Is this too mellow?
 

"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote in message
o.uk...
Don Pearce wrote:

Actually, we haven't really gone SI either. My height is not quite six
feet - I couldn't tell you what I am in metres.

Me neither, I still think of distances in miles too, although if pushed I
can do Km's.

I don't know if this is common useage but a pal of mine in
the UK, who has a mobile home and spends six months of
the year outside the UK told me he thinks of distances in kms,
but speeds in mph. Is petrol still sold by the gallon in the UK?

I was watching a rerun of "Heartbeat" on satelite last night. I
laughed out loud when the garage proprietor, Bernie Scripps
said that he thought the price of petrol was outrageous, but
that he could not imagine it ever going over 5 shillings a
gallon:-)

Iain

Is this too mellow?
 

Iain Churches wrote:
"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote in message
o.uk...
Don Pearce wrote:

Actually, we haven't really gone SI either. My height is not quite six
feet - I couldn't tell you what I am in metres.
Me neither, I still think of distances in miles too, although if pushed I
can do Km's.

I don't know if this is common useage but a pal of mine in
the UK, who has a mobile home and spends six months of
the year outside the UK told me he thinks of distances in kms,
but speeds in mph. Is petrol still sold by the gallon in the UK?


Nah, petrol is in litres, very few people could convert it to gallons.


I was watching a rerun of "Heartbeat" on satelite last night. I
laughed out loud when the garage proprietor, Bernie Scripps
said that he thought the price of petrol was outrageous, but
that he could not imagine it ever going over 5 shillings a
gallon:-)

I can remember when it was 2 shillings and six pence per gallon...unfortunately. :)

--
Bill Coombes

Is this too mellow?
 

"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote in message
o.uk...
Iain Churches wrote:
"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote in message
o.uk...
Don Pearce wrote:

Actually, we haven't really gone SI either. My height is not quite six
feet - I couldn't tell you what I am in metres.
Me neither, I still think of distances in miles too, although if pushed
I can do Km's.

I don't know if this is common useage but a pal of mine in
the UK, who has a mobile home and spends six months of
the year outside the UK told me he thinks of distances in kms,
but speeds in mph. Is petrol still sold by the gallon in the UK?


Nah, petrol is in litres, very few people could convert it to gallons.


I was watching a rerun of "Heartbeat" on satelite last night. I
laughed out loud when the garage proprietor, Bernie Scripps
said that he thought the price of petrol was outrageous, but
that he could not imagine it ever going over 5 shillings a
gallon:-)

I can remember when it was 2 shillings and six pence per
gallon...unfortunately. :)

When I got my first car, an Austin A35, it was 4/11 a gallon.
It quickly rose to 5s, which seemed expensive. Funny now
to look back on it, four gallons for a quid:-)

Once you stat thinking in litres, and kilometres, the old
concept of mpg no longer works. Litres/100 km is fine
when you get used to it.

Iain

Is this too mellow?
 

On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:07:25 +0200, "Iain Churches"
wrote:

Is petrol still sold by the gallon in the UK?

Nope. And we've stopped mentally converting, it's too depressing.

Is this too mellow?
 

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
...

"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote in message
o.uk...
Don Pearce wrote:

Actually, we haven't really gone SI either. My height is not quite six
feet - I couldn't tell you what I am in metres.

Me neither, I still think of distances in miles too, although if pushed I
can do Km's.

I don't know if this is common useage but a pal of mine in
the UK, who has a mobile home and spends six months of
the year outside the UK told me he thinks of distances in kms,
but speeds in mph. Is petrol still sold by the gallon in the UK?

Petrol is sold by the ltre, but we still calculate consumption in miles per
gallon (except for an eccentric friend of mine, who quotes the fuel
consumption on his pre-war Lagonda in leagues per firkin).

Geoff

Is this too mellow?
 

"Geoff Mackenzie" wrote in message
...

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
...

"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote in message
o.uk...
Don Pearce wrote:

Actually, we haven't really gone SI either. My height is not quite six
feet - I couldn't tell you what I am in metres.

