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From Fox News:
Vice President Joe Biden, tasked with overseeing the $787 billion stimulus package, has been having a little trouble with his “numbers.”
During an interview on CBS’ “Early Show” on Wednesday, Biden told viewers to check out a government-run Web site tracking stimulus spending, but admitted he was embarrassed because he couldn’t remember the site’s “number.”
“You know, I’m embarrassed. Do you know the Web site number?” he asked an aide standing out of view. “I should have it in front of me and I don’t. I’m actually embarrassed.”
Biden, who seemed to indicate that he thought the Internet worked like a giant telephone, sounded an unusually Luddite note inside an administration often heralded for its mastery of the Web.
Web sites, as much of the “Early Show” audience may have been aware, are generally referred to by their URLs or addresses. The one Biden was searching for was Recovery.gov, which he announced moments later when reminded of the proper address.
Bloggers wondered aloud whether the vice president knew how to use the Web, though some correctly pointed out that Web sites do indeed use a number system, and are identified by their numeric Internet Protocol address.
A spokeswoman for the vice president had not offered comment by the time this article was published.
Biden isn’t the first politician to make a serious flub concerning the ways of the Internet — former Sen. Ted Stevens called it a “series of tubes” in a now-famous address on the floor of the Senate.
But this wasn’t even Biden’s first error involving the name of the Web site. During a nationally televised address to the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Feb. 20, he directed the assembled leaders to visit the stimulus site — but sent them to the wrong one.
“We’ve already set up a Web site, Recovery.com, which will show where and how the money is being spent,” he said, apparently unaware that the government has its own domain. Before a government tweak last Friday, Recovery.com directed Web users to a commercial research company.
Who memorizes a site’s IP address? I bet even the YW Editor doesn’t know the number of his own website. We all rely on DNS to traslate the URL for us. More pedantry.
wow, the previous democratic VP invented the internet and this one is clueless how it works. You’d think they’d share some knowledge there. 🙂
And how much did the government spend to buy the recovery.com domain to fix Biden’s flub? Or did they seize it using umm, eminent domain?
McCain was not much better … there is so much to dump on the Obama administration, why choose something so stupid?
ames, I always did say that there were too many internets. I miss the glory days when it was unknown and only used for the sharing of dinosaur pictures. I guess W agreed.
tee hee poor guy
Squeak, I remember Prodigy. We were allowed to use it for like 15-20 minutes a day (and just a few days a week) because otherwise it got too expensive. Wow, I feel like I am dating myself LOL.
We got AOL when they had their first unlimited plan. Boy was that fun 🙂
Did you ever pay for AOL? I’ve never met anyone who did.
BTW, the “glory days” I was referring to are a good 20 years before Prodigy.
Squeak, I remember the original frogger! It was pink, green and yellow on a black background. My father was in computers, so by age one I was already on them.
Yes we paid for AOL – we needed internet connection. Back then you had to pay for dial-up!
I guess you remember when computers took up rooms huh?
Y.W. Editor
Key Master
800-YESHIVA leave the “WORLD” off for savings…..
very good!! really like that chap
SJS, not only do I remember such computers, but I used them all the time, through mainframe terminals.
Frogger, huh? Mid-80’s? I’m guessing it was either on a Commodore or a Vic-20. Mac was not good for games like that, and the IBM’s weren’t that popular. Am I right?
Back then, someone else had to pay for my dial-up (not my mommy and daddy, in case that’s what you were going to say).
We had an IBM 🙂 And yes it was the mid 80’s – I was born in 1982!
squeak, the net (ARPANET) was a military netwerk in the ’70’s. Academia (NSFNet) joined in the ’80’s. AOL = newbies, Prodigy = beinenim, CompuServe = techies.
Joseph, you are wrong. Academics were using the internet in the 70’s. Early 70’s. As I mentioned way back, I have an email account which is from then.
squeak, what I stated is indeed correct. The only academia on ARPANET (which was what today’s Internet was called then) were Universities that were Defense contractors (or sub-scontractors), i.e. the University of Southern California/Information Science Institure, etc. (Perhaps there was even one in the Garden State.) The broader academic community joined in the ’80’s, with the National Science Foundation establishing the NSFNet and connecting it to the ARPANet via the new TCP/IP protocal, effectively establishing the Internet.
Your e-mail account, assuming it was an ARPANET one, must’ve been from an institution somehow related to Defense.
here we go again, i remember you having this conversation, a couple weeks back.$
good memory qwerty!
Joseph, I can only assure you again that you are mistaken. I don’t really have any interest in hunting down someone at that school who can tell me what type of internet we had back then, but I know what I had. Where did you read that little bit of info that you place so much stock in? Wikipedia?
squeak: thanx!!$
squeak,
I am indeed correct. There was no “Internet” until the ’80’s. So whatever e-mail address you had was a non-internet e-mail address. (May have been ARPANET, the Internet’s predecessor, but that would entail a University with a DoD affiliation.)
In the ’90’s I spoke to Jon Postel several times and corresponded with other Internet “founding fathers” (Paul Mockapetris, Paul Vixie, Vint Cerf) as well as top official at the Department of Commerce after they assumed jurisdiction of Internet governance issues from the National Science Foundation.
Joseph,
you seem so familiar with the founding of the internet. You aren’t Algore, by any chance, are you?
Al’s my secretary.
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