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Internet Scavenger Hunt #5 Answers
Here are the answers to the fifth Internet Treasure Hunt, brought to you by WebLens Search Portal. For this and other Internet Scavenger Hunt questions, see the Hunt Index.
According to the religion of ancient Egypt, this god had the head of an ibis and was the patron of scribes and writing. Who was he? According to the religion of ancient Egypt, the ibis-headed god who was the patron of scribes was Thoth. This question was a freebie. Most people searched on some combination of the words Egypt, ibis, and scribes.
What English mathematician calculated the value of Pi to 707 decimal places and published his results in 1873? Another gift. Everyone correctly reported that William Shanks was the person who calculated the value of Pi to 707 decimal places. (Interestingly, Shanks got the 528th digit wrong, which fouled up the remaining 179.) Most people found this by searching on the word Pi, the number 707, and the date 1873.
What famed philosopher wrote, convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies? Boy, I gave you a good head start. Another giveaway. It was, of course, Friedrich Nietszche who wrote that convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies. Most people searched on the complete quote, or portions thereof, though no-one reported using a quotation server.
To which phyllum of the animal kingdom do both crayfish and pillbugs belong? Aha! Finally a challenge. Many of you struggled with this question, and the majority got it wrong, mostly due to not reading the question carefully enough. Pillbugs and crayfish both belong to the Arthropoda phylum. Many people erroneously indicated crustaceans, which are actually a class or sub-phylum within the Arthropoda phylum. And two people went to the trouble to scold me for misspelling the word phylum (no, I didn't use my spell-checker!)
Who was the designer of Czechoslovakian Tatra T11 automobile, which was known as "the people's car"? The Czechoslovakian Tatra T11 automobile was designed by Hans Ledwinka in the 1920's. This one also didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out. Most people searched on Tatra or Tatra T11.
Which Beatles song starts, Well, she was just seventeen .? "I Saw Her Standing There" is the Beatles song that starts with the line "Well, she was just seventeen ." This one was easy. Most people got it by searching on the word Beatles and some portion of the lyrics.
What is the name of the imagemap graphic on the NHL web site? An imagemap is a graphic that contains multiple links. A different action is performed depending on where you click upon the graphic. This is accomplished by marking off different sections of the graphic and storing their coordinates in a map file. When you click within an area bounded by those coordinates, a specific action is performed, depending upon the link that is associated with that area. This question was the toughie! If you didn't know what an imagemap was, this question presented you with three research challenges. In addition to learning about imagemaps, you had to find the NHL site. Then you had to discover the correct name of a specific graphic (the imagemap) on this site. The NHL site is graphically rich and highly sophisticated. It contains several small graphics, including one called nh000an0.gif that cycles between the IBM and NHL logos and is linked to a web page called icerel.htm. Several people wrongly reported this graphic as the imagemap, and gave icerel.htm as its filename. Neither is it the subtly-shaded background graphic that fills the screen, which is called nh000bk0.jpg. Some of you were very close. A few people wrongly assumed that the NHL logo at the top of the screen was part of the imagemap graphic. Closer examination would have revealed that this image, named nh000hd0.jpg, is actually a separate graphic. (Right-click on it, and select View this image to see for yourself.) This was a very tough assignment that required painstaking investigation but it wasn't a trick question. As a result, only four people correctly reported that the name of the imagemap in question is nh000mp1.jpg. They used a variety of approaches to discover this fact. An imagemap can be spotted by the constantly changing URL's that appear as you move your mouse over the image. In Netscape, graphics can easily be identified (and also saved to disk) simply by right-clicking on them with the mouse. Only two people reported using this procedure to discover the answer. Others looked at the source document - an approach that's not for the squeamish, and certainly not the easiest way to isolate the name of a graphic in the HTML alphabet soup that is a web page. (For HTML fans using this approach, an imagemap may be identified in the source code by the IMG tag's ISMAP attribute or by the MAP tag, in the case of client-side imagemaps.)
What does the Latin phrase non illegitimi te carborundum mean? On the other hand, almost no-one had trouble with the next question. The vast majority correctly reported that the Latin phrase non illegitimi te carborundum, loosely translated, means "don't let the bastards get you down." Most discovered this by searching on all or part of the quote in question.
What disease was known as the "Black Death" and when did it first make its appearance in England? The "Black Death" is a widely used colloquialism for the Bubonic Plague, (although it's sometimes interpreted to refer as well to the Pneumonic and Septicaemic plagues). This devastating disease started in the far east and had made its way to England by 1348, killing millions in its wake. A lot of people got the first part of the question right, but some erred on the date. This result is a good example of the importance of finding other sites to corroborate your findings.
What is clapshot? Clapshot is an Orcadian (Scottish) dish made from potatos and turnips (also called swedes) that is often served with haggis. Most people indicated distaste, but I've had it and, actually, it's delicious. This one proved easily solved, with 100% correct answers.