Me neither, I still think of distances in miles too, although if pushed
I can do Km's.

I don't know if this is common useage but a pal of mine in
the UK, who has a mobile home and spends six months of
the year outside the UK told me he thinks of distances in kms,
but speeds in mph. Is petrol still sold by the gallon in the UK?

Petrol is sold by the ltre, but we still calculate consumption in miles
per gallon

So everyone can convert gallons into litres?

(except for an eccentric friend of mine, who quotes the fuel consumption
on his pre-war Lagonda in leagues per firkin).

I like that:)


Iain

Is this too mellow?
 

On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:27:10 +0200, "Iain Churches"
wrote:

Petrol is sold by the ltre, but we still calculate consumption in miles
per gallon

So everyone can convert gallons into litres?

It's odd. We think mpg but price-per-litre. The two figures never
really connect. As rationing or reducing our car mileage is, of
course, psychologically unthinkable, every journey we make being
ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL, I suppose we don't WANT to know the important
figure - cost-per-mile.

Is this too mellow?
 

On 22 Jan, wrote:

Dragging this back towards being on topic for the group, it reminds me
of a paper on 'capacitor sound' sic? I read some time ago where they
did one form of analysis after another, each failing to show any
difference, until then finally found one that seemed to! :-) The snag
was that so far as I could see, most of their analysis was such that you
could check

Oops! Should have been "...could *not* check..."


how likely the results would have been to be due to simple
random variations. i.e. the root problem wasn't even that the level of
statistical significance was low - it was that it wasn't possible to
even determine the significance in statistical terms!

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Is this too mellow?
 

"Laurence Payne" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:27:10 +0200, "Iain Churches"
wrote:

Petrol is sold by the ltre, but we still calculate consumption in miles
per gallon

So everyone can convert gallons into litres?

It's odd. We think mpg but price-per-litre. The two figures never
really connect. As rationing or reducing our car mileage is, of
course, psychologically unthinkable, every journey we make being
ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL, I suppose we don't WANT to know the important
figure - cost-per-mile.


The reality is that the ever upwardly-fluctuating price of petrol isn't a
deterrent to most people these days and if the guv can get some of the
revenue much-needed to fund its own ineptitude from the planet-wrecking Mass
Chavvery then sans fairy anne. (The most unbelievably crass advertising line
I've heard in a long while is the incredible 'Why buy a car when you can own
a Land Rover?'....!!!)

Since about a fortnight ago, I am now *carless in Gaza* and am loving it -
Swim's car died of old age and neglect just before Christmas, so I gave her
mine. (It means there's only one car parked out the back going nowhere most
of the time now!!)

I have had so many cars in my time I have stopped telling people but I can't
remember when there was any joy in it - for as long as I can remember,
driving anywhere in this neck of the woods (South East/Home Counties) has
been an absolute *chore*. If my circumstances don't change significantly, I
don't see myself ever owning another car; I've got 2 years before I lose my
NCB (or 3 years with some companies) for that to take hold.

Coincidentally, I have also reduced my motorbikes from two to one, so no-one
could say I wasn't doing my bit for the planet!

Now, if only every damn thing in this house didn't have a 'Made In China'
sticker on it....

Is this too mellow?
 

"Geoff Mackenzie" wrote

Petrol is sold by the ltre, but we still calculate consumption in miles
per gallon

Who calculates it? People may *talk* about fuel consumption in mpg, but I
doubt that more than a fraction of 1% of car owners actually attempts
measure or calculate it.

David.

Is this too mellow?
 

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Geoff Mackenzie" wrote

Petrol is sold by the ltre, but we still calculate consumption in miles
per gallon

Who calculates it? People may *talk* about fuel consumption in mpg, but I
doubt that more than a fraction of 1% of car owners actually attempts
measure or calculate it.


Just what I was wondering, David.

So in that sense, litres/100kms makes
a lot more sense. Or would litres/100 miles,
or miles/litre be better in the UK? :-))

Iain

Is this too mellow?
 

Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article ,
bcoombes
bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote:
Arny Krueger wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message

What I find interesting is that there were only 2 shuttle failures of
about 100 flights, but the failures were widely chronologically
separated so that if you broke the flight schedule into two
chronological groups of 50 flights, each group of 50 had a failure.
The failures were totally unrelated in terms of when or how they
happened.



The failures were both caused by exactly the same root cause..NASA
engineers not foreseeing something totally obvious. In one case the
effect of cold weather on rubber and in the other the kinetic energy
possessed by falling chunks of foam.

Slightly puzzled to see my name above as I didn't actually write any of
what was quoted!


Yes sorry that can be irritating, careless trimming on my part...this thread has
'developed' to the point where it's easy to loose track of who said what.

--
Bill Coombes

Is this too mellow?
 

"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote


Yes sorry that can be irritating, careless trimming on my part...this
thread has 'developed' to the point where it's easy to loose track of who
said what.


'Loose'...???

Are you a Yank then, Bill..??

:-)

Is this too mellow?
 

In article ,
bcoombes
bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote:
Jim Lesurf wrote:


Slightly puzzled to see my name above as I didn't actually write any
of what was quoted!


Yes sorry that can be irritating, careless trimming on my part...this
thread has 'developed' to the point where it's easy to loose track of
who said what.

I lose track anyway. Peril of being retired and an academic. :-)

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Is this too mellow?
 

Keith G wrote:

"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote


Yes sorry that can be irritating, careless trimming on my part...this
thread has 'developed' to the point where it's easy to loose track of
who said what.


'Loose'...???

Are you a Yank then, Bill..??


Y'all STFU.
Kind Regards
Bill Coombes


--
Bill Coombes

Is this too mellow?
 

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
...

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Geoff Mackenzie" wrote

Petrol is sold by the ltre, but we still calculate consumption in miles
per gallon

Who calculates it? People may *talk* about fuel consumption in mpg, but I
doubt that more than a fraction of 1% of car owners actually attempts
measure or calculate it.


Just what I was wondering, David.

So in that sense, litres/100kms makes
a lot more sense. Or would litres/100 miles,
or miles/litre be better in the UK? :-))

Since we still use miles rather than Km on road signs and speedometers
miles/litre might be easier.

I do find it odd that car adverts still specify fuel consumption in
miles/gallon, when half the population has no idea what a gallon is.

Pre-packed liquids (such as drinks) are sold by the litre, unless it's milk
when it's sold by the pint. Where's the sense in that?

David.

Iain

Is this too mellow?
 

"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:

"bcoombes" bcoombes@orangedotnet wrote


Yes sorry that can be irritating, careless trimming on my part...this
thread has 'developed' to the point where it's easy to loose track of
who said what.


'Loose'...???

Are you a Yank then, Bill..??


Y'all STFU.
Kind Regards
Bill Coombes



Yo' sheeyaadaaap yo'self, beeyatch....

Is this too mellow?
 

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message


It is hard for people here to comprehend
that your own city of Detroit, Arny
has an illiteracy rate according to a United Nations
report of 46%.

I suspect that Scandinavians with adequate backgrounds in sociology can
understand the cause of the problem.


Everyone can understand the cause of problem.
What they cannot understand is why nothing
has been done about it. It looks as if the social
infrastructure, ( incl education and health care for all)
which is regarded here as so important, has low
priority for you:-(

We used to see a large number of American tourists here.
The people of other nations seem to travel normally, but
now, due to the recession, the weakness of the USD
and fear of terrorist attacks on aircraft American tourists
have all but disappeared.

