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A thorough analysis of the frequencies present in this comic and how they relate to the underlying technology (the GIF format) was published as [http://notebooks.jsvine.com/reverse-engineering-xkcd-frequency/ Reverse Engineering xkcd's 'Frequency'].
 
A thorough analysis of the frequencies present in this comic and how they relate to the underlying technology (the GIF format) was published as [http://notebooks.jsvine.com/reverse-engineering-xkcd-frequency/ Reverse Engineering xkcd's 'Frequency'].
  
The table below lists all the events and their periods/frequencies (computed from the GIF loop times). Some events make reference to other comics.
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The table below lists all the events and their duration / frequency. Some events make reference to other comics.
  
 
===Events===
 
===Events===
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|-
 
|-
 
|[[File:parliament toilet.gif]]
 
|[[File:parliament toilet.gif]]
|A member of the UK parliament flushes a toilet||style="text-align:right;"|10.06||style="text-align:right;"|6||style="text-align:right;"|3,140,000||At the time of this comic, there were 1,430 persons assigned to one or other of the two houses of the UK parliament, meaning that Randall inferred an average of 6 flushes per individual per day. Supposing that they sleep for 6-8 hours and get up to go to the toilet once per night, that means that during the rest of the day they are averaging a trip to the toilet every 3.2 to 3.6 hours. This estimate is somewhat on the high side, but members of parliament, particularly members of the Lords, do skew older, and older people tend to use the toilet more.{{Citation needed}}
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|A member of the UK parliament flushes a toilet||style="text-align:right;"|10.06||style="text-align:right;"|6||style="text-align:right;"|3,140,000||At the time of this comic, there were 650 elected MPs and in the UK parliament, resulting in an average of 13.2 flushes per MP per day, which would mean that supposing that MPs get up to go to the toilet once between midnight and 6am, that means that during the rest of the day they are averaging a trip to the toilet every hour and a half. It appears that Randall included the unelected Lords in the upper house of Parliament (not technically called Members of Parliament), which numbered around 780 at the time of the comic. In that case, that averages a slightly more reasonable 6 flushes per Parlimentarian per day.
 
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|[[File:flight.gif]]
 
|[[File:flight.gif]]
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|-
 
|-
 
|[[File:cat mockingbird.gif]]
 
|[[File:cat mockingbird.gif]]
|Someone's pet cat kills a mockingbird||style="text-align:right;"|1.82||style="text-align:right;"|33||style="text-align:right;"|17,340,000||Whereas the previous item references the well-known book "To Kill a Mockingbird", this one talks about {{w|Mockingbird|mockingbirds}} being literally killed (in this case, by cats). [http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Mimus_polyglottos/ There are 45 million mockingbirds in the world;] this means that according to Randall, cats kill 39% of mockingbirds in one year, i.e. in 2.5 years they are able to kill all mockingbirds (excluding the ones that are born in the meantime).
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|Someone's pet cat kills a mockingbird||style="text-align:right;"|1.82||style="text-align:right;"|33||style="text-align:right;"|17,340,000||Whereas the previous item references the well-known book "To Kill a Mockingbird", this one talks about {{w|Mockingbird|mockingbirds}} being literally killed (in this case, by cats). There are 45 million mockingbirds in the world;[http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Mimus_polyglottos/] this means that according to Randall, cats kill 39% of mockingbirds in one year, i.e. in 2.5 years they are able to kill all mockingbirds (excluding the ones that are born in the meantime).
 
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|[[File:phoenixshoes.gif]]
 
|[[File:phoenixshoes.gif]]
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* The number of persons called {{w|Amelia (given name)|Amelia}} ([http://howmanyofme.com/  est. 82,572 people in the U.S.])
 
* The number of persons called {{w|Amelia (given name)|Amelia}} ([http://howmanyofme.com/  est. 82,572 people in the U.S.])
 
* The number of persons born between November 22 and December 22 under the astrological sign of {{w|Sagittarius (astrology)|Sagittarius}} (~1/12th of the population, i.e. approximately 6881 Amelias in the U.S.)
 
* The number of persons born between November 22 and December 22 under the astrological sign of {{w|Sagittarius (astrology)|Sagittarius}} (~1/12th of the population, i.e. approximately 6881 Amelias in the U.S.)
* The frequency of soda (soft drinks) being drunk ([http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_sof_dri_con-food-soft-drink-consumption 216 liters per person per year in the U.S.]).  
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* The frequency of soda (soft drinks) being drunk (216 liters per person per year in the U.S.[http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_sof_dri_con-food-soft-drink-consumption]).  
 
