Ask Mike. He’ll know.

Posted July 30th, 2007 at 2:22 pm by Doreen Bloch, Yahoo! Intern

 18 Comments / Filed in: Behind the Scenes, Those Crazy Yahoos

Mike Krumboltz has seen a lot of questions over the years.

In fact, since November 2004, his entire role has been to look over questions submitted by users, choose one interesting query each day, and then hunt down the answer. His job was to write for Ask Yahoo!. Haven’t heard of it? That’s probably because Ask Yahoo! is now a thing of the past…

Ask Yahoo! was started in 1998 as a way for Internet users to pose questions to a team of Yahoo! surfers who would then search the Net to find answers. Mike’s tracked down answers on everything from dog saliva to impact of bovine gas on the environment to the order of succession for the office of POTUS. But ever since Yahoo! Answers launched and grew in popularity, Mike has had to deal with a minor identity crisis. Was Ask Yahoo! obsolete? What would Mike do if Ask Yahoo! went away?

A solution arose: give Mike a featured spot in Yahoo! Answers where he can continue to show off his mad cyberspace research skills. That’s the birds and the bees on how “Ask Mike” was born.

To ask Mike a question, you’d have to email him at y_answrs_mikek@yahoo.com, but he was nice enough to grant me some exclusive Q&A time.

You only just moved to Yahoo! Answers a few weeks ago. Do you miss Ask Yahoo!?
I do miss Ask Yahoo!, but writing for Yahoo! Answers is fun because it’s more challenging. I’ve opened myself up to more feedback – sometimes it’s positive, sometimes it’s really negative, and other times, it’s just really weird.

How’d you get this job in the first place?
I went to Miami University in Ohio. When majored in psych at Miami University in Ohio, I knew that I didn’t want to do anything with that. I lived in New York for a while, came back to the Silicon Valley, and got a job in Yahoo! Shopping as a production assistant on Video and DVD shopping. A year later I got moved to surfing, and from the moment I started in surfing I knew I wanted a shot at editorial work. Finally after two years they let me try my hand at Ask Yahoo!.

What’s the most common question you’re asked?
I get sent a lot of really inappropriate questions. People know we’d obviously never use them, but they are pretty funny to read.

Most controversial question you’ve ever answered?
Surprisingly the question about why so many people are afraid of clowns has had huge response.

What’s the toughest question you’ve ever had to research?
I remember one I did about the voice that says “please hang up and try again” on the telephone. That took a long time, but I finally found the woman and it was quite rewarding.

Have you ever been wrong?
Yes, I have been wrong. What comes to mind is a question I answered about Seinfeld. Someone asked what Kramer’s job was. I wrote that he didn’t really have one, but that he did take part in lots of schemes. I got lots of email saying I was wrong, that Kramer actually worked for a bagel shop, but was on strike the entire series. I ended up quietly correcting the answer.

Favorite types of questions to answer?
I really like word origin questions. Also I love researching urban legends and longstanding myths. I like writing about search trends too. I definitely put science as my least favorite question type; I peaked in 8th grade with that subject.

What are your best Internet search tips?
Putting quotes around search terms is really helpful when trying to narrow down search results. Also, use the minus sign.

What does that do?
Say you’re searching for a restaurant and your results are all about a movie with the same name. You can type -movie in your search to help eliminate results that include the movie title.

So if “Ask Mike” is work, what are your hobbies?
Well, I love to sleep. I love movies.

Are you one of those awesome-memory movie buffs who remember every plot detail, actor, trivial quotation?
Yes, yes. I amuse and annoy.

Ever make a movie of your own?
Yes actually! I was a finalist in the Radio Alice’s Three Minute Film Festival in San Francisco inspired by a comic urban legend.

That’s some great Mike Krumboltz trivia right there. Now see if you can go stump him.

Doreen Bloch
Yahoo! Intern

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18 Comments Add your own

Margaret Phillips | July 31st, 2007 at 9:53 am

Mike

Your interview was a riot and I love the picture of you. I laughed all the way through. You have a great sense of humor. I wish you the best in your new job. Margaret Ann (your aunt)

Uncle John | July 31st, 2007 at 10:30 am

Mike– You very modestly omitted any mention of your starring role as an actor in the famous movie “What Makes the World Go Round.”

Jeannie Welsch | July 31st, 2007 at 6:25 pm

Dear Mike:
I really enjoyed reading the interview. You have quite a flair for research and writing, but I didn’t know you were an actor also. Wish I could say I got to see the movie.

I love trivia but don’t get much time for it. It provides good content when you are writing. I’m often researching things that might help me build my business. I will remember you.

P.S. Visit my website if you need an oppty to earn additional income.

