Humanities desk
< December 8	<< Nov \| December \| Jan >>	December 10 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

December 9

Irish Civil War: Anti-Treaty victory

What if the Irish Republic (Anti-Treaty forces) won the Irish Civil War? 5.81.142.89 (talk) 21:37, 9 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

As it says at the top of this page, "We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate." Such speculation is outside the remit of the Reference desks, which are not a discussion forum. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.202.210.56 (talk) 23:21, 9 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

However, if you Google "alternate history Irish civil war", there are plenty of opinions on offer. Alansplodge (talk) 11:05, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

(By area) Largest Congressional District held by Democrat? Smallest Congressional District held by Republican?

As of the 2018 election, (By area) what is the largest Congressional District held by a Democrat, and conversely, what is the smallest held by a Republican? (I'm presuming that the situation in North Carolina 9th won't affect the answer.Naraht (talk) 23:25, 9 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Can't say for certain, the largest held by a democrat is likely New Mexico's 2nd congressional district. Smallest held by a republican appears to be New York's 11th congressional district. See the sortable list at List of United States congressional districts#List of current districts by area older ≠ wiser 03:14, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

New Mexico 2: 72,000 square miles. 10 peeps per square mile. New York 11: 66 square miles. Ironically, at only c. 11,000 people per square mile this district is very low population density for its city (New York City). Like 40% the city average. However the smallest Republican district becomes bigger on Jan 3, 2019 when a Democrat takes this seat. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 03:35, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The New York 11th is basically Staten Island, plus a few Brooklyn neighborhoods to balance out the population. Staten Island is decidedly more suburban than the rest of New York City. If you've ever been there, it doesn't feel like the rest of the city at all. Lots of green space, villages, that sort of thing. Perhaps not coincident to that is that it has been the most Republican district in the city for a very long time; the district covering Staten Island has been renumbered several times, but at my best count, the incoming Representative will only be the 4th Democrat to represent Staten Island since the 1930s. --Jayron 32 04:40, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Decided to work from the list at List_of_United_States_congressional_districts#List_of_districts_by_area and walk through. The Republican in NY-11 was defeated in 2018. As best as I can tell, the answer counting the 2018 election is Peter King in the New York 2nd on Long Island. And I just kept going. *Ignoring* the Pennsylvania Seats whose size have all changed, there are only *five* Republicans in the smallest 111 districts. NY-2, TX-32, TX-24, AZ-5 and TX-2.Naraht (talk) 03:52, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

So a slice of the Eastern suburbs from not that far from the exurbs to not that far from the city line. Not unusually rich, poor, white, minority, Democratic, Republican, dense or sparse by Long Island suburban commuter zone standards, 24 hour(ish) commuter rail service (overpriced, 3 digits a month, no fare barriers to stop cheats) but lots of cars (1/12th commute by public transit). America started suburbanizing there in 1947 (Levittown), it's full by now (nowhere left to sprawl), average 4 kilopeople per square mile, $382,800 house value, identical Cook score to the 11th district that lost its Republican (R+3). Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 05:14, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]