HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: nigelm@ohm.york.ac.uk (Nigel Metheringham)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Teletext services (was Video Plus)
Date: 7 Jan 93 09:30:47 GMT
Organization: Electronics Department, University of York, UK

In <1ifo70INN8o7@cardamom.compnews.co.uk> phil@compnews.co.uk (Phil Male) writes:

>nigelm@ohm.york.ac.uk (Nigel Metheringham) writes:
>: I actually quite like the set of news pages - there is an awful lot
>: of info in there now, but the Fastext links are lousy - poorly
>: thought out and fairly often just plain wrong (links often aren't
>: updated when either the page itself, or the next page is changed -
>: so you can have links pointing to non-existant pages).

>FastText links have proved 'interesting' to say the least, there is a
>bug in the main page database system that only reared it's head two
>hours before switch-on. You may (ha!) have noticed either duplicate
>FastText lines, missing FastText lines or lines on rows above 24. They
>are getting sorted out (bug-work-a-round), but it takes time.

Phil,  you lost the context there - that paragraph I wrote and you
rplied to was about *BBC* news pages, so no need for you to panic
:-)

>Transmitters are being a *real* pain at the moment, engineers are
>touring around playing and installing additional software. The
>schedule slicer used to be completely out of date, we now upload it
>10 minutes before the programmes actually change and it seems to
>be appearing at about the right time on our TV's now.

This could explain why you can look at some of the timeslotted pages
(ie 32x, 38x - not that I have yet managed to see 38x,39x because
they always say that something will appear here at 22:30), and find
that the previous set of pages are being transmitted.

>: Also, what do the rest of you have on magazine 6 on ITV?  Up until
>: yesterday (haven't checked more recently) we still had the set of
>: pages that used to live in magazine 2 (ie 2xx) being broadcast as
>: pages 6xx, and with the Christmas day TV news still in place (page
>: 251 as was).  For a few hours on Sunday it changed so all pages read
>: something like "This is the regional ITV teletext pages", but then
>: the set of pages returned!

>Page cache problems, pages get hung over in strange magazines. This is
>being fixed I'm reliably informed.

Well now magazine 6 has something sensible - if you call a start
page, a clock cracker page and 98 identical test pages sensible - I
wonder where all the bandwidth has gone.... :-(

	Nigel.

-- 
#   Nigel Metheringham  -- (NeXT) EMail: nigelm@ohm.york.ac.uk    #
#   System Administrator, Electronics Dept, University of York    #
#   York YO1 5DD. Phone: +44 904 432374, Fax: +44 904 432335      #
From: zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Think of a number
Date: 12 Jan 93 11:13:43 GMT
Organization: Manchester Computing Centre

In article <1is6q4INNdqn@lily.csv.warwick.ac.uk> cstadgs@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Mr R J Tinsley) writes:
>In article <zlsiida.677@fs1.mcc.ac.uk> zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd) writes:
>>How many Afro-Caribbean and Asian people live in Britain?
>>2.54million

>From the CIA World Factbook entry for the United Kingdom...
>Population: >    57,797,514 (July 1992)
>Ethnic divisions:
>    English 81.5%, Scottish 9.6%, Irish 2.4%, Welsh 1.9%, Ulster 1.8%, West
>    Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and other 2.8%

>... and 2.8% of 57.80m is 1.62m. How come the discrepancy?

Hmmmm, only The Guardian feature writers know
Maybe the special relationship finally broke down and we've started lying to 
the CIA.
MAybe the 2.54 includes students and other longterm visitors (920000 seems 
like rather a lot for that though!)

        Never believe an experiment until it is confirmed by theory 
    Dave Budd, MCC, Oxford Rd, Manchester, England    (44|0)61-275-6033
From: rickt@bnr.co.uk (Rick Tait)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: How cheap are _cheap_ flights to the US?
Date: 12 Jan 1993 15:57:53 GMT
Organization: BNR Europe, New Southgate, London.
Distribution: uk
NNTP-Posting-Host: bnsgs158.bnr.co.uk
Summary: Flights US Cheap How Muchas?

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

As I may be going to the US in a few months time, I thought
I'd ask around on the net for the considered opinions of
UK persons who have travelled across the pond on a 'cheap'
flight. Just how much are we talking about for a return ticket
to New York? What's the end-date for an 'open' ticket?

Has anyone successfully used 'standby' flights? Whats the
time on them like?



