HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: WANTED: how much does a bicycle cost in Cambridge, England?
Date: 26 Jul 92 12:40:07 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAXcluster

In article <24132@castle.ed.ac.uk>, egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk (JHenderson) writes:
> Thanks to you and to everyone who e-mailed me with suggestions. 
[for removing a bike kryptonited to his railings]
>The most
> feasible idea for removing the lock seemed to be to use a grinding 
> attachment on an electric drill. I haven't got one, so I tried using
> my car jack, which is designed to lift something which, being a Fiat
> Uno and therefore 95% rust, is quite light. After the jack started to
> bend while no effect was noted on the lock, I gave up and sawed through
> the bike frame, which took 2 minutes with junior hacksaw.
> 
It may interest those people who still don't kryptonite their bikes that
"Cherwell" did a test on bike locks last term. The tool: one junior hacksaw.
The result: "Whippy" bike lock lasted about ten seconds. "Chain" bike lock
lasted about a minute. "Kryptonite" bike lock lasted >15 minutes with no
apparent ill effects.

BTW, on the subject of bikes, I heard a salutory story the other day. Outside 
an (unknown) university there was an iron fence, to which the students were
accustomed to lock their bicycles. Until a van drew up and workmen got out who
proceeded to cut the fence away from its supports and load it, bikes and all,
into their van.

-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   Remember what happened to the dinosaurs!
wilcox@maths.oxford.ac.uk  |    I did---and look what happened to me.
From: sp@mirabeau.osf.fr (Simon Patience)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: VNS: Thu 30-Jul-1992
Date: 30 Jul 92 14:45:17 GMT
Reply-To: sp@mirabeau.osf.fr (Simon Patience)
Organization: OSF Research Institute

In article <1992Jul30.110840.7310@rdg.dec.com>,
evansg@uproar.enet.dec.com (Gwyn Evans @ IME) writes:
> ..... 
>      European News
>      -------------
> ..... 
>      There are reports coming in of a large explosion at an Israeli military
>      base.

This is the second time that Isreali news has been in the European
section of Vogon News recently. Has someone moved Israel recently
without telling me?

Simon.

  Simon Patience
  Open Software Foundation			Phone: +33-76-63-48-72
  Research Institute				FAX:   +33-76-51-05-32
  2 Avenue De Vignate				Email: sp@gr.osf.org
  38610 Gieres, France				       uunet!gr.osf.org!sp
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: evansg@uproar.enet.dec.com (Gwyn Evans @ IME)
Subject: VNS: Wed 22-Jul-1992
Organization: Digital Equipment Service Industries Solutions Company Ltd
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 11:14:00 GMT


<><><><><><><><>  T h e   V O G O N   N e w s   S e r v i c e  <><><><><><><><>

 Edition : 2624            Wednesday 22-Jul-1992            Circulation :  7890

        VNS MAIN NEWS .....................................   39 Lines


VNS MAIN NEWS:                                   [Andy Payne, VNS UK News Desk]
==============                                   [Fareham, England            ]

    Here is the News at 09:00 on Wednesday 22nd July
    ------------------------------------------------

    UK News
    -------

    The editor of the Independent newspaper has confirmed the story
    yesterday by the editor of the Sun newspaper, that a Tory cabiniet
    minister leaked allegations about the leader of the Liberal Democrats
    private life during the general election campaign.

    The sex descrimination case brought by Alison Halford, assistant chief
    constable of Merseyside against her employers, is to be brought to a 
    close without a ruling by the court. Miss Halford, 52, is to retire on 
    health grounds.She will take with her what Merseyside Police authority
    described as "the usual pension payable in such circumstances". It
    consists of a lump sum of 142,600 pounds and an annual pension of
    35,836 pounds.

    A friend of murder victim Rachel Nickell will today take part in a
    reenactment of Miss Nickell's fatal walk on Wimbledon Common in an
    attempt to jog the memory of anyone who may have seen the killer.
    Scotland Yard has admitted it is no nearer to finding out who attacked
    Miss Nickell six days ago.

