Impressing an English major October 29, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Duke Libraries, Literature, Lobby Book, Relationships , comments closedWhat should I read to impress an English major (male)? [3572B]
Good gracious! Why would you want to do that? Because if you impress him, you might marry him after graduation. He’d hang around the fringes of academia until he became a librarian, inevitably committing the two of you to a life of penury. But if you really can’t help yourself, being seen in the von der Heyden Pavilion with an open copy Finnegans Wake should do the trick. Believe me, he won’t understand it anymore than you do.
Passing a State Department polygraph October 29, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Government, Lobby Book , comments closedHow does one pass a polygraph test with the State Department? [3573C]
Get rid of your conscience.
Capturing a feral feline: step-by-step instructions October 29, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Duke, Entertainment, Food, Just silly, Lobby Book, Relationships , comments closedHow does one capture a feral feline? [3571B]
[written in answer space: with a feral net]
Strip down, slather yourself with bacon grease, and lie in the middle of Chapel Quad. You’ll get all the attention you desire and more.
Favorite Wes Anderson film October 29, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Culture, Lobby Book , comments closedWhat is your favorite Wes Anderson film? [3576A]
I’d have to say The Darjeeling Limited, although I dig the soundtrack for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (Hooray for Mark Mothersbaugh!).
Who writes The Weedicle? October 26, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Duke, Just silly , comments closedWho writes The Weedicle?
Discovering that would be like peeling back the layers of The Onion. I suspect, though, that you do (!). But who am I to stand in the way of some good old fashioned self-promotion?
The alchemy of homemade vanilla extract October 26, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Food , comments closedI had no idea that vanilla extract could be made from soaking bean pods in vodka or brandy, or that commercial extract must be 35% alcohol. So, what does soaking it longer (say a year) do for the flavor?
Ah, I can see you’re someone who believes that anything worth doing is worth overdoing! Actually, though, maximum flavor extraction takes place in about seven weeks, so soaking the beans for a year won’t produce stronger flavor. Furthermore, if the beans aren’t fully submerged in the alcohol (i.e., exposed to air), they could mold and foul the entire batch.
Caught in an eddy October 15, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Relationships , comments closedWhen I read through the archives of the AP book I feel so low. People actually think about things. And here I am at the beginning of another yearly, yearly worsening, period of severe depression that always comes with my requited-but-rejected-anyway love anniversary no matter how little think about it. All these people that once wrote in the AP book have kids and families and things now, and I’m still at the AP book. Or website. I mean, a student who wrote a question in 1993 would be in their late thirties now.
Why is it so hard, often almost nauseating, to be unable to participate in life, and have to watch it pass anyway?
That’s a question that’s impossible for me to answer. Vonnegut believed that loneliness is the most terrible disease facing society, and I agree.
I truly empathize with the pain you continue to feel from a failed love, and can’t encourage you strongly enough to speak with a mental health professional. They should be able provide guidance and, at the very least, help you jettison misconceptions like everyone who wrote in the AP book years ago is happily married with children.
Be well, my friend.
freE-prints October 14, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Duke Libraries, Lobby Book , comments closedWhy isn’t there an Eprint on at least every other floor in Perkins/Bostock? [3569A]
By my count, there are six release stations distributed throughout Perkins First Floor, three on Bostock First Floor, and one on Perkins Lower Floor 1. That’s ten locations to print articles and other materials free of charge! The printers are in these locations because most e-print jobs involve users coming in to the library to print something before a class or before they leave the library.
What do you think about the Feminist Front? October 14, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Duke Libraries, Lobby Book , comments closedWhat do you think about the Feminist Front? [3568A]
I love it, and the Feminist Back as well. See, for instance, the Libraries’ wonderful photographic exhibition, The Bathers: Photographs by Jennette Williams.
Passionate about library access! October 13, 2009
Posted by Library Answer Person in : Duke Libraries, Lobby Book , comments closedNow that they have put a card reader for the door over yonder (next to where this book sits) [arrow pointing to Perkins lobby entrance doors], why can’t students effing swipe in here and why do we still have to go to the main entrance after-hours? [3568B]
There are five card swipe access points for Perkins and Bostock Libraries: one at the 1928 entrance, one at the 1968 entrance, one at the outside door to von der Heyden Pavilion, and one each at the doors to Perkins and Bostock at the bridge. After 10.00 pm when the Libraries are open, students should be able to swipe in at any of these doors. When the Libraries are closed, students who want to study in the von der Heyden Pavilion or Gothic Reading Room need to swipe in at the 1928, 1968, or von der Heyden doors, since the other two lead directly into the (closed) facility. If you’re having access issues (and I have on occasion), you’ll need to check with the DukeCard office.
By the way, the 1968 entrance (which is the one near the Answer Person notebook) is considered the main entrance, a fact that will be spectacularly obvious following the final phase of the Perkins Library renovation.
