2010 Geek IQ Test

snydeq writes "Windows NT name size limits, network cabling and protocols, Linux printer daemon commands, AD&D character alignments — find out how much you know where it really counts by taking InfoWorld's 2010 Geek IQ Test."

Comments

100%, and I didn't even take it.

[blair1q]

I know I'll ace it, because I'll open Google in another window.

And that, of course, is the correct answer, in 2010.

Re:100%, and I didn't even take it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope. It will take 40 seconds between questions and you will give up in exasperation.

Re:100%, and I didn't even take it.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

I will wait for a karma whore to post the summary. I would not even have to toggle between the tabs.

Re:100%, and I didn't even take it.

[rubycodez]

no we won't, because it beats working an IT job.

Re:100%, and I didn't even take it.

[damn_registrars]

Meh.

I hacked the test and scored 142%. That is how an Ubergeek shows a crappy website who's boss.

Re:100%, and I didn't even take it.

[rubycodez]

How about just short list with notable I.T. contributions?:

Dr. Martin Dean, holds 3 of the 9 IBM PC patents

Kenneth Dunkley - inventor of 3D viewing glasses and holographic displays

Dr. Philip Emeagwali - Gordon Bell prize for computation, in 1989 invented fastest (at the time) supercomputer wiht 65K processing nodes

Dr. Shirley Jackson, a theoretical physicist and inventor at Bell labs who made the improvements that resulted in the usable versions of the fax, undersea fiber optic systems, touch tone phone, solar cell, caller id and call waiting.

Valerie Thomas - head of NASA's Landsat development team, inventor of data imaging systems

   

Re:100%, and I didn't even take it.

[countSudoku()]

I win. I never clicked and just read the answers above and proclaimed; Windows questions? Must be fucking junior IT admin day.

I don't do *worlds.com, multi-page, geek come-ons. Try again.

Re:100%, and I didn't even take it.

[Mitchell314]

The only question I got was how many geeks it takes to slashdot the site. Which apparently is how many people have visited it in the past few hours.

Re:100%, and I didn't even take it.

[Icono]

A programmer and an engineer are sitting next to each other on a long flight from Los Angeles to New York.The programmer leans over to the engineer and asks if he would like to play a fun game.The engineer just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks.The programmer persists and explains that the game is real easy and is a lot of fun.
He explains “I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me $5.
Then you ask me a question, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll pay you $5.”
Again, the engineer politely declines and tries to get to sleep.The programmer, now somewhat agitated, says, “OK, if you don’t know the answer you pay me $5, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll pay you $100!”
This catches the engineer’s attention, and he sees no end to this torment unless he plays, so he agrees to the game.The programmer asks the first question.
“What’s the distance from the earth to the moon?”
The engineer doesn’t say a word, but reaches into his wallet, pulls out a five dollar bill and hands it to the programmer.Now, it’s the engineer’s turn.
He asks the programmer “What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down on four?”
The programmer looks up at him with a puzzled look.
He takes out his laptop computer and searches all of his references.
He taps into the the net and the Library of Congress.
Frustrated, he sends e-mail to his co-workers–all to no avail.
After about an hour, he wakes the Engineer and hands him $100.
The engineer politely takes the $100 and turns away to try to get back to sleep.
The programmer, more than a little miffed, shakes the engineer and asks “Well, so what’s the answer?”
Without a word, the engineer reaches into his wallet, hands the programmer $5, and turns away to get back to sleep.

Re:100%, and I didn't even take it.

[darkpixel2k]

I know I'll ace it, because I'll open Google in another window.

And that, of course, is the correct answer, in 2010.

Wrong.

It'll be more like this:

Question 1: You are digging through event logs trying to solve a problem and you find an error that says "ID: 1526 SOURCE: KERBEROS Description: An unknown error occurred while processing a login request. The error was: Access Denied"

You'll Google for that text and the best result you will get is a thread:

So I'm getting an error message that says 'An unknown...

With a reply: "My too, did you ever get it fixed?"

With another reply: "I had that problem a few months ago. If I remember correctly, I rebooted and it worked."

And another reply: "I tried that, it didn't work."

And another reply: "Can you tell me what's in your autoexec.bat?"

...."I ran into that problem yesterday too--rebooting didn't work for me, but I did go outside for a smoke and I came back and it was fixed."

..."Mee too. Rebooting didn't work, but I had a cheese pizza for lunch and it's fixed--but now I'm getting a new error that the SMTP service won't start".

..."I'm having that SMTP error too, did you ever find a fix?"

I hate dealing with retarded Windows issues and the retarded people who claim to be Windows admins. If you're good enough to be a competent Windows admin, you're either competent enough to realize there are better alternatives out there, or you are really good at wading through the piles of forum shit on Google.

(the part I can't easily display in Slashdot comments are the 17 inches of screen real-estate used up by each post because of advertisements and the posters sig showing their 'dream rig' along with the stats of their awesomely elite Windows box and a picture of a scantily-clad woman)

Ally McBeal?!

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF kind of "Geek Cred" quiz has a question about Ally McBeal? And what's with all the Windows questions?

Shitty site

[Anonymous Coward]

2 pop-ups blocked on every page, slow load times, intrusive flash ads all over, 1 question per page to force more ad views.

I didn't even get past question 6 before I closed it to come back here and complain.

Re:Shitty site

[admica]

I opened it and closed it a few seconds later because it was too hard to find test with all those ads and hideous page design. I'm not clicking a single thing on that page!

Re:Shitty site

[Quiet_Desperation]

2 pop-ups blocked on every page, slow load times, intrusive flash ads all over, 1 question per page to force more ad views.

It's a trap! The real correct answer is not to play at all.

I win.

Re:Shitty site

[Nemyst]

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

Failed on the first question

[digitaldc]

There was a problem starting the Quiz. Please try again later.

Is this part of the test? Am I supposed to figure out how to make their servers display the text of the test for me? If so, I failed BIG TIME.

Re:Failed on the first question

[bemymonkey]

I think starting the quiz is the first test ;)

Can't get in either, same error. Probably their way of saying "FU, we're slashdotted!"

Re:Failed on the first question

[l0ungeb0y]

It's called "being slashdotted" an effect known by geeks since the 90's.
You failed to use the term or display understanding of this, so yes... you failed.

UID 879047 derezzed.

Re:Failed on the first question

[sconeu]

I think it's ABP, not NoScript. I temporarily enabled the sites NoScript showed, one by one, and still got no display.

lpd

[BitZtream]

Was around long before Linux kids, its not the Linux printer daemon, its the line printer daemon.

Re:lpd

[NetRanger]

But is it on fire?

(If you get this, then you're REALLY old-school.)

Re:lpd

[lakeland]

Roughly correct, one of the status codes returned means it is on fire.

This was a real issue, not an Easter egg. The old line printers were very fast and if they got jammed they got hot quickly and really did burst into flames, so if you get that error then you had better run into the printer room.

Re:slashdotted already.

[Freshly Exhumed]

Yep, and just like that it went bye-bye while the number of reads on this item still showed 3.

Re:Windows Questions?!

[somejeff]

And what's with all the Windows questions?

- A geek knows Windows inside and out.
- A true geek knows to how to live without Windows (-- that's probably where we fall, in our parents' basement)
- An übergeek knows life, the universe and everything, including Windows.

Karma Whoring Post

[MyLongNickName]

Question 1: What does "httpd" stand for?
Correct Answer: Hypertext Transfer Protocol Daemon

Question 2: What is the primary use for the 224.0.1.24 IP address?
Correct Answer: It's the WINS server group address, used for the dynamic configuration of replication for WINS servers and auto-discovery

Question 3: How much RAM is supported in the 32-bit version of Windows Server 2008 R2?
Correct Answer: None

Question 4: The names Killing Horizon and Event Horizon are not related to:
Correct Answer: Two sci-fi movies from the '90s

Question 5: Which one of these will let you quickly look at the open ports on a machine?
Correct Answer: NETSTAT

Question 6: When the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) protocol was popular, which of these was considered one of its primary advantages?
Correct Answer: Multiple tokens
Your Answer: Multiple tokens

Question 7: What does "GUID" stand for?
Correct Answer: Globally Unique Identifier
Your Answer: Globally Unique Identifier
I'm fairly proud of inventing "Group Unnamed Information Delivery" -- it sounds very authentic, though "Great Underwear Is Divine" is nearest a universal truth.

Question 8: A 10Base2 Ethernet network used what kind of cabling?
Correct Answer: Thinnet coaxial
Your Answer: Twisted pair
If some kid straight out of college is standing behind you asking, "What the hell is 10Base2?!" feel free to pretend you don't know the answer and choose HDMI. Old folks need to stick together.

Question 9: "Aero," the GUI introduced with Windows Vista, stands for which of the following?
Correct Answer: Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open

Question 10: Which of these commands will install Windows 2000 Server?
Correct Answer: A and B

Question 11: Which of the following network protocols requires a terminator?
Correct Answer: 10Base5

Question 12: An example of diametrically opposed alignments in AD&D would be:
Correct Answer: CE vs. LG
Your Answer: CE vs. LG
Paladins vs. anti-Paladins or maybe just snarky journalists. Don't feel bad if you didn’t get this -- it just means you were having sex in high school.

Question 13: On a Windows NT network, what is the maximum name size for a client computer?
Correct Answer: 15
Your Answer: 15

Question 14: To restart the printer daemon for a Linux printer, you’ll use the command:
Correct Answer: Restart [printer name]

Question 15: What is an Active Directory forest?
Correct Answer: A group of domains that share a common schema

Question 16: To which politician do we attribute the quote: "The Internet is a great way to get on the Net"?
Correct Answer: Bob Dole

Question 17: The Tombstone-Lifetime Attribute represents which of the following:
Correct Answer: The number of days before a deleted objected is removed from directory services
Your Answer: The number of days before a deleted objected is removed from directory services

Question 18: What early example of an Internet viral video phenom was used in the "Ally McBeal" TV series in 1998?
Correct Answer: The Dancing Baby
Your Answer: The Dancing Baby

Question 19: A MIB contains status information for which protocol?
Correct Answer: SNMP

Question 20: Which of the following has the best chance to protect your users' identities?
Correct Answer: Spyware detector

Re:Karma Whoring Post

[EnsilZah]

Sounds more like an MCSE test than a geek test.

Re:Karma Whoring Post

[Anonymous Coward]

Question 3: How much RAM is supported in the 32-bit version of Windows Server 2008 R2?
Correct Answer: Geeks don't use Windows.

Question 5: Which one of these will let you quickly look at the open ports on a machine?
Correct Answer: What's wrong with lsof, it's so much more funky!

Question 9: "Aero," the GUI introduced with Windows Vista, stands for which of the following?
Correct Answer: Geeks don't use GUIs either.

Question 10: Which of these commands will install Windows 2000 Server?
Correct Answer: None if I'm in charge.

Question 13: On a Windows NT network, what is the maximum name size for a client computer?
Correct Answer: Far too small.

Question 14: To restart the printer daemon for a Linux printer, you’ll use the command:
Correct Answer: upscmd johnie@node3 shutdown.return # you can't tell me how to restart my daemons

Question 15: What is an Active Directory forest?
Correct Answer: Something related to pubic hair forest, but different, I think.

Question 18: What early example of an Internet viral video phenom was used in the "Ally McBeal" TV series in 1998?
Correct Answer: What is "TV"?

Question 20: Which of the following has the best chance to protect your users' identities?
Correct Answer: Don't let the users touch the computers, duh. If I'm forced to let them, I just do iptables -P OUTPUT DROP.

Re:Karma Whoring Post

[GumphMaster]

Question 11. A network protocol that requires a terminator? A protocol is a set of rules governing data interchange not an electrical circuit.

Re:Karma Whoring Post

[Beardo the Bearded]

Yeah, and I'm playing a CG Paladin / Beguiler.

I'm still not having sex, but that's because I've been married for 13 years.

Re:Karma Whoring Post

[PReDiToR]

Question 5: Which one of these will let you quickly look at the open ports on a machine?
Correct Answer: What's wrong with lsof, it's so much more funky!

I think you mean nmap, do you not?
lsof = LiSt Open Files; nmap is _the_ tool for anyone who wants to seriously check a network for anything.

Re:Karma Whoring Post

[ian_from_brisbane]

Question 7: What does "GUID" stand for?

Graphical User Interface..... Duh!

Re:Karma Whoring Post

[robbak]

No, lsof. It lists open file handles, and any nework port that is open is also a file handle. With some grep and sed hackery, you'll have a simple list.

it's really not that kind of test

[digitalsushi]

This is when "normal" people are sitting around drinking and one of them points out a beer bottle is brown cause it blocks sunlight, and the rest of them chide him or her for being a "geek". And then they have a hearty laugh when the newly labeled geek seems to have forgotten their otherwise inevitable pocket protector, because that is a hilarious joke to make about a geek.

That's what a normal person decomposes a geek into. That's the signal they get. The rest is noise. You're so lonely sitting there with your xterm flashing green text. No matter how bright you make your screen session, it will always be a jumble of Hollywood Hacker to the normal guy, sipping his domestic beer.

I encourage you, actual-geek, to hide in the noise that you will never be noticed in. For it is the curtain that masks you from the mundane torture that is experiencing a meal for the four remaining senses (you abused your rights to experience touch) -- a meal for the common man, pre-processed delicious monotony.

The missing question?

[Deep Penguin]

Question 0: How do you set up a website to survive the Slashdot effect?

