HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cla04@seq1.keele.ac.uk (A.T. Fear)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: help
Date: 29 Jul 92 11:32:15 GMT
Organization: University of Keele, England

From article <25764@sophia.inria.fr>, by ming@salieri.inria.fr (Xie  Ming):
> It seems to me that the educational system of high school in UK
> is little different from that in France. Could someone be kind
> enough to give some explications about educational system of high 
> school in UK (how many years, what kind of degrees, what is the
> difference between COLLEGE and SCHOOL, what is the meaning of the
> term "general paper", ...) ?

English "School" is what you go to from 11-18 years old. Confusingly some
schools call themselves "colleges", but this is not too common.
"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. Americans talk about going to school where we would talk
about going to University. Most University degrees in England are
awarded after a course of three years - this would be for a Batchelor's
degree.

"General paper" - the meaning depends on the context. I suspect you
might be referring to the A level general paper.
[Brief excursus - major school exams in England are held at 16 and 18
years of age - the 16-year old ones are called GCSEs, the 18-year old
ones are called A-levels. Entrance to university is normally dependant
on some pre-determined level of success with A-levels. I think the
International bacaleaueate exam is regarded as its equivalent.]
This is a general knowledge paper covering both arts and sciences. (It's
pathetically easy in my opinion and beware of it as quite a few
universities won't accept it as an entrance qualifiaction. "General
paper" can though also mean any exam paper set to cover the entire range
of a subject rather than one specific area of it. For example our
students sit a classics general paper covering all aspects of the
ancient world in their finals.

Hope this is of some help,

Andy Fear, cla04@uk.ac.Keele
From: smckinty@sunicnc.France.Sun.COM (Steve McKinty - Sun ICNC)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Metric System (was: New banknotes)
Date: 21 Jul 1992 08:10:01 GMT
Organization: SunConnect
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: hardy.france.sun.com

In article <1992Jul21.044151.17048@athena.cs.uga.edu>, mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:
	> In article <CC.92Jul19150114@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:
	> >In article <1992Jul17.180714.14359@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:

> 
>    No, but we're often told that if we simply metricized, we would
>    magically have standard-sized everythings.
> 
>    Britain, in fact, still makes plumbing fittings in exactly the same
>    sizes as before, but now measures them (inaccurately) in mm instead
>    of inches.

Then there are the half-metric things, like car tyres. I don't know about
the US but a typical tyre size in Europe is listed as  "165 R 13", meaing
165mm across the tread, for a 13inch wheel.

I also noticed a local DIY store here (in France) selling shelving
boards as 50mm x 1.83m   1.83m is 6feet, I wonder where they imported
those shelves from...?

Steve
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: lsmith@cs.umn.edu (Lance "Not Here" Smith)
Subject: Biggles Books
Summary: So can you spare a book
Organization: Little Squids of the Poor
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 01:01:09 GMT

I have a friend who is interested in buying the Biggles series of books.
Unfortunately they are almost unknown in the U.S. (No doubt another sign
that the States remain uncivilized.) I thought I'd turned to the net
to see if I could answer some questions.

First, is the series still in print? The last copy I saw was a paperback
from Armada that seems to have come out in the mid 80s. 

Second, how many books are there in the series? I seem to recall around
ten or twelve, but books of this nature seem to keep growing in number.

Finally, does anyone know of a bookdealer that specializes in such thing
that is either in the States or Canada or is willing to deal overseas?

Thanks for your help. 
-- 
   Lance "Zeppelin" Smith      | "O hateful error, melancholy's stat!
    (lsmith@cs.umn.edu)        |  Why dost thou show, to the idle thoughts of
 Prove it! Show us your work!  |  Mediots, the things that are not!
    Huh? What's your point?    |                 _Jose Caesar_, V. iii. 67
From: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Truth with a capital T
Date: 23 Jul 92 14:10:15 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.

From: harrity@sumax.seattleu.edu (Elan Morin Tedronai)
>Way back when, _somebody_ wrote:
>>>> the universal Catholic Church. It just disagrees about the
>>>> little local difficulties in the sixteenth century (as "1066
>>>> and All That" puts it, when the Roman Catholics broke away from
>>>> the Anglican Church).
>
>What? Look, I'm hardly a religious person, and I don't
>profess to have any expertise in this area, but what's
>this about the Catholic Church breaking away from
>the Anglican?

