The Amazing "Billion" of 2008
Thanks to Don and Sue from Florida

Fact: One billion seconds is 31.7 years.

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 billion seconds ago it was 1976.

70 years and a billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

A billion days ago was 2.74 million years ago.

A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes,
at the rate our government is spending it. (Not current figures)

While these thoughts are still fresh in our brain, let's equate them to New Orleans.
It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division

In 2005 Louisiana Senators Mary Landrieu (D) and David Vitter (R)
asked the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild the Gulf Coast.
Interesting number. What does it mean if we were to divide
the dollars up among the people of New Orleans?

Well, if you are one of approximately 484,674 residents of New Orleans
you each would get $516,528 (close enough).

Or, if you have one of the approximately 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home would get $1,329,787 (close enough).

Or, if you are a family of four, your family would get $2,066,012 (close enough).

In his hayday, Bill Gates, the founder of the computer software company Microsoft,
was worth sixty billion dollars. If you were to divide his money into piles,
Mr. Gates would have 60,000 piles with each pile containing $1,000,000.00!

A billion is a big number!!!!

Doesn't solve the world's problems, but it's fun.