How many X in Y?

August 16, 2007 6:15 AM

I'm looking for lists of things like: "How many strides in 100m?", "How many M&Ms in a packet?", "How many steps to the top of the Sears Tower?" Preferably with the answers too.

I've written some software to help people keep track of, and organize their to-do list. I think an important part of this is to celebrate how much has been achieved rather than how much is left to do, so at the top of each list I'm going to display a line of text showing that person's accomplishments.

Rather than have a boring "Well done, you've completed 184 tasks", I want to find more fun descriptions, for example:

"If each task was a stride, you'd have run 100m"
"You've completed as many tasks as there are M&Ms in a packet"
"If you climbed a step for each task, you'd be at the top of the Eiffel Tower"

Obviously I need as many of these types of descriptions as I can get, and they aren't the easiest to find on Google. I'm hoping my fellow MeFites can either point me at useful resources or just make suggestions. Thanks.

posted by amcewen to grab bag (8 comments total)

Not exactly what you're looking for but you might find a couple of fun things Cockeyed.com (SFW).
posted by bondcliff at 6:19 AM on August 16, 2007

I might be a little off here, but the weird converter lets you convert babies to football fields to blue whales. Or find out how many Shaquille O'Neals are in the Great Wall of China.

"You've run 1 mile, or the length of 16,896 flaccid penises."
posted by sephira at 7:05 AM on August 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

Harper's Index might be a good place to start.
posted by sagwalla at 7:56 AM on August 16, 2007

Try Schott's Miscellany.
posted by annabellee at 8:14 AM on August 16, 2007

+1 cockeyed.com. Their series "How Much is Inside?" isn't really a list, but it's good reading.
posted by rachelpapers at 9:30 AM on August 16, 2007

I thought I remembered somebody asking this question before:

How many Xs in a Y?

Turns out it is not the same, despite the obvious similarity, but it is probably what I was remembering..
posted by Chuckles at 2:22 PM on August 16, 2007

According to Matt Groening, there are approximately 250 mice in a gallon.
posted by neuron at 8:45 PM on August 16, 2007

Thanks for the suggestions.

Chuckles: I'd found that before I posted, but as you say it isn't quite the same.

sephira: I'd already seen weirdconverter, but yeah, that's the sort of thing I'm after.

cockeyed.com looks good, I'm sure I'll be able to pick some material from there, and I'll have a look through Schott's Miscellany when I get back to the UK (not too many English bookstores here in Turin :-)
posted by amcewen at 2:48 AM on August 19, 2007