[sdiy] Metric OT rant -how about that billion thing?

[Batz Goodfortune]

Y-ellow James 'n' all.

At 08:12 PM 8/12/02 -0700, James Husted wrote:
>Do the British (and some other Europeans) still consider a Billion to be
>different than we do here in America? I recall at one time they called what
>we call a Billion, a thousand-million (1,000,000,000). As in:
>Tens, hundreds, thousands, 10s of thousands, hundreds of thousands,
>millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, (US)Billions - (UK)
>Thousands of millions, then (US) Tens of billions - (UK) Billions.
>  Does this get worse as you get higher? Like millions of billions instead of
>a trillion? I bet this plays hell with large overseas bank transfers. I used
>to use this as a trick question to win bar bets. Like which weighs more, an
>ounce of gold or an ounce of lead? (gold does - precious metals are measured
>in troy weight which is 480grains to the oz. not 437.5grains in
>avoirdupois).

Well if you think that's confusing, don't go to Ethiopia. They don't even 
share the same calendar as the rest of the world. I think it's just turning 
1995 there now so I guess Bill is right on target with the release of 
windows 95.

Be absolutely Icebox.

  _ __        _       ____Happiness is a warm penguin____
| "_ \      | |
| |_)/  __ _| |_ ____       ALL ELECTRIC KITCHEN
|  _ \ / _` | __|___ |  Geek music by geeks for geeks
| |_) | (_| | |_  / /
|_,__/ \__,_|\__|/ /    Bullshit --> http://all-electric.com
                 / ,__   Music -----> http://mp3.com/electrickitchen
Goodfortune    |_____|