Would a printed Wikipedia fit into the British Library?
Assuming you mean the English language version only, yes quite easily, with room for a few foreign language versions too, by my reckoning. According to Wikipedia itself, the English language version contains a shade over 4m articles (29m pages). The British Library contains nearly 14m books. The St Pancras building has 112,000 square metres of floor space, which roughly equates to 36 articles, or 260 pages, per square metre.
NoLemons
It has been estimated that Wikipedia would occupy 74 metres of shelf space, if the printed volumes were the the size of those of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The British Library has 625km of shelf space, so Wikipedia would fit into the BL just under 8,446 times.
Charles Norrie, London N1
According to Wikipedia, across all language versions there are 19m articles with about 8bn words in total. You can fit an average of 375 words on an A4 page in a reasonably sized font. This would require 21m pages of A4 paper to print out, which equals 126 metres cubed.
You could therefore fit a printout of Wikipedia in a fairly modestly sized room if you were content with only the text and while printouts of all the images included on the site would take up a considerable amount of space, given the size of the British Library, it would fit.
Conn O'Neill, Ilkley, West Yorks
If Jesus came back to Earth, would he be a Christian?
Actually, he wasn't a Christian in the modern sense to begin with. In so far as we know, and based on the the gospels suppressed by the early church, he was a gnostic who believed that only through inner search and acquired knowledge could he and his followers attain the kingdom of heaven. In other words, enlightenment; and many are called but few are chosen because few have the capability to achieve it.
As such, he was following a mystical tradition that is as old as early Homo sapiens, perhaps even older. This wasn't a convenient message for the church founded in his name though, so it ended up a very different religion.
whitworthflange
Jesus was a prophet of God and non-sectarian. He was non-corporate. He, like all prophets before and after him, delivered the message of justice and peace. Today, Jesus would not put himself in a box called Christianity. He would serve only God, who created him. Today's Christianity is a far cry from what Jesus, Abraham, Muhammad, Noah and other prophets have brought down from the blessed.
rybo1
No. If he tried worshipping himself he would be a Narcissist.
Mark Lewinski, Swaffham Prior, Cambs
Why is there never enough time?
You misconstrue the problem: there is always enough time – just too many things to do.
Jon Griffith, Hastings, East Sussex
At least working hours are not as long as the Tudor or Victorian working day. The Statute of Artificers of 1563 laid down that "all artificers and labourers being hired for wages for the day shall betwixt the months of March and September be at their work at or before 5 of the clock in the morning, and continue at work until betwixt 7 and 8 of the clock at night, except it be the time of breakfast, dinner or drinking, the which times shall not exceed above two and a half hours in the day".
Also, "women's work is never done". In 1739 Mary Collier was writing:
When we Home are come
Alas! we find our Work but just begun;
So many Things to our Attendance call,
Had we ten Hands, we could employ them all.
Our Children put to Bed, with greatest Care
We all things for your coming Home prepare …
Felicity Hebditch, Taunton
It's true, there's never enough time to finish anyth
Nigel Grinter, Buffalo Grove, Illinois, US
Any answers?
In Casino Royale James Bond hands in his notice. What alternative employment might have suited him?
Phil Connors, Leeds
Our Earth orbits the Sun; but what does the Sun orbit?
Nick Wadham-Smith,
London E17
When did people in the UK stop whistling, and why?
Ann Dawney, Lewes, E Sussex
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