Jane: Not when you’ve got the web. Actually I just looked it up in the phone book, but ‘the web’ sounds so cool.
STEP ONE: "Scavenger Hunt: Answer these questions without using Google, and then write your answers in an entry in your blog. Make sure to reference the source where you found your answer." So that is exactly what I have done...
1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin?
"OCTOBER 2001: Leetonia pumpkin grower became the first man ever to win back-to-back world championship giant pumpkin growing first place awards and beating his old record. Dave Stelts of Leetonia named his great pumpkin "Fred" and took top honors at the championship giant pumpkin weight off at Parks Garden Center near Canfield. "Fred" weighed-in at 1,140 pounds and beat the old record by 87 pounds. The record weight was set last year and held by Stelts." - http://www.steeleoriginals.com/ls/lee/pumpkin.htm
2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?
These are the people who manage Grant Hackett
"BRISBANE OFFICE Suite 24 Newstead Commercial Village 76 Doggett StreetNewstead Queensland 4006 Telephone: 07 3252 2311Facsimile: 07 3252 3411SYDNEY OFFICELevel 27, Tower 2201 Sussex StreetSydneyNSW 2000Telephone: 02 9268 1657Facsimile: 02 9268 1563Email: info@iqsport.com.au" - http://www.iqsport.com.au/default.aspx?s=contactus
3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?
"An adult giraffe's tongue is 27" long" -http://www.qeok.com/other/2843-qeok.html
4. How would you define the word 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean ?
Wikipedia tells me it is basically the study of REALITY. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology
5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film?
"Cronenberg's first effort was a 1966 short film called "Transfer," about a psychiatrist being stalked by a patient." - http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/11/30/cronenberg/
6. When was the original 'Hacker's Manifesto' written?
"The Conscience of a Hacker (also known as The Hacker Manifesto) is a small essay written January 8, 1986 by a hacker who went by the handle (or pseudonym) of The Mentor (born Loyd Blankenship)." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_Manifesto
7. Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?
"Telephone numbers are another possible issue. If one of your characters tells his phone number to another character or writes it out in a visible way AND that is the phone number of some actual human being it is considered invasion of privacy. S/he might sue so you will never get E & O insurance.
Either don't have your characters speak or write the entire number in a way that is not decypherable, or use 555 as the beginning of the number. There are no seven digit phone numbers that start with 555 so you can use a number like 555-9283 and be safe."
- http://www.freefilmschool.org/ffs/06more/6-2-100.shtml
8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?
I couldn't find an answer so ...I'll steal Johns: WALKING! - http://deltoidbros.blogspot.com/
9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?
"1965: Back In My Arms Again by THE SUPREMES" - http://quickstopentertainment.com/popchart/97.html
10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?
"In the creative sphere, Stephen played keyboard for Brisbane punk band, the Black Assassins" -http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm
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STEP TWO: "Answer the questions about search engines..."
A. What is a search engine?
"A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system, such as on the World Wide Web" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engines
It allows people to search different words or phrases and retrieves a list of items (usually web pages) that match these words and help the person find what they are looking for.
B. How do search engines rank the stuff they find on the internet?
The list that appears after the search has been made is usually ranked in respect to 'relevance of results'. The more relevance a certain web page has to the particular word or phrase being searched, the higher it will appear on the list.
C. Who, or what, makes one page (that you might get in your search results) more useful than another one, so that it is put at the top of your search results?
I have no idea, but in my eyes there are two possible answers to this question:
1. the person making the search, by the types of words they choose to search a particular topic by.
2. the person who creates the website, by perhaps listing somewhere on their site a selection of different words that could be associated with the site.
D. What are some of your favourite search engines? Why do you like one more than others?
Google is my favourite search engine. I like it more than "Yahoo" and "Ask Jeeves" (both serach engines i have tried in the past) because of its simple presentation. Yahoo home page is filled with far too many distractions, where-as Google is just the search engine bar. It also lists it's results in a way that is easier to read (or perhaps its just because I have used it as my search engine for so long). I don't use any other search engines unless required to by perhaps a New Communication Technology assignment...
E. Can you find some current news stories about search engines? (for example, Google has been in the technology news a bit lately).
"Google Goes Shopping for YouTube" - http://www.abc.net.au/dig/stories/s1758414.htm
"China Vows to Target Blogs, Search Engines" - http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2006/1630857.htm
"Web Man strikes again - Arthur Hissey explains the new podcast search engine" - http://www.abc.net.au/centralwest/stories/s1569545.htm
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