INTERNET WAVES
So You Think You Know the Internet?
by Shirley Duglin Kennedy
I hate to generalize, folks, but the more of these questions you can
answer, the less of a life you probably have (and you might be pretty
old too). Of course, I’m the one who came up with this collection. So
what does that say about me? Don’t answer that. Instead, test your
internet IQ by taking a stab at answering the questions below. (Need
some help? Check the URLs at the bottom of the column.)
1. Who coined the term “meme” and when?
2. True or false: William Gibson first used the term “cyberspace” in his 1984 novel, Neuromancer.
3. What is Godwin’s Law?
4. What is an acoustic coupler?
5. Where was the Trojan Room coffee pot located?
6. Where was the original internet Coke machine located?
7. Who were the Green Card Lawyers?
8. The Dancing Baby was also known as what?
9. What does AYBABTU stand for?
10. True or false: “Smilies” were invented in 1982 by Scott E. Fahlman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
11. What other animal makes an appearance in “Badger Badger Badger”?
12. What company created the Subservient Chicken?
13. Pastafarianism is the belief system of what religion?
14. Who created Blogger and when?
15. What does ICHC stand for?
16. Who used the term “series of tubes” to describe the internet?
17. Who were Brandy’s Babes?
18. What is “rickrolling”?
19. What is Obama Girl’s real name?
20. Who is Caitlin Upton?
21. What type of dancing fruit is featured in “It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time!”
22. Where and when was “Don’t tase me, bro” shouted?
23. Who is Jennifer Ringley?
24. Who was voted People magazine’s Most Beautiful Person of 1998—on the internet, at least?
25. Who is Mahir Cagri?
26. “Hamster Dance” is performed to what melody?
27. Kyle MacDonald traded one red paperclip for what?
28. When did the media outlet that provides “News for Nerds. Stuff That Matters.” get its official online start?
29. What popular Flash-based cartoon was created by Mike and Mark Chapman, two brothers from Decatur, Ga.?
30. Where was the first-ever web server?
31. Fill in the blanks: Frog in a ________. Gerbil in a ________.
32. Where was the Mosaic web browser developed?
33. What was BITNET?
34. Name three dot-coms that failed to survive “the bubble.”
35. When did the Internet Scout Project start?
36. What was the first book ever sold on Amazon.com?
37. “You Own Your Own Words” was the disclaimer for what early online community?
38. When did the Electronic Frontier Foundation get its start?
39. What is Hytelnet, and who invented it?
40. What does PGP stand for?
41. The “gopher” protocol originated at which university?
42. Who wrote Zen and the Art of the Internet, and when was it published?
43. What was the Robert Morris Internet Worm?
44. The first four nodes on ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network), the precursor to the internet, were connected in 1969. Where
were they?
45. What is the Internet Death Penalty?
46. In what year did the White House first come online?
47. On an internet server, web services are typically available on which port?
48. Who is generally regarded as “the father of the internet”? Where does he work now?
49. Who is the founder of Project Gutenberg, and when did it get started?
50. What is Z39.50?
And the Answer Is …
OK, give up? Here’s a cheat sheet for those questions you missed.
1. www.rubinghscience.org/memetics/dawkinsmemes.html
2. www.antonraubenweiss.com/gibson/download/gibson_faq.txt
3. www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/legends/godwin
4. www.cs.unc.edu/Outreach/vr/computer_museum/acousticcoupler1.html
5. www.cl.cam.ac.uk/coffee/qsf/coffee.html
6. www.cs.cmu.edu/~coke
7. http://lcs.www.media.mit.edu/people/foner/Essays/Civil-Liberties/Project/green-card-lawyers.html
8. www.cnet.com/1990-11136_1-6268155-1.html
9. www.cnet.com/1990-11136_1-6268155-1.html
10. www.snopes.com/computer/internet/smiley.asp
11. www.badgerbadgerbadger.com
12. www.snopes.com/business/viral/chicken.asp
13. www.venganza.org
14. www.cnet.com/1990-11136_1-6268155-1.html
15. http://icanhascheezburger.com
16. www.youtube.com/watch?v=f99PcP0aFNE
17. www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982769,00.html?iid=chix-sphere
18. www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/media/24rick.html
19. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3279937&page=1
20. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww
21. http://kuoi.com/~davidcb/sounds/banana.swf
22. http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/10/31/441568.aspx
23. http://cgi.amazing.com/jennifer
24. www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/09/46566
25. www.ikissyou.org
26. www.cnet.com/1990-11136_1-6268155-1.html
27. http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com
28. http://meta.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/02/1553218
29. www.hrwiki.org/index.php/The_Brothers_Chaps
30. http://info.cern.ch
31. http://joecartoon.atom.com/cartoons/channel/6-press_n_splode/page/2
32. www.livinginternet.com/w/wi_mosaic.htm
33. www.livinginternet.com/u/ui_bitnet.htm
34. www.cnet.com/1990-11136_1-6278387-1.html
35. http://scout.wisc.edu/About/index.php
36. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-corporateTimeline
37. www.well.com/conf/welltales/timeline.html
38. www.eff.org/about
39. http://feedbus.com
40. www.philzimmermann.com/EN/background/index.html
41. www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/04/62988
42. www.cs.indiana.edu/docproject/zen/zen-1.0_toc.html
43. http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/morris-worm.html
44. www.ziplink.net/~lroberts/InternetChronology.html
45. http://catb.org/jargon/html/I/Internet-Death-Penalty.html
46. www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline
47. http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-server8.htm
48. www.google.com/press/pressrel/vintcerf.html
49. www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:The_History_and_Philosophy_of_Project_Gutenberg_by_Michael_Hart
50. www.loc.gov/z3950/gateway.html
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