Yahoo! Philippines Answers blog

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September just sneaked in on us and we’re now in the first “ber” month of the year, which usually means one thing for us Pinoys – Christmas is near!  To be exact, from the time I make this post, it’s exactly 111 days before Christmas.  I don’t really know why but there’s something about Pinoys wanting to celebrate Christmas early and seeing the “Ber” months as the start of the Christmas countdown.

Maybe that’s why Choco Crunchies is Miguel asked the Answers community when the official start of the Christmas season here in our country – is it September 1 or December 16?  Maej said that technically, according to the Catholic Church the Christmas season starts on the Advent which is December 16, but knowing Pinoys, he admits that as early as September 1, we start looking forward to Pasko.

Allan Y asked maybe we should capitalize on this by promoting our country as the Christmas destination of the world and maybe even try to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest Christmas season in the world.  Windblown agrees completely and sees it helping our tourism industry.

In case you’re wondering what the suffix “ber” means, considering 4 of our months end with it, Rock shandy asked it already and Bruhaha shared the best answer – it is widely thought that most of the names of the months originally ended with “ber”, a form of the word for “month”.  And because we’re in the first “ber” month, Roxy <3 wants to know what we love most about the “Ber” months.  Why not share to her what makes the last four months of the year so special for you.

Whatever reason it may be, for all of us Pinoys, the Ber months mean Christmas is around the corner, and it certainly something to look forward to.  Welcome to September everyone, looking forward to October, November and especially December!

Photo by Stitch

Especially here in the Philippines!  Why do I say this?  Well, in a recent news article that I read, the Nielsen Media Research reported that around 80 percent of the Philippines population go to shopping centers and around 36 million visit shopping plazas once or twice a month.  This in spite of the fact that 40 percent of the country’s 90 million people live on less than 100 pesos a day.

The article continues with the report that we have the 3 of the world’s 10 largest malls, 2 of them in Manila, and going to the mall is such a regular activity that “malling” has become a commonly used verb in our vocabulary.

I’m sure you’ll all agree that malling is almost like part of our bloodstream.  Even here in Answers, I see some mall rats asking and answering questions related to malls and malling.  Pikoi06 asked the community if it’s true that the 3rd largest mall in the world is in the Philippines.  Trojan answered him comprehensively by sharing that the SM Mall of Asia is the largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the third largest shopping mall in the world in terms of gross floor size.  In short, it’s huge!  It’s so big they actually rent out golf carts to shoppers for their convenience.

One of the things I noticed is that most of the questions about malls centered on favorites.  Of course it’s a very subjective topic yet it’s exciting to find out what someone’s favorite mall is and why.  BokBok asked this to the community and we had a number of people naming various malls and sharing why that was their fave.  Personally, I really like Glorietta and Greenbelt because it’s very accessible and everything that you need seems to be there.

Vbcarina, who was planning a trip to the Philippines, asked what malls do teenagers usually go to for shopping and princess gave her some tips on some bargain places to get great buys.  Bruce4peralta on the other hand asked what the community thinks is the best shopping mall in the land.  Vibrant_girl got the best answer, and it’s not just one mall because she explained how various malls have different specialties so there’s really a list of “best” malls (that’s how mall-crazy Pinoys are, hehehe).

It’s the weekend already so I’m guessing most of you have made some plans, maybe dine out with the family, gimmick with your friends, date with your significant other, maybe watch a movie, or maybe you plan to do a little shopping since it’s payday today.  Whatever the activity, my guess is this will be done in one of the malls.  If that’s the case, maybe we’ll bump into each other because I’m planning to drop by the mall too, hehehe!  Happy weekend everyone and happy malling!

Photo by Amsk

Hi everyone, join me in welcoming the Yahoo! Philippines Editor here in Yahoo! Answers!  Some of you know this already but 2 weeks ago, she started asking the community different questions that are usually related to a news article or story featured in the Yahoo! Philippines home page.

The first question our editor asked was “Is it ok to use smileys and text lingo like “tnx” in a thank you letter after an interview?“  and 27 Answers users shared their answers.  Congrats to Kat for explaining why, although text lingo is a common part of our day-to-day conversations, it’s really not a good idea to use it when applying for a job.

