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Tim Berners-Lee Attains Knighthood
sandalwood writes "Tim Berners-Lee has been promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for coming up with that 'intarweb' thing we all use. Characteristically modest, he said that he was an ordinary person who created something that 'just happened to work out.' He will join luminaries like Isaac Newton, Francis Drake, and... Mick Jagger."
"Tim Berners-Lee", of course, is just a clever pseudonym for Al Gore. The article failed to mention this.
CC Licensed Serialized Story and Podcast: Ingenioustries
..now he can slay orcs and save princesses like the best of us.
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Never criticize religion on Slashdot. You will be modded down for "Troll" no matter how factual it is.
Canadian Cynic, canadian politics is less boring than you
Tim Berners-Lee Attains Knighthood does that come with +2 armour?
Well, pardon him for departing from your standards of perfection. I for one don't fault him for accepting an award that he so obviously deserves. History notwithstanding, being knighted is a high honor (honour!) for a Brit. I say congratulations to him.
ELITISM: It's always lonely at the top. Uninvited company is rarely welcome.
No, you don't have to be English, you can get an honourary knighthood. And Tim Berners-Lee IS English. And ARPA didn't invent the world-wide-web. Just the internet (www implies HTTP and HTML)
Comment removed based on user account deletion
1. No, you don't have to be English.
A great many Scots, Welsh, Irish, Canadians, etc have been knighted.
2. Some things weren't invented by Americans, the Web is one of them. Deal.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
He's not credited for creating ARPAnet, but rather contributing to what we now see as the world wide web (he founded and leads the w3c at MIT).
Rather than Mick Jagger.
Gawd bless 'er.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
... and here's the actual link I failed to put into my original post.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
One wonders where we would be today with the WWW if Tim had chosen to patent his invention?
Except that it's not really an honour from the queen. Decisions are made by some top secret bunch of civil servants, vetted by the Prime Minister and then "suggested" to the queen. Not much better, admittedly, but an improvement none the less.
Reform is coming, but the present style of system won't go away until the monarchy finally keels over. I'll celebrate as much as anyone on that day, but until then the honours system is the only way to formally recognise people's acheivements. Inventing Hypertext certainly deserves some recognition IMHO.
During the early 90's his research was put down by other Hypermedia researchers. Their view: "we've been there, done that; your implementation is too simple, too restrictive; our research is towards two directional linking..., other systems before you are better...". His first paper was rejected by the Hypertext Conference in 1991, and he settled for a demo table in the same venue.
The key to his success is that he made it simple and free (as in beer)! Others, like Nelson's Xanadu, were too ambitious. Others, like Hypercards, Hypernotes, Hyperdisco, etc were never free.
The BBC article highlights that in one of the side boxes: "Offered free on the Net".
Well I'll be. That infotainment super-highball is worth at least one plated medallion.
Good on ya, ya limey suisse.
I'm glad to see TBL get some more recognition. The original concepts behind html and semantic markup were well designed for their time and deserve more recognition. 99% of web designers today seem to have no idea why they should be using 'em' instead of 'b' tags, nor do many seem to even care about semantics and platform neutral markup. TBL and his semantic web ideas need all the recognition they can get.
A few years ago I watched a special on PBS about the birth of the Internet. The astounding thing was watching a video featuring a dozen guys hanging around a chalkboard laying out the eight or so connections that formed the forst internet web. No fancy electronics, just a groupd of guys standing around a chalkboard and talking.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
That's much awesome. Good for TBL.
Actually, information would like a turkey sandwich.
I mean, it may not be much of an honour, but it's not like it's a BAFTA or something, it's not completely meaningless. And I'd hardly put Liz in with Saddam, just because her role is an anachronism doesn't make her evil or her intents bad.
BTW if you're just pissed because, in fact, you did offer Tim the coveted High Angel of Intellectual Perfection and he turned it down, please look into awarding it to someone else.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Preface: not a troll
Could someone please explain to me the British fetish for its Monarchy ? The government is now a constitutional democracy, so why is there so much homage paid to the archaic traditions and figureheads of the past?
A great example of this is the insane media land-grab over Princess Diana's death. Hundreds of thousands of people die in traffic accidents each year - why was hers so deserving of three whole months of media coverage, weeping, wailing, and moaning?
K. Richards best put it to Mick Jagger [who also got knighted recently]: "If you're into this shit, hang on for the peerage. Don't settle for a little badge.".
Rock on Keith!
there's no place like ~
I doubt he cares much more than anyone else.
Here's something much more interesting, an interview with him - Tim (available in Proprietary err Windows Media format).
ClickOnline
(Please don't put too much into the fact that the pageid is 666.)
She's... "Queen". And therefore, people respect her.
Very few English ppl respect the queen, she is just a tourst attaction.
England is ruled by a diffrent dictatiorship(sp), that of the un-elected, and unaccountable Quango.
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
This is what knighthoods are about - accepting official appreciation of the work done to create the internet, an apolitical act. The poster above ridicules TB-L for accepting the award - it would be right and proper to decline for political reasons, but in this case there are none. Anyway, he's a nice guy. Matthew
If I were a member of the British royal family, I would not accept any "Prince" or whatever position. It's ridiculous, and it's a waste of time or money.
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Never criticize religion on Slashdot. You will be modded down for "Troll" no matter how factual it is.
It's not political. Politically, the British monarchy doesn't do much of anything. It is mostly a cultural thing. The monarchy is a cherished institution of Great Britain. It represents the history and culture of a great country. It has endured for hundreds of years as one of the most stable governments in the West. The British monarchy has one of the oldest democratic traditions in the world, and Britain gave birth to the philosophers from which our founding fathers derived their inspiration. Getting rid of the British monarchy would be like getting rid of the monuments of Greece, because they take up space that could be put to better use.
There is no need for everything in the world to be cold and logical. If a country wants to hold onto a 'silly' institution as a symbol of their nation, so be it.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Politically, I can't see why Britian still has a royal family. Seems like a bunch of mooches to me.
;-)
Officially I believe the Queen has the power to dissolve the government if it became undemocratic, and I think she has some level of official power over the lawmaking process too. She's just a figurehead really now, but those powers could be invoked if neccessary.
AFAICS, however, the unoficial reason is because nobody is bothering to abolish them and they aren't doing much harm to anyone really.
Take all that with more than a small pinch of salt though, my only qualification to speak on the subject is that I'm English and I listened a bit to some debate about the royals
The www is nothing more that the internet with a waffle iron attached to it.
. . .is like someone for death-penalties to win the Nobel Peace Prize. . .
Yasser Arafat, 1994, so it would seem anything is possible.
KFG
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
When will Al Gore get knighted? He invented the Internet, for chrissakes! (He said so on CNN)
Queen's official title:
Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
UK!=England.
So I guess anyone in the commonwealth can be given an honour. However, TBL is British, so it doesn't matter.
Tim Breners-Lee *is* English. He was born in London and graduated from Oxford. While ARPANET was an American project, Breners-Lee worked on the web while he was at CERN, and it was first made available at CERN in 1990.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Well, Denmark is the oldest monerchy in the world, other than that you're probably right.
