Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 August 10

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August 10

Longevity of widowhood

In 1948 Sir Francis Connelly, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, aged 52, married his second wife, Patricia, aged 27. He died suddenly in May 1949. She lived on until last week, aged almost 96, surviving him by 67 years. Is this some sort of record?

I've found reference to a 75-year widowhood, a 72-year widowhood and a 70-year widowhood. But no comprehensive list of such records. I'm surprised WP doesn't have one. Does anyone know of one? Naturally, I've searched already and come away empty-handed. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 00:18, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

I've never seen such a list, but I'd like for you to watch this to put yourself in the proper frame of mind. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:58, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

Maudie Hopkins and Alberta Martin are examples of women who at a young age married an old veteran of the US Civil War. They both remarried after being widowed, so I'm not sure if that meets your criteria. Martin was widowed at age 20 and again at age 25, and lived to age 97. Hopkins was widowed at 23 and lived to 93. You might search for a list of widows of Civil War veterans who died after, say, 2000. Loraof (talk) 02:38, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

From a quick look through Wikipedia articles on the oldest people, Misao Okawa was widowed in 1931 and lived until 2015, nearly 84 years later. Unlikely to be a world record, but gives a lower bound. Warofdreams talk 13:39, 11 August 2016 (UTC)

Also, not widowed but worth a mention, Camille Loiseau, divorced at the age of eighteen in August 1910, and lived until 2006, just under 96 years later. Warofdreams talk 14:13, 11 August 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for these bits of info, folks. It's enough to tell me my lady is not a record-breaker.

My surprise at the apparent non-existence of a list persists (and will continue to do so until someone gets off their fat arse and does something about it. Myself excluded, naturally. My role is to point out glaring omissions; heaven forbid I should sully my lily-white hands with the sordid business of actual work.) -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:52, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Resolved

Fresh & Easy

Why did Fresh & Easy fail? Surprisingly, the article doesn't really address the issue, nor does it really explain what was so different about Fresh & Easy stores from typical American food stores. --Viennese Waltz 10:15, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

Answering my own question with a couple of sources [1] [2]. Further insights welcome. --Viennese Waltz 12:01, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

I found Tesco’s Fresh & Easy Failure which has more detail. The salient point seems to be: "In the past, Tesco approached its transnational ventures with great cultural awareness and sensitivity by adapting its operations to meet the demands and conditions of the local consumers. When entering the US market, however, Tesco planned to ‘make others dance to its tune’". Alansplodge (talk) 12:08, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

That's an excellent writeup. It's a textbook case of how not to run a business. (Unless the goal of the business is to enrich the CEO.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:47, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

Regarding the use of self-checkout lanes: Most stores in the US either have a mix of self-checkout and full-service lanes (especially large supermarkets like Walmart and Meijer) or have full-service lanes exclusively (usually smaller stores, like Fresh Thyme: [3]). They seem to have aimed at the small grocery store format, like Fresh Thyme. The problem is, these attract health food nuts and the elderly, who like the personal small store service. So, having exclusively self-checkout lanes is bound to alienate those shoppers. Had they opened a mega-store to compete with Walmart, then all self-checkout lanes might have gone over better, especially if they were able to offer lower prices, and no lines (queues), as a result. However, note that they would need to have enough people to monitor the self-checkout lanes, as those machines often fail, in my experience, and need somebody to log on and tell it "no, that is a bag of peanuts on the scale, not an elephant". :-)

Also, not accepting coupons is a huge no-no in the US market. The only other business I know of that had that policy was Dollar Tree, and they have since reversed it. To get away with such a policy you would need to be in the ultra-luxury market, maybe in Beverly Hills (but even 9% of people there are below the poverty line).

