The Friday Question Set — 17-7-2015

Hmmm … 

Well, THAT seems to have sorted itself out … 

I’m working: you realise both that, AND that that’s why I’m posting up the Friday Question set, relatively late.

I have to admit to having something of a hairy moment, today: when my pay check didn’t go through.

As it turns out … ?

Someone had put a wrong number into the system!

Still, even though I had hairy moment — along with every OTHER member of staff — it’s now officially sorted: and money is in bank accounts.

Ho-hum … !

~≈fl≈~

Blogspot and Copyright

Hmmm …

That’s … a bother …

Actually, that’s a serious bother for about 60, 000 people: my fellow bloggers in Turkey.

I’ve just seen a news article on the BBC News pages.

It seems that the Turkish pages of Blogger — the site I use for Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar — is involved in something of a row with one of the country’s broadcasters, Digiturk, over football.

As a result … ?

Blogger has been taken down, temporarily.

Which is a bit of an over-reaction, from where I’m sitting … !

From what I can gather, various Blogger uses in Turkey have done something similar to what I do with various movies and TV shows.

They’ll quite happily post clips — via YouTube and other services — and add them to their posts, about a given game.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this is iffy legal ground, to say the least.

Which is why — over the years — I’ve arrived at my way of handling things.

Whenever I post a clip to YouTube, I always make the point of doing this:

Acknowledging the copyright holders: either in the attached comments or or by inserting a copyright notice on the clip*.

Writing words to the effect of “No violation is intended, as the clip is used for illustrative purpose, only” in the Comments section for the clip.

And, lastly, taking down the clip, if requested.

Now, it’s not perfect, I know.

But I don’t think I’ve had too many complaints.

Companies that do object, usually ask YouTube to disable embedding on the offending clips.

Which is …

Well …

A bit of a bummer, from where I’m sitting, as it’d be nice to have some of them, here.

But those clips are their property, after all.

»»•««

At any rate, the point I’m trying to make … ?

Is that I think I and other Bloggers have a right to good old fashioned Freedom of Speech.

Now, granted, that comes with a few basic responsibilities.

Being polite. Being discreet. Making sure we do no harm.

Acknowledging copyright ownership is in there, somewhere, as is giving credit where credit is due.

It’s a trade off.

Granted, I have to — indeed, should — acknowledge intellectual ownership, as and where necessary.

I want to make sure I can show you a relevant clip, photo or quote to make a point.

That’s polite, if nothing else.

»»•««

Now that’s my end of things.

My end of things, you notice … ?

I also believe that copyright holders have an obligation, here.

If that’s the right word, here … ? Debbi … ?

Hmm maybe obligation is the wrong word.

Obviously, I can understand copyright holders have a right to be protective of their property.

I don’t blame them, especially given the existence of sites like Pirate Bay.

However …

I also believe that, along with protecting their property, copyright holders have an obligation to check things. To make sure that — before they get snotty — of how a given clip is being used.

If a copyright holder has a complaint about my use of a given clip or song, I’d hope they’d at least look at what I’ve done with them, in order to satisfy themselves I’m not — frankly — extracting the proverbial Mickey.

But I also hope that any response a holder may have to my use of their property are proportionate to any violation I may have committed.

This situation, where the whole Turkish end of Blogger has been taken down … ?

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again.

I believe it to be an over-reaction.

* One piece of video editing software I find hand is MPEG Streamclip, by Squared5, allows one to insert brief messages into a clip: very handy for this sort of thing. I can also use iMovie to insert a Keynote slide at the end of a .mov presentation.

The Oncoming Storm … !

Here we go, here’s this week’s questions; — just the questions, mind!

These are the much sweated over Review of the Year questions, and I’m hoping nothing MAJOR happens over the next few days, that would automatically mean changing an entire section …

Now obviously, you can either wait a few days, til I post up the answer’s …

Or come to the King Harold, tomorrow night, or the Hutton, on Thursday …

This should get interesting, shouldn’t it … ?

ROUND ONE: – GENERAL KNOWLEDGE.

Q1) Ian Bishop won this year’s Golden Spurtle, which means he’s the official World Champion maker of … what?

Q2) According to insurance reports released this year, Britain’s most destructive dog is the Great Dane; – what’s Britain’s 2nd most destructive breed?

Q3) The Royal Marsden Hospital was hit by fire, this year; - what disease is it famed for treating?

Q4) Which Australian actor died of an Overdose, this year? (Bonus for telling us the name of his last completed film.)

Q5) According to figures released this year, two million e-mails are sent in the UK, every how often; – every minute, hour, or day?

Q6) Which new plane made its first commercial flight to Europe, this year?

Q7) Who became Mayor of London, this year?

