Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 10-1-2026 — Tintin (Ten Questions)

10th January, 2026: Tintin.

I think that — right now? — I can safely say this: right now, it isn’t raining.

But it, according to the BBC’s weather site, -3°C.

Accounting for the wind chill factor, that is.

It’s going to be nippy, out … !

~≈🥶≈~

The BBC news is full of it.

News: before you comment!

The site’s telling us that there are riots happening in Iran, that the country’s leadership are blaming the US,  that everything’s happening, all at once.

Including Reza Pahlevi making comments: calling for Iranians to head for the streets, comments that coma as some demonstrators are calling for the return of the Shah of Iran.

The last Shah?

Was overthrown by Ayatollah Khomeini, back in 1979.

Khomeini’s regime?   Is the one that’s currently in charge of the country, the one that’s seeing protestors on the streets.

And the one that’s getting complaints from Reza Pahlevi.

He, if you didn’t know … ?

Is the current, exiled, Crown Prince of Iran.

And — depending on which side you take — is either encouraging protestors to call for reform to Iran’s government.

Or is egging protestors on.

Either way?

It sounds very similar to the events that put Khomeini, an exiled Iranian leader, an exiled Iranian leader egging protestors who was egging protestors on, back in 1979.

There’s that old saying: that what goes around, comes around.

That seems very applicable: if these protests turn into another Iranian revolution, it would only show us why they call them revolutions …

“Don’t put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again.”

Night Watch, Terry Pratchett.

~≈🛞≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 9th January 2026.

9th January, 2026.

Right … I’ve just looked out of the window, again.

And it’s still raining.

Storm Goretti hasn’t hit Brentwood as badly as it’s hit other parts of the country.

Thankfully.

But?

I’m not exactly looking forward to going out … !

~≈☔️≈~

Hmmm … 

It seems OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, have introduced a feature for the US version of the service: that can access a person’s medical records.

I’m not sure I like the idea.

I think there’s privacy issues.

Do you want ChatGPT publishing your details by accident?   Let alone your medical records?

I don’t, either.

But it’s not just that.

Yes, there’s upsides, especially in terms of medical research: this could well lead to better drug treatments, as well as highlighting medical problems, and potential solutions.

But?

I’m wondering how and when an AI chatbot can alter medical details, and alter them to a patient’s detriment.

How and when.

Not necessarily if.

There’s also the simple fact that this seems to be limited to the US: for now.

I suspect the USA’s for-profit medical system may be a factor in OpenAI’s decision to start the process there.

It means they will get paid for this, then sell on the results at a profit: rather than give the results to researchers.

Ho … … hum!

~≈🏥≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 8th January 2026.

8th January, 2026.

I’ve got to admit, I looked out of the window, earlier.

And yes: with Storm Goretti on the horizon, Brentwood’s getting rained on.

So … ?   I’m happy to see that the government-sponsored Cold Weather Payment has gone through.

Having extra money for gas will be useful.

It won’t stop the rain, or the storm: but will get me dry, if I go out.

~≈⛽️≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 7th January 2026.

7th January, 2026.

It’s officially Wednesday … which means I have a hygienist’s appointment, this afternoon.

Which means it’s going to have warmed up.

OK, it’s STILL going to be in single figures: but it would’ve warmed up.

A bit … 

~≈°≈~

I’ll happily admit to having a copy of the Dr Who season 13 box set: quietly ripping in the background.

The fact my current Mac can do so with several apps open, and relatively little overheating?

Is pleasantly surprising.

With just Handbrake going on its own?

It doesn’t overheat, at all!

Which is nice … !

But possibly beside the point: or, at least, beside the point I wanted to mention.

The box set includes a sixty minute omnibus cut of The Brain of Morbius.

That I believe must have been the version released on VHS, back in 1984.

If I recall correctly?

There was a stink about release: certainly amongst the fans I knew.

People were generally aware the original story had four episodes that ran to some twenty-five minutes each: that the complete story should have been one hundred minutes or so long.

We were very aware that the BBC were selling a version that ran to a mere sixty minutes in length.

With roughly an episode and a half edited out.   Forty minutes, I should say*.

The thing was expensive, as well: a price equivalent to the modern box sets, which have far more content.

The feeling was the BBC had us diddled: was overcharging fans for an unnecessarily shortened version.

When they re-released the tape, in a one hundred minute version, in 1990?

The feeling was ‘mildly annoyed’: and that Aunty should have released the full version in the first place … !

To quote John Lydon?

“Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?”

~≈📺≈~

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 6th January 2026.

6th January, 2026.

Right … I can now happily jump up and down, in a cheerfully demented way.

A demented way that will involve wearing clothes: it’s still cold, in Brentwood.

I’m not that mad!

At any rate, I’m reasonably cheerful … as I found out I’d lost weight, at yesterday’s Weight management meeting.

OK: I’ve only lost some four hundred grams.

But it’s all good.

~≈⚖️≈~

I’ve mentioned this, before now: back when I was reviewing The War Between the Land and The Sea.

Three Classic Dr Who stories — An Unearthly Child, Terror of the Zygons and The Seeds of Doom — are unavailable of the BBC’s iPlayer service.

In the case of the latter two stories, I’m told this is because the BBC hasn’t been able to negotiate a licensing deal with the estate of Robert Banks Stewart, the writer of both stories.

However?

Those latter two stories have recently been released on blu-ray: as part of the Season 13 box set.

Something I’m ripping, as we speak.

The reason I mention this, again … ?

Is simply that the contradiction seems blatantly obvious.

The two stories are available in one format, blu-ray: but aren’t on the iPlayer, aren’t on the BBC’s domestic streaming service.

I’m assuming that the iPlayer versions count as a public broadcast, and that the bluray versions count as private home viewing: and that the various license agreements allow one, but not the other.

Either way?

It seems odd … !

~≈🤔≈~