How did the Academy Award get the nickname “Oscar”? According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the nickname “Oscar” came about when then “Academy librarian (and eventual executive director) Margaret Herrick remarked that it resembled her Uncle Oscar. The Academy didn’t adopt the nickname officially until 1939, but it was widely known enough by 1934 that Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky used it in a piece referring to Katharine Hepburn’s first Best Actress win.”

The Oscar’s official name is the Academy Award® of Merit, weighs 8.5 pounds is 13.5 inches and takes 3-4 weeks to manufacture. So who will be the lucky winners this year to take home the coveted prize?

The nominations were announced on January 24, 2012 and our very own Academy Awards on Yahoo! Movies will be providing complete coverage of the event. You can also make your predictions there and share them with your friends. The winners will be announced at the 84th Academy Awards on February 26, 2012 and will be hosted by Billy Crystal. So find out then to see if your predictions were right!

What do you think of the nominations? Do you think anyone or film was overlooked? Please leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading,

In last week’s Year in Review we showcased our 10 Most Popular Questions answered. But we’re not done!  In addition to our questions and answers, we now present our 10 Most Read Blogs of 2010. A few highlights below.

This past summer, our Answers team took to the streets of New York City and San Francisco to find answers to some of YOUR questions. Watch our video series, especially Episode 1 and 8, which made the top list.

Becoming a parent is no easy task. Layla, our hands-on-mom, loves getting advice from the community. Her topics tend to focus on what every parent asks him or herself.

Our second annual Yamster Halloween Costume was once again very popular. Costumes ranged from the Joker to Super Mario, and even Paris Hilton! Oh yes — be afraid, be furry afraid…

Last but not least: Don’t forget our great blogger, Ask Mike! Mike does all the dirty work researching the most random topics buried in the back of our minds (for instance, why are some fuel tanks on the passenger side while others are on the driver’s?)

Below, check out the rest of our most read and commented-on blogs:

1. Choose a “Best of Answers” earn 100 pts

2. Answers Halloween Costume Contest

3. Yahoo! Answers hits the streets: Episode 8

4. Ask Mike: Nicknames

5. Ask Mike: The mysterious gas tank

6. Yahoo! Answers hits the streets: Episode 1

7. Ask Mike: Addicted to lip balm

8. Nanny or day care? That is the question

9. Ask Mike: Blondes have more fun

10. Changes to the Answers Homepage

These have been some great reads. Whether it’s another Answers on the Street question or Ask Mike topic, anything you’d like to see covered in 2011? We’d love to hear your suggestions!

Yahoo! has the unique ability to connect the individual to a community of 600 million people so they can change the world together. One small act of kindness can create a ripple of generosity.  That’s how good grows on Yahoo!.

This holiday season, Yahoo! is encouraging people like you to do a random act of kindness and update your online status to get others to join in. The more people who take action, the larger your ripple will be. You can see your ripple grow on kindness.yahoo.com as more people are inspired by your one simple act.

Question: What random act of kindness will you do this month?

Whether you pay for a stranger’s baggage fees at the airport or donate canned goods to the food bank, now is the time to start spreading joy. Check out kindness.yahoo.com to see ripples others have already started.

Need more inspiration?  Check out our Year In Review site where we’re featuring 10 inspiring individuals who changed the world this past year starting with just one simple act.

-Yahoo! for Good Team

In fact, I myself have worn the pink ribbon proudly as I know many women who have been afflicted with breast cancer. Some of them bounced back to life after surgery or treatment and a few others succumbed to the disease.

So when I decided to write a blog post about breast cancer, I was absolutely certain that it would take me less than ten minutes to do so. After all, I knew stories about all these women. And I thought I was mighty pink because as a woman I knew how to protect myself. Right?

Wrong. As I started to write this post, I realized how little I actually knew about this deadly disease though it had touched my life often enough, albeit indirectly.

Photo by merfam

Worldwide, breast cancer comprises 10.4% of all cancer incidence among women, making it the most common type of non-skin cancer in women and the fifth most common cause of cancer death. This explains the number of awareness campaigns about breast cancer during the month of October.

And yet I was finding it difficult to write about breast cancer. So I decided to take a look at Answers.

It was no surprise that I found a list of commonly asked questions about breast cancer. I decided to post these questions so it could help women and men like me who know about breast cancer but are hardly aware of the facts relating to the disease.

Links to save a life!

Understand this cancer better so you can treat it on time if need be!

• How does breast cancer develop in women and what are the preventive measures for it?

• What are the symptoms of breast cancer and what are the consequences?

• What kind of tests or examinations should be done for breast cancer?

Three typical doubts about preventing and treating breast cancer

• Is it true that deodorants can cause breast cancer in women?

