Study Guide for the Geek Test

[ http://www.mckeeth.org/jim/geekteststudy.html ]

by Jim McKeeth

The Geek Test [ http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html ] is a test designed to determine how geeky a person is. Most of the test is based on things you have done or your personality. That is kind of hard to study for, but if you make a concerted effort moving forward then in the near future you may improve your score in these areas.

I tackled the two "I Know" sections since they are general knowledge and are the easiest to study for. I usually provide at least one link that is either the source of the quoted information, or where you can get more information. Sometimes I edited the quoted information. Where possible I used Wikipedia as my source. Since it is always changing and expanding you may find updated or corrected information there.

The goal of this is not just to increase your score on the geek test, but to improve your overall geekiness. In fact, you get geek points for taking the geek test and again for using this study guide.

Update: This was written for the first edition of the Geek Test. It has since been updated to multiple revisions. Your mileage may vary. Use at your own risk.

I KNOW...

C++

C++ (pronounced "see plus plus"; originally known as: C with Classes) is a computer programming language; it is an extensible and procedural free-form multi-paradigm language, with object-oriented extensions. During the 1990s, C++ became one of the most popular commercial programming languages.

Bell Labs' Bjarne Stroustrup developed C++, during the 1980s, as an upgraded "object-oriented" version of C. Along with its object-oriented design, today's C++ differs from C in its support for generic programming and template metaprogramming; via alias types, in-line expansion, templates, and //-commenting (though note that C has subsequently adopted in-line expansion and //-commenting).

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

For a tutorial on C++ visit http://cplus.about.com/library/blc++tutorials.htm

#include <iostream>

              

              int main()

               {

                   std::cout << 
              "Hello, world!\n";

               }

UNIX

UNIX® (or Unix) is a portable computer operating system originally developed by a group of AT&T Bell Labs employees including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy.

The early development of what is believed to be one of the most influential operating systems in history was unique, and nobody would have predicted the growth of UNIX after its first incarnation.

In the late 1960s, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AT&T Bell Labs, and General Electric worked on an experimental operating system called Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing System), which was designed to run on the GE-645 mainframe computer. The aim was the creation of an interactive operating system with many novel capabilities, including enhanced security. The project did develop production releases, but initially these releases turned out to have poor performance.

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

For a tutorial on UNIX visit http://unix.about.com/library/misc/blunix101.htm

The most basic UNIX commands/utilities are:

Directory/file creation/navigation: ls cd pwd mkdir rm rmdir
File viewing, editing: touch more vi emacs
Text processing: echo cat grep sort uniq sed awk
File comparison: comm cmp diff patch
System administration: ps find xargs sd w who
Communication: mail telnet ssh ftp finger
Shells: sh csh ksh

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

Lisp, Ada, CGI scripting, Pascal, or Delphi

Lisp (which stands for "LISt Processing") is a programming language oriented towards functional programming. Its prominent features include prefix-notation syntax, dynamic typing (variables are type-neutral, but values have implicit type), and the ability to treat source code as first-class objects.

Not counting the various machine languages and assembly languages, Lisp is the second-oldest programming language still in widespread use; only Fortran is older. Like Fortran, it has changed greatly since its early days.

Strictly speaking, Lisp is now not a single language but a family of similarly-styled languages with an instantly recognizable appearance. These are known as Lisp dialects; the most well-known are Common Lisp and Scheme.

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

; LISP

              (DEFUN HELLO-WORLD ()

                  (PRINT (LIST 'HELLO 
              'WORLD)))

Ada is a structured, compiled, statically typed programming language, designed by Jean Ichbiah of Cii Honeywell Bull in the 1970s. It is positioned to address much the same tasks as C or C++. Ada was named after Lady Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer.

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

with Ada.Text_Io; use Ada.Text_Io;
 procedure Hello is
 begin
  
  
 Put_Line("Hello World!");
 end Hello;

Perl is a programming language released by Larry Wall on December 18, 1987 that borrows features from C, sed, awk, shell scripting (sh), and (to a lesser extent) from many other programming languages as well. "Perl" is sometimes backronymed to Practical Extraction and Report Language or Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister — but never "PERL". The name is normally capitalized ("Perl") when referring to the language, but not capitalized ("perl") when referring to the interpreter (e.g. "Only perl properly parses Perl.")

Perl is commonly used in CGI scripting.

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

For a tutorial on Perl visit http://perl.about.com/cs/beginningperl/

#!/usr/bin/perl
 print "Hello world\n";

Delphi is a programming language and software development environment. It is produced by Borland (known for a time as Inprise). The Delphi language, formerly known as the Object Pascal Language (the Pascal with object-oriented extensions) originally targeted only Microsoft Windows, but now builds native applications for Linux and the Microsoft .NET Framework as well.

Its most popular use is the development of desktop and enterprise database applications, but as a general purpose development tool it is capable of and used for most types of development projects. It was one of the first of what came to be known as RAD tools, for Rapid Application Development, when released in 1995. Delphi 2, released a year later, supported 32-bit Windows environments, and a C++ version, C++Builder, followed a few years after. In 2001 a Linux version known as Kylix (a classical Greek urn) became available. With one new major release every year, in 2002, the product became known as Delphi 7 Studio, the language became known officially as Delphi instead of Object Pascal, and support for Linux (through Kylix) and .NET (through a preview compiler) were added. Full support for .NET is scheduled for the forthcoming Delphi 8.

The main components of Delphi and Kylix are the Delphi language (formally known as the Object Pascal language), the VCL/CLX (Visual Component Library), and strong database connectivity, combined with a powerful IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and additional support tools.

Some notable features of the Delphi language include:

Transparent handling of objects as references/pointers
Properties as part of the language, that is member getters and setters which transparently encapsulate the access to member fields
Index Properties and Default Properties which provide access to collections in a comfortable and transparent way
Delegates aka type safe method pointers which are used to wire the events triggered by the components
Delegation of interface implementation to a field or property of the class
Easy implementation of Windows message handlers by tagging a method of a class with the number/name of the windows message to handle
Most of the features listed above were introduced in Delphi first and adapted in other languages later.

The chief architect behind Delphi, and its predecessor Turbo Pascal, was Anders Hejlsberg until he left for Microsoft in 1996.

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

For a tutorial in Delphi visit http://delphi.about.com/library/weekly/aa020202a.htm

{ --- HELLOW.DPR --- }
program HelloW;

uses 
 Forms, 
 Main in 'MAIN.PAS' {fmHelloWorld};

{$R *.RES}

begin
  Application.CreateForm(TfmHelloWorld, fmHelloWorld); 
  Application.Run;
end.

{ --- MAIN.PAS --- }
unit Main.pas;

interface

uses
  SysUtils, WinTypes, WinProcs, Messages, Classes,
  Graphics, Controls, Forms, Dialogs;

type
  TfmHelloWorld = class(TForm)
    txHelloWorld: TLabel; 
  private
  { Private declarations }
  public
  { Public declarations }
end;

var
  fmHelloWorld: TfmHelloWorld;

implementation

{$R *.DFM}

end.

{ --- MAIN.DFM --- }
object fmHelloWorld: TfmHelloWorld
  Left = 200
  Top = 99
  Width = 435
  Height = 300
  Caption = 'fmHelloWorld'
  Font.Color = clWindowText
  Font.Height = -13
  Font.Name = 'System'
  Font.Style = []
  PixelsPerInch = 96
  TextHeight = 16
  object txHelloWorld: TLabel
    Left = 115
    Top = 70
    Width = 77
    Height = 16
    Caption = 'Hello World'
  end
end

http://www2.latech.edu/~acm/helloworld/delphi.html

Java

The Java language is an object-oriented programming language created by James Gosling and other engineers at Sun Microsystems. It was developed in 1991, as part of the Green Project, and officially announced on May 23, 1995, at SunWorld; being released in November. Gosling and friends initially designed Java, which was called Oak at first (in honour of a tree outside Gosling's office), to replace C++ (although the feature set better resembles that of Objective C). More on the history of Java can be found in the article about the Java platform, which includes the language, the Java virtual machine, and the Java API. Sun controls the Java specification and holds a trademark on the Java name.

For a tutorial on Java visit http://java.about.com/library/tutorials/java/bl_overview.htm

class
 HelloWorld {
   public static void main (String 
    args[]) {
              
 System.out.print("Hello 
    World ");
        }
    }

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

BASIC

BASIC is a family of high-level programming languages. Originally devised as a teaching tool, it became widespread on home microcomputers in the 1980s, and remains popular to this day in a handful of heavily altered dialects.

BASIC's name, coined in classic computer science tradition to result in a nice acronym, stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, tied to the name of an unpublished paper by the language's co-inventor Thomas Kurtz (the name thus having no relation to C. K. Ogden's series "Basic English").

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

10 print"Hello World!"
 20 goto 10

ASCII

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange, generally pronounced as-key) is a character set and a character encoding based on the Roman alphabet as used in modern English and other Western European languages. It is most commonly used by computers and other communication equipment to represent text and by control devices that work with text.

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

HTML and/or JavaScript

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is a markup language designed for creating web pages, that is, information presented on the World Wide Web. Defined as a simple "application" of SGML, which is used by organizations with complex publishing requirements, HTML is now an Internet standard maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The most recent version is HTML 4.01.

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

To really learn HTML visit http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Hello, World Page!</TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY>
Hello, World!

</BODY>
</HTML>

JavaScript is an object-oriented scripting language originally developed by Netscape Communications under the name LiveScript but then renamed to "JavaScript" and given a syntax closer to that of Sun Microsystems' Java language. JavaScript was later standardized by ECMA under the name ECMAScript. The current standard (as of December 1999) is ECMA-262 Edition 3, and corresponds to JavaScript 1.5. Microsoft calls their version JScript.

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

To really learn JavaScript visit http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp

<TITLE>
 Hello World in JavaScript
</TITLE>
    <SCRIPT> 
     document.write("Hello, world!") 
</SCRIPT>

l337 sp33k

Leet (often l33t, 31337 or 1337 or even combined with sp33k [speak]) is a coded, or simply a novelty form of English spelling. It is characterized by the use of non-alphabet characters to stand for letters bearing a superficial resemblance, and by a number of quasi-standard spelling changes such as the substitution of "z" for final "s" and "x" for "ck". It is often used on the Internet by hackers, crackers, script kiddies and gamers. Even lamers are beginning to pick up parts of it. Some hackers do not use l33tspeak due to its association with Internet users whom they dislike.

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

Latin

Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire.

All Romance languages descend from a Latin parent, and many words based on Latin are found in other modern languages such as English. Moreover, in the Western world, Latin was a lingua franca, the learned language for scientific and political affairs, for more than a thousand years, being eventually replaced by French in the 18th century and English in the late 19th. It remains the formal language of the Roman Catholic Church to this day, which includes being the official national language of the Vatican. It is also still used to furnish the names used in the scientific classification of living things.

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

Ad hoc: "For a particular purpose (improvised, made up in an instant)"
Bona fide: "In good faith"; E pluribus unum; "From many, one" - the motto of the USA.
De facto: "in fact", "in practice"
Habeas corpus: "You must have the body", i.e. you must justify an imprisonment.
Ipso facto: "By the fact itself"

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

what http:// stands for

http:// prefixes internet addresses are are accessible via the HyperText Transfer Protocol. This is the primary method used to communicate information on the World Wide Web. The specification is currently maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

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

You can find the standard for http here: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.html

what dpi stands for

Dots Per Inch is a measure of resolution for printed and display media, but more often used for computer-generated media.

Simply put, a device capable of n dpi means that this device can produce, on paper or on a screen, dots small enough to fit n of them in an inch (2.54 cm). This can be different from the actual image resolution, since often a pixel on the image is composed of several dots.

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

what E=mc^2 means

E=mc^2 is the formula developed by Albert Einstein to show this equivalence of mass and energy. This formula is read energy equals mass times the speed of light (c), product squared. This is part of the special theory of relativity (SR) is the physical theory published in 1905 by Albert Einstein. It replaced Newtonian notions of space and time, and incorporated electromagnetism as represented by Maxwell's equations. The theory is called "special" because the theory does not include a description of gravity; ten years later, Einstein published the theory of general relativity, which is the extension of special relativity to incorporate gravitation.

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

the three laws of robotics

A set of three laws written by Isaac Asimov, which most robots appearing in his fiction have to obey:

A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given to it by the human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict the First or Second Law.

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

and who invented them

Isaac Asimov attributes the Three Laws to John W. Campbell from a conversation made on December 23, 1940. However, Campbell claims that Asimov had the Laws already in his mind, and they simply needed to be stated explicitly.

Although Asimov pins the Laws creation on one date, their appearance in his literature happened over a period of time. Asimov wrote two stories without the Three Laws mentioned explicitly ("Robbie" and "Reason"); Asimov assumed, however, that robots would have certain inherent safeguards. "Liar", Asimov's third robot story makes the first mention of the First Law, but none of the others. All three laws finally appeared together explicitly in "Runaround". When these stories and several others were compiled in the anthology I, Robot, "Reason" was updated to acknowledge the Three Laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov

Clark's Third Law

It is the 3rd and most quoted of three laws formulated by science & science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke (note the e at the end of his name):

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke's_Three_Laws and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

how to set a telescope in polar alignment

It is actually a fairly involved process, but you can get all the details here: http://www.astronomy.net/articles/4/polaralign.html

the value of pi (to 10 digits)

The value of π to the first sixty-four digits is:

3.14159 26535 89793 23846 26433 83279 50288 41971 69399 37510 58209 74944 592...

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

For Pi to 1 million places visit http://www.gutenberg.net/etext93/pimil10.txt

more people online than in real life

This is something you will need to work on. I'll be happy to introduce you to people.

who H.P. Lovecraft is

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 - March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy and horror fiction, noted for giving horror stories a science fiction framework. Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, but his works have become quite important and infuential among writers and fans of horror fiction.

His early fantasies were greatly influenced by the stories of Lord Dunsany, but later took on a darker tone with the creation of what is today often called the Cthulhu Mythos, a pantheon of deities and horrors which live extra-dimensionally. His stories created one of the most influential plot devices in all of horror: the Necronomicon, the secret grimoire written by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred.

His prose is somewhat antiquarian and tends toward the grand guignol. He was fond of heavy use of unfamiliar adjectives such as "eldritch", "rugose", "noisome", "squamous", and "cyclopean", and of attempts to transcribe dialect speech which have been criticized as inaccurate. His works also featured British English (he was an admitted Anglophile) as well as anachronistic spellings, such as "compleat/complete", "lanthorn/lantern", and "divers/diverse".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft

that Aol is the Spawn of Satan

Of course it is. AOL puts people on the Internet who have no business being there. To a geek AOL (especially in the early years) prevents them from doing things they would expect to be able to do with the Internet. In an effort to make it easier and more accessible it waters it down.

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

that Bill Gates is both God and Satan

Bill Gates is considered a god by some because he helped bring computers into the mainstream, but at the same time his monopolistic practices have greatly hurt the computer industry, thus making him Satan.

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

how to use special functions on a scientific calculator

You are on your own on this one.

chemical symbols for 10+ elements

Sets that are easy to remember:

The first letter of the element:
Hydrogen, Uranium, Boron, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Fluorine, Phosphorus, Sulfur, Iodine, Carbon, Valadium

The first two letters of the element:
Lithium, Calcium, Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xeon, Silicon, Aluminum, Barium, Nickel, Cobalt, Titanium, Iridium, Indium, Bismuth

Nothing to do with English name (usually Latin):
Au = Gold, Ag = Silver, W = Tungsten, Na = Sodium, K = Potassium, Fe = Iron, Hg = Mercury, Sb = Antimony, Sn = Tin, Pb = Lead

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

the difference between speed and velocity

Speed is the rate of motion expressed as distance moved per unit of time. Speed is a scalar quantity; the equivalent vector quantity is known as velocity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed	Velocity is a vector measurement of the rate and direction of motion. The scalar absolute value (magnitude) of velocity is speed. Velocity can also be defined as rate of change of displacement. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocity
So speed is just a rate, while velocity is both the rate and the direction.

