Over the last several days, there has been a bit of a media skirmish concerning a report from the Global Energy Balance Network, a non-profit science group dedicated to preventative education to reduce obesity. A recent report of theirs stated that lack of exercise is primarily responsible for the dramatic upswing in the obesity rate here in the US, and not necessarily what we eat (such as sugary drinks). All well and good, and I would tend to agree with them…we have become a nation that sits on it’s butt.

However, news then surfaced that the report was funded in part by Coca-Cola Company. Hmmmm…that could tend to tarnish the report a bit. I heard that the domain name for Global Energy Balance Network (gebn.org) was registered to Coca-Cola. So last night (Tuesday 8/11), before I went to bed, I did a “whois” lookup on my Linux system, and sure enough…the domain was registered to Coca-Cola. Very interesting.

So, at work today (Wednesday 8/12) I ran another whois so i could screen capture it and put it in my blog as an example. Well guess what…the registration had changed. I was surprised. Here is what I found today…

Current WHOIS for GEBN.ORG

As you can see, registration was updated this morning around 14:52 UTC (around 10:52 AM EDT). So, why the University of South Carolina? I’m guessing there is a relationship between the non-profit and the University…which is fairly common these days. Also, if you go to the website and check out the “About” page, there is a disclaimer stating that part of their funding is from the Coca-Cola Company…so they are not trying to hide anything.

Now, I’m just pointing this out as an example of domain name registration and some of the gotcha’s to be aware of…and for the use of the “whois” command, which is part of Linux.

Disclaimer:  Yep, I guess I need to fess up a bit too…being a good ol’ Georgia boy, I do love drinking my Coke and Dr. Pepper. I have a joke I tell friends that when I go to the doctor’s office and give blood, it fizzes.