Nataly | August 1st, 2007 at 5:32 am

…word,word…
\”" \ \”
phrase .

Jack Straw | August 1st, 2007 at 7:15 am

Mike
Last night my wife and your present correspondent were looking at a TV piece regarding current movies. As a movie lover, I realised I/We didn’t know one darn movie they were talking about. Nada. Niente!!! While we realize the fault could not entirely be with the stars, might, I ask, might part of our abundant current flic disinterest/ignorance be with the movies themselves? What is the cause of our lack of excitement regarding movies?
Please note that I was fortunate enough to have a family of movie buffs. In High School (when virtually no one was high) I lucked out by having a teacher of English who spent half of the year’s classes showing us his selfcreated, “A History of Cinema.” Griffith, Eisenstein and “Dr. Caligari” were among the movies and directors we were exposed to.
In college, one name: Pauline Kael. We would watch on Sunday nights in a large ascending lecture room international classic movies. Then we’d discuss if what Kael wrote in “The New Yorker” that week was more significant than anything Nixon or Kissinger had to say during the same time (you know the answer).
Not to be a pain in the royal seat cushion but where or what should we be seeing or reading to not be so comfortably adrift on this ship of film fools?
Keep on keepin’ on in the new job. Sounds a lot more challenging. Instead of chasing down specific answers to questions of others you’ll be looking for what Edward Hopper stated he sought in all his many years of work: himself.
All our best,
Mike & Helena

Laura | January 23rd, 2008 at 11:01 am

I’m a student, a huge fan of the Ask Mike column and its predecessor Ask Yahoo. It would be helpful to know the age of Mike. In the picture, why is he wearing a shirt with “world greatest grandpa” written on it? Is he a grandpa?

Nicki Dugan | January 25th, 2008 at 11:24 am

@Laura: Nice to hear from a fan — I passed your sentiments on to Mike. The master of irony, Mike is in fact NOT a grandfather. Just a wise old 32.

Nicki Dugan
Editor, Yodel Anecdotal

Edward Chaides | June 9th, 2008 at 9:41 pm

“Quoteth Mr. Lee: Eastwood “sounds like an angry old man.” We’re not taking sides, but you gotta admit—truer words were never spoken.” Regarding the Eastwood – Lee spat.

Well it sure looks like your taking sides Mike! Did it ever occur to you that there were not any Black Americans raising the flag at Iwo Jima and that Spike Lee was just playing the race card and over reacting? Eastwood should be angry if this idiot Lee is essentially accusing Eastwood of racism (I know that thought never entered that vacuum between your ears. There was a Pima Indian raising the flag, because that’s a fact. Maybe they should have put a token Black up raising the flag..or an Asian maybe??? If Eastwoods an “angry old man” as YOU agree he, then you’re a very stupid kid.

dave goyette | June 10th, 2008 at 5:19 am

Your comment about Clint at the end of your article agreeing with Spike that his comments were that of an “angry old man” is BS. How about that the real “truth” is that Spike shoud SHUT HIS FACE?

JMR | June 10th, 2008 at 6:25 pm

Mike, you are truly offensive. “We’re not taking sides, but you gotta admit—truer words were never spoken.” Come ON. I would come off angry, too, if I were accused of racism. And who exactly do you represent with “We”? The Society of Jackasses Wearing Ironic T Shirts? Or do you speak for Yahoo? Does your employer take the position that Clint Eastwood is racist and an angry old man? Because that sounds a lot like libel and slander. It would bring me personal joy if you lost your job over this.

Spike Lee is a hack filmmaker and you are the hack writer.

angry nerd | August 21st, 2008 at 7:13 pm

oh so now only nerds can love harry potter?! and look at your picture! you call us nerds?!?!?! and fyi i am a 3-time miss wake county beauty pageant winner, my school’s homecoming and prom queen. and the most popular girl in school and i lovvvveeee harry potter!

Rhonda Selby | October 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm

Mike,
I am responding to your article on Yahoo News today commenting on the VP debate. I want to point out that your article, as so many others, is not a balanced report of the polls. You did not even mention the FOX news poll, which showed a staggering 87% of voters believing that Governor Palin won the debate. In case you were not aware, FOX news has consistently been the most watched News Network, overwhelmingly beating out all of its major Network competitors, including CNN and MSNBC. One of its morning shows recently had a higher rating than ALL other Prime Time shows on competing networks. They were the most watched network for the First Presidential debate. I have no doubt that statistics will show they were the most watched for last night’s VP debate as well. While you may not like these facts, you need to check them out, as they are undeniable.
With this in mind, I have a hard time understanding why you would not include their polling results in your article, unless you, along with the majority of the main stream media, have no interest in reporting the facts without putting a liberal “spin” onto them.

