15 ms·
Page not found
- brickcap 13y agoHa ha nice. It would be great if we could somehow get the complete uncut photo.
- joe5150 13y agoSpeak for yourself! I think it's marvelous.
- smoyer 13y agoAnother fan ... have a little fun with your website!
- laveur 13y agoI concur with joe5150, its perfect!
- JoeAcchino 13y agoThe guy pictured in the photo is Richard Branson, aka the boss at Virgin. Just search his name on Google Images to get the humor. http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson
- brokenparser 13y agoThe link to his page is right there in the menu, second item.
- ukandy 13y agoIf you don't know Branson check out his autobiography 'Losing My Virginity'. Worth a read.
- harvestmoon 13y agoI found the part where he was in part responsible for several people's death offputting.
- oijaf888 13y agoCan you expand on this? I was unable to find anything about this anywhere else.
- harvestmoon 13y agoI read it a few years ago. From what I recall, Richard and possibly his wife wanted to go on a fishing expedition. The boat owner said it was too dangerous. Richard demanded that they go and put pressure on the boat guy. They went. There was a storm. Richard and his wife decided to swim to safety. Everyone else died. Now that I think about it, in the book, Richard also forces other people to do things they don't want, and mentions breaking someone else emotionally.
- ddeck 13y agoFor those unaware, Richard Branson (Virgin founder) made a bet with with Tony Fernandez (AirAsia founder) in 2010 regarding whose formula one team would finish ahead that season. The terms were such that the loser had to serve as a flight attendant on the winner's airline. The photo is of Branson fulfilling the terms of the bet. http://news.yahoo.com/richard-branson-swaps-suit-skirt-honor-bet-091130555.html http://news.yahoo.com/richard-branson-swaps-suit-skirt-honor...
- dhimes 13y agoThank you. I was wondering what the fuck the big deal was. The top comment at this time is someone apparently replying to another comment (but didn't actually 'reply' to another comment- just wrote his/her own comment). Apparently some people are taking offense or something? I'll just leave this here: for whatever reason, the Brits (and Richard Branson is one) think dressing up as a woman is funny (in a harmless way) in and of itself and they have thought that ever since I've watched Benny Hill and Monty Python TV shows (ie, since the 1970s anyway). No big deal here.
- kamjam 13y agoHonestly don't know what that guys deal is. It's political correctness gone mad to the point that people can't have a bit of harmless fun without offending someone or other. Sometimes there is no malice whatsoever intended, in this case I knew what the context was (I'm a huge Formula 1 fan) and so thought it was very funny. You see this kind of thing all the time in UK when people go on there bachelor parties and you'll see entire groups of drunk adult men dressed as women. Everyone laughs. Everyone has fun. Like you say, no big deal here.
- arb99 13y agoHonest question - do most people not know who he is? I thought he was known worldwide. I think he has had quite a few cameos/(very) small parts in films/tv as well.
- rainmaking 13y agoIt kind of goes hand in hand with having a G+ account.
- yeukhon 13y agoHahaha this is one fun way to lose a bet and I like the idea. But they really should add a caption because their customers and causal visitors probably can't recall/can't tell what is going on and will skip. I'd laugh harder if I were browsing and saw this and learned this was a bet.
- itchitawa 13y agoPity it's polluted by that ridiculous UK cookie warning law :(
- meigwilym 13y agoRidiculous EU cookie law. And to add further ridicule, the current advice is that these kinds of popups are superfluous, and just have a cookie info page on the site. See http://blog.silktide.com/2013/01/the-stupid-cookie-law-is-dead-at-last/ http://blog.silktide.com/2013/01/the-stupid-cookie-law-is-de...
- buster 13y agoSo far i have only ever seen those on UK pages, anyway. Either the rest of the EU (or germany) doesn't care or solves it in a much more unobtrusive way.
- jnye131 13y agoWhich isn't even a law.
- nness 13y agoHow so? Its an EU directive.
- GunlogAlm 13y agoIt's an EU thing, not just the UK. But yeah, they're irritating!
