Yahoo!7 Answers Australia

How much time do you spend on Answers? Do you feel addicted? If you find yourself spending countless hours on Yahoo!7 Answers, rest assured, you’re not alone. After all, where else can you ask a question and receive heaps of answers from a variety of people in a matter of seconds?

There are many reasons to use Yahoo!7 Answers. Whether you enjoy sharing your personal experience or you just like to ask questions you can’t find answers to, you know where to find us. It’s always nice to know that some people out there in the community are dedicated to giving out the best advice they can.

Here’s an example:

“Two years ago, my best friend graduated from uni with a degree in film production. Her dream was to produce documentaries for the Discovery Channel. She sent her resumes left and right, but received no answers. As you can imagine, the Discovery Channel receives thousands of applications every month. She almost gave up after trying every trick on career sites. Being an avid fan of Yahoo!7 Answers, I suggested that she asks the Answers community for tips on getting your resume noticed.  Not only was her question well received, but a couple of users encouraged her to participate in events sponsored by the Discovery Channel. My friend followed the advice and attended in a career fair. Luckily for her, one of the channel’s producer was present. She introduced herself and impressed the producer; he recommended her for an internship. My friend now works at the Discovery channel, slowly but surely realizing her dream of producing documentaries. Needless to say, most of her decisions are influenced by the Answers community. Recipes, advice, research .. . Answers is our first resort!”

Now we would like to hear about how Answers influences your everyday life? Since you’ve joined Answers, what impact has the site had in your life?

It’s hard to believe but space travel is a real possibility for a few lucky (and very wealthy) people. In the year that there was a total solar eclipse and the 40th anniversary of the first man on the moon, Virgin Galactic’s founder, Richard Branson will conduct a world first when he crews his aerospace vehicle, the Virgin Mothership Eve at the air show EAA Airventure Oshkosh 2009.

Space is one of those fascinating yet enigmatic topics. How does weightlessness work and what does it feel like? How were solar systems formed? Why are stars and planets round? Why is the sun yellow? The more you think about outer space, the more questions form in your mind and in many instances, we just don’t know the answers.

Well for the 200 people who have coughed up their US$20,000 deposit for the sub orbital spaceflight on Virgin Galactic, some of these questions will soon be answered. They will hurtle through the edges of the atmosphere at more than three times the speed of sound and they will experience a type of virtual weightlessness as gravity starts pulling them back to earth.

To celebrate, Yahoo!7 Travel have an out of this world trip to Space Mountain for two flying on Virgin Atlantic from Sydney to Hong Kong return with three nights at the funky W Hong Kong and round trip transfers. Click here to enter the competition.

We’d also like to know, if you had the chance, would you like to take a trip to space in your lifetime? Why or why not?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Reading all the comments from our recent Harry Potter vs Twilight post made me think of other book to movie adaptations and how they compare. Judging by the highest grossing films of the past 10 years, we certainly love a good adaptation or remake. Even looking at the current list of films in cinemas gives you a sense of déjà vu: Angels and Demons, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Hannah Montana, Ice Age 3, Night at the Museum 2, Star Trek 11, Terminator Salvation, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. What do they all have in common? Each one is a sequel or remake of an old movie, book or TV show.

One adaptation coming out soon is My Sister’s Keeper, a movie based on the best selling Jodi Picoult novel. Like all of her books, it’s a family based drama with a  legal predicament, this time a daughter who wants to claim medical emancipation from her parents. Only problem is, she was created using genetic engineering with the intention of saving her critically ill sister and without her kidney, her sister might die.

It’s a fascinating topic and the book was definitely a tear jerker however I’m fearful: will the movie live up to the book? In my opinion, a lot of movie adaptations aren’t anywhere near as good as the book. Think about The Da Vinci Code, Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, even the old favourite Harry Potter. None of those movies managed the capture the magic of the books. Fairly unsurprising considering they’re condensing 300 odd pages into a 2 hour flick.

Of course not all book to film adaptations are flops. Personally I loved the original 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder. Even though I read the book first, with its chocolate river and lick-able wallpaper, the movie brought a whole new dimension to the story. However, although I enjoyed the altered version, the original author didn’t. According to Peach, the reason why the film was called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is because “Roald Dahl didn’t like the direction they were taking with the movie and he refused to allow them to call it Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

I also really enjoy Jane Austen books on screen. I’ve always found the books to be incredibly slow and boring however when they’re condensed into film format, they’re actually quite entertaining. And let’s face it, although they may not be historically accurate, the pretty dresses and eye candy of Colin Firth doesn’t hurt either.

