The Daily Teaser …

Gaaaaaah …

What a time to start the day …

Especially after the disaster that was yesterday … !

Bloody trains!

Oy!

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yes, let’s!

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Andrea and Simon go head to head, again. With both getting 5 out of 5, Simon getting the Official Clap, and both he and Andrea putting in some good quotes! Simon form Sinatra — trust a tenor! — and Andrea from Ulysses.

I think.

I’ve never actually read.

This despite getting through Anna Karenina, a few years ago.

You know, Andrea, I’m thinking a trip to Brentwood Library might be in order: anything else I should look out for … ?

•••••

Anyway, here’s today’s questions, along with the ‘How To’ and License …

Q1) 3rd February, 1959, was the Day The Music Died: it saw the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly: in which US state was this crash?

Q2) More to the point, that crash also saw the death of Richie Valens: what Mexican folk song provided his biggest and best known hit?

Q3) Equally to the point, The Day the Music Died saw the death of singer and DJ, Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr: what was his stage name?

Q4) Which song provided his biggest and best known hit?

Q5) Carrying with the theme, what was the name of Buddy Holly’s band?

Q6) And finally, while we’re talking about The Day Music Died, who originally wrote and performed American Pie, the song, reportedly about it?

Q7) Exactly one year after The Day the Music Died, 3rd February, 1960, saw who make the famous “Winds of Change” speech?

Q8) 177 years later, 3rd February, 1867, saw who ascend the throne of Japan?

Q9) 3rd, February, 1690, saw Massachusetts issue the first what in North America?

Q10) And finally … 3rd February, 1967, saw the death of which English record producer?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) 2nd February, 1790, saw which US body convene for the first time?

A1) The Supreme Court.

Q2) 153 years later, 2nd February, 1943, saw the last German forces surrender to the Ref Army: at the end of which battle?

A2) Stalingrad.

Q3) 21 years earlier, 2nd February, 1922, saw the first publication — in the UK, at least — of which Modernist novel?

A3) Ulysses, by James Joyce.

Q4) 2nd February, 1901, saw the funeral of which British monarch?

A4) Queen Victoria.

Q5) And finally … 2nd February, 1940, saw which singer make his début with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra?

A5) Ol’ Blue Eyes, himself, Frank Sinatra.

Enjoy those, everyone!

I’ll catch you when I’m awake!

Those BLOODY trains!!!!!!!

Hmmmmm …

No, that’s the wrong way to start this post, I think.

I’m thinking that the right word is …

Well …

Nothing else for it …

AAAAAAAARRGGHH!

Those BLOODY trains!

I ASK you!!

You may — or may not — remember that I said I had an interview, this morning?

In Chelmsford?

For a company called Appliance Warehouse?

I was heading off to it, this morning! On what was a wet, rainy, bloody miserable day, I’ve got to go to an interview. Still, it was one that I was fairly hopeful about, even though the company’s office was quite some distance from Chelmsford station.

And guess what happened … ?

The train — the 9•12am, that would’ve given me plenty of time to get there — got delayed.

DELAYED!

•••••

I …

WAS …

FUMING!

And, in the frantic ring-roundª to try and get a contact number for Appliance Warehouse — which was futile, as I couldn’t get one that was accessible from a mobile — I missed another train.

Now, as you can imagine, I was — and still am — MIGHTILY hacked off!

In part at myself.

After all, I could’ve salvaged the day, by making damn sure I had the contact number to let Appliance Warehouse know I’d be late, but was on my way.

Which was exactly what I’d done, a couple of weeks ago, when I’d had the interview at the Chelmsford Co-Op.

But I’m also annoyed that the train was delayed in the first place.

And also very much annoyed that — on getting back to Brentwood Station — I was point blank refused a refund.

What I’d been planning to do was get home — after getting a refund for the ticket — re-arrange the interview, go back to Brentwood Station and then repurchase a ticket for the relevant day.

Not the best compromise, I know, but at least it would’ve shown my prospective employer that I was capable of improvising around a set-back.

The refund was refused.

Or, at least, I was told to refer that complaint to National Express’ Customer Services department*.

