no.stupid.answers

I was walking in the food market today, and happened to hear a fisherman yelling out the catch of the day. My curiosity piqued, I leaned over to get a good look. There, lying on trays of ice, were live fish gasping for air. Their gills were discolored from the lack of oxygen, and their shiny eyes were gazing right into mine screaming, “Help me!”

I must admit to you that I am not a vegan, a vegetarian, or a PETA supporter. Yet, this site struck the very core of my soul, and spelled out animal cruelty in clear bold letters.

I yelled at the fisherman, “This is morally unacceptable! Is this even legal?  The fish are suffering; can’t you at least kill them first?” (a good knock on the head takes a microsecond). He just chuckled, “They stay fresher this way and anyway… fish don’t feel pain.”

“How do you know fish don’t feel pain?” I asked. “Are you a fish? Have you had a hook jarred in your mouth? And if you speak Fishonian then tell me, what are your fish relatives saying as their gasping mouths open and close on a fatal bed of ice!?”

“Fish don’t feel pain!” he screamed again. “Of course they do,” I screamed back as I stormed away from this obvious sadist. It is scientific fact… right?

To my surprise, the answer I found was… Not exactly. Research actually has no conclusive evidence one way or the other. It all lies in the subjective word “pain.” There’s a huge difference between pain and the perception of pain, which scientists refer to as nociception.

Fishing advocates would argue that hooking a fish is equivalent to pulling the leg off a cockroach or stepping on a nail; the body reacts physically, as a reflexive response, but no emotional damage takes place.
A great example would be that of a child getting a shot at the doctor’s office. If a child is distracted when he feels that twinge of pain on the back of his arm, he will cry only because it hurts. This is a reflexive response.

Now let’s look at a very different scenario. If the child walks into the doctor’s office and sees a needle, he may cry before he even gets the shot. What if the child got localized anesthesia and couldn’t even feel his arm? The child might still cry as he watches the doctor inject a needle into him; these are both emotional responses to pain.

So, ‘Do fish respond emotionally to pain?’ asks a WA user.
Here are a few recent studies that highlight the conflicting results:

2003 - Dr. James D. Rose (Reviews of Fisheries Science) concludes that animals need specific regions of the cerebral cortex in order to feel pain. And fish do not have them.

2005 - Norwegian study reports crustaceans (lobsters and crabs) don’t have the capacity to feel pain either. Crustaceans have about 100,000 neurons, while the simplest vertebrates have upwards of 100 billion.

May 2009 -  Dr. Joseph (Applied Animal Behaviour Science) raised the temperatures in goldfish tanks. When temperatures returned to normal the fish were stressed, and exhibited fear which affected their future behavior.

March 2009 - Dr. Bob Elwood (Queen’s University) found that crabs not only feel pain but remember it well after the sensation has passed, affecting their future decisions.

What is the ultimate answer to the question ‘Does it hurt when you hook a fish?’

Answer - Does not hurt me one bit. As the matter of fact, I feel pretty excited when I do manage to hook a fish.

So there you have it. Since science cannot decide, it is up to each one of us, as a responsible individual, to make the call. I just hope the excited fisherman doesn’t get reincarnated into a juicy flounder.

Some of our questions just can’t be adequately answered in words. So we recruited Answers.com’s IT manager, aka The AnswerMan, to demonstrate novel uses of the common paper clip.

How many more uses can you come up with? Add them to: What can you do with a paper clip?

Note: First attempt at uploading the video showed an audio-video sync problem which led us to look for an answer to the problem: Why is the uploaded Youtube audio-visual sync way off?
We apologize to @WikiAnswers followers who saw multiple tweets about paper clips as we were trying to fix the problem.

Over at WikiAnswers.com, we are extremely proud of our large and growing community of folks who hail from Down Under. For all you young ‘uns out there, Down Under is a colloquialism affectionately used to refer to Australia. One of the brightest shining stars from this land of magic and beauty is our very own On the Wallaby, who watches over a gazillion unique categories including Platypuses and Echidnas; Possums; Ludwig van Beethoven; and Bass and Flinders. She also happens to be the Category Supervisor of all things Australia and New Zealand.

