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Saturday 14 June 2014

The Daily Teaser — 14-6-2014: UNIVAC

Well, that’s THAT sorted … 

In theory, anyway.

Hmmm … 

Let me try explaining, here.

You remember I was placed in a Work Placement scheme at the start of the week … ?

Which, unfortunately, didn’t work out: unsatisfactory references!!

The up side to that … ?   Was that I managed to update my references with a pair that are a touch more flattering.

On top of that … ?

I had a meeting with my Job adviser: who’s managed to place me on a Fresh Start course.

Quite what that is, I don’t know.

But I keep getting mental images of a group of Terry Pratchett characters … 


Right … let’s get a move on, shall we?

~≈∏≈~
Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi* putting in her answers: and scoring five out of five.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s rather technical set, shall we?

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

Q1) 14th June, 1951, saw the formal dedication of the UNIVAC computer: at the US government Bureau that was using it.   Which Bureau are we talking about … ?
Q2) That bureau is headquartered in which US state?
Q3) The fifth Univac to be built was for the US Atomic Energy Commission: and famously predicted a landslide victory in the 1952 US Presidential Election.   For whom … ?
Q4) The US Airforce also had a UNIVAC: in their shared HQ building in Arlington, Virginia.   What’s the name of that HQ building … ?
Q5) The UNIVAC used 5200 what: vacuum tubes, electron tubes or valves?
Q6) Finally … UNIVAC is short for Universal Automatic … what … ?
Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …
Q1) 13th June, 1970, saw The Beatles have their last US number one.   Which Beatles song was it … ?
Q2) 13th June, 2000, saw Italy formally pardon Mehmet Ali Ağca.   Who had Mehmet Ali Ağca famously try to assassinate?
Q3) 13th June, 2010, saw a capsule from the Japanese probe, Hayabusa: with dust from 25143 Itokawa.   Is 25143 Itokawa an asteroid, meteor or comet?
A3) A near-earth asteroid.   The photo of 25143 Itokawa — here — reminds me of a monkey nut.
Q4) 13th June, 1884, saw the birth of Gerald Gardner: credited with founding a modern-day version of which religion … ?
A4) Witch-craft: or Gardnerian Wicca, as it’s also known.
Q5) Finally … 13th June, 1928, saw the birth of mathematician, John Forbes Nash, Jr.   What was the name of the 2001 film about his life?
I’ll leave you with this song … 


And this quote …
“Many primitive peoples count by two’s (called a binary system), rather than by ten’s. So Will Univac.   But decimal problems will be fed into it, and decimal numbers come out.”
From Want To Buy A Brain: a 1949 article on UNIVAC, from Popular Science
Have a good day … 












*        Finding today’s wasn’t too bad, Debbi.   Digging up the quote, though … ?   Oy veh!
at

1 comment:

  1. DebbiSat Jun 14, 08:36:00 pm BST

    I know the feeling! Oy veh! :)

    1. the Census Bureau
    2. Maryland
    3. Dewey
    4. the Pentagon
    5. vacuum tubes
    6. Computer

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