Tutorial Task 4

1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin?
1502 pounds, in 2006: http://www.bigpumpkins.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=161&gid=49
2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Grant Hackett?
From his online fan club http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/GrantHackettFans/ I haven't accessed it as membership is required to participate.
3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?
18-20 inches long: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-giraffe.html
4. How would you define the word 'ontology'? In your own words, what does it really mean ?
Even on this one website, there are multiple definitions for ontology (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ONTOLI.html) Based on this, and not being ax expert ontologist myself, I'd say that ontology can be defined as a science of being and existing.
5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film?
1966's "Transfer." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061114/
6. When was the original 'Hacker's Manifesto' written?
8th january 1986. http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/manifesto.html
7. Why do all phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?
Based on http://www.omegarobot.com/article/555.html, it seems the dearth in legit "555" numbers means that authorities were keen to fill this gap, so encouraging Hollywood films to use "555" solved this problem
8. What is the cheapest form of travel from Crete to Rhodes?
http://www.iexplore.com/world_travel/Greece/Destinations suggets travel by ferry as the cheapest travel, bar swmming, between these two destinations.
9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?
"I'll Never Find Another You"- The Seekers . Shame that unlike the UK, our number one this time 42 years ago wasn't by the Rolling Stones.
http://www.onmc.iinet.net.au/topspot/1965.htm
10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?
Only the best band ever....Black Assassins http://www.griffith.edu.au/school/art/staff/stockwell.htm



A search engine is a website that specialises in recommending to the user a list of websites that are relevant to that user's needs and wants. I watched a documentary on SBS last year that was based on Google, and one segment was about the way that website sorts the order of its search results. Google came under criticism from that program after it found that the first result from the search "holocaust" was actually a site denying that atrocity's existence. Paid placements (where a company/site pays Google to have its site displayed prominently) are one example of how a search engine may list its findings.

What makes one page more useful than another one is the reliability and accuracy in giving me useful links. This may be as a result of refining my initial search into having a specific phrase or quote. Google is my homepage, I vary rarely use other engines. When I do, it is then yahoo.com.au and ninemsn.com.au in that order. Google is something that I've grown accustomed to, plus it simply offers more accurate responses than yahoo or ninemsn.

A website, http://searchenginewatch.com/ is focused upon informing user about reliability, news and features about prominent search engines. For example, published on March 22, http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=3625316 outlines Yahoo's attempts in strengthening attempts at detecting fraud.

Right now, I'm favouring my essay to be about MySpace. This technology's rapid growth is astounding, and with its rise in use has brought about questions about the impact of this technology on some of its users. Is the use of of this website in telling strangers about personal details fair, and is this tool the communication of the future, where the number of "friends" online becomes more important than the number of friends one has in real life?