How many abortions o'clock is it?

June 30, 2007 4:33 AM

World Clock SWF application showing the time of day expressed in actual time, the number of species passed into extinction, barrels of oil produced, the temperature of the earth, prison population, world population, and deaths by various causes. Because, y'know, you weren't depressed enough already. Site also offers a number of free games, calculators and applications for your own site.
posted by psmealey (36 comments total)

cool - could do w/ some commas, tho
posted by DenOfSizer at 5:10 AM on June 30, 2007

From now on, I'm never going to check MetaFilter right when I wake up in the morning. Ever again.
posted by hermitosis at 5:25 AM on June 30, 2007

That experience is like looking into the gaping maw of death... and smelling what death had for lunch. Unpleasant.

In other words: don't harsh my buzz.
posted by chuckdarwin at 5:29 AM on June 30, 2007

If only there were more clocks available as some kind of gadget or widget.
posted by Artw at 5:52 AM on June 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

Quite good going on the push-bike production though.
posted by Abiezer at 6:29 AM on June 30, 2007

The death part isn't disturbing. It's the birth/death ratio.
posted by Hubajube at 6:33 AM on June 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

I wonder what "forest lost" means? Acres, I suppose.
posted by Hubajube at 6:34 AM on June 30, 2007

That reminds me...I've looked for a freeware/shareware world clock that's a world map showing time-zone divisions and the sun, moon and Earth-shadow positions. Waaaay back when Windows 3.1 was a novelty, I had a DOS based one, but I've never found a Win9x one. Anybody got any favorites they'd care to suggest?
posted by pax digita at 6:52 AM on June 30, 2007

Glad they included US divorces.
posted by klue at 7:15 AM on June 30, 2007

Seems to be driven to some degree by ideology -- but for what purpose?
posted by davidmsc at 7:50 AM on June 30, 2007

That clock is useless...there's nothing AT ALL about puppies kicked or baby's eaten...
posted by Skygazer at 8:00 AM on June 30, 2007

What hermitosis said. I'm going back to bed now.
posted by nola at 8:46 AM on June 30, 2007

Seems to be driven to some degree by ideology -- but for what purpose?

If so, it's a complex and unusual ideology - one that wants to call attention to divorces, abortions, and illegal immigrants alongside global warming, forest destruction, population growth, and prison growth.

I suppose a conservative with an environmentalist streak might fit (though in the "?" he doubts global warming). It seems more like he just tried to find a bunch of interesting and potentially controversial statistics of the steadily increasing variety.

For all it's morbidity, the "now" feature gives me a much better sense of comparison between these rates than all the massive yearly totals I've seen for them before.
posted by Wingy at 8:56 AM on June 30, 2007

I'm glad they included leprosy fatalities. Leprosy never gets the attention it deserves.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:23 AM on June 30, 2007

That is both beauty and sadness expressed in number form. I recently lost a pregnancy and it took quite some time to tear my eyes away from the birth line. I've never been overly fond of numbers but finally saw some strange poetry in them.
posted by pywacket at 9:46 AM on June 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

Sadly, no listing of deaths by autoerotic asphyxia.
posted by Tube at 9:56 AM on June 30, 2007

Death has so many interesting variations, and birth is just one undifferentiated statistic. Important lesson:

Life is more boring than death.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:59 AM on June 30, 2007

Never knew there was so many abortions.
posted by bhouston at 10:26 AM on June 30, 2007

On an up note, this makes me much happier that I don't have kids. According to that clock, people clearly need to stop breeding so much. And maybe die more.
posted by miss lynnster at 10:42 AM on June 30, 2007

Miss, I had the same thought. Are we still popping out kids at such a rate?

I say this, of course, as our local fish wrapper had an article recently on a local woman who just had her ninth puppy, like that was something other than a source of shame. It's not the frontier and we have enough people.
posted by maxwelton at 10:54 AM on June 30, 2007

Most of the people born are living right now.
posted by Skygazer at 10:57 AM on June 30, 2007

i.e.: In the history of the world.
posted by Skygazer at 10:58 AM on June 30, 2007

That clock is useless...there's nothing AT ALL about puppies kicked or baby's eaten.

There's no "Kittens killed by God" entry, either.
posted by Zack_Replica at 11:01 AM on June 30, 2007

There's no "Kittens killed by God" entry, either.

Nor gallons of ejaculate.
posted by psmealey at 11:07 AM on June 30, 2007

This clock is missing "ALIEN COLONIZATION FLEET ETA: T-xx:xx:xx"
posted by Avenger at 11:23 AM on June 30, 2007

Its also interesting to note that without abortions, our population growth would be twice what it "normally" is.

I'm not sure how to feel about that.
posted by Avenger at 11:27 AM on June 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

Seems to be driven to some degree by ideology

I agree! Nothing there about how much money we make!
posted by mr.marx at 12:37 PM on June 30, 2007

This would freak the shit out of me if I was tripping.
posted by chlorus at 1:59 PM on June 30, 2007

Skygazer: I've heard that too, and I thought it seemed implausible. A google search came up with this article debunking it.
posted by Riki tiki at 3:14 PM on June 30, 2007

What are the mathematics employed to determine the number of people who have ever lived?
posted by psmealey at 3:28 PM on June 30, 2007

I already have this clock, and I can't seem to get rid of it.

Oh, this one's for a computer! Nevermind.
posted by SaintCynr at 4:09 PM on June 30, 2007

120 people were born in the time it took 50 to die, and there was only one US divorce. My new goal is to somehow change these ratios.
posted by quin at 5:24 PM on June 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

Most of the people born are living right now.

Urban myth. More like 6%.
posted by mono blanco at 5:56 PM on June 30, 2007

On the positive side of things, we seem to kill our own fetuses at a faster rate than forests.
posted by pokermonk at 6:05 PM on June 30, 2007

Really practical and interesting psmealey!

Humbling, disturbing...and useful. Thanks so much!
posted by nickyskye at 2:54 AM on July 1, 2007

This is shocking. Our world's rate of decay can be seen by the second. I, for one, cannot stand idly by and... cannot just sit here and...

Hey, I wonder what's on tv.
posted by Citizen Premier at 4:55 PM on July 1, 2007