Putting a Trillion Dollars in Perspective

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A unique graphic approach to visualizing a trillion bucks can be seen here.

More amusing visualizations:

A stack of 100 dollar bills totaling a trillion dollars would stand 740 miles high.

A stack of one dollar bills totaling a trillion dollars would stand 74,000 miles high, or 30% of the distance to the Moon.

If you string a trillion $1 bills end-to-end, you would get a belt of bills about 90 million miles long. That would reach past Mars’s orbit in one direction and in the other direction, would almost reach the Sun.

Hat tip to National Review Online’s Jonah Goldberg.

UPDATE: Thanks to Robb Allen for the link.

Rush Limbaugh’s Talking Points

debate.jpgSo, for the last several weeks, it has been the plan of the Democrats to call out Rush Limbaugh as the ‘de facto’ head of the Republican party. Today, Limbaugh responded by inviting President Obama to come on his program “without staffers, without a teleprompter, without note cards — to debate me on the issues.”

Basically, Rush figures that Obama needs to clear the air with regard to the following talking points:

  • Let’s talk about free markets versus government control.
  • Let’s talk about nationalizing health care and raising taxes on small business.
  • Let’s talk about the New Deal versus Reaganomics.
  • Let’s talk about closing Guantanamo Bay.
  • Let’s talk about sending $900 million to Hamas.
  • Let’s talk about illegal immigration and the lawlessness on the borders.
  • Let’s talk about massive deficits and the destroying of opportunities of future generations.
  • Let’s talk about ACORN, community agitators, and the unions that represent the government employees which pour millions of dollars into your campaign, President Obama.
  • Let’s talk about your elimination of school choice for minority students in the District of Columbia.
  • Let’s talk about your efforts to further reduce domestic drilling and refining of oil.
  • Let’s talk about your stock market.

To which I would add,

Let’s talk about the true meaning of the Second Amendment and the right of the people to own and carry arms.

Of course, Obama and his ilk would never agree to talking about these things, since they are the cowards that Attorney General Eric Holder spoke of last week.

The Unspoken Workhorse

When we go to the range, we take a bunch of guns, and wind up blogging afterward about the Glocks, or the Warthog or the 870 shotguns. We seldom have anything to say about our Smith and Wesson 908 9mm semi auto pistols – mainly because they just keep on shooting and require little attention otherwise. We have had these since the summer of 2006. Damsel got hers first and I got mine (shown) a couple of weeks after that.

Honestly, they just keep on ticking. We have replaced the recoil springs and spring guides in each of them once. They’re probably due again but they seem to be just fine for now.

sw908.jpgSpecifications:

Caliber: 9mm
Capacity: 8 Rounds +1
Barrel Length: 3-1/2″
Front Sight: White Dot
Rear Sight: Fixed 2-Dot
Grip: Straight Backstrap
Trigger: .305″ Combat
Hammer: .260″ Bobbed
External Safety: Single Side
Frame: Compact
Finish: Black
Overall length: 6-13/16″
Material: Aluminum Alloy / Carbon Steel
Weight Empty: 24 ounces

Click on the image for a larger view.

The Las Vegas Boom

Landsat 5, one of several Landsat Earth-observing spacecraft has been operational for 25 years and counting. Originally intended for a three-year mission, this bird is still ticking. One of the more startling observations made by the Landsat program is a 25 year visual history of Las Vegas urban expansion.

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Images courtesy and © NASA/USGS. Click image for larger view.

A Desert City Blooms

In the 25 years that Landsat 5 has been in orbit, the desert city of Las Vegas has gone through a massive growth spurt. The outward expansion of the city is shown here with a series of false-color images. The dark purple grid of city streets and the green of irrigated vegetation grow out in every direction into the surrounding desert. These images were created using reflected light from the shortwave infrared, near-infrared, and green portions of the electromagnetic spectrum (Landsat 5 TM bands 7,4,2).

Credit: NASA/USGS

McCarran FieldNotice the runways at Las Vegas McCarran Airport (Just below the center of the urban mass), barely visible in 1984, now clearly visible in 2009, as it has been surrounded by industrial growth.

Pink Tulips

We didn’t get out to the range for our weekly target practice session. Instead, we elected to spend the day relaxing and enjoying the spring weather – after some badly needed yard work, that is.

Friday, I got these beautiful pink tulips at the flower concession in the supermarket. Not exactly gun pr0n, but real purdy. Click the image for big.

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Our First Gerbera Daisy

Gerbera Daisy The first of our Gerbera Daisies opened this week. These are red, but Gerberas can come in a variety of colors like white, pink, yellow and orange. The center of the flower is sometimes black. Often the same flower can have petals of several different colors. They get their name from the German naturalist Traugott Gerber.

Gerbera is also an important commercial flower. It is the fifth most used cut flower in the world (after rose, carnation, chrysanthemum, and tulip). It has approximately 30 species in the wild, extending to South America, Africa and tropical Asia.

There are several more buds ready to open on this plant. I just love springtime!

Click on the image above for a larger picture.

Coming Soon – Mini 9 Compact Laptop

dell9.jpgNow that we’ve had a taste of vacationing in a motorhome, we’re anxious to try it again. This spring, we’re going to head down to Phoenix to attend the Second Amendment Blog Bash and the NRA Convention. On the way, we plan to camp at a couple of scenic places.

While we enjoyed our winter cruise, we had a bottleneck of sorts with computer access. At home, we’re used to each having a computer connected to our local network with internet access. On the road, we had to share our one laptop. Neither of us had enough time to do our usual ‘thing’ – blogging and reading the other blogs.

So, to correct that, we ordered a new Dell Mini 9 for me to use – both on the road, and when we’re on the patio swing when the weather is nice. I look forward to getting the new toy!

Oh! Did I mention it’s PINK!