HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: eddie@cstr.ed.ac.uk (Eddie Rooney)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: What are the yellow "H" signs?
Date: 18 Aug 92 09:06:54 GMT
Organization: Centre for Speech Technology Research, Edinburgh University

In article <92230.172553EY28@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK>, EY28@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK writes:
|> [.....]
|> >> ->On many buildings in the UK there are metal signs, about a foot
|> >> ->square, with a yellow background and a large black "H".  There
|> >> ->are smaller numbers written in the space above and below the bar
|> >> ->of the "H".  Every hypothesis I came up with for meaning of these
|> >> ->signs seemed to be disproved by a contradicting set of numbers.
|> >
|> 
|> When I was 6 my dad told me the top number was the distance (in feet) to the
|> hydrant, and the lower number the size of the water main (in inches) so they
|> new what sort of fittings were needed to connect the hose. The diameter also
|> gives a clue to the capacity (and I bet that has gone metric - l/s) of the
|> main.
|

Fire hydrant signs *have* gone metric in Scotland, at least.

=========================================================================

Edmund Rooney					email:eddie@cstr.ed.ac.uk

Centre for Speech Technology Research
University of Edinburgh
80, South Bridge,
Edinburgh EH1 1HN
Scotland

=========================================================================
From: arf@otter.hpl.hp.com (Andrew Farmer)
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 16:16:20 GMT
Subject: Re: Smiths
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british


In soc.culture.british, mic@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Murray Cole) writes:

> I was wondering what's going on? Any ideas? (not that I'm complaining!)

	I think the Smiths' entire back-catalogue was recently sold to
 WEA by the ailing Rough Trade. I guess WEA are getting some of their
 money back.....

	arf

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.tv.uk,rec.arts.drwho,alt.tv.prisoner
From: apm@hpopd.pwd.hp.com (Andrew Merritt)
Subject: Re: Americanising of the UK, Now: British TV in North America
Organization: Hewlett-Packard NSG-PWD, UK.
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1scd1 PL4
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 13:56:34 GMT

yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Dave Shariff Yadallee) writes:
: 
: Wtih this thread about "Americanization" of the Britannia, I must rebuff this.
: 
: It seems to me that it is equal.  British shows like "Doctor Who", "The
: Avengers", "Blake's 7", "Monty Python", "Fawlty Towers", "Butterflies", and
: other shows, "The Secret Agent", and "The Prisoner" included, I say that
: the USA is being "Britonized".

If you look at the viewing figures, I think you will find that more British
people watch more American programmes than vice versa.

:In fact, in rec.arts.drwho, the Doctor Who
: newsgroup, there are more American entries than British.  Anyone awake.
 
This may be something to do with the fact that Dr. Who has not been shown on
British TV for a number of years, whereas I believe it is still showing on US
television.  Also, don't forget that people who post on Net News are not
typical of the viewing populations of either country.

----
Andrew
From: sut@dsbc.icl.co.uk (Secure Unix Team KID01)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,uk.misc
Subject: Re: Americanising of the UK
Date: 12 Aug 92 15:44:25 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.british
Organization: ICL Bracknell, UK

In article <1992Aug7.140315.13265@pixel.kodak.com> dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:
>
>The words "cherry cola" were put into the British release of the song to
>avoid the inevitable ban by the BBC.  The song as written (and as
>released in the US) had the words "Coca Cola" instead.  The Beeb
>routinely refused to play songs mentioning brand names, ostensibly as
>part of its non-commercial charter.  The songwriting team of Pete Atkin

Yeah, like when Pop WILL Eat Itself had to change the "Big Mac, fries to go"
line in Def Con One to "Big shake, fries to go". Sounded bloody stupid!