How about you? Are there any book to movie adaptations that make you cringe? Or are there any films that improve the experience of the book?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Last week, the sixth “Harry Potter” film hit theatres. Anyone who read J.K. Rowling’s books knows how the story ends. However, that absence of suspense hasn’t stopped the overwhelming excitement. But Harry isn’t the undisputed king of teen lit anymore. Twilight is big and only getting bigger. Over the past several weeks, I’ve noticed a surge in questions on “Harry Potter” vs. “Twilight.”

By my count, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of questions asking which franchise is “better.” Of course, there is no right answer, but that hasn’t stopped many in the Yahoo!7 Answers community from giving passionate responses.

Alex, a Top Contributor to Yahoo!7 Answers writes that Twilight is the “worst book” he or she has ever read and compares the novel’s hunky vampire Edward to a “creepy stalker.” Ouch. Additionally, Alex argues that the characters in Harry Potter have a backstory and a unique personality in contrast to the stars of Twilight, who are “one dimensional.”

Of course, not everyone agrees with Alex’s assessment. For example, Yahoo!7 Answers member “Doctor Orange!” feels that Twilight is “more realistic” (presumably, that’s a good thing). Another responder writes that while it may be true that many readers enjoy the Twilight books because Edward is an amazingly handsome fella, the real reason for Twilight’s popularity has to do with the way the author lets readers into the mind of the narrator, a conflicted young woman.

Most literature experts, including Stephen King, argue that J.K. Rowling is far and away the superior writer. What do you guys think? Do you prefer one franchise to the other? Or is the whole debate like comparing apples and bowling balls (i.e, totally pointless)? Leave a comment below.

Mike

Great news! You may have noticed that our Yahoo!7 Answers blog has received a little make-over. With the new functionalities you can now:

Rate posts
Now, apart from having the option to leave a comment, you can give each post a rating. Rate posts you like the best with five stars. To do so, just hover the mouse over the stars at the end of each post and choose how many stars you want to rate the post with. Also, you are now able to view the highest rated posts in real time by viewing the ‘Highest Rated’ box on the sidebar.

Share or save posts on the most popular social network/bookmarking sites
With a single click, you will be able to post updates on your favorite social networking sites. Here’s how: for Facebook, Twitter, Delicious and Yahoo Buzz, click on the relevant logo below the post. For other popular sites such as Bebo, MySpace or StumbleUpon, click on the blue ‘Share’ button below the post and select whatever network you want to share to, then post the blog. You can even email the post to a friend or save it in your bookmarks. Easy peasy!

If you are a Twitter user and want to keep up to date with the Answers blog, simply click on the ‘Follow us on Twitter‘ link on the sidebar and add us to your contacts.

Find posts through the Tag Cloud
We’ve also added a tag cloud so if you’re interested in posts about product updates, celebrities or the environment for example, you can click on the relevant tag and find all the blogs we’ve written about that particularly topic.

We think these new add-ons will make the Yahoo!7 Answers blog easier to use and more fun. What do you think?

As we mentioned earlier this week, recently the Yahoo!7 Answers team got the opportunity to meet Robert Knepper, the villainous T-Bag in Prison Break. He was in Australia promoting season 4 of Prison Break which includes all 22 episodes of the final series as well as a unseen footage and the final 2 hour movie length special that concludes the story.

While Robert wanted to ask the community a question (answer his question: Who is your favourite TV or film villain of all time and what makes him or her fearful?), we also asked him some questions on your behalf. You might remember a few weeks ago we asked you what you would like to ask Robert Knepper. We chose some of the best questions and have it all on video!

Ever wanted to know what it was like filming Prison Break or what the funniest thing that happened on set was? Or perhaps you’re more interested how Robert became an actor and what advice he has for young children with stars in their eyes. Perhaps you’d like to know how people react to his scary character when he goes out in public?

The question that I particularly wanted to know is what it was like wearing the fake hand? Was it uncomfortable or did it become like a glove that he could forget he was wearing. Here is Robert’s particularly amusing answer:

So to see all the answers to his questions, check out our official video page. Don’t know about you but hearing all about the behind the scenes info of Prison Break makes me even more excited about watching that last episode! How do you think it will end?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Last week, the Yahoo!7 Answers team had the pleasure of meeting Robert Knepper, the actor who plays the villainous Theodore ‘T-Bag’ Bagwell on Prison Break. He was lovely, nothing like his character and was a real pleasure to interview.

