HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jim@cs.strath.ac.uk (Jim Reid)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: bad teeth
Date: 30 Sep 92 10:39:25 GMT
	<sooz.717498653@vincent2.iastate.edu> <3857@wyse.wyse.com>
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Strathclyde Univ., Glasgow, Scotland.
In-reply-to: jmunro@wyse.wyse.com's message of 29 Sep 92 19:06:39 GMT

In article <3857@wyse.wyse.com> jmunro@wyse.wyse.com (Jim Munro x2497) writes:

   I think it well known that despite a 'free' or almost free dental
   service, that the Brits have the worst teeth in the industrial
   world. This may be due to diet, but I suspect the inferior dental
   treatment is part of it.

This is a little unkind on British dentists. The dreadful state of
British teeth is a combination of many things: diet, poor dental
hygiene, a general aversion to visiting the dentist and the way in
which NHS dentists have to work.

The NHS still pays dentists piecework rates - so much for a filling,
so much for an X-ray and so on. Dentists get paid nothing for
preventive measures - like explaining to patients how to clean their
teeth properly. Even the British Dental Association disapproves of
this system. Its campaign for a better service which would improve the
standards of the nations teeth has been ignored by the goverment.

		Jim
From: cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Names of naughty politicians
Date: 6 Oct 92 23:53:03 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <CC.92Oct6115912@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:

>Lord Kagan was a pretty shifty
>friend of Harold Wilson's ...

As I remember it, the security services, as part of their anti-Wilson
campaign, tried very hard to blacken Kagan by the usual leaks to the
Tory tabloids. But despite a very long, thorough, and expensive
investigation by the police, nobody was able to make any of the dirt
stick.
-- 
Chris Malcolm    cam@uk.ac.ed.aifh          +44 (0)31 650 3085
Department of Artificial Intelligence,    Edinburgh University
5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK                DoD #205
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: pault@ossi.com (Paul Taylor)
Subject: Re: Pardon my ignorance and such
Organization: Fujitsu America, Inc.
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 15:38:54 GMT

In article <1992Oct2.111030.3333@cas.org> jac54@cas.org () writes:
>In article <17710@autodesk.COM> mickw@autodesk.com (Mick Washbrook) writes:
>>In article <6250083@hpopd.pwd.hp.com>, ian@hpopd.pwd.hp.com (Ian Watson) writes:
>>
>	How about the Japanese employee my organization who recieved
>	letters from his family in Japan who were worried about
>	Indian attacks in Ohio? (I think he may have left his wife in New
>	York for the same reason...)
>
>	Alec Chambers

True Stories:
	An American Computer Company was moving a mainframe from Scotland
to England. The day before the shipment was due to happen, a 20 page
fax arrived from the UK head office asking where all the customs clearance
papers were. The fax also asked about the immigration papers and work permits
for the employees they were relocating.
 -:) May be this is better suited to rec.soc.scotish.independence ?

	A friend of the family was coming over from America to talk about
fusion to some English Universities and Research Centers. We got a fax from
him pointing out that the voltage and frequency of the UK national grid
was different than that in America. He said that he was bringing a slide
projector with him. The fax then went on to ask if we could get the electricity
supply changed for him so that the projector would work -:) Presumably the CEGB,
as was then, would re-calibrate all their generators for the week of his visit.

	This one is a slight exageration, but, I have been asked on several
occasions what it is like to have tea with the Queen, or what Princess Di's
hair style is like. -:) I was deeply touched.........

-- 
  Paul Taylor pault@ossi.com
"Sometimes you get the bear, and other times the bear gets you.
I think we have just been gotten"
From: "john lovett" <john.lovett@channel1.com>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: abuse a brit
Date: 30 Sep 92 00:36:35 EST
Reply-To: "john lovett" <john.lovett@channel1.com>
Distribution: soc
Organization: Channel 1 Communications


AC> Can anyone think of a derogatory term used by other nations (that the
  > British can understand to be insulted by it), to refer to the British
  > (or in my case the English)?

AC> I don't mean things like 'Limey' or (from a Scot) 'Englishman' :-)

AC>    Alan

In the U.S., we have the impression that the British, or at least the
English, feel so superior to every other nation, that any insults
offered to them would be beneath their notice.
---
  SPEED 1.20 #1132  ****
--
Channel 1 (R)   Cambridge, MA

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: quigley@acs.ucalgary.ca (Martyn Thomas Quigley)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 92 02:12:15 GMT
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta

livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes:
>
>What are we going to do next?   Excuse the little darlings
>from listening to Mozart because it doesn't have a nice
>solid disco beat?

No, because it does.  To paraphrase Glenn Gould "A day without
Mozart is like a day without memos."

Martyn
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater)
Subject: Re: Some of my best friends are speculators
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 04:57:40 GMT

In article <1992Sep28.171243.7759@rz-berlin.mpg.de> gray@rz-berlin.mpg.de writes:
>
>
>> 2) What specifically were the preventative meaures the Germans took?
>
>  Putting up interest rates despite a massive need for investment in
>the New Bundeslaender was the biggie, although badmouthing neighbours'
>currencies seems to have helped as well.
>
Struan old boy this just will not do. I expect pearls of wisdom, and instead
I get the following:

Those German preventative measure in full:

1) Crank up the interest rates.

2) Badmouth the neighbours.

3) Er....

4) That's it.

Three out of ten, boy, try harder next time.
>
>> 4) Why are we unable to break this boom'n'bust cycle when others can?
>
>  Because the British Electorate, for a multitude of reasons, refuse to
>vote for anyone who points out that a little national belt-tightening
>might be in order.
>
This I can well believe. They have the same trouble over here. Once they have
been told that they can have something for nothing, the punters are loath to
give it up. Mebbe Perot can hold their feet to the fire.

Tim.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: riaedwards@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (AUDREY EDWARDS)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University 
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 11:47:03 GMT

In article <qfvg2gk@zola.esd.sgi.com> livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes:
>From: livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
>Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
>Date: 30 Sep 92 05:05:09 GMT

>In article <riaedwards.1.717825073@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au>, riaedwards@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (AUDREY EDWARDS) writes:
>|> 
>|> Surely, the problem with the Tories idea is not the teaching of 
>|> Shakespeare, but rather the compulsory testing, which will render 
>|> the whole exercise as "rote learning" rather than *education*.

>Why shouldn't it be rote learning *and* education.   I can still
>regurgitate hunks of Shakespeare, and I don't see that this 
>conflicts with education.

Repetition is not the same as comprehension (is this what differentiates us 
from parrots?? :-)  ).  

>Come to that, I can still regurgitate chunks of basic Computer
>Science, and I don't feel any the worse for that, either.

>Is there some reason why testing conflicts with education?

Yes, when the simplistic testing method used in my time (i.e. timed closed-
book essays on 'stock themes') encourage the regurgitation of the 'example 
answers' given in crib-books. Everyone knew that if you deviated from the 
norm, and attempted original thought,you would be penilised. As you did not 
even need to understand the crib-book to learn it off by heart, this is a 
long way from *education*.

>|> I recall that for my  'O' level exam in Shakespeare, we all 
>|> learnt the crib-notes off by heat and got A grades. With the 
>|> more contemporary writers such as Somerset Maugham and Doris 
>|> Lessing, these were not available, and we were forced to make 
>|> our own evaluations.

>Yes?   And?   I'm not sure I see the point here.   Did the mere
>existence of cribs oblige you to accept their canned evaluations?

The point is that, as everyone knew that if you followed them, you would get 
the 'O' level, we all did. That did not not mean we had the first clue on 
what we were learning, or even if the evaluations were valid or "canned". 

>I think cribs are just great, and I recommended them to students
>when I was teaching.   They do a lot of the basic organization
>of facts for you, and help you avoid getting bogged down in the 
>details.   But they're written by human beings, and sometimes
>when they get down to subjective opinion, they're full of ordure.

