Obama gives Queen Elizabeth II an Ipod with his speeches

[The Minsky Moment]

Wow... what kind of prices are on your bottle deposits anyway?     

Fischer was the head of the Green Party at the time.

[DGuller]

Wow... what kind of prices are on your bottle deposits anyway?     

Fischer was the head of the Green Party at the time.

Oh, in that case it was actually very clever of Powell.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Wow... what kind of prices are on your bottle deposits anyway?     

Fischer was the head of the Green Party at the time.

Oh, in that case it was actually very clever of Powell.

Yes, both the present of the beer and the return of the bottles are actually pretty cool 

[Admiral Yi]

Didn't a former Aussie PM grab the queen?  I remember the British press nicknaming him "The Lizard of Oz" for doing that.

There was a Quebecker MP who copped a feel too.

[Razgovory]

The region 1 cockup was pretty stupid, but I just can't see myself in Obama's position having any clue what kind of gift to give on a state visit. I'd probably do something really moronic like giving Angela Merkel Goring's Field Marshal baton from the Infantry Museum at Ft. Benning.

Well surely there's an entire deparment in the State Department that deals with protocol and this sort of thing.

According to Newsweek the White House was unaware that the State department had a protocol office. 

A step up from the last adminstration that was unaware that there was a State Department.

[FunkMonk]

A step up from the last adminstration that was unaware that there was a State Department.

[CountDeMoney]

At least the ipod isn't encoded for North American use only, unlike the $19.95 DVD collection he gave Gordon Brown when he visited the US.  Is the obamateur really that fucking incompetent that he can't follow basic diplomatic etiquette?  You'd figure after all the flak he caught over the embarrasing receiption for Brown a few weeks ago he'd learn something.  So much for being "sophisticated".  That cowboy Bush was far more diplomatic than this idiot.

Gotta love those backrubs.

Besides, what do you give the woman who's got everything?

But as an aside, the DVD collection was a bit minor league, considering the gift Brown offered.  Oh well, Gordo will get over it.

[Sheilbh]

But as an aside, the DVD collection was a bit minor league, considering the gift Brown offered.  Oh well, Gordo will get over it.

It wasn't a great gift, especially given the DVD region thing.

But I think it's been overplayed.  The papers that said it was embarassing and indicative of a downgrading of the special relationship were, overwhelmingly, right-wing, Tory papers.  They wanted the trip to fail, and every journalist enjoyed the chaos.

Similarly when Bush gave Blair a US Air Force bomber jacket the Guardian, the Independent and the Mirror (all left-wing, anti-war papers) screamed bloody murder and had a field day with it.

What made it worse, though, was Brown's gift was very thoughtful.  Especially given that, so far as I can tell, Blair tended to give Bush jumpers.  I wonder if maybe you're meant to go wild with the first meeting and after that, when you know your opposite number you can relax a bit?

Edit:  Incidentally those same papers who saw a snub in the Brown gift think the iPod is actually rather thoughtful and touching.  That's because they're fundamentally rather pro-US and would hate for 'the special relationship' to actually be declining.  They also may hate Brown and not mind a bit of humiliation for him, but anything that hinted at lese-majeste wouldn't be acceptable.

[Neil]

At least the ipod isn't encoded for North American use only, unlike the $19.95 DVD collection he gave Gordon Brown when he visited the US.  Is the obamateur really that fucking incompetent that he can't follow basic diplomatic etiquette?  You'd figure after all the flak he caught over the embarrasing receiption for Brown a few weeks ago he'd learn something.  So much for being "sophisticated".  That cowboy Bush was far more diplomatic than this idiot.

Gotta love those backrubs.

Besides, what do you give the woman who's got everything?

But as an aside, the DVD collection was a bit minor league, considering the gift Brown offered.  Oh well, Gordo will get over it.

Everything Obama does is minor league.  Just wait until he brings gun-loving Putin an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.

[Admiral Yi]

Similarly when Bush gave Blair a US Air Force bomber jacket the Guardian, the Independent and the Mirror (all left-wing, anti-war papers) screamed bloody murder and had a field day with it.

That sounds pretty cool.  I bet Tony scored all the babes while wearing it.

[CountDeMoney]

Everything Obama does is minor league.  Just wait until he brings gun-loving Putin an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.

Stop hating black people, socialist.

[Neil]

Everything Obama does is minor league.  Just wait until he brings gun-loving Putin an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.

Stop hating black people, socialist.

What have they done to deserve not being hated?

Besides, you're the one who voted for the Leninist.

[Richard Hakluyt]

At least the ipod isn't encoded for North American use only, unlike the $19.95 DVD collection he gave Gordon Brown when he visited the US.  Is the obamateur really that fucking incompetent that he can't follow basic diplomatic etiquette?  You'd figure after all the flak he caught over the embarrasing receiption for Brown a few weeks ago he'd learn something.  So much for being "sophisticated".  That cowboy Bush was far more diplomatic than this idiot.

Gotta love those backrubs.

Besides, what do you give the woman who's got everything?

But as an aside, the DVD collection was a bit minor league, considering the gift Brown offered.  Oh well, Gordo will get over it.

Yeah, Brown's present to Obama was pretty good, he'll probably actually use it on his desk in the White House.

The Queen won't mind. At Christmas the royal family always buy each other really cheap and silly presents, things like mooning garden gnomes or novelty radios. they set the limit at £5 I've heard.

[KRonn]

Yeah, Brown's present to Obama was pretty good, he'll probably actually use it on his desk in the White House.

The Queen won't mind. At Christmas the royal family always buy each other really cheap and silly presents, things like mooning garden gnomes or novelty radios. they set the limit at £5 I've heard.

Hmm, I guess this answers the question of "What do you give to someone who has everything?" Give them something cheap, novelty like, fun or funny! 

As for the gift given by Pres Obama, it's fine. Too much over nothing. And the Queen will use it as she likes that stuff; and I guess the Obamas checked before hand.

[grumbler]

Calling a plug adapter a power adapter is misleading since a plug adapter doesn't change the power (though they could be marketed as that in the UK.)  A voltage adapter does change the power; and in the United States they're commonly marketed as power adapters.

I have never heard the term.  I have heard of transformers, which is the common name for a device that transforms from one type of electrical current to another.  I understand that you are talking about how they are marketed, though, not how they are commonly referred to.

Any such transformer won't make a DVD player work, however, as the lower frequency of UK current will only drive the motor at 5/6 of designed speed.