Last week, she asked the question “Do you believe changing the Constitution to institute federalism will help the development of the Philippines?“, this time in relation to the news about Malacañang’s support for the amendment of the Charter to support changing our form of government from a republic to a federal one.  To our surprise and delight, 118 community members shared their opinions on the topic!  It was pretty overwhelming especially because a number of you gave really comprehensive and well-thought of answers.  However, there can only be one best answer and the person chosen was mjlocad, who gave a concise, informative and compelling explanation behind his answer.

That’s just the first two, expect our Yahoo! Philippines Editor to be regularly asking questions to the community on topics about what’s happening in and around our country.  You’ll see these questions in the Featured Module of the Yahoo! Philippines home page and I’ll be featuring them as well in the Best of Answers.  So watch out for our Editor’s questions and feel free to do what you do best here in Answers - answering questions.

One of the things I enjoyed watching in TV before was TechTV, a 24-hour cable based channel which featured shows about computers, technology and the Internet (obviously, I’m a geek, hehehe). This now defunct channel used to have a very popular show called Call for Help, which offered technical advice and tips to users with computer and other tech-related problems. In a way, it was like Answers on TV.

One of Call for Help’s lead host before was Chris Pirillo, a well known technology personality well known for founding and maintaining Lockergnome, a technical support forum and Gnomedex, an annual technical conference. He currently live streams from his home-office and creates online videos daily from talking about software, computers, iPhone apps, and other technology-related events.

Last week, Chris featured in his site a top ten list on ways to get good answers from Yahoo! Answers shared to him by an Answers user nicknamed ScottyG. The list is very informative and helpful that I decided to share it to everyone in the community as well.

• It may sound strange, but do not make the title too descriptive. If the title is too descriptive, many people will not even open the question to take a look at it. Almost all of my most answered questions have titles which are not overly descriptive.
• Spelling goes a long way. It is much easier to read a correctly spelled question than one with spelling and grammatical errors.
• Do not include huge chunks of conversation in your question. Keep it informative but informal.
• I recommend using bullet points and a summary of the question. This is an easy-to-read format.
• Look for answers with good ’sources’. Remember, Wikipedia can be edited by anyone so it is not always true.
• Do not use the ‘add details’ option to have a chat with answerers. Many questions end up with a flood of added details.
• Don’t put ‘a quick 10 points’ in the question or title. If you do this, you will get a lot of short, rushed comments rather than longer, detailed answers.
• Do not post the same post many times in a short period of time. The Yahoo community WILL ignore your question if you do this!
• Do not put ‘title says it all’ in the question. Questions can seem quite ambiguous on the Internet, so further details will be needed.
• As soon as you have the answer, pick the best answer straight away. If you are a courteous user, your questions will be answered much faster.

I hope everyone gets to see and read this list. What do you think of this list? I’m guessing there are more than 10 ways to get really good answers from the community. If you have any tips in mind that wasn’t mentioned above, feel free to share it to us by leaving a comment. Again, I’m sure we’ll all benefit from this knowledge-sharing activity.

Photo by Amsk

One of the challenges we all face everyday is the daily commute.  Commuting is defined as the process of traveling between one’s place of residence and regular place of work or school.  This means whether we drive a car or take public transport like the MRT, LRT, bus, jeep, tricycle, or pedicab, commuting is an unavoidable aspect of our day-to-day activities.  For me, I take the bus to work and the journey takes about an hour, thankfully it’s just one ride.  What I do during that one hour is take a nap.  I guess I’ve become an expert already in taking naps in bus rides because when I was in college, I take the bus to school and the ride takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes (I live in Parañaque and school is up north!).  During that time, I would usually take a nap (unless there’s an exam, in that case I would be cramming a review, hehehe).

If you observe the people around you while you’re commuting, we all have different habits while we wait for our stop.  Some people have their earphones plugged and listening to music, others will carry a newspaper or a book and just read, some will either be texting with their cellphones or play with their PSPs or other gaming devices.  What about you?  What do you usually do when commuting to work or school?

Speaking of commuting, I noticed that one of the many questions people ask in Answers is directions, like what’s the best way to commute to a specific place.  This is really cool because I have personally benefited numerous times from people who know of a better way teaching me how to get to a place (usually it’s from my dad, hehehe).  You’ll see questions like how to commute to Ermita, Manila, how to get to the World Trade Center if you’re coming from SM North Edsa, or what ride to take to get to Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, or how to get to Festival Supermall in Alabang, how to commute to the Department of Foreign Affairs from Laguna, or how to go to Enchanted Kingdom if coming from Manila.  The list goes on and on.

