Musings from the Merse
Sunday, March 15, 2009
McGoogle
If we had not dumped the Observer for Scotland on Sunday we might never have learned of yet another Scottish 'first' to add to Baird(TV) Sir Fred Goodwin (Pensions) Macadam (Tarring, inter alia, the B6461) Livingstone (Africa) R.Bruce (ARACHNOLOGY) Mackintosh (Pre-anorak rain coats)Burns (poetry) Brown.G. (the credit crunch) and that is Jonathon Fletcher. Under the headline 'GOOGLING WAS BORN IN STIRLING the SOS reveals that this Yorkshire man: (never mind- presumably dead stupid before he crossed the border) having taken a first class degree at Stirling University, went on to invent the first internet search engine 'Jump-Station' which, sadly never caught on commercially and it seems likely that his Big Idea was subsequently successfully imitated and exploited by Google, Yahoo etc. I suspect as the year of the home coming drags on more and more famous Scots will be dragged out of obscurity to celebrate the genius of the nation.
It can become a bit tedious claiming such and such invention for such and such nationality. Horrors-the Belgians may have invented cricket according to recent research (By a Belgian?)And if you have the luck and the honour to be Irish never forget that it was an Irishman who invented the lavatory seat.
A hundred years later,
an Englishman
put a hole in it
If we had not dumped the Observer for Scotland on Sunday we might never have learned of yet another Scottish 'first' to add to Baird(TV) Sir Fred Goodwin (Pensions) Macadam (Tarring, inter alia, the B6461) Livingstone (Africa) R.Bruce (ARACHNOLOGY) Mackintosh (Pre-anorak rain coats)Burns (poetry) Brown.G. (the credit crunch) and that is Jonathon Fletcher. Under the headline 'GOOGLING WAS BORN IN STIRLING the SOS reveals that this Yorkshire man: (never mind- presumably dead stupid before he crossed the border) having taken a first class degree at Stirling University, went on to invent the first internet search engine 'Jump-Station' which, sadly never caught on commercially and it seems likely that his Big Idea was subsequently successfully imitated and exploited by Google, Yahoo etc. I suspect as the year of the home coming drags on more and more famous Scots will be dragged out of obscurity to celebrate the genius of the nation.
It can become a bit tedious claiming such and such invention for such and such nationality. Horrors-the Belgians may have invented cricket according to recent research (By a Belgian?)And if you have the luck and the honour to be Irish never forget that it was an Irishman who invented the lavatory seat.
A hundred years later,
an Englishman
put a hole in it
Labels: Clever Scots, Google, Scottish Inventors
Comments:
The saxophone was a Belgian invention, and they also cook rather well. Most of Western Europe's kitty litter is imported from Senegal via Rouen. Norway is the centre of world toothbrush manufacture. The world's most northerly microbrewery is in a little cafe on the north Norwegian coast and a long way from the Arctic Circle. There - now I feel better......
# posted by 
: 2:35 PM
: 2:35 PM
And the first Dinger came from Duns Duns Scotus invented the Dunce's Cap and one of the first suburban house names was 'Duns Rovin'
Eat your heart out Swintonians and Whitsomers
Eat your heart out Swintonians and Whitsomers
Ireland is also the greatest exporter of bananas in Europe thanks to Fyffes cornering the banana boat market.
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