You are spot on. Sturgeons law to the Xth power applies to blogging as well as podcasting: around 99.9% of it is crap. I listen to usually podcasts. Strangely enough, or maybe gley given not so strangely given the overall quailty of the radio proagrammes that they produce a lot of these are from the BBC others from Amercican PBR stations and only one is a kind of home-made-in-the-bedroom podcast, although that is very entertaining and of high quailty as well. I'll leave you to google for the links and to guess which podcast comes from whom:
In our time From our own correspondaent The World Tech Podcast LugRadio Go Digital eTown Podcast
I occasionally download other podcasts but it's question of time. I generally can't manager to listen to more than these six.
This is just some pulled out of the arse list, not the ten worst of all time. How can any list of engineering disasters omit the Tay Bridge Disaster. Not only was it extremely important in showing structural engineers that wind forces need to be considered but it also had a poem written about it by the Immortal Bard Willian Topaz MacGonagal. Not many other engineering cock-up shave been immortalised by the pen of a genius, unless you count Feynmann's shuttle disaster report.
As opposed to a real government who...er...takes things for free (income tax) and finances it's business through..er.. taxes on betting, alcohol and tobacco.
Excuse me for being a bit dim but I fail to see a great deal of difference.
I don't normally reply to anonymous cowards but in your case I;ll make and exception:
1) As someone who started his own company using government agencies for support I can tell you it's none other than great advice. And I received a grant from 3 sources no less.
Of course there's no problem getting the money and advice from the government agencies, but if throwing money at things was the answer why isn't the North East of England the hot-bed of entepreneurship that it could be.
2) The wind rarely blows from Russia, we have a well known gulf stream.
Apart from the difference between the wind and an ocean current they get a fucking cold wind in Cambridge and I say that as a Geordie.
3) A fen is just a name, I think you'll find people arn't stupid and can work out it's meaning. (We have places called "Cul-de-sac's" aswell - wonder what those are?)
If they have to work out it's meaning it's not a very good marketing name, is it.
4) Food, again what are you talking about?... We have a very diverse population, food is not a problem. You've just heard a comment some french president said and repeated it like a parrot. No I have eaten food the length and breadth of Britain. THe food the you get from most restaurants (including indian, chinese, thai italian the lot), all motorway service areas, works canteans, on airlines, at corner shops, at chippies is all crap. It's not just the preparation and cooking that is bad, no-one if France, for example, would consider serving you an hot toasted sandwich in a plastic bag, so that the bag is full if condensation and your sandwich soggy within seconds. No one in France would think it is a good idea to pack freshly cut cheese in antimicrobial cling film, no German chef would serve the same mixture of boiled or steamed vegetables with every single meal they serve in their restaurant with no sauce or seasoning. You can shut your eyes and shout about the arsehole Chirac as much as you want but British food is crap
5) 2 Million people are Sole-Traders, many more self-employed in other areas, with over 19,000 business were started last year.
2 million window cleaners, mini-cab drivers and "Earn £35 per hour in your spare time" types does not mean that we have a thriving entrepreurial economy
They tried to reproduce Silicon Valley near Cambridge in the UK. As far as I've heard it's not been the rip-roaring success that the people who thought of the idea imagined. The impression I get from a friend who works there is that there are a lot of start-ups which quickly turn into tits-ups. He's having more success with his home business making and selling infra-red controllers http://www.redrat.co.uk/.
There's a number of pulled-out-of-my-arse random reasons why it hasn't taken off like Silicon Valley:
1. It was pushed by National and Local Government. This never works, otherwise the North East of England would be like Silicon Valley after the amount of money that has been plowed into the region through Government and through the regional development agencies.
2. The Weather: as another post mentioned the weather in Silicon Valley is brilliant. In Cambridge it is the opposite. Nine months of the year an east wind blows out of the Russian steppes, across the North Sea and blasts across the flat fens of Norfolk towards Cambridge. It gets a bit warmer for a month or two in the Summer but if you try something like punting in the Cam and fall in, you could still die of hypothermia in August.
