Incredible facts !!!
- A dragonfly has a lifespan of only 24 hours
- There are 10 million bricks in the Empire State Building
- Q is the only letter that does not appear in an of the names of the United States
- A sneeze travels at 100mph
- Lightning strikes over 6000 times a minute on the planet
- A giraffe can clean its ears with it's 21 inch tongue!
- The Sun is 330,000 times larger then the Earth
- There are 10 million bricks in the Empire State Building
- Q is the only letter that does not appear in an of the names of the United States
- A sneeze travels at 100mph
- Lightning strikes over 6000 times a minute on the planet
- A giraffe can clean its ears with it's 21 inch tongue!
- The Sun is 330,000 times larger then the Earth
Originally posted by sehenkel
- A dragonfly has a lifespan of only 24 hours
- A dragonfly has a lifespan of only 24 hours
Originally posted by tokyo_james
OK.... firstly I would say that I am from the UK and without any reference to the dictionary, my understanding of one billion is 1,000,000,000 (As an aside, I was under the impression that in the US one billion was 1,000,000,000,000!! - you learn something new every day
).
Checking the Concise OED (1995 version) -
Billion - n. one thousand million (now less often, esp Brit.) a million million
Milliard - n. Brit. one thousand million [French, from mille 'thousand'] USAGE the term milliard has been largely superseded by billion.
So there we have it..... conclusive evidence that all of the answers were correct


OK.... firstly I would say that I am from the UK and without any reference to the dictionary, my understanding of one billion is 1,000,000,000 (As an aside, I was under the impression that in the US one billion was 1,000,000,000,000!! - you learn something new every day
).Checking the Concise OED (1995 version) -
Billion - n. one thousand million (now less often, esp Brit.) a million million
Milliard - n. Brit. one thousand million [French, from mille 'thousand'] USAGE the term milliard has been largely superseded by billion.
So there we have it..... conclusive evidence that all of the answers were correct


In contrast, the US system is grouped by thousands...a billion is a thousand million (10^9), and a trillion is a thousand billion (10^12). Is this (IMO) silly British system still being used in Europe?? If so, what the heck do you call a US quadrillion (10^15)..."one thousand billion?" Sheesh...and all I thought we had to do to drag you Brits into this century was get you to drive on the right side of the road and teach you to say "aluminum" correctly.
Tedow... buddy... what is silly about the UK system?
Let's not be ethnocentristic.... the system has more logic than the "US" system (which is not US at all... it's French)
UK system:
Define Million=10^6
Billion = Million^2 (hence "bi")
Trillion = Million^3 (hence "tri")
Quadrillion = Million^4 (hence "quad")
What is "bi"illion about 10^9? Zippo. The best you can do is say it's the number of thousands beyond a million which is neither a thous based sytem nor a million based system.
Now back to the thread...
Pencils were discovered when ornamental objects designed to be worn behind the ear were discovered to be good writing devices.
Some people still use pencils for their original purpose.
Let's not be ethnocentristic.... the system has more logic than the "US" system (which is not US at all... it's French)
UK system:
Define Million=10^6
Billion = Million^2 (hence "bi")
Trillion = Million^3 (hence "tri")
Quadrillion = Million^4 (hence "quad")
What is "bi"illion about 10^9? Zippo. The best you can do is say it's the number of thousands beyond a million which is neither a thous based sytem nor a million based system.
Now back to the thread...
Pencils were discovered when ornamental objects designed to be worn behind the ear were discovered to be good writing devices.
Some people still use pencils for their original purpose.




