HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: evansg@uproar.enet.dec.com (Gwyn Evans)
Subject: VNS: Tue 22-Dec-1992
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 12:06:08 GMT


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

 Edition : 2731              Tuesday 22-Dec-1992            Circulation :  7496

        VNS MAIN NEWS .....................................   57 Lines

VNS MAIN NEWS:                                    [Tom Povey, VNS UK News Desk]
==============                                    [Reading, England           ]

    Here is the News at 07:00 GMT on Tuesday 22-December-1992
    ---------------------------------------------------------

    UK News
    -------
    FT-SE = 2807.7
    Exchange Rate for UK pound = $ 1.5645  = Dm 2.4545

    Michael Heseltine has said that there will be no more coal produced at
    10 of the pits threatened with closure despite a High Court ruling
    yesterday that the closure, by the Coal Board and the Government, was
    illegal. 

    A report has highlighted significant differences in charges over
    different areas of the country for keeping prisoners in police calls.

    Local News
    ----------

    Windsor Safari Park, which has been in economic difficulties, is to be
    turned into Legoland. {Source: Sunday Times}

    European News
    -------------

    Slobodan Milosevic is leading in the Presidential elections in
    Bosnia/Montenegro with 56% to Milan Panic with 34%. The latter is
    accusing the former of rigging the election.

    A dutch charter plane crashed on arrival at an airport in Portugal
    yesterday. It was landing during a thunderstorm. 54 people are feared
    killed while 256 survived.

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

    The group of Palestinians expelled from Israel have returned to their
    makeshift camp in no-mans-land after attempting to return to the
    occupied territories yesterday.

    The UN are sending more guards to protect aid convoys to the Kurds in
    northern Iraq.

    A large contingent of UN troops have left their base camp in Somalia and
    are moving inland. There is disagreement between the UN Sec General and
    the USA over the use of US troops in Somalia and when they should leave
    the country.

    {News courtesy of the BBC}


    Local Weather
    -------------

    Another very cold night with frost this morning. Cold day but dry. High
    5C/41F. Forecast is not for a white christmas except for the Scottish
    mountains.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<><><><><><><>   VNS Edition : 2731     Tuesday 22-Dec-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   |
+======================================================================+
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: sp@osf.org (Simon Patience)
Subject: Re: Yankee behind the wheel.. {HELP!}
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 06:13:51 GMT

In article <1992Dec21.230129.19209@netcom.com>, sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller) writes:
> Another feature of switching:  you don't know which way to look at corners,
> no matter whether you are on your "usual" side of the road or
> not.  Then there was the time a few months ago that my other
> half rented a jeep to do some sightseeing while on business in NM.
> We had just recently returned from the UK.  He was having a great
> time driving on dirt roads, which have no "side", then made his way
> back to the main road...and was happily driving on the wrong side of
> the thoroughfare for some time until another truck appeared.
> Oops.

There is a way round this one too. Just make sure that you (the driver)
are placed to one side of the lines in the middle of the road. If you 
find that puts the car smack bang in the centre of the road then you 
are trying to drive on the wrong side.

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
From: ahall@library1.library.carleton.ca (Alison Hall)
Subject: Re: Do we really need the monarchy?
Organization: Carleton University
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 14:20:37 GMT

>OK, so I appear to have passed the uninteligability test, but you didn't 
>mark my first attempt at Yadalleean.
>
>Simon.
>
Oh, 8 out of 10. But, I'm still a beginner at Yadallean, so, not the best
one to judge!
From: Alan.Holmes@brunel.ac.uk (Alan J Holmes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Boxing Day tradition?
Date: 22 Dec 92 14:17:06 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, West London, UK

Yvette wrote:
>Can  anyone  give me an expanded explaination  of Boxing  Day   and what
>takes place in England  today?

Traditionally, Boxing Day is the day for parties.

