Order of Magnitude

I had a college chemistry professor who used to always say "What's an order of magnitude between friends?" when discussing extremely large or small numbers.  I like the concept of orders of magnitude.  I don't like it as much as I like fractals, but it is up there. 

Because I like the idea of considering the same object at different orders of magnitude, I have always loved this poster that hangs in my aunt and uncle's home in São Paulo.  I also like tomatoes, preferably at 0 mph. 

Tomato at 0 mph

Tomato at 4 mph

Tomato at 40 mph

Tomato at 400 mph

Lately I have been thinking about orders of magnitude when it comes to poverty.  Is there poverty, disease, and a lack of access to safe drinking water in the US?  Yes.  Is there poverty, disease, and a lack of access to safe drinking water in South Sudan?  Yes.  The difference is in the order of magnitude.