To celebrate the DVD release of season 4 of Prison Break, (out July 15th from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment), Robert Knepper wants to ask you, the Answers community, a question.

He wants to know: Who is your favourite TV or film villain of all time and what makes him or her fearful?

Check out Robert asking the question below.

Also you may remember, we asked you what you wanted to ask Robert in the interview. Stay tuned later in the week for the full interview!

Caitlin
Community Manager

“How can you eat delicious, fresh food at home on a tight budget?”– Jamie Oliver

Having a little less in your pocket should not mean you scrimp on healthy food, or so says chef extraordinaire, Jamie Oliver. In posing his question to the Yahoo!7 Answers community, Jamie reaches out with a dilemma that so many of us face: can we shop, prepare, cook and eat in smarter ways?

Jamie Oliver is known as the man who successfully taught British school children about healthy eating. He believes that cheap doesn’t have to mean fatty, salty or processed. Fresh, tasty and healthy doesn’t have to mean expensive. But if you have tips on what this means in practical terms, why not answer Jamie’s question and share your knowledge with the community?

Answers itself is a hive of amazing cooking know-how, based around the Food and Drink category.

Is it healthy to eat broccoli raw? Nikita thinks so. According to her medical sources, “not only is this cruciferous vegetable high in vitamin C and fiber, it’s also a rich source of compounds known as glucosinolates which are broken down in the body to form sulforaphane. Sulforaphane has been demonstrated in numerous studies to have potent anti-cancer properties.”

On a slightly less serious note, Aurora asks for some tips on how to bake bread. T?R is on hand to offer some of his 25 years of experience with dough: “Kneading, letting it prove well and getting the mix just right. Use fresh yeast, not dried, and a good quality bread flour. Strong flour means it has lots of gluten.”

Est wants to know how to make quiche. David J offers a great way to combine bacon and mushroom with a little bit of Swiss cheese!

Yum, don’t know about you but I’m getting hungry!

We’d all agree. there has been such an outpouring of grief over Michael Jackson’s death. In fact, the coverage almost hasn’t stopped. From the moment we got news that he’d died of a heart attack, we’ve been bombarded.

What really killed him: Cardiac arrest, Painkillers, his doctor or the media? Are his kids biologically related to him? Who will look after them – his mother Katherine Jackson, Janet Jackson or Debbie Rowe? Where can you get tickets to his memorial? What were some quotes from the memorial?

All these questions and thousands more have been debated on Answers and it’s not looking like it’s ending. Where will he be buried? Do you think the press will honour his wishes by keeping his children out of the spotlight?

However like his life, Michael Jackson’s death hasn’t been without controversy. Mostly people seem to have adored this icon and truly appreciated the impact he’s made on this world. Others are focused on his accusations of sexual impropriety and still feel Michael was a paedophile who was allowed to walk free. Regardless of what you think of him, you have to admit we’ve all got an opinion about Michael Jackson and we’ve all given our two cents worth over the last few weeks.

The other question that I have been pondering is the media coverage surrounding his death. It’s been the most dramatic coverage since Princess Diana died but did he make the biggest impact on the world? Do you think it was a little extreme or do you think it was justified for such a star? I’m interested to hear your thoughts.

Caitlin
Community Manager

As you all know, the web is a pretty big place and just like in the real world, you can encounter all sorts of people. Here at Yahoo!7 Answers, as we strive to improve your experience on Answers, we are also committed to your online safety. That‘s why we offer many ways to control the personal information you want to display and who can contact you.

Since the amount of information you display on social networks is completely up to you, we wanted to remind you how to control these settings on Answers.

Want privacy?

• Don’t display your real name. Pick a nickname or a screen name. A nickname without any personally identifiable information is best.
• Don’t post your real photo. Pick an image or go for an avatar or no image at all.
• Don’t reveal personal information in your profile.
• If you don’t want the community to see your questions and answers, make them private.

Want to control who contacts you?

• Limit your network of friends. Your contacts can view your activity on Answers. Controlling your network allows you to add or remove friends, and also block users.
• Activate or deactivate contact options. We never display your email address, but through this feature you can control whether other people can contact you or not.

And now, a question for you: Do you feel too much personal information is shared in the online world? How do you feel about it? Comment below!