Yahoo! Answers

Last week we asked you to ask Vice President Joe Biden a question before and after President Obama’s State of the Union address. We received more than 4000 questions. Thanks to all who participated!

Our Yahoo! News Team handpicked the best answers and asked the Vice President your question on your behalf. Watch and see if they picked yours!

Asked by Piper (Bethany Simpson):

Mr. Vice President,
President Obama spoke a lot in his address about cutting spending, and yet many of the proposals he spoke of – under the banner of “investing in the future” – sound like an increase of spending instead. How are such dueling goals going to be managed? Specifically, what is the Obama administration going to do to invest in education and address rising costs of tuition all across the country? This is a promise the President has made over and over again, and yet from my perspective (a college student approaching graduation and facing the costs of a master’s degree) nothing has been even attempted let alone accomplished. To truly invest in the future, this country must invest in its youth. This President enlivened and excited the youth demographic for the first time in years and yet halfway through his first term, I see more and more of my peers becoming disenfranchised once more. When will the government address the needs of students? And how can doing so be reconciled with sweeping spending cuts?

Thank you,
Bethany Simpson
Western Washington University
Political Science Department

Click here to see Vice President Joe Biden’s response

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Asked by Dale M:

Vice President Biden, in your opinion, what’s the best (non- political) thing a person can do to help turn around the economy?

Click here to see Vice President Joe Biden’s response

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Asked by Vivian:

During his State of the Union address, President Obama harped on the importance of education. I’d like you to know that I received my college diploma five years ago, and I still make less than $10 an hour – and it’s not for lack of trying to find a better job. I’m not alone – I know many people with college degrees who are forced to work in low-paying jobs because they can’t get anything better. Is it really such a good idea to encourage young people to spend a significant amount of time and money on something that might never provide a significant financial benefit?

Click here to see Vice President Joe Biden’s response

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Asked by D-Moore (Don Moore)

Dear Vice President Biden,
Education was heavily emphasized by Barack Obama in his speech. He called upon people to make a difference and become a teacher. Yet, I already am. I left a lucrative career in order to make a difference, yet I have been pink-slipped for three straight years. I finally lost my teaching job for good this year as California’s budget continues to spiral out of control while reforms have failed to change the “tenure” rule. Therefore, young teachers such as myself are denied an opportunity while teachers who are known amongst peers and administrators as ineffective educators continue to hang on to their jobs.

Sincerely,
Don Moore

Click here to see Vice President Joe Biden’s response

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Asked by ishs_Tbird:

Dear Mr. Vice President,
During the State of the Union address, you kept leaning over and making Speaker Boehner smile. What were you saying to Speaker Boehner?

Click here to see Vice President Joe Biden’s response

To see the rest of the interview: http://news.yahoo.com/video/newsmakers-20649024

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Welcome to Answers on the Streets: Episode 14!

Has this ever happened to you: You run into an old friend and you can’t seem to remember their name. What do you do? Sometimes we just forget things. Check out some of the responses below and see if you would do the same!

Think you have a better answer? We definitely know our community has great ideas. Give us a shout and tell us what you think. Just click the question below to submit your response.

Question: What do you do if you can’t remember a friend’s name?

Episode 13 Winner

Congrats to Jewel for the best answer to Episode 13’s question: What’s the best pickup line you’ve heard?

Guy walks up and asks me for a piece of ice from my glass, throws it at the floor and says “Well, now that I broke the ice can I buy you your next drink”. It made me laugh. I thought it was clever.

Other Pickup Lines

See my friends over there? They bet me $100 I wouldn’t be able to have a conversation with the most beautiful girl in the room. So what do you want to do with the money?

-Tania

I was so taken by your beauty that I ran into that door over there. Now I’ll need your name and number for insurance purposes.

- Hello, I’m Awesome

This one guy said “You dropped your name tag” and handed me a sugar packet that said “sugar” on it. Even though I think pickup lines are cheesy I still remark about it to my friends.

