Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 28-1-2017

You know, when I went to bed, last night?

I had half an idea of how to start this post.

I was going to tell you about shopkeeper, Brian Thompson, has plead not guilty to selling what’s called a fully loaded Kodi box.

Kodi, so you know, is an open-source media player.   It can be used as the software part of a Kodi box: a media streaming box.

That can be heavily modified: to allow access for free to normally paid for content.

Brian — like others — sells the fully loaded versions: which have been so modified*.

The court case?   Is to try and prosecute him for doing so.

~≈Â≈~

But then I woke up.

To hear the sad news that actor, John Hurt, had died: after battling pancreatic cancer for a long time.

I’m saddened to hear it.

The man was an acting giant: bringing depth and gravitas to whatever roles he played, and leaving behind a body of work that’s going to make him very hard to forget.

The world’s a worse place, without him.

~≈Â≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw saw Trevor† and Debbi‡ putting in their answers: with Trevor scoring five out of five, and Debbi scoring four.

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

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

Q1) Search teams went out, on 28th January, 1968: hunting for a crashed B52.   The bomber was armed with four what: hydrogen bombs, cruise missiles or anthrax bombs?

Q2) Which country’s name was first used on 28th January, 1933?

Q3) Canada chose its flag — by an act of Parliament — on 28th January, 1965.   Famously, the flag has a red what in the middle?

Q4) The Spanish Legion was first raised on 28th January, 1920.   The Legion was, originally, the Spanish equivalent of what: the SAS, the French Foreign Legion or the Green Berets?

Q5) Finally … Henry 7th of England was born: on 28th January, 1457.   Which dynasty was he the first king of?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers … 

Q1) The Paris Peace Accord went into force on 27th January, 1973.   The Accords formally ended which war?

A1) The Vietnam War.

Q2) During the Arab Spring, 27th January, 2011, saw the start of revolution: where?

A2) Yemen.

Q3) Nazi death camp, Auschwitz, was liberated on 27th January, 1945.   As a result, 27th January is known as what?

A3) Holocaust Memorial Day.   (Along with a various number of names, internationally.)

Q4) James Cromwell was born on 27th January, 1940.   He played Dr Arthur Arden in Series 2 of what?

A4) American Horror Story: subtitled Asylum.

Q5) Finally … Which footballer was banned from playing: on 27th January, 1995?

A5) Eric Cantona.

I’ll leave you with this thought …

“I believe easel painting to be a dying form, and the tendency of modern feeling is toward the wall picture or mural.”

Jackson Pollock, January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956.

This tune … 

And these clips … 

Have a good day.

I’m going to see if I can’t dig up a John Hurt movie.

*        If I’ve understood things correctly?   Open source software is unlike any other.   That fact that its source code is easily accessible means it can be studied a lot more easily by those of us with an interest in such things.   And can also easily be improved.   It can also be easily modified to allow illegal access to copyrighted content.   My personal belief?   Is that making the fully-loaded boxes illegal would not be good for the open source movement.   And that content providers — Amazon, the BBC, Netflix, whoever — need to put work into closing the loopholes that allow such access.   I also believe banning the sale of the boxes will be futile.   Given any one of us would be able to buy the normal box, and modify it to access content for free.

†        I think, Trevor, we’re going to have to let history be the judge of the whole thing.   Although Trump and May seem to get on a little bit TOO well!

‡        It’s the most recent Dr Who spin off, Debbi: VERY watchable.   And a little bit darker than Torchwood, at some points.   (And thank you: what’s really worrying is the Trump/May handholding!)