# the neutron star Internet Challenge **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2000, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096 "2000-05-10T09:34:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096/1 "2000-05-10T09:34:27Z")
Inspired by the Bricker challenge, but a little different. The questions are phrased like normal questions. They are all Internet-related. And since I’m broke, I’m afraid there is no prize. Hmmm, what would the incentive to answer the questions be without a reward? Okay, $10 cash money. That’s the prize. I’m not supporting anybody’s beer habit! The winner is on the honor system not to spend his or her winnings on beer. If you find any errors or anything wrong with these questions, kindly let me know. Deadline is 2 AM CST May 11, since I’m pretty sure y’all are going to snap these right up. Most of them are easy, but some require a bit of knowledge. Good luck! 1. Before they got their own domain name, what was AltaVista’s URL? 2. Before the RIAA started cracking down on web sites with mp3’s, everybody who was anybody got their mp3 FTP sites from the proudly banner-free, ratio-hating **\_\_\_\_\_\_\_'s Page of Good MP3**. 3. What is the traditional remote port a Usenet client connects to? 4. Traditional web port? 5. Traditional FTP port? 6. IRC is actually a form of what TCP/IP protocol? 7. Up until a couple of years ago, what were the “Big Three” online services? 8. Rumor has it that Earthlink is owned by what religious organization? 9. What audio compression format that never really caught on boasts not only better audio quality than mp3, but smaller file sizes? (hint : the two most popular bitrates are 80kbps and 96kbps) 10. What is the FQDN of : 11001111\*\*. **01011111**. **10010110**.\*\*00001010 11. RARP was rendered obsolete by what protocol? 12. What does PING stand for? 13. What kind of cabling do Internet backbones use? 14. What does modem stand for? 15. What are the two most popular methods of high speed Internet access from home? 16. A T3 is equivalent to how many T1 lines? 17. What do you call the little plastic thing at the end of the telephone line that plugs into the jack in the wall? 18. What was the URL of the popular song lyrics search engine that the RIAA shut down? 19. What are the six main top-level domains in the U.S.? 20. What is the land code for South Africa? 21. To connect to a remote host, the host name must be resolved to an IP address. The IP address must be resolved to a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ address. 22.---- 4.20.4.20 is a Class \_\_ IP address. 1. How many available ports does a computer on the Internet have? 2. A port is a subset of a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ . 3. Networks are seperated by and connected to each other with \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. 4. What is the oldest method of file transfer still in common use? 5. What two comic strip characters were once popular ways of getting files? 6. Sites in what domain are the most frequently visited on the Internet? 7. Who owns Netscape? 8. What term describes the variable sizes of the sending and recieving TCP buffers? 9. On this date, which is often referred to as the birth of the Internet, ARPANET packet-switching devices stopped accepting NCP packets and only passed TCP/IP packets. 10. What does SMTP stand for? 11. How 'bout SNMP ? 12. How fast is a T1 ? 13. What does baud rate measure? 14. Where would you go to find out who owns a particular domain name? 15. What is the name of the slimeball founder of AOL? 16. Chatrooms are to AOL as \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ are to IRC. 17. What popular rap musician is trying to sue people who illegally download his music? 18. If you don’t mind downloading your files in hundreds (or even thousands) of small parts, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is a great place to find music, movies, pics, and other binaries. 19. What lifesaving FTP command would one use after they were disconnected in the middle of a huge download? 20. What did it mean to “nuke” somebody? 21. On IRC, what was the intended purpose of “riding a split?” 22. At the time of Netscape’s introduction, what was the most popular web browser? 23. At the time of Internet Explorer’s introduction, what was the most popular web browser? 24. What legendary hacker was recently freed from prison under the stipulation that he not go near a computer for 5 years? 25. What is the name of the Javascript command that switches images when the mouse cursor moves over them? 26. What is the PSTN ? 27. What search engine boasts the largest index of sites on the web? 28. How long did I spend on AOL before I got a real ISP? (closest guess wins) ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096/2 "2000-05-10T09:38:05Z")
