Organization: Samford University Computer Services
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.cwis-l
Date:         Tue, 8 Sep 1992 15:54:55 CDT
From:         THE GAR <GLWARNER@SAMFORD.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: RESULTS: First Internet Hunt

CAUTION.  LONG.

On Tue, 8 Sep 1992 15:18:38 EDT Howard Pasternack said:
>The breadth of information accessible via the Internet is really
>quite impressive.  I didn't enter the contest, but I would like to pose
>a question about the answers.  How is someone who doesn't know the
>answer supposed to find the answer ?  That is, if you know that
>exchange rates are posted on a server at Michigan, all well and good.
>If you do not know this factotum, how are you supposed to find it
>out. This to me is really more of a challenge than knowing the correct
>answers.

I didn't win, but I think I did well.  I submitted my answer on September
1st (3 days before the winner) but only scored (by my calc) 44 points
instead of 46.  Some of my answers were less than perfect, but I stopped
once I had A good answer.

Here is how I went about things.


---------------------------------------------------------------
1. (4) I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow.  Approximately how many
yen can I get for my dollar, give or take a few yen ?

I knew that where I would look up this information was in the
newspaper.  I also knew that only the HUGE sites carry the
papers, and the BBS at UNC is among the biggest.  So I went
there, and checked their USA Today.

2. (7) A hurricane just blew in!  Where can I find satellite
photos of it's progress?

I am one of the people who had a "Quick Time Movie" of the hurricane.
When looking for files, one can send a request to ARCHIE@SURA.NET
in the format "PROG search-string", and I told it to find ANDREW,
hurricane, or satellite.  I thought the Mac answer was good.

3. (6) I'm taking a job as a social studies teacher at a high
school in Denver, Co.  Where can I find a list of local
environmental organizations that could come speak to my classes?

I knew that Denver was in Colorado, and that CARL was a huge
library coalition in Colorado.  I have a list of all the online
libraries, so I looked it up, and searched its databases.

4. (4) My wife just got a job at the University of North
Carolina.  My specialty is computer/data processing work.  Where
can I find a list of jobs in that area of the state?

UNC, that I mentioned earlier, is in North Carolina, so I
checked their information system.

5. (2) How many copies of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" does
the University of Nevada at Las Vegas hold?

On the same list of libraries I mentioned above, I found that
library.lv-lib.nevada.edu was the UNLV library.  So I tried to
telnet to it.  It wasn't working, so I called their librarian
and asked for another telnet address.  He gave me the address
of another machine on campus to use, and then told me to type
telnet library from there, and it worked.  Asking people is
always a good way to find things.

6. (6) Bill Clinton made a speech somewhere on Earth day this
year.  Where can I find the text of it?

I gave the LDBASE answer on this one.  LISTSERV LISTS is a file that
is commonly available.  It listed a CLINTON list, which I used LDBASE
to search for the string "Earth Day".  It spit out the speech.
Archie would have worked here as well.

7. (7)  I just read an interesting paper by a Bradley Smith in
the Chemistry Department at the University of Western Australia.
Is it possible to get an email address for him?

Washington University is another "big" site.  I went in search
of a name-server there, and found a reference to Netfind at
bruno.cs.colorado.edu.  I'd never used it before, but it worked
well, and was quite self-explanatory.

8. (2)  Someone told me that there's a collection of software
specifically for libraries stored somewhere in Canada called
libsoft.  How do I get ahold of this software?

Archie.

9. (4)  Where can I find news, discussions, and perhaps
eyewitness reports out of what used to be Yugoslavia?

Any good usenet site had the list on yugoslavia.  I signed on unc, and
searched for the string yugo in newsgroup names.  Bingo.

10. (6)  Could you tell me how I can find the Washington address
for the congressman from my district?

WAIS servers are an up-and-coming thing for searching databases.  I
figured there must be a database somewhere on congress, and since
WAIS has several hundred databases, I used it.  I can't remember
if I went through UNC or WUGATE, but these are my two favorite
sites.

To use wugate telnet to wugate.wustl.edu and logon as SERVICES.
To use UNC's BBS, telnet to bbs.oit.unc.edu and logon as BBS.

From there one can find ANYTHING!  (Including most libraries!)


 /++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++\
!  Later        +   Systems Programmer                                 !
!  Gary Warner  +   Samford University Computer Services               !
!               +   II TIMOTHY 2:15                                    !
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