h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If you are middle-class or better off, with parents who can afford to send you to university, and almost certainly white.
Otherwise it can be shall we say, not so nice.

from the linked column:

> "[The Demon case] has forced ISPs to face the grim reality that they are responsible for materials hosted after they have received notice."

Note critical phrase "after they have received notice". 'Notice', in this case, probably meaning a click of the yikes button. From my (flawed) recollection of the Demon case they were also allowed "reasonable time" to determine whether the material is libelous - dealing with a complaint in an handful of minutes, 24 hours/day, is almost certainly reasonable. Which, I'm guessing, is the entire concept behind the yikes button anyway...

In precisely what way do you consider what I said to be chauvinist? Yes, of course I understand that I'm fortunate to be in the position I'm in and that there are people who are not so fortunate within my country and outside of it. But there are places that are worse. Like that big place just across the Atlantic... (in my opinion - no doubt you think otherwise. Where is the perfect place to live? Nowhere... you just have to take what you have and make the best of it that you can).

I extrapolated your polite remark about britain 'not being such a bad place to live' into something I could call chauvinist. Don't take it seriously though; it wasn't meant like that.

Good. My comment wasn't technically chauvinist - I never said Britain's the best place to live. It's not. (I looked up chauvinism in the dictionary, by the way. If I'd said Britain was absolutely better than everywhere else in the entire world then I probably would have been being chauvinist... but I'm not quite _that_ deluded )

"But there are places that are worse. Like that big place just across the Atlantic." - That bit was chauvinistic, and your recent "colour is spelled with a 'u'" appelation doesn't do much to negate that.

Hmm, I thought that chauvanism in this context just meant excessive patriotism - so a very high opinion of your own country - not a very low opinion of specific other countries...

Though this whole conversation initially confused me, since I was thinking of the sexist meaning of chauvanism - 'male chauvanist pig', and all that...

In any case, I don't think there's anything wrong in saying that, say, Outer Mongolia is a worse place to live than the UK. As long as I'm not using my opinion of a country to discriminate against the occupants of that country, it's fine.

Hmm. Hadn't thought of that.

No doubt the residents of Outer Mongolia, a wonderful democratic, peaceful, country free of the crass commercalism and corrupt politicians commonly found in Pomland and Yankland, thank you for caring.

Not many sheep there either....

My favourite recipe for lamb with mint sauce was first used by Genghis Khan

...except he used yaks and rancid butter. No doubt it was the search for the perfect version of that recipe that was the catalyst for his rampage across the Steppes....

Now that's something I never knew... surely it would have been better if he'd used fresh butter instead of rancid.

....during which he built an Empire bigger than the Brits ever put together and gave him more unfettered power than any USA president....

....all for the sake of a futile quest for NZ lamb with mint sauce.
The history of the world according to guide researchers...

...is fascinating and quite possibly educational

Who would want an unfettered president? They do enough damage with the power they have...

Does 'unfettered' mean the same as 'unhinged' becuase there have been one or two of those.

"Fetters" is an old word for things akin to restraints, irons, handcuffs etc. Thus an unfettered President is one with effectively unlimited power.

gave him more unfettered power than any USA president....

can read - gave him more unrestrained power than any USA president....

Yankee presidents, in theory, may, in some cases, have to justify their actions to the Senate, Supreme Court etc. Ulimately they are responsible to the people (electors)

American Supreme Court - now there is a body with unfettered power - partisan appointees, they can even overrule the will of the people - think recent Presidential election