-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.1

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-- 
Cheers,                                                            __o
Rick                                                               \<,
_________________________________________________________________()/ ()_
Rick Tait, Dept GM21, NMBASE Group, TSE, LON40, Tel: ESN (730) 3352
From: ecm9093@aston.ac.uk (J.P.FLETCHER)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Mornington Crescent rules anyone?
Date: 8 Jan 93 10:39:41 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Aston University

In article <1993Jan6.191326.14593@infodev.cam.ac.uk> gdb15@grebe.cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry) writes:

>In article <wNuywB35w165w@mantis.co.uk> mathew <mathew@mantis.co.uk> writes:
>>fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes) writes:
>>> gerry@keele.ac.uk (G.D.Pratt) writes:
>>> >Ok - I give in. Please let me in on what Mornington Crescent (THE GAME) is
>>> >all about. Is it a wind-up or what. I am confused.
>>> 
>>> I can email you a copy of the English Standard Rules. These will be
>>> superseded this year though when the Channel Tunnel is opened.
>>
>>They need revising anyway.  Mornington Crescent is currently closed, and so
>>there has been talk of declaring an alternate end point for non-Championship
>>matches until the station is re-opened.  I believe the most likely candidate
>>is Russell Square.

>Russell Square?  Are you sure?  You'd be able to win any game with an open
>diagonal by playing Goodge Street on your second move (unless the previous
>player had doubled back on the Central Line, of course).  Also it would
>make the bridges rule effectively meaningless, since any parallel transfer
>south of the Elephant and Castle would presumably be invalidated.  

>Did you mean Euston Square perhaps?  That would make for some interesting
>play (imagine starting at Oxford Street under Crathie's Variation, for
>instance).  But my favourite alternative endpoint is the Aldwych.  Not
>only does it allow some unusual right-handed passes around the Embankment,
>it also completely bamboozles anyone rash enough to try Webster's Defence
>when coming from the Mall!
>--
>Guy Barry, University of Cambridge | Phone: +44 (0)223 334757 
>Computer Laboratory                | Fax: +44 (0)223 334678
>New Museums Site, Pembroke Street  | JANET: Guy.Barry@uk.ac.cam.cl 
>Cambridge CB2 3QG, England, UK     | Internet: Guy.Barry@cl.cam.ac.uk 

Somebody clearly has it in for M.C.  Aldwych is, I gather, to close 
permanently!

John
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dr John P. Fletcher       
Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry,
Aston University,         Tel: (44) 21 359 3611 ext 4625
Aston Triangle,		  Email(Janet): J.P.FLETCHER@UK.AC.ASTON
BIRMINGHAM B4 7ET   U.K.  Email(Other): J.P.FLETCHER@ASTON.AC.UK
--------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: uk.misc
From: gdg019@cch.coventry.ac.uk (Ridley McIntyre)
Subject: Re: VIZspeak - What is frottage ?
Organization: Coventry Metropol Tactical Division, UK
Distribution: uk
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 17:52:46 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.125635.2886@lsl.co.uk> snail@lsl.co.uk writes:
>In article <1993Jan4.173403.710@rtf.bt.co.uk>, mclo@rtf.bt.co.uk (John McLoughlin) writes:
>> Hello,
>> 
>> Guess who got a VIZ album for Xmas !! The subject line says it all; so, just
>> what is 'frottage' ? The word was used in the context of an insult or 
>> obscenity. Any pointers from the suitably depraved ?
>
>Well, just this subject came up at a party on Saturday night. Apparently
>(I haven't checked in the dictionary) it is the practice of exposing your
>self to others (sexually I believe).
>
>Caused a lot of laughter whenever anyone mentioned 'Fromage Frais'....

But, of course, frottage cheese might not be so palatable...

-- 
 ____ *     |  | Ridley McIntyre  -  gdg019@cck.cov.ac.uk |   EARTH CALLING    |
|         __|  | Ronin Ironpig - On a Flowery Space Trip! |       ANGELA       |
|     |  |  |  | "KAAAANEDAAAAA!!!"  ... "TETSUOOOOOO!!!" |  "For The Coming   |
|     |  |__|  | -    script for last 10 minutes of AKIRA |  Of Angels" - '93  |
Newsgroups: uk.misc
From: bemj1@cl.cam.ac.uk (Bernie Jones)
Subject: Re: Any New CD for 9.49 (Was: Re: Record shops (LPs))
Reply-To: Bernie.Jones@cl.cam.ac.uk
Organization: U of Cambridge Comp Lab, UK
Distribution: uk
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 09:56:58 GMT