If I were to place small stores, I would put them where access to full-sized stores is limited, such as in retirement communities, where people don't drive (other than golf carts), or in rural areas, where the nearest full-sized store is too far away. They seem to have aimed for urban "food deserts", but there's a reason those places aren't well served; the people who live there are poor, so need low prices and to use coupons. And achieving low prices in areas which are bound to have high taxes (due to the way the US fails to share tax revenue from wealthy areas), shoplifting, and robbery is no easy task. StuRat (talk) 15:06, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

Their business plan was so bad, it makes you wonder if they wanted to fail. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:13, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

That's possible, maybe the CEO somehow would earn more money that way (payoff from a competitor ?). StuRat (talk) 15:16, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

In this specific case, the CEO got a big payoff despite the company's bankruptcy. (Sound familiar?) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:53, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

You would think the shareholders would sue the board and CEO for allowing such a situation, leading to no punishment for poor decisions which cost them money. StuRat (talk) 19:01, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

According to Splodge's link, the shareholders did OK too. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:14, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

Also, in the US pretty much every gas (petrol) station sells basic food items, like milk, bread, and beer, so people who value convenience over price have that option, too. StuRat (talk) 18:59, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

• Having read Alansplodge's source above, the reason for failure is obvious to me. Midsize grocery stores without attendants simpl do not work in the US. Self-service checkout is an imposition, not a convenience. I frequent Walmart for the prices, but when I attempt the self-service checkout I still have to call the clerk at least twice per checkout due to some malfunction or odd vagary. The full service lanes usually have people with at least a month's worth of shopping for a 5-person family. And the express lanes for people with less than 20 items usually have 20 people in line.

The alternative is more upscale groceries. These have the benefit of a worldwide cuisine, with everything from fresh sushi and pierogies to "Chinese", "Mexican", and "Italian" sections (500 varieties of cheese) and so forth. And I am talking about all the fresh fixings to make your own burritos, not microwavable crap.

Those stores tend to cost 150% of what Walmart costs, but they do have specials and coupons, you just have to pay attention.

Then there is the bodega which has a small selection of daily essentials (and in NYC, often Korean, Hispanic or Jamaican specialties, or mouthwatering Jewish food or seafood in more expensive neighbourhoods) at retail prices, but they are well kept, quick, convenient, and owner managed, with the clerk knowing the exact location and availability of every single item in the store.

It would seem Fresh & Easy decided to select all the defects and none of the benefits of any of these models. μηδείς (talk) 21:39, 11 August 2016 (UTC)

I actually don't like full service lanes. I've had cashiers slam down the bananas, which then bruised, drop a greeting card in a puddle of milk on the conveyor belt, and fail to give me all my grocery bags. Also, when I bag my own groceries, I can put the frozen foods together, double bag the heavy canned goods, etc. Most of the baggers either aren't that bright or just don't care. Also, I like to verify each price as it rings up, and that's no easy task when the cashier is ringing them up with no regard for what's scrolling off the screen (if they even let you see the screen). I agree that self-checkout lanes are annoyingly unreliable, but hopefully that will improve with time. Their potential to completely eliminate lines is quite appealing to me. (The old logic was that if nobody was waiting in line, they are paying cashiers to do nothing, so they should fire some, until the customers are back in lines where they belong.) StuRat (talk) 03:56, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

The solution is to pick an alert 50-ish clerk, place your items strategically: cans and jars and heavy boxes first, then hard veggies, then delicate veggies, then delicate dry items, then meats, then bagged bread and milk and similar containers with handles. Engage with the clerk. Ask that the cans and jars be double bagged, standing up, paper inside plastic. Ask that the onions go with the carrots and corn, the tomatoes with the soft fruit, all double bagged in plastic. Ask her to single bag each of the meats separately, while you either put the delicate dry items and eggs on top of the can-filled bags, or bag them yourself. Tell her no bag for the gallon jug, it is already its own container, same for the loaf of bread or a five-pound bag of potatoes: why put a bag in a bag? Then grab the cart and run like hell without paying. μηδείς (talk) 22:57, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

LOL. But seriously, if you distract the checker with all those requests they are likely to get annoyed and/or make mistakes. StuRat (talk) 12:53, 15 August 2016 (UTC)

Not actually, not if you presort like I said, and not if you chose a clerk over 50. I was taught how to bag by my mom *born during The Depression as a kid, but that was in the 70's. When they get to the carrots, celery, lettuce, onions, cucumber and lemon part of the line you simply wave your hand over them, and say "please bag these vegetables together."

