Answer Person Live – 2002

As part of the Duke University Springternational Festival, Perkins Library set up a booth with direct, live access to Answer Person.

Here are the highlights . . . [ pasted from an IM transcript – please excuse the sloppy formatting ]

d.r.p whazzup?
answer person The shuttle–if they got the leak fixed.
d.r.p. And the rain kept running to catch the bus.
answer person [Item sent – NASA Home Page] NASA Home Page
d.r.p. goo buy.
JL How can I find an ACCURATE icelandic translation of the Sugarcubes song “Traitor” featured on their album Life’s Too Good? The Icelandic version is entitled “I Want…” but as far I have been able to find is not listed anywhere.
answer person AP knows so many languages, but would you believe that Icelandic is not one of them. Let me think about this
[Item sent – The Sugarcubes Lyrics]The Sugarcubes Lyrics
RB Does the number “8” have any spiritual, religious, or magical significance in any culture?
answer person AP just dealt with a question about the number 9 yesterday–would you believe that a mystical connection may exist to the phrase “the whole nine yards?” So, if 8 is between 7 and 9, it must be a magical place.
RB Thanks. I’m sure the phrase “behind the 8-ball” is similar to “the whole nine yards.”
answer person [Item sent – Numerology] Numerology
I am not sure this is legitimate, or not possessed, but I was somehow compelled to send it!
OB1 What is the nature of the universe?
answer person Very mothering–and you don’t want to try and fool it!
John Q. Public What is the meaning of life ?
answer person AP only has a few pages of space here, and you expect me to answer that in so few words. Well, that isn’t very reasonable. Give me something I can work with here. By the way, read between these lines and all will be revealed!
John Q. Public I know who you are
answer person Well, if my Public knows who I am . . .
John Q. Public yes, and???
answer person Does it really matter who I am?
John Q. Public no
answer person I agree, and I have known this person all my life.
John Q. Public whence the willow oak?
answer person [Item sent – Willow oak] Willow oak
John Q. Public what is the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the world and what does Onyango mean
answer person [Item sent – What Are The Five Largest Lakes In The World?] What Are The Five Largest Lakes In The World?
John Q. Public and onyango?
answer person [Item sent – Baby Names – Onyango] Baby Names – Onyango
John Q. Public what is the url for this site you just sent me a link to?
answer person http://www.kabalarians.com/male/onyango.htm
John Q. Public How many bones are in an infant’s head?
answer person The adult head has 28 bones–I am trying to remember how many I had when I was an infant.
John Q. Public does god exist?
answer person As long as you believe in god, or a god, god exists. Even if you don’t, someone else does, so god still exists.
John Q. Public A picture’s worth 20 words
answer person Or, if is by Picasso, a whole lot more.
answer person Or, if IT is by Picasso, a whole lot more. (AP didn’t get this job on the basis of typing skills)
John Q. Public what’s better than a reference librarian?
answer person Two Reference Librarians!
MR AFter which Lilly family member is the Duke University library named?
answer person Miss Ruth Lilly. See the web page: http://www.lib.duke.edu/lilly/lilhistory.htm (I will send it)
[Item sent – History of the Lilly Library] History of the Lilly Library
rc bearing strength of aluminum
answer person Depends on what you want it to bear? Heavy loads? Acids? Acidic comments? Badly etched caricatures?
rc heavy loads… and aluminum 7075 in particular
answer person You sure you don’t mean aluminum 7076–it is a common mistake
rc that’ll work too
answer person Then there is also the pitting factor, which will affect the capacity.
rc don’t worry about it
answer person You might want to check out the AIAA Journal, Oct 1999 v37 i10 p1304(5) Probabilistic method for predicting the variability in fatigue behavior of 7075-T6 aluminum. K.M. Gruenberg; B.A. Craig; B.M. Hillberry.
answer person It is in Vesic Library. Hey, just because I may know all the answers doesn’t mean I understand them.
rc dewey decimal tables?
answer person Yes?
rc when will the injustice in palestine end?
answer person First, the major classifications of Dewey:
Ten primary classes
000 Generalities
100 Philosophy & Psychology
200 Religion
300 Social Sciences
400 Language
500 Natural Sciences & Mathematics
600 Technology (Applied Sciences)
700 The Arts
800 Literature & Rhetoric
900 Geography & History
answer person As to injustice in Palestine, there seems to be enough, from so many directions, to keep the fires going for far too long.
Doris Is there any truth to the legend of Pope Joan?
Doris did you get the previous question, A.P., we just crashed.
answer person Not according to by John-Paul Ignatius, Legion of St. Michael–I am sending http://www.saint-mike.org/Library/Essays-JohnPaul/Pope_Joan.html
[Item sent – The Truth About Pope Joan, by John-Paul Ignatius] The Truth About Pope Joan, by John-Paul Ignatius
See also (in Div School Library) V. L. Hotchkiss, “The legend of the Female Pope in the Reformation,” Acta Conventus Neo-Latini Hafniensis, p. 495-505
enquiring mind I was born October 16th and am supposedly a Libra. However, as you know, the calendars today are different from those on which the zodiac was originally based. What sign am I truly?
enquiring mind are u there!!???