You could always pick them out, he in his Rupert The Bear
trousers, and she with her blue rinse. Not long ago, a couple
stopped me outside their Helsinki hotel. The lady looked at
me over her pince nez and said, "We want to get to the Palace"
I replied, "The Palace Hotel? It is on the harbour about 1km
from here" She said: "No, the palace where the royals live"
Either she did not know that Finland is a republic, or she
thought she was in Stockholm, Copenhagen or Oslo:-)

The only words uttered by the gentleman were that "I
spoke English great"

I cringe when I hear Americans say: "You did good" when they
mean "You did well" To "do good" means to perform a virtuous
or charitable act. Much comment was made here about the
tribute paid, on the death of Princess Diana by an American
intellectuelle, who said: "She was good people"

http://urbanlegends.about.com/librar...ion_cleese.htm


Iain

Is this too mellow?
 

"Iain Churches" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message


It is hard for people here to comprehend
that your own city of Detroit, Arny
has an illiteracy rate according to a United Nations
report of 46%.

I suspect that Scandinavians with adequate backgrounds
in sociology can understand the cause of the problem.


Everyone can understand the cause of problem.
What they cannot understand is why nothing
has been done about it.

A great deal has been "done about it", its just that much of it created the
problem and/or made it worse.

Social engineering is not an exact science yet, I fear.

It looks as if the social
infrastructure, ( incl education and health care for all)
which is regarded here as so important, has low
priority for you:-(

Both work well in most of the US. Detroit is presently a bit of a special
case. Heck, the social infrastructure worked well in Detroit as well, back
in the day.

We used to see a large number of American tourists here.

Something about the value of the dollar making Europe a cheap thrill. These
things saw back and forth.

The people of other nations seem to travel normally, but
now, due to the recession, the weakness of the USD
and fear of terrorist attacks on aircraft American
tourists have all but disappeared.

Maybe they found out that Europe wasn't what it was cracked up to be.

It does get a little old watching people quake in their boots and bow to
Islam.

You could always pick them out, he in his Rupert The Bear
trousers, and she with her blue rinse.

Hint: the blue rinse has even gone out of style over here. Note that we
often send people out of the country after we tire of them. ;-)

Not long ago, a
couple stopped me outside their Helsinki hotel. The lady
looked at me over her pince nez and said, "We want to get
to the Palace" I replied, "The Palace Hotel? It is on the
harbour about 1km from here" She said: "No, the palace
where the royals live" Either she did not know that
Finland is a republic, or she thought she was in
Stockholm, Copenhagen or Oslo:-)

Last time I looked there was no intelligence test required to get a passport
or buy a plane ticket.

The only words uttered by the gentleman were that "I
spoke English great"

Which no doubt hurt your ears due to the vernacular syntax.

I cringe when I hear Americans say: "You did good" when
they mean "You did well" To "do good" means to perform a
virtuous or charitable act. Much comment was made here
about the tribute paid, on the death of Princess Diana
by an American intellectuelle, who said: "She was good
people"

Which no doubt hurts your ears due to the vernacular syntax.

It's part of the high price of being a stuffed shirt, it appears.


http://urbanlegends.about.com/librar...ion_cleese.htm

If it were only that easy to annex places, we might have held onto Europe
and the UK after we rescued you all from Hitler. We saw what a mess you
were, and decides to leave the inmates in charge of the asylum. Watching you
all try to unite yourself as we did over 300 years ago is getting old. Just
do it!

Is this too mellow?
 

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message


It is hard for people here to comprehend
that your own city of Detroit, Arny
has an illiteracy rate according to a United Nations
report of 46%.

I suspect that Scandinavians with adequate backgrounds
in sociology can understand the cause of the problem.


Everyone can understand the cause of problem.
What they cannot understand is why nothing
has been done about it.

A great deal has been "done about it", its just that much of it created
the problem and/or made it worse.

Social engineering is not an exact science yet, I fear.

It seems to be low priority for Detroit.
Meanwhile, the illteracy rate is higher in Detroit
than third-world Angola !!!


We used to see a large number of American tourists here.

Something about the value of the dollar making Europe a cheap thrill.

The USD started off at parity the the Euro, and has
been slipping ever since. It is at Euro 1.38 this morning.
Europe, particularly Scandinavia, is not cheap for Americans.
They are a bit taken aback by the rich culture, especially
those who have the courage to cross into Russia and
spend a day or two in St Peterburg:-)



The people of other nations seem to travel normally, but
now, due to the recession, the weakness of the USD
and fear of terrorist attacks on aircraft American
tourists have all but disappeared.