-- 
  /// \\\  The sole Ipswich Town fan in the frozen wastes of North Staffs is...
 |||O^O||| Martyn Amos -- Secure UNIX Team, ICL Kidsgrove, Staffs., ST7 1TL
 ||| ) ||| mra@zen.icl.co.uk (0782) 771000 Ext. 3152
 |||\_/||| "Midland - The listening bank...N O T !"
 |||\_/||| My views are just that - mine.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)
Subject: Re: Manifesto: New Hope for Unitied Britonnic Nations (DSY)
Organization: :noitazinagrO
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 15:12:16 GMT

In article <21780610@otter.hpl.hp.com> arf@otter.hpl.hp.com (Andrew Farmer) writes:
>
>   Maybe I'm taking too many of the pain killers but I could have sworn
> I've seen this before. But this isn't my point...
>
>   I think it's time to unravel the mystery of David Yadallee. Is he real?
> Why are his posts always written in a strange form of pigeon English that 
> only a computer could generate? Why are all his postings from different 
> accounts? Why does he think Dr. Who is an important part of the poilitcal
> process in the UK? Why is he the only foaming royalist under the age of
> 105? Why, when I visited Edmonton, Alberta recently didn't I hear
> strange stories from the "kids" on the "street" about this crazed 
> Brit with a Union Jack the size of Yorkshire tatooed onto his
> forehead?
>
Well, I've had e-mail from someone who vouches that he's (a) real,
(b) apparently human, and (c) prone to abrupt changes of direction
in thought and speech at random intervals, which makes the process
of communicating with him interesting, to say the least.  Since he
doesn't play hockey, he is of course unlikely to attract the attention
of Edmontonians, which explains the absence of street talk about him.

A few months ago he actually said some things that made sense and had
good syntax to boot.  Unfortunately it looks like his supply of lithium
tablets has run out so we're back to drivel.  Look on the bright side:
he's not Mr. H*ss*n B. M*tl*.


-- 
||)) Dump the Whatizit!  Ren and Stimpy for Olympic mascots in '96 ! )))))))|
||)) "What is it, man?!?" ))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com) | Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY   |
From: neilp@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Postlethwaite)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: John Major is a wuss
Date: 13 Aug 92 11:39:26 GMT
Distribution: soc.culture.british
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

In article <1992Aug8.213105.11769@Princeton.EDU> kjcarey@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Kevin J. Carey) writes:
>I never thought I'd be wishing for the day that Maggie was back in
>power, but Major and Hurd's total wussiness over Bosnia has brought me
>to that point. One can tell what their view is by the fact that they
>keep referring to it as "domestic" or "Yugoslav" problem, apparently
>oblivious to the fact that Bosnia is a sovereign state suffering
>subversion by a foreign power. I understand the reluctance to commit
>British troops (though this apparently was no problem in Kuwait, indeed
>they were happy to cover up "friendly fire" deaths), but what's wrong
>with giving the Bosnians weapons to defend themselves. Sending Lord
>Carrington to arrange a pathetic ceasefire hardly counts as a decent
>policy - it's more like Chamberlain waving his piece of paper in the
>wind. I now know what it felt like to be around in the 1930s.

If JM is a wuss, the George Bush is a *sleeze free* wuss aswell.

What the hell has he done. Bog all.

The politicians are not very interested in intervening in Yugoslavia because
there is no oil, the country is poor (compared to Kuwait), not on America's
doorstep (Grenada/Panama), George Bush has elections soon and doesn't want
and dead Yanks to hurt his chances.

I think the public in general supports intervention, the politicians don't.

What's more, Yugoslavia is a difficult country to fight a war in. The Nazi's
had a bad time of it what with all the mountains/forests etc ... for all
the resistance to fight from.

By all means give weapons to the Bosnian`s as the Serb's are fairly well
demonstrated as being the agressors.


Maybe some sort of UN funded army which has authority to intervene where
it sees fit. Not various national troops under UN control for a couple
of months. An independant UN peace keeping/making army with professional
soldiers whose job it is to fight where the UN send them.

Neil
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,uk.misc
From: jackson@soldev.tti.com (Dick Jackson)
Subject: Re: Oxygen (Was Re: Americanising of the UK)
Organization: Transaction Technology Inc.
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 14:39:26 GMT

In article <1992Aug10.181119.17378@cl.cam.ac.uk> ag129@cl.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant) writes:
=>
=>(re Everest, polar exploration etc.)
=>
=>One difference between the US and Anglo-Commonwealth attitudes is that
=>far more people have heard of Sherpa Tenzing Norgay than have heard of
=>Matthew Henson.

