One of the best things about the internet is its ability to help you find things out. Google is great, but it can be hard to find the stuff you need. That’s why websites like Aardvark exist – sometimes it’s better just to ask the right person, through the power of social networking. When you sign up for Aardvark it asks you what kind of things you know a lot about. Everyone else who’s signed up has done the same thing. You can then ask a question and it will be sent to everyone who is likely to know the answer. You usually get an answer in minutes, and you can have a nice chat with the person who helped you (if you like). Of course, it works both ways. Click on the ‘answer’ section and you can have a pop at answering something yourself. It’s really quite addictive, and it has a really nice atmosphere. There’s something about many thousands of people coming together to help each other out that makes you smile. If your question has an absolutely factual answer, you can also try Wolphram Alpha. It calls itself a ‘Computational Knowledge Engine’ – in other words, it’s a smart search engine. Type in a question that has a factual answer (like “weather in the UK last year”, or “the world’s oldest living man”) and it will work out what you’re asking and give you a wealth of really easily understood information, including graphs, tables, and sources. Try it out here - Between those two, there’s not a lot that can’t be answered.
It's not about what you know, it's who you know