Oh, now that’s sad …
Overnight, Nelson Mandela*, former president, prisoner, and passionate political advocate for a free and new South Africa, has died.
That’s sad. But Madiba, in death and life, he’s left his country … not necessarily better, but better than it was.
Hmmm … I think there’s I can say, there: except to point you at his obituary — here — and to offer my condolences to his family, and country.
And to tell you that, according to the BBC’s report on his death, the UN Security Council stood for a minutes silence, as a mark of respect. That’s unheard of, to my knowledge.
Let’s move on, shall we? Before we’re overwhelmed …
~≈Â≈~
Yesterday’s teaser saw Debbi† putting in her answers: along with telling me to stay warm, she also bagged ten out of ten!
Let’s see how she — and you — do with today’s questions, shall we? Here they are, along with the ‘How To,’ License and video …
Q1) 6th December, 1897, saw which British city become the first to have licensed taxis?
Q2) Traditionally, those taxis are what colour … ?
Q3) The taxis are also called Hackney Carriages, and named after what: a borough, district or parish … ?
Q4) As of 2013, that city’s taxis are made by Geely UK LTD: a subsidiary of a car company from which country … ?
Q5) What name is given to the knowledge that cabbies have of this particular city … ?
Q6) Training for that knowledge has been shown to increase which area of the brain: the occipital lobe, the hippocampus or the cerebral cortex?
Q7) What was the name of the seventh Carry On film … ?
Q8) In which film does Robert De Niro famously say “You talkin’ to me?”
Q9) The US series, Taxi, was set in which US city … ?
Q10) Finally … who released the 1993 album, Taxi … ?
Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …
Q1) 5th December saw the first recorded disappearance over the Bermuda Triangle… What was the name of the vanished squad of bombers: Flight 19, Flight 20 or Flight 21 … ?A1) Flight 19.
Q2) More to the point, in which year of the 1940s was this … ?A2) 1945.
Q3) What was the name of the writer who wrote the standard book about the Bermuda Triangle … ?A3) Charles Berlitz.
Q4) More to the point, what was the name of the book … ?A4) The Bermuda Triangle.
Q5) That same writer wrote ‘The Philadelphia Experiment’, about a vanishing what: tank, battleship or plane … ?A5) Battleship.
Q6) Back to where we started, now: the northern-most point of the Bermuda Triangle is just off the coast of Bermuda. Where’s it’s most southerly point: Cuba, Haiti or Puerto Rico … ?A6) Puerto Rico.
Q7) Equally to the point, the Triangle’s most westerly point is on the coast of which US state … ?
Q8) In which bit of sea is the Bermuda Triangle: the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean … ?A8) Atlantic Ocean.
Q9) According to the old Barry Manilow song, The Bermuda Triangle makes people disappear. Between 1976 and 1983, which South American country saw many people ‘disappear’ … ?A9) Argentina. (The usage comes from the Argentine Spanish phrase ‘los desaparecidos’, used by the ‘Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo’ movement.)
Q10) And finally … The Bermuda Triangle is off Bermuda. What’s the name of the equivalent, roughly 100 kilometers south of Tokyo … ?A10) The Devil’s Sea.
I’ll leave you with this thought …
“Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.”George Burns.
And with a Joni Mitchell tune …
Enjoy your day.
* It’s often the case that someone will say “I can remember where I was, when so-and-so died.” I was in bed when the tweets about Nelson Mandela starting ringing my phone.
† Will do, Debbi!
1 comment:
Thanks, Paul!
1. London
2. black
3. parish
4. China
5. The Knowledge
6. cerebral cortex
7. Carry on Cabby
8. Taxi
9. New York
10. Bryan Ferry
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