Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 27-7-2017: E. Gary Gygax

Ha!

I have to admit, I like Apple products.

I can’t afford enough of them, frankly, but I like them.

You know there’s a big fuss about the upcoming, and expensive, iMacPro?

Yeah, wouldn’t mind one of them.

My point?

Is that I tend to follow news about the company.

Oh, and presidential Tweets.

According to Donald Trump?

Apple are going to build three big plants in the US.

Which are going to be huge.   Bigly.   What-have-you.

Apple’s response was entirely appropriate, very in character and easily predicted by anyone whose watched the company for more than ten minutes.

They — altogether, now — declined to comment.

What gets me?   Is the look on the face of Apple boss, Time Cook, in that picture.

‘Declined to comment’ is exactly the phrase.

~≈Œ≈~

In other news?

In other news, it seems the Premier League has won a court order: that means it can get Internet Services Providers — the people you buy your internet connection from — to block illegal streams of its matches.

The kind of stream that — on what’s called a fully loaded Kodi box — lets you watch a football match for free.   Ones that, normally, you have to pay for.

I’m concerned that — if handled incorrectly — this will have a bad effect on the open source software movement.

I also think that it won’t be long before anyone providing ways of illegally streaming paid-for content … will soon find other ways of doing it.

Give it a while …

~≈Œ≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Debbi* and Olga† putting in their answers: with both 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) 27th July saw the birth of games designer, E. Gary Gygax.   In which year of the 1930s?

Q2) Gygax was the co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons.   Who did he co-create the game with: Greg Stafford, Dave Arneson or Ken St. Andre?

Q3) Gygax’s company first published Dungeons and Dragons, in which year of the early 1970s: 1972, 1973 or 1974?

Q4) The original Dungeons and Dragons was a version of an earlier Gygax game: called Chainmail.   Chainmail was a what: board game, wargame or video game?

Q5) Dungeons and Dragons, itself, kicked-started the popularity of what: collectible card games, tabletop role playing games or board games?

Q6) In Dungeons and Dragons, players assumed alter egos: called player characters.   These player characters are known as what?

Q7) The referee who ran and organised a game of Dungeons and Dragons was referred to as a what: games master, play master or dungeon master?

Q8) In Dungeons and Dragons, both players and referee used multi-sided dice.   The notation for these was in the form, XdY.   X was the number of dice, Y was the number of sides on each die and the d stood for what?

Q9) Gygax set up a company called TSR, in order to publish Dungeons and Dragons.   The initials stood for Tactical Studies … what?

Q10) Finally … Gygax, himself, died in 2008.   Dungeons and Dragons lives on.   What’s its current edition: fourth, fifth or sixth?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers … 

Q1) 26th July, 1967, saw the birth of actor, Jason Statham.   He plays Bacon: in which Guy Ritchie film?

A1) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Q2) Nikephoros 1st died on 26th July, 811 AD.   He was Emperor of where: Byzantium, Rome or Japan?

A2) Byzantium.

Q3) What did Egypt nationalize on 26th July, 1956: the Pyramids, the Suez Canal or Luxor?

A3) The Suez Canal.

Q4) Who became the first female nominee for the post of US President: on 26th July, 2016?

A4) Hillary Clinton.

Q5) Finally … the Explorer 4 probe was launched on 26th July, 1958.   What was it exploring: the Moon, Earth’s radiation belt or sunspots?

A5) Earth’s radiation belt: also known as the Van Allen Belt.

Now … 

Roll a twelve sided die … 

And read a quote …

“Outside of the mindless sitcoms that the networks thrive on, people able to think generally consider most entertainment is escape in one form or another.”

Gary Gygax, July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008.

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

Have a good day.

And roll some dice.

*        Fair enough, Debbi!   But with both of us dribbling, Olga’s going to say something … !   She did managed to remind me that he and Benedict Cumberbatch did a version of Frankenstein: which must have been something to watch!   (Oh, you’ve got mail … !)

†        I have to admit, Olga, I always fancied catching that: the fact they both ended up playing Sherlock is something I keep overlooking!   Oh, by the way … ?   Amazon sent me a bunch of recommendations, today.   Nice to see a name I recognise … !   (I still think Rory Kinnear’s version of the monster, in Penny Dreadful, was the best I’ve seen: and the closest to the description given in the book.)

‡        As a final note?   My personal belief is that the modern popularity of SF and fantasy had a lot to do with Star Wars: the genres were dirt, until that film showed the entertainment industry there’s gold in them there hills.   I also think that the two genres were helped — a lot — by this weird game with all the dice.   I’m ALSO no video gamer: but aware there’s a whole genre of video games that owe Gygax a big Thank You.   Thanks, Gary!