Comment On I.S.O. is for L.O.S.E.R.S.

Frist is not for losers.

I missed something. How did they go from two-letter country codes to antitrust legislation?

rcfox:

I missed something. How did they go from two-letter country codes to antitrust legislation?

You missed a year of non-stop winning.

TRWTF is VBA on a LAMP

This company sounds like it has tiger blood.

rcfox:

I missed something. How did they go from two-letter country codes to antitrust legislation?

If you have used all the two letter country codes you are obviously too big and have to be cut...

FCC does not like custom country codes. Probably because they generate too much interference.

Gotta be Comcast.

Also, VBA on LAMP? Really?

There were a few small WTFs in there... Where is *the* WTF?

I'm like @Deprecated, I'm still waiting for the WTF in this story (although there are some, but maybe the writing didn't just highlight them enough)

captcha : ullamcorper ... No you're the lame corper !

Unfortunately, custom country codes are not really a uncommon wtf.
I wrote my master's thesis in comparative politics and had to aggregate data from a lot of different sources like World Bank, Eurostat, UNO, CIA etc. But none of these institutions used a common country identifier - most used "custom ones" or "ISO-standard with homebrewed extensions". It cost me dozens of hours to manually merge these data. Especially fun where the country names like Iran, which the CIA calls Iran at the time of the schah and Islamistic Republic of Iran afterwards... Or Great Britain, which can also be called England, G. B. G. Britain, or anything else.

HerrDerSchatten:

Or Great Britain, which can also be called England, G. B. G. Britain, or anything else.

And don't forget that Great Britain isn't a country, either. It's the largest island of the British Isles, which between them form *two* countries, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland ("Eire"). The United Kingdom's ISO twiddly whatsit abbreviation, however, is "gb", not "uk", which is is the Ukraine. Despite that incongruity, of course, .uk is the TLD for the UK, unlike most other countries (except Ukraine, of course) which use their ISO codes.

The Scots, the Welsh, and various other oddments will often be offended by those calling GB (or the UK) "England", despite the fact that using the phrase "England and Wales" has been tantamount to saying "England and part of England" since 1536.

'Course I'm English (even though I live in France, but that's a story for another day), so this only bothers me in the reverse sense, in that it assumes that the oddments are English...

Oh, and GB can't be called whatever you like. Calling it "Italy" wouldn't be right at all, for example. And calling all of it "England" is mostly a habit of ignorant rednecks, and (in translation) the French.

*The* WTF is management by slogan. And the way to handle it, if you're willing to risk losing the fight (and losing is for losers) is to out-slogan them. E.g., "Nepotism is for losers, Alan," and "N.I.H. is for losers, Tesa. Winners comply with standards because they aren't afraid of a level playing field."

Me:

FCC does not like custom country codes. Probably because they generate too much interference.

... without being able to accept interference that may cause undesired operation.

Sam C.:

Gotta be Comcast.

No way. The US government's allowed them to gobble up AT&T broadband and NBC with hardly a peep.

What is the name of the company? Oh wait, that's for losers.

AT&T?

rcfox:

I missed something. How did they go from two-letter country codes to antitrust legislation?

This kind of remark is for losers.

(In fact, the missing link must be Schwarzenegger's speeches. If you don't see why then you're a loser).

I.S.O. is for L.O.S.E.R.S
Coffee is for closers

I guess the failure is that they couldn't prevent the business from failing.

Steve The Cynic:

And don't forget that Great Britain isn't a country, either. It's the largest island of the British Isles,

Thank you Steve. You've saved me writing all that.

Let's not mention the Isle of Man....

Roby McAndrew:

Let's not mention the Isle of Man....

That's the first rule of the Isle of Man.

I am from Germany, and we call it "England" too.
Sorry i totally forget the fun port about the United Kingdom, which some agencies call UK or U. K. ;)

Personally, I think "Great Britain" is an odd name, but on the other hand, the name of my country (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is not really nice either.

Whew! I thought today's WTF was going to be about the Information Security Office. As in

(a) we don't have one

or

(b) we hate the one we have

Sam C.:

Gotta be Comcast.

Comcast is insulated from both Republicans (directly through campaign contributions) and Democrats (VP David L Cohen was once DNC chairman/PA Governor Ed Rendell's chief of staff).

