{"id":390,"date":"2011-01-28T15:29:59","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T14:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lornemitchell.com\/blog\/?p=390"},"modified":"2011-02-03T16:25:29","modified_gmt":"2011-02-03T15:25:29","slug":"part-1-of-6-the-tail-that-wagged-the-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=390","title":{"rendered":"The Tail that Wagged the Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time in a land not so far away there lived a Queen. The Queen had ruled for many years in a land that had plentiful supplies of food and fuel. She was a good ruler and let life carry on beneath her.<\/p>\n

However, in the last 10 years, times had become hard because the Exchequer had not been managed the country’s finances at all well and the country was at war in a foreign land.<\/p>\n

In the past year the First Minister had been replaced with the day-to-day matters of state being handled by two brothers – David and Nicholas. They had put their efforts into a new vision for the country called The Big Idea\u2026..but few really understood what the Big Idea was or how it could be made to happen.<\/p>\n

One of the most critical matters of state was the control of information and each of the\u00a0six Barons – each with their own Baronial Halls were constantly battling each other to control the information to the masses. The six barons were:<\/p>\n

House of Hunters<\/span> – led by Baron Jeremy – who was closely related to the Prince of Com and had a good degree of influence in matters of government
\n House of Living<\/span> – nominally led by Baroness Liv – but the real power was with her uncle Baron Stone
\n House of Virgins<\/span> – led by Baron Branson who had many interests and many females dressed in long red dresses
\n House of Skydivers<\/span> – led by Baron Murdoch – who also owned many newspapers and town criers
\n House of Oxygen<\/span> – led by some Spanish guy who had no name and lived far away
\n House of Chatter<\/span> – led by Baron Dun of Stone – (but no relation to Baron Stone in the House of Living)<\/p>\n

The rules under which these six Houses were controlled was led by one of the Queen’s Princes – The Prince Of Com.<\/p>\n

Now the Prince of Com actually had very little power over the barons because the Queen was weak and the barons were strong.<\/p>\n

========<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

continuation of the story suggested by David Brunnen…..<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
And, moreover, the country was only just recovering from a plague of rational meerkats who had, over the past ten years, destroyed the infrastructure of the country so that anyone intent on building new foundations for the future found that the ground kept collapsing beneath their feet and that no end of short-term fixes could solve the problem.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Then came the day when the Barons battling over control of information to the masses suddenly found that the citizens were not listening or reading because their old copper connections had collapsed and (to make it worse) the libraries had all closed down. \u00a0And the Bossy Barons said ‘We are agrieved \u2013 the Prince of Com has been delinquent’.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
But Baron Hunter said he had a plan to banish the Prince of Com to outer darkness (or at least beyond the visible spectrum) \u2013 but only if all the other barons stopped arguing and pledged their loyalty to the Queen and David & Nicholas’s Big Idea.<\/span><\/div>\n
And the story might have ended happily right there except that one of the Baron’s underlings (from the Isle of \u00a0Mob) got wind of this secret agreement and made headlines. <\/span><\/div>\n
The people revolted \u2013 saying ‘What’s the Big Idea?’ and ‘The government is revolting’ and from that day onwards they all went round and round in circles until someone put up his hand and said ‘Excuse me, but I have a very Small Idea’ and they all stopped to listen.<\/span><\/div>\n
And, for the first time in ages (well, as far as anyone can now remember) the entire country was very very quiet \u2013 <\/span><\/div>\n
Thanks, Chris, for the next contribution:<\/span><\/div>\n
\n

until one small boy (whose mother should have kept him in doors) said \u201cWhy not build a network ourselves?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

All the councilors in Mordor were horrified.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You could hear their squeaks through middle earth, but the little boy persisted, and soon others started to listen, it was like a fairy tale, but soon the people started to realise it was a dream that could come true when he explained how it would work.<\/span><\/p>\n

He put it in a pdf so everyone could read about it:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

http:\/\/broadbandcumbria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Barry%20Forde.pdf<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now the Prince of Com and the House of Hunters were keen on this small boy’s ideas, but many of the Baronial Houses were not so sure as they would lose power to these new upstarts. <\/span><\/span><\/span>So they started to develop new strategies so that \u00a0they could keep control of their lands in the future. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, <\/span>the small boy decided to go into the countryside and talk to many folk in the land about the opportunities that these new ideas presented. \u00a0The small boy, whose name was Lux, was accompanied on these travels by his loyal dog, Fico.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everywhere that Lux went, his dog, Fico, was sure to follow.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now, as Lux travelled the land, he \u00a0discovered many people had \u00a0the same problems. \u00a0They were all fed up paying taxes to their barons for little in return and many were becoming very interested in \u00a0leaving serfdom to become Free Men and Women – if only they could be brave enough to do it. \u00a0Some small villages in the borderlands started to declare independence and the Barons became concerned. \u00a0The House of Living – which had tremendous powers over many parts of the land was particularly concerned at the declaration of these new “Free Communities” – and the Prince of Com became ever more worried about the eventual outcome that this new way of thinking would bring.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There was deep unrest in the land.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Thanks to Guy Jarvis, for the following addition to this exciting story!<\/span><\/p>\n