If you’re curious how this amazing lady thunk up the name On the Wallaby, wonder no more. Direct from her bio: “In 1891, Australian poet Henry Lawson penned a now-famous poem entitled ‘Freedom on the Wallaby.’ ‘On the wallaby track’ is an Australian term meaning someone is out wandering and exploring the country. One of my favourite pastimes is driving and exploring with my husband (and my dog).” Dying to know more? Read on!

Where do you hail from?

I live in Australia and have always lived there. I grew up in Queensland, but was born in South Australia, living in small country towns until I was five. I now live in the southeastern region of Queensland near beautiful Moreton Bay, where there are hundreds of islands.

What is your current occupation and what have you done in the past?

I am a teacher and have been for over twenty years. My favorite past job was spending time on my uncle’s native fauna park on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, cleaning out the pens of the native animals. (The Tasmanian devils were a bit scary when it came to feeding time.) I learnt a lot about Australian native animals during that time, but I have learnt a lot more since, and am constantly amazed by how much more there is to learn. My uncle used to regularly come to Queensland to trade Australian native fauna with other fauna sanctuaries. I distinctly remember how careful he had to be the day he released a wedgetail eagle.

Another favourite job was being a cleaner at a motel at the base of Ayers Rock-Uluru. The motels are no longer there, having all been replaced by the Yulara resort, but in my spare time I was free to climb the Rock whenever I wanted, and I explored right around the circumference of Uluru. I was there in summer, though - very hot for cleaning and because the motel operated on generators, we weren’t allowed to put on the air conditioners while we cleaned.

I have also picked oranges in Mildura - also in summer and forty-degree heat! (That’s Celsius.)

What is your key area of knowledge or expertise?

I just love anything to do with Australiana. I grew up with my father’s passion for Australian history and geography, and many childhood trips through Australia’s outback gave ample opportunity to learn more.

Do you have any special interests or hobbies?

Walking and exploring. I love to explore, whether on foot or in the car. Even my dog has become an explorer. When we’re out walking, if she sees an area of bushland or a pathway diverting off the main footpath, she heads straight for it. When I’m driving with my husband, we rarely go straight from “A” to “B”, but divert to “X,Y and Z” along the way. A simple excursion to the other side of town invariably ends up taking all day.

What do you like to do for recreation?

Walk. Drive. Read. Play a variety of musical instruments. Answer questions on WikiAnswers!

Please share a few random facts about yourself, special thoughts, etc.

Nothing exceptional. I am annoyingly pedantic when it comes to spelling, grammar and punctuation, so I get especially annoyed when I make “typos” myself!

What are some accomplishments that you are proud of?

Although Americans are probably not familiar with the Australian author Colin Thiele - “Storm Boy”, “Blue Fin”, etc, - he was my second cousin. I’m proud of that. Some years ago I contacted an American author - Bonnie Leon - regarding a book she had written, set in Australia. One thing led to another, and she asked for my assistance in researching for her new “Sydney Cove” series, a project I enjoyed immensely. I am especially proud of the personal mention and acknowledgment she gave me in the published copy of her first book in the series.

Do you have any special goals or dreams?

I would love to have time to spend traveling wherever I wanted to in Australia, in a motorhome; to explore places I haven’t yet seen. Then I’d like to do the same thing over in New Zealand! And after that, I’d like to explore the United Kingdom, and see some real history, because my husband’s roots go back to England.

What brought you to WikiAnswers.com?

I was looking for an answer for the students I teach, and when I asked a question in WA, I came across an unpleasant answer submitted by a vandal which I did not want my students to experience. I signed in to fix it, and that was it - I was hooked! I found numerous Australian questions which needed fixing and editing, so my interest just developed from there. Now, I keep getting caught up with all the new categories that appear. There’s usually something there that piques my interest and spurs me to learn!

What keeps you coming back to WikiAnswers.com?

WikiAnswers was a platform from which I could indulge my passion for all things Australian, and it was good to know my work was appreciated by others.

