How do web sites make a page without the suffix .html at the end?

For instance, http://www.lib.duke.edu/suggest/

the suggest page is obviously html, yet it has no .html at the end. How do you do that? Is it something to do with dreamweaver software?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: If the URL ends in the directory name, as in your example, where the filename is unspecified, then the browswer will open a default “index” file. It’s often called index.htm or index.html, but the server can be configured to return a file of any other name as the default when no filename is in the URL.

Beyond that, browswers can open all sorts of other files. Graphic (JPEG, GIF, etc.), audio-visual (Cold Fusion, .cfn), text (.txt), and made-on-the-fly pages (created from databases, etc.). I’ve seen a million extensions. You should peruse one of the many good books on HTML, web authoring, web servers, and the like.

AP, you kindly helped me last time my bagels were coming out lumpy, and your suggestion to add oil to the water has had somewhat successful results. They are still not even nearly as smooth as Brugger’s, however. How do they do it? How can I bake my own beautiful, lump-free bagels?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: When you say lumpy (earlier, you said “bumpiness on the surface”), it now makes me think that the problem is more in the consistency of the dough rather than any surface treatment. I’d focus on the kneading process. After mixing the dough with a spoon or blender, you have to knead thoroughly, at least 10-15 minutes. Don’t cut corners: work hard to develop strong shoulder muscles! This should give the dough (as well as your shoulders) an elastic, uniform consistency, without lumps that show up on the surface.

Don’t worry about not shaping them perfectly (an issue you mentioned before). Authentic bagels should look like they were made by a human, not a machine.

Also, regarding the surface texture and color — and you certainly already know this — the boiling water (for the “poaching” stage) should contain sugar (some recipes call for barley malt syrup). This makes the nicely colored surface. Then, an egg glaze for the baking stage to make them shine.

The commercial bagelries certainly use industrial mixers, such as those made by Hobart, with dough hook attachments. These have about a thousand horsepower and will pull your arm out of it’s socket if it gets caught in there. They really pack a punch. See http://www.hobartcorp.com . This sort of cheating on the kneading process is probably why they get the super smooth consistency.

What is lint? Also, why does it sometimes collect in massive amounts and sometimes very small ones, even if the same clothes are being washed?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Have you really tried a controlled experiment on this? Same dryer? Same settings? Exactly the same washload? Same setting on the washing machine (maybe vigorous agitation will beat more lint out of clothes). Same detergent? Really the same clothes, or just the same type of clothes? (Shorter fibers will slough off as lint more readily than long fibers.) There are a lot of variables.

The lint is the fiber from the cloth, so if something is new it will shed more lint than after you’ve washed it more times.

AP, I need you help seeing into the future. When will Duke offer a VPN client for the new Mac OS, 10.4?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: OIT says they’re waiting on Cisco, who makes the VPN client, to come out with a version compatible with 10.4 (the current VPN client is compatible with 10.2). There is no projected arrival date, although “three or four months” is a guesstimate.

If you’re just interested in offsite access to library databases, the workaround is to use the proxy server method, which just requires a few configuration settings in your browser.
http://www.oit.duke.edu/remote_access/proxy.html
The instructions show examples only for IE, Netscape, and Safari. Maybe you can figure out how to fudge the settings to work on another browswer. Be sure to read the disclaimer regarding security issues with the proxy server.

In an interview with Charlie Rose, Thomas Friedman said that UPS delivers Papa John’s pizza. Is this true?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: No, UPS didn’t buy a fleet of ’85 Dodge Omnis, paint them brown, and stick Papa John’s signs on their roofs.

Friedman actually said “You see the Papa John’s Pizza truck go by, Charlie? Don’t look who’s driving! It’s UPS.” Note that Friedman, who was just speaking off-the-cuff in an interview, said “truck” (and not “car” or “delivery truck”). He didn’t mention anything about the process of delivering finished pizzas. He’s talking about the tractor-trailor rigs emblazoned with Papa John advertising on the side that bring supplies from warehouses to the local outlets.

In a 2002 story in the Cincinnati business journal *Business Courier* (available through databases that the library subscribes to, such as ABI/Inform), it says, “Since 1996, United Parcel Service Inc.’s logistics division has managed routing, scheduling and delivery from eight Papa John’s Food Service Quality Control Centers [i.e., warehouses] to more than 2,000 restaurants [i.e., where they cook the pizza] twice a week. … 270 UPS Logistics drivers use 96 tractors and 130 trailers, marked with Papa John’s insignia, to deliver goods from the pizza company’s quality-control centers.”

AP, how do I cite you in a research paper? I asked you a question earlier and the answer proved very useful, I appreciate all your help!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I guess you could consider it to be like an electronic bulletin board:
http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/cite/online_post.htm
or an email message:
http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/cite/email.htm
Anyway, poke around at the library’s web guide to citation:
http://library.duke.edu/research/guides/citing/

I notice you have those nice little pencils near the reference desk. How about putting a few pencils in little containers near the computers?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Thanks for your suggestion. I’ll pass it along to the Reference Dept. (who provide the “golf pencils” at the ref desk) and they’ll consider it.

How do Cardinal’s choosing the Pope make different color smoke?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Chemicals are added to the fire to create the black or white smoke. AP couldn’t find the particular recipe, so I assume that, like the votes themselves, the chemicals are a Vatican secret. Apparently in the past Italian army flares of different colors were used, as well as smoke bombs to produce the black color, but the smoke tended to back up inside the Chapel. Also, straw has been used for the white color, but sometimes produced an ambiguous gray. A nerdy 10-year old kid with a chemistry kit might be able to help.

How do you say “hook up” in Spanish? Argentine slang would be particularly helpful.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: You could ask our subject librarian for Latin America, who happens to be from Argentina, but she might get the wrong idea. Actually, I don’t think this is the sort of thing where you have get the words right. It’s usually pretty obvious what your intentions are. Enjoy your trip to Argentina!

I need a recipe for vanilla extract. I can get vanilla beans, but cannot find extract up to my standards. Can I make it?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: There are some recipes on the web (just google for “vanilla extract recipe”) that involve soaking the cut bean pods in vodka or brandy for anywhere from 3 days to 1 year! Longer seems to be good. Maybe with occasional shaking. Federal regulations require a minimum of 35% alcohol in commercial vanilla extract. I would think that vodka is better, since it wouldn’t add the extra flavors that brandy would. Or, perhaps watered down everclear. Sugar is often added, although it seems this is up to personal taste and it should somewhat be naturally sweet.