- adamcharnock 13y agoI think this is great. What's the problem?
- taspeotis 13y agoHow to be wrong and not contribute anything meaningful [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6716812 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6716812 EDIT: For context, this was originally submitted as "How not to make a 404 page."
- ngcazz 13y agoThis was seriously confusing.
- HomebrewCC 13y agoFrom a communication perspective, this is a great move. As JoeAcchino said: "The guy pictured in the photo is Richard Branson, aka the boss at Virgin. Just search his name on Google Images to get the humor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson" I wish that more companies were this open, personal and humorous.
- mattwritescode 13y agoI was being over opinionated (changed the title now), else no conversation would be made. I personally think the idea is a great one and it shows Sir Richard Branson has both faith in his team and is also a good sport. I believe the picture was taken as a result of this bet to Tony Fernandes where by the looser had to dress up (or down). http://www.uproxx.com/webculture/2013/05/richard-branson-dressed-up-as-the-worlds-ugliest-woman-after-losing-a-bet/ http://www.uproxx.com/webculture/2013/05/richard-branson-dre....
- soci 13y agoIt's meant to be a funny 404 page. Specially because it's Richard Branson (Virgin's CEO) the one in the background picture.
- Kiro 13y agoOriginal title was something like "How to not make a 404 page".
- Torn 13y agoGotta love mods changing the title, and rendering most of the comments confusing
- taspeotis 13y agoTorn 7 minutes ago | link Gotta love mods changing the title, and rendering most of the comments confusing OP is a mod? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6717023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6717023
- Beltiras 13y agoHave to make a dig @ their web team thou, responsive design fails for small widths.
- dingaling 13y agoIt could just be that mobile devices don't account for a significant proportion of visits, so they don't have an inventive to target those platforms. It's not really a service site, just a general informational site about the Virgin group. The individual services ( airline, banking, etc ) have their own standalone sites with different designs and mobile subdomains.
- nness 13y agoLooks fine to me in the Xcode iOS simulator; maybe the text size is a bit larger than necessary, but thats about it.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- 001sky 13y agowe're not sure what the previous 403 errors were, but they may also have involved women's clothes and too much make-up Classic. Love their old animated sealt-belt videos, too.
- voltagex_ 13y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo if anyone's wondering. They were a pleasant surprise when flying last month. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtyfiPIHsIg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtyfiPIHsIg is the new one.
- exo_duz 13y agoLove the fact that he can poke fun at himself!
- kenkam 13y agoMissed the party, I'm getting a 503 now.
- timje1 13y agoThis bet was attacked by feminists (rightly? or too sensitive?) : the idea of it being a humiliating punishment for a respectable businessman having to dress up like a woman and serve other men. So it was my understanding that Virgin backed away from this bet and tried to downplay it. I'm a bit surprised by this picture cropping up on the website. Am I being hypersensitive? No-one else seems to have picked up on this aspect in the comments yet. edit: to clarify, here's the comment threads on a jezebel, a website with a significantly more active female membership http://jezebel.com/richard-branson-serves-juice-on-the-airline-of-your-nig-503408547 http://jezebel.com/richard-branson-serves-juice-on-the-airli... Some examples - It's so disrespectful to their cabin crew (particularly female cabin crew, and also women in general) that they're dressing up as them for a laugh. But being a woman is a punchline, right? Because being female is about as low, ridiculous and debased as a person can get, riiiiight? I'm glad I'm not the only one who had that reaction; I was too afraid to say anything lest I be accused of having no sense of humour So I don't think that I'm making this up, or alone in thinking this. There's definitely a discussion to be had.
- bruceboughton 13y ago>> Am I being hypersensitive? Yes, you are.