What is your favorite WikiAnswers.com activity?

Probably just answering questions. I like recategorizing; I like fixing alternates; I need to fix people’s spelling and punctuation (!) but I especially like answering questions.

How would you describe yourself or your personality?

A positive thinker! I can find the good in any situation, no matter how inconvenient the circumstances may seem at the time. I love knowledge and learning, and I love to convey that knowledge to the students I teach. I love to encourage creative thinking in my students. And I loathe hearing anyone describe something as “boring,” because I figure that there is always something of interest to be found - you just have to be prepared to look for it.

You may have noticed some extra activity in the WikiAnswers search box… or tiny badges on your bio page. Not to mention little snippets of text here and there.

No, aliens have not taken over WikiAnswers (this time). We’ve rolled out a couple of great new features that we hope will make asking, answering and searching a more pleasant and effective experience for you. Our goal with these features is to bring information more directly to you so you don’t have to search for it - and we hope you’ll let us know if we’ve achieved that goal. Now, without further ado, an overview of said features:

FAYT (Find As You Type)

Asking a question? Looking up a person, place or thing? No problem - before you’ve even finished typing, we’ll show you if there’s a matching reference article - or if someone in the community has answered your question.

Just click the “All” radio button and start typing. Reference articles are prefaced by a book icon (), and community Q&A are prefaced by a bubble icon (). Or, choose just “Community Q&A” or “Reference Topics” to limit your search to one type of information. Our suggestions will appear in a list - click an item on the list, or hide the list if you’d rather not see it. (But we think it’s pretty helpful.)

Try looking up “Why is the sky blue?” The find-as-you-type results look like this:

Snippets

Snippets are a short previews of current answers. By looking at snippets, you can get a sense of the answer before you click through to see the question page and question history. Snippets showed previously on the search results page, and now we’ve added them to the recent site activity pages and the category pages. If you’re watching for vandalism, you can now comb the snippets for spam and other bad answers without opening each question.

This is what snippets look like on the recent site activity page:

And on the category page:

Snippets are also a convenient way to determine on the spot if a question is answered or unanswered. No snippet? It’s unanswered.

Stats box redesign

Do you like peeking at other contributors’ contribution stats (or your own)? We’ve tweaked the design to make it even easier to see who they are and what they’ve done.

Visit anyone’s bio page and hover over a mini-badge to see the full badge in all its glory. Also, if you’re a Supervisor, look for a brand-new toolbox at the bottom of the stats box.

Batch revert… turbo style

And, finally, a power tool for Supervisors: turbo Batch Revert, so you can undo weeks of vandalism in just one click. We have lifted the one-week limit on reverts, so go do your thing and catch those vandals!

Survey says?

Check out these tools and tell us what you think. They’ve been a long time coming, and we hope you enjoy them!

There’s a little bit of quirkiness in all of us - you know; some little oddity that makes each of us, who we are - our little quirks. But how many people have the unique distinction of proclaiming that they’re not only quirky, but Quirkyquantummechanic? We know of only one! And lucky for us, he happens to be an out-of-this-world WikiAnswers.com contributor and Supervisor. You might know him as Quirky, The Mechanic or even QQM. All other names aside, he will forever be the Quirkyquantummechanic -an enigma in his own right.

Here’s more from the legend himself:

How do you participate on WikiAnswers.com?

In case you’ve wondered, my user name is derived from frustration attempting to find one that wasn’t in use already. I’m a Floating Supervisor here on WikiAnswers.com, and have been one for a bit over a year. I’ve opted to avoid a specific Category because I then have the freedom to rove the length and breadth of the Community to answer and edit questions. (One other Supervisor suggested I might be a bit of a Ranger at heart, and his insight is probably dead on target.) I’m not involved in any other activities (save Mentoring) directly, like the WikiGuides, Vandal Patrol, WIT, Bug Catchers or the like. But when I encounter a vandal or bug, I usually act to help get things back on track. I’m certainly always ready to help a Contributor by answering questions or advising on issues as regards WikiAnswers. And I can’t imagine any Supervisor who is not.

