November 30th has arrived.
Google UK logo : decorated with tartan and the saltire.
'Yahoo UK' logo : adorned with the words "2 days - England 2018".
Yahoo England, take a bow.
I could also point out that if London had experienced the amount of snow that Scotland and the north of England have over the last couple of days, it would almost certainly be leading all the news bulletins by now, rather than being tucked in midway through the pecking-order, but I presume that goes without saying.
That's quite bizarre, really. It's got me thinking about what'll happen to web domains when Scotland gets independence, though. Obviously, there's the campaign to get a .sco domain recognised. That's all very well for new Scottish-based sites, but what will happen to existing .co.uk sites? Yahoo UK is a good example - would it remain as yahoo.co.uk, or would it split into yahoo.sco, yahoo.cwl (since .cym has been nicked by the Caymen Islands), yahoo.ie and yahoo.eng? Would .uk (or an equivalent) remain available as a catch-all for these countries, even after the demise of the United Kingdom?
ReplyDeleteIt might seem a pretty insignificant thing, but this fits in with thoughts I've had recently that independence will not become a reality until people are sure all the little things in life will be sorted easily enough.
I've wondered about that too. If Scotland alone left the union, you'd need a domain for the "rump" UK rather than the constituent countries. I expect simplicity would trump constitutional accuracy, and it would retain its title as the United Kingdom.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think the official name would probably change to the United Kingdom of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, so there'd be no difference to the shortened form. There was a similar alteration after most of Ireland left the UK in the early 1920s.
ReplyDeleteThe happiest of St Andrews days to you, James my old friend!
ReplyDeleteAnd to you, Ezio. I'm sure the weather's better for it in Florence!
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