26th September, 2025: T. S. Eliot.
OK … that’s new … !
I’ve had a Mac for several years.
And used a succession of them for various things.
One thing that’s been a mild annoyance?
Is simply that the various versions of macOS I’ve used have never had an icon for bluray discs.
There were icons for CDs, and DVDs: but not for blurays.
A bluray would show up on the desktop, certain: but as a blank space with the disc’s information written under it.
Fortunately?
That’s now been changed, under macOS Tahoe.
There’s now an icon: which makes finding where the operating system has put the thing, a lot easier!
~≈📀≈~
Is Sir Keir Starmer reading this?
The UK’s current Prime Minister?
Sir Keir, if you’re reading this, your planned Digital ID card schemes presents problems.
Especially for those of us on benefits.
From the little I’ve seen of it?
The digital ID is supposed to only work on smart phones.
For those of us who have one, that’s not a problem.
For those of us on Universal Credit, who can’t afford a modern phone?
Where are we supposed to get the money to buy one?
I’ve at least one friend — Dave, who lives around the corner — who’s on an old 3g phone, that he can’t afford to replace: a phone that’s as far from smart as it’s possible to get.
Sir Keir, will you be giving Dave the money to buy a smart phone?
To transfer his number over to a new, modern, SIM card?
To teach him how to use the thing?
I’m assuming, Sir Keir, that if you can’t buy Dave a smart phone for this scheme, then you can’t fund smart phones for other job seekers in the UK.
From what I’ve seen on the news, we’re the people you insist have these IDs: so we can show we have a right to work in the UK.
The other option, Sir Keir?
Is to issue a digital ID card that’s something like a modern, chip and PIN, contactless, bank card.
For starters?
What on Earth would be the point of that?
When many of us on benefits already have a passport or driver’s license that proves we have a right to work in the UK?
Who pays for this ID?
In my case, I have a drivers license: that was paid for by the Job Centre, as I couldn’t afford it, myself.
Would you be paying for those, Sir Keir?
What if I had no smart phone, no drivers license, no passport, and no way of affording any of them?
If I, nor Dave, nor anyone else we know, couldn’t afford these?
Someone else would need to pay for us to buy them, to show we have a right to a job.
Are you buying them for us, Sir Keir?
Because if we can’t afford the kit we need, Sir Keir, that means we can’t get jobs.
That, Sir Keir, makes the scheme both pointless, stupid, and expensive.
It’s your call, Sir Keir.
Let’s move on.
Yesterday’s Teaser saw Mum*, Olga†, Irene‡ and Debbi§ putting in their answers: with Olga, Irene and Debbi scoring five out of five, and Mum on four.
Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?
Q1) T. S. Eliot was born on 26th September: in which year of the 1880s?Q2) What the the ‘T’ stands for: Thomas, Terrence or Tony?Q3) What did the ‘S’ stand for: Sally, Steven or Stearns?Q4) He was born, where: the USA, the UK or the Irish Republic?Q5) 1927 saw T. S. Eliot became a citizen of where: USA, the UK or the Irish Republic?Q6) Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats was based on Eliot’s Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Cats was first released in which year of the 1980s?Q7) East Coker appears in Eliot’s Four Quartets. The village the poem is named after is in which English county: Gloucestershire, Somerset or Devon?Q8) “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” was first published in a US magazine. In which year: 1913, 1914 or 1915?Q9) According to Eliot’s “The Hollow Men”, the world ends with a what?Q10) Finally … ? Eliot’s The Wasteland was published in which year of the 1920s?
Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …
Q1) 25th September, 1890, saw the US president sign an act into law: that founded a national park. Which national park: the Everglades, Mammoth Cave or Sequoia?A1) Sequoia.Q2) The largest tree in the Park is the General Sherman. It’s a what: Giant Sequoia, Jeffrey Pine or ponderosa pine?Q3) The park is in which US state?A3) California.Q4) The Tokopah Falls are in the park. The falls are a what: mountain range, waterfall or tree?A4) A waterfall.Q5) Finally … ? The tallest point in the contiguous United States is a mountain in the Park. Which mountain: Mount Versteeg, Mount Whitney or Mount Young?A5) Mount Whitney. (Apparently, its Paiute name is Too-man-i-goo-yah.)
Here’s a thought …
“Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.”From the “Philip Massinger” essay in Eliot’s The Sacred Wood.
And a song …
The next ten question sets are on the 29th, and 30th, of September: they’re TV themed ones about The Prisoner, and Thunderbirds.
Your comments will be published, tomorrow morning.
Today’s questions will be answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.
Decisions about scores are final.
Thank you for coming: have a good day.
* Hello, Mum! (It was Mount Whitney, Mum!)
† It went well enough, Olga: boring as anything, but it had interesting bits. And there were at least two other left-handers, there, as well. (At least five people weren’t taking notes: at a guess I know why three of us weren’t. Spiral bound note pads are a pain if you’re a south paw!)
Us and them … ? It’s that, I think, Olga. Or the old People’s Front of Judea issue: their real enemy isn’t the Romans, it’s the Judean People’s Front …
‡ It went well enough, Irene. Well … once I went back to bed, it did … !
§ I don’t know if the US branch of Amazon does the big tubs, Debbi. Bar that … ? Go for it … !
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