Please share some random facts about yourself, special thoughts, etc.

Though I am “petless” at present, I am a critter person deep down. I’ve had dogs, cats and many other pets all my life. The neighbor’s cat, the beast that leaves white hair on almost everything I wear, can attest to the fact that I’m critter friendly. She probably spends as much time here as there. I’m familiar with the outdoors, having been raised in Colorado. It could be said that I grew up in the hills and mountains as my family camped or hunted often. This makes me comfortable in wilderness settings and the out of doors in general. I am a vet from the Viet Nam era, and served on nuclear submarines.

What is your key area of knowledge or expertise?

My work here, which is largely in the Science area, speaks to my technocratic nature. I’ve always worked in a technical capacity, often in electronics engineering. I’m deeply interested in what makes the universe work, and I often read through articles and posts to “keep up” with the advancements in science. I’m a lifelong learner, and believe everyone should be. In contrast to my scientific bent, I’m a believer in a higher power I call God. (Read anything you like into that-or not.) There is no conflict in my belief system and my understanding of the way the world works, and my posts in Science and in Creation suggest this.

What do you like to do for recreation?

As a resident of the left coast, I’ve come to like the scenery as well as the weather. Soccer is big here, and I’ve played, coached, and officiated soccer matches aplenty. I’ve been “off” for a while, and I need to get back out and referee a bit before I forget how. (With games numbering in four digits under my belt, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch, should it?) The game, the officiating, affords me the opportunity to give back to the sport that my two children (who are grown) and I enjoyed so much. And giving back is why I’m here on WikiAnswers.com. I had superb teachers, coaches and mentors growing up, and even on the job as a “working adult” in the real world. What I know and share here is as much a tribute to and a way of honoring their efforts as anything else.

What brought you to WikiAnswers.com?

I originally came to WikiAnswers.com when searching for something technical. It was electronic in nature, and, though I cannot recall specifically what it was, I found an answer here that pointed me in the right direction. That answer was not quite what it “might be” as it was posted, and I created an account and edited it. My memory had been refreshed, and I shared my understanding (and appreciation) with the Community in the form of the edit. I was hooked. Since then I’ve applied my knowledge and my modest writing skills to making the site a better one. A few awards and badges on my Bio Page speak to the small successes I’ve had and accomplishments I’ve made here. I appreciate the recognition, but perhaps not as much as I treasure the compliments of peers. But anyone who knows me from notes and posts knows I’m not here for awards or Recommends. I’m here to help by sharing what little I know while expanding my own knowledge.

In post after post I attempt to turn on the lights and roll back ignorance-including my own. In sharing knowledge, I find that there is a lot of incorrect information floating around. When we post to enlighten and correct less-than-current knowledge, it is important for us to present what is “correct” and “true” as best we understand it. That includes admitting what we don’t know, too. Does that sound like teaching? We sometimes hear that you never really know a subject until you teach it. I’ve taught it, and there is more than a kernel of truth in that axiom. I’ve written lots of labs and outlines and such, and it is probably through those activities that I was able to hone my English skills. More than a couple of individuals have complimented me on my ability to write. I’ve done a bit of creative writing (though I don’t want publication), and that and the teaching have allowed me to make the best of the language skills I gathered in school (again, with the help of good teachers and professors).

What is your favorite WikiAnswers.com activity?

What I like here most is answering and editing questions, particularly in the Science category. I also do a lot of Recategorization, which is important. Certainly I’m willing to help others improve their abilities to make the Boards better, and as a Mentor, I can share what I’ve learned with new Supervisors. I report bugs and get involved in efforts to curb vandalism, and I’m more than ready to do that and any other tasks that need doing. But I have limited my involvement in “other things” here to do what I seem best at, which is answering and editing questions in Science. Certainly I’m not “too good” to take on other chores; I clean around the house because I’m best at it. But here I tend to cruise Science and hammer the Q&A there because I like it, and because of all the things I can do to help, my skills are probably a “best fit” there.

What keeps you coming back to WikiAnswers.com?

