Thanks umra!!!!
Graeme Trotter
highly amusing, and I appreciated your "rather peculiar" sense of humour, I
won't tell you who I am quoting that off!!! Thank you so much for taking up
your valuable time, although you would only be posting to umra otherwise. I
have now completed my project and I will try and post it to you if I am able
to, I hope you don't mind me quoting you on a few things. If any of you have
read Linda Tame's thesis on The Archers and Postmodernism can you please
pretend you haven't 'cos it is really good and I'm only a first year with a
2000 word limit!!! Cheers everyone
love Jessica.
Peter Hesketh
ott5.freeserve.co.uk> writes
>Thank you so much for taking up
>your valuable time
Don't mention it.
>, although you would only be posting to umra otherwise.
(aside - this person is wise beyond her years)
> I
>have now completed my project and I will try and post it to you if I am able
>to,
Yes please
>I'm only a first year with a
>2000 word limit!!!
Good luck with the assignment! I hope whoever marks your work has the
same views on word limits as yourself. When my wife handed in a couple
of 2000 word assignments which she had agonisingly whittled down from
3000 words, she was most put out that others got higher marks for 3000
word essays, and she was criticized for being too terse.
--
Regards - Peter Hesketh, Mynyddbach, Mon.
Forty reasons why a dog is better than a woman: number 39
"Dogs aren't catty."
Alan Craig
<p...@phesk.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>When my wife handed in a couple
>of 2000 word assignments which she had agonisingly whittled down from
>3000 words, she was most put out that others got higher marks for 3000
>word essays, and she was criticized for being too terse.
I have worked under a system where there was a page limit of 20 pages
for some assignments (using a standard font and style). If anyone
handed in more then 20 pages we tore the extra ones out and threw them
away _before_ we read it. If it didn't make sense that was tough.
The system worked perfectly.
Peter Hesketh
<postm...@shadforth.u-net.com> writes
I wish they had used that system in 1990 at Bristol Poly. It would have
saved Pat some tears and me much earache.
Andrew Wineberg
Peter Hesketh <p...@phesk.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <7f27mk$qg0$1...@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>, Graeme Trotter <graeme@tr
> ott5.freeserve.co.uk> writes
> > I
> >have now completed my project and I will try and post it to you if I am able
> >to,
> Yes please
Yes, I too would love to see it.
> >I'm only a first year with a
> >2000 word limit!!!
Upper limit, I presume.
> Good luck with the assignment! I hope whoever marks your work has the
> same views on word limits as yourself. When my wife handed in a couple
> of 2000 word assignments which she had agonisingly whittled down from
> 3000 words, she was most put out that others got higher marks for 3000
> word essays, and she was criticized for being too terse.
Yes, one thing I learned from having studied an essay subject (namely
Economics) at 'A'-level is that size does matter. Worse still, the
quantity was generally measured in terms of number of pages which just
conspired to make things worse for a chap like me with small handwriting
and a generally terse style[*]. Sadly, it seems that this attitude is
even (nay, especially) prevalent amongst public examination board
examiners. I ascribe this attitude to my failing to achieve grade A in
said subject (well, that and that the examiners expected candidates to
read their mind and answer the intended question rather than the one
which was printed.)
--
AJW in Stanmore, HA7.
Umrageek: 1979/11 M B>~ G() A(+) L I S- P- CH++ Ar++ T++ ?H ?Q Sh!
Portrait and details at http://www.BTINTERNET.COM/~a.wineberg/
Peter Hesketh
<A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM> writes
>Yes, one thing I learned from having studied an essay subject (namely
>Economics) at 'A'-level is that size does matter. Worse still, the
>quantity was generally measured in terms of number of pages which just
>conspired to make things worse for a chap like me with small handwriting
>and a generally terse style[*].
Don't keep us in suspense - what was the asterisk for?
Alan Craig
<p...@phesk.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <48F2D7C0D8%A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM>, Andrew Wineberg
><A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM> writes
>
>>Yes, one thing I learned from having studied an essay subject (namely
>>Economics) at 'A'-level is that size does matter. Worse still, the
>>quantity was generally measured in terms of number of pages which just
>>conspired to make things worse for a chap like me with small handwriting
>>and a generally terse style[*].
>
>Don't keep us in suspense - what was the asterisk for?
His style is so terse he managed to whittle the footnote away
altogether...
Alison Galloway
postm...@shadforth.u-net.com wrote:
> I have worked under a system where there was a page limit of 20 pages
> for some assignments (using a standard font and style). If anyone
> handed in more then 20 pages we tore the extra ones out and threw them
> away _before_ we read it. If it didn't make sense that was tough.
> The system worked perfectly.
We operate a ten per cent rule with our students. If they are more than ten
per cent over the word limit, they have marks deducted. Before this, we too
had justifiable complaints from students about their peers getting high marks
when they had submitted twice the maximum length of assignment. Keeping the
word count down is quite a skill, and it is only fair to reward this (or at
least not penalise it).
The system that Alan has mentioned sounds suitably effective, particularly
with the font requirement. One of my colleagues teaches Consumer Law and has
a case study examination for students, whereby they are allowed to bring one
A4 sheet of notes into the examination hall. When she shows me these sheets
afterwards, I always feel like exhibiting them in a gallery because they are
such works of art. The handwriting or printing is always absolutely tiny and
virutally no margins to the page. I'm certain they must spend half the exam
time trying to make out what they've written.
---------------------
Alison Galloway
Faculty of Business and Consumer Studies
Queen Margaret University College
Edinburgh EH12 8TS
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
andy roberts
<48F2D7C0D8%A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM> :
>Yes, one thing I learned from having studied an essay subject (namely
>Economics) at 'A'-level is that size does matter. Worse still, the
>quantity was generally measured in terms of number of pages which just
>conspired to make things worse for a chap like me with small handwriting
>and a generally terse style[*]. Sadly, it seems that this attitude is
>even (nay, especially) prevalent amongst public examination board
>examiners. I ascribe this attitude to my failing to achieve grade A in
>said subject (well, that and that the examiners expected candidates to
>read their mind and answer the intended question rather than the one
>which was printed.)
unreferenced footnote.
could do better.
--
Andy R
ukcider mailing list and Links
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rob/cider/
Andrew Wineberg
postm...@shadforth.u-net.com (Alan Craig) wrote:
You may joke, but I really did manage to fold the footnote up into the
main text, so short was it.
Smart Alex
trying to add in "and"s and "therefore"s to boost the number total.
--
Smart Alex, Bath, UK.
"Stop tryin' to make a man out of me,
I ain't got the raw materials, see!" [Jim Thirlwell]
Andrew Wineberg
"Smart Alex" <smar...@breathemail.net> wrote:
> My experience of "'n' words" type essays was of going through at the end
> trying to add in "and"s and "therefore"s to boost the number total.
I always used to have internal battles with myself as to whether or not
to count the title, my name, etc. in the word count. I would then spend
so much time checking the number of words (typically at the end of every
sentence I would perform several calculations) that UU had little time
to actually write the darned thing.
Sue Mitchell
<p...@phesk.demon.co.uk> writes
> When my wife handed in a couple
>of 2000 word assignments which she had agonisingly whittled down from
>3000 words, she was most put out that others got higher marks for 3000
>word essays, and she was criticized for being too terse.
>
From the point of view of the marker, I'd be pretty peeved with anyone
who gave me 50% more stuff to read and mark than I was being paid for
|:-(
--
__ __
{{{{\ /}}}} Sue Mitchell
{{::\ V /::}} s...@imps.demon.co.uk
>--->8<---<
{:.;/ 0 \;.:} "My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies"
~~ ~~ - B.H.M.
Simon Townley
<a.gal...@mail.qmced.ac.uk> wrote:
> The system that Alan has mentioned sounds suitably effective, particularly
> with the font requirement. One of my colleagues teaches Consumer Law and has
> a case study examination for students, whereby they are allowed to bring one
> A4 sheet of notes into the examination hall. When she shows me these sheets
> afterwards, I always feel like exhibiting them in a gallery because they are
> such works of art. The handwriting or printing is always absolutely tiny and
> virutally no margins to the page. I'm certain they must spend half the exam
> time trying to make out what they've written.