3. Marketing: No-one outside of the flat and soggy corner of England that is East Anglia knows what the fuck a "Fen" is. Anyone readin the name "Silicon Fen" will know straight away that it will be a cheap knock-off of Silicon Valley. Doh! The people who built Silicon Valley didn't call it that, it was called that by people who saw what he entrepeneurs and risk takers were doing.
4. Food: The UK is well known for having the worst food in Europe. I know there are more Michelin starred restaurants in London that ever before but 99.9% of the food in the UK does not come from Micehelin starred restaurants and who want to come and live here in you can live in California, France etc. This ties i with point 2 as well.
5. Risk Aversion: most brits don't like taking risks. They are terrified of risks, even more so then the Germans. One kid cuts their knee on a school trip and all school trips are banned because they are too dangerous. One person gets stabbed with a knife and know they are talking of banning all carrying of knives in public places. No more camping knofe fro me then when I head off into the mountains. Is it any wonder that people living and growing up in such an atmosphere aren't willing to take business risks. We will never see the likes of Alan Sugar, Richard Branson and Anita Roddick again.
I'm not a historian, but most stable countries that changed systems of government had a revolt which originated by native people. In France, it was the working class that overthrew the nobility. In the USA, it was farmers and working people who overthrew the british.
You're not a historian? Hmmm, I'd never have guessed.
The NHS does not provide "top notch treatment to EVRYBODY". The standard is variable throughout the UK depending upon where you live and how generous your PCT is feeling. Apart from those internal differences the overall standard of health care in the UK is much lower than comparable European countries, none of which have a tax funded national health service.
You fall into the same false dichotomy trap that all misguided defenders of the NHS (the largest stalinist organisation in the world) fall into. The choice is not the NHS or the US system. The choice is the NHS or something better. Personally, I'm sick of pouring my taxes into Gordon Browns tax black hole for little return.
The National Health Service is NOT the envy of the world. If it was why is nobody copying it?
If you heard the interview with Leigh on Radio 4 (BBC) the day that the judge gave his oral decision you'd realise that there is no way that this could have been a publicity stunt. The definition "nerd" could have been written to describe how this guy interviews. You have to hear it to believe it. Maybe it's available somewhere on the BBC web site....nope just did a search and it appears to be gone. Pity it was a classic.
"Did you know Winston Churchill wasn't permitted to speak on the BBC (the State telecoms monopoly of the day ) between 1933 and 1939 because his views on Nazi Germany were considered too extreme?"
Apart from the BBC not being a state telecomms monopoly, either then or at any time since. Do you have any sources for your assertion, because personally, I don't believe you?
I've never understood why the British seem to think themselves completely seperate from Europe.
It's because the bastards keep trying to invade us, and we know how to spell separate:-)
No, but seriously, there are serious cultural differences between GB and the rest of Western Europe.
The first area is political. In "Europe" they tend to have proportional representation in elections as opposed to the direct mandate (or first-past-the-post) of the British System. This means that coalitions are almost unknown in the UK and as a result the UK hasn't developed a "political class" as distinctly as some other countries, such as Germany with it's "list" system. Tony Blair actually has to be elected to Parliament in his constituency like any other member of Parliament. The German Chancellor is elected only bu his/her party members. This has the result that financial scandal is almost unknown in British Politics and part of everyday life in France Germany and Italy.
The second area is the law. The British system is adversarial while most of our European neighbours have an inquisatorial system.
Thirdly education. The UK has comprehensive education throughout the country (with a few pockets of selective education). Selective education is the norm in most other countries, even in Northern Ireland, although New Labour is trying to ruin education there as well.
Finally there's popular culture. What would you rather listen to Brit-Pop or Euro-Pop, Joe Strummer or Johnny Halliday, or watch: "A Fish Called Wanda" or "Monsieur Hulot en Vacance" or "Go, Trabi, Go" (yes, I've seen all three)? I rest my case.