In article <1992Dec18.163852.2974@wraxall.inmos.co.uk> des@inmos.co.uk (David Shepherd) writes:
>Tim Oldham (tjo@its.bt.co.uk) wrote:
>: I've said this before, but I'll say it again. There's no need to pay
>: more than 9.49 for any new CD that's currently in any label's catalogue.
>: That's the price that MAP charge for mail order. Any quantity. Includes
>: P&P. Talk to them on 0705 230495.
>
>: I've no connection with them except as a satisfied customer.
>
>bank of scotland offer a similar service to its visa card holders
>.. i think they were #9.39 for any cd including p&p.
>

I heard about MAP thro' uk.misc, and have ordered (and received) several
CDs from them - however, they charge L9.99 + 50p p&p these days per CD, 
which means that I only use them for full-price recordings - mid and
bargain price CDs are still cheaper in (reputable) shops.
The Bank of Scotland thing sounds worth investigating though!

Of course you could always buy them all in the States, but getting there
tends to cost quite a bit. Does anyone know how CD prices in Continental
Europe compare to the UK ones?

Bernie
From: Geraint.Jones@comlab.oxford.ac.uk (Geraint Jones)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Record shops (LPs)
Date: 6 Jan 93 17:03:50 GMT
Organization: The Smolensk Powdered Goat Society
Originator: geraint@clts1.comlab

mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) bemoaned himself of the injustice:
(  I want to buy LaserDiscs instead of video cassettes, for the same reason I
 ) prefer CD over cassette.  But nobody else wants LaserDisc, so nobody makes
(  them.  It's sad, but life's like that.  

I got the distinct impression that there were more of these about in        /
the Netherlands than you see here.  In fact I don't know that I have       /
ever seen one in the UK, but that might just be for want of looking.	  / g
Newsgroups: uk.misc
From: gtoal@pizzabox.demon.co.uk (Graham Toal)
Subject: Re: Record shops (LPs)                  
Organization: Cuddlehogs Anonymous
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 12:52:50 GMT

In article <memo.841860@cix.compulink.co.uk> rspence@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:
:The latest (Jan '93) issue of CompuServe magazine carries an advert for {Ken
:Crane's LaserDisc Superstore} and states that they have 100,000 titles
:_currently_ in stock and sales of over 30,000 discs per month.  If this
:advert is to be believed, then the LaserDisc is alive and well in the USA.

Oh, it absolutely is, my American friend here will attest to that. 
Laserdisks are going down a bomb.  (As apparently is surround sound.  Oh
well, no accounting for taste.)

G
From: eset08@castle.ed.ac.uk (J Strobridge)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Transport subsidies - Was: Car Parking
Date: 5 Jan 93 20:20:01 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Edinburgh University



There really *is* a problem with subsidies though and not paying full
costs for things such as public transport.   I was down in rural Devon
recently where the bus service exists but is heavily subsidised and even
so only runs for part of the day - usually the morning/evening and I was
taking to a taxi driver - who runs an expensive service that just about
pays its way - but he wanted to set up a small bus service of his own to 
commute round the several outlying farms and villages.    Trouble was,
with the inital outlay on the bus and other expenses there was no way he
was going to be able to charge a competitive fare with the main bus
company and so he couldn't hope to run a link service to the major towns
where he would make the bulk of his profit.    Consequently I think he'd
decided not to bother - and I suspect this is the case with most other
budding entrepreneurs out that way!    If you haven't got the
opportunity to compete you just don't bother to try so I'm left paying
for a lousy bus service that only works when it wants to and not when I
need it!   

jill
From: mathew <mathew@mantis.co.uk>
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Record shops (LPs)                  
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 93 17:33:20 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Mantis Consultants, Cambridge. UK.

rspence@cix.compulink.co.uk (Richard Spence) writes:
> mathew@mantis.co.uk (mathew) writes:
> > I want to buy LaserDiscs instead of video cassettes, for the same reason I
> > prefer CD over cassette.  But nobody else wants LaserDisc, so nobody makes
> > them.
> 
> The latest (Jan '93) issue of CompuServe magazine carries an advert for {Ken
> Crane's LaserDisc Superstore} and states that they have 100,000 titles
> _currently_ in stock and sales of over 30,000 discs per month.  If this
> advert is to be believed, then the LaserDisc is alive and well in the USA.

Er, yeah, because over there people wanted to buy them.

