I got a surprise in the mail and ...Huh???

This is me taking a photo of myself in the bathroom mirror (in my still unfinished Banos De Los Muertos). See my necklace? It's a little handmade journal with 24 pages - can you believe that? It is perfect for me. My journal-artist-friend in Canada sent me the very cool hand made journal necklace along with a really pretty journal and a sparkly hanging "Simplify" sign - which is extra awesome because I totally forgot that it is this years theme and I have gotten away from working on it. (I have the attention span of a 2 year old and the memory of a hamster) Thank you Nadia!! Nadia has two awesome sites to check out: Lost and Found Studio and also her blog called Be Yourself, Create art, Everyday


Ever wonder just exactly what a trillion looks like? I decided I needed to see what 3 trillion looked like, since that is one of the current numbers that Mr-President-Messiah-B.O. is tossing around and planning to spend on our behalf. (Feeling stimulated?) - so exactly how many zeros is that? Being a compulsive Googler I found the answer here and that answer is - well, it depends.

What?!

After the obligatory insult to the United States, saying that we are not as logical as other nations...well here is the exact quote:

"The system used in the U.S. is not as logical as that used in other countries (like Great Britain, France, and Germany). In these other countries, a billion (bi meaning two) has twice as many zeros as a million, and a trillion (tri meaning three) has three times as many zeros as a million, etc. But the scientific community seems to use the American system."

So in the US it is $3,000,000,000,000 (12 zeros) but in France it looks like this $3,000,000,000,000,000,000 (18 zeros)

Huh? And if the US is so illogical why does the scientific community use our system? Does this mean 2 + 2 really does equal 5? or heck, why not - maybe 7, in other countries? Or 5 in the US and 7 in Great Britain. We'll need to seek B.O.s advice on that...

So really it boils down to this - if I am going to be spending $ lets use the US number - but if you are handing out peanut M&M's I want someone from France, Great Britain or Germany to count them out for me.

And just so you will know what to tell your kids and grandkids how much they will owe by the time this is over - a nonillion has 30 zeros - and be sure to tell them to get their candy from those other countries.

But maybe the guy is right - maybe we are illogical, as I heard on the news tonight that all of the numbers tossed around in all of this budget talk and earmarks aren't really based on any research or math or calculations really. It's guesswork. Guesswork! So some guy decides he thinks he needs - oh...about 59 million dollars - yeah , that sounds about right, that ought to do it - to do Pacific salmon research, or some cowboy decides he needs $1.76 million dollars for a honeybee lab in Texas, (those are real earmarks!) and so forth, then some really smart guy in D.C. says "Okay - sounds about right" - and voila! an earmark and our money goes flying out of our wallets.

No wonder my head hurts all the time....

Um - I think this turned into a rant now didn't it...


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www.NathalieDavis.com
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