> >>I wonder why some people prefer to ask somebody else and others prefer to look up whatever<<

> My opinion is that this is just due to the person's characteristics: whether he/she is self-confident, fearful, social, more
of a loner, etc. Perhaps the
supposed reluctance on the part of males to ask for
help is due their feeling the primeval need to be the infallible bringer-home of the sabretooth, etc.

I disagree strongly on this point. I don't feel there is any machismo involved wahtsoever. I am not a sociologist or a psychologist but my observations lead me to believe that women tend to ask for advice more often than men because they are socially more astute. Men are more solitary in comparison and therefore tend to believe that they must find out answers for themselves. This does not in anyway make either group more or less intelligent. It just highlights the way that men and women gather information. During my university days I found that the girls in my class would ask questions far more often than the men but that they also relied heavily on study groups and interaction with the men in the class. Whether this is significant or not I do not know but there is definitely a pattern.