Unfortunately, I don't want LaserDisc if it's NTSC LaserDisc!


mathew
From: snail@lsl.co.uk
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Solmin
Date: 6 Jan 93 15:46:28 GMT
Organization: Laser-Scan Ltd., Cambridge

In article <29906@castle.ed.ac.uk>, eset08@castle.ed.ac.uk (J Strobridge) writes:
> snail@lsl.co.uk writes:
>>And one should be very careful with paracetamol. Its a real pity these days 
>>that just about all doctors immediately recommend paracetamol in favour of
>>anything else. Some people die even if they follow the correct recommendations,
>
>       And another important thing to remember is to read the contents list
> on packets of any cold cure that you buy over the counter.   There were
> several nasty stories last year of people who had been dosing themselves
> with two or three different types of cold remedies during the day
> and then going home at night and taking yet another one together with
> several paracetemol.    Since most of the remedies also contained
> paracetemol they ended up with an overdose.
> 
>       But then I'm not entirely convinced that these cold remedies
> really do anything more than disguise the symptoms anyway and certainly
> don't cure one!    

This is precisely why I view paracetamol as a very dangerous drug. People
aren't very rational or careful when they feel ill or are in pain. Pain killers
need to be as fool proof as possible, and paracetamol fails that quite badly
in my view.

I'm not saying aspirin is better (although my preference is to take aspirin in
favour of paracetamol if I have the choice), it's just that doctors in recent
years (especially the recent graduates - if thats what they are called) have
had it drummed in to them to recommend paracetamol, and all because non water
soluble aspirin have a tendency to attack the stomach lining if not taken with
a meal (that is what caused it isn't it? the way I heard it anyway). Seriously
though you'd have to take them quite regularly to do serious amounts of damage.
-- 
snail@lsl.co.uk      

"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless
 means to side with the powerful, not to be Neutral."
                                                     Quote by Freire.
                                                     Poster by OXFAM.
From: jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk (Jeremy Henderson)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: VIZspeak - What is frottage ?
Date: 5 Jan 93 12:41:49 GMT
Distribution: uk
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <1993Jan4.173403.710@rtf.bt.co.uk> mclo@rtf.bt.co.uk (John McLoughlin) writes:
~Hello,
~
~Guess who got a VIZ album for Xmas !! The subject line says it all; so, just
~what is 'frottage' ? The word was used in the context of an insult or 
~obscenity. Any pointers from the suitably depraved ?
~
~Cheers in advance,
~

Maybe you should have asked Santa for a dictionary as well ;-)
Frottage is rubbing against someone for sexual pleasure, for example in
a crowded place.


-- 
===Jeremy Henderson===jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk=          

This message cost the net hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
Bloody good value if you ask me.
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Hi-fi TV sound?
Date: 7 Jan 93 16:46:37 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

Is it possible to obtain, fairly cheaply, devices which pick up television
signals and output decent stereo sound through an amp to speakers? I ask
because although I can very happily live with a cheap small television's
picture (it comes with the house so there's no cost above the licence) I'm now
so used to hi-fi sound that a tinny mono speaker grates on the ears. This is
especially noticable when I'm watching opera on the box: the voices are
horribly distorted and the orchestra sinks into mush.
-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   For Sale: Posts in British Government. Suit
wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk    |   outgoing American. Highest bids accepted.
Newsgroups: uk.misc
From: rspence@cix.compulink.co.uk (Richard Spence)
Subject: Oil spills - history                    
Cc: rspence@cix.compulink.co.uk
Reply-To: rspence@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 19:22:00 +0000

ph10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Philip Hazel) writes:

> Anybody remember the year of the Torrey Canyon disaster? Everybody
> interviewed on News at Ten last night seemed to be too young to remember
> it, as they were all claiming yesterday's accident was the first major oil
> spill on British shores. But then we found we couldn't remember when the
> Torrey Canyon wreck actually happened...

1967. I was 5 and distinctly remember the black-and-white TV reports showing
the RAF bombing the wreck in (what I was told later) an attempt to burn off
the worst of the slick.
--
Richard Spence
rspence@cix.compulink.co.uk
CompuServe: 100112,304
Newsgroups: uk.misc,rec.arts.tv.uk
From: L.H.Wood@lut.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Ariston music for TV Advert
Reply-To: L.H.Wood@lut.ac.uk (Lloyd Wood)
Organization: Loughborough University, UK.
Distribution: uk
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 93 19:38:19 GMT

Great ad, great music. Anyone remember the BBC2 (I think) programme on
the French experimental video artists who developed that 'loop' effect-and-
cause that obviously influenced the admakers?

L. (who designs domestic appliances for a living)
From: anw@maths.nott.ac.uk (Dr A. N. Walker)
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Transport subsidies - Was: Car Parking
Date: 8 Jan 93 17:15:43 GMT
Reply-To: anw@maths.nott.ac.uk (Dr A. N. Walker)
Organization: Maths Dept., Nott'm Univ., UK.

