Scavenger Hunt

What is the weight of the worlds biggest pumpkin? How long did it take to grow?

Typed into tool bar - http://www.pumpkins.com/ and searched within their site "worlds biggest pumpkin". That sent me too... http://www.pumpkinnook.com/giants/giantpumpkins.htm

It was grown in Rhode Island, USA in 2007. It weighed 1689 pounds!! Which is about 800Kg! Wow!

Had to go to another website to find out how long it took to grow.

Went onto http://www.worldsbiggestpumpkins.com/

About 4 Months (Spring)

What is the best way (quickest and most reliable) to contact Lily Allen?

Twitter-http://twitter.com/lilyroseallen

Myspace- http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic

What is the length of a giraffes tongue?

"The head has a rather elongated profile, with a long, thin upper lip, which is prehensile and used along with the long (about 18 inches), blue-black (to protect from sunburn), mobile tongue to grasp and tear foliage while the animal is feeding"

- From www.giraffes.com/physical-characteristics/

How would you define the word "glycomics"? In your own words, what does it really mean?

Used www.dictionary.com

Glycomics, an analogous term to genomics and proteomics, is the comprehensive study of glycomes (the entire complement of sugars, whether free or present in more complex molecules, of an organism), including genetic, physiologic, pathologic, and other aspects.

OR

The study of all sugars within an organism.

What does the term "seagul manager" refer to?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=seagull+manager

A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.

What was David Cronenbergs first feature film?

http://www.fandango.com/davidcronenberg/filmography/p86249

Was the avant garde sci-fi lick, Stereo in 1969.

Which of his films had "blondie" in it?

http://www.fandango.com/davidcronenberg/filmography/p86249

Videodrome 1983.

A programmer at a TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.
Cast: James Woods, Sonja Smits, Deborah Harry (AKA Blondie), Peter Dvorsky, Les Carlson
Director: David Cronenberg
Genres: Media Satire, Sci-Fi Horror, Science Fiction, Horror

When was the original "Hacker's Manifesto" written?

I'd heard of the book before so searched on amazon with no luck as to the original date...

1986 January 8 by The Mentor. Sounds like a really interesting read! Also the name of a book written by McKenzie Wark.

www.technozen.com/manifesto.htm

Why do phone numbers in Hollywood films start with 555?

This link is amusing! Lets phone Buffy!!!

http://home.earthlink.net/~mthyen/

Got the actual answer from MovieBlog. Just a stupid tradition!

http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/06/movie-blog-history-lesson-555

What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Sydney?

Fly Jetstar- $99 www.webjet.com (to find the cheapest airfare)

Drive- 850km with an average of $1.30per L of petrol.

Train- $87.15 https://bookings.countrylink.nsw.gov.au/NASApp/Odyssey/TrainpassServletAddTrain

Bus- $100.32 https://www.greyhound.com.au/Bookings/make-a-booking/bus-service-availability.aspx

Ride a Donkey- $1000 to buy a donkey
http://www.tradingpost.com.au/Pets-Horses/Horses-Agistment/AdNumber=TP002881158?BackToResult=true

Result: unless you already own a donkey which would result in free travel, the train is the cheapest form of travel to Sydney. :)

What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1965?

This one was easy to find if you knew stuff about music!! Stupid Sound of Music soundtrack was on top in 1965 for like 70 weeks or something ridiculous!
http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=29154

Which Brisbane band includes Stephan Stockwell on keyboard and vocals?
The Black Assassins. He's from our uni!!!! I thought he was someone really famous!!!
http://web.revolutionrock.com.au/oral-hist/index.php?id=24

ME AND SHIV IN WEEK3 TUTE

Our task in week three's tute was to find the definitions for these three terms.

• ECU
• WS
  
• MS
  

Being in a new communications Lecture i figured they would be computer based or at least technological...
I thought I'd cheated but I didn't mean too! I typed ECU into Google and up popped the last classes posts from the tutorial. Turned out they'd done the same exercise.
Thus i've posted the link to a Craig's definition of ECU but i've also done my own research and found my own definitions.

