The Daily Teaser — 19-7-2013: The SS Great Britain

Bloody HELL … !

I have to admit, I’ve got a documentary on, I recorded last night: a repeat of one I’d already seen about household killers in the Victorian home.

Amazing what they’d feed kids, back then … !

At ANY rate, that wasn’t quite what caught my eyes, on the news, for however briefly I had it on.

Seemingly … ?   Mars was habitable.   OK, four billion years ago: but it WAS habitable.

Wow … !

That made my eyes water.   And if THAT hasn’t set a thousand or so science-fiction writers into an ideas frenzy, then Julian May was right about the human brain … 

~≈∏≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi putting in her answers: along with bagging four out of six*,  she was keeping her fingers crossed about her answers.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the ‘How To’, License and video … 

Q1) 19th July, 1843 saw the launch of the SS Great Britain: what was then the largest ship afloat.   It was also the first to made largely of which metal … ?

Q2) The ship was also one of the first ocean-going ships to be propelled by what: sails, a paddlewheel or a screw-propellor?

Q3) What does the SS in SS Great Britain stand for … ?

Q4) On which set of islands was the ship famously retired to, in 1884?

Q5) Finally … which (then) member of the Royal Family took part in the the ship’s launch … ?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 18th July, 1555, saw the Royal College of Arms reincorporated: by which English Queen … ?

A1) Mary 1st.

Q2) The study, creation, granting and blazoning of those arms is known by what name … ?

A2) Heraldry.

Q3) The main part of a coat of arms is the escutcheon, which is also known as what: the shield, helmet or background … ?

A3) Shield.

Q4) If you’re a lady with a coat of arms, what shape IS your escutcheon … ?

A4) Lozenge shaped for British ladies: Cartouche shaped for continental ladies.   Oh, and vicars … 

Q5) If you’re entitled to a Coat of Arms, you are said to be … what … ?

A5) Armigerous: or an armiger.

Q6) Finally … what’s the term for the Japanese equivalent to a coat of arms … ?

A6) Mon: also known as a monsho, mondokoro and kamon.

Enjoy those, folks.

I’ll leave you with this thought the ship’s designer …

“… an explosion in the engine room … would have destroyed a lesser ship”

Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

And — in lieu of music — this helpful video.

Have a good day.

*        Sorry, Debbi†, there’s actually a word for being eligible for a coat of arms: armigerous.   And a woman’s escutcheon is either lozenge or cartouche shaped, depending on whether she’s from Britain, or the continent.   Priests and vicars get a cartouche, too.   It’s an oval, so you know.   (I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again, it always amazes me what I find out … !)

†        Oh, by the way, Debbi, about Neuromancer?   HAve you come across Molly, yet … ?   Gibson always claimed her look, on the cover of the Pretenders first album: personally, I can go with that …