Yahoo! Answers

The experience of putting a question to the community and seeing the answers flowing to your inbox is gratifying. And picking the ultimate answer for your question gives you the opportunity to share the outcome of your query with millions of people.

Yet for those indecisive people out there who can’t really make their minds up on a Best Answer, they can put their question up for voting and let the community decide.

Voting for Best Answer is a way to share your opinion and make a difference within the community. Not only do you help other members resolve their sticky situations or philosophical flounderings, you also gain points as you vote.

In his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde wrote: “You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.” Voting for Best Answer can help you master both. You can share your opinions and test your knowledge by resolving others’ problems. But you might also discover great new things by browsing undecided questions and judging which responses deserve to be chosen as Best Answer.

So, if you know a good indoor plant for the bathroom, are familiar with the best books for young adults, or have already explored which is the best LCD screen TV to buy, why not help the community now?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Hey Guys,

Some of the best questions are the ones that can’t be answered. Sorry if that sounds a bit like a fortune cookie, but it’s true. The other day I stumbled upon a question that nobody could possibly answer, but it still stuck with me for days.

The always interesting Cheers UK (who I have given props to before) asked the community for their best estimates as to the value of all the sunken treasure at the bottom of the ocean. Now think about that for a moment. All of the sunken treasure. Would it be millions of dollars? Billions of dollars?

Knowing my best efforts would probably be fruitless, I still went and searched for an answer. I found an article from MSNBC on a recent discovery of treasure at the bottom of the Atlantic. Explorers brought it to the surface and found the loot to be worth $500 million bucks. Not a bad haul, but compared to all that’s out there, really just a drop in the bucket.

After some more searching, I found pay dirt. Well, kind of. An article from CNN estimates that the value of treasures under the world’s oceans range from billions to trillions of dollars. Furthermore, the article speculates that new technology will help folks recover nearly all that loot over the next “10 to 20 years.”

For some reason, all that treasure being brought to the surface strikes me as kind of sad or unromantic. But, on the bright side, at least we’ll finally have an answer to Cheers UK’s question.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

p.s. — What’s the strangest “treasure” you’ve ever discovered? A $10 bill in your pocket? A really cool seashell? $500 million in ancient coins? What?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Some people take themselves far too seriously. Others, not enough. But occasionally on Answers I find a unique combination of a tongue-in-cheek question followed by a sober, thoughtful response, and it never fails to make me smile.

In one case, Answers user Sir Marmalade Beauville-Lobe IV (a serious name if ever there was one) asks, “How much would it cost to install a tank of sharks underneath a meeting room?“

The straightforward tone of this “utterly ludicrous question” prompted a number of earnest replies. Then again, maybe some Answerers have experience in such matters. This community is, after all, exceptionally large and diverse.

Of all the responses, Gruntled Employee’s helpful reply definitely deserves its Best Answer rating. Without so much as batting a virtual eye, he provides a breakdown of the cost of building the tank, as well as the ongoing expense of maintaining the sharks. (Now that I have this information, I want to build one of my own. Seriously.)

Have you found anything recently on Answers that surprised you or made you laugh?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Hey Guys,

You see it on lawyer shows all the time. The star attorney calls a nerdy-looking witness to the stand. After some back and forth, the witness testifies that the signature on such and such document is NOT the deceased’s handwriting and is, in fact, a forgery. Cue the gasps and banging of the gavel.

Handwriting experts are called on to testify in real court cases for a variety of reasons. So, how the heck does someone become a handwriting expert? I asked the Yahoo! Answers community and was treated to several links that helped to explain the process.

There seem to be a few different disciplines. One, graphology, is the study of handwriting as it relates to human psychology. So, if you write with big, looping letters that says something about your personality. Write with an extreme slant and insist on always capitalizing the letter “z”? That probably means something else.

There is another branch popularly known as “handwriting analysis.” I poked around the Web and found numerous professional organizations. One of the biggest, the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, gives an extensive look at their occupation and responsibilities. For those who’d like to take a brief test on whether they can identify original signatures from cleaver forgeries, check out this link on handwriting samples.

Finally, eHow has a step-by-step guide on how to become a legit handwriting expert. The site explains the certification process and offers tips on how to break into the field. Who knows? Maybe you’ll get to play yourself on Law and Order some day.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

p.s. – What do you think your signature says about you? Check out these samples and see if you agree with the professional analysis.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

What’s the difference between spyware, malware, adware, & trojan horses (& other viruses)?  We all know how important it is to protect our computers from malicious attacks, but not all of us know what we’re protecting against. SuperComputer’s Best Answer (and several other great answers to the question) will help you become informed about destructive programs.

Do trees or plants ever die from old age?  We thought this was an interesting question when we came across it, and fluffernut’s Best Answer was very detailed. With over 300 stars, it seems the question intrigued you all, too.

What is the most important thing to remember in a job interview?  This question isn’t that unique, but it’s full of helpful advice for prospective job hunters.

We hope you learned something new and interesting as a result of these featured questions and all the others we highlight in the Best of Answers rotating module.

We’re always on the lookout for great questions and answers to feature. But with the amount of content added every minute, it’s impossible for us to catch all the great contributions from the community. If you’ve seen a question that you think should be featured, send it to y_answrs_editors@yahoo.com.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!