Regards

Alan Holmes
From: rap@nnsgs50.tcom.stc.co.uk (Richard Porter)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Yankee behind the wheel.. {HELP!}
Date: 23 Dec 1992 10:21:26 GMT
Organization: BNR Europe Limited
NNTP-Posting-Host: nnsgs50.lon40.nt.com

In article <2643@eagle.ukc.ac.uk> jmb@ukc.ac.uk (Mike Bremner) writes:

>    On motorways, don't expect to
>    see useful signs like "THIS LANE EXITS": learn, instead, that this
>    is indicated by a downward-pointing arrow (as opposed to a
>    diagonally-pointing-off-to-the-left arrow), and that this is also
>    indicated on the road surface by short, fat, white dashes
>    separating the exiting lane from the others.

Interesting point. The signing of motorway junctions with exit lanes in the
UK is diabolical. Firstly, although you always get the 300, 200 and 100 yard
markers (vertical rectangular boards with three, two and one oblique dashes
respectively) you never know whether the countdown is to the junction itself
or to the start of the lane separation (i.e. the fat dashes).

Secondly, you often have overhead gantry signs with dot matrix displays and
red and amber lights. The main direction signs are above the displays while
the small downward pointing arrows are below the displays. These arrows
simply mean that the display above them refers to the lane below. Even if
there are two separate route signs on the gantry it does not mean that the
traffic is segregated at that point, or at all. You need to look out for
markings on the carriageway itself, though at more and more locations they
are now installing signs on the left-hand verge which do clearly indicate
an exit lane or, conversely, when a slip road entering the motorway becomes
a lane of the motorway itself.

>    Other esoteric points
>    include the fact that, in general, signs surrounded by a red ring
>    have to be obeyed, while those on a blue rectangle are merely
>    informative.

This is not correct. A red circle indicates a PROHIBITION sign
(including a speed, weight, height or width restriction), a
red triangle is a WARNING and a blue rectangle or circle is a
MANDATORY sign. There is also the octagonal "STOP" sign with white
lettering on a red background. Informatory signs other than warning
signs usualy have black lettering on a white rectangular background,
but other colours are used for special purposes (e.g. ancient monumnets,
tourist attractions, sports venues, etc.). Parking restriction signs
along streets have a yellow background.

The "Max. Speed" signs on white rectangular backgrounds are advisory.
In general they are far too low if you are driving a normal car in
good conditions, but the odd one or two mean what they say!

Richard
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic
From: jmb@ukc.ac.uk (J.M.Bremner)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Green cards etc
Date: 30 Dec 92 21:59:09 GMT
Reply-To: jmb@ukc.ac.uk (Mike Bremner)
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.

In article <1992Dec30.180703.18584@netcom.com> sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller) writes:

>My birth certificate has my fingerprints and footprints on it.

Messy!
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Robertson's Golly Badges.
Date: 23 Dec 92 15:15:45 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.british
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <casseres-181292111938@missmolly.apple.com>, casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes:
> I didn't know you had whining and wanking about "political correctness" in
> the U.K. too.  Pity.

We've certainly got wanking in the UK, but there's more of it about Sun page
threes than about political correctness.
-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   For Sale: Posts in British Government. Suit
wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk    |   outgoing American. Highest bids accepted.
From: assist@orion.oac.uci.edu (ASSIST Coordination Site)
Subject: British Actor Jaye Davidson
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Date: 21 Dec 92 19:49:31 GMT



I recently went to see the movie THE CRYING GAME and was wondering
if anyone had any information about Jaye Davidson who played the
part of Dil (i.e. previous movie roles, etc.)  

Any information would be appreciated.  Please send via e-mail ONLY
to  kris@fs2.assist.uci.edu

Thanks!

Kris
kris@fs2.assist.uci.edu

--
From: mckeonj@ul.ie
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Tell me about the crack, and Rajah Brooke
Date: 22 Dec 92 10:09:28 GMT
Organization: University of Limerick, Ireland

