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Thursday, February 14th, 2008
To Err is British
Thursday, February 14th, 2008 02:06 pmThe Times has an interesting article today, Sorry, but it’s all been a huge mistake.
The idea is based on something put together by US blogger Bobvis, who listed his personal top 10 worst errors in US history, which include the failure to annexe the whole or part of Canada and the frittering of the Texas oil reserves. The Times picked up the idea and applied it to British history, asking people to log on and debate/vote for their top 10 of Britain’s greatest historical follies.
As you might expect, some are serious and some are frivolous. For some reason The Times only prints nine, and probably just a random nine at that:
I suppose the question is, what would any of us consider to be the top ten worst errors in British history. Or the top ten greatest achievements for that matter?
The idea is based on something put together by US blogger Bobvis, who listed his personal top 10 worst errors in US history, which include the failure to annexe the whole or part of Canada and the frittering of the Texas oil reserves. The Times picked up the idea and applied it to British history, asking people to log on and debate/vote for their top 10 of Britain’s greatest historical follies.
As you might expect, some are serious and some are frivolous. For some reason The Times only prints nine, and probably just a random nine at that:
To err is British
1 The bowler hat, or rather its demise
2 Chamberlain and his piece of paper in 1938, which announced the appeasement of Hitler
3 Brian Clough, whose absence from the England manager’s bench was a disaster, according to one contributor
4 The bombing of Dresden
5 “Thatcher”
6 Spam fritters
7 Benny Hill
8 Comprehensive schools, epitomised by Grange Hill
9 Stonehenge, which, according to one contributor, began the foolish British fascination with follies
I suppose the question is, what would any of us consider to be the top ten worst errors in British history. Or the top ten greatest achievements for that matter?
To Err is British
Thursday, February 14th, 2008 02:06 pmThe Times has an interesting article today, Sorry, but it’s all been a huge mistake.
The idea is based on something put together by US blogger Bobvis, who listed his personal top 10 worst errors in US history, which include the failure to annexe the whole or part of Canada and the frittering of the Texas oil reserves. The Times picked up the idea and applied it to British history, asking people to log on and debate/vote for their top 10 of Britain’s greatest historical follies.
As you might expect, some are serious and some are frivolous. For some reason The Times only prints nine, and probably just a random nine at that:
I suppose the question is, what would any of us consider to be the top ten worst errors in British history. Or the top ten greatest achievements for that matter?
The idea is based on something put together by US blogger Bobvis, who listed his personal top 10 worst errors in US history, which include the failure to annexe the whole or part of Canada and the frittering of the Texas oil reserves. The Times picked up the idea and applied it to British history, asking people to log on and debate/vote for their top 10 of Britain’s greatest historical follies.
As you might expect, some are serious and some are frivolous. For some reason The Times only prints nine, and probably just a random nine at that:
To err is British
1 The bowler hat, or rather its demise
2 Chamberlain and his piece of paper in 1938, which announced the appeasement of Hitler
3 Brian Clough, whose absence from the England manager’s bench was a disaster, according to one contributor
4 The bombing of Dresden
5 “Thatcher”
6 Spam fritters
7 Benny Hill
8 Comprehensive schools, epitomised by Grange Hill
9 Stonehenge, which, according to one contributor, began the foolish British fascination with follies
I suppose the question is, what would any of us consider to be the top ten worst errors in British history. Or the top ten greatest achievements for that matter?
Sorry, my ears are ringing
Thursday, February 14th, 2008 04:47 pmI should be working, it’s not as if I don’t have stuff to do, but I find instead, that my mind is wandering on to more important topics.
In particular I have been pondering something that has vexed both![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
colonel_maxim and myself for a not inconsequential length of time. Watching the X-Files recently and then an episode of Without a Trace brought it all back to mind. It is the use of technology in TV (and film) drama. I am not talking here, about fantastic technology, the sort you find on Star Trek or Babylon 5 and that genre. I mean instead such items as the desk top computer and the humble telephone in all its forms.
The first point concerns the computer – and I would appreciate visual examples of where I am wrong, rather than confirmation. This came back to mind because both agents, but primarily Scully in the X-Files regularly type up reports on a computer.
Does nobody in TV drama feel the need to use the space bar or return keys? No matter how much they write, it is always tappity tap on the alphanumeric keys, never the space bars and return keys (nor, indeed, the ‘shift’ key). Despite this clear typing deficiency, what appears on the screen is always properly punctuated, spaced and formatted.
