The Internet Hunt - April Results
Vladimir Vrabec
vrabec at cs.felk.cvut.cz
Wed Jun 1 11:57:37 CEST 1994
Vazeni,
konecne dosly vysledky Gatesovy dubnove souteze.
Vladimir Vrabec
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 18:54:13 -0400
From: Rick Gates <rgates at locust.cic.net>
*****************************************************************
* *
* THE INTERNET HUNT *
* *
* RESULTS *
* *
* FOR APRIL, 1994 *
* *
*****************************************************************
Well, at long last, (and with many apologies for the delays), I've
managed to get the April Hunt results out.
April was a linear, Treasure Hunt style experiment. Each question had
the kernel of a clue for the next answer, and so on through all 10
questions.
Some Hunters liked this kind of challenge, others did not. We were
split fairly evenly on this. One of the most frequent criticisms was
that it was very frustrating to get stuck early in the process, and
therefore have no clue as to the rest of the Hunt (though some Hunters
succeeded in answering a few questions out of order).
I managed to make matters worse by committing a gaffe of my own. On
question 6, the Hunters needed to find a review of a book. I asked
for the:
'state of the campus of the author of the review'.
...when what I should have asked for was the:
'state of the campus of the author of the book'.
This caused some Hunters to stumble as there was no stated author for
the review. Those that recovered, shifted gears and went with the
author of the book.
This leaves me in a dilemma... should I declare the results null and
void, with no winners? Or should I instead reward those that managed
to find the correct path after all?
I decided on the latter as it seemed unjust to penalize anybody at the
expense of anybody else. My sincerest apologies to anybody that feels
slighted by this decision. Please contact me if you'd like.
I'll also note that this was the final Hunt that came exclusively from
me. The team that I've assembled for all subsequent Hunts have the
opportunity to review all questions before they go out. Hopefully
this will prevent errors like the above from occurring.
Finally, I'd have to think long and hard about coming up with another
linear Hunt like this. It's much more difficult to prepare, and with
such a great opportunity for failure and frustration in the case of an
error on my part, I think I'll stick to the standard formula for awhile.
Mea Culpa! Tearing of hair! Crying and Sobbing! Flagellation!
Ahem..
THE WINNERS
-----------
The winner this month in the individual category was:
Ian Goldberg
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
...who managed to make it almost all the way through question 9 in an
entry dated: Wed, 13 Apr 1994 05:00:02 -0400.
The winners this month in the team category are:
SLIS 694
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
...who submitted a perfect entry dated: Tue, 12 Apr 1994 22:39:59
-1000 (HST)
Congratulations to all the winners:
MORE ABOUT THIS HUNT
====================
Only 2 entries submitted perfect entries, the SLIS 694 team, and the
team from SCILS/Rutgers.
PRIZES
======
Each winning entry will receive:
* A one year subscription to:
"3W: World Wide Web Newsletter"
(for more info: contact 3W at ukartnet.demon.co.uk)
(thanks to Ivan Pope)
* A signed copy of
"The Internet Guide for New Users" McGraw-Hill, 1993 609 pgs.
(for more info: Gopher (enews.com) path=1/specialmcgraw-hill/dern
(thanks to Daniel Dern)
* A signed copy of:
"The Cuckoo's Egg" Pocket Books, 1989, 356 pgs.
(thanks to Cliff Stoll)
* A one year subscription to:
"The Internet Business Journal"
(for more info: contact Mstrange at Fonorola.Net)
(thanks to Michael Strangelove)
The winners will be contacted in the next few days for mailing
addresses.
=======================================
Clue 1
------
Mothers read us Jack and Jill
As learning curves start up their hills
Ms. Jones will lead us further still
With info grist for reason mills
A factoid that might leave some sore
Is graduates working door to door
Some work the streets or drive a truck
Or one of these. Is it just luck?
----------
Strategy:
The use of "mothers" and "Jones" brought to mind Mother Jones magazine.