This thread is making me feel, a) old, and b) grateful that I got through
all that nonsense in the days when you weren't allowed to take anything
(unless perhaps a sword, see elsewhere) into exams, and when essays were
things that you wrote, rather than word-processed.
In any case, you had to read them out to the tutor in question, there
being no chance he'd be bothered to actually read anything (hello Fred in
heaven); which was, as it turns out, excellent training for speaking
extempore and with misplaced confidence from sketchy hurried notes
(sometimes someone else's notes entirely).
I'm being economical with the actualité again, if I'm honest. We *were*
allowed calculators for O-level Physics. Lessons In Life Learned Just Too
Late To Be Useful Number 36,002 - always check that your battery is not a
dud *before* the exam.
--
Simon Townley
Robin Fairbairns
>This thread is making me feel, a) old, and b) grateful that I got through
>all that nonsense in the days when you weren't allowed to take anything
>(unless perhaps a sword, see elsewhere) into exams, and when essays were
>things that you wrote, rather than word-processed.
i do rather wish i had had the opportunity to use a computer to
prepare essays: it would have been a good preparation for later life
(when i really can't write more than a short letter at one go).
>In any case, you had to read them out to the tutor in question, there
>being no chance he'd be bothered to actually read anything (hello Fred in
>heaven); which was, as it turns out, excellent training for speaking
>extempore and with misplaced confidence from sketchy hurried notes
>(sometimes someone else's notes entirely).
this is something that one sorely misses when you've done a degree
that never involved writing anything other than squiggles. someone
told me before i got here that i was going to have to write essays
about something or other, but it never happened.
i love the excuse you've offered me for bing a hopeless public
speaker. perhaps if i forced cst undergraduates to read me their non-
mathematical answers in supervisions, they'ld thank me for it in later
life...
[thinks, probably not ... a student of the 00s would complain to his/
her director of studies about my eccentricity]
>I'm being economical with the actualité again, if I'm honest. We *were*
>allowed calculators for O-level Physics. Lessons In Life Learned Just Too
>Late To Be Useful Number 36,002 - always check that your battery is not a
>dud *before* the exam.
we were allowed to take slide rules into exams, but that was it. the
great thing about a slide rule is you power it all by your little
self.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
refusing to pay the elephant tax
Alan Craig
Townley) wrote:
>I'm being economical with the actualité again, if I'm honest. We *were*
>allowed calculators for O-level Physics.
We're headed back to the old days again. We now specify the exact
model of calculator that students can use. For those of you that
haven't bought a calculator recently this is because
a) you can get one that will store the notes for the entire course
b) you can get them with infra red links which allows communication
with someone else with the same model.
Alan
Debbie
wrote:
>we were allowed to take slide rules into exams, but that was it. the
>great thing about a slide rule is you power it all by your little
>self.
...but the slide rule is the reason I gave up maths after O level. I
was OK on the maths, but the manipulation of the thing was utterly
beyond me.
Debbie
--
Cybertheologian
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/debbie.gaunt/
icq 9428714
Robin Fairbairns
>On 19 Apr 1999 06:08:44 GMT, r...@betsy.cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns)
>wrote:
>>we were allowed to take slide rules into exams, but that was it. the
>>great thing about a slide rule is you power it all by your little
>>self.
>
>...but the slide rule is the reason I gave up maths after O level. I
>was OK on the maths, but the manipulation of the thing was utterly
>beyond me.
odd. given that i'm pretty sure i didn't use a slide rule in maths
_after_ o-level (i did use it in physics and chemistry, but not
maths).
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
George Middleton
>we were allowed to take slide rules into exams, but that was it. the
>great thing about a slide rule is you power it all by your little
>self.
I *loved* the slide rule with a love that I have never felt with
calculators. It was an extension of my brain. I travelled along all of
its scales including 1/pi*x. I did chain calculations by alternately
multiplying and dividing, going along the top and then the bottom just
using the mnemonic "divide with the slide".
It just lies in a bottom drawer now with my other relics, a set of log
tables and a box of Kern drawing instruments with those tweezer-like
pens
--
George
Peter Hesketh
<Mi...@leton.demon.co.uk> writes
>I *loved* the slide rule with a love that I have never felt with
>calculators. It was an extension of my brain. I travelled along all of
>its scales including 1/pi*x. I did chain calculations by alternately
>multiplying and dividing, going along the top and then the bottom just
>using the mnemonic "divide with the slide".
>
>It just lies in a bottom drawer now with my other relics, a set of log
>tables and a box of Kern drawing instruments with those tweezer-like
>pens
Mine sits on my PC in case it ever thinks it has become indispensible.
Although how I would read umra with it is a bit puzzling.
My log tables (marked "Not to be removed from the Examination Hall") are
on my book case. I never owned any drawing instruments beyond the usual
Helix compasses and plastic protractor.
Peter Hesketh
<postm...@shadforth.u-net.com> writes
>We're headed back to the old days again. We now specify the exact
>model of calculator that students can use. For those of you that
>haven't bought a calculator recently this is because
>
>a) you can get one that will store the notes for the entire course
>b) you can get them with infra red links which allows communication
>with someone else with the same model.
My son was recommended one (by the school) for A level which had a
graph-drawing function. It seemed like cheating to me, but all the
other kids had them, so I got him one. He still had to plot cubics etc
on paper, showing his workings, but the calculator showed him the shape
he was aiming for.
Andrew Wineberg
postm...@shadforth.u-net.com (Alan Craig) wrote:
> We're headed back to the old days again. We now specify the exact
> model of calculator that students can use. For those of you that
> haven't bought a calculator recently this is because
> a) you can get one that will store the notes for the entire course
> b) you can get them with infra red links which allows communication
> with someone else with the same model.
I have a swanky calculator which I used right through my A-levels, with
32K of memory which I filled with wonderful and useful mathematical
programs (well, shoot-em-up is kind of mathematical...) only to be
obliged to clear the memory before the exam in case it ws checked.
At Uni, electronic calculators are a rare sight: I have one exam this
summer in which I am permitted such a beast and I must declare the exact
make and model on my script; fancy machines are not permitted.
Kate Lambert
<s...@imps.demon.co.uk> writes
>
>From the point of view of the marker, I'd be pretty peeved with anyone
>who gave me 50% more stuff to read and mark than I was being paid for
>|:-(
You got paid by the word for marking????
When I was there UEA had a computing centre but only computing students
were allowed to use it. I used to write notes from reference books on
one side of the paper only, code each source with a line down the margin
in a different colour pencil, write an elaborate essay plan in numbered
sections/subsections/paragraphs, go through the notes and decide which
bit was going in each section, cut the whole lot up into strips, paper-
clip them together by section number and then write the essay, using the
colour-coded lines when referring to the source.
Can't help feeling a computer might have made things easier, especially
the day the cleaner decided I didn't want all those scribbled strips of
paper all over my floor.
--
Kate Lambert
Liz Blades
>This thread is making me feel, a) old,
An old what?
>and b) grateful that I got through
>all that nonsense in the days when you weren't allowed to take anything
>(unless perhaps a sword, see elsewhere) into exams, and when essays were
>things that you wrote, rather than word-processed.
I managed quite well on what I wrote on my shirt sleeves.
>I'm being economical with the actualité again, if I'm honest. We *were*
>allowed calculators for O-level Physics.
What!!!!!!!!!!!! calculators,we where lucky they didn't chop our
fingers off.
Goes off muttering "kids of today............calculators hmmmmmmmm"
Liz
Liz Blades
>we were allowed to take slide rules into exams, but that was it. the
>great thing about a slide rule is you power it all by your little
>self.
Thanks Robin ,
I'd forgotten about them,yes we were also allowed to take them into
the exam room,but what they had to do with english lit is beyond
me......................
