no.stupid.answers

Congratulations to all the graduates out there! That’s a pretty awesome achievement. What are your plans now? Have you mapped out the next 5 years of your life? Ten?

…

No? Why not!?

I kid. I kid. I will tell you that I’m incredibly jealous of you at this moment. You’re young and ambitious. You’re still optimistic and haven’t become jaded by the industry. You’ve got fresh ideas and your whole life ahead of you. Not that I’m THAT much older than you but seriously, 9 years makes a lot of difference.

I remember my graduation from UNC (GO HEELS!) like it was yesterday. Those Carolina blue robes and all that sunshine…

*sigh*

In honor of your big day, I wanted to highlight one of the best commencement speeches ever given. It’s not from MY graduation, but I’ve heard people talk about it and I feel like everyone needs some good advice from time to time. The quote is from Jerry Zucker…he talks about the art of making mistakes.

If you’re going to fail, fail big. If you don’t, you’re never going to make a difference. Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Ask yourself one question: If I didn’t have to do it perfectly, what would I try? For many of you, the biggest obstacle to getting there will be a fear that you have carried with your since childhood — the fear of humiliation, of embarrassment, of ridicule. That is SO stupid!

Jerry Zucker
University of Wisconsin
May 17, 2003

So that’s it, guys. Get out there and fail a little. It’ll help you succeed.

Speaking of succeeding…have you decided yet what you’ll do with the rest of your life? Still no!? Ugh. Fine. So in the meantime, go and ask or answer questions about Job Training and Career Qualifications!

There are all kinds of weird computer slang out there. Trying to decode it is like trying to hold a RAM by the horns while avoiding its bytes.

Here’s this week’s WikiAnswers Wednesday:

In computer terms what is a nibble?

In computer terms, a nibble is what I take when I’m eating chocolate chip cookies around the keyboard and my husband yells at me. Actually, those are more like big girl bites multiplied by hungry monster.

A few of us from the Answers Corp crew are attending the Presidential Conference: Facing Tomorrow taking place in Jerusalem, Israel, hosted by its president, Shimon Peres. Fancy, right? We’ll be brushing shoulders with world leaders, politicians, authors, celebrities and technology geeks. The latter is where we fit in, of course.

Many of the speeches and panel discussions are covering technology, new media and the future of this booming global business. We are looking forward to learning as well as sharing - in true WikiAnswers spirit.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind chatting up Mark Zuckerberg or Sergey Brin, who are both attending… If we get the chance, we could recruit those two brains for answering some Technology questions…

xkcd is an awesome comic for awesome geeks from an awesome geek.

Check this out: Startup Schwag is a blog/subscription to receive all kinds of schwag from all kinds of start ups. Every month a new package is delivered to you, chock full of t-shirts. stickers, etc. Here’s the deal in their words:

Startup Schwag™ is a web2.0 startup schwag tshirt of the month club. It’s based on a simple, wonderful idea recently abandoned by RubyRed Labs in San Francisco: Valley Schwag. They shipped Silicon Valley schwag to subscribers every month. In April 2007, they stopped shwagging.

The April edition bag o’ schwag included Answers.com t-shirts! I’d love to know how many folks are now walking around with Answers.com: I’ve got all the answers t-shirts.

Got something to prove? Get your own t-shirt here.

It’s almost Mother’s Day. Word.

I like Mother’s Day because I feel like mothers are those people we all take for granted. We all have one…some of us have lost one…some of us feel like we’re stuck with one. But we all came from a mother.

Let’s all take a moment and give thanks to the woman who gave birth to us. Here…I’ll start.

Thanks, Gloria. Thanks for giving birth to me! Since we live on different continents, am I still obligated to buy you a gift??

What are other people wondering? Well, someone asked “What can you give your wife on Mother’s Day if you are broke?” Luckily, folks came to the asker’s rescue. Picnics. Homemade cards. You know the drill.

And then someone else, maybe a little bitter, asked “If you don’t like your stepmother very much what should you give her for Mother’s Day?”

Other folks are still waiting for answers. Can you help any of them out?

• Should you get your mother in law something for mothers day?
• What are some popular Mother’s Day songs that senior citizens will recognize?
• Should a man give his ex-wife a gift on Mother’s Day?

Word to your mother, people. Word. Go ask and answer questions about Mother’s Day now.