Personally I love Europe, I love travelleng there. I love French markets, Italian sportscars, German orchetras, Spanish wine... My wife is "European" and my children are bilingual. But the UK and Europe are different, we proved that in 1588 and we've been proving it ever since. A Federal Europe would be a "Big Mistake" TM.
Only by those who go to Universities and think they are better than people who can actually do a job. The German academic system is so full of snobbery that it makes the British class system look like leveller-0style egilitarianism.
I once had someone working for me in Hamburg me who had a University Degree in computer science and he didn't even know what a linker was or what it did. Give me a Fachhochschule graduate every day.
You post this crap every time that there's a ID/Darwin discussion on Slashdot. Fo the X millionth time ID is not a theory . If you have nothing useful to contribute to the debate SHUT THE FUCK UP, WANKER!
You sound rather wide-eyed and innocent. No matter what Apple say, you have a twelth month guarentee by law. If you haven't experienced service like that from any other company, then you obviuosly haven't bought anything that has packed in within the first twelve months before. This is Apple pretending to be a caring, loving company (like they always do) and you fell for it.
If you're wondering why an employer decided not to hire you, you could try asking them instead of Slashdot.
Amazing, someone on slashdot giving good advice. I always ask why if I don't get a job. It's usually pretty easy to tell if they are just bullshitting.
yes, imagine the backlash as thousands of companies in Europe start suing Microsoft for breach of contract when MS refuses them support. That ought to go down well with the shareholders.
+5 insightful, fuck off! This guy has no idea what he's talking about.
Slashdot Mirror
You are spot on. Sturgeons law to the Xth power applies to blogging as well as podcasting: around 99.9% of it is crap. I listen to usually podcasts. Strangely enough, or maybe gley given not so strangely given the overall quailty of the radio proagrammes that they produce a lot of these are from the BBC others from Amercican PBR stations and only one is a kind of home-made-in-the-bedroom podcast, although that is very entertaining and of high quailty as well. I'll leave you to google for the links and to guess which podcast comes from whom:
In our time
From our own correspondaent
The World Tech Podcast
LugRadio
Go Digital
eTown Podcast
I occasionally download other podcasts but it's question of time. I generally can't manager to listen to more than these six.
I think you mean "disenchanted" not "disenfranchised". "Disenfranchised" means to lose the right to vote.
This is just some pulled out of the arse list, not the ten worst of all time.
How can any list of engineering disasters omit the Tay Bridge Disaster. Not only was it extremely important in showing structural engineers that wind forces need to be considered but it also had a poem written about it by the Immortal Bard Willian Topaz MacGonagal. Not many other engineering cock-up shave been immortalised by the pen of a genius, unless you count Feynmann's shuttle disaster report.
As opposed to a real government who...er...takes things for free (income tax) and finances it's business through ..er.. taxes on betting, alcohol and tobacco.
Excuse me for being a bit dim but I fail to see a great deal of difference.
You Americans have it easy. We Brits are still paying income tax, which was originally raised to pay for the Napoleonnic wars !
I don't normally reply to anonymous cowards but in your case I;ll make and exception:
... We have a very diverse population, food is not a problem. You've just heard a comment some french president said and repeated it like a parrot.
1) As someone who started his own company using government agencies for support I can tell you it's none other than great advice. And I received a grant from 3 sources no less.
Of course there's no problem getting the money and advice from the government agencies, but if throwing money at things was the answer why isn't the North East of England the hot-bed of entepreneurship that it could be.
2) The wind rarely blows from Russia, we have a well known gulf stream.
Apart from the difference between the wind and an ocean current they get a fucking cold wind in Cambridge and I say that as a Geordie.
3) A fen is just a name, I think you'll find people arn't stupid and can work out it's meaning. (We have places called "Cul-de-sac's" aswell - wonder what those are?)
If they have to work out it's meaning it's not a very good marketing name, is it.
4) Food, again what are you talking about?
