Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers blog

With whom would you like me to cooperate on a track in the future and why?

The electronic music scene has come a long way in the last ten years and has been greatly advanced by DJs like Tiësto. Born in Holland, DJ Tiësto was the first DJ in the world to have a sold out, one-DJ event in a stadium for more than 25,000 people. His remix of Delerium (Silence) by Sarah McLachlan was the first house song ever played during the day on US radio (it stayed in the UK’s top ten for eight weeks). He’s worked with Moby, the Dave Matthews Band, Cirque du Soleil and Disney, and has also played live for billions of people during the athletes’ parade at the opening ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Even though Tiësto is mainly known for his contributions to the trance scene, his style has developed into more of a mix of several genres, including trance, house and techno. His productions and sets include everything from fast-paced songs to more mellow tunes and regularly reach the number one spots on European charts.

Tiësto continues to explore new places, and experiment with new sounds in the studio, but he wants to know what you would like to hear, so let DJ Tiësto know who you would like him to work with on a new track.

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

Have you ever been good at hula-hooping?  We know someone who has – the Heart radio DJ Jamie Theakston.  Jamie was actually the Brighton champion hula-hooper in 1985. 

Now, with hula-hooping making something of a comeback, Jamie is taking up the cause again with Heart highlighting the feel good factor that hula’ing creates by asking a range of hoop-related questions on Answers over the next three weeks.

Hula-hooping is a fun activity that all can take part in no matter what your age or level of fitness, and it will bring a smile to even the hardest of people.  Any time of day in any kind of weather the Hula can be swung.  Perfect fun for all the family!

“Hooping” came to light in recent times in the 1950’s where its popularity grew as a fun and easy form of entertainment especially amongst the younger crowds.  However hula-hooping is no new phenomenon.  It is believed that as far back as 3,000 years ago children and young adults throughout the ancient world would play with hoops of dried out grape vines by swinging the hoops around their waist’s, in the same way that we do today.  Throughout the 1960’s the new found fad seemed to fade away, however recently “hooping” has seen a huge resurgence due to its physical and tonal benefits that it can give to the body through regular exercise. What a great way of removing those unsightly love handles gained over the Christmas period!

The hula trend has also grown over the internet, and on Answers people have questioned how to learn the basics for learning hula hooping.  Regular ‘hoop-goers’ have even reported that the hoop can add to your confidence, beauty, fun and inner-peace. 

So what’s stopping you? Get out there and hula!  You can be assured that in doing so you will be bringing joy to all that observe you in your hip-swiveling activities, whilst at the same time having fun and getting fit. Come rain or shine, it’s hula time!

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

“Failte” means welcome in Irish, and with that we are glad to welcome our very first Irish featured user, known to all as Alpha.  Since becoming a member in March, Alpha has climbed to level 6 with over 12, 000 points, mainly due to over 82% of her responses being chosen as the best answer!

Having resided in Dublin her whole life, Alpha holds vast amounts of knowledge about living in Ireland, its history and the dialects spoken there.  She can frequently be found in the languages category giving translations, as well as helping users understand the changes occurring in Irish speech.

Currently, Alpha works as a tutor, teaching IT skills to students of all ages.  These skills can be seen in the Computers and Internet category, where she has offered advice on software and helped users who are new to Answers. Apart from helping others, Alpha enjoys challenging the brain with puzzles or trying her hand at a bit of DIY.

When asked about her experience on Answers, Alpha says:

“I came across Answers by clicking on it accidentally one day and became hooked immediately when the first question I answered was chosen as a Best Answer.  I answer in many categories and usually begin by doing an advanced search for ‘Irish’ or ‘Gaelic’, this leads to questions on Irish life, culture, language and history. My mother was native Irish speaker so I have a good grasp of the Irish language and enjoy translation questions, although I use a dictionary for the correct spellings.

When there are no new Irish questions I look for questions on computer applications and other general questions that I find interesting and feel could be answered with a bit of research. I love the challenge of looking up information and learning something new for myself as well as helping those asking the questions. The greatest reward for me is when the person who asks the question acknowledges the answer and says that it has been helpful.”

Thank you for your contribution Alpha, we look forward to more great answers from you!

– Yahoo! Answers UK & Ireland team

Sarnies, butties or subs? However you refer to the common sandwich, our favourite lunchtime food is so popular that it now has its very own day – Friday 3^rd November is… Sandwich Day!

In the UK, we munch our way through over 11 billion sandwiches every year. In an age where convenience is everything, it’s no surprise that the popularity of the sandwich, which can be eaten for any meal and anywhere, reigns supreme. Have you ever thought about where they come from?

The Jewish sage Hillel is thought to have been the inventor of the ‘sandwich’ in the 1st century B.C when he put lamb meat and bitter herbs inside matzo (flat unleavened bread) during the festival of Passover. However, the name ‘sandwich’ refers to John Montagu, 4^th Earl of Sandwich who was fond of this form of food; it allowed him to continue playing cards and eat without getting his cards sticky.

Every country likes a different sandwich or so it seems. Americans are famous for mixing peanut butter and jam between bread while the quintessential British filling is the sometimes soggy cucumber sandwiches, cut small and designed to fill the hunger gap between lunch and dinner. Cucumber fillings are also popular in India but combined with green chutney and potato.

Sandwiches are now such an integral part of our society that there is actually a British Sandwich Association who give us the official definition of the sandwich: ‘Any form of bread with a filling, generally assembled cold.’ However, that does not stop the Yahoo! Answers community experimenting though with everything from interesting sandwich fillings or odd ones to whether different shaped sarnies taste better!?

Now we’re looking at what would make the ultimate, perfect sandwich. Give us your views and get in on the great sandwich debate.

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

You may have already heard of the Yahoo! Time Capsule – this is an event currently taking place in the New Mexico desert and is the largest internet time capsule in history.

People are invited to visit the time capsule microsite, designed by renowned Internet artist Jonathan Harris, and upload text, images, video, audio or drawings free of charge. Everyone, from students to seniors, are encouraged to participate with submissions on topics such as love, anger, fun, sorrow, faith, beauty, past, now, hope and “you.” The time capsule site will take users’ contributed multimedia content and weave it into a single piece of digital art online. Submitters will also be given the opportunity to choose from seven global charities, which will each receive a donation from Yahoo! at the end of the project.

When the Answers team heard about this, we realised there is scope to share knowledge around these specific topics. Over the next few days we will be posting the following questions on subjects that affect humanity in the present day.

The best answers to each of these questions will find their way into the Time Capsule itself to be opened in the year 2020 with the rest of the capsule’s multimedia content.

Here are the questions we have asked:

Sorrow: How can you overcome grief and sorrow?

Faith: What can we do to promote tolerance and understanding between different faiths?

Beauty: In an era of mass media, how can we promote diverse perceptions of beauty?

Past: How much does our past inform our present?

Now: What will this decade and its citizens be remembered for come 2020?

Hope: How can we offer hope to those that have little or none?

You: How can we all go about truly knowing ourselves?

Love: What else, apart from love, do you need to sustain a healthy and happy relationship?

Anger: How can we best manage the anger of both others and ourselves?

Fun: How does ‘fun’ fit into our increasingly pressured work-life balances?

Don’t wait for us to put your answers in the time capsule though – you are all welcome to visit the time capsule and make your own contributions!

–Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team