You might also be interested in checking out the focus group that FOX conducted with undecided voters during the debate, and the results afterwards. They did the same thing last week during the Presidential debate, and frankly, the results were not favorable to the McCain/Palin campaign – therefore, these groups are extremely fair and balanced, and are probably the best way to measure the pulse of what the general public’s reaction to the debate is.

In summary, my only problem with your article, was that it did not include a report from the FOX network, which, clearly should have been a part of fair and balanced reporting. In the future, I would challenge you to include results from the most watched news network in your articles.

Sincerely,

Rhonda Selby
McKinney, TX

Dawn Shaffer | October 22nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm

Hey Mike on your little gurgle about Palin (Elementary-gate!) with the elementry students not in know of what a VP does…perhaps you should do a little more research. Also I thought she responded more acurately than Biden during the debate. So does, John R. Lott, Jr. He seems to be more knowledgeable.

Did Biden Get It Wrong? You Betcha
Monday, October 06, 2008
By John R. Lott, Jr.
When you interview for a job, here is a hint: make sure you know what the job is. Joe Biden failed that test last Thursday. He couldn’t even get right what a vice president does, but the media didn’t notice.
The media is all over itself about how smart and experienced Biden is. Political analyst Charlie Cook is quoted in the Washington Post on Saturday as saying “Biden is clearly so much more knowledgeable, by a factor of about a million.” Saturday Night Live does a skit about Biden being smart, if slimy. Meanwhile, Governor Sarah Palin is treated as being nothing more than a simpleton.
Yet, take Biden’s statement from the debate on the role of the vice president:
Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.
And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.
The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive, and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.
One should be careful when throwing around terms such as “most dangerous” and “bizarre.” But Biden is confusing which part of the Constitution covers the Executive Branch (it is Article II, not Article I). More importantly, the notion that the vice president can preside over the Senate only when there is a tie vote is simply wrong. Nor is it true that the only legislative involvement the vice president has is to break tie votes. The vice president is the president of the Senate, where he interprets the rules and can only be overridden by a vote of 60 senators.
Early vice presidents spent a lot of time in the Senate. Thomas Jefferson even spent his time writing “A Manual of Parliamentary Practice: for the Use of the Senate of the United States.” Modern vice presidents may show up only when they think tie votes will occur, but that is their choice.
This isn’t rocket science. The Constitution on this point is very straightforward: “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”
Instead, it was Palin who got it right. Besides correctly stating that the vice president holds positions in both the executive and legislative branches, she also noted that:
Of course, we know what a vice president does. And that’s not only to preside over the Senate and [I] will take that position very seriously also. I’m thankful the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president if that vice president so chooses to exert it in working with the Senate and making sure that we are supportive of the president’s policies and making sure too that our president understands what our strengths are.
But just as the vice president’s job includes more than simply being ready to assume the presidency if the president dies, the Constitution merely states what the vice president’s minimum responsibilities are.
Compare the uproar over Palin’s answer to Charlie Gibson about the “Bush Doctrine,” a doctrine that Gibson clearly didn’t understand and for which there apparently exist at least four different versions. Where is the outrage over Biden not understanding what vice presidents do? For Biden, his inability to correctly say what vice presidents do was surely his “gotcha” moment.
Yet, this mistake during the debate was hardly unique. Biden got a lot of things wrong in the debate that are going unnoticed by the fact-check media. Take just a few:
– Will McCain’s health care proposals raise taxes? Biden says that McCain’s proposal will cost people money. The Tax Foundation finds that could easily be “roughly deficit-neutral over ten years.”
– Under an Obama Administration the middle class will “pay no more than they did under Ronald Reagan”? No, the tax rates will be similar to the higher rates under Clinton.
– Did “we spend more money in three weeks on combat in Iraq than we spent on the entirety of the last seven years that we have been in Afghanistan building that country”? No, one year’s worth of spending in Iraq equaled five in Afghanistan.
– France and the U.S. “kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon”? No, and it wouldn’t have made much more sense if he had said “Syria” instead.
– Is it really “simply not true” that Obama said that he would meet with the leader of countries such as Iran without preconditions? No, Obama said “I would.”
– Did Obama warn against letting Hamas participate in Palestinian legislative elections in 2005? No.
– Do “Iraqis have an $80 billion surplus”? No. If oil prices had remained high, it might have reached $50 billion by the end of this year.
– Finally, an amusing point as evidence that Biden is just one of the people he pointed to, inviting anyone to have a beer with him at “Katie’s Restaurant” in Wilmington, Del. Unfortunately, people will have a hard time taking him up on his offer, since the restaurant hasn’t had that name for probably 15 years.
Unfortunately, voters who are trying to get an accurate count on whether the candidates are telling the truth can’t rely on the media. FactCheck.org mentions only one of these points, the size of the Iraqi surplus. The Washington Post mentioned Biden’s misstatement on Hamas and Katie’s restaurant. AOL’s coverage of the errors in the vice presidential debate was by far the worst, though that might not be too surprising given that Tommy Christopher, who wrote their news analysis, also blogs on the Obama Web site. None of these checkers mentioned Biden’s statements about the role of the vice president.
Compare this to the attacks on Sarah Palin:
– FactCheck.org criticizes Palin for claiming that McCain’s health care tax credits will be “budget neutral” – they argue that the tax credit will be larger than the new taxes that the program will impose. Fine, but if the people at FactCheck.org believe that is true and that the Tax Foundation is wrong, Biden’s claim about increased taxes is even more inaccurate. But FactCheck.org doesn’t even mention Biden’s statement from the debate.
– From AOL’s news analysis piece. “Palin: Said that it is untrue that the U.S. is killing civilians in Afghanistan. According to an analysis by the AP, however, the U.S. is killing more civilians than insurgents are.”
What Palin actually said was: “Now, Barack Obama had said that all we’re doing in Afghanistan is air-raiding villages and killing civilians.” Whether one believes the AP estimate or not, the question is whether she was accurately characterizing Obama’s statement of the job that our forces were doing. And Obama said, “We’ve got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians” (emphasis added).
– FactCheck.org’s first critique claims that Palin was wrong to claim that troop levels in Iraq are down to their pre-surge levels. They are correct that after the recently announced drawdown, 6,000 more troops will be in Iraq than immediately before the surge. But why not mention that 84 percent of the 38,000 troops in the surge are home or are in the process of coming home?
The media seems to have been covering for Biden for some time. While news stories still talk about Dan Quayle’s spelling mistake 18 years later, there has been almost no news coverage of Biden’s numerous wacky statements. What if Quayle had said something similar to Biden’s recent statement that, “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.’” A neat trick given that Herbert Hoover was president in 1929 and no one was watching television.
It might not fit the simple template for a 36-year veteran of the Senate to not understand what vice presidents do (after all, eight vice presidents have served with him), but Biden knew less about this than the political outsider, Sarah Palin. Given that they are running to be vice president, why didn’t that story dominate the news coverage after the debate?

