Help Find How To

A friend of mine asked me recently for assistance is setting up his website which he planned to be a place where people could find help and advice on common problems.I thought that this aspect was well covered with sites like Wikipedia, which had highly detailed desciptions of complex tasks and events. Imagine my surprise when I was shown some of the unusual things that people search for on the internet each year including,

 

How to get in shape, and how a computer works were popular searches ,and how to last longer in bed was up there, although this may have been on a different aspect to my grandmother who lasted for many decades with much of her latter years spent in bed ! Continuing through the list, I noted that hordes of people wanted the formula to find the volume of a cube, and help with the dreaded maths homework , in particular algebra, was also well to the fore. People were also asking for help to save their marriage, their finances, and sadly, help with depression.

I was beginning to see how my friends site could cover many topics quite different to those discussed on the more mainstream encyclopaedia type web sites. I was surprised that over 100.000 people had sought advice on how to kiss, which I thought came naturally, wheras 74,000 people had sought advice on how to knit which will never be natural to me.

All of this certainly got my creative juices flowing and I could see great possibilities for a multitude of websites offering advice to those in need. Any doubts were quickly reinforced when I noted that there were even 1,747 searches for “How to Eat a Banana” . For heavens sake, just peel and eat…..perhaps it was the peeling aspect that had so many of them stumped.

• Madrassas 'should teach how to deal with jibes' (The Scotsman)
  
  MUSLIM teenagers in Scotland want their Islamic lessons to include tips on how to deal with jibes about 9/11, jihad and terrorists.
  


• Less is more: How to cut down on drink (Independent)
  
  As is the case for many people these days, drinking wine has become key to my nightly relaxation. Wherever I am at 6.30pm, the pouring of a smooth, velvety-purple shiraz during winter, or a cold, pale sauvignon in summer signifies the end of the day, time to blur the edges and enjoy a bit of wine-induced fuzziness. If for any reason I can't have my end-of-day wine fix, I feel deprived.
  


• Almunia Pledges to Uphold EU Budget Rules During Stimulus Clash (Bloomberg)
  
  Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- European Union Commissioner for Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia pledged to enforce the bloc’s rules that limit the size of budget deficits as finance ministers clashed over how much fiscal stimulus they can afford.
  


• How to calm binge drinkers: get them all blowing bubbles (Guardian Unlimited)
  
  They have considered Asbos, curfews and Taser stun guns in the war on binge-drinking youths on Friday and Saturday nights. Now police are developing a new weapon. Drinkers will be encouraged to play with children's bubble blowers instead of picking fights, in a scheme to start next month in Bolton. Police will hand out the free toys as young people pour out of pubs and clubs in typically ...
  


• New theory on how Salmon find their way back to their Scottish birthplace (The Scotsman)
  
  ONE of nature's greatest mysteries may have been solved after scientists revealed a new theory on how salmon find their way home.
  


• Dallas Fire-Rescue to test changes in medical emergency response (Dallas Morning News)
  
  A Dallas Fire-Rescue pilot project that eventually could overhaul how the stretched-thin department responds to medical emergencies is scheduled to start Jan. 1.
  


• How it took 1,500 blood donors to save one man (The Scotsman)
  
  CUSTOMS worker Willie Mack knows he owes his life to the 1,500 blood donors who have helped him cope with an inherited rare blood disorder.
  


• How to sign up for email alerts (InsideHousing)
  
  Inside Housing offers a range of free email bulletins. To subscribe, follow these steps:
  


• How To Manage SCN (Yankton Press & Dakotan)
  
  Producers need to change the way they deal with Soybean Cyst Nematode. They need to make it a best management practice to identify SCN early and to continue monitoring the infestation after they’ve started control measures.
  


• Obama from change agent to pragmatist (AP via Yahoo! News)
  
  The selection of experienced centrists — Hillary Rodham Clinton, Robert Gates and James L. Jones — to head President-elect Barack Obama's national security team points to the possibility that on Iraq, the incoming commander-in-chief may take a more measured path to ending American military involvement than he described during the presidential campaign.