no.stupid.answers

We’ve just returned from a wonderful day at TWS 2008, a hi tech conference that took place in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ten Web 2.0 start ups were chosen from hundreds to present their pitches to the diverse audience, including yours truly (the other nine are summed up over at Mashable, CenterNetworks, Blonde2.0, and VC Cafe).

Judges included Om Malik, Guy Kawasaki, Pete Cashmore, and others.

We made a 5-minute presentation based around the ever-crucial question: Is the wrapper of Trident gum chewable?, which included handing out many many pieces of the stuff to the audience for some real, live social knowledge sharing.

The rest of the day was spent sharing the wonder and beauty that is WikiAnswers: A Q&A website that is based on the wiki format, where anyone can edit questions or answers to create - oh, sorry, there I go with the pitch again.

Here are some of the day’s highlights:

The booth: where all the magic happens.

The pitch: It’s pretty easy with such an awesome site.

This is the face of a person who has chewed too much Trident gum before doing a presentation which includes… Trident gum.

A conversation about WikiAnswers.

The name of the game.

Nothing like a bit of chocolate goo at a conference!

A big thank you to the judges of TWS 2008 for including WikiAnswers among ten of the finest start ups around!

Sometimes it’s so hot that popsicles melt faster than you can lick them. Before you know it, blue juice has decorated your elbow and is racing gravity to the ground.

So why do they melt so quickly? Is there a way to stop them from melting? How about putting them back in the freezer? It turns out there is a way to slow down the speed at which ice melts, but I wouldn’t recommend trying it with something you’re planning to eat.

If popsicles are getting you down, try ice cream instead. Popsicles (and sherbet, too) have a high sugar content, and sugar melts fast. Ice cream has less sugar and more fat, so it holds together for longer (not that long, though). Here’s something to try at home:

The Awesome Ice Cream Experiment

Materials:

1 chocolate ice cream cone

1 vanilla ice cream cone

1 strawberry ice cream cone

2 faithful friends who like ice cream (but not so much that they’ll eat your experiment)

bare feet

Method:

Stand in the sun with your friends, holding the three ice cream cones (no licking!). See which one melts first. Alternatively, lick the drips and whoever finishes first is the winner. When you have a champion, document your scientific discovery on WikiAnswers. Good luck!

With it being Father’s Day, (yup, that’s today - hurry, you might still be able to find a good gift) I decided to put dear old dad to the test. Can he dole out the collective wisdom of generations and answer questions posed by WikiAnswers users?

From cooking to relationships, I gathered a few dad-worthy questions to see just what kind of fatherly advice he could deliver: (You can do it!)

What’s the best way to break in a new baseball glove?

Secret recipe:
2 parts glove oil
3 parts mashing the mitt around
95 parts get out and Play Ball!!

What’s a good car for a new driver?

A very slow one.

Do women prefer flowers to chocolate?

You might think so, they might say so, but really, women prefer chocolate.

What’s a good excuse to get out of taking out the trash?

Their aren’t any, just do it.

What are some of the benefits of BBQing on a charcoal grill over a gas grill?

Charcoal grills are cheap
Authentic BBQ flavor
Charcoal grills are cheap
Tradition
And did I mention charcoal grills are way cheaper?

Father… thy wisdom is immeasurable.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, fars, padres, vaters, pais, pères and abbas.

Thanks to Answers.com for those translations. (What? You thought I spoke German?)

The next WikiAnswers AnswerThon is in the works… The gerbils are running their wheels, churning awesome new twists and challenges.

Meanwhile, I wanted to show my dedication to the AnswerThon cause (and release some pent-up creative energy). Behold, the AnswerThon winners circle, in 3D:

Ah, the things you can do with leftover chocolate pyramids…

Whoa! It’s already mid-February!? That means Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. For singles, Valentine’s Day is just an annoying Hallmark holiday that makes us feel like crap. But for you cute lovebirds out there, it’s a day to celebrate the love between you and your Valentine.

Hmmm…maybe us single folk could just focus on celebrating all the OTHER love in our lives! Like our love of chocolate, for example. The day AFTER Valentine’s Day is, after all, an excellent time to buy great chocolate on sale! All those truffles the couples spend a fortune on will suddenly be half price for the rest of us!

What about you? Have you found the perfect gift for your Valentine? How will you be saying “I love you” this year? With flowers? Candy? A car?

Join in the WikiAnswers love fest… ask and answer questions about Valentine’s Day gift giving now! Share that love!

Skimming the CNN headlines this morning, I came across something funny but honestly, not that shocking: Ancients knew chocolate was good

“Residents of Central America were enjoying chocolate drinks more than 3,000 years ago, a half millennium earlier than previously thought, new research shows.”

Basically, archaeologists studied pottery containing the residue of a chemical only found in the cacao plant. Which means that ancient Americans were down with chocolate.

And really, who isn’t? I defy you to step up and proclaim non-love for the cacao tree, which delivers its seeds into our hands to become one of the most precious materials on this earth!

I knew you wouldn’t have the guts. Instead, proclaim your love of chocolate by lending your obsessive chocolate knowledge to answering these questions:

• What are effects of chocolate melting?
• How much chocolate can an individual eat before dying?
• Who first brought chocolate to Europe?
• How do you make chocolate mint fudge?
• Do wild deer eat chocolate buttons?
• How does Cadbury chocolate affect your lifestyle?

Mmm… Now I think I’ll go make myself a cup of hot cocoa…