- Person

Guy: “Hey.”
Girl: “Hi.”
Guy: “Do you have any raisins?”
Girl: “Uhh, no?”
Guy: “How about a date?”

- Studmuffin

“Wanna go out?”
“I have a boyfriend”
“I have a fish”
“What?”
“Oh, I thought we were talking about things that didn’t matter”

-Kr!ssy

At a bar beside a woman. “Hey… who invited all these other people? I thought it was just going to be you and me.”

– Jason D

Haha I told this to about 5 girls and they laughed. So I suppose It’s good?
Me: “Hey.. my pen is out of ink.”
Girl: “Really? Are you sure?”
Me: “Yeah, here” -hands pen- “try.” -takes out a piece of paper “just write your number right here …”

– Danny Menshire

Get Featured

You could be the next winner and get 200 EXTRA POINTS and get recognized on our Answers Blog. We’ll feature your answer in our next Answers on the Street blog.

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Hey Guys,

The Super Bowl is just a few weeks away, which means its time to brush up on useless football trivia. Like, oh, for example, who coined the term “Super Bowl”?

The Super Bowl wasn’t always the name of the game that decided the NFL champs. Back in the day (“the day” in this case being the 1960s and earlier), the big game was simply called the National Football League Championship Game. It wasn’t until the NFL merged with the AFL that the Super Bowl was born.

Football legend Lamar Hunt is the one who came up with the term. According to legend, Hunt was at home watching his child play with a bouncy ball (aka a super ball). Inspiration struck, and Hunt decided that “Super Bowl” would make a heckuva name for a game.

Of course, he was right. But not everybody thought “Super Bowl” was the way to go. Another football legend, Pete Rozelle, lobbied for a different name. The blog Mental Floss explains that Rozelle, then the commissioner of the league, wanted to call the title game “The AFL-NFL Championship Game.” Yawn. Owners pushed back and suggested it be called “The Big One.” Eventually, the “Super Bowl” came out on top, despite Rozelle’s objections that the term was “corny.”

It’s probably a good thing that Rozelle lost the debate. Today, the Super Bowl is practically a national holiday and one of the most widely viewed sporting events on the planet. Clearly, Lamar Hunt knew a good name when he saw one.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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Currently, as a pre-requisite to participate on Yahoo! Answers, we ask that you have a Yahoo! ID to sign-in to the Yahoo! network.  This in turn is where your identity on both Yahoo! and Answers is managed from.

Now, as part of Yahoo’s moves to make the web a more social and open place we are opening up Answers to people with Google or Facebook IDs too.

We appreciate people don’t want to be overwhelmed by different logins for each site you want to participate in on the web and through a technology called OpenID we’re able to eliminate the need for multiple logins across different Web sites.

After you sign-in with your Google or Facebook ID you’ll be able to fully participate on Yahoo! Answers.

Check out this video to see how easy it is to sign-in with a Google or Facebook ID:

A few points to note:

• For existing Answers members you’ll still see all of your existing content when you login with your Yahoo! ID.  However you also have the option to `bind` your Facebook/Gmail account with your Yahoo! account.  If you choose to do this you’ll be able to see all of your Answers content when logged in with either your Gmail or Facebook account.  Read this help page to find out how to do this*
• If you sign in with your Facebook ID you still control what is published to your Facebook feed from Answers through the checkbox on the ask/answer flow.  Your activity on Answers will not automatically be published on your Facebook feed.
• OpenID isn’t available for the Mobile version of Answers just yet… we’re working on it though and we expect to make it available in the coming months
• All participants using Google or Facebook IDs will still be subject to our Yahoo! ToS and Answers Community Guidelines when contributing to the site.

For further information on Yahoo! Fast Pass check out the Yodel Anecdotal blog post: http://ycorpblog.com/2011/01/18/id-sign-in/

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To celebrate the start of 2011, the community shared their inspirations by answering this question: What will you do to make 2011 special? and submitted their most inspirational photos to our Flickr group ‘Inspiration 2011.’

Now it’s time to show the best answer and a few other contributions that we really loved. Keep reading and see what the community is planning to do to make this year special!