It's too bad being knighted isn't what it used to be. Now days, everyone in pop culture has been knighted, so those who truly deserve recognition are lumped in with the lights of Paul McCartney, McJabber, Elton John...
Huh, I didn't know that. But I didn't say that GB had the oldest monarchy. I said it had one of the oldest democratic traditions. Even when the country was an absolute monarchy, it was still a relatively free society.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
I'll celebrate as much as anyone on that day, but until then the honours system is the only way to formally recognise people's acheivements.
And yet hundreds of great men and women have the strength of character to tell the Queen to shove it when "She" comes around peddling her wares. To bad Mr. Berners-Lee couldn't have been among them.
Anything worth doing is worth doing badly -- G.K. Chesterton
that everyone knows the names of Edison, and for the most part, Tesla. But, when it comes to folks such as Tim Berners-Lee, J. Prespert Eckert, John W. Mauchly, etc. nobody has any clue who you're talking about.
Unless I'm mistaken, the revolutions that these folks spurred were arguably as important to the state of modern society as was the lightbulb, telephone, or rail transit.
So, the next time England goes to war are Elton John, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger going to be leading the charge?
Hundreds of other great men and women have been able to resist the kow-towing to the monarchy. I which he had joined them.
Anything worth doing is worth doing badly -- G.K. Chesterton
Not yet, and we can hope that one day Brits will get to vote on EU stuff... maybe...
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
Oh, I'm not comparing the queen to saddam. It's just that I don't think the queen should be important enough to be able to give such honors.
Yes, I think he certainly deserves the honor, no doubt about it. But the queen just shouldn't have the prestige of being able to hand it out, so to speak.
---
Never criticize religion on Slashdot. You will be modded down for "Troll" no matter how factual it is.
"Huh. They have Internet on computers now!" -H.J.S.
Rock!
That's funny, the article (BBC) certainly refers to him as "Sir Tim", and says he has been knighted.
Politas
2. Some things weren't invented by Americans, the Web is one of them. Deal.
/throws a tea bag of Earl Grey in the hudson/ :P
I am dealing with it.
Thanks for New York!
--
If he's a knight, does he have to fight dragons?
" So, the next time England goes to war are Elton John, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger going to be leading the charge?"
One can only hope...:-)
"There are some who call me...Sir Tim
In part, I think it is a reaction to today's fast-paced cultural changes. Many people appreciate links back to what they see as a simpler time, regardless of the historical truths of disease and lawlessness.
It's all about traditions. It is our traditions that make our society what it is. For the British, the monarchy is a large part of that tradition. The actual personages aren't important so much as the symbol of security.
In a fast-changing society, many people like to hold onto something unchanging, to ground themselves.
Politas
errr - no it isn't.
KBE does mean Sir Tim.
See here.
Knighthood today doesn't mean what it used to. Feudalism is long gone.
Politas
Sir Tim HAS been knighted. He didn't get an OBE or some other lesser award. The parent post is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Politas
Well I wonder if TBL will ever be asked to go on a crusade to the holy land or re-claim brittany from those Frenchies. Theres certainly no damsels in distress, imprisoned in a tower by an evil uncle. There are no dragons left to slay and the holy grail got sold on ebay for $5.99 Sorry but a real knight belongs in our stories and myths. The highest honor we can give TBL is not a three letter prefix Sir, but the recogniton that his work, kick started all this web stuff and his ideas for the furture of the web are more important than making a fast buck.
If a country wants to hold onto a 'silly' institution as a symbol of their nation, so be it.
Thankfully, this does not apply to the U.S. and the RIAA, despite the fact that it is "a silly institution" that definitely serves as "a symbol of their nation".
(disclaimer: I'm an American)
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
And without the Brit's strong national identity, what would become of the Irish Republic, which is based largely on "we're not Britain!" for national identity :-).
I for one, welcome our British web overlords.
Awarded a bong? I'd say that's cool. What are they so mad about, it's not like they have a US-style war on drugs up there.
True story.
So when does LordK3nn3th of Slashdote bestow the H.A.I.P.s this year? Is there a cash stipend?
"...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
Sir Tim invented the World Wide Web, not the Internet. In retrospect, the submitter probably should have said "World Wide Web" instead of the intentionally inaccurate term "intarweb."
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor
Well, Denmark is the oldest monerchy in the world, other than that you're probably right.
Actually, the Japanese monarchy dates back to 660 BC, making it by far the oldest in the world. Denmark's is more than thousand years younger, the starting date is not established precisely.
Check this page for more information on the different current and former monarchies of the world.
When men used to be men
"Brilliant, then you can get on with your transition to Ingsoc and your licking of Dim Georgie Bush's chickenhawk boots. Whatever happened to "Britons never shall be slaves"?"
Hmmm how to tar and feather all the British People with the same brush, not all of us are arse licking poodles like Tony Blair, there are a substantial portion of British people that dislike George Bush and believe that his war on Iraq was wrong, indeed almost 2 millions people attended a Stop the War rally in London earlier this year...
Ah, here's the correction, from some article on knights in E! Online (hardly a credible source, but the first credible source I could find after 5 minutes googling):
A few Americans--Rudy Giuliani in 2001, for example--have received what's called Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. American knights can't use Sir before their names, but they can choose to add KBE to the end. So, the next Indiana Jones movie will be directed by Steven Spielberg KBE.
OK, then, that's settled.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...
Mosaic was not a bad browser at the time. I used to use it before Netscape hit 1.0 because it was more stable.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
You just have to be a member of the commonwealth, like Sir Run Run Shaw, producer of such quality chop socky movies such as Dirty Ho, Invincible Pole Fighter and Shaolin Master Killer. --
I was only being a smartass about the excessive use of the word "fuck". *sigh* Oh well...troll it is.
Life is not for the lazy.
For the last time, we don't give a damn about Jackson, Bryant, Peterson, Limbaugh, or anybody else. Just shut up about it already and report some REAL news.
I'm not sure who you refer to as we, but it's not the majority of people. The general public loves celebrities, yellow press and the whole star-mania. It's the glamour, the wealth, the dirty secrets. Maybe the ordinary guy can dream about the what-if scenario of being in that position, etc., that's probably dealt with in psychology 101.
That stuff sells. Of course it's not hard news, but the media give to the people what they want. The Simple Life had a bigger audience than the interview with President Bush (first one after the capturing of Saddam Hussein) broadcast at the same time. Go figure.
...did Mick Jagger get on there?
SIGERR: laziness exceeds quota
The UK does have a constitution, it just doesn't have a written one.
Reference here for an explanation.
Politas
Whatever else a knighthood brings with it it's got to be a great pickup line and a geek can use all the help available.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
And of course, CERN is in Geneva, Switzerland. So, not only was the Web invented by a Brit, it was invented in Switzerland, which is possibly even further away from North America than the UK...
Yes, but do you think Bush would be where he was now if it wasn't for Bush Sr.
The Queen is just a tourist attraction now really. She has very little power and pretty much anything she does can be overruled in parliment, anway.
