no.stupid.answers

Ever since Jim returned from his journey through Africa, he has shared with me many of his tales of wild travels and high adventures.

But, c’mon, we all know what that’s like so I thought we should share one of the highlights of his months touring Africa: his discovery of his favorite person of all time (plus, it  has something to do with chocolate). So prepare for a mouth-watering, yet friendly, WikiAnswers Wednesday:

Who is your favorite person of all time?

Mr. Chocolate is my favorite person of all time. He’s a kind, gentle old man living in Nkahta Bay, Malawi. His real name is Finlayson Nyirenda, but everyone calls him Mr. Chocolate because each night he sells chocolate bars to the tourists at one of the hostels in the town called Mayoka Village.

He got started in this enterprise several years ago on the advice of an Israeli tourist, and hasn’t looked back since. So each night he meticulously lays out his chocolate bars in a very particular order that only he knows, sits next to the table in his designated chair, and promptly dozes off. You have to nudge him when you want some chocolate for him to wake up, and he immediately does with a huge smile on his face and a nice laugh. The chocolate is not cheap, especially for local standards, but you can’t help but want to give him your money.

I highly recommend engaging him in a conversation about the area, since he has lived for 74 years, well beyond the average life expectancy in Malawi. His family is related to all the chiefs in the area, and he has been a key part in the history of the town during his lifetime.

I came to Nkhata Bay intending to stay for a couple of days, but ended up staying for two weeks in Nkhata Bay, in large part, because I couldn’t bear to leave Mr. Chocolate. His infectious smile, gentle and friendly nature, and giant purple hat have put him at the number one spot on my all time favorite people list.

~ Jim

I know… it’s been a while. For the past two weeks I’ve been visiting my hometown, a little place called New York City. Not familiar with it? Here are some New York City Q&A to get you started.

And, of course, it is WikiAnswers Wednesday so I will continue to share the NYC love and post relevant quickie questions. And believe me on the answers, I was just there.

What is there to do in Manhattan?

Absolutely nothing. It’s one of the lamest cities I’ve ever known.

What are the five boroughs of NYC?

The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and… what’s the fifth one again? Gracie Mansion? Times Square? Long Island?

Where is Brooklyn?

Brooklyn is a state of mind.

How far is New Jersey from NYC?

Not far enough.

In Casablanca, Rick told Ilsa, “We’ll always have Paris.” And I’m telling you, loyal readers, that it’s true. We always will have Paris. Not Paris Hilton…I mean, she can’t stay in the spotlight forever…she’s awfully skinny these days anyway…she might disappear if someone doesn’t make her a steak with the quickness. And no, not this Paris, this Paris or this one either. I’m talking about Paris, France.

The WikiAnswers community is currently seeking questions and answers about the great European city. Have you been? Are you planning to go? Have you ever even heard of it? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions…try answering one of these:

• How can you make friends at the Eiffel Tower?*
• How many square feet is the Palace of Vesailles?
• When is the ice skating ring at Disneyland Paris open?

Or maybe you were just wondering…

• Is it worth it to wait in line to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower?
• Is there really a sewer tour of Paris?
• Is Disneyland Paris just like the one in California or Disney World in Florida?

More Paris Q&A starts here.

*Someone help that poor guy make friends!

Meet Joncey. He’s an active contributor in the WikiAnswers community. WikiAnswers reaches across borders and oceans, over mountains and through valleys — Joncey joins us from across the pond in the UK — England, to be exact — a hop, skip and a jump from the North Sea. He’s a normal guy just like you and you and you over there…well except that he adds a “U” to words like color and favorite. He can’t help it though, that’s what they do over there in the Queen’s country.

We wanted to get to know Joncey better…find out what makes him tick. Here’s what he had to say…

How did you hear about WikiAnswers?

Ages ago I stumbled on FaqFarm (as it then was) quite by chance. From what I remember, the colours then were red and white. It wasn’t ‘love at first sight.’ It so happened that the questions on the topics that interested me had been answered by crazy conspiracy theorists. I didn’t return for over a year. So it was all something of a saga for me.

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

I think that in some ways I’m a natural teacher, and I enjoy explaining things and answering questions… What’s more, I have the time to do so. I try to provide fairly short but adequate answers as often as possible. (It can be tricky as one has to make a guess at how much detail people want).

I was very tickled by some of the comments in Neila222’s interview — I’m also very particular about accuracy, especially factual but also grammatical. So, if Neila is ‘incredibly anal’ (lol) I wonder what people would call me. It points to my being… oops. I mustn’t get too explicit…

What is your area of expertise?

German studies, especially German history since about 1815 – and the language. Obviously, that requires a good knowledge of European history. I also have a reasonable knowledge of the French language though I’ve rather neglected it.

I’ve also traveled quite widely in Europe and have the visited the US five times as an adult, so I have picked up some knowledge of countries and places.

What is the funniest question you’ve seen on WikiAnswers?

The number of questions that give insufficient information for an answer will never cease to amaze me, questions like Which castle burned down? and Does he have a name? Then there are questions How long has English been around?

Funnies include:

Is eating chocolate when depressed a sign that you may be gay? (My answer would be: You may some day be gay in the chocolate way!)

The growing tendency of people who post questions to get into a muddle with the persons of pronouns has produced some very bizarre questions, but without doubt the funniest I’ve seen is: How do you reach my wife’s g-spot? Wow! The mind boggles!

Share a random fact about yourself.

Random facts? Coffee: I adore really strong filter coffee and get through about 1.5lb of high grade Ethiopian coffee a week.

Travel: About 50 visits to Germany (ranging in length from about five days to three months +). And yes, also five visits to the U.S., though mainly to popular tourist destinations like NYC, DC, San Francisco and New Orleans (pre-Katrina). Since the early 1990s, I’ve enjoyed myself exploring parts of the former Eastern Bloc - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania (especially Transylvania) and Bulgaria. I’ve always enjoyed foreign travel.