no.stupid.answers

no.stupid.answers

Get WikiAnswers in your language

October 2nd, 2008 . by Shaya

Google has added 11 new languages to its translation tool, so now, with a little G-help, we can get answers in even more languages.

Redeeming the cow

Consider the cow of Mrs. O’Leary, famous for starting the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 by kicking over a lantern and setting her barn - and one third of the city - ablaze. That rumor was put to rest in English long ago, but what of the cow’s reputation in, say, Tagalog? Ito ay tunay na Mrs Oleary ng baka na nagsimula ang Chicago Fire? WikiAnswers rises bravely to the occasion:Moo - me?

Ang isang peminista Dyaryo na tinatawag na “Ang Rebolusyon” na nakasulat sa ilang sandali lamang matapos ang Chicago Fire of 1871, basahin ang mga sumusunod: “Mrs Leary denies na ang kanyang baka kicked sa paglipas ng ilaw na set ng apoy sa dayami na masunog ang kwadra na sanhi ng pagkawasak ng kalahati ng Chicago. Alin ang nai-render sa pamamagitan ng lubha maaaring mangyari ang mga kilalang katotohanan na Chicago cows hindi sipa, at Chicago gas ay isang non-sunugin likido, at Chicago hay ay natipon mula sa marshes at sa gayon ay puspos na may asin na ito ay hindi matupok, at na Mrs Leary’s kubol ay binuo ng sunog-patunay na materyales, at ang pagkasira ng Chicago ay sa parusa ng kasalanan, at, saka, ay isang magandang grasya na para sa mga taong hindi masunog out ay lubha tumatanaw ng utang na loob. Ang baka ay dapat exonerated.”

Bean sprouters of the world, unite!

Many folks like to grow beans, but one could say that some foreign-language speakers have been at a disadvantage because of the dearth of bean-sprouting methods in languages other than English. At last, translations are as easy to come by as peas in a pod. Here is how to grow green beans in Catalan:beans, beans...

En primer lloc fins al lloc on plantar.
Quan estigui llest per posar la seva planta dels fesols en remull amb aigua durant uns 15 a 30 minuts per suavitzar l’exterior perquè sigui més fàcil per al fesol de brollar.
Fer una rasa en el sòl no més d’una polzada de profunditat i, a continuació, posar el fesol a la trinxera amb voltant d’un 6-polzades d’espai entre ells.
Després, cobrir lleugerament el fesol, no el paquet de sòl.
Lleugerament l’aigua cada dos dies i en una setmana et comencen a veure els brots a través d’Chasque.

Being entertained by translation

Some cool alphabets debuted, too, with Hebrew and Serbian. It seems, though, that the more a language differs structurally from English, the more twisted its translation on Google Translate. I can’t speak for all the languages, but at least a few are guaranteed to make you laugh. For example, in Hebrew, Google translates “dough” into “money” when talking about donut batter. Here are some translated answers to Why do donuts have holes? (Note: Some of these character sets may not display properly if your computer doesn’t support these languages. Just skip down to the next section.)

In Hebrew:

אחת הסיבות לכך היא לאפשר את הכסף כדי לבשל באופן שווה. בלי חור בסופו של דבר גם עם כדור כי הוא חסר נסיון במרכז או מבושל יותר מדי כלפי חוץ.Hansen תמיד לקח קרדיט על החור של סופגניה. סופגניה כמה היסטוריונים חושב שזה היה קצת Hansen של קמצן והיה רק מנסה לשמור על עלויות המזון. אחר אומר כי הוא נתן את סופגניה כאשר החור הראשון שלה, באמצע של סערה ואת נורא על מנת לקבל את שתי הידיים על ההגה ספינות, הוא crammed אחת האמהות שלו מטוגן תחושות עלה אחד של wooded spokes של הגלגל. עוד סיפור טוען כי הוא החליט, לאחר ביקור ממלאך, כי מרכז בצקי העוגות של פריד היה צריך ללכת.

In Serbian:

Један од разлога је допустити да се тијесто равномјерно кувате. Без рупа сте завршили са или лопта да је сировом у средини или прекухано на ван.Хансен увек узме кредит за рупу у уштипак. Неки повјесничари мисле да је крафна Хансен је мало од цхеапскате и био је само покушавате сачувати на трошкове хране. Други кажу да он даде свој први крафна рупа када, у средини страшна олуја и како би добили обе руке на бродовима точкова, он Цраммед један од његових мајки пржена сензација на једном од спокес у шумовитим звијерка. Још једна бајка тврди да је одлучио, након посете од Анђела, да је гњецав центра у пржени колача морали ићи.