    World News
    ----------

    UN observers have withdrawn from their encampment outside the Ministry
    of Agriculture buildings in Baghdad, due to fears for their safety.
    They have constantly been denied access to the building which they
    believe contains vital documents about Iraqs missle program.

    Weather
    -------

    Warmer of late, with sunny spells. Some rain in western Scotland. 

    {News courtesy of the BBC and The Guardian}   

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 2624   Wednesday 22-Jul-1992   <><><><><><><><>
--
+======================================================================+
| Gwyn Evans  | evansg@uproar.enet.dec.com |  Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK  |
| DESISCo - Digital Equipment Service Industries Solutions Company Ltd |
|  Views expressed and statements made are mine and not those of DEC   |
+======================================================================+
From: gerard@caliban.soest.hawaii.edu (Gerard Fryer)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Bittermints
Date: 21 Jul 92 21:53:41 GMT
Organization: University of Hawaii at Manoa

While we're talking about where in the U.S. to get X, how about
Pontefract Cakes?  Is there a reliable source?
-- 
Gerard Fryer  (g.fryer@soest.hawaii.edu)
School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology
University of Hawaii at Manoa
From: smckinty@sunicnc.France.Sun.COM (Steve McKinty - Sun ICNC)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Why only ONE british olympic team
Date: 27 Jul 1992 13:19:44 GMT
Organization: SunConnect
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: hardy.france.sun.com

In article <Bs1ntL.25u@newcastle.ac.uk>, w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk writes:
	> Why is there only one British Olymipic team?
	> This is not a stupid question, as the UK/GB does not normally 
	> have a single team in cricket, football, rugby and probably various
	> other sports.
	> 
	>    Instead there are separate teams for England, Scotland, Wales and
	> Northern Ireland. 

Its even more confusing than that. All four regions have their own soccer
teams, as does the Republic of Ireland, but when it comes to Rugby there
isn't a Northern Irish rugby team, there is a single Irish one which draws
players from both sides of the border.

Why?  I suppose that was lost long ago in 'historical reasons'...

As to the name they play under in the Olympics, I suppose they'll follow the
usual BBC line. If they're winning they're English, if they're losing
they're British...


Steve
From: colin@cs.uq.oz.au (Colin Millerchip)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: News from "Umbridge"?
Date: 22 Jul 92 00:18:04 GMT
Reply-To: colin@cs.uq.oz.au

I can't believe it: Tom Forrest, Lizzie, and 3lbs of Pru's best
strawberry jam?! 

I never even knew Eddie had the video camera he took the film with...

Any other news?

Colin.

--
|Colin Millerchip           | "And all this science I don't understand,|
|University of Queensland   |  It's just my job five days a week"      |
|colin@cs.uq.oz.au          |   - "Rocketman", Elton John              |
From: smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Alleged discrimination at UK ports/airports
Date: 23 Jul 92 10:04:26 GMT
Reply-To: P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Organization: University of Bristol

>In article <9207162208.AA29344@caster.suneng> chapmand@caster.sps.mot.com (David Chapman) writes:
>>There was a report on CNN earlier this week about alleged
>>racial discrimination on the part of immigration authorities
>>at British ports and airports.
>>It gave the case of a New York judge who was detained for 3
>>hours at Heathrow airport. She claimed she was discriminated against
>>because she was an African-American.
>>
>>Have similar stories about alleged racial discrimination appeared
>>in the British press? Are these allegations true? Perhaps some
>>readers of this newsgroup have horror stories to share with us.

There was a long article in the Grauniad yesterday about the
immigration service, primarily in the context of the still-awaited
opening up of borders within the EC.  However, it contained a couple of
factlets which I thought might be interesting in the context of this
discussion.

Firstly, UK immigration claim to recognise that there are discrimination 
problems.  They say these are not built into the system, but rather are
due to particular officers' personalities.  They claim to be trying to
address these both by training of their existing officers, and by the
recruitment of more officers from 'minority' groups.

Secondly, an interesting statistic.  According to UK immigration
department figures, the average immigration officer deals with
something like 25000 people a year, and refuses entry to 10 of them.
(No information about how many are subjected to more than the normal
cursory flip through the passport before being admitted, though, nor
about whether there are any patterns detectable in who gets refused.)