• Are there any Ayurvedic treatments for breast cancer?

• How exactly does breast feeding lower the risk of breast cancer?

Other useful links to understand breast cancer better

I may have breast cancer, what questions should I ask my doctor?

• http://www.medicinenet.com/breast_cancer/article.htm#1imayhave

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer

And here’s how you can help people with breast cancer. http://shine.yahoo.com/page/breast-cancer-awareness-2010!

So do you have a breast cancer story? Is there some knowledge about breast cancer you would like to share? Do send us your story at  y_answrs_favorites@yahoo.com or leave us a comment.

Go pink!

Bhumika Anand – Community Manager, IN

We could probably go on at length about what it was like to be part of this global spectacle but honestly, you just need to watch the video:

Photo by Axel Bührmann

Just two weeks into the World Cup and we’ve already seen ingredients for a blockbuster movie. Landon Donovan scored a late goal in added time to seal perhaps the most dramatic time in American soccer history. USA advances!

Now you’ve all had chance to check out the talent from all of the countries participating in the World Cup we want you all to take your pick of your team of the tournament by picking the top 11 players you would have in your own World Cup team for our World Cup featured question:

Who would you choose to be in your World Cup team of the tournament?

To ask this question we’ve partnered with Brooks Peck from our very own ‘Dirty Tackle’ on Yahoo! Sports.

At the end of the tournament Brooks Peck will be choosing his own `Team of the Tournament` and the first response to match his will get the best answer and 110 BONUS POINTS — that’s 10 points for each player on your team!

Remember, as with any soccer team you’ll need to include just ELEVEN players:

-         A goalkeeper
-         Defenders
-         Midfielders
-         Forwards

But the formation is entirely up to you!   One more `rule`: The players must have appeared in the World Cup, too!

Once you’ve formed your team, why not share it with your Facebook friends by publishing your answer to this question?  See what they think of your team choice and if they want to make their own!

Still can’t get enough of the World Cup?  Get the latest World Cup 2010 news and coverage here.

Hey Guys,

99% of the time, I couldn’t care less about soccer. Hey, I’m just being honest. But like most fair-weather fans, I merrily jump on the bandwagon during the World Cup.

In honor of the month long party down in South Africa, I looked through Yahoo! Answers for some popular questions about “the beautiful game.” Here are a few answers that might help you look less like a fair-weather fan and more like a hardcore hooligan.

Why do Americans call the sport “soccer”? — Here’s the scoop, according to Mavens’ Word of the Day. It may come as a surprise to learn that the term originated from Britain. “The formal designation for the game we know as soccer is Association football.” Mavens’ goes on to explain that the word “soccer” is simply a contraction of “(As)soc(iation football)” and an “er” suffix. The sport most Americans know as football is technically “North American football.”

Who coined the phrase “The Beautiful Game”? — A tough one to answer. Some say that that Brazilian player Valdir Pereira came up the expression. However Stuart Hall, a BBC announcer, claims he coined the phrase, after watching his favorite player, Peter Doherty, many years ago.

Why does the goalie wear a different uniform? — If you think about it, this one is actually pretty simple. When the ball is near the goalie, all hell breaks loose. As the goalie is the only who can use his hands, it’s important that he be easy for the refs to identify. Hence, the garish jerseys.

Got more questions about soccer/football/the beautiful game? Leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

At this very moment, the best football players from all over the world are making their way to sunny South Africa to compete for the prize of all prizes. All eyes will turn to the Rainbow Nation to see if the numerous critics and doubters were right after all: They don’t believe the country is ready to host the greatest show on earth. Well, the time for words and debate is over, let the action begin and we’ll find out for ourselves!

Behind all the exciting games and magnificent stadia we will be seeing on our screens and the long hours we will be spending encouraging our team on to at least one more win, there is a fascinating country extending well beyond what will be shown.

Don’t worry, this is not a history class, nor a geography test about South Africa. It is just a quick introduction to some facts you may find interesting (like the fact that Kruger National Park is almost the same size as Holland). Hopefully what follows will help add context and flavour to a whole month of football and activities that will happen in Answers.

The Rainbow Nation

South Africans often describe themselves as the Rainbow Nation due to their wide ranging diversity in people and cultural groups. South Africa has a population of 45 million people speaking 11 official languages, with Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans being the most common home languages (English is the fifth most common home language, but is understood by most people as, primarily for economic and political reasons, it is the lingua franca).

The best known and biggest cultural group in South Africa is the Zulus. They proudly defend and practice their own traditions, and became a very important force against the British army in the late 19th Century.

Unusually, the country has three capital cities: Cape Town (Legislative), Pretoria (Administrative), and Bloemfontein (Judicial).