According to our figures, 6881 Amelias drink 1.44 million liters of soft drinks per year in the United States alone, which means that Randall's figures only account for American Amelias (drinking 355 mL or 12 fl. oz. of soda in each drink).
 
According to our figures, 6881 Amelias drink 1.44 million liters of soft drinks per year in the United States alone, which means that Randall's figures only account for American Amelias (drinking 355 mL or 12 fl. oz. of soda in each drink).
 
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|-
 
|[[File:oldfaithful.gif]]
 
|[[File:oldfaithful.gif]]
|Old Faithful erupts||style="text-align:right;"|5640<br>(94 minutes)||style="text-align:right;"|0.011<br>(15&nbsp;per&nbsp;day)||style="text-align:right;"|5,595||{{w|Old Faithful}} is a geyser in {{w|Yellowstone National Park}} in the US, that tends to erupt every 65 or 91 minutes. XKCD's period of 1h 34m falls between the [https://geysertimes.org/geyser.php?id=Old%20Faithful mean and median of recent Old Faithful eruptions] and corresponds to a [http://geysertimes.org/getSingleEruption.php?id=645135 February 16, 2014 eruption].
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|Old Faithful erupts||style="text-align:right;"|5640<br>(94 minutes)||style="text-align:right;"|0.011<br>(15&nbsp;per&nbsp;day)||style="text-align:right;"|5,595||{{w|Old Faithful}} is a geyser in {{w|Yellowstone National Park}} in the US, that tends to erupt every 65 or 91 minutes. XKCD's period of 1h 34m falls between the [http://geysertimes.org/getGeyserInfo.php?geyserID=2 mean and median of recent Old Faithful eruptions] and corresponds to a [http://geysertimes.org/getSingleEruption.php?id=645135 February 16, 2014 eruption].
 
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|-
 
|[[File:shark.gif]]
 
|[[File:shark.gif]]
|A fishing boat catches a shark||style="text-align:right;"|0.83||style="text-align:right;"|72||style="text-align:right;"|38,000,000|| [[1326: Sharks]]; Shark populations have experienced severe declines due to fishing impacts both of {{w|shark finning|finning}} and by-catch.
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|A fishing boat catches a shark||style="text-align:right;"|0.83||style="text-align:right;"|72||style="text-align:right;"|38,000,000|| [[1326: Sharks]]; Shark populations have experienced severe declines due to fishing impacts both of {{w|shark finning|finning}} and by-catch.[http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=shark+population+decline+fishing]
 
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|[[File:us cancer.gif]]
 
|[[File:us cancer.gif]]
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|-
 
|-
 
|[[File:pulsar.gif]]
 
|[[File:pulsar.gif]]
|The star PSR J1748-2446AD rotates 1,000 times||style="text-align:right;"|1.4||style="text-align:right;"|42.9||style="text-align:right;"|22,548,240,000 which means 22.5 billion times per year||{{w|PSR J1748-2446ad}} is the fastest spinning {{w|pulsar}} known.
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|The star PSR J1748-2446AD rotates 1,000 times||style="text-align:right;"|1.4||style="text-align:right;"|42.9||style="text-align:right;"|22,548,240, which means 22.5 billion times per year||{{w|PSR J1748-2446ad}} is the fastest spinning {{w|pulsar}} known.
 
|-
 
|-
 
|[[File:facebook.gif]]
 
|[[File:facebook.gif]]
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|-
 
|-
 
|[[File:ndsex.gif]]
 
|[[File:ndsex.gif]]
|Someone has sex in North Dakota||style="text-align:right;"|1.38||style="text-align:right;"|43||style="text-align:right;"|22,900,000||Since {{w|North Dakota}} has 723,000 inhabitants (ranked the 48th state), and if we estimate the sexually active population as 80% (and if ''someone'' means ''a couple)'' this means that people in North Dakota have sex 79.1 times a year. It is estimated that [http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/geographyofsex.htm 3.93% of the world population has sex on a given day;] Randall's rate for North Dakota is 17.3% which is not low.
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|Someone has sex in North Dakota||style="text-align:right;"|1.38||style="text-align:right;"|43||style="text-align:right;"|22,900,000||Since {{w|North Dakota}} has 723,000 inhabitants (ranked the 48th state), and if we estimate the sexually active population as 80% (and if ''someone'' means ''a couple)'' this means that people in North Dakota have sex 79.1 times a year. It is estimated that 3.93% of the world population has sex on a given day;[http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/geographyofsex.htm] Randall's rate for North Dakota is 17.3% which is not low.
 
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|-
 
|[[File:bieber.gif]]
 
|[[File:bieber.gif]]

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