I vote for "the Foreign Intelligence Security Act is not constitutional without a court order, NSA" Qwest.

HerrDerSchatten:

I am from Germany, and we call it "England" too.

Same in Italy: "Inghilterra". And we also say "Olanda" instead of "Paesi Bassi" (Netherlands).

[quote user="Steve The Cynic"][quote user="HerrDerSchatten"]The United Kingdom's ISO twiddly whatsit abbreviation, however, is "gb", not "uk", which is is the Ukraine. Despite that incongruity, of course, .uk is the TLD for the UK, unlike most other countries (except Ukraine, of course) which use their ISO codes.[/quote]

Not so. Since the .uk usage predated ISO 3166, UK is not used at all in that standard. Ukraine is UA. (Which is part of why in my work, I toss that standard aside and use IOC codes...)

Kivi:

Roby McAndrew:

Let's not mention the Isle of Man....

That's the first rule of the Isle of Man.

Don't forget the Isle of Wight either.

pif:

HerrDerSchatten:

I am from Germany, and we call it "England" too.

Same in Italy: "Inghilterra". And we also say "Olanda" instead of "Paesi Bassi" (Netherlands).

Holland is of course a province (well, a pair of provinces: north Holland and south Holland) of the Netherlands - so referring to The Netherlands as Holland is about on a par with referring to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as "England".

But then, you people who live in America don't need to know all that.

QJo:

Kivi:

Roby McAndrew:

Let's not mention the Isle of Man....

That's the first rule of the Isle of Man.

Don't forget the Isle of Wight either.

The Isle of Wight is part of England and the United Kingdom, but not part of Great Britain (or The North Island as Caulk-heads call it)

silverpie:

Steve The Cynic:

The United Kingdom's ISO twiddly whatsit abbreviation, however, is "gb", not "uk", which is is the Ukraine. Despite that incongruity, of course, .uk is the TLD for the UK, unlike most other countries (except Ukraine, of course) which use their ISO codes.

Not so. Since the .uk usage predated ISO 3166, UK is not used at all in that standard. Ukraine is UA. (Which is part of why in my work, I toss that standard aside and use IOC codes...)

Hmm... That'll teach me to rely on something I thought someone said years and years ago, rather than actually checking. (Huh? Why would I want to do that?)

I'm still trying to figure out what this story is about. Temps and interns "scouring the web" for details of their network outages? No ping command supported on any of their equipment?

I don't understand... I must be a loser.

HerrDerSchatten:

I am from Germany, and we call it "England" too.
Sorry i totally forget the fun port about the United Kingdom, which some agencies call UK or U. K. ;)

Personally, I think "Great Britain" is an odd name, but on the other hand, the name of my country (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is not really nice either.

That's "Great" meaning "large", so there are "Brittany" (small Britain, actually part of France, although the Bretons might not agree) and "Great Britain" (large Britain) staring at each other across the English Channel.

And I don't really see what's so bad about being a Federal Republic, either.

Roby McAndrew:

Steve The Cynic:

And don't forget that Great Britain isn't a country, either. It's the largest island of the British Isles,

Thank you Steve. You've saved me writing all that.

Let's not mention that which is not to be mentioned....

There, saved you from having mentioned it.

I have to say, this is a bout the worst TDWTF story I've ever seen. It's unclear what it's about, it's unclear what's happening, it's unclear where the WTF is. The only thing that's clear is that the submitter is kind of a whiny prick.

Roby McAndrew:

QJo:

Kivi:

Roby McAndrew:

Let's not mention the Isle of Man....

That's the first rule of the Isle of Man.

Don't forget the Isle of Wight either.

The Isle of Wight is part of England and the United Kingdom, but not part of Great Britain (or The North Island as Caulk-heads call it)

Is Caulk-head a nickname for people from the isle of Wight?

HerrDerSchatten:

Personally, I think "Great Britain" is an odd name, but on the other hand, the name of my country

'Great Britain' is only an odd name if you think the 'Great' part has a meaning as in 'Isn't that great?' - ie really good.

In fact, 'Great' means 'big'. So 'Great Britain' is the 'big' bit of Britain (the British Isles). It's not a 'political' modifier as in 'Bundesrepublik', simply a measurement/geographic thing.