What was the question? I’m so sorry… I really am… but I just had to say it… ::beats himself to make restitution:: ---
**Author:** ![JonF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JonF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonF)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096/3 "2000-05-10T11:20:23Z")
Yow. Well, let’s see what I can do off the top of my head and with a few utilities … 1. [altavista.digital.com](http://altavista.digital.com) 2. NNTP? If so, 119 3. 80? 4. 21 5. Compuserve, AOL, and … ? 6. Moonies? 7. Hum, I get 207.95.150.10 and several DNS servers fail geting a PTR lookup on that … 8. Portable InterNet Graphics? 9. FIber optics 10. Modulater / Demodulator 11. DSL and cable modem 12. RJ-11 13. COM, ORG, NET, MIL, GOV, EDU 14. SA? 15. Archie and Veronica 16. AOL 17. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 18. Simple Network Management Protocol? 19. Transitions per second 20. WHOIS query at [rs.internic.net](http://rs.internic.net), nic.ddn.mil, [whois.arin.net](http://whois.arin.net), [wjois.ripe.net](http://wjois.ripe.net), [whois.apnic.net](http://whois.apnic.net), or whois.nic.mil 21. Case 22. Doctor Dre? 23. Mosaic? 24. Netscape 25. Mitnick? 26. [alltheweb.com](http://alltheweb.com)? ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096/4 "2000-05-10T12:19:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Inspired by the Bricker challenge, but a little different. The questions are phrased like normal questions. They are all Internet-related. > > And since I’m broke, I’m afraid there is no prize. Hmmm, what would the incentive to answer the questions be without a reward? Okay, $10 cash money. That’s the prize. I’m not supporting anybody’s beer habit! The winner is on the honor system not to spend his or her winnings on beer. > > If you find any errors or anything wrong with these questions, kindly let me know. Deadline is 2 AM CST May 11, since I’m pretty sure y’all are going to snap these right up. Most of them are easy, but some require a bit of knowledge. Good luck! > > 1. Before they got their own domain name, what was AltaVista’s URL? **[www.altavista.digital.com](http://www.altavista.digital.com) -and it still exists today!** > > 2. Before the RIAA started cracking down on web sites with mp3’s, everybody who was anybody got their mp3 FTP sites from the proudly banner-free, ratio-hating **\_\_\_\_\_\_\_'s Page of Good MP3**. > > 3. What is the traditional remote port a Usenet client connects to?\*\* Uhh…what’s a Usenet? 🙂 J/k…I dunno the port number…\*\* > > 4. Traditional web port? **80** > > 5. Traditional FTP port? **21** > > 6. IRC is actually a form of what TCP/IP protocol? **Telnet?** > > 7. Up until a couple of years ago, what were the “Big Three” online services? **Prodigy, Compuserve and AOL** > > 8. Rumor has it that Earthlink is owned by what religious organization?**Said of Charles Brewer, CEO of Earthlink “To him, excellent service and support were the cornerstones of a successful model; this philosophy is expressed in a set of Core Values and Beliefs that remain a guiding set of principles for the new EarthLink…”. Judging by their VP of employee svcs. profile(he’s from Utah), I guess I’d have to say Mormon…** > > 9. What audio compression format that never really caught on boasts not only better audio quality than mp3, but smaller file sizes? (hint : the two most popular bitrates are 80kbps and 96kbps)\*\* this is just a guess, but, wave files?\*\* > > 10. What is the FQDN of : > 11001111\*\*. **01011111**. **10010110**.\*\*00001010 > \*\* **Dammit, I got 205.95.150.10 …I hate binary** > > 11. RARP was rendered obsolete by what protocol?\*\*BootP?[b/] > > 12. What does PING stand for? **Packet internet groper** > > 13. What kind of cabling do Internet backbones use?\*\* Fiber-optic\*\* > > 14. What does modem stand for?\*\* Modulator-Demodulator\*\* > > 15. What are the two most popular methods of high speed Internet access from home? **Cable and DSL** > > 16. A T3 is equivalent to how many T1 lines?