Who's he??
From: jackson@soldev.tti.com (Dick Jackson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Confound their politics
Date: 17 Aug 92 15:07:04 GMT
Organization: Transaction Technology Inc.

In article (sorry, erased his name by accident) comments on my reference
to England having become a third rate power:
>3rd rate power - pah, being English is still to get life's
>greatest prize for free.

Goes without saying. I assumed that at least all English readers of this
group would distinguish between the status of England as a power and the
ineffable wonderfulness of actually being English.

Dick Jackson
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: csb58666@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (James R. MacCrimmon     )
Subject: Re: Smiths
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 18:53:55 GMT

arf@otter.hpl.hp.com (Andrew Farmer) writes:


>In soc.culture.british, mic@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Murray Cole) writes:

>> I was wondering what's going on? Any ideas? (not that I'm complaining!)

>	I think the Smiths' entire back-catalogue was recently sold to
> WEA by the ailing Rough Trade. I guess WEA are getting some of their
> money back.....

>	arf
A rerelease of the prized "This charming man," complete with 5 remixes I'm
told, has finally come.  This and a double cd set of their greatest hits is
also about to be released in the USA.  I've been waiting for this for years.

Other smith news: Johnny and Morrissey ave recently been back in the studio
remastering their back catalog for complete rerelease.  Too bad they don't plan
to make any more music

James R. MacCrimmon
University of Stirling, Scotland
csb58666@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu





Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: emcmanus@gr.osf.org (Eamonn McManus)
Subject: Re: Brits and Irish ---
Organization: Open Software Foundation Research Institute, Grenoble
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 15:25:48 GMT

cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn) writes:
>p.s. The English _language_ is called "Beurla" in Scots Gaelic, only 
>     English _people_ can be sassenachs. The Gaelic is probably
>     "sasainnach", due to vowel balancing.

Hmmm...this must be a different kind of vowel balancing than occurs in
Irish Gaelic, then, where you would never get away with ramming a
slender I and a broad A together like that.  In Irish, the word is
Sasanach (the country being Sasana and the language B\'earla).

,
Eamonnach
From: clive@x.co.uk (Clive Feather)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: What are the yellow "H" signs?
Date: 18 Aug 92 07:31:00 GMT
Organization: IXI Limited, Cambridge, UK

In article <1992Aug14.154718.23092@hemlock.cray.com> andyw@aspen32.cray.com (Andy Warner) writes:
>In article <l8o3gpINNjdq@news.bbn.com>, saustin@bbn.com (Steve Austin) writes:
>> clements@bbn.com (Bob Clements) writes:
>>-> On many buildings in the UK there are metal signs, about a foot
>>-> square, with a yellow background and a large black "H".  There
>>-> are smaller numbers written in the space above and below the bar
>>-> of the "H".
>> These give the location of the nearest fire Hydrant.
>> I don't know exactly what the numbers mean, though.
> I was told (by my dad, who I have no reason to believe, except I
> was 6 at the time) that the top number was the number of feet
> away from the sign the hydrant actually was (as an aside,
> I wonder if that has gone metric ? how would they tell ?
> - anyway, I digress) the bottom number was the depth in
> inches of the hole.

The top number is the distance from the plate to the hydrant (I thought
in yards/metres, but it might be feet). The bottom number is the size of
the pipe, thus telling the fireman what size coupling they need - this
might be in inches or millimetres.

Source - *my* dad, who is an ex-policeman.

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather     | IXI Limited         | If you lie to the compiler,
clive@x.co.uk          | 62-74 Burleigh St.  | it will get its revenge.
Phone: +44 223 462 131 | Cambridge   CB1 1OJ |   - Henry Spencer
Fax:   +44 223 462 132 | United Kingdom      |
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: chrisc@biggus.moron.vware.mn.org (Chris Cox  W0/G4JEC)
Subject: Re: What are the yellow "H" signs?
Organization: Twin Cities Metro Area Network, Minneapolis, MN
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 01:53:15 GMT

