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xkcdmoney

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xkcd Tackles Big Numbers

The popular tech comic site xkcd has created an amazing huge poster to help explain terms like million, billion, and trillion… While the poster is way bigger than your screen can handle, you should see navigation aids to help you move around. … Read more

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How Big is Nano?

Placing “nano” before a measurement indicates “billionths” — that is there are billion per unit. For example, a nanometer is a billionth of a meter. A nanosecond is a billionth of a second. The prefix “nano” comes from the Latin nanus (“dwarf”). … Read more

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The Origin of Mark Twain

The minimum safe depth for paddle steamers on the Mississippi River in the nineteenth century was 2 fathoms, or 12 feet, which was called out as “mark twain”—which Samuel Clemens took as his pen name!