\*\* 29? T3=44.75MBPS/T1=1.544= 28.99 \*\* > > 17. What do you call the little plastic thing at the end of the telephone line that plugs into the jack in the wall? **RJ-11? or RJ-45…which did you mean 🙂** > > 18. What was the URL of the popular song lyrics search engine that the RIAA shut down? > > 19. What are the six main top-level domains in the U.S.? > > 20. What is the land code for South Africa? > > 21. To connect to a remote host, the host name must be resolved to an IP address. The IP address must be resolved to a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ address. **MAC** > > 22.---- 4.20.4.20 is a Class \_\_ IP address. **Class A** > > 1. How many available ports does a computer on the Internet have?\*\* 64K, I.E.–65536 > > 2. A port is a subset of a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ . **Socket?** > > 3. Networks are seperated by and connected to each other with \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. **Bridges and routers** > > 4. What is the oldest method of file transfer still in common use?\*\* Kermit? or maybe Anonymous FTP…\*\* > > 5. What two comic strip characters were once popular ways of getting files?\*\* Kermit(was kermit a comic strip?)and Archie\*\* > > 6. Sites in what domain are the most frequently visited on the Internet? > > 7. Who owns Netscape? **AOL bought them and parceled them off to Sun?** > > 8. What term describes the variable sizes of the sending and recieving TCP buffers? > > 9. On this date, which is often referred to as the birth of the Internet, ARPANET packet-switching devices stopped accepting NCP packets and only passed TCP/IP packets. > > 10. What does SMTP stand for? **Simple Mail Transfer Protocol** > > 11. How 'bout SNMP ? **Simple Mail Transfer Protocol** > > 12. How fast is a T1 ? **1.544MBPS** > > 13. What does baud rate measure? **m,easures the numberof discrete single-state changes per second** > > 14. Where would you go to find out who owns a particular domain name? **[whois.net](http://whois.net)** > > 15. What is the name of the slimeball founder of AOL?\*\* My man Steve Case! :)\*\* > > 16. Chatrooms are to AOL as \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ are to IRC. **never did IRC…** > > 17. What popular rap musician is trying to sue people who illegally download his music?\*\* SLeazebag Dre\*\* > > 18. If you don’t mind downloading your files in hundreds (or even thousands) of small parts, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is a great place to find music, movies, pics, and other binaries.\*\* if you wanna be literal, anywhere that you download will yield you millions of pieces and parts…packets\*\* > > 19. What lifesaving FTP command would one use after they were disconnected in the middle of a huge download? **Uhh…I should know this, right?** > > 20. What did it mean to “nuke” somebody? > > 21. On IRC, what was the intended purpose of “riding a split?” > > 22. At the time of Netscape’s introduction, what was the most popular web browser?\*\* Mosaic \*\* > > 23. At the time of Internet Explorer’s introduction, what was the most popular web browser? **Netscape** > > 24. What legendary hacker was recently freed from prison under the stipulation that he not go near a computer for 5 years? Kevin Mitnick(sic?)\*\* > > 25. What is the name of the Javascript command that switches images when the mouse cursor moves over them? > > 26. What is the PSTN ?\*\* It is the Public Switched Telephone Network\*\* > > 27. What search engine boasts the largest index of sites on the web? **Yahoo?** > > 28. How long did I spend on AOL before I got a real ISP? (closest guess wins)\*\*Hmm…let’s see…you’re real bitter, and you’ve obviously been around the block online…uhh…I’m going to say that you were using AOL 2.5, and when their service got really bad later you got mad and left…so, we’ll say at least 2 years? Or, you never did and were a total IRC guy who detests the mention of AOL…? > \*\* ---
**Author:** ![JonF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JonF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonF)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096/5 "2000-05-10T12:59:55Z")
Whoops, I blew #12, didn’t I? I saw PNG instead of PING. There’s some reason to believe that PING stands for PING. From [The Story of the PING Program](http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html): “Yes, it’s true! I’m the author of ping for UNIX. … I named it after the sound that a sonar makes … From my point of view PING is not an acronym standing for Packet InterNet Grouper, it’s a sonar analogy. However, I’ve heard second-hand that Dave Mills offered this expansion of the name, so perhaps we’re both right.” ---
