Yahoo! Answers

Hey Guys,

Is anyone else sick of this election? Back in 2004, I was exhausted by the time the big day came, but I don’t think I was as fed up back then as I am now. How long has the campaigning been going on?

I did a bit of research and found that Senator Obama announced his candidacy on February 10, 2007. That’s over a year and half of speeches and kissing babies. John McCain has been on the trail nearly as long. The Arizona senator announced his candidacy on April 25, 2007. Senator Clinton was the earliest to throw her hat in the ring. She started running on January 20, 2007.

Such long amounts of time seem excessive, so I checked to see if the timeframe is really getting longer or if it’s just my fatigued imagination. Turns out I’m not crazy. Al Gore, who ran for president in 2000, announced his candidacy on June 16, 1999. President Bush announced his candidacy at roughly the same time, in June of ’99. That’s several months later than Senators Obama and McCain.

In 2004, things were a bit different. George W. Bush was an incumbent so his candidacy was simply assumed. Senator Kerry, who ran unsuccessfully against the President, announced his candidacy in December of 2002. Howard Dean, best remembered for his “Dean scream,” was the earliest into the pool. He announced that he had formed an exploratory committee on May 31, 2002. That’s about two and a half years before the election. I don’t have all the stats in front of me, but that’s gotta be a record.

So, while it seems like the Obama-McCain campaign has gone on forever, things were worse in years past. Still, like a lot of you, I’ll be glad when it’s over. I can finally enjoy a few weeks of peace and quiet before the race for 2012 begins.

Thanks for reading,

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Photo by ~jjjohn~
I love a good movie. Actually, that’s entirely untrue. I love a whole bunch of horrendous movies. The “good” part is how they make me feel. The same way that smells bring back memories, movies that I’ve watched obsessively during specific periods of my life make me feel that age again. It’s completely uncanny. (I guess they’re called “feel-good” movies for a reason, right?) The “Ghostbusters” movies remind me of being a little kid-pretending (with my baby brother) that we were wearing proton packs, busting ghosts, and wisecracking. Even now, we can’t resist the urge to say the lines along with the movie, or answer the question, “Who ya gonna call?”

“Grease” takes me back to middle school: sleepovers and singalongs with my friends and eating enough pizza that-in retrospect-my parents should have invested in Pizza Hut stock. It really highlights all the best parts (and feelings) of being a tween, without any of the unpleasantness that goes with the beginnings of adolescence. Both “Grease” and “Batman Forever” cause a crazy regression that leads me into uncontrollable fits of giggles-the trademark teenage-girl experience.

Our family has “tradition” movies-movies we watch to get in the holiday spirit. Halloween isn’t Halloween without a showing of “Hocus Pocus,” and Christmas Eve wouldn’t be the same without “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” We like to gather together, queue up the movie and-once everyone has gotten comfortable-enjoy the fun all over again.

A few months back, my brother and I were cleaning out our parents’ garage. We cleared out what felt like a million VHS tapes. I made a mental note to pick up some of these family classics the next time I was out buying DVDs. Because I occasionally forget my own whims, my brother has given me our favorite childhood-and-adolescence movies on DVD for the last dozen gift-giving occasions. We rip open the (often annoyingly secure) cellophane wrap and turn back the hands of time for a few hours.

Which movies stir up your nostalgic side?

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Hey Guys,

I watched all the debates. I’ve read way too many articles on the upcoming election. I’m about as informed as I’m ever going to be. However, there is at least one issue that I’m still in the dark about: clean coal. Specifically, how in the heck is coal, a fuel that’s as dirty as they come, considered clean?

Both candidates have mentioned this seemingly oxymoronic term during their energy speeches, so I did a little research. According to the Sierra Club, there is “no such thing” as clean coal. However, the site notes that “new technologies and policies can help reduce coal plants’ deadly emissions, including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and nitrogen oxides.”

