What is Digg?Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate.61 Comments
- spamulo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+57you gotta be kidding...
from the javascript of the site:
AgeGroup = Math.random();
if (AgeGroup <= 0.105438115127)
{
Type = "Infant / Toddler";
Years = "0 - 4";
Percentage = 0.51305080728;
}
that's right - the stats are random.
use this for research my ass... rated inaccurate. - knightblade2oo4, on 10/12/2007, -6/+54Nice man. My cousin died a few minutes ago in our kitchen and she showed up right away!
- netbear, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17That's spooky and cool too. But its not entirely accurate...
For example, check out Japan where the number of births is exactly the same as the number of deaths since January 1, 2005. Talk about an organized society! - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17Don't mod him down, if you look at the page source, he is 100% correct. But if you look at "information about the population clock" it states:"The notes are also simulated, but are properly dispersed according to the percentages found."
So the website isn't lying, this story is just inaccurate. - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Soon you'll be able to bet on the results.
Guy1: "I'll bet $200, that Sweden will have more births in the next 24 hours than Italy"
Bookie: "They're 10 to 1 odds, I'll take it!" - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11check out india...counter never stops
- Aristotle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Yeah, this isn't accurate at all, it's just kind of an illustration of what current deaths and births are. From their site:
"The figures presented are based on information from the U.S. Census Bureau. Data was collected for the population births and deaths, for the most recent year available. The numbers presented are not real figures, but merely estimates. The notes are also simulated, but are properly dispersed according to the percentages found."
Above is copied from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/population/info.html
Kind of interesting, but no digg - BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8China seems to be winning. Better keep an eye on them.
- Monkeman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7i can just imagine the dude sitting at his computer eating a bag of cheetos screaming at his monitor THIS IS FAKE THIS IS FAKE GLUHALUHLGAUHAH
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7This site is very interesting, but the page designer needs to be bitch-smacked into 2006.
- jjb123, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Well no duh there not acurrate 100%, there is no way for rich countries like the us or th uk to monitor every birth or death, let alone some country like ethiopia.
- bigpeeler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Common sense dictates: How COULD this be real? Seriously, just think of the logistics of making this work. Too bad though. Maybe in the not too distant future, real-time apps like this will be a reality.
- mrWoot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Also, the site states that the numbers are "estimates". http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/population/info.html
"The figures presented are based on information from the U.S. Census Bureau. Data was collected for the population births and deaths, for the most recent year available. The numbers presented are not real figures, but merely estimates. The notes are also simulated, but are properly dispersed according to the percentages found." - RobotCitizen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The Isle of Man has a stable population, which makes sense since it's an island full of just men.
- chaosmachine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm suprised so many people took 'real time' at face value. I guess those were the same people who dugg the "100% efficient power source" story yesterday.
- VegaObscura3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You're right about saying it is not real. If you look into its source code, you can see that it generates the numbers randomly based on statistics. Very far from a realtime anything. No digg.
- pjh3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Japan has a negative birth rate (which means theres a greater occurance of deaths then births).
- mrWoot, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6He is correct. The whole script is using 'Math.random()' to simulate it. I thought it was too fishy myself and so I opened up the source code. I was just about to comment, but I saw you beat me to it.
Sad how this gets on to the front page. - miken32, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The base number is random, but the range at which that number represents, for example, a toddler, is unique for each country. Obviously this is a simulation, what idiot is going to think you can monitor the births and deaths of every person on the planet! But it's not like the numbers are pulled out of his digital ass.
PS a budding statistician [s]he may be, but a web developer [s]he IS NOT! - computerdude33, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Not accurate? It's not even real.
- knightblade2oo4, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Yeah ***** check out China!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Did anyone mention that this is just a simulation?
