Sportscaster Dick Vitale is considered by many–if not most–to be annoying and over-the-top. His often partner, Mike Patrick, makes frequent mistakes during broadcasts. Two questions. 1. Why is Vitale so popular if no one likes listening to him? 2. How do either of them keep their jobs since accurate commentary that is pleasant to listen [...]

When you are using microsoft word or some program, it lists the shortcuts for certain functions. But many of those shortcuts have weird symbols. What do they mean? Like the one that looks like a backwords square root of an up arrow?

Cheers.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: You may need to ask someone in person (at [...]

I have heard it claimed that UNC may have a better Chemistry department than Duke. What does this claim mean? Is it true? Would a better department necessarily be better for an undergraduate student?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The infamous U.S. News & World Report rankings of graduate programs most recently did rank the UNC Chemistry [...]

It is becoming challenging and quite distracting to work on computers in Perkins/Bostock – reason being, the keyboards are extremely difficult to use. On numerous occasions, on numerous computers, the keyboards stick making typing useless and my time wasted.

As one of the many who use the library on a daily bases for reserach and [...]

Do private, for-profit, hospitals pay income tax? Since non-profits aren’t taxed, it seems like hospitals would be taking a pretty large financial hurdle when switching to the for-profit corporate style of management, huh?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I’m not an investment banker, but there are many more financing options open to a for-profit business regarding the [...]

Do you know of any scholarly articles that have been written about what questions parents ask other parents when they are setting up play dates and stuff like that? Like do they ask about swimming pool safety, clean products, guns, alcohol?

THANK YOU!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: These sorts of reference questions really should go to [...]

There are quite a few working scholars on the Duke staff these days (myself included). We don’t have faculty status, but we still need books and articles for our work. I have been pleased before to be able to use the book/article delivery service, which has been tremendously helpful to me. Now I am told [...]

Is there a free (or low fee) website that I can use to send mass emails from my own email address? It would need a feature that allows people to subscribe or unsubscribe.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I don’t know of this off-hand. I’d just do a Google search with words like “bulk email” and “freeware.” [...]

When did the US get universal male suffrage? What kind of legislation did it require?

When did Canada, Britain, Germany and Japan get it?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: It’s fuzzy. Some states had it earlier than others, and for some elections (say, presidential) prior to other elections (say, U.S. senator).

For starters, you can see the [...]