Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2013 November 4

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November 4

Revising content for GCSE subjects

I've got loads of exams this year. As the system has been changed, I will have all of my exams for 2 years worth of studying, in a space of a few weeks in May. How much in advance do I need to start revising the topic from over a year ago? I have studied very academic GCSEs (I'm in the UK)- — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hf245 (talk • contribs) 17:05, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

I advise speaking with your teachers about how best to develop a revision plan in preparation for your exams. They'll likely be dedicating classroom time to revision and certainly start guiding you and the class in how best to prepare as the exams near. The system you mention is pretty much what I went through when I was at school and we got a great deal of timing info from our teachers. ny156uk (talk) 17:59, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

When I took my GCSE's I had my exam time table ahead of time so I could prioritize which subjects to focus on. I.E I knew which subjects I was strongest in and could spend less time on and which subjects I was going to struggle with and needed to dedicate more time to. My basic studying plan was to go over the areas that would be covered on the exam and write out summary notes, then I would condense those notes into simple phrases and/or pictures that would be more easily memorized. Anything you can do to make it easier to recall certain facts or events in class will help. I then posted these all around my house so when eating/making dinner or getting ready in the morning I could fill that time with extra study. Another tip is to record yourself reading off your notes and listen to the recording every chance you get. I would listen to mine while walking to various events and especially while walking to the exam for that specific subject. Good luck! 63.95.64.254 (talk) 21:03, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

I would start gentle revision and practising past papers now. The more work that you do in the next six months to fully understand the subject content, the less you will need to do last-minute revision. Dbfirs 00:31, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, this really helps! I am going to start revising what I have done in January, so I will have a while to go over everything, but i'll obviously do a little bit now, when I can. I know that it is a bit in advance but i want to be prepared...How do you make a revision timetable?

There are lots of ways to make a revision timetable, depending on what time periods you have available. At this stage, maybe you could decide which subjects you are least confident about, and give these a higher weighting in the time allocations. When you get your examination timetable, you could construct your revision timetable from that, working backwards from the examination date, assuming that you will wish to revise each subject the evening before the examination ( and not get up at 5 a.m. on the morning of the examination to do last-minute revision as I recall doing!) Dbfirs 08:54, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Okay, thanks!

Airports

This is a question that anyone who has taken a plane could answer and I am not asking for personal opinion. I've never flown so I am wondering, when you arrive to the airport after a flight... which are the steps you have to follow before leaving the airport, I mean... do you have to check or something? Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 18:40, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Once you step out of the plane, you'll either walk down a narrow corridor called a "jetway" that leads from the plane into the terminal building - or for a small plane, you'll go down some steps and either walk into the terminal building or be taken there in a bus. Once you're inside the terminal, what happen next depends whether you're coming from another country or not. The terminal building is split into four zones - international arrivals, international departures, domestic arrivals/departures and the main hall. Only people who are actually flying that day are allowed into the arrivals and departures areas - the general public are not allowed there. There are security barriers between each section. In the USA, before we had all of the heightened security, there were no security barriers between the main hall and the domestic arrivals/departures area - but not anymore.

Generally, for internal flights, you get off the plane, walk out of the domestic arrivals area into the main hall, pick up any baggage that you checked by waiting at a big conveyor belt that leads up from where the plane is parked until your bags emerge. You may get a cart to put your bags in if you have a lot of them. Then you leave the building and find a car or bus to take you out of the airport. If you're meeting someone at the airport, they can generally meet you at the baggage reclaim area...so that's where most of the hugging and kissing and welcoming home stuff happens. Important people might be met by a limosine driver who will hold up a piece of cardboard with the person's name on it so they can pick up the right person.

On a flight coming in from another country, you first arrive in the international arrivals lounge, then you must go though passport control where someone in a serious-looking uniform looks at your photo to make sure it's really your passport, checks your right to enter the country, asks you why you are travelling ("business" or "pleasure" is usually enough of an answer), where you are planning to stay during your trip (any hotel will keep them happy) - then generally waves you through. Some larger airports have separate passport desks for foreign nationals than for citizens - and in Europe there is generally a separate passport lane for people from other European countries.