chrisc@biggus.moron.vware.mn.org (Chris Cox  W0/G4JEC) writes:
> andyw@aspen32.cray.com (Andy Warner) writes:
> > 
> > I was told (by my dad, who I have no reason to believe, except I
> > was 6 at the time) that the top number was the number of feet
> > away from the sign the hydrant actually was (as an aside,
> > I wonder if that has gone metric ? how would they tell ?
> > - anyway, I digress) the bottom number was the depth in
> > inches of the hole.
> > 
> > If he's wrong, tell me; he's coming over in 3 weeks and I'll
> > give him hell (as if he'll care..)
> > -- 
> > andyw.	N0REN/G1XRL
> > 
> > andyw@aspen.cray.com	Andy Warner, Cray Research, Inc.	(612) 683-5835
> 
> Close, but not quite.  The bottom number indicates the diameter of the
> hydrant's outlet in inches.  The new plates now give the dimensions in
> metres (for the distance) and centimetres for the diameter.
> 
> How they actually tell the difference is there are only a few specific diam's
> that are used, and so it's fairly obvious from the number whether the distance
> will be Imperial or metric.
> 
> Chris

Oops - just realised that my /usr/lib/news/sys file got altered a few days ago,
and so this never left here.

Chris
-- 
73  Chris Cox  W0/G4JEC
chrisc@biggus.g4jec.tcman.ampr.org     chrisc@biggus.moron.vware.mn.org
 Eleventh Hour Contest Group - North American Chapter; Minneapolis, MN
   Twin Cities Metro Area Network node (biggus.g4jec.tcman.ampr.org)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.greek,soc.culture.yugoslavia,soc.culture.turkish,soc.culture.europe,soc.culture.jewish
From: pavlovic-milan@CS.YALE.EDU (Milan Pavlovic)
Subject: CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN THE NEW EUROPE 1992 (part 4)
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept., New Haven, CT 06520-2158
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 05:50:46 GMT

===============================================================================
		CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN THE NEW EUROPE 1992
===============================================================================


Document 4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The effect of "ethnic cleansing" against Bosnian-Serbs in Bosnia & Hercegovina
(contrasted with the census of 1991)


Municipality		Bosnian-Serbs 1991		Bosnian-Serbs today
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MORICA		!	33 %			!	NONE		    
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TUZLA		!	15.5 %			!	4.5 %
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ZIVINICE	!	5 %			!	NONE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KLADANJ		!	26 %			!	NONE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BANOVICI	!	14 %			!	NONE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KALESIJA	!	18 %			!	NONE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRAVNIK		!	11 %			!	NONE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
N. TRAVNIK	!	13.3 %			!	NONE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUGOJNO		!	18.9 %			!	5 %
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DERVENTA	!	40.8 %			!	5 %
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. BROD		!	33.8 %			!	NONE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JAJCE		!	19.3 %			!	4 %
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SARAJEVO	!	33 %			!	7 %
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIHAC		!	7,000 SERBS		!	ABOUT 500
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LIVNO		!	2,800 SERBS		!	837 - ALL IN
		!				!	CONCENTRATION CAMP  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DUVNO		!	1,000 SERBS		!	400 - ALL IN
		!				!	CONCENTRATION CAMP
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MOSTAR		!	20,000 SERBS		!	ABOUT 1,000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	
NB: In total around 300,000 Bosnian-Serbs have been displaced by 
    "ethnic cleansing".	
	
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regards,
Milan Pavlovic
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.tv.uk,rec.arts.drwho,alt.tv.prisoner
From: donnell@manowar.micro.umn.edu (Your Heinous)
Subject: Badges
Organization: none
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 04:11:49 GMT

One thing that I have noticed in many re-viewings of The Prisoner, is that
occasionally a character is wearing a Negative White-on-Black badge. No
explanation is ever given, and the Characters do not appear related.
Several can be found in photos in "The Prisoner Companion". Seems that
more females than males wear them, but they both do. 
     Any ideas/explanations/Guesses Welcome! Thanks
<Sorry if this was debated already. I am also new here...>

					--Judex--
From: cla04@seq1.keele.ac.uk (A.T. Fear)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: We now know DECIMALISATION was a waste of time
Date: 12 Aug 92 16:18:05 GMT
Organization: University of Keele, England

