Meet Alex ·

I am the former owner of the world's most popular rat. See the photos and be adjacent to fame.

more words ·

If you love words, explore my collection of quotes, spam poetry in the style of ee cummings, π Day Pikus and my favourite excerpts from “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”.

World's Most Popular Questions—Today's Interrogative Zeitgeist

Even before we explored outside our caves, mankind has been plagued by unanswerable questions.

How do I heal a broken heart?

Why do I never see baby pigeons?

I don't understand how Lost ended.

You may notice that the third example isn't phrased as a question—it's what makes it so hard to answer.

What we know defines us as much as what we ask. So let's look at who we are, shall we?

If you want answers to some of these questions, try my Yes or No service.

The most popular questions are collected daily using Google's autocomplete feature. Autocomplete lists popular search queries that begin with your entry.

What are people looking to sell? What do people want to have, but can't? Autocomplete suggests an answer, in the form of a question!

While most autocompleted phrases are questions, a few are statements (see Limits & Desires, e.g. I need to vent.).

Below are combinations of the terms why can't I with the words make, have, buy and sell.