The answers to your questions are, respectively:
1.) At the time of this writing, there are 4,973 unanswered QoDs on file. Probably 4,974 by the time that got typed! And there are 1,157 in the "answered" file. Although QoD has only been back up and running on a daily basis since May 1, 2005, meaning that just under 700 unique questions have been answered in the column, a number are answered in person, or are duplicates, or have already been answered (in which case we try, when time permits, to direct the submitter to the relevant date in the archives). The true number of answered questions is actually significantly higher than that, since we only started saving the answered ones at the end of December '05, when the column had already been running for eight months.
2.) 'Fraid not. They're all stored in an incoming email box, which is accessible only to the Web-content Manager, who either answers them herself, passes them on to a colleague/outside expert to research/write, saves them to answer another day, or hits the delete button. Each day you get a preview of what the next day's question is, but we don't want to commit ourselves to any schedule further in advance than that, as things can change around at the last minute for all manner of reasons. Plus, that would spoil the surprise!
There seldom seems to be much correlation between the question that's answered any particular day and the subjects of the questions submitted that same day, but it does seem to go in phases in terms of the calibre of the submissions. At times it can get depressing, when nothing new or original comes in for days on end and we start wondering whether we've actually answered everything and there's simply nothing left to talk about. (We were glad when the Stardust was finally imploded, if only to stop receiving questions about when it was going to happen!)
We get inundated with duplicate questions anytime there's a holiday/special event approaching: 36 about special menus last Thanksgiving and already one for '07; 118 about July 4 fireworks (they started coming in for this year last October!); too many to count about New Year's. We're not complaining about those questions and it's content we're happy to provide, but it's tough when you receive a dozen questions in quick succession all asking the same thing. Then, without warning, there will be a flurry of interesting queries that get us inspired again. Talking of which, we must get back to answering them right now. Catch you tomorrow.
