What is a billion

[ShiftPoint]

This is pasted from one of those emails that we all get from time to time, I thought it was pretty good.

This is too true to be very funny
>>
>> The next time you hear a politician use the
>> word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
>> whether you want the 'politicians' spending
>> YOUR tax money.
>> A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
>> but one advertising agency did a good job of
>> putting that figure into some perspective in
>> one of its releases.
>>
>>
>> A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
>>
>> B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
>>
>> C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were
>> living in the Stone Age.
>>
>> D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on
>>two feet.
>>
>> E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and
>> 20 minutes, at the rate our government is
>>spending it.
>>
>> While this thought is still fresh in our
>> brain, let's
>>take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple
>>division
>>
>> Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently
>>asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting
>>number, what does it mean?
>>
>> A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of
>> New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you
>> each get $516,528.
>>
>> B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in
>> New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
>>
>> C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family
>> gets $2,066,012.
>>
>> Washington, D.C . HELLO!!! ... Are all your
>>calculators broken??
>>

 

[Blazer X]

Nice post, good for perspective!

 

[X]

perspective is always key to how you view anything. Good post!

 

[Fx]

I'm not sure it this is completely accurate. 1 Billion seconds ago it was 1959? It just doesn't seem right but hey, there's no way I'm doing the math to find out.

 

[ShiftPoint]

I was thinking the same thing but didn't want to do the math either. since you (FX) brought up doubts to I checked, I get 1 billion (that is if 100 million x 10 is a billion, I think a billion is diferent in different parts of the world but were talking about the US) I get a bit more than 31 years, which would make it 1976 (good call FX), so the numbers are wrong, but still a billion is a lot of money...

 

[ShiftPoint]

I just checked my math in googles calculator (always froget about it..

here is what google says

if you google "1 billion seconds to years" you get (you can do it with almost any calculation, even the mill sizes .28 cubic inches to cc = .28 (cubic inches) = 4.58837792 cc)
1 billion seconds = 31.6887646 years

1 billion minutes = 1 901.32588 years

1 billion days to years
1 billion days = 2 737 909.26 years

 

[Fx]

I wasn't trying to disprove your post or anything, it just thought it sounded off to me. Good thread though and it's cool that you actually took the time to do the calculations.

 

[ShiftPoint]

I wasn't trying to disprove your post or anything, it just thought it sounded off to me. Good thread though and it's cool that you actually took the time to do the calculations.

No problem, I am glad you mentioned it, like a said I thought it sounded funny too. worse part is I got it from a school teacher that got it from other teachers..

 

[Double-O-Zilch]

No problem, I am glad you mentioned it, like a said I thought it sounded funny too. worse part is I got it from a school teacher that got it from other teachers..

LOL, that's a scary thought.

 

[MTBikerTim]

The first one is completely wrong. The second is close and the forth is accurate.

I'd say the third is accurate too. 1 billion hours = 114 079.553 years

And there are a lot of businesses and infrastructure that still needs to be rebuilt too. I'd also say the figure has been high balled somewhat as you know the amount actually given will be less. The scary thing is that there are people worth multiple billion dollars. Bloody Bill has got a lot to answer for.

 

[300m]

well here's 98 million..

 

[MTBikerTim]

Kind of blows apart the million dollars in a nondescript black sports bag myth.

 

[ShOrTaY]

Kind of blows apart the million dollars in a nondescript black sports bag myth.

That still could be true, don't they have a $1000 bill in america? All it is, 1000x$1000...

 

[MTBikerTim]

I didn't think so but I could very well be wrong (I'm not rich enough ..... yet)

 

[Fx]

Kind of blows apart the million dollars in a nondescript black sports bag myth.

I'm going to have to disagree with you. Take that huge pile of money and visually divide it into 98 blocks. 1 million bucks could easily fit in a gym bag.

 

[ShiftPoint]

Also it depends on he size of the bills, It would take 10,000 $100 dollar bills, or 1000, $1000 dollar bills. so if you had $1000 dollar bills (which I am not sure if they even make anymore) it would be 10 stacks of 100 bills in each stack, you could fit around your waist.

They don't make them anymore but they did http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency