HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater)
Subject: Re: Service (or lack thereof)
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 03:01:17 GMT

In article <1992Oct12.202155.21552@morrow.stanford.edu> mossop@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Antony Mossop) writes:
>
>but previous ones have. I'm vaguely interested in the suggestion
>that they find breathing a problem when a smoker, smokes in the
>same building and yet manage to survive in what I assume is urban
>California. LA and to a lesser extent the Bay area suffer on occasion
>from truly hazardous air pollution, even the general air quality in
>the Bay I find more irritating then an average British pub (though

It may be a personal thing. I found I could *smell* the pollution in the air
in LA, in August, and this was as long ago as 1979. My personal sense is that
the Bay Area has a long way to go before we get as bad as LA. Again - there 
may be local variations. SLAC is a little way up the hill, and perhaps that
combined with air conditioning helps. I can certainly *see* a brown layer from
SLAC, looking towards the East Bay. Again again - perhaps I am just used to
whatever local smog we have. I found UK to be much more polluted in urban
areas, generally, due to vehicle exhaust, which is *much* dirtier than here.

Cigarette smoke is another matter. I had a roomate in the late '70's in
Geneva, recently separated so under some stress. For a short while he smoked a
few a day; if I came home in the evening, and found he had been in, smoked
one, gone out again, this was immediately noticeable (until the next day).

>like ignorance, perhaps sacrilege, it's just that I sense that pervasive
>smell of overdone puritanism and perhaps even a touch of humbug.
>
In my early 20's, when first at CERN, I roomed with someone who smoked heavily
and didn't clean up after himself. So the house was full of overflowing
ashtrays. I vowed at that time not to room with a smoker again. At that time,
too, I was going to the Folk Club in Geneva, then located in an old wine
cellar in the old town with no ventilation at all. A complete change of clothes
was always necessary after going there.

My objections are based on personal experience and have nothing to do with
puritanism or humbug. Also, the climate today is such that I feel I can
express these personal desires without fear of the ridicule that would have
been expressed certainly 30, perhaps even 20, years ago.

tin.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater)
Subject: Re: Service (or lack thereof)
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 07:32:19 GMT

In article <1992Oct9.093940.22303@osf.org> sp@osf.org (Simon Patience) writes:
>> 
>> Why?
>
>That he would be happy to limit/curtail his global experience simply so he
>doesn't have to try to avoid cigarette smoke. It feels sort of defeatist
>to me.

I take your point but it depends how bad it is. It's also the case that having
spent some time here in a smoke-free zone, it's quite bad having to put up
with any. One's tolerance gets lowered, which is of course quite unfortunate
from the perspective of visits to most of the rest of the world.
>
>Don't think I like (or tolerate) smoke, I just keep looking for nice
>places where I can avoid it, in perhaps what might be an otherwise 
>smoky environment.
>
How do smokers there tend to react to requests that they not smoke in your
house/office/while you are eating? Just curious.

tin.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: poam@giraffe.ru.ac.za (AK MARQUARD)
Subject: birmingham cultural studies
Summary: getting hold of birmingham
Keywords: culture
Organization: Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 13:44:53 GMT

does anyone know if it is possible to get hold of the birmingham university 
cultural studies centre by e-mail?? information much appreciated

Andrew Marquard, politics dep't, Rhodes University, South Africa
From: jim@cs.strath.ac.uk (Jim Reid)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Privatisation snippets
Date: 9 Oct 92 09:33:08 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Strathclyde Univ., Glasgow, Scotland.
In-reply-to: smee@bristol.ac.uk's message of 8 Oct 92 11:16:49 GMT

In article <1992Oct8.111649.6689@bristol.ac.uk> smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes:

   Was a letter on the subject in one of the Scottish papers last I was up
   visiting there.  Missed the beginnings of the exchange, but it was
   possible to work out the whole thing from this letter.  It appears that
   one of the local Scottish councils had taken a stand against the
   privatisation of Scottish water.

   Another reader had written to the paper, suggesting that it was very
   hypocritical of them to take that attitude, when they had, as an
   investment, bought shares in the English water companies when they were
   privatised.  The letter I saw pointed out that this was only sensible.
   'If the English want to give money away, it is only proper canny Scots
   practice that we should have some of it.  That does not mean that we
   have to be enthusiastic about giving our money to them.'

Well, the writer of that letter missed the point. It has emerged that
the pension funds of many Scottish councils have bought shares in
privatised industries. [Note it's pension funds - not the councils
themselves.] Tory politicians have been trying to make political
capital out of this since (a) almost every Scottish council is opposed
to Scottish water privatisation and (b) a large percentage of these
councils are Labour controlled.

What the politicians have failed to realise is that the managers of
the pension fund are obliged to make the best financial returns on
their investments for the fundholders. [For pension funds, privatised
companies are a safe bet as they will be a good source of dividends -
monopolies and all that - and their shares were deliberately sold for
less than they were worth - hefty capital gains. In the case of
English water companies, there is a lot of land that can be exploited
for property development which wasn't counted in the balance sheets.]
The managers of these funds work at arm's length from both the
employer and the employees and are left to get on with managing their
portfolio with little interference. Thus these Labour councils cannot
prevent their pension funds investing in privatised water companies
even if they wanted to.

		Jim
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic
From: riordanm@cs.tcd.ie (Mark Riordan)
Subject: Re: Irish Rejects Associated (IRA)
Organization: Trinity College, Dublin (Computer Science)
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 14:15:02 GMT

In article <1992Oct15.120153.27312@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:
>basically supporting their view. A better analogy would be to
>say that Texas was allowed to secede, but in one corner of the
>state most of the people wanted to remain part of the USA so,
>while most of Texas seceded, that little corner became a state
>of its own still part of the USA.

This simplified account is quite biased really.
A little exploration of the means used by 'that little corner' to
'become a state of its own...'. Why it wanted to. The manner in
which it was ruled after this nice little story came to a conclusion
etc. might move it a little bit closer to being a valid analogy.

MARK

-- 
--
| riordanm@cs.tcd.ie	Mark Riordan, MIPS Project		|
|			Computer Science Dept. Trinity College	|
| 			Dublin 2, Ireland			|
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:14159 soc.culture.celtic:6803
From: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: Irish Rejects Associated (IRA)
Date: 15 Oct 92 12:01:53 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.

From: yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Dave Shariff Yadallee)
>I would like to challenge all USers to think of the following:
> What if one state in the Union decided to seceed and was not allowed to,
>say Texas.  Wouldn't you expect a group of Texans to form an independence
>group having a covert civil war in Texas and random bomb attacks in the rest
>of the country?  How would you fell.?

I thought you were opposed to the IRA, Dave. Your analogy is
basically supporting their view. A better analogy would be to
say that Texas was allowed to secede, but in one corner of the
state most of the people wanted to remain part of the USA so,
while most of Texas seceded, that little corner became a state
of its own still part of the USA.

Now suppose that in this corner there were some people who
wanted all of Texas to secede and didn't accept that division.
These people were free to form and vote for political parties
advocating reuniting Texas, but their political parties always
got less votes than those who wanted to remain part of the USA.
So some of them turned to violence instead - these people are
essentially what the IRA is.

Matthew Huntbach
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: quigley@acs.ucalgary.ca (Martyn Thomas Quigley)
Subject: Re: Enforced Shakespeare?
Date: Wed, 07 Oct 92 05:24:55 GMT
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta

chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU writes:
>quigley@acs.ucalgary.ca writes:
>>
>>I must be missing something here.  Do playwrights write plays to be
>>acted or to be read?  Do you read opera?  Do you read film scores?  
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
>>Laban?  Stockhausen?  To be really insulting, do you read synchronised 

>Well actually, yes, I do... For *me* there's a significant cost difference
	[...]

Quite, and that is the point.  The written score is a substitute.  

>Bill

Anyone want to tackle Laban?

Mart
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: andyw@aspen32.cray.com (Andy Warner)
Subject: Re: Irish Rejects Associated (IRA)
Originator: andyw@aspen32
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 13 Oct 92 13:59:34 CDT


In article <NN1ksB6w165w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca>, yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Dave Shariff Yadallee) rants:
> [bumbling post about IRA bombs & NI deleted..]