(So, when people say "Let's put the 'Great' back into 'Great Britain'", they are really telling people to put on weight, which we seem to be doing anyway)

If Scotland gains independence (the sooner the better!) then the island will still be called 'Great Britain', but the country called 'The United Kingdom' will be a bit smaller (and better)

What will happen to the ISO country codes then would be interesting - GB would make even less sense than it does now - it should be UK. Using GB for the UK would be like using 'EU' for France.

Justsomedudette:

Is Caulk-head a nickname for people from the isle of Wight?

Yes. Probably not PC...Sorry.

WhiskeyJack:

AT&T?

As every computer guy from the last century knows, AT&T is a modem test command!

pscs:

Using GB for the UK would be like using 'EU' for France.

Which is why I hated the name "Team GB" with such a passion. If our Olympic committee is so patriotic, how come they don't know what their country is called?

(hopefully this rather large image won't break anything)

Steve The Cynic:

HerrDerSchatten:

Or Great Britain, which can also be called England, G. B. G. Britain, or anything else.

And don't forget that Great Britain isn't a country, either. It's the largest island of the British Isles, which between them form *two* countries, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland ("Eire"). The United Kingdom's ISO twiddly whatsit abbreviation, however, is "gb", not "uk", which is is the Ukraine.

Get your facts right. Ukraine is "ua", and has been ever since ISO3166 was introduced in 1874.

QJo:

pif:

HerrDerSchatten:

I am from Germany, and we call it "England" too.

Same in Italy: "Inghilterra". And we also say "Olanda" instead of "Paesi Bassi" (Netherlands).

Holland is of course a province (well, a pair of provinces: north Holland and south Holland) of the Netherlands - so referring to The Netherlands as Holland is about on a par with referring to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as "England".

But then, you people who live in America don't need to know all that.

We in America just want one name to refer to "Those people who speak the same language, but with a funny accent". (Sorry, redneck is taken)

F:

Steve The Cynic:

HerrDerSchatten:

Or Great Britain, which can also be called England, G. B. G. Britain, or anything else.

And don't forget that Great Britain isn't a country, either. It's the largest island of the British Isles, which between them form *two* countries, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland ("Eire"). The United Kingdom's ISO twiddly whatsit abbreviation, however, is "gb", not "uk", which is is the Ukraine.

Get your facts right. Ukraine is "ua", and has been ever since ISO3166 was introduced in 1874.

Facts are for losers.

I'm sure the story would be just as funny without the swearing.

Thanks for stating the obvious.

Steve The Cynic:

HerrDerSchatten:

Or Great Britain, which can also be called England, G. B. G. Britain, or anything else.

And don't forget that Great Britain isn't a country, either. It's the largest island of the British Isles, which between them form *two* countries, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland ("Eire").

Er, nope.

Five countries:
The Republic of Ireland
Northern Ireland
Scotland
England
Wales

One Crown Dependency (dependencies aren't technically countries, but also aren't part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; self-governing but internal legislation subject to approval by the Queen in Council and also subject to the UK Parliament):
Isle of Man

Sometimes two more Crown Dependencies are included, but aren't technically British Isles but Channel Isles:
Bailiwick of Jersey
Bailiwick of Guernsey

B:

F:

Steve The Cynic:

HerrDerSchatten:

Or Great Britain, which can also be called England, G. B. G. Britain, or anything else.

And don't forget that Great Britain isn't a country, either. It's the largest island of the British Isles, which between them form *two* countries, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland ("Eire"). The United Kingdom's ISO twiddly whatsit abbreviation, however, is "gb", not "uk", which is is the Ukraine.

Get your facts right. Ukraine is "ua", and has been ever since ISO3166 was introduced in 1874.

Facts are for losers.

So is F a winner for not getting the fact right? Or is that a double loss? (1974, not 1874)

Steve The Cynic:

The Scots, the Welsh, and various other oddments will often be offended by those calling GB (or the UK) "England", despite the fact that using the phrase "England and Wales" has been tantamount to saying "England and part of England" since 1536.

Oh, weepy weepy wah-waaah! Tell the Welsh to go have a leek.

You don't hear people in Providence Plantations complaining about the use of "Rhode Island" to include them.