Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 14-10-2018: World Standards Day,

14th October, 2018.

Yes!   I’m up on time!

I can now officially, sing, dance and prance naked around my front room!

No, maybe not.

At least … not with the webcam on … !

~≈§≈~

At any rate … ?

I’m am still — slightly — saddened about the death of games designer, Greg Stafford.

While I never got to play, or referee, RuneQuest, I couldn’t help but notice the rules.

Which were, for the time, quite revolutionary.

Most role playing games used levels as a way of measuring experience: RuneQuest’s focussed on the improvements of individual skills.

Its predecessors treated magic, and spells, as bullets: used once, then not again, until re-learnt.

After RuneQuest?   After RuneQuest, which had two forms: at least one of which drained a character of strength, and meant they had to rest before casting, again.   Something later games started to emulate.

And combat … ?

Don’t get me started!

But that was just half of the game.

The other half, as I mentioned in yesterday’s Teaser?

Was Stafford’s.   Was the background world, Glorantha.

Where other games of the time — Dungeons and Dragons, and Tunnels and Trolls, most noticeably — had sketchy backgrounds descended from Middle Earth, RuneQuest’s built-in background was far more detailed.

And only grew … 

Having been built on work Stafford had been doing since his college days in the 1960s.

That background … ?   That background, rooted in Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Stafford’s interest in Bronze Age Europe?

With its unique interpretation of the standard fantasy races, and its uniques ones, like the Dragonewts?

Was and is unique.

Giving that RuneQuest was being revived at the time of his death?

Greg Stafford will be much missed … 

~≈§≈~

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) 14th October is World Standards Day: first marked in which year? 

Q2) The International Standards Organisation, or ISO, is one of three standards bodies consulted by the UN.   Name one of the other two.   (Here’s a clue: they’re all part of the World Standards Cooperation group.)

Q3) ISO 6, ISO 2240 and ISO 5800 govern what: photographic film, CDs and DVDs or tractor communication networks?

Q4) The internationally accepted standard unit of length is the … what?

Q5) The ISBN is the International Standard … what?

Q6) The standard unit of time is the what: hour, minute or second?

Q7) What colour is officially used by the aviation industry: in order to make things stand out?

Q8) Which symbol is the internationally recognised standard warning sign for poison?

Q9) ISO 80000-2:2009 governs what: chemical symbols, safety symbols or mathematical symbols?

Q10) Finally … ?   The .odf extension — also called the .odt extension — is the extension for the standard what: digital text document, digital photo file or digital audio file?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers … 

Q1) 13th October, 1983, saw Ameritech Mobile Communications open the first mobile phone network in the US.   In which city?

A1) Chicago.

Q2) More to the point, what’s the US term for a mobile phone network?

A2) A cell phone network, or cellular network.

Q3) 13th October, 2016, saw the Maldives leave what: the UN, NATO or the Commonwealth?

A3) The Commonwealth.

Q4) 13th October, 1853, saw the birth of one of the mistresses of Edward 7th.   Which mistress?

A4) The Jersey Lily, herself, Lillie Langtry.

Q5) 13th October is the feast day of one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England.   Which king?

A5) Saint Edward the Confessor.

Here’s a thought …

“Standards must be observed, but they are only the starting points for further improvements.”

Shigeru Nakamura.

And a song‡ …

.

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

Have a good day.

*        Gotcha, Olga!   Yep, it’s over and done with.   Until next time!   (It was a hygienist visit: with a heck of a lot of prodding!)

†        Yeah, I’m just starting on The Left Hand of Darkness, Debbi: I’m having a LeGuin moment!

‡        Just as an opinion … ?