ChaCha Blog

To help you handle queries about Black Friday store hours, we have loaded into QuickAnswers a substantial listing of major chains and their Black Friday hours. Because there are sometimes variations, we will be providing a number to call and include that number in the answer, while urging customers to call to check hours.

Just go to the QuackBox and look for BlackFriday in QuickHints. When you click on it you’ll be prompted to enter a business name and the Black Friday store hours will show as part of the answer. As more stores publicize their hours, we’ll be adding to the list! Here are two examples:

· Ace Hardware Black Friday hrs for 2009 start at 7AM. hrs may vary; pls call 866-290-5334.· BestBuy Black Friday hrs for 2009 start at 5AM. hrs may vary; pls call 888-237-8289.

This promises to be a very busy year for BlackFriday shoppers, and ChaCha will be there (with your help) to guide early bird shoppers!

Newsflash!

Speaking of 800 numbers, we have hundreds of major stores/banks/auto rental/airlines, etc. and their Customer Service numbers in QuickAnswers, too! Just start typing Best Buy, for example, in the QuackBox, and the 800# will show up in the answer.

Fasten your seat belts, the Holidays are upon us!

Our newest points functionality is the coolest functionality yet: Hourly Point totals. Say goodbye to only seeing a daily and weekly winner, you can now see who is conquering questions every hour!But don’t let them take the title this hour, try to catch them. If you can’t, get them next hour and talk a little trash while you’re at it. This is your house!

For those who love races, this is where you need to be! It’s all about a sprint to the next hour! We’ve seen races being formed in the Guide Forum, but you’ve never been able to see an actual leader board of who’s ahead and who’s lagging behind. On the Universe you’ll find a new Points tab that updates every minute so you’ll always know minute-to-minute where you place.

You can also race each other across roles! You think that pesky Expeditor in the Forum can’t take you? Challenge them to a little game of 1-on-1 and then take them to the hole! They can’t touch your skills!

And to sweeten the deal, Ben (bsutton on the Forum) has challenged everyone to a 1 hour race starting at 3pm Eastern. He doesn’t think you can hang with the FIRST GUIDE EVER! So show him that he is no longer the Alpha Guide and tell him to eat your points, er, dust!

Which of the following is an example of alliteration tall as a giant, allows arrest angry elephants, hotter than a white iron. Sad Sam signs sorrocal songs?
Alliteration is defined as use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse. Sad Sam signs sorrocal songs would therefore be the best example in that list of alliteration.

how fast does the average horse go when they are running?
Some horses are not built to run fast an may only do a fast canter at their best; however, the gallop is about 30 mph. Thoroughbreds, which are bred for running distance but not speed, have been clocked at over 40 MPH. ChaCha!

If Mike entered 75+81+71+78+83/5 to find his average score on five tests. he got 321.6 as his average is this his correct average?
This is not correct. Mike should have entered (75+81+71+78+83) / 5. As it stood, Mike was only dividing 83 by 5. The correct answer should be 77.6 average. I hope this helps! ChaCha Onwards!

What is the phobia name for the fear of dying from a chainsaw?
The fear of chainsaws is called common sense! Seriously, no phobia name for it, but Kanalineophobia is fear of rows of blades.

Where did the phrase ‘Damn the torpedos’ come from? Where did the phrase ‘Damn the torpedos’ come from?
Admiral David Glasgow Farragut said ‘Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!’ during the Civil War. It means to advance without hesitation. The torpedoes to which Farragut and his contemporaries referred would today be described as tethered m
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Now that Expeditors & Voice Transcribers can see their QCs in real time and no longer have to wait for emails, the QC Appeal deadline has been moved up to Monday nights at 11:59pm for sessions from the previous week.  This change will allow us to get weekly scores out even earlier than when they are currently sent.  Our graders finish grading Saturday’s answers on Sunday by 11:59pm, so it gives everyone at least 24 hours to appeal the QCs they receive.

Remember, in order for us to process an appeal we need the following information:

1.      QC Serial Number
2.     Date
3.     Query Information
4.     Score
5.     Reason you disagree with the QC score you received

If an appeal is sent without this information, the necessary information will be requested.  If we do not receive a response with the required information before the deadline, your appeal will not be processed.

We are making these changes to improve both our response time to your feedback as well as our accuracy once overturns for appeals have been made.  With your cooperation, the inclusion of this number in feedback and new deadline will greatly improve our current processes and allow us to better answer your feedback.

Today we will gradually be turning on Quality Rating tabs for all roles.  We may need to turn them off and on during the day as we load data and do some additional testing - please note that not all the information may display correctly when they’re first turned on.

Thank you!

Congrats to our weekend contest winners posted below!

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Gigantic news everybody!

In case you haven’t heard yet, on Saturday evening ChaCha became one of the Top 100 websites on the Internet according to Internet metrics site, Quantcast.  The speed with which our traffic is growing helped catapult us past websites like NFL.com, Time.com and has us bumping up against sites like urbandictionary.com and expedia.com.  We’re hanging out with the big boys now, and for the simple reason that you are consistently providing fantastic answers.

If you remember, there was a pool in the forum to see who could guess the date on which we’d enter the Top 100.  Hoch0077 ended up picking the right date!  Big ups to her and she can be expecting an amazing ChaCha Gift Pack to show up at her door.  MJP65aa has set up another pool for when we hit the top 50, so go throw your guess in there.  We have to attract a little over 5 million additional unique visitors per month to break into the Top 50.  This will be another steep climb but the record velocity at which we’re able to bring customers to ChaCha.com to get quick answers, it will definitely happen- we’re already at #98!

