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Bill Gates to Receive Honorary UK Knighthood
jolyon writes "Yahoo is reporting that Bill Gates will receive his honorary UK knighthood on Wednesday. He doesn't get to call himself 'Sir' though. He becomes a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire."
"(Gates) is one of the most important business leaders of his age," he said. "Microsoft technology has transformed business practices and his company has had a profound impact on the British economy."
If only Knighthood came with all the grandeur that fairytales make it out to be. Luckily for Gates he falls right into the lot of Knights that were brutal barbarians who killed their competitors off by lopping their heads off with a sharp steel sword.
Among the pomp and grandeur of the formal state rooms at the palace, Gates will kneel in front of the sovereign, who will gently tap him on the shoulder with a sword.
You have to wonder if this is something like Gates received from the DOJ... "Among the pomp and grandeur of the formal courthouse, Gates will kneel in front of the judge, who will gently slap him on the wrist.
They need to name that something cool like Honorary Convicted Monopolist or something.
to have a Most Excellent Adventure through knighthood. Does this mean he call himself Bill H Gates, Esquire now? Party on Dude!
sorry, so so sorry
I swear he received this like a year or two ago.
AHA!
and I was not wrong.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3428673.stm
Almost all of us Brits have that title. It's handed down from father to son, in the same way the family bible would be.
We all live in castles too.
When does mc chris get is knighthood?
That's Sir Borg to you, peasant!
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
The Blue Shield of Death.
Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire or KCOTMEOOTBE
Yes Bill, but: I believe we will not get Eddie Van Halen until we have a triumphant video.
Ted, It's pointless to have a triumphant video when we don't even have any decent instruments.
But how can we have decent instruments when we don't know how to play?
That is why we need Eddie Van Halen.
And that is why we need a triumphant video.
Excellent!
I dunno; ask Elton John. I heard he's pretty wicked with a joust, too.
"Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
Regardless of how we feel about Microsoft as a corporation and Bill Gates as a ruthless evil business-demon, he has done wonderful things through his Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. I don't know if he is deserving of knighthood. He is a good capitalist, if that is something to be proud of.
Like the dept tagline says, all it takes is billions of dollars. Knighthood must be hurting for worthy people these days.
-- Having a Creationist Museum is like having an Atheist place of worship
Come and see the patents inherent in the system!
Help help! We're being repressed!
You can't buy such an honor because it's impossible to attain (at least for Bill). I'm not sure if naturalized citizens of GB can be called "Sir", but you can't be knighted at all if you're an American (or any other nationality) like Bill. As the article stated, you can be given an honorary title, but it's not the same thing at all. It pretty much just means that you've been honored by the crown.
"The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he who, by peddling second-rate technology, led them into it in the first place." (Douglas Adams)
:-)
Now all he needs is the shining armour
Arise!
Sir Embrace of Extend!
Sir Protector of FUD!
Sir Blue of Screen!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
.."Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire." Protector of the Order of the BSOD, Royal Disseminator of FUD, and Patcher of the Realm.
What does this button do...
An explaination of who gets to call themselves sir.. For those not quite in the know of how the Brittish Knighting system works.
Quoting Wikipedia: "Citizens of other countries, however, may be admitted as "honorary members". They do not count towards the numerical limits aforementioned, nor are they addressed as "Sir". (They may be made full members if they subsequently become British citizens.) Notable foreign members of the Order have included Pelé, Bob Geldof, Bill Gates, Rudy Giuliani, Alan Greenspan, Steven Spielberg, Tommy Franks and Wesley Clark (all Knights Commander)."
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
Actually, you can be knighted if you're from another nationality, just not American. As long as you're from a country that is in the Commonwealth, you can be knighted. For some reason the United States aren't part of it, so Americans can't be knighted, not that it means much anyway...
After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
- The Tao of Programming
"For some reason the United States aren't part of it"
Might have something to do with that little disagreement we had with the British a couple hundred years ago...
Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
(Darth Raymond) "I challenge you to a duel, Master Gates."
(Jedi Gates) "All right, just let me boot up my light saber."
10 minutes pass
(G) "Ok, my blade's on."
(R) "Then to battle!"
(G) "No, wait, now I need to turn on Windows Media Player so I can change my saber color."
(R) "What?"
(G) "Great, now let me close all of these pop-ups that show up whenever I turn on my saber."
(R) "You get light saber popups?"