-- 
Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK
 P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!uknet!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132
From: nick@cs.hw.ac.uk (Nick Taylor)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Why only ONE british olympic team
Date: 31 Jul 92 09:24:06 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

In article <KILLER.92Jul29174245@robocop.hut.fi> killer@niksula.hut.fi (Kalle Kivimaa) writes:
>In article <4139@inca.comlab.ox.ac.uk> Geraint.Jones@comlab.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>   killer@robocop.cs.hut.fi (Kalle Kivimaa) wrote:
>    ) Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England are NOT countries.
>
>   assumption that English is not your first language?                 / g
>
>Unless Kalle is an English forename, then your assumption was quite
>safe one.  I should have said 'nations'.  On the other hand, my
>Random House dictionary says that country == nation, so your point
>is somewhat moot.

'fraid not. Scotland, Wales and England are most decidedly "nations". What
they are NOT is sovereign states. Cue dicussion on whether the UK is still a
sovereign state while I go off on holiday :-)

Nick.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
Subject: Re: WANTED: how much does a bicycle cost in Cambridge, England?
Organization: sgi
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 00:14:47 GMT

In article <1992Jul21.171803.8552@aus.intel.com>, ajw@aus.intel.com (alan waldock) writes:
|> In article <23989@castle.ed.ac.uk> matt@castle.ed.ac.uk (M P Taylor) writes:
|> 
|> >                                                    ... and I would like
|> >to think that even in the most casual of situations a true devotee of
|> >British culture can make the effort to get THEIR English grammar
|> >correct.
|> 
|> HIS would be grammatically correct; THEIR is merely politically correct,

No, "their" has been common usage, in this context, in both the 
US and UK for decades.  It is also, but not merely, PC.

jon.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.usa
From: jac54@cas.org ()
Subject: In re the Minister of Rumpo
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 10:32:14 GMT

	The Columbus Dyspeptic finally carried something from the
	Observer on the minister known by the Elvish word for "friend"
	yesterday.  The point that concerned me most was not that a fat
	old fart could bed some lean brunette many years his junior (power
	is supposed to be an aphrodisiac) but that illegally (maybe
	improperly) obtained tape recordings of phone conversations could
	be legally disclosed.

	Could somebody explain the argument by which this disclosure was
	found to be legal?

	Alec.


If these are my organization's opinions, I'd be extremely surprised.
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
<Alec Chambers (jac54@cas.org)  + Americans are a broad-minded people. They'll>
<Associate Editor, CAS          + accept the fact that a person can be an     >
<Phone (614)-447-3600 ext. 3992 + alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife-beater, and >
<                               + even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't   >
<Unsolicited Mail:              + drive there's something wrong with him.     >
<P.O.Box.21368                  +                                             >
<Upper Arlington                +  Art Buchwald.                              >
<OHIO 43221-0368                +                                             >
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
From: dsals@vms.macc.wisc.edu (David Sals)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Americanising of the UK
Date: 27 Jul 92 20:41:41 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center

In article <1992Jul27.160434.10173@cs.hw.ac.uk>, neilp@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Postlethwaite) writes...

>Does anyone think that the all pervading Amercanisation of the world
>had really gotten out of hand. Too much dross US TV, products (
>McDonalds, Burger King (UK owned though by Grand Metropolitan),
>crass American TV ad's with sometimes (thopugh not always) a British
>voice over (like Coke, Pepsi and McDonald's ad's). American style
>voice overs on kids TV.

I think that American advertising and marketing has been way out of hand
in general for many years... and with marketing goes culture.

>Good UK stuff like Dangermouse is buried on the Channel 4 Daily
>Brekkie News show, and crap cartoons like Swamp Thing and
>Toxic Crusaders (quite good in a tongue in cheek way) are all
>over the kids TV.

Interesting.  I haven't had a chance to watch TV in Britain, but 
Dangermouse is quite popular here.  Of course, you have to have cable. 
All of the morning cartoons are crap, but that's marketing again.
Answer?  Have everyone stop buying products manufactured in this 
fashion. (Not so easy.)  They wouldn't do it unless people bought into 
it.  Even in the UK.

