Comments on: How many abortions o'clock is it?

How many abortions o'clock is it?

psmealey — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 04:33:50 -0800

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.

By: DenOfSizer

DenOfSizer — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 05:10:06 -0800

cool - could do w/ some commas, tho

By: hermitosis

hermitosis — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 05:25:16 -0800

From now on, I'm never going to check MetaFilter right when I wake up in the morning. Ever again.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 05:29:09 -0800

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.

By: Artw

Artw — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 05:52:05 -0800

If only there were more clocks available as some kind of gadget or widget.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 06:29:21 -0800

Quite good going on the push-bike production though.

By: Hubajube

Hubajube — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 06:33:03 -0800

The death part isn't disturbing. It's the birth/death ratio.

By: Hubajube

Hubajube — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 06:34:59 -0800

I wonder what "forest lost" means? Acres, I suppose.

By: pax digita

pax digita — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 06:52:34 -0800

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?

By: klue

klue — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:15:53 -0800

Glad they included US divorces.

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:50:22 -0800

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

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 08:00:52 -0800

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

By: nola

nola — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 08:46:32 -0800

What hermitosis said. I'm going back to bed now.

By: Wingy

Wingy — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 08:56:49 -0800

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.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 09:23:57 -0800

I'm glad they included leprosy fatalities. Leprosy never gets the attention it deserves.

By: pywacket

pywacket — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 09:46:03 -0800

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.

By: Tube

Tube — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 09:56:36 -0800

Sadly, no listing of deaths by autoerotic asphyxia.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 09:59:52 -0800

Death has so many interesting variations, and birth is just one undifferentiated statistic. Important lesson: Life is more boring than death.

By: bhouston

bhouston — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:26:11 -0800

Never knew there was so many abortions.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:42:49 -0800

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.

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:54:22 -0800

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.

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:57:01 -0800

Most of the people born are living right now.

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:58:10 -0800

i.e.: In the history of the world.

By: Zack_Replica

Zack_Replica — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:01:02 -0800

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.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:07:36 -0800

There's no "Kittens killed by God" entry, either. Nor gallons of ejaculate.

By: Avenger

Avenger — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:23:34 -0800

This clock is missing "ALIEN COLONIZATION FLEET ETA: T-xx:xx:xx"

By: Avenger

Avenger — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:27:00 -0800

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.

By: mr.marx

mr.marx — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:37:17 -0800

Seems to be driven to some degree by ideology I agree! Nothing there about how much money we make!

By: chlorus

chlorus — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 13:59:27 -0800

This would freak the shit out of me if I was tripping.

By: Riki tiki

Riki tiki — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:14:05 -0800

Skygazer: I've heard that too, and I thought it seemed implausible. A google search came up with this article debunking it.

By: psmealey

psmealey — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:28:16 -0800

What are the mathematics employed to determine the number of people who have ever lived?

By: SaintCynr

SaintCynr — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 16:09:10 -0800

I already have this clock, and I can't seem to get rid of it. Oh, this one's for a computer! Nevermind.

By: quin

quin — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:24:22 -0800

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.

By: mono blanco

mono blanco — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:56:29 -0800

Most of the people born are living right now. Urban myth. More like 6%.

By: pokermonk

pokermonk — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:05:47 -0800

On the positive side of things, we seem to kill our own fetuses at a faster rate than forests.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 02:54:17 -0800

Really practical and interesting psmealey! Humbling, disturbing...and useful. Thanks so much!

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:55:04 -0800

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.