answer person I am here, but it takes a long to count back that far. I only have . . . ten fingers .. yeah ten, you know.
enquiring mind What was the Balfour Declaration?
answer person Seems like we have a lot of questions about the Middle East today. The Balfour Declaration was a 1917
commitment by the British to a Jewish homeland in Palestine. I am sending the text (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/balfour.htm)
answer person As to the Libra, you are actually a Virgo. See: http://www.kazmaslanka.com/just_zodiac.html
enquiring mind bring more v.r. printouts, pleez
answer person Where do you want me to bring them? Oh, this is just another clever ploy to see who I am! Like I am really going to show up and hand them to you.
enquiring mind Why is the sky Carolina blue?
enquiring mind get with the program and ANSWER
answer person 24.658. How is that for an answer!
enquiring mind okay, here’s another one: am I blue?
answer person Did it really hurt when both the women’s and men’s basketball teams lost?
Do you fall within .65 and .7 gigaherz frequencies on the color chart?
How about a wavelength between 460 and 480 nm?
If you answered yes to any of these questions you are blue, maybe even True Blue.
enquiring mind Why does the same side of the moon always face the Earth?
answer person According to the Encyclopedia Brit.: The Moon rotates about its own axis in about 29 1/2 days, which is virtually identical to the time it takes to complete its orbit around the Earth. As a result, the Moon always presents nearly the same face to the Earth. The rate of actual rotation is uniform, but the arc through which the Moon moves from day to day varies somewhat. Accordingly, the face that the Moon turns to the Earth is subject to a corresponding variation, the lunar globe (as seen by a terrestrial observer) slightly oscillating in a period nearly equal to that of revolution. This apparent oscillation is called optical libration, and its amount is commonly between 6° and 7°.
enquiring mind is the tooth-fairy real
answer person I know for a fact the TF is real. I can remember when I was very little, and had just lost a tooth. Although I doubted my parents, they told me if I put the tooth under my pillow the Tooth Fairy would bring me a quarter. And they were right! It worked for my kids as well
enquiring mind where is shane battier @ this exact moment?
answer person Counting his money. Very accurately, by the way–he is, after all, a Duke graduate.
enquiring mind where do babies come from? christine (age 13)
answer person The hospital. That’s where we pickup our kids.
answer person That’s where we PICKED UP our kids. It was a blur at the time.
enquiring mind The library stocks playboy and other male magazines. Why does it not stock Cosmo or other magazines for women?
answer person Oh, but we do. We have Cosmo online (wouldn’t want those guys downloaded playmates off the net), as well as Sports Illustrated for Women. Plus, just look at all the headings I picked up with serial titles beginning with “Women:” (and this is just first screen)
Women. (3 titles)
Women 2000. (2 titles)
Women and aging. (1 title)
Women & aging. (1 title)
Women & criminal justice. (1 title)
Women and criminal justice. (1 title)
Women and earth. (1 title)
Women and environments. (1 title)
Women & environments . (1 title)
Women & equality 1985. (1 title)
Women & health. ( about) (1 title)
Women and health. (1 title)
Women and health ( New York, N.Y. ) Search under: Women & health.
Women & history. (1 title)
Women and history. (1 title)
The Women and international development annual. (1 title)
Women & language. (1 title)
Women & language news. (1 title)
Women and language news. (1 title)
Women and language WL. (1 title)
Women and law. (1 title)
Women and law in Southern Africa . (1 title)
Women & literature. ( about) (1 title)
Women and literature. (1 title)
enquiring mind where are you
answer person In another place, which, believe me, isn’t as nice as Springternational on this beautiful day. Enjoy!
enquiring mind Did the universe start from nothing or was there a small ball of mass at the start. Include the word “inflation” in your answer.
answer person Of course there was something at the beginning of the universe. Do you think you get something, especially something really, really big, from nothing? There may only have been small things, like atoms or ions, but not flat ones, for in flat ion you get little appreciation.
enquiring mind hello? anyone there
enquiring mind i have a question for you…
enquiring mind ok…i’m waiting for you…
answer person Well
What
Do
You
Want
To
Know?
enquiring mind ok…well, my question is…what do the librarians do if they catch a couple having sex in the stacks??
answer person Who? Important people? Sports stars? Administrators? Faculty?
enquiring mind any of the above
answer person Well, if it is all of the above, we look at it as a funding opportunity. After all, that Renovation and Expansion project is going to cost big bucks.
enquiring mind ok…good answer. thanks for your time, Why aren’t you out here enjoying springternational?
answer person

When you are the Answer Person, in an organization that lives off providing information, they never let you rest.

2 thoughts on “Answer Person Live – 2002”

  1. We librarians don’t get into legal advice, but a real lawyer could help you here. Can’t a recording error (bookkeeping mistake, transcription mistake, sloppy notes) have an effect on what anyone thinks or says?

Comments are closed.
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