In article <BzHGAn.J2s@unixhub.SLAC.Stanford.EDU>, streater@jupiter.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater) writes:
> In article <91AH028A2fvK01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> czl30@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Chris Lee) writes:
> No, it is Nitrogen tri-iodide. Made by dissolving iodine crystals in an ammonia
> solution. You get a brown sludge that is NI3 I think and is OK while it's damp.
> Once dry, though, the slightest shock and it explosively decomposes. (Er, so I'm
> told, Officer, er, er!).
I recall making this brown sludge, and sprinkling it on the floor
of the Rajah Brooke room at the Imperial Forestry Institute
in South Parks Road Oxford, for the staff Christmas Social, sometime
in the mid-fifties. Wonderful effect as people danced around.
By the way, who was Rajah Brooke?
-- 
"If England sleeps, shall Ireland dream?" : Se/an macEoin
-------------------------------------------------------------------
John McKeon, Material Science Dept. University of Limerick, Ireland
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)
Subject: Re: Cold Comfort Farm (was:Re: yankee behind the wheel)
Organization: Vonnegut Tent Rentals, Inc.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL7]
Distribution: soc
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 92 20:14:38 GMT

Chris Ambidge (ambidge@ecf.toronto.edu) wrote:
> In article <1992Dec21.175403.16317@osf.org> dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks) writes:
>   [about the channel tunnel]
> >
> >Actually, the British end of the tunnel does a wide clockwise loop, and
> >ends up in deepest Sussex.  When the drivers see the fake "Bienvenu a la
> >Ferme Froid Confort" sign, they think better of it and go back.
> >
> 
> Are there any other _Cold_Comfort_Farm_ enthusiasts out there?  This book
> was my salvation (Reuben, Seth, Ticklepenny's Corner, scranleting, Elfine,
> Sukebind and all) when forced to read Thomas Hardy for academic credit
> (certainly not for either fun or profit).  It was such a relief to find
> that someone ELSE found Hardy and his genre glutinous beyond measure.
> 
Probably you had to read Hardy to get the humor.  I found it occasionally
humourous and a bit of a let-down (but I didn't have to read Hardy, being
a Science Swot).  Inspiration for reading it in the first place - apart
from the fact that all the Arts people I hung out with had already done so -
was the cast-caution-and-clothes-to-the-wind adaptation that was on Beeb 2
around 1970.  Brian Blessed was in there somewhere, and maybe Judy Dench.
After that, the book was definitely a let-down!

However I did at least learn to say "Saw somethin' narsty in the woodshed.."
at appropriate times.

--
||------------------------------------------------------------------------
||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com)|Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY  |
From: inr@deimos.caltech.edu (I. Neill Reid)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: re: The history of the Scottish flag
Date: 29 Dec 1992 04:12 PST
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: deimos.caltech.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

A correction - somebody else might have pointed this out by now,
but I was wrong to say (in response to Chris Dunlea) that Gaelic was
never the language of the Scots ruling aristocracy. No doubt it
was prior to Malcolm Canmore (a refugee in Northumbria prior
to his defeat of MacBeth) and Margaret. But that reign, (1057-1090?
I forget) marked the start of the north-south divide, with the shift
of the centre to the midlands and the adherence to the Roman
church.

Neill Reid - inr@eccles.caltech.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Subject: Re: Banned: ``Happy Holidays'' [sic]
Date: 31 Dec 92 05:26:26 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Windows/DOS Users Ed Group
Distribution: soc

In article <1992Dec30.173442.19549@digi.lonestar.org> gpalo@digi.lonestar.org (Gerry Palo) writes:
[deletions]
>
>And God bless all atheists, unconditionally, as they are.  
>

Dirty pool, Gerry. You know we hate it when you do that.

But in the spirit of the season:

May all your bangs be big ones and all your solstices
sunny!

And Happy New Year (even those whose calendars begin on a
different day).

-- 
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
	"Well, I'm a little muddled." -- Glinda
From: chrisp@regenmeister.Sun.COM (Chris Prael)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Old British Films (movies, y'all)
Date: 22 Dec 1992 19:07:08 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: regenmeister

From article <1992Dec21.200625.23403@pixel.kodak.com>, by dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones):
> chorley@vms.ocom.okstate.edu wrote:
>> Request for information about a couple of 1950s films, Ealing comedies, I
>> think.
>> 	1) Need the title of a film about a seaside pier that was reclassified 
>> as a ship for commercial reasons.
> 
> Aaggh! I forgot the name.  It starred Alec Guinness and a host of loonies 
> who played the various ghosts haunting the end of the pier.  The pier was 
> registered as a ship (in somewhere like Liberia) in order to avoid 
> demolition and make money selling duty-free goods.

