Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with times

times tables without trauma

serazin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:53:23 -0800

What are some fun, quick, quirky, or otherwise compelling ways to memorize the times tables?

Need to find book sales stats

arniec — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:04:11 -0800

How can I find sales stats and chart statistics for books released over the past 30 years? I am working on a research project regarding Star Wars novels. I know that many tout "New York Times Bestseller" on the covers; I am interested in finding out which ones were indeed NYTimes Bestsellers, when, for how long, etc.

Is there any way to look up bestseller status by book, rather than just looking at every Times Bestseller list from 1977 to now?

(Bonus points if there's any way to find out how many copies of the books sold, or a breakdown to hardcover and paperback release).

PS: I realize that often there are services that require a fee for such information. I'm willing to pay perhaps 3 figures for this information if I MUST but any association over $1,000 is outside of feasibility for me.

PPS: Yes, I've contacted the publishers. They don't have this information in a ready-to-share format.

Fantasy Football

zzazazz — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:25:51 -0800

I am looking for a quality free fantasy football site that offers a live draft where I can adjust the drafting to allow each player to take 24 hours to pick. Essentially an email draft. AOL has one but I abhor AOL and will only use them as a last resort. I like Yahoo's fantasy football interface but they don't offer an email type draft.

How do electronic traffic times signs work?

SuperSquirrel — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:42:49 -0800

How do those overhead signs on expressways know how fast traffic is moving in order to calculate a travel time estimate? And when the traffic is light, do the estimated times on those signs reflect the legal speed limit or the current speed of the traffic? These are the electronic signs that change to reflect traffic times to the next major exit/entrance, such as "I-55 6 mins."

Royalty-free footage

ndicecco — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:04:09 -0800

Where can I find royalty free footage of new year's even in times square? The times square alliance was of no help. Preferably footage that shows the countdown/ball dropping/confetti/people/etc.

How long are the queues at Gatwick?

Wilder — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 07:53:12 -0800

How long are the check-in/security queues at Gatwick Airport & Dublin airport now, BAA site seems to be down.... help Mefites? (MI) I'm travelling to Dublin on a BA flight at 10.35am tomorrow. A previous Mefite poster travelling the day after the security scare said he was 4 hours checking in. It must have improved since then, but the BAA site seems to have crashed. Any ideas, tips etc.,?
I'm coming back at the awful hour of 8.30am Sun morning, so same question, how long at Dublin for check-in? Thanks

NYT Circumvention filter

willbaude — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 09:46:38 -0800

How can I circumvent the NYT Op-ed wall? The New York Times will shortly begin charging for access to its op-ed columnists. I have no interest in paying for access to them, because they are not worth the cost to me. However, it would be nice to be able to read them on occasion without having to pay out.

So. It occurs to me that most (all?) of the columnists-- John Tierney, Maureen Dowd, Tom Friedman, David Brooks, Paul Krugman, Nick Kristof, Bob Herbert, and Frank Rich-- are probably syndicated in other papers, and that at least some of those papers probably put their content online for free (with or without registration).

Thus, first of all does anybody know if my hunch is correct, and second of all does anybody know where to find get access to each, any, or all of these columnists online but away from the Times's site?

[Oh, and finally, don't bother scolding that it is somehow bad to try to acquire for free what the Times wants to sell, but if you think there is a cognizable legal argument that this post or replies to it violate the DMCA, feel free to speak up.]

Origin of the phrase "good times, good times..." ?

mkultra — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 12:13:53 -0800

What is the origin of the phrase "good times, good times..." (said in a mock wistful tone)?