The Daily Teaser — 31-12-2013: About A Year …

You know, today is the last day of 2013AD on Earth.

After this … ?   No more 2013: we’ll be saying ‘Hello’ to 2014.

Frankly … ?

Well, I don’t know about you, but I always get a bit … well … thoughtful, about this time of year.

I think that’s inevitable, really.

As to where those thoughts end up going … ?

Well … 

I think trying to analyse that in any kind of depth, is like trying to say — accurately, and in advance — what’s going to happen in 2014.

And who on Earth knows that …?

Hmmm … 

Let’s move on, shall we?

~≈Â≈~

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi* putting in her answers: along with letting me know she approved of my reading list, ALSO bagged six out of six.

Let’s see how she — and you — do with todays ‘Review of the Year’ set, shall we?

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

Q1) January, 2013, saw thirty-nine international workers die in a hostage crisis: in which North African country … ?

Q2) February 28th, 2013, saw who famously resign from his post … ?

Q3) March saw the European Union give a €10 million bailout to which island … ?

Q4) April 2013 saw Chechen born, US resident, Islamist terrorists blow up explosives at a marathon in which US city … ?

Q5) May of 2013 saw $1, 000, 000 worth of jewelry stolen from a French hotel: the jewelry had been intended for celebrities attending which event … ?

Q6) US and UK government secrets were exposed in early June of this year: by which ex CIA employee … ?

Q7) 22nd July of this, saw the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s son: Prince who … ?

Q8) 19th August, 2013, saw which South African athlete charged with murdering his girlfriend?

Q9) September of 2013, saw the video for a Miley Cyrus song, set the record for most views in a single day.   WHICH Miley Cyrus song … ?

Q10) 18th October, 2013, saw which country become the first to reject a seat on the UN Security Council … ?

Q11) November of 2013, saw which cricketer begin his last ever test match … ?

Q12) Finally … 5th December of this year saw the death of which former South African leader … ?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers … 

Q1) 30th December saw the formal foundation — and declaration of — the USSR.   In which year of the 1920s?

A1) 1922.

Q2) What does USSR stand for … ?

A2) Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Q3) The revolutionaries that set up the USSR — and led by Vladimir Lenin — were whom: the Mensheviks, Bolsheviks or Milosheviks … ?

A3) The Bolsheviks.   (The word means — roughly — ‘majority’, with the group tracing its roots to the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.)

Q4) Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, in 1924, three men assumed power in the newly founded USSR.   Which of those men, in one of his last letters, did Lenin warn the Soviet government about … ?

A4) Joseph Stalin.

Q5) What — from 1924 onwards — was the highest law-making body of the USSR: the Presidium, the Council of Ministers or Supreme Soviet … ?

A5) The Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Q6) Which Moscow landmark housed the USSR’s government for many years … ?

A6) The Moscow Kremlin.

Q7) Finally … In which year of the 1990s did the USSR formally dissolve … ?

A7) 1991.   (Funnily enough, on Christmas Day.)

I’ll leave you with this thought from tennis player, Andy Murray …

“Winning Wimbledon, I can’t get my head around that. I still can’t believe it’s happened.”

Andy Murray, on winning Wimbledon in 2013.

And with Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines: as it turns out, it was the UK’s biggest selling song of 2013 … 

Happy New Year.

*        Got to confess, Debbi, I didn’t realise there there were quite so many of them!   OK, he’s not as prolific as Terry Pratchett.   But there’s a lot more Riverworld novels than I thought … !