
Apple design chief Jonathan Ive awarded knighthood - smoody
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/12/30/apple_design_chief_jonathan_ive_awarded_knighthood.html
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joshes
>Interestingly enough, Jobs himself was also considered for knighthood by the
Queen of the United Kingdom, but the proposal was blocked by a former Prime
Minister because Jobs declined to speak at a Labour Party conference.

That's fascinating to me. As an American who has never paid much attention to
British knighthood, I am not knowledgeable about the process for selecting
whom becomes a British knight. Could someone with the requisite knowledge
perhaps elucidate on whether or not ostensibly petty politics get in the way
of these things with regularity?

It seems absolutely absurd that someone who is being considered for knighthood
could be denied of that because of something as minuscule as declining to
speak at a party conference.

~~~
toyg
A lot of people have a say on the list of people to be honoured, but the Prime
Minister is the most influential of the lot. Technically speaking the monarch
could overrule any objection (afaik the process is not defined by any specific
law or regulation, just built on convention), in practice it rarely ever
happened with Elizabeth II. It will be interesting to see how this, like many
other conventions established under her rule, will morph once we go back to
having a male King who will be more popular than the political establishment,
something that hasn't happened for a very long time.

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non123
Is there that much love for Charles?

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toyg
Chances are that Charles will never be king, and if he is, it won't be for
very long.

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cstross
See also Edward VII -- <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_vii> \-- Queen
Victoria's oldest surviving male offspring, he had to wait 59 years for the
throne. Reigned for nine years, then died.

Given the Windsor family medical history, Elizabeth II could well make it past
her centenary. In which Charles will not get to place his bum on the throne
until he's in his late seventies or eighties.

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wallflower
If you have not seen Gary Hustwit's design documentary, "Objectified", I
recommend it highly. Especially if you are not a professional designer (I am
not a designer, and I know enough to appreciate good design, not produce it)
[1].

In "Objectified", Dieter Rams (of iconic Braun fame) is asked if there is any
company that really gets design today. He answers after a moment's pause:
"Apple".[2]

[1] Ira Glass on the importance of having good taste before you can produce to
the expectations of that taste

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY> (EDIT: Fixed link)

[2] "Objectified: Dieter Rams commentary"

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBF1rOxWsxg>

<http://objectifiedfilm.com>

~~~
matthavener
Its available on netflix instant
<http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Objectified/70114976>

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olivercameron
Incredibly well deserved. If we all learn one thing from Sir Jony Ive, it's
that simplicity wins out every single time.

Really happy to see him get mainstream recognition, because he truly should be
up there with all the other well-known genius Brit's like Branson and Dyson.

~~~
keithpeter
Its worth pointing out that Sir Jonathan went to a Further Education College
and then a Polytechnic, and then went on to start his own small design agency?

This is an _excellent_ example to others including my own students some of
whom are on design courses here in the UK.

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vonskippy
Ever since the "Slay Dragon" requirement has been removed, the honour seems a
bit shallow.

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kghose
There is much wit in this brevity.

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bitops
That's "Sir" Johnathan Ive. He was knighted, you know.

~~~
Jun8
Hmm, this got me thinking: An interesting loop occurs when you want to
announce that person X has been knighted (what is the verb for women,
"damed"?), i.e. is now Sir X (SX). The thing is you can't say "SX has been
knighted" because that is a tautology. But saying "X has been knighted" sounds
wrong because, you know, he's no longer X.

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ComputerGuru
> _(what is the verb for women, "damed"?)_

Spent a good ten minutes Googling this one. It would seem no separate word
exists ('damed' is not a word), though one site suggested the use of 'daymed'
(it's a pun. not very funny :)

I believe technically both men and women are knighted. One becomes a Sir, and
the other a Dame. If you think it sounds funny, I supposed "made a dame" might
be another way of phrasing it.

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Silhouette
If memory serves, historically the verb "create" was used for high
appointments. For example, the monarch would take Bill Smith and create him
William, Duke of Somewhere. He would then formally be addressed as Lord
Somewhere.

I don't know whether the same phraseology would ever have made sense for a
knight, though, and I may well be a bit off on the details.

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statictype
Am I the only one who was under the impression that he was _already_ knighted
for his work on the iPod/iMac (even before the iPhone was announced)? I could
have sworn I read something to that effect many years ago.

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FrankBooth
He was a Commander, now he's a Knight Commander. Only now may he use the title
"Sir".

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zerostar07
He has to refer to himself as 'Sir' too?

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moonlighter
I'm happy that Jony got awarded this honor. But when I read "Commander of the
British Empire" I chuckled and thought to myself, it's 2012 and this really
ought to say "Commander of the British Empire _or what's left of it_ " ;)

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tobylane
It's prestige without power, pointing out the lack of power lowers the
prestige.

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moonlighter
Pointing to something which doesn't exist anymore is usually bad thing. NPE's
come to mind.

~~~
tobylane
Patent trolls can scare off competitors, Sirs just mean they led a publicly
useful, honorable British-started life.

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richardburton
Well-deserved.

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zerostar07
Wait ... that means he 's with the Empire now?

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cenuij
Frankly, it's bullshit. If it takes the queen to Recognise and protect this
level of art, then we are fucked Vs. US bullshit.

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grandalf
This is as absurd as if he'd been given an honorary title by the Church of
Scientology...

Am I the only one who sees this as a pitiful attempt by a government to rub
elbows with someone who truly has merit, and by doing so to create the notion
that there is some form of equality between the two?

I think any self-respecting person would decline knighthood. Though I can see
in this case how his corporate responsibilities would lead him to accept it in
order not to offend British subjects, since doing so might hurt sales.

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FrankBooth
The entire British government has no merit? Really?

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grandalf
One could make the same argument about the Church of Scientology. The
knighthood is via the figurehead, monarchic part of the government which
serves no actual purpose.

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tptacek
I'm guessing two things from this comment.

(1) You are a computer programmer.

(2) You are not British.

Am I right about either of them? I hope so. I upvoted you in sympathy. :)

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grandalf
You are correct. I have nothing against the British government or the Church
of Scientology, but I do think titles of nobility are bizarre and a reminder
of our civilization's dark past.

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sliverstorm
Do they really differ from the titles we use in the USA? "Senator" Bush. "Mr.
President" (every president past and present)

"Sir" is no more a title of nobility (today) than any of those.

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grandalf
You would have to be the biggest cynic in the world about democracy to think
there is no difference between an elected senator and a monarchic (hereditary)
title of nobility.

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megablast
It is almost as if you are trying not to understand, and just want to lash out
at this, no matter what.

Yes, it is a title, nothing more, nothing huge, almost completely meaningless.

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grandalf
That's my point, it' meaningless. That modern humans think it's a big deal is
the scary part.

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sliverstorm
Yet you are the one sounding the war drums.

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grandalf
Just trying to correct for the very common pro government bias.

