How good is your Math?

My mentor, Chris Barnett, asked me "Where were we in history 1 billion seconds ago?" Of course, it had been a while since that had come up in conversation with anyone and I normally save my "Rain Man" skills for dinner parties and wedding receptions. Therefore, I was at a loss. However, I didn't let that stop me and I ventured a confident guess of approximately 8 years ago. I was shocked when he declared that 1 billion seconds ago was in 1959 and he was fastly approaching his 1 billonth second birthday. Man how time flies when your're having fun. It just seems like 500 million seconds ago I was studying for the CPA exam.

He then proceeded to dish out, "Where were we in history 1 billion minutes ago?" Of course, one could begin to deduce the proper time period if one wished to strain his mind. However, this one wished to save the effort and wait for the answer. Patience IS a virtue. According to Chris' sources, 1 billion minutes ago was during Christ's life. He did not specify if Jesus had met James or Peter as of yet. We'll just assume he is rounding off to the nearest generation.

Apparently, 1 billion hours ago found us in the Stone Age. Of course, once you get back that far, it's hard to even put time in it's proper relationship. So, I'll just assume that was way back, even before the time of cowboys and Indians. Believe it or not, there was a time in my early life that I thought that was as far back as you could go, even preceeding all the Bible stuff.

To gain some perspective, Chris then asked, "How long does it take the US Government to spend $1 billion?" Based on the answers above, one starts to think that a billion is a fairly significant amount. Right? Well, according to his sources, the US Government spends $1 billion dollars.........every 8 1/2 minutes. Holy Heck! That's alot of cash. Good thing, for now, there's lots of social security taxes being paid into the system to borrow from.

So is 1 billion a large numer? How about 24 billion hamburgers sold? How about a billion stars in the sky? How about a billionaire? I think it's hard to get your hands around it. My advice to you is to always think big. I just don't know now if I'm thinking big enough.

CONTROVERSIAL DISCLAIMER

My sub-mentor or mentor-in-training, Kent Gideon, has audited the above numbers, and feels they are not accurate. He firmly believes the 1 billion seconds ago was in 1974, just shortly before America's bicentenial. He has presented his documentation for review and it is being considered. While he does not dispute Barnett's character and motives, he questions his reliance on unnamed sources and has called for him to present his documentation. I will continue to follow the events as they unfold. Regardless, 1 billion of anything still seems to be a whole lot.

Little Boze