I do agree with you on principal, however.
IntechHosting - Free domain, 2GB, PHP, £4.95/$8.95
Not many Canadians recently, except for Conrad Black and we were glad to be shut of him. By law, Canadians can't accept Bath accessories.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I think the main attitude about the monarchy is that it works, so there's really no need to bother trying to fix it. Far beyond Britain itself, there's an entire empire of other countries whose constitutional systems are all tied in with the British monarchy. Removing it would require massive infrastructural changes all over the world. Plus, lots of people like it and they're prepared to pay for it.
I hardly think you can put that reaction down to having anything to do with the monarchy. The media frenzy was because she was popular and well known. The monarchy merely provided a vehicle that got her to that position, but how she got there wasn't really of interest to the media.
There's no shortage of examples of very similar things happening that had nothing to do with the British monarchy. The USA has at least as many examples of media irrationality in the face of popularity, and probably a lot more. The OJ Simpson trial is the example that most easily comes to mind. All he did was play a game quite well a few years ago, and now that he has a problem everyone wants to know about it. Having details of it broadcast every day for months on most of the major news networks was just silly, in my own opinion... and yet people who had never heard of the guy before he got on CNN (all over the world) were following the news of it because the media told them it was important. It was a murder trial but it was hardly unusual.
You get the same reaction from people whether there's a monarchy or no monarchy.
... and Blade Runner (well, associate producer, anyway)
Well, since your flamebait is modded insightfull I think I'll flame back and see if the moderaters get it right this time.
Politically, the British monarchy doesn't do much of anything. It is mostly a cultural thing. The monarchy is a cherished institution of Great Britain.
The United Kingdom is a Constitutional Monarchy. It is very much a political thing. Despite the Crown's very limited role in politics they are by defination involved as the Head of State (not Head of Government).
It represents the history and culture of a great country. It has endured for hundreds of years as one of the most stable governments in the West.
The "most stable" is a matter of opinion but I'll let that stand.
The British monarchy has one of the oldest democratic traditions in the world, and Britain gave birth to the philosophers from which our founding fathers derived their inspiration.
Have you ever heard of the Roman Republic? England wasn't a member of that. They were occupied later during the Empire. And yes, Locke and Hobbes provided many ideas for the American Government. But so did Plato, Aristotle and numerous philosophers in France during the Enlightenment. England does not have a monopoly on those ideas and at the time, did not practice them.
Getting rid of the British monarchy would be like getting rid of the monuments of Greece, because they take up space that could be put to better use.
If I recall correctly you still have a good deal of the Parthenon in the British Museum and the Greek have been asking for those pieces back for years.
If you're going to be on a high horse, make sure the horse is on solid ground. And this is flamebait but I feel better saying it.
I don't understand. I thought Elton John was a queen.
Thanks.....
Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
In America, the royals are the sons and daughters of the greatest of all the robber barons.
In Britain, the royals are the sons and daughters of the greatest of all the feudal barons [which is the same as robber].
In America, you are allowed to become a noble or start a new line of nobility by getting filthy rich and then buying yourself a Senator. You can then pass your wealth to your children so they can be nobles for having done nothing.
In Britain, the Queen hands you a medal, and then you can possibly get a seat for yourself and your descendants in the House of Lords. You can then pass your wealth to your children so they can be nobles for having done nothing.
At least in the UK, the monarchy has a lot of interesting history behind it, and some way cool outfits. Swords and capes! Now that is cool. Plus, the titles are awesome - for the king when the next one is: "His Most Britannic Majesty".
In America, well, we just say, "Mr.Gates".
This is my sig.
On Americans receiving honors from foreign states:
US Constitution
I.9.8: No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.
e.g. http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/dailynews/ sirmick020615.html , etc.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
People who are not british can be Knighted, but those who are not "Subjects of the Crown" don't get called "Sir".
If memory serves correctly, Ronald Reagan was knighted, but he isn't called Sir like Laurence Olivier and Isaac Newton.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
To Americans, being knighted is just below winning an MTV People's Choice award. ;-)
Mosaic was written by UIUC. Berners-Lee's original browser was WWW (source) and was written for NeXT (that's right: the 0 node of the web was a NeXTBox).
But not from a republic (like India). You have to owe allegiance to the Queen, like Canadians and Australians.
I suppose so, mostly. There still remain vestiges of hereditary peerage in the House of Lords, or at least there did the last time I paid any attention. Granted, they don't mean much in the day to day governance. And the monarchy survives, for reasons that escape me. So while feudalism is gone, there are still remnants. Like granting knighthood. Of course, the modern requirement seems to mostly be making lots of money, which Americans can easily relate to. TBL is a happy exception to the rule.
On his return, he was reported to have taken rook E4
~Chris Hammond
OK, here's a question - the royals own fairly large chunks of the British Isles, so what would happen if they answered an abolishment attempt by offering to evict everyone from their properties? I believe Charles owns Cornwall, for example...
The United Kingdom is a Constitutional Monarchy. It is very much a political thing. Despite the Crown's very limited role in politics they are by defination involved as the Head of State (not Head of Government).
>>>>>>>>>>>
Huh? You declare that the Monarchy is very much political, and then immediatelyl admit that it has a very limited role in politics. Which is it?
The "most stable" is a matter of opinion but I'll let that stand.
>>>>>>>>>>
FI said "one of" the most stable. The British government has been remarkably stable for hundreds of years. Unlike France, the democratization of Britain came not through a bloody revolution, but a gradual transition.
Have you ever heard of the Roman Republic? England wasn't a member of that.
>>>>>>>>>
I didn't say first, I said oldest. Generally, when we talk about the oldest of some thing, we do not consider things that no longer exist, like the Roman Republic.
Locke and Hobbes provided many ideas for the American Government. But so did Plato, Aristotle and numerous philosophers in France during the Enlightenment.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes other philosophers did influence the Founding Fathers. Some directly and others indirectly. But the primary philosophical basis for the American government was British philosophy.
England does not have a monopoly on those ideas
>>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;
Did I claim it did?
and at the time, did not practice them.
>>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;
While Great Britain did not practice the precise philosophy espoused by Lock and others, many of those philosophers' ideas were derived from British practice. Great Britain has been a free society for hundreds of years, even under the monarchy, and much existing pratice was codified by its philosophers.
If I recall correctly you still have a good deal of the Parthenon in the British Museum and the Greek have been asking for those pieces back for years.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
What's your point? I am not claiming that Britain is faultless. Indeed, as someone of Indian descent, I have an innate dislike of Britain and its colonial period. However, I do recognize a good thing when I see it. Great Britain has a very proud and rich history, and a tradition of freedom. The monarchy is a part of that, and is a cultural institution that should remain in place as a reminder of the nation's glory.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
BBC link explains nothing
This explains all.
There is a difference between KBE and CBE - the K confers knighthood
MrCreosote Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump! "You're right! There isn't enough room to swing a cat in here!"
Looking forward to the last dance hugs and kisses Kali :D
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
Good for him! and about time too.
And why stop at a knighthood? They should make him an Url.
