Do You Speak Geek?

[Whatis.com]

Title: WhatIs.com

Published by WhatIs.com  June 18, 2004 >> Receive this e-mail as text  >> About this e-mail   In this Issue >> Do you speak geek? >> Whatizard Forum news  Do you speak geek? 1. What well-known project management tool was developed in the 1950's to manage the Polaris submarine missile program? 2. It funded a project that lead to the creation of the Internet. What does DARPA stand for? 3. What pretty good encryption program did Philip R. Zimmermann develop in 1991? 4. In password protection, this is a random string of data used to "pepper" a password hash. What is it? 5. In what year did the U.S. Census Bureau begin using the punch card system to tabulate results? See answer. 6. No, it's not a dinosaur. This adjective simply describes operations that are almost, but not quite, in synchronization. 7. When developing an application in Java, this is the program area and set of rules that programmers need to "play" in when creating applets. What is it? 8. What does RDBMS stand for? Hint: The leading products are Oracle, IBM's DB2 and Microsoft's SQL Server. 9. What do Veronica and Jughead have to do with the Internet? See answer. 10. In Windows administration, GPO is a collection of settings that defines what the system will look like and how it will behave for a defined group of users. What does GPO stand for? How many did you get correct? We'd like to know!  Whatizard Forum news Ask, answer, ponder or pontificate -- come have your say in the Whatizards' Forum! This week in the Whatizards' Forum: by Ivy Wigmore, Consulting Editor Yesterday, Editor Margaret Rouse and I were IMing -- as we are wont to do, from the comfort of our home offices -- and the conversation turned to great books in general, and Science Fiction in particular. She'd posted a query in the Forum looking for book recommendations for Paul Allen's Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. I was momentarily non-plussed, not being a real Sci-Fi fan (I know this instantaneously disqualifies me as a geek, and have learned to live with that knowledge). However, the windmills in my mind must have been whirring overnight because this morning, I suddenly had a newsflash from my subconscious: RAY BRADBURY, it said (yes, all in caps). Science fiction has always seemed a little cold to me, a little inorganic, but Ray Bradbury's fiction has heart and soul. I think this reviewer summed his works up nicely: Wistful, Melancholic, Whimsical, Articulate. Very human, but imbued with magic. I read The Stories of Ray Bradbury fifteen or twenty years ago, and I can't wait to get my hands on another copy and read it again. Summer is nigh, and it occurred to us that this might be the perfect time to compile summer reading lists, and so we turn to you, the Whatis readership. What Sci-Fi classic would you recommend for the Hall of Fame? How about some non-Sci-Fi beach/hammock reading? Come to the Whatizards' Forum and pitch your choices. Other Stuff in the Forum: From DSweeny: AMD vs. Intel I have been a big supporter of Intel processors all my life. Because that is all I've ever used. I am seeing know that AMD is sometimes cheaper than Intel. I watched The Screen Savers one night and Leo said that AMD processors are actually faster than Intels. Is this true? Is the P4 better than any of AMD's? And how do I decipher their speed from the numbers? What do you think about Intel vs. AMD? Can you provide some advice for DSweeny? Sniglet update: We've had some great input to our sniglet search. We're looking for a new word for the intentional typos that spammers use (like "vikagra") to fool spam filters. So far, we're leaning towards: T1PO, spamglish, or spoom. What do you think the official sniglet should be? Come cast your vote, or recommend another if you're feeling inspired. Horoscopes for Geeks Find out what the stars have in store for you this month. Click here   A B O U T   T H I S   N E W S L E T T E R Contact us: WhatIs MemberServices 117 Kendrick Street, Suite 800 Needham, MA 02494 This e-newsletter is published by WhatIs.com, a targeted Web site from TechTarget, the most targeted IT media and events company. TechTarget offers magazines, Web sites, e-newsletters, Webcasts and conferences for enterprise IT professionals. Copyright 2004 TechTarget. All rights reserved. To unsubscribe from "Updates on new site content": Go to unsubscribe: http://WhatIs.techtarget.com/unsubscribe?track=NL-34&ad=485424 Please note, unsubscribe requests may take up to 24 hours to process; you may receive additional mailings during that time. A confirmation e-mail will be sent when your request has been successfully processed.