In Vietnamese:

Là một lý do gì để cho phép các bột để nấu ăn như nhau. Mà không có một lỗ cuối cùng với bạn hoặc là một quả cầu đó là nguyên ở giữa hoặc overcooked trên bên ngoài.Hansen luôn luôn lấy tín dụng cho các lỗ trong doughnut. Một số doughnut historians nghĩ rằng Hansen là một chút của một cheapskate và đã được chỉ cần cố gắng để tiết kiệm chi phí thức ăn. Những người

khác nói rằng ông đã cho các doughnut đầu tiên, khi lỗ, ở giữa đáng sợ của một cơn bão và để có được cả hai tay trên tàu thủy, bánh xe, ông crammed một trong số các bà mẹ chiên cảm giác của mình lên một trong những wooded spokes của bánh xe. Tuy nhiên, một tale khiếu nại rằng ông quyết định, sau khi một truy cập từ một thiên sứ, doughy rằng các trung tâm của các chiên bánh đã phải đi.

How it’s done

Well now, I can’t tell you what I don’t know. But if you want more than cows, beans and donuts, I can show you two ways to get your own translations from Google Translate.

  1. Translate text: Copy some text you want translated. Go to Google Translate and paste the text into the “Translate Text” section. Using the language buttons underneath, pick a language to translate from (that’s the original language of the text you copied) and a language to translate to, and click Translate. The translation will appear, magically and almost immediately, on the right.
  2. Translate a whole web site: Find a web site you want translated (perhaps a news site, where you can’t understand the headlines or the email settings). Copy the address of the web site from the address bar of your browser. Go to Google Translate and paste the address into the “Translate a Web Page” section, pick your languages, and click Translate. Voila! The site will appear in the language of your choice.

Site translation (option #2) is currently way more exciting. Everything on the page, from “Log In” to “About us” to “Lost Password” - and all the content in between - gets translated. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to edit the translation and make it better for generations to come (sometimes, though, this feature doesn’t work). To try it, hover your mouse over some mis-translated text. If the text turns blue, it’s editable and a popup should appear with the original language so you can see where the mistakes were made.

Be prepared for sites you translate to lose some functionality and design integrity (i.e. they might stop working properly and look really bad). If you need something translated but also need to keep working on a site, it may be better to use straight text translation (option #1).

Happy translating!

Google Translate

Paint, plungers and lithium

September 28th, 2008 . by Shaya

plungersThere are a lot of new categories on WikiAnswers lately: Exotic Pets, Canadian Football, Eli Whitney, Copernicus

One new category on the block, Household Hints, has really caught my eye. Get a load of these questions!

Some creative cleaning issues:

Your basic household maintenance:

A green question:

And my favorite…

Take a crack at these questions - if you succeed, there will be some very grateful people out there.

Visit the What’s New page to see a running list of the newest WikiAnswers categories.

Making our mark at the Web 2.0 Expo.

September 23rd, 2008 . by Shaya

Dan struts his stuff

A word or two from the point of view of a proud Product Manager - yours truly.

On Friday, we wrapped up the 4-day Web 2.0 Expo in New York City. Denise (Graphic Designer), Suzanne (Community Coordinator) and I attended various sessions throughout the week, focusing mainly on community and UI design, but also listening in on the odd session about company and work flow organization.

I, for one, have this stuff coming out of my ears. I’m even dreaming about feeds, friending and unusual mobile devices. But we got a lot out of it.

We should be really proud of what we’ve accomplished with WikiAnswers. Our sandbox method and our tight involvement with the community impressed many people involved in startups and not-so-startups in similar adolescent stages. We’re doing so much right already that at some of the sessions, instead of asking questions, we were able to offer insight.

