h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here's one for all our American researchers. How big is a block? As in a city block. I recently asked a guy from New Jersey and he said there's no fixed size. If this is the case, why do 'they' use it that way in films and stuff? For example, in the film 'The Rock' (which I assume you've seen) the gas the General stole will wipe out everything 'in an 8 block radius'. So, how far from ground zero should I be when he launches the stuff!

I have not seen the movie...are you sure he didn't say something like, "8 city blocks" or "8 country miles"? That may clear things up. Maybe there is a separate standard block size that gas can blow up.

They sure make it sound big though -
"I had to walk four blocks to get here!"
Sounds like a days hike!
-B-

Isn't a block 12 bytes, or a megaflop or something?

I'm not American, but I've always thought that a block was an area surrounded by four streets. -At least in those cities, where the streets run so, that they form a square pattern. One square between the streets is a block. Right?

A city block is approximately 1/12 of a mile, or 130 odd meters. POSIX requires that block sizes be reported as 512 bytes.

-N.

So if a city block is 1/12th mile then lets figure how big the area that is contained in a raduis of 8 blocks. radius is equal to 2/3 mile, so 2/3 mile squared is...hmmm... 1/2.25 square miles. Then what is it...multiply that times pi... that equals 1.39 square miles...hmmm...I am glad the movie said it will "wipe out everything in an 8 block radius". Imagine if this was in the script..."The General stole enough gas to wipe out 1 point 4 square miles. Well, actually its a little less than that...this General is quite an idiot" Kind of an anti-climax.

~big grin~... not so much fun if you live inside the 1.4 mile radius though...

Loose link to automobiles here.....
So how big is one of those American cars with a big block chevy engine?

*ponder*

When I bought my '67 Chevy Camaro (new in '67) it had a 327 cubic inch engine, had to beat the 289 Mustang. There were certainly bigger engines around - 409, e.g. -but the question is how big was the car ... the answer is not very big. The power to weight ratio was about the same as a motorcycle. "Driving" seemed a less important concern than "aiming".

P.S. The first model year of anything is not a good time to buy.

It is indeed the distance between two cross streets. Obviously it differs depending on where you are. So it's not a particularly accurate measurement, as you mentioned. But it's a good general idea for local distances. If someone tells you to walk 4 blocks then you can expect to cross 4 streets (or 3 streets, technically).

What do you Brits call those little segments of streets? Or do you just not bother?

I think on a Commadore a block is 256 bytes... I could be wrong though, it's my brother who has a few dozen of them, not me. And I used to think 15 blocks (less than the size of this web page) was huge! Anyway, that's sort of off-topic... not that there's anything wrong with being off-topic. Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Still, I think I'll stop now.

I watched my video of "The Rock" a few days ago. The comment was something along the lines of "A teaspoon of this stuff detonated in the atmosphere will wipe out every living thing in an 8 block radius." Not city block or country mile, just block, as if it were a standard unit of measurement.

The distances between crossroads in Britain are so irregular that we don't bother. We say things like 'Go to the next corner', or 'to the next set of traffic lights', or 'until you get to the (insert landmark)'.

More like

Left at the prince of Wales, right at the kings head.
Navigation by pub names
Much more the british way of navigating.

True, but I also knew some one who used churches in the same way. And women tend not to use pubs as landmarks - we use traffic lights, shops, street corners (or names if we know them).

I thought the British way of navigating was by Tube station. My wife and I (first time American tourists in London this last summer) never felt lost down in the tube, that great tube map was on every flat surface. But since our visitor's travel pass included buses, we hopped on a double decker and were panicked in about two minutes - during which the bus had made about fourteen turns ...

as big as the oceans are wide

Hope you enjoyed your trip to London
as you discovered the road network is based on a spiders web rather than any logical plan (like a grid), it just growed that way.
A favorite joke in London about tourists (that includes any one from outside London not just from abroad) is the way they take the tube everywhere.
There are some stations which are just a couple of hundred yards apart on the ground but on the tube map they appear much further and need a change of trains.
For example Bayswater and Queensway which are both on Queensway and less than 200 yars apart, but to get btween the two involves changing at notting hill gate, the distance you walk getting to and from the tube platform and changing trains is greater than the distance between the two stations.
central London is actually very small and most of it is easily walkable,an added bonus is that there is something of interest at almost every turn, a lot of which is not in the tourist guides.
No real need to wory about getting lost as you are never very far from the nearest tube station (which prevents panic attacks).
If you are planning to come back I reccomend getting an A-Z and having a great amble around.

Please note: this method of navigation *only works in London* although it is cool. I love the tube, but since I live in Manchester I have to navigate by the "erm... its this way" ~points in vague direction~