What is 176.74.176.178 and why does ping go there?
 

I was just playing around on home network testing a /etc/hosts entry on a new Linux install. I miss typed the target's name, but I GOT A RESPONSE. it listed the miss typed name and the present computers domain, but the IP was 176.74.176.178??????
I just types ping <jibberish> and kept the above IP!

My home network is 192.168.1.*, Where did this come from?

tj

176.74.176/178 is in the UK and is Peer 1 Network. The reason ping went there is because you told it to ping it.

And just how did I tell it to ping Peer 1 when I didn't type anything related to Peer 1? In fact, it pings on made up names.

The way the net works is IP addresses are matched to names. So linuxquestions.org will have an IP address assigned to it. You type in what you think is gibberish but at least 1 of those gibberish words is either exactly or close to something someone has registered and Peer 1 probably hosts it.

Read this article about google's IP address' to help explain it.

As I understand it you're pinging your DNS provider's "host does not exist" server -- the page that's displayed when you type in www.gobbledygook.i into your browser. I use OpenDNS so I get a response from hit-nxdomain.opendns.com when I ping any old rubbish.