Yahoo! Answers

The Yahoo! Answers team is happy to roll out a new feature called ‘Trending Questions’- A set of five questions which will cover most popular events and top stories in your region. Trending Questions will be shown in a carousel above the main question on every question page.

As the feature is being introduced in a trial version not all of you will see the trending questions immediately.

Questions asked by the community, that match topics or events that are most asked or viewed will be eligible for the Trending Questions carousel. The Answers team will consider the following while selecting among eligible questions – the quality of questions and answers, time relevancy, questions gaining popularity on Answers, social networks and search engines. As new stories unfold, new sets of questions will show up in the carousel

So start discovering what your fellow community members have to say about the recent happenings and join the conversation. We hope you will enjoy this feature.

Thanks for reading,

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Hey Guys,

When a person is naked, he or she is sometimes referred to as being “in the buff.” Interesting expression, no? Here’s how the phrase came to be.

According to the Phrase Finder, an excellent site for all sorts of questions about word origins, the expression originally didn’t mean being naked. Instead it referred to a light leather tunic.

Often, these tunics were brown-ish yellow — or “buff” — in color. Buff, by the way, is indeed a color, not just an enviable body type.

The Phrase Finder writes that the first recorded use of “in the buff” to describe nudity came about in 1602 by Thomas Dekker in “Satiromastix, or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet“:

“No, come my little Cub, doe not scorne mee because I goe in Stag, in Buffe, heer’s veluet too.”

But what about that other favorite bit of nudity slang, buck-naked? Nobody knows for sure, but Mavens’ Word of the Day, hazards an interesting theory. “Around the same time that buck naked was making its debut, so was another slang term, bucket, for ‘buttocks, rump.’”

Got a favorite phrase or expression that you’d like me to write about? Please leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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**Secret Revealed**

Before we could even go to space, the myth was the great wall is visible from the moon. Ever since we got to space, astronauts have been looking for it.

Mathematically, the wall would have to be at least 70 miles (110 km) wide to be seen from the moon with unaided eyes. Since the wall has a maximum width of 30 ft (9.1 m), this is easily dismissed as myth. The moon legend came from a 1754 letter by William Stukeley; his remarks on the massive size of the wall could have been literary hyperbole. But, some people took it literally.

In his defense, there have been a few claims that the great wall can be seen from low earth orbit — as little as 100 miles (160 km). A number of astronauts have claimed they have seen it. Even the European Space Agency claimed it was visible and published a picture. A week later they issued a press release indicating it was actually a river and not the Great Wall of China.

NASA claims it, “generally isn’t [visible], at least to the unaided eye.” Mathematically, it’s the same answer, unless you have 20/3 or better vision. But, according to the Journal of Optometry, “Not even the best of human eyes at a simple glance could see the Great Wall of China from Space.” That’s because the anatomy of the eye limits vision to an acuity no greater than 20/9. So, 20/3 is impossible.

The gaza pyramids on the other hand are about 22 times wider than the Great Wall of China; they are visible from low earth orbit.

Chad Upton is the editor-in-chief of Broken Secrets and an official Yahoo Answers contributor.

Thanks for reading,

Sources: wikipedia (Great Wall of China), Journal of Optometry, NASA

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Last Monday we introduced our own Easter tradition – the Answers Letter Egg Hunt! And today, we’re happy to announce the winners.

Congrats to our US Winner Michael Metzger aka M2the2ndpower

Congrats to our UK Winner Hansal Vaikkath aka Doctor Who

They are winners of the Two-toned Yahoo! Umbrella and a $25 Gift Card to Ghirardelli Chocolates.

We had a lot of community members who participated! It will definitely NOT go unnoticed. We’ll make sure to email you all back and award you an extra 200 points!

In case you couldn’t find all the letters. Here they are!

• First Letter – S – Facebook Homepage Cover Photo – ? replaced with an S

• Second Letter – P – Answers Homepage, BoA Module – NCAA Question

• Third Letter – R – Answers Profile Page – Yamster Avatar

• Fourth Letter – I –Answers Blog – Ask Mike Avatar

• Fifth Letter – N – Twitter Header – ? replaced with N

• Sixth Letter – G – Answers Blog – Pic of Girl with Bunny Ears in Easter Post

Let us know what you thought of our Letter Egg Hunt below.

Thanks for reading,

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Hey, guys,

With Easter just around the corner, you may find yourself wondering how a giant candy-delivering rabbit came to be associated with a holiday that commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here’s the scoop.

I’ve covered this topic before, but since Yahoo! Answers is chock-full of “What’s the deal with the Easter Bunny?” type questions, I thought I’d give it another shot.

The Easter Bunny has its roots in pagan, or pre-Christian, culture. Mental Floss explains that “many pagan cultures held spring festivals” in which they’d honor the Eostre, the goddess of dawn.

Eostre was “linked to the hare and the egg, both symbols of fertility.” As Mental Floss puts it, “As Christianity spread, it was common for missionaries to practice some good salesmanship by placing pagan ideas and rituals within the context of the Christian faith and turning pagan festivals into Christian holidays.”

Because Eostre fell close on the calendar to the anniversary of Christ’s resurrection, “the two celebrations became one and with the kind of blending that was going on among the cultures, it would seem only natural that the pagans would bring the hare and egg images with them into their new faith.”

The Easter Bunny is, for the most part, beloved for its cute and cuddly appearance. But not by everyone. No, sir. Here’s a collection of photos of young kids freaking out in front of the bowtie wearing bunny.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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