How much is a billion? ... a trillion?

I just got an email that said a billion seconds ago it was 1959. It was an attempt to help us visualize a billion dollars.  In defense of our current President, his administration and the U.S. Congress, I need to refute that.  Not even close!

If my math is correct, there are 60 seconds in a minute, or 3,600 seconds in an hour, or 86,400 seconds in a day, or 604,800 seconds in a week.  Since there are 52 weeks in a year, there are 31,449,600 seconds in a year. Dividing a billion 1,000,000,000 by 31,449,600 we come up with 31.8 years, so a billion seconds will take us back only to the late 70's.  Not so bad, huh? (Yes, I'm figuring 360 days to a year to keep things simple. A US GAAP)

It's hard to believe that this email had been floating around for 3 decades.  That was when a billion was a big number, when a five-figure salary meant you were doing o.k., when politicians began to talk in terms of "a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking some serious money".

Today, our people in Washington, DC (elected and appointed) think and speak in tens, or hundreds of billions.  10 billion seconds takes us back 321 years or 1688. Wasn't that when there was a revolution with the outcome that King James II was overthrown?  

100 billion seconds will get you a ride back to 1205BC, the time of Amun, and Moses.  Uh oh, a trillion seconds takes us back 32,150 years.  Let's see, that would be 2010 - 32,150 = 30,140 BC. Can you say "Paleolithic"?  Heck, some of us weren't even born then. 


This is the number we need to think of on November 2.  30140 years Before Christ.  ... and let's keep in mind that we're now talking multiples of Trillions.  My head hurts.  


Sorry, I have to go vote.  Want a ride? 

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