Hey all -

You may have noticed that our Gear Store has been down for a few weeks. We are in the process of revamping the site to better serve our Customers and you, the Guides. With the holiday season coming up, ChaCha Gear is the perfect stocking stuffer for that hard-to-shop-for person on your list.

To help ease the pain, we have created a Guerilla Shop right in the GuideBlog. It is a very simple process.

• Email us at gear@chacha.com (Please note that only gear-related messages will be replied to from this email address.)
• Tell us what you want.
• Include your phone number and one of our ChaCha Employees will give you a call and take your order right over the phone.

We realize this is a bit of a pain, so we are going to cover all shipping costs for you. We will also include a little present for being so understanding.

Thanks and happy shopping.

hoodie $25 s, m, l, xl, 2x, 3x

FOR MORE GEAR, CLICK BELOW.
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TW: All Things Twilight: Just in Time for ‘New Moon’ Release

“New Moon’’, the 2nd installment of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series to hit movie theaters, opens Nov. 20.  These books and films are wildly popular with our users, so we’ve compiled all things Twilight and New Moon – quote, trivia, and fun facts – into one ThmbSavr, accessed with the keyword TW.  Here are some samples:

TwiTriv: Q. What item of clothing does Jacob keep destroying when he transforms into a werewolf?
A. Jacob keeps destroying his tennis shoes. He has a hard time getting them off in time! 4More: TWI

Bella: I threw my arms around him instinctively, wrapping them around his waist and pressing my face
against his chest. He was so big, I felt like I was a child hugging a grown-up. 4More: NMQ

Jacob: I’m sorry I can’t be the right kind of monster for you, Bella,.. [wow. Tear jerker.] 4More: TWQ

More than enough Twilight and New Moon content to satisfy even the thirstiest fans! Note that you can get more specific types of Twilight content by texting TWI, TWQ, and NMQ.

Did You Know that ChaCha has a new DYK ThmbSavr?

Our customers love fun facts, weird facts, and even just random facts. We created a new ThmbSavr just for them called DidYouKnow. Text DYK to get thousands of more-or-less ‘useful’ facts such as:

DYK: The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube & chocolate melted in his pocket. 4More txt DYK
DYK: A skunk’s smell can be detected by a human a mile away. 4More txt DYK
DYK: In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said ‘Play it again, Sam.’ Sherlock Holmes never said ‘Elementary, my dear Watson.’ Captain Kirk never said ‘Beam me up, Scotty,’ but he did say, ‘Beam me up, Mr. Scott.’ 4More txt DYK
DYK: The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet (9 m). 4More txt DYK

With over 1500 in our database of DYK’s, customers will be entertained for hours, and you’ll always have a ready answer to: ‘Send me a random fact’!

I’m Too TEXTY for My Shirt; But I Still Need a Textisms Dictionary

Both informative and entertaining, ChaCha’s new TEXTY ThmbSavr offers hundreds of explanations for even the most mysterious textisms, from emoticons to acronyms to texting shortcuts.  Some examples:

Laffs: Try out this one: ‘ROTFLMAOTID’ it means: Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off Till I Die  4More txt TEXTY LAFF
Acronomize: Here’s a good one: ‘LJBF’ is short for: Let’s Just Be Friends (I like you but, not that much)  4More txt TEXTY ACRO
Emote: Try out this one:  %-}  it means: Intoxicated .. 4More txt  TEXTY EMOT
Wonky: When you text ‘SFLA’ it means: Stupid Four Letter Acronym 4More txt  TEXTY WONK
Acronomize: If you type ‘PRW’ in text, it means: Parents Are Watching 4More txt  TEXTY ACRO

Fast: If you type ‘NE14KFC?’ in text, it means: Anyone for KFC? (God, I’m starving)  4More txt TEXTY FAST

Now, you can send even more arcanely coded messages to ur friends. Or even the most bewildered parent can figure out what their teens are saying! Note that you can get more specific if you text in TEXTY LAFFS,  TEXTY ACRO, TEXTY EMOT, TEXTY WONK, TEXTY FAST.

What are Apothicary jars.
An Apothecary Jar is a container that was used by apothecaries (one who prepares and sells drugs or compounds for medicinal purposes). Today we would call apothecaries - pharmacists. Apothecary jars are now used in home decor (as artistic pieces) holding a variety of everyday objects.

What is the skeletal characteristics of gracile aurtralpithecines? And of homo erectus?
In Gracile Australopithecines, teeth, jaw & cranial anatomy are one functional complex, with a dish-shaped face. In Homo erectus, the cranium is long, low & somewhat flattened at the front & back. Cranial bone is thicker than in earlier hominids.

What is 39 divisible by?
39 is divisible by 3 and results in a whole number (13). You can determine if a number is divisible by 3 (a prime number) if you add the two numbers together (3+9) and get a multiple of 3. 3+9=12 and is divisible by 3, therefore 39 is as well.

When is the last time Georgia Tech went to and won the ACC championship
Georgia Tech was co-champion with Florida State in 1998; both teams were 7-1. They were sole champions in 1990, with a 6-0-1 record. Georgia Tech played in the 2006 ACC Championship game, but lost to Wake Forest 9-6. ChaCha on!

How many boxes of graham crackers, bags of marshmallows, and Hershey Bars do I need to buy to make 600 Smores?
There are about 2 dozen Graham crackers in a regular box, so you’d need 13 boxes to have enough to make 600 smores (2 crackers each). There are about 40 large marshmallows in a 10 ounce bag, so get 15 of those bags. Hershey’s chocolate bars are about 1.5 ounces each, and you need 1 ounce per smore, so that’s 400 bars, unless you make do with .75 ounces (300 bars). ChaCha! Read the rest of this entry »