Once you're through that ordeal, you pick up your bags from a conveyor belt - and finally you have to pass through customs. In most places I've been there are two doorways - one for people with nothing to declare - and another for people who know they'll have to pay import duty or something like that. In the "Nothing to Declare" aisle, you generally just walk right through into the main airport terminal and you're done - but once in a while a customs officer will pull you aside and ask you questions about your trip and probably rummage through your bags to make sure you didn't bring anything illegal in. They have the option to take you off to another room and do body searches and all manner of other nasty things! I've never been through the other door where you pay duty - but I would imagine there is much paperwork and more searching of bags and such. Once you emerge from customs, you're out in the main hall - where friends and relatives can meet you - so this is also a major hugging and smooching area!

In the US and most other places I've been, once you're outside the terminal, you can hail a taxi, board a free bus to take you to a nearby hotel or take a relatively cheap shared minibus into the city. There will be several car-rental places there where you can rent a car. There are also huge "long-term car parks" where you would have left your car if you're on a return trip - and there would be a free bus service to those parking lots. Another option is that maybe someone is there to pick you up - in which case they'll probably have parked in the short-term parking lot which will generally be a short walk from the terminal building.

VIP's may be able to short-cut all of that stuff and be checked out in a special VIP lounge - but a lot depends on the importance of the person and the size of the airport. Similar differences would apply if you're flying in on a personal plane or a small executive jet.

One thing about airports that always strikes me is that if you're flying internationally over long east-west distances, you tend to be somewhat disoriented by the jet-lag, so the whole process of going through passport control, baggage reclaim and customs seems dreamlike and confusing. Also when you step out of the terminal building into "unexpected" darkness, sunlight or dramatically hotter, colder or more humid weather than you are used to, it can come as something of a shock to the system! These are commonplace things for people who fly often - but for those who don't, it's a surprisingly abrupt "WOW! I'm not where I was!" feeling!

SteveBaker (talk) 19:13, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

(ec)This is how it works in the USA at least: If you're coming in from an international flight, you first have to go through Customs, just as if you were driving or walking across the border. (That way, for example, you can't smuggle any Cuban cigars in.) If it's a domestic flight, you simply exit the plane and work your way toward the main exit area; pass through the security exit (there's no security check that direction, you just walk through); stop at the luggage area if you had checked baggage; and then leave the airport and get a taxi, bus, rental car, or whatever other mode of transportation to wherever you're going next. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:13, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

P.S. I concur with everything Steve says above. My comments are more like an executive summary. I can recall two occasions when they suspended the privilege to meet your friends and relatives at the gate. One was during the first Gulf War period of late summer 1990 into winter-spring 1991. The second time was right after 9/11/01, and that one was permanent. (Thank you, OBL, for your continuing contributions to society.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:26, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

At times, though, once you have picked up your luggage, there will be someone waiting at the exit to make sure that the luggage you picked up is the same luggage you checked in. RNealK (talk) 03:14, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

It's the same in the Canada, the UK and through at least most of the European countries. It's possible that the procedures would be different in other places though. Miss Bono should tell us if she has a more exotic location in mind - then perhaps we can research the details. SteveBaker (talk) 19:23, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

The specific details and paperwork will depend heavily on the countries – and in some cases, on the specific airports – to and from which the flight travels; we could give you more specific information if you let us know where your hypothetical individual was flying from and to. For example, the principle that you must clear passport control after you arrive in another country is a reasonable rule of thumb, but it has quite a number of exceptions. For instance, flights between many European countries – specifically, those nations which are members of the Schengen Area – act in many ways like domestic flights; your passport won't be checked after your flight arrives.

Another scenario might involve a flight to the United States from Canada, Ireland, or one of a handful of other nations that operates United States border preclearance facilities. At certain major international airports in these countries, passports are checked for U.S.-bound passengers at the departure airport, and those individuals are cleared for entry into the United States. At their arrival airport, they are treated like domestic U.S. passengers; no additional passport check is required. (As far as I know, there are no reciprocal pre-clearance facilities; individuals travelling from the U.S. to Canada, say, still have their passports checked by customs officials on arrival in Canada.)