- agnokapathetic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The site's also vulnerable to an XSS injection :)
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/population/country.php?FILE=US&NAME=%3Cscript%3Ealert(/OWNED/.source)%3C/script%3E - KarmikTrance, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3This is not real time.. if you guys do a "View Source" on one of the counter pages, you'll see this meta-tag info:
"This exhibit shows the
population of countries around the world. It uses simulated births and
deaths. The figures are based on information from the U.S. Census Bureau." - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8hmmm-I just killed my neighbor by repeatedly pummeling his head with an expired can of spaghetti-o's but its still not showing up...perhaps he is still alive-I better go double check...brb...................................................nope-hes dead....this counter must be inaccurate
- seanthebond, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ok, thats not real, thats for sure.
There isn't a button that people press everytime that somebody dies and is born. Then its put up onto the Internet. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I knew something was fishy. I was looking up South Korea, and in the "notes about last death" section there was nothing about starcraft or WOW. That javascript cheat explains everything :( I want my digg back!
- Rasputen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2A little nuts and regardless of its fictional content, there is that moment where I was completely blown away, props for shock value that didn't deal with religion, celebrities or feces
- selphishnerd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2what if someday something like this aprears on the internet, only is not based on caclulations/estimates....creeeeeppy.
- Zippo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Lame... this kinda stuff has been JavaScripted and done since the early 90s
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"FALSE SITE FAKE INFORMATION"
I know its upsetting but there is no need to yell. Just relax, take a deep breath, and everything will be OK.
EDIT: meant for the genius above you - zoxed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you liked this site, but want something more personel try http://www.deathclock.com (I have 1,010,050,106 seconds for to go :-(
- serra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Good point, how does this type of thing make it to the front page? It was a bit depressing, but then I found out that it wasn't accurate.
- roma0104, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They simply take the Census' information and then input the information into a Java Script engine that simply uses the provided information and calculates the likely-hood of a person dieing and chances that the person is female or male and at what age they died. It also calculates from the provided information the chances of an infant being born and the chances of that infant being male or female.
It is a probability machine, nothing fancy. It is however, very interesting to see. - greater_eagle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1this is really creepy. Its good for a much needed reality check
- 4answer2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1From the CIA site: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/xx.html
Worldwide births per day = 355,862
Worldwide deaths per day = 155,060
Estimated of course - RobotCitizen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Evolutionist drivel!
- pavelich, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yeah it was wierd though i was watching it for about 2 minutes (china that is) and the deaths were all young people (from ages 10-20).
- daofma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Really, an island full of men would be a stable population? I'd think they'd all die off, personally =P
- zoxed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1If you liked this site, but want something more personel try http://www.deathclock.com/ (I have 1,010,050,106 seconds for to go :-( and I will tell you in 22 years how accurate it is !
- haxx4, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Not so much...
- spamulo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5just another digg submitted by an "Infant / Toddler" :P
- twitndiggfan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3old, i've known about this for years. Wanna know why??? Because this is my hometown university!!! Deserves a digg just for making the front page.
- steal_apps01, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1How is that cool? Seeing how many people are dying, If we don't see it it's blind to us and we don't give a rats ass. All the deaths in china /india Iraq.... That's horrible.
- KiTchMe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I can't believe you would even consider that it's live info.....If you just go to the Page Source, you'd be able to see his little nifty programming based on probability and statistical data. So, it just randomly displays (male or female), and then age group...He also knows the statistical data about births and deaths, so the numbers will go up/down accordingly...It's not live, and if you notice it changes exactly every t seconds...It's just like that counter for the national deficit/debt....That's not really the 'live' spending....nothing special, except if you want the population estimate based on their last census...
- nathanmock, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Population of the United States:
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/population/country.php?FILE=US&NAME=United+States%3C%2Foption%3E - Loyaleagle, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2whoo....a bit morbid if you ask me..
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1It's still fun to watch. :-)
- Monkeman, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3"No digg at all....FALSE SITE FAKE INFORMATION"
Did you even read the site, or are you just an idiot? - gatorsrule21, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Contrary to popular opinion, nobody cares.
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