btw, the itu imploded

[Peter Gutmann]

Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> quotes:

>> Yep. _Gloriously_! The US walked out, followed by bunchty others.
>>
>> <http://www.pcworld.com/article/2020469/opponents-say-itu-treaty-threatens-internet-freedom.html>
>
>The ITU didn't implode and that article gives a ridiculously misleading
>impression of what happened.  The BBC gives a more balanced viewpoint:

This remains me of a passage on journalism from the classic "How to be an
Alien" (cut down somewhat for size):

--- The Fact ---

There was some trouble with the Burburuk tribe in the Pacific Island,
Charamak. A party of ten English and two American soldiers, under the command
of Capt. R. L. A. T. W. Tilbury, raided the island and took 217 revolutionary,
native troublemakers prisoner and wrecked two large oil-dumps. The party
remained ashore an hour-and-a-half and returned to their base camp without
loss to themselves.

How to report this event? It depends on which newspaper you work for.

--- The Times ---

... It would be exceedingly perilous to overestimate the significance of the
raid, but it can be fairly proclaimed that it would be even more dangerous to
underestimate it. The success of the raid clearly proves that the native
defences are not invulnerable; it would be fallacious and deceptive, however,
to conclude that the defences are vulnerable. The number of revolutionaries
captured cannot be safely stated, but it seems likely that the number is well
over 216 but well under 218.

--- Evening Standard (Londoner's Diary) ---

The most interesting feature of the Charamak raid is the fact that Reggie
Tilbury is the fifth son of the Earl of Bayswater. He was an Oxford Blue, a
first-class cricketer and quite good at polo. When I talked to his wife (Lady
Clarisse, the daughter of Lord Elasson) at Claridges to-day, she wore a black
suit and a tiny block hat with a yellow feather in it. She said: "Reggie was
always very much interested in warfare." Later she remarked: "It was clever of
him, wasn't it?"

If you are the London correspondent of the American paper

--- The Oklahoma Sun ---

simply cable this:

    "Yanks Conquer Pacific Ocean" 

Peter.