I wrote the above remarks.

What you appear to be unaware of is that "1066 and All That" (I
forget the authors - Sellars and Yeatman? something like that) is
a humorous book. It represents the slightly confused version of
history which a schoolchild fed on traditional British history
books might have (of course, such teaching has long since
disappeared, being regarded as the height of political
incorrectness; the Tory National Curriculum is an attempt to
bring it back again). In this view of history, embarrassing
facts such as the way the Church of England was set up were
skated round in this sort of way, and the general aim is to
present history as a stately procession to the pinnacle of
civilisation as represented by early 20th century Britain. "1066
and All That" ends with a sad little note that since World War I,
America had become Top Nation and History had come to a.

In fact the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England does
stoutly maintain that it is part of the universal Catholic
Church, and any differences which it might have with what it
would call the "Romans" are due to the latter having changed
since the sixteenth century. It is slightly ridiculous, so the
above quote is really gently making fun of their pretensions.

The Anglo-Catholics are in terminal decline, and in a few years
will probably be extinguished altogether by the horrible
happy-clappy evangelicals (I will delicately skate round one
of their notable features which may impede their ability to
produce their next generation, but no doubt someone else will
give us the SUN's famous headline on C of E ritualists) so we
should savour them while they still exist.

Matthew Huntbach
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines)
Subject: Re: Metric Humor? was Metric System
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 19:46:52 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
	<92203.102703GRH6@psuvm.psu.edu> <1992Jul21.152611.2968@osf.org>
Originator: nickh@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU

In article <1992Jul21.152611.2968@osf.org> dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks) writes:

   Girish Harshe <GRH6@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
   |>     I wonder, if there is a horse pulling some weight in pounds
   |> with a specific velocity (in ft/sec) to have a standard for one
   |> horsepower?

   If dim memory serves me well, Watt did the measurement.  He used a
   carthorse borrowed from a nearby farmer, measured the power it developed
   lifting some standard weight up a well...

   ...then he doubled it.  He didn't want some wiseguy repeating the
   experiment and saying "My horse can pull more than *your* horse!"

That strikes me as odd, since some horses can generate significantly
more than one horsepower (some human athletes can sustain >0.5 hp).

Nick Haines nickh@cs.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.games.empire,alt.war
From: jac54@cas.org ()
Subject: Re: BBN II -- Murk-o-Vision World Update (Mau Mau)
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 14:43:12 GMT

>|>]And above all the British airforce to take out the runways of the
>|>]opposition despite the attempts to blast them out of the sky from the US
>|>]forces instructed by those oh so good NCOs of yours.
>|>]
>|>
>|>   Yup.  And who had the highest rate of lost planes in the allies theatre
>|>  of operations??  Well, I'll give you a hint.    They build Tornados and
>|>  Harriers, the most unsurvivable plane designs in use today.
>
>The operations that most lives were lost in (GB that was) were in flying
>low over the runways cratering them.

	Only ONE Tornado was lost during a cratering run.  Low-flying
	has other hazards.  The enemy is not necessarily the greatest
	danger.

>|>
>|>   Oh, yeah, one more thing.  Those Durandal runway busters y'all were
>|>  dropping off your Tornados are FRENCH.  There, doesn't that make you
>|>  feel all warm inside???

	The U.S uses the Durandal too, in addition the RAF were also
	using the Hunting Engineering JP233 (British) and possibly
	also the German MW-1.


>|>]Phill Hallam-Baker
>|>
>|>  Come on, is this name for REAL??  Do your friends call you "Phill"??
>|>  Just how do you pronounce the double l??
>
>Yes, yes and just the same way as you do in `will', `sill', and `mill'
>
>
>Phill Hallam-Baker

	If you two wankers want to keep calling each other names, why
	don't you go outside and do it?

	Alec Chambers
From: saustin@bbn.com (Steve Austin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Truth with a capital T
Date: 23 Jul 92 00:14:53 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: bbn.com

harrity@sumax.seattleu.edu (Elan Morin Tedronai) writes:

>How does this make the Catholic Church our to have broken
>from the Anglican?  I mean, isn't it sort of just the
>opposite? Just curious.

In the same way as Europe is cut off from mainland UK by
the English Channel.

