Day Six - Scavenger Hunt

1. What is the weight of the world’s biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?
A 45,500 ton digging machine built by a company called Krupps, a German company. It cost $100 million to make. 
http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Humor/Workshop/Trencher.htm
http://www.neatorama.com/2010/01/26/bagger-288-the-worlds-biggest-machine/via Yahoo search

2. Find a live webcam in Antarctica. Can you find a place to stay in Antarctica?
Webcam in Antarctica. 
Found on www.webcams.travel

3. When and what was the first example of global digital communication? 
I could not find this!! I used several search terms and several search engines and still failed. 

4. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?  

Tiger Airways have flights over the next few months for as low as $35 from the Gold Coast to Melbourne. This would be likely much cheaper than paying for petrol or a long-distance bus trip. However the emotional cost of flying Tiger Airways may negate the financial savings.
Source: Webjet

5. Who is Douglas Engelbart? What is he know for?
He was an early computer/internet pioneer. He was well-known for inventing the computer mouse.
http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/englebart.html via HotBot web search

6. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Stephen Conroy?  (who is this guy?)
Stephen Conroy is the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. He can be contacted by phone at one of his three offices (Parliamentary, Ministerial, Electorate), or emailed: minister@dbcde.gov.au. 
Source: http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/contact  via Yahoo Search

7. What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1990?


The number one song was Love Shack - B52's, found on http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/birthdayno1 via HotBot search.

8. How would you define the term 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean?
After a Yahoo search, and looking at a few online dictionaries, I would describe ontology as 'the study of the nature and relations of things'. This term is applied both to the metaphysical study of existence and also to computers, in order to categorize all concepts relating to a particular field.

9. What type of camera is used to make ‘Google Street View’? 
Google used a 360degree camera mounted to cars and airplanes. I couldn't find the specific name of the camera used but there is a picture of it here found via Yahoo search. 

10. Name three computer operating systems (not for phones) that are NOT Apple OS or MS-Windows operating systems?
    a)  who created it and when?    b)  how can you get a copy of the operating system to use on your computer?
I know that Linux is an open source operating system, which I'm pretty sure you can download off the internet. But I'm having trouble finding any other without looking at Wikipedia.. so I cheated and looked at Wikipedia and found out that Google Chrome is classed as an OS, but is technically only a web browser that uses web-based applications for tasks like word processing. You can download Chrome off the net (I have it, but use it only for browsing).




Also, I googled myself, and the only things that come up about me are my Myspace profile, my Goodreads profile and a newsletter from my high school that mentions some academic achievement from Grade 12. No images come up... So I'm pretty happy with that, I am pretty conscious of keeping my online happenings private. Although I'm sure there's more information that could be found by someone with better web search skills. Most people would just use Google though, so it doesn't really bother me.