InfoWorld Fail

[michaelwigle]

Looks like InfoWorld failed the Geek IQ test... Question 1. How much bandwidth do you need to avoid getting slashdotted?

Last "geek quiz" I took...

[6Yankee]

...would increment the score several times, if you hit the Next button repeatedly. So I wrote a Selenium test to hammer it as many times as it could before the next page loaded.

I managed to get "1019% Geek".

Which sounds about right, come to thin of it...

Definitely not for nerds

[dangitman]

I can see why they call it a "geek" test, what with geeks being the aspirational losers of the intellectual landscape, and this test mainly being about useless trivia. A "nerd" test would contain more substantive questions, you know, stuff that matters. Sure, many nerds would ace this geek trivia quiz, but the geeks would be lost on the nerd quiz.

Re:Definitely not for nerds

[MobyDisk]

You missed the last question. It was:

Which of the following aborts the quiz and starts a discussion about "nerd" -vs- "geek" ?
A. Nerds
B. Geeks.
C. Trolls
D. Females. :-)

Re:Definitely not for nerds

[schon]

Can someone clear this up for me? I keep hearing the two differ. Some tell me they're a geek but not a nerd. Some the opposite. So what is what? Where can I find _the_ definition to point all others to?

Nobody writes it down. If you have to ask, you don't need to know.

Watch the movie "Wargames" (The original 1983 one.) Wait for the scene when David goes to the university to talk to Jim and Malvin, and observe the characters. Jim is a geek, and Malvin is a nerd.

Re:Geek Trivia != IQ Assessment

[Astatine]

I bet this test has just as much real world meaning as Mensa's IQ test though...

Re:Geek Trivia != IQ Assessment

[Rockoon]

The secret to Mensa is to pass the "test", then prove that you didnt cheat by refusing to pay the fee to join.

Re:Windows Questions?!

[Dunbal]

An übergeek knows life, the universe and everything, including Windows.

      With the exception of the vagina. Being born through one doesn't count. Nor does a fleshlight.

knowledge != IQ

[petes_PoV]

Being able to recall a bunch of facts is not the same thing as the ability to make logical deductions, work out the answers to problems or make the link between cause and effect. All this test does is check a persons memory - which is less important these days with search engines and knowledge bases. What would make a better test would be to present a problem and see how people deduce the answer, not just discover how much time they waste reading industry publications.

Re:IQ tests...

[Lumpy]

26cm actually...

Thank you.

[sconeu]

I unblocked each site listed in NoScript, one at a time, and still couldn't get the quiz.

I wasn't going to fuck with my ABP filters just to see a stupid quiz.

Re:Thank you.

[nabsltd]

I unblocked each site listed in NoScript, one at a time, and still couldn't get the quiz.

Yep, definitely not worth the time. I'd rather see a Flash applet than play Russian roulette guessing which site is required for the content and which site will try to copy my hard drive to Nigeria.

What is this A and B of which you speak?

[Anonymous Coward]

Question 10: Which of these commands will install Windows 2000 Server?
Correct Answer: A and B

*inserts Windows 2000 Server CD*
*Restarts computer*
*Waits for CD to boot*
*Types the letter A followed by return*
*Types the letter B followed by return*
*Waits*
*dies of old age*

Infoworld and Windows [was Re:Ally McBeal?!]

[lwriemen]

And what's with all the Windows questions?

Trade magazine shilling for $$$ + abusive monopolist = lot's of free advertising and concocted credibility

Re:IQ tests...

[Wonko the Sane]

The last one is a bit of a waste since nobody on Slashdot has ever had sex.

Until they discover that you can save a lot of time, money and frustration and maybe even get more interesting conversations by hiring a professional.

Re:G**k - Like N****r to me

[The Wild Norseman]

A person of your advanced age and wisdom, such as myself, should already know that oftentimes we take words which were originally intended to denigrate, hurt, insult and belittle and turn them into a quasi-badge of honor, of membership, of belonging to a group of people who are, on average, extremely intelligent, professional, and frankly make those peoples' little world go round.

I actually get more praise these days from acknowledging and reveling in my geekness and my nerditude than I ever get in derision.

Re:G**k - Like N****r to me

[icebraining]

It's called reappropriation.

Question 11

[Marrow]

10base2 requires terminators at each end of the coax. 50ohm I believe.

Re:Windows Questions?!

[hweimer]

- A geek knows Windows inside and out.

That might be true up to 95 or so, and only if said geek is old enough to have experienced these times. Later, GNU/Linux became so ubiquitous in geekdom that knowing the answers for this test is actually a hint that you are not a real geek. Personally, I find the old Geek Quiz much more entertaining.