I am a resident of North Carolina, but I am going to grad school in California and I plan on bringing my car. 1) Will I have to become a citizen of California in order to register my car? 2) Will I be able to become a citizen of California solely by virtue of attending graduate school there?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Are you just worried about being identified as a Californian? “Citizen” refers to nationality, not the specific place you live within the country. Where you live is “residency,” and whether you’re a resident or not depends on which state agency is involved. The basic rule is that the agency will want you as a resident if they can get more money from you that way, or as a non-resident if they can get more money from you that way.

If you get a driver’s license, bank account, change your car registration, register to vote, etc., you’re on your way to becoming a resident. I guess you are one to the election commission and the DMV. Some students in California will illegally continue to register their cars out-of-state, like at their parents’ address, to benefit from cheaper fees or less-stringent pollution inspection, and I suppose that could get you in trouble. The answer to your question (1) is that you just have to get an address to register your car. See this page at the CA DMV: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/howto/htvr9.htm

But to get in-state tuition at a state university, there are much more stringent residency requirements, so you’ll need to check with the specific school. You need to show that you plan on making California your permanent home, and it generally takes at least year of good intentions. It doesn’t count to just be a student, despite licenses and registrations, and leaving for the summer will kill your chances. So, the answer to your question (2) is No. Please read closely this Berkeley web site: http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Residency/legalinfo.html

Who would win in a one-on-one matchup between Lebron James and Michael Jordan, each at age 23 (Lebron in the future and Jordan in the past, obviously)?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: On the basketball court or in advertising? I guess we’ll never know, will we? But seriously, James is maturing quickly as a player and got an earlier professional start so it might be a pretty good matchup.

Are there really only seven words you cannot say on television (or radio) in the US? What aren’t you allowed to say?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: No, there are a lot more. The seven just comes from a famous 1973 George Carlin monologue. See the wikipedia entry on “Seven Dirty Words”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words or “F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.C.C._v._Pacifica_Foundation

You will find listed there those seven words, as well as a discussion of other bad words, or just do a sloppy Google search. One or two of the seven seem to be OK today, even on broadcast TV.

For a dry discussion of this, you can see the famous 1978 Supreme Court decision, 438 U.S. 726: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=438&invol=726

How do you make it so that the drop down menus are always fully extended in Windows XP? You know how when are using the menus in microsoft word or something and you have to move the cursor all the way to the bottom before all the options appear? That is annoying.

Thanks!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: You’re right, it is annoying not to have the full menu. In some recent versions of Word under XP, from the Tools menu, choose Customize, then the Options tab. There’s a checkbox for “Always show full menus.” I think in many other Windows programs there is such an option under a similar such menu.

What’s the large and ominous building in New York City with no windows or signs. It’s a skyscraper located at Church, Thomas, and Trimble streets. Is it a secret govt headquarters?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: This is called the AT&T Long Lines Building, at 33 Thomas St., designed by the firm John Carl Warnecke & Associates and completed in 1974. Like all traditional wireline telephone company buildings that house expensive switching equipment that needs to be protected from the elements or from foul play, it has few, if any, windows. Controlling the telephone service for Manhattan (and maybe much more) makes it a lot bigger than most such buildings. In Durham, such a switching equipment building (formerly GTE, later Verizon) is on Roxboro Rd. at Murray. You can find them in any town or city.

Two other older AT&T buildings in Manhattan are nearby: the aptly named “AT&T Building” at 32 Sixth Ave. and the “Western Union Building” at 60 Hudson St.

The Long Lines division of AT&T built and operated the interstate long distance network. See historical sites such as these (which focus o the post-WWII microwave system): http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/longlines.html
http://www.drgibson.com/towers/
http://www.coldwarcomms.org/

Why don’t some websites work without the www. in the beginning? I thought that was a thing of the past…

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Their servers are only registered with the www prefix or aren’t configured to redirect from the non-www to the www form of the name. Most major government websites, for instance, will work with or without the www (try the Library of Congress at either loc.gov or www.loc.gov). But some, however, only work one way (www.census.gov works, but census.gov doesn’t).

So, it’s still up to the site administrators which address will work, or both. It depends on the server configuration.

Some of this is touched on at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-www and at http://no-www.org (although there is very, very little at this site).

What are those little white spots on my finger nails? Are they calcium deposits?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: There may be several causes (although not related to calcium), so your doctor is the best person to ask. From the Indiana University School of Medicine: http://www.soundmedicine.iu.edu/segment.php4?seg=204 (and see the links under “additional resources”). The most common form of white spots are those that usually look crescent shaped and are caused by injury at the base of the nail (“blunt trauma to the nail bed”). It takes several months for them to grow out.

Hello,
I was just up looking at the new Bostock area for new books, and I must same I am very dissapointed by the lay out. The Old set up offered a sort of calming “privacy” by being so out in the open, amidst the general hubbub. Here it feels as if one is on stage in a mausoleum; for all the quiet, it is somehow a very disqueting experience. One does not feel invited to linger or explore.
ANother problem: The books do not appear to be sorted according to any easily discernible pattern that might aid the search. All the books are spine out (no frontal displays),and there are no labels directing the would be reader even to broad categories like “fiction” or “sports”. I am unsure if you track such things, but I imagine the rate at which new books are borrowed must be MUCH lower than previously. On the whole, an entirely lamentable state of affairs.

I STRONGLY suggest that, when Perkins is fully renovated, the New and Noteworthy be reconfigured according to its former lay out.
Thank You,
Kurt Wise

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Thanks for your insightful recommendations. I’ll certainly pass them on to those who might have a say in the future layout. I agree that in the Carpenter Reading Room a user feels like all eyes move to him or her at the slightest rustle of a page, and this could inhibit browsing the N&N books. I’m guessing that some of the decision-makers are overly impressed with the quiet museum atmosphere in this space and welcome the “honor” they perceive it brings the books (especially the Duke Authors), so it’s important to hear from thoughtful dissenters like yourself.

In the old displays, the N&N were always spine out and the sections weren’t labeled. They were in call number order, as they are now. I suppose we could have a few broad markers such as “Literature and Language” at the beginning of the P’s, or “Social Sciences” at the beginning of the H’s (except for psychology, that is). This might be helpful, or it might not be practical. I believe the “frontal display” you’re thinking of was the former Duke Author display, where the books were facing outward. I agree that this is more eye-catching, but we probably only have room to do it with this small group, not all the N&N. I have no idea what the long-term plans are for N&N and Duke Authors once the totally reconfigured first floor of Perkins reopens late this summer.

I’m not sure what the circulation statistics are, but I would guess the third floor location (in a predominantly undergraduate reading room — certainly out of the way for faculty, staff, and most grad students), and the feeling that you’re bothering people who are studying, would negatively affect useage more than the arrangement of the N&N books on the shelf, which is the same as before.