	Steve Austin
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: snuffy@netmbx.netmbx.de (R.J. Bartle)
Subject: Re: BBC TV world service
Organization: netmbx, Berlin, Germany
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 00:45:39 GMT

lowry@arco.com (Phil Lowry) writes:

>Is it possible to pick up the BBC World Service TV Broadcast in the US?

>If so does anyone know what satelitte and bands it is on?

 Concerning BBC TV rpt TV broadcasts contact u local lHam Radio or
DX club(tv dept)..or send a fax lto BBC, Bush House London ; get the
number from the dir enquires of ur locala phone co!??
they lalso have loads of telex nos if u can send telexes,,(thru prodegy??)
  Hope this helps..if no other way send me your text and i will put it thru my
fax prg or btx-telex for u the charges u meet by buyinmg me a beer when i'm in
town! OK?
  
-- 
******************************************************************************
* Ron J. Bartle,                                                             *
* Onckenstr. 19.,       (Incoming Tourist Services-Bln.)                     *
* D-W-1000 Berlin 44.   - snuffy@netmbx.de  or snuffy@zelator.in-berlin.de   *
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: BBC TV world service
From: flash@lopez.marquette.MI.US (Gary Bourgois,Hamshack)
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 16:13:25 EDT
Organization: Great White North/UPLink

In <1992Jul26.134740.7823@vax.oxford.ac.uk> wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:

>In article <1992Jul24.133900.17412@pixel.kodak.com>, dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:
>> In article <1992Jul23.222522.1446@Arco.COM> lowry@arco.com (Phil Lowry) writes:
>>>Is it possible to pick up the BBC World Service TV Broadcast in the US?
>>>
>>>If so does anyone know what satelitte and bands it is on?
>>>                                                                             
>> I'm not aware of it being on any satellites.  I can get it at various
>> points around the short-wave area of the spectrum.  I found the
>...
>> Anyway, get a reasonable SW radio, such as Radio Shack's $100 model,
>Bzzzt!! The original poster wanted World Service Television. The answer to his
>original question is "no": World Service Television only exists (as yet) in the
>Indian subcontinent. I think there may be plans to make it worldwide in the
>future, but I know nothing definite.


BBCWSTV is also on in Japan and in Africa, via INTELSAT.  It is supposed to
come to the USA in 1993 or 1994, so sources tell us.

By the way, BBC WS radio is already available via satellite, and without all
the fading and other problems of shortwave radio.  I listen to it all the
time, and it is 24 hours a day.  The easiest place to find it is on US
satellite G3/24 @5.4 audio.  This is the same transponder with CSPAN coverage
of the U.S. house of reprehensibles.  

I put together a complete satellite system for $40 that provided good
reception of the BBC World Service radio using castaway components and a dish
that was damaged in a windstorm (which I repaired).

--
    /   Gary Bourgois, WB8EOH, The Birdwatcher: Marquette Michigan  USA   \
   ([-o ~ Tune FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE!  S3/21 6.2. Fridays from 9-midnight ~ o-])
    \  Now a snazzy new DOMAIN address!  flash@lopez.marquette.mi.us      /
        GEnie: SIGNALS   FAX: (906) 228-7477    GWN BBS: (906) 228-4399
From: ravi@s938.frec.bull.fr
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Job in the UK
Date: 28 Jul 92 13:30:57 GMT
Reply-To: ravi@s938.frec.bull.fr

Hi Netters,
        I am an Indian currently working as a Contract Software Engineer at BULL
 S.A , France for the past 30 months. I am looking to find a job in the UK
        Could someone help me out with a list of companies who might
        employ Indians on a contract / permanent basis.
        Kindly send a mail to ravi@s938.frec.bull.
        Thanking you in advance

        - Ravirajan
~
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.war
From: mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at (Markus Stumptner)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.games.empire,alt.war
Subject: Re: BBN II -- Murk-o-Vision World Update (Mau Mau)
Date: 24 Jul 92 09:47:07 GMT
Organization: DB and ES Subdivision, TU Vienna

From article <1992Jul24.054503.27801@usl.edu>, by team13@ucs.usl.edu (Mejia Pablo):
>    Kinda like Argentina,huh?  Oh thats right, you won that one.  More
>    KIA's than the other side, but you still won.

Yes, now I see the main error the British made.  They should have
gotten Saudi Arabia as an ally and financer, moved it and its airbases
to the South Atlantic, and anchored it alongside the Falklands.