Elizabeth
Chris McMillan
> Robin Fairbairns wrote:
> I *loved* the slide rule with a love that I have never felt with
> calculators. It was an extension of my brain. I travelled along all of
> its scales including 1/pi*x. I did chain calculations by alternately
> multiplying and dividing, going along the top and then the bottom just
> using the mnemonic "divide with the slide".
>
> It just lies in a bottom drawer now with my other relics, a set of log
> tables and a box of Kern drawing instruments with those tweezer-like
> pens
I think the day I first met a slide rule was the day I knew I wasn't ever
going anywhere with maths - yes, even we had to use them despite appalling
vision. We did have little magnifiers attached to them so we were supposed
to be able to see the things. I could certainly read them - unfortunately I
never worked out what you did with them.
I think Toodles has a slide rule lying around somewhere in a drawer, he
certainly has a log tables book (never got the hang of those either, though
I do understand them in theory) on a shelf.
Sincerely, Chris
--
Mrs. Chris McMillan. Tel. 0118 926 5450. e-mail:
ch...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk http://www.mikesounds.demon.co.uk/
Chris McMillan
<URL:mailto:p...@phesk.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <CoGtkIAS...@leton.demon.co.uk>, George Middleton
> >I *loved* the slide rule with a love that I have never felt with
> >calculators. It was an extension of my brain. I travelled along all of
> >its scales including 1/pi*x. I did chain calculations by alternately
> >multiplying and dividing, going along the top and then the bottom just
> >using the mnemonic "divide with the slide".
> >
> >It just lies in a bottom drawer now with my other relics, a set of log
> >tables and a box of Kern drawing instruments with those tweezer-like
> >pens
>
> Although how I would read umra with it is a bit puzzling.
>
or '8888' or something like that.
John Ross
George Middleton wrote in message ...
>I *loved* the slide rule with a love that I have never felt with
>calculators. It was an extension of my brain. I travelled along all
>of its scales including 1/pi*x. I did chain calculations by
>alternately multiplying and dividing, going along the top and then
>the bottom just using the mnemonic "divide with the slide".
George, I never thought I'd say this to a man - you're making me go
funny inside! It's true though, using them was fast, elegant and very
satisfying, especially with reciprocal scales and the pi displaced
scales. I used to love rearranging the calculation to keep the
mantissa below 10. What strange satisfaction this must seem to some!
Mind you, coming to an addition/subtraction stopped them dead, of
course. Puts me in mind of the Dalek standing at the top of the
stairs:
"Well that's buggered our plans for world domination".
(I think this appeared on umra recently).
>It just lies in a bottom drawer now with my other relics, a set of
>log tables and a box of Kern drawing instruments with those
>tweezer-like pens
Ditto.
--
John Ross
Southampton
RiscPC for sale - please email for details
John Ross
Debbie wrote in message <371ae0af...@news.dial.pipex.com>...
>...but the slide rule is the reason I gave up maths after O level.
>I was OK on the maths, but the manipulation of the thing was
>utterly beyond me.
I learned how to use this creation of elegance and beauty at about the
age of 14, but it was largely by rote. It was only when I did my
degree that I developed a real feeling for the way it works
John Ross
Robin Fairbairns wrote in message
<7feh9c$cs7$1...@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk>...
>this is something that one sorely misses when you've done a degree
>that never involved writing anything other than squiggles.
But Robin, every squiggle was - is - loaded with meaning.
>we were allowed to take slide rules into exams, but that was it. the
>great thing about a slide rule is you power it all by your little
>self.
And learned how to multiply/divide by 10 without outside assistance.
--
Rip van Ross
John Ross
Simon Townley wrote in message ...
>This thread is making me feel, a) old, and b) grateful that I got
>through all that nonsense in the days when you weren't allowed
>to take anything (unless perhaps a sword, see elsewhere) into
>exams, and when essays were things that you wrote, rather
>than word-processed.
I feel a little lost. My degree is in engineering, and AFAIR my exams
consisted of a great number of sums with nary an essay in sight. In
doing the sums, though, it was thought helpful to explain what was
going on. ISTR we had to write one essay a year. What did you
innumerates find to write about for three hours?
I hope, for my own sake, I spell check this properly. ;-)
I have a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss takes eye cannot sea.
I've run this poem threw it
I'm shore yaw pleased to no
It's letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer told me sew ...
>I'm being economical with the actualité again, if I'm honest. We
>*were* allowed calculators for O-level Physics. Lessons In Life
>Learned Just Too Late To Be Useful Number 36,002 - always
>check that your battery is not a dud *before* the exam.
Cissy. Bring back the slide rule!
--
John Ross
Charles F Hankel
02:06:23 +0100?:
> I'm being economical with the actualité again, if I'm honest. We *were*
> allowed calculators for O-level Physics. Lessons In Life Learned Just Too
> Late To Be Useful Number 36,002 - always check that your battery is not a
> dud *before* the exam.
When I did my Institute of Linguists exams (decades ago) I was
surprised to be told that we could take dictionaries into the exams
with us. Our Head of Modern Languages had some reasonably senior
connection with the IoL and was making a point that candidates
shouldn't fail just because they can't remember a particular word at a
particular time.
His argument was that in RL conversation, we would stumble through and
get our meaning across or, in RL translation work, we would have
dictionaries to hand anyway. In addition to this, anyone without
sufficient command of the language would waste time by looking up
everything and not finish enough of the exam to gain respectablity.
--
Charles F Hankel
-------------------------------------
Hapless FAQer on the Wirral peninsula
http://www.mersinet.co.uk/~hankel/uf/umrafaq.html
Alan Craig
wrote:
>I'd forgotten about them,yes we were also allowed to take them into
>the exam room,but what they had to do with english lit is beyond
>me......................
>
We still provide log tables in exam rooms, but they're mostly used to
put under the legs of the real tables to stop them wobbling.
Alan
Heather Knowles
Ross <j...@jross.demon.co.uk> writes
<snips>
>
>I hope, for my own sake, I spell check this properly. ;-)
>
Now there's a coincidence - my son sent me the whole poem last night,
and I duly forwarded it to afp, where we're having a discussion about
spillchuckers (among other things). Then, when I look at umra this
morning - here it is again!
--
luv Chuckler, the umra slapper
Keen member of HAHA
Steve Johns
Alan Craig wrote in message <371ad90...@news.u-net.com>...
>>allowed calculators for O-level Physics.
>
>model of calculator that students can use. For those of you that
>haven't bought a calculator recently this is because
>
>a) you can get one that will store the notes for the entire course
>b) you can get them with infra red links which allows communication
>with someone else with the same model.
Over the years, much has been pontificated about the use of calculators in
exams leading to student laziness. My theory is that students are forced to
use 'em because of the laziness of examiners <ducks> :)
In the days of the primaeval swamp questions contained numbers which could
be easily manipulated (the line in parentheses at the bottom of a q. saying
'you may assume g to have a value of 9.8.........' invariably meant the
presence of the number 49 somewhere else in the q.). Setters of papers had
to spend time making sure that these nice numbers were used. Nowadays they
just stick anything in; g=10, s=29, v=13.4567... life's tough, deal with it
child! So the kiddie-winkies are forced to use unnatural devices. QED.
I shall now remove my tongue from cheek and disappear before someone says
how much better life was when g equalled 32.......
Steve Johns
Environmental Health Computer Manager
North Shropshire District Council
Alan Craig
<ste...@nsenvh.win-uk.net> wrote:
>
>Over the years, much has been pontificated about the use of calculators in
>exams leading to student laziness. My theory is that students are forced to
>use 'em because of the laziness of examiners <ducks> :)
No, hold your head up (20p) Steve. I am a strong advocate of entirely
open book exams where the students are allowed to bring in any
material they want[1]. It tests exactly the skills we should be
testing and it's more realistic.
Alan
[1] OK, who knows the story about the physics student who was told
that he could bring Feynman into the exam?
