no.stupid.answers

Elisabeth at Web 2.0 newbie diary lends her opinion on librarians participating on Q&A sites like WikiAnswers:

“I think it is very important that libraries get involved in answering questions, so that people remember that this is what we do. The difference in quality between the librarian’s answers and other answers was interesting.”

The WikiAnswers folks couldn’t agree more, as commented by Ksmail, one of WikiAnswers’ top Supervisors. WikiAnswers has become a top destination for the librarians participating in the Slam the Boards project. We hope librarians continue to contribute their knowledge and expertise to the fastest growing wiki Q&A site!

Pools. Cheese. Martial arts. The curiosity never ends, folks, so neither does my job. Here is what bloggers have been learning lately:

• Watch out; the Times Herald-Record is exploring the invention of martial arts.
• Osxdude’s World is cracking down on battery-draining car chargers.
• Lipgloss & Baseball wants to know what plastic is made from.
• The Wave gets watery in the dimensions of an Olympic-sized pool.
• Just a reminder that there are many uses for cheese…
• Like the names of blogs that are getting educated about when to use apostrophes.

It’s been a bit longer than I usually wait for the WikiAnswers/Answers.com blogger round-up, so this is going to be a ginormous list.

Remember, folks: answers are everywhere - on the web, in your photo albums, between the seat cushions - you just have to keep looking till you find them.

Or, to make it easier, go to www.answers.com or http://wiki.answers.com.

And now for the list:

• Griffith Park, Interrupted is hesitant to reuse plastic bottles.
• Yarraville Paul sings the English translation for Pie Jesu.
• Emily Glauser gets the 411 on 420.
• A cat care blogger thinks about whether cats think (and therefore am?).
• Cnet is covering the topic of monopolies (let’s hope they aren’t the only ones!).
• In The Fourth Bit, good old Answers.com is listed as an excellent resource for Spanish-speakers learning English phrases.
• The Star learned something new (as am I):

In parts of Texas and Oklahoma, pinochle refers not to a card game but to the manly sport of thumb wrestling. One speculative explanation: It could be “related to the words pin and knuckle, describing the object of the game: using one’s thumb to `pin’ the other’s knuckle.”

• Bintel Blog discovers a stoush, and thankfully, the meaning of the Australian word.
• The Collegian gets a laugh with the definition of slapstick comedy.
• Nashua Telegraph is finding answers on changing the oil in a Toyota Camry.

And here we go, once again: a round-up of the latest WikiAnswers questions being asked by bloggers. One of my favorite parts of the week, considering how much new (and, yes, sometimes useless) info that I pick up.

• Allthatsfab speculates on the rumors that singer Usher might be gay.
• David Gagne learns how to play a Texas Scramble in Golf.
• Yard Work sports the question: Is Hillary Clinton is a Cubs fan?
• The Secret of Theatrical Space is sharing the answers regarding the effects of cognitive priming.
• Rise of the Home explores the roles of the husband in today’s society.
• One blogger wants to know the truth about identifying pathological liars, because this is what she ponders about…
• Tom Ruff wants a firm answer on how to give a proper handshake.
• Can O’ Whup-Ass finds more than rude behavior behind the answer to what type of torture was used by Nazis on Jews.
• Bigqueue bites into the information given on how many teeth dogs have.
• Francy Girl points out yet another Rickrolling… There’s never enough of that.
• Death by 1000 Papercuts records the fastness of the fastest plane.
• Mr. C puts his students on a WikiAnswers scavenger hunt for Australian Biomes.
• To the Moon and Back wants you to get answered faster with WikiAnswers.

The American University of Rome website did it. Catalogablog did it. Tons of other bloggers have done it.

What have they done?

Added AnswerTips functionality to their blogs.

What do I mean?

Double-click any word on this page to find out.

What are you going to do next?

Get AnswerTips and keep your readers on your own site!

Here’s more of the weekly round-up covering the bloggers who are uncovering truth via WikiAnswers Q&A. It never ceases to amaze me how wide the span of topics is across the site (and across the minds of bloggers).

• Counseling in Chicago is concerned about dealing with a narcissist.
• You Been Blinded achieves its goal of finding the meaning of a cap in soccer.
• Provoke wants to lead us to the meaning of exegesis.
• Pix-els uncovers the year the TV was invented.
• Cocoyo is hungry for the definition of Kani Kama.

As The Mezzanine points out, there are “wikis to find the answers to life’s burning questions.”