Scavenger Hunt From Hell (No, I did not enjoy this exercise).

1. What is the weight of the world's biggest pumpkin? How long did it take to grow?

I used Ask Jeeves for the answer to this question. I found a website called Pumpkin Nook, and apparently the World's Biggest Pumpkin weighs 1689 pounds! This record was set in 2007. I could not find ANYWHERE where it says how long it took to grow. NOT COOL.

2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Lily Allen?

Hmm...i have a strong (ie. 99.93% chance) feeling that this is not the correct answer. But I would have to say Twitter. Not that she would actually ever reply to you, but in an interview i watched she said that she occasionally replies to peoples tweets if she feels the urge. I actually follow her on Twitter so that was how I knew this answer...although i went and searched her website (Lily Allen) and it seems to think that Twitter or other social networking sites is the best way to contact Lily! This would have to be the most reliable answer. I looked at a few websites which claimed to have celebrity directories...didn't seem overly reliable.

Here is one such site (found after searching Yahoo.com):

http://www.contactanycelebrity.com/trial/do/celebrityView?name=Lily+Allen

3. What is the length of a giraffe's tongue?

Okay so I searched this question on Ask Jeeves and just by looking at the results, I am going to take a wild guess and say approximately 18 inches..The following sites all back me up:

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=length+giraffe%27s+tongue&page=1&qsrc=0&ab=0&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sandiegozoo.org%2Fanimalbytes%2Ft-giraffe.html

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=length+giraffe%27s+tongue&page=1&qsrc=0&ab=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwiki.answers.com%2FQ%2FWhat_is_the_average_length_of_a_giraffe%27s_tongue

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_is_a_giraffe%27s_tongue

http://www.chacha.com/question/what-color-is-a-giraffe%27s-tongue

All of these were accessed on the 19th August 2009.

4. How would you define the word 'glycomics'? In your own words, what does it really mean ? What does the term 'seagull manager' refer to?

According to Wiktionary Glycomics is: "the study of the biological role of carbohydratesoligosaccharides) and glycosides." (H-Ref 1) As far as putting that in my own words goes... I've got nothing. I read another definition on Reference.com and got no further. In fact I got more confused. I'm relatively certain that it has something to do with carbohydrates and sugar levels. Maybe. I don't know.

I do however, understand the 'Seagull Manager' reference! I looked up 'seagull manager' on ninemsn.com and it took me to Wikipedia which told me that the term 'seagull manager' refers to managers that "fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everyone, then fly out." (H-Ref 2)Ken Blanchard's 1999 book Leadership and the One Minute Manager...well, thats what they say anyway.) (Wikipedia stole that from

5. What was David Cronenberg's first feature film? Which of his films Had 'Blondie' in it?

This question was easyyyyy for me, especially compared to the others. I went straight to trust IMDb (The Internet Movie Database) and searched David Cronenberg. His first film was Transfer which he directed in 1966.

ANNNNDDD Blondie, otherwise known as Deborah Harry was in Cronenberg's film Videodrome, made in 1983. To find this I had a quick squiz (totally a word) at the films Cronenberg made until I found the one with Debbie Harry in it! Success!

6. When was the original 'Hacker's Manifesto' written?

The original Hacker's Manifesto was written in 1986. For this question I thought Wikipedia would be a good search engine, and it was! These two sites confirm this answer too, I found them searching Yahoo.

http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/manifesto.html

http://adimitrov.net/main/docs/manifesto.html

Both accessed on 24/08/09.

7. Why do phone numbers in Hollywood films start with '555'?

So I searched this very question on Yahoo and I found this site guardian.co.uk which provides a few different answers! I'm not sure if there is supposed to be one concrete answer, but eh, speculating is more fun. A lot of people seem to think it's because in the US, for directory inquiries you call 555-1212. Apparently there are quite a few people stupid enough to call the numbers that pop up in movies from time to time, and I guess this avoided bugging the poor people who actually have those as their home phone number. Using a false one would make sense, but it kind of lacks authenticity. I hope that makes sense...

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

Look, this question is a big fat pain in the you know where. I'm sure it would be cheap to walk , or ride a bike. But if we are being realistic flying is going to be a pretty cheap way to travel. I recently got a flight to Sydney for $52 which is WAY cheaper than what it would cost to hire a car and then pay for petrol etc etc etc. As you can see this question has made me mad. For cheap flights check Virgin Blue or Jetstar. If you sign up for their emails, you can find out about cheap flights without searching for years on their websites too.

Perhaps I am just crap at searching without Google. I have made peace with this fact. Google and I are just very good friends and no Yahoo is going to come between us.

9. What song was top of the Australian Pop Charts this week in 1965?

So I kind of cheated and searched this on Wikipedia... Although the other answers I have from Wikipedia weren't originally searched through there. So therefore this is legit. The answer to this question is "Help/I'm Down" by The Beatles; it was the top of the charts for 8 weeks! I searched the ARIA charts on Wiki and followed the links from there til I found THIS week in 1965...it was pretty foolproof.

10. Which Brisbane band includes Stephen Stockwell on keyboards and vocals?

Stephen Stockwell plays in a band called No Fixed Address. I found this out by searching "Stephen Stockwell plays keyboard" on Google. YES I CAVED OKAY. I couldn't find the answer anywhere else. Is using the Internet not about being able to find and access things easily? Well that is why I use the Internet. I was going to try and lie to you but Catholic guilt would eat away at me. So there. Anyway, found the answer on Revolution Rock.

I answered these questions out of order by the way, so if you can see my mood change randomly between questions that is why.

H-Ref 1- Wiktionary: Glycomics

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glycomics

Accessed 19th August 2009

H-Ref 2- Wikipedia: Seagull Manager

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagull_manager

Accessed 19th August 2009