OK, so we know you're mad at the IRA, now take your tranquilisers
and lie down, like the doctor said..
-- 
andyw.	N0REN/G1XRL

andyw@aspen.cray.com	Andy Warner, Cray Research, Inc.	(612) 683-5835
From: geoff@tyger.Eng.Sun.COM (Geoff Arnold @ Sun BOS - R.H. coast near the top)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re:  World News in the US
Date: 9 Oct 92 19:13:13 GMT
Organization: SunSelect
NNTP-Posting-Host: tyger.east.sun.com

Quoth pault@ossi.com (Paul Taylor) (in <Bvv2Lx.385@news.fai.com>):
#Are there other US radio stations out there that carry world news ?

WBUR in Boston (90.9) has the BBC news at 0900-1000, 1930-2000 and
2200-2230.  However, they mangle things at 1930 by broadcasting only
the second half (or is it edited bits?) of Newshour, because they
elected to take that LA business dreck at 1900. (Since the latter is
available at 1830 on WGBH, I don't see why WBUR bothers.)

Mind you, the only reason I tune in to WBUR is because I don't have
a SW radio in my car. In the evening I can pull in the World Service
as clearly on my $200 Tandy as I can hear it on WBUR. (Neat trick:
tune in the BBC on a US FM station and SW at the same time, and
work out how many satellite hops they're out of sync.)

Geoff

--
Geoff Arnold, PC-NFS architect, Sun Select. (geoff.arnold@East.Sun.COM)
-----------
News software that enforces a four-line .signature limit is responsible for
the fact that these postings just go on and on and on and seem to end in mid-
From: Christopher.Carne@brunel.ac.uk (Christopher J Carne)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Names of naughty politicians
Date: 8 Oct 92 10:59:57 GMT
Organization: Brunel University, West London, UK

Martin Harris, the Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University was recently
arrested for kerb-crawling. 'I was just asking this young lady for directions
officer.' 

No jokes about *vice* chancellors or the merits of academic dissemination by 
request.


CHR$
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: jac54@cas.org ()
Subject: Re: Betting on the Prez
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 11:20:46 GMT

In article <1992Oct10.013703.1651@nuscc.nus.sg> hiscrp@nuscc.nus.sg (C R Pennell) writes:
>jac54@cas.org () writes:
>:
>:      Anybody know what odds Ladbrokes are offering on
>:      Bush/Quayle vs. Clinton/Gore (for the Presidential
>:      election of course.)?
>:
>       Clinton 4 to 1 on
>       Bush 5 to 2
>       Perot 25 to 1
>       Source ECONOMIST 10-16 OCtober 1992

	Thanks, I haven't received my copy yet.  I was curious about how
	such astute judges of horseflesh rated things.
>
>       Are 'Mercans allowed to bet on this. If so waht are teh rates
>there?

	Betting is very limited in the U.S., the only place where betting
	on the election would be legal is Nevada.  Betting is generally
	otherwise restricted to on-track and gambling is limited to
	state lotteries.  There is also some gambling on the Mississippi,
	but I don't know how it's regulated.

	Alec.
From: cam@castle.ed.ac.uk (Chris Malcolm)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Edinburgh
Date: 15 Oct 92 00:33:40 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <55860006@hpscit.sc.hp.com> duncan@hpscit.sc.hp.com (Duncan Mcintryre@grenoble) writes:

>> By the way, something different, what's the correct pronunciation of
>> the name "John Menzies"?

>My grandparents always assured me that it should be "John Mingiss" (more or
>less).

The correct pronunciation is more like "Mengiss" than "Mingiss".

-- 
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
From: icpa@iat.holonet.net (Tony Rodriguez)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: International Software Jobs
Date: 13 Oct 92 21:10:43 GMT
Organization: HoloNet (BBS: 510-704-1058)

The International Computer Professional Association is a member supported
organization for experienced software professionals who want to work overseas.
We have contact with over 750 technical recruitment firms in the US and
abroad. If you are interested in working overseas, contact us and we will
send you information on membership with the ICPA.


