Vitale March 8, 2006
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Uncategorized , add a commentSportscaster Dick Vitale is considered by many–if not most–to be annoying and over-the-top. His often partner, Mike Patrick, makes frequent mistakes during broadcasts. Two questions. 1. Why is Vitale so popular if no one likes listening to him? 2. How do either of them keep their jobs since accurate commentary that is pleasant to listen to would seem to be the goal?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: 1. They figure it’s better than someone being boring, baby. 2. Many people probably don’t agree with you. They either really like a brash over-the-top commentator or pretend they don’t like him but secretly enjoy someone that everyone “loves to hate” (Howard Cosell was the classic 20-40 years ago). I seriously doubt if the average American viewer cares about accuracy (although this was one of Cosell’s strengths). I’m sure you’re welcome to send diplomatic complaints about either of these guys, along with suggested replacements, to ESPN, explaining to them how their ratings will rise if they follow your advice.
what do those funny symbols mean? March 8, 2006
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Uncategorized , add a commentWhen you are using microsoft word or some program, it lists the shortcuts for certain functions. But many of those shortcuts have weird symbols. What do they mean? Like the one that looks like a backwords square root of an up arrow?
Cheers.
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: You may need to ask someone in person (at an OIT lab or a library reference desk). Sorry, I’m just having a hard time visualizing what you’re talking about. When you say “it lists,” do you mean in the toolbar, in the dropdown menus, or where?
There are icons that represent functions that are in the toolbars. In Word, these tell what they do when you mouse over them (you can probably turn this feature on and off when setting preferences). Many programs have some way of choosing between icons or words (often through “options” or “preferences,” or from a “view” menu). Web browsers, for instance, typically allow this. Also, in Word, when you click on a menu, in the dropdown you see the graphic icon to the left of the words.
These icons are made up by staff at the software company, buy I can’t attest to these persons’ graphic arts capabilities or if the companies do usability studies with the icons.
Chemistry March 8, 2006
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Uncategorized , add a commentI have heard it claimed that UNC may have a better Chemistry department than Duke. What does this claim mean? Is it true? Would a better department necessarily be better for an undergraduate student?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The infamous U.S. News & World Report rankings of graduate programs most recently did rank the UNC Chemistry program higher than Duke’s (tied for 14 versus tied for 43). UNC also ranked 1 in analytic chemistry and 9 in inorganic chemistry. The magazine’s rankings are based on surveys of academics as well as empirical data gathered from universities: peer assessment, student retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, graduation rate proformance, and alumni giving rate. You can find the latest report at the library’s reference desk, and teaser information at their website: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/rankguide/rghome.htm
It must be that the bigger program at UNC just has more alumni to give! And perhaps there’s been a kickback from the makers of the Junior Chemistry sets that they use in their labs.
Even if you put any faith in these rankings, what I quote above relates specifically to grad programs. And obviously it doesn’t look at individual professors’ specialties and specific resources that might be important for study in particular subfields (perhaps there’s a bias towards large departments). The Wikipedia article on “College and university rankings” hints at flaws and subjectivity in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.
As you suspect, undergraduate education necessarily needs to be more broad, and in the Report’s overall ranking Duke is 5th nationally versus Carolina’s #27 (tied with Wake Forest).
Finally, regarding Duke’s high rankings, overall and in several other areas, Duke Provost Peter Lange says, “Even as we welcome this news, however, we remind high school students and their families to recognize the limitations of these surveys. No ranking can fully capture the life of a university, and students should look beyond the numbers to evaluate carefully which institutions will provide the best fit for their own interests.”
Library Computers… March 8, 2006
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Uncategorized , add a commentIt is becoming challenging and quite distracting to work on computers in Perkins/Bostock – reason being, the keyboards are extremely difficult to use. On numerous occasions, on numerous computers, the keyboards stick making typing useless and my time wasted.
As one of the many who use the library on a daily bases for reserach and writing, I depend on the computers to function properly. I suggest an immediate inventory of keyboards in the library and replacement of keyboards which are functioning improperly. Thanks!
Heath Cosgrove
Graduate Student
ghc4@duke.edu
ps – today I am on computer Ba12,in the basement of Bostock
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Thanks for reporting this. I’ll pass the information on to our systems support people, but I’m guessing the problems relate to the very heavy use the computers get and because of all the food people eat at them.
There’s actually a Computer Problem Report form available from our Information Systems Support web pages: http://www.lib.duke.edu/its/help/forms/compprob.htm but it seems to be designed only for the use of libary staff (e.g., asking for Novell username, etc.)! You can try it in the future, but it’s best to report equipment problems to people at a public service desk in person (the response from this forum can be very, very slow). We’ll certainly look at the keyboard that you’ve identified.