the names of 3 temperature scales

Fahrenheit - Used in the US
Centigrade - Used everywhere else
kelvin - Starts at absolute 0 and uses centigrade degrees
Rankine - Based on absolute 0, but uses Fahrenheit degrees
Reaumur - mostly for historical significance.

and the H2O freezing/boiling points of each

Fahrenheit - 32°F and 212
Centigrade - 0°C and 100°C
kelvin - 273.15 K and 373.15 K
Rankine - 491.67 R
Reaumur - 0° Reaumur and 80° Reaumur

the difference between nuclear fission and fusion

Fission is a nuclear process in which a heavier unstable nucleus divides or splits into two or more lighter nuclei, with the release of substantial amounts of energy. When a free neutron of the proper energy is captured by the nucleus of a fissionable atom, the resulting unstable nucleus will split producing two or more fission products (atomic nuclei of different elements formed from the protons and neutrons originally comprising the nucleus before its fission), two or three free neutrons and a tremendous amount of energy.

Nuclear fusion (a thermonuclear reaction) is a process in which two nuclei join to form a larger nucleus, thereby giving off energy. Nuclear fusion is the energy source which causes stars to "shine", and hydrogen bombs to explode.

So fission is spitting while fusion is combining.

and can explain it in detail

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

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

how to count in hexadecimal

Hexadecimal (often abbreviated hex) is a base 16 numeral system, usually written using the symbols 0-9 and A-F. It is a useful system in computers because there is an easy mapping from four bits to a single hex digit. Thus one can represent every byte as two consecutive hexadecimal digits.

To count in hex you simply count from zero to nine and then from A to F. After F you increment the column of next greater value following the same rules. Then you go back to 0 and do it again.

0-9, A-F, 10-19, 1A-1F, 20-29, 2A-2F

the difference between octal and octane

The octal numeral system is the base 8 number system, and uses the digits 0-7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octal	Octane is an organic chemical that is the major constituent of petrol (gasoline). Octane ratings are ratings used to represent the anti-knock performance of petrol by giving the percentage of octane in an octane-heptane mixture that would have the same performance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane
No comparison except the work sounds similar.

what RAM and ROM stand for

Random Access Memory (as opposed to sequentially like a tape)

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

Read-Only Memory (as opposed to read / write memory)

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

Was also a minor character in the movie Tron!

who created MSDOS

The MS stands for Microsoft, so one would expect that Microsoft created it, but you would be wrong. Microsoft is the master of lies.

The progenitor of MS-DOS was created by a company called Seattle Computer Systems. The original name was QDOS, for Quick and Dirty Operating System. It was designed as a short-term clone of the market-leading CP/M operating system, to provide compatibility with the existing installed base of business applications such as WordStar and dBase. Microsoft bought the product for re-sale to IBM and it was renamed PC-DOS (the IBM-badged version) and MS-DOS (the version badged by Microsoft themselves). The two products were all but identical to begin with but would eventually diverge. (See PC-DOS.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS

who first implemented windows on their OS

The graphical user interface was invented by researchers at the Stanford Research Institute. The concept was greatly refined and extended to include windows by Xerox PARC. Apple was first to ship it in a end-user consumer orientated operating system (OS) and Microsoft copied everyone else's research and said they invented it so they trademarked the term.

what a "patch" means in computer terms

A patch is a common way to provide an update to a program or its data. The advantage is that only the change, or delta, is shipped instead of the entire program / data file. When the patch is applied then special data included in the patch that specifies which parts of the file were changed are used to apply the changes to the correct parts of the file. Usually a checksum or other hash mechanism is used to verify that the patch was applied successfully.

In general the term means to just apply a small fix to a larger program or collection of data. Maybe just one file form a complex system needs to be updated. Much like a fabric patch used in sewing. A new small piece of fabric is applied to repair or reinforce a larger, more complex garment.

what the blue screen of death means

The blue screen of death (BSoD) is a "feature" of Microsoft's Windows operating system. Whenever the operating system crashes (breaks) or reaches a state where it can no longer continue then a BSoD is displayed. Typically there is no information useful to an end user on BSoD, so it means all your work has been lost and you need to reboot or upgrade to a more stable operating system.