A Veronica search on Mother Jones led to the gopher for this
magazine--mojones.com 70
Exploration of the menu at this site led to--
5. MA 94/
28.MotherJones_MA94:_Clintonomic_Factoids_
URL:
gopher:
//truher.mojones.com.:70/00/MA94
/MotherJones_MA94%3a_Clintonomics_Factoids_
"From 1983 to 1990, college grads working as street vendors
or door-to-door salespeople rose from 57,000 to 75,000; the
number working as truck and *bus drivers* went from 99,000
to 166,000."
Answer: bus
[From SLIS 694, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.]
==============================================================
Clue 2
------
(Overheard in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, U.S.A.]
"Hey Bob"
"Hey"
"Did you end up going home over Spring Break"?
"Yeah, I had to help the folks pack for the move"
"So they're really leaving Boston 'eh?"
"Uh huh, they took everything with them, except... the Porsche!"
"O wow, cool. So it looks like you won't be buying tickets to
Boston anymore."
"That's right... though I'll miss my favorite delicacies at
the ticket counter."
Question: What does Bob consider a delicacy?
----------
solved by Andrea Londensky (londen at eden.rutgers.edu) & Ian Sokoloff
(ims at eden.rutgers.edu)
Answer: DONUTS
Search Strategy:
Using "Bus" as the solution to question 1, I went looking
for Pawtucket to Boston bus information. The Gopher
sequence:
gopher gopher.uiuc.edu
11. Other Gopher and Information Servers/
22. USA/
41. rhode island/
1. Brown University/
5. Providence Local & Regional Information/
7. Transportation info: Amtrak, Bonanza Bus and Commuter train schedu../
3. Bonanza Bus Schedules/
1. Terminal Locations & Phone Numbers.
Under this heading I found that the Pawtucket terminal is at
a Dunkin Donuts, so Bob's delicacy is DONUTS.
[From SCILS/Rutgers University Internet Interfaces Class,
Piscataway, New Jersey]
==========================================================
Clue 3
------
ALAMO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
-------------------------------------------
Security Division: April Supplies
---------------------------------
| Item Description | Vendor | Quantity |
| | |
| | |
| Metal Badges | Opperman | 200 badges |
| Uniforms, Cotton | H & M | 5 unif. |
| First Aid Kits | Taylor Medical | 12 kits |
| Bob's Delicacy | ?????????? | 3 gross |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
----------
Choosing "Search for Gophers by Name" from the
liberty.uc.wlu.edu big list of gophers and searching for
"Alamo Community College", we find
"Alamo Community College District" at gopher://accd.edu/1.
Choosing "District Departments"
"Procurement/Materiel Mgt/Print Services"
"HUB Vendors by Commodity Code"
"375 CLASS FOODS, BAKERY PRODUCTS (NOT FROZEN)"
"37545 DOUGHNUTS, FRIED PIES, ETC."
This says:
| The District currently does not have any HUB Vendors on file for
| this commodity. Check the 375 CLASS file for HUB Vendors who say
| they provide all of the commodities in this class.
So we get "375 CLASS FOODS, BAKERY PRODUCTS (NOT FROZEN)"
from the same menu and it says:
| VENDOR CODE VENDOR NAME PHONE
|
| VFARM00002 Fresh Farm Produce Inc 210/822-4450
| VLUCY00001 Lucy's Cake Shop Inc 210/673-5965
We'll go out on a limb and assume the doughnuts are supplied
by the cake shop and not the farm produce store, so the
answer is "Lucy's Cake Shop Inc".
[From Ian Goldberg, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada]
============================================================
Clue 4
------
"Welcome to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous! This week we
take a look at a woman who has made her way to fame and fortune
selling to Community College Districts. Who would have
believed that from such humble beginnings would spring the posh
life that has graced us all. Her philanthropy is known far and
wide. In fact, we are now standing at the entrance to a
library named after her!... well, after someone with the same
first name, at least!"
