Part of the confusion is that most people in america think of the Internet as a DARPA creation, which it was. Most of us use the terms “Internet” and “Web”  pretty much interchangeably.  Technically, they are different things, but when the AL Gore invented the internet jokes are told over and over, nobody responds to say, “No actually some British guy named Tim did that.”

If they don’t feign ignorance, everyone in their professional circle will turn, point, and hiss:  NURRRRRRRDS!   NURRRRRRDS!

:)

This latest NBC horror seems to show how unprepared they still are: something so rich with references needed interpretation for Americans, not distraction.

Luckily you can watch the London Olympics opening ceremony with no commentary on the BBC iPlayer.

Nobody disagrees that Santos-Dumont was the first to take off unassisted (though when the WB’s could fly for 39 minutes in ’05, Santos-Dumont could never fly more than 10), or that he was an all-around amazing and important figure in aviation, but there is an historical consensus that the WB’s flew their plane before he flew his.

Claims to contrary are based more in nationalism and ideology than in objective fact.

I was so happy the Olympics could put a global spotlight on Mr Berners-Lee, a real unsung hero of out times, who literally changed all our lives.

Anyway, history will always have it’s casualties, most American’s think Ford invented the car (it was Daimler Benz), most Germans think they invented the printing press ( it was the Chinese), and the Greeks think they invented civilised society (it was definitely us Brits ;)….

Which brings me back to Sir Tim, who invented the www -so now we can go to WikiPedia to check the real facts ;)

The Wrights had absolutely zero witnesses to their supposed flights  who weren’t on their payroll and in their pockets. Santos-Dumont, in contrast, flew before the entire city of Paris and all the independent authorities and officials you could hope for.

Too bad Boehner wasn’t filled with patriotism in 1968 when, as the slacker he is, he washed out of US Navy boot camp, then would later fraudulently claim military service during Vietnam.

This is sooooo typical of the American Propaganda Network [FoxFiction-CNN-ABC-NBC-CBS-PBS-NPR, etc.].

They only receive bonuses for repeating the phrase, “conspiracy theory, conspiracy theory” during their on air conversations.

I can’t stand to watch TV news for more than a few seconds because of the inanity even when covering major, serious stories – the inanity is built in by whoever writes what’s on the teleprompters. 

There are exceptions – there are actually people trying to do intelligent TV journalism in the US – but they are rare and don’t get much airtime.

I won’t try to suggest that in other countries it’s perfect, but the obvious example for comparison is the BBC which seems to me to be striving to raise the intelligence level of the audience rather than speaking down to them.

Relevant example is the olympics opening ceremony – I downloaded and watched the 4-hour broadcast from the BBC (available on the pirate bay). They provided brief explanations for what the various things in the ceremony were (just stating briefly what it is without additional commentary for the most part), provided interesting background information during lulls, and provided interesting information about each country as the athletes came out. Plus it was uncut and commercial free.

But who hires and fires em, and directs the culture of the organisation?