That takes time (allowing mental processing by the bagging unit), so by the time the are just about to get to the ground beef, calamari and chicken thighs, you magically Vanna your hands over them, and say, "Can you please bag each meat separately?" I am curious if you frequent shops with 50 year old meth-heads like the ATM hag from Breaking Bad doing the bagging. Even then, I suspect she could do the job, although I would want to see her deloused and in a hazmat suit. μηδείς (talk) 21:06, 16 August 2016 (UTC)

The best thing is to have both options available. And if you shop at one particular place routinely, you can study the competency of the individual clerks and gravitate toward them, if possible - especially if you have a lot of items. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:37, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Aren't self-service lanes an open invitation to shoplifting? Assuming there is no clerk around to keep an eye on you, what's to stop you from quickly slipping an item or two into your shopping bag without scanning it? I've never done it, but it seems like it would be a breeze to do. --Viennese Waltz 06:53, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Is there ever no clerk around? The scale detects simple fraud-related weight anomalies and even cries wolf up if you even touch anything or take more than 10 microseconds to let go. I just plop everything down on the bagging area and don't touch it till after I pay. Then I put 20 pounds of stuff inside bags. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 08:03, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

As Self-checkout#Shoplifting [4] [5] [6] [7] note, the rate of shoplifting does appear to be significantly higher perhaps 2-5 times more. Prosecutions can also be complicated, since the customer may just claim they made an error (and perhaps they really did so there are obvious PR issues) although it does depend on the extent [8] Nil Einne (talk) 13:11, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

They may have decided that the shoplifting losses are outweighed by not having to pay the extra checkout clerks. But in my experience, they always have one clerk at the self-checkout lanes, partly to help and partly to watch. If there's a shortage of clerks, they may close the self-checkout lanes. One time I was in an older Walmart store and asked why there were no self-checkout lane. The clerk told me that with the clientele Walmart gets, there was too great a risk of shoplifting. However, the newer stores have self-checkout, with a clerk watching of course. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:20, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Walmarts are illegal in my city (450 square miles) but the one I know gets "that kind of clientele" and they have self-checkout. I don't know how new that is. I've seen older (in the Rust Belt) Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 22:11, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Protectionism of "Mom and Pop" stores? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:47, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

I think it's mostly their horrible wages, business practices at home and abroad and not wanting the flavor of the city to change from lots of business closures (e.g. supermarkets are only about 100 feet wide here so less economy of scale but at least no one has to pay public transportation just to use them since a half mile away is considered the most inconvenient boondocks of the neighborhood). Mom and pop stores are likely part of it. There are a lot of these like delis, 99 cent stores, laundromats and bodegas (Hispanic delis), who often do all the work to keep costs down (even teen kids of the owner work the cash register). Therefore Walmarts are banned in 450 square miles where 3% of the US population lives. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 23:23, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

There is one clerk for every 4 or more self-checkout lanes, so they can reduce their employment costs dramatically over full-service lanes. They do seem to have flaws regarding coupons, though. They scan the bar code on the coupon and, if it matches an item you purchased it gives you the discount, but many don't seem to tell you whether they gave you a discount, if not, why not, or what amount it was. You have to watch your total and see how it changes to figure out if it worked or not. And coupons frequently have "gotchas", like being for the 12 ounce size when they only sell an 11.9 ounce size, so you never really know if they will work or not. And, if they don't, you need to get a clerk to take the item off, if you don't want to pay full price for it. Then they ask you to insert the coupon into a hole, but don't repeat the bar code scan there, so you could insert anything. They also frequently don't go down the hole, so the electric eye says it's no good. In some cases they call a clerk over to verify that you inserted the coupon, but you may well need a clerk anyway, just to get it to go past the electric eye (they seem to jam a credit card sized ID badge in there to force the coupon down). StuRat (talk) 13:54, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

At the store I go to, the discount shows up on the screen as soon as the clerk scans it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:16, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

