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 Who are you? I'm just this guy, you know? I'm a CNU graduate with a degree in physics. Before starting xkcd, I worked on robots at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. As of June 2007 I live in Massachusetts. In my spare time I climb things, open strange doors, and go to goth clubs dressed as a frat guy so I can stand around and look terribly uncomfortable. At frat parties I do the same thing, but the other way around. What else do you do? Occasionally produce a few extra comics such as a pair of comics for IBM's A Smarter Planet initiative (also archived here as they are released). 
 
 
 
 Encourage people to get out and meet each other in, hopefully, interesting places via geohashing. 
 
 
 
 Host a gallery of photos inspired by comic #249. 
 
 Who else are you? Server maintenance and most of the coding for these sites is done by my friend davean, who tries hard to remain invisible but can be reached at davean@xkcd.com. Designer Christina Gleason also helps with posters, books, and various side projects. What does XKCD stand for? It's not actually an acronym. It's just a word with no phonetic pronunciation -- a treasured and carefully-guarded point in the space of four-character strings. Where did all this start? I was going through old math/sketching graph paper notebooks and didn't want to lose some of the work in them, so I started scanning pages. I took the more comic-y ones and put them up on a server I was testing out, and got a bunch of readers when BoingBoing linked to me. I started drawing more seriously, gained a lot more readers, started selling t-shirts on the site, and am currently shipping t-shirts and drawing this comic full-time. It's immensely fun and I really appreciate y'all's support. Why can't I read the whole comic mouseover text in Firefox? They can be read with extensions like Long Titles, or by right-clicking on the images and going to 'properties', then clicking and dragging to read the whole thing. This is a bug in Firefox, Mozilla Bug #45375. It has been outstanding for many years now. 
 
 
 
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 Invasion of the tiny plastic people! Lego figures set to outnumber HUMANS by 2019 
 
 
 
 A graph produced by a physics graduate in Virginia, compared human population predictions and the forecast production of Lego figures 
 
 At the end of 2006, Lego said there were four billion figures in existence, but the number is expected to rise to almost eight billion in 2019 
 
 The first Lego figurine went on sale in 1978 and had no race, sex or specific role, as these would be determined by a child's imagination 
 
 Since 1978, millions of tiny plastic people have been populating the Earth. 
 
 And now it is predicted that there could be a miniature Lego figure for every person on Earth in 2019. 
 
 According to a mathematical online comic, Lego has been making its little people at such a rate that they will outnumber the human population by the end of the decade. 
 
 A physics graduate from Massachusetts, who is behind the web comic Xkcd.com has calculated that the predictions for the global population and predictions for the number of Lego Figurines will match up in 2019 and the little plastic people will go on to out-number humans 
 
 The first Lego figurine went on sale in 1978 and since then, billions have been produced 
 
 At the end of 2006, the company announced there were four billion miniature figures in existence, being played with by children across the planet. 
 
 Now, a physics graduate from Massachusetts, who is behind the web comic Xkcd.com has calculated that the predictions for the global population and predictions for the number of Lego Figurines will match up in 2019 and the plastic people will go on to out-number humans. 
 
 If the predictions are correct, there will be almost eight billion people and the same amount of Lego figures calling Earth home in 2019. 
 
 Lego said in 2008 that it has made 400 billion Lego bricks since the company began, which is enough for 62 each for every person in existence at that time. 
 
 According to a mathematical online comic, Lego has been making its little people at such a rate that they will outnumber the human population by the end of the decade. Here, s model maker at Legoland Windsor puts the finishing touches to a wall made up of over 6,000 Lego figures 
 
 LEGO MINIFIGURE TIME LINE 
 
 1978: The first minifigures are launched for the themes Town, Space and Castle 
 
 
 
 1978: Two months after the appearance of the first minifigures the first female minifigure arrives on the scene and she's a nurse 
 
 
 
 1989: Minifigures change their facial expressions. Now they can be either good or bad 
 
 
 
 1997: The minifigure comes to life in the computer game PANIC ON LEGO ISLAND as an animated character 
 
 
 
 1998: The minifigure makes its first appearance in a specific role - as Star Wars characters 
 
 
 
 2003: For the first time in the history of the minifigure its yellow facial colouring is replaced by a more authentic skin colour 
 
 
 
 2004: Lego licensed products no longer have yellow faces – Harry Potter, for example, assumes a more natural skin tone 
 
 
 
 2010: Minifigures are launched as collector’s items 
 
 The first Lego figurine went on sale in 1978 and since then, billions have been produced, making them the world's biggest population group, according to the company. 
 
 The mini figure has been modelled after celebrities from Stephen Spielberg to Santa Claus and enjoyed various careers, including astronaut, policeman, racing driver, warrior, pirate, skater and scientist as well as taken on the role of fictional characters like Spider-Man, Harry Potter and Yoda. 
 
 Lego said that when the mini figure first appeared, it was decided that its face should have only one colour - yellow - and that its facial features should be happy and neutral. 
 
 However earlier this year, robot experts at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, studied all 6000 minifigures from 1975 to 2010 and found that from the early Nineties onwards, Lego's mini-figures' facials expressions have been diversifying from consistently happy smiles to expressions reflecting greater conflict. 
 
 
 
 The first figures had no sex, race or specific role, as these would be determined by a child's imagination and it was not until the launch of Lego Pirates in the 1980s that the figures were given differing facial expressions.
– Today's oddest factoid: There may be 7 billion humans on the planet, but by 2019 a species of tiny plastic people will outnumber even us: Lego figurines. Randall Munroe, the physics grad behind the webcomic xkcd, has compared Lego production forecasts with human population predictions to determine that by 2019, there will be nearly 8 billion tiny, yellow people around—up from 4 billion in 2006—a number that will outstrip the human population. It's all the more impressive considering Lego figurines have only been on sale since 1978, the Daily Mail reports.(Click to see why some of those Lego people may appear angry.)