"All at Sea"  Sir Alec plays the descendant of a long line of Naval
officers who gets sea sick in port on the deck of an aircraft carier.
After the war he buys the pier and registers it as a vessel with a
ficticious Central American country and advertises "cruises" for people
who get sea-sick.  The local authorities form the oppostion.

Chris Prael
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks)
Subject: Re: Do we really need the monarchy?
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 17:48:04 GMT

sp@osf.org (Simon Patience) writes:
| OK, so I appear to have passed the uninteligability test, but you didn't 
| mark my first attempt at Yadalleean.

Oh, dear Simon, one could but wonder over your consideration at FORM not
CONTENT.

Such dangers are in the implicit COMPETETIVENESS behind the desire.  I
will however spin my prayer wheel for you.

She says that there is danger in permitting the RUssians and the
eUropeans to make a joint team in the time.  So I warned you here first.

'I think I just dropped a party bit' -- Paul McArtney
From: w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Lamont's wine and PRIVATE EYE
Date: 21 Dec 92 13:08:29 GMT
Reply-To: w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk
Organization: Chemical & Process Engineering Dept, University of Newcastle, UK.

hiscrp@nuscc.nus.sg (C R Pennell) writes:
>Please, what is "the affair ofGummer's pond"?

and 

Tony Mossop, geophysics, Stanford

>Expand please (anyone remember him on Panorama a few years back blindly
>denying any links his party had with the far right, I was distinctly
>unimpressed with the man's debating style and have watched his upward
>career in complete disbelief).


  I just made up the name, I suppose I could have followed the practice
of the "great" British press and called it Gummergate instead.
  It seems to have been a one day wonder, maybe there was nothing in
the claims of improper behaviour, maybe the press found something else
more interesteing to report.

All I am completely sure about is :-
   From what I could gather it involves a pond John Gummer
has access to.  A company did improvements on it for him for nothing and
he used civil servants.  The fuss was because he claimed he did it for some
European Meeting but after the meeting he still had the pond, so he 
personally benefited from it.

The one newspaper report I read on it did not seem very clear about what was
supposed to have happened.  Here's my impression (it may be wrong as it's 
pieced together from radio and press reports).

  Some European Community group held a meeting in/near John Gummer's 
home.  The local pond (possibly his own) was cleaned and the bill was
paid by some corporation.  Civil servants were used for surveying and 
other work.  The result of it all was that gummer got his pond improved
and all the bills were paid for by others, not himself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn)
Subject: Re: Green cards etc
Organization: Digital Equipment Co. Ltd., Reading, England
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 12:17:55 GMT


In article <1992Dec25.182958.18396@informix.com>, proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts) writes...

>If and when the US slips into a fascist dictatorship, they will
>certainly have plenty of trained personnel ready to administer
>martial law ...

The new style "Green Card" has your fingerprint on it. Why does the
US treat immigrants like the UK treats criminals?

Craig
      (no social security number and intending to keep it that way)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Craig Cockburn, Digital Equipment Co. Ltd, Reading, England.     Suas
  Internet: cockburn@system.enet.dec.com                           leis
  Voice: +[44] 734 580597                                          a'
  Views here are mine,                                             Gha\idhlig!
     and are not necessarily those of Digital or any other organisation
From: cam@syzygy.DIALix.oz.au (Cameron Newham)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: SECRET PURPOSE OF FALKLANDS WAR
Distribution: world
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 92 12:12:19 GMT
Organization: Baldrick Fan Club
Reply-To: cam@syzygy.DIALix.oz.au


In article <1992Dec17.183536.9665@pixel.kodak.com> dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com writes:

 > 
 > Mr. McElwaine, how are you?  Fresh from all your lunatic fringe postings
 > in sci.space and who knows where else ?

Gee whiz - doesn't this McElwaine guy ever stop?!?!?!?!?!

He seems to be famous on the net. -  a bit like Yadalee, but more obnoxious.

