The Daily Teaser — 27-11-2015

Hmmm … 

You DO know it’s what’s known as Black Friday, don’t you?

In other words it’s the day after Thanksgiving: the US holiday.   And a major shopping event.

Personally?   I’ve got no problem with anyone in the US having a long weekend, and taking advantage of shopping deals.   I see it as the US equivalent of the Boxing Day sales, seen — in the past — here in the UK.

I have no problem with that.

What bothers me?

Is that shops in the UK have started to have Black Friday events.

I, personally, object.

As the day is a shopping day the day after a US holiday.

Here in the UK?

Here in the UK, Thanksgiving is not a public holiday.

Why the hell we’re marking the shopping day AFTER a holiday we don’t mark, I don’t know.

Especially after last year, when seriously assaults were reported*?

Ye gods!

~≈É≈~

But let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi† putting in her answers: scoring six out of ten in the process.   The day also saw Olga‡ leaving us a comment.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?

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

Q1) 27th November, 1810, saw Theodore Hook perpetrate what’s now called the Berners Street Hoax: by getting deliveries sent to 54, Berners Street.   The Street, and the hoax, were in which London City?

Q2) 27th November, 1942, saw the scuttling of French Naval ships: by The French Navy, itself.   In order to keep the ships and submarines out of the hands of whom?

Q3) More to the point, this was in which French port?

Q4) 27th November, 1978, saw the killing of Harvey Milk: the first openly gay politician in the US.   Which US city was he the elected Supervisor of?

Q5) The Portuguese Royal Family escaped Portugal’s capital city, on 27th November, 1807: fleeing which Emperor’s troops?

Q6) More to the point, what IS the capital of Portugal?

Q7) Finally … Surgeons in France carried out the first successful partial what: on 27th November, 2005?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 26th November, 1983, saw robbers steal gold, cash and jewelry from the Brinks MAT warehouse.   The warehouse was near which airport: Stanstead, Heathrow or Gatwick?

A1) Stanstead.

Q2) According to the BBC report, the haul was worth how much: £25 million, £35 million or £45 million?

A2) £25 million.

Q3) How much is that in today’s money: £28 million, £66 million or £78 million?

A3) £78 million.

Q4) The stolen gold was in the shape of gold bars.   How many gold bars: 3400, 6800 or 13600?

A4) 6800.

Q5) Those bars were a standard size: what’s known as a ‘Good Delivery’ bar.   Each such bar weighs an average of 400 troy what?

A5) Troy ounces.   (Equivalent to 1.097 avoirdupois ounces, the ounce used to measure everything else, or 31.10 grams.   Troy ounces are also used to measure the weight of bullets.)

Q6) Those gold bars would be marked to show which UK assayers office they’d been certified by.   What are these marks called?

A6) Hallmarks.

Q7) How many people do police think were involved in the Brink’s MAT robbery: ten, fifteen or twenty?

A7) Fifteen.

Q8) Great Train Robber, Charlie Wilson, is said to have laundered some of the haul.   He, eventually, was shot in 1990: in which Spanish city?

A8) Marbella.

Q9) Kenneth Noye — who laundered some of the Brink’s Mat Gold — was eventually convicted of the notorious Road Rage killing of Stephen Cameron.   In which year of the 1990s WAS that killing?

A9) 1996.

Q10) Finally … John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer was acquitted of involvement in the Brink’s MAT robbery.   In which Essex town did he live?

A10) Brentwood.   (In South Weald, not far from where my family live.   He was shot, this year.)

I’ll leave you with this thought …

“It does not pay a prophet to be too specific.”

L. Sprague de Camp November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000.

And, given it marks his birthday, this tune …

Have a good day!

*        Possibly the only solution — and I don’t know if it’s completely practical — is to Buy Nothing.   Although I’d prefer to maybe sign a petition.

†        Yeah, sorry about the score, Debbi!   But I’m getting VERY strict on this one!   (South Weald, to give you an example, is part of Brentwood: Sandpit Lane, where John Palmer lived, is about five minutes drive from my Mum’s place.   Actually, remember the time you and Rick joined me and Trevor for coffee?   If the bus had headed straight over at the junction, instead of right into Brentwood High Street, we could’ve got to it through Weald Road … … )

‡        Blimey, we ARE juggling time, aren’t we, Olga?!   I have to admit, I KEEP thinking I should learn basic coding: but the basic HTML tags I use here — usually just some basic formatting ones, and the ‘a’ tag that lets me pre-insert a link — do me fine.   And those media streamers are handy, Aren’t they?   I’m not with Amazon Prime: I DO have an Apple TV, though so whenever I rent a movie, I stream it to that, with iTunes.   (The combo lets me stream my TV series collection over, too: that way, I can buy a DVD box set, rip it, watch it, and sell the box set to my local CeX.   I can make a little cash back, that way.)