I accept everything in this paragraph. However, the testing method mentioned 
above encourages the regurgitation of the 'crib' writers opinion as fact, 
rather than examining the candidate's comprehension of the work and their 
ability to construct a well-argued answer.

>jon.

Audrey.
From: nikolay@husc10.harvard.edu (Philip Nikolayev)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Date: 30 Sep 92 02:16:25 GMT
 <1992Sep29.070708.11757@rdg.dec.com><1992Sep29.123926.12123@sei.cmu.edu><1992Sep29.162848.24800@rdg.dec.com>
Organization: Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services, Cambridge, MA
In-reply-to: cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com's message of Tue, 29 Sep 1992 16:26:46 GMT

In article <1992Sep29.162848.24800@rdg.dec.com>, 
cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn) writes:

> In article <1992Sep29.123926.12123@sei.cmu.edu>, 
firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth) writes...

>>In article <1992Sep29.070708.11757@rdg.dec.com> 
cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn) writes:
>> 

>>>Somehow I doubt it. I saw this year's exam papers in Scotland, and there
>>>was Shakespeare, but no Robert Burns, probably the world's best known poet.
>> 

> Auld Lang Syne is probably the world's best known piece of poetry.

Oh yeah? With a straight face? Hardly anyone knows the
damn ditty outside _certain parts_ the English speaking world.
A couple of years ago in India I was quite surprised that very
few people had heard it. 

Think for a moment that there might be at least one song (probably 
more) that practically every Chinese has heard and is able to recognize.
And compare the size of China's population with that of England,
the US, South Africa and the Antipodes put together.

Philip Nikolayev at nikolay@husc.harvard.edu
From: kevinh@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch (kevinh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Currency Problems
Date: 6 Oct 92 16:36:50 GMT
Reply-To: kevinh@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch
Organization: Ascom Hasler AG
Originator: kevinh@nath


In article <1as6f6INNdt4@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM>, martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge) writes:
|> In article 28175@menudo.uh.edu, chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU ("Bill Harrison (713)-743-2789") writes:
|> >>>
|> >>>But travel is so broadening.   In the past twenty years I've 
|> >>>travelled on privately owned trains, drunk privately provided
|> >               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|> >>>water, used privately generated electricity, had private garbage
|> >>>haulage, used privately run telephone systems, and you know what: 
|> >>>in no case could I tell the difference in a systematic way.  Some
|> >>>were better than the government service, and some worse.    There
|> >>>simply is not enough evidence around to persuade me that Government
|> >>>is either a better director of investment, a better producer of the
|> >>>service, or even a better self-regulator, than any private company
|> >>>in these areas.
|> >>
|> >
|> >Jon -- where were these trains?? 
|> 
|> I don't know where Jon travelled on them, but you could try
|> parts of Switzerland to start looking.
|> 
|> Martin

Not if you want to go anywhere useful!!

kevinh@hasler.ascom.ch
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)
Subject: Re: Accents (was Re: Abuse a Brit)
Organization: :noitazinagrO
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 13:36:08 GMT

Henk Jonkers (h.jonkers@et.tudelft.nl) wrote:
: I'm not a Brit, but since about a year I can tell the difference (after
: a Canadian explained to me how to). But I'd still like to find out how
: to tell apart an Australian and a New Zealand accent.
: 
Smelling the speaker's breath is a good way....

But I digress.  Look out for the treatment of the short 'i'.  The NZ
accent (or at least those I've encountered) modifies this to something
more like a short 'u', so look out for 'it' sounding like 'ut', etc.

Of course, NZ is a long thin country with a gap in the middle, which
would tend to foster strong regional accents, so I may have heard only
the Otago variant...

--
||)) There is no truth to the rumor that:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||)) Lotus are suing Apple for copying the look and feel of their lawsuits )|
||))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))|
||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com) | Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY   |
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Date: 30 Sep 92 16:26:53 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Windows/DOS Users Ed Group

In article <qfnssdk@zola.esd.sgi.com> livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes:
[deletions]
>
>I guess that cuts e e cummings out of the curriculum as well.
>

Not to worry. Cranky old Edward Estlin would be way too
erotic for most parents, and therefore most school boards.
At least, on this side of the mid-Atlantic ridge. In my day,
just before the end of the last Ice Age, Cummings's books
were on closed shelves, so called, in the high school
library and could only be checked out by the teachers. Given
the currently censorious atmosphere in the U.S., assigning
Cummings would only invite a firestorm of parental
protests.