OH - SORRY, almost FORGET the CAPITALS!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| _  _,  ____  _  __  _  .__   |                                              |
|(__(_|_/ / /_(/_/ (_(_)_/ /__ |  "but only angels look before they tread."   |
|                              |                                              |
|cam@syzygy.DIALix.oz.au       |              Living in Another World         |
|cam@adied.oz.au               |              by Talk Talk                    |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: apm@hpopd.pwd.hp.com (Andrew Merritt)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 14:13:01 GMT
Subject: Re: VNS: Wed 23-Dec-1992
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, CCSY Messaging Centre, UK.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british

>     A new row has broken out between the press and the Queen following the
>     Sun newspaper printing what is says is the full text of the Queen's
>     Christmas message as recorded by the BBC on Monday. The content of the
>     message is supposed to stay private until the broadcast.

A little more info on this.  The newspapers would normally be given the text
of the speech in advance (11am today (Wed)) and not be expected to print it.
Because the Sun obtained what they claim is the text of the speech one day
early, by unspecified means, they feel this is a 'coup' and entitles them to
print it.  The Sun got plenty of publicity from this, which seems to be the
main motivation for doing it (I don't think there is anything terribly
newsworthy in the speech itself).

Andrew
From: sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Green cards etc
Date: 30 Dec 92 23:24:37 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <2646@eagle.ukc.ac.uk> jmb@ukc.ac.uk (Mike Bremner) writes:
>In article <1992Dec30.180703.18584@netcom.com> sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller) writes:
>
>>My birth certificate has my fingerprints and footprints on it.
>
>Messy!

Yes.  Maybe I shouldn't have used it as a placemat.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: bvaughan@sheps.Princeton.EDU (Barbara Vaughan)
Subject: Re: Robertson's Golly Badges.
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 15:05:08 GMT

In article <BzpnpK.99M@sunlab1.bath.ac.uk> ccsdhd@sunlab1.bath.ac.uk (Dennis Davis) writes:
>In the referenced article, casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes:
>>I didn't know you had whining and wanking about "political correctness" in
>>the U.K. too.  Pity.
>
>No, I'm not sure that we have these precious commodities.  But we do
>have derogatory sarcasm, which often appears in this Newsgroup.  It
>always saddens me slightly when things are suddenly declared anathema.
>Especially when the supposed reasons were totally invisible to me when
>I was a child.  I get the feeling that something has been lost, but I
>can't quite decide exactly what that something is.
>-- 
>Dennis Davis, BUCS, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
>D.H.Davis@bath.ac.uk

Part of growing up is reconsidering your childhood.  Some things, like
Santa Claus, just have to be dropped.

I grew up in the U.S., the child of Northern Irish Protestant parents.  My
parents had no particular negative feelings about blacks.  We attended a
church (in the 1950's) with a congegation that included blacks and whites.
Perhaps because of this, I always (even as a child) found caricatures of
blacks distasteful.  I had a very negative reaction to the Dr. Doolittle
books as a child.  The first time I saw a Noddy book (they were rare in
the U.S.) was as a teenager when I babysat for a child who had one.  I
have to admit it pretty much horrified me.

However, during my childhood I did assimilate my parents' rabid
anti-Catholicism.  It was invisible to me as a child.  I can envision my
childish self gleefully singing "King William slew the papish crew" on
July 12th, but I think I'm better off for having outgrown this particular
bit of childhood.

Grow up, it's worth it.

Barbara Vaughan
From: jhill@bucknell.edu (Jackson Hill)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Granary bread
Date: 30 Dec 92 17:46:46 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.british
Organization: Bucknell University
NNTP-Posting-Host: macg12.bucknell.edu

I am looking for recipes for granary-type breads, preferably oaty or wheaty
in character, with a lot of body and texture.  I remember while living in
Oxford in the 1970s being able to buy a wonderful commercially-made bread
called Nutty Cob.  This is the kind of bread I have in mind.  If anyone is
willing to share their recipes with me, please post here at
soc.culture.british or e-mail to me at jhill@bucknell.edu      Thanks.   
Jack Hill.