katherinebarlow:

There once was a man, of German origin, perhaps, who was trapped inside a cavern in Europe after an avalanche. For years he made his home there, amongst innumerable Meta menardi, or cave orbweavers, that, being a photophobic species, lived there. They lay hundreds of eggs, and new hatchlings are wont to balloon outside for dispersion. These were unable to leave, and he was forced to rely on them for sustenance. A journalist calculated how many every person on Earth must consume to match how many he’d eaten, and a tabloid, having a tenuous relationship with the truth, reprinted that figure as fact. Of course, it would be a fool’s mistake to count such a statistical outlier in a more serious academic text.

Tell me, Will, are you an outlier? Or do you count?