So consider a hypothetical traveller going from Vancouver to Zurich, with intermediate stopovers in New York and Paris. His passport would be checked by U.S. preclearance officials in Vancouver; he would arrive in New York as a 'domestic' passenger and require no passport check. His passport would be checked in Paris, and stamped to admit him to the Schengen zone. Finally, his passport would not be checked in Zurich, since he was flying internally in the Schengen zone. So our hypothetical passenger crossed three international borders, but only pass through passport control twice —and only once have to do so after an international flight. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 20:08, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

I am trying to write about the first flight ever for someone young (21 or 21 years old- I specify this because the shock of a first trip may vary between ages, I think) from Dublin to Los Ángeles, I was making some Wiki Research to see if there were some airline that takes you from Dublin to LA without stopovers... and wondering what on earth can you do in a 10 hours flight without getting bored.

Also the person only has a hand baggage and a small backpack, nothing else. Pleasure trip and has someone in the outside waiting for her.

P.S. All this takes place in 2002. Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 20:28, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Expedia couldn't find any nonstop DUB to LAX flights. It may not be possible. On a long flight you listen to the radio, watch the inflight movie, eat the dreaded airline meal, sleep, and maybe have a couple drinks. Rmhermen (talk) 20:59, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

And the stopovers could be... where? In which country? Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 21:11, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Maybe New York City ? StuRat (talk) 21:21, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Just one? That is good. How long does is last a stepover? Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 21:25, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Yea, you normally would only need two stops if going from one tiny city to another distant, tiny city. Under the hub system; LA, NYC, Chicago, and London are all common hub cities, so you can likely get a direct flight between them. Apparently Dublin isn't quite big enough to be a hub for most airlines, although I would expect Aer Lingus to use it as a hub.

As for stopovers, there are two types of stops, one where some people get on and off the plane, it refuels, then takes off, and the other is where you change planes. In the first case it will be relatively short, probably less than an hour. In the second case it might well be longer, as they need to allow time for passengers to switch planes, and possibly travel to another terminal. New York City also has 3 major airports (including Newark, NJ), so you could also travel to another airport for the 2nd leg of the flight. If you let the airlines arrange it for you, this is unlikely, but if you choose to stay over a day or so for sightseeing, then this is an option. StuRat (talk) 23:52, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

On such a long flight I once tried to walk up and down the aisle, to keep from getting blood clots, but they told me to sit down and learn to live with clots. They often have magazines, with crossword puzzles and such in them. StuRat (talk) 21:13, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

As for stop-overs: I guess that New York or Chicago are the obvious destinations in the US that would have direct flights from Dublin. Usually stopovers in Europe are preferrable to ones in the US (partly because time needed at immigration is hard to predict and you may miss the connection). So I think the most obvious route would be Dublin-London-LA. Stopover time is typically 2-3h. Less than 2h and it may get tight for making the connection especially at a big airport such as London. Dublin-London would have frequent services, so there if no reason why it should be a longer (and more inconvenient) stopover. What to do on the plane: people differ. I would think that in 2002 most people read (novels or travel guides). Inflight movies of course. Also depends on how nervous the person is. Some can relax no problem and quite enjoy the 10h peace and quiet. The biggest thing post arrival would be US immigration. That can take anywhere from 5min to 2h. I suspect that in 2002 things were pretty thorough. 86.182.187.251 (talk) 23:42, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

• I highly recommend you see the movies Defending Your Life and L.A. Story if possible. Neither of them has any factual content or realistic depictions of airports. But they will tell you an awful lot about how people who fly in airplanes experience life in America. μηδείς (talk) 03:07, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

I just saw L.A. Story again, weekend before last, and I'm having trouble figuring out what you're talking about. What's specially airplaney about the characters? There's the scene where the street sign makes the weather come in and stop Sara's plane from leaving (and you say there's no factual content!) but I'm not sure how that's relevant. --Trovatore (talk) 03:54, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

They are extremely well-written movies that give you (or someone in Cuba with limited access) an existential impression of fin-de-ciecle pre-9/11 Western life. You could just as well mention Airplane or Airport '77, but I think the two films I mentioned are much better inspiration, if not information. SteveBaker's already covered the information part. μηδείς (talk) 05:02, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

See fin de siècle. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 07:12, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, I knew there was something wrong there, but thought it was just the grave accent. μηδείς (talk) 16:37, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Oh, love Meryl Streep and Steve Martin movies so I will see if I can rent them.