Near enough identical, to my way of thinking.

I can’t help but think that going that route would lead to a bureaucratic run-around, that would’ve seen the passing of weeks, before I got any sort of cash back.

THAT’S the thing that’s really annoyed me: the £6•30 I spent on the ticket is a lot of money to someone on Jobseekers Allowance.

It’s meant that I’ve had to come home, and phone the chap who’s supposed to have been interviewing me, this morning, to let him know that there’d been problem’s with the trains, and that I’d not be able to make it into another interview until this coming Monday, at the earliest.

That’s when my next benefit check comes in.

I don’t think he was especially impressedº, going by the tone of his voice, but he did, at least, promise to try and phone me back with an alternative date.

Which he hasn’t done.

Can’t say I blame him.

After all, given the rates of unemployment in the UK, today, companies have their choice of prospective employees: ones that can actually make it to an interview stand a better chance of getting the job in question.

•••••

So, right now?

Right now, I am still angry about this morning’s events.

Like I said, earlier, in part at myself, for not thinking of a simple thing like taking a phone number along with me: which tells me that’s something I have to make sure of, in future.

But, BOY am I annoyed at National Express!

•••••

* By a chap who’s name badge identified him as ‘Nacer’ — or possibly ‘Naser’ — , if the quick glance I had of it was correct.

º I know — in his shoes — that I’d not be. To be frank, at the moment, I’m thinking I’ve blown my chances of either getting the job, OR another shot at an interview with the company. Especially as the interviewer hasn’t phoned me back.

ª Actually, I owe a BIG ‘Thank You’ to Sue, Ruth, Simon, Elizabeth, Maggi, Lorna, Anna and especially Gwen, Stef and Adrian, for trying to help out, finding the contact number.

The Daily Teaser …

Ye gods, but I’m getting older!

I used to be able to HANDLE these early mornings, I swear I did!

I’m up early, today.

Because I’m heading over to Chelmsford, again. For ANOTHER interview.

This time with an online appliance company, called Appliance Warehouse: something I wouldn’t mind getting, but let’s see what happens.

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yes, lets …

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Andrea and Simon go head to head, with Simon bagging the Official First-In-Clap, and Andrea whaling in with a nice little quote from St Brigid.

Which, considering I’m off to this interview — and I’ve the 34th Richard Dimbleby Lecture, read by Terry Pratchett in the background — was reassuring to read.

While I’m not particularly devout, it does help.

At any rate, here’s today’s questions, along with the ‘How To’ and License …

Q1) 2nd February, 1790, saw which US body convene for the first time?

Q2) 153 years later, 2nd February, 1943, saw the last German forces surrender to the Ref Army: at the end of which battle?

Q3) 21 years earlier, 2nd February, 1922, saw the first publication — in the UK, at least — of which Modernist novel?

Q4) 2nd February, 1901, saw the funeral of which British monarch?

Q5) And finally … 2nd February, 1940, saw which singer make his début with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra?

And here’s yesterday’s question’s and answers …

Q1) 1st February, 1984, saw Chancellor Nigel Lawson announce that which coin was to phased out?

A1) The ½p.

Q2) Five year’s earlier, February 1st, 1979, saw which religious leader return from exile, to Iran?

A2) Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. (He was also the first person — in modern times — to advocate suicide bombings: I don’t excuse that, nor do the few Muslim’s I’ve met. But I do know that when he wrote the various tracts advocating it as a practise, he was leader of Iran, when his country was at war with Iraq: who had a significantly larger army, and stores of munitions.)

Q3) More to the point, which branch of Islam was that religious leader from?

A3) Shia Islam.

Q4) 1st February is the feast day of Ireland’s other patron saint: what’s that saint’s name?

A4) Saint Brigid.

Q5) 1st February, 2003, saw the death’s of which Space Shuttle crew?

A5) The Columbia: which notoriously disintegrated on re-entry.

Q6) 1st February, 1861, saw which US state secede from the USA?

A6) Texas.

Q7) And finally … 1st February, 1884, saw the début of which reference book?