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

I KNOW... (2)

all about Jeanine Salla

Dr. Jeanine Salla

Dr. Salla began her research career as a graduate student under Allen Hobby during his last years at the Aragon Institute of Technology. The project she started there—directing the course of AI skill acquisition in open-field environments by simulating "motivation"—still guides her research today. "Like any bright child, the current generation of sophisticated AI’s are capable of astonishing feats of learning. But also like any bright child, the AI has to want to learn. In my lab we focus on I want. AI’s do not have the benefit of a limbic system, a morning cup of coffee, or the insights of Freud when deciding what matters to them. A smart machine can be given relatively simple rule sets to govern its behavior, but a true Evolving Intelligence requires a persistent, dynamic, flexible-yet-targeted urge to grow."

Dr. Salla’s work on simulating human emotion fields has found its way into several of the astonishingly "lifelike" AI’s Dr. Hobby has developed for Cybertronics. The Cybertronics partnership has proved a fertile one for both parties; fully half the graduate students in Dr. Salla’s lab intern in Cybertronics’ Advanced Design Lab at some point in their graduate careers.

http://bangaloreworldu-in.co.cloudmakers.org/salla/default.html

http://www.rockwoodcomic.com/salla.html

http://familiasalla-es.cloudmakers.org/

what increasing barometric pressure means

A barometer measures barometric pressure, and that measurement is used for weather prediction as follows: Increasing pressure predicts fair weather. Decreasing pressure predicts rain, storms, etc.

how to count to 31 on one hand

In binary (base 2).

These are your fingers (look at your left palm so it is thumb, pointer, index, middle and pinky) with 1 meaning it is up, and 0 meaning it is down. If you try to translate this from binary to decimal then you will need to leave the trailing 0's off. This isn't normal binary notation, but I think it more closely resembles counting on your fingers. The result is the same. Obviously you could reverse it and do this looking at the back of your hand instead, if that is more comfortable for you.

It takes a little practice to build up some speed, but with practice you can do it.

Binary is the most basic language of computers.

Someone else once pointed out another method of doing this, but I forget who or how. So there is most likely more then one way to do this.

10000
01000
11000
00100
10100
01100
11100
00010
10010
01010
11010
00110
10110
01110
11110
00001
10001
01001
11001
00101
10101
01101
11101
00011
10011
01011
11011
00111
10111
01111
11111

how to play 7+ games with regular deck(s) of cards

I would think everyone should know this, and it is rather hard to explain in a few paragraphs. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_games and take a look at the different card games there.

how to roll-step and high-step in time

This comes from Marching Band. I was never in band. If you were, you should know this. If not then you may need to practice.

An extremely smooth step called 'roll step' is used exclusively. To roll step, a marcher places the heel of the foot down first. Then, the rest of the foot is rolled forward until the toe touches down. Continuing the roll, the heel lifts up. Finally, the toe lifts up. Roll step has the property that, when properly executed, the amount of bounce in the torso is reduced to almost zero. This improves sound quality dramatically, especially for brass instruments.

An older and fading style of field marching is high step. This form is more loosely-defined than drum corps, and probably no two high-stepping bands are exactly the same. Steps are extremely jerky. Marchers much more literally march than in corps style. As a result, more bouncing occurs and sound quality tends to diminish somewhat. However, most high-stepping bands develop techniques for keeping the sound quality high despite bouncing.

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

what GURPS stands for

Generic Universal RolePlaying System by Steve Jackson Games.

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/

my age in binary

Use the windows calculator. Put it in scientific view. Select Decimal and enter your age, then select Binary and you will have the answer.