Sincerely 

Tony Rodriguez

Director ICPA


International Computer Professional Association
2261 Market Street, Suite 309
San Francisco, CA 94114
USA

Tel: (415) 695 - 7618
Fax: (415) 252 - 5769

email icpa@holonet.net
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Service (or lack thereof)
Date: 9 Oct 92 15:13:45 GMT
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.

In article <1992Oct9.002430.1222@netcom.com> sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller) writes:
>>>village whist drive by requesting that the girl at his table
>>>not inhale in his face.  I wanted to slide under the table.
>      ^^^^^^
>      I meant 'exhale'!
>>> 
>>He should try getting a copy of Eat, Sleep and Drink smoke free
>>published by ASH UK
>>
>
>He says he'd just rather stay in California.  Not very many
>encounters with smokers around here. 

It's funny, but when I'm in Britain I can go into a smoky pub and it
doesn't bother me. But in California, I notice at once if someone lights
up and I don't like it.

Something to do with expectations I suppose.
From: fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Privatisation snippets
Date: 9 Oct 92 13:48:35 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge) writes:

[....on privatisation...]

>The government is in a very similar position: if they think that
>they can use the money they get from selling a business better
>than having the capital tied up they can (I would say should)
>sell it.

Absolutely. In most arguments I've had over privatisation, opponents
simply ignore the opportunity cost of the cash that governments have
tied up in owning all these businesses.

[... on whether the proceeds are "fair value"...]

>In fact the situation is identical
>to you selling your house: if you accept an offer and
>are happy with it at the time that is the "full market
>value". Period. If someone later comes up and says
>"you could have got more for that" so what? You had the
>choice of selling or waiting, you were happy at the
>time, why worry? The government is in the same position:
>the "full market value" is the price at which the asset
>is sold, and all parties to the sale are happy on the
>day. Period.

I can't agree because the hidden assumption here is that the government
are somehow the "owners" of the asset in question. The government are
more like a board of directors working for us, the shareholders. They've
decided (perhaps correctly) that it is to our benefit to have the cash
rather than the shares and therefore offers up those shares for sale.
For those folks that do actually want our shares sold, they do have a
right to a fair price and it's up to the government to get it.

However, I'm confused by those people who argue:

a) The government shouldn't be selling the shares. I am happy currently
being an effective shareholder in nationalised company X.

b) They're selling them too cheaply anyway.

..the obvious thing for these people to do is to buy some shares,
because:

a) They'll still be a shareholder as they requested above.

b) By their own calculation, they're getting a bargain.

>Martin

FoFP
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: agc@bmdhh286.bnr.ca (Alan Carter)
Subject: Re: Salaries
Organization: BNR-Europe-Limited, Maidenhead, England
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 11:49:41 GMT

In article <1992Oct13.083506.136@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:
|> From: hiscrp@nuscc.nus.sg (C R Pennell)
|> >Question:
|> >       Assume a basic salary of 17,000 pounds a year. Before tax.
|> >       Assume that there is sufficient capital to buy house without
|> >       having to take out a mortgage.
|> >       Is the salary enough to live on in S.W. England (husband, wife
|> >       two small children)?
|> >       What do people think (restrain yourself, Laurence)?
|> 
|> 17,000 is more than many people with families and mortgages or
|> rent to pay earn. It is about the average salary in the UK.
|> Thus if it is not possible to live on this salary when you have
|> the luxury of not having to pay a mortgage then over
|> half the population of the UK cannot live.

The Guardian had a report at the start of October that the average UK pay
is 305 pounds/week (15860 pounds/year). It didn't give more detail though,
like the shape of the distribution. 

My answer is that 17000 could *maintain* the family described, but could not
*establish* it. So buy a smaller house if need be to set yourselves up with a 
car, lots of useful tools, books, clothes, first aid kit, and the rest of
the bits in a lived-in house. 

S.W. England is variable when it comes to house prices/cost of living. 
For example, in Bristol it's big city prices all the way, but around Stroud, 
where everyone is a hippy :-) and you are closer to the agricultural base,
you can live more cheaply.

   Alan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Maidenhead itself is too snobby to be pleasant. It is the haunt of the
   river swell and his overdressed female companion. It is the town of showy
   hotels, patronized chiefly by dudes and ballet girls. 

   Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome, 1889
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: miriam@seismo.gps.caltech.edu (Miriam Jackson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Edinburgh
Date: 7 Oct 1992 18:06:23 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: earth.gps.caltech.edu

chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU writes:
>v064myby@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Christophe J Quaranta) writes:
>>
>>	Can anyone tell me how you're supposed to pronounce Edinburgh?
>>	[various stuff deleted]				
>Now; try these ;=) Worcester, Gloucester, Leicester, Leominster, 
>Towcester, Vale of Belvoir, Uttoxeter, Beaulieu... (hope I spelled 'em 
>right).

and what about: Alnwick, Alnmouth (careful), Berwick, Norwich, ...
and if you're really getting into this: Carneddau, Betws-y-Coed,
Pen yr Helgu Du, Llangollen, etc.  (Send spelling corrections to 
alt.flame.spelling.anal.retentive ;-) )

-- 
****************************************************************************
	  Miriam Jackson,    miriam@seismo.gps.caltech.edu
****************************************************************************
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Subject: Re: Cities with 7 hills (was Responding to the Nick and Jon challenge
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:02:24 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Windows/DOS Users Ed Group

In article <92288.093308BERNARD@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> Bernard BELL <BERNARD@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU> writes:
>In-Reply-To: luchini@nhmfl.fsu.edu (Marco Luchini)
>>
>>In-Reply-To: yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca's message of Wed, 14 Oct 92 05:38:1
>>In article <k7TmsB3w165w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca> yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca
>>(Dave Shariff Yadallee) writes:
>>>
>>> Read Revelations 17:7-9.  Quoting verses 9 to 14:
>>>
>>>  quote deleted
>>>
>>> Rome is the only city that I know of that has 7 hills.
>>
>>Tallahassee, FL, is also built on seven hills.  And it is much more
>>unpleasant than Rome.
>
>Edinburgh also has seven hills and is  much more pleasant than Rome.
[deletion]
>

Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., likewise claims seven hills,
however, in our case, one of them was sluiced into the bay
for landfill and to make way for Progress, which at the time
was horse-drawn and couldn't make it up the steep grades of
what was Denny Hill and is now known as the Denny Regrade,
the only flat part of our fair city north of the central
business district.

We also have a lot of espresso, caffe latte, and capucino,
like Rome, and good beers from our micro-breweries.

But enough about us, let's talk about you for a while.

-- 
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
	"Well, I'm a little muddled." -- Glinda
From: mfulsmb@uts.mcc.ac.uk (Martin Barry)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: My wife's gon to the West Indies
Keywords: joke
Date: 8 Oct 92 11:03:46 GMT
Organization: Manchester Computing Centre, Manchester, England, M13 9PL.

OK, lets lower the tone.

Did you hear about the psychopath who chopped his wife up and posted her to
Havana?
Cuba?
No, just sliced her thinly.

[exits hastily]
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: arpepper@math.uwaterloo.ca (Adrian Pepper)
Subject: Re: Words: American vs English (UK type)
Organization: University of Waterloo Math Faculty Computing Facility, Ontario.
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 20:27:23 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.082250.23695@osf.org> sp@osf.org (Simon Patience) writes:
>In article <1992Oct7.081747.23526@osf.org>, sp@osf.org (Simon Patience) writes:
>> In article <thos.718421370@suite.sw.oz.au>, thos@suite.sw.oz.au (Thomas Cohen) writes:
>> > 
>> > Ahem. Actually a lorikeet. I've never heard them called "Lory"s before.
>> 
>> Try using a dictionary. I did, it was right there, spelt Lory.
>>  
>> > What do people over in the UK call Tractor-trailer rigs (to use the 
>> > American parlance)? We call them Semi's (from semi-trailer or
>> > semi-articulated, which doesn't really make a lot of sense).
>> 
>> Juganaut perhaps?
>
>That should read Juggernaut. It's just bloody typical that the same post
>I refer someone to a dictionary in a moment of self righteousness that
>I then mispell a word myself.
>
>Simon.

Hmm.  Self-flaming.  Is this a particularly British kind of thing?

Adrian.
arpepper@math.uwaterloo.ca
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.motorcycles