Best Answer

The most inspirational answer came from Lise M who not only touched us with her answer, but also shows that despite her circumstances, she still has a plan and has a lot to look forward to this year.

I’m doing a 365 photo diary for my children and grandchildren. I have a terminal illness and so far have lived much longer than anyone expected. Now I want to document everyday of this new decade in pictures. I take at least one picture of something about my life every day, and then write about that day. Lord willing I will make it all the way through this New Year – if not, I will be with my Savior and that’s okay too. Happy 2011 everyone!

Great Contributions

We had over 2,000 answers and though we can only pick ONE best answer, we felt these answers were just as great. Definitely worth reading!

By Mr. Green:

I’m planning on looking to the new year with a better outlook. Last year was OK, but I want this year to be better. I plan on being more outgoing, meeting more new people by joining interest groups and just enjoying life. I think I haven’t taken enough time to smell the roses. So I plan on being less serious this year, and hopefully making new and better friendships. But I have to get over my fears and just do it! Here’s to another year!

By Jackie Huggins:
I will live life as I have been with the same good lifestyle and strive for the same happiness I have in life. I will start school in a few weeks, which is long overdue, and I will get the best grades I possibly can. I will love my three kids until they’re sick of me and I will try to be a better wife. I’m sure that would be the only change I would make! Life is so very great so I will be happy with what I was given.

By Kenny D:

This summer we have a month long vacation planned to visit Stuttgart, Germany and Vienna, Austria. We will visit our daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law in Stuttgart  for the last 20 days in June, and then travel by rented car to Vienna, Austria and spend the last 7 days of our vacation in Vienna. We will be staying at the Grand Hotel in Vienna and have tickets to attend the Vienna Mozart Orchestra concert at the Vienna State Opera on the night before we fly home on July 7. Our daughter married a German national while she was stationed at Ramstein Air Base and she decided to stay in Germany when she separated from the Air Force. Our last visit was 4 years ago and at that time they was living in Kaiserslautern, but have since moved to Stuttgart after the birth of our granddaughter Emily.

By Tabby:

I aspire to do more for wildlife charities so the beautiful animals and birds in our world are safer from vandals. Then people can have beautiful places to exercise and enjoy the wildlife. I want to make notelets with my photographs of wildlife and sell them to help raise funds, and knit animal hats for kids to buy at Fayre’s. Also to learn more about animals and help on a practical level, too.

By Pink Sherbet Photography:

Paying off ALL our credit card debt by December 2011 so we can buy our first home in 2012 when my husband retires from the military after 24 years of service! Starting with the highest interest cards first, making extra large payments on those and minimum on the others. Once the highest interest card is paid in full, I start on the next highest, making my way down the list. Pinching every penny this year, clipping and using coupons and putting every extra dollar I can toward paying off the debt in 12 months!

By Veronica Barrera:

I’m a girl who loves writing, music, painting, drawing, and taking photos. For a long time I’ve wanted to put these favorites to work but because I’m my own worst critic, I never got around to it. This year is going to be different.

This year:
-I plan to do a painting/drawing
-write some stories and enter them in contests
-get back on the violin and piano
-write a song
-make a series of photography portfolios

This year, 2011, I plan to show off my creative side! Here’s to an awesome and prosperous year! Happy 2011

By rossislx:

Having been through many challenging years as a single Dad I have gotten to a new level, what the biggest accomplishment is my children are all (almost) adults. My youngest is a senior in High School and will be moving on. I am deeply satisfied with their achievements and the direction they are going. It’s been approximately 12 years single parenting. As those of you who know, it’s a huge challenge and effort raise kids. I have had to put aside much of the “me” throughout these years, therefore I am extremely excited about the new prospects that will be available when the time comes. I have a lot of unwinding to do. I have high hopes for finding my life and the things I enjoyed for so many years prior to my role in my family. I am hoping that things will spring back and the old adventurous and enthusiastic guy returns, So I am really excited about being a part of my boys transition into college and feeling rested more focused and less distracted.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

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