Mike Ellwood
: On 19 Apr 1999 06:08:44 GMT, r...@betsy.cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns)
: wrote:
: >we were allowed to take slide rules into exams, but that was it. the
: >great thing about a slide rule is you power it all by your little
: >self.
: ...but the slide rule is the reason I gave up maths after O level. I
: was OK on the maths, but the manipulation of the thing was utterly
: beyond me.
Slide rules were definitely chap's things; I can remember admiring mine,
polishing it, etc; if only I'd learned to use it...
...however, the following came from somewhere in netland.
[X Workstations are UNIXy-type things, but you could also think
of it as "...better than a networked PC, or whatever]:
Reasons Why a Slide Rule (and Paper Pad) is Better Than an X Workstation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- A Slide Rule doesn't shut down abruptly when it gets too hot.
- One hundred people all using Slide Rules and Paper Pads do not
start wailing and screaming due to a single-point failure.
- A Slide Rule doesn't smoke whenever the power supply hiccups.
- A Slide Rule doesn't care if you smoke, or hiccup.
- You can spill coffee on a Slide Rule; you can use a Slide Rule
while _completely_submerged_ in coffee.
- You never get nasty system messages about filling up your entire
paper quota with pointless GIF pictures for the root window.
- A Slide Rule and Paper Pad fit in a briefcase with space left over
for lunch or a change of underwear.
- A properly used Slide Rule can perform pipelined *and* parallel
operations. (Okay, you need a guru for this.)
- You don't get junk mail offering pricey software upgrades that
fix current floating point errors while introducing new ones.
- A Slide Rule doesn't need scheduled hardware maintenance.
- A Paper Pad supports text and graphics images easily, and can be
easily upgraded from monochrome to color.
- Slide Rules are designed to a standardized, open architecture.
- You can hold a Slide Rule at arm's length, to hit the obnoxious
person at the next seat over.
- a Slide Rule is immune to viruses, worms, and other depradations
from hostile adolescents with telephones.
- Additional Paper Pads can be integrated into the system seamlessly
and without needing to reconfigure everything.
- Nobody will make you feel bad by introducing a smaller, faster,
cheaper slide rule next month.
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
Pauline Young
> When I did my Institute of Linguists exams (decades ago) I was
> surprised to be told that we could take dictionaries into the exams
> with us.
You still can. I did my IoL exams in Italian two years ago. It surprised
me too.
On the topic of slide rules - did anyone else ever use the rude ones?
Much easier to use than the flat ones but lacking some features. I
preferred mine to the electronic calculator where you had to pull down
levers for the numbers. Gosh, am I *that* old.
Best wishes,
Pauline
--
Pauline Young,
Woodbridge, Luton and ?
Tim Hall
wrote:
>r...@betsy.cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns) wrote:
>
>
>>we were allowed to take slide rules into exams, but that was it. the
>>great thing about a slide rule is you power it all by your little
>>self.
>
>Thanks Robin ,
>I'd forgotten about them,yes we were also allowed to take them into
>the exam room,but what they had to do with english lit is beyond
>me......................
Presumably to help with essays about Neville Shute. :-)
Tim
Penny Mayes
<924561314.14262.8...@news.demon.co.uk>...
>
>I hope, for my own sake, I spell check this properly. ;-)
>
>It came with my pea sea
>It plainly marques four my revue
>Miss takes eye cannot sea.
>
>I've run this poem threw it
>I'm shore yaw pleased to no
>It's letter perfect in it's weigh
>My chequer told me sew ...
The version I met had two more verses in the middle...
When eye strike a quay, right a word,
I weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar wright
It shows me strait aweigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
I nose bee fore two late
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely, rarely grate.
--- Sauce Unknown
And then there is this, slightly different version...
TAKE A BOUGH
An Ode to the Spelling Chequer
Prays the Lord for the spelling chequer
That came with our pea sea!
Mecca mistake and it puts you rite
Its so easy to ewes, you sea.
I never used to no, was it e before eye?
(Four sometimes its eye before e.)
But now I've discovered the quay to success
It's as simple as won, too, free!
Sew watt if you lose a letter or two,
The whirled won't come two an end!
Can't you sea? It's as plane as the knows on yore face
S. Chequer's my very best friend
I've always had trubble with letters that double
"Is it one or to S's?" I'd wine
But now, as I've tolled you this chequer is grate
And its hi thyme you got won, like mine.
--Janet E. Byford
Penny remove the usual to reply
How dogs are better than men #8
Dogs understand what "no" means.
Mike Ellwood
: Over the years, much has been pontificated about the use of calculators in
: exams leading to student laziness. My theory is that students are forced to
: use 'em because of the laziness of examiners <ducks> :)
: In the days of the primaeval swamp questions contained numbers which could
: be easily manipulated (the line in parentheses at the bottom of a q. saying
: 'you may assume g to have a value of 9.8.........' invariably meant the
: presence of the number 49 somewhere else in the q.). Setters of papers had
: to spend time making sure that these nice numbers were used. Nowadays they
: just stick anything in; g=10, s=29, v=13.4567... life's tough, deal with it
: child! So the kiddie-winkies are forced to use unnatural devices. QED.
Another aspect of "modern" questions seems to be that question-setters
have gone back to the bad old days of completely obscure questions which
the victim has to read for at least 10 minutes to work out what bit of
maths or physics is being tested. As if the maths/physics were not bad
enough.
: I shall now remove my tongue from cheek and disappear before someone says
: how much better life was when g equalled 32.......
And Pi was 22/7. Live has never been quite the same since it went all
irrational.
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
Heather Knowles
<m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk> writes
>Slide rules were definitely chap's things; I can remember admiring mine,
>polishing it, etc; if only I'd learned to use it...
Are we still talking slide rules here?
I loved my slide rule - I could understand where the answers came from
on one of them. As far as I'm concerned, calculators may just as well be
picking a figure out of thin air.
>...however, the following came from somewhere in netland.
ILUMGWF!
I'd love to pass this on to an engineer friend - is that OK?
Mike Ellwood
: Are we still talking slide rules here?
:-))
: I loved my slide rule - I could understand where the answers came from
: on one of them. As far as I'm concerned, calculators may just as well be
: picking a figure out of thin air.
If I work something out in my head, I check it on a calculator.
If I work something out on a calculator, I check it in
my head, then again on paper.....and these things save work??
: >...however, the following came from somewhere in netland.
: ILUMGWF!
: I'd love to pass this on to an engineer friend - is that OK?
Absolutely. It'll cost you what it cost me...
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
Charles F Hankel
14:26:40 +0100?:
> In article <7fhb99$15...@newton.cc.rl.ac.uk>, Mike Ellwood
> <m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk> writes
> >Slide rules were definitely chap's things; I can remember admiring mine,
> >polishing it, etc; if only I'd learned to use it...
>
> Are we still talking slide rules here?
>
> I loved my slide rule - I could understand where the answers came from
> on one of them. As far as I'm concerned, calculators may just as well be
> picking a figure out of thin air.
Picking a number out of the air seems to be the basis of mathematics
as far as I understand it.
I remember when Maths lessons turned nasty. My Maths master said
something along the lines of "Let's assume that x is 2 and y is 7" and
I wanted to know why 2 and 7 should be picked out so arbitrarily.
Charles F Hankel
11:18:11 +0100?:
> Charles F Hankel wrote:
>
> > When I did my Institute of Linguists exams (decades ago) I was
> > surprised to be told that we could take dictionaries into the exams
> > with us.
>
> You still can. I did my IoL exams in Italian two years ago. It surprised
> me too.
Oh good, it's nice to see that common sense prevailed. At the time
when I took mine (197burble) this was purely a local experiment and
not entirely official IIRC.
Peter Hesketh
<um...@hankel.mersinet.co.uk> writes
>I remember when Maths lessons turned nasty. My Maths master said
>something along the lines of "Let's assume that x is 2 and y is 7" and
>I wanted to know why 2 and 7 should be picked out so arbitrarily.