>    Yup.  And who had the highest rate of lost planes in the allies theatre
>   of operations??  Well, I'll give you a hint.    They build Tornados and

Yes, there must have been some reason those did the hardest job. 
> 
>    Oh, yeah, one more thing.  Those Durandal runway busters y'all were
>   dropping off your Tornados are FRENCH.  There, doesn't that make you
>   feel all warm inside???

What, could it be you're arguing with nationalities instead of with
*facts*??
-- 
Markus Stumptner                                mst@vexpert.dbai.tuwien.ac.at
University of Technology Vienna                 vexpert!mst@relay.eu.net
Paniglg. 16, A-1040 Vienna, Austria             ...mcsun!vexpert!mst
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:10704 rec.games.empire:2335 alt.war:1574
From: egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk (JHenderson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.games.empire,alt.war
Subject: Re: BBN II -- Murk-o-Vision World Update (Mau Mau)
Date: 27 Jul 92 12:37:03 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <1992Jul24.123429.21819@dscomsf.desy.de> hallam@zeus02.desy.de writes:
=>In article <1992Jul24.054503.27801@usl.edu>, team13@ucs.usl.edu (Mejia
=>Pablo) writes:
=>
=>|>
=>|>   Yup.  And who had the highest rate of lost planes in the allies theatre
=>|>  of operations??  Well, I'll give you a hint.    They build Tornados and
=>|>  Harriers, the most unsurvivable plane designs in use today.
=>
=>The operations that most lives were lost in (GB that was) were in flying
=>low over the runways cratering them. Rather more tricky than buzzing
=>arround at the edge of the stratosphere in an Aiwacs eh? If you leave
=>all the work for other people it's none too surprising that your
=>casalties were low. 

I thought that the operation in which most UK lives were lost was the
"driving around trying to avoid being shot by the US air force" operation?



-- 
-Jeremy Henderson        egpv29@castle.ed.ac.uk   

(or am I?)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.australian,soc.culture.new-zealand
From: dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)
Subject: Re: New banknotes
Organization: :noitazinagrO
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 92 13:17:32 GMT

In article <5377@mccuts.uts.mcc.ac.uk> zzassgl@uts.mcc.ac.uk (Geoff Lane) writes:
>
>British banknotes now have a copyright notice printed on them.  This is due
>to the activities or an American artist living in London who speciallised in
>drawing pictures of banknotes using crayon.  They were often close to actual
>size but in no way could be mistaken for the real thing - there was no
>attempt to create forgeries.  The problems arose because he started to use
>the drawings as currency.  After a meal he would offer to pay with real
>money or with one of his drawings.  As the drawings were very good as art
>more often than not they would be accepted.  Eventually this came to the
>attention of the Bank of England who were not pleased and had him charged
>with attempting to pass forged notes.  The trial was widely reported but
>eventually the charges were dismissed as nobody could find anything of which
>he was guilty.  
>
Yep.  This guy was featured on the Nova presentation "Making A Dishonest
Buck" which BTW is to be repeated on PBS stations July 28th.  He did
alright until he tried to use one of his drawings to buy a stereo - I
guess he forgot that salesman work on commission and 5% of a fake 100
dollar bill is not much of an inducement.  He tended to do better where
the people he tried didn't have such a stake in the outcome.



-- 
||))) If you build it                          )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||))) They will cancel it   - Field of Dweebs. )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com) | Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY   |
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: li@oracorp.com (Li Gong)
Subject: Re: WANTED: how much does a bicycle cost in Cambridge, England?
Organization: ORA Corporation, Ithaca, New York
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 01:53:37 GMT

In <21780598@otter.hpl.hp.com> tgg@otter.hpl.hp.com (Tom Gardner) writes:
>> look at similar bikes or mountain bikes. [ for use in Cambridge ]
>
> [someone responded saying the gears were unnecessary]
>
>Of course you need gears in Cambridge:
>	- for Castle Hill
>	- for Mill Rd railway bridge (but many people get off and push their
>	  bike over)
>	- when you are fighting the winds from the Urals

I thought that the previous poster meant (when he/she said that gears
were unnecessary) was because one only needs the *slowest* gear, which
is sufficient to deal with all three things listed above.  High-speed
biking in Cambridge is impractical anyway.  Also, lots of rain does
not help.

