no.stupid.answers

ReferenceAnswers, the resident trivia wiz over at Answers.com, got a new look this week. Not to worry, it’s still the home of Today’s Highlights, where you’ll find newly updated trivia about today, every day.

So get going - find out today’s Answer of the Day, and what it has to do with… Patrick Dempsey!?

This has to be one of the coolest reference resources on Answers.com right now: Sign Language Videos and ASL diagrams.

It’s a good idea to pick up a new language - so why not American Sign Language?

Learn how to say terms like ‘good morning’ on Answers.com with a diagram or a video.

You’ll know you’re doing well when you’re told good job! Or you might be a bit of an overachiever if you’re told you’re signing fast:

But if you’re getting frustrated, just calm down… It takes time to learn a new language!

There are probably a lot of people across the United States who are hoping not to use this next one anytime soon:

And for those random, obscure moments when you just need to be able to express this, well:

For now, you’re still a newbie so you might want to be sure you know how to ask your conversation companion to ‘please repeat‘:

Get started ASAP: Check out the full range of sign language videos and ASL image guides. Also, check out the American Sign Language category and learn some fun facts about the Deaf community:

• What is the difference between ‘deaf’ and ‘Deaf’?
• Where do the signs in American Sign Language come from?
• What is the best book for a beginner to learn American Sign Language?

Hope this helps… You’re welcome.

Any questions?

Answers.com CEO Bob Rosenschein in Las Vegas last week showing off his answers at ShowStoppers and CES.

Voting is now underway for the 2009 WikiAnswers Awards, otherwise known as the WAmmys.

The WAmmys is an annual event recognizing the excellence of contributors on WikiAnswers. While voting by the Supervisor community is completed this week, I can disclose a few of the answers nominated for best answer this year:

• What are the signs of child abuse and how can you help the abused child to overcome the harm it has caused?
• Which cities states or countries have deaths or cases of swine flu and what is the current situation?
• Why are girls so weird Your girlfriend got mad when you said ‘you stink good’ because she was wearing nice perfume?
• How do you define the Great Depression?
• What is the success rate of back surgery?

So what do you think? Stay tuned for the winners… In the meantime, you can review last year’s Hall of Fame.

Well, social webbies, you’ve got the Facebook, you’ve got the Twitter, the Yahoo! and Google accounts to play around with. And now you’re about to spend more time online with those IDs. Answers.com announced its new social media angle today at CES in Las Vegas:

Answers.com Connects with Social Media

Users will now have the option to log in to Answers.com with their preferred Web identities. Experts will also be able to identify themselves with their real names, more conveniently building their online reputations.

“We see a big advantage in allowing our contributors to use their existing Web identities on our site,” said Bob Rosenschein, CEO. “This change is expected to simplify login, reduce time to contribution, and increase the quality of our answers, as more people visit our site and build their online reputations. We added support for Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo! accounts today and will be adding support for Google accounts in the near future.”

In short, you can create a new Answers.com account using your existing Facebook, Twitter or Yahoo! account. What’s the advantage? As mentioned, it’s a great way to build on your already existent social web ID and if you connect through Facebook, it adds the real-life human element to your answers and bolsters your online reputation.

If you happen to be at CES, visit the Answers.com booth at ShowStoppers Media Event tonight.

Pop quiz: What do you get when you mix ReferenceAnswers, new resources and awesomeness?

Answer: You get your questions answered (and a lot of homework help, too).

The content team behind Answers.com’s reference library has been adding more titles to bring you more great topics with quality info. And just in time for spring semester!

I’d like to highlight two of those today, if you please.

American Annals: Speeches, essays, biographies, landmark court decisions, editorials, and more bring history to life. Noted contributors include Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the author of “America the Beautiful.”

Wordsmith Words: A.Word.A.Day is about the magic and music of words. AWAD includes a vocabulary word, its definition, pronunciation information with audio clip, etymology, usage example, quotation, and other interesting tidbits about words to subscribers every day. You can think of it as a word trek where we explore strange new words. Words are usually selected around a weekly theme.

Care to check out the entire reference selection? Leave your library card behind and click here.

Congrats! WikiAnswers’ categories turned 6,001 today.

Some of the newest categories include: Boxing Day, Walgreens, Computer and Internet Fraud, N-Dubz, iPhone 3G, The Difference Between, Spotify, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Sarah Jane Adventures, Peace, and… Parrots.

I don’t think categories come any more diverse than that…

Check out the full list.