I am not familiar with that jet lag thing, I mean, if you fly from Dublin to California,

• You take a plane at 6:00am in Dublin to London (same time zone? how long is the flight?),
• Then after 2 hours at the Heathrow Airport you take the next plane (is the same plane that took you from Dublin to London? How long is the flight from London to California?)
• You arrive in California at (what time is it when you get there?)
• How does that jet lag thing works? Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 15:07, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Read Jet lag for more info. Basically, when you cross time zones, your "internal clock" is still set for your departure point, and it takes some time to adjust. If your flight is north-south / south-north rather than east-west / west-east, it's much less of a problem. In all cases, though, you have to take into account the general fatigue of traveling. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:13, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Oh I am reading it right now. But I need someone answers me the questions in bold Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 15:17, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

There is no jet lag if you fly within the same time zone, although the flight itself can be tiring. Flight toward the east is disorienting. Imagine you take off from NYC at noon and fly to London where it is 6pm, taking 6 hrs to get there because of a good tail wind. You then arrive in London at midnight local time feeling like it was 6pm NYC time. Real jet lag occurs when you fly east to west. You leave London at noon local time, meaning it is 6am in NYC. The flight takes 9-12 hours (more if you are fighting a bad headwind. If it takes 12 hours, you land in NYC at 6pm local time, but you feel like it is midnight after a long uncomfortable flight. μηδείς (talk) 15:51, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

How long s the flight from Dublin to London? Hours or minutes? Soooo, jet lag really occurs when I flight from London to NYC? Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 16:07, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Yes, when you fly from London to NYC. You wouldn't want any business or socializing to be scheduled until the following day after a good night's sleep. μηδείς (talk) 17:10, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Flight time from Dublin to London is about 1hr 15min to 1hr 30min, depending on factors such as which airline you use (e.g. British Airways, Aer Lingus, RyanAir), and which London airport you fly to. Getting to central London from the airport can increase the journey time significantly: e.g. Gatwick to London by train is about 45 minutes, Stansted 40-45 mins, Luton 50 mins. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 16:36, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

I get it. You have to switch airlines whehn you arrive in London, to flight to California? Or you stick with the same you used from Dublin to London? Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 16:40, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

As a writer you may want to put in some more time on doing your own research, rather than just crowdsourcing it to the Reference Desk. Go to Expedia or another travel website, put in the departure and arrival cities, pick a date, and look at the list of flights and connections that come up. This will tell you where people most often have to change planes and make connections and how long each flight tends to be. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 17:13, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

I would do that if I had full Internet access. Thanks for all your answers anyway, they've been helpful. Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 17:19, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

I've flown Dublin to London and it takes a little under an hour, typically in a Boeing 737. London to Los Angeles takes 11 or 12 hours and on a much bigger aircraft such as a Boeing 747 or 777. If you stay with the same airline (or group of airline partners), you won't have to change terminal at London Heathrow; otherwise you could easily spend 2 hours getting between the terminals.

A midday flight from London will arrive in Los Angeles at about 3 or 4 pm, but it will feel like midnight. You can just accept it and take an early dinner, but the best hint is to try to sleep on the plane (partying the night before will help you sleep). I think the jet lag is much worse going in the other direction. Going back to Europe planes typically leave late afternoon and arrive the following morning, but once again sleeping on the plane helps and once again partying all night the night before will help with that.

Los Angeles is typically much warmer than London or Dublin. A first-time flyer might be a bit surprised when they step out of the air-conditioned terminal building in the middle of the afternoon.