Yes, it's always that "Let us assume" bit that is the killer. I can't
remember the assumption exactly, but the one which got to me was the
solution to the simple harmonic motion differentioal equation, something
like:
"Let us assume that the answer is of the form A * e ^ (b + iC)"
Why, for God's sake?
Or the one where you are integrating something impossible, and you say
"Let's call x*y^2 V for a bit".
--
Regards - Peter Hesketh, Mynyddbach, Mon.
Forty reasons why a dog is better than a woman: number 40
"Dogs seldom outlive you."
(Just because this is number forty doesn't mean there are no more to come)
Chris McMillan
<URL:mailto:pau...@luton.ac.uk> wrote:
> Charles F Hankel wrote:
>
> On the topic of slide rules - did anyone else ever use the rude ones?
I suspect this does not mean what I think it means - but I do,
unfortunately, remember the electronic calculator with levers. We had two of
them in our school - but one was only allowed to use them if one had a
certain standard of maths - and like the canework lessons I usually missed
due to re-doing a week's maths homework, I never got a chance to use these
devices either.
> Gosh, am I *that* old.
Yes, I'm afraid you are, Pauline. (though I don't know if they were new or
secondhand machines we acquired in our special little world)
Robin Fairbairns
>In article <371C54...@luton.ac.uk>, Pauline Young
><URL:mailto:pau...@luton.ac.uk> wrote:
>> On the topic of slide rules - did anyone else ever use the rude ones?
>
>I suspect this does not mean what I think it means -
i can't imagine what you think it means, but they were widely
advertised (in scientific american among other places) and i only ever
saw one of them. they looked like a giant, .... well, what people
nowadays use to represent a giant .... ahem, i'm not sure i know how
to put this ... no, dammit, pauline, you started it.
>but I do,
>unfortunately, remember the electronic calculator with levers. We had two of
>them in our school - but one was only allowed to use them if one had a
>certain standard of maths - and like the canework lessons I usually missed
>due to re-doing a week's maths homework, I never got a chance to use these
>devices either.
i bet i'm the only person around here who started a computing course
in a room where there was a brunsviga calculator per desk. (what's
more, i was the only one who had any idea how to use them, 'cos my dad
had taught me on the saturday mornings when i used to go to london to
work with him when i were a little lad.)
>> Gosh, am I *that* old.
>
>Yes, I'm afraid you are, Pauline.
there's a lot of these accusations of extreme age around just now. i
wish you lot'ld stop ... then i wouldn't wander into minefields meself
(quiver quiver).
>(though I don't know if they were new or
>secondhand machines we acquired in our special little world)
eh? wassat about?
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
refusing to pay the elephant tax
Peter Hesketh
<r...@betsy.cl.cam.ac.uk> quotes and writes
>>> Gosh, am I *that* old.
>>
>>Yes, I'm afraid you are, Pauline.
>
>there's a lot of these accusations of extreme age around just now. i
>wish you lot'ld stop ... then i wouldn't wander into minefields meself
>(quiver quiver).
I have decided today that I am old enough to take out a subscription to
The Oldie, having just received a free copy courtesy of Wogan's web
site.
Robert Carnegie
<postm...@shadforth.u-net.com> writes
>I am a strong advocate of entirely
>open book exams where the students are allowed to bring in any
>material they want[1]
And can carry?
>[1] OK, who knows the story about the physics student who was told
>that he could bring Feynman into the exam?
Not I, but I hope someone does - but I get the idea already.
Robert Carnegie at home, rja.ca...@mailexcite.com at large
--
"The group photograph posed on the summit was almost spoiled by
the simultaneous arrival, up the tourist path, of a Girl Guide
picnic party." (Account of Royal Marines climbing Mount Kinabalu)
Robert Carnegie
<m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk> writes
>Steve Johns (ste...@nsenvh.win-uk.net) wrote:
>
>
>
>: Over the years, much has been pontificated about the use of calculators
>in
>: exams leading to student laziness. My theory is that students are forced
>to
>: use 'em because of the laziness of examiners <ducks> :)
>: In the days of the primaeval swamp questions contained numbers
>which could
>: be easily manipulated (the line in parentheses at the bottom of a q.
>saying
>: 'you may assume g to have a value of 9.8.........' invariably meant the
>: presence of the number 49 somewhere else in the q.). Setters of papers
>had
>: to spend time making sure that these nice numbers were used.
>Nowadays they
>: just stick anything in; g=10, s=29, v=13.4567... life's tough, deal with it
>: child! So the kiddie-winkies are forced to use unnatural devices. QED.
>
>Another aspect of "modern" questions seems to be that question-setters
>have gone back to the bad old days of completely obscure questions
>which
>the victim has to read for at least 10 minutes to work out what bit of
>maths or physics is being tested. As if the maths/physics were not bad
>enough.
Disagree. RL doesn't tell you which page of the textbook is
relevant, so why should the examiner?
If you're having final exams _at all_, which is sometimes a bone of
contention.
It's not really the same thing, but when I made up a training
programme (note spelling, to date I haven't done it in software) for
the Fitaly 'keyboard' system I got as software for my PalmPilot pen
computer - the rows read zvchwk, fitaly, ne, gdorsb, qjumpx, and
the theory (which seems to work) is that the most-used letters are
together in the centre, though Tegic T9 may be even better for all I
know - I decided to start with as many words as I could think up
spelt with 'ne dors', practise those over and over again, and then
add more letters around the edges for another set of practice
words until I could find the whole alphabet without hesitation. But
I still kept going over the middle ones in later exercises. ('zvchwk'
on its own would be rather difficult anyway).
The publisher, by the way, recommends learning _words_:
thinking each one through from start to finish before touching pen
to electronics. Perhaps I should try relearning to increase my
speed beyond 'comfortable' to 'impressive'.
Robert Carnegie
>On the topic of slide rules - did anyone else ever use the rude ones?
Oh blimey, here we go!
>Much easier to use than the flat ones but lacking some features.
You surprise me - I expected additional features. I am not certain
what additional features I expected, but there are probably
Websites in Japan about it.
John Ross
Steve Johns wrote in message <7fhfnp$1i0$1...@laura.pcug.co.uk>...
>I shall now remove my tongue from cheek and disappear before someone
>says how much better life was when g equalled 32.......
Gawd. Have the EC been at that too? Eurogravity. My mind boggles.
Is it subsidised to have a greater value than elsewhere on the planet,
and my dear, what *shall* we do with the gravity mountain? We've
already used our quota. Perhaps we should have set aside areas where
gravity is not permitted. Give all that hot air a chance to disperse.
Next thing they'll have us using ergs and dynes. What's wrong with
slugs, they were good enough for me ... mutter mutter ... thank you
nurse ... I'd like a poundal, please.
John Ross
Heather Knowles wrote in message
<0Kw0yXA5...@fanged.demon.co.uk>...
>In article <924561314.14262.8...@news.demon.co.uk>,
>John Ross <j...@jross.demon.co.uk> writes
>Now there's a coincidence - my son sent me the whole poem last night,
>and I duly forwarded it to afp, where we're having a discussion about
>spillchuckers (among other things). Then, when I look at umra this
>morning - here it is again!
I've had it for years - honest!
John Ross
Heather Knowles wrote in message ...
>In article <7fhb99$15...@newton.cc.rl.ac.uk>, Mike Ellwood
><m...@unixfe.cc.rl.ac.uk> writes
>>...however, the following came from somewhere in netland.
>
>ILUMGWF!
Likewise!
Jenny M Benson
<th...@tidelandsignal.ltd.uk> writes
>Presumably to help with essays about Neville Shute
<Pedant> Nevil, Ack Shirley </pedant>
Thought for to-day: how *do* the clappers go?