No I have eaten food the length and breadth of Britain. THe food the you get from most restaurants (including indian, chinese, thai italian the lot), all motorway service areas, works canteans, on airlines, at corner shops, at chippies is all crap. It's not just the preparation and cooking that is bad, no-one if France, for example, would consider serving you an hot toasted sandwich in a plastic bag, so that the bag is full if condensation and your sandwich soggy within seconds. No one in France would think it is a good idea to pack freshly cut cheese in antimicrobial cling film, no German chef would serve the same mixture of boiled or steamed vegetables with every single meal they serve in their restaurant with no sauce or seasoning. You can shut your eyes and shout about the arsehole Chirac as much as you want but British food is crap
5) 2 Million people are Sole-Traders, many more self-employed in other areas, with over 19,000 business were started last year.
2 million window cleaners, mini-cab drivers and "Earn £35 per hour in your spare time" types does not mean that we have a thriving entrepreurial economy
They tried to reproduce Silicon Valley near Cambridge in the UK. As far as I've heard it's not been the rip-roaring success that the people who thought of the idea imagined. The impression I get from a friend who works there is that there are a lot of start-ups which quickly turn into tits-ups. He's having more success with his home business making and selling infra-red controllers http://www.redrat.co.uk/.
There's a number of pulled-out-of-my-arse random reasons why it hasn't taken off like Silicon Valley:
1. It was pushed by National and Local Government. This never works, otherwise the North East of England would be like Silicon Valley after the amount of money that has been plowed into the region through Government and through the regional development agencies.
2. The Weather: as another post mentioned the weather in Silicon Valley is brilliant. In Cambridge it is the opposite. Nine months of the year an east wind blows out of the Russian steppes, across the North Sea and blasts across the flat fens of Norfolk towards Cambridge. It gets a bit warmer for a month or two in the Summer but if you try something like punting in the Cam and fall in, you could still die of hypothermia in August.
3. Marketing: No-one outside of the flat and soggy corner of England that is East Anglia knows what the fuck a "Fen" is. Anyone readin the name "Silicon Fen" will know straight away that it will be a cheap knock-off of Silicon Valley. Doh! The people who built Silicon Valley didn't call it that, it was called that by people who saw what he entrepeneurs and risk takers were doing.
4. Food: The UK is well known for having the worst food in Europe. I know there are more Michelin starred restaurants in London that ever before but 99.9% of the food in the UK does not come from Micehelin starred restaurants and who want to come and live here in you can live in California, France etc. This ties i with point 2 as well.
5. Risk Aversion: most brits don't like taking risks. They are terrified of risks, even more so then the Germans. One kid cuts their knee on a school trip and all school trips are banned because they are too dangerous. One person gets stabbed with a knife and know they are talking of banning all carrying of knives in public places. No more camping knofe fro me then when I head off into the mountains. Is it any wonder that people living and growing up in such an atmosphere aren't willing to take business risks. We will never see the likes of Alan Sugar, Richard Branson and Anita Roddick again.
I'm sure there quite a few more.
Nice story but that's not evolution. They have just learned new behaviour patterns. Evolution involves mutation.
I'm not a historian, but most stable countries that changed systems of government had a revolt which originated by native people. In France, it was the working class that overthrew the nobility. In the USA, it was farmers and working people who overthrew the british.
You're not a historian? Hmmm, I'd never have guessed.
The NHS does not provide "top notch treatment to EVRYBODY". The standard is variable throughout the UK depending upon where you live and how generous your PCT is feeling. Apart from those internal differences the overall standard of health care in the UK is much lower than comparable European countries, none of which have a tax funded national health service.
You fall into the same false dichotomy trap that all misguided defenders of the NHS (the largest stalinist organisation in the world) fall into. The choice is not the NHS or the US system. The choice is the NHS or something better. Personally, I'm sick of pouring my taxes into Gordon Browns tax black hole for little return.
The National Health Service is NOT the envy of the world. If it was why is nobody copying it?
Typical Geek. Why don't you just go there and look?
