558: 1000 Times

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 11:33, 7 May 2013 by 107.205.30.219 (talk) (Explanation)
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1000 Times
And 0.002 dollars will NEVER equal 0.002 cents.
Title text: And 0.002 dollars will NEVER equal 0.002 cents.

Explanation

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In this comic, Randall notes how news organisations quote figures to make them sound comparable, when the are actually not.

The Title could be a reference to a (semi-)famous case where Verizon Wireless quoted a rate of .002 cents per kb on their data plan, but charged $0.002.[1]

Transcript

[Ponytail sitting behind desk.]
Sign: bailout: $170 billion; bonuses: $165 million
Honest:
[Ponytail sitting behind desk.]
Sign: bailout: $170,000 million; bonuses: $165 million
Dear news organizations: stop giving large numbers without context or proper comparison. The difference between a million and a billion is the difference between a sip of wine and 30 seconds with your daughter, and a bottle of gin and a night with her.


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Discussion

Most honest: Bailout - 1.7 x 10^11 Bonuses - 1.65 x 10^8 BruceJohnJennerLawso (talk) 23:39, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

so what WERE the boni for?

I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait (talk) 16:54, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

For bringing money into the company (from the government) according to those executives' contracts 198.41.235.59 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

A bit surprised Randall ignored the still significant figure of 0.1% paid out as bonuses instead of being used to help revitalize the economy. flewk (talk) 07:50, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

I believe he was more upset about the dishonest reporting. How drastic that .1% are is a matter of debate, but I would argue that the amount of outrage the dishonest figures aim to incite is certainly unwarranted and would not serve any attempt at rational discourse. Randall has also shown a certain aversion to making political comics and commentaries until recently. 162.158.89.61 06:15, 3 March 2017 (UTC)