I’m guessing it will be difficult to systematically and quickly “test” all keyboards since these problems become evident only with real-world use. But maybe there is a sort of regular standard test they can undergo. Perhaps we can adjust our routine maintenance to clean keyboards more frequently. Perhaps we can look into the sorts of keyboards used by the military in combat situations, made to withstand debris such as shrapnel, sand, salt water, sugary carbonated water, mayonnaise, etc. Our systems people will look at the alternatives.
hospital cash cows March 7, 2006
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Uncategorized , add a commentDo private, for-profit, hospitals pay income tax? Since non-profits aren’t taxed, it seems like hospitals would be taking a pretty large financial hurdle when switching to the for-profit corporate style of management, huh?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I’m not an investment banker, but there are many more financing options open to a for-profit business regarding the issuance of stock and debt. They don’t just have to rely on fundraising and an endowment. For-profit institutions will have to pay corporate taxes.
You’ll find a lot of discussion on this in medical, public policy, and economics literature.
academic journals March 7, 2006
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Uncategorized , add a commentDo you know of any scholarly articles that have been written about what questions parents ask other parents when they are setting up play dates and stuff like that? Like do they ask about swimming pool safety, clean products, guns, alcohol?
THANK YOU!
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: These sorts of reference questions really should go to the Reference Department at the library or through one of the other contacts at http://library.duke.edu/services/ask/ Ol’ AP doens’t always get to them right away.
I would check Sociological Abstracts for academic articles in this area, or perhaps ERIC (education, but in the broadest sense of the word). This will be a difficult search to do in any database, even Google. You may want to use concepts like “parenting,” “community support,” “support systems,” “parenting skills.” These seem to sort of point in the right direction. “alcohol” in the title field and “parent*” in the title field got some stuff that might be good, but mostly about parent-child communication, not parent-to-parent. The folks in Reference can walk through such searches with you.
Why no book/article delivery for STAFF? March 7, 2006
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Uncategorized , add a commentThere are quite a few working scholars on the Duke staff these days (myself included). We don’t have faculty status, but we still need books and articles for our work. I have been pleased before to be able to use the book/article delivery service, which has been tremendously helpful to me. Now I am told that staff members are not eligible to use it. Has something changed? If so, this seems to perpetuate an unfortunate hierarchy on campus, and I’d like to request that staff be allowed to take advantage of the delivery service, too. Many thanks. Anne Whisnant, Franklin Center.
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Duke staff with research needs that are aided by the BARD service need to check with Circulation Dept. staff. They can set your status to grad student or faculty for the purposes of library borrowing. I’ve been told that your status has already been updated.
There has been a problem with sheer volume since the BARD service went online, and we found that limiting it to faculty and grad students was necessary given the level of staffing we have to provide this service. But we’re willing to work with non-faculty Duke researchers if they ask us for help. Sorry for the confusion and inconvenience.
web software March 2, 2006
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Uncategorized , add a commentIs there a free (or low fee) website that I can use to send mass emails from my own email address? It would need a feature that allows people to subscribe or unsubscribe.
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I don’t know of this off-hand. I’d just do a Google search with words like “bulk email” and “freeware.” You could throw in words like “unsubscribe,” hoping that it would be a feature. A search of www.tucows.com for “bulk email” yields a few cheap programs that might work, although you’d need to investigate the subscribe/unsucbsribe part.
These are all clients, and it seems you want a website you, or the subscribers, can work from. You may need to create something on a webpage that allows people to subscribe/unsubscribe from there, like using a simple HTML form.
end male suffrage! March 2, 2006
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Uncategorized , add a commentWhen did the US get universal male suffrage? What kind of legislation did it require?
When did Canada, Britain, Germany and Japan get it?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: It’s fuzzy. Some states had it earlier than others, and for some elections (say, presidential) prior to other elections (say, U.S. senator).
For starters, you can see the Wikipedia articles on “Voting rights in the United States,” where they indicate that landless white men go voting rights by 1856, non-white men technically by 1870, and Native Americans by 1924 (after, for instance, white women). These involved a variety of constitutional amendments and presidential executive orders and state laws. You can also see the Wikipedia articles on “Suffrage” and “Universal suffrage.” They have a very abbreviated placeholder for the entry “Universal manhood suffrage,” which is what you’re asking about.
You could write a book on this. The folks in the Reference Dept. can help you find library books and articles to begin your extensive research. Perhaps you could start doing a search in the catalog for books assigned subject headings such as “suffrage — united states — history” Also, you might want to go at it by searching for sources on the political history of these various countries.
I’ll leave it to you to research the specifics for Canada, Britain, Germany (apparently in some states before unification), and Japan (1925).