GROGGS: alive and well and living in
Just my humble thought as a non-American.
Contributing, my ass. He created it, period, and personally invented the first version of HTTP and HTML as well as the first browser.
This will certainly be redundant, but there are many that have refused Knighthood for example they include rock star David Bowie, Nigella Lawson, John Cleese, Kenneth Branagh, Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, and many more. Knighthood is a pathetic extension of imperialism that no longer exists.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
You proclaimed the Monarchy as a cultural insitution. They are a political institution.
If mean "the British government" as an institution then yes they are fairly stable. I was thinking of their actions over the last 200-300 years. That strikes me as less than stable.
Free society for hundreds of years? I have a silent e on the end of my name. My ancestors were given the choice of being exciled from their home or spend the rest of their lives in a debtors prison.
Britian has a great deal of glory. It is one of my favorite places on this planet but I don't think you and I will ever agree on where that comes from.
That only applies to a "person holding any office of profit or trust under them", i.e. the United States, doesn't it? Giuliani was a city official, and had even finished his time doing that when he was knighted.
(IANAL, however, and I could be talking nonsense. Corrections welcome.)
FWIW, there was an amendment proposed in 1810 which would have removed American citizenship from those who held it and accepted knighthoods:
It was passed by the House and the Senate, but fortunately for Giuliani it wasn't ratified by enough of the states to become law.
GROGGS: alive and well and living in
Sure, because they were afraid of being ridiculed by their socialist chums for selling out and or kissing up to the monarchy. Not having seen TBL reading out of the little red book lately, I see no reason why this shallow and superficial ( and meaningless ) gesture should prevent him from accepting this mark of recognition from a group of UK civil servants.
Keep refusing those honors, technologists! After all, you won't have any indie cred otherwise.
o<First of, IANBBMAW (I am not British, but my ancestors were).
That's right, as I recall. In case of Parliament going nuts or somesuch, or divided beyond being able to form even a coalition government, it is the duty of Her Majesty to get an appointed PM in place until matters can resolve. Example: if in the next British election, noone holds a majority or can form a coalition (or some Fascists turn up out of the blue), the monarchy would most likely exercise constitutional duty and keep Blair on Downing Street.
Thanks. That's what I suspected but I was in a hury and didn't have time to make sure I wasn't mixing him up with someone else.
Anyway, now that I've had a chance to read about what he's done, the original poster was completely wrong. Tim Berners-Lee is indeed English (born in London) and the fact that ARPA is American is irrelevent. The reason I phrased it as "contributing" was I had assumed no one would put all the pieces together by himself. It seems I was quite wrong, as Tim Berners-Lee is credited with a number of individual projects (which led to HTTP, HTML, and the first web browser as you mentioned).
A great many Scots, Welsh, Irish, Canadians, etc have been knighted.
And some Australians and New Zealanders too. All Commonwealth countries - does this mean you have to be a citizen of a Commonwealth country to qualify?
Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
I think it woulod have taken off regardless with or without Netscape (i.e. someone else would have done it).
On the other hand, iwthout TBL, the web would not have happened.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
The monarchy is a cultural institution. Semantically, they are indeed a political institution, but as you say, they have no political involvement. Yet they remain an important part of British society. Why? Because their role in British culture far outstrips its minor role in politics. Hence, it can be considered a cultural institution.
Nothing that has happened in the past 200-300 years every threatened the stability of the British government. While the British did many things that caused instability and chaos, at no time was the government itself really in any danger. There haven't even been any civil wars in Great Britain since the 1600s. In this sense, the British government is remarkably stable, compared to say the French government over the same time period.
The British do have a very old democratic tradition, at least for its own people. The Parlaiment was an important force by the early 17th century, and took supremacy from the king after the glorious revolution of 1688. The British have done many things to tarnish this tradition of freedom, but I still assert that the tradition remains intact. The United States, too, has done many things that go against the principles of freedom and democracy, but it is still legitimate to say that it has an important democratic tradition.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
anybody remember any of the following?
no? thank god!
2 1337 4 u!
Now that, I would agree with. :)
And now I'm going to bed.
Blessed +5 Dragon Scale Mail, in fact, if you're willing to put up with the -57 aura of sheer geekliness.
Tweet, tweet.
Interestingly enough to most Americans the web IS the Internet...
The UK concors the world the US gets credit while flooding it with obnoxous ads.
I don't actually exist.
Well, by definition, no, unless you subscribe to some of the weirder resolutions to the "Grandfather Paradox".
All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.
Umm, would you care to back that up with facts? For example, which states? Relevant section of law, if possible?
I am not aware of any state where anyone may marry under 16 (I'm not saying there aren't any, but I haven't heard of them), and even then you need your parents' permission unless you're an emancipated minor.
It's not by birth...officially, it's "By the Grace of God".
but since the Monarch of the British Commonwealth also happens to be the head of the Anglican church...it's pretty much up to them....hence by birth.
Also, the concept of anyone having reign over any people in any circumstances is fairly laughable if you really think about it....
Even in the most democratic of countries you are only given a choice of who you get ruling over you...you never get to choose to answer to no one, and you're usually stuck with whoever you choose for a period of years that was decided by someone else.
Advanced users are users too!
Your point about his posting AC is well taken, but it may be even worse than you think. He may have posted as AC out of a beliefe that /. karma is actually somehow worth something. The horror!
:-)
While it is true that the United States has accomplished an impressive amount of things in a relatively short period of time (less than 250 years), and among them one of the most impressive has been making the best and the brightest of other nations want to come and live here, and thus leapfrogging the rest of the world in science, technology, economic power, and good old butt-kicking military power (g), the contributions and accomplishments of Britain must not be forgotten.
The U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution were groundbreaking documents, stunningly radical in their time. However, the seeds of the US Constitution - the legal framework of the first modern democracy - hark back to the Magna Carta, which is about 500 years older and devised in Britain.
For more of what the Brits did right and others didn't do so right, take a look around the world at former colonies of various former colonial powers. The French were extent in Southeast Asia (then called Indochina) and a number of Pacific Islands, and in Africa. The British were in Hong Kong, India and what is now Pakistan, South Africa, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia at the time), and Singapore and Malaysia, among others.
They have left their colonies, as have the rest of the colonial powers. What the British also left behind was a strong legacy of the rule of law. That, more than anything else, is why Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Africa are quite prosperous, and several of there other former colonies are closing in rapidly on real prosperity, with Malaysia leading the way. Zimbabwe would have done well also, but the rule of law was replaced by the rule of thuggery after Mugabe let power go to his head and he turned out to be nothing but a dictator. That, is, however, a miss among many hits.
Compare that to the French legacy. Corruption was SOP in their colonies, and corruption and old-boy networks are what they left behind. Take a look at their former colonies today. Most are corrupt and poor.
And the Spanish. They were at least as bad as the French, maybe worse. All of their former colonies were corrupt and poor, and usually dictatorships, for a very long time. The emergence of democracies in South America is a pretty recent thing and has a lot to do with American influence. Mostly, they are still poor, and there's still a lot of corruption, but they have become more democratic and they are slowly working on the corruption part.