In article <29964@castle.ed.ac.uk> fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes) writes:
>I suspect that you missed Mathew's point. The idea is semi-libertarian
>in that the government gets to decide how much "tax" you are forced to
>pay, then you get to decide where it gets spent from a menu of
>tax-spending options.

	No, I understood that.  The question is the form of the menu.
Do we have two menus [vote for Plan A or Plan B], or several menus
[which would inevitably become the Conservative Menu, the Liberal Menu,
..., the Monster Raving Loony Menu, ....], or zillions of menus [ie,
each member of the public gets to roll their own]?

	The first two of these are no different from having a referendum
or an election, with all the attendant problems [PR or FPTP?  How do you
stop it becoming "simply" a vote of confidence in the government?  Etc.].
The third seems to me to be simply unmanageable, as I tried to suggest in
my previous article.

>It'd be interesting how it'd work with mortgage relief.

	Just so.  Plainly, it wouldn't work at all.  In fact, any scheme
that benefits only a fraction of the population is clearly doomed, as
those who don't benefit won't pay.  This puts not only mortgage relief,
but also pensions, universities [and perhaps all education], and many
other things at risk -- *even if* we all think they're Good Things.
There is a big difference between paying for such things (a) when we
are all roughly agreed on how much provision there should be, and we
all pay on the same basis, and (b) when we can opt in or out as we
choose.  Ultimately, this scheme robs government of *any* power of
social engineering [very broadly defined], even when the direction of
movement [such as provision of pensions] enjoys very general support.

	There is also the problem that many areas of expenditure are
bimodal, so any "averaging" process is likely to produce poor results.
Half a nuclear deterrent, a channel tunnel, a London ringroad, an army
presence in Northern Ireland, etc., is simply worse than useless;  such
things should be done well or not at all.

-- 
Andy Walker, Maths Dept., Nott'm Univ., UK.
anw@maths.nott.ac.uk
Xref: sparky uk.misc:2172 misc.misc:4231 comp.misc:4754
From: jrg@doc.ic.ac.uk (James Grinter)
Newsgroups: uk.misc,misc.misc,comp.misc
Subject: Re: ANyone out there still got a BBC micro?
Date: 4 Jan 93 19:31:18 GMT
Organization: Dept. Of Computing, Imperial College of STM, UoL, UK
NNTP-Posting-Host: oak50.doc.ic.ac.uk
In-reply-to: dummy@cs.city.ac.uk's message of 4 Jan 93 15:18:36 GMT

In article <dummy.726160716@barney> dummy@cs.city.ac.uk (Dummy login) writes:

    Simple question, joystick, where do you plug it in? and how
   do you get it to work.
    If any BBC(ies) could contact me and I'll explain in a little more detail.

Acorn news group would be better, but I shall have to post here cos I
doubt that email would reach the right person, judging by that email
address.

You will need Acorn joysticks which are of an Analogue design (and
usually two connected together), and they plug into the Analogue port
at the rear of the machine. I believe some companies did offer 'atari'
type interfaces once upon a time, but little software supported them.

James.

--
James Grinter, c/o Dept Of Computing, Imperial College, LONDON, SW7 2BZ.
Aeval({227406,131304,719166,950732,993440,1364628,1491756,1868584,1235232,;
2151480,2524368,2802876,2769312,2839886,3104325,1824},;
{|x,y| QQout(chr((x%2048)/y)+chr(int((x/2048)/y))) })
From: snail@lsl.co.uk
Newsgroups: uk.misc
Subject: Re: Solmin
Date: 5 Jan 93 12:53:19 GMT
Organization: Laser-Scan Ltd., Cambridge

> I agree with other people in this thread: Solmin is (was) an
> aspirin-based thing as far as I recall.  As far as I'm concerned,
> aspirin and paracetamol are equally (in)effective in dealing with
> headaches.  However, one's supposed to be cautious about aspirin-
> family products if one is asthmatic.

And one should be very careful with paracetamol. Its a real pity these days 
that just about all doctors immediately recommend paracetamol in favour of
anything else. Some people die even if they follow the correct recommendations,
however such people are few and far between, but if you catch a suicide attempt
with aspirin, pump their stomach, they'll generally survive, with paracetamol,
they'll generally die, about three weeks later from liver failure... nice.

Did you also know that if a GP gives you a prescription, the pharmacist is
held legally responsible in the case of drugs dispensed on that prescription.
That is, the pharmacist has to check the GP? Nice cushion for an incompetent
GP that one :-(.
-- 
snail@lsl.co.uk      

"Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless
 means to side with the powerful, not to be Neutral."
                                                     Quote by Freire.
                                                     Poster by OXFAM.
Newsgroups: uk.misc