Much was the talk and grumbling in the digitally deprived communities, known as Notspots, for they had neither bit nor bucket.<\/p>\n

The first community to break free from the Baron Telecom\u2019s thrall was an ancient place, settled since Roman times and in all likelihood well before.<\/p>\n

Abandoned by Baron T, anyways beyond the reach of his digital dog whistle, the good folks of Ashby de la Launde decided that action was required.<\/p>\n

The question was what to do and the answer provided by the Wizards of Witham (South) seemed too good to be true:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a 4th utility enterprise looking to invest in the first community ready to dare to reject the old copper gods and turn towards the light\u201d<\/p>\n

And thus became nextgenus.net\/bookplus and that is another story.<\/p>\n

Baron T fretted lobbyingly about choice and adoptability in the hope that the House of Living and Prince of Com might yet lose faith in the pure glass path and return to the coppery legacy of yore.<\/p>\n

The stakes were high and the standoff Mexican until Baron T gained a taste for the FiWiPie and learned to share and that is another story too.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/address>\n

Please add your ideas on how the story continues in the comments block below!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time in a land not so far away there lived a Queen. The Queen had ruled for many years in a land that had plentiful supplies of food and fuel. She was a good ruler and let life carry on beneath her. However, in the last 10 years, times had become hard … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Tail that Wagged the Dog”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[42,7,26,48,40,28,50,58,31,44,8],"tags":[59],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DQGK-6i","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1675,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1675","url_meta":{"origin":390,"position":0},"title":"Experiencing Flow and Being in the Zone","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"12\/11\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The older I become, the clearer I become about one thing. Life is all about flow. \u00a0And the current modern madness that we see in society is mainly due to us being \"out of the flow\" and not \"in the zone\". What do I mean? Last week,\u00a0a friend asked me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Ideas"","block_context":{"text":"Big Ideas","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=42"},"img":{"alt_text":"AdobeStock_58963799 450x600","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AdobeStock_58963799-450x600-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1169,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1169","url_meta":{"origin":390,"position":1},"title":"2012: What Will You Remember?","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"27\/12\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As we leave 2012, there are many things we may remember which, for those that live in the UK, can \u00a0be summed up as a year of broken records: The driest spring for 100 years followed by the wettest 9 months since records began The summer Olympic and Paralympic games\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Ideas"","block_context":{"text":"Big Ideas","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=42"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spectators Queue At Greenwich Park For The Equestrian Events","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/2012_Games_Maker-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1482,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1482","url_meta":{"origin":390,"position":2},"title":"Measurement Madness","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"07\/01\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I met up recently with an old friend. She has decided to give up work in March. The hospital she has worked in for many years as a family therapist was transferred from the private sector to the public\u00a0sector last year. She is giving up because the (UK) National Health\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=35"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1207,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1207","url_meta":{"origin":390,"position":3},"title":"The Story of the Greatest Lumberjack in the Land","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"28\/02\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I had to introduce a workshop last week with a bunch of folk who were trying to take on the \"big guys\". \u00a0I opened the workshop with a story which, for me, \u00a0gives great hope to the small guys who are toiling away to take on the big guys. Some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Attention"","block_context":{"text":"Attention","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=78"},"img":{"alt_text":"angus","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/angus.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1447,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1447","url_meta":{"origin":390,"position":4},"title":"The Prince of Promises and the Grains of Salt","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"07\/08\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Once upon a time in a land far from here there lived a wise King. As he neared the end of his life, his barons gained in strength and the King was forced to pass many laws which gave away power. \u00a0The kingdom became a less certain place. The King\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Attention"","block_context":{"text":"Attention","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=78"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1145,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1145","url_meta":{"origin":390,"position":5},"title":"Beehives and Business Colonies","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"05\/12\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I took part of the afternoon off yesterday to sort out a friend's beehive. \u00a0He had started keeping bees earlier this year, having been given a new hive by his parents for his birthday. \u00a0After two inspections he called for help for me to take them away. \u00a0The bees had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Beelore"","block_context":{"text":"Beelore","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=99"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Business-Colony-302.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":392,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions\/392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}