Friday 13 November 2020

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 13-11-2020: Makin’ Whoopi … !

13th November, 2020.


It’s official the case: I’ve not installed the macOS Big Sur update.

Yet.

Frankly, it went live through the macOS software update system, late, last night.

Alongside updates for Pages, Keynote, Numbers, GarageBand and iMovie.



I’ll have to leave those until after installing Big Sur.

Either way?

Doing them today or tomorrow may be a good idea.

~≈Ü≈~

As a thought?

Very few people will be weeping, today: when they find out that serial killer, Peter Sutcliffe — otherwise known as the Yorkshire Ripper — has died, this morning.

The man killed thirteen women, over a five year period: and inflicted a large dose of terror, along the way.

I can remember hearing about the murders, when I was at school.

There was fear, terror … and a large dose of relief, when he was caught.

The relief at his capture went with a certain amount of anger at the various police forces inability to catch the man.

Just as an example of that?

One of his victims* was found with a new five pound note in her purse: a five pound note that could have been traced from the Royal Mint, to the Bank of England, to main banks, then main branch banks, then local branches … then to the payroll departments of the employers those banks served.   A suspect would’ve been on that payroll list.

You’d assume police would want to trace that fiver, wouldn’t you?



They didn’t … 

I know this was Britain’s first modern serial killer case, that the police had no idea what they were doing with such a case … 

But you’d think they’d’ve twigged that … 

~≈Ü≈~

Let’s move on, shall we? Yesterday’s Teaser saw Olga†, Trevor‡, Mum^, Debbiª and Edithº, putting in their answers: with Olga, Trevor and Debbi scoring ten out of ten, Edith on eight and Mum on six.

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

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

Q1)        13th November saw the birth of actress, Whoopi Goldberg.   In which year?

Q2)        Her break out role — as Celie Harris — was in which 1985, Steven Spielberg film?

Q3)        She plays Guinan in which version of Star Trek?

Q4)        Whoopi played Oda Mae Brown in which 1990 film?

Q5)        Finally?   2020 will see Whoopi appearing in CBS All Access series, The Stand.   Who wrote the book the series is based on?
Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1)        It’s the 12th November.   Is twelve odd or even?
A1)        Even. (It’s a multiple of two, in other words.)

Q2)        What’s twelve: in Roman numerals?
A2)        XII: occasionally written as xii.

Q3)        What’s twelve: in binary?
A3)        1100₂.

Q4)        Which one’s noon: 12am or 12pm?
A4)        12pm.

Q5)        Which one’s midnight: 12am or 12pm?
A5)        12am.

Q6)        Twelve is the atomic number of which metal: iron, magnesium or manganese?
A6)        Magnesium. (Apparently, it has a +2 oxidation state. If that’s any help.)

Q7)        A group of twelve items is a ‘D.’   Which ‘D?’
A7)        A dozen.

Q8)        Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis and Madeleine Stowe appeared in which Terry Gilliam film?
A8)        12 Monkeys.

Q9)        You will immediately lose a game, if you roll twelve.   In which dice game?
A9)        Craps.

Q10)        Finally? There were thirteen people sat at King Arthur’s Round Table.   King Arthur himself: plus twelve what?
A10)        Knights.
Here’s a thought …
“I’m so proud to be here, I’m proud to be an actor and I’m gonna keep on acting, and thank you so much!”
Whoopi Goldberg, on receiving an Oscar in 1990.
As she’s conducting …?

Have a tune …


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

Feel free to share today’s video Teaser.

Have a good day.




*        Least we forget?   Those victims were Wilma McCann, Emily Jackson, Irene Richardson, Patricia Atkinson, Jayne McDonald, Jean Jordan, Yvonne Pearson, Helen Rytka, Vera Millward, Josephine Whittaker, Barbara Leach, Marguerite Walls and Jacqueline Hill.