(G) "Yes, but that'll be fixed in Service Pack 20, due out next year, barring unforeseen delays. Popups are really a normal part of dueling, you know."
(R) "You're a loony."
(G) "Am not!"
They fight. Gates is skilled, but after a few strikes his blade flickers and goes out, letting Raymond's blade slip through and destroy him.
(R) "Bill, Bill, Bill...didn't you read your own EULA? Longhorn isn't for use in airports, nuclear power plants, or other dangerous environments."
Stop learning! Only you can prevent esoterrorism.
Not to sound like a smartass (ok, yes I am), but since the U.S. isn't part of the Commonwealth then obviously Americans can't be knighted.
However, there are other reasons why U.S. citizens cannot be formally knighted (as opposed to honorarily like Bill). Please see this link which talks a bit about nobility in America and why it is not granted and why people wanting to be naturalized citizens must renounce titles of nobility, and this link which talks about the missing Thirteenth Amendment.
The last link (a very long read) mentions something which goes to the crux of why Americans cannot be formally knighted: to do so would mean they would have to answer to a foreign ruler. In the current case there is no expectation that Bill, or anyone who receives an honorary knighthood, will owe allegiance to the crown.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
of the US constitution:
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.
(emphasis mine)
So, Mr. Bill could be Sir Bill if he can get Congress to pass a bill giving him permnission to receive it. As it is, he can only receive the "honorary" honour, so to speak.
Recent American KBE's (according to my friend Google) include Tommy Franks, Alan Greenspan, Wesley Clark and Andres Previn. Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell, a KCB, which IIRC is more exclusive. Of course, Reagan, Bush the First and Cap Weinberger got GCBs, which is a more exclusive degree than KCB.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
But he's given enough of what he stole to decent charities that I say let him be crowned or sainted or venerated by the sort of people who do that sort of thing. As long as he keeps giving to charities, I just don't care.
... nevermind the millions he may have destroyed elsewhere. Be a good American(tm) and venerate him, for as a very wealthy man (never mind how he got there) he is akin to God.
It is exactly that attitude that has allowed the status quo to remain largely unchanged, despite the fact that humanity has had the resources and technical knowhow to end all poverty since about the 17th century.
As long as we get a few crumbs, we'll tolerate any amount of injustice. Add to that the vague dream that we may become one of the haves and enjoy the privelege of trampling on the have-nots that folks like Bill Gates enjoys, and we'll defend to the death their right to grind the rest of us beneath their heals.
It's OK. He's saved a few lives here
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Microsoft might be an unethical monopoly, but is Gates complicit in the deaths of his own employees, as Carnegie was ?
People of the time didn't exactly have a high opinion of the steel magnate after that incident. People aren't fond of Gates now.
As an employee of the Carnegie Museums, I say give it a hundred years. We have Carnegie to thank for the museum of art, the museum of natural history, and the Pittsburgh public libraries. You think anyone remembers the labor strike?
Microsoft can't last. What Gates does with his money, however, has the potential to.
I'm a rabid Linux fan, and I detest every moment I have to test my work in IE. However, I have to say that what Bill Gates is doing outside of the computing world is nothing short from wonderful.
I have a deep interest in education, in particular, how to solve the problems we are facing without throwing more money at them. So I am heavily involved in the school issues in my neighborhood, and I am organizing people to research things we can be doing to help out the district. What Bill Gates is doing to the education field is nothing short of amazing. Most recently, he said that the current high school system should be scrapped because it is a complete waste of time. I don't know any Linux fans that would disagree with that.
He is also putting his money where his mouth is. I know that we are looking at getting some of his money to implement his plans in our own district, or at least in the final stages of getting the grant. I don't think there is a district in the US that isn't getting some benefit from what he is doing.
And he does more than that. I don't know the specifics, but I know he is working in Africa and South America trying to help raise the living standard from sub-human to at least what we would call "poverty" in the US.
That is what he is getting knighted for, and not for his achievements in amassing a huge amount of wealth. It is how he is using it that really counts.
Now, I also realize that what Bill did to the computing world was nothing short of amazing as well. Before Bill, we were a sub-culture to be derided and spit upon. Now we are cool, and our skills have street-cred. We have Bill Gates to thank for that.
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
Good for him. That'll look nice on a business card, right next to his "Supreme Evil Minion" title bestowed on him by Satan himself.
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