Don't sell the Brits short, they did a lot. Don't forget that the United States itself was a British colony before we told George III to get stuffed. Our legal system descends directly from the British legal system, and that strong respect for the rule of law is what held us together all these years to become the power we are today.
So let's lighten up on the Brit bashing. Go bash the French instead, they deserve it
A knighthood is bestowed upon anyone as a recognition for significant service to the nation. IE, Rudy Guliani received a knighthood for his service to british citizens in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks.
A common myth is that you can't use the title outside of the United Kingdom, or that you can't use the title in the United States, etc. This is rooted in the United State's constitutional requirement that officers of the federal government and the several states not accept titles from foreign governments. This is known as Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution of the United States of America. My understanding is that there isn't anything intrinsic to the honor which nullifies it outside of the british isles or the commonwealth.
... out of your butt and just have a laugh!
You make Al Gore seem like the life of the party.
- sigs are for wimps.
well actually, it's more of a tourist thing.
"Teachers leave us kids alone
In the UK, few civil servants ever become rich from their jobs. Working at CERN, Sir Tim was ultimately just another Civil Servant and could only be compensated as such. Recognition for civil servants comes through the honours system. In this case it was richly deserved.
If your company produces massive exports for the UK and raises the international profile of the UK, then you maz be eligable for an honour. British pop-stars are one aspect of this, but only if they have been around for ages and haven't moved all their money offshore.
I don't know if any americans have realised this yet, but a Knighthood in England is basically a "Presidential Medal of Freedom", UK style.
.au and we wanted to become a republic once. It failed miserably because people didn't like the model the Government came up with.
AFAIC, TBL deserves it more than anyone. And if he accepts it, it's his choice.
As for the monarchy, I'm from
The only defference between the Queen and the President is she was born into it, whereas he had to BUY his way into it (not without some help from daddy).
Although the Queen must approve laws preneted to her by Parliament, she has the right to be consulted, to advise and to warn. Her political experience is unique and is recognised by all prime ministers.
Her last but most significant power is to appoint a government. In crude terms, this is based on a majority in parliament, but with more than two parties it is possible that no one has the majority. She has to recognise the largest power grouping.
Of course, Tim deserves honour for what he has done. This is just the wrong way.
You have to owe allegiance to the Queen, like Canadians and Australians
Actually, it's a no-go for Canadians, who are barred from accepting foreign honours. Just ask Terry Matthews and (especially) the notorious ex-Canadian Lord Black of Crossharbour.
What Canadians do have is the Order of Canada, which is essentially a knighthood without the titles (sir etc...). The Order of Canada is awarded by the Governor-General on behalf of the Queen of Canada, who just happens to be the same person as the Queen of England - who isn't allowed to bestow titles on Canadians. Simple, eh?
In other news, for a good review of the British honours system see here.
When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
CERN is in Switzerland but isn't Swiss.
Brian Reid inveneted Scribe (as his PhD thesis) which begat SGML which begat HTML. Einar Stefferud suggested MIME to Nathanial Borenstein who implemented it. Macs had that Hypercard thing way back when. Didn't TBL just put the bits together? (And Andresson made is usable?)
It's still cool he's been knighted.
Need Mercedes parts ?
That's a monarchist defence by saying "if the nazis got elected, they'd be there to help us" (because at least technically, the armed forces are loyal to the queen).
Trouble is, the queen would then be acting against the will of the people (however bad that will was).
Personally, I'd rather we had a proper constitution, checks and balances and all that, than a PM who can just do anything, and hope the queen might be able to do something if it all went wrong.
Who do I write to to suggest it?
The U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution were groundbreaking documents, stunningly radical in their time. However, the seeds of the US Constitution - the legal framework of the first modern democracy - hark back to the Magna Carta, which is about 500 years older and devised in Britain.
There isn't really much relationship between the Magna Carta and the US Constitution. The US Constitution has its roots firmly in the Englightenment of the 18th century, which was influenced by the events in the English Civil War (which was actually several wars) and movements prevalent at that time, e.g. the Levellers, and also by French and Scottish philosophers (mostly).
The Magna Carta was a political settlement concerned with feudalism, and feudalism was eventually usurped, but it was relatively minor compared to other limits put on kingly power in places such as Poland or by the Italian Communes of the Renaissance.
PROBABLY the only knighthood one can agree with in this year's list. It is pathetic that the whole English rugby team got honoured.
There was a time, I assume, when knighthood meant something. Now it's a way for beleagured prime ministers to show the public how in-touch and cool they are.
(As you will know, the prime minister (President Blair as he is known to his friends) suggests the honours list.
To summarize: Congrats, TBL - for all the others (all but 2 or 3) - give me a bucket
(Arthur, England)
Every country in the world has a system to recognize outstanding citizens.
The British system may not be perfect, may require reform dus to its origins, but that does not make some of the people recognized fully deserving of an official celebration.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I imagine the law regarding that particular clause of the constitution is ambiguous. Regardless, it is very clear that it would not apply to American citizens that had never held public office. Perhaps it is based on the capacity in which one is acting. For instance, Mayor Giuliani was acting in his capacity as Mayor of New York when he undertook the actions which provoked his knighthood. Thus it could be argued that he can not, even when out of office, accept a title conferred for actions he made in his capacity as Mayor.
Certaintly this is the most plausible explanation of why the initials KBE (or whichever) can still be appended to one's name, but the title Sir can not be prepended. Other explanations abound, but they make no sense. One I've heard is that you can't use the title outside of the British isles (or the commonwealth), which makes no sense since the use of titles is always at the discretion of the holder. Another, which is repeated somewhere else in this thread, is that only subjects of the crown or British citizens can use the title 'Sir'. Does this make any sense? Alright, we're going to make you a KNIGHT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, but uh-oh, no you can't use the title 'Sir'. Naughty naughty.
Actually, Canadians who aren't critical of the Liberal government are allowed to accept knighthood. It's just that Jean Cretien didn't really like those two.
God save our Queen, and Heaven bless The Maple Leaf Forever!
What is this religious babble doing here - There are cures for your disease now, get therapy man!!
There's nothing in a knighthood that says Americans can't use the title Sir.
Now just because some seem to think the US govt disapproves means nothing - I bet there's no US govts (fed, state or local) which would really give a fuck if some US citizen with a title started referring to himself as Sir.
This is the way the UK celbrates its citizens achievements.
The system is in dire need of a revamp, but being the only way available I think it is better than nothing.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Parent above is correct, the Queen does not choose any of the recipients of honours. They are chosen by 10 commitees of civil servents who put suggestions to an 11th committee to make final decisions.
Awards are not only given to famous people, but to people who make a difference and are the pride of the UK. My old headmaster has an OBE.
About the Queen using the internet for porn though, I know that's not true. She gets the Sunday Sport for her porn fix.
