December Hunt Questions
Vladimir Vrabec
vrabec at cs.felk.cvut.cz
Fri Dec 10 13:54:59 CET 1993
Pripojuji otazky pro prosincovy "HUNT" zverejnene R.Gatesem vcera v noci.
Vladimir Vrabec
---------- Text of forwarded message ----------
Subject: December Hunt Questions
Sender: "Rick Gates" <rgates at nic.cic.net>
Subject: December Hunt Questions
*****************************************************************
* *
* THE INTERNET HUNT *
* *
* QUESTIONS FOR DECEMBER, 1993 *
* *
* TOTAL POINTS: 48 *
* *
* ENTRIES DUE BY MIDNIGHT, DEC 16TH *
* *
*****************************************************************
Hello yet again!
This month's offering is a tough one indeed. I've collaborated with
John Makulowich to produce a Hunt with a journalism focus. John asks
some rough, but engaging questions! Here's his .sig:
____ John S. Makulowich ________ Internet Trainer: "Compass in Cyberspace"
____ makulow at nova.umd.edu __________ Univ. of MD System Shady Grove Center
____ +1 301 738 6080 (V) __ +1 301 738 6040 (F) ___ Rockville MD 20850 USA
____ For Course Brochure, simply e-mail: compass at clark.net _______________
There are a total of 48 points in all.
PRIZES
======
The following individuals have kindly offered to reward the Hunt
Winners for their hard work. Many thanks to them!
Ivan Pope
---------
One Year Subscription to:
"3W: World Wide Web Newsletter"
(for more info: contact 3W at ukartnet.demon.co.uk)
Cliff Stoll
-----------
Signed copies of:
"The Cuckoo's Egg" Pocket Books, 1989, 356 pgs.
Michael Strangelove
-------------------
One year subscription to:
"The Internet Business Journal"
(for more info: contact Mstrange at Fonorola.Net)
THE RULES
=========
1. There are a total of 12 questions. The first 11 questions all
count toward your score. I have personally verified that each of
these can be answered using only the resources of the Net. These are
contrived questions.
2. The last question is the mystery question. I don't know if there's
an answer to this on the Net. I may or may not have tried to find
one. These questions usually come to me from people asking for
information. This is a real question.
3. Each of these first 11 questions carries a value in parentheses.
This point value is my best guess on how tough that question is to
answer. The scale is 1 (easy), to 10 (hard). Total points for all
questions is listed after the last question.
4. Answer as many questions as you can. Partial credit is awarded.
5. Teams are allowed to submit entries. These must be designated as
such. Pick a team name. Team entries will be scored separately from
individual entries.
6. All answers must be mailed to me. My standard signature will
be at the bottom of this message.
7. The contest will run for one week from the date of posting of this
message. The deadline should appear in the header at the top of this
message.
8. Feel free to send me potential question for the Hunt, be they
scored, or mystery.
9. The questions and results files are released into the public
domain. They're the product of the Nets, they belong to the Nets.
10. Have fun! What's it all for, after all?
SCORING
-------
1. Whoever answers all the questions first shall be declared the
winner.
2. In the event that nobody answers all the questions, the player
with the highest point total shall be declared the winner.
3. If there is a tie for highest point total, the player who
responded first shall be declared the winner.
4. Assume you're answering the question for someone who understands
the basic network tools (ftp, telnet, finger, gopher, etc.), but just
doesn't know where the data is. Answers like:
ftp host.university.edu
...will not score as high as:
anonymous ftp to host.university.edu
cd /pub/documents
file is called important.txt.Z
Don't feel like you have to tell someone how to use ftp. Instead,
tell them where they can find what they're looking for, what tool to
use to find it, and if necessary, the end information itself.
5. It's always a good idea to let us know how you decided where to
begin looking. After all, we can't have everyone thinking that you're
all geniuses with innate Net-knowledge! :-)
6. Read the question carefully. If it's asking for specific
information (like "What is the chorus to Jingle Bells?"), then supply
that info in your answer. Sometimes you may find a pointer to a
source that no longer exists. Providing the end information tells me
that you actually checked the source out.
THE HUNT
========
The sleepless nights you've spent over the last six months learning the
Internet are beginning to pay off in the newsroom. Now, you can't get any work
done during the day; colleagues deluge you with questions about every subject
imaginable and expect answers instantly. The last straw comes when Rick Gates
and John Makulowich create an Internet Hunt for Journalists. An anxious hush
descends over the newsroom. Your colleagues expect you to finish in the top
five. The deadline looms. The pressure builds. You unwrap the questions...
1. (5) There's been a lot of discussion in the newsroom lately about
the move to the Internet by corporate America. Someone challenges you
for data to substantiate your claims. What does he consider good
evidence? He'll take the number of firms with a top level domain of
.com, even though they might not be on the Net. However, he wants to
see the entire list.
2. (7) Another challenge erupts in the wake of the first. This one covers the
number of electronic publications on the Net, but boils down to the challenge
to get the table of contents of the most recent issues of the Economist and
the New Age Journal
3. (4) The health section editor needs immediately some basic
background information on lyme disease, the names of at least two
experts as well as the names of five scientists on the East Coast who
are researching the disease and who are funded by any agency of the
federal government.
4. (5) U.S.President Bill Clinton's Health Care plan has been in the
news lately. Your magazine has not kept up on the discussion, but
suddenly realizes the competition is planning a major spread. You need
to get the basic Health Care documents put out by the Administration.
Where can you find them, and who wrote the forward for the plan?
5. (6) I have some students that need some training, and I seem to
recall a mention of DOS-based reporting simulations on one of the
journalism email lists. Could you find me prices on a couple of these
simulations?
6. (3) A colleague says he's heard that there's a place where a lot of
the frequently asked questions for newsgroups can be found, but he
can't remember it for the life of him.
7. (8) For a Sunday supplement, the paper is running a special on
Williamsburg, Virginia. No one seems to have any photos of the site.
The photo editor turns to you. While you're at it, can you get a photo
of a piece of quartz for a sidebar they're doing on gems?
8. (2) The Home and Gardening Editor is getting tired of running the
same old stories and wonders if there's some new angles for a feature
on gardening. Can you help him out?
9. (3) The Hawks and the Rockets are hot. When is the next time these
two National Basketball Association teams are scheduled to play each
other?
10. (4) The music critic prepares a nostalgia piece on Bob Dylan, but
she can't remember the date of his performance at the Royal Albert
Hall in 1966. Can you help her?
Extra Credit: (1) During the (ongoing/recent) U.S. Shuttle mission to
repair the Hubble Space Telescope, which astronauts were on the EVA
crew for the COSTAR installation?
Mystery Question: What organization did the grinding of the main
mirror for the Hubble Space Telescope?
---------------------------------------------------
Rick Gates rgates at nic.cic.net
Student & Lecturer
Univ. of Arizona (602) 621-3958
1515 E. 1st St.
Tucson, AZ 85719
---------- End of forwarded message ----------
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