56 million

I found a rather poignent statement that reminds me of those ads for something that is $x.99 or $x.95 (x being any number, not porn) as if putting it up one or five cents will make a customer less likely to buy the product "No, sweetie, we can't afford that car, it's price is a bit steep at $30,000 but this one is pretty sweet and it's only $29,999.99." So here's the quote, from "Which Has Killed More People, Christianity or Gun Control?"



"After all, 56 million is without a doubt the perfect random number. Since a million doesn't mean much anymore, you'll want to crank it up the next level and accuse your enemies of something in the ten millions. Of course, it would be even better to accuse them of a hundred million, but usually, that's out of reach. A number as high as that needs a lot of buttressing, so you'll have to settle for a number a tad lower and lot more accessible. Fortunately, if you can push your number up over the halfway mark, you can imply a hundred million without actually having it. Anything over 50 million will do. Well, truthfully, 51 isn't enough. Your first instinct upon seeing 51 is to round it down to 50, so you need to tack on a second digit large enough to resist the rounding-down. You need to push it at least as close to 60 as to 50 -- let's say 55. Of course, numbers ending in 0s and 5s always look like ballpark guesstimates, so let's add 1 to it, and it'll look more precise."

That's all I have for today's blog. Someone else's words. I started work Monday and turned in my MFA application yesterday. Thanks for all your help Limechip.