PHP
How could he be a Knight of the British Empire? There was no British Empire in those days, let alone a United Kingdom of Great Britain. The countries of England & Scotland were still seperation nations back then
Incidently AFAIC Queen Elisebeth II, should really only be referred to as the QEII of England - seeing as there was no previous QE of Great Britain, Scotland, Canada or Oz, she really should be referred to simply as QEI of those places (afterall James VI of Scotland is James I of England, so lets be consistemt with that precendent)
Look at the way they watch LOTR, use terms like Duke, Earl & Leroy as given names, & the way they're celebs will title themselves - 'the King of Pop' for instance.
Well, at least the picture depicting the NeXT cube is as big as the pic of Tim. It's shown on some kind of podium, so perhaps it was awarded, too : )
t m
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3357073.s
Please note: This is where you plug all those "Mac OS X / Steve Jobs rocks" posts in this thread.
Nothing, even if monkeys did blow out of people's arses and this did actually happen, they'd quickly find their tenants had a right to buy. Besides I'm not sure that they own the land personally - only as part of their position. Abolish the position and the "threat" would become irrelevant.
The award is really from the government, they draw up the list of honours from various sources. The Queen presents it as she is the current head of state, there are very few awards that the Queen personally gifts.
Is there some connection between these two facts?
Wrong. The United Kingdom refers to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Irish Republic's "we're not Britain" complex is quite ancient and predates the idea of Britain; the Romans never reached Ireland and it retained a separate cultural identity despite a long history of efforts over hundreds of years to change it forcibly. And there's rather more to it than "no taxation without representation" Citizens of Republics are generally proud of the fact that the have no monarchy, no established church, and no hereditary privilege (all citizens are born equal--no "Lords" or hereditary peers). The Irish Republic is one such, like America. It would be FAR more accurate to say that American national identity is defined by a "we're not British" sentiment. The Christmas issue of the Economist had an interesting comparison between how well Kings and Queens of England++ (ie., and of whatever else they ruled at the time) stacked up against US Presidents. Guess who comes out on top! :-)
Anyway, the Republic of Ireland is an independent country. Get over it.
It was wildly successful and did the economy no end of good.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Honestly, the quality of geek on Slashdot these days is declining. Go find "!=" here:
m l
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/tut1-3.ht
I sense that americans are in a sort of awe, giving to the title of Knight more weight than it deserves.
But britons certainly know that there are and have been many "Knights" that they wouldn't want to be associated with. Lord Archer, for one. And a whole host of showbiz people whose only mind was to get rich at the expense of art.
Sigged!
blah blah blah
the british government is so stable and great
reality check:
IRA
FALKLANDS
and then this earlier post about the british leaving behind colonies in such a good shape (because presumabley they weren't as corrupt as the french). don't make me laugh.
to colonise was a bad idea in the first place. i'm dutch. i'm not proud of what my great great grandparents did when colonising indonesia et al. you shouldn't be proud of you conquests either. leaving them in a state which is acceptable in *your* opinion is no excuse from taking thier land and resources in the first place. this exploitation is exactly the thing that made the western world rich, and thereby relatively stable...
I know a lot about technology and I hardly think the layman should know these guys names. How about Turing or von Neumann?
nohup rm -rf ~/. >& zen &
Yes, much to my surprise at the time I posted it (you didn't see all the crap I deleted once I had reread the clause). The 1810 amendment might have been enacted at some point as a legislative law (rather than a constitutional Amendment); IANAL.
Why was not Tim amongst them? Mmmh? Because he does fnot give a toss about fringe political issues?
Because he knows that the "British Empire" is a contraption with an empty meaning today and will take some time to be removed from British public life?
Because, unlike others posting here, he understands the spirit in which these honours are coveted in today's world?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Where, oh where, are my mod points! +1 coffee/monitor interaction....
Good to see Knighthood now represented at MIT's innermost, by a Midknight Kommander no less!
Let's hope Gnighthood is next for RMS.
Although why the fact that TBL has got himself a night hood is deemed newsworthy eludes me entirely.
Al Gore made an honest claim about something that he was justly proud of. And somebody deliberately misquoted him to make it appear that he was claiming to have "invented the internet".
... right down there with Fox News and the National Equirer.
That "someone" who deliberately misrepresented what Al Gore said (and whose misrepresentation was then repeated by other, lazy journalists ad nauseum) would be Declan McCullagh of WiReD magazine, whose yellow journalism redefines the color yellow, and who enjoys enough of a rapport with slashdot editors to have his byline placed on any story of his slashdot links to (unlike, say, this story here, and just about every other story linked to).
He single handedly drew attention to the LiViD (Linux DVD) project by publishing a hysterical article about DVD pirates writing software (before it was even working, and knowing full well that the project wasn't about copying DVDs, it was about playing them on Linux, something one couldn't do back then. He subscribed to the mailing list, he knew exactly what he was doing.)
His career is littered with the destroyed public image of more people and projects than I can reasonably count, and his deliberate, premeditated sabataging of Al Gore by deliberately misquoting and misrepresenting him places him at the lowest level of journalism
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Could someone please explain to me the British fetish for its Monarchy ?
It's a media fetish more than anything. Oh yes, there are many who care about the royals, but there are also many who find it somewhere between boring and nauseating such as ME! I'm sure not all US citizens have rushed out to buy the Jessica Lynch autobiography, but the media still went crazy about her.
All I remember of the Princess Di funeral is wanting to do my washing but the laundrette was shut because of it.
Anyway, on-topic, have a look at the number of people who want no part of the honours system. Good for them. I'd love the chance to turn down a knighthood.
Many people in Britain have no idea how little respect they have in many parts of the world. Most people in this country don't know anything about the Opium Wars, or where Britain sell arms to. Ask the average Brit about the occupation of India and you'll get some crap about how lucky they were because we gave them railroads.
I was born in North Wales, which is hardly the Heart of Empire, but I still wish I could distance myself from the history of this country more.
Royals? Bah! Long live the Revolution!
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
And good on them too. There's irony for you here - an award in the name of a non-existent entity, the "British Empire" which ceased to exist in 1948 for an invention which is as futuristic as you can get. It's all a bit Gormenghast, no? I think he should have refused. Recognition by such an archaic award is the embrace of the dead hand of the Establishment. It stinks, big time. Up the Republic!
h
Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious
your a banana
the queen dosn't decide who gets the honours, ita a political thing. all the awards go through 10 downing street.
thats why you get spanners like beckham getting awards, it just the goverment brown nosing the public
Yeah, they should be thinking what they feel. I'm waiting for real emotion based tags like, "angry" or "loud" and "screaming at the top of my lungs" or "bloody murder".
Three cheers for Sir Tim. The squables petty people have over the details of his work don't bother him at all. He's happy that people are using the web the way he intended:
The original idea of the web was that it should be a collaborative space where you can communicate through sharing information. The idea was that by writing something together, and as people worked on it, they could iron out misunderstanding.
How your browser interprets the big thought above is mostly a function of how your brain works.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Actually, when it comes to collecting taxes from me to pay for something, or when it comes to who has extraordinary powers in government and the courts, cold and logical suits me fine.