†        A small form factor one would be a good replacement, then, Olga.   Or possibly an all in one.   Yes, obviously I’m going to mention getting a Mac, but I know I’ll get a funny look, if I do!   Whatever you do get?   Can I suggest getting one with what they call a solid state drive¹?   I know they have less capacity and more expensive than a regular hard drive, but lord, they save money on electricity!   (Getting an external drive’s helpful: backup is so important.   You’ll probably need a webcam, as well!)
And, yes: the 19th is definitely better.   Here’s hoping … !   (I’m keeping fingers, toes and eyes crossed!)


‡        Ah … well … usually you only get twelve questions, Trevor, if you’re an end of the year review Teaser … or a dead rock star.   Bowie got twelve: so did Prince.   I’ll have to do another Elvis one, at some point, he’s only had twenty …
Now, is it just me, or do computer languages rely on 8, and 16?

^        Hello, Mum!   (You didn’t do Roman numerals?)

ª        I’ll keep my eyes peeled for that, Debbi!   Bill made impression … as did Little D.   I’m surprised you didn’t keep him on: every good detective needs one!   Hmmm … The thought occurs he’d be a very good Captain Jack/River Song/Felix Leiter type recurring character.   (I’m reading Diamonds Are Forever, at the moment.   By this point in the series, Leiter’s left the CIA … and working for the Pinkertons, of all people!)
Yeah … updates … just when you’re getting the hang of an operating system … !

º        You know, Edith, I couldn’t honestly tell you!   I have all three of my Macs — the Macs are usually the ones I name — set up to announce the time, every half an hour:   and usually end up saying “Thank You,” when I do.   (To the point where half of my few visitors do the same.   It gets a little strange, sometimes.)

¹        I don’t know what the Spanish term for solid state drive is, Olga, although Google Translate tells me it’s unidad de estado sólido.   Which I’m guessing is completely wrong!

5 comments:

Olga said...

Q1) 1955
Q2) The Color Purple
Q3) Star Trek Generations
Q4) Ghost
Q5) Stephen King
Disco duro sólido I've found as well, although simply writing SSD seems to be the thing. I was trying to find the translation for wakeboarding, as it came up in one of the English exercises for one of my students, and there doesn't seem to be one. Wakeboard... I think that sometimes they don't bother. Selfies are also selfies.
Not sure about your comment on the banknote. I am sure the mint know the numbers, and perhaps even where they are sent first, but I don't think they keep a record of every single banknote and where they go, especially at the time. The amount of data would have been mind boggling, and that's at the time when computers weren't really much of a thing. I don't know if you mean that the banknote was brand new, because once they are out in circulation, you don't know how many hands it's been through.
I know they did a terrible job of it, but I was just reading a book about Jack the Ripper's victims and the author made a point of the fact that being a prostitute is still a high risk profession even now. And I think he implied that if the women had been from a different background or social class they would have made more of an effort to find the killer. (I know not all the women Sudcliffe murdered were sex workers, but one can't help but wonder if there was some of that as well).

trev-v said...

A1 1955 (younger than me I am surprised )
A2 The Colour Purple
A3 Star Trek: The Next Generation
A4 Ghost
A5 Stephen Edwin King

“do computer languages rely on 8, and 16? “

No they do not. The first computer that I programmed was basically decimal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICT_1301

It had 12 byte words and a decimal machine code. The arithmetic units were Decimal and a form of Duodecimal to do Arithmetic in the currency of the day good old Pounds Shillings and pence (LSD).

The 10d and 11d were both only 1 character long.

Here is the Instruction sets.

http://ict1301.co.uk/13010310.htm

Freda said...

1 1955
2 The Colour Purple
3 ?
4 Ghosts
5 Stephen King

Edith said...

1 1955
2.The color purple
3. Deep Space 9
4. Sister Act
5. Stephen King.

I refer to my computer as my trusty computer.

Debbi said...

Perhaps I'll bring Little D back in another book.

He was pretty cool. :)

1. 1955
2. The Color Purple
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation
4. Ghost
5. Stephen King