From article <BspsGo.Gqt@newcastle.ac.uk>, by w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk:
>  
>    So they could now decimalise without any pain.  Just divide the
> pound into 10 florin, and keep the shilling as a half florin coin.
> 

That was the idea of the Florin when (re?)introduced in the Victorian
Period - it's our first decimal coin. This of course was high level
decimalisation as pennies could never have been got rid of in the days
of the Queen-Empress, after all there was a small spate of 1/3 farthings. The idea never caught on though. I
find some irony in the coin's demise - the first decimal coin finally
destroyed by the decimal system. I worry about the pragmatists in this
newsgroup singing the praises of the decimal system, what's wrong with
the romanace of complication? Bring back the Groat and the Angel that's
what I say.

Andy
From: peterw@spider.co.uk (Peter Woodhouse)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Mansell out ? [was Re: VNS: Mon 17-Aug-1992]
Keywords: VNS,news,sport
Date: 18 Aug 92 16:34:39 GMT
Organization: Spider Systems Limited, Edinburgh, UK

In article <1992Aug18.083428.10239@osf.org> david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George) writes:
>On French T.V. news last night it was reported that Alain Prost will be the Williams No.1. driver for '93.  This is at the insitence of Renault who supply the engine.  It was reported that Mansell is considering retirement.  Renault gave their reason as "Prost with 3 F1 World Championships has a better track record than Mansell".
>
>Personally I suspect this is another move by FISA to even up the teams - an old crock like Prost will be completely stuffed by Senna, even with a rocket powered car.

According to BBC TV on Sunday, the speculation was that 

1) Alain Prost had already signed for Williams
2) Nigel Mansell had demanded $23 million (that is dollars BTW) to drive for
   Williams next year.  Williams' supposedly weren't too keen on this.
3) Senna had offered to drive for Williams for nothing.

What in reality will happen is anyones guess.

Peter
-- 
Spider Software                                 E-mail:  peterw@spider.co.uk
Spider Park, Stanwell Street                    Phone :  +44 31 555 5166
Edinburgh, Scotland
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Why only ONE british olympic team
From: Aengus Lawlor <RBYAML@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 09:05:43 EDT
 c.uk> <1992Aug7.161339.49450@ccvax.ucd.ie><1992Aug19.231735.19526@voder.nsc.com>
Organization: Rohm and Haas Company

In article <1992Aug19.231735.19526@voder.nsc.com>, gerard@galaxy.nsc.com (Gerry
Dowling x3188) says:
>In article <1992Aug7.161339.49450@ccvax.ucd.ie> h234_112@ccvax.ucd.ie writes: o
>>I noticed that too, but in the the other official languages, (Spanish, French
>>and Catalan I think) they simply said Great Britain. Does this mean that
>>the country grows in size in English? Since French is the official language,
>>maybe you are just Great Britain. But where does this leave the poor
>>competitors from Northern Ireland?
>
>Competing for Ireland. Wayne McCullough from Belfast won a silver medal for
>Ireland in boxing.
Eligible to compete for either Great Britain or for Ireland. This year
athletes from Northern Ireland won Olympic medals for both Ireland and
for Great Britain.

GB won the Mens Hockey Gold in 1988, and two of the team were from Northern
Ireland. Both of these players subsequently played for Ireland in the Hockey
World Cup.

Aengus
--
RBYAML@ROHMHAAS.COM                    Aengus Lawlor
RBYAML@ROHVM1.BITNET                   (who used to be ALAWLOR@DIT.IE)
"How about some of that famous Dublin wit, Barman?"
"Certainly, sir. Would that be Dry or Sparkling?"
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: chris@Minsk.DoCS.UU.SE (Christian Bartholdsson)
Subject: Re: When the going gets tough...
Organization: INRIA Sophia Antipolis, France
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 11:58:03 GMT

In article <1992Aug19.113124.20863@bristol.ac.uk>, smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes:
> Since posting my article about the T-shirt motto, 'when the going gets
> tough, the tough go shopping', I've had a phone call from Germany
> asking for a bit more info about the motto. 
[....]
> Anyone have any info about where/when the modified form appeared?

I know that the Pet Shop Boys used it as their "slogan" about 5 years ago...

- chris@kuling.docs.uu.se
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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