As an American, your head of state is George Bush, a man who I have little respect for. Nevertheless, he was elected (or at least had 40 something percent support). We don't get this choice. When the current Head of State dies, we get Charles Windsor, an utter numbskull who can barely dress himself in the morning. He'll be attending various official functions and acting as representative for our country.
2 computers talking to each other happened way before Gore became a senator, I agree. The internet, as we know it today, didn't come into existence until many years later. Gore was instrumental in privatizing it and bringing it to schools. I will have to admit that 'took the initiative in creating the internet' is misleading. I understood what he meant, though. I doubt I'm much smarter than you, so why can't you figure it out?
But what if you already had an 'e' at the end? ;)
Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.
A revocation of citizenship would require a constitutional amendment.
I'm almost at the end of the /. postings and I don't believe anyone has mentioned anything about the NeXT cube pictured in the article. I'm reading a book right now called "How the Web was Born" (I think that's the title), and it's noted that TB-L used a NeXT cube to do his research/paper for the web on that NeXT cube. How much do you think that would fetch on e-bay?
I'd rather we had a proper constitution, checks and balances and all that
Just take the US Constitution. Works great, and we aren't using it anymore!
So, the next time England goes to war are Elton John, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger going to be leading the charge?
No, of course not. Everyone knows that for the leading of charges, we will call upon Sir Ian McKellen . (Perhaps with the newly-knighted Sir Tim Berners-Lee providing some upgraded signal fires.)
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
What date are you using as the Internet's creation date when you say "The internet was created before Al Gore was even in office"?
I really hope you're kidding. Fox News is about as 'balanced and accurate' as CNN...ie: they're not either. Major US media can't afford to be balanced and accurate because they'd lose their reader/viewership.
My blog: http://jkratz.dyndns.org/~jason/blog/
The thing that Vint Cerf et al says is completely true?
What Gore said was completely uncontrovertial until, as FreeUser and K8Fan say, Declan McCullagh reprinted the quote claiming it meant Gore said he "invented" the Internet. Nobody used the word "Invented" or claimed Gore meant "invented" until McCullagh stuck his oar in.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed it'll be me this year. But I must admit Tim Berners-Lee would probably be a more worthy receipient. Well, today's the last day of the year, so let's hope the announcement's today...
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
So, for example, someone called Tim Berne in 1950 would, if they were to bounce a cheque in 1962, miss a credit card payment in 1965, and then declare bankruptsy twice, would be called "Tim Berners-Lee".
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
their position says that they own _all_ the British Isles (and presumably the remmnents of the empire)
The Internet name had been used for this existing network for years before Gore ever got involved.
Well, yes and no. The case of the first letter is significant here. The term "internet" was used in the ARPAnet community by the late 70's. But the term "Internet" was consciously introduced in the early 80's with a more precise meaning.
There were a lot of early writings that attempted to make a distinction. An "internet" was more or less what we now call a LAN or an "intranet", a collection of machines using one or more types of comm hardware, with IP used to make them all play nice together. There were (and still are) many "internets". Each may consist of a number of different (hardware) networks, but at the IP level, they can be treated as a single network. The IP protocol intercedes for the software to make the hardware networks interoperate.
The "Internet" was conceived as a top-level internet that connected all of them as a single world-wide network. This was significant not because it needed new technology, but because it was to be a permanent part of the world's communications, not under the control of any single agency or government. The significant innovation here was the idea of a permanent comm system with distributed, cooperating management.
People in academia had talked about this, of course. But by the early 80's, it really hadn't been done. There was a world-wide ARPAnet, yes, and lots of little internets in different organizations. But their interconnections were partial and transitory. I well remember the frustrations of trying to send email from within one company or school to someone in another. At that time, the UUCP email system was often much more reliable, because its store-and-forward approach didn't depend on routing and permanent connections. Even today, with much of the Internet using transient dialup connections, email depends on a store-and-forward scheme, and most home machines and portables can't put things on the web, because they don't have permanent connections. So the Internet with a capital 'I' still hasn't really been fully implemented.
Al Gore rightly deserves a lot of credit for funding development of "the Internet", which happened in the 80's. He can't take much credit for "internet" development, which happened mostly in the 70's.
Of course, if you use an OS that doesn't make case distinctions, you might not understand the difference.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
there was a time when sir mick was persona non grata in england, not for his rock-n-roll lifestyle, but because he was failing to pay taxes on his millions...
http://smithsonian.yahoo.com/internethistory.html
The US Medal of Freedom is roughly equivalent to this kind of knighthood. Here is a list of recipients in the past ten years. Intel founder Gordon Moore (of Moore's Law) is only computer geek on the list.
This may be controversial, but I think Bill Gates will eventually receive this for his charity work.
the british government is so stable and great
reality check:
IRA
FALKLANDS
------
Those things never threatened the stability of the government itself, just the stability of outlying regions. When I'm talking about stability, I'm talking about having no civil wars since the 1600s, and having the same gradually evolving Parlimentary system since 1688.
and then this earlier post about the british leaving behind colonies in such a good shape (because presumabley they weren't as corrupt as the french). don't make me laugh.
---------
I never said anything about the British colonies! I dislike the British colonial period moreso than most people, because my parents are from the sub-continent. But the fact that the British did some bad things abroad does not change the fact that they have a tradition of freedom within their own country. The United States grew and prospered through genocide and slavery. Those are regretable things that happened in the past, and do not change the fact that the United States has a deep tradition of freedom.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
Actually, before you receive your knighthood, you have to renounce your native citizenship and are give English citizanship/knighthood. FACT!
Why did Jagger get knighted anyway? Because of his grotesquely disproportionate lips?
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
The internet was not called 'The Internet' until sometime in the 80's, long after Mr. Gore had become a senator, and long after he started helping it along. He helped to create the internet as we know and love it. He didn't say he invented it or discovered it or pulled it out of his back pocket. He said he took the initiative in creating the internet, which I understood to mean 'I took the initiative in helping to create the internet'. No sane person would think he was claiming single-handed credit for the internet. He didn't do anything technical but if you don't believe that funding and shaping public policy are important, you should crawl out from under your rock more often.
Saying you created something is not the same thing as saying you invented something. I created dinner last night. Doesn't mean I invented food or fire. The internet is not a single technology. It's a group of technologies used in specific ways. I don't know that you could give anyone credit for inventing the internet - it's a feature of having a bunch of computers that communicate with each other. You can, however, give lots of people credit for helping to create it. Gore should be one of them.
You should hire yourself out to be Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh.
While that may all be rightly true, they asked Al Gore what his biggest mistake was in a debate during the 2000 campaign. And his words were:
"Claiming that I invented the internet."
So if it's a misconception that you're all mad about people spreading, he's been spreading it, too.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
Yep, sounds about right. Remember Chuck Yeager? Yup, he was the first to fly faster than the speed of sound. Well, that's because the british were a few months off doing it, and they shared their data with the US. The US never made up their end of the deal, and a few months later... They flew. With our design. Bastards. Ah well, at least we can say "You're a bunch of fools" and live in ignorance/bliss.
The Queen is a great representative of her country and people. The Queen can be an ambassador to further foreign interest in her country.
