the library gets the journal water resources research, but does not have online access, even though it is available, the library should have this access for the convenience of students, especially since wrr is kept at biosci, which is locked most of the time for those of us who are not biology students, but use wrr all the time.

jessica thompson
earth & ocean sciences
jln@duke.edu

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Dear Jessica:

Believe it or not, the problem is with the publisher. Here is the response we got from them:

“Currently, AGU offers online access to individual member subscribers only for selected journals. As our electronic journals programs expand, we will be offering institutional access. Your institutional and will be notified as new subscription options become available.”

We will make online access available as soon as it is an option, institutionally. In the meantime, enjoy the personal subscription.

Nowadays, nobody seems care about the notice of
“Food and drink are not permitted in the Perkins library” at the entrance of the library.
Get rid of the notice or keep the rule.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Answer Person has sent your comments to higher powers for an authoritative reply. More later.

Please consider the website “1stHeadlines” for inclusion in your web site’s list of news links.

1stHeadlines
http://www.1stheadlines.com
—
1stHeadlines is a search engine for current news which makes it easy to search the headlines and access news stories from regional, national and international online news sources. The headlines, which are updated continuously 24 hours a day, can be searched by keyword, topic and news source.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: News flash! The ever vigilant Answer Person, up to date and up to the moment, takes only nine days to respond to this urgent suggestion! Let’s just see the Hearst News Service match this record!

I’ll immediately wire this to the guru of the Virtual Reference Desk.

Many belated thanx, and happy holidays!

I spent all day in the library combing through the past 10 years worth of local phone books — including the Duke University Phone book! There is not a single listing for a Dr./Ms./Mr. Answer Person . Dr. Person, I contend you are a fraud! Reveal yourself or I shall be forced to ask tougher questions.

Signed,
Mr. Anon Ymous, Esq.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: A fraud, you say! Have I ever pretended to be something other than what I am, a lonely fighter against the armies of ignorance, a savior to those struggling to find the . . . answer? Do you really need to know my address and phone number, when you already know how to reach me.

As with all super heroes, maintaining my physical anonymity, and an alternate “real world” identity, is vital to completing my mission. So I don’t put my picture or my mortal name on the web page or by the suggestion book, I don’t have a listing in phone books.

So accept my mystery for what it is, as I accept the fact that I can’t be recognized in my own time. Someday I may reveal myself: when the answers are all known, the suggestions all implemented, all those bizzare social problems have been solved, and there is adequate lighting in all the Duke libraries.

Is pretty good. Its a time when everyone comes together and studies for a common good. You see classmates helping each other and working really hard during the scant time before their exams. It’s really refreshing to actually get *time* to study for stuff instead of doing a half-ass job during the semester when everyone is so busy. School should always be like this.

And that 24 hour thing is cool.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: It could be that this is one of the ideas behind exams–an opportunity to put it together in many respects. Glad to hear it is working well for you, and that we could be a part of the process.

Good luck on finals, and happy holidays!

–The Joyous Answer Person

I read somewhere that sex is the highest experience a person can have. Then I read something from someone else saying that music is. If my sex life is unfixably horrible, but I like music, can I ever be happy? I have wasted my time at college and will never have a long-term partner or a serious job, but I would like not to have to self-terminate.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Trust me, you are far too young to have wasted much of anything. Answer Person, when in college, never imagined that my life would be as it is now, that I would go on to do great things (my boss tells me that this service is a great thing!). Know that we continue to grow in so many ways, as we gain new knowledge, experience new things, meet new people and accomplish feats we never imagined possible. For now, if music rings your chimes, enjoy. The rest will happen with time–and isn’t that a wonderful thing to have in one’s future!

What is the difference between further and farther. Is farther even a word? Can my friend throw the ball farther than me, or further than me?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Depends on how fur you want Answer Person to takes this. Well, beyond that snide jab at southern culture, demonstrating a variance that doesn’t work, there really isn’t much difference. They are both words, coming from different Middle English roots, each with different German ancestries, long used interchangeably as adverbs and adjectives. The “American Heritage® Book of English Usage” concurs with this, though it goes on to point out “A relatively recent rule, however, states that farther should be reserved for physical distance and further for nonphysical, metaphorical advancement.” [http://www.bartleby.com/64/C003/0121.html] So, unless you and your friend are throwing a virtual ball, “farther” is the way to go. Need I take this any further?

In the last five years, how many times has a college basketball team scored 90 points (or more) in regulation and lost without overtime?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: You know, Answer Person has a real job, a real life, and isn’t about to get into a answering an endless series of sports stats trivia questions. Really! Now, if you want to know how many games Duke men and women have had this year where they scored 90 or more points, without overtimes, and lost the games, well, Answer Person will bend the rule(?) to allow for the Duke Fan Loyalty Exception. For now.

The answer:

The men, not once in the past five years; the last time was a 94-92 loss to Maryland March 1, 1995.

The women, not once in the past five years, ten years, fifteen years . . . never!

What is mucus (sp?) and why does your body produce it?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Actually, and curiously, your spelling is correct. MUCUS is produced by MUCOUS cells, found in the MUCOUS membranes. According to the MEDICAL DICTIONARY ONLINE, “It contains mucin, white blood cells, water, inorganic salts, and exfoliated cells.” (http://www.online-medical-dictionary.org/omd.asp?q=Mucus)

Why? Two reasons. First, as a protective lining for the digestive tract and nasal passages. Second, so that spitters can maintain their disgusting habit even when they are out of chewing tobacco.

How are stock prices determined? Is it based on what percentages of a company are for sale or what prices people are willing to pay? It seems to me that different people would be willing to pay different prices for a chunk of a company. Is there some kind of independent commission?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Stocks are shares in the value of a company; in theory that means that you take the value of the company and divide by the number of shares and you get the value per share. This concept works best with the IPO, or initial public offering, where the value has to be approved by the particular stock exchange. (All new stock issues have to be registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.) After that, a lot of things determine the value, i.e., what the buyer is willing to pay: company value, performance, dividend payments, perceptions of future growth and structure of the company, perceptions of the companies business sector, perceptions of overall market performance, perceptions of overall performance of the U.S. economy, perceptions of the stars, perceptions of the tea leaves at the bottom of your cup, etc.

For a nice economist’s overview see Jeremy Siegel’s “Stock Prices,” from the CONCISE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ECONOMICS (http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/StockPrices.html).