At Yahoo! Answers, people ask and answer questions online on a wide and sometimes wacky range of topics. Recent internet queries include:
  • which free antivirus program is best of these three?
  • Is anyone else having problems with yahoo messenger ?
  • Where can I find a really strong shovel?
  • what is eating the dead mice in my mouse trap?
  • Poll: Would you rather be covered in cream or chocolate......?
But it was the question from "RedSoccer" that caught IrishMediaNation’s attention, telegraphed in this post’s title:
  • “Do they have the internet in Ireland yet?”
Oh my.

As you might imagine, that dumb question attracted some smart answers:

“Orla C” wrote “Yes we do, and by golly there are trolls everywhere else. Which one was your mother?

Ireland’s “peediddy” replied, “No, we no longer need internet access in Ireland. We have evolved beyond other humans and now every Irish person has a high-speed neurologically-fused wifi transmitter/receiver located between their cerebrum and neocortex. We no longer have a need for outdated fibre-optic networks or cafe hotspots or pretentious 'smart' phones. I didn't even use any hardware to post this answer here, I just imagined Y!A and thought about the words and hey presto! they appeared like magic. Internet? how quaint!

And you didn’t have to be Irish to take a run at that question. “Frigasta” jumps into the dialog with “If they didn’t have the internet in Ireland, then how could you be asking Irish people this question...THROUGH THE INTERNET? I'm not Irish, and I'm not smart, and even I knew that.”

Liked the response from “I should be doing something else,” who provided her answer in the form of a question:“Sorry, never heard of it. Is it like badminton?”

“Peterjma” posed this conundrum: “we have the internet but no electricity so it’s very slow.”

Just for the record, 65.8 percent of the Irish population uses the internet, up from 20.9 percent in 2000. To put it in perspective, Ireland’s degree of internet penetration outranks the European average (58.4%) and such countries as Italy (51.7%) and Spain (62.6 %), while trailing France marginally (68.9%), but falling short of Germany (79.1%), UK (82.5%), and European leader Iceland where 97.6 percent of the population online. The comparable U.S. figure is 77.3 percent.

Ireland is also home to a lively web development sector and a vibrant blogging community, so we’ll try to tell some of those stories in posts to come.

In the meantime, why don’t you have some fun--log onto Yahoo! Answers in the next couple of days and add your response to “Do they have the internet in Ireland yet?” Extra points for creativity!

MEDIA PINGS: For a positive take on the internet in Ireland, check out "Ireland the Comeback Kid?..." about the recent Dublin Web Summit 2010....Irish artists know how to use the internet to spread their message. The Irish Hand Dancing video from the very cool “Up & Over It” crew featured in IrishMediaNation has had 3,610,211 YouTube views....Chris Naish and the rest of the Sneaky Steppers ambush stepdance strike force just keep the internet hits coming. Here’s their latest all the way from China, where they introduce an Olympics-worthy event, the 60 meter stepdance dash, but is the wrap-up NSFW?…wait for it, wait for it…