The South African flag as we know it today was adopted on Liberty Day, April 27th 1994 (during the first democratic elections after the abolishment of apartheid.

Sports

Sport in South Africa is almost a national religion! Children actively engage in all types of sport from a very young age and inevitably dream of emulating their heroes in football, rugby, cricket and just about every other sport you can think of.

Since the first democratic elections were celebrated in 1994, South Africa has hosted a variety of international sporting tournaments: The Rugby World cup in 1995 (which they won), Football’s African Cup of Nations in 1996 (which they won), and the Cricket World Cup in 2003. The country has also hosted auto racing’s A1 Grand Prix since 2006.

South Africa has always been a formidable competitor in Rugby Union. The national team, the Springboks, have won the Rugby World Cup on two occasions: 1995 and 2007.

Bafana Bafana (as the South African football team are known, meaning “The Boys”) have the hopes of a nation riding on their shoulders. The South African Football Association (SAFA) was banned from all international football events from 1974 till 1992, so winning the African Cup of Nations in 1996 was a significant triumph. Since then Bafana Bafana have proven somewhat inconsistent, slaying giants one moment and losing dismally to underdogs the next. So anything could happen in June/July 2010!

Famous South Africans

You may know of several other famous South Africans, but here we offer a small list of some of the names that have conquered the world, and you may be surprised by some of them:

J.R.R. Tolkien, writer and author of “Lord of the Rings”.

J.M. Coetzee, writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Nelson Mandela, revolutionary leader, first black president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Charlize Theron, the first South African actress to win an Oscar.

Christian Barnard, the doctor who realised the first ever heart transplant.

Jody Sheckter, Formula 1 champion in 1979.

Gary Player, World Golf Hall of Famer and winner of 9 major tournaments

Desmond Tutu, Archbishop and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984

Hugh Masekela, Grammy Award nominated musician best known as a trumpeter

As we mentioned, this is just a small introduction to South Africa, and the beginning of a whole month of activities that we have prepared for the Answers Community around the FIFA World Cup. Stay tuned, and you will find yourself in the middle of a number of contests, activities and rewards that we’ve set up for you along the way.

“May the best team win!”

Memorial Day is a time to honor all the brave men and women who lost their lives in times of military conflict. What’s less known is how the holiday started. That is largely thanks to one man, General John Logan.

General Logan led an extraordinary life, by even the loftiest standards. At different points in his career, he was a United States congressman, a senator, and even a candidate for the office of vice president. But, he will likely be most remembered for his efforts to bring about a holiday that would honor fallen soldiers.

Originally, Logan called the holiday “Decoration Day.” He was inspired to create it as a way to help bring the country back together after the Civil War led to so many divisions. General Logan held the first Decoration Day on May 30, 1868. He chose that date for two reasons: First, there were no Civil War battle anniversaries on that day, and second, flowers would likely be blooming across the country.

Memorial Day has since become an official federal holiday, although some might argue that the day’s focus has shifted from honoring fallen soldiers to picnics and barbeques. Of course, there’s no reason we can’t have both. The National Moment of Remembrance hopes to bring the original intention of the holiday back into focus. For one minute, at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, people are asked to stop what they’re doing and silently think about the sacrifices that have been made in the name of the country.

How do you guys plan to celebrate Memorial Day? What traditions mean the most to you? Do you have any inspired ways to honor the men and women of the military on Memorial Day? Please leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Photo by GonchoA

Ahh, March. If you’re a college basketball fan, this time of the year means one thing to you: March Madness. For many, part of getting ready for the season means preparing your bracket, and getting your “picks” together. For some, this is all just fun and games, but for others, it’s a science. And, this science even has a name: “bracketology.”

It’s the science of picking winners and knowing who will be the last team standing in the end. Whether you believe in the science of it all, or, are just in it for the game, there are loads of resources popping up on the web this year making it easier for you to stay in touch with your fantasy picks and favorite teams, including Yahoo! Sports “Tourney Pick’em” fantasy sports bracket. (And, this year you can win up to a million dollars if you end up with a perfect bracket!)

Online selections open on Sunday, March 14^th and close Thursday, March 18^th, but you can start creating a pool of your favorite Answers friends, college buddies, or office mates now while you wait for the tournament field to be announced on the 14^th.

Or, if you’re looking to meet a few fellow Yahoo! Answers users who also love basketball, you’re welcome to join our bracket, found here.

Need some last minute tips and information on this year’s teams from Kansas and Kentucky? Don’t forget to check out the Basketball category on Answers in addition to the NCAA section on Rivals But remember– if you’re asking specifically about your fantasy picks, be sure to place your questions in the appropriate category: Fantasy Sports.

Good luck!