And the telephone. This has become a problem more in the past few years, I think, as writers try to cram more dialogue in. The phone rings, is answered. The listener may answer a couple of times with single syllables and then hang up. They will then spend a couple of minutes relating the contents of the fifteen second phone conversation. This can only mean that characters in TV drama routinely receive their telephoned information by data burst.
So my question is, why do they not have regular mind numbing headaches given that they must have small modems implanted into their ears. I know they are much quieter now than in the days of my old 1440 dial up, but really.
In particular I have been pondering something that has vexed both
colonel_maxim and myself for a not inconsequential length of time. Watching the X-Files recently and then an episode of Without a Trace brought it all back to mind. It is the use of technology in TV (and film) drama. I am not talking here, about fantastic technology, the sort you find on Star Trek or Babylon 5 and that genre. I mean instead such items as the desk top computer and the humble telephone in all its forms.The first point concerns the computer – and I would appreciate visual examples of where I am wrong, rather than confirmation. This came back to mind because both agents, but primarily Scully in the X-Files regularly type up reports on a computer.
Does nobody in TV drama feel the need to use the space bar or return keys? No matter how much they write, it is always tappity tap on the alphanumeric keys, never the space bars and return keys (nor, indeed, the ‘shift’ key). Despite this clear typing deficiency, what appears on the screen is always properly punctuated, spaced and formatted.
And the telephone. This has become a problem more in the past few years, I think, as writers try to cram more dialogue in. The phone rings, is answered. The listener may answer a couple of times with single syllables and then hang up. They will then spend a couple of minutes relating the contents of the fifteen second phone conversation. This can only mean that characters in TV drama routinely receive their telephoned information by data burst.
So my question is, why do they not have regular mind numbing headaches given that they must have small modems implanted into their ears. I know they are much quieter now than in the days of my old 1440 dial up, but really.
Sorry, my ears are ringing
Thursday, February 14th, 2008 04:47 pmI should be working, it’s not as if I don’t have stuff to do, but I find instead, that my mind is wandering on to more important topics.
In particular I have been pondering something that has vexed bothcolonel_maxim and myself for a not inconsequential length of time. Watching the X-Files recently and then an episode of Without a Trace brought it all back to mind. It is the use of technology in TV (and film) drama. I am not talking here, about fantastic technology, the sort you find on Star Trek or Babylon 5 and that genre. I mean instead such items as the desk top computer and the humble telephone in all its forms.
The first point concerns the computer – and I would appreciate visual examples of where I am wrong, rather than confirmation. This came back to mind because both agents, but primarily Scully in the X-Files regularly type up reports on a computer.
Does nobody in TV drama feel the need to use the space bar or return keys? No matter how much they write, it is always tappity tap on the alphanumeric keys, never the space bars and return keys (nor, indeed, the ‘shift’ key). Despite this clear typing deficiency, what appears on the screen is always properly punctuated, spaced and formatted.
And the telephone. This has become a problem more in the past few years, I think, as writers try to cram more dialogue in. The phone rings, is answered. The listener may answer a couple of times with single syllables and then hang up. They will then spend a couple of minutes relating the contents of the fifteen second phone conversation. This can only mean that characters in TV drama routinely receive their telephoned information by data burst.
So my question is, why do they not have regular mind numbing headaches given that they must have small modems implanted into their ears. I know they are much quieter now than in the days of my old 1440 dial up, but really.
In particular I have been pondering something that has vexed both
colonel_maxim and myself for a not inconsequential length of time. Watching the X-Files recently and then an episode of Without a Trace brought it all back to mind. It is the use of technology in TV (and film) drama. I am not talking here, about fantastic technology, the sort you find on Star Trek or Babylon 5 and that genre. I mean instead such items as the desk top computer and the humble telephone in all its forms.The first point concerns the computer – and I would appreciate visual examples of where I am wrong, rather than confirmation. This came back to mind because both agents, but primarily Scully in the X-Files regularly type up reports on a computer.
Does nobody in TV drama feel the need to use the space bar or return keys? No matter how much they write, it is always tappity tap on the alphanumeric keys, never the space bars and return keys (nor, indeed, the ‘shift’ key). Despite this clear typing deficiency, what appears on the screen is always properly punctuated, spaced and formatted.
And the telephone. This has become a problem more in the past few years, I think, as writers try to cram more dialogue in. The phone rings, is answered. The listener may answer a couple of times with single syllables and then hang up. They will then spend a couple of minutes relating the contents of the fifteen second phone conversation. This can only mean that characters in TV drama routinely receive their telephoned information by data burst.
So my question is, why do they not have regular mind numbing headaches given that they must have small modems implanted into their ears. I know they are much quieter now than in the days of my old 1440 dial up, but really.