If you heard the interview with Leigh on Radio 4 (BBC) the day that the judge gave his oral decision you'd realise that there is no way that this could have been a publicity stunt. The definition "nerd" could have been written to describe how this guy interviews. You have to hear it to believe it. Maybe it's available somewhere on the BBC web site....nope just did a search and it appears to be gone. Pity it was a classic.
Except when he's wrong, as in this case.
"Did you know Winston Churchill wasn't permitted to speak on the BBC (the State telecoms monopoly of the day ) between 1933 and 1939 because his views on Nazi Germany were considered too extreme?"
Apart from the BBC not being a state telecomms monopoly, either then or at any time since. Do you have any sources for your assertion, because personally, I don't believe you?
Yeah Yeah... and the planet Bumhole is pronounced Bumholly
(for old Spitting Image fans)
It's because the bastards keep trying to invade us, and we know how to spell separate
No, but seriously, there are serious cultural differences between GB and the rest of Western Europe.
The first area is political. In "Europe" they tend to have proportional representation in elections as opposed to the direct mandate (or first-past-the-post) of the British System. This means that coalitions are almost unknown in the UK and as a result the UK hasn't developed a "political class" as distinctly as some other countries, such as Germany with it's "list" system. Tony Blair actually has to be elected to Parliament in his constituency like any other member of Parliament. The German Chancellor is elected only bu his/her party members. This has the result that financial scandal is almost unknown in British Politics and part of everyday life in France Germany and Italy.
The second area is the law. The British system is adversarial while most of our European neighbours have an inquisatorial system.
Thirdly education. The UK has comprehensive education throughout the country (with a few pockets of selective education). Selective education is the norm in most other countries, even in Northern Ireland, although New Labour is trying to ruin education there as well.
Finally there's popular culture. What would you rather listen to Brit-Pop or Euro-Pop, Joe Strummer or Johnny Halliday, or watch: "A Fish Called Wanda" or "Monsieur Hulot en Vacance" or "Go, Trabi, Go" (yes, I've seen all three)? I rest my case.
Personally I love Europe, I love travelleng there. I love French markets, Italian sportscars, German orchetras, Spanish wine... My wife is "European" and my children are bilingual. But the UK and Europe are different, we proved that in 1588 and we've been proving it ever since. A Federal Europe would be a "Big Mistake" TM.
And yes it's normally viewed as less prestigious
Only by those who go to Universities and think they are better than people who can actually do a job. The German academic system is so full of snobbery that it makes the British class system look like leveller-0style egilitarianism.
I once had someone working for me in Hamburg me who had a University Degree in computer science and he didn't even know what a linker was or what it did. Give me a Fachhochschule graduate every day.
Fucking right you are!
You post this crap every time that there's a ID/Darwin discussion on Slashdot.
Fo the X millionth time ID is not a theory .
If you have nothing useful to contribute to the debate SHUT THE FUCK UP, WANKER!
Let me respectfully point out that the word you are trying to use in your subject is "cue" and not "queue"
You sound rather wide-eyed and innocent. No matter what Apple say, you have a twelth month guarentee by law. If you haven't experienced service like that from any other company, then you obviuosly haven't bought anything that has packed in within the first twelve months before. This is Apple pretending to be a caring, loving company (like they always do) and you fell for it.
If you're wondering why an employer decided not to hire you, you could try asking them instead of Slashdot.
Amazing, someone on slashdot giving good advice. I always ask why if I don't get a job. It's usually pretty easy to tell if they are just bullshitting.
He fired you because you can't write correct english and can't spell.
I tend to boycott queues as well. I just hate standing in lines
Deny tech support to companies/users in Europe.
yes, imagine the backlash as thousands of companies in Europe start suing Microsoft for breach of contract when MS refuses them support. That ought to go down well with the shareholders.
+5 insightful, fuck off! This guy has no idea what he's talking about.
Even more info on the BBC web site http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4789496.stm.
Windows XP ?
Celeron CPU ?
Three hour battery life?
Lame !