>Hell we are now getting products with bad American spelling like
>the new 'Ariel Color'. I think Proctor and Gamble (the makers)
>are being a little crass using the same packaging. I'm sure
>the American public would pass comment if Uk products had the
>proper UK spelling on it for sale there.
> 
>Neil

As opposed to the "improper" UK spelling?  Or are you trying to say 
that the UK spelling is the only proper way, whether you are British
or not?  I hope not.  If it makes you feel any better, British 
spelling is used here to emphasize "high class."  I suppose that was 
the original intent with British accents on TV as well, although Monty 
Python certainly contributed to the more, if I may say, ridiculous 
ways they are used now.
Perhaps it is possible Proctor and Gamble wanted the product to 
be instantly identified as American, hoping that would increase sales.
Not unlikely.

Ah well.  What I am trying to say is, if we didn't buy it, it wouldn't 
exist.  Sorry, but someone in the UK is buying by the handful.

   					Cheers!
   							:-D ave
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:10949 alt.war:1599
From: w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Macadonians: the stupidest ever country ??
Date: 27 Jul 92 12:13:08 GMT
Reply-To: w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk
Organization: Chemical & Process Engineering Dept, University of Newcastle, UK.


 The former Yugoslav republic of Macadonia has been independent for the
last few months.  Its government want it to be called Macedonia, but
Greece objects to this.  Greece has so far managed to persuade others
countries to withhold recognition until the Macedonian government agrees
to use another name.

   Can anybody explain why Macedonia doesn't do what Greece wants, then
it would receive international recognition, then it could rename itself
Macedonia, and as it would already have received international 
recognition the Greeks could not stop them.
Is there something wrong with this trail of thought?

    If it does this it will need a temporary name.  So how about
1 Names no longer used
   USSR, Czechoslovakia, Abassynia, Central African Empire.
2 Names no state uses
   England, Scotland, Wales  (I'm sure the UK would not object)
3 Misc
   why not call themselves 'Greece', as no state uses this name.
   the country we call Greece actually calls itself "Hellas"
   or some such name.
   They could also use 'Germany', 'Finland', 'Spain' etc for the
    same reasons - ie these are names used by others to describe 
    a country, but not used by the country itself.
From: jones@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch (Michael Jones)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: BBC world service TV (retry)
Date: 28 Jul 92 05:52:02 GMT
Distribution: eunet
Organization: Ascom Business Systems, CH-3000 Berne 14, Switzerland
Originator: jones@ctcs6

Hope this body appears this time
As I said in my invisible post , switzerland is also getting BBC world
service TV in the Autumn, but it will be coded and you will need to by
a decoder from your cable company.
Mike


-- 
Mike Jones.                        |  On the outskirts of nowhere   
(jones@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch)    |  On the ringroad to somewhere
Schwarztorstrasse 50               |  On the verge of indecision
CH-3000,Bern 14 , Switzerland      |  I'll be sure to take the roundabout way.
From: dlm@sjfc.UUCP (Don Muench)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: American mathematical hegemony
Summary: Goes to show ya..
Date: 31 Jul 92 12:49:45 GMT
Organization: St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY

In article <1992Jul29.112905.2193@lsl.co.uk>, snail@lsl.co.uk writes:
> 
> A colleague of mine ( a mathematician ) says it is
> 
> COW-SHEE as in cau-chy.
> 
It goes to show you that probably too many British and American mathematicians
don't know how to pronounce Cauchy's name.
> By the way, in England we study Maths, not Math, I've never met a person who
> studied a mathematic degree, mathematics yes.... that should set the ball of
> hay alight.....
> 
Yeah, I know.  My American tongue and lips get tangled into knots of spittle
when I try to say it.

I understand "left luggage", but at first the American ear wonders about
"right luggage"!  :-)

On another, less incendiary, topic:  how are the Olymps (is that how you
say "Olympics" - or "Olymp") covered on TV in Britain?  Over here in USA
the most irritating thing is the reporter's question to a young swimmer
who was "supposed" to win the gold medal and won only a bronze: "what went
wrong?"  The kid was happy to get the bronze and to be there in the competition,and the reporter can think of nothing exept to shove the microphone into
her face, not even congratulate her, but excoriate her for having done "wrong".
Do the British reporters and interviewers act the same way?  This is a touchy
subject for many Americans I know, because they are fed up with the arrogance
of reporters. 