Via the last classes blog! Didn't mean to i swear!
http://craigjamesthompson.blogspot.com/2009/08/research-tutorial-3.html

My double check...
ECU into google brought up all sorts...
Electronic Control Unit- http://autorepair.about.com/cs/generalinfo/l/bldef_160.htm
Extreme Close Up- http://www.acronymfinder.com/ECU.html
Error Correction Union- http://www.acronymfinder.com/ECU.html
European Currency Unit- www.investorwords.com/1655/ECU.html

Finally i got it...
It was my second step, Extreme Close Up. By Googling "Language of the Screen and ECU"
That was also how i found the other two... All about the Screen and Shot angles.
Extreme Close Up
Googled "Define: Extreme Close Up"
Definitions Via Google

• Shows part of object in extremely close detail Person - eg. eye or part of face english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/units/piano/film_terms.html
  

• A shot in which a character or item takes up the entire frame of film, often used for dramatic effect or to tell the audience that this is important. johnaugust.com/glossary
  

• Abbreviated ECU or ECS, this is an extreme example of the close-up shot. Such a shot may contain only the eyes or mouth of the actor. www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/271filmterms.html
  

Mid Shot
Googled "Define Mid Shot"
Definitions of Mid shot on the Web:

• In film, a medium shot is a camera shot from a medium distance. The dividing line between "long shot" and "medium shot" is fuzzy, as is the line ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_shot
• The camera is placed at a middle distance from the subject so that our attention is focused on a particular subject. ...
  dragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/hs/technology/VideoTech/video/terms.htm
• denoting a medium distance between the camera and subject/object filmed: a mid shot of a person would show their body from the waist up.
  www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/mladww/fren233/233%20cinematic%20terms.doc

Wide Shot
Googled "Define: Wide Shot"
Definitions of Wide Shot on the Web:

• A video or film recording made with the camera positioned to observe the most action in the performance
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wide_shot
• Shot which covers the action of the scene in a wide or panoramic view.
  australianscreen.com.au/glossary/
• Extremely wide shot - shot with wide-angle lens.
  english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/units/piano/film_terms.html

1623

Wilhelm Schickard designs the first calculator for use adding large figures. Called the calculating clock.

1642

Pascal invents an adding machine (Pascaline) too aid his father who was a tax collector, it was too expensive to keep running.

1666

Samuel Morland builds a mechanical calculator, only able to add and subtract.

1834

Charles Babbage begins his work on the "computer". His is more like a mechanical calculator than an electronic device. He is noted as the inventor of the first digital computer. Called the analytical engine.

1912

Alan Turing starts the first serious work on a model, comparable to the modern computer. Isn't commercially produced until the 1950's by IBM.

1936

The first freely programmable computer is designed.

1960's

The first talk of the Internet began. The RAND corporation began talking of a communication program that could survive a Nuclear war.

1962

The first computer game invented.

1964

The first computer mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart.

1971

Alan Shugart &IBMThe "Floppy" Disk . Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.

1975

The first PC (personal computer) was released. Didn't do much more than get " a whole lot of tech-nerds really excited." (Learning at Griffith, Lecture Two, A Short History of the computer) "there is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home" Ken Olson Chairman DEC.

1990's

People began to get excited and see the possibilities of the computer.

Bibliography

Lecture notes "A Brief history of Computing" , Learning at Griffith, Accessed 13.8.09, 14.8.09

http://www.warbaby.com/FG_test/Timeline.html Accessed 13.8.09

http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/History.htm Accessed 17.8.09

www.hitmill.com/computers/computerhx1.html accessed 17.8.09

www.computerhope.com/history Accessed 17.8.09

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_computing_2400_BC%E2%80%931949 Accessed 17.8.09

http://www.dreamcomputers.com.au/216.htm Accessed 17.8.09

Week Two

Wow. Week Two is over already! Its Sunday night and Week Three is about to start!
RunDown of Week Two.
Missed Social Enterprise Lec+Tute :( I feel heaps slack!
Communication Performance Tute was awesome. PLaying with the camera's and that will be a laugh. Not sure who in their right mind would allow me to play with a $Thousand Dollar camera!
ComTech Lecture was about the history of the computer which was actually kinda interesting... Learnt alot of stuff i didn't know about computers...
ComTech Tute was good we looked up info on a range of new technologies and defined Convergence and Convergent technologies. God there are some crazy new technologies out there. People are insane! Who invents this stuff!
News+Politics Lecture was alright, just summed up what I'd read in the textbook..
News+Politics Tute was good, tutor is funny, i think it'll be a good class.

