Jeremiah's School of Levitation
Upsy-Daisy!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
I Remember a Billion Milliseconds Ago As If It Was Just the Week Before Last
I got this email today:
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Here's something thought provoking-
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.
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?
Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516, 528.
Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1, 329,787
Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
Politicians in Washingt on, D.C. !!!...........................Are all your calculators broken????
Maybe everyone should just flood their houses, then we can all be on the "big easy" street for the rest of our lives, and forget about working, and paying taxes and all that useless stuff!
------------
The first part is cute. It is interesting how large a number a billion is. It's also interesting to note that some parts of Mississippi have apparently not progressed for a billion seconds. How large a number a billion is isn't all that useful beyond its obvious mathematical necessity, but knowing its breadth is good for perspective's sake, along the lines of "If I had a nickel for everytime someone said..." which I like to embellish by completing that statement with a real estimate of what I'd really have if I got a nickel each time for something someone said. For example, "If I had a nickel for every time someone told me that I looked like Spike Lee, I'd have about, oh, 65 cents." That sort of diffuses the perspective part of it and creates what some may call "humor."
However, the second part, about New Orleans, is a crock of steaming Bush. Come on. Yes, 250 billion is a lot of money. But, to break it down by family or individual is stupid. As if the government is going to hand a check to a family and call that "Rebuilding New Orleans." If I lived in New Orleans, and the government handed me a check for $516,528, I'd say "To hell with New Orleans! I'm going to move to a bungalow in Kauai and live the rest of my days on a goddamnned beach. The only thing I'm going to rebuild is my bar."
I bet Senator Landrieu knows this very well, too, which is why she (and Republican Senator David Vitter, the cosponsor) isn't touting this as some sort of personal compensation, but rather, as exactly what she says: some money to rebuild New Orleans (as well as some of the state wetlands--that's the other thing--this isn't all going to be New Orleans money). Rebuilding New Orleans has as much to do with getting families back on their feet as it does with repairing damaged or destroyed infrastructure, getting business that have lost millions in revenue going again, restoring homes, offices, schools, making sure that the citizens' health concerns are all addressed and that toxins are cleaned from the waters and ground, getting the police department strong again, getting people employed, jeez, man, the list is huge, and just may come to about 250 billion to do right (though, I do think the legitimate worry is that some unjust wallets may get fat, just not the wallets of displaced New Orleans residents). And, so far, nothing's really happening with the bill, probably because of the cost, so the debate goes on.
So, stop sending out these cranky, petty, misleading, half-blind, kooky emails to me. If you want to get your calculators smoking, calculate the dollars we've spent in Iraq and how that relates to the actual progress and how much more it'll take to actually progress, or calculate how much money Bush and his cronies gained to make by the DP World ports deal. If your calculators don't smoke, then maybe your head will.
Or, if you do keep sending these emails to me, then send me a billion of them, and also send me a nickel for each one.
---------------
Here's something thought provoking-
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 1959.
- A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
- A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
- A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
- 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?
Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516, 528.
Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1, 329,787
Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
Politicians in Washingt on, D.C. !!!...........................Are all your calculators broken????
Maybe everyone should just flood their houses, then we can all be on the "big easy" street for the rest of our lives, and forget about working, and paying taxes and all that useless stuff!
------------
The first part is cute. It is interesting how large a number a billion is. It's also interesting to note that some parts of Mississippi have apparently not progressed for a billion seconds. How large a number a billion is isn't all that useful beyond its obvious mathematical necessity, but knowing its breadth is good for perspective's sake, along the lines of "If I had a nickel for everytime someone said..." which I like to embellish by completing that statement with a real estimate of what I'd really have if I got a nickel each time for something someone said. For example, "If I had a nickel for every time someone told me that I looked like Spike Lee, I'd have about, oh, 65 cents." That sort of diffuses the perspective part of it and creates what some may call "humor."
However, the second part, about New Orleans, is a crock of steaming Bush. Come on. Yes, 250 billion is a lot of money. But, to break it down by family or individual is stupid. As if the government is going to hand a check to a family and call that "Rebuilding New Orleans." If I lived in New Orleans, and the government handed me a check for $516,528, I'd say "To hell with New Orleans! I'm going to move to a bungalow in Kauai and live the rest of my days on a goddamnned beach. The only thing I'm going to rebuild is my bar."
I bet Senator Landrieu knows this very well, too, which is why she (and Republican Senator David Vitter, the cosponsor) isn't touting this as some sort of personal compensation, but rather, as exactly what she says: some money to rebuild New Orleans (as well as some of the state wetlands--that's the other thing--this isn't all going to be New Orleans money). Rebuilding New Orleans has as much to do with getting families back on their feet as it does with repairing damaged or destroyed infrastructure, getting business that have lost millions in revenue going again, restoring homes, offices, schools, making sure that the citizens' health concerns are all addressed and that toxins are cleaned from the waters and ground, getting the police department strong again, getting people employed, jeez, man, the list is huge, and just may come to about 250 billion to do right (though, I do think the legitimate worry is that some unjust wallets may get fat, just not the wallets of displaced New Orleans residents). And, so far, nothing's really happening with the bill, probably because of the cost, so the debate goes on.
So, stop sending out these cranky, petty, misleading, half-blind, kooky emails to me. If you want to get your calculators smoking, calculate the dollars we've spent in Iraq and how that relates to the actual progress and how much more it'll take to actually progress, or calculate how much money Bush and his cronies gained to make by the DP World ports deal. If your calculators don't smoke, then maybe your head will.
Or, if you do keep sending these emails to me, then send me a billion of them, and also send me a nickel for each one.
Elliot, 12:30 PM
3 Back at me:
...and then today I read this.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060316/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_contracts
Just like Iraq, man.
Damn contractors. (Didn't Halliburton get some New Orleans contracts as well, those precious little no-bid thingies?)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060316/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_contracts
Just like Iraq, man.
Damn contractors. (Didn't Halliburton get some New Orleans contracts as well, those precious little no-bid thingies?)
Link didnt' show correctly:
http://news/yahoo.com/s/ap/20060316/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_contracts
(I sincerely need to learn better linkage. Right click, where's the damn hyperlink? Gar....)
http://news/yahoo.com/s/ap/20060316/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_contracts
(I sincerely need to learn better linkage. Right click, where's the damn hyperlink? Gar....)
I got this same email from my aunt in new jersey and it just pissed me off... i sent my response and then read what you wrote in its entirety and they're pretty similar. i'm going to put the whole exchange on my blog.
