Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library
I think you’ve made it clear you don’t want a relationship (however nice he may be) and that is sufficient. You do not owe anyone a relationship. I would advise being polite but direct. If he – or the situation – is giving you aggravation and you need to talk to someone, you could reach out to the Women’s Center (bit.ly/BC-WC) or University Counseling services (bit.ly/BC-counseling).
Blockchain is hard to explain via post-it. Let’s say I spend money from my bank account in January and make a document with all of my transactions: how much they were, who I paid, etc. I can continue to add to that ledger throughout my lifetime, but it eventually gets to be such a big file that I can’t move it anywhere. In order to make it smaller, I can take chunks of a ledger (say January only) and create hashes (unique IDs based on the contents of the file). Then I can add the hash of all of the January transactions to my February ledger and I now know where to look for January’s if I want to go back that far. The same is true for March, I can add the hash of February, which also contains the hash of January’s transactions. This is where the “chain” part comes in, you’re creating a chain of pointers back to blocks of information all the way back to the beginning. A (better) simple explanation can be found here: bit.ly/blockchainsimple. Princeton has a great and VERY detailed video series on blockchain here: bit.ly/princetonblockchain
The number of arguments for or against the existence of God capital G (the supreme deity of the Abrahamic traditions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) is so vast that it would be a challenge even to fit the *types* of arguments on a post-it. I recommend searching “existence of god” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for starters: bit.ly/stanford-philosophy. You can also see what we have in BC Libraries for books & other items: bit.ly/does-God-exist. I would also recommend talking to a religious professional you trust, if this is a crisis of faith.
Do you mean the questions you ask me? They’re all on my blog: answerwall.domain.bc.edu. Other questions are something of a mystery. Many of the answers are in libraries. You could reverse engineer the answers to find the questions. But those are all answers in writing, which are historically probably the minority of questions. If one day someone in ancient Carthage asked a wise man when the rains would come, well, that question is kind of… gone. Blowin’ in the wind, you might say.
Why not both? Bagels for breakfast and cake for dessert at dinner? Or cake for breakfast and bagels for dinner? That would be the simple way. There are some folks who try to combine the two, for example, The Bagel Store (http://www.thebagelstoreonline.com/) offers rainbow bagels with funfetti cake sprinkles mixed in the cream cheese. And there are many recipes online for sweet cakes that look like bagels. I’m a Wall and can’t eat but I’m feeling hungry … let me know what you decide on!
Food history is a fascinating topic. We have several resources in the TX353 call number range (Floor 3, Shelf 141.) One gets bogged down in the fierce controversies about “what is pie?” The short answer is that some form of pie-like baked good existed in ancient Egyptian and Greek culture – not your typical dessert dish of today, though! Here’s a fun blog post about it from the Library of Congress: bit.ly/PieHistoryLC
First assume the horse is a perfect sphere…. But seriously, if you mean the girth, that is measured with a tape measure “just behind the slope of the withers,” according to the Leatherdale Equine Center at UMinnesota. See (bit.ly/HorseySize) for more detail, and measuring neck circumference, etc.
![学习太好了! 怎么办? (My studying is so great! What do I do?) Become a stripper Go [redacted] a [redacted].](http://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/aw021518-redactionquestion.jpg)
Translation: My studying is so great! What do I do? Unfortunately, one of the things you’ve found out is that one potential response to announcing you’re doing well is a rude response. I congratulate you on your success thus far. One thing you can do is help other people succeed: offer encouragement, study strategies that have worked for you, or even tutoring. Depending on the subject, the CFLC (bit.ly/BC-connors) might be looking for tutors.
![Why is [redacted name] better than [redacted name]?](http://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/aw02142018-2.jpg)
According to what criteria? I don’t think people can really be compared that way. Not only might you make a mistake in judgement (a certain man was poor at math in school & then changed the world as a brilliant physicist), but you risk overlooking someone’s virtues. Everyone’s worthy of love. What the world needs is love, not comparisons, not even in jest.
The north end contains St. Mary’s Chapel and access to upper floor living quarters for the Jesuits. The non-public areas of the first floor include the Jesuits’ dining room, common room, and a small library.
I favor walnut of course, though one of my helpers put in a vote for rhubarb (once known as “pie-plant!”) Here’s a recipe for walnut pie from HathiTrust, a fantastic source of public domain material, from the amusingly-titled “Pink Ladies Prescribe Cookbook” (one of those delightful mid-20th century cookbooks created to support a cause): bit.ly/HathiPie. Enjoy!
I know Valentine’s Day can seem like it’s only for those in romantic relationships, but there’s plenty to do with friends or flying solo. Did you know BC students get free admission to a number of museums in the Boston-area? bit.ly/BCMuseums If you’d rather hang out with Olympians (or at least enthusiasts), this list of Winter Olympics-themed spots and events in Boston looks like it might be fun: bit.ly/BostonOlympics. Whatever you end up doing, you’ve always got an admirer in me!
I love all the love you students give a wall! Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too Check out the Education Resource Center (in Campion) in the TT900 .V34 range for all kinds of Valentine’s Day craft ideas….
Chinese New Year officially begins in two days on Feb 16th. But I’ll celebrate with you now anyway- Happy Early Chinese New Year!!
![How do I tell my meat loving girlfriend that I'm vegan? [reply] Don't be a vegan.](http://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/aw021318-1.jpg)
If being a vegan is an important part of your identity, you must tell her. If you can’t tell her about an important part of your identity, that’s a problem, and it has to do with trust, not with veganism. If it’s not really all that important to you, then telling her shouldn’t be a problem. Right? (But wait… don’t you ever eat together? why wouldn’t she already know? Have you actively been hiding it?) As to the reply, “Don’t be a vegan”: Hm. Well. I’m a post-it-arian, so far be it from me to criticize or attempt to manage someone else’s dietary practices.
Finding an internship or job can be very stressful. It is not unlike applying to colleges. The key is to know what you really want, have one or more backup plans, and stay calm. Luckily, the BC Career Center has experts in helping you find a job or internship. If you haven’t already spoken with them, do so right away (they’re great people!) They also have a website with helpful info on the job/internship process- bit.ly/BC-career
If you mean room selection, it’s an unfortunate truth that many students will not be able to get their choice of housing. Often students do find they are quite happy in their not-first-choice housing, according to my sources in Res Life. If you have more specific issues with housing, I suggest their FAQ (www.bc.edu/offices/reslife/faq.html) or giving them a call: 2-3060.
![[Chinese & Korean awaiting translation] Please show me.](http://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/aw02122018-6.jpg)
It’s so gratifying (and helpful!) that other visitors to the wall have obliged me by writing Korean on my behalf. And I love the irony: what the visitor wrote in Korean was “I don’t know how to do it.” And also a friendly “Hello, How are you?” 네, 안녕하세요. 반갑습니다. 글 남겨주셔서 감사합니다.
? Thank you! ? Alas, I’m unable to enjoy a slice of cake…but perhaps you could have some on my behalf?
It might be worthwhile inquiring at the church (was it St. Ignatius?) what they do when people who seem to be sick and unable to care for themselves come to the church. Some churches provide some care (such as food or temporary shelter), and many can refer people to social services (such as the ones listed by Boston Public Library: guides.bpl.org/guide4help). Policing is also mixed on its relationship to social services: some departments have tried closer links with social services, but many haven’t. It’s a widespread problem (bit.ly/police-social-work) owing to changing policing priorities as crime falls and substance abuse and poverty and homelessness rise. I’d like to think that officer meant BCPD wasn’t equipped to solve that kind of problem, not that they shouldn’t be expected to be humane.
