The most sobering comic I have seen in a long time

[Vort]

"Modern agriculture is the use of land to convert petroleum into food." - Al Bartlett, Forgotten Fundamentals of the Energy Crisis, American Journal of Physics, 46(9), p. 876, 1978.

Edited February 29, 2016 by Vort

[Guest]

I'm surprised to see silly putty made it on this scale.  But I'm even more surprised that human milk was even bigger.

Public water is about what I'd expect.  But I was surprised just to see it considered in a graphic like this.  It usually isn't thought of because...well...it's just water.  It makes us realize why some people argue that we will have peak water before we'd have peak oil.

[NightSG]

I find it somewhat amusing that personal lubricant and nail polish seem to be pretty similar in quantity to vanilla.

Though it still makes me want to start a business providing impersonal lubricant.

[NeuroTypical]

I am officially offended at the following:
* Yogurt beats ketchup
* Mayo beats salsa
* Soda isn't bigger, and bottled water isn't smaller.

America needs change. Vote for [redacted by Pam, who is now sending her admin police to beat me with their all-seeing batons].

[NeedleinA]

I would like to see the pipe size for HFCS all by itself, and not hidden in all the other categories. Seems like that stuff is in everything!

[Ironhold]

5 hours ago, Carborendum said:

I'm surprised to see silly putty made it on this scale.  But I'm even more surprised that human milk was even bigger.

Public water is about what I'd expect.  But I was surprised just to see it considered in a graphic like this.  It usually isn't thought of because...well...it's just water.  It makes us realize why some people argue that we will have peak water before we'd have peak oil.

Based on the artwork, it looks like this was done by the same people behind the webcomic XKCD - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xkcd . I haven't been keeping up with it, but the series does quite often venture into discussing such issues as math, science, politics, and their real-world applications. For example, one strip was talking about the cultural impact of shows like "Mythbusters" when it came to encouraging people to get involved in science. 

[Guest]

Saliva?

[Guest]

This brings up a question: Does this source have any bibliography or source material for the graphic?

[Ironhold]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

This brings up a question: Does this source have any bibliography or source material for the graphic?

If it *is* XKCD, then finding the original page for the comic should yield this. They're pretty good about that sort of thing. 

[NightSG]

Also http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1649

[mordorbund]

19 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

I am officially offended at the following:
* Yogurt beats ketchup
* Mayo beats salsa
* Soda isn't bigger, and bottled water isn't smaller.

America needs change. Vote for [redacted by Pam, who is now sending her admin police to beat me with their all-seeing batons].

I respect [redacted by Pam] on the issues, I really do. But I think [deleted by mod] has better character and will be a better moral leader for the country.

[Guest]

21 hours ago, NeedleinA said:

I would like to see the pipe size for HFCS all by itself, and not hidden in all the other categories. Seems like that stuff is in everything!

It shows up on the graphic.  Bottom graphic, 2/3 up, far right.  And that is the actual TOTAL HFCS consumption in ALL products.

http://corn.org/publications/statistics/hfcs-consumption/

http://www.apinews.com/en/news/item/12976-usa-honey-consumption-per-inhabitant-is-growing-and-the-production-figures-are-going-down

Based on these and other sites which corroborate the data, I did some calculations.  And it is about that size.

[NeedleinA]

Yep. I did see the HFCS pipe, but then also saw the part under the title that said: "Many of the pipelines would overlap EG. Soda / Corn Syrup".

Perhaps I don't understand that statement, or what they are saying by "overlap".  

[Vort]

22 minutes ago, NeedleinA said:

Yep. I did see the HFCS pipe, but then also saw the part under the title that said: "Many of the pipelines would overlap EG. Soda / Corn Syrup".

Perhaps I don't understand that statement, or what they are saying by "overlap".  

I assume it means that e.g. the gasoline pipe would be wholly contained within the petroleum pipe, even though they are shown as separate pipes.

[Guest]

IOW: If you have 10 gallons of soda which requires 1 gallon of corn syrup, the soda would still show up as the full 10 gallons (not 9 gallons) and the corn syrup shows up as 1 gallon.  And that gallon of corn syrup is still counted as part of the total corn syrup.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Guest

[NeedleinA]

At least in my mind I would have thought HFCS would have been much, much bigger. Seems like it appears on a ton of food products: soda, juice, bbq sauce, etc. 

I can't seem to avoid it without paying "Whole Foods" prices for everything. Ugh...

[Guest]

It may not completely get rid of it.  But it's a lot easier if you cook from scratch.

[mordorbund]

CORN IS FOR THE OX!!!!

Use wheat syrup instead.

[zil]

11 minutes ago, mordorbund said:

wheat syrup

!?!? No, no.  Wheat (flour) and syrup -  maple syrup - it's the best syrup.  Mmmmm.  French toast, pancakes, waffles....  Breakfast for dinner - it's like dinner and desert all in one.  (Please stop drooling on your keyboard - it's bad for the computer (and that saliva pipe is only so big...).)

The italics in this post were brought to you by the Maple Syrup Farmers of Maine.

[Sunday21]

In some parts of Canada, they put maple syrup on everything! Fried eggs, sausages, steak....After spending a summer at a school in one such area, where I had no choice but to eat this stuff, I now can't stand the smell of maple syrup. And my cultural heritage includes haggis (all the bits of a sheep normally discarded, minced, laden with salt, all boiled together in a sheep's stomach), deep fried pizza, deep fried mars bars, and blood sausage for breakfast.

[NeedleinA]

 

3 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

 haggis (all the bits of a sheep normally discarded, minced, laden with salt, all boiled together in a sheep's stomach), deep fried pizza, deep fried mars bars, and blood sausage for breakfast.

I just gained 5 lbs reading your post