**Author:** ![JonF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JonF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonF)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096/6 "2000-05-10T15:54:04Z")
Re #10: 207.95.150.10 is part of a Class C network owned by: ```auto Shimadzu Precision Instruments, Inc. (NETBLK-NETCOMBLK2-NSPI) 20410 Earl Street Torrance, CA 90503 US Netname: NETCOMBLK2-NSPI Netblock: 207.95.150.0 - 207.95.150.255 Coordinator: ICG PST Hostmaster (NETCOM-HM-ARIN) steve_chang@icgcomm.com 408-579-5000 Record last updated on 26-Feb-1999. ``` There appears to be no FQDN for 207.95.150.10, and it doesn’t answer pings. 207.95.150.1 does answer pings. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096/7 "2000-05-10T17:11:59Z")
When I saw this this morning, I was sure that it would be pointless to enter, because someone was undoubtedly already typing the winning entry. But here it sits… Oh well, skipping lunch would be good for me anyway. I’m bound to muff some, so the thread should pick up a bit as people correct my mistakes. 1. [altavista.digital.com](http://altavista.digital.com) 2. Blex (?) 3. 119 4. 80 5. 21 6. talk 7. AOL, Compuserve, MSN (traditionally, prodigy, but MSN was much larger) 8. Church of Scientology 9. VQF 10. 207.95.150.10 - can’t get a FQDN 11. DHCP is commonly used instead these days, if that’s what you mean 12. the sound of SONAR 13. Primarily various classes of fiber optics 14. modulator/demodulator 15. cable, DSL 16. roughly 30 17. rj-11 polarized plug 18. [http://www.lyrics.ch](http://www.lyrics.ch) 19. com edu gov mil net org 20. I assume you mean the ISO country code for URLs: ZA 21. Hardware address (MAC) 22. Class A 23. 64K (0-65535) 24. address (could be an IP address, MAC address, etc.) 25. gateways 26. sneaker-net (hand carried media) 27. archie veronica (technically “finding”, not “getting” – gopher was for getting) 28. Top level domain? .com Second level? [yahoo.com](http://yahoo.com) has been up there for a long time 29. AOL 30. I’m not sure I understand the question. So you mean MSS (MTU/RWIN)? 31. NCP was turned off on January 1, 1983 I won’t comment on ‘the birth of the internet’ 32. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 33. Simple network management protocol 34. 1.5 Mbps 35. transmission bits per second including data, protocol, parity, etc, bits 36. The specific registrar - ([http://rs.internic.net/whois.html](http://rs.internic.net/whois.html) might be a place to start) 37. Steve Case 38. channels 39. Dr. Dre 40. The internet 😉 (hey - it’s all packetized) but I suppose you mean USENET 41. RESTart 42. flood their connection with packets 43. to gain control (admin privileges) on a channel 44. Mosaic 45. Netscape 46. Kevin Mitnick 47. OnMouseover 48. public switched telephone network 49. Well, inktomi _claims_ to have broken 500M on May 1, but I really wonder! Aside from that, it’s a tossup between FAST and Google (FAST for straight indexing, google uses a different technology) 50. 48 hours? (not counting weeks spent trying to cancel the account) ---
**Author:** ![Elthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e274bd/32.png) [@Elthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elthia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096/8 "2000-05-10T17:35:18Z")
Gawd missed a few, I’m just going to poke some of the extras in - I’m NOT competing, just being silly here… > [@](#): > > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\* > > > > 1. Before they got their own domain name, what was AltaVista’s URL? **[www.altavista.digital.com](http://www.altavista.digital.com) -and it still exists today!** > > > > ((I didn’t realize it still existed, but that’s the url I was using even late last year)). > > > > 1. Before the RIAA started cracking down on web sites with mp3’s, everybody who was anybody got their mp3 FTP sites from the proudly banner-free, ratio-hating **\_\_\_\_\_\_\_'s Page of Good MP3**. > > > > 2. What is the traditional remote port a Usenet client connects to?