That said, there’s still a lot to do. It was interesting to hear how the leaders of other web-based community products have chosen to approach issues we deal with every day, like feature requests, the phase 1 rut, out-of-control discussion pages, slow release cycles, user ranking, and so on. We came away from the conference with some very specific takeaways, which I hope will make our sites even richer.Javitz Center - home to w2e

Finally, Dan - our lead Prod Ops guy - and I had the opportunity to show off Answers.com and WikiAnswers at our booth in the expo hall. There was a lot of positive interest, and people loved the reference/community package. And as always… they were astounded that these sites are free.

It was a great week, and one that put WikiAnswers into a lot of perspective for me. I look forward to putting our ideas into action!

On the move

August 31st, 2008 . by Shaya

batch moveLet’s talk about moving things. On Earth, we’re always on the move (or so they tell us), but we don’t feel it. There are other places, too, where we can be jetting along at, oh, hundreds of miles an hour, and not feel that, either. For example, on excruciatingly long leg-bending neck-cricking plane rides, why does it feel like you’re going nowhere?

When it comes to machines, we know that they move. We can see it and usually we can feel it. But the rules that govern that motion elude us. Take the bicycle - a brillant two-wheeled invention that translates radial motion (what your feet do) into lateral motion (the bike’s movement forward). We all know that if you sit on a non-moving bike and take your feet off the ground, you’ll tip over pretty quickly. But put that same body on the same moving bike and - voila! - you are magically one with the machine, perched easily atop it. If gravity is constant, and you weigh the same, and of course the bike is the same… why does motion change everything?

Some movements are so fast - or slow - as to defy sight and sound. A hummingbird’s flutter can’t be seen at high speeds, and glass moves so slowly that it appears stagnant, like a solid - even though it’s really an amorphous liquid. And an object moving quickly enough can break the sound barrier, which actually causes a huge bang.

Two bonus questions for mechanics aficionados:

Today’s topic, motion, was chosen in honor of the new Batch Recat tool. (Supers: read more about it here; non-supers: here’s how to become one!)

Separation of Love and State

August 21st, 2008 . by Shaya

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry about this one, so I’m just gonna play it straight: How do you get closure on or get back with your ex when the state has put a restraining order between you both? (Which makes me wonder… If you have a restraining order on a person, can you even contact them?)

What if you suspect a little marital infidelity? Can you get a restraining order on your wife’s boyfriend? The answer is you can keep him away (from you and from your wife) if you can justify it in front of a judge. But be careful to play your cards right - in some states, her paramour might be able to file back at you in some states.

Elsewhere in WikiAnswers land, someone must have been really sick of babka and cheek-pinching to have asked, Can I get a restraining order against Grandmother? If you’re aiming for a heart attack, honey, a fake restraining order will do. And unless she’s truly dangerous, try talking to her.

Some of these questions sound amusing out of context, but restraining orders - though temporary - are serious business. Courts issue restraining orders to protect a person from physical pain or injury (or threat of pain or injury). They are free, can be issued on the spot, and you don’t need a lawyer to get one.

If you are looking for legal information about how to apply for a restraining order, the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut has a comprehensive guide.

For those of you who aren’t ready to take legal action but are still curious about getting that extra mile or two of personal space, here are some more facts about restraining orders:

The appeal of Judge Whipper

August 7th, 2008 . by Shaya

a huge wattleIf you paid me, I couldn’t tell you why I was wondering today, What is that red thing hanging down from the rooster’s chin?

If you’ve ever watched Ally McBeal, you’ll know the answer to this one. The flap of loose skin, found on roosters, turkeys, rabbits, some dog and goat varieties and even some humans, is called a wattle. Some bird species have wattles hanging from their eyes as well.

Just FYI, the rooster’s red hat is called a comb. And turkeys have a special blob of skin covering their beaks, called a snood. The bumpy stuff on their necks is a caruncle (vocab quiz next Thursday, kids).

Still, as I scavenged the web for information about this fleshy appendage, I was left hungry for more. Why do some animals have wattles? What are they for? Are they just fatty extras, or did they have an ancient evolutionary purpose?

Luckily, I was able to turn to Nirel, one of my coworkers, who has zoo-keeping experience and a ready answer for everything. According to Nirel,

I think this is the equivalent to the tail of a peacock - a measure of the health of the turkey, and therefore a bigger redder brighter wattle is a chick magnet, which will increase the fitness (number of offspring) of an individual.

Thanks, Nirel, for your wisdom. That explains the appeal of Judge Whipper.

Next week: Why do pigeons bob their heads?

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