Quadrillions and Quadrillions (with apologies to Carl Sagan)

OMG, it’s full of BS!

The ultimate ridiculous chutzpa lawsuit has just been filed against the US Army Corp of Engineers for damage associated with Hurricane Katrina. Its over 3 quadrillion dollars. Yes thats right, 3 QUADRILLION.  Because levees that failed in New Orleans during huricane Katrina caused residents damage. I guess the plaintiffs didn’t read the “act of of god or nature” clause in their insurance policy, so are suing the government.

NEW ORLEANS – AP- Hurricane Katrina’s victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering — including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion.

The total number — $3,014,170,389,176,410 — is the dollar figure so far sought from some 489,000 claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane.

Of the total number of claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.

That’s 3,000,000,000,000,000 (3 times one thousand million million; or 3x10 to the fifteenth power) otherwise known as 3 Petabucks. Peta is the order of magnitude like mega, giga, tera, etc.

For some perspective: A mere $1 quadrillion would dwarf the U.S. gross domestic product, which was $13.2 trillion in 2007.  A US dollar bill is .0043 inches thick. A stack of 3 petabucks would then be 203,598,484 miles high (203 million). The orbit of Mars is 141.6 million miles which the dollar bill stack would reach well beyond.

A lawsuit in Petabucks, yeah, thats some chutzpah. The plaintiffs will need a really big Brinks Truck, I hope the government pays them in pennies.

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