\*\* Uhh…what’s a Usenet? 🙂 J/k…I dunno the port number…\*\* > > > > ((ehehehehe usenet. I haven’t been there in ages. My boxen have it as 119)) > > > > 1. Traditional web port? **80** > > > > 2. Traditional FTP port? **21** > > > > 3. IRC is actually a form of what TCP/IP protocol? **Telnet?** > > > > 4. Up until a couple of years ago, what were the “Big Three” online services? **Prodigy, Compuserve and AOL** > > > > 5. Rumor has it that Earthlink is owned by what religious organization?**Said of Charles Brewer, CEO of Earthlink “To him, excellent service and support were the cornerstones of a successful model; this philosophy is expressed in a set of Core Values and Beliefs that remain a guiding set of principles for the new EarthLink…”. Judging by their VP of employee svcs. profile(he’s from Utah), I guess I’d have to say Mormon…** > > > > ((wasn’t it the Scientologists? _grin_)) > > > > 1. What audio compression format that never really caught on boasts not only better audio quality than mp3, but smaller file sizes? (hint : the two most popular bitrates are 80kbps and 96kbps)\*\* this is just a guess, but, wave files?\*\* > > > > ((I thought wav’s were bigger than mp3’s? Much bigger… > > How about… um… hey… you can choose diff compression levels. Are we talking smaller than the smallest, or smaller than the clearest? )) > > > > 1. What is the FQDN of : > > 11001111\*\*. **01011111**. **10010110**.\*\*00001010 > > \*\* **Dammit, I got 205.95.150.10 …I hate binary** > > > > 2. RARP was rendered obsolete by what protocol?\*\*BootP?[b/] > > > > 3. What does PING stand for? **Packet internet groper** > > > > 4. What kind of cabling do Internet backbones use?\*\* Fiber-optic\*\* > > > > 5. What does modem stand for?\*\* Modulator-Demodulator\*\* > > > > 6. What are the two most popular methods of high speed Internet access from home? **Cable and DSL** > > ((ISDN rather than DSL, I think)) > > > > 7. A T3 is equivalent to how many T1 lines?\*\* 29? T3=44.75MBPS/T1=1.544= 28.99 \*\* > > > > 8. What do you call the little plastic thing at the end of the telephone line that plugs into the jack in the wall? **RJ-11? or RJ-45…which did you mean 🙂** > > > > 9. What was the URL of the popular song lyrics search engine that the RIAA shut down? > > (([www.napster.com](http://www.napster.com))) > > > > 10. What are the six main top-level domains in the U.S.? > > ((.com, .edu, .gov, .net, .org, .???)) > > > > 11. What is the land code for South Africa? > > ((whoah. _blank look_)) > > > > 12. To connect to a remote host, the host name must be resolved to an IP address. The IP address must be resolved to a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ address. **MAC** > > > > 22.---- 4.20.4.20 is a Class \_\_ IP address. **Class A** > > > > 1. How many available ports does a computer on the Internet have?\*\* 64K, I.E.–65536 > > > > 2. A port is a subset of a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ . **Socket?** > > > > 3. Networks are seperated by and connected to each other with \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. **Bridges and routers** > > > > 4. What is the oldest method of file transfer still in common use?\*\* Kermit? or maybe Anonymous FTP…\*\* > > ((FEET!!!)) > > > > 5. What two comic strip characters were once popular ways of getting files?\*\* Kermit(was kermit a comic strip?)and Archie\*\* > > ((what was gopher? Or was that articles, rather than files?)) > > > > 6. Sites in what domain are the most frequently visited on the Internet? > > ((considering how many random people are out there… maybe [aol.com](http://aol.com)?)) > > > > 7. Who owns Netscape? **AOL bought them and parceled them off to Sun?** > > > > 8. What term describes the variable sizes of the sending and recieving TCP buffers? > > ((_blink_ (asks Mr. Elthia) MTU, he says)) > > > > 9. On this date, which is often referred to as the birth of the Internet, ARPANET packet-switching devices stopped accepting NCP packets and only passed TCP/IP packets. > > > > ((er… dunno. maybe I could look it up somewhere - does the jargon file have it?)) > > > > 1. What does SMTP stand for? **Simple Mail Transfer Protocol** > > > > 2. How 'bout SNMP ? **Simple Mail Transfer Protocol** > > > > ((ehe, cute)) > > > > 1. How fast is a T1 ? **1.544MBPS** > > > > 2. What does baud rate measure? **m,easures the numberof discrete single-state changes per second** > > > > 3. Where would you go to find out who owns a particular domain name? **[whois.net](http://whois.net)** > > > > 4. What is the name of the slimeball founder of AOL?