[cut to inside the library]
"We are now standing in the rare-books area of the library,
talking with a librarian... Could you tell us more about the
collection"
"We collect rare books in the areas of Saratogiana, Science
Fiction, and book illustrations of the period of..."
"Well that's lovely, and we'll learn more about that period
when we return from this short message!"
[cut to endless Soloflex infomercial]
----------
Answer: Victorian
Methodology: veronica search on keyword 'lucy' led us to the Lucy
Skidmore Library at gopher grace.skidmore.edu
gopher to grace.skidmore.edu
-> 7. College Information/
-> 2. Academic Information Guide/
-> 7. Resources of the Lucy Scribner Library.
Text file revealed:
"...a rare book collection which includes Victorian book
illustrations, Saratogiana, and Science Fiction."
[From The Bloody UCF Team, University of Central Florida, Orlando,
Florida, U.S.A.]
===========================================================
Clue 5
------
That period was but now it lives
Through teachers teaching what it gives
To us today. One course will say
Of the technology of that day
----------
Hopefully, the answer to 5 lies in the gopher I used in clue
4-- the gopher.skidmore.edu one. But if so, I didn't find
it -- and I spent more time searching through that gopher..
So, I used veronica and did a search on "Victorian and
Technology." This gave a single hit:
"1. ARCH 512P VICTORIAN TECHNOLOGY R 1400 1700"
However, I took this a step further. The hit did not exist
(it was out of date), but using the = key, I got the URL for
it: "gopher://minerva.acc.Virginia.EDU:70/" I gopher'd
there, went through the menus:
7. Academic Information/
2. Course Offerings Fall, 1994/
2. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE (UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE)/
(note - I "guessed" this one because of ARCH in gopher hit)
77. ARCH 512P VICTORIAN TECHNOLOGY R 1400 1645
ARCH 512P VICTORIAN TECHNOLOGY R 1400 1645
Course Title: VICTORIAN TECHNOLOGY Hours Carried: 3.0
Schedule Nbr: 62212 Course Dept: ARCH Course Nbr: 512P
Section Nbr: 0001 Days: R Time: 1400 1645
Bldg: CAM Room: 104 Instructor: NEWLON H
Authorized Enrollment: 0030 Actual Enrollment: 0
Looking ahead the clue 6 tells us that the department is
sought. So, the answer to clue 5 is Architecture.
[From Scott Devine, Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, U.S.A.]
===============================================================
Clue 6
------
Florentine Stew
---------------
1 late career in the department of clue 5
1 lb knowledge of Renaissance society
3 t imagination
4 oz commitment to patrons
6 sprigs of Medici patronage
Combine all ingredients in a large Uffizi. Mix well. Bake for
a few centuries. Deliver to the state of the campus of the
author of the review.
----------
Looking up "medici" from the veronica at
empire.nysernet.org, we find that one of the matches is
"After Vasari: History, Art, and Patronage in Late Medici
Florence. E.L. Goldberg".
On a hunch, we look up "vasari" by veronica from
empire.nysernet.org, and find "Giorgio Vasari: Architect and
Courtier. L. Satkowski". Choosing this, we get:
| Well-known for his paintings and his book The Lives of the Artists,
| Giorgio Vasari made an unusual and highly successful entry into
| architecture late in his career. Leon Satkowski presents one of the
| first detailed inquiries into the architecture of Vasari, who, without
| any conventional training, became the pre-eminent architect to Grand
| Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, designing such notable structures as the
| Uffizi in Florence. By focusing on the artist's spirited commitment to
| his patrons and on his full knowledge of Renaissance society,
| Satkowski reveals how Vasari combined imaginative design, political
| meaning, and a clear sense of history to create buildings so appealing
| to modern students of architecture.
|
| Incorporating Vasari's own writings and a close study of his
| buildings, this book places the architect squarely in the contemporary
| world of Palladio, Vignola, and Ammannati, and shows Vasari as their
| equal. In addition to the Uffizi, chapters are devoted to Vasari's Del
| Monte projects in Monte San Savino and Rome, the Corridoio and the
| renovation of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, religious architecture
| in Florence and Arezzo, and his Medicean garden projects.
|
| Leon Satkowski is Associate Professor of Architecture at the
| University of Minnesota.