Q8) Which Archbishop took a dive, this year?

Q9) A bumbling civil servant left top secret intelligence documents about al-Qaeda on a what, this year?

Q10) What drinkable item saw its hundredth birthday this year?

ROUND TWO: – TV DINNERS.

Q11) Which former “Blue Peter” presenter got savaged by a vicious terrier, this year?

Q12) Who, according to reports this year, was US tv’s highest paid TV actor?

Q13) Which show did Rachel Rice win, this year?

Q14) Oliver Postgate died this year; – what was the first series he made for the BBC?

Q15) Who got fired from “Countdown”, this year?

Q16) Konnie Hug left her job, this year; - which children’s show did she present?

Q17) Which Scottish actor appeared on a New Zealand Wanted poster, this year?

Q18) John Hewer died this year; – which iconic chracter did he play on TV?

Q19) Who was named as Britain’s most watched tv hosts?

Q20) Which Scottish actor played Hamlet, this year? (Bonus for telling us which “Star Trek” star played Claudius.)

ROUND THREE: – AT THE MOVIES.

Q21) Who won Harvard University’s ‘Woman of the Year’ award?

Q22) Who got named as Hollywood’s highest paid actress, this year?

Q23) Keanu Reeves starred in a remake of which science fiction film, this year? (Bonus for telling us the name of the robot character.)

Q24) This year saw the UK release of Oliver Stone’s latest movie, which is all about … WHO?

Q25) Don LaFontaine died this year, at the age of 68; - during his Hollywood career, he recorded voice-overs for for over 5000 … what?

Q26) Which Hollywood veteran was involved in a car crash, this year?

Q27) Which tv spin off movie was a great success this year?

Q28) Which film director announced he was boycotting the Beijing Olympics?

Q29) Which film won Best Film, at this Year’s BAFTA’s?

Q30) Paul Newman died this year, @ the age of 83; - but did he play Butch Cassidy, or the Sundance Kid?

ROUND FOUR: – SPORTING CHANCES.

Q31) Anastacia Dobromyslava won the Women’s World championship, this year; - in what sport?

Q32) Who won the F1 Drivers championship, this year? (Bonus point for telling us the team)

Q33) Katerina Emmins won the first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics, in the 10 metre Air Rifle event; - what nationality is she?

Q34) Welsh cyclist, Nicole Cook, was the first Briton to win a gold medal, in Beijing, this year; – but in which event?

Q35) How many gold medals did Britain get in this year’s Olympics?

Q36) Who won the Mens finals at Wimbledon, this year?

Q37) Who won the Euro 2008 football tournament?

Q38) Which American Footballer was found guilty of Armed Robbery, this year?

Q39) Which east London stadium closed thisn year?

Q40) Who won this years Scottish Premier League?

ROUND FIVE: – MUSIC AND LIGHTS.

Q41) Producer & DJ, Trevor Romeo, was honoured with an OBE, this year; - how is he better known?

Q42) Dima Bilan won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Believe”; – what country did he represent?

Q43) 13 podiatrists went to work at the Glastonbury Festival, this year; – what 1st world war condition were they there to treat?

Q44) Which rapper headlined the Glastonbury festival, this year? (Bonus point for telling us which Oasis song he did …)

Q45) In a poll for Rolling Stone magazine, in 2008, who got named as the greatest singer of the rock era?

Q46) Who won the ‘Best Album’ award, at this year’s MOBO awards?

Q47) Which Greek icon did her last world tour, this year?

Q48) One of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar’s was sold, this year; – the guitar in question was the first one he burnt on stage, at a club in which district of Greater London?

Q49) Which veteran DJ won the John Peel Award, this year?

Q50) Why has “Chinese Democracy” been in the news, this year?

ROUND SIX: – GENERAL IGNORANCE.

Q51) Which Olympic cyclist got named as BBC Sports Personality of the Year, in 2008? (Bonus for telling us how many gold medals he won, in Beijing.)

Q52) Which terminal at Heathrow, had opening day trouble, this year?

Q53) Which furniture store went into administration, this year?

Q54) It was found out this year, that Ken Livingston has how many children?

Q55) According to a survey this year, how many people have a part of their body - apart from their earlobe - pierced; – 1 in 8, 1 in 10, or 1 in 12?

Q56) Alison Carol is the new face of which fictional heroine?

Q57) According to BBC reports, this year, what’s the most expensive operation you can have on the NHS; – a cochlea implant, a heart transplant, or a facelift?

Q58) The Worlds Largest supertanker was hijacked, this year; – by pirates from which African nation?

Q59) President Bush had shoes thrown at him, this year, by a disgruntled journalist; – where was President Bush visiting?

Q60) How old was the NHS, this year?