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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCongress Spends Several Hours Pretending to Understand Internet
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)In an impressive white-knuckle performance on live television today, members of Congress spent several hours in a hearing room pretending to understand the Internet.
Beginning this morning, members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee devoted four hours to grilling Web-site contractors about site architecture, Web traffic, software, and other I.T. concepts about which their ignorance is nearly complete.
As members of this committee, we are supposed to have a deep understanding of the technology involved in the health-care Web site, said Chairman Fred Upton (R-Michigan). So it was absolutely imperative for us to fake that we do.
For the duration of the hearings, the Web contractors offered detailed testimony about end-to-end testing, enterprise identity management, and other technical concepts to a group of elected officials who can barely use e-mail.
I would say that, to a man, we did not understand ninety-nine per cent of that computer nonsense they were going on about, Chairman Upton said. To me it was a whole lot of blahbitty-blahbitty-blah. I hope it wasnt too obvious.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/10/congress-spends-several-hours-pretending-to-understand-internet.html?utm_source=tny&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=borowitz&mbid=nl_Borowitz%20(188)
CurtEastPoint
(18,646 posts)Here's the actual speech. So pitiful:
And set to music:
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Too bad he died in that plane crash. He would explain it to them. A series of tubes.....
In love with the music video!
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,009 posts)with higher pressure.
wilt the stilt
(4,528 posts)When I heard the yo yo's were going to discuss high tech I LOL'ed
longship
(40,416 posts)I was an early adopter Linux geek in the 90's and I've run a whole room full of servers. I knew the problems that this health care thingie (the technical terminology) was going to cause.
Here, geeks, are the thousands of pages of the bill. You've got a year to put it into practice. I was heartened when the PBS NewHour cited Brooks's Law last night in their coverage:
They even cited Brooks' plain language synopsis:
Sometimes PBS does really well.
References:
Fred Brooks
The Mythical Man Month
procon
(15,805 posts)a grade school kid knows more about the technology than those wheezing old codgers.
Buns_of_Fire
(17,180 posts)who can successfully tie his own shoelaces...
Rex
(65,616 posts)They pretend to do a lot of things and care about a lot of things.