A7) The Oxford English Dictionary.

Enjoy those, everyone: and wish me luck for today!

The Problem With Optical Drives …

Hmmm …

Bloody things …

Do you remember me writing, on Saturday, ever since the installation of a recent security patch, that I’d been getting problems with both my interior and exterior optical drives?

Well, there was a thing or two I tried, after mooching around on the various Apple discussion forums, devoted to the Mini: and it seems I wasn’t the only one to get this sort of issue.

The Mini’s optical drives are notoriously touchy, and have been for years.

But, treated with a certain amount of care, they’re a nice, usable piece of kit.

However, after the security patch was installed, the interior optical drive on the Mini — the interior drive in particular, although this has affected the exterior DVD/CD burner — has been refusing to burn data to DVD.

It’ll read the install disc, happily: it’s how I was able to do a Permissions repair, just recently.

When I checked on the Apple forums, it seems quite a few people had been having similar problems. Both with the interior drives on the Mini, and iMac, and all, seemingly at about the same sort of time, and all involving Mac OS X 10.6.2: with one or two involving both Tiger, and Leopard; Mac OS X 10.4.x and 10.5.x, respectively.

Now, having cleaned both burners, I’m still — still — having trouble with the interior drive — a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-K06 — on the Mini, but was able to burn an Ubuntu Studio alternate install disc* on the exterior drive: again, following one the thread posters suggestions to clean the drives, and to plug and unplug it, when not in use.

So, as you can imagine, this isn’t something I’m too happy about.

Nor have I — as yet — seen anything updates, by Apple, that could relate to this.

Frustrating, isn’t it?

Next step, hardware test …

* Shame the actual .iso file was blank: probably why the resulting disc I asked Movie Night Adrian to check for me, turned out to be a nice, shiny coaster. Which was weird. Using the exterior drive — a NEC DVD_RW ND-2510A — to burn the .iso file in question seemed to work, as you can tell from the attached photos. However, when I checked the original I had on an external hard drive I use for storage … I found it was empty. Bit of a git, that …

The Daily Teaser …

You know, I’ve got to admit, yesterday’s Teaser saw Andy — FSG Drone — whale in with an absolutely great quote from Tallulah Bankhead!

“My father warned me about men and booze, but he never mentioned a word about women and cocaine.”

!!

Is it just me, or does Hollywood not make ’em like that, anymore?

At any rate, Andy managed to get himself both the Official First-In-Clap, yesterday, and 6 out of 6, yesterday.

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

Yes, let’s.

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

Q1) 1st February, 1984, saw Chancellor Nigel Lawson announce that which coin was to be phased out?

Q2) Five year’s earlier, February 1st, 1979, saw which religious leader return from exile, to Iran?

Q3) More to the point, which branch of Islam was that religious leader from?

Q4) 1st February is the feast day of Ireland’s other patron saint: what’s that saint’s name?

Q5) 1st February, 2003, saw the death’s of which Space Shuttle crew?

Q6) 1st February, 1861, saw which US state secede from the USA?

Q7) And finally … 1st February, 1884, saw the début of which reference book?

And here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) Very appropriate, this one: 31^st January, 1747, saw the London Lock Hospital open: what did it specialise in treating?

A1) Syphilis and other venereal diseases. (The Clap. The Pox. The French disease. La maladie anglaise. Crabs. You get the drift … )

Q2) 31^st January, 1983, saw a law introduced in the UK, that made compulsory to wear … ?

A2) Seat belts: for both drivers and front seat passengers.

Q3) 17 years later, 31^st January, 2000, saw who sentenced to life imprisonment?

A3) Dr Harold Shipman.

Q4) 31^st January, 1983, saw the birth of actor, James Sutton: in which British soap did he first come to prominence?

A4) Hollyoaks.

Q5) 377 years earlier, 31^st January, 1606, saw the execution of which plotter?

A5) Guy Fawkes.

Q6) And finally … 31^st January, 1929, saw the Soviet Union exile which politician?

A6) Lev Davidovich ‘Leon’ Trotsky.

Enjoy those, everyone: I’ll catch you later!