Numbers Part 3: Cosmos and Me...Feeling Tiny

Carl Sagan has always been a bit of a hero of mine. As a child I have a few memories of watching Cosmos, a fantastic show that took the viewer across space and time. I've had my copy of the book Cosmos for almost as long as I can remember...its pages never ceasing to ignite my imagination.

One cool thing that fits into my Numbers saga is the 'Cosmic Calendar'...a calendar that has 12 months and that represents the total time that the universe has existed. Humans only make their debut in the evening of the last day of the year.



Here is Carl Sagan explaining the calendar...


And I cannot resist another...making me feel even smaller!


...it just makes you want to hug somebody, eh?

Numbers part 2: Powers of ten and one

xkcd is a webcomic I tend to check 3 times a week. Sometimes I laugh my head off. Sometimes other people find it funny too...but sometimes the geek humour is a little too obscure.

Here is an example of one of said comic episodes...

Do you find it funny?

Here is what the comic is subtly emulating...

...this film was made in 1977 and is called "powers of ten".

Now do you find it funny?

Numbers part 1 : Zimbabwe Currency

Here's a graph I found that shows the inflation of the Zim-dollar over a span of time. To put the number scale in perspective, I added some various commonly used markers.




To view the unadulterated version click here.



100 Billion!??




According to Arminda, my friend Peter's sister, who recently arrived from Harrare there is worthless money littering the streets of the capital.



Not being an expert on the subject I won't speculate on the cause of this disaster but I do wonder how something so crazy can happen to a country in the world's eye.