WikiAnswers isn’t about me. It never has been. It’s about you. At this point I’d like to share my gratitude. I’d like nothing more than to thank the other Supervisors here for their support. You are uniformly bright, powerful and empowering individuals, and I care about you more than my simple ability to express it. And a big thanks to the Community Advisers and those working behind the scenes to improve and expand WikiAnswers, too. We almost never hear about all the ground you cover in your assignments. My hat is off to you all. Lastly, I’d like to thank the Contributors here. And not because the Contributors are least important. Quite the contrary. It is the Contributor that makes the Community what it is. And we are all, in the end, Contributors, are we not? That’s why I’m here.

May you all find your true path, and the courage and strength to walk it. See you on the Boards.

the Mechanic

So what exactly is a haiku? I’m glad you asked! According to the American Heritage dictionary on Answers.com it can be defined as “a Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.”

Learn more about the haiku and its history in our new category of Haiku Q&A on WikiAnswers.com!

WikiAnswers supervisor DavidCary was kind enough to share some wiki-oriented haikus he authored on June 10th in our Poetry Corner this week. Read them below…

A beautiful page.
A vandal scribbles on it.
Undo. Beautiful.

First post not perfect.
Slow improvement is OK.
Some day — convergence.

Keep out the vandals.
That sounds good, but better to:
Let in helpful ones.

So many questions.
Some of them are life-changing.
Others not so much.

Interpersonal communication is defined as the interactions between individuals and the interpretations of these actions. This can mean anything from the way you glance at a person to the strength of the grip you exert in a handshake. Your messages can even be determined by the tone in your voice or the amount of sweat you produce. But of all the ways to communicate, which sensory perception is the most effective?

According to Apoidae, the family commonly referred to as bees, dance seems to be the preferred form of communication. Scientifically speaking, bees have highly evolved adaptations, so this doesn’t seem to make too much sense.  First of all, bees have specialized vision that allows them to see beyond the human spectrum of light. Humans can see visible light from 380nm-750nm, while bees are able to see the spectrum from 300nm-600nm, an area of florescence 80nm wider than human capability. In addition, while we base our ‘trichromatic’ color combinations on red, blue, and green, bees base their colors on UV, blue, and green a much richer type of light.

Next, bees have one of the most complex chemical communication systems found in all of  nature, possessing 15 known glands that produce a wide range of pheromones (chemical messengers). If that wasn’t enough, bees can project an impressive sound.  A bee’s wings beat 11,400 times per minute (180 beats a second) causing that famous ‘buzz’ sound we know so well. So why do bees choose dance as a means to transmit their most important information? Based on a ‘waggle’ alone, bees divulge the precise location of their precious pollen and nectar- the sustenance of their hive.

“How do bees even learn to dance?” Asks a WA user.

Answer: A bee’s “dance” is an instinct. They are born knowing how to do it. The “dance” communicates to other bees, showing them the way to fly in order to find the flowers that the other bee has found. The queen is not the one dancing, because she is busy laying eggs. The drone bees are the ones who fly out looking for pollen, and who “dance.” The angle between the direction the “dancing” bee is facing while vibrating its abdomen and the vertical position equals the direction to the new nectar source from the hive with respect to the sun. The duration of the waggle also gives the distance. Bees are aware of the movement of the sun during the day, so can compensate for this when using it for navigation.

Now where does that leave us? Have you ever misinterpreted a stare, or felt that the pat on the back from your boss was positive or perhaps inappropriate or maybe it was demeaning? How effective is human communication compared to a bees instinctual dancing? Is dancing more successful at conveying messages than touching or visual and auditory cues? Perhaps it would be better if we just stood in front of an audience and wiggled a bit from a distance while others interpreted what we were trying to say? (Simon Cowell seems to have a good time doing this). Well, I think we can find our answer to this question by looking to Wikianswers. “Why do people Dance?”

Answer: Dance is the only socially sanctioned physical contact between unmarried couples, the only way to interact with the opposite sex in an intimate, politically correct way.

So there you have it - Humans dance for the potential to meet love. Afterall,  Isn’t love as sweet as nectar?