The Daily Teaser — 14-9-2014

Who the hell was that … ?

I have to admit, I got something of a late night, last night.

Or, at least, a late night for me.

After blogging about last night’s episode of Dr Who, I should add.

I got myself off to bed: and nicely comfortable.

Slowly nodding off: as you do.

When the doorbell went off … 

I’ll be frank, I didn’t answer.   Well, it was 12·30!

I still have NO idea who on Earth that was.

And will apologise to any of my neighbours, if it was urgent.

But banging on my door in the morning would’ve been nice … !

~≈Â≈~

But let’s 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 questions, shall we?   Here they are, along with the How To, License and video … 

Q1) 14th September, 2000, saw Microsoft release Windows Me.   What was Me short for … ?

Q2) 14th September, 1960, saw the formal founding of OPEC: the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.   OPEC’s HQ is in which country … ?

Q3) 14th September, 1982, saw the death of Princess Grace: after a car crash, the previous day.   Prior to her marriage to Prince Ranier of Monaco, how had Grace been known?

Q4) 14th September, 1682, saw the founding of the Bishop Gore School: one of the oldest schools in which country of the UK … ?

Q5) Finally … 14th September, 1791, saw France gain control of the city of Avignon.   From where: Italy, the Papal States, or the British Empire?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 13th September, 1898, saw Hannibal Goodwin patent photograph film made from what: celluloid, glass or paper?

A1) Celluloid.

Q2) 13th September, 1968, saw which country leave the Warsaw Pact: Albania, Bulgaria or Czechoslovakia?

A2) Albania.

Q3) 13th September, 1965, saw the birth of drummer, Zak Starkey.   Zak’s been a member of The Icicle Works, The Who, The Lighting Seeds and Oasis.   Who’s Zak’s dad?

A3) Singer, actor and drummer, Richard Starkey: better known as Ringo Starr.

Q4) 13th September, 1971, saw the birth of which fashion designer?

A4) Stella McCartney.   (There’s possibly a theme, here.)

Q5) Finally … In many countries, 13th September is Programmer’s Day: in a non-Leap Year.   When is it held, in a Leap Year?

A5) 12th September.   (It boils down to the fact that 13th is — during a non-leap year — the 256th day of the year.   256 is 100 in hexadecimal: and the highest eight figure binary number, or byte, under 365.)

I’ll leave you with this song … 

And this self-observation …

“I think you need brains to do any Shakespeare with any authority. I could do Shakespeare, but not with any authority.”

Sam Neill, born 14 September 1947.

Enjoy your day.

*        Got to admit, I’ve came across the term a few years ago, myself, Debbi.   Did I ever tell you I used to play roleplaying games: things like Dungeons and Dragons and Traveller.   One game I had was called GURPS.   The original rulebook was designed to provide the generic backbone to a game: and the referee could get various supplements for whatever genre he wanted to set up†.   I managed to get hold of GURPS Cyberpunk‡: which is where I came across the idea.   They called it the Deep Web, which is a similar concept: bits of the ’Net you can’t get to, through regular means.

†        There was a GURPS The Prisoner rulebook, to give you an example, Debbi: it let a referee set up a Prisoner campaign.   (You could also set up a bog standard Prisoner campaign, or in another world: there was a chapter showing you how to set up the Village in fantasy, space-opera and other backgrounds.)

‡        The blessed thing was the best advert Steve Jackson Games — the company that produced it — ever had.   Loyd Blankenship, the chap that wrote it, did very good research: and managed to get in touch with computer security experts — and real world crackers — so he could write realistic material for referees to use.   It’s where I first came across terms like ‘deep web,’ ‘dark web,’ and ‘social engineering,’ for example.   The book’s generally considered one of the best of its type ever written.   Mostly where, as a result of Loyd’s work, Steve Jack Jackson Games got raided by the US Secret Service, who were then running a crackdown on cybercrime … !