So the answer is "Minnesota".
(This one was evil.)
[From Ian Goldberg, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada]
===========================================
Clue 7
------
A school in the not-mentioned state
Has books on reserve, ain't that great?
Mr. Sankovitz knew
That the atlas we'd view
Has a subject of will and of fate
----------
Strategy:
Explored Minnesota school libraries that would have a
directory for reserve books--
% uhinfo
Other gopher and information servers
U of Minn (the original) gopher server
Libraries
Library Systems in the Twin Cities
University of St. Thomas Library
Reserves
Instructor search <Sankovitz>
He has fifty-seven books on reserve, one of which is the
_Atlas of the Bible_ by L. Grollenberg.
Answer: Atlas of the Bible
[From SLIS 694, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.]
=====================================================
Clue 8
------
The only general
----------
The only general
From the Yanoff list, search for "bible" and find:
telnet library.dartmouth.edu
type "select file bible"
type "find text general"
There are two matches: one pertains to a "general assembly"
and the other is:
| 1 Chronicles 27
| 34 And after Ahithophel was Jehoiada the son of Benaiah, and
| Abiathar: and the general of the king's army was Joab.
So the answer is "Joab".
[From Ian Goldberg, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada]
====================================================
Clue 9
------
"Well, I think the author's name was Feller, and the
illustrator was Gates, and it had the word 'books' in the
title. It came out in the early 80s."
x = the number of Univ of California campuses with a copy.
Take the xth letter of the general's name
Then change it to 's' to continue this game
Move it to last place and then you will know
That you've got a new word. So off we will go
To the largest discussion you ever have seen
And then choose a group with this word in between
That's most palindromic (on lexical grounds)
Then step right on in and look all around
Opinions are wanted on the eastern U.S.
Where feds will wander and agents don't rest
And the last three letters that have Li's attention
Are what will finally stop this invention.
----------
[Rick: I chose the newest posting I could find in
misc.jobs.misc because they expire after a week or two.
Fortunately, the SCILS team mangaged to find the post.]
solved by Mia Romano-Brown (mrb at eden.rutgers.edu) & Ian Sokoloff
(ims at eden.rutgers.edu)
The next stop on the Magical Mystery Hunt is MELVYL, the
University of California union OPAC (covering all nine
campuses including my alma mater, UCSD). This one I know by
heart: telnet melvyl.ucop. edu (the ucop is for UC Office
of the President, if you're curious). A search for "pa
(personal author) feller and pa gates" yielded two records:
1. BAUER, Caroline Feller. Read for the fun of it : active... 1992
2. BAUER, Caroline Feller. This way to books. 1983
Looks like the second fits; a closer look:
2. Bauer, Caroline Feller.
This way to books / Caroline Feller Bauer ;
drawings by Lynn Gates.
Bronx, N.Y. : Wilson, 1983.
UCB LibSchLib Z1037 .B37 1983
UCLA UES 027.625 B C.L.
UCR Rivera Z1037 .B374 1983
That's the one, and x=3. A little letter-juggling and "joab"
becomes "jobs". The "largest discussion" sounds like
Usenet; a "lookfor jobs" yields 45 hits. Of those, none are
true palindromes, but misc.jobs.misc is if you look at words
instead of letters ("lexical grounds"). So it seems to be
time to browse misc.jobs.misc looking for postings dealing
with the Washington, D.C. area, and by or involving someone
named Li. Very nasty when you consider that Usenet posts can
show up at vastly different times at different sites, so the
post that Mr. Gates saw last week and put into the Hunt may
have already been here at Rutgers and expired or may not
show up until the end of the Hunt or any- thing in between.
