no.stupid.answers

The second WikiAnswers AnswerThon is about a week away…

So which charity did you choose to sponsor?

Have you started your typing-finger exercises?

What kinds of snacks will you have next to your computer when you get the wiki-munchies?

Wait a second - you’re registered, right?

You get your mouse clicking over to the AnswerThon page right this second, young lady, and choose the charity you want to sponsor with your answers and register.

And I better not catch you slacking on those typing-finger exercises!!!

It’s summer, gas prices are up and you still want to take a trip. Fair enough. Today’s WikiAnswers Wednesday will address travel and the vehicles we do that in.

Or not. It’s Jim’s week, so who knows what we’ll find out.

How do you change the oil and filter on a 1982 Nighthawk750?

One thing I’ve noticed about WikiAnswers is the lack of really good info on cars and vehicles.

Last year I was driving cross state, from the western end of Delaware to the eastern end on what I call the cross-Delaware rally. For those of you who have been to Delaware, you know that this is not an easy undertaking. I recommend a JiffyLube and a 60,000 mile checkup, regardless of the actual mileage on the vehicle. Once your car is ready for the road it’s best to get a map of Delaware. Yes, I know that from the western end of Delaware you can see the ocean as well as the eastern side, but still, you shouldn’t take too few precautions. Think about the possible consequences of getting lost while doing the cross-Delaware rally.

Let’s say you get lost, and head northeast until before you know it you’re in New Jersey. Did you know that you’re now in the state with the most dense concentration of highways in the entire United States? This fact on its own is not of any particular significance until you realize that New Jersey also has more race horses than Kentucky!

With millions of horses, and nowhere for them to run in the wild since the wild has been replaced by highway systems, you have a recipe for disaster. The moment you get to New Jersey from Delaware you’ll be having to avoid hitting race horses left and right.

This issue is of particular importance because New Jersey also has the highest auto insurance rates in the United States. So, you get to New Jersey by accident, all of a sudden you’re having to dodge race horses and you drive into a Jack in the Box restaurant by accident. Nobody dies, but your car sure is a mess.

You’re in New Jersey, so all of a sudden your car insurance payments are driving you to bankruptcy. You don’t have a enough money even to get back to Delaware, so you have to get a job in the same town with that Jack in the Box. Well Jersey also has the highest cost of living in the US, so now even though you have a job you can’t afford to eat at the Jack in the Box that you ran into. Its still closed undergoing repairs from the accident, but if it was open, you couldn’t afford to eat there. One thing leads to another, and you’re on the streets and maybe in jail. Proper planning is essential!

While my answer to this question about the Nighthawk may appear to not fully answer the question - or answer it at all - I want to bring up the following point: This question has led to this answer, which with any luck, may show up on this amazing no.stupid.answers blog.

If it does, the amount of car repair and maintenance awareness that will be raised is immeasurable. In addition, so many people will understand the dangers of going to New Jersey without proper planning and realize that the cross-Delaware rally is not something to be taken lightly. The world is better because of your question. I congratulate you.

~ Jim

Here’s more from Doditov, who we met on Monday in her Contributor corner interview. Enjoy a deeper look at what makes her tick…

What makes us tick?

Yes, we have a hands-on attitude, and yes we want to make a difference. But WHY? The elders among us are just as involved as the young people and we all share the same passion: WikiAnswers.

I got to thinking about it and for Americans, it has a lot to do with our history. For most in my age group, it was the Vietnam War. Besides the bitter consequences of that war, it was a defining moment for my generation. We discovered that if we made enough noise and were active enough, we could change the world!

For you younger folk who don’t remember Vietnam, my generation marched, sang, cried, and generally made enough noise to change public opinion about the war. We refused to fight that war (and made a bunch of new Canadians), we came home scarred, bitter, and resentful, and we were vocal!!! Because of our opposition, the course of history was changed. We discovered that we did indeed make a difference, and we were giddy with the knowledge.

There came a point when we reared families and attended to the business of continuing the economy. But somehow, by our attitude and eternal optimism, we passed a part of that spirit to our children and grandchildren.

Now we are back in a different way. We are “fixing” the mistakes that we made during those work years right here. Grammar, spelling, sentence structure, lazy speech, and plain bad manners are a part of what we do here. While we no longer make a sustained effort to actively change large pieces of society, we still have a passion to correct the little things.

While it might not be an earth-shattering effect, remember that butterfly effect? Now, even though we are no longer the fire eaters of our youth, we are still actively engaged in tikkun olam on this website. Perhaps we will fix a tiny bit of the fractures that shatter our society in this small way. I know that we are all actively engaged learning and growing and passing this along to all who visit here.

That is why I think that we are so passionate about doing things correctly as we go here. We truly desire to make things a bit better because we were here.

<crawls off soap box> I through speechifying now.