Also remember that 2002 was not long after 9/11 and security was much tighter at US airports than other places, with long queues at immigration. Astronaut (talk) 17:29, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Just to add: I've flown to some unusual places (including Almaty, Pnom Penh, Kingston, Jakarta, and Daytona Beach), and the procedures are typically quite similar. Some airports have a large duty free shopping mall between baggage claim and customs. And in some countries, if you are a MIP (Minimally Important Person), you are smuggled passed customs and emigration. The most surreal experience I had was in Daytona Beach ca. 1998, when security consisted of a yellow line on the ground with a sign "no guns beyond this line". Things have changed, and not universally for the better.... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 22:19, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Being a Brit, living in Texas, I've flown across the Atlantic many times. I strongly agree that NYC (or Dallas) to London is horrible. I would leave about 3pm and arrive in London at some ungodly time in the morning. You can't easily go to sleep at 3pm, so generally, you only get a couple of hours of sleep - then suddenly, it's morning! You feel like death all day long - and if you give in and head to bed early, you are wide awake in the middle of the night! Nasty!

Going the other way is no problem. You leave in the early morning, arrive in the USA feeling a little tired - but you arrive about noon and it's not so bad to wait a few hours until you can have an early night and sleep in late the following morning. I generally have zero problems with flying from London to the USA...but the reverse direction...URGH!

So I think your hero will be just fine after a trip from London to New York...but to leave Dublin in time to get the early morning flight to the US would require a horribly early start. Maybe if (s)he needs to feel fresh the next day, a day spent seeing the sights in London and an overnight hotel stay near London Gatwick airport would be a better bet.

SteveBaker (talk) 03:45, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Or she could see the sights in Brighton, just as accessible as London from Gatwick. If she needs to find things to do in the Crawley area for an afternoon, let me know. Ms Bono, you asked at the beginning what she would do to entertain herself on a long flight. The obvious example is to read an airport novel. You can use Wikipedia to find out which books were published in 2002. Itsmejudith (talk) 13:29, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Itsmejudith It would be great to know what she could do in Crawley, to explore options. Oh, I will look for categories.

P.S. Are these Airport novels? Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 14:00, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

If I’m not mistaken, the character leaves Dublin at 6 am, if the flight takes 1 hour, she will be heading to London at 7 am approximately and then 9-12 more hours to New York oe L.A (I am starting to think that NYC is the best bet), she will be heading to NYC at 10 pm or 7 pm. That makes things a little easier according to what Steve said. She can sleep all night. Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 13:29, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

For what it's worth, the scheduled gate-to-gate time of flights from Heathrow (LHR, London) to JFK (New York) is usually 8 hours—though that can stretch by an hour (or occasionally more) if the flight is into a really bad headwind. Because the flight crosses five time zones, an eight-hour flight (west) only arrives three hours later as far as local time goes. That is, a hypothetical flight leaving LHR at 9:00am London time will land at JFK at around noon New York time. Virtually the entire flight will be above the clouds in full, bright sunlight.

Noon of the same day you left London, right? Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 15:11, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Similarly, flights from LHR to LAX (Los Angeles) are scheduled at about 11.5 hours (though are once again vulnerable to headwind-induced delays)—but those flights now cross eight time zones. Our passenger leaving London at 9:00am lands in California at midday: 12:30pm local time. Our passenger's internal clock is going to be telling her that it is 8:30pm, but the Sun is still going to be high in the sky when she walks out of the terminal (even if it takes her another hour to deplane, pick up lugggage, and clear U.S. customs). TenOfAllTrades(talk) 14:58, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Also, don't forget that travellers should always plan for a delay of at least an hour or two between flights, in case the first flight is delayed slightly. Very often, people end up with several hours between flights and then they have to decide whether to stay in the airport or go out to see the sights. We often answer questions about that on the desks. You must be back in good time for your connecting flight. It is no good getting back to the airport twenty minutes before it is due to take off. I'm sure there are people here who took frequent international flights in the early 2000s who can advise you better on details than I can. If, when you've worked all that out, your character has half a day or more at Gatwick, her options are 1) take the Gatwick Express up to London. It's frequent and only takes half an hour. It comes into London Victoria station, which is about ten minutes walk from Buckingham Palace, ten minutes in a different direction from the Houses of Parliament. 2) take a train to Brighton, again frequent and about half an hour. There she could walk by the seaside, see Brighton Pavilion and Brighton Pier, eat fish and chips, or shop in The Lanes. 3) stay in the Crawley area, where there is less to do, but she could go swimming or use the gym at The Triangle, Burgess Hill, or go into Haywards Heath, which is a pretty town typical of South East England, and a nice place to have a cream tea. She could even perhaps get to Tunbridge Wells, a very interesting and historic town. (If I come to Cuba on holiday, you can give me suggestions of places to visit!) Yes, that is a stall selling airport novels. 2002 in literature gives you the titles of books by Grisham, Stephen King, Ludlum, Crichton. This is your chance to tell your readers something about your character by her choice of book. If she likes Harry Potter, she will be reading The Goblet of Fire. The Lovely Bones was published in that year and was very popular. Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters is a fantastic book - if your character can cope with something literary and challenging. Itsmejudith (talk) 15:23, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Oh cool! But if she only has two hours between flights, she cannot go too far because she will miss the next one. Option two is great, Fish and fries! Yummy.

