Wednesday 25 July 2018

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 25th July, 2018

25th July, 2018.


Yep: I managed to turn off the sound, there, just in time!

Otherwise you’d’ve ended up with an intro video where I’d be yelling of the top of Mishal Hussein and Justin Webb.

Possibly a good thing: although it depends on what they were talking about … !

At ANY rate … ?

Yesterday saw me having to take a day off: after my innards flared up.

Not something I want, as, after all, it means a loss of income.

But at least I managed to catch iBoy, last night.

Which is rather fun, if you like mildly cyberpunked urban gangsters.

~≈§≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Olga* and Debbi† putting in their answers: with both scoring five out of five.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?

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

Q1) The 1992 Summer Olympics opened on 25th July, 1992.   Which city was it held in?
Q2) Constantine 1st was named as Emperor: on 25th July, 306 AD.   Of which empire?
Q3) 25th July, 1837, saw Wheatstone and Cooke do the first commercial demonstration of what?
Q4) 25th July, 2005, saw Pratibha Patil named as President of where?
Q5) Finally … 25th July is the feast day of Saint Christopher.   He’s the patron saint of travellers, and those suffering from what: earache, toothache or noise bleeds?
Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers … 

Q1) 24th July is the feast day of Saint Christina Mirabilis.   She’s also know as Christina the what?
A1) Christina the Astonishing.
Q2) 24th July is Pioneer Day in one US state: marking the day when a group of Mormon pioneers reached the Salt Lake Valley.   Which US state are we talking about?
A2) Utah.
Q3) 24th July, 2016, saw the death of singer, Marni Nixon.   Whose character did she dub, in the film, West Side Story?
A3) Natalie Wood’s character, Maria.   (Ironically enough, she voices Sister Sophia in the 1965 film, The Sound of Music: for the song, Maria.)
Q4) The US president was ordered to hand over recordings: on 24th July, 1974.   Which US president?
A4) With an elegant amount of bounce?   President Richard Nixon.
Q5) Hulda Crooks became the oldest person to climb Mount Fuji: on 24th July, 1987.   How old was she?
A5) Ninety-one.
Here’s a thought …
“Age does not bring you wisdom, age brings you wrinkles.”
Estelle Getty, July 25, 1923 – July 22, 2008.
And a song about pancakes … 


Today’s questions will be answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.

Have a good day.





*        I get the impression, Olga^, that Microsoft does offer deals: if a potential buyer is seriously looking elsewhere.   I think Munich managed to get them down to an affordable bulk license fo MS Office for the city government’s machine: after trying out OpenOffice, back in the day.   And I’m always a little cynical about Microsoft’s pricing to public bodies: it’s a BIG source of income for them.   As for sharing files between trusts?   Hmmm … if’s it’s just a case of the two different file formats that MS Office and Open/Libre Office use, that’s should be less of an issue than you think.   As far as I know, MS Office can open the .odt files Open/Libre Office — has too, in fact, it’s a UN standard, like the metre or litre — and Open/Libre Office has been able to open .doc files for years.   As for patient details?   From what little I know, the problems start when one trust use one database base app, and the trust next door, uses another.   There’s no open standard.   (On top of that?   From what the various IT guys I know have told me, scalability’s the thing.   Starting small, in other words.   Get one office using (say) LibreOffice.   That the one next door.   Then reception.   Then a smaller ward … … … ).  Don’t you love IT … !

†        Actually, Lovecraft only ever wrote the one story about Cthulhu, Debbi‡: you can find it here.   Fascinating read, I always think.   I don’t know that he was a stunning writer — he kept throwing the word ‘eldritch’ around — but he did invent sci-fi horror.   AND inspired dozens of follow ups and spin-offs.   And — if I’ve got it right — his original works would’ve been featured in the classic pulps ’zines.   (He’s work actually predates Earle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason.)

‡        He also wrote the story that became Re-Animator, Debbiª.   Jeffrey Combs at his mad science best!

^        The surname’s possibly in the script: rather than be mentioned in the dialogue, Olgaª.   I don’t think US or UK used when the script was written had the accents … … … … …

ª        In the famous interviews he did with David Frost, Richard Nixon said “Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”   Ho Hum … 

2 comments:

Olga said...

Q1) Barcelona! (music and all!)
Q2) The Roman Empire
Q3) An electrical telegraph
Q4) India (2007, I think)
Q5) Toothache
I don't know the details but I know the systems did not communicate and to be able to work, everybody should be able to access all the information about a patient anywhere (from GP, hospital, etc). Each trust has a different intranet system and uses different forms (the trust I worked for had started using electronic records but there were not without problems and the online prescribing system we used had been created by the IT service for the Pharmacists, and that means it was not easy to adapt to the needs of nurses and doctors). I am convinced it could be done much simpler than they have tried before, but I don't think there is the will, and call me cynical, but there is a lot of money being made somewhere (and I don't mean by the big companies exclusively but by whoever brokers the contracts). Anyway, the best thing would be for them to talk to IT people who have inside information on the complexities of the system. (My friend who works in a private hospital in France told me they spent a lot of money to try to introduce an IT system, exclusively inside of the hospital, paid to bring training staff from Portugal and two years down the line it has failed miserably. I guess this should be something the staff would need to be invested in and convinced about, otherwise, it will never happen).

Debbi said...

Wow! Nixon was wa-a-a-y ahead of Trump in the stupid remarks department.

I can't imagine Nixon tweeting, though. :) He was too paranoid.

1. Barcelona
2. Roman Empire
3. the telegraph
4. India (in 2007)
5. toothache