Why does the clerk scan it at a self-checkout lane ? StuRat (talk) 14:23, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

it's how their system works. I've also been to stores where you scan the coupon yourself. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:44, 12 August 2016 (UTC)

How can a city make Wal - Mart illegal? It's not just British companies that have had a rough time. Macy's share price has dropped by over 40% in a year and they are closing 15% of their stores. 86.185.45.149 (talk) 03:32, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

It means Walmart isn't allowed to open a store there even though they want to. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 04:00, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

If Walmart cared to, they could probably sue the city into bankruptcy, for restraint of trade and probably various other federal violations. The city is denying its citizens the right to choose where to shop. It's Communistic. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:07, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

Maybe they have some loophole and Walmart's lawyers know it? Bankrupt a city that spends $69 billion a year? That's a big lawsuit. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 04:21, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

Or maybe they figure that if people want to spend more of their annual income than they would otherwise have to, that's their problem. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:48, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

I would think banning one particular retailer would be difficult, but banning all mega-stores would be relatively easy. Just don't zone any areas for them, and refuse any requests for a variance. However, surprisingly US states and cities seem able to waive taxes on certain businesses and not on other comparable businesses. This seems patently unfair to me as "playing favorites" and also makes me wonder if those getting the tax breaks offered higher bribes to whoever decides the matter than those who didn't get them. StuRat (talk) 15:23, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

No, it's just Walmart [9] [10]. There are other big box stores here like Target, BJ's, and Costco. J&R Music and Computer World was recently 300,000 square feet which is bigger than America's biggest Walmart (in New York's Financial District too, imagine the property taxes!) and Earth's biggest store besides one in Korea is in a part of America that bans Walmarts. It has a tenth of a square mile of floors (octuple America's biggest Walmart) and 10 floors each a sixth of a mile long and 200 feet wide and would be a square 0.28 miles wide if it was all on one floor like most Walmarts. This would also make it almost the width of the biggest land area building on Earth. Also much of this 0.1 square mile store was built in one year between 1901 and 1902 and the rest by 1931. How cool is that? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:39, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

Any ban of mega-stores could contain a grandfather clause to allow existing stores to remain. Or it could be written to allow large multi-floor stores, but then Walmart could adapt to that and offer such a format for those markets. StuRat (talk) 18:20, 14 August 2016 (UTC)

Of course the number of floors is not why the City Council's anti-Walmart. I checked the single floor big boxes I know on Google Maps and the biggest roof was about 144,000 square feet. And the warehouse club companies are still expanding in the city I think. So they couldn't ban single floor big boxes without additional caveats. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 20:54, 14 August 2016 (UTC)

Much like Britain then. The "golden arches" are anathema in many upper - class areas of London. Conversely, having a Waitrose in the area boosts house prices. 86.185.45.149 (talk) 04:09, 13 August 2016 (UTC)

Picture attached to a search result

How do you change the picture that shows up next to a search result?

For instance, if I type Duke Basketball into google. The name comes up on the right and there is a generic picture linked from somewhere attached to, what appears to be, the wikipedia article. How do I change that picture? Not for duke basketball, as that was just an example.

Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Today2 (talk • contribs) 21:03, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

When pictures show up in a Google search, I usually just go to Google Images and see what else there is. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:12, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

Yes, but there's usually one picture connected to the search result on the right side of the google results page. How do you adjust that one picture? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Today2 (talk • contribs) 21:47, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

If there's nothing in the settings for Google, you probably can't. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:15, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

Alright, thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:182:CA01:64F0:E125:D6F8:1942:12A2 (talk) 00:42, 11 August 2016 (UTC)

Today2, for information on "Why Google does X" you'd likely have to contact Google. They do have support forums, though I've never found them to be very helpful or easy to navigate. Or you can try clicking on the "Feedback" link just below their information box (where you see the image you're talking about) on the right side of the page. I've used the Feedback link a few times to point out incorrect business hours, incorrect addresses, etc. †Dismas†|^(talk) 13:52, 12 August 2016 (UTC)