I will be more than glad to give you a lot of suggestions of places to visit, there are a lot :).

Not much of a fan of Harry Potter, I like it but I like Stephen King the most. Seems like I have a lot of options for novels. Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 15:44, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Realistically, with two hours between flights, you typically will try to get to your departure gate (which may or may not require a separate security check), and then go browse the local shops and probably burn some money on dead calories at a pizza shop or other snack place. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 16:17, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Agreed, with two hours you shouldn't leave the airport. Gatwick has two terminals, with a shuttle in between. It has lots of restaurants now. In 2002 it is likely that you could get fish and chips in a "pub" (not really a pub because it's in the airport, but doing its best to be like a pub). Or a full English breakfast. Itsmejudith (talk) 16:53, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Itsmejudith, what's the difference between the North and the South Terminals, I mean, besides that one is in the North and the other is in the South. Is it that one is for National flights and the other is for International flights? Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 18:06, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

No, it doesn't seem to be like that. Some airlines fly from one and some from another, and finding out which one was used by which airline in 2002 could be quite a lot of work. You may want to use poetic licence. (You get it wrong, but it doesn't matter.) Itsmejudith (talk)

Oh, I get it. Thank you all very much for your time, help and patience. Sometimes I am a pain in the ear. Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 19:12, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

This is not relevant for Miss Bono's book, but to add an answer to her original question, in some places (such as Libya or UAE (Original Research)) your baggage is x-rayed as you *ENTER* the country (just after you collect it). In the case of Libya, at least, I believe this is because they are looking for booze. 41.254.1.164 (talk) 19:51, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Hello (size of the universe)

I have a question. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Thisisyourbackstory (talk • contribs) 20:09, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Awesome! What is it? Richard-of-Earth (talk) 20:14, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

About how big, would you say, is the Universe, in light years cubed?--Thisisyourbackstory (talk) 20:21, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Size of the universe says unknown, but bigger than 407,720,000,000,000 (the observable universe). That's assuming I got the formula for volume of a sphere right. Wait, that's way too small because I divided by a billion before cubing. Heh. OK, I'm going with 407,720,083,373,088,152,878,666,475,139,860.  Card Zero  (talk) 20:53, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

That might be just a *tad* too much precision! We only know the size of the universe accurate to about one part in 50. So how about we say: 400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. SteveBaker (talk) 02:33, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Important quibble: We don't even know whether the size of the universe is finite or infinite. Presumably you mean the size of the observable universe. --Trovatore (talk) 02:35, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Looks like you got it right - 32 zeroes. Here was my easy way of getting the number: [[1]] Katie R (talk) 17:25, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

The site also makes it easy to convert to standard American media units. 150,000 billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion olympic-sized swimming pools. (I think I got the number of zeroes right.) Katie R (talk) 17:30, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

I did try Wolfram Alpha before posting! I asked it for size of the universe in light years cubed. It correctly parsed that (convert diameter of the observable universe to cubic light years), and then didn't do it - it just spat out the raw figure for diameter.  Card Zero  (talk) 13:46, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

A lytil thyng, þe quantite of a hasyl nott. Tevildo (talk) 23:48, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

I added a useful title. StuRat (talk) 21:09, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

If you all hold on a moment I will go take a measurement, be back in a flash ;-) ^{Market St.⧏} _{⧐ Diamond Way} 01:18, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

I'll save you a trip. It's XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXL. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:20, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Reminds me of this:

There was a young lady named Bright

Who travelled faster than light

She went out one day, in a relative way

And came back the previous night.

