Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

We are happy to announce that we’ve made some tweaks to our flash badge to make it work on Myspace and Yahoo! 360.

Unfortunately, the badge is only supported as part of a 360 blog post. A more permanent option for placing the badge is forthcoming. Thanks!

To post to Yahoo! 360:

1. Go to the Badge Page in your profile.
2. Select either the Horizontal or Vertical version of the badge.
3. Copy the code by selecting the code and selecting Copy from the Edit menu on your browser.
4. Go to 360 and click “Compose Blog Entry”.
5. Enter some text here describing your badge.
6. Select “View HTML Source”.
7. Paste in the badge code after your text.
8. Click “Post This Entry” and you’re done!

Just make sure that when you try to use this badge on 360 as a blog entry, you select either the Vertical or Horizontal version and NOT the default Header version. The default width of the Header badge is 620, which is longer than what 360 allows (540). So if you want to use the Header version, you have to change the width from 620 to 540.

To add to your Myspace profile:

1. From your Myspace page, click “Edit Profile”.
2. Cut and paste the code from the badge page (pick any size you want) into any of the profile fields.
3. Save and you’re done.

To add to your Myspace blog:

1. You can cut and paste the code and post it as a blog, or you can customize your blog to have the Answers badge as a header, by clicking “Customize Blog” and pasting the badge into the “Your Own Header HTML” field.

If you want to edit the badge code to have a custom height and width, you can edit the height and width fields in the code to anything you want. FYI: the max width on 360 badges is 540 pixels.

The badge is an awesome way to promote your questions and answers. Since it’s always showing your latest stuff, visitors to your blogs can see what you’re most curious or knowledgeable about. Have fun, and definitely let us know how you’re using the badge.

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Do you have a burning question to ask the UK?

Do you have experience or knowledge to share?

Do you want to ‘unleash the expert within’ and be part of something really exciting this summer?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you could be who we’re looking for!

We’re searching the length and breadth of the country in a bid to “unleash the expert” from within the minds of the UK’s most curious, active, stimulated, opinionated and passionate Brits!

We believe that everyone is an expert in something.

The bulk of relevant human knowledge – particularly community-based knowledge that is highly valued by searchers – still resides with people, not in mathematical algorithms and machines. Information on the web may equal more than a billion books, but the information in people’s heads is still a thousand times more!

So, we’re on a mission to unleash this mass of expert information to populate Yahoo! Answers with quality answers, and thought provoking, original questions.

How? Well, Yahoo! Answers will be visiting a town near you this summer to stimulate those mental juices and unleash the expert within. We’ll be travelling with all sorts of fun, revealing, original and thought provoking activities so everyone can get involved!

Want to take part? Please send an email to y_answrs_team_uk@yahoo.co.uk with your name, contact details and your ‘expert’ topics and we’ll be in touch.

We can’t give away too many details just yet but more details will be revealed soon, so keep a look out on this blog…

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when thinking about something as big as ending global poverty. It’s hard to even understand the scope of this problem, let alone think of ways to solve it, and it’s difficult to imagine how one person could make a difference.

 

Bono’s question about finding ways to make poverty history raises several issues, some of which coincide with Isaiah Washington’s question about fighting the spread of a disease like malaria. These goals may feel massive, but as many of you pointed out in response to Isaiah’s question, discussing them is the first step to making change become a reality.

 

Ending poverty on a global level is not going to be easy, but that doesn’t mean the effort shouldn’t be made at all. Bono, and groups like live8live.org, are finding ways to get the ball rolling in our own little corners of the world. Sometimes keeping the conversation going makes all the difference.

 

Identifying the sources of the problem may be the first step. Many cite trade regulations and corruption as key contributors to global poverty, and say that the duty to rectify these issues falls on the shoulders of established nations. The scarcity of natural resources, loss of ambition, and limited opportunity for growth also help contribute. Some believe that monetary assistance grants only help perpetuate the problem, while others examine biological and psychological theories behind the subculture of poverty.

 

So what can ordinary people do?

 

Well, nurses4evr suggests investing in third and fourth world countries as a solution, and thylawyer’s ideas for poverty relief in Africa are intriguing. Some Answerers mirror auntb’s views, believing that alleviation may be possible, but elimination is too daunting a task to achieve. Some people want to start by addressing the poverty at home, while others debate whether U.S. poverty still exists. We really like sandcatsle’s ideas for realistic solutions to poverty because they stress the importance of keeping informed and give examples of ways to get involved on both a smaller and larger scale. As sandcastle put it, “every little bit helps.”

 

So now we’ll turn it over to you. Can Answers help make history by finding ways to end global poverty?

 

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

“How can the human race survive the next hundred years?”

- Stephen Hawking

Professor Dr Stephen Hawking’s fields of research are theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity, but he’s more widely known for his 1988 best-selling physics book A Brief History of Time.  Recently Hawking has expanded his audience yet further, making some popular television cameos, firstly as a member of the Vice Presidential Action Rangers on Futurama, and then as Lisa’s saviour on The Simpsons.

Now he’s joined the Answers community to pose a slightly more highbrow, yet none the less vital question: “how can the human race survive the next hundred years?”’

Already popular amongst Answerers, some ponder why Hawking has yet to win a Nobel Prize, while others question his religious beliefs. We’re certain Professor Hawking will be pleased to see that his own ideas about black holes and the survival of the human race are being discussed on Answers.

Answers has a thriving science community, with vibrant Physics and Astronomy and Space categories. But for now, check the Answers community’s replies to Stephen’s question – perhaps together we’ll make some progress!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

“Do you think that men and women’s tennis championship earnings should be the same?”

With Wimbledon in its’ second week, we have asked nine times Ladies’ Singles champion Martina Navratilova to pose a question on Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers.

Martina’s question – “do you think that men and women’s tennis championship earnings should be the same?” – is a subject that resonates across the world of sport, not just tennis. Now is your chance to have a say by answering her question.

Within Wimbledon the difference in prize money for men and women has narrowed over the years. This year the Gentlemen’s Singles champion stands to win £655,000, whilst the Ladies’ Singles champion would collect £625,000. British tennis player Andy Murray was quite vocal last week in suggesting men deserve to earn more than women due to the extra number of sets they should be. Maybe you agree with his comments?

Maybe you have your own views on the matter? Well, this is your chance to put forward thoughts on the subject by answering Martina’s question. After Wimbledon has ended Martina will be choosing one of your replies as the best answer.

Once you have answered this question, why not help Martina stay in shape by helping her out with her question she has posed for US Answers. There are also a whole host of other tennis questions on Answers, including why are tennis balls fuzzy?’, why don’t umpires use Hawk-eye?’ and ‘where does the tennis scoring system come from?’ Enjoy!

— Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team