--
Jenny
Heather Knowles
Ross <j...@jross.demon.co.uk> writes
>
>Heather Knowles wrote in message
>
>>In article <924561314.14262.8...@news.demon.co.uk>,
>>John Ross <j...@jross.demon.co.uk> writes
>
>>Now there's a coincidence - my son sent me the whole poem last night,
>>and I duly forwarded it to afp, where we're having a discussion about
>>spillchuckers (among other things). Then, when I look at umra this
>>morning - here it is again!
>
>I've had it for years - honest!
John, sweetie, I never doubted that for a minute - but it does amuse me,
the way that unrelated groups can suddenly start discussing the same
thing simultaneously. It's like the classic children's TV thread
currently running both on afp and uk.people.support.cfs-me.
Not only that, but it always happens with topics unrelated to the title
of the newsgroup, too!
K Richard W
do on Mon, 19 Apr 1999 but add to village gossip with:
>
>I'm being economical with the actualité again, if I'm honest. We *were*
>allowed calculators for O-level Physics. Lessons In Life Learned Just Too
>Late To Be Useful Number 36,002 - always check that your battery is not a
>dud *before* the exam.
>
I have a feeling we were allowed to take calculators into our final
Physics degree examinations. Which was all well and good but prior year
papers did not have any questions which needed such calculators because
they had not been allowed - so how could one practice for the exam (well
that's my excuse for failing astrophysics anyway).
--
K Richard W
LSS super-numerary
Jenny M Benson
Ross <j...@jross.demon.co.uk> writes
>What's wrong with
>slugs, they were good enough for me ... mutter mutter ...
I was muttering and all when I found one just arriving on my kitchen
worktop the other night.
"It's only a naked snail, it's only a naked snail" I kept telling myself
over and over again. It didn't help. It still took sheer grit and
determination to be able to scoop it up with some tissue and drop it in
the loo. Had it been a fully clothed snail I could have happily picked
it up, let it wander round my hand and I'd have probably had a
conversation with it on my way to the garden.
Women - illogical? Never!
--
Jenny
Jenny M Benson
<p...@phesk.demon.co.uk> writes
>I have decided today that I am old enough to take out a subscription to
>The Oldie, having just received a free copy courtesy of Wogan's web
>site.
What's going on. Practically every post in Umra to-night has some
immediate relevance to my life.
My first subscription copy arrived yesterday.
--
Jenny
Robin Fairbairns
>In article <7fioiv$sgk$1...@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk>, r...@betsy.cl.cam.ac.uk
>(Robin Fairbairns) wrote:
>> i bet i'm the only person around here who started a computing course
>> in a room where there was a brunsviga calculator per desk. (what's
>> more, i was the only one who had any idea how to use them, 'cos my dad
>> had taught me on the saturday mornings when i used to go to london to
>> work with him when i were a little lad.)
>
>invloved taching the little dears (=six-foot rugger playing or rowing hunks,
>mostly) to use them. Now it makes an amusing tale for my pc-using
>net-connected students!
umm, numerical maths .ne. computing, in my book. my course was a
diploma in computer science and numerical analysis, but most of us
arriving that first day were `blipping out' the na bit, and were
somewhat surprised to find the brunsvigas there.
the course never got around to teaching us to use brunsviga
computation (time was when the entire practical examination was
performed on them, with a break in the middle of the 4 hours when the
examiners brought in tea and sticky buns, and then escorted the
candidates one by one to somewhere they could get the stickiness off
their fingers).
the course is now simply called computer science, but was the first
taught course in computing in the world, and its original title was
diploma in numerical mathematics and automatic computation (or
something like). i would probably never have `got into' computers
were it not for that course ... there were no undergraduate courses in
computer science when i were a lad...
Alan Craig
<p...@phesk.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Yes, it's always that "Let us assume" bit that is the killer. I can't
>remember the assumption exactly, but the one which got to me was the
>solution to the simple harmonic motion differentioal equation, something
>like:
>
>"Let us assume that the answer is of the form A * e ^ (b + iC)"
>
>Why, for God's sake?
>
The answer is that one can show that the solution to the differential
equation is unique and therefore any technique for finding it is
allowable - including guessing/experience. If you're used to working
with differential equations you can often spot good candidates for the
solution. Of course, none of this will ever have been explained to
you.
Siderius Nuncius
Robert Carnegie wrote in message ...
>In article <371c44ee...@news.u-net.com>, Alan Craig
><postm...@shadforth.u-net.com> writes
>>I am a strong advocate of entirely
>>open book exams where the students are allowed to bring in any
>>material they want[1]
>
>And can carry?
>
But they can't nowadays. That's why they need calculators.
Regards
Sid
(Shepherds Bush, West London)
Penny Mayes
John Ross wrote in message
>
>Steve Johns wrote in message <7fhfnp$1i0$1...@laura.pcug.co.uk>...
>
>>I shall now remove my tongue from cheek and disappear before someone
>>says how much better life was when g equalled 32.......
>
>Gawd. Have the EC been at that too? Eurogravity. My mind boggles.
>Is it subsidised to have a greater value than elsewhere on the planet,
>and my dear, what *shall* we do with the gravity mountain? We've
>already used our quota. Perhaps we should have set aside areas where
>gravity is not permitted. Give all that hot air a chance to disperse.
Maybe you should join the campaign at
http://members.tripod.com/~bad_bert/gravity/
Pauline Young
> I have decided today that I am old enough to take out a subscription to
> The Oldie, having just received a free copy courtesy of Wogan's web
> site.
Feeling very depressed one day, I subscribed to Saga magazine. It is
full of people not old enough to go on a Saga holiday and we get a
message from Tony Blair each issue. It is the most depressing magazine I
have ever encountered. I can't wait for the subscription to run out.
Pauline
--
Pauline Young,
Woodbridge, Luton and ?
Tim Hall
<pau...@luton.ac.uk> wrote:
>Feeling very depressed one day, I subscribed to Saga magazine. It is
>full of people not old enough to go on a Saga holiday and we get a
>message from Tony Blair each issue. It is the most depressing magazine I
>have ever encountered. I can't wait for the subscription to run out.
Sex And Games for the Aged.
According a friend of my wofe who works for them.
Tim
Pauline Young
> >Feeling very depressed one day, I subscribed to Saga magazine.
> Sex And Games for the Aged.
> According a friend of my wofe who works for them.
Well she may be getting SAGA but it doesn't get through to the
subscribers.
Waste of six pounds <mutter mutter> :-(
Grrrrr,
Min Lacey
<jen...@west-runton.demon.co.uk> used the electronic medium to say....
>>What's wrong with
>>slugs, they were good enough for me ... mutter mutter ...
>
Q. What did the slug say to the snail?
A. Big Issue, get yer Big Issue 'ere.
--
Min
HH Munro was a wry swine
(sig changed to avoid frightening nervous umrats)
Simon Townley
> "It's only a naked snail, it's only a naked snail" I kept telling myself
> over and over again. It didn't help. It still took sheer grit and
> determination to be able to scoop it up with some tissue and drop it in
> the loo.
Oo, you don't want to do that! They breed you know, and you get huge
flocks of soiled slugs flying out of the toilet interfering with your
personal hygiene.
Oh all right, here's a quid.
--
Simon Townley
Andrew Wineberg
Jenny M Benson <jen...@west-runton.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Thought for to-day: how *do* the clappers go?
Like a train.
--
AJW in Stanmore, HA7.
Andrew Wineberg
"John Ross" <j...@jross.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Next thing they'll have us using ergs and dynes. What's wrong with
> slugs, they were good enough for me ... mutter mutter ... thank you
> nurse ... I'd like a poundal, please.
Um, I don't suppose that now would be a good time to try to convert you
to my killergrams? A killergram is just like a kilogram but without that
rather confusing (and, frankly, wrong) 'kilo' prefix.
--
AJW in Stanmore, HA7.
The headquarters of the "French Units? Change to Killergrams" campaign.
A free pling to anyone who can think up a catchy acronym.