HowStuffWorks.com notes that coal still generates half the electricity in the United States. Clean coal technology aims to “contain its emissions.” One of the most promising ways of doing this is through carbon capture and storage. Essentially, this is a way of sequestering “carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from stationary sources like power plants.” Whether they then take the emissions and launch them into space, I’m not sure.

The Department of Energy sums up the history of clean coal, while Greenpeace argues that clean coal does “nothing to mitigate the environmental effects of coal mining or the devastating effects of global warming.” In other words, even when the coal is “clean,” it’s still dirty.

If you’re still curious about this controversial issue, the BBC offers an excellent summary of the benefits of and problems with clean coal. Based on what you know about clean coal, do you think it’s a good idea? Does clean coal make the best of a bad situation? Or, is that not good enough given the environment’s perilous state? It’s a big issue this election–what are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading,

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If you are an avid blogger, you might already know that you can add a Yahoo! Answers module to your blog. We call it Yahoo! Builder, and it’s a quick way to set up an Answers feature on your site. If you are new to Builder and would like to set it up, just sign in to your Answers profile and locate the shaded box on the lower right of the page. It looks like this:

Click the badge page link and you’ll be redirected to a page with options for different modules (and their codes) to add to your blog. Choose the module that best fits your blog and personality, based on the space within your blog, your template, and the colors you’ve chosen. Modules are available in JavaScript, Flash, and HTML. Each one has special features:

JavaScript Module:

The JavaScript module in its simplest version looks like the image below. It’s easy to customize the color, width, font type, size, and content. For example, if music is the focus of your blog, with this template you can display questions about music or with particular keywords to ensure that your Answers module is in tune with your blog. After you’ve tailored the module to your liking, just use the code we provide to add it to your blog. That’s it!

Flash Module:

The Flash module updates in real time and shows the questions you’ve asked in Answers, making it easy for your readers to reply to them quickly and conveniently. It’s another way of sharing Answers with those in your communities who have similar interests. It’s also a great way to create customized content.

HTML Module:

This is our most basic module. It’s small, and you could say that it’s a direct link from your blog to Answers. You can add it to your blog wherever you like, and you can invite anyone who navigates to your site to join Yahoo! Answers and answer your questions.

If you are already using Builder, let us know which module you have and how it is working for you. If you aren’t using it, give it a try. All you have to do is sign in to your profile. The instructions you need will be waiting for you.

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Hey Guys,

Few words inspire quite as much fear in the hearts of parents as “the birds and the bees.” In honor of all those who’ve either had to give or sit through “the talk,” I vowed to figure out how the expression got started.

I made my first stop at Phrases.org, a great site that specializes in nailing down the origin of words and expressions. ‘Phrases’ cites several possible explanations. One possibility–Cole Porter. The legendary songwriter’s lyrics to “Let’s Do It” contains the following line: “And that’s why birds do it, bees do it, Even educated fleas do it, Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.”

Interesting, but Phrases wasn’t convinced that Mr. Porter is responsible for “birds and the bees” becoming synonymous with sex education. I went to another great source, World Wide Words to see what they had to say. They also mention Cole Porter, but note that the first “explicit use of the phrase” came in a 1939 issue of the Freeport Journal Standard. The paper wrote: “A Frenchman was born sophisticated: he knows about the birds and the bees. In consequence, French films are made on a basis of artistic understanding that does not hamper the story.”

I decided to check one more source–the always reliable Straight Dope. Straight Dope cites the poet Samuel Coleridge. Quoteth Mr. Coleridge in 1825: “All nature seems at work … The bees are stirring–birds are on the wing … and I the while, the sole unbusy thing, not honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.”

So, opinions seem split. Some folks credit a poet, others a songwriter, and still others a random quote in a newspaper. That’s often the case with cliches–we all say ‘em, but nobody knows who’s responsible.

Wondering how other words or phrases were coined? Leave a comment below and let’s help each other out.

Thanks for reading,

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