My favorite part about the WikiAnswers contributors community is the sheer enthusiasm that runs across the different kinds of community members. This is the kind of enthusiasm and energy reserved for high school cheerleaders, except without all the bleach and squeaking.

This week we’re proud to present Doditov, one such wonderfully dedicated WikiAnswers Mentor and Supervisor, who has been around since November last year. A florist for her day job and nearing 60,000 contributions in under a year, Doditov is a Q&A force that just cannot be stopped - just the way we like it!

How did you originally hear about WikiAnswers?

I have had Answers.com at my default search engine for ages, and one day this box popped up with my material… but there was this added section about questions.  I looked, answered and was hooked.  Since I’m a suspicious person, I didn’t log in for ages it seems, but when I did, I got a message from Crystal almost immediately.

What motivates you to volunteer your time to the WikiAnswers community?

I’m one of those trivia people and all this knowledge was going to waste.  I have a passion to “get things right” and WikiAnswers gives me the opportunity to share what I know.  Of course, grammar, spelling, and proper classification are just part of the job.

For me, it’s more about being Marian the Librarian.  I “get in the zone” and can usually reclassify a question in about 10 seconds.  That how I worked Unanswerable.  Hmm… I miss Unanswerable!  It was a challenge to figure out what was actually being asked!!!

What are your areas of expertise?

<looks around, decides the question really DOES mean me>

I’m the cataloging queen.  I super odds and ends and boy are they odd.  Who else do you know would do knitting, crocheting, beading, skating, short stories, and CIGARETTE LIGHTERS???  Since the categories are smallish, I get to indulge my passion of tidying up.

What is your favorite WikiAnswers feature?

Our orange men!  Now if I could only teach him to knit!  Or play Diablo… he’d be sooo cool to have as a hireling.

What is the funniest question/funniest experience as a Supervisor on WikiAnswers?

My favorite question AND answer is this one:

Why does my wife’s new broomstick only fly in left hand circles she has tried changing her grip and seating but to no avail please help she is getting dizzy?

When I looked at the history, I nearly fell off the bed!  <did I mention that my best work is done propped up in the bed with my laptop?>  Mark and Golden had a wonderful time I’m sure, and the result is absolutely wonderful.  I’m considering a project in which we all start with a writing premise and share it into a novel.  Just think of it…the Great Wiki Novel!  With the inventive people we have, I’m sure it would be a work for the ages.

What does your username, Doditov, mean?

I was taking a Hebrew class and after class my instructor and I were discussing what names looked like in direct transliteration.  I mentioned that my actual name came through the French and wondered what it would be if we translated it into Hebrew.  He thought for a second and announced that it would be ‘Dodi Tov’.  It struck my fancy and when I needed a unique screen name, I chose that one.  It’s short, and is actually my real name yet no one would ever find me unless they chose to realllly hunt.

Share a random fact about yourself.

A random fact… I’m a sloppy romantic.  Even though I haven’t been married for 24 years, I still am shopping for Mr. Right.  Once upon a time when Crystal did an interview, I told her that I was picky but looking.  She replied that this is WikiANSWERS not WikiDate.  Hmm… Maybe a new website? <giggles>

Do you want to be interviewed for the Contributor corner? Just leave a comment below and we’ll get to work.

Has this ever happened to you? There you are, drifting softly into sleep, when all of a sudden -

- your arms flail, your legs shudder and you’re awake again. Oh, why DO we twitch as we fall asleep?

The myoclonic twitch (a brain-stem reflex also known as a hypnic jerk or hypnagogic startle) is experienced while sleeping or while falling asleep and is thought to be associated with the reticular activating system.

In plain English, as you fall asleep, your body goes through certain steps to relax and prepare for sleep. Your breathing slows, your muscles relax, and your brain shuts off certain sensory inputs - including those from your inner ear. It seems that if the brain is still too alert when it halts input from the inner ear, this triggers a reflex to startle and reach out - not unlike the sensation you have right after you realize you’re falling.

Chin up

We’ve all dozed off in class, waking up with a snap as our heads jerk back up. And it usually feels like the whole class (and the guy by the blackboard) has seen the dramatic movement.

Well, for those whose entire formal education was punctuated by frequent hypnic jerks, here’s something that might help you feel a little less embarrassed. It turns out that hypnic jerks happen most frequently to those who are resisting sleep - not those who are trying to succumb to it. So chin up, folks. You didn’t mean it.

Sometimes you just gotta let the anonymous WikiAnswers users speak for themselves. They have good answers and we can’t deny it. So here’s to you, weirdo WikiAnswers users, who offer the finest in weirdom:

What if you had robots fighting?

“A small forest would develop from robot blood gently caressing the ground like a organic yogurt… probably on your face. [example]”

Could you top that answer?