ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: A lot. AP diligently tried to learn this information, but these companies chased me away with their own products. I’ve only now recovered, over 2 months after you submitted this message.

Searching for words like “donation” and “lobby” in the annual 10-K reports of the Olin Corp. (Winchester) and of Smith & Wesson didn’t didn’t find anything, so these expenses are probably buried as advertising expenses. I think this will require a large, and perhaps undercover, research project in which you’ll need to infiltrate the NRA as well as the executive suites of the various manufacturers.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: You want as much carbon dioxide to be dissolved in the water as possible, so you’d want it cold to get it as loaded with CO2 as possible. As the liquid warms up, there’d be that much more gas to percolate out into the atmosphere. If it started out hot, it wouldn’t have had the CO2 dissolved in it in the first place.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Dealt with in comment 3414A of the paper Suggestion Book: “An Article in the Oct. 26, 2006 Chronicle said that the 2003 work ‘Tatoo’ was designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa and was on loan from the Crown family of Chicago. ‘Paula Crown, Trinity ‘80 and member of the Board of Trustees, is an advisor to the Nasher Museum of Art.’ The story further states that the statue ‘is expected to be on display through May 2007.’” It appears to have gone back to the owners, as there’s no evidence it’s on loan anywhere else at the moment.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Uh … it certainly could be done from a technical standpoint (high cream content, etc.), but I think that you’d be depriving a baby of his or her nourishment. So, it certainly wouldn’t be very nice. I hate to think of who’d be in the market for it, and I wouldn’t ever want to meet them.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: I recommend giving him a card that says “Happy Belated Birthday.” Maybe somehow it will come out in the ensuing conversation. Either that, or steal his wallet and peek at his driver license.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: You might do best to go to a public library, where, unlike here, they specialize in reader’s advisory services and would have in their collections, unlike here, lots of children’s literature.

Databases that we subscribe to that might help you identify something are NoveList (a reader’s advisory tool searchable by reading level), Litfinder (there’s a link to “children’s literature”), and Primary Search (which indexes children’s magazines).

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: You’ve got me hungry. It’s probably best to live with the temperature situation, since during the ongoing renovations the HVAC systems will be unbalanced. Although I notice some warm days (and some cold days) in the building, I haven’t really noticed the extremes that you mention except occasionally. Temperature differentials will be exacerbated if you’re in a closed room (e.g., group study room or study carrel).

It’s possible that the worst days were before the chilled water from central facilities was turned back on, but when it was hot outside. There can be problems when it’s hot out in the cooler months and the chilled water isn’t flowing, or when it’s cool in the warmer months and the hot water isn’t flowing (this might make it really cold inside).

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: We had one of these in Perkins back before the construction of Bostock and the renovation of the first floor of Perkins. I’ll pass on your suggestion to those who make decisions on these sorts of things. However, I don’t think the library made a lot of money on this.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: According to the American College of Ophthalmology, on their web page entitled “Eye Care Facts and Myths: A Closer Look,” it’s just an old wives’ tale that glasses make your eyes degrade faster. To quote them:

“Wearing eyeglasses will cause you to become dependent on them.” True or False?

False. Eyeglasses are used to correct blurry vision. Since clear vision with eyeglasses is preferable to uncorrected vision, you may find that you want to wear your eyeglasses more often. Although it may feel as if you are becoming dependent on your eyeglasses, you are actually just getting used to seeing clearly.

http://www.medem.com/medlb/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZ8BUZTYIE&sub_cat=0

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: The system knows which “cell” you’re in (which receiving antenna you’re going through), so it should connect you with the 911 operator near where you currently are, not across the country.

Furthermore, the next level of sophistications currently being implemented will automatically send the fairly precise location of your phone using GPS and/or triangulation between cell towers, but since implementation depends on the technological modernity of your phone, the local 911 service, and perhaps the cell towers, it’s still very important to tell the operator where you are.