If I had my way, at a minimum I would have students read the
first Nonlecture. There was writing and thinking that ought
to be model to any user of the English language and any user
of a human brain.

-- 
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
	"Well, I'm a little muddled." -- Glinda
From: metceram@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Abuse A Brit (was Re: Pardon my ignorance and such)
Date: 29 Sep 92 01:09:48 GMT
Reply-To: slking@epx.cis.umn.edu
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry, slip of the brain... should have been "Inselaffen"

Simon
     I t
P.S. Think I may have hit one of Laurence's nerves. The e-mail I recieved was
not, however, abusive, but merely a repeat of his postings.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: cthorne@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Charles E Thorne)
Subject: Re: Is Clinton Wilson?
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 12:50:57 GMT

In article <qihvleg@zola.esd.sgi.com> livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes:
>In article <1992Oct1.135017.27650@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, cthorne@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Charles E Thorne) writes:

>> For example, in the U.S. at the present time, Government health 
>> care programs cost about 4 or 5 times per person what comparable
>> private programs cost and yet we are constantly bombarded by 
>> people who want the government to do more.

>As you well know, Mr Thorne, the issue is not whether Government
>can supply health care cheaply, but who is to provide health care
>to the 36 million - or so - Americans who currently cannot offord
>it.

I don't disagree that these people need health insurance, and that the
government probably needs to supply it.  The problem is how to come up with
the additional $100 billion per year to pay for it.  In a budget that is
already strained to its limit, this is not a politically viable concept.
Regardless of who becomes president next year, finding the funds for programs
such as this will be a major problem.

In an article in The Economist (mid 1989) <where I obtained the figures 
re: the 4 or 5 times>, they were comparing the U.S., Britain and Canada
in terms of health care costs and benefits.  The Federal government could
provide government employed doctors to provide bare minimum in health care
at a very low cost (and they say that everyone has coverage), or they could
cut the extreme costs of present programs.  So far, the Congress has not
seen fit to do either of these.

Charlie
From: smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Currency Problems
Date: 6 Oct 92 14:08:07 GMT
Reply-To: P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Organization: University of Bristol

In article <CC.92Oct6115201@arran.dcs.ed.ac.uk> cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke) writes:
>In article <1992Oct5.174839.12819@bristol.ac.uk> smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes:
>
>   A bit weak.  So, you'd be happy if you paid your $100000 to Rolls
>   Royce, and then a Lada (with the same capacity and 0-60 spec) arrived
>   at your door?  (Assuming both meet some governmentally laid down
>   'specification of minimum acceptibility', and that someone, probably the
>   guy who paid for the Lada, ends up with your Rolls?)  No, that is not a
>   real choice of supplier for the consumer.  
>
>If the Lada's every bit as good as the Roller, it'd be quite OK to have the
>Lada, surely?  If it wasn't, then the specification wouldn't have been drawn
>up properly.

Depends on what the person drawing up the specs sees as the 'important'
parameters.  In some ways, a standard Lada is far superior to a Rolls.
Much easier to actually find a parking place you can fit one into, for
example -- at least on roads like the one we live on.

Also depends on how you define 'quite OK', even assuming 'every bit as
good'.  Functionally speaking, in that case, probably fine.  However,
anyone who'd actually go out and select a Rolls would probably not be
thrilled by such a tradeoff.

-- 
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: rnt@drutx.ATT.COM (Diane Thomas)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: bad teeth
Date: 28 Sep 92 14:33:53 GMT
Distribution: soc
Organization: AT&T -- 1200 W. 120th Street, Westminster Colorado




>If your society doesn't "obsess" about straight teeth, then there is no
>psychological problem with having non-straight teeth, is there?
>=======Jeremy Henderson========jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk===============

There's no argument here.  I think our society *does* obsess
about straight teeth.  Actually, I think our society
obsesses about looks in general.  When I say ``our''
society, I'm talking about yours and mine - British and
American.

