I’m trying to make a brochure and could use some free images/photos of happy families, puppies, stuff like that. Is there a website where I can get free, good, public domain photos and images?
danke.
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: There are a lot of websites. You can just google “public domain photos” and start finding stuff. Examples are http://pdphoto.org/ (all seem to be taken by the same guy who is anxious to share!) or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources
What is the total distance of the walking / jogging path around East Campus? Everyone I’ve asked gives a slightly different answer, and no one I’ve asked can find enough of the markers along the path to be certain.
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: It turns out this isn’t an easy question. Over two years ago, AP tackled this one in the written Suggestion Book, in number 3205A:
“Various brochures and handouts give the distance of the wall as 1.7 or 2 miles. Regular joggers, however, all know that the distance of the jogging trail is really 1.5 miles. Checking a map that seems accurately scaled, AP got a distance of about 1.5 miles, so I think the joggers are right. You may have found that this useful bit of information (you’re not the first person to ask about it at the library) isn’t publicized on the Duke website. The only news about the jogging trail seems to relate to assaults.”
What percentage of gun sales in America are made by unlicensed gun dealers?
In other words, what portion of guns bought every year don’t actually involve background checks?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: According to a May 1997 National Institute of Justice fact sheet entitled “Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms” (http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/165476.pdf), “about 60 percent of gun acquisitions involved federally licensed dealers.” Meaning that about 40% aren’t, and only a few states (e.g., California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania) require background checks for gun show purchases (and many private sales are person-to-person outside of gun shows).
This estimate of 40% is cited over and over again as the percentage of gun sales where the purchaser doesn’t get a background check.
What is the second richest country in the world that does not have universal health care?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: This isn’t straightforward. The exact coverage of “universal” health care does vary by country, although it’s agreed upon that the USA doesn’t have it. Usually it’s equated with some sort of single-payer system managed by the government.
Probably because of the definitional issues, “universal coverage” isn’t listed as an “indicator” by the World Health Organisation (WHO) or World Bank. They have indicators relating to expenditures on healthcare: total, public, private, and “out-of-pocket” (which may be the difference between total private health spending and that paid with private insurance, but don’t quote me).
An interesting ratio that gets at the idea as to whether healthcare is paid by the government (i.e., from taxes and other govt. revenue) is the “Private expenditure on health as % of total expenditure on health” as reported in “Annex Table 2” of the WHO’s 2006 World Health Report. http://www.who.int/whr/2006/annex/en/index.html The USA is 55.4% in 2003. Most other wealthy countries are in the teens and 20s.
This gets tedious, but if you then rank each country by Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2003 (you can get this from the World Bank database World Development Indicators, through the library’s database list), you can scan down the list under the United States. The next richest country with >55.4% private funding is Singapore (63.9%), then Trinidad and Tobago (62.2%). Most of the coutries with a higher percentage private health expenditures are poor or dysfunctional countries. The highest is Guinea, at 83.4%.
How come Breedlove — a meeting room used by many many people at Duke — is so AV unfriendly? Is there anything/anybody other than cost that has kept the room without a Projector and a power source easily accessible from the conference room table?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: No, it isn’t that we simply want to maintain the antique charm. Due to the schedule of the construction and renovations that make up the Perkins Project, upgrades to the 1928 portion of the Library (where the Breedlove Room is located) are still pending renovations. The final phase of the Project will address a wide range of infrastructure enhancements for that portion of the Library. Thanks for your input.
your link to March 8th 2002 Chronicle Article “who is the answer person” is outated. The current link is: http://www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2002/03/08/UndefinedSection/Who-Is.The.Answer.Person-1456491.shtml?norewrite200611141301&sourcedomain=www.dukechronicle.com
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Thanks! Those folks at the Chronicle are always causing trouble for me. The one you mention, and the link above it, are now fixed, but this page also needs to have some more recent stories added (coming soon!).
How do you pronounce the name of that delicious sandwich-type food, the gyro? I don’t want to sound ignorant, but also not like I’m trying way too hard to sound greek or intellectual.
I thank you.
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The Oxford English Dictionary says the first consonant sound is a soft “g,” like “j” or maybe like “dj” and the first vowel sound is either “ai” (like an English long “i”) or “ee” (like an English long “e”. The Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary says “yee-ro” or “zhir-o”. The “ro” part is pretty clear, but the first syllable is all up to you. I think I’ll go with jzhee-ro. The fine folks in the Perkins Reference department will be happy to show you many other dictionaries to peruse for that perfect gyro.
Is there someplace to go curling in New York City? Even just outside the city would be cool. Thanks, eh!
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: There are a number of New York clubs listed here, even one right there in Manhattan: http://www.gncc.org/gnccclubs.html
You’ll have to contact them to see if you need to be a member to play.
I am currently on second floor Bostock, and it is absolutely freezing up here–with no way to turn down the air. A girl across from me is wearing scarf and gloves, I am wearing a sweatshirt and still freezing, and someone just walked past me wearing a heavy winter coat with her hood on. This is ridiculous! It is 30 degrees outside and the air is set on 73. Granted, it doesn’t need to be a sauna in here or we will all fall sleep, but a little bit of warmth on especially cold nights would be greatly appreciated.
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I think you mean that it’s cold despite the fact that the thermostat says 73. I believe you. You’re correct that the heat and a/c can be erratic over time and inconsistent through the building. Be aware that in the fall and spring when seasons change, there are hiccups when they switch from chilled water to steam and vice versa and that sort of thing. There are rumors that when all the renovations are complete in the Perkins/Bostock library complex, the HVAC systems will work evenly and comfortably, but your concern will be passed on.
how many high school students were there in the United States in 2005?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The National Center for Education Statistics projected 14,847,000 in public high schools (grades 9-12) and 1,439,000 in private high schools. That’s 16,286,000 total. See: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=65