Guess what, the Monarchy brings in a lot of money. The Queen and her palace is a tourist attraction. She is part of Britain's history. Combine Britain's proud history with the continuation of tradition which leads to direct income through tourism and a sense of national pride.
Let me guess, you are a leftist/socialist and believe that we are all equal, regardless of our achievements? Well, let me tell you, tradition, history and national pride are far more important than your petty attempts to talk nonsense about an important institution in the UK.
Clever signature text goes here.
> I created dinner last night
/.!!!
Holy crap, I didn't know God was on
Good thing you don't have that pesky "conservation of mass" thing to deal with.
Wait, no, you PREPARED dinner last night -- using the materials you had/bought (food, spices, etc.), you arranged them in such a combination and order to produce an extremely tasty and satisfying meal. You did not create anything. You rearranged them to look different together than each does individually, but no new thing was created. It was all there before, it's all there now (ignoring chemical reactions in cooking/charring, etc. of course).
You are trying to redefine the word "create," when it is just not accurate. You are also adding words that Gore did not say. I may disagree with some of his politics, but I don't think for a second that he meant the exact words he said. I doubt he was trying to take credit for making the Internet' as he did not. He misspoke (or to be nicer, didn't choose his words well enough), that is all.
I thought Elton John was a queen. He and Ian McKellen are frequently referred to as "Dame Elton" and "Dame Ian" (the feminine version of "Sir"). I'm not sure Her Majesty would approve, but she must prefer it to the above alternative.
I don't think I agree. Whether to map two character codes to the same character is a "policy" decision that has no business in the OS kernel. An OS should implement mechanism, not policy.
When you see an OS that forces such things on apps (e.g., OSX), you know that the designers were not good engineers, and didn't understand the difference between policy and mechanism.
Such decisions properly belong in run-time libraries. That way, they aren't forced on all programs, and they can be changed when they're wrong.
One good example is "internationalization", which among other things deals with the character sets of various languages. There are a lot of policy decisions to be made there that have absolutely no business being hard-coded into the OS.
There are cases in the current 8859-* encodings where an upper/lower-case pair in one encoding aren't even letters in another encoding. You don't want to have to reboot to change the mappings for your national alphabet. This is especially true when the language changes in different parts of a document.
Putting case munging into the OS only makes sense if you are building a single-language system. This is true for much US-made software, where much of the computer industry has open contempt for any language other than English. But for the rest of the world, putting case-folding code into the OS is a guaranteed linguistic disaster just waiting to happen.
I've already seen suggestions that this alone is grounds to reject OSX in some parts of the world. And the English-only bias in the Windows file system is one of the ongoing frustrations outside the US, where you often can't even use your native alphabet in an 8+3-char file name.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
does this mean you have to be a citizen of a Commonwealth country to qualify?
Clearly not.
Jack Ryan is an American and he was knighted. I believe it was in Patriot Games.
"...the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved BIG MEDIA."
Tee-hee.
Commie? Didn't mindless McCarthyism die out long ago?
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Never criticize religion on Slashdot. You will be modded down for "Troll" no matter how factual it is.
You are begging the question, "What does the word 'create' mean?" Did Beethoven "create" the Eroica Symphony? The notes and instruments were already there. All he did was arrange them...
This claim is clearly and demonstrably true, and has been endorsed by all major players involved with design and depoyment of the internet during that early phase. Who the fuck are you?
> You are begging the question, "What does the word 'create' mean?"
I beg for nothing. To create means to make something that did not previously exist. The Internet existed before Gore assigned to it huge gobs of money (which I am not complaining about).
> Did Beethoven "create" the Eroica Symphony?
> The notes and instruments were already there. All he did was arrange them...
Oh man, the temptation to flame here is too much. Have you ever studied music for a single moment in your life? Evidently not, as Beethoven did not "create" any music. Have you ever heard of a "musical arrangement"? What about "composing"? You even used the right word (arrange)! That's what he did; he did not actually "create" anything.
There is a concept of "Honorary Knighthood", which can be given to non-subjects of the crown. Some recipients who come to mind are Caspar Weinberger, Stephen Spielberg, Rudolph Giuliani a couple of years ago, Bob Geldof and Spike Milligan (last 2 both Irish). As the knighthoods are honorary, they are not entitled to be called Sir Caspar etc.
Offtopic? I resent that! This was a troll. Or flamebait. Whatever. But a reference to Monty Python can't be called off-topic in a thread about TBL become a knight :-)
:-p
This response, however, is off-topic, which means it'll probably get modded as a troll or flamebait
There are a great many Irish people who are very keen to retain their british citizenship.
There's been quite a bit of blood shed over the issue.
But then, there's no US military involvement, so FOX news probably doesn't cover it.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
I never said anything about citizens of the Irish Republic, I just said 'Irish'.
You may care to consult a map of Ireland some time, there'a a border quite clearly marked.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
Your obsolete understanding of how the UK government works suggests that you've been reading Lyndon LaRouche or L. Ron Hubbard. Amusing stuff, but not terribly authoritative.
Personally I think he did create the Eroica Symphony. We're not talking about the Stones' cover of "I can't get no Satisfaction". We're talking about music ex nihlo. The medium itself is second to none as grist for this particular philosphic mill. Music is the most mathematic and mysterious of the Arts. Of Math we can ask: Does Man invent or discover it? Aesthetic questions about Music can approach this kind of depth quite easily.
Have you ever listened to any Schoenberg? I'm not a fan of twelve tone music myself, but I can't deny for an instant the creative genius that spawned it. His music stands in relation to the tonality that came before as Relativity stands to Newtonian Mechanics.
There's a lot to be uncovered in this discussion but let's cut to the quick: Did the Eroica Symphony exist before Beethoven wrote it? If not then can't we call him it's "creator"?
> Did the Eroica Symphony exist before Beethoven wrote it?
:)
Does it exist now? What is a song? It is represented by marks on a paper, but that is not the song itself. A song is obviously a sequence of notes, played (or a set of sequences -- multiple instruments). All of those notes, rests, notations existed beforehand just as much as the song itself exists now. He just arranged those notes in an order that produced pleasure (or some other emotion).
I guess my whole argument is a "If a tree falls in the woods..." one. There's probably not any way to convince anyone of my position unless they already believe it.
he knows much that is hidden. quite.
Composer - A person the creates (composes) music. Arrangement - An adaption of a musical composition.
Okay. I have to step in here having heard 1st person from both Gore and Vint Cerf.
Gore is a liar (as are most politicians). I am not claiming he lied about the internet. I am claiming he lied about other things. He had the nerve to speak to a nationally accredited medical school and university which sits near Canada about how "well" the Canadian Nationalized Health Care system is working for them. We knew it wasn't. He lost my vote right there.
Vint Cerf has said publicly (where I was present) that Gore pushed through the legislation to get the funding to allow the internet to become what it is today. And I believe his Vint Cerf's actual quote was, "We would not have the internet without his legislative efforts. So he effectively *did* create it."
"Would you rather have a playstation addicted dork wearing a star wars t-shirt?"