Maybe they found out that Europe wasn't what it was cracked up to be.

Most Americans seeem to be just doing
"Europe in Ten Days" and don't have a clue
what day it is:-)

It does get a little old watching people quake in their boots and bow to
Islam.

The American tourists are clearly very afraid.
They are a hundred times safer here than at home.
But it is probably flying on an American airline outside
the US that bothers them.


You could always pick them out, he in his Rupert The Bear
trousers, and she with her blue rinse.

Not long ago, a
couple stopped me outside their Helsinki hotel. The lady
looked at me over her pince nez and said, "We want to get
to the Palace" I replied, "The Palace Hotel? It is on the
harbour about 1km from here" She said: "No, the palace
where the royals live" Either she did not know that
Finland is a republic, or she thought she was in
Stockholm, Copenhagen or Oslo:-)

Last time I looked there was no intelligence test required to get a
passport or buy a plane ticket.

But one would think even Americans would know
what country they were in, and take the trouble to
do a little research into its history and culture.


The only words uttered by the gentleman were that "I
spoke English great"

Which no doubt hurt your ears due to the vernacular syntax.

My wife, a Scandinavian, grimaced, and would have corrected
him if I had not nudged her.


I cringe when I hear Americans say: "You did good" when
they mean "You did well" To "do good" means to perform a
virtuous or charitable act. Much comment was made here
about the tribute paid, on the death of Princess Diana
by an American intellectuelle, who said: "She was good
people"

Which no doubt hurts your ears due to the vernacular syntax.

Doesn't English grammar play any part in US education?
How can a single individual be "good people" ???

It's part of the high price of being a stuffed shirt, it appears.

No, correct speech is a part of a good education.
Do you deliberately want to give the impression
you are poorly educated?

Iain

Is this too mellow?
 

Iain Churches wrote:
"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message


It is hard for people here to comprehend
that your own city of Detroit, Arny
has an illiteracy rate according to a United Nations
report of 46%.
I suspect that Scandinavians with adequate backgrounds
in sociology can understand the cause of the problem.

Everyone can understand the cause of problem.
What they cannot understand is why nothing
has been done about it.
A great deal has been "done about it", its just that much of it created
the problem and/or made it worse.

Social engineering is not an exact science yet, I fear.

It seems to be low priority for Detroit.
Meanwhile, the illteracy rate is higher in Detroit
than third-world Angola !!!

We used to see a large number of American tourists here.
Something about the value of the dollar making Europe a cheap thrill.

The USD started off at parity the the Euro, and has
been slipping ever since. It is at Euro 1.38 this morning.
Europe, particularly Scandinavia, is not cheap for Americans.
They are a bit taken aback by the rich culture, especially
those who have the courage to cross into Russia and
spend a day or two in St Peterburg:-)


The people of other nations seem to travel normally, but
now, due to the recession, the weakness of the USD
and fear of terrorist attacks on aircraft American
tourists have all but disappeared.
Maybe they found out that Europe wasn't what it was cracked up to be.

Most Americans seeem to be just doing
"Europe in Ten Days" and don't have a clue
what day it is:-)
It does get a little old watching people quake in their boots and bow to
Islam.

The American tourists are clearly very afraid.
They are a hundred times safer here than at home.
But it is probably flying on an American airline outside
the US that bothers them.

You could always pick them out, he in his Rupert The Bear
trousers, and she with her blue rinse.
Not long ago, a
couple stopped me outside their Helsinki hotel. The lady
looked at me over her pince nez and said, "We want to get
to the Palace" I replied, "The Palace Hotel? It is on the
harbour about 1km from here" She said: "No, the palace
where the royals live" Either she did not know that
Finland is a republic, or she thought she was in
Stockholm, Copenhagen or Oslo:-)
Last time I looked there was no intelligence test required to get a
passport or buy a plane ticket.

