Auctioning this hate magnet of a domain is an interesting idea. The question is: could you ever launder the image of the domain sufficiently to make it worth the price of purchase? ***sigh*** I guess there is probably a PR company or two out there that specialises in that kind of work.

The dawning of (almost) instant communication, via email, sms, and messaging in its many forms, seems to make people think of their fellow humans far less often. The form of communication used does not excuse anyone from basic etiquette (and being polite) regardless of how pushy or rude another party is. Moreover just because someone is rude doesn't entitle any individual to post their behaviour for the entire planet to see.

Once upon a time you were reminded to be polite by your peers, and there was time to think before (and after) you said something. Those days are long gone, because whilst verbal exchanges can be forgotten over time, the Internet has the "memory" of several elephants and tends to keep your ill fated words buzzing around like angry hornets waiting to sting you, or any other individual unfortunate enough to get caught up in the next social intruige.

To paraphrase Andy Warhol: "Everyone will be infamous for their fifteen minute post of shame".

PS: I hope that the original purchaser gets their controller and is extremely pleased with it. I hope that the manufacturer works out how to manage their inventory and ordering system and above all I hope that everyone else enjoys their holidays with whatever toys they *did* receive for Christmas. Happy Holidays.

In the west there's a big push to e-everything in education. Governments love e-learning and distance learning because it promises reduced labour costs, whilst maintaining the illusion of high educational standards. The cost of e-learning (in all forms) are pushed onto the parents of schoolchildren, in the same way that the costs of higher education are pushed onto parents and students. The reality of education in the UK is that e-learning hasn't delivered higher quality education or better qualified students.

What has happened is the erosion of education standards to the point where everyone appears to be doing better, and an enlarging of higher education to make people feel that a degree is available for everyone, as a right, not a privilege. Teachers become minders and entertainers, exams become minor bumps in a student's progress and the student arrives age 21 spectacularly ill prepared for the reality of the 21st century jobs market.

At best e-learning helps from the sidelines, but there is no way you can replace small class sizes, good teachers and motivated parents who have a desire for their children to learn something. A Kindle cannot teach a student, just by virtue of being a Kindle, in just the same way as a book won't teach you how to be a brain surgeon.

I'm not going to take away from the positives of iPads or Kindles though: they're fabulously convenient form factors for certain types of media consumption. There is however a problem: people are attempting to use the iPad and the Kindle as a solution to every problem out there, rather than decent media consumption platforms.