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="7"|Veterans
|-
| Other
| $4,940,000,000
|
|-
| Training and rehab
| $8,200,000,000
|
|-
| Housing
| $547,000,000
|
|-
| Medical care
| $46,340,000,000
|
|-
| Unemployment
| $49,830,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $109,860,000,000
|
|-
! rowspan="10"|Military
|-
| R&D
| $78,040,000,000
|
|-
| Housing
| $3,220,000,000
|
|-
| Nuclear security
| $19,580,000,000
|
|-
| "Defense-related"
| $7,670,000,000
|
|-
| Construction
| $21,460,000,000
|
|-
| Personnel
| $157,810,000,000
|
|-
| Operations
| $279,750,000,000
|
|-
| Equipment
| $135,420,000,000
|
|-
| Total
| $703,030,000,000
|
|}

===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 $118,000,000,000)
|}

===Stimulus spending===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Item
! Value
! Notes
|-
| rowspan="5"|2008
|-
| Individual tax breaks
| $120,110,000,000
|
|-
| Student loan guarantees
| $33,470,000,000
|
|-
| Business tax breaks
| $52,360,000,000
| Rounded up to 53 blocks.
|-
| Total
| $205,930,000,000
|
|-
| rowspan="9"|2009
|-
| Tax breaks
| $307,530,000,000
| The chart depicts 318 blocks.
|-
| Education
| $90,460,000,000
| The chart depicts 92 blocks.
|-
| Medicare/Medicaid
| $80,500,000,000
| The chart depicts 89 blocks.
|-
| Transportation
| $32,560,000,000
|
|-
| Unemployment
| $62,740,000,000
|
|-
| Infrastructure
| $24,000,000,000
|
|-
| Other
| $150,160,000,000
| The chart depicts 183 blocks.
|-
| Total
| $747,950,000,000
| The chart depicts 800 blocks.
|-
|}

===Bailouts===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Value !! Notes
|-
| 1980s-1990 S&L bailout || $78,300,000,000 || total cost to taxpayers (the chart depicts 180 blocks)
|-
| 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 || The chart depicts 36 blocks instead of 42.
|-
| Value of outstanding TARP assets || $144,440,000 || This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $144,440,000,000.
|-
| Bailout funds returned || $206,880,000,000 ||
|-
| Current Eurozone bailout fund || $1,361,700,000,000 || The chart depicts 1162 blocks instead of 1362.
|}

===Federal Payments===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Item !! Cost !! Notes
|-
| Annual improper federal payments comprising fraud, abuse, and poorly-documented payments || $125,400,000,000 ||
|-
| Federal payments to dead retirees || $120,200,000 ||
|-
| Ground Zero medical expenses fund || $2,800,000,000 ||
|-
| NEA-estimated cost to bring all US schools into good repair || $413,300,000,000,000 || The chart depicts 423 blocks instead of 413.
|-
| 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 defense 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 !! Notes
|-
| 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 || The chart depicts 786 blocks.
|-
| War in Afghanistan || $321,000,000,000
|-
| Total || $804,410,000,000 || This appears to be a mistake by [[Randall]] and should read $8,044,100,000,000.
|}

</div>

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

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

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

===US household net worth===

$58,740,000,000,000

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Item !! Net Worth
|-
| Richest 1% || $19,620,000,000,000
|-
| Richer half || $57,270,000,000,000
|-
| Poorer half || $1,470,000,000,000
|-
|}

===Total debt in the US===

$36,560,000,000,000

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Item !! Debt
|-
| Household || $13,560,000,000,000
|-
| State and local government || $2,500,000,000,000
|-
| Federal government || $9,510,000,000,000
|-
| Business || $10,980,000,000,000
|-
|}

===World GDP===

$62,900,000,000,000

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

===Total public debt===

Note: US figures are from 2011, while the other totals use 2010 debt in 2011 dollars, which is likely an underestimate.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Region !! Debt !! Notes
|-
| EU (total) || $13,340,000,000,000 ||
|-
| United States || $10,200,000,000,000 || Plus internal government borrowing of 4,740,000,000,000
|-
| Japan || $8,630,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Germany || $2,480,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Italy || $2,140,000,000,000 ||
|-
| India || $2,140,000,000,000 ||
|-
| China || $1,907,000,000,000 ||
|-
| France || $1,767,000,000,000 ||
|-
| United Kingdom || $1,654,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Brazil || $1,281,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Canada || $1,130,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Spain || $834,210,000,000 ||
|-
| Mexico || $584,860,000,000 ||
|-
| Greece || $460,180,000,000 ||
|-
|}

===World total===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Item !! Value !! Notes
|-
| proven oil reserves || $131,960,000,000,000 || November 2011 prices
|-
| US reserves || $20,580,000,000,000 ||
|-
| proven coal reserves || $72,850,000,000,000 || 2011 central Appalachian prices
|-
| US reserves || $20,020,000,000,000 ||
|-
| proven natural gas reserves || $21,470,000,000,000 || 2011 NYMEX prices
|-
| US reserves || $930,470,000,000 ||
|-
| 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 ||
|-
|}

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

===All US real estate===

$28,380,000,000,000

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Type !! Value !! Notes
|-
| Home || $23,010,000,000,000 ||
|-
| Commercial || $5,370,000,000,000 || includes stores, apartments, industrial, etc.
|-
|}

===Value of all gold ever mined (late 2011 prices)===

$9,120,000,000,000

===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 || $19,500,000,000,000 || $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 || $47,500,000,000,000 || $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 || $58,500,000,000,000 || $11,500,000,000,000 || $3,000,000,000,000
|-
| 2009 || $57,500,000,000,000 || $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 || $63,500,000,000,000 || $11,500,000,000,000 || $4,000,000,000,000
|}
</div>
{{DEFAULTSORT:0980}}