Ask J-Walk

Time for some answers to Ask J-Walk questions.

Chris: It's been a long time (since October of last year) since you posted a compilation of answers to Ask J-Walk questions. Can we please, please, please have another installment?

Your wish is my command. I used to get a lot of questions, but lately they've fallen off. I'll dig through my email folder and see what I can find.

Ros: You are probably my last resort with this one. I work at a tertiary college library in Australia and we are running a "Stump the librarian" competition. Can you help? When spreadsheets were invented, why was the dollar sign chosen for use in absolute cell references? Why $ over, say, # or ^ or &?

I don't know. Using the $ symbol for an absolute cell reference in a formula originated in VisiCalc, and was picked up by Lotus 1-2-3, and eventually by Microsoft Excel. My guess is that it was just an arbitrary decision. That had to use a symbol that doesn't have a mathematical use. In addition to the options mentioned by Ros, they could have used ~, #, or !.

The tilde symbol (~) is often used to signify an approximation, which could be misleading. The pound sign (#) often means "number," which could also be misleading. The exclamation point can be confused with the number 1. That leaves the dollar sign.

Matt: If the diameter of a circle is 8' what is the circumference?

That would be 3 times the diameter, or 24'.

Bill: I was fascinated to see Heather's site and your blog postings. Are any of JC'S Girls seeking to find a man who shares their faith and values and might be ideally suited to make a marriage-oriented relationship?

Here's what I replied to Bill: "Yes, several of them have told me that they're looking for a good Christian man."

He replied back: "Can you advise how I might provide information about myself and pictures so they could contact me if they are interested?"

That's as far as I took it.

Peg: A few years ago I was receiving MP3 songs in my email and I had a choice of 1,3,5 songs to choose from either daily, weekly or monthly. I had a couple of these songs by new artists that I really liked. Can you tell me where I can possibly get these songs again. Since they were free the first time, I don't think I should have to buy them this time.

I'm not aware of any MP3-songs-via-email service, but I'm sure they exist. If you want to discover new music, there are hundreds of blogs that exist for that purpose. Two that I like are Aurgasm and Songs:Illinois. Here's a big list: MP3 Blog Listing.

An AOL User: What five letter word appears in the KJV only four times? It was made before Adam and named by Adam. Had no legs, arms or soul. Was given a soul and it was taken back.

Could it be SATAN? No, according to my Excel workbook bible, Satan appears 56 times. I gave up and cheated by googling it. The answer is WHALE.

JCRA: Who wrote the song, "I'll be Home For Christmas," and what year was it written?

A song titled "I'll Be Home for Christmas" was also copyrighted on August 24, 1943, by Kent (music) and James "Kim" Gannon (words). The two revised and re-copyrighted their song on Sep. 27, 1943, and it was this version that was made famous by Crosby. The label on Crosby's recording credits "I'll Be Home for Christmas" to Kent, Gannon, and Ram. Later recordings usually credit only Kent and Gannon. The discrepancy arose from the fact that on December 21, 1942 Buck Ram copyrighted a song titled "I'll Be Home for Christmas (Tho' Just in Memory)" although, it should be noted, that version bore little or no resemblance, other than its title, to the Crosby recording.

Trevor: Are you aware of the Georgia Guidestones John? It's a huge granite structure built like Stonehenge just outside Elmerton, Georgia ( I think ) that has the New World Order ten "Guides" carved in eight languages.

I am now.

Norm: If you're running Firefox 2.0, plug this text into your address bar: "about:Mozilla" (no quotes).

OK.

Bis: Do you know where Mark Foley is?

No, where is he?

Malc: What will happen if you connect a battery with 2.5 amp of current to a dvd player that only requires 1.5 amps but it has the same voltage?

The DVD player will power up?