Don
From: skaamjm@ucl.ac.uk (Matthew Moore)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Derogatory fanny pack
Date: 29 Jul 92 16:06:23 GMT
Organization: Bloomsbury Computing Consortium


>"Fanny" is a playground (schoolyard) term for the female genitalia.
>Quite how this was construed to be racist is beyond me. 

>Furthermore, given the all-pervasive influence of American tv and
>movies, I would guess that a high percentage of British people know
>that fanny has different meanings in the two cultures, and could work
>out the intended meaning from context (ie "fanny pack" makes very
>little sense from the British-slang standpoint). 

Cobblers! 'everyone' knows what "fanny" means. Didnt the meaning
derive from the shape of the pubic hairs?
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Wednesday, 29 Jul 1992 15:43:54 CDT
From: Cole Kendall <U48073@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: help

In article <3657@keele.keele.ac.uk>, cla04@seq1.keele.ac.uk (A.T. Fear) says:
>
>From article <1992Jul29.145720.16317@osf.org>, by sp@mirabeau.osf.fr (Simon
>Patience):
>>> "College" normally indicates some form of higher education, but normally
>>> below University level.
>
>>> "University" is the standard way of indicating a
>>> degree-awarding institution in England and it's also the colloquial term
>>> used for them.

In Kingsley Amis' *Memoirs* he refers to making the decision to go for
a B. Litt., which would distinguish him from those who had B.A.'s and
M.A.'s (since he was interested in a teaching job, which he eventually
got at Swansea, although he never got the B. Litt.).  What exactly is
the relation between, say, a B.A., and M.A., a Ph.D. and a B. Litt?
This was at Oxford in the late 1940s, BTW.

Cole Kendall
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:10933 soc.culture.usa:6260
From: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: In re the Minister of Rumpo
Date: 30 Jul 92 08:14:07 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.

jac54@cas.org () writes:
:         The point that concerned me most was not that a fat
:       old fart could bed some lean brunette many years his junior (power
:       is supposed to be an aphrodisiac) but that illegally (maybe
:       improperly) obtained tape recordings of phone conversations could
:       be legally disclosed.
:
:       Could somebody explain the argument by which this disclosure was
:       found to be legal?

I haven't followed this case closely, but a partial excuse for
it seems to be that the phone was in a rented flat and legally
the property of the landlord, thus he had a right to listen in.

Matthew Huntbach
From: zzassgl@uts.mcc.ac.uk (Geoff Lane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Metric System (was: New banknotes)
Date: 21 Jul 92 11:22:04 GMT
Organization: Manchester Computing Centre, Manchester, England, M13 9PL.


And it took the introduction of the railways before there was a standardized
time of day in the UK.  Previously local time was whatever the local
Church/Town Hall/Clockmakers Shop clock said it was.  The railways
introduced country wide timetables and insisted that all the station clocks
displayed the same `railway' time.
-- 
Geoff. Lane.                                  Janet: zzassgl@uk.ac.mcc.uts
UTS Sys Admin, Manchester Computing Centre, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PL
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.australian,soc.culture.new-zealand
From: esc149u@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au (mr  sjd  cox)
Subject: Re: New banknotes
Organization: Monash University, Australia.
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 10:26:58 GMT

From article <1992Jul27.060213.12128@trl.oz.au>, by lightw@cetra.trl.OZ.AU (Liron Lightwood):
> david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George) writes:
> 
> 
>>What does the Bank of England/Scotland etc. gain out of issuing banknotes ?  It
>>seems like a con to me, I persuade a group of people to use a worthless chitty with no real assets backing it, which represents goods and services provided by them
> 
> Aren't banknotes backed by reserves of gold held by the British Government,
> i.e. they have at least enough gold to equal the total of all banknotes?
> 

You gotta be joking.  That idea went out with Winston Churchill.
(honest - read your history books)