no.stupid.answers

You turn on the news, and you just can’t stop hearing all those names: Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, John McCain, Joe Biden… They are everywhere, and the rumors are flying.

It could only mean one thing: It’s time to brush up on your presidential election knowledge before November rolls around.

Which is why WikiAnswers has a bunch of new categories that will serve as your official place to ask and answer questions concerning the U.S. presidential election in November: the candidates, the issues and more.

Here’s a quick ’site map’ of all the elections and current issues categories available:

• 2008 Presidential Campaign
• Joe Biden
• John McCain
• Barack Obama
• Sarah Palin
• 2008 Democratic National Convention
• 2008 Republican National Convention
• Global Warming
• Iraq war
• Veterans’ Affairs & Issues
• Abortion & Teen pregnancy
• Economics
• International Relations

I’ve been noticing in the last week that WikiAnswers is being consulted a lot for questions about Republican presidential front runner Senator John McCain.

Not to get into politics, but I can see why: He’s such a cutie. Don’t you want to just hug him and ask him to tell you a story?

Ok, maybe that’s not why. Maybe it’s because there are loads of questions about him in WikiAnswers.

Lately, I’ve come across quite a few John McCain-WikiAnswers mentions, including this blog post from The Washington Post, which researches the heights of the Republican candidates. WikiAnswers was asked How tall is John McCain? Interesting that WikiAnswers, along with many other reputable sites, lists him as 5′7” while his campaign folks are saying he is 5′9”. Maybe he’s just standing tall - super extra tall - for change.

Then there is Buzzflash.com, which wonders how far we should go into knowing about presidential candidates’ families (and finds out a bit about McCain’s on Answers.com).

Well, it’s important to educate ourselves before we vote… Here are a couple of John McCain appetizers:

• How long was John McCain a POW?
• Is John McCain going to die in office?
• Does John McCain have a tumor in his left cheek?

With all this talk of U.S. primary elections, Democrats, Republicans and the state of California, I thought it might be appropriate to discuss the important issues that Americans should be taking into consideration when deciding the new president in 2008.

The fact is, none of it really matters since we have WikiAnswers anyway. At least, that is according to the question I put forth this WikiAnswers Wednesday:

Could WikiAnswers develop an Artificial Intelligence and take over the planet like on Terminator?

The answer to this query comes from Zanbabe, a WikiAnswers Supervisor and top contributor (so you know she’s good):

Yes, of course. But we choose not to. We like to leave only footprints in the sands of time, and avoid all of that messy taking-over-the world-by-force stuff.

The actual plan (shhh, don’t tell anyone) is to take over the world through answering everyone’s questions. Eventually, the entire world will be so dependent on us that they will do anything we say… because they love us and depend on us, rather than fear us.

So, yeah. We could… but we have higher standards than that. :)

Note the smiley face at the end - you know she means business. I wouldn’t argue with a WikiAnswers Supervisor. Especially when she believes the site is more powerful than the Terminator. Hasta la vista, Zanbabe.

Happy New Year everybody!

<insert paper horn sounds here>

Let’s start the year off right and resolve to answer more questions. We can call this resolution: “More data in two thousand eight-a!” Or maybe, “It’s never too late - for answers in 2008!” Umm… what about, “Answers are great in 2008!”

Maybe a good resolution would be to stick to asking and answering and stay away from poorly rhymed slogans.

• What are some alternative New Years activities?
• Why is New Years sometimes called Silvester?
• When did New Year’s Day become a legal holiday?
• What are the colors that represent the passing of the old year?
• What do different cultures do to celebrate the new year?
• Which country celebrates New Years first?

We wish you all a healthy and happy 2008, filled with all the answers you seek!