Carry on. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 03:28, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Why don't you all pick on someone your own size, instead of beating up on the universe! lolol ^{Market St.⧏} _{⧐ Diamond Way} 05:03, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Universe man, Universe man, size of the entire universe, man. Rmhermen (talk) 03:08, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space..." SteveBaker (talk) 03:32, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

[2] Bus stop (talk) 03:38, 6 November 2013 (UTC)

Phyllis Diller

You folks have Phyliss Diller passing away on August 20, 2012 - sorry to say - she passed away today, November 04, 2013......

Hope it gets changed - Jay L. Cook — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.96.180.77 (talk) 21:36, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Here's a source that says 2012: [3]. Where's your source that says today ? (I suspect you may have confused the "date last modified" with the date the article was written.) StuRat (talk) 21:41, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Not according to the New York Times [4], the Washington Post [5] and CNN. [6] Our article is clearly correct. AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:42, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

If you are right, and the many, many online obituaries and news sites are wrong, she must have been pretty cross when they obtained probate, administered her estate and finally auctioned off her property six weeks ago. - Karenjc (talk) 21:52, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Findagrave likewise has it in 2012, a record entered the same day she died.[7] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:30, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

Perhaps OP saw this which I am reading as a spoof piece webpublished earlier today: The internet just realized Phyllis Diller passed away. ^{Market St.⧏} _{⧐ Diamond Way} 00:00, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

I don't want to hear it. I fought like the dickens to get Phyllis Diller listed as one of the first entries at ITN/RD. I wasn't able to get her or Eileen Brennan listed (for God's sake, my mom knows who Eileen Brennan was!) but I did manage to get Marcia Wallace listed. In any case, the internet knew Diller passed, just not the underage drinkers at WP:ITN. μηδείς (talk) 02:57, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Phyllis Diller was an icon. I shudder to think who they bumped her for. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:10, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

She wasn't bumped, she was just not considered important enough. The Recent Death section had been approved by RfC but wasn't running yet, and I think the simple explanation was that people under 40 didn't know who she was. Had she actually just died yesterday I think she actually would make the cut now for RD. μηδείς (talk) 04:53, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

I went thumbing through the archives it seems part of the problem was that there were a lot of famous deaths around that date, best I can make out the area devoted to that on the main ITN page had listed: Activist Tony Nicklinson, Author Nina Bawden, Malta PM Dom Mintoff, Director Tony Scott for a few days the other comments I read from involved editors confirm μηδείς's recollection. ^{Market St.⧏} _{⧐ Diamond Way} 05:00, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Note to self: If desiring to be remembered, die on a slllllloooooowwww newsday! ^{Market St.⧏} _{⧐ Diamond Way} 05:01, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Or instead of dying peacefully in your sleep, jump off a bridge. That will get the teenagers' attention. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:33, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Sometimes setting out to jump off a bridge can have unexpected results. ^{Market St.⧏} _{⧐ Diamond Way} 06:07, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Yes, C. S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley are probably still saying "Damn that Oswald or Hickey or whoever!" -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:23, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

I still haven't figured this out after two days. Could you comment, User:JackofOz? μηδείς (talk) 02:25, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

(1) Consider my indentation and notice to whom I was responding. (2) If that doesn't help, look at when they both died, and ask yourself who else died that day, and what someone called Oswald had to do with anything. Best of luck. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 03:06, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

Ah, yes. But they are remembered for their lives, not their modes of death. I didn't know Huxley died the same day, so I assumed you were making some reference to the two author's opinions of suicide. Thanks for explaining. μηδείς (talk) 03:30, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

You're trying too hard. I can be surprisingly shallow sometimes. :) The point was that, normally the death of either Lewis or Huxley would have been reasonably big news by itself, let alone both of them the same day, but the JFK shooting swallowed virtually all other news and their deaths didn't stand a ghost of a chance of being noticed. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 07:23, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

I understood that perfectly after your hints. I had just not been aware Huxley had died the day before Doctor Who premiered. μηδείς (talk) 23:00, 8 November 2013 (UTC)