From Letters
Stupidity reigns, except in sunny Islington
And swastikas pop up all over the place
By Lucy SherriffPublished Tuesday 1st August 2006 13:48 GMT
There were probably some interesting news stories this week, but judging from the volume of mail we received, the most important thing that happened in the last seven days was a collapse in Reg hack intelligence.
Yes, we have been pounded as being daft for running a story about a faux meteor hit, and for our inability to multiply eight by three.
Still, we can't bring ourselves to start the letters round-up off on such a lowbrow note, so we'll begin with the meeting, last week, of ICANN and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to decide the future of the internet.
As with the meteor and the BBC's weather reports, you think we got this one wrong. Although in this case, it is possible that many of the writers got as far as the headline, and decided they didn't need to read the rest of the article:
"Not one of the 11 panel members, nor any of the 22 people that spoke during the meeting, had anything but English as their first language" Yeah? So what. Got the result didn't it. Incremental reforms in the right direction are almost always more effective and positive gov't actions than "Big Bang" reforms (just Google "endowments or pensions mis-selling" if you don't believe me, or maybe "NPfIT"!). If people had been there speaking Russian, Mandarin or Swahili as a first language would we have gotten anything else as a result? Almost certainly not, as I'm sure they wouldn't have objected and asked for *more* American control even knowing their own gov'ts and almost every multi-lateral institution would certainly bollox it up worse than ICANN under the DoC has. And the "rare non-US contributors"? Well, we were told of a Canadian and a British person and Paul Twomey is Australian; that's almost 14% of the total-- not sure what a commonly agreed definition of "rare" is but this seems a bit hyperbolic.
Lee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suppose you'd rather see Esperanto used as the universal language? I mean, let's face it, English may be a horrid amalgam, and certainly not everyone speaks it as a primary language, but in this day and age it has if nothing else by accident become our standin for a universal language. People involved in global business learn English as a secondary language. That's just the way it is. There is no good reason for it, but to complain about it is about as useful as complaining that scientists use the metric system. As Microsoft has proven, it's not always about being the best, but just about getting the most users.
Sincerely, Arah Leonard
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"[M]indlessly patriotic electorate"? It's nice to know that b.s. smells the same on both sides of the ocean.
Alex
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your informative article could have made it's white-man-guilt points without nearly so much repetition. Your point was made by paragraphfour, reached minor hyperbole stage in paragraph six, and was entirely overdone by mention in the last four paragraphs. I understand that as a Register journalist, you're obligated to cover everything with a sarcastic and jaded viewpoint, but a little levity & humour are usually included as well.
I also understand that a healthy amount of America-bashing is obligatory for all journalists on this side of the pond, but perhaps you could apply a bit of thought when doing so? Otherwise you're bound to allude to "why landowners or the educated classes shouldn't be given more votes than the masses" in the same article where you dismiss nearly 300 million people as "a mindlessly patriotic electorate".
Tim
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Kieren,
Fu*ck you for calling me part of a mindlessly patriotic electorate.
Mordac
Short, sweet, and to the point.
Stupidity reigns, except in sunny Islington
And swastikas pop up all over the place
By Lucy SherriffPublished Tuesday 1st August 2006 13:48 GMT
There were probably some interesting news stories this week, but judging from the volume of mail we received, the most important thing that happened in the last seven days was a collapse in Reg hack intelligence.
Yes, we have been pounded as being daft for running a story about a faux meteor hit, and for our inability to multiply eight by three.
Still, we can't bring ourselves to start the letters round-up off on such a lowbrow note, so we'll begin with the meeting, last week, of ICANN and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to decide the future of the internet.
As with the meteor and the BBC's weather reports, you think we got this one wrong. Although in this case, it is possible that many of the writers got as far as the headline, and decided they didn't need to read the rest of the article:
"Not one of the 11 panel members, nor any of the 22 people that spoke during the meeting, had anything but English as their first language" Yeah? So what. Got the result didn't it. Incremental reforms in the right direction are almost always more effective and positive gov't actions than "Big Bang" reforms (just Google "endowments or pensions mis-selling" if you don't believe me, or maybe "NPfIT"!). If people had been there speaking Russian, Mandarin or Swahili as a first language would we have gotten anything else as a result? Almost certainly not, as I'm sure they wouldn't have objected and asked for *more* American control even knowing their own gov'ts and almost every multi-lateral institution would certainly bollox it up worse than ICANN under the DoC has. And the "rare non-US contributors"? Well, we were told of a Canadian and a British person and Paul Twomey is Australian; that's almost 14% of the total-- not sure what a commonly agreed definition of "rare" is but this seems a bit hyperbolic.
Lee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suppose you'd rather see Esperanto used as the universal language? I mean, let's face it, English may be a horrid amalgam, and certainly not everyone speaks it as a primary language, but in this day and age it has if nothing else by accident become our standin for a universal language. People involved in global business learn English as a secondary language. That's just the way it is. There is no good reason for it, but to complain about it is about as useful as complaining that scientists use the metric system. As Microsoft has proven, it's not always about being the best, but just about getting the most users.
Sincerely, Arah Leonard
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"[M]indlessly patriotic electorate"? It's nice to know that b.s. smells the same on both sides of the ocean.
Alex
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your informative article could have made it's white-man-guilt points without nearly so much repetition. Your point was made by paragraphfour, reached minor hyperbole stage in paragraph six, and was entirely overdone by mention in the last four paragraphs. I understand that as a Register journalist, you're obligated to cover everything with a sarcastic and jaded viewpoint, but a little levity & humour are usually included as well.
I also understand that a healthy amount of America-bashing is obligatory for all journalists on this side of the pond, but perhaps you could apply a bit of thought when doing so? Otherwise you're bound to allude to "why landowners or the educated classes shouldn't be given more votes than the masses" in the same article where you dismiss nearly 300 million people as "a mindlessly patriotic electorate".
Tim
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Kieren,
Fu*ck you for calling me part of a mindlessly patriotic electorate.
Mordac
Short, sweet, and to the point.
Comment