Week 4 with Mumma Jules

Well I am really being stretched to search the internet in different ways and access information that I know nothing about and now report it to you, so ENJOY!


1. Who was the creator of the infamous “lovebug” computer virus?

It is suggested on the following links, that the beginning of the virus code Signatures in the LoveBug virus source code indicates a possible origin, and through the archives of these anonymous emails, authorities were able to locate the alleged author of the Lovebug virus - Onel de Guzman
http://computerbytesman.com/lovebug/index.htm http://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/05/04/iloveyou/index.html


2. Who invented the Paper Clip?

http://www.officemuseum.com/paper_clips.htm
It seems that there was some resistance to the development of the paper clip because at the time the business world thought that straight pins did the job adequately. The first patent for the bent-wire paper clip was registered by Samuel B. Fay in 1867 but it took a few more decades, before the paper clip really became well known and well used. By the late 1890’s and 1900’s many other patents followed and a number of different styles were introduced. Another reason for the delay was the need to develop a machine that would reliably bend and produce the clips
A quote from (Henry Petroski, "From Pins to Paper Clips," The Evolution of Useful Things, Vintage, New York, 1992, p. 60) explains why paper clips weren’t marketed earlier.
“According to Petroski, "Steel wire was still new in the second half of the nineteenth century....The widespread manufacture and use of the paper clip had to await not only the availability of the right wire but also the existence of machinery capable of tirelessly and reliably bending it in a flash into things that could be bought for pennies a box."
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/paperclip.htm
This site from another search engine, led me to a table showing the dates and developments which is interesting.

3. How did the Ebola virus get its name?

http://www.geocities.com/mockturtl/variations.html

Simply put the Ebola owes its name to the fact that it was discovered in Zaire near the river Ebola
-- The disease is caused by infection with Ebola virus, named after a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) in Africa, where it was first recognised.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL06277921

4. What country had the largest recorded earthquake?

On May 22, 1960 at 19:11:14 UTC, with the epicenter in Valdivia, about 700 kilometers south of Santiago, Chile the world's largest recorded earthquake struck since measurements began in 1899, the Great Chilean Earthquake.
Over 2,000 people were killed, 3,000 injured, 2,000,000 homeless, and $550 million damage in southern Chile.
The tsunami that followed caused 61 deaths, $75 million damage in Hawaii; 138 deaths and $50 million damage in Japan; 32 dead and missing in the Philippines; and $500,000 damage to the west coast of the United States.
The magnitude: an Earth shaking 9.5 on the Richter Scale.
http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/largest7.html
How cool is this website name!

5. In computer memory/storage terms, how many kilobytes in a terabyte?

This was a great site that showed tables and byte converters that revealed the answer to be 1,073,741,824, but have a look at the webpage, you may learn more than you need.
http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/


6. Who is the creator of email?

http://www.multicians.org/thvv/mail-history.html

This article suggests that email was "not invented but evolved from simple beginnings", similar to leaving a note on someones desk. It began with having one computer with various users. But once networking developed there needed to be a more complex system that involved addresses just like the postal system. Ray Tomlinson is given the credit for inventing email in 1972. He picked the @ symbol to indicate sending a message from one computer to another. Simply combining the nomination of the name of the user @ the name of the computer.

7. What is storm worm and how many computers are affected by it?

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/storm.asp

It is NASTY!!!!! is spread as an attachment to e-mail messages through various subject lines like "230 dead as storm batters Europe" or something that appears to be sweet "You've received an e-card from an admirer" and installs a Trojan Horse onto the recipients computer.
This article goes on to say that hundreds or thousands of computers can request files simultaneously and has been known to bring the whole country of Estonia down last year so those that are affected by it are world wide and can be dense in the number of shut down's.

HOW ARE YOU GOING? DON'T SWITCH OFF YET, THERE IS JUST A FEW MORE.

8. If you wanted to contact the Prime Minister of Australia directly, what is the most efficient way?

This link will take you directly to the prime ministers web page and contact details. Although contact details are offered, the site stresses the lack of security via the internet and email and suggests that if your message is sensitive to use the postal address provided.

http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm

9. Which Brisbane-based punk band is Stephen Stockwell (Head of the School of Arts) a member of?

Some interesting reading but 'Who would have thought????????'

http://users.bigpond.net.au/blackassassins/index.html

10. What does the term "Web 2.0" mean in your own words?

Web 2.0 has moved from the foundations of Web 1.0 that allowed users to simply view and download content, to introducing opportunities for the average person to contribute to the content. It is suggested that blogging for example, and free web services like wikipedia take the control away from a select few and allow free speech to be excercised in a whole new way. Not everybody is happy about this progression. I wonder what Web 3.0 will introduce?

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci1169528,00.html