Originally appeared in the Perkins Lobby Suggestion Book.
In what year will Quidditch enter the Olympics? Will Harry Potter still be limber enough to compete? If I were to begin my own training now for this eventuality, what techniques would you recommend? [3346A]
In the same year that fantasy football is accepted. Harry Potter will probably be a little over the hill to participate. The techniques you need to be familiar with involve handling a broom, so sweep up your room right now!
Where is the Love? [3345C]
It’s either in your heart, or simply where you find it. Either way, it’s not trying to hide from you; it’s just up to you to acknowledge it. On the 1969 album entitled Happy Trails by Quicksilver Messenger Service, they devote an entire side to reworkings of Bo Diddley’s song “Who Do You Love?,” with variations such as “When You Love,” “Where You Love,” “How You Love,” and “Which Do You Love.” This may provide insight.
Are there circulation numbers (volume) available for Perkins and/or the other Duke libraries? I’m curious to see how many books are checked out each year. [3345B]
To give you a ballpark idea, here are numbers, excluding reserves, for 2004-2005 (Initial Loans / Totals) for all Duke Libraries: 390,086 / 534,244 ; Perkins System + Divinity: 322,381 / 443,383 ; Ford: 29,209 / 36,625 ; Law: 24,370 / 36,166 ; Med Center: 14,126 / 18,070. “Perkins System” includes Lilly, Music, Vesic, Biology, Chemistry. For Perkins only (not branches or professional schools): (Loans / Renewals / Totals) for 2004-05: 164,020 / 80,271 / 244,291 ; for 2005-06: 142,333 / 79,721 / 222,054.
Where’s the best place to have sex in the library? [3345A]
There are some comfortable chairs and clean carpeting right near the main entrance across from the Circulation desk, next to those big picture windows looking through to the Von der Heyden Pavilion. This is the best place from the standpoint of people who will read about it in the Chronicle’s police report and who will have a good story to tell after you’ve been expelled.
I have heard that at Mormon weddings the bride will rub oil on the groom’s genitals as part of the ceremony. This sounded odd to me and I tried to find info on it. Is this something that really happens? Thanks. [3344C]
AP isn’t Mormon, and LDS members not allowed to talk about what goes on in their Temples to non-Mormons. There is, apparently, some grain of truth to it. There is an anointing of consecrated oil on people’s bodies, but perhaps nowadays not on any private parts. The ritual washing and anointing seems to be done by Temple workers of the same sex. The ritual was apparently at one time more intimate than today, but I’m uneasy about trusting the potentially biased ex-Mormon websites too much.
Why are the people that work at Subway so mean?! [3344B]
The instructions you have to give them each time are so long that I’d go crazy having to concentrate on that all day. You’re probably too picky with your order and need to simplify things. Next time, just get a 12” on white, meatball, just sauce, and see if that doesn’t make a difference.
What is the etymology of the Polish name, Chwialkowski? [3344A]
As you probably know, the ending -owski in Polish is a suffix to tack onto a noun like an occupation, town, or father’s name. Chwial or Chwialk may be a strange form of another word, or a variant spelling (maybe it got messed up when they dropped the diacriticals), but it’s certainly not a form of Polish sausage. I’ll leave it to you to consult a Polish language expert here at Duke.
Does getting a “C” mean that I can’t get into a good PhD program? Keeping in mind that I am a master’s student now. [3343C]
AP always thought that a “C” in graduate school indicated a non-passing grade. I’m sure that there are no hard and fast litmus tests for admission into most Ph.D. programs, but you’ll have to be pretty sharp in the other areas of your academic career. You might want to re-take the class in question and get an A+ next time.
Dear Answer Person, I apologize for my long absence, but I have been most busy and I have been trying to devise a worthy challenge for you. One day, I happened to disturb an ant colony; swarms of ants naturally stormed out of the colony; what was most curious was that their defensive/search movements seem to follow an organized but complex pattern. Does there exist any research on modeling ant defense movement? And if so, what’s the current/most researched model? I thank you so much for what you’ve done. Sincerely, AJL, Class of 2009. [3343A]
A simple literature search in a database such as Biological Abstracts indicates some research in this area. Just one example would be this article regarding one species of ant defending against another species, “Combat between large derived societies: A subterranean army ant established as a predator of mature leaf-cutting ant colonies” by Powell & Clark (Insectes Sociaux. 2004; 51(4): 342-351). The authors discuss strategies used by the defending ants, such as “Lancaster’s Linear Law of Combat.” Also: “Do Lanchester’s laws of combat describe competition in ants?” by McGlynn (Behavioral Ecology Vol. 11 No. 6: 686-690); and “Ant defence system: A mechanism organizing individual responses into efficient collective behavior” by Sakata & Katayama (Ecological Research. 2001; 16(3): 395-403). It’s unclear to AP whether ants will use these same strategies against humans.
Is this library going to build many more private study rooms? [3342C]
Yes, more group study rooms are in the plans for the renovations. Over the next couple of years, unfortunately, until all the renovations are complete, there may be a loss of some group study rooms because some temporarily will be needed for offices by staff who are displaced by the construction.