Thursday 24 October 2019

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 24-10-2019: World Polio Day

24th October, 2019


It’s definite.

I’ve got a man coming down to look at my boiler … again … !

Basically, the last chap that came told me there was little he could do, beyond recommending a workaround — which doesn’t seem to help — as the boiler was old.

And that he’d be reporting as much, back to HQ.

That … ?

Hadn’t reached my landlords: let alone the contractors who do the repairs.

Which is what got me phoning all and sundry, on Tuesday: to relay what I’d been told.

My landlord told me they couldn’t do anything until they’d had a report.

The contractor … ?

Is sending a supervisor, no less, today.

This afternoon: to assess the situation, and gather evidence for that report.

That’s nice.

It gives me time to top my gas up.

~≈†≈~

Oh, JUST as a quick thought … ?

It sounds like Dr Who is recording a Christmas special: although whether it’s Christmas 2019 or Christmas 2020?

I’m not sure.


Something’s around … 



~≈†≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Olga*, Badwolf†, and Debbi‡ putting in their answers: with all three 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) 24th October is World Polio Day.   What’s polio’s full name?
Q2) It’s also known as infantile … what?
Q3) The disease affects what: the muscles, the nervous system or the brain?
Q4) When was Europe declared Polio free: 2002, 2003 or 2004?
Q5) Finally … ?   The date for World Polio Day was chosen: to honour the doctor who developed the vaccine for polio.   Who was that doctor?
Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers … 

Q1) 23rd October, 42BC was the date of the Battle of Philippi.   It pitched armies led bu Mark Anthony and Octavian defeat armies led by Gauis Cassius Longinus … and who else?
A1) Marcus Junius Brutus: commonly called Brutus, and occasionally known as Brutus the Younger.
Q2) This was the second battle of Philippi.   The first was on which date of the year: the 3rd, 4th or 5th?
A2) The 3rd.
Q3) The Battles took place in the wake of the assassination of whom?
Q4) The Battles left Mark Anthony and Octavian in charge of what: Carthage, the Roman Republic or Roman Empire?
A4) Strictly speaking?   The Roman Republic.
Q5) Finally … ?   Philippi is in which country … ?
A5) Greece.
Here’s a thought …
“I’m not here to be remembered, I’m here to be alive.”
Polio survivor, Ian Dury, 12 May 1942 – 27 March 2000.
And a song^ …



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

Have a good day.





*        Oh, it was transcription software, Olga?   I’ve always had the impression speech to text software — and voice assistants — can be … iffy.   I seem to recall stories about the original versions of Siri having trouble with with various British accents: Glaswegian and Welsh gave it some trouble.   Mind you, I have issues with Glaswegian!   As for the job?   Well, I live and learn.   I’m tempted to ask if you have two and a half tonnes of gunpowder going begging, Guy Fawkes Night’s coming up.   (No, let’s forget I said that, shall we, someone will get the wrong idea!)

†        I think you’re right, there Anne: we could be looking at the Beast from the East, again!   Oh, by the way, there’s a horror movie theme list on Spotify … !


‡        It was definitely a thing, Debbi!   Theme tunes like that can be … well … invasive!


^        Spasticus Autisticus has a checkered history … 

3 comments:

DEATH COMES TO US ALL said...

poliomyelitis,paralysis,brain,2003, Jonas Salk
Ah that lists looks good, thinks I downloaded alot of soundtrack from Youtube mp3 downloader.
Hope you get your boilers sorted. Do you remember that leak I had from the toilet upstairs, well they fixed that, then toilet down stair began leaking only slow leak. I reported to Landlord over 6 months ago, I was anxious as last leak cost me allot money and if mom hadnt helped I would been in serious trouble as we are talking about water bill jumping up hell of alot. I have had three plumbers who all took photo of the downstairs toilet over last few months. Mom threatened a solicitor and today Im finally getting that done. I think if my mind state had been in better place I would been more assertive.

Olga said...

Q1) Poliomyelitis
Q2) paralysis
Q3) The central nervous system (the brain, I guess. Not sure from the way the question is formulated. The long-term effects depend on the type of polio…)
Q4) 2002
Q5) Jonas Salk (it doesn’t sound as if he was the first one, though, but he’s the one I studied)
You're right about speech recognition in general. I was trying once to pay for my parking through one of these voice activated methods, and it would not recognise my pronunciation of my number plate, so I had to go and find another place to park (there was no other payment option). One of my consultants, Indian, also told us a funny story about trying to report a problem on the motorway (luckily nothing serious) and getting stuck with the emergency triage services...
I hope the heating supervisor gets a move on and is more effective than the engineers before. At least today it's not raining (the rain has caused much damage and at least one death, although there are some people still missing. Not in the city, but...)

Debbi said...

That's a catchy one! :)

1. poliomyelitis
2. paralysis
3. the muscles
4. 2002
5. Jonas Salk