So many questions and so many places, it’s a good thing there’s someone in the community who knows and is willing to help.  And even if I’m not the person asking, I’m actually glad I read the answers because who knows when I’ll need to go to one of these places.  When that happens, I’ll be thanking Answers in the future for showing me the way, literally.

Photo by debaird

All eyes will be on Beijing, China this August 8, 2008 when the XXIX Summer Olympic Games opens and for the next 16 days, we will be spectators to the best of the best athletes from around the globe who will compete in various sports events in the spirit of peace and unity.

The Olympic spirit, as symbolized by the Olympic flame, is shining brighter than ever, and it can be felt even here in Answers.  Many people have been asking Olympics-related questions and one of the things I’m sure Pinoys want to know is will we have a delegation in the 2008 Summer Olympics.  Dennis asked this to the community 3 months ago and Japs gave him the best answer – yes, although at that time, the finally tally wasn’t finished yet.  We know now that 15 athletes from our country will be participating in the Games.

Rain asked the question why the Olympic Torch didn’t pass by the Philippines considering the event takes place in Asia and Charles explained that the route of the torch followed the “Silk Road” which symbolized China’s ancient links to the rest of the world, and apparently the Philippines is not part of it.  Devillish Gurl wanted to know who will broadcast the Olympic Games in our country and Kasia was able to answer that – the broadcast rights of the 2008 Olympics was awarded to Solar Entertainment, beating the state-run NBN TV Network.

Narciso_vigo2000 asked the Pinoy community if we think this will be the year we get our 1st Olympic gold medal and Michael N said our chances of winning one are as good as ever, and most likely we’ll get it in boxing.  Let’s all hope and pray that our athletes bring home the gold this year, if not, than any medal will still be commendable.  Their participation alone in the Olympic Games makes them winners.  This is what the Olympic Games is all about, and we can clearly see this in the Olympic Creed:

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

To get the latest news on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, make sure to drop by our special Olympics section in Yahoo! Philippines News.

We have been listening to your feedback and have been working hard this summer to keep improving Answers.  Check out these new stuff in Answers that I’m sure will make asking and answering a better experience for all of us.  One of the updates that was just implemented and you may have noticed already is that we changed the Ask and Answer pages to incorporate tips to help you get the most out of Answers.

Now, when you ask or answer a question, you will see a yellow speech bubble giving you some tips:

If there is any spelling mistake (I’m sure this happens to all of us, we all type too fast sometimes), you will be warned and, with help of the Spell Checker, be able to correct all mistakes.

Ignore, Change and click Done when ready.  This will make your questions and answers look better (and by that I mean readable, hehehe).

We will also warn you if your caps lock is on… you know, in the Internet world, writing in capitals is often perceived as shouting and regarded as bad netiquette.

For the experts amongst you who feel as though you don’t need any help, don’t worry because if you think the tips will just annoy you they can easily be closed.  You only need to click on the “x” on the top right of the speech bubble and they are gone.

These are just a few of the tips we have for you.  So what do you think?  Check it out now and go see for yourself!  Don’t forget to leave a comment and share to me and everyone else your thoughts on these updates.

Photo by betelgeux

Are you ready for this?  I found out recently in the news that a total solar eclipse will take place tomorrow, August 1 and seen mostly in remote places like the northeastern side of Canada, the tip of Greenland, parts of Russia, China and Mongolia.

I’m sure the first question that comes to mind is, “will it be visible in the Philippines?”  Well, Yanka asked the same question to the community a few months ago and Yaybob gave the best answer: at most it will be partially seen, maybe not at all.  The sources cited are http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/OHfigures/OH2008-Fig03.pdf and http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmono/TSE2008/TSE2008iau/TSE2008-fig08.GIF (just check the links and see for yourself).

If you’re wondering what conditions must exist for a solar eclipse to occur, Kristina L had the same question posted to the community and alexis gave a very clear answer: the moon should be between the sun and the earth in the same plane as the earth, and for a total eclipse of the sun to occur, the umbra (darkest part of the shadow) of the moon should fall on the earth.  On the other hand, elie101_forever asked how often does a solar eclipse occurs.  Curiosity answered her saying a total eclipse of the sun is only visible from any given spot on earth every 360 years.

