no.stupid.answers

Break out the bubbly - it’s that time of year again.

It’s time to celebrate turning one year older and one year wiser (er, well, at least one year older). Let’s take some time to sit back and reflect on some of the most inspiring, outrageous, unfortunate and touching stories of 2009 through the eyes of Answers.com’s most curious contributors.

History was made as the first African American president of the United States was inaugurated into office. A record number of people watched President Barack Obama’s moment in person, as well as from their TV sets and computers around the world. But wouldn’t it have been even better to have been a fly on the White House wall that day? On second thought, maybe not…

Speaking of TV, the commercials of the year go to:

1. Corona, for casting a mysterious hot babe in their beach-front ad…
2. Geico, for vocals, animation and ingenuity…
3. HTC, for getting us pumped with song…

…combine ‘em all and you have a jamming pothole in a white bikini!

If you’re not on Facebook, that means two things. First of all, you are a freak of nature. Second, you missed playing the top three hottest apps on the site: Mafia Wars, YoVille and Farmville. Lucky for you, the WikiAnswers community can answer that question you’ve been dying to know: How do you get the purple sheep in Farmville?

While on the topic of animals, it would be wise to note that our little oinker friend, however cute and tasty, is being held responsible for one of the worst virus scares in history. When the World Health Organization raised the warning level for H1N1 to a shocking level 6 (global pandemic), everyone wanted to know how to avoid the Swine Flu.

Although sickness is avoidable, death, unfortunately, is not. This year saw many fallen stars, such as: gossip columnist James Brady, Charlie’s Angel Farrah Fawcett, Dirty Dancer Patrick Swayze, U.S. Senate powerhouse Ted Kennedy, ‘most trusted man’ Walter Cronkite, all-around actress Natasha Richardson, ‘philosopher of adolescence’ John Hughes and globally-recognized pop music legend Michael Jackson. RIP.

Those stars passed away, while other stars killed their own reputations. Kanye West ripped the mic out of Taylor Swift’s hands faster than Chris Brown could throw a punch at Rihanna. ‘Jon and Kate Plus Eight’ was renamed ‘Kate Plus Eight’ after Jon supposedly strayed from his wife. Tiger Woods was also outed as an 18-hole ‘Cheetah.’

But fret not! Many other rising celebrities have proven their worth to the public in 2009. Underdog Susan Boyle was, at one point this year, the most YouTubed person in the world. She ‘dreamed a dream’ - and so did Justin Bieber, a 15-year-old singing prodigy who became famous after posting his work online.

Another irresistible YouTube sensation included the ‘Forever’ wedding dance.

The Yankees also performed well this year and won the World Series for the 27th time. Baseball was a great distraction from the economic recession, which started with the crash of the stock market in 2008 and led to a global scare - and stimulus plan - in 2009.

Almost as scary was your grandma trying to figure out the conversion box for the TV to HDTV switch.

Why not just ask for the directions on Twitter? Any computer-literate person knows that information is just a twitter - I mean, a tweet – away.

Tweeting was one of the ways many learned about Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenburger’s safe landing of US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River, after both engines had been struck by birds. He even sparked a new phrase… Way to ‘land it in the Hudson,’ Sully!

What would Oprah have to say about all this? You have about one more year to ask. To the disappointment of millions, she announces this year is the last season of her show.

Wipe those tears from your eyes and put on some 3D glasses. It’s time to go see Avatar! The 500 million dollar blockbuster is making history as the most expensive movie ever made. If the storyline of Avatar is a predecessor for the future, I’m all smiles. Who wouldn’t want to welcome in the New Year with an aesthetically-proportioned blue giant trying to save the universe?

Happy New Year, everyone! We hope 2010 proves to be another year of getting your questions answered… on Answers.com, of course.

While I’d be a true fool to compete with Google or YouTube in the realm of playing April Fool’s Day jokes, I will point out some interesting trivia about the springtime tradition; believe at your own risk.

• How did April Fool’s Day get its name?
• Traditionally, in some countries, the jokes only last until noon. If you play a trick on someone after this time you are the April Fool. (source)
• If you were born on April Fool’s Day what does it mean?
• In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side. Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the “old”, right-handed burger. (source)
• How did April Fool’s Day evolve?
• The frequency of April Fools’ hoaxes sometimes makes people doubt real news stories released on April 1st. (source)

The WikiAnswers.com community seems to have really gained quality contributors in the last few months; so many people who just joined since December 2008 have been really climbing up the badges ladder…

Take Ninjambo for instance: Sean joined just recently and has already managed to work his way into the Community Outreach Program, racked up enough contributions to be a Bronze contributor and has also been made a Special Projects Assistant. Not bad for a guy who is a student in his ’spare’ time!

Like many other contributors, Ninjambo has been keeping track of his accomplishments across WikiAnswers, including milestones like contributions, badges and personal goals.

In addition, Sean loves lacrosse, baseball, skateboarding, snowboarding, scootering, biking, and is a self-proclaimed King of Ping Pong. His favorite colors are green and blue… Hmm, wonder why?

How did you originally hear about WikiAnswers?

My friend told me about Answers.com, and from there I learned about WikiAnswers.

Explain your username.

My username is 100% random. Me and my friend John were thinking of a name for our YouTube channel, and suddenly we came up with Ninjambo. I use this username for many sites I am a part of now.

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

I love answering questions, as well as having my own questions answered. I only answered/asked a few questions on WikiAnswers a tiny bit for about a month or two after I made my account. Then, on February 20th I really looked at the site and its features, and I suddenly became an active contributor. I also like the badges. =D

What are your areas of expertise?

I know a lot about Lacrosse, YouTube, and some video games.

What is your favorite WikiAnswers feature?

I like the faceless orange people on the badges.

What has been the funniest question you’ve seen or your funniest experience on WikiAnswers?

When Robin was telling what WikiGuide team I was on. She forgot to fill in all the blanks on the auto email message that is sent to new members. It struck me as funny at the moment.

Share a random fact (or two) about yourself.

I love Dr. Pepper and when I say Dr. Pepper I run over to my fridge and pray there will be a Dr. Pepper in there (There never is one there, and I know it before I open the fridge).

I love making YouTube videos, but I always forget to upload videos I make, so they’re uploaded months after they are filmed.

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

Wow. WikiAnswers made it to the top 20 Web 2.0 sites as counted by Hitwise. And, look at that, it even placed higher than just being at #20.

This is so huge. What an honor to make it to the top Web 2.0 sites, along with MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia…

What Heather Hopkins of Hitwise did was include sites that “enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.” The percentages you see are market share.

Fun fact: According to Hitwise’s numbers, WikiAnswers’ percentage growth is much higher than anybody else’s in this list; nearly 3 times higher than the next biggest jumper!

So how long do you think it is before WikiAnswers bumps out MySpace?