Or visit http://www.google.com/ and type "30 in binary" (no quotes), but replace 30 with your age.

my Jedi name

First 3 letters of your name Then a dash - First 3 letters of your mums name Then a space First 3 letters of the Month you were born on Then the last 3 letters of your Surname	Use the first three letter of you last name The a dash Then add the first two letters of your first name. Then a space The first three letters of your mothers maiden name The first three letter of the name of the town you where born in.
Or visit: http://www.xach.com/misc/jedi.html

my Geek Code

Get your Geek Code here http://www.geekcode.com/geek.html and decode them here http://www.ebb.org/ungeek/

the relationship between Chainmail and D&D

Thanks to Kevin "Rifter" Rank for this tip. "Chainmail is the predecessor to D&D. It is what was created. It was more of a medival/magic combat game, that evolved into D&D. In later times (like a year or two ago) WotC [Wizards of the Coast] came out with a miniatures game called Chainmail, which was a homage to the original game of that name." For more information see the History of D&D page [http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/d_and_d.html]

the names of 5+ Hobbits

The popular 5: Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Sam "Samwise" Gamgee, Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, Peregrin "Pippin" Took

Other lesser known hobbits: Tom Cotton, Rose Cotton, Elanor Hamfast Gamgee, Bell Goodchild, Will Whitfoot, Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger, Elanor Gardner, Cow Hornbacher, Old Took, Bullroarer Took,

Also: the Stoorish Hobbits (or Riverfolk) Sm�agol (also known as Gollum) & Déagol (Sméagol's friend).

A complete list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hobbits

5+ dwarves from The Hobbit

The main dwarves: Thorin Oakenshield, Oin, Glóin son of Gróin, Dwalin, Balin son of Fundin, Bifur, Kili, Fili, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, and Ori (the last three are brothers)

A complete list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Middle-earth_Dwarves

10+ Smurfs

Pick 10 from these 21 Smurf's on the 1981 Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon. There were far more Smurf figurines then these.

Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Dreamy Smurf, Sleepy Smurf, Baby Smurf, Nosey Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Clockwork Smurf, Hefty Smurf, Poet Smurf, Clumsy Smurf, Painter Smurf, Miner Smurf, Farmer Smurf, Scaredy Smurf, Greedy Smurf, Harmony Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, Handy Smurf, Lazy Smurf and Jokey Smurf

The non-TV Smurf list:

Baby, Baker, Brainy, Clockwork, Clumsy, Dabbler, Dreamy (aka Astro), Farmer, Grandpa, Greedy, Grouchy, Handy, Harmony, Hefty, Jokey (aka Prisoner), Lazy, Miner, Nanny, Nat, Nosey, Painter, Papa, Poet, Sassette, Scaredy, Sleepy, Slouchy, Smurfette, Snappy, Tailor, Timid, Tracker, Vanity, Wild

2+ Dragonlance characters

Tasslehoff, Kagonos, Mina, Raistlin, Fistandantilus, Caramon, Thorbardin, Galen Pathwarden, Sir Bayard Brightblade, Flint Fireforge, Hederick, etc.

Thanks to Kevin "Rifter" Rank for pointing out that Krynn is the name of the world, not a name of a character. And Tasslehoff is the cool Kyrnn character.

http://www.dragonlance.com/products/chronological.asp

5+ comic book writers

Stan Lee, C.C. Beck, Garth Ennis, Bob Kane, Todd McFarlane, Frank Miller, Art Spiegelman, etc.

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

5+ Food TV hosts

Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Curtis Aikens, Ceci Carmichael, Cathy Ballou, Eric Boardman, Jacques Torres, Mario Batali, Mario Batali, Sara Moulton, Kathleen Daelemans, Donna Dooher, etc.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/hosts_celebrity_chefs/0,1974,FOOD_9889,00.html

5+ Star Trek characters

The Original Series (TOS): James T. Kirk, Spock, Leonard H. McCoy, Montgomery Scott, Pavel Chekov, Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Christine Chapel

from each generation

The Next Generation (TNG): Jean-Luc Picard, William T. Riker, Data, Geordi La Forge, Worf, Beverly Crusher, Dr. Beverly Crusher, Deanna Troi, Natasha "Tasha" Yar, Dr. Katerine Pulaski, Wesley Crusher, Miles O'Brien,

Deep Space 9 (DS9): Benjamin Sisko, Odo, Ezri Dax, Worf, Jadzia Dax, Jake Sisko, Miles O'Brien, Quark, Dr. Julian Bashir, Kira Neys

Voyger (STV): Kathryn Janeway, Chakotay, B'Elanna Torres, Tom Paris, Neelix, The Doctor, Tuvok, Seven of Nine, Harry Ki, Kes

