How did people in former times trim their toe nails and finger nails? I thinking of 200 hundred years ago and also 2,000 years ago.

Nailfully yours,
QP

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The nail clipper was supposedly invented by someone named Chapel Carter (no relation to Chapel Hill) in 1896. Before that time, people just bit their fingernails and got a spouse, friend, or relative to bite their toenails (unless they were especially flexible and could do so themselves). They may also have used scissors (invented in some form or another thousands of years ago) or other sharp object to cut them, or some sort of abrasive material to grind them down.

Why is it that our ears hear Middle C and High C and Low C as the same tone (but up an “octave”)? Ie, what do notes 8 steps apart have in common that makes us hear them similarly?

Also, on an unrelated note, what is the absense of flavor? You wrote in an answer to a question that pure water had the absense of flavor. What gives it that characteristic?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Notes that are an “octave” apart have frequencies that are half or double the other. Two octaves apart have the frequency ratio 4:1, three octaves apart 8:1, etc. (powers of two). For more detail on the complexities of musical scales and pitches, you very well may wish to consult with the folks at the Music Library, to exploit their knowledge of sources relating to music theory.

Pure, distilled water? Nothing in it to tickle the taste buds, which seem to react only to other sorts of chemicals. That doesn’t mean it isn’t refreshing.

How do you become a member of a New York City Community Board? Are there elections?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: There are 59 Community Boards throughout the city, the members of which are appointed by the Bourough President (i.e, they aren’t elected). Half are nominated by the City Council member representing the particular community district. There is more information at the following web site and from the links on it: http://www.nyc.gov/html/cau/html/cb/cb_main.shtml

What if I had a somewhat elaborate scheme to discover your true identity and then anonymously reveal it to the entire school. I don’t want to spoil the fun, but what would you do if I went forth with it?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: So now it’s other people who want to be anonymous! Have I started a trend?

Since you *would* be spoiling others’ fun, I’d have to devise some sort of punishment. I guess since you’d be the anonymous one, you’d then have to be the new answer person, which would be unbelievably difficult for an imposter to pull off.

What causes my furniture to get so dusty? I constantly wipe it down and vacuum, but I feel like it is to no avail. Is there a better defense?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Here are a few ideas …

Keep powerful fans going all the time to keep it from settling.

Hermetically seal your house and use a super-fine air filter in your heating/air system.

If you prefer open windows, be sure you’re in a very, very humid climate, like Vietnam or Cuba (little static electricity and little dust, but you might have a mold and mildew problem).

Get rid of pets (they say that pet dander is a leading component of dust).

For that matter, get rid of people. They have dander, too. Set up a webcam in your house to enjoy it, but don’t ever go into it.

At the Supreme Court, there are armed guards in suits with ear pieces that clearly are the protective force for the Supreme Court. What service are they from?

My friend says the Secret Service, but I think that might violate the principle of separation of powers. I thought maybe the US Marshall service, but does that suffer from the same pitfall (if it even is a pitfall)? Thanks!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: There’s a “Supreme Court of the United States Police” that reports to the
“Supreme Court Marshal.” (one “l”)
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_Police
Also see: http://www.slate.com/id/2099853/
And: http://www.supremecourthistory.org/03_how/subs_how/03_a04.html

One of these stories mentions that on trips they’ll sometimes get protection from US Marshals, particularly if there is an executive branch hot-shot also involved. Long ago the Court was in the Capitol building, and relied on the services of the Capitol Police.

I need a carrel, but there aren’t any left! Can you give me one? I’ll bake you cookies.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I hope you’ve gotten on the waiting list at the Circulation Desk (they’re the ones who manage these things). They won’t even give me the keys to the carrels (except for the one where I change into my Answer Person superhero uniform), so although I’d like some cookies, you might want to concentrate your efforts on those folks.

I think a problem is that during building renovations, carrels in certain areas will temporarily be out of service. This shortage should eventually be rectified.

How many years do you think it will take for the new Bostock layout/furniture/carpet/lighting to look outdated and retro? Five years? Ten years? Twenty?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Hmmm … I don’t think I’m allowed to say. We’ve waited nearly 40 years on the Perkins building, but it was ready to change long before that, probably after 10-15 years.

The secret in these matters is to put off renovations so long that the design and furnishings look hiply retro (although the restoration” costs after 50 years will be higher than “renovation” costs after 10-15 years, which mostly involve simply trashing the furniture and altering the original design). Even ranch houses and split levels are starting to look cool again, but it costs a lot to restore an avacado green refrigerator.

What universities in London, UK offer Masters of Public Administration degrees?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Here are a few:

London School of Economics and Political Science:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/government/MPA/ (there are other variations on Public Policy degrees, so poke around their website)

London South Bank University: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/bcim/progs/management/

University of Westminster (MA in Public Communications and Public Relations): http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-392

When are they going to get attractive girls at this school?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I’m sure that when the girls see you they ask the same questions about boys at this school.