Ansje Ferguson | February 19th, 2009 at 8:58 am

zi just read Mr. Krumboltz’s article regarding Mc.Cain’s refusal to give Barbara Walters an interview. He closes with”Poor Mc.Cain”.
Poor Mc.Cain?
Poor Barbara Walters!!
if I were Mc.Cain, I certainly would not allow myself to be abused a second time by those ladies.

John Brown | May 28th, 2009 at 1:19 am

Mike Krumboltz article regarding Sotomayor…..
What a pile of crap! Why not talk about the New Hampshire Fireman’s test? Here’s a trick question, you’re having a heart attack…the guy doing the CPR on you… whould you want the top of the class, or someone who got the job because of the color of his or her skin?
Bet you’d pick the smartest, regardless of his race,sex, or creed! Get a life grampa!

Tony Fotia | June 11th, 2009 at 12:36 pm

Regarding the Letterman and Sarah Palin issue: Why doesn’t anybody get it? Liberals do not apologize. THEY ASK OTHERS TO APOLOGIZE. They are NEVER WRONG!

Letterman is just telling jokes when he calls Sarah Palins daughter a whore and Yankees player A Rod a sleazy minority rapist who would screw a young girl at the ballpark.

Poor misunderstood Letterman. He’s a liberal and doesn’t need to apologize for his atrocities.

As a Yankees fan I am angry with Letterman for dissing A Rod. Where’s the outrage? If a Republican or conservative had called A Rod a rapist, all hell would have broken out in the media….. especially at CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNN.

Rob | July 28th, 2009 at 7:04 pm

Mike,

Do you do any serious investigative work? I am waiting for someone to write a book exposing how Dodd and Frank single-handedly transferred billions of dollars from average Americans to themselves and bankers, while giving a guarantee to bankers that WE the people would pick up the bill?

Did you hear that Dodd is a liar and testimony now shows he was getting a special refi for TWO homes (both primary residences) while the rest of us suffer huge losses of both jobs and homes?

Luke | January 6th, 2010 at 9:43 am

I’m curious in your Y! Buzz article where you spoke of Casey Johnson and her relationship with Tila Tequila, why you put the expression, “engaged,” in quotes?