Enterprise (STE): Captain Jonathan Archer, Sub-Commander T'Pol, Commander Charles Tucker III, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, Ensign Travis Mayweather, Ensign Hoshi Sato, Dr. Phlox

Trivia: Majel Barrett is the only person involved in every Star Trek. She was in The Cage, the un-aired original pilot as Number One, then she was back in the original series as Nurse Chapel, then in TNG as Lwaxana Troi (Deanna's mother), and the voice of the computer everywhere else. She was also the wife of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek.

http://www.startrek.com/

the odd/even number rule of Star Trek movies

The even numbered Star Trek movies are much better then the odd numbered ones. This held true for the original series movies.

that the new millennium started in 2001

Each date contains numbers for the day, the month and the year.

Years as well as months and days are counted beginning with 1.

The first decade ended at the end of the year 10, the first century at the end of the year 100, the first millennium at the end of the year 1000. Thus the second millennium ended at the end of the year 2000.

Since the millennium ended with the year 2000, then the new millennium started in 2001.

what a THAC0 is

THAC0 is an acronym for "To Hit Armor Class 0" from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Lower THAC0 is better! THAC0 is the MINIMUM roll you need to be able to hit an enemy with an armor class (AC) of 0 ( yes, lower armor class is also better as discussed above ). You must score a hit before you can do any damage! When you attack an enemy, you SUBTRACT his AC from your THAC0 and the result is the minimum number you have to roll (on a 20-sided die) to be able to score a hit.

extensive, useless trivia

If you have been paying attention, then by now you do.

how to write 1999 in Roman numerals

99 = XCIX
1000 = M
1945 = MCMXLV
1973 = MCMLXXIII
1975 = MCMLXXV
1988 = MCMLXXXVIII
1999 = MCMXCIX
2000 = MM
2004 = MMIV
2005 = MMV
2006 = MMVI
2007 = MMVII
2008 = MMVIII
2009 = MMIX
2010 = MMX

The system of Roman numerals is a numeral system originating in ancient Rome. It is based on certain letters which are given values:

I or i for one,
V or v for five,
X or x for ten,
L or l for fifty,
C or c for one hundred,
D or d for five hundred,
M or m for one thousand.

When a letter of lesser value is placed before one of higher value, it subtracts from that letter's value. When placed after, it adds to the value. Example: IV is 4 while VI is 5. Since this allows for multiple combinations to produce the same value (i.e. XIII and XIIV are both 13), you typically choose the combination that uses the least letters, with a tie going to 3 lesser value letters (i.e. using XIII over XIIV.) By convention when roman numerals are used on the face of a clock they take exception to this rule and show IIII for 4 o'clock and IX for 9 o'clock.

When describing members of a list, first A, B, C, D tend to be used, then 1, 2, 3 then i, ii, iii, iv

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

that the answer is 42

The Answer to The Ultimate Question Of Life, the Universe and Everything is a fictional solution in Douglas Adams's series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The "Answer" is simply "42." This answer is produced using the hypercomputer called Deep Thought (the second greatest computer in all of time and space). It generated the Answer after a very long computation time (7.5 million years).

The reaction:

"Forty-two!" yelled Loonquawl. "Is that all you've got to show for seven and a half million years' work?"
"I checked it very thoroughly," said the computer, "and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is."

Deep Thought informs the researchers that it would design a second and greater computer, incorporating living beings as part of its computational matrix, to tell them what the question is. That computer was called Earth and was so big that it was often mistaken for a planet. The researchers themselves took the apparent form of mice to run the program. The question was lost, five minutes before it was to have been produced, due to the Vogons' demolition of the Earth, supposedly to build a hyperspace bypass. Later in the series, it is revealed that the Vogons had been hired to destroy the Earth by a consortium of philosophers and psychiatrists who feared for the loss of their jobs when the meaning of life became common knowledge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Answer_to_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everythingg

that I am a geek

If you actually used this study guide to improve your score on the Geek Test then I think you qualify.

Created December 2002 - Last Updated 5/2/2007 - Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2007 by Jim McKeeth

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