But one would think even Americans would know
what country they were in,

If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium..whatever that is. :)

--
Bill Coombes

Is this too mellow?
 

"Iain Churches" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message


It is hard for people here to comprehend
that your own city of Detroit, Arny
has an illiteracy rate according to a United Nations
report of 46%.

I suspect that Scandinavians with adequate backgrounds
in sociology can understand the cause of the problem.


Everyone can understand the cause of problem.
What they cannot understand is why nothing
has been done about it.

A great deal has been "done about it", its just that
much of it created the problem and/or made it worse.

Social engineering is not an exact science yet, I fear.

It seems to be low priority for Detroit.

Not so. Billions have been spent, and some very well-educated, hard-working,
and bright individuals have put their lives into it.

Meanwhile, the illteracy rate is higher in Detroit
than third-world Angola !!!

In the suburbs, we call Detroit a third world city.

We used to see a large number of American tourists here.

Something about the value of the dollar making Europe a
cheap thrill.

The USD started off at parity the the Euro, and has
been slipping ever since.

Given the history of the $US which goes back to 1690, and the history of the
Euro (only legal tender in a few countries and only since 1995) it would
appear that you have your priorities reversed. If I recall, the Euro is
really the child of the DM, which was 4 to the dollar the first time I was
in Europe.

It is at Euro 1.38 this morning.

Good for it!

Europe, particularly Scandinavia, is not cheap
for Americans. They are a bit taken aback by the rich
culture, especially those who have the courage to cross
into Russia and spend a day or two in St Peterburg:-)

This week.

The people of other nations seem to travel normally, but
now, due to the recession, the weakness of the USD
and fear of terrorist attacks on aircraft American
tourists have all but disappeared.

Maybe they found out that Europe wasn't what it was
cracked up to be.

Most Americans seeem to be just doing
"Europe in Ten Days" and don't have a clue
what day it is:-)

I did Europe for a year, and loved it.

It does get a little old watching people quake in their
boots and bow to Islam.

The American tourists are clearly very afraid.

The European governments and citizens seem to be very afraid, and for a long
time.


They are a hundred times safer here than at home.

As always it depends on where home is. One of the ironies of the US is that
the crime rate varies hugely from place to place.

But it is probably flying on an American airline outside
the US that bothers them.

Eurpoean airlines seem to be far more prone to being hijacked, if you take a
long look at history. Ther US was susceptible to 9/11 simply because flying
here had been so safe, so long.

You could always pick them out, he in his Rupert The
Bear trousers, and she with her blue rinse.

Not long ago, a
couple stopped me outside their Helsinki hotel. The lady
looked at me over her pince nez and said, "We want to
get to the Palace" I replied, "The Palace Hotel? It is
on the harbour about 1km from here" She said: "No, the
palace where the royals live" Either she did not know
that Finland is a republic, or she thought she was in
Stockholm, Copenhagen or Oslo:-)

Last time I looked there was no intelligence test
required to get a passport or buy a plane ticket.

But one would think even Americans would know
what country they were in,

We're too used to living in the US where its pretty much all one country.
There have been no gated border crossings inside the US for centuries.

and take the trouble to
do a little research into its history and culture.

Given how ignorant some europeans are about the US - ignorance seems to know
no borders. The US has 50 states, a goodly number of which are larger than
any country in Europe, whether people, or land, or resources. Just keeping
track of them seems like chore enough for the average person.

Doesn't English grammar play any part in US education?
How can a single individual be "good people" ???

It's part of the high price of being a stuffed shirt, it
appears.

No, correct speech is a part of a good education.

Iain, the education that you speak of ended over 40 years ago. A living
language is a dynamic thing.

Do you deliberately want to give the impression
you are poorly educated?

I'm far more interested in communicating in such a way that the people who
are most important to me understand what I'm trying to say.

I can see your problem Iain, the English language is simply too dynamic for
a person with your limited adaptability to follow. Eemerging dementia may
have something to do with it. As is your preference, you blame others for
your self-induced difficulties.

