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I know your reply was all in jest.

However, it did make the think of these:
  - (Stephen Fry on Language) http://www.stephenfry.com/2008.../
  - (TLDR Stephen Fry on Language) https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Here's to hoping those sacriliciously cromulent links embiggen someone's horizon, if'n'when they stumble over them at some future date.

"Sadly, desperately sadly, the only people who seem to bother with language in public today bother with it in quite the wrong way. They write letters to broadcasters and newspapers in which they are rude and haughty about other people’s usage and in which they show off their own superior ‘knowledge’ of how language should be. I hate that, and I particularly hate the fact that so many of these pedants assume that I’m on their side. When asked to join in a “let’s persuade this supermarket chain to get rid of their ‘five items or less’ sign” I never join in. Yes, I am aware of the technical distinction between ‘less’ and ‘fewer’, and between ‘uninterested’ and ‘disinterested’ and ‘infer’ and ‘imply’, but none of these are of importance to me.
[...]
  Pedants will also claim, with what I am sure is eye-popping insincerity and shameless disingenuousness, that their fight is only for ‘clarity’. This is all very well, but there is no doubt what ‘Five items or less’ means, just as only a dolt can’t tell from the context and from the age and education of the speaker, whether ‘disinterested’ is used in the ‘proper’ sense of non-partisan, or in the ‘improper’ sense of uninterested. No, the claim to be defending language for the sake of clarity almost never, ever holds water."

Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry offers...

"Hi, Stephen, it’s Natasha from BBC Newsnight in London. Just to say I’ve sent you two texts. One is to say that we could do it at eleven am your time after the launch, or any time sooner after the launch, or we could do it at midday as we suggested earlier. I, er, if you could text me back about that, and I’ve sent you the details of Skype that you need to do too. If you could give me a call back. Enjoy the launch and I’ll speak to you after that. Thank you Bye."

I’ve transcribed it from the voicemail sound file that resides online on my inbox on the Google Voice site. All fine. I have also ticked the option for Google Voice to send me a text transcript of any voicemail. Below is their interpretation of Natasha’s message it’s rather endearing how hopelessly wrong the largest company on earth gets it.

"Hi Stephen. It’s Jeff from BBC needs in nuns. And just to say I sent 80 tax, one, if to say we could do it. I left in i a m your time off to go into any time soon, or the court and full we could grab me today as we suggested at. A. F. I. If you could text me back byebye. I’ve sent you the details of skylights that you need to 3 T if you could give me a call. Bye. Enjoy the loans. I’ll speak to you after that. Thank you. Bye"

On a more serious note, such transcripts at least allow you to get an idea of the rough content and tone of a message without having to stop and listen to it, a much more concentration-intensive task.

I say Apple should hire Stephen Fry... although I don't know if he has the business skills, but he does seem to understand their products.

Actually, thinking about it, probably Apple has the least need. Microsoft should hire SF as a consultant! ;)

Only last month he was waxing lyrical about the Macbook Air on his blog so I'm not that certain that he's suddenly seen the light and has changed to a battered ThinkPad running gNewSense...

He's talked about Open Source a fair bit in his 'Dork Talk' section in the Guardian, with a particular article entitled 'Deliver us from Microsoft'

"The two great pillars of Open Source are the GNU project and Linux. I shan't burden you with too much detail, I'll just make the outrageous claim that your computer will be running some descendant of those two within the next five years and that your life will be better and happier as a result."

They missed Stephen Fry, who's the cleverest person I don't know, celeb or otherwise.

Here's a direct link to his web site (taken from the above article).

I hope someone there read Stephen Fry's recent blog on phones and is taking it all to heart.

--
Stephen Fry be thy name.

Persononally, if Paul McGann isn't coming back to play the Doctor then I'd prefer Colin Firth, Sean Bean or Sean Pertwee (Jon Pertwee's, the third Doctor, son) to get the title role.

I didn't warm to Paul McGann as the Doctor, but maybe that was more to do with the awful script he was working with. Doctor Who without a great script is pretty pointless. I grew up a Tom Baker man myself. In that mold, the one actor who could top the great Tom would be Mr. Stephen Fry whose name has been linked to the role before. A wittier, more erudite and eccentric actor could not be found in the British or any other isles.