3: Treasure Hunt

When asked to find out the answer to the below questions without the assistance of Google or Wikipedia, a friend asked "Well, how do you search without Google?". I suggested she Google the term "search engines"... Oh, how reliant on Google we are.

I used Yahoo for my treasure hunt as it used to be my default web browser before I made the switch to Google. All answers were found on August 20. I have linked the URL where I found the answers to the applicable question. All images were found via Yahoo.

1. What is the weight of the world’s biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?
What: CERN's Large Hadron Collider.
Weight: 38,000 tonnes.
Cost: $10,000,000,000.

2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Ozzy Osbourne?
How: Twitter.
Osbourne's account has been verified by Twitter and while he may not reply, it is certainly a more effective method than getting in contact with his management.

3. When and what was the first example of global digital communication?
What: Morse Code developed in 1835 by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail.
Morse Code uses two states (on and off) composed into five symbols:

• dit (·)
  
• dah (-)
  
• short gap (between letters)
  
• medium gap (between words)
  
• long gap (between sentences)

4. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?
While some people may say that the cheapest way to get from the Gold Coast to Melbourne is by walking/hitchiking as it doesn't cost anything, I disagree. The distance between the two cities is 1,840km and an estimated travel time of 22hrs. This would most likely be spread out over 3 days of travel, and even if you aren't paying for petrol, you will still need somewhere to spend the night, along with food and water costs. That's why I think that flying is the cheapest method of transport.

By booking flights on sale, and in advance you can get a fare for under $50 and a fraction of the travelling time. Fares start at $46.24 with Tiger Airways (as of 20 August).

5. Who is Hatsune Miku? What company does she belong to? What is her birthday?
Who: Hatsune Miku (初音ミク).
What: "The first and most popular installment in the Vocaloid Character Vocal Series (a singing synthesizer application)".
Company: Yamaha.
Birthday: 31 August 2007.

6. Find a live webcam in Antarctica. Find a place to stay in Antarctica.
Webcam: Palmer Station, Antarctica.
Travel: The best (albeit expensive) way to see Antarctica is by cruise ship. This link is for an 11-day tour on the cruise ship Svetaeva (pictured).

7. What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1980?
9 Aug 1980: "Funky Town" - Lipps Inc.


8. How would you define the term 'nanotechnology'? In your own words, what does it really mean?
N is for Nanotechnology: A theoretical and experimental field of applied science and technology. It covers a broad range of topics and is focused on controlling and exploiting the structure of matter on a scale below 100 nanometers.

This video describes it in terms I can understand, that nanotechnology relates to "the study of things less than 1/1000th of the width of a human hair". Now THAT is tiny!



9. What type of camera is used to make ‘Google Street View’?
Camera: Dodeca 2360 from Immersive Media (pictured).
Info: 100 million pixels at 30 frames per second.

10. Translate these questions into Klingon.
Klingon: a constructed language created by Marc Okrand for Paramount Pictures and spoken by Klingons in the fictional Star Trek universe.

I translated the questions via Tweet in Klingon.

(1) wa'. nuq ghaH yov vo' qo'’cha'DIch biggest chenmoH? chay' 'ar ta'ta' 'oH taH Daqchen?
(2) cha'. nuq ghaH qIp Da (quickest, HochHom yuDHa') DaqSIch Ozzy Osbourne?
(3) wej. DI'je nuq ghaHta' wa'Dich example vo' global digital vang?
(4) loS. nuq ghaH cheapest form vo' leng vo' SuD baS vIH DaqMelbourne?
(5) vagh. boghghaH Hatsune Miku? nuq tlhej ta'taH ghaH jaH ? Daqnuq ghaH DajqoS?
(6) jav. tu' yIn webcam DaqAntarctica. tu' Daq Daqratlh DaqAntarctica.
(7) Soch. nuq bom ghaHta' juS vo' ngan bIng nab vamHogh Daq1980?
(8) chorgh. chay' would SoH define ja' 'nano Sun'? Daq lIjghaj mu'mey, nuq ta'taH 'oH really qej?
(9) Hut. nuq ngu' vo' camera ghaH lo' DaqchenmoH ‘Qul SuD View’?
(10) wa'maH. mugh Dochvammey yu' Daq tlhIngan.

pItlh.