As it happens, there are currently no appropriate articles
at Rutgers. Fortunately for my sanity, I also have an
outside Internet account in Texas, and there I found in
misc.jobs.misc:
f.Li Hsien-yuan 12 Need opinion on LCC, Arlington, VA
There are certainly enough feds and agents in Arlington.
Let's take a closer look:
Li Hsien-yuan: Need opinion on LCC, Arlington, VA 11 Apr 1994 14:01
Hi! I would like to gather some general opinion about
a company called LCC/LLC located in Arlington, VA.
From what I know, it's a consulting company doing
business mostly in telecommunication. Does anybody
know anything beyond this --- such as the campany's
performance, work environment etc. How does theis
company treat their employees? Good? Not so good?
Terrible? I would like to know both sides of the
story, so your opinion [whatever it might be] will
be very much appreciated. Thanks.
HYL
So in this case, the last three letters of Li's interest are
LLC, and Clue 9 is history.
[From SCILS/Rutgers University Internet Interfaces Class, Piscataway,
New Jersey, U.S.A.]
========================================================
Clue 10
-------
-These are the letters that Li built
-This is a meaning that lives in the letters that Li built
-This is a group, a 4 letter group, that decided the meaning
that lives in the letters that Li built.
-This is a conference, on making Daneel, that's sponsored by
the group, the 4 letter group, that decided the meaning that
lives in the letters that Li built.
-This is the city, that's hosting the conference, on making
Daneel, that's sponsored by the group, the 4 letter group, that
decided the meaning that lives in the letters that Li built.
-This is the company, quite indivisible, that lives in the city,
that's hosting the conference, on making Daneel, that's
sponsored by the group, the 4 letter group, that decided the
meaning that lives in the letters that Li built.
-This is the group, a project of sorts, composed of three
members, along with the company, quite indivisible, that lives
in the city, that's hosting the conference, on making Daneel,
that's sponsored by the group, the 4 letter group, that
decided the meaning that lives in the letters that Li built.
----------
[Rick: There were really 2 answers to the last portion of
this question, as I found out. I had intended that the
Internic be the final piece of information, but our Hawaiian
team winners discovered that General Atomics is also a
member of CIX, a perfectly valid answer that fits the clue
well.]
LLC is an acronym for "Logical Link Control: the upper
portion of the datalink layer, as defined in IEEE 802.2."
Used a Veronica search to find an acronyms dictionary.
URL: gopher://uniwa/uwa/edu/au:70/OR60583-60915-1m/compnet/intro/
wordlists/users.glossary
Assuming IEEE is the group that decided the meaning that
lives in the letters that Li built (LLC), and Daneel is a
mindreading robot from Asimov's novels . . .
Using a Veronica search for IEEE, I found a conference "ICRA
'94: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Automation 1994", May 8-13, 1994 at Princess Resort, San
Diego, CA.
URL: gopher://sigart.acm.org:70/00/Announcements/Conferences/icra-94
Strategy: Since we had determined that the IEEE conference
was being held in San Diego, I did a VERONICA search using
keywords: San Diego. The reference to the San Diego
Supercomputer Center seemed like a good place to start. The
description mentioned that the center is administered by
General Atomics (atoms being indivisible).
URL:gopher://MIZZOU1.missouri.edu:70/00/irg/IRG-SEC1/1-10
file name: San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC)
General Atomics, Performance Systems International
(PSI), and UUNET Technologies have established the first Commercial
Internet Exchange (CIX).
Strategy: veronica search, keywords: general atomics.
URL: gopher://osiris.wu-wien.ac.at:71/0R24448-31219-/pub/src/info/
psinet/psinet.
file name: General Atomics, PSI & UUNET Technologies Establish First CIX
Answer: LLC
------- Logical Link Control
IEEE
ICRA '94
San Diego
General Atomics
1st CIX (Commercial Internet Exchange)
[From SLIS 694, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.]
------------------------------------------------------
Rick Gates rgates at locust.cic.net
Student & Lecturer
Univ. of Arizona (602) 621-3958
1515 E. 1st St.
Tucson, AZ 85719
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