Andrew Wineberg
Heather Knowles <heaven...@fanged.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> John, sweetie, I never doubted that for a minute - but it does amuse me,
> the way that unrelated groups can suddenly start discussing the same
> thing simultaneously. It's like the classic children's TV thread
> currently running both on afp and uk.people.support.cfs-me.
Yes, I remember when the same off-topic (well, notionally off-topic)
subject came up in umra and in comp.sys.acorn.misc a while ago, with the
same subject line. It was *so* confusing.
--
AJW in Stanmore, HA7.
Umrageek: 1979/11 M B>~ G() A(+) L I S- P- CH++ Ar++ T++ ?H ?Q Sh!
Portrait and details at http://www.BTINTERNET.COM/~a.wineberg/
Chris McMillan
<URL:mailto:th...@tidelandsignal.ltd.uk> wrote:
> On Wed, 21 Apr 1999 10:48:47 +0100, Pauline Young
> <pau...@luton.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>
> >Feeling very depressed one day, I subscribed to Saga magazine. It is
> >full of people not old enough to go on a Saga holiday and we get a
> >message from Tony Blair each issue. It is the most depressing magazine I
> >have ever encountered. I can't wait for the subscription to run out.
>
>
That's common knowledge : one of our neighbours who must be in her mid-70s
and widowed told me this the other day with howls of laughter. A less likely
Saga person I can't imagine!
Sincerely, Chris
--
Mrs. Chris McMillan. Tel. 0118 926 5450. e-mail:
ch...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk http://www.mikesounds.demon.co.uk/
Jenny M Benson
<si...@sudbury.demon.co.uk> writes
>Oo, you don't want to do that! They breed you know, and you get huge
>flocks of soiled slugs flying out of the toilet interfering with your
>personal hygiene.
>
>Oh all right, here's a quid.
Oh thanks, Simon. Now I can use the public ones 100 times before I need
to worry about gi-normous slugs in mine!
--
Jenny
Ian Gogay
> Q. What did the slug say to the snail?
> A. Big Issue, get yer Big Issue 'ere.
Was it wearing webox? All our local vendors seem better dressed than
I.
Ian G.
Ian Gogay
> In message <Ydai2wA7...@west-runton.demon.co.uk>
> Jenny M Benson <jen...@west-runton.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Thought for to-day: how *do* the clappers go?
>
> Like a train.
Like the privy door when the plagues in town. (20p)
Ian G.
K Richard W
do on Wed, 21 Apr 1999 but add to village gossip with:
>Peter Hesketh wrote:
>
>> I have decided today that I am old enough to take out a subscription to
>> The Oldie, having just received a free copy courtesy of Wogan's web
>> site.
>
>Feeling very depressed one day, I subscribed to Saga magazine. It is
>full of people not old enough to go on a Saga holiday and we get a
>message from Tony Blair each issue. It is the most depressing magazine I
>have ever encountered. I can't wait for the subscription to run out.
>
>Pauline
>
My "not quite father" (clue he is very close to my mother) keeps
pointing that in the not too distant future (because of my age) that we
will be able to join him and my mother on Saga holidays.
Now I am sure that they are good value for money - it is simply that for
some reason I cannot quite identify I don't yet feel ready to book trips
with an organisation which was historically referred to as "Send All
Grannies Away" by railway staff when Saga had large contracts with BR.
George Middleton
>that
>rather confusing (and, frankly, wrong) 'kilo' prefix.
What about the pronunciation of giga? We seem to have settled on
hard g, short i, hard g, schwa.
Does anyone use any other?
Chambers allows any variation of the first two letters. Hard or soft g,
long or short i.
--
George
Charles F Hankel
20:16:39 +0100?:
> In message <PpJKqNAe...@fanged.demon.co.uk>
> Heather Knowles <heaven...@fanged.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > John, sweetie, I never doubted that for a minute - but it does amuse me,
> > the way that unrelated groups can suddenly start discussing the same
> > thing simultaneously. It's like the classic children's TV thread
> > currently running both on afp and uk.people.support.cfs-me.
>
> Yes, I remember when the same off-topic (well, notionally off-topic)
> subject came up in umra and in comp.sys.acorn.misc a while ago, with the
> same subject line. It was *so* confusing.
Funny you should mention Acorn as I understand that there is a
Southampton umrat trying to sell one right now. Of course, you may
not have heard about this as he has been rather reticent in mentioning
it so far.
--
Charles F Hankel
-------------------------------------
Hapless FAQer on the Wirral peninsula
http://www.mersinet.co.uk/~hankel/uf/umrafaq.html
Alan Craig
<Ch...@mikesounds.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> Sex And Games for the Aged.
>>
>
>That's common knowledge : one of our neighbours who must be in her mid-70s
>and widowed told me this the other day with howls of laughter. A less likely
>Saga person I can't imagine!
Well, given the fact that they're probably all past the menopause and
the untreatable STDs have long incubation times[1] it sounds like a
good idea.
Alan
[1] During the recent BSE scare one of my colleagues suggested that,
given the incubation time of BSE, instead of destroying meat it should
be donated free to Old Peoples' Homes. It was a terribly sensible
but somehow unsettling idea.
Siderius Nuncius
Andrew Wineberg wrote in message <48F65F256C%A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM>...
>
>Um, I don't suppose that now would be a good time to try to convert you
>rather confusing (and, frankly, wrong) 'kilo' prefix.
>
I was once assured in a piece of homework that the dangerous thing about
electricity was the Killer Whats.
Payment by results? I'm all for it.
Robin Fairbairns
with the utterance:
>rather confusing (and, frankly, wrong) 'kilo' prefix.
eh? what? what's wrong/confusing about the `kilo' prefix?
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
Paddy Smith
>
> Um, I don't suppose that now would be a good time to try to convert you
> to my killergrams? A killergram is just like a kilogram but without that
Shirley a killergram is what you order for a Mafia stag party?
Andrew Wineberg
r...@cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns) wrote:
> Andrew Wineberg <A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM> provoked us all yet again
> with the utterance:
> >rather confusing (and, frankly, wrong) 'kilo' prefix.
> eh? what? what's wrong/confusing about the `kilo' prefix?
What is wrong, dear sir, with the 'kilo' prefix is that it implies a
multiplier of one thousand to a measure, the kilogram, which is a base
unit, leading to the utterly perverse situation of the 'gram' being one
thousandth of the base unit and yet giving the appearance of being a
base unit in its own right.
This is why I offer the killergram, one thousandth of which is a
millikillergram.
Andrew Wineberg
Paddy Smith <smi...@mail.tcd.ie> wrote:
> Shirley a killergram is what you order for a Mafia stag party?
No, I think that's a kill-o-gram.
Andrew Wineberg
Jenny M Benson <jen...@west-runton.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <simon-21049...@sudbury.demon.co.uk>, Simon Townley
> <si...@sudbury.demon.co.uk> writes
> >Oh all right, here's a quid.
> Oh thanks, Simon. Now I can use the public ones 100 times before I need
> to worry about gi-normous slugs in mine!
Oh, do worry: those slugs have homing instincts for the hand which
dropped them and they will chase through the sewers to wreak their
revenge on you.
Anyway, does anybody actually know of any convenience where one can
literally spend a penny? I thought that they were generally around 20p
now.
--
AJW in Stanmore, HA7.
Ian Gogay
> Andrew Wineberg wrote:
> >
> > Um, I don't suppose that now would be a good time to try to convert you
> > to my killergrams? A killergram is just like a kilogram but without that
> > rather confusing (and, frankly, wrong) 'kilo' prefix.
>
>
> Shirley a killergram is what you order for a Mafia stag party?
I knew there was a gag in there somewhere, but could I think of
one last night? :-)
Ian G.
George Middleton
>What is wrong, dear sir, with the 'kilo' prefix is that it implies a
>multiplier of one thousand to a measure, the kilogram, which is a base
>unit, leading to the utterly perverse situation of the 'gram' being one
>thousandth of the base unit and yet giving the appearance of being a
>base unit in its own right.