- 001sky 13y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_%28clothing%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_%28clothing%29
- ibsathish 13y agoThis is a deliberate act by Richard Branson after losing the bet. In fact, he was tweeting about this for sometime till he pulled the act out. A video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCqb8pGWTAg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCqb8pGWTAg
- andrelaszlo 13y agoSome ideas of why it could be found offensive: 1. Misogyny. Why? Flight attendants are women. Rich CEO's are men. A CEO that loses a bet and has to work as a flight attendant, also has to wear a skirt, stockings and lipstick. To clarify: It's a stereotype, and stereotypes can be found offensive. Imagine if he had painted his face black instead. 2. Transphobia. Why? Men dressing up as women are supposed to be silly. However, "body image distress" is real and it even drives people to suicide [1]. Violence against transgender people is very common as well. Homosexuality used to be listed as mental disorders in DSM I and II, but was removed in 1974. "Gender identity disorder" was finally removed in DSM V last year [2]. In august, a 21 year-old transgendered woman was beaten to death in New York, to just mention one of the many victims of hate crimes against these people [3]. Or maybe it's just a funny thing. Maybe he's proud to dress as a woman? I can't tell. What's interesting is that we in this community consisting mostly of straight, white men feel that we have the interpretative prerogative when it comes to these kinds of things ("'Am I being hypersensitive?' Yes, you are."). Why is it so hard to try to understand someone when they feel offended, instead of telling them they are being hypersensitive? Disclaimer: I'm comparing misogyny to racism and transphobia to homophobia. Apples and oranges. This is a bit offensive, too. My intention is not to say that they are the same, but to try to draw parallels between attitudes that most people find wrong, and attitudes that are generally accepted. Why is it okay to make fun of asians? 1. http://www.lauras-playground.com/transgender_suicide_report.htm http://www.lauras-playground.com/transgender_suicide_report.... 2. http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/12/03/1271431/apa-revises-manual-being-transgender-is-no-longer-a-mental-disorder/ http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/12/03/1271431/apa-revises... 3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/23/nyc-transgender-assault-_n_3806092.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/23/nyc-transgender-ass...
- andrelaszlo 13y ago-1, ouch. I was just trying to contribute to the discussion. Maybe I've gotten HN completely wrong. Sorry for any spelling/grammar errors btw, English is not my first language.
- JoeAltmaier 13y agoIts cool to be sensitive to the feelings of others. But its not actually required, not even in a civilized society. When writing "straight white men feel that we have the interpretative prerogative..." keep in mind that every free-thinking person actually does have that right. If others disagree, fine. Acting as the PC Police doesn't make you a better person; it makes you silly and anti-intellectual.
- rainmaking 13y agoBran in drag!
- Dusko 13y agoI can not say what was the real intent behind this but I'd like to discuss it from my point of view, how I perceive it and what would my intentions would be if I dressed up as a woman. Being a woman IS NOT "about as low, ridiculous and debased as a person can get". To me this is the same as if he would wear that silly body builder costume with muscles poking out or the sumo wrestler suit.And by wearing those suits I don't think it is derogatory to body builders or sumo wrestlers. It is about the person doing it making a joke of themselves because they just look ridiculous and funny when they do not appear as themselves. Walking in heels, wearing makeup, having lots of muscles on you or just lots of body mass (not to say fat) will make you walk awkward because you are not used to it. There is a difference when you put on a muscle suit for a day and if you build up and have muscles every day (I wish) so it is not also about mocking the way how body builders walk (btw. the walk think is the only thing that comes to my mind if I was wearing one of those what would I think is funny on me about that, maybe there are also some other aspects why that would be funny). So no, it is not degrading to dress up as any person, it is just for a laugh, at least in my case and how I perceive that. That said, if someone is making a joke not out of themselves but out of people they are dressing up as, that is not nice and not ok. The real question is will you stop mean people being mean by banning and/or criticizing any dressing up or you will just kill off some harmless fun, while mean people still stay mean and find other ways to "practice" their meanness?
- talles 13y agoJesus guys it just a funny bet. Stop with the 'offensive this' and 'offensive that'. We just need more sense of humor.
- drawkbox 13y agoVirgin sites are extremely well done design, just fantastic. Technology is Drupal, so 1 out of 2. You can get Drupal running well on cache and it has merits, just lots of pain as well.