Communication

Here are a few new-ish communication technologies which i think are worth mentioning.

Wireless Internet.

Has this not revolutionised the way we use the internet! This invention goes hand in hand with new laptop technology, no more massive cords and boxes to carry around its all so tiny and modern and well designed. Its now so easy to stay in contact with people via the web and email.

The smart phone

Mobile phone technology has exploded to the point where phones now vary little from the modern computer. With the internet, camera and GPS technolgies, making a simple telephone call is no longer the most important thing when buying a cellphone. With so many different technologies all rolled into one the Smart Phone is the best example available of Convergent technologies.

Video Calling Technology

Via the internet through the use of a webcam and sites such as SKYPE, AOL, and MSN making a video call is as easy as clicking a button! The use of the webcams has been fairly popular however the use of video calls via mobile phones, though available for about 4years hasn't beeen as popular as hoped.

Article about video calling:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/09/guardianweeklytechnologysection.it1

Perhaps Some Communication Technologies?

Seeing as how this is my New Communication Technologies blog i should probably find something relating to communication... I'll make it interesting of course! I'll find some crazy ones... :)

Stupid New Technologies

Stupid Pointless Inventions

http://www.ordable.com/lists/view/stupid--pointless-inventions

Greenhouse Helmet

Now you can take your Greenhouse with you! :S

Motorized Fork

"A tiny motor in the fork spins the business end of it around. For what purpose you ask? Well, it’s pretty much only meant to be used with Pasta. Despite the silliness of having a motorized utensil, doesn’t anyone see the potential problems?"

Toliet Paper hat??

Musical Dirty Nappy Alarm

Umbrella Hat

TWEEL
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/tweel-airless-tire.htm

The tweel is an airless tire. It has many pros and a few cons. Michelin plans to use them for commercial/construction vehicles and once they work out all the kinks they should be more public in 10 years or so.

New Technologies!??

This is the newest thing in cell phone technologies!

For $379.95 you can get the MaxxPhone which is a cell phone... that sits on your desk? Being as portable as your printer!??

"MaxxPhone sports all the pushbuttons, bells and whistles you'd expect from a fancy office phone. This includes a full keyboard so you don't have to wear out your thumbs sending text messages, and a digital display large enough for use by non-teenagers with tired eyesight."

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/lightsaber2.htm

Toast/Cut bagel in one stroke


trim the hedges


Light a cigarette


Construction


Heat your coffee


Cut down a tree

Second Tute.

Communication Technologies Second Tute
The act of Converging... Is Coming together.
Convergence. The coming together of two or more things. (Definition via Google: wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn)
Technological Convergence. Technological convergence is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks.
( Via Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergence_(technology))

Technological convergence
The coming together of different technologies in order to simplfy many technological devices into one simple device. Eg, The smartphone, computer, phone, camera, internet, all in one simple device.

My Day Off

Opps. Slept in and missed my Social Enterprise lecture.
Tried to figure out if i could borrow from the library without going all the way into uni. Couldn't so i bussed it all the way there just to find out they didn't have the books so I'd have to order them from Logan. THAT i could have done from home. Thus i wasted my last $2.
I watched Dr Phil. Awesome.
Sent out many emails trying to organise some work experience for the holidays. No replys.
Had a nap. Now Im hypo.
Rang CentreGay. My claim was rejected.
Had another nap. Mainly so i didn't have to think about my bills.
Now im watching Deal or No Deal. Even better.
Wishing i got offered $38 000...
Ah! So sick of being poor! Its so frustrating!