Actually, Cambridge is sufficiently small that one does not really
need a bike, especially when one lives in a college not far from the
city centre and does not go to the University Library very often.

Li
-- 
Li GONG, PhD                | Email  : li@oracorp.com
ORA Corporation             | Fax    : 607-277-3206
301A Dates Drive            | Switch : 607-277-2020
Ithaca, New York 14850, USA | Direct : 607-272-0736 (dial 217 on tone)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: killer@niksula.hut.fi (Kalle Kivimaa)
Subject: Re: Why only ONE british olympic team
Followup-To: soc.culture.british
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
	<4139@inca.comlab.ox.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 15:42:45 GMT

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.

Toisaalta, voisinhan min{ vastailla teid{n kirjoituksiinne
suomeksikin, muutei minua silloin kukaan ymm{rt{isi eik{ vastauksia
varmaankaan h|yry{v{n{ kymen{ satelisi.  :)
--
************************************************************************
* The night sky over the planet Krikkit is the least interesting sight *
* in the entire Universe.  -- Douglas Adams, HHGTG                     *
************************************************************************
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: ajw@aus.intel.com (alan waldock)
Subject: Re: WANTED: how much does a bicycle cost in Cambridge, England?
Organization: Architecture & Software Technology Group, Intel Corp.
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 15:41:44 GMT

In article <njdrru8@zola.esd.sgi.com> livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes:
->In article <1992Jul21.171803.8552@aus.intel.com>, ajw@aus.intel.com (alan waldock) writes:

->|> 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.

I do not deny that, but see no contradiction.

-- Alan Waldock, from but not on behalf of Intel Corporation
   ajw@aus.hf.intel.com       ...uunet!intelhf!aus!ajw
From: smawer@datlog.co.uk (Steve Mawer)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Why only ONE british olympic team
Date: 30 Jul 92 08:48:06 GMT
Organization: Data Logic Limited

jac54@cas.org writes:

>In article <10261@scott.ed.ac.uk> sharder@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Soren Harder) writes:
>>ajc@philabs.philips.com (Alec Cameron) writes:
>>>  There is only one GB team in cricket.  It's called England,

>*       No it isn't, it's called the Marleybone Cricket Club (MCC).

and the Bailers? :-)

In England, we spell it Marylebone, but the pronunciation's something else.

-- 
Steve C. Mawer       < smawer@datlog.co.uk> or < {backbone}!ukc!datlog!smawer >
		       Voice:  +44 81 863 0383 (x2139)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: andys@Ingres.COM (Andrew Sherman)
Subject: Re: The Saint and Leslie Charteris
Organization: Ingres, an ASK Company, Alameda CA 94501
Date: 29 Jul 92 15:59:55 GMT

In article <1992Jul29.133831.16559@pixel.kodak.com> dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:
>
>For 64,000 dollars and a date with Vanna: what is the least known
>and most surprising fact about Leslie Charteris?

A photograph of him was used as the basis for the figures in the
picture "Study for figures at the base of a crucifiction" by Francis
Bacon. There's a version in the Tate.

-Andrew


--

Andrew Sherman (andys@ingres.com) 
Ingres, an ASK company, 1080 Marina Village Parkway, Alameda, California 94501
From: snail@lsl.co.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: American mathematical hegemony
Date: 29 Jul 92 10:29:05 GMT
Organization: Laser-Scan Ltd., Cambridge

In article <sooz.711677426@vincent1.iastate.edu>, sooz@iastate.edu (Susan F Bradley) writes:
> In <2176@sjfc.UUCP> dlm@sjfc.UUCP (Don Muench) writes:
> 
>>From Craig Cockburn:
>>> 
>>> And how much longer before a Cauchy sequence becomes a "COW-SHEE sequence" 
>>> rather than a "CO-SHAY sequence"
>>> 
>>I believe that most American ("Merkun", to some of you dweebs) mathematicians
>>pronounce "Cauchy" as "co-SHEE", which I believe is correct.  I have never
>>heard "CO-SHAY", although when I arrive in England for the autumn term,
>>I'll hear it...maybe a billion times.  It'll be enough to drive me to
>>a drink of "wawder (which I think is the correct upstate NY pronunciation).

A colleague of mine ( a mathematician ) says it is

COW-SHEE as in cau-chy.

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.....

Stephen Kellett
snail@lsl.co.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.war