What's a million ?

[Gil Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gil]

This is too true to be 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.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

One billion is one shot of vermouth in 30 rail tank cars of gin.

That's one very dry martini. If you like your martinis shaken, not stirred, I suggest you park the train somewhere near the San Andreas Fault and wait.

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

A billion is also different in different parts of the world. In the UK it has always been 1 million times 1 million, although as with so many things the Americanised version is becoming ever more prevalent.

[Maggie Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maggie]

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. WRONG

I'm sorry but when you pass these things on you really ought to fact check them and it isn't hard to do.

Actually 1 Billion seconds ago is 31.70 years, It's a very easy math problem.

That means it was about the end of June 1967 if you calculate in April of 2008 so this was originally written over 8 years ago.

I am afraid if the government was spending a billion dollars at the stated rate in the year 2000 you can count on the fact that it's spending it a whole lot faster now.