It has probably not escaped the attention of the average OKer--all of which are known to be well above average and well versed with the current affairs of the world--that the IKHP home page went down this past Sunday. As happens from time to time with the web, so no big deal, right? Wrong! Because what happened was that the contract for the URL IKHP had ran out, and the devastating part is that some villainous but very alert entrepeneur saw what happened and immediately bought up the URL and is now holding IKHP internet hostage unless he is paid off. The club is still trying to figure out exactly who the real identity of this person is, who so far is known only as "cyber-moof". But already they have pinned down his location to somewhere in SE Arizona, which makes me very suspicious, espcially considering the timing of this dastardly deed, coming so coincidentally with Mook's one man training camp. Understand, I'm making no accusations here,just pointing out certain facts.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), June 07, 2000

Answers

It has probably not escaped the attention of the average OKer

Very little gets by the OK WWW-monitoring team. I recall reading something about IKHP's page being down. I have to say I had not actually tested it recently (although I do take a look at it every couple of weeks or so).

I've also been following the discussion about whether the club is IKHP or IK HP. Apparently IKHPers seem to be offended if you add a space between the IK and the HP. I'd think they ought to lighten up.

Finally, a question....IKHP's web page is at www.ikhp.nu....what does the .nu mean?

-- Spike (meglin@juno.com), June 07, 2000.

You're kidding, right??? Just try saying "IK" and then a slight delay "HP". Unless you're really struggling up a big hill and folks know you're just trying to get out the name between breaths, the gang would immediately fall upon you with sharpened compass edges and summarily chop you in half. It's even a worse mistake than booming a control in an important relay (if you do that, the standard procedure is to not even bother thinking about finishing, but to instead take off for the Russian border and just hope the border guards take you before the enfuriated IKHPers do!)

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), June 07, 2000.

This might be quite a surprise (it is to me), but I believe that "nu" on the end of a web address means Nicaragua! According to www.acronymfinder.com, nu can mean: Name Unknown National Underwriter National University (Manila, Philippines) Nations Unies (United Nations) Nicaragua Niue (The Country of Niue) Northeast Utilities Northeastern University Norton Utilities University of Nebraska

Let's hope the boys from Hakarp aren't Cornhuskers!

-- J-J (jjcote@juno.com), June 08, 2000.

It is back! www.ikhp.nu is on-line again. Although, I didn't see anything especially interesting on it.

I'm still wondering about the .nu It seems to be common in Sweden (there is a www.orientering.nu with an O' club's info and www.melin.nu is a Swedish site with O' computer game software). What does .nu mean?

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), June 08, 2000.

What the .nu means is a mystery to me. Pretty sure it doesn't stand for Nicaragua though!

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), June 09, 2000.

Husvarna

nu

Nebraska

I'm seeing a connection.

-- Fritz (fpmenninger@hotmail.com), June 09, 2000.

I looked into this a little more closely, and it in fact does not mean Nicaragua. Nicaragua is ni. nu is Niue. This is a 260 sq km island located east of Tonga, with a population of a little over 2000, and a GDP of $1200 per capita. They're self-governing with respect to internal affairs, and are in association with New Zealand for external affairs.

One of their important sources of revenue is postage stamps, but apparently these people know how to keep up with the times. To get a domain name ending in .nu, you don't have to have a presence in Niue. There are several countries that have done this, and presumably they levy some modest tax on the registration. Tuvalu, which is .tv, apparently did quite well by selling domain names to television interests. I don't know why .nu is so popular, but I'll speculate that either a) they have the lowest prices, or b) there's some appeal in Scandinavia because "nu" means "now" in Swedish. (Ever see somebody with an email address like fred.schwartz@i.am? What's the am? Armenia.)

-- J-J (jjcote@juno.com), June 12, 2000.

I will go with JJ's latest "nu" explanation. The fact that nu = now probably is one of the reasons it has been popular here in Sweden (and Norway as well?).

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), June 12, 2000.