Is this too mellow?
 

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message


It is hard for people here to comprehend
that your own city of Detroit, Arny
has an illiteracy rate according to a United Nations
report of 46%.

I suspect that Scandinavians with adequate backgrounds
in sociology can understand the cause of the problem.


Everyone can understand the cause of problem.
What they cannot understand is why nothing
has been done about it.

A great deal has been "done about it", its just that
much of it created the problem and/or made it worse.

Social engineering is not an exact science yet, I fear.

It seems to be low priority for Detroit.

Not so. Billions have been spent, and some very well-educated,
hard-working, and bright individuals have put their lives into it.

Meanwhile, the illteracy rate is higher in Detroit
than third-world Angola !!!

In the suburbs, we call Detroit a third world city.

We used to see a large number of American tourists here.

Something about the value of the dollar making Europe a
cheap thrill.

The USD started off at parity the the Euro, and has
been slipping ever since.

Given the history of the $US which goes back to 1690, and the history of
the Euro (only legal tender in a few countries and only since 1995) it
would appear that you have your priorities reversed. If I recall, the Euro
is really the child of the DM, which was 4 to the dollar the first time I
was in Europe.

It is at Euro 1.38 this morning.

Good for it!

Europe, particularly Scandinavia, is not cheap
for Americans. They are a bit taken aback by the rich
culture, especially those who have the courage to cross
into Russia and spend a day or two in St Peterburg:-)

This week.

The people of other nations seem to travel normally, but
now, due to the recession, the weakness of the USD
and fear of terrorist attacks on aircraft American
tourists have all but disappeared.

Maybe they found out that Europe wasn't what it was
cracked up to be.

Most Americans seeem to be just doing
"Europe in Ten Days" and don't have a clue
what day it is:-)

I did Europe for a year, and loved it.

It does get a little old watching people quake in their
boots and bow to Islam.

The American tourists are clearly very afraid.

The European governments and citizens seem to be very afraid, and for a
long time.


They are a hundred times safer here than at home.

As always it depends on where home is. One of the ironies of the US is
that the crime rate varies hugely from place to place.

But it is probably flying on an American airline outside
the US that bothers them.

Eurpoean airlines seem to be far more prone to being hijacked, if you take
a long look at history. Ther US was susceptible to 9/11 simply because
flying here had been so safe, so long.

You could always pick them out, he in his Rupert The
Bear trousers, and she with her blue rinse.

Not long ago, a
couple stopped me outside their Helsinki hotel. The lady
looked at me over her pince nez and said, "We want to
get to the Palace" I replied, "The Palace Hotel? It is
on the harbour about 1km from here" She said: "No, the
palace where the royals live" Either she did not know
that Finland is a republic, or she thought she was in
Stockholm, Copenhagen or Oslo:-)

Last time I looked there was no intelligence test
required to get a passport or buy a plane ticket.

But one would think even Americans would know
what country they were in,

We're too used to living in the US where its pretty much all one country.
There have been no gated border crossings inside the US for centuries.

and take the trouble to
do a little research into its history and culture.

Given how ignorant some europeans are about the US - ignorance seems to
know no borders. The US has 50 states, a goodly number of which are larger
than any country in Europe, whether people, or land, or resources. Just
keeping track of them seems like chore enough for the average person.

Doesn't English grammar play any part in US education?
How can a single individual be "good people" ???

It's part of the high price of being a stuffed shirt, it
appears.

No, correct speech is a part of a good education.

Iain, the education that you speak of ended over 40 years ago. A living
language is a dynamic thing.

Do you deliberately want to give the impression
you are poorly educated?

I'm far more interested in communicating in such a way that the people who
are most important to me understand what I'm trying to say.

I can see your problem Iain, the English language is simply too dynamic
for a person with your limited adaptability to follow. Eemerging dementia
may have something to do with it. As is your preference, you blame others
for your self-induced difficulties.


How does furthering OT discussion like this sit with your frequent (but
irrelevant) bleating about such posting, Amy?