Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 21-5-2017

I’ve got a weekend off.

Well … 

Not a weekend: I’ve got today and tomorrow off.

Frankly?

I’ve seriously got to get laundry done.

Possibly eat.

I might just shop.

Do some writing.

But I THINK the important bit?

Is putting my feet up, and watching TV.

Frankly?

I want catch with Dr Who: this week’s episode looks good, from the little I’ve seen of it.

Equally frankly?

I’m thorough enjoying Mr Robot … 

And feel impressed with myself: I recognised one of the on-screen Terminal* commands … !!

~≈Ê≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

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

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

Q1) The Ethiopian Civil War effectively ended: when its dictatorial ruler fled the country on 21st May, 1991.   Who was that dictator?

Q2) More to the point, that dictator came to power after the Emperor of Ethiopia was overthrown.   Who was that Emperor?

Q3) 21st May, 1674, saw John Sobieski named as King of Poland: and Grand duke of where?

Q4) More to the point, what’s that duchy’s modern capital?

Q5) Aurelia Cotta was born on 21st May, 120 BC.   Her son was a famous dictator.   Which dictator?

Q6) Finally … Which Star Wars movie was released: on 21st May, 1980?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers … 

Q1) 20th May is the feast day of Saint Bernardino of Siena.   He’s the patron saint of whom: alcoholics, gambling addicts, or heroin addicts?

A1) Gambling addicts.

Q2) 20th May, 1743, saw the birth of Toussaint L’overture.   Toussaint was a key figure in which nation’s history: Haiti’s, Cuba’s or Jamaica’s?

A2) Haiti’s.

Q3) The first ever solo transatlantic flight by a female pilot, started on 20th May, 1932.   Who was that pilot?

A3) Amelia Earhart.

Q4) Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson discovered a well-known form of cosmic background radiation.   What kind of background radiation: infrared, ultraviolet or microwave?

A4) Microwave.

Q5) Finally … 20th May, 1990, saw the first elections NOT to be dominated by Communists, held where?

A5) Romania.

I’ll leave you with a thought …

“I don’t really care whether I live that long or not, It’s just that when I die, I don’t want to leave any enemies, and I figure the only way to do that is to outlive them all.”

From The Carpetbaggers, by Harold Robbins, May 21, 1916 – October 14, 1997.

And a tune … 

Today’s questions will be answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.

Have a nice day.

*        OK, a Terminal, or Command line?   Lets you control a computer using text commands, rather than the icons and menus.   I get the impression anyone who’s serious about programming a computer?   Will know a lot more basic Terminal commands than I do.   (The common one I recognised was cd: it stands for change directory, and lets you move around the file system, on a Unix based computer.   Now … about path names … )

†        I think I see what you mean, Olga: fingerprint sensors, and voice recognition, you mean?   There’s problems, there.   I think someone managed to get around the iPhone’s fingerprint sensors, and the BBC’s announced they’ve hacked the HSBC’s voice recognition service: but, yeah, I think they’re alternatives.

‡        The mild irony, there, Debbi?   Is that Sidney Newman, the BBC executive who first commissioned Dr Who, back in the 1960s, the Brian Cox character in An Adventure in Space and Time?   Was an ex-pat Canadian who’d originally worked for ITV before moving to the BBC.   Oh, while he was at ITV, he came up with some weird thing called The Avengers, don’t know if you ever heard of it …