My point is that in this case, it had a positive psychological
side effect. I don't think I'd take good care of my teeth if
they weren't straight.  In my case, that means I would have
lost them by now since I'm prone to gum disease.

Diane Thomas
Denver, Colorado 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: francis@oas.stanford.edu (Francis Muir)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Organization: Stanford Exploration Project
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 14:08:50 GMT

Alec Chambers writes:

	Matthew Huntbach writes:

		The reform was instituted by neither Harold Wilson 
		nor Shirley Williams...

		During the 1960s and 1970s many local authorities 
		chose to switch from selective systems to comprehensive 
		systems. This required the signature of the government 
		minister for education, and as it happens the minister 
		who agreed to the most such conversions was the minister 
		during the 1970-74 government, one Margaret Thatcher.

		Why poor Shirley should be blamed for the problems is a 
		mystery to me. I think there were some minor administrative 
		chanegs during her period as education minister to 
		encourage those authorities who had stuck to selection 
		to change, but nothing "sweeping". To this day there are 
		a few local authorities who have stuck to the selective 
		system.

	I stand corrected, (my original comment) and reaffirm my
	great admiration for Shirley (and her mother).

Just what is so admirable about "poor Shirley" making "just administrative
changes,...but nothing 'sweeping'." I cannot imagine her mother being so
wishy-washy. And while we are here in rec.arts.books, has anyone else
Vera Brittain's three *Testaments of Youth, Friendship and Experience*?

Coinkidink. Were the two Minsters of Education, Maggie & Shirl up at
Oxford at the same time? Is it even possible that they headed up, 
respectively, the OUCA and OULC simultaneously?

						Fido
From: kevinh@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch (kevinh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Know someone at Triumph or Norton???
Date: 6 Oct 92 09:11:59 GMT
Reply-To: kevinh@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch
Organization: Ascom Hasler AG
Originator: kevinh@nath


In article <1992Oct5.182245.11475@pixel.kodak.com>, dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:
|> Douglas S Beck (dsbeck@athena.mit.edu) wrote:
|> : I am a PhD candidate at MIT.  I am working on a project, designing a regenerated
|> : gas-turbine engine for a motorcycle application.  I am trying to find which
|> : motorcycle companies are interested in this research.  If you know someone at
|> : Norton, Triumph, or another British motorcycle company, I would appreciate you
|> : sending me that person's address, telephone number, or e-mail address.  Thank you.
|> : 
|> Are there any British motorcycle companies?

Yes, Norton and Triumph. Norton make 2 or 3 models and are very successful in the
British Superbike championship with rotary engines.

The Triumph name was bought by a Mr Bloor (building firm owner) who proceeded to
re-launch the firm about two years ago and I believe they currently top the
British sales charts for largish bikes (750-1200). They have about 7 models in
their range and export all over the world. They are about 4-5 years behind the Japanese
in their technology but are well regarded by the motorcycling press who normally call
a spade a spade, if you know what I mean.  They are based at Hinckley (Leicestershire?)
 - don't know their address.

There are some other very small firms, but of no commercial significance

kevinh@hasler.ascom.ch
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:13252 rec.arts.books:17217
From: Trevor.Kirby@newcastle.ac.uk (Trevor Kirby)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Date: 30 Sep 92 10:58:53 GMT
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU.


In article <BvC0t0.IGF@fulcrum.bt.co.uk>, igb@fulcrum.bt.co.uk (Ian G Batten) writes:
>True.
>
>I can't recall the list of plays that were deemed suitable, but I recall
>being amazed.  I have a feeling that R+J and JC were in there, but I
>don't remember.
>
I wonder if the gatekeepers speech from macbeth is still expunged from the school
books? To censor or not to censor that is the question especially with the number
of ministers with inflamed passions.

 Trev
bleep