The kilogram is the unit of mass in the SI system. The gramme is a unit
of mass in some other, perhaps centimetre-gramme-second, system. When
new units were defined for the SI system they were given the simplest
names but units that were already well known were not changed and they
did not need to be. While some people are worrying about perverse
situations the others are building bridges and things and it never even
occurs to them that there is something worth discussing about their
units.
Thus, enshrined by 5000 years of use the millihelen (mHell) is a measure
of beauty sufficient to launch one ship.
--
George
Sue Mitchell
<smi...@mail.tcd.ie> writes
>Andrew Wineberg wrote:
>>
>> Um, I don't suppose that now would be a good time to try to convert you
>> to my killergrams? A killergram is just like a kilogram but without that
>> rather confusing (and, frankly, wrong) 'kilo' prefix.
>
>
>Shirley a killergram is what you order for a Mafia stag party?
ki-LOM-etre, why don't we also have to use the cen-TIM-etre and
mi-LIM-etre, not to mention the ki-LOG-ram?
Puzzled of Waltham
--
__ __
{{{{\ /}}}} Sue Mitchell
{{::\ V /::}} s...@imps.demon.co.uk
>--->8<---<
{:.;/ 0 \;.:} "My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies"
~~ ~~ - B.H.M.
Simon Townley
> Shirley a killergram is what you order for a Mafia stag party?
:)
Some people say, he's getting too big for his spats ... But I say ...
--
Simon Townley
Mike Ellwood
: Thus, enshrined by 5000 years of use the millihelen (mHell) is a measure
: of beauty sufficient to launch one ship.
And there is the antimillihelen (amHell), the measure of screaming
frightfulness.
--
Mike.E...@rl.ac.uk
Robin Fairbairns
>This discussion makes me wonder why, if we *have* to use the ugly
>ki-LOM-etre, why don't we also have to use the cen-TIM-etre and
>mi-LIM-etre, not to mention the ki-LOG-ram?
or mic-RO-metre, which is a homophone of something entirely else.
its american spelling is even the same, but i'm assured by americans
that this doesn't matter, because they don't use micrometres,
preferring the word micron which avoids that tedious hint of
standardisation.
>Puzzled of Waltham
despairing of cambridge, who's been banging on about this for years.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge, woolly mammoth, ophiucus setting, sunday
Jim Easterbrook
>>
>This discussion makes me wonder why, if we *have* to use the ugly
>ki-LOM-etre, why don't we also have to use the cen-TIM-etre and
>mi-LIM-etre, not to mention the ki-LOG-ram?
We don't have to use it. The correct pronunciation is KIL-om-etre.
Unnecessarily emphasising the second syllable (as in har-RASS-ment) is a
nasty American habit, much loved by journalists, managers and other
inferior life forms.
--
Jim Easterbrook <jim.eas...@rd.bbc.co.uk> <http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/>
1959/1985? M B+ G+ A L I- S- P-- CH0(p) Ar++ T+ H0 Q--- Sh0
*** All opinions are mine and are not necessarily shared by the BBC ***
John Ross
Heather Knowles <heaven...@fanged.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:PpJKqNAe...@fanged.demon.co.uk...
> In article <924647133.19364.3...@news.demon.co.uk>,
> John Ross <j...@jross.demon.co.uk> writes
> >I've had it for years - honest!
>
> John, sweetie, I never doubted that for a minute -
She called me sweetie! Eat your heart out, Charles!
--
John Ross
Southampton
RiscPC for sale - please email for details
John Ross
Charles F Hankel <um...@hankel.mersinet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:37216fd6...@news.mersinet.co.uk...
> Funny you should mention Acorn as I understand that there is a
> Southampton umrat trying to sell one right now. Of course, you may
> not have heard about this as he has been rather reticent in
> mentioning it so far.
The swine. I'm trying to sell mine too - 'tsmy turn first.
--
John Ross
Southampton
RiscPC (still) for sale - please email for details
Charles F Hankel
13:13:27 +0100?:
>
> Heather Knowles <heaven...@fanged.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:PpJKqNAe...@fanged.demon.co.uk...
>
> > In article <924647133.19364.3...@news.demon.co.uk>,
> > John Ross <j...@jross.demon.co.uk> writes
>
> > >I've had it for years - honest!
> >
> > John, sweetie, I never doubted that for a minute -
>
> She called me sweetie! Eat your heart out, Charles!
After that free publicity I just gave you? Why you unprincipled
swine. Min. pass the pop gun.
Robin Fairbairns
>Gosh, did you see that John Ross wrote this on Sun, 25 Apr 1999
>13:13:27 +0100?:
>> > John Ross <jr...@cl.cam.ac.ukjross.demon.co.uk> writes
>> > >I've had it for years - honest!
>> > John, sweetie, I never doubted that for a minute -
>> She called me sweetie! Eat your heart out, Charles!
>
>After that free publicity I just gave you? Why you unprincipled
>swine. Min. pass the pop gun.
children! child_ren_! stop that now! no, charles, you can't have
it. min, please give it to me, _now_. what _are_ you doing, john;
no, just stop it, it causes trouble.
and you can stop chuckling there at the back, heather. it _isn't_
funny, heather.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge, meitnerium woolly mammoth, ophiucus setting
Ken Tough
><s...@imps.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>This discussion makes me wonder why, if we *have* to use the ugly
>>ki-LOM-etre, why don't we also have to use the cen-TIM-etre and
>>mi-LIM-etre, not to mention the ki-LOG-ram?
Surgeons I've run into use the terribly affected saunt-a-metre.
blegh.
>We don't have to use it. The correct pronunciation is KIL-om-etre.
>Unnecessarily emphasising the second syllable (as in har-RASS-ment) is a
>nasty American habit, much loved by journalists, managers and other
>inferior life forms.
Longman's note: The traditional pronunciation stresses the first
syllable, in conformity with the pronunciation of such words as
centimetre, millimetre, and kilolitre. Pronunciation with the
stress on the second syllable is, however, now equally common in
British English, and is the predominant form in American English.
This second pronunciation is generally thought to have arisen in
the 20th century, by analogy to words such as barometer and
speedometer, but it is recorded in some 19th century dictionaries,
including Noah Webster's American Dictionary (1828).
Me, I like KIL-o-metres.
--
Ken Tough
chris harrison
> Longman's note: The traditional pronunciation stresses the first
> syllable, in conformity with the pronunciation of such words as
> centimetre, millimetre, and kilolitre. Pronunciation with the
> stress on the second syllable is, however, now equally common in
> British English, and is the predominant form in American English.
> This second pronunciation is generally thought to have arisen in
> the 20th century, by analogy to words such as barometer and
> speedometer, but it is recorded in some 19th century dictionaries,
> including Noah Webster's American Dictionary (1828).
It's worth noting though that quite a lot of Webster's spelling and
pronounciation differences were introduced/exagerated so as to solidify
the independence movement and underline the seperation between the
fledgling Union and the horrible nasty Royal Brute and his accursed
Empire.
--
"Ability to type on a computer terminal is no guarantee of sanity,
intelligence or common sense" - Gene Spafford's Usenet Axiom #2
chris harrison.
ic-parc, william penney laboratory, imperial college, london, sw7 2az.
(Work) http://www.icparc.ic.ac.uk/~cah1/
(Home) http://www.lowfield.co.uk/
Alan Craig
<A.Win...@BTINTERNET.COM> wrote:
>In message <924647133.19364.2...@news.demon.co.uk>
> "John Ross" <j...@jross.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Next thing they'll have us using ergs and dynes. What's wrong with
>> slugs, they were good enough for me ... mutter mutter ... thank you
>> nurse ... I'd like a poundal, please.
>
>Um, I don't suppose that now would be a good time to try to convert you
>to my killergrams? A killergram is just like a kilogram but without that
>rather confusing (and, frankly, wrong) 'kilo' prefix.
Of course, what's really confusing is that a kilocalorie is just like
a calorie without the rather confusing 'kilo' prefix. Or is it the
other way round...