"Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook (fourth edition)"

I was asked by a few people to explain the image on the cover of the "Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook (fourth edition)", so I'm posting this explanatory version... some of it will make no sense unless you look at the interior cartoons (like the Windows Gorilla), but I assumed anyone who really cared probably owned it, and would get these references. I also include the initial sketch, so you can see what ideas were nixed by the authors, and what was added...