ODDS & ENDS PAGE 14 JULY 27 - AUGUST 2, 2005 WWW.KANSAN.COM ADVICE Why is Lawrence cool, how big is KU? Each week, Mr. College Answer Person offers wisdom and advice to those seeking the "inside word" on the college experience. Submit your questions to mistercollege@kansan.com. Dear Mr. College Answer Person, How many square feet is campus? Billy Lown, Lawrence junior The campus facts page on www.ku.edu reports that the Lawrence campus measures 1,000 acres; that's about 43.5 million square feet. Dear Mr. College Answer Person, If Lawrence is so much cooler than Topeka, why isn't it the capital? Joe Mortensen, Oakland, Calif., sophomore spots by Memorial stadium never full? Helen Krische, archivist and exhibit coordinator for the Watkins Community Museums, 1047 Massachusetts St. said the most simple explanation was that Topeka, an older town than Lawrence and the seat of the early Free State government during the territorial period, became the capital because the constitution for the state of Kansas was written there. She said that Lawrence was cooler than Topeka because it was settled by a group of people from back East with an array of opinions and was always more liberal than Topeka. Jared Zuckerman, Overland Park senior Dear Mr. College Answer Person, Why are the red parking "The best answer is 'we don't know' and deciding whether this is or is not true would take a lot of research," said Margretta de Vries, administrative specialist for KU Parking Services. She said that during the summer these red slots are pretty vacant because staff members park further up the hill. De Vries said concerned students could write a letter to the parking commission suggesting that it should review the red and yellow spot allocation in lot 91. CONFERENCE Hundreds of Santas draft new demands COPENHAGEN, Denmark β€” More than 100 Santa Clauses and their little helpers danced and bellowed ho-hos at the annual World Santa Claus Congress. St. Nicks from 10 countries were in a yuletide spirit July 25 as they kicked off a three-day convention in Denmark, including a Santa parade and a chimney-climbing competition. They were expected to have a few good laughs as they drafted proposals to improve their working conditions. Demands include standardizing chimney widths in the 25-country European Union and holding Christmas twice a year to lessen the burden on Santas, who must currently rush around the world to distribute presents in just one day. WORLD RECORD Mister College Answer Person Climber sets record by breaking his own PARADISE, Wash. β€” William Painter's record as the oldest man to reach the top of Mount Rainier has been broken β€” by William Painter. By making it to the 14,411-foot summit at age 82, the retired plutonium worker from the Hanford nuclear reservation beat the mark he set more than a year earlier. Painter, whose training includes more than 1,300 ascents of 800-foot Badger Mountain near his home in Richland while carrying 40-pound weights, was eager to get home to finish making apricot nectar and apricot jam and get started on the tomatoes in his garden. "The most important thing is not getting to the summit, but getting down," he said. The Associated Press β€”The Associated Press