The most asked questions about solar eclipses actually dwell on its effect on our eyes.  I know I entitled this “Hey look at the sun” but not without protection!  Cletus2tall asked if it’s true that our brains get fried if we stare at a solar eclipse and Renaissance Kid clarified that the danger is in looking directly at the sun and that it won’t fry our brains, just our retinas.  QuestionMan asked why it’s dangerous to watch a solar eclipse and Krynne explained comprehensively how solar radiation can damage our eyes.  Fernando M asked if we can go blind by watching a solar eclipse and Crystal told him that yes we can, blindness and permanent damage as well.

In case you’re wondering, woden_ahllevhinne asked when was the last time a solar eclipse occurred in our country and Anne Marie shared that it was June 11, 2002, a sunrise eclipse in fact.  If you’re asking when will be the next, 301kodak asked that and again Anne Marie answered, the next partial eclipse of the sun in the Philippines will take place on January 29, 2009 while the next total solar eclipse will be 34 years later, on April 20, 2042.

Don’t’ feel bad if the eclipse won’t be visible in the Philippines because technology now can enable us to see it.  How?  NASA is making it viewable online!  Make sure you check this website (http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2008/TSE2008.html) on the day of the eclipse and share to the community what you think of this rare natural phenomenon.

Photo by Amsk

To everyone who attended the Yahoo! Philippines Answers Community Meet Up last July 18, thank you so much for the exciting, enlightening, and fun evening!  To those who signified that they will come but for some reason wasn’t able to, we truly missed you!  To everyone that wasn’t able to come because they just couldn’t, it’s okay, we understand, and don’t worry, there are other opportunities to come.

Photo by Amsk

More than 30 people showed up at last week’s meet up and it’s interesting to see how varied the Answers community is.  There were new users to high level users (a number of Level 6 and someone high in the leaderboard), college students and working professionals, people who have just met for the first time and users who know each other already both online and offline (they’re the original YAPpers).  It was also a delight to see the reactions of people when they introduced their Answers ID (which is our only identity of them online plus their avatar) and the corresponding “ahhh, ikaw pala yan”, hehehe!

 Photo by Amsk

The program started with some welcome remarks from yours truly and the other Yahoos that attended the event (thanks so much to Amos, Mitch, Jojo, Cris, Charlie and Jeremy!) followed by dinner (loved the pizza and the barbecue!).  After that we had a game called Answers Bingo which involved everyone going around asking questions and signatures from each other (congrats to Paul for finishing first!).  We also had the Wish List wherein we asked community members to share one feature that is not yet in Answers that they wish to have.  Thanks so much for all the ideas and feedback you shared, we will definitely go through the list and consider it when we plan for more features for Answers.  A couple of YAPpers also took the time to share their experiences in Answers, what they loved about it, how they met online and eventually offline afterwards, what they as a group have accomplished (the YAPpers held a Christmas party for street kids last year), and what they look forward to after that evening’s meet up.

Photo by Amsk

We all had a great time that evening and again, thanks so much to everyone who helped make it possible!  I certainly hope this will be the start of many more to come!  Actually I don’t have to say it because a day after the Friday meet up, some of the YAPpers had a mini meet up in Tagaytay.  How I wish I could have been there (had to go back home) but that just shows how it’s really up to the community if they want more meet ups to come.  So where will we have it next?  Cebu?  Davao?  You decide. 

Batman returns to the big screen and this time toppling not only his most feared nemesis the Joker, but even Spider-Man as well.  “The Dark Knight” set a one-day box office record with US$66.4 million on opening day and also took in a record US$155.34 million in its first weekend, surpassing the previous best of US$151.1 million for “Spider-Man 3” in May 2007.

In “The Dark Knight,” actor Christian Bale brings to life Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, who’s fighting against the fearful Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger.  If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ll see Batman in a dilemma to cross the thin line between good and evil like never before…

As “The Dark Knight” invades theaters everywhere, he also makes an appearance here in Yahoo! Answers!  The Answers Team in UK & Ireland brings this rare opportunity to us by asking the Answers community what the perfect question is for Christian Bale!  The best question will be put to Mr. Bale by Yahoo!, on your behalf, and recorded on video.

So, what do you want to ask Christian?

Although the contest ends today, if you have a question in mind for the best Batman ever (IMHO), then post it as a comment on this blog and let’s see what the Pinoy Answers Community has in mind for Mr. Christian Bale.

If you still can’t get enough of the “The Dark Knight” fever and want more info on the Batman movies, visit the “Dark Knight” Film Feature on Yahoo! Movies.  Just click the link and, as the Joker would always say, “let’s put a smile on that face!”