[plug] billion (was Unix Epoch: 1 billion seconds breakfast function.)

[John Knight]

Time for my usual rant of pedantry, but would this be an English or an 
American billion? I've always been quite puzzled by this as according to the 
dictionary, a billion is 10 to the power of 12 (a million millions) unless 
you live in America or France where it is 10 to the power of 9 (a thousand 
millions).

Why does everyone use the US billion even if modern dictionaries say that 
it's 10 to the power of 12? I'm not trying to point out an error, this has 
simply been puzzling me for years.

>>
>>The Unix(tm) epoch is ticking over to 1 billion, and we're having a



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