\*\* My man Steve Case! :)\*\* > > > > 5. Chatrooms are to AOL as \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ are to IRC. **never did IRC…** > > > > ((channels - I did 🙂 )) > > > > 1. What popular rap musician is trying to sue people who illegally download his music?\*\* SLeazebag Dre\*\* > > > > 2. If you don’t mind downloading your files in hundreds (or even thousands) of small parts, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is a great place to find music, movies, pics, and other binaries.\*\* if you wanna be literal, anywhere that you download will yield you millions of pieces and parts…packets\*\* > > > > 3. What lifesaving FTP command would one use after they were disconnected in the middle of a huge download? **Uhh…I should know this, right?** > > ((😛 Well, now you can use ‘reget’, but older clients/servers won’t take it)) > > > > 4. What did it mean to “nuke” somebody? > > ((winnuke would boot someone off the connection, and frequently would also crash their box. I don’t remember much else about it, except that if you were caught doing it, you could conceivably get yer whole ISP k-lined. It was evil.)) > > > > 5. On IRC, what was the intended purpose of “riding a split?” > > ((to get ops on a channel, to take it over)) > > > > 6. At the time of Netscape’s introduction, what was the most popular web browser?\*\* Mosaic \*\* > > > > 7. At the time of Internet Explorer’s introduction, what was the most popular web browser? **Netscape** > > > > 8. What legendary hacker was recently freed from prison under the stipulation that he not go near a computer for 5 years? Kevin Mitnick(sic?)\*\* > > > > 9. What is the name of the Javascript command that switches images when the mouse cursor moves over them? > > ((asking Mr. Elthia again, I don’t know Javascript. He says he doesn’t think there is a standard one. ? )) > > > > 10. What is the PSTN ?\*\* It is the Public Switched Telephone Network\*\* > > > > 11. What search engine boasts the largest index of sites on the web? **Yahoo?** > > (([WHOIS.NET](http://WHOIS.NET) (you didn’t specify what KIND of search engine :P))) > > > > 12. How long did I spend on AOL before I got a real ISP? (closest guess wins)\*\*Hmm…let’s see…you’re real bitter, and you’ve obviously been around the block online…uhh…I’m going to say that you were using AOL 2.5, and when their service got really bad later you got mad and left…so, we’ll say at least 2 years? Or, you never did and were a total IRC guy who detests the mention of AOL…? > > ((either that or he’s still there. _wicked grin_ I’d say 3 months though, as a wild guess 🙂 )) > > \*\* > > \*\* ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2000, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-neutron-star-internet-challenge/19096/9 "2000-05-10T17:57:20Z")
Okay, first let me apologize for #10. I knew I’d screw something up with all those damn ones and zeros. It should have been 207.95.157.10, [http://www.hightimes.com](http://www.hightimes.com). JonF gets credit for it. I guess I made most of the questions too easy. The first person with any knowledge to respond won. 21 points for JonF and a cool $10 bill. Email me your snail mail address if you wish to collect. An honorable mention goes to KP. Even though he was the third to try the challenge, he got 15 questions that nobody else did. **Other questions I screwed up or that require further explanation :** 1. A T3 is equivalent to how many T1 lines? My book said 28 even. My book is a piece of shit. I never did the math and apparently neither did they. Credit for that one goes to GaWd. 2. What is the oldest method of file transfer still in common use? I didn’t phrase that one specifically enough. I was looking for FTP, but technically KP is correct with sneaker net. 40. If you don’t mind downloading your files in hundreds (or even thousands) of small parts, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is a great place to find music, movies, pics, and other binaries. Again, poorly phrased, but KP got what I was looking for - Usenet. 1. How long did I spend on AOL before I got a real ISP? (closest guess wins) KP was closest. I was on AOL for 8 of my 10 free hours before I waited on hold for an hour and a half to cancel “service.”