Billion: How Much Is a Billion?

In these days we let the word "billion" roll glibly off our tongues as easily as if it were "hundred." We know that it's a lot of money, but how many people have any actual conception of the amount? Compare it to minutes, of which there are 1,440 a day, and guess offhand how many years equal a billion minutes. Answers will generally range from 10 to 100 years, with only a few a little higher. Actually, figuring 365 days to each year, the answer is approximately 1,902 years. Since the birth of Christ, only a little more than 1,021,000,000 minutes have passed. - Selected. William Moses Tidwell, "Pointed Illustrations."